Lighting strikes again!
In the old snapcap thread,Tam posited that she had a liklihood of losing a firing pin due to failure to use a gun condom snap cap similar to her liklihood of getting struck by lightning. This is risible on it’s surface; because of the unpredictability of lightning it is impossible to protect against it except by staying in an area where lightning will never strike, i.e., in a gun safe or faraday cage. Snap caps don’t restrict any activity (like living in a faraday cage would) and do not change the function of the firearm in any way. Enough, this isn’t what this post is about!
This post is about being hit by lightning. I have not yet been hit, but I expect to be hit, some day. Seven members of my family have been hit, and several co-workers. Most of these have been indirect hits- my sister was hit while talking on the phone, through the phone. My father was hit by a branch of lightning off a tree that was hit. Both grandfathers had been hit directly. An uncle and a few others hit indirectly. A co-worker got shocked grabbing the door handle of his car while the building he was parked next to was hit, not fifty yards from where I sit right now.
All of the people in my family who have been hit by lightning cannot wear a watch, either due to oils on their skin damaging the watch, or the watch becoming magnetized while wearing it. I’m of the “magnetized’ variety- in fact the only watch I’ve ever been able to wear are the all-stainless Swiss variety. We all regularly notice streetlights going out around us, not once in a while but every single time we are in a car, at least one streetlight will burn out as we drive under. This has been happening to me for years.
So whatever the cause, I expect to be hit by lightning eventually. And I can only hope it’s one of the indirect hits; the direct ones are often fatal. I don’t want to end up a permanent fixture of God’s own presto hot Dogger. I’ve been shocked many times (“Electrocuted” means killed, I haven’t managed that yet) invariably because of a Stupid Previous Owner Trick on a house or a machine, so I know what to expect on a small scale, and I’m not anxious to repeat on a large scale.
Still.
I love a rainstorm, the more sturm and drang the better, and I love to see lightning hit close by. I know others in my family have the same fascination and attraction. Wonder if there’s a causality there.
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The amount of people that believe they have something to do with street lights cycling off at night (due to a bulb that’s about reached the end of its life and isn’t able to sustain an arc) is absolutely incredible. Google’s full of ’em.
And now I want a Presto Hot Dogger…
OA: I have done this to incandescent, sodium vapor, mercury, fluorescent, and arc lights. If I am out at night, driving or walking, I invariably walk under a light that goes out. Every. Single. Time. In 50 years. Those other people? They were probably near me when they thought they put lights out.
Never thought much of lightning until I was on Mt. Washington in NH in a thunderstorm and watched lightning strikes below me on the mountain.
Serious believer instantly.
“…I know others in my family have the same fascination and attraction. Wonder if there’s a causality there.”
Sounds seriously like being a kin to a moths attraction to a flame. Hope (assuming you follow in the family tradition) you are fortunate enough to only get burned, and not reduced to highly charged ashes.
And here I thought that I was the only person who killed non stainless (or electronic watches. I even kill standard quartz watches. Only stainless mechanical watches keep tickin’.
and streetlights? I have shut off 6 in a row one at time while walking on a good night. After I pass, they relight and stay lit.
You are not alone, my friend. Although I am unaware of any genetically linked attraction in my family to lightning, however.
So, what happens if you go to a science museum that has a big ass Van de Graaff generator operating?
I used to have a van degraaf generator myself. Been zapped several times by it
I kinda figured it might be the other way around…you’d zap the VdG generator. :-)
It’s been proven that men get struck by lightning more than women, but that’s just because men have a greater tendency to stay outside longer when a storm is coming.
As far as the streetlights go, I’m reminded of that magnetic family in Thailand or wherever. Apparently it’s genetic. So yeah, I’ll buy it.
“It’s been proven that men get struck by lightning more than women, but that’s just because men have a greater tendency to stay outside longer when a storm is coming.”
Close. Men tend to be outside (and further away from shelter) more often than women. Statistics then play themselves out.
Og, I don’t put lights out that I’ve noticed, but I can’t wear a quartz watch either. I’ve never been struck by lightning, but my body puts up far less electrical resistance than most people (please don’t ask how I know that). It’s even difficult for me to tune a radio. The reception tends to fuzz out if I get too close. My son shows all the same symptoms, so I often tease him that we’re more likely to get struck by lightning than anybody else and more likely to survive it as well. I wrote a series about my magnetic misadventures on my personal blog a while back. It traces back from this post if you’re interested in reading: http://evylrobot.com/?p=739 No biggie if not, just thought you would find it fascinating.