- Abacus
The early calculating instrument we know as the Abacus-consisting of a wooden frame supporting wires or rods on which wooden beads slide from side to side-was developed in Mesopotamia from a flat, sand-covered, stone counting board on which pebbles were moved. This aid to calculation was in use long before the adoption of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system and can be adapted to any numeral base. The abacus has a huge advantage over counting on the fingers of the hand, simply because it can be used to record very large numbers accurately.
The easiest type of abacus to understand is the modern Western version that uses a base of ten. here each wire carries ten beads and represents a decade unit, that is one, ten, 100, 1,000 and so on. A number, say 617,483, can be represented by positioning the respective number of beads, on each wire, against one side of the abacus. It is then a relatively easy task to add or subtract another number from the first one. After a calculation, the whole abacus can also be reset for further computing by a simple shake.
Abaci were widely used throughout the ancient world and are still important as a teaching aid in pre school. The movement of the beads helps children to understand the groupings of ten that are the foundation of our present number system.
Other abaci were produced with an interior dividing bar. The Chinese suan-pad, introduced about 1200 C.E., had five beads on one side of the bar and two above. The Japanese soroban originally had a five-to-one bead distribution. The Russian schety followed the European pattern with ten beads and no bar.
SEE ALSO: TALLY STICK, METRICS SYSTEM,MECHANICAL CALCULATOR, POCKET CALCULATOR, MECHANICAL COMPUTER
- Alcoholic Drink
The accidental fermentation of a mixture of water and fruit in sunlight is thought to have led to the first discovery of an alcoholic drink by a prehistoric people. Evidence of intentionally fermented beverages exists in the form of Stone Age beer jugs dated as early as the Neolithic period (10,000 B.C.E) Other jugs have been excavated in Southwest Asia and North Africa.
Alcoholic beverages have been an integral part of many cultures, used as a source of nutrition, in meals, for celebrations, and also in religious ceremonies Alcohol can give a sense of wellbeing, but also acts as a depressant, lowering behavioral inhibitions.
Alcohol consumption became a status symbol for the wealthy. During the Middle Ages, concoctions were distilled to produce spirits. Alcohol has also served as a thirst quencher when water was polluted. In the 1700s, home-brewing processes were replaced by commercially made beer and wine, which became important for the economies of Europe.
Beer was the first known alcoholic beverage, but many others have been produced since then. The Chinese are thought to have produced yellow wine 4,000 years ago. In Europe the monasteries owned the best vineyards; French monks produced a sparkling wine, which was named after the Champagne region of France. Brandy is Supposed to have been accidentally discovered when a Dutch trader tried boiling wine “to remove the water and save cargo space” (Brandewijn means "burnt wine" in Dutch)
Attitudes to alcohol consumption have varied over time and different countries have limited the hours when drinking establishments are open, or even banned the sale of alcohol altogether, as Americans did in the Prohibition, between 1920 and 1933.
SEE ALSO: POTTERY, GLASS, DISTILLATION,STANDARD MEASURES, WIDGET IN-CAN SYSTEM