234 years ago today

The first stretch of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal (from Skipton to Thackley) was opened 234 years ago today, on the 21st March 1774, when five laden boats descended the Bingley Five Rise locks watched by thousands of people. The Leeds Intelligencer described the occasion thus: "From Bingley to about 3 miles downwards the noblest works of the kind are exhibited viz: A five fold, a three fold and a single lock, making together a fall of 120 feet; a large aqueduct bridge of seven arches over the River Aire and an aqueduct and banking over the Shipley valley. This joyful and much wished for event was welcomed with the ringing of Bingley bells, a band of music, the firing of guns by the neighbouring Militia, the shouts of spectators, and all the marks of satisfaction that so important an acquisition merits". Here are some photos, mostly taken today, of the "noblest works" mentioned above.

Bingley Five Rise Locks


Bingley Three Rise Locks


Dowley Gap locks - the 'Leeds Intelligencer' got this detail wrong, this is a two rise staircase


Seven Arches Aqueduct, Dowley Gap


The embankment at Shipley near its crossing of Bradford Beck


The bicentenary commemorative plaque at Bingley Five Rise Locks


(Lots more Leeds and Liverpool Canal photos in my Picasa album)

Quotes of the Month

Yes, it's only the 14th, but how could these two be bettered?

Re: MOG: SCO to cleave in twain
Msg: 59007 of 59222     3/11/2008 5:51:02 PM    
Author:  CDBaric   
  In response to msg 58983 by _Arthur
  Recs: 37

"It looks, however, like there’s gonna be two entities once SCO’s out of
Chapter 11: one that pursues the myriad litigation (what the plan calls
the SCO Group) and the other that minds the Unix store (what the plan
calls Reorganized SCO)."

What an excellent idea!

Just think if Exxon had thought of such a thing. Exxon could have divided
itself into two entities, (1) Drunken Shipping, and (2) Everything Else.
It is of course to be expected that the Drunken Shipping division wouldn't
have much in the way of assets, just a broken boat and some oil
(unfortunately distributed all over some rugged coastline).

I think MOG has truly devined the next big thing in corporate deniability.

Amazing!

Bar

Re: Microsoft Predicts Computing Trends for late 1900's
Msg: 59182 of 59222     3/13/2008 1:08:46 PM    
Author:  karl_w_lewis   
  In response to msg 59181 by peredurabefrog
  Recs: 14

>> Microsoft have loads of applications that use all the power of modern
computers and more (if the performance of my wife's laptop is to be
believed). Their problem is in trying to do something useful with it
rather than using it to power a bloated user interface. <<

Well, that is a novel solution to the old issue... Power, you see, can be
used for Good, or for Evil, or, (as it turns out), for the User Interface,
which obviates the whole Good Vs. Evil quandary.

KWL

Lulz Redux

So, it finally happened: nearly two years after the relevant events, the news broke [SMH, BBC] about Jeff Merkey's wikipayola. The only problem is whether this notorious kook and fantasist actually paid any money, or is merely off in his separate reality pretending he did. The wikinerds, who previously banned those who warned them that Merkey's word was not to be trusted, are now to be observed wailing exactly that to a largely indifferent world - whilst maintaining, even now, that Merkey's a good guy [JzG] and the Y!SCOX crowd are trolls [JzG, SirFozzie]. And meanwhile, an anonymous IP keeps whitewashing the Merkey article and discussion: interestingly, a traceroute goes via 166.70.235.16, aka a node named jmerkey.fttp.xmission.com... Sometimes, connecting the dots is just too easy.

In other news, the heroic Patent Troll Tracker is being sued into silence: "Just this morning we were lamenting the fact that the formerly anonymous Patent Troll Tracker had shut down his blog, but now we know why. It appears that two patent attorneys in East Texas have sued him and Cisco for defamation. One of the attorneys happens to also be the son of the judge who helped make Marshall, Texas famous as a favorite for patent holders..."

And in other other news, the redaction to SCO's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings is just in. They say, get this, that if Novell didn't approve the SCOSource swindle, then Novell isn't entitled to the swag...