The Amazing History of Toothpick

The Amazing History of Toothpick

   4:25 AM       Journel Cabrillos

---

Who would have thought something as simple as a wooden stick was commercialized by someone who made vast wealth for it?

Toothpicks from a Shake-a-pick Dispenser

The humble toothpick, a material specifically designed to, well, pick up food stuck between your teeth (but there are other uses to it too), is in every restaurant, eatery, or house today. What started this journey of this simple product and who pioneered on this business?

A Portrait of Forster from a Blogpost (The Invisible Woman by Claire Tomalin in film and biography: An impression of Victorianism )

Throughout the entire history, people have been using toothpicks strictly for personal use. They used silvers of wood, bones, quills, etc. Up until the 1860's no one has ever had the slightest idea that money can be made by selling this material. Charles Forster of Strong, Maine, once on a trip to South America, saw natives pick their teeth using wood. He then handcrafted his own toothpick and brought samples back in his homeland.

But then, how could Forster make good fortune from something that can be easily made, used once, and then discarded? Being a marketing genius, he devised a strategy to get customers to recognize the product.He began in small retail stores. When he couldn't place his product in the stores, he would hire people to ask for toothpicks in the store. The store retailers naturally rejected their customers' requests, and then realized what a great product a toothpick was. Forster finally penetrated into the retail stores but that's not the end. He would still hire people to buy a box of toothpicks and then those people returned the boxes to Forster who then resold to the retailers, thus reinforcing the "demand" for toothpicks. By that time, the retailers were now prepared to advertise the new product to real, un-hired customers.

Forster did the same strategy on restaurants which quickly rose the toothpicks' popularity, because people who dined in wouldn't have to bring their own or wait to be at home to get rid of the food in their teeth, or better yet, use their own tongue.

Several years later, the toothpick became so popular that it did not just serve its intended purpose but also as a status symbol. Chewing toothpicks became fashionable among well-to-do men, followed by the chewing of toothpicks by women. at that time chewing toothpick indicated that they had just eaten in a fine dining area.

Finally, the first machine that mass produced toothpicks was patented by Silas Noble, and J.P. Cooley, of Massachusetts. And from then on, one can never finish a meaty meal without a toothpick on the table.

Read More

Wage Calculator using VB.Net 2010

Wage Calculator using VB.Net 2010

   12:15 AM       Journel Cabrillos

---

Wage Calculator GUI running under Windows 7 64-bit OS

The Wage Calculator is my first program (in publish) besides from the basic Hello World Print. The program was written under VB.Net 2010 and runs at any Operating System that supports .Net Framework Architecture (Windows Operating Systems and Linux Kernel using Wine).

The program consists of two GroupBox that incorporates the input and output, respectively. The program runs simply by plugging in your annual input which produces an output of Monthly, Weekly and Daily Wage Income. The silver lining of this working principle is describe from the below's source code:

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles BtGenerate.Click

        userwage = BxUserwage.Text
        Monthly.Text = "$" & Math.Round(userwage / 12, 2)
        Weekly.Text = "$" & Math.Round(userwage / 52, 2)
        Daily.Text = "$" & Math.Round(userwage / 365.25, 2)
        If (userwage = "0") Then
            MsgBox("Please input value higher then zero")

        End If
    End Sub

Read More

The ‘Plague-Infested Medieval Europe’ as an Epitome of Hazard Evolving to Disaster

The ‘Plague-Infested Medieval Europe’ as an Epitome of Hazard Evolving to Disaster

   2:10 AM       Journel Cabrillos

---

Painting depicting the Black Death's Havoc | Photo from National Interest

The Black Plague/The Great Plague/The Black Death is commonly referred to the outbreak of the Bubonic Plague that struck the Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean area ranging from 1347 to 1351.

It is the first thing that came into my mind after going through the Classics of Camus and Boccaccio in which the aforementioned event was the top of the bill.

The Black Plague on its intensity exterminated a quarter to a third of Europe’s Population. It is so invasive that I myself liken it as genocide having its full capacity to set back human advancement.

In general sense, The Black Death was thought to have originated in Central Asia, where it travelled across Silk Road; and it was carried by fleas which struck to the rodents which were often transported on merchant ships. This transported it to Europe where it would wreak havoc.

If we’re going to weigh against the present versus the medieval times, the plague would probably have much lesser mortality rate which is directly comparable to having contacted with a tetanoid bacterium.

Particularly, during the first wave of the plague, several people had resistance to the infection. As the plague swept through Europe repeatedly it only intends to kill off people with low resistance leaving those who had better immunity invulnerable, this reduce the impact of later outbreak to some extent. Thus, the Plague started as just a mere hazard.

How does it evolved to a disaster costing a death toll of two billion lives? 

Well simple! Taking to account the sociological and cultural aspect of the Medieval Society in which it was only maneuvered by a single dominion, The Catholic Church. Most of the people adhered to the hegemonic ideology of monasticism. The way of life as presented by monks and nuns, in which they withdraw entirely or in part from society to devote themselves to prayer, solitude, and contemplation. It is as if that people must have been annihilated by fear and dread searching for explanations: Did this plague come from God? Or the Devil? This ‘mythos’ leaved the medical technology underdeveloped making the aftermath accentuated. Also this irrational belief drawn the Science’s prosper idled. The dormant field was replaced by priests and spiritual faith healing was rampant. Other priests also exploited this phenomenon to advance their stature in the town by suggesting that the plague was an act of God punishing the citizen’s sinful nature.

Other contributing factor was the so-called “Little Ice Age” which leads to a great famine during those times.

By any measure taken, the Black Death was world-shattering and shows how even the smallest of things, the microbial world, can at times steer the course of human civilization.

Read More