Before the invention of scissors, humans were forced to cut paper by breaking it over rocks. This worked because there was no such thing as paper, only stone tablets. It didn't work because the tablets would almost invariably shatter into many illegible fragments. Later, when paper was invented, it was easier to cut paper by tearing it using the opposing force of two human hands. But that wasn't good enough for ancient Egyptians, who realized that by harnessing the power of the fulcrum lever, they could devise a superior method of cutting paper. Their first attempt—bolting two humans together at the waist and using their legs as handles—met with limited success. Their next foray into the world of scissor manufacturing involved using only arms. This too was a disappointment for all involved. The advent of the Flintstone Age brought marginal improvements, many involving the use of flamingos, but it was not until the Romans that scissors became truly dangerous to run with. That was terrible. I hate ending sentences with prepositions. The Romans introduced the concept of two opposing blades, using fulcrum action to maximize the cutting force. Modern scissors, of course, no longer rely on physical force. The "cutting" is now done by tiny organisms called scissororians, living along the blade edges. As the two blades meet, the scissororians carefully disassemble the paper (or cardboard, hair, dishonored yakuza pinky) at the molecular level, before, naturally, running for their lives as the blades destroy whatever is left in their path.

Yes, when I realized she was playing with actual sharp scissors I stopped photographing, ran over and rescued the scissors. Her mother (in her defense) was trying to deal with the girl's brother and an intractable kite situation. The scissors were only in the girl's hands for about five seconds.