Tele-Tubbies
One of the Czar’s messengers thought it necessary to interrupt his Pandora listening of Neil Sedaka with a news report about a Romanian teenager, Maria Barbu, who evidently electrocuted herself while twittering in the bathtub.
“Pictures or it didn’t happen, dude,” replied the Czar. “Wait, what?”
Story has it, from The Croatian Times, that she was on Twitter while bathing when her battery ran low. She plugged in her laptop to a power receptacle, dropped the laptop in the tub, and it electrocuted her.
The Czar gave his messenger a steely gaze and said “дермьо,” which connotes some pretty strong disbelief. First, the Croatian Times is not particularly known for scholarly journalism. They tend to groove toward the offbeat. All other stories the Czar checked into link back to the same version. Odd lack of details. No variation between reporting, although some sites rather curiously list her name as Flavia Boricea. Yeah, that sounds like Maria Barbu.
Then there’s the electrocution factor. A typical laptop uses DC power, off a low voltage isolation transformer. Immerse that into water, and the electric current dissipates almost instantly; the AC end of the transformer shorts out. Yes, you can get some funky shuko-style Romanian wiring that’s a far cry from a modern American GFCI outlet, but laptops are generally international, except for the plug-end of the transformer. Frankly, the humidity from the bath would pretty much hurt the laptop, more than the laptop hurting her.
Czar’s conclusion reverts back to “Pictures or it didn’t happen, dude.”
Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.