Monday, September 28, 2009

[devices] with one function only


Mark Fu has an amusing post. Do you know what those devices are in the photo above? They are sleeves for the bar to hold the weights in and I'd guess 'd one kilo each. They used to in Russia. Mark asks:

Some things have just one function that justifies their existence; an umbrella for instance. Scuba gear is another that comes to mind. Since most of us are weight lifters in one manner or another, we have all run into barbell collars.

They have no other apparent use. Sure, you could use the ones pictured above at the dinner table to hold nice linen napkins, but I doubt any of us would actually do that.

So are we in agreement that barbell collars have only one function?

He then points us to an article here. Now my two observations are:

1. Was the guy so small that he could do that?

2. Did the guy have a brain in the first place?

All lifters have run into the newbie who wanders around like a lost sheep or the guy who spends half his time in front of the mirror, seeing if his biceps have grown any since he did a set of exercises. I've never run into anyone like this though. :)

3 comments:

  1. Most devices are created to fulful one function but all can be used for something else.

    So far I have not seen any device that cannot.

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  2. I agree with Lord T. Everything has multiple uses. Umbrellas can also be very handy walking sticks or even weapons. I also use one tilted upside down as a target to chip golf balls into, etc.. etc.. More profoundly, this is probably how much evolution works, with a biological feature adapted for one purpose proving just somewhat useful for another purpose, leading to "selection pressure" which allows the efficacy at the new function to improve over the generations. I can think of many other uses for the scuba diving gear, especially for its separate parts. Heck, the astronauts on Apollo 13 saved their lives by using plastic manual covers to fashion a seal onto a carbon dioxide filter, if I remember correctly. Those metal things you pictured... ballast weights, flower presses, flower pots, etc, etc... Even the supposedly "useless as a chocolate teapot" example is nonsense: a chocolate teapot, yum yum.

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  3. Man is the tool-maker. Our friend in Costa Mesa cleverly (or not) came up with a tool to use on his own tool.

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