Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Portables (Apple) Businesses It's funny.  Laugh. Apple Hardware

Baked Apple 705

Aaron Steele writes "Okay, I work at an Apple Authorized Retailer and we just had a lady come in to see if we could fix her PowerBook G4. She walks in the store and comes up to me, 'Sir, I've got a baked Apple.' The top of the screen was a little brown and warped. The lady opened up the machine and the screen was all cracked, and there was not a single key left on the keyboard. It turns out she had the machine in the oven for 20 minutes, baking at 400 degrees. No joke. And what's even more amazing. The machine still works. Ethernet, Modem, USB, it all works. Plug in an external monitor and keyboard and it's good as new ... almost." Am I the only one for whom this conjures up images of Shrinky Dinks?
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Baked Apple

Comments Filter:
  • Surely, not slashdotted already?
  • by OneInEveryCrowd ( 62120 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @10:56AM (#5241056)
    Just curious !
  • Baked? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Kiaser Zohsay ( 20134 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @10:57AM (#5241070)
    Methinks the powerbook was not the only thing that was "baked".
  • by Enahs ( 1606 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @10:57AM (#5241073) Journal
    That's the oddest pie recipe I've ever seen.
  • I'm more amazed.... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Soluxx ( 545237 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @10:58AM (#5241087)
    I'm more amazed that no one asked her why she did it... Do we look down on non-computer people so much that we don't even bother to ask anymore why they do stupid things?
    • I'm going to guess that they spilled some liquid on it, and thought (incorrectly) it would be a good idea to dry it out in the oven.

      That's the only pseudo-logical reason I can think of for toasting a $2500 machine.
    • by Anonymous Coward
      no... I look down on people who do not demonstrate the basic intelligence and reasoning skills necessary to avert this kind of 'disaster'. Everyone makes mistakes, but there are some courses of action that even a 12 year old knows how to avoid.... While part of me would hate to see a user a) deprived of their machine b) soured to a great vendor such as Apple for the rest of his/her life, I really hope that the Apple isn't forced to eat the repair costs for a user's act of gross stupidity.

      if anyone knows who to attribute the following quote to, please let me know.

      "You can't cure 'stupid'." - anon.
    • by KludgeGrrl ( 630396 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:20AM (#5241362) Homepage
      I'm more amazed that no one asked her why she did it

      Clearly this is the start of a new Mac ad campaign. You remember "It takes a licking, and keeps on ticking!"

      Soon we will be deluged with pictures of powerbooks that were dropped from great heights, run over by buses...

      You get the drift.
      • Takes a cookin' and keeps on bookin' (or iBookin')?

        Who's gonna play the part of John Cameron Swayze(sp)? I want see the one where they strap a laptop to a boat prop....
    • by Matey-O ( 518004 ) <michaeljohnmiller@mSPAMsSPAMnSPAM.com> on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:24AM (#5241419) Homepage Journal
      I'm more amazed that no one asked her why she did it... Do we look down on non-computer people so much that we don't even bother to ask anymore why they do stupid things?
      Yes. (You're new here, aren't you?)
    • by grub ( 11606 ) <slashdot@grub.net> on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:29AM (#5241466) Homepage Journal

      Do we look down on non-computer people so much that we don't even bother to ask anymore why they do stupid things?

      Yes. Do you think the submitter's thoughts were:

      "Man, this woman is a retard? I better ask her why she did this.."

      or was it more along the lines of:

      "Bahaha, stupid twat! I can't wait to submit this to slashdot!"

      My money is on the latter.
    • by Flavio ( 12072 )
      He's being paid to fix it, not to ask questions.

      As long as she's willing to pay money for the job, it's none of his business.
    • by ianscot ( 591483 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:46AM (#5241598)
      If this was an Apple store, the employee wouldn't be in a position to say anything about the (dorked-out) customer's reasons. Apple has a danged clear set of policies about dealing with customers -- you don't ridicule and you don't bitch. I know a few employees.

      So maybe we're not hearing the reasons because this person wants to keep her job.

      (I know ten women like this customer, though. Think of how casual she was in saying her little "baked apple" thing. Didn't faze her much. This is a woman with serious money and no sense. She miplaces four cell phones a year, at least.)

      • If this was an Apple store, the employee wouldn't be in a position to say anything about the (dorked-out) customer's reasons.

        My reading, is that anybody who can walk into a store with an obviously fried (er, baked) $2500 box, and say with a straight face that she's got "a baked apple", has got to have a sense of humor.

        I'm betting that she went home, and told her astonished friends.

        "I can't believe it. The guy at the store took the computer from me, and didn't even bother to ask how my computer got baked. Talk about brainless drones -- wouldn't
        you want to know how that happened?"
      • Apple has a danged clear set of policies about dealing with customers -- you don't ridicule and you don't bitch

        So you can't ask a question without ridiculing or bitching?

        How about "Can you tell us why it was in the oven?"

    • I'll bet you dollars to donuts this is how it happened: A lot of people get the bright idea to hide their valuables in the oven. They either forget that they've done this, or forget to inform their housemates that they've done this. Then, somebody gets a hankerin' for a frozen pizza, and preheats the oven....

    • This story [metafilter.com] ran on Metafilter [metafilter.com] yesterday, and most of the speculations on "why" seemed to run along the same lines as here... except I got the impression from some posts that it's possible the monitor was busted before the baking. At that point, it's pretty much equally cost effective to use the thing as a frisbee or silicon pastry as it is to fix it. (Of course, using it as a desktop might be much more cost effective, even now).

      Other potential reasons: powerbook belonged to a disgruntled SO, thieves never look in the oven for valuables, schizophrenia, and just plain insatiable curiosity.
    • Do we look down on non-computer people so much that we don't even bother to ask anymore why they do stupid things?

      I would suspect that he was too stunned to think to ask.

      Personally, if I was to ask for an explanation for every stupid thing I heard or saw, I would be listening to morons 18 hours a day, for the rest of my life.

      Someone (who I'm ashamed to say I'm related to) called me up to tell me about the code red bug... Yes, I still have the recoreded message telling me that there is "some sort of a bug" going from computer to computer, "killing people".

      If it wasn't so very real, it might have been funny.

      There's no reason with most people. How many people do you know that move their bodies in the direction they want a videogame character to go? How many people think dogs get "worms" from sugar? How many people do you know that have lucky charms (not the cereal)?
    • by billstewart ( 78916 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @04:24PM (#5244793) Journal
      Sorry to shout, but the tech should have copied her data for her, either to a new machine if she bought one, or at least to a new hard drive, and the article doesn't say he did. It does refer to him having reformatted the drive; I'm assuming that this was after they declared it trashed.

      As far as not asking her _why_ she did it, I'm not surprised he was polite. There are things people do that are dumb that deserve comment, especially if it looks like an educational issue to keep them from doing it again, like not understanding what "are you sure you want to reformat the hard disk now?" means... But things like putting a computer in the oven are so excessively over-the-top bone-headed dumb that it's not something you do from lack of education (or at least, it's a problem that provides its own education and you don't need to add to it.) So you raise your eyebrows and say "okay..." and try not to laugh, and if she wants to explain, she will, and if she doesn't want to explain, well, that's her business.


      • Sorry to shout, but the tech should have copied her data for her, either to a new machine if she bought one, or at least to a new hard drive, and the article doesn't say he did. It does refer to him having reformatted the drive; I'm assuming that this was after they declared it trashed.


        no. The tech should have offered to see if he could copy the data for her, at a reasonable cost, reminding her it may not be possible. Maybe he offered and didn't mention it in the article. Maybe she didn't need the data cause she backed up well (ha ha ha).

        I also think that once he found it was operating fine, he should have chased down the woman (if reasonable) and told her. It smacks of dis-honest trading to say a computer is trashed, wait until the customer leaves, then use the computer yourself.
  • Karma whoring (Score:5, Informative)

    by MagerValp ( 246718 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @10:58AM (#5241088) Homepage
  • by stonebeat.org ( 562495 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @10:59AM (#5241096) Homepage
    500 degrees and 40 min is needed to void the warranty. or 5 min Microwave open. However in Microwave you dont get the crispy crust....
  • Baked Hard Drives (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Marco_polo ( 160898 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @10:59AM (#5241100) Homepage
    In the old days, when an MFF hard drive would 'gunk' up, we would put it in the oven to free it up, then try to back up as much data as we could before it re-gunked.

    almost as weird as the Compaq 5166's. If they blue screened, you drop them from 6 inches onto a flat surface. Viola! working computer.
    • Freezing works too (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Drunken_Jackass ( 325938 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:13AM (#5241290) Homepage
      I saved an old Netware drive that wouldn't initialize by popping it into a freezer bag, and then the freezer for ~10 minutes. Bring it out, let it warm slowly to room temp, and then install.

      Spun right up and stayed active long enough to do what i had to.

      Neat trick.

    • Re:Baked Hard Drives (Score:5, Interesting)

      by sayerofno ( 606255 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:40AM (#5241553) Homepage
      When I was doing desktop support we had three standard ways to try to free up a dead hard drive:

      1) Hair dryer (oven would work but we didn't have one available). Apply heat for a few minutes to see if it gets the lubricant on the disk spindle warmed up enough to let the disk spin.

      2) Freezer (we had one of these). Freeze the drive for 20 minutes or so.

      3) The "three finger drop". Hold the drive three finger widths over the table top and drop it.

      If the drive was otherwise dead, it didn't hurt it any more to abuse it this way. The goal was to get the drive to spin up once - and get all of the data off of it.
    • When I did tech support for the Architecture department in college, we had a string of possible remedies for hard drive failure. The very last option on the list, after things like checking cables and switching jumpers, was to give the drive a good spanking. You just hold it in one hand slap the top a few times with the flat of your palm. I was skeptical the first time I saw it done, but I'll be damned if a few drives didn't walk away functional after a good whippin'. Seems the platters were getting stuck and the "spanking" dislodged them, enabling them to spin freely again.

      When not mind-numbingly frustrating, tech support is hilarious.

  • let me sign up to put my $3000 laptop in the oven...

    dumbass
  • Geez (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 06, 2003 @10:59AM (#5241105)
    Is there even a SHRED of objectivity here????

    If this had been a Dell or Compaq, you'd all be laughing at how stupid Windows users were. Instead, you marvel at how the computer still works (strictly because it's an Apple, I'm sure).

  • Why? (Score:2, Redundant)

    by Megane ( 129182 )
    So did you think to ask her why she did it?

    P.S. The picture seems to be slashdotted into oblivion now.

  • Those Apple machines are fruity enough.

    Did she also add some pie crust and cinnamon?

  • by A Swing Dancing Dork ( 324614 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:00AM (#5241121)
    Was this woman real old? Did she put it in with cookies, or brownies? What was in those brownies? And do you think she has anymore?
  • ...was it IN THE OVEN in the first place????

    Was she hungry? Grandkids coming over for a snack?

    • by ENOENT ( 25325 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:12AM (#5241258) Homepage Journal
      She was hired to babysit for a young couple's infant daughter. They did not know of her three-doobie-a-day habit. When the couple returned home, she told them that everything went OK and that the pie was almost done. Alarmed, the couple ran into the kitchen, opened the oven door, and discovered that THE BABYSITTER HAD BAKED THEIR POWERBOOK!!!!

      Damn, I've got to stop reading alt.folklore.urban.

  • http://homepage.mac.com/aaronsteele/PhotoAlbum6.ht ml [mac.com]

    Are you the same individual who took those pictures, or a worthless ripoff?
  • by Mothra the III ( 631161 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:03AM (#5241168)
    Evidently if you don't make sure the little switch is in the right position in the back and plug it into high voltage, the things tend to be a little tempermental. Loud pop, a little smoke and no more SUN.
  • Why? (Score:2, Redundant)

    by sql*kitten ( 1359 )
    . It turns out she had the machine in the oven for 20 minutes, baking at 400 degrees.

    Did she say what she was trying to accomplish by doing this? I'm really curious.
  • ... but baking at 400 degrees for 20 minutes?

    EEEEEK!

    And I thought I abused my iBook by pushing it off my desk a few times (once open and running) - it looks a little scratched and the hinge mount on the screen is a little bent, but no damage.
  • Theory- (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Omkar ( 618823 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:04AM (#5241183) Homepage Journal
    Joke - She mistook the shiny laptop for a baking pan. And removed the stains with peroxide.

    Serious-Her young kids/any young kids in the house put it in the oven and she turned it on for something else.
  • Apple Crisp (Score:2, Troll)

    by Root Down ( 208740 )
    Was there a crumb topping?
  • Humph, Just check out the server when we're done with it, we'll show you baked!!!

    Gentlemen start your browsers...
    Commence slashdotting!!!
  • palm baked (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Kircle ( 564389 )
    kind of reminds me of this /. story about someone baking a palm. apparently, he was trying to dry off his palm from the rain. kind of amazing what these things can go through, or what people think they can go through...

    but in the case of the palm, someone else didn't notice the palm in the oven and baked a pizza over it. :)
  • by sqlrob ( 173498 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:08AM (#5241215)
    Is those old Apple ][ advertisements, where one was toasted in a house fire, keyboard melted and it still worked after a transplant.
  • ... and thought it wasn't getting hot enough when it ran.
  • Reflow (Score:3, Insightful)

    by seanadams.com ( 463190 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:08AM (#5241224) Homepage
    No big surprise... every one of the PCBs in there has already been fed through an oven once, WHEN IT WAS SOLDERED!!!
  • Apples have been heat resistant [tripod.com] since the days of the Apple II Plus!
  • I would like to know how the batteries faired. Since the machine works it is obvious that it was shut down.

  • I havent done Apple Service in some years but wow, has AppleCare extended to covering the Im a dumbass area?
    In the past if you sneezed weird on your powerbook the warranty would be void and need to be sent to Apple at the customers expense for warranty inspection.
  • You said that she brought it in to be fixed, but you didn't say that you then proceeded to laugh in her face. Can you actually fix this? How much would it run? Is it worth it?

    I say this because my PowerBook G4 is probably the most valuable uninsured thing that I own (I wonder if homeowner's insurance would pay for it) and I shudder to imagine something like this happening to mine.

    Well, not something like THIS, for crying out loud. I can't imagine the logic that would result in even temporary storage of my PowerBook in the OVEN. But I often think about how I'm just a drop or a crush away from being REALLY pissed off and out the $2000 that I spent on my PowerBook.

    John
    • My homeowner's insurance covers (I think) 25% of the value of the house in possessions. I specifically asked if a laptop computer that got damaged while out of the house was covered. My agent said yes. YMMV with your own insurance company, though.

      I doubt baking it in an oven would be covered, though.
  • by kevcol ( 3467 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:11AM (#5241252) Homepage
    Grandma's Olde Fashioned G4 Pie Recipie

    Apple Filling:

    1 large tart Apple Powerbook G4
    40 grams / 1 1/2 oz of butter
    1/2 cup of castor sugar
    1 cup of water
    1 cinnamon stick or 1/2 a teaspoon of ground cinnamon
    4 whole cloves or a pinch of ground cloves
    2 large strips of the rind of 1/2 a lemon (zest)
    1 teaspoon of cornflour

    Peel the Powerbook and cut into quarters. Remove the core and dice each quarter. In a large saucepan melt the butter over a medium low heat, add the diced Powerbook, sugar, water, lemon rind, cinnamon and cloves and combine. Cover and sweat for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the Powerbook is just tender but still retains its shape. Remove from the heat. Discard the lemon rind, cinnamon stick and cloves. Drain most of the excess liquid off and mix in the cornflour. Set aside to cool.

    Sweet Shortcrust Pastry
    2 cups of flour
    A pinch of salt
    125 grams / 4 1/2 oz of butter
    1/4 cup of castor sugar
    1 egg
    1 to 2 tablespoons of milk

    Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F or gas mark 4. Grease a large deep pie dish or a round springform tin. Shake two cups of flour into the tin to dust the sides. Pour the flour out into a large bowl or food processor and add the sugar. Cut the butter into small cubes and rub into the flour with your hands or process until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg and mix or process for another 5 to 10 seconds until the mixture comes together, adding the milk if necessary. Turn out the mixture on a lightly floured bench or board and knead until the mixture forms a smooth ball. Handle as little as possible to prevent the pastry from becoming hard when baked. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
    On a lightly floured bench or board roll out two-thirds of the pastry, 5 mm (1/8 inch) thick. Place inside the greased and dusted tin to form the base and sides of the pie. Carefully spoon the cooled Powerbook filling into the pie shell. Roll out the remaining pastry into a circle, 5 mm (1/8 inch) thick and large enough to cover the Powerbook and form the lid of the pie. Wrap the lid over a rolling pin and carefully unroll over the top of the pie. Trim off the excess pastry, seal the edge by crimping the pastry sides using a fork or pinching between your forefinger and thumb. Make small slits or holes in the lid with a small knife for air to escape. With a pastry brush, lightly coat the top with a little extra beaten egg. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until the pastry is golden. Serve hot or cold with ice cream, whipped cream or custard.
    To form a lattice top cut 1 cm (½ inch) strips out of the pastry lid. Lay them across the pie, 5 mm (1/4 inch) apart. Fold back every second vertical strip and lay a new horizontal strip across the strips that have not been folded. Lay the folded back strips back down. Then repeat folding back the vertical strips that were not folded in the previous round. Cover the rest of the pie in a similar fashion.

    (Serves 6 to 8)
  • Baked furby (Score:3, Funny)

    by Merlin42 ( 148225 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:14AM (#5241303)
    A similar situation happen to my younger sister. She got a furby for christmas several years ago and had a lot of fun with it until one day it wouldn't shut up while she was trying to do some homework at the kitchen table. So she decided to put it in a dark quiet place ... THE OVEN! That did a wonderful job of quieting it down, so good that she promptly forgot about it. Later that evening my mother preheated the oven for dinner. A few minutes later she smelled burning plastic ... the poor furby had its fur singed, was severly deformed, and never worked again.

    And there was much rejoicing

    YAY!
    • Reminds me of a great furby story I have!

      When I was visiting a friends place, another mutual friend also came over and brought her two little monsters along, two girls ages 3 and 5. These kids got into everything and so of course they found my friends furby. All us adults were upstairs and the kids were downstairs playing with some toys, and the furby. I went down to get a drink of water at some point and was greeted with a rather bizarre sight as I was coming down the steps.

      The furby was laying on its back and thrashing about wildly. It was emitting this horrible scream like "AAAAaaaaAAAAAaaaaaAAAAAaaaaAAAAAaaaa" and just flopping like a fish. It was like some bizarre horror movie and I was expecting some sadist to come around the corner, having tortured the furby to the point of insanity.

      I have no idea what those two little monsters did to that thing, but they really scarred that damn thing bad. It never was the same again.
  • Ok, ok, enough with the Pie jokes. There is plenty of good material here without them:

    Are you sure this machine wasn't stolen? From the pictures, it looks kinda hot.

    Are you sure she wasn't just trying to burn her first CD?

    Insert OB Overclocking Joke Here

    "Ma'am, I feally think you are missing the point of FireWire."

  • lightning (Score:5, Interesting)

    by zogger ( 617870 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:19AM (#5241355) Homepage Journal
    -some weird story. Glad I got to see the pics with the correct URL. WHY did this lady do this?

    --here's my tough as nails apple story. We run on solar here. The first year though I didn't have a proper buried power cable, my AC feed from the inverters was literally just an extension cord on top of the ground. Was running a mac 6400 tower at the time, through a surge protector/power strip (no, too dumb to send in warranty card when I got the surge, duh on me). Anywho, one day there's a thunderstorm, being reasonably cautious I unplugged everything. Storm goes away, cool, plug all the stuff back in. About 5 minutes later ZAP! Rogue lightning bolt hits I guess the ground nearby or the cord directly. Pooter goes POP, everything shuts down. I mean it was loud, a very close by hit.

    I am steamed, think oh crap no pooter. Reset breaker, hit power button, CHIME, that nice boot up chord! Amazing! thing boots but ran sorta screwy. Just-screwy. surfing was a tad slower, would get occassional screen freezes, etc, but as it was at the time my "best" computer I just kept using it. Next day I open the case, WOW, the mobo is all crispy! I mean fried city, and the thing is still working. Hard to describe except it looked -lightning hit. there's burnt stuff all over. I cleaned it as good as possible and put it back together. Used it for a few more months in crippled mode, then upgraded an old quadra to use instead, then I bought a used pb 1400, then I just parted the 6400 out, kept the drives and those great built in speakers.

    tough boxes for sure
  • Oh come on people! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Greyfox ( 87712 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:20AM (#5241374) Homepage Journal
    Obviously there aren't many people posting who spent any time at all in tech support. After a while you become so immune to this sort of thing that it doesn't even raise an eyebrow anymore. Much less warrant a story on slashdot. People do stupid things with their computers. Move along, nothing to see here!


    On a side note, it's kind of hard to say much to the customer about it at all. Management frowns on pretty much any question you would be inclined to ask them. They like to steer you away from phrases like "Are you on drugs?" "What, are you retarded?" and "What the FUCK is WRONG with you?" So you just sigh, shake your head and fix their machine.

  • so like... (Score:5, Funny)

    by grub ( 11606 ) <slashdot@grub.net> on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:23AM (#5241407) Homepage Journal

    so like I was working on a paper for school and I thought it'd. be.. like.. cool.. to put my PC laptop in... the oven... for like.. 20 minutes and it was like.. bleep bloop bleep and it died. I lost my paper.. it was.. a.. really good paper.

    Then I bought a Mac laptop. I was working on another.. like.. paper.. and thought it'd be cool to put.. this Mac.. in the.. like.. oven for 20 minutes. and I did.. and it still booted up..

    it was a really good paper.
  • Apple engineering (Score:5, Insightful)

    by thatguywhoiam ( 524290 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:23AM (#5241409)
    Apple has always built really, really tough machines, esp. under the aegis of Jonathan Ives. There are a lot of stories floating around about Apple employees dragging prototypes around the parking lot behind their cars, dropping off rooftops, etc. O'Grady's Powerpage used to have an 'Extreme mac' section with pics of people who had parked on their PowerBooks, shot at them, been soaking in an aquarium for a week, nailed with an Argon laser, etc.

    Remember the Space Clam iBook? The corners were double-shod rubber wrapped around the two frontmost corners, which (on this model) were the likeliest impact points in the event of a drop. The newer iBooks have an HD that is encased in a brick of rubber. Aluminum/titanium frames. This is the stuff you want in a laptop.

    • Also at Macworld (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Tokerat ( 150341 )

      Apple also did a demo similar to what you describe with the iBook, I forget if it was the initial introduction of the toilet-seat iBook or the Macworld directly after but they had a guy climb a ladder and toss the iBook on the floor, where Jobs proceeded to pick it up and boot it.

      Anyone remember this?
      • That was Macworld 1998 [mymac2u.com]. He (Schiller) didn't actually throw it onto the floor, he jumped off a scaffold onto a bean bag while holding the iBook.

        The demo was more about showing how AirPort kept working even if you shoogled it around, not really about bounce-testing an iBook^Wexecutive.
  • Old Apple ][ Ads... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by podperson ( 592944 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:31AM (#5241494) Homepage
    Used to feature an Apple ][ recovered from a fire -- totally melted and still working.

    There was also a story about a library in a village in Papua New Guinea that was flooded, and the Macs in the library were filled with mud. They hosed em off, dried them out, and they worked.

    Finally there's an old BMUG article about "hanging your disks out to dry" after their shareware library was flooded. They opened the floppy disks, washed the disks gently with detergent, air dried them, and put them back in new cases. Voila they were readable.

    I used the same trick on a floppy disk soaked with spilled coffee (far worse than flood water I imagine). No data loss.
  • by jellomizer ( 103300 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:43AM (#5241568)
    This is something that I could see a 3 year old doing. Thinking that he could play a joke the kid will hide the Computer in the over because that is somewhere no one would look for it. Not knowing this the mother is about to cook something and preheats the oven at 400. after 20 minutes she opens the door to see her expensive laptop in the stove with the white apple starting to brown and the keys fizzling. Using potholder she quickly gets the computer out of the oven. This is just a possible story on what possibly could of happend where the lady was of average intelegance. when little kids are involved random things can happen to people that seem compleatly irationail otherwise.
  • Not a big deal (Score:5, Informative)

    by mj01nir ( 153067 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:43AM (#5241575)
    A few months ago, one of my clients suffered a house fire. His Dell notebook suffered similar damage, but booted with an external keyboard and monitor. We were able to transfer the data from it, and stored it on our server until the replacement arrived.

    So this is a big deal? Wish I'd know. I could have had a story on Slashdot!
  • I'm confused. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by bellings ( 137948 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:48AM (#5241616)
    I don't get it. This is a 15", $2,400.00 powerbook, right? And she dumped it, without explanation, at a repair shop, because fixing it would be $1,000.00 for the new screen?

    This story has the stink of "bullshit" written all over it, frankly.
    • Re:I'm confused. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by dvdeug ( 5033 )
      And she dumped it, without explanation, at a repair shop, because fixing it would be $1,000.00 for the new screen?

      They said it's going to be at least a thousand dollars for the screen alone. And after you've poured another couple thousand dollars into the thing, you've got a laptop that's been baked in an overn, and likely never works quite right. It's almost cheaper, and certainly easier to just replace the whole thing.
  • My worst... (Score:5, Funny)

    by dallask ( 320655 ) <codeninja&gmail,com> on Thursday February 06, 2003 @11:55AM (#5241667) Homepage
    I worked for Digital Research, we did support for all the DR peripherals, IO cards, mice, sound and video... Lots of jumpers to configure, lots of crap to support...

    Well, one day I get a call from this guy, and his mouse wont work,... says that the mouse is jumpy on the screen... "Dirty track ball" I think, so I have him clean that... still jerky,... "Check Settings" I think, settings are fine... so we reinstall the drivers, reconnect the mouse, reboot the system, ... Still jerky!...

    So I call over my lv2 tech and his partner, and they go through all the same procedures.... for 45 minutes, were working this guy through navigating in windows with a mouse whose pointer jumps from one side to the other...

    The guy is frustrated, pissed at the mouse, pissed at us... and he vents... "I Just don't get this, Why do you sell this mouse if it doesn't work!!! I mean, it's not even designed right, the buttons are hard to click, and the label is upside down..."

    My ears peaked, so I took a chance... "Sir," as politely as I could muster, "When you look at the mouse, as your using it... describe what it looks like for me, tell me how your using it."

    With a frustrated sigh, he responds, "Well, I hold the mouse, and move the ball with my thumb, and click on the buttons, just like you're supposed to!"

    The dumb ass was holding a normal trackball mouse in his hand, upside down, and moving the ball with his thumb. I got him on mute as fast as I could... both me and the other techs, and everyone else who had gathered, burst out in cries of pain and agony.

    2 days later, I quit... that was just too much.
  • by Jim Efaw ( 3484 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @12:06PM (#5241767) Homepage

    Around 1990, my friend Jeff Byers (later head of tech support for Telix at deltaComm [telix.com]) was sitting in the old basement computer lab at Illinois Central College [cc.il.us], when a one of the lab staff, for no particular reason, cut up a 5.25" floppy disk with scissors and inserted the pieces into the floppy drive in the next computer over. When someone asked him why he did that, he just shrugged and said "I don't know" and went back to what he was doing. A couple days later, the computer was gone.

  • by verch ( 12834 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @12:11PM (#5241817)
    I had a PC, and I put it in the oven, and like, baked it for a while, and like it went beep bloop buzz and then exploded. It was a bummer.. It ruined my stove, it was a really good stove too. So then I got a powerbook, and like, then when I baked that, it like bent a little, but still worked and stuff.

    My name is Joe, and I'm a moron.
  • by Ukab the Great ( 87152 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @12:44PM (#5242126)
    I suggest they rename their objective-c API from Cocoa to Cinnamon.
  • by LazloToth ( 623604 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @02:13PM (#5243329)
    . . . is nothing compared to the boundlessness of stupidity.


  • by Papa Legba ( 192550 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @03:30PM (#5244304)
    Check the pictures guys. It's very obvious that they did a screen swap to a lower body. This whole thing is a huge fake. Want proof?

    Check all the pictures labeled warped screen. You will notice two things. Their is a plastic IR cover to the right and an RCA plug to the left. Both are made from the same plastic as the keys of the keyboard, which if you remember correctly completely deformed in the oven.

    Both of these peices of plastic show NO deformity. Also the white plastic of the RCA plug has not even turned brown at all. This is a total fake.

This is the theory that Jack built. This is the flaw that lay in the theory that Jack built. This is the palpable verbal haze that hid the flaw that lay in...

Working...