“The teenage daughter of a top foreign affairs department official was being treated in a Pretoria hospital for second degree burns suffered when her laptop computer’s battery pack exploded,” iafrica.com reports. “Fifteen-year-old Nikita Sooklal is the youngest child of the department’s deputy director-general responsible for the Middle East and Asia, Dr Anil Sooklal.”
“‘My daughter had switched on the laptop and was looking for a website about Macbeth, her school set-work, and my wife was upstairs. Suddenly there was a very loud bang and my daughter began screaming. My wife rushed downstairs and found Nikita’s shirt was on fire. It would appear the battery pack had exploded and disintegrated and set fire to the room,'” iafrica.com reports. “The computer, a Dell ‘Inspiron’ issued to Dr Sooklal by the foreign affairs department some 18 months ago has been removed for forensic testing by a specially appointed police task team and the results are expected before the weekend.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. We’re “inspironed” by Dell quality.
No wonder their laptops have a 28% return rate. But for most people, even if they explode, they are “good enough.”
“Macbeth” I love it.
Dell is a company known for its innovative production methods… i.e. they slap together whatever crap is cheapest at the time you order a computer and ship it to you. Dell is also known for providing cost effective technical support … i.e. they shipped the whole thing to India and if you call for assistance someone who sounds like Apoo on the Simpsons argues with you about whether or not your computer is plugged in.
Well now Dell is known for building the worlds most dangerous computers…
is the girl allright? Doesn’t anyone care about that? i hope dell recalls other computers or something…. As much as i don’t like Dell, i wouldn’t want this happening to anyone else.. Well atleast all her medical bills will be paid for, her college education and everything else she has
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />.. because you know they are going to get a lot of them!!!!
hey!
Don’t worry about Giga This and Mega That, order a Dell and call 911.
Mac Twain…..actually Dell’s call center is in Manila, as cost overrides having a population base for a call centre that knows anything at all about computers…
Thank you and please come again!
I feel for the kid. Dell should rename it the “Inferno”.
Parent’s! What about the parent’s?
DId they get jail sentence yet?
Buying Dell Explosive’s is illegal! Not to mention giving it to a child!
Right
dood. you’re gettin’ a Dell… and some first aid.
AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA
Dude. You’re getting Dell or Else..
Did they try to copy that G5 ad????
I feel for the girl and her family. Oddly enough I also feel for the IT person who order the laptop to be assigned to this diplomat. If ever there was a single article that justified the many times, I’ve told our Windows users who want to purchase a home or work laptop and are looking at the Inspiron because they are cheap, that “they’re cheap because the parts of cheap. Dell makes the Inspiron and Dimension product lines targeting the home users, and they are filled with parts that will fail you. If your paying $800 for a Windows-based, new laptop, your wasting your money.” The clients always look at me like, well my friend David, he’s into computers says that the Inspiron is good, and its much more inline with my budget.”
I’m not a great fan of Windows, but the Dell Latitude and Dell Optiplex lines are much more dependable, and have better parts. But, I’m no longer amazed at peoples justification for getting the Inspiron or Dimension or other cheap PCs. People (mostly PC users, as it relates to computers) want to get over, they want to find an absolute steal. You offer them a deal, and they focus so much of the price, that they overlook the return.
I have one doctor client, who against my recommendation, has purchased three Inspirons in as many years. Each of the prior ones basically unusable, despite any warranty on them. Part of the reason is the guy just treats computers badly (I’ve often considered taking him back to pen and paper); but the other reason is the machines are just crap. Hard drive replacements, floppy drive replacements, broken dvd players, keyboard keys falling off, battery replacements, etc.
Then the guy always comes back to me like, can’t you do something. Sure, knock you upside the head until you listen. You get what you paid for. Good news he finally purchased a Dell Latitude D600. Almost six months with nary a problem to date. Wow. If he actually starts listening to me, I may have him using an Apple laptop within five to ten years from now.
I reckon Dell will have to preload instructions on their machines how to provide emergency medical treatment for burns and shrapnel.
Let’s see. I got my coffee, CD, medical supplies, notepad, cell phone.
OK, honey, you can turn the computer on now.
this isn’t the first time that dell have toasted their users… see http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0COW/2000_Oct_19/66528950/p1/article.jhtml and http://slashdot.org/articles/01/05/03/1617211.shtml – but where is the uproar in the press? remember how much flak apple took for the recall of the 5300 powerbook which was only a potential problem… ooh it makes me so cross!
This is no laughing matter. If a Dell supplied battery is at fault, a product recall should be issued.
My brother had an inspiron 8000 that actually melted. the air intake vents melted through because of some problem on the mother board. he sent it in, they fixed it, and it happened agian. finally they sent him a refurbished laptop.
dustybin:
Me: I guess it is OK to use a Dell as long as there is no battery installed. Right?
Dell: If you do wanna use a battery it’s not really a Dell battery. It is some battery made by somebody else and we’re not responsible for what happens to the battery cause we really didn’t make the battery, like, its something that happens but it really isn’t, you know, like, dude, why are you asking me all these questions? Why don’t you buy a Mac or something before I call my supervisor or whatever. OK?
dude… your getting dead
I Love it! This is great, I can’t wait to spread this around!
Sailfish
Folding@home Team Mac OS X #1971 � join us!
http://teammacosx.homeunix.com/
Before you all applaud Dell’s ONE battery problem, and while you are all hopefully wishing for the girl’s speedy recovery – MAYBE you should go read Apple’s message boards on the PB Firewire (Pismo).
While looking for info. on mine, I discovered that quite a few people have had that powerbook go up in smoke, and in some cases catch fire. So, don’t believe that it can’t happen to an Apple.
ilene
Police task team will take all of 5 minutes to work out that Dell computers need the bomb squad at hand at all times.
Ilene:
Ouch. The term firewire has taken on a whole new meaning to me.
You smokin’, girl.
1. I’m sure everyone here wishes the girl a speedy recovery. To imply otherwise is yet another example of ‘some people’ – and you know who you are – trying AGAIN to paint Mac users as a bunch of rabid freaks. Nice Try.
2. ‘Some people’ can’t read or avoid reading earlier posts regarding Dell’s burning issues. Here again for you:
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0COW/2000_Oct_19/66528950/p1/article.jhtml and http://slashdot.org/articles/01/05/03/1617211.shtml
3. ‘Some people’ rejoice at every ‘failure’ of Apple’s, and kindly remind everyone of the story on page one.
4. ‘Some people’ NEVER acknowledge ANY acheivements of Apple, and always manage to find some insignificant fault to PROVE that Macs are worthless.
5. ‘Some people’ insult their MacLoonie friends, then mooch free ‘Windows’ tech support in the same breath.
6. ‘Some people’ have such an irrational hatred for such an insignificant company and its ‘cultish’ users, that it’s mystifying why they spend SO much of their time at ‘MAC’ forums. (I venture to guess that they’re trying to teach ‘the MacOlytes’ the ‘One and Only, True Way, to Compute’.)
At my workplace the lithium-ion batteries used in test and flight equipment must be serviced by a special group per procedure. While I admit that I consider that overkill, I have always been amazed at the contrast of my workplace and the real world in which Li-ion batteries are all over the place and handled by people who have no idea of their potential failure modes. Every time that you ride on an airplane there are probably dozens of Li-ion batteries on board with you.
Earth to thread posters:
The story was posted one year ago — dated FRIDAY JAN. 17, 2003 , not January 17, 2004. Info courtesy of an AtAT appleturns.com forum member.
MacBuddy:
My name is “meat of moose” and I am a rabid freak.
I used to snort heroin, smoke crack cocaine, participate in drive-by shootings, and drink expired milk then I started using a Macintosh computer.
At first, it was just for fun, you know. Type an e-mail here, search the web there. It wasn’t long before I gave up all my other vices and got a dual-processor G5, OS 10.3, and a 320 GB external hard drive. Within months I sold the family car for 400 bucks just to get an iPod. My wife and kids left me and before I knew it I was roaming the coffee houses hoping to sneak a peak at MDN.
I’m recovering now. It hasn’t been easy. I take one day at a time.
(Editor’s note: The previous text is sarcasm only and does not represent anyone else’s experiences falling victim to Apple Computer Company and is not meant to demean or despise any true Mac-aholics.)
I am sickened that people can find humor in this. I don’t give a damn WHAT make of computer she was using, I feel for this girl and the trauma she has suffered, and the fact that idiots can make fun of the incident says a lot about their thinking. Shame on you.
Viridian:
You fail to recognize that none of us can change history and humor is sometimes the best method of dealing with traumatic events.
I deal with sickness and death every day and a lot of times nothing can be done to prevent the consequences of events beyond our control.
I would rather laugh in the face of adversity than whimper at it.
But seriously, folks. We live in a world of risk. Be careful out there.
Some of you folks need to reassess your comic timing. I do not find this story funny at all. Macs are not immune from this sort of thing either – I believe there was a similar case with a PowerBook recently – so I dont know why you are all coming across so high and mighty.
Mac news?
John:
As I understand historical events Apple recalled their defective computers before any serious injuries occurred.
Dell, on the other hand, has had numerous events of failure and appeared not to taken any significant steps to correct the problems.
Apple did a better job than Dell. Therefore, Dell deserves all the black humor it receives.
Not heard of any recall of Powerbooks. Just heard the story of the young kid who go burnt by a big electrical discharge from the 12″ PowerBook. These things are funny if nobody gets hurt. If a kid has second degree burns it is not funny in my book.
There has been a battery recall I seem to recall.
� Again, best wishes for the girl, and her distraught parents. It seems that there’s some confusion as to the date. I – and I’m sure others – hope that she has or is recovering quite well.
� As for the the confusion regarding ‘you know who you are’, apparently YOU don’t. MoM isn’t ‘you know who you are’.
� As for any ‘glee’ that seems to be displayed. I think that it’s unfortunate that you’ve maybe read their exclamation wrong. I don’t think – and I might be wrong – that they are ‘happy’ that a girl got hurt, but rather that Dell’s ‘rep’ as a ‘quality’ OEM has be been (yet again) comprimised.
� As for ‘some people’, who claim that Macheads ‘don’t believe that it can’t happen to an Apple’. Well, we’ve been thru’ this before. We know Apples’ shortcomings, that’s why we ‘MacJihad’ have a ‘rep’ of bitching so loudly to Apple when something unacceptable happens – even if they don’t respond. But, occasionally they do – eMac, iPod battery…
� Finally, I’m happy to hear that MoM’s got off the expired milk! Got Mac?
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
A lot of people have failed to grasp what is funny and what is black humor.
Let me illustrate, Laurel & Hardy, Peter Sellers, Steve Martin = funny.
A Russian goes to vote in his local election in 1935. At the poll he is given an envelope to place in the ballot box. While he is standing in line he wonders, “Whose name is on the ballot?” He starts to open the envelope when the local commissar rushes over to tell him he can’t open the envelope. “Why”, the man asks. “Because”, says the commissar, “in Russia we beleive in the secret ballot.”
This is black humor.
In the modern world we all want our computers, cars, airplanes, big federal government, blah, blah, blah. But when they bite back we cry and whimper or we make fun of the pain.
That’s all.
Fawlty Towers
Chef!
Mr. Bean
Waiting for God
Black Adder
Father Ted
My Family
On Benny Hill:
Girl: I ain’t going to the friggin’ orgy with ‘im then.
Mom: (Benny) Haven’t I taught you anything?
Girl: Whot?!
Mom: Haven’t I taught you to not say ain’t.
I am grateful Nikita’s injuries weren’t any worse. Really.
Good night, all.
I also hope that the girl will be fine. After all of those operations.
What I hate, is that people will buy those computers because they are cheap and only because of it. People don’t know what is quality and what is not. People do not understand why they should buy Miele instead of ******* or Apple instead of D***. People that thinks only this second continues to buy second rate things. People who can see to the future buys things that are made to last and work. If you buy bad stuff you should get your lesson and you get the same blame as the producer does because you did buy it and you did not investigate what is good and what is bad for you.
The explosion of a Dell Inspiron laptop issued to deputy director-general responsible for the Middle East and Asia, Dr Anil Sooklal is not being treated as terrorist related. Links between the ANC and PLO are fading in to history. �Lately, there has been less public criticism of Israel, the South African government now appears committed to improving the relationship�, said a spokesperson.
It is nearly two years since the former archbishop of Cape Town and chairman of South Africa�s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Desmond Tutu, wrote in London�s Guardian newspaper, �I�ve been very deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about.�
Investigations of the incident seem to have halted following a reported telephone conversation between Michael Dell and his Texan buddy George W Bush.
Hey, it’s not funny. My wife uses a Dell Inspiron. I love my Mac, but I don’t wish to see anyone get hurt with a PC.
Dell’s web site shows Inspiron 5000 and earlier battery recalls in 2000 and 2001. Is the one that blew up one of those older Inspirons? (Luckily, my wife’s Inspiron is a newer model, but I should still check for its safety.)
Thanks for the political nonsense Black Humor, somehow I knew one of you mental midgets would find a way to tie this back to GWB somehow. You Dean lovers really do crack me up, but not nearly as much as his screaming rants do though…
Uh, gang, this is old news.
Look at the article: January 17, 2003. This is over a year old and was reported by The Register here and here.
Geez, are you people that desperate?
Peter:
I am desperately desperate. I am so desperate that nothing is more important to me than desperation.
I named all my kids Desperate 1, Desperate 2, and Desperate 3. My hound is “DD” (Desperate Dog). I moved to Texas to live in Desperate Dallas. I renamed my truck Desperate Dodge.
I have “Desperation or Death” tattooed on each butt cheek.
My favorite baseball team all the (you guessed it) the Desparate Dodgers.
When I die I will bequeath all my money to the “Institute for the Study and Promulgation of Desperation”.
Desperation to me is better than fun or eating or breathing.
I guess that is the worst or the best motivation anyone can have.
meat of moose,
I’m fully aware of the cathartic effects of humour, but this smacks of schadenfreude. And believe me I know. I live in Jamaica, where we’re grappling with the horrifying murder rate (3rd highest in the world, behind only South Africa and Colombia), and only by cultivating black humour can we remain hopeful for our beautiful country. The “humour” of this incident has nothing to do with a desperate social situation, only with zealots finding satisfaction in the catastrophic failure of a product from a company they loathe. This doesn’t even rise to the level of the “Darwin Awards”, as this poor girl did nothing willfully stupid to endanger herself.
Dear JB
If you read the description of the incident you would realise that the description is of an incecdiary device, not a malfuntioning battery. Mental midget applies to yourself, I would bet my IQ against yours anytime, but I’m not stupid enough to think intelligence is that much of an advantage. It’s obviously not required to be US president.
The Dell/Bush thing was a joke, think of a six letter word, starting with M and having SS in the middle.
Dean? don’t know much about him. Getting rid of puppy dog Bliar is our priority.
Viridian:
Well, maybe. If the computer that she was using had a tendency to conflagrate and there was historical documentation of this fact then she knowingly or ignorantly did something that had some quantifiable element of risk.
You drive a car and you may be involved in a fender bender (or worse).
You eat an industrially processed burger and you may get food poisoning (or worse).
The “desperation” of “having” to use a computer is the point of all this. Maybe if she went to the local library where they keep things call books the computer would have exploded while left unattended on the dining room table…. and we would may have never heard of this story. We as a modern society are so “dependent” of the technologies we have access to it seems ridiculous. No longer have our technologies become common appliances they have become irreplaceable necessities.
“Simplify, simplify.” Henry David Thoreau
Thanks for the vacation tip. I won’t be going to Jamaica this year.
Machead:
You are still letting your wife use her Dell Inspiron? Did you show her the article?
Hey, Viridian, got any advice for Machead or his wife?
meat of moose,
Using a laptop has a “quantifiable element of risk”? Seems to me I’ve heard more about historical problems with PowerBook batteries than with Dells. And driving a car has a far greater element of risk associated with it in my opinion, so I don’t buy your analogy.
Advice for Machead? Simple. Get a Mac of course.
As for visiting Jamaica, feel free to come on down pal. Visitors are sacrosanct; our murderous tendencies tend to the fratricidal. The vast majority of homicides are drug-related turf wars in inner-city Kingston. Vaction areas are quite safe; just exercise common sense, advice I’d give to anyone in any country. Cheers.
Viridian:
Please see Machead’s links to reports of Dell laptop recalls above.
Apparently, Apple had to recall less than 2,000 PowerBooks, which is far less than the 280,000 laptops that Dell had to recall. <http://www.pbzone.com/flaming.shtml>
I was attempting to make the point that epidemiologically speaking all human events have some quantifiable element of risk. That is, I wasn�t making an analogy, I was speaking empirically.
That’s all.
I also wish the girl well.
My wife has been complaining about our heat bill…solution, put a Dell laptop in the fireplace and turn it on. Ha!
Was that black humor or asian humor?
Bewmansein:
Found a good use for the old Dell, eh? With 280,000 of them your winter heating bills should be covered.
OK Dell bashers…remember the Pinto, the Crown Vic? How about the DC-10 jet liner? Better look again morons. 18 month old laptop has battery explode. Where is the forensic testing report? I want to see it. Oh yeah, if your battery is dead in your car, try cranking it a bunch while jumping it off another car. Then go light a match above it and see what happens?
There is no such thing as a safe battery…(I stole that from a stop smoking add.)
Before you bash you better look up what happened with Dell in 2001. If this laptop is the same model Inspiron, which it doesn’t state, then they were RECALLED already. If the state department didn’t check the recalls and issued it then they are to blame. By the way the original recall was for a battery that started smoking.
Blah!