No, the problem isn't alchemy, they don't go from spoons to coathangers. They die off from inbreeding. My mother solved that problem when she gave me the her set of silver when I got married. She had kept it for fancy occasions, but I decided to just USE it, and the spoons area greatful to be out in circulation. But Mom inadvertently increased the gene pool by ordering some matching spoons and knives from one of those catalogs where you can get extras to match an old set. She doubled the number of teaspoons in our set (based on the theory so lucidly expressed here, that there are never enough of them) and now they all scurry to the dishpan in the sink whenever they're released from the drawer or a cup of hot tea.

Bill D, there is SCIENTIFIC evidence that your coffee gets colder faster if you mix it the way you do. Peggy on Newton's Apple (some may also remember her from her earlier stint as "Peggy the pseudo wife" on PBS's Home Time) measured the coffee temperature in two cups. One with the cream put in first (and a cap put on the cup) and the other coffee transported in the cup with lid, and the creamer added upon arrival at the destination (table, office desk, etc.). It was clearly much warmer to add the cream later. Just so you know!

SRS