Balled lighting
On this day in 1904 Nikola Tesla presented his theory of ball lighting formation in Electrical World and Engineer. Are you one of the 5% of the population to have experienced this?
From 1726 aboard the sloop Catherine and Mary --
As we were coming thro' the Gulf of Florida on 29th of August, a large ball of fire fell from the Element and split our mast in Ten Thousand Pieces, if it were possible; split our Main Beam, also Three Planks of the Side, Under Water, and Three of the Deck; killed one man, another had his Hand carried of [sic], and had it not been for the violent rains, our Sails would have been of a Blast of Fire.
~
From 1894 in Golden Colorado --
A beautiful yet strange phenomenon was seen in this city on last Monday night. The wind was high and the air seemed to be full of electricity. In front of, above and around the new Hall of Engineering of the School of Mines, balls of fire played tag for half an hour, to the wonder and amazement of all who saw the display. In this building is situated the dynamos and electrical apparatus of perhaps the finest electrical plant of its size in the state. There was probably a visiting delegation from the clouds, to the captives of the dynamos on last Monday night, and they certainly had a fine visit and a roystering game of romp.
Standing inside a window on a second story apartment in Ann Arbor during the year 1973,
witnessed this phenomenon of a crackling light ball, about the size of a bowling ball,
bouncing-around between the trees. It was perhaps 6 feet from where I stood and lasted
no more than a couple of minutes. Could feel the charge and maybe only imagined the
buzzing and clicking sensations. Truly spectacular, shared by my partner (a magical being)
as well. Some experiences in nature are permanently etched in memory.
~
~
https://teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla/articles/transmission-electric-en...
Open thread time so share whatever makes sense and stuff you wonder about.
Comments
Happy Wednesday folks
.
.
Reading up on various takes of the SOTU address
given by Trump to a joint session of congress last night.
Talk about a clown show. The democrat members holding
little signs like an auction at Sotheby's. One member being
removed for vocally protesting. Only one side of the aisle
clapping for (sometimes dubious) statements.
Battle lines being drawn ..
nobody's right if everybody's wrong
question everything
Wouldn't be so bad if some balls had more light to spread /nt
https://www.euronews.com/live
Heh, you can say that again. Hi mimi, thanks for that
perceptive comment.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Woke up
“not dead” this morning, so apparently I survived the surgery. Sore as heck, and have a drain that is collecting all manner of unpleasant-looking stuff from my innards for the next week or so, but I’ll take it! Getting released this afternoon, so I’ll only have to have spent one night in the crash house. For the record: Dilaudid is nice stuff- I’ll miss it.
Saw ball lightning once. Only lasted about 10 seconds, and was a good half-mile away, but it was amusing- it bounced around over a hay pasture after a normal lightning stoke, and went out with a bang that sounded like a gunshot.
I’ve been reading about the dem antics. I can’t believe how long I supported them, wholeheartedly and without a second thought. I’m embarrassed as heck, and it would take more than just good drugs to get me to vote for them again- like a gun to the head. Trump is definitely a mixed bag with the chaos he’s wreaking, but at least he seems to be backing away from starting a nuclear exchange (for the moment). The damned dems should grow up, already….
Good grief.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
glad to hear the operation was a success
-
scares the living shit out of me
hope your recovery goes well!
question everything
Thanks for the kind thoughts!
At this point, I’ve been carved on enough times that it doesn’t really incur fear- mostly just annoyance. It is very much like flying, in that respect. The first flight or two is daunting, but then you realize that it is just about paying a lot of money to be uncomfortable, not sleep much, and basically sit around until they let you out. If the airlines would give you the good drugs, I’d like flying more… (;-)
The first year or so of my marriage, we lived in Waltham, MA, but my job was in Silicon Valley. So I commuted back and forth twice a week. I racked up a lot of frequent flier miles, and got some fun stories from it. I’d red-eye back from SF to Boston (TWA fight 44, which dates me!), and hop in my car and work a day or two at the Boston office, and then take TWA 36 from Boston back to the left coast, and work a day or two at the main office. Lather, rinse, repeat- and that reminds me of a story.
Often the red-eye would get temporarily diverted into La Guardia for, er, reasons. I always packed a towel, toothbrush, and shampoo so that I could perform my morning constitutional in the airport bathroom, and still arrive at the office in a semi-refreshed state. Well, one morning I’d completed that ritual, and went into a stall to relieve myself. And when I was done, I put the toilet seat back down.
And a voice came from the stall next door, that said “Married, huh?”
Busted! I’d rather take a boat, in any case, but that would have been really time consuming… (;-)
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Glad to hear that you're alive and mending.
The Dems have been largely theater for some time now, mediocre commedia dell'arte - the old SF Mime Troupe did it much better.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
And, just in the last 5 minutes,
This text came in:
All Dem gifts 4X-Matched to outraise & HUMILIATE Trump after his despicable speech
$10=40
$50=200
$100=400
DONATE by 11:59pm ndtcwin.com/blahblahblah
Stop2End
I of course immediately responded “Stop”, and I’ve now received it 3 more times. I truly regret ever having given them a dime. What a fool I was.
And I jinxed myself- the hospitalist just came in and announced that I get to spend at least another night in the crash house, because they don’t like my heart rate, and I have to go on O2 at home. Sigh.
This “getting old” thing really is getting old- but I do have to admit that it beats the alternative.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
enjoy your stay
.
last time I was held hostage after surgery
had to tell the tech to stop feeding me IV
saline solution (couldn't pee) and told the
charge nurse to sign me out - she wan't happy
understand protocols and all, but we are all
biologically and chemically different from the norm.
O2 ain't a bad drug considering alternatives.
cheers!
question everything
Sorry you much endure hospital food
a second night. Still, being pissed off at all things hospital, it beats the alternative.
It was a nurse, not a dr, that told me to use vitamin E oil at the scar site. The vitamin encourage cell groth at the scar edges, heals more quickly, and is a smaller and less unsightly scar.
I keep it around for scrapes and scratches. It works!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Take care.
Be well. Rest, heal, and feel happy.
Lin
Though very much in the minority these days, courageous Jews
stand up for positions and parts of their communities that are “progressive, including on Palestine”:
https://jewschool.com/zionist-attempts-to-erase-the-power-of-jewish-diss...
that is encouraging to see
.
there are still voices of sanity
in this world
question everything
Good morning, Cap'n,
I am pretty sure I observed a lightning ball a couple of months ago. It was over some tree tops, then dropped and popped. I had no idea what I saw, so not I know!
Well, the media has castigated Ze for a week, calling him a murderer of his people, saying he makes Trump look like a man of peace, blah blah...Well, this morning, a headline appeared saying Trump got a mineral deal, will resume military aid to Ukraine. That headline disappeared as quickly as did the lightning ball.
I thought the whole WH quarrel looked staged. Perhaps I was correct. It was what the leaders wanted us to see for whatever unstated purpose.
Thanks for the OT, dear friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
whiplash
.
this may be the MO of the present administration
dropping globular energy bombs at a rapid pace
so the MSM can't keep-up? Too many balls in the
air at once to effectively propagandize every issue.
good luck!
question everything
Good morning, Cap'n Q. Never had the luck to see or
experience ball lightning. It seems unfair, since I did futz around with electricity and even (confined) cold plasma a bit as a kid. Ah well. Meanwhile I skipped the speech, though my wife did recount to me some of his madness regarding the Panama Canal. Somebody needs to take him aside and read him Article VI paragraph 2, where it says the constitution and all treaties made or which shall be made are the Supreme Law of the Land, not dipshit temporary officeholderes. True, the US is notorious for ignoring and abrogating treaties, but the canal is important enough to world trade that I can see the ROW standing up to his sorry ass on this one.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
imperialist ambitions
.
seem misguided
pissing off your neighbors
and a much larger nation state
for trade dominance will backfire
like the sanction madness
not a good way to make friends
question everything
Jut saw a spreadsheet
on ZH showing the current owner of the canal ports being heavily invested in by Blackrock, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Centurylink, and of all organizations, USAA. Besides being out of Hong Kong, the Chinese bastion of Capitalism writ large.
Seems more like an "Under New Management" slight of hand.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
it will not be the end of the world (as we know it)
.
.
if the US decides to clog-up the canal with warships
keep thinking about that new Chinese port in Peru
re-routing trade away from the canal
this weird idea that US can control trade by blocking
access is not well thought out
question everything
Hmm — Greta Thunberg has become an “unperson” in Western media
in recent years, after having been a media darling for so long, even being named the youngest Time magazine “Person of the Year” ever.
https://x.com/GretaThunberg/status/1843930080847790376
I guess she stepped on certain people’s toes — folks who have the power to order inconvenient truths silenced and figures they don’t want heard, erased from history and cancelled.
at least she did capture the global attention
.
she was smeared, arrested (several times)
but stuck with her messaging platform
she showed what an individual can do
to open-up dialogue and confront power
not so easy to disappear her efforts
question everything
MAGA vs. Free Speech
Saw one a long time ago
...at about age 10. It came into my grandfather's living room, just as a lightning flash and instantaneous thunder struck the tv antennae on the garage roof. It came in through the upper screen on the front door. Flew over my 5 year old brother who hit the deck. The B&W tv console began walking across the floor with sparks and smoke coming out of the back. The ball lightning was bright like the sun, it appeared to be about 10 or 12 inches across, completely spherical except for its surface which was covered by small triangular irregularities coming and going, looking very much like an electrical charge. I had read about them in some science text, so I discarded my original impression that it was some kind of alien. It traveled in straight lines and made two right angle turns. One in the living room flying over my terrified brother lying flat on the floor, and another a right turn into the kitchen. Finally it dove down a bit to disappear into a wall outlet on the sink counter. Then we realized the peak of the garage roof near where the now melted (?) tv antennae had been was on fire. My grandfather climbed a ladder to put the small fire out, and I refilled the bucket.
Hadn't thought of that episode in a long time. Never saw another.
Thanks for the OT, QMS.
語必忠信 行必正直
WOW!!!
What a childhood memory!
I can imagine sitting around a campfire, telling grandpa stories, and that one getting you toasted by your fellow beer drinkers!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
amazing creation of nature's forces
.
.
can't see them as a destructive force per se
more of a reminder of the ability to project caution
glad your brother was not hurt
the escape thru the outlet is very cool
and the antenna burn quite telling
never have seen a TV dance before
obviously the electrons were having their way
thanks for sharing this episode!
question everything
That 1726 event
sounds more like a meteorite strike, what with shattering the mast, blowing through the deck, and exiting the side of the ship under the waterline.
Thanks for the OT.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
My grandmother was an eyewitness.
IIRC, it showed up in a kitchen she was in.
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
My mom had a ball of lightning jump out of the phone
and chase her around the kitchen - or so she said. After that, whenever there was a thunderstorm she would bundle us all out to the car and cower there until it was over. (I think she got over the fear...eventually.)
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
When my mom
was a little girl of only 5 or 6, her house got hit by lightning, and the bolt flashed into her bedroom and hit the iron headboard of the bed she was laying in, on its way to the ground. Until the day she passed, she’d jump when there was lightning close nearby- about half a second *before* the actual stroke occurred. It was the oddest thing, but it was perfectly repeatable…
It wasn’t until I got old enough to study the physics of lightning for the oddness of it to really soak in. I just thought that it was normal mom behavior, and didn’t realize that other people’s moms didn’t do it. She really was the lightning whisperer.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Having been born/hatched (whatever) into
a heavily math/scientific family, stuff like this was accepted. Electrical energy is all around and part of us in its various aspects. I never saw balled lightning in actual reality. That was cos of having lived most of my life in one of the Lightning Capitals of the world: ECFL. I take cover ASAP when it threatens. Nature really is fascinating stuff. Sure beats nonsense like human political stupidity. Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.