Leverage

So if you are reading this odds are you know me, and if you know me you know I have a bit of a germ thing. It's not debilitating, it's just a thing. It has largely to do with people being gross. Not you necessarily, but people. I've seen them digging for green gold on the freeway, and don't even get me started on the bathroom etiquette in my building. Anyhow..

To open a door you should push (or pull) on the side opposite the hinges. This provides you the greatest leverage so that the least amount of force is required at any point, although you have to push over a greater distance. Who cares, you were walking through the door anyway. From a bioergonomic point of view (yeah I made up that word) you should push probably between shoulder and hip height, otherwise you'll be using all sorts of weird muscles just to be stable and not pushing like you otherwise could. So basically, push where the handle or brass plate is.

Now if you have this thing about doorknobs that get so used that they're actually worn out, you do what you can to avoid the greasiest parts of the door. This usually results in me picking a spot about 6 feet in the air right in the center of the door. It may not be completely unused, and I'm pushing twice as hard as I need to, but it makes me feel better or something. I haven't swapped hand crud with the entire building, just maybe one or two people.

But wait! One or two people indeed. There are often some handprints in random stupid places on the door, like my 6ft center spot. Who else is doing this? Is it other germy fearin' folks who happened to pick the same random spot, or am I being contaminated by....morons? And it's back to the decision board.

Swiss Made

We ordered up some new equipment the other day and it turns out it’s Swiss Made. You can tell because it says it right on the front. Despite what the underdeveloped logical part of my mind is saying, this knowledge really goes a long way to assuring me that what I’m holding here is a quality product made with great care and precision. Why? There are plenty of fine Swiss watchmaking companies, to be sure, but there is no reason to believe that the companies who craft these famous watches have anything at all to do with my swiss made lab instruments. Ferrarri and Lamborghini are both Italian brands, but that doesn't mean that Fiat is built to the same standard. So why so much faith in the Swiss attention to detail? Because for some reason I can’t explain I am certain that Switzerland is populated mostly by people who could be described as an elderly Hans Christian Anderson/Geppetto fellow with thin rimmed glasses and a jewelers loup working diligently in a shop filled with pocket watches and springs. I think this exposes me as both an ignoramus and a racist or xenophobe (an inaccurate one at that – HC Anderson and Geppetto were Danish and Italian, respectively) at the same time. But hey, at least I can pick out the Swiss from the Swedes…with these new Swiss Made forceps we just got in.