Preparedness for when

greenbee

GQ - we had that storm last night and when the rain first started I thought there was water running in the house! One of the lighting strikes was so close that the thunder (or maybe the lightning) made the house shake. I didn't get much sleep last night.

Re. power surges - always worth unplugging things. Even just switching off is no guarantee of safety. In the event of a surge, electricity has to go somewhere - hence the number of blown immersion heaters we used to get in this village when we had regular power cuts. So much better, if you can, to unplug anything sensitive. Surge protecting extension leads will protect from small surges, and are useful in making the plugs more accessible to unplug...

nuatha

milasavesmoney wrote: »

I was surprised to read that Britian has no exit polls. That there are strict laws as to what can be reported on election days...it has to be factual. I like this system.

They can't broadcast anything relating to contested campaign issues or that is based on reports of how people have voted. Legally I can tell you how I voted, but can't tell you how my wife voted. (The laws don't just apply to broadcasters but to the whole population).

The US news agencies etc poll people coming out of the election polls all over the country to get a sense of how the vote went, which they immediately start reporting before the polls close. They also make winner projections by calling a state winner, as the polls start to report. We have four time zones so the voter counts roll in like the tide.

When are the postal votes counted? I'm assuming it's on Election Day?

Postal votes are counted with ballot box votes at the same counting stations, though postal votes are likely to be the first votes counted as it takes time for ballot boxes to be transported. The exact mechanics of the count do vary from constituency to constituency.
Typically in a general election Sunderland will deliver the first count result with other results being announced over the next few hours.

GreyQueen wrote: »

:eek: Wow, that was a bit hairy!

Had to disappear in a hurry for a while as the storm went ballistic and I was worried I'd get my router etc fried. Fast shutdown of PC and unplugged everything electical related to it as thunder rolled and lightning flashed.
...

Right, matters preptastic learned; my heavy blockboard pooter desk is very close to the wall which means pulling plugs is fiddly and slower than ideal. It needs to be a few inches further out for speed, which will mean something else will need to be re-positoned slightly.

May I suggest a sacrificial extension lead?
Rather than rearranging furniture effectively moving the sockets by means of an extension could give you more options.

jk0

GreyQueen wrote: »

It's the latter, jk0

Thanks GQ. I guess that's partly why the turnout is so high. Everyone's vote counts, whereas mine rarely do at normal elections.

nuatha

maryb wrote: »

GQ I have a surge protected extension socket with an on/off switch on my desk into which my pooter and peripherals are all plugged, which means I can switch off everything very easily. It's by Belkin and wasn't hugely expensive. I use it to switch everything off when I shut down for the night to save Lectrickery. But in my mind I was always vaguely comforted by the fact it has a surge protector so thought it would stop things being fried

We need Nuatha to say whether that is actually effective or not - Yoohoo!!??

I use a mix of anti-surge multi-sockets and Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS). UPS's are effectively a overbuilt anti-surge device that can tell a computer to shutdown gracefully (saving everything in the process) in the event of a power failure.

In GQ's scenario the anti-surge device itself could be under water, rendering it useless or shorted out. Moving the anti-surge to close desk height (they usually have built in mounting points designed to hook over two screws) with their three pin plug accessible and easily removable from the mains supply would increase their effectiveness.
I've seen the remains of heavy duty anti-surge units following a lightening strike, (alongside the slag that used to be a rack of computers).

Isolating from the mains supply either by fitting double throw knife switches (expensive but gives a certain steampunk/gothic/hammar house feel) or simply unplugging devices in a lightening storm is a good idea.

I've also seen domestic anti-surge devices protect from a lightening strike - I'm not going to take the chance if I am present to isolate my kit.

There are regular surges on the electrical system, these are the main purpose of the anti-surge kits, despite what the packaging and adverts might suggest.

HTH

[Deleted User]

Dunno about surges, but when ever there is an electrical storm, the hairs on my right arm stand bolt upright and literally bristle !!!

Only on my right arm which I have the lymphedema problem with, strangely enough. My other arm which I don't have a problem with stays as it always is No idea why this happens and it feels really odd when this happens

JackieO xx

Witless

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Don't suppose any of the people planning to stay up all night and watch the election results are willing to do "sentry duty" and post up "how its all going - on the hour every hour" type info. for us on here?

No need whatsoever - use the arrows the Beeb kindly provide -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-36570120

moneyistooshorttomention

Looks like Brexit:beer::j:beer::j:beer::j

In voice from that film "Today is our Independence Day".:beer::j:D:beer::j

I might actually get some sleep tonight then - several glasses of champagne inside me later. I was "tossing and turning" last night worrying as to whether other people would "land us in it" by voting to stay - but not daring to get up and watch the news in case I found they had..

mrs-moneypenny

Saw the Gibraltar vote come in and went to bed with a very heavy heart. This morning the landscape seems totally different.
The £ is having a shudder as was expected but that will soon stabilise we just need to unite as a country and get back to work and get some good leader ship that knows the direction we are heading in now.

Feel so much better this morning

moneyistooshorttomention

Think I ought to throw in one of the YouTube clips at this point - adrenaline for the releasing of::j

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx2h-tgiXWA

boultdj

So glad my prepping includes leaveing the equivelent of my wages in the bank , pay day today and no wages go in anyones bank.:mad: