Notes for Americans:
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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 #3 often applies all on its own, independent of the first two.
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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*.
Imagine the bomb disposal trope. Countdown running out. Hero has to decide which wire to cut, asks a LLM
BIG
Wiring a plug was part of the Standard Grade Science course in Scotland (going back a few years). Towards the end of its lifetime we were forbidden from teaching it on grounds that you are no longer able to do it. It did not come up in the exam.
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@cstross And the reason that pre-fitted plugs were made mandatory was because so many people didn't know how to correctly wire one.
Which I find intensely depressing, as I have known how to wire one from very young.
We were expected to learn how to wire a plug at school (late 80's, probably). My dad had already taught me, so I got full marks for doing it properly -- short live length, some slack in earth, and so on.
I then demonstrated to the teacher that I could do it again (properly, still) with a butter knife and my teeth...
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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 unlike the first image this one isn’t plausible enough to follow
The first image will mislead people

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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 gotta watch out for that BLIVE pin.
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@ErikJonker
But that is still quite different from the large language model-approach which is used for the 'foundational models ' like Claude and ChatGPT. The LLM approach has structural weaknesses and is the cause of the enthusiastically pushed falsehoods. As it does no know anything and has no real world feedback, every output is always based
on probabilities deduced from its corpus of inputs and training.
In specific cases, within specific/limited areas of competemce AI has proven very useful. But, that is very far removed from AGI. So far the LLM approach is mostly misused for internet slop, useless reports and articles and avoidance of responsibility by governments, like Israel's or ICE target selection...
@sotolf @cstross -
@ErikJonker
But that is still quite different from the large language model-approach which is used for the 'foundational models ' like Claude and ChatGPT. The LLM approach has structural weaknesses and is the cause of the enthusiastically pushed falsehoods. As it does no know anything and has no real world feedback, every output is always based
on probabilities deduced from its corpus of inputs and training.
In specific cases, within specific/limited areas of competemce AI has proven very useful. But, that is very far removed from AGI. So far the LLM approach is mostly misused for internet slop, useless reports and articles and avoidance of responsibility by governments, like Israel's or ICE target selection...
@sotolf @cstross -
We were expected to learn how to wire a plug at school (late 80's, probably). My dad had already taught me, so I got full marks for doing it properly -- short live length, some slack in earth, and so on.
I then demonstrated to the teacher that I could do it again (properly, still) with a butter knife and my teeth...
@rogerlipscombe @cstross My dad always used to strip wires with a match (burn the insulation off).
Not sure it is the method that would be taught in schools.
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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 Who needs AI when the first track on your album is titled "Death Trap" and the cover art is a deliberately mis-wired 13 amp plug? (It caused enough of a stir that later releases had it covered with a "non-removable sticker", and I'm sure my CD has the correct wiring colours...)


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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
I know true art when i see it. -
@cstross i told it how useless and dangerous the slopmachine is and in the end i shamed it into giving me parameters of its python sandbox
@cstross @Nfoonf
#Slopmachine. TIL. Nice
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@ErikJonker
Well it is definitely changing the world and people's lives. But where it changes them the most, it is not for the better. See the pictures of Gaza or Minneapolis. That is the direct consequence of AI and people promoting it. These consequences should be taken into account when advocating it. As are the environmental costs and economic Frankenstein that is being built.
@sotolf @cstross -
No, just no. It's a good quality socket (MK are one of the best, and used to be the automatic choice for the building trade), but you have no idea what's behind that faceplate and if it's been correctly wired. Sticking _anything_ conductive into an electrical outlet is a very bad idea. (And a metal door key is probably one of the worst things you could use.) 3:O(((>
@Cadbury_Moose @th @cstross If you don’t trust what’s behind, don’t plug anything in any outlet that you didn’t personally test, no?
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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 is this a thing people on the UK do regularly: rewire their plug? I never once had to research how a German plug looks on the inside. What causes this?
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@cstross is this a thing people on the UK do regularly: rewire their plug? I never once had to research how a German plug looks on the inside. What causes this?
@Hans It's not been a routine thing for 30-ish years, but the UK only standardized on its current mains plug wiring in 1948 and rewiring the entire country took many decades.
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@winkleink @cstross Always keen to jump on a bandwagon, I just asked Gemini to draw me a diagram of how to wire a UK plug. And, well, I'm not asking Sundar Pichai for any DIY help any time soon.
@DJDarren @winkleink @cstross Imagining a world where we don't have a plug... And in the USA.

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@Cadbury_Moose @th @cstross If you don’t trust what’s behind, don’t plug anything in any outlet that you didn’t personally test, no?
Indeed. All electric cables and outlets are "live" until personally proven otherwise.
(Someday I'll lift the floorboards at Chez Moose and test/remove the old RLIC[1] power cables and all the VIR[2] lighting circuits. (Previous owner(s) installed laminate on top of the floorboards, which is a bit of a bugger.))
3:O(>
[1] Rubber Insulated Lead Covered. You do not want to know.
[2] Vulcanized India Rubber (same 1930s era), you do not want to know about this either. -
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 This thread is great

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@winkleink @cstross Always keen to jump on a bandwagon, I just asked Gemini to draw me a diagram of how to wire a UK plug. And, well, I'm not asking Sundar Pichai for any DIY help any time soon.