Once in three months, I buy a pack of pencils, sharpen them all and leave them on my desk, near my computer and near the telephone. Sure enough, within the next week, when you have that important call to take, your pencil has disappeared from near the telephone table. The faster you replace the pencils, the faster they disappear. Within two to three months, it is time to curse people, and go buy another pack. Till now, I was wondering what was wrong with my labbies — pinching pencils like this. Now, I am happy to realise that that our lab is normal with disappearing pencils and all that 🙂 And, I particularly loved this explanation:
One possible explanation for the phenomenon is resistentialism (the theory that inanimate objects have a natural aversion to humans), they write. This is demonstrated by the fact that people have little or no control over teaspoon migration.
Can I publish in BMJ too — though I have not tried labelling my pencils discreetly — which might make my observations slighly suspect?