Rhode Island USA

Posted by Cheap Airfares in Interesting on 03-08-2009

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Everyone is aware that Rhode Island, actually the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, is the smallest state in the USA. But not everyone knows that the state and island that gives it a colloquially abbreviated name are not one and the same.

Indeed, the Rhode Island part of the longest state name in America is unofficially called Aquidneck Island to distinguish from the state as a whole.

Now that’s cleared up, what of Rhode Island? It is the largest of several in Narragansett Bay, with its southern shore overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The area of this well developed island is 117 sq km (45 sq ml) and it is connected to the mainland by three bridges.

The Newport Bridge terminates at Jamestown on nearby Conanicut Island, and thence to the mainland on the western side of the bay. The Mount Hope Bridge in Portsmouth connects the northern side of the island with Bristol. The same area is served by the Sakonnet River Bridge over a narrow saltwater channel to Tiverton. The nearby Stone Bridge was destroyed by Hurricane Carol in 1954. The island is divided into three municipalities: Newport, Middleton and Portsmouth.

The island’s population shrank by a fifth in the 10 years after the US Navy reorganized its major base at Newport in 1973, but is growing again, with over half its area now built over as housing demand increases. But wetland and woodland still occupy a third of the island and there is an active preservation society trying to keep it that way.

After the navy base, the island’s principal source of revenue is tourism. Narragansett Bay is a honeypot for visitors and they come to Rhode Island mainly for the beaches and coastline, enjoying related water activities like sailing, kayaking, sailboarding, diving and fishing.

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The History of Home Lighting

Posted by Cheap Airfares in Interesting on 28-03-2009

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The phenomenon of magnetic and electric effects was studied by ancient Chinese, Greek and Roman historians.

In 1750, Benjamin Franklin, an American writer, tried to collect electrical charges in a kite during a thunderstorm. An Italian scientist and Professor of the University of Pavia made an appreciable step forwards with the discovery of the continuous electric current in 1800 which was named after him, called the Volta Pile. The announcement amazed the scientific world and it was from this basic concept that electric light was later developed.

There were several areas of investigation into the electric light, namely, the carbon arc, the incandescent filament bulb, gaseous discharge lights and chemical light.The carbon arc light was the earliest form of electric illumination.

In 1809 the English chemist Sir Humphrey Davy demonstrated his carbon arc lamp at The Royal Institute in London. His invention known as the electric arc light was not put to widespread use until the 1850s.

The sheer intensity of the light and the need for low voltage electricity prohibited its use in confined space unless the illumination was muted by blinds. It was used for street lighting and for lighthouses, but had largely been discontinued by WW I and replaced by other forms of electricity. However, carbon arc lighting was continued to be used in military applications like search lights on aircraft.

The Incandescent Bulb
The development of the incandescent bulb continued in parallel with that of the are light. In 1865, Hermann Sprengel invented a mercury vacuum pump which allowed a sufficiently high vacuum to be obtained in the bulb for further experiments on the filament to take place. The American, Thomas Edison (1847-1931) - who invented the telegraph — and the Englishman, Joseph Swan (1825-1914) are both credited with having discovered the incandescent filament bulb.

In 1878 Swan heated the filament while evacuating the bulb of its gases, so prolonging its life while Edison achieved 45 hours of illumination from his bulb in 1879. Refinements soon followed: Edison devised the screw-in brass cap and Swan the bayonet fitting. Both were marketing bulbs by the 1880s. A partnership was formed between Swan and Edison, creating the Edison & Swan United Company which later became Ediswan.

In 1881 The Engineer claimed that the first home to be completely lit by electricity was the house of Lord Kelvin, a close friend of Swan. His house in Glasgow had been illuminated by 106 gas lights which were converted to electric lights powered by a dynamo, driven by a gas engine.

In the same year, Sir William Armstrong, engineer and armament manufacturer, lit 45 electric lamps in his famous picturesque Cragside mansion at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which had been designed by Norman Shaw in the early 1870s. The electricity was generated by a water turbine sited 1500 yards (1.3 km) from his home.

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Leather Fashion Accessories - a Fascinating History

Posted by Digital Brands in Interesting on 28-10-2008

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Accessories can be defined as, clothing that is worn and carried , but not the part of the main clothing; which is a supplementary component.

Fashion accessories are decorative items, such as watches, sunglasses, jewelry, gloves, handbags, hats, and belts. Accessories do not only add style and color to an outfit, but they also have practical uses for specific purposes, such as, people use handbags to carry goods, gloves to keep hands warm, mobile covers to protect mobile phones from dust etc.

Leather fashion accessories, ranging from handbags to gloves have been popular for thousand of years for its soft feel and elegant look. Leather was readily available in use, as it resulted in the by-product of hunting. Leather fashion accessories are valued for their appeal and durability.

The leather industry is one of the oldest industries. In prehistoric times, our ancestors used skins of animals to satisfy their basic needs, protect their hands, body and feet.

History of Leather
Leather goods and its fashion accessories have a long history, which started since the Egyptian era. It was the Egyptian men, who were wearing leather pouches and handbags to store their essential bits and pieces needed in their daily life.

In the 1200 B.C., the Greeks were using leather accessories and garments at the time of Homeric heroes, later the use of leather spread throughout the Roman Empire.
Women in the 16th century were carrying ‘sweet bags’, full of perfume and herbs to help cope with tainted smell and men began to wear leather garments with small pockets in them.

The 17th century took a step forward for innovation in leather accessories, men developed modern handbags out of purses and pouches. Handbags were being carrying by both men and women and women handbags were well decorated and hand-stitched.

In the 18th century, using pockets in clothes were very popular among the people; sometimes extremely big pockets were used with the outfit, which in turn began to ruin the very outline of the clothes.

So the plain leather and embroidered handbags become very popular in the 19th Century. The leather handbags manufacturer started to manufacture stylish bags in different sizes and colors; they began to be more fashionable.

The 20th Century, gave birth to several other leather accessories like jackets, key rings etc., along with the leather handbags and women started to use them so often that they became a integral part of style.

When fashion magazines started featuring leather fashion accessories, it helped the leather to be widely popular. Nearly all of the major fashion houses like Prada, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Giorgio Armani, and Versace have come up with their innovative design and stylish look for the leather fashion accessories.

Manufacturing of Leather
Manufacturing leather out of skin is not a single process; it is a combination of four major operations:

• Beamhouse Operations: It is a process of removal of unwanted materials from the hide, such as hair, fleshy tissues etc.
• Tanning: It converts collagen protein of the hide into a stable material, which would be stable under heat and moisture.
• Post Tanning: In the Post Tanning process, leather goes through Neutralize, Dyeing, Drying and Stacking.
• Finishing: It is a process of applying coating on the surface of leather that makes leather more durable, masks defects, improve water resistance and enhance color and appearance.

Resources
Most of leather used today is a by-product of beef industry. Almost 50% of this leather is used to produce shoes, 25% to make clothing, 15% for upholstery and the rest is used to produce accessories.

Fashion leather accessories manufactured by the skin of other animals and reptiles, such as, crocodile, snake, lamb, kangaroo, buffalo and deer are very popular but often limited and protested by Animal Rights Activists and
Organizations.

Conclusion
Now a day’s people prefer accessories made out of leather to those made of artificial materials like Pyroxylin Coated Fabrics. The overwhelming popularity of fashion accessories made of leather is because of its ability to shape it into an uneven look, better durability as compared to the other fabrics and warm feeling.

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