Now, we've seen Terren and Tesla Down Under's work before here at Gizmodo, most notably when he put his son in a car and zapped it with electricity.

This little project, however, put him in the hot seat. Note the electricity shooting out of his sneaker.

Lucky for us all, Terren meticulously documented the entire project with photos and safety-related commentary ("The wig is not ideal and really needs a haircut. I couldn't light it with sparks so fire risk seems low").

Terren also outfitted some of the tests with a pentagram boundary, which had nothing to do with Tesla coils or electricity, of course, but certainly heightened the sense of batshit insanity surrounding this little venture. [Tesla Down Under via Neatorama]

Says Alex:

Gamers can take all the drugs they like, as long as it's not happening in the actual tournament area. Nobody has the budget to bring in any form of anti-doping agency, let alone keep it afloat or professional enough to adhere to standards that would make it reliable. The scene isn't big enough or stable enough for any world agency to enforce it right now, let alone stop gamers from taking drugs.

And on the eternal question—do you play better on booze, weed, or uppers?

I noticed that you made a mention about people claiming they were better after having a bong or two. That's true. I've seen a number of players at national tournaments who came in "baked" (that's stoned for the uninformed) purely so they could play better. In most cases they did, although obviously they couldn't just pull out another joint midway through.

In one WCG, a player I knew took amphetamines an hour before his match to boost his reflexes. His team ended up losing the match, although it certainly had an impact - his performance helped his team to win one map out of three - it kind of hits home that only the really talented will come out on top in the end.

Players have been ejected from venues for drunk and disorderly conduct – I know one tournament overseas where a player was denied permission to go to the toilet, so in his drunken state he decided to urinate in a plastic bottle instead which got him ejected after he placed the bottle on a table in front of the admins

Man, pro gamers—what a party-down bunch! For anyone raised gaming in the hallowed halls of our nation's collegiate dorm rooms, this is surely ringing some bells. Good to know that if you unexpectedly rise through to the ranks to professional gamer status, you won't have to worry about getting narc-ed. [Game Player via Slashdot]

According to police reports, Fritzl was a retired electrical engineer who used his skills to construct a basement dungeon that measured less than six feet high in some areas with a total living space composed of three "cells" measuring around 650 square feet in total. In order to prevent his family living on the outside from gaining access to the room, Fritzl constructed a gigantic 660 lb. concrete door fitted with an electronic lock behind a shelf in his workshop. The lock could only be opened by a remote control that he carried with him at all times. It wasn't until the 19-year-old fell gravely ill that Fritzl sought medical attention and was subsequently exposed.

Currently, the authorities are still investigating the details of the case—including whether or not Fritzl had help in constructing the hidden rooms. At the very least, it seems likely given the fact that it would be exceedingly difficult, if not impossible for one man to handle a 660 lb. door. All that aside, perhaps the most shocking aspect of the case is that Frtizl is looking at a maximum of 15 years in prison if convicted of rape. At 73, he would probably not live out the term—but the punishment doesn't come anywhere near fitting the crime if you ask me. Even a quick death wouldn't fit the bill. [CNN and BBC News and Yahoo]

The system works with most PS2, Gamecube, and XBox games as well as PC games that support force feedback. Next gen consoles are also supported—in certain configurations (a full list of compatible games is available on the website). So, I'm not sure about all of this electric shock business, but tell me more about this "soft massaging feeling?" The Mindwire is available for £99.99 (or $200). [Mindwire via PocketLint via Geeky Gadgets]

Correction Request: Microsoft Sued, Zune Owner Claims Ear Damage Microsoft Zune Injuries Mon, Feb 4, 2008 at 4:14 PM To: bennyg@gizmodo.com Hi Benny,

I read your article and notice that you didn't mention the blast of noise that happened the very same instant as the shock. The coupling of these two device malfunctions are a key part of the claim. Would you mind updating the post?

The actual claim can be found here: www.microsoftzuneinjuries.com

Regards,

Joel

Thanks for the update, but we're not sure what the domain name is getting at — as far as we know, this guy's lawsuit is based solely on the headphone injury, but perhaps it will one day expand to represent victims of any and all bodily harm encountered while trying to join the Social. Geddis' attorneys hope to make this a class-action case, but first they'll have to find more Zune owners who have experienced this problem. Finding a niche that narrow sounds like a tall order to us. [Zune Injuries via Gadget Lab]

Interestingly enough, Dell's knowledge base acknowledges the problem in an entry entitled "A Tingling Sensation May Be Noticed When Touching Metal Components of Dell Devices Equipped with Two-Prong AC Adapters." However, the entry also states that "the voltage (tingling sensation) does NOT present any risk of injury to the user." Whether that is true or not, getting constant electric shocks from your laptop is, at the very least, annoying as hell. Fortunately, Dell informed CNET that they are willing to replace the two-pin power supplies with a three-pin version if requested to do so. If you are experiencing this problem (and entries on Dell's forums suggest that this issue is not isolated), you may want to hit Dell up for a replacement. [Crave and Dell Forums / Knowledge Base]

It's pink, fluffy, wired, and can shock you with 50,000 volts. Oh, and it's shaped like a tampon. Fantastic, eh?

Just be careful not to mix this up with a real tampon, ladies. This is not a proper way to deal with unwanted pregnancies. – Jason Chen

A Security System More Lethal Than PMS: The Tampon Taser Gun [American Inventor Spot]

The only downside is that it's not a real stapler, which may actually be an upside since you won't have to worry about staplers flying all over the place when your buddy gets shocked and throws this across the room. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Amazon via PCNews via PC News Blog]

We used to sleep past all our classes in college, so something like this would have been great. Painful, but great. Oh, and don't bother using this if you have epilepsy or a pacemaker. They don't have a snooze button for death. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Dontdosocks via Oh Gizmo via i4u]

Only about $15 in the UK. – John Biggs

Product Page [Gobaz via ShinyShiny]