While reading the morning paper, Canada's 'Globe and Mail' I found this
interesting little quip:
"On this date in 1847, The Globe reported: 'The various wires of
telegraph beginning to intersect so many sections of our country are
said to have a decided effect upon electricity. That eminent scientific
man, Prof. Olmstead of Yale College, states, that as the storm comes up
and especially when over the wires, say 50 or 100 miles distant, the
lightning is attracted by the wires... 'It is my opinion,' he says,
'that we shall never have very heavy thundershowers or hear of lightning
striking, so long as we have telegraph wires spread over the Earth.' ' "
Source: Glode and Mail, Monday, November 6, 2006
If this where only true! Or, perhaps the demise of the telegraph and the
rise of radio did us all in and doomed us to thunderstorm static forever ;-)
73 Scott
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