Holy Moses! When I saw that picture, I couldn’t imagine what could have caused that. But then the details came out. Apparently, a COMCAST cable tech was hooking up a cable modem and mistook the round power connection on the PowerBook for a coaxial connection. Huh?

Everything on the desk was blackened with soot and burned either partially or completely. Three external hard drives, a digital camera, videotapes, papers, CD’s, etc. The floor, wall, and radiator cover were burned, along with the tabletop.

Every cable that was connected to the laptop, Ethernet, Firewire, Power, and USB, was forcibly shot out of each portal, and each portal covered with the black soot. Metal bits and electronic debris from the power cable hub and other cables was scattered around the room and some wires had split apart into copper shreds. Molten silver metal flecks are still lodged in the windowsill.

More morbid details at The Consumerist