Conference hydra::dejavu

    A few recommendations:
    
    Buy a surge suppresser, they cost about $5-$10 and will filter out
    any surges to the lamp.  If surges are the cause of the turn-on,
    then it could be possible for a series of them (or a duration) would
    turn on your lamp.  I have one of them in my room and it turned
    itself on ONCE in six months.  I don't know why.
    
    Buy a rubber mat and sit the lamp on the mat to isolate/insulate it
    from the floor.  The problem could be (Hip shot) static electricity
    that is building between the floor and the lamp, when it arcs the
    lamp is charged.  What's the floor like? Shag Carpeting?
    
    When you said "traded lamps" do you mean two lamps react the same
    way at that place?  Or the lamp turned itself on at another place?
    What are the differences in location between the three lamps?
    
    Get a psychic to check your place for spirits. (Any volunteers?)

    Dave

    Hi -- welcome:
    
    My first guess would be some kind of noise in your outlet (as opposed
    to the whole electrical system).  What else do you have plugged
    into the same outlet?  To test this plug it into an extension cord
    connected to an outlet which you have checked that it doesn't occur
    on.  The permanant fix would be to get a "line noise eliminator"
    from a store like Radio Shack.
    
    My second guess would be some object influencing it in some way.
    Is it near a steam radiator?  How about a radio, clock, etc?  If
    it is on or near a night stand with a drawer, check for anything
    electrical in the table (e.g., I have my trusty calculator sitting
    in the drawer of my night stand).
    
    My third guess seems much less likely.  There are various streams
    of ions passing through any room.  These are normally very weak
    and it takes a fairly sensitive instrument to detect them.  If you
    have or can borrow from someone one of those ion generators or
    "ionic air cleaners" put one near and see if it either triggers
    the effect or prevents it from happening.
    
    Of course, it couldn't hurt to do one of the cleansing rituals,
    if you are a mind to, which are discussed elsewhere in this conference.
    Don't do it when you are trying any of the other experiments I've
    suggested or you'll never be sure you know which fixed the problem.
    
    If I think of anything else, I'll post.  Keep us informed.
    
    						Topher

    
    Is there a large chunk of metal nearby? These devices work on
    capacitance; if there's something nearby that would make a second
    plate of the capacitor, it'll trip. The capacitive value drops by
    the inverse square of the distance between the plates, so the lamp
    and lump X would have to be fairly close together.
    
    Tananda
    

    	Then too, a friend of mine had this exact situation
    	happen to him -- his spiritual guide thought it was
    	a good time to wake him up to meditate...
    
    	Carla

I agree with Tananda, adding that the lamp might also work by using line
noise picked up by your body to throw a circuit into saturation.  In other
words, (and this is true of the capacitive proximity-detecting scheme as
well) the lamp circuit is always on the edge of going off and uses your
touch to "kick it over" (I hope no cows in Chicago are reading this).

All of this is to say that I suspect the threshold circuit on that particular
lamp is set too low.

Now if it starts flashing in code...  ;-)


John M. 

 	As has been mentioned, there are some fairly sensitive electronics
    in these lamps to make the touch scheme work.  Limiting myself to
    "conventional" explanations then...
    
    They could be triggered by any radio frequency energy surge.
    	Are you near an am or fm station that starts its broadcast day
    at that time?

    	Police, taxi, fire, any_other_two-way_radio?  The police operate
    all day and night, but before 5-6 ish things are quiet.
    
    	Did it change with daylight savings time, that would tie it
    to "human activities"?
    
    	Change in room temperature? (this can shift the "threshold"
    on the circuit.)
    
    The suggestions on filters and surge suppressors (seperate devices...)
    are good for 110 ac line related problems.
    
    
    Hmmm, I seem to be rambling away from deja-vu related matters.
    
    None of this is to be taken as "requiring" a "conventional" expanation
    of this observation, merely as illustrating the range of such explanations.
    
    Thanks
    dave pierson
    (who sometimes gets paid by dec to work on things like this)

    Thanks for all the different suggestions but let me give you a few
    more details.
    
    Last night when I arrived home I went into my bedroom and found
    2 of the 3 lamps on.  The lamps were on the two night stands by
    my bed.  The one on my side was at level 1 (25 watts) and the other
    one was on high (100 watts).  This has never happened before.  Only
    on my side of the bed.  This morning and yesterday morning the lamp
    turned on at 6:00 a.m. like clock work.  What's interesting is it
    seems to have changed with the time change.  Always coming on at
    6:00 a.m.  At first when this started happening I switched lamps
    to see if it was a too sensitive a lamp....with no help.  No matter
    which lamp was on my side of the bed it turned on.  Next I tried
    using an extension cord and plugged the lamp in a different outlet.
    It still came on.  A few other things have happened since I moved
    here.
    
    I've now lost two sets of measuring spoons.  I've looked everywhere
    and cannot locate them.  I have used them since March when I moved
    in.  I've just ordered my third set from Tupperware....I'll let
    you know how long I keep them.
    
    Another experience I have is my bedroom door closes at times when
    no one is around.  One day when I came up from the basement I found
    the door almost closed.  This was strange because I had it propped
    open with a bag of clothes.  My carpet is thick and the windows
    were all closed so I know it could not have blown closed.  One weekend
    I went and visited friends, I purposely left my bedroom with the
    lights off and the door open.  When I arrived home Sunday night
    the lamp was on high and the door closed again.  At times when I
    am home I hear noises in the bedroom and have walked in to see or
    find nothing.
    
    This is not the first time I have experienced things like this.
    Where I lived a few years ago I had things disappear only to be
    found packed in boxes in my garage.

    Re .8:
    
    >..........................................What's interesting is it
    >seems to have changed with the time change.  Always coming on at
    >6:00 a.m.  At first when this started happening I switched lamps
    >to see if it was a too sensitive a lamp....with no help.  No matter
    >which lamp was on my side of the bed it turned on.  Next I tried
    >using an extension cord and plugged the lamp in a different outlet.
    >It still came on. ... 
    
    Okay, that suggests human- or culture-related bases.  It might be
    the location, however.  Try the reverse: plug the lamp into an
    extension cord and plug the extension cord in the "usual" outlet
    for the lamp, but move the lamp, temporarily, on a table, some
    distance from its normal spot.  Do you still have the anomaly?
    
    >Where I lived a few years ago I had things disappear only to be
    >found packed in boxes in my garage. 
    
    Hmm. Maybe Somebody's trying to tell you something. :-)
    
    If there's a paranormal explanation to this, since it seems to center
    on you, it might be something related to the poltergeist phenomenon.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.   
    

    RE:0,8
    
      What you need to do is Repent and be saved!! (GET WISE - GET
    CHRIST!!)
    
    LORENZO
    

    RE:  .10
    	Maybe he meant it's time to get the monthly check out to Jim
    and Tammy ...

    Knowing that the techies will throughly analyze this from an
    electronics point of view, I will leave that to them and tell 
    you of a similar experience my mother had.
    
    My father died about 15 years ago.  Although my mother had never
    had any problems with electricity before then, she started having
    similar problems after his death.  There were two lights effected,
    one in the hall and one in the living room on a timer.  The lights
    would just go on and off at random.  Once when I was alone in the
    house reading, the light (which was beside me) went off,.. then it
    went on.. then it went off again.  At first I said out loud "I'm
    trying to read here,... will you cut it out" and the light went
    back on.  Then I started talking to my father out loud,.. 
    I told him that we were all fine and that I would take care of my
    mother and that he could leave now and how to leave.  After
    that it stopped happening and its never happened again.  My son
    (who was little at the time) also said he saw a man at the foot
    of the stairs in a raincoat everytime he sleeped over his Gramma
    house... that the way my father dressed for work every day.  I 
    still miss him.

    The problem (whatever it is) seems to be attracting your attention
    but not doing any harm.  Sometimes its nice to have the comforting
    kind of spirit around,.. the kind that wakes you up at 6 every morning
    and makes sure there is a light on at night_:-).

    p.s.  Hi Lorenzo dear... how are you today ... calm down now, we are 
    all repentant and will hopefully be saved eventually.  

    LORENZO
    
    Remember, there are good spirits and bad spirits!  Who's to say
    which might be doing this?

    
    Steve's experiment seems sound. Also, do you have a humidifier running
    in this room?
    
    You may want to purify the room using a ritual...I sometimes cleanse
    a room by putting a candle in each corner and dowsing the area with
    sage smoke. I travel counterclockwise around the room, stopping
    at each candle to invoke the spirit of one of the four elements.
    Then, at the center of the room, I ask for the protection of the
    goddess. Let the candles burn all the way down.
    
    I burn the sage in a sea shell (the shell for water, smoke for air,
    fire as itself, and sage for earth).
    
    While you're at it, purify and cleanse your energy by pouring the
    sage smoke over yourself.
    
    Tananda
    

    re .15:
    
    > .............I travel counterclockwise around the room, stopping
    >at each candle to invoke the spirit of one of the four elements.
    >Then, at the center of the room, I ask for the protection of the
    >goddess. Let the candles burn all the way down.
     
    There are many cleansing rituals.  One sort of nondenominational
    one would consist of placing four cones of sandalwood incense in
    the room, one at each cardinal point, and light them, starting from
    the East, and going clockwise.  A white candle in the center of
    the room, where the person purifying the room could see it, is an
    added step.  
    
    However, taking this from a psi aspect, suppose it's not a spirit,
    but poltergeistoid.  Then, the anomalies might be coming from some
    subconscious drive or impulse.  "Talking to the `spirit'" would
    then really be just getting in touch with the subconscious and calming
    it down.
    
    And again, don't overlook perfectly natural alternatives.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

This is an interesting note, but I don't think either Jesus or cleansing
rituals are what is called for here; particularly given the type of circuit
involved.  Can the lamp be traded in or taken to a qualified technician to get
a filter installed or the threshold adjusted?  Also, if some kind of "ghost"
were involved I should think it would have no problem turning on a lamp with a
standard switch.  After all, to turn on either kind of lamp requires a physical
act. 

John M.

    	Good Lord, what do some of you do when your washing machine
    breaks down - make a sacrifice?!
    
    	:^) 
    

    1 unplug lamps.
    2 buy new spoons.

.20 u got it rong

1. buy new lamps
2. plug in the spoons

    last time i plugged in a spoon I died

.22 zackly! That otta either discourage the crook, or catch 'em.

re: .19

>    	Good Lord, what do some of you do when your washing machine
>   breaks down - make a sacrifice?!
 
Yes.

    Reply to .19; Klaes,
    
    Yes I sacrifice the lint in the washer filter to the small plastic
    garbage can that follows it around everywhere.

	I dare anyone to read this note and replies at MIDNITE while
	ALONE in the house - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    Regarding prosaic explanations for errant lamp behavior:
    
    Remember that scene from _Poltergeist_ where the two neighbors have
    a duel changing each others' channels with their remote controllers?
    I almost died laughing at that one.
    
    What does that have to do with your lamp?  I don't know all the
    electronic details, but there may be folks in your neighborhood who
    have electronically activated garage doors, light activators, furnace
    switches, special timers.  My husband amused himself all last winter
    making our house totally electronic.  From a few boxes, we can turn
    on or off every light in the place, our furnace is on a timer, our
    outside lights are on a timer...the man went wild.
    
    And after we began putting these items on the special circuits that
    would activate them, we also experienced some lights that would turn
    on and off at odd hours.  The way Dave explained it to me was that
    when something is electronically sensitive enough to respond to
    signals from something other than a gross mechanical switch (and your
    touch-activated lamp could certainly qualify) they can pick up on
    signals from other electronic "activator" sources in the near vicinity.
    It took us a while to find a setting so that our next door neighbor's
    garage door opener did not turn on our timer-activated outside lights.
    But we finally found a circuit that did not respond to his own
    electronic circuit activators and all is now well.  Although it was
    strange at first to wake up at 6 am and find the outside lights all on.
    
    This may be worth checking out.  If the lamp itself is sensitive
    to outside electronic stimuli, (and being touch-activated, it could
    be) it's no surprise that it's not affected by what socket you plug
    it into.  It'd only be affected by distance from the activating
    stimulus, wherever that might be.  Check out your neighbor on the
    bedroom side of the house.  Garage door close by?  Does the lamp
    go on at times that suggest they might be turning something on or
    off?
    
    Marcia

    
    re: dryers
    
    Interestingly, the common clothes dryer contains in its very design
    undeniable proof that we create our own reality. I know somebody
    probably got into a lot of trouble for letting this slip by. You
    can experiment with objective reality this way:
    
    	1. Clean your lint filter thoroughly.
    	2. Place a load of wet wash into the dryer. For best results,
    	   it should be a color load.
    	3. Run the dryer through its cycle.
    	4. Open the lint trap and observe the color of the lint.
    
    No matter what color your clothes *APPEAR* to be, the lint will
    *ALWAYS* come out a grayish blue. This means that *ALL OF YOUR CLOTHES*
    are actually grayish-blue! It's just a short leap of conclusion
    to realize that *EVERYTHING* is grayish-blue, and that we only *SEE*
    different colors because we are so trusting that we believe what
    the label says.
    
    Tananda
    
    (hmmm...this text appears to be a grayish-blue...)
    

    Re .28  (Tananda)
    
    Actually, my experience is that no matter what color the cloths
    are, the lint comes out a shade of pink.
    
    I guess all of *my* clothes are actually pink.
    
    Elizabeth

    
    re <--
    
    Hey, I wonder if that's the basis for the boys-in-blue-and-girls-
    in-pink tradition?
    
    T
    

    After reading note 541, and all the  replies, I had the best laugh
    I've had in a long time. Honestly, try it yourself.
    
    My question is , "Is your husband (or wife) trying
    to drive you nuts?". That would be my explanation. 

    I'm single and live alone....so no one is trying to drive me nuts
    at home.  The office.....thats a different story!  I agree with
    you on the laughs.  Some of the replys are really funny.

    
    We try hard!  (:^)
    
    Just thinking along the 'magic' lines - wouldn't it be great if
    one of the NOTES coders put in an "OPEN SESAME" command as a sleeper?
    
    Kind of along the lines of the old TECO "Make Love....not war."
    
    Cindy

    The funniest topic in the notes file!!
    
    On a serious "note".  You havent said what happens if you put a
    CONVENTIAL bulb ( the glass envelope which lights up) into the "lamp",
    (the thing that has the socket or "bulb" holder mounted in/on it).
    You would then have, or should have, complete control over.
    This would perhaps determine if you had "funny business" going on
    and would give a better indication of what to do.
                
    
    Peter

    Well, after all that, has the problem been cured?  Or even identified?
    or intuited?
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    Even though the original note was posted almost a year ago I still
    wanted to throw in my 2 cents (only 1 cent if you don't care :^))
     
    During my last year in college, my mother decided to switch some
    funriture around before I came home for the summer.  One thing she
    move into my room was  (You guessed it) the same touch on lamp as
    described in .0.  (Same 100 watt 4 touch type).  This lamp used
    to be in my brother's room with no problems at all.
    
    BUT --
    On my night table it would turn itself on and off at will.  This
    drove me nuts until I figured out what was setting it on and off
    
     -----   the TELEPHONE  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    
    YES, seriously.  Without any regularity at all, the ringing of the
    phone would set the lamp up one notch.  This was VERY annoying when
    I was trying to read (the light would go off) or trying to sleep
    (the stupid thing would go on)!!
    
    Also a number of times while on the phone, we could pick up CB
    interference on the line and this would rarely set the lamp off, too.
    
    Tracy_who's_leaning_toward_physical_instead_of_`spiritual'_causes
    

    .36 makes sense, from a conventional view...
    
    The "talk voltage" is a few volts, which gets modulated by the
    "mike" in the phone.  The ring voltage is about 90 volts.  This
    is interrupted, to make the ring, so it radiates "well" (well,
    better  8)>>) and could easily get into the touch switch circuitry.
    
    thanks
    dave pierson