Month: July 2005

Deep Impact Fireworks on the Fourth

NASA Deep Impact

If you’re looking for a little more power in your Independence Day holiday fireworks, consider taking a look at NASA’s Deep Impact website.

The Deep Impact mission involves a NASA space probe set on a collision course with Comet Tempel 1. The probe will fire an “impactor” at the comet in order to aid scientists in studying exactly what makes up the interior of a comet.

For those with broadband, you can also catch video and multimedia presentations on the mission at NASA TV. More information on the project can also be found at Wikipedia.

Exploding Laptop

Toasty Laptop
click image to enlarge

As seen on [H]ard|OCP:

“I work as a pc technician for America’s largest electronics retailer. Today a customer brought his laptop in for repair and stated that it “exploded”. After five years as a tech I thought I had seen it all and was wondering about his perception of “explosion”.

As I cracked open the box of a five month old Compaq Presario I was hit with a foul stench and immediately knew the chosen words of “explosion” were appropriate. Somehow, someway….this laptops battery totally exploded causing a large fireball and partial disintegration of the computer. The battery caught fire sending a fireball through the front of the laptop blowing a three inch hole through what used to be the floppy on the opposite side of the case.

I know that any battery has the potential for danger given the correct circumstances, however this battery met a truly violent end under normal operating conditions. The customer stated that his entire table was burnt to a crisp and would of been true of the whole house if a fire extinguisher was not as handy as it was.”