Well, I think they're ugly as hell, and way too big.
I still don't understand the fuse part either. You still need a fuse box. the fuse box lets you do rewiring without shutting off a master switch and screwing all the clocks in your house or your computer.

Schuko all the way, best plug on the planet (at the moment). Ground always attaches first, the socket forms a protective casing and pins can not be touched long before contact happens, is protected from elements better, latched inlets (both pins need to push on them to allow the plug thru), can be plugged in two orientations.. Seems counterintuitive that it would be the safest to have neutral and live be allowed to switch places but it prevents highly dangerous practice of connecting earth and neutral inside the appliance, 50% of the time that would short and trip the fuses. Appliance manufacturers HAS to follow basic safety quidelines. Also means onnecting a plug is easy, just breen-yellow to ground, rest is up to you which way you want them. In fact, most of use can't remembers which color is neutral and which is live as they are BOTH treated as live.

Also they don't have fuses in the plug. Again, seems counterintuitive but the fuse is meant to protect individual parts of the circuit. The fuse in the appliances them selves protect the appliance, not it's cord. The fuses on the wall sockets have to be built to protect all cabling, both in and out of the wall.

Small details but it forces buildings to be built with higher standards, less shortcuts can be made.

One feature on Schuko is that when pulled from the cable, the plug leaves the socket first. In UK plugs, you can have a situation where someone trips on a wire and the wire will leave the plug, plug stays in the wall (or wall socket is damaged too) Making the weak point the plug-socket connection, the wire will stay firmly screwed inside the plug, socket and plug will be undamaged. There are L shape plugs too with Shcuko so this is not always the case but most often, those are incased and molded: your appliance will take the hit instead and fly off the desk. Also stops dangerous cable pulling with long cables with extensions for ex in construction sites. You have to actually go and move it yourself. Safer, more work but safer (yes, there are few cases where we knot the wires to stop it happening but when done by a professional, we know how to knot them so that the force is not pulling or bending the plugs at all, otherwise they can disconnect by them selves, often modus operandi when rigging lights)

Also, the pins are round, making bent pins something that just wont happen unless you drive a truck over them. Damaged, bent pins will be destroyed in the process, preventing someone to just bend them back in shape: the tube will not be round again.. It's a genius design.

Only thing that it is horrible at is transformers, small PSUs that takes up sometimes three sockets as Shcuko is more compact, the extensions are smaller then too.. So sometimes two wall sockets can take one PSU and we end up with lots of extensions chained with half of the sockets filled (i got 600 led lights in my living room, takes 4 extensions to get them all running, half of the sockets are used....)

Stabbing a US outlet could also kill you, unless it's a (properly wired) GFCI outlet (or GFCI breaker). Being wet increases risk of shock, which is why GFCI outlets are required in bathrooms and recommended in kitchens.

GFCI will detect a very small amount of current running through the ground (instead of neutral like it should) and then trip the internal breaker. "very small" = less than could accidentally kill/injure your average human, which is surprisingly small.

regular breakers trip at a much higher amperage, 20% below what would physically start heating the wire gauge that is in the wall. This is why you should always use appropriate size fuses/breakers rather than bigger ones (or a penny instead of a fuse).

Why isn't everything GFCI then? They are much more expensive, and don't last as long. Teach your kids not to jab metal things in the outlet, or they'll learn the hard way.

If each plug has a fuse and there is no fuse box, wouldn't stabbing an outlet kill you? Since there is no fuse to trip? I could image a kid stabbing the ground to open the live then stabbing the live with something else.

I have mixed feelings about the UK plug. 1) they are HUGE. therefore power strips are also quite large, and the wall outlets only have place for one device. 2) I've seen plenty of UK plugs where the conductor goes all the way to the housing, not halfway like he shows as a feature. I've seen Euro-plugs with both types as well. 3) putting fuses on the plug instead of part of the house means that too many <13A devices could be plugged in, and (if used simultaneously) cause a fire in your walls and burn your house down (I assume UK requires circuit breakers and branch circuits nowadays). 4) the same safety device that requires ground to be plugged in first makes it really-hard to plug into cheaply made outlets or power strips (the plastic cover doesn't slide easily).
That said, another safety feature that he didn't mention in the video was that most wall outlets have their own switch on the outlet itself. Turn-off ; plug-in ; turn-on. This prevents arcing, which is easier with the higher 240V.

Euro outlets' holes are too small to fit most screwdrivers, knives, fingers into, and they have both grounded and ungrounded (smaller) variety.

My favorite are the IEC-60309 plugs/outlets, but are only for bigger amperages - 20,30,50,60, etc.

I do wish there was a short, non-insulting phrase that covers this complex situation.

Unfortunately, in our sound bite world, and with my short fuse, I regrettably fall back on the short insult.

It also kinda works, which is unfortunate. Conflict draws eyes, ideas can be exchanged, the education can happen.

I can get educated, too -- sometimes people don't know that I have shifted my position, because I do it so quickly when a good point is made. And sometimes, I dig my heels in and don't listen. Which is an education in itself, when I reflect later.

It's all good.

I do appreciate your calm manner. Thank you.

Actually, this is true, but it's also only one of the recall items that GM has issued Recalls for this year.

"It recalled 8,208 of its 2014 cars on May 7, for example, because they might have rear brakes on the front wheels."

"GM says it has informed regulators about two more recalls imminent but not yet announced. The latest batch includes safety belt, air bag, transmission and electrical issues in a range of midsize sedans, full-size crossovers and SUVs, and pickups."


GM's U.S. recalls this year

Below are General Motors' recall of vehicles in the U.S. since Jan. 1

Date, no. of U.S. vehicles, models affected, recall defect

- Jan. 13: 324,970 of the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and 2014 GMC Sierra for overheated exhaust parts

- Feb. 7 and 25: 1,367,146 of the 2005-07 Chevrolet Cobalt, 2006-07 Chevrolet HHR, 2005-07 Pontiac G5, 2006-07 Pontiac Solstice, 2003-07 Saturn ION, 2007 Saturn Sky, 2007 Opel GT, 2007 Daewoo G2X for ignition switch

- Feb 20: 355 of the 2014 Buick Enclave, LaCrosse, Regal and Verano; 2014 Chevrolet Cruze, Impala, Malibu and Travers; 2014 GMC Acadia for transmission shift cable adjuster

- March 17: 63,903 of the 2013-14 Cadillac XTS for brake vacuum booster

- March 17: 303,013 of the 2009 Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana for airbag

- March 17: 1,178,407 of the 2008-13 Buick Enclave, 2008-13 Chevrolet Traverse, 2008-13 GMC Acadia, 2008-10 Saturn Outlook for airbag

- March 17: 656 of the Cadillac ELR for electronic brake control

- March 28: 823,788 of the 2008-11 Chevrolet HHR, 2008-10 Chevrolet Cobalt, 2008-10 Pontiac G5, 2008-10 Pontiac Solstice, 2008-10 Saturn Sky, 2008-10 Opel GT, 2008-09 Daewoo G2X for ignition switch

- March 28: 174,046 of the 2013-14 Chevrolet Cruze for front axle shaft

- March 28: 489, 936 of the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado, 2014 GMC Sierra, 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, 2014 GMC Yukon and Yukon XL for oil cooler fitting.

- March 31: 1,340,447 of the 2004-06 Chevrolet Malibu and Malibu Maxx, 2004-06 Pontiac G6, 2004-07 Saturn Ion, 2008-09 Chevrolet Malibu, 2008-09 Pontiac G6, 2008-09 Saturn Aura, 2010 Cobalt, 2009-10 Chevrolet HHR for electric power steering

- April 9: 2,191,014 of the 2005-10 Chevrolet Cobalt, 2006-11 Chevrolet HHR, 2007-10 Pontiac G5, 2006-10 Pontiac Solstice, 2003-07 Saturn ION, 2007-10 Saturn Sky for ignition key cylinder

- April 24: 50,571 of the 2013 Cadillac SRX for acceleration lag

- April 19: 23,249 of the 2009-10 Pontiac Vibe (built by Toyota) for air bags

- April 24: 51 of the 2015 Chevrolet Silverado HD and 2014 GMC Sierra HD for diesel transfer pump

- April 29: 51,640 of the 2014 Chevrolet Traverse, 2014 GMC Acadia and 2014 Buick Enclave for inaccurate fuel gauge

- April 29: 56,214 of the 2007-08 Saturn Aura for shift cable

- May 7: 8,208 of the 2014 Chevrolet Malibu and 2104 Buick Lacrosse for brake rotors

- May 14: 111,889 of the 2005-07 Corvette for headlight low beams

- May 14: 19,225 of the 2014 Cadillac CTS for windshield wipers

- May 14: 140,067 of the 2014 Malibu for brake boost

- May 14: 2,440,524 of the 2004-12 Chevrolet Malibu, 2004-07 Malibu Maxx, 2005-10 Pontiac G6 and 2007-10 Saturn Aura for brake lamps

- May 14: 477 of the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe for steering tie-rod

- May 16: 1,402 of the 2015 Cadillac Escalade for passenger air bag

- May 19: 1,339,355 of the 2009-10 Saturn Outlook, 2009-14 Chevrolet Traverse, 2009-14 GMC Acadia and 2009-14 Buick Enclave for front seat belts

- May 19: 58 of the 2015 Chevrolet Silverado HD and 2015 GMC Sierra HD for loose fuse block

- May 19: 1,075,102 of the 2004-08 Chevrolet Malibu and 2005-08 Pontiac G6 for shift cable (expands April 29 Saturn Aura recall)

Total 18,666,842
( http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/05/20/gm-recalls-fine-goverment/9329481/ )

Swiss artist H.R. Giger, who designed the creature in Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror classic Alien, has died at age 74 from injuries suffered in a fall, his museum said Tuesday.

Sandra Mivelaz, administrator of the H.R. Giger museum in Gruyeres, western Switzerland, told The Associated Press that Giger died in a hospital on Monday.

Giger's works, often showing macabre scenes of humans and machines fused into hellish hybrids, influenced a generation of movie directors and inspired an enduring fashion for "biomechanical" tattoos.

"My paintings seem to make the strongest impression on people who are, well, who are crazy," Giger said in a 1979 interview with Starlog magazine. "If they like my work they are creative ... or they are crazy."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/h-r-giger-designer-of-alien-from-alien-films-dead-at-74-1.2640867

Title is a bit misleading. The rifle has little to do with the explosion. Its just lighting the fuse is all. Probably could have used a regular hunting rifle for it.

The Ragtime Gals: It Wasn't Me (Jimmy Fallon) has been added as a related post - related requested by PlayhousePals.

Jimmy Fallon - Reggae Music and Barbershop Quartet Fused has been added as a related post - related requested by PlayhousePals.

*related=http://videosift.com/video/The-Ragtime-Girls-It-Wasnt-Me-Jimmy-Fallon

*related=http://videosift.com/video/Jimmy-Fallon-Reggae-Music-and-Barbershop-Quartet-Fused

Well, helium is the product of fusion. However, even if we found some "cheap" or "cold" way to fuse hydrogen into helium, I dont think it would be cheap enough to produce useful amounts. Ie producing enough energy to keep a light bulb on for 300 years will produce 1 balloon full of helium. (http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/teachers/hera/spectroscopy/snr/fusion_calculation.html)

The description from one of the other slingshot rocket launcher vids is:

Launching rockets in Germany requires all kinds of permits and licenses nobody ever gets. But for just 48 hours each year, the rules change. During these two days, every adult person is allowed to blast away with rockets and fire crackers!

The Slingshot Channel MUST take advantage of this once-in-a-year time slot. This time, we built a 2,5 meters high rubber based launch tower, capable of launching an unlit rocket about 50 meters up in the air! Add these 50 meters to the 60-80 meters that the rockets achieve by means of their powder charge, and you get some serious total height.

Of course many things can go wrong. The flimsy wooden shafts are not made to endure the stress of 50 kilogramms (110 lb) of a draw force applied by the rubber bands, and can break right in the barrel of the launcher. Also, if the timing of the fuse is bad and the charge ignites when the nose of the rocket is already pointed downwards, then the rocket will be propelled downwards and explose at ground level - effectively a surface to surface missile.

The Slingshot Channel tests all this... come and see the results!

Plasma conducts electricity, so in that circumstance it can become self sustaining by shorting out the two wires. It must have had enough resistance to avoid blowing the fuse. I'm not really sure why it's moving though, perhaps magnetic effects? Wind? Down-hill?

Anyone?

Fuse for a gas explosion?? BYOP(propane).