h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

What a collection of glitterati wrote this one! Nearly all of my favourite people in one Entry. Exquisite, keep it up, etc, etc.

However...
You missed an excellent chance to be Mech Eng anoraks (and I suspect that more than one of you is Chartered...)

The wheelbarrow is an example of that rare class of machines, the Class 2 Lever, yeah?

By way of explanation, should you need it : Levers consist of a load, an effort and a fulcrum strung out in a line somehow.

Boring and commonplace Class 1 levers have the fulcrum in the middle. This large *yawn* group includes see-saws, crowbars, scissors etc

More interesting Class 3 levers have the effort in the middle. There are plenty of biological examples (most of your limbs are compound Class 3 levers, for example, 'cos muscles generally work that way). There are a few man-made ones too, but they tend to be a bit girly. Tweezers are a case in point.

But rare as the proverbial rocking-horse residue is the Class 2 lever, with the load in the middle. Wheelbarrows are one. The only other one I can think of is the bottle-opener, which kind of reminds me I need a beer...

See ya guys!
Pin

Know anything about lawnmowers. I've got thi slittel baby on the simmer ... A1035325 ... needs an end really.

Trout

Blimey. Cutting grass. Whatever will they think of next?
Concrete stops it growing quite effectively, you know.

This story is unfortunately bound to have a tragic ending. It'll come down to hovermowers, won't it?

If you really need something of that sort, I kind of noticed that the hovermower is one of the '100 Great Inventions of the 20thC' (sic) featured in a tome I received on Fathers' Day, along with the rather fetching underpants and a paltry amount of nut brittle.

Barbie-abuse interests me rather more, however. I might have a go at that one this weekend. (It'll be raining, so one might as well write about them)

Dammit. I just realised I forgot to send AB an FD-card...

Oops.