27 March: Shoelaces

10 things you didn't know about shoelaces.

1. The shoelace was invented, according to a common myth, on 27 March 1790, by a man called by Harvey Kennedy. However, this isn't actually true. We don't know who invented them or when.
2. We do know it must have been before 3500 BC, because shoes dating back that far have been found, and they have laces. Otzi the Iceman, who lived around 3300 BC, wore shoes tied up with laces made from string bark.
3. In ancient Greece and Rome, a person who tied their shoelaces carelessly was deemed to be slovenly and worthy of ridicule.
4. The means of making modern shoelaces by braiding them in a mass production line, has remained largely unchanged for 200 years (I wonder if perhaps it was this that Harvey Kennedy invented rather than the shoelace itself).
5. The first laces were made from rope, string, leather or ribbon. In the Elizabethan era, it was possible to tell which social class people came from by looking at what their shoelaces were made from.
6. Another shoelace fact which may or may not be true is that Gurkha soldiers would feel the shoelaces of any soldier they encountered in the dark, because by doing so they could tell which side that soldier was on. British soldiers used straight or bar lacing, while Japanese troops used a criss-cross pattern. Hence British soldiers were told that it was very important to lace their shoes in the standard British fashion, as it could become a matter of life and death.
7. You may know that the little metal or plastic bit at the end of a shoelace is called an aglet. What you may not know is that the word comes from the French word "aguillette" meaning Needle. If you hear this thing referred to as a flugelbinder, that's actually a term made up by Tom Cruise’s character in the film Cocktail.
8. The duties of Prince Charles's three personal valets includes ironing all his shoelaces.
9. Shoelaces are notorious for coming undone. Scientists have actually done studies into why this is. There is a complex interaction of forces at play, not least the fact that a person's foot hits the ground with a force seven times that of gravity. To put that into perspective, the most powerful roller coaster in the world,the Tower of Terror in Johannesburg, holds the record for highest g-force on a roller coaster at 6.3G. This force, and the force of inertia when the foot is raised ready for the next step, causes the knot to stretch and relax and hence come undone.
10. The way it is tied is also a factor. Chances are the knot most people end up using is a granny knot, which is less stable than many. Incidentally, the word granny knot is nothing to do with anyone's grandmother but came about because it's the knot used to tie grain sacks closed. If you want to know how to tie a secure shoelace knot, you could do worse than visit the website belonging to one Ian Fieggen (aka. "Professor Shoelace"), who details 20 different ways you can tie your shoelaces, including the "Ian knot", his own invention. https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/knots.htm

New!

Closing the Circle

A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.

Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader. 

Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.

The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.

Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.

Available from:

Amazon (Paperback)

Amazon Kindle

Completes The Raiders Trilogy. 

Other books in the series:

Book One

Book Two