Wednesday
Work.
Blah blah blah.
Home.

There was actually a little more to the day than that. Including finally having lunch with Jonni (1, 2) along with Chris and Roger from work. It was the first time that I’ve seen him since he cut his hair. Big change, but same Jonni. Lunch was a little longer than usual. But it was good. And a lot of fun.

Song of the Day
Too Much Time on My Hands by Styx

Stray Toasters

  • The day started with a phone call. From my father. He called to tell me that he had seen one of my best friends at a memorial service. That was the only reason that he called. It took me a couple of minutes to stop laughing about that after I hung up.
  • At the close of some episodes of The Adventures of Superman, Clark Kent (portrayed by George Reeves) would sometimes make a tongue-in-cheek comment and then he would “break the fourth wall” and wink at the camera. I’m not sure if that was a nod towards the old series, but at the end of the Superman movies, Christopher Reeve (no relation) would smile at the camera as he flew around the world.

Super-Sized Stray Toaster
I had a very random… thought a couple of days ago. And it was inspired by, of all things, the toothpaste tube.

We’ve learned to define, and in many cases explain, the forces at work around us. We’ve used science to shape our world into a more comfortable place. That’s not necessarily a “bad” thing. For example, I doubt that many would argue against the convenience of using a pen/pencil and paper as opposed to using stone tablets and charcoal. A calculator handles number crunching faster (and in larger numbers) than using fingers and toes. I’ve heard that abacus users can be rather fleet of finger, too, but for the sake of argument, we’ll consider that a simple calculator. Cars convey us from place to place faster than walking; trains and planes do the same thing, but at an even more swift rate.

But it does seem that at some times we have let our quest for “Let’s make it easier to…” run amok (amok amok). And that brings us to toothpaste. No, that’s not really my point. Let’s try again… “And that brings us to the toothpaste tube.” Ah. That’s much better. But, I can narrow the focus even more: The toothpaste tube cap.

It’s amazing how “simple” we need/want things to be and the toothpaste tube cap exemplifies this: For years (read: “decades”), the screw-on top reigned supreme as the perfect way to keep the toothpaste in the tube. A couple of twists and it was off. Squeeze the tube, apply toothpaste to your toothbrush. A couple of twists and it was on the tube once more. Form and function were both served.

But, sometime in the past… five to ten years, someone figured out that a flip-top would be even easier to use: Flip up. Squeeze. Flip down. Simple! And, yes, this can be considered a step forward. But I can also see another side of the issue: Have we really become so enamored with “easy of use/easy access” that we have found making a couple of finger twists “too difficult?” The first answer that comes to mind is “Yes.” But, again, there is more to it: If you look at your flip-top cap, it still has a screw-on top! Is it a concession to “old school” tooth brushers? Is it nostalgia? Or could it simply be that they haven’t found a foolproof way to keep toothpaste from coagulating under the flip-top cap? We may never know. At least not until someone comes along with something new or better… or easier.

That’s all. For now.

Namaste.