On Wed, 04 May 2022 10:32:40 +0100, David Brooks <DGB@nomail.afraid.org> wrote:

> On 04/05/2022 09:28, Commander Kinsey wrote:
>> On Wed, 04 May 2022 09:09:19 +0100, David Brooks <DGB@nomail.afraid.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On 04/05/2022 08:18, Commander Kinsey wrote:
>>>> On Wed, 04 May 2022 07:49:59 +0100, David Brooks <DGB@nomail.afraid.org>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> It's not for me to tell a Physics graduate that there's a fire-risk in
>>>>> 13 Amp plugs melting! Remember that ALL your efforts will be wasted if
>>>>> your house burns down around your hardware!
>>>>
>>>> It has a fuse. Those wonderful things before the namby pamby circuit
>>>> breakers that trip if a fly lands on something.
>>>
>>> Knowing you, you might have replaced the fuse with a nail!
>>
>> Funnily enough, I'm pro-fuse. I'm not bothered about getting a shock,
>> but I don't want something catching fire. It's amazing how many things
>> aren't protected properly. For example did you know a twin UK socket is
>> not rated to 26 amps? Most (apart from MK) are rated to 20 amps. So if
>> you max out both of them, things melt! I don't remember seeing a
>> warning on the front not to use both fully at the same time.
>
> No, I didn't know that ..... but few things one 'plugs in' in a home use
> 13 Amps!

Washing machine and tumble dryer next to each other? Quite common I would think. Do two loads in a row, one drying while the next one washes. Whoops, melted socket.

>>> I've got one of those circuit breakers. It trips now and again when my
>>> wife is doing the ironing.
>>
>> The earth leakage type or the overload type?
>
> Sadly, I have no idea. :-(
>
> Can you tell from a picture? https://ibb.co/nckJpXw

Yes I can tell. The large one on the right is the earth leakage, to prevent shocks. It trips if 30mA or more is not accounted for (it compares live to neutral and if any is missing it must have gone to earth, possibly through you, so it trips). Unfortunately you have the cheap setup with only one of them, so the whole house will go off [1]. It also functions as a 100A limiter for the whole house, which should trip before the 100A electricity board fuse by your meter does, if you were to use that much, or something shorted inside the box, like a wire coming loose.

The others are just limiters and work exactly like fuses, to stop you using more than 32A on the socket circuit for example,to prevent a fire. I'm assuming the 4th from the left (downstairs power) is what tripped when the iron was used, which means you have a very dodgy iron exceeding 32 amps when it's meant to use about 8.

[1] The fancy ones have earth leakage built into every breaker, so if you get a shock you only trip that one circuit and the lights don't go off, which is precisely what you don't want when up a ladder!

>> The earth leakage ones
>> hate microwave ovens, which leak current to earth on purpose. I
>> disconnected the earth to mine when I saw a parrot trying to chew the
>> flex. I removed the earth so the current couldn't go from the wire in
>> her beak through her heart to the earthed microwave chassis under her
>> feet [1]. But now when I run the microwave I get a tingle if I touch
>> it. So clearly something is meant to go to earth. At work, a microwave
>> kept tripping an earth leakage breaker, but they'd economised and only
>> put in one for the whole corridor of 100 offices. That caused an
>> argument or two.
>>
>> [1] Earthing things was a very very dangerous idea. Consider you touch
>> a live wire for some reason - damaged flex, whatever. Normally you'd
>> get a slight tingle or not even feel it. But now imagine your knee is
>> touching an earthed washing machine. 240V on your hand, 0V on your
>> knee, with the rather vital heart halfway between. Death. From a
>> safety device.
>
> Oh! Shiver me timbers!

A larger oh! if it was something higher than your knee :-)
Don't look up tens torture devices.

>>>> Hey, you're here at 8 in the morning! I got up at 11:30pm, so I'm not
>>>> sure what time this is for me. I'll be going to bed late afternoon.
>>>
>>> I was watch-keeping for a large part of my working life. It's no big
>>> shakes WHEN one sleeps, but sleep IS necessary!
>>
>> I've removed myself from the 24 hour religion of life. I get up when
>> ready, and go to sleep when tired, whenever that may be.
>
> A bit like being retired - like me!

I'm 46 and have decided to retire now. I can get my pension in 9 years.

>>>>> I've now installed it on my main computer and will put it on my other
>>>>> one shortly. I've also publicised the programme on my Facebook timeline
>>>>> and the group which I run.
>>>>
>>>> Excellent, thank you. People aren't flocking to it so much now covid
>>>> research has declined. People don't seem to care about cancer, which
>>>> kills far more.
>>>>
>>>> Pay close attention to when you complete the tasks and the "timeout" -
>>>> it has a habit of giving slower computers stuff it can't do in time. If
>>>> it passes the timeout it's not the end of the world, but if it gets to
>>>> the expiration date the task has been a waste of time.
>>>
>>> Thanks for the warning. I didn't like the way it started to trigger my
>>> cooling fans so have 'turned it down' now.
>>
>> I doubt you'll complete much in time if it's not maxed out. Fans are
>> meant to spin. Most of my fans run at 75% speed.
>
> Understood. Thanks.

To reduce fan speed, ensure they're dust free for better cooling, a sharp blow from your mouth into it will shift it. Be ready to inhale a lot of dust, or hold the end of a running hoover hose nearby!

>>>>>>>>> Really OT: I can recall when we were driving around the UK on
>>>>>>>>> holidays
>>>>>>>>> in the '50s and the RAC/AA (can't remember as I was <10) man on
>>>>>>>>> their
>>>>>>>>> bike/sidecar combo used to salute after seeing the badge on the
>>>>>>>>> front
>>>>>>>>> of our hire car. I really don't think I'd swap that for no
>>>>>>>>> internet,
>>>>>>>>> no decent roads, no mobile phones, etc though. :-)
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Are you sure that was a salute? The AA started as a warning for
>>>>>>>> speed
>>>>>>>> cameras. If you had the badge and there was a cop ahead, the AA
>>>>>>>> would
>>>>>>>> warn you.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> There's substantiating evidence too!
>>>>>>> https://www.theaa.com/about-us/aa-history/timeline
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 1865: 4mph limit
>>>>>> 1897: 14mph
>>>>>> 1903: 20mph
>>>>>> 1966: 70mph
>>>>>> Isn't it about time they increased it again?
>>>>>
>>>>> I once would have agreed with you.
>>>>
>>>> Why do you no longer agree?
>>>
>>> Far too much traffic on the roads I've travelled in recent times.
>>
>> The congestion is *because* we're driving slowly!
>
> That may well be true at times. At other times, there are too many
> vehicles on the road.

If we all drove at double the speed and halved the "safety gap", we could fit 4 times as many cars on the road.

>> I was once chased to my house by a neighbour who objected to me
>> overtaking his wife. She was going 20 in a 30 zone because of roadworks
>> signs. For another road. He claimed it was because of the detour and
>> more people using our road that our road had a limit. What a crazy idea
>> - if you have more things to do, you have to do them faster!
>
> Of course. The real answer is to do LESS things! ;-)

And delegate?

>>>>> Competent drivers ignore the limit anyway.
>>>>
>>>> Indeed. It's the slow ones you need to look out for. They drive slow
>>>> because they find driving difficult.
>>>
>>> Many of them are OLD too! ;-)
>>
>> Plenty middle aged people driving far too slowly too.
>
> You do realise that YOU are now middle aged too?

I have never driven slowly at any age and never will, unless a pig is watching.

>>>> Would you be alarmed if while giving you a lift I performed a J-turn?
>>>
>>> I would if you were going forwards!
>>
>> I would be afterwards, that's what a J-turn tends to do.
>
> I thought it unlikely that you would attempt such a manoeuvre when
> underway - travelling forwards!

A handbrake turn is better under those circumstances. Unfortunately I usually own a car without a functional handbrake. Apart from the aforementioned manoeuvre, I'm not sure what they're for, I just park in gear.

>>>> It's the most efficient method to get travelling in the opposite
>>>> direction. The first time I did this I was a teenager and was giving my
>>>> friend a lift to see his girlfriend. I don't know if it was on that
>>>> occasion, but he got her pregnant then left the country!
>>>
>>> Did you look after her and the baby yourself?
>>
>> I had nothing to do with it. His dad arranged for him to disappear for
>> a bit to a relative elsewhere.
>
> No doubt he was Scottish too. Bad blood. (in jest!

Irish. Worse.

>>>>>> Seems a newspaper boy was prosecuted for claiming he couldn't go over
>>>>>> 16mph on his bicycle!
>>>>>
>>>>> Haha! :-D
>>>>
>>>> I've done 39mph on my mountain bike, but this was using God's force,
>>>> gravity.
>>
>> OY! I saw that! You capitalised god! You edited MY sentence!
>
> Just checking to see if you are paying attention to detail! :-D

I wasn't, but my subconscious notices everything.

I was once at an office xmas lunch in a restaurant, and my (slightly OCD) colleague was opposite me and looked irritated. I turned round to follow his gaze and saw a photo on the wall which was slightly misaligned. I straightened it, and he said thankyou. The other colleagues were alarmed and thought we had telepathy.

>>> I know I've been travelling as fast as cars when going downhill on a
>>> bike!
>>> There were no GPS measuring devices in my cycling days!
>>
>> Mine was digital but counted the number of times a magnet passed the
>> sensor on the edge of the wheel.
>
> I can't recall my children having such things.

This would be in about 1990. Before that I had a mechanical one which had a small wheel running along the side of the tyre.

>>>> If something had been in the way, I would not have been able
>>>> to stop. The brakes were rubbish on that bike and still are. I've had
>>>> it for 26 years. Giant Box Two dual suspension aluminium frame.
>>>
>>> That warrants a photograph!
>>
>> It is under many things in the shed.
>
> Isn't that just typical?!!! You made it sound as if you STILL ride a
> bike! ;-)

I used to, then decided running was more fun than cycling when doing it for fun, and driving was more convenient and efficient when doing it to get somewhere. I can't see the point of bikes unless we run out of oil.