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Data Storage

Memory Card Torture Tests 236

Posted by CmdrTaco from the because-you-can dept.
saikatguha266 writes "BBC is reporting that five types of memory cards were dipped into cola, put through a washing machine, dunked in coffee, trampled by a skateboard, run over by a child's toy car, given to a six-year-old boy to destroy, smashed by a sledgehammer and nailed to a tree. It was still possible to retrieve photos from the xD and Smartmedia cards while the others didn't survive just the last two tests. "
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Memory Card Torture Tests More

Memory Card Torture Tests

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  • Miss the old green slashdot? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:16AM (#9857311)
    To avoid damage to your retinas, click here [slashdot.org]

  • Talk about real life experiments... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Nplugd ( 662449 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:18AM (#9857316) Homepage
    right, coz it happens to me all the time, to nail a memory card on a tree by accident...

    Note that I did had a PS2 memory card go to the washing machine, and it worked like a charm afterwards. Thank God, I was not going to start FF7 all over again :)

    • Re:Talk about real life experiments... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by b374 ( 799492 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:24AM (#9857345)
      why didn't they try to expose them to high radiation levels... high / low temperatures... magnetic fields... more real life situations.
      • magnetic fields
        Exactly how is a magnetic field going to damage a memory card (short of some huge magnet that just crushes the package)? They're not disk-based, they're just static RAM.

        • Re:Talk about real life experiments... (Score:5, Informative)

          by imsabbel ( 611519 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @10:31AM (#9857594)
          no idea, perhaps the floating gate of the flash cell is affected (shifting bandgap,ect), and a read will accidently write ?
          ok, you would need a few tesla, but the point is that if you have moving electrons, you cant just say magnetic field cant do anything...

          • Re:Talk about real life experiments... (Score:5, Informative)

            by sploxx ( 622853 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @06:03PM (#9859676)
            ACK, and as the parent poster says, it's flash, not RAM. Non volatile flash memory consists of this:
            |electrode 1|
            \-----------/

            [ Insulator ]

            ==Floating ==
            ==== gate ===

            [ Insulator ]

            /-----------\
            |electrode 2|
            It's the floating gate that may hold a charge which is interpreted as a single "1" (or 0, depends how you define it) bit of the flash.
            So... as you can see, with a strong enough electric field, you may surely be able to move the charge across the barriers (e.g. break-through of the insulation or maybe tunneling of the electrons when you skew the potentials alot).

            Now the magnetic thing:
            Because the electrons in the floating gate move (they must do that in every case because of quantum uncertainty, but the greater effect here is the temperature movement!), they have a speed and as you may know, moving electric charges in magnetic fields feel the lorentz force... BUT this force does not change the energy of the particles, i.e. they do not get faster when one applies a magnetic field. So, yes, maybe there're weird changes in the bandgap. I don't know. Try it out, would be a nice experiment.

            Post a link to a graph here that shows the total number bit errors over magnetic field strength :)

            Static RAM mainly consists of two MOS inverter structures wired together on the chip to form a flip-flop. Static RAM needs a small bit of current (because of inevitable leakage currents) to keep it's state.

            At least, that's how I read it some time ago for a seminar in the semiconductor book from the creator of these devices (S.M. Sze).

        • Re:Talk about real life experiments... (Score:5, Informative)

          by gnuman99 ( 746007 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @01:32PM (#9858342)
          Exactly how is a magnetic field going to damage a memory card (short of some huge magnet that just crushes the package)? They're not disk-based, they're just static RAM.

          When you move though a magnetic field, that induces a voltage which could mess up the memory card. That is, don't bring your camera to a MRI machine (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance describes it better but people freaked out about the word "Nuclear"!)

          It is not the magnetic field that does the damage. It is always the rate of change of the magnetic field that is the problem (its gradient). This is how power plants make the electrons flow from the wall socket :)

      • Re:Talk about real life experiments... (Score:5, Funny)

        by the chao goes mu ( 700713 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @10:19AM (#9857544)
        If your real life involves high radiation levels on a regular basis, you should think about making some changes in your lifestyle.
      • I'd say the high temp test was in the boiling and washing machine tests.
        Contrary to high radiation and strong magnetic fields these are Real Life situations.
        • Contrary to high radiation and strong magnetic fields these are Real Life situations.
          Right... specially the nailing on a tree stuff is real life situation.

          And there are x-ray scanners for the radiation stuff... speakers for the magnetic fields... etc
          • And there are x-ray scanners for the radiation stuff... speakers for the magnetic fields... etc

            X-ray scanners are quite weak and will do nothing. You get more problems with the background radiation which can be more ionizing to RAM. Things like muons (heavy electrons) can flip a gate or two if lucky. X-ray will do nothing. At least at the levels that people survive.

            As to magnetic fields, well, check out the MRI machines. Those have a huge magnetic field and there is the ramp (magnetic field getting chan

      • I suppose real life for a space probe would involve high radiation, temperature variations, etc. Nail to a tree, folks? Well, consider pucture with a fast meteorite.

        The one-nail test isn't quite enough though. It could be luck that saves a memory card from a puncture. Potentially destructive tests need to be repeated methodically.

    • was Talk about real life experiments [slashdot.org]
      right, coz it happens to me all the time, to nail a memory card on a tree
      by accident...
      What if you're holding the memory card in your hand while somebody is driving a nail through it? It could happen.
    • here [digitaljournalist.org] is probably the ULTIMATE real life test. CF in a metal body camera apears to be virtually indistructable.

  • Hmm (Score:3, Funny)

    by sparcnut ( 775902 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:18AM (#9857319)
    Sounds like these memory cards are about ready for use in the real world now that they've passed durability testing. Oh wait...

  • real lifesaver... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:20AM (#9857326)
    "Most of them did fail to get through two additional tests - being smashed by a sledgehammer and being nailed to a tree."

    The number of times i've accidently nailed my high-tech electronics to a tree... anything that survives that most common of IT mishaps will be a real lifesaver.

  • What if... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by b374 ( 799492 )
    you realy want to destroy one of those memory cards (compromising pics or whatever on it)... looks like your only chance is a sledgehammer.

  • Cool! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:21AM (#9857330)
    At last, indestructible storage for my p0rn!!

  • Are they really representative (Score:5, Informative)

    by lachlan76 ( 770870 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:24AM (#9857344)
    Although this only really applies to the nailed-to-a-tree test, where the nail goes through will matter. In DIL ICs, most of the area is taken up by connections to the pins. If these cards have the core close to the edge with the connectors, and a nail is put through the center, it could miss the core entirely. And if the nail went through the bridges, a data recovery person could wire a reader the the connectors inside the package.

  • is this a feature or a bug? (Score:5, Funny)

    by jamienk ( 62492 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:26AM (#9857349)
    is this a feature or a bug?

  • A pretty pointless experiment.... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by drolli ( 522659 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:27AM (#9857353) Journal
    Besides the fact that "nailing to a tree" is something which is unlikely to happen to my memory cards, probably the outcome depends strongly is the nail goes trough the flash memory or only trough plastic. Furthermore "washing" should be carried out at temperatures from 30-90 degrees, and the results should be interpreted in terms of flipped bits. Hammering is a combination of mechanical stress and vibration, two things which can be separated (and are interestin separate- one tells you if you might put the memory card in your pocket, the other one if you should damp vibrations if you put it onto your bike). Running it over with a toy card after running it over wit h a skateboard (I suppose with sombody on it) will not do additional damage, i guess! And dipping into cola may oxidise the contacts......

    So.... I think the test was not carried out correctly and scientifically......
    • Yeah, but since when has science ever played a role in consumer reports like this? It's just a fluff article designed to take advantage of a recent trend...

    • Re:A pretty pointless experiment.... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by moonbender ( 547943 ) <moonbender AT gmail DOT com> on Sunday August 01, 2004 @10:57AM (#9857713)
      Oh well. I mean, on the one hand, you're correct, this wasn't carried out scientifically, but then again, it doesn't have to to be useful. All of the six main tests are representative or real live stress such a card might have to endure.

      I assume the actual article - the BBC's is only an abstract of an article in a UK digital photography magazine - contains more detailed explanations of what the tests entail, for instance at which temperature the cards were washed. The BBC says the cards were "boiled", so that should mean they're washed at 90 - and they survived, which kind of makes any further testing at lower temperatures superfluous. That said, repeated washing might have been interesting as it's somewhat likely the cards would die at some point. However, again, while this might be interesting in a scientific test, it doesn't have a lot of real life value: you are fairly likely to accidently wash one of your flash cards at some point, you're unlikely to do it twice, and increasingly unlikely to do it more often. Unless you're not so smart. ;)

      Hammering is a combination of mechanical stress and vibration...

      I guess it is. But maybe the just presupposed that on the one hand mechanical vibrations don't do anything to a medium that doesn't have any moving parts (probably a reasonable presupposition, but I guess you ought to test it), but more likely and very reasonable is that they thought that the "mechanical stress" part of the "hammering with a slege hammer" action is kind of more significant. I doubt a typical owner of a camera can create much more mechanical stress than with a sledge hammer...

      So in conclusion, while you're right, they could have been more diligent, the test is still quite informative as it is. It's good to know the cards are that rugged.
    • Furthermore "washing" should be carried out at temperatures from 30-90 degrees

      That could be touh, as the washing machine would be turning a solid block of ice...

  • Smartmedia cards not indestructable (Score:3, Interesting)

    by usurper_ii ( 306966 ) <eyes0nly@NOSpAM.quest4.org> on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:27AM (#9857355) Homepage
    While it is neat they held up to the test, I have had several just quit working and they had little to no abuse at all. One was for my wife's camera and one for my mp3 player...and neither one that went bad was probably much more than a year old.

    Usurper_ii

  • And in other news... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by rossdee ( 243626 )
    They don't survive being submerged in molten steel either.

    Whats the point of all this destructive testing? Do you really need your media to be THAT tough? (with the obvious exception of military applications but they can afford to pay for that.)

    • Re:And in other news... (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Actually, steel melts around 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit [jlab.org].

      Memory cards melt around 9,980 degrees Fahrenheit [doe.gov].

      Wait--what? Memory cards aren't made of neutronium?

      Oh, sorry, nevermind.
    • Whats the point of all this destructive testing?

      It's simple my good fellow.
      They call it "soft news". The article writes itself, all you need to do is apply some stupid practices to every day items.
      Human interest programs do this all the time, testing washing detergents on household floors or pets to see what will happen. It's a handy way for second rate journalists to churn something out and meet a quota. It's also handy marketing fodder.

      It's not News for Nerds, or even Stuff that Matters, it's jus
    • Well cola and coffee testing IS usefull. Shit Happens.
      Some goes to washing: Yes, you should check your pockets, but you could miss a card.

      nailing is idotic, and i dont unterstand what kind of stress a RC car should provide..

      But i would be REALLY interested in a torture test like 100 read write cycles, 48h at 70degrees in a climate chamber, repeat for a year to test how good longterm reliance really is...
    • Whats the point of all this destructive testing? Do you really need your media to be THAT tough? (with the obvious exception of military applications but they can afford to pay for that.)

      Because these are the things that happen when have a family. It's Saturday, the kids are outside playing, and they see something really funny, like a baby squirrel trying to raid a birdfeeder. You run upstairs, grab your camera and try and take some pictures to keep the kids happy. You take a couple of photographs or make

  • Bad news or good news for printing services? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Flyboy Connor ( 741764 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:28AM (#9857366)
    From the article: The results of the test are bad news for photography processing services... Around eight out of 10 digital pictures are thought to never make it into printed form at all.

    My parents have about 50 baby photo's of me. I have about 2000 digital baby photo's of my daughter. However, if I am lucky 25 of those are really worthy of printing. If 2 out of 10 digital pictures really make it to actual print, I consider that a great deal. I would say that translates to booming business for the printing services.

    • I would have to agree with the poster. I am on my third digital camera and have shoot 10's of thousands of photos. Maybe 1 in 10 is worth printing out. Digital photography gives you the power to shot things over and over again until you get the shot to look exactly like you want.

      You don't have to "Get lucky" anymore to get a good shot! This is truly nice. Plus there's tons of places that are doing digital processing and they'll even mail you the photos. I just used ofoto.com and was impressed with th
      • Yeah, but printing digital pictures is about 10 times as expensive as getting regular prints...
        • It comes out about the same actually. Around here, a 36 exp roll of film costs $6.99 to devolop, or ~ $.19/print. The film then costs about $3.5. So total, we have (6.99+3.5)/36, or $.29/print. At our Walgreen's, its... guess what... $.29/print for digital. Exact same cost, except you only have the pictures you want printed. AND, At Walgreen's, if you have over 50 pictures printed, they drop the price to $.20/print. Walmart is $.24/print regardless of how many you have printed.

          Seems cheaper to me, e
      • I'm thinking of giving Walmart a try next because their prices are slightly cheaper

        And you get the warm fuzzy feeling of supporting a terrible company with shady business practices.

  • Yes (Score:3, Informative)

    by iamdrscience ( 541136 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:28AM (#9857367) Homepage
    Most ICs are surprisingly resilient. I remember hearing about somebody testing an atari cartridge to see what it would take to break one. He was trying to see if the arguement for the legality of ROM dumping as a way to backup your games in case they become corrupt really had any merit. IIRC he through it a couple stories onto the sidewalk, rolled over one with his car, hit it with a sledgehammer, dumped soda in it, etc. The case cracked earlier on, but I think the cartridge didn't actually stop working until the actually IC broke after a couple hits with the sledgehammer, although it did continue to work after the circuit board was broken.

  • Paper Shredder (Score:3, Funny)

    by leon.gandalf ( 752828 ) <leon.gandalf@gmail.com> on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:29AM (#9857368)
    That will kill it....

  • Smartmedia still fragile (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jridley ( 9305 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:30AM (#9857374)
    Regardless of these tests, the fact still remains that the vast majority of friends that have had memory cards fail have been using SmartMedia. Practically every person I know with SmartMedia cameras have at least one card that isn't working.
    I've been using CompactFlash for a long time, and have yet to have a failure. I have everything from 16M cards (used to carry files around) to 1GB cards (hundreds of photos, filled only on vacation). I don't know any of my friends with CF that have ever had a card fail, though a few of them have had filesystem corruption (I blame that mostly on the devices, not the card).
    • I have a few smart media cards from a few years ago when the rio was new and when I was recently trying import the pictures again, I found 5 of the smart memory cards could not be read. That was out of about 15 or so. Most of the cards are 32mb but all the ones that are bad are 32mb cards.
      • They cannot be read because the early Rio's used a proprietary disk format. I had one of the early Rio players too and the format it used was incompatible with my camera that uses a FAT file system.

  • Microwave? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by jomas1 ( 696853 ) * on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:30AM (#9857376) Homepage
    I think it's odd that with all the things they did to these cards, they did not put them through a microwave. It's not like that would have been hard to do and should happen more often to cards than being nailed to a tree.

  • Washing your memory card (Score:5, Interesting)

    by dustbunny26 ( 733127 ) * on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:32AM (#9857382)
    CF cards usually stand a trip through the washer. Just let it dry (no, don't use the dryer.) If you use a liquid fabric softner, it might not work. The advice I got from a Canon rep was to wash it again, but don't add softner.

    DB26
    • The advice I got from a Canon rep was to wash it again, but don't add softner.

      Normally, to avoid liability, companies only allow their customer service reps to read from a script rather than to suggest last-ditch things that might work.

      Canon gets an A+ for customer service here.

  • Can't wait... (Score:5, Funny)

    by b374 ( 799492 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:36AM (#9857389)
    ... for something from these guys [fiftythree.org] to handle these.

  • all lies: not indestructable... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Scythr0x0rs ( 801943 ) * on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:48AM (#9857426)
    To destroy your flash card:

    Install a small httpd server on flash card and get it \.ed.
    For an extra five (5) points, install Java (Sun) at the same time.

  • Astonishing? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by condensate ( 739026 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:52AM (#9857433)
    Well it goes without saying that there is quite a ssmall probability for a card to get nailed somewhere. And do you really wonder why SM and xD did survive sledgehammering? Come on, they are by far the flattest out there (apart from SD /MMD ). Sledgehammers cannot strike them as hard as CF cards for example.

    Still, those two cards are a bit out of style, since SM is REALLY old, and xDs are only used by digital cameras made by Fuji and Olympus, so I dont think they will find a great audience.

  • CEO testing? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:53AM (#9857436)
    No matter what I used to give one of our CEO's, no matter how hard I'd tested it first, he found new and unusual ways to kill it.
    That's the test I want to see: Can it survive a week at home with a mining company CEO?

    The same kind of CEO who's password was always "password"....

  • Thats a relief! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Tridus ( 79566 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:58AM (#9857450) Homepage
    Its good to know that if Hillbillies steal my memory card and nail it to a tree to worship as a god, I will still be able to get back my precious pictures of last years Christmas party!

  • This reminds me... (Score:5, Funny)

    by MancDiceman ( 776332 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @09:59AM (#9857453)
    ... of a letter I read in a now long-defunct weekly computer magazine in the UK called New Computer Express. Printed on cheap paper, it attempted to cover all available platforms in one 80-page weekly magazine. This included everything from ZX Spectrums to the then quite new 486 PCs. Macs, Amigas, Ataris, Amstrad CPCs, you name it, they all had their corner in there. Great magazine. Only problem was, their letters page looked like the flamewar from hell...

    One guy wrote in saying he had got fed of up how his friend was always boasting about his Amiga 500 and how it was vastly superior to any other machine on the planet, especially this individual's ZX81 Spectrum. So convinced was he, he proposed a test. He offered the letter-writer his Amiga 500 for free if he could come up with one test, any test of his choice, where the ZX81 outperformed the Amiga.

    The Speccy-owner, sat down, had a think, realised what to do and called his friend over with his Amiga for the test to begin. The friend arrived, and was summoned to the back garden. The Speccy-owner took his ZX81 frisbee-style and flung it across the garden, landing it perfectly in a compost heap.

    The Amiga owner stared at him, spun around with his Amiga, tried throwing it, fell over under the weight, the machine smashing into several pieces. The speccy owner picked up, cleaned off and plugged in his ZX81, and was playing Manic Miner in minutes. The Amiga owner was told to take his trash and go home, which he did, crying...

    When it comes to destruction tests, you have to ask "what's the point?". My media cards are normally well protected inside cameras or PCs and are unlikely to be dipped in cola or nailed to trees. However, it's always interesting to see how things work outside of the environment for which they were designed, just like that ZX81 and Amiga 500.

    • Re:This reminds me... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Beryllium Sphere(tm) ( 193358 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @10:57AM (#9857710) Journal
      >My media cards are normally well protected inside cameras or PCs and are unlikely to be dipped in cola or nailed to trees.

      Even if you don't have children sometimes your visitors will have them.

      A friend of mine kept work and backups on 5.25" floppies with red and green sleeves. One day she found all her work and backups cut into festive shapes and hanging from the Christmas tree.

      Don't assume you know what to expect.

    • 2000G's (Score:2)

      by Teun ( 17872 )
      Talking about dropping, with a SD card I recently bought was a little folder claiming it would withstand a acceleration/decelleration of up to 2000G!
      That's probably the sledgehammer test.

  • Missed a couple of tests... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by GaryOlson ( 737642 ) <.gro.nosloyrag. .ta. .todhsals.> on Sunday August 01, 2004 @10:06AM (#9857477) Journal
    ..from the real world.

    shuffle your feet thru carpet with nylon footwear and pick up a memory card (in Minnesota in February).

    Have my cat determine the memory card is alive and subsequently attack the memory card

    Have a dog carry the memory card in it's mouth for a couple of hours; then bury the memory card in the back yard.

  • How to destroy a Compact Flash card (Score:5, Interesting)

    by alien-alien ( 471416 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @10:08AM (#9857482) Homepage
    Much more real-world than even the dog chewing on your memory card.

    Just insert the card the wrong way up into your card reader. Our Compact Flash card reader is not well keyed and allows this.

    Instant card death on powerup :-(

  • Um...the brands? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by rfunches ( 800928 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @10:24AM (#9857562) Homepage
    Notice there aren't any brands mentioned (don't know about the magazine article it came from though). I'd bet anything that they bought the pricey stuff. Try those tests with PNY CrapMedia cards and see how long they last.

  • Honey quick! Nail this memory card to the tree! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by khrtt ( 701691 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @10:35AM (#9857615)
    These guys have just such imagination. How about some real-life tests, like static electricity, X-ray machine, being left on the dashboard on a sunny day, being brought in on a cold winter day..

    And if you are going to drop it in water, use salty water. After all, there are those things called "sea" and "ocean" and people get their cameras splashed when they play near them. Probably no less often then they spill soda on them.

    Oh, and when you precious memory card falls out of your pocket while you are crossing the street, there are going to be tons of toy cars running over it.

  • It's a Non-test (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Sorry, but: yawn.

    Real tests would've included rewriting until the flash would die and counting the rewrites.

    I think they didn't have enough real material to fill their papers (much of a recent syndrome).

  • Tree (Score:2, Funny)

    by akeyes ( 720106 )
    I nail my memory cards to trees all of the time.

  • Torture? Joking? (Score:3, Informative)

    by SharpFang ( 651121 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @12:04PM (#9857963) Homepage Journal
    Just use such a card as Knoppix home directory, work on it intensively for a month or two. You'll exceed write cycle limit of the flash memory and it will die without a squeak. That's how I busted my Nokia 5510 flash memory. First sectors are corrupted and unwritable.
  • Nice to know these cards are so tough. I've been struggling to think of some conceivable situations which might actually cause accidental damage. 1) Trip to beach (Lots of salt and sandy bits) 2) Immersion under pressure (dropped in swimming pool) 3) Magnetic fields (accidentally taken for an MRI scan) 4) Ionizing radiation (Multiple airport X-rays) 5) Extremes of temperature (left in car in winter)
    • 1) Trip to beach (Lots of salt and sandy bits)

      Sand shouldn't do anything, as there are no moving bits.

      There is no reason not to fully seal CF cards, but the salt *could* corrode the contacts unless they are completely gold-plated.

      2) Immersion under pressure (dropped in swimming pool)

      There's no reason to have gas in the CF card, and hence the card should not be compressable.

      3) Magnetic fields (accidentally taken for an MRI scan)

      Unless you have a CompactFlash fetish and regularly store CF cards in
  • Really, they should have requested evaluation cards and tested ten of each. Doing things like testing nailing to a tree depends a lot on where the nail is going through.

  • Six year old? (Score:5, Funny)

    by RDW ( 41497 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @02:31PM (#9858656)
    Giving the card to a six year old kid to trash is all very well, but what about a _really_ destructive force like a four year old? There's a good reason why the nearly indestructible Pelican protective cases are guaranteed against everything except shark bite, bear attack and children under five. [pelican.com]

  • Nail Tree Thing . . . (Score:4, Funny)

    by Dausha ( 546002 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @04:03PM (#9859107) Homepage
    I'm not worried about the nail-to-a-tree test, but I am worried about the staple-through test. I've only rarely seen a tree in an office, but I've seen many lUsers who are given to some strange behaviors. I've seen them staple through a 5.25" to attach it to a document. What would come of a staple-to-docuemnt for these media? Why didn't they test that?!

    Now I'm going worry so much that I'll have problems sleeping, followed by curling up into the fetal position in a dark corner, rocking myself back and forth whispering "Rosbud," until they give me my Thorazine.

  • Depends (Score:3, Interesting)

    by HermanAB ( 661181 ) on Sunday August 01, 2004 @04:34PM (#9859257)
    on where exactly you put that nail...

    Circuit boards are washed during manufacture in something closely resembling a dishwasher, using orange oil. Puting them through a home dish washer is nothing special.

  • More Tests (Score:3, Funny)

    by PMuse ( 320639 ) on Monday August 02, 2004 @01:19PM (#9863575)
    Let's have some more practical tests:

    hand card over to TSA (Transportation Safety Administration) and ask them to "be careful -- it's fragile"

    pass card over retail store checkout counter magnetic pad

    microwave card for 10 secs

    feed card to puppy (slather with peanut butter if necessary)

    bury card in dust

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