Advised to create a product for which there would be constant demand, traveling salesman and inveterate “tinkerer” King C. Gillette secured his place in history with the invention of a safety razor with a disposable blade. The razor was nothing new, but the blade was a groundbreaking innovation. In his first year of production, Gillette sold 51 razors and 168 blades. By the next year, sales had skyrocketed to 90,000 razors and over 12 million blades. How did World War I grow Gillette’s business? Discuss
Month: January 2023
endgame
The final stages of a process, development, or activity. An allusion to the last stage in chess, when the majority of pieces have been removed from the board. Watch the video
Diamond Simulants
Country singers and Las Vegas dancers, among others, can thank diamond simulants for jazzing up their glitzy ensembles. Diamond simulants are materials with gemological characteristics resembling those of real diamonds. They are distinct from synthetic diamonds, which, unlike simulants, are made of the same chemical elements as natural diamonds. Common examples of artificial diamond simulants are rhinestones and cubic zirconia. What are some examples of natural diamond simulants? Discuss
strapper
Sputnik 1 Falls to Earth (1958)
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite to be put into orbit. It was launched by the Soviet Union in October 1957 and acted as the starting gun for the Space Race. The first Sputnik, Russian for “fellow traveler,” was able to transmit radio signals for 22 days, emitting a beeping sound heard around the world. The US created NASA in October 1958, largely in response to this momentous occasion. How did US President Dwight Eisenhower react when he got word of Sputnik? Discuss
Feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
The first native-born American to be declared a saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821) was canonized in 1975. She was the founder of the first religious community for women in the US, the American Sisters of Charity, and was responsible for laying the foundations of the American Catholic school system. Special services commemorating Elizabeth Ann Seton’s death on January 4, 1821, are held at the Chapel of St. Joseph’s Provincial House of the Daughters of Charity in Emmitsburg, Maryland, the headquarters for her order of nuns. Discuss
Louis Braille (1809)
Having lost his sight at the age of three following an accident, Braille went on to attend the National Institute for Blind Youth in Paris. While there, he began developing a system of raised dots representing letters to facilitate reading and writing among the visually impaired. This evolved into Braille, a writing system for the blind, which was later extended to include notations for mathematics and music. Braille’s invention was inspired by another writing system designed for what purpose? Discuss
false friend
A phrase, word, or letter that sounds or looks similar to one in another language or dialect but has a significantly different meaning. Watch the video
Shalimar Gardens
The reign of Emperor Shah Jahan in India saw the construction of the finest monuments of Mughal architecture, including the Taj Mahal and the Shalimar Gardens. The gardens were completed in Lahore, in what is now Pakistan, in 1642. Only three sections remain of the original seven, which symbolized the divisions of the Islamic paradise. The three descending terraces are elevated about 15 feet (5 m) above one another and are laid out in a parallelogram. How many fountains are in the gardens? Discuss