Archive for the ‘Paper’ Category
Papyrus
The first paper like material was used in Egypt as early as 2600 B.C. This substance was made from a reedy plant called papyrus that grows abundantly along the Nile River in Egypt. The people in Egypt adapted this plant for use in many items including mattresses, mats, rope, sandals, and paper because of its massive quantity in their country. This plant is still used among swampy communities where it grows for fuel, housing material and clothing.
Papyrus is made from the stem of the Cyperus papyrus plant. First, the outer rind is stripped off and the inner pith is exposed. This pith is cut lengthwise into strips. The strips were possibly soaked in water to help adhesion with one another. The strips were placed on a hard surface, horizontally and slightly overlapped. The overlapping would ensure that the strips stuck to one another. Then, another set of strips would be placed at a right angle (vertically) and also slightly overlapping. When the sheets were finished, the two layers would be hammered together. This would help form the layers into one single sheet. The sheet was then dried under pressure between two hard surfaces. After the sheet was completely dry, it would be polished with a round object such as a stone or a rounded piece of wood. This would relieve the rough spots enough that writing could be done. However, the writing surface was still hard to predict and didn’t absorb the writing media well.
The papyrus plant was abundant and easy to produce into paper. However, it was quite fragile. The papyrus was susceptible to moisture and excessive dryness and would crack and tear easily. In the dry climate of Egypt, papyrus was quite stable because it is made of cellulose that is highly rot resistant. However, storage in humid conditions can result in mold and decomposition. These, among others, are the reasons that papyrus writings have been discovered in Egypt, but are not found in other European countries where it might have been used. The earliest purchase of papyri by European visitors to Egypt is thought to be 1778. However, a papyrus writing would not have survived more than 200 years in European conditions. The climate in these countries was not conducive to the survival of this papyrus.
Shortly after its first use, papyrus was made into rolls (or scrolls) for recording and journaling events. These scrolls were hard to manage and cracked upon rolling, so they were quickly transformed into a codex. A codex is the ancestor to the modern book. Sheets of papyrus were bound together to make the document more readily accessible than the previous roll. Portions of the gospels in the Bible have been found on papyrus codices.
Important papyrus finds are still being made in Egypt today. These include the journals of Julius Caesar’s father-in-law, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, who was an important statesman in ancient Rome. His papyrus works survived the explosion of Mount Vesuvius, but have only been partially excavated.
Tracking Expenses while Travelling on Business
Business today often involves travel. While much business can be conducted over the telephone, there is nothing that beats the face-to-face meeting. With customers, suppliers, and even employees potentially all over the country, business travel is a fact of life for many employees.
Behold the Road Warrior. Armed with a sturdy leather briefcase and all the tools of the road, this brave and valiant traveler knows how to get business done. The road warrior can eat breakfast and drive 70 miles an hour at the same time, set up a meeting on a cell phone and fire off an email simultaneously in a Starbucks, and fax contracts while sitting cross-legged on a hotel bed.
There is only one thing that can defeat the mighty road warrior- the company accountant. While he or she may be brave when faced with difficult customers and casually brush aside contract disputes and shipping shortages, there is no ignoring the accountant. The accountant’s main goal in life is to get receipts from every road warrior in the company. Every expense needs a receipt: the coffee and doughnuts in the morning, the gas put in the company car, and the credit card payment for the hotel bill.
Keeping track of expenses is not often high on the road warrior’s list of daily battles. Invariably, receipts get left in pants pockets and make a trip through the washing machine, get stuffed into the car’s glove box until it is practically bursting, and fill up every available nook and cranny of briefcases, handbags and sample cases. The vast majority of these receipts will be on thermal paper which makes them compact and just the perfect size to get lost and most will still retain the curve from the thermal paper rolls and tend to curl up instead of lying flat.
Practically no receipt will make it back to the company accountant in its original state. Many will be crinkled and creased from being balled up in pockets and purses. Some will not only list out the items that the road warrior had for lunch but will also display splotches of many of them. Those that have been inadvertently left on the car’s dashboard in the sun will eventually be completely blank, leaving the accountant to wonder about the nature and amount of the receipt.
In the end, the road warrior’s receipts will tell the accountant the story of the journey and the battle that ensued. Successes will be marked by steak dinners and evening shows. Challenges will be known by the single lattes and late night fast food receipts. But as the accountant briefly lives vicariously through the mounds of paperwork and dreams of lavish hotels, seafood buffets, and 24 hour HBO, he knows that only one thing really matters. Was the trip on budget? Money that the road warriors spent out of their own pockets gets reimbursed by company check. Depositing the check creates another receipt that will most likely end up on the floor of the car or tucked behind the visor.
And the road warrior lives to battle another day.