Tesla & GE... the war continues...

Last week, on electrical and physics pioneer Robert J. Van de Graaff's birthday, I received two thermal coffee/tea cylinders. The GE (General Electric) version came from a friend on the GO train. The Tesla (Tesla Motors) version came from my boss. Both are welcome, of course. I will use them. What makes it a bit peculiar is the timing and their rivalry. Van de Graaff was a renowned physicist in his day and his eponymous device was reviewed by Nikola Tesla in the early 1930s. Tesla was affiliated with Westinghouse and was an arch-rival to Thomas Edison's General Electric. This rivalry was known as the War of the Currents (or Battle of the Currents) when both companies were vying for electrical supremacy. Edison's direct current was in use but was grossly inefficient and impractical. Tesla's alternating current was far more efficient and practical. Tesla & Westinghouse won that battle, mostly. DC is used in some applications and is making a bit of a comeback in certain situations of high-tension power transmission. But the king for the past 130 years has been AC. Had Edison not been such a jerk, Tesla, who was working for him, would not have quit and gone to Westinghouse. There is much more to the story, of course. I just found it peculiar and amusing that I should get competing flasks on the same day - and on the birthday of my research subject who is a remarkable figure in history in his own right.