OT Language (was Re: lost Desktop)

[Anne Wilson]

On Monday 18 Jul 2011 07:42:09 Duncan wrote:
> Anne Wilson posted on Sat, 16 Jul 2011 07:06:04 +0100 as excerpted:
> > An amazing number of solutions to a single problem :-)
> 
> Indeed. Altho they're variants on a theme that each have particular
> strengths and weaknesses.  A pipe wrench, for instance, grips amazingly
> well on a rounded pipe, but can damage the corners on a hex head and is
> extremely heavy and cumbersome for the task of turning one, so is seldom
> used for that, except where the corners are already so rounded that a
> normal wrench or crescent can't get a proper grip (in which case it's
> working at its strength again, gripping a mostly rounded object).
> 
> > Your Crescent Wrench is the one that I have - a slightly smaller and
> > lighter version of David's.
> > 
> > None of the other pictures look like the other one he uses.
> > Imagine a single piece of iron, like a flattened umbrella handle.
> > Underneath the curve is serrated to be one half of the jaw, and down the
> > straight are a number of holes.  A second, entirely separate piece of
> > iron fits around the handle, with the curved upper surface being
> > serrated.  There is a single hole, where a pin locates it into the
> > adjustable part.  It's a very primitive tool, to my eye. Maybe I can get
> > a photo of it.
> 
> This remains quite interesting to me.  I have the general idea, now, I
> think (thanks for the second attempt at a description), but such things
> as the curve and attack angle are critical to getting a proper conception
> of how well the tool works in practice and what its strengths might be,
> and while you might be very good at describing embroidery patterns (I
> remembered that from when I followed kde-planet), those sorts of details
> are difficult to convey or even notice without a draftsman's eye and
> likely a reasonable understanding of the physical forces and interactions
> involved.
> 
> From what I've read of Gene's posts, if he saw one he might be able to
> describe it well in words, but I'm definitely /not/ making a similar
> claim for myself, tho I could probably grok the functionality reasonably
> well, to intuit the type of strengths and weaknesses it might have (as I
> described for the pipe wrench above, for instance), at least to myself,
> for the purposes of evaluating the right tool for the job at hand.
> 
> In short, it's the picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words problem. =:^D
> 
> I did stay a year with my grandparents as I entered my teens, and while
> by that time they had sold the farm and bought a house in town, so
> grandpa had no doubt left a lot of tools behind (and part of the reason I
> was there was because he was gradually losing it by that time, and
> grandma felt better with someone else around, to run to the neighbor next
> door and call the police, if it came to it, so it wasn't as if I could
> really ask grandpa), I do remember playing around with a number of tools
> I hadn't seen before and may well never see again.  I'm just wondering if
> I saw a picture, if I might immediately recognize something I didn't know
> the function of back then, perhaps because I only saw the separate
> halves.  The the word description alone doesn't trigger the association
> or memory, but a picture would very likely do so if it was something I
> had come across either then or at some estate sale or the like.
> 
> So if you happen to have a cell phone with a camera or some such, or
> happen to come across a picture on the net, I'd be much obliged.  But if
> not, don't sweat it, I don't either (the closest I have is the webcam on
> the netbook, but it's facing the user so is hard to use to take photos of
> anything but myself, with... and BTW, I don't know of any kde software
> that works with it either, except perhaps kopete for visual chat, but I
> don't use it as I'm too deliberative a thinker/typer to be effective at
> IM/IRC, something simple to do stills and movies with would be nice).
> It's not as if anything important depends on my seeing a picture.
> 
> But I can't shake the feeling that something like a year from now, I'll
> chance across a photo or something, and it'll be "Oh, so THAT was what
> Anne was talking about!  DUH!  I should have thought of that!"
> 
> Meanwhile, that's enough of a description that I'm at least somewhat
> likely to recognize one if I see it, perhaps at a yard sale, or come
> across a photo of it myself, so that year-from-now or whatever scenario
> isn't unlikely.

Here you are:  http://imagebin.org/163773

As you might guess, it's very old - a family "heirloom" :-D

Anne
-- 
New to KDE Software? - get help from http://userbase.kde.org
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 198 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part.
URL: <http://mail.kde.org/pipermail/kde/attachments/20110719/86cf7e02/attachment.sig>
-------------- next part --------------
___________________________________________________
This message is from the kde mailing list.
Account management:  https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde.
Archives: http://lists.kde.org/.
More info: http://www.kde.org/faq.html.