[Beowulf] Newbie Question: Racks versus boxes and good rack solutions for commodity hardware

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sun, Dec 14, 2008 at 11:30:19PM -0500, Robert G. Brown wrote:
> On Sun, 14 Dec 2008, Geoff Jacobs wrote:
>
>> Yes, it is possible to kill yourself with low voltage. You have to
>> really work at it and/or be unlucky, but it can be done. A DC resistance
>> from leg to arm of 100 ohms or so is hard to achieve. Stabbing oneself
>> with electrified needles, for starters.
>
> As in:
>
>   http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1999-50.html
>
> Improving the human race one incident at a time...
>
> There was also the joy of touching a 9V battery across the tip of your
> tongue (safe enough, but more than enough to convince you that 9V can
> make you go "Ow").  Or the dangers of 12V batteries in a saltwater
> environment or even when it is raining and your hands are wet and your
> skin is maybe a bit split when you grab one by the posts.
>
A small 9V lamp battery, a motor on one side of the winding to provide 
"pulsed AC" and an audio step up transformer made a superb electric shock machine and largish sparks :)

Teenage radio hams: Shorting out 12V batteries with thin copper wire to 
see which ones still held charge and were worth paying the scrap dealer for :(
[We're all still here - just :) ]

12V will weld a wedding ring to pretty much anything - or produce an 
effective amputation with ready made diathermy to seal up the wound :(

> As I said, do NOT mess with even "low" voltage electricity unless you
> know things like what a conductor is, or you too might qualify for a
> Darwin!  And we'd hate that...:-)
>
>    rgb
>

AndyC