It is obscure to many researchers [check here] and journalists [check here] what is being done with prosthetic hands, prosthetic arms, prosthetic hooks, just whatever it is one wears instead, while they are pursuing the things they do.

Their projects and writings are bordering the irreal, the surreal and the ridiculous. Not that they are not entertaining. And one does get a chuckle out of that nonsense. Take, for example, the timeless eHow satire (‘attempt lifting one finger at a time’). Still outrageously funny.

But it does make sense to document the absurdly profane.

Here, a simple example of computer main board fan exchange is illustrated.

The mainboard of my Fujitsu Siemens Celsius 830 AMD 254 workstation contains two fans that now crapped out. They started to be noisy and obviously that is the time to swap them.

Many well established computer brands – Fujitsu Siemens, Apple, Acer, to name a few – contain very cheap OEM parts such as this Chinese fan that does not even have a full plastic frame.

I had ordered EBM Papst replacements.

The actual fan replacement was done with a prosthetic hook, and some simple tools.

Not a massively huge achievement really.

But I cannot see how one could get a clumsy “bionic” hand to do this either. Nor is it necessary, as the clowns at eHow put it, to attempt lifting a prosthetic hand’s fingers individually.

But that is the type of activity one needs a prosthesis for – not drinking water from a glass.