Date   : Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:38:40 +0200
From   : rick@... (Rick Murray)
Subject: Leccy @ Acorn World '09

Mick Champion wrote:

> I have had a jolt from 110 volts and I moved quick enough. It wasn't so 
> painful as 240/230 though.

Only had two shocks in my life. The first was messing around with phone 
stuff, and learning that the ringing current is a pretty high voltage 
(in the order of 90V) AC. It felt like I'd imagine an electric fence to 
feel like, though I don't plan to touch one of THOSE to compare.

The second? I was 12 or 13. Boarding school. Dining room. Big old 
wooden-cased (fake) telly went "phut!". Worried of being done out of our 
Friday-the-13th movie (or some equally stupid video nasty), a bunch of 
us got the telly down and opened the thing up. A sort of 
pressed-cardboard-like back shell with what looked like wire mesh 
embedded in bits of it for the vents.

Blow me, it was a colour telly with actual VALVES inside. How it kept on 
going into the mid 80s is anybody's guess. Me, ever helpful, decided to 
grab that annoying big thick cable and shove it out of the way so we 
could get a better look at what was essentially a billion years worth of 
dust.

Apparently I cleared one table and landed smack on another. I just 
remember a little bit later lying on my back with a lot of aching 
muscles agreeing that it would in general be best if we put the telly 
back and swiped the VCR instead. :-)
Now, that VCR... only V2000 machine I've ever experienced. WEIRD critter.


Best wishes,

Rick.

-- 
Rick Murray, eeePC901 & ADSL WiFI'd into it, all ETLAs!
BBC B: DNFS, 2 x 5.25" floppies, EPROM prog, Acorn TTX
E01S FileStore, A3000/A5000/RiscPC/various PCs/blahblah...