http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=1704
Here are some one liners...
The First Building Code in Vienna -- There are two reasons for developing building codes... to force a standard of appearance or to solve a regional problem.
Isaac Newton Discovers the Rainbow Spectrum -- Once again, Newton turns science on its head as he proves that white light is made up of multiple colors called a spectrum.
Off to the Races: The First Thoroughbred Comes to England -- The horse whose bloodline is part of 95% of racing horses is brought to England this year.
The First Building Code in Vienna
The city of Vienna has grown beyond its defensive battlements in its first real urban sprawl. In order to protect its citizens, Vienna encompasses these outer areas with new battlements and a moat. Building codes are established in order to blend the new construction into the existing architecture. Building codes are something new. In the case of Vienna, the codes are being used to maintain a sense of continuity between parts of the city that are actually partitioned by walls (for now). However, in Jamaica a different reality has brought about building codes: hurricanes and earthquakes. While storms and earthquakes are considered acts of God in Old Europe and thus a punishment for some misdeed, Jamaica is getting hit so often that they no longer believe that they have been bad. They are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, so they have established building codes for foundation and wall construction in order to improve survivability for the inhabitants and for the buildings themselves. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
The most intrusive building codes are those designed to maintain a certain look to a city. The best modern example can be seen in the city used for the movie: The Truman Show (1998). Seaside, Florida has an onerous building code whose aim is to maintain a certain look. If you don't like that kind of control, don't buy a house there. The other purpose of building codes is to avoid known regional problems. For example, regions prone to hurricanes will have a requirement that a roof be properly strapped to the walls, rather than assuming the weight of the roof and a few nails will hold it in place during a storm. This not only saves your property from excessive damage, but it also saves the life of your neighbor who will not be expecting your roof to fly off of your house and land on his. In earthquake county, windows must be located away from the corners of a building to allow sufficient room for cross bracing. This keeps the corner post of your house from tipping over during an earthquake and then having the second story collapse onto the first story. Very messy. Keep in mind that most building codes are not established just to piss you off. They often solve real problems but when the city inspector is in C.Y.A. mode, you might need an engineer to convince him that the code doesn't apply in your specific situation. [6] [7]
The most intrusive building codes are those designed to maintain a certain look to a city. The best modern example can be seen in the city used for the movie: The Truman Show (1998). Seaside, Florida has an onerous building code whose aim is to maintain a certain look. If you don't like that kind of control, don't buy a house there. The other purpose of building codes is to avoid known regional problems. For example, regions prone to hurricanes will have a requirement that a roof be properly strapped to the walls, rather than assuming the weight of the roof and a few nails will hold it in place during a storm. This not only saves your property from excessive damage, but it also saves the life of your neighbor who will not be expecting your roof to fly off of your house and land on his. In earthquake county, windows must be located away from the corners of a building to allow sufficient room for cross bracing. This keeps the corner post of your house from tipping over during an earthquake and then having the second story collapse onto the first story. Very messy. Keep in mind that most building codes are not established just to piss you off. They often solve real problems but when the city inspector is in C.Y.A. mode, you might need an engineer to convince him that the code doesn't apply in your specific situation. [6] [7]
Isaac Newton Discovers the Rainbow Spectrum
This year Isaac Newton publishes his work entitled, Optiks, where he demonstrates (using prisms) that white light is actually composed of a range of colors. He counts seven distinct colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. He calls it the spectrum and he admits that he is surprised that white light is a mixture of so many colors. Certainly in painting, a mixture of such colors would not produce white. Thus he concludes that the attribute of color of an object is not inherent to the object but rather a result of the perception of the eye as some colors of white light are absorbed by an object and other colors are reflected. This contradicts Aristotle's assumption (and just about everyone's assumption at the time) that light was pure white and color only came about by mixing it with darkness and properties of the matter that the light fell upon. He also publishes this work in English rather than the normal Latin. This is a major step in the promotion of the English language as a means of conveying serious scientific ideas. [8] [9]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
Newton was right about light, but he was not rigorous in terms of mathematically proving why light is composed of many colors. He was experimenting with light, demonstrating that whatever was happening with light it was certain that Aristotle's explanation was absolutely wrong. That was enough to turn the scientific world on its head. In fact, color is a process of absorption and reflection of light. One realizes this when one wears white clothing in the summer to reflect the sunlight and thus pushing away the energy contained in that sunlight. The white clothing is more reflective of the broad spectrum of light. Wearing black clothing absorbs light energy. Thus in the colder months one wears darker clothing to absorb as much energy from the sun as possible. It is absorbing all the colors of the spectrum.
Newton was right about light, but he was not rigorous in terms of mathematically proving why light is composed of many colors. He was experimenting with light, demonstrating that whatever was happening with light it was certain that Aristotle's explanation was absolutely wrong. That was enough to turn the scientific world on its head. In fact, color is a process of absorption and reflection of light. One realizes this when one wears white clothing in the summer to reflect the sunlight and thus pushing away the energy contained in that sunlight. The white clothing is more reflective of the broad spectrum of light. Wearing black clothing absorbs light energy. Thus in the colder months one wears darker clothing to absorb as much energy from the sun as possible. It is absorbing all the colors of the spectrum.
Off to the Races: The First Thoroughbred Comes to England
Queen Anne of England's ambassador to the Levant (which is mainly Syria at this time) is named Thomas Darley. He buys an Arabian colt and smuggles it home to his father, Richard, who raises it. It is such a beautiful and tall horse that he puts it out to stud, never racing it. It's line becomes known as the Darley Arabian, and this horse's bloodline will become part of 95% of all thoroughbred racing horses into the modern day. [10] [11]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
Frankly, everything I know about horses, I've learned from reading novels by Elizabeth Moon. She has actually raised horses in Texas and she has written a number of science fiction novels featuring a little old lady named Cecelia who races horses while the universe is falling apart all around her. The publisher has been releasing the stories under new titles such as "Heris Serrano", "The Serrano Connection" and "The Serrano Succession", but the original titles are "Hunting Party", "Sporting Chance", and "Winning Colors." I liked reading them. As one reviewer said, they are not brilliant but they are good. [12] [13] [14] [15]
Frankly, everything I know about horses, I've learned from reading novels by Elizabeth Moon. She has actually raised horses in Texas and she has written a number of science fiction novels featuring a little old lady named Cecelia who races horses while the universe is falling apart all around her. The publisher has been releasing the stories under new titles such as "Heris Serrano", "The Serrano Connection" and "The Serrano Succession", but the original titles are "Hunting Party", "Sporting Chance", and "Winning Colors." I liked reading them. As one reviewer said, they are not brilliant but they are good. [12] [13] [14] [15]
This Year in Wikipedia
Year 1704, Wikipedia.
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