Beat: Hit by Lightning While Playing Poker

[Shoeby]

Originally Posted by Scientologist

So do you have super powers now or what?

As Dave Attell said about being struck by lightning... The only super powers he got was the ability to roll around on the ground and shit his pants.

[Fog]

Originally Posted by prescient63

If you can give me another plausible explanation I'll hear it. For the record I've had multiple pieces of electronics fried by lightning and never has one been left a charred smoldering anything

There's a difference between the amount of current required to "fry" your electronics (read: make them stop working) and the amount required to make you feel like someone punched you in the teeth. Even if by some malignant act of God the lightning somehow snuck through your computer and through your headphones, your network card and USB controller would be at best "fried" and at worst in flames. Your headphone cable and network cable would look like you put them in the toaster.

Another plausible explanation? Well, right now, you don't have any plausible explanation, so feel free to speculate on the improbable. A stroke? Undiagnosed epilepsy? Heart attack? Choking on a pretzel? Delusions? Don't ask me.

EDIT: Let me elaborate. A CAT5 cable (your network cable) doesn't usually carry significant electricity, but these guys say they have run one or two amperes of current through it very briefly (he mentions that at three amps, the wire got warm and the jacks melted.) A lightning strike carries a current of several tens of thousands of amperes.

[prescient63]

LoL not that you're going to believe me, but just checked my desktop. Either my nic is fried, the cable going out there is fried, or my other router is fried.

Edit: Narrowed to router #2 (being used as an access point).

[Vorph]

Originally Posted by prescient63

Edit: Was inside when my ass got zapped. I'm assuming it went through the ethernet cable which is the only thing that isn't plugged into a surge protector.

Along the lines of what Fog is saying, it's worth mentioning that lightning is not a "surge" -- it's more like the fist of an angry god jammed up your ass to the tune of millions of volts and ~30k amps. Power conditioners that cost more than your computer can't stop a direct hit, which is why people came up with things like lightning rods and other devices to channel it away. Don't expect a surge protector to do a thing, they're meant to protect from things the power company does, or maybe bad wiring in your house if you're lucky.

Also, if you're smart enough to unplug your shit during a bad storm, don't forget to unhook the cable tv too. I lost a SVHS deck to that back when they were damned expensive. That sucked.

[Quineloe]

Originally Posted by prescient63

My games are still running

and exactly this is where your theory is false. If that had really happened, your computer would have been a goner.

oh and the fact that your entire system EXCEPT the ethernet is protected by surge protection doesn't make you appear that smart. There's a reason these units ship with Ethernet protection as well, because a power surge coming through the ethernet is just as destructive to your system as one coming through the PSU.

[Snugglebear]

Originally Posted by prescient63

If you can give me another plausible explanation I'll hear it. For the record I've had multiple pieces of electronics fried by lightning and never has one been left a charred smoldering anything

Judging by your retarded prose, spelling, and sentence structure, is it possible you had a mini-stroke? I hear that feels like lightning.

[Vorph]

Well, all houses built to code have lightning protection, so I suppose it's possible that the lightning strike was grounded yet managed to put a minimal spike into the ethernet cable you said was buried... I'd be surprised if the wires in a CAT5 cable weren't vaporized even with the smallest lightning strike though. Though I guess if you aren't in the hospital or morgue it was a pretty damn small one, and dirt isn't exactly the best conductor around. :P

[Salacious Corpse 01]

The only bad beat story I ever tell, is the one where my father won 45k on the bad beat at Argosy in Indiana.

He had trip nines on the flop, got the fourth nine on the river to lose to a straight flush. The bad beat pot was 90k, 50% went to the player with the bad beat, 25% to the winner of the hand, and the rest split to the other players.

[Tuco]

The probability to lose like that? Really high if you're a bad guy in a James Bond movie.

[Burf]

Originally Posted by Vorph

Along the lines of what Fog is saying, it's worth mentioning that lightning is not a "surge" -- it's more like the fist of an angry god jammed up your ass to the tune of millions of volts and ~30k amps. Power conditioners that cost more than your computer can't stop a direct hit, which is why people came up with things like lightning rods and other devices to channel it away. Don't expect a surge protector to do a thing, they're meant to protect from things the power company does, or maybe bad wiring in your house if you're lucky.

This. Some friends of my parents had their computer fried even though it was unplugged from the wall. The lightning jumped from the wall socket to the surge protector plug (that was now laying on the floor near where they unplugged it), through the surge protector (which was now toast), and destroyed the computer.

Don't f- with lightning.

[Etwynn]

Originally Posted by Fog

Firstly, if lightning struck outside near your house, it would be much more likely to strike something like a nicely-grounded metal pipe or drain than the CAT5 cable you have lying around.

Secondly, if lightning struck your Ethernet cable, it would have burnt up that piece of the cable in an instant, so you wouldn't be posting.

Thirdly, if some large amount of current managed to get down the cable to your NIC, it would fry the internal surge protector in the NIC and probably some other electronics, your network card would be inoperable, and that would be that.

Fourthly, there is no fourthly, because there is no conceivable physical way that the current could possibly get from the NIC to your sound card, or your sound card to your USB port, or your USB port to your ears, at which point it wouldn't hardly shock you, because that much current couldn't travel down the cable without incinerating it.

However, apparently you view lightning as some mysterious beam of wizardry, so I'd point out that if it really did manage to leap-hop up to your ears through some impossible chain of magic and shock you to the point of "convulsion" (you should probably mention this to your doctor), your computer would be a smoking doorstop.

For God's sake, please take a high school physics course, or read the Wikipedia entry on electricity, or somethng.

Exactly what are you trying to accomplish here?

[brekk]

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is.

[Fog]

Originally Posted by Etwynn

Exactly what are you trying to accomplish here?

The day I get sick of arguing with jackasses will be the day I stop reading message boards.

Look, here's a guy that thinks lightning came through his network cable and his headphones and shocked his hat off, or something, after which it apparently stole away as subtly as it came. You expect me to resist taking a few minutes to insult him?

Originally Posted by Burf

This. Some friends of my parents had their computer fried even though it was unplugged from the wall. The lightning jumped from the wall socket to the surge protector plug (that was now laying on the floor near where they unplugged it), through the surge protector (which was now toast), and destroyed the computer.

Don't f- with lightning.

Yikes!

[Kevincheese]

Guys, guys, CLEARLY it was a hit and run from a Scout.

[Maleficence]

Seriously, Fog is correct in stating that the object directly hit by lightning will most likely be vaporized/burnt. Lightning Damage

However, electricity will try to flow through paths of least resistance and not all of the energy will be dissipated immediately, so as bizarre as Burf's anecdote sounds there is some plausibility to it. This guy states it better:

1. There can be damage as a result of a direct lightning strike. Such damage includes damage to roofing materials, structures such as chimneys, heating or air conditioning units located on the roof or exterior of a building, or fires caused by lightning igniting combustible material, such as wood-frame buildings or flammable liquids or vapors.

2. Part of the lightning current can be carried inside a building by electric power, telephone, analog or digital data lines (e.g., closed circuit television cameras, sensors in an industrial plant, etc.). This direct injection of lightning current inside a building can cause immense damage to electrical – and especially electronic – circuits and equipment.

3. The electromagnetic fields from the current in a lightning stroke can induce currents and voltage in wire and cables inside a building. Such surge currents are typically less intense than direct injection of current, but can easily vaporize integrated circuits in computers, modems, electronic control circuits, etc.

source: Consulting on Lightning Damage or Injury.