TWeaK

Yes, these days you might have like 20 devices plugged in, but they're all DC and most only draw about 10W each. Also, they're not all drawing power at the same time.

Back in the day your monitor(s) would have been drawing a lot more power (I'm talking way back with CRT monitors). Also, your PC doesn't draw 750 watts all the time if at all - 750W is the max rating for the power supply. Even if you did have a very power hungry system (read: GPU) it would only draw that while running full whack, most of the time the PC will idle at lower clock speeds and lower power.

Your soldering irons are probably only 25W, certainly less than 100W (unless you're showing off). The big things are generally anything involving heating, but many of the things at your desk probably don't use that much. After heating it's motors. And, again, these things are generally not all on at the same time.

Suffice it to say, there isn't really any higher risk to the volume and type of load we have today than back when electricity was first installed in houses. It certainly should be said that the installations are much safer now than they used to be, where even a faulty install like this shouldn't lead to a fire - if your cable is installed in ducting or kopex then even if a faulty termination heats the cable up there won't be anything in contact with it to start a fire.

But you should still get check these things checked out. The layers of redundancy by design are great, but you don't want holes in the Swiss cheese to line up - that's when bad things happen.

We have a lot more stuff plugged in than the era when most houses were built.

While this is true, most of the devices we use today are DC devices and much lower power. Your standard USB device is maybe 5V and 2A, so only 10W.

Yes I'd just found that! That's insane.

At the end though the Controversy section implies it was probably exaggerated. Even as a show vessel it would have been grossly impractical with the technology at the time. Still, it's so fantastical, I love it!

The name “forty” refers not to the number of oars, but to the number of rowers on each vertical “column” of oars that propelled it

What the hell, 40 per column, just how many rowers did it have all together?!

Edit: Wow, 4000! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessarakonteres However the controversy section is well worth a read hah.

They've already instructed US cybersecurity agencies to stop reporting on Russian threats.

In other words, US agencies are doing less to protect US citizens and businesses from Russian cyberattacks.

Not only that, the VOA literally has its own law requiring it to be impartial and protecting it from direct interference by the US government.

VOICE OF AMERICA BROADCASTS

Sec. 206. Title V of the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 is amended by adding the following new section:

Sec. 503. The long-range interests of the United States are served by communicating directly with the peoples of the world by radio. To be effective, the Voice of America must win the attention and respect of listeners. These principles will therefore govern Voice of America (VOA) broadcasts:

1. VOA will serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news. VOA news will be accurate, objective, and comprehensive.

2. VOA will represent America, not any single segment of American society, and will therefore present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions.

3. VOA will present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively, and will also present responsible discussions and opinion on these policies. (Public Law 94-350)

• https://www.usagm.gov/who-we-are/mission/
• https://www.usagm.gov/who-we-are/oversight/legislation/voa-charter/
• https://uscode.house.gov/statutes/pl/94/350.pdf

The point is they're supposed to at least keep up the pretext of not being propaganda, and this is done by being critical when permitted. Trump doesn't want them to be critical of him at all, which goes against their mandate from Congress.

Elon Musk managed to more or less keep up the appearance of being smart for a long while, up to when he called that diver a pedo.

You shouldn't be downvoted, but this isn't true. While partially funded by Congress, the VOA's mission is not propaganda.

Since its creation in 1942, Voice of America has been committed to providing comprehensive coverage of the news and telling audiences the truth. Through World War II, the Cold War, the fight against global terrorism, and the struggle for freedom around the globe today, VOA exemplifies the principles of a free press.

VOA is part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the government agency that oversees all non-military, U.S. international broadcasting. It is funded by the U.S. Congress.

Now, we can debate how much this is true in practice, and I'm sure the governmental structure of the organisation means the government can put their thumb on the scale somewhat, but the mission means they're at least meant to keep the pretext of being independent and free.

But Trump doesn't understand that. In his eyes, he's paying for it (not Congress nor the American voters/taxpayers) and if he's paying for it he gets to boss them around.

I voted in Florida and it was really creepy that all the electronic voting machines were managed by a Republican, but not Dems.

The main thing this article is talking about is supermarkets in the UK that lock all their sale offers behind the loyalty card. Until about a year or two ago, you could go in and buy things on sale or buy one get one free or whatever offer, and then use (or don't use) your loyalty card on top (to collect/spend points), but now you don't get any discounts if you don't have a loyalty card.

The article/campaigners are spinning this up into something about smartphones, because that's how most people use these loyalty schemes now, but they still have the old style cards so that's a bit of a red herring. The real issue is the way they're tying their standard offers to the loyalty program, and making it more difficult for consumers not to get caught out paying full price.