Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Old Time Tools

A note to those of you wondering what the captcha issues are about Blogger. Apparently the issue is being worked on as of this writing. There is a temporary fix for those of us who never use captchas on our blogs; if you have your comments set up as a pop up window, switch to embedded status instead. My writing blog was set the other way, and I've switched over to embedded for it. No more unwanted captchas.

I have more artifacts in the Bytown Museum today, including these tools in the cabinet. The building of the Rideau Canal established the city, and some of the tools we see here would have been typical of that time. In the years afterwards, Bytown was a rough and tumble lumber town, known for being rather violent, which is addressed in the museum's exhibits. The town was renamed Ottawa in 1855, and designated the capital by Queen Victoria. Whether or not she simply pointed to the map and said "there" is another matter.

 Taking the name of the river, which in turn is named after the First Nations tribe, the city evolved from there. Still, Colonel By's name and legacy is all over the map and history of Ottawa.


47 comments:

  1. Thanks, William. I am not sure what mine is set on. Why did this even happen to begin with, when so many of us had it switched off?

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  2. museums are such interesting places
    Ive always liked looking at old things

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  3. I love history, Ottawa and Queen Victoria. Capchas not so much. Turned up on my blog too - but here's the thing:
    YOU CAN COMPLETELY IGNORE THEM! jUST HIT PUBLISH!


    ALOHA from Honolulu
    ComfortSpiral
    <3

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  4. Oh, and old tools are the coolest!



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  5. I also am a history buff, just been reading about Queen Vic and all her lovers (she started at age 15) Roland Perry's latest The Queen her Lover and the most Notorious Spy in History. I commend it.

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  6. Thanks for the tip. I just switched to embedded. See if it works!

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  7. I love these kinds of exhibits. It's neat to see how people did things "back then".

    PS: If you normally don't have word verification on your blog, you can just press publish without putting in the "words" and it will still publish the comment.

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  8. I loooove exploring museums, it fascinates me the implements they used back then with so much success.. oh how soft we are now, everything's too easy :) Gosh Queen Vic certainly left her mark all over the world!

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  9. The Coronel By would not be appreciated very much , when they removed the name of Bytown to the city and they put the name of a tribe.

    Tomás.

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  10. Thanks for the history AND the blog advice.

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  11. Thanks for the captcha update. I am always fascinated by tools of yesteryear.

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  12. Interesting history of the city Ottawa, I like that name much better than Bytown.

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  13. i will have to go and see about my setting - i know on all blogs i have tried to comment on today and yesterday i have to type in #'s before i can comment. such a pain in the rump. have a great week. happy you knew a thing or two. ( :

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  14. Thanks, William. I wondered what the story was with al those "captchas". Now I know what that word refers to, also. :-)

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  15. i love museums like this! i can hang out for hours!

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  16. @Whisk: I just checked one of the blogs I follow, and indeed, ignoring captchas can be done.

    @Jen: me too.

    @Cloudia: I found that over at Tex's blog today.

    @Peter: thanks for the recommendation!

    @Linda: you're welcome!

    @Halcyon: I'd still prefer to see those things vanish entirely!

    @Grace: she certainly did.

    @Tomas: I think the Colonel would be satisfied to know that his Canal is still being used today.

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  17. @Mike: it is.

    @Dina: you're welcome!

    @Pat: me too.

    @Marianne: yes, it flows better.

    @Beth: now that I know you can just click publish even with that captcha (at least on a blog that doesn't normally have them), that cuts down on time.

    @Birdman: you're welcome.

    @Revrunner: there are cybergremlins at work in Blogger.

    @Tanya: so can I.

    @Karl: my dad would be fascinated by them.

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  18. Thanks for the information on the captcha issue.

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  19. I've often thought how hard it would be to pull off what our ancestors did with the tools they had.

    I could have a lot of fun with the name, "By," too. By the way, did you see the Queen came by and made By's town the capital? When she left she told Colonel By, bye, bye.

    Sorry, sometime I can't help myself!

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  20. well-worn and rusty implements, there! :)

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  21. I have been visiting blogs this morning and was noticing the captcha on all of them and wondered what is going on. Thanks for letting us know. I guess that means anyone visiting my blog will have to do the captcha too? Interesting history of Ottawa's name change. I guess I studied that in Canadian history at some point.

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  22. It seems that blogger is in need of some general maintenance.

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  23. I am always fascinated by old tools. I wonder which of our digital tools will end up in a future museum...

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  24. I only get a pop-up window on your writer blog, not on this one. Today I'm having trouble posting links to Facebook, so I may come over and share your links!

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  25. @Sharon: the irony is that now blogs that have captchas beforehand seem to not have them at all.

    @Lowell: we'd be out of our depth trying to make do the way they did.

    @Tex: definitely!

    @Luis: thanks!

    @Pamela: I've just ignored captchas entirely this morning thus far and have been able to post the comments as is.

    @Red: too many Minions somewhere in the site!

    @VP: I'm not sure they'd last long enough to end up in a museum. Things today aren't made to last.

    @Norma: I did switch over to embedded comments, the same with this, at the writer's blog.

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  26. I love seeing these museum photos on your blog. I find the history so fascinating. Thanks for posting.

    Also thanks for the comments on my blog. I really appreciate you stopping by. :)

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  27. I'm trying to picture Queen Vic pointing to 'Outaouais'!

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  28. Me again with a P.S.: there is no need to actually type in the captcha. Although it appears on the pop up comment windows on blogs that haven't turned word verification on (like mine), comments still get published even without typing it!

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  29. Great post, William, all those old tools are very interesting, I'd like to see them closer, but I don't think I will ever have the chance to visit this museum.

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  30. Old tools are interesting to look at. It's hard to believe that craftspeople once had to work so hard to accomplish what many modern tools can do today.

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  31. I didn't know that about Ottawa, interesting!

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  32. It was hard work to get things done back then!

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  33. Does make you wonder if we have actually progressed. Those tools i skilled hands could still do a better job. Thanks for the captcha info too. They really have been bugging me. I now find I'm not alone.

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  34. Nice ! Papa here loves to collect old tools for his wood work shop ! Thanks for sharing , have a good day !

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  35. I am amazed when I read some of those stories. The violence!!!
    Whiskey and Wickedness- they covered a lot of SE Ontario old time towns and the distilleries!

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  36. Can't help but marvel at the tools they used. Not a gas-powered saw among them!

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  37. I like blogging, but it can be annoying when they take on a life of their own.
    There are some great displays of old tools and such in the Pacific Northwest, including the Royal BC Museum in Victoria.

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  38. I love looking at old artifacts like this. It is amazing the things they could do back then!

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  39. I'm on the board of directors for the Twentynine Palms Historical Society which means I do a lot of work at our museum. Old tools are a favorite no matter who used them. Our museum has mining, carpenter, engineering, surveying, and the tools of a homemaker. Cool picture,

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  40. technology is great when it works...

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  41. @Jen: history's always fascinated me.

    @Ciel: and generations later her descendants have paid many visits here.

    @Jan: in which case, I can show them by proxy.

    @EG: and yet you wonder which is preferable.

    @Marleen: I like little tidbits like this.

    @RedPat: it definitely was.

    @Jane: we definitely haven't progressed on certain things.

    @Country Gal: thanks!

    @Jennifer: there was a whole lot of that going on then.

    @Cheryl: and no motorized equipment.

    @Kay: I would absolutely love to see the Royal BC Museum someday.

    @Lois: thanks!

    @Mari: I wouldn't mind seeing that.

    @Hilary: yes, at least these have no tendency to develop software issues.

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  42. I was scratching my head for a while but thanks to blogging friends such as yourself, got sorted out on those capchas. Thanks William! Enjoyed your post on those old tools.

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