Charlie Stross

SCREAM!

(Context for Americans: until relatively recently mains appliances in the UK came without a plug—you had to fit your own. Also they're fused and have to carry 230vac, so getting it wrong is a BAD idea. And this is Very Not Right Indeed.)
https://mastodon.ie/@iolo/113248676764884541

Iolo (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image I asked ChatGPT how to wire a standard UK plug using the new canvas feature...

mastodon.ie
Oct 4, 2024 at 12:41pmWeb
Show threadFeralRobotsOct 4, 2024
@cstross & that's before we get to the part where it's channeling M C Escher.
Show threadJosh Oct 4, 2024
@cstross @iolo I’m really liking the new asymmetrical design, though!
Show threadVidar Hokstad / Galaxy BoundOct 4, 2024

@cstross Let's hope anyone trying to follow this (how?) will also manage to get hold of a plug like that, because at least then they'll be entirely unable to insert it.

Then again have had an installer show up once and so utterly terrify me with his blatant disregard for safety (wiring things up very obviously incorrectly without turing the circuit off did not endear me to him) that I took over because I'm certain I was more competent, I'm sure people will find a way...

Show thread@pineywoozle ‘s #3WordNoteOct 4, 2024
@vidar @cstross I’m not sure some of them will. So many people are conditioned to and happy to accept any authority rather than think for themselves.
Show threadPete / SyllopsiumOct 4, 2024
@vidar @cstross Anyone that somehow manages to find/3D print a plug and wire it like that is also an ingenious enough idiot to somehow insert it into a socket
Show threadPiers CawleyOct 4, 2024
@cstross I do find myself wondering what that fourth wire's for.
Show threadCharlie StrossOct 4, 2024
@pdcawley Positrons. Stands to reason, right?
Show threadKnitronomiconOct 4, 2024
@cstross @pdcawley Just don't reverse it...
Show threadOsma A 🇫🇮🇺🇦Oct 4, 2024
@Knitronomicon @cstross
You do have to twist it exactly 120 degrees though for correct quantum polarity. Otherwise it will leak dangerous neutrino flux.
@pdcawley
Show threadrhempelOct 4, 2024

@cstross @pdcawley One wire each for the four basic types of atomic electrical components:

1. Protons
2. Electrons
3. Neutrons
4. Morons

Show threadCatherine is not complacentOct 4, 2024
@pdcawley @cstross it’s the one you clip so it doesn’t blow up.
Show threadTwobiscuits🚴‍♂️ Oct 4, 2024
@pdcawley @cstross suck it and see!
Show threadCadbury MooseOct 4, 2024

@twobiscuits @pdcawley @cstross

I was going to suggest "Barbecue sauce".

Show threadNeil MaddenOct 4, 2024

@cstross lol, by “relatively recently” you mean 30 years ago right? 😂

I remember as a primary school age kid helping my Dad wire sockets onto things at the secondary school he worked at.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1994/1768/made

The Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994

These Regulations re–enact with modifications the provisions of the Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1987 (S.I. 1987/603) and make provision for the first time for certain requirements to be satisfied in relation to appliances.

Show threadColin WatsonOct 4, 2024
@neilmadden @cstross Yeah, I was going to say, this is the sort of "relatively recently" that means not in my adult lifetime. And I'm old enough for my knees to hurt for no good reason.
Show threadersatzmausOct 4, 2024
@cstross Azathoth/Cthulhu mains power.
Show threadarjankroonenOct 4, 2024
@cstross Great, now I have to find wire with “green turning into brown” colouring… 🙄
Show threadHugo MillsOct 4, 2024
@cstross Yes, but which way's south?
Show threadOldGeekOct 4, 2024
@cstross
Welcome to our USA hell. Need to know which you have to hook up electric dryers and stoves...
Show threadAlan Langford 🇨🇦🧤🧊摏Oct 4, 2024
@cstross Some electrician over there should put this on the side of his vehicle with the slogan "we'll fix this" 🤣
Show threadMike 🇬🇧 🇪🇺Oct 4, 2024
@cstross "Relatively recently" is doing some heavy lifting here - I'd guess appliances without fitted plugs is at least 35 years ago.
I doubt youngsters today really need to know how to wire a plug ( but I accept it's a useful skill).
Show threadIan SudberyOct 5, 2024
@MikeFromLFE @cstross depends on the appliance. If say more like 20 since this completely died out. The speakers I still use on my desktop have a self fitted plug, and I'm sure some lamps still come like that so you can choose between mains and lamp-ring circuits.
Show threadGayDeceiverOct 4, 2024
@cstross We still have the same here in the States for the Washing Machine and the Stove.
Show threadEleanor SaittaOct 4, 2024
@cstross
I still sometimes get higher end bits of show kit that don't ship with a plug on in Europe
Show threadAriaflameOct 4, 2024
@cstross I certainly got taught how to fit a plug in high school in Scotland.
Show threadCadbury MooseOct 4, 2024

@ariaflame @cstross

Ditto in England, but then I am an old (and tired) moose.

I also remember the Hawkwind album (P.X.R.5) that was withdrawn from sale because it had a deliberately mis-wired BS1363 plug as sleeve art, with Live, Neutral and Earth swapped - a nod to the track "Death Trap", I imagine.

The Elves who drink Safe Tea[1] were unimpressed and unleashed the Consumer Protection Act on the record company.

[1] Elfin Safe Tea is very important in these litigious times.

3:O)>

Show threadajOct 4, 2024
@cstross I always mix up Blive!
Show threadCadbury MooseOct 4, 2024

@aj @cstross

You have to Blive they know what they're doing.

Show threadsleepyOct 4, 2024
@cstross @iolo lol chatgpt is sick of your shit and trying to kill you through electrocution and/or fire.
Show threadCharlie StrossOct 4, 2024
@sleepy @iolo All I can say is, it's less eyeball-sporkingly grotesque than CockRat!
Show threadComplexity of systems 🏳️‍⚧️Oct 4, 2024

@cstross @sleepy @iolo I know rats are notorious from their ability to breed but what... What in the nine hells is that monstrosity

Is the female of the size of a small dog is that why it needs such a big reproductive organ

Show threadCharlie StrossOct 4, 2024
@addressforbots @sleepy @iolo That's what you get when you tell ChatGPT to draw the illustrations for your paper on stem cells in rat testes!
Show threadComplexity of systems 🏳️‍⚧️Oct 4, 2024
@cstross @sleepy @iolo let's hope nothing like that made it into any actual scientific papers (well other than papers about how GenAI can mess up) because I don't want any deranged biologists attempting to replicate it
Show threadAtomic OrbitalsOct 4, 2024
@sleepy @cstross @iolo Or misleading "books" on wild fungi!
Show threadstandevOct 4, 2024
@cstross @iolo in the US mains power plugs will be different depending on when the house was last updated (as code has changed). It is pretty typical for us to need to replace the plugs as well, although we don’t generally wire them from scratch.
Show threadMacBalanceOct 4, 2024

@cstross I think what bothers me is this looks like a diagram someone put time and care into.

I’d care less if it was just a basic line diagram but the artist flourishes make it worse to me.

Show threadSMOct 4, 2024
@cstross why did the UK end up with such a monstrosity? The American or the European plugs seem so elegant in comparison...
Show threadCharlie StrossOct 4, 2024
@smh2 The UK plug has a number of safety features that earlier iterations lacked: but the thing in that photo I tooted is 100% a hallucination by ChatGPT.
Show threadCadbury MooseOct 4, 2024

@cstross @smh2

The only safety feature they omitted from BS1363 that was already in existence from some earlier BS546 (round pin, unfused) connectors was the mechanical interlock - a groove/notch machined into the earth pin that prevented the removal of the plug unless the socket was switched off. (It may also have prevented the insertion of a plug into a "live" socket, I can't remember. Those were made by Crabtree IIRC.)

Doesn't work for 2-pin connectors though.

Show threadDaveOct 4, 2024
@cstross
🤣
Show threadPetrichor ᚄᚔᚅᚐᚁᚆᚃᚒᚔᚂOct 4, 2024
@cstross Surely not? They came with plugs unless they were imports from a different-plug country? And even that import thing was only in the relatively recent past
Show threadCharlie StrossOct 4, 2024
@sinabhfuil Nope! They came with a bare wire and you had to buy a plug and screw it together before you could plug anything in! Not just simple stuff—my first real computer (an Amstrad PCW) came that way in 1986. Pre-wired plugs only became standard in 1992.
Show threadMichael ᚋᚔᚉᚆᚓᚐᚂOct 4, 2024

@cstross @sinabhfuil On buying any new electrical product, the first thing to do when getting it home was to decide which old electrical product you could afford to steal the plug from because there were never spare plugs at home.

It was mad when you think of it. How did it take so long for such a simple and important thing to be mandatory?

Show threadPetrichor ᚄᚔᚅᚐᚁᚆᚃᚒᚔᚂOct 4, 2024
@baoigheallain @cstross I assume the law was different in Ireland then - here things always had plugs
Show threadSteven ReedOct 4, 2024
@baoigheallain
I've always thought it might have been because some proportion of houses might have still had pre 1363 sockets?
@cstross @sinabhfuil
Show threadDuke Thinred IV Oct 5, 2024
@srtcd424 @baoigheallain @cstross @sinabhfuil
Indeed. (assuming you meant BS1363, not 1363AD) I remember having to fit BS456 5A plugs on some equipment while I was in University residences. Although these were built in the 1960's they had 5A sockets in the non-kitchen areas to dissuade people from using high-powered equipment.
Show threadjarkmanOct 5, 2024
@dukethinrediv @srtcd424 @baoigheallain @cstross @sinabhfuil The house I grew up in had round-pin socket, in a pleasing variety of sizes for no clear reason.
Show threadwill-hOct 5, 2024

@jarkman @dukethinrediv @srtcd424 @baoigheallain @cstross @sinabhfuil BS 546 2A, 5A and 15A! The 5A version is often seen in India, and the 15A is the old standard in South Africa and theatre lights in UK

More concerningly seeing those sockets in a building today in Europe is a good indicator that the wiring behind them is a flaky rubber death trap

Show threadSam MachinOct 5, 2024
@flangey @jarkman @dukethinrediv @srtcd424 @baoigheallain @cstross @sinabhfuil we've got some of those 2A sockets in our lounge for the lighting circuit. No ceiling fixture just a wall switch that controls the outlets. (Wiring is fine though)
Show threadSteven ReedOct 5, 2024
@sammachin
I think using them for table lamps controlled by a wall switch is one of the few remaining extant use cases - the wiring might not be as old as you think. As some who hates Big Scary Overhead Lighting I approve of the concept :)
@flangey @jarkman @dukethinrediv @baoigheallain @cstross @sinabhfuil
Show threadCharlie StrossOct 5, 2024
@srtcd424 @sammachin @flangey @jarkman @dukethinrediv @baoigheallain @sinabhfuil I remember some hotels using them for in-room appliances to deter casual theft. (Anyone under 40 today probably never learned how to wire a plug, as selling appliances with them pre-fitted became mandatory from about 1992.)
Show threadSam MachinOct 5, 2024
@srtcd424 yes absolutely I think the whole place was rewired late 2000’s
I agree on the overhead lighting thing, but now everything is smart bulbs and buttons its less of an issue anyway, wall button in my office turns on 4 uplighters
Show threadKimOct 5, 2024
@srtcd424 @sammachin @flangey @jarkman @dukethinrediv @baoigheallain @cstross @sinabhfuil BS546 plugs (made to modern standards, with insulated pins) are common in indoor architectural and stage lighting where it's safer not to have a fuse somewhere you have to climb a ladder to get to. They're less bulky than the 16A Ceeform connector.
Show threadBilly SmithOct 5, 2024

@jarkman @dukethinrediv @srtcd424 @baoigheallain @cstross @sinabhfuil

One place i moved out from pdq, had the round-pin sockets, as well as crumbling bakelite light switches on the walls.

It only took a couple of shocks for me to decide to be somewhere else... :D

Show threadCadbury MooseOct 4, 2024

@baoigheallain @cstross @sinabhfuil

Before the UK standardised on the 13 Amp fused plug (to BS 1363) there were a ridiculous number of variations stretching back to the dawn of the Electric Age. Round pin plugs (still used in the theatre and film industry, I think, (though only in the 15 Amp size) because you _don't_ want a blown fuse 30 feet up in the air, and a load of "proprietary" types, some of which (Wylex) were used across entire housing estates.

See: https://plugsocketmuseum.nl/British-plugSocket_history.html

3:O)>

Museum of Plugs and Sockets: history of British plugs and sockets

Annotated display of history of British plugs and sockets

Show threadmilitant_dilettanteOct 4, 2024
@Cadbury_Moose @baoigheallain @cstross @sinabhfuil This sheer variety of designs is fascinating!
Show threadnickjOct 6, 2024
@baoigheallain @cstross @sinabhfuil I remember Nigel Lawson (sometime uk chancellor of exchequer) moaning about having to fit plugs on things, the wimp!
Show thread~nOct 4, 2024
@cstross @sinabhfuil TIL. Wow. Didn’t know that. Did everybody fit the plug by themselves? Just… culturally, how did that work? Did you all have that one relative who was good at plug-fitting? Or was that something for a small niche of just-plug-electricians?
(Or is this once again me missing a joke?)
Show threadwill-hOct 5, 2024
@nblr @cstross @sinabhfuil I remember they actually taught us how to wire a plug in Physics lessons at school. It's all rather archaic these days
Show threadPetrichor ᚄᚔᚅᚐᚁᚆᚃᚒᚔᚂOct 5, 2024
@flangey @nblr @cstross At least that was useful. If I was Minister for Education, sewing, cooking, carpentry, plumbing and electricianship would be taught to City & Guilds level in the last couple of years of primary school