Saturday and time to recharge the old batteries. Right. Right after the housework, the yard work and the paper work.

What is it about batteries - dry cells for the pedantic? The most commonly used general purpose sizes seem to be AA, AAA and D. Of those, AAs seem to have the shortest endurance. The AAs were dropping like flies, so I bought a recharger and some rechargeable AAs for a number of devices including a digital camera, a wireless mouse and wireless headphones. Yet AAAs and Ds last so long I can't justify the cost of rechargeables. Can anyone explain that?

And another thing: where I live, batteries are usually sold in pairs or packs of four, yet more and more devices seem to require three cells. Is this a plot hatched by the people who brought us hot dogs packaged in sixes and buns in eights?