Perhaps the little switches on either side of the ports turn the current on and off, all you would have to do is turn of the power, set up your device and power it back on. Either way, it's not worth the risk of electrocution.
In this case you would likely flash fry the device since it will end up with power on the ground prong and its not grounded at all which is two cases when a device will fry.
Connecting the neutral side of the outlet to ground is usually ok (still not the best idea). But connecting the live side to ground is definitely a short circuit.
Neil deGrasse Tyson is right, they do look a bit like the Scream mask.
You know what? I don't actually care anymore