Once time i spilled a High Life into my computer and that sh*t still worked after i let it dry out.

Maybe he didn't have AC.

Definitely, he was a moron.

Why are you posting news that's over 2 weeks old?

This computer must have been an absolutely horrible cobbled together clusterfuck. I can't imagine what kind of voltage you'd need to kill a person from just a quick jolt to the leg, but I'm pretty sure it's a hell of a lot more than you'll find coursing through your average hard disk cables or system board traces. Did the guy (poorly) build his own power supply or something?

Did his 360 fail?

@GIZ, Adam

Regarding ZIM2411 - didn't chen lay down the law on the "OMG this is so old" posts yesterday? Yacht Post.

@zim2411:

Because this is a BLOG, not CNN.

220 Volts maybe?

@zim2411
HOLY SMOKES MAN glad to see that you are on top of things this morning and that you know the dates for every news story ever made. thank you for your quick response on this matter. please continue to let us know actual dates for all gizmodo articles since we are all very interested in this information.

I'm thinking the same thing DB2 said, how could you manage to kill yourself with a computer. He must of of truly screwed something up.

@Giz: Can we please ban this "zim2411" dipshit? Along with that other dude who does the same thing.

Wow what a moron. Aren't computers supposed to use their cases to direct air through them so them computer would be cooler?

@DB2

1. They use 220V in China
2. "Did the guy (poorly) build his own power supply or something?" It's possible, or he took a power supply from something else. They will take any broke ass thing over there and use it for something else. Also, when I think "Made in China" I don't think high quality or safety (see the latest vehicle crash tests, pet food recalls, and toy lead paint recalls)

As far as not turning on the AC, they actually are about conserving energy (I think this is a product of communism actually). So they won't turn it on (nor any lights during the day for that matter). I have heard many stories of taxi drivers not turning on their headlights at night to conserve electricity.

@shoeless:

headlights? electricity? what do the taxis have? an extension cord?

i think you may have meant gasoline. if not, then your friends are totally lying to you.

ZIM2411: Why are you posting news that's over 2 weeks old?
 
Alright, seriously. Giz, put a "ban" button next to all users name. If enough people click that button within a day, ban the account. Simple as that.

@jeffj-nj:
I second that

@pepe the king prawn: No seriously, I meant headlights. I have no reason to doubt my friend, his parents, or my coworkers who have told me they have seen this happen. These taxi drivers evidently did not know how the electrical system worked in the cars they drove, they must of just thought they were saving electricity.

Although as far as gasoline, I have seen them push their taxis up in queue when one gets a fare.

It's really common for Chinese people to be this...ummm...frugal? I've got lots of Chinese friends, and when I go visit them in their large, 4 bedroom 3 bath houses in the summer, it's always burning up inside. And in the winter, I'm sure it's freezing cold. It's a cultural thing that they do, not using the air conditioner much. It's pretty common in Taiwan, too, I think. I think it has to do with what they consider natural, sweating out impurities and letting your body cool down naturally. It's the reason they drink hot tea in the summer time, because sweating helps you cool off. I'd rather have the A/C on myself, but oh well...

"I have heard many stories of taxi drivers not turning on their headlights at night to conserve electricity."

I've been to China (several cities including Beijing) and I don't remember seeing cars driving at night without lights on but it is quite common for taxi drivers waiting in long lines at airports to turn their cars off and push the car as the line moves. They also never use A/C, even during intense heat of the summer. I will tell you that there are no rules on the roads in China. It's completely insane. I used to think NY city was bad but it's a completely new level in China. Also, people honk their horns all the time to warn others, even if someone is walking way off on the side of the road. If you want to go past someone else on a 4 lane highway, you honk first. I think the consequences of a fender bender in China must be higher because they don't have a well developed insurance industry like we do. Also, cars represent a much larger percentage of their net wealth.

SUNZHIQIAN, my wife is from China and I can give some background into this as I suffered through the heat last year when I went to China.

IN GENERAL, Chinese don't drink cold drinks unless it's beer, especially at mealtime. Cold drinks are thought to be unhealthy for digestion. They let cold beer slide though for some reason (I haven't figured that one out yet). Anyway, they are very frugal in general and electricity is expensive. They just get used to warmer weather I guess. My wife gets cold very easily but she has managed to mostly acclimatize to cooler inside temps. So much so that she was uncomfortable at times on our last trip to her hometown. The only place with good A/C was the apartment her parents bought for us to stay in. Hotels had A/C but the lowest temp they could cool to was around 80F. Beds in hotels are hard. I'll tell you, in the middle of the night, sweat + back pain = miserable.

Havent been in China yet, but i live in Peru, so here i have seen taxis driving with lights off at night, usually ligthing them up just for short periods (in avenues crossing or to be seen by ppl crossing the street), normally it happens when they have some mechanical problem and the battery isn't recharging well so if they drive with the lights out, the battery will be drained. Here Mechanical labor is uperb and not costly, but taxi fares are the ceapest you can imagine, and we have a lot of taxis.

And yes, you should ban ppl like Zim2411...

and he got zapped into oblivion

Tell him to bring me back some Daedra hearts.

Hrmm, Im craving some Chinese tonight...

A Daedra Heart, yeah right, more like a fake mp3 player that catches on fire, or a fake xbox 360

220, eh? That might just do the trick. Ouch.

And I'm with JeffJ-NJ too. The banhammer is like a muscle... you have to use it to make it strong.

make sure it doesent burn you

I call shenanigans!

1) Wall voltage is 220, but the internal voltage on PCs is a mere 12 volts. That's why you have that big ass power supply in there, to convert 220/110 AC to 12 DC.

2) PCs don't have any bare wires for you to brush up against.

3) Assuming the guy built his own deathtrap PC he should also have known that PCs are designed to move air and cool the system wtih the cover ON, not OFF. Removing the cover makes it easier for machines to over-heat, not harder.

Shenanigans! Shenanigans!

@people saying cases on = cooler...

Perhaps in some configurations, however I can't believe people are basically saying "omgz you have to be retarded to think that taking the case of would reduce heat lolz".

My last PC had issues with overheating. When I played certain games I had to take the case off or it would overheat. This is fact. I could literally monitor the temperature and see about a 20 degree difference.

As for the authenticity of the rest of the story and the death? I remember back in the day when it was absolutely normal to wear an electrostatic wrist band that was grounded to a workbench. There must have been a reason it was so common place... Maybe not for safety of the tech, but the equipment? I don't know...

@zim2411: Hey... Shut up! Just read if you've got nothing nice to say.

wait everyone!

is the PC ok?

@DB2 etc.
I can't imagine what kind of voltage you'd need to kill a person from just a quick jolt to the leg...

Amperage aka Current kills, not voltage. I think it's 20mA across the heart that can kill you. Yes, voltage allows the current to overcome the resistance in your body, but when you're talking the current on a Power Supply...say a couple of Amps on say a 12V line, you could end up with a nasty and lethal shock.

Ok, that aside, total idiot alert. He'd have had to strip wires, or remove a molex connector or something stupid to get to that point.

@pepe the king prawn: Nah, he's right. It happens in Cairo too. No headlights except to flash the red traffic lights to get them to change to green. (there's a rumour about strobes from emergency vehicles that the traffic lgihts are sensitive to so they change traffic patterns. Dunno if that's true, most likely not, but it's a general consensus.) I suppose if cab drivers were educated in how things work, they'd realise that a car's battery will be charged the whole time an alternator works. But since mechanics aren't necessarily a hobby of everyone who drives, the rumour keeps up.

Darwin Award!

Lol wow! I guess there not teaching much in the chinese schools accept must run electronics haha how dumb can you be.... frigin chinese....

@DaffyDuck - You poor soul!!! I can't sleep when I'm hot. Add back pain to the mix, and that's serious trouble.

If you're that concerned about conserving energy, and your computer's overheating... turn off the computer. That's all I'm sayin'.

Did it occur to any of you that taxi drivers in Cairo and China may not have much education, especially when it comes to cars. Until very recently, in both of these areas, cars wre for the rich, and so the taxi drivers would not have any experience with a car if they WEREN'T driving a taxi. It's not like their dad was out in the garage tinkering on the family Chevy!