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Media coverage of Tesladownunder on this page includes: Australia's Got Talent 2011 Channel 7 Discovery USA TV "Is it possible?" 2010 USA Channel 9 TV A Current Affair 2009 Australia Channel 7 TV Today Tonight Australia Jan 2009 Channel 7 TV Today Tonight Australia May 2009 WIN TV Australia and 16 other countries "Elec-trickery" Discovery Channel TV episode 1 Canada Discovery Channel TV episode 2 Canada Discovery Channel TV episode 3 Canada Discovery Channel TV episode 4 Canada German Pro Sieben TV "Galileo" Media that didn't happen (yet)
Tesladownunder in the media The site has attracted a lot of international media attention since 2008 and has now been on TV programs or news in 17 countries from a total of 16 TV shoots. There has been coverage in 14 newspaper articles, 30 magazine or book articles and 8 radio interviews.
Australia's Got Talent Channel 7 Australia. 2011 Audience 1.7 million for episode 1 rising to 2 million for some later ones. Here is a 7 second animated gif version of the 2 minute act.
Below is the performance as it went to air.
Below is the performance from my hidden video camera (used for safety monitoring). It includes the original sound track and lots of other stuff not seen in the televised show.
Below shows what really happened. Almost a complete flop .... See how it panned out and how the Gods were not pleased. It runs for 8 mins. Not that exciting though.
They showed a second or so of my act on most promos and most of the 8 episodes including the semifinal which I didn't get to.
http://au.tv.yahoo.com/australias-got-talent/video/-/watch/24991660/australias-got-talent-sneak-peek/
The first episode of the auditions screened May 3rd . This is not the main episode I was in but I appeared briefly at 3:20 mins. The second episode of the auditions screened May 4th and I appeared briefly at 41mins. The clip below advertises the Perth audition.
Here is a clip advertising the Perth show. 23 seconds only but slow to buffer.
So how did this all happen?
The result was that
I made it to the televised heats in March 20th in the
Perth
Entertainment and Convention Center. There were major issues with
the venue,
power, earthing, interference prevention and public liability.
Firstly the music. An original soundtrack was done by my son, Michael Terren who is an 18yo pianist and composer studying at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts. The music has a pounding industrial theme and runs for 2:17 mins. Resonant Air-Core Transformer (Australia's Got Talent) by Michael Terren Some of his other work is here.
Secondly, crowd protection and iterference reduction in close proximity to
judges, microphones and video cameras was acheived by the use of fine wire
screens.
(click to enlarge) The judge screen is shown above. At 3.5m from TC center, there are strong sparks to the screen but I am quite safe behind them. For the judges (Kyle Sandilands, Dannii Minogue and Brian McFadden) I have chosen a more conservative distance of the screen being 5m away as shown on the right.
Much other equipment was constructed for this show including a bank of 6 arc welders to be used as needed for voltage isolation or ballast, and two 3 phase distribution boxes. Also extended black backdrops and a vast foil earthing system / partial Faraday cage not to mention a new capacitor bank and power factor correction.
Above left shows the generator, capacitor bank and TC controller getting packed. Center shows the enormous pavilion and my fenced off area. They removed the carpet so they could drive trucks in. Right shows my team of (L to R) Michael, my son who did the music, Chris (son), Jane (wife), Jaime (Chris's g/f) and me.
Above left is the repositioned enclosure and center shows one of many discussions with the safety officer, Joshua. The right photo is the final setup ready to go. Note there is a network of suspended wires completely circling the TC for protection and reduced fields for camera safety. On the day I decided not to go with the rigging of an elevated shield in view of the height of the roof. Note the large foil covered area of about 50 feet which is the RF earth which connects to all the elevated wires and frames. There was no direct link to the pavilion building earth but there may have been through some expansion joint covers. The mains earth was kept separate. I ran the ARSG gap and blower gap motors through back to back arc welders as isolation transformers. There was no clear return path for capacitative currents induced into the 50 foot ceiling. There was no ground available for over 100 m that was not a mains ground. Using this method of a "Faraday cage" open at the top, there was no evidence for interference with sound or cabled video cameras. It was close enough to have sparks within perhaps 10 feet of the judges (it could have safely been a lot closer with my design - tested to within 2 feet). The grounding with downwires from the frame allowed confidence in preventing capacitative voltages appearing on equipment and operators. It is my belief that this is more important than RF interference. Certainly this was as close as my operators have been and no tickle from holding the variac!
Channel 7 TV / GWN
December 25th 2010.
Discovery USA "Is it
possible?" 2010. Discovery Channel in the
USA on April 7 10:00 pm EST with a rescreen on April 8 at 1:00 am and
May 2 at 2:00 pm EST.
A shorter version (3 mins) is
here
on the Discovery site) and reruns seen in Australia
here andJune 2011
here, Spanish version
here. Other links are: It showed in Australia on Discovery Channel on Feb13. And elsewhere in April 2010 here.
WIN TV Australia had a news item on Feb 21, 2009. Reported and filmed by Tiffany Wertheimer. Topic was the Xmas tree 2009. Filmed by Dean Lomax with video effects by Jordan. Video runs 1:18 mins.
Maximus Film Germany. Filmed Feb 5 2010. Screened ?April 2010 and rescreened Sept 1 2010. Two segments, one of which is about crazy inventors. Director was Susanne Bogner, camera by Oliver and host was Harro. Topics included the mini-coil, exploding watermelons, the Faraday cage and the swimming pool. It includes a test with a sparks onto a dummy in Germany. Also some 3d computer graphics showing me moving my arm to show current flows. Very clever. Video runs 14 mins.
(click to enlarge)
Channel 9 A Current Affair
(no pun intended) Sept 21, 2009 by John Mort filmed on 15/9/09. Shown across
Australia. The
topic was a report on the medical risks posed by high voltage lines.
My opinion was on the basis of my high voltage knowledge and as a medical
specialist to interpret the extensive literature. Early studies had
suggested a leukemia risk but later much larger studies that actually
measured fields showed no risk. I would have no concerns living under a
power line (and in fact have done so when living near Hyde Park in Perth).
Channel 7 TV Today Tonight Jan 9, 2009. Reporter is Mark Gibson and it was shown across Australia. Link is here. Took 5 hours to shoot and runs for 5 minutes.
Channel 7 TV Today Tonight May 4, 2009. Reporter is Graeme Butler from Today Tonight and it was shown across Australia. Took 6 hours to shoot and video runs for 5 minutes.
"Elec-trickery" WIN TV Australia had a news item on 23/12/08 for 90 seconds. Reported and filmed by Tiffany Wertheimer. Also screened on Channel 9 news and A Current Affair to give wide coverage in Australia. This eventually went international to 16 countries. First a jukebox selection of 13 international TV news articles based on the Elec-trickery clip. Around 1 minute each.
Above, are a few pictures from the Win TV shoot. The 5kJ capacitor bank explosion of some steel wool and aluminum actually started 2 small grass fires which were caught on camera.
The sources of the jukebox clips above are here:
A few other countries whose clips I couldn't capture for the jukebox above
are: Also was seen in Pakistan, Vietnam, Peru, Bulgaria and Singapore.
The Canadian Discovery Channel - Daily Planet has done 4 videos of my stuff. Nice high quality production which took about 6 hours shooting for each 5 mins. And the first one won an award. Discovery Channel TV episode 1 shown Sept 4, 2007 in Canada. Runs 5:14 mins and includes smoke rings, electric shocks, capacitor discharges and sparks in the pool. If you have a fast broadband link then view it direct in higher resolution from the Discovery Channel here otherwise click the video below.
Above is the Gold Remi Award from the Houston International Film festival awarded to Discovery Channel Canada for this first video segment. Dean Lomax was the cameraman and Dennis Porter the producer. There are about 5000 entries and about 1000 winners in hundreds of categories. In this pdf winner list search for "electricity" will take you to the entry. Discovery Channel TV episode 2 shown Sept 11, 2007 in Canada. Cameraman Dean Lomax shot episode 1 and 2 in 11 hours. Runs 3:45 mins and includes capacitor discharges, big TC construction. If you have a fast broadband link then view it direct in higher resolution from the Discovery Channel here otherwise click the video below.
Discovery Channel TV episode 3 shown Nov 21, 2007 in Canada. Cameraman Dean Lomax shot this in about 6 hours. Runs 5 mins and includes the big TC in a big domed building. Click the video below.
Discovery Channel TV episode 4 shown Dec 20, 2007 in Canada. Cameraman Dean Lomax shot this also in around 6 hours. Topic is the Tesla Christmas tree. If you are in Canada (only) you can watch it here otherwise watch it here. Video runs 5 mins.
Dutch Novus TV "Fobiac"
Filmed 7/11/08 Aired 7/1/09
German Pro Sieben TV "Galileo"
Filmed 14/11/08, Aired 16/6/09
Sadly my camera died during the night (see the last photo) and it wasn't filming sparks at the time at the time it started. Cosmology Gallery opening 2009
The Cosmology Gallery Opening showed my pulse capacitor bank exploding some wire to simulate the Big Bang. Also showed the mini Tesla coil in action. It appeared on other channels as well.
Joe Genius is an internet TV program who gave me a "What were you thinking award".
Magazines and books
2008
A French magazine for an exhibition, Palais de Tokyo (above) had a feature in Feb 2009. The exhibition also had a distinctive V shaped bipolar coil by Finn Hammer in an art installation.
Above shows my colored sparks integrated into a fashion spread by Anka Bardeleben in Feld Hommes 2008.   (click to enlarge) Above is Ripley's Believe It or Not 2010. There was one full page of my stuff (out of 256 pages). Also had my Tesla Envy video on their online link. Look out for the Modern Thinker to be in the 2011 edition.
(click to enlarge) Above is Ripley's Believe It or Not 2010 special edition. The text is not about me but the photo is my Red Alert recreation.
Above is Mississippi Review magazine with the cover showing me in the pool in June 2010. Circ 2,000.
(click to enlarge) Above is BBC Focus magazine with a full page in July 2009. Circ 70,000 in the UK. 
 (click to enlarge) Above is De Morgen magazine with a double page in 24 April 2010. It is a weekend supplement to the newspaper De Morgen. Circ 53,000 in Belgium.
(click to enlarge) Science Illustrated had a small article March 2009. Circ 700,000 in Europe and US.
Science and Life Junior magazine (above, French) had a 4 page spread Nov 2007 (above).
Maxim Magazine above, (UK version above) Dec 2007. Circ 65,000 then. It is a "men's magazine" and the cover is perhaps too saucy for my front page. Ok it's here (UK cover) - not safe for work (NSFW).
Maxim Magazine (Czech version above) also Dec 2007 but with a different article. The cover here (Czech) is again NSFW.
German View magazine, above, had a double page spread in May 2008 .
German B.Z. magazine, above, from 23 April 2009.
German View magazine, above, from June 2009.
Nuts magazine, above April 2009.
Zoo magazine, above, had a double page spread May 4 2009 .
Vice Magazine, above, May 2009
The engineering magazine Spectrum.IEEE May 2007. (above)
Ser medico from Brazil (above) had an article July 2009.
(click to enlarge)
A Chinese book "Contemporary Art of Science and Technology" 2008 above contains some pics too.
Chinese magazine, YWeekend above, had a couple of pages and the online articles are here and here. Jan 09.
Above is the article in the interesting little journal "Electric Space Craft."
(click to enlarge) Above is a book by Kocsis Istvan with the title in English of "Nikola Tesla and the Secrets of the Universe".
A publication from Renault (above) included a photo.
L_A_N magazine Feb 1st 2010 issue 2 hot
off the press in Hong Kong. "The Fashionable Futurist" title has to be
viewed on an angle to be read. The double page Car thief protection
photo is 60 x 40 cm.
A Finnish computer magazine 2008.
A Finnish Astronomy magazine, above used one of my twilight shots to demonstrate a crescent moon.
My Comet McNaught photo made it to the front cover of the Chinese Astronomical Journal (top left), International Comet Quarterly (top right, bottom right) and to page 3 of our local paper (bottom left). Hey, my photos are in 3 astronomical journals and I don't even have a telescope. Other magazines have featured photos and articles including Australian Medicine magazine May 2003 and Jafmate. Some that didn't make it include Shanghai morning post, the Sun, Trader monthly (went broke),
The SouthWest Times did an article on 30th December 2010 for the World's Brightest Bike Light.
This is one of the only photo shopped images on my site (done by the paper not me). To remove the lens flare over my trouser area and to tighten the beam. I use it as an example as it is clearly apparent even on a photo of the print article. Did I tell you I didn't like photoshop? The Electrickery article (Dec 2008) written by Asher Moses went on to stimulate many other online, print and TV news clips.
Above, is the article in the West Australian newspaper (circulation 200,000) of 22/12/08 on page 3. Above, a few months later in the same West Australian newspaper (circulation 200,000 22/04/09) on the Modern Thinker page 15.
Above is the Bunbury Mail (circ 25 000) Xmas article on 23/12/2009.
Above, the Bunbury Mail newspaper (circ 25,000) had an article on 14/01/09.
Above, the Guardian newspaper (UK circ 350,000) had this as the page 18-19 centerfold on 23 April 2009.
Above, the Independent newspaper (UK circ 215,000) from 23 April 2009.
Above, the Modern Thinker pic used in an advert for an Australian medical locum service 2008.
The Tesla Expo 2011 was covered by Vesti which is a Serbian paper. Here is the Online version
The Tesla Expo 2011 was covered by the local Bunbury Herald on July 5.
 The July 1st West Australian paper page 5 article and the online article of the Tesla Expo 2011  The Post, July 16 page 30 on the Tesla Expo 2011. (circ 32,000). Online version here (32MB)
Above, is the Metro newspaper page 3 article in the UK , 7 Dec 2007 (1 million circulation). This is my biggest print article. A number of newspaper online editions have covered the "Electrickery" story
of December 2008 without a print article as far as I know) along with
a variety of links to the Reuters video.
Photo Competition, above (Aug 2005 Sunday Times circ 365,000). Won a AUD$2000 Nikon D70s digital camera. There were 5000 entries in 2 categories with 40 photos published in each. I took about 15,000 photos with this camera until 2008 with many of the most impressive pictures coming from it.
Radio
6PR radio (Australia). Graeme Maybury did an interview on 13/12/09 about the Xmas tree 2009 ABC Newcastle radio (Australia) has an interview recorded here in 2008. 6PR radio (Australia) did an interview on 20/12/08 6PR radio (Australia) did a second interview on 22/12/08. Basil Zempilas was the announcer and the interview was in reference to the newspaper article in the West Australian on 22/12/08. 92.9 FM (Australia) did an interview with Em' and Sam Mac' on 5th April 2009 to follow up the Modern Thinker article on Today Tonight.
HotFM had a segment by Chippy and Nay in which the Tesla coil was one of the "12 Dares of Xmas".
Above is Chippy from HotFM in the cage. I was outside gradually leading the sparks closer to him. YouTube is here.
This is Chippy in the cage.
Supercharged (nearly)
2008
Above is the promo. It was rejected with the comment from Phil Fairclough : Thoughts from Discovery development exec to ponder: It's great fun, but doesn't deliver enough "why are we bothering" to me - no big point to it. Good info along the way, but it's not driving to or coming from a bigger piece of knowledge - not really satisfying a larger curiosity other than "how will he build a force field?" Suppose I need some myths to bust ....
Miscellaneous
BMW site (click on Knck Out) with a YouTube link featured in July 2007
Media
that didn't happen (yet) 2010 - 2011
July 3, 2011. Offer to demonstrate my Tesla coil in Kharagpur, India at a technical conference. I have agreed to attend on Jan 27th 2012. Feb 17, 2011. Interest expressed from a boutique production house in my stuff. Pending.
Feb 17, 2011. Invitation to show the Tesla coil in China in
Feb 3, 2011. Engineering website requesting use of photos. Pending Jan 30, 2011. Evokke iPad magazine interview. Pending. Jan 27, 2011. Ripley's Believe it or not. Plans to put the Modern Thinker in the 2011 edition. Pending. Jan 26, 2011 Movie requesting Tesla effects. "Fragments of Olympus". Referred to KVA effects. Jan 24, 2011 Brazilian Textbook seeks Thinker picture. Pending. Jan 23 2011. Scitech promotion with a radio station using a Faraday cage that I was to make. Failed re public liability issues. Jan 20, 2011. Entered my ISP's contest for "Top Geek". Probably 250 entries. Didn't make it into the top 10%. Seems like a young girl who likes anime is more geeky. Sexy, yes, geeky, no. Fail. Jan 11, 2010 Applied to NASA for a project on worlds bightest flashlight. Pending. Jan 19, 2011 Commercial shoot in Sydney. Failed re too far to travel. Jan 9, 2011 German TV interview Redaktion Explosiv. Failure re making myself too expensive. Dec 1, 2010. Christmas pageant entry with my bike failed due to public liability issues for God's sake! Bunbury Council have officious bureaucrats. Last laugh - my bike was on national TV and they weren't. Nov 28 2010. Applications for Guinness World Records for Flashlight and Bike lights. Pending. Nov 26 2010 Chinese Hunan TV in Chungsha wanted me to ship my Tesla stuff over for an interview. Failed re equipment not readily transportable. Nov 26 2010. Request to do a New Years show in Melbourne for Euchronia. Sadly, too far, too expensive. Nov 17, 2010 Russian group wanting me to do a cheap exhibit for a Russian Museum. Too cheap, too far. Nov 12, 2010 Artistic director wanted a quiet TC for the film "Iron Sky". Recommented a crackle tube. Oct 1, 2010. Barcroft media accepted videos of Bike and Flashlight but late delivery and not looked at. An expensive fail. Aug 28, 2010 South Korean TV. Did a short article on home videocam. Didn't hear if it was shown.
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This page was last updated August 08, 2011
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