tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21655768596671812132024-03-12T23:35:28.252+00:00Another Androsphere BlogYet another blog for the Androsphere.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger337125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-89449435096132098762016-09-28T17:58:00.001+01:002016-09-28T17:58:23.833+01:00Men of Yore: Dr John Flynn<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ZCml4N_yfbVecqOosNBUsE90yG8NQP-appbqOfg6HwRW8Vofk5Gi5-TJAvr6DxNJahNo_ehIGCaxqrXiHbIgxqBgGrc3qXp3JamcRozOOzBJkVZ9u16g5cXK52Wxp-paY4pMk8EuKo4/s1600/John_flynn_young_edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ZCml4N_yfbVecqOosNBUsE90yG8NQP-appbqOfg6HwRW8Vofk5Gi5-TJAvr6DxNJahNo_ehIGCaxqrXiHbIgxqBgGrc3qXp3JamcRozOOzBJkVZ9u16g5cXK52Wxp-paY4pMk8EuKo4/s320/John_flynn_young_edit.jpg" width="207" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Flynn, in his early twenties (<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/John_flynn_young_edit.jpg" target="_blank">Source</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<b>John Flynn</b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_British_Empire" title="Order of the British Empire">OBE</a> (25 November 1880 – 5 May 1951) was an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia" title="Australia">Australian</a> <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presbyterian" title="Presbyterian">Presbyterian</a> <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_minister" title="Religious minister">minister</a> who founded what became the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Flying_Doctor_Service_of_Australia" title="Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia">Royal Flying Doctor Service</a>, the world's first <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_ambulance" title="Air ambulance">air ambulance</a>.<br />
<br />
<span class="mw-headline" id="Ministry"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Ministry</span></strong></span><br />
Always thinking of the needs of those in isolated communities, in September 1910 Flynn published <i>The Bushman's Companion</i> which was distributed free throughout inland Australia. He took up the opportunity to succeed E. E. Baldwin as the Smith of Dunesk Missioner at <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beltana,_South_Australia" title="Beltana, South Australia">Beltana</a>, a tiny settlement 500 kilometres north of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelaide" title="Adelaide">Adelaide</a>. He was ordained in Adelaide for this work in January 1911. The missioners visited the station properties in a wide radius of Beltana, and their practical and spiritual service was valued in the isolated localities. Flynn used it as an opportunity to look at the potential for something bigger. By 1912, after writing a report for his church superiors on the difficulties of ministering to such a widely scattered population, Flynn was made the first superintendent of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Inland_Mission" title="Australian Inland Mission">Australian Inland Mission</a>. As well as tending to spiritual matters, Flynn quickly established the need for medical care for residents of the vast <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outback" title="Outback">Australian outback</a>, and established a number of bush hospitals.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Flynn_(minister)#cite_note-1"><span style="font-size: small;">[1]</span></a></sup> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<strong><span style="font-size: large;">The Royal Flying Doctors</span></strong><br />
By 1917, Flynn was already considering the possibility of new technology, such as radio and aircraft, to assist in providing a more useful acute medical service, and then received a letter from an Australian pilot serving in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I" title="World War I">World War I</a>, <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Peel" title="Clifford Peel">Clifford Peel</a>, who had heard of Flynn's speculations and outlined the capabilities and costs of then-available planes. This material was published in the church's magazine, the start of Flynn turning his considerable fund-raising talents to the task of establishing a flying medical service. The first flight of the Aerial Medical Service was in 1928 from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloncurry,_Queensland" title="Cloncurry, Queensland">Cloncurry</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queensland" title="Queensland">Queensland</a>. A museum commemorating the founding of the Royal Flying Doctor Service is located at John Flynn Place in Cloncurry.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Flynn_(minister)#cite_note-2"><span style="font-size: small;">[2]</span></a></sup> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span class="mw-headline"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Marriage</span></strong></span><br />
Flynn married the secretary of the AIM, Jean Baird, in 1931 at the relatively advanced age of 51.<br />
<br />
<br />
(Source: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Flynn_(minister">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Flynn_(minister</a>))</blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One thing you can always depend on is that Aussies will always do things on a big scale: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_stations_in_Australia" target="_blank">ranches</a>, cattle herds, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyre_Highway" target="_blank">straight roads</a>, railway networks, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Max_(franchise)" target="_blank">post-apocalyptic movies</a>, and ambulance services. Yep, when you're dealing with a country the size of Oz you need to have an ambulance service on a big scale. One that can cross a continental country, and fast. That means that you need an ambulance that can literally fly. Enter Dr John Flynn and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Flying_Doctor_Service_of_Australia" target="_blank">Royal Flying Doctors</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Royal Flying Doctors meant (and means) that injured Bruce's and Sheilas who are stranded in the outback thousands of miles from a hospital can get transported from their remote location to a hospital <em>and</em> recieve medical treatment en-route. That requires thinking on a big scale, and being technically minded enough to utilise the highest-technology medical equipment available. And that's what Dr John Flynn did: he used the latest technology (airplanes, radio communication and more) to make his Flying Doctors concept a reality.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[End.]</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-32483582502122358382016-08-26T15:10:00.000+01:002016-08-26T15:10:02.557+01:00Men of Yore: Frederick Burnham<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMam6vI1ophLWrSv87kCHsonwZMWu32glCQzZ5wlIbmA5O-W45OLnerVLcwGagXHRJPnbUuSw4qZ0pOuN5qo3mZJM86oOJycmZ5r6_h9i8U8329oNdoHfMOFZvn9hyphenhyphenlqSPH-wqC66XwME/s1600/Burnham_skagway_alaska_1899.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMam6vI1ophLWrSv87kCHsonwZMWu32glCQzZ5wlIbmA5O-W45OLnerVLcwGagXHRJPnbUuSw4qZ0pOuN5qo3mZJM86oOJycmZ5r6_h9i8U8329oNdoHfMOFZvn9hyphenhyphenlqSPH-wqC66XwME/s320/Burnham_skagway_alaska_1899.jpg" width="262" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frederick Burnham (aged 20) (<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Burnham_skagway_alaska_1899.jpg" target="_blank">Source</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<blockquote>
<br />
<b>Frederick Russell Burnham</b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distinguished_Service_Order" title="Distinguished Service Order">DSO</a> (May 11, 1861 – September 1, 1947) was an American <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontiersman" title="Frontiersman">scout</a> and world-traveling adventurer. He is known for his service to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_South_Africa_Company" title="British South Africa Company">British South Africa Company</a> and to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Army" title="British Army">British Army</a> in <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_Africa" title="Colonial Africa">colonial Africa</a>, and for teaching <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoutcraft" title="Scoutcraft">woodcraft</a> to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Baden-Powell,_1st_Baron_Baden-Powell" title="Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell">Robert Baden-Powell</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodesia_(region)" title="Rhodesia (region)">Rhodesia</a>. He helped inspire the founding of the international <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scouting" title="Scouting">Scouting Movement</a>. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Burnham was born on a <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakota_Sioux" title="Lakota Sioux">Lakota Sioux</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_reservation" title="Indian reservation">Indian reservation</a> in Minnesota where he learned the ways of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States" title="Native Americans in the United States">American Indians</a> as a boy. By the age of 14, he was supporting himself in California, while also learning scouting from some of the last of the cowboys and frontiersmen of the <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Southwest" title="American Southwest">American Southwest</a>. Burnham had little formal education, never finishing high school. After moving to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Territory" title="Arizona Territory">Arizona Territory</a> in the early 1880s, he was drawn into the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleasant_Valley_War" title="Pleasant Valley War">Pleasant Valley War</a>, a feud between families of ranchers and sheepherders. He escaped and later worked as a civilian tracker for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army" title="United States Army">United States Army</a> in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_Wars" title="Apache Wars">Apache Wars</a>. Feeling the need for new adventures, Burnham took his family to southern Africa in 1893, seeing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Rhodes" title="Cecil Rhodes">Cecil Rhodes</a>'s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_to_Cairo_Railway" title="Cape to Cairo Railway">Cape to Cairo Railway</a> project as the next undeveloped frontier. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Burnham distinguished himself in several battles in Rhodesia and South Africa and became Chief of Scouts. Despite his U.S. citizenship, his military title was British and his rank of major was formally given to him by King <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VII" title="Edward VII">Edward VII</a>. In special recognition of Burnham's heroism, the King invested him into the Companions of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distinguished_Service_Order" title="Distinguished Service Order">Distinguished Service Order</a>, giving Burnham the highest military honors earned by any American in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War" title="Second Boer War">Second Boer War</a>. He had become friends with Baden-Powell during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Matabele_War" title="Second Matabele War">Second Matabele War</a> in Rhodesia, teaching him outdoor skills and inspiring what would later become known as Scouting. Burnham returned to the United States, where he became involved in national defense efforts, business, oil, conservation, and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_Scouts_of_America" title="Boy Scouts of America">Boy Scouts of America</a> (BSA). </blockquote>
<blockquote>
During World War I, Burnham was selected as an officer and recruited volunteers for a U.S. Army division similar to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rough_Riders" title="Rough Riders">Rough Riders</a>, which <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt" title="Theodore Roosevelt">Theodore Roosevelt</a> intended to lead into France. For political reasons, the unit was disbanded without seeing action. After the war, Burnham and his business partner <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hays_Hammond" title="John Hays Hammond">John Hays Hammond</a> formed the Burnham Exploration Company; they became wealthy from oil discovered in California. Burnham joined several new wilderness conservation organizations, including the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Department_of_Parks_and_Recreation" title="California Department of Parks and Recreation">California State Parks Commission</a>. In the 1930s, he worked with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_Scouts_of_America" title="Boy Scouts of America">BSA</a> to save the <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_horn_sheep" title="Big horn sheep">big horn sheep</a> from extinction. This effort led to the creation of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kofa_National_Wildlife_Refuge" title="Kofa National Wildlife Refuge">Kofa</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabeza_Prieta_National_Wildlife_Refuge" title="Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge">Cabeza Prieta</a> National Wildlife Refuges in Arizona. He earned the BSA's highest honor, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Buffalo_Award" title="Silver Buffalo Award">Silver Buffalo Award</a>, in 1936, and remained active in the organization at both the regional and national level until his death in 1947. To symbolise the friendship between Burnham and Baden-Powell, the mountain beside <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Baden-Powell" title="Mount Baden-Powell">Mount Baden-Powell</a> in California was formally named <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Burnham" title="Mount Burnham">Mount Burnham</a> in 1951.<br />
<br />
(Source: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Russell_Burnham">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Russell_Burnham</a>)</blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Frederick Burnham may not have contributed to humanity in any great way: he didn't make any scientific discoveries, better the lives of the working classes (besides founding the American Boy Scouts), explore any uncharted lands, or indeed chart lands. But he was on the fore-front of the European frontier as it was expanding in the 19th century, which makes him one of the pioneers of the age.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reading through his life is a testament to the type of life he lived: exciting! You can't call his life dull, that's for sure. And that's what life is about when it comes to the frontier, excitement, the great un-known. "What are you going to do tomorrow?" Someone asks. "I've no idea!" you reply with enthusiaism. That's what it's about. Freedom, liberty, doing your own Will. And that's why Fred is on the Men of Yore list, for being a man of the frontier.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">P.S. If you're interested in a fuller and longer account of his life </span><a href="https://www.geni.com/people/Major-Frederick-Russell-Fred-Burnham-The-King-of-Scouts/6000000012839610404" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">THIS</span></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> webpage is an agreeable alternative to </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Russell_Burnham" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">his Wikipedia entry</span></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[End.]</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-7617559101239147082016-08-05T20:24:00.003+01:002016-08-05T20:24:56.167+01:00Men of Yore: Stephen Harding<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity.</span><br />
<br /><br />
<blockquote>
Stephen Harding, O.Cist. (French: Étienne Harding, died 28 March 1134), was an English-born monk and abbot, who was one of the founders of the Cistercian Order in what is now France. He is honoured as a saint in the Catholic Church.<br />
<br />
<strong>Life</strong><br />
Harding was born in Sherborne, Dorset, in the Kingdom of England, and spoke English, Norman, French and Latin.[1] He was placed in Sherborne Abbey at a young age, but eventually left the monastery and became a travelling scholar, journeying with one devout companion, into Scotland and afterwards to Paris and then to Rome.[2] He eventually moved to Molesme Abbey in Burgundy, under the Abbot Robert of Molesme (c. 1027-1111).<br />
<br />
When Robert left Molesme to avoid its corruption and laxity, Harding and Alberic of Cîteaux went with him; but upon the complaint of the monks, they were called back again — Robert, by an order of the pope, the other two by the local bishop. The young Harding was then made superior. Seeing no hope of a sufficient reformation, Robert appointed another abbot at Molesme; then, with Alberic, Harding and twenty-one other monks, received permission from Hugh, Archbishop of Lyons, and legate of the Holy See, to retire to Citeaux, a marshy wilderness five leagues from Dijon where they formed a new, more austere, monastery.[2] Eudes, afterwards Duke of Burgundy, built them a little church, which was placed under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin, as all the churches of the Cisterians from that time have been.<br />
<br />
Robert was initially abbot of Cîteaux Abbey, returning to Molesme after a year. Alberic then took over, serving as abbot until his death in 1109.[2] Stephen, the youngest of the three, became the third abbot of Cîteaux. However, very few were joining the community and the monks were suffering from hunger and sickness. It seemed for a while as if the new order was destined to die out.[3] In 1112,Bernard of Clairvaux entered the community, bringing with him thirty companions.[4] Between 1112 and 1119, a dozen new Cistercian houses were founded to accommodate those joining the young order. Harding's powers as an organiser were exceptional, he instituted the system of general chapters and regular visitations. In 1119, he wrote the "Carta Caritatis" (Charter of Charity), an important document for the Cistercian Order, establishing its unifying principles.[4]<br />
<br />
Stephen Harding served Cîteaux Abbey as its abbot for twenty-five years. While no single person is considered the founder of the Cistercian Order, the shape of Cistercian thought, and its rapid growth in the 12th century, was arguably due to the leadership of Harding. Insisting on simplicity in all aspects of monastic life, he was largely responsible for the severity of Cistercian architecture.[5] In 1133, he resigned as head of the order, because of age and infirmity.[4] He died on 28 March 1134,[6] and was buried in the tomb of Alberic, his predecessor, in the cloister of Cîteaux.[5]<br />
<br />
In a joint commemoration with Robert of Molesme and Alberic, the first two abbots of Cîteaux, Stephen Harding's feast day is celebrated by the Cistercian Order, on 26 January.<br />
<br />
(Source: <span style="color: #006621;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Harding">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/<b>Stephen</b>_<b>Harding</b></a>)</span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's often said that 'women are a civilising force on men'. Are they heck. Monasteries are proof that men don't need the influence of 'a good women' in order to become civilised and create great works. Some great achievements have come out of monasteries over the past millenia: architecture, agricultural technology, the written word, medical care and so on. Monasteries from the East and monasteries from the West prove to us that men like can live together and peaceful and fruitful lives, and that they don't need a woman to 'civilise' them.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the west one of the more remarkable monastic orders are the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cistercians" target="_blank">Cistercians</a>. They contributed greatly to the development of agriculture. So much did they contribute to the advancement of agriculture that <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1397905/Henry-stamped-out-Industrial-Revolution.html" target="_blank">some historians have speculated that if it wasn't for the protestant revolution and the dissolution of the monasteries in England, that the Industrial Revolution may have occured a few hundred years sooner</a>. Which means for thee and me we could be taking vacations on Mars ourselves rather than watching sci-fi movies about Mars instead. Shame really, I rather fancy having a trundle around the base of Mount Olympus and having a butchers in the souvineer shop..</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">[End.]</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-53573473892885993342016-08-01T20:47:00.000+01:002016-08-01T20:47:00.183+01:00Alternative Lyrics to Well Known Songs 44 - Hilly Hilly<em><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">('Hilly Hilly' is based on 'Jimmy Jimmy' by 'The Undertones')</span></em><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anyone seen the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOTb4GotVuc" target="_blank">vid of Hilly Clinton lying for 14 minutes straight</a>. Crikey moses! 14 minutes! And people think she's a suitable candidate for president?! Well, maybe, if you think that sociopathy is a good qualification for presidency. Trump may have his faults, but I'm not aware that he's ever lied on such a scale as Hilly.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That said, it isn't my country, so I don't really have any right to say that people should vote for one candidate </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">over the other.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Enough rambling about the political carnival, on with the real carnival. Maestro, cue the music!</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NiK-eGbwCj0/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NiK-eGbwCj0?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Play the music video above and sing along using the alternative lyrics below.</div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><em># Hilly Hilly #</em><br />Little Billy's wife,<br />she wasn't very bright.<br />Lying all the time,<br />Every day and night.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hilly Hilly.<br />Hilly Hilly. (Ohhh)<br />Hilly Hilly. <br />Poor old Hilly look at her nose!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"I remember landing there..<br />..under sniper fire."<br />She claimed in Bosnia,<br />It turns out she's a liar.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hilly Hilly.<br />Hilly Hilly. (Ohhh)<br />Hilly Hilly.<br />Poor old Hilly look at her nose!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hilly Hilly.<br />Hilly Hilly. (Ohhh)<br />Hilly Hilly.<br />Poor old Hilly look at her nose!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">She was the Sec. of State,<br />and sent an unsafe 'mail.<br />Then lied to the FBI.<br />It's enough to make you pale.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hilly Hilly.<br />Hilly Hilly. (Ohhh)<br />Hilly Hilly.<br />Poor old Hilly look at her nose!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hilly Hilly.<br />Hilly Hilly. (Ohhh)<br />Hilly Hilly.<br />Poor old Hilly look at her nose!<br />(Poor old Hilly look at her nose!)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hilly Hilly.<br />Hilly Hilly. (Ohhh)<br />Hilly Hilly.<br />Poor old Hilly look at her nose!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[End of lyrics.]</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-3396592564672222592016-07-29T20:31:00.002+01:002016-07-29T20:31:43.443+01:00Men of Yore: Hippolyte Mege-Mouries<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'helvetica neue' , 'arial' , 'helvetica' , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: 'arial';"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity.</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'helvetica neue' , 'arial' , 'helvetica' , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: 'arial';"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Megemouries.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" closure_lm_8673="null" height="320" kwa="true" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Megemouries.jpg" width="230" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hippolyte Mege-Mouries (<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Megemouries.jpg" target="_blank">Source</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draguignan" title="Draguignan">Draguignan</a> 24 October 1817 – <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris" title="Paris">Paris</a> 31 May 1880) was a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France" title="France">French</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemist" title="Chemist">chemist</a> and the inventor of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine" title="Margarine">margarine</a>.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
He was born as Hippolyte Mège, the son of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_school" title="Primary school">primary school</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teacher" title="Teacher">teacher</a>, but later added his mother's surname to his own. In 1838, Mège obtained a job in the central <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacy" title="Pharmacy">pharmacy</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%B4tel-Dieu_de_Paris" title="Hôtel-Dieu de Paris">Hôtel-Dieu hospital</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris" title="Paris">Paris</a> and started to publish original contributions in applied chemistry.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Mège focussed on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat" title="Fat">fat</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_processing" title="Food processing">processing</a> in the 1860s, which culminated in 1869 in a patent for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine" title="Margarine">margarine</a>. His invention involved mixing processed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef" title="Beef">beef</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallow" title="Tallow">tallow</a> with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skimmed_milk" title="Skimmed milk">skimmed milk</a>, and resulted in a cheap but qualitatively good substitute for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter" title="Butter">butter</a> 'for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_class" title="Working class">working class</a> and incidentally the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navy" title="Navy">Navy</a>'. Mège received a prize from the <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_of_France" title="Cabinet of France">French government</a>, formally led by <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III_of_France" title="Napoleon III of France">Emperor Louis Napoleon III</a>. In 1871, Mège sold his invention to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands" title="Netherlands">Dutch</a> firm <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonius_Johannes_Jurgens" title="Antonius Johannes Jurgens">Jurgens</a>, one of the pillars of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unilever" title="Unilever">Unilever</a>.<span></span><br />
</blockquote>
</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">(Source: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippolyte_M%C3%A8ge-Mouri%C3%A8s">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippolyte_M%C3%A8ge-Mouri%C3%A8s</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Okay, a quick survey of hands. Hands up if you use margarine?<br />[Performs a quick count] Lots of you then.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Keep your hand up if you've heard of Hipployte Mege-Mouries?<br />[Has a butchers] Not so many that time around.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bonus question: Hands up if you even knew that Hippolyte was a name?!<br />[Has another look]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh.. more of you than I thought.. [embarrassed shuffle] It must just be me then who's never heard the name before. </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ahem..</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, now you know the name of the man who invented margarine, even if you don't know anything about him, other than </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a handful of basic facts: <br />- he was French, <br />- he lived in the 1800s, <br />- and he had a moustache..</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh well, I suppose a name's better than nothing. I suppose it gives you some kind of connection to the fact that </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">margarine was invented, magicked out of thin air, created ex-nihlo as they say, by a man; and so it ceases to be </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">just an impersonal 'thing'. It's become an object connected to humanity in it's own little way.</span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P.S. Even the French wikipedia entry wasn't any more extensive. 'Slim pickings' this week (Is that the name of a </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">cowboy from the John Wayne era, or am I losing it?)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[End.]</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-32208735258549718922016-06-19T13:28:00.000+01:002016-06-19T13:28:36.693+01:00Men of Yore: Robert Bakewell<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO1pBUFVVmlBhJ_2i9H7ec_3uVJsr_hfrCa6Jt1N5W5ZVZVwMFOEd1sfWcJkRY199l_1NdnWPSus4P6DbeDJX52v191Eh8Hv6IFEqT9NesNpKwycD6aQzZbtIn3VN36Pp6EkSPYaLF5pg/s1600/Robert_Bakewell%252C_Britannica.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO1pBUFVVmlBhJ_2i9H7ec_3uVJsr_hfrCa6Jt1N5W5ZVZVwMFOEd1sfWcJkRY199l_1NdnWPSus4P6DbeDJX52v191Eh8Hv6IFEqT9NesNpKwycD6aQzZbtIn3VN36Pp6EkSPYaLF5pg/s320/Robert_Bakewell%252C_Britannica.jpg" width="223" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Robert Bakewell (</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bakewell_(agriculturalist)#/media/File:Robert_Bakewell,_Britannica.jpg" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Source</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b><span class="srTitle">Robert Bakewell</span></b><b>, </b> (born 1725, Dishley, </span><a class="md-crosslink" href="http://www.britannica.com/place/Leicestershire"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/335365/Leicestershire" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Leicestershire</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">, </span><a class="md-crosslink" href="http://www.britannica.com/place/England"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/700965/England" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">England</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">—died October 1, 1795, Dishley) agriculturist who revolutionized </span><a class="md-crosslink" href="http://www.britannica.com/animal/sheep"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/539405/sheep" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">sheep</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> and </span><a class="md-crosslink" href="http://www.britannica.com/animal/cattle-livestock"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/100077/cattle" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">cattle</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="ref1183843" name="ref1183843"></a><a class="md-crosslink" href="http://www.britannica.com/science/breeding"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/78699/breeding" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">breeding</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> in England by methodical selection, </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="ref1183844" name="ref1183844"></a><a class="md-crosslink" href="http://www.britannica.com/science/inbreeding"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/284509/inbreeding" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">inbreeding</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">, and culling. Bakewell made his farm famous as a model of scientific management, and many of his methods are still commonly practiced today.<br />
<br />
<!--[MEDIA-STRIP]--><!--[END-1ST-PARA]-->As a young man, Bakewell traveled throughout England and </span><a class="md-crosslink" href="http://www.britannica.com/place/Europe"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/195686/Europe" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Europe</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> to learn agricultural techniques and then returned to his father’s 178-hectare (440-acre) farm at Dishley to serve as his apprentice. Upon his father’s death in 1760, he inherited the family farm and began to innovate </span><a class="md-crosslink" href="http://www.britannica.com/science/breeding"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/78699/breeding" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">breeding</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> techniques. Unlike his contemporaries, he separated his male and female </span><a class="md-crosslink" href="http://www.britannica.com/topic/livestock"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/344757/livestock" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">livestock</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> to prevent random breeding. He developed an “in-and-in” method in which desirable traits were exaggerated by inbreeding and individuals with undesireable traits were culled (removed) from the breeding populations. He also pioneered the large-scale use of letting animals for stud.<br />
<br />
Bakewell was one of the first farmers to breed both </span><a class="md-crosslink" href="http://www.britannica.com/animal/sheep"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/539405/sheep" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">sheep</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> and </span><a class="md-crosslink" href="http://www.britannica.com/animal/cattle-livestock"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/100077/cattle" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">cattle</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> for meat instead of primarily for </span><a class="md-crosslink" href="http://www.britannica.com/topic/wool"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/647753/wool" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">wool </span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">or work. He developed the </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="ref21211" name="ref21211"></a><a class="md-crosslink" href="http://www.britannica.com/animal/Leicestershire-longhorn-cattle"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/335366/Leicestershire-longhorn-cattle" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Leicestershire longhorn cattle</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">, which were good meat producers but poor suppliers of milk and were later supplanted by the shorthorns bred by his apprentice Charles Colling. Bakewell also developed the </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="ref21212" name="ref21212"></a><a class="md-crosslink" href="http://www.britannica.com/animal/Leicester-breed-of-sheep"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/335343/Leicester" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Leicester</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> sheep, a barrel-shaped </span><a class="md-crosslink" href="http://www.britannica.com/topic/animal"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/25501/animal" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">animal</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> that produced long coarse wool and also provided a good yield of high-quality fatty meat, though these sheep eventually lost their popularity because of changes in taste in meat.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">
<br />
Source: </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_husbandry"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_husbandry</span></a></span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just as certain plant species have been domesticated by humans to such an extent that people will think of wheat as more of a 'food grown on a farm' than 'a plant' (like dandelion or stinging nettles), so have certain animals have also been domesticated to such an extent that they are seen as 'food raised on a farm' rather than 'an animal' (like a bear or fox). This process of transforming a wild animal to a domestic one takes years and years of perseverance and selective breeding, and like everything else in civilization, someone had to get the ball rolling. And when it comes to animal husbandry (the management of domesticated animals), one of those men was Robert Bakewell.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">He brought the scientific approach to animal husbandry which allowed farmers to produce more from their cattle (be it wool, milk, or meat), which means both more profits for the farmer and cheaper food for you and me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Without that development we, living 250 years later, wouldn't have productive and high yield farms and would obviously be worse off because of it. So next time your tucking into your bowl of milk and cornflakes, raise your spoon to Robert Bakewell and his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agronomy" target="_blank">agronomical</a> endeavours.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[End.]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-7093740326014895602016-05-28T15:18:00.003+01:002016-05-28T15:18:47.725+01:00Men of Yore: Guillaume-Henri Dufour<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity.</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1dq89racjx-hQC8uG0rOtuz7uK9xEXFiI5qkvXoB6xsE9xr_sfMlq5FYwGrkOlzJazsAWAoZOGc9qBZJPua-ayrFGaj0y4_6yeYkC9J1f3oNnSWpTxMxX9P5dJ2_qyjJJOpOSoXLrS0E/s1600/24433-004-986301F2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1dq89racjx-hQC8uG0rOtuz7uK9xEXFiI5qkvXoB6xsE9xr_sfMlq5FYwGrkOlzJazsAWAoZOGc9qBZJPua-ayrFGaj0y4_6yeYkC9J1f3oNnSWpTxMxX9P5dJ2_qyjJJOpOSoXLrS0E/s1600/24433-004-986301F2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Guillaume-Henri Dufour (<a href="http://www.britannica.com/biography/Guillaume-Henri-Dufour" target="_blank">Source</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<blockquote>
<br />
<b>Guillaume-Henri Dufour</b> (15 September 1787, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstanz" title="Konstanz">Konstanz</a><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Peters_1-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume-Henri_Dufour#cite_note-Peters-1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[1]</span></a></sup> – 14 July 1875, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva" title="Geneva">Geneva</a>) was a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland" title="Switzerland">Swiss</a> army officer, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge" title="Bridge">bridge</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineer" title="Engineer">engineer</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topography" title="Topography">topographer</a>. He served under <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_I" title="Napoleon I">Napoleon I</a> and held the office of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_(Switzerland)" title="General (Switzerland)">General</a> to lead the Swiss forces to victory against the <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonderbund" title="Sonderbund">Sonderbund</a>. He presided over the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Geneva_Convention" title="First Geneva Convention">First Geneva Convention</a> which established the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Red_Cross_and_Red_Crescent_Movement" title="International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement">International Red Cross</a>. He was founder and president of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swisstopo" title="Swisstopo">Swiss Federal Office of Topography</a> from 1838 to 1865.<br />
The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dufourspitze" title="Dufourspitze">Dufourspitze</a> (the highest <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain" title="Mountain">mountain</a> in Switzerland) in the <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Rosa_Massif" title="Monte Rosa Massif">Monte Rosa Massif</a> is named after him.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="toc" id="toc">
<span class="mw-headline" id="Career" style="font-size: large;"><strong>Career</strong></span></div>
Dufour was born in Konstanz, where his parents were temporarily exiled from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva" title="Geneva">Geneva</a>. His father Bénédict was a Genevan watchmaker and farmer, who sent his son to school in Geneva, where he studied drawing and medicine. In 1807, Dufour travelled to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris" title="Paris">Paris</a> to join the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique" title="École Polytechnique">École Polytechnique</a>, then a military academy. He studied descriptive geometry under <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Nicolas_Pierre_Hachette" title="Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette">Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette</a>, and graduated fifth in his class in 1809, going on to study military engineering at the École d'Application.<br />
<br />
In 1810, he was sent to help defend <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corfu" title="Corfu">Corfu</a> against the British, and spent his time mapping the island's old fortifications.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Peters_1-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume-Henri_Dufour#cite_note-Peters-1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[1]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume-Henri_Dufour#cite_note-2"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[2]</span></a></sup><br />
<br />
By 1814, he had returned to France, and was awarded the Croix de la <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9gion_d%27Honneur" title="Légion d'Honneur">Légion d'Honneur</a> for his work repairing fortifications at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyon" title="Lyon">Lyons</a>. In 1817, he returned to Geneva to become commander of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canton_of_Geneva" title="Canton of Geneva">Canton of Geneva</a>'s military engineers, as well as a professor of mathematics at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Geneva" title="University of Geneva">University of Geneva</a>. His duties included preparing a map of the Canton.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Peters_1-2"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume-Henri_Dufour#cite_note-Peters-1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[1]</span></a></sup><br />
<br />
Dufour remained a General in the army. Among the officers serving under him was <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III_of_France" title="Napoleon III of France">Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte</a>, nephew of the former <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_I_of_France" title="Napoleon I of France">Emperor</a>.<br />
<br />
In 1847 the Catholic cantons of Switzerland attempted to form a separate alliance of their own, known as the <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonderbund" title="Sonderbund">Sonderbund</a>, effectively splitting from the rest of the country. Dufour led the federal army of 100,000 and defeated the Sonderbund under <a class="new" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Johann-Ulrich_von_Salis-Soglio&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Johann-Ulrich von Salis-Soglio (page does not exist)">Johann-Ulrich von Salis-Soglio</a> in a campaign that lasted only from November 3 to November 29, and claimed fewer than a hundred victims. He ordered his troops to spare the injured.<br />
<br />
In 1850 the mountaineer and topographer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Coaz" title="Johann Coaz">Johann Coaz</a> served as his private secretary.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-kev_3-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume-Henri_Dufour#cite_note-kev-3"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[3]</span></a></sup><br />
<br />
In 1863 he was part of a committee which, under <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Dunant" title="Henry Dunant">Henry Dunant</a> led to the foundation of the <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Red_Cross" title="International Red Cross">International Red Cross</a>.<br />
<br />
On 16 July 1875, 60,000 persons participated at Dufour's burial at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cimeti%C3%A8re_des_Rois" title="Cimetière des Rois">Cimetière de Plainpalais</a> in Geneva.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="mw-headline" id="Saint_Antoine_Bridge" style="font-size: large;"><strong>Saint Antoine Bridge</strong></span><br />
<div class="thumb tright">
<div class="thumbinner" style="width: 302px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a class="image" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saint-Antoine_Bridge.png"><img alt="" class="thumbimage" data-file-height="156" data-file-width="672" height="70" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b8/Saint-Antoine_Bridge.png/300px-Saint-Antoine_Bridge.png" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b8/Saint-Antoine_Bridge.png/450px-Saint-Antoine_Bridge.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b8/Saint-Antoine_Bridge.png/600px-Saint-Antoine_Bridge.png 2x" width="300" /></a> </div>
<div class="magnify">
<a class="internal" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saint-Antoine_Bridge.png" title="Enlarge"></a><br /></div>
<div class="thumbcaption">
Saint Antoine Bridge as pictured by Drewry, 1832</div>
</div>
</div>
<br />
Dufour acted as state engineer from 1817, although he was not officially appointed as such until 1828. His work included rebuilding a pumping station, quays and bridges, and he arranged the first steam boat on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Geneva" title="Lake Geneva">Lake Geneva</a> as well as the introduction of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_lighting" title="Gas lighting">gas</a> streetlights.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Peters_1-3"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume-Henri_Dufour#cite_note-Peters-1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[1]</span></a></sup><br />
<br />
The scientist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc-Auguste_Pictet" title="Marc-Auguste Pictet">Marc-Auguste Pictet</a> had visited <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Seguin" title="Marc Seguin">Marc Seguin</a>'s temporary wire-cable <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_suspension_bridge" title="Simple suspension bridge">simple suspension bridge</a> at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annonay" title="Annonay">Annonay</a> in 1822, the first wire-cable bridge in the world, and published details in Switzerland. He joined with others to promote a new bridge across the Genevan fortifications, consulting with Seguin on how it might be built, receiving back a series of sketches. Dufour developed the design in late 1822, proposing a two-span suspension bridge using wire cables - this would become the first permanent wire cable suspension bridge in the world. The design used three cables on each side of an iron and timber bridge deck.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Peters_1-4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume-Henri_Dufour#cite_note-Peters-1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[1]</span></a></sup> The cables stretched 131 feet between the towers, although the largest span was only 109 feet<br />
<br />
(Source: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume-Henri_Dufour">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume-Henri_Dufour</a>)</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Civil wars can be highly destructive events for a nation: for
the people, for the infrastructure, for the society as a whole.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just look what happened to the USA in the 1860s:
the number of men who were killed or maimed, the destruction to property, and
the forced ‘reconstruction’ of the Southern States after the war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s an example why civil wars should be avoided
at all costs.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Guillaume-Henri Dufour was in an un-enviable position of leading the army during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonderbund_War" target="_blank">Sonderbund</a>, Switzerlands civil war. He could have played 'hard ball' and sought out to destroy those who opposed him, but he didn't. He managed to end the civil war with only a dozen or so casualties, and he also ensured that enemy soldiers were treated well. That takes a level and compassionate head. If there were more men like Dufour in positions of power when a civil war kicked off, on both sides, then in short the world would be a better place.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">[End.]</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-53861459562393239892016-05-20T13:26:00.000+01:002016-05-25T11:47:09.479+01:00Men of Yore: Sir Robert Peel<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqqBOdHKxCIsTphzyaz4T9x4UAWLnCcyFK0dxXDg-ZNMlCRZVaEuErmLD2Xbz2WfdaLPonid_ezJjf4r7zKUVRr-ZAnYJ4Lkm9sXGW78opKnheqL7U2jJm1M3lGHLNh1spzmZDXxEZZrw/s1600/Sir_Robert_Peel%252C_1st_Bt_cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqqBOdHKxCIsTphzyaz4T9x4UAWLnCcyFK0dxXDg-ZNMlCRZVaEuErmLD2Xbz2WfdaLPonid_ezJjf4r7zKUVRr-ZAnYJ4Lkm9sXGW78opKnheqL7U2jJm1M3lGHLNh1spzmZDXxEZZrw/s320/Sir_Robert_Peel%252C_1st_Bt_cropped.jpg" width="252" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sir Robert Peel (<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Sir_Robert_Peel%2C_1st_Bt_cropped.jpg" target="_blank">Source</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial";"></span><br />
<blockquote>
<b>Sir Robert Peel, 1st Baronet</b> (25 April 1750 – 3 May 1830), was a British politician and industrialist and one of early textile manufacturers of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution" title="Industrial Revolution">Industrial Revolution</a>. He was the father of <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Peel,_2nd_Baronet" title="Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet">Sir Robert Peel</a>, twice <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_the_United_Kingdom" title="Prime Minister of the United Kingdom">Prime Minister of the United Kingdom</a>. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span class="mw-headline" id="Background" style="font-size: large;"><strong>Background</strong></span><br />
Peel's father <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsley_Peel" title="Parsley Peel">Robert Peel</a> and grandfather William Peele were yeoman farmers who were also engaged in the infant textile industry, then organised on the basis of the <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_system" title="Domestic system">domestic system</a> (most of the work being undertaken in the home). </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<br />
<span class="mw-headline" id="Business_career" style="font-size: large;"><strong>Business Career</strong></span><br />
Like many others, Peel joined partnerships to raise the capital required to set up <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_mill" title="Cotton mill">spinning mills</a>. These were water powered (usually using the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_frame" title="Water frame">water frame</a> invented by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Arkwright" title="Richard Arkwright">Richard Arkwright</a>), and thus located by rivers and streams in country districts. Thus Peel and Yates set up a mill and housing for their workers at <a class="new" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Burrs&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Burrs (page does not exist)">Burrs</a> near <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bury" title="Bury">Bury</a>. As elsewhere, the shortage of labour in the rural districts was mitigated by employing pauper children as 'apprentices', imported from any locality that wanted them off their hands. They were housed in a kind of hostel. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Peel became quite rich, and lived at <a class="new" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chamber_Hall&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Chamber Hall (page does not exist)">Chamber Hall</a> in Bury, where his more famous son was born. Peel was listed as a subscriber to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Bolton_%26_Bury_Canal" title="Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal">Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal</a> navigation in 1791.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Peel,_1st_Baronet#cite_note-1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[1]</span></a></sup> He also built the first factory in nearby <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radcliffe,_Greater_Manchester" title="Radcliffe, Greater Manchester">Radcliffe</a>. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span class="mw-headline" id="Political_career" style="font-size: large;"><strong>Political Career</strong></span><br />
In politics, Peel was a 'Church and King' <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tory" title="Tory">Tory</a> and a staunch supporter of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Pitt_the_Younger" title="William Pitt the Younger">William Pitt the Younger</a>. This was unusual, as many of the Lancashire mill owners were nonconformist and radical in their outlook. In 1790 he was elected Member of Parliament for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamworth_(UK_Parliament_constituency)" title="Tamworth (UK Parliament constituency)">Tamworth</a>, having bought the borough along with Lord Bath's estate in the area, and carried these principles into political life. He made Drayton Manor in Staffordshire his principal residence and started to adopt the lifestyle of a country gentleman. In 1800 he was created a <b>Baronet</b>, of Drayton Manor in the County of Stafford and of Bury in the County Palatine of Lancaster.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Peel,_1st_Baronet#cite_note-2"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[2]</span></a></sup> Concerned at the working conditions for children in the cotton industry, and even more concerned that some of his mills had been run by their 'overseers' (managers) contrary to his own paternalistic intentions, in 1802, he introduced the <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_and_Morals_of_Apprentices_Act" title="Health and Morals of Apprentices Act">Health and Morals of Apprentices Act</a>, legislation that tried to limit the number of hours that apprentice children worked in the mills, and obliged the mill owners to provide some form of schooling. In 1815, at the urging of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Owen" title="Robert Owen">Robert Owen</a>, he introduced a Bill introducing stricter limits on the hours childen (whether or not apprentices) could work in textile mills; in 1819 this was passed (heavily amended, and applying only to the cotton industry) as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_Mills_and_Factories_Act_1819" title="Cotton Mills and Factories Act 1819">Cotton Mills and Factories Act</a>. In 1817, he retired from business, the various partnerships which had operated his mills being dissolved.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-3"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Peel,_1st_Baronet#cite_note-3"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[3]</span></a></sup> In the 1818 General Election, Peel and his son William had been the two MPs returned by Tamworth in a contested election ; in 1820 Peel left Parliament (restoring the traditional arrangement at Tamworth of returning un-contested one MP of the proprietor's choosing and one representing other local interests). </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<br />
<span class="mw-headline" id="Family" style="font-size: large;"><strong>Family</strong></span><br />
Peel married as his first wife Ellen Yates (the daughter of his partner) on 8 July 1783. They had eleven children, including:<br />
<ul>
<li><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Peel,_2nd_Baronet" title="Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet">Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_the_United_Kingdom" title="Prime Minister of the United Kingdom">Prime Minister of the United Kingdom</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Yates_Peel" title="William Yates Peel">William Yates Peel</a>, MP and politician.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Peel,_1st_Baronet#cite_note-5"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[5]</span></a></sup></li>
<li><a class="new" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edmund_Peel&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Edmund Peel (page does not exist)">Edmund Peel</a>, MP and politician<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Peel,_1st_Baronet#cite_note-6"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[6]</span></a></sup></li>
<li>General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Peel" title="Jonathan Peel">Jonathan Peel</a>, soldier, politician and owner of racehorses (including 'Orlando' , the winner of the 'Running Rein' Derby of 1844)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Peel,_1st_Baronet#cite_note-7"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[7]</span></a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Peel" title="Laurence Peel">Laurence Peel</a> (b. 1801), MP and politician, who married Lady Jane Lennox, daughter of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lennox,_4th_Duke_of_Richmond" title="Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond">Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond</a>; described by one historian as "the youngest and least talented, but perhaps the most personally attractive of the Peel brothers."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-8"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Peel,_1st_Baronet#cite_note-8"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[8]</span></a></sup></li>
<li>Harriet Peel, who married the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Henley,_2nd_Baron_Henley" title="Robert Henley, 2nd Baron Henley">2nd Baron Henley</a>.</li>
<li>Mary Peel who married Rt Hon George Robert Dawson and was mother to <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Moyola" title="Lord Moyola">Lord Moyola</a>'s mother's father's mother.</li>
</ul>
Peel had high hopes for his children, especially his eldest son, Robert,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHurd20077_9-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Peel,_1st_Baronet#cite_note-FOOTNOTEHurd20077-9"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[9]</span></a></sup> who he would make repeat the substance of each Sunday's sermon after mass.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHurd20078_10-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Peel,_1st_Baronet#cite_note-FOOTNOTEHurd20078-10"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[10]</span></a></sup> Peel accepted that he would not mingle with high society, but intended to prepare his son to be able to.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHurd20078_10-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Peel,_1st_Baronet#cite_note-FOOTNOTEHurd20078-10"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[10]</span></a></sup><br />
<br />
After the death of his first wife, Peel married Susanna Clerke (sister of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_William_Clerke,_8th_Baronet" title="Sir William Clerke, 8th Baronet">Sir William Clerke</a>) on 18 October 1805. The marriage was unsuccessful and the couple eventually separated, with Susanna moving to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warwickshire" title="Warwickshire">Warwickshire</a>. She died on 10 September 1824. Sir Robert was at the time unwell and his children represented him at the funeral.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Peel,_1st_Baronet#cite_note-11"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[11]</span></a></sup> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<br />
<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Death</span></strong><br />
In April 1830, Sir Robert was growing frail, though he still played whist until he was too weak to deal.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHurd2007138_4-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Peel,_1st_Baronet#cite_note-FOOTNOTEHurd2007138-4"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[4]</span></a></sup> He was too proud to allow his nephew to deal for him, so stopped playing.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHurd2007138_4-2"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Peel,_1st_Baronet#cite_note-FOOTNOTEHurd2007138-4"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[4]</span></a></sup> Peel died in his armchair, peacefully and without anyone noticing until hours later.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHurd2007138_4-3"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Peel,_1st_Baronet#cite_note-FOOTNOTEHurd2007138-4"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[4]</span></a></sup> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
When writing the biography of his son Robert, Douglas Hurd stated that Peel had "a good life, well sustained by family pleasures, worldly success, orthodox Christian faith and a strong practical mind"<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHurd2007139_12-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Peel,_1st_Baronet#cite_note-FOOTNOTEHurd2007139-12"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[12]</span></a></sup> His funeral was attended by the entire "corporation of Tamworth" and sixty tenants on horseback.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHurd2007138_4-4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Peel,_1st_Baronet#cite_note-FOOTNOTEHurd2007138-4"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[4]</span></a></sup> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
In his will, an equal amount to each of his sons, except Robert, to whom he left all his lands and four times the assets left to the other sons. Peel had given Robert £230,000 during his lifetime, plus £100,000 on the event of his marriage and willed him a further £154,000.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHurd2007198_13-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Peel,_1st_Baronet#cite_note-FOOTNOTEHurd2007198-13"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[13]</span></a></sup> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<br />
(Source: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Peel,_1st_Baronet">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Peel,_1st_Baronet</a>)<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's vogue in our society to trash capitalists and portray business owners as heartless, greedy tyrants who would sell their own mothers to increase their bottom line. But it's also vogue in our society praise 'celebrities' and portray them as compassionate individuals who would sell their homes to help people (e.g. </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/16/angelina-jolie-pitt-refugees-un-donald-trump-immigration" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anglina Jolie, who thinks that we open our doors to all immigrants</span></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, ignoring whether these 'refugees', are real asylum seekers, economic migrants, criminals, or indeed terrorists). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yeah... I don't think we'll pay too much attention to what is considered vogue/fashionable by modern society. It makes much more sense to go straight to source. To the kernel, the root, the topic at hand. And in this case it's the compassion of white male capitalists, the so-called boogey men of the 21st century.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Robert Peel was one of the first to start the ball rolling in the UK when it came to legislation protecting the working conditions of factory workers. Without him the whole raft of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_Acts" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Factory Acts</span></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, that have increased the working conditions for the poor, might not have materialised; leaving working class people (young, middle aged and old) working in appalling conditions. He made it illegal for under 9s to work in factories, for 10-16 year olds to work for more than 12 hours a day, and much more. That's right, before Robert Peel and his laws, it was acceptable to employ children and work them longer, and harder than a Chinese Coolie. That's how expendable white children were considered back in the 1700s. And it was Peel who successfully attacked that way of thinking. Without him we and our children might still be slaving away in coal mines and textile mill 14 hours a day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And if that's not praiseworthy enough, here's what socialist Syndey Webb said about the Factory Acts in 1910:</span><br />
<blockquote>
The system of regulation which began with the protection of the tiny class of pauper apprentices in textile mills now includes within its scope every manual worker in every manufacturing industry. From the hours of labour and sanitation, the law has extended to the age of commencing work, protection against accidents, mealtimes and holidays, the methods of remuneration, and in the United Kingdom as well as in the most progressive of English-speaking communities, to the rate of wages itself. The range of Factory Legislation has, in fact, in one country or another, become co-extensive with the conditions of industrial employment. No class of manual-working wage-earners, no item in the wage-contract, no age, no sex, no trade or occupation, is now beyond its scope. This part, at any rate, of Robert Owen's social philosophy has commended itself to the practical judgment of the civilised world. It has even, though only towards the latter part of the nineteenth century, converted the economists themselves -converted them now to a " legal minimum wage " — and the advantage of Factory Legislation is now as soundly " orthodox " among the present generation of English, German, and American professors as " laisser-faire " was to their predecessors. ... Of all the nineteenth century inventions in social organisation, Factory Legislation is the most widely diffused. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
(Source: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_Acts">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_Acts</a>)</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Not bad going for an '<em>Evil Capitalist' </em>eh?!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[End.]</span><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-71251106941609646522016-01-30T16:44:00.001+00:002016-01-30T16:44:18.266+00:00Men of Yore: Charles Goodyear<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixH_JVsUeCpgzSmofP23StkfqpDCbs-JWMcsc7KItA0xwK8KAQ7UqXFUHLrEKfGbE8_SAoxxE61pwGDgdjS0klvJBJecv6NRgB3tmFIIkFBEERT3qvLhpiB9gN2HeeLhX-EK-EnRg-ciM/s1600/125018-004-F663812B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixH_JVsUeCpgzSmofP23StkfqpDCbs-JWMcsc7KItA0xwK8KAQ7UqXFUHLrEKfGbE8_SAoxxE61pwGDgdjS0klvJBJecv6NRgB3tmFIIkFBEERT3qvLhpiB9gN2HeeLhX-EK-EnRg-ciM/s1600/125018-004-F663812B.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charles Goodyear (<a href="http://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Goodyear" target="_blank">Source</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b><span class="srTitle">Charles Goodyear</span></b><b>,</b> (born Dec. 29, 1800, </span><a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/place/New-Haven-Connecticut"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/411623/New-Haven" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">New Haven</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">, Conn., U.S.—died July 1, 1860, </span><a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/place/New-York-City"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/412352/New-York-City" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">New York City</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">), American inventor of the </span><a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/technology/vulcanization"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/633433/vulcanization" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">vulcanization</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> process that made possible the commercial use of </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="ref215008" name="ref215008"></a><a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/science/rubber-chemical-compound"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/511800/rubber" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">rubber</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">
<!--[END-1ST-PARA]-->Goodyear began his career as a partner in his father’s hardware business, which went bankrupt in 1830. He then became interested in discovering a method of treating india </span><a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/science/rubber-chemical-compound"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/511800/rubber" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">rubber</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> so that it would lose its adhesiveness and susceptibility to extremes of heat and cold. He developed a </span><a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/science/nitric-acid"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/416068/nitric-acid" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">nitric acid</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> treatment and in 1837 contracted for the manufacture by this process of mailbags for the U.S. government, but the rubber fabric proved useless at high temperatures.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">
<!--[MEDIA-STRIP]-->For the next few years he worked with </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="ref215009" name="ref215009"></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Nathaniel M. Hayward (1808–65), a former employee of a rubber factory in Roxbury, Mass., who had discovered that rubber treated with sulfur was not sticky. Goodyear bought Hayward’s process. In 1839 he accidentally dropped some India rubber mixed with sulfur on a hot stove and so discovered </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="ref215010" name="ref215010"></a><a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/technology/vulcanization"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/633433/vulcanization" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">vulcanization</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">. He was granted his first patent in 1844 but had to fight numerous infringements in court; the decisive victory did not come until 1852. That year he went to </span><a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/place/England"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/700965/England" property="about" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">England</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">, where articles made under his patents had been displayed at the International Exhibition of 1851; while there he unsuccessfully attempted to establish factories. He also lost his patent rights there and in France because of technical and legal problems. In France a company that manufactured vulcanized rubber by his process failed, and in December 1855 Goodyear was imprisoned for debt in Paris. Meanwhile, in the United States, his patents continued to be infringed upon. Although his invention made millions for others, at his death he left debts of some $200,000. He wrote an account of his discovery entitled <em>Gum-Elastic and Its Varieties</em> (2 vol.; 1853–55).</span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">(Source: </span><a href="http://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Goodyear"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Goodyear</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">)</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Men don't always get rich for contributing to the betterment of the world, but more often than not they enjoy the contributions that they've made. For some men, like Gregor Mendel (the monk who discovered Mendelian inheritance), Josef Bazellgete (who designed Londons sewerage system), and Charles Godyear that's often enough, because the work that they do gives them more satisfaction than the wealth they earn from it. And at the end of the day, isn't that all that really matters? Getting contentment from doing.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">[End.]</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-19811638575949636492016-01-22T14:05:00.000+00:002016-01-22T14:09:37.032+00:00Men of Yore: Christopher Sholes<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvRH7CoSZ5ZdYppvNfJMlbuFEOPmYbR0G2am2AVotWq5KdINT_UKCnJTHzgw3uA4MHL3bi_rsMzDqVYanFsEanqpvEnC63iZEGmrMUSnuQTWWkVLL-AoJnJdulmFERsMi0VzVUrjFe6FM/s1600/Chris+sholes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvRH7CoSZ5ZdYppvNfJMlbuFEOPmYbR0G2am2AVotWq5KdINT_UKCnJTHzgw3uA4MHL3bi_rsMzDqVYanFsEanqpvEnC63iZEGmrMUSnuQTWWkVLL-AoJnJdulmFERsMi0VzVUrjFe6FM/s320/Chris+sholes.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christopher Sholes</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="srTitle"></span></span></span></span></span></span><div class="pw-hidden-cp">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="srTitle"><b>Christopher Latham Sholes (1819-1890) has been called the "Father of the Typewriter." Although he did not invent it, he did develop the first practical commercial machine. Sholes also developed the Qwerty keyboard that is still in use today.</b></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="srTitle">Sholes was born on February 14, 1819, near Mooresburg Pennsylvania. On his mother's side, his ancestry could be traced back to John and Priscilla Alden, the famous Pilgrims. His paternal grandfather had commanded a gunboat during the Revolutionary War. Sholes' father, Orrin, served in the War of 1812 and was rewarded for his service with a gift of land in Pennsylvania. In 1823, when Sholes was four, Orrin moved his family to Danville, Pennsylvania, were he ultimately apprenticed all four of his sons to become printers.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="srTitle">
</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="srTitle"></span></span></span></span></span></span><div class="pw-hidden-cp">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="srTitle">At the age of eighteen, Sholes went to Green Bay, Wisconsin to work for his brothers Henry and Charles, publishers of the Wisconsin <span class="italic">Democrat.</span> Two years later, when Charles bought a share of the Wisconsin <span class="italic">Enquirer,</span> Christopher Sholes moved to Madison to assume the post of editor. The next year, at the age of 21 and at his brother's bidding, he moved to Southport, Wisconsin, and founded the Southport <span class="italic">Telegraph,</span> a weekly newspaper. Southport was a new town on the Lake Michigan shoreline south of Madison, (incorporated as the city of Kenosha in 1850.) Sholes soon became owner and publisher of the <span class="italic">Telegraph.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="srTitle">
</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="srTitle"></span></span></span></span></span></span><div class="pw-hidden-cp">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="srTitle"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Sholes the Newspaperman</strong></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="srTitle">
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
Settling in Southport, Sholes married Mary Jane McKinney in 1840. He and his family lived there until 1857. Sholes published his paper and became involved in politics, both reflecting his drive for social reform. The <span class="italic">Telegraph</span> took stands against capital punishment and war, and supported the growing movement for women's rights. A fight between two members of the territorial government in Wisconsin resulted in one member being killed in the council chamber. Sholes was an eyewitness and reported the incident in his paper. His article was reprinted across the country and Charles Dickens related the tale in his <span class="italic">American Notes</span> as an example of law making in the United States.</div>
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
Sholes was a firm believer in mass communication. He felt that people could not reach their full potential until they could be brought closer together in thought. Sholes approved of every new way of communicating that came along. The <span class="italic">Telegraph</span> would give free ad space to any itinerant teacher of handwriting-shorthand or longhand-that came to Kenosha.</div>
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
Politically, Sholes was a good Democrat. He supported the platform of his party, which included the condemnation of the anti-slavery abolitionists. He was rewarded with an appointment to local postmaster. In 1848, Sholes was elected to the first senate of the newly admitted state of Wisconsin. He then served as city clerk in Kenosha, and returned to Madison as an assemblyman.</div>
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
In January 1853, Sholes met James Densmore, an editor from Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Where Sholes was mild-mannered and poetic, Densmore was aggressive and possessed a temper. He did not make a good first impression on Sholes. Yet the two men shared many political views and quickly formed a partnership.</div>
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
The first collaboration of the two men was the Kenosha <span class="italic">Daily Telegraph.</span> By using the wire news services of the Associated Press, they would have enough content to fill a paper every day. In the first year of their publication, they had taken on new causes. Sholes had undergone a change of heart and now supported the work of the abolitionists and the congressional candidate of the newly formed Republican Party.</div>
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
Sholes traveled to Kansas, where a struggle had broken out after the United States Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. It was determined that the residents of new territories would decide the question of slavery. Sholes returned to Wisconsin and the newspaper business. This time, he worked at Republican papers, the Milwaukee <span class="italic">Free Democrat</span> and then the Milwaukee <span class="italic">Daily Sentinel and News.</span> He visited the Wisconsin soldiers in the Union Army of the Potomac during the Civil War. In this capacity, Sholes represented the governor of Wisconsin, but paid his own expenses. He supported the Republican Party and President Abraham Lincoln throughout the war. As a reward, Sholes was given a federal post, serving as collector of customs for the Port of Milwaukee in 1863.</div>
</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="srTitle"></span></span></span></span></span></span><div class="pw-hidden-cp">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="srTitle"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Sholes the Inventor</strong></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="srTitle">
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
Despite his long career in journalism and politics, Sholes was an inventor at heart. Tired of addressing newspapers to subscribers with pen and ink, he invented a machine that would do the task using preset type and a treadle, variations of which were in use until the advent of computers. While living in Milwaukee, Sholes would often spend time at C.F. Kleinsteuber's machine shop, which was a meeting-place and workshop for amateur inventors. Working with another printer, he developed a machine that consecutively numbered railway tickets and bank notes. Sholes was trying to adapt it to automatically number the pages of books. Another amateur inventor in the workshop, lawyer Carlos Glidden, was working on a mechanical plow. Both Sholes and Glidden were interested in the work others were doing on typing machines. As an outgrowth of Sholes' page-numbering device, the two began work on a typing machine of their own.</div>
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
The idea of a machine that would help people communicate with clarity must have appealed to Sholes. Many typing machines had come before. William Burt created the first typing machine in 1830. Fifty more people invented or re-invented machines before Sholes began his work in 1867. A plan for a machine in <span class="italic">Scientific American</span> inspired Sholes, but it seemed to be unnecessarily complex. The design called for a cast plate containing all the type. The plate would be adjusted to bring the desired letter into position and a hammer would force paper against the plate.</div>
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
It took Sholes only a week to determine the basic premise of his typing machine. A single letter of type, carved onto a short metal bar could be made to strike upward against a glass plate. The first model came out with the help of Glidden and Samuel Soule, a draftsman and civil engineer. It only typed the letter "W", but its basic design would become the trio's first typing machine.</div>
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
</div>
</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="srTitle"></span></span></span></span></span></span><div class="pw-hidden-cp">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="srTitle"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">His First Typewriter</span></strong></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="srTitle">
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
The three men set to work to make a complete machine. After much trial-and-error, a workable prototype was built by the fall of 1867. The design required that the paper be placed between the type and the inked ribbon, so only tissue paper could be used. After selling their first one, Sholes, Glidden, and Soule tried to raise enough capital to mass-produce the machine. Sholes typed a letter to his old partner James Densmore, who recognized the possibilities of their invention. He bought into the group and began promoting the machine. Densmore requested that the design be simplified so that it would be cheaper to produce.</div>
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
Densmore spent a thousand dollars to manufacture a handful of machines before deciding that it was unworkable. The concept was good, but the execution, which had been largely in the hands of Soule, was faulty. He decided to try again, but with Sholes alone. Densmore requested that the machine be able to accommodate thicker, higher-quality paper. This led Sholes to develop a moving cylindrical carriage to hold the paper, and the inked belt, or ribbon, that would be located between the type and the paper.</div>
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
Despite these changes, Sholes maintained his original concept of the type striking upward against the carriage. This differed from the front striking machines that would later become the standard. The great benefit of the front-striking typewriter was that the operator could see the type as is was being printed, with no delay.</div>
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
Aside from his efforts to develop a machine that the public would accept, Sholes was also responsible for designing a typewriter keyboard. The earliest typing machines used many different styles of keyboards: circular or in rows with separate keys for upper-and lower-case letters. Almost all arranged the letters in alphabetical order, from a-to-z. As Sholes experimented with his new machine, he found that placing the keys in alphabetical order caused his machine to jam too often.</div>
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span> </div>
</span></span></span></span></span></span> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitcfjwMc0JfHlWqKq6pkagQNJFZNS9YqYkVIHYRF-PKogh422K46zwZrzWCy9RiJt2Ag069bXj3RBL1ZJ5ET633k7LFmCRi52hZsoGohYZtucJfbqPk0u6V6T_Ojpw5IDTkPXkq9gJ2Jw/s1600/1874_Sholes__Glidden_NMAH_SI_OM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitcfjwMc0JfHlWqKq6pkagQNJFZNS9YqYkVIHYRF-PKogh422K46zwZrzWCy9RiJt2Ag069bXj3RBL1ZJ5ET633k7LFmCRi52hZsoGohYZtucJfbqPk0u6V6T_Ojpw5IDTkPXkq9gJ2Jw/s320/1874_Sholes__Glidden_NMAH_SI_OM.jpg" width="304" /></a></div>
<br /></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="srTitle"></span></span></span></span></span></span><div class="pw-hidden-cp">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="srTitle"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>The Qwerty Keyboard</strong></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="srTitle">
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
Many legends surround Sholes' development of the keyboard. It is not laid out based on the frequency of use of certain letters, nor are the most used letters placed under the strongest fingers. The most frequently quoted story, that it is based on the arrangement of the letters in the printers' type-case-in the days when every printed page was set individual letter and symbol by hand-is false. Most likely Sholes changed the order of the keys as he created prototype after prototype of his machine, trying to eliminate the most frequently occurring jams, when two nearby keys would meet. The layout kept frequently combined letters separated mechanically, which limited the number of possible collisions between type bars. It probably also slowed the rate a good typist could reach, further eliminating possible jams.</div>
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
Ultimately, Densmore sold the machine to Philo Remington, American manufacturer of arms, sewing machines and farm implements. Even after Sholes' hours of experimentation, the engineers and mechanics at Remington were able to improve on the machine. They solidified the layout of the keyboard into something very close to what is still used on all alpha-numeric keyboards in most English-speaking countries today.</div>
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
This has come to be known as the Qwerty keyboard, after the first six letters at the upper left on the keyboard. A comparison of keyboards from around the world shows that most countries using the Roman alphabet (A, B, C, etc.) or some variation of it use basically the same layout of keys. Over time, typewriters advanced technologically. The mechanical aspects were supplemented first by electric assistance and finally by electronic devices. It was no longer necessary to use the key positions to keep the machines from jamming. Many people have developed more efficient keyboards, both easier to remember and better able to divide the work between the right and left hands. However, these have all been commercial failures. The public has refused to adopt them, preferring the Qwerty design instead.</div>
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
Sholes finally agreed to sell his rights to Yost and Densmore in 1880. History does not record the price, but it was not very high. Sholes was tired of the machine, and was ready to invent something else. He took advantage whenever possible to turn his rights into ready cash, believing until almost the end of his life that the typewriter would never be a success.</div>
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
When sales of the Remington typewriter increased, Sholes accused Densmore of cheating him. Densmore replied that Sholes had probably made more money than he did. Once Sholes totaled his receipts from the typewriter for the period of 1872 to 1882, it came to more than $25,000. Densmore had not realized that much in that period, although he was to make much more in the coming years.</div>
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
Sholes was quite proud of one social consequence of the typewriter—it opened office careers to women. Previously, business schools only trained men as secretaries. Since men were reluctant to give up communicating and corresponding in elegant handwriting, it became common for typewriter manufacturers to train women as typists. They frequently offered both machine and operator as a package to prospective clients. Women, who had been locked out of the office, suddenly had their foot in the door.</div>
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
Sholes spent the end of his life in ever-increasing obscurity. He continued to tinker with various inventions, but none saw the light of day. Even as he neared his death in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on February 17, 1890, his bed was often crowded with models of inventions.</div>
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
Because he had not associated his name with either the machine or its producers, he was forgotten. Whenever articles were written about the history of the typewriter, Sholes was only mentioned in passing. Often his innovations were judged to be unoriginal or hindrances. Yet he must be credited with contributing to the design of the typewriter. Even now, as typewriters fall into disuse, his legacy lives on. Remember him the next time you wonder "Who designed this stupid keyboard?"</div>
<div class="pw-hidden-cp">
<br />(Source: <a href="http://biography.yourdictionary.com/christopher-latham-sholes">http://biography.yourdictionary.com/christopher-latham-sholes</a>)</div>
</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Well I bet you never knew that the first typewriters were manufactured by a gunsmith. I bet that they must've been quick off the draw! [tumbleweed blows by] Yeah ok.. I'll get my coat.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">The typewriter is yet another example of the American spirit of enterprise. Europeans may be good at inventing things, but Americans definitely excel at advertising them and mass-producing them. Millions knows about Samuel Colt's revolver because he was an excellent showman and self-publiciser, and millions know about the <a href="http://anotherandrosphereblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/men-of-yore-linus-yale-jr.html" target="_blank">Linus Yale</a>'s locks, because they were good publicisers and showmen. It's no good having a great invention if there's only a handful of them in existence. And it's no good having a world-beating idea if you don't bellow it to the world and let them know about it. If you have a good product then make it known to all 'and' make it available for all. These are two of the keys to American success: mass-publicity and mass-production.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">[End.]</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span></span></span><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-9519067310504966522016-01-04T12:56:00.001+00:002016-01-04T13:05:31.627+00:00Alternative Lyrics to Well Known Songs 43 - Just Give Me Mince Pies<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>(Based on Alex Party 'Don't Give Me Your Lies')</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This song is the lament of a working class pie lover; a pie lover who shops at a bakery that turned it's back on the traditions of it's home country, and (shock horror) started baking foreign foodstuffs! [grumbling of disapproval] "Boo! Give us back our pies! We love our pies! Pies, chips, mushy peas, cold tea! We want pies! #Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land... #"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alas elevating foreign things over indigenous things is something that frequently happens in England amongst the snobby element of the middle-classes who think themselves a cut above the working man. Oh yes, in 21st century England snobbery is alive and well, it didn't die out with the Victorians, it just.. evolved..</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's evident in the most fundamental of foodstuffs: the daily bread. In the Medieval period bread was divided into two types: brown and white. <a href="http://www.castlesandmanorhouses.com/life_04_food.htm" target="_blank"> Brown, unrefined bread was for the peasants, and white refined bread for the middle and upper classes.</a> During the industrial era the price of bread went down and working class people could afford to buy white bread, formerly the privilege of the middle class. So what did the Middle-class do in response? They started eating brown and wholemeal bread! They started proclaiming the virtues of bran, and fibre, and roughage where formerly they loved the purity of the white loaf. Why? Because of snobbery! The poor working class man had stepped in onto their home turf. They'd interluded onto the holiest of hollies, they'd despoiled the sacred flower of.. um.. flour! And as a result of middle-class snobbery they felt compelled to relocate to pastures new, or in this case breads a-new. Brown loafs became their daily bread. And it's why there is such a profusion of brown breads: artisan bread, seeded breads, bread with sun dried tomatoes, wholemeal bread with omega-3 fantastico-enriched olive oil from le pretencioso valley in Southern Italy, in supermarkets instead of bog-standard 'bread'. The multitude of brown breads that we see in our supermarkets is there because of snobbery.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bread is not the only working class food that's looked down on by the middle-classes. The entire diet of Northern Europe is given the "Urgh! How revolting!" treatment. In the UK it's vogue to trump the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_diet" target="_blank">Mediterranean diet</a> because it is supposedly exceedingly nutritious, more so than any Northern European diet. But this is twaddle. A load of baloney you could say! One only need to compare the Mediterranean diet with Northern European foods to see that they are pretty much identical, and have been for the past millenia. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanseatic_League" target="_blank">Hanseatic League</a> trading community was based on the trade of oily fish (herring) from Scania, Beer from Northern Germany, and grain from Eastern Europe, all foods that are in the lauded 'Mediterranean diet'.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Mediterranean diet Northern European Diet</strong><br />Oily fish Oily fish (herring was a favourite in Netherlands and East Anglia)<br />Pasta Bread (bread and pasta are both made from wheat)<br />Wine Beer (both are alcoholic)<br />Fresh vegetables Fresh vegetables (greens are greens wherever they are grown)<br />Olive oil Butter (recent studies have shown <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2946617/Butter-ISN-T-bad-Major-study-says-80s-advice-dairy-fats-flawed.html" target="_blank">butter</a> &<a href="http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA401137/Is-Lard-Healthy.html" target="_blank"> lard to be very healthy</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So one is then forced to ask "Why do the middle-classes choose a foreign diet over their indigenous one if they are practically identical?" To which the only proper answer is: "Snobbery my dear fellow."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Real men however are not affected by such vanities as snobbery, because they can respect difference, be it horizontal difference (like in the caste system), or vertical difference (like in natural hierarchies). Men they respect difference. They don't engage in disdain of others, or ostentatious advertisement of self. If there's a hierarchy then it's not a hierarchy that looks down. It's a hierarchy that simply is. Stephen Hawking's smarter than me. I'm never gonna win a Nobel prize, (not even for sarcasm!) and that's fine. Some people are better than others at certain things. That's just the way it is.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To start looking down one's nose at others is snobbery, in simple words: it's just not the done thing. So we'll leave the snobbery to the foolish element of the middle classes who want to elevate/distance themselves from the working class. The working classes who live beside them, who breathe their same air, who grow their food, who build their houses, who share their same haplogroup. Instead of being snobs we'll enjoy what we do, eating pies, mushy peas, white bread or whatever that may be. Condescension, as they say, is beneath us.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now that's over, we'll move onto this weeks 'Alternative Lyrics..' song. It is a light-hearted and seasonal (but late) song about a pie lover who shops at a bakery that turned it's back on the traditions of it's home country, and started baking foreign foods.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll probably re-post this later in the year, BEFORE Christmas. You know, IN SEASON. Like any SENSIBLE person would. (Sotto Voce: God.. I'm such a numpty some times...)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mOmB8CMasdo/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mOmB8CMasdo?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Play the music video above and sing along using the alternative lyrics given below.</div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em># Just Give me Mince Pies #</em><br />You make me so mad, oh what can I say?<br />You used to-bake for England, but then you turned away.<br />I tried so hard to carry on, but I just need some, need some short-crust love.<br />Now you're trying to say "come eat my brulee."<br />But don't you know, I just need, I just need mince pies.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just give me mince pies, mince pies, give me mince pies.<br />Just give me mince pies, mince pies, give me mince pies.<br />Just give me mince pies, mince pies, give me mince pies.<br />Just give me mince pies, mince pies, give me mince pies.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pies don't mean nothing to you.<br />(Nothing to you.)<br />Filo puff pastry, is all you think to do.<br />I tried so hard to carry on, but I just need some, need some short-crust love.<br />Now you're trying to say "come eat my brulee."<br />But don't you know, I just need, I just need mince pies.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just give me mince pies, mince pies, give me mince pies.<br />Just give me mince pies, mince pies, give me mince pies.<br />Just give me mince pies, mince pies, give me mince pies.<br />Just give me mince pies, mince pies, give me mince pies.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just give me, just give me, just give me.<br />Just give me, just give me mince pies.<br />Just give me, just give me, just give me.<br />Just give me, just give me mince pies, oh yeah.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I tried so hard to carry on, but I just need some, need some short-crust love.<br />Now you're trying to say "come eat my brulee."<br />But don't you know, I just need, I just need mince pies.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just give me mince pies, mince pies, give me mince pies.<br />Just give me mince pies, mince pies, give me mince pies.<br />Just give me mince pies, mince pies, give me mince pies.<br />Just give me mince pies, mince pies, give me mince pies.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[End of lyrics.]</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-41949827876567426882015-12-31T15:35:00.002+00:002015-12-31T15:35:53.246+00:00Men of Yore: Oliver Evans<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity. </span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ24Zcnlordz0b0gXEKQz-FXXBASV2h7VPhKS_L6nlsGjcC8bQIs3VS2kxMe0pQmZWsFmIS5ZRYaaCepHRfqv3zXLMuY_tcXyfMq0WpZJ_50F24ZsOQV_p-RvY2JmVE5HlDn_RAlPxM6E/s1600/68326-050-44F53B7E.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ24Zcnlordz0b0gXEKQz-FXXBASV2h7VPhKS_L6nlsGjcC8bQIs3VS2kxMe0pQmZWsFmIS5ZRYaaCepHRfqv3zXLMuY_tcXyfMq0WpZJ_50F24ZsOQV_p-RvY2JmVE5HlDn_RAlPxM6E/s320/68326-050-44F53B7E.jpg" width="253" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oliver Evans (<a href="http://www.britannica.com/media/full/196952/58597" target="_blank">source</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<blockquote>
<b><span class="srTitle">Oliver Evans</span></b><b>,</b> (born Sept. 13, 1755, near Newport, Del. [U.S.]—died April 15, 1819, <a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/place/New-York-state"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/412293/New-York" property="about">New York</span></a>, N.Y.), American inventor who pioneered the <a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/technology/high-pressure-steam-engine"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/265319/high-pressure-steam-engine" property="about">high-pressure steam engine</span></a> (U.S. <a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/topic/patent"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/446287/patent" property="about">patent</span></a>, 1790) and created the first continuous <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="ref109462" name="ref109462"></a><a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/technology/assembly-line"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/39246/assembly-line" property="about">production line</span></a> (1784).<br />
<br />
<!--[END-1ST-PARA]-->Evans was apprenticed to a wheelwright at the age of 16. Observing the trick of a blacksmith’s boy who used the propellant force of steam in a gun, he began to investigate ways to harness steam for propulsion. Before he could successfully pursue this line of research, however, he became involved with a number of other industrial problems. Carding, or combing, fibres to prepare them for spinning was a laborious process constituting a bottleneck in the newly mechanized production of <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="ref109463" name="ref109463"></a><a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/technology/textile"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/589392/textile" property="about">textiles</span></a>. To speed this operation Evans invented a <a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/technology/machine"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/354611/machine" property="about">machine</span></a> that cut and mounted 1,000 wire teeth per minute on leather, the teeth serving as an improved <a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/technology/carding"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/95579/carding" property="about">carding</span></a> device.<br />
<br />
<!--[MEDIA-STRIP]-->In 1784, at the age of 29, he attacked another major industrial production problem, the age-old process of grinding <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="ref109464" name="ref109464"></a><a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/topic/cereal"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/103301/cereal" property="about">grain</span></a>. Building a factory outside Philadelphia and adapting five machines, including conveyors, elevators, and weighing scales, he created a production line in which all movement throughout the mill was <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="ref109465" name="ref109465"></a><a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/technology/automation"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/44912/automation" property="about">automatic</span></a>. Labour was required only to set the mill in motion; power was supplied by waterwheels, and grain was fed in at one end, passed by a system of conveyors and chutes through the stages of <a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/topic/milling-food-processing"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/382923/milling" property="about">milling</span></a> and refining, and emerged at the other end as finished flour. The system, which reduced costs by 50 percent according to Evans’ calculations, much later was widely copied in American flour milling.<br />
<br />
When Evans applied for patent protection, first to state governments (1787) and later to the new U.S. Patent Office (1790), he added a third invention, his <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="ref109466" name="ref109466"></a><a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/technology/high-pressure-steam-engine"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/265319/high-pressure-steam-engine" property="about">high-pressure steam engine</span></a>. He continued to work on this for the next several years, envisioning both a stationary <a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/technology/engine-technology"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/187540/engine" property="about">engine</span></a> for industrial purposes and an engine for land and water transport. In 1801 he built in Philadelphia a stationary engine that turned a rotary crusher to produce pulverized limestone for agricultural purposes. The engine that became associated with his name was an original adaptation of the existing steam engine; Evans placed both the cylinder and the crankshaft at the same end of the beam instead of at opposite ends, as had been done previously. This greatly reduced the weight of the beam. An ingenious linkage, which became world famous as the Evans straight-line linkage, made the new arrangement feasible. He saw at once the potential of such an engine for road transportation but was unable to persuade the authorities to permit its use on the Pennsylvania Turnpike—not unnaturally, since it might well have frightened the horses, which at that time provided the main form of transport. Within a few years he had engines doing several other kinds of work, including sowing grain, driving sawmills and boring machines, and powering a dredge to clear the Philadelphia water frontage. Completed by June 1805, his new type of steam-engine scow, called the Orukter Amphibolos, or <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="ref109467" name="ref109467"></a>Amphibious Digger, was 30 feet (9 m) long by 12 feet (3.7 m) wide. In its machinery it embodied the chain-of-buckets principle of his automatic flour mill. Equipped with wheels, it ran on land as well as on water, making it the first powered road vehicle to operate in the United States.<br />
<br />
In 1806 Evans began to develop his noted Mars Iron Works, where, over the next 10 years, he made more than 100 steam engines that were used with screw presses for processing cotton, tobacco, and paper. The Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., bought one of Evans’ engines, and, when the War of 1812 broke out, Evans and a partner proposed to build a powerful steam warship with a large gun at the bow, thus anticipating John Ericsson’s <em>Monitor</em> of 50 years later; but the proposal was not accepted.<br />
<br />
Evans’ last great work, completed in 1817, was a 24-horsepower high-pressure engine for a waterworks. He died shortly after a disastrous fire that destroyed his Mars Iron Works, including his valuable patterns and molds.<br />
<br />
His <em>Young Mill-Wright and Miller’s Guide,</em> which he had written in 1792, continued to sell and had gone through 15 editions by 1860. In another work, <em>The Abortion of the Young Steam Engineer’s Guide</em> (1805), he forecast the need for government subsidization of technological advances. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Vested interests in horses, as well as poor roads, steep gradients, inadequate springing, and an inadequate <a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/topic/technology"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/585418/technology" property="about">technology</span></a> of materials, hindered the adoption of his ideas for steam engines on roads. Also, because later manufacturers were slow to make use of his innovative <a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/technology/manufacturing"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/849534/manufacturing" property="about">manufacturing</span></a> techniques, Evans was long a somewhat neglected figure. More recently, however, in the allocation of priorities for the development of the high-pressure steam engine, the simultaneity of Evans’ work with that of the British genius Richard Trevithick has been established, and historians have accorded proper credit for his pioneering of the <a data-ytrk="/548" href="http://www.britannica.com/technology/assembly-line"><span href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/39246/assembly-line" property="about">assembly line</span></a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
(Source: <a href="http://www.britannica.com/biography/Oliver-Evans">http://www.britannica.com/biography/Oliver-Evans</a>)</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If ever there was a man who deserved the epitaph 'Jack of all trades' it was Oliver Evans. He turned his hand to numerous fields in industry and managed to contribute to them all. Whether it was milling flour, kneading bread, freezing water, excavating dirt, or self-propelled vehicles he was eager to turn his hand, and mind, to it and go at it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It shows us what man can achieve with his seemingly boundless natural enthusiasm and energy when he is given a free environment in which to express those energies. Unconstrained by red-tape, bureaucracy, or mental stifling from the academic world men can make a better world than the one currently lived in.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[End.]</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-53470549642795079622015-12-21T11:46:00.000+00:002015-12-21T11:46:20.117+00:00Men of Yore: Philipp Bozzini<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity. </span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQijDY2N1UygIAHDCJ-Kw-4_uDcp-MB2whgUg_dOTZhVJIr5cyaTS8SXIy4jpO_DF7ITa18n2vS8WminxBK6SLF5zcHSvosAx64OUk19IRJad7rwfDPaUsUgiyBPKXXP08JGHfbNYlDqg/s1600/BozziniPhilip_pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQijDY2N1UygIAHDCJ-Kw-4_uDcp-MB2whgUg_dOTZhVJIr5cyaTS8SXIy4jpO_DF7ITa18n2vS8WminxBK6SLF5zcHSvosAx64OUk19IRJad7rwfDPaUsUgiyBPKXXP08JGHfbNYlDqg/s320/BozziniPhilip_pic.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Philipp Bozzini (<a href="http://www.urologichistory.museum/content/collections/uropeople/bozzini/p1.cfm" target="_blank">image source</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<blockquote>
<div class="mw-body-content" id="siteSub">
</div>
<div class="mw-body-content" id="contentSub">
</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
<b>Philipp Bozzini</b> (May 25, 1773 – April 4, 1809) was born in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainz" title="Mainz">Mainz</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany" title="Germany">Germany</a>. On June 12, 1797 he was awarded the degree of doctor of medicine. From 1804 onwards, Bozzini devoted himself virtually completely to develop his instrument, Lichtleiter or "Light Conductor", a primitive <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endoscope" title="Endoscope">endoscope</a> to allow for inspecting the ear, urethra, rectum, female bladder, cervix, mouth, nasal cavity, or wounds. Philipp Bozzini, using the modest means available at the beginning of the 19th century, was able to show to the medical profession the way to endoscopy. With his instrument and ideas, he was three quarters of a century ahead of the technical and scientific possibilities of his time. Historians agree that this instrument using artificial light and various mirrors and specula was the beginning of a large family of endoscopes.</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
<span class="mw-headline" id="Early_life"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Early Life</span></strong></span></div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
Philipp Bozzini was born on May 25, 1773 in Mainz, Germany. His father, Nicolaus Maria Bozzini de Bozza, came from a well-to-do Italian family that had to escape from Italy in approximately 1760 as the result of a duel. In Mainz, Nicolaus entered into business and married Anna Maria Florentin de Cravatte, from the city of Frankfurt.</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
Bozzini started his medical studies in Mainz, and approximately in 1794 went to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jena" title="Jena">Jena</a> to complete them. On June 12, 1797 Bozzini was granted the title of doctor of medicine, which allowed him to establish in Mainz as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physician" title="Physician">physician</a>. Soon afterwards, he traveled several times to France and the Netherlands in order to acquire professional experience.</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
<span class="mw-headline" id="Later_life"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Later Life</span></strong></span></div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
In 1798 he married Margarete Reck, and they had three children.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space: nowrap;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (October 2011)">citation needed</span></a></i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">]</span></sup></div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
During the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Second_Coalition" title="War of the Second Coalition">War of the Second Coalition</a> against France, Bozzini served in the imperial army and was in charge of a 120-bed campaign hospital in Mainz. His extraordinary merits during this time were known by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archduke_Charles,_Duke_of_Teschen" title="Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen">Archduke Karl of Austria</a> (1771–1847), who would protect in the future Bozzini’s invention. Bozzini thought that the instrument could be incorporated into Austrian military hospitals. This required a device to be sent to Wien, and also the performance of an expertise by health authorities. An investigating committee subjected the instrument to various tests, starting with examination in corpses of the bladder, rectum, vagina, and peritoneal cavity through small laparotomies. The committee proposed some changes intended to improve the performance of the light conductor. Once such changes were made, they were satisfied with the operation of the instrument in patients (only examinations of the peritoneal cavity were not approved), particularly also because the procedure was painless.</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
Due to intrigues in the upper governmental spheres, a second expertise was decided, this time at the Wien medical school, which performed it, and partly under the negative influence of the church, as the report turned out to be unfavorable for Bozzini and concluded that such an instrument should not be used.</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
The second coalition war ended with the 1801 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Lun%C3%A9ville" title="Treaty of Lunéville">Luneville peace treaty</a> between Napoleon and Kaiser Franz, and the <a class="new" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Left_Bank_(Rhine)&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Left Bank (Rhine) (page does not exist)">left bank of the Rhine</a> river remained in the hands of the French. The new Mainz government granted young Bozzini authorization to practice his profession, but he refused to accept the French citizenship and therefore decided to establish himself at Frankfurt.</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
<span class="mw-headline" id="Activities_in_Frankfurt"></span> </div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
<span class="mw-headline"></span> </div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
<span class="mw-headline"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Activities in Frankfurt</span></strong></span></div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
Bozzini’s knowledge of mathematics, philosophy, and chemistry was outstanding. Aeronautic studies and drawings of a flying device were unfortunately lost. His exceptional talent as an artist and drawer is shown by his monograph about the “light conductor”, where a self-portrait and watercolor paintings about the instrument may be seen.</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
Like many idealist people, Bozzini had no experience in business matters, but devoted himself with enthusiasm to his scientific activities. From 1804 on, his dedication to the development of his instrument for endoscopy was virtually complete. To earn a living, Bozzini practiced obstetrics with extreme care. On May 30, 1808 he was granted the title of “Physicus extraordinarius” at the request of one of his patients, <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Theodor_von_Dalberg" title="Karl Theodor von Dalberg">Karl Theodor von Dalberg</a>, a personality of great influence in the region.</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
Bozzini was one of the four physicians of the city of Frankfurt who should also care for the surrounding peasant areas while being a “plague” physician.</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
<span class="mw-headline" id="Death"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Death</span></strong></span></div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
The various tasks in Frankfurt were not only tedious for these physicians, but also dangerous. His predecessor in the position, Dr. Zeitmann, had died during one of the epidemic outbreaks of typhus in the region. Bozzini contracted the same disease around mid-March 1809, after successfully treating 42 patients with typhus. His friend and colleague Feyerlein subsequently reported the dedication with which he cared of his patients, disregarding the risk of contagion he had. On April 4, 1809, Bozzini died from that infection at 36 years of age.</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
He left his wife in a bad financial situation. She died six months later. Their three small children were given over to friends.</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
<span class="mw-headline" id="Legacy"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Legacy</span></strong></span></div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
When the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurt_Cathedral" title="Frankfurt Cathedral">Frankfurt Cathedral</a> was renovated after the war, in 1954, the gravestone to the memory of Bozzini was uncovered; the words dedicated to him by his friend Feyerlein may still be read in it:</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
“To the devote soul of Philipp Bozzini, doctor of medicine, who was the first to explore the inside of organs through his ingenious light projector. He was able to tenaciously fight fever in other people, with a great sense of duty, and succumbed on the night from the 4th to the 5th day of April 1809, in his 36th year of life. His faithful friend F.F."</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
</div>
<div class="mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr" lang="en">
Source: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philipp_Bozzini">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philipp_Bozzini</a></div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Imagine what would have happened to science fiction, looking inwards instead of outwards. Imagine a zillion and one Raquel Welsh 'Fantastic Voyage' clones clogging up your television schedule like a bad case of cholesterol. Imagine what Star Trek would have been like. Imagine what it's intro ditty would have sounded like!</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<strong>"Inner-space</strong>, the final frontier. These are the voyages of
the Starship <strong>Endoscope</strong>. Its 5-<strong>generation</strong> mission: to explore strange new <strong>holes</strong>,
to seek out new <strong>veins</strong> and new <strong>bodily-sphincters</strong>, to boldly <strong>probe</strong> where no man
has <strong>probed</strong> before."</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
# Ooooh <em>'ooooh'</em> [off note!] ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh #<o:p></o:p></blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jokes aside, Bozzini's creation of endoscopy (he basically conceived the idea of humane endoscopes) has opened up a whole new world which allows doctors, surgeons and the like to peer inside of human bodies without having to open us up like the proverbial can of beans.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No more having some gallumping pompous surgeon stick his right arm up your freshly opened <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perineum" target="_blank">perineum</a> [winces] desperately trying to find your kidney stones. Should said surgeon actually find the stones you would be mightily happy, although if he didn't you wouldn't be best pleased. This are some of the un-pleasantnesses that we've been spared thanks to efforts of humane men, like Bozzini.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Humane is a good doctor, surgeon, nurse, and all of the others. Pompous, self-importance (common amongst Victorian era surgeons who viewed themselves as a cut above, like a priestly caste) doesn't befit a man who feels for those whom he treats. Pare, Bazzini, Socrates and all the others are men who empathised with their patients. These are the types of doctors and surgeons we need more of in the world: men who cared for those they treated, rather than <a href="http://time.com/32647/which-professions-have-the-most-psychopaths-the-fewest/" target="_blank">the sociopaths that studies have proven we presently have</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">When we finally get those doctors, surgeons and more, our children, their children, and their children will benefit. That's the kind of future that we want, one populated with compassionate men like Bozzini.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">[End.]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-24740853315221844792015-12-05T16:32:00.000+00:002015-12-05T16:32:28.070+00:00Men of Yore: Arthur Hill Hassall<span class="headword"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEg6Xdc_i3UZ4_KKwqkx8wzrN6LEJVAfHOmTvNOvdOwWBQzhuritoKKYw9S14NC3YRLP8heBbdSTvDtZz0c8EXuEiLYjxqK2SLQhTt5x50t_qsC982VCcXIpqQlrUtD8b43EQYulubVm4/s1600/Arthur_Hill_Hassall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEg6Xdc_i3UZ4_KKwqkx8wzrN6LEJVAfHOmTvNOvdOwWBQzhuritoKKYw9S14NC3YRLP8heBbdSTvDtZz0c8EXuEiLYjxqK2SLQhTt5x50t_qsC982VCcXIpqQlrUtD8b43EQYulubVm4/s320/Arthur_Hill_Hassall.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Arthur Hill Hassall</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="headword"></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span class="headword"></span><br />
<span class="headword">Hassall, Arthur Hill</span> (1817–1894), <span class="occ">physician and microscopist</span>, was born at Teddington, Middlesex, on 13 December 1817, the son of Thomas Hassall (1771–1844), surgeon, and Ann Sherrock (1778×80–1817). After attending school at Richmond, Surrey, he was apprenticed in 1834 to his uncle Sir James Murray, who had a fashionable Dublin medical practice. In 1839 he became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, in London, and in 1841 he was awarded the diploma of the Society of Apothecaries. Hassall's apprenticeship had included walking the wards of Jervis Street Hospital in Dublin, and the Mercers' Hospital. He had also taken the midwifery diploma in 1837 from Trinity College, Dublin, studied the nearby seashore and the coasts, and won a prize in botany. He presented his <span class="italic">Catalogue of Irish Zoophytes</span> to the Dublin Natural History Society on 6 November 1840. Hassall went on in 1848 to graduate MB from University College, London; in 1851 he proceeded MD and became a member of the Royal College of Physicians.<br />
<br />
His return to Richmond, near the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, enabled Hassall to study structural and physiological botany at Kew. Between 1840 and 1845 he published several articles and books on botanical topics, mostly on freshwater algae, though many of the papers suggested a rather haughty concern with claims to priority. His <span class="italic">History of the British Freshwater Algae</span> (1845) became something of a controversial classic in the field; most of his research for this work came from the region of Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, and the specimens he left are now largely in the possession of the Natural History Museum, London. Hassall's studies on fungal rot of fruits and potatoes by experimental inoculation of sound tissues were highly apposite given the subsequent potato famine in Ireland. On 26 May 1846 Hassall married Fanny Augusta, daughter of Alexander Du Corron.<br />
<br />
Hassall came to public attention with his book <span class="italic">A microscopical examination of the water supplied to the inhabitants of London and the suburban districts</span> (1850), in which he reported on the state of the water supplied by each of the London water companies. Containing colour illustrations of the organisms found, this work helped to convince people of the revolting nature of having living organisms in their water and drew their attention to the ‘carcasses of dead animals, rotting, festering, swarming with flies and maggots’ on the banks of the Thames (Hamlin, 115). According to Christopher Hamlin, the book was ‘one of the most effective appeals to sensibility in the history of public health’, and that one of the most important things it did ‘was to make microscopic life a new category of impurity’ (ibid., 104). There was, however, a great deal of debate about what the presence of such organisms in the water signified. Hassall found that all waters contained microscopic life but ‘was not able to recognise a distinct flora and fauna for each company as he had hoped to’ (ibid., 111). He testified before the Board of Health in March or April of 1850 and in parliament Sir Benjamin Hall used Hassall's drawings to attack opponents of water reform. Organisms came to be seen as proof of impurity.<br />
<br />
Over this same period, and despite ill health, Hassall began to study food adulteration. This brought him to the attention of Thomas Wakley, who between 1851 and 1854 published in <span class="italic">The Lancet</span> reports by Hassall concerning the virtually universal practice of adulteration. <span class="italic">The Lancet</span> reports led in 1855 to a parliamentary select committee (with Hassall as chief scientific witness) and later to the first general preventative (and other) <span class="roman">Adulteration Acts</span> (1860), as well as to the presentation on 4 May 1856 from both houses of parliament to Hassall, for public services, of an elegant silver statuette of Angel Ithuriel. Hassall established a reputation as Britain's leading food analyst and was employed as an analytical microscopist by the General Board of Health.<br />
<br />
Hassall also became a physician at the Royal Free Hospital, London, which later named a ward after him. By 1866 he was suffering from severe lung problems. His recovery involved long periods confined to bed at his brother's house in Richmond, at Hastings, and at St Leonards, before he transferred to Ventnor, Isle of Wight, as winter approached. Hassall made his home there until at least mid-1877, though he was still able to undertake professional duties in London at least twice a week. During 1866 he was allotted a civil-list pension of £100 per year for public service. While at Ventnor, Hassall and his assistants continued to investigate food adulteration, using the laboratory he had built there.<br />
<br />
Hassall decided that Ventnor would be an ideal place to establish a hospital for treating lung disease. The first block was completed in 1868 and the Ventnor Hospital inspired moves to establish similar institutions in Vienna and elsewhere. Hassall's concept was so successful that, by 1908, 23,000 or more patients had been treated there. This hospital finally closed on 15 April 1964, the remaining patients being transferred to the Hassall ward in St Mary's Hospital, Newport, Isle of Wight.<br />
<br />
Hassall left Ventnor in 1877 and was presented with a silver service and 300 guineas. Aiming to rest in warmer climes, he spent over a year in Germany and one winter season in Cannes. Italy's ready acceptance of foreign medical qualifications led Hassall finally to settle in San Remo, with occasional stays in London over the summer. Hassall acquired permission to practise in Switzerland and thereafter worked in Lucerne in summer and San Remo in winter; at San Remo he attended Edward Lear. Hassall's time on the continent enabled him to establish a role in pioneering climatic cures for consumption. His <span class="italic">San Remo and the Western Riviera Climatically and Medically Considered</span> (1879) was a classic of its kind. Hassall died at his home, Casa Bosso, San Remo, on 9 April 1894 and was buried at All Saints' Church, San Remo. He was survived by his second wife, Alice Margaret, whom he had married some time between 1858 and 1866.<br />
<br />
James H. Price <br />
<br />
<br />
(Source: <a href="http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/63790">http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/63790</a>)</blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We live in cities; we are dependent upon the provision of food from others; we are dependent upon others to ensure that food is what it claims to be and is un-adulterated. It's no good going down to your local bakery to buy a loaf of bread, then coming back home and discovering to your dismay that the loaf is a menagerie of flour, sawdust, bone-meal, ash, and other odds 'n' sods. You want that loaf of bread from that bakery to be a loaf of bread, and not a something else. And better still you want all loaves of bread in all bakeries to be loaves of bread and not something else.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If we lived in a perfect world then food manufacturers would not adulterate their product with non-foodstuffs because they would be honest and decent, but alas we don't live in a perfect world, so we need Food Safety laws to ensure that scoundrels don't ruin everyone's day by selling adulterated or dodgy food. And like everything else in the modern world it requires someone, usually a man, to create those laws ex nihlo. In the case of food safety laws that man was Arthur Hill Hassall.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Arthur Hill Hassall is the reason that you can tuck into your mince pies, slurp some mulled wine, and feast on your Christmas dinner without worrying if it's going to give you and your family the squits tomorrow morning.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">[End.]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"></span><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-57371563469309080712015-11-28T12:36:00.003+00:002015-11-28T12:36:57.629+00:00Men of Yore: Georges Auguste Leschot<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBTFfXZS0qVRpjUjiS02uwUKzPQ3xr8XTY2AnH3JIuVlcbgv7Q4I8201rVAL5OvCR1EtA428Bi6fgUXGvYgYSjV4T2Z24aY1DzzvzY8uJtlNej1uZT4ntcbhusj9G6U80jNAEEo4ZQX7Y/s1600/_images_001_img_130419_113840_036665023_LESCHOT_George_Auguste__tn_150x170_LESCHOT_Georges_Auguste_PNG_png.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBTFfXZS0qVRpjUjiS02uwUKzPQ3xr8XTY2AnH3JIuVlcbgv7Q4I8201rVAL5OvCR1EtA428Bi6fgUXGvYgYSjV4T2Z24aY1DzzvzY8uJtlNej1uZT4ntcbhusj9G6U80jNAEEo4ZQX7Y/s1600/_images_001_img_130419_113840_036665023_LESCHOT_George_Auguste__tn_150x170_LESCHOT_Georges_Auguste_PNG_png.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">George Leschot</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"></span><br />
<blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" paragraphname="paragraph0" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">George-Auguste LESCHOT (1800 - 1884), </span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Watchmaker mechanic and swiss inventor.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" paragraphname="paragraph0" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" paragraphname="paragraph0" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Georges-Auguste Leschot is taken on as production engineer
in 1839 and proceeds to revolutionize watch-making techniques by adapting the
pantograph to the requirements of his industry. He also produced complicated
musical clocks, as well as making artificial limbs (prosthesis of artificial
limbs). He also invented a wheel-cutting machine for watch movements and built
a device to demonstrate the theory of watch movement gearing. His invention of
draw in lever escape wheel contributed to the universal adoption in the watch
industry worldwide. He also invented a 'diamond drill' for rock piercing and
deep well drilling. This invention was patented in 1862 and facilitated the
piercing of a majority of tunnels in the world, such as the 'GOTHARD' in the
Swiss Alps, as well as oil deep well drilling. This method is still used today
worldwide.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">1800<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Born.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">1830<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Design of the
Swiss anchor escapement which his student, Antoine Léchaud, mass produced. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">1839<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Invention of the
pantograph which allows the standardisation and interchangeability of parts on
watches fitted with the same calibre. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">1845<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1845, with
Vacheron & Constantin of Geneva, he received from Geneva’s Society of the
Arts the official prize 'Auguste de la Rives' </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">1862<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Création
d'outils perfectionnés pour fabriquer des mouvements interchangeables et une
perforatrice à couronne de diamants. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">1876<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Receives a gold
medal from the Society for the Arts in 1876 for inventing a procedure for
perforating hard rocks by means of drills with a crown fitted with black
diamonds, perfected by Colladon and used to drill.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
</span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">1884<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Died.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
</span></span>(Source: <a href="http://www.dmg-lib.org/dmglib/main/portal.jsp?mainNaviState=browsen.biogr.viewer&id=24314004">http://www.dmg-lib.org/dmglib/main/portal.jsp?mainNaviState=browsen.biogr.viewer&id=24314004</a>)</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div paragraphname="paragraph6">
</div>
<div paragraphname="paragraph6">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Leschot made many contributions to the world, from small delicate timepieces to large heavy duty drill bits, yet searching the internet to find out more about him will yield little. It's a shame that he is little known about. Especially considering that his diamond drill bits allowed civilization to quarry more goods out of the ground and then transport them through otherwise inpenetrable rock.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Just think of all the mineral-based products that either you or other people use throughout their day, and then think about how these mineral goods had to be drilled out of the ground, and transported through tunnels. Georges Leschot was one of the men that made it possible for those goods to, well, in short, for those goods to be!</span></div>
<div paragraphname="paragraph6">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div paragraphname="paragraph6">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div paragraphname="paragraph6">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[End]</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-77473646978786812352015-11-21T14:58:00.000+00:002015-11-21T14:58:03.986+00:00Men of Yore: Norman Borlaug<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity. </span></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIALAu5yT4UCnq8eonF1lvp1miAZwQDDkOnnuqp2fYCka6bH96c8LvPt3VsEynIOSCrEjY5ZkAlNEqWjBDz0zZT05nwOqn2XeZv8LIZXouT6fdwUSPBcHhKCIgZpBQPLCuJ4SwAXWV2t4/s1600/The_Rockefeller_Foundation_created__094A02E9447A2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIALAu5yT4UCnq8eonF1lvp1miAZwQDDkOnnuqp2fYCka6bH96c8LvPt3VsEynIOSCrEjY5ZkAlNEqWjBDz0zZT05nwOqn2XeZv8LIZXouT6fdwUSPBcHhKCIgZpBQPLCuJ4SwAXWV2t4/s1600/The_Rockefeller_Foundation_created__094A02E9447A2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Norman Borlaug</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
Norman Borlaug Date of birth: March 25, 1914<br />
Norman Borlaug Date of death:
September 12, 2009 </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Norman Ernest Borlaug was born in Saude, Iowa, on the
farm of his grandfather, Nels Olson Borlaug, who was the son of Norwegian
immigrants. From the age of seven, young Norman worked on the family farm, where
he learned the basics of agriculture, and enjoyed an active outdoor life. School
for the young farmboy meant a one-room country schoolhouse until he was old
enough to attend the high school in nearby Cresco. In high school, Borlaug was
an outstanding athlete, playing football and baseball and achieving statewide
renown as a competitive wrestler. He credits his high school wrestling coach,
Dave Bartelma, with inspiring him to excel at whatever he attempted. <br />
<br />
<div class="inputText">
<!-- render_photo --><br />
<table align="right" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="bor0-039a.gif"></a><a href="http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/photocredit/achievers/bor0-039"><img align="right" alt="Norman Borlaug Biography Photo" border="0" src="http://www.achievement.org/achievers/bor0/photos/bor0-039a.gif" height="300" width="231" /></a>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Although his family was spared the worst effects of
the Great Depression, Borlaug saw many of his neighbors lose their farms and
homes. Across rural America, the dispossessed threatened violence against bank
agents and local law enforcement. Borlaug's grandfather, who had taught him so
much about farming, encouraged him to leave the countryside and pursue higher
education. A newly created federal program, the National Youth Administration,
made it possible for Norman Borlaug to attend the the University of Minnesota,
even though his test scores did not qualify him for immediate admission.
Immersed in the academic environment of the Minneapolis campus, Borlaug made
rapid progress and soon joined the forestry program of the university's College
of Agriculture. He also recruited Dave Bartelma, to coach the University of
Minnesota wrestling team, and assisted Bartelma in introducing the sport to the
state's high schools. Although Borlaug's wrestling career ended after college,
he would eventually be inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in
Stillwater, Oklahoma. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="inputText">
To support himself at school, Borlaug worked a number of
jobs, including waiting on tables at a local coffee shop, where he met Margaret
Gibson, whom he would later marry. Between terms at the university, Borlaug led
a unit of the Civilian Conservation Corps, a federal program designed to put
unemployed youth to work during the Depression. Many of the young men assigned
to Boralug's team were visibly malnourished. Seeing the change in his men's
health and morale as they began to eat regularly -- many for the first time in
their lives -- made an indelible impression on Borlaug. </div>
<br />
<div class="inputText">
<!-- render_photo -->
<br />
<table align="left" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="bor0-013a.gif"></a><a href="http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/photocredit/achievers/bor0-013"><img align="left" alt="Norman Borlaug Biography Photo" border="0" src="http://www.achievement.org/achievers/bor0/photos/bor0-013a.gif" height="300" width="174" /></a>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Before and after his senior year, Borlaug worked for
the United States Forestry Service at research stations in Massachusetts and
Idaho. He had planned on a career with the forestry service when he first heard
a lecture by the plant pathologist Elvin Stakman. Stakman proposed that
crossbreeding of wheat, and of other grains, could produce varieties that would
resist the parasitic fungus known as rust, a pest that devastated crops
throughout the United States and around the world. Borlaug was fascinated by
this research, and when an expected Forestry Service appointment fell through,
he decided to remain at the University of Minnesota and pursue graduate studies
in plant pathology with Dr. Stakman. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="inputText">
Norman and Margaret Borlaug married and settled in
Minneapolis while Borlaug pursued his studies, completing his doctorate in plant
pathology and genetics in 1942. He was immediately hired by the chemical firm Du
Pont de Nemours in Wilmington, Delaware. Although he attempted to enlist in the
Army during World War II, the government regarded his work at Du Pont as
essential to the war effort and he was refused for military service. At Du Pont,
Borlaug's war work included new developments in camouflage, disinfectants,
malaria prevention and insulation for electronic devices. His most significant
achievement at the time was the creation of a waterproof adhesive for sealing
seaborne supply packages. With the Marines pinned down on Guadalcanal, Borlaug
and his team developed the new adhesive in a matter of weeks, enabling the
Marines to hold out until the Japanese were driven from the island. </div>
<br />
<div class="inputText">
<!-- render_photo -->
<br />
<table align="left" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="bor0-031a.gif"></a><a href="http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/photocredit/achievers/bor0-031"><img align="left" alt="Norman Borlaug Biography Photo" border="0" src="http://www.achievement.org/achievers/bor0/photos/bor0-031a.gif" height="178" width="300" /></a>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
While Borlaug was engaged in war work, his Minnesota
mentor, Dr. Stakman, had taken on a different scientific challenge south of the
border. The outgoing President of Mexico, Lázaro Cárdenas, had carried out a
revolutionary land reform, breaking up the giant estates of the old ruling class
and dividing the land into small holdings, know as <i>ejidos</i>. In the
following years, Mexican agriculture was devastated by rust, the parasitic
fungus Borlaug and Stakman had studied in Minnesota. Recurring crop failures
forced the country to import most of its wheat. The Vice President of the United
States, Henry Wallace, persuaded the U.S.-based Rockefeller Foundation to
collaborate with the Mexican government in introducing rust-resistant wheat to
Mexico. Ervin Stakman led the project; his project director, George Harrar,
invited Borlaug to join them. Despite a lucrative offer to remain at Du Pont,
Borlaug headed for Mexico in 1944 to lead the International Wheat Improvement
Program at El Batátan, Texcoco, outside of Mexico City. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="inputText">
Borlaug encountered many obstacles and setbacks in his first
years in Mexico. A lack of trained personnel, and the resistance of farmers and
local bureaucrats frustrated his early efforts, but Borlaug would not relent.
Tirelessly, he crossed one strain of wheat with another, trying thousands of
variations to find those that would flourish in Mexican soil and resist rust and
other parasites. In time, he hit on an unprecedented idea. The wheat-growing
season in the central highlands, where Borlaug was working, took place slightly
earlier than the season in the Yaqui Valley of Sonora, farther north. If he
planted the same seeds at the highland research station during the summer and in
the Yaqui Valley station immediately afterward, he could see his crops through
two growing seasons in a single year. </div>
<br />
<div class="inputText">
<!-- render_photo -->
<br />
<table align="right" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="bor0-017a.gif"></a><a href="http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/photocredit/achievers/bor0-017"><img align="right" alt="Norman Borlaug Biography Photo" border="0" src="http://www.achievement.org/achievers/bor0/photos/bor0-017a.gif" height="241" width="300" /></a>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Borlaug's superior, Harrar, strenuously opposed the
idea, not only because of its expense, but because of a widely-held belief that
wheat seeds required a rest period after harvest before they could be planted.
Only Elvin Stakman's intervention prevented Borlaug from resigning over the
disagreement. Stakman gave Borlaug the go-ahead for this "shuttle breeding"
project. Planting the same seeds at different altitudes, where they were exposed
to different temperatures, sunlight and rainfall, yielded a wealth of
information and enabled Borlaug to create wheat varieties that flourished under
very different conditions. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="inputText">
Borlaug moved his family to Mexico City and made a long-term
commitment to Mexican agriculture. He became active in his local community as
well, coaching Mexico's first Little League team. As his breeding techniques
grew more and more sophisticated, he realized the tall thin stalks of wheat he
had been growing too frequently collapsed under the weight of their own grain.
In the early '50s, Borlaug acquired a variety of dwarf wheat from Japan and
cross-bred it with North American strains to produce a semi-dwarf strain with a
thicker, stronger stalk, capable of supporting a heavier load of grain. Crossing
these with his rust-resistant strains produced ideal wheat for Mexico's needs.
</div>
<br />
<div class="inputText">
<!-- render_photo -->
<br />
<table align="left" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="bor0-008a.gif"></a><a href="http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/photocredit/achievers/bor0-008"><img align="left" alt="Norman Borlaug Biography Photo" border="0" src="http://www.achievement.org/achievers/bor0/photos/bor0-008a.gif" height="300" width="208" /></a>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
By 1963, more than 95 percent of the wheat harvested
in Mexico was grown from seed developed by Borlaug. The country was now
producing more than enough wheat for its needs and was exporting wheat to the
rest of the world, while Borlaug's techniques were being applied to other
grains. The project first proposed by Henry Wallace had grown into the
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), a training institute
funded jointly by the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations and the Mexican
government. Borlaug directed CIMMYT for over 30 years. The scientists he
trained, and the strains of wheat and corn he developed, spread around the
world, and other governments sought Borlaug's services to address their food
shortages. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="inputText">
In the 1960s, Pakistan and India were on the brink of war,
and the entire subcontinent of South Asia was beset with famine and starvation.
The United States was sending more than a fifth of its wheat crop to the
subcontinent as emergency aid, but uncounted thousands of men, women and
children were starving to death. Scientists in both countries, familiar with
Borlaug's work in Mexico, urged him to visit the region. Borlaug's first trip to
South Asia was unsuccessful, as agricultural communities in both India and
Pakistan resisted his proposals to increase their crop yield. By 1965, the
situation had grown so desperate that the governments of both countries insisted
he return and apply his expertise to the crisis. </div>
<br />
<div class="inputText">
<!-- render_photo -->
<br />
<table align="right" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="bor0-010a.gif"></a><a href="http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/photocredit/achievers/bor0-010"><img align="right" alt="Norman Borlaug Biography Photo" border="0" src="http://www.achievement.org/achievers/bor0/photos/bor0-010a.gif" height="234" width="300" /></a>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the West, popular books predicted catastrophic
famine in Asia and the rest of the world, with deaths in the hundreds of
millions. No improvements in food production could possibly keep pace with the
growth in population, they claimed, but Borlaug set to work with his
characteristic fervor, despite formidable obstacles. Seed shipments were delayed
and contaminated, bureaucrats and farmers resisted change to their accustomed
routines. With Pakistan and India at war, Borlaug's teams often operated within
sound of artillery fire, but he succeeded in importing and planting his Mexican
seeds, and within a single season was producing crops on a scale South Asia had
never seen before. As the threat of famine receded, war fever diminished and a
fragile peace returned to the region. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="inputText">
Pakistan became self-sufficient in wheat production by 1968;
India was self-sufficient in all cereal crops by 1974. Since then, grain
production in both countries has consistently outpaced population growth.
Borlaug's achievements in Mexico, India and Pakistan were hailed as a Green
Revolution. The scientists Borlaug had trained in Mexico and Asia spread his
techniques and grains to Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Indonesia, to continental
South America and to Africa. Around the world, infant mortality rates fell and
life expectancy rose. In many countries, the rising standard of living reduced
social tensions and political violence. </div>
<br />
<div class="inputText">
<!-- render_photo -->
<br />
<table align="right" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="bor0-027a.gif"></a><a href="http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/photocredit/achievers/bor0-027"><img align="right" alt="Norman Borlaug Biography Photo" border="0" src="http://www.achievement.org/achievers/bor0/photos/bor0-027a.gif" height="235" width="300" /></a>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
By 1970, Borlaug had returned to Mexico, and was busy
at work in the fields an hour's drive from his home when his wife brought word
that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. He is the only
agriculturalist ever to have been so honored. A descendant of Norwegian
immigrants -- men and women who had come to America to escape a food shortage in
their homeland -- Borlaug traveled to his ancestral homeland to be honored for
securing the food supply for countless millions around the world. Shortly after
receiving the Nobel Prize, Borlaug established a World Food Prize, to honor
others who have made outstanding contributions to improving the world's food
supply. Every year, the World Food Prize helps focus the world's attention on
issues of food production. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="inputText">
In the 1980s, Borlaug's methods were criticized by some
environmentalists for their reliance on chemical pesticides and fertilizers, but
Borlaug was quick to point out that by increasing the productivity of existing
farmland, his followers removed the necessity for destroying standing forests to
clear additional farmland. In India alone, wooded areas the size of California
were spared because of his work. Lobbying by Western activists blocked Borlaug's
first efforts in Africa, but when a devastating famine struck Ethiopia in 1984,
the Japanese industrialist Roichi Sasakawa approached Borlaug about starting a
new program there. In his 70s, Borlaug agreed to head the Sasakawa Africa
Association, and was soon doubling grain production in half a dozen African
countries. Through a joint venture with the Carter Center, founded by former
U.S. President <a href="http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/car0int-1">Jimmy Carter</a>, the program
trained over 8 million farmers in 15 countries. While much of the continent
lacks the roads and other infrastructure to modernize its agriculture, former
President Carter took up the cause, and agricultural progress in Africa
continues. </div>
<br />
<div class="inputText">
<!-- render_photo -->
<br />
<table align="left" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="bor0-007a.gif"></a><a href="http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/photocredit/achievers/bor0-007"><img align="left" alt="Norman Borlaug Biography Photo" border="0" src="http://www.achievement.org/achievers/bor0/photos/bor0-007a.gif" height="215" width="227" /></a>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
While crop failure and hunger persist in many parts of
the world, the mass starvation predicted by many experts in the '60s and '70s
were avoided by the efforts of Borlaug and his followers. As the years pass, it
has become apparent that roughly a billion of the earth's inhabitants owe their
lives to the Green Revolution. Although famine was averted by his past efforts,
Borlaug insists that a concerted campaign to build roads and infrastructure in
underdeveloped countries will be necessary to avoid mass starvation in the
decades ahead. <br />
<br />
<br />
While Norman Borlaug's accomplishments are largely unknown to
much of the public in his own country, he has received numerous honors for his
achievement, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional
Gold Medal. Streets and institutions are named for him in his native Iowa, in
Minnesota, in Mexico and in India. Margaret Borlaug, Norman's wife of 69 years,
died in 2007. The couple had two children, five grandchildren and four
great-grandchildren. In his tenth decade, Dr. Borlaug continued to consult with
CIMMYT in Mexico, to teach at Texas A&M University, and to travel, promoting
his ideas to end world hunger. He spent his last years in Dallas, Texas, where
he died at the age of 95. <br />
<br />
Source: <a href="http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/printmember/bor0bio-1">http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/printmember/bor0bio-1</a><br />
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is the man responsible for increasing the yields of wheat crops by ~4 times. The following graphic from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug" target="_blank">Norman Borlaugs Wikipedia page</a> says it all really. It shows how much Wheat yields increased by in third world countries: since 1950:</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU1iUiK_ZycUm9g3Dhl9oNWvpkGnCEureihT4AA5vOjgJFcDsKium5lErbVU8OkMgV4bMc9fxUtD4etMHU2p6I8C2FUS3gBrUJzqNBmD3zhAIAVt3rsSin7HpoDPMA3wUwYS7Vt3WvB6s/s1600/Wheat_yields_in_developing_countries_1951-2004.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU1iUiK_ZycUm9g3Dhl9oNWvpkGnCEureihT4AA5vOjgJFcDsKium5lErbVU8OkMgV4bMc9fxUtD4etMHU2p6I8C2FUS3gBrUJzqNBmD3zhAIAVt3rsSin7HpoDPMA3wUwYS7Vt3WvB6s/s320/Wheat_yields_in_developing_countries_1951-2004.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">You can't ask for much more from a man than the ability to provide food. And Norman Borlaug did that in spades. He's one of the men people can thank next time they tuck into a sandwich, doughnut, bun or anything containing wheat.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Apologies for the rather long biography this week, but I find grain farming fascinating. No idea why! I'm intrigued by the attributes of grain and it's multifacetedness e.g. the different stalk lengths used, the different micro-climates that these stalk lengths create, the uses of long stalks, and all the rest of it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For instance Medieval farmers grew wheat with long stalks so that they could use the hay for thatching, animal fodder, faggots (fuel not <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_(food)" target="_blank">sausages</a>!). But modern farmers got rid of the long stalks because roof tiles replaced thatch, hi-tech animal feed replaced hay fodder, and gas/electricity replaced faggots. The result of shorter stems was that more energy went into the seed rather than the stem, which led to bigger grains ergo (not 'that' <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergot" target="_blank">ergot</a>!) bigger wheat yields for the farmers and cheaper food for us.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's a funny old world isn't it, with all these disconnected technologies affecting one another in such big ways; all to our benefit.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[End.]</span><br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-39429017805764806052015-11-11T17:03:00.000+00:002015-11-11T17:03:39.948+00:00Men of Yore: John Smeaton<span style="font-family: "arial";">This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity. </span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYIWi9lZSBl47QuO22_4Jtir7DyVLILBZ8se8ivphll4_DLSs3g6EV9dfr5zoA6moS4FHloPyyFBm7kSm2kIg7JH5Sgj7yZ5_x6T29z24qLFPvw7-Axg5YT9EWAhlHWdVrDCDAgxKEYyo/s1600/John_Smeaton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYIWi9lZSBl47QuO22_4Jtir7DyVLILBZ8se8ivphll4_DLSs3g6EV9dfr5zoA6moS4FHloPyyFBm7kSm2kIg7JH5Sgj7yZ5_x6T29z24qLFPvw7-Axg5YT9EWAhlHWdVrDCDAgxKEYyo/s320/John_Smeaton.jpg" width="262" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Smeaton</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
born June 8, 1724, Austhorpe, Yorkshire, Eng. <br />
died Oct. 28, 1792, Austhorpe <br />
<br />
English engineer noted for his all-masonry lighthouse on Eddystone reef off Plymouth, Devon, and as the founder of the civil-engineering profession in Great Britain. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Smeaton learned mathematical instrument making in London, where his scientific papers led to his election to the Royal Society in 1753. Smeaton visited the Low Countries during 1754, studying canals, harbours, and mills; the tour was the turning point in his career. In 1756–59 he built the third Eddystone Lighthouse, using dovetailed blocks of portland stone to withstand the pounding of the waves; this technique became standard for such wave-swept structures. While planning the lighthouse, he discovered the best mortar for underwater construction to be limestone with a high proportion of clay, and thus he was the first to recognize what constitutes a hydraulic lime. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Smeaton also constructed the Forth and Clyde Canal in Scotland, which opened a waterway between the Atlantic and the North Sea; built bridges at Perth, Banff, and Coldstream, Scot.; and completed the harbour at Ramsgate, Kent. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Smeaton took a leading part in the transition from wind-and-water to steam power. He introduced cast-iron shafts and gearing into windmills and water mills, receiving the Royal Society's Copley Medal for An Experimental Enquiry Concerning the Natural Powers of Water and Wind to Turn Mills (1759). </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Owing to his improvements, the Newcomen atmospheric steam engine achieved its maximum performance. He designed large atmospheric pumping engines for Long Benton colliery in Northumberland, Chacewater mine in Cornwall, and the docks of Kronshtadt in Russia. He also improved the safety of the diving bell by fitting an air pump to the bell. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Smeaton founded the Society of Civil Engineers in 1771. In 1791 he wrote Narrative of the Building . . . of the Eddystone Lighthouse. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Source: <a href="http://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Smeaton">http://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Smeaton</a></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you're a native of planet earth, or have lived here for a couple of weeks, then you've certainly noticed that cities are different to the countryside. Tarmac roads, concrete road bridges, brick railway tunnels, sewerage tunnels, water pipes, power stations, electricity pylons, and all the rest of it. It all had to be built. It all had to be designed. And it all had to be conceived of. Those things don't build themselves you know. There isn't a giant subterranean worm munching a hole through the soil and then lining it with concrete that we can then purloin and conveniently use as a pipe for the gubbins from our toilets to flow down. Oh no! These constructions are conceived of, designed, and built by men. Or more specifically men who are civil engineers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of those civil engineers was John Smeaton. It was he who got the Civil Engineering ball ralling in the UK by founding 'The Society of Civil Engineers', and thus 'paved the way' (geddit?! an engineer who 'paved the way'...?!) for all of those wonderful engineering projects that we all benefit from on an everyday basis. Like clean water, removal of waste water, tarmacked roads, power lines, and so on. They're an under-appreciated bunch. Without them the urban world would be the rural world, and we'd all be trudging down muddy paths, to collect river water that some rodent just swam in, to boil up and drink, every single day. A life that, in all honesty, we'd rather not live. It's that kind of life that civil engineers like John Smeaton have helped to do away with, and by doing so, have thus laid the foundations for our modern hygienic, powered, and convenient world. Huzzah!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[End.]</span><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-50197769980504009112015-10-23T13:34:00.000+01:002015-10-23T13:34:04.303+01:00Men of Yore: Thomas Davenport<span style="font-family: Arial;">This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicG7207CFqasxoMyhHXKxHrK02D8ey_l9wNBBEWgDZiEQW_0Ji66skSI8ulPco8obHdIamb6KnJuToqUDSwfBCHWYhngfm3_DP9V2oStjBcTI_SnM0eTbMQCDyYaAJ5jX2TMoGNUq0AHg/s1600/Thomas_Davenport.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicG7207CFqasxoMyhHXKxHrK02D8ey_l9wNBBEWgDZiEQW_0Ji66skSI8ulPco8obHdIamb6KnJuToqUDSwfBCHWYhngfm3_DP9V2oStjBcTI_SnM0eTbMQCDyYaAJ5jX2TMoGNUq0AHg/s320/Thomas_Davenport.jpg" width="234" /></a></div>
</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>Thomas Davenport</b> (9 July 1802 – 6 July 1851) was a </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermont" title="Vermont"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Vermont</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacksmith" title="Blacksmith"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">blacksmith</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> who constructed the first American </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_current" title="Direct current"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">DC</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_motor" title="Electric motor"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">electric motor</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> in 1834.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-daven_1-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Davenport_(inventor)#cite_note-daven-1">[1]</a></sup></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Davenport was born in </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williamstown,_Vermont" title="Williamstown, Vermont"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Williamstown, Vermont</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">. He lived in Forest Dale, a village near the town of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon,_Vermont" title="Brandon, Vermont"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Brandon</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">As early as 1834, he developed a battery-powered electric motor. He used it to operate a small model car on a short section of track, paving the way for the later electrification of </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetcar" title="Streetcar"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">streetcars</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Davenport_(inventor)#cite_note-2">[2]</a></sup></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Davenport's 1833 visit to the Penfield and Taft iron works at </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Point,_New_York" title="Crown Point, New York"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Crown Point, New York</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">, where an </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnet" title="Electromagnet"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">electromagnet</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> was operating, based on the design of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Henry" title="Joseph Henry"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Joseph Henry</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">, was an impetus for his electromagnetic undertakings. Davenport bought an electromagnet from the Crown Point factory and took it apart to see how it worked. Then he forged a better iron core and redid the wiring, using silk from his wife's wedding gown.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-3"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Davenport_(inventor)#cite_note-3">[3]</a></sup></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">With his wife </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Davenport" title="Emily Davenport"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Emily</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">, and a colleague Orange Smalley, Davenport received the first American </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent" title="Patent"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">patent</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> on an electric machine in 1837, U. S. Patent No. 132.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GP132_4-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Davenport_(inventor)#cite_note-GP132-4">[4]</a></sup></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">In 1849, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Grafton_Page" title="Charles Grafton Page"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Charles Grafton Page</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">, the Washington scientist and inventor, commenced a project to build an electromagnetically powered locomotive, with substantial funds appropriated by the US Senate. Davenport challenged the expenditure of public funds, arguing for the motors he had already invented. In 1851, Page's full sized electromagnetically operated locomotive was put to a calamity-laden test on the rail line between Washington and Baltimore.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Davenport_(inventor)#cite_note-5">[5]</a></sup></span></blockquote>
</span><blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Source: </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Davenport_(inventor"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Davenport_(inventor</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">)</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The electric motor, a pretty simple device that doesn't look all that impressive when viewed on a work bench, and looks even less impressive when it's operational. Some one might even make a passing remark like "This is just a small box that has a spinning rod come out of it. How is this supposed to change the world?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">A valid observation, because it is after all just a box with a rotating spindle coming out of it. But when you start to see and/or think of how that rotating spindle can be put to use <em>then</em> you begin to see how much of an impact it can have on the world. Davenport improved upon the work of previous men by putting his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_motor" target="_blank">electric motor</a> to use power printing presses and machine tools. That's when you know that science has proven itself useful: when it can be used by John Does (like thee & me) in the everyday real world.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">That short list has grown and grown since the 1840s when Davenport first developed the motor and now every room in your house has an electric motor in it. Here's an uber-short list of appliances that have an electric motor in them:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Vacuum cleaner.<br />
Electric saw.<br />
Electric drill.<br />
Ceiling fan.<br />
Electric toothbrush.<br />
Hair dryer.<br />
Electric razor.<br />
Several in the VCR.<br />
Several in a CD player or tape deck.<br />
Many in a computer (each disk drive has two or three, plus there's a fan or two).<br />
Many toys that move have at least one motor.<br />
Electric clocks.<br />
Aquarium pumps.<br />
Playstation games console dualshock controller.<br />
Sex toys.<br />
Food processor.<br />
Bandsaws.<br />
Lathe.<br />
Electric cars.<br />
Diesel-electric railway locomotives.<br />
and last but not least the minigun.<br />
<br />
<br />
Not bad going for such an innocuous looking contraption eh?!<br />
<br />
<br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">[End.]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-20458230009868160192015-10-17T12:19:00.000+01:002015-10-17T12:19:08.781+01:00Men of Yore: Charles Martin Hall <span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity. </span></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLDKQME9xpgASOF7-axOoJJylP_FdI1XRT7Q3dI4CfFuR-L3rbOlE3Oav95rcbeqExMPx4wkZ2MzlxCpopHnOr_xiadnUHyKFrNdl-PxyVt0k-aYIs9bJfxvbWS7rU8HAKdkYeyNLe0uo/s1600/Charles_Martin_Hall_1880s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLDKQME9xpgASOF7-axOoJJylP_FdI1XRT7Q3dI4CfFuR-L3rbOlE3Oav95rcbeqExMPx4wkZ2MzlxCpopHnOr_xiadnUHyKFrNdl-PxyVt0k-aYIs9bJfxvbWS7rU8HAKdkYeyNLe0uo/s320/Charles_Martin_Hall_1880s.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charles Martin Hall</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span><br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<b>Charles Martin Hall</b> (December 6, 1863 – December 27, 1914) was an American <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inventor" title="Inventor">inventor</a>, businessman, and chemist. He is best known for his invention in 1886 of an inexpensive method for producing <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminum" title="Aluminum">aluminum</a>, which became the first metal to attain widespread use since the prehistoric discovery of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron" title="Iron">iron</a>. He was one of the founders of <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALCOA" title="ALCOA">ALCOA</a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Production_1-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Production-1">[1]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Geller_2-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Geller-2">[2]</a></sup> Alfred E. Hunt, together with Charles Hall and a group of five other individuals including his partner at the Pittsburgh Testing Laboratory, George Hubbard Clapp, his chief chemist, W.S. Sample, Howard Lash, head of the Carbon Steel Company, Millard Hunsiker, sales manager for the Carbon Steel Company, and Robert Scott, a mill superintendent for the Carnegie Steel Company, Hunt raised $20,000 to launch the Pittsburgh Reduction Company which was later renamed Aluminum Company of America and shortened to Alcoa.<br />
<h2>
<span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket"></span></span> </h2>
<h3>
<span class="mw-headline" id="Early_years">Early years</span></h3>
Charles Martin Hall was born to Herman Bassett Hall and Sophronia H. Brooks on December 6, 1863 in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson_Township,_Geauga_County,_Ohio" title="Thompson Township, Geauga County, Ohio">Thompson, Ohio</a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-CharlesGrave_3-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-CharlesGrave-3">[3]</a></sup> Charles' father Herman graduated from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberlin_College" title="Oberlin College">Oberlin College</a> in 1847, and studied for three years at the Oberlin Theological Seminary, where he met his future wife. They married in 1849, and the next ten years were spent in missionary work in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaica" title="Jamaica">Jamaica</a>, where the first five of their eight children were born.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Beck2014_4-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Beck2014-4">[4]</a></sup> They returned to Ohio in 1860, when the outbreak of the Civil War forced the closing of foreign missions. Charles Hall had two brothers and five sisters; one brother died in infancy. One of his sisters was chemist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Brainerd_Hall" title="Julia Brainerd Hall">Julia Brainerd Hall</a> (1859–1925), who helped him in his research.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Trescott_5-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Trescott-5">[5]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Kass_6-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Kass-6">[6]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Achievers_7-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Achievers-7">[7]</a></sup><br />
Hall began his education at home, and was taught to read at an early age by his mother.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Beck2014_4-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Beck2014-4">[4]</a></sup> At the age of six, he was using his father's 1840's college chemistry book as a reader.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Perkin_8-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Perkin-8">[8]</a></sup> At age 8, he entered public school, and progressed rapidly.<br />
His family moved to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberlin,_Ohio" title="Oberlin, Ohio">Oberlin, Ohio</a> in 1873. He spent three years at Oberlin High School, and a year at Oberlin Academy in preparation for college.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Beck2014_4-2"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Beck2014-4">[4]</a></sup> During this time he demonstrated his aptitude for chemistry and invention, carrying out experiments in the kitchen and the woodshed attached to his house. In 1880, at the age of 16, he enrolled at Oberlin College.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Immortal_Woodshed_9-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Immortal_Woodshed-9">[9]</a></sup><br />
Hall was encouraged in his scientific experiments, with ideas and materials from Professor Frank Fanning Jewett (1844–1926). Jewett received his undergraduate and some graduate training from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_University" title="Yale University">Yale University</a>. From 1883 – 1885, he studied chemistry at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_G%C3%B6ttingen" title="University of Göttingen">University of Göttingen</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6ttingen" title="Göttingen">Göttingen</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Saxony" title="Lower Saxony">Lower Saxony</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany" title="Germany">Germany</a>. There he met <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_W%C3%B6hler" title="Friedrich Wöhler">Friedrich Wöhler</a>, and obtained a sample of aluminum metal. Upon return to the United States, Jewett spent a year assisting <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolcott_Gibbs" title="Wolcott Gibbs">Wolcott Gibbs</a> at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_University" title="Harvard University">Harvard University</a>, then spent a further four years as Professor of Chemistry at the Imperial <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Tokyo" title="University of Tokyo">University of Tokyo</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan" title="Japan">Japan</a>. In 1890, he became the professor of chemistry and mineralogy at Oberlin College.<br />
In his second term, Hall attended, with considerable interest, Professor Jewett's lecture on aluminum; it was here that Jewett displayed the sample of aluminum he had obtained from Wöhler, and remarked, "if anyone should invent a process by which aluminum could be made on a commercial scale, not only would he be a benefactor to the world, but would also be able to lay up for himself a great fortune."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Immortal_Woodshed_9-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Immortal_Woodshed-9">[9]</a></sup><br />
<h3>
<span class="mw-headline" id="Discovery">Discovery</span></h3>
His initial experiments in finding an aluminum reduction process were in 1881; he attempted, unsuccessfully, to produce aluminum from clay by smelting with carbon in contact with charcoal and potassium chlorate. He next attempted to improve the electrolytic methods previously established by investigating cheaper methods to produce aluminum chloride, again unsuccessfully. In his senior year, he attempted to electrolyse aluminum fluoride in water solution, but was unable to produce aluminum at the cathode.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Geller_2-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Geller-2">[2]</a></sup><br />
In 1884, after setting up a homemade coal-fired furnace and bellows in a shed behind the family home, he again tried to find a catalyst that would allow him to reduce aluminum with carbon at high temperatures: "I tried mixtures of alumina and carbon with barium salts, with cryolite, and with carbonate of sodium, hoping to get a double reaction by which the final result would be aluminum. I remember buying some metallic sodium and trying to reduce cryolite, but obtained very poor results. I made some aluminum sulphide but found it very unpromising as a source of aluminum then as it has been ever since.".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Immortal_Woodshed_9-2"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Immortal_Woodshed-9">[9]</a></sup><br />
He had to fabricate most of his apparatus and prepare his chemicals, and was assisted by his older sister Julia Brainerd Hall.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Craig1986CIM_10-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Craig1986CIM-10">[10]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Craig1986JCE_11-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Craig1986JCE-11">[11]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Kass_6-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Kass-6">[6]</a></sup> The basic invention involves passing an electric current through a bath of <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alumina" title="Alumina">alumina</a> dissolved in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryolite" title="Cryolite">cryolite</a>, which results in a puddle of aluminum forming in the bottom of the retort.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-_12-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note--12">[12]</a></sup> On July 9, 1886, Hall filed for his first patent. This process was also discovered at nearly the same time by the Frenchman <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_H%C3%A9roult" title="Paul Héroult">Paul Héroult</a>, and it has come to be known as the <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall-H%C3%A9roult_process" title="Hall-Héroult process">Hall-Héroult process</a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Geller_2-2"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Geller-2">[2]</a></sup><br />
After failing to find financial backing at home, Hall went to <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh,_Pennsylvania" title="Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania">Pittsburgh</a> where he made contact with the noted metallurgist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_E._Hunt" title="Alfred E. Hunt">Alfred E. Hunt</a>. They formed the Reduction Company of Pittsburgh which opened the first large-scale aluminum production plants. The Reduction Company later became the Aluminum Company of America, then <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoa" title="Alcoa">Alcoa</a>. Hall was a major stockholder, and became wealthy.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Geller_2-3"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Geller-2">[2]</a></sup><br />
The Hall-Héroult process eventually resulted in reducing the price of aluminum by a factor of 200, making it affordable for many practical uses. By 1900, annual production reached about 8,000 tons. Today, more aluminum is produced than all other non-ferrous metals combined.<br />
Hall is sometimes suggested to be the originator of the American spelling of aluminum, but that spelling was used briefly by <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Humphry_Davy" title="Sir Humphry Davy">Humphry Davy</a> in the early 1800s and was the spelling in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Webster" title="Noah Webster">Noah Webster</a>’s Dictionary of 1828. "Aluminium" was used widely in the United States until 1895 or 1900, and "Aluminum" was not officially adopted by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Chemical_Society" title="American Chemical Society">American Chemical Society</a> until 1925.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Words_13-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Words-13">[13]</a></sup> Hall's early patents use the spelling "aluminium".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Aluminium_14-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Aluminium-14">[14]</a></sup> In the United Kingdom and other countries using <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences" title="American and British English spelling differences">British spelling</a>, only the spelling <i>aluminium</i> is now used. The spelling in virtually all other languages is analogous to the <i>-ium</i> ending.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Words_13-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Words-13">[13]</a></sup><br />
Hall continued his research and development for the rest of his life and was granted 22 US patents, most on aluminum production. He served on the Oberlin College Board of Trustees. He was vice-president of Alcoa until his death. He died unmarried and childless and was buried in Westwood Cemetery in Oberlin.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Beck2014_4-3"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Beck2014-4">[4]</a></sup> Hall left the vast majority of his fortune to charity. His generosity contributed to the establishment of the <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard-Yenching_Institute" title="Harvard-Yenching Institute">Harvard-Yenching Institute</a>, a leading foundation dedicated to advancing higher education in Asia in the humanities and social sciences.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Yenching_15-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Yenching-15">[15]</a></sup><br />
<h3>
<span class="mw-headline" id="Awards_and_honors">Awards and honors</span></h3>
Hall won the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perkin_Medal" title="Perkin Medal">Perkin Medal</a>, the highest award in American industrial chemistry in 1911.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Perkin_8-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Perkin-8">[8]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-PerkinMedalCHF_16-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-PerkinMedalCHF-16">[16]</a></sup> In 1997 the production of aluminum metal by electrochemistry discovered by Hall was designated as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Historic_Chemical_Landmarks" title="National Historic Chemical Landmarks">National Historic Chemical Landmark</a> by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Chemical_Society" title="American Chemical Society">American Chemical Society</a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Production_1-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Production-1">[1]</a></sup><br />
Hall eventually became one of Oberlin College's most prominent benefactors, and an aluminum statue of him exists on the campus.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Leise_17-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-Leise-17">[17]</a></sup> Because of its light weight, Hall's statue was once known for its frequent changes of location, often due to student pranks. Today the statue is glued to a large granite block and sits more permanently on the second floor of Oberlin's new science center, where students continue to decorate Hall with appropriate trappings on holidays and other occasions.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-SunTimes_18-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-SunTimes-18">[18]</a></sup><br />
The Jewett home is preserved in Oberlin as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberlin_Heritage_Center" title="Oberlin Heritage Center">Oberlin Heritage Center</a>. The center features an exhibit called <i>Aluminum: The Oberlin Connection</i>, which includes a re-creation of Hall's 1886 woodshed experiment.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-hist_19-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-hist-19">[19]</a></sup> The Hall House is also preserved in Oberlin, although the woodshed was demolished long ago.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-OberlinCollege_20-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall#cite_note-OberlinCollege-20">[20]</a></sup><br />
<br />
Source: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martin_Hall</a></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aluminium smelting is just one of many<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_discovery" target="_blank"> simultaneous discoveries</a> that have occured throughout history, and Simultaneous discoveries occur more often than you might think. Here are a few of them:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Calculus: Gottfried Liebniz and Isaac Newtown.<br />Theory of Evolution: Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Discovery of Oxygen: Joseph Priestly and Antoine Lavoisier.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aluminium Smelting: Charles Hall and Paul-Louis-Toussaint Heroult.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That two people (sometimes) living in disconnected cultures that have</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> evolved in (relative) isolation end up making inventions or discoveries at the same time is bizarre. I've no idea why it pans out this way yet it certainly does.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Metaphysics aside though, the discovery that Charles Hall made has allowed us to make use of the most common non-ferrous metal on/in planet Earth. And if someone can turn a formerly un-usable material into a highly usable material then he's alright by me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[End.]</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-65776587354828748962015-10-06T12:30:00.000+01:002015-10-06T12:30:41.980+01:00Men of Yore: Robert Randall<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAgqczm2M7J6hUIAnpPShoieqzjeIrwfy-_pU5CjBPGs7ANPp4653U-V07sEnbzBUvRNucymrfAW-b5VFYy2Q9CFEAbQ7drkcsvZZb6QO5cdUeml_FCb-03V8V99KXU9Yi-5Cjarty96I/s1600/150331161_9eccdd89e5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAgqczm2M7J6hUIAnpPShoieqzjeIrwfy-_pU5CjBPGs7ANPp4653U-V07sEnbzBUvRNucymrfAW-b5VFYy2Q9CFEAbQ7drkcsvZZb6QO5cdUeml_FCb-03V8V99KXU9Yi-5Cjarty96I/s320/150331161_9eccdd89e5.jpg" width="319" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robert Randall (or more accurately, a statue of him located in <a href="http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/sailors-snug-harbor/monuments/1313" target="_blank">Snug Harbour Cultural Center</a>.)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">RANDALL, Robert Richard, philanthropist, born in New Jersey about 1740; died in New York city, 5 June, 1801.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">He was a son of Thomas Randall, who was one of the committee of 100 chosen to control the affairs of the city of New York in 1775.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">In early life Robert appears to have followed the sea, and he became a merchant and shipmaster, in consequence of which he is generally styled captain.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Captain Randall became a member in 1771 of the Marine society of New York for the relief of indigent and distressed masters of vessels, their widows and orphan children, and in 1780 was elected a member of the chamber of commerce. In 1790 he purchased from Baron Poelnitz the property known as the Minto farm, or Minthorne, consisting of snore than twenty-one acres of land in what is now the 15th ward of New York city, the southern boundary of which was then the upper end of Broadway. This, together with four lots in the 1st ward of New York, and stocks valued at $10,000, he bequeathed to found the home called the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailors%27_Snug_Harbor" target="_blank">Sailors' Snug Harbor</a>, "for the purpose of maintaining aged, decrepit, and worn-out sailors." It was his intention to have the home erected on the family estate, but, in consequence of suits by alleged heirs, the control of the property was slot absolutely obtained until 1831. Meanwhile the growth of the city made it more advantageous to rent the farm and purchase a site elsewhere, and 130 acres were bought on Staten island near New Brighton. In October, 1831, the corner-stone was laid, and the dedication ceremonies took place two years later.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">In 1834 Captain Randall's remains were removed to Staten island, and in 1884 a heroic statue of him, in bronze, by Augustus St. Gaudens, was unveiled, with appropriate ceremonies, on the lawn adjoining the buildings</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">At present (1888) the property has increased by purchase to 180 acres, on which there are eight large dormitory buildings capable of accommodating 1,000 men, besides numerous other buildings, thirty-eight in all, including a hospital, church, and residences for the officers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Source: <a href="http://www.famousamericans.net/robertrichardrandall/">http://www.famousamericans.net/robertrichardrandall/</a></span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Nearly all of will grow old enough to retire with a head of grey hair and a few marbles rolling around upstairs. But who will take care of us? In the pre-industrial era that probably would have been done by the extended family, assuming that we were lucky enough to live to old age. Nowadays though loadsa people are living into their 60s, 70s and even 80s, and this means that they have to be taken care of either by family, friends or relocated to a retirement home.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Retirement homes, just like everything else in the civilised world, had to be created ex-nihlo by men. On this occasion it was Robert Randall who took it upon himself to found a retirement home called the 'Sailors Snug Harbor' which was intended for old, 'worn out' sailors, who would otherwise end up homeless or living in squalor.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">And what's more is that he accomplished all of this using his own money that he had either inherited from his father or earned by his own hand. There was no need for taxes and government spending here. No siree! Just a man with a head full of common sense and heart full of compassion. Outstanding!</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">[End.]</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-86134574471703030272015-09-27T13:36:00.002+01:002015-09-27T13:36:35.164+01:00Men of Yore: Friedrich Koenig<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisrqTRCDOzE6mrc7iSdkYtuTNP1l2ah0oy7KkiPkkkVIrspsIyM031W2kHwalru78ThUjp4jZTSp2RnyHDpG_ckyaCVOZqRhPMRO8rKRap53JAoHNKjH0RrefKTCvLBeQbyweKOVCeWRI/s1600/Friedrich_Koenig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisrqTRCDOzE6mrc7iSdkYtuTNP1l2ah0oy7KkiPkkkVIrspsIyM031W2kHwalru78ThUjp4jZTSp2RnyHDpG_ckyaCVOZqRhPMRO8rKRap53JAoHNKjH0RrefKTCvLBeQbyweKOVCeWRI/s320/Friedrich_Koenig.jpg" width="255" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Friedrich Koenig</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<blockquote>
He was born at Eisleben on April 17, 1774, and, after attending school, was apprenticed to a printer of Leipzig and then worked as a journeyman. His first improvements were made in connexion with the ordinary hand press. To further his projects he came to England in 1806, and it was soon after this that he met his countryman, Andreas Friedrich Bauer (1783–1860), who possessed the mechanical skill Koeng lacked. Four patents were taken out between 1810 and 1814 and from these came the power-driven flat bed printing machine in which the paper was pressed against the type by a cylindrical roller. Through John Walter (1776–1847), two of Koenigs machines were installed for printing the <i>Times</i>, and with the appearance of the issue of November 28, 1814, a new era in newspaper production began. Koenigs success, however, was but the prelude to a long struggle against difficulties. Returning to Germany with Bauer in 1817, he founded a works for the building of printing machines at Oberzell near Würzburg, only to find it next to impossible to obtain properly skilled artisans. Five years indeed passed before the partners completed their first German printing machine, and throughout his life Koenig met with little but adversity. He died at Oberzell at the age of fifty-eight years. The business was carried on by Bauer and relations, and after-wards gained a wide reputation. The speed of an early Koenig machine was about two thousand sheets an hour. Improvements by Cowper and Applegarth raised the speed to 5,000—10,000 sheets an hour, the Hoes of America then built machines doubling the capacity and to-day the rate of printing is some fifty times as fast as that in 1814.<br />
<br />
Source: <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v131/n3298/abs/131051d0.html">http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v131/n3298/abs/131051d0.html</a><br />
<br /></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ability to communicate ideas quickly, cheaply and conveniently (mass-media) is something we Westerners take for granted. Radio, tv, the internet, wi-fi, smartphones, social media and all the rest has resulted in us being able to swim in a sea of information (with all the benefits & hazards it brings with it). But this wasn't always the case.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prior to Friedrich Koenigs revolutionary printing press all printing had to be done the same way that Gutenberg did it 300 years previously: one sheet at a time, and by hand. It was slow and expensive. Koenig had the genius idea of mechanising the process and making it cyclical, much like modern day production lines: which comprise a linear-progressive part (the coke bottle travelling along the linear conveyor belt) and multiple cyclical-repetitive parts (e.g. the bottle filling contraption, the bottle capping contraption, the bottle labelling contraption, all doing the same job over and over again). This is precisely what Koenig did with his genius idea of using a roller as a method of printing repeatedly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />The result of his invention is of course the growth of the printed-press media (newspapers, journals, comics, magazines etc) and all the benefits that these things brought us.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">P.S. The linear and cyclical elements in a production line are like the linear and cyclical elements in life: linear = masculine, cyclical = feminine. For example the linear view of history tends towards the progressive view (history as forever improving), and the cyclical view of history tends towards the repetitive view (history as forever repeating e.g the Indian Yugas, or Oswald Spenglers cyclical view of history etc).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">[End.]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-27634681236060300772015-09-11T13:39:00.000+01:002015-09-11T13:39:45.160+01:00Men of Yore: Carl Bosch<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"></span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIRya1IU6yshtBncsf1H9P7Uk_fPzSzWIweRPoEgY7ThyphenhyphenAm4BljFAibRjJa93KYa5B0v8_iZyaIiqKlMV4xvha80mxG3F53LSmXbGkCb29AfIY5E9pQ44Un_18Do3yGwpot1p5W4w3_Pc/s1600/bosch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIRya1IU6yshtBncsf1H9P7Uk_fPzSzWIweRPoEgY7ThyphenhyphenAm4BljFAibRjJa93KYa5B0v8_iZyaIiqKlMV4xvha80mxG3F53LSmXbGkCb29AfIY5E9pQ44Un_18Do3yGwpot1p5W4w3_Pc/s1600/bosch.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carl Bosch</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<blockquote>
<strong>Carl Bosch</strong> was born at Cologne on August 27, 1874, and grew up there. From 1894 to 1896 he studied metallurgy and mechanical engineering at the Technische Hochschule in Charlottenburg, but started reading chemistry at Leipzig University in 1896. He graduated under Professor Wislicenus with a paper on organic chemistry in 1898. He entered the employ of the Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik, Ludwigshafen, Rhine as a chemist in April 1899 and participated actively in the development of the then new industry of synthetic indigo under the guidance of Dr. Rudolf Knietsch.<br />
<br />
At the turn of the century Bosch became interested in the problem of the fixing of nitrogen and his first experiments in this field were done with metal cyanides and nitrides; in 1907 he started a pilot plant for the production of barium cyanide.<br />
<br />
Bosch's opportunity for really large-scale work came when in 1908 the Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik acquired the process of high-pressure synthesis of ammonia, which had been developed by <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1918/index.html">Fritz Haber</a> at the Technische Hochschule in Karlsruhe. Bosch was given the task of developing this process on a large industrial scale. This task involved the construction of plant and apparatus which would stand up to working at high gas pressure and high reaction temperatures. Haber's catalysts, osmium and uranium had to be replaced by a contact substance which would be both cheaper and more easily available. Bosch and his collaborators found the solution by using pure iron with certain additives. Further problems which had to be solved were the construction of safe high-pressurized blast furnaces, a cheap way of producing and cleaning the gases necessary for the synthesis of ammonia. Step by step Bosch went on to using increasingly larger manufacturing units and thus created the industry which deals with the production of synthetic ammonia according to the high-pressure process.<br />
<br />
From this work resulted the second task of making the thus won ammonia available for use in industry and agriculture. Bosch succeeded in working out methods for the industrial production of nitrogen fertilizers, thus providing practically every country in the world with sufficient fertilizers for agricultural purposes. The Stickstoffwerke (Nitrogen works) in Oppau were opened in 1913, followed by the even larger Leunawerke near Merseburg in 1917, where the synthesis of methanol and the hydrogenation of oil were added to the production programme. Bosch was appointed Managing Director of the Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik in 1919 and in 1925 was made Principal of the I.G. Farbenindustrie Aktiengesellschaft, which was created by the merger of the German coal-tar dye works. In 1935 Bosch was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of the I.G. Farbenindustrie A.G.<br />
<br />
Bosch was honoured in many ways and not only for his achievements and inventions in the field of industry, but also for his research in pure science, which he considered to be his duty. He received the honorary doctorate of the Technische Hochschule in Karlsruhe (1918), of the Landwirtschaftliche Hochschule (Agriculture College), Berlin (1921), the Technische Hochschule in Munich (1922), of Halle University (1927), the Technische Hochschule in Darmstadt (1928). The distinctions of Honorary Senator of the Universities of Heidelberg (1922) and Leipzig (1939), and of Honorary Citizen of Frankfurt (1939) were conferred upon him.<br />
<br />
He received the Liebig Memorial Medal of the Association of German Chemists, the Bunsen Medal of the German Bunsen Society, the Siemens Ring, the Golden Grashof Memorial Medal of the VDI (Association of German Engineers), the Exner Medal from the Austrian Trade Association, and the Carl Lueg Memorial Medal from the Association of German Metallurgists. In 1931 he was awarded the highest international honour, the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, jointly with Friedrich Bergius, for their contributions to the invention and development of chemical high pressure methods.<br />
<br />
Bosch particularly enjoyed his membership of various German and foreign scientific academies, and his chairmanship of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society of which he became its President in 1937.<br />
<br />
He died after a prolonged illness on April 26, 1940.<br />
<br />
Source: <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1931/bosch-bio.html">http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1931/bosch-bio.html</a></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fooooood. Some have too much of the stuff (the obese), some have the wrong sort (the diabetic), some waste it needlessly (a yuppie with bag of salad rotting in the bottom of the fridge), some throw the stuff around (kids at food fights), yet despite all of this wastage there's still plenty enough of the stuff to go around. And '<em>why is that'</em> I hear you cry?! Why it's because of men like Carl Bosch, men who provide us all with ways of producing even more food. Bosch co-invented the Haber-Bosch process which allows us to manufacture nitrogen fertilisers. Nitrogen fertilisers which increase the yield of world food production by a significant factor: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertilizer#Statistics" target="_blank">'</a></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertilizer#Statistics" target="_blank">Conservative estimates report 30 to 50% of crop yields are attributed to natural or synthetic commercial fertilizer.<sup>'</sup></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Without men like Carl Bosch, John Deere, Turnip Townsend, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borlaug" target="_blank">Norman Borlaug</a> (father of the 'Green Revolution') it's likely that many of us would be subsidence farmers toiling aways for a few bushels of grain, instead of living the luxurious existence that their innovations have allowed us.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">[End.]</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-4829545558342866492015-09-07T15:35:00.000+01:002015-09-07T15:35:00.258+01:00Alternative Lyrics to Well Known Songs 42 - Still Can't Get Laid<em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">('Still Can't Get Laid' is based on 'All Around the World' by Lisa Stansfield)</span></em><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This weeks 'alternative lyrics post' is a cautionary tale about one naive youngster who fell for Roosh V's spiel about 'game', the PUA lifestle, and how to score with women.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The youngster in this tale follows Roosh's advice down to the letter: he bought Roosh's book, flew out to Asia (where the so-called 'easy' women are), he adopted the 'Dark Triad' persona, etc etc, and despite this he still couldn't get laid. Yet despite our heroes failure to score he blames himself for his failings and not Roosh's bad advice. This is a sad fact about gurus (sex, orlifestyle, or personality, or business or whatever) that the people who follow them sometimes blame themselves for failing to succeed instead of blaming the guru and their duff advice. Alas, it's just the way it is - the naive getting ripped off. The unfortunate truth is that some folk have to learn the hard way - by first hand experience.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't know how to score with women, so I don't blog about it. Roosh doesn't know about getting laid either (<a href="http://aaronsleazy.blogspot.ca/2014/09/guest-post-roosh-spends-6500-per-lay.html" target="_blank">it costs him $6,500 per woman, and roughly 3-8 women per year</a>), so he shouldn't blog about it either. He should blog about microbiology and bacteria or whatever he did before become a full time shyster. It would save a lot of men a lot of wasted time and effort. Time and effort that they could spend on their own lives rather than throwing it away imitating some charlatan's fictional life. Blogging about microbiology would also benefit Roosh because he would be informing the world of information about topics that he does know about rather than polluting the world with lies about topics that he doesn't know about.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, on to the music! And before you say anything yes, yes, yes, I 'know' it 's a Lisa Stansfield track. You don't need to rub it in. "Lisa Stansfield! What 'are' you thinking of?!" you say. "I'm a child of the '80's..." I say, "...I can't help it! It was everywhere when I was growing up: it was on the radio in the car, in the house, in the supermarket. After a while it gets into your bones like a bad dose of radioactive fallout!" On the up side it has provided me with the opportunity to write lyrics about social issues to pop-songs which are as cheesey as you like (which lightens the whole mood).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It has also taught me that young whipper-snappers learn song lyrics almost subconsciously, probably because of the emotion of the song (the music and the singers inflection); and they often learn those lyrics better than boring subjects that they are taught in school, again probably because of the presence of emotion (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotion_and_memory" target="_blank">emotions are important in memory formation</a>). I'm sure you can all sing a verse or two of Don McCleans American Pie easy enough, but how many of you can remember what you learnt in eighth grade chemistry? </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Difficult innit?! That's emotions doing there thing: aiding the formation and recall of memories.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xbEkjsGevss/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xbEkjsGevss?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
Play the music video above and sing along using the alternative lyrics given below.<br />
<br />
<br />
<em># Still Can't Get Laid #</em><br />I don't know how to get laid.<br />But I know that, somewhere, somehow.<br />I'm gonna get lucky with Roosh's advice.<br />I'll never give up looking to get laid.<br />
<br />
Been around the world and I, I, I.<br />I still can't get laid yeah.<br />I don't know yeah I don't know why.<br />Why I can't get laid.<br />'cos I did everything he told me, old Roosh V.<br />So it must be me.<br />
<br />
I read his book, and I flew out West.<br />I followed his instructions, right down to the bone.<br />And I was oh oh so bad.<br />And I did the whole dark triad thing, mm mmm.<br />
Roosh gave the reason, the reason to be bad.<br />And he said "being bad-ass is how to score."<br />And that he was oh oh so bad.<br />And that's how he got ho's in the sack, in the sack.<br />
<br />
I couldn't score at home.<br />It was all forlorn.<br />Now I'm here in Bangkok, I, I, I..<br />
<br />
Been around the world and I, I, I.<br />I still can't get laid yeah.<br />I don't know yeah I don't know why.<br />Why I can't get laid.<br />'cos I did everything he told me, old Roosh V.<br />So it must be me.<br />
<br />
So much time wasted, in the wrong bars.<br />I was a fool, the biggest fool of all.<br />And now I'm oh oh so bad<br />Yet still can't score in the sack, in the sack.<br />
<br />
I couldn't score at home.<br />It was all forlorn.<br />Now I'm here in Bangkok, I, I, I..<br />
<br />
Been around the world and I, I, I.<br />I still can't get laid yeah.<br />I don't know yeah I don't know why.<br />Why I can't get laid.<br />'cos I did everything he told me, old Roosh V.<br />So it must be me.<br />
<br />
Been around the world and I, I, I.<br />I still can't get laid yeah.<br />I don't know yeah I don't know why.<br />Why I can't get laid.<br />'cos I did everything he told me, old Roosh V.<br />So it must be me.<br />
I need to find him, old Roosh V.<br />
<br />
I couldn't score at home.<br />It was all forlorn.<br />Now I'm here in Bangkok, I, I, I..<br />
<br />
Been around the world and I, I, I.<br />I still can't get laid yeah.<br />I don't know yeah I don't know why.<br />Why I can't get laid.<br />'cos I did everything he told me, old Roosh V.<br />So it must be me.<br />
<br />
<br />[End of lyrics.]<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-52119873118347454312015-09-04T15:01:00.000+01:002015-09-04T15:01:00.170+01:00Men of Yore: Rowland Hill<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This is another in a series of posts about men from history who have either achieved great things in one form or another by pushing boundaries: either in themselves or in society or science or exploration of some form. Boundary pushing and growth is what men do, it's their nature: to grow and push outwards. We, as men, are the frontiers men, the first to discover/uncover new territory, in a metaphysical sense (i.e. including both material and the immaterial) that is later colonised and 'civilised' by the rest of humanity. </span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOStxfif89Q7FV_0txnDIH_rUBfmnkSRwIdFJegMzMo0wVGc2LQ8CGmFKnADQcqWunJ_8MQfpfNQebwp5rlLTG8GcgryuYvJgQ_5HLp3791w0Cxo1eJnq-U8Lro-qQiHCfTzba1ISxBVg/s1600/Rowland_Hill_photo_crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOStxfif89Q7FV_0txnDIH_rUBfmnkSRwIdFJegMzMo0wVGc2LQ8CGmFKnADQcqWunJ_8MQfpfNQebwp5rlLTG8GcgryuYvJgQ_5HLp3791w0Cxo1eJnq-U8Lro-qQiHCfTzba1ISxBVg/s320/Rowland_Hill_photo_crop.jpg" width="216" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rowland Hill</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<blockquote>
<br />
<b>Sir Rowland Hill</b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Bath" title="Order of the Bath">KCB</a>, <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society" title="Fellow of the Royal Society">FRS</a> (3 December 1795 – 27 August 1879) was an English teacher, inventor and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_movement" title="Reform movement">social reformer</a>. He campaigned for a comprehensive reform of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail" title="Mail">postal system</a>, based on the concept of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Penny_Post" title="Uniform Penny Post">Uniform Penny Post</a> and his solution of prepayment, facilitating the safe, speedy and cheap transfer of letters. Hill later served as a government postal official, and he is usually credited with originating the basic concepts of the modern postal service, including the invention of the postage stamp.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span class="mw-headline" id="Early_life">Early life</span></h3>
Hill was born in Blackwell Street, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidderminster" title="Kidderminster">Kidderminster</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcestershire" title="Worcestershire">Worcestershire</a>, England. Rowland's father, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Wright_Hill" title="Thomas Wright Hill">Thomas Wright Hill</a>, was an innovator in education and politics, including among his friends <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Priestley" title="Joseph Priestley">Joseph Priestley</a>, <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Paine" title="Tom Paine">Tom Paine</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Price" title="Richard Price">Richard Price</a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup> At the age of 12, Rowland became a student-teacher in his father's school. He taught astronomy and earned extra money fixing scientific instruments. He also worked at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_Assay_Office" title="Birmingham Assay Office">Assay Office</a> in Birmingham<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESeaborne1971196_2-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-FOOTNOTESeaborne1971196-2">[2]</a></sup> and painted landscapes in his spare time.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Midgley_3-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-Midgley-3">[3]</a></sup><br />
<h3>
<span class="mw-headline" id="Educational_reform">Educational reform</span></h3>
In 1819 he moved his father's school "Hill Top" from central Birmingham, establishing the Hazelwood School at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgbaston" title="Edgbaston">Edgbaston</a>, an affluent neighbourhood of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham" title="Birmingham">Birmingham</a>, as an "educational refraction of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Priestley" title="Joseph Priestley">Priestley's</a> ideas".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEArmytage1967.E2.80.936867_4-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-FOOTNOTEArmytage1967.E2.80.936867-4">[4]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBartrip188046.E2.80.9359_5-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-FOOTNOTEBartrip188046.E2.80.9359-5">[5]</a></sup> Hazelwood was to provide a model for <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_education" title="Public education">public education</a> for the emerging <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_classes" title="Middle classes">middle classes</a>, aiming for useful, pupil-centred education which would give sufficient knowledge, skills and understanding to allow a student to continue self-education through a life "most useful to society and most happy to himself".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHal.C3.A9vy1972153.E2.80.934.2C_249.E2.80.93478.2C_433.2C_491_6-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-FOOTNOTEHal.C3.A9vy1972153.E2.80.934.2C_249.E2.80.93478.2C_433.2C_491-6">[6]</a></sup> The school, which Hill designed, included innovations including a science laboratory, a swimming pool, and forced air heating. In his <i>Plans for the Government and Liberal Instruction of Boys in Large Numbers Drawn from Experience</i> (1822, often cited as <i>Public Education</i>) he argued that kindness, instead of caning, and moral influence, rather than fear, should be the predominant forces in school discipline. Science was to be a compulsory subject, and students were to be self-governing.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Midgley_3-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-Midgley-3">[3]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-7">[7]</a></sup> Hazelwood gained international attention when French education leader and editor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc-Antoine_Jullien_de_Paris" title="Marc-Antoine Jullien de Paris">Marc Antoine Jullien</a>, former secretary to <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilien_de_Robespierre" title="Maximilien de Robespierre">Maximilien de Robespierre</a>, visited and wrote about the school in the June 1823 issue of his journal <i>Revue encyclopédique</i>. Jullien even transferred his son there. Hazelwood so impressed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bentham" title="Jeremy Bentham">Jeremy Bentham</a> that in 1827 a branch of the school was created at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Castle" title="Bruce Castle">Bruce Castle</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tottenham" title="Tottenham">Tottenham</a>, London. In 1833, the original Hazelwood School closed and its educational system was continued at the new <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Castle_School" title="Bruce Castle School">Bruce Castle School</a> of which Hill was head master from 1827 until 1839.<br />
<h3>
<span class="mw-headline">Colonisation of South Australia</span></h3>
The colonisation of South Australia was a project of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon_Wakefield" title="Edward Gibbon Wakefield">Edward Gibbon Wakefield</a>, who believed that many of the social problems in Britain were caused by overcrowding and overpopulation. In 1832 Rowland Hill published a tract called <i>Home colonies : sketch of a plan for the gradual extinction of pauperism, and for the diminution of crime</i>, based on a Dutch model.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-8"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-8">[8]</a></sup> Hill then served from 1833 until 1839 as secretary of the South Australian Colonization Commission, which worked successfully to establish a settlement without convicts at what is today <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelaide" title="Adelaide">Adelaide</a>. The political economist, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Torrens_(economist)" title="Robert Torrens (economist)">Robert Torrens</a> was chairman of the Commission.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-O.27Brien_2004_p_9-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-O.27Brien_2004_p-9">[9]</a></sup> Under the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Australia_Act_1834" title="South Australia Act 1834">South Australia Act 1834</a>, the colony was to embody the ideals and best qualities of British society, shaped by <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_freedom" title="Religious freedom">religious freedom</a> and a commitment to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_progress" title="Social progress">social progress</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_liberties" title="Civil liberties">civil liberties</a>. Rowland Hill's sister <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Clark_and_Sons" title="Francis Clark and Sons">Caroline Clark, husband Francis</a> and their large family were to migrate to South Australia in 1850.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-10">[10]</a></sup><br />
<h3>
<span class="mw-headline">Postal reform</span></h3>
Rowland Hill first started to take a serious interest in postal reforms in 1835.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHillHill1880242_11-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-FOOTNOTEHillHill1880242-11">[11]</a></sup> In 1836 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wallace_(MP_for_Greenock)" title="Robert Wallace (MP for Greenock)">Robert Wallace, MP</a>, provided Hill with numerous books and documents, which Hill described as a "half hundred weight of material".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHillHill1880246_12-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-FOOTNOTEHillHill1880246-12">[12]</a></sup> Hill commenced a detailed study of these documents and this led him to the publication, in early 1837, of a pamphlet called <i>Post Office Reform its Importance and Practicability</i>. He submitted a copy of this to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Spring_Rice,_1st_Baron_Monteagle_of_Brandon" title="Thomas Spring Rice, 1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon">Thomas Spring-Rice</a>, on 4 January 1837.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMuir199042_13-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMuir199042-13">[13]</a></sup> This first edition was marked "private and confidential" and was not released to the general public. The Chancellor summoned Hill to a meeting in which the Chancellor suggested improvements, asked for reconsiderations and requested a supplement which Hill duly produced and supplied on 28 January 1837.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHillHill1880264_14-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-FOOTNOTEHillHill1880264-14">[14]</a></sup><br />
<div class="thumb tright">
</div>
In the 1830s at least 12½% of all British mail was conveyed under the personal frank of peers, dignitaries and members of parliament, while censorship and political espionage were conducted by postal officials. Fundamentally, the postal system was mismanaged, wasteful, expensive and slow. It had become inadequate for the needs of an expanding commercial and industrial nation.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-15">[15]</a></sup> There is a well-known story, probably apocryphal, about how Hill gained an interest in reforming the postal system; he apparently noticed a young woman too poor to redeem a letter sent to her by her fiancé. At that time, letters were normally paid for by the recipient, not the sender. The recipient could simply refuse delivery. Frauds were commonplace; for example, coded information could appear on the cover of the letter; the recipient would examine the cover to gain the information, and then refuse delivery to avoid payment. Each individual letter had to be logged. In addition, postal rates were complex, depending on the distance and the number of sheets in the letter.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-16">[16]</a></sup><br />
<br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Cobden" title="Richard Cobden">Richard Cobden</a> and <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ramsey_McCulloch" title="John Ramsey McCulloch">John Ramsey McCulloch</a>, both advocates of free trade, attacked the policies of privilege and protection of the Tory government. McCulloch, in 1833, advanced the view that "nothing contributes more to facilitate commerce than the safe, speedy and cheap conveyance of letters."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-17"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-17">[17]</a></sup><br />
<div class="thumb tleft">
</div>
Hill's famous pamphlet, <i>Post Office Reform: its Importance and Practicability,</i> referred to above, was privately circulated in 1837. The report called for "low and uniform rates" according to weight, rather than distance. Hill's study reported his findings and those of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage" title="Charles Babbage">Charles Babbage</a> that most of the costs in the postal system were not for transport, but rather for laborious handling procedures at the origins and the destinations. Costs could be reduced dramatically if postage were prepaid by the sender, the prepayment to be proven by the use of prepaid letter sheets or adhesive stamps (adhesive stamps had long been used to show payment of taxes, on documents for example). <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_sheet" title="Letter sheet">Letter sheets</a> were to be used because <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envelope" title="Envelope">envelopes</a> were not yet common; they were not yet mass-produced, and in an era when postage was calculated partly on the basis of the number of sheets of paper used, the same sheet of paper would be folded and serve for both the message and the address. In addition, Hill proposed to lower the postage rate to a penny per half ounce, without regard to distance.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-18"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-18">[18]</a></sup> He first presented his proposal to the Government in 1837.<br />
<br />
In the House of Lords the Postmaster, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Anson,_1st_Earl_of_Lichfield" title="Thomas Anson, 1st Earl of Lichfield">Lord Lichfield</a>, a Whig, denounced Hill's "wild and visionary schemes." <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Leader_Maberly" title="William Leader Maberly">William Leader Maberly</a>, Secretary to the Post Office, also a Whig, denounced Hill's study: "This plan appears to be a preposterous one, utterly unsupported by facts and resting entirely on assumption". But merchants, traders and bankers viewed the existing system as corrupt and a restraint of trade. They formed a "Mercantile Committee" to advocate for Hill's plan and pushed for its adoption. In 1839 Hill was given a two-year contract to run the new system.<br />
<br />
The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Fourpenny_Post" title="Uniform Fourpenny Post">Uniform Fourpenny Post</a> rate was introduced that lowered the cost to fourpence from 5 December 1839,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-20"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-20">[20]</a></sup> then to the penny rate on 10 January 1840, even before stamps or letter sheets could be printed. The volume of paid internal correspondence increased dramatically, by 120%, between November 1839 and February 1840. This initial increase resulted from the elimination of "free franking" privileges and fraud.<br />
<br />
[..] </blockquote>
<blockquote>
In May 1840 the World's first adhesive postage stamps were distributed. With an elegant engraving of the young <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Victoria" title="Queen Victoria">Queen Victoria</a> (whose 21st birthday was celebrated that month), the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Black" title="Penny Black">Penny Black</a> was an instant success. Refinements, such as perforations to ease the separating of the stamps, were instituted with later issues.<br />
<h2>
<span class="mw-headline" id="Later_life">Later life</span></h2>
Rowland Hill continued at the Post Office until the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party_(UK)" title="Conservative Party (UK)">Conservative Party</a> won the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_1841" title="United Kingdom general election, 1841">1841 General Election</a>. Sir <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Peel" title="Robert Peel">Robert Peel</a> returned to office on 30 August 1841 and served until 29 June 1846. Amid rancorous controversy, Hill was dismissed in July 1842. However, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_and_Brighton_Railway" title="London and Brighton Railway">London and Brighton Railway</a> named him a director and later chairman of the board, from 1843 to 1846. He lowered the fares from London to Brighton, expanded the routes, offered special excursion trains, and made the commute comfortable for passengers. In 1844 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Chadwick" title="Edwin Chadwick">Edwin Chadwick</a>, Rowland Hill, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill" title="John Stuart Mill">John Stuart Mill</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyon_Playfair,_1st_Baron_Playfair" title="Lyon Playfair, 1st Baron Playfair">Lyon Playfair</a>, Dr. <a class="new" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Neill_Arnott&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Neill Arnott (page does not exist)">Neill Arnott</a>, and other friends formed a society called "Friends in Council," which met at each other's houses to discuss questions of political economy.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-21"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-21">[21]</a></sup> Hill also became a member of the influential <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_Economy_Club" title="Political Economy Club">Political Economy Club</a>, founded by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ricardo" title="David Ricardo">David Ricardo</a> and other classical economists, but now including many powerful businessmen and political figures.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-O.27Brien_2004_p_9-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-O.27Brien_2004_p-9">[9]</a></sup><br />
<sup></sup><br />
In 1846 the Conservative party split over the repeal of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_Laws" title="Corn Laws">Corn Laws</a> and was replaced by a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Russell_ministry" title="First Russell ministry">Whig government</a> led by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Russell,_1st_Earl_Russell" title="John Russell, 1st Earl Russell">Lord Russell</a>. Hill was made Secretary to the <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_Postmaster_General" title="United Kingdom Postmaster General">Postmaster General</a>, and then Secretary to the <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Post_Office_(United_Kingdom)" title="General Post Office (United Kingdom)">Post Office</a> from 1854 until 1864. For his services Hill was knighted as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Bath" title="Order of the Bath">Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath</a> in 1860. He was made a <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society" title="Fellow of the Royal Society">Fellow of the Royal Society</a> and awarded an honorary degree from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Oxford" title="University of Oxford">University of Oxford</a>.<br />
<br />
Hill died in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampstead" title="Hampstead">Hampstead</a>, London in 1879. He is buried in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster_Abbey" title="Westminster Abbey">Westminster Abbey</a>; there is a memorial to him on his family grave in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highgate_Cemetery" title="Highgate Cemetery">Highgate Cemetery</a>. There are streets named after him in Hampstead (off Haverstock Hill, down the side of The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Free_Hospital" title="Royal Free Hospital">Royal Free Hospital</a>), and Tottenham (off <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Hart_Lane" title="White Hart Lane">White Hart Lane</a>). A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society_of_Arts" title="Royal Society of Arts">Royal Society of Arts</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_plaque" title="Blue plaque">blue plaque</a>, unveiled in 1893, commemorates Hill at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-EngHet_22-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer)#cite_note-EngHet-22">[22]</a></sup><br />
<sup></sup><br />
<sup></sup><br />
Source: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_(postal_reformer</a>)<br />
</blockquote>
<br />
[End.]Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2165576859667181213.post-33562520786532970312015-09-02T16:37:00.002+01:002015-09-02T16:37:50.868+01:00Alternative Lyrics to Well Known Songs 41 - Old Oppressive Town<em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">('Old Oppressive Town' is based on 'Hazard' by 'Richard Marx')</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cities can principally be used as centres of production & perspicacity or centres of consumption & comfort. The former tends towards the masculine and the latter tends towards the feminine.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The character of a city is decided by the people living in it. After all they are the ones that that built it and sustain it (repairs etc) with their energy. If the inhabitants of a city are the kind of people that want to do things and go places then it will become masculine and will produce new things (tangible things like are produced in factories, or intangible things like are produced in research facilities), on the other hand if the inhabitants want to use the city as a form of escapism/security from their mundane everyday lives then it will become feminine.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately as all of you are aware the centres of our cities are now meccas for consumption and comfort. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Street" target="_blank">High Street</a> (or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_street" target="_blank">Main Street</a> in the USA) is full of shops stocked with the latest goodies imported from third world countries. Little in that high street shop contains anything that was manufactured from the home nation; and practically nothing that was sourced from that town or county. If that city were more masculine then the shops would be factory-shops, like European cities used to be, where goods were both manufactured and sold. This should be easier than ever as the technology to manufacture goods is getting cheaper and cheaper. And now with the arrival of 3-D printers (both plastic, metal, and genetic printers) manufacturing goods in the same shop as they are sold should be easy as pie. It would also mean that the goods could be custom made (but 3-D printers in factory-shops is a whole other topic, so I won't ramble on about it).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are also shopping centres/malls in the heart of every medium and large city which are like theme parks for shopping. They house the proverbial<em> 'shopping experience'</em> whereby people go and experience the pleasure of looking at the latest products, the latest goodies, which temporarily distract them from their lives. Sometimes this comfort shopping, or worse still window shopping (just looking at goods), is used as a form of escapism. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escapism" target="_blank">Escapism</a> implies that they the shopper is trying using the shopping experience to escape from their own lives that they'd rather not live (albeit for a short period of time, roughly the same period of time as a heroin trip: <a href="http://drug.addictionblog.org/how-long-does-heroin-last/" target="_blank">about 2 hours</a> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">). And it makes one wonder why they are trying to escape their own lives, what is it that is so insufferable that they go into a theme park for shoppers and ogle at the latest goodies in the shop aisle?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's possibly the fact that their lives are, for want of a better phrase, messed-up. "Messed up by what?" you say, "I don't know." I would reply. I know enough about causes to know that reductionism isn't going to help you very much because it inevitably ends up with an absurd conclusion (like Marxism, or Satan, or 'not getting laid', or high interest rates, is responsible for all the problems in the world). Just look around the internet for what people think is the cause of problem X, Y and Z, there's lots of whacked out theories out there. The result of rejecting the reductionist approach and taking on a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holistic" target="_blank">holistic</a> outlook is that correlations and intuition/hunches become as valuable, or sometimes more valuable, than causes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a healthy city they would be making new products (either in the work place or at home or both) and thinking new thoughts. These new products and thoughts would be things that they had made because they wanted to. Because they wanted to express their own creative drive in it's unique way rather than conform to the norm, the expected way of living.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How one can remedy this feminisation of whole cities in our culture is beyond me. But what I do know is that cities are made by the inhabitants, and they are sustained by inhabitants. So based on that preposition one method of turning a feminine city back into a masculine one it by encouraging the inhabitants to express their own creative drive wherever and whenever the opportunity arises. This way they will be producers rather than consumers and more masculine than feminine. Whether that creative drive is expressed is in the workplace, or in the homestead, or in the environment doesn't matter, so long as it is expressed. This will not only benefit the individual (who should feel more satisfied with their life) it should also benefit the community and ergo the city as a whole.</span><br />
<br />
<br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A note on the lyrics: the song is about a person who used the city in a feminine way - as a form of security, because he found the outside world too intimidating. After a few years he found it's security to be oppressive and ended up moving back out into the countryside. The song is framed within the context of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_mythology" target="_blank">Nordic mythology</a>. It mentions <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midgard" target="_blank">Midgard</a> (which is the 'middle world' where humans live), and Al-father (which is the 'All-Father', one of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin" target="_blank">Odin</a>s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Odin" target="_blank">many by-names</a>).</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PMW5nbirms4/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PMW5nbirms4?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
Play the music video above and sing along using the alternative lyrics given below.<br />
<br />
<br />
<em># Old Oppressive Town #</em><br />All-Father made me alive in that place called Midgard.<br />It was day and the whole place was alive with joy.<br />But then came night.<br />After midnight is when it started to get scary<br />The whole place changed from one of comfort to fear.<br />It gave me the frights.<br />
<br />
I couldn't stand to face the fear.<br />I couldn't stand to feel the dark.<br />I needed comfort from those feelings.<br />That's when I saw this place called 'Town'.<br />
<br />
I entered the Town some day or another.<br />It seemed like bliss and comfort from my former life.<br />That changed in time.<br />Routinely accused of breaking their laws.<br />The years flew passed and that's when it became clear to me<br />I could do no right.<br />
<br />
"I swear I lived my life by your laws.<br />I swear I never did you wrong.<br />Despite this you're intent on judging me.<br />So I'll leave your old oppressive Town."<br />
<br />
I think about my life gone by<br />and how I did me wrong.<br />I traded my Father's free life<br />for one of safety yet one of oppression.<br />
<br />
"I swear I abided by all your laws.<br />I swear I never did you wrong.<br />Despite this you're intent on judging me.<br />So I'll leave your old oppressive Town."<br />
<br />
<br />[End of lyrics.]Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0