A Ton of Crap (123 page)

Writing System
The writing system of Amharic is based on the writing system of Ge’ez and it is known as Fidel. The writing system is an abugida (based on consonants), and the characters represent a combination of consonants and vowels. There are thirty-three characters in Fidel that each have seven forms. Like other Semitic languages, the symbols are very similar to one another, and the roots of words are consonants with vowels that are merely supplemental. Amharic is one of the few African languages that has its own writing system.

GULF WAR

Battle of Khafji
On January 29, the Battle of Khafji was fought, lasting for a total of three days. Four days prior to the battle, the U.S. forces noticed the Iraq forces building up behind the border of Kuwait, reinforcing artillery and bunkers. On the night of January 29, the U.S. marines were in position, ready for an attack, and Soviet-built tanks approached. A convoy of Iraqi tanks followed, signaling the international sign of surrender—their cannons faced the opposite direction. The cannons suddenly swung around and began firing, and the Iraqis gained control of Khafi for the time being. The Allies attacked with air support and a barrage of fire, and it proved to be too powerful for Saddam’s forces. By January 31, Iraq’s offensive was finished.

JOURNALISM

Henry Stanley
The daily newspapers produced in New York continued to redefine journalism. Henry Stanley became a special correspondent for the
New York Herald
in 1867. In 1866, the famous Scottish missionary and explorer of Africa, David Livingstone, went to Africa once again to study the Nile River. Dr. Livingstone vanished and was not heard from for a long time.
The New York Herald
sent Henry Stanley to Africa in search of Dr. Livingstone in 1871. In November of 1871, Stanley found Dr. Livingstone, and said the famous line, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” This was the beginning of investigative reporting.

CATEGORY THEORY

Completeness and Co-Completeness
Initial objects occur if there is exactly one morphism for every other object
f
:
S
→
X
, while terminal objects occur if there is exactly one morphism for every other object
f
:
X
→
T
. Objects can also go through pushout and pullback. If, in a category, all pullbacks exist and there is a terminal object, it is finitely complete. If there is a category where all pushbacks exist and it has an initial object, then it is finitely co-complete.

TYPES OF ANIMALS

Echinoderms
Echinoderms live in the ocean and do not have a brain, eyes, or heart. These animals do have (for the most part) mouths on the bottom of their bodies, an anus at the top, and many arms that radiate symmetrically from the center of the animal. The most common echinoderms are starfish and sea urchins. These creatures also have tube feet, which are tentacle-like and have suction pads that enable the creatures to move. Some, such as the starfish, are carnivorous; others feed on plankton, while still others eat detritus.

AMHARIC

Rastafarians
The word
Rastafarian
is from the Amharic language. The Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974, Haile Selassie I, was known as Ras Tafari, a combination of the Amharic word
Ras
which meant “head” (with the same meaning that the word
Duke
would have), and Haile Selassie I’s given name, Tafari. Rastafarians consider Haile Selassie I to be the returned Messiah and reincarnation of Jesus, though he himself, an Orthodox Ethiopian Christian, did not associate with the religion or believe that he was the reincarnation of God.

GULF WAR

End of the War
The war ended by a series of ground attacks that lasted three days, and constant bombing from above. On February 24, Allied troops entered Iraq, targeting Kuwait City, west of the Iraqi flank, and then past the Iraqi lines. The next day, marines got to Kuwait City and the retreat route of the western flank was cut off. The third day was one of the largest tank battles ever, and the Americans were able to destroy the Iraqi tanks without losing a single one. On February 26, as Iraqi troops retreated, they set fire to around 700 oil wells. A large convoy of Iraqi troops formed along a major highway, which was bombed from above. On February 27, 1991, President Bush declared that Kuwait was liberated and that the war was over.

JOURNALISM

William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst lived from 1863 to 1951. The son of a self-made millionaire, Hearst studied journalism at Harvard. While he was still at Harvard, Hearst told his father he wanted to run the
San Francisco Examiner
, and on March 7, 1887, William Randolph Hearst became the owner of
The Examiner
. In 1895, Hearst bought
The New York Morning Journal
, where he competed against his fellow Harvard classmate and mentor, Joseph Pulitzer (and if you recall from the lesson on World War I, these two men are responsible for yellow journalism).

CATEGORY THEORY

Natural Transformations
A relation between two functors is known as a natural transformation. Natural transformations allow for the transforming of one functor into another functor while also respecting the arrangement of morphisms of the categories. Besides the concepts of categories and functors, natural transformations is one of the most basic concepts in category theory.

TYPES OF ANIMALS