A Ton of Crap (68 page)

Gandhi in South Africa
In 1893, Gandhi was offered a job in South Africa. While traveling in the first-class compartment in a train, a white man asked him to leave. It was then that Gandhi decided he would work on eradicating prejudice based on race, and launched a campaign to improve the legal status of Indians in South Africa. In 1896, Gandhi made a return trip home to bring his wife and children to South Africa. As he informed others about what Indians faced in Africa, news of his work began to spread. Upon returning to South Africa, an angry mob formed, with the intention of lynching Gandhi.

HORROR

Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson wrote many famous books. One of his most famous works was a horror novella by the name of
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
, published in 1886. The book, which tells the tale of a doctor who takes a new drug he had been testing and turns into a horrible monster, deals with the dual nature of humanity, the human capacity for good and evil.

CALCULUS

Derivatives
The derivative is one of the core concepts used in calculus. In calculus, derivatives are represented in two ways. In geometric terms, derivatives are the slope of a line. The other way to show a derivative is physically, in which it is the rate of change. In a straight line, the slope indicates the speed at which the function changes. With a curved line, however, the slope changes, and this is where derivatives are used.

QUANTUM MECHANICS

Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle
One of the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics is Heisenburg’s uncertainty principle. German physicist Werner Heisenberg came to the conclusion that every part of observing particles actually affects particles. Even the light that is shone to help physicists see affects how the particles react and change velocity. To understand a particle, it has to be measured, but measuring it affects it. To make up for this, quantum physicists have to create thought experiments that prove or disprove the interpretations of quantum theory.

MANDARIN

Old Mandarin
From 960 to 1127 b.c., Emperor Taizu of the Northern Song Dynasty conquered the lands that we now know as China. When the Northern Song Dynasty came to an end, what is referred to as Old Mandarin, a new common speech, developed. Literature and art flourished during this time, and were written in this vernacular form. Much of the grammatical elements, rules, and syntax are retained in the Mandarin spoken today.

GANDHI

Spiritual Development and Departure from South Africa
Gandhi began doing unpaid, menial work for castes outside of his own, and began to live a simpler life. He began fasting, and in 1906, took a vow of celibacy and began living a life of voluntary poverty. He developed Satyagraha, a concept of the pursuit of truth. In 1907, Gandhi was imprisoned after he urged the Indians of South Africa to defy a law in which Indians had to register and be fingerprinted. He was soon released, and following the work of Leo Tolstoy, he created the Tolstoy Farm, a commonwealth of civil resisters. Before leaving South Africa, Gandhi was also responsible for a law that declared that Indian marriages were valid, and an abolition of taxes placed on former Indian indentured servants.

HORROR

Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker is responsible for introducing one of the most famous horror creatures of all time: Count Dracula. Vampire novels had been around before Stoker’s
Dracula
of 1872; however, none has left as much of an impact as Stoker’s gothic novel. The book follows Jonathan Harker, who travels to Transylvania to help Count Dracula with a real estate transaction and soon witnesses the horrors of the famous vampire. The book touches on sexuality, religion, and superstition, and introduces the world to famous characters like Van Helsing.

CALCULUS

Rules of Differentiation
Differentiation is the process of finding the derivatives. There are several rules of differentiation. Among these rules are the constant rule, which states if
F
(
x
) = 
C
, then
F’
(
x
) = 0 (for example, if
F
(
x
) = 5, then
F’
(
x
) = 0) and the power rule, which states
F
(
x
) = 
nx
^n–1
, where
n
equals the exponent. For example, if
F
(
x
) = 
X
4, then
F’
(
x
) = 4
X
³
.

QUANTUM MECHANICS

Black Body Radiation
A black body is the idea of something that absorbs the radiation from all of the wavelengths falling on it. It is the perfect absorber and it appears black because it does not reflect light at normal temperatures. According to Prévost’s theory of exchanges, not only is the black body the best absorber of radiation, but it is also the best emitter of radiation. A black body that is hotter will emit radiation with shorter wavelengths, and will appear blue at a higher temperature, and red at a lower temperature.

MANDARIN

The Language Becomes Standardized
Even when the Qing Dynasty fell and the Republic of China came to power, Mandarin remained the official language. When the People’s Republic of China came to power in 1949, the effort to make Mandarin the national language continued, and the Beijing dialect became the official language, now known as Standard Chinese. Mandarin is the official language used in the media and in education. Though Taiwan and some of mainland China (such as Hong Kong) still speak Cantonese, Mandarin is spoken fluently as well. Officially, there are two types of Mandarin, one that the PRC government refers to, and one that the ROC government refers to.