Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: OUCH! Some scientists are idiots (Weenie roast)

This is topic OUCH! Some scientists are idiots (Weenie roast) in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 11-22-2002, 09:38 PM:

We've all heard the talk about various hazards in using computers, such as eye-strain and carpal tunal syndrome. But this news item from CNN is too much! [Eek!]

http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/11/22/offbeat.laptop.burn.reut/index.html

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 11-22-2002, 10:31 PM:

I will never understand why these things happen to people. I mean, one has to notice it is getting very hot... Well, if only some of the stories on the Darwin Awards website are true, some people just don`t know better. Like the German tourist who went to swim in a lake in northern Australia at night just recently and was attacked by a crocodile. What a surprise. I understand she is dead.
Talking about death, I wrote you a private message, so please check your profile.

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 11-22-2002, 10:51 PM:

quote:
Talking about death, I wrote you a private message...

Are we now sending death threats via private messages? [Eek!]

By the way, I think the topic title could be construed as a teaser title. Maybe it could read 'OUCH! Some scientists are idiots.' [Smile]

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 11-22-2002, 11:55 PM:

And the new forum program's features strike again! [thumbsup]

Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 11-23-2002, 12:02 AM:

Brad,

SO who changed the topic, you or the original poster?

Posted by Sam Hunter (Member # 1119) on 11-23-2002, 12:05 AM:

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!
Any smart scientist wouldn't, oh what the hell.
Too bad they didn't use my Dell, it just went up in flame about two days ago as did my other Dell laptop a few months back.
[sleep]

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 11-23-2002, 12:19 AM:

Your notebook catching fire is always an unplesant way to start your morning. [Frown]

OTH, Dell's have been getting a bad wrap lately for being 'too hot on the bottom'. Granted I could probably cook dinner on the bottom of my Dell Latitude X200, my last three non-Dell notebooks have gotten just as hot (especially the two Compaq Armada's that I had). Any notebook that uses a magnesium (or similar) bottom plane as the computers functional heatsink is going to get hot. The faster it goes, the hotter it gets. At least with Dell, if the thing catches fire, explodes, or you drop it hard enough to 'break it good', they'll replace it relatively hassle free during the first 3 years if you pay for the $150 Completecare package.

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 11-23-2002, 12:56 AM:

Daryl said:

quote:
The faster it goes, the hotter it gets.

Seems I remember that anything over a 486DX2-66 needs a blower or a heat sink on the CPU. Without it, that DX2-66 whimpy chip will fry your finger if you touch it. I touched a 300mhz chip once, and I heard my finger sizzle, just like it would if you touched a high power transmitting tube.

The high power chips of today will really do a number to you. We had a new computer built up by a computer shop sometime ago, and it was only an AMD 600MHZ machine. The techs didn't put a big enough blower in it, and after about 30 minutes, the computer would go nuts. I entered the BIOS to check the core temps, and it was about 160 degrees F.

Laptops, I presume, could cause the same problems. The heat has nowhere to go. Some laptop bottoms as mentioned can and do get extremely hot. This guy probably had a very powerful machine.

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 11-23-2002, 01:15 AM:

'A cautionary side note'... Any chip that looks link this one below (chips with surface dies) will burn up (i.e. no longer work) in under ONE (1) SECOND without a heatsink properly installed.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 11-23-2002, 06:44 AM:

Darryl,
Could we see what the die in that cpu looks like all burnt up? [Big Grin]

On my old Toshiba Laptop(120mhz P-1) the fan in back never ran at all and the thing used to get hotter than hell. A few years back I went in and hooked it permanently across the HD vcc and the temp stays much lower now than it ever was. Might also be why this thing is 7 years old and still going like the Everready Bunny....
I have heard some Dell laptops that sounded like they had a turbine blower in them!
Mark @ CLACO

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 11-23-2002, 03:32 PM:

quote:
Are we now sending death threats via private messages?

No, I just wanted to try out the feature, and speaking of death, I remembered that I had met a gentleman on the plane to Los Angeles who was reading a book Bobby`s father wrote about a sniper.
But I think you specially have to check your profile to see if private messages are there.
Good idea, though [evil]

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 11-23-2002, 04:29 PM:

The private message thing is kind of cool I suppose. Yeah, my father wrote the novel "Marine Sniper", a biography of Carlos Hathcock, who was arguably the greatest marksman in Marine Corps history. Hathcock helped start the Scout/Sniper School in Quantico, VA and held a number of military shooting records, including longest confirmed kill.

I think there is a German printing of the book still available. If I remember right, it was printed under the title "Todesfalle". I'm not sure about that; I don't speak German.

The recent shootings in the DC area were disturbing, and it was only natural that the press would want to interview my dad about it. He granted only a couple and didn't want to gain any publicity from the horrible events. Hathcock was a war hero. I certainly don't anything from that murderous rampage in DC taking away from that.

Anyway, to get back on topic (about the Weenie Roast), I can't imagine why this scientist didn't realize was was going on. And was he using his laptop in the nude? I only ask that since the news article talks about blisters developing. The only other thing I can think of to perhaps cause that might be some kind of heat radiation. Really strange.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 11-23-2002, 06:27 PM:

It would be good if there would be a message indicating there are private messages when you log in!
Amazon.de indeed lists the book under the German title "Todesfalle" which means "death trap". The German word for "sniper" would be "Scharfschuetze", literally "sharp shooter". But the book doesn`t seem to be available anymore.

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 11-23-2002, 07:54 PM:

There's a clicky button on your profile page whether or not you want the server to email you a notification when you receive a personal message.

I have to prop the back of my laptop up when it's sitting on a flat surface, otherwise I'm afraid everything would burst into flames. And it's only a P-150. If I'm using it on my desk, I can feel the heat all the way through the 2-inch thick wood top.

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 11-23-2002, 08:34 PM:

Adam, I think that's the wrong response...many laptops are designed to disapate heat through their bases. If you prop them up, then they'll be insulated (well, by the air) and won't dissapate heat as well, and may overheat... Older IBM thinkpads were notorious for this.

--jhawk

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 11-23-2002, 09:05 PM:

CoolPad

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 11-23-2002, 11:15 PM:

Mark, the die looks identical after the chip dies since the core voltage usually ends up going to ground. Now if you can cool it just enough to keep voltage going through the core you'll have yourself a nice little picture (and an expensive key tag).

Many of the Dell Inspiron series laptops are liquid cooled which explains the internal turbine. Without cooling that liquid, you're better off not having it.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 11-24-2002, 01:40 AM:

I'm wondering if the scientist really burned his member with his laptop. I'll be the first to admit being more than a little cynical at times. But I cannot help wondering if the scientist was doing some weird kinky experimentation that backfired and that the laptop story is just a cover to hide his embarrasment. Hehe, I guess it couldn't help with the story getting out to CNN!

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 11-24-2002, 03:04 AM:

It got to the point where the keys of my laptop were hot to the touch because there's a heatsink sandwiched between the motherboard and the keyboard. Propping it up makes them warm instead of hot. Not that it matters now anyway ... the battery is shot and the monitor hinges are broken, so I have to lean it against something to hold it up. [Frown]