Today in History

From this morning's Express:
"1701 Astronomer Anders Celsius, inventor of the Celsius temperature scale, is born in Uppsala, Sweden."

Well, being late November in Sweden, it was probably pretty cold, but they didn't have Celsius' scale to use to quantify how cold it was, unless he were the child prodigy of the ages. What did they use? Possibly a scale developed by Newton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_scale

According to wikipedia, Fahrenheit's scale was proposed in 1724. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit
The story of Professor Fahrenheit ties neatly into the history of the WSS, check this out: He took the lowest temperature which he measured in the winter of 1709 in his hometown of Danzig (−17.8 °C) as his zero point. That winter was infamous for its severity.

Unfortunately, wikipedia claims that Fahrenheit was copying the Dane, Rømer, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rømer_scale, whose scale dates to 1701.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_temperature_scales

I was right

Have patience. I'm traveling again. I need a really BIG thumb drive to drag along all my pictures and things for the blog.

Who would have thought?

It was actually easier for me to post while traveling than at home.

Never fear, for I have taken more pictures and downloaded them from the camera.

I'll be posting a few good shots of my French army, and some others, soon.

The Proximate Cause...

Today in the year 1700, King Carlos II of Spain finally died, without a direct heir. The result was war between the supporters of the rival contenders for the throne.

Quick-Look Book Review: "Memoirs of Duc de Saint-Simon"

I found a reprint of the memoirs of the Duc de Saint-Simon a couple of days ago at Barnes & Noble. I was stunned. It isn't often you find anything on the period of Louis XIV in a mass-market bookstore. This edition is a c.1967 translation being reprinted in three volumes by 1500 Books.

Volume 1: 1691-1709, Presented to the King, is available now.
Volume 2: 1710-1715, The Bastards Triumphant, is scheduled for November.
Volume 3: 1715-1723, Fatal Weakness, is scheduled for December.

I have already read several chapters and find it fascinating, even if he does tend to go overlong on some stories. He doesn't spare us his personal opinions, which can even be seen in the choice of a subtitle for volume two. Also, best of all for those who just want to dip into it, it is chaptered by year and has a lengthy index.