In article ,
Ron wrote:
Also, the screws are pretty well recessed (on decent quality sockets
anyway) It's difficult to touch them with a finger accidentally.

Yes - that was one of the things wrong with the design. The faceplate can
be removed separately - rather like grid switches in the UK. Excellent
idea for re-decorating. But having the terminals so easily touched when it
is removed just poor design.

--
*How come you never hear about gruntled employees? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Mike Tomlinson" wrote in message
...
In article , Arny Krueger
writes

I'm not so sure about rings, but the doubled voltage looks good to me
given
that I would have enough appliances that ran on 240 volts to be
interesting.
I don't.

Think about it - your kettle would boil in half the time :-)

I get it. However, the 2-3 minute boil times I get with our current
technology seem to work out well enough.

I can boil 12 ounces of water in about 2 minutes in my 1200 watt microwave.

I can boil almost 2 liters of water in about 3 minutes in a 1500 watt
plastic pot with a built-in heatnig element.

In both cases the starting temperature of the water is about 45 degrees (F).

When I have people over for tea I set the pot to boiling when they arrive
and then reheat it in a few dozen seconds when needed.

A colleague went to work in the USA and complained about the weedy
kettles over there that take forever to boil. I suggested he take a UK
230V kettle over with him and run it off an extension to his stove
connection (i.e. 220V). Dunno if he ever bothered.

Seems like overkill, given the alternatives.

"Peter Larsen" wrote in message
k...
Ron wrote:

Surely you remember analogue TV Arny, it's when we had five channels
of rubbish, now we have 900 channels and it's still rubbish

What's TV?

Something that can actually be enjoyable, useful and even a bit educational,
managed well.

A capacious 2 channel DVR is a big help.

"J G Miller" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:37:25 +0000, David Looser wrote:

So if you'd been glued to your TV from Sept 1939 to June 1946
you'd have seen the film twice, thus not "resumed at the exact point"

And complain that all the BBC television service does is
show repeats.

BBC's service to the US over cable seems to be pretty serviceable. They have
at least one channel on our local 999-channel digital system, and they also
have a number of offerings on OTA PBS. PBS is a nationwide consortium of TV
and radio stations, mostly initially operated by large universities.

"Mike Tomlinson" wrote in message
...
In article , J. P. Gilliver (John)
writes

(Nor worse, though it sometimes was.)

NTSC = Never Twice the Same Colour. NTSC TVs had (still have?) a "Hue"
control for the user to twiddle when skin tones started looking a bit
green.

Our digital TVs still have controls with the same basic concept. Something
about adapting to room lighting, preferences. On some digital sets, the
profusion of such controls can be quite bewildering. Many are tucked away in
submenus and protected service menus.

For about the last 20 years of its life, NTSC became very stable.
Adjustments to the picture controls were very infrequent - mostly done when
the TV was set up. For the first 10 years, it was a nightmare.

"Mike Tomlinson" wrote in message
...
In article , Arny Krueger
writes

http://hostedmedia.reimanpub.com/TFH..._OUTLET_03.jpg

The ground wires in that picture appear to be in bare copper, borne out
by the person using a multimeter with a probe resting on the ground
wire.

True.

If so, that's pretty shoddy. What's to stop it coming into
contact with the exposed hot and neutral screws on the outlet body as
the outlet is pushed back into the box?

Care and skill.

UK wiring regulations require earth (ground) wires to be sheathed in
green and yellow sleeving where it is exposed.

Sounds good to me.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Ron wrote:
Also, the screws are pretty well recessed (on decent quality sockets
anyway) It's difficult to touch them with a finger accidentally.

Yes - that was one of the things wrong with the design. The faceplate can
be removed separately - rather like grid switches in the UK. Excellent
idea for re-decorating. But having the terminals so easily touched when it
is removed just poor design.

Touching the terminals is not so easy, in actual use. There are only narrow
gaps around the sides of the outlet and the front of the terminals is maybe
1/4" - 3/8" back and blocked by plastic.

"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...
Ian Jackson wrote:

The UK 405-line system was almost certainly kept going for far longer
than it really needed to be. There was probably only a handful of people
who could not receive the 625-line service. At the time, I recall that
many of us said that it would be cheaper simply to buy that last little
old lady, living in a remote valley in the middle of nowhere, a new TV
set and aerial.

When 405 ended most of us couldn't even remember it.

You ought to see a specialist about your memory problems Bill!

David.

Terry Casey wrote:

I've always wondered if somebody might have been seen furtively slipping
out of the back door of Broadcasting House that Monday afternoon before
setting off to walk down to Battersea Bridge with a box of matches in
his coat pocket ...

No, no, no it was hit by flying pig dung. :-)

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, N3OWJ/4X1GM
My high blood pressure medicine reduces my midichlorian count. :-(

David Looser wrote:
The original plan, drawn up in the early '60s, was to re-engineer Bands 1
and 3 for 625-line operation once the 405-line service was switched off; but
it never happened. I guess that the powers that be thought that the spectrum
could be more usefully used for other purposes.

More likely they thought that getting the free TV from France was too
much competition.

UHF only TV's could not receive it.

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, N3OWJ/4X1GM
My high blood pressure medicine reduces my midichlorian count. :-(