Friday, March 03, 2006
A strange idea
There are some things that, when they work properly, are great, but when they don't work properly, are really really bad.
That may sound dumb, but let me explain. Obviously, anything that isn't working correctly sucks. If your car breaks down, that sucks. If your TV breaks, that's like a major bummer man.
The distinction I'm getting at is between things that when they aren't working properly are totally useless (TVs, cars, 99% of all devices), and things that can be used when they're broken, in the same (general) way as they do when they're working -- although they don't work nearly as well.
Here are the only two I can think of:
1) Escalators -- broken escalators are also known as stairs.
2) Electric toothbrushes -- you can use an electric toothbrush like a regular toothbrush if the batteries are dead, but it is a very unsatisfying experience. First, electric toothbrushes are bigger and heavier than regular toothbrushes, so they're unwieldy to use manually. Second, the head of an electric toothbrush is ill-designed for manual operation.
I've been trying to think of others -- I'm sure there are a million of them, but those two come readily to mind.
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That may sound dumb, but let me explain. Obviously, anything that isn't working correctly sucks. If your car breaks down, that sucks. If your TV breaks, that's like a major bummer man.
The distinction I'm getting at is between things that when they aren't working properly are totally useless (TVs, cars, 99% of all devices), and things that can be used when they're broken, in the same (general) way as they do when they're working -- although they don't work nearly as well.
Here are the only two I can think of:
1) Escalators -- broken escalators are also known as stairs.
2) Electric toothbrushes -- you can use an electric toothbrush like a regular toothbrush if the batteries are dead, but it is a very unsatisfying experience. First, electric toothbrushes are bigger and heavier than regular toothbrushes, so they're unwieldy to use manually. Second, the head of an electric toothbrush is ill-designed for manual operation.
I've been trying to think of others -- I'm sure there are a million of them, but those two come readily to mind.
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