Showing posts with label british. Show all posts
Showing posts with label british. Show all posts

Friday, February 18, 2011

The toaster was invented before pre-sliced bread.

Toasting bread has been a common practice since the time of the ancient Romans. However, it was not until 1853 that the first electric toaster was invented by a British firm called Crompton and Co. This original model only toasted one side of the bread at a time and required someone to stand by and watch to make sure the bread didn’t burn. The more contemporary pop-up timer toasters we are used to were not invented until 1919.


Friday, December 3, 2010

Gandhi once wrote a personal letter to Hitler.

This letter was the first of two attempts by Gandhi to preempt the onset of World War II. Sadly, the British government did not allow the letter to be delivered. Just over a month later, Germany invaded Poland, an event that many consider the beginning of the war. 
The following is a transcript of Gandhi’s letter:
“Dear friend, 

Friends have been urging me to write to you for the sake of humanity. But I have resisted their request, because of the feeling that any letter from me would be an impertinence. Something tells me that I must not calculate and that I must make my appeal for whatever it may be worth. 

It is quite clear that you are today the one person in the world who can prevent a war which may reduce humanity to a savage state. Must you pay that price for an object however worthy it may appear to you to be? Will you listen to the appeal of one who has deliberately shunned the method of war not without considerable success? Any way I anticipate your forgiveness, if I have erred in writing to you. 

I remain, 
Your sincere friend 

M. K. Gandhi”
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