A Ton of Crap (89 page)

The Claw of Archimedes
The Claw of Archimedes was a weapon created by Archimedes to protect the city wall of Syracuse. Though the actual appearance of the claw is unknown, it is believed the device was a crane that featured a grappling hook. These hooks would connect to enemy ships and either lift the boats entirely out of the water, or simply shake them enough to capsize. The claw was used during the Second Punic War, as the Romans attacked Syracuse.

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).

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’.

1. Which of the following contributed to the crash of the stock market?
   

   1. 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.
      
   2. Stocks were being purchased on margin.
      
   3. Companies and banks also invested money into the stock market.
      
   4. All of the above.
      

2. Which of the following is true?
   

   1. Social Security was set up by the FCC to create jobs.
      
   2. The first phase of the New Deal concentrated on regulating agriculture and business.
      
   3. World War II made the Great Depression worse.
      
   4. The Dust Bowl was a series of regulations and reforms.
      

3. What is one example of symbolism found in
   Alice’s Adventures in
   Wonderland?
   

   1. Alice’s body changing shapes throughout the story
      
   2. Alice following the rabbit
      
   3. Humpty Dumpty explaining the poem
      
   4. The Queen of Hearts accusing Alice of stealing the tarts
      

4. What made the
   Alice in Wonderland
   series so groundbreaking?
   

   1. The stories embraced silliness and nonsense.
      
   2. They did not feature a moral or lesson at the end.
      
   3. They featured material that was not age-appropriate.
      
   4. A and B.
      

5. Which of the following accurately describes general equilibrium theory?
   

   1. A single-person game theory that focuses on the forming of one’s beliefs
      
   2. 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
      
   3. A theory that is used to study supply and demand in multiple markets
      
   4. 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
      

6. In the prisoner’s dilemma, what outcome makes the most sense strategically?
   

   1. Confess to the crime
      
   2. Keep quiet
      
   3. Deny you did the crime
      
   4. Wait for your lawyer
      

7. Which of the following inventions of Archimedes is still used today?
   

   1. The claw of Archimedes
      
   2. The golden crown
      
   3. The Archimedes screw
      
   4. The Archimedes heat ray
      

8. The Claw of Archimedes was
   used as:
   

   1. An irrigation system
      
   2. A weapon to protect Syracuse’s city walls
      
   3. A buoyancy test
      
   4. A weapon to set enemy ships on fire
      

9. Which of the following is true?
   

   1. Classical Arabic is spoken today; Colloquial Arabic is found in the Qur’an.
      
   2. Classical Arabic is spoken today, and it’s the same language found in the Qur’an.
      
   3. Modern Arabic is found in the Qur’an and Classical Arabic is spoken today.
      
   4. Modern Arabic is written today and Classical Arabic is found in the Qur’an.
      

10. How do you say “Hello” in Arabic?
    

    1. As-salām ’alaykum.
       
    2. Al-ma’dirah.
       
    3. Lā afham.
       
    4. Masā’ al-khayr.
       

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

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

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 for 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).

WORLD WAR II