Notes for Americans:
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@cstross @lispi314 It hasn't been relevant since websites entered the general public's consciousness. I became an adult a few years after the relevant change in the law and I've been a (mostly ...) perfectly functional adult for the three decades or so ever since without ever having bothered to learn how to wire a plug. Literally never needed that skill.
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@cstross Was (1) due to variation in outlet designs in different locales or some other reason?
@swetland The UK had regional plug variations until the 1920s/30s and then a huge push to standardize and rewire the nation from the late 1940s onwards that took decades to run to completion.
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@shaknais hahaha, of course it’s Macquarie.
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@cstross I just asked Gemini to create one for us in Australia. Might try it later… just not sure…
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@cstross I just asked Gemini to create one for us in Australia. Might try it later… just not sure…
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"1. Until 1992 you had to wire your own plugs onto new electrical appliances (they were sold without pre-molded plugs)."
This is such a stupid thing.
The plug itself is very good, but having to wire it yourself is painfully dumb.
@csstrowbridge @cstross It’s not difficult. My dad taught me how, though the wire colours were different when I was a kid. There is an easy mnemonic for the current colours.
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@cstross Luckily, you can’t follow its instructions in this case because there is no black wire in the standard UK three-wire bundle.
@drahardja @cstross This plug must be for a staircase I suppose.
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@swetland The UK had regional plug variations until the 1920s/30s and then a huge push to standardize and rewire the nation from the late 1940s onwards that took decades to run to completion.
@cstross Suspected it might be something like that. Deferring to the appliance/device purchaser is a fascinating approach.
I grew up during the conversion to grounded outlets and from Bell System to Modular phone jacks, so it's not like we didn't have plenty of connector weirdness on this side of the pond too.
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There are WORSE AI-generated images of how to wire a UK mains plug. Here's one I saved last year.
@cstross Jesus Christ. AI was supposed to make the competition more fierce for the Nobel Prize. Instead, it's gonna sweep the fucking Darwin Awards.
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RE: https://nomenloony.com/@nomenloony/116019280517956996
Notes for Americans:
1. Until 1992 you had to wire your own plugs onto new electrical appliances in the UK (they were sold without pre-molded plugs).
2. Mains voltage is 230VAC, not 110VAC. It'll kill ya.
3. If you follow ChatGPT's advice *YOU WILL DIE*.
@cstross I would have thought, given it appears to be connecting live to earth, it'd trip the RCD rather quickly.
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@ssilvonen @cstross Ackroyd the Barbarian wi' 'is warsheep and scout ferret. 'e adjusts his warcap and lights his Woodbine. as 'e descends to cleanse the lands of rogue Lancastrians.
Wi' his warcry of "Yorkshire, Yorkshire, dust tha want braying"?
@tautology @ssilvonen @cstross I feel I need to here more of the tales of Ackroyd, prithee, tell us what are the best things in life?
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RE: https://nomenloony.com/@nomenloony/116019280517956996
Notes for Americans:
1. Until 1992 you had to wire your own plugs onto new electrical appliances in the UK (they were sold without pre-molded plugs).
2. Mains voltage is 230VAC, not 110VAC. It'll kill ya.
3. If you follow ChatGPT's advice *YOU WILL DIE*.
AI 101: never believe any answer AI gives you.
AI is for entertainment purposes only. It has zero functionality to ensure it's replies are correct. Worse, it is designed to make it's nonsense replies sound as plausible as possible.
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RE: https://nomenloony.com/@nomenloony/116019280517956996
Notes for Americans:
1. Until 1992 you had to wire your own plugs onto new electrical appliances in the UK (they were sold without pre-molded plugs).
2. Mains voltage is 230VAC, not 110VAC. It'll kill ya.
3. If you follow ChatGPT's advice *YOU WILL DIE*.
@cstross And of course being a probabilistic bullshit machine, ask again and you get a different diagram. ChatGPT 5.2 just produced this beauty for me.
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RE: https://nomenloony.com/@nomenloony/116019280517956996
Notes for Americans:
1. Until 1992 you had to wire your own plugs onto new electrical appliances in the UK (they were sold without pre-molded plugs).
2. Mains voltage is 230VAC, not 110VAC. It'll kill ya.
3. If you follow ChatGPT's advice *YOU WILL DIE*.
@cstross I love those plugs I can open with a screw driver ... those are lifesafers when you want to hook up your solder jobs (mostly high power bench supplies and audio amplifiers with 100-1000 W) had to cut up sooo many perfectly fine cables until I found one where the plug had a screw to open it.
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RE: https://nomenloony.com/@nomenloony/116019280517956996
Notes for Americans:
1. Until 1992 you had to wire your own plugs onto new electrical appliances in the UK (they were sold without pre-molded plugs).
2. Mains voltage is 230VAC, not 110VAC. It'll kill ya.
3. If you follow ChatGPT's advice *YOU WILL DIE*.
@cstross @nomenloony maybe the AI enjoys listening to Hawkwind who had this on the back cover of their PXR5 album?
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There are WORSE AI-generated images of how to wire a UK mains plug. Here's one I saved last year.
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