A couple of thought-provoking articles in the Economist:
First a story about the rise of power consumption via electronic appliances in “standby mode”. Incredible amounts of electricity are wasted because stereos, microwave ovens, TVs, VCRs, PVRs and the like are constantly consuming power to operate their clocks, timers and “instant-on” features. (One wonders why a microwave needs a clock, anyway.) This totally unnecessary use of “phantom power” is largely ignored by manufacturers, even when more energy-saving adjustments are available.
The second article is a more humourous analysis of the development of the disposible razor, with a fancy graph showing possible projections of ever-higher multiples of blades (they’re up to five now) as a hyperbolic line instead of the more typical power curve.
Actually, it’s up to 6 blades. There’s a single blade on the back for beard and sideburn trimming. I’m amused that the multiblade rationale has gone from multiple blade passes to reduced pressure. Although I can’t say I’ve ever really suffered from the pressure of my (admittedly decadent) two-bladed razor.
I recall all of this being predicted by Mad magazine back in the 70’s, when 2 blades was radical. They further predicted the ultimate razor with 40 short blades arranged like this:
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which would compensate for the uneven nature of human faces, accompanied by a disgusting and amusing drawing of a close up of a human face.
I remember from the early 70s, soon after double blade razors came out, one of those fake Saturday Night Live commercials that they’d go into after the host’s monologue, showing a guy shaving with a triple-track razor, and the last line was something like ‘It just goes to show you that some people will fall for anything…” When the real triple-blade razors came out, this sketch came to mind every time I saw one of the real, modern, commercials.
Or go to the article from The Onion spoofing the 5-bladed razor—two years ago! [I took off the link because the language was more than a wee bit salty. If you want to look for it, just search for “razor” on their site, but I’m not going to hand the link to you on a platter!]