Inkstick

Inksticks (Chinese: 墨  Mò; Japanese: 墨 Sumi; Korean: 먹 Meok) or Ink Cakes are a type of solid ink (India ink) used traditionally in several East Asian cultures for calligraphy and brush painting. Inksticks are made mainly of soot and animal glue, sometimes with incense or medicinal scents added. To make ink from the inkstick, it has to be continuously ground against an inkstone with a small quantity of water to produce a dark liquid which is then applied with an ink brush. Artists and calligraphists may vary the thickness of the resulting ink according to their preferences by reducing or increasing the intensity and time of ink grinding.

Along with the inkstone, ink brush, and paper, the inkstick is considered in one of the Four Treasures of the Study of classical Chinese literary culture.

History

The earliest artifact of Chinese inks can be dated back to 12th century BC, with the use of charred materials, plant dyes and animal-based inks being occasionally used with mineral inks being most common. Mineral inks based on materials such as graphite were ground with water and applied with ink brushes. Indeed, the mineral origins Chinese inks were discussed by Eastern Han scholar Xu Shen (許慎, 58 CE – ca. 147 CE). In Shuowen Jiezi, he wrote "Ink, whose semantic component is 'earth', is black." (墨，從土、黑也), indicating that the character for the ink ("墨") is composed of black ("黑") and soil ("土") due to the earthly origins of the dark mineral used in its production.

Stické

Stické (also stické tennis) is an indoor racquet sport invented in the late 19th century merging aspects of real tennis, racquets, and lawn tennis. It derives from sphairistikè (Ancient Greek meaning "the art of playing ball"), the term originally given to lawn tennis by Walter Clopton Wingfield.

Manner of play

Stické is played with standard lawn tennis racquets and low pressure balls in an enclosed court. The court is somewhat similar to a real tennis court in shape, but is smaller (about 78 feet by 27 feet) and different in construction. Play takes place using all the basics of lawn tennis and the same scoring system, with the addition of side and back walls. Players face each other over the net in pairs. As in real tennis, there is a penthouse, used throughout the game as a playing surface and on which the service has to land to start each point.

History

There were at least 39 courts built throughout the British Empire since 1875. The dimensions of the Taplow Court built by Lord Desborough in 1892 became the standard. In the early 20th century, stické was a popular recreation at many country houses. At the time it was one of the few games that was played by both men and women.

Stick

Stick or the stick may refer to:

Objects

Stick (film)

Stick is a 1985 crime film directed by and starring Burt Reynolds, based on the novel of the same name by Elmore Leonard.

Plot

Ernest "Stick" Stickley, a former car thief, has just been released from prison. He meets up with an old friend, Rainy, whose "quick stop" near the Florida Everglades before they go home is an illegal drug deal that goes sour. With his friend dead, Stick needs to hide out for a while to elude the killers (who must eliminate him as a witness).

While lying low, Stick finds himself in the right place at the right time when he helps a wealthy eccentric named Barry get into his locked car. Hired as a driver, he has a comfortable home with a stable job and tries to make up for lost time with Katie, his teen-age daughter. He also finds a new flame in Kyle, a financial consultant who acts as a business adviser for Barry, who must decide what of Stick can be salvaged.

Before he can move on, however, Stick confronts drug dealer Chucky to demand the money owed to his murdered friend. Chucky refuses and sends albino hit-man Moke after the ex-con. Stick can't get on with his new life without cleaning up old business first. He becomes the target of Moke as well as the cartel that employs Chucky, led by the voodoo-obsessed Nestor.