Comments by "Laurence Fraser" (@laurencefraser) on "Power outlets are topsy turvy - but does it matter?" video.

@BooBaddyBig Ring circuits are a terrible idea that was only used to compensate for a Massive copper shortage at a time when mass rebuilding was necessary. Plug fueses are... debateable. That said, Switched Outlets, with the switch right there at the outlet, are an entirely different matter and there's a reason they're common even in places that never used ring circuits.
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avoiding conflicts like that is the point in 45 degree plugs (almost always down-right), and one of the advantages of the 'straight out the back' type (countered by all the down sides of 'straight out the back' if your plug design is bad). Actually, one thing I've noticed a lot where I live (not the USA), is that Multiboxes (powerstrips, I guess) tend to have 45 degree plugs, but the sort of things that fully expect they're going to be plugged Into a multibox tend to have 'straight out the back' plugs... and then there's the never to be sufficiently damnned wall warts. Bad enough when they all point Down (introducing the levering problem even in plugs that wouldn't have it otherwise), but then some genius started making multiboxes with two rows of plugs facing opposite ways to accomodate them... and after getting one I encountered, for the first time ever, a wall wart where the cable came out the TOP! Which, naturally, couldn't go in ANY of the sockets on that multibox. Though more recently I bought a multibox with... 10 sockets? 12? it deals with this by having some of the sockets further apart to accomodate wide wall warts, and as a result the sockets on one side are Not in line with the sockets on the other side (and they also have the two sides facing opposite ways), so there's always at least a couple of sockets that are viable for any given stupid non-standard plug. So long as you don't have too many that are non-standard in the same fashion.
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@danielstickney2400 I imagine you were joking, but for clarity, that's backwards. Ring mains came about due to needing to do mass rebuilding while also suffering a significatn shortage of copper wire. The safety of the standard plug came about due to the need to compensate for the inherent horribleness of ring mains. Ring mains have since been done away with (save, perhaps, in sufficiently old buildings that no one's got around to fixing up), the safe plugs have not.
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@kc9scott thinner wire, maybe, but also you don't have each outlet/light (or set there of) having to run a wire all the way to the switch/fuse/breaker box and back, instead the wires just run to the next (generally closest) one in the ring. That's where the saving in copper wire came from, it required substantially less than half as much. It was a post war measure to compensate for a shortage of copper wiring.
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meanwhile, in Europe and Aus/NZ (though at least in the latter case this is a recent-ish change) just insulate the base of the prongs so the levering issue never becomes a safety hazard to begin with. (and NZ at least has switched sockets as standard too. you occasionally find unswitched sockets, but they're generally old and/or intended for a specific purpose where the thing plugged into them will both be unplugged only for repair or removal) 45 degree plugs are generally more practical while still maintaining the advantages of stright down plugs, too (though whether you get a 45 degree plug or 'straight out the back' plug with the Aus/NZ plugs depends on how recent it is and what the expected use case it.). Basically, Aus/NZ plugs are Slightly less safe than British ones (not by enough to matter much though), while being noticeably more convenient (usually). Also, wallwarts are just a menace in general.
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you know what'd seriously mitigate the risks while plugging and unplugging those badly designed plugs? Switched sockets :P Seriously, if the socket isn't live when you're plugging or unplugging the plug, the plug's terrible design is kind of irrelivant to how likely you are or are not to get shocked in the process. Of course, that doesn't help with any Other issues, but it does solve that one.
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