On January 31, the world celebrates Jeweler’s Day and Scotch Tape Day.
On January 31, 1893, the Coca-Cola trademark was registered.
On January 31, 1961, a chimpanzee named Ham made a flight around the Earth’s orbit and returned safely.
On January 31, 1988, the film “Ten Blacks” was released on the country’s screens, which is included in the list of the 100 best detective novels of all time.
On January 31, 2022, on the eve of the war with Russia, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov denied the threat to Kharkiv.
Jeweler’s Day
This holiday is dedicated to craftsmen who create exquisite jewelry and works of art from precious metals and stones. Jewelry art has a thousand-year history, because even in ancient times, people sought to decorate themselves with various products. Today, the profession of a jeweler combines traditional techniques and the latest technologies, allowing craftsmen to make real masterpieces.
Jewelers not only create new jewelry, but also restore old products, preserving their historical and cultural value. Each product is the result of painstaking work, creative inspiration and accurate calculations. From delicate work with a microscope to melting metal at high temperatures, this process requires great skill and patience.
Interesting facts
The most expensive piece of jewelry in the world is the Kohinoor diamond, which has a long and complicated history. It is currently kept in the British Royal Treasury.
The smallest jewelry art was created by the Russian microminiaturist Anatoly Konenko – it is a tiny rose placed in a hair.
Some gems are formed in extremely extreme conditions. For example, diamonds are formed at a depth of more than 150 km under high pressure and temperature. And a mineral called peridot (chrysolite) is sometimes found even in meteorites.
Sapphires are not only blue. In fact, they can be any color except red. The red variant of the same corundum mineral is called ruby.
Ancient Egyptian jewelers worked with metals as early as 5,000 years ago, creating luxurious jewelry from gold and lapis lazuli. Egyptians believed that gold amulets could protect them in the afterlife.
Medieval jewelers used a secret recipe to create red enamel by adding bone dust to it.
The smallest piece of jewelry ever created is a ring smaller than a human hair. It was made using nanotechnology.
One of the most expensive pieces of jewelry is the “Marie Antoinette Pendant” with a pearl that once belonged to the Queen of France. In 2018, it was sold at auction for $36 million.
Jeweler Carl Faberge created more than 50 famous imperial eggs decorated with diamonds, enamel and gold. They were considered the most expensive holiday gifts in the world.
In the 18th century, jewelers secretly used poisonous metals such as mercury and lead to create brilliant enamels. Because of this, many masters were poisoned and had serious health problems.
Gold used in jewelry can even be obtained from ocean water, although the process of its extraction is very expensive.
Jewelry sometimes helped save lives. For example, the famous “Pendant of Louis XV” with a ruby and diamonds saved the owner from a shot – the bullet got stuck in the stone.
The first wedding rings were used in Ancient Egypt, symbolizing eternity thanks to their circular format.
Jewelers often use not only precious, but also unusual materials, such as meteorite metal or shark teeth.
Scotch Day
The holiday is dedicated to one of the most popular inventions of the 20th century – this sticky tape, applied to a cellophane or plastic base, is today an indispensable assistant in the home, office and industry.
The history of tape began in 1930, when 3M engineer Richard Drew developed the first transparent adhesive material. It was originally created for use in the automotive industry, but later it found application in a wide variety of fields. Today there are dozens of types of scotch tape – from standard stationery to specialized industrial tapes.
Interesting facts
The name “scotch” comes from the English word “scotch”, which means “thrifty”. Workers who tested the first samples are said to have complained about the lack of adhesive and jokingly called the product “stingy”.
Transparent tape can be used to seal damaged documents and even in medicine.
When peeling off, the tape may emit a faint light – an effect known as tribo-luminescence.
In the United States, more than 2 billion rolls of duct tape are produced each year.
Historical events on this day
1747 — the British doctor William Bromfeild opened the first clinic for the treatment of venereal diseases in London. This was an important step in the development of medicine aimed at combating common infections.
1865 — The US Congress passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which officially banned slavery. This moment became a turning point in the struggle for human rights and started a new era in American society.
1941 — the Kyiv Film Studio of Popular Science Films was created, which became known as “Kyivnaukfilm” in 1954. She played a significant role in popularizing science and culture through cinema.
1950 — US President Harry Truman publicly announced his support for the hydrogen bomb development project. This decision significantly influenced the course of the Cold War and the nuclear arms race.
1966 — The USSR launched the Luna-9 automatic station, which was the first to make a soft landing on the Moon and transmit an image of its surface.
2000 — a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 airliner of Alaska Airlines crashed near Los Angeles. As a result of the tragedy, 88 people died.
2009 — a large-scale disaster occurred in Kenya: 113 people died due to the ignition of spilled oil near the city of Molo.
2020 — Great Britain has officially left the European Union. This became one of the most important events in the modern political history of Europe.
Registration of the “Coca-Cola” trademark
On January 31, 1893, the Coca-Cola trademark was registered. The drink was invented by apothecary and amateur chemist John Stith Pemberton. During the American Civil War, he was seriously wounded and due to the constant pain, he actually became a morphine addict. That is why he tried to find a way to overcome his addiction.
The drink was created in May 1886 under the name Pemberton’s French Wine Coca and, in addition to its main ingredients, contained red wine, kola nut and damiana, a plant used to restore libido in men. The drink was offered as a remedy for hangovers and headaches.
When the “dry law” was introduced in the USA, Pemberton was forced to change the composition and exclude alcohol. However, the main ingredients remained: three parts of coca leaves (from which in 1859 Albert Niemann isolated a special substance and called it cocaine) to one part of the nuts of the tropical kola tree.
Chimpanzee flight around the Earth’s orbit
On January 31, 1961, a chimpanzee named Hem returned safely to the United States on the Mercury-Redstone-2 spacecraft. The rocket developed a speed of 8000 km/h and rose to a height of 250 km above the Earth. The flight lasted 16 minutes and 39 seconds. Although the air pressure in the ship’s cabin dropped, Ham was unharmed because he was in a space suit.
Monkeys may well be jealous of people who flew later, but received much higher honors. We will remind that the first cosmonauts were the dogs Belka and Strelka. They successfully made a space flight on the Sputnik-5 spacecraft on August 19, 1960.
The premiere of the film “Ten Blacks”
On January 31, 1988, the film “Ten Negroes” based on Agatha Christie’s detective novel, written in 1939, was released on the country’s screens. This novel is included in the list of “100 best detective novels of all time” and is the author’s best-selling book. According to Agatha Christie’s own admission, this work was the most difficult for her to create.
For reasons of political correctness in the USA, the novel was published as early as 1939 under the title “And there was no one left”, and all mentions of the word “negro” (and the word “negro” appeared 74 times in the translation of the 1940s) were replaced with “little Indians”.
In Sweden, the abandonment of the title “Ten Negroes” was announced in 2007, in the Netherlands – in 2004, in Finland – in 2003. In 2020, the novel was published in France under the title “There were ten of them”. The director of the publishing house, Beatrice Duval, went even further, stating: “It is not just a matter of changing the title, it was necessary to redo the translation entirely, to change the content of the book according to the new title.”
Resonant statement of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov
On January 31, 2022, amid growing tension on the border between Ukraine and Russia, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov assessed the possibility of Russian troops occupying Kharkiv, making a resounding statement:
“You asked about probability. Fortunately, I can confidently say: there is no such probability. I will explain why. Because if we’re talking about probability, it’s 100% probability in terms of the word. If we take the theory of probability, then probability is 100% probability. There is no such 100% probability. They are precisely working out various plans for an invasion in the event of a corresponding political decision. Therefore, there is a possibility of an attack from the south, from the sea and from the east. I will say more, there is also a possibility with ORDLO. Different plans are being developed. But I consciously understand that, as of today, there is no such possibility.”
These words caused a wide resonance in the media and became the subject of discussions among analysts, because at the same time they indicated both a high threat of invasion and some uncertainty in the forecasts.
On the same day, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby commented on the situation in an interview with the Fox News channel. He stated:
“Russia continues to build up troops on the border with Ukraine. Washington does not know Moscow’s final intentions regarding Ukraine, but an invasion could happen in the near future.”
His words confirmed the seriousness of the threat, which was indicated by numerous intelligence sources, as well as the strengthening of Russia’s military presence near the Ukrainian borders.
