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" ما أصعب العيش لولا فسحة الأمل"
Taken & Edit by: me ..
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The design of the Blackwood screwdock is a superb example of Victorian engineering, representing dry dock design at its best – good even by modern standards. Two primary elements of the design were unique: the use of power screws for lifting and trussed timber beams for the transverse girders. Another key feature of the design was the spacing of the screw jacks which kept down the loading on individual screws and beams. Planking laid athwart each beam abuts that on adjacent beams and created a continuous working platform.
It turns out that the screwdock concept and the shiplift system was a uniquely American invention of the early 19th century. Judging by the surviving descriptions and the remnants of the Barbados Screwdock, it was an invention that displayed all the elegant simplicity, practicality and ingenuity of the time and place of its inception.
The earliest screwdock, the earliest shiplift, was patented and constructed by Captain Jesse Hurd of Connecticut in New York in 1827 and incorporated as the “New York Screwdock Company” in 1828.
Two screwdocks were built shortly thereafter, one in Baltimore and one on the Kensington Reach of the Delaware River in Philadelphia.
The New York screwdock was suspended from eight screws of 41⁄2” (114 mm) diameter and apparently had a capacity of 200 tons. It was hand operated; it took about 30 men about half-
an-hour to raise such a vessel 10 feet (3 m).
The Baltimore screwdock was suspended from forty screws of about 5” (127 mm) diameter.
The Kensington Screwdock would seem to have been suspended from about 50 screws
The Barbados screwdock with a platform of 217’0” (66 m) by 45’6” (13.9m) is suspended from 62 screws of 41⁄2” (114 mm) diameter. The estimated capacity was around 1200 tons.
[hr]
The shiplift in Barbados uses screw jacks for lifting gear leading to an elegantly simple and durable system that remained in operation for nearly 100 years. It only became derelict when the owners were liquidated and the facility was abandoned. Currently [2010] moves are afoot to restore the facility with both historical preservation and a fully working dry dock being issues involved.
The “screwdock” as it is known locally was built on the south side of an area known as the “Careenage” at the mouth of the Constitution river in Bridgetown by John Blackwood (see locality plan, figure 1). Work was begun in 1889 and the lift was formally opened on 10th March, 1893 by Miss Hay, daughter of Sir James Hay, then Governor of Barbados.
Figure 1 Screwdock Locality
John Blackwood came out from Scotland in the early 1880’s as Assistant Engineer in the employ of Messrs Grant and Morrison. Within a few years Blackwood took over the business and ran it under his own name until his death in 1904. The business was then taken over by his brother-in-law, William McLaren who ran it until the formation of Central Foundry who took over the running of the dock together with John Blackwood’s workshops on the Pier Head.
In the early 1980’s the Central Foundry was in financial difficulty when their workshops and offices with all records, including those of the screwdock, were destroyed in a fire. The company was never able to recover from this blow. In 1984 the Central Foundry went into liquidation and the screwdock ceased operations. The screwdock has been derelict ever since. For some time thereafter, the site was under the jurisdiction of the Coast Guard which probably explains why there appears to be almost no vandalism of the site, only deterioration.
In its early history, Barbados was one of the major ports of the new world partly, in a world of sailing ships, because of its windward position with respect to the rest of the Caribbean. Even in the 19th century, it was still a very busy port, some 1500 vessel a year calling in the 1890’s. The decision to build a dry dock in Barbados was very much a response to this shipping activity – at the time Campbell’s dock in Bermuda of 380 ft (116m) was the only other significant dry dock in the region.
In November 1887 the Barbados Parliament passed an act to authorise the lease of Government lands for harbour improvements and the construction of a dry dock. A lease for the site of the screwdock in favour of John Blackwood was only signed in February of 1899. Under the terms of the lease a construction period of two years was allowed at a rental of £40 a year. Thereafter, once the dock became operational, the lease would run for 20 years at a rental of £276.4.0. The Government reserved the right to take over the dock on expiry of the lease at prime cost less a reasonable allowance for deterioration. The cost of removing and re-erecting Government buildings, water and gas mains were excluded from the prime costs. The Government also claimed priority for docking their own vessels.
In March of 1889 a Bill was passed to allow all construction materials, including timber, cement and machinery to be imported free of duty. Permission was also given for the free use of a diving bell, centrifugal pumps and the Priestman Dredger. The the lift was formally opened on 10th March 1893 by Miss Hay, daughter of Sir James Hay,then Governor of Barbados.
Figure 2 View of the Screwdock and the Careenage
Actual construction took far longer than the two years allowed – the whole construction period being about four years. One of the reasons given was the flooding of the works by exceptionally high tides. Since the retaining walls had not yet been built, portions of the embankments collapsed into the works. While this can only be part of the explanation for the extended delays, it does serve to suggest that the works, at least initially, were coffered and built in the dry.
The initial drive for the dock was a 100 hp steam engine with a coal burning locomotive type boiler although, for much of the time, squeeze-dried sugar cane was used as fuel. In 1953 the steam engine was replaced by a 130 hp electric motor. (HUTSON F. 1973; THRELFALL T. 1995)
Hutson (HUTSON F. 1973) gives the following docking charges as originally provided for in the lease and those ruling in 1972. These figures are in Barbadian dollars as of 1972:
18891972
Vessels not exceeding 100 register tons
For 1st day including lifting$50$150
For each subsequent day25¢ per ton60¢ per ton
Vessels exceeding 100 register tons
For 1st day including lifting50¢ per ton$1.50 per ton
For each subsequent day25¢ per ton65¢ per ton
Elsewhere Threlfall (THRELFALL T. 1995) gives charges as embodied in the original lease of 2s per ton for lifting and 6d per ton per day for dock occupation.
In 1968 a high pressure water jet was acquired to speed up the cleaning of marine fouling from ships hulls and for paint stripping (ST. PIERRE GILL, C.H. 2009).
By the 1970’s, the dock was still lifting over 10 000 tons of shipping per year (HUTSON F. 1973).
In 1977, in correspondence with Andrew Hutchison (HUTCHINSON A.P. 1977) at that time secretary, later president of the Barbados Association of Professional Engineers, he stated that the original drawings still existed but that they were “very worn and unsuitable for reproduction”.
By the start of the fourth quarter of the 20th century the operations of the Central Foundry and the screwdock were coming to an end. Peter Simpson was quoted as saying that the dock was “antiquated and not easy to work” (ST. PIERRE GILL, C.H. 2009). Although ship construction was changing from wood to steel, labour rates were increasing and Barbados had lost its pre-eminence as a shipping centre, institutional and financial matters seem to have been at the heart of the problem. In the late 1970’s there were also problems with the lease of the site. Central Foundry was not able to reach agreement with the Government on this matter.
Central Foundry had suffered a number of fires, the first in 1938 and then in 1948. They were able to recover from these but it was the third fire in 1981 that ravaged the works and destroyed all the records. The firm never really recovered. In 1984 it went into liquidation and the screwdock ceased operations. It has been derelict ever since (THRELFALL T. 1995).
Threlfall (THRELFALL T. 1995) makes the comment that “after carefully studying some ideas embodying hydraulics, Blackwood chose a system based upon screw-jacks”. Although this quote is not explicit, this does sound rather like the Hydraulic Lift Dock of Edwin Clark (CLARK E. 1866; MACKIE K.P. 2008) built in London in 1857 – the first shiplift ever built. Clark was Robert Stevenson’s house boffin on the design of the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Staits and later his resident engineer on the construction of the bridge. His experience on that bridge seems to have been a significant influence on his choice of design. Although du Platt-Taylor (DU PLAT-TAYLOR F.M. 1949) mentions having seen it in operation as a child, it seems it was decommissioned and demolished early in the 20th century.
Blackwood’s Screwdock some 30 years later is the second shiplift ever built and, although it is currently derelict, it can be restored. It is this statement that makes the restoration of the screwdock such an important and viable proposal.
The modern, Syncrolift© style of shiplifts using steel wire rope winches was only developed in about 1957 by Raymond Pearlson.
In his paper on the screwdock Frank Hutson (HUTSON F. 1973) remarks: “It has been said that a similar dock was supplied to some country in the Far East, but where it went to and whether it is still in operation is unknown, if in fact it ever existed”. This comment has since been picked up by other commentators on the screwdock with the site being given variously as Hong Kong or Singapore often in the positive and without Hutson’s proviso.
The mechanical equipment for the dock was provided by the Glasgow based engineering firm of Duncan Stewart. A rendition of the various Scottish engineering firms involved in supplying sugar mill machinery to Barbados was given by Peter Simpson (MACKIE K.P. 2009) during an interview for the December 2009 investigations. Of significance, the firm of Duncan Stewart was only a small player in this industry in Barbados at the time the screwdock was built.
Although industrial accidents are to be deplored, they are of considerable value in advancing the state of the art. Hutson (HUTSON F. 1973) records four such incidents:
1935: The schooner Eastern Star fell over on its side after being docked causing the death of two workmen and injury to others. She was afterwards righted and repaired.
1948: M.V. Willemstad, a heavy vessel, said to have been badly docked, caused three sections to break four days after being docked and said to have caused enormous overload on adjacent sections. By working around the clock, the sections were repaired and the situation saved.
WWII: H.M.S. Black Bear was a converted yacht with an excessively sloping bow. This was not properly supported and some adjacent sections were broken. These were repaired in time to prevent further damage.
1953: The auxiliary schooner Cachalot caught fire while on the dock. The cause was overhead welding which caused considerable damage to the engine room but there were no casualties.
Design Concept
The four diagrams, figures 11 to 14, placed at the end of this paper have been compiled from measurements made on site during the week 7th to 11th December 2009. They have been drawn to scale but only the dimensions shown are the dimensions actually measured. The rest have been inferred from various sources. The dimensions shown are given in SI metric measure although the dock was originally built to imperial measurement which is still in general use in Barbados. Measurements were made with linen tape, pocket tape and vernier caliper and, except where an original exact, rounded, imperial dimension could be inferred, are of limited accuracy.
This lift differs in concept from the earlier Clark system or the later Pearlson Syncrolift© system. Where the Clark system uses long stroke hydraulic cylinders as the lifting medium and the Pearlson system steel wire rope winches, the Blackwood uses long power screws. The practical capacity of individual screws is much less than hydraulic cylinders or winches so many more are needed and the main beams are much more closely spaced – so much so that, at least in the case of the Barbados screwdock, no intermediate grillage is needed between the beams.
Figure 4 Screwdock with Large Coaster (HUTCHINSON A.P. 1983)
The Blackwood has a very simple plan. It uses 31 screws down each side set at intervals of 7’0” (2133.6mm) and 31 sets of girders spanning between pairs of screws. Planking laid athwart the main beams provides a continuous working platform when all the beams are up.
The main rectangular plan of the dock, allowing for run-off of the retaining walls past the screws is 217’0” (66142 mm) and the clear space between copes is 45’6” (13868). A triangular space at the landward end of the pit extends its length by another 23’0” (7010 mm) to give a total length of 240’0” (73152 mm).
The civil engineering structures consist of coral block walling – a vertical retaining wall around the perimeter of the dock with rectangular, 2’0” (610 mm) wide by 2’6” (762 mm) deep vertical buttresses at 7’0” (2133.6) centres to carry the screw loads. Aside from the actual facing of the wall and the buttresses, the details of the wall construction are unknown.
The buttresses have a pair of 12” (305 mm) by 9” (228 mm) timbers placed over their tops, extending from the face of the copes to some distance behind the retaining wall face to receive the timber cope beams – a pair of 12” (305 mm) by 12” (305 mm) Greenheart baulks
The girders are constructed as trussed beams. The beam portion is formed from two 20” by 20” ( 508 by 508 mm) baulks of greenheart timber (given, in some references as “whalebone” greenheart) laid side by side, each end resting on a cast iron plates at the end of the screw rod. A cotter and washer system underneath these plates transfers the load to the screw rods. It has not been possible to examine the bottom of the plates but from photos it seems that the end of each screw rod is squared where it passes through the plate to prevent it from turning with the gear wheel and so failing to rise or fall as the wheel turns.
Figure 5 Last Remaining Trussed Beam showing Planking Athwart the Beam and Timber Keel Block.
Timber Cope Beams and Coral Buttresses can be seen in the background.
Four cast iron brackets, one on top of each end of each baulk, act as anchors for the 2” dia (51 mm) steel tie rods that dip down to about 12” (304 mm) below the soffit of the baulks. Cross pieces of 12” (305 mm) square timbers passing under the main baulks serve to transfer the load from the baulks to the tie rods.
Figure 6 Main Drive Train
The main drive, which has the option of a 1:1 or a 1:2 reduction gear box, is transmitted by shafts and bevel gears to the two main drive shafts – one on each side running down the full length of the cope. At each screw there is a worm floating on the shaft and a sliding dog clutch keyed to the shaft that can engage or disengage the worm. The worm in turn engages a worm wheel. The screw passes through this wheel. It has a bronze nut and thrust washer embedded axially in it to engage the screw and raise or lower it. Each gear set is mounted on a cast iron base plate set onto the timber cope beams exactly between the wall buttresses.
The screw itself was cut from 4” (101.6 mm) OD “bright” steel shafting. The thread appeared to be a 0°/52° buttress thread with a pitch of 1” (25 mm) although actual measurement seemed to suggest something more like 0°/62°.
Docking Operations
Some information on the practice of docking vessels on the screwdock was obtained from Mr Joe Weeks. For a period of 10 years in the 1960’s and 1970’s he had been Assistant Dockmaster (MACKIE K.P. 2009).
Other than a steel ring embedded in the concrete at the head of the dock, there is no sign that the dock was ever fitted with any dock furniture – fenders, bollards, fairleads, capstans etc. Weeks confirmed that the dock was operated so. On occasion, the vessel being dry docked would hang a few used tyres over the side or a few would be hung over the side of the dock.
Generally, six lines were used to bring the vessel into the dock and to position it. A head line was made fast to a ring set into the concrete at the head of the dock and the crew on board the vessel would warp the vessel into the dock either by hauling manually or, if available, by using an on-board capstan. Two breasting lines were used each side to position the vessel. A stern line was also used mainly, presumable, to warp the vessel out of the dock.
Mr Weeks confirmed that vessels (presumably he was referring to larger vessels such as coasters) were always brought to an even keel by flooding the forepeak tanks to avoid any sue load. As the vessel took the blocks, the water would be pumped out to lighten the vessel. This water had to be replaced on undocking as the vessel went into the water.
If a section was lowered to work on the keel, the screws to that section were marked so that the beams in the section could be brought back up to exactly the original height against the keel.
If the platform was lowered too far and sat on the bottom, the load would come off the cotters that secured it to the screws and they could and sometimes did work loose so that the beam end became effectively disconnected.
Joe Weeks reported that surge was not a problem. No docking operations, docking or undocking were done when there was rough weather at sea with a surge running up the Careenage. In fact the screw drive system does not permit of any penduluming of the platform which would bend the screw rods if it happened. If the surge got bad, the lift was kept up, clear of the water. In the event of hurricanes and severe storms, blocks of wood were inserted between the main girders and the cope beams and the lift tensioned against the blocks to fix it securely.
Joe did comment that normal surge had never delayed docking or undocking, only hurricanes and severe storms. The deck planking was laid tight to prevent barnacles and scrapings falling through.
Staffing levels were:
1 dockmaster
1 assistant dockmaster
6 permanent men on dockmaster’s staff including the 2 no divers. Divers only received extra pay while they were diving. At other times they assisted the rest of the staff.
8 – 12 casual workers to assist with the docking as needed.
All parties assisted with the scraping and painting of the vessels
A separate department employed an engineer foreman and 6 engineers to work on the ships. These men had nothing to do with the docking of vessels.
Weeks and Peter Simpson (MACKIE K.P. 2009) concurred that it was unsafe to walk along the dock in the region of the main load concentrations when a heavy vessel was being lifted. Under these conditions, the gears and worms would emit sparks and small chips of hot metal. These sparks and chips made it uncomfortable to be near the gears when this was happening.
Central foundry made all replacement screws, bronze nuts and cotter pins. Gear wheels and worm wheels were imported. At one stage both were supplied in the wrong grade of metal and were sent back.
Joe commented that at one time during his stint, there had been a proposal to scrap the drive shaft, worm and gear system and fit each screw with its own motor.
Peter Simpson confirmed that the overall condition of the dock had been allowed to deteriorate to a dangerous level some time before the fire and before the lift was abandoned. He had in fact put in a report on the condition that was also lost in the fire. He stated that before the fire a complete set of documents including drawings of the dock were held by Central Foundry.
Nothing has survived of the bilge support system except old photos. It would appear that it consisted of Morton type sliding bilge blocks riding on inclined baulks (see figure 8). Rollinson (ROLLINSON D. 1993) states that these baulks were attached to the main girders by a metal hinge structure at the inboard end. Thus, the inclination of these slides could be varied by changing the blocking that supported the centres and the outboard ends of these baulks. With high bilge vessels, this reduced the build-up of the bilge blocks. The inclination of the slides did make it easier to pull the blocks in against hull of the vessel.
"Though human genius in its various inventions with various instruments may answer the same end, it will never find an invention more beautiful or more simple or direct than nature, because in her inventions nothing is lacking and nothing is superfluous."
Leonardo da Vinci.
The sculptor was Edwardo Paolozzi which was dated in 1989. A Scottish despite his Italian name The sculpture is installed in front of the Design Museum on the River Thames at Butler’s Wharf, London.
Südbrücke Köln - the first bridge rebuilt after the second world war is of outreaching importance for the history of constructional steelwork. Interesting read:
www.rheinische-industriekultur.com/seiten/objekte/orte/ko...
ODC Our Daily Challenge: Invention
SOOC
A recent arrival at Lichfield Road, New Invention, Willenhall, Walsall. The front panel was in place about an hour before I took this photo.
20170727-FYG663J(1)a
This is a photograph on the Wall of Fame at the Mannes School of Music in New York City.
Leopold Godowsky, son of the famous pianist/composer (L) and Leopold Mannes (R), son of David and Clara Mannes, and the second president of the Mannes College of Music, patented the formula for color photography--Kodachrome.
It was the money from this invention that financed the Mannes School of Music.
Shot with a Fuji X100's for the 365 group with the theme "Invention".
The first self-winding wristwatch had been invented in 1923 by John Harwood, a watch repairer from Bolton.
The Harwood watches were first produced with the help of Swiss watch manufacturer Fortis and went on sale in 1928. 30,000 were made before the Harwood Self-Winding Watch Company collapsed in 1931 during the depression.
Processed in Aperture using a VSCO film.
An actor impersonates Thomas Alva Edison. Just to inform you, this actor looks very much like the young Edison. He was nicknamed "The Wizard of Menlo Park" because of his many inventions. Edison was not the first to "invent" the light bulb, but he was the first to make the light bulb "practical." He had the philosophy that one should never give up and that every failure brought a person closer to the success he desired.
Born in Ohio, Edison grew up in Port Huron, Michigan. Henry Ford was an admirer and friend of Edison. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison
Head of Invention by a Scottish sculptor and artist Eduardo Paolozzi, 1989.
Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005) is widely considered to be one of the pioneers of pop art
The sculpture is installed in front of the Design Museum in London.
Inscription on the back of the sculpture:
"Though human genius in its various inventions with various instruments may answer the same end, it will never find an invention more beautiful or more simple or direct than nature, because in her inventions nothing is lacking and nothing superfluous
Leonardo da Vinci.
London, 2017
The Our Daily Challenge group has chosen Invention as today's topic.
The bicycle is said to be one of the most important inventions of the nineteenth century. Previously, most people could only travel as far as they could walk so few left their own village. The bicycle enabled people, young men at first but later young women, to travel further afield. This had the effect of greatly increasing the likelihood of marriage outside their own locality thus diversifying the gene pool
I wanted Joel to have something to show the Mads. So...an Emo Ostrich. Because of reasons.
Crow's build was inspired by the work of SPARKART!. Some great MST3k work there!
A recent arrival at Lichfield Road, New Invention, Willenhall, Walsall. Rear window appear to lack its glazing.
20170727-FYG663J(2)a
Helps by heel spur ,easier to get by foot and more force, keep moving top end for about two minutes , good luck ,thanks for the visit
I've half-jokingly said over the decades (I date myself with that statement ;-) that the greatest invention we, as a species, have invented is the ski lift, especially the covered high-speed variety!
Picture of a ski lift at Snow Valley last weekend as my boys made their way up on their own for another run down.
No need for covered chairs here though as the weather during the day is *perfect* 99.9% of the time.
"Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end." -Henry David Thoreau
Downtown LA, 4/18/2014
Taiwan Invention Exhibition 2014, Hall 1 Taipei World Trade Center TWTC.
She so cute.
It's been a long time I haven't seen Hong-Ling,
with her unique smile.
My latest invention for splicing two or more lengths of wire together. ... Or a attaching a length of wire to an object such as a turnbuckle.
2020 Weekly Alphabet Challenge, Week 35, I for Invention
The needle threader is one of those really useful inventions. I couldn't find out when it was invented and by who ...
I wrote a poem this morning Alpha Inventions Blog Traffic Booster , and cross blogged it to my Hijdaeunuchblogs at Wordpress.
The result is that this poem got a large number of views as can be seen by my Blog Stats ..
All my Flickr Hijda pictures I have been cross blogging here ..its quite a pain..but the Hijdas prefer this website to my Flickr website .
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The marvels of our past become our future relics. This was once someones dream, and it's beauty remains.
Disneyland Paris.
New Year's Day 2014.
Visit our website for loads of Disney Character pictures and information!
Number 37 For 52 in 2019 :Invention
This non kink-able hose at the pool seem to me to be a must have! There are several different lengths available and I am very tempted !
It's the Compact Disc, of course. Theme: 1980's (eighties) for Macro Monday. HMM
Sony and Philips marketed the first commercial CD devices and discs in the early 1980's.
See link for more CD history:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc#History;
Note: I'm not very familiar with 80's music, so I put a smooth jazz favorite on the turntable
for the capture ;-)
A spoof, Victorian advertisement that I have just finished. Imagining a possible solution to the problems faced on the road by cyclists and motorcycle riders: a great big machine gun on the front. Copyright J B Kelly 2013.
Second collaborative artwork with one of the biggest and baddest illa's about to hit the industry, my man Mr Wan.
A universal theme is chosen and we independently create artwork which best reflects (a key word or phrase within) that theme using our signature styles.
Eventually to be released (in a very limited quantity and) a very exclusive pack of double sided cards.
Each image will be constructed using various technical printing and handicraftwork processes to ensure maximum quality and longevity.
You can see Mr Wan's 'Invention' here
Hill's Cigarettes "Scientific Inventions & Discoveries" issued in 1929.
#32 William Caxton and the printing press
A model of an invention designed by Leonardo da Vinci in the 15th century, on display at the exhibition "Leonardo da Vinci, the inventions of a Genius" in Bruges, Belgium.
Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, simpler or more direct than does nature because in her inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous (Leonardo da Vinci)
Wo die Natur aufhört ihre Abbilder zu schaffen, dort beginnt der Mensch aus natürlichen Dingen mit Hilfe der Natur unendliche Bilder zu schaffen.
Dans la nature, tout a toujours une raison. Si tu comprends cette raison, tu n'as plus besoin de l'expérience
I was out, looking for a capture to 'fête' a full bunch of beauties to take place tomorrow, Palm-Sunday. (see later in the day next upload)
I could not focus on those snails because they were hanging in the evening sun, half hidden in a cleft of a wall dating back to the 13th century, way above my head, so I pointed my camera, set on 'close-up' and on 1/4 sec. and I took three shots. This is the one where two of the three snails are on the picture... :)
They were hanging there, like circus artists, holding on by sheer defiance of gravity, beautiful but nearly invisible.
I thought of my family who taught me to see the beauty in the smallest thing, to care about the least amongst us, full of thankfulness that it wasn't 'my' wall and that I didn't have to fight them out of my plants (as I had ample experience in England with huge colonies eating happily most of my flowers, plants, fruits and pulling meandering trails of stickiness even across the front door of the house)
Now, I just enjoy the tremendous beauty, the silly innocence, the miracles of nature and creation and I try to learn to 'GO EASY'....
I have learnt that problems are still there tomorrow, whether you let them wash over you or whether you fight them. I have realised that when my throat hurts so terribly that I think I cannot swallow one more time.... it goes better instantly when I let the 'indigestible stuff' go out (in this case, I was worried sick about my husband on an impossible mission and the minute he returned, my sore throat hurt no longer and I could swallow again.)....
I also know from a life-time learning experience that sometimes, easy REALLY does it. There ARE instant solutions, and usually they're quick, surprising and wrong...
All those thoughts in the flickr it took to take those pictures! 30 secs., all together!!!
Go figure. :)
Have a happy Saturday!
Dare looking at them real LARGE!
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Fingerprints
The discovery that fingerprints are unique in each person and are left behind on everything we touch made by Jan Evangelista in 1823 was nothing short of miraculous. The even bigger breakthrough came when this discovery could be used by law enforcement to conduct...
top6.com/most-significant-breakthroughs-in-the-history-of...