Notes for Americans:

[cstross@wandering.shop]

@jdrm @Sie @nygl Congratulations, you've discovered the thread about what happens if you ask various LLMs how to correctly wire up different types of mains plug (starting with British ones: all the suggestions are an electrocution hazard) …

[knud@mastodon.social]

@cstross @jdrm @Sie @nygl

You could have just said: "Congratulations, you've discovered the thread about what happens if you ask various LLMs."

[jamesravey@social.lol]

@cstross ah yes people often make the mistake of confusing live and blive. Thankfully this diagram makes it very clear which is which

[splendid_alex@mastodonapp.uk]

@DanKen @Sie @nygl @cstross Surprisingly charming, in its way.

[celeduc@mastodon.social]

@DanKen @Sie @nygl @cstross alt-text on point, historical accuracy difficult to verify

[edavies@functional.cafe]

@csstrowbridge The change was a decade or two later than it needed to be, but there was a time (1950s/60s) when requiring electrical items to be sold without a plug made sense. Much existing house wiring had not yet been converted to BS1363 sockets which was not a simple matter of replacing the socket. Given that “everybody” knew how to wire their local plug design it wasn't a big deal.

@cstross

[adriano@lile.cl]

@Nfoonf @cstross I mean these are great if you're making male-male cables, they save so much time.

[mhd@tilde.zone]

@ratsnakegames @Sie @nygl @cstross Oh, wow, the AI piss filter now affects words, too.

[teflontrout@beige.party]

@cstross @auxonic @ryanc actually the opposite of blive is bpre-recorded, which can lead to embarrassing blipsynch fails

[mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca]

@cstross
I believe you that suppliers weren't forced to sell with plugs before 1992, but why didn't they choose to do so? Given the choice, wouldn't consumers have preferred to pay a couple of pounds extra and to buy the kettle that they didn't need to wire themselves?

@jbayes

[cstross@wandering.shop]

@mpjgregoire @jbayes They didn't fit plugs because doing so would have cost them money *and nobody else was doing so*. Plugs were sold separately to consumers. Every corner shop sold them!

[kimsj@mastodon.social]

@cstross @cjwatson @lispi314 @feorag
As it happens, I wired up a 13A plug a couple of weeks ago. Being able to replace dangerous leads on appliances is a useful life skill.

[statsguy@mas.to]

@cstross Gosh, is it really as long ago as 1992? I was just thinking the other day it had been a while since I last wired up a plug. How time flies.

[timwardcam@c.im]

@swetland @cstross Yes, you might have needed one of the round pin variants. I'm old enough to have seen some of the sockets in old buildings but I've never needed to wire up a round pin plug.

[cstross@wandering.shop]

@statsguy I can't remember when I last wrote a cheque, either!

[erikjonker@mastodon.social]

@cstross ...i hate to break the news but AI is a "tool" that has it's uses but also it's limitations, AI is great for several things but certainly not for this... The movement calling everything AI "slop", should be replaced by a serious discussion how and when to use AI (and when not).

[cstross@wandering.shop]

@TimWardCam @swetland The house I grew up in was only rewired with modern sockets and ring mains in 1974. Before then it was all round-pin sockets (two sizes, small ones for lamps only).

[timwardcam@c.im]

@swetland @cstross You can still buy the plugs separately of course - you might want to do something like build your own extension lead.

[sborrill@justfollow.me.uk]

@TimWardCam @swetland @cstross 5A lighting circuits use round pin plugs. We have a couple of those in our 2009 house to allow us switch on a couple of small table lights. So I have wired round pin plugs in a modern house.

[timwardcam@c.im]

@cstross @swetland Yes, I remember there were two sizes, what I don't remember was the precise mix of two- and three-pin variants.