This guy is hot to trot
09.19.05 (11:25 am) [edit]
With all the kerfuffle of two elections at opposite ends of the world which have produced essentially the same result, i.e. no clear result yet, I haven't had time to keep up to speed with my regular postings of weird and wonderful news. While frantic coalition negotations go in both Germany and New Zealand while the electorates just wait to see what happens, I think it's time for me make amends. This should do it:
Read the rest of this wild story at Stuff.co.nz.
Weird, weird, weird. One step shy of spontaneous combustion?!? Makes you wonder just what he had been doing in his woolen shirt and synthetic jacket before he walked inside doesn't it?
SYDNEY: An Australian man built up a 40,000-volt charge of static electricity in his clothes as he walked, leaving a trail of scorched carpet and molten plastic and forcing firefighters to evacuate a building.
Frank Clewer, who was wearing a woollen shirt and a synthetic nylon jacket, was oblivious to the growing electrical current that was building up as his clothes rubbed together.
When he walked into a building in the country town of Warrnambool in the southern state of Victoria on Thursday, the electrical charge ignited the carpet.
"It sounded almost like a firecracker", Clewer told Australian radio on Friday.
"Within about five minutes, the carpet started to erupt." Employees, unsure of the cause of the mysterious burning smell, telephoned firefighters who evacuated the building.
"There were several scorch marks in the carpet, and we could hear a cracking noise – a bit like a whip – both inside and outside the building", said fire official Henry Barton.
Firefighters cut electricity to the building thinking the burns might have been caused by a power surge.
Clewer, who after leaving the building discovered he had scorched a piece of plastic on the floor of his car, returned to seek help from the firefighters.
"We tested his clothes with a static electricity field meter and measured a current of 40,000 volts, which is one step shy of spontaneous combustion, where his clothes would have self-ignited," Barton said.
Read the rest of this wild story at Stuff.co.nz.
Weird, weird, weird. One step shy of spontaneous combustion?!? Makes you wonder just what he had been doing in his woolen shirt and synthetic jacket before he walked inside doesn't it?
posted by: Kiwi in Zurich (in Paris) (reply)
post date: 09.20.05 (1:06 am)
That's what you get for wearing plastic :)
posted by: lindy (reply)
post date: 09.20.05 (11:52 am)
He sounds hot.
posted by: krankheit (reply)
post date: 09.23.05 (3:17 am)
Proof once again that truth is much stranger than fiction.
posted by: BerlinBear (reply)
post date: 09.23.05 (6:20 am)
Reply to: Kiwi in Zurich
Bwahaha! Fair call mate.
posted by: BerlinBear (reply)
post date: 09.23.05 (6:21 am)
Reply to: lindy
Quite. ;-)
posted by: BerlinBear (reply)
post date: 09.23.05 (6:21 am)
Reply to: krankheit
Proof indeed. A truly odd one this one, that's for sure.
posted by: BerlinBear (reply)
post date: 09.23.05 (11:13 am)
Reply to: themarina
Yes, it does rather, doesn't it!
posted by: Xavier (reply)
post date: 09.23.05 (10:23 pm)
One doesn't measure current in Volts. One measures it in Amperes. Electrical Potential Difference is measured in Volts. Bloody journos. :) Love your blog
posted by: BerlinBear (reply)
post date: 09.24.05 (1:36 am)
Reply to: Xavier
Haha! You're right, well spotted. That didn't even occur to me, though *in theory* I knew that once too. Every time I read an article that deals with one of my areas of real expertise, I make a similar discovery, namely that the journos generally don't actually know what they're talking about. But then I always forget that it probably applies to most other articles covering areas I don't know enough about to spot the glaring errors too.
And thanks for the compliment re: the blog. Good to hear. (Are you Xavier from About Town, or another Xavier?)
posted by: newbie (reply)
post date: 09.24.05 (5:13 am)
I feel sorry for the guy. I bet he has the same problem I do with getting shocks off everything. I bet he hates airline blankets and doorknobs.
There's a doorknob at one of my schools that would knock him off his feet, I reckon. It makes me yelp on a regular basis.
posted by: BerlinBear (reply)
post date: 09.24.05 (7:18 am)
Reply to: newbie
From the tone, I would guess that this newbie might be BadAunt, correct?
And yeah, I have the same problem with shocks. I too am nervous about unknown doorknobs. :-)
posted by: Xavier (reply)
post date: 09.25.05 (1:37 am)
Xavier from About Town :)
posted by: Lawrence (reply)
post date: 01.19.06 (3:46 pm)
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