There is much controversy over who invented the humble office chair with claims from both sides of the Atlantic. What makes an office chair different from any other chair? Usually an office chair, or desk chair, is a type of chair that is designed for use whilst sitting at a desk in an office. It is more usually a swivel chair, with a set of castors or wheels for mobility and adjustable height. Charles Darwin the English naturalist and geologist best known for his contributions to evolutionary theory fitted wheels to the chair in his study to make it easier to move around between his specimens. American inventor Thomas E. Warren (b. 1808), designed the Centripetal Spring Armchair in 1849 which was produced by the American Chair Company in Troy, New York. It was first presented at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London. These chairs had a combination of wrought iron framework and velvet upholstery, with some models even having a skirt to cover the legs and maintain modesty! This is probably the earliest example of what we now refer to as a task chair . Conceived at the inception of the industrial revolution, the design was adapted for use on railway carriages as the springing seat helped to absorb shock from the train's movement. It has most of the significant features that might distinguish a work chair today — including castors, head support and rotating seat- the only thing missing was adjustable lumbar support. Victorian London did not take to this chair in the slightest! It was deemed to be so comfortable as to be immoral! Pynt explains in her paper, "Nineteenth Century Patent Seating" in the Journal of Design History. In the Victorian era, upright posture on a rigid, unsupportive seat provided an opportunity to demonstrate refinement and willpower and thereby morality! Some employers today, still seem to think that providing comfortable and adaptive seating is a sign of weakness, as the staff are "there to work - not to be mollycoddled!" In the USA the advent of the railways meant office chairs were developed around the middle of the 19th century as more workers spent their working days sitting at a desk requiring more mobility than a standard dining chair. Businesses began to expand beyond the traditional model of a family business with little emphasis on administration. As firms grew in size additional administrative staff was required to keep up with administration, book keeping, and correspondence. This new style of chairs caught the attention of Otto van Bismarck, who is credited with popularizing the office chair by distributing them throughout the Prussian parliament during his time in office.
SKRYWER ONBEKEND DIE KRUIS TEEN DIE MUUR‌ 'n Swem instrukteur van 'n Amerikaanse Universiteit kon een nag nie slaap nie. Hy besluit hy gaan swem. Om nie aandag te trek nie, skakel hy nie die ligte aan nie. Hy het die omgewing van die swembad soos sy palm van sy hand geken. Hy klim op die duikplank, strek sy arms na weerskante uit en maak gereed om te duik. Op daardie oomblik kom die maan agter 'n wolk uit en gooi sy liggaam se skaduwee teen die oorkantste muur. Die skaduwee lyk soos 'n kruis. Diep getref bly hy net so staan. Hy was nie 'n belydende Christen nie, maar daar op die duiktoring in die maanlig, in die stilte van die nag, dink hy aan Christus se kruis. Woorde van 'n liedjie wat hy in die Sondagskool geleer het, kom in sy gedagte op: "Hy het gesterf, dat ek kon leef ..." Vreemd aangedaan, prewel hy die woorde. Hy besluit om af te klim en langs die swembad te gaan sit en die nuwe gedagtes wat so vreemd, skielik by hom opkom te gaan oordink. Hy swaai sy bene oor die kant van die swembad om sy voete in die koel water te laat hang. Sy voete raak nie water nie. Dit is te donker om in die swembad te sien en hy klim stadig met die trappies af, een na die ander, tot op die bodem van die swembad. Hy het nie geweet die swembad opsigter het die water uitgepomp om die volgende dag skoon water te laat inloop nie. Wat sou gebeur het as hy geduik het? Watter onuitspreeklike ingryping van genade wat hom weerhou het om te duik! Diep aangedaan, kniel hy op die koue vloer van die swembad en dank God vir Sy groot en onverdiende ontferming. In sy hart wel 'n verlange op om nader aan hierdie God te kom. Sy geloof neem 'n verdere stap. Die skaduwee van die kruis het hom van 'n gewisse dood gered, so red Christus se kruisdood hom van die ewige dood. Alleen, knielende in die donker op die swembad se vloer, maak hy sy hart oop en neem Christus Jesus aan as sy Saligmaker !
Ever wondered why blue doesn't mean go and brown mean stop? Turns out, there's a perfectly good explanation for it. BY MORGAN CUTOLO
The idea that red means stop and green means go has impacted our lives in more ways than just traffic signals. We have been taught from a young age that the color red means danger and green means it’s okay to move forward. But why were those particular colors chosen for traffic lights in the first place? For something we have to look at every day, why couldn’t they have been prettier colors like magenta and turquoise? Well, it’s important to know that before traffic lights for cars even became a thing, there were traffic signals for trains. At first, railroad companies used red to mean stop, white to mean go, and green to mean caution. As you could imagine, train conductors ran into a few problems with white meaning go. For instance, one train conductor mistook a bright star for a white light and thought he was all clear. Because of incidences like that, railway companies eventually moved green meaning go, and it’s been that way ever since. As far as red goes, that’s always been a color that indicated danger, long before cars were even around. This most likely started because it’s the color with the longest wavelength so it can be seen from a greater distance than other colors. As far as yellow goes, it was used to caution drivers because it has a slightly shorter wavelength than red, but not as short as green. But, believe it or not, yellow was once used to mean stop, at least as far as signage goes. Back in the 1900s, some stop signs were yellow because it was too hard to see a red sign in a poorly lit area. Eventually, materials were developed that were highly reflective and red stop signs were born. Since yellow can be seen well at all times of the day school zones, some traffic signs, and school buses continue to be painted yellow. So next time you’re impatiently waiting at a traffic light, don’t get so mad at them; they’ve certainly come a long way.
HOMEMADE REESE’S EGGS (IETS VIR PAASFEES) by Petra Nel INGREDIENTS: • 3 Cups powdered sugar • 1½ cups creamy peanut butter • ¼ cup butter or margarine melted • 2 Tablespoons milk • 1-2 Bags milk chocolate chips • 2 Tablespoons shortening INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Beat together powdered sugar, peanut butter, and butter together. At this point the dough will be crumbly. Add two tablespoons of milk and continue to beat together until the dough softens. If the dough still seems crumbly that is ok. 2. On a floured surface, roll the dough out to desired thickness. About ½ thickness. You can use egg cookie cutters or with a knife, shape the dough to look like eggs. 3. Place eggs on a cookie sheet and put in the freezer for an hour. 4. When you are ready to dip them, add the chocolate and 1 Tbsp shortening in a microwave and melt 30 seconds at a time. Stirring it after every 30 seconds and being careful not to cook the chocolate to burn. 5. Dip each egg in chocolate. I used a spoon to help cover in the chocolate. Place them on wax paper to set. 6. If more chocolate is needed, melt the second bag with the shortening. Enjoy! *Makes approx 20 eggs WENK: Jy kan dit ook in wit gesmelte sjokolade doop.
You thought you knew your ABCs, but our alphabet used to have a total of 32 letters instead of the 26. Here's what happened to those six lost letters. BY BRYCE GRUBER
As strange as it sounds, the English alphabet had several more letters in the past few hundred years than it does today. Six more to be exact, including Ethel and Yogh (yup, those were the real names for "oi" sound, like in "coin," and "kh" sound like in "Loch Ness Monster" respectively). Linguistics experts say that modern streamlining and the mixing of the cultures of Northern Europe are to blame for their loss. "Some former letters had significance, as Eth and Ash are still used as part of the phonemic chart used for pronunciation," says ESL professor Alix Hoechster, "but don't expect to see them on your keyboard or use them in day-to-day life." That's because they've generally been phased out and replaced by letters that do double duty, either by already addressing the sounds in question or by making the desired sounds when combined with other standard, existing letters. (This is why the letters on your keyboard aren't in alphabetical order.) Anne Babson, an English instructor at Southeastern Louisiana University with a background in Late Medieval European languages, explains that the letters we no longer see gradually fell out of use as printing presses developed a type-setting system. "At first, Eth and Thorn were replaced with 'Y' in some typography and signage, so 'Ye Olde English Shoppe' would have been pronounced by contemporary readers as 'the Old English Shop' today," she says. Fascinating stuff, right? And it doesn't stop at easy advertising. By the mid-1600s, the sound "th" was almost always represented typographically as it is today. But briefly, English contained a typographical letter called a "long s" from about the time of the Late Renaissance through the early 1800s—it looked almost like the letter "f" but was pronounced simply as "s." "That's why we have a frontispiece for the publication of Paradise Lost in the 1600s that looks like Paradife Lost," Babson says. If you're wondering whether our current alphabet will keep shrinking, Babson suggests there's no reason to worry about that anytime soon. "Standardized spelling makes it less likely for that to happen than when Middle English was turning into Modern English," she says. "Most of our high school English teachers would roll over in their graves if 'quick' became permanently 'quik.' That said, it's not impossible that we will simplify the orthography of many words the way the 'drive thru' has done." If you're wondering about the letters we lost, you can pour one out for these tonight: In its original form, eth was pronounced like the th sound in words like this, that or the, or then. Thorn was also pronounced with a th sound, but in a softer manner. Imagine using the th sound in the least aggressive way possible, with it rolling smoothly from behind your teeth. This was the precursor to today's uu; it lost favor when writers and printing presses started smushing two trendier u letters together. We can thank the Scots for this letter having existed, however briefly. Think of the ch sound in Loch Ness Monster, or the way you'd pronounce the ch in "challah bread. This letter is still used in modern Danish. If you're interested in partying with this antique, head straight to Denmark. Otherwise, just know that it was a short vowel sound in Old English, like the strange love child of a short a and a short e, like when you can't tell if someone said "pat" or "pet." Ethel was similar to Ash in that it was a strange hybrid but was pronounced like the "oi" in "join."
Do you know what your top and pants have been picking up all day? Here are their extra-dirty little secrets.
Researchers have linked certain personality traits to different smartphone users.
BY HOPE DANIELS
BY MARISSA LALIBERTE
Let’s face it, just because you took a shower in the morning and you don’t smell doesn’t mean the outfit you wore on the subway, in the bank, at work, to the gym or on a dinner date is clean. Some would say your fancy duds are downright dirty. Before you think about getting cozy under the sheets without changing into pajamas (or at least a T-shirt and shorts), here are some potential gross consequences that may have you heading to the laundry room instead of the bedroom.
A quick glance at your smartphone can reveal quite a bit about your personality. You’ve set a wallpaper that makes you happy, downloaded apps revealing what’s important to you, and picked which of those applications get prominent positions and notifications. Even scrolling through your playlists reveals secrets your favorite music says about you.
HUMANS ARE NASTY Of course, practicing good hygiene is very important for your overall health, not to mention your social life, but understanding what naturally occurs over the course of a day to a person’s body will clarify how gross it is to not change your outerwear or undergarments. A video from Brit Lab, shown on Lifehacker.com reveals, you, in fact, produce dirt—and a lot of it. The expert says, “We’re constantly shedding skin cells, oozing skin oils, and secreting sweat onto everything we’re wearing. In fact, a human sheds about 500 million skin cells and a liter of sweat, every day.” Can anyone spare a barf bag? GERMS STICK TO YOU LIKE GLUE “Bacteria and organisms can survive weeks or even months on clothes,” Philip Tierno, MD, director of Microbiology and Immunology at New York University revealed in a 2010 ABC investigation after discovering that brand-new clothes (still with the tags on them) can be contaminated with bacteria, norovirus, or staph germs. Since he suggests washing new clothes before wearing them, then it’s probably a good idea to sterilize the T-shirt you just walked around in on that hot day for 12 hours. Not judging, just saying. RASHES, ACNE, INFECTION, OH MY! Dermascope.com explains how restricted fabrics could trigger flare-ups or skin irritations. “One of the main causes of back and chest acne is caused by prolonged pressure and friction by anything repeatedly rubbing on skin, such as tight shirts and backpacks.” And the grimier something is, the worst the breakout could be. “Dirty sheets and dirty clothes can transfer dirt and bacteria into the hair follicle, causing it to clog and become infected.” Sweet dreams!
But before you got started personalizing your phone, you had to pick the device itself. And your phone choice itself could predict aspects of your personality, found a University of Lincoln’s School of Psychology and Lancaster University study. “Smartphone choice is the most basic level of smartphone personalization, and even this can tell us a lot about the user,” said Heather Shaw, researcher of the doctoral study presented at the British Psychological Society Social Psychology Section’s annual conference, in a press release. The first part of the study looked into general perceptions of iPhone and Android users, and a second part examined if those stereotypes held up. In the initial survey, 240 British participants ranked Android users as more open, agreeable, humble, and honest, while judging iPhone owners as more extroverted. A follow-up personality test of 530 iPhone and Android users, though, found that most of those expectations didn’t reflect reality. More Android users were found to be honest and humble than iPhone users, as the volunteers had guessed, but the other assumptions weren’t accurate. The researchers did, however, find other personality differences between Apple and Android. Those with iPhones rated owning a high-status phone as more important than Android users did. Plus, more Android users avoided similarity, suggesting they don’t want to have the same product as other people. Women were also twice as likely to have an iPhone over an Android in the study. “It is becoming more and more apparent that smartphones are becoming a mini digital version of the user,” Shaw has said, “and many of us don’t like when other people use our phones because it can reveal so much about us.”
By Katherine Kehler "Standing near the cross (was) Jesus' mother, Mary"(John 19:25)……… "Your son has been shot," the ambulance attendant told me as they wheeled our son Mark into the hospital lobby. The grocery store where our son worked evenings and weekends had just called and told me to rush to the hospital because Mark had been hurt. But they didn't tell me what happened. When I saw Mark's ashen face I was shocked, but also very thankful he was alive. It was the evening before his 18th birthday. They rushed him to the emergency room and I stood there watching as they peeled back the bloody bandage, revealing the gun shot wounds. The bullet went between his bottom two ribs and out the back. Then they began to look for a vein so they could give him antibiotics intravenously. I guess I must have been quite pale, because one of the nurses said I better sit down, which I did. I sat there stunned, not being able to take in what had just happened. Shootings happen to someone else's family, don't they? Is this what Mary, the mother of Jesus felt like, I wondered? When she saw Jesus on the cross, wounded and bleeding, was she numb? Did she want to scream at the men who nailed him to the cross? How could she bear watching? Every time I hear a child cry in pain, every time I see starving children on TV or hear about a child being abused, my stomach turns into a knot. How could anyone be so cruel? It took about three months for our son to recuperate. The man who shot him was never apprehended. (He walked out of the store with a cart of stolen groceries and Mark had followed him.) We prayed for this man. We must accelerate the prayers for the mothers of the hurting, hungry, thirsty and wounded children of the world. Pray for them. Ask God to show you how you can help. Father, sometimes it takes a shocking experience to open our eyes to the pain around us. Give us seeing eyes and compassionate hearts. Don't let us become apathetic. Amen.
APRIL 07-09/04/2017
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