Wander Lord

Interesting on art, nature, people, history

Category Archive: History

Scientology – what is it?

Scientology – what is it?

Scientology – what is it?

Scientology is a complex set of beliefs that combines a religious and church-like structure with a set of unique techniques for personal and spiritual development. It is probably the most widespread and well-known New Religious Movement founded in the 20th Century.
Many critics don’t consider Scientology to be a religion at all.
Scientology was founded by Layafette Ron Hubbard (1911 – 86), a science-fiction writer. Hubbard possessed two doctorate degrees, was a naval commander and war hero and was a noted international explorer. But critics claim that the degrees were of the mail-order variety; he was only ever in command of a small naval escort vessel and tales of his exploring exploits were much exaggerated.
Scientology began as Dianetics – Hubbard’s theory of the mind and mental health. It was published in 1950 in the periodical Amazing Science Fiction.
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Mysterious Ninja

Mysterious Ninja

Mysterious Ninja

The word ‘Ninja’ tends to conjure up images of black-clad assassins, moving silently through the night to bring pointy death to their unsuspecting victims.
Probably around 500-700AD, Nonuse was developed in Japan. Translated as ‘the art of stealth’, Nonuse was first practised in mystic form as a system of enlightenment and self-improvement. Nonuse was strictly nonviolent movement.
The word Ninja came into use later, and is based on the root nin, which is translated variously as ‘perseverance’, ‘stealth’, or ‘patience’, depending on context; and the Japanese kanji is also transliterated ‘shinobi’. Ninjutsu was the collective term for the Ninja fighting arts.
The true Ninja first began to appear with the rise of the military class in the Heian period (794-1185). Later landowners began to hire Samurai to protect their property and increase their power.
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Mesopotamia. Ancient world history

Mesopotamia. Ancient world history

Mesopotamia. Ancient world history

Mesopotamia, “The Land Between Two Rivers,” lay in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The rivers provided fish and birds as sources of food. The water from the rivers allowed the fertile land of Mesopotamia to produce crops.
Sumerian civilization dominated Mesopotamia from 3500 B.C.E. to 2000 B.C.E. It was replaced by Babylonia, then Assyria.
Cities were vital for trade, handicraft production, government, and military defense. The cities collected the wealth of their outlying agricultural regions: barley, dates, wheat, vegetables, and livestock.
Each city had its own god. The central structure in the fortified city was the temple to the city’s god and protector. City administration was initially by assembly, but by 3000 B.C.E., kings ruled the city-states. The king ruled over the city and its hinterlands.
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History of gymnastics

History of gymnastics

History of gymnastics


Gymnastics, as an activity, exists for more than two thousand years in one form or another, from the ancient Greek Olympics and Roman ceremony to today’s modern meets.
As an organized and truly competitive sport, gymnastics was introduced in the mid-1800s. Amateur associations gathered together by the late nineteenth century and began to have their own championships.
Gymnastics made its debut in 1896, at the first international Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Vaulting, parallel bars, pommel horse, and rings events for men were included in the Olympic tournament. The first women’s Olympic gymnastics events were held in 1928.
In order to become successful at the sport of gymnastics, you will have to get into a routine of practice.
As a sport rhythmic gymnastics was formed in the Soviet Union in the postwar period. After the October revolution rhythm and plastic dance became very popular. So, plastic Dance Studio was established in 1923 in Petrograd. The teachers used the basics of “aesthetic gymnastics” by François Delsarte, “rhythmic gymnastics” by Emile Jacques Del Crozat and “free dance” by Isadora Duncan.
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First railroads

First railroads

First railroads

A railroad, also called a railway, is a type of land transportation. A vehicle called a locomotive pulls most trains. A locomotive can be powered by an engine that burns diesel fuel or by electricity.
Trains can be divided into two types: passenger and freight. The speed of many large passenger trains is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) an hour. However, some trains in Europe and Japan can go more than 180 miles (290 kilometers) an hour.
Before trains and locomotives people used horses to pull carts along tracks. In 1803, Richard Trevithick from Britain built a locomotive that ran on steam power. The railway cars were quite like stagecoaches except that they ran on wooden rails. Locomotives which breathed out steam and flame had taken the places of horses. The engine of those days had four light driving wheels and a tall smokestack. The wood, which was used for fuel, and also the water, were carried on a small platform behind the engine. As the engine had no engineer had to drive facing the winds and storms. For that reason, the locomotives were not always used in rainy weather.
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History of chopsticks

History of chopsticks

History of chopsticks


In much of Asia food is usually eaten with chopsticks. Chopsticks are two long, thin, usually tapered, pieces of wood. Bamboo is the most common material, but they are also be made of various types of wood, as well as plastic, porcelain, animal bone, ivory, metal, coral, agate, and jade.
Royal families and aristocrats preferred silver ones, believing in the metal’s capacity to detect arsenic.
Today chopsticks can be made of coral, agate, jade, silk, plastic, horn, porcelain, animal bone, and stainless steel. Truly elegant chopsticks might be made of gold and embossed in silver with Chinese calligraphy.
Chopsticks may be totally smooth or carved or modeled ripples. Silver or gold paint can be used to give them a rough texture. In Thailand, wood is often elaborately carved into chopsticks. The ends of chopsticks can be rounded or squared, while the tips can be blunt or sharp.
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History of clothes washer

History of clothes washer

History of clothes washer

In the good old days, clothes were washed in a stream, by pounding the garments with rocks, stones and heavy sticks without any soap.
Fire added heat to the laundry mix, when clothes were washed in tubs with water heated over open fires and soap made at home from a combination of lye and ashes. Clothes were scrubbed on a corrugated board, wrung by hand, rinsed, then wrung again, and draped on lines or bushes to dry.
In 1797, a washboard was created. And already in 1851, American James King patented a washing machine with a rotating drum, which was very similar to the modern.
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