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It is still November, so it is still without effort.

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That sound?

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The heat’s running.

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I didn’t shut it off!

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It’ll turn off eventually, but for now?

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White noise!

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Before the video starts, fair warning: 
snark levels are pretty high in this one.

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Uh, even I think I may have gone a little far here but, um,

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y’know I’m just trying to make the world a better place in my…

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admittedly over-the-top frustrated way.

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Anyway, c’mon let’s go.

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So there’s this thing we do here in the US with outlets:

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we sometimes put ‘em on a light switch.

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And this annoys the crap out of some folks.

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I have a simple goal today: to explain what this is for
(because a good number of people seemingly haven’t figured it out)

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and to encourage you to take advantage of it which will,
if done properly, also alleviate your frustration and confusion.

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Speaking of confusion, I don’t mean that some 
of our outlets have switches on them

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like you might find in the UK or Australia or probably some other places.

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That’s essentially never a thing here,
and when it is it’s definitely a weird special case.  

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I was gonna go on a rant here for like the 
third time

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about how this isn’t an issue at all and I don’t get why those of you think an outlet needs a switch,

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especially when you think it adds a layer of safety because the 
switch is right next to the plug

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which you can also just take out if there’s an emergency 
but I decided against it.

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Except for that bit.

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*clears throat*
No, what I mean is that in many homes (and even hotel rooms)

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you will sometimes find an outlet which is dead.

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But it’s not permanently dead, instead it’s been wired to a light switch
somewhere else in the room.

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Why is that?

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Because lamps are a thing!

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And if you plug a lamp into that outlet 
which is controlled with the light switch,

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suddenly the light switch… becomes a light switch.

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As in a switch which turns on a light.

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See, unlike some places, we don’t do the whole
“lighting circuit” and “receptacle circuit” business.

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Well OK we usually separate them these days so a breaker trip
due to an overloaded outlet won’t kill the lights in the room but

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what I mean is that a light switch is rated to interrupt the whole 15A of a typical circuit, and 20A switches are plenty common, too.  

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That means that we can use them as a switch
for literally anything powered by a 120V circuit.

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So we sometimes use them to interrupt power to a specific receptacle or receptacles in a room

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in order to provide a remote control for a lamp or lamps.

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That’s the point of it!

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It’s not just to be confusing, 
it’s to provide a remote control for a lamp.

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Trouble is, this isn’t always done in the best way.

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But before we get there, some context.

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When electrification was just getting started,

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its killer app was the light bulb.

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Snap-on electric lights meant no more kerosene, no more gas,
and people were excited to have them.

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Low-effort lighting was *the point* of getting electrical service,

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and in fact in some places you’ll still hear people refer to their 
“light bill” and not their power bill.  

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The earliest adopters of these newfangled electric 
lights were getting wires run to each room for a light socket,

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often hanging from the ceiling, 
with a switch by the door for controlling it.

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And that was it.

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The idea of a receptacle for powering other things just… didn’t exist yet.

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The Edison screw socket predates 
the receptacle by a couple of decades.

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But we would swiftly find other uses for this electricity business.

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Perhaps the first ever dongle was an adapter for converting an 
Edison screw socket

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into a two-pronged, flat-blade receptacle which received a matching plug - 
the brainchild of Harvey Hubbell in 1903.  

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Hubbell’s plug design would eventually be standardized

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and now we had an opportunity to put these so-called outlets
in wherever places in whatever rooms for whatever stuff.

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And one of those stuffs... was lamp!

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Yearning for the calm glow and versatility of moveable lamps once again,

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well the trends shifted away from drab overhead lighting and towards floor and table lamps which you could place wherever you like.

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But people did really like those light switches
which let you brighten a room as you entered it.

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So somebody asked

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¿Por que no las dos?

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and the switched outlet was born.

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Instead of running power from a switch to a light fixture overhead,
it went instead to an outlet somewhere in the room.

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Just plug your lamp into that one and you’ll have the best of both worlds.

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This was such a common thing that many homes built in the middle of the last century have rooms with no light fixtures at all,

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but a light switch by the door is still there to control lamps from a distance.

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But now, as trends have steadily moved back towards overhead lighting,
many people seem to hate this idea with a passion.

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Now, when this is implemented poorly, displeasure 
with the concept is understandable.

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And implementation is poor with distressing frequency.

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For instance, did you know that duplex receptacles can be split into two halves?

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In my home, every receptacle location with a switched outlet 
has one side of it hot-at-all-times.

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This is done by breaking this little tab on the receptacle.

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Then, two hot wires are run to the box: one going through the light switch by the door, and the other coming straight from the electrical panel.

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We can now wire the switched hot to one side, and the always-hot to the other side of the same outlet.

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So now you can plug a lamp into the switched side and use the other half for your phone charger or whatever.

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You could even use a splitter like this
and still plug two things into the other side.

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But you might have an outlet where both halves are switched at the same time.

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Nice if you happen to want two lamps plugged in at that location,
but annoying in literally all other cases.

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If you’re stuck with an outlet like that in an otherwise really convenient location,
I get why you would be bothered.

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But when it’s done right, this is actually a very nice thing to have.

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To possibly convince you,
I’d like to walk you through some options at your disposal.  

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First of all, if you’re annoyed by an outlet like this in your home

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because you keep forgetting it’s on a switch and so plug stuff into it
only to find out that it’s dead,

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or worse plug important things into it which you accidentally 
switch off,

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here’s an easy way to fix that:

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Go to store.

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Or website!

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Obtain lamp.

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Plug lamp into outlet.

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Now outlet has lamp in it.

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Leave lamp switched on.

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Now light switch does thing!

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Leave lamp plugged in all the time…

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confusion over.

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The heat switched off.

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Seriously. If you don’t truly need that outlet for anything else,

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try using it for what it’s for!

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A lamp!

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There are tons of inexpensive floor lamps and table lamps out there,
plenty of which are sleek and don’t take up much space at all.

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Next time you need meatballs swing by the lighting department and a whole $10 will get you this thing.

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Or check out your local thrift store for some cheap and often groovy fare.

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I think you will be surprised at how drastically different your living spaces will feel

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when lit by a floor lamp in the corner
instead of a boob light on the ceiling.

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It’s a much calmer atmosphere.

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More and more folks are seeing the benefits of not-overhead lighting,
and you can count me among the enlightened.

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Bottom line, if you keep the switched outlet occupied by a lamp,

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not only will you maybe get to use that light switch as intended,

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but you’ll keep yourself from plugging something else into it.

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Win win.

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Now, if you can’t be bothered to get a lamp,

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you can mark that outlet somehow so you know that one is switched.

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And actually, a somewhat common convention is to install outlets that are switched upside-down so they can be identified at a glance.

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It doesn’t work quite as well
where we like to install outlets sideways for some reason,

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but anyway you can also get a sharpie
and put a dot over the switched outlet,

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or you can cover it with tape,

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or you can get those little covers for babies,

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or you could put tape over the switch,

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or you could get one of those anti-tamper covers and put it over the switch,

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or you could even go so far as to permanently bypass the switch,

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really there are just so many things you could do
besides get frustrated over and over again.

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It’s not the switch’s fault you haven’t done that.

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*clears throat*
Uh, but what about when things are a bit weird?

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For instance, all too frequently you find that the outlet on a switch
just happens to be the one closest to the switch.

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When you see that, you know someone was doing the bare minimum
to meet code.

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See, it’s required that every room have a light switch as you enter it.

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That can either control an overhead light or it can go to an outlet to power a lamp.

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But there’s no rule on where that outlet needs to go,

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and when five feet of wire is cheaper than 25 feet,

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well you know which option's gonna get taken.

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This can feel particularly silly since pretty 
much any lamp will have its own switch,

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and if it’s right there as you enter the room,
the switch on the wall doesn’t add much.

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My previous home was like this in the living room and bedrooms,
and while the silliness factor didn’t bother me it was fairly limiting.

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I would have much preferred the lamp be in the opposite corner of the room,

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and while extension cords *could* get me there,

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it would be pretty silly to run such a long one along two entire walls along.

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However, even though a situation like that isn’t ideal,

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I would still argue the light switch is much easier to use.

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No fumbling in the dark with the lamp or reaching for its cord.

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But what about when you put a lamp on a switched outlet
that you also want to control with its own switch?

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Well, I won’t lie - there is the potential for conflict here.

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But how frustrating this is will be in the eye of the beholder.

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For instance, [phone dings] in this bedroom

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don't worry about that

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there is an outlet behind each nightstand.

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Both of them, actually, are split in half so the light switch by the door can control a lamp on both sides.

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So, the bedside lamps can be turned on as you enter the room.

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That’s nice - you don’t have to cross a dark room to turn them on.

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Again -

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that’s the point!

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A remote control for lamps!

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But suppose after you’ve turned them on, you want to settle into bed
and then turn them off from there?

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Well, and this might shock you,

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you can still do that!

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However, if in the morning you don’t turn the lamps back on before you get out of bed,

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you might end up in a situation in which the switch by the wall doesn’t work anymore.

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But here’s the thing, and I hate to be the one to break this to you,

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if that happens...

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you did it to yourself.

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I’m not saying this can’t be confusing.

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I myself have been befuddled by a light switch that isn’t doing anything
because the lamp it’s controlling is switched off.

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But depending on your circumstances, 
this might be really useful.

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Take the bedroom example.

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Turn the lights on as you enter, turn them off when you’re in bed.

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When you wake up, turn them back on from bed
and now you can switch them off when you leave the room!

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Then, throughout the day the light switch will serve 
to illuminate the room as you come and go.

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I find this really useful!

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But it does require thinking ahead and turning at least one of the lamps back on.

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Which, depending on how early you wake up, you might need to do anyway!

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Personally, I really like the flexibility that switched outlets provide.

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I can rearrange a room and change the lighting to my tastes without tearing walls apart and redoing the electrical work.

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And with properly split outlets,
I’m not even losing any utility thanks to splitters like these.

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Now I should address - 
some of you might  find it funny that I’m OK with outlet splitters

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given that I made a video on how our extension cords are… not great.

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See, splitters don’t introduce those same risks.

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Unless it’s a terrible-quality splitter, it should be able to handle a full 15A just fine.

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Often they’ve got thick brass links in there so they don’t concern me.

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My beef with extension cords is that many are sold which 
cannot handle 15A

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and without a built-in fuse to limit them to their rated rating, it’s possible
(if unlikely in the grand scheme)

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for the cord to become a problem
as the circuit breaker protecting that circuit won’t intervene.

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But I digress.

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I was saying that I really like the flexibility that switched outlets provide.

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When I built-out this room for filming,
I ran a separate switched feed throughout.

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I used two-gang boxes for four plugs at each location,
and I bought grey receptacles for the switched side.

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The set is powered through the switched leg and so when I 
come down here to film I just go *foop* and the set lights up with NO EFFORT.

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There it is.

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I also plug anything that might be hazardous into the grey outlets

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so that I have an extra layer of assurance 
I didn’t leave something on that I shouldn’t have.

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I’ve even used dimmer switches on switched outlets -
which I’m sure is a terrifying thought to some of you,

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but see, you plug the lamp into it and then you don’t touch it again.

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That’s actually, like...

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it's a big part of my confusion towards the confusion here.

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Yeah, when you move into a new place it takes a while to figure this stuff out.

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But once you do - well now you know!

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When you’re traveling, I get it.

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Especially in a hotel room - it might be really frustrating
to plug something in and not have it work.

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It might even get you into a jam if you needed something to charge overnight.

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But now that you know this is a thing,
just make sure whatever you’re using is working before you go to bed.

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If it’s not, try another outlet or see if 
there’s a light switch that’s turned off.

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Now there are old setups out there which are just flat out bad.

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More than one person has told me their home has a bathroom 
where the outlets only have power when the lights are on.

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In other words, the switch interrupts all power to the room.

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I can sort-of see the logic there -

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one might ask what could you do in a bathroom with the lights out that needed power,

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and it provides a bit of reassurance against
leaving a curling iron or something turned on.

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But now with rechargeable toothbrushes, razors, and whatnot,

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that scheme is all sorts of inconvenient.

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But the idea of using a light switch to control an outlet
so that you can turn on a lamp as you enter a room

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(and indeed turn it off as you leave)

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is pretty good.

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And you, like me, might imagine uses for this outside of simple lamps!

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So yeah, next time you get mad at one of these switched outlets - give some thought to what you could do with it.

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You might just learn to appreciate it.

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♫ confoundingly smooth jazz ♫

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00:14:53,798 --> 00:14:55,351
I think there’s a mouse in here.

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00:14:56,514 --> 00:15:00,875
Anyway, um, I dunno if there’s gonna be bloopers
because there weren’t that many screw-ups.

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00:15:01,467 --> 00:15:03,747
I didn’t… the camera didn’t stop did it?

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Are you kidding? I did this in 20 minutes?

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Well, you thought this wasn’t No Effort November.

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Guffaw!

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But people did really like those light switches wit let you 
[mouth stumbles]

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…the light switch by the door can control a lullabehdehbedehbuh

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doobedoobedoobedoobe

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00:15:37,974 --> 00:15:39,198
doobedoobedoobedoobe

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00:15:39,198 --> 00:15:40,057
doobedoobedoobedoobe

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00:15:40,057 --> 00:15:42,796
doobedoobedoobedoobe
doobedoobedoobedoobe

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00:15:42,796 --> 00:15:46,442
ba dah ba baaaaaaaaa baaaaaaah

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00:15:46,442 --> 00:15:49,729
ba de baaa da ba de baaaa

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00:15:49,729 --> 00:15:53,819
boo DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA