Notes for Americans:
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@cstross Escher's Suicide Plug
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@cstross I do these threads every so often. My most recent one was on my Bluesky where I got four LLMs to draw maps progressively getting more zoomed in (the World, Europe, UK, Yorkshire, York).
Things got worse each time you zoomed in, sometimes with "memories" from the previous image. My favourite was the attached version of Yorkshire.
I'll do another one in a month or two.
@tautology @cstross Great map! Now you just have to ask AI to write the fantasy book to match 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*.
But sure, let's become "an AI nation", build "AI gigafactories" in order "not to be left behind" ... /s
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@cstross You...you had to wire your own plugs? Seriously?
How many people killed themselves each year because they didn't know how to do it properly and were too impatient to wait for someone who did?
I learned to wire plugs from "Blue Peter". That TV program was very involved in the transition from the old round-pin system.
Details of electrical wiring have had many changes since then. My grandfather was a qualified electrician, trained before WW1. Many of the don't-kill-yourself rules that he taught me don't depend on colour-codes or the design of a screw-head.
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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@wandering.shop smh, kids today wouldn't know even what to hook the blive wire up to.
it's nice that they've labelled the neutral tone area of the picture, though. -
@tautology @cstross Great map! Now you just have to ask AI to write the fantasy book to match it.
@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"?
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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 at least in my secondary school, they were still teaching you how to do it in the early 00s
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@cstross only missing the enormous rat-penis
@uep You called, sir?
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@cstross I'd kind of hope the government actually provides a guide for citizen on their websites and/or other convenient information outlets.
@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 at least in my secondary school, they were still teaching you how to do it in the early 00s
@cstross @shift_reset My A-level computing class in the late 1990s taught me about mainframes. I think curriculums tend to lag reality somewhat.
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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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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 Was (1) due to variation in outlet designs in different locales or some other reason?
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@cstross 1.a) The UK still had homes wired with the old round pin (2,5,15 amp) plugs until stupidly late.
A 2a round pin gave just enough energy to use a wee heating element to boil a cup of water.
For 13A plugs, the lowest available fuse was 3A so an old boilette could overheat for minutes before the fuse would blow....
@akicif I know: I grew up in one of those houses. (It was rewired when I was 13.)
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@cstross as an American who was awake and aware prior to 1992 and growing up in a house with multiple appliances from the 60s, I can attest that the only household appliances I ever saw that did not include pre-molded plugs were washing machines, and the one I bought in 2024 was the same way. Agree with the other two. Most houses of the day had a 230 outlet specifically for the air conditioner. Washers tend to be 230 as well. We have standardized on dumb.
@dresstokilt I'm talking about the UK. Where EVERYTHING runs on 230v and nothing came with a plug prior to 1992. Read for context!
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@mpjgregoire @jbayes Because NOTHING was sold with a pre-molded plug until it was required by law from 1992. (This is the UK we're talking about.)
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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 Were you even alive during my 20s?
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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 @cstross You're cheating, I know AI didn't write that
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@cstross
If you want a computer to produce wiring diagrams like this correctly, you need something called an expertise system, which is a very different beast from the various technologies we refer to as AI.@tofugolem Expert system, not "expertise" system, and no, not really, that's not what they're for (did a course on designing them circa 1990)
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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 Why is this always "Notes for Americans"?
Are Americans the only people in the world who aren't British?
Do you think British people born after 1992 have a fucking clue why this is funny?
Have you ever tried to reconcile your feelings of "America isn't the center of everything" with your obsession to make America the center of everything?
"For people outside the UK" would have been a far better (and more inclusive) way to start your post
@codebyjeff Because it's mostly Americans who're stupid enough to think the entire planet is just more people like Americans. (Also I am old and you are missing the point.)
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