{"id":121,"date":"2007-02-01T13:35:10","date_gmt":"2007-02-01T12:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shardcore.org\/shardpress\/index.php\/2007\/02\/01\/edison-and-topsy-2006\/"},"modified":"2007-02-01T13:35:10","modified_gmt":"2007-02-01T12:35:10","slug":"edison-and-topsy-2006","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shardcore.org\/spx\/2007\/02\/01\/edison-and-topsy-2006\/","title":{"rendered":"Edison and Topsy (2006)"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n
\n
\nacrylic on canvas, 600mm x 600mm<\/font>
\n<\/center>
\nThomas Edison<\/a> is often hailed as the great American Inventor, resonsible for such innovations as the phonograph<\/a> and the lightbulb<\/a> (which of course, he didn’t actually invent).<\/p>\n

\nThe truth however, is that he was never much of an innovator, his method was to employ hundreds of minions to ‘improve’ on existing designs, and utilise his capitalistic savvy to secure lucrative patent rights, frequently at the expense of the genuine innovators.<\/p>\n

\nMy previous painting<\/a> of Tesla makes mention of his fractious relationship with Edison, and this painting touches on one rather unpleasant result of their feud<\/a>. Edison believed his direct current system should be the dominant means of distributing electricity to the home, whereas Tesla favoured high-voltage alternating current. While good sense finally prevailed, and we all now enjoy the benefits of AC in our homes, Edison spent much of his own energy trying to dismiss his rival’s system as ‘dangerous’. It was such fervour which resulted in Edison inventing the electric chair<\/a> as a means of capital punishment, to demonstrate the dangers of high-voltages. He also made public demonstrations of its lethal power by travelling the country electricuting animals.<\/p>\n

\nMost notably he was responsible for the execution of Topsy the elephant<\/a> by firing 6,600 volts through the poor creature’s body, after the animal was deemed a danger to human life after killing an abusive trainer.<\/p>\n

\nOf course, Edison filmed to scene for posterity. watch<\/a> it on YouTube.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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