Text 9422, 47 rader
Skriven 2006-10-15 14:37:22 av Henrik Herranen
Ärende: Script nook 9 and electrical fields
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From: Henrik Herranen <leopold@pepper.modeemi.cs.tut.fi>

Wesley Struebing <strueb@carpedementem.org> writes:
> Well, when you start writing day-and-night again, just DON'T position
> yourself near 40 gazillion volts of electricity!

I find JMS' story of the transformer electrical fields in Script
Book 9 somewhat curious. While I do believe that everything he says
is true from his point of view, I just wonder why he doesn't mention
one of the basic symptoms that should happen when using a CRT
computer display in the presence of a truly strong low-frequency
electromagnetical field: the monitor should flicker enough to be
practically unreadable!

In 1990, I worked for 8 months at a paper mill. There, they had
really unbelievably strong electrical motors, munching several
megawatts of power. The electrical fields of these beasts would
make any computer monitor in the whole building unusable (up to
a distance of 30 meters/yards from the machines), unless the
CRTs were synced to the mains frequency or if they were
electrically shielded (big, ugly, metallic boxes). If not, the
text would flicker ten to twenty times a second by approximately
the width of one character - making text quite unreadable. With
newer LCD technology this wouldn't be a problem, but at the time
CRTs (Cathode Ray Tube) was the only technology available.

It is of course remotely possible that the computer JMS used was
using a 60 Hz refresh rate (which is the same as the mains frequency
in the United States). In this case, text would be bent to a
wave-like pattern that would be almost stationary, and which wouldn't
be that noticeable.  However, if the frequencies were not the same
(in the late '90's already many computers were using higher
refresh rates between 70-75 Hz), it should really look bad if there
was a significant electromagnetical field.

Sorry if I am being dull. It's just that I think of these things in
engineer terms and reading the book earlier this week made me wonder.

Kind regards,
        - Henrik

-- 
Good signatures never die, they just fade away


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