A Ton of Crap (79 page)

The Study of Birds
From 1897 to 1899, the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, rode their bicycles to the Pinnacles, a picnic spot near Dayton, Ohio. Many birds flew around the area, and the unique geography of the Pinnacles created an updraft, perfect for large soaring birds. There they observed the birds and came to the realization that in order to fly, their model needed to be based on large birds that soar. In 1899, after observing buzzards, the Wrights came up with their wing warping theory. The Wright brothers realized that as birds soared into the wind, lift was created as a result of the air going over the surfaces that were curved. To turn, birds change the shape of their wings.

EDGAR ALLAN POE

The American Romantic Movement
Poe’s writing belongs to what is known as the American Romantic movement. Literature of American Romanticism focused on nature, the power of one’s imagination, and individuality. This is considered a great literary genre to come out of America. Poe’s life was dark and extremely emotional, and his writings also reflected this. His work featured mystical, magical, and mysterious elements in ways that set his work apart from more realistic work. Other writers of American Romanticism include Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Washington Irving, and Herman Melville.

PROBABILITY

Probability of an Event
In probability problems, the event is the end result. It’s what we want to figure out. To figure out the probability of an event
A
occurring, the formula is:

For example, every letter from the word
pizza
is written down on a piece of paper and put in a hat. What is the probability that you will pick a
z
?

S
= {
P
,
I
,
Z
₁
,
Z
₂
,
A
}

A
= event of getting
Z
= {
Z
₁
,
Z
₂
}

STRING THEORY

Strings and Membranes
When string theory was first developed in the 1970s, it was believed that strings, little filaments of energy, were one-dimensional, and came in two forms: open and closed (think of one rubber band that is broken, and another that is not). These strings, known as Type I strings, could go through five different types of interactions. Physicists believe the closed strings could describe gravity.
Later it was discovered that more than just strings were required. These are known as branes, and they are sheets that the strings attach one or both ends to.

HEBREW

Revival of the Language
From the fourth century to the nineteenth century, Hebrew existed solely as a written language. In 1881, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda revived Hebrew as a spoken language based on the liturgical language.

THE WRIGHT BROTHERS

The Wright Brothers’ Gliders
The Wright brothers created a series of gliders over the next three years, and even corresponded with Octave Chanute. After a successful test, they created a full-size glider, choosing Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, as the test site due to its hilly landscape, isolated location, and wind. The 50-pound, 17-foot-wingspan glider was tested at Kitty Hawk in 1900, both piloted and unmanned. A year later, the largest glider ever (weighing almost 100 pounds and with a 22-foot wingspan) was flown at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Their glider faced some problems, and the Wright brothers came to the realization that their calculations were not reliable. They built a wind tunnel to test various wing shapes, and soon planned on making a new glider with a 32-foot wingspan.

EDGAR ALLAN POE

“The Raven”
“The Raven,” arguably Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous poem, was first published on January 29, 1845, in the
New York Evening Mirror
to rave reviews. The poem tells the story of a man who desires his love who has died. He is visited by a talking bird that only says one word: “Nevermore.” The man, so caught up in his imagination, believes the bird is telling him that he will never be reunited with his love. Poe has said “The Raven” discussed man’s proclivity to torture himself.

PROBABILITY

Complementary Events
The complimentary event is the probability that an event will not occur. This is represented as:

1 – P(
A
)

For example:

The probability of getting a green towel from the hamper is ¼. What is the probability of not getting a green towel?

P (Towel is not green) = 1 – ¼ = ¾

And as you get more complex, it looks like this:

A hamper contains green and blue towels. The probability of getting a blue towel is
. What is the probability of getting a green towel?