Genius behind resistors stripe code and electrolytic cap wire length? [rant]

not the ones we use, caps come on a paper tape and the leads are cut pretty close to that so the machine can use it, and AFAIK the leads are the same length on the tape

Thats true, I was thinking about the big electrolytics, but for the life of me I can't remember if they had different length leads in the old days - but then again a lot of them were axial then, before PCBs.

To save space ,for my R&D bench components, I have resistors, caps and zeners in the same 64 drawers , as some examples

less than 1 ohm and 1 nF in the first drawer,
3R3 with 3n3
100R with 100nF
1K with 1 mF
4.7K with 4.7mF and 4.7 volt zeners ( and 5v regulators )
1M with 1000 mF

It saves trying to read them, but I still measure the resistors anyway....

Its also only 64 drawers to check for restocking