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As you said, friction would introduce more wear and maintenance. This gentleman’s idea is to attach a windmill to drive the rotary induction wheel, which would essentially be “free” heat energy, and an interesting hobby contraption. Entertainment and a sense of accomplishment is probably his main goal.
Its not a brand new idea, just a different application of the principle. Induction generators already exist, and they can indeed be used with windmills, but to generate AC current versus heat energy.
More power to this fun and crazy inventor. Maybe he can find practical and reproducible use for this effect. If not, he’s gonna have the most unique water heater ever invented. With this he could make a fully mechanical hot water heater that burns no fuel and uses no electricity. He would just have to make a mechanism to disengage a clutch at the top temperature.
Toxic work culture also means dishonest management expectations, wage theft, and generally anti-employee policies.
For example, around 2-3 years ago I heard a fun story about why my old employer lost 3/4 of their IT team(MSP, their product was IT folks). The straw that broke the camel’s back was a management partner asking an employee “are you letting your family get in the way of your job?” This was because they couldn’t get this person to work overtime on the spot because they weren’t going to leave their kid’s sports game.
At that same employer, about 7 years ago, I was told I would have to start my day at the customer’s job site at or before 8AM, and I wouldn’t be compensated for my travel time because “everyone has a commute, buddy”. Problem was, my customers were often over an hour away, and they were going to bill the customer for my travel time anyway.
There’s certainly still toxic work cultures, and while I am glad you seemingly haven’t had to experience it as much recently, you shouldn’t discount other’s struggles just because you aren’t experiencing the same thing.