Mar 12 2022 - The Speedometer's Good Old Days

 

What is the purpose of the speedometer in your car?  Is it to help yo manage your speeds according to the laws, rules and regulations of the road?  Or is it to fulfill your sense of how fast you might go, can go and would go one day? Because I looked at the speedometer on my car and realized that half of it is wasted - I will not be driving that fast unless I was escaping a tsunami, earthquake, etc.  And I certainly won't be looking at the speedometer in that situation. So isn't it time to change the speedometer to something that fulfills the first purpose and not the second?  Yesterday's inventions got me thinking about this.   There were speed limits before motorized vehicles so this isn't about cars.  A normal trotting horse-drawn carriage will go around 8-10 mph, and a speeding/galloping horse-drawn carried goes 18-24 MPH.  The speed limits in the 1600s was 12 mph for horses.   The motorized vehicle speed limit of 10 mph was introduced in the UK in 1861.    And how far have we travelled today? The highest posted speed limit in the world today is 160 km/h (or 99 mph) on two motorways int he UAE.   So there's never been an intention for people to drive over 100 MPH.  (There are places with no speed limits). What if the speedometer had more detail at the lower end and left off that high end.  Knowing your car speed in the 40 to 60 kph range seems critical on urban streets.  You drive them every day.  How often might you check your speed in the 140 - 160 kph range.  Not any day ever for the significant majority of the car drivers on the entire planet.  Such high speeds are present because of the marketing pitch-  inclined towards a sportier seeming car.  Is there a possibility that we have young people vs old people speedometers - the higher speedometer numbers sell to young men - they could pay a premium to get that special "dial".  There must be a cheap technology for this right now.

Here's Gerry's sporty car in 2020 at the Hidden Bench barn.  The manufacturer has a setting for the driver to set a kph where it beeps when the driver reaches that speed.  A "note to self" to not get a catastrophic speeding ticket.    Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

May 17 2021 - That's three square meals!

 

I can easily figure out that 3 meals a day came about through school, work and other institutional settings in the 17th century.  Workers would be given an allotted time for eating lunch.  Even before the industrial revolution  of the mid-19th century regularized working hours, elongated working hours, made a hearty breakfast necessary.  What about the ancient Romans and Greeks?  Ancient Grecians ate a light breakfast and lunch and then a big meal at sundown. It is said variously that the Romans ate one meal or three meals a day and that they were fixated on digestion, influencing social customs for a long time.   And the Egyptians? It is said they ate two meals a day, again the hearty meal was dinner.  In all three cultures, meat wasn't a regular staple, it was enjoyed by the rich.  The common word that comes up is porridge.  Everyone ate porridge - usually made of wheat/farro  - and both savoury and sweet. The ancient Chinese seem to have the best diet - a little meat or fish, lots of vegetables, eggs, rice and noodles. They ate two meals a day by the poor and three or four meals a day by the rulers and upper classes.  I do think that the diet above is the diet of the rich. The Middle Ages?  It was the era of dinner - at noon, according to the BBC.  The aristocracy ate formal, lavish dinners around noon.   It was artificial lighting that allowed for dinner to be eaten later, shifting the larger meal to later. And today?  There's a Google answer for this:  we don't need to eat three meals a day.  The only rules are:  eat when you're hungry, don't eat too much, and always have a varied and healthy diet that's crammed full of fruit and vegetables. Isn't that a little bit of home-spun wisdom coming from Google-land!   Here we are at Hidden Bench's barn at Locust Lane.  Travel up the escarpment at Lincoln Lane and Highway 8.  It turns into McLeod, and meets Locust Lane. A wonderful drive amongst the woods and wineries.

Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

April 2 2020 - April Fool's Round Up at the Hidden Bench Barn

The online gammers put out a lot of effort on April Fool's, creating pranks within their games.  Lots of them participated, but NPR, National Geographic, and others announced no April Fool's Jokes from them.  Snoopes gave a round-up of April Fool's news from yesterday.  It is their specialty, so they must have fine doing this. 1. RoboForm, the password manager software, on the contrary, introduced a "Barkpass".   2. Shiny Leaf shampoo released a Ketchup Smapoo:  picture of red glop on soapy hair.  It is a "Colour-boost ketchup shampoo".   "Our favorite bit from this April Fools’ Day prank comes when you click the purchase button on Shiny Leaf’s website. That opens up a list of related products which seem, at first, to be believable (especially if you just bought ketchup shampoo). But after listings for a “Hair Bun” and a “Mayo Leave-In” product, the “related items” section basically turns into a restaurant menu. If you try to complete your order, you’ll be greeted with a “WE GOT YOU! HAPPY APRIL FOOLS” message.  3. Virgin Australia announced it is giving away toilet paper.  Snoopes says that this one isn’t a joke.  "With many flights cancelled, and with fears rising about a potential toilet paper shortage, Virgin Australia announced that it would be flipping April Fools’ Day on its head, and “turning the airline’s annual prank into a reality.” The company announced that it would be taking all of the unused toilet paper from its grounded planes and donating it to those in need." "Each year our passengers use enough toilet paper to stretch from Sydney to Los Angeles, so we’re thrilled that in true Virgin spirit, we’re going to help the elderly, the vulnerable, medical staff, and our charity partners, by giving them the supply of toilet paper that’s currently locked-up in our grounded aircraft and storage facilities throughout Australia." I imagine that toilet paper will be with us permanently.  Don't you look at that roll differently? Our picture today is taken at the Hidden Bench barn in front of the vineyards on McLeod Street on what's known as "The Bench".  I always think of this as Locust Lane, but the winery is around the corner and it is on Locust Lane.  I went searching for the street name, and the second picture that showed up was my own picture of the Hidden Bench barn, December, 2013, a snow scene.   Today's picture has the addition of a Skylum sky.  Lots of fun adding these with California town names. I think this one is Anaheim Sunset.  The second picture, in front of the barn, has a more realistic sky, although this one is from Skylum too. And there's that wonderful barn.

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Hidden Bench This Week

Autumn at Hidden Bench was marvellous in this last week - the third week of October, 2010.  The storm clouds were moving across the horizon to the south of the vineyards, with the full sun shining on the golden foliage.

The signature Hidden Bench label.

Do you have a favourite Niagara Vineyard with a few?  Let me know where you've found wonderful vistas and rolling hills!