Date:         Thu, 23 Mar 2006 20:12:45 -0800
Reply-To:     Tom Salicos <Tom@SALICOS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Tom Salicos <Tom@SALICOS.COM>
Subject:      Re: Shocking seats!!
Comments: To: JordanVw@AOL.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
              reply-type=original

----- Original Message -----
From: <JordanVw@AOL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2006 7:09 PM
Subject: Re: Shocking seats!!
>
> dammit you guys are so mean :<(    seriously im getting zapped everytime i
> exit the van...
>

I am one who gets static electricity when nobody else does.  If I walk from
my office across the hall to our equipment room and touch one of the
computers I draw a visible arc and you can hear it across the room.  Nobody
else I work with has this problem.  (It's a sign of extremely high
intelligence, you know).   I use anti-static spray and have a grounding wire
on my main computer.  Still I get zapped.

I have frequently rebooted my computer just by touching it.  I plugged in my
USB memory device (SanDisk Cruzer) without discharging myself only to have
the device destroyed.

If you continuously spray the fabric with anti-static treatment it will
start to pick up dirt.  The best advise here was to touch something metal as
you drag your butt across the seat.  This dissipates the static charge as it
is being developed.  The next best thing is to dissipate the charge by
thumping the bottom of your fist on a metal surface before touching
something with your fingers.  The larger the discharge surface the less the
effect.  It's like when you scuffed your feet and touched your little
brother's ear.  Less area, greater energy density.

The bottom line is that, except for continuous use of anti-static spray
and/or less painful discharge habits, there may not be anything you can do.

Polyester IS bad.

Tom S.