Read those IEEE and NIST articles to understand why both say power strip protectors protect only from a type of surge that is not typically destructive. A power strip without an earthed 'whole house' protector can even make appliance damage easier. Can sometimes create house fires. Or put 8000 volts destructively through any nearby appliance. Page 42 figure 8. No protector defines a protection layer. Not one. Some protection layers have no protector. But every protection layer must always have one item - earth ground. Why does a power strip promoter not discuss earthing? He is paid to promote obscenely profitable protectors that have no earthing. Profit centers will not even claim protection in manufacturer spec sheets or discuss what does all protection - earth ground. Previous posts discussed secondary protection - an earthed 'whole house' protector. Homeowners should also inspect their primary protection layer. Only the engineer would recommend what to inspect. No profit is reaped by discussing a primary surge protection layer. A picture of what to inspect: http://www.tvtower.com/fpl.html Each protection layer is only defined by earth ground. Any protector without an earth ground (ie plug-in type) does not do nor claim protection. A power strip must somehow magically stop and block a surge. And not discuss what absorb hundreds of thousands of joules - earth. One industry guru in his 1994 IEEE paper repeats what the NIST and IEEE say. Martzloff says damage can happen because a 'point of connection' protector makes damage easier. His very first conclusion says: > Conclusion: > 1) Quantitative measurements in the Upside-Down house clearly > show objectionable difference in reference voltages. These occur > even when or perhaps because, surge protective devices are > present at the point of connection of appliances. When selling a $4 power strip with ten cent protector parts for $40 and $120, then contradicting professionals and confusing layman is necessary. Professionals say a protector without earthing is "useless". Engineered protection systems locate every protector as close as possible (ie 'less than 10 feet') to single point earth ground. And waste no money on power strips. NIST says what all protectors must do to have protection: > What these protective devices do is neither suppress nor arrest > a surge, but simply divert it to ground, where it can do no harm. Since plug-in protectors do not have the always required earth ground, then the NIST also says what a plug-in protector really does: > The best surge protection in the world can be useless > if grounding is not done properly. "Useless". Obviously. No dedicated wire for an always required earth ground means no layer of protection. Why would anyone recommend a protector that has no earthing? Every telco switching station will suffer about 100 surges with each thunderstorm. How often is your town without phone service for four days while they replace that $multi-million computer? Never. Because telcos waste no money on power strips. Telcos always - as in no exceptions - earth surges using the proven 'whole house' solution. Then no surge is inside causing damage. One protector from Polyphaser (an industry benchmark) has no earth connection. A distance to earth is so critical that a Polyphaser protector mounts ON earth ground. Zero feet to earth. Another solution discussed by someone who did this stuff. Any current that is not earthed outside will be so tiny (ie noise) that protection inside every appliance (even GFCIs, digital clocks, and dimmer switches) is not overwhelmed. Routine is to have direct lightning strikes (or 100 surges to the $multi-million computer) without damage. Protection by earthing one 'whole house' protector is so routine that one should not even know a surge existed. An effective protector remains functional even after a direct lightning strike. House fires are another problem with plug-in protectors. Another reason why power strip protectors must be protected from surges - by earthing one 'whole house' protector. A protector is only as effective as the item that defines each protection layer - earth ground. Protector without a low impedance (ie 'less than 10 foot') earth connection provides no protection layer. Can sometimes make appliance damage easier � 8000 volts destructively on page 42 figure 8. In some cases has causes house fires. One protector or 1000 protectors connected to the same earth ground is still only one protection layer. One protector or 1000 - the protection is exactly same - only as good as the earth ground.

While the leaves look like Duchesnea I am having trouble seeing a resemblance in the flower. That is it it is a flower. I don't see the five discrete petals and it seems to have very jagged eges. I'm wondering if this is a yellow leaf. Or maybe an old flower where the bracts have gone yellow. Or maybe just a poor photo. I'd like to see the flower closer. But Duchesnea seems to be the best guess on the evidence so far.

The photo doesn't enlarge enough to see very clearly but if the 'small white balls' resemble Kraft mini marshmallows, I'd say snowberry, Symphoricarpos albus.

Looks like an epiphytipic cacti , Epiphyllum anguliger a.k.a. fishbone - zig zag - ric rac, or sometimes orchid cactus. New shoots are usually 'skinny', but yours has too many 'skinny' parts. What kind of light do you grow it in? There is another, similar looking, but I think this is as ID-ed...maybe show a clear close up of the wide pad?