Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

A sequence of thoughts, in the right order but omitting several "I'll get to it later"s and replays:

• Y'know, I'm starting to think this Vaio laptop has potential.
• But the wrong kind.
• I should check.
• Ah, sure enough, it floats[1]. Or at least the case does ...
• ... The corner of the case where the paint rubbed off measures between +0.11V and +1.2V relative to my skin, depending on exactly how I hold the probes.
• Gosh, it feels like so much more than a Volt when it brushes against the back of my arm! (I was really expecting it to be between six and eight Volts.)
• But I get the impression that it shouldn't really have any noticeable potential relative to me, should it?
• Of course, since I'm not grounded, I guess I'm floating...
• Okay, since all the extension cords coming to the bed are two-prong, how much hassle is it going to be for me to find an earth ground to measure the corner of the laptop case, and myself, against?
• Problems like this are why desktop computers and power tools use three-prong power cords, huh?

And an unrelated thought (though it relates to why I'm posting this right now): I really, really, really, really hate it when my legs keep me awake so long past when I've gotten too tired to be effective at getting anything done. (And this morning it was both legs.) I think they've gone from twitching & cramping to just sore, so maybe I'll finally sleep. On nights like this one, I start wondering what keyword to feed to Google to determine the odds of amuptation solving the problem, versus phantom-limb effect just making the whole thing even more maddening. Comes a point where one just desperately wants to be allowed to sleep. (It's not always the leg cramps-and-almost-cramps that keep me up when I can't sleep, but when I started to nod off several times and had a shooting 2/3-pain-1/3-tickle sensation run down the bones in my left leg, or a cramp start up in my right to jolt me back awake each time, I think it's safe to blame this one on my legs. Let's see whether I'll finally be allowed to sleep now, or will still be bothered too much by what my left calf is doing)

[1] I am assuming quite a bit here: that the case is supposed to be connected to chassis ground, and that chassis ground is ideally supposed to be at 0V relative to earth ground even though the connections from wall to power brick and from brick to computer are each two-conductor; thus, that any voltage I see constitures a floating ground. I'm also assuming that I understand the terminology as well as I think I do.