A Ton of Crap (121 page)

Cytokinesis
Technically, cytokinesis is not a part of mitosis; rather, it completes the cell division. After telophase, there are two nuclei in a single cell. All that is left is for the cell to divide in half. Cytokinesis actually begins during anaphase and continues simultaneously through telophase. The cell first begins to furrow, a process where it starts pinching in. The cell pinches until there are two daughter cells, each with its own nucleus. These two cells will then continue the cycle.

KHOISAN LANGUAGES

Tuu
Another language family is the Tuu languages, which consists of two clusters, and is a part of the Khoisan family (they are referred to as Southern Khoisan). The two branches of the Tuu languages are Taa and !Kwi. Once widespread, today the only !Kwi language that still exists is Nluu (which only has around a dozen elderly speakers). Taa also only has one existing language today; however, it is more robust, with around 4,200 speakers of the language. There are many similarities between the Tuu languages and the Juu languages. The Tuu languages feature what is known as bilabial clicks, which are more complex and distinct, and it is one of the only languages to do so.

CIVIL RIGHTS

Civil Rights Act of 1964
In 1963, President Kennedy proposed a new Civil Rights Act. When Kennedy was assassinated, the bill was still being worked on in Congress. On July 2, 1964, the bill was signed into law. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 made it illegal to racially discriminate in public places like restaurants, hotels, and movie theaters, and required that employers provide equal opportunities for employment. Any project that received federal funding would have it cut if it was found that there was discrimination based on race, color, or nationality. It also stated that standards must be uniform concerning the right to vote.

FRANZ KAFKA

Amerika
Kafka’s
Amerika
follows the journey of Karl Rossmann, a seventeen-year-old European emigrant, who is forced to go to New York after a sex scandal with a housemaid. Unbeknownst to Karl, his uncle, Senator Jacob, is also on the boat. Senator Jacob recognizes Karl and has him stay with him, but later abandons Karl. The book then follows Karl as he interacts with people and gets various jobs, until ultimately, Karl decides to join a theater in Oklahoma. The book was never finished, but Kafka told Max Brod that it would end on that chapter, with the theme of reconciliation.

DIOPHANTINE EQUATIONS

General Method to Use for First-Order Equations with Two Variables
When given a first-order equation that has two variables, there are several steps you can take to figure it out. Instead of using
x
,
y
, and
z
, simplify it to
x
,
x
₂
,
x
₃
. The first step is to rewrite the equation so that it appears as
ax
₂
 + 
bx
₁
 = 
c
, so that
a
is larger than
b
. Then divide
a
by
b
, creating a quotient and a remainder (
q
and
r
). Rewrite
a
as:
q
 
•
 
b
 + 
r
. Now, make the equation so that the left side looks like:
q
 
•
 term + value 
•
 
x
₂
. Then replace term with
x
₃
.

MITOSIS

Meiosis
Meiosis is a cell division that occurs to produce germ cells like the sperm and egg, and thus is a necessity for sexual reproduction. In meiosis, a copy of the mother’s chromosomes and a copy of the father’s chromosomes are taken. Four haploid cells are produced, each with one copy of a chromosome. This process is responsible for creating genetic diversity, because each cell has its own unique combination of chromosomes. A single parent cell will create four daughter cells, and each daughter cell has half the amount of chromosomes as the parent cell.

KHOISAN LANGUAGES

Other Click Languages
Not every language that features clicks is considered a Khoisan language. There are several non-Khoisan languages that feature the click consonant. The Nguni languages and Bantu languages both have the click, and even an extinct Australian language, known as Damin, featured clicks. The Bantu incorporated clicks into the languages as a result of neighboring Khoisan languages and absorption and displacement of those populations, especially through intermarriage. The Dahalo language of Kenya is believed to have gotten clicks from an earlier language, which might mean it is in the same situation as Sandawe or Hadza.

1. The idea that “separate but equal” was not actually equal first appeared in:
   

   1. Brown v. Board of Education
      
   2. The Boycott of Montgomery public transportation
      
   3. The March on Washington
      
   4. The Civil Rights Act of 1964
      

2. In response to George Wallace refusing to let African American students enter the University of Alabama, what happened?
   

   1. President Kennedy called in the National Guard.
      
   2. Riots broke out.
      
   3. The students were not allowed to attend the school.
      
   4. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.
      

3. In “The Metamorphosis,” what happens to the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, in the beginning of the book?
   

   1. He leaves for America.
      
   2. He travels to a village for work.
      
   3. He turns into a giant insect.
      
   4. He is arrested for a crime he did not commit.
      

4. Which of the following is a theme found in the work of Franz Kafka?
   

   1. Absurdity
      
   2. Alienation
      
   3. Injustice
      
   4. All of the above
      

5. In Diophantine equations, the value of variables
   x
   and
   y
   are:
   

   1. Decimals
      
   2. Fractions
      
   3. Whole numbers
      
   4. Imaginary numbers
      

6. In
   ax
   +
   by
   =
   c
   , if the value of
   c
   is the greatest common divisor of both
   a
   and
   b
   , then there is:
   

   1. Two solutions
      
   2. No solution
      
   3. An infinite number of solutions
      
   4. Only one solution
      

7. At which stage do two nuclei form?
   

   1. Metaphase
      
   2. Anaphase
      
   3. Telophase
      
   4. Cytokinesis
      

8. At which phase do chromosomes align along the middle of the nucleus of the cell, which are then held in place by microtubules of spindle fibers?
   

   1. Metaphase
      
   2. Anaphase
      
   3. Telophase
      
   4. Cytokinesis
      

9. What might the different mitochondrial DNA found in the Hadza people imply?
   

   1. They are the closest group of people related to Neanderthals.
      
   2. Original human languages featured clicks.
      
   3. They speak a more advanced language due to their DNA.
      
   4. Clicking is found in DNA.
      

10. The largest and most diverse Khoisan languages are:
    

    1. The Khoe languages
       
    2. The Tuu languages
       
    3. Sandawe
       
    4. Taa
       

ANSWER KEY: a, a, c, d, c, c, c, a, b, a

HISTORY:
Gulf War
Invasion of Kuwait, Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm, Scud Missile Attacks, Battle of Khafji, End of the War, The Impact on the Soldiers

LANGUAGE ARTS:
Journalism
Johann Carolus, The
Oxford Gazette
, The Civil War, Henry Stanley, William Randolph Hearst, Muckraking

MATH:
Category Theory
What Is Category Theory?, Functors, What Categories Are Made Of, Completeness and Co-Completeness, Natural Transformations, Duality

SCIENCE:
Types of Animals
Vertebrates, Invertebrates, and Chordates, Mammals, Reptiles, Echinoderms, Mollusks, Marsupials

FOREIGN LANGUAGE:
Amharic
The Origins, Grammar, Writing System, Rastafarians, Amharic Today, Useful Amharic Phrases

GULF WAR

Invasion of Kuwait
From 1980 to 1988, Iraq and Iran engaged in an extremely bloody conflict that left Iraq deep in debt. On August 2, 1991, Saddam Hussein sent 100,000 troops to Kuwait. Saddam believed that Kuwait exceeded its quota in the production of oil, driving the global market prices down, and as a result Iraq was losing much-needed revenue from its oil. There were two days of intense fighting, which resulted in the Kuwaiti Armed Forces being overrun or fleeing to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Iraq occupied Kuwait for seven months, and during that time, Kuwait was looted and there were human rights abuses.

JOURNALISM

Johann Carolus
Johann Carolus lived from 1575 to 1634, and is responsible for publishing the very first newspaper, called
Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien
(meaning “Collection of all distinguished and commemorable news”). The paper was published in 1605 in Strasburg when it was part of the Holy Roman Empire. Carolus made his living writing these newsletters by hand and selling them to subscribers at high prices. In 1604, Carolus bought a printing shop and began printing his newsletters. He realized that if he printed a lot and sold them cheaper, he would make more money.

CATEGORY THEORY

What Is Category Theory?
Category theory is an extremely complex process that takes mathematical results that already exist and abstracts them even further. Not only does this give perspective for results, but it also unifies mathematics. This can lead to some very important outcomes. Category theory can reveal that unrelated topics in mathematics have common ideas, a proven result can create many results in other areas of math, and extremely difficult problems can be translated into problems that are easier and relate to other fields of math. Concepts are viewed as a collection of arrows and objects that satisfy specific conditions.

TYPES OF ANIMALS

Vertebrates, Invertebrates, and Chordates
Vertebrates, which belong in the subphylum Vertebrata, are any animals that have an endoskeleton, or internal skeleton, with a backbone and vertebrae. Invertebrates, on the other hand, do not have an endoskeleton and do not constitute a separate subphylum, but are found in a wide variety of animal groups. Chordates are somewhere in the middle. Most chordates are vertebrates; however, not all of them are. Chordates don’t have spines but have nerve chords at a stage during development. Any animal with a spine is a chordate because the nerve chord turns into the spinal cord. Humans are chordates; however, the features that make us chordates are developed in the embryo stage and no longer exist when we are grown.

AMHARIC

The Origins
Spoken in Ethiopia, Amharic is a Semitic language that stems from the Ge’ez language. In the first millennium b.c., south Arabian immigrants brought the Sabean language to Ethiopia. In the next millennium, the Ethiopians had their own version of the language, with influence from the Cushitic people, known as Ge’ez. Before the tenth century, Ge’ez was no longer used as the spoken language; however, it is still used by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. From Ge’ez came three languages: Tigrinya (which most closely resembles Ge’ez), Tigré, and Amharic.

GULF WAR