Teaser Tell All

Who’s Ready For The Tell All?

Good Morning Teaser fans!    Seems I did NOT fool everybody this week and in fact lots of people got it right BUT there was of course only ONE “First Right Guesser” and I’ll tell you who that was in just a tick!    First though, let’s see that photo of my Mom’s one more time!

I have to say I love this photo…….!!

Mom took the photo when she and my Dad were on a tour of “Jolly Old England” some years ago.   Where were they were they at the time?  They were in Cambridge, UK – an absolutely GORGEOUS town where they wiled away many hours visiting shops, wandering small cobblestone streets, and enjoying a PERFECT day with all the other tourists and college students that crowded the city.   Now the bridge itself is rather famous – it’s called “Mathematical Bridge”…………..why?    Well here’s what Wikipedia has to say:

The bridge was designed by William Etheridge, and built by James Essex in 1749. It has been rebuilt on two occasions, in 1866 and in 1905, but has kept the same overall design. Although it appears to be an arch, it is composed entirely of straight timbers^[3] built to an unusually sophisticated engineering design, hence the name.

A replica of the bridge was built in 1923 near the Iffley Lock in Oxford.^{[4][citation needed]}

The original “mathematical bridge” was another bridge of the same design, also commissioned by James Essex, crossing the Cam between Trinity and Trinity Hall colleges, where Garret Hostel Bridge now stands.

Mathematical explanation

The arrangement of timbers is a series of tangents that describe the arc of the bridge, with radial members to tie the tangents together and triangulate the structure, making it rigid and self-supporting. This type of structure, technically tangent and radial trussing, is an efficient structural use of timber, and was also used for the timber supporting arches (centring) used for building stone bridges.^[5] Analysis of the design shows that the tangent members are almost entirely under compression, while the radial timbers are almost entirely subject to tension with very little bending stress, or to put it another way, the tangent and radial elements elegantly express the forces involved in arched construction.

Myths

A popular fable is that the bridge was designed and built by Sir Isaac Newton without the use of nuts or bolts. Various stories relate how at some point in the past either students or fellows of the University attempted to take the bridge apart and put it back together, but were unable to work out how to hold the structure together, and were obliged to resort to adding nuts and bolts. In reality, bolts or the equivalent are an inherent part of the design. When it was first built, iron spikes were driven into the joints from the outer side, where they could not be seen from the inside of the parapets, explaining why bolts were thought to be an addition to the original. Newton cannot have been directly involved since he died in 1727, twenty-two years before the bridge was constructed.^[6]

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Pretty neat huh?   Now I have to say that my parents both totally bought into the “popular fable” about this bridge when it comes to whether or not it is held together with bolts or spikes because the Tour Guide who was probably trying to be “entertaining” rather than “accurate” told the group that the bridge was held together by its’ design and was self-supporting.   As you can see above in the “Myths” section iron spikes WERE driven into the joints…..but WHATEVER, it’s a very cool bridge with some very interesting history – FACT and FICTION as well!

Now, little Miss Suzie Q, would you like to come in now and shake your bootie (oops I mean pom poms) for everyone to whip them into a frenzy for the next part of my blog today – WHO WINS????

Winners, Winners, We Want Winners!

First of all, you should know that my very FIRST COMMENTER yesterday on the Teaser blog was none other than the fabulous Annie from Animal Couriers!   Annie, you get this:

First Commenter!

Next, I have to tell you who my very FIRST RIGHT GUESSER was…………and it was Flynn my fellow ginger friend from the UK!   Flynn, you get this!

First Right Guesser!

There were a LOT of you who recognized the Mathematical Bridge in Cambridge though so all of you who guessed correctly get THIS:

Right Guesser but not FIRST!

Anyone who guessed incorrectly or had no clue where this photo was snapped STILL gets a reward – that’s right – you can sport this lovely GREENIE and proclaim to the world that you did NOT know a Teaser from me!

The new 2016 GREENIE!

And Kitties Blue at The Cat On My Head, here is your requested FRAMED GREENIE for this week!

IS EVERYBODY HAPPY?   I hope so………………..and I hope you all enjoyed playing along today and every Tuesday.  I look forward to it myself – the comments are fun, the talk back and forth and among bloggers is fun, and I just LOVE handing out my badges!!!!!

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

Love, Sammy the Tease

TIL NEXT WEEK!