Water Logged Presidents and Sizzling Style

A story making it's rounds is of the good ole Pres asking permission from Rice to use the loo. The guy is human. When nature calls, you don't tell it to piss off. At first, I was under the impression that he needed her to sign off on his unschedualed potty break. However, I have seen the video on cnn.com and it is simply asking her if she can fill in for him and keep his seat warm while he is gone. I'm not going to hound the guy and try to make him sound like an idiot. It was a well written note with no slang and semi large words such as possible. My second amusing antic for which I have stumbled upon comes from Ruters as well.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian man built up a 40,000-volt charge of static electricity in his clothes as he walked, leaving a trail of scorched carpet and molten plastic and forcing firefighters to evacuate a building.

Frank Clewer, who was wearing a woolen shirt and a synthetic nylon jacket, was oblivious to the growing electrical current that was building up as his clothes rubbed together.

When he walked into a building in the country town of Warrnambool in the southern state of Victoria Thursday, the electrical charge ignited the carpet.

"It sounded almost like a firecracker," Clewer told Australian radio Friday.

"Within about five minutes, the carpet started to erupt."

Employees, unsure of the cause of the mysterious burning smell, telephoned firefighters who evacuated the building.

"There were several scorch marks in the carpet, and we could hear a cracking noise -- a bit like a whip -- both inside and outside the building," said fire official Henry Barton.

Firefighters cut electricity to the building thinking the burns might have been caused by a power surge.

Clewer, who after leaving the building discovered he had scorched a piece of plastic on the floor of his car, returned to seek help from the firefighters.

"We tested his clothes with a static electricity field meter and measured a current of 40,000 volts, which is one step shy of spontaneous combustion, where his clothes would have self-ignited," Barton said.

"I've been firefighting for over 35 years and I've never come across anything like this," he said.

Firefighters took possession of Clewer's jacket and stored it in the courtyard of the fire station, where it continued to give off a strong electrical current.

David Gosden, a senior lecturer in electrical engineering at Sydney University, told Reuters that for a static electricity charge to ignite a carpet, conditions had to be perfect.

"Static electricity is a similar mechanism to lightning, where you have clouds rubbing together and then a spark generated by very dry air above them," said Gosden.

Now that is an electrifing experience. How could you not notice 40,000 volt electricy arcs comming off of your crappy suit. I mean, it sounded like firecrackers. I like how the firefighters confiscated the crappy jacket and stuck it in their courtyard. Wow this guy must have been stupid. He lights a hotel on fire then tries to drive home with a jacket that could.... oh nevermind. I'm going to bed.