Smoking in petrol stations is safer than advising people to remove the earth from their appliances willy nilly - not just for earthing reasons, but just for the fact that the majority of foo's dont know what theyre doing when theyre fiddling about inside a machine.
Useful link:
Q. What is a Ground (Earth) Loop?
I've had the misfortune of "becoming earth" at a venue where the bloody idiots had removed earths left, right and centre in their PA and forgot to reconnect them. It's not much fun.
Harris, are you an ex-perth college student perchance? Thats the kind of information that is 'taught' there.