Don't Be Shocked!   

   Electricity is our amazing friend. 

   Without it we could not microwave our supper. Or spend our lives watching TV. Or wear out our cell phones. Or enjoy comfortable temperatures. 

   Worst of all, we could not publish Views By the Sea and you would be so deprived. 

   CAUTION! Our low voltage/high current helper is generated in a power plant at high voltage/low current. It is the alternating-current (AC) method patented by George Westinghouse, age 19, Pittsburgh, in 1914. (Not Thomas Edison's direct-current (DC), which would have melted long-distance wires.) Batteries provide direct current. Electrons in every cell of our bodies ... no current.

   Invisible electrons basically don't leave the generator. It is the push - voltage - transformed to current that lights up your night...and day. 

   A long chain of transformers gradually "step down" voltage from the power plant to your home, ending in low voltage/high current useful for brewing coffee. 

   There are many power lines near you with enough voltage to end your love affair with electricity and everything else. The son of our doctor in my hometown was killed when his ladder touched a low hanging power line. His father consulted with my electrical-engineer dad, and sued.

   If you see a downed power line, from a storm, or have an accident where a pole and the lines have fallen to ground level:

*  Call 911. Wait for help.

*  Stay 35 feet away from a power line; assume it is live, including your car or anything else it is touching. Never touch it, even with a stick or cloth. 

*  If your car is in the clutter and you must get out due to smoke or fire, do not exit one foot at a time. Jump, and shuffle with both feet always grounded until you are safely away. That goes against every instinct, so memorize this and pass it on.

      Jimmy