Re: Re: Weather Was: Summer Plans
  By: Daryl Stout to Damon A. Getsman on Wed Sep 30 2015 10:47:24

 DS> I'm running Windows 7 32-bit on the BBS now. An older laptop, with XP, is
 DS> basically "AC power only", because the battery died, and you can't get a
 DS> replacement for it. Plus, it's only used for the Magic Jack voice
 DS> mail...which would not work on a newer laptop with Windows 7 32-bit on it.
 DS> But, the power adapter for that laptop got warm awfully fast...so, I'll
 DS> just use that one for ham radio demos, etc. An older desktop, with Windows
 DS> XP, has been shut down since April, as the hard drive would not boot up.
 DS> I'm considering donating it to a local PC shop for parts. And, I bought a
 DS> used laptop with Windows Vista Home Basic, for use with the Magic Jack
 DS> Plus, for a fax line.

  If you have a FreeGeek around that might be a good place to go with it,
and/or to look for related batteries and equipment if you decide to salvage it.
I've got a pretty ancient laptop, too, which I thought would be utterly
unfeasible to save, but I ended up finding batteries for it on newegg, I think
it was.  Got one on order right now so that I can hopefully get out and do some
work out of the house instead of being in here day and night.
  My own BBS machine runs on a PPro class dual-core machine with 2GB.  Older
piece of hardware, standard mini-tower size.  Everything seems to be living
fairly well on it; it's not such a bad computer for something that I picked up
from US government surplus many years ago here.  I do a few other things on it
as well; basically dealing with communications that I want handled from a more
secure server than I trust linux or windows to be.

 DS> As for lightning, one does not argue with it...or they die trying. :P Each
 DS> bolt is 5 miles long, with 300,000 volts and 30,000 amps of electricity,
 DS> can strike as much as 20 miles from the parent thunderstorm (a bolt from
 DS> the blue), and is 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit...5 times hotter than the
 DS> sun's surface. And, speaking of weather, I'm anxiously watching Hurricane
 DS> Joaquin...which could threaten the Carolinas to New England soon...the
 DS> Bahamas will feel his wrath on Thursday.

  I wasn't aware of that bit about the bolts out of the blue.  That's pretty
interesting and I think it actually explains something that I experienced once
when I was a kid.  There was violent weather about, but in a break in it I had
an experience with a huge flash out of nowhere that literally stunned me for a
good 15-20 seconds.  I was on a hillside in one of the tallest points in
Bismarck, ND, when it happened.  No idea that there was any electrical activity
going on at all, though afterwards I remember feeling distinctly odd.  It was
so close that I never really 'saw' it, it was more of just a blinding flash
that I couldn't locate the source of.

  -D
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