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Comment by vidarh | Hacker News Reader

> putting a 9V battery on the tongue, and the effects of putting a paperclip into an AC power socket.

Removing insulation from a live phone wire with my teeth (I had decided to put an extension in my room without asking for help...) was one of mine, that definitely made me more careful. Went just fine until I closed the circuit with my tongue by accident just as someone called. Not pleasant.

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> Removing insulation from a live phone wire with my teeth (I had decided to put an extension in my room without asking for help...) was one of mine, that definitely made me more careful. Went just fine until I closed the circuit with my tongue by accident

I read this and thought "so what?".

> just as someone called.

Ahh there it is. Yep, that is indeed not pleasant.

Yeah, I'd done it once or twice before, and it went well since nobody called, and so I did not for a moment think about the difference. It helped strongly reinforce to make sure stuff is disconnected, not just "not harmful right this instance", before touching it.

I had basically the same experience. I had messed with phone wires a lot, and they were always harmless, until someone called one day. I messed with them more carefully from then on :P

The 90v(?) AC that comes through the phone line to make it ring was intended to be powerful enough to ring a physical bell. Back before the exchange was automated, home telephones had a hand-cranked generator to produce that signal. According to my dad, kids used to take those out of old phones and use them for all kinds of shenanigans. (Like shocking their friends, siblings, and the dog, I'm guessing.)

I'm certain someone will come up with the idea of pairing a smartphone with a taser at some point, and closing the loop on this.

I'd be unsurprised if someone is already selling something similar as a sex toy.

I am so glad I am not the only one who did this. I was messing around with the phone wires because my sister was hogging the phone and I had important business on a MUD. I found if I put a large resistor across two of the wires (I can't remember which now) the call quality would degrade enough that she would stop and I could get back on the internet.

I did this too! I picked up the wrong wire - I was installing a phone extension for my Nan - and stuck the wire in my mouth to strip it, as you always do as a kid. I was sitting cross-legged on the floor and got "blown" backwards across the room just like in a movie. I'd been shocked a dozen times from the 240V mains due to prior misadventures, but that was the worst shock I'd ever had. I couldn't taste anything for four days afterwards.

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