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Ukrainian Computer Destruction Championship
Alien54 writes "Over 300 self-confessed computer addicts have participated in a competition in the central Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhya to destroy their own hardware in a spectacular fashion. The event, dubbed the "First Open Computer Destruction Championship", was organised by a local FM radio station with the professed aim of raising young people's awareness of the dangers of spending too much time in front of a computer."
This reminds me of my "Toss-a-mac" days.
*sigh* Oh the memories!
-- dK
"...with the professed aim of raising young people's awareness of the dangers of spending too much time in front of a computer."
What about releasing the toxic chemicals found in computers, especially in monitors, into the environment?
Must-not-watch TV!
Can I destroy the Slashdot servers instead?
"... a country with an average annual income of about $700 ..."
And some radio station is getting people to destroy computer equipment for a bit of publicity? What a waste! It pains me to see the rest of the world following in our footsteps, straight down the road of stupidity...
-- "There's no explaining the things that might happen; there's now a new home for technology in fashion."
I'm from ukraine my self(but don't live there) and the last time i was there an average person couldn't afford a computer, so watching some idiots smashing the expensive(?) equipment would be just like watching the "Smash that Ferrari with a ha(/u)mmer" competition.
I've got 4 computer at home, starting with a 66mhz 486, 350mhz pII, 500mhz k5 or something and p4 2.666, and i wouldn't trash even the oldest one! never!
They could have made a beowolf cluser instead!
Keep in mind that a box folding or crunching seti 24/7 drains quite a bit of power (as opposed to no box at all). My power bill nearly doubles when all of my boxen crunch - granted, I have 9 systems.
It may not seem like a big deal to most of us here, but it was chewing up a good portion of our monthly income back in Russia. I don't know if the situation has changed dramatically in the last 3 years, but I doubt it.
You mean, like this?
:)
http://www.xpurple.com/badmonitor/
That was a couple friends and I letting out some anger on some old computer hardware. Enjoy
http://www.xpurple.com
Oh yah, and this!
http://www.xpurple.com/the_laptop/
http://www.xpurple.com
This is the same Ukraine that just decided to ban class rooms being used as brothels.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
You really don't All of these destroyed hardware was obsolete. Probably, 386s, 486s, burned monitors, clogged mice, ruined keyboards, etc. Ukrainians are most frugal nation in the world! They would never thru away anything they can sell. Believe me, if you'd had Ukrainian girlfriend you'd learnt it.
When something claims to be rugged, you never take its word for it do you? It's in that spirit that I present you with high-res photos of Toughbooks being shot at during this summer's Independence Day celebrations.
If you have a friend with a few acres of land, and a friend with a bunch of guns, and a pile of "ruggedized" hardware, I highly recommend trying this at home. Mouse kicking and keyboard throwing simply can't compare to putting slugs through magnesium laptops. We also ran over a Toughbook, and detonated a Nextel i1000 and a watermelon. Squibs are your friends, even more so when they're at the end of long pieces of wire. Eye and ear protection are cheap compared to the thrill of taking aim at a f00f-bugged Pentium.
This year's results were about as I expected: Shotgun blasts and small handguns bounce off and leave small dents, unless at point-blank range. Medium-sized handguns penetrate one or two layers, but based on the laptop's construction, it's likely that had a hard drive been mounted in the cavity, it would've been untouched. Large handguns and rifles go straight through, some of them fast enough to ignite the magnesium dust they generate, making a nice flash as they exit. (None of the weapons actually lit the thing on fire. We'll have to try a flare gun next year.)
Next year's July-4th festivities should be even more fun. The plan is to amass the widest possible variety of cheap "rugged" hardware, and set it all up running. Then shoot 'em all with progressively larger calibers until each stops responding to pings.
RTFA:
But in a country with an average annual income of about $700, a computer is still very much a luxury.
I'm pretty sure no further explanation is needed. If I made $700 A YEAR, even a crappy old MS Mouse with a ball and no wheel might bring in 99 cents at a garage sale, which would be worth the equivalent of about $28.29 as a proportion of even a marginal $20K/year income (one seven-hundredth of annual income). Therefore, I wouldn't even think of destroying my hardware for a radio stunt, even if there was a tiny chance of "winning" new hardware.