Jeremy Salmond wrote:

> The idea of APT and US/ICOMOS working together on international outreach is excellent, even if this reinforces the north American emphasis in APT.  I love them both dearly and we are, after all, part of the same world.

Jeremy,

My personal interest is de-emphasis of the North American role in APT to the extent that Americans have a strong tendency to become inbred when they are stuck in remote locations and only talk to themselves. I believe we need cross-cultural exchange in preservation simply to keep our hubris in check - which comes about partly because we all ARE isolated in the universe. I'm not sure of what we have to offer to the remainder of the globe - our preservation technology appears to be a child of materials science, and therefore fairly immature compared with non-North American geography.

I see that in the American preservation movement we have restrained ourselves to a very limited and specific meaning of "technology" in that we are only allowed, if we wish to remain preservationally correct (PC), to deal with materials science issues, ie. the correct mortar mix; and must divorce ourselves from the human issues of project management, in part I believe, because it is seen as too complicated. The problem is, without incorporation of the human element into the technology/techniques of preservation the scientific models are woefully imprecise and often do not fit the reality of the physical world.

As much as I admire and support the APT Bulletin, I vividly remember a very carefully written and illustrated article on means & methods of repointing brickwork that would never, ever be done by anyone who had to actually spend their lives repointing brick walls in the field. On one hand the academic answer would be that the mason is incorrect and needs altering in the form of a proper education.

This immediatly changes the argument of the scientific rationalist, concerned solely about their brick and mortar,  in that the need for human intervention in the preservation technique is broached... so why not go further and take the perspective that the mason is correct and that the scientist requires the corrective education? This reach may be too difficult for those outside the mainstream of historic preservation (anyone who does not have field experience), but possibly inevitable in the maturation of the American preservation movement. I believe that somewhere in midspan, and with the help of those closer to the center of the universe, we may find more realistic answers.

Therefore, such APT activities as the Preservation Trades Network placing an emphasis on the documentation of skilled craft techniques as they are actually practiced, becomes important in that without an understanding of the hand technology, the brain blathers on in the ozone like a solar-powered popcorn bladder. Unfortunately for some in our universe, the hand does have a head, and despite the fact that the head is apt to wander off where the materials scientist did not expect to be going, this does not mean that there is any less of a functional head.

An aside, my fundamental definition of intelligence is the ability to not extinct oneself.

It has been my experience that those who are outside of the North-American experience have a much stronger bond with the human aspects of historic preservation and less of a tissy fit over materials science as a result. Correct me if I am wrong.

> New Zealand is, of course, the hub of the universe, and it's nice to be able to include those of you who live in remote locations in the day-to-day delights of trying to inflect the direction taken by those who came before.

I keep trying to daily inflict on my directions, but deflections I find just as acceptable.I am most pleased that BP has a correspondent at the hub of the universe.
As to ANTIOPDEAN, I thought it had something to do with a judicial cyclops with an altered anatomy who is employed to administer a private school.

][<en Follett