The end of a chapter

I thought this year would be fairly uneventful, plough on at work as usual and get most of my dissertation out of the way before the deadline next January but life is seldom totally predictable. On Thursday i left my employer of 12 years and now will be (for the next few months at least) a full time student!

It was sad to leave my colleagues (who gave me a lovely send-off) and the university (where i also studied for 5 years) but life goes on. Now i can concentrate on my studies for a while but also take stock and decide where i want to go next in life. For 18 years i have worked in web development, maybe its time for a change, or work for myself. Lets have a good think anyway.

Project 042

Its still cold but i'm fed up waiting for the Winter to end, the 2013 model making season is off to a proper start with construction of Project 042 HMS Suffolk commencing. It is my first ship kit since i restarted model building a few years ago though i did quite a few in the past, unlike most of my plane models i think i still have some of my old ships somewhere...

Was it a comet and not an asteroid that finished the Dinosaurs?

Scientists examining the amount of rare metals released by the impact that caused the Chicxulub crater in Mexico (which scientists believe is where the object that hit the Earth to spark the mass extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous took place) now think that the Earth was hit by a smaller object than an asteroid but one traveling at a higher velocity, a comet in other words.

This is because the amount of debris deposited is less than would be expected if a larger asteroid struck the Earth. The object that hit the Earth is calculated to would need to be 5km in diameter to result in the rare metals like iridium detected however the size of the crater would indicate a much larger object, unless it was traveling fast. Other scientists say that it might not be possible to say conclusively from the metals detected and their displacement may not have been uniform.

However the strength of the impact was sufficient to send huge amounts of dust into the atmosphere and cause the "Nuclear Winter" that killed off the Dinosaurs and many other creatures, 70% of all species.

Living memory, second-hand memory and American Civil War pensions

One historical concept i find fascinating is that of "living memory", by this i mean historical events that were witnessed (either first or second hand) by people still living. While very recent events have millions of living witnesses all historical events eventually pass from living memory as people who were alive during these events die off.

World War 1 for example will soon pass from living memory. It is not thought any soldiers who fought in the conflict are still alive since the passing of veterans like Harry Patch, there will still be some civilians who were alive during the war who will have memories of the times (even if they were no where near any actual fighting). Even the youngest of these (say someone who was 5 or 6 in 1918) will be over 100 nowadays.

Second-hand memory can persist for longer. By this i mean memories being passed on by first-hand witnesses to their descendants (orally face to face). In some ways this retains a living link to events that passed from living memory many years before. Interestingly the American Civil War even though it ended in 1865 is still in second-hand memory after news of a couple of children of veterans still being alive and still receiving a war pension.

The last veteran of the war died in 1956 though many veterans did marry much younger women and the last widow did not die until 2003. It is likely these surviving children were the result of older veterans marrying young women (which was not uncommon in the early 20th century). How much these 2 survivors can remember of what their fathers may have told them about the war is unknown, it is reported that both are of poor health and very old, but they remain a living link to a war that passed from living memory half a century ago.

The case of the Birmingham Ship Canal(s)

Birmingham famously is supposed to have more canals than Venice (albeit over a wider area) but lacks easy access to the sea by larger vessels. In the 1880s there were a number of schemes to enlarge some of the canals linking Birmingham to the major rivers of the country to create a ship canal that could allow vessels up to 200-300 tons (depending on the scheme).

River steamer on the Severn
at Worcester

The scheme which probably came closest to getting the go-ahead was a link to the river Severn above Worcester by enlarging the Worcester & Birmingham Canal(1). The scheme envisaged going through Droitwich so presumably the Droitwich Canal would also have been enlarged. The Birmingham City Council formed a Ship Canal Enquiry Committee to look into the scheme which would have allowed vessels up to 200 tons right into the centre of the city. The cost of the scheme was estimated at £2 million (when of course this was real money).

However in 1888 the Council declined going ahead with the scheme and disbanded the committee, citing that it was outside of their municipal concerns(2). There were also worries that the railways would undercut the canal making it economically unviable.

This wasn't the only scheme however, a number of the city's great and good also proposed a ship canal scheme linking Birmingham to the river Mersey(3). This canal, which would have allowed ships up to 300 tons would have linked Birmingham to the Weaver Navigation Canal and then through to the Mersey, Liverpool and the sea. This canal would have been 60ft wide and 11ft deep and would have passed through South Staffordshire, the Potteries and Cheshire(4). However this scheme (which would have cost a mere £1.6 million) came to naught as did a scheme to link Birmingham to the Thames(5).

By the late 1890s canals were beginning to be seen as old hat as the railway network continued to grow. In many ways it is a shame none of the ship canal schemes came to anything. Ships up to 300 tons would be much larger than anything that usually chugs through the canals at Birmingham's heart. The Edwardian steamer TSS Earnslaw perhaps can give us an idea of the sort of boat we might have expected making it up to Birmingham in the early 1900s (although it would be slightly oversize at 330t). The canal schemes came to nothing though may have inspired this song...

Photo (c) trakesht at Wikipedia

(1) Charles Anthony Vince MA, History of the Corporation of Birmingham Vol 3 1885-1899 (Cornish:Birmingham, 1902), p. 365
(2) Vince, p. 368
(3) Birmingham & Liverpool Ship Canal (Pamphlet, 1888), p. 5
(4) Birmingham Daily Gazette 6th July 1888
(5) Birmingham & Liverpool Ship Canal, p. 17

The 70s house

Scanning a few old photographs yesterday i came upon this one taken in the first house i lived in, in Crosby. I was only a baby at the time so the photograph was likely taken sometime in 1972 or perhaps early 1973. What is most interesting about the photograph is probably what is missing. There seems to be a total absence of technology though there was probably was a TV out of shot. Nowadays a photo of a living room would include remote controls, mobile phones, consoles, DVDs and other technology. Back in the early 1970s you would have a TV and a telephone and little else, maybe a hi-fi or a radio. Other than that the room is very familiar and probably trendily retro these days. I wonder how the living room will change in another 40 years time.

Its interesting how much has changed though some items in the photo have survived all these years, the painting on the wall for example is right behind me on my own wall now as i type this!