Thursday 27 September 2012

Types of Bookbinding

There are many different methods of assembling a book, though most are variations of attaching the text-block to a cover. From the hardcover books on your bookshelf to the magazines you find at the doctor's office, each comes from a different path of creation. Bookbinding helps to give the books a longer lifespan and serves a variety of purposes to facilitate reading and organizing the material.

  • Hardcover Binding
  • Tape Binding
  • Perfect Binding
  • Sewn Binding
  • Wire Stitching
  • Plastic Comb Binding

See full article at http://www.ehow.com/list_7473952_types-bookbinding.html

Monday 24 September 2012

Chewing gum

Chewing gum is a type of gum traditionally made of chicle, a natural latex product, or synthetic rubber known as polyisobutylene. For economical and quality reasons, many modern chewing gums use rubber instead of chicle. Chicle is nonetheless still the base of choice for some regional markets, such as Japan.

Modern chewing gum was first developed in the 1860s when chicle was exported from Mexico for use as a rubber substitute. Chicle did not succeed as a replacement for rubber, but as a gum it was soon adopted and due to newly established companies such as Adams New York Chewing Gum (1871), Black Jack (1884) and “Chiclets” (1899), it soon dominated the market.[5 Chicle gum, and gum made from similar latexes, had a smoother and softer texture and held flavor better. Most chewing gum companies have since switched to synthetic gum bases because of their low price and availability.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewing_gum

Thursday 20 September 2012

Schrödinger's cat

Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment, usually described as a paradox, devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. It illustrates what he saw as the problem of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics applied to everyday objects. The thought experiment presents a cat that might be alive or dead, depending on an earlier random event. In the course of developing this experiment, he coined the term Verschränkung (entanglement)

See full article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger%27s_cat

Monday 17 September 2012

Scoville scale & organoleptic test

The Scoville scale is a measurement of the spicy heat (or piquance) of a chili pepper. The number of Scoville heat units (SHU) indicates the amount of capsaicin present. His method, devised in 1912, is known as the Scoville Organoleptic Test.

The Scoville organoleptic test. In Scoville's method, an alcohol extract of the capsaicin oil from a measured amount of dried pepper is added incrementally to a solution of sugar in water until the "heat" is just detectable by a panel of (usually five) tasters; the degree of dilution gives its measure on the Scoville scale. Thus a sweet pepper or a bell pepper, containing no capsaicin at all, has a Scoville rating of zero, meaning no heat detectable. The hottest chilis, such as habaneros and nagas, have a rating of 200,000 or more, indicating that their extract must be diluted over 200,000 times before the capsaicin presence is undetectable.

See full article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale

Friday 14 September 2012

Wingtip, semi-, quarter and longwing

The Brogue is a style of low-heeled shoe or boot traditionally characterized by multiple-piece, sturdy leather uppers with decorative perforations (or "broguing") and serration along the pieces' visible edges.

Brogues are most commonly found in one of four toe cap styles (full or "wingtip", semi-, quarter and longwing) and four closure styles (oxford, derby, ghillie, and monk).

Full brogues (also known as wingtips) are characterized by a pointed toe cap with extensions (wings) that run along both sides of the toe, terminating near the ball of the foot. Viewed from the top, this toe cap style is "W" shaped and looks similar to a bird with extended wings, explaining the style name "wingtips" that is commonly used in the US.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brogue_shoe

Tuesday 4 September 2012

Lost Woman Looks for Herself

A foreign tourist was reported missing in the volcanic canyon Eldgjá in the southern highlands on Saturday afternoon after she failed to return to her tour bus.

Search and rescue were sent to the area shortly afterwards.

However, the search was called off at 3 am when it turned out that the missing woman had been on the bus all along and even participated in the search for herself.

Before reentering the bus after the stop at Eldgjá, the woman had changed her clothes and freshened up, resulting in the other passengers not recognizing her.

She didn’t recognize the description of herself and “had no idea that she was missing.”

A similar incident occurred in 1954 when ….

See full story at http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/Lost_Woman_Looks_for_Herself_in_Iceland%E2%80%99s_Highlands_0_393014.news.aspx