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(χλιαρή προσπάθεια για ελληνική εκδοχή της ιδέας των lolcats, μια και τρέφω μια συμπάθεια στις γάτες)
"I would gratefully appreciate it, if you could answer my following question. I am thinking of buying a new water heater (of American origin) for my home and the question that bothers me is if there is any danger of electrical shock for the person that takes a bath while the heater on. The advice of the Greek electricians, when they install a water heater of greek manufacture, is to turn the heater on, let the water come to the right temperature, then turn it off and take a bath. Their argument in favor of this policy is that you can protect yourself against an electrical shock in case of some heater malfunction of any kind (they certainly say that this is just to be on the safe side and that the possibility of an electric shock is rather remote). Is there any truth in their advice or it is just a myth?
I appreciate your answer and my apologies for bothering you with such a rather trivial question because you probably are not familiar with the mode of construction of Greek electric water heaters, although I think it is more or less similar to the American ones."
"I have been in the electrical business for 40 years and have never heard of anyone, anywhere in the world, getting an electrical shock from a water heater. They are perfectly safe and you never have to turn them off to take a bath or a shower. What your electricians are telling you is simply not true.
I am a Principal Committee member on a US national standards committee on electrical safety, am a Certified Plant Engineer, and am a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Trust me when I tell you that there is absolutely no danger with leaving your water heater on all of the time."
(Δεν είμαι και πολύ σίγουρος ποιον θα ωφελήσουν τα τελευταία τρία posts, εκτός φυσικά από εμένα, γιατί το να τα γράψω όλα αυτά με βοήθησε στο να ξεκαθαρίσω μέσα στο κεφάλι μου. Υποθέτω αν ξεκινάτε τώρα πληροφορική, ή σας ξέφυγε το θέμα του Unicode και των character encodings (όπως εμένα) θα σας φανούν χρήσιμα. Ή ακόμη αν σας ενδιαφέρει το πώς λειτουργούν οι υπολογιστές.
Μέρος της δουλειάς βασίστηκε πάνω στο διάσημο πια άρθρο του Joel Spolsky για τα απολύτως απαραίτητα που πρέπει να ξέρει ο προγραμματιστής για το Unicode. Εσκεμμένα απέφυγα να αναφερθώ σε Big-Endian και Little-Endian θέματα)