Talk:3186: Truly Universal Outlet

No comments yet, add the first comment! Caliban (talk) 16:25, 26 December 2025 (UTC)

I checked on the info.0.json and there doesn't seem to be a transcript for this one. I don't know whether that's normal, since I understand that most comics have one, but I wrote in a basic transcript. I might have just not looked in the right place. R128 (talk) 16:58, 26 December 2025 (UTC)

I try not to be nationalistic or jingoistic about anything, but I'm sorry—British plugs are simply the best plugs. Strong, easy to use and safe—fits snugly into the socket, can't expose live or neutral outlets without first connecting to earth, no overly sharp pins. I don't like myself for saying this, but I honestly think the rest of the world would be better off switching to our plugs.109.149.114.159 18:00, 26 December 2025 (UTC)

I'm American, and British plugs and sockets seem huge and clunky to me. I've also heard that (some?) Brits think US plugs are alarmingly flimsy. I'm sure that a big part of the differences of opinion is what we grew up with, and I'd love to hear a physics/engineering/UI/UX-based evaluation of which one is *actually* better. -- Dtgriscom (talk) 19:38, 26 December 2025 (UTC)

I am an American (soon to be a Gileadian after we will rename our nation to the Republic of Gilead —— ¡ChrisoFascism sucks!); so now I do not have a dog in this fight, but the | EuroPlug looks very space efficient, unlike the bulky American plus & sockets, & the ridiculously enormous UK-plugs.

Someone will probably address this, but voltage issues aside, I would guess that the USAGE of the various pins across countries is likely different in catastrophic ways. E.g. I imagine that one glob of pins is hot/live in one country but ground/earth in others so that plugging an appliance from different countries into the universal outlet would cause shocks, breaker trips, explosions, etc. I did laugh at the title text - yes, I'm sure building inspectors are constantly encountering this mess. ;) 47.248.235.170 18:39, 26 December 2025 (UTC)Pat

Nope. The ground pin is always intentionally made special in all mains plugs existing, and it's basic potty training for electricians to never, ever trust the two others. --88.65.244.212 20:24, 26 December 2025 (UTC)

Universal/travel plug adaptors do kind of look like this. Not quite as universal though. 220.244.124.170 19:50, 26 December 2025 (UTC)

https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DAIOqOxI0K_I --88.65.244.212 20:24, 26 December 2025 (UTC)

Just for my own amuesment, I tried to work out what bits were which, green for the pins, red for 'the aditional bits the pins would rattle around in' (the rest left black). Really not sure I got all the "D E M O" bits right. E, in particular, looks like it has a reverse pin that goes into the plug, but I'm also not as familiar with the old D+M different ampages/sizes (I'll only ever see them in stage-lighting, and I don't plug 'em in or out) as I am with the type-G I normally use. ...but, if anyone wants it, it'll be downloadable for the next seven days. Tidy it up, correct it as necessary, change the timings (currently 1 second a frame), recolour it (perhaps use different colours for Live, Neutral and (where there is one) Earth), whatever you want. If it's useful. And if that's done by anyone who can upload to this site (or someone does a better version off their own back). 92.23.2.208 21:03, 26 December 2025 (UTC)