So, I was at my parent's in the middle of France on Sunday. The house is an old farm, lost in the middle of the country. There was a storm coming, so my father decided to unplug the internet box, to avoid it being damaged.
My younger brother, who is a huge football (or soccer, for our north american friends) fan, was waiting for a football TV show broadcasted on one of the channels controlled by the internet box, and he was pissed off by dad unplugging it. He came to me shouting, asking me if I could explain what was the scientific explanation in unplugging the device during a storm (apparently my father's explanation were not enough).
I was still trying to explain that in the country the electrical and phone lines were more subject to being struck by lightning when it happened. The lightning struck in the same microsecond when the phone plugs exploded ! The ADSL filters were literally ejected from the plugs, and a smell of burnt plastic raised... "So, are you convinced now ?", my father yelled from the living room.
Of course, the internet box did not suffer, but everything that was linked to the phone line is dead, phones probably, as well as a device allowing to control heating via phone when they're away.
My brother was convinced. And his favourite team lost.
A more fitting title
A proof by induction, perhaps?
Happened to me, too
A friend and I were working on a computer at his Dad's veterinarian practice when a sudden storm blew up. We kept working through it when suddenly lightning hit the building we were in (in fact, it hit the telephone junction box on the wall of the room we were in). All the phones exploded off the walls and went flying across the room (nearly hit my friend in the head). We found pieces of the junction box about 70 feet away. The computer was plugged into the phone line at the time and the screen went all rainbow colors -- but after a reboot it was fine and we kept working -- until about thirty minutes later a pipe burst in the room, which promptly flooded.......
Some experiences you just never forget.
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