What Do The Abacus & The Computer Have in Common?

Do you like learning about the computer history? This site takes you through out the history of computer starting with the original Abacus like counting board in 300 BC It was a counting board which was the primitive Abacus in 399 BC. Later in 500 BC The counting board Abacus was transformed to the Abacus that we know today.

I have seen other great on-line computer museums and sites about the computer history. They are all over the internet, like the "old computer museum" and the like. It's interesting the way this site leads us all the way to 2009 starting with a simple device as the Abacus. Personally, I find it interesting that the Abacus mentioned here, because I always thought of it as a math first "calculator". But I can certainly see why the Abacus is used in the history of the computer. It makes sense.

Computer History
http://www.computerhope.com/history/bc.htm

Interesting though, this site states that the Abacus was invented by the Chinese in 3,000 BC. That's 5,000 years ago. But it wasn't the Abacus that we know of today. It was completely different. The methods were different. It does states that in "c300 The Chinese begin development of the abacus as a mathematical device c500 The abacus is used in Europe." There are several on-line link, but I want to let you know that the one called "The History Of The Cranmer Abacus For The Blind" didn't work for me. I got an error message. Bummer.

Abacus By The Chinese in 3,000 BC
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/abacus.htm

If you want to learn about the different type of Abacus through out the world, check Wikipedia. There are many type of the Abacus.

Wikipedia - Abacus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abacus

YouTube - The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody

I love Queen and their Bohemian Rhapsody video. Check out the Muppet version. It's quite creative. Hilarious! I first saw this video via likecool.com. If you like the Muppets, I think you'll have fun watching it.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbNymZ7vqY

Down below is the real segement:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irp8CNj9qBI

A Ticket Inside My Retro Airline Bag

I absolutely love this British site. The have retro reproductions items that you can buy from England. Today I was given a gift of a retro Pan AM bag which is how I ended up looking at this site. The airline retro bags are my favorite products in this site. I miss those bags. I remember when they were very popular during the 1970's. Inretro sells airline flight bags, hostess bags, retro print bags, cool mod bags, retro sport bags, retro travel bags, retro shopping bags, funky sensations, purses & wallets. Check the "info" button for more groovy stuff. They are also supposed to have new items coming in the near future.

Inretro
http://www.inretro.net/

Generations Of Soccer

The Soccer Ball World gives information about the history of balls for the baseball. It has information about the ball construction and design, history, physics, how to take care of the soccer ball and explanations about the BAR, PSI and LBS and more. This site also sells soccer balls and custom balls.

Also, presentws in this site is the first soccer ball. In 1936 Charles Goodyear's patented the vulcanized rubber. In 1855 he designed and built the first vulcanized rubber soccer ball. Its shape was similar to today's basketball. It is the oldest soccer ball.You can see pictures of it. Later a man named, James Naismith patented the game of basketball. The first basket ball game was played with the soccer ball!! How about that?!

Regarding the soccer balls above. The modern ball is a 2006 blue/gray star ball. The grey ball that with the laces is from 1910. The orange ball that looks like a basketball is from 1950. The last one at the bottom that doesn't look much like a ball is from 1950. Those white balls were made for the spectators to see the ball during floodlight. But it was already used back in 1892 but not officially.

You can find more specific information about the early balls under the history category.If you don't know what vulcanized is, I looked up at dictionary.com:

1. to treat (rubber) with sulfur and heat, thereby imparting strength, greater elasticity, durability, etc.

2. to subject (a substance other than rubber) to some analogous process, as to harden it.

The Soccer Ball World
http://www.soccerballworld.com/

Blog - Pass Your Driving Test

The Pass Your Driving Test blog is about topics that are related to driving such as the California DUI punishment, first time driving stories, cleaning the car, police, driving test stories, weather, driving in the rain, how to get a Dutch driver's license and much more.

Blog - Pass Your Driving Test
http://pass-your-driving-test.blogspot.com/

Aerial History In Connecticut

If you want to learn more about Aerial history, I recommend checking out the Connecticut University Library. This one is focused on the aerial history in Connecticut. They have impressive photographs. There are also many great links in Google.

Connecticut University Library - History of Aerial Photography in Connecticut
http://www.cslib.org/AERIALS/Aerialshist.htm

What Do Hot-Air Balloons, Kites, Rockets & Pigeons Have In Common?

The Professional Aerial Photographers Association has an excellent page for the history of aerial photography. It all started in 1855 when the French photographer and balloonist, Gaspar Felix Tournachon, also known as Nadar, patented his idea for using the aerial photographs in map making and surveying. Three years later he took an aerial shot of a French village called Petit-Becetre. He took the shot from a tethered hot air balloon that was 80 meters above the ground. However, this photograph among other early photographs from Nadar didn't survive. Today the only earliest photograph that is still in existence is a James Wallace Black's 1860 image of Boston from a hot-air balloon. When it wasn't necessary to carry heavy equipment anymore, due to advancement of the dry plate process, Triboulet took the first photo from a free flight balloon in 1879 of Paris.

As you continue reading more about the history of aerial photography, you'll read about further methods of the aerial history from the 19th century throughout the 20th century. The other methods were kites, pigeons, rockets and at last the airplanes. The aerial photography was used first for military purposes. After the war, for a successful business purposes and for private use.

The images above were taken by a pigeon. As a matter of fact, you can see the wings on the top left image. The pigeon carry a tiny breast-mounted camera that was developed by Julius Neubranner in 1903. These Bavarian Pigeons use the camera largely for the military use. The birds were introduce at the 1909 Dresden International Photographic Exhibition that also had the birds' popular aerial photos postcards that depicted the aerial shots of the exhibition.

PAPA - History of Aerial Photography
http://www.papainternational.org/history.html

More Skooters At Historical Glen Echo Park

Here is another one. A site called Glen Echo Park - The Bumper Car Pavilion. The historical Echo Park is located in Washington DC by the Potomac. What we are seeing here in this url are photos of the bumper cars and the exterior of the Pavilion from the park's heydays. Most of the pictures are from the first half of the 20th century starting in the 1920s. It doesn't show every decade nor every single year (there are no photos from the 50's and the 70's). The last photos are from the early 1980's. It's not an extensive collection and not all photos show the cars. Some show the exteriors outside the Pavilion. Originally it had a different name. The original name for the pavilion was "The Skooter" to "Dodgem" and Finally to the Bumper Car Pavilion.

Glen Echo Park - The Bumper Car Pavilion
http://www.nps.gov/archive/glec/bcar/index.html

The Dodgems & The Skooters

So far this is the best site that I've been able to find so far about the bumper cars. They are also called skooters (no typo here) and dodgems. Those are the little mini cars that you see in amusement parks. You drive in a small arena where you bump into other cars.

I did see a few other sites, but they usually had one or two old photos and not much information. So this site has the most info and most [old] photos that I could find so far.

Lusse Auto Scooters
http://www.lusseautoscooters.com/

The Way Nurses Used To Be

This site belongs to the Mount Saint Vincent University. They present their online project called "Nursing History Digitization Project - Nursing Education in Nova Scotia".

A short excerpt from the introduction (see Home page) explains the purpose of this project: "This site, which was developed by the Mount Saint Vincent University Archives, explores the history of nursing education in Nova Scotia from 1890, when the Victoria General Hospital established the first nursing school in Nova Scotia, to the late twentieth century. "

If you look at the left column, you'll see that the nursing history project is divided into 8 sub categories. Personally, I liked them all, but mostly the Male Nurses, Racial Exclusion, and the Hospital Based Nursing Programs. A well site.

The images above are called "Graduation Class 1899" (with two male nurses), and "Student Nurses Attending a Class" from the 1940s.

Nursing History Digitization Project
http://www.msvu.ca/library/archives/nhdp/history.htm