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Need... More... Power...

MikeDawg writes "After dealing with the headache of never having enough electrical outlets, not having a cable TV coaxial, not having a telephone hookup in the right places of my apartment, I found this article at CNN. It is nice to see that college dorm rooms are getting filled with outlets to provide students with enough hook-ups with for all their electronics. My question to you (renters/dorm-room dwellers) is does your dorm room or apartment have enough outlets, whether it be electrical, cable, telephone, or anything else you may need? What do you do in a situation like this? Do you load up each socket with a 10+ port power strip (or battery backup as it may be) and pray that you don't knock-out the circuit everytime you start burning a CD?"

17 of 437 comments (clear)

  1. Well... by JoeBaldwin · · Score: 5, Funny

    Remember that Slashdot story a while back, about the guy who made a fusion generator in his dorm room?

    He made it for fun: I NEED it :)

    1. Re:Well... by UserGoogol · · Score: 2, Funny

      If I have to teach Lambda Calculus in order to tell people how to burn CDs, then so be it.

      --
      "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." -- Hanlon's Razor
    2. Re:Well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      So the moral of the story: when you don't have enough outlets, make more. As a geek you have a instinctive understanding of electricity.

      Mod +5 Future Darwin Award Winner

  2. Serious answer by Pingular · · Score: 4, Funny

    have you considered using a bicycle generator? i.e where you have to pedal for 5 hours a week to charge up a battery which can supply enough power for a TV for an hour or so?

    --

    When anger rises, think of the consequences.
    Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)
  3. This was an easy Ask Slashdot! by The-Pheon · · Score: 3, Funny
    My question to you (renters/dorm-room dwellers) is does your dorm room or apartment have enough outlets, whether it be electrical, cable, telephone, or anything else you may need?

    Of Course not! I'm a geek :O)

    What do you do in a situation like this? Do you load up each socket with a 10+ port power strip (or battery backup as it may be) and pray that you don't knock-out the circuit everytime you start burning a CD?

    yes, of course!

    Dorm rooms and small apartments don't lend themselves to large power generators. Maybe you can get a excercise bike and hook up a line! :)

  4. Easy by clifgriffin · · Score: 5, Funny

    You'll need a few basic tools.

    Saw-zaw
    Screwdriver
    Wire Cutters
    Electrical Tape
    Cinnamon Rolls
    Gloves

    Using the sawzaw, carefull make an incision in a wall adjacent to the next dorm room. Put on the gloves and extremly carefully use the wire cutters, electrical tape, and cinnamon buns to wire in this "new found" power source.

    You may want to use some "mud" and sheetrock to restore the wall surface to its original state.

    Enjoy!

    1. Re:Easy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      a Saw-z-all (not a sawzaw) is the old messy way to do it.

      get a rotozip. faster,cleaner hole and less mess (it spirals into the wall pushing all the dust into the cavity.)

      Although, one thing I have noticed is that most "computer geniuses" are way too dim to understand basic electricity.

      thus making them dimwits in most of the worlds eyes...

  5. Re:Found out the hard way by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    You're married and you still live at home? I'm sorry but that's the saddest, lamest thing I've ever heard in my life. Oh, I see you use Linux as well.

  6. Re:Good fire prevention policy by Minderbinder106 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Socialist propoganda? Why do socialists care if I put water on a grease fire or if I smoke in bed?

  7. Re:In the closet by silentbozo · · Score: 3, Funny

    Get a cabinet and put your clothes in there. Then take all your electrical appliances and stick them in your closet. If you're worried about sparking, line the closet with tin first.

    A large ABC rated fire extinguisher might also be a good idea...

  8. Tsk tsk. Kids today... by lhpineapple · · Score: 2, Funny

    Porn still comes in paper form, you know.

    Zing!

  9. Rewire to 220 volts by morcheeba · · Score: 2, Funny

    You can double the amount of power that you can use in your room by simply switching to 220 volts. It doesn't require a transformer to do this; just wire your outlets the same way a 220v dryer is wired.

    A friend had a dorm mate that had brought a 220v stereo from overseas... they found that half the room was on one 110v circuit and that the other half was on another. So, they connected the stereo to the "hot"s of each circuit, and they had 220 volts total. Or something close enough.

    Ok, it's not to code at all and is dangerous because some appliances (like lamps and toasters) will have electrified enclosures. But, it would work as long as no appliances touched each other, you, your dog, or a real ground.

  10. Try the traditional approach by chunkwhite86 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Just daisy chain like fifteen surge strips together. You end up with tons of usable outlets. Use extension cords + more power strips to get juice to other parts of the room.

    Hint: Hide all of this under a pile of clothes or under your bed so the fire inspector doesn't see it.

    --
    I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
  11. Underpowered dorms GOOD! by joe170 · · Score: 5, Funny

    When I was living in a dorm, the substandard wiring had a hidden benefit. Every room and half shared a circuit- I was in a "half" room- one wall shared the circuit with the entire room next door, and the other wall shared with the room on that side. This gave me final veto authority over either of my neighbors' (usually poor) choice of music. I had a cut of lamp cord with the wires twisted together inside a big ball of electrical tape. Plug it in, it shuts off your neighbor's stereo (and everything else!). One semester I had a neighbor who liked to blast "Freebird" every afternoon. After the sixth or seventh time I used my "remote", he was out in the hallway swearing about the lousy dorms. A girl walking by innocently suggested that maybe his stereo was blowing the fuse. She didn't know how right she was!

  12. Re:Not close to enough power... by sql*kitten · · Score: 4, Funny

    c) run my computer and cook

    You have an AMD, right?

  13. Re:Power Consumption by swankypimp · · Score: 2, Funny
    where are you gonna park 2+ computers in your dorm room and still have a flat work surface to do your math homework?

    It's called The Library. Not only are there desks there, but you don't have to block out the ambient noise of three idling computers in an enclosed concrete 10' by 8' space.

    --

    --All your stolen base are belong to Rickey Henderson
  14. Re:Renovations - electrical and gray water by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Ok, so you've got bleach in the tank...

    Bleachy water pumped back into the toilet bowl...

    You go for a massive shit...

    While dropping a huge depth-charge, you get bleachy splash-back on your ringpiece...

    I'm not convinced...