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https://www.oooflavors.com/blogs/news/the-impressive-history-of-jawbreaker-candy

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Jawbreakers are a round, hard candy that many people enjoy. But have you ever thought about their origin story? Fortunately, we have a breakdown of the impressive history of jawbreaker candy. Also, if you ever thought about making jawbreakers of your own, you should addhard candy flavoring oilsto create the best flavor for your delicious creations!

Mysterious Meaning Behind the Name

The term "jawbreaker" dates back to 1839 as "a hard-to-pronounce word." Many people wonder how this term became the name of candy; the truth is, no one knows! However, Ferrara Pan Candy Company made the jawbreaker candy famous in 1919. The owner of this company, Salvatore Ferrara, was an Italian immigrant in the United States who founded this amazing candy business. Though we don't know many details of the exact candy origin, this confection is one of the most popular candies to date!

The Most Important Ingredient

The most important ingredient in a jawbreaker is sugar. In fact, all other ingredients only take up a small percentage of the finished product. Jawbreakers use a mix of artificial flavoring and colors to create a variety of flavors. Manufactures also use calcium stearate as a binding agent and carnauba wax to create a shiny, polished surface on the candy.

Manufacturing Process

Manufacturers use a hot pan process to create jawbreakers. The candy-making pans are spherical copper kettles that constantly rotate over a gas flame. This shapes the sugar and other ingredients into a ball. After cooling down, manufacturers can add coloring and additional flavoring to the outer layers of the ball.

Can a Jawbreaker Break Your Jaw?

Given the natural implication of the name "jawbreaker," you may wonder if this hard candy can break your jaw. It's important to understand that this candy is hard, and we don't suggest biting into it. It can injure your jaw and may break a tooth. Therefore, it's best to lick a jawbreaker like a lollipop.

Jawbreakers are tasty treats that anyone can enjoy, and we hope our summary of the impressive history of jawbreaker candy taught you something new! If this quick history lesson inspired you to make your own candy, you should browse through Get Suckered's selection of candy flavoring concentrates. We have delicious options that will take your creations to the next level!

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The Impressive History of Jawbreaker Candy

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Jawbreakers are a round, hard candy that many people enjoy. But have you ever thought about their origin story? Fortunately, we have a breakdown of the impressive history of jawbreaker candy. Also, if you ever thought about making jawbreakers of your own, you should addhard candy flavoring oils to create the best flavor for your delicious creations!

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https://www.space.com/21950-who-invented-the-telescope.html#:~:text=In%201608%2C%20Lippershey%20laid%20claim,distant%20weather%20vane%20appear%20close.

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The telescope is one of humankind's most important inventions, although we're not entirely sure who to give the credit to.

The first person to apply for a patent for a telescope was Dutch eyeglass maker Hans Lippershey (or Lipperhey). In 1608, Lippershey laid claim to a device that could magnify objects three times. His telescope had a concave eyepiece aligned with a convex objective lens. One story goes that he got the idea for his design after observing two children in his shop holding up two lenses that made a distant weather vane appear close. Others claimed at the time that he stole the design from another eyeglass maker, Zacharias Jansen.
Related: Best telescopes 2021: Top picks for viewing planets, stars, and more
Jansen and Lippershey lived in the same town and both worked on making optical instruments. Scholars generally argue, however, that there is no real evidence that Lippershey did not develop his telescope independently. Lippershey, therefore, gets the credit for the telescope, because of the patent application, while Jansen is credited with inventing the compound microscope. Both appear to have contributed to the development of both instruments.

Adding to the confusion, yet another Dutchman, Jacob Metius, applied for a patent for a telescope a few weeks after Lippershey. The government of the Netherlands turned down both applications because of the counterclaims. Also, officials said the device was easy to reproduce, making it difficult to patent. In the end, Metius got a small reward, but the government paid Lippershey a handsome fee to make copies of his telescope.

Galileo's telescope

In 1609, Galileo Galilei heard about the "Dutch perspective glasses" and within days had designed one of his own - without ever seeing one. He made some improvements - his creation could magnify objects 20 times - and presented his device to the Venetian Senate. The Senate, in turn, set him up for life as a lecturer at the University of Padua and doubled his salary, according to Stillman Drake in his book " Galileo at Work: His Scientific Biography (opens in new tab)" (Courier Dover Publications, 2003).

Galileo was the first to point a telescope skyward. He was able to make out mountains and craters on the moon, as well as a ribbon of diffuse light arching across the sky - the Milky Way. He also discovered the rings of , sunspots and four of Jupiter's moons.

Thomas Harriot, a British ethnographer and mathematician, also used a spyglass to observe the moon. Harriot became famous for his travels to the early settlements in Virginia to detail resources there. His August 1609 drawings of the moon predate Galileo's, but were never published.

The more Galileo looked, the more he was convinced of the sun-centered Copernican model of the planets. Galileo wrote a book " Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Ptolemaic and Copernican (opens in new tab)" and dedicated it to the Pope Urban VIII. But his ideas were considered heretical, and Galileo was called to appear before the inquisition in Rome in 1633. He struck a plea bargain and was sentenced to house arrest, where he continued to work and write until his death in 1642.
Related: The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope: Getting a close-up look at our sun
Elsewhere in Europe, scientists began improving the telescope. Johannes Kepler studied the optics and designed a telescope with two convex lenses, which made the images appear upside down. Working from Kepler's writings, Isaac Newton reasoned it was better to make a telescope out of mirrors rather than lenses and built a reflecting telescope in 1668. Centuries later the reflecting telescope would dominate astronomy.

Exploring the cosmos

The largest refracting telescope (one that use lenses to gather and focus light) opened at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, in 1897. But the 40-inch (1 meter) glass lens at Yerkes was soon made obsolete by larger mirrors. The Hooker 100-inch (2.5 m) reflecting telescope opened in 1917 at Mount Wilson Observatory in Pasadena, Calif. It was there that the astronomer Edwin Hubble determined that the Andromeda Nebula was indeed (as some astronomers had argued) a galaxy far, far away (2.5 million light-years) from the Milky Way.

With the development of the radio, scientists could start to study not just light, but other electromagnetic radiation in space. An American engineer named Karl Jansky was the first to detect radio radiation from space in 1931. He found a source of radio interference from the center of the Milky Way. Radio telescopes have since mapped the shape of galaxies and the existence of background microwave radiation that confirmed a prediction in the Big Bang Theory.

Famous telescopes

Here are some of the more famous telescopes:

This is the successor to Hubble, and its launch date has been delayed several times over the years, with the latest estimate now for Dec 18, 2021. Unlike Hubble, this telescope will be parked far from Earth and out of reach of repair crews. Its science will look at four major themes: the universe's first light, how the first galaxies were formed, how stars are formed, and looking at the origins of life (including exoplanets).

This telescope launched in 1990. Some of Hubble's major contributions include determining the age of the universe with more precision, finding more moons near Pluto, doing observations of galaxies in the young universe, monitoring space weather on the outer planets, and even observing exoplanets - a situation not anticipated for the telescope as the first major exoplanet discoveries didn't happen until the mid-1990s.

A flaw in its mirror was fixed with an upgrade from a space shuttle crew in 1993. Hubble underwent five servicing missions by shuttle crews, with the last one being in 2009. It remains in good health to this day and is expected to overlap some observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (Hubble is part of a set of four "great observatories" launched by NASA in the 1990s and 2000s. The other members included the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, which made many discoveries of their own.)

This planet-hunting machine has found more than 4,000 potential planets since first launching in 2009. Initially, it focused on a section of the Cygnus constellation, but in 2013 problems with pointing consistently created a new mission in which Kepler moves between different regions of the sky. One of Kepler's major contributions is finding more super-Earths and rocky planets, which are harder to spot near bright stars.

This telescope in Chile has 66 receivers and its specialty is looking through the dust in young planetary systems (or through dusty stars and galaxies) to see how cosmic objects are formed. It was fully operational as of 2013. ALMA is unique in its sensitivity because it has so many receivers available. Some of its results include the clearest-ever image of the star Betelgeuse, and precise measurements of black hole masses.

This observatory began operating since 1963, and is famous for many radio astronomy studies. The Puerto Rican telescope is also know for a message called the Arecibo Message that was directed at the globular cluster M13 in 1974. The observatory was damaged during a 2017 hurricane that devastated Puerto Rico. In popular culture, Arecibo was also the location of the climax of the 1995 James Bond film "Goldeneye", and it appeared in the 1997 movie "Contact."

On Dec. 1, 2020, the Arecibo Observatory collapsed due to structural failure and was deemed too costly to repair. The remaining structure was dismantled.

This is a set of 27 telescopes located in the New Mexico desert. Construction began on the VLA in 1973. Some of the VLA's major discoveries include finding ice on Mercury, peering into the dusty center of the Milky Way, and looking at the formation of black holes. The telescope array also was prominently featured in the 1997 movie "Contact" as the site where a purported extraterrestrial signal arrived.

The twin telescopes at the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii are the largest optical and infrared telescopes available. The telescopes started their work in 1993 and 1996. Some of their major discoveries including finding the first exoplanet "transiting" across its parent star, and learning about star movements in the nearby Andromeda Galaxy.
Additional reporting by Elizabeth Howell, Space.com contributor
The Palomar Observatory, located in San Diego County, Calif., began work in 1949. The telescope is best known for discovering the small worlds Quaoar, Sedna and Eris in the Kuiper Belt, but its work also includes discovering supernovas (star explosions), tracking asteroids and looking at gamma-ray bursts.

Additional resources

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The telescope is one of humankind's most important inventions, although we're not entirely sure who to give the credit to. The first person to apply for a patent for a telescope was Dutch eyeglass maker Hans Lippershey (or Lipperhey). In 1608, Lippershey laid claim to a device that could magnify objects three times.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego

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Lego ( LEG-oh, Danish: ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously colored interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene that accompany an array of gears, figurines called minifigures, and various other parts. Lego pieces can be assembled and connected in many ways to construct objects, including vehicles, buildings, and working robots. Anything constructed can be taken apart again, and the pieces reused to make new things.

The Lego Group began manufacturing the interlocking toy bricks in 1949. Films, games competitions, and eight Legoland amusement parks have been developed under the brand. As of July 2015, 600 billion Lego parts had been produced.

Hilary Fisher Page's Interlocking Building Cubes by Kiddicraft, 1939

Lego bricks

Two Lego Duplo bricks with a standard brick for comparison

The Lego Group began in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen (1891-1958), a carpenter from Billund, Denmark, who began making wooden toys in 1932. In 1934, his company came to be called "Lego", derived from the Danish phrase leg godt , which means "play well". In 1947, Lego expanded to begin producing plastic toys. In 1949 Lego began producing, among other new products, an early version of the now familiar interlocking bricks, calling them "Automatic Binding Bricks". These bricks were based on the Kiddicraft Self-Locking Bricks, which had been patented in the United Kingdom in 1939 and released in 1947. Lego had received a sample of the Kiddicraft bricks from the supplier of an injection-molding machine that it purchased. The bricks, originally manufactured from cellulose acetate, were a development of the traditional stackable wooden blocks of the time.

The Lego Group's motto, "only the best is good enough" ( Danish: det bedste er ikke for godt, literally "the best isn't excessively good") was created in 1936. This motto, which is still used today, was created by Christiansen to encourage his employees never to skimp on quality, a value he believed in strongly. By 1951, plastic toys accounted for half of the Lego company's output, even though the Danish trade magazine Legetøjs-Tidende ("Toy Times"), visiting the Lego factory in Billund in the early 1950s, felt that plastic would never be able to replace traditional wooden toys. Although a common sentiment, Lego toys seem to have become a significant exception to the dislike of plastic in children's toys, due in part to the high standards set by Ole Kirk.

By 1954, Christiansen's son, Godtfred, had become the junior managing director of the Lego Group. It was his conversation with an overseas buyer that led to the idea of a toy system. Godtfred saw the immense potential in Lego bricks to become a system for creative play, but the bricks still had some problems from a technical standpoint: their locking ability was limited, and they were not versatile. In 1958, the modern brick design was developed; it took five years to find the right material for it, ABS ( acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) polymer. A patent application for the modern Lego brick design was filed in Denmark on 28 January 1958 and in various other countries in the subsequent few years.

Lego building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center

The Lego Group's Duplo product line was introduced in 1969 and is a range of simple blocks whose lengths measure twice the width, height, and depth of standard Lego blocks and are aimed towards younger children.

In 1978, Lego produced the first minifigures, which have since become a staple in most sets.

In May 2011, Space Shuttle Endeavour mission STS-134 brought 13 Lego kits to the International Space Station, where astronauts built models to see how they would react in microgravity, as a part of the Lego Bricks in Space program.

In May 2013, the largest model ever created was displayed in New York City and was made of over 5 million bricks; a 1:1 scale model of an X-wing fighter. Other records include a 34-metre (112 ft) tower and a 4 km (2.5 mi) railway.

In February 2015, marketing consulting company Brand Finance ranked Lego as the "world's most powerful brand", overtaking Ferrari.

In popular culture

Lego's popularity is demonstrated by its wide representation and usage in many forms of cultural works, including books, films, and art work. It has even been used in the classroom as a teaching tool. In the US, Lego Education North America is a joint venture between Pitsco, Inc. and the educational division of the Lego Group.

In 1998, Lego bricks were one of the original inductees into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong in Rochester, New York.

"Lego" is commonly used as a mass noun ("some Lego") or, in American English, as a countable noun with plural "Legos", to refer to the bricks themselves, but as is common for trademarks, Lego group insists on the name being used as an adjective when referring to a product (as in "LEGO bricks").

A model of Trafalgar Square, London, in Legoland Windsor

Lego pieces of all varieties constitute a universal system. Despite variation in the design and the purposes of individual pieces over the years, each piece remains compatible in some way with existing pieces. Lego bricks from 1958 still interlock with those made in the current time, and Lego sets for young children are compatible with those made for teenagers. Six bricks of 2 × 4 studs can be combined in 915,103,765 ways.

Each Lego piece must be manufactured to an exacting degree of precision. When two pieces are engaged, they must fit firmly, yet be easily disassembled. The machines that manufacture Lego bricks have tolerances as small as 10 micrometres.

Dimensions of some standard Lego bricks and plates[38][39]

Primary concept and development work takes place at the Billund headquarters, where the company employs approximately 120 designers. The company also has smaller design offices in the UK, Spain, Germany, and Japan which are tasked with developing products aimed specifically at these markets. The average development period for a new product is around twelve months, split into three stages. The first stage is to identify market trends and developments, including contact by the designers directly with the market; some are stationed in toy shops close to holidays, while others interview children. The second stage is the design and development of the product based upon the results of the first stage. As of September 2008 the design teams use 3D modelling software to generate CAD drawings from initial design sketches. The designs are then prototyped using an in-house stereolithography machine. These prototypes are presented to the entire project team for comment and for testing by parents and children during the "validation" process. Designs may then be altered in accordance with the results from the focus groups. Virtual models of completed Lego products are built concurrently with the writing of the user instructions. Completed CAD models are also used in the wider organisation for marketing and packaging.

Lego Digital Designer is an official piece of Lego software for Mac OS X and Windows which allows users to create their own digital Lego designs. The program once allowed customers to order their custom designs with a service to ship physical models from Digital Designer to consumers; the service ended in 2012.

Manufacturing

The Lego factory in Kladno, Czech Republic

Lego injection moulding machines, made by the German company Arburg

Since 1963, Lego pieces have been manufactured from a strong, resilient plastic known as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). As of September 2008, Lego engineers use the NX CAD/ CAM/ CAE PLM software suite to model the elements. The software allows the parts to be optimised by way of mould flow and stress analysis. Prototype moulds are sometimes built before the design is committed to mass production. The ABS plastic is heated to 232 °C (450 °F) until it reaches a dough-like consistency. It is then injected into the moulds using forces of between 25 and 150 tonnes and takes approximately 15 seconds to cool. The moulds are permitted a tolerance of up to twenty micrometres to ensure the bricks remain connected. Human inspectors check the output of the moulds to eliminate significant variations in colour or thickness. According to the Lego Group, about eighteen bricks out of every million fail to meet the standard required. Lego factories recycle all but about 1 per cent of their plastic waste from the manufacturing process. If the plastic cannot be re-used in Lego bricks, it is processed and sold on to industries that can make use of it. Lego has a self-imposed 2030 deadline to find a more eco-friendly alternative to the ABS plastic it currently uses in its bricks.

Manufacturing of Lego bricks occurs at several locations around the world. Moulding is done in Billund, Denmark; Nyíregyháza, Hungary; Monterrey, Mexico; and most recently in Jiaxing, China. Brick decorations and packaging are done at plants in Denmark, Hungary, Mexico, and Kladno in the Czech Republic. The Lego Group estimates that in five decades it has produced 400 billion Lego blocks. Annual production of Lego bricks averages approximately 36 billion, or about 1140 elements per second. According to an article in BusinessWeek in 2006, Lego could be considered the world's number one tyre manufacturer; the factory produces about 306 million small rubber tyres a year. The claim was reiterated in 2012.

In December 2012, the BBC's More or Less radio program asked the Open University's engineering department to determine "how many Lego bricks, stacked one on top of the other, it would take for the weight to destroy the bottom brick?" Using a hydraulic testing machine, the engineering department determined the average maximum force a 2×2 Lego brick can stand is 4,240 newtons. Since an average 2×2 Lego brick has a mass of 1.152 grams (0.0406 oz), according to their calculations it would take a stack of 375,000 bricks to cause the bottom brick to collapse, which represents a stack 3,591 metres (11,781 ft) in height.

Private tests have shown several thousand assembly-disassembly cycles before the bricks begin to wear out, although Lego tests show fewer cycles.

In 2018, Lego announced that it will be using bio-derived polyethylene to make its botanical elements (parts such as leaves, bushes and trees). In 2020 the company announced that it would cease packaging its products in single-use plastic bags and would instead be using recyclable paper bags.

Lego sets of the Lego City theme

Since the 1950s, the Lego Group has released thousands of sets with a variety of themes, including space, robots, pirates, trains, Vikings, castle, dinosaurs, undersea exploration, and wild west, as well as wholly original themes like and Hero Factory. Some of the classic themes that continue to the present day include Lego City (a line of sets depicting city life introduced in 1973) and Lego Technic (a line aimed at emulating complex machinery, introduced in 1977).

Over the years, Lego has licensed themes from numerous cartoon and film franchises and even some from video games. These include , Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, , , and Minecraft. Although some of the licensed themes, Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones, had highly successful sales, Lego has expressed a desire to rely more upon their own characters and classic themes and less upon licensed themes related to movie releases. Some sets include references to other themes such as a Bionicle mask in one of the Harry Potter sets. Discontinued sets may become a collectable and command value on the black market.

For the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Lego released a special Team GB Minifigures series exclusively in the United Kingdom to mark the opening of the games. For the 2016 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Lego released a kit with the Olympic and Paralympic mascots Vinicius and Tom.

One of the largest Lego sets commercially produced was a minifig-scaled edition of the Star Wars Millennium Falcon. Designed by Jens Kronvold Fredericksen, it was released in 2007 and contained 5,195 pieces. It was surpassed by a 5,922-piece Taj Mahal. A redesigned Millennium Falcon retook the top spot in 2017 with 7,541 pieces. Since then, the Millennium Falcon has been superseded as the biggest Lego set by the Lego Art World Map at 11,695 pieces, the Lego Titanic at 9,090 pieces, and the Lego Architect Colosseum at 9,036 pieces.

In 2022, Lego introduced the Eiffel Tower. The set consists of 10,000 parts and reaches a height of 149 cm, which makes it the tallest set and the tallest tower but the second in number of parts after the "World Map".

Robotics themes

Lego also initiated a robotics line of toys called 'Mindstorms' in 1999, and has continued to expand and update this range ever since. The roots of the product originate from a programmable brick developed at the MIT Media Lab, and the name is taken from a paper by Seymour Papert, a computer scientist and educator who developed the educational theory of constructionism, and whose research was at times funded by the Lego Group.

The programmable Lego brick which is at the heart of these robotics sets has undergone several updates and redesigns, with the latest being called the 'EV3' brick, being sold under the name of Lego Mindstorms EV3. The set includes sensors that detect touch, light, sound and ultrasonic waves, with several others being sold separately, including an RFID reader.

The intelligent brick can be programmed using official software available for Windows and Mac computers, and is downloaded onto the brick via Bluetooth or a USB cable. There are also several unofficial programs and compatible programming languages that have been made to work with the brick, and many books have been written to support this community.

There are several robotics competitions which use the Lego robotics sets. The earliest is Botball, a national U.S. middle- and high-school competition stemming from the MIT 6.270 Lego robotics tournament. Other Lego robotics competitions include FIRST LEGO League Discover for children ages 4-6, FIRST LEGO League Explore for students ages 6-9 and FIRST Lego League Challenge for students ages 9-16 (age 9-14 in the United States, Canada, and Mexico). These programs offer real-world engineering challenges to participants. FIRST LEGO League Challenge uses LEGO-based robots to complete tasks, FIRST LEGO League Explore participants build models out of Lego elements, and FIRST LEGO League Discover participants use Duplo. In its 2019-2020 season, there were 38,609 FIRST LEGO League Challenge teams and 21,703 FIRST LEGO League Explore teams around the world. The international RoboCup Junior football competition involves extensive use of Lego Mindstorms equipment which is often pushed to its extreme limits.

The capabilities of the Mindstorms range have now been harnessed for use in Iko Creative Prosthetic System, a prosthetic limbs system designed for children. Designs for these Lego prosthetics allow everything from mechanical diggers to laser-firing spaceships to be screwed on to the end of a child's limb. Iko is the work of the Chicago-based Colombian designer Carlos Arturo Torres, and is a modular system that allows children to customise their own prosthetics with the ease of clicking together plastic bricks. Designed with Lego's Future Lab, the Danish toy company's experimental research department, and Cirec, a Colombian foundation for physical rehabilitation, the modular prosthetic incorporates myoelectric sensors that register the activity of the muscle in the stump and send a signal to control movement in the attachment. A processing unit in the body of the prosthetic contains an engine compatible with Lego Mindstorms, the company's robotics line, which lets the wearer build an extensive range of customised, programmable limbs.

The last significant patent for Lego bricks expired in 1978. Since then, competitors have produced blocks of similar dimensions and design that can be connected with Lego bricks. In 2002, Lego sued the CoCo Toy Company in Beijing for copyright infringement over its "Coko bricks" product. CoCo was ordered to cease manufacture of the products, publish a formal apology and pay damages. Lego sued the English company Best-Lock Construction Toys in German courts in 2004 and 2009; the Federal Patent Court of Germany denied Lego trademark protection for the shape of its bricks for the latter case. In 2005, the Lego Company sued Canadian company Ritvik Holdings Inc., which makes Mega Bloks, for trademark violation. However, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld Ritvik Holdings Inc.'s rights to sell its product. In 2010, the European Court of Justice ruled that the eight-peg design of the original Lego brick "merely performs a technical function [and] cannot be registered as a trademark."

In 2020 and 2021, Lego sent cease and desist letters to small toy retailers and popular YouTubers in Germany. In 2021, the situation escalated when Lego let a container delivered by clone producer Qman block in the harbor of Bremen for trademark infringement, and to test for contamination with dangerous materials. The recipient toy retailer initiated an appeal for donations to import containers of Lego clones from China to Germany and donate them to children's homes, which received more than € 350,000 within a couple of weeks.

Related services

Official website

First launched in 1996, the Lego website has developed over the years, and provides many extra services beyond an online store and a product catalogue. There are also moderated message boards that were founded in 2001. The site also includes instruction booklets for all Lego sets dating back to 2002.

The Lego website features a social media app named Lego Life, which is designed for children under 13 years of age. The app is available as a free download and only features Lego-related content. It was designed to be a social network for children to be inspired, create and share their Lego builds, photos and videos with a like-minded community, whilst also providing Lego content in the form of product advertising, images, videos, campaigns and competitions. The app incorporates a variety of child safety features to provide a safe digital environment for children, including the protection of personal information and the heavy moderation of all uploaded user-generated content and communication.

My Lego Network was a social networking site that involved items, blueprints, ranks, badges which were earned for completing certain tasks, trading and trophies called masterpieces which allowed users to progress to go to the next rank. The website had a built-in inbox which allowed users to send pre-written messages to one another. The Lego Network included automated non-player characters within called "Networkers", who were able to do things which normal users could not do, sending custom messages, and selling masterpieces and blueprints. The site also had modules which were set up on the user's page that gave the user items, or that displayed picture compositions. My Lego network closed in 2015.

Before My Lego Network, there were Lego Club Pages, which essentially held the same purpose, although the design lacked complex interaction.

Theme parks

Merlin Entertainments operates eight Legoland amusement parks, the original in Billund, Denmark, the second in Windsor, England, the third in Günzburg, Germany, the fourth in Carlsbad, California, the fifth in Winter Haven, Florida, the sixth in Iskandar Puteri, Malaysia, the seventh in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and the eighth in Nagoya, Japan. A ninth is planned to open in 2020 in Goshen, New York, United States, and a tenth in 2022 in Shanghai, China. On 13 July 2005, the control of 70% of the Legoland parks was sold for $460 million to the Blackstone Group of New York while the remaining 30% is still held by Lego Group. There are also eight Legoland Discovery Centres, two in Germany, four in the United States, one in Japan and one in the United Kingdom. Two Legoland Discovery Centres opened in 2013: one at the Westchester Ridge Hill shopping complex in Yonkers, New York, and one at the Vaughan Mills in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. Another opened at American Dream Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in 2021.

Retail stores

A Lego store in Canada

Lester mascot at the world's largest Lego store in Leicester Square, London

The first Lego store to open anywhere in the world was in Sydney, Australia, in 1984. Located in the Birkenhead Point Outlet Centre it was not only the first dedicated Lego retail outlet, but it also had displays including many iconic Australian items such as the Holden FJ, Sydney Harbour Bridge, and the Sydney Opera House as well as buildings from Amsterdam, dinosaurs and an English Village. Known as The LEGO® Centre, Birkenhead Point, the store closed in the early 1990s.

As of July 2023, Lego operates 904 retail shops, called Lego Stores, globally. The U.S. stores include the Downtown Disney shopping complexes at Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resorts as well as in Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. The opening of each new store is celebrated with a weekend-long event in which a Master Model Builder creates, with the help of volunteers-most of whom are children[examples needed ] -a larger-than-life Lego statue, which is then displayed at the new store for several weeks.

Business consultancy

Since around 2000, the Lego Group has been promoting "Lego Serious Play", a form of business consultancy fostering creative thinking, in which team members build metaphors of their organizational identities and experiences using Lego bricks. Participants work through imaginary scenarios using visual three-dimensional Lego constructions, imaginatively exploring possibilities in a serious form of play.

Related products

Video games

Lego branched out into the video game market in 1997 by founding Lego Media International Limited, and Lego Island was released that year by Mindscape. After this Lego released titles such as Lego Creator and Lego Racers.

After Lego closed down their publishing subsidiary, they moved on to a partnership with Traveller's Tales, and went on to make games like Lego Star Wars, Lego Indiana Jones, Lego Batman, and many more including the very well-received Lego Marvel Super Heroes game, featuring New York City as the overworld and including Marvel characters from the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and more. More recently, Lego has created a game based on The Lego Movie, due to its popularity.

Board games

Lego Games launched in 2009, was a series of Lego-themed board games designed by Cephas Howard and Reiner Knizia in which the players usually build the playing board out of Lego bricks and then play with Lego-style players. Examples of the games include "Minotaurus", in which players roll dice to move characters within a brick-build labyrinth, "Creationary", in which players must build something which appears on a card, or "Ramses Pyramid", in which players collect gems and climb up a customisable pyramid. Like many board games, the games use dice. In Lego Games, the dice are Lego, with Lego squares with symbols on Lego studs on the dice, surrounded by rubber. The games vary from simple to complex; some are similar to "traditional" board games, while others are completely different.

Films and television

The first official Lego film was the straight-to-DVD release of Bionicle: Mask of Light in 2003 developed by Creative Capers Entertainment and distributed by Miramax Home Entertainment. Several other straight-to-DVD computer-animated Bionicle sequels and Hero Factory movies were produced in the following years. Lego: The Adventures of Clutch Powers was released on DVD in February 2010, a computer-animated film made by Tinseltown Toons. A computer-generated animated series titled Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu began in January 2011 for the Lego Ninjago brand. Another television series titled Legends of Chima began in 2013 for the Legends of Chima brand. In December 2015, a television series titled Nexo Knights made its debut for the Lego Nexo Knights brand. An animated series titled Lego Elves was released in 2015 and another titled Lego Elves: Secrets of Elvendale was released in 2017 for the Lego Elves brand. In 2016, Lego Bionicle: The Journey To One was released for the Bionicle franchise and Lego Friends: The Power of Friendship for the Lego Friends brand. In June 2019, an animated series titled Lego City Adventures was released for the Lego City brand. In 2021, an animated series titled Lego Monkie Kid was released to support the Lego brand of the same name.

The Lego Movie, a feature film based on Lego toys, was released by Warner Bros. in February 2014. It featured Chris Pratt in the lead role, with substantial supporting characters voiced by Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, Alison Brie, Will Ferrell and Nick Offerman. A contest was held for contestants to submit designs for vehicles to be used in the film. After the release of The Lego Movie, independent Canadian toy retailers reported issues with shortages of Lego products and cited cancellations of Lego pre-orders without warning as a motive to stock compatible, rival products.

A spin-off of The Lego Movie, entitled The Lego Batman Movie, directed by Chris McKay was released in the US in February 2017. A sequel to The Lego Batman Movie was planned and later cancelled.

In June 2013, it was reported that Warner Bros. was developing a feature film adaptation of Lego Ninjago. Brothers Dan Hageman and Kevin Hageman were attached to write the adaptation, while Dan Lin and Roy Lee, along with Phil Lord and Chris Miller, were announced as producers. The film, The Lego Ninjago Movie, was released in September 2017.

In February 2019, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part was released, which was a direct sequel to the original film and starred Chris Pratt in the lead role.

Books and magazines

Lego has an ongoing deal with publisher Dorling Kindersley (DK), who are producing a series of illustrated hardback books looking at different aspects of the construction toy. The first was The Ultimate Lego Book, published in 1999. In 2009, the same publisher produced The LEGO Book, which was sold within a slipcase along with Standing Small: A celebration of 30 years of the LEGO minifigure, a smaller book focused on the minifigure. In 2012, a revised edition was published. Also in 2009, DK also published books on Lego Star Wars and a range of Lego-based sticker books.

Although no longer being published in the United States by Scholastic, books covering events in the Bionicle storyline are written by Greg Farshtey. They are still being published in Europe by AMEET. Bionicle comics, also written by Farshtey, are compiled into graphic novels and were released by Papercutz. This series ended in 2009, after nine years.

There is also the Lego Club and Brickmaster magazine, the latter discontinued in 2011.

Kabooki, a Danish company founded in 1993, produces children's clothes branded as "Lego Wear" under licence from the Lego Group. In 2020, Lego announced collaborations with Adidas and Levi's. In 2021, Lego announced collaborations with Justhype and Adidas to produce apparel inspired by the Lego Ninjago theme. In May 2021, Lego announced collaborations with Adidas to produce products inspired by the Lego Vidiyo theme.

References

Bibliography

External links

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Lego ( LEG-oh , Danish: ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously colored interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene that accompany an array of gears, figurines called minifigures, and various other parts.

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https://www.myownwater.com/blog/history-of-bottled-water#:~:text=Nathaniel%20Wyeth%2C%20a%20DuPont%20engineer,the%20pressure%20of%20carbonated%20liquids.

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It's difficult to imagine a world without bottled water. The convenience of bottled water is unmatched. Let's not even mention the benefits of staying hydrated throughout the day even when you are on the go.

‍

It all began when the Romans devised a way of piping water from its source to places where it was needed. Since then, bottled water has gone on to originate from different levels of production and places, coming from natural sources such as springs and man-made ones like water plants and purifying stations.

‍

Although piping water was revolutionary, there were some limitations. For instance, it didn't address the need to transport water for personal use or the need to collect and save rainwater. This led to the invention of small and large water vessels which later evolved into bottled water.

‍

TIMELINE OF BOTTLED WATER

Bottled water dates back to the 17th century. Here's a detailed timeline of the history of bottled water:

1622

The Holy Well Bottling Plant in the United Kingdom was the first bottling water plant in the world. It is widely believed that the selling of bottled water began in the plant in 1622. The practice soon spread to other areas in Europe. Many mineral springs in Europe began bottling and selling water.

‍

The main reason for this was the perceived medicinal value (healing and therapeutic health benefits) of spring water. Bottled water was sold for its medicinal value as well as a medical remedy in many pharmacies in Europe until the 1900s. Simply put, it was in this period that set the course of bottled water as a popular and essential method of drinking.

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1700

In the beginning of the 18th century, Europe began acknowledging the health benefits of water from many other areas as people started traveling extensively. The presence of natural springs in many areas outside Europe triggered this occurrence.

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1767

The first commercially individual bottled water was invented and made available in 1767 in America. It was distributed and sold by Jackson's Spa in Boston. Water bottling was a means to share the popular and beneficial water with more people.

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1783

In Geneva, Switzerland, bottled water enjoyed a significant milestone when Johann Jacob Schweppe discovered a way to carbonate water. This discovery gave water a fizzy quality that matched that of mineral water.

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1800

In 1809, Joseph Hawkins got the patent for carbonated water in America kick-starting the popularity of carbonated water in the US market. Coupled with lowering cost of glass and advancing bottling techniques, the American bottled water industry began experiencing fast and significant growth.

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1856

In the year 1856 alone, 7 million+ bottles of water were sold at Saratoga Springs in New York, one of the most famous bottled water sources at the time. A pint of water was feting up to $1.75. Increasing typhoid and cholera outbreaks led many Americans to depend on bottled water as a safer and healthier option given the water also had medicinal properties from its natural sources. Bottled water was also popular as an image and status symbol (perceived as clean and stylish).

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1908

When water disinfection methods like chlorination were discovered as effective cures for the typhoid epidemic, bottled water started losing popularity. Chlorination (which was first practiced in New Jersey) made tap water safer. The widespread use of chlorine to make municipal water systems safer made tap water healthier. Bottled water started going "out of style" in the early 20th century.

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1947

Plastic bottles were first used commercially in 1947. However, the bottles still remained relatively expensive and impossible for some people to use and afford. It wasn't until the early 1950s when high-density polyethylene was introduced.

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1973

Bottled water regained some long lost glory in the 1970s thanks to serious marketing campaigns-the most notable being the Perrier $5 million marketing campaign in America meant to popularize imported water. The campaign gave bottled water a renewed allure of health and image in 1977.

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The 1970s (1973) also saw the first plastic bottles capable of holding carbonated beverages patented. The polyethylene terephthalate made an important milestone in keeping bottled water "alive". The bottles were cheaper making bottled water more accessible to the masses.

‍

Nathaniel Wyeth, a DuPont engineer, is widely considered to be the inventor of the technology behind water bottles. He patented Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, the first plastic bottle to be able to withstand the pressure of carbonated liquids. When the question of "Who invented the water bottle?" gets thrown around, historians usually point to Mr. Wyeth as an answer.

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EARLY 2000

By the year 2000, tap water was fully engaged in a war with bottled water. Beverage companies were playing on consumers' fears of contamination and illness from tap sources. One of the key players in this war was Brita Filters which further alleges the fact that toilet and tap water came from the same source.

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2011-2012

There were significant developments in 2011 triggered by the EPA. Due to rising environmental pollution concerns caused by plastic bottles over the years, the EPA introduced regulations to curb the menace. Notable regulations over the years include; reducing the weight of a PET plastic water bottle from 47.7g (in the year 2000) to 9.89 grams currently.

‍

HOW BOTTLED WATER IS USED TODAY

The global bottled water market has surpassed the $200 billion mark and is expected to be valued at $350 billion by 2021 if the 10% year-on-year growth is sustained. It's not surprising that the Asia Pacific region accounts for 42% of the world's bottled water consumption. The region is home to the most populated countries globally which also tend to face poor access to clean drinking water.

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Majority of the bottled water market globally still consumes bottled water for health reasons, i.e. clean water as well as access to added minerals and vitamins beneficial to the body. Some consumers also enjoy trying new tastes and flavors emerging every day.

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It's difficult to imagine a world without bottled water. The convenience of bottled water is unmatched. Let's not even mention the benefits of staying hydrated throughout the day even when you are on the go. ‍ It all began when the Romans devised a way of piping water from its source to places where it was needed.

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One of the most common topics covered in a high school physics class is simple machines. An I think the compound pulley is the coolest simple machine. Let's start with some basic physics.

The compound pulley, like all simple machines, uses the work-energy principle. I will skip the explanation of energy (it's very abstract) and start with this:

Don't worry about the change in energy and just look at the definition of work. In this form, work is done by a force ( F) pushing over some distance ( s). The θ is the angle between the force and the displacement. OK, here's a quick example. Suppose I push a box across a floor (with or without friction, it doesn't matter):

Since the force (10 newtons) is in the same direction as the displacement, θ is zero. That means the work will be 10 newtons multiplied by 5 meters for a value of 50 joules. Not too bad, right?

Now for the key to simple machines. A simple machine doesn't provide more energy. Instead, it transforms the work. What if you want to do 50 joules of work and instead of pushing with 10 newtons, you just push with 1 newton? You would have to move the block 50 meters to get the same 50 Joules of work. A simple machine increases the distance you push so the required force is less. It's that simple. Maybe that's why they call them simple machines. Actually, probably not.

A plain pulley is simply a string passing over a wheel. Here is how it works:

There is a box or something with a string going through the pulley. When you pull down on the right side, the box rises. You would pull down with a the same force required to raise the box. The distance the box rises is the same as the distance you pull down. This is a simple machine, and kind of boring. To make it interesting, the force that pulls down must move a greater distance than the box rises up. Here is one way of accomplishing that with a compound pulley:

This setup uses two pulleys. By pulling down on the string on the right, the lower pulley rises. Now, here's the magic part---the force you pull down with is lower than the force that pulls up on the load. Of course you must "pay" for this by pulling a larger distance. If the pulley was perfectly frictionless (with massless pulleys) then the work done lifting the box would be the same as the work done pulling the string. I can write this as:

For this configuration, the load should rise about half the distance that the string is pulled but with twice the force.

An Actual Compound Pulley

Let's get right to it and see if this actually works. I made a quick pulley system and used spring scales to measure the forces. Take a look:

It's difficult to get measurements from a gif, so let me do it for you. I will use 1 for the pulling scale and 2 for the lifting.

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Hey! Let's Learn Some Physics Playing With Compound Pulleys

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One of the most common topics covered in a high school physics class is simple machines. An I think the compound pulley is the coolest simple machine. Let's start with some basic physics. The compound pulley, like all simple machines, uses the work-energy principle.

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1151145-History-of-the-Trench-Coat-0.jpg (335×600) (bp.blogspot.com)

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History on the run : the trenchcoat memoirs of a foreign correspondent : Nash, Knowlton : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

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History on the run : the trenchcoat memoirs of a foreign correspondent : Nash, Knowlton : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

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Invention of the Trench Coat aka the Mac by Logan Liam Wolf Mroz

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Invention of the Trench Coat aka the Mac by Logan Liam Wolf Mroz

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https://us.gloverall.com/blogs/journal/the-history-of-the-trench-coat

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Now regarded as a timeless style, the origins of the trench coat date back to the 1820s. The trench coat, once military uniform, is now the go-to coat for a sophisticated ensemble in the 21st century. The trench coat's origins are often debated, but it is always regarded as a symbol of quintessential British smartwear. Flash forward to 2020, the trench coat has been reimagined in countless fabrics and styles. It is the perfect choice for city and country life alike.

But who invented it and why was it so revolutionary? How exactly did it go from military uniform to a universal piece for film star archetypes and (nowadays) a great piece to throw on when you need to put some effort in?

This guide covers the history of the trench coat, who invented it and the best ways to wear it and the correct sizing.

What is a trench coat?

A trench coat can be identified by the following features:

Double-breasted

Wide lapels

6-10 button fastening

A pleated cape, also known as a "storm flap" to allow rain to fall off

Waist belt (either a D-ring or tie)

Adjustable buckle cuffs around the wrists

Made from heavy-duty cotton

Waterproof

Raglan sleeves

Knee-length or full-length

The trench coat's design made it practical in war, but also in everyday life. The length and cut, with the adjustable belted waist, made it a flattering shape for men and women. A popular style in Hollywood films, it was worn by detectives, gangsters and femme fatales alike.

Source: A Foreign Affair // Marlene Dietrich, 1948

Who invented the trench coat?

In the early 19 th century, almost 100 years before World War I, Charles Macintosh crafted coats from rubberised cotton for the British military. Named after their inventor, the trench coat used to be known as 'macs'. The coats were revolutionary because they were waterproof. However they, lacked breathability and had a distinctive smell due to keeping sweat in. They were even known to sometimes melt in the sun.

From this, other clothiers developed new waterproof fabrics that addressed the need for greater ventilation. In 1853, John Emary patented a new waterproof fabric that was much more breathable for his company called 'Aquascutum' (Latin for "water shield").

A few years later, Thomas Burberry created gabardine fabric in 1856. This was a waterproof and breathable twill fabric which coated individual fibre strands, rather than the whole fabric.
Source: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis // British soldiers in trench coats, 1914
The classic trench coat's design developed from the needs of soldiers during WWI. Soldiers had previously worn long wool overcoats which could be itchy, ill-fitting and heavy. The trench coat offered a silhouette that was shorter, lighter and waterproof.
Source: Naval Historical Center // Lieutenant General Omar Bradley and Major General J. Lawton Collin, 1944
The design details were functional as the storm flap on the shoulder enabled ventilation, whilst at the back a small cape allowed water to roll off. Deep pockets and D rings on the belt for attaching tools finished off the practical design.

Where to buy a trench coat?

Gloverall is renowned for luxury trench coats that stand the test of time and put a modern spin on this timeless style. The Audrey Trench Coat features all the classic trench details with a contemporary oversized fit, whilst our Freya Trench Coat is available in rich autumnal shades and made from a chunky corduroy.

Discover our classic range of women's coats today.

Written by Mhairi Stewart

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Now regarded as a timeless style, the origins of the trench coat date back to the 1820s. The trench coat, once military uniform, is now the go-to coat for a sophisticated ensemble in the 21st century. The trench coat's origins are often debated, but it is always regarded as a symbol of quintessential British smartwear.

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https://the-toast.net/2014/02/27/scented-markers-the-backstory/

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Locked in a bitter competition with Crayola and 3M, the Mr. Sketch marker company was searching for an edge to corner the elementary school coloring market. The brightest minds in the marker industry were assembled to design the new product, and the resulting innovation was destined to change the business forever: Mr. Sketch Scented Markers. The only problem was figuring out which smells would go with each color. For the first time ever, we are privileged with a raw behind-the-scenes look at some of the most important discussions in the history of grade school arts and crafts: the flagship Mr. Sketch 12-pack. The following transcript involves a board room discussion between Mr. Sketch executive Head Suit Stevens, and his project team, Boggs, Jeff, and Marty. Orange/Blue
Head Suit: Now, orange is obviously orange, and blue is obviously blueberry, that much we can all agree on, right?

Boggs: God, I love the smell on that blueberry sample.

Jeff: Marty, you look like you're having second thoughts.

Marty: It's just...are any of you guys worried that kids are going to smell these markers and think that they're food? And then take a big bite out of one of them and get really sick from it or something?

Head Suit: Yeah, little bit.

Marty: I don't want that on my conscience.

Head Suit: If it makes you feel better, we can stamp 'Non-toxic' on the outside of the box.

Marty: Are they non-toxic?

Boggs: We're getting off-topic guys, come on.
Purple
Head Suit: I have a feeling purple is going to be huge for us. We need to really nail this one. I vote for grape.

Jeff: Grape.

Boggs: Grape.

Marty: Plum. I like plums...why are you looking at me like that? No plums? Fine.
Black
Head Suit: Black licorice. Next.
Yellow
Head Suit: Now, yellow is a tricky one. You can go banana, or you can go lemon. I've seen this thing done both ways, so we want to really put some thought into it.

Jeff: Banana worked out pretty well over at Laffy's.

Boggs: Laffy's is bush league. We're trying to appeal to a more discerning consumer demographic. Think about it, yellow Skittles...lemon. Yellow Starburst...lemon. Yellow Jellybeans...lemon. These are some high end companies, and the market seems to be trending towards lemon.

Jeff: Runts went banana.

Boggs: Correction-Runts tried to go banana.

Marty: Why isn't "Yellow Apple" ever used as an artificial flavor?
Brown
Head Suit: Okay, let's see, what should brown be?

Marty: How about...POOP!

Head Suit: Sure, Marty, you can go ahead and prepare the different test samples. Idiot.

Marty (mutters): Like it would be any worse than black licorice.

Boggs: What about cinnamon?

Head Suit: Cinnamon? That's not a fruit!

Boggs: But I can't think of any fruits that are brown!

Head Suit: Well, what flavor is brown Starburst?

Boggs: THERE IS NO BROWN STARBURST.

Jeff: Oooh...there should be. We'll come back to brown.

Marty: Yeah, we'll come back to brown later.

Head Suit: Quit acting like you're part of this, Marty.
Pink
Boggs: Have any of you guys seen the prototype for the box that these markers are going to be sold in? My buddy in packaging showed me a sneak peak, it was kinda weird.

Jeff: How so?

Boggs: Well there was this cartoon watermelon guy that was like the main focus of the entire box! I don't object to pink being watermelon, but that doesn't seem right.

Head Suit: Don't waste your breath arguing that one. It's an order coming straight from the top, and it's non-negotiable.

Jeff: That is kinda weird. What's ol' Mr. Sketch's fascination with watermelons anyway?

Head Suit: Greater men than you have been fired for even thinking that question, and that's Packaging's problem now anyway.
Red
Head Suit: Gentlemen, we've got ourselves another toss-up here with red. Jeff, you're Lead Nose on this operation, what smells better: strawberries or cherries?

Jeff: Well, strawberry smells better in nature, but artificial cherry smells better than artificial strawberry.

Boggs: Mind. Blown.

Head Suit: That's why we pay you the big bucks, Jeff, it's for calls like that!

Marty: What about raspberry?

Marty: Why don't you guys ever use any of my ideas?

Head Suit: Because we all know you're a talentless hack who only works here because you're Mr. Sketch's nephew.
Green
(following a long discussion and some brainstorming that doesn't give much progress)

Boggs: There's always sour apple. Nothing earth-shattering, I know, but that's usually what the candy firms go with when they need a quick fix for green.

Jeff: Sour apple isn't a very inviting smell though. Plus, we're not candy.

Boggs: We're sort of like candy. Except you smell it.

Marty: It's like nose candy!

Head Suit: Let's not refer to it as that ever again.

Boggs: So sour apple is out, if I understand correctly?

Jeff: Yes, let's keep the ideas flowing though.

Marty: What about grape?

Jeff: We already DID grape!!

Marty: Well, it would still be open if you guys hadn't shot down plum!

Jeff: You know what has a nice, smooth aroma? Mint.

Marty: Mint's not a fruit!

Jeff: Sure it is!

Boggs: Uhh...maybe we ought to have two greens in there then; one mint and one green apple. Just to play it safe.
Brown (pt. 2)
Head Suit: I think it's time to buckle down and revisit this brown issue.

Jeff: Hey, what about coconut? Coconuts are brown, aren't they?

Head Suit: Only the shell. Our market research indicates that 58% of marker consumers associate with the white fruit on the inside when they think of coconut.

Jeff: Oh, drat. Boggs, you getting anything from the research team?

Boggs: Tree limes! It says right here, "can be found in red, blue, and brown varieties!"

Head Suit: It will never work. People aren't going to associate limes with any color except green.

Marty: Limes! That can be our fruit for green!!

Head Suit: I already wrote MINT on my legal pad in capital letters, I'm not changing it now.
Black (pt. 2)
Marty: Look, it smells terrible.

Head Suit: Don't worry about it.

Boggs: Hold on a second, Stevens. The whole black licorice thing seemed to come out of nowhere; and you wrote it down awfully fast, I don't think we'd even reached a consensus on it.

Head Suit: Well hey, we all know it's pretty freaking difficult to find a black fruit. I'm just working with what I've got here!

Head Suit: Well...it's a scent thing. Jeff, you know what it's like, I think the chemists would have a really difficult time capturing the proper blackberry essence. It's a tricky formula...very costly and time-consuming to figure out.

Boggs: Well we can certainly do better than this. I mean, we're supposed to be leading innovators of the industry, and this thing smells worse than a black Sharpie.

Marty: I actually really like the smell of Sharpies.

Boggs: So do I, now that you mention it.

Jeff: Let's just have 'black Sharpie' be our scent for black!

Head Suit: No.
(The project deadline is fast approaching, and tensions run high as the crew frantically tries to finish the set)
Head Suit: Okay quick, give me something for turquoise.

Jeff: MANGO!

Head Suit: Got it.

Marty: Mangos aren't even close to being turquoise.

Boggs: They don't need to be. This thing is due in 10 minutes, and we still don't have anything for brown!

Marty: Poop is sounding mighty good right about now, isn't it?

Head Suit: How about chocolate?

Jeff: Chocolate is more of a crayon smell.

Head Suit: You're right. I still vote for cinnamon then.

Marty: Still not a fruit.

Jeff: We could do like, tree bark.

Boggs: ...Excuse me?

Jeff: I'm sorry guys, it's been a long day. I've got nothing left.

Head Suit: And we have no time left. We're just going to have to do cinnamon.

Marty: What should its little logo icon be then?

Head Suit (sighs): Put a stupid cartoon bear on it for all I care. At this point, it won't make any less sense than the rest of this crap. Just get the final draft up to his desk.

Jeff: All I can say is, Mr. Sketch is not going to be happy about this.
(20 minutes later, heard from the office of Winthrop Sketch)
"I LOVE it!!!!!"

Payne grew up in Harbor Springs, Michigan and currently lives in Boston. He works in sports-based youth development.

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Locked in a bitter competition with Crayola and 3M, the Mr. Sketch marker company was searching for an edge to corner the elementary school coloring market. The brightest minds in the marker industry were assembled to design the new product, and the resulting innovation was destined to change the business forever: Mr. Sketch Scented Markers.

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The Backpack: Everything You Could Ever Need to Know

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History and origins It seems probable that humans have been carrying objects on their backs for almost as long as they have been walking on two legs. Our ancestors may have got the idea from watching animals carry their young or they may have discovered that much heavier objects can be borne on th…

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Pepto-Bismol compound’s structure unveiled after 120 years

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Electron microscopy triumphed over x-ray crystallography as century-old structural puzzle around bismuth subsalicylate is finally solved

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Table of Contents

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pen, tool for writing or drawing with a coloured fluid such as ink.

The earliest ancestor of the pen probably was the brush the Chinese used for writing by the 1st millennium bce. The early Egyptians employed thick reeds for penlike implements about 300 bce. A specific allusion to the quill pen occurs in the 7th-century writings of St. Isidore of Sevilla, but such pens made of bird feathers were probably in use at an even earlier date. They provided a degree of writing ease and control never realized before and were used in Europe until the mid-19th century, when metallic pens and pen nibs (writing points) largely supplanted them. Such devices were known in Classical times but were little used (a bronze pen was found in the ruins of Pompeii). John Mitchell of Birmingham, England, is credited with having introduced the machine-made steel pen point in 1828. Two years later the English inventor James Perry sought to produce more-flexible steel points by cutting a centre hole at the top of a central slit and then making additional slits on either side.

The inconvenience of having to continually dip a pen to replenish its ink supply stimulated the development of the fountain pen, a type of pen in which ink is held in a reservoir and passes to the writing point through capillary channels. The first practical version of the fountain pen was produced in 1884 by the American inventor L.E. Waterman.

Ballpoint pens date from the late 19th century. Commercial models appeared in 1895, but the first satisfactory model was patented by Lázló Bíró, a Hungarian living in Argentina. His ballpoint pen, commonly called the "biro," became popular in Great Britain during the late 1930s, and by the mid-1940s pens of this type were widely used throughout much of the world. The writing tip of a ballpoint pen consists of a metal ball, housed in a socket, that rotates freely and rolls quick-drying ink onto the writing surface. The ball is constantly bathed in ink from a reservoir, one end of which is open and attached to the writing tip.

Soft-tip pens that use points made of porous materials became commercially available during the 1960s. In such pens a synthetic polymer of controlled porosity transfers ink from the reservoir to the writing surface. These fibre-tipped pens can be used for lettering and drawing as well as for writing and may be employed on surfaces such as plastic and glass.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Adam Augustyn.

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pen, tool for writing or drawing with a coloured fluid such as ink. The earliest ancestor of the pen probably was the brush the Chinese used for writing by the 1st millennium bce. The early Egyptians employed thick reeds for penlike implements about 300 bce.

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https://setalarmonline.com/blog/history-of-alarm-clocks/

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Learn the history of alarm clocks with our in-depth informational article about alarm clocks.

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https://www.jhunewsletter.com/article/2018/03/the-sweet-origins-of-modern-cough-drops

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Along with tissues and flu medication, cough drops are just about everywhere during the winter months. They are a staple of cold and flu season and can be found in dozens of different flavors, sold by numerous different brands. At times they almost seem to straddle the boundary between candy and medicine. In fact, many early cough drop manufacturers began as candymakers, bakers or confectioners of some sort.

HALLS, though now populating the shelves at CharMar and many other stores across the U.S., began in Britain. The Hall brothers - Edwin Franklin, Thomas Harold and Norman Smith - started their business in 1893, originally as jam manufacturers. Edwin left the partnership in late 1902, but Thomas and Norman carried on, and their business eventually branched out to sell boiled sweets, caramels and other candies.

Mentho-Lyptus, as the name suggests, is a sweet containing both menthol and eucalyptus. It was introduced by the Hall brothers' company in 1927. Meant to serve as a remedy for sore throats and as a cough suppressant, it provides a soothing, cooling sensation and can also act as an oral anesthetic. HALLS' Mentho-Lyptus cough drops were introduced to the U.S. in the 1950s.

Prior to this, however, there were several well-known mass-manufactured brands of cough drops circulating in America. Among the most famous products were the Smith Brothers' cough drops.

The company was led by brothers Andrew and William, but the idea originated with their father James, a candymaker in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

As the story goes, in 1847 a peddler named Sly Hawkins sold James the recipe for a cough reliever. James used his confectioneering experience to refine it into a candy-like product. William and Andrew helped their father, eventually taking over the business after his death in 1866.

As a marketing strategy and in order to discourage the sale of imitations, the Smith brothers added images of their faces to brand boxes of their products, the jars or bowls in which cough drops would be sold in drugstores and newspaper advertisements.

The word "trademark" usually came along with the images, broken up so that "Trade" appeared under William's collar and "Mark" under Andrew's, eventually becoming the brothers' nicknames. The nicknames and the men's bearded profiles became widely recognizable across the country.

However, the Smith Brothers soon faced competition.

William Luden pioneered the creation of menthol cough drops in 1881, inspired by the small bottles of menthol carried around by cold-sufferers in an effort to relieve their symptoms. He proved to be as savvy a marketer as the Smith brothers, most notably by providing samples of his cough drops to railroad workers, who then served as unofficial traveling advertisements across the nation.

More recently, Swiss baker and confectioner Emil Richterich founded the company that would become known as Ricola in 1930. Ten years later, it produced its first original cough drop, with its recognizable blend of herbs.

Despite the fact that most cough drops arose from confection companies, cough drops in the U.S. have largely been associated more with medicine than with candy.

This was likely due to the way in which early manufacturers chose to advertise. Luden, for instance, was said to have worked with a pharmacist to develop his original menthol formula, and he included endorsements from medical doctors in newspaper advertisements.

In the mid-1900s, the Smith Brothers advertised a version of their cough drops containing Vitamin A. This product was intended, as the newspaper inserts proclaimed, to raise the "resistance of the mucous membranes of nose and throat to cold infections."

These historical anecdotes still do not make eating cough drops like candies a good idea, but the next time you are tempted to, their sweet origins might explain your cravings.

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Along with tissues and flu medication, cough drops are just about everywhere during the winter months. They are a staple of cold and flu season and can be found in dozens of different flavors, sold by numerous different brands. At times they almost seem to straddle the boundary between candy and medicine.

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Why people hated shopping carts when they first came out | CNN Business

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We live in a world shaped by shopping carts. The ubiquitous, unloved contraptions are a key feature of US economy. (Yes, really.)

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The history of Lego began in 1932, when Ole Kirk Christiansen founded the company in a Danish carpentry workshop, and continues into the 21st century as a popular and very profitable line of construction toys and related products and services (including Lego board games, retail stores, Lego video games, Lego films, Legoland theme parks, and Lego Serious Play consultant services), with a significant impact on various areas of popular culture. Despite its expansion, the company remains privately held.

The Lego Group began in the carpentry workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen in Billund, Denmark. In 1916, Christiansen purchased a woodworking shop in Billund, which had been in business since 1895. The shop mostly helped construct houses and furniture and had a small staff of apprentices. The workshop burned down in 1924 when a fire ignited some wood shavings. Christiansen constructed a larger workshop and worked towards expanding his business even further. When the Great Depression hit, he had fewer customers and had to focus on smaller projects. He began producing miniature versions of his products as design aids. It was these miniature models of stepladders and ironing boards that inspired him to begin producing toys.

On 10 August 1932, Christiansen's shop started making wooden toys such as piggy banks, pull toys, cars and trucks, and houses. The business was not profitable because of the Great Depression. Farmers in the area sometimes traded food in exchange for his toys; Christiansen continued producing practical furniture in addition to toys to stay in business. In the mid-1930s, the yo-yo toy fad gave him a brief period of increased activity until it suddenly collapsed. To reduce waste, he used the leftover yo-yo parts as wheels for toy trucks. His son Gottfried began working for him, taking an active role in the company.

In 1934, Christiansen held a contest among his staff to name the company, offering a bottle of homemade wine as a prize. Christiansen was considering two names himself, "Legio" (with the implication of a "Legion of toys") and "Lego," a self-made contraction from the Danish phrase leg godt, meaning "play well." Later the Lego Group discovered that "Lego" could be loosely interpreted as "I put together" or "I assemble" in Latin. Christiansen selected Lego, and the company began using it on its products.

Following World War II, plastics became available in Denmark, and Lego purchased a plastic injection molding machine in 1947. One of the first modular toys to be produced was a truck that could be taken apart and re-assembled. In 1947, Ole Kirk and Gottfried obtained samples of interlocking plastic bricks produced by the company Kiddicraft. Hilary Fisher Page designed these "Kiddicraft Self-Locking Building Bricks." In 1939, Page had applied for a patent on hollow plastic cubes with four studs on top (British Patent Nº.529,580) that allowed their positioning atop one another without lateral movement. In 1944, Page applied an "Improvement to Toy Building Blocks" as an addition to the previous patent, in which he describes a building system based on rectangular hollow blocks with 2X4 studs on top enabling the construction of walls with staggered rows and window openings. The addition was granted in 1947 as British Patent Nº 587,206. In 1949, the Lego Group began producing similar bricks, calling them "Automatic Binding Bricks." Lego bricks, then manufactured from cellulose acetate, were developed in the spirit of traditional wooden blocks that could be stacked upon one another but could be "locked" together. They had several round "studs" on top, and a hollow rectangular bottom. They would stick together, but not so tightly that they could not be pulled apart. In 1953, the bricks were given a new name: Lego Mursten, or "Lego Bricks."

Plastic products initially were not well received by customers, who preferred wooden or metal toys. Many of Lego's shipments were returned, following poor sales. In 1954, Gottfried Christiansen had become the junior managing director of the Lego Group. His conversation with an overseas buyer struck the idea of a toy "system," with many toys in a line of related products. He evaluated their available products, and saw the plastic bricks as the best candidate for such a system. In 1955, Lego released the "Town Plan" as such a system, using the building bricks.

The building bricks were moderately received but had some problems from a technical standpoint: their "locking" ability was limited, and they were not versatile. In 1958 the bricks were improved with hollow tubes in the underside of the brick. This change added support in the base, enabling much better locking ability and enhanced versatility. The company patented the new design, as well as several similar designs to avoid competition. Ole Kirk Christiansen died that same year, and Godtfred inherited the leadership of the company.

Another warehouse fire struck the Lego Group in 1960, consuming most of the company's inventory of wooden toys. Godtfred decided that the plastic line was strong enough to abandon the production of wooden toys. As a result, Godtfred's brothers Gerhardt (then head of wooden toys) and Karl Georg left the Lego company and began a separate company called " Bilofix." By the end of the year, the Lego Group was employing more than 450 people.

In 1961, Lego wished to expand sales to North America but did not have the logistical capabilities to do so. Lego made an arrangement allowing Samsonite to begin producing and selling Lego products in the United States and Canada.

1961 and 1962 saw the introduction of the first Lego wheels, an addition that expanded the potential for building cars, trucks, buses, and other vehicles from Lego bricks. Also, during this time, the Lego Group introduced toys targeted explicitly towards the pre-school market.

In 1964, cellulose acetate, the material used to create Lego bricks, was replaced by the more stable acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS plastic), which is still in use today. ABS is non-toxic, less prone to discoloration and warping, and is more resistant to heat, acids, salt, and other chemicals. Samsonite manufacturing in North America did not switch at the same time, and still used some degree of cellulose acetate in its Lego products. 1964 was the first year that saw the inclusion of instruction manuals in Lego sets.

One of the Lego Group's most successful series,[citation needed ] the Lego train system, was released in 1966. The original train sets included a 4.5- volt (which was changed to a 12-volt version two years later) motor, battery box, and rails.

On 7 June 1968, the first Legoland Park was opened in Billund. This theme park featured elaborate models of miniature towns built entirely from Lego bricks. The three-acre (12,000 m²) park attracted 625,000 visitors in its first year alone. During the next 20 years, the theme park grew to more than eight times its original size and eventually averaged close to a million paying visitors per year. Sales of Lego sets reached more than eighteen million units in 1968.

In 1969, the Duplo system went on sale. Duplo bricks are much larger than Lego bricks, making them safer for young children, but the two systems are compatible: Lego bricks can be fitted neatly onto Duplo bricks, allowing a seamless transition to the Lego system as children outgrow their Duplo bricks. The name Duplo comes from the Latin word duplus, which translates literally as double, meaning that a Duplo brick is exactly twice the dimension of a Lego building brick (2× height by 2× width by 2× depth = 8× the volume of a brick).

During the last three decades of the 20th century, Lego expanded into new areas of toy making and marketing. In 1971, Lego began to target girls by introducing furniture pieces and dollhouses. In 1972, Lego added boat and ship sets, with floating hull pieces and Godtfred Kirk Christiansen's son, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, joined the managerial staff, after earning business degrees in Switzerland and Denmark. One of Kjeld's first achievements with the company was the foundation of manufacturing facilities, as well as a research and development department that would be responsible for keeping the company's manufacturing methods up to date. Human figures with posable arms made an appearance in 1974 in "Lego family" sets, which went on to become the biggest sellers at the time; the next year, an early version of the "minifigure" miniature Lego person was introduced, but it was not posable and had no face printed on its head. The company opened its first North American Lego production facility in Enfield, Connecticut, in the United States that same year.

In 1975, "Expert Series" sets were introduced, geared towards older, more experienced Lego builders followed by the " Expert Builder" sets in 1977. The technical sets featured moving parts such as gears, differentials, cogs, levers, axles, and universal joints and permitted the construction of realistic models such as automobiles, with functional rack and pinion steering and lifelike engine movements. In 1978 the Lego " minifigure" was added. The small Lego people had posable arms and legs, and initially a single head with a smiling face. The figure was used in many varieties of Lego sets, allowing construction of towns populated with the smiling minifigure Lego citizens. Lego also expanded into space with the creation of Lego Space sets with astronaut minifigures, rockets, lunar rovers, and spaceships, and in the medieval territory with the Castle theme.

In 1979, Lego introduced the Scala series, featuring jewelry elements marketed towards young girls. Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen also became the president of Lego that year.

Since the 1960s, educators had seen Lego bricks' productive potential as being an invaluable asset in helping children to develop creativity and problem-solving abilities. Teachers had been using Lego bricks in the classroom for a variety of reasons. In 1980, the Lego Group established the Educational Products Department (eventually renamed Lego Dacta, in 1989), to expand the educational possibilities of their toys. A packing and assembly factory opened in Switzerland, followed by another in Jutland, Denmark, that manufactured Lego tyres.

Between the 1960s and '90s, Lego worked with Royal Dutch Shell in allowing Shell branding on certain items.

In 1981, the second generation of Lego trains appeared. As before, these were available in either 4.5 V (battery-powered) or 12 V (mains powered), but with a much wider variety of accessories, including working lights, remote-controlled points and signals, and decouplers.

The "Expert Builder" series matured in 1982, becoming the "Technic" series. 13th August of that year marked the Lego Group's 50th anniversary; the book 50 Years of Play was published to commemorate the occasion. In the following year, the Duplo system was expanded to include sets for even younger audiences, particularly infants; new sets included baby rattles and figures with movable limbs. The year after, Lego minifigure citizens gained a realm of knights and horses, with a redesign of the Castle theme. Light & Sound sets made their appearance in 1985; these sets included a battery pack with electrical lights, buzzers, and other accessories to add another dimension of realism to Lego creations. Also that year, the Lego Group's educational division produced the Technic Computer Control, which was an educational system whereby Technic robots, trucks, and other motorized models could be controlled with a computer. Manaus, Brazil gained a Lego factory in this year, as well.

In 1984, the Technic line was expanded with the addition of pneumatic components.

In August 1988, 38 children from 17 countries took part in the first Lego World Cup building contest, held in Billund. That same year, Lego Canada was established. The Lego line grew again in 1989 with the release of the Lego Pirates theme, which featured a variety of pirate ships, deserted islands, and treasure. The Lego Group's Educational Products Department was renamed Lego Dakta in this year; the name comes from the Greek word "didactic," which roughly means "the study of the learning process." MIT's Dr. Seymour Papert, from the Laboratory of Computer Learning, was named "Lego Professor of Learning Research," after his ongoing work in linking the Logo programming language with Lego products.

Until 1989, Lego minifigures only came in yellow-skin color with a standard smiling face, though early prototypes had a variety of skin colours and facial expressions. That year the Lego Group expanded the array of facial expressions (adding them around the standard face of two eyes and smile), with beards and eye patches, sunglasses, lipstick, and eyelashes, mostly for the minifigures in the newly launched Lego Pirates theme, and occasionally Lego Castle, Lego City, and Lego Space. Some older collectors resented the new facial expressions, saying they looked too "cartoon-ish" or "kiddy," and preferred the simplistic nature of the two eyes and smile. Particularly for Lego Pirates, these more complicated faces, in combination with the torso, headgear (either a helmet or hair), and accessories, allowed for the creation of specific characters and an accompanying backstory.

In 1990, Lego released a new series designed for advanced builders. Three Model Team sets, including a race car and an off-road vehicle, featured a level of detail and realism not previously seen in any Lego series. Where Technic was mechanically accurate, Model Team was visually and stylistically accurate. The Lego Group became one of the top 10 toy companies that year; it was the only toy company in Europe to be among the top 10. Also that year, Legoland Billund reached more than one million visitors for the first time in its history. The first-ever "Lego Professor of Business Dynamics," Xavier Gilbert, was appointed to an endowed chair at the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland. Lego Malaysia was also established in 1990. In 1991, the Lego Group standardized its electrical components and systems; the Trains and Technic motors were made 9V to bring the systems into line with the rest of the Lego range.

In 1992, two Guinness records were set using Lego products: A castle made from 400,000 Lego bricks, and measuring 4.45 meters by 5.22 meters, was built on Swedish television, and a 545 meters long Lego railway line with three locomotives was constructed. Duplo was augmented with the addition of the Toolo line featuring a screwdriver, wrench, nuts, and bolts; the Paradisa line, targeted towards girls, brought a variety of new pastel colours into the Lego system and focused on leisure resorts, horses and beach life. In 1993 a Duplo train and a parrot-shaped "brickvac" that could scoop Lego pieces up off the floor were released.

In the late 1990s, the Lego Group brought out a series of new and specialized ranges aimed at particular demographics. The Slizers/Throwbots line preceded the Bionicle range and uses Technic pieces and specialist moldings to create a set of action figures for boys, while Belville is a more conventional line aimed at girls and featuring large posable figures like those in the Technic range. A "Lego 4 Juniors" group features 2-inch (51 mm) tall medium-sized figures ("medi-figure") without jointed arms, and longer legs than the classic Lego minifigure. In 2003, the Lego Group introduced a completely new system, Clikits, aimed at girls and consisting of customizable plastic jewellery and accessories. In 2004, Lego added the QUATRO brick, for ages 1-3. Much like Duplo, a Quatro brick is four times the dimension of a regular Lego brick and is compatible with the Duplo brick. Also that year, they created the second line of Knights Kingdom themed product.

Lego's profits had declined since 1992. Around 1995 or 1996, according to designer Mark Stafford, the Lego Group retired many LEGO Designers who had created the sets from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, replacing them with 30 'innovators' who graduated from the European design colleges around Europe who knew "little specifically about toy design and less about LEGO building". At the time, sets could take over a year to progress from the design stage to store shelves. By 1997, there was a resultant change in the design direction of products, as set details were sacrificed for decreased building times (with fewer pieces) and increased playability features, but this shift drew mixed reception from hardcore Lego fans used to the meticulous construction required of "classic era" sets of the 1980s to mid-1990s. Lego Pirates, which had a strong run since its launch in 1989, was promptly killed off, with 1997 being its last year of production.

This change in design teams only served to accelerate the company's decline. In 1998, Lego posted its first-ever loss, at £23 million. In the same year, the company laid off 1,000 employees.

In 1999, the first Lego products featuring licensed intellectual property, i.e., not designed in-house, were Lego Star Wars and Winnie the Pooh Duplo, followed in 2000 by Lego Harry Potter characters to figures from Steven Spielberg movies. Soren Holm, the head of Lego Concept Lab, said toy weapons had always been heavily debated, but that since the Lego Star Wars release, Lego has grown "more comfortable with conflict." Mr. Laursen, executive North American operations suggested to make "violence not explicit, but humoristic." Licensed properties did provide a short-term boost to profits during the release of blockbuster movies, however sales would taper off after public excitement died down. Furthermore the added cost of the license resulted in such sets being more expensive which alienated long-time fans, who also bemoaned the declining quality and reduced availability of comparable sets not based on licensing.

After 1999, many in-house characters were strongly characterised with media utilisation and non-Lego System merchandising, most notably Bionicle from 2001-2010 and then again in 2016. In 2002, Duplo was merged with Lego Baby into the new label Lego Explore.

In 2003, following the inclusion of Lando Calrissian in a Star Wars set, as well as the Basketball theme featuring the likenesses of actual players, it was decided that minifigs based on real persons and live-action franchises would have natural skin-tones.

In 2004, Lego posted a loss of £174 million, with the executive vice-president of marketing Mads Nipper later describing the company as having been "almost bankrupt" at this point. He analysed in retrospect that "we continued to invest as if the company were growing strongly. We failed to realise that we were on a slippery path... Children were getting less and less time to play. Some of the western markets had fewer and fewer children. So play trends changed, and we failed to change. We were not making toys that were sufficiently interesting to children. We failed to innovate enough. And we had nowhere cut deep enough to right-size the company".

In 2004, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen resigned as CEO and appointed Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, the first non-family CEO. The company sold the four Legoland parks to theme-park operators Merlin Entertainments, and manufacturing, 80% of which had been outsourced, was returned to Lego's control.

The company focused on its core products and reintroduced the Duplo label in late 2004. Since 2004, manufacturing had been moved to Mexico and distribution relocated from Billund to the Czech Republic. By 2007 a global workforce of 9,100 in 1998 was reduced to 4,200 due to outsourcing. In the US alone, Lego sales increased 32 percent because of Star Wars and Indiana Jones-themed games, while globally 2008 sales increased 18.7 percent. Mr. Laursen, Lego executive of North American operations, said in 2009 that licenses played a more prominent role in the American market than overseas. About 60 percent of Lego's American sales were estimated to be linked to licenses, twice that of 2004. Laursen stated in 2009 that Lego was "definitely more commercially oriented". In 2009, both Lego Games (board games) and Lego Power Miners were introduced, along with the concept for Lego Ninjago. Despite the Great Recession, profits for 2009 were £99.5 million, with Mads Nipper, Lego executive vice-president of marketing, stating to be "delivering twice the return on sales of any competitor."

In 2011, Lego launched a new theme called Lego Ninjago, which became a popular theme worldwide, and resumed a long-term contract with Royal Dutch Shell, after using its logo on products from the 1960s through to the 1990s. Greenpeace criticized this co-branding in 2014. After the Greenpeace campaign, Lego decided not to renew the contract, with the Shell logo only appearing in co-licensed sets with Ferrari or BMW.

In 2012, an animated short film titled The Lego Story made by Danish studio Lani Pixels for the 80th anniversary of Lego, depicted the struggles of Ole Kirk Christiansen and his son Godtfred Kirk Christiansen from 1932-1968, as they worked to make the company successful.

In 2014, Warner Bros and The Lego Group released The Lego Movie, a computer-animated adventure comedy film telling the story of an ordinary Lego Minifigure construction worker named Emmet Brickowski prophesied to save the world. It received one of the highest recorded openings for an original animated movie, and the Los Angeles Times noted "nearly unanimous positive reviews" for the film.

In 2015, the Lego firm sparked controversy when it refused a bulk order to Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, who is openly critical of the Chinese Communist government. Ai had previously used Lego bricks to build portraits of world political activists. Lego said it would not sell directly to users with "political intentions." An opinion piece in the Communist Party mouthpiece Global Times praised Lego for its "good business sense" while the decision drew condemnation online. Lego fans offered to donate Lego bricks to Ai Weiwei instead.

In 2017, Warner Bros, DC Entertainment, and The Lego Group released The Lego Batman Movie as a spinoff based on one of the lead characters of Lego's first animated movie. Lego has since released another animated film based on one of its toy lines, Ninjago, entitled The Lego Ninjago Movie in 2017.

In the first half of 2017, Lego saw its first revenue decline in 13 years, announcing plans in September 2017 to cut 1,400 jobs.

In February 2019, a sequel to The Lego Movie was produced by Warner Animation Group and released by Warner Bros., titled The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. Many of the voice actors from the first film reprised their characters for the sequel, but it underperformed in ticket sales compared to its predecessors.

On 25 November 2019, The Lego Group announced the acquisition of Bricklink, the world's largest Lego fan community, from Nexon for an unknown price, which is expected to finish before the end of 2019.

In November 2020, Lego announced its largest set to date: a replica of the Colosseum in Rome containing 9,036 pieces. The set overtakes the previous record holder, the Millennium Falcon from the Star Wars franchise.

References

Works cited

Wiencek, Henry (1987). The World of LEGO Toys. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers. ISBN 0-8109-2362-9.

External links

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The history of Lego began in 1932, when Ole Kirk Christiansen founded the company in a Danish carpentry workshop, and continues into the 21st century as a popular and very profitable line of construction toys and related products and services (including Lego board games, retail stores, Lego video games, Lego films, Legoland theme parks, and Lego Serious Play consultant services), with a significant impact on various areas of popular culture.

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https://soccerballworld.com/history-of-the-soccer-ball/

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Soccer has been played in various forms throughout history. Many sites on the world wide web have information on the history of football or soccer and who invented the original soccer ball. Of course, here at Soccer Ball World, we will concentrate on the history and evolution of the soccer ball.

Click on the titles below to go directly to that section:

Early Soccer Ball History

Through out history, humans have enjoyed kicking a ball or something like a ball. South American Indians were known to use a light elasticized ball. However; rubber was not to be practically manufactured until a few thousand years later.

According to historical references and legend, early balls ranged from human heads, stitched up cloth, animal and human skulls to pig or cow bladders.

During the Ts'in and Han Dynasties (255 BC-220 AD), the Chinese played 'tsu chu', in which animal-skin balls were dribbled through gaps in a net stretched between two poles. Certain ancient Egyptian rites are said by historians to have similarities with football, and both the ancient Greeks and Romans also played a game that entailed carrying and kicking a ball.

According to pre-medieval legend, an entire village would kick a skull along a path to a nearby village square. The opposing village would in turn attempt to kick the skull to the first village's square. Wow, that probably caused more riots than in modern soccer games.

A Medieval custom was to take pig bladders used from live stock killed in preparation for winter sustenance and inflate them. They would play a game using their feet and hands to keep the "ball" in the air. Sounds like hacky sack to me.

The animal bladder balls were eventually covered with leather for better shape retention.

Balls in 1800's

In 1836 Charles Goodyear patented vulcanized rubber. Prior to this, balls were dependant on the size and shape of the pig's bladder. The more irregular the bladder, the more unpredictable the behavior of the ball was when kicked. However; it would not be until the twentieth century until most balls were made with rubber bladders.

In 1855, Charles Goodyear designed and built the first vulcanized rubber soccer balls (footballs). The following picture shows the Charles Goodyear ball that is on display at the National Soccer Hall of Fame which is located in Oneonta, NY, USA.

For more information on the Charles Goodyear oldest soccer ball, click here

In the 1862, H.J. Lindon developed one of the first inflatable rubber bladders for balls. Tragically his wife previously died from lung disease. Reportedly from blowing up many hundreds of pig's bladders. Lindon was probably inspired to develop the inflatable rubber bladder because of the ill effects of blowing up pig's bladders. The balls with the rubber bladders ensured that the ball remained hard and oval. Lindon also claimed to have invented the rugby ball but did not patent the idea. In those days, the round ball was preferred because it was easier to kick and the oval ball was easier to handle.

In 1863 the newly formed English Football Association met to hammer out the laws of the game. No description of the ball was offered in the first set of rules. When the rules were revised in 1872 it was agreed that the ball "must be spherical with a circumference of 27 to 28 inches" (68.6 cm to 71.1 cm). That rule remains in today's FIFA laws. Very little has ever been written about the ball, probably because it has remained very much the same over the years. The official size and weight of the ball was first fixed in 1872. It was changed ever so little in 1937 when the official weight was increased from 13-15 oz to 14-16 oz. The Encyclopedia of Association Football (first published in England in 1956) says as follows "According to the Laws of Football, the ball must be spherical with an outer casing of leather or other approved materials. The circumference shall not be more than 28 in., nor less than 27 in, while the weight at the start of the game must not be more that 16 oz., nor less than 14 oz." The Laws of the Game as published in 2001 say exactly the same thing as to size and weight. What has changed drastically over the last 30 or so years is the material the ball is made of and the shape of the panels that make up the ball.

Match Ball used in the FA Cup Final of 1893

Wolves 1 Everton 0

Mass production of soccer balls started as a direct consequence of the English Football League that was founded in 1888. Mitre and Thomlinson's of Glasgow were two of the first companies to mass produce soccer balls during that time. They touted that the key element in a quality football was how well it could retain it's shape. Strength of the leather and the skills of the cutters and stitchers were the main factors in producing a football that would retain it's shape. The top grade covers were made with leather from the rump of a cow while lower quality balls were made from the shoulder. Advances in ball design came with the development of interlocking panels instead of the previously used leather sections that met at the north and south poles of the ball. The balls were then produced with a more acceptable round shape.

Soccer Balls in the 1900's

Official FC Barcelona Museum 1899 Eight Panel Ball

1900 Eight Panel Ball - Picture from Jacques Barralon
1910 Soccer Ball Unknown
By the 1900's bladders were made with stronger rubber and could withstand heavier pressure. Most balls produced by that time used rubber bladders. The balls were made from inner tubes covered with heavy brown leather. These balls would bounce easier and yet could be kicked. Most balls had a tanned leather cover with eighteen sections stitched together arranged in six panels of three strips each. Each section was stitched together by hand with five-ply hemp and a small lace-up slit was on one side. All of the stitching was done with the ball cover inside out. Once completed, the cover was reversed with the stitching on the inside. An un-inflated bladder was then inserted through the slit. A long stem neck (aperture) extending from the bladder was used to inflate the ball. Once inflated, the tube was inserted through the 15 cm slit and then the opening was laced up tight. You can imagine how often that these soccer balls had to re-inflated. Even during a game.

These balls were good for kicking but was painful when heading due to the heavy stitching and the water absorption characteristics of the leather. Water absorption of the leather during rain made the ball very heavy and caused many head injuries. Other problems of the old leather balls were the various quality of cowhides used. Footballs varied in thickness and quality and the leather often degraded during the match.
1929 Soccer Ball Unknown 1937 Soccer Ball
The soccer ball may have even played a part in the outcome of the first world cup in 1930. Argentina and Uruguay could not agree on which ball to use. So they decided to use an Argentinean ball the first half and a ball supplied by Uruguay in the second half. As it turned out, Argentina was ahead at halftime 2-1using their soccer ball. However; Uruguay came back to win the match in the second half 4-2 using their ball!

1930 World Cup Soccer Ball of "Tiento"

During World War II there were further production enhancements. The addition of a carcass made of strong cloths between the bladder and outer cover made controlling the shape easier, provided damping, and made the ball stronger. However; soccer balls played a crucial role in the outcome of matches due to the ball actually bursting during a game. The reason for the low quality balls just after World War II was blamed on the poor quality of the leather covers.

Water absorption was improved by using synthetic paints and other non-porous materials to coat the leather. Also, a new type of valve was invented that eliminated the laced slit on soccer balls.
1950 Soccer Ball
In 1951 a white ball was first permitted to help spectators see the ball easier with the advent of floodlights. White soccer balls were un-officially used as early as 1892. The leather was simply white washed to produce the white ball. Orange balls were also first introduced in the 1950's to help see the ball in the snow.
1950 era 18 panel ball (pictures from Francisco Aquino)
Different countries favored different types of soccer balls in the early days of international soccer. This caused much controversy. FIFA standardized the size, weight and type of balls with the introduction of an international board.

1963 Santiago - Picture provided by Jacques Barralon
1963 Leather Soccer Ball
White Santiago version of the "unofficial" World Cup 1966 England Ball (courtesy of carlos del castillo)
Synthetic Soccer Balls
It was not until the 1960's that the first totally synthetic ball was produced. But it was not until the late 1980's that synthetic leather totally replaced the leather ball. Up until then, it was felt that leather soccer balls provided more of a consistent flight and bounce. Synthetics used in today's soccer balls emulate the cell structure and quality of leather with less water absorption.
The Buckminster Soccer Ball

Early footballs were sewn up with laces. These days, footballs are made from synthetic leather patches sewn together in a design based on the 'Buckminster Ball' or known as the Buckyball. The American architect Richard Buckminster Fuller came up with the design when he was trying to find a way for constructing buildings using a minimum of materials.

The shape is a series of hexagons, pentagons and triangles, which can be fitted together to make a round surface. The modern soccer ball is essentially a Buckminster Ball consisting of 20 hexagonal and 12 pentagonal surfaces. When they are sewn together and inflated they make a near perfect sphere. The black spots on the ball helped players to perceive any swerve on the ball.

The first 32-panel ball was marketed by Select in the 1950s in Denmark. The first "official" FIFA world cup soccer ball was the Adidas Telstar used in the 1970 world cup at Mexico. As shown above it was also the first official World Cup Buckminster type soccer ball. Click on the following for more information on:

The history of the Official World Cup Soccer Balls

For more information on the construction of today's soccer ball, Soccer Ball Construction.

NASL Ball from the 1970's

(above picture compliments of Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Fernández)
2000 and Beyond
Developments in soccer ball design is continuing. Many companies have recently come out with new high tech materials and designs for soccer balls. The object is to develop the optimum soccer ball that is flight accurate, water proof, fast in flight and transfers all of your kicking force to the ball (does not absorb energy), has soft feel, and is safe to head the ball. Optimum soccer balls should also adhere to ball specifications given by governing bodies such as FIFA.

New balls such as Adidas' Teamgeist, Jabulani, Roteiro, Finale and Fevernova, Nike's Nike Seitiro Premier, Geo Merlin, Puma's Shudah, and Mitre's ISO use the latest design innovations and high tech materials. For more information on the latest innovations, check out Soccer Ball World's Soccer Ball Developments page.

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Soccer has been played in various forms throughout history. Many sites on the world wide web have information on the history of football or soccer and who invented the original soccer ball. Of course, here at Soccer Ball World, we will concentrate on the history and evolution of the soccer ball.

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https://www.openculture.com/2017/09/marie-curie-invented-mobile-x-ray-units-to-help-save-wounded-soldiers-in-world-war-i.html

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Marie Curie Invented Mobile X-Ray Units to Help Save Wounded Soldiers in World War I

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These days the phrase "mobile x-ray unit" is likely to spark heated debate about privacy, public health, and freedom of information, especially in New York City, where the police force has been less than forthcoming about its use of military grade Z Backscatter surveillance vans.