Panty Twisters Revisited or Why America Sux

Ok, here's the problem. Happens every day. I have two things I want to plug in. So just plug one in upside down and one right side up. Right?

Wrong. The both have an orientation that demands they be plugged in upside down of all things.
Massive FAIL.

And then there's this: 3-pronged plug that sticks out a full two inches from the wall, demanding a complete rearrangement of furniture.


Look at all the space I'm losing and for what? A stinking plug? FAIL.

Why are we being held hostage to plugs? It doesn't make sense. Listen, folks. It doesn't have to be this way. We are Americans. We are creative. Ingenious. The world's problem solvers. We can solve this dilemma. Oh wait. The Brits have already done it for us.

I present the side-by-side plug.


So we should just adopt this, right? Wrong.

The reason we can't adopt this is because the "footprint" is too large. Apparently, large outlets like this are unstable given our housing construction. *cough*BULLSHIT*cough* Or perhaps they think that we wouldn't accept the larger size (given our herd mentality acceptance of the 3" from the wall furniture option). I for one am ready to sign on.
But most Americans, apparently aren't. Or at least most Americans are in the dark. And American contractors don't want to change. And American money makers would rather sell you some half-assed solution and keep creating the same problem forever. So here's one brainiac's solution. Sink the plug into the wall. Although this really isn't a solution at all for those oversized plugs. FAIL.


Here's another solution. Use a connector. Although I'm not a fan of plugging 3-pronged safety plugs into what is effectively an extension cord. FAIL.
Now here is an idea I could get behind. Rotate the orientation of the plugs such that you can plug in two big honking plugs. Although the fact that they don't actually SHOW two plugs in the thing causes me to suspect the worst here. But for the time being, I'll give this one a B-.



Ok, another problem. I bought a paper-thin iPod and the plug is 3X as thick.

Hellooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. I will give them brownie points for making the plug part fold into the charger, but I'm not giving them much. This is about a C- solution.

But who could we possibly look toward for an answer?

How about this guy?For all those people who think that building a better mousetrap won't make you rich anymore, let me introduce the next multi-millionaire. Oh, here's a surprise. He's a Brit.

What's his idea? A folding plug.



Thank you, Mr. Brit, for unwinding my panties. They were getting uncomfortable.