The Evolution of the Typewriter
History

Kids today may go through life without ever seeing it. Yet without the typewriter, there would be no computer as we know it. The typewriter is the primate ancestor to the personal computer that we have made part of our lives. Did you ever wonder why computer keyboards have the strange layout that they have, with the QWERTY keys across the top left? The answer lies buried in decisions made more than a hundred years ago, when the typewriter first appeared on the plains of industry.
The typewriter is to the printing press much like the personal computer is to the mainframe computer. The European version of the printing press, known as the Gutenberg press, was first developed in the 15th century. It enabled books to be printed rapidly, and helped promote the spread of literacy (and religion) throughout the world. A personal printing press, or “type writer,” used by a single person to print a legible document dates to the early 18th century.














The traditional game of Mahjong originated in China, specifically in the Shanghai province. Some believe that Mahjong was developed more than 2,500 years ago, yet the earliest evidence of the game dates back to the nineteenth century. The name ‘Mahjong’ roughly translates to “cluttering birds.” It is believed that this name came from the sound the tiles make when they are shuffled.



How much do you know about pirates? Have you just watched the new “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie? Have you read any other facts about pirates? Do you think that you are an expert on “Blackbeard”, “Captain William Kidd” or even “Captain Jack Sparrow”?