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Re:Amazon’s Alexa assistant told a child to do a potentially... by throwaway34511 on Wednesday December 29, 2021 @03:14PM (#29729430)
When I was maybe 8-9 I found a dual plug extension for the Christmas lights. It looked like two of those cheap green plugs with a little socket on the back, wired to each other. I think some people call it a widowmaker, and to this day I can't imagine why something so dangerous would have been manufactured. Anyway, I wanted to know what would happen if I plugged both plugs into the wall at the same time. I got paralyzed right there in front of mom, unable to even talk or shout, for at least 15 seconds, but it seemed like forever. It's weird because I knew to only touch insulator. I somehow fell off it and then unplugged it. I slunk away without her finding out, but my arm had a strange feeling for a while.
Re:Amazon’s Alexa assistant told a child to do a potentially... by morpheuskafka on Wednesday December 29, 2021 @11:54PM (#29733761)
In theory, plugging both of them into the same circuit (such as two plugs in one receptacle) shouldn't damage anything as far as I know. Of course, it won't do anything useful, and if the plug is not polarized then there's a good chance of plugging it in backwards and shorting out the circuit.

And, as you learned then, there is a great danger of accidentally touching the live end. "Proper" use of this, if there is such a thing, would dictate plugging the load in first, then the supply, but in this case there was supply on both ends.

Re:Amazon’s Alexa assistant told a child to do a potentially... by boring_twenties on Wednesday December 29, 2021 @07:56PM (#29732197)
Do you mean one of these? https://i.imgur.com/SM60upY.jpeg
Re:Amazon’s Alexa assistant told a child to do a potentially... by throwaway34511 on Thursday December 30, 2021 @06:18AM (#29735766)
It was like that, but with light string style piggyback plugs on both ends. So the non-wall side could have been in the middle of a bunch of piggybacked plugs, but there would still be two exposed, energized prongs on whatever it was plugged into.
Re:Amazon’s Alexa assistant told a child to do a potentially... by cyckl on Wednesday December 29, 2021 @10:21PM (#29733156)
Suicide cables!