A Ton of Crap (91 page)

Relationship with Oral Languages
Sign languages do not depend on oral languages, and they have their own grammatical structures. Sign language does have something known as fingerspelling, where letters of the alphabet are represented with hand signs; however, this is only one part of sign language. In general, sign languages are completely separate from oral languages and have different paths of development. Even though British and American hearing people speak the same language and can understand each other, the American Sign Language and the British Sign Language are completely different, and deaf people speaking one cannot understand the other.

WORLD WAR II

The Holocaust
In 1933, there were over 9 million Jews living in Europe. As Adolf Hitler came to power, he promoted hatred toward the Jewish people, believing Germans were a superior race and that Jews presented a threat to the community. The Holocaust was Hitler’s state-sponsored mass genocide of the Jewish people, in which approximately 6 million Jews were murdered. Jews were placed into ghettos, and then into concentration camps, and then extermination camps where they were gassed to death. Toward the end of the war, the Jewish people were placed on trains and made to go on marches, known as “death marches.” As the Allied forces approached, the camps were liberated.

SCIENCE FICTION

Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke was born in 1917. During World War II, Clarke was involved in working with British radar. In 1945, Clarke published an article in which he proposed placing three satellites in orbit that would be able to allow global communications (this would turn out to be surprisingly successful, and Clarke is known as the inventor of the communication satellite). Clarke published many stories throughout his lifetime, and his short story,
The Sentinel
, was actually the inspiration for the Stanley Kubrick film,
2001: A Space Odyssey
.

KNOT THEORY

Knot Polynomials
A knot polynomial is an example of a knot invariant—
meaning a quantity that is the same value for any equivalent knots—that is a polynomial. The most well-known knot polynomial is the Alexander polynomial which was discovered in 1923. This was the only known polynomial knot until 1984, with the discovery of the Jones polynomial. The Alexander polynomial could not distinguish handedness, meaning the objects are the same unless in a mirror reflection. The Jones polynomial however, was able to distinguish handedness.

THE EARTH’S SPHERES

Biosphere
The biosphere consists of all of the living things on the planet, from the large animals to the smallest microorganisms. The biosphere includes the hydrosphere, lithosphere, atmosphere, and cryosphere. Ecological communities form within the biosphere, and these are known as biomes. The three main types of biomes are grasslands, tropical rainforests, and deserts. The majority of life found on Earth is found up to 30 meters above ground, 3 meters below the ground, and in the first 200 meters of the oceans. Though humans are part of the biosphere, scientists put human beings in a group known as the anthrosphere.

SIGN LANGUAGE

Different Types of Sign Language
There are many different forms of sign language. Although these languages emerged separately and unrelated to the spoken languages of countries and are different grammatically, they do feature manually coded languages; that is, they have incorporated the languages of their countries. Several sign languages are mutually intelligible as well. For example, Danish Sign Language, Icelandic Sign Language, and Norwegian Sign Language (which are descendants of Danish Sign Language) are, for the most part, understandable by those who speak Swedish Sign Language. An International Sign Language (IS) has been created as well, and is used at international events.

WORLD WAR II

The Battle of Normandy (D-Day)
By 1944, Germany knew the Allies would attempt to liberate Europe through an invasion of France. The Allied forces planned to land on the northwest coast of France, known as Normandy, under the codename “Operation Overlord.” On June 6, 1944, the Allies landed on five beaches of the Normandy coast. The Allied forces were met with heavy resistance from the defending Germans, but eventually, they were able to make it through. The accomplishment of the Allied forces, and the failure of the Germans, put an end to Hitler’s goal of a Nazi-controlled Europe.

SCIENCE FICTION

Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov lived from 1920 to 1992, and he is considered one of the greatest writers of science fiction. He wrote around 500 books, publishing in genres such as science, horror, comedy, and even poetry. The best-known works of Asimov are his short story
Nightfall
, the
Robot
series of novels (of which
I, Robot
is one), and the
Foundation
novels. Asimov’s work even inspired the creation of the
Star Trek
character Data.

KNOT THEORY

Adding Knots
Knots become more complex through addition. The process of adding knots together is known as knot sum. Two knots can be added by cutting the knots and then joining the pairs of the ends together. The zero knot, which looks like an
O
, is a very special case. When more knots are added to it, though it is longer, its shape of the
O
remains.

THE EARTH’S SPHERES