Ole Kirk Christiansen and the History of LEGO

Ole Kirk Christiansen and the History of LEGO Hailed as the â€Å"Toy of the Century,† the plastic Lego bricks that make up the Lego System of Play were invented by Ole Kirk Christiansen, a master carpenter, and his son, Godtfred Kirk. From these small interlocking bricks, which can be connected to assemble an infinite number of designs, Lego has evolved into a huge worldwide enterprise that makes toys and movies and runs theme parks. But before all that, Lego began as a carpentry business in the village of Billund, Denmark in 1932. Although he initially made stepladders and ironing boards, wooden toys became Christiansen’s most successful product. The company adopted the name LEGO in 1934. LEGO is formed from the Danish words LEg GOdt meaning play well. Fittingly enough, the company later learned that in Latin, lego means I put together. In 1947, the LEGO company was the first in Denmark to use a plastic injection molding machine for making toys. This allowed the company to manufacture Automatic Binding Bricks, created in 1949. These larger bricks, sold only in Denmark, deployed the stud-and-tube coupling system that was the forerunner of the Lego bricks the world has come to know.   Five years later, in 1954, the redesigned components were renamed LEGO Mursten or LEGO Bricks and the word LEGO was officially registered as a trademark in Denmark, positioning the company to launch the LEGO System of Play with 28 sets and 8 vehicles. The current LEGO stud-and-tube coupling system was patented in 1958 (Design Patent #92683). The new coupling principle made models much more stable. Today Lego is one of the biggest and most profitable toy companies in the world, with little sign of slowing down. And the LEGO brand has gone well beyond plastic toys: dozens of video games based on LEGO have been released, and in 2014 debuted to critical acclaim.

Yuchanyan and Xianrendong - Oldest Pottery in the World

Yuchanyan and Xianrendong - Oldest Pottery in the World Xianrendong and Yuchanyan caves in northern China are the oldest of a growing number of sites which support the origins of pottery as having occurred not just in the Japanese island Jomon culture of 11,000 to 12,000 years ago, but earlier in the Russian Far East and South China some 18,000-20,000 years ago. Scholars believe these are independent inventions, as were the later inventions of ceramic vessels in Europe and the Americas. Xianrendong Cave Xianrendong Cave is located at the foot of Xiaohe mountain, in Wannian county, northeast Jiangxi province of China, 15 kilometers (~10 miles) west of the provincial capital and 100 km (62 mi) south of the Yangtze river. Xianrendong contained the oldest pottery in the world yet identified: ceramic vessel remains, bag-shaped jars made some ~20,000 calendar years ago (cal BP). The cave has a large inner hall, measuring some 5 meters (16 feet) wide by 5-7 m (16-23 ft) high with a small entrance, only 2.5 m (8 ft) wide and 2 m (6 ft) high. Located some 800 m (about 1/2 mile) from Xianrendong, and with an entrance some 60 m (200 ft) higher in elevation, is the Diaotonguan rock shelter: it contains the same cultural strata as Xianrendong and some archaeologists believe it was used as a campsite by Xianrendongs residents. Many of the published reports include information from both sites. Cultural Stratigraphy at Xianrendong Four cultural strata have been identified at Xianrendong, including an occupation spanning the transition from Upper Paleolithic to Neolithic times in China, and three early Neolithic occupations. All seem to represent primarily fishing, hunting and gathering lifestyles, although some evidence for early rice domestication has been noted within the Early Neolithic occupations. In 2009, an international team (Wu 2012) focused on the intact pottery bearing levels layers at the base of the excavations, and a suite of dates between 12,400 and 29,300 cal BP were taken. The lowest sherd-bearing levels, 2B-2B1, were subjected to 10 AMS radiocarbon dates, ranging from 19,200-20,900 cal BP, making Xianrendongs sherds the earliest identified pottery in the world today. Neolithic 3 (9600-8825 RCYBP)Neolithic 2 (11900-9700 RCYBP)Neolithic 1 (14,000-11,900 RCYBP) appearance of O. sativaPaleolithic-Neolithic Transition (19,780-10,870 RCYBP)Epipaleolithic (25,000-15,200 RCYBP) only wild oryza Xianrendong Artifacts and Features Archaeological evidence suggests the earliest occupation at Xianrendong was a permanent, long-term occupation or reuse, with evidence for substantial hearths and ash lenses. In general, a hunter-fisher-gatherer lifestyle was followed, with emphasis on deer and wild rice (Oryza nivara phytoliths). Pottery: A total of 282 pottery sherds were recovered from the oldest levels. They have uneven thick walls between .7 and 1.2 centimeters (~1.4-1.5 inches), with round bases and inorganic (sand, mainly quartz or feldspar) temper. The paste has a brittle and loose texture and a heterogeneous reddish and brown color which resulted from uneven, open-air firing. Forms are mainly round-bottomed bag-shaped jars, with rough surfaces, the inner and outer surfaces sometimes decorated with cord marks, smoothing striations and/or basket-like impressions. They appear to have been made with two different techniques: by sheet laminating or coil and paddle techniques.Stone Tools: The stone tools are by and large chipped stone tools based on flakes, with scrapers, burins, small projectile points, drills, notches, and denticulates. Hard-hammer and soft-hammer stone tool making techniques are both in evidence. The oldest levels have a small percentage of polished stone tools compared to chipped, parti cularly in comparison with the Neolithic levels. Bone tools: harpoons and fishing spear points, needles, arrowheads, and shell knives.Plants and animals: Predominant emphasis on deer, bird, shellfish, turtle; wild rice phytoliths. The Early Neolithic levels at Xianrendong are also substantial occupations. The pottery has a wider variety of clay composition and many sherds are decorated with geometric designs. Clear evidence for rice cultivation, with both O. nivara and O. sativa phytoliths present. There is also an increase in polished stone tools, with a primarily pebble tool industry including a few perforated pebble disks and flat pebble adzes. Yuchanyan Cave Yuchanyan Cave is a karst rock shelter south of the Yangtze River basin in Daoxian county, Hunan province, China. Yuchanyans deposits contained the remains of at least two nearly complete ceramic pots, securely dated by associated radiocarbon dates at having been placed in the cave between 18,300-15,430 cal BP. Yuchanyans cave floor includes an area of 100 square meters, some 12-15 m (~40-50 ft) wide on its east-west axis and 6-8 m (~20-26 ft) wide on the north-south. The upper deposits were removed during the historical period, and the remaining site occupation debris ranges between 1.2-1.8 m (4-6 ft) in depth. All of the occupations within the site represent brief occupations by Late Upper Paleolithic people, between 21,000 and 13,800 BP. At the time of the earliest occupation, the climate in the region was warm, watery and fertile, with plenty of bamboo and deciduous trees. Over time, gradual warming throughout the occupation occurred, with a trend towards replacing the trees with grasses. Towards the end of the occupation, the Younger Dryas (ca. 13,000-11,500 cal BP) brought increased seasonality to the region. Yuchanyan  Artifacts and Features Yuchanyan cave exhibited generally good preservation, resulting in the recovery of a rich archaeological assemblage of stone, bone, and shell tools as well as a wide variety of organic remains, including both animal bone and plant remains. The floor of the cave was purposefully covered with alternating layers of red clay and massive ash layers, which likely represent deconstructed  hearths, rather than  the production  of clay vessels. Pottery: The sherds from Yuchanyan are some of the earliest examples of pottery yet found. They are all dark brown, coarsely-made pottery with a loose and sandy texture. The pots were hand-built and low-fired (ca. 400-500 degrees C); kaolinite is a major component of the fabric. The paste is thick and uneven, with walls up to 2 centimeters thick. The clay was decorated with cord impressions, on both the interior and exterior walls. Enough sherds were recovered for the scholars to reconstruct a large, wide-mouthed vessel (round opening 31 cm in diameter, vessel height 29 cm) with a pointed bottom; this style of pottery is known from much later Chinese sources as a fu cauldron.Stone Tools: Stone tools recovered from Yuchanyan include cutters, points, and scrapers.Bone Tools: Polished bone awls and shovels, perforated shell ornaments with notched-tooth decorations also were found within the assemblages.Plants and animals: Plant species recovered from the caves deposits include wild grap es and plums. Several rice opal phytoliths and husks have been identified, and some scholars have suggested that some of the grains illustrate incipient domestication. Mammals include bears, boar, deer, tortoises, and fish. The assemblage includes 27 different types of birds, including cranes, ducks, geese, and swans; five kinds of carp; 33 kinds of shellfish. Archaeology at Yuchanyan and Xianrendong Xianrendong was excavated in 1961 and 1964 by the Jiangxi Provincial Committee for Cultural Heritage, led by Li Yanxian; in 1995-1996 by the Sino-American Jiangxi Origin of Rice Project, led by R.S. MacNeish, Wenhua Chen and  Shifan  Peng; and in 1999-2000 by Peking University and the Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics. Excavations at Yuchanyan were conducted beginning in the 1980s, with extensive investigations between 1993-1995 led by Jiarong Yuan of the Hunan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology; and again between 2004 and 2005, under the direction of Yan Wenming. Sources Boaretto E, Wu X, Yuan J, Bar-Yosef O, Chu V, Pan Y, Liu K, Cohen D, Jiao T, Li S et al. 2009. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal and bone collagen associated with early pottery at Yuchanyan Cave, Hunan Province, China. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106(24):9595-9600.Kuzmin YV. 2013. Origin of Old World pottery as viewed from the early 2010s: when, where and why? World Archaeology 45(4):539-556.Kuzmin YV. 2013. Two Trajectories in the Neolithization of Eurasia: Pottery Versus Agriculture (Spatiotemporal Patterns). Radiocarbon 55(3):1304-1313.Prendergast ME, Yuan J, and Bar-Yosef O. 2009. Resource intensification in the Late Upper Paleolithic: a view from southern China. Journal of Archaeological Science 36(4):1027-1037.Wang W-M, Ding J-L, Shu J-W, and Chen W. 2010. Exploration of early rice farming in China. Quaternary International 227(1):22-28.Wu X, Zhang C, Goldberg P, Cohen D, Pan Y, Arpin T, and Bar-Yosef O. 2012. Early pottery at 20,000 years ago in Xianrendong Ca ve, China. Science 336:1696-1700. Yang X. 2004. Xianrendong and Diaotonghuan Sites at Wannian, Jiangxi Province.In: Yang X, editor. Chinese Archaeology in the Twentieth Century: New Perspectives on Chinas Past. New Haven: Yale University Press. vol 2, p 36-37.Zhang C, and Hung H-c. 2012. Later hunter-gatherers in southern China, 18,000–3000 BC. Antiquity 86(331):11-29.Zhang W, and Jiarong Y. 1998. A preliminary study of ancient excavated rice from Yuchanyan site, Dao County, Hunan province, PR China. Acta Agronomica Sinica 24(4):416-420.Zhang PQ. 1997. Discussion of Chinese domesticated rice - 10,000 year-old rice at Xianrendong, Jiangxi Province. Second Session of International Symposium on Agricultural Archaeology.Zhao C, Wu X, Wang T, and Yuan X. 2004. Early polished stone tools in South China evidence of the transition from Palaeolithic to Neolithic Documenta Praehistorica 31:131-137.

The Vice Chancellor Larking University Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 3

The Vice Chancellor Larking University - Essay Example Majority of the PCs in the college use Microsoft Operating System although some of the computers are still running on Office 97. The college has achieved a milestone in networking all the computers although not all PCs have been networked there is increasing trend of networking them. With a population of about 3000 students, the University has been thinking of providing the laptop to the student the expense of which will be reduced from their fees. There has been increased pressure to make sure that the students accept the offer of the laptops because whether they accept them or not, they will still be charged in the school fees. This has been in line with the introduction of my Course system on the university website which is used by lecturers to post notes and exercises. There has also been declining number of student who is attending lecturer since they can download everything from the internet. How can the college achieve a competitive edge through the harmonization of the usage of the internet? The aim of the university in introducing the use of computers has been to ensure that there is an efficient delivery of services. Therefore it has come upon with a strategy of ensuring the all the administrative staff and the lectures use the same minimum IT/IS platform which is Intel PCs with 1GB memory and running XP and Office 2003. The University also aims at connecting all of them to the internet and Outlook email service. In the evaluation, this is one of the most important strategies that the university can use in order to achieve maximum use of computer technology in the university. If the university chose to sell the existing PCs and buying new ones, then the first step would be to find a way of storing the data based on the computers and then selling all of them. Then they would come up with a procurement procedure.

Reading notes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Reading notes - Essay Example From around 1932, the military always received awards depending on the number of killings in battle. A military group stands to oppose this mode of awarding and recognition, arguing that it completely disregards the aspect of honor and respect to the military. The country faces a financial crisis that has averted her economy for the worse. The bailout outcomes have caused Americans to suffer under the hands of the government. From this we can see the Afghan Goatherds in place, which defines that people do not always get what they want. Such events may bring about the subject of moral dilemma: In this Plato’s perception is to overlook prejudgment and focus on the right virtues. Utilitarianism is explained in the argument of overall happiness. Utilitarianism is defined through two objections. One which argues whether it is right to take a harmful action in the interest of another action and the argument which sees the benefits of the chosen action. Libertarianism is used to question whether we own ourselves and our decisions or whether we are subject to a superior figure that controls us. Thus, it creates a minimal state of the two sides. Three policies fall under this minimal state; number of moral legislation, paternalisms and wealth. Also, the concept of â€Å"Free-Market† spans out indicatively on the issue of economic inequality. Take for instance Michael Jordan’s money being taxed. The extra taxation is explained as an intention to help other people with the money collected. However, from a libertarian perspective, choice of voluntary action gets violated. There is the question of morals and markets. In this, people may get hired for a particular task but end up doing two or more tasks that may have not featured in the agreement. Putting into consideration the libertarian and utilitarian reasoning, high effectiveness could be observed in a case of a volunteer army as compared to any other. Still under this scenario, surrogacy features

Same-Sex Marriage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Same-Sex Marriage - Essay Example According to the paper findings same sex marriage has undergone numerous milestones from the initial secretive affair which was prohibited by cultural and religious beliefs of the society to an open affair where weddings are done in public. The coupes are recognized as a man and wife despite the same sexes. This issue is openly against the norms; however, it has found its way to acceptance and legalization. The first time, when same –sex was mentioned and performed was in 342, in the early Roman Empire. Nero became the first emperor to marry a man. He later married two other males in different occasions. As the report declares there have been various perspectives on the legalization and acceptance of same-sex marriage. According to the religious views, the Bible defines marriage as a union of two people of opposite sex. This implies that same-sex marriage is a redefinition of marriage, which is contrary to the Bible. Most Christians have opposed this type of marriage based on ungodliness and against the word of God. This is opposition is reflected in most of the nations that have refused to recognize such marriages. The nations are well founded on religious beliefs. Similarly, the aspect of culture plays a critical role in reflecting what nature of morals a society should uphold. Most cultures across the world respect and recognize marriage between a woman and a man. This makes it difficult to accept marriage between two individual of same sexes. This is a taboo according to most cultures.

Latin American Religions Essay Example for Free

Latin American Religions Essay What are some major attributes of Latin American Catholicism? Identify and describe at least two distinctions and include how they are distinct from Catholicism elsewhere. The Central American War had changed the priorities of the Catholic Church in Latin America. In the 1980’s, the clergy’s had decided to go against the Catholic Church mainly the Vatican despite the various threats, and began to help the poor which were struggling for their equality and their rights. The Catholic activism was in support of the change; however, it did influence guerilla movements in certain parts of Latin America such as Nicaragua, Salvador, Guatemala. This had introduced moral and spiritual justification. â€Å"Throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, a wing of the church surfaced as a powerful ideological force in the struggle to end authoritarian regimes,† (Meade, T., 2010). In what ways have African religions influenced Latin American Catholicism? â€Å"Latinos are comprised of a great conglomeration of ethnicities, traditions, and customs, which are traditionally, expressed by a common language (Spanish) and religion (Catholocism). For instance, Latin American values and traditions received a great influence from Catholicism and indigenous beliefs. Similarly, African traditions also permeated the Latin American culture, especially in the Caribbean region. This unique syncretism between Catholicism, and indigenous and African traditions allowed the survival of folk traditions, which led to the creation of several healing approaches,† (www.egochicagoschools.com, 2012). Should Latin American Catholicism be considered polytheistic? Why or why not? There are various polytheistic religions that are practiced today. Many of the religions today outside of Catholicism believe in more than one God. However, the Catholics believe in one God and one God only. I do think the Catholicism needs to be consistent meaning the Catholicism that is being practices within Latin American needs to be the same everywhere else. Once others start to deviate from Catholicism then it begins to start a new religion and moves away from the beliefs of the Catholicism. Only the Vatican may assess and make changes within the Catholic Religions. How have churches fostered or hindered social changes in Latin America? After the civil war, Latin Americans had turned to other religions. For over 500 years, many Latin Americans were considered loyal to the Catholic religions. However, it quickly turned to be a stronghold to Protestants. In the Liberation area other religions had developed such as Evangelical and Pentecostal. These religions are very different from the Catholicism. These religions speak in tongue, rely on baptism, accept the Holy Spirit, and emotional rituals. With these new religions developing the social changes in Latin America does provide a much broader outlook on their beliefs. There are various groups or community gatherings within the particular religion. Each religion unites and brings together their faith and social aspects within their own community. How has Protestantism spread in Latin America in the past? Is it different than the factors that are promoting the current growth in Protestantism in this region? How and why? The Protestantism had spread in Latin America in the past due to the fact of various discrepancies within the Catholic Religion. For instance, in 1980’s, the Guatemalan’s had begun to change their beliefs and lean more to the Protestants. This was proven in 2005, when a massive amount of members of the Catholic Church had begun to leave the church as rapid growth. The new leading religion was the Pentecostal church. Many of the new religions were still created by using the Catholic religion as their foundation. Reference: A History of Modern Latin America. 1800 to the Present, Meade, T., 2010 http://ego.thechicagoschool.edu/s/843/index.aspx?sid=843gid=3pgid=760

Comparison of Monsson Wedding to Heat and Dust Essay -- essays res

Despite differing in form, the film â€Å"Monsoon Wedding,† directed by Mira Nair and the novel â€Å"Heat and Dust,† by Ruth Prawler Jhabvala, have many similarities. Both of these texts convey an Indian world and the people in it. â€Å"Monsoon Wedding† is a party arthouse, party Bollywood film which deals with the leadup to the wedding of two young people, Aditi and Hermant. It combines their story with that of Aditi’s father, Lalit, and his family responsibilities, as well as the events occurring in the lives of their servants, Dubey and Alice. This combining of multiple storylines into one cohesive narrative is one of the characteristics of Bollywood films. The title of the film refers to the monsoon, or rainy season, in India. The majority of the film is set in the buildup to the monsoon, when the oppressive heat is at its strongest. This is metaphorically linked to the buildup of tension and anxiety in the days leading up to the wedding. The monsoon itself, like the wedding, symbolises cleansing and renewal before a new start. One thing that sets this film apart from other Bollywood films is that it deals with taboo issues in its portrayal of Uncle Tej’s pedophilia. This is seen from the point of view of his pat victim, Ria. The audience is not told explicitly what is occurring, but through the use of shots of Ria appearing distressed followed by shots of Tej, it becomes apparent that something sinister is happening. This particular storyline climaxes with Ria’s public accusation...