It being a dull day, I decide to respond to what Hitch
foisted Sat, 21 Aug 2004 11:17:32 -0500 on
rec.crafts.metalworking , viz:
(ken) wrote in
. com:

I started to wonder how tey did things that far back. Like how did
they make files? I've looked around the internet and found just about
nothing. I have only a limited amount of available tim eon computer so
has anybody found an links?

Some things never change. I am reading a book on Medieval technology in
Europe and there is a report from the York Minster (England) building site
works from 1345 in which there are complaints both by management and labor
of shoddy work practices (leaving work uncovered), stolen building
materials (timber, stone, and lime), slipping deadlines (because the owner
had the only keys to the building and was not around often), wage
complaints (workers asking for too much but getting too little [esp. for
drink!]), and shoddy equipment (rotting wooden cranes). In some ways
Western Civilization doesn't seem to have advanced at all.

Some years ago, watched a documentary on building the pyramids.
Archeologist hires a stone mason to do the actual test. At one point, the
two are having one of the standard "why is this taking longer, and costing
more, than planned? discussions, all nicely framed with the Pyramids of
Giza in the background. I cracked up - some things haven't changed in 5000
years!


tschus


--
pyotr filipivich.
as an explaination for the decline in the US's tech edge, James
Niccol wrote "It used to be that the USA was pretty good at
producing stuff teenaged boys could lose a finger or two playing with."