Friday, July 24, 2009

What about my...???

Snow Cone: It turns out that snow cones have been around for a long time. Some sources say that the Japanese used hand carving devices to make snow cones as early as 794.

Beach Umbrella: Various umbrella-like devices made their debut in the ancient societies of Persia, Greece, Rome, and Egypt. The term umbrella evolved from the Latin word umbra, which means "shaded." Colloquially, an umbrella may also be referred to as a parasol, a mush, a brolly, a bumbershoot, and a gamp. (Gamp, my personal favorite, comes from an umbrella carrying character in the Charles Dicken's novel Martin Chuzzlewit named Mrs. Gamp.)

Sunscreen: The first sunscreen was developed sometime around 1940s. Today, when buying suncreens, you can choose between products with different types of UV filters, of which there are three types:
a. Organic chemical compounds, like oxybenzone, absorb UV light.
b. Inorganic particulates, like titanium dioxide or zinc oxide, that scatter, reflect, and absorb UV light.
c. Organic particulates, like Tinosorb M, that mostly absorb light, but that also reflect and absorb a fraction of UV rays.

Swimming Suit: Again, swimming costumes have been around forever and swimwear fashion has evolved with the ages. Notably, in the Victorian era, swimmers concealed their bodies not only with a suit but also wore bathing machines into the water. What, you might wonder, is a bathing machine? Basically it's a wheeled cart covered by canvas that swimmers, especially women, would enter to roll themselves out in the the sea in so that they could protect their modesty while they enjoyed the water. Wow. How times change.

Frisbee: Hungry college kids, apparently, are responsible for the creation of the Frisbee. When they were finished eating the Frisbie Pies that were sold to several New England college cafeterias during the late 1800s/early 1900s, they discovered that tossing the empty pans also proved to be a good way to wile away time between classes.

Above image from GlamourSplash: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxSnTG2t6gFwl-qeh0OY3a_oi0SdiFuLcu1dNaFwtXKUH4riHTNG8SHPNSZN1Nw7PiKUVK_TIZAEkQwaW-FINLNaLiSiZ6u06FFtOvkE8DtPs8NcF6bsud0xSjCcfQKdsl2URAVG1gLJI/s400/jul11928vogue+hh.jpg

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