i've noticed something fascinating about plugging in to usb ports

[unblock]

90% of the time, the first attempt is upside-down.

you'd think it would be 50%, but no! much closer to 90%!

[Sherman A1]

1. Same here

[mr_lebowski]

2. Fact! nt

[CurtEastPoint]

3. I have the same issue w/plain old elec plugs. I mean FFS every other country it's easy.

[unblock]

4. yeah, 3-prong, easy; symmetrical 2-prong, easy. 2-prongs, one sliiightly bigger than the other, wtf!

[CurtEastPoint]

15. THANK YOU! Why I love traveling in France...

VOILA!

[displacedtexan]

5. That's why nail polish is crucial.

I dot the top side of the dongle's end with nail polish: red for white cords & white polish (or white out) for black cords.
Life's too short to fuss with usb cords.

[unblock]

7. that makes way too much sense

[ProfessorGAC]

9. My Mini Has Little Raised Bumps

If it didn't, I'd get it wrong way more often.
The car charger for my phone doesn't have them. I'm worse than 50:50, like unblock said.

[demmiblue]

28. I do the same thing. n/t

[tavernier]

43. I love the word dongle.

It sounds slightly porn.

[Nevilledog]

56. *snicker*

[eppur_se_muova]

48. But the ports are different on different machines -- you need to mark the ports too. nt

[lastlib]

55. Yup, I adopted the same trick.

I keep a bottle of the stuff at my charging station. But until I get that spot of NP on, I always have to look at the plug and the receptacle--and even then I only get it right about 20% of the time.....

[Rollo]

6. At least HDMI plugs give one a clue...

The polarity (if that is the correct term) on USB connectors is fairly subtle (a little white spacer at one end), at least for the full size ones. The mini-USB connectors have a rounded side which should make it easier to line them up correctly, except that they are so damn tiny.

[unblock]

12. hdmi plugs are the stupidest ever! they always fall out so easily

i've never had an hdmi cable that fit in snugly so i was confident it wouldn't fall out if a big truck drove by.

even in the store, checking out expensive components and cables, they all just sit in loosely. bump the component and it falls out.

[Codeine]

64. The opposite is true on my TV.

Fucking things are so snug it’s hard to remove them, and I’m convinced I’m breaking something every time I plug one in because the tolerance is so minimal.

[pnwest]

8. My USB plugs all have three sides...

Plug it in,
nope,
turn it over,
plug it in,
nope,
turn it over again - oh, so I had it right the first time!

[unblock]

13. omg! that's happened to me so many times!

[spinbaby]

25. Schrodinger's USB

only explanation.

[PatSeg]

38. I thought it was just me!

[AC_Mem]

10. You are right!

I wonder why that is? I've started to look for the little design because I always put it in the wrong way!

[ecstatic]

11. i always check the port to see where the solid part is, but

I think I'm going to take the advice on this thread and use paint going forward. Maybe. Not sure it's important enough of an issue.

[NightWatcher]

14. It takes me 3 times to plug one in.....

First try doesn't immediately go in, so I flip it. That obviously doesn't work, so I take a look, flip it back and try slowly.

[Blue_true]

17. Wow. The lockdown has really gotten to you. Do you count the number of squares in your bathroom

tile yet? If you do, I bet my number on mine is closer to the exact amount, only because I counted ten times.

[unblock]

22. Only count once!

If you have one watch you always know what time it is; if you have two watches, you're never sure!

[Blue_true]

24. Talk about time.

I have a friend who sets his clocks five minutes fast so that he won’t be late. Drives his family nuts. Incidentally, he sets his watch to his business time (not five minutes fast). People come up with the strangest rationales often.

[unblock]

26. yeah, i've known people who do that, never understood it

it teaches you that you're fine if you're two minutes late.

and you have to constantly remember and adjust depending on which clock you're looking at. of if someone asks you the time, not that that happens much anymore....

[Blue_true]

29. So many people have cellphones now and ALWAYS have the phone with them.

No need to ask another person for time. It is truly amazing how cellphones have saturated our culture. Go anywhere, if people have to wait for an activity, they are on their phones.

[unblock]

31. Yes. The connect and isolate us at the same time!

[Blue_true]

37. Yes. It is more difficult to have casual conversations while waiting for

anything to start now.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

39. Only one of my clocks

Is 5 minutes fast. For that reason. The others are the correct time.

[Blue_true]

42. So you believe that helps?

Which clock do you pay attention to when going through your prepare to leave home routine?

[I_UndergroundPanther]

45. The five minutes

Ahead one. Actually it's ahead 10 minutes. Gives me breathing room to gather my stuff and myself before I go. Gives me a second to pet my kitty goodbye.

10 minutes ahead is so obviously off from the regular clocks you can't miss it.
Plus that extra10 minutes comes in handy for getting drinks and snacks ready before the show comes on.

[babydollhead]

49. all of my clocks are set ahead, sometimes by 40 minutes

except the car, that is an hour slow

[lastlib]

57. It should set itself automagically, shouldn't it?

Asking for a friend.......

[Blue_true]

60. Some auto clocks are the old analog variety, a person has to set them

and they record accurate time until the next time change. I believe that they look nicer than digital clocks.

[herding cats]

58. Umm, I do this to my husbands clocks in his vehicles.

They're actually 10 minute fast. He's not plugged into his cell all day (oh, that he was! This wouldn't be needed) and it helps keep my perpetually late husband on time to his jobs.

[Blue_true]

61. So I guess my friend isn't strange based upon the replies.

I’ll have to apologize to him the next time we talk, he will love that given how much that I have laughed at him about his clock habit.

[herding cats]

63. Oh, I'm not saying my circumstances are normal in anyway.

My husband doesn't wear a watch and seldom looks at his phone, unless it's via his vehicle. At home I wear an Apple Watch and have learned to fudge the numbers for him when he asks so he hurries up and eats his oatmeal! He's a perpetual procrastinator.

I'm pretty sure we're outliers on the matter, and my husband still, all these years later, doesn't know he runs on a time 10 minutes early. But, he's seldom very late anymore.

[Blue_true]

18. I always put the two little open holes up and the plastic inside down.

Goes in right every time. But if you want to see a clueless idiot, just give me a phone protective case without in it and tell me to put the phone in. There are just something’s in life that trip all of up at times, the human mind is a wonderful mystery.

[intrepidity]

19. This is very true.

At least in my experience, it has to do with the torsion (?) on the wire. The natural way that I grab the hanging wire is the wrong orientation, and I have to twist the wire beyond it's comfort zone to flip it.

I have concluded they do it on purpose.

[jrandom421]

20. Talk about old fashioned!

If you have USB-C devices and ports, the direction doesn't matter. Upgrade and modernize your devices and cables to USB-C!

[unblock]

23. Most of my devices are upgraded

It's the desktop computer I use to charge everything up that still has old USB ports. Some of the cables require a usb-c to usb adapter

[Blue_true]

35. I have a mixture of both.

My iPhone has a USB-C charge cable. My personal Laptop, which is 6 years old, has the old USB ports. I upgraded to what I thought would be a better Laptop (it is more powerful), but I really don’t like the screen and didn’t like the keyboard once I started to use it, so I am back to my older Laptop. I realize that I could have used a wireless keyboard, it is I am so used to typing on my computer keyboard, there are situations that I get into where using a wireless keyboard or any external keyboard is not possible.

[cos dem]

21. Interestingly, the USB spec says that the USB logo is supposed to go on the top to help you...

install it the right way. No guarantee that everyone adheres to that part of the standard.
Especially if it's a "vertical" slot, then what are you supposed to do?

[Binkie The Clown]

27. I get it 100% correct: Run your thumb along the connector as you hold it.

The side that goes up has the USB logo embossed on it. The smooth, un-embossed side goes down. Same goes for you phone charger and your Kindle charger.

[unblock]

30. I have the most problems with an adapter

Smooth on both sides

[lunatica]

32. Suddenly the little things are hugely important aren't they!

Last years thoughtless actions are today’s biggest activities. Our perspectives And priorities sure have changed!

[Disaffected]

33. Logical falacy

You tend to remember the times it's upside-down more than the other (called confirmation bias?).

Here in Canada, where food info on a box of whatever is in English on one side and French on the opposite, I almost always seem to pick up the box with the French side showing. I swear

[unblock]

41. I know, I know. But then, I like the torsion theory ;)

Your setup puts stress on the cable in a particular way, especially if the other side is already plugged in.

So it's not really random.

[Disaffected]

54. OK,

if your particular setup happened to have the unplugged end windup in the "upside down" position, I guess it might tend to revert to that position when unplugged again (due to torsion or to mysterious forces yet undiscovered).

But, if the unplugged end happened to wind up in the right side up position, it would also tend to revert to that position when unplugged again.

So, the chances that any random plug will revert to the upside down position would still seem to be 50/50 (??).

Man, who would have thought that connector plugging in could be so complicated.

[Ferrets are Cool]

34. It used to be that way for me, but now I just remember...

the white dots go on the bottom.

[SeattleVet]

36. The inventor's funeral must have been a hoot...

https://thehardtimes.net/harddrive/inventor-of-usb-unintentionally-buried-upside-down/

A throng of mourners were reportedly horrified yesterday when it was revealed that Ajay Bhatt, inventor of the USB port, had been unintentionally buried upside down during his own funeral. The error was revealed when pallbearers lowered the body into the designated tomb only for the underside of the casket to swing open, causing Bhatt’s body to unceremoniously tumble out into an awkward heap.
...
“Everything was always upside down with him,” said Genevieve Bhatt, laughing even as a single tear rolled down her cheek. “You should have seen him in the bedroom! He never could insert right side up on the first try.”
...

(More at link!)

(Do I really have to add the HUMOR tag?)

[unblock]

40. ...

[lame54]

44. You got it down to 90?

[unblock]

46. Yes! A glorious chorus rings out of when I get it right the first time!

[USALiberal]

47. Lounge? nt

[airplaneman]

50. Its an entropy law

If the odds are 50-50 then the chance of getting it wrong the first time is 100%

-Airplane

[airplaneman]

51. And the USB symbol looks like the markings on the Roswell metal they found. n/t.

[ornotna]

52. Look before you leap

And you can be wrong 100% of the time. You're not trying hard enough.

[SouthernCal_Dem]

53. LOL

It certainly feels that way.

[ucrdem]

59. lol, same here. I blame it on the devices.

I'm getting it right, but the dang devices put the dang plugs in upside down!

[diva77]

62. whoever designed those plugs must've flunked industrial design

[OhZone]

65. Just do this -