A Ton of Crap (56 page)

First Battle at Bull Run
Though the events at Fort Sumter started the Civil War, the first major battle was at Bull Run on July 21, 1861. As pressure to crush the rebellion in the South grew, the Union army started to march toward Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy. The Union army and the Confederate army met at Manassas. Though initially losing, the Confederates had reinforcements and Union soldiers began withdrawing. It was thought at the time that this would be the only battle of the war; however, as the battle came to a close, many came to the realization that this war was going to last much longer.

VIRGINIA WOOLF

The Bloomsbury Group
Following her second nervous breakdown, Virginia’s sister Vanessa and brother Adrian bought a house in Bloomsbury. Woolf became friends with several intellectuals of the time such as Roger Fry and Duncan Grant, and they formed what was known as the Bloomsbury Group, an artistic and literary circle of intellectuals. The Bloomsbury Group gained notoriety from the Dreadnought Hoax of 1910, in which they tricked the Royal Navy, making them believe they were Abyssinian royals. Virginia participated, dressed as a man. The Bloomsbury Group was very liberal regarding sex, and Virginia started a relationship with a fellow female writer.

LINEAR ALGEBRA

Linear Equations
A linear equation is an algebraic equation that features a constant (or product of a constant) and a single variable that is only the first power. For example,
x
 + 6, 4
x
 + 7
y
, and 5
x
 + 3 are all linear equations. However
x
2 is not because it is not the first power; 4
xy
 + 6 is not because there can’t be two variables multiplied; and 6
x
/8
y
is not because you cannot divide two different variables.

JOHN DALTON

Color Blindness
Dalton was colorblind. He wrote a paper concerning the topic in which he hypothesized that the shortage of color perception was due to a discoloration of the liquid medium in the eyeball. Many had not even known of color blindness at that time, and much of his theory lost credence. However, Dalton’s work had a lasting impact, and color blindness became known as Daltonism. In 1995, researchers examined Dalton’s preserved eyeball and discovered that he had a less common type of color blindness in which he was only able to recognize blue, purple, and yellow colors of the spectrum.

CZECH

The Fifteenth Century
In the fifteenth century, Jan Hus, a religious reformer, standardized the spelling of the language. In his reform, he attributed one letter to every sound. By adding certain accents (in the form of dots or lines) to certain letters, Hus was able to create a standard of spelling based on the Latin alphabet. This system is still in use to this day.

THE CIVIL WAR

The Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh is known as one the deadliest battles of the Civil War. Approximately 23,750 soldiers were killed or wounded, 13,000 being from the Union side. The Confederate army attacked General Ulysses S. Grant’s soldiers by surprise at Pittsburg Landing in Shiloh, Tennessee, on April 6, 1862. Though not prepared, the Union army was able to fight until reinforcements could come. The next day, Grant led a counterattack, forcing the Confederates to retreat and securing a victory for the Union.

VIRGINIA WOOLF

The Voyage Out
The Voyage Out
came out in 1915, and was Virginia Woolf’s first published novel. The book was written at a time when Virginia was seriously struggling with her depression and she had even attempted suicide at least once during the process. Her feelings of domestic repression and the impact of the Bloomsbury Group can be found in the book.
The Voyage Out
also contains the beginnings of a focus on sexuality, female consciousness, and death, themes that would later become prevalent in her work.

LINEAR ALGEBRA

Matrices
A matrix is a rectangular assortment of numbers, expressions, or symbols. The numbers inside of the matrix are known as elements and they can be the coefficients used to solve the linear equation. Matrices that are the same size can be added and subtracted one element at a time, and matrices that are compatible in size can be multiplied. An example of a matrix is:

JOHN DALTON

Atomic Weights
Dalton’s first published table of atomic weights featured six elements: hydrogen (with a weight of one), oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur. Convinced that all gases had atoms, Dalton tried to measure the diameter of the atoms. Dalton’s research on the weight of the atoms led him to his greatest scientific discovery: the atomic theory.

CZECH