Somewhat slightly dazed

I've been off line for almost a week now. Has anyone missed me?

Well, I'm back!

I've been having electrical problems in my house for the last couple of years. Lights flickered and the power would dim. We used to joke that it was the spirit of my deceased husband still living in the house. Anyway, it would get better and then worse and then better again. Both my bathroom fans went out recently so my son changed them out. Then, last week, my smoke alarm went off in the early morning hours. My daughter and I were freaked out. We could smell electrical but had no idea what had happened. Looking in my daughter's room, I noticed that her fan was barely turning and her lights were really dim. She turned them off. We checked the garage and then turned off the heater which was running. Or tried to. The only way we could get it to go off was to unplug the power outlet. I thought that maybe the heater was the problem because my power seems to be worse in the winter over the summer and my bathroom outlets suddenly wouldn't work which are on the opposite wall to the thermostat. Anyway, the outdoor light popped when we turned it on to look outside. It was still dark, mind you, and the smoke alarms had finally turned themselves off.

We sensed that things would be okay now, temporarily, so I went to work and had my daughter call an electrician who a friend  referred to me. She said he would come by in the evening. I went out to the horses and chased them around, chatted with my neighbor, and still I waited. I figured that he must be squeezing me in on his way home (he lived nearby) and I figured that he'd show any minute. Finally, I checked my phone and noticed that it was on silent and that he had called. Duh, you can't get calls that way! It was late by now so we rescheduled for him to come out tomorrow earlier in the day.

I wanted to stay home but I had to go out of town on a business day trip so my son and daughter were ther for him. I guess having grown children has some advantages. Anyway, he solved the problem. It wasn't my furnace (YAY!) but instead, happened when the house was built, something about the wire coming to the house and the wire going to the electric company "box". He showed my daughter how all the wires were fried because a screw/bolt? had been put in wrong, stripped and left there. Oh dear! Don't inspectors check these things during the house construction?? He said we'd need to call the electric company. Then he had a thought, left for a while, came back, and "fixed" it. I don't know what he did but he said it would work okay now. Hallelujah!!! Now I don't need to call the electric company and pay them $800-1000, his estimate of their job cost, and my electric is working fine again, finally.

However, there have been some casualties. My computer modem died and needed to be replaced so that I could have internet again. My garage door opener is blown and so is my daughter's electronic keyboard. I'm sure other things need to be replaced too but I guess it's a lot better than having the whole house burn down, right?

So anyway, I'm back, better than ever!


Somewhat slightly dazed - song: Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed, artist: David Bowie, album: Space Oddity

Tesla

I never even knew about Tesla until a few years ago when Mr. David Bowie was chosen to play real life scientist Nicola Tesla in the fictional movie, The Prestige.

Have you ever heard of Tesla? Besides the 80's rock band?

Tesla and Thomas Edison were arch enemies on the electrical front in the 1800's. Edison got all the credit but without Tesla the world would be very dark indeed. He recorded over 300 patents in his lifetime! He was the creator of AC (alternating current) while Edison created DC (direct current). Everyone knows we need and use both. Tesla studied wireless electricity and powered the whole town of Colorado Springs once. He also caused blackouts there. Tesla believed that magnets could be used for power. We are exploring that today He moved to New York, lived in a hotel, and one of his experiments caused the entire building to shake like an earthquake. Even today, scientists are trying to control the weather using Tesla's ideas. Who knows how far he could have gone if Edison had not won the War of the Currents.

Last weekend, I saw an excellent program on the History Channel called The History Hacker. It was all about Tesla and this guy was recreating Tesla's experiments. Did you know Tesla invented neon lights? In the 1880's? And here is an awesome Australian Tesla site with lots of photos (over 1300) of electrical experiments.

Tesla - David Bowie played him in the 2006 movie The Prestige