A Ton of Crap (12 page)

THE ALPHABET

The Aramaic Alphabet
The Aramaic alphabet was an adaptation of the Phoenician alphabet, and all Middle Eastern alphabets can be traced back to it. Much like the Phoenician alphabet, the letters only represented consonants, but it did also have certain places where long vowels were to be pronounced. To this day, the Hebrew alphabet is the closest relative to the Aramaic script of the fifth century b.c. The inventory of the letters and the shapes of the letters are practically identical.

GREEK MATHEMATICS

The Pythagorean School
The Pythagorean School, taught by Pythagoras, though mystical, placed heavy emphasis on math. Pythagoras’s work had a deep impact in mathematical areas such as number theory, proof theory, plane geometry, solid geometry, and proportion. Pythagoras is said to have constructed the first proof of what would become known as the Pythagorean theorem, which states that for a right triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares of the lengths of the two other sides. Or to put it simply,
a
² + 
b
² = 
c
².

THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM

The Heart
The heart is a muscle roughly the size of a clenched fist. It is two sided and has four chambers. Blood enters the heart through the right atrium. The right ventricle pushes the deoxygenated blood to the lungs. The left atrium then receives the oxygenated blood and pumps it to the left ventricle of the heart, which is responsible for pushing the blood out of the heart and into the body’s circulation.

ITALIAN

Vowels
Vowels in Italian are short. They should be pronounced very clearly and not drawn out. The letters
a
,
i
, and
u
are always pronounced in the same way. The letter
a
is pronounced like in the word
cat
, the letter
i
is like the
y
in the word
yellow
, and the
u
is pronounced as in the word
fun
. The pronunciation of the letters
e
and
o
, however, will vary depending on which part of Italy you are in and could have an open or closed sound.

THE HUNS

Weaponry
The Huns relied on two very powerful weapons: a composite bow and horses. The Huns were excellent horseback riders and fought as cavalry. The groups they attacked could not escape their hit-and-run tactics, and using their bows and arrows allowed the Huns to attack their enemies and inflict injury from long ranges. Warriors of the Huns also carried swords, lassos, and lances.

THE ALPHABET

The Greek Alphabet
The Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, and by the eighth century b.c., had modified it and created the first true alphabet, meaning both consonants and vowels were represented. The Greeks even used the Phoenician consonant symbols to represent vowels because they did not have the same sounds the Phoenicians did and they needed the symbols for the vowels. The Greek alphabet heavily influenced the Latin alphabet, which is the most widely used alphabet today.

GREEK MATHEMATICS

The Eleatic School
Founded by Parmenides, the Eleatic School focused on opposing the physical theories of early philosophers and paved the way for metaphysics. Zeno, another philosopher in the Eleatic School, proposed challenges to ideas of motion and time, and against multiplicity. What Zeno actually does in his work, however, is invoke the notion of infinity.

THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM

Red Blood Cells
Blood is constantly flowing through our bodies and carries oxygen, nutrients, water, and waste products to and from our cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen and carbon dioxide. After picking up oxygen from the lungs and delivering it to the cells, the red blood cells transport the carbon dioxide to the lungs, from which it is then exhaled.

ITALIAN

Easy Consonants
The modern Italian alphabet features fewer letters than the English alphabet. Missing from the Italian alphabet are the letters
j
,
k
,
w
,
x
, and
y
. The letters
b
,
f
,
m
,
n
, and
v
are pronounced the same way they are in English. One drastic difference when it comes to consonants is that the
h
in Italian is actually silent.

THE HUNS