William Shaker
The tour, while somewhat stationary, was really nice, especially with the section on the oldest concrete structure, the doghouse. It seemed somewhat fitting that the oldest surviving reinforced concrete structure would be a doghouse, as it always seems that all (okay not all but every one I'd be willing to talk to) dog owner to some degree does spoil their dog. Even the most free roaming for farm dog that's half decently cared for does at least get a healthy
amount of pets and trailer rides. Someone going "oh man I can make my little dude have his own house and address" seems like both something very much of the time and like something distant, but also very close as it's something most people on this trip would go and do. 
On a different note, I found one particular display out of all those I sprinted past particularly interesting. The diorama of the brewery was fantastic.
It included descriptions of all the steps involved, had neat architectural details, figurines showing how staff and customers would be working, as well as provided a visual aid of how they would have done it then. Sure, today you might have a well controlled process that results in consistent and "good" beer, but back then it was more of a "hey this works so let's keep doing it this way" kind of thing. Bottom fermentating beer yeasts, for example, required temperatures typically only obtainable in winter. So until refrigeration was invented by Carl von Linde, (with financial help of a brewing family?) It was not possible to use such yeasts except as a seasonal thing.
Another thing I found very interesting was, and I am fairly sure it did slightly dip into the aviation stuff we weren't supposed to go see but I couldn't stop myself, the model airplanes. Apparently there is a large section of the different innovations in RC technology and a bunch of different power setups showing progression from non-throttle nitro engines that spat oil and fuel everywhere, to the beginnings of brushed electric, all the way to a modern brushless electric pylon racer.
William, this post was very interesting and very funny. I appreciate the dog comments, as I too spoil my dog to no end. I appreciate what you wrote about the brewing process, as I did not read that section very carefully. I didn't think about varying brewing processes and how some brews would have to be seasonal. Overall, I hope to learn more about that process the next time we go into the museum!
ReplyDeleteLucas- I am excited to go check out those RC planes come Sunday. I’ve always found nitromethane ICE engines interesting because of their power to weight output. Seeing the old and new technologies unwrapped will be very interesting. (Particularly the newer electric battery/motor tech in new planes)
ReplyDeleteRe: Dog House
ReplyDeleteI also thought the reinforced concrete dog house was very cool. I was surprised to learn that our most commonly used construction material has such a negative impact on the environment, though! I never would have thought that the contents of the mixture were so crucial that it would become necessary to import sediment from continents away.