The US plug is uniquely bad in that you can have live contacts exposed on a partially plugged in plug

I'd call both the British and the Schuko better. But they both come with tradeoffs. The British plug is huge, in part because of the built-in fuse. The Schuko is aesthetically less clean because the outlet is not flush, and because the plug is reversible you can't design around polarity. Both excellent plugs that are huge improvements over the US plug design in most ways, but both come with their own tradeoffs

> the US 110v thing is kinda limiting, and 220v is way better

More efficient with copper certainly, but 110V is safer: cf. Ohm's Law. Lower voltage penetrates skin less readily, so you're more likely to escape unscathed from a 110V zap.

In Ireland, on worksites, the corded tools are 110VAC/50Hz (115V, 120V... mains/2 on a transformer-- and 'mains' varies wildly according to my several years of data captures in a range between 214-240).

Speaking of copper efficiency, the British Isles do all kinds of silly things like running ring mains to enable the use of smaller conductors for higher loads on domestic electrical sockets, and notionally to provide a safety factor.

Japanese electrical is better in many ways than the US. We have insulated pin sleeves so kids can't touch electrified pins and whole-home GFCI instead of just one or two outlets in the kitchen/bath. The standard wall switches are also so much nicer.

> But my understanding is the US 110v thing is kinda limiting, and 220v is way better.

120V is safer (not "safe", "safer"[1]) than 240V. And for the times when 240V (or 208V) is a better fit, we have that available to us relatively easily.

> For what? The only bulky US plugs are for weird things like dryers and electric ovens.

Or the locking plugs, but I think that still fits your point: These are high-voltage and/or high-current things, which aren't being unplugged/plugged too much.

[1]: https://youtu.be/jMmUoZh3Hq4?si=JyZIge5lQXda4D0E&t=811

Along those same lines, I still don't really understand why so many people call it 110v and 220v when the US hasn't been those voltages for around 100 years and it's been 120v and 240v for about 60 years (it was gradually stepped up the voltage starting in the 1930s).

The European plug design is also ancient, going back to 1929

I used to think this, but I've been in the US just long enough to start rethinking it. The one thing I still prefer though is that each outlet has an off switch, no need to unplug your cable. Also, three prong cables are 90 degrees offset so it's easier to fit behind furniture.

They’re a great caltrop design. In my experience they’re too large and this causes problems with lead management.

I would agree the plugs are well designed, but it’s also a space pen when you needed a pencil. Using that massive plug and 240V to charge a phone or power a light bulb is just comical.

The US system sensibly uses 110-120V for most uses and then 240V where it really matters.

IMO they're completely overengineered. There's nothing useful they can do that schuko can't. (the built-in fuse and fixed polarity aren't useful)

they are, except connectors are extremely bulky, but at least they are compatible with EU outlets as I learned in Malaysia, all you need is pen

It's not that bulky (compared to blue and red CEE or the British plug), and what about it is nonsensical?

The US is innovative but can't be bothered to get the boring stuff right.

Meanwhile Europe standardized bank transfers with IBAN, killed connector type proliferation with by standardizing on USB-C, and routed 3-phase power most homes. Oh, and the metric system. And while Europe has a wide range of cultures and functionality of government, a lot of places have simpler tax forms and a more prescriptive legal system (as opposed to the precedent-dominated Common Law tradition in the US). The German-speaking countries even rewrote spelling to make it simpler.

I view a lot of this stuff as infrastructure investment. We shouldn't have to stumble over the mundane to do interesting things. As others have commented, Europe also had the advantage of adopting some technologies later, but in some cases they just seem to be more aligned with a system of constant (if sometimes frustratingly slow) improvement.

As for the TV antenna, centralized European installations tend to have really long cable runs, even more so for cable TV, and there's a wideband PA in the basement.

The US technology advantage is in software, hardware, biotech/pharma, AI, some advanced robotics (China is leading in general robotics), quantum, aerospace, military, medtech.

Competitively the US does well in energy tech and agriculture tech. The US is #2 in wind power, #2 in solar power, #1 in nuclear power, along with being the world's biggest oil & natural gas producer. The US industrial rail system is also an epic scale marvel, while its consumer rail system is pathetic.

It's definitely not elite in most infrastructure (including electrical plugs).