Chopstick ingenuity

Ingenuity comes in all different forms. Current innovation has mostly been in information and computational technology in the last 30 years or so. We're starting to see the same in bioengineering, material engineering, and energy engineering. As an engineer, I'm pretty excited about the prospects of the future. But what we usually don't see are innovations in household items. That was done far back in the industrial revolution. It's hard to imagine that zippers, coat hangers, and washing machines as being innovations in the 21st century. In fact, when washing machines first came out, there were no wall sockets. People use to plug them into light bulb sockets. Even though things have improved since then, I'm still waiting for the washer/dryer combo in one, so I don't have to transfer clothes from one machine to another when I'm doing laundry. Even better if someone freakin' figured out how to automatically fold clothes. While we're at it, my clothes should be able to match clothes to create outfits for me so I don't have to think about that in the morning. So imagine my surprise when my parents went to Taiwan and came back with a gift from my cousin: retractable chopsticks. Innovation! But why would someone need something like this? Apparently, there's a trend (perhaps an old trend, I don't know) going on in Taiwan where the hygiene of disposable chopsticks were questionable. So people started bringing their own chopsticks to restaurants--just in case. Salmonella probably isn't on their list of "things to experience at least once in my life". But regardless of how true the fear of the disposable chopsticks are, it's socially acceptable for people to bring their own utensils. My parents suggested I take my new retractable chopsticks out for a spin. I imagined that it would be a good conversation piece, but on the downside, it would attract more attention than I'd like when I'm eating and I certainly can't eat pasta and steak with it. But I have used it at home. I find that it's generally functions as well as a normal pair of chopsticks, but you can't really split food with it. In addition, I had a nasty surprise when I ate a bowl of ramen with it. Hot metal chopsticks don't go well with unsuspecting lips. Well, if anything, since I can carry them anywhere now, I find that I can eat anywhere, like while watching TV. Especially Pringles. Innovation at its best. Wil Chung is a programmer working at a startup, 3cglabs. He fries turkeys for thanksgiving and is currently reading about pose estimation. When he's underwater, he can blow bubbles out of his left eye.