Lloyd, John; and John Mitchinson;
The book of general ignorance
Faber and Faber 2006 / Harmony books NY, 266 pages
ISBN 9780307394910
topics: | trivia
How many moons does the earth have? At least six addl ones. One of these, Cruithne (Celtic name for the Pict people: pron. cru-een-ya, ), is a three-mile (5km) wide satellite with an odd horseshoe-shaped orbit. Five others are: p.50 - 2000PH5, 2000WN10, 2002AA20, - 2003YN107 (about to depart, was at 3.4mn km in jun 06, will return in 60 yrs) Three of this asteroid group are known to "slosh" around the Earth in bizarre horseshoe-shaped orbits. Occasionally, they become trapped by our planet's gravity and, for a few decades, become "quasi-satellites." The only current quasi-satellite of Earth is 2003 YN107, which began its moon-like phase in 1996 and will end it in 2006. Astronomers calculate that a close pass with Earth more than a century from now finally will kick 2003 YN107 into a normal, circular orbit. - http://www.astronomy.com/en/News-Observing/News/2004/05/A%20new%20moon%20for%20Earth.aspx - 2004GU9 (160-350 meters wide, remarkably stable orbit - since 500 years). - made a close pass of 76.7 Lunar Distances, 0.1970 AU, travelling at 7.08 km/s, to the Earth-Moon system on the 28th April 2010. (addl facts from Corkscrew Asteroids, 2006: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/09jun_moonlets/) [AM: The book's information seems far more cut-and-dried than these details imply. There may be others - 2002 AA29? 2001GO2? 2003 YN 107's orbit plotted from 1981 to 2026 and centered on its current quasi-stable episode, which ends in 2006. Red indicates that the object is in the evening sky, black indicates its location in the morning sky. The asteroid is orbiting the Sun, but its path is greatly perturbed when it passes close to Earth. The diagram plots its path in a coordinate system that follows Earth. Below: a close-up of the asteroid's quasi-satellite behavior. The size of the Earth is exaggerated. In 2002, astronomers discovered asteroids in unusual orbits that bring them near Earth for extended periods. The Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) survey of close-by minor planets has identified 19 objects orbiting the Sun close enough to Earth that our planet's gravity has a substantial influence on their paths. All are 100-meter-wide (300-foot) wide boulders traveling in orbits shaped very much like Earth's, but angled out of the plane of Earth's path. Cruithne and earth both co-orbit the sun, with the same period. From the earth, Cruithne appears to make a rAjmA-shaped orbit, period ~ 1 year (slightly less). The earth is not "inside" this orbit, but a little "behind" as it precesses around the sun. More near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) have since been discovered. These include 54509 YORP, (85770) 1998 UP1, 2002 AA29, and 2009BD which exist in resonant orbits similar to Cruithne's. The Cruithne was discovered by Duncan Waldron in 1986 at the Sliding Spring observatory in NSW, Australia, the primary source for obsvns on the Southern sky. Since the late 90s, most discoveries of NEOs are by "Lincoln near earth asteroid research" observatory (LINEAR): 54509 YORP: discoverd LINEAR 2000 ~ 150m orbital period 368.3 d 2002A29: discovered LINEAR 2002, ~ 60m 1998 UP1 : discovered 1998 LINEAR, 33 deg incline, 364.5 days orbit 2009 BD : ~ 10m ORBITAL RESONANCE: when orbits are some integer multiple, periodic gravitational influence. may be stable, as in Neptune and Pluto (2:3), or 1:2:4 between Ganymede, Europa and Io - moons of Jup. Cruithne, and most other NEOs are in 1:1 resonance. [Near-Earth object]s ~ greatest dist from earth [perihelion] < 1.3 a.u.) As of Oct 2008, 982 NEOs of dia > 1km are known. The largest is ~32 kilometers (1036 Ganymed), which orbits the sun between Jupiter and Earth. ] The moon does not orbit the earth, the earth also orbits the moon. The combined center is 1000km under the surface of the earth.
Mauna Kea, the highest point in the island of Hawaii, is the tallest mountain. By convention, "tallest" mountain means from the bottom of the ocean. "highest" means from sea level. At 33,465 ft from sea level, Mauna Kea is taller than Everest. Some argue that Mount Kilimanjaro, at 19,340 ft, is taller than Everest because it rises straight out of the African plain, whereas Everest is merely one other rock sitting on the enormous base of the Himalayas. Measured from the center of the earth, even the beaches in Ecuador (at the equator) are higher than the Himalayas. When the Himalayas were formed, the dinosaurs had been dead for 25 mn years.
Moths are not attracted to flame; they are just disoriented by it. Over millennia of evolution, insects have come to expect the light from the sun and the moon. When a moth sees a flame changing orientation, it assumes it must be somehow flying a curved path, and corrects to keep the flame at a constant angle. i.e. it circles the flame.
can be trained to push a lever only at certain times a day (within an hour)
can remember shapes / colours / sounds for > 3 months.
- U. Plymouth psychologists '03
they don't hit the side of the bowl because they use a pressure-sensing
system called the lateral-line.
45 bn people - half the humans that ever lived - may have been killed by diseases like malaria, yellow fever, dengue, encephalitis, fiariasis, and elephhantiasis, all borne by mosquitoes. Today, one person every 12 seconds is killed my mosquitoes. mosquito = small fly in Spanish 2500 known species of mosquito; 400 in the anopheles family; of these 40 can transmit malaria. Male mosquitoes sing at a higher pitch than females. They can be sexually enticed by a B-natural tuning fork. Female mosquitoes are attracted by moisture, milk, CO2, body heat and movement. Sweaty people and pregnant women have > chance of being bitten. 10
Every few years, mild winters result in overpopulation, and they then set off en masse into new territory - there they pile up against natural obstacles like cliffs, lakes seas. Since more keep piling up at the rear, accidents happen. 12
they match the chameleon's moods.
Invented by US missionary Jonathan Scobie, who used it to wheel his invalid wife through Yokohama, 1869. Fortune Cookies invented in the USA by Japanese immigrant, Makato Hagiwara, creator of the Japanese tea garden in Golden Gate Park, ~1907 onward. However, Chop Suey is a Chinese invention. 17
born Marko Pilic in Korcula, Dalmatia. his book was largely the work of a romance writer called Rustichello da Pisa, who was incarcerated with Polo by the Genoans; Polo dictated it, Rustichello wrote it in French, a lg Polo didn't speak. 18
"Hravat" is the Croatian word for "Croat". --> "Cravat". Became popular in W europe after the uniform of a Cravat regiment in Louis XIII's army (17th c.). Preferred by dandies (called "macaroni") in the 18th c. 19
filed a "caveat" patent with working models etc in 1860, for a device he called teletrofono. He sent his papers to the Western Uni9n, where Bell worked in the very same lab. The models disappeared there. But he was injured in an explosion of the boiler in the Staten island ferry, and did not file the $10 fee for renewing the caveat in 1874. He sued Bell after the latter's patent was registered in 1876, but died while the case was under way. Bell was no fraud though. He also invented the hydrofoil, whose waterspeed record of 70.84 mph from 1919 stood for ten years. His mother and wife were deaf, and he taught the young Helen Keller. 23
kilts: invented by the irish; but the word kilt is Danish (kilte op: tuck up). bagpipes: ancient, probably invented in Central Asia. Mentioned in old testament, Daniel 3:5-15, and in Greek poetry of 4th c. BC. whisky: invented in ancient china. Arrived in Ireland before Scotland, first distilled by the monks. The word derives from Irish uisge beatha, from L. aqua vitae, water of life.
Chicken tikka came from Bangladesh [?] to England; chicken cooked in a tandoor. and in the 1960s, when a customer wanted gravy with it, CTM was invented by a [South-Asian?] unnamed chef. 25
"Qu'ils mangent de la brioche" - attrib 1789 to Antoinette. 18th c. brioche was only lightly enriched and not very far removed from a good white loaf of bread (Alan Davidson, Oxford Companion to Food. So the remark might have been an attempt at kindness - give them some good bread. But the line was often used to illustrate aristocratic decadence, at least since 1760; Rousseau said he first heard it as early as 1740.
Albanian: pig goes "hunk hunk", dog barking sounds: Albaninan: "ham ham" Catalan: : bup bup Greek : gav gav Slovenians hov hov Ukrainians: haf haf Iceland: "voff" Indonesian: gong gong Italian : bau bau bangla: "bhou bhou" nearly every lg has cows going "moo", cat going "meow" and cuckoo going "cuckoo". 33 [doesn't hold for bangla / hindi - not cow or cuckoo] dogs tend to mimic the family they are with. terrier with a young family will be lively and hard to control. same dog with an old lady will end up quiet, prone to long periods of sleep. 34
sight hearing taste smell touch - Aristotle At least four more: Thermoception (sense of heat) Equilibripception - sense of balance Nociception: perception of pain from the skin, joints and organs Proprioception : body awareness - unconscious knowledge of where boty parts are without being able to see or feel them. May be as many as 21. Hunger? Thirst? sense of depth, sense of language, synasthesia, sense of electricity,
medieval windows are often thicker at the base because glaziers sometimes couldn't cast perfectly uniform sheets of glass; then they found it easier to stand the glass on its thicker edge. German physicist Gustav Tammann 1861-1938, observed that glass structure is irregular and non-crystalline. As an anaology, he compared it to a "frozen super-cooled liquid". But glass is just an amporphous (non-crystalline) solid.
Only in vacuum does it go at 300K km/hr. Elsewhere, it depends on
the medium. In diamonds, it goes half as fast - 150 K kmph.
Slowest speed:
Until recently, through sodium at -272 deg C it goes at just over 38mph;
slower than a bicycle. [Harvard U team]
In 2000, same group got light to stand still by shining it into a
Bose-Einstein condensate (bec) of rubidium.
is the volcano Olympus Mons on Mars. - 14 miles high and 388 miles across - 3x the height of everest. 57
no centipede known has exactly a hundred feet. Most have odd numbers of pairs of feet - from 15 to 191 pairs. The one closest to 100 is also the only one known with an even # of pairs: 48. - p. 58
The hippopotamus, which often lies submerged near boat routes, or beside the water. According to the Oxf companion to food, the best part of the hippo to eat are the breasts, pot roasted w herbs and spices. Second-best, back muscles.
In the USA. Between 3K and 4.7K in India; as many as 4K in Texas alone; Am Zoo and Aquarium assocn estimate: 12K tigers in private US zoos. Mike Tyson has four. Not very expensive either; cub = $ 1K, a pair of Bengal tigers: 3.5K. Tigers can't stand the smell of alcohol. They'll savage anyone who's been drinking. Tigers fade as they grow older, and who can blame them. 67
Barnacles have the longest penis relative to their size - it can be seven
times longer than their body.
Most of the 1,220 species of barnacles are hermaphrodites. When one
barnacle decides to be "mother" it lays eggs inside its own shell and at
the same time releases some alluring pheromones. A nearby barnacle will
respond by playing "male" and fertilize the eggs by extending its massive
penis, releasing sperm into the cavity of the "female."
Barnacles stand on their heads and eat with their feet. Using a very strong
glue, they attach themselves headfirst to a rock or the hull of a ship.
The opening we see as the top of the barnacle is actually the bottom; through
it their long, feathery legs catch small plants and animals that float past.
Other well-endowed species are the nine-banded armadillo (its penis extends
to two-thirds of its body length)...
largest penis: blue whale: averages 6 to 10 feet in length and around 18
inches in girth. A blue whale's ejaculate is estimated to contain about 35
pints based on its testes, which weigh more than 150 pounds each.
[but a] relatively modest proportion in comparison to size.
most mammals (incl whales) a penis bone, the baculum ("little rod" in Latin)
or os penis.
The bones are incredibly diverse in shape — probably the most varied of any
bone — useful in working out the relationships between mammalian species.
all primates have baculi except humans and spider monkeys...
Biblical Hebrew does not have a word for penis. This has led two scholars
(Gilbert and Zevit in the American Journal of Medical Genetics in 2001) to
suggest that Eve was made out of Adam's penis bone rather than his rib
(Genesis 2:21–23). This would explain why males and females have the same
number of ribs but the man has no penis bone.
The biblical account of adam and eve states that afterward "the Lord God
closed up the flesh," the suggestion being that this is the "scar" (known as
the raphe) that runs down the underside of the penis and scrotum.
[most unusual penis: from http://news.bbc.co.uk/dna/ptop/plain/A22547838
* male paper nautilus: When the male detects a receptive female, he avoids
intimacy. It's sex at a distance. His spermatophore-bearing tentacle
detaches itself from the body and swims - under its own power - to the
female, being in effect a swimming penis.
* Slugs, which are also hermaphrodites, will sometimes bite off their
partner's penis, to force the partner to take the female role in the
mating. This practice is known as 'apophallation'.
What's the name of the tallest mountain in the world? How do moths feel about flames? Where is the driest place on earth? Where are you most likely to get caught in a hailstorm? What's the largest living thing? What's the biggest thing a blue whale can swallow? Which bird lays the smallest egg for its size? How long can a chicken live without its head? What has a three-second memory? What's the most dangerous animal that has ever lived? Do marmots kill people? How do lemmings die? What do chameleons do? How do polar bears disguise themselves? How many galaxies are visible to the naked eye? What man-made artifacts can be seen from the moon? Which of these are Chinese inventions? Where did Marco Polo come from? What is Croatia's most lasting contribution to world business? Who invented the steam engine? Who invented the telephone? Where does chicken tikka masala come from? Is French toast from France? Who invented champagne? Where was the guillotine invented? How many prisoners were freed by the storming of the Bastille? Who said "Let them eat cake"? What does a St. Bernard carry around its neck? What goes "hunk-hunk"? What noise does the largest frog in the world make? Which owl says "Tu-whit, tu-who"? What did Darwin do to dead owls? Can barnacles fly? How many senses does a human being have? How many states of matter are there? What is the normal state of glass? Which metal is liquid at room temperature? Which metal is the best conductor? What's the densest element? Where do diamonds come from? How do we measure earthquakes? What's the most common material in the world? What does the moon smell like? Does the earth go around the moon or the moon around the earth? How many moons does the earth have? How many planets are there in the solar system? How would you fly through an asteroid belt? What's in an atom? What's the main ingredient of air? Where would you go for a lungful of ozone? What speed does light travel at? Where is the highest mountain? How many legs does a centipede have? How many toes has a two-toed sloth? How many penises does a European earwig have? Which animals are the best-endowed of all? What is a rhino's horn made from? Which African mammal kills more humans than any other? Where do most tigers live? What would you use to overpower a crocodile? What's the bravest species of animal? What's three times as dangerous as war? What killed most sailors in an eighteenth-century sea battle? What's the word for Napoleon's most humiliating defeat? Who blew the nose off the Sphinx? What did Nero do while Rome burned? What's more likely: being killed by lightning or by an asteroid? How did Roman emperors order the death of a gladiator? What's interesting about the birth of Julius Caesar? What's a vomitorium for? What is the Number of the Beast? Where does the word assassin come from? What are chastity belts for? What was Tutankhamun's curse? What did feminists do with their bras? What color is the universe? What color is Mars? What color is water? What color was the sky in ancient Greece? How much of the earth is water? Which way does the bathwater go down the drain? What do camels store in their humps? Where do camels come from? Who is America named after? How many states are there in the United States? Who was the first American president? What were George Washington's false teeth made from? Whose official motto is e pluribus unum? Why do deaf Americans feel at home in Paris? How do the Cherokee pronounce "Cherokee"? What did Buffalo Bill do to buffaloes? Where was baseball invented? What's the only sport invented entirely in the United States? What do you call someone from the United States? What was Billy the Kid's real name? What do we have Thomas Crapper to thank for? What was Mozart's middle name? How did Mark Twain get his name? How did Nome, Alaska, get its name? What is the name of the capital city of Thailand? What's the world's largest city? What's the largest lake in Canada? What's the single largest man-made structure on earth? Where's the coolest place in the universe? When did the most recent Ice Age end? Who lives in igloos? Would you call someone an Eskimo? How many words do Eskimos have for snow? What did human beings evolve from? Who coined the phrase "the survival of the fittest"? Who invented the ballpoint pen? What do we use to write on a blackboard? Where does the equal sign come from? What did Robert Bunsen invent? What's made of celluloid? Who invented rubber boots? What Edison invention do English speakers use every day? Was the first computer bug a real insect? What is the most likely survivor of a nuclear war? Which is the hottest part of a chili? Where do tulips come from? The first tulips were actually imported from Constantinople (now Istanbul) into Holland in 1554. They are not native to Holland. How many crocuses does it take to make a kilo of saffron? What drives human sperm wild? How many nostrils have you got? What was the first invention to break the sound barrier? What kind of music charms snakes most? What are violin strings made from? What's the best floor of a building to throw a cat from? Why did the dodo die out? What buries its head in the sand? Where do gorillas sleep? What's the most common bird in the world? What animal are the Canary Islands named after? What's the smallest dog in the world? How do dogs mate? How did Catherine the Great die? How long do your fingernails and hair grow after death? What did Atlas carry on his shoulders? How high is cloud nine? What makes champagne fizz? What shape is a raindrop? What produces most of the earth's oxygen? What were World War I German uniforms made from? Who discovered penicillin? Is a virus a germ? What causes stomach ulcers? What are guinea pigs used for? What was the first animal in space? Which has the most neck bones: a mouse or a giraffe? Who was the first man to circumnavigate the globe? Who was the first to claim that the earth goes around the sun? Who invented the Theory of Relativity? What shape did Columbus think the earth was? What shape did medieval people think the earth was? Who first discovered that the world was round? Why do bees buzz? Which has the largest brain in comparison to its size? How much of our brains do we use? What color is your brain? What effect does alcohol have on brain cells? What do dolphins drink? What was James Bond's favorite drink? What shouldn’t you drink if you’re dehydrated? What contains the most caffeine: a cup of tea or a cup of coffee? Why was the dishwasher invented? How was Teflon discovered? Which organization invented Quaker Oats? What shouldn’t you do twenty minutes after eating? How does television damage your health? How much sleep should you have every night? What will be the biggest killer in the world by 2030? Is the answer to depression just to "walk it off"? Which country has the world's highest suicide rate? Was Hitler a vegetarian? Which nation invented the concentration camp? In what year did World War II end? Who was the most dangerous American in history? How many dog years equal one human year? How long is a day? What's the longest animal? What happens if you cut an earthworm in half? What's the loudest thing in the ocean? Why are flamingos pink? What color is a panther? What makes an animal see red? What color were the original Oompa-Loompas? What color were Robin Hood's tights? What rhymes with orange? What color are carrots? Do carrots help us see in the dark? What do bananas grow on? Where do Panama hats come from? What is coffee made from? Which of the following are berries? Which of the following are nuts? Who goes gathering nuts in May? What's inside a coconut? What did Captain Cook give his men to cure scurvy? Who discovered Australia? What does "kangaroo" mean in Aboriginal? What is "pom" short for? What's the biggest rock in the world? What were boomerangs used for? Did cannibals cook their victims whole in large pots? Which religion curses people by sticking pins into dolls? What are you doing when you "do the Hokey Pokey"? How many Wise Men visited Jesus? Where does Santa Claus come from? What do Bugs Bunny, Brer Rabbit, and the Easter Bunny have in common? What were Cinderella's slippers made from? Where do loofahs come from? What's the strongest wood? What do you get if you suck your pencil? Have you ever slid down a banister? Where was the log cabin invented? Where did Stone Age people live? What was the first animal to be domesticated? What was odd about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer? Where do turkeys come from? Who was born by Immaculate Conception? Was Jesus born in a stable? How many sheep were there on Noah's Ark? Who's the oldest man in the Bible? Where were the first modern Olympics held? Why is a marathon 26 miles and 385 yards long? What does the Queen say to someone she's knighted? Who was the first King of England? How many wives did Henry VIII have?
from Foreword by Stephen Fry: Read it wisely, ... for the power of ignorance is great. FOREWORD : Stephen Fry People sometimes accuse me of knowing a lot. "Stephen," they say, accusingly, "you know a lot." This is a bit like telling a person who has a few grains of sand clinging to him that he owns much sand. When you consider the vast amount of sand there is in the world such a person is, to all intents and purposes, sandless. We are all sandless. We are all ignorant. There are beaches and deserts and dunes of knowledge whose existence we have never even guessed at, let alone visited. It's the ones who think they know what there is to be known that we have to look out for. "All is explained in this text—there is nothing else you need to know," they tell us. For thousands of years we put up with this kind of thing. Those who said, "Hang on, I think we might be ignorant, let's see..." were made to drink poison, or had their eyes put out and their bowels drawn out through their botties. We are perhaps now more in danger of thinking we know everything than we were even in those dark times of religious superstition (if indeed they have gone away). Today we have the whole store of human knowledge a mouse-click away, which is all very fine and dandy, but it's in danger of becoming just another sacred text. What we need is a treasure house, not of knowledge, but of ignorance. Something that gives not answers but questions. Something that shines light, not on already garish facts, but into the dark, damp corners of ignorance. And the volume you have in your hands is just such a blazing torch which can help us embark upon the journey of dumbing up. Read it wisely, Little One, for the power of ignorance is great.
Mauna Kea, the highest point on the island of Hawaii. The inactive volcano is a modest 13,799 feet above sea level, but when measured from the seabed to its summit, it is 33,465 feet high—about three-quarters of a mile taller than Mount Everest. As far as mountains are concerned, the current convention is that "highest" means measured from sea level to summit; "tallest" means measured from the bottom of the mountain to the top. So, while Mount Everest, at 29,029 feet is the highest mountain in the world, it is not the tallest. Measuring mountains is trickier than it looks. It's easy enough to see where the top is, but where exactly is the bottom of a mountain? For example, some argue that Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania—at 19,340 feet—is taller than Everest because it rises straight out of the African plain, whereas Everest is merely one of many peaks topping the enormous base of the Himalayas, shared by the world's next thirteen highest mountains. Others claim that the most logical measure ought to be the distance of a mountain's peak from the center of the Earth. Because the Earth is a flattened rather than a perfect sphere, the equator is about thirteen miles further from the center of the Earth than the poles. This is good news for the reputation of those mountains that are very close to the equator—like Mount Chimborazo in the Andes—but it also means accepting that even the beaches in Ecuador are higher than the Himalayas. Though massive, the Himalayas are surprisingly young. When they were formed, the dinosaurs had been dead for twenty-five million years. In Nepal, Everest is known as Chomolungma (Mother of the Universe). In Tibet, it is called Sagamartha (Forehead of the Sky). Like any healthy youngster, it is still growing, at the not very exciting rate of less than a quarter of an inch a year.
They’re not attracted to them. They are disoriented by them. Apart from the odd forest fire, artificial light sources have been in existence for an extremely short time in comparison with the age of the relationship between moths and the sun and moon. Many insects use these light sources to navigate by day and night. Because the moon and sun are a long way away, insects have evolved to expect the light from them to strike their eyes in the same place at different times of day or night, enabling them to calculate how to fly in a straight line. When people come along with their portable miniature suns and moons and a moth flies past, the light confuses it. It assumes it must somehow be moving in a curved path, because its position in relation to the stationary sun or moon, has unexpectedly changed. The moth then adjusts its course until it sees the light as stationary again. With a light source so close, the only way this is possible is to fly around and around it in circles. Moths do not eat clothes. (It's their caterpillars that do it.)
Antarctica. Parts of the continent have seen no rain for two million years. A desert is technically defined as a place that receives less than ten inches of rain a year. The Sahara gets just one inch of rain a year. Antarctica's average annual rainfall is about the same, but 2 percent of it, known as the Dry Valleys, is free of ice and snow and it never rains there at all. The next-driest place in the world is the Atacama Desert in Chile. In some areas, no rain has fallen for four hundred years and its average annual rainfall is a tiny 0.004 inch. Taken as a whole, this makes it the world's driest desert, 250 times as dry as the Sahara. As well as the driest place on earth, Antarctica can also claim to be the wettest and the windiest. Seventy percent of the world's fresh water is found there in the form of ice, and its wind speeds are the fastest ever recorded. The unique conditions in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica are caused by so-called katabatic winds (from the Greek word for "going down"). These occur when cold, dense air is pulled downhill simply by the force of gravity. The winds can reach speeds of 200 mph, evaporating all moisture — water, ice, and snow — in the process. Though Antarctica is a desert, these completely dry parts of it are called, somewhat ironically, oases. They are so similar to conditions on Mars that NASA used them to test the Viking mission. ... the world's worst hailstorm occurred in the Gopalanj district of Bangladesh on April 14, 1986. Some of the hailstones weighed more than two pounds, and at least 92 people were killed. The shots of the "migration" were made using a few lemmings on a snow-covered
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