# What were you THINKING? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 13, 2023, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532 "2023-10-13T19:36:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 369
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7751 "2026-07-30T04:57:33Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > Anyway, I learned my lesson 6 years ago, almost to the day! I don’t remember when it was, but I discovered the same thing. He asks questions but isn’t interested in knowing the truth. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7752 "2026-07-30T05:12:39Z")
I feel like it might have been this thread? > [@WWII: Battle of Midway...why couldn't the Japanese have pressed on and captured the island?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-battle-of-midway-why-couldnt-the-japanese-have-pressed-on-and-captured-the-island/917029/560): > > How was it similar, how was it different? The problem with examples which are too different is that the comparison is meaningless. The answer is well known, so it should be straightforward. Actually, you haven’t pointed out loads of contested landings. There is one deeply flawed example, which can be shown why, but that particular landing isn’t really comparable. I’ll leave aside the Philippines landings for a minute, but we can come back to them if you can give any specific reasons to comp… ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7753 "2026-07-30T07:30:59Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > I feel like it might have been this thread? Yeah, thanks for tracking that down. @Whack-a-Mole was the OP, and the question itself was reasonable. There were quite a few knowledgeable posters who jumped in and provided really well-thought out responses. I thought that the discussion was really interesting considering this isn’t a history board. At least one other poster thanked people in general for the quality of the conversation. You even got a post of appreciation from one of our more knowledgeable posters. But in the middle of the intelligent interactions, we had the OP who doesn’t know as Much as he pretends and then gets combative and sarcastic when people don’t agree with him. One of the shocks of participating in these boards is realizing how much we don’t actually know about things. A lot of posters get this and subsequently adjust their behavior but there are some who lack self awareness. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7754 "2026-07-30T10:42:31Z")
And fuck the USB-B thread became all the ads on YouTube are for USB cables from Temu. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7755 "2026-07-30T11:03:12Z")
If you gotta watch ads, that sounds pretty harmless. (I just got my monthly receipt from YouTube. At some point i realized that i watch it more than anything else, and it was worth it to my to pay for it. Also, one of the YouTubers i follow said that he thought he got a little more revenue from YouTube from the paid viewers than from the ad-supported viewers.) ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7756 "2026-07-30T18:17:07Z")
Last night my wife asked me for a USB-A to A cable. I had to sit down for a moment. Backstory: She had a 20 year old iMac she wanted to access in target disk mode. Fortunately she accepted my explanation that the connection had to be FireWire, not USB, and another solution was found for what she wanted to do. Did bring me a handful of odd USB cables, like one with two USB-A plugs and a USB-mini plug (when extra power is needed for an external drive), and one with a USB-A end and a bunch of different legacy phone charging cables coming out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7757 "2026-07-30T21:01:33Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Almost nothing grinds my gears more than when ignorant people want to argue with me about one of my areas of expertise. In my IT support role in real life, I deal with this on a daily basis. It’s a really great way to learn patience. It also helps that I’m being paid. You can tolerate a bit more when it’s how you make a living. Also, the willful ignorance displayed in that other thread leads to situations like the one I experienced in real life, where someone whittled a 4-pin molex connector end so that it could be plugged in upside-down, which fried the hard drive, motherboard, and power supply all at once. I saw that back when I worked at a computer store, and had to explain to a customer exactly why his “helpful neighbor” should no longer be able to touch any of his electronics in the future. ---
**Author:** ![DETXL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/detxl/32/19366_2.png) [@DETXL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DETXL)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2026, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7758 "2026-07-31T08:00:24Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > someone whittled a 4-pin molex connector end so that it could be plugged in upside-down I don’t understand the problem. I’ve looked at a “molex connector” and it has four pins at one side and four pins on the other side. What is special about “molex connector” and USB Standard B that they are literally the only cables in history where counting to four works differently? (…Actually. I had a cheap front-panel USB bay that took power off the computer’s 12V supply through one of those adapter/splitters. Unfortunately the plastic on the female 4-pin molex side was flexible enough that it was possible, and easier, to plug it in upside down. Entirely my fault! The USB 3.0 cable between the bay and the mainboard was apparently fine and the PC recognized the bay as a USB hub with no problems. I think, possibly, if I’d plugged a USB-C peripheral into the USB-C port that might also have been fine. Unfortunately, I plugged in my Behringer UCA222, a cheap and cheerful USB audio interface, which got 12V over the VCC line, did not like it one bit, and definitely was not fine. As I said in the other thread, computers are generally tolerant of user misbehavior. But they have their limits.) ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2026, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7759 "2026-07-31T08:04:45Z")
I once melted an internal 3.5" floppy drive, or at least the power cable for it, because it was off one pin when I installed it. It had a plastic tab to prevent that sort of mistake, and it’s not like I was forcing it in or anything, but for whatever reason it plugged in that way. Thank goodness the drive was the only thing damaged, and it only cost $15 to replace it. It could have been a lot worse. (You know this was a long time ago, because at the time a computer without a floppy drive was pretty limited.) ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2026, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7760 "2026-07-31T10:38:21Z")
> [@DETXL](#): > > I don’t understand the problem. I’ve looked at a “molex connector” and it has four pins at one side and four pins on the other side. What is special about “molex connector” and USB Standard B that they are literally the only cables in history where counting to four works differently? Golf clap! ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2026, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7761 "2026-07-31T11:33:26Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > You know this was a long time ago, because at the time a computer without a floppy drive was pretty limited. Well, or not that long ago, because a computer without a floppy drive is now common place and has been for some time. Personally, I’d have guessed circa 2010, and imagined you still had a niche use for a floppy drive (as did I) even as the world had moved on to CDs and increasingly thumb drives. To say nothing of” the cloud.” Not unlike getting a landline installed: it doesn’t necessarily mean it happened in the early 1900s when phone use was expanding. It might as well have happened yesterday as landline use was contracting and someone with a special need that could not be satisfied by a cellphone had one installed. A kind of Laffer Curve for technology, where the rate of installation or usage of a given technology may be identical at two widely disparate points in history, with a great big bulge in the middle where its use or installation was ubiquitous. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2026, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7762 "2026-07-31T12:18:21Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > And the excuse wasn’t “oops I missed that” it was “I was a work so I intentionally didn’t take the time to read the rest of the thread”\*. The apology was some “bless your heart” bullshit. This was at least the second example of this in the last couple of days. It was especially hilarious that @Jasmine followed up that “at work so I can’t read all the replies” excuse with some finger-wagging about _”There is an ‘it’s everyone elses fault but mine’ attitude that pervades much of our society”_ regarding **other** people’s behavior. Yeah, if you participate in a discussion, the default expectation is that you’ve been following the discussion. Generally posters who haven’t done that will reply with a pre-emptive apology along the lines of _“I only read the first few posts so my bad if I’ve missed this, but…”_ ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2026, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7763 "2026-07-31T12:29:06Z")
What caught my attention was the line “There is an “it’s everyone elses fault but mine” attitude that pervades much of our society”. I mean, I know it was about the OPs situation, but it came just after saying “I read the OP and responded to that. I’m at work and sometimes can’t read them all. If he’s upset with me, I’ll be happy to apologize to him directly.” In other words, it’s not my fault I responded to the OP without reading the other dozen or so posts in the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2026, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7764 "2026-07-31T12:32:25Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > If you had a USB-A device and a USB-B device USB-A on each end would work exactly the same. Correct. At least, there doesn’t seem to be a reason why it wouldn’t work. > [@](#): > > It’s up to the peripheral to get it right. Which is exactly what they do. But is not exactly what they **did** when USB-A and B were created. Back then, the devices couldn’t negotiate anything, it was either designed to be the host or the peripheral. If you connected two hosts or two peripherals, the connection would fail. Using A for the host and B (or hardwired connections) for the peripheral ensures that all connections are host → peripheral, eliminating one type of failure mode. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2026, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7765 "2026-07-31T13:36:19Z")
Speaking of not reading (the recent relevant parts of) the thread … 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2026, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7766 "2026-07-31T14:13:18Z")
> [@DETXL](#): > > I’ve looked at a “molex connector” and it has four pins at one side and four pins on the other side. Wrong Molex connector. Potentially understandable, since Molex is a manufacturer of electronics and there are literally thousands of types of “Molex commectors”. In PC builder context, a Molex connector was this particular connection: > **[Molex connector](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molex_connector)** > > A Molex connector is a two-piece pin-and-socket interconnection which became an early electronic standard. Developed by Molex Connector Company in the late 1950s, the design features cylindrical spring-metal pins that fit into cylindrical spring-metal sockets, both held in a rectangular matrix in a nylon shell. AMP (now TE Connectivity) introduced the Mate-n-Lok connector in October 1963, which was similar to Molex's patented design but not compatible. It featured improvements such as being keyed... It’s actually an outdated reference, since the peripherals that used that connector aren’t used in PCs any more. (Full-sized hard disks and 5 1/4" floppy drives, for example.) ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2026, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7767 "2026-07-31T14:13:39Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > Personally, I’d have guessed circa 2010, and imagined you still had a niche use for a floppy drive (as did I) even as the world had moved on to CDs and increasingly thumb drives. To say nothing of” the cloud.” More like 2003-2004 in this case. A few years later, and I had a cheap external USB floppy drive, no need for an internal one. And by then it was niche, yes. Mostly to support legacy software installation or just the ability to read really old data. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2026, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7768 "2026-07-31T14:41:48Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > It’s actually an outdated reference, since the peripherals that used that connector aren’t used in PCs any more. I guess it’s time to throw out the drawer full of them that I still have. It was only a few years ago that I finally tossed all my old IDE ribbon cables. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2026, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7769 "2026-07-31T15:37:04Z")
I’m still convinced that those SCSI cables I have in a box in the attic will eventually come in handy. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2026, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7770 "2026-07-31T15:37:59Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > I’m still convinced that those SCSI cables I have in a box in the attic will eventually come in handy Haven’t those gotten a little scuzzy by this point? 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=368) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=370)