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Technology Spontaneously Combusts In Sicily
Zacronos writes "According to MSNBC, ever since mid-January, various electronic devices have been spontaneously combusting in the now evacuated town of Canneto di Caronia, Sicily; at this point, the fires are almost daily. The town has been disconnected from the larger electrical grid and was hooked to a generator, but that, too, caught fire. Even unplugged items have succumbed. Nothing seems to have burst into flame except where there is someone present to witness it, but the police no longer suspect a prankster -- after witnessing wires catch fire without cause. Scientists have yet to explain the phenomenon (although unproven theories abound), leading many people to look to supernatural causes."
Scientists have yet to explain the phenomenon ... leading many people to look to supernatural causes
It really makes me sad when, if people don't understand something they assume it's magic. Why is it that so many people refuse to take 'we don't know yet' as an acceptable answer?
Science: 0
Magic: 1
:/
-Colin
You only have to look at all the loony beliefs in the world to know that people will leap to the most ridiculous conclusions at the drop of a hat.
"We can identify that flying object so therefore it must be an advanced alien scout ship!" etc.
It's sad really. No doubt when the mundane reason for this story becomes clear (e.g. hoax, sensational reporting or whatever), there will be another bunch of loons accusing the Italian government of a 'coverup'.
Believe or not, similar incidents have occurred before.
o 1945 - A village a short distance from Almera in Spain (New York Time 5th July 1945).
o 1983 - A small coal town in West Virginia, Wharncliffe (Housten Post 16th June 1983 and Columbus Dispatch 24th July 1983)
o 1990 - San Gottardo in the Berici Hills of Italy
(UK Sunday Express 11th March 1990 and The Guardian 22nd March 1990)
I've given you references so you can check them out for yourself.
(posted anonymously to avoid Slashdotters you refuse to think about things which don't fit inside their predefined universe).
2. America is one of the few nations in the world where the power going out or setting firest makes the news, in most of the world it happens daily.
3. About a decade ago Italy ruled their version of the FCC incompetent and disbanded them. Though there are EU rules to deal with, it is a wild west of wireless where you can send photon-torpedo strength EMI around with no-one to slap you until the mobs find you.
The common thread in the fires is objects connected to wires, whether powered wires or not. Wires are after all antennas though the matching frequency depends on length. It's well known in RF engineering that under the right circumstances, RF energy can cause high temperatures at impedance boundaries. Quite possibly some high power RF source is causing the phenomena. One of my guesses is energy bouncing off the ionosphere and coming from far away, maybe the US military's HAARP, or something the Russians have. The fact that all the occurrences are in one tiny village midway between some railroad lines and the ocean is odd since nothing industrial or military is nearby. I'd say it's accidental and the result of military testing elsewhere.
methinks someone's playing with tesla coils. what happens when the earth voltage goes sky high?? stuff catches fire presumably...
(at least thats what happened at tunguska...)
That man tried to kill mah Daddy
Don't laugh. I've seen it done.
A company (I don't remember what) was trying to sell some of a wetting agent to a fire department I was part of. They demonstrated that it got soot stains out of concrete, got oil off your hands, etc.
They mixed the stuff about at about a 1:5 ration with gasoline, and used a bucket to splash the resulting mixture onto a pile of burning tires. It darned near put it out. It did reduce the temperature of the fire by 2500 degrees Farenhuit.
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Doesn't need to be EMP. A continous Tesla-style resonant earth antenna can create "hot zones" where ground... isn't...
I think they were testing BPL in this region....Natural resonances of power systems are a phenomena which is very little known in this sort of region.
Another big hint: they said the'd disconnected the town from the power system. If they still had a connection somewhere to the grid that they didn't know about, that would set them up for more problems. (Mixing grounds from different phases is a NONO... I've experienced really bad RF just trying to use a radio that was running on gen power and a computer on shore at the same time.)
-=fshalor
I'm a Sicilian (I live in Catania) and I can confirm that the news is real. At first the police thought of fraudulent actions from unknown people but after some weeks 3-4 policemans saw some electric cables (old cables, unconnected and resting on floor) that started spontaneously to combust. After that many scientists and technicians have done many tests without results. Those events are happening only in a very little town near the city of Messina.
A high-power military radar installation does put out enough power to kill an unfortunate bird (or incompetent engineer) at short distance, but still wouldn't do much more than disrupt electronic equipment at greater distances.
However, it is not unthinkable that a relatively small disruption in an eletronic device can lead to a bigger problem later on - a disrupted control circuit causing an overload that leads to a fire is well possible. This scenario is not very feasible after main power is cut though.
First of all, this is pretty old news in Italy.
Here is CICAP entry on this phenomenon (in Italian sorry).
CICAP is a group of scientists who routinely investigate (and debunk) any so-called supernatural phenomenon in Italy (they cover anything: ESP, religious miracles, even omeopathy). Sort of a James Randi fan club.
I suppose most of Slashdot's reader cannot read Italian: the gist of it is that they suspect a prank. According to similar phenomena they investigated in the past, the first accidents are caused by natural causes (short-circuits, overload).
But then people start talking, and making hypotesis, and someone starts causing this as a prank or a way to get attention, media coverage etc. Then CICAP arrives, and start looking aroud, and everything goes back to normal.
CICAP sums this as follows: 100% of phenomena happen when controls are at 0% 0% of phenomena happen when controls are at 100%
I would suggest they start with several teams with fied strength meters looking for the guy doing Tesla tests...
my EE professor back in college demonstrated Nicolai Tesla's theories and designs by powering a electronic device from across the room and with no wires. he also warned all of us to NOT bring any electronic equipment and everyone in the Engineering building was also warned as well were PC's removed from the building.
he was generating a field strength that pegged a standard meter 500 feet from the building.
Tesla was going to generate much HIGHER atmosphereic voltages with his tower...
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Humans are kinda in a rush to assign blame, or rather... attribute intention for events with socially relevant consequences. If it impacts us socially, our brains insist that somebody must have intended it, even if we also have a readily available mechanical explanation.
Or at least, that's the premise of Religion Explained. It's a fascinating read.
-1, Too Many Layers Of Abstraction
Ultra low frequency EM radiation can have effects on objects that are normally insulators. This phenomina can be abserved during meteor storms. Most notably, with some shooting stars, you can "hear" them despite them being several miles above you effectively instantainiously. It is hypothisized that as the meteor disintigrates during entry, the resulting plasma stores the magnetic field lines of the planted. The plasma moves somewhat before it cools. As it cools the field lines snap back into place creating a low frequency EM-pulse that causes leaves and assorted other things on the ground to oscilate breifly.
However, I have never heard of it producing current high enough to set anything on fire. Oh, and anyway, furnature usually has metal nails, screws, and staples in it.
Any sufficiently advanced influence is indistinguishable from control.
Especially when the story mentions the head exorcist of the Catholic Church definitively calling this the work of the devil, when the local priest decided to sit this one out and let science have a go at it first. These people obviously aren't *that* removed from the outside world, even if they are filthy, filthy Italians.
--- What
I can attest to the fact many people turn to God to explain technology when they don't understand it. I was sitting in church when the question was asked of a small group of members: "How does TV work." The expected answer was that the TV station transmitted a signal the TV received... not looking for a technical answer here (and they were heading for an analogy, but that is beside the point). From the group, who had been so indoctrinated that they couldn't think for themselves anymore, the answer rose: "God's will".
It was the last time I attended church. Yes, some of those people were intelligent (the one asking the question had far higher hopes than that - he never got to apply his obvious analogy he was working towards), but it felt *wrong* to sit in a room knowing that these people didn't just have faith where faith was potentially appropriate: they had faith indiscriminately. To them, the light switch was powered by God, the microwave worked because God did not see it as evil, and TV was beamed from heaven direct (must not have *watched* too much TV recently, eh?).
After some years of thinking about this situation, I have come to a realization that you don't need a higher power to explain the organization of the universe. (Previously, I had my doubts about the complexity arising spontaniously, a common doubt of even scientifically minded people). Quantum mechanics says that until an event is observed, the outcome is a probability wave. Upon observation, that wave collapses. Taking this to the logical conclusion, after the creation of the universe (big bang or string colision or whatever) there was a huge, unobserved probability wave. Upon one part of that wave stumbling across the unlikely (but part of the probabilty wave) creation of an "observer", that observer would cause the wave to collapse locally, influencing the rest of the wave from that point forward. In other words, every outcome was equally likely until an observer becomes an outcome of the probability wave. Once that happens, the observer is no longer just a probability, but a fact. More simply: a quantum mechanical universe favors the creation of observers. Of course, this conclusion is simply the creation of my own brain: perhaps someone has a refutation?
Sig under construction since 1998.
You need to get out of that Middle Age's thinking about God. There's alot of us out here proclaiming the Good News and living our lives believing in God, educating ourselves, and working intelligently.
Damn straight. I've added you to my friends list. There's nothing more satisfying than running across a fellow geek who lives his life for Jesus Christ.
Don't sweat the other replies. They'll understand the truth some day. Unfortunately, it will be too late for most of them.
Romans 14:11: For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
-Ryan, with the unoriginal sig
Yes, because the only reason someone would hold religious faith is because of indoctrination, peer pressure, or a cult of personality. It also goes without saying that such people have stopped thinking for themselves.
WOW
You've hauled out so many tired charicatures of religious faith in so short a time that when I see you accuse someone else of not thinking, the words "plank" and "eye" come to mind.
Of course, that's a Biblical reference, which outs me as being a religious person as well. Accordingly, you're free to put my comments in whatever pigeonhole makes you most comfortable and continue a happy life of ignorance.
XOXO,
Some mindless religious guy