Climbing to the top of the Bridgewater Monument

In the middle of woods can be found a tall stone column, built to honour the man who built the UK’s first industrial canals — Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater.

And inside are 172 steps that lead to the top with pretty impressive views across the countryside, and even as far as London, on a clear day.

Francis Egerton inherited the Dukedom aged just twelve years, but was so ill and considered so dull that he was nearly disinherited by his family. Despite that, he went on to become one of the country’s richest men when he started building canals. Well, he paid other people to build them for him, but the impetus was his.

The Bridgewater Canal from Worsley to Manchester which was constructed to transport coal obtained on his estates is usually cited as the first modern British canal as opposed to a river navigation.

His investments n coal and canals made him exceptionally rich and he spent lavishly on art. Plans to build a grand mansion house were however curtailed by his death in 1803.

His will also though included instructions to build a stone column. It’s claimed that it’s location, in the middle of the countryside and far from his planned mansion house was because his mother didn’t want to see it, as she was seemingly estranged from her son. It is perhaps coincidental that the location is also the highest in the local area.

These days, its managed by the National Trust, and open to the public at weekends to climb up and see the view.

I had a long walk up from nearby Berkhamsted, and knowing there was a cafe on site, was initially alarmed to see nothing but two vans, but there’s a large cafe and shop around the corner.

To get into column, just go up to the National Trust desk outside, and if a member it’s free to go in, otherwise £2.50 — which includes loan of a pair of small binoculars.

It’s a single staircase all the way to the top – punctuated with small slits in the wall for light, and being narrow and spiral, hope not too many people come down as you ascend, as it can be a bit hair-raising.

After a wearing 172 stony steps, at last to the top, and the high walkway around to admire the view.

Signs point out what might be seen in the distance, although to be frank, they are either wildly optimistic, or at least on two sides, mostly advertising other National Trust properties.

You can, just about, make out some of the London landmarks on the far horizon, although on my visit, they were more dark marks on the horizon that were just about recognisable.

What you’re really here for is the sense of achievement of climbing up to the top, and to admire the countryside rather than to spy out specific landmarks.

What shows up on maps as a carpark plus long road to the monument is in fact a very long car park. The cafe is excellent, the shop typically National Trust, and the woods a delight to wander around.

If coming up by train then Tring is much closer to the Monument, but I came via Berkhamsted for other reasons.

from IanVisits http://bit.ly/2XWs3mo

NXP Semiconductors Sees Sales Tumble Less Than Expected

When Qualcomm scrapped its $44 billion deal for NXP Semiconductors last year, both companies were forced to figure out how to thrive without each other. San Diego, California-based Qualcomm has been trying to muscle into the Internet of Thi

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Xilinx Excels as Strategy Shifts to Data Centers

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NXP Semiconductors Slips Up But Doesn't Stumble

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5 Ways Electric Vehicles are Impacting the Auto Supply Chain

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from Electronic Design - Engineering Essentials Curated By Experts http://bit.ly/2GP0mEZ

Implantable Blood-Flow Sensor is Wireless, Battery-Free, and Biodegradable

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from Electronic Design - Engineering Essentials Curated By Experts http://bit.ly/2WgoFlI

Xilinx Excels Amid Data Center Strategy Shift

Over the last year, Xilinx has expanded its efforts around artificial intelligence networking and storage chores in data centers. Under chief executive Victor Peng, who was hired last year, the company claims that its programmable FPGA

from Electronic Design - Engineering Essentials Curated By Experts http://bit.ly/2vt8QfQ

This device is a digital level, protractor, ruler, and roll measure all in one

Xilinx Excels as Data Center Strategy Plays Out

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from Electronic Design - Engineering Essentials Curated By Experts http://bit.ly/2VzvVMK

Are BAW Resonators Replacing Crystals in High-Frequency Equipment?

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Robots: Coming to a Sidewalk Near You

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Ten Amazing Garden Sheds Made From Recycled Things

These days you can buy a shed for pennies at many garden shops, but why buy one when you could get the satisfaction of making one! You will need some serious skills to replicate many of these sheds you are about to see, but if you can pull it off that simple garden shed could become a thing of pride…   Bowling Balls While the shed is made with a sort of wooden frame with shelving it is still covered externally with bowling balls. If you know of an old bowling club closing down it might be worth grabbing all the old balls. Doors The more doors you have the bigger the shed you can build I suppose, but having

The post Ten Amazing Garden Sheds Made From Recycled Things appeared first on Top 10 of Anything and Everything - The Fun Top Ten Blog.

from Top 10 of Anything and Everything – The Fun Top Ten Blog http://bit.ly/2GRRgbQ

A 490-foot high “cucumber” is coming to Paddington

Westminster council has approved planning application for a 42-storey residential tower that has already been nicknamed the “cucumber”.

What is officially called “1 Merchant Square” comprises a 42 storey building with 271 residential flats. A publicly accessible Skybar is also planned for the top two floors of the tower.

Along with a wholly redesigned’ 21-storey sister building, the tower and its neighbour will contain 426 flats.

It was originally given consent eight years ago, but he developers have made changes and needed fresh planning approval. The main change being the removal of a planned hotel so that more flats can be fitted in.

The 490 ft-tall tower will be covered in “dark blue glazed terracotta cladding”, which if nothing else, helps to avoid the solar glare reflecting into the nearby homes on sunny days (Shard passim).

Apart from the shape and height of the main tower, the development has also been controversial for missing affordable housing policy requirements. Only 67 of the two towers’ combined total of 426 flats will be classed as affordable housing, which is not just below Westminster Council’s own guidance for at least 30% to be affordable, but also the Mayor of London’s 35% affordable target.

Although some councillors expressed concerns, they voted to approve the scheme unanimously, mainly as the previous planning approval was still valid and had even fewer affordable homes.

According to the planning documents, when planning the skybar the the client and design team undertook extensive research by “visiting a significant number of functioning skybars around the world in order to understand what made some successful and others less so.”

Which sounds like arduous work.

Although approved by Westminster Council, due to its height, the “cucumber” could be called in by the Mayor of London for approval.

Images from the planning application

from IanVisits http://bit.ly/2vw6q0a

Role and benefits of camera technology for zero-defect production

Early defect detection plays a major role for quality assurance. In order to get closer to zero-defect production, more and more production lines are equipped with state-of-the art camera technology. The white paper discusses its potential to minimize production errors.

from Electronic Design - Engineering Essentials Curated By Experts http://bit.ly/2Wh8pB5

Enhanced 3D vision – simplified use of 3D camera data

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from Electronic Design - Engineering Essentials Curated By Experts http://bit.ly/2DF5Xx9

Redefined the industrial camera allow for a new intelligent camera class

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Skype 8.44.0.40 for PC Windows

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Did England’s “White Queen” die of the plague?

A document has been uncovered in the National Archives which may have solved one of history’s mysteries – how did the ‘White Queen’ Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV die.

Her marriage, to Edward IV, was a cause célèbre of the day, thanks to Elizabeth’s great beauty and lack of great estates. Edward was the first king of England since the Norman Conquest to marry one of his subjects, and Elizabeth was the first such consort to be crowned queen.

When Elizabeth died in June 1492, no cause of death was recorded and no contemporary accounts are known.

However, evidence in a letter from the Venetian ambassador in London some nineteen years later, that has only now been studied in depth, gives an insight into how the White Queen died and hints at a hypochondriac young monarch: Henry VIII.

The letter, dated July 1511, states that ‘the Queen-Widow, mother of King Edward, has died of plague, and the King is disturbed.’

Image scan by the National Archives.

Euan Roger, Records Specialist at The National Archives who made the discovery, said: “This entry can only refer to Elizabeth Woodville, widow of Edward IV, mother of Edward V, and Henry VIII’s maternal grandmother. It was written in the context of Henry’s own deep-seated fear of disease, in particular the Black Death, which had claimed his grandmother’s life.

“In the late fifteenth century and the first two decades of the sixteenth century, England was increasingly hit by outbreaks of infectious disease, with almost annual epidemics of plague and sweating sickness. The Venetians had a long experience of managing plague outbreaks through an effective system of quarantine, and regularly commented on English outbreaks. It was in this context that ambassador Andrea Badoer made his cryptic remark.”

Accounts of Elizabeth’s funeral depict a modest event, a fact often explained by her will, which was brief and written in her last few months, requesting no pomp or costly expenses.

However, this discovery offers an alternative explanation.

Rather than simply enacting the Queen’s requests for modesty, there would have been the further difficulty of a contagious body to deal with. Once Elizabeth’s body had been buried, and the dangers of miasmatic air which was believed to carry infection contained, the funeral could continue as usual.

While the original diaries recording the ambassador’s correspondence are held by archives in Venice, the discovery was made among transcripts and translations of Venetian documents relating to England, compiled in the early nineteenth century by editors in the Public Record Office. These transcriptions are held at The National Archives.

The full research behind this article can be found in Social History of Medicine, 2019. This month, the Oxford journal will feature a peer-reviewed academic article on the discovery.

The White Queen was featured in the BBC historical-drama a few years ago that showed the years of the Wars of the Roses.

from IanVisits http://bit.ly/2vqalLV

Reaper Audio Workstation 5.975

Reaper Audio Workstation comes with a fully loaded digital audio studio. Import any audio and MIDI, synthesize, sample, compose, arrange, edit, mix, and master. Reaper Audio Workstation is suitable for recording anything and any size, from a soloist to an orchestra. 64-bit internal audio processing. Import, record to, and render to many media f...

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f.lux 4.100 Screen Brightness App for PC Windows

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Stellar Phoenix Data Recovery for iPhone 5.0.0.1

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Panda Free Antivirus 18.07.03 for PC Windows

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ZoneAlarm Free 15.6.028.18012

ZoneAlarm Free Firewall blocks hackers from infiltrating your home PC by hiding your computer from unsolicited network traffic. By detecting and preventing intrusions, ZoneAlarm Free Firewall keeps your PC free from viruses that slow down performance, and spyware that steals your personal information, passwords, and financial data. Essential fir...

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