Playing with fire is dangerous. This was the warning of some schools in the United States to their students participating in a new TikTok trend called Chromebook challenge.
called Chromebook challenge.
In the challenge that gained notoriety in May, related TikTok posts encourage students to stick small items like paper clips and lead pencils into the USB ports of their school-assigned Google Chromebook, USA Today reports. The inserted items can cause the laptops to short-circuit, generating heat, sparks and smoke, the report says.
A 15-year-old high school student in Belleville, New Jersey tried the trick on 8 May and caused a laptop to catch fire outside a building. Nonetheless, the school was forced to evacuate its students and teachers for safety.
Police then came and arrested the teener, charging him with third-degree arson and criminal mischief, according to USA Today.
Meanwhile, in Rajasthan, India, one of four women walking along the side of a busy alley at Jodhpur’s Kandoi Market suddenly panicked and screamed, frightening her companions and other pedestrians on 23 May, as shown in video footage of the commotion taken by a street camera.
The long shawl the woman was wearing had apparently burst into flames, prompting her to take it off while her friends rushed in to extinguish the blaze, the video showed, according to MSN and local media reports.
Why her clothes caught fire remains a mystery and the reports could only speculate about the flammable shawl fabric or the flammable perfume she applied to it that was ignited by the hot weather.