#138 Feature Rich

The origins of defense contracting are shrouded in the mists of history -- or at least cloaked by the Official Secrets Act. I'll bet, though, that the original defense contractors were the guys who came up with the Swiss Army knife.

Really.

The Swiss Army knife inconveniently combines unrelated tools in a package which is simultaneously too small to be useful and too big to comfortably fit in your pocket. Only an experienced, dedicated design committee could have created a device which promises so much and delivers so little. Then they made a fortune by selling it to the Army. I'm sure these guys were the ancestors of the people who created the Osprey Vertical-Take-Off-and-Landing aircraft. Not all of these guys work for Defense, though. A fair number of these "jam it together and see what sticks" designers work in cell phone manufacturing.......

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NOTES: 

• Check out the latest (at long last) episode of the Face the Music podcast at:
  http://www.jamesb.com