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A friend of mine who teaches chemistry was recently telling me about he has instituted a toy policy for all the instruments he teaches/does research with. The premise is that they are offerings for the instrument fairies. An instrument with a small dollar store type toy, he finds, breaks less often than one without. Of course the undergraduates who use the machines also fiddle with the instruments less when there is a toy to play with, but that is probably coincidence.
In a similar fashion I had to explain to Roger years ago about my house imps. They aren't malicious, but they do like the house moderately clean. When things have gotten over a certian threshold of clutter then they start hiding items. There are a few likely suspects they go for first, namely my keys, my MBTA pass, wallet and/or ATM card. By cleaning (really cleaning by sorting and putting things where they really belong) they might be enticed to return these items. They dole them out one at a time until the house is respectable again. *sigh* I have the pass back, now I just need my keys.
In a similar fashion I had to explain to Roger years ago about my house imps. They aren't malicious, but they do like the house moderately clean. When things have gotten over a certian threshold of clutter then they start hiding items. There are a few likely suspects they go for first, namely my keys, my MBTA pass, wallet and/or ATM card. By cleaning (really cleaning by sorting and putting things where they really belong) they might be enticed to return these items. They dole them out one at a time until the house is respectable again. *sigh* I have the pass back, now I just need my keys.
