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Hammurabi, first ruler of the Babylonian empire, holds the claim of restoring order and justice to Mesopotamia. Although Hammurabi did conquer other city-states to expand his empire, he let the rulers of the cities-states live and justly ruled the people with fair laws. Hammurabi wanted his subjects to obey him because they liked him and believed he made just, fair laws and not because they were apprehensive of his formidable military. In about 1786 B.C. he wrote 282 laws governing family, criminal punishment, civil law, ethics, business, prices, trade, and every other aspect of ancient life known as “the Code of Hammurabi” which he set up where everyone could read them. No one had ever set up a code of law to this extent before even though there had been several attempts over the previous 400 years. Introducing this early form of law, he boasted of his purpose: “to promote the welfare of the people, I, Hammurabi, the devout, god-fearing prince, cause justice to prevail in the land by destroying the wicked and the evil, that the strong might not oppress the weak.” Although Hammurabi had right motives for producing these laws that he believed Marduk, the chief god of Babylon, had given him the commission to write, many of the laws seemed strict, harsh and, cruel. Two examples of the severity and harshness of some of the punishments for lawbreaking follow: “If a son strikes his father, they shall cut off his forehand.” “If any one steals the minor son of another, he shall be put to death.”⁵ Some laws favored the people with a higher social status although they did attempt to provide justice for every class. For example: “If a man strikes the cheek of a freeman who is superior in rank to himself, he shall be beaten with 60 stripes with a whip of ox-hide in the assembly.”

Although opinions vary on exactly when Hammurabi lived and the important dates of his reign, most scholars believe Hammurabi began his rule of Babylon in 1792 B.C. and died in 1750 B.C. Hammurabi was the sixth king over the city of Babylon, but once he defeated Sumer, Akkad, and other city-states to the south of Babylon around 1760 B.C., he claimed the title of the first king of the Babylonian empire. Eventually, his empire covered most parts of Mesopotamia. His main claim to fame, the Code of Hammurabi, was written in about 1786 B.C. Besides this, Hammurabi also did other things to improve his empire, namely, he improved the irrigation process. He also strongly encouraged astronomy, mathematics, and literature. Sadly, once Hammurabi died, the Babylonian empire that he worked so hard to build and improve collapsed due to military pressure from the Hittites under the rule of Mursilis I. Eventually, the Kassites, under the command of Agumkakrine, came to rule Babylon and some of the former, gargantuan empire for 400 years. Interestingly enough, they obeyed and respected the Code of Hammurabi. Much later, God used the Babylonians to correct and discipline the people of Judah when they were taken captive into Babylon in 586 B.C.

There are also some interesting speculations showing some parallels between the Bible and the life and laws of Hammurabi. One theme concept in both the Levitical law and the Code of Hammurabi that repeat themselves again and again are, namely: “eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise (Exodus 21:24-25).” Although Hammurabi did not know it, the principles in his laws reflected the Biblical principle of sowing and reaping as found in Galatians 6:7 and Proverbs 22:8: “Do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows” (Galatians 6:7). “He who sows wickedness reaps trouble (Proverbs 22:8a).”

Another speculation made by some Bible scholars is that Nimrod, mentioned in the Bible, could be Hammurabi, since they both had similar military exploits, and because the name “Hammurabi” could be interpreted “Ham the Great”. According to the Bible, Nimrod was Ham’s (the son of Noah) grandson. Some argue that since Hammurabi lived about the same time as Abraham and the patriarchs, and Moses lived about 400 years after Abraham, Moses must have just borrowed and revised the Code of Hammurabi to fit the needs of Israel rather than God Himself writing the Levitical Law and Ten Commandments. “According to Genesis 26 'God had revealed a legal code to someone, for Abraham lived under it; because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws.' Originally Abraham lived in Babylonia. God called him out of that heathen environment and brought him into the kingdom of Melchizedek, whose capitol was Salem, the ancient name of Jerusalem. Melchizedek was king and 'priest of God Most High.' Since he was sovereign of the Kingdom of God on earth, as it existed at that time, the laws and statutes enforced were probably the laws mentioned in Genesis 26:5. 'It is reasonable to suppose that Hammurabi was aquatinted with this primitive revelation and saw the value of certain laws. These he copied and incorporated into his code.”

One of the major differences, however, between Melchizedek’s law and the Code of Hammurabi is that Hammurabi based his on human wisdom (and perhaps a demon’s influence: note his reference to Marduk in the introduction of his code of law) while Melchizedek based his law on love and the worship and honor of God. Although each of these is only a speculation, they do help set the stage for Hammurabi’s life and reign and draw some conclusions worth digging deeper for more positive answers to further prove the historical accuracy and truth in the Bible.

In conclusion, Hammurabi, first king of the Babylonian empire, became most famous for writing the first, detailed code of laws and for uniting the war-torn, chaotic Mesopotamia under a just, fair rule. He began his rule of Babylon in about 1792 B.C. and eventually conquered most of Mesopotamia and added it to the Babylonian Empire. Following his death in about 1750 B.C., however, his kingdom fell into barbarian hands who, surprisingly, respected his code of law. To stage his life in comparison with Biblical events, Abraham and the patriarchs lived at about the same time as Hammurabi. Although Hammurabi had good motives for writing his just but strict code of law, he based them all on his own human wisdom, which, just like the rest of us, becomes subject to fallacy and error.

The History of Scissors

Permanently sharp, Never need sharpening! These words proclaim the virtues of a new generation of scissors—good news, yet a slightly sad epitaph for an essential and treasured tool invented many centuries ago. Like many early tools, made with great effort and time one by one, scissors were clearly treasured by their owners. Until the Industrial Revolution, most of the objects needed for daily life like paper, cloth, metal, pottery, ceramic and glass objects were made by single craftsmen and craftswomen and their helpers.

Many last names we take for granted today were acquired originally as descriptions of crafts and trades: Goldsmith, Weaver, Taylor, Fuller, Baker, Skinner, Potter, Smith, Tinker, Wheeler and Wag(o)ner. The objects they made were created to last a long time if not a lifetime. Metal objects were therefore incised with elaborate designs; both blades and handles reflected whimsy and art, as well as utility. The idea that their work was sufficiently cheap and available that it could be thrown away and easily replaced would have struck them as utter madness.

Scissors in Egypt

Researchers into the history of scissors generally agree that scissors were invented in Egypt around 1500 B.C.E. and were first fashioned of bronze, spreading slowly through the rest of the ancient world through trade and exploration. These early scissors were, as best archeologists can determine, made of a single piece of metal. They were mechanically two levers joined by a loop which served as a fulcrum.

Each sharpened level was a scissor, and the pair was called, scissors. On about 100 A.D. Roman craftsmen developed cross-blade scissors. That is, the blade-edges crossed and slid past each other when cutting. The looping fulcrum remained. Even now, gardening catalogs in the U.S. and Britain offer grass-edging shears that demonstrated the cross-blade principle. Like the Roman model, these scissors rested in an open position after use.

Creating Modern Scissors

As is the case with so many early tools, the question of modification and innovation remains in the dark. At some point, someone clearly realized that greater control with less hand strength could be obtained by separating the scissors into two pieces anchoring them with a screw or rivet and making loops for fingers.

Looking at old scissors suggests that for a number of centuries, depending on the country of origin, both designs coexisted with craftsmen and purchasers deciding which design served specific purposes: cutting grapevines, thin sheets of metal, paper, thread and cloth. The final step in creating modern scissors is documented. In London in 1761 Robert Hinchcliffe developed the method for steel-casting scissors. What he produced took the form we recognize today.

Windows 7

Originally, a version of Windows codenamed Blackcomb was planned as the successor to Windows XP (codename Whistler) and Windows Server 2003. Major features were planned for Blackcomb, including an emphasis on searching and querying data and an advanced storage system named WinFS to enable such scenarios. However, an interim, minor release, codenamed "Longhorn," was announced for 2003, delaying the development of Blackcomb. By the middle of 2003, however, Longhorn had acquired some of the features originally intended for Blackcomb. After three major viruses exploited flaws in Windows operating systems within a short time period in 2003, Microsoft changed its development priorities, putting some of Longhorn's major development work on hold while developing new service packs for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Development of Longhorn (Windows Vista) was also restarted, and thus delayed, in August 2004. A number of features were cut from Longhorn.
Blackcomb was renamed Vienna in early 2006 and again Windows 7 in 2007. In 2008, it was announced that Windows 7 would also be the official name of the operating system. There has been some confusion over naming the product Windows 7, while versioning it as 6.1 to indicate its similar build to Vista and increase compatibility with applications that only check major version numbers, similar to Windows 2000 and Windows XP both having 5.x version numbers.
The first external release to select Microsoft partners came in January 2008 with Milestone 1, build 6519. At PDC 2008, Microsoft demonstrated Windows 7 with its reworked taskbar. Copies of Windows 7 build 6801 were distributed at the end of the conference; however, the demonstrated taskbar was disabled in this build.
On December 27, 2008, Windows 7 Beta was leaked onto the Internet via BitTorrent. According to a performance test by ZDNet, Windows 7 Beta beat both Windows XP and Vista in several key areas; including boot and shutdown time and working with files, such as loading documents. Other areas did not beat XP; including PC Pro benchmarks for typical office activities and video editing, which remain identical to Vista and slower than XP. On January 7, 2009, the 64-bit version of the Windows 7 Beta (build 7000) was leaked onto the web, with some torrents being infected with a trojan. At CES 2009, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the Windows 7 Beta, build 7000, had been made available for download to MSDN and TechNet subscribers in the format of an ISO image. The Beta was to be publicly released January 9, 2009, and Microsoft initially planned for the download to be made available to 2.5 million people on this date. However, access to the downloads was delayed because of high traffic. The download limit was also extended, initially until January 24, then again to February 10. People who did not complete downloading the beta had two extra days to complete the download. After February 12, unfinished downloads became unable to complete. Users could still obtain product keys from Microsoft to activate their copies of Windows 7 Beta, which expired on August 1, 2009.
The release candidate, build 7100, became available for MSDN and TechNet subscribers and Connect Program participants on April 30, 2009. On May 5, 2009 it became available to the general public, although it had also been leaked onto the Internet via BitTorrent. The release candidate was available in five languages and expired on June 1, 2010, with shutdowns every two hours starting March 1, 2010. Microsoft stated that Windows 7 would be released to the general public on October 22, 2009. Microsoft released Windows 7 to MSDN and Technet subscribers on August 6, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. PDT. Microsoft announced that Windows 7, along with Windows Server 2008 R2, was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009. Windows 7 RTM is build 7600.16385, which was compiled on July 13, 2009, and was declared the final RTM build after passing all Microsoft's tests internally.
Windows 7 is written in C, C++, and assembly.