Earlier quoted context omitted.
You should go to Boston someday…
Boston doesn't have any old stuff.
For USA it's old. Our country is not even 300 yr yet and some of this New England stuff was settled in 1630s.
Millennium Bridge workers hang straw bales after ancient bylaw triggered
61–70 of 118 posts
Re: Millennium Bridge workers hang straw bales after ancient bylaw triggered
#62This isn't just an old tradition. It's a coded signal - and one that the river users can be assumed to understand. There's no principle difference between this use of straw to caution navigators on water, and the use of (for example) " 300 status codes to signal redirection to to navigavators of the internet.
This isn't a criticism of the practice but I did think it might be more effective to use something in safety green or orange, maybe with reflective surface, or maybe blinking lights. But I'm not an expert with this, and I can see how a straw bale might also catch your attention.
Re: Millennium Bridge workers hang straw bales after ancient bylaw triggered
#63Re: Millennium Bridge workers hang straw bales after ancient bylaw triggered
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
They should visit our thousand (nearly) year old door: https://www.westminster-abbey.org/history/explore-our-histor... I'm a Brit and didn't realise until recently that England is one of the world's oldest countries (927 AD).
Gosh, that's a bit over a thousand years. How do you define country? Continuous occupation and law? I remember talking to David M as a kid about the works he kept touched up and the stories that went with them. https://www.magabala.com/products/yorro-yorro https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/australia-s-oldest-k... https://www.nature.com/articles/nature21416
> How do you define country?
Not having anyone say you're a different country, aka sovereignty.
Re: Millennium Bridge workers hang straw bales after ancient bylaw triggered
#65The ianvisits site is the go-to for this sort of thing, from 5 days ago, the Grauniad is always a bit slow on the uptake: https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/an-ancient-law-requires... Want to build a new market? Oh, there's a 775 year old bylaw about that... https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/the-city-of-londons-mar...
Re: Millennium Bridge workers hang straw bales after ancient bylaw triggered
#66It is worth stating (because the word bylaw is not always understood) that a bylaw (by- is the Scandinavian word for "city", "town" or "village" depending on which modern Scandinavian language you use as your source) is basically a local law. It is not universal. It exists in a single place, and although they can be similar in many locations, they are strictly only applicable in the specific municipality that has the…
Ah, that's cool, I didn't realise the etymology.
UK east coast has a lot of place names ending in '-by', supposedly from Danish invasions around 10th century (for example Grimsby), it's nice to see there's a link.
Re: Millennium Bridge workers hang straw bales after ancient bylaw triggered
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
Gosh, that's a bit over a thousand years. How do you define country? Continuous occupation and law? I remember talking to David M as a kid about the works he kept touched up and the stories that went with them. https://www.magabala.com/products/yorro-yorro https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/australia-s-oldest-k... https://www.nature.com/articles/nature21416
> How do you define country? Not having anyone say you're a different country, aka sovereignty.
That's your "definition" of country?
These countries:
https://mgnsw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/map_col_high...
remained sovereign for tens of thousands of years.
Whereas, for example, the "United Kingdom" as a country (of four kingdoms) only dates back to 1801, prior to which there was a long history of contested sovereignty claims, there's some interesting paperwork declaring a King of Scotland as a the King of England, etc.
Re: Millennium Bridge workers hang straw bales after ancient bylaw triggered
#68It is worth stating (because the word bylaw is not always understood) that a bylaw (by- is the Scandinavian word for "city", "town" or "village" depending on which modern Scandinavian language you use as your source) is basically a local law. It is not universal. It exists in a single place, and although they can be similar in many locations, they are strictly only applicable in the specific municipality that has the…
Ah, that's cool, I didn't realise the etymology. UK east coast has a lot of place names ending in '-by', supposedly from Danish invasions around 10th century (for example Grimsby), it's nice to see there's a link.
Presumably 'by-election' comes from the same place too.
Re: Millennium Bridge workers hang straw bales after ancient bylaw triggered
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
As electricity gets more expensive, that purpose may become more relevant again. Every 5W LED counts!
Why do you think electricity is increasing? Inflation adjusted electricity costs have been steady or even falling. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU000072610 In August 1990 average retail rates where the equivalent of 20.49c/kWh (8.7), and 2010 18.35c/kWh (13.0), but in 2023 it’s only 17c/kWh.
mine is closer to 30c/kWh currently... and thats cheaper than it was before...
Re: Millennium Bridge workers hang straw bales after ancient bylaw triggered
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
> How do you define country? Not having anyone say you're a different country, aka sovereignty.
That's your "definition" of country? These countries: https://mgnsw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/map_col_high... remained sovereign for tens of thousands of years. Whereas, for example, the "United Kingdom" as a country (of four kingdoms) only dates back to 1801, prior to which there was a long history of contested sovereignty claims, there's some interesting paperwork declaring a King of Scotland as a the King…
My OP specifically mentioned "England".