A Ton of Crap (29 page)

The Black Death
In 1347, Europe was struck by the Black Death (now known to have been the bubonic plague). It is believed that one-third to one-half of the entire population of Europe was killed by this plague. The common belief is that rats in ships arriving from Asia were infected with the disease. The disease would then move from rats to fleas, and then the fleas would bite humans, infecting them. From there, the disease would spread from human to human.

LISTENING

Informational Listening
Informational listening concentrates on the ability to understand the message of someone that is speaking. Confirmation bias and the vividness effect can be barriers to informational listening. Confirmation bias involves taking particular parts of a conversation or message so that it fits your own personal beliefs or standards. The vividness effect relates to the impact of dramatic or highly graphic events and how they can affect the perception of a situation.

MEASUREMENT

Mass
There have been four systems to measure mass in the United States: Tower weight, Troy weight, avoirdupois weight, and apothecaries’ weight. Today, avoirdupois is the main system used. Troy, apothecaries’, and avoirdupois are all based on the same unit of measurement, the grain. In today’s system, one grain equals 64.79891 mg, one dram equals 1.772 grams, one ounce equals 16 drams or 28.35 grams, one pound equals 16 ounces or 453.59237 grams, one hundredweight equals 100 pounds, and one ton equals 20 hundredweights.

GENETICS

DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is a double helix structure that carries all of the genetic information and is the hereditary material. The double helix structure is crucial in genetics. DNA can copy and replicate itself, and each strand in the double helix serves as a pattern for duplication. When cells divide, each new cell gets an exact copy of the old cell’s DNA.

BULGARIAN

Modern Bulgarian
Modern Bulgarian started in the sixteenth century and borrowed many words from Greek and Turkish. The present-day written language, which was based on the vernacular language, was standardized in the nineteenth century and included Russian, German, and French words. There are no definite rules when it comes to stress in language, so the accent of each word must be learned. Unlike other Slavic languages, Bulgarian has definite articles and has dropped almost all case forms for nouns, using prepositions and positions like English.

THE MIDDLE AGES

Science of the Middle Ages
Science during the Middle Ages focused on the natural world. Much of the scientific advancements were from the Islamic world, learned by Europeans as they traveled during the Crusades. One of the major fields of science Europeans learned from the Arab world was the study of astronomy. Another important field of science studied during this time was known as alchemy (or what we refer to as chemistry today).

LISTENING

Reflective Listening
Reflective listening shows the speaker that you are listening and comprehend what is being said. The first step is to understand what you are listening to, and then the next step is to confirm that you understand by presenting the idea back to the speaker. There are several ways to show reflective listening, such as engaging in the conversation actively, empathizing with the point of view of the speaker, mirroring the speaker’s mood, and summarizing what has been said using their words.

MEASUREMENT

Volume
Measurements of volume in the United States are the cubic inch, cubic foot, and cubic yard. Volume is also separated into two categories: volume of dry material and volume of liquids. Measurements of liquid volume and dry material include cups, pints, quarts, and gallons; however, the measurements are different. For example, one pint in dry volume is 550.610 mL, but one pint in liquid volume is 473.176 mL.

GENETICS

Gene Expression
Gene expression is the process of converting the gene’s information into messenger RNA (mRNA) through a process called transcription, and then converting the information to a protein in a process called translation. Gene expression is responsible for interpreting the genetic code in the DNA, which gives rise to the organism’s traits or phenotype.

BULGARIAN

Dialects
Even though the written language is used across the entire country, there are several variations in the spoken language. The differences in pronunciation of consonants that was found in Middle Bulgarian between the East and West still holds true today. Another one of the main differences can be found in the pronunciation of vowels, and there are even words only used in certain areas.

THE MIDDLE AGES