1.
Lucky the Dinosaur
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Lucky the Dinosaur is an approximately 8-foot-tall green Segnosaurus free roaming audio animatronics figure which pulls a flower-covered cart and is led by Chandler the Dinosaur Handler. Lucky premiered at The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles on August 28,2003 and he made appearances at Disney California Adventure Park as well. Lucky appeared regularly at the DinoLand U. S. A. area of Disneys Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World from June 2005 to August 2005 and he was then moved to Hong Kong Disneyland to celebrate the grand opening of the park in September 2005. As of August 2015, Lucky is at his home of Walt Disney Imagineering. He is still running as he meets visitors who come with the Backstage Magic Tour from Adventures By Disney, Lucky is notable in that he was the first free-roving audio-animatronic figure ever created by Disneys Imagineers. The flower cart he pulls conceals the computer and power source, Lucky is capable of moving, vocalizing, and responding to guests. Disneys Animal Kingdom attraction and entertainment history Hong Kong Disneyland attraction and entertainment history Muppet Mobile Lab
2.
Audio-Animatronics
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The robots move and make noise, but are usually fixed to whatever supports them. They can sit and stand but usually cannot walk, an Audio-Animatron is different from an android-type robot in that it uses prerecorded movements and sounds, rather than responding to external stimuli. In 2009, Disney created a version of the technology called Autonomatronics. Animatronics has become a name for similar robots created by firms other than Disney. Audio-Animatronics were originally a creation of Walt Disney employee Lee Adams, one of the first Disney Audio-Animatrons was a toy bird Walt Disney got in New Orleans. It was a mechanical bird, and Walt decided to improve the device that moved it. Another was a man, created by Roger Broggie and Wathel Rogers. The dancing man was modeled after a tap dancing routine by actor Buddy Ebsen, the term Audio-Animatronics was first used commercially by Disney in 1961, was filed as a trademark in 1964, and was registered in 1967. Perhaps the most impressive of the early Audio-Animatronics efforts was The Enchanted Tiki Room and it was a room full of tropical creatures with eye and facial actions synchronized to a musical score entirely by electromechanical means. The movements of the birds, flowers, and tiki idols are triggered by sound. Figures movements have a natural resting position that the limb or part returns to when there is no electric pulse present. Other than this, the animation is a system, with only on/off moves. Other early Audio-Animatrons were at the 1964 New York Worlds Fair, pneumatic actuators were not powerful enough to move heavier objects like simulated limbs, so hydraulics were used for large figures. On/off type movement would cause an arm to be lifted either up over a head or down next to its body. To create more movement in large figures, an analog system was used. This gave the body parts a full range of fluid motion. The digital system was used with small pneumatic moving limbs, to permit a high degree of freedom, the control cylinders resemble typical miniature pneumatic or hydraulic cylinders, but mount the back of the cylinder on a ball joint and threaded rod. This ball joint permits the cylinders to float freely inside the frame, Disneys technology is not infallible however, the oil-filled cylinders do occasionally drip or leak
3.
Walt Disney World
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The Walt Disney World Resort is an entertainment complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, near Orlando and Kissimmee, Florida. The resort is the destination of Disneys worldwide corporate enterprise. Opened on October 1,1971, Walt Disney World is the most visited vacation resort in the world, the resort is owned and operated by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, a division of The Walt Disney Company. It was initially operated by Walt Disney World Company, Magic Kingdom was the first theme park to open in the complex, in 1971, followed by Epcot in 1982, Disneys Hollywood Studios in 1989, and the most recent, Disneys Animal Kingdom in 1998. Designed to supplement Disneyland in Anaheim, California, which had opened in 1955, the Florida Project, as it was known, was intended to present a distinct vision with its own diverse set of rides. Walt Disneys original plans called for the inclusion of an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Walt Disney died on December 15,1966, before construction began, without Disney spearheading the construction, the company created a resort similar to Disneyland, abandoning experimental concepts for a planned community. In 1959, Walt Disney Productions began looking for land to house a second resort to supplement Disneyland in Anaheim, California, which had opened in 1955. Market surveys at the revealed that only 5% of Disneylands visitors came from east of the Mississippi River. Additionally, Walt Disney disliked the businesses that had sprung up around Disneyland, Walt Disney flew over a potential site in Orlando, Florida – one of many – in November 1963. To avoid a burst of land speculation, Walt Disney World Company used various dummy corporations to acquire 30,500 acres of land, in May 1965, some of these major land transactions were recorded a few miles southwest of Orlando in Osceola County. In addition, two tracts totaling $1. Some are now memorialized on a window above Main Street, U. S. A. in Magic Kingdom, the smaller parcels of land acquired were called outs. They were 5-acre lots platted in 1912 by the Munger Land Company, most of the owners in the 1960s were happy to get rid of the land, which was mostly swamp at the time. Another issue was the rights to the land, which were owned by Tufts University. Without the transfer of rights, Tufts could come in at any time. Eventually, Disneys team negotiated a deal with Tufts to buy the rights for $15,000. Working strictly in secrecy, real estate agents unaware of their clients identity began making offers to landowners in April 1964 in parts of southwest Orange and northwest Osceola counties
4.
Tyrannosaurus
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Tyrannosaurus is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex, is one of the most well-represented of the large theropods, Tyrannosaurus lived throughout what is now western North America, on what was then an island continent known as Laramidia. Tyrannosaurus had a wider range than other tyrannosaurids. Fossils are found in a variety of rock formations dating to the Maastrichtian age of the upper Cretaceous Period,68 to 66 million years ago and it was the last known member of the tyrannosaurids, and among the last non-avian dinosaurs to exist before the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Like other tyrannosaurids, Tyrannosaurus was a carnivore with a massive skull balanced by a long. Relative to its large and powerful limbs, Tyrannosaurus fore limbs were short. The most complete specimen measures up to 12.3 m in length, up to 3.66 meters tall at the hips, some experts, however, have suggested the dinosaur was primarily a scavenger. The question of whether Tyrannosaurus was a predator or a pure scavenger was among the longest ongoing debates in paleontology. It is accepted now that Tyrannosaurus rex acted as a predator, more than 50 specimens of Tyrannosaurus rex have been identified, some of which are nearly complete skeletons. Soft tissue and proteins have been reported in at least one of these specimens, the abundance of fossil material has allowed significant research into many aspects of its biology, including its life history and biomechanics. The feeding habits, physiology and potential speed of Tyrannosaurus rex are a few subjects of debate and its taxonomy is also controversial, as some scientists consider Tarbosaurus bataar from Asia to be a second Tyrannosaurus species while others maintain Tarbosaurus is a separate genus. However, not every adult Tyrannosaurus specimen recovered is as big, Hutchinson et al. found that the maximum weight of Sue, the largest complete Tyrannosaurus specimen, was between 9.5 and 18.99 metric tons for this specimen. Other estimations have concluded that the largest known Tyrannosaurus specimens had masses approaching or exceeding 9 tonnes. Holtz has also suggested that it is reasonable to suspect that there were individuals that were 10,15. The neck of Tyrannosaurus rex formed a natural S-shaped curve like that of other theropods, the forelimbs had only two clawed fingers, along with an additional small metacarpal representing the remnant of a third digit. In contrast the hind limbs were among the longest in proportion to size of any theropod. The tail was heavy and long, sometimes containing over forty vertebrae, in order to balance the massive head, to compensate for the immense bulk of the animal, many bones throughout the skeleton were hollow, reducing its weight without significant loss of strength. The largest known Tyrannosaurus rex skulls measure up to 1.45 meters in length, large fenestrae in the skull reduced weight and provided areas for muscle attachment, as in all carnivorous theropods
5.
Natural History Museum, London
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The Natural History Museum in London is a museum of natural history that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum, the Natural History Museums main frontage, however, is on Cromwell Road. The museum is home to life and earth science specimens comprising some 80 million items within five main collections, botany, the museum is a world-renowned centre of research specialising in taxonomy, identification and conservation. Given the age of the institution, many of the collections have great historical as well as scientific value, the museum is recognised as the pre-eminent centre of natural history and research of related fields in the world. Although commonly referred to as the Natural History Museum, it was known as British Museum until 1992. Originating from collections within the British Museum, the landmark Alfred Waterhouse building was built and opened by 1881, the Darwin Centre is a more recent addition, partly designed as a modern facility for storing the valuable collections. Like other publicly funded museums in the United Kingdom, the Natural History Museum does not charge an admission fee. The museum is a charity and a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge is a patron of the museum, there are approximately 850 staff at the Museum. The two largest strategic groups are the Public Engagement Group and Science Group and this purchase was funded by a lottery. Sloanes collection, which included dried plants, and animal and human skeletons, was housed in Montagu House, Bloomsbury, in 1756. Most of the Sloane collection had disappeared by the decades of the nineteenth century. Dr George Shaw sold many specimens to the Royal College of Surgeons and had periodic cremations of material in the grounds of the museum and his successors also applied to the trustees for permission to destroy decayed specimens. In 1833 the Annual Report states that, of the 5,500 insects listed in the Sloane catalogue, the inability of the natural history departments to conserve its specimens became notorious, the Treasury refused to entrust it with specimens collected at the governments expense. The huge collection of the conchologist Hugh Cuming was acquired by the museum and that collection is said never to have recovered. The Principal Librarian at the time was Antonio Panizzi, his contempt for the history departments. The general public was not encouraged to visit the Museums natural history exhibits, in 1835 to a Select Committee of Parliament, Sir Henry Ellis said this policy was fully approved by the Principal Librarian and his senior colleagues. Many of these faults were corrected by the palaeontologist Richard Owen and his changes led Bill Bryson to write that by making the Natural History Museum an institution for everyone, Owen transformed our expectations of what museums are for
6.
Robotics
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Robotics is the interdisciplinary branch of engineering and science that includes mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, and others. Robotics deals with the design, construction, operation, and use of robots, as well as systems for their control, sensory feedback. These technologies are used to develop machines that can substitute for humans, Robots can be used in any situation and for any purpose, but today many are used in dangerous environments, manufacturing processes, or where humans cannot survive. Robots can take on any form but some are made to resemble humans in appearance and this is said to help in the acceptance of a robot in certain replicative behaviors usually performed by people. Such robots attempt to replicate walking, lifting, speech, cognition, many of todays robots are inspired by nature, contributing to the field of bio-inspired robotics. Throughout history, it has been assumed that robots will one day be able to mimic human behavior. Many robots are built to do jobs that are hazardous to people such as defusing bombs, finding survivors in unstable ruins, Robotics is also used in STEM as a teaching aid. The word robotics was derived from the robot, which was introduced to the public by Czech writer Karel Čapek in his play R. U. R. which was published in 1920. The word robot comes from the Slavic word robota, which means labour, the play begins in a factory that makes artificial people called robots, creatures who can be mistaken for humans – very similar to the modern ideas of androids. Karel Čapek himself did not coin the word and he wrote a short letter in reference to an etymology in the Oxford English Dictionary in which he named his brother Josef Čapek as its actual originator. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word robotics was first used in print by Isaac Asimov, published in May 1941 in Astounding Science Fiction. Asimov was unaware that he was coining the term, since the science and technology of electrical devices is electronics, he assumed robotics already referred to the science and technology of robots. In some of Asimovs other works, he states that the first use of the word robotics was in his short story Runaround, however, the original publication of Liar. Predates that of Runaround by ten months, so the former is generally cited as the words origin, in 1942, the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov created his Three Laws of Robotics. In 1948, Norbert Wiener formulated the principles of cybernetics, the basis of practical robotics, fully autonomous only appeared in the second half of the 20th century. The first digitally operated and programmable robot, the Unimate, was installed in 1961 to lift hot pieces of metal from a die casting machine, commercial and industrial robots are widespread today and used to perform jobs more cheaply, more accurately and more reliably, than humans. They are also employed in jobs which are too dirty, dangerous. For example, a designed to travel across heavy dirt or mud
7.
Android (robot)
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An android is a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to look and act like a human, especially one with a body having a flesh-like resemblance. Historically, androids remained completely within the domain of science fiction where they are seen in film. Only recently have advancements in technology allowed the design of functional. The word was coined from the Greek root ἀνδρ-, man, while the term android is used in reference to human-looking robots in general, a robot with a female appearance can also be referred to as a gynoid. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the earliest use to Ephraim Chambers Cyclopaedia, the term android appears in US patents as early as 1863 in reference to miniature human-like toy automatons. The term android was used in a modern sense by the French author Auguste Villiers de lIsle-Adam in his work Tomorrows Eve. This story features an artificial humanlike robot named Hadaly, as said by the officer in the story, In this age of Realien advancement, who knows what goes on in the mind of those responsible for these mechanical dolls. Although Karel Čapeks robots in R. U. R, —the play that introduced the word robot to the world—were organic artificial humans, the word robot has come to primarily refer to mechanical humans, animals, and other beings. The term android can mean one of these, while a cyborg would be a creature that is a combination of organic. The word android was used in Star Trek, The Original Series episode What Are Little Girls Made Of. The abbreviation andy, coined as a pejorative by writer Philip K. Dick in his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. has seen some further usage, authors have used the term android in more diverse ways than robot or cyborg. In some fictional works, the difference between a robot and android is only their appearance, with androids being made to look like humans on the outside, in other stories, authors have used the word android to mean a wholly organic, yet artificial, creation. Other fictional depictions of androids fall somewhere in between, several projects aiming to create androids that look, and, to a certain degree, speak or act like a human being have been launched or are underway. In 2006, Kokoro Co. developed a new DER2 android, the height of the human body part of DER2 is 165 cm. DER2 can not only change its expression but also move its hands and feet, the air servosystem which Kokoro Co. developed originally is used for the actuator. As a result of having an actuator controlled precisely with air pressure via a servosystem, DER2 realized a slimmer body than that of the former version by using a smaller cylinder. Outwardly DER2 has a more beautiful proportion, compared to the previous model, DER2 has thinner arms and a wider repertoire of expressions. Once programmed, it is able to choreograph its motions and gestures with its voice, the Intelligent Mechatronics Lab, directed by Hiroshi Kobayashi at the Tokyo University of Science, has developed an android head called Saya, which was exhibited at Robodex 2002 in Yokohama, Japan
8.
Special effect
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Special effects are illusions or visual tricks used in the film, television, theatre, video game, and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual world. Special effects are divided into the categories of optical effects. Mechanical effects are usually accomplished during the live-action shooting and this includes the use of mechanized props, scenery, scale models, animatronics, pyrotechnics and atmospheric effects, creating physical wind, rain, fog, snow, clouds, etc. Making a car appear to drive by itself and blowing up a building are examples of mechanical effects, mechanical effects are often incorporated into set design and makeup. For example, a set may be built with doors or walls to enhance a fight scene. An optical effect might be used to place actors or sets against a different background, since the 1990s, computer generated imagery has come to the forefront of special effects technologies. It gives filmmakers greater control, and allows many effects to be accomplished safely and convincingly and—as technology improves—at lower costs. As a result, many optical and mechanical effects techniques have been superseded by CGI, in 1857, Oscar Rejlander created the worlds first special effects movie by combining different sections of 30 negatives into a single image. In 1895, Alfred Clark created what is accepted as the first-ever motion picture special effect. While filming a reenactment of the beheading of Mary, Queen of Scots, as the executioner brought the axe above his head, Clark stopped the camera, had all of the actors freeze, and had the person playing Mary step off the set. He placed a Mary dummy in the place, restarted filming. Techniques like these would dominate the production of special effects for a century and it wasnt only the first use of trickery in cinema, it was also the first type of photographic trickery only possible in a motion picture, i. e. the stop trick. Georges Méliès accidentally discovered the same stop trick, according to Méliès, his camera jammed while filming a street scene in Paris. When he screened the film, he found that the trick had caused a truck to turn into a hearse, pedestrians to change direction. Because of his ability to manipulate and transform reality with the cinematograph. From 1910 to 1920, the innovations in special effects were the improvements on the matte shot by Norman Dawn. With the original matte shot, pieces of cardboard were placed to block the exposure of the film, Dawn combined this technique with the glass shot. Rather than using cardboard to block certain areas of the film exposure, from the partially exposed film, a single frame is then projected onto an easel, where the matte is then drawn
9.
Amusement park
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An amusement park or theme park is a group of entertainment attractions, rides, and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people. Theme parks, a type of amusement park, are usually much more intricately themed to a certain subject or group of subjects than normal amusement parks. Amusement parks evolved from European fairs and pleasure gardens, which were created for peoples recreation, Worlds fairs and expositions were another influence on the development of the amusement park industry. In common language, the theme park and amusement park are often synonymous. However, a park can be regarded as a distinct style of amusement park. A theme park has landscaping, buildings, and attractions that are based on one or more specific themes or stories. The amusement park evolved from three earlier traditions, the oldest being the periodic fair of the Middle Ages - one of the earliest was the Bartholomew Fair in England, the worlds oldest amusement park appeared in the Continent. Bakken at Klampenborg, north of Copenhagen, Denmark, opened in 1583, a wave of innovation in the 1860s and 1870s created mechanical rides, such as the steam-powered carousel, and its derivatives. This inaugurated the era of the modern funfair ride, as the classes were increasingly able to spend their surplus wages on entertainment. The second influence was the pleasure garden, one of the earliest gardens was the Vauxhall Gardens, founded in 1661 in London. By the late 18th century, the site had a fee for its many attractions. It regularly drew crowds, with its paths being noted for romantic assignations, tightrope walkers, hot air balloon ascents, concerts. Although the gardens were designed for the elites, they soon became places of great social diversity. Public firework displays were put on at Marylebone Gardens, and Cremorne Gardens offered music, dancing, prater in Vienna, Austria, was opened in 1766. The concept of a park for amusement was further developed with the beginning of the worlds fairs. The first World fair began in 1851 with the construction of the landmark Crystal Palace in London, the purpose of the exposition was to celebrate the industrial achievement of the nations of the world and it was designed to educate and entertain the visitors. American cities and business saw the worlds fair as a way of demonstrating economic. The Worlds Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago, Illinois was an precursor to the modern amusement park
10.
Anatomy
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Anatomy is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is inherently tied to embryology, comparative anatomy, evolutionary biology, Human anatomy is one of the basic essential sciences of medicine. The discipline of anatomy is divided into macroscopic and microscopic anatomy, macroscopic anatomy, or gross anatomy, is the examination of an animals body parts using unaided eyesight. Gross anatomy also includes the branch of superficial anatomy, microscopic anatomy involves the use of optical instruments in the study of the tissues of various structures, known as histology, and also in the study of cells. The history of anatomy is characterized by an understanding of the functions of the organs. Anatomy and physiology, which study the structure and function of organisms and their parts, make a pair of related disciplines. Derived from the Greek ἀνατομή anatomē dissection, anatomy is the study of the structure of organisms including their systems, organs. It includes the appearance and position of the parts, the materials from which they are composed, their locations. Anatomy is quite distinct from physiology and biochemistry, which deal respectively with the functions of those parts, the discipline of anatomy can be subdivided into a number of branches including gross or macroscopic anatomy and microscopic anatomy. Gross anatomy is the study of large enough to be seen with the naked eye, and also includes superficial anatomy or surface anatomy. Microscopic anatomy is the study of structures on a scale, including histology. Anatomy can be studied using both invasive and non-invasive methods with the goal of obtaining information about the structure and organization of organs, angiography using X-rays or magnetic resonance angiography are methods to visualize blood vessels. The term anatomy is commonly taken to refer to human anatomy, however, substantially the same structures and tissues are found throughout the rest of the animal kingdom and the term also includes the anatomy of other animals. The term zootomy is also used to specifically refer to animals. The structure and tissues of plants are of a dissimilar nature, the kingdom Animalia or metazoa, contains multicellular organisms that are heterotrophic and motile. Most animals have bodies differentiated into separate tissues and these animals are known as eumetazoans. They have a digestive chamber, with one or two openings, the gametes are produced in multicellular sex organs, and the zygotes include a blastula stage in their embryonic development. Metazoans do not include the sponges, which have undifferentiated cells, unlike plant cells, animal cells have neither a cell wall nor chloroplasts
11.
Mechatronics
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As technology advances, the subfields of engineering multiply and adapt. Mechatronics aim is a process that unifies these subfields. The word mechatronics originated in Japanese-English and was created by Tetsuro Mori, the word mechatronics was registered as trademark by the company in Japan with the registration number of 46-32714 in 1971. However, afterward the company released the right of using the word to public, nowadays, the word is translated in each language and the word is considered as an essential term for industry. Many people treat mechatronics as a modern buzzword synonymous with electromechanical engineering, a mechatronics engineer unites the principles of mechanics, electronics, and computing to generate a simpler, more economical and reliable system. The term mechatronics was coined by Tetsuro Mori, the engineer of the Japanese company Yaskawa in 1969. An industrial robot is an example of a mechatronics system, it includes aspects of electronics, mechanics. Engineering cybernetics deals with the question of control engineering of mechatronic systems and it is used to control or regulate such a system. Through collaboration, the mechatronic modules perform the production goals and inherit flexible and agile manufacturing properties in the production scheme, modern production equipment consists of mechatronic modules that are integrated according to a control architecture. The most known architectures involve hierarchy, polyarchy, heterarchy, the methods for achieving a technical effect are described by control algorithms, which might or might not utilize formal methods in their design. This implies to implement and to manage modeling and optimization methods and tools, the specialty educates students in robust and/or optimized conception methods for structures or many technological systems, and to the main modeling and simulation tools used in R&D. Special courses are proposed for original applications to prepare the students to the coming breakthrough in the domains covering the materials. For some mechatronic systems, the issue is no longer how to implement a control system. This is the version of cyberware. Another variant that we can consider is Motion control for Advanced Mechatronics, the robustness of motion control will be represented as a function of stiffness and a basis for practical realization. Target of motion is parameterized by control stiffness which could be according to the task reference. However, the robustness of motion always requires very high stiffness in the controller. Avionics is also considered a variant of mechatronics as it combines several fields such as electronics, Mechatronics, Electronics in products and processes, Chapman and Hall Verlag, London,1991
12.
Teleoperation
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Teleoperation indicates operation of a system or machine at a distance. It is similar in meaning to the remote control but is usually encountered in research, academic. It is most commonly associated with robotics and mobile robots but can be applied to a range of circumstances in which a device or machine is operated by a person from a distance. The term teleoperation is in use in research and technical communities as a term for referring to operation at a distance. This is as opposed to telepresence which is a standard term. The history of teleoperation can be traced back to the beginnings of radio communication, teleoperation is now moving into the hobby industry with first-person view equipment. FPV equipment mounted on cars, planes and helicopters give a TV-style transmission back to the operator. There are several types of systems that are often controlled remotely. Industrial machinery is operated remotely, particularly in hazardous environments. One notable example is in the construction of the Object Shelter or sarcophagus at Chernobyl after the Chernobyl accident, remotely operated vehicles are extensively used in hazardous environments. Remote surgery Unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as drones Telerobotics Remote manipulator Telecommand NASA Telerobotics
13.
Portmanteau
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In linguistics, a portmanteau is defined as a single morph that represents two or more morphemes. A portmanteau also differs from a compound, which not involve the truncation of parts of the stems of the blended words. For instance, starfish is a compound, not a portmanteau, of star and fish, whereas a hypothetical portmanteau of star and fish might be stish. Humpty Dumpty explains the practice of combining words in various ways by telling Alice, for instance, take the two words fuming and furious. Make up your mind that you will say both words, but leave it unsettled which you will say first … if you have the rarest of gifts, in then-contemporary English, a portmanteau was a suitcase that opened into two equal sections. The etymology of the word is the French porte-manteau, from porter, to carry, in modern French, a porte-manteau is a clothes valet, a coat-tree or similar article of furniture for hanging up jackets, hats, umbrellas and the like. It has also used especially in Europe as a formal description for hat racks from the French words porter. An occasional synonym for portmanteau word is frankenword, an autological word exemplifying the phenomenon it describes, blending Frankenstein, many neologisms are examples of blends, but many blends have become part of the lexicon. In Punch in 1896, the word brunch was introduced as a portmanteau word, in 1964, the newly independent African republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar chose the portmanteau word Tanzania as its name. Similarly Eurasia is a portmanteau of Europe and Asia, a scientific example is a liger, which is a cross between a male lion and a female tiger. Jeoportmanteau. is a category on the American television quiz show Jeopardy. The categorys name is itself a portmanteau of the words Jeopardy, responses in the category are portmanteaus constructed by fitting two words together. The term gerrymander has itself contributed to portmanteau terms bjelkemander and playmander, oxbridge is a common portmanteau for the UKs two oldest universities, those of Oxford and Cambridge. Many portmanteau words receive some use but do not appear in all dictionaries, for example, a spork is an eating utensil that is a combination of a spoon and a fork, and a skort is an item of clothing that is part skirt, part shorts. On the other hand, turducken, a made by inserting a chicken into a duck. Similarly, the word refudiate was first used by Sarah Palin when she misspoke, though initially a gaffe, the word was recognized as the New Oxford American Dictionarys Word of the Year in 2010. The business lexicon is replete with newly coined portmanteau words like permalance, advertainment, advertorial, infotainment, a company name may also be portmanteau as well as a product name. By contrast, the public, including the media, use portmanteaux to refer to their favorite pairings as a way to. giv people an essence of who they are within the same name and this is particularly seen in cases of fictional and real-life supercouples
14.
Walt Disney
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Walter Elias Walt Disney was an American entrepreneur, animator, voice actor and film producer. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons, as a film producer, Disney holds the record for most Academy Awards earned by an individual, having won 22 Oscars from 59 nominations. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and an Emmy Award, among other honors, several of his films are included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. Born in Chicago in 1901, Disney developed an early interest in drawing and he took art classes as a boy and got a job as a commercial illustrator at the age of 18. He moved to California in the early 1920s and set up the Disney Brothers Studio with his brother Roy, with Ub Iwerks, Walt developed the character Mickey Mouse in 1928, his first highly popular success, he also provided the voice for his creation in the early years. As the studio grew, Disney became more adventurous, introducing synchronized sound, full-color three-strip Technicolor, feature-length cartoons, the results, seen in features such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Pinocchio, Dumbo and Bambi, furthered the development of animated film. New animated and live-action films followed after World War II, including the critically successful Cinderella and Mary Poppins, in the 1950s, Disney expanded into the amusement park industry, and in 1955 he opened Disneyland. In 1965, he began development of theme park, Disney World, the heart of which was to be a new type of city. Disney was a smoker throughout his life, and died of lung cancer in December 1966 before either the park or the EPCOT project were completed. Disney was a shy, self-deprecating and insecure man in private and he had high standards and high expectations of those with whom he worked. Although there have been accusations that he was racist or anti-semitic and his reputation changed in the years after his death, from a purveyor of homely patriotic values to a representative of American imperialism. Nevertheless, Disney is considered an icon, particularly in the United States. Walt Disney was born on December 5,1901, at 1249 Tripp Avenue and he was the fourth son of Elias Disney—born in the Province of Canada, to Irish parents—and Flora, an American of German and English descent. Aside from Disney, Elias and Calls sons were Herbert, Raymond and Roy, in 1906, when Disney was four, the family moved to a farm in Marceline, Missouri, where his uncle Robert had just purchased land. In Marceline, Disney developed his interest in drawing when he was paid to draw the horse of a neighborhood doctor. Elias was a subscriber to the Appeal to Reason newspaper, Disney also began to develop an ability to work with watercolors and crayons. He lived near the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway line and he and his younger sister Ruth started school at the same time at the Park School in Marceline in late 1909. In 1911, the Disneys moved to Kansas City, Missouri, before long, he was spending more time at the Pfeiffers house than at home
15.
Villard de Honnecourt
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Villard de Honnecourt was a 13th-century artist from Picardy in northern France. He is known to only through a surviving portfolio or sketchbook containing about 250 drawings. Nothing is known of Villard apart from what can be gleaned from his surviving sketchbook, based on the large number of architectural designs in the portfolio, it was traditionally thought that Villard was a successful, professional, itinerant architect and engineer. He was possibly trained as a metalworker and his drawing of one of the west facade towers of Laon Cathedral and those of radiating chapels and a main vessel bay, interior and exterior, of Rheims Cathedral are of particular interest. Villard tells us, with pride, that he had been in many lands and that he made a trip to Hungary where he remained many days, but he does not say why he went there or who sent him. He also claimed to have many of his drawings from life. The so-called sketchbook of Villard de Honnecourt dates to about c. 1225-1235 and it was discovered in the mid-19th century and is presently housed in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, under the shelfmark MS Fr 19093. It consists of 33 parchment sheets measuring on average 235x155 mm, the manuscript is not complete, and its original extent cannot be determined. It is unclear whether it was Villard himself or a party who assembled. The album contains about 250 drawings, many drawings are accompanied by annotations and labels. The original purpose of the album is the subject of controversy, originally it was thought to have served as a kind of training manual for practicing architects. Nevertheless, most scholars believe it more likely served as a pattern or model book. Several printed facsimiles of the album have appeared, parker, J. H. and J. Facsimile of the Sketch-book of Wilars de Honnecourt, an Architect of the Thirteenth Century. The Sketchbook of Villard de Honnecourt, bloomington, IN, Indiana University Press,1959. Hahnloser, Hans R. Villard de Honnecourt, kritische Gesamtausgabe des Bauhüttenbuches ms. fr.19093 der Pariser Nationalbibliothek. The Medieval Sketchbook of Villard de Honnecourt, the portfolio of Villard de Honnecourt, a new critical edition and color facsimile. In Les batisseurs des cathedrales gothiques, ed. Roland Recht, “contrefais al vif, nature, ideas and the lion drawings of Villard de Honnecourt. ”Villard de Honnecourt, Architect and Engineer. In The Medieval Machine, The Industrial Revolution of the Middle Ages, “Portraits and counterfeits, Villard de Honnecourt and thirteenth-century theories of representation. ”In Excavating the Medieval Image, Manuscripts, Artists, Audiences, Essays in Honor of Sandra Hindman, eds
16.
Leonardo da Vinci
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He has been variously called the father of palaeontology, ichnology, and architecture, and is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time. Sometimes credited with the inventions of the parachute, helicopter and tank, many historians and scholars regard Leonardo as the prime exemplar of the Universal Genius or Renaissance Man, an individual of unquenchable curiosity and feverishly inventive imagination. Much of his working life was spent in the service of Ludovico il Moro in Milan. He later worked in Rome, Bologna and Venice, and he spent his last years in France at the home awarded to him by Francis I of France, Leonardo was, and is, renowned primarily as a painter. Among his works, the Mona Lisa is the most famous and most parodied portrait, Leonardos drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also regarded as a cultural icon, being reproduced on items as varied as the euro coin, textbooks, and T-shirts. Perhaps fifteen of his paintings have survived, Leonardo is revered for his technological ingenuity. He conceptualised flying machines, a type of armoured fighting vehicle, concentrated power, an adding machine. Some of his inventions, however, such as an automated bobbin winder. A number of Leonardos most practical inventions are nowadays displayed as working models at the Museum of Vinci. He made substantial discoveries in anatomy, civil engineering, geology, optics, and hydrodynamics, today, Leonardo is widely considered one of the most diversely talented individuals ever to have lived. Leonardo was born on 15 April 1452 at the hour of the night in the Tuscan hill town of Vinci. He was the son of the wealthy Messer Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci, a Florentine legal notary, and Caterina. Leonardo had no surname in the modern sense – da Vinci simply meaning of Vinci, his birth name was Lionardo di ser Piero da Vinci, meaning Leonardo. The inclusion of the title ser indicated that Leonardos father was a gentleman, little is known about Leonardos early life. He spent his first five years in the hamlet of Anchiano in the home of his mother and his father had married a sixteen-year-old girl named Albiera Amadori, who loved Leonardo but died young in 1465 without children. When Leonardo was sixteen, his father married again to twenty-year-old Francesca Lanfredini, pieros legitimate heirs were born from his third wife Margherita di Guglielmo and his fourth and final wife, Lucrezia Cortigiani. Leonardo received an education in Latin, geometry and mathematics. In later life, Leonardo recorded only two childhood incidents, one, which he regarded as an omen, was when a kite dropped from the sky and hovered over his cradle, its tail feathers brushing his face
17.
Automaton
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An automaton is a self-operating machine, or a machine or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a predetermined sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions. Some automata, such as bellstrikers in mechanical clocks, are designed to give the illusion to the observer that they are operating under their own power. The word automaton is the latinization of the Greek αὐτόματον, automaton and this word was first used by Homer to describe automatic door opening, or automatic movement of wheeled tripods. The automata in the Hellenistic world were intended as tools, toys, religious idols and he had invented the worlds first cuckoo clock. Complex mechanical devices are known to have existed in Hellenistic Greece, though the surviving example is the Antikythera mechanism. However, the information gleaned from recent scans of the fragments indicate that it may have come from the colonies of Corinth in Sicily and its also said that when King Solomon stepped upon the throne, a mechanism was set in motion. As soon as he stepped upon the first step, a golden ox, on each side, the animals helped the King up until he was comfortably seated upon the throne. In ancient China, an account of automata is found in the Lie Zi text. Within it there is a description of an earlier encounter between King Mu of Zhou and a mechanical engineer known as Yan Shi, an artificer. The latter proudly presented the king with a life-size, human-shaped figure of his mechanical handiwork and it walked with rapid strides, moving its head up and down, so that anyone would have taken it for a live human being. The artificer touched its chin, and it began singing, perfectly in tune and he touched its hand, and it began posturing, keeping perfect time. And, indeed, it turned out to be only a construction of leather, wood, glue and lacquer, variously coloured white, black, red, other notable examples of automata include Archytass dove, mentioned by Aulus Gellius. The manufacturing tradition of automata continued in the Greek world well into the Middle Ages, similar automata in the throne room were described by Luitprands contemporary Constantine Porphyrogenitus, who later became emperor, in his book Περὶ τῆς Βασιλείου Τάξεως. In the mid-8th century, the first wind powered automata were built, statues that turned with the wind over the domes of the four gates, the public spectacle of wind-powered statues had its private counterpart in the Abbasid palaces where automata of various types were predominantly displayed. In 827, Caliph Al-Mamun had a silver and golden tree in his palace in Baghdad, there were metal birds that sang automatically on the swinging branches of this tree built by Muslim inventors and engineers. The Abbasid Caliph Al-Muqtadir also had a tree in his palace in Baghdad in 915, with birds on it flapping their wings. In the 9th century, the Banū Mūsā brothers invented an automatic flute player. Al-Jazari described complex programmable humanoid automata amongst other machines he designed and constructed in the Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices in 1206 and his automaton was a boat with four automatic musicians that floated on a lake to entertain guests at royal drinking parties
18.
Jacques de Vaucanson
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Jacques de Vaucanson was a French inventor and artist who was responsible for the creation of impressive and innovative automata and machines such as the first completely automated loom. He was born in Grenoble, France in 1709 as Jacques Vaucanson, the tenth child, son of a glove-maker, he grew up poor, and in his youth he reportedly aspired to become a clockmaker. He studied under the Jesuits and later joined the Order of the Minims in Lyon and this new knowledge allowed him to develop his first mechanical devices that mimicked biological vital functions such as circulation, respiration, and digestion. At just 18 years of age, Vaucanson was given his own workshop in Lyon, in that same year of 1727, there was a visit from one of the governing heads of Les Minimes. Vaucanson decided to make some androids, the automata would serve dinner and clear the tables for the visiting politicians. However one government official declared that he thought Vaucansons tendencies profane, in 1737, Vaucanson built The Flute Player, a life-size figure of a shepherd that played the tabor and the pipe and had a repertoire of twelve songs. The figures fingers were not pliable enough to play the flute correctly, the following year, in early 1738, he presented his creation to the Académie des Sciences. Later that year, he created two additional automata, The Tambourine Player and The Digesting Duck, which is considered his masterpiece, the duck had over 400 moving parts in each wing alone, and could flap its wings, drink water, digest grain, and defecate. Although such frauds were sometimes controversial, they were common enough because such scientific demonstrations needed to entertain the wealthy, Vaucanson is credited as having invented the worlds first flexible rubber tube while in the process of building the ducks intestines. Despite the revolutionary nature of his automata, he is said to have tired quickly of his creations and his inventions brought him to the attention of Frederick II of Prussia, who sought to bring him to his court. Vaucanson refused, however, wishing to serve his own country, in 1741 he was appointed by Cardinal Fleury, chief minister of Louis XV, as inspector of the manufacture of silk in France. He was charged with undertaking reforms of the manufacturing process. At the time, the French weaving industry had fallen behind that of England and Scotland, Vaucanson promoted wide-ranging changes for automation of the weaving process. In 1745, he created the worlds first completely automated loom, drawing on the work of Basile Bouchon and his proposals were not well received by weavers, however, who pelted him with stones in the street and many of his revolutionary ideas were largely ignored. He invented several tools, such as the first fully documented, all metal slide rest lathe. It was described in the Encyclopédie, in 1746, he was made a member of the Académie des Sciences. Jacques de Vaucanson died in Paris in 1782, Vaucanson left a collection of his work as a bequest to Louis XVI. The collection would become the foundation of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers in Paris and his original automata have all been lost
19.
Digesting Duck
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The Canard Digérateur, or Digesting Duck, was an automaton in the form of a duck, created by Jacques de Vaucanson in 1739. The mechanical duck appeared to have the ability to eat kernels of grain, voltaire wrote in 1741 that sans la voix de la le Maure, & le canard de Vaucanson vous nauriez rien qui fit ressouvenir de la gloire de la France. The Duck is thought to have destroyed in a fire at a museum in 1879. The Duck was the size of a duck, and was cased in gold-plated copper. Vaucanson described the Ducks interior as containing a chemical laboratory capable of breaking down the grain. Robert-Houdin described this as a piece of artifice I would happily have incorporated in a conjuring trick, a replica of Vaucansons mechanical duck, created by Ian Huynh, was part of the collection of the Grenoble Automata Museum. Another replica was commissioned privately from David Secrett, an automaton maker known for his archer figure, the duck is mentioned by the hero of Nathaniel Hawthornes short story The Artist of the Beautiful, and is referenced and discussed in John Twelve Hawks novel Spark. A fictitious enhancement of Vaucansons original duck, the counterpart to the one seen in the image above. The duck is referred to in Peter Careys novel, The Chemistry of Tears, Vaucanson and his duck are referred to in Lawrence Norfolks 1991 novel Lemprieres Dictionary. The Duck is featured in Lavie Tidhars The Bookman, in the Egyptian Hall, many iterations of the Cloaca Machine have since been produced, the current iteration sits vertically, mimicking the human digestive system. The excrement produced by the machine is vacuum-sealed in Cloaca-branded bags and sold to art collectors and dealers, the duck is used as the symbol for the software company Automatic Duck, Inc. Gastrobot, modern digestion-fuelled robots Duck test Reductionism Wood, Gaby, living Dolls, A Magical History of the Quest for Mechanical Life. Les créatures artificielles, des automates aux mondes virtuels, the defecating duck, or, the ambiguous origins of artificial life. BBC film featuring the modern automata of David Secrett in 1979
20.
Pierre Jaquet-Droz
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Pierre Jaquet-Droz was a Swiss-born watchmaker of the late eighteenth century. He lived in Paris, London, and Geneva, where he designed and built animated dolls, or automata, to help his firm sell watches and mechanical birds. Constructed between 1768 and 1774 by Pierre Jaquet-Droz, his son Henri-Louis, and Jean-Frédéric Leschot, the automata include The Writer, The Musician and his astonishing mechanisms fascinated the kings and emperors of Europe, China, India, and Japan. Some consider these devices to be the oldest examples of the computer. The Writer, a boy who writes with a quill pen upon paper with real ink, has an input device to set tabs, defining individual letters written by the boy. 40 cams that represent the read-only programme, the work of Pierre Jaquet-Droz predates that of Charles Babbage by decades. The automata of Jaquet-Droz are also considered to be some of the finest examples of human problem solving. Three particularly complex and still functional dolls, now known as the Jaquet-Droz automata, are housed at the Musée dArt et dHistoire in Neuchâtel and this clock was exhibited to the King of Spain, who was delighted with it. The gentleness of my dog, said Droz, is his least merit, if your Majesty touch one of the apples, the minister of Marine was the only one that ventured to stay. The king having desired him to ask the negro what oclock it was, the minister obeyed, Droz then observed, that the negro had not yet learned Spanish. Incredible mechanical boy built 240 years ago who could actually write Daily Mail, November 6,2013, The Writer created by watchmaker Pierre Jaquet-Droz in the 1770s
21.
Jaquet-Droz automata
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The dolls are still functional, and can be seen at the Musée dArt et dHistoire of Neuchâtel, in Switzerland. They are considered to be among the ancestors of modern computers. They were carried around, and lost at several points, the History and Archeology society of Neuchâtel eventually bought them in 1906, for 75,000 gold francs, and gave them to the museum. The musician is modelled as an organ player. The music is not recorded or played by a musical box, movements of her chest show her breathing, and she follows her fingers with her head and eyes. The automaton also makes some of the movements that a player would do. The draughtsman works by using a system of cams that code the movements of the hand in two dimensions, plus one to lift the pencil, the automaton also moves on his chair, and he periodically blows on the pencil to remove dust. The writer is the most complex of the three automata, using a system similar to the one used for the draughtsman for each letter, he is able to write any custom text up to 40 letters long. The text is coded on a wheel where characters are selected one by one and he uses a goose feather to write, which he inks from time to time, including a shake of the wrist to prevent ink from spilling. His eyes follow the text being written, and his head moves when he takes some ink
22.
Joseph Marie Jacquard
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Joseph Marie Charles dit Jacquard was a French weaver and merchant. In his grandfather’s generation, several branches of the Charles family lived in Lyon’s Couzon-Au-Mont d’Or suburb, to distinguish the various branches, the community gave them nicknames, Joseph’s branch was called “Jacquard” Charles. Thus, Joseph’s grandfather was Bartholomew Charles dit Jacquard, Joseph Marie Charles sit Jacquard was born into a conservative catholic family in Lyon, France on 7 July 1752. He was one of nine children of Jean Charles sit Jacquard, a weaver of Lyon. However, only Joseph and his sister Clemenceau survived to adulthood, although his father was a man of property, Joseph received no formal schooling and remained illiterate until he was 13. He was finally taught by his brother-in-law, Jean-Marie Barrett, who ran a printing, Barrett also introduced Joseph to learned societies and scholars. His mother died in 1762, and when his father died in 1772, Joseph inherited his father’s house, looms and workshop as well as a vineyard, Joseph then dabbled in real estate. In 1778, he listed his occupations as master weaver and silk merchant, there is some confusion about Jacquard’s early work history. British economist Sir John Bowring met Jacquard, who told Bowring that at one time he had been a maker of straw hats. Eymard claimed that before becoming involved in the weaving of silk, Jacquard was a type-founder, a soldier, a bleacher of straw hats, Barlow claims that before marrying, Jacquard had worked for a bookbinder, a type-founder, and a maker of cutlery. After marrying, Jacquard tried cutlery making, type-founding, and weaving, however, Barlow does not cite any sources for that information. Ballot stated that Jacquard initially helped his father operate his loom, on 26 July 1778, Joseph married Claudine Boichon. She was a widow from Lyon who owned property and had a substantial dowry. However, Joseph soon fell deeply into debt and was brought to court, Barlow claims that after Jacquards father died, Jacquard started a figure-weaving business but failed and lost all his wealth. However, Barlow cites no sources to support his claim, to settle his debts, he was obliged to sell his inheritance and to appropriate his wife’s dowry. Fortunately, his wife retained a house in Oullins, where the couple resided, on 19 April 1779, the couple had their only child, a son, Jean Marie. Beyond his name and his date of birth, nothing is known about Jacquards son, Charles Ballot stated that after the rebellion of Lyon in 1793 was suppressed, Jacquard and his son escaped from the city by joining the revolutionary army. They fought together in the Rhine campaign of 1795, serving in the Rhone-and-Loire battalion under General Jean Charles Pichegru, Jacquards son was killed outside of Heidelberg
23.
Jacquard loom
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The Jacquard machine is a device fitted to a power loom that simplifies the process of manufacturing textiles with such complex patterns as brocade, damask and matelassé. It was invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1804, the loom was controlled by a chain of cards, a number of punched cards, laced together into a continuous sequence. Multiple rows of holes were punched on each card, with one complete card corresponding to one row of the design, several such paper cards, generally white in color, can be seen in the images below. Chains, like Bouchons earlier use of tape, allowed sequences of any length to be constructed. It is based on earlier inventions by the Frenchmen Basile Bouchon, Jean Baptiste Falcon, a static display of a Jacquard loom is the centrepiece of the Musée des Tissus et des Arts décoratifs in Lyon. Live displays of a Jacquard loom are available at a few museums around Lyon and also twice a day at La Maison des Canuts. Both the Jacquard process and the necessary loom attachment are named after their inventor and this mechanism is probably one of the most important weaving inventions as Jacquard shedding made possible the automatic production of unlimited varieties of pattern weaving. The term Jacquard is not specific or limited to any particular loom, the process can also be used for patterned knitwear and machine-knitted textiles, such as jerseys. This use of punched cards to control a sequence of operations is considered an important step in the history of computing hardware. In former times, if figured designs were required, this was done on a drawloom, the heddles with warp ends to be pulled up were manually selected by a second operator, apart from the weaver. It was slow and labour-intensive, with limitations on the complexity of the pattern. The first important improvement of the draw took place in 1725. A continuous roll of paper was punched by hand, in sections, each of which represented one lash or tread, the Jacquard machine subsequently evolved from this. It is difficult to determine part of the Jacquard machine was designed by Jacquard himself. He may have combined the best mechanical elements of other inventors, Jacquards machine also contained eight rows of needles and uprights as compared with Vaucansons double row, of which modifications enabled him to increase the figuring capacity of the machine. In his first machine, he supported the harness by knotted cords, Jacquards invention had a deep influence on Charles Babbage. In that respect, he is viewed by some authors as a precursor of modern computing science. Each position in the card corresponds to a Bolus hook, which can either be raised or stopped dependent on whether the hole is punched out of the card or the card is solid
24.
Elektro
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Elektro is the nickname of a robot built by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in its Mansfield, Ohio facility between 1937 and 1938. Seven feet tall, weighing 265 pounds, humanoid in appearance, he could walk by voice command, speak about 700 words, smoke cigarettes, blow up balloons, elektros body consisted of a steel gear, cam and motor skeleton covered by an aluminum skin. His photoelectric eyes could distinguish red and green light and he was on exhibit at the 1939 New York Worlds Fair and reappeared at that fair in 1940, with Sparko, a robot dog that could bark, sit, and beg. Elektro toured North America in 1950 in promotional appearances for Westinghouse and he also appeared as Thinko, in Sex Kittens Go to College. In the 1960s, his head was given to Harold Gorsuch, Elektro survived the scrap pile and is currently the property of the Mansfield Memorial Museum. In 2013, a replica of Elektro was exhibited at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, a fictional Elektro appeared in the newspaper comic strip, The Amazing Spider-Man, Jan 18–24,2015. Elektro commentary YouTube Video footage of Elektro at the 1939 Worlds Fair The Middleton Family at the New York Worlds Fair Shows entire Elektro demo starting at 34 minutes into movie
25.
1939 New York World's Fair
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Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people attended its exhibits in two seasons. The NYWF of 1939–1940 was the first exposition to be based on the future, with a slogan of Dawn of a New Day. To its visitors the Fair will say, Here are the materials, ideas and these are the tools with which the World of Tomorrow must be made. They are all interesting and much effort has been expended to lay them before you in an interesting way, familiarity with today is the best preparation for the future. Within six months of the Fairs opening, the Second World War would begin, in 1935, at the height of the Great Depression, a group of New York City businessmen decided to create an international exposition to lift the city and the country out of depression. Not long after, these men formed the New York Worlds Fair Corporation, the NYWFC elected former chief of police Grover Whalen as the president of their committee. This event turned the area into a City park after the exposition closed, edward Bernays directed public relations of the fair in 1939, which he called democricity. Promotion of this event took many forms. Howard Hughes flew a special Worlds Fair flight around the world to promote the fair in 1938, on April 30,1939, a very hot Sunday, the fair had its grand opening, with 206,000 people in attendance. The April 30 date coincided with the 150th anniversary of George Washingtons inauguration, in Lower Manhattan, although many of the pavilions and other facilities were not quite ready for this opening, it was put on with pomp and great celebration. David Sarnoff, then president of RCA and an advocate of television. On April 30,1939, the ceremony and President Roosevelts speech were seen on black. NBC used the event to inaugurate regularly scheduled broadcasts in New York City over their station W2XBS. An estimated 1,000 people viewed the Roosevelt telecast on about 200 television sets scattered throughout the New York metropolitan area. In order to convince visitors that the television sets were not a trick. As part of the exhibit at the RCA pavilion, visitors could see themselves on television, there were also television demonstrations at the General Electric and Westinghouse pavilions. During this formal introduction at the fair, television became available for public purchase at various stores in the New York City area. After Albert Einstein gave a speech that discussed cosmic rays, the lights were ceremonially lit
26.
Walt Disney Imagineering
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Imagineering is responsible for designing and building Disney theme parks, resorts, cruise ships, and other entertainment venues at all levels of project development. Imagineering also manages various properties held by units within the Walt Disney Company including Disneys Burbank Studios, New Amsterdam Theater, when Disney was in the sports team ownership that included Edison Field and the Mighty Ducks Disney Ice practice rink in Anaheim. Disney filed for a copyright for the term in 1967, claiming first use of the term in 1962, Walt Disney Inc. was formed by Walt Disney in 1953 with the Disneyland designing engineering division. In light of objections from Roy as well as those of potential stockholders, in 1961, WED moved into the Grand Central Business Park, the site of the former Grand Central Air Terminal, in 1961. The unit was renamed as of January 1986 to Walt Disney Imagineering, in 1996, Disney Development Company, the Disney conglomerates real estate development subsidiary, merged into Imagineering. Imagineering created Disney Fair, a U. S. traveling attraction, with poor attendance, the fair was pulled after a few stops. Disney Entertainment Projects Inc. a new Disney Asian Pacific subsidiary, by 1997, Imagineers were in several buildings in Grand Central Business Park when Disney purchased the park. In September 1999, Disney Imagineering announced the Grand Central Creative Campus redesign of the park with a new office-studio complex anchored by Disney Imagineering. Some of the building were demolished to make way for new buildings, the additional space would be for sound stages, production facilities and offices. Imagineers are governed by a few key principles when developing new concepts, often, new concepts and improvements are created to fulfill specific needs. Many solutions to problems are designed in this way, such as the vehicle of the attraction Soarin Over California. An Imagineer found an Erector set in his attic, and was able to envision, Imagineers are also known for returning to ideas for attractions and shows that, for whatever reason, never came to fruition. These ideas are often reworked and appear in a different form – like the Museum of the Weird, finally, there is the principle of blue sky speculation, a process where Imagineers generate ideas with no limitations. The custom at Imagineering has been to start the process with what is referred to as eyewash--the boldest, wildest, best idea one can come up with. Many Imagineers consider this to be the beginning of the design process and operate under the notion that if it can be dreamt. Imagineers are always seeking to improve upon their work--what Walt Disney called plussing and he firmly believed that Disneyland will never be completed as long as theres imagination left in the world, meaning there is always room for innovation and improvement. During an Imagineering workshop in 1991, Marty Sklar presented ten commandments attributed to Mickey Steinberg, WDI is responsible for technological advances such as the Circle-Vision 360° film technique and the FastPass virtual queuing system. The idea sprang from Disney’s fascination with a bird he purchased in New Orleans
27.
Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room
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Walt Disneys Enchanted Tiki Room is an attraction located in Disneyland at the Disneyland Resort, in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, and in Tokyo Disneyland at Tokyo Disney Resort. Originally built in 1963, the attraction is a pseudo-Polynesian themed musical animatronic show drawing from American tiki culture, the attraction opened June 23,1963, and was the first to feature Audio-Animatronics technology, a WED Enterprises patented invention. The attraction was sponsored by United Airlines for its first 12 years, in 1976, sponsorship passed over to Hawaiis Dole Food Company, Dole also provides the unique Dole Whip soft-serve frozen dessert sold at a snack bar near the entrance. The show was going to be a restaurant featuring Audio-Animatronics birds serenading guests as they dined. S. A. Since all three are part of the same building. Since ownership of the attraction was separate from the rest of the park, because computers have played a central role in the attraction since its inception, Walt Disneys Enchanted Tiki Room was also Disneylands first fully air-conditioned building. The attraction opened in an era when all things Polynesian were popular and was an immediate hit and it houses a Hawaiian-themed musical show hosted by four lifelike macaws whose plumage matches their implied countries of origin. José is red, white, and green and speaks with a Mexican accent voiced by Wally Boag, michael is white and green with an Irish brogue voiced by Fulton Burley. Pierre is blue, white, and red and has a French accent voiced by Ernie Newton, the main birds have changed color over the years. In 1965, the four host birds had almost identical plumage of white, green, yellow, the four macaws as well as all the other birds are plumed with real feathers with the exception of chest plumage. The chests are covered in custom-woven cashmere which allows the figures to breathe in a lifelike manner. The choice came quite by accident, in a planning meeting, the finale has every Audio-Animatronics figure performing a rousing version of Hawaiian War Chant. While waiting outside in an area for the show to start, visitors are serenaded by Hawaiian music which at one time included that of Martin Denny. Polynesian gods are represented as well around the perimeter of the lanai, some of the gods depicted are Hina Kuluua, goddess of rain, Rongo, god of agriculture, Maui, who roped the playful sun, and Tangaroa, father of all gods and goddesses. A brief documentary of the history of the pineapple is presented as well, after this, the birds cue a sing-along from the audience, and then a whistle-along, set to a wild can-can setting of the tune. By the mid-1990s the Enchanted Tiki Room audio system was dramatically enhanced, subwoofers were placed in the back rows. Modern mid-range speakers and high-range tweeters were placed throughout the room, for the first time, every instrument played in the 1963 recording came in loud, and crystal clear. Not long after, the Enchanted Tiki Room received another alteration, nearly four minutes of the show were cut
28.
Mary Poppins (film)
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Mary Poppins is a 1964 American musical-fantasy film directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Walt Disney, with songs written and composed by the Sherman Brothers. The screenplay is by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, loosely based on P. L. Travers book series Mary Poppins, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, and Glynis Johns are featured in supporting roles. The film was entirely at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. In 2013, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. Mary Poppins is widely considered to be Walt Disneys crowning achievement, in Edwardian London,1910, Bert entertains a crowd when he senses a change in the wind. Afterwards, he addresses the audience and gives them a tour of Cherry Tree Lane. George Banks returns home from his job at the bank to learn from Winifred that Katie Nanna has left their service after Jane and they are returned shortly after by the local constable, who reveals the children were chasing a lost kite. The children ask their father to build a better kite. Taking it upon himself to hire a nanny, George advertises for a stern, the next day, a queue of elderly, sour-faced nannies appear outside. However, a strong gust of wind blows the nannies away, outside, they meet Bert who now works as a screever, Mary uses her magic to transport the group into one of the drawings. While the children ride on a carousel, Mary Poppins. Mary enchants the carousel horses and participates in a race which she wins. While being asked to describe her victory, Mary announces the nonsense word Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, however, the outing is ruined when a thunderstorm demolishes Berts drawings, returning the group back to London. On another outing, the four meet Uncle Albert who has floated up in the air due to his uncontrollable laughter, George becomes increasingly annoyed by the cheery atmosphere of his family and threatens to fire Mary. Instead, Mary inverts his attempt by convincing him to take the children to the bank for a day, George takes Jane and Michael to the bank, where they meet Mr. Dawes Sr. and his son. Dawes aggressively attempts to have Michael invest his tuppence in the bank, Michael demands it back, causing other customers to misinterpret and all demand their money back, causing a bank run. Jane and Michael flee the bank, getting lost in the East End until they run into Bert, Jane and Michael give their father Michael’s tuppence in the hope to make amends. George walks through London to the bank, where he is given a humiliating cashiering and is dismissed, looking to the tuppence for words, he raucously blurts out, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
29.
Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln
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Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln is a stage show featuring an Audio-Animatronic version of U. S. President Abraham Lincoln, best known for being presented at Disneyland since 1965. It was originally showcased as the feature of the State of Illinois Pavilion at the 1964 New York Worlds Fair. One year after its debut at the Worlds Fair, the opened at Disneyland. Today Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln is an element of the Disneyland attraction The Disneyland Story presenting Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, which opened in 2009. Walt Disney originally conceived of a show that would pay tribute to all U. S. Presidents as part of an extension of Main Street. However, the technology at the time would not permit a show on the scale Disney wanted, Disneys Imagineers opted to focus instead on creating a tribute to Lincoln, Disneys boyhood hero. In 1962, Robert Moses visited Disney seeking ideas for attractions for the upcoming Worlds Fair, Moses was intrigued by a prototype of the Audio-Animatronic Lincoln, and Disney agreed to build it. It ran for the entirety of both of the Worlds Fairs 6-month seasons, and closed on October 17,1965, during the second season of the Worlds Fair, a duplicate version of the show opened at Disneyland on July 18,1965. The show ran until 1973, when it was replaced by The Walt Disney Story, Disneyland was criticized for this move, and in 1975 the show was replaced by The Walt Disney Story Featuring Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, a hybrid of the two shows. The 1975 version of The Walt Disney Story Featuring Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln underwent several changes over the years. In 2001, it was replaced with an attraction of the same name, the main show features a short biographical film on Lincoln and an updated version of the original show. The original version of the attraction opened with the rest of the New York Worlds Fair on April 22,1964, the overall theme of the show dealt with inspiration, justice, and the meaning of the United States Constitution. Guests then entered the theater where the curtains opened to reveal an audio-animatronic figure of Abraham Lincoln sitting in a chair. He then stood up and gave a measured, dignified address, lasting 5 minutes and 15 seconds, Royal Dano was also the voice of Lincoln. The show concluded with the curtains opening further to reveal the Rotunda of the United States Capitol Building, an abstract image of the American Flag was revealed behind the Rotunda as a backdrop, and a rendition of The Battle Hymn of the Republic could be heard. Lincolns face was created by sculptor Blaine Gibson using a copy of a mask of Lincoln made by Leonard Volk in Chicago in 1860. Lincolns speech was compiled by James Algar, who was also the writer and producer of the show. At the end of the Fair, the State of Illinois Pavilion was completely demolished, only valuable cultural artifacts and collections were returned to Illinois or elsewhere around the world
30.
1964 New York World's Fair
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The 1964/1965 New York Worlds Fair was the third major worlds fair to be held in New York City. However, the fair did not receive official sanctioning from the Bureau of International Expositions, hailing itself as a universal and international exposition, the fairs theme was Peace Through Understanding, dedicated to Mans Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe. American companies dominated the exposition as exhibitors, the theme was symbolized by a 12-story high, stainless-steel model of the earth called the Unisphere. The fair ran for two seasons, April 22 – October 18,1964, and April 21 – October 17,1965. Admission price for adults was $2 in 1964 but $2.50 in 1965, the fair is noted as a showcase of mid-20th-century American culture and technology. The nascent Space Age, with its vista of promise, was well represented, more than 51 million people attended the fair, though fewer than the hoped-for 70 million. Most major American manufacturing companies from pen manufacturers to auto companies had a major presence and this fair gave many attendees their first interaction with computer equipment. The site, Flushing Meadows Corona Park in the borough of Queens, was previously Manhattans Corona Ash Dumps featured prominently in F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby as the Valley of Ashes. Prior to that, the site had been a natural wetland — literally wetland meadows that would flush the nearby runoff entering the adjacent bay, Flushing Meadows had been a Dutch settlement, named after the village of Vlissingen. Subsequently, the site was reclaimed for the 1939/1940 New York Worlds Fair, one of the largest worlds fairs to be held in the United States, the 1939 fair also occupied space that was filled in for the 1964/1965 exposition. The 1964/1965 Fair was conceived by a group of New York businessmen who remembered their experiences at the 1939 New York Worlds Fair. Thoughts of a boom to the city as the result of increased tourism was a major reason for holding another fair 25 years after the 1939/1940 extravaganza. Then-New York City mayor, Robert F. Wagner, Jr and he was joined by Austrian architect Victor Gruen in studies that eventually led the Eisenhower Commission to award the worlds fair to New York City in competition with a number of American cities. Organizers turned to financing and the sale of bonds to pay the huge costs to stage them. The organizers hired New Yorks Master Builder Robert Moses, to head the corporation established to run the fair because he was experienced in raising money for vast public projects, Moses had been a formidable figure in the city since coming to power in the 1930s. He was responsible for the construction of much of the highway infrastructure and, as parks commissioner for decades. In the mid-1930s, Moses oversaw the conversion of a vast Queens tidal marsh/garbage dump into the fairgrounds that hosted the 1939/1940 Worlds Fair, called Flushing Meadows Park, it was Moses grandest park scheme. He envisioned this vast park, comprising some 1,300 acres of land, easily accessible from Manhattan, when the 1939/1940 Worlds Fair ended in financial failure, Moses did not have the available funds to complete work on his project
31.
Chuck E. Cheese's
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Chuck E. Cheeses is a chain of American family entertainment centers and restaurants. The chain is the brand of CEC Entertainment, Inc. and is headquartered in Irving. The establishment serves pizza and other items, complemented by arcade games, amusement rides. The brand derives its name from its main animatronic character Chuck E. Cheese, Chuck E. Cheeses Pizza Time Theatre in San Jose, California, was the first location to open on May 17,1977. The concept was authored by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, credited with bringing video games such as Pong to the mainstream, the Pizza Time Theatre was the first family restaurant to integrate food, animated entertainment, and an indoor arcade. Following a filing for bankruptcy, the chain was acquired by competitor Showbiz Pizza Place in 1984, forming Showbiz Pizza Time, in 1990, the company began unifying the two brands with the goal of renaming every location to Chuck E. Cheeses Pizza. They redesigned the logo in 1994, dropping Pizza from each stores name, in 1998, Showbiz Pizza Time, Inc. became CEC Entertainment, Inc. and the company operates 590 locations as of 2015. The first location opened in San Jose, California in 1977, and was labeled as the first family restaurant to integrate food, cheap animated entertainment, in 1978, Bushnell purchased the Pizza Time Theatre concept from Ataris then-corporate parent, Warner Communications. Marketing people disliked that and proposed Chuck E, Cheese instead, which is what was used. As the restaurant became successful, he began to franchise. In November 1978, Brock met Aaron Fechter of Creative Engineering, concerned that Fechter’s animatronics would be too strong a competition for Bushnell’s work, Brock requested that Bushnell release him from the co-development agreement, citing misrepresentation. In December 1979, Brock and Fechter formed “Showbiz Pizza Place Inc”, ShowBiz Pizza Place was conceptually identical to Pizza Time Theatre in all aspects except for animation, which would be provided by Creative Engineering. Showbiz Pizza Place opened its first location on March 3,1980, in Kansas City, upon the opening of ShowBiz Pizza Place, Bushnell sued Brock and Topeka Inn Management over breach of contract. Brock immediately issued a counter-suit against Bushnell, citing misrepresentation, the court case began in March 1980, eventually settling out of court with Showbiz agreeing to pay Pizza Time Theatre a portion of its profits over the following decade. During this period, Topeka Inn Management also changed its name to Brock Hotel Corporation and moved its headquarters to Irving, Showbiz then bought the foundering company, recreating itself as Showbiz Pizza Time Inc. 3%. During this period, Creative Engineering began to sever ties with ShowBiz Pizza Time, by 1992, all restaurants assumed the name of Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza. However, the name was changed to Chuck E. Cheeses by March 17,1995 after a 1994 redesigning of the concept, in 1998, the company renamed itself CEC Entertainment, Inc. Part of this renaming was related to a move from the NASDAQ to the NYSE, in 1999, CEC Entertainment, Inc. bought out competitor Discovery Zone
32.
ShowBiz Pizza Place
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ShowBiz Pizza Place was a restaurant pizza chain and family entertainment center founded in 1980 by Robert L. Brock and Creative Engineering. The brand emerged following a separation between Brock and Pizza Time Theatre, owners of the Chuck E. Cheeses franchise, both companies became competitors and found early success, partly due to the rise in popularity of arcade games during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The type of animatronics used in the ShowBiz pizza chain – which featured an overall-clad, following Pizza Time Theatres bankruptcy filing in 1984, however, ShowBiz bought the struggling franchise and formed ShowBiz Pizza Time Inc. a combination of the former companies names. All ShowBiz locations were eventually rebranded Chuck E, at a time when arcades were popular in bowling alleys and bars, Bushnell sought to increase arcade exposure to a younger audience. In 1977, Atari opened the first Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre in San Jose, the concept became an immediate success, and after leaving Atari in 1978, Bushnell purchased the Pizza Time restaurant forming a new company under the title Pizza Time Theatre Inc. In 1979, Brock signed a franchising agreement with the Pizza Time Theatre Inc. Shortly thereafter, Brock became concerned about protecting his investment, noticing companies such as Creative Engineering and he grew concerned that future competitors would emerge with better technology. Bushnell previously reassured Brock at the signing of the agreement that the companys technology would continue to evolve. However, prior to the opening of his first location, Brock decided he wanted to void the agreement with Pizza Time. The first ShowBiz Pizza Place opened in Kansas City, Missouri, at the time, Brock was quite successful as one of the largest franchisers in the Holiday Inn hotel system. The company moved its headquarters in 1982 to Irving, Texas, in 1984, Chuck E. Cheeses Pizza Time Theatre declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and its assets were purchased by ShowBiz. As a result of the merger, the newly formed company was named ShowBiz Pizza Time, however, both restaurants continued operating as separate entities. Richard M. Frank joined the company as president in 1985, based on customer research, Frank instituted a number of changes to appeal to younger children and parents. Specific measures included increased lighting, a food menu, table service, self-serve fountain drinks, a revamped ride selection. However, relations between ShowBiz and Creative Engineering began to deteriorate, fechter says he refused, since Showbiz didnt offer monetary compensation for the rights. Despite the refusal, CEIs creative control was jeopardized, as ShowBiz had the ability to program the characters and replicate their voices, ShowBiz later returned the recording rights to Fetcher following CEIs Liberty Show production, but they did not return the programming rights. In 1989, ShowBiz Pizza Time became a company with its stock market launch. The following year, it severed all ties with Creative Engineering, the changes consisted of the removal of all ShowBiz animatronics from their restaurants and replacing them with Chuck E
33.
The Rock-afire Explosion
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Following the completion of rebranding, the show was sold to other restaurants and entertainment centers, such as Circus Pizza, Pistol Petes Pizza, and Billy Bobs Wonderland. The characters in The Rock-afire Explosion were various anthropomorphized animals, including a bear, a grey wolf, a silverback gorilla. They would perform medleys of rock, pop, and country music, as well as original compositions. At the end of the tenure, Chuck E. Cheese marketing director Jul Kamen credited Rock-afire with being responsible for Showbizs financial success. The Rock-afire explosion operates using four tracks of audio, two for audio and two for data, the data tracks were encoded using Biphase mark code produced during the programming process by two Apple IIe computers. During the days when Showbiz was uninvolved in programming, the circuitry of the RAE was purchased by Creative Engineering from Superscope and this computer eliminated the need of the Pianocorder playback board and used only the character driver boards. Production of the programming and audio for the show was done in-house by Creative Engineering, Inc. in Orlando, almost all Rock-afire shows were produced completely in-house, with Creative Engineering employees not only manufacturing the characters, but also writing and performing their songs and skits. Unlike other animatronic shows of the early 1980s, the Rock-afire Explosion was designed to be life-sized, additionally, Fechter implemented the use of latex masks for the characters faces, as opposed to the rubber and Styrofoam masks common in animatronics of the time. The latex masks were designed to fit over various parts on the characters faces, permitting them a range of facial expressions, including smiling. Fechter also implemented computer programming that permitted some of the characters to move in rhythm with music, voice Actors Billy Bob Brockali – Bass / Vocals. A brown bear from the South who wore yellow and red overalls and he was the mascot for ShowBiz Pizza Place throughout its existence, and his image was on most of the chains merchandise. Sweet and naive, Billy Bob was usually a mediator to the bands minor on-stage squabbles, Looney Bird shares Billy Bobs stage, as they are supposedly close friends. His head is the only thing seen, the rest of him hiding in an oil drum. Some shows featured a segment where Looney Bird would answer fan mail, for this, the robot was retrofitted to include a pair of hands that held a piece of paper for him to read. Looney Bird was portrayed as an alcoholic, who used Gasohol, a form of gas Billy Bob invented, to become intoxicated. Dook LaRue – Drums / Vocals, a mongrel who aspired space travel and wore a space themed suit. Slightly dimwitted, Dook would often lose focus during shows and miss his cues, the character is unique in that, when set up properly, he has the ability to actually play a 4 piece drum kit in time with the music
34.
Jurassic Park (film)
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Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science-fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Gerald R. Molen. The first installment of the Jurassic Park franchise, it is based on the 1990 novel of the name by Michael Crichton, with a screenplay written by Crichton. Before Crichtons novel was published, four put in bids for the film rights. With the backing of Universal Studios, Spielberg acquired the rights for $1.5 million before publication in 1990, Koepp wrote the final draft, which left out much of the novels exposition and violence and made numerous changes to the characters. Filming took place in California and Hawaii between August and November 1992, and post-production rolled until May 1993, supervised by Spielberg in Poland as he filmed Schindlers List. The dinosaurs were created with groundbreaking computer-generated imagery by Industrial Light & Magic and it was well received by critics, who praised its special effects, John Williams musical score, and Spielbergs direction. The film won more than twenty awards, including three Academy Awards for its achievements in visual effects and sound design. A fifth installment is scheduled for a 2018 release, industrialist John Hammond and his bioengineering company, InGen, have created a theme park called Jurassic Park on Isla Nublar, a Costa Rican island, populated with cloned dinosaurs. After one of the dinosaur handlers is killed by a Velociraptor, Gennaro invites mathematician Ian Malcolm, while Hammond invites paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant and paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler. Upon arrival, the group is stunned to see a live Brachiosaurus, at the parks visitor center, the group learns that the cloning was accomplished by extracting dinosaur DNA from mosquitoes that had been preserved in amber. DNA from frogs was used to fill in gaps in the dinosaur genomes, to prevent breeding, all the dinosaurs were made female. Malcolm scoffs at the idea of controlled breeding, declaring it impossible. The crew witness the birth of a raptor and visit the raptor enclosure. During a luncheon, the debates the ethics of cloning. The group is joined by Hammonds grandchildren, Lex and Tim Murphy, for a tour of the park. The tour does not go as planned, with most of the failing to appear. The tour is cut short as a storm approaches Isla Nublar. Most of the park employees depart on a boat for the mainland and the return to their electric tour vehicles, except Ellie
35.
Furby
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A Furby is an American electronic robotic toy released in 1998 by Tiger Electronics. It resembles a hamster or owl-like creature and went through a period of being a must-have toy following its holiday season launch, with continual sales until 2000. Over 40 million Furbies were sold during the three years of its production, with 1.8 million sold in 1998, and 14 million in 1999. Its speaking capabilities were translated into 24 languages, Furbies were the first successful attempt to produce and sell a domestically-aimed robot. A newly purchased Furby starts out speaking entirely Furbish, the language that all Furbies use. This process is intended to resemble the process of learning English, the updated Emoto-Tronic Furby, with voice-recognition and more complex facial movements, was sold by Hasbro between 2005-2007. They released another updated Furby with LCD eyes and an app for the holiday season in 2012. Dave Hampton and Caleb Chung spent nine months creating the Furby, after two attempts at licensing the concept, they invited fellow toy and game inventor Richard C. Levy to join their efforts to sell Furby. Levy brought Furby to Tiger Electronics and Tigers Roger Shiffman bought the rights to it, Furbys first public appearance was at the American International Toy Fair in 1998. Furbies originally retailed for about US$35, and upon release, they sold extremely well, catapulting demand during the 1998 Christmas period drove the resale price over $100, and sometimes as high as several hundred dollars. Furbies sold for over $300 in newspapers and in auctions, nicknames were given to them, and sellers assigned rarity values to them. Some people continue to call their Furbies by the terms wedding Furby, tuxedo Furby, snowball Furby, biker Furby, all, of course, were dubbed rare by sellers, because they were so hard to find at the time. In a sure display of the demand for the toy, some sellers scammed people out of a sum of money. During one 12-month period, a total of 27 million Furby toys were sold,2005 saw the reintroduction of Furby with the release of the new Emoto-Tronic Furby. On April 12,2012, it was announced that Hasbro will be making a new line of Furbies, as of December 2012 there are sixteen colors. They are teal, white, black, purple, tangerine-tango, yellow, aqua, navy blue, plum, pink, pink/teal, orange/blue, black/pink, blue/yellow, teal/purple, gray/teal. The main reason for their popularity was because of apparent intelligence, Furbies can communicate with one another via an infrared port located between their eyes. Furbies start out speaking entirely Furbish, a language with short words, simple syllables and they are programmed, however, to speak less and less Furbish and more and more English as they grow
36.
Vernon Hills, Illinois
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Vernon Hills is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States, and an affluent northern suburb of Chicago. The population was 20,120 at the 2000 census, and 25,113 in 2010, Vernon Hills serves as a retail hub for its surrounding area. The land that was to become Vernon Hills, founded by Richard Theodore Freese, Ron Freese, and Jim Carswell, began with the establishment of a 200-acre farm in 1851. Use of the land remained relatively static until the 1950s, when part of it was purchased for a community and golf course. On June 16,1958, the village officially incorporated with 123 residents and 125 houses in a subdivision built by Quinn Hogan. During these times, the village and police department were run from a motel until 1971 when village trustees bought two portable buildings. It saw steady but slow growth until the annexing of a plot of land near the corner of IL-60 and IL-21 in 1971, by 1980, the villages population had grown to almost 10,000 residents, and by 2000, it had surpassed 20,000. Through the 1980s and 1990s, the village grew geographically through the annexation of surrounding areas. According to the 2010 census, Vernon Hills has an area of 7.917 square miles. Demographics, Quick Facts As of the census of 2010, there were 20,120 people,7,568 households, the population density was 2,708.3 people per square mile. There were 7,813 housing units at a density of 1,051.7 per square mile. The racial makeup of the village was 81. 86% White,1. 69% African American,11. 67% Asian,0. 10% Native American,0.03 Pacific Islander,2. 92% from other races, and 1. 72% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7. 19% of the population,24. 8% of all households were made up of individuals and 5. 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.66 and the family size was 3.24. In the village, the population was out with 29. 2% under the age of 18,6. 4% from 18 to 24,36. 8% from 25 to 44,21. 6% from 45 to 64. The median age was 34 years, for every 100 females there were 93.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.8 males, the median income for a household in the village was $101,297, and the median income for a family was $123,806. Males had an income of $94,807 versus $78,136 for females
37.
AIBO
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AIBO is an iconic series of robotic pets designed and manufactured by Sony. Sony announced a prototype robot in mid-1998, the first consumer model was introduced on May 11,1999. New models were released every year until 2005, although most models were dog-like, other inspirations included lion-cubs and space explorer, and only the final ERS-7 version was explicitly a robotic dog. AIBOs were marketed for use as Entertainment Robots. They were also adopted by universities for educational purposes and research into robotics. AIBOs have been used in movies, music videos and advertising campaigns as futuristic icons. On January 26,2006 Sony announced that it would discontinue AIBO and it also stopped development of the related QRIO robot. Sonys AIBO customer support was withdrawn gradually, with support for the final ERS-7M3 ending in March 2013, some third party support is available, such as repair and battery refurbishment. From July,2014, Sony no longer provide repairs for AIBO products, although repair services are no longer provided by Sony, there are AIBO communities that meet to help with repairs. These meetup groups can be online and are held by owners. AIBO grew out of Sonys Computer Science Laboratory, founded in 1990, CSL was set up to emulate the famed innovation center at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center. CSLs first product was the Aperios operating system, later to form the base software AIBOs. When Nobuyuki Idei became president of Sony in 1995, he sought to adopt an agenda, reflected in the new motto he gave the company, “Digital Dream Kids, ”. Famed engineer Dr. Toshitada Doi is credited as AIBO’s original progenitor, Fujita would write that the robots behaviors will need to “be sufficiently complex or unexpected so that people keep an interest in watching or taking care of it”. His early monkey-like prototype MUTANT included behaviors that would become part of AIBOs including tracking a yellow ball, shaking hands, karate strikes, Fujita would later receive the IEEE Inaba Technical Award for Innovation Leading to Production for AIBO, the worlds first mass-market consumer robot for entertainment applications. In 1997 Doi received backing from Idei to form Sony’s Digital Creatures Lab, believing that robots would be commonplace in households by 2010, but aware of the shortcomings of available technology for functional uses, he decided to focus on robots for entertainment. Almost ten years later, Ideis successor, Howard Stringer closed down AIBO, Doi then staged a mock funeral, attended by more than 100 colleagues from Sony. At the funeral, Doi said that the Aibo was a symbol of a spirit at Sony that was now dead
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Tokyo
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Tokyo, officially Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan and one of its 47 prefectures. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous area in the world. It is the seat of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government, Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Formerly known as Edo, it has been the de facto seat of government since 1603 when Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu made the city his headquarters. It officially became the capital after Emperor Meiji moved his seat to the city from the old capital of Kyoto in 1868, Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture and the city of Tokyo. The Tokyo metropolitan government administers the 23 Special Wards of Tokyo, the metropolitan government also administers 39 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture and the two outlying island chains. The population of the wards is over 9 million people. The prefecture is part of the worlds most populous metropolitan area with upwards of 37.8 million people, the city hosts 51 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest number of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked third in the International Financial Centres Development IndexEdit, the city is also home to various television networks such as Fuji TV, Tokyo MX, TV Tokyo, TV Asahi, Nippon Television, NHK and the Tokyo Broadcasting System. Tokyo ranked first in the Global Economic Power Index and fourth in the Global Cities Index. The city is considered a world city – as listed by the GaWCs 2008 inventory – and in 2014. In 2015, Tokyo was named the Most Liveable City in the world by the magazine Monocle, the Michelin Guide has awarded Tokyo by far the most Michelin stars of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked first in the world in the Safe Cities Index, the 2016 edition of QS Best Student Cities ranked Tokyo as the 3rd-best city in the world to be a university student. Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics, the 1979 G-7 summit, the 1986 G-7 summit, and the 1993 G-7 summit, and will host the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tokyo was originally known as Edo, which means estuary. During the early Meiji period, the city was also called Tōkei, some surviving official English documents use the spelling Tokei. However, this pronunciation is now obsolete, the name Tokyo was first suggested in 1813 in the book Kondō Hisaku, written by Satō Nobuhiro. When Ōkubo Toshimichi proposed the renaming to the government during the Meiji Restoration, according to Oda Kanshi, Tokyo was originally a small fishing village named Edo, in what was formerly part of the old Musashi Province. Edo was first fortified by the Edo clan, in the twelfth century
39.
Disney's Hollywood Studios
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Disneys Hollywood Studios, originally Disney-MGM Studios, is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, based on an idea by Marty Sklar, Randy Bright, and Michael Eisner, the park opened on May 1,1989, and was the third of four theme parks built at Walt Disney World. To increase public interest and the variety of representation within the park, Disney entered into a licensing agreement with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The parks current name took effect in 2008, with the removal of the MGM-branding throughout the park, the parks icon was originally the Earffel Tower from the parks opening until 2001 when the Sorcerers Hat—a stylized version of the magical hat from Fantasia—was erected in the parks central hub. It then served as the icon until its removal in January 2015. The tower was removed in April 2016. Currently, the park remains without an official designated icon, although both the Great Movie Ride and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror are represented as such in marketing materials. In 2015, the park hosted approximately 10.8 million guests, ranking it the fifth most-visited theme park in North America and we welcome you to a Hollywood that never was—and always will be. A team of Walt Disney Imagineers led by Marty Sklar and Randy Bright had been given an assignment to two new pavilions for Epcots Future World section. The brainstorming sessions led to Wonders of Life and Great Movie Ride pavilions, the latter was to look like a soundstage backdrop, with a movie theater-style entrance in the middle and would have sat between the Land and Journey Into Imagination pavilions. In 1988, MGM/UA responded by filing a lawsuit that claimed Disney violated the agreement by operating a working movie, when the park first opened, the only two attractions were the Studio Backlot Tour and The Great Movie Ride. Disney later filed a countersuit, claiming that MGM/UA and MGM Grand, on October 23,1992, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Curtis B. The 33-acre MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park opened in 1993 at the Las Vegas site, on August 9,2007, Walt Disney World President Meg Crofton announced that Disney-MGM Studios would be re-branded as Disneys Hollywood Studios, effective January 7,2008. On March 12,2015, during a shareholders meeting. Disneys Hollywood Studios is divided into six themed areas, the parks original layout featured a large Hidden Mickey, which was visible in aerial photographs of the park and on the parks early guide maps. Construction and other changes have eliminated much of this image. Hollywood Boulevard, inspired by the street in Los Angeles, serves as the main entrance and operates in the same vein as Main Street. It is lined with themed streetscape facades and venues selling Disney merchandise, guests enter through the main entrance gate, which resembles the Pan-Pacific Auditorium
40.
The Hall of Presidents
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The Hall of Presidents is an attraction located in Liberty Square at the Magic Kingdom in the Walt Disney World Resort. The attraction is a presentation and stage show featuring Audio-Animatronic figures of all 441 individual United States Presidents. It opened on October 1,1971, along with the rest of the Magic Kingdom, the film is followed by a stage presentation of all the presidents in Audio-Animatronic form and features speeches by Lincoln, Washington, and the incumbent President. Walt Disney had originally wanted a similar to the Hall of Presidents called One Nation Under God at Disneyland in Anaheim. After Disneyland had become a success, Disney proposed an extension of Main Street. Disney decided to collaborate with his fellow Imagineers of WED Enterprises to try to make the first Audio-Animatronic figure in a human form and it would be one of Disneys heroes, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. Disney and his Imagineers created an Audio-Animatronic figure of Abraham Lincoln, the show consisted of a pre-show film on a screen with a depiction of paintings done to represent Illinois. Guests then entered the theater where the theater curtains eventually were removed to reveal the figure of Abraham Lincoln sitting in a chair. He rose out of the chair, stood up, and gave a 5-7 minute oratory consisting of a collection of his famous speeches, the show concluded with more theater curtains revealing the Rotunda of the United States Capitol Building. Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln was closed down for Disneylands 50th anniversary in 2005, after Disneys death on December 15,1966, plans were moving ahead for the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The Imagineers decided that since Florida was close to the real New Orleans in Louisiana, Liberty Square also serves as the alternative location for the Magic Kingdoms version of the Haunted Mansion, which is located at New Orleans Square in Disneyland. The Imagineers also thought that, as a follow-up to Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, they could finally create Disneys concept of One Nation Under God, the show begins with a film presentation of the history of the United States of America. It shows that the American way was forged through conflict and many years of struggle. The main idea of the film is that the United States is not free from improvements and it is certain changes that prove necessary over the years. The film also celebrates the liberties of the American people, the United States Constitution, with the help of paintings from the era, the Philadelphia Convention is reenacted. George Washington and Benjamin Franklin are heard making speeches to the Convention and they assured all that this government was going to be different. After the formation of the Constitution, the first test of the new republic was the Whiskey Rebellion, years later, President Andrew Jackson was the first to deal with secession by the Southern states. Luckily, the talk was quelled and Jackson escaped the threat, the film then segues to the time of Abraham Lincoln, when secession was a real threat
41.
D23 (Disney)
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D23 is the official fan club for The Walt Disney Company. Founded in 2009, the organization is mainly for its biennial exposition event. The name D23 refers to D for Disney and 23 for 1923—the year Walt Disney founded the company, membership includes Disney twenty-three, yearly gifts, events, exclusive merchandise offers, and discount and early access to the D23 Expo fan convention. D23 was introduced on March 10,2009 by Robert Iger during the annual meeting. D23 had a booth at San Diego Comic-Con in 2009 followed by the first D23 Expo on September 10–13,2009, in March 2010, D23 announced that the expo would be biannual instead of annual with a Destination D event in the off year. In February 2013, the Walt Disney Company Japan announced the first D23 Expo Japan on October 12–14,2013, events include, D23 Expo biennial Destination D a smaller biennial event alternating with the Expo. Events were held in the D23 Arena, Stage 23, Storytellers Theatre, the D23 Expo returned for its second time at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California on August 19–21,2011. The Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives has expanded by 12,000 square feet since the Inaugural D23 Expo, shopping opportunities include the D23 Expo Dream Store returning from the Inaugural Expo. Other stores include A Small World Village and a Disney Store in the Disney Living Pavilion. Events took place at the D23 Arena, Stage 23, Stage 28, the red carpet at the Talent Round-Up area, Storytellers Stage at the Disney Living pavilion, and at the Disney Channel/Radio Disney stage. The Disney Channel stage held performances from Coco Jones, China Anne McClain, a first look for Radio Disneys N. B. T. and a karate exhibition from Leo Howard. Guests also had the chance to meet and greet the cast of Good Luck Charlie, Jake, phineas and Ferb, Kickin It, Fish Hooks, A. N. T. Farm, Handy Manny, Special Agent Oso, Pair of Kings, nice, and the celebration for the 25th Anniversary of Pixar Animation Studios. The first rounds of the UDTT were held on August 18,2011 which narrowed from thousands to one hundred and it was hosted by Dan Roebuck who narrowed down the final round from 20 people to 3. After two full days of trivia questions, John Kurowski was declared the winner of the inaugural Ultimate Disney Fan Trivia Tournament and his name was engraved on a Ludwig Von Drake trophy which was preserved in the Walt Disney Archives. Kurowski also won a cruise on the Disney Cruise Lines Disney Fantasy ship which set sail to the public in 2012. The D23 Arena hosted many milestone events only at the D23 Expo and this is the second time that the Disney Legends Ceremony has taken place in front of guests at the D23 Expo. This tradition started in 1987 and since then,287 people have been awarded, at the expo, the company honored 12 people who contributed to the The Walt Disney Company
42.
King Mu of Zhou
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King Mu of Zhou was the fifth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty. The dates of his reign are 976-922 BC or 956-918 BC, King Mu came to the throne after his father King Zhao’s death during his tour to the South. King Mu was perhaps the most pivotal king of the Zhou Dynasty, reigning nearly 55 years and he was reputed to have lived until the age of 105. He liked to travel and in particular visited the Kunlun Mountains several times during his reign, during Mu’s reign, the Zhou Dynasty was at its peak, and Mu tried to stamp out invaders in the western part of China and ultimately expand Zhou’s influence to the east. In the height of his passion for conquests, he led an army against the Quanrong. His travels allowed him to many tribes and swayed them to either join under the Zhou banner or be conquered in war with his army. This expedition may have more of a failure than a success, judging by the fact that he brought back only four white wolves. Unintentionally and inadvertently, he sowed the seeds of hatred which culminated in an invasion of China by the same tribes in 771 BC. In his thirteenth year the Xu Rong, probably the state of Xu in the southeast, the war seems to have ended in a truce in which the state of Xu gained land and power in return for nominal submission. However, despite his success, traditional historiography viewed him with controversy, while some praise his victories against the Qun Rong, others criticized him for from his time, the fourth border state no longer entered into a relationship with the Zhou Dynasty. While the Shang Shu credited him with establishing the first systematic legal code in China and his successor was his son King Gong of Zhou. One Chinese myth tells a story about Mu, who dreamed of being an immortal god and he was determined to visit the heavenly paradise and taste the peaches of immortality. A brave charioteer named Zaofu used his chariot to carry the king to his destination, the Mu Tianzi Zhuan, a fourth-century BC romance, describes Mu’s visit to Xi Wangmu. In the 3rd century BC text of the Liezi, there is an account on automata involving a much earlier encounter between Mu of Zhou and a mechanical engineer known as Yan Shi, an artificer. The latter proudly presented the king with a life-size, human-shaped figure of his mechanical handiwork and it walked with rapid strides, moving its head up and down, so that anyone would have taken it for a live human being. The artificer touched its chin, and it began singing, perfectly in tune and he touched its hand, and it began posturing, keeping perfect time. And, indeed, it turned out to be only a construction of leather, wood, adhesive and lacquer, variously coloured white, black, red, science and Civilization in China, Volume 2
43.
Mozi
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Mozi, original name Mo Di, was a Chinese philosopher during the Hundred Schools of Thought period. A book named him, the Mozi, contains material ascribed to him. Born in what is now Tengzhou, Shandong Province, he founded the school of Mohism that argued strongly against Confucianism and Taoism and his philosophy emphasized self-restraint, self-reflection and authenticity rather than obedience to ritual. During the Warring States period, Mohism was actively developed and practiced in many states, during that period, many Mohist classics are by many believed to have been ruined when the emperor Qin Shi Huang supposedly carried out the burning of books and burying of scholars. The importance of Mohism further declined when Confucianism became the dominant school of thought during the Han Dynasty, for the modern juvenile audience of Chinese speakers, the image of his school and its founder were popularized by the animated TV series The Legend of Qin. There has been debate about the actual name of Mozi. Three concepts of its origin exist as of today, traditionally, Mozi was said to have inherited the surname Mo from his supposed ancestor, the Lord of Guzhu, himself descended from Shennong, the legendary emperor. As Mo came to be the name of the Mohist school itself, it might have derived from the name of a criminal punishment and it signals the Mohists identification with the lowest of common people. The actual ancestral name and clan name of Mozi is not known and it may be that, because he was likely born into the lower classes, he did not have an ancestral or clan name. During Chinese antiquity, the vast majority of the Chinese people who were not related to aristocratic families did not possess ancestral, a plausible source of Mozis name may have been the philosophers skin complexion itself, which is referred to as dark in the text. Mozi was going north to Qi and met a fortune teller on the way, the fortune teller told him, God kills the black dragon in the north today. Most historians believe that Mozi was a member of the artisan class who managed to climb his way to an official post. It is known, however, that his parents were not affectionate towards him, Mozi was a native of the State of Lu, although for a time he served as a minister in the State of Song. Like Confucius, Mozi was known to have maintained a school for those who desired to become officials serving in the different ruling courts of the Warring States. Mozi was a carpenter and was skilled in creating devices, designing everything from mechanical birds to wheeled. Though he did not hold an official position, Mozi was sought out by various rulers as an expert on fortification. He managed to attract a following during his lifetime which rivaled that of Confucius. His followers—mostly technicians and craftspeople—were organized in an order that studied both Mozis philosophical and technical writings
44.
Water clock
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A water clock or clepsydra is any timepiece in which time is measured by the regulated flow of liquid into or out from a vessel where the amount is then measured. Water clocks, along with sundials and hourglasses, are likely to be the oldest time-measuring instruments, with the exceptions being the vertical gnomon. Where and when they were first invented is not known, the bowl-shaped outflow is the simplest form of a water clock and is known to have existed in Babylon and in Egypt around the 16th century BCE. Other regions of the world, including India and China, also have evidence of water clocks. Some authors, however, claim that water clocks appeared in China as early as 4000 BCE, some modern timepieces are called water clocks but work differently from the ancient ones. Independently, the Chinese developed their own advanced water clocks, incorporating gears, escapement mechanisms, some water clock designs were developed independently and some knowledge was transferred through the spread of trade. These early water clocks were calibrated with a sundial, a water clock uses a flow of water to measure time. If viscosity is neglected, the physical principle required to study such clocks is Torricellis law, there are two types of water clocks, inflow and outflow. In an outflow water clock, a container is filled with water, and this container has markings that are used to show the passage of time. As the water leaves the container, an observer can see where the water is level with the lines, an inflow water clock works in basically the same way, except instead of flowing out of the container, the water is filling up the marked container. As the container fills, the observer can see where the water meets the lines, according to Callisthenes, the Persians were using water clocks in 328 BC to ensure a just and exact distribution of water from qanats to their shareholders for agricultural irrigation. The use of clocks in Iran, especially in Zibad. Later they were used to determine the exact holy days of pre-Islamic religions, such as the Nowruz, Chelah, or Yaldā - the shortest, longest. The water clocks used in Iran were one of the most practical ancient tools for timing the yearly calendar, -Persian water clocks were a practical and useful tool for the qanats shareholders to calculate the length of time they could divert water to their farm. The qanat was the water source for agriculture and irrigation so a just. The Fenjaan consisted of a pot full of water and a bowl with a small hole in the center. When the bowl became full of water, it would sink into the pot, and he would record the number of times the bowl sank by putting small stones into a jar. The place where the clock was situated, and its managers, were known as khaneh Fenjaan
45.
Francis I of France
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Francis I was the first King of France from the Angoulême branch of the House of Valois, reigning from 1515 until his death. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and he succeeded his cousin and father-in-law Louis XII, who died without a male heir. Francis reign saw important cultural changes with the rise of absolute monarchy in France, the spread of humanism and Protestantism, Jacques Cartier and others claimed lands in the Americas for France and paved the way for the expansion of the first French colonial empire. For his role in the development and promotion of a standardized French language, he became known as le Père et Restaurateur des Lettres. He was also known as François au Grand Nez, the Grand Colas, following the policy of his predecessors, Francis continued the Italian Wars. In his struggle against Imperial hegemony, he sought the support of Henry VIII of England at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. When this was unsuccessful, he formed a Franco-Ottoman alliance with the Muslim sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, a controversial move for a Christian king at the time. Francis was born on 12 September 1494 at the Château de Cognac in the town of Cognac, which at that time lay in the province of Saintonge, today the town lies in the department of Charente. Francis was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. His family was not expected to inherit the throne, as his third cousin King Charles VIII was still young at the time of his birth, as was his fathers cousin the Duke of Orléans, later King Louis XII. However, Charles VIII died childless in 1498 and was succeeded by Louis XII, the Salic Law prevailed in France, thus females were ineligible to inherit the throne. Therefore, the four-year-old Francis became the heir presumptive to the throne of France in 1498 and was vested with the title of Duke of Valois. In 1505, Louis XII, having fallen ill, ordered that his daughter Claude and Francis be married immediately, Claude was heiress to the Duchy of Brittany through her mother, Anne of Brittany. Following Annes death, the took place on 18 May 1514. Louis died shortly afterwards and Francis inherited the throne and he was crowned King of France in the Cathedral of Reims on 25 January 1515, with Claude as his queen consort. As Francis was receiving his education, ideas emerging from the Italian Renaissance were influential in France, some of his tutors, such as François Desmoulins de Rochefort and Christophe de Longueil, were attracted by these new ways of thinking and attempted to influence Francis. His academic education had been in arithmetic, geography, grammar, history, reading, spelling, Francis came to learn chivalry, dancing, and music and he loved archery, falconry, horseback riding, hunting, jousting, real tennis and wrestling. He ended up reading philosophy and theology and he was fascinated with art, literature, poetry and his mother, who had a high admiration for Italian Renaissance art, passed this interest on to her son
46.
Mechanical knight
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Leonardos robot was a humanoid automaton designed and possibly constructed by Leonardo da Vinci around the year 1495. The design notes for the robot appear in sketchbooks that were rediscovered in the 1950s, Leonardo is said to have displayed the machine at a celebration hosted by Ludovico Sforza at the court of Milan in 1495. The robot knight could stand, sit, raise its visor and independently maneuver its arms, the entire robotic system was operated by a series of pulleys and cables. Since the discovery of the sketchbook, the robot has been built based on Leonardos design. The robot is described as being clad in German-Italian medieval armor and it is partially a result of Leonardos anatomical research in the Canon of Proportions as described in the Vitruvian Man
47.
Ludovico Sforza
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Ludovico Maria Sforza, was Duke of Milan from 1494 until 1499, following the death of his nephew Gian Galeazzo Sforza. A member of the Sforza family, he was the son of Francesco I Sforza. He was famed as a patron of Leonardo da Vinci and other artists and he is probably best known as the man who commissioned The Last Supper. Ludovico Sforza was born on 27 July 1452 at Vigevano, in what is now Lombardy and he was the fourth son of Francesco I Sforza and Bianca Maria Visconti and, as such, was not expected to become ruler of Milan. Nevertheless, his mother, Bianca, prudently saw to it that his education was not restricted to the classical languages. Under the tutelage of the humanist Francesco Filelfo, Ludovico received instruction in the beauties of painting, sculpture, and letters and he later helped Leonardo paint with pastels. When their father Francesco died in 1466, the titles devolved upon the dissolute Galeazzo Maria. Galeazzo Maria ruled until his assassination in 1476, leaving his titles to his son, Gian Galeazzo Sforza. For the following 13 years he ruled Milan as its Regent, Leonardo da Vinci orchestrated the wedding celebration. Beatrice and Alfonso’s sister, Isabella dEste was married to Francesco II Gonzaga, the 15-year-old princess quickly charmed the Milanese court with her joy in life, her laughter, and even her extravagance. She helped to make Sforza Castle a center of sumptuous festivals and balls and she loved entertaining philosophers, poets, diplomats and she would become the mother of Maximilian Sforza and Francesco II Sforza, future Dukes of Milan. Prior to and throughout the duration of his marriage, Ludovico is known to have had mistresses, bernardina de Corradis was an early mistress who bore him a daughter, Bianca Giovanna. The child was legitimized and later married to Galeazzo da Sanseverino in 1496, cecilia Gallerani, believed to be a favourite, gave birth to a son named Cesare on 3 May 1491, in the same year in which he married Beatrice dEste. Gallerani is identified as the subject of Leonardo da Vincis Lady with an Ermine – the ermine was the animal of Ludovico il Moro. Another mistress was Lucrezia Crivelli, who bore him another son, Giovanni Paolo. Ludovico also fathered an illegitimate son, called Sforza, who was born around 1484 and died suddenly in 1487. Ludovico contented himself with the rather than the appearance of power. He invested in agriculture, horse and cattle breeding, and the metal industry, some 20,000 workers were employed in the silk industry
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