Anybody have any experience with lightning rods ?

Do they actually do any good ?

After the house took 3 direct hits by lightning a few weeks ago, I
think
we need to figure something out. The lightning took out 2 satellite
dishes,
tv antenna and a whole lot of coax cable attached to all of the above.
We had already unplugged the tv's, computers, etc so none of those
were
damaged.

Randy

rjmacres@yahoo.com wrote:
> Anybody have any experience with lightning rods ?
>
> Do they actually do any good ?
>
> After the house took 3 direct hits by lightning a few weeks ago, I
> think
> we need to figure something out. The lightning took out 2 satellite
> dishes,
> tv antenna and a whole lot of coax cable attached to all of the above.
> We had already unplugged the tv's, computers, etc so none of those
> were
> damaged.
>
> Randy

The idea of a lightning rod is to provide a conductive pathway around something by connecting a high spot directly to a good ground. They help protect the structure from becoming the pathway which often results in heat, fire, etc. They don't do a whole lot to protect against the inductive surge that accompanies a nearby hit. The wires in and around your house can still pick up a good jolt from that. It sounds to me as if your tv antenna and the coax functioned as a lightning rod.

--
He went like one that hath been stunned,
And is of sense forlorn:
A sadder and a wiser man,
He rose the morrow morn.

rjmacres@yahoo.com wrote:
> Anybody have any experience with lightning rods ?
>
> Do they actually do any good ?
>
> After the house took 3 direct hits by lightning a few weeks ago, I
> think
> we need to figure something out. The lightning took out 2 satellite
> dishes,
> tv antenna and a whole lot of coax cable attached to all of the above.
> We had already unplugged the tv's, computers, etc so none of those
> were
> damaged.
>
> Randy

Another thing to look at is the grounding electrodes at your place.
The basic ground rod is probably the least effective for lightning
protection.
Better grounds are concrete encased electrodes (rebar), metal
underground water pipe, or a ground ring. More is better. There should
be something at each building.
One guy at code class said an engineer had them build a cylinder of
rebar then bury it in a concrete filled hole. They just bored the hole
with a regular auger on a boom truck.
What little I've read on lightning rods said the blunt ended ones
are better than the pointed ones. There are rules about installing them
too.
I don't know the rules for grounding satellite dishes. I think
they are supposed to be attached to a ground electrode but don't know
for sure.
Surge protectors are something else to look at. I guess the ones
sold at big box stores aren't very good.
You might try asking at alt.engineering.electrical. Some of the
characters over there have EE or PE behind their names.


Dean


----== Posted via Pronews.Com - Unlimited-Unrestricted-Secure Usenet News==----
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The message <ftd3m6$u2c$1@f04n12.cac.psu.edu>
from Elmo <ElmoHateSpam@noSpam4U.org> contains these words:


> The idea of a lightning rod is to provide a conductive pathway around
> something by connecting a high spot directly to a good ground. They
> help protect the structure from becoming the pathway which often
> results in heat, fire, etc. They don't do a whole lot to protect
> against the inductive surge that accompanies a nearby hit. The wires
> in and around your house can still pick up a good jolt from that. It
> sounds to me as if your tv antenna and the coax functioned as a
> lightning rod.

We once arrived at a holiday rental house with small kids in a huge
thunderstorm and torrential rain (skid landing of the tiny 9-seat plane
onto a grass strip was interesting). While we unpacked, the children
called up stairs " We can see a lot of rain outside in the garden".
Minutes later : "Mum, we can see lots of rain coming in the house". Out
of the window the garden was a fast river. We got the kids up stairs,
phoned the owner to tell him the house was flooding fast . In minutes
the downstairs rooms were 9" deep in water. Then the house was struck
by lightning; huge bang, big blue flashes leaped out of every electrical
socket and lightfitting like something in a cartoon, leaving a powerful
smell of ozone.

That house had a big lightning rod fitted from chimney to ground and I
hate to think what would have happened if the building had taken the
full hit.

Other than that, we had a great holiday.

Janet.

On Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:22:30 -0400, Elmo <ElmoHateSpam@noSpam4U.org>
wrote:
>
>The idea of a lightning rod is to provide a conductive pathway around something by connecting

Hey Elmo

Could you please fix your news software so it line wraps the words.
Yout post came out with all the words in one huge line. Thanks

letterman@invalid.com wrote:
> On Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:22:30 -0400, Elmo <ElmoHateSpam@noSpam4U.org>
> wrote:
>> The idea of a lightning rod is to provide a conductive pathway around something by connecting
>
> Hey Elmo
>
> Could you please fix your news software so it line wraps the words.
> Yout post came out with all the words in one huge line. Thanks

Mine
wraps
the
text
as
it
comes
in.

Maybe
yours
can
too.


--
They're locking them up today they're throwing away the key
I wonder who it'll be tomorrow you or me.

In article <ddqkv3569mn24u529rnhm63on1l5fujulf@4ax.com>, letterman@invalid.com wrote:
>On Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:22:30 -0400, Elmo <ElmoHateSpam@noSpam4U.org>
>wrote:
>>
>>The idea of a lightning rod is to provide a conductive pathway around
> something by connecting
>
>Hey Elmo
>
>Could you please fix your news software so it line wraps the words.
>Yout post came out with all the words in one huge line. Thanks

*You* need to fix *your* news software so it wraps properly what it reads.
Elmo's post looked just fine on mine.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

On Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:26:35 GMT, spambait@milmac.com (Doug Miller)
wrote:

>In article <ddqkv3569mn24u529rnhm63on1l5fujulf@4ax.com>, letterman@invalid.com wrote:
>>On Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:22:30 -0400, Elmo <ElmoHateSpam@noSpam4U.org>
>>wrote:
>>>
>>>The idea of a lightning rod is to provide a conductive pathway around
>> something by connecting
>>
>>Hey Elmo
>>
>>Could you please fix your news software so it line wraps the words.
>>Yout post came out with all the words in one huge line. Thanks
>
>*You* need to fix *your* news software so it wraps properly what it reads.
>Elmo's post looked just fine on mine.

I only see this on occasion. Probably just software incompatibility.
Just thought I'd mention it.
Thanks

letterman@invalid.com wrote in
news:loblv3h4vu53d0avrtnrgoi7p5phgui0gi@4ax.com:

> On Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:26:35 GMT, spambait@milmac.com (Doug
> Miller) wrote:
>
>>In article <ddqkv3569mn24u529rnhm63on1l5fujulf@4ax.com>,
>>letterman@invalid.com wrote:
>>>On Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:22:30 -0400, Elmo
>>><ElmoHateSpam@noSpam4U.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>The idea of a lightning rod is to provide a conductive
>>>>pathway around
>>> something by connecting
>>>
>>>Hey Elmo
>>>
>>>Could you please fix your news software so it line wraps
>>>the words. Yout post came out with all the words in one
>>>huge line. Thanks
>>
>>*You* need to fix *your* news software so it wraps properly
>>what it reads. Elmo's post looked just fine on mine.
>
> I only see this on occasion. Probably just software
> incompatibility. Just thought I'd mention it.

yup, Elmo's posts don't automagically wrap in my reader
either & they are the only ones that don't. however, i have a
line wrap button that fixes the "problem", so it's all good :)

lee
--
Last night while sitting in my chair
I pinged a host that wasn't there
It wasn't there again today
The host resolved to NSA.

enigma wrote:
>
[....]
>
> yup, Elmo's posts don't automagically wrap in my reader
> either & they are the only ones that don't. however, i have a
> line wrap button that fixes the "problem", so it's all good :)

did you define a function key?

On Tue, 8 Apr 2008 00:28:59 +0000 (UTC), enigma <enigma@evil.net>
wrote:

>letterman@invalid.com wrote in
>news:loblv3h4vu53d0avrtnrgoi7p5phgui0gi@4ax.com:
>
>> On Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:26:35 GMT, spambait@milmac.com (Doug
>> Miller) wrote:
>>
>>>In article <ddqkv3569mn24u529rnhm63on1l5fujulf@4ax.com>,
>>>letterman@invalid.com wrote:
>>>>On Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:22:30 -0400, Elmo
>>>><ElmoHateSpam@noSpam4U.org> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>The idea of a lightning rod is to provide a conductive
>>>>>pathway around
>>>> something by connecting
>>>>
>>>>Hey Elmo
>>>>
>>>>Could you please fix your news software so it line wraps
>>>>the words. Yout post came out with all the words in one
>>>>huge line. Thanks
>>>
>>>*You* need to fix *your* news software so it wraps properly
>>>what it reads. Elmo's post looked just fine on mine.
>>
>> I only see this on occasion. Probably just software
>> incompatibility. Just thought I'd mention it.
>
> yup, Elmo's posts don't automagically wrap in my reader
>either & they are the only ones that don't. however, i have a
>line wrap button that fixes the "problem", so it's all good :)
>
>lee

Just curious, what news software are you using? It's not showing in
the header. Elmo is using Thunderbird 2.x
I run Agent 2.0. I dont have a button to wrap the text, (that I know
of). I just asked in the Forte Agent newsgroup.

This can be a problem on newsgroups, fortunately I dont see it often.
Normally if I want to read the whole message I just copy and paste the
body of the msg to notepad, or I hit REPLY and it wraps in the reply.
Then I just cancel the reply.

I'll admit this was a bigger problem years ago.

On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:04:26 -0500, letterman@invalid.com wrote:

>I run Agent 2.0. I dont have a button to wrap the text, (that I know
>of). I just asked in the Forte Agent newsgroup.

Right-click and tick "word wrap".

Jim <jimled@bellsouth.net> wrote in
news:47FAEC1C.6686B94D@bellsouth.net:

> enigma wrote:
>>
> [....]
>>
>> yup, Elmo's posts don't automagically wrap in my reader
>> either & they are the only ones that don't. however, i
>> have a line wrap button that fixes the "problem", so it's
>> all good :)
>
> did you define a function key?

no, i use xNews & there is a 'wrap text' button on the bar
between the headers window & the opened message window, next
to the full headers, fixed font & raw text buttons.


lee
--
Last night while sitting in my chair
I pinged a host that wasn't there
It wasn't there again today
The host resolved to NSA.

letterman@invalid.com wrote in
news:qrulv35vf76rdcpvb82m7s5gipkafcseq0@4ax.com:

> Just curious, what news software are you using? It's not
> showing in the header. Elmo is using Thunderbird 2.x
> I run Agent 2.0. I dont have a button to wrap the text,
> (that I know of). I just asked in the Forte Agent
> newsgroup.

i'm using xNews/L5... i should probably check for an update.
i tried both Free Agent & Agent and didn't like them. Gravity
was ok, until they stopped supporting it. xNews is a lot like
Pan, which is my preferred newsreader, but i haven't set this
computer up for dual boot yet.

lee
--
Last night while sitting in my chair
I pinged a host that wasn't there
It wasn't there again today
The host resolved to NSA.

On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:13:28 -0500, Stu
<sam74955@pbgmail_taketheleadout_.com> wrote:

>On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:04:26 -0500, letterman@invalid.com wrote:
>
>>I run Agent 2.0. I dont have a button to wrap the text, (that I know
>>of). I just asked in the Forte Agent newsgroup.
>
>Right-click and tick "word wrap".

THANK YOU

That did the job. I went back to that message from Elmo and did as
you said. Worked great. I've been using Agent for ages, never
noticed that option. We learn something new each day !!!!
I also just noticed that under "Message" (on the toolbar) that same
option is there.

enigma wrote:

> Jim wrote:
> > enigma wrote:
> >>
> > [....]
> >>
> >> yup, Elmo's posts don't automagically wrap in my reader
> >> either & they are the only ones that don't. however, i
> >> have a line wrap button that fixes the "problem", so it's
> >> all good :)
> >
> > did you define a function key?
>
> no, i use xNews & there is a 'wrap text' button on the bar
> between the headers window & the opened message window, next
> to the full headers, fixed font & raw text buttons.

ok. solutions abound.

I tried once explaining to another how the carriage return
was and is a real character and necessary in order to maintain
text integrity during block data transfer. that person was due
to the auto line feed in word unable to grasp the necessity of
the control character 'cr'. the poor unknowing and uninformed
person just kept saying they did not have to use the return/enter
key at the end of each line because word knew when to start a new
line of text. unfortunately word uses a linefeed to do so and
linefeed is stripped out of the block text data and replaced with
the controlling line length function default at 132 characters per
line. reconfigure of the line length parameter is to some people
extremely complex scary and beyond their ability. therefore the
problem was addressed by solutions available in readers allowing
the receiver to make corrections for the sender.

the above text used the control character 'carriage return' and
the following is using linefeed in order to illustrate the point.

I tried once explaining to another how the carriage return was and is a real character and necessary in order to maintain text
integrity during block data transfer. that person was due to the auto line feed in word unable to grasp the necessity of the
control character 'cr'.

letterman@invalid.com wrote:
> On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:13:28 -0500, Stu
> <sam74955@pbgmail_taketheleadout_.com> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:04:26 -0500, letterman@invalid.com wrote:
>>
>>> I run Agent 2.0. I dont have a button to wrap the text, (that I know
>>> of). I just asked in the Forte Agent newsgroup.
>> Right-click and tick "word wrap".
>
> THANK YOU
>
> That did the job. I went back to that message from Elmo and did as
> you said. Worked great. I've been using Agent for ages, never
> noticed that option. We learn something new each day !!!!
> I also just noticed that under "Message" (on the toolbar) that same
> option is there.
>
For what it's worth...

Thunderbird has a global setting to word wrap outgoing messages at some level or another.
I avoid it because when I'm typing, the message in the edit/compose window wraps based on the width of the screen. If I set it to wrap outgoing, then the breaks I put in myself
like this one
can get mixed up with the automagically inserted breaks and often ends up leaving a word
hanging.

Since most things that read messages are capable of autowrapping, I gave up trying to outwit the program and I just let it do its own thing.


--
This is an election year. By common law,
the truth is legally suspended.

Jim wrote:
>

>
> ok. solutions abound.
>
> I tried once explaining to another how the carriage return
> was and is a real character and necessary in order to maintain
> text integrity during block data transfer. that person was due
> to the auto line feed in word unable to grasp the necessity of
> the control character 'cr'. the poor unknowing and uninformed
> person just kept saying they did not have to use the return/enter
> key at the end of each line because word knew when to start a new
> line of text. unfortunately word uses a linefeed to do so and
> linefeed is stripped out of the block text data and replaced with
> the controlling line length function default at 132 characters per
> line. reconfigure of the line length parameter is to some people
> extremely complex scary and beyond their ability. therefore the
> problem was addressed by solutions available in readers allowing
> the receiver to make corrections for the sender.
>
> the above text used the control character 'carriage return' and
> the following is using linefeed in order to illustrate the point.
>
> I tried once explaining to another how the carriage return was and is a real character and necessary in order to maintain text
> integrity during block data transfer. that person was due to the auto line feed in word unable to grasp the necessity of the
> control character 'cr'.



What's the control character that allows you to omit all capital letters
except in the word "I".

Or is it just an affectation?

Steve
41N

Elmo wrote:
>
[....]
> >
> For what it's worth...

when someone asked, a penny for your thoughts and people
put in their two cents, what happens to the other penny?



> message in the edit/compose window wraps based on the width of the screen.

screen width is not line length control.

> I gave up trying to outwit the program and I just let it do its own thing.

that's how most american parents bring up their children these days.

On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:40:53 -0400, Elmo <ElmoHateSpam@noSpam4U.org>
wrote:

>letterman@invalid.com wrote:
>> On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:13:28 -0500, Stu
>> <sam74955@pbgmail_taketheleadout_.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:04:26 -0500, letterman@invalid.com wrote:
>>>
>>>> I run Agent 2.0. I dont have a button to wrap the text, (that I know
>>>> of). I just asked in the Forte Agent newsgroup.
>>> Right-click and tick "word wrap".
>>
>> THANK YOU
>>
>> That did the job. I went back to that message from Elmo and did as
>> you said. Worked great. I've been using Agent for ages, never
>> noticed that option. We learn something new each day !!!!
>> I also just noticed that under "Message" (on the toolbar) that same
>> option is there.
>>
>For what it's worth...
>
>Thunderbird has a global setting to word wrap outgoing messages at some level or another.
>I avoid it because when I'm typing, the message in the edit/compose window wraps based on the width
>of the screen. If I set it to wrap outgoing, then the breaks I put in myself like this one
>can get mixed up with the automagically inserted breaks and often ends up leaving a word
>hanging.
>
>Since most things that read messages are capable of autowrapping, I gave up trying to outwit the
>program and I just let it do its own thing.

Since Thunderbird, like all Mozilla software is always being updated
by a "board" of developers, your problem might be something to notify
them about. I realize that screen width is a consideration, but like
word processors, the normal line length is around 70 to 75 characters
per line. If TB can not be set that way, they really should do a bug
fix to it. I never used it, so I dont know what settings they have.
I do use Firefox and while I like it better than any other browser,
there are some websites that just do not render correctly in FF. For
example, if I go to weather.com, I see text on top of pictures or on
top of other text. Yet, if I load the same site in IE, I dont have
that problem. I have notified Mozilla about this.
Of course there's the possibility it's because I keep my screen set to
600X800. It's a 17in. monitor and I have poor eyesite too. Anything
bigger and I cant read it.

Thanks for letting us know. I was not getting on your case about the
problem, just letting you know. It sounds like TB could use a little
work. Agent has been around for ages, and I like it, but it still has
some flaws too, and the biggest one is they do not have adaquate
filters. There is so much spam coming from googlegroups these days,
and Agent does not allow filters based on message id. They keep
making upgrades, to obviously make sales, but they add junk and bloat
instead of these needed improvements to the filters.

I have yet to find a newsreader or browser that meets 100% of my
needs. Agent seems to work the best, and I've used it for years, so
its easy for me to use. I tried several others and have not cared for
them. As for browsers I use Firefox most of the time, IE6
occasionally, and have Opera installed but rarely use it. I might
give TB a try one of these days.

Good day !!!

By the way, Agent wont allow me to send messages if I quote lines
longer than 70 characters or something like that. I had to fix and
resend this one !!!! Go Figure !!!!