Dear members , I'm sure we need some spice of pixie dust if it ever existed .

Failing that got funnies of electrical strikes ?

Today , my house casualties 4 ...

1 Automatic gate = manual operation of said gate in the midst of rain
1 Flat screen TV = no satellite TV for parents
1 Cordless phone = again !
1 HK 3-piece speakers = darn , no game sounds .

Damn that Malaysian weather.

A lightning strike spiked my computer, once. Everything but the motherboard was unusable after that.

Wow, well I electrocuted myself by turning off the bathroom light, does that count... he he

I managed to shock myself on the electric lighter in the oven... testing to see if it worked.

I do believe Phill once managed to shock himself with his HDD (or was it the PSU?), if my memory serves me correct.

Also, steel shopping trollies can build up quite a spark under the right conditions. It can get really bad during the 'calm before the storm' when there's alot of that electricity around, much like this morning.

What was odd was that 2 very very close lightning bolts didn't take out the active computer ...

Several years ago some friends of my parents had a "demolition weekend", where we knocked down part of their house so they could build a new extension.

Anyay, for most of the weekend there was this cable lying around, getting in the way. Believing it wasn't live (due to the power being cut off to the part of the house we were demolishing), we were all grabbing it and throwing water on it and so on.

Eventually one of the house's owners decided the cable was in the way and he'd cut it. And got shocked - turned out it was on the circuit for the kitchen, which was next to the part we were demolishing.


(Another funny/dangerous thing that happened that weekend:
"Put on your safety glasses"
"No, I'll be OK"
"OK then, your loss" *smacks concrete slab with a sledgehammer*
*chip of concrete flies up and hits non-glasses-wearer right between the eyes*
"OK I'm putting the glasses on")

the only thing close that i've seen was a lightning strike near the one and only valhalla i went to. the computers were fine, but all the cars in the parking lot had their alarms go off, which was kinda funny.
for a computer systems engineering students i dont seem to have many stories.
then again, in one of the practicals somebody must have accidentally had the power supply set to double the voltage it needed to be because one of the op-amps in their circuit went bang, leaving a hole taking up about a third of the package

I was electrocuted by one of those cooler chests they have at supermarkets. The ones that have frozen vegetables and the like in them. I put my hand on the metal edge to look in and felt the electrical pulse going through my arm, much like what happened with that joke pen brought to AJAS last year, only much stronger. I was thrown back a couple of feet and landed on the floor, a bit put out and confused. I then snapped at the nearest person who looked like an employee and stormed off to find where Jim had gotten to. I should have sued the bastards because the problem was never fixed.

Mappy wrote:I was electrocuted by one of those cooler chests they have at supermarkets. The ones that have frozen vegetables and the like in them. I put my hand on the metal edge to look in and felt the electrical pulse going through my arm, much like what happened with that joke pen brought to AJAS last year, only much stronger. I was thrown back a couple of feet and landed on the floor, a bit put out and confused. I then snapped at the nearest person who looked like an employee and stormed off to find where Jim had gotten to. I should have sued the bastards because the problem was never fixed.

Ah but then you have to do all this pissing around, go to the doctor, go to the lawyer and so forth. Then they would have the problem fixed and your alive and well. Supermarkets are dodgey places. A strong current, but at least you werent the crazy employees poking stuff in the electrical power board.

the only way an issue like that could've occurred is:
1. bad wiring inside the device itself, requiring it to be checked out by a service person immediately.
2. bad building wiring, requiring immediate attention from a certified electrician.
the first issue is far more likely, especially if the thing was still working. either way, these are both serious issues for the business which could potentially result in criminal charges (i think, especially for number 2).

Supermarket zapping:

This happened to me several times whenever dave and I had to do supermarket shopping at this certain mall while housesitting, I keep getting 'zapped' whenever I'm touching a metal rail or rack or anything to do with metal when I shop, even when my hand is on the metal part of the trolley while i reach with my other hand.... any explainations? it was more like static electricity.

the trolley won't ground you as it has non-conducting wheels, it'll probably in fact increase the amount of static charge that you are discharging.
the reason you're getting a zap is because most equipment grounds all external metal casing so any charge you're carrying will get grounded through the casing.
in my experience, tiled floors (or ones made of similar materials) can cause you to develop a decent bit of static charge, depending on the materials your shoes are made of and their condition. i've also noticed that dry air seems to help improve the generation of static charges and that's probably why it seems to happen more near the fridges.
i remember my old shoes used to generate lots of static at ajas when the weather was right, which was fun...

hmm I was wearing skate shoes... but yeah I understand.. interesting though that it happened more at that mall and never happened at any other malls I've been to...

It gave you a better buzz than Bleach.

well, it's dependent on the material the floor is made out of, same for the shoes, both of their condition and how clean they are. moisture in the air helps dissipate the charge and moisture on the surfaces lowers the amount of static being generated.
for me it was mostly happening in the buildings where ajas is on, with those shoes that were heavily worn and on dry days

EDIT: i don't think you'll get much out of reading the wikipedia page on electrostatics

remind me to stay away from you on dry days at ajas...

(mad) wrote:well, it's dependent on the material the floor is made out of, same for the shoes, both of their condition and how clean they are. moisture in the air helps dissipate the charge and moisture on the surfaces lowers the amount of static being generated.

Yes, Bleach makes everyone feel like that.

Anyway, I'm sure the problem cooler at [spoiler]Foodland Newton[/spoiler] is still wired up and ready to go. Anyone for a game of "Who Wants to be a Million Volts"?

those were my old shoes, so you don't need to worry about that.
though there are plenty of other reasons to stay away from me, i would have to admit...

Mappy wrote:Anyway, I'm sure the problem cooler at [spoiler]Foodland Newton[/spoiler] is still wired up and ready to go. Anyone for a game of "Who Wants to be a Million Volts"?

sounds like fun, though it does remind me of the second gremlins movie with the electric gremlin

lol. the mall responsible for the zaps was the [spoiler]castleplaza[/spoiler] one... so yeah be careful when you shop there guys... even when dave kept poking and tapping me, I constantly got those electricity zaps... -_- dave is so sitting in front of the shops next time when we have to do food shopping... can one of you guys babysit him? XD

i wouldn't trust me with babysitting if i were you...
anyhow, that's a little far from me. i don't think many people live near morphettville

we dont. his sister and her husband does, hence the house sitting when his sister goes away. I was kidding... dave is edible hat... fully grown but likes to disturb/distract me while I'm trying to concentrate on grocery shopping -_-

I used to do my shopping at Castle Plaza when I was living on Cross Road, Cumberland Park, next to the Cabra College. Maaaaaany years ago. Never got zapped there by the dreaded static. I was more annoyed by the fact that it was the only useful blutig shopping centre within an hour's walking distance. Damn my bank for closing its branch at the Big W on Goodwood Road....

Hmm... then it mustve been me... no idea... ill test it again next month... ;_; and dave. youre sitting out in front of the supermarkets. no buts.

I should also say that they were widening South Road past Castle Plaza at the time, which should give some idea as to how long ago it was. And I mean how looooooooooooooooong ago it was. Castle Plaza has probably been refurbished thrice since then.

IceLee wrote:we dont. his sister and her husband does, hence the house sitting when his sister goes away. I was kidding... dave is edible hat... fully grown but likes to disturb/distract me while I'm trying to concentrate on grocery shopping -_-

i realised who dave is, i was more making a point that most people don't / probably shouldn't trust me.
anyway, being distracted is what shopping is all about, isn't it?

I haven't felt any static electricity zaps since I got shoes with genuine rubber soles (as opposed to plastic that looks like rubber).

As for shopping distractions... look over there! Half price gorilla food!

awesome, i've been needing to buy some of that for ages. now the question is, does anyone know about who the gorilla is?