wall of weird: Power-dressing man leaves trail of destruction

[anotheranon]

D. found this - I couldn't make this up:

SYDNEY (Reuters) - 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.

Jaysus - how the hell must he have been walking to work up that much static?? Swinging arms wildly side to side, deliberately scraping his sweater on his jacket...

See!! This is why you should always choose natural fibers!

Comments

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

=O

So why on earth didn't the story tell us what brand of jacket he was wearing, so that the rest of us could avoid it?! ***hugs 100% cotton/linen wardrobe tightly to self***

[hadesgirl.livejournal.com]

Maybe he had big thighs and they kept rubbing together?

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Perhaps, but the article mentions it was his sweater and jacket that set it off.

But.. you may not be that far off the mark - it says the carpet was involved as well. Maybe he was wearing corduroy and furiously "vrrp-vrrp-vrrp"ed along!

[hadesgirl.livejournal.com]

::::wincing at the mental image:::

[semmie17.livejournal.com]

They say he was "close to spontaneous combustion"... I've aways been fascinated with that phenomenon... you know, when they find people burned to a cinder, but only their feet or hands are left. kewl.

[madbodger.livejournal.com]

Nah, just a bad combo of shoes and carpet. Swinging his arms would have just accumulated voltage between his arms and torso, which would then just go away, since bodies are conductive.