Perhaps the weakest link in the US electrical system
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN points to it as a clear explanation of why under-rated extension cords and daisy-chained power strips are dangerous.
What it is
Technology Connections explains weaknesses in the US electrical system, centering on how cord and circuit ratings can mismatch and cause fires. It covers extension cords, power strips and plug history in about 25 minutes.
Recommended by 4 HN commenters across 4 different months, 2021 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Recommends ficklepickle · 2021-06 · on “Why does the world harbor so many different voltages, plugs, and sockets?”
> If you plug a 16A cord to a 20A circuit and draw 20A from it, the fuse will be perfectly happy (everything's fine as far as it's concerned) but the cord can catch on fire. Technology Connections recently made a video about this. [this video]
Recommends acidbaseextract · 2021-11 · on “Corded headphones are making an unexpected return”
For those who are into this kind of thing, here's a 25 minute mini-documentary of the US electrical system's history and problems. It's more focused on wiring, but has a lot to say on plugs: [this video]
Recommends _whiteCaps_ · 2023-01 · on “We need a lot more electricians if we’re going to electrify everything”
Extension cords are a bad idea. Especially since you can buy 10A rated cords that can be plugged into 15A sockets. [LINK] There's a really good explanation in this video: [this video]
Recommends rinron · 2024-04 · on “Is it okay to daisy chain a UPS?”
probably because it Depends, If you dont know its safer not to. long answer (keep in mind i live in canada, im not a professional, this is just what i learned and trust, keep in mind above) - As long as no wire/bar exceeds its max Amp your safe no matter how many things are plugged in or how long of a daisy chain, the max amp is usually listed. - all devices should list the max amp they use, add up the amp's of all the devices connected to that wire and if its below your safe. - if your breaker is 15 amp, virtually all normal extensions/power bars are rated for at least 15 amps which means doesnt matter what you do the breaker should* flip before any damage is done - if breaker is above 15 a
Cites eru · 2022-08 · on “A looming copper crunch and why recycling can’t fix it”
Yes, both of those would also work. It's just that the American plugs are really the worst. See also [this video] for other badness.
Cites jchw · 2025-07 · on “There is no memory safety without thread safety”
This comes up now and again, somewhat akin to the Rust soundness hole issue. To be fair, it is a legitimate issue, and you could definitely cause it by accident, which is more than I can say about the Rust soundness hole(s?), which as far as I know are basically incomprehensible and about as likely to come across naturally as guessing someone's private key. That said in many years of using Go in production I don't think I've ever come across a situation where the exact requirements to cause this bug have occurred. Uber has talked a lot about bugs in Go code. This article is useful to understand some of the practical problems facing Go developers actually wind up being, particularly the table