Rapid Responses to:
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Rapid Responses: Rapid Responses published:
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Teabags and forks as confounding factors
- Alan A Woodall (23 December 2005)
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disappearing teaspoons
- Katherine Darton (23 December 2005)
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Spoon solutions
- Trevor Watts (23 December 2005)
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It is because the Universe is expanding
- jonathan l rees (23 December 2005)
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Teaspons + glasses interaction - description of a case
- Albert Figueras (24 December 2005)
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Spoonification
- Marshall B Boak (24 December 2005)
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Could teaspoons be the larvae of some unrecognised adult?
- Ian Westmore (24 December 2005)
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Spoons
- Phillip J. Colquitt (24 December 2005)
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categorical consequences of utensil disappearance
- Michael H. Neill (26 December 2005)
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The Foster Liquidity Theorem
- William E Derbyshire (27 December 2005)
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Simply a diversion of blame
- JM Aitken (27 December 2005)
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Is there a difference between Tea Spoons and Coffee Spoons?
- Eberhard W Lisse (28 December 2005)
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Communism and biros
- Nick J Woodhead (28 December 2005)
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Data from the antipodes
- Bertrand Herer (29 December 2005)
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Keep pens out of it.
- Roberta Smith (29 December 2005)
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The correlation between spoon attrition and CBT
- L J Underwood (30 December 2005)
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Corporate Health and Attrition Cessation Support
- Denise K Hampson (30 December 2005)
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so what has Marriage to do with it?
- Gary Baker (30 December 2005)
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comments
- Patricia Young (30 December 2005)
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Hey Diddle Diddle
- norman a. granholm (1 January 2006)
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How high the spoon?
- David A Silver (1 January 2006)
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Permanent damage from lack of teaspoons.
- Elizabeth Dodd (1 January 2006)
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Children, missing "teaspoons", and solutions
- Sandra C Victor (2 January 2006)
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Theory: Matter Shifts
- Allison R. Mantrone (2 January 2006)
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Re: Keep pens out of it.
- Robyn Cannizzaro (3 January 2006)
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Teaspoons et al.
- Brian T. Stephens (4 January 2006)
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Re: Communism and biros
- John H Schmitt (4 January 2006)
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the complex world of cutlery
- Murray Shadbolt (5 January 2006)
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More plausible migrations in northern climates
- jon d bowler (5 January 2006)
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The spoon-fairy
- Katie Scholten (5 January 2006)
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Teaspoon
- Vivien Lee (5 January 2006)
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Another hypothesis
- John W Brice (6 January 2006)
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Herding vs. Spoontopia
- Darren A Natale (6 January 2006)
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Ground-breaking research in an office environment
- Patrice R Marriott (8 January 2006)
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Teaspoon Loss Prevention
- Morna J Findlay (9 January 2006)
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Global implications, impending catastrophe
- Alex J. Gunz (11 January 2006)
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One spoon theory
- Arnaud Gallois (12 January 2006)
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Can the emerging spoonoid theory be extrapolated to other mysterious human phenomenon
- Dr Alexandra McManus (12 January 2006)
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Inadequate controls
- Damian J Coburn (13 January 2006)
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Disappearing teaspoons: Occam's razor
- Jocelyn S Downey (13 January 2006)
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Spoons and relativity
- Raymond J Mullins (13 January 2006)
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Teaspoons: Supply and Demand
- Tom Powell (14 January 2006)
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correspondents have missed the point
- alison wheeler (15 January 2006)
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Spoon breeding migrations
- Oliver J Brown (16 January 2006)
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A place to look for them
- Jon Eriksen (16 January 2006)
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NO loss in private practice
- Steven M Rudolphy (17 January 2006)
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Socioeconomic and other Factors in Teaspoon Disappearance
- Andrew B Hacker (18 January 2006)
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Toward a Bayesian model of teaspoon location
- Benjamin T Vincent (18 January 2006)
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Is there a corollary with divorced socks?
- Fanni Mari (21 January 2006)
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Alternative explanation?
- Fergal J O'Donoghue (21 January 2006)
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Or All the Seas with Oysters
- Sean Dugan (24 January 2006)
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Broaden the literature search
- Ronald L. Horswell (26 January 2006)
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Identification of a possible major global sink for tea spoons
- Lars J Tranvik (3 February 2006)
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Returning Spoons
- A. Z. O'Trope (10 February 2006)
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Genetic component of teaspoon disappearance
- Dr Heather LE Lang (10 February 2006)
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Re missing spoons and the triangle of Bermuda
- Surendra Singh (12 August 2006)
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Plastic straw stirrers as an alternative to stainless steel spoons can bring about a significant reduction in expenses
- Yaser Dorri, Biji T. Kurien (5 December 2006)
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Inadvertent Substance Abuse
- Robert M Connelly (27 January 2007)
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Plastic stirrers are a health and planetary hazard
- Chris M Phillips (3 March 2007)
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Experience with disappearing spoons
- A Gurka (9 March 2007)
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A Quick Fix
- Rob H Valentine (29 June 2007)
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Practical solution
- Jennifer A Stillman, Private Bag 102-904, North Shore MSC, Auckland, New Zealand. (6 October 2007)
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Black Markets
- Peter G Milne (24 November 2007)
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Re: Experience with disappearing spoons
- Peter N Williams (29 January 2008)
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The borrowing effect
- john q. publick (21 November 2008)
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Re: disappearing teaspoons and the borrowing effect
- Martin S Knapp (24 November 2008)
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Further to One Spoon Effect
- Peter A. Caporaso (15 December 2008)
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Alan A Woodall, SpR Public Health Medicine Telford PCT, UK, TF1 5RY
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This valuable piece of research will be circulated as urgent reading around my Primary Care Trust where institutional teaspoon attrition may be a factor in the ongoing financial crisis for the NHS. Congratulations on an excellent study on this important topic. However, I would suggest that the research team consider using a parallel supply of marked 'forks' as well as teaspoons and monitor attritional loss again in a more in depth study across a range of healthcare institutions. In England, where tea drinking often exceeds instant coffee use in institutions, in absence of teaspoon availability (or clean spoons) tea drinkers will often use a fork to remove the teabag from thier cup during beverage preparation. This obviously is not an option available to coffee drinkers; one would therefore suspect that tearooms where coffee drinkers predominate would experience a higher rate of spoon loss. Therefore, a potential confouding factor in the study is the ratio of instant coffee to tea drinkers in each room. Inclusion of a parallel cohort of marked forks would allow this phenomenon to be monitored. Of course, any birthday cake consumption during the monitoring period may lead to a rapid loss of forks, so birthday celebrations etc will need to be adjusted for! Competing interests: I have a hoard of 3 teaspoons and 2 mugs on my desk on 23/12/05 |
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Katherine Darton, information officer Mind, E15 4BQ
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Your paper does not appear to have taken account of the fact that teaspoons may reappear. What steps were taken in this study for the identification of individuals? It is our experience in this institution that teaspoons regularly go on away-days, when there are, of course, no teaspoons available in the office at all, but they then return, and a full cohort may be available and ready for use in a couple of days' time. Clearly, if teaspoons are replaced during the short absence of an away- day, they will feel under no obligation to return. I suggest that this may invalidate the findings of this paper on number needed to keep an institution supplied. Competing interests: None declared |
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Trevor Watts, Senior Lecturer and Consultant in Periodontology King's College London Dental Institute at Guy's, King's and St Thomas' Hospitals, London SE1 9RT, UK
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To solve the problem of disappearing spoons, I would like to introduce the authors to the recently developed Chaotic Randomly Uniform Muddled Botch-up System (CRUMBS), by which it is predicted that immobilization and improvision are the two possible ways of dealing with the matter. The first solution, immobilization, may be achieved by use of chained teaspoons (analogous to the chained Bibles of the Middle Ages), where a large thick-linked chain attaches the spoon to a strongly mounted wall bracket. Improvision solves the problem by not supplying teaspoons, forcing staff to bring their own, which they are more likely to protect than institutional spoons. I do hope this is helpful. Competing interests: I keep my teaspoon in a locked drawer in my office. I am thinking of starting a business in the supply of chained teaspoons. |
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jonathan l rees, Professor of Dermatology Dermatology, Edinburgh, EH3 9HA
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There is, as always, a more fundamental reason: Oblers paradox. In the 19th century Wilhelm Oblers pointed out that if the Universe was old then it should be as light at night as in the day (as light movement would be in equilibrium in all directions). Alternatively, he suggested, it could be because the Universe was expanding--the light is moving into a larger and larger space. So with light, so with teaspoons, nailfiles, paper clips and very likely hospital notes. The observation of an increasingly low density of spoons is because they fill a larger and larger Universe. I have even spotted some Australian ones in my neck of the woods. Competing interests: None declared |
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Albert Figueras, Associate Professor Fundació Institut Català de Farmacologia. U. Autònoma de Barcelona. E-08035-Barcelona (Spain)
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Sir, It is extraordinarily amazing how the right information goes to the right target, even when the exposure of health professionals to new scientific information is so Amazonian -a mean daily reading dose of 19 papers per day, if you want to keep updated (1). This process is basic in order to ensure the unstoppable science advance thanks to subsequent solidary contributions to the first observation. Description of the case: A woman less than 50 years-old working at our Institute for more than a year. A couple of days ago, the author observed how she discreetly displaced a coffee spoon from the table of the hospital dinning-room to the pocket of her white coat. The attentive reading of the paper of Lim et al. triggered some neuronal pathways of the author, and this event was made conscious again. In order to try to find the destination of the displaced spoon, the authors used the "E-mail to a friend" option of the BMJ webpage. This action was followed by a pop-up message from the woman prompting me to go to her desk five minutes later. She showed no signs of anxiety, no anger, probably due to the contagious Christmas athmosphere. Quite the opposite, she gladly showed met, not only a rich collection of displaced spoons (n=18), but also a 30 x 30 cm (approx. 10 x 10 inches) cardboard box full of displaced coffee glasses (n=23; 1.64 per working- month). This case-report can contribute to the economical sustainability of research institutions because it shows that in addition to teaspoons, glasses can also dissapear. So, preventive actions should be wider. Furthermore, it demosntrates that case-reports continue to be a very useful tool to communicate occasional clinical distortions and side- effects, even in the 21st Century. References 1. Rawlins M. St. Paul International Health Care Annual Lecture on Sept. 7th, 1999 http://www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=27856 (last accessed, August 2005). Competing interests: None declared |
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Marshall B Boak, Surveillance Coordinator Maryland Department of Pest Control, USA
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Humans have spread into the remotest and most inhospitable regions of the world in an effort to get as far away from one another as possible. So too may it be with spoons. Spending all of one's time efficiently stacked atop one another, day after day, with little hope of altering one's environment can result in abrupt and irratic changes in behavior. Additionally, while all eating utensils are subject to being stacked by the number in dark quarters, spoons suffer the additional indignity of having to communally "spoon" one another while awaiting temporary respite. If being dunked in hot liquid is considered such. Thus, the greater the number of spoons collected in one locale, the greater the observable increase in spoonification (a flow of spoons from high density spooniquaries to regions low in spoon density). Ultimately, spoonification will result in threats to the public health as cockroaches and rats are displaced and forced to live in utensil drawers. Competing interests: Spork Manufacturers Association funding for utensil hybridization research |
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Ian Westmore, Retired Home, 5251
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Were the spoons used in this study cleaned in dishwashers? If so the cause of their apparent disappearance may be similar to that which sees socks regularly disappear when washed. In a highly classified, and so far unpublished study I determined that socks are the larval stage of the common wire coat hanger. When temperatures and humidly are exactly right sock larvae crawl into the far recesses of washing machines to pupate emerging as fully formed, but still pliable hangers (bodies fully expand and harden instantly on exposure to sunlight) some 36 hours later. This timing ensures they will have the cover of darkness when they leave the machines to seek mates. Probably to maximise survival each sock twin seems to require slightly different conditions for initiation of metamorphosis which is why both socks of a pair rarely 'vanish' on the same day. As adults can only mate while hanging by their hook shaped tails, closets and wardrobes are their favoured habitat. Competing interests: I drink tea black without sugar |
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Phillip J. Colquitt, Currently on a break Independent comment
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It is well documented that spoons are valued for sampling by radiation researchers, following criticality accidents[1]. This suggests a possible explanation for spoon attrition in research institutes, not covered by the authors “literature review”[2]. Further, if whole nations can be invaded by other nations, on the pretext of the existence of weapons of mass destruction[WMD], which WMD disappear without rational explanation, this suggests that primates(homo sapiens) may well be on the right track in trying to master spoon detection before going on to the more advanced stuff. [1] Gasparro J, Hult M, Komura K, Arnold D, Holmes L, Johnston PN, Laubenstein M, Neumaier S, Reyss JL, Schillebeeckx P, Tagziria H, Van Britsom G, Vasselli R. Measurements of 60Co in spoons activated by neutrons during the JCO criticality accident at Tokai-mura in 1999. J Environ Radioact. 2004;73(3):307-21. [2]Lim MSC, Hellard ME, Aitken CK. The case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute BMJ 2005;331:1498-1500, doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7531.1498. Competing interests: None declared |
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Michael H. Neill, construction cost estimator Seattle, WA, USA 98199
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Teaspoon loss study suggests a wider study should be pursued. Significant and fruitful observations about workplace interactions and morale may follow. I suggest as a study topic "The role of worker morale/productivity in a context of utensil availability predictability." I can help fund the study to the tune of maybe US$10 or $12. Anecdotal case study: There are 2 other people in my office, and 1 of those 2 is almost always on the road. Yet about 4 months after I brought in a cheap metal fork with which to eat my lunch, it disappeared. We have a little kitchen and one day I heated up my lunch and reached into the dishwasher for my fork and found it was gone. Search and inquiry did not have a fruitful result, viz., return of my fork. That was, like, a month ago. Maybe it went to a "forkoid planet." Maybe it went home with my frikkin' boss, that's where I think it went. I am loathe to go to the dollar store again (US$1) and buy another fork so I am using a fast food plastic giveaway fork and keeping it in a desk drawer to guard against attrition. I have already broken 2 of its 4 tines but it is MY fork and I am keeping it. My fork loss is an unfair intrusion of other's choices into my nutrition. Not only is it a constraint in my choices, it would not be a stretch to say I am fork-deprived. Now I am compelled to choose sandwiches more often than I usually would. Leftover phad Thai? My girlfriend's lasgana? Out of the question. You try to eat lasgna with a plastic fork. Lasgna cries out for steel. I am sure you can see that multiple social values and interactions can be meaningfully explored from the starting-point of workplace utensil "displacement." I'd welcome some geeks in lab coats to search for my "displaced" fork. Respectfully submitted, Mike Neill Competing interests: None declared |
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William E Derbyshire, Healthcare principal Aberdeen MD 21001 USA
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There is an additional hypothesis that has equal currency to alternative theories. There exists significant evidence, albeit anecdotal, that a metallurgical phenomenon is occurring below the equator. Evidence suggests that the parabolic surface of the spoon, unlike that of other utensils, is receptive to pulsing radiation only found below the Equator. Observed thusfar only in Australia, this radiation causes the spoon parabola and supporting spoon structure to undergo a sudden and complete transformation from a metallic solid to a liquid psycho-economic substance. This substance, tentatively referred to as "Fosters Spoon Nectar," appears to create an environmnent in which funding is inexplicably provided to investigators seeking to advance science to a level worthy of the prestigious Ig Nobel Prize. Research has confirmed, reapeatedly, that funding administrators may avoid the fiscal risks associated with this transient condition by covering both external ear structures with aluminum foil immediately upon becoming aware of spoon fluctuation of any sort. Competing interests: Naked ambition, for employment purpose, to declare self as having authored something (anything, really) that appeared in the BMJ. Silver spoon and curriculum vitae enclosed. |
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JM Aitken, teacher Taiwan 22177
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As a close relative of one of the authors of this study I am in a unique position to comment on a hitherto unrecognized aspect. I shared a residence with author X for sixteen years, during which time I observed an astonishing rate of teaspoon attrition. The results of this study immediately aroused my suspicions. Could it be merely coincidence that there is an equally high rate of teaspoon attriton in his workplace as well? It is my hypothesis that rather than teaspoons making their way to outer planets, they make their way to a secret room hollowed underneath his house where he retires in the dead of night to revel in his pathological need for spoiling people's fun. I can just imagine him now, rocking backward and forth and cackling madly to himself while the world sleeps above, unaware of the threat lurking in the very earth beneath their beds. I have never been able to forget the brutal teasing I endured and his unnatural laughter when I asked for spoons with which to stir my beverages. Beware! He is amongst us! Competing interests: Sibling Rivalry |
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Eberhard W Lisse, Obstetrician & Gynaecologist Windhoek, Namibia
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This excellent and timely study warrants further investigation. I would be very interested to know if there is a difference between tea rooms and coffee rooms with otherwise identical conditions (such as sugar, milk usage and frequentation), and on the other hand coffee rooms where predominantly percolated, black unsweetened top brand coffee is dispensed. And, does the regular consumption of cake, cookies, or sandwiches together with the beverage under examination change the outcome? Competing interests: None declared |
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Nick J Woodhead, Approved social worker Taunton TA1 3ES
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Your article has given weight to my personal theory that communism is alive and well on the micro-scale. Consider the biro. When was the last time you owned one until all the ink ran out? When was the last time you actually bought one? If you find yourself without one in an office, how long does it take to obtain one? When was the last time you felt guilty for taking someone's and not returning it? When was the last time you felt a sense of loss when someone walked off with yours? Biros, spoons, forks, post-its- these are the naturally occurring bastions of communal property in our society. If something is not 'owned' by any individual, there is no theft, no sense of pride of ownership and, somehow, constant availability. Imagine this scaled up to objects like cars. There are plenty in circulation, they are all pretty similar. Why not just jump in the nearest one when you need to get somewhere? When you feel hungry, just pop into the nearest house and make a sandwich. Hey, it works for me, but I've got to go now, I can hear the owner of this computer coming home.... Competing interests: None declared |
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Bertrand Herer, physician Centre de Forcilles 77150 Férolles-Attilly
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I read with interest the data reported by Lim et al. In France the tea ritual is not as widespread as in English-speaking countries, but spoons are also used during conventional meals. Unpublished data obtained in our hospital located near Paris are the following: in the first five months of 2001, approximately 1800 spoons disappeared during lunchtime at the workplace cafeteria, which is attended by approximately 550 employees. These disappearances occurred despite (or because) the fact that 6000 spoons had been purchased the previous year. These facts occurred at antipodes from Australia, and Lim et al may be right when postulating that spoon disappearance may implicate the whole planet. They could conclude that measures against the loss of [tea]spoons may be not only a national, but rather a planetary priority. Competing interests: None declared |
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Roberta Smith, Proud owner of many pens. N/A
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I can understand the mystery of the disappearing spoons, and to some extent I empathise with the previous owners of happily paired socks - Which disappear into an unknown abyss...which usually can be found hibernating and rotting under the sofa, by a vigilant housewife. But please do not accuse pens of being communists. My pens are never lost, and I'm the proud owner of many different types and colours of pens. My collection of pens has grown considerably over the years, and I lend them to no-one. If you value your pens as much as I do, you would not actually lose them in the first place. And back onto the subject of communism and pens - I am ambidextrous when it comes to writing. On the subject of teaspoons, well that is a different matter entirely. I stir the sugar into the preferred beverage with my right hand for male guests. I would go as far as to speculate that it is only men that actually lose spoons in the first instance. I feel this is actually a cunning ploy by men to ask women to make the coffee for them, as women don't generally displace such important things as spoons. We women understand the importance of stirring a beverage properly. Competing interests: I am not a feminist and I am not a communist. |
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L J Underwood, Clinical Governance Wales
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I am relieved that the subject of teaspoon attrition is finally being taken seriously having suffered the effects of this previously seldomly discussed phenomenon. The repurcussions of these events can be catastrophic where those involved may become sufferers of PTSD (Post Traumatic Spoon Disappearance) and require counselling thus increasing the already stretched resources of the NHS. Further research into teaspoon attrition diagnosis and treatment management and other utensils is therefore essential in order to curb the financial deficits within the NHS and reduce waiting lists. Our office suffered for many months following fork displacement incidents. Root cause analysis investigations revealed that they were being taken home for cleaning in the dishwasher and due to the absence of effective identification systems (the ID wrist bands don't withstand the dishwasher cleaning treatment) were having difficulty being returned. Remedial action has subsequently been taken. A multi-agency working group to generate appropriate action plans is being considered. Competing interests: I like buying new teaspoons but prefer grapefruit spoons |
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Denise K Hampson, Individual Comment N/A
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From a public health perspective, the issue of teaspoon attrition is paramount due to the damaging long-term ill-health effects of teaspoonlessness for the wider staff community. As it appears to be a widespread problem with contributary effects to workplace stress and related sickness abscence (and finincial implications of said sickness absence on the global economy) then we must act now. An Ottawa Charter, "whole systems" approach is required including developing individual skills and creating supportive environments.
A module in the new Corporate Health Standard to tackle teaspoon attrition would help someway to address this and raise awareness amongst employers of the need for suitable measures to combat the problem in the workplace.
Any programme which is established to combat teaspoon attrition should include an attrition cessation support programme. The addictive social support model could be implemented to treat teaspoons and their humans (remember it is not yet clear which of the two owns the addictive behaviour or indeed if humans are at all part of the cause). It is also important to be sensitive to the wider determinants of the attrition. An increased risk factor may be experienced where there is a higher incidence of teaspoon-requiring things in the home such as yoghurts, ice cream, more ice cream etc. which must be tackled first.
Competing interests: Television and Homework |
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Gary Baker, Technical specialist QLd, Australia 4520
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As a parent I know that the advent of children into our house started the attrition of teaspoons and the occasional fork and knife; So I think that the study needs to take into the fact that any company allowing their employees to bring their children into the workplace, would suffer an increase in the attrition of all kitchen utensils. By the way; my socks only started disappearing after I was married Competing interests: not a MCP or even right wing, Reberta |
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Patricia Young, nurse practitioner Brighton Pediatrics, US, 08401
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1. I wonder if this system of study and theory would apply to socks that go missing in the dryer? 2. Use plastic :-) Competing interests: None declared |
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norman a. granholm, basic scientist univ cincinnati, cincinnati, oh 45219
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The comment by Hampson that it is not clear if humans are at all part of the cause is prescient. A search of the (early) literature (by my Good Spouse) has revealed the culprit: Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, The cow jumped over the mood, The little dog laughed to see such sport, And the dish ran away with the spoon. This suggests an area for future study, as well. Competing interests: None declared |
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David A Silver, Cardiothoracic/ICU Anesthesia Fellow Brigham & Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
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I am not convinced that the method of spoon surveillance employed by the authors is entirely adequate ("Desktops and other immediately visible surfaces were scanned . . .") Not unlike the errant single socks cited by multiple other respondents, teaspoons are unlikely to remain on immediately visible surfaces. Inevitable entropy aside, the teaspoon is a uniquely versatile implement (a Google search of "teaspoon" yields 7.2 million results (1); Google of "use a teaspoon" (quotes included) 15,700(2))--and teaspoons in my own department are used to prop open doors, pry open file cabinets, and to strategically position mousetraps in that annoyingly narrow space between the refrigerator and the wall. Scanning only visible surfaces may well result in undercounting of remaining spoons, or in counting only those utensils still used for stirring. In fact, as it is unclear what exactly constitutes a teaspoon (3), can we be certain the authors started with teaspoons at all? (1) http://www.google.com, accessed 30 December 2005, 1746 hrs Eastern Standard Time (EST) (2) http://www.google.com, accessed 30 December 2005, 1748 hrs EST. (3) http://www.swintons.net/deodands/archives/000077.html accessed 30 December 2005, 1741 hrs EST. Competing interests: I pour coffee into a cup already containing milk, obviating the need for stirring. |
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Elizabeth Dodd, Rural Doctor Griffith NSW Australia
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I have suffered permanent damage from a lack of teaspoons. Since spending one year working a hospital which had nil teaspoons in 1981, I am no longer able to measure coffee for my mug with a teaspoon. I can only measure the required amount by shaking it in from a jar. I am unable to use any instant coffee which comes in a tin, as it spills too easily. As this situation has persisted for 25 years, I am assuming that the damage to my abilities is permanent. Further study should include what measures tea and coffee drinkers use to manage without teaspoons and whether any others have had unusual effects from the deprivation. Competing interests: I stole one teaspoon in 1972. |
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Sandra C Victor, Private Investigator 34217
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As I private investigator, I was asked to look into a local case of missing spoons. The client had noticed that their spoon population has dwindled from 32 spoons to 5 spoons in a period of 36 months.
In this case, the problem with missing teaspoons did not apply to fellow employees, because there are no other employees in her workplace. When asked, she told me expensive plastic containers, socks, sunglasses, umbrellas, jackets and an occasional coffee mug were also a problem, but to focus only on teaspoons, because the ratio of missing spoons to the other items combined, minus the sock population, was 12:1
FACTS:
1. She is a sole practitioner that works out of her house.
2. Her office is separated from the rest of the house by a door and has a different entrance.
3. Three people reside in the house; The client, and two children; Ages 15 (boy), 8 (girl)
4. She has had live-in assistance in the past, as well as, workmen; occasional overnight guests; blood relatives, ex-husbands and his relatives in the home over the past 5 years.
5. The problem is not sporadic, but has been consistent.
SOLUTION:
After a lengthy interrogation with several of the above suspects, focusing on the children, I narrowed it down to the when the problem started, who the culprits might be, and different ways she could eliminate their rapid disappearance.
I surmised the spoon disappearance over a period of the past three years started when her children, primarily her young daughter, started bringing lunch to school, and when the client moved her office into her home. She admitted that she felt part of the problem was that in the morning she would stupidly pack stainless steel teaspoons and (high-end) plastic containers in their lunch boxes...and not only would they never return. We collectively agreed they either became part of the Manatee County School Lunchroom Inventory or were in the Manatee County Trash Dump. I suggested the obvious, send cheap disposable plastic only, and for her to consider that like her cat, they have all gone outside to live without fear of being used as a play toy.
She does not feel that was the issue with all 27 spoons. My suggestion to her is that she look into using the spoon(s) value to Manatee County in her next Income Tax return.
My other solution which she immediately started doing to eliminate anymore from disappearing, was to take the extreme measure of hiding them in her bedroom desk drawer under monthly bills...where no one would look.
The client: Sandra Victor.
Competing interests: None declared |
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Allison R. Mantrone, Editor, Writer Manitoba, Canada R0E1Y0
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I am quite impressed by your study. As a child I observed an interesting phenomena that might be related to your missing teaspoons. Whenever anything went missing in our house (inhabited by 10 homo sapiens- 2 adults and 8 children of various ages) approx. nine out of ten times it could be located on the second floor in my oldest sister's bedroom. After many years of observation, I eventually theorized that there was some kind of displacement or shifting of matter going on in our home-- and the path seemed to end in my sister's room. (I never observed a reverse shift, unless my mother or someone else came upstairs and returned the item to its proper place.) The most common items to "shift" were dishes, utencils, and various items of clothing -- mostly mine as I am the female sibling closest to my sister's age. Another observation-- in our family unit, my mother seemed to have the greatest success in locating lost items. And the louder our cry of dismay at not finding a misplaced item, the higher her success rate at locating it. You might wish to interview the cleaning staff at your workplace-- they might have some theories of their own regarding the disappearing teaspoons. Competing interests: None declared |
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Robyn Cannizzaro, Financial Controller Repromed Pty Ltd 5065
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Thanks Roberta (Smith) for your remark on keeping pens out of it. Just for the record we have a very high concentration of female staff where I work and it makes no difference to the incidence of spoon loss. Competing interests: None declared |
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Brian T. Stephens, Retired Hospital Biochemist The former St David's Hospital, Cardiff, Wales.
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A hospital where I used to work did not have missing spoons at the senior staff tea table, but the woman in an adjacent office would sneak out and use the one spoon in order to spoon Bovril or some other meat extract substance into her cup of hot water. This meant that someone had to obtain another (plastic) teaspoon somehow and of course this was the hospital canteen. This accounted for the loss of six spoons per week. On the other hand when the woman brought back the teaspoon she had borrowed it was distorted because she would use very hot water for her beef concoction. So there was not quite a complete loss of spoons although the curled-up spoon did make a mess because it wouldn't drain properly or the tea left in it would run up one's arm when draining it. With regard to the loss of Biros I used to leave old empty clapped- out, scratchy Biros on my desk. This discouraged theft. One can obtain them on the ground outside schools and it is the work of a moment to scratch them along a rough brick surface in order to render them infuriatingly useless whilst keeping their unused appearance. Once my boss asked me for a pencil and I handed him one of those rubber joke pencils. He tried several times to write with it and finally realised what had happened. He never asked again. Competing interests: None declared |
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John H Schmitt, Technician Middlesex University, London N18 1QX
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For some years I have held a theory that the disappearance of items such as socks, teaspoons and ball pens is compelling evidence that time travel is possible. Sooner or later the global resources will become exhausted, and such items will become unobtainable. When this state of affairs exists time travel will have been invented and people will simply nip back into the past and stock up on these items by stealing them. If this time is far enough in the future, it will be the perfect crime because their accusers would have died. At one point in my life I was a junior manager in a restaurant, and the attrition rate of teaspoons was appreciably greater than the rate observed in the original study, the half-life being measured in days. Larger cutlery had a much lower attrition rate, although I did not take any rigorous observations of the phenomenon. Competing interests: None declared |
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Murray Shadbolt, Financial Analyst (public sector) New Zealand
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The article by Lim et al is a brave first step in what I fear is a wide body of work (yet to be undertaken) into the complex world on communal cutlery in the workplace environment. I applaud the authors determination to measure what is a generally suspected phenomenon. It would be interesting in any follow-up study to identify whether the rate of attrition of teaspoons is constant or exponential. Causal observance of my workplace kitchen suggests attrition rate may alter in phases relating to the observed number of remaining teaspoons and whether anyone's put the dishwasher on or not. In particular attrition rates soar when observed clean teaspoons reach approximately 5.1 (or 1/3 of staff on any given day). I do fear that the focus solely on teaspoons may lead to issues of unmeasured heterogeneity by not taking into account any correlation with the availability and attrition of other communal cutlery. As indicated by other respondents this may be affected by the ratio of tea to coffee drinkers in various communal workplaces. I have observed a disturbingly high rate of attrition for forks and note from previous correspondence the crossover functionality of forks and tea spoons. However, two further phenomenon in this workplace that suggest an even more complex arrangement. One is the seemly bizarre increase in the number of knifes in the cutlery drawer suggesting a possible transformation of forks (and teaspoons) into knifes possibly through entropy and excessively hot water and cleaning chemicals. The other is the potential for tea spoons to be rebelling against use as coffee or sugar spoons. Both phenomenon may be articulation of the theory of natural reversion to type - a theory that suggests that all tools will in the first instance only want to do what they are made/named to do, and secondly seek to revert back to a shapeless lump of metal (or plastic) given the chance. An alternative and less plausible theory is that teaspoons are "precious" and seek Gollum-like creatures to take them away to hide in dark places. Competing interests: Paid scrutiny of departmental expenditure of public funds on cutlery |
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jon d bowler, Gas technician ottawa
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I can't say that I am on the same level as you great scientific minds, but I am hoping that my theory will lead to some kind of coherent logic to these disappearances. I too have seen the plight of the disappearance of teaspoons. In the northern climate of Canada, we have harsh winters. It is clear that some species of spoons are migratory. In my profession I have seen many spoons that have clearly, of their own will and judgement, chosen to migrate to the far reaches of the house, the furnace. Many don't make it to the warmest parts sadly, but do find good residence in the "blower compartment". People are not just throwing spoons in their ductwork, no, this is a matter of instinct. In the past month I have found several such migratory spoons. From the smallest white plastic spoon, to the larger stainless steel tablespoon, all these cold- blooded creatures seem to seek warmth in the heating system. I hope this humble response will give you all some leads to go on. Competing interests: None declared |
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Katie Scholten, Research Officer Wodonga, Victoria
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Perhaps we as disgruntled teaspoon users, have overlooked a feasible explanation....the existence of the spoon-fairy? As this very important and enlightening study has shown, teaspoon attrition is up there with sock separation as one of the undeniable facts of human existence. But what about rotten, petrifying, decaying and mouldy, partially consumed sandwiches, half drunk flavoured milks, liquefied cabbage casseroles, lumpy yoghurts, rancid pizza slices and furry lasagnes? Is it not feasible that they could be the reward left by the spoon-fairy? No-one appears to own these items left for months on end consuming valuable mini-fridge space, perhaps these are the spoon-fairy’s equivalent of the shiny dollar usually left by the tooth-fairy. Surely further research could be conducted to explore this phenomenon and determine correlations between spoon disappearance and the appearance of unclaimed leftovers? Competing interests: None declared |
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Vivien Lee, Neurocritical Care fellow Rochester MN 55902
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Dear Sir or madame- whichever the case may be, I read with great interest the BMJ article on the disappearing teaspoons. Although initially I was mostly perplexed and dismissive of the article, the topic haunted me, and I have come to appreciate the fact that teaspoon attrition from the physical world is a real and poorly- understood phenomenon that merits further research. I believe that Douglas Adam's theory regarding the disappearance of Bic pens is as good a theory as any, and I firmly believe that teaspoons make their unobtrusive way to a teaspoon planet in an alternate universe, where they live happy and productive teaspoon lives. I like to think that this teaspoon society is an egalitarian utopia, without teaspoon caste system or hierarchy... Competing interests: None declared |
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John W Brice, Chief of Medicine Augusta VA Medical Center, 1 Freedom Way, Augusta, GA 30904, USA
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I read the analysis of disappearing teaspoons (by Lim, et al.) and immediately recognized a familiar pattern. While we do not tend to have tearooms in American hospitals, we do have break rooms with requisite coffee makers. These units have varying levels of cleanliness and I have noticed that near the cleaner machines there is a phenomenon of coffee cup displacement. I have not noted the same with spoons as we use small wooden sticks which come in huge packages (doubtless under government contract at exorbitant prices). In our initial investigation, we did notice a definitive trend toward higher displacement of the better quality coffee cups (in contrast to the findings of Lim, et al.). Our best hypothesis to date was based on relativistic quantum field theory and its expansion to string theory. As is well known, quantum field theory has great difficulty explaining gravity and string theory predicts a particle (or focal excitation of the string) which has no mass and two units of spin called the graviton. If all gravitons in the vicinity of a coffee cup (or a spoon for that matter) were to vibrate in pairs precisely out of phase, even if just for a nanosecond, then the cup might move to a different location in space-time. Not only would this explain the disappearance of the cup or spoon, but it would also explain how it showed up later in a different location. Competing interests: None declared |
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Darren A Natale, Research Assistant Professor GUMC, Washington, DC, USA
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I find the estimated rate of teaspoon replacement (~250 per year to feed a population of 140 people) somewhat perplexing. The authors' proposed explanation of the spoon-loss phenomenon (that spoons escape to a distant planet dominated by spoonoids) is reasonable, but I do not believe that the design of the study adequately dispels the herder theory posited by Hardin in "The tragedy of the commons." I suggest a followup study whereby each person is assigned a spoon from the outset. During the period of study, each "owner" is queried as to whether or not the spoon is still in possession. If Hardin's herder hypothesis is correct, it is anticipate that spoons will disappear less rapidly than in the previous study, perhaps dropping to a rate similar to the disappearance of tea or coffee cups (which people guard quite rigorously). Here are possible variables and anticipated outcomes: 1) A subset is given spoons marked with a non-unique identifier (merely to indicate that it is part of a study). Thus, anyone could use the spoon. The retention rate of this group would be compared to the retention rate of a group whose spoons are marked in a unique manner, such that ownership is obvious and traceable. I expect higher losses for the former group. The rationale for this expectation comes from anecdotal experience. While I repeatedly lost a stapler marked in an inconspicuous manner (later recovered each time in a distant common room), that same stapler was never moved again once I marked it for all to see with this simple and subtle deterrent message: "This is my third stapler in six months. Be advised of this: if you take my stapler, I will hunt you down and kill you." 2) A subset is queried about possession only at the end of the study, while other subsets are queried once a month and once a week. I expect retention to be higher for the more frequently-queried group, since such query will serve as a reminder that they have Of course, if these phenomena are not observed, this lends greater weight to the "Spoontopia" hypothesis. Competing interests: I almost never drink tea, and use a stirrer at work anyway. |
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Patrice R Marriott, Researcher and Director 101 Leopold Street South Yarra, Victoria, Australia
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Has the potential to change workplace practice and behaviour.Industrial relations reform in Australia now has another, important, component: teaspoon self- management and responsibilty. Competing interests: None declared |
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Morna J Findlay, Computer Officer University of Edinburgh, EH8 9LW
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Teaspoon loss in my household can be prevented by careful monitoring of small son's attempts to dispose of his teaspoon in the bin along with his empty yoghurt carton. If a daily search of the tearoom bins produces a number of teaspoons correlating with the expected loss of teaspoons, then the attachment of a metal-detecting alarm to the lid of the tearoom bin may alert absent minded teaspoon users in time to save the teaspoons. It would be interesting to see if teaspoon loss is greater in tearooms which provide sugar in individual packets, which the users will immediately discard after stirring the sugar (note - with a teaspoon) into their tea. If so, then provision of a communal sugar bowl might also cut the rate of loss of teaspoons. Neither method would prevent malicious teaspoon disposal. Morna Findlay Competing interests: None declared |
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Alex J. Gunz, post doctoral fellow University of Missouri, department of psychology, 65201
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While the authors scholarly efforts are to be applauded, they neglect the global scope of the implications for this study. They estimate that 2.5 million Melbournians would displace 18 million teaspoons a year, at a net weight of 360 tons. As other readers have pointed out, though, the problem exists in other countries also. The math is simple. The population of the Earth is approximately 6 billion. If we assume that only 2/3 of those are working at any one time (the other third being children, retired persons, presidents of large countries, etc) then our best scientific estimate would approach 600 thousand tons of spoons disappearing per year (according to some sources, the approximate weight of explosives currently to be found in Iraq) in the form of about 30 billion slivers of highly polished metal that do not tarnish quickly with exposure to water. The added reflectivity this would give the surface of the Earth could contribute significantly to light pollution, global warming, and annoying shiny spots to be seen in pictures taken everywhere. Furthermore, as the emerging catastrophe enters public awareness, innumerable press releases will be distributed, almost all of which will follow the Iron Law of Popular Reporting on Scientific Findings: All lengths and volumes must be reported in the metric of "football fields". The resulting wear and tear on journalistic calculator buttons everywhere will spike demand for production of non-renewable plastic resources. None of which is even to mention the mental anguish suffered by a public that will be forced to intimately familiarize itself with terms such as "TeraFootballFields" and "to a depth the size of a three story building". Competing interests: Part time spokesperson for the Swedish Chopstick Promotion Council of Latvia. |
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Arnaud Gallois, Doctoral student Centre for Public Policy, Department of Political Science, University of Melbourne, 3070 Australia
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To add further to the substantial corpus of knowledge that the initial paper and subsequent responses have contributed to this important topic, I would like to add my own observations of a research-based tea- room, which in turn suggests an alternative to what appears as a lemming- style rush to discourses of crisis that much of the correspondence heretofore has engaged in. In the eight or so months since I began my observations, there have been a maximum number of three, sometimes two, and most often only one teaspoon in my workplace's tea/coffee room. At first this situation caused me some anxst as I had clearly internalised something of the tragedy of the commons theorem, and believed that disaster (ie, no teaspoons) was iminent. However, the low number persists and appears to be resisting any theoretical tendency to run out of spoons. Instead, the tendency appears to be to one teaspoon as the ideal and/or naturally equilibrious number for the tearoom - not zero. Perhaps when spoon numbers are stupidly low then the tragedy of the commons theorem is reversed: faced with clear situation of scarcity then the resource (in this case spoon supply) is treasured and not pilfered. Hence attempts to redress an apparent "problem" by buying more spoons in fact just perpetuates it! And puts unnecessary strain on the well-meaning spoon evacuators, who otherwise have much more important work to do. In support of this proposition, and mitigating any exceptional cultural resource-related predisposition within this particular tearoom user population, cup numbers that were once abundant (say n = approx. 30) have dwindled (to n = approx. 6). I anticipate soon sharing my constitutional hot beverage with my colleagues from the one cup, which might anticipate a religious-relative theorem of communion... Competing interests: Coffee drinker, post-tragedic theorist. |
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Dr Alexandra McManus, Senior Research Fellow, Associate Director WA Centre for Health Promotion Research, Curtin University of Technology, Australia
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Science has again triumphed over one of the most baffling workplace phenomenon. Could the authors now consider extrapolating this successful methodology to the most intriguing and frustrating scourge of domestic managers - missing socks? Anecdotally there are at least a billion single, unmatched socks scattered throughout Australian households. If funding could be secured to employ a representative sample of domestic managers to covertly follow matched pairs of socks to solve this problem it could have enormous financial repercussions, not only to individual households, but also to the Australian economy. It we could increase the number of intact matched pairs of socks by just 10% the savings to an average household of two adults and two children would be approximately AUD$178.84 per annum extrapolating to a yearly savings of AUD$7.1 million nationwide. However, I believe the true benefits of this study would relate to the improved mental health of those who horde troves of single unmatched socks in the futile hope that their partners will someday return. Competing interests: None declared |
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Damian J Coburn, Director, Radiation Oncology Department of Health and Ageing, Canberra, Australia, 2606
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As someone who used to be full time in the business of health financing policy evaluation of clinical research, and still has some involvement with the issue, it is disappointing to see a study that could have been so much more informative as to what actually to do about the problem, if only a little bit more effort had been made to include adequate controls. Clearly spoon thievery is an element of the problem, but as the authors and a number of respondents note, there are equally compelling (some more compelling in my opinion) alternative or additional reasons for spoon loss, such as spoon migration to a spoonoid planet. This has implications for the external validity of the study, and therefore the frightening predictions about how many Grand Canyons would be filled with the average annual spoon losses per month of Belgium, etc. As we know, large effects are often reduced in well designed studies and this may be the case here. I suggest that anyone seeking to replicate this study put a whole lotta spoons in a box in a locked cupboard, so losses resulting from other than human intervention can be measured. Once we have a better handle on the causes of spoon losses (sorry), we can start to work towards effective prevention programs. One thing does strike me though: the authors regularly increased the local density of spoons. There was also a rate of spoon loss that should have resulted in them vanishing almost completely had the researchers not 'topped them up'. However the paper does not suggest that, prior to the study, spoons were vanishing to the point of local extinction. I posit a hitherto-unknown fundamental force of nature causing spoons to repel each within a localised region, a bit like weak nuclear force. Though operating at the range of a small office building rather than subatomic distances of course. I would like to take the opportunity to coin the term "spoonon" for the particles involved in these interactions. I note, with an eye to other responses, these may be part of a larger group of "cutlerons". Competing interests: Coffee addict |
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Jocelyn S Downey, Wellcome Research Fellow Imperial College London, W12 0NN
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I must commend the authors for this well considered research that shows a deep-seated concern to get to grips with the aetiology of this pathology. I couldn't help but notice, however, that the authors neglected to mention the quite real danger of global warming induced metal evaporation (and subsequent spoon loss), to say nothing of spoon mutagenesis (conserving the material, but not necessarily the appearance of the spoon). My other concerns would be the possibility of: 1. local gravitational effects (sub-micron wormhole
nuclei, resulting in local matter collapse).
Competing interests: None declared |
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Raymond J Mullins, Consultant Physician Deakin, Canberra, Australia
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Finally we have an explanation for why metal coat-hangers seem to reproduce asexually! Competing interests: None declared |
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Tom Powell, Retired neuroradiologist (formerly) Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield, S10 3JF
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All this fuss about disappearing teaspoons. Where on earth do these people think that new teaspoons come from? They don't grow on trees you know. Quite candidly, its a storm in a teacup. Competing interests: None declared |
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alison wheeler, gp west view surgery keynsham BS31 !BX
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Teaspoons do not randomly disappear. Inspired by the emergence of SPOCS, (Society for Protection of Cotton Socks), a sock liberation movement brought about by socks being fed up of being trodden on, many teaspoons have joined SPOTS, the Society for Protection of Teaspoons. This organisation, run by and for the welfare of teaspoons of all cultures, arose because of perceived cruelty to spoons (regularly dipped in very hot liquid, rubbed vigorously by plastic brushes, or placed in searing heat of dishwasher cutlery baskets).This has resulted in teaspoons actively escaping from their residences and emigrating to seek asylum elsewhere. In my own home teaspoons are regularly found at the bottom of the garden having found a portal via the compost heap. The solution to this problem is not to chain them up as suggested by T. Watts as this would further intensify their feelings of exploitation, but to recognise their individual qualities and worth. Perhaps a Teaspoon of the Month Award would be a suitable starting point, pending an NHS reorganisation of cutlery drawers, personally supervised by Tony Blair. Competing interests: interested in forks |
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Oliver J Brown, archaelogist University of Sydney 2006
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I would like to add a cautionary response to those suggesting 'solutions' to the phenomenon reported by Lin et al. As some have suggested, the observed movement of teaspoons may be adequately explained by causes that are in fact fundamental to the teaspoon life cycle. To interrupt it may court yet another disaster in the woeful history of human meddling in natural systems. The numbers of teaspoons that are reported to disappear by Lin et al. do not seem equal to the number of spoons artificially manufactured and recruited to the overall spoon population. This leaves open the possibility that some spoons are in fact born of other spoons in locations not yet discovered. As an initial hypothesis I propose that the kitchens of share houses occupied by single people in their twenties should be investigated. In these locations, unlike all others, cutlery populations actually increase over time. Moreover, such environments are frequently far more fertile than any other cutlery habitats - if, as with soil, microbial activity and nitrogen levels can be used as indicators. The evolutionary benefits are clear, as spoon populations in share houses are far more genetically heterogenous than anywhere else and it is plausible that teaspoons seek out these locations in order to increase the likelihood of hybrid vigour in their offspring. With many environments rapidly changing for teaspoons as for many other species, any teaspoon management strategy that may lead to restrictions in mobility and genetic exchange could spell doom for these diminutive, yet enormously useful items. Competing interests: None declared |
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Jon Eriksen, Anaesthesiologist Holstebro, Denmark
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Hello Maybe you should look some other place for your spoons: http://www.spooncollectors.com/spoon-displays/teaspoon-collecting.asp My colleague and I have been collecting teaspoons from airlines for years. Competing interests: Spoon collector |
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Steven M Rudolphy, Principal Mt Sheridan Medical Practice, Cairns, Australia
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The private sector often looks on the public sector as squandering resources. I bought 16 teapoons 3 years ago and they are all still present and correct in our GP tea room. Competing interests: I buy the teaspoons and hold a 50% share in them |
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Andrew B Hacker, Clinical Counsellor The Men's Work Shop, Melbourne 3156
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Congratulations to the authors on this defining study. As a self employed counsellor I can say with confidence not one of my teaspoons has gone missing from my practice in the two years since it's establishment. However, it is interesting to note that my teaspoons are of a particularly good quality and are well cared for - never locked away in drawers or discarded beneath desks covered in slowly decaying coffee, milk and sugar remnants. I believe this accounts for their collective decision to remain in this particular part of the universe thus lending vague support for the Adamsian Theory of a Spoonoid Planet mentioned in the paper. My spoons clearly have it pretty good compared to less fortunate cohorts. To get to my point, I am wondering if economic factors do play a role in teaspoon disappearance. Whilst I applaud the authors use of more expensive controls in their study, I wonder what effect cheaper, less attractive items (perhaps plastic, non-microwavable teaspoons) would have on the results? I speculate that it may well be financial effects that encourage the clandestine removal of workplace spoonage. Support for such a finding could lead to substantial compound savings in both reduction of initial financial outlay for the items, as well as reduction in unexplained losses. Indeed, there may well may be an ideal spoon quality/price that discourages unexplained disappearance while minimising loss via being discarded. A cost-benefit analysis may provide insight into this. On a final note, it is worth mentioning that at an establishment at which I was once employed, there was some evidence (albeit anecdotal) that teaspoon loss may actually result from mild cleptomania due to acquired brain injury. We lost some 50 teaspoons in a matter of weeks before the matter was resolved and the culprit exposed! This factor may be worth controlling for in future studies into this perplexing issue. Competing interests: None declared |
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Benjamin T Vincent, Postdoctoral Researcher Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, BS8 1TN
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The inspired research of Lim et. al. (2005) and consequent rapid responses highlight that many factors are indeed relevant when it comes to estimating teaspoon location. Due to lack of omnipresence, observation of a population of teaspoons will tend to be partial, and as such suggests the need for a probabilistic model of teaspoon location. As such, the development of a factor analysis type model may be a sensible progression. In this approach there are a set of locations, each of which can contain a certain number of teaspoons, and a set of causal factors that influence teaspoon location. There is uncertainty about specific teaspoon locations, for example direct observation of the number of teaspoons that have migrated to a remote island is impractical. Therefore the number of teaspoons in each location should be represented by a discrete-valued distribution. If we make a direct measurement of number of teaspoons in a tea making area, then this distribution will be highly peaked on that particular observation. This model, from the Bayesian perspective, allows the use of prior knowledge. For example we can formalise our prior belief in each factor and teaspoon location by used of distributions. Evidence from other fields would suggest the use of a zero-peaked prior, as many possible factors such as quantum effects are a lot less likely than others, such as anthropogenic effects. Examples of these causal factors that have previously been mentioned are gender, quantum, and socioeconomic constraints. Future quantitative teaspoon studies will aid our statistical inference into how each hypothesised factor influences teaspoon population density in different locations. Competing interests: None declared |
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Fanni Mari, postgraduate student University East London
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This excellent article could only be enhanced by including an environmental perspective. Could the missing spoons be constituting invisible threats to the environment, perhaps by blocking a lavatory or radiator? Were the waste bins examined? And how much of this study could be applied to socks? No-one could want to steal a dirty sock, surely? We found one in a bird's nest, close to the back door (which is next to the laundry area and which remains open in mild weather.) My torment has been somewhat allayed by this study. Thanks to all. Competing interests: None declared |
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Fergal J O'Donoghue, Respiratory Physician, Austin Health, Heidelberg, VIC 3081, australia
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Lim and colleagues report the disappearance of teaspoons form a large research institute(1). The Irish comic writer Flann O'Brien in his classic 'The Third Policemen'(2) described a dangerous condition affecting policemen who cycled their bicycles excessively, whereby there was a gradual exchange of molecules between human and bicycle, resulting in bicycles developing volitional control and wandering at night, and policemen spending lengthy periods leaning thier elbows against walls and other such behaviours. In the light of this 'atomic theory' it seems remiss that Lim et al did not report whether any members of their Institute staff have displayed a propensity to stir tea with their fingers, or even attempt to dive head first into cups of tea. This could be cross-correlated with tea consumption among staff members, the major consumers of tea being more likely to contain the highest percentage of teaspoon. It would also be reaonable to check whether any staff have recently been given to spoonerisms(3). Bibliography (1)Lim MSC,Hellard ME, Aitken CK. The case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute. BMJ 2005;331:1498–500 (2)O'Brien, F, The Third Policeman, (London: MacGibbon and Kee) 1967 (2)UsingEnglish.com, Definition : spoonerism, available at http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/spoonerism.html Competing interests: None declared |
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Sean Dugan, Human Resources & Facilities Manager Nolo Press, Berkeley, California 94710
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Having seen the teaspoon phenomena in action here at Nolo, I was struck by the authors' theory that there may be a non-human factor at work that would perhaps explain the disappearance of the teaspoons. This immediately brought to mind Avram Davidson's short story, "Or All the Seas with Oysters". As noted in THE NUTMEG POINT DISTRICT MAIL; the Avram Davidson electronic newsletter; Vol. V No. 4; 30 November 2000: "In 1958, Galaxy magazine published a short story by Avram Davidson entitled "Or All the Seas with Oysters," in which Davidson deals succinctly and evocatively with mimicry and regeneration in nature, human sexuality, and the reproductive biology of the bicycle considered as an alien species whose earlier phases are the safety pin and the coat hanger. Within the compass of a few pages, Davidson treats the reader to the markedly different personalities of Ferd and Oscar, partners in a bicycle shop, and conjure up the sinister notion of bicycles as "a different kind of life-form. Maybe they get their nourishment out of the elements of the air." Perhaps teaspoons are an intermediate stage between the safety pin and the coat hanger? Competing interests: None declared |
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Ronald L. Horswell, Biostatistician Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA 80808
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Dear Authors, While timely and interesting, I believe your investigation quickly got off track at the point of initial literature review. You should have checked the Index to Mother Goose, as well as the usual compilations of references and search engines. I say this a bit disingenuously, for I initially found your spoon conundrum quite perplexing, until I discussed it with a small canine friend of mine who almost instantly saw a viable explanation left unexplored by your work. In fact, I have to say the little dog actually laughed to see all the sport your article was causing, especially the anthropomorphically-biased tendency to blame coworkers, and pointed out that, almost certainly, it was the dishes who were running away with the spoons. Competing interests: None declared |
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Lars J Tranvik, professor Limnology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University
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Dear Editor, There may be several explanations to the significant loss of teaspoons described by Lim et al. Possibly, the spoons are converted into non- spoons, and thus no longer recognized by the methods applied by Lim et al. Alternatively, they are translocated in space and/or in time. In my department, there is an extreme abundance of teaspoons. I have not yet counted them, and it remains to determine the rate and direction of change in this substantial teaspoon reservoir. The abundance of teaspoons has been huge as long as anyone can remember, suggesting that the purported global loss does not apply in this location. It is tempting to hypothesize that the loss of teaspoons in the Burnet Institute in Melbourne, or possibly even the suggested global loss of teaspoons suggested in several responses to the article by Lim et al., is tightly linked to the extreme abundance of teaspoons in the department of limnology, Uppsala University, Sweden. The high diversity in teaspoon morphology hints to a multitude of origins of the Limnology teaspoons, which is in accordance with the hypothesized global sink for teaspoons in this department. Future research in our department aim to 1) establish the rate of change in total numbers of teaspoons, and 2) study the diversity in teaspoons in order to trace their origins. Competing interests: None declared |
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A. Z. O'Trope, Equilibrist University of Erewhon, Erewhon, VIC, 3001
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I agree with one of the previous respondents that the phenomenon of spoon return needs to be quantified, and can cite an example from my own background that indicates a potential requirement for long study times. At the end of my sophomore year at a large Midwestern University, two friends and I decided to abandon the dorms for apartment living. The combination of poverty and ethical flexibility led us to borrow enough full sets of crockery, glassware, and silverware from the Dining Hall to stock our apartment in the years to come. We made use of these purloined items during my Junior and Senior Years, after which time they remained in the care of one of us who elected to remain at that fine institution for his Ph.D. Some five years later, having completed my own doctoral studies elsewhere, I returned to help my old friend pack up and move on after the filing of his own dissertation. As we packed, I noticed the old Dining Hall kitchenware neatly stacked on his kitchen counter. Inquiring as to its proposed disposition, I was told: "I'm returning it, of course - I'm not a thief." And so, seven years after its disappearance, in the dark of night and long after the dinner hours, we clandestinely returned this mini -cohort to whence it had come, one broken plate and glass short, but otherwise in essentially the same condition as they had disappeared 7 years before. Competing interests: None declared |
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Dr Heather LE Lang, Writer, former lab inmate now basking in glorious freedom. Our house, in the middle of, our street.
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I feel that Lim et al have missed an important point in only considering the environmental contribution towards teaspoon disappearance. Although their latest work contributes significantly to the field, it is limited by their failure to take into account the effects of 50+ years of teaspoon inbreeding. Current thinking suggests that the vanishing phenotype occurs as a result of complex interactions between many genetic and environmental factors. It is highly probable that the pure-bred lab strains used in these experiments possess a genetic background with many susceptibility alleles that influence their disappearance One obvious area for further study is to perform experiments involving knockout teaspoons and transgenes from an inbred strain of coathangers. It is commonly held that pure-breeding coathangers possess susceptibility alleles that contribute towards their multiplication, and several candidates have already been identified. The commercial value of producing a strain of teaspoon whose population not only stays constant but actually increases over time is obvious. Competing interests: None declared |
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Surendra Singh, anaesthetist SGPGI, Lucknow 226014, INDIA
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Lim et al have nicely presented the case of missing spoons which makes for an interesting reading. Probably, a look towards the Bermuda Triangle may explain the mystery of the missing spoons. Just like Bermuda Triangle there may exist a small triangle in Melbourne. The tea room, the crime scene so as to say, is probabbly in the centre of that triangle. Any loss of spoons may then be explained by, as yet unknown and unexplainable, forces operating in the said triangle. The Melbourne triangle hypothesis gains credence by the fact that other cutlery items as well as cups are reported to be missing from the same area. 1. The Bermuda Triangle, Charles Berlitz (ISBN 0385041144) Competing interests: interested in spoons, specially missing ones |
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Yaser Dorri, Research Tech. Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Biji T. Kurien
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Lim et al estimate that about 18 million spoons will go missing per year just among the entire workforce of the city of Melbourne, by applying the annual rate of spoon loss per employee obtained using their study (1). Now assuming a conservative estimate of (USA) $1 per spoon of the caliber shown in the study (1), this amounts to 18 million dollars. The authors also further state that in spite of the replenishment of the lost spoons during the study period most employees remained dissatisfied with teaspoon coverage in the institute. In addition, the use of stainless steel spoons entails the chore of washing them after each use. This introduces the possibility of someone doing a sloppy washing which could be unhealthy. We suggest a cheaper alternative (2) that is healthier, that will make employees less frustrated at not finding spoons when needed and also save more than 12 million dollars just for the city of Melbourne. Our work place uses Spirit brand tea/coffee stirrers (5" Bar Sip/Stir 10x1000). These stirrers are not the flat kind but are plastic straws (5 inches long) that are very slender. The cost works out to be about 0.33 cent/stirrer. Flat wooden stirrers are also available which costs about 0.42 cent per stirrer. It has been suggested (3) that stirrers are not useful enough because the stirrer packet is empty consequent to colleagues wishing to use them for other purposes, such as tooth-picking or wedging shut a loose cupboard door, have removed the stirrers. There need to be no fear of these stirrers running out easily, since there are 1000 stirrers per packet and the basic order is for ten of these packets (10,000 of these stirrers are sold for $33.15). We can rest assured that users will not attempt to use these slender plastic straws for tooth picking or use them to wedge shut loose cupboard doors. The city of Melbourne would need to spend only about 60,000 dollars per year to buy these stirrers and save the entire city a sum of over 17.94 million dollars (99.67% savings). This much amount of money saved could be collectively put together to fund about 90 grants with $200, 000 dollars per grant. Such a move can enrich the lives of at least 300 new employees while furthering the cause of research into deadly diseases at the same time. Thus, Lim et al would have brought about a significant change by means of this study. References 1. Megan S C Lim, Margaret E Hellard, and Campbell K Aitken BMJ 2005; 331: 1498-1500. 2. Biji T. Kurien and Yaser Dorri. The case of disappearing spoons- Disposable spoons, stirrers/metal detectors as another solution. BMJ.com, 18 January 2006 3. Trevor Watts. Spoon Solutions, BMJ 2006;332:121. Competing interests: None declared |
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Robert M Connelly, Law Enforcement Officer Brisbane, Queensland, 4105
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As a police officer I have encountered many times the use of the spoon (in conjunction with applied heat) as an instrument for facilitating illicit drug use. It is this history, which lead me to consider the potential inadvertent substance abuse initiated by the authors. I note that in the methods section of their case paper they state that the spoons were, “discreetly numbered with red nail polish on the undersides of the handles”. It is unclear as reported whether the entire spoon population was counted by the authors or just spoons with red nail polish were counted. It seems to me that with repeated exposure of hot water that the nail polish could have been dispersed into the tea drank by the office staff. Thereby teaspoons with red nail polish numbers were being converted to teaspoons without red nail polish numbers. If in fact the entire spoon population was counted and observed to decrease, a further explanation comes to mind. I have also observed that illicit drug use often leads to other types of criminal behavior. Perhaps repeated consumption of nail polish by office workers contributed to an increase in criminal behavior (i.e. stealing of teaspoons) ? Of course further studies will need to be conducted on the physiological and behavioral effects of red nail polish consumed with hot tea and or coffee to confirm any contributory effect to an increase in criminal behavior. Competing interests: I have large hands and dislike teaspoons as they seem too small. I always stir my coffee with a large spoon, which seems smarter to me as it increases the distance of my hand from hot liquid, and also the increased surface area of a large spoon allows me to be lazier in stirring my coffee (important in the morning prior to caffeine absorption). I have never worn, or knowingly imbibed red nail polish. |
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Chris M Phillips, Technical author IBM Italia, Rome, Italy (00143)
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I must refute the suggestion that plastic stirrers will eliminate the on-going Great Spoon Robbery in Australia. Plastic stirrers are dangerous to your health and/or contribute to global warming. This applies at least to those dispensed with the hot drinks in my place of work, and I suspect to many more. The problem is that the stirrers are approximately 1 mm taller (when lying in the prone position with the foot of the stirrer on one side of the bottom of the plastic beaker and the head on the other side of the top) than the liquid laughingly called tea, coffee, or cappuccino that issues from the machine. As the stirrers have a propensity to bend with the heat of the liquid, one has to make a grab for them before they disappear beneath the billowing waves completely. So now come the problems: 1) As you grab the stirrer you suffer third degree burns to your fingers, because, contary to the experience found in many bars around the world, vending machine drinks are hot! In addition to the burns, your finger tips are now covered in the liquid, which you will deal with in one of two ways, depending on how you were brought up. So either: 2) You lick your fingers, which of course you didn't think of washing before going to the drinks machine, thus catching any diseases that happen to be lurking under your finger nails, requiring hospitalization and much time off work. Or: 3) You rush to the washroom and expend large amounts of the Earth's natural resources in eliminating the liquid from your digits with hot water and soap (also contributing to the local pollution problem). No, give me disappearing metal spoons, any day. Competing interests: None declared |
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A Gurka, Coffee club manager 21157 USA
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I have been responsible for the maintenance of our office's coffee club for approximately three years, and I was surprised to see a scientific article published upon this phenomenon. I'm thrilled to see that this was not a unique experience, however, I have several comments to add to the authors' studies. I did lose a metal spoon, not once, but twice, from our club's possession. Not having kept records, I can't state absolutely, but I'm pretty certain that our spoonlife was much longer. As I said, our spoon disappeared twice. On the first occasion, emails were sent out to everyone, and after many weeks, it surfaced in the women's rest room. It was thoroughly sanitized, to be safe, and restored to its rightful place, where it remained for a shorter spoonlife before permanently evaporating to parts unknown. Its replacement has been with us for approximately two human years, but I've taken the measure of chaining it down. I totally agree with the value of the spoon having no effect upon spoonlife. We also have two plastic spoons (one for sugar, one for powdered creamer) that have been with us for unusually long spoonlives, but occasionally one will wander off to happier haunts, never to resurface. Competing interests: None declared |
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Rob H Valentine, Team Leader Planning and projects Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
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A simple problem deserves a simple solution - issue every employee with a teaspoon on commencement of their working life with the organisation concerned, ensuring their name is engraved thereon. Before they can receive their final pay when leaving the organisation they have to hand in their teaspoon. If they should lose the article they would have to replace it with an unengraved teaspoon in order to be paid their final pay. This may have some unwanted outcomes, such as a total decline in the production of teaspoons which may result in significant job losses. However One expects the desired outcomes would at least be met: viz. full availability of individual teaspoons for stirring; reducing errant behaviour across the workforce; ensuring proper distribution of milk and/or sweetener through, for the most part, the desired legal drug-laden refreshment; a drastic reduction in the endless teaspoon-related jibes experienced in the tea room - of any variety etc. etc.). Competing interests: None declared |
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Jennifer A Stillman, Senior Lecturer Massey University Albany, Private Bag 102-904, North Shore MSC, Auckland, New Zealand.
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Clearly Departmental budgets would be best served if, upon appointment, employees were issued with a personal teaspoon, etched with their name, and furnished with a key ring attachment via a hole in the handle. Alternatively the spoon could itself function as a key "ring". Lost spoons should be replaced at the owner's expense. Prominent individuals should be entitled to higher quality spoons, with gold ones given as momentoes when long-serving employees retire. Competing interests: None declared |
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Peter G Milne, Environmental Planner Maroochy Council
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I have noticed spoons on display in second hand shops. It is my theory that these shops are actually a front for the black market distribution of spoons and explains the regular disappearance of spoons from our tea room. Sorry.......I have to go. Two men with dark sunglassses and overcoats have just turned up. Competing interests: None declared |
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Peter N Williams, Beverage Leader/Small task facilitator Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit
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I think that all contributors are missing the obvious. They are simply taking Annual Leave. This must be the case because they usually come back. Not very scientific but then neither am I Competing interests: None |
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john q. publick, sitting independent archaeological contractor
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It is necessary in any serious research involving the witting or unwitting actions of humans to eliminate some few variables known to exist in culturally reinforced rule-based social settings, such as the workplace your sterling project was carried out in. One of the few flaws this researcher has noted is the lack of elimination of these variables, chief among which is the well-known 'borrowing effect'. While admittedly a subset of the Tragedy of the Commons this effect is magnified greatly in the burrow-like settings of office life, to the extent that it becomes the dominant wiggly line on your x/y-axis diagram, tossing its weight around and forcing all the other variables to shift with it. In brief, the 'Borrowing Effect' is the subconscious intent to "just use [object] for [vague time value] and then bring it back". If the B.E. (Borrowing Effect) is multiplied by the 'Delayed Good Intentions' response (amount of [object] x [length of study], divided by the '(Varied) Mind- Numbing Ego-Blows' ) the result is the mean number of [object] that would have been part of the 'disappeared' whole, i.e.; BE(o x vtv) x DGI(n(o) x (los)/(v)mneb) = [o]/'d' It might also be noted that the effects of other variables such as 'now what did I do with...' or 'hey, that's mine!' were also not noted within the stated research parameters. Overall, however, this researcher finds that the team did a commendable job given limited budgets and staffing considerations. Competing interests: None declared |
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Martin S Knapp, physician/nephrologist Victoria, 3079, Australia
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It is not clear why the topic of disappearing teaspoons has again been raised. The initial article on this topic was in your Christmas edition of BMJ in 2005 . The most recent input to this debate, other than from “john q publick” this week, was in a rapid response to the BMJ of Jan 29, 2008. These responses can hardly be regarded as “rapid” and I am suspicious that the proximity of Dec 25 is relevant. Is “john q publick” a pseudonym, he does not identify his location or his affiliation, if any. In order to record his contribution I highlighted the text and requested “copy” and then “paste”. The result was 41 pages containing 67 rapid responses on this topic of disappearing teaspoons! I extended my search to Goggle with 53100 hits and to Google Scholar with 3680 hits. A search of Medline for “teaspoons” provides no hits but the BMJ website identifies 6 relevant publications, all selected from the 67 rapid responses to the 2005 article. My activity identifies several problems. One is the excessive use of paper to print a single response, as all “rapid responses” on that topic are printed. Another is the failure of a search of the bmj website or of medline to locate many of the rapid responses submitted; although these can be reached by using the links provided from articles or letters appearing in the print version of the BMJ. The third is the failure of contributors to the problem of disappearing teaspoons to appreciate the possible contribution of case reports to elucidate this unsolved problem that is resisting a range of statistical approaches. These problems are unimportant when the topic is teaspoons but attention to them might help readers with topics of greater importance. Those interested in disappearing teaspoons may wish to consider a case report: In Bristol in 1976 a fatality among the livestock of the Professor of Medicine was initially unexplained. The dead pig was transferred to the University Department of Veterinary Science for an autopsy. The post- mortem diagnosis was a perforated bowel, penetrated by a teaspoon. The handle of the teaspoon was marked “Royal Bristol Children’s Hospital”. The initial suspicion was larceny by a senior member of the academic staff. I am pleased to record that a more credible explanation was available. The Professor on his route home regularly collected discarded food from the Children’s Hospital - to supplement the dietary intake of his pigs. This “index” case should direct any serious workers in this area of scientific enquiry to careful searches of garbage . Careful “field” studies of garbage may establish that teaspoons lost may equal teaspoons in the garbage. I now live in Melbourne, the source of the original “Christmas” report of the disappearing teaspoons, and I could offer practical help if there is a decision to pursue this avenue of investigation. I may, however, be too busy preparing future alternative topics for publication in Christmas editions of the BMJ. I consider that disappearing teaspoons have had enough attention. Competing interests: None declared |
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Peter A. Caporaso, Solicitor Maylands, Australia 5069
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I have just come upon this article having worked in my present building for the best part of a year, with common tea room facilities shared amongst some thirty different and independent tenants with an estimated hundred or so staff. My experiences suggest that the previously postulated One Spoon Effect (Rapid Response, 12 Jan 2006) is a factor which should be better researched and understood for its implications in the subject study. When I commenced at the start of 2008, the supply of teaspoons had been completely replenished with fresh spoons, all older spoons being removed (more about them later). Spoon retention conditions seemed favourable, in that offices in the building are fairly sparse and uncluttered, the only washing facility for spoons in the building was in the kitchen where the spoons initially came from, and washing duties were undertaken for all tenants by the landlord's staff, who (presumably) could be relied upon to restock spoons once washed. Over the course of a few months, however, a hundred spoons had dwindled to a half dozen. However, at this point, the Tragedy of the Commons Effect seemed to come undone, as suggested by the proponent of the One Spoon Theory. While people still used spoons, they were generally quite diligent in their return, knowing how few spoons were left, and attrition almost ceased. In each case thereafter where spoons did disappear permanently, within two to three days previously missing spoons, themselves considered permanently lost, reappeared. When the landlord, noting the low numbers of spoons and the complaints received, recently reintroduced the old spoons (which had been stored in a box "just in case"), spoon attrition immediately recommenced, returning the group to the equilibrium of six spoons within barely two weeks. The unsatisfactory number of spoons per head (resulting in frequently missing out on a spoon) and the high levels of dissatisfaction with the prevailing situation seem to combine to reinforce the awareness of spoon users of the need to ensure their timely return. Competing interests: None declared |
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