>
> who (real or fictional or somewhere in between) would you list as your
> favorite tool?
I'm embarrassed to admit I don't know what you mean by "tool." The only colloquial usage I know for "tool" is "someone who allows himmself to be contemptibly used," like Joe Lieberman or someone like that; you wouldn't have a favorite. Guessing wildly from context, maybe you mean "babe" or "hotty"?
My favorite tool, literally, is named Ingrid. She's a Geodimeter 600 robotic transit. I named her after Ingrid Bergman because 1.) she's so pretty, 2.) she's so-o-o smart 'n' talented, 3.) she's Swedish, and 4.) at the time I named her I was damned if I could speak her native language a-tall. Later on I got Spectra Precision to send me the programming manual, so now I do speak her language. But you don't mean literally.
Yours WDK