Author: David J. Kent

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler, scientist, and Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of books on Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, and Abraham Lincoln. His website is www.davidjkent-writer.com.
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A Conversation Overheard – The Pope’s Swiss Guards

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When in Rome do as the Romans do.  By which I mean speak Italian and/or Latin, drink a lot of wine, and constantly carry an ice cream cone – gelato – when walking.  At least that seems to be what they are always doing in Rome.

So assuming you’re not Roman and are visiting Rome as a tourist, and specifically if you are a tourist visiting the Vatican, then you must visit St. Peter’s Basilica.  And as the invariably long line snakes to the entrance – soon after going through the security checkpoint – make sure to look to the right just before making that hard turn to the front of the church.  And you’re likely to see the Swiss Guard.

Swiss guardYou would be hard pressed to tell from the multi-colored – even garish – ceremonial uniforms of today’s Swiss guards to know that historically the guards were some of the fiercest fighters of the middle ages.  The guards were called in by Pope Julius II to help fight wars with those pesky Venetians and the French, that is, when Julius wasn’t bossing around both Michelangelo and Raphael as they created their respective masterpieces – the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the School of Athens.

Today of course the Swiss Guards are purely ceremonial.  After all, an easy lifestyle of standing around with a pike and retiring with a papal pension is almost worth wearing those colors and feathered helmets. But admittedly there are days even a Guard would rather not be caught dead looking like that. The day I was there I overheard this short conversation:

Hey, Luigi, do these yellow stripes make me look fat?

No Giuseppe, you look fine. Don’t worry about it.

Are you sure, Luigi? I’ve been putting on a few kilos lately. All that gelato I think.

I said you look fine. We go through this every day. You ask me if the stripes make you look fat, I say no, you yammer about eating too much gelato. This job is boring enough as it is, the least you could do is talk about something interesting for a change.  Hey, is that your girlfriend over there?

Giuseppe glances to the side (see photo).  Oh mio, it is…it is my beloved Bianca. Cazzo, I told her I was the Pope’s right hand man.  I cannot let her see me dressed in this silly outfit. Luigi, rapido, run me through with your pike. Oh Signore, portami in cielo ora.

Okay, maybe I heard wrong. But seriously, wouldn’t that be your reaction?

 

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Tesla to Edison to Lincoln – Connecting the Dots

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Tesla to Edison to Lincoln (say it in the cadence of “Tinkers to Evers to Chance“).

Yes, Nikola Tesla disliked Thomas Edison, but Edison greatly admired Abraham Lincoln.  I’ve always been an devotee of Abraham Lincoln.  And now I’m writing a book on Nikola Tesla [UPDATE: I now have three Tesla books and one about Edison].  Despite conflicts with himself, Tesla had won the “War of the Electric Currents” by developing the motor needed to use Alternating Current (AC) versus the Direct Current (DC) on which Edison had staked his claim. [You can read about it in Chapter 5 of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity].

So it was a nice surprise to find the photo below on my Facebook page.

Thomas Edison and Abraham LincolnPosted by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum on its own Facebook page, it turns out Edison was so enamored of Lincoln “that he placed Lincoln’s profile on his own letterhead, and wrote out this testimonial in 1880:

” … the life and character of Abraham Lincoln and his great services to this country during the war of the rebellion will stand as a monument long after the granite monuments erected to his memory have crumbled in the dust.”

Who says the unschooled Edison didn’t have a way with words, eh?

The photo was on display through Labor Day 2012 at the ALPLM in Springfield, IL. It was purchased by them from the Louise and Barry Taper Collection in 2007. I expect to be making a trek (or two) to the ALPLM myself in the not too distant future as I research my Lincoln book.

Funny how my life travels from Tesla to Edison to Lincoln with only one degree of separation.

David J. Kent is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

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When Life Imitates Art in Bologna – Oscar Wilde Would Go Wild

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Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time…with a camera.  Such a place and time happened in Bologna, Italy.  I’m sure many will recall an old saying that goes something like “art imitates life.”  Or perhaps you remember the reverse, as in Oscar Wilde’s The Decay of Lying in which “life imitates art.”  Or to put is as he did:

“But you don’t mean to say that you seriously believe that Life imitates Art, that Life in fact is the mirror, and Art the reality?”

So life imitates art. Or art imitates life. Or perhaps both.  But let’s take it a step further.  What happens when art actually mocks life mercilessly?  Take a look at this:

Life imitating art

First, see that the jogger positions himself – unwittingly, no doubt – exactly as the artwork on the wall depicts.  Ah, you say, perhaps the artist observed many joggers over the years stopping to stretch right at that spot. Perhaps.

But then look closer.

The artist apparently had a wry sense of humor.  Not only does the artwork imitate the jogger, it pokes fun of him in a bizarre burlesque.  Little does the pausing runner notice that the permanently paused mirror, though manfully bearded, is wearing high heels, a thong, and flowers in his athletic hair.  Who could believe it? After all…rouge on his cheeks while jogging? Unheard of.

Seconds after I snapped this photo the jogger toddled off oblivious to the suppressed laughter that so desperately wanted to escape my lungs. I had seen this scene unfolding as I watched the jogger approach from afar.  Providence itself couldn’t have delivered a more perfect ending when he stopped to stretch against the light pole.

Sometimes it just pays to be lucky.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Nikola Tesla and the White Pigeon

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Nikola TeslaNikola Tesla was a wonderfully eccentric man when he wasn’t busy discovering new inventions.  One of his many oddities was his fascination – okay, let’s call it an obsession – with pigeons.

Always dressed impeccably, Tesla nonetheless could be occasionally found standing in Bryant Park, arms outstretched, bird feed at his feet, and covered in pigeons.  He was a sight to behold, and passersby chuckled at the idea of the great scientist enamored of what most would agree are not the cleanest or most appealing of birds (some would go so far as to call them “rats with wings”). But here he was…mingling with the feisty foul just steps from his scientific laboratory.

On other occasions Tesla would wander the streets of New York City, head down, gazing intently, on the alert for the injured pigeon who mistook the windowed glass of the slowly rising skyscrapers of New York for a passageway (or a possible mate, one might imagine).  Rushing to any bird he observed, Tesla gently lifted his new-found charge and brought it back to his hotel room to nurse it back to health.

Such an odd paradox was this man.  Desperately germophobic to the point of avoiding human contact, here he is covered in bird feathers…and worse. And when he took ill and couldn’t tend to his rounds he would order his assistants to go out looking in his stead.  Giving them careful instructions on where to look and how to handle the birds, they were to bring them back and care for them if Tesla could not.

One particular white pigeon became a personal friend when Tesla was most in need of friendship.  One day the pigeon showed up on his windowsill looking, to Tesla at least, forlorn.  Tesla knew the pigeon had come to tell him it was dying.

In the end, both the pigeon and Tesla died alone.

For an interesting rendition of “Tesla’s Pigeon” performed by Jessica Lennick and Daniel Paul Lawson, check out this YouTube clip.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Nikola Tesla Chapter 1 is in the can

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Tesla radio stained glass window“In the can” in the sense of wrapping up a film, as opposed to in the circular filing cabinet (or worse, the room with a view of the bidet).  Just wanted to clarify that.  In any case, with a September 1st deadline to deliver the Nikola Tesla book to the publisher I have to finish a chapter a week for the next two months.  Chapter 1 – A Scientific Rock Star is Born –  is now done.

“Done,” of course, doesn’t mean actually done.  I will still need to do significant editing, pull out sidebar quotes (it will be a very visually appealing book), and obtain the photos to be used.  But the substance is complete.

And Chapter 1 isn’t the only part of the book that is written.  I recently completed a short preface that sets the stage for Tesla’s contributions, peculiarities, and legacies.  I also have pieces of other chapters, an appendix, and ideas for how to incorporate some of his writings.

Next step is to scope out Chapter 2 – Coming of Age in Europe.  By this time next week I hope to be putting the finishing touches on the chapter. Wish me luck.

BTW, the photo is of a stained glass window in the Passage Světozor (a shopping mall) in Prague, Czech Republic. Courtesy of Wiki Commons.

More on my Nikola Tesla book.

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Some enhancements to the pages to facilitate finding articles

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David J KentAs this web site continues to develop there will be periodic changes in structure and content.  Some of these changes will be BIG AND NOTICEABLE while others will be a wee bit less obvious.

One of those “wee bit” changes is the addition of a link on each of my individual pages that provide access to all of the posts on that page’s topic with a single click.

On my Abraham Lincoln page look at the bottom of the page “For a full list of my Abraham Lincoln posts click here.”

On my Nikola Tesla page look in the very first paragraph “For all my Tesla articles click here.”

On my Travel page look about two-thirds of the way down for “To get you started, you can click on this link or simply click on the “Travel” tag at the end of any travel post.”

I have also now provided my email address at the bottom of the About Me page.  [For those not familiar with spammers, just change the AT to @ and the DOT to . and close up the spaces so it looks like an actual email address.]

To keep up with all my posts you can subscribe via email on the home page (look under the calendar on the right hand side).

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Thoughts on Nikola Tesla from Google’s Larry Page

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Nikola TeslaGoogle co-founder and CEO Larry Page calls Nikola Tesla his hero, but says it is better to be like Edison than Tesla.  Page read Tesla’s autobiography “My Inventions” when he was 12 years old and was fascinated by his amazing inventions.  Tesla’s problem, however, was that he didn’t know how to make money off of those inventions. In fact, Edison and Marconi got credit for a lot of things that were actually thought up by Tesla.    In a 2008 interview with Fortune magazine Page said:

You also need some leadership skills. You don’t want to be Tesla. He was one of the greatest inventors, but it’s a sad, sad story. He couldn’t commercialize anything, he could barely fund his own research. You’d want to be more like Edison. If you invent something, that doesn’t necessarily help anybody. You’ve got to actually get it into the world; you’ve got to produce, make money doing it so you can fund it.

So Page says that Google is, in essence, a response to that failure.  Innovate, but also sell it to the public so you can afford to innovate some more.  With this in mind Google has brought us a wide variety of inventions beyond its initial search engine – Android, the Chrome browser, Google Earth, Gmail –  just to name a few.  Not everything Google invented became a hit of course, but enough of them did to keep the innovation rolling.

Page describes the influence Tesla had on his desire to become an inventor.

That desire to combine the inventiveness of Tesla with the commercial marketing savvy of Edison has grown beyond Google into other investments.  Both Larry Page and co-founder Sergey Brin have invested in something else that pays homage to Nikola Tesla – Tesla Motors.  Exploiting several unique innovations in harnessing the power of electricity, the Tesla Roadster can go from 0 to 60 in under 4 seconds while also achieving 100 miles per gallon.  Now that is a high-performance sports car.

All you need is $100,000 to start (not counting options), or a friend named Larry Page.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

Follow me by subscribing by email on the home page. Share with your friends using the buttons below.