Just another reminder of why you build your skills.
Did you know it’s a $30,000 penalty and jail time to do your own household electrical work in Australia? I’d imagine there’s people here that would sign on for the same thing, I mean after all, why should you be allowed to tinker less you’ve served the full apprenticeship and have a proper government document saying you can do such a thing? And why not give the enforcement to the FED, maybe the ATF? After all, they have all the required tools to break down your door and check it all out when a reliable informer makes a report.
Democrats are nearly as divided as Republicans, Conservatives upset that those in State Government seem so willing to give up their authority to the Federal Government as it undermines the cornerstones of our Country’s foundation. And many who vote don’t even think we need a foundation, we can make it up on the fly..
The question so many of us ask now… will the promise of the easy road and the threat of the world coming to an end drive all the chickens into pens?
The big question: Will the Electorate vote to abolish every authority the States have in exchange for the promise of savings and more free gifts? “Think of all the fat you can cut out they’ll say”.
The promise of a pen for every chicken, how many now come to America to live in the safety of the Government pen?
Detroit is the model, every kind of free lunch served, and when it all collapsed, just blame someone else. And just today.. posts about being tired of the nuts in the Republican Party, as they dare to do what they were elected to do.
Is the party over? Nope, that comes when no one wants your dollar, and at this point, do you see any signs of slowing the printing press or to stop lying about inflation? The simple truth might be… they’ve played the free lunch game for so long, there’s no other game to play, all they know to do is delay the crash..
And that story of the US Government buying 30 billion rounds of Ammo for non Military purposes? Who in Washington shouldn’t think the shit is going to hit the fan?
It’s all my muse, some blame it all on corporations, some all on government, and all too many think it’s not their job to think.
And for us… want to sell something? Green is overplayed, I think the new buzz word is security. Security light bulbs, security tooth paste, security chicken noodle soup. Count on the Marketeers to figure out how to ‘pitch’ it. If the woman in the house is the one that normally buys it, that word better be on the box.
GB
Just think what they’re going to with automobiles. If you can’t repair a wire in your house, which this stationary in the center of your yard why should you be allowed to repair something in your car that goes down the highway at 70 mph? This is why plenty of rational, knowledgable people embrace Austrian economics inspired anarcho capitalism. When government’s appetite is demonstrably complete physical and mental domination of citizens the only rational response is to withdrawal from government because even if it could be tamed there is the obvious will to dominate. And what evidence exists that government can be limited? There is none. In the lifespan of 1 to 2 normally aged men, a blink of an eye on the scale of rational observers, government goes from birth to tyranny. There’s never been an exception.
The Mandate should be interpreted as an expensive government granted permit to live.
In Oz you are allowed to work on your own car. You are even allowed to work on your friends car, you are not allowed to work on cars for profit as in a business without proper licencing and qualifications.
My father is a licensed motor dealer and as such he can work on cars for profit even though he is not a qualified mechanic. He cannot do inspections though because he’s not mechanically licenced but he can do hands on work. He regularly repairs vehicles to get them registered and after performing all this major work takes them to someone that has far less experience and knowledge than he does to say they are safe for road use.
I understand these rules are to protect people but they sure are inconsistent.
As a private citizen you can work on your or your friends cars Brakes, steering and other critical and potentially dangerous components. no inspection after the work is done is required.
Change a powerpoint or to the letter of the law, even a light bulb and you are breaking the law and could be fined.
Yep, makes perfect sense to me!
Here at present, you don’t need an engineer to certify your completion of a kit car, and inspection by the State Patrol is at little cost to you here. There you did need an engineer at one time, and he didn’t just look, he actually jigged up the car, and loaded the frame, some hours invested, and money out of your pocket.. And many here would love to support that type of law, as who should be allowed so much freedom? We need look at accidents, and see how many are caused by poor fab, most who would take on fabbign a frame and or components have the skills necessary.
The authority of the states is a huge problem too. But there are still a small number of counties scattered throughout various states where there are no building codes or zoning employed. there’s a book on it.
http://nobuildingcodes.com/
I talked to an interesting sounding woman who worked at a small city hall in a West Virginia county to verify that they had no zoning or building codes or permitting of any kind and she enthusiastically said “we have a lot of freedom up here.”
There are 11 counties in Colorado that do not have zoning or building codes. Good luck though if if some state type catches you pulling rainwater off your roof.
Colorado has imported a plague, Southern Californians with money have moved there to rule over the natives.. As for water… whiskey is fer drinkin, water is fer fighten.
“Did you know it’s a $30,000 penalty and jail time to do your own household electrical work in Australia? ”
I have never heard of anyone receiving such a penalty.
It’s meant to be a deterrent. We have a 240 Volt system which means that electric shock is much more likely to be lethal than your 120 Volt system.
You have laws that say you should drive on the right hand side of the road.
I tried that here and it’s really dangerous!
Keef we have our low voltage and your voltage too 🙂 We just note we’ve been told it’s a law on your books. We over here would know that such a thing could be used to punish us if they didn’t have better reason.
I wanted to add and move some powerpoints in my home studio years ago.
About after doing the work, I was watching TV late one night about 2 weeks later with just a light and the set on and the fuse blew. I was worried because I knew they were on the same circuit I had been playing with and there wasn’t enough load to cause the fuse to blow.
I rang my sparky mate the next morning in a bit of a panic and asked him to come check the work I had done. He got under the house to check it out and I could hear him making all sorts of exclamations. I was sweating.
He came out and the first thing he said was ” What the hell did you do it like that for? ” I had used over size wire, basically triple and quadruple insulated everything with tape, acorn connectors junction boxes and conduited everything for good measure.
When I asked what the actual problem was he said I had spent too much time and money on the job and no electrician would have gone to that much trouble.
I said but is it safe? My mate just answered that question with a few expletives that confirmed it was.
When I said I knew the wire was oversize and I didn’t need to conduit and insulate it all like that he said if you knew, why did you do it that way? I said because I have to live here and I did it the best way I knew how so there would be no problems.
He just shook his head. I asked was there anything electrically wrong with what I did and he laughed.
I asked why the fuse blew and he said how long since you last changed it? I said I can’t recall ever replacing it in the 15 years I have been here. He said the wire probably got old and corroded.
He told me to go replace it which I did and It hasn’t blown on the 6 years since.
Just because an unlicensed person does something does not necessarily mean it’s not done correctly or even better than a tradie would have done it. They work by the hour, I work with the consequences of doing it wrong.
I’m sure there are lots of idiots who would do unsafe work but they are never going to be put off by fines or laws anyway.
My mate still ribs me about that job and will say, ” You are not wiring your house now, don’t go overboard. ”
If I do anymore work I WILL do it the same way because never having to worry and sound sleep is worth a lot more to me than a bit of extra time and expense in doing things like that.
Most Sparkies go for the ends of the circuit to find troubles, or to connection boxes in between. The very worst a DIY homeowner can do is hide a connection box in between!
Years ago, I got lucky, and found a hidden connection box with a loose connection, the wrong size wire nut, and too many wires jammed in. I found it by removing some outside siding, it impressed the home owner, as it all went back together with little sign of entry. A key hole saw used to mount a proper box that could be opened from inside the house. As for freedom to do things, a Socialist or Communist will almost always choose to deny you the right (for your own safety they say). Government is their nanny, and they be lost without the teat.
The home owner should check fuse and breaker boxes every five years for loose connections, a sign of melted insulation, discoloring of a wire, a breaker or wire hot to the touch, never ignore such a condition. Do remember, common breakers are designed to trip out one time at plus or minus ‘X’ of the rating, but of course they normally operate correctly for years. Always tape the shank of the screw drive with electrical tape, and check tightness of screws single handed. And of course.. Socialists don’t normally DIY, so they almost always need call the man.
North Carolina has that from north easterners looking to find cheap land but tweak the politics so it resembles their old place.
I wonder why they didn’t just go to Florida? Isn’t much of it pre-ruined? Ohhh, wait a minute, you said they were lookin for cheap. It’s exactly what Southern Californians do, as soon as they get their new house built, they yell and scream about the lack of sewers and sidewalks, and of course the smell of cow shit coming from their neighbors cows, just across the fence.