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Frustrated with People's perception of HV hobbies.

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MikeT1982

Sun Jun 17 2007, 01:21AM

Registered Member #621 Joined: Sun Apr 01 2007, 12:37AM
Location:
Posts: 119

I'm hoping somebody finds some sympathy with me here, but I am having a hard time dealing with being looked upon as a "weirdo" or questioned why I am working on a laser project or being questioned on why I am intrested in HV topics like Tesla Coils and Quarter Shrinkers. When I was a child, people would see me tinkering with electrical stuff ans say wow that kid is brilliant (and I'm most definitely not I have just always been curious!!!) and think it was cute and they had a future physicist on their hands. Well now that I am not an Engineer by profession (what I started college for) and I work in the health feild, it is a God Aweful task to explain my fascination with and reasons for building these projects. For example, a girl I was working with at the hospital whom saw me looking up info on Laser PFN's questioned me what it was and I had to explain. When asked why I am building a laser I explain how I am fasinated with the interanals and their function and I want to bring the processes into plain view so I can witness it first hand in my own time in the comfort of my own home, and secondly to simply say I MADE THIS!!!

Well it didn't go so smoothly....soon I have multiple people asking me why why why? Not being curious and fascinated, but asking me if the FBI will track me and why I have unusual interests....as if they suspect I am up to no good. And this hurts pretty badly as anyone who knows me as a person knows I wouldn't hurt a fly lol. I am actually quite frightned of the beast itself, and feel I am creating a little Frankenstein LOL.

Oh well, I guess with what has been happening in the world lately (a damn shame) people get antsy about things that are so cool and beautiful to work with. I guess if I had no understanding or interest in something and it seemed bizzarre I might feel the same.

Sulaiman

Sun Jun 17 2007, 01:45AM

Registered Member #162 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 10:25AM
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 3140

Don't feel too bad mate;
imagine me!
A bearded muslim playing with all kinds of high-voltage and radiation stuff!

Relatively speaking you have nothing to worry about
and if you colleagues don't understand - so what!
It's good to be a little eccentric - enjoy it!

MikeT1982

Sun Jun 17 2007, 02:21AM

Registered Member #621 Joined: Sun Apr 01 2007, 12:37AM
Location:
Posts: 119

Thanks man thanks!! LOL! Yeah thank god for the internet, Sam's Laser FAQ wasn't kidding when he warns of the hobby "don't expect to find people in your neighborhood who share your interest in lasers". LOL.

GreySoul

Sun Jun 17 2007, 03:33AM

Registered Member #546 Joined: Fri Feb 23 2007, 11:43PM
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Posts: 239

Depends on where you live. In Albuquerque every 4th or 5th house is usually buzzing and glowing. In Los Alamos every 5th or 6th house ISN'T buzzing and glowing.

...

Still, I share some of your concerns when it comes to chemistry. My retail sources know me well enough to know I'm not buying drug precursors, and they are smart enough to know what is, and is not, a real drug precursor. My neighbors and people at school however, a bit harder to convince. I dread the day I have to explain to a cop why I have both metallic sodium AND iodine in the same building if I'm not cooking meth...but so far that hasn't come up.

-Doug

...

Sun Jun 17 2007, 03:46AM

Registered Member #56 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:02AM
Location: Southern Califorina, USA
Posts: 2445

I don't really have the problem of 'd00d ur gonna get arrested!!' but I have a hard time explaining what it is that I am doing. It has helped recently that most people in come into contact with have a baisc knowledge of what electricity/light/etc is. People ask me 'what are you hobbies' and I am like, well I do a lot of things, I go hiking/camping a lot, I build rockets, and I do a lot of electrical engeenering... You wouldn't happen to know what a tesla coil is?... You play with WHATS? Tesla Coils, they are a way to make lightning.. Oh, never heard it it....

But I almost have even more trouble than when I do show anything to anyone (like say, my rocket GPS tracking system) that are like 'well, that is interisting, what does it do? Well, I use it to track my rockets, they go so high when I launch them that it is hard to find it when it falls back down, so this tells me where it is to within about 10 feet. Oh, that is cool... You ever launch bugs in your rockets?

I could probably be more impressive with my descriptions, but there is just something that prevents me from trying to make them sound better then they are, Barrows' site keeps coming to mind...

Marko

Sun Jun 17 2007, 10:44AM

Registered Member #89 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 02:40PM
Location: Zadar, Croatia
Posts: 3145

I live in a community wich in overall heavily discriminates nerds like me.

I go in same school with another 1000 idiots and all I can do is to play myself dumb.
It's even more sad that there are some quite intelligent guys who just don't show absolutely any interest in anything.

All I do, electronics, high voltage and etc., is in most cases just ridiculed.

For those reasons I have no 'friends' and am running away from world.

All nice people I now know are 1000's of km away.

Conundrum

Sun Jun 17 2007, 11:19AM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4061

Interesting. I know a few people over here who are interested in what I work on, though I did get one guy at 7days*** (now not employed) asking about building a stungun.

Main problem is people's fear of the unknown. Case in point- you used to be able to go into the chemist and buy a number of chemicals with no problems. Now, thanks to the Health-and-$afety Mafiosi you can't even get iron sulphate, let alone IPA.

I had to resort to "borrowing" semi-dead car batteries from the and then charging from a solar cell to get a small amount of sulphuric acid.

Only place that still sells acetone is the boat supplies shop, and they get a shipment once a month. I actually get people asking me for acetone (one lady uses it for cleaning pictures)

-A

thedatastream

Sun Jun 17 2007, 11:24AM

Registered Member #505 Joined: Sun Nov 19 2006, 06:42PM
Location: Yorkshire!
Posts: 329

If you want social acceptance, watch TV all the time, follow sports and talk about that (yawn).
If you want to do something interesting, then do it and bugger what people think.
That is one of the beauties of the internet - the ability to find other people who share your interests.

As my granny would have said "those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind"

Adrian

Sun Jun 17 2007, 11:32AM

Registered Member #697 Joined: Thu May 10 2007, 12:28PM
Location: Australia
Posts: 22

Like Mike I too have a interest in lasers and face simmilar problems.

I purchased a $40 green dpss laser off ebay a few months ago and it was hard to explain to anyone who saw it 'why' I had it. "What's the point" they ask.

They dont know I spent considerably more money on a 250mW 650nm (red) diode laser (+protective glasses).

Before those two I had a sort-of-working home made nitrogen laser and of the three people who ever saw it, one thought it was pointless, the other had no idea what was going on, and the third thought I was going to kill myself or burn down the house.

Once apon a time I used to try and discuss these hobbies with 'normal' people. It seemed that the conversation always ended up "So these lasers... can they like... cut ya arm off o.0?" or something like that.

Now if someone sees laser or electronics stuff at my house I just say "Oh thats just nerdy science stuff" and most of the time they wont ask about it again.

Dont even bother trying to explain anything even remotely science/technology related to anyone who does nothing except spend all their spare money on alcohol/clothes/partying like most of the people I work with.

It's sad that we live in a world where anyone can spend hundreds of dollars a week on alcohol and be 'cool' and 'trendy' but anyone with a interest in science at home is weird and dangerous.

Dr. Slack

Sun Jun 17 2007, 07:32PM

Registered Member #72 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 08:29AM
Location: UK St. Albans
Posts: 1659

It doesn't matter particularly what you do, the important thing is that you do it!

Just remember that when you are working out where real life is, there's billions of people on the planet, and here you're in a club that may exceed 1000 given enough time. What to do with the frustration? I've found that standing on a large soapbox and yelling "you're all wrong" doesn't work. But then I've not yet found anything that does.

Leaving a few of my crushed cans around my desk (each one labelled with the energy required to acheive that degree of crushing) seems to gain me a bit of kudos, but then that is at an engineering company, I don't think it would work as well at the gym or the beer kellar.

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