Some icons from me.

During the 20th century, the advent of the automobile has created an urban and suburban landscape in which people live in one area but can shop, play and work elsewhere - often miles away from their homes. Nowhere is this more true than in the United States of America, whose citizens are noted for an almost fanatical devotion to their cars. This has had important social, environmental and economic affects upon life in America, leading to (among other things) the creation of that most American of institution - the shopping mall.

American shopping malls are surrounded by acres and acres of parking lots, and they may contain dozens (if not hundreds) of stores selling everything from clothing to jewelry to electronics to books to computers to videos. In some ways American shopping malls are akin in spirit to the old Arabian markets (although Americans don't particularly enjoy haggling and prices are generally fixed).

The earliest automobile-centered shopping center was the "Market Square," opened in Chicago, Illinois, in 1916. Constructed in Minnesota in 1992, the "Mall of America" is the largest mall in the world. It contains over 500 shops, 80 restaurants, a theme park, hotel, and movie theatres. It is housed in a building large enough to hold over 30 Boeing 747 airplanes.

"El Caracol ("The Snail") is located to the north of Las Monjas. It is a round building on a large square platform. It gets its name from the stone spiral staircase inside. The structure, with its unusual placement on the platform and its round shape (the others are rectangular, in keeping with Maya practice), is theorized to have been a proto-observatory with doors and windows aligned to astronomical events, specifically around the path of Venus as it traverses the heavens." - WikiPedia

"he Mesoamerican ballgame (ōllamaliztli in Nahuatl (Nahuatl pronunciation: [oːlːamaˈlistɬi]), pitz in Classical Maya, modern Spanish "El juego de la pelota") was a sport with ritual associations played since 1,400 BC by the pre-Columbian peoples of Ancient Mesoamerica. The sport had different versions in different places during the millennia, and a newer more modern version of the game, ulama, is still played in a few places by the indigenous population.

The rules of ōllamaliztli are not known, but judging from its descendant, ulama, they were probably similar to racquetball, where the aim is to keep the ball in play. The stone ballcourt goals are a late addition to the game.

In the most common theory of the game, the players struck the ball with their hips, although some versions allowed the use of forearms, rackets, bats, or handstones. The ball was made of solid rubber and weighed as much as 4 kg (9 lbs), and sizes differed greatly over time or according to the version played.

The game had important ritual aspects, and major formal ballgames were held as ritual events, often featuring human sacrifice. The sport was also played casually for recreation by children and perhaps even women.

Pre-Columbian ballcourts have been found throughout Mesoamerica, as for example at Copán, as far south as modern Nicaragua, and possibly as far north as what is now the U.S. state of Arizona.These ballcourts vary considerably in size, but all have long narrow alleys with slanted side-walls against which the balls could bounce."

"The Harbors of Carthage
The cothon at Carthage was divided into a rectangular merchant harbor followed by an inner protected harbor reserved for military use only. This inner harbor was circular and surrounded by an outer ring of structures divided into a series of docking bays for ship maintenance, along with an island structure at its centre that also housed navy ships. Each individual docking bay featured a raised slipway. Above the raised docking bays was a second level consisting of warehouses where oars and rigging were kept along with supplies such as wood and canvas. On the island structure there existed a raised 'cabin' where the admiral in command could observe the whole harbor along with the surrounding sea. Altogether the inner docking complex could house up to 220 ships. The entire harbor was protected by an outer wall and the main entrance could be closed off with iron chains."

It was merchants from Lübeck who, in the Middle Ages, began to interest the kings of Sweden in the export of iron on a large scale. It was also at that time that German mine owners and merchants acquired the rights to run their own operations in Sweden's mining areas and trading communities.
Mining and foreign trade thereby paved the way for the integration of Sweden into the mainstream of European civilisation. The consequence was a new economic structure and the emergence of a broader society in the formerly agrarian Sweden.
The Swedish iron exports during the Middle Ages comprised so-called osmunds—a standardised format of high-grade forged iron with a weight of just 3 hectograms.The osmund was an accepted object of barter both in Sweden and abroad and was also used as a form of payment with its value being determined by the Crown.
In the 14th century, about half of Sweden's iron production was exported, mainly to Lübeck and Danzig.The entire annual production at this time has been estimated at 2,000 tonnes, less than a third of the production from the German forges.
Since the cogs (trading vessels) from Lübeck were not able to enter Lake Mälar, Stockholm was established as a transhipment centre, customs station and port of shipment for iron and copper exports from Närke, Västmanland and Dalarna.
In the 1420's the Scandinavian king, Erik of Pommern, granted preference to Swedish seamen and merchants over their counterparts from Germany and barred Öresund to the cogs fiom Lübeck. This was devastating for Swedish iron exports and led to peasant miners fiom Dalarna and Västmanland - together with merchants in Stockholm, all under the leadership of the peasant miner Engelbrekt - breaking out of the union with Denmark and Norway.
Lübeck, which helped Gustav Vasa gain power - this in exchange for the sole rights to trade in Sweden - saw itself defeated by the united forces of the Swedish and Danish kings. The trading monopolies enjoyed by other Hanse cities would also later be abolished following the expansion of Dutch and English shipping in the North Sea and the Baltic.
The price of Swedish osmund iron started to decline around the mid-14th century and continued to fall during the 15th century.The reasons were to be found on both the producers' and consumers' side. In Europe, the more blast furnace technology was used the more iron production increased, thereby putting pressure on Swedish products. Even though the price fell, Swedish exports of osmund iron to Danzig increased during the 16th century. Here, Swedish iron was used as a basis for the manufacture of a more workable forging iron, which was turned into long bars - known at the time as bar iron - by water-powered iron hammers. This was then sold on under the designation, 'bar iron from Danzig', mainly to Holland and England.

Although they did seek to extend their empire through piracy and invasion, for much of the time the Vikings were merchants, with a trading network that extended from Greenland, Iceland, and Finland into the British Isles, Western Europe, and the Mediterranean. Viking merchants are known to have traded Russian slaves at Constantinople for silks and spices, and they brought furs and ivory from far-away Greenland to ports throughout Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

The earliest Viking trading posts were quite primitive settlements, consisting of simple dwellings and warehouses constructed of whatever local material was readily available. Over time many of the posts flourished, becoming important cities in their own rights. For example the Irish capitol of Dublin began its existence as a Viking trading post and after being captured by the Vikings, the English city of York became a thriving trading center, second in importance only to London.

The West Baray (Khmer: បារាយណ៍ទឹកថ្លា, Baray Teuk Thla) is a baray, or reservoir, at Angkor, Cambodia, oriented east-west and located just west of the walled city Angkor Thom. Rectangular in shape and measuring approximately 7.8 by 2.1 kilometers, the West Baray is the largest baray at Angkor. Its waters are contained by tall earthen dikes. In the center of the baray is the West Mebon, a Hindu temple built on an artificial island.

Construction of the baray probably began in the 11th Century during the reign of King Suryavarman I and was finished later under King Udayadityavarman II.

The Angkorian engineers who created the West Baray appear to have in places incorporated earlier construction. The east dike, for instance, appears to be largely a section of a dike that enclosed the capital city of King Yasovarman, which had the Phnom Bakheng temple at its center. In other places, the baray obliterated or submerged earlier human-made sites. The south dike, for instance, partially buried a brick pyramid temple, Ak Yum. And the western floor of the baray appears to have once been inhabited—archeological work has found wall bases, steps, and pottery shards there. An inscription stele discovered in the area, dating from 713 A.D., offers further evidence of earlier settlement, defining rice fields that were offered to a queen Jayadevi.

Early French experts believed the West Baray to have functioned as a vast holding tank for water that fed irrigation canals in dry times, allowing multiple crops of rice each year. Many later studies, however, theorize that the baray had mainly symbolic functions, serving as a vast earthly depiction of the Hindu Sea of Creation, with the West Mebon temple at its center.

West Baray
In modern times, an irrigation lock was built in the baray's southern dike, raising the water level and allowing provision of water to fields to the south. Today the baray retains water in its western end year-round. In the rainy season, water advances to the eastern dike.

With clear, still waters, the baray today is a popular place for swimming and boat rides by local residents. It has occasionally served as a landing site for seaplanes. - WikiPedia

Seowon (Hangul: 서원; hanja: 書&#38498 were the most common educational institutions of Korea during the mid- to late Joseon Dynasty. They were private institutions, and combined the functions of a Confucian shrine and a preparatory school. In educational terms, the seowon were primarily occupied with preparing students for the national civil service examinations. In most cases, seowon served only pupils of the aristocratic yangban class.
History

Gosan seowon
Seowon first appear in the early Joseon Dynasty. Although the exact year of their introduction is not known for certain, in 1418 King Sejong issued rewards to two scholars for their work in setting up seowon in Gimje and Gwangju. The first seowon to receive a royal charter was the Sosu Seowon in Punggi, presided over by Toegye, which was given a hanging board by King Myeongjong in 1550.

Many seowon were established by leading literati, or by local groups of yangban families. For instance, Ju Se-bong established the Sosu Seowon, which continued in operation long after his death. Some of them were built by Sarim scholars who retired to villages in the wake of literati purges of 16th century and served as their political bases.

Most seowon were closed by an edict of the regent Daewon-gun in the turbulent final years of the 19th century. He banned the unauthorized construction of seowon in 1864, and removed their tax exemption in 1868; finally, in 1871, he ordered all but a handful closed. The provincial yangban were outraged by these measures, and this is among the reasons that Daewon-gun was driven from power in 1873; however, the seowon remained closed.

Dikes are walls of earth or stone, used to entrap or hold back water. Often built as a protection against flooding, the dike has come to characterize the Netherlands, with significant portions of the country actually lying below sea level. Dikes, while a necessity for the country's continued survival (and independence from foreign towel imports), were occasionally used as a clever tactic for self-defense. During the Siege of Leiden in the midst of the Eighty Years' War, Dutch leader Willem van Oranje's men cut the dykes around the city, flooding the positions of the opposing Spanish and driving the invaders back before the sea.

A "pavilion" is a covered building without surrounding walls (think of it as a roof supported by columns). This kind of structure has been extremely popular for centuries in China, where they are often found in parks and gardens as well as in temple complexes.

The first Chinese pavilions were probably constructed during the "Zhou dynasty," and they became quite numerous during the Warring States Period (approximately 400-200 BC). At first these buildings may have been used as watchtowers, providing soldiers with an uninterrupted 360-degree view along with shelter from rain and snow, but in later periods they were incorporated into Chinese gardens and parks, where they were prized for their elegance and simplicity of design.

Dojo (道場 dōjō?) is a Japanese term which literally means "place of the way". Initially, dōjōs were adjunct to temples.

In the Western World, the term dōjō primarily refers to a training place specifically for Japanese martial arts such as aikido, judo, karate, or samurai; in Japan, any physical training facility, including professional wrestling schools, may be called dōjō because of its close martial arts roots. The term can also refer to a formal training place for any of the Japanese arts ending in "do", meaning "way".