Posted by Jerry on October 17th, 2004 — Posted in History, Journal, Steam, Technology
Having just encountered the wonderful steam models page of Forest Classics in the UK I was amazed at the range of steam models now available. It used to be mamod and more mamod, but little else – now it seems there are many manufacturers of high quality kits and assembled live steam models – from stationary beam engines like this one from Sussex Steam Beam & Mill Engine Kits
to full-on radio controlled live steam cars, like this model 1907 stanley steamer from the MiniSteam company…
After seeing a mate run his radio controlled petrol driven model race car up and down our street, I thought nah, I prefer steam!
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on October 15th, 2004 — Posted in History, Journal, Writing
I really should keep more abreast of the literary theorist blogs – I have only just found out that Jacques Derrida, one of the key postmodern philosophers has died aged 74. Whether you revere or revile him, there is no doubting his enormous influence on 20th century philosophy. While his writing was never easy, the journey was always worthwhile. His famous philosophical practice of deconstruction, for which he is best known was of course not about destruction, but re-construal. His was a philosophy akin to existentialism which implied an ethics ultimately based on self-responsibility… He will be missed by supporters and detractors alike.
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on September 2nd, 2004 — Posted in History, Writing
There appear to be at least three major competing hypotheses to explain the rapid spread of the Indo-European language group throughout europe at the conclusion of the Younger Dryas cold event around 10,800 BCE:
• the battle axe movement – through displacement by warlike activity
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• the farming wave – as the climate improves more sparsely populated farmland becomes available relatively free of hunter-gatherers; and
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• rapid population growth resulting from improvement in climate, previously decimated by a mini ice age
There is an excellent article on the early history of Indo-European languages written by Thomas V. Gamkrelidze and V. V. Ivanov that was published in Scientific American.
All of these can account for the spread and movement of language – by conquering, farming spread, or re-population of areas. But I wonder if there is a further explanation: namely the decimation of a population by a sudden cold climate event or natural disaster – or even the spread of disease. That is, language spread because of the need to preserve knowledge in a stressed or dying population. Among a static population, whether farmers or hunter-gatherers or more likely a combination of the two, once the main skills have been passed on, such groups would only need to exchange information that relates to change, because once you know the seasons in which to plant, or the signs of potential quarry, then there is little need for discussion. But in a stressed population, there is far more need to share information in case such knowledge is lost forever.
During the great bubonic plague outbreaks of the 14th and 17th centuries, up to a third of Europe’s population was wiped out – and locally it was not uncommon for between fifty percent and ninety-five percent to be killed by the disease. Both of these periods saw the emergence of two things: an increase in technology solutions in the increasing absence of ‘man’power; and the birth of instruction manuals for everything from blacksmithing to embroidery stitches – because there was such a risk of essential knowledge being lost that information had to be passed beyond the strict boundaries of the guilds.
– Just a thought
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on August 18th, 2004 — Posted in History, Journal, Writing
Plutarch, when not writing his Lives in the first century AD was sometime manager of a nice little earner called the Delphic Oracle. I heard a fascinating piece on the radio this morning about what was special about the oracle. It seems that there was indeed a culture among the priestesses that involved learning to compose a kind of free-form poetry – perhaps an ancient Greek form of rap. What is particularly interesting is that at Delphi the oracle temple was built on an active fault line (not surprising really, as much of Greece is in a very seismically active area).
But active faults generate enormous heat in localised areas, and this can release vapourised hydrocarbons, which bubbled up through the spring water. in this case the gas turned out to be a mix of methane, ethane and the real trump card – ethylene – an effective anaesthetic (by depriving the brain of oxygen) which also in low doses apparently causes mild euphoria, hallucinations, excitation and amnesia. Of course if you over did it death would be a rather unfortunate side effect. In low doses it made people babble in not overly coherent ways – and given that the priestesses were usually young women, the image of stoned teenage girls influencing world events while off their faces on antifreeze is perhaps an uncomfortable way to view this sacred site.
As Washington Post writer Guy Gugliotta points out, there were suspicions, even in ancient times that this was exactly what was going on. Plutarch described how the priestess would deliver oracles from a tripod in a small below-ground chamber bathed in gases carried up by underground springs.
No doubt the vapours would have added mystique to the process, and the recipient listening to the words would probably also get a little light headed, contributing to the sense that something sacred was in the air.
And all this has been confirmed by geologists a couple of years ago, who identified that the oracle temple site was located right over criss-crossing active faults. And the gases have been deposited over the centuries, trapped in the limestone travertine that lay under the temple.
Ethylene is used today for rapid ripening of fruit and as an anaesthetic until recent times. “It was a great gas,” said toxicologist Henry Spiller, director of the Kentucky Regional Poison Center in Louisville and another member of the Delphi team. “It produces a very rapid onset of effects, and leaves the heart alone.” Unfortunately, “it is also explosive [and] dangerous for the surgeon,” Spiller added, which is why modern medicine eventually abandoned it.
A fascinating insight into an amazing cultural and historical phenomenon!
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on August 16th, 2004 — Posted in History, Journal, Travel
After a wonderful Sunday afternoon at Tidbinbilla, I headed into Canberra city centre and visited the National Museum of Australia – and there was a delightful exhibition of ceramics, bronze artifacts and textiles related to a recent archeological find off the coast of Brunei: The Sunken Treasures of Brunei Darussalam. The sunken vessel went down around 1600 providing a great snapshot of life and trade of that time in that area.
They say the South China Sea was the Mediterranean of the East, and this is ample demonstrated by the treasures that emerged from this wreck. It was a trading vessel – at least twice the size of anything operated by any of the European countries, showing that the Asians had sophisticated sea going vessels far superior to the Europeans. It also illustrated the kind of volume of trade between the countries of the region. There were at least three different styles of ceramic pots from different regions, and in a range of styles suggesting a wide variety of cultural contacts.
The exhibition is on now and runs until 4 October, when it will move to the Western Australian Maritime Museum – so if you are in the west, catch it there! It is well worth a look, the exhibition is well laid out and includes interactive displays, some 500 pots and several ornately cast cannon on loan from Brunei and some exquisite textile pieces. There is also a beautifully illustrated catalogue to go with it. This is definitely one of the better exhibitions to come to the NMA.
Cheers
Jerry
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