The silly season has started. - sainsbury's christmas ad sparks complaints.

[Channel Hopper]

Well they do tend to make themselves known, so quite easy to find, they're not smart after all...

Whilst it might be more unwary than stupid, there are a few reports this year of people getting electrocuted whilst wearing earphones on a mobile phone that is connected to a mains charger.

Examples

Girl, 17, electrocuted as her mobile's headphones 'melted in her ears'

Malaysian boy electrocuted by headphones whilst charging phone | Daily Mail Online

Whilst it appears to have been a standard warning when I was - a lot - younger to refrain from using headphones on a valve amplifier, there is little if anything about connected equipment such as a mobile being a risk.

 

[2cvbloke]

Neither article mentions what charger was being used, an original or a generic/fake charger with poor to no isolation from the mains, as those do indeed pose an electrocution risk, but they're made in china, where standards don't exist, and they don't care...

I have a Cubot phone charger that passes some current leakage through the phone, so I only use that for things I don't plan on using while charging, getting a tingle from things connected to that isn't nice...

 

[Mickha]

Just heard The Pouges Christmas song, Fairytale of New York, with some of the now offensive words removed, naturally on one of the British Christmas stations.

 

[2cvbloke]

Neither article mentions what charger was being used, an original or a generic/fake charger with poor to no isolation from the mains, as those do indeed pose an electrocution risk, but they're made in china, where standards don't exist, and they don't care...

A good vid showing the dodgyness of some chinese USB supplies and how lethal they are:

 

[jeallen01]

Neither article mentions what charger was being used, an original or a generic/fake charger with poor to no isolation from the mains, as those do indeed pose an electrocution risk, but they're made in china, where standards don't exist, and they don't care...

I have a Cubot phone charger that passes some current leakage through the phone, so I only use that for things I don't plan on using while charging, getting a tingle from things connected to that isn't nice...

@2cvbloke
There are so many reports about totally dodgy USB chargers in comparatively well-regulated Europe that it is completely unsurprising that people are being killed in "3rd World" countries with far less regulation and enforcement (the reports above are almost certainly the tip of a "shockingly" large "iceberg").

Personally, I am very careful about where I get these little devices - so, we either use the ones that come with the products &/or I get them from reputable suppliers like CPC which have vested interests in ensuring they source them from (relatively!) reliable manufacturers - and I would have disposed of that Cubot charger PDQ if I had found it had a problem like that

 

[Channel Hopper]

Just heard The Pouges Christmas song, Fairytale of New York, with some of the now offensive words removed, naturally on one of the British Christmas stations.

Shane's heritage is Irish, the wording in the verse of Fairytale of New York is Irish slang. I wonder if airplay of the modified song affects the royalty payments ?

 

[Mickha]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7914097/url-student-slams-fairytale-of-new-york-lyrics/

 

[Channel Hopper]

Obviously got something to peddle.

Interestingly the original ban on the word faggot was limited to Radio 1 only, Radio 2 was able to play all lyrics of any song without the censorship.

Ironic when it was Radio 1 ( and Scott Mills surprisingly) who brought the following to the fore on one of his stand-ins.
Bbc Radio One Revive Faggot Family

 

[2cvbloke]

@2cvbloke
There are so many reports about totally dodgy USB chargers in comparatively well-regulated Europe that it is completely unsurprising that people are being killed in "3rd World" countries with far less regulation and enforcement (the reports above are almost certainly the tip of a "shockingly" large "iceberg").

Personally, I am very careful about where I get these little devices - so, we either use the ones that come with the products &/or I get them from reputable suppliers like CPC which have vested interests in ensuring they source them from (relatively!) reliable manufacturers - and I would have disposed of that Cubot charger PDQ if I had found it had a problem like that

The main point about those articles though is they're both screaming "USING EARPHONES WHEN CHARGING KILLS!!!!", with no reasoning as to why, those of us who know about dodgy USB supplies of course know the reason, but, in typical sensationalist fashion, the page three and the daily fail would rather have shock sensation headlines than full facts...

As for the cubot USB supply, I only keep it around as I've not actually got that many USB supplies, infact I think I only have three (Samsung phone, Samsung tablet and the Cubot), I know when not to handle it and why I get the odd zing off it, so I can control the issue, and it's buried within my "empire of dirt" enough that nobody else can use it...

 

[Channel Hopper]

I'm surprised Brazil and Malaysia are still '3rd World' countries.


Anyhow (and to get back on topic), in Australia where three pin plugs are all the rage.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...om-apparent-electrocution-20140626-zsngd.html

Quite why a mobile phone charger is used on a laptop has not been clarified......