www.duquesamarketing.com

Press Release

For Immediate Release

November 5, 2011

Contact:  Geoff Ficke

859-567-1609

Duquesa Marketing Appoints Defined by Design to Develop Graphic Art for Pedi-Flip Cosmetic Accessory 

Packaging, Display, Branding, Web-Site and Trade Show Visuals To Be Produced to Support International Product Launch in Spring-2012 

Florence, KY     Nancy Ficke, General Manager of International award winning Branding and Consumer Product Design and Development firm Duquesa Marketing announced today that her group has appointed Melbourne, FL based Defined by Design to create Graphic Art elements for the launch of Cosmetic Accessory Pedi-Flip. 

“As Managing Consultants for the Pedi-Flip project we reviewed a number of candidates to assist us in creating the visual Branding elements we will need to take the line to market”, said Mrs. Ficke. “We were most impressed by the vision Linda Walding and her firm Defined by Design brought to the project”. 

“Dr. Barbara von Mettenheim, founder of BvonM LLC and creator of Pedi-Flip has crafted a wonderful, simple, elegant solution to a problem that many women experience”, said Alexis Bruning, VP of New Business Development for Duquesa Marketing. “The Graphic Art element for this project is crucial to ultimate success and Defined by Design is proving to be a wise creative choice”. 

Duquesa Marketing will be announcing shortly an aggressive launch calendar for the Pedi-Flip line of Cosmetic Accessories. The Brand will be introduced in an international venue and will enjoy excellent sales promotional support. The Business Plan is for a Spring-2012 roll-out.

How a Simple Box Concept Changed World Trade And Fostered the Rise of a 3^rd World Middle Class

For almost 4000 years the methodology used to ship finished goods, raw materials and minerals between distant points on the globe did not change. A transport ship pulled into a seaport. Shipping agents onshore organized transport and assigned cargo and bills of lading to specific crews. Stevedores and longshoremen physically hauled the full barrels and trunks containing trade goods aboard the vessels. With a ships hold completely full, the captain and crew began the long, dangerous trip to their destination port. 

This process had not significantly changed since the times of the ancient seafaring Carthaginians and Phoenicians. The advent of the 20^th century saw the introduction of mechanical lifts and winches which made the process a bit more efficient. However, shipping docks in ports all over the world were notorious for being ridden with corrupt customs officials and unions that made prompt haulage of goods an uncertain enterprise at best. 

This dawdling movement of freight made international commerce extremely expensive and slow. A poor, remote country that possessed a necessary raw material typically could not convert that material to finished, value added goods. The materials had to be shipped to more developed, fully industrialized nations where raw materials could be utilized in the manufacturing of desirable consumer goods and industrial products. Poor nations stayed poor. Rich nations got richer.

Today, in the early years of the 21^st century, there is a global explosion in trade between countries on every continent. New shipping ports are being built to accept huge mega-shipping vessels in newly affluent Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Viet Nam and China. Materials, foodstuffs, finished goods and fuels are being transported in massive quantities. The Panama Canal is being widened to allow passage of ever-larger massive freight hauling ships. 

None of this could have occurred without the genius of an unsung American inventor. The redesign of a simple rectangular box that he engineered and pioneered changed the international movement of goods and accelerated the development of consumerism and the growth of a middle class in countries around the world.  

Keith Tantlinger died recently at the age of 92. Mr. Tantlinger was an industrial engineer and Inventor and was working in the shipping industry in the early 1950’s. He was frustrated with the bottlenecks that were a constant at west coast shipping terminals. He set out to do something about the problem. 

Keith Tantlinger designed the first intermodal shipping container. His invention of the corner casting system, Twist-lock system, spreader bar lift and the ship shore transfer apparatus laid the groundwork for the development of the modern universal shipping container. This simple enhancement of a steel shipping box enabled fully loaded containers to be stacked and handled mechanically with almost no manual labor.

The ability to catalog and move goods on such a massive scale enabled Product Marketers to provide consumers everywhere with the benefits of large scale production. For the first time one ship could safely haul a massive assortment of goods, everything from raw materials to Toys, to Sporting Goods, to Hardware Products, to Small Electric Appliances and so much more. 

Today container shipments are ubiquitous. An empty container can be found at a factory in Chicago or Lousiville. The container when loaded is placed on a rail car and shipped to a port for an international destination. At final destination the container is unloaded and the re-loaded with a new consignment of Mattresses or Sofas destined for Germany. Upon arrival in Hamburg, the Mattress or Furniture container is loaded onto a trailer and hauled by truck to a retail warehouse. 

The intermodal flexibility that Keith Tantlinger pioneered accelerated the growth of international trade. It has made the world a smaller and necessarily more co-operative place. Trade partners typically do not have significant reason to shoot at each other. Millions of formerly poverty stricken third world residents have found economic opportunity and benefitted greatly from global trade.

Keith Tantlinger worked in an area where he saw a problem. In typically 1950’s American style he rolled up his sleeves and committed to finding solutions. The development of the intermodal shipping container, capable of being utilized by rail, ship and truck anywhere on the planet was his contribution to the advance of enterprise and improving the human condition. Mr. Tantlinger will be remembered.

How Did One of the Fashion World’s Earliest Great Innovators Lose Everything by Lack of Innovation

It is startling to study an empires crumble, decline and ultimately perishing on the ash heap of history. It happened to ancient states such as Egypt, Rome, Athens and Macedonia. The Knights Templar had been the world’s pre-eminent military and financial colossus in the Middle Ages but they are no more. In more modern times we have seen the commercial decline and disappearance of Horn & Hardart Restaurants, A&P Food Stores and numerous department store chains such as Jordan Marsh, John Wannamaker, Woodrow & Lothrop and Montgomery Wards. Major airlines and automobile companies were launched, soared and then failed.

The scale of these failed enterprises was often so great that it is hard for observers to get their hands around all that went wrong and caused these spectacular failures.  Recently I was reviewing a fashion treatise and read about a long ago innovative pioneer of Haute Couture who became an icon of his age before losing everything in one lifetime. The tale is cautionary. 

Paul Poiret was born into poverty in Paris in 1879. At an early age he was apprenticed to an Umbrella maker. The odd bits of fabric cuttings that were tossed as waste interested Poiret, and he began to take them from the trash. He used this detritus to fashion clothes for his sister’s dolls. Each dress was accompanied by a pattern that he drew and saved. 

While still a teenager Paul Poiret took his pattern drawings to Madeline Cheruit, one of the grand dames of Parisian fashion in the late 19^th century. She bought 12 of the drawings for reproduction in her atelier. Sensing opportunity, the young Poiret began to sell all of his patterns to the various Paris garment houses. In 1896 he was hired to design for the prominent Jacques Doucet. Poiret’s first creation for Doucet was a red cape which sold 400 pieces. 

Mr. Poiret established his own fashion house in 1903 and made an immediate impact with his unusual for the time “kimono coat”. The shop became famous for stunning window displays, fabulous parties tied to each seasons collections and Poiret’s pioneering use of modern Branding and Marketing techniques. The garments he produced were very expensive for the day and only the most discerning clientele purchased from the House of Poiret. 

Poiret expanded into Furniture, Household Décor and, most importantly Fragrance. He was a pioneer in Licensing his name. The entry of a fashion house into the Perfume business was also a first and would set a precedent that created one of the most successful Marketing Strategies and Sales Models still in wide use to this day. In 1911 Poiret’s Parfums de Rosine was launched and the world of Haute Couture and Perfumery would never be the same.

Parfums de Rosine was launched and publicized by throwing an extravagant Persian themed soiree at Paul Poiret’s palatial Parisian estate home. The news coverage of the event and the perfume that inspired the party is evocative of promotional techniques still used today to introduce Luxury Goods. 

Also in 1911, the photographer Edward Steichen collaborated with the House of Poiret to photograph a collection of gowns and accessories. The photos were published in various magazines. This is considered the first use of “Fashion Photography”. Prior to this fashion was illustrated when placed in print. 

Poiret’s most famous design contribution to garment production was a technique he created called “draping”. This was a radical departure from the more rigid Tailoring and Pattern Making methods used in the past. This style of sewing enabled Poiret to create loose, softer looks like Harem Pantaloons, Lampshade Tunics and Hobble Skirts. Most appreciated by women seeking comfort was Poiret’s elimination of the ubiquitous, restrictive, uncomfortable corset from his collections. 

During World War I Paul Poiret worked for the French military making uniforms. When the war ended, he returned to his fashion house and found it in ruins. He worked hard to resurrect his glory years. However, while he was away serving the war effort, other designers had emerged and they utilized more modern styling and garment construction techniques. Poiret’s designs had always been visually unique but were not well constructed. As he had once famously said he only aimed for his dresses to be “read beautifully from afar”. He continued to work in his old way. 

New designers, notably Coco Chanel, House of Worth and Elsa Schiaparrelli, had begun to offer simpler, sleeker silhouettes and their work employed far better construction than did Paul Poiret’s. As clients fled to the newer fashion houses Poiret suffered further loss of financial supporters and was forced to close his couture house in 1929. Poiret was bankrupted. Upon liquidating inventory the House of Poiret suffered the indignity of having leftover clothing sold by the kilogram for use as rags. 

Until his death in 1944 he lived as a pauper in the streets of Paris. His genius had been forgotten. Occasionally he would be seen by his contemporaries painting street scenes to eke out a few Francs before eyes would be diverted from the discomforting vision of a past hero of French Haute Couture being so dramatically reduced. 

Paul Poiret during his early career was attributed with being the fashion equivalent of Pablo Picasso in art. He introduced “modernism” to Haute Couture”. For a short time he lived as a potentate and enjoyed vast fame, fortune and popularity. Then it was all gone. What happened?

In the worlds of style, fashion and consumer products you are never the greatest, only the latest. The Companies and Brands that last and pass the test of time constantly evolve. The House of Poiret did not. Styles had changed, consumer tastes changed and the increased demand for better quality product required more attention to detail. Poiret still produced clothing with a “look” that screamed Poiret, but no longer excited the most exclusive, wealthiest clientele that had supported his House in the beginning. He did not evolve and grow. 

Ancient Rome stagnated and died of lechery. Juan Trippe built the greatest airline in the world, PanAm. After his passing PanAm went into a long, slow decline and is now permanently grounded. The grand Cosmetic Brands Frances Denny, Hazel Bishop and Germaine Monteil are no more. Bonwit Teller, once one of the world’s best specialty department stores, was liquidated years ago. These entities, like the House of Poiret, enjoyed their time in the sun but did not stay current, adjust to social or market realities and all disappeared.

For Seven Generations a Unique Business Has Brought Happiness and Beauty to Millions Each Spring 

Newark, New York does not spring to mind as a base for horticultural genius. Not to be confused with tough, rough hewn Newark, New Jersey, this small farming area became the original home of one of the greatest horticultural enterprises in the world. From humble beginnings as a nursery servicing local gardeners Jackson & Perkins became the largest purveyor and developer of sub-species of roses in the United States. 

In the 1870’s Newark was the countrified mirror of cosmopolitan New York. Farms, vineyards and orchards dotted the countryside around the town. Here, in 1872 Charles Perkins, with the financial backing of his father-in-law A.E. Jackson started the now famous Jackson & Perkins greenhouses and nursery. This family business has grown to become synonymous with the development and hybridization of the greatest assortment of types of roses in the world. 

Initially Jackson & Perkins specialized in selling grape vines and strawberry plants. In 1896, the Company hired E. Albert Miller. To that date the nursery had done little in the area of plant hybridization. Mr. Miller would change that. In his spare time he began to experiment with rose breeding. In 1901 he had perfected a new strain which Jackson & Perkins began to market. This was a climber, named the Dorothy Perkins, and it became one of the most popular roses in the world and remains so to this day. 

As sales and passion for the Dorothy Perkins rose soared the Company realized it had a stunning growth opportunity to market and hybridize other styles of roses.  

Full-time hybridizers were hired. Soon Jackson & Perkins became the world’s most prolific grower and creator of new species of roses. One such hire, Eugene Boerner is credited with creating the beautiful Floribunda class of roses. Another, William Warriner developed over 110 specific types of new hybrid roses that won numerous international prizes, including 20 All-American Rose selections. Mr. Warriner’s Medallion and Red Masterpieces were chosen for special issue postage stamps in 1978 by the United States Postal Service. Over 40 million of William Warriner’s hybridized rose creations were sold to consumers. 

Fame, awards and prosperity kept accumulating for the Jackson & Perkins nursery. The 1939, at the New York City World’s Fair Jackson & Perkins organized a display of their roses entitled “A Parade of Modern Roses”. The exposition was an immense success. Visitors from everywhere wanted to purchase the Company’s assorted rose bushes but did not want to carry them as they travelled. The Company, always as astute commercially as they were as plant hybridizers, organized a mail order fulfillment operation. It quickly became the largest mail order house specializing in roses in the country.

By the 1960’s the Company had outgrown facilities in New York and began to move operations to California, finally settling in the San Joaquin Valley. In 1966 the Jackson & Perkins nursery operation was purchased by the fruit and gift house of Harry & David. The Company, however, still pioneered in the development of new growing techniques and saw sales extended around the world. 

The following are some interesting facts about the Jackson & Perkins nursery operations: 

• The Company cultivates over 5000 acres of rose fields
• The Company’s roses thrive in the local Hesperia loam soil
•  Each year the Company horticulturists grow, bud and harvest 10 million plants
• Each year between 300,000 and 400,000 seedlings are grown and evaluated at the Jackson & Perkins Research Center
• Seven to 10 years of hybridizing work is required to perfect every new type of rose
• Only the most beautiful and hardiest new roses are commercially cultivated, named and sold to the public, few make the cut!
• The Company ships over 2 million plants to customers every year.

Today the Jackson & Perkins Nursery is one of the great success stories in horticultural history. The Company has expanded to market and sell a complete range of shrubs, ground covers, garden tools, decorative garden gifts, bulbs, tools, plants, and of course, roses. From humble beginnings as a local small business, this tale of achievement is evocative of what can happen in America when hard work, passion, vision, a belief in capitalism and the smallest bit of good fortune co-mingle to produce an enterprise that is valued by flower lovers, gardeners and rose enthusiasts from around the world.

As I write this piece I am surrounded by spring in full bloom. Growth, new life and abundance are sprouting everywhere after a very hard and extended winter. The roses my wife and millions of dedicated gardeners nurture are one of life’s most wonderful natural treats. We can all be grateful that a Company such as Jackson & Perkins has added so much beauty to our lives, and their genius renews itself so beautifully each year in our yards and fields.

Modern travelers take the open road for granted. We can hop into exquisitely engineered modern vehicles, pop onto smooth, straight freeways, well lit, with excellent signage and many roadside conveniences. We can cover as much ground as we might like in any direction, in relative comfort and safety.

Much that we love about modern road travel was actually available 2500 years ago to the ancient Romans. They created the template for a system of interconnected roads and conveniences that we have simply adapted during the 20th century as the automobile became the mass method of conveyance.
The road system that they built to connect their far-flung empire is still in use in many places.

As the Roman Empire flourished, conquered and consolidated new lands and needed to efficiently administer these territories the necessity for a durable network of roads became obvious to the ruling class. Prior to Roman ascendancy roads around the world were simple unpaved paths cut into the landscape by pack animals, carts and people moving goods to trade, barter and local markets.

The Romans prospered by trading in the lands they conquered, but they also needed to move great armies, control supply lines and have the ability to quickly transport edicts, orders and news to the far corners of the empire in a timely manner. To build this essential intra-state network of highways the Romans utilized the manpower always available in their army legions.

The quality and durability of Roman roads still amazes. Depending on topography Roman roads were famously straight for as far as the eye could see. This engineering feat was accomplished without any of the modern surveying equipment used by road builders today. The Romans invented a simple device called the gromma and this became the principal tool utilized for accurately surveying roads and thoroughfares.

The gromma ingeniously uses two strings with a weight tide to the end of each. The strings are attached to the ends of a length of wood. The surveyor would simply line up the strings until they appeared as one, and would have assistants plant stakes approximately every 100 yards apart . The surveyor, using the gromma as a guide, would have the assistants slightly adjust stake placement until the strings of the gromma and the line of stakes appeared as one. The result was a roadbed that was true, precise and easily utilized by the construction crews.

The Romans laid rock above the roadbed so the surface was higher than the land next to the road. This enabled water to drain off to the side and meant that roads did not wash out in inclement weather. Gravel was placed on both sides of the roadway to act as a sort of gutter to carry away runoff.

This system, when viewed on a modern map, appears much as the present day system of interstate highways is constructed. Spain, Gaul (modern France), Italy, Germany, the British Isles, Greece and Northern Africa all were tied closely together by this amazing transport network. Modern roadways parallel this grid in most countries where the Romans built their highways.

The Romans built over 2000 bridges. Many are in use, carrying traffic to this day. The arches they crafted were amazingly strong, with strategically placed keystones supporting the massive weight and pressure of these utilitarian edifices. In addition, these bridges are some of the most beautiful structures ever built. The Roman word for bridge was “pontificat”. Today we apply the descriptive name “Pontiff” to the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, as the Pope acts as the bridge between heaven and earth.

Hundreds of tunnels had to be built through the rugged topography of central Europe in order to move traffic to the most expeditious routes. The Romans had no power tools to gouge through rock. They had no dynamite. The technology to construct these tunnels was primitive, but most effective. Engineers would build massive bonfires right against the rock face of the surveyed tunnel. Then they would boil vinegar and have this splashed against the burnt rock face. While the effect of the heat and vinegar was greatest sappers would begin to chip at the weakened surface with chisels and hammers. Some of the tunnels took 20 years to complete.

As the road system grew, the need for roadside services became acute. Travel was typically undertaken in approximately 20-mile daily chunks. As a result every 20 miles or so, along the breadth of the massive Roman network of roads, there were roadside inns, workshops to repair transit vehicles, and stables to care for livestock. Maps were prevalent and indicated not only place names, but distances, accommodations, levels of luxury, services, and military garrisons.

As distance was crucial in planning itineraries the Romans perfected the odometer 2000 years ago. They utilized a 42-inch diameter wheel and a series of gears that engaged each time the wheel made a full turn. The interlocking gear system was calibrated so each gear turned as it was activated until a Roman mile (approximately 5000 modern feet) was covered. Then a gravel pellet would fall into a container as holes in the gears came into alignment. This amazingly accurate measuring system enabled the Romans to mark their maps, and place stones alongside the roadsides marked with precise distances covered and to the next town or service stop.

Today, travel has become a hugely popular experience enjoyed by millions of people around the world. Whether a brief weekend road trip, a cruise or an international vacation, people love to go. So did the Romans. The Romans were the richest people in the history of the world to that time. The system of roads they built were heavily utilized for recreational travel, the first time in history that people had the wherewithal to move freely about for strictly leisure purposes.

Travel guidebooks were omnipresent in ancient Rome. The travel guidebook for the many attractions of Greece, for example, was 20 full papyrus pages long. Inns and eating establishments were rated for economy, luxury, cleanliness and safety. The modern Michelin and Fodor guidebooks are simply successors of the Roman travel guides.

At most major crossroads on Roman roads there was a sign offering directions, distances and recommended stops for repairs, refreshments or relaxation. Many also included a news board with recent proclamations, travel warnings and local notices. These were the world’s first billboards.

As travel grew in popularity so did the menu of services available to the traveler. Chariots, sedan chairs, carts, wagons and covered wagons with swivel seats and dice tables (for the rich) were available for rent. Accommodations varied widely in cost and quality. Hostels, servants quarters, private sleeping rooms, luxury quarters with fire, bathing and mattresses were on offer depending on one’s pocketbook. Food was offered in similar variety.

The world’s first fast food was also available from some purveyors. The cart simply pulled to a door or opening, the menu card was reviewed and the order placed and delivered to the vehicle to be consumed as the journey continued.

The Roman Empire began to consume itself around the 5th century. The pursuit of luxury, greed and laziness made the Empire corpulent, vainglorious and decadent. The same roads that had been so crucial in their military, recreational and commercial enterprises came to haunt the Romans. Their many enemies utilized this road network to attack their former masters. The Visigoths, the Franks and the Mongols used the Roman roads to carve back lands formerly taken from them and to attack Rome mercilessly. By the end of the 6th Century Roman hegemony was long a thing of the past.

The demise of the Roman Empire meant that the maintenance and continued construction of the roads came to a halt. This had the unintended consequence of leaving huge swaths of the system in areas where there was no effective government. Trade came to a halt. The roads were deserted. In many areas, especially North Africa, Britain, Spain and France the Roman highways disappeared beneath weeds and fauna.

The result was the commencement of the Dark Ages. People stopped travelling for almost any reason. Until the Crusades there was almost no interaction between peoples and cultures. The insularity of tribes and fiefdoms lead to a reawakening of ignorance, disease, superstition and hate.

For six centuries the Romans ruled the known world. Their ability to create, invent and improvise has served mankind ever since. The vast Roman network of interlocking roads, tunnels, bridges, mapmaking, services, commercial enterprises and exploration is the guide we utilize to this day in communication, logistics and locomotion. We have much to thank these brilliant Romans for as we utilize so many of their inventions to this very day.

Cement is the most widely used building material in the world and has been for thousands of years. The historical record confirms that the ancient Persians, Assyrians and Babylonians used cement in the binding and affixing of mud bricks. The Egyptians also used cement in construction. It was the Romans, however, that perfected the production of slaked cement that made many construction advances possible.

The basic materials that the ancients used to make cement were readily available, then as now. Sand, water and rocks, the basic ingredients in cement, are essentially found anywhere in the world. The first great advance in the evolution of the production of cement was the Roman invention of the pozzalana technique. The Romans found that volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius, when mixed with slaked lime; sand and water produced an amazingly versatile type of cement. It was easier to work with and delivered much greater strength than previous blends.

Many of the monuments and buildings so gloriously built by the ancient Romans, standing to this day, benefited from the perfection of pozzalana cement. Hadrians Arch, the Forum, the Roman Baths, the Appian Way, the Church of Constantine and many more edifices were strengthened utilizing this simple, but essential construction product. The proof of the utility of pozzalana cement is on display every where you look in modern Rome. Ancient walls of pozzalana cement as thick as 12 feet have been discovered at a number of Roman archeological dig sites.

Amazingly, the secret of pozzalana cement was soon lost and was not re-discovered until the 18th century, when the scientific age of discovery was in full bloom. The lost recipe for Roman cement was re-invented and continued in use until Portland cement was perfected in the 19th century. Portland cement is the gold standard product for building material to this day.

For almost 1500 years builders were limited because an ancient method of improving simple cement was lost. We know that many of the inventions of the ancient world went extinct as well. Bathing and personal hygiene became rare, directly contributing to advance of disease and the great Plague.

Running water and sanitation systems, common in ancient Rome, were lost and did not reappear until the late middle ages. Agriculture techniques, brewing spirits, military organization and strategy, road building and trade routes were lost for centuries as well.

Today we take much for granted. We assume that things will always be convenient, food prevalent, choices abounding and affordable. The lesson of history is that this is not necessarily so. Societies do recede. Knowledge can be lost. We must protect and value our freedoms, knowledge, science and creativity.

Today, in a good portion of the world, the populace lives much as the most backward ‘burgher of the Dark Ages lived. Subsistence farming is prevalent. Clean water is not available. Hygiene is unknown. Basic medical care and drugs are not to be found. These populations do not choose this bleak existence, they have simply never known anything else but the horrid grate of endless poverty, ignorance and hunger.

In other areas of the world, owing to religious or societal mores, there is no desire to live a modern lifestyle. The whole goal is to live as if the year were 908 rather than 2008. In too many instances, unfortunately and dangerously, these populations not only wish to live lives of physical deprivation but they want the rest of us to be forced to accept their hatred of modernity and be forced to share their aversion of contemporary comforts.

The inventions that the Romans perfected and left for subsequent generations were soon lost. The world went into a period of darkness. Creativity and science went into torpor. It could happen again. It could happen to us if we let down our guard and allow our advances and knowledge base to wither and decline. It will happen if some fanatics have their way and can force their ideology on peoples not appreciative of their freedoms. Freedom isn’t free and gains can easily be lost.

In the modern world we take for granted the availability of innumerable sources providing accurate measurements of time. Telling current time is so readily available that we have lost sight of the profound importance of knowing time, to the hour and minute. For most of human history accurately measuring time was irrelevant. There was no need for watches; clocks, clock radios or digital time reads on car dashboards.

Until the flowering of the industrial age in the second half of the 19th century most people worked in small plot agriculture. All over the world people scratched out a living farming and herding small plots and flocks. Very few people ventured more than several miles from their place of birth in their whole lifetimes. Time was told by the change of seasons and the planting and harvest cycles. Nothing else was needed to provide measurements of time.

The ancients used sundials in numerous forms for crude time measurement. Shade, rain, and cloudy days made the sundial unreliable. The Egyptians invented an advanced Water Clock. The device used a drip system that raised a float tied to a pointer. This system was relatively accurate in measuring hours, but not minutes.

The clock as we know it first appeared in Europe in the 14th century. The clock was made operable by the creation of the “verge escapement”. This gear engaged a set of teeth that powered an hour hand. There was no measurement of seconds or minutes. The hour hand was accurate within one to two hours each day. The inventor of this initial timepiece is unknown.

Something more precise was essential if technology was to advance. In 1657 a Dutch astronomer, Christiaan Huygens was credited with inventing the first accurate time keeping device that included the credible measurement of time by the minute. This advance was crucial in many fields. Navigators required accurate time measurement to compute longitude. All scientific experimentation requires accurate measurement of time.

For the common man, working on a farm, or as a village cobbler, or baker, accurate measurement of time was still of little importance. The railroad, more than any other advancement, was responsible for the rapid introduction and implementation of a universally recognized schedule of times. This schedule required accurate devices to register local time.

Railroads needed to load and offload passengers and freight at pre-appointed times and places along their lengthy route systems. Travelers and shippers needed to accurately know when trains would arrive and depart in order to be ready to board passenger cars and load shipping cars with goods. Before the growth of railroads there was little necessity for the measurement of time in minutes. It was enough for almost any human to simply know that it was 3:00 PM, plus or minus any number of minutes. However, if the train was scheduled to arrive at 3:10 PM in Leeds, England, or Dodge City, Kansas, and depart at 3:35 PM, the public needed to be able to connect within that precise window of time if they were to be able to utilize the trains many services. This required the mass production of clocks and personal timepieces.

Today we are fully wired by time. Our lives are an endless series of activities attuned to specific times. Our Saturday tennis match, doctor appointments, restaurant reservations, conference calls and NFL games are occurrences that we participate in at specific times. We need to know time to the minute and our modern environment has time accurately on display virtually every where we look. We take this simplest of conveniences for granted.

The settling of the International Time Line at Greenwich, England (Greenwich Mean Time) enables to world to be divided into time zones. We know that different parts of the world are in one of 24 separate time zones and all commercial activity finds rhythm from this practical division of geography into these agreed time zones. The rubber plantation foreman in Nigeria knows exactly when the product manager will be available in Akron, Ohio because of this internationally employed system of measuring time. The modern world could not efficiently operate if the ancients had not begun the quest for accurately measuring the hours of each day.

My marketing consulting company, Duquesa Marketing, reviews hundreds of inventions, product concepts and ideas every year from entrepreneurs and inventors. If you would like to discuss how to turn your idea into a product or commercial opportunity contact Geoff Ficke at 859-567-1609.

The benefits immigration has historically provided to the America economy and lifestyle has been thoroughly documented. The waves of Irish, Italian, and eastern European’s that swamped Ellis Island during the 19th century brought little more than hope and the drive to discover an opportunity to pursue a better life in the New World. They were ravaged by the historic poverty in their homelands, hungry, illiterate in many cases and did not speak English. And yet, despite these daunting obstacles, these immigrant masses were the forerunner of the diaspora that continues to this day and from which the United States has enjoyed immeasurable benefits.

Many contemporary Americans have knowledge of family histories that detail the struggles of their first generation American forefathers. There are so many famous stories of immigrant successes from the period: Sam Goldwyn (movies), Guglielmo Marconi (radio), Eugene Strauss (department stores, Macy’s), Levi Strauss and Isaac Singer (sewing machines) are only a few examples.

Max Factor was an amazing example of immigrant success and the entrepreneurial cocktail that only America has ever fully perfected. Factor was born into poverty and a large family in Russia. He came to the United States at an early age speaking no English. The name Factor was most surely an assigned “Ellis Island” name. Eventually he moved to St. Louis and took a job in a theatre.

At this time, in the late 19th and early 20th century, theatrical plays and actors were very limited by the poor gaslights of the time. Nuance, subtlety and emotion were very difficult to convey to an audience in the stage environment of the time. Mr. Factor, standing in the rear of the theatre each night, waiting for the performance to end, began to notice that the actors were limited by the lack of definition that could be seen in their faces. To be sure, they wore a type of cornstarch makeup, but they appeared as mannequins, over painted and stiff as dead mackerel. He set about finding an answer, a way to project real emotion.

His efforts were rewarded by the introduction of two seemingly obvious creations (at least obvious today): the false eyelash and pan cake makeup. Ask any actor working today what tool they use most crucially to portray emotion and they will answer, the eyes. The false eyelash Mr. Factor created was a rough, stiff, heavily glued shock of trimmed horsehair. Difficult to apply and painful to remove though they were, actors adored them. Within months Mr. Factor was creating false eyelashes for actors everywhere. They unanimously were willing to put up with the pain in return for the opportunity to project emotion to an audience with their eyes.

Pancake makeup was created to give the face a more natural glow while highlighting each actor’s unique physical features. The old starchy pastes made every actor, even male and female, look alike. Finally, there was a light, blended powder base that could be buffed to highlight features. Actors are vain. They love to display themselves, physically, emotionally and vocally. Max Factor’s pancake makeup was the breakthrough that modernized acting as a more subtle, visual art.

Mr. Factor quickly moved to Hollywood. He recognized that the future would be in moving pictures and the movies would require a completely different lineup of cosmetic products. Cameras require light. Light offered new opportunity and Max Factor was always keen to seize opportunity. He adapted pancake makeup to the new demands of movie cameras. Almost immediately, Max Factor became recognized as Hollywood’s leading, must-have makeup designer for the movie studios. His entrepreneurial instincts not sated, he began to package products for sale to the public.The most prominent retailers of the day such as F.W. Woolworth and Kresge dime stores in the United States and Boots in England carried his products. This was the beginning of a worldwide cosmetic empire that continues to prosper to this day.

During most of the 20th century Max Factor enjoyed worldwide popularity with the Company’s cutting edge beauty advances. The Max Factor name and brand became world famous.

Max Factor always praised America and revered the freedom, opportunity and economic system that he discovered here. He came with no money, spoke no English and had no formal skill. During the course of his remarkable life he was instrumental in the maturation of two major industries: cosmetics and movies. This could never have happened had he stayed in Russia.

The opportunity to fail, or succeed, is just as possible today. The opportunity to try is not available in much of the world. Men like Max Factor are inspirational. They confirm that our system, while not perfect, is better than anything else yet invented. When you hear a citizen of this country whine about, well, about everything people whine about today, remember that millions of immigrants want to still come here for a reason. There is no place on earth so open and offering so much possibility.

Please contact me at your convenience to discuss this article, or any of my other articles. In my consulting business we help many entrepreneurs, a disproportionate number of them new immigrants, to pursue their dreams. I can be reached at gficke@msn.com : www.duquesamarketing.com .

Many years ago I watched a television news interviewer allow Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings, the de-facto dictator of Ghana at that time, to rant about the absolute rape of his tiny, poverty stricken west African nation, by multi-national companies like Nestle. Ghana’s major export product was the cocoa bean. Nestle, Hershey and other major chocolate purveyors were Ghana’s major customers for the cocoa bean. Rawling’s gripe: commodity prices were unfair to Ghanian growers based on the high retail prices enjoyed by the manufacturers as reflected in their finished products.

A bit of perspective is important as regards cocoa beans, and, indeed, all commodities. The cocoa bean, as grown and harvested, is inedible. It is tough, dry, bitter and rock hard. Native Ghanian’s historically had no use for the beans and considered them a nuisance.

That is, until the 19th century when Europeans perfected the process of converting the cocoa bean into refined lusciously tasty, highly desired chocolate food products. For centuries, chocolate was a dilettante’s delight, the food of royalty. Chocolate was rare, expensive and difficult to distill. Nestle, Cadbury and Hershey were among the many businesses that perfected the mass manufacturing processes essential to bringing the delights of chocolate to the masses, and as a result, created the market for the formerly unwanted Ghanian cocoa beans.

The pricing of the raw cocoa beans that Flight Lt. Rawlings was so agitated about are controlled by market forces. A socialist dictator, of course, does not understand market forces. Supply and demand, drought, market conditions and competitive forces determine what any commodity is worth on any given day. Without an industrial process capable of converting a commodity into a finished product, a system to distribute that finished product and an organized marketplace for the sale and consumption of finished goods, there would be virtually zero value in most of the world’s raw materials.

The genius of capitalist markets is reflected in the sweep of Adam Smith’s “Invisible Hand”. As entrepreneurs have pursued opportunities to commercialize their ideas they have unwittingly created sub-markets for commodities that were once considered useless. The cocoa bean, without the modern creation of a manufacturing system, distribution channel and consumer desire for refined chocolate products, is only one obvious example of markets turning something of no value into a marketable commodity with real value.

For centuries the Middle East camel caravans and traders were confronted with a constant nuisance: trade routes were often submerged in a bog of oil seeping uncontrolled from beneath the earth. The resulting need to chart and create new routes was time consuming and expensive. Oil was considered the “devils drink”. Camels could not drink oil. The Bedouin could not sleep or wear the oil.

The dawn of industrialization, mechanization, steam engines, the internal combustion engine and mobile transit created a need for significant stocks of oil. Initially, oil was plentiful and affordable in the United States. Petroleum engineers, anticipating the coming worldwide demand for petroleum distillate products, visited the Middle East in the 1920’s. The first oil concessions were negotiated with the House of Saud, and thus began the rise of omnipotent Middle East oil principalities. This is but another example of an unwanted, valueless commodity suddenly gaining remarkable currency as a result of industrial, really entrepreneurial success.

Bauxite, plutonium, titanium, cobalt, magnesium, and dozens more raw materials and minerals are of immense value in our contemporary world because, and solely because, modern economies have created products and industries that have need of these elements. The final products we see on our store shelves, personally consume or utilize to perform our work usually consist of a perfected blending of the world’s commodities that alone, have little use or value.

Have peoples and countries been exploited of their indigenous raw materials? Absolutely, and forever and a day this has occurred. Long before the industrial revolution people were robbed, enslaved and exploited by stronger groups in order to exploit water, salt, cattle or some perceived benefit that was not readily available to them. The modern industrial craving for raw materials to propel industrialization has been a real fact.

My point and perspective is to simply state the obvious: raw materials often have no intrinsic value as stand alone products or consumables. Without a marketplace that creates demand and valuations for minerals as product components, native peoples would enjoy even lower standards of living than Jerry Rawlings and so many current third world leaders, continually complain about.

The discussion of the appropriate use of mineral revenues by third world countries is for another article and another day. Suffice it to say that rarely does a specific nations mineral wealth benefit the native population. Vast amounts of revenues that could be applied to indigenous poverty, lack of education and economic development seems to wind up in off-shore accounts, yachts and Parisian shopping sprees.

The third world peasant unknowingly has a great benefactor in every entrepreneur. Because so much of the second and third world lacks basic property rights and rule of law, there is a resulting lack of entrepreneurial activity in these poor countries. Patent protection, intellectual property rights and transparent legal systems are essential for entrepreneurial endeavor to thrive.

Innovation that utilizes the raw materials so prevalent in many poor countries is the engine that can, and should be instrumental in eliminating poverty and ignorance. Demagogue’s ranting about the abuses of capitalism inevitably are key to keeping their populations poor. The entrepreneur, with a better mousetrap and a plan to market the device, is far more beneficial to the peasant living in darkness than the charismatic blowhard with a bushel full of rhetorical claptrap and a Swiss bank account.

Since the dawn of capitalism and the industrial revolution, entrepreneurs have created products, services and whole industries that have improved the human condition. The poorest amongst us, living in the most remote third world villages, have enjoyed at least some indirect benefits of this flood of inventiveness. The real shame is that demagogues, charlatans and political poseurs keep so many people in the dark and removed from the full benefits of participating in capitalist, profit seeking, entrepreneurial enterprise.

Inventions such as polio vaccine, the telephone, the laser, freeze-drying and flight are of amazing benefit to the poor. The capacity of the internet and electronic media to enlighten, and thus embolden formerly untouched villagers with hope, education, and ambition to improve their lot is on display in many areas of the third world. This march will not be stopped. Once people are exposed to modern comforts, opportunities and methods to peacefully improve their lot, well, as the old saying goes: “It is hard to keep them down on the farm”.

The drive to be entrepreneurial is deeply imbedded in human nature. The opportunity to use natural resources productively and profitably is just as possible in the third world as anywhere else, if transparent legal systems are in place. Creating jobs, profits and new products is what successful entrepreneurs do best. It is unfortunate that third world poverty is wrongly blamed on productive uses of indigenous resources that would be of no value to anyone if left in the ground. The real misfortune for the worlds forgotten poor is their exclusion from full economic participation in so many economies based on the willful, spiteful complicity of their leaders.

As a counselor and consultant to many entrepreneurs I am always amazed at the spirit and drive they exhibit. As I have become an internet user over the years, I am really encouraged by the contacts I receive on a daily basis from prospective entrepreneurs living in countries and continents that are not normally associated with creativity and free markets. In most situations, these hopeful entrepreneurs will not have the ability to commercialize their ideas. However, the mere fact that they have ideas, ambition and courage, despite the circumstance of their geography should be of great solace to all of us. A better world can happen and freedom, personal and commercial, will be the first rail of such a world.

The 16th century was a time of amazing transformation in Europe. The Dark Ages were gone, the Black Plague had run it course and Middle Age fears and superstitions were slowly disappearing. The printing press had been invented and it was completely revamping the way people communicated. Columbus had discovered the America’s and the great age of exploration was in full swing. Medical advances, the Reformation, the creation of the great Italian banking houses and the Dutch trading companies had completely changed the way people thought, worked and worshipped.

And yet, there was one area in which there had been virtually no advance since the time of Christ: transportation. Horse or mule, horse drawn carts and boat were the methods of travel utilized to convey people, goods and foodstuffs. Travel was slow. It was uncomfortable. And, it was often very dangerous. Brigands and pirates faced little in the way of organized policing. A bandit pretty much had a field day during the period.

Of all the difficulties a traveler faced, the most frustrating by far was speed: or the lack thereof. As the great Florentine, Venetian and Genoan merchant banks financed warfare, fleets, crops, expeditions and colonization, they had to continually factor a risk premium into their risk/reward computations before settling on the interest to be charged on each loan. The slowness of receiving news of progress, success or failure on the status of an investment vehicle was agonizing to all parties participating in an enterprise. Did the fleet sink, or is it close to home with a valuable cargo? Has the battle been engaged, and who won? Was a new land discovered, and what did it offer in minerals or trade goods as materials for profit?

Knowledge is power, and speed provides the edge that makes this power so important. If I know today, what my enemy or rival will not know for several days, I have a decided advantage on strategizing to my advantage and profit. In the 16th century an industrious Belgian family developed the first international service to address the ages old problem of slow communication.

The Tassis family had obtained the rights to handle a rudimentary postal service in several Duchies in what is now Belgium. The service promised a decent living for the Tassis family by the standards of the time. However, they wanted to do more, expand and create a service that could become the international standard.

The Tassis family divided the work responsibilities between family members and had them disperse throughout Europe. The key to their success was a cohesive, standardized system of fleet horses, experienced, responsible riders, a network of terminals to change horse, rider and re-route mail and packages, and scheduled delivery times. Spain, France, Italy and Germany were little more than a polyglot of feudal city states during this time. There was no central government to handle a service like mail delivery that we consider routine today. The opportunity for a private company to organize and manage an international operation of this import and scale was a wonder.

The Tassis’ received contracts to handle the delivery of mail throughout most of continental Europe. From Naples to the Danube, and Gibraltar to Copenhagen, the family built a delivery network that managers at DHL, UPS, or FedEx would admire and recognize today. A treaty, legal contract or purchase order that took five weeks to reach Genoa from Madrid, could now be delivered in seven to 10 days. As the loads increased the price was lowered and this only accelerated the use of the service.

The family became rich, powerful and across Europe became members of the aristocracy. The name Tassis in the German language is spelled “taxis”.
Today, everywhere in the world, people call for a taxicab when they need to transport themselves for a fare. The taxi service created by the Tassis’ was an important part of the development of the Renaissance.

The Tassis are responsible for one of the most elemental and important service enhancements in history. The ability to accelerate the movement of important commercial, legal and governmental communications enabled decisions to be made more quickly and on a grander scale. The entrepreneurial innovation that the Tassis family introduced enriched their family, business, government and, most importantly, the working class that benefited so much from the rapid expansion of capital and trade. Even today, we can still learn from the historical record that the ability to offer a novel new benefit pays off in so many ways.