It was Archimedes who said, “Give me a fulcrum and a place to stand, and I will move the Earth”, but everybody focused on the fulcrum instead of the place to stand, which was a big mistake that hasn’t been corrected since the Empire fell — you know which one I mean.

All of them. They all fall down & go boom after a while, just as every dominant species gives way to a new adaptation sooner or later, and in the case of organic life, it’s generally sooner rather than later.

A fulcrum is something steady, something that doesn’t move, and that allows a lever to be applied in order to reduce the amount of torque you need to apply in order to move the targeted heavy thing, such as a giant rock or a planet.

A lever allows you to place the fulcrum so that the amount of force needed is no more than you’d want to put in, taking into account how long it might take to move the thing, meaning that there must be a balance achieved between the fulcrum and the lever handle.

Gosh, it sounds so complicated, but one simple hands-on demo would show you what I mean. The closer the fulcrum point is to the object, the easier it will be to move it with the lever, while the farther away it is, the wider the movement of the object for the given force … oh, heck, I’ll do a demo in the upcoming workshop to show you how it works — most folks never inquire or discover anything about fulcrums and levers, so you might find it interesting and educational.

Keep in mind, however, that the lever and fulcrum are the least important in the scheme of things — it’s “a place to stand” that really makes the difference, and that goes double for sales and marketing, and that goes triple for promotions that introduce work ideas to the public. Continue reading →