Basic Electricity 101

For years and years, I have tried to talk "shop" at home with cs, my kids, my in-law relatives and even gave it a go with FSIL I and FSIL II. Nothing, nada, zippo — just blank stares of indifference.

Which leads me to the conclusion that it could be one of two things:

1. It is their A.S.S. heritage coming through — (if it ain't about me, then I'm not interested)…or…
2. They just don't understand electricity, volts, or circuits.

I can do nothing about reason #1, but I stumbled upon a Dave Barry explanation that may help resolve reason #2.

Benjamin Franklin proved an important scientific point, which is that electricity originates inside clouds. There, it forms into lightning, which is attracted to the earth by golfers. After entering the ground, the electricity hardens into coal, which, when dug up by power companies and burned in big ovens called "generators," turns back into electricity, which is sent in the form of "volts" (also known as "watts, " or "rpm" for short), through special wires with birds sitting on them to consumers' homes, where it is transformed by TV sets into commercials for beer, which passes through the consumers and back into the ground, thus completing what is known as a "circuit."

Couldn't have said it better myself. Now, we can start having some meaningful conversations around the house…