The 20 (British Pounds Sterling) ornament refracted the rays straight into the back of Kim Yeates's TV which overheated and exploded, igniting a nearby sofa.I am posting this because, as bizarre as the situation seems, I have some familiarity with the phenomenon.
Kim, 53, who lived alone, was out visiting a friend and returned to find 10,000 (British Pounds Sterling) worth of damage caused to her first-floor flat.
Firefighters blamed the 4in-diameter glass sphere she had kept in her window in Worle, Somerset.
In the mid 1980's, I was married to a lady who was a believer in many New Age philosophies including the metaphysical healing powers of crystals. She brought with her two daughters (8 and 10) from a previous marriage.
One Christmas my wife bought a six-inch diameter crystal ball for her younger daughter, for purposes which were perhaps meaningful only to her. The crystal ball came with a small stand, and the daughter placed that stand on a mirrored dressing table in her bedroom.
There it stood through the long winter, into the spring and nearing summer.
One Saturday morning in May, we were all at home having breakfast when I noticed the smell of burning wood in the house. Since we were no longer using the fireplace, I was concerned. There was no reason to smell smoke; our house was closed, and even if the neighbors were using their fireplace we were unlikely to be aware of it.
We investigated, following the smoke smell from the dining room to the living room, down the hall, to the daughter's bedroom at the end of the hall.
When we entered the bedroom, we saw the morning sun shining through the east-facing window. The early morning sunlight was refracted by the crystal ball and focused on the back-board of the dressing table much as a magnifying glass will focus the rays of the sun. There was a perfect circle burnt into the maple backboard, less than a quarter of an inch in diameter, and so much smoke was curling from that circle it was obvious that it was near to the point of ignition.
Obviously this had occurred within a few minutes of the sun striking the crystal ball, because over time the burnt spot would be elongated to an oval by the movement of the sun.
I stood in front of the crystal, blocking the sunlight from the window, and the intensified sunbeam blinked out.
We removed the crystal ball and put it in a drawer, making sure that all of us understood that the object should stay in the dark unless it was brought out for ... whatever purpose crystal balls serve. It should never be left unattended or on display.
Because we were all witness to this phenomena of nature and refracted light, the crystal ball was no longer a fire risk in our house.
Still, it's very easy for me to understand how this young lady in Somerset passively burned her own home down.
Yes, it's a long and boring story. The point is that it's not a matter of Brit governmental incompetence at work, but something which could happen to everyone.
If it could save just one child ...
... and is it meaningful that the article was posted by a newspaper called "The Sun"?
(Can you hear the theme song from "The Twilight Zone?")
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