Off topic, but a miraculous escape from death.
I read a book, called Weatherwise, about gardening and weather when in
Dublin. I have forgotten the name of the author.
One day he was washing spinach during a severe thunderstorm. Lightning
struck very close. At the same time of the strike, 10 little bolts of
lightning jumped from his fingers into the water which he was using. He
wrote in his book that he will never again wash spinach (and whatever) again
during a thunderstorm!
Han
----- Original Message -----
From: "James R. Frysinger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, July 30, 2001 2:14 AM
Subject: [USMA:14687] Re: Rules of thumb 8
> Pat Naughtin wrote:
> ....
> > Lightning: � If the hair on your arm and head start to stand on end, the
> > lightning is going to strike near you. Drop to your knees and lean
forward.
> > Put your hands on your knees to avoid ground current that can occur if
the
> > lightning strikes within 50 metres.
>
> A better recommendation is to squat on your two feet with your feet as
> close together as possible. Odds are that you will have shoes on and
> that may help a tiny bit; wet knees are going to be good conductors, as
> well as adding opportunities for you to experience a voltage drop across
> two parts of your body as the strike's current dissipates through the
> ground. Coordination and sense of balance must be provided by the user.
>
> ...
> > Measuring the moon: � The moon covers almost one degree of sky. You can
> > measure this with your little finger nail (about 10 mm) at arm's length
> > (about 700 mm); your little fingernail will just cover the face of the
Moon.
>
> Not quite! The Moon's apparent size is closer to 0.5�, on the average
> (close to that of the Sun). Flipping through my 2001 Nautical almanac I
> see semidiameter (SD) values ranging from 14.7 to 16.7 minutes of arc.
> The Sun's SD ranges from 15.8 to 16.3 minutes of arc.
>
> Jim
>
>
