The Conservative Cave
Current Events => General Discussion => Topic started by: Chris_ on September 18, 2008, 11:29:18 AM
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Man killed while trying to steal copper cable carrying 11,000 volts
A man was killed trying to steal a copper cable which was carrying 11,000 volts, an inquest heard today.
Kirk John Thompson was electrocuted at the derelict Panteg steelworks, in Pontypool, South Wales, when his bolt croppers pierced the plastic coating of a cable still connected to the National Grid.
*snip*
A post-mortem showed that he had died of electrocution.
The deputy coroner for Gwent, Wendy James, said toxicology tests found amphetamines in Mr Thompson’s bloodstream consistent with "recent abuse" which she believes would have increased his risk-taking.
Wadda moron.
More of the shocking story (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4780648.ece)
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A meth head doing something really stupid and really dangerous!?!?! How could that possibly happen!?!?! :whatever:
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(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l307/asdf2231/Motivational/naturalselection.jpg)
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All his hopes and dreams of ill gotten gains, up in smoke.
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All his hopes and dreams of ill gotten gains, up in smoke.
Today's posthumous winner of the "Darwin Award".......his family must be so proud......
doc
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He was a drug user? I am shocked! Truly, truly shocked!
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He was a drug user? I am shocked! Truly, truly shocked!
Apparently, so was he.
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I'll bet he was "electrified" to find out the line was "hot".
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Sort of gives "Watch out for the coppers" a whole new meaning, doesn't it?
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Sort of gives "Watch out for the coppers" a whole new meaning, doesn't it?
He was just testing his mettle.
:-)
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All his hopes and dreams of ill gotten gains, up in smoke.
Today's posthumous winner of the "Darwin Award".......his family must be so proud......
doc
Sadly enough, this happens WAY too much. Little do the copper thieves know of the concept of "relaying and reclosure".
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All his hopes and dreams of ill gotten gains, up in smoke.
Today's posthumous winner of the "Darwin Award".......his family must be so proud......
doc
Sadly enough, this happens WAY too much. Little do the copper thieves know of the concept of "relaying and reclosure".
They struggle with the concept of conductivity ...
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See, the problem a lot of times is people think they get bit with 110 and it's no big deal. Yes, they got lucky.
What they don't understand is that at distribution voltages (2400 volts up to about 16kV), all the lines are protected by circuit breakers which have ground and overcurrent relays (sometimes more) associated with them.
Some enterprising folks have grounded a chain and lobbed it over a power line, wait till the line goes dead from the relays tripping the breaker, and then jump right in.
But here comes the "sometimes more" part. Most distribution lines (virtually all, actually unless work is being done or other very special circumstances exist) have RECLOSERS associated with them, which means after a certain period of time, the breaker will close in a test to see if the fault cleared. Sometimes there are MULTIPLE tests. So when idiot starts sawing on the line, about 15-20 seconds later their thievery will come to a spectacular and violent end when the line reenergizes and they finally realize that Ohm's Law also applies to THEM.
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He was a drug user? I am shocked! Truly, truly shocked!
Apparently, so was he.
Thank you, folks! We're here all week. Enjoy the buffet!
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Someone got the Darwin Award. Come on down! :evillaugh: Where I am at, we have a HUGE PROBLEM with copper wire theft. They target mostly businesses and churches. One church had their copper wire stolen from their AC system three times! It is usually drug addicts who steal copper wires to fund their addiction.
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Someone got the Darwin Award. Come on down! :evillaugh: Where I am at, we have a HUGE PROBLEM with copper wire theft. They target mostly businesses and churches. One church had their copper wire stolen from their AC system three times! It is usually drug addicts who steal copper wires to fund their addiction.
When we lived in Iowa these dumbasses would go to farms to steal fertilizer to make meth. The fertilizer was very very caustic! They would get burned with it and die. I find this to be judge, jury, and sentencing in a very sweet way.
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A somewhat different problem exists here in the world of television broadcasting. Our transmitters are connected to the antennas by generally over 1000 feet of coaxial line, or waveguide. The coaxial line is made of rigid copper, in twenty foot lengths bolted together, usually 6 to 8 inches in diameter, with an inner conductor that is about 2 to 3 inches in diameter. These coaxial lines are made of pure copper, and each section weighs in excess of 150 pounds. Waveguide is made of aluminum, and will have a rectangular cross-section, generally measuring 8 inches, by about 34 inches, and will weigh up to 200 pounds per 20-foot section.
Needless to say, both coaxial line, and waveguide are magnets for the thieves.........however, a typical television transmitter generates somewhere in the neighborhood of 50,000 to 75,000 Watts of RF energy, and RF acts much differently on the human body than electricity. When a thief attempts to saw through the transmission line, as soon as the saw penetrates the outer casing into the airspace between the outer and inner conductors, the RF energy begins to radiate out of the slot made by the saw........the results are comparable to placing the human body into a microwave oven that is producing 50,000 times the power of the average microwave, and it literally "cooks" the thief from the inside out.......it is not a pretty (or quick) way to die, and it will continue until the saw actually contacts the inner conductor which will trip the transmitter off due to a VSWR fault........however, just like NHSparkies example........the transmitter will reset the fault automatically, and make two additional attempts to return to "on-air" status, before the protection logic shuts it down completely.
Needless to say, by that time, what is left of the thief looks surprisingly like what a pig looks like during a "whole pig roast"......not a sight for someone with a weak stomach......
doc
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When we lived in Iowa these dumbasses would go to farms to steal fertilizer to make meth. The fertilizer was very very caustic! They would get burned with it and die. I find this to be judge, jury, and sentencing in a very sweet way.
I have read that methamphetamines is a big problem in the Midwest. It's worse than the crack epidemic.
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He was a drug user? I am shocked! Truly, truly shocked!
Apparently, so was he.
Thank you, folks! We're here all week. Enjoy the buffet!
Knowing how the DUmmies like to self-medicate, maybe this guy was just giving himself some electro-shock therapy for depression. I'd say it apparently worked.
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Someone got the Darwin Award. Come on down! :evillaugh: Where I am at, we have a HUGE PROBLEM with copper wire theft. They target mostly businesses and churches. One church had their copper wire stolen from their AC system three times! It is usually drug addicts who steal copper wires to fund their addiction.
When we lived in Iowa these dumbasses would go to farms to steal fertilizer to make meth. The fertilizer was very very caustic! They would get burned with it and die. I find this to be judge, jury, and sentencing in a very sweet way.
Then there's the idiots who off themselves by trying to steal copper pipes that are currently being used for natural gas.
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Sounds like someone didn't have a good automation system. Back in the day, you could TRY to disable SCADA or the modem, but it would give an alarm at the controlling station and would cause an operator to be dispatched.
But that being said, I've also had to replace HMI (Human Machine Interface) computers because someone broke into the control room and stole them.