If only I may grow: firmer, simpler -- quieter, warmer. -Dag
Hammarskjold, Secretary General of the United Nations, Nobel laureate
(29 Jul 1905-1961)
Hello, Patrizzio! Not sure where you are geographically but have heard, via the grapevine, that Bionic Man had a spill off his bike. Hope you - both OEM and aftermarket parts - are on the mend! Deborah Have to title that photo “oh so white” Patrick! Hope you guys are well. Dave.
[Dermot and I at the Weiner Dog races at Hastings Racetrack yesterday.] Hello Pat, I'm glad to see you popping up in FB, even briefly. I take that to mean that you are recovering from your epic bike trip, train station fall and pneunomia. What a roller coaster for you.
As you know already, we had a lovely visit with Chloe when we were in Naramata in June. She had only just learned about your crash and was also crushed by her cousin's cancer diagnosis. Although we are the closest of friends, I think it was good for her to have some friendly folks to be with. We talked of many other things too, of course, and it was a really enjoyable evening.
[In June: Dermot and I on the Naramata Bench Road] Chloe told us that you are having a shoulder surgery soon. Bionic man!! When will that happen? I'm asking because we will be on a road trip from July 19 to 30 and would love to visit you at the end of that period if it works for you.
Our road trip starts with me driving up to Prince George to spend a weekend with 4 pals (fast friends since highschool !!) at the one friend's lake cabin. The cabin is an amazing place - Kathleen's parent's bought a group of lots (about 10 lots, same number of doctors) back in the 1950's. The rest of the lake is Crown land so you can imagine how private it is. Over the years, there have been numerous times when we have been the ONLY people on the lake. It is magical. Anyway, Dermot will come up after the wild women's weekend, and we'll spend a few days at the cabin together. Then it'll be road trip time.
[Dermot at a winery] I was so glad to see on FB that Chloe passed her property manager exam. Good for her!! She told us a bit about her work which she seems to enjoy, and that she will soon be moving into her very own home. Good for her. And you must be relieved to see her independent!! All the best to you and Corinne and Chloe and the Cats. Sara In the 1830s, Britain's Michael Faraday became one of the giants in the emerging field of electricity, discovering the principles involved in electromagnetic induction and inventing electromagnetic rotary devices that became the basis for electric motors. Albert Einstein is reputed to have kept only three pictures on his study wall: Faraday's, Isaac Newton's, and James Maxwell's:
[The view from our B&B just above Lang Winery."] Faraday's own life, work, and stature became an inspiration and model for successive generations of scientists. Believing that Sir Humphry's wealth and titled eminence distracted from his wholehearted pursuit of science, Michael Faraday politely turned down time-consuming titles, opportunities to earn a fortune, and all the socializing attendant on honors and wealth. A devout member of the small Sandemanian Christian sect, he lived modestly, quietly, and happily with his beloved wife upstairs at the Royal Institution. But down in the basement laboratory Michael Faraday was a veritable lion, a passionate and brilliant scientist of rare energy able to select and focus on the most meaningful, discerning problems.
[In May: Shots from my first trip to Naramata this year, with 5 pals!!]
His scientific output was prodigious and fundamental, influencing peers in many fields. His laboratory notebooks set a standard of beautifully observed detail, organization, and honest record keeping. The charm of his prolific writings -- and his readiness to admit his many laboratory failures on the road to experimental success -- earned him wide and enduring readership. His three-volume Experimental Researches in Electricity and Magnetism remains a classic.
[Lunch (can't remember where that was)] "In the 1830s, ... Faraday truly took over the running of the Royal Institution. One of his first acts was to inaugurate the Friday evening discourses, as well as special Christmas lectures for children. Faraday, whose whole life course was radically and joyfully altered by his attendance at Sir Humphry's famously enthralling lectures, viewed these public events as highly important. Who could say which child might embrace a life of science after a Christmas lecture or which influential and enthusiastic member of the Friday night audience might decide to shower grateful guineas on the Royal Institution?
[green truck at See Ya Later] In the age when laboratory science was truly coming to the fore, Michael Faraday was its greatest sage and prophet. He was fittingly also the institution's most scintillating and mesmerizing speaker, his handsome face full of passion, hair flying poetically as he moved fluidly about to show his experiments before the packed amphitheater. The Friday evening lectures began promptly at 9:00 P.M. before an expectant, educated audience dressed formally as for the opera. Recalled one fan, 'His audience took fire with him, and every face was flushed.' Faraday's friend Tyndall wrote, 'He exercised a magic on his hearers which often sent them away persuaded that they knew all about a subject of which they knew but little. When the lecture ended promptly at 10:00 P.M., the animated audience drifted to the institution's magnificent two-tiered library, there to imbibe refreshments, view an exhibition based on the evening's topic, and marvel at science. Faraday's 1849 Christmas lecture for children, 'The Chemical History of a Candle,' is still read.
[view with lake and horses from the AMAZING rental house on Resevoir Road just up from Three Sisters and
Perseus.] "In
the ensuing years, scientists and inventors in England, Belgium,
France, Germany, Italy, the United States, and every Western
nation all mightily endeavored to make electricity useful, exerting
their mental faculties to the utmost in the wake of Faraday's
magisterial work."
"Under Michael Faraday's ardent leadership, the Royal Institution became
one of England's most important social and intellectual centers when
that nation was powerfully ascendant, attracting many eminent Victorians
and luminaries, including Charles Dickens,
Charles Darwin, and T. H. Huxley.
[36
years later and I would not have changed anything. 3 grown children and
their great partners . 5 amazing grandchildren. I love you Michele Darrow-Sutherland. Could not be more prouder.]
Wrote one Faraday biographer, 'Such
was the prodigality of his output and the diversity of his skills that
modern chemists, no less than physicists, engineers, and material
scientists, regard him as the founder of their subjects:
some sciences and technologies owe their very existence to his work
.... He bequeathed to posterity a greater body of pure scientific
achievement than any other physical scientist, and the practical
consequences of his discoveries have profoundly influenced
the nature of civilised life.'
[Chloe Alexis Dunn Sealing our love, cheers to us. BFF’s since elementary!!] Faraday was uninterested in spending his
own time making anything specifically practical or useful. 'A
philosopher' Faraday explained, 'should be a man willing to listen to
every suggestion but determined to judge for himself.
He should not be biased by appearances, have no favourite hypothesis,
be of no school and in doctrine have no master .... Truth should be his
primary object. If these qualities be added to industry, he may indeed
hope to walk within the Veil of the temple
of nature.' And so, dedicated to the higher calling of Truth, Michael
Faraday had little patience for utility. After he had demonstrated a new
chemical process or opened a new electromagnetic realm and the
inevitable question followed, 'What is its use?' Faraday
liked to quote Benjamin Franklin, who had famously replied: ' "What is
the use of an infant?" The answer of the
experimentalist is, "Endeavor
to make it useful. "'
Happy Anniversary!
"In the ensuing years, scientists and inventors in England, Belgium,
France, Germany, Italy, the United States, and every Western nation all
mightily endeavored to make electricity useful, exerting their mental
faculties to the utmost in the wake of Faraday's
magisterial work."
Empires of Light, Jill Jonnes, Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2003
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