The sun is out, the temperature is close to perfect and the seeds are sprouting in the kitchen window box. I am beginning to learn not to dwell on troubling things over the weekend (the sacking of 90,000 civil servants who could find something useful to do in the Passport Office, the threat of a trade war with Europe as - once again - legal agreements are torn up by the same people who signed them a couple of years ago, the abandonment of civil rights, the threats from my bank etc. etc.) - stop. I said I would not dwell on them.
I have left the block of Portland light enough to plonk on the trolley next week, so I don't have to worry about delicate carving being smashed up by bored youths next weekend by being left outside. Not that long ago I would leave ornately carved urns in the workshop yard without worrying too much, but those days are over for good. Not that long before that we would often leave our front doors unlocked too, but we all know how society has changed for the worse and we all have a good idea of what changed it.
Digging in to the surface of the Portland block, I found this strange little embedded object. It was ringed in green paint and at first I thought it was pin made of steel and its position was marked to avoid damaging the diamond saw blades when it was cut through, but when I extracted it I found it was of plastic, tipped with a thin metal wire like a pencil lead.
I sent a photo to the quarry and asked them what it was. It is a digital tag.
When they pull out a block of stone at the quarry they estimate the weight of it and measure the dimensions, etc. then they either paint the information on the block (good) or pin a plastic tag with the information printed on it (better), so that they have all the stock on record which can be referred to each time there is an enquiry.
This little plastic plug contains a digital chip which can be scanned with an iPhone to retrieve all the information put into it. It is the same procedure as chipping a dog at the vet for when it gets lost or you take it over the Channel.
It is one of thousands of chips to come off the old block that will be removed before the job is finished.
A-Ma-Zing! \most of this passes right oveer my head. I try to kepp up with the times. I can compute (easy things like blogs, e mails), I can do the Times Mind Games (not the really difficult but most of the others.) -but honesty demands that I ask - what is a digital tag? Please don't tell me - my brain hurts with this kind of info - I will go to the grave in ignorance.
ReplyDeleteWas Tess chipped? Same thing.
DeleteSorry about the early spelling mistakes - I do know that if I press too hard on a key it has a tendency to repeat itself. x
ReplyDeleteBut I knew what you meant, Weave.
DeleteChipping stone; Everything is being digitally chipped these days. They can find you geographically if you are carrying a phone. My daughter does it with the children, Ben is in Convent Garden but Matilda is at home in her flat. I am not sure I agree with all this mind you it is so reductive.
ReplyDeleteThese plugs are not connected to the internet - yet.
DeleteI will think of you next week chiselling away at the block.
ReplyDeleteFull moon on Sunday.
DeleteThe problems must be taken in stride. You are wise to not dwell. Working with the stone must give you some pleasure and satisfaction as the stone takes shape.
ReplyDeleteThat's one way of seeing it.
DeleteWhat next?!
ReplyDeleteIs your workshop off Walcot street?
22 years ago it was.
DeleteA friend has her workshop there. Making tiles. We were at Cardiff College of Art and she was a year ahead of me
DeleteThat would be Bronwyn Williams Ellis who I do know, but she is at Old Orchard whereas I was at Walcot Yard, which is now built over with ugly houses.
DeleteYes, Bron. That is a shame that Walcot Yard has been built on
DeleteWhat is the significance of next weekend? A holiday for vandalizing boys? Memorial day weekend is another week after that, and only over here.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing special about next weekend other than by that time I will have carved something which could be vandalised so needs to be inside and out of the way. At the moment it is just a block.
DeleteThat stinks! "It exists; therefore I should vandalize it."
DeleteI don't understand either.
DeleteThat's so strange. If you weren't the man you are and knew the quarry to enquire about your mystery nugget, the whole internet could have collapsed from speculating about its mysterious and (with an obvious Logical Leap) extraterrestrial origins!
ReplyDeleteThere is a type of Bath stone here called 'Westwood' and it often contains round lumps of rusty pure iron. The joke was that these bits of naturally formed metal were crashed space ships from millions of years ago.
DeleteMaybe we should mistrust the wonder-working miracle-sesam-seeds in breakfast-toast - they might be little chips sending even more data than our cellphone to Google...inside out...
ReplyDeleteThat is much more likely than micro-chips in vaccinations.
DeletePuts a different spin on the chippy bathroom man, who isn't a chippy! and chippy's don't even chip, do they? Or do wood chips count. Sad about the vandals.
ReplyDeleteThey chip in the same way that sparkies spark.
Delete