Silent Ben
Silent Ben
On August 21, the day of the total solar eclipse, Big Ben will go silent for four years. It's been operating for 157 years and is in need of being refurbished. That's quite a run. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brita ... SKCN1AU0LU
Re: Silent Ben
I'm not that bothered to be honest...
It's not that important..
It's not that important..
Re: Silent Ben
It is a world famous monument and needs to be preserved. You may not miss it if you can't hear it already.
Re: Silent Ben
It's iconic but people are more important...
I've never heard it chime live only on TV or radio...
I've never heard it chime live only on TV or radio...
Re: Silent Ben
I agree about the importance of people. But, the things made by people reveal much about them as well.
Re: Silent Ben
True..
I've lived in London all my life and never heard the chimes in real time...
I do find them a pealing though...
I've lived in London all my life and never heard the chimes in real time...
I do find them a pealing though...
Re: Silent Ben
If that's all we had to worry about the World would be a better plaice...
Re: Silent Ben
I think that's what they are trying to do with Big Ben. Make it better.
Re: Silent Ben
It's a 157 year old clock Surely it has some significance.
Why else would they be repairing it?
Why else would they be repairing it?
Re: Silent Ben
What's your favourite landmark Yogi?
Re: Silent Ben
As far as man made ones go, I'd say they pyramids most fascinate me. Those in the middle east as well as central America amaze me.
The Alps would be right up there in terms of natural landmarks.
The Alps would be right up there in terms of natural landmarks.
Re: Silent Ben
hell of a long time to fix a clock, though...
Re: Silent Ben
They got to order the parts from China. It's custom made and a long ways off.
Re: Silent Ben
when we started a new line of aircraft at dehavilland, the parts were mostly chinese and dear gods what a mess! one rather memorable kevlar wing section showed up inverted with the honeycomb on the outside... yeah, that would have flown a treat.
then the struts back to front; brackets with off-set hole patterns; some with no wholes.
yes, we'd get screwed up part from everywhere, including canada, but the chinese... ugh! and often late as well.
Re: Silent Ben
Re: Silent Ben
Working for Motorola we did a lot of interacting with China. Most of our manufacturing moved there at one point. Documentation was a nightmare. They don't use blueprints per se. There is a drawing with what the part looks like and the fabricator is supposed to figure out how to make it. This was fine when we were giving them prints, but trying to interpret the documentation they provided was nothing less than impossible. I'm not surprised one bit at your story.