History and Inventors of Beds and Mattresses

History and Inventors of Beds and Mattresses A bed is a piece of furniture upon which a person may recline or sleep, in many cultures and for for many centuries the bed was considered the most important piece of furniture in the house and a type of status symbol. Beds were used in ancient Egypt as more than a place for sleeping, beds were used as a place to eat meals and entertain socially. The Mattress Among the earliest beds were simple, shallow boxes or chests in stuffed or layered with soft bedding. Later, ropes or strips of leather were suspended across a wooden framework to create a soft basis to sleep on. By the 15th century, most beds were built upon these straps of support over timber. The mattress itself evolved to be a sort of bag filled fiber like straw or wool, and then covered in common, inexpensive cloth. In the mid 18th century, the cover became made of quality linen or cotton, the mattress cane box was shaped or bordered and the fillings available were natural and plenty, including coconut fibre, cotton, wool, and horsehair. The mattresses also became tufted or buttoned to hold the fillings and cover together and the edges were stitched. Iron and steel replaced the past timber frames in the late 19th century. The most expensive beds of 1929 were latex rubber mattresses produced by the very successful Dunlopillo. Pocket spring mattresses were also introduced. These were individual springs sewn into linked fabric bags. Waterbeds The first water-filled beds were goatskins filled with water, used in Persia more than 3,600 years ago. In 1873, Sir James Paget at St. Bartholomews Hospital presented a modern waterbed designed by Neil Arnott as a treatment and prevention of pressure ulcers (bed sores). Waterbeds allowed mattress pressure to be evenly distributed over the body. By 1895, a few waterbeds were sold via mail order by the British store, Harrods. They looked like, and probably were, very large hot water bottles. Due to lack of suitable materials, the waterbed did not gain widespread use until the 1960s, after the invention of vinyl. Murphy Bed Murphy Bed, the bedding idea of 1900 was invented by American William Lawrence Murphy (1876 to 1959) from San Francisco. The space-saving Murphy Bed folds into a wall closet. William Lawrence Murphy formed the Murphy Bed Company of New York, the second oldest oldest furniture manufacturer in the United States. Murphy patented his In-A-Dor bed in 1908, however, he did not trademark the name Murphy Bed.

The eNotes Blog Toga! Toga! Toga! Its the Ides ofMarch!

Toga! Toga! Toga! Its the Ides ofMarch! In William Shakespeares Julius Caesar, a soothsayer warns the would-be king to Beware the Ides of March. Like the basis for many of Shakespeares plays, the impetus is not completely original. In this case, he adapted the line from Plutarchs much tamer rendering in The Life of Julius Caesar which advises Caesar to take heed of the day of the Ides of March. Shakespeare popularized the warning by adding a little punch to the original. Caesar would have done well to listen to the soothsayer, stay home, and catch up on some reading. After all,  the admonition wasnt the only portent of doom. His wife, Calphurnia, had dreamed that bad things were going to happen to him, and even offers to let him blame her for being unduly anxious as an excuse for him to stay home on that fated day. For a bit of background, the Ides of March involved a series of complicated formulas predicated on lunar activity and was used in the Julian calendar, a system which Caesar himself instituted. There are other ides but not all fall on the fifteenth. The Ides of January, for example, falls on the  thirteenth. Julius Caesar was indeed assassinated on the Ides of March in 44 B.C. by a gang of conspirators, including   Cassius and Brutus. (Et tu, Brute? a dying Caesar opines. In French, the familiar use of tu rather than vous here bespeaks the intimacy in which Caesar had held his supposed friend.) Assuming no one has had dreams of your demise and a straggly stranger hasnt whispered threats into your ear, you may want to celebrate the Ides. Here are some modern ways of doing so: Hop a plane to Rome and join the Hash House Harriers for their annual Toga Run. Pop open a craft house brew from Founders Brewing Company, who annually releases new beers on the Ides of March. Bate thy breath and sit upon thine hands and watch  the George Clooney movie The Ides of March. and, of course, TOGA TOGA TOGA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (John Belushi in Animal House.)

Prepare a marketing plan for a company of your choice for the next one Essay

Prepare a marketing plan for a company of your choice for the next one and three years - Essay Example GSK has a unique mission statement which explains their aim and (objective of) providing consumers with new products and with more improved projects. The following essay elaborates the marketing plan of the company by describing the current scenario of the industry and also GSK. SWOT analysis identifies the strength and weakness and also the opportunities and threats of GSK that are changing from time to time with the competitive market. The responsibilities that are taken by GSK towards the environment, consumers and the shareholders have been discussed in the study. To evaluate the position of the competitors of GSK, competitive analysis has been done. The Segmentation, targeting and positioning concept explains the target market of GSK and what they do to position their products among its consumers. Lastly a forecasted budget for the year 2013-2015 has been prepared. The income is expected to decrease, even though it can be assumed that the expenses can be controlled. This would p ossibly because of the unstable condition of the global economy. Mission Statement and Market Overview The mission of the company is to improve the quality of human life by giving them more products and make them feel better and live longer. The Research and Development units, the partners of the company and the workers of the company work in harmony to prevent and treat diseases and make the world a better place to live. The business is focussed towards the delivery of three strategic priorities, which aim to increase growth, reduce risk and improve long term financial performances. These priorities are; 1) growth of a diversified global business, 2) delivery of more products which offer more value, 3) simplifying operating model. Grow diversified global business by creating a balanced business and product portfolio capable of delivering sustainable sales growth. The main business areas are pharmaceuticals, vaccines and consumer healthcare which provide the company significant comp etitive advantages and opportunity of synergy. Deliver products of value: The Company has re-engineered the research and development (R&D) division in the organisation to develop a whole bunch of products that offer improvement in treatment of patients and healthcare providers. The company has outsourced the research activities allowing access to new areas of science and share the risk of development of its partners. Simplify the operating model through global restructuring programmes designed to deliver significant savings to support investment in priority growth business and thus improve competitiveness further. Pharmaceutical companies are making great contribution to the economy of UK,  higher than most  other high-tech industries. The National Health Service (NHS) accounts for more than 98% of UK’s prescribed medicines market, which is the sixth largest pharmaceutical market in the world. Most of this market is driven by approximately 35,000 general practitioners (GP s) of UK. The Pharmaceutical industry of UK is an open market, where the leading foreign companies and brands have strong presence. While the growth rate of this market has been decelerating, it remains one of the fastest growing components in