It was for oil barges. Ninety-Five (95) years ago today the Socony 200, the very first concrete barge, was launched into Flushing Bay, NY. Commissioned by the Standard Oil Company of New York. It was 98 feet long, 31 feet wide, and 9 1/2 feet deep. This wasn’t the first time a concrete reinforced ship was built, but the first time it was used purely for commercial shipping. In the 1860’s, ferrocement watercraft (concrete ships) wer built in Europe for use on canals. In the early 1900’s, a few barges were built in the UK, Europe, and California. Near the end of World War I, the US commissioned 24 ships for the war, but none were completed before the end of the war. Very little happened between World War I and World War II, but when steel and metal started getting short in World War II, 24 self-propelled concrete ships were commissioned in 1942. At the same time, ferrocement barges played a crucial role in World War II operations in Europe. However, this was the last time they were used regularly for military or commercial purposes. Now they are just used for houseboats. Not that concrete is a good choice for barges, but it shows how innovative we can be when one raw material is in short supply.
Category Archives: Miscellaneous
We haven’t been an industrial society for all that long!
Given the rapid pace of technological progress, and the ever-shortening lifecycle of the goods produced, it’s hard to imagine that, in terms relative to the age of the human race, industrialization is a very new concept. It’s only been 66 years since the introduction of the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) on July 29, 1947, 110 years since the Wright brothers made their first flight, and only 160 years to the day since the first major US world’s fair, the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations was held in New York City. (This occurred only two years after the Great Exhibition in London.)
Over the course of 4 months, this historic fair saw 1.1 Million visitors, at a time when the US population was only about 26.5 Million (as the last census in 1850 put the US population to be 23,191,876 and the next census in 1860 put the US population at 31,443,321). This fair that featured the New York Crystal Palace (which inspired poets, including Walt Whitman) that was regrettably destroyed by fire in 1858, also included the Latting Observatory that was the tallest structure in New York City at the time at 96m. It is remembered as the place where Elisha Otis demonstrated an elevator equipped with a device called a safety that would kick in if the hoisting rope broke, addressing a major public concern regarding the safety of elevators. Three years later, Otis installed the first passenger elevator in the US in a New York City store and created the reality where if you want profits to go up, help people get up!
It’s Been Five Years Since Spamalot Closed at the Wynn …
but …
When it comes to your supply chain, are you as dedicated to its transformation?
Editor’s Note: I realize it’s five years on Thursday, but if I don’t restrict LOLCats to Saturday, SI is doomed!
Why Does Your LOLCat Cover His Ears When He Hears Britney Spears?
(and puke to techno*?)
Because a LOLCat, who knows where it’s at, likes his old time rock and roll. Here is the proof!
*SI does not recommend watching how LOLCats react to techno.
O Canada! (Reprise)
O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love until Harper’s command.
With glowing eyes we still despise,
(A) Conservative in charge!
From far and wide,
O Canada, we want a change for thee.
We want our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we want a change for thee.
O Canada, we want a change for thee.
And before you say we’re being too harsh, remember that Harper and his party, among other things:
- allow CSEC to illegally spy on Canadian citizens (Globe and Mail)
- support the Trans Pacific Partnership and its provisions that allow Canadian citizens to be thrown in jail just for clicking on a web link (SI / Huffington Post)
- recently legalized GM alfalfa and other dangerous GM crops in Canada (NDP)
The definition of a conservative is supposed to be someone who follows a political and social philosophy of retaining traditional social institutions, not someone who promotes the introduction of poisonous food, extreme round-the-clock Orwellian dystopian monitoring of fellow citizens, and the introduction of legislation that will allow the innocent to be punished, fined, and jailed while the guilty roam free. Whatever happened to Blackstone’s formulation, which was a view shared by the Federalists, including Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, who penned the constitution that formed the United States of America that we, Canadians, support with our heads, hearts, and, most importantly our dollar (as the USA is our largest trading partner that accounts for over 50% of our imports and almost 75% of our exports)?
I used to think that all big political parties were slow lumbering oxen that were more or less indistinguishable, each with grandiose election promises that wouldn’t be fulfilled, but not that harmful as they moved to slowly and were collectively too mired in their own deadweight to do anything truly evil. But now I know otherwise. In Canada’s case, one party has proven themselves to be truly harmful to our country and has to go.