A Ton of Crap
Page 30
ARABIC
The Writing System Like Hebrew, the Arabic writing system is an abjad (meaning it only consists of consonants) with twenty-eight letters. While words are written from right to left, numbers are written from left to right. The system of writing is derived from Aramaic script, and, following the Latin alphabet, the Arabic alphabet is the second most widely used alphabet in the world. All of the letters have four allographs, meaning conditional forms. The forms of letters change based on where they are in the word (whether they are at the beginning, middle, or end).
LESSON 27F
THE GREAT DEPRESSION
World War II Though Roosevelt’s New Deal reform certainly helped, the Great Depression did not come to a complete end until the beginning of World War II. The amount of unemployment decreased by 7,050,000 in three years, and the amount of people serving in the military increased by 8,590,000. While the men fought overseas, women worked in the factories to produce weapons and materials for the war. Factories where vacuum cleaners had been made were now producing machine guns. By 1943, over 2 million women were employed in factories.
ALICE IN WONDERLAND
History of Publication and Beyond When the book first came out in 1865, it received very poor reviews, with many finding it too ludicrous. Critics found the only thing praiseworthy about the book to be the illustrations. In 1866, Carroll approached his publisher about a sequel, and by the time it came out, the first book had developed a following. In the early 1860s, the Liddell family broke away from Carroll suddenly. Some say Carroll and Henry George Liddell had a dispute over work, while others believe Carroll’s relationship with Alice was questionable. Though there is no hard evidence, Henry George Liddell and his wife destroyed Carroll’s early letters to Alice, and the source of the split may never be known.
GAME THEORY
The Prisoner’s Dilemma One of the most famous examples of game theory is the prisoner’s dilemma. In this game, two people are suspected of committing a crime and brought into separate interrogation rooms. If they both keep quiet, they can be put in jail for five years. The suspects are offered a deal: If one confesses and the other does not, the confessor will be let go and the other suspect will get twenty years. If they both confess, they will each get ten years in jail. The best strategy to take in this situation is for both to confess and get the ten year sentence, because the individual players do not know what the other person will do and have to think of their best interests. Though ten years is not the greatest outcome of the situation, strategically, it makes the most sense.
ARCHIMEDES
Work in Mathematics Archimedes made several important discoveries in mathematics, especially in geometry. He is responsible for discovering how to find the volume of a sphere, which led him to discovering the value of pi, and how to create the formula to find the area of the space underneath a curve. Archimedes discovered the principle of buoyancy (as showcased by the golden crown study), and many believe him to be the real inventor of integral calculus (2,000 years earlier than when Isaac Newton created it).
ARABIC
Useful Arabic Phrases Here are some helpful Standard Arabic phrases to use when traveling to an Arabic-speaking country. Note that these are spelled out phonetically:
Hello. As-salām ‘alaykum.
Good morning. s.abāh.ul kh_ayr.
Good afternoon/evening. Masā’ al-khayr.
Good night. Tus.bih. ’alā khayr.
I don’t understand. Lā afham.
Excuse me. Al-ma’dirah.
How much is this? Bikam hādhā? (from a man) Bikam hādihi? (from a woman)
Where’s the toilet? Ayn al- h.ammām?
Goodbye. Ilā al-liqā’.
LESSON 27 QUIZ
Which of the following contributed to the crash of the stock market?
Many saw the stock market as an easy way to get rich, and as stock prices rose, people viewed them as a safe way to invest.
Stocks were being purchased on margin.
Companies and banks also invested money into the stock market.
All of the above.
Which of the following is true?
Social Security was set up by the FCC to create jobs.
The first phase of the New Deal concentrated on regulating agriculture and business.
World War II made the Great Depression worse.
The Dust Bowl was a series of regulations and reforms.
What is one example of symbolism found in Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland?
Alice’s body changing shapes throughout the story
Alice following the rabbit
Humpty Dumpty explaining the poem
The Queen of Hearts accusing Alice of stealing the tarts
What made the Alice in Wonderland series so groundbreaking?
The stories embraced silliness and nonsense.
They did not feature a moral or lesson at the end.
They featured material that was not age-appropriate.
A and B.
Which of the following accurately describes general equilibrium theory?
A single-person game theory that focuses on the forming of one’s beliefs
A theory where a player does not know what will happen outside of their own decisions, but they rely on the cooperation of the other players with deals or contracts
A theory that is used to study supply and demand in multiple markets
A theory where two people are suspected of committing a crime and brought into separate interrogation rooms where they are each given options to choose from to get a lighter prison sentence
In the prisoner’s dilemma, what outcome makes the most sense strategically?
Confess to the crime
Keep quiet
Deny you did the crime
Wait for your lawyer
Which of the following inventions of Archimedes is still used today?
The claw of Archimedes
The golden crown
The Archimedes screw
The Archimedes heat ray
The Claw of Archimedes was
used as:
An irrigation system
A weapon to protect Syracuse’s city walls
A buoyancy test
A weapon to set enemy ships on fire
Which of the following is true?
Classical Arabic is spoken today; Colloquial Arabic is found in the Qur’an.
Classical Arabic is spoken today, and it’s the same language found in the Qur’an.
Modern Arabic is found in the Qur’an and Classical Arabic is spoken today.
Modern Arabic is written today and Classical Arabic is found in the Qur’an.
How do you say “Hello” in Arabic?
As-salām ’alaykum.
Al-ma’dirah.
Lā afham.
Masā’ al-khayr.
ANSWER KEY: d, b, a, d, c, a, c, b, d, a
Lesson 28
HISTORY: World War II
Invasion of Poland, Invasion of Russia, Pearl Harbor, The Holocaust, The Battle of Normandy (D-Day), End of the War
LANGUAGE ARTS: Science Fiction
Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury
MATH: Knot Theory
What Are Mathematical Knots?, The Reidemeister Moves, Why Knot Theory Is Important, Knot Polynomials, Adding Knots, Tabulating Knots
SCIENCE: The Earth’s Spheres
Lithosphere, Hydrosphere, Cryosphere, Biosphere, Atmosphere, Celestial Sphere
FOREIGN LANGUAGE:
Sign Language
The Origins, About Deafness, Relationship with Oral Languages, Different Types of Sign Language, Written Form, Sign Language with Primates
LESSON 28A
WORLD WAR II
Invasion of Poland On August 23, 1939, Hitler and Stalin agreed to the Nazi-Soviet Pact. The invasion of Poland was originally set for August 26, but Mussolini told Hitler that Italy was not yet ready fo
r war, so the deadline was extended. On September 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler’s Germany invaded and defeated Poland within weeks, in what was the first military engagement of World War II. Hitler believed this invasion would lead to a quick victory in this war. On September 3, Britain declared war on Germany.
SCIENCE FICTION
Jules Verne Jules Verne is one of the most well-known and celebrated science fiction authors of all time, and he is generally regarded as the “father of science fiction.” His works include the classics Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, A Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Around the World in Eighty Days. Verne, a Frenchman, lived from 1828 to 1905, and the first English-language translations of his work appeared in the 1870s.
KNOT THEORY
What Are Mathematical Knots? In mathematics, a knot is a one-dimensional closed curve, or loop, that does not intersect, and that exists in a three-dimensional world. More than one loop is known as a link, and the separate loops are called components. The area where the loops cross over is known as the crossing. The unknot, or trivial knot, is the simplest form of a knot, and this is a loop with zero crossings. If two knots can move around without cutting and still look the same, these knots are considered the same. This process of moving a knot without cutting is known as ambient isotopy.
THE EARTH’S SPHERES
Lithosphere The lithosphere is the crust that covers the entire Earth. From the top of mountains to the ocean floor is all considered the lithosphere. The lithosphere consists of the crust, which is solid, hard, and made of minerals, and the uppermost mantle. The lithosphere has an extremely uneven surface and is around 100 kilometers thick. Tectonic plates, which cause earthquakes when they shift, are also included in the lithosphere.
SIGN LANGUAGE
The Origins The origins of sign language can be traced back to ancient Greece, where Socrates believed it only made sense for the deaf to communicate with their hands and other body parts. In 1520, Pedro Ponce de Léon created a system based on gestures to educate the deaf, mostly working with a family in Spain. From 1715 to 1780, Léon’s system spread across Europe, incorporating handshakes to represent sounds. In the late eighteenth century, the National Institution for Deaf-Mutes was established in France, with the intention of instructing the deaf. In 1817, Thomas Gallaudet, an American who studied with Laurent Clerc in France, brought the sign language to America with Clerc, establishing the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons. Clerc is responsible for much of the work that would lead to American Sign Language (ASL).
LESSON 28B
WORLD WAR II
Invasion of Russia Hitler wished to end the war swiftly, and knew an invasion of England was not the best way to go about it. Instead, he broke his pact with Stalin and invaded the Soviet Union. The German army invaded Russia on June 22, 1941, with a devastating blitzkrieg known as Operation Barbarossa. Within one week, 150,000 Soviet soldiers had been killed or wounded. On July 3, Stalin implemented the scorched-earth policy, which required that all facilities and supplies be destroyed before retreating so the Germans could not use them. Roads, bridges, factories, and fields of crops were destroyed, slowing the German advance. The campaign lasted much longer than Hitler had anticipated, and the German armies could not withstand the Russian winter, giving the Soviets the advantage.
SCIENCE FICTION
H. G. Wells H. G. Wells was dramatically influential in the world of science fiction literature. Among his most famous works are The Invisible Man, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Time Machine, and The War of the Worlds. The Time Machine, written in 1895, is considered one of the first modern science fiction novels. Wells’s The War of the Worlds was so influential that in 1938 Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air adapted it into a radio program. The program, about an alien invasion, inspired panic in listeners who feared an actual alien invasion was occurring.
KNOT THEORY
The Reidemeister Moves In 1932, German mathematician Kurt Werner Friedrich Reidemeister worked with knot diagrams (that is, pictures of knots), and discovered a set of three moves that could make any knot diagram into any other type of knot diagram with the same knot. He came up with three rules: a strand could twist and untwist; one strand could be placed over the other strand (also known as the poke move); and a strand could be moved over or under a crossing (also known as a slide move).
THE EARTH’S SPHERES
Hydrosphere The hydrosphere is 10 to 20 kilometers thick, and consists of all of the water found on Earth. This can be in solid, liquid, or gaseous form. The hydrosphere includes parts of the lithosphere and extends upward into the atmosphere for about 12 kilometers. A small amount of the hydrosphere is fresh water, meaning it is not salt water. This includes rivers, streams, and bodies of water that are precipitated into the atmosphere. The majority of fresh water, however, is frozen. Salt water makes up 97 percent of the Earth’s water. As the salt water collected in the deep valleys of the surface of the Earth, oceans were created.
SIGN LANGUAGE
About Deafness When there is a complete loss of the ability to hear out of either one or both ears, it is known as deafness. Deafness can be caused by a number of factors. It can be inherited, or caused by diseases (such as meningitis), complications at birth, the presence of ototoxic drugs, and exposure to extreme noise. Deafness can appear at birth (known as congenital deafness), or come on either gradually or suddenly. There are two main types of deafness: conductive (when transmission of sound waves is interfered with) and sensorineural (when nerve impulses cannot reach the brain). In the fourth century b.c. it was believed that deaf people were also unable to speak, and thus unteachable, and this stigma lasted with the deaf community for centuries.
LESSON 28C
WORLD WAR II
Pearl Harbor The attack on the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor is what brought America into World War II. The Imperial Japanese Navy led a surprise attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The Japanese launched two attacks, sinking four U.S. battleships, killing 2,400 Americans, and wounding another 1,200. The next day, on December 8, the United States declared war on Japan. President Roosevelt famously announced to the American people, “Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”
SCIENCE FICTION
Robert Heinlein Robert Heinlein lived from 1907 to 1988 and is considered one of the most controversial authors of science fiction. Heinlein began his career writing for pulp magazines. He is credited for turning science fiction into a serious field within literature. His work contained political messages and dealt with the hypocrisy of religion. He wrote thirty-two novels and many short stories, with some of his best-known work being Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers, and The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. His novel Space Cadet, from 1948, featured nuclear weapons and even cell phones.
KNOT THEORY
Why Knot Theory Is Important Knot theory might not sound very useful at first, but it is very important in understanding some of the most complex parts of our world. Understanding knots is extremely useful in learning about enzymes that act on strands of DNA, because DNA is tangled in knots. In order for DNA to interact with enzymes, the strands must unpack. The enzymes help unpack DNA by slicing through the DNA, allowing the strands to reconnect in a less tangled manner. By thinking of DNA as a knot, one can use knot theory to understand how DNA unknots and how hard the process is, as well as understand more about enzymes.
THE EARTH’S SPHERES
Cryosphere The cryosphere is sometimes included as part of the hydrosphere. The cryosphere refers to the parts of the planet that are so cold that water freezes into a solid form. The polar regions of the planet (North Pole, or Arctic; and South Pole, or Antarctic) are considered the main parts of the cryosphere. These areas are covered in huge ice sheets, and at the South Pole, Antarctica has an ice sheet covering the entire continent. The cryo
sphere is not limited to the poles. Places with extremely high elevations, like Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, are also considered part of the cryosphere, and even seasonal areas where lakes and rivers freeze over are considered a part of it.
SIGN LANGUAGE
Relationship with Oral Languages Sign languages do not depend on oral languages, and they have their own grammatical structures. Sign language does have something known as fingerspelling, where letters of the alphabet are represented with hand signs; however, this is only one part of sign language. In general, sign languages are completely separate from oral languages and have different paths of development. Even though British and American hearing people speak the same language and can understand each other, the American Sign Language and the British Sign Language are completely different, and deaf people speaking one cannot understand the other.