Category: Kinesiology

U.S. Presidents Who Participated Within the Practice of Slavery

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10 of the first 12 U.S. presidents owned slaves, with the only exclusions being the 2nd president John Adams and the 6th president John Quincy Adams, the son of John Adams. George Washington owned an estimated 200 – 600+ slaves, Thomas Jefferson owned an estimated 200 – 600+ slaves, and Zachary Taylor owned an estimated 300 slaves. The U.S. president with the least number of slaves, not including presidents who did not own slaves, is a tie between the 8th president, Martin Van Buren and the 18th US president, Ulysses S. Grant, each owning one slave. It should be noted, 12 U.S. presidents owned slaves at some point in their lives, however of these 12, 8 owned slaves while in office. The last U.S. president to participate within slavery whilst still in office was Zachary Taylor, and the last U.S. president to own an enslaved person at any time was Ulysses S. Grant. The last person enslaved by a U.S. president was William Andrew Johnson, who was enslaved by the 17th U.S. president, Andrew Johnson. It is believed that Johnson paid $500.00 for William Andrew Johnson’s mother, which equates to $19,348.46 as of 2023 when accounting for inflation using the base year of 1850, 10 years after Johnson’s first slave purchase and 15 years before he became president of the U.S.

The Origin of the Use of Analgesia While Giving Birth

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Analgesia was not an option while giving birth until the mid 19th century as pain was believed to be a crucial part of the birthing experience. In 1591, Euphemia Maclean, a woman from Edinburgh, Scotland requested analgesia during the birth of her twins and was burned at the stake for this request. Analgesia started with Queen Victoria who used chloroform for the birth of her 8th child Leopold. It was Victoria’s experience that she told to others which made the practice catch on so quickly as Victoria felt that analgesia was an amazing invention which helped her immensely. In the 1950’s, the no medication approach swung back into fashion with Dr. Grantly Dick-Read, the first modern physician to suggest against analgesia as he believed the pain of childbirth to be psychological

The Parasol and the Advent and Evolution of the Umbrella

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Parasols, the precursor to the umbrella, were initially comprised of tree leaves, specifically eucalyptus and palm branches. The original intent of the parasol was to stop ultraviolet radiation from the sun, from penetrating the skin and causing it to become tan. The term “parasol” is derived from the French term “para” which means “to shield from”, from the root Latin term “parare” (pronounced “pah-rah-ray”), and the French term “sol”, which means “sun”. Parasols and umbrellas can be separated by their appearance as parasols are typically colorful and lively whilst umbrellas are generally solid, muted colors (e.g. black, grey, white etc.). It was not until the 1750’s when English philanthropist Jonas Hanway began carrying an umbrella in public with the intent to avoid rain that the idea caught on as a social trend and a new technology. Umbrellas up until the 19th century were heavy, weighing approximately 10 lbs. as they were comprised of whale bone with wooden rods setup to support the canvas. In the 1920’s, Hans Haupt helped usher the next generation of umbrellas in by inventing the foldable umbrella, the same kind of umbrella used during the modern day

The Origin of the Wedding Garter Belt Tradition

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During the Medieval period, pieces of a brides ensemble were considered tokens of good luck and fertility. These items were so prized that wedding guests would routinely fight to rip the textiles right off of the bride’s body. This is why the tradition of throwing the garter into the crowd developed as part of European stylized wedding ceremonies

The Reason the Chinese Government Censored Footage of Soccer Games During the 2022 Fédération Internationale de Football Association World Cup

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During the 2022 Fédération Internationale de Football Association World Cup in Qatar, the Chinese government intercepted and censored all footage displayed in China in a concerted effort to prohibit Chinese citizens from observing World Cup fans from around the world enjoying and celebrating the games without masks as the Chinese government does not want the Chinese public to believe that doing so is a potential possibility

The Etymology of “Namaste”

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The Hindi term “namaste” is derived from the Sanskrit term “namah” which means “bow” but can also be in reference to “obeisance” and/or “adoration,” and the Sanskrit term “te”, which means “to you”. The term “namaste” is used as a means of greeting someone, with an overall translated meaning of “greetings to you”

The Japanese Concept of “Ubasute”

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The Japanese term “ubasute” (pronounced “ooh-bah-suu-tay”) refers to “taking a person into the forest to leave them to die” and is a practice in Japan which has been imposed upon the elderly, sick, mentally ill, and disabled (e.g. blind, deaf, epilepsy etc.) during difficult periods when food resources have been scarce. This practice is referred to as “senicide” in English. It is unclear if this practice actually occurred throughout Japanese history, but the practice did occur within other cultures (e.g. Ancient Rome, India, Scandinavia etc.) which has led most experts to believe that the practice was more than mere mythology in Japan

The First Civilization to Domesticate the Horse

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The first images and reliefs carved of human beings riding horses or horse drawn chariots appear 1500 years after the Botai people in 2000 B.C., specifically in Egypt. Supplementary evidence of the Botai being the first horse herders does exist, including evidence of cooking and smoking large quantities of horse meat as well as possessing large deposits of horse dung and holes dug specifically for fence posts, which indicate the Botai kept horses within corrals. The Botai most likely kept corrals to have meat readily available on demand, eliminating the need to venture into the forest, to stalk and hunt a horse, then carry it back to a settlement. Perhaps the strongest evidence of horse domestication by the Botai is the keeping of horse milk, as it is highly unlikely that hunters consistently milked wild horses

How Card Counting Works and How to Identify Hot Streaks When Gambling

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Counting cards is quite simple, as long as ones memory is sharp. Low cards (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) are assigned a value of +1, mid cards (e.g. 7, 8, and 9) have a value of 0, and high cards (e.g. 10, jack, queen, king, and ace) have a value of -1. The player counting desires a positive count as it indicates multiple high cards in the deck and on their way toward the table. Counts above +7 is when a table is considered hot providing the player with multiple good hands in succession. Streaks although appearing random, occur in a wave like function, so when a down streak is observed, smaller bets should be placed until a hot streak is observed at which time higher bets should be placed

The Etymology of American Industrialist Henry Ford’s Model T Automobile and the First Mass Produced Vehicle

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Henry Ford named the iconic Model T automobile as he did because of the way he built his company. Ford started with the Model A and continued to improve the design, moving through each letter of the alphabet the way modern software changes numerically with each upgrade (eg. Model A, Model B, Model C alongside software 1.0, software 2.0, software 3.0 etc.). It was Ford’s 20th design that met his stringent personal requirements allowing the Model T to become the first mass produced vehicle in 1908