Originally Posted by cerewa
I suspect the story is not true. Today, at least, there are laws on the books that say you may not steal electricity, whether or not you
Using electricity that you got by putting wire coils close to live wires is the same as taking it by connecting a wire to live wires. Either one pulls power off the wires and therefore requires either more power to be made by the company or causes dim lights/power loss for other users.
The farmer in the story is pulling electricity off the wires the same way that a cell phone charger (or a power company's transformer) transmits power. Cell phone chargers and battery chargers have two sets of wire coils that aren't connected by any electricity-conducting material, only by the ability of electrons in one location to push around electrons somewhere else by using their magnetic personalities... um, i mean, properties.
I obviously agree, but in the midst of rising cancer rates, radiation concerns, and electromagnetic interference I sometimes think that farmers like that should be allowed to couple to the fields however they like. The farmer has to deal with the radiation, the risk of cancer, and the interference. Why shouldn't he be allowed to do whatever he pleases? I mean, it's not like the power company asked him if they could use his farm to transmit electricity. If the power company left a generator on the farmer's property without permission then he would have every right to use it or abuse it however he saw fit. Why should electromagnetic fields be any different?
Laissez fair I say. Some people want to impose stricter regulations on the placement of power lines. I say just let all the farmers out there overload the lines. Then the power companies will very quickly figure out how to transmit power without exposing residential areas to fields of questionable safety.
And as a nice perk it will create more jobs outside of the defense and entertainment industries for people like me. Six months as a contractor for the farmer followed by another 10 years for the power company and in the end everybody's happy (the power company doesn't have to worry about people stealing electricity, the farmer doesn't have to worry about radiation, and people like me get paid without building weapons or ipods).
[/rant]