The idiocy of the non-technical

[AlanBeckett]

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18266022
He thinks that a 'Universal' Socket will solve all his problems without worrying about the voltage and frequency.
He thinks Edison Screw bulbs are European.
He thinks ES bulbs are safe on 240v mains.
When he gets a belt or blows something up I suppose it will be a case of 'Well I didn't know'.
Of course he doesn't, he's the 'Global business correspondent', no doubt with an Arts Degree and a stack of Guardians in the back of his car.
I'm considering despair.
Alan

[Mark R]

Duff link is that Al

cheers Mark

[AlanBeckett]

Fixed.
It's your software
I put a Full Stop after the Link and it gets incororated.
Alan

[Mark R]

Working now??

[AlanBeckett]

Yes, at least for me.
Alan

[Joe]

If I remember rightly the 13A socket was invented in 1947, not the 1950s.

As for the Universal Socket shown, try getting a 15A plug, 2- or 3-pin in.

- Joe

[Wage Slave]

I'm a bit ashamed to admit it but I don't know why ES bulbs are unsafe for 240V mains. Aren't quite a lot of spotlight type fittings Edison Screw? Or are they a different type of screw? They certainly take screw in bulbs and cheerfully burn through them at a rate of knots.

[AlanBeckett]

Because if they're wired up backwards - Live to outer - you can touch it easily. You can't do that with BC. At (American) 115v you can get away with it, at 230 it's much less certain.
The Europeans and the rest of the world can do what they like 'cause I don't care. It's just us I worry about.
Alan

[Steve_P]

The person writing that article is stupid and dangerous. You can't have a universal socket for everything. Will there be anything else universal too, apart from stupidity?

People like that should be locked away in a room lit by proper bulbs and given only the Daily Mail to read.

Cheers,

Steve P.

[Wage Slave]

I see - Thanks Alan.

Perhaps the logic is - If you are the kind of person who goes sticking their fingers into light fittings with the switch on then perhaps ES fittings are just helping evolution to do its job ?