Dear mid-60s Buick electricians,
I was thinking about this article and the 14,400 watts of power that a short circuit releases. That's really hard to comprehend. Imagine the heat of around 10 toaster ovens all in one wire and that gives you a better idea of the power coming out as heat. Another way to think about this which is more "car guy" is to convert the power released into horsepower. 1 horsepower is 745.7 watts of power. If you do the math, a short circuit is releasing in heat a little over 19 horsepower!! Of course, one doesn't normally use horsepower to represent thermal power, but it gives you some idea of the amount of energy per unit time pouring out of those short-circuited wires!
If that doesn't give you more incentive to avoid short-circuits - I don't know what would!
Cheers, Edouard