Alfred Joseph Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, (1899, London, England – 1980, Los Angeles, USA) was a director and producer of over 90 suspense and thriller movies. His career started in 1920th, from the silent film era, and lasted for six decades to the colour motion picture era.

He briefly appeared in all of his movies beginning with The Lodger (1927). In Lifeboat (1944) he, however, appeared on a picture in a newspaper advertisement for weight loss that floated among some debris around the boat. Around that time he had lost a considerable amount of weight from dieting, so he was seen in both the "Before" and the "After" pictures. All his life he was overweight, and was at his heaviest in the late 1930s with over 300 pounds (136 kg).

When Hitchcock was a kid, after acting childishly he was sent by his father sent him to the local police station carrying a note. After reading this note the police officer on duty locked him in a cell for about ten minutes. Later he cited this phobia as the reason he never learned to drive. Moreover, in almost every Hitchcock’s film, the police either have no impact at all, or mistake important clues, or let the culprit go.

The Firsts

World's first female President: Isabel Peron (Argentine)

First "test-tube baby": Louise Brown, born July 25, 1978 in England.

First telephone message by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876: "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you."

First person to become an Honorary Citizen of the United States: Winston Churchill in 1963.

First colour comic: "The Yellow Kid" by Richard Outcault, in New York World, 1895.

First instant messenger: ICQ released in November, 1996.

Meaning of Colours: Green

Green symbolizes growth, renewal, health, and environment. But it is also a colour of jealousy or envy and inexperience.

Being the colour of growth, green also symbolizes prosperity. It is the colour of the back of U.S. currency (greenback), and thus carries a connotation of money and wealth.

In heraldry green represents youth and hope.

There are twenty seven shades of green, including Brunswick Green, Lime, Pine Green, and Swamp Green. The human eye discerns the most shades in that color.

The flag of Libya is plain green with no design or insignia. Currently, it is the only national flag in the world with just one color.

The Ballpoint Pen aka Biro

The modern ball point pen was invented in 1938 by the Hungarian journalist Laszlo Josef Biro who first tried using the ink used in newspaper printing in a fountain pen. It did not work out though, as the too thick ink would not flow into the nib. So, together with his brother, a chemist, he developed a new kind of pen, which used a freely moving ball as a nib.

Biro patented his invention in 1938 in Paris after fleeing Hungary, and in 1943, when the family moved to Argentine the other patent was filed.

Then a British government official decided that the new pens worked much better than fountain pens at high altitude, and bought the British licensing rights soon after the patent was filed. (The question is though why the aircrews needed the pens at high altitude?)

Laszlo Biro is so highly respected in Argentina that Argentina's Inventor's Day is celebrated on Biro's birthday, September 29.

See the Biromash, ballpoint pen drawing, at biro-art.com.

Condom History and Facts

There are few possible explanations for how the condom got its name. The most popular legend says that the condom was named for a British physician who lived during the reign of Charles II (1660-85). Some suggest "condom" come from Italian "guanto" (glove). It also may be derived from Condus, the Latin for receptacle.

Recognized since Roman times, the first condoms were made of linen cloth sheaths, woven fabrics, animal intestines.

In 1500's when the syphilis epidemic spread across Europe linen sheaths were used to prevent infection, and it was only later that the usefulness of the condom for the prevention of pregnancy was recognized.

Mass production of condoms started in the mid-19th century, shortly after the invention of the rubber vulcanization (process that turns the rubber into a strong elastic material: condoms made of vulcanized rubber latex may be stretched in excess of 800% before breaking) by Goodyear and Hancock. By the mid-1930s, 1.5 million condoms were produced a day in the US.