Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Paternoster lift and Thom Building

I did not know that the type of antiquated lift in the Thom Building (housing the Department of Engineering Science at Oxford) is called the paternoster from its resemblance to rosary beads.

As I posted my notes on Facebook, my chain of thoughts thus proceeded from the sound of world languages (comparative linguistics being one of my interests), to the Pater Noster (The Lord's Prayer), and amazingly to the Engineering Science building at Oxford, and thus to engineering school rankings (global ranking of universities being another of my interests). Nice connectivity. Three degrees of seperation from comparative linguistics to comparative higher education, via Christianity and civil engineering.

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