History Main / TimTaylorTechnology

* A variant of this happens with amateur or hobbyist astronomers. They tend to go out of their way to maximize the magnification their telescope can produce. As any professional astronomer will tell you, 90+% of astronomical observation should be done using the lowest magnification your equipment is capable of producing, especially if you're a true novice who has absolutely no working knowledge of how telescopes actually work[[note]]For the record, the primary function of a telescope, regardless of its design, is to collect and focus light from distant objects, not magnification of said objects. Magnification is a side effect determined by the quotient of the focal lengths of the main body of the telescope and the eyepiece used with it. The diameter of the telescope's aperture is actually the important part to consider when purchasing a telescope. [[{{CaptainObvious}} The wider the aperture on your telescope, the more light it can collect]].[[/note]]. Most professionals and veterans blame the marketing teams employed by manufacturers of the equipment being used for this misconception.

* A variant of this happens with amateur or hobbyist astronomers. As any professional astronomer will tell you, 90+% of astronomical observation should be done using the lowest magnification your equipment is capable of producing, especially if you're a true novice who has absolutely no working knowledge of how telescopes actually work[[note]]For the record, the primary function of a telescope, regardless of its design, is to collect and focus light from distant objects, not magnification of said objects. Magnification is a side effect determined by the quotient of the focal lengths of the main body of the telescope and the eyepiece used with it. The diameter of the telescope's aperture is actually the important part to consider when purchasing a telescope. [[{{CaptainObvious}} The wider the aperture on your telescope, the more light it can collect]].[[/note]]. Most professionals and veterans blame the marketing teams employed by manufacturers of the equipment being used for this misconception.

* A variant of this happens with amateur or hobbyist astronomers. As any professional astronomer will tell you, 90+% of astronomical observation should be done using the lowest magnification your equipment is capable of producing, especially if you're a true novice who has absolutely no working knowledge of how telescopes actually work. Most professionals and veterans blame the marketing teams empolyed by manufacturers of the equipment being used for this misconception.

Can't outrun the bad guys? More power to the engines. The top speed of a space ship is totally independent of its design and mechanics, and is simply a function of how much raw power it has.

[[DeflectorShields Shields]] failing? More power. Critical pieces burning out? You'd think the solution would be to ''reduce'' the strain on that component, but no, the solution is to increase the power. The NegativeSpaceWedgie has nullified the physical principles on which the ship works? Turn up the power and it'll get scared and back off. Can't compute the Nth digit of pi? [[ExplosiveOverclocking Increase power to the computer]]. Even missing or broken parts can be temporarily replaced by increased power. With the power up so high, it's no wonder there's so much ExplosiveInstrumentation.

Named for the lead character of the sitcom ''Series/HomeImprovement'', who constantly tried to give various appliances and tools "more power". However, this typically - and on some occasions literally - blew up in his face.

Not to be confused with the occasionally-formidable [[Series/TheGoodies Tim Brooke-Taylor Technology]], or with needing more ''[[MoreDakka fire]]''[[{{Pun}} -power]].

* ''VideoGame/OuterWilds'': Exploring the [[WaveMotionGun Orbital Probe Cannon]] reveals that Avens and Mallow were the [[{{Precursors}} Nomai]] in charge of its operation. In one conversation, they receieve a message from their fellow engineers warning them (for safety's sake) not to exceed a certain power level when they configure the cannon to fire. Avens and Mallow convince one another to ignore the recommendation and maximize the cannon's power output, reasoning that it will [[ForScience ensure the highest possible chance of the mission's success]] (and, implicitly, [[RuleOfCool will be cool]]). Elsewhere, you can find a conversation between Cassava and Daz just before they send the message in question. They know their sibling and friend very well, and accurately predict that Avens and Mallow will want to crank the power higher, so they adjust the recommended "limit" significantly lower than the calculated safe maximum in an attempt to compensate for their zeal. Thanks to Avens and Mallow the cannon launches the probe beautifully, but overloads itself and explodes anyway, accounting for its shattered state when you find it.

* The human body often works this way. Muscles not getting enough oxygen? Crank up the heartbeat and respiration! And if ''that's'' not enough, lactic acid fermentation will provide you with the ''more power'' you need! If ''that's'' not enough, only a third of your muscles normally operate at any one time. Throw them all into gear! (Note that doing this causes massive tissue damage, so the body will save it for live-or-die situations. But this is where stories of people lifting cars unaided come from). Most primates can do this safely all the time; it's why chimps are so much stronger than a human with the same muscle mass.

*** In [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition 3rd Edition]], the "Reserves of Strength" feat allows a spellcaster to boost their caster level by up to 3, while also increasing the {{Cap}} on spells which scale in power by caster level. However, afterwards the character becomes stunned for an equal number of rounds (or [[CastFromHitPoints takes damage]], [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything if they were immune to stunning]]).

* ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'': The tinker gnomes create large machines and devices that make a lot of noise and produce a lot of light and are often oversized for the tasks they're designed to do. In game terms, the larger a tinker gnome device, the more chance it has of working successfully.

* Franchise/{{Gundam}}:

* Anime/{{Scryed}} Kazuma's activation phrase for the second level of his alter goes like this: "MORE POWER! AND MORE! AND MORE! '''SHINE BRIGHTER!'''"

** And if that didn't work, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Large_Hadron_Collider there are plans]] to add '''EVEN MORE POWER.''' ''And'' potential plans for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Large_Hadron_Collider another one entirely]] if that failed as well.

* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' when the Venture family tries to make it out of Ünderland after their experimental jet is disabled; Doctor Venture frantically and repeatedly demands that they switch to auxiliary power, and when they finally land, Brock snaps back, "WE DON'T '''HAVE''' AUXILIARY POWER!"

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

OvenLogic is what happens when Tim Taylor Technology is applied to cooking. DivertingPower may be necessary if you don't have extra power on hand and need to take it from another system.

* The ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_machine Z-]][[http://www.sandia.gov/news-center/news-releases/2006/images/z-machine.jpg Machine]]'', a device with a peak power output of 290 terawatts, over 10 times the combined power flowing through all of the world's electrical grid for a few tens of nanoseconds, generating a plasma implosion, an extremely powerful X-ray blast and lightning storm, and partially destroying itself. Originally built as a nuclear bomb simulator with an output of 50 tW, it's now being used as an extreme physics experiment and fusion power testbed, with plans to upgrade it to output 1 petawatt - 1000 tW. Its working principle, the Z-pinch, essentially involves gathering as much energy as you can and releasing it one extremely powerful shot through a couple of poor thin wires, causing said wires to explode into a plasma and then causing the plasma to then crush itself under its own magnetic field. This process, apart from generating huge amounts of X-rays creating, can generate stupendous temperatures, many times hotter than the center of the Sun. It is one of the ways of achieving inertial confinement fusion reactions - the other two ways involve having hundreds of giant laser beams simultaneously converge on a tiny ball of hydrogen as in the 500 tW [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Ignition_Facility National Ignition Facility]] or have a runaway fission chain reaction - a nuclear bomb - implode on a hydrogen target - creating a thermonuclear bomb.

--> MCP: Sark... All my available processes [[MakeMyMonsterGrow are now yours]]...

Named for the lead character of the sitcom ''Series/HomeImprovement'', who constantly tried to give various appliances and tools "more power." However, this typically - and on some occasions literally - blew up in his face.

* Almost every episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' featured Captain Kirk demanding "more power" from Scotty. This is deconstructed in "Relics," the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration ST:TNG]]'' episode featuring Scotty, in which he explains to Chief Engineer Geordi [=LaForge=] that he always held something back and [[ScottyTime padded time estimates]] to make sure he would come off as a miracle worker. Since Scotty wrote most of the engineering manuals that they use in Geordi's time, this means that most of the ships in the Star Trek universe by TNG time are running at about 33% efficiency and their engineers probably don't know it. [[FridgeLogic Apparently, nobody bothered to check the math despite all the upgrades that have been made to starship engines in the intervening years]].

* ''Series/{{Automan}}'' was a hologram that had turned into HardLight because he had been "given enough power," as was dryly stated in the opening monologue.

* The ''VideoGame/XWing''/''VideoGame/TieFighter'' series of space sims allowed the player to divert power to either shields, guns, or engines, increasing the performance of one or more of them at the cost of decreasing the performance of the remaining device(s). ''VideoGame/FreeSpace'' and later games in the ''Videogame/WingCommander'' series also used this play mechanic. Unlike the typical applications of this trope though, it ''usually'' doesn't affect the maximum performance of these systems, but rather the rate at which they or associated systems recharged. This may have been inspired by the part of ''Franchise/StarWars'', where Luke says "R2, try to increase the power!" and also the lines where pilots say "Switch your deflectors on double front," and "Stabilize your rear deflectors."

* Comes into play in ''[[VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight FTL]]''. Upgrading ship systems increases their durability but, more importantly, allows you to divert additional power into them. (And if you upgrade your ship's various systems without upgrading the ship reactor to match... you start having to choose whether to power your engines and weapons, or your ''life support''.) There is also a secondary system, the Backup Battery, which gives you a short boost of even more extra power to help mitigate that problem. Zig-Zagged by the fact that damaged ship systems cannot be brought up to full power; crew must be sent to repair them first.

--> "I've always thought that one of the the great things about physics is that you can add more digits to any number and see what happens and nobody can stop you."
* From [[http://www.textsfromlastnight.com/Text-Replies-47050.html TextsFromLastNight]]: "I don't care how hungry or impatient you are. the highest setting on the microwave is 100% and you better not take it apart to add power. This is not the Enterprise."

* The human body often works this way. Muscles not getting enough oxygen? Crank up the heartbeat and respiration! And if ''that's'' not enough, lactic acid fermentation will provide you with the ''more power'' you need! If ''that's'' not enough, only a third of your muscles normally operate at any one time. Throw them all into gear! (Note that doing this causes massive tissue damage, so the body will save it for live-or-die situations. But this is where stories of people lifting cars unaided come from.) Most primates can do this safely all the time; it's why chimps are so much stronger than a human with the same muscle mass.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSME#Thrust_specifications Space Shuttle main engine: Thrust specifications]] at The Other Wiki says, "Current launches use 104.5%, with 106 or 109% available for abort contingencies." It's a convention, as they go on to explain, but sounds nice.

** The distinctive growling sound of guitars in rock and roll music is an effect called "distortion." While there are many ways of creating distortion, the simplest and still the most common way to do so is to turn up the preamplification volume (or "gain") to a higher level than the main amplification ("power") stage can take advantage of, resulting in the waveform "clipping" as the amplitude of the preamp soundwave exceeds the limits of the power amp stage.

* ''Blog/WhatIf'' of ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' has [[https://what-if.xkcd.com/13/ quite]] [[https://what-if.xkcd.com/35/ a]] [[https://what-if.xkcd.com/91/ few]] [[https://what-if.xkcd.com/119/ examples]].

* New moon? Can't see anything? Wanna fix that? Or maybe you're just sick of the moon and want to vaporize the whole thing. Either way, in his blog ''Blog/WhatIf'' Randall "Webcomic/{{xkcd}}" Munroe [[http://what-if.xkcd.com/13/ tells you how.]] In another entry he hangs a lampshade on it:

* In the ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'' episode ''Going Up the Mississipi'', the villainous captain Lowriver tries to win the boat race by disabling the safety valve of his steam engine, against the warnings of his engineer. RealityEnsues when his steam engine blows up on him.

* On ''Series/TopGear'' and ''Series/TheGrandTour'', this is Jeremy Clarkson's answer to just about any problem.

* ''Series/MadTV'' has Spishak products that sometimes require more power.

* ''Videogame/EliteDangerous'' allows players to route power between engines (ENG), weapons (WEP), and systems (SYS). A ship has a total of 6 power 'pips' to distribute, but each section requires 4 to work at maximum capacity. Pips to weapons increases how long they can fire for, pips to engines increases both forward and rotational speed, and pips to system increases shield strength. In the ''Horizons'' ExpansionPack, the Engineers can tune ship modules to suit the player, be it dropping performance for heat efficiency, cranking up the power to 11 at the cost of overheating at the slightest touch, or reinforcing modules with extra armor plating.
* Many machines and electronics of ''Videogame/PeoplePlayground'' become more powerful by electrifying them with batteries or generators. For example, vehicles become more faster, lights become brighter, and the propulsion output of Thrusters become increased by just attaching some batteries.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

OvenLogic is what happens when Tim Taylor Technology is applied to cooking.

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* [[DrillSergeantNasty Sarge]] of ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' sees every powered bit of machinery as requiring some obscenely impratical fuel source, such as diesel or nuclear fission. Even when power cells and solar energy are far more economical and reliable, his work consistently hampers the team in battle, such as when he installed [[ElectroMagneticPulse emp]]- er, sorry, E.M.P. tech into the Warthog's turret, completely immobilizing the vehicle whenever it fires.