Category: Graphology

The Influence of Genghis Khan Throughout Asia and Europe During the 13th Century

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Mongolian Khagan, which means “Khan Of Khans” or “king of kings” within Mongol Khel, the Mongolian language, perhaps more commonly translated as “emperor”, Temüjin Borjigi who is more well renowned for his title than his name, a title which is often mistaken for his name, Genghis Khan (pronounced “jeng-giss” with “jeng” sounding like “Jenga” and “giss” sounding like “kiss” with a hard “s”) killed over 40,000,000 (40 million) people during his reign as the Mongolia Khagan. This staggering death toll was the result of widespread military campaigns launched across Asia and Eastern Europe, in which entire cities were systematically destroyed. These conquests led to the formation of the Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous land empire in history. Borjigi’s various strategies (e.g. psychological warfare, mass executions, scorched Earth tactic for villages encountered etc.) helped reshape the geopolitical landscape of the east and west during the 13th century, turning Mongolia into the centralized power of the period. Despite this brutality, Borjigi’s legacy also included positive benefits (e.g. advancements in trade, advancements in communication, advancements in governance etc.), systems which went on to direct future empires. Borjigi’s advancements included the promotion of the Silk Road trade network, the creation of a postal relay system reaching across vast distances of territory, and the implementation of merit based leadership over blood ties, ideas which fostered connectivity and administrative efficiency throughout the empire. Additionally, Borjigi unified multiple warring tribes and enforced legislation which highlighted and punished corruption when exposed. Borjigi’s empire was not solely predicated upon conquest however, as his ideas also helped maintain control, structure, and cohesion within its vision for a constantly expanding empire, something extremely difficult to successfully accomplish. The way the Borjigin dynasty governed, most especially its methods of organizing logistics, enforcing legislation, and leading people, continues to echo within the frameworks of modern governments during the modern day via foundational principles which continue to shape how states manage infrastructure, enforce law and order, and mobilize populations. From the codification of legal frameworks to the strategic coordination of supply chains and communication networks, the Borjigin dynasty laid legacy groundwork capable of transcending its period of use and relevance. Because of this, Borjigin not only drew up and rearranged world borders, he changed how empires think and act as they expand outward

The Period When Human Begins Developed a Throw Away Cultural Mindset

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Human beings have arguably been a throw away culture, or at the very least mindset and culture, since 1892 when bottle caps were first introduced. The trend has become more and more prevalent to the point where we now replace an entire transmission rather than a gasket. This shift reflects the rise of planned obsolescence, in which products are intentionally designed to have limited lifespans and/or be extremely difficult or expensive to repair. As manufacturing has become cheaper and mass production more efficient, the economic incentive to discard and replace overtook the values of maintenance and longevity. In all industries (eg. electronics, automotive, fashion etc.), repair has been sidelined in favor of convenience and profit. The result is a global surge in waste, with millions of tons of usable materials ending up in landfills each year. Fortunately, there is an expanding movement advocating for the right to repair one’s own possessions which is now acting as a counterbalance to this disposable mindset

The Anthropomorphism of Satan

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Early Christians did not personify Satan, in fact it was not until the Medieval period that Satan became anthropomorphized into the image which is commonly understood during the modern day (e.g. red skin, horned head, tail etc.). Initially, Satan was predicated upon pagan mythological figures who Christian’s then viewed as demons and/or part of a larger demonic evil outside the boundaries of Christianity. Prior to this, there was no consensus among artists and theologians as to how Satan should be depicted within religious artwork. Often throughout history, Satan has been illustrated as a blue angel, a male figure with blue skin and white hair. The color blue was chosen as it is symbolic of the night and the unknown, adding emotional and spiritual ambiguity, intended to inspire fear not through grotesquery but rather through an uncanny yet elegant emulation. In addition to this portrayal, Satan has also been represented as a figure with 3 goats, designed as a direct counter balance to Jesus Christ who is often portrayed within religious artwork in possession of 3 lambs which represent humanity. More specifically these 3 lambs represent purity, sacrifice, and redemption. In contrast to this, the 3 goats of Satan were meant to represent demonic entities, more specifically rebellion, deception, and spiritual corruption. This triadic symbolism was intentional as it created a theological and visual counter weight for Christ, casting Satan not only as the antithesis of Christ, but as a distorted reflection of him within the mirror of divine structure and purpose

The Origin of Google’s Name

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Google’s original name was “BackRub”, a reference to its early algorithm which analyzed backlinks to assess their importance. Backlinks are the hyperlinks pointing to webpages on the internet (e.g. navigation from one website to another etc.). Developed at Stanford University in 1996 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, BackRub laid the foundation for PageRank, the ranking system which would later power the Google search engine. As the project matured, Page and Brin began to recognize and understand that the name BackRub did not reflect the vast scope of their ambitions for the company as the duo wanted a name that could capture the enormity of the data their engine could and eventually would process. This is why the name “Google” was chosen in 1997. Interestingly, during a domain search for “googol.com”, a mathematical term which represents 10¹⁰⁰ (10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 or 1 with 100 0’s after it) the friend who registered the domain name for Page and Brin accidentally typed “google.com” instead of “googol.com”. Originally this was an error but Page and Brin believed the misspelling to be simpler, more memorable, and visually cleaner therefore deciding to keep the name as it was

The Origin of Uppercase and Lowercase Letters and the Influence of Typesetting Upon the English Language

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The term “uppercase” and “lowercase” in relation to alphabet letters was derived during the Victorian period within England. Advertising was highly prominent during the 19th century and used ubiquitously by businesses. The poster makers who would serve these businesses would use letters which were essentially stamps, dipped into thick, viscous, oily ink, specifically formulated this way to cling to and transfer cleanly onto coarse paper which was designed to be rough so that it could absorb as much ink as possible. Compositors, which was the name for this particular vocation during the 19th century, would keep their letters in a type case with large letters at the top and small letters at the bottom. The letters were kept in what was effectively a suitcase which did not close which is where the terms “uppercase” and “lowercase” originated from, as the letters were stored in either the upper portion of the type case or the lower portion of the type case. Each individual letter, a block referred to as a “sort”, was cast in metal and crafted backward to be arranged by hand by a skilled craftsperson. The layout of the case, with capital letters in the upper section and lowercase letters in the bottom, was highly pragmatic, as it positioned the most often used letters at the bottom closer to the person setting the typeset. Interestingly, this pragmatism influenced the English language as compositors not only set letters, they also selected when to use punctuation, spacing, and line breaks, all of which shaped how text was read and understood. Because movable type requires physical pieces for every character used, punctuation was to be used deliberately as too many commas, colons, em dashes etc. meant more time spent, more metal used, and more space being taken up upon the page. This physical constraint helped standardize English punctuation use and even influenced sentence structure, encouraging clarity and economy in writing which are themes that have endured into the 21st century

The Reason Living Wills and Last Will and Testaments Were Developed

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Living wills and testaments were designed because it was believed that being prayed for sped up the time in which one stayed in purgatory and although during the modern day, living wills and testaments do not include the prayer portion, this was the main reason the concept was designed during the Middle Ages. Living wills often instructed people to pray for the deceased a set amount of times per day, week, or month, as well as the type of funeral service desired, with minute details being paid attention to (e.g. the type of candles which would burn alongside the gravestone etc.). Living wills and testaments also offered the bequeathing of physical, tangible items that the dead would no longer need. In the modern day, living wills and testaments do not include the prayer portion, but this was the main reason the concept was designed during the Middle Ages

The Viking Runic Alphabet

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The Vikings used runes upon their grave stones, weaponry, jewelry etc. which is a carved, angular and twisted writing, typically found with some kind of animal like the snake, which the Vikings were particularly fond of. The runic alphabet has 24 letters, nearly as many as the English alphabet which has 26 letters. The runic alphabet was inevitably forced to adapt and expand to 33 letters to produce new sounds, as the Vikings continuously conquered their neighbors and therefore required new ways to converse about these newly conquered lands. Initially, the Viking Elder Futhark alphabet featured 24 runes, but as Viking society evolved, it transitioned into the Younger Futhark alphabet, simplifying to 16 runes before expanding once again during the Medieval period to reflect these new sounds. The reason the runic alphabet is based upon vertical lines is because these were the easiest shapes to carve into stone and wood between the 9th and 11th centuries A.D. with the tools and technologies available to the Vikings within Scandinavia

The Celebration of New Year’s Day Within Medieval Europe

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Within Medieval Europe, January 1st was not widely celebrated as the secular New Year’s Day holiday it is regarded as during the modern day. Instead, January 1st was observed as the Feast of the Circumcision of Jesus Christ in Christian liturgical calendars, a date which commemorates the circumcision of Christ, which according to Jewish custom, would have occurred 8 days after his birth with December 25th being counted as the first day. Although the Gregorian calendar eventually shifted focus toward celebrating the secular New Year on January 1st, this date was intrinsically tied to Christian religious observances for centuries. January 1st was not the standard across Europe during early development of the secular New Year however as the New Year was celebrated upon different dates in various parts of Europe depending upon the local traditions of the region. Some areas celebrated the New Year on March 25th, the Feast of the Annunciation, aligning it with the spring equinox and the start of new agricultural cycles whilst others celebrated upon December 25th, to coincide with Christmas and the birth of Christ. When Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar in 1582, January 1st was officially reinstated and recognized as New Year’s Day. This calendar reformation standardized timekeeping across Catholic countries, and over time, Protestant countries adopted the practice as well. The decision to place the New Year on January 1st was in part due to pragmatism as it simplified administrative and financial matters for the state, but also symbolic and ideologic, as it connected the start of the year with the earlier Roman calendar tradition of honoring Janus, the Ancient Roman deity of transitions, and marking the beginning of new political terms under the Julian calendar. Though modern day New Year celebrations are largely secular, the date of January 1st carries the weight of centuries old traditions, from Roman rituals to Christian observances, blending the sacred and the secular

One Person Can Change the World Via the Gift of Charity

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It is often said that one person cannot make a difference, but on December 19, 1843, Charles Dickens released A Christmas Carol, with charitable donations skyrocketing seemingly overnight as the book became a best seller and sold out by Christmas Eve of that same year. A Christmas Carol has gone on to become one of the best selling book publications of all time even during the modern day. Dickens’ publication was not only a story, it was a strong critique of the socioeconomic inequalities which plagued Victorian England, and Europe as a whole, during the 19th century due to the development of the Industrial Revolution during the 18th century. Dickens’ work discusses the moral obligations of the wealthy and was successful at projecting a message of social justice and reformation. After its release, the English public’s attitude toward poverty and charity softened, with many becoming more generous during the holiday season, a tradition which persists into the modern day in the form of holiday gift giving on Christmas and/or Christmas Eve. Dickens deliberately retailed A Christmas Carol affordably in a concerted effort to ensure it would reach as broad of an audience as possible. This decision contributed greatly to the novels rapid success and influence within English culture. The book serves as a strong example of how both literature and art can function as powerful tools for advocacy and reformation, perhaps even upon a global scale

The Insect Used to Produce Ink Throughout History

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The andricus kollari wasp in particular has played a significant role throughout human history as it is one of the main ingredients of ink. Crushed andricus kollari wasp galls are crushed and mixed with water, then added to crushed iron sulphate and gum Arabic to produce a cost effective and extremely long lasting ink. This specific type of ink is the most important ink used during the last 1000 years of European and subsequently western history as its indelible and essentially ever lasting whether just written or having been dried for hundreds of years. This incredible ink was used to write the Magna Carta and the American Declaration of Independence, has brought forth the recorded musical genius of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johann Sebastian Bach, was used to produce the artwork of Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn and Leonardo da Vinci, and was utilized to produce the theories of Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin