Periodic Table of Tools

Re:Periodic Table of Tools by gcanyon on Sunday November 26, 2023 @10:47AM (#38422447)

I find myself unreasonably frustrated by this arrangement. "Screwdriver Bits" are not the base level of the screwdriver column -- "Screwdrivers" are. And the second column from left is just a mess: stampers are similar to rivets are similar to nail guns... how?

I'm sure this is a personal preference thing but (to me) the columns should be thematically similar, off the top of my head (I am not skilled at manufacturing nor construction):

    1. Things that pound things into other things (hammers)
    2. Things that twist things into other things (screwdrivers)
    3. Things that join things (staples, rivets, etc. -- yes, I get that this covers both nails and screws)
    4. Things that shape things
    5. Things that split things
    6. Things that cut things
    7. Things that break things down
    8. Things that mix things
    9. Things that contain things
    10. Things that move single things
    11. Things that move aggregate things
    12. Things that etch things
    13. Things that measure the size of things
    14. Things that measure the mass of things
    15. Things that measure force
    16. Things that measure other attributes?

I'm sure there are more.

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Re:Periodic Table of Tools by pvg on Sunday November 26, 2023 @11:28AM (#38422819)

I'm sure there are more.

things that have just broken a flower vase, things that tremble as if they were mad, suckling pigs

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Re:Periodic Table of Tools by gcanyon on Sunday November 26, 2023 @11:57AM (#38423050)

I'm not sure how this is a valid criticism? I gave actual categories of things-tools-do. You just made up nonsense tasks?

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Re:Periodic Table of Tools by yorwba on Sunday November 26, 2023 @12:00PM (#38423082)

It's a reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_Emporium_of_Benevole...

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Re:Periodic Table of Tools by gcanyon on Sunday November 26, 2023 @05:40PM (#38425792)

Thanks, TIL!

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Re:Periodic Table of Tools by theodoregray on Sunday November 26, 2023 @10:58PM (#38427887)

(a) screwdriver bits come above screwdrivers for one simple reason: the mouth bit holder is hilarious and I wanted to put it at the top of the column. (b) column 2 is things you can hit with a hammer: that's why it has stamps, rivets, and nails. It follows hammers because alkali earth metals are somewhat chemically related to alkali metals (e.g. reactive with water to evolve hydrogen, which makes both columns fun to play with). Nail pullers are at the bottom of hammers instead of the bottom of column 2 because the counts worked better that way.

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Re:Periodic Table of Tools by gcanyon on Monday November 27, 2023 @07:45AM (#38431647)

I'll start by saying it's a great concept, and beautifully executed in general. And I'm sorry to be one of several piling on about perceived (I did say I was "unreasonably" frustrated with the arrangement) shortcomings of the arrangement.

All to say, thanks for making something interesting enough to disagree with/about, and thanks for the clarifications.

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