Sensible Erection | Teenagers fighting for lives after hair tongs explode in their bedroom

Wednesday, 19 December 2007

Teenagers fighting for lives after hair tongs explode in their bedroom

quote [ Four teenage girls suffered serious burns when their hair-styling tongs exploded in a bedroom.

The gas-powered device blew a massive hole through the roof of the house and started a fire which spread to neighbouring properties. ]

WTF!?

[by Dalej@6:21amGMT] [+10 WTF]

Comments

Context said @ 6:24am GMT on 19th Dec
=[

Ranma_Saotome said @ 6:33am GMT on 19th Dec [Score:2 Insightful]
Running into the street with their clothes on fire? Didn't anyone ever teach them "Stop, Drop, and Roll!"?

VictorTyne said @ 6:43am GMT on 19th Dec
Don't you think we should maybe stop teaching people things like that?

Let the stupid ones die and thin the herd a little.

And what the hell are people doing making gas-powered hair styling equipment anyway?? I realize that I'm not a brainless teenage girl and thus know very little about hairstyling, but is there that big of a demand for portable curling irons? I thought that level of hairstyling was something you did at home in your bathroom with devices connected to properly-grounded electrical outlets.

And whatever the hell happened to rechargeable batteries??

eIfish said @ 8:38am GMT on 19th Dec
Rechargable batteries couldn't possibly contain enough energy. You might as well try putting them in a car.

Baxter_UK said @ 8:44am GMT on 19th Dec
A car battery is rechargeable.

leswilkerson said @ 8:53am GMT on 19th Dec [Score:1 Insightful]

incpenners said @ 9:47am GMT on 19th Dec [Score:1 Insightful]

eIfish said @ 8:55am GMT on 19th Dec
Let me know how it goes driving around with just the starter motor.

#attempted at witty dig at hybrid cars# - - -

Your head ------->☺

Baxter_UK said @ 8:46pm GMT on 19th Dec
But the battery in a car is rechargeable!

hippoh said @ 6:59am GMT on 19th Dec
+1 That's what I was thinking. I would think that if I was in a house and my clothes caught fire, said house would provide better resources for extinguishing a flame than a bleak urban streetscape with nothing beyond concrete, asphalt, and vehicles, judging from the picture.

wyckedfae said @ 7:15am GMT on 19th Dec
And people laughing and pointing.

Ronin.ca said @ 7:31am GMT on 19th Dec
In the burning room?

Baxter_UK said @ 6:55am GMT on 19th Dec
GAS powered hair-straighteners?

KingPellinore said @ 6:57am GMT on 19th Dec
Compressed gas, apparently. Not gasoline.

horseinsheep said @ 7:10am GMT on 19th Dec
My sister used to have a curler that was butane-powered. It's under pressure, sure, but we're talking about burning fuel to make the heat for the iron.

spite48 said @ 7:17am GMT on 19th Dec [Score:4 Funny]
Carbon monoxide emitting, explosive devices designed to be held near the heads of vain people? I'm not sure I see the problem.

skainsmate said @ 8:34am GMT on 19th Dec [Score:-2 Overrated]
Excuse me, sir, but I couldn't help noticing your implication that all people who use curlers are vain and deserve injury.

I'd just like to advise you that such implications make you appear to be not a badass, but rather, a dumbass.

I hope you find this knowledge useful.

ThirdSpango said @ 8:42am GMT on 19th Dec
I thought that he implied that all people using explosive curlers were idiots who deserved injury.

Which I have no problem with.

Baxter_UK said @ 8:49am GMT on 19th Dec [Score:1 Insightful]
" Carbon monoxide emitting, explosive devices designed to be held near the heads of vain people? I'm not sure I see the problem."

Actually, taken in isolation, this sentence asserts nothing about hair curlers. It simply asserts that the user has no problem with the concept of explosive devices being held near the heads of vain people. It does not assert that "vain people" is defined as "people who use hair curlers": it simply asserts that, however one defines "vain people", members of that set will not be missed when they blow their heads off.

Context said @ 8:57am GMT on 19th Dec
Why do you always ignore me?

:(

KingPellinore said @ 9:05am GMT on 19th Dec
I guess he's not Context-sensitive.

Baxter_UK said @ 9:39am GMT on 19th Dec
I am sensitive, and don't call me Shirley.

leswilkerson said @ 9:53am GMT on 19th Dec
You ever try to take something out of Context? Squirmy bugger.

Context said @ 11:25am GMT on 19th Dec [Score:1 Informative]
NOBODY TAKES MY SPARKLES, MOTHERFUCKER!

leswilkerson said @ 11:28am GMT on 19th Dec
HAVE THEM BACK!!! PLEASE- JUST PUT DOWN THE HAIR TONGS!!!

skainsmate said @ 12:29pm GMT on 19th Dec
+1 for correcting me, whilst reinforcing the cut of my jib.

spite48 said @ 12:44pm GMT on 19th Dec [Score:1 Insightful]
I don't see the problem with the implication that all people who use hair modification devices are vain. That is my opinion. I regret that you don't like it.

I expected SE users to be intelligent enough to realize that I didn't intend to be taken seriously about the indifference to injury. I was making light of the idiotic design and the idiotic use of said design.

skainsmate said @ 1:03pm GMT on 19th Dec
Eh, understandable.

Of late I've grown disenchanted with the standard Internet Person's disdainful attitude.

Of course, my smarmy reply doesn't exactly fix the problem, does it?

Still, there are enough people in my life who've used curlers without being bad people that I'd prefer that the heads of my mother and sister remain un-exploded.

devolutionary said @ 7:36pm GMT on 19th Dec
You expect SE users to be intelligent?

Your optimism is a shining beacon on the internet. I incline my head in admiration of you.

eIfish said @ 8:53am GMT on 19th Dec
We're talking about oxidating fuel.

It's done catalytically, not with a naked flame.

maryyugo said @ 7:42am GMT on 19th Dec
"Compressed gas, apparently. Not gasoline."

probably butane-- actually probably worse than gasoline for this app

KingPellinore said @ 6:58am GMT on 19th Dec
They were using them in a bedroom. They couldn't use a set that plugs in?

G-Unit said @ 7:11am GMT on 19th Dec
I didn't think butane was that explosive.

KingPellinore said @ 7:21am GMT on 19th Dec
Ummm...use a cigarette lighter recently?

ckfahrenheit said @ 2:54pm GMT on 19th Dec
no smoky but if I ever own a lighter it'll be a zippo

ever since the first butane lighter asplosions a while back, I've refused to keep anything with compressed gas fuel around (except propane torches for plumbing). I'll take my chances with naphtha

Dalej said @ 7:24am GMT on 19th Dec
Well... they didnt write anything about the girls loosing any limbs.., so I guess its not that very explosive...
They ware mostly burned.
Buddy of mine once threw lighter into the old style fire kitchen, the explosion was moderate - big fireball, but not very powerfool.

eIfish said @ 8:57am GMT on 19th Dec
Hair iron cartridges are about the size of C-cells. So it's closer to throwing a lighter refill in the fire.

ckfahrenheit said @ 2:59pm GMT on 19th Dec
but something apparently blew a hole thru the fucking roof. Either that's irresponsibly hyperbolic reporting, or that curler's dynamite.

maryyugo said @ 7:43am GMT on 19th Dec
powering a hair curler with a flammable gas is simply stupid beyond comprehension when, as others noted, much safer electrical power sources of various types are available.

KingPellinore said @ 7:46am GMT on 19th Dec
{paraphrased repetition of several opinions already posted}

Dalej said @ 7:50am GMT on 19th Dec
Well, you know, Mary Jane Yugoslavja...

You have to keep in mind that this was a device legaly avaliable, probably with propper certificate...

I think using it was just as stupid as using cigarette lighters, or propane heaters, or gas kitchen.

eIfish said @ 8:57am GMT on 19th Dec
Not to mention being of a technology with a decades-long track record of not exploding.

ckfahrenheit said @ 2:56pm GMT on 19th Dec
I've never understood those butane-powered soldering irons. They already GOT portable electric ones

maryyugo said @ 3:10pm GMT on 19th Dec
you use those on your hair? that explains some things.

ckfahrenheit said @ 6:46pm GMT on 19th Dec
I have never knowingly used soldering irons on my hair. Period.

arteitle said @ 4:15pm GMT on 19th Dec
If you mean those ColdHeat irons, the consensus seems to be that they can't heat the materials being soldered enough to make a good joint. It takes a lot of energy, which is much more densely stored in compressed butane than two AA batteries.

eIfish said @ 4:44pm GMT on 19th Dec
No, there are more conventional devices that dump NiCd/NiMH cells through a conventional heating coil. Like a conventional soldering iron, they work by poking the work area with a hot bit. None of this baby arc-welder malarkey. They're good for close-in work, but you need to control the element yourself, because just leaving it on would clobber the battery in a few minutes.

You need to hold it on until the tip whets, and then for each joint fire up the iron for a few seconds (the tip is (has to be) small, with a low thermal mass), get it soldered and get out quickly to save the battery.

Bonuses are that they often have lights built in, and if you're good at toggling the element, they make a cheap approximation of a soldering station.

But they'll never give you enough power or energy to solder anything that's not electronics. Connectors are at the upper limit of what they can manage.

BlutStein1984 said @ 7:47am GMT on 19th Dec
...wow...talk about your bad ideas.

ThirdSpango said @ 8:11am GMT on 19th Dec
Welp. At least the two with potential are still alive.

Although, by the sounds of it, quite badly burnt. so;mixed blessing.

Baxter_UK said @ 8:28am GMT on 19th Dec
Although, they weren't that good-looking to begin with. So: mixed blessing.

Vampire_X said @ 9:10am GMT on 19th Dec
i must be getting soft but that strikes me as a pretty damn cold thing to say

monkeytooth said @ 8:27am GMT on 19th Dec
what were they using them for? Please say masturbation.

Baxter_UK said @ 8:29am GMT on 19th Dec [Score:1 Informative]
I do not believe the title of this post is: "Teenagers fighting for lives after hair tongs explode in their vagina" ...

monkeytooth said @ 8:57am GMT on 19th Dec
I'm trying not to read past 'explode'.

Boxcar said @ 9:47am GMT on 19th Dec
Sounds like that lame fortune cookie game. Lets start putting "in their vagina" after news headlines...

cb361 said @ 11:24am GMT on 19th Dec [Score:3 Funny]
Mystery customers move from store aisles to church aisles in their vagina

Aircraft crash pilot found alive in their vagina

Israel considers new settlement in their vagina

Flames at US government office in their vagina

Clegg 'does not believe in God in their vagina'

I remember a woman once started telling me about how the man she had been on a date with her had annoyed her. I was expecting something along the lines of "He was late for dinner", or "he stared at my breasts all evening.". But her exact words were "He came in my mouth."

I thought that was wonderful, and spent the next few days mentally re-framing other situations to include that sentence.

"I put it to the honourable Minister opposite, that his record since taking office has been a litany of shambles, and that he came in my mouth."

Negative Feedback left for ebayyer232 - "Avoid this seller. He came in my mouth"

"We have reviewed the case and find against the plaintiff, who came in my mouth."

"Saddam Hussein presents a clear and present danger to world peace, and he came in my mouth."

spite48 said @ 12:51pm GMT on 19th Dec
It's a minefield. Some women assume you will, some women assume you won't. I guess ya gotta ask. Although "Excuse me miss, do you mind if I come in your mouth" doesn't make the best introduction.

one_inch said @ 2:51pm GMT on 19th Dec
hows about a quick warning that allows them to make up their own mind,
"take cover" or the like?

spite48 said @ 4:30pm GMT on 19th Dec
That's too practical. I prefer something complex, awkward and unworkable.

warmseat said @ 9:53pm GMT on 19th Dec
Spain seeks UK Guantanamo man: he came in my mouth

'Enough evidence' to charge Zuma, he came in my mouth

Seoul poll winner tough on North, he came in my mouth

How to write your CV: 'He came in my mouth'

Should Putin be Person of the Year 2007? He came in my mouth!

Diana 'had contraceptive pills', she came in my mouth....

Fuck, this is fun.

Ranma_Saotome said @ 12:13pm GMT on 19th Dec
From the warning label:

"Caution: Using this device for masturbation may cause it to explode"

DarkShadowRavenDragonGrrl69 said @ 9:45am GMT on 19th Dec [Score:2]
I'd like to point out some bullshit:

Town councillor John Jenkins said: "Looking at the state of the building it is amazing that anyone got out alive. It's a Christmas miracle that the girls survived."

Dan!el said @ 12:21pm GMT on 19th Dec
thanks jebus

Naruki said @ 9:51am GMT on 19th Dec
That's it, I think Bush's comment will be along these lines:

Iran sent Al Qaeda to infiltrate our teenage girls' homes and blow them up for Allah. God wants us to invade them.

steele.ero said @ 10:15am GMT on 19th Dec [Score:1 Funny]
Why you always gotta make everything all about teenage girls?

michaelofoz said @ 1:38pm GMT on 19th Dec [Score:1 Insightful]
why is it that the better looking ones are the ones in the worst shape, and the fat ones, are gonna be fine? God's a dick sometimes!

phunkeybuddha said @ 2:23pm GMT on 19th Dec
Because the fatties have extra insulation.

ckfahrenheit said @ 6:41pm GMT on 19th Dec
I think they used to call that an 'ablative coating' in the old spaceship days

KingPellinore said @ 1:32am GMT on 20th Dec
You sure it wasn't Medical Exoskeleton VII?

one_inch said @ 2:52pm GMT on 19th Dec
Their soft cushiony vaginas would have absorbed most of the blow...

ckfahrenheit said @ 3:11pm GMT on 19th Dec

starting a bonfire with a jet engine

De_Wr0ng said @ 3:33pm GMT on 19th Dec
Damn, I read that as exploding thongs.

Now that would be hawt!

arteitle said @ 4:06pm GMT on 19th Dec
These butane-powered styling tools are neither new nor uncommon. Braun has been selling a line of them for many years: http://www.braun.com/global/products/beautycare/haircare/hairstyling/cordlessstylers.html

ckfahrenheit said @ 6:40pm GMT on 19th Dec
hmm
powered by what they call an 'energy cell'; elsewhere they mention something about platinum - is that for some sort of catalytic reaction?

Nothing in the styler's product description about butane until I found the replacement parts:

...still wondering what brand the styler was.

thizzwardo said @ 4:23pm GMT on 19th Dec [Score:1 Funny]
damn, their hair must've been getting HELLA styled.