One of my biggest pet peeves is when I'm walking in a crowded area, and as I follow someone through a doorway or other transition space, they stop and look around.
The doorway or (whatever) is already a natural traffic bottleneck. And these people are making it worse by stopping right in the middle of it.
I suspect it's because of this psychological effect. But it's so annoying that many people's response seems to be to stop in their tracks. Okay maybe you've forgotten why you went through this doorway. But have you also suddenly forgotten that you're in the middle of a crowd of people trying to move around? Apparently so.
The Klutz Book of Knots was one of my favorites as a kid, and cited Ashley throughout. Here's what it had to say about the square knot:
"But Which Knot Is Really The Best Knot?
A true landlubber's question, but one that is inevitably raised. The correct answer should be the responsible—albeit boring—"It depends." Are you knotting together sheets for an open-air exit from a burning hotel? Or are you tying up your hair?
But let's say you've really only got room for two or three knots in your long-term memory files. If such were the case, I could be forced to recommend the bowline, the sheet bend, and the clove hitch. The three of them are the class of the three primary knot categories—loop knots, rope-to-rope knots (bends), and rope-to-something-else knots (hitches). Between them, they should get you into most binds.
Incidentally, the opposite question, "Which is really the worst knot?" is far simpler to answer. As disillusioning as this sounds, it's the square knot, the most over-hyped, under-strength knot in creation. Clifford Ashley, the author of the definitive encylopedia on the subject of knotting, states that the square knot "...has probably been responsible for more deaths and injuries than all other knots combined."
The reason is that the square knot capsizes, i.e. it unties itself. A couple of quick tugs on the rope, or an inadvertant bump, and the honest square knot turns into thin air, an unhappy result that demonstrates the difference between a "strong" knot, one that weakens the rope least, and a "secure" knot, one that resists unraveling."
This was disillusioning when I first read it as an avid Boy Scout. Now I can't think of a more apt symbol for the Scouting program.
A “round turn and two half hitches” (ABOK #1720) is what I’ve been told is a better alternative for tying fenders to a boat that will be left unattended
I read a hard copy that was passed around my high school in the early 90s.
The only chapter I remember was the one about tamping explosives in order to concentrate the force of the blast in the direction you want. That was really interesting to me for some reason.
>I read a hard copy that was passed around my high school in the early 90s...
Slightly veering away from the subject. But your comment reminded me of 'The Little Red Schoolbook' --which was the [supposedly banned] book that we all passed around in school. Although being sadly older than you, this would have been the early 80s. I wonder if anyone else remembers it?
As I recall it was pretty subversive in content, with sections on sex, drugs and anrachist politics.
EDIT: Seems it was quite well-known after all. Wikipaiedia has an article on it:
First computer at home: my dad brought home an IBM clone circa 1986. He had a buddy at work (he was an insurance agent) that was really into pirating games, who gave him one bankers box full of floppies, and another full of photocopied manuals.
The doorway or (whatever) is already a natural traffic bottleneck. And these people are making it worse by stopping right in the middle of it.
I suspect it's because of this psychological effect. But it's so annoying that many people's response seems to be to stop in their tracks. Okay maybe you've forgotten why you went through this doorway. But have you also suddenly forgotten that you're in the middle of a crowd of people trying to move around? Apparently so.