[rmason]

I watched my dad putting on a rubber glove to pull out a single prong from a broken plug stuck in an electrical outlet. I was perhaps 2-2.5 years old. I asked why he needed the glove. My Dad with his wry Irish humor said it was to get a strong grip.

I told him that I thought I could do it without the glove. He told me to give it a try and I did. What I did was promptly fall on my ass and that's how I learned the power of electricity.

[alasdair_]

Was your dad actually Irish, or was he from America? The Irish use 240V and that shit will kill you.

[rmason]

Dad was an American but strongly identified as Irish. He said my great grandfather who I never knew spoke with an Irish brogue.

When I was 16 I was working on my ham radio's linear amplifier. I was certain that I had shorted all the capacitors but one still held a charge and once again with much more force knocked me on my ass.

For days I could see the line up my arm where the electricity travelled. After that I always grounded the capacitors three times just to be sure!

[mPReDiToR]

As posted above, I had 240v as a child. Twice in my life I've had 240v,it hurts, but not fatal.

At least, not so far. I don't plan on finding out if it really is "third time lucky" lol