Welcome to episode

Welcome to episode 78 of the Charles C.W. Cook podcast.

Your random fact for today is that in Norway you are not allowed to change light switches in your own home.

If you want a light switch changed, you have to get an electrician to do it, and you have to have a report,

which you have to file away, so that if some plucky little member of the light switch inspection brigade comes around to your house

and finds a switch that looks askew, you can say, no, no, no, no, that was done by Sven.

Is that a Norwegian name? I think it's a Swedish name, actually. But maybe he's an immigrant.

That was done by Sven.

I may have the paperwork to prove it.

And if you don't do that, you are violating code.

And in many circumstances, the insurance on your home is voided.

So that if anything happens and they can trace it back to the rogue light switch

and you are in trouble.

Also in Norway, you're not allowed to have a house off the grid.

Now, I mention this because I have as you will know been replacing light switches.

I've now finished that project but I've changed a whole bunch of stuff and in the course of doing that,

I regularly consulted the internet in particular forums to do with electrical wiring and light switches

and automation and so on. And these places are absolutely full of Norwegian men complaining

that they're not allowed to change light switches in their home, which of course makes

tinkering a much more expensive endeavor. Because instead of buying a switch off

Amazon for $30 and seeing if it works and if not sending it back, you have to get an electrician

to install it, which means you have to consult with the electrician first. And if you have it

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