Stupid things we do

[Skip]

About the same as household current, I think, which is why medical personnel have to stand clear of the patient, but it's applied only for a second or two.

[Hobbes' Choice]

Knew an electrician who was dealing with stuff in the ceiling. His buddy had to kick the ladder out from under him to save his life. You can look okay afterwards, but your organs may have been slightly cooked.

Actually Hobbes, now you have me wondering what the voltage is on a defibrillator? Anyone know the specs?

You figure it out!!
http://www.resuscitationcentral.com/def ... -waveform/

[thedoc]

I'm no stranger to the feel of a hot plug myself. One way to find out why your car is misfiring is to touch a shorting lead!!! Ouch.

I do something like that when an engine isn't running right, I pull the plug wires one at a time and listen to the engine. If I pull the wire and the engine slows down, that cyl. is working right, when I pull the wire and there is no change, that is the cyl. that isn't working right.

[Greta]

Possibly the stupidest thing I've ever done was to electrocute myself when wiring in a new power point without first turning off the electricity at the main switchboard. While I was performing this perfectly routine task which I'd done many times before my wife had the audacity to question whether I actually knew what I was doing. In my customary didactic style I then proceeded to explain to her which wires needed to be joined to which and in the course of my explanation I managed to touch both the active and neutral wires simultaneously. The shock threw me against the wall and almost dislocated my shoulder but the old girl was completely unfazed by this. After checking that I was in fact still alive she said this: "Since you seem to have everything under control I might just leave you to it".

Hilarious! Your wife is most impressive lol

I'm impressed that you guys can actually list them. I could write you a daily dairy. Being ADHD, I've always had impulse control problems. The stupidity floweth freely from this tainted fount. If you have impulse control issues then you have to learn to accept and embrace your inner fool, especially if you hate the meds.

For instance, only this morning I tried to catch a bus but this woman was standing on the escalator and I missed it. Forty minutes wait for the next one. Bastards cutting back on public transport, pushing people back into their cars. I was there in front of all these people and yelled "FUCK!". Then a moment of embarrassment but instead of cringing like any normal person would do in that situation there's another wave "FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK" - and all the time it's happening and I am fully aware that I'm being irrational, intrusive, selfish and crazy. My nice little superego and ego "mes" inside are doing a facepalm while my wild animal id misbehaves. Then the poor old superego is left with the cleanup job, which in this case meant power walking for, as it turned out, about 40 minutes to get home.

When I was about 12 or so my family went on its only OS trip, to Fiji. There was a glass bottom boat tour, and two vessels set out in the morning, offering views of the ocean life beneath the boat before docking at an island for lunch. The boats are connected by a gangplank so everyone can mingle, and then after lunch they set off again. At the time I'd been obsessed with the way my mind blanked out during moments of fight-or-flight and, fed up with not having control over myself, I was determined to capture my thought processes in my next crisis situation.

While deep in thought I intended to walk across the gangplank but absentmindedly missed it and fell about three metres down into the water. It was surreal - one moment walking, absorbed in thought in the warm Fijian sun, the next - cold and a few metres underwater scrabbling to breathe. On the way I remembered my resolve so when I broke the surface I blurted out what was in my mind at the time - "I don't believe it!". Dad saw it all happen and it amused him greatly.

[Skip]

Frightening events are greatly amusing, once they're safely over.
Walking along the parapet on a third-floor terrace was a very bad idea. It wasn't my idea, exactly, it was some other young inebriate's - my very bad idea was taking the dare. At the time, it seemed the easiest applause I'd ever earned. Next morning, it looked like major stupidity.
The difference is in whether you get away with it.

[attofishpi]

Many moons ago, i was cruising in my mates work van after dropping a tab of LSD when he managed to screw the clutch. We were beyond the suburbs, pretty much in bush territory but we knew someone that lived in a nearby farmhouse. It was pitch dark when we strode across the paddocks and i sensed the need to pee. Now, i had just crossed an entire paddock so naturally one must find the fence to have a leak. I saw a bolt of blue as my discharge came into contact with what suddenly became apparent was an electric fence. If you have never had LSD, let me assure you, pissing on an electric fence is the last thing in the entire universe you ever should try.
WFTA

[Dalek Prime]

Knew an electrician who was dealing with stuff in the ceiling. His buddy had to kick the ladder out from under him to save his life. You can look okay afterwards, but your organs may have been slightly cooked.

Actually Hobbes, now you have me wondering what the voltage is on a defibrillator? Anyone know the specs?

You figure it out!!
http://www.resuscitationcentral.com/def ... -waveform/

I'm a failed electrician myself. Got hung up on current direction flow... Anyways, seems to be about 3000 V in 1/100 second. Impedance is a big factor.

[Skip]

Got hold of a live socket myself once and have no desire to repeat the experience. That was stupid only in the sense of ignorance: could have sworn that circuit was broken. Mostly, I don't mind wiring; it's pretty straightforward; you need to connect the right colours, wind the ends tight and cap or seal properly. After having flipped the breakers or unplugged the appliance. I can't emphasize that last bit enough... because I hate the use of capitals or 125 point bold.

[Dalek Prime]

I wish I was handy. As it stands, I'm quite useless outside software.

[Obvious Leo]

I wish I was handy. As it stands, I'm quite useless outside software.

I'm the exact opposite. I've never had to get a tradesman in for anything but I struggle with even the remote control for the TV.

[Dalek Prime]

I wish I was handy. As it stands, I'm quite useless outside software.

I'm the exact opposite. I've never had to get a tradesman in for anything but I struggle with even the remote control for the TV.

And you save vastly more money because of it lol.

[Obvious Leo]

I wish I was handy. As it stands, I'm quite useless outside software.

I'm the exact opposite. I've never had to get a tradesman in for anything but I struggle with even the remote control for the TV.

And you save vastly more money because of it lol.

This is undoubtedly true. I've renovated three houses over the years and made handsome profits on the two I subsequently sold and I did this solely on the basis of advice I learned from my father. Never pay any bastard to do something for you which you're perfectly capable of doing for yourself.

[Skip]

Except maybe drywall taping. God, I hate that job!

[Obvious Leo]

Except maybe drywall taping. God, I hate that job!

I always hated anything to with cars. In the early days I always maintained and repaired my cars as needed but it was a job I loathed with a passion. Luckily the cars eventually got that complicated that I didn't know what half the crap in them was supposed to do so this task then fell into the category of jobs which I'm not perfectly capable of doing for myself. Even the experts now need all manner of sophisticated equipment to figure out where the funny noise is coming from.

[Skip]

Have you tried turning the ignition off and on again?