Sunday 5 September 2021

Free food and my new tool

Imagine a large, vast restaurant. Service here works in an interesting way.

The waiters dash around the restaurant to bring diners as much free food as they can eat. They don’t take orders but effectively direct you to what you will eat by putting that food in front of you.

The restaurant owner has designed it this way, to keep you eating as much as possible.  The owner monitors what you eat and sells this information to his suppliers.

How do the waiters know what you like? They have a record of what you ate last time. They listen in on your table conversation. You mention you feel like French fries? They will bring you buckets of fries over and over.

At first you think: “Isn’t this wonderful, these waiters know just what I like and it’s all free.”

But the waiters don’t care about what you like. They just want you to keep eating. Even if the food is unhealthy and increases your risk of disease or death. No matter. They’ll keep bringing it as long as you keep eating.

If these waiters were ethical, if they cared about your well-being, they might bring you healthy alternatives. They might put a salad before you. If the restaurant owner was ethical, the service would not be designed to encourage overeating. It would seek to interest you in something else.

But then you might stop eating. You might leave the restaurant. That would hurt profits.

Welcome to the world of social media!

My new tool has arrived.  I saw it on Banggoods with a 60% discount.  At $14 I thought “Why Not!”

It’s a corner chisel.  If you have ever routered a slot in timber you will know the ends of the slot are round from the bit.  I had this recently with the rebates for the door hinges and went to the expense of purchasing hinges with round corners.  This little tool accurately cuts out the rounded corners.  Yes, I know this can be achieved with a conventional chisel but my eyesight is so bad I struggle to do this.  The tool is much easier.   Or it will be when I sharpen the very blunt edges.

P1010590P1010591P1010592

No comments :