Weird. I get the sense that from the perspective of the author of the question, he's taking the specifics too literally; sort of the opposite of how people try to weasel out of introspection when confronted with things like the trolley problem ("I'd pull the lever, AND shout as loud as I could to try to warn the guy", etc.).

To me, the idea is not to be worried about things like accidental use of the power, whether or not you know/believe that you have the power, etc. Assume that you have the power, you are aware that you have it, and that there is no risk of accidentally triggering it. Would you use it?

I can say with near certainty that I would have used it when I was younger; faced with situations like the experience he had with the bully when he was 13. I might have given it up after a single use, when firsthand confronted with the reality of it. Or I might easily have descended into the depths of utter evil, and eventually started using it casually, for offenses real or imagined.

If I got the power NOW, I think it is fairly likely that I would never use it. I'd be strongly tempted, though.

Good stuff, but this is in no way forgotten tech. Anyone that's ever "walked" a bookshelf or fridge into place has used the same lever with multiple pivot points method, just with less leverage needed and wider pivot points.
I think this documentary may be almost 30 years old now, I saw it ages ago.

I don't understand how this is possible?

In our apartment there is multiple ways of shutting down water. Levers everywhere to stop water.

I haven't tried it, but the butt brake lever seems to me to fit the application pretty well. Cyclists needing quick braking develop the habit of shift backwards on the saddle, or over the back of the saddle anyway. This helps to counteract the unweighting of the rear wheel that occurs with heavy brake application.

With the butt brake, an existing reflex is repurposed -- clever.

Yep, either a separate brake lever you can clip on and off or some way of hooking it into the existing brake system would be far better. Butts just don't have the response time, to say nothing of the ungainly pose needed.

An excellent idea for people who ride with their *pets, especially on hills.
An upgrade to this might be to make a flexible quick connection to the rear brake cable so it would just operate using the normal rear brake lever, although using your ass to stop is hilarious and fun.

I must admit, from the title, I expected something more like the flexigrip controls on Mr/s Garrison's 'IT'.

Kind of. When I installed the roll cage I had to pull the pedal out, and I never built the hand lever I intended. It's never been a problem. I don't have a clutch switch either, and 7.5-1 first gear, so I can start in gear if I have to, even on a hill.

It's all about timing. If you pull the lever at the exact right moment, the front axle has passed the junction and the rear axle gets diverted. The trolley will derail.

It doesn't work like that. What you end up with is something akin to Australia's gun laws, which 'technically' still allow certain people to own guns, realistically most won't or can't

Category A: Rimfire rifles (not semi-automatic), circuit loaded firearms. shotguns (not pump-action or semi-automatic), air rifles including semi automatic, and paintball gun. A "Genuine Reason" must be provided for a Category A firearm. [AKA, you have to prove you have a reason to own these weapons. Newsflash, the majority of police will automatically deny you. Oh yeah, for a PAINTBALL gun as well.]

Category B: Centrefire rifles including bolt action, pump action, circuit loaded, and lever action (not semi-automatic), muzzleloading firearms made after 1 January 1901. [Same as Cat A, must have a 'genuine reason' to own one, be registered, have a fee, ton of other limitations, so basically hard to own]

Category C: Pump-action or self-loading shotguns having a magazine capacity of 5 or fewer rounds and semi automatic rimfire rifles. [Only Primary producers, farm workers, firearm dealers, firearm safety officers, collectors and clay target shooters can own functional Category C firearms.]

Category D: Self-loading centrefire rifles, pump-action or self-loading shotguns have a magazine capacity of more than 5 rounds. [Functional Category D firearms are restricted to government agencies, occupational shooters and primary producers in some states. Collectors may own deactivated Category D firearms.]

Category H: Handguns including air pistols and deactivated handguns. [This class is available to target shooters and certain security guards whose job requires possession of a firearm. To be eligible for a Category H firearm, a target shooter must serve a probationary period of 6 months using club handguns, after which they may apply for a permit. A minimum number of matches yearly to retain each category of handgun and be a paid-up member of an approved pistol club. Target shooters are limited to handguns of .38 or 9mm calibre or less and magazines may hold a maximum of 10 rounds. Participants in certain "approved" pistol competitions may acquire handguns up to .45", currently Single Action Shooting and Metallic Silhouette. IPSC shooting is approved for 9mm/.38/.357 sig, handguns that meet the IPSC rules, larger calibres such as .45 were approved for IPSC handgun shooting contests in Australia in 2014. Barrels must be at least 100mm (3.94") long for revolvers, and 120mm (4.72") for semi-automatic pistols unless the pistols are clearly ISSF target pistols; magazines are restricted to 10 rounds.]

Category R/E: Restricted weapons, such as machine guns, rocket launchers, full automatic self loading rifles, flame-throwers, anti-tank guns, howitzers and other artillery weapons [Obviously this class is right out...]

You can own some muzzleloading weapons without restrictions, although percussion cap pistols are restricted. In addition to these minor rules, all guns must be secured in a safe or other similar location, all must be fully registered so that the government knows the location of every single weapon/owner, and you can't sell them to another person, only to a dealer or the law to be destroyed.

After a few years of de-fanging and getting the citizens used to not having weapons, the Australian government and law enforcement routinely quietly hold gun buybacks to persuade more people to give up their weapons. They also do amnesty turn ins now and then.

So, that is the AMAZING suite of laws Australia put in place to stop mass shootings. Forgive me if, when combined, those type of laws would basically neuter the 2nd amendment. We've already neutered the 1st with 'hate speech' and the ability to sue over getting your feelings hurt. The 4th has been steadily under attack, because GOOD citizens shouldn't mind if the government rummages through everything you own or do. We haven't messed with the 5th amendment too much, so we could look at that next, maybe allow torture of everyone for confessions.

I'm getting tired of listing points, so let me just say this. I am incredibly sorry that people died, they shouldn't have and it is an utter shame. However, we are already fighting on a daily basis to keep a facsimile of the rights that were fought for when we built this country. Watering them down further only helps our government tighten the bonds of enslavement upon us. I can't agree with that.

He went full extension...you never go full extension! I suspect the designers never intended for the camera to ever be beyond arms length. At full extension with that large a camera the pressure on all the components was too great.

Like Archimedes said "Give me a place to stand and a long enough lever ... oops!"

I realize all planes are different and why, but you'd think the FAA and other organizations would demand some sort of standardization if for no other reason than it would be easier and safer to switch out ACTUAL pilots on a day-to-day basis, let alone in an emergency.

I was also noticing how they design the different knobs and levers to be COMPLETELY different than each other. I'm sure it's for a tactile "oh hey, that's not the heading dial" feel when a pilot is grabbing onto the altitude dial.

Everything seemed doable to me except for the very last bit with the touchdown. Then he races through a whole mess of lever pulls that are unclear in this video yet are absolutely the most important part of not dying. Whoever did this was just showing off and not serious about preventing a crash.

He talks so much sense my head hurts.

In my home country (Australia) we have some pretty good statistics on firearms (and knives, and just about everything actually). Yet they are routinely ignored in favour of the simple solution - to blindly further restrict law abiding citizen's access to firearms. It makes the government look as though they are tackling firearm crime (which in Australia is almost never committed by a licensed firearm owner) even though it has no appreciable effect on firearm crime.

This is happening again right now. After the Lindt place siege last year they held a lot of enquiries. The one on firearms concluded that no further restrictions needed to be made (the gunman had an illegal firearm as those who commit firearm crime almost always do, in this case a pump action shotgun) and that licensing and registration should be made easier. The first thing the government did? Put an import ban on perfectly legal lever action shotguns with magazine capacities of more than 5 rounds, calling them a "dangerous new technology". Firearms owners are expecting (from a historical trend) further restrictions at the National Firearms Agreement review next year.

Once a right is given away it rarely comes back, no matter how badly you want it. So I hope America chooses its path carefully. If I moved there I'd want the right to own firearms and to use them to defend myself (the first of which in Australia has nonsense restrictions, and the second of which is almost totally illegal . Word has it that self defence in the home by firearms will shortly be made totally illegal and if your firearms are stolen you may be charged with crimes committed by those firearms).

If you want to look at what the data says you also have to extend it everywhere (my preferred scenario). And in regards to others aspects of people's lives, I think people won't like the numbers and so will simply ignore the numbers.

Or you get people in America saying "hey look Australia solved its firearms problems by restricting them" - using it as a quasi-statistic. Except:
1. We never had a big firearms problem to start with.
2. We had a linearly diminishing rate of firearms deaths starting well before the restrictions that didn't change with the restrictions.
3. The majority of studies looking at the topic say the restrictions didn't work.

Australia is very similar to New Zealand in every way (and really are hardly like the US), and NZ allow access to all almost all the firearms we banned and yet they have a lower homicide rate by firearm, and a lower homicide rate overall. Basically if America wants a model that arguably works as a template, look at NZ. But probably more important than that, I'd be fixing America's health system, mental health system, and poverty rates first. I bet an analysis will show many incredible flow on effects in American society as a result of doing that.

When he pulls that lever, the whole press shifts, I'm pretty sure the Gutenberg wouldn't move like that. A Gutenberg is between 1 & 2 tonnes.
They don't show any distinguishing marks. In my opinion, if it was, they would have showed the emblem, (just to show off.)

I've used many presses like these, and hand-bound my own books, even made my own paper to use in the press. This is purely a hobby or small run use purposes. The amount of work that goes into setting all that lead type takes so long and the print run is so unpredictable, that it's just not profitable on any level to create full books like these. Nostalgic and cool yes. but you'd have to sell for several hundred dollars for for the book, and sell mass quantities. I hope the art form never dies though.

One of the professors at the college I work at, teaches sections on typesetting and printing on typesetting presses. He has his own publishing house and produces jobs for people.

Some photos here: http://www.greenboathouse.com/gallery/13-09.html
We also have a print studio at the college for students to use and train on.

I'm not an expert, but I've shot a lot of rifles and have some gun-nut friends. Basically, NO, that isn't a normal posture. However, it seems quite effective for her.

She is basically using the shelf of her pelvis as the "ground" point of her elbow, almost like the function of a tripod if you were going to shoot while prone. That isn't normal, but then her hand position on that arm is even weirder -- she is propping up the rifle with what looks like middle and ring fingers making a "v" shape, then pointer just in front of the trigger guard, and thumb on the trigger guard / lever. Very very weird -- in general most people would put that hand further out along the barrel and just grasp the wood there. That would normally be more effective because the wider the distance between the contact points with your hands, the more steady and fine your aim can be. BUT, she obviously knows what she is doing and is using the stability provided by resting her arm on her pelvis to overcome that. She's a way better shot than me, so I wouldn't classify any of what I've said as "criticism", just noting that she does certainly have an unusual style.

By sound and size, the rifle is probably a .22. A .22 that size can be quite light, which would work well with her style of holding the weapon. I'd imagine that trying that with a bigger rifle, especially with a longer barrel, would be uncomfortably heavy on the fingers she is using to prop up the weapon. Plus, higher calibers would kick enough to necessitate actually grasping the forestock instead of just resting it on fingertips.

Even when I was warned against kick and barrel-rise when shooting an AR-15 (basically an M-16), the first time surprised me how much the weapon will jolt upward on rapidly fired shots unless you are ready to compensate for it...