Coffee machine

Standardisation as a concept is highly underestimated in day-to-day life.

Once upon a time, a ‘coffee machine’ was just that: a machine that produced coffee or at least a fluid with a vague similarity to coffee. The early machines I encountered in various office environments resembled closely the ones at home. The best one was in university: it consumed a full kilogram of coffee beans, needed some mechanical action to grind the beans and then consumed a flood of water. The end product came in quantities to support the entire community to drink something that made them think about coffee; at least they complained about coffee, which can be seen as a success in my book.

But life goes on and a lack of change is a lack of progress. The next generation of coffee machines falls in one of two distinct categories: it either has coffee cups inside or it doesn’t. The cups-included machine has the advantage that the Facilities Department (we are talking coffee machine in the corporation league here) can completely prepare the whole coffee experience. The number of cups is usually not the limiting factor so for all practical purposes these machines can be considered to have an endless cup supply.

The cups-excluded machine can be much smaller since an endless supply of cups is quite bulky. The plastic cups are now stacked around it, so this does not change the spatial impact of the whole thing, but it gives some more flexibility: you can now use your own mug. Apart from the lifestyle component, it is this kind of behaviour that eventually will save our planet.
The worst thing that can happen to you is changing jobs from a cups-included to a cups-excluded type of organisation. Not having to place a coffee cup after making your choice of coffee (cream or sugar or from a whole [XXXX]-load of specialty choices) is something that is handled on a very low conscious level in your limbic system and almost impossible to get right again in the new situation. I personally think it can be argued that learning to ride a bicycle with your arms crossed is easier than making this kind of shift. Having to actually think on a conscious level about cups when standing in front of a coffee machine is beyond me. Please confirm that I am not alone in this…

My point is that intelligent coffee machine designers from all over the world could (and should!) have foreseen this problem. And since in the end we will all evolve to be cupless-coffee-machine-users (due to lifestyle and planet) early standardisation would have been highly preferable. Wasting an entire generation, not to mention rivers of coffee running by when no cup is placed, seems to be close to criminal neglect. The fact that all civil servants in the European Union were not able to prevent this, poses serious questions on their competence in general and their ability to contribute to standardisation in particular.

ERegoS

Inspired by penguins

Back in my highschool days I responded to a simple questions in a way that would have a significant impact on the rest of my life. And I spend the decades since that moment trying to find out if there is some hidden meaning behind that. It's about penguins but before diving into the results, lets start with the question and subsequent answer.

At my 4th birthday (being from 29th of February, that's becoming 16 years old) I ended up in a situation where all my 30 classmates intended to visit my house for my birthday party. With all the stress incurred by that event, I never anticipated the easiest question of all: "What kind of present can we get for your birthday?". In a strike of panic the only thing I came up with: "Don't bother, any penguin is OK!".
As it turns out, there are penguin napkins, penguin towels, penguin mugs, wooden penguins, penguin puppets, penguin posters, penguin pictures and penguin postcards in abundance. And since then the penguin played a dominant role in my life especially around birthdays.

But why the penguin? Without any professional counseling, there is no final answer to be given. Obviously I like penguins a lot, especially the emperor penguin although not to the level of dedication of people like Bruno Zehnder and Luc Jacquet. To a certain extend I can even relate to penguins. When you see them walking they are (and I say this with the deepest appreciation) a bit clumsy as you would probably expect from a bird who lost the ability to fly. The moment they hit the water however you can really see what these creatures have spend their evolution on: in the water they become swift and graceful which clearly indicates the ocean is their preferred habitat. But when nature calls, the emperor penguins gather back on the hazardous land of the South Pole to lay their eggs and tend to their young. The level of cooperation between the sexes and the amount of team-work is an inspiring example for us all.

So whenever I feel uncomfortable, ill-adapted or socially challenged, I take comfort in the penguin. There may be an habitat out there where my habits, skills and preferences fit perfectly. And even if I haven't found my prime element yet, the penguin encourages me to keep looking.

ERegoS