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Which lounger is regarded as England’s most iconic piece of furniture?

You might look in North London, at the famed Freud Museum. The Museum is located in Freud’s London residence — where he would set up his world renowned consulting rooms and recliner — after fleeing the Nazis annexed Austria. Captured as it was is Freud’s study, exactly as he had arranged it following many years receiving patients, and resting there is his settee, cradle of numerous complexes, butt of a multitude of lampoons and jokes. The couch itself isn’t British in origin, all the same. Freud employed the same fixtures while based out of Berggasse 19 in Vienna. As you might know, this is the address of Freud’s address while he started researching and devising his legendary concepts of psychotherapy. The chaise longue under discussion — comfy, inviting and casual — is deservedly famous, from its fundamental place through the development of psychoanalysis. Sadly, this tends to overshadow the fact that his own chair has been preserved in the study. His chair was where he listened, behind his patients on the lounger, during their “free association”. Put simply, dream analysis, comfortable seating and all the other ideas famously associated with teachings have been a potent supply of humor for performers, entertainers and so on and so forth for decades since, and maybe the best funnyman in this vein is Woody Allen, someone eminently au fait with analysts — aka shrinks — for just about forty years.

“I was in analysis for years and nothing happened. My poor analyst got so frustrated, the guy finally put in a salad bar. Maybe the poets are right. Maybe love is the only answer.”

“Donnie, your analyst? I call mine Dr. Chomsky, you know? Either that or he hits me with a ruler.”

“I worked with Freud in Vienna. We broke over the concept of penis envy. Freud felt that it should be limited to women.”

He is far from the only person to unearth humor in the stereotypical therapist’s sofa.

To take one example, Marshall McLuhan remarked: “If the nineteenth century was the age of the editorial chair, ours is the century of the psychiatrist’s couch.” Fictional psychiatrist Niles Crane unveils the funnier side of his vocation: “Although I feel perfectly qualified to fill Frasier’s radio shoes, I should warn you that while Frasier is a Freudian, I am a Jungian. So there’ll be no blaming Mother today!” Another of Niles’ observations Niles Crane, perhaps? He’s also remarked “I have a session with my multiple personality. Not to worry: if I’m late, he can just talk amongst himself.”

One of the most utilitarian developments at the height of the hostilities between NATO and communist Russia is the global positioning system (GPS). However, for the past 30 years, GPS has been made use of in all sorts of applications.

GPS technology has come in leaps and bounds since then; with great applications now available in hand held devices. Now, an astronomical number of users depend on Sat Navs for finding their way from A to B with this stress free navigation solution. As a matter of fact, the vast majority of premium cars have a GPS device integrated into the dash. Satellite navigation is not only for cars – various types of aircraft and ships and submarines depend on it too. Extensive satellite coverage means that no matter where you may be, with a simple device you can find out exactly where you are. Road users can make use of in-vehicle, portable Gps systems to follow a route, check out detours around heavy traffic areas and with extra software loaded enable live traffic information and rest stop locations.

In fact, pda phones have been employed by a tremendous variety of individuals. Anyone who needs to stick to a route (from mountaineers to sales representatives) or to pinpoint a particular place or an individual (from surveyors to the police) will find that using GPS will make their undertaking easier. The availability of mobile telephones has lead to games where participants can take part in geocaching. This is essentially a grown-up version of hide and seek, sites like terracaching.com upload co-ordinates encouraging players to find a hidden stash. More serious applications include the emergency services, who often make use of GPS not only to arrive at the scene of an accident more rapidly than ever but also to pinpoint its co-ordinates. This is vital in search and rescue operations at sea and in dangerous weather conditions on land where every second counts.

The possibilities for using GPS software in other fields like biology and engineering are vast, whether it is monitoring volcanoes or studying animals. They can use developing GPS technology to help them in monitoring climate change and other natural systems. When all is said and done, GPS software is now an essential invention for everybody.