You think this might be a sign that God isn't real happy with us right now?
Posted on 05/17/2007 9:08:36 PM PDT by anymouse
Like a molten thread of white heat, lightning cuts across the grey skies above midtown Manhattan to find the top of the Empire State Building.
The storm yesterday afternoon was part of the latest blast of bad weather to hit New York.
The murky skies and lightning, seen from across the East River in this dramatic picture, were accompaniedby 72mph winds and a deluge which saw an inch of rain fall in nearby Central Park.
There was no damage to the 1,454ft Empire State Building.
The lightning rod at its very top absorbs such strikes around 100 times a year.
It may not, however, have been such a good day to visit the outdoor viewing gallery on the 86th floor.
You think this might be a sign that God isn't real happy with us right now?
Uh, no, I think it’s a sign that lightning sometimes strikes tall buildings.
Nope, it is a sure sign that the laws of Physics still apply.
Why? What did "we" do? Ron Paul, is that you?
But, but... our building of tall buildings and metal rods are causing more lightning storms by giving electric charges an easy path to the ground. These intense flashes of heat over time can contribute to global warming! We're all gonna DIE!!!
;-)
"Those who calculate chances may perhaps find that not one death (or the destruction of one house) in a hundred thousand happens from that cause, and that therefore it is scarce worth while to be at any expense to guard against it. But in all countries there are particular situations of buildings more exposed than others to such accidents, and there are minds so strongly impressed with the apprehension of them, as to be very unhappy every time a little thunder is within their hearing; it may therefore be well to render this little piece of new knowledge as general and well understood as possible, since to make us safe is not all its advantage, it is some to make us easy. And as the stroke it secures us from might have chanced perhaps but once in our lives, while it may relieve us a hundred times from those painful apprehensions, the latter may possibly on the whole contribute more to the happiness of mankind than the former."
I have seen the building take two lightning strikes in the same storm, within the space of a minute or two. The coolest part is that from my perspective, the lightning strike was almost vertical, coming downward from the cloud while I was looking upward at the top of the building, and so the lightning bolt appeared 'foreshortened', rather than looking like the usual long bolt from the sky...
Normally you wouldn't want to be in the position of seeing a lightning bolt coming directly down from almost overhead, seemingly headed toward your location, but, hey, the Empire State Building makes a great lightning rod, so no problemo...
So, are you a lightning rod salesman? :-)
(I’ll take five).
Manmade global warming, for sure. (sarcasm)
What an idiotic question. If you'd read the article, you would have noticed this:
The lightning rod at its very top absorbs such strikes around 100 times a year.
So apparently "God isn't real happy with us" about 100 times a year, so he causes lighning to harmlessly strike the tallest building around.
No. But there must be a mobile home park adjacent the Empire State Bldg.
Apparently there are a lot of humor challenged people posting on this thread.
But given the actions of Congress today, I’m surprised the Capital building wasn’t struck instead.
Especially tall buildings with giant lightning rods on the top :-)
Which the article points out gets hit with lightning about 100 times a year. ;)
They should install some huge capacitors and try to store that energy.
It would take a capacitor the size of Rhode Island. However, by my calculations the energy stored would only be .275334x10-3rd of Al Gore’s carbon butt print.
I’m with you! It’s taken me over an hour to get that silly article out of my mind.
No, but I suspect that Al Gore could be part of a "pestilence initiative" he may have formed to get our attention.
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