....
Lightning scares the crap out of me, sitting there in the cockpit at the
base of the big lightning rods, holding onto the metal wheel hooked to
the metal GROUNDED rudder hanging out in the sea, below.....

Me too. It is certainly the scariest thing we see regularly when off
shore. I routinely run a chain from my forestay to the sea (you can
do this on a catamaran) in the hope that it will direct the worst of a
hit away from the people on the boat. But, when I look at the
aluminum mast full of copper wires all nicely grounded to my engines
that are electrically connected to the sea I have doubts about how
much current will decide to go down a stainless wire. Do you think
that the resistance is small enough on stainless wire to dissipate the
static charge, or would it be better to ground the mast to the sea
with a low resistance wire to deal with the static?

-- Tom.

" wrote in
ps.com:

Do you think
that the resistance is small enough on stainless wire to dissipate the
static charge, or would it be better to ground the mast to the sea
with a low resistance wire to deal with the static?


Static, yes. NOTHING dissipates lightning's pulse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djZo0...elated&search=
Watch his hand arc to the insulated-from-ground motorcycle! EMP caused the
bike to be instantly charged.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUUOd...elated&search=
Direct hit on a minivan on the road!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNhY3...elated&search=
This one hitting a tower would be what your boat mast would look like....

Larry
--

On Sat, 28 Apr 2007 02:40:19 +0000, Larry wrote:

" wrote in
ups.com:

Do you think
that the resistance is small enough on stainless wire to dissipate the
static charge, or would it be better to ground the mast to the sea
with a low resistance wire to deal with the static?


Static, yes. NOTHING dissipates lightning's pulse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djZo0...elated&search=
Watch his hand arc to the insulated-from-ground motorcycle! EMP caused the
bike to be instantly charged.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUUOd...elated&search=
Direct hit on a minivan on the road!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNhY3...elated&search=
This one hitting a tower would be what your boat mast would look like....

Larry

Wow Larry!
I think I'll walk back home a liitleways behind my wife who will have
an open umbrella. You are quite right. There is nothing so numbing to
one's sense of well being than to be on a yacht that is the highest
thing around with lightning hitting the sea around you. It is a
horrible feeling of just waiting and knowing inside your soul that it
will probably happen soon. It's quite amazing what it does to a
normally rational mind. Does sacrificing chickens help in anyway? I
could carry a cage over the stern. So, if Zeus is angry at us Greeks
for neglecting to worship him for the past 1700 years or so, we could
appease him with a little chicken? Or, should I aquire a bronze tripod
and brazier and offer hecatombs of fat ox flesh in a fire?

My wife's people (Maori's) in New Zealand always throw back the first
fish (no matter how big or even if they have caught nothing for hours)
caught as an offering to the sea god Tangaroa even though they are
Christian, as educated as anyone else and don't believe in the old
god's. When there, I even do it. Scratch modern man and the primitive
is only beneath the skin. You just never know.

So, how about chickens?

cheers
Peter

Peter Hendra wrote in
:

My wife's people (Maori's) in New Zealand

Wow...lucky guy! Maori women are a truly beautiful set of genes...(c;

Larry
--

On Apr 28, 8:07 pm, Larry wrote:
Peter Hendra wrote :

My wife's people (Maori's) in New Zealand

Wow...lucky guy! Maori women are a truly beautiful set of genes...(c;

Larry
--

You like the tatoo's....right ?

Joe

On 28 Apr 2007 18:32:57 -0700, Joe wrote:

On Apr 28, 8:07 pm, Larry wrote:
Peter Hendra wrote :

My wife's people (Maori's) in New Zealand

Wow...lucky guy! Maori women are a truly beautiful set of genes...(c;

Larry
--

You like the tatoo's....right ?

Joe
My Dear Joe and Larry,

Sorry guys, I too had to wait for the African articles in the National
Geographic (a la Bill Crosby) to come out for my sex education.

Sorry to burst your bubble but paint on tattoos are nowadays for the
tourists. My wife/owner no longer swings from tree to tree though she
did have her own horse at age 3 on the farm, climbs to the top of the
mast and dives under to clear the prop. without hesitation now - I
have developed whimpitis with age and only do so when she is not
around. The closest thing to a tattoo she has had is spending four
hours getting her hands and feet - even the soles - hennaed by some
Bedu women in Sudan. She is an accountant, a most boring occupation.

Sorry, her father does not dress in a piupiu (dressed flax skirt) and
run about amok with a spear and a jade club anymore. He hasn't the
time as he milks 180 dairy cows with electricity and a milking machine
and has beef cattle that have to be mustered out of the forest every
year on horseback as well as sheep. They may have eaten people up
until the late 19th century and had vicious inter tribal warfare (the
socially insensitive Christian missionaries put a a stop to that), but
today, apart from tribal and family customs, they live pretty much the
same as other Kiwians. My mother-in-law is even an Anglican
(Episcopalean to thee) minister - her 32 year long prayers for my
conversion have not yet been answered. I am still a staunch "pagan" to
use her words and shall eventually be consumed by hell fire. If so, I
am sure that I will be in the very best of company. I'd hate wings on
my back and white does not suit my complexion anyway.

cheers
Peter

P.S. to those simple souls out there. No, I am not anti-Christian
either AND I'm directing my intercourse (No, damn it!!! I'm not gay
either - look it up in the dictionary) at Larry and Joe.

Peter Hendra wrote in
:

He hasn't the
time as he milks 180 dairy cows with electricity and a milking machine


I was born and raised on a dairy farm in upstate New York. My grandfather
milked 360 head of the biggest Holstein milk producers on the planet, 3
times a day. I, on the other hand, have more sense than to work 18 hours a
day like he did most of his life. I do, though, have extensive experience
running milk machines, bailing hay all summer, loading silos, unloading
silos, feeding, shoveling sh*t and spreading it across pure snow all
winter, to the delight of the crops planted in the spring....

Joining the Navy in 1964 was one good, politically-correct way out of the
dairy business.....forever....(c;

I didn't find out until I was in the Navy that you DIDN'T pour pure cream
from Grandma's precious Guernsey's onto breakfast cereal! Those idiots
were putting SUGAR on it! Very strange, city folks. They think "milk" has
only 6% butterfat in it...which, to us farm boys, is like "skim milk"...(c;

Larry
--
Still supporting America's Dairy Farmers.....every day.

On Sun, 29 Apr 2007 01:07:51 +0000, Larry wrote:

Peter Hendra wrote in
:

My wife's people (Maori's) in New Zealand

Wow...lucky guy! Maori women are a truly beautiful set of genes...(c;

Larry
Correction Larry,
Gene carriers - remember your Dawkins or do you wish chapter and
verse. I'd have to look it up.

If you like Dawkins (personally I think he is a pompous English prigg
- but he may act differently to Americans. In Australia he was rather
patronisingly superior to the colonials but it could also have been
nervousness), you should like Gerard Diamond. The first book of his I
read was "The Third Chimpanzee". Perhaps it is because my formal
education was in Zoology that I find him interesting but I admit to
being disappointed that he made no mention that North Americans have
only descended from the trees more recently than the population in the
Antipodes. I was hoping to find a scientific rationale for the
American failure to appreciate really good coffee - straight black and
strong (Hello Vic Smith)

Seriously though, he provides some thought provoking concepts that I
know you will enjoy. From memory, he talks about conditioning for mate
selection - pink painted mother rat's nipples causing the male
offspring to prefer mating with females with similar painted nipples
and a hoist of other thought provoking concepts. I know that you will
enjoy it. If you cannot find a copy let me know and I shall send you
one as a small payment for your valuable help.I have kept my copy and
have bought copies for other people as I don't want to lend mine.

cheers
Peter

I have kept my copy and have bought copies for other people as I don't
want to lend mine.

* Peter Hendra wrote, On 4/28/2007 10:16 PM:
On Sun, 29 Apr 2007 01:07:51 +0000, Larry wrote:

Peter Hendra wrote in
:

My wife's people (Maori's) in New Zealand
Wow...lucky guy! Maori women are a truly beautiful set of genes...(c;

Larry
Correction Larry,
Gene carriers - remember your Dawkins or do you wish chapter and
verse. I'd have to look it up.

If you like Dawkins (personally I think he is a pompous English prigg
- but he may act differently to Americans. In Australia he was rather
patronisingly superior to the colonials but it could also have been
nervousness), you should like Gerard Diamond. The first book of his I
read was "The Third Chimpanzee".

I've enjoyed his books also. (Its Jared Diamond)

Perhaps it is because my formal
education was in Zoology that I find him interesting but I admit to
being disappointed that he made no mention that North Americans have
only descended from the trees more recently than the population in the
Antipodes.

??? Are you claiming that Aborigines are an earlier branch of
primates and not the same species as Homo Sapiens? (I'm sure you're
joking here.)

IIRC, he does go to some lengths to explain how the Antipodes were
populated long before other parts of the world, and then isolated.

I was hoping to find a scientific rationale for the
American failure to appreciate really good coffee - straight black and
strong (Hello Vic Smith)

A century ago people throughout the US home roasted and thus drank
quality coffee. Then the large companies started "improving" it,
first with pre-ground, then percolators, and as the final insult,
instant coffee. Instant was developed for the soldiers in WWII, where
anything warm was appreciated. It unfortunately created a generation
of Americans for whom percolator coffee is a step up. Then we
suffered through a wave of flavored "gourmet" coffee, and now
over-roasted, over-priced, milk based concoctions are in vogue.

However, that said, there has been for the last 30 years a small but
growing cadre of true coffee lovers in the US. In every area of the
country there is a high quality roaster, producing coffee that is the
equal of any in the world. Every city has several cafes that serve
high quality coffee and European style espresso.

Here's a roaster local to me:

http://www.terroircoffee.com/

George Howell was the founder of Coffee Connection years ago, and more
recently created the Cup of Excellence program, where small farmers
are encouraged to produce the highest quality beans with country wide
competitions and small lot auctions based on the results.


Seriously though, he provides some thought provoking concepts that I
know you will enjoy. From memory, he talks about conditioning for mate
selection - pink painted mother rat's nipples causing the male
offspring to prefer mating with females with similar painted nipples
and a hoist of other thought provoking concepts. I know that you will
enjoy it. If you cannot find a copy let me know and I shall send you
one as a small payment for your valuable help.I have kept my copy and
have bought copies for other people as I don't want to lend mine.

Most of Jared Diamond's works are still in print and available at
Amazon, etc. I found "The Third Chimp..." interesting, but a warmup
from "Guns, Germs, and Steel" which goes into great detail in the
question of why Western civilization evolved on a different track from
Native American, and ultimately dominated.

Hi Jeff,

I've enjoyed his books also. (Its Jared Diamond)

Yes, I stand corrected - honestly, sometimes I cannot remember my
wife's first name when I introduce her to people - I never address her
by it myelf.

Perhaps it is because my formal
education was in Zoology that I find him interesting but I admit to
being disappointed that he made no mention that North Americans have
only descended from the trees more recently than the population in the
Antipodes.

??? Are you claiming that Aborigines are an earlier branch of
primates and not the same species as Homo Sapiens? (I'm sure you're
joking here.)

I was indeed jesting. I intended to portray that we (all peoples of
the Antipodes) were higher, more developed and more sophisticated
forms of being due to our greater familiarity with espresso coffee.
Neither the Australian Aborigines nor the New Zealand Maori crossed my
mind. If they had perchance attempted to do so, they would have become
hopelessly lost as I myself do sometimes during thought.

A century ago people throughout the US home roasted and thus drank
quality coffee. Then the large companies started "improving" it,
first with pre-ground, then percolators, and as the final insult,
instant coffee. Instant was developed for the soldiers in WWII, where
anything warm was appreciated. It unfortunately created a generation
of Americans for whom percolator coffee is a step up. Then we
suffered through a wave of flavored "gourmet" coffee, and now
over-roasted, over-priced, milk based concoctions are in vogue.

As a general statement, during my childhood, only we Greeks in New
Zealand drank coffee - not espresso but the heat and wait for the mud
to settle type. But we were Wogs and had wierd dining habits such as
the eating of squid and octopus, eating rotten milk (yoghurt), cooking
in olive oil instead of beef fat and prefering wine to beer. Everyone
else, being of English origin, drank tea - brewed/ stewed in a
teapot. The reason for the popularity of espresso coffee machines in
Australia - the cities especially, was due to the huge influx of
Italian migrants after WWII. as Australia could not get enough of the
prefered northern Europeans to come.


However, that said, there has been for the last 30 years a small but
growing cadre of true coffee lovers in the US. In every area of the
country there is a high quality roaster, producing coffee that is the
equal of any in the world. Every city has several cafes that serve
high quality coffee and European style espresso.

Here's a roaster local to me:

http://www.terroircoffee.com/

George Howell was the founder of Coffee Connection years ago, and more
recently created the Cup of Excellence program, where small farmers
are encouraged to produce the highest quality beans with country wide
competitions and small lot auctions based on the results.

Thanks. An interesting site.
I had heard of programmes like this in countries such as Costa Rica
where small famers are resisting growing Cocaine crops. They are being
encouraged to grow high quality, high value specialist coffee crops.
I know that I would pay extra if I knew that it was in a good cause.

Most of Jared Diamond's works are still in print and available at
Amazon, etc. I found "The Third Chimp..." interesting, but a warmup
from "Guns, Germs, and Steel" which goes into great detail in the
question of why Western civilization evolved on a different track from
Native American, and ultimately dominated.

Yes, I enjoyed that book also.

cheers
Peter