No evident connection to PICs, but - very upsetting.

  Purchased a twin USB connector slot-plate yesterday for the all-in-one
motherboard I somewhat unwittingly purchased some time back which was
without all the interface attachments.  Installed it (without shutting
down the PC) and tried to plug in the camera.

  One socket worked, the other did not, at least "worked" in the sense
of - it plugged in.  The other would not plug in - realise of course
that this was being done semi-blind peering around the back of an
installed machine.

  It became evident that the USB port was *not* functional and the
hardware not recognized by Win98.  Before shutting down I tried one last
re-plug in the "bad" socket, perhaps a little forcibly, accompanied by
the disturbing "phut" and smell of vaporised composite (whatever).

  Peering around more with a light source revealed a short in the USB
socket.  I hastily shut off the machine (was re-starting at the time
actually, in mid-install of the now BIOS-enabled USB hardware).

  What moron designed these USB connectors?  They contain four fingers,
punched into the outer shell, designed to contact the metal shell of
the USB connector (which is in fact, a line socket, not a plug as it
applies to the main pins).

  Problem is, these point *outward*, not inward so that if they are, as
is bound to happen sometimes, mis-adjusted (mis-manufactured), pushing
the cord connector in buckles them further, and can be sufficient to
bend one to contact one of the four connector pins, in this case the
+5V.

  Am I the only one sufficiently heavy-handed to notice this, or is this
just another example of a reject from Engineering Design 1A, turning up
according to Parkinson's Law, in management?
--
  Cheers,
        Paul B.