Re: 7 Words That Dogs Can Understand (And 4 That No Dog Can)

Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:

Scott Lurndal <slp53@pacbell.net> wrote:

>
Indeed.  Clay is just compressed silt from erosion.  Glaciation isn't
necessary to produce it, just time and pressure.

 
Unfortunately when you get clay from volcanic rocks, you wind up with
more rounded and less flat particles, and particles with high melt points.
 
When white guys first came to Hawaii they saw all of this beautiful red
clay everywhere and set up to make bricks... and couldn't because it's
not that kind of clay.

Precisely. There is a good chapter on bricks in
Bill Bryson, At Home.
Summary: Quality brick was a medieval Dutch invention and development.
(made possible by the good clays from Dutch rivers)

The heyday of English brick, like Hampton Court Palace,
was made possible by the imported know-how of Dutch brick makers
and brick layers.
Bryson also relates the sad tale of Sydney Smith,
who had decided he would make his own bricks,
for the rectory he was building for himself at Foston le Clay in
Yorkshire. He was said to have unsuccessfully fired 150,000 bricks
before finally conceding that he probably wasn't going to get the hang
of it,

Jan
(shoot Bryson first)

 They wound up doing things like making houses with
blocks of coral, some of which still stand (as does the kawaiahao church
which was constructed in that fashion).  That's very labor-intensive and
not very sustainable, though.  So today most houses you see there are
frame houses made with wood shipped in from the mainland.
--scott