20 October 2018

Huipil

[ˈwipil]

(from the Nahuatl word huīpīlli [wiːˈpiːlːi])

is the most common traditional garment worn by indigenous women from central Mexico to Central America.

It is a loose-fitting tunic, generally made from two or three rectangular pieces of fabric which are then joined together with stitching, ribbons or fabric strips, with an opening for the head and, if the sides are sewn, openings for the arms. Traditional huipils, especially ceremonial ones, are usually made with fabric woven on a backstrap loom and are heavily decorated with designs woven into the fabric, embroidery, ribbons, lace and more. However, some huipils are also made from commercial fabric.

Today’s quote

Discontent is the first necessity of progress.

– Thomas A. Edison

On this day

20 October 1949 – Norman Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver apply for a patent on their new design for capturing product information: the bar code. Woodland and Silver had been considering this since overhearing a supermarket executive asking the Dean of Engineering at Drexel Institute how to solve the problem of capturing product information automatically at the checkout. While sitting on the beach, Woodland drew out dots and dashes based on Morse code. He then dragged his fingers through the sand to convert them into lines: thin lines for the dots and thick lines for the dashes, thus inventing a two dimensional, linear Morse code which he and Silver then adapted optical sound film technology with. The patent for bar codes was issued on 7 October 1952, almost three years after they applied for it.

20 October 1977 – Plane crash in Mississippi kills 3 members of rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd (Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines, along with their Assistant Road Manager (Dean Kilpatrick), the pilot (Walter McCreary and co-pilot (William Gray).

20 October 2011 – death of Muammar Gaddafi, former leader of Libya. He had been shot to death by rebel fighters following the overthrow of his government. Born 7 June 1942.