OT Language (was Re: lost Desktop)

[Billie Walsh]

On 07/19/2011 03:55 AM, Anne Wilson wrote:
> 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

That looks like a VERY old version of "Water Pump Pliers", or as you 
might know them better "Channel Lock".

--
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what to have for dinner. 
Liberty is a well-armed lamb."     - Benjamin Franklin -

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