Mildly interesting

[George K]

Click on the tweet to get a sense of this:

[taiwan_girl]

@george-k Wow!! That is impressive!!

[mark]

They don't make them like they used to! lol

Holy crap that is an excessively large door.

[Copper]

It makes me wonder what they intended to put through it.

[jon-nyc]

[jon-nyc]

[jon-nyc]

[jon-nyc]

[George K]

@jon-nyc it's called an "electrician's" or "underwriter's" knot:

https://www.thespruce.com/what-is-an-underwriters-knot-1152873

Used in lamps and things like that.

[Klaus]

That looks wrong. The two cables are supposed to be part of a bigger cable, and that bigger cable is supposed to be fixed by the two screws.

[George K]

@klaus a lamp cord has two wires, as you say, joined in a "cable." One has to split them apart to wire the lamp cord:

https://www.bplampsupply.com/help/22HowToULKnot.php

[Klaus]

I think such cords would be illegal over here.

Our power cables look like this.

[Copper]

It's not obvious in the picture, but I suspect the Blue and Red wires are joined.

Except where they are separated in order to tie the knot.

The 2 wires form a single strand that can be easily pulled apart. Outside of a fixture the covering between the 2 wires is joined.

[Doctor Phibes]

@klaus said in Mildly interesting:

That looks wrong. The two cables are supposed to be part of a bigger cable, and that bigger cable is supposed to be fixed by the two screws.

Klaus, you wouldn't believe the wiring over here. It's unbelievable. I feel like I'm taking my life in my hands every time I wire a plug or install a fixture. The first time I opened up a plug in Canada I thought it was a practical joke.

I'm guessing it's a function of having half the voltage, but still.....

[Klaus]

@doctor-phibes said in Mildly interesting:

I'm guessing it's a function of having half the voltage, but still.....

But half the voltage means twice the current, which makes proper cables and connectors even more important.

I’m always amazed when I visit the high tech country USA to then find all these utility roads with overland cables and wires that look like in a third world country.

[Doctor Phibes]

@klaus said in Mildly interesting:

@doctor-phibes said in Mildly interesting:

I'm guessing it's a function of having half the voltage, but still.....

But half the voltage means twice the current, which makes proper cables and connectors even more important.

I’m always amazed when I visit the high tech country USA to then find all these utility roads with overland cables and wires that look like in a third world country.

It's funny how the priorities differ. When we lived in Canada, the heating systems and protection against the cold were amazing - we were far warmer than we'd ever be in an English house, where they seem to build in the mistaken belief that the UK is a tropical country. But the electric systems were shocking, if you'll forgive the pun.

We live in a fairly built up area - a relatively busy suburb of Boston, but we still don't have a sewerage system, the house has a septic tank. The town tried to get people to vote for a sewer, but got voted down because nobody wanted to pay, despite the fact that the water table is in real danger of being corrupted.

[jon-nyc]

[jon-nyc]

@klaus said in Mildly interesting:

I’m always amazed when I visit the high tech country USA to then find all these utility roads with overland cables and wires that look like in a third world country.

I remember my first visit to France in 1991. My friend’s apartment had a Minitel. That’s the last time I was impressed by European technology.

[jon-nyc]

No one born after 1935 has walked on the moon.

[mark]