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by stevekemp·12y ago·view on hn ↗
> It always amazes me how the ridiculuous old fashioned non-electric kettles are still popular in USA.

One thing that I find genuinely amazing is that power-companies can spot when there are commercial-breaks in TV programs by people in the country making tea en masse:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_pickup

1 comments
Not only can they see the spike, they have to plan for it. I've heard for some popular programmes/events (like a sports event or popular episode), they'll employ someone to watch the TV show and press a button the second the adverts come on, to turn on the power generators that can spin up quickly. There's a power generator that can come fully into operation in 12 seconds[1]

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinorwig_power_station