Looks like spontaneous human combustion does exist



  •  

    This Australian guy actually managed to build up enough charge in his clothes that he was burning the carpet at the building where he was doing his job interview. He burned a piece of plastic in his car. If he had built up a little more charge, he could have spontaneously combust. TRWTF is that he was wearing a nylon jacket AND a woolen shirt. Or is fashion another backwards aspect of Australian culture?

     

    Fixed link. -mod



  • @bob171123 said:

    TRWTF is that he was wearing a nylon jacket AND a woolen shirt. Or is fashion another backwards aspect of Australian culture?

    This is Australia we're talking about.  Quite frankly, I'm amazed he showed up to a job interview wearing more than boxers, flip-flops and one of those ball caps with built-in straw and holders for beer cans.

     

    In fact, that raises a question: how did he hold his beer during the interview?



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @bob171123 said:

    TRWTF is that he was wearing a nylon jacket AND a woolen shirt. Or is fashion another backwards aspect of Australian culture?

    This is Australia we're talking about.  Quite frankly, I'm amazed he showed up to a job interview wearing more than boxers, flip-flops and one of those ball caps with built-in straw and holders for beer cans.

     

    In fact, that raises a question: how did he hold his beer during the interview?

    He might still have had one of thost ball caps.



  • This report seemed strange enough to trigger my built-in physics parser. Seems like I was right.

    wikinews applies a little science

     



  • @robbak said:

    This report seemed strange enough to trigger my built-in physics parser. Seems like I was right.

    wikinews applies a little science

    Why do you hate joy?



  • @DescentJS said:

    @morbiuswilters said:

    @bob171123 said:

    TRWTF is that he was wearing a nylon jacket AND a woolen shirt. Or is fashion another backwards aspect of Australian culture?

    This is Australia we're talking about.  Quite frankly, I'm amazed he showed up to a job interview wearing more than boxers, flip-flops and one of those ball caps with built-in straw and holders for beer cans.

     

    In fact, that raises a question: how did he hold his beer during the interview?

    He might still have had one of thost ball caps.

    I don't know, those caps don't look sturdy enough to hold two of those big Foster's pint cans.  And even if it could, that would be one short interview seeing as your average Aussie male will die if he goes.. [*consults human-to-Australian conversion chart*] ..seventeen minutes without beer.  Just as the noble hummingbird must constantly feed to maintain its high metabolism, dying from starvation after mere hours of not eating, so must the Australian imbibe non-stop.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    I don't know, those caps don't look sturdy enough to hold two of those big Foster's pint cans.
     

    I'm sure that you are aware that no Australian drinks Fosters?

    (At least, inside Australia: Ex-pats might be a different story.)



  • @robbak said:

    @morbiuswilters said:

    I don't know, those caps don't look sturdy enough to hold two of those big Foster's pint cans.
     

    I'm sure that you are aware that no Australian drinks Fosters?

    (At least, inside Australia: Ex-pats might be a different story.)

    Yeah, just like you "don't" ride around in kangaroo pouches.  I've seen movies.  I know stuff.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @robbak said:

    @morbiuswilters said:

    I don't know, those caps don't look sturdy enough to hold two of those big Foster's pint cans.
     

    I'm sure that you are aware that no Australian drinks Fosters?

    (At least, inside Australia: Ex-pats might be a different story.)

    Yeah, just like you "don't" ride around in kangaroo pouches.  I've seen movies.  I know stuff.

    Next he'll be saying they don't throw shrimps on the barbie.  He's just messing with us because we're foreign.  Just like when we accuse immigrants of crimes and the police beat them to death.  It's just good, harmless fun.


  • @robbak said:

    This report seemed strange enough to trigger my built-in physics parser. Seems like I was right.

    wikinews applies a little science

     

     

    You would think it might be a hoax, but this is Australia we're talking about. Normal logic does not apply. If we do apply the logic used by wikinews, it might still make sense. If the man was wearing a nylong jacket and woolen shirt, you can bet he has strange habits when it comes to buying stuff, so maybe the car really didn't have a metal lock. It's Australia, so humidity probably was low enough for the guy to hold so much charge. It's pretty much a desert island. Australians always look pretty wonky, so his hair standing on end wouldn't stand out. They say the energy stored probably wouldn't have been enough to burn carpet, but as morbs said, Australians love them some beer, so the whole carpet could have been stained with some alcohol, which could burn easily. As for firefighters checking his voltage and taking the jacket to let it discharge, Australian physics isn't as developed as everyone else's physics. They didn't know how to handle that static built up in the guy's ridiculous jacket.

     

    So it does make sense when you remember the setting is in Australia.



  • TRWTF is this article's apparent complete ignorance of physics.  40,000 volts is actually pretty average, as static charges go.  If you've ever touched a doorknob and been able to feel and hear the spark, you've probably experienced at least 40,000 volts right there.  Volts are just a measure of potential difference and have nothing to do with the amount of actual electrical power he was carrying.  Some actually useful units of measurement would be more helpful.



  • @bob171123 said:

    As for firefighters checking his voltage and taking the jacket to let it discharge, Australian physics isn't as developed as everyone else's physics.
    They tried solving it with leeches, but met with limited success.



  • @Mason Wheeler said:

    TRWTF is this article's apparent complete ignorance of physics.

    When have you ever read a news article that demonstrated any understanding of science or technology?  I think TRWTF would be if the article actually made sense.  The only thing journalists are experts at is detecting the subtle oppression of the racist, misogynist, capitalist male-ocracy in everything from pop culture to breakfast cereal.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @morbiuswilters said:

    When have you ever read a news article that demonstrated any understanding of science or technology?
    When it's been written by Ben Goldacre?



  • @bstorer said:

    They tried solving it with leeches, but met with limited success.
     

    In other news,

    Fried reech new hit snack in Australia.

     

    oh,

     Flied leech

     

    damnit

    Fried leech

     

    In Austlaria

     

    fuck


  • 🚽 Regular

     Let's place our bets on how soon this same exact thing will happen to Lady Gaga.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    big Foster's pint cans
    Man, I was having a decent day until you had to go remind me that that beer exists.  



  • @belgariontheking said:

    @morbiuswilters said:

    big Foster's pint cans
    Man, I was having a decent day until you had to go remind me that that beer exists.  

    Go eat one at an Outback and it's pretty much like you're in Australia.


  •  Just out of curiosity, did anyone notice that the news is from 2005?  



  • @Shishire said:

    Just out of curiosity, did anyone notice that the news is from 2005?  

    No, it just seems that way because Australia is 5 years behind the rest of the world in everything.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    Quite frankly, I'm amazed he showed up to a job interview wearing more than boxers, flip-flops and one of those ball caps with built-in straw and holders for beer cans.

    Actually, it would be "stubbies", "thongs" and we don't wear those foreign caps.

    @morbiuswilters said:

    In fact, that raises a question: how did he hold his beer during the interview

    The interview takes place at the pub, der! It is polite to put it down on the table.



  • @RHuckster said:

     Let's place our bets on how soon this same exact thing will happen to Lady Gaga.

    Who just happened to be in Australia. I was at a conference in Melbourne and the announcement was made that the evening session would start 15 minutes early to make sure that the people at the Lady Gaga concert in the arena next door to ours wouldn't get all the parking and clog up the traffic.

    Oh, and my (former due to a line management reshuffle) supervisor has been know to wear Hawaiian shirts at work.

    [edit]FYI Melbourne is a city in Australia. I don't live there, I just go there for work a lot. The conference wasn't for work though. Conference probably isn't the best word for it.



  • @Eternal Density said:

    The conference drinking game boozeathon wasn't for work though. Conference probably totally isn't the best word for it.
     

    FTFMorbius



  • @dhromed said:

    @Eternal Density said:

    The conference drinking game boozeathon wasn't for work though. Conference probably totally isn't the best word for it.
     

    FTFMorbius

    You left out "pig roast" and "naked crocodile wrestling".



  • @RHuckster said:

     Let's place our bets on how soon this same exact thing will happen to Lady Gaga.

    I'll volunteer to be the conductor to discharge her!


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