Burning my Fingers

Damn. Of all the stupid things that can happen to me. I was testing a circuit and wondering why it did not work as planned. Over the next few seconds, this was what happened:

Once I switched it on, one part of the prototype circuit glowed very bright, which is strange. I looked at it and well, I don't remember connecting a bulb there.....

Holyshit!...Thewire'sglowing!ItsgettinghotandmabethePCpowersupplyisgoingtoexpleode!Whattodo?Whattodo?
I know, destroy the circuit link! Pull it with my fingers....ouooooooowwwww!

In other words, I plugged a wrong pin between the positive and the negative power rails. This creates a short but the PC Power supply has no short protection. What it did was just give it power, resulting in the piece of wire becoming a very bright glowing heating element, the type that you see on a bread toaster, except that its brighter. So, as a stupid reflex, I used my finger to pull the wire out. Why I did this, I am not sure. For that few seconds, my mind went from wow....... to oh shit.

And so, this is what happened to my right thumb.
I had to turn my hand a bit since its not easy to
take photos with the left hand. Its still a bit burnt
as I have not cleaned the wound yet.

And this is the index finger. Funny thing is, they
are not that painful, just some slight stinging
(Hours later, it was irritatingly painful)

And this is the Wire in question. My fingers literally
slid off the 'new' heating element.

And somehow, this part melted too.

I am still puzzled as to why my circuit is
not working. Later on, I realised that I
had wired it up wrongly and the reason
why I did that was because this proto
board was a bit faulty.
(Months later, I forgot about this faulty
board and had the same result. I am so
going to throw it away)

And so, this is the price I pay for my stupidity

And I was not happy at all because this project on paper worked well, even during simulation but when I tested it, it did everything by not working. Still, this is a hush-hush one and the only clue is: Viper

Lighting up Red Alert

I have a bit of time now and so, I decided to explore the possibilities of lighting up Red Alert. The main problem, apart from wiring, lies in where to put in the batteries. This toy is quite small and the space inside it makes it very hard to put in some batteries. And so, this is my first step into thinking outside the Box (yeah, I went out of the room and into the toilet...)

One of the ideas came from this cigarette lighter. Its
small, compact and maybe, has what I want. Except
for the fact I get funny looks when I told them I do
not smoke at the checkout counter...

And so, after removing it, you have the main
component, which is the LED module itself. If
you want to take apart the whole lighter, I'd
like to suggest that you release the lighter
fluid thingy gas first...

So, here is the whole module, from the LED itself,
to the batteries and a simple contact switch. Is it
small enough for Mr. Red Alert?

Let's try but opening his/her* chest area. OK,
so the location is not ideal since there is no
space inside it.

Also, after opening his head, I see a potential
problem here a its using a ball-joint system.
This would pose a real problem if you want
to move his/her head all round. I have the
solution for this but it would cost me RM25
to find out if it works...

And so, that's all the time I have for the day. But seriously, I do suspect that there is a space inside it. Just that I really have to think out of the box for this one. For the time being, its to the 'to-do' shelf once again....

* - Wiki said, in some Japanese Red Alert was a woman but could not determine if she is related to the American Transformers Red Alert. Sheesh