Stop Microsoft

Miscellaneous => The Lounge => Topic started by: TB on 23 November 2002, 11:54

Title: Man Burns Penis with Laptop
Post by: TB on 23 November 2002, 11:54

I wasn't sure if this was appropriate to bring up.......but I thought that it was at least interesting on a technical level.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/28245.html (http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/28245.html)

And now for proof that some laptops run hotter than a badger. A 50-year old scientist, previously healthy, burned his penis after placing his laptop on his, err lap, for an hour. Oh, he was fully dressed in trousers and underpants, according to this letter printed in the Lancet, the UK's best-known medical journal. (reg req'd, free.)

The following is not for the squeamish:

The next day he noticed irritation and oedema of his penile prepuce. Furthermore, the ventral part of his scrotal skin had turned red, and there was a blister with a diameter of about 2 cm. These findings were verified when I saw the patient 1 day later. There were no signs of phimosis or balanitis. The patient recalled that, while sitting 2 days earlier with his computer on his lap, he occasionally had felt heat and a burning feeling on his lap and proximal thigh, a sensation that was relieved at least temporarily when the computer was moved slightly.

After the first 2 days, the penile and scrotal blisters broke and developed into infected wounds that caused extensive suppuration. More than a week later, the wounds were covered by dry crusts and thereafter were healing quite rapidly. No antibiotic treatment was needed.

Thank goodness. The Register is happy that the patient was in such able hands, but disappointed in the lack of technical detail in Claes-Goran Ostenson's report. What was the make of laptop*? Did it have a desktop chip in it? Roll on Banias.

The unnamed laptop maimer may have to change the caveats in its instruction manual. Ostenson notes the branding iron firm's safety instructions:

Do not allow your portable computer to operate with the base resting directly on exposed skin. With extended operation, heat can potentially build up in the base. Allowing sustained contact with the skin could cause discomfort or, eventually, a burn."

Don't trousers and underpants count?

The 50 year-old scientist has learned a lesson, although we're not sure what. And we are relieved that this is not a case of objectum sexuality, most commonly expressed in sexual love for cars, but also a phenomenon among... owners of PowerMacs (they are nice, aren't they?). Here is a snippet from a recent Wired piece.

That's when Mark realized it wasn't Bryan he fancied, it was his Mac.

"Bryan, my cyberboyfriend, was in a lot of ways, my PowerMac G3, webcam and telephone," Mark wrote on his website. "He literally lived inside of this machine ... that I myself could control like a light switch. The perfect boyfriend."

Quite.

Title: Man Burns Penis with Laptop
Post by: slave on 23 November 2002, 12:02

That is quite a foul story if I do say so myself.  Remind me not to buy any of those treacherous penis-blistering Dell latitudes.

Title: Man Burns Penis with Laptop
Post by: phame on 23 November 2002, 14:25

Thats a foul story dude

Title: Man Burns Penis with Laptop
Post by: Kintaro on 23 November 2002, 18:38

Oh god, i read a few lines and could take no more.

Title: Man Burns Penis with Laptop
Post by: billy_gates on 23 November 2002, 22:02

Microsoft gets personal

Title: Man Burns Penis with Laptop
Post by: cahult on 24 November 2002, 21:48

Well, now you know that CD doesn

Title: Man Burns Penis with Laptop
Post by: voidmain on 24 November 2002, 21:31

I have two Latitudes and they are some hot running machines but when they get hot I take them off my lap and put a pillow under it.  (http://smile.gif)

Title: Man Burns Penis with Laptop
Post by: TheQuirk on 24 November 2002, 22:32

"Dell: Quality computers and self-neutering kits"

Title: Man Burns Penis with Laptop
Post by: caveman_piet on 25 November 2002, 01:23

Void Main wrote

"I have two Latitudes and they are some hot running machines but when they get hot I take them off my lap and put a pillow under it."

I say - that is a very ambiguois sentence.
two laptops and "under it" ;)  under what it? under the laptops/under the scrotum/under what? :D  

heh heh!

Title: Man Burns Penis with Laptop
Post by: TheQuirk on 25 November 2002, 02:59

I was going to say "Void Main humps pillows, hawr hawr hawr!", but then I realized that it wouldn't be very nice.

Oh, whoops.   :rolleyes:    (http://tongue.gif)    :D

Title: Man Burns Penis with Laptop
Post by: MacUser3of5 on 25 November 2002, 12:21

Damn.. and I thought my Ti got hot... especially if I'm wearing thick pants, like jeans (no, I am not naked, just wearing undershorts     ;)     ). The fabric conducts a shitload of heat, and yeah, it can get extremely hot, like 'God that would burn my hand' hot. And this is a TiBook, which are apparently on the cooler end of things...

Knowing this, I don't think it is a problem with dell nescessarily, more that likely the fact he had the machine resting directly on his 'unit' contributed to the, um, burning... I still can't understand how this person didn't realize he was getting serious burns.     :confused:    

In a related note: This hilarious mishap (http://www.llnl.gov/es_and_h/lessons/e_apple_keyboard_meltdown.html) was attributed to a failure in the temperature-sensing mechanisms.

[ November 25, 2002: Message edited by: MacUser3of5: Doesn't Care ]

Title: Man Burns Penis with Laptop
Post by: Kintaro on 25 November 2002, 12:57

The idea is not to but your laptop on your George Bush