super mario brothers

12.03.08

The Breakdown: Singing Tesla Coils

By Gregory Mone Posted 11.14.2007 at 5:16 pm 1 Comment


What we're seeing here are two solid-state Tesla Coils, each running in the 41 kHz range, performing a little concert thanks to some ingenious electrical work. The coils, which have been nicknamed the Zeusaphone, were developed by Tesla enthusiasts Jeff Larson and Steve Ward.

On his site, Larson explains that a particular version of this type of coil can be good for audio modulation because it produces several hundred sparks per second. The apparently continuous crack of light we see is actually a series of brief sparks. Larson and Ward figured out a way to modulate this frequency digitally, and get the sparks to crank out the sound waves or musical notes they want.

This concert features "Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies," but they've also done the theme from Super Mario Brothers and others. In terms of audio quality it doesn't quite measure up, but when you're talking pure spectacle, this has to be tops. You wonder if Tesla himself would be proud.—Gregory Mone

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Google Meets Mario Brothers

By Gregory Mone Posted 10.22.2007 at 1:27 pm 0 Comments

This doesn't look like the work of a company that has its stock trading at more than $600 a share. Google had a decorate-your-cube contest, and the work of the two winning departments shows that the company clearly isn't short of creative folk. Most workers would probably just arrange their used, discarded coffee cups in a new way.

But Google's Data team turned their space into a real-life version of the pixelated but charming world of Super Mario Brothers, and the Analytics department went with a Jumanji theme. Apparently that group had a motion sensor box that set off a tiger's roar when someone walked past. This is what comes out of your data and analytics departments? Wow.—Gregory Mone

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"At the Beijing Olympic pool, perhaps the only star bigger than Michael Phelps was his swimsuit. The Speedo LZR (pronounced "laser"), like Phelps, didn't disappoint: 16 of the 32 gold-medal winners wore the full-body suit, and another 13 wore LZR pants."
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"This year, San Antonio EMT crews began using a spit test that detects cardiac arrest faster, more accurately and more cheaply than other diagnostic tests."

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