oregon banned pumping your own gas in 1951.
oregon banned pumping your own gas in 1951.
when did oregon ban pumping your own gas?
1951
the pump at westonzoyland originally comprised a beam engine and scoop wheel, which is similar to a water wheel, except that it is driven round by the engine and lifts water up to a higher level. after 25 years, there were problems pumping the water away as the land surface had dropped as it dried out. a better method was sought, and in 1861 a replacement pump was installed. the engine was built by easton and amos of london, to a design patented in 1858 by charles amos. it is a twin cylinder, vertical condensing engine, driving a centrifugal pump. a similar engine was on display at the great exhibition of 1851 and was shown to be able to lift 100 tons of water per minute (1,700 l/s), to a height of . the westonzoyland pump lifts water from the rhyne (pronounced "reen") into the river parrett. the pump operated until 1951, when a new diesel-powered pumping station, capable of pumping 35 tons per minute (600 l/s) at any state of the tide, was built beside the old one. the pumping station is now an industrial heritage museum of steam powered machinery and land drainage, and houses most of the equipment from the disused burrowbridge pumping station.
river parrett
"it is a fundamental truth of human nature that man is incapable of remaining permanently on the heights, of continuing to admire anything. human nature needs variety. even in the most enthusiastic ages people have always liked to joke enviously about their superiors. that is perfectly in order and is entirely justifiable so long as after having laughed at the great they can once more look upon them with admiration; otherwise the game is not worth the candle. in that way ressentiment finds an outlet even in an enthusiastic age. and as long as an age, even though less enthusiastic, has the strength to give "ressentiment" its proper character and has made up its mind what its expression signifies, ressentiment has its own, though dangerous importance. …. the more reflection gets the upper hand and thus makes people indolent, the more dangerous "ressentiment" becomes, because it no longer has sufficient character to make it conscious of its significance. bereft of that character reflection is a cowardly and vacillating, and according to circumstances interprets the same thing in a variety of way. it tries to treat it as a joke, and if that fails, to regard it as an insult, and when that fails, to dismiss it as nothing at all; or else it will treat the thing as a witticism, and if that fails then say that it was meant as a moral satire deserving attention, and if that does not succeed, add that it was not worth bothering about. …. "ressentiment" becomes the constituent principle of want of character, which from utter wretchedness tries to sneak itself a position, all the time safeguarding itself by conceding that it is less than nothing. the "ressentiment" which results from want of character can never understand that eminent distinction really is distinction. neither does it understand itself by recognizing distinction negatively (as in the case of ostracism) but wants to drag it down, wants to belittle it so that it really ceases to be distinguished. and "ressentiment" not only defends itself against all existing forms of distinction but against that which is still to "come". …. the "ressentiment" which is "establishing itself" is the process of leveling, and while a passionate age storms ahead setting up new things and tearing down old, raising and demolishing as it goes, a reflective and passionless age does exactly the contrary; it "hinders and stifles" all action; it levels. leveling is a silent, mathematical, and abstract occupation which shuns upheavals. in a burst of momentary enthusiasm people might, in their despondency, even long for a misfortune in order to feel the powers of life, but the apathy which follows is no more helped by a disturbance than an engineer leveling a piece of land. at its most violent a rebellion is like a volcanic eruption and drowns every other sound. at its maximum the leveling process is a deathly silence in which one can hear one’s own heart beat, a silence which nothing can pierce, in which everything is engulfed, powerless to resist. one man can be at the head a rebellion, but no one can be at the head of the leveling process alone, for in that case he would be leader and would thus escape being leveled. each individual within his own little circle can co-operate in the leveling, but it is an abstract power, and the leveling process is the victory of abstraction over the individual. the leveling process in modern times, corresponds, in reflection, to fate in antiquity. ... it must be obvious to everyone that the profound significance of the leveling process lies in the fact that it means the predominance of the category ‘generation’ over the category ‘individuality’." —søren kierkegaard, "the present age" (alexander dru tr.), 1962, pp. 49–52
ressentiment