MOTnews 43 (25/04/2003)

INHERITANCE WEEKEND in the MOT

On Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 April, the MOT is going on a trip: to Japan. To celebrate the Inheritance Weekend, we are kitting out the Tommenmolen and Guldendal departments in a genuine eastern atmosphere.

We will give you a brief summary of what you can expect this weekend; for more information on the programme please call 02/270 81 11 or e-mail info@mot.be.

In the Guldendal, you will see the first showing of the new addition to the wood exhibition: an extraordinary collection of Japanese woodworking tools. And to put the spotlight on this festive event even more, there will be eastern-style children's animation and make-up, numerous eastern demonstrations (Tai Chi, Ikebana, silk painting) and a special drum performance (Taiko) by the Japanese School.

In the Tommenmolen Department, the children will be told an exciting dragon story. You will also be treated to a behind-the-scenes story of the first Japanese gift to the MOT and for those of you feeling hungry, there will be magnificent wok dishes and rice puddings.

Furthermore, every visitor will receive a fun surprise as a memento of this celebratory weekend. What are you waiting for?

TRUE or FALSE?

Potatoes are a very important ingredient in our meals. Even with the competition from rice and pasta, we eat "spuds" nearly every day.

You can eat these root vegetables in all manner of ways: boiled potatoes, jacket potatoes, mashed potatoes, chips and crisps, croquettes...

However, potatoes are even more versatile than that, we also distil alcohol from them.

True or false? Discover the answer in the next issue of MOT News.

ANSWER to TRUE or FALSE in MOT-news 42 (21/02/2003)

You certainly remember the brightly coloured rubber bouncing balls you used as a child to create havoc on the playground. Many windows succumbed to them and even today rubber bouncing balls are still a revered toy.

Rubber bouncing balls first appeared on playgrounds in the twentieth century.

FALSE

The Mayas (Central America) made the first rubber from natural latex around 3,500 years before the modern process for making rubber was developed.

They also played games with rubber bouncing balls but their play was more formal than our playground play and the rubber balls were often much bigger. The game that they played, called 'Ulama', had a deep religious significance.

The Mayas also used rubber for other purposes, for example for binding things.

They could make rubber naturally by mixing the latex, i.e. the sap of the rubber tree (Castilla elastica), with the sap from the stems of a certain type of convolvulus, the Ipomoea Alba. This mixture yielded an elastic black coloured rubber that felt a bit like the pencil erasers of today.

In 1999, this type of rubber was once again created in the 'traditional' manner as part of an experiment carried out by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

SAY WHAT?

In this MOT-news item we try to explain proverbs and sayings that have their roots in our technical history. Similar proverbs are found in different languages, but each language has it's own typical sayings. Therefore we do not translate this item in English.

KIDS News: something to tell your kids this evening:

In the MOT News, we often talk about the usefulness of animals. As well as the fact that they can be our fun friends and playmates, animals give us milk, wool, meat, and so on.

Here, we give another remarkable example of how animals can be useful to man.

In France, farmers go out walking with their pet pig on a lead to look for truffles.

Truffles are small bumpy mushrooms with a pungent smell of nuts. Many people find truffles a real delicacy, but they are terribly expensive. This is because truffles are so difficult to find. They are hidden underground, some 30 cm deep.

The best way of tracing them is to sniff them out! But humans don't have a sensitive enough sense of smell. That's why in France, specially trained pigs are used to look for truffles. In Italy, people go walking with "truffle dogs". In Russia, they even use goats and young bears for the job.