edison also used to refer to electrocution as "westinghousing people" Jeff Young young@mci.net
Return-Path: owner-nanog@merit.edu Received: from merit.edu (merit.edu [35.1.1.42]) by postoffice.Reston.mci.net (8.7.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id WAA00808; Sun, 8 Sep 1996 22:52:54 -0400 (EDT) Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) by merit.edu (8.7.5/merit-2.0) with SMTP id WAA28765; Sun, 8 Sep 1996 22:50:36 -0400 (EDT) Received: by merit.edu (bulk_mailer v1.5); Sun, 8 Sep 1996 22:48:33 -0400 Received: (from daemon@localhost) by merit.edu (8.7.5/merit-2.0) id WAA28705 for nanog-outgoing; Sun, 8 Sep 1996 22:48:33 -0400 (EDT) Received: from saint.heaven.net (saint.heaven.net [198.69.28.4]) by merit.edu (8.7.5/merit-2.0) with SMTP id WAA28697 for <nanog@merit.edu>; Sun, 8 Sep 1996 22:48:30 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from stpeters@localhost) by saint.heaven.net (8.6.13/8.6.12) id WAA16929; Sun, 8 Sep 1996 22:48:34 -0400 Date: Sun, 8 Sep 1996 22:48:34 -0400 From: "Dick St.Peters" <stpeters@NetHeaven.com> Message-Id: <199609090248.WAA16929@saint.heaven.net> To: nanog@merit.edu Subject: Re: MAE-East still no generator In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.3.95.960908085543.19899D-100000@netrail.net> References: <199609080429.XAA10713@westie.gi.net> <Pine.LNX.3.95.960908085543.19899D-100000@netrail.net> Sender: owner-nanog@merit.edu Content-Type: text Content-Length: 1102
I don't think so. AC is not very good for distance. When you have a AC sine wave you also get reverse EMF that distorts the signal. AC is like VHS it was at the masses first. DC like BETA works better, though if you use DC you would have a lot more deaths because AC is a little easier to take if you touch the wire at high currents.
Sometime around the beginning of the 1900s Edison and Westinghouse were waging PR war over whether the country should adopt DC or AC. In an early preview of negative campaigning Edison appealed to public fear by noting that AC was used in electric chairs. Edison lost that fight, of course, but got his revenge from GE winning the long-term economic battle.
Now that I can claim title to the most irrelevant NANOG posting in history, (intended) I return you all to the current battle ...
-- Dick St.Peters, Gatekeeper, Pearly Gateway, Ballston Spa, NY stpeters@NetHeaven.com Owner, NetHeaven 518-885-1295/800-910-6671 Albany/Saratoga/Glens Falls/North Creek/Lake Placid/Blue Mountain Lake First Internet service based in the 518 area code