On 2012-03-04, at 4:29 PM, RussellMc wrote: > On 5 March 2012 12:57, Bob Ammerman wrote: >> I wonder what the total cost to society has been for all the time wasted >> flipping USB plugs over? :-) >=20 > $27,777.78, if the assumptions: >=20 > 10^9 global insertions / year > 0.1% fail mean > 1 second to rectify > $10/hour > 10 year history >=20 > or some other value [tm] if you adjust to suit your assumptions. >=20 > Some of the above are clearly wildly off. > Others arguably so. > One or two a pub brawl with chairs, jugs and tables so. >=20 > eg mean failure rate depends on many factors, certainly not limited to > IQ and willingness to learn from failure, and sure to spuriously rope > in ethnicity, gender, religious affiliation, phase of Moon, age and > more. Hmmm. I think the fail rate is probably much higher. Half the devices I cur= rently have plugged in, which are apparently approved, have the USB sign th= e wrong way up. However, having been in this game long enough, I can recogn= ise which side of a plug is which - there are enough differences to tell. B= ut, I suspect that the average user gets it wrong closer to 50% of the time= even if the plug does have the USN sign on the correct side! And how many = users have you watched that get it wrong more than once? Vrnc --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .