Definitely a good point. I was thinking of it in the context of my cousin’s new construction, but I wouldn’t want to try adding an opening to the house I grew up in, which was built back in the 1700s. Still doable though, with some screw jacks.
I’ve always loved alternate-tread stairs. I can see why they have building codes against them, but I think it’s a great idea to put them in, given that you know how to replace them if you decide they’re troublesome.
In fact, I’m tempted to see whether I can design a set of traditional stairs that drops into place over the alternate-tread stairs at need. Or a quick-swap mounting setup.
Oh, cool! Yeah, I can imagine a few way that that might work… That’s a really neat idea.
I noticed no americans bashed this idea based on freedom and the word communist wasent mentioned once.
Is this progress in americans or just a progressive american crowd on BoingBoing?
Probably just didn’t like the ALL-CAPS.
This here’s a law that doesn’t bug me, especially if it only applies to new construction. My house was built in 1909, a pretty nifty representative of Pasadena’s Arts and Crafts movement of the time. It would look pretty lame with modern door handles. (The creepy twisting doorknob in the opening credits of the first two seasons of Walking Dead? I have that exact same doorknob on my closet door.) But public buildings and modern construction can get whatever ergonomic door handles best serve the public interest, AFAIC.
Well, building codes are something that most people are already used to, and like @technogeekagain said, they’re pretty well standardized, so I don’t think that building codes are a particularly divisive issue. Besides which, this is just some new silly rule that happened in a place which doesn’t affect Americans, so it’s not likely to get a lot of folks riled up.
I still think that folks should be allowed to put whatever door handles they want in their own homes, but at least I can see the justification for it. And hey, if Vancouverites don’t have a problem with it, then they can live by it. I’m sure those building codes wouldn’t go through in my area, so I’m not worried.
Same thing happened to me when I said, [quote=“JonasEggeater, post:54, topic:14609”]
KEEP DOOR HANDLES ROUND!
[/quote]
I have seen Americans work into a froth over Canadian gun regulations, anything that’s seen to help the poor, universal healthcare, etc.
We currently have issues with conservatives in every level of government, ruining lives but Americans (progressive company excluded) tend like conservative insanity.
Fair enough. Don’t tell anyone, but I’m not the most progressive person on here by a long shot; I’ve got some opinions that most people on here would take issue with. But I expect that the people you’re talking about, who are rabidly opinionated, don’t find BB to be the best environment for a flame war. I find that most people on here would rather listen to logical and well thought-out arguments (though there are some exceptions).
Also, you’re stereotyping.
But anyways, that’s all the input that I have as to why this thread didn’t go down in flames, with people arguing about the right to doorknobs.
I think that American hostility towards socialism and communism is wildly overestimated, and I’ve long thought that if more of us simply “came out of the closet” and started talking about socialism, we’d find that there are a lot more of us around than anybody realizes.
That said, I do think that BoingBoing has a relatively progressive following.
Nope, some places, fire alarms must remain in place. For example, hi-rise buildings. They can be wired to a central alarm system that calls in to the fire dept., and are required to be inspected regularly. If you disconnect, you get fined. Although, in this particular kind of situation, it makes good sense. You don’t get to create a potential fire hazard because it’s not just you. You put your neighbors at risk, too.
(OTOH, they can’t do anything if you put packing tape over the ear-splitting speakers somebody decided we all needed, or build a box over the alarm to block the sensor, so there’s that…)
We’re talking about private residences, not apartment buildings.
You don’t give cats enough credit. My dearly departed black kitteh only managed to not enter places she wasn’t allowed because the doors had knobs. I have resisted putting levered handles on our doors because I fear our enormous siamese will have zero difficulty opening unlocked exterior doors on a slightly windy day.
We tried those cabinet locks, but they wouldn’t fit on our 60 year old cabinet doors.
They sometimes take some creative fitting, but I’ve put them on several kinds of cabinets, drawers with inch-thick faces, and a few other places one might not expect them to work. A support block is sometimes required, but…
Yeah, we tried pretty hard. The frames are dimensional, too. Total thickness is a real inch+, not the “inch” as sold in lumber stores today.
Didn’t think this topic would be so popular, if that is the right word for it.
Anyway - you make them like this, you won’t get your sleeve or belt or whatever caught:
http://www.hewi.com/content/en/produkte/Beschlaege/System-111/ue/
Banana - are we? I don’t recall the article saying so.
Edith - yeah, I’ve had some pretty smart cats, too. Had one tom who figured a way inside from outdoors through a kitchen cabinet. But they tend to like very targeted attacks, not the brute force dog-style stuff. Like - a dog could accidentally pop a lever that opened upwards, just because he’s gonna jump. A cat would have to think of it. Make sense?
One of my past cats definitely knew that doorknobs opened doors; she just couldn’t get a good enough grip. So, yeah, if I’d had lever handles I’d have had to be better about keeping the deadbolt set.
A classmate of mine in secondary school had a huge cat that let himself out by opening the door. Very convenient; slightly chilly in the winter.
