Posted by duncan webster on 01/05/2016 15:59:02:
Going back to the 'millenium dome'. In my book a dome is held up by compressive forces, like St Paul's or the many Duomos in Italy. The surface of the millenium thing is held in tension, this makes it a tent or perhaps marquee, but then 'millenium tent' doesn't have the same ring does it, and 'millenium marquee' would remind us of a circus.
I know a dome costs alot of money, but you'd be surprised how much of a money spinner the marquee business is, even the people who put them up rake in a ton if they work hard, i know a guy who did it and he said for a few days a week it was more money than he's ever seen in a full time job, obviously the seasonal insecurity is why he'd turn it down again, unless he was unemployed..
With regards to the nuclear power station, i agree with you, the victorians would've just done it, if they came across problems while they did it, they just dealt with it and worked around it, the london underground began life this way. In other words, much more money was spent on actually doing things than thinking about them.
It wasn't all good though, from my memory of my heritage alot more people died in great britain from work accidents. People who built roads, railways, buildings in their many hundreds died from unintentional errors or sheer ignorance to them. But it was just part of the cost in those days, terrible really. Hence why we have alot more H+S as a result, perhaps a bit too much but thats what started it. I still know people whose fathers and grandfathers died this way.
My own, unknown, great granddad who went to work in east london from ireland died from lead poisoning at a foundry, my granddad was only 5 so he never knew him really, wife left to bring up the children and live through 2 world war bombings, sleeping rough on the underground. I owe them alot i suppose!
Michael W
Edited By Michael Walters on 01/05/2016 19:14:47