{"id":1368,"date":"2025-04-02T07:29:38","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T20:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juliangamble.com\/blog\/?p=1368"},"modified":"2025-12-13T10:43:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T23:43:15","slug":"background-7-1840s-a-romantic-view-of-the-problem-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juliangamble.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/02\/background-7-1840s-a-romantic-view-of-the-problem-in-london\/","title":{"rendered":"Background 7 – 1840s – A poetic view of the problem in London"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[This is written for my daughter Trinity and my mother Katrina]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A table covered with several empty bottles stands in the corner of the room. A sobbing sound is heard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOhh, ooo, hoo, hooo! No one likes my poetry. Now they poke fun at me for having a beach named after my grandfather, in Australia, at the end of the earth!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A man lay on an Italian walnut sofa chair face down. He wore a shirt; on the floor a top-hat, tie and jacket have fallen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a knock at the door. The man sat up and straightens himself – he limped towards the door and opened it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMiss Shelly! What a delight! And Lady Lovelace as well? How wonderful to see you both. A poet on one hand a mathematician on the other! Truly both hands of Leonardo\u2019s Vetruvian man have come to me today!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLord Byron, you are a mess!\u201d Ada exclaimed, looking him up and down, then marching in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Byron pouted, and brushed a crumb at his waist, \u201cI don\u2019t know what you are talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow are you George?\u201d Mary kisses him on the cheek and looked at him affectionately. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCome in, come in!\u201d  Byron swept his hand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is a terrible problem in London, Byron!\u201d Lovelace stood in a corner looking stern. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Byron looked at her with mild curiosity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis world we have made is a horror!\u201d Lady Ada looked indignant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA horrible creation.\u201d Byron cast a thoughtful look at Mary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People are working long hours in horrible conditions!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPositively monstrous.\u201d Byron gave another knowing look to Mary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd now people are working long hours on books of log tables!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat on earth for?\u201d Byron looked back to Ada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey use them to check their Navigation on ships, to calculate precisely where they are, using trigonometry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Byron looked at her puzzled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPerhaps one day people will carry little steam engines that calculate trigonometry for them – but for now, they are left with these log tables to use.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut doesn\u2019t your friend Babbage some sort of box of gears that does this stuff?\u201d Byron looked curious for a moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh the Difference Engine? It\u2019s still not working. It needs more time, and he has run out of money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t understand it.\u201d Bryon started to look frustrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell it is like knitting different rows in a jumper. But instead of knitting wool, you are knitting numbers – with different patterns for each row.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Byron rolled his eyes, \u201cOh pooh to your numbers! Your numbers will knit themselves!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sparks flashed in front of Ada\u2019s eyes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSay that again please Lord Byron?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh I\u2019ve had enough. I said your numbers will knit themselves!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adas\u2019s eyes boggled. She closed her mouth, and looked at the glowing coals in the fire.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This is written for my daughter Trinity and my mother Katrina] A table covered with several empty bottles stands in the corner of the room. A sobbing sound is heard.  \u201cOhh, ooo, hoo, hooo! No one likes my poetry. Now … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juliangamble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juliangamble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juliangamble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliangamble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliangamble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1368"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/juliangamble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1371,"href":"https:\/\/juliangamble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368\/revisions\/1371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juliangamble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliangamble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliangamble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}