The Existential Question of Hand Drying

In life there are some pretty important questions: why are we here? Is there a god? How did the earth start?

Well, new evidence was recently discovered to support the Big Bang Theory which, although far from conclusive, may lead to the further unraveling of this conundrum.

However, I'd like to focus on an issue much closer to our hearts, minds and more precisely hands. In an attempt to protect the environment and stop the poor polar bears from being stranded on their ever smaller blocks of ice, sanitary companies have invented high-powered super-efficient hand dryers. "Fantastic!" I hear you say. Not only do they vastly reduce paper waste, they also dry your hands more quickly. They are great, and save us the need to sprinkle the floor with drips and then finish off the drying process on our jeans.

Phoebe the Polar Bear's future has therefore been safeguarded. But hold on. Why is there a blue LED light shining on my hands? Do I not know they are there? Can I not feel the hot air on my hands, and perceive when they are dry already? I do not need a 'visible indication of the drying zone' as one manufacturer kindly points out, to undertake this exercise satisfactorily.

Admittedly LEDs use very little energy, but why not go the whole hog and remove them, potentially saving a huge quantity of watts?

Even more radically, do away with hand dryers completely and we can all revert to wiping our paws on our jeans to protect Phoebe. Although, dry cleaners' ecological footprints (and revenue) might rocket up...



Image from http://www.jetdryer.com.au/jetlite-jet-dryer/

Why We Love Losing

The intriguing thing about sport is not the winning, nor the taking part, but rather the witnessing of teams rise and fall and fight back to the top again. There are copious examples over the years in all types of sport, whether it be individual, team, man and machine or even man and beast.

I mention this in the light of the North West football derby over the weekend. Manchester United's comprehensive defeat to Liverpool yesterday is a case in point. Since their Premiership title win last May, the descent of one of the world's most famous clubs has been more rapid and surprising than even the most pessimistic of pundits could have predicted. And yet it's nothing new. Liverpool themselves went into decline in the 90s after repeatedly trouncing teams across Europe for two decades previously. The odd purple patch did occur thereafter, (the so-called 'mickey-mouse' treble in 2001, the 2005 Champion's League victory and a closely fought second place finish in the league in 2009 - and we all know who came first that year!)

Whilst I'm not saying that United fans should anticipate 20 years of intermittent results, the reversal in fortunes of these two teams couldn't be more stark, albeit that Liverpool are yet to win anything this season. Only time will tell how the future of these two great rivals will pan out, but it is these sorts of ups and downs that fascinate football followers across the globe.

What's more, the phenomenon is not only limited to this one sport. Take Formula One for example, where for years Michael Schumacher dominated proceedings, and then Sebastian Vettel, who almost paralleled his countryman's feat of dominance more recently. Thankfully for this sport these great competitors were or will be overthrown  - the booing of Vettel last year tells you all you need to know about how fans don't like to see one individual or team dictate results season after season.

It might be a bitter pill for United fans to swallow at present, but the real, lifelong, hardy supporters will stick by their team and manager until fortunes change. And that's the thrilling thing about sport, it's what make people turn up to stadiums and switch on their TVs week after week.

It is often said that losing is a bigger test of character than winning, not just for the players and club staff, but also for the supporters. Periods of drought are what separate the true, loyal devotees from the champagne sipping, prawn sandwich eating ones.

Liverpool fans will be hoping that United undergo a lot of character building in the near future. But they should be wary, United will bounce back.

Flight MH370 - The mystery of all mysteries

Human beings tend to love mysteries. There is something in our curious nature that is aroused by riddles and conundrums. In a world where information can be found at the touch of the button and where disputes in the pub over who scored the most goals in the 1999 season exist no more thanks to Google, the disappearance of a commercial airliner is thrilling for many.

First and foremost we cannot ignore the tragic loss of the 239 people aboard flight MH370 and the plight of their friends and families. Losing someone is one thing, not knowing their fate is wholly unimaginable.

It beggars belief that in 2014, when we live in states of hyper-surveillance, where in nipping out to the local convenience stores you can be caught on camera a dozen times, an aeroplane can simply vanish. Granted there are fewer CCTV cameras at sea, but complex systems of radar, satellites, GPS and radio communication systems do exist to track planes. Even if a plane manually turns of its electronic systems, surely radar on the ground would still be able to locate a jet in the air. That was after all the aim of tracking systems developed during the war, to spot planes that did not want to be spotted. It remains a mystery to us all for the time being, and agony upon agony is heaped on those who wait tirelessly for a slither of information about their loved ones.

When Air France Flight 447 crashed off the coast of Brazil in 2009 it took almost two years to find the black box and start to piece together the fateful events. However, bodies and wreckage were discovered within five days of the accident, allowing those affected some closure on the event from an earlier stage.

Presumably over the course of the next few days, weeks and months the story behind the mystifying events will slowly unravel itself, starting with the discovery of the fuselage and followed by that of the black box. Yet one can only imagine how such a thing can come to pass in this day and age.