November 14 2021 Barcelona
Sundays are such special days! On Sundays morning I have more time to meditate, work on this blog, write in my journal, and, if I have time, write the memoir I’m working on about my mother and her sisters, because I’m not rushing off to a class, doing other exercise, or grocery shopping. I also have a real breakfast of eggs and sometimes toast, not just my fruit shake and tea. It’s almost like a celebration of relaxation, inspiration, and creativity!
Inevitably, though, Bruce will want us to take an excursion, or we’ll go on an excursion with friends, so I seldom get the whole day to focus inward. But I love excursions and learning so I’m always happy to make the effort. Today Bruce’s plan was to visit the lovely Parc de Les Aigues in Horta/Guinardo.
Although small, the park was impressive and is probably even more so during the spring when the flowers are in bloom. Maybe we’ll return next spring.
This mansion, which almost looks like a castle, caught my attention. There are many such homes in this part of Barcelona. I think some have been converted to apartments or Air B&Bs, or have become museums. Some, however, have stayed in the family and are actually residences!
The next stop on this excursion was the CosmoCaixa museum, which we had never visited before.
The reason we visited today was the Tesla exhibition. Not, not Tesla the car company, Tesla the man! He was an amazing visionary and this celebration of his genius was very well presented.
Tesla’s story is one of a brilliant man who thought “outside the box” and tried to change the world for the better. He fought against the forces of greed and narcissism embodied by some of the industrialists who were in the game for the advancement of their own wealth and power.
According to Wikipedia:
“Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.
Born and raised in the Austrian Empire, Tesla studied engineering and physics in the 1870s without receiving a degree, gaining practical experience in the early 1880s working in telephony and at Continental Edison in the new electric power industry. In 1884 he emigrated to the United States, where he became a naturalized citizen. He worked for a short time at the Edison Machine Works in New York City before he struck out on his own. With the help of partners to finance and market his ideas, Tesla set up laboratories and companies in New York to develop a range of electrical and mechanical devices. His alternating current (AC) induction motor and related polyphase AC patents, licensed by Westinghouse Electric in 1888, earned him a considerable amount of money and became the cornerstone of the polyphase system which that company eventually marketed.
Attempting to develop inventions he could patent and market, Tesla conducted a range of experiments with mechanical oscillators/generators, electrical discharge tubes, and early X-ray imaging. He also built a wireless-controlled boat, one of the first-ever exhibited. Tesla became well known as an inventor and demonstrated his achievements to celebrities and wealthy patrons at his lab, and was noted for his showmanship at public lectures. Throughout the 1890s, Tesla pursued his ideas for wireless lighting and worldwide wireless electric power distribution in his high-voltage, high-frequency power experiments in New York and Colorado Springs. In 1893, he made pronouncements on the possibility of wireless communication with his devices. Tesla tried to put these ideas to practical use in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project, an intercontinental wireless communication and power transmitter, but ran out of funding before he could complete it.
After Wardenclyffe, Tesla experimented with a series of inventions in the 1910s and 1920s with varying degrees of success. Having spent most of his money, Tesla lived in a series of New York hotels, leaving behind unpaid bills. He died in New York City in January 1943.Tesla's work fell into relative obscurity following his death, until 1960, when the General Conference on Weights and Measures named the SI unit of magnetic flux density the tesla in his honor. “
There is still controversy surrounding Nikola Tesla and the way the “powers that be” at that time treated him and his inventions. To many he was a proponent of sustainability and protecting the Earth and her resources. To others, he was a threat for that very reason, especially those making money from the exploitation of the Earth. According to The Fifth State:
“From the invention of the particle beam to radar, the electric car, robotics, and remote-controlled drones, Tesla mental-modelled solutions to problems with such clarity of mind that he could visualize the individual parts of a machine or mechanism in three dimensions, then run simulations in his head and check for wear and tear.
He even pioneered interplanetary radio communication with Guglielmo Marconi, whom he later fell out with when the US Patent Office mysteriously overturned his patents and effectively credited Marconi with the invention of the radio; Marconi was, in fact, using several of Tesla’s patents.
Tesla was so far ahead of his time, the genius of many of his early inventions — used to develop the radio and television, fluorescent and induction lighting, and MRIs and X-rays –- only came to light after his death.
Tesla’s long-held dream was to create a source of inexhaustible, clean energy that was free for everyone. He strongly opposed centralized coal-fired power stations that spewed carbon dioxide into the air that humans breathed.
He believed that the Earth had “fluid electrical charges” running beneath its surface, that when interrupted by a series of electrical discharges at repeated set intervals, would generate a limitless power supply by generating immense low-frequency electrical waves.
One of Tesla’s most extraordinary experiments was to transmit electrical power over long distances without wires or cables — a feat that has baffled scientists ever since .His grand vision was to free humankind from the burdens of extracting, pumping, transporting, and burning fossil fuels — which he viewed as “sinful waste”.
Tesla was eventually undone by what he called “ignorant, unimaginative people, consumed by self-interest”— powerful men that sought to protect the immensely profitable, low-tech industries they had spent a lifetime building. Today’s fossil-fuel industry, a legacy of that past, has fought just as hard in recent decades to protect the same interests.”
What a different world we might have today if people had listened to NikolaTesla and financiers had invested in his clean energy solutions! At least now we are on the right track but it has taken too long and we don’t have much time, especially if the vested interests keep using their wealth and power to thwart the efforts of activists, environmentalists, and others who have seen the light and want to move ahead to the clean energy future which could save our planet.
After visiting the museum we found our way to Carrer Major de Sarria, a walking mall with stores and restaurants on both sides. Bruce, of course, was searching for a bakery or pastry shop to get a croissant or a brownie and he found both at this shop, Foix de Sarria, which has been here since 1886. Bruce was happy with his snack and we went home for dinner, pleased with our excursion and the things we saw and learned.
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Frente al inmenso mural de Sergio Hidalgo Paredes, en Horta-Guinardó, además de una pequeña plaza hay también un estacionamiento o parking público, donde me topé con esta furgoneta abandonada, prácticamente desvalijada, que ha servido de lienzo por un artista anónimo, cuyo posible nombre sea Rurials o Opa Fisk. Sea como sea valoro que el traste en cuestión sirva por ahora con un medio grafitero y exhibe una particular caricatura, y no sea simplemente un coche abandonado más. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ... ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ In front of the immense mural by Sergio Hidalgo Paredes, in Horta-Guinardó, in addition to a small square there is also a parking lot or public car park, where I came across this abandoned van, practically ransacked, which has served as a canvas for an anonymous artist, whose possible name be Rurials or Opa Fisk. Be that as it may, I value that the fret in question serves for now with a graffiti medium and exhibits a particular caricature, and isn't simply another abandoned car. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ... ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #graffiti #furgoneta #van #carro #coche #arte #art #arts #cultura #culture #arteurbano #urbanart #artecallejero #streetart #horta #HortaGuinardó #callesdebarcelona #barcelonastreets #guinardo #barcelona #cataluña #catalunya #españa #spain (en Horta-Guinardó) https://www.instagram.com/p/ChKXfIkq8gr/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
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