Triboelectric Filanges

I've just had the strangest reaction to the most mundane daily event today. This past weekend, I sliced my fingertip open – the index finger on my right hand. In absence of super glue, and the presence of a lawn party, typing work on a computer, and a night of volleyball, ensures that this split skin isn't going to heal very quickly. It’s a small gash, but it’s open nonetheless. It is into this open skin that a static shock charge leaped from the handle of the bathroom at work.

Now, who enjoys receiving static shocks? With the arrival of June, one would think we've survived the dry, electrical winter and should enjoy a nice reprieve from unexpected jolts, no? Apparently my office is dry enough to facilitate a buildup charge, and that homing bolt found exposed subdermal.

And it HURT.

Usually one’s reaction is to jerk their hand away, maybe gasp in sudden surprise. I actually exclaimed out loud a bellowed “OW!” and shook my offended hand violently. My finger throbbed, even long after the electrons dispersed throughout my body. Soon this pulsing pain was accompanied paradoxically with a numbing tingle falling over my fingertip. From first knuckle to the end of my nail, my finger fell completely numb.

“I might have just caused permanent nerve damage…” I pondered as I stood at the urinal (nature was calling and static shock in a surprisingly vulnerable spot or not, she wasn't going to wait for me much longer). Even now, a half hour beyond the critical event, my finger tingles.

I wonder if I could somehow take advantage of this rift in my skin. Maybe if I stick my finger into some radioactive ooze or gamma rays, I can make it glow like E.T. and heal things by booping them with my fingertip. But then I might as well just jump right in full-body and become a super hero like... Starving for Blog Content Man.

Fun fact to finish off this short little entry: did you know that the ooze that created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the same radioactive ooze that blinded Daredevil?!

Stay tuned for an epic joint effort double-team blog entry where Frank of Kinked Slinky and I tackle the largest pancake we've ever eaten.