Comments on: From Cardiff to Conwy http://airminded.org/2010/01/05/from-cardiff-to-conwy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=from-cardiff-to-conwy Airpower and British society, 1908-1941 Fri, 25 May 2012 16:07:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Brett Holman http://airminded.org/2010/01/05/from-cardiff-to-conwy/comment-page-1/#comment-157161 Brett Holman Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:53:28 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=3192#comment-157161 I hope you make the trip yourself! It's well worth it, hopefully I'll be going back one day... I hope you make the trip yourself! It's well worth it, hopefully I'll be going back one day...

]]> By: Nikkki Copleston http://airminded.org/2010/01/05/from-cardiff-to-conwy/comment-page-1/#comment-157117 Nikkki Copleston Sat, 19 Feb 2011 23:38:20 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=3192#comment-157117 Your trip has really inspired me! Having stumbled on your site almost by accident...!! Your trip has really inspired me! Having stumbled on your site almost by accident...!!

]]> By: Chris Williams http://airminded.org/2010/01/05/from-cardiff-to-conwy/comment-page-1/#comment-127724 Chris Williams Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:57:48 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=3192#comment-127724 I crave a desktop steam dynamo which will allow me to run my computer on meths. I know it's already running on steam (indeed, from some nearby vantage points I can see the very steam) but that's not so much fun. I crave a desktop steam dynamo which will allow me to run my computer on meths. I know it's already running on steam (indeed, from some nearby vantage points I can see the very steam) but that's not so much fun.

]]> By: Brett Holman http://airminded.org/2010/01/05/from-cardiff-to-conwy/comment-page-1/#comment-127575 Brett Holman Sun, 17 Jan 2010 08:45:25 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=3192#comment-127575 Yes, I think that's a fair point regarding steampunk. OTOH, steampunk seems to have itself turned into an aesthetic movement -- a teak computer case with brass fittings and a few cogs on the side doesn't 'work' any differently to a normal beige case. And I wonder how many steampunks know how a steam engine works? :) Yes, I think that's a fair point regarding steampunk. OTOH, steampunk seems to have itself turned into an aesthetic movement -- a teak computer case with brass fittings and a few cogs on the side doesn't 'work' any differently to a normal beige case. And I wonder how many steampunks know how a steam engine works? :)

]]> By: Nicholas Waller http://airminded.org/2010/01/05/from-cardiff-to-conwy/comment-page-1/#comment-127430 Nicholas Waller Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:02:54 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=3192#comment-127430 One of the drivers behind steampunk and similar, I imagine, is a hankering for a time when bits of technology were big enough that you could see what they did - this connects to that and turns this, and so on; mechanical links instead of fly-by-wire. Nowadays we have a lot of sealed little black boxes with visually incomprehensible softmagic going on inside them. Hold a piece of movie film up to the light, and you can see all the little pictures; hold a DVD or mp4 file up to the light - and nothing. As for Conwy, over the last few years I've been to Dwygyfylchi a few times, round the corner along the coast but within walking distance (over the hills) from Conwy. It's a good area for tackling Snowdon and Tryfan and suchlike. There's a fair amount of air activity, mainly trainee fighter pilots from RAF Valley blatting through the valleys. One of the drivers behind steampunk and similar, I imagine, is a hankering for a time when bits of technology were big enough that you could see what they did - this connects to that and turns this, and so on; mechanical links instead of fly-by-wire. Nowadays we have a lot of sealed little black boxes with visually incomprehensible softmagic going on inside them. Hold a piece of movie film up to the light, and you can see all the little pictures; hold a DVD or mp4 file up to the light - and nothing.

As for Conwy, over the last few years I've been to Dwygyfylchi a few times, round the corner along the coast but within walking distance (over the hills) from Conwy. It's a good area for tackling Snowdon and Tryfan and suchlike. There's a fair amount of air activity, mainly trainee fighter pilots from RAF Valley blatting through the valleys.

]]> By: Brett Holman http://airminded.org/2010/01/05/from-cardiff-to-conwy/comment-page-1/#comment-126746 Brett Holman Sun, 10 Jan 2010 08:39:36 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=3192#comment-126746 'Cute tech' -- that phrase suggests to me a parallel with steampunk and other forms of nostalgia for retro technologies, some of which never even existed. It's valuing technology not for what it can do for you but what it <em>means</em> to you. It's a reaction against utilitarianism. As was the aesthetic movement (in another direction) -- maybe it's no coincidence that Heath Robinson was born in the same year as Aubrey Beardsley. 'Cute tech' -- that phrase suggests to me a parallel with steampunk and other forms of nostalgia for retro technologies, some of which never even existed. It's valuing technology not for what it can do for you but what it means to you. It's a reaction against utilitarianism. As was the aesthetic movement (in another direction) -- maybe it's no coincidence that Heath Robinson was born in the same year as Aubrey Beardsley.

]]> By: JDK http://airminded.org/2010/01/05/from-cardiff-to-conwy/comment-page-1/#comment-126293 JDK Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:01:44 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=3192#comment-126293 Ah, Emett, yes, <i>his</i> Welsh railway <i>would</i> run through Portmerion. I wouldn't call him 'cute' though, more 'slightly disturbed'. There's a slightly nightmarish quality to his drawings, more Lewis Carol than the relentlessly anti-technology Hardy, but something not present in the more famous W Heath Robinson's work - even WHR's war drawings were remarkably 'friendly'. Note that both WHR and Emett were great 're-users' of simple mechanisms for complex purposes, part of the whimsy of their ideas, and a retreat to the comprehensible technology in the face of the frightening new nuclear world. However, both WHR and Emett had an implicit edge of catastrophe in their drawings, and interest in their work was the expectation that they *should* fail but... It's ironic that Emett had a retro-low tech centrepiece in the Festival of Britain in the heavilly bombed London. What conclusions can you draw from such a popular item in the middle of what was intended to be a celebration of British success and intent for the future? A retreat from complex reality to kettle-powered railways? Thanks to Chris for a reminder of one of the great tinkerers Stuff here: http://www.mech.mcmaster.ca/~nyet/emett/ Ah, Emett, yes, his Welsh railway would run through Portmerion.

I wouldn't call him 'cute' though, more 'slightly disturbed'.

There's a slightly nightmarish quality to his drawings, more Lewis Carol than the relentlessly anti-technology Hardy, but something not present in the more famous W Heath Robinson's work - even WHR's war drawings were remarkably 'friendly'.

Note that both WHR and Emett were great 're-users' of simple mechanisms for complex purposes, part of the whimsy of their ideas, and a retreat to the comprehensible technology in the face of the frightening new nuclear world. However, both WHR and Emett had an implicit edge of catastrophe in their drawings, and interest in their work was the expectation that they *should* fail but... It's ironic that Emett had a retro-low tech centrepiece in the Festival of Britain in the heavilly bombed London. What conclusions can you draw from such a popular item in the middle of what was intended to be a celebration of British success and intent for the future? A retreat from complex reality to kettle-powered railways?

Thanks to Chris for a reminder of one of the great tinkerers Stuff here:
http://www.mech.mcmaster.ca/~nyet/emett/

]]> By: Chris Williams http://airminded.org/2010/01/05/from-cardiff-to-conwy/comment-page-1/#comment-126208 Chris Williams Tue, 05 Jan 2010 09:25:29 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=3192#comment-126208 It's a pity that the Ffestiniog doesn't run past, or even through, Portmerion - that would be well Emett. Emett. We've largely forgotten him now, but I think that Emett - famous between 1945 and 1960 - is an archetypical anti-airmined cultural phenomenon - a Wienerite reaction to the years of aluminium and Merlins, and an attempt to begin to look at technology as cute. His styles implied a return to cute tech, but I wonder if it wasn't actually an original thing: when had tech been cute in the UK? Perhaps we can blame him for declinism... It's a pity that the Ffestiniog doesn't run past, or even through, Portmerion - that would be well Emett.

Emett. We've largely forgotten him now, but I think that Emett - famous between 1945 and 1960 - is an archetypical anti-airmined cultural phenomenon - a Wienerite reaction to the years of aluminium and Merlins, and an attempt to begin to look at technology as cute. His styles implied a return to cute tech, but I wonder if it wasn't actually an original thing: when had tech been cute in the UK? Perhaps we can blame him for declinism...

]]> By: Brett Holman http://airminded.org/2010/01/05/from-cardiff-to-conwy/comment-page-1/#comment-126182 Brett Holman Tue, 05 Jan 2010 04:41:20 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=3192#comment-126182 Yes, I make a habit of fleeing giant floating beach balls! Yes, I make a habit of fleeing giant floating beach balls!

]]> By: Gavin http://airminded.org/2010/01/05/from-cardiff-to-conwy/comment-page-1/#comment-126126 Gavin Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:28:41 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=3192#comment-126126 You must have gone dangerously close to Portmeirion, but I guess Rover didn't get you. Be seeing you... You must have gone dangerously close to Portmeirion, but I guess Rover didn't get you.

Be seeing you...

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