Janet D. Stemwedel (whose nom de blog is Dr. Free-Ride) is an assistant professor of philosophy at San Jose State University. Before becoming a philosopher, she earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry. Email her at dr.freeride@gmail.com.
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Category: Passing thoughts • Personal
Posted on: May 17, 2008 7:06 PM, by Janet D. Stemwedel
Which would you totally do if you didn't know better (and suspect someone might catch you)?
Option 1: Yank on the cord, not the plug, to unplug that appliance.
Option 2: Step on the very top step of the step-ladder (that the warning label admonishes you not to use as a step) to get the lemons off the high branches.
Me? I'm having lemonade this afternoon.
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Comments
umm...yank the cord. I have too much mass to risk falling for some lemons that I can knock out of the tree.
Posted by: Jeb, FCD | May 17, 2008 8:13 PM
Pull the cord, absolutely. I'm too afraid of falling and not afraid enough of electric shock/fire.
Posted by: El Fields | May 17, 2008 8:50 PM
climb the step, obviously.
In fact, the top most step that is clearly not meant for climbing is only one of my 642 part list of things I don't climb solely because I'm afraid somebody will catch me. "knowing better" doesn't even enter into it.
Posted by: Becca | May 17, 2008 9:13 PM
Aint no lemon tree so tall I'd need to use the top step, and I aint never gotten the plug out of the socket by pulling on the cord. So both options are non-starters.
Posted by: Alan Kellogg | May 17, 2008 11:04 PM
I'd pull the cord, definitely. I'm afraid of heights, so I rarely climb ladders more than half-way up under the best of circumstances. I'd probably try and throw things at the lemons to dislodge them and make them drop into my hands. :)
Posted by: Wendy | May 18, 2008 12:58 AM
I'd yank the cord, right after falling off the top step in the vain hope that it would keep me from hitting the ground.
Posted by: Brian | May 18, 2008 10:33 AM
If you didn't know better, you'd do both and you certainly wouldn't worry about somebody catching you doing something that you didn't even know was wrong!
Posted by: C | May 18, 2008 12:24 PM
Having had to pay money to repair a vacuum cleaner plug that was a victim of cord yanking, why would I do that? I don't think it would be a danger, but a cost is a good deterrent. But even at my advanced age (end of the Boomer era), my general overconfidence sometimes leads me to the top step, as well as using a swivel chair as a ladder.
Posted by: guppygeek | May 18, 2008 7:54 PM
I have done both, though I fix my own cords.
Posted by: decrepitoldfool | May 19, 2008 7:47 AM
Longer arms will fix both of those problems.
Posted by: Uncle Fishy | May 19, 2008 2:06 PM
Yank the cord. Fixing appliances is cheaper than fixing oneself.
Posted by: TomJoe | May 19, 2008 4:16 PM
Pull the plug. I'm scared petrified of heights. I usually don't make it past the fourth step on a ladder, so it's really not that much a choice. I've only ever gotten (accidentally) shocked while properly unplugging a microscope. Yeah, that was smooth.
Though, if I shocked myself, I don't guess it was too "properly," now was it?
Posted by: Mac | May 20, 2008 1:21 AM
Be very, very careful of ladders. They are tricksy. One threw me off the very bottom step and it took a nice, young orthopedic surgeon to put my shoulder back together again.
Posted by: Mark P | May 20, 2008 3:28 PM
Sadly, I do both fairly frequently. But I live alone so I guess there's no danger of being caught.
Posted by: shannon conley | May 21, 2008 5:53 PM
1. Go to the store and buy a bag of lemons.
2. Throw the lemons at the high hanging fruit, knocking the lemons off the tree.
3. Pick up lemons from the ground
4. Forget the ladder.
Plug the appliance into a switched socket, and use the wall switch.
Posted by: Bert | May 23, 2008 5:59 PM