From Andrew Healy
Ashford, Middlesex
The instructions that came with my PC say that anyone servicing the machine
should: “discharge any accumulated static electricity by earthing (the working
hand)”. This is a very sensible precaution, but it does not warn you to avoid
contact with pets.
While I was replacing a chip, a certain feline filibuster decided that it was
time for it to be fed and started to rub around my legs, as cats do. This action
caused the generation of a static charge in the cat’s fur, which earthed itself.
However, given a nonconducting synthetic carpet, the charge scrambled the chip
that I was holding.
