500words

It is a commonly held belief that there are three main categories of precious metals, so-called because of how often one finds them, how much one pay’s for them and whether they are metallic and are borne from the earth’s crust.   Their use and application seem limitless; from art and design to medicine and electronics, it is fascinating to realise that their practical applications extend far beyond the vanity of adornment. In the olden days of 3100 B.C, archaeologists say there is evidence of a gold/silver value ratio to be found in the codes of Menes, a clever Pharaoh and the founder of the  first  Egyptian dynasty, who stated that one part of gold is equal to 'two and one half' parts of silver. This is the earliest indication of a value relationship between gold and silver.   Of all of the metals we deem precious, one could say with a degree of confidence, that is it gold that has extended the deepest and most pervasive influence on our modern lives. The...

Gold is a dense, lustrous, yellow precious metal with the chemical symbol Au. But you already knew that, because gold is everywhere, with a total 197,576 tonnes existing above ground as of 2019. And it’s everywhere because it’s a pretty colour, incredibly malleable, a good conductor of electricity and heat, and is one of the least reactive chemical elements, meaning that it doesn’t tarnish or corrode. Because it has all these characteristics, gold has found hundreds of uses over thousands of years, some of which you’ll be more familiar with than others. Gold jewellery Gold jewellery can be traced back to around 4,400 BC, although there is every chance that it was first crafted and worn earlier than this. Gold jewellery was particularly popular amongst the ancient Egyptians, and some of the world’s most famous and historic gold jewellery was discovered in the tomb of King Tutankhamun, who reigned from 1334-1325BC. Items found in his tomb include necklaces, bracelets, and amulets. Gold l...

 The History of Wedding Rings - Precious Metals  The start of the history of wedding rings is different in different traditions, symbolising betrothal, commitment or an exchange of wealth. Originally, bands would have been made of iron or bronze, with silver and gold rings only for the upper classes. In the 15 th century, rings made of gold and diamond were available only to royalty and nobility. Rings crafted before the Georgian era are incredibly rare and are generally found only in museums.   Georgian era (1714-1830) rings were inspired by Greek designs, shaped with intricate designs and included acorns, flowers, doves and other aesthetic and detailed metalwork. They were normally 18 karat gold, with 10, 15, or 22 karat gold also sometimes used, although the lesser karat golds were not technically legal to sell. Before 1750, all rings were created by hand-crafted alloys and sand-casting methods. However, the creation of machines which could cut out the hard work w...

Precious metals have been used for medicinal purposes for a very, very long time.   They have been used to cure and alleviate the symptoms of illness, to prevent disease and to fight infection.   Gold – the past Gold based medicines are believed to have been used in China and Arabia from about 2500 BC while graves excavated in Italy, dating from 1000 BC to 400 BC, contained skulls with gold bridgework. Constantinus Africanus, who taught at the medical school in Salerno in the 11 th century, said: “ Gold is more temperate than the other metals.  It has the property of relieving a defective stomach and comforts the fearful and those who suffer from a heart complaint… it is effective against melancholy and baldness .” Cleopatra is thought to have slept in a gold mask to enhance her beauty and Diane de Poitiers, mistress of King Henry II of France, drank so much gold that her hair, when analysed by modern scientists, contained more than 500 times the normal amount of th...

Treasure Binding A treasure bind ing is a rich luxurious book-cover using precious metals, including gold and silver, and jewels.   The binding technique is the same as for a leather binding, with sections of the book stitched together and bound to wooden boards.   Treasure Bindings appear to have existed since antiquity although there are no extant examples and Early Medieval ones are rare.   They became used less towards the end of the Middle Ages, but a few continued to be produced, mostly for the Eastern Orthodox church.   These bindings were generally used on illuminated manuscripts and gospels designed for use in the church rather than the library. Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram c870 The majority of Treasure Bindings have been lost as the valuable metals and jewels were removed by looters or by owners in need of cash.   The Book of Kells lost its cover after a robbery and the fate of the cover of the Lindisfarne Gospels is unknown.   Book furniture, ...

  A precious metal is defined as a rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical element of high economic value – the list currently includes gold, silver, and the platinum group of metals – the most common of which are Palladium and Rhodium.   These are the metals historically defined as having higher prices than other metals.     At current values Palladium is the most expensive, and most rare. A collision between two neutron stars around 1000 light years from Earth’s current location gave the earth its most commercially precious metals – gold, silver, plutonium and uranium.   It was this discovery by scientists from Columbia University that determined that everyone on earth contains some of these elements. How much is there of these metals?   We only know what can be understood as being available for extraction with current technology – we don’t know how much is in the earth’s deeper core.   Current thinking is that there is around 400 billio...

There are seven types of social media: social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter, social review sites like TripAdvisor, image sharing sites such as Instagram, video hosting sites, for example YouTube, community blogs like 500wordsevery2weeks, discussion sites like Reddit, and sharing economy sites which would include the likes of AirBnB. We have probably all used multiple social media sites already today. The first recognisable social media site, SixDegrees.com, was created in 1997. The site was based on the six degrees of separation theory, and users could see their degree of connection to all other users on the site. Throughout the early and mid-2000s the number of social media sites increased exponentially, and by 2015 research showed that the world spent 22% of their time online using social media. Instagram was launched in 2010, and in June 2018 it reached one billion active monthly users, who on average browse for 53 minutes a day. These statistics explain why the si...

  Idols - Ganesha   Ganesha or Ganesh (also called Ganapati or Vinayaka) is one of the most well-known and most loved deities in the Hindu pantheon. He is well recognised with his elephant head and pot-belly, often depicted as holding a bowl of round sweet treats, called modakapātra. His vehicle is a large Indian bandicoot rat, symbolising his ability to overcome anything to get what he wants. Ganesha is known to be the remover of obstacles. Ganesha is revered as the parton of arts and sciences, and the deva* of intellect and wisdom. *Deva: ‘heavenly, divine, anything of excellence,’ and a term for a deity in Hinduism. Traditionally, Ganesha is regarded as the child of Shiva and Parvati, however various myths give different versions of the details of his birth. In some, he was created by Parvati, in others by both Shiva and Parvati. In one, Ganesha mysteriously appeared and was found by Shiva and Parvati. A final myth states that he was birthed by the elephant headed god...

  Dwellings - One city nine towns   Shanghai, located on the Southern estuary of the Yangzte River, recorded population of 24.28 million as of 2019, and holds the title for the most populous urban area in China. Striving for decentralisation of the city, a strategic plan was born in 2001, named the ‘one city nine towns’ project. Nine new town centres were proposed, lying in the surrounding areas of Shanghai, and interestingly, were themed on cities from varying geographical regions. To reduce pressure on the centre of Shanghai and prevent daily commutes, each town was planned to be ‘24-hour towns,’ providing job opportunities, services and residential areas housing 50,000 – 100,000 people each. The idea of having themed towns was to ensure that each one was its own individual entity. The towns to be developed were: Gaoqiao (Holland), Fengcheng (Spain), Pujiang (Italy), Anting (Germany), Songjiang (England), Luodian (North European), Fengjing (North America), and Zhoujiaj...

  Francis Bacon was an English scholar and philosopher who lived from 1561 To 1626. Amongst other things he wrote and thought about thinking.   I was Googling “idols” and Francis Bacon’s Four Idols kept cropping up, so I read a bit about them and it seemed very difficult and complicated. Then I kept on reading about them and actually it’s not that difficult, in fact I think it’s really interesting.   As I said, Francis Bacon thought about thinking and, long before the birth of modern psychology, he understood that the human mind doesn’t always reason correctly. He argued that this fact needed to be understood before new ideas could be developed.   He advocated using inductive reasoning and experiments to gain insight and to prove or disprove a theory.   He wrote a book called Novum Organum and in it he outlined the Four Idols which (I think) basically described four major errors in mental processing that result in obstacles to new and innovative thinkin...