Re: Electricity guy on Ripley's Believe it or Not

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "David Rieben" <drieben@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Adam,

No, I'm sorry but I wasn't able to get an episode number
or anything  like that. My lieutenant at work (firestation)
just happend to come across it and called my attention
to it, knowing that my "extracurricular" interests might make
me a little more qualified than the average Joe to comment
on it. Well, we both agreed that it was probably bogus but
I knew the pier review of this group would be even better
than my opinion. The time frame of this episode must have
been around circa 2000 though, because there was another
story on the same episode  about a 42 Y.O. woman (who
was born in 1958) that was still the world champion hoola-
hoop champion.

David Rieben

----- Original Message ----- From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, September 09, 2005 2:35 PM
Subject: Re: Electricity guy on Ripley's Believe it or Not


> Original poster: "Mercurus2000" <mercurus2000@xxxxxxx>
>
> This is interesting, do you know the episode number? I would like to see
> this, I'm very skeptical myself, but there are alot of fakirs (not fakers)
> in india that can do some pretty crazy things with their body, but passing
> large currents harmlessly thro their body is a first as far as I've heard,
> it's probably a hoax, but I would like to get more info on it to see just
> how he did it, even if it is a hoax.
> Adam
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2005 8:52 PM
> Subject: Electricity guy on Ripley's Believe it or Not
>
>
> > Original poster: "David Rieben" <drieben@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I just happened to catch a segment of a rerun of
> > Ripley's Believe It or Not on TV last night and there
> > was some guy on there in India that could SUP-
> > POSEDLY pass electrical current through various
> > parts of his body to light up light bulbs, TVs, and
> > even run a waffle iron. I found this quite suspicious
> > as I could detect no involuntary muscular contraction
> > in him upon contact. He was supposedly even passing
> > what I would assume to be either 120 VAC or 220 VAC
> > (not sure what India's appliances voltage requirements are)
> > through his tongue to turn on these various appliances.
> > In this case, I personally have to go with the "NOT" of
> > Ripley's Believe It or NOT. Irregardless of a person's
> > so-called immunity to the pain of electrical current
> > passing through their tissues, they are NOT going to
> > break Ohm's Law and I don't see 120 or 220 volts
> > being able to overcome the body's resistance enough
> > to push sufficient current through it to power common
> > household appliances. And if that much current did
> > actually pass through the body, it would  most certainly
> > cause severe thermal damage to the affected  body tissues
> > and almost certain death if passed through any vital area
> > of the body. I think Ripley's was trying to
> > "hoodwink" us on this one or maybe they were hoodwinked
> > theirsleves by this gentleman from India. I figure that
> > he was probably using a sensitive capacitive feedback
> > circuit that was triggered by his touching with any part
> > of his body, much like a touch lamp circuit. Thoughts?
> >
> > David Rieben
> >
> >