7 Lesser-Known Victorian Inventors Who Were Just As Fascinating As Tesla

When we see science fiction stories set during the Victorian and Edwardian eras, the inventor Nikola Tesla tends to show up an awful lot. But the Victorian era and the early 20th century are filled with inventors who led fascinating lives, lives that just don’t tend to turn up in fiction.

Background of top image by John Lemieux.

Some of these inventors’ careers place them firmly in the Victorian era. Others, like Tesla himself, started their careers in the Victorian era and continued to live and work into the 20th century. And while they may not have worked on projects as with as visually impressive results as Nikola Tesla’s publicity photos, they had very interesting lives — and inventions — all the same

1. John Nevil Maskelyne, Magician and Inventor of the Pay Toilet

Harry Houdini may have the more famous name, but stage magician John Nevil Maskelyne (1839-1917) was also a famous debunker of the supernatural and inventor of both magic tricks and useful devices. Maskelyne got his start as a magician after watching a pair spiritualists known as the Davenport Brothers perform a spirit cabinet illusion. The Davenports claimed that their tricks were genuinely supernatural, but Maskelyne collaborated with cabinetmaker George Alfred Cooke to build a spirit cabinet of their own, which they used to expose the brothers as frauds.

Maskelyne devoted the rest of his career to creating illusions and exposing cheaters and frauds. He famously performed at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly. He invented a levitation illusion. He wrote a book exposing the tricks of card sharps. And, in 1914, he founded the Occult Committee, an organization devoted to exposing fraudulent practitioners of the supernatural. So he wasn’t exactly a Victorian ghostbuster, but he was a medium-buster. He also found time to invent the pay toilet, or rather a lock that would only open if you placed a coin inside.

John Nevil Maskelyne was hardly the only member of his family with a flair for inventing both illusions and practical devices. His son Nevil Maskelyne wasn’t just a magician, but also a rival of radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi. The younger Maskelyne interrupted one of Marconi’s 1903 demonstrations. Before Marconi could demonstrate the ability to transmit Morse code over hundreds of miles, Nevil Maskelyne transmitted a signal of his own, causing Marconi’s Morse code printer to spew out a message accusing the Italian inventor of “diddling the public.”

2. Hertha Marks Ayrton, a Woman Who Fought to Be Recognized

When Hertha Ayrton (1854-1923), born Phoebe Sarah Marks, was first put forward as a possible fellow at the Royal Society in 1902, she was rejected on the basis that a married woman was not considered an eligible candidate for fellowship. During her life, Ayrton was not just recognized for her own scientific achievements; she also campaigned for the recognition of other female scientists.

Ayrton was born in England to an impoverished clockmaker who had fled Poland to escape anti-Semitic persecution, but grew up with educator aunt. Young Sarah Marks learned mathematics and philosophy and eventually attended Cambridge’s Girton College. She took classes in electricity from electrical engineer and physics professor William Edward Ayrton, whom she later married. Professor Ayrton encouraged his wife’s independent scientific and mathematical endeavors. By then, she had already patented a drafting tool called a line-divider, a device ridiculed by some for its simplicity, but which many who used it regarded as magic.

Despite being rejected as a fellow in 1902, Ayrton was the first woman to read her paper before the Royal Society in 1904, an investigation on sand ripples. For her work on sand ripples and the electric arc, the Royal Society also awarded Ayrton the Hughes Medal. As she was being recognized for her own work, she also insisted that other women be recognized for theirs. When journalists failed to attribute the discovery of radium to Marie Curie, focusing instead on Curie’s husband, Pierre, Ayrton wrote in a 1909 edition of The Westminster Gazette, “Errors are notoriously hard to kill, but an error that ascribes to a man what was actually the work of a woman has more lives than a cat.” And that’s all before we get into her work on the Ayrton fan, a device designed to repel poison gas during World War I.

Her name is also interesting. A lifelong agnostic, Ayrton changed her name to “Hertha” after a poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne that was critical of religion. It was a symbolic separation from the Jewish faith of her parents.

 

3. Hiram Maxim, From a Hair Curling Iron to the Machine Gun

Nikola Tesla was hardly the only inventor who quarreled with Thomas Edison. Hiram Maxim (1840-1916) is one of numerous inventors who, like Edison, laid claim to the lightbulb. But while Maine-born inventor is said to have registered 271 patents in his lifetime, he’s probably best known for his work on the machine gun.

Maxim received his first patent at age 26, for an improved curling iron. The man literally built a better mousetrap (one that automatically reset). He was fascinated by the idea of flying machines, and his research would give birth to an amusement park ride, the “Captive Flying Machine.”

1907 Postcard featuring the Captive Flying Machine, via.

As chief engineer of the United States Electric Lighting Company, Maxim installed many of New York’s first electric lights and fought with Thomas Edison over the intellectual property of the lightbulb (this is leaving out Joseph Swan, who received a patent on his lightbulb in 1880). He moved to England in 1881 to reorganize the United States Electric Lighting Company’s London offices. But he’d eventually become notorious for something far more deadly than electric lighting.

Maxim would later write to the Times of London about the genesis of the machine gun:

In 1882 I was in Vienna, where I met an American whom I had known in the States. He said: ‘Hang your chemistry and electricity! If you want to make a pile of money, invent something that will enable these Europeans to cut each others’ throats with greater facility.

That’s exactly what he did. He developed the Maxim gun, which used recoil to expel the cartridge that had just been used and load the next cartridge. He made that pile of money and received a knighthood from Queen Victoria (although he was actually knighted by King Edward VII). All that for creating a machine of slaughter, just in time for World War I. PBS notes, “Maxim died on November 24, 1916, only days before the Battle of the Somme, where over one million soldiers fell in four months of machine gun warfare.”

His personal life contained its share of intrigue as well. Maxim’s son Hiram Percy Maxim, co-founder of the American Radio Relay League, wrote a book about growing up with his father, A Genius in the Family, that’s supposed to contain rather amusing anecdotes of Maxim household life. The elder Maxim also went through a public scandal when a woman named Helen Leighton accused him of bigamy. The charges were eventually dropped, but not before Maxim was arrested and the matter turned up in the papers.

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4. Margaret Knight, the Factory Girl Who Fought a Patent Thief

There are numerous stories of inventors who had their inventions stolen by opportunistic abusers of the patent system, but Margaret Knight (1838-1914) is one inventor who fought back and won. Knight’s formal education ended when she was 12 years old, when she went to work in a textile mill. That’s also when she developed her first invention. After witnesses an accident in a mill, Knight developed a device that would stop the motion of a particular machine if something got caught in it. Her invention made its way into other factories, but at the time neither Knight nor her family members were familiar with the patent process, so she didn’t get to own her idea.

However, Knight would have a formative experience with patent law years later. She was working in a paper bag factory when she figured out a more efficient way of folding and gluing paper bags — one very similar to the same process today. So she invented a machine that could execute her more efficient process. Before she had an opportunity to patent it, however, a man named Charles Annan inspected her machine and filed a patent on it. When Knight learned Annan had a patent on file, she took him to court.

Annan argued that a woman wasn’t capable of inventing such a device, but Knight had, well, actual proof. She had detailed notes that she kept on the machine, and the court awarded her the patent. Knight would go on to develop a number of other inventions, mostly making other improvements on industrial processes.

5. Louis Le Prince, the Cinematography Pioneer Who Mysteriously Disappeared

Who invented the moving picture? Thomas Edison and Auguste and Louis Lumière are frequently cited as pioneers of cinematography, but an inventor who gets far less press is Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince (1841-1890?). Le Prince’s father happened to be a friend of Louis Daguerre, and Le Prince learned about the chemistry and technology of photography at an early age. He eventually moved to Leeds, where he joined a brass foundry firm, married, and founded a technical school of art with his wife.

Le Prince eventually moved on from the foundry firm and began working on motion pictures. He registered for an American patent on a method and apparatus “For Producing Animated Pictures of Natural Scenery and Life” in 1886, and the patent was eventually granted. In 1888, he filmed the “Roundhay Garden Scene,” the oldest surviving film:

In 1890, Le Prince and his wife Lizzie were ready to take the project public. They planned to exhibit the moving pictures in New York’s Jumel Mansion, but something strange happened before they got a chance. In September, 1890, Le Prince boarded a train from Bourges, France, to Dijon and was never seen again.

There are numerous theories as to why Le Prince disappeared. Perhaps he committed suicide to escape his debts. Perhaps he was murdered by rivals. Whatever happened, no body has been conclusively identified, and the mystery remains.

6. Norbert Rillieux, a Creole Inventor in Antebellum Louisiana

Norbert Rillieux (1806-1894) was born to a white plantation owner (whose sister happened to be the grandmother of Edgar Degas) and a free black woman in New Orleans. Rillieux was educated, in part, in France, where he attended École Centrale and studied physics and engineering and eventually became a lecturer in applied mechanics.

One of Rillieux’s most famous inventions, however, turned out to be a great boon to the sugar industry in his home state. Some time around 1831, Rillieux developed an improved process for refining sugar. Edmund Forstall, who was building a new Louisiana Sugar Refinery with the help of one of Rillieux’s brothers, learned about the process and invited Rillieux to be the refinery’s head engineer. Rillieux accepted and returned to Louisiana, though his professional relationship with Forstall did not last long.

In the years before the American Civil War, Rillieux’s skills as an engineer were much in demand among Louisiana sugar plantation owners, but he did not receive the same treatment that a white engineer would have. He could install his sugar evaporators at plantations, but he could not sleep in the “big house” with a white family. At one point, he hoped to apply his engineering talents toward the drainage of New Orleans lowlands, but his proposal was blocked by his former employer Forstall. The historian Charles Rousseve claimed that Rillieux’s proposal was rejected because of “sentiment against free people of color.”

Amidst increasing restrictions on free black people in New Orleans, Rillieux returned to France. His interests turned to Egyptology, although he continued to make technical innovations well into his life, patenting a new system for processing sugar beets at age 75.

7. James McClintock, Submarine Designer and Spy?

Okay, this is a really weird story. The Smithsonian Magazine tells the full story of James McClintock, who is perhaps best known for his work designing the H. L. Hunley, the Confederate submarine that became the first sub to sink an enemy ship. (The Hunley also sank. Twice. It’s remains are currently on display in North Charleston, South Carolina, and while it’s a pricey visit, I recommend checking it out if you’re in town.)

The Hunley was laid down in 1863, but McClintock’s strange tale extends far later than that. In the 1870s, McClintock and a couple of collaborators were working on explosive weaponry, and on one fateful evening in 1879, he (apparently) paid the price for his experiments. He and a crew man rowed out in Boston Harbor with a mine containing 35 pounds of dynamite. Shortly afterward, an explosion was heard. The mine had exploded, supposedly taking both man and the boat with it.

The end of the story? Hardly. In 1880, nearly a full year after the explosion, a man visited British consul Robert Clipperton in Philadelphia, claiming that he was James McClintock and that he had been hired by members of the Irish Fenian movement to build torpedos. For a fee, the man claiming to be McClintock offered to sabotage his employer’s torpedos and give working samples of the weapons to the British.

In the end, this man calling himself McClintock pocketed money from both the British government and his Fenian employers, and never provided either with the promised torpedos. He disappeared before his true identity could be discovered. The piece in the Smithsonian examines the possibility





Source:http://io9.com/7-lesser-known-victorian-inventors-just-as-fascinating-1700992149that the real McClintock faked his death only to resurface in Philadelphia, but also suggests that the man may have been one of McClintock’s former partners, one of the men involved in his disastrous weapons experiments.

China’s Feminist Awakening

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BEIJING — I didn’t think much of it when the police took away five of my friends and fellow feminist activists in early March for planning a protest against sexual harassment on public transportation in Beijing. Similar arrests had happened to all of us before, and we were always let go after a few hours of interrogation. But when my friends didn’t come home that evening or the following day, I realized it was different this time. Given that I had planned and participated in many activities with them, I worried that I could be the next target and be forced to provide “evidence” against my friends. So, I fled Beijing and went into hiding.

The arrests sparked nationwide online protests and petitions by young people, especially university students. We hadn’t expected that the international community would also react so strongly: Human rights organizations and Western leaders, such as Hillary Clinton, voiced their condemnation. The domestic and international pressure led to my friends’ release after a month of detention. Of course, it didn’t help that the police also failed to gather any concrete criminal evidence against them.

I’ve since returned to Beijing, but this incident prompted me to examine my own activism and question whether I have made the right choices. When I was growing up in the 1990s in Sichuan Province, I found many cultural traditions and practices puzzling. At home, I addressed my mothers’ parents as “waipo” and “waigong,” or “outside grandma” and “outside grandpa,” because I was told that my father’s family mattered more. In school, my teachers held higher academic expectations for boys than they did for girls because they believed boys were smarter than girls.

While applying for college, many universities openly excluded girls from majors such as marine engineering and geological exploration, and lowered admissions standards for boys who chose to study foreign languages and broadcast journalism, which historically attract girls. I constantly saw want ads that either excluded women or specified that women applicants needed to be tall and attractive.

Many took this entrenched discrimination for granted, but I didn’t. As a sophomore in college, I became interested in feminism and began reading Simone de Beauvoir’s “The Second Sex” and other famous feminist works. I enjoyed watching foreign movies that depicted women championing social justice and gender equality. Like a nearsighted person with new glasses, I began to see clearly, and many of the things that puzzled me growing up were explained by feminism.

In the fall of 2011, I met Li Tingting, one of the arrested activists. Ms. Li, who had campaigned for women’s issues for several years, introduced me to a circle of like-minded women and a whole new world of activism.

My friends, most of whom were born in the 1980s and ’90s, and I have had a good education and we could easily find “nice” and “stable” jobs. Our parents have always exhorted us to live normal lives and not to poke our noses into things that don’t concern us. But instead of pursuing lucrative corporate positions, getting married and having children, we choose to become full-time women’s rights campaigners.

In China today, women face widespread discrimination at work; many companies refuse to even hire women. Sexual harassment is commonplace. Domestic violence is pervasive. According to a 2013 multi-country study conducted by the United Nations, more than 50 percent of Chinese men have physically or sexually abused their partners.

Some friends advise us to advance our cause by “quietly” lobbying the government or by pushing for changes within the system by becoming government employees. But in a country where the government still exerts tight control over ideology, those inside the system rarely find the courage to speak up.

Many women before us have taken the accommodationist route, but little has changed. Strong public pressure is necessary. We cannot afford to go about our campaign quietly.

Since public protests and demonstrations are banned, we rely on a unique platform — performance art — to challenge social conditions. We’ve taken our message to the streets and subways and fought for a safe public space for women.

The first public performance project I took part in targeted rampant domestic violence. Donning bridal gowns splattered with fake blood, we marched down a crowded Beijing shopping street, carrying signs that read “Love is not an excuse for violence” and urged residents to be vigilant against domestic abuse. Through the “Occupy Men’s Toilet” campaign, we called attention to a more mundane issue: the unfair ratio of male to female toilet stalls in public places. In another action, we shaved our heads to protest discrimination in college admissions.

And last year, I trekked more than 1,200 miles, crossing 55 cities to raise awareness about the high rates of child sex-abuse in China’s schools. The government, rather than fixing the system and punishing the perpetrators, simply blames the victims.

Our presence on the streets and in the media appears to be influencing decision-making. In recent years, several universities abolished their discriminatory admission policies. Beijing is said to be building new toilets for women, and some universities are converting toilets to increase the ratio for women. The top legislature is considering a domestic violence law.

Our actions have irked some chauvinists, who have threatened and harassed us on social media. The police have warned us against the evil influence of “hostile forces” in the West and began monitoring our phones and email.

The arrest of my five friends, which occurred in the days before International Women’s Day, showed that the government has become scared of a group of young women because of our ability to mobilize a large network of supporters. They were incarcerated on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” even though the event was still in the planning stage and our past activities were carried out peacefully. The police punished my friends to intimidate other social and political activists.

In the near future, even though we may have to adjust our strategies to cope with this tough environment, we’ll never give up. We hope the international community will not either.

Feminism was never a taboo topic in China because our messages were consistent with those of the government, which calls itself an advocate of women’s rights. But all that changed with the arrest of what the media dubbed the “Feminist Five.” In an unexpected way, the police helped create more public interest in feminism in China.

Xiao Meili is a Chinese activist for women’s rights. This article was translated by Wenguang Huang from the Chinese.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/14/opinion/xiao-meili-chinas-feminist-awakening.html?_r=0

NASA Now Says Ceres Has Lots and Lots of Lights

Will NASA ever settle on one explanation for what the lights on Ceres really are? First it was caught by surprise as the Dawn spacecraft approached the dwarf planet between Jupiter and Mars and spotted two bright lights on its surface. Next NASA admitted it had no idea what the two lights were. As Dawn got closer, it said the changing colors of the spots indicated they might be ice but it still wasn’t sure. It even set up an online poll asking us what we think the spots are. (“Other” is the leading choice as of this writing).

Now Dawn is in orbit around Ceres and NASA has finished analyzing a new set of images from the surface. So what does it say the two lights are now? A lot of little lights! Not only that, there’s lights all over the place on Ceres. So does NASA finally have a definitive statement on what they are?

 A montage of the lights on Ceres from different angles as Dawn orbits the dwarf planet

 

Maybe, says Christopher Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission. 

Dawn scientists can now conclude that the intense brightness of these spots is due to the reflection of sunlight by highly reflective material on the surface, possibly ice.

 

If your family was feuding about what the lights were, “Ice” was the number 2 answer in the NASA online poll.

If you were waiting for a count on how many lights there are on the surface of Ceres, the number 1 answer is “lots,” according to NASA.

The brightest spots within a crater in the northern hemisphere are revealed to be composed of many smaller spots

Hey, Mr. Russell, what are NASA scientists doing to figure out what all those lights on Ceres are?

So we sit and wait for the higher-resolution data to appear, and we sharpen our pencils to make calculations on the rate of water vapor creation from the possible ice rinks on Ceres.

http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2015/05/nasa-now-says-ceres-has-lots-and-lots-of-lights

The Importance of Sadness

Sadness isn't necessarily something to be avoided. In Face Susan Piver says despair can be the consequence of fighting it. Compassion is what happens when you don't.

What if I told you that the way to change the world was not to be bold, resolute, brilliant, or even compassionate? What if I told you that the way to change the world was to be sad?
It sounds so improbable. When we think of those who have taught us the most about meaningful change, we think of people who are very, very brave, say, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, the Dalai Lama. Unwavering. Deep. Devoted to others and willing to die for what they believe, quite literally.

How do you get to be such a person?

Well, I have no idea, but I would put money on the idea that the ground, path, and fruition of their lives is sadness.

When you look out at this world, what you see will make you very, very sad. This is good. You are seeing clearly. Genuine sadness gives rise, spontaneously, naturally, completely, to the wish—no, the longing—to be of benefit to others. When your wish to help is rooted in love (i.e. sadness), it is effective. There is no question.

But because it is so uncomfortable, we immediately want to turn sadness into what we imagine will hurt less: anger, hopelessness, helplessness. When the wish to help is rooted in anger, it will only create more confusion. And of course, when we feel hopeless or helpless, we take refuge in non-action, which also creates confusion.

Meditation teaches you to relax with the discomfort of sadness and stay with it, not turn it into something else. At this point, you can lay claim to your brand of helpful activity (whether it takes the form of activism, leadership, charitable work, making art, prayer, and/or simple, basic kindness to all).

Despair is what happens when you fight sadness. Compassion is what happens when you don’t. It will not feel “good,” it will feel alive and this aliveness is the path to bliss.* So the key, and this is a big one, is to learn to stabilize your heart in the open state. The practice of meditation is this stabilization. It is so much more than a self-improvement technique, as I’ve said 100 zillion times. It is a path to peace. It is a path to love, not the sappy-silly kind, but the real deal.

You have a soft spot. Contrary to popular belief, it is not where you are weak, it is the gateway to indestructible power and that is what The Open Heart Project is all about. Please take on your meditation practice for the benefit of all. My purpose in life is to help you do this, so don’t hesitate to ask questions, report your experiences, express doubt, and offer encouragement to others.


If you open your heart, you can change the world.

Thanking you in advance, on behalf of all beings.

*I once heard from a student of Tibetan meditation master Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche that when asked what bliss felt like, said, “To you, it would probably feel like pain.” So there’s a little clue, something to think about for this and all our other lifetimes. But I digress.

Susan Piver is the New York Times bestselling author of The Hard Questions,  the award-winning How Not to Be Afraid of Your Own Life, and The Wisdom of a Broken Heart. 

The Art of Pain: Why the Dark Times Make Life Beautiful

By Melissa Wandrie

“In each of us lie good and bad, light and dark, art and pain, choice and regret, cruelty and sacrifice… No one can live in the light all the time.” ~Libba Bray

Happiness, and the quest for it, is not all it’s cracked up to be. What I mean is that I think we’re making a mistake in reaching only for happiness, lightness, good days, and good moods.
I think that we’re restricting ourselves.

We’re fishing in an ocean of emotions, looking to only reel in one or two kinds, throwing back the ones we don’t want without even noticing how shockingly beautiful they can be in their strange, confusing way, much like the fascinatingly mysterious fish of the deep sea.

There was a long time in my life when I wanted happiness, so I avoided pain. I wanted to call myself brave, so I didn’t admit I was afraid.

In my search for joy, I pushed away the other emotions I didn’t like, thinking I’d be left with only happiness.

But something was still wrong. I wasn’t full. By denying myself the plethora of emotions and feelings we, as human beings, are supposed to experience, I was only connecting with myself on a surface level.

I spent many of my days trying to achieve a persistent state of peace and happiness, and I wasn’t being honest with myself.

How could I just be happy when my heart was broken in two? When my own dad wouldn’t talk to me anymore? When I was uncertain and afraid of the future and the path I decided to take.

Yet all I wanted was happiness, and I kept pushing away anything else I felt that wasn’t “good.”
It took me a while to realize that I didn’t feel like myself anymore. And that was because I wasn’t. I was pretending to be a flat placard of peace and joy, which isn’t very real, is it?

I realized I was robbing my soul of all the emotions and feelings and desires it should have.
Every feeling and all the changes we go through become precious when we realize they are all necessary, and they create contrasting beauty in our lives.

Would you rather be happy, or would you rather be full inside?

Happiness is fleeting. It flits in and out of our days like a bird, singing a beautiful song that we want to revel in all our life, for one moment while the sky is blue, not to be found on the days with dark clouds on the horizon, heavy winds, and gray skies.

But fullness—that is deep in our soul. When we have that, it never leaves. Fullness encompasses everything. It’s what allows us to be fully human in all the raw, real ways.

We need the contrasts that fullness, not just happiness, provides us. How else can we know true joy if we have never known sorrow? How can we feel and trust the deepest kind of love if we have never felt heartbreak?

In art, this is called chiaroscuro. It’s the play of light and dark within a picture, the idea that you need dark shading on one side in order to notice where the light is supposed to hit on the other.
I believe that art reflects life.
I think that by suppressing emotions we don’t like, such as fear and uncertainty and pain, we are taking away the shading of our own image. We’re denying ourselves the beautiful picture that needs the contrasts and shadows in order to be complete.

Sometimes, two seemingly conflicting emotions can fit together and coexist. Have you ever felt that? Maybe you have pain inside you that you suppressed, and suddenly another person finds a way to gently bring it to the surface.

That person and their kind eyes bring warmth to your heart, even while the pain is being laid bare.
Happiness can fill your chest and sadness can well in your eyes until they are entwined in a beautifully poignant harmony. This is chiaroscuro in its most desired form—the shadow contrasting with the brilliant light, creating a depth and fullness that couldn’t be reached any other way.

Don’t ever think that being so paralyzed by fear you don’t know how to take a step, or feeling angry and betrayed, or sobbing while your heart is in shreds, or feeling lonely or confused or uncertain or whatever you feel, is wrong or not good.

It’s your shading, your shadows, making up the complete, beautifully exquisite image of your soul and your life.

Couple on the beach painting via Shutterstock
 

Tesla Was Right: Scientists Wirelessly Transmit Electricity Through The Air

Scientists in Japan have successfully transmitted electric energy wirelessly through the air, proving that Nikola Tesla was onto something big.


For years debates have raged about whether or not power could be transferred through the air, and while there have been many reports of this being achieved on a small scale, there has never been a major mainstream study into the phenomenon, until now.

Scientists with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency used microwaves to deliver electricity to a specific target 55 meters away.

“This was the first time anyone has managed to send a high output of nearly two kilowatts of electric power via microwaves to a small target, using a delicate directivity control device,” a spokesman for the agency told AFP on Thursday.

“SSPS consists of a space-based power generation/transmission facility that gathers sunlight, converts it into microwaves or laser beams, and transmits those to the ground; and a power receiving facility on the ground,” explained researcher Yasuyuki Fukumuro.

“There are many technological challenges to solve before SSPS can be implemented. When transmitting power by microwaves, a significant technological challenge is how to control the direction, and transmit it with pinpoint accuracy from a geostationary orbit to a receiving site on the ground,” he added.

The SSPS project will initially be geared towards space applications, to power space stations, shuttles, and equipment, but will eventually be used for practical purposes on Earth as well.

http://peacefulwarriors.net/tesla-was-right-scientists-wirelessly-transmit-electricity-through-the-air/

Teaching Children Meditation and Mindfulness

In today's high-tech, fast-paced world, it's pretty easy to become over-stimulated. Busy schedules directing us to go, go, go and electronic devices constantly in our hands, sucking us into scattered digital directions make inner-peace a fleeting want. Enter tension and fatigue. This is true for us, as adults, so imagine children as they absorb the energy of their parents and of the environment which they live in. Then, we send them off to school, where they are expected to concentrate and focus. We all love our children and want the very best for them, so why not consider a tool that can help them become more mindful and better able to cope with all that is tossed into their world?

Meditation (or mindfulness practice) is a beautiful way to stay grounded. It teaches us to be in the present moment so that we can savor the good times while better managing the trying ones. It helps us to stay connected with our true essence, building our sense of self-love and worth. Studies have linked mindfulness to better concentration, increased focus, and boosts of memory.

As an adult, to be able to accomplish all of the above is a pretty remarkable feat. Imagine learning these tools as a young child and then being able to use them your entire life! What if an entire generation of children were blessed with this gift? While mindfulness is catching on and currently being taught in a handful of schools across the country, it is largely up to the parents to teach this powerful tool.

These tips that I'm about to share are my own experience as a parent and what has worked in our family and they are geared towards younger children, but much of it can apply to older kids as well. (If you are an adult looking to learn more about mediation, you may want to check out this blog.)
Introducing Mindufulness Meditation to Young Children

1. Lead by example. As a parent, it is most important to first develop your own meditation practice and then show your children the way. They will naturally become curious as they so often want to emulate the behaviors they see in their parents and others whom they look up to. My five year old daughter has grown up her whole life witnessing meditation and I even have many fond memories of her as a toddler coming out of bed in the morning and plopping herself down on my lap while I was in the midst of meditating! Once there is a genuine and natural interest, you can begin to help guide them into a better understanding and foster the growth of their own practice.
   
2. Make it relatable, on a child's level. There is a wonderful book about meditation called "Peaceful Piggy" that I've read with my daughter many times and would highly recommend. The story-telling approach is a wonderful way to connect with young kids. Above that, they suggest a really simple do-it-at-home experiment to demonstrate what meditation is all about. It says to take a jar and fill the bottom with a bit of sand. Then, cover with water. Shake the jar so that all the grains of sand begin swirling all around. Tell your child that each of those grains of sands represents a thought. It could be a happy thought, a sad thought, an angry thought. But, the grains swirling around represent all of the thoughts buzzing around our heads throughout the day. Next put the jar down and allow the sand to settle. See how the sand "thoughts" become calmer and the water becomes clearer? The thoughts are still there, but they are no longer all "crazy." Peace and stillness have taken over. Explain to your child that this symbolizes the effect of meditation on the brain.
3. Encourage discussion of their own feelings and emotions. Ask them for examples of different experiences: when something made them really happy, or really sad, a time they felt upset or their feelings were hurt, a time they felt scared. Give a few of your own examples to show them that we all feel this same array of emotions on a regular basis. Even young children, who seem to have such simple lives, still have a lot to sort through and deal with. They may share some emotions such as: happy on a fun family adventure, upset when mommy or daddy wouldn't let them do what they wanted, sad when a family member or pet became ill, or feeling hurt when a friend in school said something mean. For children that are a bit older, the standardized testing system seems to be a source of worry. Meditation can help settle the overwhelming feelings and bring them to a calmer place in their thoughts. Being able to get outside of the whirlwind to just observe instead of being engulfed is truly a powerful gift.
4. Realistic Expectations. It's important to cover that there is no way to do this right or "wrong." Like exercising, results become more apparent with repetition. Frequency is key to really seeing benefits over time. That being said, this should be an enjoyable experience for them and not feel like a chore or something they are being forced to do. Encourage their interest, efforts, and willingness. If you are into reward systems, this could be a good time to implement some small ones. "Let's practice a few minutes of meditation and then we can play a little game" or "have a little treat." This type of system is very encouraging for young children.
5. Make it special! Designate a specific area for them in the house that will be their meditation spot. Make it welcoming with their own pillow or special pillowcase. Encourage them to bring a few trinkets that have special meaning to them: perhaps a family photo, their favorite artwork, a remnant of the earth such as gemstone or even a plant.
6. Using a Timer. It's great to have a goal time, but start small. Depending on the age, 3-5 minutes can be a reasonable beginner goal. A timer is nice because it is finite and they know to expect an end time. There are many great meditation apps that you can download for your smartphone. I like ones that use singing bowl sounds for start and finish. Let your child start the timer and put it somewhere they can see it. Encourage them to not worry about the time. Instead, just relax and know their meditation is over once they hear the singing bowl ring again.
7. Guidance. Sitting down in lotus posture with eyes closed is not a must (although that is
   perfectly fine). Like I said, there is no right or wrong way. The point is to get them into a practice of settling their minds and become more mindful. Keeping the eyes closed allows for deeper relaxation, so would be suggested. Naturally, they will want to peek -- this is okay! Lying down while meditating presents an opportunity to become a little too relaxed and possibly even fall asleep, so some sort of sitting position is best. Small children will be fidgety. Just encourage them to try their best to sit still with eyes closed until the timer goes off. Most important is focus on breathe. Breathing is something we always take with us, so this can literally be practiced anywhere. Have them simply notice their breathing as their chest rises and falls. Then, start to encourage long, deep, slow breaths where their belly rises up on the inhale and contracts to small again as the exhale it all out.
   
(A fun visual: "Blowing out the Candle." Have them clasp their hands together and raise their two index fingers, holding them in front of their mouth. Inhale slowly and deeply. On the slow exhale, have them imagine blowing out a birthday candle. Blowing out a candle is something all children can relate to and it's pretty fun too! When my daughter is having a tough time with something, I can simply tell her "breathe, blow out your candle" and she knows exactly what to do to calm down.)

8. Let it be. Sitting still may not comes naturally at first. It is okay for minds to wander. It is okay to fidgety. As a matter of fact, expect it. Just encourage them to try their best to relax and refocus them back to focusing on their breath as often as needed. Know that over time and with regular practice, they will be able to sit still longer and they will begin to experience many of the other wonderful benefits of meditation and mindfulness. Don't push it, but gently encourage them to practice regularly.

Our children are the future and we have infinite love for them. What a beautiful gift to give them and to the world by teaching them to meditate. Namaste.

(For more by Dawn Gluskin visit www.dawnsense.com and join her inspiring Facebook community)
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