[Note: All posts in this blog are emails received by me from correspondents around the world. The privacy of the source is protected. So feel free to send me whatever you think is worth sharing.]
The name Scotch Tape actually resulted from an ethnic slur foisted upon manufacturers of the tape—although the product does not have any connection with Scotland or the Scottish.
In 1925, the automobile industry, eager to satisfy American's craving for two-tone cars, had difficulty making a clean, sharp edge where one color met another. Richard Drew, a laboratory employee primarily involved with abrasives used to make sandpaper at the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (better known as 3M), developed a two-inch wide strip of paper tape coated with a rubber-based adhesive. To cut costs, the tape was coated with only a strip of glue one-quarter inch wide along the edges, instead of covering the entire two-inch width. Unfortunately, the tape failed to hold properly, and the painters purportedly told the 3M salesmen to "Take this tape back to those Scotch bosses of yours and tell them to put adhesive all over the tape, not just on the edges." The 3M company complied, but when the salesman returned to the automobile paintshop, a painter derogatorily asked him if he was still selling that "Scotch" tape, launching a tradename based on an ethnic slur denoting stinginess. The name, like the improved tape, stuck.
In 1929, the Flaxlinum Company asked 3M to develop a water- and odor-proof tape to seal the wrapping on insulation slabs in railroad refrigerator cars. Drew coated Du Pont's new moisture-proof cellophane with a rubber-based adhesive, which, while not strong enough for insulation slabs, was marketed as Scotch Tape to the trade as "the only natural, transparent, quick seal for 'Cellophane.'"
After cows ate the resin-coated fabric on the rudder section of a 1946 Taylor craft airplane, the plane's owner, Edward Bridwell, used Scotch Tape to repair it.
Ornithologists have used Scotch Tape to cover cracks in the soft shells of fertilized pigeon eggs, allowing the eggs to hatch.
Landlords in Bangkok, Thailand, have used Scotch Tape to repair cracks in the walls of tenants' apartments.
Because the end of Scotch Tape tends to stick to the roll, camouflaged by its transparency, John A. Borden, a 3M sales manager, invented the tape dispenser with a ledge to keep the end of tape away from the roll and incorporating a serrated edge to cut the tape.
During the Depression, banks first used Scotch Tape to mend torn currency.
During World War II, 3M stopped selling Scotch Tape to civilians because the military wanted it all. At least one American munitions factory used transparent tape as a conveyor belt to move bullets.
During World War II, England's Ministry of Home Defense used more than ten million yards on windows to minimize flying glass during air raids.
In 1961, 3M engineers perfected the tape so it would never yellow or ooze adhesive. Scotch Magic Transparent Tape, with its matte finish backing, disappears when applied. It's water resistant and you can write on it.
Scotch Tape has been used as an anti-corrosive shield on the Goodyear Blimp.
The Scottish tartans used to designate Scotch Tape were exclusively designed for the 3M Company by New York color consultant Arthur Allen in the 1940s.
Scotch Tape, the best selling tape of any kind in the world, is found in virtually every home and office in the United States.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Credit Card trivia
[Note: All posts in this blog are emails received by me from correspondents around the world. The privacy of the source is protected. So feel free to send me whatever you think is worth sharing.]
MasterCard was originally called MasterCharge. The word master implies predominance, while the word charge means to purchase on credit
In the 1930s, oil companies offered motorists a "courtesy card" to use service stations across the country, and department stores began offering customers "revolving credit."
In 1950, tarpaulin salesman Francis Xavier McNamara founded Diners Club, the first multipurpose credit card offered by an intermediary between the vendor and buyer, popularized by an article in The New Yorker's "Talk of the Town."
The Franklin National Bank in New York offered the first bank credit card in 1951. Numerous credit cards issued by independent banks quickly followed, but, by the mid-1960s,
MasterCharge and BankAmericard (renamed MasterCard and Visa in the 1970s) dominated the field.
An average of 200 million credit cards are used every day in the United States.
Americans charged a total of $480 billion on credit cards in 1990. That's equal to $1 million every minute.
The typical American credit card holder carries nine credit cards and owes over $2,000.
In 1983, MasterCard became the first credit card company to introduce the laser hologram on its cards to combat counterfeiting.
In 1988, MasterCard became the first payment card issued in the People's Republic of China.
In 1990, Citibank, the largest issuer of credit cards in America, made over $610 million in profits on its Visa and MasterCard operations, according to Spencer Nilson, editor of The Nilson Report, an industry newsletter.
According to Consumer Reports, 80 percent of all purchasing in the United States is done on credit.
The magnetic strip on a MasterCard holds two or three tracks of information. The first track contains your name, expiration date, card type, and data such as your PIN and credit limit. The second track holds your account number, start date, and discretionary data. The third track holds information for ATM use.
The first six digits of your account number indicate the company that issued the card. The second four digits identify region and branch information. The last five digits are your account number (the last digit being a check number for security purposes).
As of 1994, there were 238.9 million MasterCards in circulation worldwide. 135.6 million of those were held by Americans.
MasterCard was originally called MasterCharge. The word master implies predominance, while the word charge means to purchase on credit
In the 1930s, oil companies offered motorists a "courtesy card" to use service stations across the country, and department stores began offering customers "revolving credit."
In 1950, tarpaulin salesman Francis Xavier McNamara founded Diners Club, the first multipurpose credit card offered by an intermediary between the vendor and buyer, popularized by an article in The New Yorker's "Talk of the Town."
The Franklin National Bank in New York offered the first bank credit card in 1951. Numerous credit cards issued by independent banks quickly followed, but, by the mid-1960s,
MasterCharge and BankAmericard (renamed MasterCard and Visa in the 1970s) dominated the field.
An average of 200 million credit cards are used every day in the United States.
Americans charged a total of $480 billion on credit cards in 1990. That's equal to $1 million every minute.
The typical American credit card holder carries nine credit cards and owes over $2,000.
In 1983, MasterCard became the first credit card company to introduce the laser hologram on its cards to combat counterfeiting.
In 1988, MasterCard became the first payment card issued in the People's Republic of China.
In 1990, Citibank, the largest issuer of credit cards in America, made over $610 million in profits on its Visa and MasterCard operations, according to Spencer Nilson, editor of The Nilson Report, an industry newsletter.
According to Consumer Reports, 80 percent of all purchasing in the United States is done on credit.
The magnetic strip on a MasterCard holds two or three tracks of information. The first track contains your name, expiration date, card type, and data such as your PIN and credit limit. The second track holds your account number, start date, and discretionary data. The third track holds information for ATM use.
The first six digits of your account number indicate the company that issued the card. The second four digits identify region and branch information. The last five digits are your account number (the last digit being a check number for security purposes).
As of 1994, there were 238.9 million MasterCards in circulation worldwide. 135.6 million of those were held by Americans.
"men and female women..." - A true Traveller's Tale from India 1909
[Note: All posts in this blog are emails received by me from correspondents around the world. The privacy of the source is protected. So feel free to send me whatever you think is worth sharing.]
Akhil Chandra Sen wrote this letter in India to the Sahibganj divisional railway office in 1909. It is on display at the Railway Museum in New Delhi. It was also reproduced under the caption "Travelers' Tales" in the Far Eastern Economic Review.
"I am arrive by passenger train Ahmedpur station and my belly is too much swelling with jackfruit. I am therefore went to privy. Just I doing the nuisance that guard making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with lotah in one hand and dhoti in the next when I am fall over and expose all my shocking to man and female women on platform.
"I am got leaved at Ahmedpur station. This too much bad, if passenger go to make dung that dam guard not wait train five minutes for him. I am therefore pray your honor to make big fine on that guard for public sake. Otherwise I am making big report to papers."
Any guesses why this letter was of historic value? It apparently led to introduction of toilets in trains !!
And my point on it is that, never hesitate to do what you want to do. Who knows? It may even change the world around you.
Akhil Chandra Sen wrote this letter in India to the Sahibganj divisional railway office in 1909. It is on display at the Railway Museum in New Delhi. It was also reproduced under the caption "Travelers' Tales" in the Far Eastern Economic Review.
"I am arrive by passenger train Ahmedpur station and my belly is too much swelling with jackfruit. I am therefore went to privy. Just I doing the nuisance that guard making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with lotah in one hand and dhoti in the next when I am fall over and expose all my shocking to man and female women on platform.
"I am got leaved at Ahmedpur station. This too much bad, if passenger go to make dung that dam guard not wait train five minutes for him. I am therefore pray your honor to make big fine on that guard for public sake. Otherwise I am making big report to papers."
Any guesses why this letter was of historic value? It apparently led to introduction of toilets in trains !!
And my point on it is that, never hesitate to do what you want to do. Who knows? It may even change the world around you.
If you like Limericks
[Note: All posts in this blog are emails received by me from correspondents around the world. The privacy of the source is protected. So feel free to send me whatever you think is worth sharing.]
There was a young woman names Bright
Whose speed was much faster than light.
She set out one day
In a relative way,
And returned the previous night.
There was a woman in Riga
Who went for a ride on a Tiger.
There returned from the ride
With the lady inside
And a smile on the face of the tiger.
There was once a farmer from Leeds,
Who ate six packets of seeds.
It soon came to pass,
He was covered with grass,
And he couldn't sit down for the weeds!
A flea and a fly in a flue
Were imprisoned, so what could they do?
Said the fly, "let us flee!"
"Let us fly!", said the flea.
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
A mouse in her room woke Miss Dowd.
She was frightened, it must be allowed.
Soon a happy thought hit her
To scare off the critter.
She sat up in bed and meowed.
As a beauty, I'm not a great star.
There are others more handsome by far.
But my face, I don't mind it,
Because I am behind it.
It's the folks in the front that I jar.
There was once a fellow named Dave
Who lived in a miniature cave.
He said I admit
I can't stand or sit
But think of the money I save.
There was a young fisher named Fischer
Who fished for a fish in a fissure.
The fish with a grin
Pulled the fisherman in.
Now they're fishing the fissure for Fischer.
There was a young woman names Bright
Whose speed was much faster than light.
She set out one day
In a relative way,
And returned the previous night.
There was a woman in Riga
Who went for a ride on a Tiger.
There returned from the ride
With the lady inside
And a smile on the face of the tiger.
There was once a farmer from Leeds,
Who ate six packets of seeds.
It soon came to pass,
He was covered with grass,
And he couldn't sit down for the weeds!
A flea and a fly in a flue
Were imprisoned, so what could they do?
Said the fly, "let us flee!"
"Let us fly!", said the flea.
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
A mouse in her room woke Miss Dowd.
She was frightened, it must be allowed.
Soon a happy thought hit her
To scare off the critter.
She sat up in bed and meowed.
As a beauty, I'm not a great star.
There are others more handsome by far.
But my face, I don't mind it,
Because I am behind it.
It's the folks in the front that I jar.
There was once a fellow named Dave
Who lived in a miniature cave.
He said I admit
I can't stand or sit
But think of the money I save.
There was a young fisher named Fischer
Who fished for a fish in a fissure.
The fish with a grin
Pulled the fisherman in.
Now they're fishing the fissure for Fischer.
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