Posted on 12/05/2005 9:01:26 PM PST by Jo Nuvark
Asking forgiveness in advance for this droll vanity. Every time I hear John Kerry talk about the atrocities and tortures in Vietnam (now Iraq), I wonder about electrocuting someone with a telephone. Can this really be done? Or is Kerry inventing again?
We often think of a severe burn, or cooking of the flesh, along the path of the current. This happens at high voltages, as in the electric chair.
But accidental "electrocution" often happens from household voltages and quite low currents which interfere just for an instant with the electrical rhythm of the heart and cause it to stop or go whacky. (Is this what is call defribrilation?)
[...electrocuted by 12 volts...]
How did they carry the phones into the water (in the jungle)?
Odds are against killing anyone, but you can piss them off bad enough to hurt you, if they get loose!
Kerry is never speaking to anyone who knows much about anything, his audience is a blank slate. They will believe anything, if it is shouted loud enough.
DID YOU KNOW THAT HOOP SNAKES HOLD THEIR TAIL IN THEIR MOUTH, AND ROLL DOWN HILLS TO CATCH YOU?
This must be true, or else, they wouldn't call them "Hoop Snakes", would they?
Truth does not mean diddly squat, perception is everything, P.T. Barnum lives!
The old style hand crank domestic phone generators could put out quite a wallop -- 75-80 volts at a couple of amps. That would light your lamp. So it depends on exactly what equipment was being used. But the shock could kill at those levels, it would surely hurt like hell.
[...band of mischevous brothers...]
They (the band) would have liked my Dad. He's going to be 90 this weekend. Burned the schoolhouse down by putting a cartridge into the furnace. Used to shoot people in the arse with a pea shooter. A real character.
I tried that same trick when I was a child, but was stopped by the blood-curdling warning shrieks of my aunt. I was, however, able to experience the jolt from my dog's Invisible Fence collar many years later. Shocking, but not painful.
{...How badly do I want to know?]
I don't want a recipe. I was just hoping to debunk John Kerry. His stories are so outrageous.
As others have said, a field phone can definitely deliver a shock. It is a classic method of torture. I believe this has been dipicted in films although I can not name one with certainty.
Volts: water pressure
Amps: water volume
Yes, it's the amps that kill.
[...Kerry's audience will believe anything...]
Reason has gone completely out the window. So much for educated, erudite intellectuals. My favorite quote is from H. G. Wells... "The idea is so stupid, only an intellectual could understand it".
[...75-80 volts at a couple of amps...]
These phones sound efficient. Wouldn't it be great to have one for emergencies. I'll bet the generator could light a few lamps and then some.
If you REALLY want to know, there's always first hand experimentation.
[...dipicted in films...]
See? I have seen this in films too. But I don't believe everything I see in the movies. I was thinking that Kerry was reiterating something he had seen in a movie. His stories sound like hollywood..
Could you elaborate on the water thing for me? It might help me to remember how volts and amps work in the future.
[...first hand experimentation...]
No thanks. I'm into comfort. But I cannot imagine anything more horrid than torturing someone. It is my special prayer that God would protect our military from capture. God bless our troops.
That's why you have to try it on yourself.
Agree about torture. It's illegal. Those supporting torture are no better than the terrorists.
You can take a 9 volt DC battery and place both contacts on your tongue.
It won't kill you. It really even doesn't hurt.
I was in the army in the 60s and these field telephons were lying around everywhere. They were well-known for their potential to "bite" you although it was not considered an actual danger. There was a certain amount of horseplay with them.
Having had this experience, it was never hard for me to imagine an interrogator hooking one to someone's delicate parts. They are particularly suitable because they are NOT likely to kill the prisonner unless you work at it. And they are lying around.
I think these movies have it right.
Kerry served in the Military? I didn't know.
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