LMAO. I would strongly argue it's coincidence.....however there IS a tiny bit of physics in there, as the knot may be acting as a sort of poor person's choke despite the lack of a ferrite or amorphous iron core. I created my own with a video camera power supply that had a lot of hum, by winding a spiral of the cord up a ferrite rod til the hum disappeared... There is a proper formulae for creating chokes but they are more for filtering noise than 'protection' but most good surge protectors incorporate chokes - and good mains chokes are wound around a donut-shaped core, rather than a straight one. However, as I indicated , lots of things that shouldn't work, often do. HOWEVER- as for the knot in the cord - has nothing to do with any 'straight path' and is more likely to do harm than good, if it damages the insulation or inner stranded wire, it could overheat and cause a fire, similarly, coiling or knotting a wire also (in ac power-land) causes a 'transformer effect' which will create noise, and potentially heat, therefore again a fire risk. If you have a lot of electrical problems/burnouts, you either have loose neutrals in your house (not uncommon) a poor supply from the poco (rare) or above ground lines in a lightning-prone area. A decent surge protector will help but mostly by preventing your death in a lightning strike - I have provided tech support to many customers who were victims of lightning strikes - a line conditioner is better, and an UPS that provides line conditioning and switchover to backup power when poco power is subpar is ideal, however, they will not necessarily protect equipment downstream in all cases but increase your chance of survivability in a catastrophe. Amongst recognised/respected brands of surge protectors etc the warranty/insurance may be worthwhile (surely keeping/preserving receipts is not rocket surgery) but for the most part I suspect the warranty/insurance is a gamble for the company, for every 10,000 units they sell, they might get one claim. Many household insurance policies protect against electrical damage. Personally, I'd start with a whole-house surge protector. Remember that surge protectors are consumables and need to be replaced periodically, when and if they do absorb a big surge, they may fail completely (but have hopefully saved devices down the line) For those tempted, "Monster Cable" type premium cables/suppressors 'audiophile power cables' do not work. Their benefits are purely subjective. There is no scientific evidence they work. Don't be sucked in http://hydrogenaudio.org/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t29989.html I have no doubt Monster cable et als surge protectors etc are nice quality products but I would not pay the premium. Nor would I buy audio cables at the dollar store. Here is a link that might be useful: Choke theory

coffee out my nose, thanks to fly... Seriously, though, if it was my DH, and he didn't want the TV mounted to the wall, I wouldn't do it myself as a "surprise." I'm sure your DH has good reasons for not wanting it wall mounted; have you asked him? Perhaps it's because you don't have studs in "traditional" locations. Post-and-beam houses are structurally different. Maybe he doesn't want it that high? If I were you, I'd buy or build a sturdier, larger cabinet or shelving system for the TV. We just moved our 52" flat screen TV to the cabinet DH just finished building, and I was terrified the entire 30 seconds because it felt so wobbly. I thought the TV was going to go over backwards. In your case, I would be very concerned about knocking it off that little cabinet. As far as location, an outlet that's controlled by a switch usually has one "constant hot" outlet and one controlled one. Just plug a lamp or night-light in to figure out which one is controlled by the wall switch, and then plug the TV into the other one. And, I am wondering how much someone who's practicing an instrument is going to be watching TV. ? If you're sitting at the keyboard, it would be very difficult to see the TV above the keyboard. I would place the TV where it's most convenient for watching TV.

Try a hardware stores plumbing section. They typically have a variety of plugs in different materials. You would probably do best at a mom & pops hardware store or a plumbing supply house rather than a big box store for something like that. Time to McGyver up!

You could do a small vessel sink, which will require cutting a hole in the top and gutting the interior for the plumbing. The lack of size on this will force any faucet to likely need to be wall mounted, which is expensive, or offset to one corner. You will also have issues with water damaging the piece as vessel sinks do have more splashout and hand run off on the counter surface. Installing a stone slab on top would help with that. Or, you could place a stone slab on the top, after cutting away most of that top in order to allow a very small under-mount sink to be attached to the stone only. The piece is somewhat low for a undermounted sink. You could do a top mount sink on the existing surface, but that is an open invitation to almost immediate water damage. Or, again, you could cut out the top and place a stone slab on it for a top mounted sink. If you value the piece, I would use it elsewhere. For a powder room situation, I personally like as much counter space as can be squeezed out of a powder room.