... to 'Hot Pants'

I mean c'mon, his trousers caught on fire.

Strictly speaking he would have been at far less risk from TSA than from our own genighted police force. American cops train with their guns more regularly than our own armed police and they're around them all the time. Our lot tend to be nervous trigger-happy bastards at the best of time because they aren't really used to carrying their weapons on a regular basis.

And, as has been demonstrated several times, where in the US they use those guns as a last resort even in highly volatile situations (by and large, of course - all generalisations are ultimately wrong), over here they'll casually shoot people in the back of the head for carrying bits of wood.

Of course it might just be that Steve Jobs is secretly trying to bring down the governments of the world and institute a new world order where everyone worshiops him as a god. T Think about it, all you have to do is convince the best and brigest to voluntarily strap explosive devies to themselves on a 24 hour basis and then, when they're all wired up, set them all off at the same time. Suddenly the world is deprived of thousands of its most important citizens. He's a genius!

he doesn't appear to be TRYING to start an apple/ipod flame war...

IGMC

were there any under 21s present? If so removing his trousers could have landed him in prison and on the sex offenders register. Much better to make a show of it and burn to death gruesomely. As terrorism was mentioned, I can't see why the USA needs a department of homeland security as the rest of the world is too incapacitated by laughter at it's puritanical stupidity. However if anyone should manage to stop rolling about for long enough and think of invading it couldn't be simpler than sending an army of topless women. One can already see mothers pulling their brave soldier sons from the front line for fear of them becoming corrupted.

Surely sufficient reason for all iPods to be banned from airports...

great balls of fire!

...erm, taxi for one please?

Pants on fire!!

For listening to Rod Stewart.

"Hot legs, you can scream and shout......"

.. an Apple in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?

New Apple play toy for the rich and well heeled "iFlame" get real flames whilst playing the song "Burning Down The House" !

Unforgettable Fire.

Candle in the wind.

Ring of fire.

Feet of flame

C'mon baby light my fire.

Eternal flame.

Burning love.

Ok I'm going...

Here's your coat, here's your hat, taxi is waiting outside, there's the door.

I think we should be told.

So is this the RIAA's new technique for disposing of "pirated" music? (Pirate: (n) Any person who purchases music) Extract from the RIAA dictionary.

Looks like he was saved by beating about the bush.

The taxi has been called, and I'll just get my coat.

Is this the 'iPod Halo Effect' i've heard so much about? sounds painful tbh.

Upon receiving a coded signal from the RIAA, this player will self destruct if found to be playing pirated music.

Liar, liar, pants on fire!

Baked Apple (iPod)

or

Stuffed Apple (iPhone)?

Take your pick.

TAXI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

According to Apple specs the Nano battery is a Li-ion battery, 3.7v rated at 300mAh. New and fully charged you could probably short the bugger to some effect, but 2 years old and in the iPod?

Maybe the short was connected with his other pods...

/coat

/taxi

What was the "glossy paper" in his pockets? That old Bronco/Jeyes toilet paper we used to have in school? Playboy? The Radio Times?

And what for?

Li-Ion and Li-Po are both well known for the possibility of a failure mode known as "Venting with Flame"

It happens if a Li-Ion cell is overcharged (so the batteries have a protection circuit), and can happen in a short-circuit situation if the fuse fails to fail.

Even very small (200mAh) Li-Po cells create fair amounts of flame - if you bypass the protection circuit (or build a battery without one)

There's no point in returning your trousers.

Can i get away with 'Chest and nuts roasting on an open fire...'

forget the taxi, the walk will do me good.

....Danger, Danger, HIGH VOLTAGE.....

I'm just waiting for ring back on the taxi.

Never mind your coat Torcuill, for that one you should leave the forum and never darken it's URL again...

Disco inferno!

Surely we can verify whether this is true or not by finding out if his hair sticks up like a telephone wire?

Had his warranty just expired?

Donna Summer's Hot Stuff, maybe?

Right. I'm outta here.

For the Sony-Fanboys:

It could have been a 360 psu in his pocket...

For the MS-Fanboys:

It could have been a ... erm ... LAPTOP battery in his pocket...

ok-ok, I'll stop trying to stir up the Fan-Boys!

It was the 1st gen (square sides) black iPod. There is a photo here...

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/14271878/detail.html

Apple have offered to give him a new ipod, but he could always sue Apple for 65 million for his pants.

I fell in to a burning ring of fire

I went down,down,down

and the flames went higher.

And it burns,burns,burns

the ring of fire

the ring of fire

"That old Bronco/Jeyes toilet paper we used to have in school?"

At school?

It was used at work 40 years ago. With "Governemnt Property" printed on every sheet.

What, no "Disco Inferno" jokes????

Shame on you all.

Maybe the guy just had a burning desire to help Apple Marketing? Maybe he's actually a closet pyro.. you know.. a fire starter.. twisted firestater... Is this the RIAA "virtual response" to burning CDs?

Ok, leaving now.. taxi's just arrived.. bit full today of other El Reg users..

The RIAssA is gonna sue him for every mp3 on his ipod because he's an anti-american that prolly listenned to anti-american songs, or pirated anti-american american songs.

This post is now a Patriot Post and is henceforth invincible.

Bow to the might of the RIAssA

PS: Is the Paris Hilton angle related to the "glossy" bits ?

MI updated for the ipod generation?

Troll much, Chris?

Being an American myself, I believe Chris W does have a kernel of truth to what he is saying. How come network TV can show Steven Segal horribly breaking some "bad" guy's arm in a movie but god help them if they ever show a woman's naked breast? I guess that happens when your country acts as a preserve for all the religious crazies Europe has kicked out.

Perhaps the great prophet Morrissey had this dude in mind when he penned...

"As the flames rose to her roman nose

And her Walkman started to melt"

... in "Bigmouth Strikes Again"

At least he didn't get a ticket for smoking in a non-smoking area...

Its obvious isn't it?

"Airport employee caught illegally burning music fired on the spot. In protest at allegations their device may be involved, an Apple spokesman was heard saying "We thought it was just a load of balls".

Bus for me.

OK, let us sum this baby up.

The perp was potentially involved in the following violations:

o Smoking in a public place

o Burning copyrighted material

o Burning the flag (in case "glossy paper" was actually a drawing of the flag)

o Sexually assaulting minors

o Terrorism

o Any number of traffic violations (should not be driving a car with your pants on fire)

o Listening to gay music with references to "fire" in it

o Not listening to gay music with references to "rain" in it

Last week I bought a huge 15.4" MacBook Pro with a similarly big chunk of LiIon strapped to it. Should I be concerned about Steve Jobs' agenda? I have installed 64-bit Vista on it just to be on the safe(r) side. I am not sure whether to put my laptop inside the car with me, or in the trunk, which for all I know could be closer to the gas tank. Any car geeks care to comment?

Welcome folks, to the Smokin' Chonies Cafe!...

Tonight we're serving a local favorite here in Atlanta,

Smoked Sausage, Deep Fried Cheese Balls with Baked Apple Pie for dessert...

i'll be takin me coat, I think thats me taxi honking...

Ever set a fart on fire? ... with a nano?????

"Our lot tend to be nervous trigger-happy bastards at the best of time because they aren't really used to carrying their weapons on a regular basis"

Don't judge every force by the Met's standards. Only one force in the entire country would be daft enough to have men armed with guns, given minimal training, and left to run around out of communication in plain clothes.

British cops are highly professional and usually assigned to ARV teams to carry guns pretty much whenever on duty.

"Our lot tend to be nervous trigger-happy bastards at the best of time because they aren't really used to carrying their weapons on a regular basis"

I see Gordon's already beaten me to it on this one, but I'm going to agree with him. Sure, what happened to Jean Charles de Menezes shouldn't have happened; and that's not the only time things have gone wrong in firearms incidents. But do you ever hear about the countless incidents where very highly trained British firearms officers manage to resolve matters *without* anyone being hurt - even in the face of extreme provocation? Of course you don't. But then, unless something goes tragically wrong as in the Menezes case, or there's scope for howling media indignation, there's no story, so the press aren't interested in reporting it. I'm not suggesting you shouldn't scrutinise what the police do: it's a free country (in theory) so you should do precisely that, and raise objections when they do things wrong. But generalised condemnation like this suggests a strong bias.

It's also difficult to compare British firearms officers to American police, not because one or the other is 'better', but because the basis of policing in these countries is fundamentally different.

Heartattack and VIne. It begins "Liar liar wid yer pants on fire..."

I'll get me coat.

"Firestarter" by The Prodigy

"Burn baby burn" by Hudson-Ford