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This may be a dumb question... #13454 02/17/99 03:50 AM
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JTimothyA Offline OP
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but that won't stop me from wondering...

Does anyone know why HL choose to put a Seahorse on each model? Not why they chose to put some mark or widget, but why the Hippo? Hard to replicate? Symbol of The Sea?

Is the the Seahorse the same on all models? I know it shows better on some than others, but is it the exact same Seahorse on each?

Rgds,
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/im

Re: This may be a dumb question... #13455 02/17/99 11:35 AM
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Bob M Offline
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Quit (sea)horsing around, Tim. John, tell him what he wants to know...

Re: This may be a dumb question... #13456 02/17/99 01:00 PM
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jakescol Offline
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"Seahorse? What Seahorse?" That is a direct quote from BY.

Re: This may be a dumb question... #13457 02/17/99 03:34 PM
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If I'm not mistaken, the seahorse was chosen as a "signature" for the HL line much do to BY's past affiliation with David Winter cottages, which has a mouse on each one of its pieces.

Many collectibles use this signature for authenticity purposes, but as you say above BY denies any official usage.

Re: This may be a dumb question... #13458 02/17/99 03:53 PM
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Art Offline
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Interesting question, Timothy.

I conducted an experiment to see if one (or more than one) seahorse exists. I placed my Point Judith next to my White Shoal in such a way that the seahorses were in the same field of view and closed one eye so as to avoid interocular distortions and illusions. I was able to see what appeared to me to be two distinct, differently colored images of seahorses in bas relief, apparently occupying different space at the same time. The result did not seem to change in spite of varying the intensity, wavelength and diffusion qualities of the lighting. Moreover, I was able to do so both while wearing my eyeglasses and while not (thinking that perhaps one image could have been a reflection in the lens). So, unless I had the singular misfortune to have viewed these pieces through a hole in the space-time continuum, or unless we ascribe supernatural or divine powers to these Hippocampi facsimiles, and discounting the possibility that an inverse image of one seahorse had burned its way into my retina causing an inverse but otherwise double image in my mind's eye (a possibility refuted by the photographic record), then one could reasonably conclude that the same seahorse is not present on all models. It would be interesting to see if this experimental result could be replicated by others. It would also be interesting to see if two different edition numbers of the same model have unique seahorses or if they share a single one.

Regarding the decision to place seahorses on the models, I too suspect it has something to do with the John Hines/ David Winter Cottages connection. It supposedly adds another level of interest and just a small amount of whimsy to each piece (without overdoing it, as with doggies and bunnies and such). Since it worked for the DWC series, and since it seems that Harbour Lights might have used DWC (at least in part) as a template for success…

One can only speculate why a seahorse was selected over say, a starfish, or some other hapless beached ocean dweller. Clearly, a beached right whale would detract from the lighthouse itself and run up materials and packaging costs unnecessarily. It might also run into some opposition from the Save the Whales crowd. Jellyfish would be too hard to simulate and too difficult to spot. Seahorses probably have it over horseshoe crabs, sea urchins, and other denizens of the piscatory persuasion in the whimsy department. All in all, seahorses seem to have been a pretty good choice.

Pushing the scientific envelope,

-Jaques-Yves Cousteau [Hmmm… How about mermaids?]


-Art
Re: This may be a dumb question... #13459 02/17/99 04:39 PM
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Say WHAT?

Scientifically challenged redneck

Re: This may be a dumb question... #13460 02/17/99 06:03 PM
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rscroope Offline
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Ahhh! The dreaded space-time continuum, ART.
That was my first thought too.

"The Truth is Out There"


LONG ISLAND BOB
Re: This may be a dumb question... #13461 02/17/99 06:28 PM
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Is everybody forgetting the one lighthouse with no seahorse.

> Portland Head

Re: This may be a dumb question... #13462 02/17/99 07:00 PM
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>>So, unless I had the singular misfortune to have viewed these pieces through a hole in the space-time continuum, or unless we ascribe supernatural or divine powers to these Hippocampi facsimiles, and discounting the possibility ...<< blah blah blah

You distinctly avoid mentioning the Heisenberg Principle which suggests that what you're seeing is actually changed by the fact you're looking at it. So stop looking at it and then tell me what you see.

>>(a possibility refuted by the photographic record), <<

Horsecollar! In terms of the act of observation, What makes you think looking at a photograph is any different than looking at an HL model?

Methinks this is best continued in the Scientography forum. :-)

Of course of course,
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/im

Re: This may be a dumb question... #13463 02/17/99 07:56 PM
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Digger Offline
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WOW!!!

Until now I thought they were rather cute. Now I can see that I am going to have to look at them in a whole new perspective.

Re: This may be a dumb question... #13464 02/18/99 01:57 AM
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Should the truth be known, Bob pushed very hard for a beaver on each lighthouse, but lost by one vote because Harry felt that the tail would take up too much room.

Jim
Johnson


(Thanks to Harry R. for the font and J. Timothy A. for the computer magic.)

Re: This may be a dumb question... #13465 02/18/99 03:02 AM
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Art Offline
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Quote:
You distinctly avoid mentioning the Heisenberg Principle


Heisenberg was uncertain. I am not.
:-D Heisenberg's principle appears to apply well enough to quarks, but not to matter on the superatomic level. I know some of the seahorses are small, but they're not quark-like.

Quote:
What makes you think looking at a photograph is any different than looking at an HL model?


Nothing. But when several of my esteemed professional colleagues review the same photos (Stephen Hawking and Jacob Bronowski said to say "hi", Tim) and all our observations concur, we begin to build some confidence regarding our perceptions of the universe.

Peer reviewed,
___
_/YvesC


-Art
Re: This may be a dumb question... #13466 02/18/99 10:44 AM
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rscroope Offline
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Space-time continuum- OK!
Heisenberg Principle????
Quarks and superatomic level????????

Professor, I thought this course was on Hippocampi (Seahorses)?


LONG ISLAND BOB
Re: This may be a dumb question... #13467 02/18/99 11:54 AM
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Quote:
"We have to remember that what we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our methods of questioning."
- Heinsenberg

Heisenberg's 'Uncertainty Principle' of 1925 postulated that the act of measuring something changes the thing you are measuring, so you can never be sure of the measurement you made (simply stated).

Concerned with the dynamics of electrons to neutrons in an atomic particle, he found...

Quote:

The more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known in this instant, and vice versa.
--Heisenberg, uncertainty paper, 1927


While he was applying his principle to sub-atomic particles, the same 'uncertainty' can be said of nearly all observations.

The more you try to get into it's 'workings', the more uncertain will be your measurements of a system.

In the area of opinion polling, for example, simply asking questions, however finely crafted, brings issues into the mind of the person being surveyed that affects how they will respond to the question. Had you not asked the question, the respondent might have followed a totally different path than the one they answered.

An excellent site about Heisenberg and his work is at:

http://www.aip.org/history/heisenberg/p08.htm

Chidester, GA

Re: This may be a dumb question... #13468 02/18/99 12:41 PM
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rscroope Offline
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Thank you for your explanation, Professor.
But I'll continue taking this course by auditing it, and no longer for HL credit.


LONG ISLAND BOB
Re: This may be a dumb question... #13469 02/18/99 01:17 PM
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Did this Heinsenberg own any Harbour Lights lighthouses? I think not! Not only, do I not care about the 'Uncertainty Principle' but it would have to be flawed if referring to Harbour Lights collectors. The only theory I think might apply is "it takes one to know one".
I think it is about time to start a new forum of totally useless big words and theories. That way, I can know to not waste my time reading it.

engbrady


Onward to The Land of the Midnight Sun!
Re: This may be a dumb question... #13470 02/18/99 07:40 PM
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JTimothyA Offline OP
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So, Paul - do you know why HL put a seahorse on each model? :-)

Off the reservation,
Little Big Word

Re: This may be a dumb question... #13471 02/18/99 07:46 PM
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JTimothyA Offline OP
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>>...and all our observations concur, we begin to build some confidence regarding our perceptions of the universe.<<

Don't be silly. This totally begs the question.

But for the hand of God, we'd all be playing dice,
George Berkeley

Re: This may be a dumb question... #13472 02/18/99 09:09 PM
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Because it's their company (Harbour Lights) and they can! As Bob Irsay said commenting about his move from Baltimore to Indy "It's my candy store".

I happen to agree with Steve's theory of marketing skills learned from Bill's former association with David Winter cottages.

I think if you go to this site you will better understand why they picked the seahorse (hippocampus) to put on their lighthouses.
http://www.poost.nl/seahorse/index.html

Or could it have been that, Bill really likes seahorses!!!


Onward to The Land of the Midnight Sun!
Re: This may be a dumb question... #13473 02/19/99 12:15 AM
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Quote:
Don't be silly.


*Now* he tells me.


-Art

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