# Chronos' Mouse, Martyr in the Fight Against Ignorance **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [May 10, 2001, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chronos-mouse-martyr-in-the-fight-against-ignorance/65001 "2001-05-10T15:51:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2001, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chronos-mouse-martyr-in-the-fight-against-ignorance/65001/1 "2001-05-10T15:51:28Z")
Yo **Chronos** , spill it - what happened to your mouse? I don’t have a plasma ball lamp so I’m not about to attempt the same thing, but I’m curious as to what actually happened when you did it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2001, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chronos-mouse-martyr-in-the-fight-against-ignorance/65001/2 "2001-05-10T17:27:15Z")
The column is [What’s the deal with those lightning ball thingys?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mplasmasphere.html) OK, what happened: As I touched the mouse to the glass (ball side touching glass), all of a sudden the menu popped up on screen, as if I had clicked the right button. There may have been an audible sound, but I don’t recall, and there definitely wasn’t (disappointingly enough) any blue smoke. Thereafter, the mouse would not respond in any way. It turned out that the mouse itself was fine (it’s the same one I still use today), but the PS2 mouse port (integrated into the motherboard) was completely burnt out and beyond repair, reducing me to using a serial mouse for a while. I’m now using a (mostly) different computer, with a new motherboard and ports, so there’s no permanent harm done.