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Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is sponsored by Harry's dot com. Get a

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Speaker 1: great shaving experience for a fraction of the price. The

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Speaker 1: quality of the shave is so important that Harry's purchased

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Speaker 1: the factory that makes their blades. Fifteen dollars gets you

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Speaker 1: a set that includes a handle, three blades, and shave cream.

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Speaker 1: Go to Harry's dot com use the code brain stuff

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Speaker 1: to say five dollars off your first purchase. Welcome to

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Speaker 1: brain Stuff from house stuff works dot com where smart happens.

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Speaker 1: I am Marshall brain with today's question, why does the

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Speaker 1: phone still work when the electricity goes out? If you

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Speaker 1: have a wired phone that plugs into a phone jack

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Speaker 1: in the wall, you've probably discovered that your phone works

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Speaker 1: even in a power failure. One of the relative miracles

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Speaker 1: of modern times is the reliability of the landline phone system.

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Speaker 1: The power goes out fairly often for most people. Sometimes

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Speaker 1: it's only out for a second, but other times it

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Speaker 1: can be out for minutes, hours, or even days. Your

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Speaker 1: landline telephone, on the other hand, is always working. Why

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Speaker 1: is that? Between your house and the phone company office,

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Speaker 1: there's a dedicated pair of copper wires for your phone.

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Speaker 1: Those wires are almost always buried, so ice storms and

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Speaker 1: hurricanes won't cut them. The phone company supplies the power

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Speaker 1: that your phone needs using that dedicated copper pair. The

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Speaker 1: phone company uses batteries or generators to keep the power

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Speaker 1: going even if there's a power failure, so your phone

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Speaker 1: is basically gonna work all the time. Many cell phones

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Speaker 1: offer this feature as well. Your cell phone runs off batteries,

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Speaker 1: and the cell phone tower has generators that they use

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Speaker 1: in power failures, so your cell phone will probably work

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Speaker 1: all the time as well. But if you use a

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Speaker 1: cordless phone in your house, it will stop working in

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Speaker 1: a power failure. That's because the base station plugs into

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Speaker 1: the wall for its power. If you want to keep

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Speaker 1: that phone working, you need to connect the base station

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Speaker 1: to an uninterruptible power supply. Do you have any ideas

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Speaker 1: or suggestions for this podcast? If so, please send me

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Speaker 1: an email at podcast at how stuff works dot com.

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Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics, go

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Speaker 1: to how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is sponsored

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Speaker 1: by Harry's dot Com. Get a great shaving experience for

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00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:15,040
Speaker 1: a fraction of the price. The quality of the shave

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00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:17,639
Speaker 1: is so important that Harry's purchased the factory that makes

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00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:20,120
Speaker 1: their blades. Fifteen dollars gets you a set that includes

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Speaker 1: a handle, three blades, and shave cream. Go to Harry's

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Speaker 1: dot com use the code brain stuff to save five

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Speaker 1: dollars off your first purchase.