What a treat, the Da Vinci exhibit in downtown Denver, Colorado. It wasn’t all roses today, but you should stroll the 16th Street Mall when you visit. I didn’t [visit the mall] but that is another story. Here’s a sparking gal on a sparkling Honda, ready for the big ride downtown. Yes, that is a wheelchair strapped on the back of the sidecar. We ain’t runnin’ no two-bit rodeo over here. To think, just think, of the number of women who could be in that sidecar and in the end it was my best friend after 30 years.
It took us 7-1/2 hours to get downtown and we arrived at 5:25, a mere 35 minutes before the exhibit closed. That gave us time to breeze past each model just once. However, that is a story for another time. The show was impressive, featuring every major item that old Leonardo invented or investigated, and about another 15 he didn’t. Like the Archimedes screw and the perpetual motion wheel.Myself, I did not have a great time and I may describe the reasons later. I would have preferred to examine the models in great detail, a wonderment of how Da Vinci could think so far around his situation. Nothing in the show is inherently complicated or difficult, he was gifted in looking at alternatives to the largely grunt physical labor of the day. Who would want to build a machine or robot when the nation can hire a thousand immigrants to build the same tower for less?
I was intrigued by the flight models and again by his bridges. Yet you can see that by far the most advanced of his designs involved war machines. Double-hulled boats, trebuchets, machines to make more weapons. Don’t confuse advanced with complicated. Here is the model of his human-powered flyer. Most of the exhibits, billed as interactive, had stickers not to operate. It seems too many scout troupes or something had passed through and worn out most of the gear teeth.If you are expecting anything fantastic, too bad. These are general reconstructions of what Leo might have done if the metal and engine technology was available. Most of his inventions were or seem the result of watching thousands of others do things the hard way. (We have the identical situation in Florida today. As long as there are throngs of the uneducated willing to labor for minimum wage and welfare for the unwilling, there is no need to invest in expensive mechanisms.)
Each display had a brief explanation, though the language was geared lower than most of Leo’s machines. If time had permitted, I would have paused for deep thought in front of the majority of the machines. Otherwise, the show was more entertaining than thought provoking. Maybe I’ll see it again before I leave, as the show was extended past month’s-end, the guy said December.
There is a street mall downtown, called the 16th Street Mall. It is also worth a look, if you can find a spot (hint, drive a block either side of the mall and you’ll find parking at half the price). The area is dressed up, lots of flowers and something I’ve never done, horse drawn carriages. There are free buses both directions, though it is hard to find the stops because the signs look like advertising.
I’ve been in Florida so long, I forget what it is like to shop in an upscale grocery. Sure, I mentioned Publix is picking up, but they’ve got a long ways to catch up to an Aurora Safeway. Winn/Dixie, meet the competition. Safeway has a display table up front with all the articles on sale and which aisle to find them in, aisles wide enough that one fat lady can’t block it (though nothing will ever stop them from trying). The selection of food is far less working class and even the shopping carts sport a cup holder. You can find three to four times the variety of imported food. Here is the famous One Chip For Mankind.Not only that, the day was clear enough to see mountains to the southwest, very distant mind you. I still haven’t got up close to one yet, the snow covered peaks I like to look at but not climb. That’s one “sport” I rank right up there with belching contests for its sheer contribution to society. But maybe next week, as I am still adjusting to once again being broke at month’s end. That hasn’t happened since I worked for a living.
I talked to Guitar Eddie last evening. I ass dialed him in a saloon in North Carolina and could hear somebody yelling “Hello” until I figured it was coming from my pocket. That’s an eerie experience on a motorcycle. He’s got kin just across from the Georgia border so he’s livin’ large. He’s definitely quit smoking. And he’s heard of Dick Frost. Eddie was surprised I finally made it. Me too, Eddie.
Marion warned about the summer drought and I felt it. Dry or not, midday is uncomfortable, so I’ve taken to a siesta and reading. Reading means trivia. Recall my mention of how little of our total electricity can be provided by windmills? I discovered that 1910 was the top year for US windmill sales. Mainly to pull water out of the prairie aquifers, the industry in that year employed 20,000.
I was looking for something else about windmills. Why are they so inefficient? Why do modern specimens look suspiciously like Holland 500 years back and rock carvings in Mesopotamia 2,000 years ago? The formulas were hard to follow, but I dig that the blade tips set the maximum speed which must always be slower than the wind. The fastest wind in a given area (not including storms) is nine to ten times the yearly average speed. Wait, there’s more. In a vertical shaft windmill, think anemometer, the returning blade or fin has to turn against the wind, so they are even less efficient. Thus, I make a prediction. The next breakthrough will not be in windmill design, but some means of funneling the wind onto the working part of the fan, or sheltering the non-working areas. I saw an ancient drawing of a windmill housed in a stone shed with windows that could be opened to admit wind in such a fashion. Why has this never been pursued?\
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