To a wetter point

Since I did a blog on the humble pencil it’s only fair that I do one on the design and history of the pen as well, the word pen means feather in Latin and this makes since because the very first pens where simply large bird feathers dipped in the ink. This large bird feather was called the quill and was used for a very long time used through the 1800s in fact. It’s important to note that many Asian countries never used the quill they instead used a bamboo stick sharpened to a very fine point. Some say that Galileo Galilei designed the first ballpoint pen but this has yet to be accepted. The very first ballpoint pen patent was in 188 by a man named Kayleigh Loud who was trying to make a pen that would write on tanned leather. Although it was patented in 1888 the ball point pen didn’t become prominent until the early 20th century when mass production and precision machining made it possible to produce the pens in quantity. Even though ball points are super popular the fountain pen is still In use today. Some people even keep a quill on their desks as a decoration and perhaps as a reminder to how much we’ve advanced even in the simple things like a pen.

To a point

You’ve all used pencils and you know you love being able to erase them and the fact that they don’t bleed through the paper and stuff. But did you ever know where they came from. They originally were metal sticks used to scratch whatever the artist or scribe wanted however they weren’t erasable and they were made of lead so it was slightly poisons to use them. It was in the 1500s that graphite was discovered and used for pencils although the material had changed the long use of lead led, no pun intended, to us still calling the graphite core lead. The eraser was finally paired up with our friend the pencil in 1875 by an American by the name of Hymen Lipman. Although there was some uh suing involved his name stands in the patent office still today. So we went from scratching with lead to drawing with want to be lead and thus we have the pencil we all know and love today.

Dream catcher

I own a dream catcher and have it hanging on my wall however I really didn’t know much about it other than it was supposed to keep bad spirits away so I decided to see why it’s designed the way it is and something about the culture behind it. Originally it was the Ojibwa culture that created dream catchers. The Ojibwa word for dream catcher asabikeshiinh is a inanimate form of spider. This makes sense since the biggest part of the dream catcher is the web shaped top. The belief is that good dreams would be let through the web and travel down the feathers to the one sleeping under it and that those bad dreams would be trapped in the web doomed to perish under the morning dawn. In the 1960s many other Native American cultures adopted the dream catcher. Now anyone can go out and find one for them to take home. Some might think this is a sign of Native American culture giving way to the modern culture but perhaps this is a sign of hope that their culture is still alive and strong.

Mad hatter

This one is about the phrase mad hatter. I’ve always wondered where some of our phrases come from so I decided to take some time to research them. First phrase I chose was mad hatter. This phrase came about around the time Fur trade in the new world began. The hats that the fur traders were warring were actually making them go crazy. Now it wasn’t the fur they were made of but it was the way they cleaned the hide itself. They used a element called mercury which is very very poisons and targets the nervous system. So they basically were warring poison on their heads and thus went mad so this is where the phrase mad hatter comes from.

Sit left Drive right Avoid dump

Did you ever wonder why you sit on the left side of your car. Well after the last strange connection I decided to look into this odd question. I found that yes there is a reason you sit on the left side of your car to drive. It dates back to the birth of major cities. Back before indoor plumbing the very crowded city streets had to find some way to get rid of unwanted waste so usually they just threw it out of the nearest window and on to the street. Sometimes men would just relieve themselves out there window as well. So this is why it’s customary for the man to walk on the woman’s right and because getting hit with dung makes it hard to guide your carriage the driver always sat slightly off to the left. Since carriage designers were the first people to build car bodies’, and in some cases if you look at the rocker panels you’ll see they still sometimes do, the driver was put on the left.

Don’t touch that hand

This is sort of an odd question but I really did want to know why people even when they are left-handed always shake hands with their right hand. Well I went forth to look it up and it had a strange connection to of all things toilet paper. Apparently before the advent of toilet paper people were forced to find means of cleaning themselves after their business was done. Well first of all they didn’t even have toilets and after they got done using the “bathroom”, which was the courtyard for napoleon, they would simply wipe with their left hand. Later on in the day when they needed to great a guest with a hand shake they used their right hand and kept their smelly left hand at their side. This habit and tradition just stuck with us and some theorize that it was part of the reason that being right handed is so dominate.

It’s a gun no it’s a bow no it’s a Crossbow

So I was shooting of the crossbow the other day and began to wonder who thought of this crazy idea anyways. So once again same drill Google knows all, I found that the crossbow was originally from china. It was made so that the archer could take more time to aim with less fatigue. Another interesting thing was they upsized there crossbow idea and made it into a siege weapon they even created a repeating crossbow. However the crossbow I was shooting looked nothing like the crossbow of the Chinese so I kept on my search to find out where some of the features of mine came from. The foot brace actually originally came from a Greek weapon called the Gastrophes “Belly Bow” in which the soldier would put his foot into a stirrup and draw the bow back into its lock position. The only feature that mine had that the Gastrophes didn’t, other than the obvious material upgrades, was a rifle style grip. I looked it up and the grip didn’t come about until the 20th century when people tried to make the crossbow feel more like firing a firearm.

Pummel with your Pummel

This is yet another sword design yes I do love swords. The blade is usually the thing that all people recognize on a sword however I was curious what the large round ball was for on the end of the hilt. At first I thought it was just a counter weight but as I looked at it closer I found it had a slight cone shape to it so I went to Google and researched the real purpose of the end of the hilt. First reason I found was the one I originally thought it was it truly was a counterweight put on the end of the hilt to counter balance the weight of the blade. This made it so it could be used with one hand. There also was a second reason however. During the medieval periods the development of plate armor made it harder and harder to punch holes into your enemy and so they put a heavier weight on the end to pummel the enemy with. This is why that part of the sword is called a pummel; also note that the pummel is only on European made swords Asian swords do not have a pummel because they never used plate armor.

We’ve one upped E.T

Have you ever wanted to fly a flying saucer, or do you believe you will see us ever fly in them. In many movies you see the super advanced aliens fly around in saucers shaped craft so I looked around the internet to see if the super advanced humans would ever have flying saucers and what did I find. Well we did actually try to make flying saucers but we realized they’re actually inferior in design to what we have now. Apparently a Frisbee shape is one of the most unstable and inefficient designs ever. So we set out to one up E.T instead of copying him. We’ve created two designs that are actually better and on my opinion they look way better to. The first is the most recognizable the flying wing is a futuristic design that already graces our skies and is the most efficient aircraft design in existence. The other design is actually my favorite it is a reverse wing with canards and although not as efficient as the flying wing it is actually more maneuverable and just plain looks cool. So for all you people who grew up with dreams of cursing around in flying saucers I say this been there done that flying and reverse wing is the next step. Let’s just plop on some hyper drives and go make fun of E.T.’s saucers.

Low wing or High wing

This one is about one of my favorite things Airplanes. Specifically the difference between a low winged and high wing design personally I have no clue what difference it makes but I figured if there were two designs there must be a reason for having them. Well I browsed articles and forums and found this. The high wing has less drag and more wing because it doesn’t have the connection points to the fuselage. This means the high wing is more stable and smoother however the lowing also as its advantages. Although it has less wing area it also tends to be lighter and has less drag on the fuselage itself this provides a faster and more fuel-efficient plane but it is also less stable because of the lower wing area. So High Wing or Low Wing that is the question, if you want a nice summer day flight to cruise around the skies and look upon the earth go high wing. If you want to be awesome go really fast and not blow extra money on fuel go lowing. Personally I say go lowing just because they look cooler but it’s up to the pilot to decide if form surpasses functionality

Tuesday the music day

You ever ask yourself why they always release albums on Tuesday well I do. It just seems odd that they would always release the albums on Tuesday instead of Friday when everyone is getting ready for the weekend. Well believe it or not there is actually a reason for releasing them on Tuesday, according to features editor Mike Pearson of Denver Rocky Mountain News “Tuesdays because sales figures for albums are released on Mondays. While films are ranked according to weekend sales figures, the billboard charts are determined according to weekly sales. Thus, in order to maximize their sales potential, albums have to be released immediately after the posting of the previous week's sales figures.” So there you have it they release it on Tuesday because they want more money and popularity. See that makes perfect since which goes to show you there most likely is a reason for everything around us.

The humble light bulb

So you wonder why light bulbs are round. Well it’s not something most people wonder about but it is a design and probably does have a reason so I looked it up. The reason is because it produces light. To widen that when the light bulb was invented Edison made it round because the two sources of light of the day where round. The flame of a candle is rounded and the sun is round however there might have been a more important reason. The round shape of a light bulb is easier to produce via glass blowing so before the advent of mass production light bulbs where first hand blown and so they where made round. Today a Korean designer has questioned why do light bulbs have to be round and he has designed the first flat bulbs. The flat bulb has many advantages such as they stack and take up less space so they cost less to ship. Also there’s the flat part the light bulb won’t role around so there’s less of a chance to break it.

Bridging the gap bridges Art or Architecture

I was looking at bridge the other day and said to myself wow that looks good then I began to wonder whether I was looking at bridge or a work of art. I went to trusty old Google and began the search for the answer and what did I find well the bridge can be both art and architecture. The modern day designs of bridges are pushing the limits of engineering to achieve more artistic quality’s, this is mainly due to the fact that no city wants a boat too come in and have the people on board go man that’s one ugly bridge. The first people to look at the ascetic appeal of a bridge were once again the Romans. They used the arches not only as an effective engineering design but they also used it to make the structures look better. The beautiful designs we see today however come from the fact that we know how to use more than just arches. Suspension, cable stay, pylon, strut, and arch bridges can all be used in different ways to make a bridge not only function but also look good. Some bridges today are even combing the bridge types together so they will look beautiful and still have the strength of both types of bridges, Yet no matter how pretty the architect makes his bridge ultimately it has to work. So this is just a way that functionality can be made ascetically pleasing as well.

A car boat

Was just browsing and found a car called the splash. This car happened to just set the record for crossing the English Channel, and no they didn’t build a bridge either. This car actually is a hydrofoil car meaning it can fly across the water on wings called hydrofoils. The design is defiantly a different look at what a car can be and pushes our perceptions however just like everything else there some history behind it. The first amphibious cars were actually invented the 1800s and weren’t even cars at all. They were amphibious carriages. In 1905 the first self propelled amphibious vehicle was invented. However it wasn’t until 1920 that things really started to go swimmingly. In the 1940s amphibious cars began to actually look like cars instead of boats with wheels. The splash however is the first of its kind although we have had amphibious cars before this is the first one with hydrofoils and thus is a new twist on a twist that already twisted.

Modern day options

So I’m just making a sword design series I guess. After righting all these sword blogs I wondered if there was any viable sword that exists in the modern day. Personally I think that using a fantasy sword would be cool but kind of useless since it’s so heavy; however I found out that there are still viable sword options. The first one is the wakizashi also known as a ninja sword or thief’s sword the straight bladed wakizashi is a light and easily handled Japanese designed blade. Before everyone goes starts wining that the wakizashi is the sword of choice and not the katana you have to think of this the katana is a fine weapon for open combat but the only time you will use a large curved slashing sword today is in a pretend fight. Most likely if you need to defend yourself you’ll be in close quarters and thus a fast straight blade is superior. Another option for the modern day sword user is the European hunting sword, this blade is a small straight blade and is the European option because the claymore and Zweihaender are just too big to use in close quarters. Other options include the cutlass, falchion, and most Chinese straight blades.

Another sharp debate

Another sword design blog here. I always wondered what was better the straight cavalry saber or the curved cavalry saber. I personally believe the curved is better but I decided to research it and find out exactly what the facts were. I found out that both designs have their strengths and weaknesses. First well start with my least favorite, the straight bladed cavalry saber has the advantages of being slightly lighter and also it happens to be smaller however it is a stabbing weapon and stabbing from horseback is unnatural. Also straight blades tend to need a reverse motion to pull it out of the enemy you just stabbed so while moving on horseback it’s either let go of the sword or get pulled of your horse by your sword. As for the Curved blade it is a little larger and takes a little more practice too move around however it doesn’t get stuck in the enemy and is much easier to defend with.

Katana and Claymore debunked

This one is about sword design. I was watching a movie the other day in which a knight was making wide swings with his claymore (a 2 handed great sword) and I started laughing because that was how one was supposed to use a Katana not a greatsword. Then I began to wonder why is that not the right way so I went to Google and found a huge article called “there is no perfect sword” I had to dig through the massive amount of sword debate to find the katana claymore argument. Apparently the claymore can’t be used in wide swings because it would vibrate so much from impact that you would injure yourself not to mention that its cutting edge is not designed to cut. If the knight really wanted to “cut” with his sword yet still have a European sword he would need a long sword or short sword. These two swords are lighter and better designed to cut however the best two weapons to slash with are still the Katana and the Falchion. Katana is better for lightly armored foes and if you run into plate mail go falchion.

What is that head piece she has?

Have you ever noticed all those fancy headpieces people wear in those fantasy stories and games? Well the other day I was sketching and apparently called a circlet a tiara, I thought they were the same thing but I went and looked it up partly because I wanted to prove I was right and also it would make a decent blog. I found out that circlets are made of metal and circle the entire head they usually had a single gem in the front. Tiaras on the other hand only circle around half the head and thus leave the back open. Circlets came first but as hairstyles became more complex the back part of the circlet began to cause problems and so they took out half of the circlet and the tiara was born. The circlet didn’t die off though many people who weren’t of the upper class and thus didn’t have fancy dancy huge hairstyles tended to wear the circlet. The tiara thus became a symbol of the noble class and the circlet a headpiece of the lower.

NightNight

You ever lay your head down at night and wonder why your bed is the way it is? Well I haven’t either but I did wonder where people in past ages laid their heads so it’s kind of the same thing. This blog is about the one thing that I would hope everyone has a bed. The bed was first seen in Egypt although there beds where just a frame with cloth so it was more of a hammock really. Its not clear when the first mattress was invented however the word mattress come from the Arabic word for “to throw”. This is because during the crusades the Europeans adopted the Arabian way of sleeping which was too throw a ton of cushions on the floor and sleep on them. This most likely means that the mattress was invented sometime during the Dark Age. Early mattresses used natural materials like straw or feathers, today’s mattresses however use everything from nylon too foam. As for the design of the bed frame itself, It only makes since too prop the mattress of the ground so the crawling creature don’t end up in bed with you.

FOOTBALL

So I overlooked my dad watching the football game and noticed something odd. The football that I used for back yard no rules pigskin throwing had stripes on it and the ones being used by the professionals didn’t so I decided to head out and looks it up. Originally all footballs had stripes the reason for this was too make it easier to pick out of the air and thus much easier to catch however when they designed the official ball for the NFL they decided to leave the stripes off so it would be more challenging to catch than its striped counterpart. The college leagues however did not remove the stripes from there balls. This is most likely because although some college players might be good they are still not considered professionals so they deemed that the aid of the stripes should be kept. The stripes are also kept on the commercially sold balls that you and I throw to or at each other every day.

Be square Be a TV

Ever notice that all TVs have been square. I found this odd since we can obviously see a more rounded view because of peripheral vision so why do we not make large round TV screens. Well in the past we simply did not have the technology with simple cathode ray tube TVs too make a round all in composing image nor did our cameras pick it up. Another commonly accepted opinion to why TVs are square is because a TV was seen as a large window into another world and as we know most windows are well square. I also found a really good answer that I think makes more since than the other two it also gives a reason why we haven’t changed it yet however it’s too hard for me to put into my own words so here it is. “San Diego Art Nut is pretty correct, but the answer is twofold.
Initially, we have become used to viewing images that reflect the line of the horizon, the horizon being the inbuilt control that our brain constantly refers to when maintaining balance, perspective etc. Paintings and architecture have followed this basic pattern ever since, as the one the brain prefers.
Now, we have the technology to make any shape, but don't. The roundness of the eye is useful only for focusing light; it has no relevance to the brain. The brain makes the eye flick left/right along the horizon, up/down using the horizon as base. Your peripheral vision remains dependent on the horizon as ever, so TV’s and cinema screens remain horizon friendly and probably will until our brains rewire!” (Steve J, yahoo answers)

screen position

This is a fun little thing I wanted to know. Why is it that almost all RPGs have the health and status bar on the left side or bottom of the screen. So I typed in everything I could think of to find a reason why this was true and I found out that there really is no historic reason clearly stated however my theory is that its set on the left and along the bottom for two reasons. One those spots are out of the way and allow the player to see what’s going on in the playing field. Reason number two is that player in most cases is trained too those spots by habit. So its most likely going to stay the same just because of tradition instead of any real reason.