Bah!
Some years ago working in NY I was walking past our coffee point when the secretary/departmental PA gave a shriek and announced to the world she'd just been electrocuted while moving "a wire".
I took a look as the guilty ones gathered around.
"hmm, let's see: The kettle and the coffee machine are plugged into this half melted white extension cord intended for running three lamp-type devices. So is the fridge You idiots could have killed someone".
"How could we have known the cord would melt?" asked the UK contractors gathering sheepishly around me.
"How could you not?" I demanded. "You all have 'A' level education and above. The cord is clearly labelled as having a maximum capacity of 15 amperes at 110 volts nominal. Let's have a look at all the crap you've plugged in: Kettle - 1 kilowatt. That's around 9 amps right there. Coffee machine: .8 kilowatt for another 7 amps in change. And the pie-ace de resistance? You plugged the bloody fridge into that too. The compressor on that bugger draws 10 amps on it's own. Boil the tea while the fridge door is open and I'm surprised you couldn't smell the technology melting. You can think yourselves luck you didn't kill someone."
Naturally someone argued with me. She pointed out that the coffee machine drew *no* amps around 50% of the time because the thermostat turned it off. I just told the secretary to have this rocket scientist do the cable moving from now on.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
