back to article Wang charged in inappropriate electricity socket use

Electricity thieves beware: if the battery charge in your phone or laptop is getting a little too low for comfort, don’t just stick your tech gear into the first available plug socket or you could find yourself in the back of a police van. The warning comes from Taipei, where a man by the name of Wang was prosecuted this week …

COMMENTS

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  1. Ian Ferguson
    Unhappy

    Ah crap

    Seems I got off lightly then, as I've done just this in a Taipei train station.

    Hopefully my mitigating circumstances of not understanding written Traditional Chinese would have saved me...

    Still, seems harsh.

    1. Peter2 Silver badge

      Re: Ah crap

      I doubt not being able to read the sign would get you off, it wouldn't in any common law country where "Ignorance of the law is no defense" is a well known principle.

  2. Arnold Lieberman
    WTF?

    One word

    fuse

    1. Wayland Sothcott 1

      Re: One word

      yeah good point. If they put a 500mA fuse in the socket then you can't steel much electric.

      1. Peter2 Silver badge

        Re: Re: One word

        If you put a 0.5A fuse in it also defeats the object of having the sockets there for the cleaners to use.

        The simple solution is to get some very unusual sockets and matching plugs for the cleaners machines. Hey presto, you solve the problem of all but the most determined people using the cleaners sockets and not reading the signs.

        It also solves the problem of cleaners unplugging things that are clearly marked as "DO NOT UNPLUG" since their equipment doesn't work with it.

        Yes, I suppose you could do lockable covers however human nature is to leave them unlocked because locking/unlocking them is too much of a pain.

        1. Allan George Dyer
          FAIL

          Re: Re: Re: One word

          @Peter2, "It also solves the problem of cleaners unplugging things..."

          I doubt it. Human nature dictates that they unplug it, look blankly at the incompatible socket and then go away to complain their plug is wrong (or that their cleaner is broken, or they've injured themselves with the unusual plug), leaving the critical equipment unplugged.

      2. JC 2
        Boffin

        Re: Re: One word

        Fundamental lack of understanding how these chargers work. If it's capable of 500mA (@ 5V as USB is meant to be), then if it's an approximately 80% efficient charger circuit, that's 3.125W.

        3.125W/110V = 28mA

      3. mfritz0

        Re: Re: One word

        I'm assuming the designers of the charger have a built in fuse set to the proper amperage to not draw unsafe current, inside the charger itself, that would prevent it from inadvertently blowing a fuse on the wall socket. If so, the arrest was totally bogus and just another tyrannical example of poor government by ignorant people.

      4. Chris Parsons
        Headmaster

        Re: Re: One word

        Nor, indeed, could you steal it!!!

    2. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
      Paris Hilton

      Re: One word

      How about "switch", as in the sockets are switched off unless the train is being serviced.

      Train design engineer: "Doh!! I never thought of that, much better to have live sockets so small children can stick screwdrivers into them”

      Paris; remains switched off unless being serviced.

  3. frank ly
    Facepalm

    More WTF....

    "...a short circuit may bring down the electricity-powered rail network."

    Then the rail network is not fit for use and probably fails to meet many mandatory standards. It should be closed down until Taipei Rapid Transit have been investigated.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: More WTF....

      Having once shut down half a factory when meddling with a three-phase power outlet I kind of undertstand Taipei's concern....

      1. Dotter
        Facepalm

        Re: Re: More WTF....

        Yeah, if it's that much of a problem, they probably shouldn't have loads of power sockets around the place that anyone can plug anything into.

        Put padlocked covers over them or something.

      2. dotdavid
        WTF?

        Re: Re: More WTF....

        "Having once shut down half a factory when meddling with a three-phase power outlet I kind of undertstand Taipei's concern...."

        Blimey, what kind of phone requires a three-phase power outlet to charge?!

        1. AndrueC Silver badge
          Joke

          Re: Re: Re: More WTF....

          > Blimey, what kind of phone requires a three-phase power outlet to charge?!

          One with a very, very big battery :D

        2. TeeCee Gold badge
          Coat

          Re: Re: Re: More WTF....

          "Blimey, what kind of phone requires a three-phase power outlet to charge?!"

          Are you trying to start another iPhone 5 rumour?

        3. OffBeatMammal

          Re: Re: Re: More WTF....

          I take it you don't have one of these new fangled Android steroid enhanced LTE touting screen bigger than Grandma's telly things they call a phone?

          I never thought I'd say this, but the whole mobile phone arms race really is starting to get out of hand!

        4. This post has been deleted by its author

        5. Marty
          Coat

          Re: Re: Re: More WTF....

          "Blimey, what kind of phone requires a three-phase power outlet to charge?!"

          try an iphone that will work after 6pm on a single charge !!

          now where did i put my android phone that lasts to about 8pm,,,

      3. Mondo the Magnificent
        WTF?

        Re: Re: More WTF....

        Anyone plugging a laptop or mobile device charger into 3 Phase will be in for one hell of a shock...

        1. Anomalous Cowturd
          WTF?

          Re: Re: Re: More WTF....

          Anyone plugging a laptop or mobile device charger into 3 Phase will be in for one hell of a shock...

          Have you seen the size of a three phase plug?

          1. Daniel 4
            Joke

            Re: Re: Re: Re: More WTF....

            "Have you seen the size of a three phase plug?"

            Yes, though not in Taipei. For all I know, my standard charger could fit - though I doubt it would have enough pins... ;)

            -d

            1. kain preacher

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: More WTF....Daniel 4

              nope a 3 phase has 4 wires

        2. Stoneshop
          FAIL

          @Mondo the Magnificent

          Err? Domestic and small-industry three-phase power is just three feeds at standard mains voltage, shifted 120 degrees between each. Plug your adapter between one phase pin and neutral or ground, and things will just work without going *foom*.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: @Mondo the Magnificent

            Bingo sir and you can even unbalance the system by drawing too much from a single phase.

            This in turn triggers the protection relays upstream, where unfortunately the cooling circulation pumps were also connected to.

            Main machine (in my case printing press) senses overheat and shuts down, with alarms blaring and leaving me to figure out how to explain it all! Cascading failures, that 's how you bring a factory down from a single socket.

            After this I withdrew my job application for the nuclear plant (jk - in this last part)

            But after joining IT I witnessed a colleague bringing down the entire company network just by plugging one network socket into the other (gotta love auto-mdix) so I felt right at home.

      4. Graham Wilson
        FAIL

        Re: Re: More WTF.... No comparison!!

        No comparison:

        1. A three phase outlet is NOT a GPO. OK?

        2. Very small it must have been. It can't have even been a medium sided factory if you took half of it out from a single outlet.

        3. Most machine tools etc. are fused at the normal 15/30A per phase or whatever which usually represents only one or at most a few machines. Normally machine tools, lathes, mills, etc. are individually fused (parallel loading of machines on multiple outlets from one fuse/breaker is normally avoided to stop catastrophic arcing in case of a short circuit).

        4. If it were a high current outlet of hundreds of amps (meant for large industrial machinery) then the local arc flash may have killed you or its UV stuffed your retinas.

        5. If it were a high-current, high-power outlet, then what were you doing fucking about anyway? Such high power outlets are an absolute no-no unless special precautions/safety measures are undertaken first.

        6. If 1-5 don't apply then there's a serious writing fault within the factory and the site should be declared unsafe until it's fixed.

        Again, no modern industrial system such as Taipei's Metro could be brought down by the fusing of a normal GPO. If for some remarkably strange reason it were ever to happen then the chief electrical engineer and all is junior engineers ought to be strung up by the balls on meat hooks. In such circumstances, a description of them involving 'incompetent' would be pathetically weak and mild.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Re: Re: More WTF.... No comparison!!

          Oh dear we've summoned Captain Safety.

        2. Vic
          Joke

          Re: Re: Re: More WTF.... No comparison!!

          > If 1-5 don't apply then there's a serious writing fault within the factory

          You might be right, but I'd be far more worried about the wiring faults...

          Vic.

    2. Colin Miller

      Re: More WTF....

      The traction-power will be separated from the socket power. (Traction is normally 600V at several kiloamps).

      However, if the fuse-board's ELCB is tripped, then it could take out several mains circuits including -

      1. All other platform sockets, including vending machines.

      2. Any platform ministores.

      3. Ticket issuing machines.

      4. Platform access gates - hopefully these fail to open, rather than to closed.

      5. Platform-train screen gates used on over-crowed lines - if these fail open then people could fall onto the tracks, if they fail closed, then none can get on/off the next train.

      Yes, there should be better separation, but if the sockets are only for cleaning machines, then it might not be that well designed.

      1. Peter Simpson 1
        Megaphone

        Cleaning machines

        You mean those industrial-size floor polishers that are all motor? Those things must use kilowatts of power. Hard to understand how a mobile charger could bring down a whole station when a cleaning machine doesn't affect it in the least.

        (aren't the ticket machines on a different breaker than the cleaning outlets? One would certainly hope so)

        More like the station management being d*cks about people using their outlets. And perhaps a small safety concern about people tripping over folks huddled by the outlets during rush hour, I guess.

        //Megaphone for station manager

        1. Daniel 4

          Re: Cleaning machines

          "You mean those industrial-size floor polishers that are all motor? Those things must use kilowatts of power. Hard to understand how a mobile charger could bring down a whole station when a cleaning machine doesn't affect it in the least."

          Actually, 1 kilowatt or so for your typical floor polisher (though most of them don't have much in the way of starter caps and thus have a nice fat current surge at start up). A phone mobe charger is equally likely to blow a breaker if it is short circuited as a floor polisher (as in either case, current will cease to be limited by the device and only be limited by the wiring + whatever is making the short, tripping the breaker /almost/ immediately). However, other posters are correct - in neither case should it significantly impact anything upstream from local distribution.

          -d

    3. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge
      Unhappy

      Re: More WTF....

      > worried a short circuit may bring down the electricity-powered rail network.

      Don't tell TfL, next thing you know carrying a mobile phone charger on the tube will get you arrested (or shot?) for "going equipped for terrorism"

      Sadly I'm only half joking...

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: More WTF....

      "Then the rail network is not fit for use and probably fails to meet many mandatory standards. "

      Pfft. It's made in Taiwan, what did you expect? (That's an 80's thing for the youngsters)

  4. Bush_rat
    WTF?

    A bit Harsh?!?

    More like ridiculous. If you plug in your 1996 "high end" gaming rig and take the whole cities power, fair. But a phone charger?

    1. Slabfondler
      WTF?

      Re: A bit Harsh?!?

      My 1996 high end gaming rig had I think a 350 watt PSU, my 2007 high end gaming rig had a 750

      watt PSU..your point was?

  5. Winkypop Silver badge
    Trollface

    a short circuit may bring down the electricity-powered rail network

    You can run a commuter train system on 240V power?

    Wow, that's efficiency.

  6. Timmay
    Meh

    Public electricity

    "crime of stealing public electricity"

    If it is indeed <b>public</b> electricity, surely it's his to use?

    1. John Robson Silver badge

      Re: Public electricity

      Do you pay for public transport?

      Public != Free

      1. Timmay

        Re: Re: Public electricity

        Hmm, your point is a good one, and I'm struggling to counter it. However, I'd argue that most things "public" are free, unless there is a method of payment either next to, or part of it. For example, you get on a bus, and there's a driver or machine who will take your money, or a machine you can wave a card at.

        If something is "public" (ie. accessible to the public) and there's no method of paying, the only way to access that is without paying, which makes it free.

        Yes, I'm being fasicious.

  7. Dan 109
    Meh

    After reading the article I can only assume the usual reg headline editor is off for the day.

    1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      But, but, I'm here..

      :-(

      1. amanfromearth

        Re: But, but, I'm here..

        But to no avail..

        WTF is a plug socket?

        I think you mean "socket"

        1. Arnold Lieberman
          Headmaster

          Socket to me

          As opposed to a TCP socket, or a socket set (for playing with your nuts)...

        2. BristolBachelor Gold badge
          Joke

          Re: Re: But, but, I'm here..

          "WTF is a plug socket?"

          I think it's one of those things they have over in 'merica (also Japan; Taipei I don't know about).

          They function a bit like a mains socket, but with just 2 small parallel slots for little slotty pins. If you want an earth you often have to unscrew one of the fixing screws and attach a separate wire to it. Also they seem to have a habit of overheating badly and even catching fire (compared to the 3-pin types used in Europe).

          1. NukEvil

            Re: Re: Re: But, but, I'm here..

            Actually, most of our outlets here do have the parallel slots and a mostly-round slot beneath for a ground prong to plug into.

            There may not be an actual ground wire connected to that slot, but still; it's nice not to have to go fishing for an adapter everytime I need to plug a 3-pronged plug into a 2-pronged outlet.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              FAIL

              Re: Re: Re: Re: But, but, I'm here..

              The situation in Canada is getting a little better.

              All new sockets must be 3-pin but for some inexplicable reason, a lot of power tools are still two pin, even ones that have metal bodies. I bought a power drill the other day from Home Depot. A good sturdy piece of equipment, but it had a metal gearbox with exposed metal casing. I just couldn't find one that was properly grounded with a 3-pin plug. It's (only!) 120V but you could still get a right good belt off that.

              But then a lot of things in the electrical trade here make me despair. There're no screw terminals behind the sockets, wires are twisted together with little screw caps, I kid you not. First time I saw one I thought, "OK, this was done by a fly-by-night merchant", but the instructions on how to do this "properly" are in the building regs here. (Shakes head in disbelief)

              1. Peter2 Silver badge

                Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: But, but, I'm here..

                >><i>It's (only!) 120V but you could still get a right good belt off that.</i>

                Volts shock, amps kill.

                1. LaeMing
                  Alert

                  Volts shock, amps kill.

                  As tradies and engies here say:

                  "It's the volts that jolts, but the mills that kills".

                2. Anonymous Coward
                  Anonymous Coward

                  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: But, but, I'm here..

                  > Volts shock, amps kill.

                  Truly, but as any fule no, given constant resistance, current is proportional to voltage.

          2. mhenriday
            Boffin

            Both 2-pin and 3-pin sockets

            seem to be used in Taiwan, as shown in the image available here (don't know which type they have in underground stations in Taipei) :

            http://www.trade.gov/mas/ian/ecw/tw.html

            Henri

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Re: But, but, I'm here..

          "mains socket" is what you're looking for.

      2. Psyx
        Go

        Re: But, but, I'm here..

        "Wang fined for publicly plugging into mains socket?"

        "Wang plugged into mains?"

        "Sizzling Wang shocker?"

        "Wang pulled free of mains electricity; fined for his pleasure"

        1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

          Re: Re: But, but, I'm here..

          Yes, I did consider those but I fear I blew my quota with "Acer's proud Wang: We're on the rise at last" and "Acer pulls out Wang, thrusts its wealth at Ho".

          There will more plenty of Wang-based opportunities in future.

          C.

          1. Psyx
            Joke

            Re: Re: Re: But, but, I'm here..

            But surely - as my misses often says* - there's no such thing as too much Wang.

            *I wish

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            @diodesign

            You can't just wave your Wang about anywhere.

      3. Dan 109
        Facepalm

        Re: But, but, I'm here..

        Wang > Electricity Thief.

        1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

          Re: Re: But, but, I'm here..

          Dan, you got your wish. Wang quota topped up. Will never go soft again etc...

          C.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wait wait

    So there's like metro stations full of sockets, all labeled "do not use on pain of massive fines"? I'd make fun of the "in chinese" bit except it was in china (alright, taiwan), but I digress.

    Sounds like inciting and provoking to me. Why not simply remove the things? Or put them behind a lock with a standard key issued to cleaners or something? Why even waste police effort on "theft" worth less than pennies? Are they all this principled then?

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Don't we have a similar law here, "Abstracting energy"?

    Also, don't some stations here use a variant of the normal plug where each pin is rotated 90degrees to only allow authorised devices in?

    1. The First Dave
      Boffin

      The normal usage of such "unusual" plug designs is for "clean" mains supplies in Hospitals, and similar arrangements - this is actually to stop things like vacuum cleaners from being plugged in to the same circuit as a life-support machine.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        More likely it's to prevent foreign cleaners who don't speak or read a word of English from -unplugging- the life support machines, in order to plug in their vacuum cleaner. Once they notice the plug doesn't fit, they're less likely to do so in future.

        1. Imsimil Berati-Lahn
          Thumb Up

          Indeed so...

          So the ICU is then limited to only one unexplained patient death per cleaning contract renewal.

    2. Soruk
      FAIL

      So obvious I don't know why they didn't think of this...

      Use a non-standard socket type, and just wire authorised kit to the appropriate plug. For example, a BS1363 plug, not that hard to find in that region as HK uses them. Or, the good old BS546 15-amp round-pin, as still used in South Africa.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Um when you have pins rotated differently (variant of the normal plug)them normal that's do the amperage is higher than standard plug.

  10. squilookle
    Facepalm

    Did the phone in question have a removable battery? If so, he should probably carry a spare in future. :)

    Seriously though, I think this is ridiculous. If it's that much of a problem, then the already mentioned idea of putting locks on the socket and giving the cleaners and any other staff that need them a key would be more sensible.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      No, it's really not.

      Cost of locking every plug, plus labour costs = millions.

      Cost of dishing out a massive fine every couple of years in order to put people off doing it = zero.

      We don't prevent dog fouling by fitting every dog with some kind of rectal valve that prevents it doing it anywhere outside of the owner's garden, or prevent petty crime by making it physically impossible. Instead, our systems of law operate by making it so that we don't want to break them, because of the personal cost of doing so.

      Preventing people from physically breaking laws also impinges on personal freedoms. Far better that we have a choice, and then have consequences to face.

      1. squilookle
        Headmaster

        I would generally agree with everything you just said there, except for one tiny thing:

        "Taipei Rapid Transit claimed in the paper that the reason for its rigorous policy on such matters is that it is worried a short circuit may bring down the electricity-powered rail network"

        If the consequences of someone ignoring the signs are that they can bring down the rail network, then spending the money on preventing people from using the sockets is probably worth it.

        A dog fouling outside the owner's garden doesn't have consequences as severe as bringing down a rail network (unless you let your dog play on the tracks and it happens to be capable of producing impressive amounts).

        "We don't prevent ... petty crime by making it physically impossible. Instead, our systems of law operate by making it so that we don't want to break them, because of the personal cost of doing so."

        This doesn't hold true for everything. Many crimes are prevented (or attempts to prevent them are made) by imposing physical measures such as locks, be it kensington locks, bike locks, locked doors, or the differently shaped mains sockets employed in other public places that other posters have mentioned in this discussion.

  11. Graham Wilson
    FAIL

    First class crap.

    "Taipei Rapid Transit claimed in the paper that the reason for its rigorous policy on such matters is that it is worried a short circuit may bring down the electricity-powered rail network."

    Utter fucking crap!

    If the system were designed that badly then it wouldn't be working at all.

    Officious bastards!

  12. pisquee

    There are plenty of alternative electric socket designs they could use to avoid having standard domestic sockets available. Take away the possibility of joe-public being able to plug in, rather than just a sign saying they shouldn't.

  13. Dan 109
    Go

    "Taiwan charges discharged wang, incorrect juice acquisition"

    The opportunities are boundless.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "had it not been for the fact that all sockets at the stations are labelled clearly in Chinese with a notice expressly forbidding the practice."

    Well he's complete prat and deserves a telling off!

  15. Dave Mitchell
    Boffin

    So how much electicity was stolen?

    My phone charger uses 0.1A@240V. Assuming it was plugged in for ten minutes, that's 0.004 kWH, and at about 15p per kWH, that's 0.06p. Clearly Mr Wang is a dirty thief who should locked up and the key thrown away.

    1. AndrewH
      Happy

      Re: So how much electicity was stolen?

      Hmm... given that Bernie Madoff got 150 years for scamming US$18 billion (give or take), our Taiwanese thief should be looking at 250 nanoseconds of in the clink, assuming some reasonable level of proportionality.

      He'll be out in no time!

  16. jungle_jim
    Facepalm

    thems the rules

    so just follow them.

    punishment seems a little excessive though. that said nothing surprises me punishment wise after being in SG for a few months

  17. Richard 51
    Mushroom

    Whatever happened to proportionality

    How much electricity did he use? likely to be in tenths of whatever currency applies... so why the gestapo tactics or do they teach this in some sort of global training centre for Mass Transit Companies, sounds like the sort of thing TfL would do.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Whatever happened to proportionality

      How much did it cost to take to court?

      How much will this single fine and the news of it put others off from doing the same thing?

      Seems like a good idea to me.

  18. Kubla Cant
    Pirate

    Stealing electricity

    When I was a teenager, back in the Analogue Age, you could make free calls from phone boxes by jiggling the receiver rest to simulate pulse dialing. We called it "phone tapping", though even in those days that meant something different. A little later there was a technique for making long-distance calls at local cost by dialing local hops all the way to the destination. The attenuation was appalling, but long-distance calls were expensive. Finally, people learned how to manipulate the phone system with audio oscillators, a practice known as "phone phreaking".

    I was led to believe that people who were prosecuted for these practices were charged with stealing electricity to the value of a fraction of a (pre-decimal) penny. I don't know what the penalties were - transportation to Botany Bay, probably.

  19. Stoneshop
    FAIL

    Their motivation is clear, their reasoning is not

    They don't want people plugging devices into these sockets. Fair enough; it's their infrastructure, they get to decide what goes. But "will bring down the train system" is utter and complete bollocks with a side order of nonsense and a large portion of hogwash on top, unless they haven't heard of circuit breakers, and power conditioning for the control systems. In which case they deserve to be taken out by a rogue phone charger.

  20. deset rat
    FAIL

    Worried that a short circuit on an electrical outlet could bring down the rail network? System doesn't seem very fault tolerant. This is like a kid with a .22 rifle sinking a battleship!

    1. Will's

      a kid with a .22 rifle sinking a battleship!

      more like designing a space ship with an unshielded exhaust port that led directly to the core reactor.

  21. Werner McGoole
    Facepalm

    Public electricity

    I guess they'll just throw him in jail for a bit, then. Where they'll be able to use a bit more public leccy lighting his cell, cooking his food, etc.

    Maybe he'll even be allowed to charge his phone there too.

  22. billium
    Mushroom

    terrorist opportunity

    Small remote controlled relay embedded in plug bring Taipei to standstill .. $praise $deity

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Bringing down systems from a socket

    Way back when I used to do IT training I was sent over to Germany to teach a load of US Army guys TCP/IP. I needed to print something out so I found a spare IEC lead and plugged in a handy Laserjet.

    Shortly afterwards a cloud of smoke (and a large portion of the army base being blacked out) revealed that US-specific models of Laserject want 110v and aren't keen on receiving double that.

  24. perlcat
    Unhappy

    They may be dicks...

    ...but Taiwan *is* the country that outlawed public gum chewing -- their dick-ness is not only profound, it should be comnmon knowledge to the point where "don't plug that thing in here or you'll pay" should be taken seriously.

    1. Alex Rose

      Re: They may be dicks... @perlcat

      "but Taiwan *is* the country that outlawed public gum chewing"

      Sorry perlcat, that was Singapore :(

      1. LaeMing
        Joke

        Taiwan, Singapore

        They all look alike.

        1. Michael Thibault
          Thumb Up

          Re: Taiwan, Singapore

          I see what you did there ;)

          1. perlcat

            Re: Re: Taiwan, Singapore

            Mea culpa.

  25. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    They were worried the charger would bring down their electricity network?

    They run the trains off the domestic mains? The next time the substation outside Waterloo catches fire, the solution is simple. Just run an extension from someones house!

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Fiddling with sockets.

    Hmm, wonder if I can get the Mrs imprisoned for unplugging the router when hoovering?

  27. Phil the Geek

    One Swallow does not a bummer make

    The Swallow Hotel in Dundee used to have signs in the bar area saying if you plugged your phone charger into a wall socket you had to pay £1 for the privilege. Apart from that flash of lunatic tight-fistedness it was a pretty reasonable hotel.

  28. The Grump
    Mushroom

    When electricity belongs to everyone...

    it belongs to no one. Wang stole the people's electric - GUILTY. Moral of the story - socialism, communism, it all sucks. Stay the hell out of China, and don't buy their stuff.

    1. Stoneshop
      FAIL

      @The Grump

      If you had actually bothered to read *and comprehend* the article, it might have occurred to you that this event happened in Taiwan, which to the best of my knowledge, and despite protestations from mainland China, is not part of China proper, and not very communist at all.

      But facts are not your forte, as you have demonstrated several times already

  29. ACx

    Gutted.

    Not one single childish Wang joke. What is the world coming to?

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why bother with train stations?

    It's just as easy to dig through your wall and tie into a neighbour's ring main, and it's not illegal, especially if you're only powering low energy lights, and computers and stuff.

  31. LaeMing
    Happy

    Stealing power - how the 'pros' do it

    Stories (unverified) from my EE trades teachers many decades ago:

    Phone company investigating excessive power draw on a line find a guy powering a basement packed with model trains from the 40volt phone-line float.

    Power company investigating an unusually lossy major transmission line find a guy living adjacent to the line with big rolls of copper strung around his roof cavity powering his whole house.

    1. Stoneshop
      FAIL

      Re: Stealing power - how the 'pros' do it

      The first one is false. If you load the phone line with more than just a meagre indicator bulb, the exchange will see this as "off-hook" and drop the voltage to 12 volts, still with not enough current available to drive a gnat's electric wheelchair, let alone a model train.

      Living next door to a major exchange and somehow getting a few wires connected to the battery banks, that would work, but you sure want to have a fuse in there. Shorting out those banks can lead to serious fireworks. A painter putting down his tin of paint, bridging the bus bars, got the battery room painted in a flash, not unlike Mr. Bean's way of painting the room (but without wrapping the furniture first)

  32. Allan George Dyer

    They are much more civilised in Finland

    I once had a shave from a convenient socket in the Baggage Hall at Helsinki airport while my friend was being questioned by Immigration.

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