this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2026
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. No politics
    • If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
    • A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS

If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.

Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.

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[–] emotional_soup_88@programming.dev 9 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

I'm no electrician, but attaching the hot and neutral wires of an end appliance to the opposite wires of the power supply shouldn't be a problem on a lot of bare bone, electromechanical hardware that don't have logic units. Please correct and enlighten me, if you're more knowledgeable! :D

[–] 7eter@feddit.org 5 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

swapping hot and neutral typically isn't a problem - its alternating current anyway. However, most DC Appliances are sensitive to reverse polarity. Ever tried connecting a electrolytic capacitor the wrong way around? On the other hand many customer appliances have some kind of protection against reverse polarity.

[–] emotional_soup_88@programming.dev 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Thanks! You just nudged me down a fascinating rabbit hole: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eflB18WmbjM

[–] 7eter@feddit.org 2 points 4 hours ago

that's great to hear!

[–] TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Something as simple as an incandescent light bulb works either way. LED lights are picky about electricity.

[–] call_me_xale@lemmy.zip 2 points 11 hours ago

Individual LEDs, yes; the rectifiers in most LED "bulbs" shouldn't care.