Jan Chipchase works for Nokia looking at how humans use cellphones, which apparently (or inadvertently ;) also subsidizes his cultural anthropology blog. Although a recent find (thanks Ryan!), so I don't know whether he just drones on about a select few issues, it serves up views that confront you (or maybe just me ;).

His blog post list tagged barber weirded me out, so I had to pause for a second and think about why.

Growing up, barbers weren't part of my world. My dad never went to one, so the only imagery I had of barbers came from historical reading (where ill stories of barber surgeons reigned) or from mafia movies (if the scene was in a barbershop, you knew someone was going to be killed shortly). Follow that up with a little martial arts-oriented anatomy study (where are the weak points in the human body?) and how to defend them (like not letting someone put a knife to your throat). Now I can't even look at the tools of the trade and not assume the worst.

And yet here in plain view, we have a world-wide industry that relies on people doing the unthinkable....