14 Year-Old Kid Electrocutes Himself While Trying To Cool Down His Xbox 360
By William on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 at 2:37 PM PST In Microsoft
A North Carolina teen is lucky to be alive. Apparently, he was knocked unconscious attempting to cool down his Xbox 360 after discovering a new technique in an online forum. This technique should never be used but I find it strange that anyone of any age would actually think it would work. Apparently the insanely smart idea that was floating around the net is to wrapped your overheated 360 in plastic, secure the plastic with tape of some kind and submerge the unit in a pan of water. Keep in mind, you are supposed to keep it plugged in and turned on using this method. Fortunately, the kid only suffered a painful shock and burns on the right side of his body. The mother’s statement follows:
“I saw him put the cord on top of a box in the living roomâ€, said the boy’s mother. “When I left to go next door he was playing a game but when I got back he was laying on his back on the floor and unconsciousâ€.
There’s really nothing to say about this situation. “Don’t be stupid” I guess is the best thing that comes to mind. If you are trying to fix your 360 with an internet idea, try the famous towel trick. The worst thing that can happen with that is your unit could explode or catch on fire. Honestly, just send your 360 back to Microsoft and be sad for the weeks it takes to get it sent back.
Via Xbox 360 Rally
It’s all survival of the fittest. That boy should not be given a second chance at life. If he’s dumb enough to electrocute himself, then I’m sure he’ll be dumb enough to get my order wrong when he’s taking it at a McDonald’s drive-thru. The way I see it, if he dies now, then I can go home happy without wondering if they really did hold the pickles on my Big Mac.
Man do I hate pickles…
It’s a shame. He came so close to winning a Darwin award
http://www.darwinawards.com/
As the mother of an 8 yr old, kids do dumb stuff. Especially when an adult says it’s ok. In this case probably someone he thought was an adult. Now that I reread the title he was 14, what a moron. His mom needs to take away the games and tv and get him some books or something. God help this country.
LaChandra, I agree.. if a little kid did this, I’d understand a little. At 14, you should really know better.
I’m 17 years old and starting my Junior school year next week. I have an IQ of over 125, the average is 100. I have lots of common sense, others don’t realize they have common sense. I guess my point is some people are smarter than others, but the others don’t realize one of the smartest things you can do better than others is hear the voice that says “Thats REALLY not a good idea”.
Did this kids mother not teach him not to play with the wall socket? Or play with fire? Or does his school not teach that electricity and water together is asking for trouble, like one of those Christian schools that reject everything scientific?
I was on vacation in Memphis and going to eat at one of Travel channels voted Best Ribs in Tennessee along with another place there, and there was this group of kids unsupervised that looked like they were waiting for their reservations for a table. These kids had a bunch of matches and were playing with them and they kept trying to set a trash can on fire and then set a piece of something on fire and tried shoving it under the door into the restaurant when I noticed, told my mother and we both went over, slapped the stuff out of their hands, and stomped on it and started yelling bloody murder at them. I, being a big guy, intimidated them and they stopped immediately when their parents or chaperone’s came out, we didn’t say a thing to them but the kids got the message and my mother got some pictures of them from a distance just in case because there was a bunch of cops patrolling just a few blocks away.
You can be smart and the dumbest person in the world all at the same time in this crazy reality we live in. My uncle had an IQ of 150 but you would swear is the dumbest person you ever met, no common sense what so ever. The point is, you can be smart but be and not know a thing at the same time and vice-versa.
Before doling out smarmy quips and obscene death-wishes, you should reflect for 14 seconds on how many idiotic things you’ve done which did not result in your death (Golden Rule and all that). I have three children, and I can’t imagine being comforted by the near death of my child because he was “stupid enough” to do something dangerous. I guess if life were utterly meaningless, and we were just pieces of matter swirling around an indifferent universe, you could speak of children like they were cockroaches. Being a dad, I’m glad I don’t believe that. The lack of compassion displayed here and in “the Darwin Awards” isn’t a sign of superior intelligence – it’s a mark of foolishness.
But being a dad, I guess I’m prone to lecture.
I’M …
(speechless)
How amazingly dumb. Why oh why is it hard to understand that electricity + water = bad?
Survival of the fittest? Shouldn’t be given a second chance at life? Oh, okay I suppose you’ve NEVER done anything stupid. The kid is 14…14. That’s still a child in my book. Of course it’s surprising and ridiculous that he didn’t know enough about electricity to know that that was a REALLY bad idea, but acting like he deserved to die for this just cuz he’s “stupid” borders on eugenics. Grow up.
Lucas,
Nice that you have an IQ of 125. But IQs are meaningless if you have an arrogant attitude to go with it.
For someone as smart as you claim, why do you generalize and make rash statements. I am on the board of trustees of an excellent Christian school here in Illinois. Yes, we teach science….and even math and information technology. What we do NOT teach is adherence to unproven theories…theories that many “mainstream” scientists have rejected out of hand. Unfortunately, you are probably unaware that many scientists reject Darwin’s theories, as the public schools rarely give that information.
More important, are students are some of the most mature, responsible, and polite young adults in the northwest suburbs. You would not catch any of our students behaving in the way you described at the ribhouse in Memphis.
You sound like a well-grounded 17 year-old with a bright future. However, you will go much further in life if you discard your generalizations and pre-conceptions, and try to keep and open mind in life.
My
I guess I may have been a little harsh with my initial comment, but nobody can deny that what this kid did wasn’t bright. We are taught on a daily basis that water and electricity shouldn’t mix. And yet, just because he happened to read it on the internet, this kid totally throws out everything he’s learned about electricity and water out the window in order to fix his Xbox 360.
I wasn’t serious at all when I said this kid should have had his life ended. I don’t take life and good health for granted because I personally have had some serious health issues that I had to overcome. It just irks me I guess when perfectly healthy people take advantage of what they got.
if ur gonna do this at least put plastic on the input cords to the 360
jeez
its common sense
Thanks for the insight Algonquin Bill. I only made the statement because where I live in Texas so many people I have met in public who supposedly teach or go to Christian schools have told me in public when talking with my friends or my parents that most everything we are talking about is wrong.
I will admit I do not know everything about everything, but I don’t want to be told in public that, for example, evolution is only a theory, I know that but I believe in it. I do not mind if someone else believes that evolution is not how human life started, you can have a friendly debate with me in private about it, but I do not want it to be forced on me or on others by people who do not believe in evolution when I do believe in evolution.
Also Algonquin Bill, I did not mean to come on as arrogant, I just find it hard to believe a 14 year old child did not know putting a XBox in water, not matter how well sealed, will cool it down before it starts to suffocate from not getting air in its vent, or not electrocute you if you are not the utmost of careful.
Once again thanks for the input Algonquin Bill, I am happy to get a well written and well tempered reply from someone today (this has not been my month for getting polite replies online). I will also add that over 125 was my IQ when I was 7, I have not had a IQ test since then (also my parents wont tell me exactly what it was for “bragging” rights
).
P.S. In your third paragraph, third word, it should be “our” not “are”
Last night I told this story to my 8 yr old. Now right after I said he put the 360 in the water, tied up in the bag of course, she immediately said “That’s stupid”. Of course I laughed my ass off. While I’m laughing she’s verbally wondering why he would do this. What made it more funny is when I asked why it’s not a good idea she quickly replies with a know it all tone “It uses electricity. It coulda caught on fire.” Now I’m dying laughing so she keeps going on this theory. I eventually let her know that she was half right (I admit after listening to her I’m not entirely sure it wouldn’t have caught fire) and that the boy shocked himself. I know I will be going over and over water + electricity = bad.
@Sharad Yadav Most children and adults are dumb asses. Look at Jackass and the people who imitate it. My daughter is smart but at least once a week I am saying “What were you thinking?” They are not dumb or stupid but do idiotic things, myself included. I’v thrown stink grenades (won’t type b*** or the CIA will be at my door), started fires, etc. But at 14 he should no better unless he was mentally disabled (I’m not trying to be funny here).
Stupidity ftl?
It’s too bad that BioShock is rated M. If he had been playing BioShock when his mom left he would have seen this coming.
Submerge it in water….. soon as i herd that i knew what whould happen.
Ah, once in awhile we do get news that makes the average person feel just slightly more superior. ^_^
Alright since nobody will take up for the kid, I will. Being a gamer myself I know we ar impatient and we make rash decisions because of that. the reason he would submerge his console in water is because it gets so hot in the inside off the 360 so hot that it would melt the silicon and when itdries it would cover the whole chip.He did not seal it off compleatly so a little water got in and gave a fast bolt 120volts.He made a mistake-a little mistake.So just ease up off his back about it he diddint hurt anybody but himself minorly.But kid you should have just wrapped 3 towels around it for 30 min. then you could have been plying rather than hurting.Oh by the way im 18 so im not a young kid I just think we should be nice rather than call him dumb
my xbox gamertag:nevrsatisfied18 in case you wanna play me sometime
Sent from my iphone.
So you don’t think Water+Electronics=Badness?
Lets put it this way, the ONLY way you will be able to put an XBox360, or any other electronic this large, in a tub of water without it electrocuting it is wrapping in rubber or some other non-conductive material that will not allow the electricity to pass through to the water, electricity went strait through the plastic to the water, doesn’t matter if there was a leak or not.
whatis your name
how are you