Big Fat Plugs

What's that you read? Aren't I supposed to be talking about Fat PUGS?!?!? No, it is no misprint. This time it is PLUGS. You see them in the picture. Don't they drive you berserk? Yesterday we had a bit of a spend-up. Bought a new thin screen TV because the old one was taking up too much room. And we bought two new mice - the computer kind. Whizz bang bluetooth wireless mice, one for home, one for the office.

WIRELESS HA! This wireless mouse takes up not only one of my too few remaining USB slots, it has to have its own power source. Why is it that every piece of computer equipment has to have its own power source? The speakers. The modem. The camera cradle. The Palm cradle. The USB hub. And so it goes.

There are eight accessible powerpoints in this room, but still I need the three powerboards you see pictured, plus one more. I have six-point boards, and four-point boards, but I can't use every point on the board because every piece of equipment has this huge FAT PLUG that takes up more than its fair share of the space on the board. The worst offenders are the ones that insist on going sideways, claiming a specific spot on the board so they can face right or left. What is going on inside those great fat plugs? Why are they so greedy? Another question might be - why are the power boards SO THIN? I'm not the only one, surely, to have a spaghetti of cables and a passel of plugs lurking under the desk. Why don't power board makers make their boards big enough for these great slug-plugs? Nice wide slots so you can actually (oops - did I actually type 'actually?) use all the points. I think I'll write off to the board makers now.