A Ton of Crap (21 page)

WRITING

Syllabaries
A syllabary is a set of written characters or symbols (known as syllabograms) that represent syllables. These syllables are then used to make words. A syllabogram is either made up of a consonant with a vowel, or a vowel on its own. The syllabary writing system is used when writing languages that originally had no written form, such as Cherokee, and it is also found in Japanese.

OPERATIONS

Subtraction
Subtraction, the inverse of addition, means to take a certain number away from the original value. So for example, if we subtract 3 from 10 (expressed as 10 – 3), then we are left with 7. The first time the minus sign appeared in text was also in Johannes Widmann’s
Mercantile Arithmetic
or
Behende und hubsche Rechenung auff allen Kauffmanschafft
. It is believed that the minus sign may have come from the tilde (~) which was used with the letter
m
to represent the Latin word
meno
, meaning minus.

TISSUES

Epithelial Tissue
Epithelial tissue is tissue that covers the entire body, and it forms the covering or lining of internal and external surfaces. It is made up of closely packed cells formed into one or many layers, with close to no intercellular spaces and little intercellular substance. Endothelium is the tissue on the surface of the internal cavities, and its main function is for absorption, excretion, protection, secretion, reproduction, and sensory reception.

RUSSIAN

Cyrillic
In the ninth century, Constantine and Methodius, two missionaries, were ordered to write down the language of Old Slavonic and preach to the people of Moravia about Christianity. Constantine, who on his deathbed changed his name to Cyril, created a Slavonic alphabet that is now known as Cyrillic. The Cyrillic alphabet was closely based on the Greek alphabet, with additional letters added for sounds not found in the Greek system.

THE REFORMATION

The Reformation Spreads Throughout the Land
At the same time that Luther’s ideas began to spread, Ulrich Zwingli led a similar revolt in Switzerland. The printing press enabled the ideas of Luther and Zwingli to reach the general public; however, there were differences in some of their ideologies. The teachings of Luther would become established as Lutheranism. Soon another voice would rise and become a prominent figure in the Protestant Reformation: John Calvin.

WRITING

Left-Handedness
Handedness is more than just which hand feels more comfortable when writing. Hand orientation develops in the fetus. One leading theory suggests that prenatal testosterone impacts brain organization of the fetus, and that higher amounts of it can lead to left-handedness in the child. This theory would help explain why more males are left-handed than females, and why there is a higher rate of left-handedness found in male twins.

OPERATIONS

Multiplication
Multiplication is the process of repeated addition. For example, 5 × 4 is simply saying 5 added to itself 4 times, or 5 + 5 + 5 + 5. There are many ways to represent multiplication. The first and most common is by using the multiplication sign ×. Multiplication can also be expressed as a dot, such as 5 • 4, or by placing numbers side by side with parentheses between them, such as 5(4).

TISSUES

Connective Tissue
Connective tissue supports and binds to other tissues in the body. It is the framework that epithelial tissue rests upon, and it is what nerve and muscle tissues are embedded in. The major cells involved in immunological defense are also found in the connective tissue, and connective tissue is where inflammation, the body’s defense against invading microorganisms, occurs.

RUSSIAN

Peter the Great Reforms the Language
In the early eighteenth century, Peter the Great came to power in Russia. With his political reforms came a reform of the alphabet that modified and simplified it and removed some of the Greek letters. Some vocabulary from Western Europe was introduced, and the language reflected Post-
Renaissance Europe instead of the Byzantine Empire’s way of pronouncing words.

THE REFORMATION

John Calvin
In 1536, John Calvin, a lawyer, published “Institutes of the Christian Religion,” in which he expressed his theology. Calvin’s teachings gained in popularity, and soon Calvin would reform the church in Geneva and force its citizens to follow his practices. Although Calvin and Luther were contemporaries and shared many similar beliefs, there were considerable differences. In particular, Calvinism espoused the idea of predestination, that a person was destined at birth to either be saved or doomed to damnation.