RE: Anodising Afterthoughts
(off topic slightly - Napoleon and Aluminium) Interesting; I long ago heard the first story, that his second-best dinner service was gold, and understood that at the time Al was more expensive weight for weight than gold. So at first I doubted whether it would actually have been affordable for France to provide so many mess kits - or more to the point whether there was in fact enough free aluminum metal around in the world? Clearly it depends exactly when. My memory is suspiciously hazy, but I believe Al was discovered c 1825, after Napoleon I (Bonaparte) died, and first made in any quantity in the 1840's (e.g. suitable to make a large dinner service!) and by a better process by about 185x, so I think it was Napoleon III (Louis Napoleon). He was a great moderniser and keen on technical improvement - which applied to the armed forces with balloons etc; so your story sounds quite likely after all - with the proviso that one might have misunderstood both stories as Napoleon I without knowledge of the dates. Any historians able to confirm which Napoleon, or the story or dates? Regards Andrew James Winchester, England -Original Message- From: Arthur Carlson [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, November 15, 1999 7:57 AM To: sundial@rrz.uni-koeln.de Subject: Re: Anodising Afterthoughts The Shaws [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote : ...aluminium is cheap... ..reminds me of the story that Napoleon had an extensive monogramed dinner service made from aluminium - just because it was the most expensive metal of his day. I heard the story differently, that Napoleon issued each of his soldiers an aluminum mess kit to take advantage of the reduced weight, despite the horrendous cost. --Art Carlson
Re: FAQ commentary
Jim_Cobb [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I've thought of another tip for spotting worthless horizontal sundials (such as is sold in garden shops, etc)--if the shadow of the gnomon crosses the hour lines it's no good. This test requires only horizontal positioning, not polar alignment, and a lot will fail this test because the gnomon for cheap dials often does not intersect the dial plate at the convergence point for the hour lines. Actually it doesn't require horizontal positioning either, or even a shadow. For each hour line, you should be able to find a position for your eye such that the edge of the gnomon is superimposed on the hour line. If they ever cross, i.e., if you can ever see part of the hour line above the gnomon but not all of it, then the gnomon will not intersect that line in the dial plate, and the dial is worthless. --Art Carlson
Act of 1752
Greetings fellow dialists and calendrists, A note about the millennium leap year that I recently came across in the journal History Today: When the next leap day arrives, on 29 February 2000, it will be, for Britain, the result of the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752. By then most other European countries had already embraced the new calendar. The Act of Parliament which causes this first centenial leap year since then to take place was passed 248 years and 3 months ago. Is this the longest delayed action legislation ever? By the way, the 1752 Act also applied to the UK Colonies including America (no offence intended). Frank 55N 1W -- Frank Evans
Re: FAQ commentary
Art, You are, of course, correct. And if the FAQ committee prefers to go with your approach, I have no objection. The picture I had in mind was slowly turning the dial around to simulate various hours of the day. Since looking at shadows cast on the dial by the gnomon is the modus operandi for the dial, I thought it would be a good test procedure. Art Carlson wrote: Jim_Cobb [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I've thought of another tip for spotting worthless horizontal sundials (such as is sold in garden shops, etc)--if the shadow of the gnomon crosses the hour lines it's no good. This test requires only horizontal positioning, not polar alignment, and a lot will fail this test because the gnomon for cheap dials often does not intersect the dial plate at the convergence point for the hour lines. Actually it doesn't require horizontal positioning either, or even a shadow. For each hour line, you should be able to find a position for your eye such that the edge of the gnomon is superimposed on the hour line. If they ever cross, i.e., if you can ever see part of the hour line above the gnomon but not all of it, then the gnomon will not intersect that line in the dial plate, and the dial is worthless. --Art Carlson
RE: Act of 1752
No offence taken. Another result of the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar is the loss of 10 days. People's birthdays were recomputed, which is why Washington's Birthday is celebrated on 22 February, despite the fact that he was actually born on 11 February. Brad 39N 77W -Original Message- From: Frank Evans [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, November 15, 1999 3:51 PM To: sundial@rrz.uni-koeln.de Subject: Act of 1752 Greetings fellow dialists and calendrists, A note about the millennium leap year that I recently came across in the journal History Today: When the next leap day arrives, on 29 February 2000, it will be, for Britain, the result of the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752. By then most other European countries had already embraced the new calendar. The Act of Parliament which causes this first centenial leap year since then to take place was passed 248 years and 3 months ago. Is this the longest delayed action legislation ever? By the way, the 1752 Act also applied to the UK Colonies including America (no offence intended). Frank 55N 1W -- Frank Evans
RE: Act of 1752
At 05:14 PM 11/15/99 -0500, you wrote: No offence taken. Another result of the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar is the loss of 10 days. People's birthdays were recomputed, which is why Washington's Birthday is celebrated on 22 February, despite the fact that he was actually born on 11 February. And the Great October Socialist Revolution started on the 7th of November 1917... Mike Koblic, Quesnel BC
Re: Anodising Afterthoughts
Andrew, You are probably correct - the information below is ex Encarta - note the reference to Napoleon III Mike [EMAIL PROTECTED] 53.37N 3.02W Chester, UK = Hans Christian Oersted, a Danish chemist, first isolated aluminium in 1825, using a chemical process involving potassium amalgam. Between 1827 and 1845, Friedrich Wöhler, a German chemist, improved Oersted's process by using metallic potassium. He was the first to measure the relative density of aluminium and show its lightness. In 1854 Henri Sainte-Claire Deville, in France, obtained the metal by reducing aluminium chloride with sodium. Aided by the financial backing of Napoleon III, Deville established a large-scale experimental plant and displayed pure aluminium at the Paris Exposition of 1855. In 1886 the world production of aluminium was less than 45 kg (less than 100 lb), and its price was more than $11 per kg (more than $5 per lb). In 1989, by contrast, the estimated world production of primary aluminium was 18 million metric tons and the price of aluminium was less than $2 per kg. Aluminium, Microsoft(R) Encarta(R)
