Why do circuit breakers go up for on and down for off?

Probably because that's two rows. And it was easier to wire them together at one end instead of having great big cables going right across.

I wonder what happens if you put your finger in that gap with the terminals stuck out?

What's the link to the reddit discussion?

I used to have a problem with random tripping of the whole house RCD.

Then I fixed the earth<->neutral short in the workshop and apart from an electrocuted mouse, it hasn't tripped since.

Earth and neutral are the same thing. Only two wires enter my house from the substation.

I helped to set up an electricity museum.

Not here. They are random.

That's because logarithmic potentiometers are used, and the manufacturers make them in one direction only.

It would be a mess manufacturing both directions. But reverse screws do exist.

Depends on the country.

Here all houses have mandatorily a whole house RCD. Since many years.

No shorts found on ours, it was simply too many computers and peripherals, with filters that constantly leak to earth, meaning that it was always high enough that it would take very little to raise it over the trip level and something coming on automatically might be just enough of a change to do it. It was infrequent (once every couple of months), but annoying (waking up late because the alarm had not gone off or losing a freezer load of food because we were away for a few days when it tripped - we lost two lots that way).

Mine goes sideways. Why's that?

But I don't live in America where they have plus 120 volts, minus 120 volts, 240 volts, and how do you remember which live wire is which?

Actually it depends which way you installed them. But I seldom see one which is up for on, apart from two way switches which can end up either way.

And they picked the correct direction.

And they chose the correct one.

They shouldn't.

I see no reason to have two wires at the same voltage.

And if you don't have one you what? Go to jail?

An alarm with no batteries, ROTFPMSL!

And didn't think to remove the stupid thing causing the fault?

Lack of space where your fusebox was installed?

It matches the master switch, which is always up for on (presumably that would have been a knife switch originally).

Up for on in the US. And side to side in Japan - something to do with earthquakes

Steering column stalks can be confusing, especially which side the horn is - I rarely use it, and if I do, I'm in a hurry. Squirting water on the windscreen isn't as effective in alerting other drivers.

Wrong. In a fusebox (before we had breakers), down was always on.

We all know the US is backward.

I can't see how an earthquake would make side to side any better. It's going to shake everything in many directions.

The horn should always be in the centre of the wheel. Only had one car on the stalk. Pressing the horn (which is usually done hastily) usually resulted in the indicator or headlights coming on too.

Most cars seem to squirt water onto my windscreen behind them. Don't they notice they're not actually cleaning their own windscreen? I've been known to tailgate someone washing their screen when I've run out of water (the water never lasts a full journey with grit on the road, and in winter mine has usually frozen up - I'm not going to pay money for antifreeze that gets used up in half an hour).

What I've never understood is people indicating the wrong way. I know someone who can't remember which is which - I pointed out you move the stalk the same way you're going too turn then wheel, and she thought that was some kind of brilliant idea. And I know someone else who came up with some crazy reason it's best to tell people you're going the other way as somehow lying puts you at an advantage?

I once drove a BMW (not mine) and the indicators were very clever. Push in the appropriate direction to turn them on, push the other way to cancel (e.g. changing lanes where the wheel doesn't move far). However, linger a fraction too long on the cancel, and it starts indicating the other way...

I appreciate that not many BMW drivers actually know this from experience.

Sounds stupid. Firstly, when changing lane I don't push hard enough for it to latch. It indicates until I let go. Secondly, when you push back the other way to cancel (I never have to do this since indicators self cancel), you move it one click for off and two to indicate the other way, obviously.

The cancel on my Renault is insane. If I indicate right, I expect to have turned right before it will cancel when I straighten the wheel. But instead, if I indicate right, then turn the wheel left (eg. entering a roundabout), it turns off! Very basic design flaw, the little things that push the stalk back shouldn't exist until a bit further right on the wheel rotation. No other car has annoyed me this way.

BMW drivers aren't very bright. But their headlights are three times brighter than the regulations, which failed miserably when brighter more efficient bulbs were invented. Bring back 55/65W bulbs so we can see where we're going!