That explains it.

Only partly. While all 14 of the cables have standard connectors on the hub side, I have (and need)
nine different connectors on the device ends:
Kindle, Olympus, Panasonic, iPod, and iPhone are all proprietary. Then there are four different USB connectors: Standard-A, Standard-B, Micro-B, and Mini-B.
USB...
Universal
Serial
Bus. What part of "Universal" am I missing here?
Then there is my "Charging Closet" which at last count had
ten wall-warts plugged in for everything from cameras (three different kinds) to electric razor to Dewalt cordless drill to Rio Karma to Nokia cell phone to electric toothbrush to... some I don't even remember off the top of my head.
tanstaafl.