The Rise of the Cardboard Box

14 July, 2019

**The ever convenient cardboard box.**
(Photo: chuttersnap)

Ever since its inception, cardboard or paperboards have been used for a wide range of purposes. From packaging containers, artwork, building materials, fashion, and even agriculture. Due to its lightweight mass, durability, efficient handling, and is cheap to manufacture, it is a preferred material in the freight and manufacturing industries.

The earliest known usage of cardboards was in the second century B.C., in the Han Dynasty of ancient China. Mulberry tree bark, dried hemp and other plant fibres were mixed with water, and spread onto a frame. When it had formed a thin tissue, it was then pressed to make paper. The paperboards, as it was referred to, was then used to wrap and preserve foods. [1]

Furthermore, the first documented usage of cardboard packaging was in Germany, in the year 1817. It was used to package the popular board game known as “The Game of Besieging”.

The first commercial company to begin manufacturing and selling cardboard boxes is the English company, M. Treverton & Son, also in 1817.[2]
Cardboard boxes further evolved in France, in 1840. The cardboard box manufacturing and sales thrived in Valreas, France. It was used to transport silk moths. [3]

The foldable cardboard box was invented in 1890 by Robert Gair; he was a paper printer from Brooklyn, Manhattan in the United States of America.

Some amazing trivia about cardboard boxes are firstly, that there was an area in London, known as the Cardboard box City during the period of 1983 to 1998. Near the Waterloo Train station, it was occupied by hundreds of homeless people. They all lived in cardboard boxes, until they were evicted and re-located by London authorities.

Secondly, another interesting fact about cardboard boxes, the United Kingdom is the highest producer of cardboard boxes. According to cardboardhelp.com, ‘The UK produces 5 billion of cardboard boxes every year. This is equal to a stunning 83 boxes per individual…’ [4]
The cardboard industry in the United Kingdom is believed to be worth £4 billion, and employs close to 30,000 people.

Also, fashion designer Jeremy Scott created a whole collection of cardboard-inspired outfits. This was launched during the 2017 Moschino Fall fashion show in Milan, Italy.

Since the 1980s, cardboard box packaging has almost driven wooden crates to extinction, and the cardboard industry globally is still growing – especially with the ease of online purchasing.
With the inevitable rise in consumerism and urban re-settling, cardboard materials and boxes will continue to stamp its relevance and necessity amongst civilization.

References:
1) Hook, P., & Heimlich, J. E. (2002). Paper and Paper Products: A History of Packaging. Columbus: Ohio State University.

2) Little Known Facts about Cardboard You Didn’t Knew. (2019, July 14). Retrieved from cardboardhelp: http://cardboardhelp.com/little-known-facts-about-cardboard/

3) Sacharow, S., & Griffin, R. C. (1970). Food Packaging: A Guide for the Supplier, Processor, and Distributor. Westport, Connecticut: AVI Publishing Company.

4) Vancluse le Departement. (n.d.). Le musée du Cartonnage et de l’Imprimerie à Valréas. Avignon: Vancluse le Departement.

Overcome The Fear of Flying

July 10, 2019

**Many people suffer from fears concerning air travel…**
(Photo: jeshoots)

Aerophobia or Aviophobia, is the fear of flying in a plane, helicopter or other flying aircrafts. Persons experiencing aerophobia may show symptoms of severe anxiety, shaking, intestinal distress, sweating, shortness of breath and a fast heart rate. Aerophobia may be caused by many reasons: fear of crowded and narrow spaces, turbulence, fear of heights, ear discomfort when changing altitudes, reminiscing upon a scary story or news article about flying, and also the fear of dying.

The BIG QUESTION here is, how does one overcome Aerophobia?

There are various measures one may take in order to overcome Aerophobia.
But at the basis of it all, Aerophobia is a mentality; With proper analysis, a cause must be defined and identified. Once the root issue may be identified, proceeding to a practical and relevant solution is then selected.

Identifying the establishing reasoning behind this mentality may help the healing process. Sometimes, the underlying factor may stem from childhood experiences.

Some ways to overcome aerophobia include: therapy, medication, or seeking another alternative form of travelling. Some experts also recommend sedatives (not medication, neither are they harmful substances: but alcohol or herbs such as kava, or green tea) or mental diversions (such as reading, listening to calm music, preparing and watching funny T.V. shows) while on the plane.

Therapy would be the most effective and potent remedy for Aerophobia. Talking about the issue and allowing others to acknowledge your fear of flying enables you to realise that the fear is just in your mind.

Furthermore, it is fair to mention that there are obvious risks in travelling by flight; mechanical malfunction, human error (in regards to the technicians, engineers and pilots), terror threats, travelling with annoying people, and so forth.

But the success and convenience of air travel should be the most viable proof – that air travel is safe, comfortable and the fastest way to travel to distant locations. It would be an utter disadvantage not to engage in air travel.

Aditionally, some of the most breath-taking sceneries are observed from an air flight; and also, the most beautiful and exotic places in the world are only accessible by air travel.

In conclusion, aerophobia affects thousands of people. Therefore, it is not unique or a personal issue, but it affects all kinds of people. With the given prescriptions, such as therapy, travelling with some close friends, or travelling by road or sea – aerophobia can be overcome.

A Religious Influence in Society

June 17, 2019

Religious Influence…Music artist Rihanna poses in a papal stylized outfit for the 2018 Met Gala in New York.
(Photo: Jamie McCarthy/ Getty Images)

Religious practice and worship of deities and supernatural beings, have been the foundations of human history and society ever since. This is proven by history and archaeology.

For example, in 1994, German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt, in collaboration with the Turkish Şanlıurfa Museum, excavated the Göbekli Tepe temple site in Southeastern Turkey. They unearthed the first few pillars of what archaeologists claim to be the site of the oldest megaliths ever discovered in human history. It is presumed to be older than the Stone Henge (measuring through stratigraphy, or the observation of rock layers and stratification). The ancient site contains 200 large pillars all above six metres in height and weighs up to 10 tonnes (10,000 kg) in weight. This would have required hundreds of people to construct. National Geographic writer Charles Mann, in his article The Birth of Religion (which appeared in the June 2011 National Geographic magazine) writes, ‘As important as what the researchers found was what they did not find: any sign of habitation. Hundreds of people must have been required to carve and erect the pillars, but the site had no water source—the nearest stream was about three miles away. Those workers would have needed homes, but excavations have uncovered no sign of walls, hearths, or houses—no other buildings that Schmidt has interpreted as domestic. They would have had to be fed, but there is also no trace of agriculture. For that matter, Schmidt has found no mess kitchens or cooking fires. It was purely a ceremonial center. If anyone ever lived at this site, they were less its residents than its staff.’ This reveals that the gathering of worship sparked civilization – not agriculture.¹

Massive pillars at the temple Göbekli Tepe, (more than 5,000 years old) in Southeast Turkey.
Claimed to be the oldest megalith ever discovered in human history (Picture: Vincent J. Musi)

Atheism and its rise to fame, owes a lot to the Greek philosopher Protagoras (B.C. 481-411) who famously preached, “As to the gods, I have no means of knowing either that they exist or that they do not exist. For many are the obstacles that impede knowledge, both the obscurity of the question and the shortness of human life.” For this ideology, the Athenians rejected him for thinking nonsense and burned his books. ²
On the other hand, modern agnosticism was publicly defined by Thomas Henry Huxley at the meeting of the Metaphysical Society in London, in 1869. Huxley, a British biologist and a Darwin-evolutionist, stated, “It came into my head as suggestively antithetical to the ‘Gnostic’ of Church history who professed to know so much about the very things of which I was ignorant.” ³ Modern atheism, agnosticism and skepticism are concepts meditated upon by certain influential individuals, but does not reflect the beliefs and affirmations of the majority of humanity.

A demographic study of more than 230 countries and territories, done by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life (a research team based in Washington D.C.), finds that there are 5.8 billion adults and children who are practicing religion. This represents 84% of the 2010 world population of 6.9 billion people.⁴
While on the other hand, another recent Pew Forum research study found that about 1.1 billion (16% of the world’s population) have no religious affiliation. But ‘Surveys indicate that many of the unaffiliated hold some religious or spiritual beliefs (such as belief in God or a universal spirit) even though they do not identify with a particular faith.’ ⁵

But religious non-affiliation (atheism, agnostic, skeptic) does not mean absence of religious practices such as belief in a god, use of or in reference to a god, rituals, or prayer. Another ironic finding was that non-religious atheists were actually MORE religious than Christians – specifically in the United States of America. In fact, in the United States of America, the secular society have adapted and used religious themes in social gatherings on numerous occasions. The biggest example recently was the 2018 Costume Institute Gala at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is the biggest annual event on the fashion fundraising calendar. Started in 1948, today brings together the most famous faces from fashion, film, music and art to celebrate the launch of the Institute’s latest exhibition. The 2018 fashion exhibition was themed Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.

The BIG LIFE QUESTIONS here is Why is there insufficient evidence of an existing god or gods? If God so exists, who is it/he/she? how are they/them/it/he/she , in terms of personality? Or, if there is a God, why is there so much suffering and killing?

Please look forward to the second part of this article where we will answer these questions. Also, we are launching an e-book at the end of this month entitled, ‘Seven Religious Doctrines Not Found in the Bible.’ The short book will simply discuss pilgrimages, sexual obsession and perversion in religion, blind faith and the Force, among other interesting Food For Thought topics. If you are interested, email us at big.life.questions.101@gmail.com. We would be happy to converse and get in contact with you!

Citations
1. Manns, C. (2011). The Birth of Religion. The National Geograhic. [online] Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2011/06/gobeki-tepe/ [Accessed 17 Jun. 2019].

2. Laertius, Diogenese (2013). Lives of Eminent Philosophers (English Translation). 9th ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.464, 465.

3. (AGNOSTICISM Encycloaedia Britannica: Encyclopaedia Britannica Deluxe Edition. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2011)

4. https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2014/01/global-religion-full.pdf

5. https://www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-exec/ 3. (AGNOSTICISM Encycloaedia Britannica: Encyclopaedia Britannica Deluxe Edition. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2011)