I was thinking about door handles this week. Jen and I recently bought some snazzy, 1950's-style ones to go with the ones she brought here from her last house. They are extremely cool.
What I was thinking was, aren't door handles so much better than door knobs? Apparently, Americans really love door knobs, while we Brits tend to go for handles. The Americans are wrong. Door knobs are totally stupid: you can't get a proper purchase on them when you turn them; whereas door handles are proper levers.
Archimedes reckoned, if you gave him somewhere to stand and a big enough lever, he could move the earth. This wasn't just idle torque on Archimedes' part; levers are definitely where it's at. You certainly wouldn't catch Archimedes saying, "Give me a big enough knob, and I will move the earth".
Although it's a hell of a chat-up line.
A big enough lever to move the earth? Sounds like he foresaw the nuclear age!
I wonder if knobs and screws really are as mutually exclusive as you suggest. In my world they are pretty interdependant.
Phoenix
x
A lever is probably a better way of moving the earth than a nuclear explosion: a lever has something to push against, an earth-based nuclear explosion wouldn't. Newton's Third Law, and all that.
THIS IS IRRELEVANT, ISN'T IT?
and very nice it is too, in a Boys Own, Edwardian type way.