General thoughts

[LongRunner]

Safety standards
Stop defending the legal approach to their enforcement; it's a dead institution and there's no use mourning it (much less attempting to revive it).
Even when things do go through approval, the process seems to be largely rubber-stamping these days (I discovered that the “Sun Fair” C14 inlet in my Sunbeam RC5600 has off‑spec pins – and as I saw in RetraVision, so does that in the smaller Kambrook KRC300 – which I've now replaced with a properly‑dimensioned Solteam inlet from an old PSU, an FSP if I remember right). Let's not forget the Dumbplex 3088T heater , along with numerous travel adapters on which only the Australian side complies (the foreign parts violating their respective standards).

If anything DēLonghi are the only small-appliance brand (that I've seen) which manages to stay on top of these matters.
So I try to stay with them (certainly for heaters) except where there's a good reason to get something else (e.g. the Russell Hobbs RHT12 toaster).

On a side note, I've come to admire Leon Crampin on the UK Vintage Radio forum; he foresaw the whole RIFA metallized paper capacitor debacle, and he definitely doesn't sugar-coat his views (whether on the slackness of standards bodies, or the “quality” of Quad equipment).

[LongRunner]

Risk taking
Annoyingly, lots of men (mainly) seem to degenerate from taking productive risks (where there's a worthy reward if successful) to destructive risks (with no meaningful reward, and many with definite harms) at a certain age. Perhaps this phenomenon is an unanticipated side-effect of modern safety culture?
(It's true that less risk-taking is necessary in everyday life nowadays, but something has to fill the gap left behind…)

That said, I've never been thrilled by “conventional” risks (extreme sports, motorcycles, drugs etc.) as I have a much-more sophisticated form of bravery

[LongRunner]

Toxic “masculinity”
The term is a bit too vague: To me “toxic manliness” makes more sense, as men built “the system” to favor “manly” traits (aggression, dominance) over “boyish” types (innocence, adventure, playfulness). I have more of the latter, so if you say I “haven't grown up” I'll take it as a badge of honor

That doesn't excuse the puerile types like Elon Musk, though (I don't know if he's genuinely an Aspie, but either way he's too X-centric for me )

EC 2257/94 (the EU's infamous “bendy banana law”)
I have a new-found respect for it after reading the “Edge may be slightly rounded” statement in parts of IEC 60320; sure EC 2257/94 was idiotically vague (and hence largely responsible for the subsequent anti-EU sentiment) – how much curvature is “abnormal”? – but at least it's free to access.

[LongRunner]

QAnon
I won't defend the movement as it's propagated – that would be extremely difficult (if even possible) – but its originator (so he claims) has quite some hidden depths. I might not agree with everything he posts, but he's come up with some awesome (and fun) insights into various topics (social media algorithms, false expertise, how Stalin and Hitler ruined healthcare in the USA and a few more for paid subscribers).

He was also the sanest Trump supporter I've ever seen. I don't know if I should thank him for testing the system

UPDATE: OK, parts of his latest post are pushing it. Between that and my tightening financial situation, I've cancelled my subscription (I couldn't find a way to change it from paid to free). While his wild thoughts can be very interesting, if you want my money then you have to write consistently good articles…

UPDATE 2: To be fair, he no longer supports Trump, so I guess that earns him some redemption points

[LongRunner]

Swimming pools
I don't know how common such an arrangement is, but I don't enjoy having to choose between warmth and depth at the local pool.
It's like they're only aiming at two target audiences – children, and sports jocks

Clipsal electrical accessories (Australia)
Anyone with a modicum of experience with Australian electrical items knows they're better-made than HPM, but are they as good as they should be? I'm not sure.
Ring-Grip's switches had a smoother, crisper action (the Clipsal 30M's action gets stiff as grease pushes out from the sliding parts); and while Clipsal promoted their much-improved 30USM as “universal”, in practice they've just used it to replace the 30M20 (assembled switch-plates still contain the plain old 30M).
Some of their items also have an outrageous price difference between the unassembled plate and complete assembly (e.g. the 32/2V is now AU$29 RRP, but 32/2VA AU$165), so any sane person would buy the plate and install the mechanisms themselves.
(And observing their current prices for much of the old Standard series, they're not kidding about selling it to government departments )

Some other things I don't get:

• For all the 2000 Series' enduring versatility, why did Clipsal decide to make its 3-gang architrave switch (2033A) as tall as the 4-gang (2034A), making it non‑interchangeable with the 33A and incompatible with the 70/3 mounting block?
  (I can only guess it was to save on molding a separate 3‑gang surround, but that doesn't explain why the decision carried over to the Classic C2033A.)
  While at it, why didn't they make the 2030 as tall as the 2032A and save on a separate 1‑gang surround? (HPM took the opportunity with their XLA770/1, although Clipsal eventually got there with the Iconic 3041AL and Pro P3041A; those do just that, though they don't have 3/4-gang architrave options…)
• Anyhow given the unique sizes of architrave switch plates, why even include them in the 2000 Series?
  (I only choose the 2030 over C2030 because at least 2000 Series surrounds are polycarbonate, rather than the ABS of Classic covers.)
• The twin outlets with one 15A + one 10A socket (25/1510, 16/2MF1510) seemed sensible, so why didn't they carry over to the newer series?
• Why are 20A plugs only available with rigid bodies (1439/20 and formerly 425HD), but the 20A extension socket only with a flexible cover (438/20)?
• Wouldn't an extra-low voltage plug for figure-8 cable (492/32Y?) have been nice, given that ELV is where figure-8 cables are most suitable?
  (Clipsal even taunted us by showing one in the photos on page 4 of brochure A0000123. )
• While the 418(S)'s cover overhangs the body for grip, why is this the case even at the cord entrance?
  (Deta/Arlec actually straightened that out in their knock-off.)
• How ridiculously posh do you have to be to pony up for the Metal Plate Range?

I'll have to try Hager's range sometime…

[LongRunner]

Universal Basic Income
Much has been (and continues to be) written about its advantages over conventional means-tested welfare (especially in deflating bureaucracy), but to me its greatest benefit may be that we'd no longer have to provide counterproductive jobs for unskilled people.

This doesn't mean outright eliminating means-tested payments for specific disabilities with high support costs, but it'd take care of the low-hanging fruit.
(Although UBI may make it harder to convince people to do dirty-work; YMMV on how good and/or bad that is overall.)

Ultimately, if we don't want every adult to have to work (regardless of their ability or otherwise) then UBI is the only way to reliably support them (means‑testing always leaves some people to slip through the cracks). Without UBI, we have to find a job each person can do (even if only barely; and in my experience, giving jobs to low‑skilled people almost always ends up producing more trouble than it's worth).
Bringing in a liveable UBI might also make it feasible to reduce or eliminate minimum wages (a necessary protection under the current system, but any experienced employer can still attest that some people genuinely aren't worth paying the minimum wage to ).

American arrogance
The reason Americans don't readily grasp their country's arrogant tendencies is largely because (notwithstanding Silicon Valley oligarchs and alt-right politicians) it isn't really overt on any individual person's part (indeed, most people cling to their views largely out of weakness). The USA only became such a major force by way of surviving the World Wars relatively-intact; the lack of effort in their electrical standards (especially residential) could hardly be more obvious, yet their tradespeople will cheerfully point to the edge-cases where they have something better as though it's representative.
And is there a better way to shoot yourself in the foot, than by attacking gender transition while tolerating routine infant circumcision?
(What keeps circumcision accepted, really, is that it's a condition where being harmed leaves you unable to sense that you've been harmed.
As an intact man, I can tell you – you'd be a lot angrier if you knew the sensations you're missing…)

[LongRunner]

Bicycle helmets
Only keep the inside pads if you're bald; if you still have hair, they're more trouble to clean than they're worth.

BS 1363
We all know it was the first plug/socket standard with mandatory safety shutters, but on the downside it's about the only one enshrining double-adapter “logic” into the fixed installation side; since they're conventionally installed on 32A ring circuits you could easily draw 26A through a double socket (13A each), but they're only required to be rated for 13A total. (3+ sockets there have their own 13A fuse, but they're fairly uncommon anyway.)

I haven't seen a combined rating stated for Australian (AS/NZS 3112) outlets, but they don't seem to have a combined limit below that of the circuit they're installed on (most often 16A but sometimes 20A); certainly each one I've tested has handled 2×10A fine (and momentarily survived a considerable overload above that).
While power-boards with 3+ sockets must have overload protection (usually a basic thermal circuit breaker), our quad outlets (mainly for retrofitting) don't.

[LongRunner]

Computing technology
I increasingly root for hardware to reach the physical limits of how far it can advance, so that programmers have to optimize again (rather than slacking off) and e‑waste has less excuse to occur in such volumes…

Humans
We're all weird; so don't use the word as a personal criticism, and don't make out like you're “normal”.

[LongRunner]

Soy
I do feel a bit ill (especially in the stomach) after eating it in quantity, so I wonder if Asian people evolved to tolerate it (much as Caucasians evolved to tolerate milk)? On the milk note:

“Vegetarianism”
In practice it's a feel-good identity for people “concerned” (sincerely or otherwise) about animals and/or the environment, but unprepared to go vegan.
Dairy and egg farming are at least as violent as meat farming is (and arguably more so in many ways), as clearly documented if you look anywhere.

If you don't want to exploit animals, go vegan; if you don't care then eat what you like – if it's to your taste then by all means have dairy, eggs and/or honey without meat (or seafood without other meats), just don't claim any virtue for it.

Mitsuba couldn't care less…

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[LongRunner]

“Willful ignorance”
The problem with saying that phrase as a complaint is that people need to willfully ignore bad information (whichever way it's bad – nonsensical, from a non‑credible source, etc.). So the phrase's actual meaning (assuming the complainer is correct) is that the subject is willfully ignoring the wrong things; so if you're to have any hope of resolving the dispute, you need to find out why they're ignoring the information in question, and work out a way to address their reason(s).