Great Inventions part 4

Great Inventions part 4

Steam engine:

It's a heat engine that uses steam as working fluid to perform mechanical work. The first steam engine was aeolipile (also known as Heron's Engine) created in the 1st century AD  by Heron from Alexandria. His invention was a cupola rotated by vapor stream from bent metal tubes. It didn't have any practical use back then but in fact it was a complete model of steam turbine. In 1690 Denis Papin created a cylinder with piston and little amount of water on the bottom, which was heated to pull up the piston and after removing the source of heat steam was condensing and the piston was moving. Due to too low thermal efficiency his machine couldn't work properly but the year of his invention is considered as the birth of steam engine. The first useful steam- powered machine was a pump for dewatering mines created by Thomas Savery in 1690. His invention had the power of 1 horsepower (750W). In 1712 Thomas Newcomen improved Savery's machine to piston atmospheric steam engine. In 1883 Carl Lavar created action turbine and year later Charles Parsons  created reaction engine.

Great Inventions part 3

Great Inventions part 3
"Four Great Inventions" (part 2/2)

Papermaking:
Paper was used already in about 2nd century BC for wrapping and padding, but paper mass production was invented in about 100 AD. First sheets of paper were made of mulberry and other bast fibres, fishnets, old rugs and hemp waste. Using paper as writing medium was widespread by 3rd century AD. By 6th century paper in China paper sheets begun to be used as a toilet paper and one century later it was folded and sewn to create bags for tea. The paper currency was first developed in 7th century but it wasn't really used until 11th century.

Printing:
Woodblock printing was first found in China is about 220 AD and futher advanced by 11th century. In China was also invented movable type of printing but because of the number of chinese characters it wasn't that popular. Creating a book by using printing method was long and tedious work due to the need to assemble thousands of individual characters but if the same book must have been be copied thousand times it became eventually more efficient than rewriting.

According to the comment below the first part of "Four Great Inventions" these inventions are so important to China because none of them were reinvented in Europe but they were brought there from China. Of course they were very much improved in Europe (like modern dry compass and western printing press).

Great Inventions part 2

Great Inventions part 2
Today let's look at "Four Great Inventions". (part 1/2)

This term describes four inventions from ancient China that are celebrated in Chinese culture for their historical significance and as symbols of ancient China's advanced science and technology.

Compass:
The first one is Compass. Invented in about 200 BC during the Han Dynasty but it wasn't used for navigation but for geomancy and fortune-telling. The earliest reference of usage for navigation comes from the book dated to 1040-1044. Initially the lodestone compass was a magnetic needle floating in a bowl of water(known as "wet compass").

Gunpowder:
It was discovered in 9th century by Chinese alchemists searching for an elixir of immortality. During this time the gunpowder formulas' nitrate level was between 27% and 50%. By the end of 12th century formulas was improved and capable to be used in the earliest granades.
In 1280 there was a fire in a bomb store in arsenal in Weiyang which caused  great explosion where 100 guards were killed instantly and wooden pillars were blown to the sky for a distance of 3 km away.
In 14th century the quality of gunpowder allowed to produce first gunpowder powered guns.


Phrases from "Ted":
Baloney - something not true
Example: I think that UFO is utter baloney.
Split-second - very short period of time
Example: They time I had to make a split-second decision.

Great Inventions part 1

Great inventions part 1
Let's start with something that certainly nobody expected - Fire and Wheel.

The discovery how to ignite, keep and control fire is dated back 75 thousand years ago. Prehistoric people used it to cook their meals and create tools. The first methods to ignite the fire were bow drill also called fire drill, hand drill and fire plough - these are methods based on friction. Also the most primal method was striking a stone onto another stone - this is called percussion method.
This discovery is probably the most important of all. Becouse of this people could craft more advansed tool or prepare better food which contributed in human evolution. This is also the first thing that distinguish human from animals.

Now lets look at the Wheel. It was invented in Mesopotamia about 3500 BCE and used to build first wagons (4 wheels, 2 axles) - used for transport and a potter's wheel - first machine based on rotary motion which made the production of dishes way easier and contributed in creation of the first profession - a potter. Later people invented more machinse based on wheel such as lathe, reel, pulley, rotary quern and gear. Wheel unlike fire mayby not help in human evolution in a biolgical terms but surly accerelated the evolution in technology.

Moon formation theory phrases:
To break sth off - to sepatate a part of sth from the biggest part
Example: Big iceberg broke off the ice shelf at the north pole.
To gaze up - to stare at sth above
Example: Many people love to gaze up at the stars.
Debris - fragments, remains of sth
Example: The Moon is probably made of the debris of the Earth.

House M. D. s01e10 "Histories"

In today's episode of House M. D. Dr Wilson asked House to take a case of homeless woman. Dr Foreman was against it becouse he thought that the patient is simulating to get some free meals. The thing that House found interesting is why Wilson wanted to treat the woman and why Forman didn't. House decided to look at their families history to find some clues. When Wilson found out what House did he called him "limping twerp" but then he told him about his brother who left his family and Wilson never saw him again and that's why he wanted to treat random homeless pearson.
Treating the patient wasn't an easy job becouse there was no family records and information about woman due to her homelessness. In the end House figured out that she has a very rare disease that occurred only 10 times in last 20 years and unfortunately it's incurable.
Meanwhile Dr Cuddy forced a house to teach 2 medical students about patient histories. In brief at first they thought that House is a jerk then they saw how intelligent and wise he is and eventually they described him as a brilliant jerk.
Phrase: "Mazel tov" - this phrase was adapted from hebrew and it means "happiness" or "congratulations".

House M. D. s01e09 "DNR"

In this week's episode House took the case of a musician with paralyzed legs who suddenly got problems with breathing. House wasn't interested in pneumonia - the reason why the patient came to the hospital but in paralysis which occurred half year before. Musician's personal doctor said that it was an uncurable disease called ALS, but House wanted to check it himself. He got in trouble becouse when the patient got lung obstruction House reanimated him despite the fact that musician signed the DNR (which is a phrase of the week) - "Do not resuscitate" document. He sued House becouse he preferred to die for lung obstruction rather than for long agony caused by ALS. In court House persuaded the judge, using Sixth Amendment Right which says that he has right to meet his prosecutor in court, to prevent the patient to "pull out his plug". This gave House enough time to figure out what the real problem is and cure the patient.
Meanwhile Foreman got job offer from musician's doctor who was Foreman's old friend. Eventually House persuaded him to stay by telling him that maybe his friend forgives him his faults but House abuses Foreman becouse he care what he does.

House M. D. s01e08 "Poison"

This time House's team is trying to cure a teenager who got unconscious during math test. The main problem they have is not a disease but overprotective mother of the patient. She questions all their decisions and diagnoses which almost killed her son. Obviously she thinks that this is House's fault. This is the type of character in film or series I hate most.
In this episode Cameron and Chase note similarity between House and Foreman. Foreman of course tries to prove that they are wrong but he notice that sometimes he act exactly like House and wear the same type of clothes which at the end suprisingly doesn't make him mad.
I also perceived that House is always shown as the wisest and the brightest even if he is wrong. I know that it's necessary to make it rummy (which in Google translator means "interesting") but this is the only thing I don't like in this series.
I didn't noticed any interesting phrase this time. Usually the come from House but in this episode he mostly used irony than idioms.