Also "Russians abroad had a reputation for shorting out whole city blocks by plugging these babies into 110-volt sockets". Since I assume this is a basic resist

Also "Russians abroad had a reputation for shorting out whole city blocks by plugging these babies into 110-volt sockets". Since I assume this is a basic resistive heating element, with resistance determined by the wire gauge and length, wouldn't it draw quarter power in a 110v socket compared to a 220v one? I don't get how it could cause overcurrent in the generally thicker US wiring.