What Is Domino?
Domino is the name of a game played with a set of flat tiles marked with pips (or dots). These dominoes are stacked on end in long lines. When a domino is tipped, it causes the next one to tip and so on until all of them fall over—a very impressive sight! In addition to being a fun pastime, dominoes are often used in educational settings to illustrate the principle of “domino effect,” which states that one small action can lead to a chain reaction with larger consequences.
When Hevesh, an engineering student from India, builds a domino setup, she follows what’s called the “engineering-design process.” She starts by considering what she wants to achieve and brainstorms images or words that might help her accomplish this. From there, she draws a design on paper and then creates an electronic model of the entire sequence. Finally, she tests the setup to make sure it will work as planned.
Hevesh has become quite famous for her mind-blowing domino creations. She has even traveled to perform at schools and other venues to entertain people with her domino shows. These involve creating intricately designed patterns and reactions in front of an audience. In some cases, Hevesh has even been able to get thousands of dominoes to topple at once!
The word domino derives from the Latin dominium, which means “little one.” Its earliest sense, however, is obscure. It may have been used to refer to a long hooded cloak worn over a priest’s surplice, or it could have been an allusion to the black domino contrasted with ivory pips on a traditional set.
Early dominoes were made of wood or bone, with each tile containing one or more pips. The pips were inlaid or painted onto each domino, and the surface was sometimes stained or polished. Many different types of dominoes were developed, and some were more complex than others. For example, some sets contained blank faces while others had pips that corresponded to the number of sides on two thrown dice.
In modern times, dominoes are most commonly manufactured of plastic. They can also be made of materials like bone, silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (mother of pearl), ivory, and a dark hardwood such as ebony. These are more expensive than polymer sets, but they have a more organic look and feel to them.
When Domino’s Pizza CEO David Brandon took over in 2004, he put several changes into place that have made Domino’s a better workplace. One of these changes was a value that emphasized listening to employees and giving them the power to speak up when things weren’t working out.
This value led to Domino’s establishing its Employee Ambassador Program in 2014. The program allows employees to report issues with management, which is then reviewed and addressed by a team of managers. Another change was to focus on quality over quantity. Domino’s now sells pizzas that are not only better-tasting but healthier, and the company has even started testing delivery vehicles with a view to improving customer service.