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Until two centuries ago, ice was just an unfortunate side effect of winter. But in the early 1800s, one man saw dollar signs in frozen ponds. Frederic Tudor not only introduced the world to cold glasses of water on hot summer days, he created a thirst people never realized they had.
In 1805, two wealthy brothers from Boston were at a family picnic, enjoying the rare luxuries of cold beverages and ice cream. They joked about how their chilled refreshments would be the envy of all the colonists sweating in the West Indies. It was a passing remark, but it stuck with one of the brothers. His name was Frederic Tudor, and 30 years later, he would ship nearly 200 tons of ice halfway around the globe to become the “Ice King.”
Ice Man Cometh
Nothing in Tudor’s early years indicated that he would invent an industry. He had the pedigree to attend Harvard but dropped out of school at the age of 13. After loafing for a few years, he retired to his family’s country estate to hunt, fish, and play at farming. When his brother, William, quipped that they should harvest ice from the estate’s pond and sell it in the West Indies, Frederic took the notion seriously. After all, he had little else to do.
Frederic convinced William to join him in a scheme to ship ice from New England to the Caribbean. Tudor reasoned that once people tried it, they’d never want to live without it. During the next six months, the brothers pooled their money and laid out plans to ship their product to the French island of Martinique, where they hoped to create a monopoly on ice.
No one believed the idea would work. In fact, no ship in Boston would agree to transport the unusual cargo, so Frederic spent nearly $5,000 (a big chunk of the seed money) buying a ship of his own. On February 10, 1806, The Boston Gazette reported, “No joke. A vessel with a cargo of 80 tons of ice has cleared out from this port for Martinique. We hope this will not prove to be a slippery speculation.”
It did. Although the ice arrived in Martinique in perfect condition, no one wanted to buy it. Tudor desperately explained how the cold blocks of ice could be used in the stifling Caribbean heat, but islanders weren’t convinced.
After an inauspicious start, William pulled out of the partnership. The following winter, Frederic was on his own. Remarkably, he drummed up enough money to send another shipment of ice to the Indies. But when a trade embargo left much of the Caribbean off limits for two years, Frederic was left twiddling his thumbs. Meanwhile, the Tudor family fortune had dwindled in a shady real estate deal in South Boston.
Despite financial woes, Frederic persisted, and his ice business finally turned a profit in 1810. But a series of circumstances—including war, weather, and relatives needing bailouts—kept him from staying in the black for too long. Between 1809 and 1813, he landed in debtors’ prison three times and spent the rest of the time hiding from the sheriff.
Breaking the Ice
Perhaps it was his Yankee entrepreneurial spirit, or perhaps monomania, but Tudor was obsessed with the idea that ice would make him rich. During the next decade, he developed clever new techniques to convince people that they actually needed ice, including a “first one’s free” pitch. While living in a South Carolina boarding house in 1819, Tudor made a habit of bringing a cooler of chilled beverages to the dinner table. His fellow boarders always scoffed at the sight, but after a sip or two, they’d inevitably fall in love with his ice. Tudor traveled around the country and convinced barkeeps to offer chilled drinks at the same price as regular drinks—to see which would become more popular. He also taught restaurants how to make ice cream, and reached out to doctors and hospitals to convince them that ice was the perfect way to cool feverish patients. The truth is that people never knew they needed ice until Tudor made them try it. Once they did, they couldn’t live without it.
By 1821, Tudor’s business was strengthening. He’d created real demand for his product in Savannah, Charleston, New Orleans, and even Havana. But he still needed to refine his operation. Enter Nathaniel Wyeth, an innovator who became Tudor’s foreman in 1826. By using a horse-drawn plow to cut the ice into large grids, Wyeth invented a much faster harvesting method. He also put an assembly process into place. Laborers sawed the blocks apart and plunked them into canals to float them downstream. Then a conveyor belt would hoist the blocks from the water and carry them up to icehouses, where they’d be stacked up to 80 feet high.
Still, only one-tenth of the ice harvested made it to sale. What’s worse, the whole operation was incredibly unsafe. In addition to those towering stacks of ice, numb hands, sharp instruments, and frigid waters made the process dangerous. The 300-lb. blocks of ice could slide easily, knocking down men and breaking their limbs. Ice harvesters often developed “ice man’s knees,” which were bruised and bloody from days of shoving solid ice.
Despite these drawbacks, Wyeth’s ingenious methods were a major improvement on prior harvesting practices. With the inventor by his side, Tudor asserted his long-fomenting monopoly and became known as the “Ice King.” Tudor’s reputation solidified in 1833 when he shipped 180 tons of ice halfway across the world to British colonists in Calcutta. The venture was so successful that it reopened trade routes between India and Boston.
Back at home, Tudor continued to dominate the scene. By 1847, nearly 52,000 tons of ice traveled by ship or train to 28 cities across the United States. Nearly half the ice came from Boston, and most of that was Tudor’s. He also maintained ice-harvesting rights to key ponds throughout Massachusetts. Even Henry David Thoreau watched Tudor’s workers harvest Walden Pond and waxed philosophic about the scene in his diary: “The pure Walden water is mingled with the sacred water of the Ganges.” 
The End of the Ice Age
Frederic Tudor died in 1864, finally rich again. By that time, everyone with access to a frozen body of water was in on the action. Ice boomtowns sprouted along the Kennebec River in Maine, where farmers found year-round employment. The 1860s became the peak competitive period of American ice harvesting, and Tudor’s company prospered. Even during the Civil War, when the South was cut off from ice supplies in the North, the ice industry continued to grow in New England and in the Midwest.
As American society grew more accustomed to fresh meats, milk, and fruit, the ice industry expanded into one of the most powerful industries in the nation. At the turn of the 20th century, nearly every family, grocer, and barkeep in America had an icebox. But ironically, America’s dependence on ice created the very technology that would lead to the decline of the ice empire—electric freezers and refrigerators. During the early 1900s, these appliances became more reliable, and by 1940, 5 million units had been sold. With freezers allowing people to make ice at home, there was little need to ship massive quantities across the country.
Today, the ice industry pulls in $2.5 billion a year, but it’s nowhere near as dominant as it used to be. Most of the business is from pre-packaged, direct-to-consumer ice (the stuff you buy for your beer cooler). Still, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be grateful. The next time you put your lips to a slushie, or an iced tea, or a chilled martini, or a cold beer on a hot day, take a moment to thank the crazy Yankee who had the vision to turn water into money.
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The Surprisingly Cool History of Ice
You think, therefore you are
In this day and age we have many tools and techniques that enable us to become the happy, healthy, joyful and prosperous person that we are meant to be.
Creative Visualisation is a powerful concept that, once understood and used on a daily basis, can assist us to realise our true potential. It is a marvellous technique that once mastered can bring about many wonderful results. It is the technique of using your imagination to create what you need in your life and to bring it into existence. This is something you are doing anyway. So, why not use it consciously and with a purpose in mind?
We are all doing it everyday but usually on an unconscious level. We have a lot of "stuff" in our subconscious and this tends to influence our conscious thoughts, feelings and eventually our actions. If, due to our negative concepts we believe in "lack" then this is what we will create for ourselves, mostly in an unconscious way. You can learn to use your natural abilities to create (with your imagination) what you truly want in life.
In Creative Visualisation you use your mind to imagine a picture of what it is you want. Whether it's satisfying relationships, fulfilling work, inner peace, joy, good health, prosperity or whatever your heart desires. Then create a clear image of what you want and see it as actually happening! Then continue to focus on it on a daily basis (if you can't see the picture then focus on the idea) giving it only a positive feeling that it has already manifested and become a reality.
Create your own reality
Relax prior to the technique. Take a few deep breaths, close your eyes and focus on the breath. Make them deep breaths at first and sighing any tension out on the out breath. Once you have relaxed then breathe normally and begin to imagine your goals. Don't try to do anything but let the pictures form. Remember it is what you feel that will create the manifestation. So, keep it positive.
Your goal may focus on any level — physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. You may be looking for a new relationship, new home, new job or maybe are searching for calmness and serenity, improving your mind or resolving problems. With experience you will find the techniques that assist you most beneficially.
For this technique to work it does not need you to believe in any particular philosophy, religion or idea. The only thing that you need is the desire to gain further knowledge and experience in helping you attain a better way of life. Have an open mind to be willing to try something new in a positive way. It allows you to understand the spiritual laws of the universe — the natural laws that govern the other world. Learn to use these principles to become a happier, healthy, joyful, prosperous "human being." One of my most memorable manifestations is living in a house on the beach on an island. I imagined for myself a very peaceful lifestyle and created it accordingly.
Understanding how
Energy is constantly flowing in the universe and this creates change. There is an abundance on this planet to meet everyone's needs. It just needs to be shared around. When we realise that receiving and giving create more abundance, we will keep the flow going. As we begin to allow ourselves to receive more good then we begin to appreciate what life has to offer, we will want to share this manifestation with others. This is when life naturally evolves. It becomes fun. Remember to give to oneself but also to others.
One of the main reasons why we fail to receive is because we are unable to understand the process of creative visualisation. When you take the viewpoint that the universe is abundant there is really no reason to maintain a program of "lack".
The writer specialises in Emotional Freedom Technique, Meditation/Creative Visualisation and Relaxation
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Handwriting Indicates Your Personality
“Good handwriting is the symbol of literacy”, said Mahatma Gandhi.
Do you feel embarrass when you are not able to read your own handwriting or if some one points you for bad handwriting. No doubts it’s a modern era and now we are using PC’s and laptops for our work but sometimes it happens that in several meetings you have to use chalk or pen to write something. We all have a temptation of writing better but unfortunately, some of us could not do it. Some of us even think that by using costly pen, we can write well. However, this has nothing to do with reality. A pen or pencil is not magical. It is your hand and fingers only that roll on a paper and do the magic. Now you do not need to look at your friend’s writing with tempted eyes. You can also improve it.
If you want to improve your handwriting you’re probably hoping a fountain pen will do the trick -- maybe a friend told you it would. A fountain pen may make your writing look a bit better, but if your writing looks as if frenzied chickens got loose on the page, chances are this won’t be enough. Most likely, you’ll need to retrain your arm and hand.
Tips for improving handwriting
It will take time to re-train muscles and learn new habits. Finger-writing isn’t fatal, but it is slow and often painful (if you have to write much). The first thing you must have is patience and gentleness with yourself. The second requirement is determination. If you finger-write, that is the first, most important thing you must un-learn: Do not draw your letters! Do not write with your fingers! Put up signs everywhere to remind you. Pleasant handwriting comes naturally to some people where as some of them get it by hard effort. Many people just keep struggling however, could not make it. In fact they do try but not in the stipulated or disciplined manner. You can go about improving your handwriting in several ways. It is not a heritage, one gets as a property of one’s ancestor. It is the outcome of the regular practice done in a well-planned way.
Most of us hold the pen between the thumb and index finger, resting the barrel on the middle finger. This works better than holding it between the thumb and the index and middle fingers, with the whole assembly resting on the ring finger. If you do it the first way, you’re off to a good start. If the second, you’ll be okay. In both, the remaining fingers are curled under the hand. Do remember, no one can bring sudden changes in your hands; it is an ongoing process, which needs rigorous practice.
Some facts to know
Set a target before you. Select a piece of handwriting you like most and try to copy it.
Choose a pen or pencil and buy a rule notebook, you are comfortable with, no matter it is wide or long.
Start with that sentence which you like most at the top of your first practice page. And keep on repeating the same sentence on a new page every week to judge your progress.
Start with letters and practice writing at least one letter in the complete page per day. Focus on the letter formation, how it begins, how it ends, what is its size etc.
Do not jump on writing words until you make it all the way through every letter. Once you move on to writing words, pay attention towards character spacing, letters flow from one into the next, and the spacing you give between two words.
Have an attitude of “never giving up”, keep your practice on until your handwriting looks as you wish it to.
As we all know practice makes the man perfect. So keep practicing and have patience if you really want to improve your handwriting. After some time you will find a dramatic change in your handwriting.
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