Karl BaronHere's your periodic reminder about how cursed Japanese wiring is.
This is an official, standard Apple power cable that shipped with a MacBook.
jaxter184Bouns Round: This power strip, made by a reputable Japanese company, sold at brick and mortar electronics stores, and with PSE (product safety electrical) marking
And you can be sure this is not some design mistake, it is literally advertised for this purpose!
They’re still for sale, totally legally. Apparently they’ve been so popular that since I bought mine, they’ve also introduced a range with built-in USB ports! https://www.sanwa.co.jp/product/syohin?code=TAP-SLIMSW8-1
I recalled a few more fantastically handy Japanese power strips
Nini@kalleboo They're like @NanoRaptor bad idea concepts.
sick@kalleboo Uno momento. I've never seen anything like this. Can you just plug in anywhere on those track like lines????
@sick Yep! Slide it back and forth like a madman
Cadbury Moose
R. L. Dane 
Japan: High-tech futuristic society of awesomeness
Also Japan: Paper money everywhere, uses physical stamps as signatures, un-polarized outlets, practically nobody owns a computer...
(Don't get me wrong, I love Japan. But the misconceptions can be humorous.)
Akeem 
Natasha Nox 🇺🇦🇵🇸
Polychrome 
I can relate, but I'm lazy and use a card everywhere.
Octavia Con Amore 
Succubard's Library
That makes sense, especially in terms of rail travel, and formerly in terms of mobile phones.
Andreas, DJ3EI, he/himI hear Japan's rail traffic is several decades behind: Still running on time.
@dj3ei @OctaviaConAmore @kalleboo
Yes, they have a reputation for being extremely punctual.
Robert Kist 🇦🇹🇸🇬@RL_Dane @kalleboo It's not just that. Apparently Japanese homes are also badly insulated and heated in the winter. I was thinking they'd surely not suffer as I did in Shanghai in some shoddy Chinese apartment building, but my Japanese co-workers told me it's not different in Japan. But they do have some cool heating products - like a blanket + heater combo to keep you warm at your desk. And hi-tech heat patches!
Resuna
Oliver D. Reithmaier
Kris@kalleboo the alt text on the second one got me
Ged|Net
Robin Syl 🌸
@kalleboo these are so unhinged I can't even find the doorframe
gen/Eric@kalleboo As a kid, I had a power strip like the one on the right (the long strips). I was always scared to use it, and sometimes it sparked when I plugged stuff into it. Though, I honestly never had any issues with it.
I don't know where/why I got that.
I'm in the US, btw.
ThatKomputerKat 
@NTICompass @kalleboo my parents had something similar under their headboard cabinet on their bed that all the lighting and the alarm clock were on at least into the 90s. I don’t know where it went. I’m guessing someone realized what a hazard it was since there was nothing to stop reverse polarity on polarized plugs fully connecting only one side of a plug letting the other side hang off the outside edge.
w7com
Reiner Jung@kalleboo Well they can't be better at everything. That would be scary.
wb x64@kalleboo I cherish the "squid" power "strip" I got in Akiba for this: it's two-prong but its female bits are thin enough to allow the ground pin to rest outside, so if I'm traveling abroad and needing to use a 2-pin outlet I'm no longer screwed. (For stuff like computer and phone chargers)
Definitely felt antsy about using it with a European 220v plug adapter when traveling there lol. Electricians hate this one weird trick!
@kalleboo also to be fair laptop chargers go without a ground pin all the time. It's gotta be extremely optional given how they're fully encased in plastic.
Serena is moving to @Starcross@fedi.catboy.agency@kalleboo This looks very unsafe...
Moffin'tosh@kalleboo What the fuck japan
PRNE@moffintosh @kalleboo capitalism breeds Innovation
m0xEE@PRNE
Nothing to do with capitalism, everyone had a fair share of idiocy with power plugs and sockets, including USSR and China. That ground wire that you have to screw in yourself, looks particularly bad, but I still have this Soviet charger for 9 volt batteries somewhere, it uses the same plug, but has a 127/220V switch that is super-flaky, damn, the charger as a whole is 🤪
Doesn't look safe at all!
@moffintosh @kalleboo
Nothing to do with capitalism, everyone had a fair share of idiocy with power plugs and sockets, including USSR and China. That ground wire that you have to screw in yourself, looks particularly bad, but I still have this Soviet charger for 9 volt batteries somewhere, it uses the same plug, but has a 127/220V switch that is super-flaky, damn, the charger as a whole is 🤪
Doesn't look safe at all!
@moffintosh @kalleboo
@m0xee @moffintosh @kalleboo what are you talking about this, in contrast to previous items, is high quality hardware made by and for chad electricity understanders
Also, side note, it's many decades old
@PRNE @moffintosh The superior Japanese just decided to make appliances that are so high-quality they never fail and short to case ground, problem solved, no need for a ground pin.
niconiconi@PRNE @moffintosh @kalleboo It's far less than ideal, but it's totally safe if the appliances themselves are legal and certified. For historical reasons, Protective Earthing is more or less optional in Japan's electric code, most appliances must be designed for double insulation instead, so they're safe by themselves without using PE.
Basically, there are two schools of thought of electrical safety - earthing or galvanic isolation / double insulation. The rest of the world eventually converged to earthing for home appliances. Japan chose insulation early on and now they cannot realign themselves to the international practice anymore because Protective Earthing wiring is completely missing in the wall of old buildings...
Basically, there are two schools of thought of electrical safety - earthing or galvanic isolation / double insulation. The rest of the world eventually converged to earthing for home appliances. Japan chose insulation early on and now they cannot realign themselves to the international practice anymore because Protective Earthing wiring is completely missing in the wall of old buildings...
@niconiconi @PRNE @moffintosh Japan has also required whole home RCDs ever since 1995 which helps a lot with safety
Javier@niconiconi @moffintosh @PRNE @kalleboo
This.
Not only in Japan, but several countries of Latin America. We're not so worried about grounding, not because negligence, but because the wiring doesn't have live/neutral wires. They're both insulated.
In fact, shoddy grounding can be worse than none at all, because it can expose high voltages to the user.
@javierg @niconiconi @PRNE @kalleboo I have an experience with that at my association. Somebody attached the ground to the plumbing, but it's shit and you'll feel the electricity running on your hands while you wash them while the heater is on.
@moffintosh @javierg @PRNE @kalleboo It's the reason that using plumbing as a ground is no longer an acceptable practice since many decades ago. Today you often need to do the opposite. By some modern standards, bathroom plumbing needs equipotential grounding. The water faucets and pipes are tied to safety ground of the mains by wires to make everything in the bathroom absolutely safe to touch (at least when your mains already have a reliable safety ground).
0xC0DEC0DE07E9@kalleboo I kinda want the ground plug notch to have a conductor and - you know - actually go to a ground...
s0 Traingirl Era@kalleboo great, great, that earth pin is just ornamental
Philip Mallegol-Hansen
Alexis@kalleboo I'm screaming inside and I don't know when I'll be able to stop.
Portable doggie 🔜 NFC, FE@kalleboo at least it's the ground pin...
Charlotte :kinua:@kalleboo Me staring at the fine print in the second one: “what can’t be connected..? Ass??? ……………. oh.”
Rob Isaac@kalleboo SWEET GIBBERING JESUS
Jessigay@kalleboo that couldn't fly in the US
they were so close to making something decent too. all they needed to do was put a metal plate under the third prong.
they were so close to making something decent too. all they needed to do was put a metal plate under the third prong.
Ursidinoj/The Bjornsdottirs
korin@kalleboo what in god's name?!
Will 🌹🏴@kalleboo they are flipping you off for doing this
Joshua Purba 
@kalleboo how horrifying 
@kalleboo on second look its even worse: there's recesses on where the ground pins would be. Someone actually designed this on purpose 
@jo Oh yeah, it’s literally advertised for this purpose!
They're still for sale, completely legally https://www.sanwa.co.jp/product/syohin?code=TAP-SLIMSW8-1
Drahflow@jo @kalleboo When I saw the first picture, I assumed there would be ground pogo-pins in the recesses, which would be, well still an adventurous choice, but not completely wrong.
But now I see the ground is connected to injection molded plastic, and I don't have the fantasy to imagine they invented a strongly conducting thermopolymer just for this application.
Jeremy List@kalleboo WHAT THE FUCK