BREA, California – Every engineer on Earth has at least one junk drawer full of old cables, wires, switches and other electronic detritus. At my last gathering of retirees at the Olde Ship Pub, we thought it would be amusing to see if an engineer’s age could be determined by what’s in his or her junk drawer(s). Although we rarely agree on anything, there was a general consensus on what would likely be found. We further decided on four broad age categories: 25-35, 36-45, 46-60 and Over 60. The list gets a bit longer with age because naturally you have more time and space to accumulate junk. Junk is such a harsh word. I prefer the term “superannuated materiel.”
25-35
Thumb drives with capacity measured in gigabytes
No tools at all
Original iPhone cables (non-Lightning)
Second generation Bose headphones
36-45
Thumb drives with capacity measured in megabytes
Only one set of tiny screwdrivers
Firewire cables
First generation Bose headphones
Several printer power cables
Small flashlight with dead batteries
46-60
Blank CDs
Two sets of tiny screwdrivers
Cables with serial and parallel port connectors
Token Ring network documentation
Earplugs
A half dozen printer power cables
Size “N” batteries for HP calculator
60+
3-1/2” and 5-1/4” floppy discs, possibly 8”
A/B switch for the television
At least three sets of tiny screwdrivers with some missing
Electrical tape
Cable with a Centronics connector
Old hearing aids
A dozen identical printer power cables
An inked printer ribbon
Broken Atari game controller
Betamax copy of “Animal House”
Hundreds of loose screws
Daisy wheel printer head
What does your junk drawer reveal? My cohorts at the pub say that my junk drawer has only steam-powered devices.
