A Ton of Crap (22 page)

WRITING

Right-Handedness
Ninety percent of the world is right-handed. Scientists are still unsure how to explain the dominance of the right hand; however, it has been discovered that the rate of right-handedness in primitive man was less than it is today. In cultures where text is written from left to right, the right hand is considered to be more favorable, and in many religions and cultures, using the right hand shows respect.

OPERATIONS

Division
Division is the opposite of multiplication. It is the process of splitting something into equal parts. Division can be represented in several ways. The most common symbol is ÷, but it can also be expressed with / between two numbers or with a bar between two numbers like in a fraction. So, if 5 × 4 = 20, then 20 ÷ 5 = 4. That problem can also be expressed as 20/5 or

TISSUES

Muscle Tissue
Muscle tissue can contract and conduct electrical impulses and allow the body to move. Muscle is classified as voluntary or involuntary, and smooth or striated. There are three types of muscle tissue: skeletal muscle (which is voluntary, striated, and attached to the bone); cardiac muscle (which is involuntary, striated, and found in the heart); and smooth muscle (which is involuntary, smooth, and found in the digestive system, respiratory system, eyes, and the walls of blood vessels).

RUSSIAN

A Need to Change the Language
By the middle of the eighteenth century, there was a need for the written Russian language to reflect the actual language spoken. Three distinct styles were distinguished: high style, also known as Church Slavonic, which was to be spoken for religion and poetics; middle style, which was used for science and prose; and low style, which was to be used for low comedies and personal correspondence. The middle style would come to form the Russian language that exists today. It was a combination of East Slavonic and Church Slavonic.

THE REFORMATION

The Day of Placards
On October 18, 1584, citizens of Paris awoke to find the city covered with placards denouncing the Catholic Mass and condemning the Eucharist, among other things. These placards were also posted all around northern France and even on the king’s door. A group of Huguenots, French adherents of Calvinism, were deemed the culprits, and were burned. Suppression of Protestantism soon followed.

WRITING

Cross-Dominance
Cross-dominance, or mixed-handedness, is when a person favors one hand for some activities and favors the other hand for different activities. Ambidexterity is a rare form of cross-dominance, but in many cases, a person can be left- or right-handed and cross-dominant. There are also cases where people who are cross-dominant are stronger on their less dominant side.

OPERATIONS

Squaring and the Square Root
Squaring a number is multiplying that number by itself. It is represented by having a small 2 as the exponent next to the number that you are going to multiply. So, 42 is equal to 16, because 4 × 4 = 16. The square root is the inverse of squaring and is represented by √. Perfect squares are squares of whole numbers. For example, √100 = 10 because 102 = 100, and that is a perfect square. However, √105 = 10.246951, and that is not a whole number, and therefore, not a perfect square.

TISSUES

Nervous Tissue
Nervous tissue is made up of neurons (cells that transmit messages) and neuroglia cells (cells that protect the neurons). Nervous tissue is specialized to conduct impulses and react to various stimuli, and it is the main part of the nervous system. Nervous tissue consists of the brain, the spinal cord (making up the central nervous system), and the peripheral nerves (making the peripheral nervous system).

RUSSIAN

The Soviet Union’s Spelling Reform of 1918
Shortly after the Russian Revolution, and as a direct result of political ideology, the Russian language was simplified once again. This time, four letters were removed, and one silent letter used at the end of words was also removed. New political terminology was introduced, and the politeness characteristic toward the upper classes was also removed. These steps were characteristic of what the new authoritarian regime set out to accomplish.