'Our Mrs. Reynolds'
A place to talk about movies--Old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
are you one of those people who chokes up on the hammer
Ah -- thank you for using that word, Jesse. It triggered another explanation -- you're automatically choked up on your average kitchen knife, because of where their centre of gravity is located. And if you use a hammer conventionally, you're unchoked.
Is there a physicist in the house? With diagrams? There need to be pictures now, I can feel it.
Sean, are you one of those people who chokes up on the hammer and then wonders why the nail won't go in?
I can hammer a nail just fine. An intruder is not a nail, and calls for unconventional application of the hammer.
Think outside the box, people!
But if you're hanging on to the head of the hammer, you might as well be using something that doesn't leave you with a foot of unused handle. Frozen spinach, or something.
Is there a physicist in the house?
I can give you several choices.
I can give you several choices.
None of the funky plasma guys. I need people who do stuff with actual mass. Ask them about centres of weight, and the momentum generated when your centre of weight is further out along the spoke.
Ta!
You do understand they're not going to be used as demonstration objects, right?
The physicists all tossed the whole physics portion out and agreed that maximum carnage is done with a knife. A hammer? You have one chance to get it right. Easier to disarm, as there's no sharp edges to have to contend with when an assailant comes at you. They can just grab the head and take it away. Also, in a demonstration, it took considerably more effort for me to brain Nathan in which he could see and block the upswing of me trying to reach his forehead, than it was for me to use the weight of my body to drive a sharp object into his gut. He can't block that without getting cut.
Nathan can smush my brains easier, as the hammer is coming down, and gravity is helping out with the whole deal.
Which doesn't really answer the question, and also, he was just microwaving an aluminum pan to heat up some pasta, so, there's that.
I'll go ask about the center of weight thingy.
Nathan can smush my brains easier, as the hammer is coming down
Step inside his swing -- he can't adjust for distance so well without losing most of his effectiveness.
Okay, I asked a physicist who wasn't microwaving metal.
If you hold the hammer further down the handle, you have greater momentum and force, but lose a great deal of accuracy.
And then vice versa. Hold it closer to the head and you have a great deal of accuracy, but lose the benefits of the momentum.
Ergo, brass knuckles with blades sticking out of them are the answer.
Also, in a demonstration, it took considerably more effort for me to brain Nathan in which he could see and block the upswing of me trying to reach his forehead, than it was for me to use the weight of my body to drive a sharp object into his gut. He can't block that without getting cut.
That this caused an impromptu experiment like this makes it all worth it.
ETA: And Allyson finds the most pragmatic solution --
Ergo, brass knuckles with blades sticking out of them are the answer.