Re: Assuming the story is pretty verbatim...
Agreed; as per the lathe sub-thread, I knew a hippy teenage who lost a sizeable chunk of scalp to a lathe, i suspect that IBM would have been strong enough to do a similar amount of damage - based on the power of the feed on a smaller Panasonic daisy wheel I used to run (and still have in a box under the stairs).
Biting the hand that feeds IT
