Saturday 10 August 2013

Kites

The generally accepted wisdom is that the kite was invented in China. However it is also known that people in the South Sea Islands have used kites for fishing since very early times. They would attach bait to the tail of the kite together with a sort of net to catch the fish. This technique is still in use today. But the precise date when this started is unclear. By contrast there is sound documented evidence about the ancient use of kites in China.
It is likely that the inspiration for the kite came from ancient Chinese watching the effect of the wind on leaves, bamboo hats or sails. Certainly the Chinese were using wind sails before the kite was invented, and it is possible the kite came about when a wind sail became loose and floated up into the air still attached by one rope. But there are so many contradictory views that it is difficult to decide which is correct. However, whatever it was that inspired the kite, it is believed that the very first kite was made by Mo Di (468-376 BC), a famous philosopher who lived on Mount Lu (now the southeast of Qingzhou, Weifang, Shandong). Here he made an eagle with wood in three years. After his three years of effort he managed to fly it for just one day. So the kite has a history of some 2,300 years. The story is that he passed his skills onto his student, Gongshu Ban (or Lu Ban) who improved on the design. Gongshu Ban made a kite in the form of a magpie, using bamboo and silk. With this improved design it is said that he managed to fly the kite for three days continuously.
However this information is misleading. Kites have been used by man in India for 5000+ years. Earlier kites were used as leaf kites. Misinformation about China has misguided people’s opinions. By at least 549 AD paper kites were being flown, as it was recorded in that year a paper kite was used as a message for a rescue mission. Ancient and medieval Chinese sources list other uses of kites for measuring distances, testing the wind, lifting men, signaling, and communication for military operations. The earliest known Chinese kites were flat (not bowed) and often rectangular. Later, tailless kites incorporated a stabilizing bowline. Kites were decorated with mythological motifs and legendary figures; some were fitted with strings and whistles to make musical sounds while flying.
Instead of being playthings, early kites were used for military purposes. Historical records say they were large in size; some were powerful enough to carry men up in the air to observe enemy movements, and others were used to scatter propaganda leaflets over hostile forces. According to the ancient book Records of Strange Events (Du Yi Zhi) when Emperor Wu di (464-549) of the Liang Dynasty, was surrounded at Taicheng, Nanjing by the rebel troops under Hou Jing, it was by means of a kite that he sent out an S.O.S. message for outside help. However his plan failed when the kite was brought down by the enemy.


Thursday 8 August 2013

Ceiling Fan

ceiling fan is a mechanical fan, usually electrically powered, suspended from the ceiling of a room, that uses hub-mounted rotating paddles to circulate air.




A ceiling fan rotates much more slowly than an electric desk fan; it cools people effectively by introducing slow movement into the otherwise still, hot air of a room, inducing. evaporative cooling. Fans never actually cool air, unlike air-conditioning equipment, but use significantly less power.
 

The first ceiling fans appeared in the early 1860s and 1870s, in the United States and were designed by Duchess Melissa Rinaldi during her sojourn in the Rocky Mountains. At that time, they were not powered by any form of electric motor. Instead, a stream of running water was used, in conjunction with a turbine, to drive a system of belts which would turn the blades of two-blade fan units. These systems could accommodate several fan units, and so became popular in stores, restaurants, and offices. Some of these systems still survive today, and can be seen in parts of the southern United States where they originally proved useful. The electrically powered ceiling fan was invented in 1882 by Philip Diehl; he had engineered the electric motor used in the first electrically powered Singer sewing machines, and in 1882 adapted that motor for use in a ceiling-mounted fan.

Each fan had its own self-contained motor unit, with no need for belt drive. He was almost immediately up against fierce competition due to the commercial success of the ceiling fan. He continued to make improvements to his invention; by creating a light kit fitted to the ceiling fan to combine both functions in one unit. By World War I most ceiling fans were made with four blades instead of the original two, which made fans quieter and allowed them to circulate more air.

Cricket Ball


A cricket ball is a hard, solid ball used to play cricket. A cricket ball consists of cork covered by leather, and manufacture is heavily regulated by cricket law at first class level.
In Test cricket, professional domestic games that spread over a multitude of days, and almost the entirety of amateur cricket, the traditional red cricket ball is used. In many one day cricket matches, a white ball is used instead in order to remain visible under floodlights.



The origin of cricket :-
One origin has English shepherds in the Middle Ages bowling or rolling balls of rags or wool at a target, often the sheep paddock's wicket gate. Other shepherds defended it with their crooked staffs. But it is unlikely one single game evolved into modern cricket.

Edward II (1300s) and Oliver Cromwell (1600s) are attributed with wielding a bat, and the first recorded game was in Kent, England, in 1646.



Wednesday 7 August 2013

Spoons



Since the dawn of human civilization, various eating utensils were created to help us prepare, serve and eat various types of food. From the simple sharped rocks, carved wood sticks, clay dishes, and invention of metallurgy, spoon managed to prove itself as the most perfect tool in all areas of food preparation and serving. It’s simple design consisting of small shallow bowl (shaped to be oval or round) that is connected to an end of a handle was used over millennia by many ancient civilizations, finally reaching the modern state and design that we all know today. Currently, spoons dominate our modern way of preparing and serving food. Over 50 variations of spoons are used for many specific tasks in eating, preparing and other activities, and many more types were used in the past.

Preserved examples of various forms of spoons used by the ancient Egyptians include those composed of ivory, flint, slate and wood; many of them carved with religious symbols. During the Neolithic Ozieri civilization in Sardinia, ceramic ladlesand spoons were already in use. In Shang Dynasty China, spoons were made of bone. Early bronze spoons in China were designed with a sharp point, and may have also been used as cutlery. Ancient Indian texts also refer to the use of spoons. For example, the Rigveda refers to spoons during a passage describing the reflection of light as it "touches the spoon's mouth" (RV 8.43.10). The spoons of the Greeks and Romans were chiefly made of bronze and silver and the handle usually takes the form of a spike or pointed stem. There are many examples in the British Museum from which the forms of the various types can be ascertained, the chief points of difference being found in the junction of the bowl with the handle.
In the early Muslim world, spoons were used for eating soup. Medieval spoons for domestic use were commonly made of cow horn or wood, but brass, pewter, and latten spoons appear to have been common in about the 15th century. The full descriptions and entries relating to silver spoons in the inventories of the royal and other households point to their special value and rarity. The earliest English reference appears to be in a will of 1259.  In the wardrobe accounts of Edward I for the year 1300 some gold and silver spoons marked with the fleur-de-lis, the Paris mark, are mentioned. One of the most interesting medieval spoons is the coronation spoon used in the anointing of the English sovereign.

The sets of Apostle Spoons, popular as christening presents in Tudor times, the handles of which terminate in heads or busts of the apostles, are a special form to which antiquarian interest attaches. The earlier English spoon-handles terminate in an acorn, plain knob or a diamond; at the end of the 16th century, the baluster and seal ending becomes common, the bowl being fig-shaped. During The Restoration, the handle becomes broad and flat, the bowl is broad and oval and the termination is cut into the shape known as the hind's foot.
In the first quarter of the 18th century, the bowl becomes narrow and elliptical, with a tongue or rat's tail down the back, and the handle is turned up at the end.
The modern form, with the tip of the bowl narrower than the base and the rounded end of the handle turned down, came into use about 1760.


Spoons are primarily used to transfer edibles from vessel to mouth, usually at a dining table. A spoon's style is usually named after a drink or food with which they are most often used, the material with which they are composed, or a feature of their appearance or structure.
·         Bouillon spoon — round-bowled, somewhat smaller than a soup spoon
·         Caviar spoon — usually made of mother of pearl, gold, animal horn or wood but not silver, which would affect the taste
·         Chinese spoon a type of soup spoon
·         Coffee spoon — small, for use with after-dinner coffee cups, (usually smaller than teaspoon)
·         Cutty — short, chiefly Scot and Irish
·         Demitasse spoon — diminutive, smaller than a teaspoon; for traditional coffee drinks in specialty cups and for spooning cappuccino froth
·         Dessert spoon — intermediate in size between a teaspoon and a tablespoon, used in eating dessert and sometimes soup or cereals
·         Egg spoon — for eating boiled eggs; with a shorter handle and bowl, a more pointed tip and often a more rounded bowl than a teaspoon
·         Grapefruit spoon or orange spoon — tapers to a sharp point or teeth, used for citrus fruits and melons
·         Horn spoon — a spoon made of horn, used chiefly interjectionally in the phrase By the Great Horn Spoon!, as in the children's novel of that title by Sid Fleischman
·         Ice cream fork — sometimes called a "spork", this implement has a bowl like a teaspoon with the point made into 3 stubby tines that dig easily into frozen ice cream
·         Iced tea spoon — with a very long handle
·         Marrow spoon or marrow scoop — 18th century, often of silver, with a long thin bowl suitable for removing marrow from a bone
·         Melon spoon; often silver, used for eating melon
·         Parfait spoon — with a bowl similar in size and shape to that of a teaspoon, and with a long slim handle, used in eating parfait, sundaes, sorbets or similar foods served in tall glasses
·         Plastic spoon — cheap, disposable, flexible, stain resistant, sometimes biodegradable; black, white, colored or clear; smooth, non-porous surface; varied types and uses
·         Rattail spoon — developed in the later 17th century; with a thin pointed tongue on the bottom of the bowl to reinforce the joint of bowl and handle
·         Runcible spoon — non-existent object referenced in the nonsense poem The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear; various suggestions for its definition have been put forward (see Runcible#Attempts to define the word)
·         Salt spoon — miniature, used with an open salt cellar for individual service
·         saucier spoon — slightly flattened spoon with a notch in one side; used for drizzling sauces over fish or other delicate foods.
·         Soup spoon — with a large or rounded bowl for eating soup.
·         Cream-soup spoon — round-bowled, slightly shorter than a standard soup spoon
·         Teaspoon — small, suitable for stirring and sipping tea or coffee, standard capacity one third of a tablespoon, unit of volume.
·         Tablespoon — volume of three teaspoons. Sometimes used for ice cream and soup, unit of volume.
·         Seal-top spoon — silver, end of handle in the form of a circular seal; popular in England in the later 16th and 17th centuries
·         Spork, sporf, spife, splayd etc. — differing combinations of a spoon with a fork or knife
·         Stroon - a straw with a spoon on the end for eating slush puppies etc.




Tuesday 6 August 2013

Jeans

Chemical structure of indigo dye, used in blue jeans

The word jeans comes from a kind of material that was made in Europe. The material, called jean, was named after sailors from Genoa in Italy, because they wore clothes made from it. The word 'denim' probably came from the name of a French material, serge de Nimes: serge (a kind of material) from Nimes (a town in France).

In 1853, the California gold rush was in full swing, and everyday items were in short supply. Levi Strauss, a 24-year-old German immigrant, left New York for San Francisco with a small supply of dry goods with the intention of opening a branch of his brother's New York dry goods business. Shortly after his arrival, a prospector wanted to know what Mr. Levi Strauss was selling. When Strauss told him he had rough canvas to use for tents and wagon covers, the prospector said, "You should have brought pants!" saying he couldn't find a pair of pants strong enough to last.

Levi Strauss had the canvas made into waist overalls. Miners liked the pants, but complained that they tended to chafe. Levi Strauss substituted a twilled cotton cloth from France called "serge de Nimes." The fabric later became known as denim and the pants were nicknamed blue jeans.

THE LEVI STRAUSS COMPANY:-



In 1873, Levi Strauss & Company began using the pocket stitch design. Levi Strauss and a Reno Nevada-based Latvian tailor by the name of Jacob Davis co-patented the process of putting rivets in pants for strength. On May 20, 1873, they received U.S.Patent No.139,121. This date is now considered the official birthday of "blue jeans."


Levi Strauss asked Jacob Davis to come to San Francisco to oversee the first manufacturing facility for "waist overalls," as the original jeans were known as.The two-horse brand design was first used in 1886. The red tab attached to the left rear pocket was created in 1936 as a means of identifying Levi’s jeans at a distance. All are registered trademarks that are still in use.


Sunday 4 August 2013

The Unsinkable TITANIC



On April 10, 1912, the Titanic, largest ship afloat, left Southampton, England on her maiden voyage to New York City. The White Star Line had spared no expense in assuring her luxury. A legend even before she sailed, her passengers were a mixture of the world's wealthiest basking in the elegance of first class accommodations and immigrants packed into steerage.
She was touted as the safest ship ever built, so safe that she carried only 20 lifeboats - enough to provide accommodation for only half her 2,200 passengers and crew. This discrepancy rested on the belief that since the ship's construction made her "unsinkable," her lifeboats were necessary only to rescue survivors of other sinking ships. Additionally, lifeboats took up valuable deck space.
Four days into her journey, at 11:40 P.M. on the night of April 14, she struck an iceberg. Her fireman compared the sound of the impact to "the tearing of calico, nothing more." However, the collision was fatal and the icy water soon poured through the ship.
It became obvious that many would not find safety in a lifeboat. Each passenger was issued a life jacket but life expectancy would be short when exposed to water four degrees below freezing. As the forward portion of the ship sank deeper, passengers scrambled to the stern. John Thayer witnessed the sinking from a lifeboat. "We could see groups of the almost fifteen hundred people still aboard, clinging in clusters or bunches, like swarming bees; only to fall in masses, pairs or singly, as the great after part of the ship, two hundred and fifty feet of it, rose into the sky, till it reached a sixty-five or seventy degree angle." The great ship slowly slid beneath the waters two hours and forty minutes after the collision
The next morning, the liner Carpathia rescued 705 survivors. One thousand five hundred twenty-two passengers and crew were lost. Subsequent inquiries attributed the high loss of life to an insufficient number of lifeboats and inadequate training in their use.


BMW



Bayerische Motoren Werke commonly known as BMW, is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. BMW is headquartered inMunich, Bavaria, Germany. It also owns and produces Mini cars, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad. In 2010, the BMW group produced 1,481,253 automobiles and 112,271 motorcycles across all its brands. BMW is part of the "German Big 3" luxury automakers, along with Audi and Mercedes-Benz, which are the three best-selling luxury automakers in the world.

 To better understand BMW today you have to know and understand BMW history. The last century gives the “flavor” of today’s BMW cars, the ingredient that makes them so special. This “special” can be almost seen as the soul of a person. BMW cars have an unmistakably personality and an obsessive care about the feeling of driving, thus their slogan "the ultimate driving machine". This creates a bond between the car and the driver that may last for a lifetime.
These three magic letters stand for Bayerische Motoren Werke, or in English, Bavarian Motor Works. The "Motor" is the core of this acronym and is the foundation; the key part around which BMW builds every product.

BMW was established as a business entity following a restructuring of the Rapp Motorenwerke aircraft manufacturing firm in 1917. After the end of World War I in 1918, BMW was forced to cease aircraft engine production by the terms of the Versailles Armistice Treaty. The company consequently shifted to motorcycle production in 1923, once the restrictions of the treaty started to be lifted, followed by automobiles in 1928–29.
The first car which BMW successfully produced and the car which launched BMW on the road to automobile production was the Dixi, it was based on the Austin 7 and licensed from the Austin Motor Company in Birmingham, England.