DECEMBER

What is "truth serum," and does it work?

Probably the most effective means of eliciting the truth were developed in medieval dungeons. Although some governments
persist in their use, the march of progress in the 20th century turned enlightened people toward--what else--chemistry as a substitute for the rack and branding iron.

In the 1920s doctors claimed that scopolamine, an anesthetic, could get the truth out of anyone. It was used in some sensational trials and the press labeled it "truth serum." But it was never proven scientifically reliable. Nor have its successors, such as sodium pentathol, been proven any more legally dependable than the lie detector or for that matter, the administering of multiple Margaritas. (In fact, enough Margaritas will make you tell the truth, but you will slur your words to the point that no one can make out what you said.)

(Source: HOW DO THEY DO THAT? by Caroline Sutton)

FAST FACTS:

We read the strangest stuff to kids. Grimm's fairy tales, for example, in their original edition, are some of the bloodiest, most brutal stories ever written. Now I've discovered that Sarah Catherine Martin, the British writer who penned "Old Mother Hubbard," was a one-time lover of the future King William IV. What's more, she wrote this immortal nursery rhyme while a guest at the home of the family her brother-in-law to be, a Member of Parliament named John P. Bastard (his real name!).

Imagine that, "Old Mother Hubbard" was written by a royal mistress while surrounded by a bunch of Bastards.

(Source: EXTRAORDINARY ORIGINS OF EVERYDAY THINGS by Charles Panati)

What insect has the shortest generation time?

The insect with the shortest known generation time (the time from one stage in its life cycle until the same stage in its offspring's life cycle) is the apple grain aphid (Rhopalosiphum prunifoliae/fitchii), which can bear live young only 4.7 days after being born.

Other kinds of aphids are almost as prolific, bearing live young anywhere from five to seven days after being born. Such rapid-breeding aphids are parthenogenetic mothers, meaning that when conditions are good they bear genetically identical clones of themselves without mating. They are so prolific that when they are born they already carry the embryos of their first children.

Now you know how those huge colonies of aphids seem to materialize almost overnight on the roses.

The apple grain aphid:
http://everest.ento.vt.edu/Fruitfiles/AGA.html

The closely related corn leaf aphid (Rhopalosiphum maidis):
http://ipmwww.ncsu.edu/AG271/small_grains/corn_leaf_aphid.html

A short research paper about the study that revealed today's Cool Fact:
http://gnv.ifas.ufl.edu/~tjw/chap06.htm

More Cool Facts about insects:
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1998/07/21.html
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1998/10/13.html
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1998/12/10.html

How do camels survive in the inhospitable desert environment?

The "ship of the desert," they call them. It's a heck of a comparison to make when the "ocean" they navigate is all beach. Fortunately, camels are appropriately outfitted by nature for the trip.

Let's first dispose of a widely held misconception. No camel carries a canteen on its back. Those humps are not water sacks; they store fat. However camels can convert that fat into water--a good thing, since they might otherwise get dehydrated from their nasty habit of spitting when angry.

As for dealing directly with that hot sun: no sweat. In fact, camels don't have to sweat because--surprise!--they wear a camel's hair coat. The hair on their back is thick enough to shield their skin from the sun and keep heat out. Their relatively hairless belly, on the other hand, enables body heat to escape. All in all, a well engineered, if not always pleasant beast.

(Source: READER'S DIGEST, DID YOU KNOW?)




FAST FACTS:

A crocodile doesn't chew its food, it swallows it whole.
What a waste of a whole bunch of really sharp teeth.

Crocodiles also continually grow new sets of teeth to replace
old teeth. Since they don't use them to chew, what happens?
The teeth fall out from boredom?

(Source: 2201 FASCINATING FACTS)

How do cloud chambers detect fast-moving particles?

You may have seen scientific photos of particles passing through cloud chambers, where they leave thin white trails. Scientists use these chambers to detect charged particles that come from radioactive elements, cyclotrons, and cosmic rays. How do cloud chambers work?

Invented around 1900 by a physicist named Charles T. R. Wilson, a cloud chamber is a space filled with air and the vapor of some volatile (easy to evaporate) liquid. There is so much vapor in the air that it is almost ready to condense into floating droplets.

When a charged particle comes zipping through the chamber, it rips electrons from the air molecules, producing charged atoms (ions). The floating ions attract molecules of the vapor, forming hundreds of microscopic droplets that clearly mark the trail of the particle as a thin, white streak.

More about cloud chambers, including designs for home experiments:
http://freeweb.pdq.net/headstrong/cloud.htm

Picture of Wilson's original cloud chamber:
http://www.ioppublishing.com/Physics/Electron/Exhibition/section3/1911b.html

Today's Person of the Day is Charles T. R. Wilson:
http://www.LearningKingdom.com/person/archive/2000/04/18.html

Why do we say that something that's out of control has gone "haywire?"

Since agriculture is the area in which most people used to make their living, it's not surprising that so much of our language stems from it. At MailBits.com we have enough horse sense to swear off certain barnyard words and expressions-- but others, like haywire, are grist for our mill.

Haywire was the offshoot of the invention of a baling machine. It's what held the bundle of hay together after it was tightly packed. But the wire often got tangled in the baler, causing accidents. And when that wire was cut to unpack the hay--hey, get out of the way. The tightly wrapped wire, suddenly let loose, whiplashed out in all directions.
There was no telling which way it would go. So it made an excellent metaphor for anything that was out of control.

(Source: WHY YOU SAY IT by Webb Garrison)

FAST FACTS:

The shoe string was invented in England in 1790. Until then shoes were fastened with buckles. The inventor of the shoe string must have been a hard worker, otherwise he would have
invented the loafer.

Catherine de Medici was the first woman in Europe to use tobacco in a mixture of snuff. She also was the first woman to have a warning from the surgeon general stamped on her forehead.

(Source: 2201 FASCINATING FACTS)

When are atoms of an element not identical?

In 1913 a British chemist named Frederick Soddy discovered that not all atoms of each element are exactly the same. Although their chemical properties may be almost identical, atoms of most elements come in several varieties with different masses. These varieties are called isotopes.

Different isotopes of an element hold different numbers of neutrons in the nuclei of their atoms. The numbers of protons and electrons are the same. Hydrogen, for example, has three isotopes. Normal hydrogen has one proton in its nucleus. Deuterium has a neutron and a proton, while tritium has two neutrons and a proton.

Different isotopes of an element can be separated by mass-sensitive processes like evaporation, condensation, and incorporation into living tissue. As a result, scientists can learn much about the Earth's past by studying the ratios of isotopes in sediments or ice cores.

A simple introduction to isotopes:
http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/EDUCATE/REACTOR/02-FISS/part03.html

Explore the table of isotopes, courtesy of Lawrence Berkeley Labs:
http://ie.lbl.gov/education/isotopes.htm

Radioactive isotopes are used to save lives:
http://www.inel.gov/resources/newsletters/inside/november98/isotopes.htm

Today's Person Of The Day is Frederick Soddy:
http://www.LearningKingdom.com/person/archive/2000/04/17.html

Why do colored shampoos always produce white suds?

Since taking a shower isn't the most interesting thing you will do during the day, there out to be at least something intriguing going on while the water's running. For many people this is it, and I hope that this mundane explanation won't stop you from fantasizing more fanciful reasons.

There is not much dye in the shampoo to begin with--just enough to color the light passing through the liquid when it's in the bottle. So when it comes down to the suds--bunches of very thin bubbles--the coloring agent is present in tiny quantities. But more than that, the color of the suds comes mostly from the overhead light it's reflecting, which is likely to be white in the first place. Oh, I suppose we could get deeper into the science of optics, but let's not split hairs.

(Source: WHY DO DOGS HAVE WET NOSES? by David Feldman)



FAST FACTS:

In third century China, kites were used as games, ritual objects, musical instruments, transmitters of messages, distance measuring devices, weapons, and parachutes.
Nowadays we just they are just a means of fun and power outages.

In the 15th century, scholars in China compiled a set of encyclopedia that contained 11,095 volumes. You heard of Death of a Salesman? It was lugging this series door to door that killed him.

(Source: 2201 FASCINATING FACTS)

Who first used concrete for large constructions?

Although concrete was known as early as 2,000 years ago, its first use in major construction projects was in ancient Rome. A good example is Hadrian's Villa near Tivoli, Italy, which was built around 120 AD. There, the Roman Emperor Hadrian experimented with various forms and styles of architecture, making use of concrete in conjunction with bricks, tufa, and other materials.

The Villa at Tivoli is especially noteworthy because of the interesting use of curves, domes, underground passages, ponds, and other elements. New materials made new forms possible, and Hadrian's Villa shows some of this experimentation in its many interesting vistas.

Many Roman buildings made of concrete have lasted through history because of their unique chemistry. The Romans mixed their lime with pozzolan, a kind of ash produced by a certain volcano. The peculiar chemistry of the resulting concrete was one of the reasons for its durability.

More about durable ancient Roman concrete:
http://www.romanconcrete.com/

More about Hadrian's Villa:
http://www.woodberry.org/acad/hist/CLASSICS/sites/purcell/gen.htm
http://www.chch.school.nz/mbc/hadrianv.htm

Today's Person Of The Day is Hadrian:
http://www.LearningKingdom.com/person/archive/2000/04/14.html

Why does the biggest, the best, or the most really "take the cake?"

In my hierarchy of treats, cake takes pride of place over cookies and candy, so I'm very comfortable with the idea of whomever or whatever is tops taking home the cake--as long as I can have a slice. But you did want an explanation, not a food review.

In fact, there is no very good explanation other than that grand one-size-fits-all cop-out: tradition! A cake has been the reward or prize for various achievements since the beginning of recorded history. In recent times it's what you got for dancing best at Irish dances. Among African-Americans in the South it was the prize for the best dance in the appropriately named event, the "cake walk." The ancient Greeks gave it to the person who could out-drink everyone else. But then if the libation were good enough, the prize was merely icing on the...well, you know.

(Source: DICTIONARY OF WORD AND PHRASE ORIGINS)

FAST FACTS:

The earth travels through space at 660,000 mph...

The earth rotates on its axis more slowly in March than in
September.

(Source: 2201 FASCINATING FACTS)

Why does Australia have such unusual life forms?

The continent of Australia has one of the most unusual collections of native life forms on the planet. Why are there so many strange forms there?

50 million years ago, Australia was part of a land mass near the South Pole. It was connected with what are now Antarctica and South America. As the continents slowly shifted, Australia split off and began a long journey northwards. During that time it was isolated by wide stretches of ocean.

In Australia, evolution continued for about twenty million years without interference from new forms emerging on other continents.
The climate changed radically several times, and whole families of life forms became extinct while new ones evolved. As a result, Australia developed ecosystems quite different from those on other continents.

More about the prehistory of Australia:
http://www.austmus.gov.au/lostkingdoms/

A detailed research report about Australia's biology:
http://www.environment.gov.au/life/general_info/biodivser_2/biod_1.html

Another long-isolated land with unique life forms is Madagascar:
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1999/08/11.html
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/2000/03/23.html

Why is Jesus so frequently depicted as tall and slim with long hair?

With Christmas almost upon us, TV, newspapers and magazines are likely to be displaying the image of Jesus. How do they know how to depict Him? After all, He was a Jew, for whom graven images were forbidden. And don't look in the Gospels for a description. He's left there to your imagination.

There actually is a very mundane reason for the image with which we are all familiar. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, when the Western image of Jesus became fixed, artists themselves were likely to look that way. They painted what they knew.

The probably ascetic Jesus may have been thin, and Jews, it's been suggested, might have had long hair to set themselves off from the Romans. Jesus may also have been a man of color, but we don't just know. And it may not really matter.

(Source: WHY THINGS ARE & WHY THEY AREN'T by Joel Achenbach)

FAST FACTS:

Your tongue print is as unique as your fingerprints. So if you are planning on committing a crime, be sure not to lick anything.

The human body has 45 miles of nerves. That may explain why so many people tend to get on mine.

(Source: 2201 FASCINATING FACTS)

What's getting up "on the wrong side of the bed"
have to do with being grouchy?

Left-handers must already be feeling punchy from all the negative expressions that originate with a proclivity to do things from the minority side. So if you are a lefty, maybe you should duck right now because here comes another one.

This one, in effect, even describes a left-handed mood--a bad
one, of course. Getting out of bed on the wrong side is like starting the day on the wrong foot, if the left foot is the first one you place on the floor upon arising. The superstition about all things left bringing bad luck and worse at one time even led innkeepers to push the left side of their guest beds against the wall to physically prevent the disaster of getting out of bed on that side. Good Lord! What other negative things do you suppose were originally tied to left-handedness. What's left?

(Source: WHY YOU SAY IT by Webb Garrison)

How do the police train dogs to find hidden drugs?

Assuming that there is nothing in nature that inherently links canine and cannabis, how the heck do they get dogs to develop a nose for wacky weed? Or for heroin? Do they end up dissipated dogs, baying at the moon in broad daylight?

Essentially, the dog is taught through the use of its instinct to retrieve. What it fetches is marijuana, wrapped carefully so the animal can't bite into the package and get high, but loosely enough so that the smell becomes familiar. When the fetching becomes routine, the marijuana is hidden so that the dog must sniff for it. Then the drug is placed in a bag and hidden. (You can see where this escalating game is headed--the airport baggage department.) Heroin is treated similarly, except that the real stuff is so potent that a like-smelling artificial substance is used in initial training to keep the dog from nodding out.

(Source: HOW DO THEY DO THAT? by Caroline Sutton)



FAST FACT:

Your heart is a muscle, but it never gets tired. Broken, stomped upon, ripped out by a careless lover, sure, but tired...never.

What kind of train does not touch the track?

A traditional train has metal wheels that ride on steel tracks, but a train that uses magnetic levitation (a maglev train) moves without touching the track. In some maglev designs, the train "lands" when it stops at a station. In other designs, the train levitates (floats in the air) even when it is not moving.

Magnetic levitation train designs come in two flavors. In one, magnets on the underside of the train attract magnets or coils in the trackway, suspending the train from a T-shaped support that runs the length of the track. In another design, magnets on the train repel coils in the track, holding the train up in the air over the trackway.

Because they do not touch the tracks, maglev trains are faster, quieter, and safer than traditional trains. In most maglev designs, the trains are expected to run at about 500 kilometers per hour (310 mph), two to three times faster than the fastest old-fashioned trains.

More about maglev trains:
http://hcs.harvard.edu/~hsr/howthingswork/page35-39.html
http://www.railserve.com/maglev.html

The Japanese project at Railway Technical Institute:
http://www.rtri.or.jp/rd/maglev/html/english/maglev_frame_E.html

Germany's Transrapid system:
http://www.maglev.com/english/index.htm

More Cool Facts about trains:
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1998/11/05.html
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/2000/01/28.html

How do the two poles of Mars differ?

Recent discoveries made by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft show that the two poles of Mars are very different, indicating that the climate may have been different at the two poles for quite a long time.

The south pole has a permanent cap of frozen carbon dioxide mixed with layers of other material. Since the carbon dioxide ice evaporates directly into the thin Martian air, rather than melting the way water ice does on Earth, the landscape shows features unlike anything on Earth. There are flat-bottomed circular depressions and round-walled plateaus, and complex fingerprint-like whorls of grooves.

The north pole's ice cap, while about the same size, is simply a layer on top of the ground, with small pits probably caused by evaporation of the ice. Its structure seems simpler, and it may be composed mainly of water ice rather than frozen carbon dioxide.

Why are the two poles of Mars so different? Scientists hope to
discover the answer as exploration of the red planet continues.

More about the poles of Mars:
http://helix.nature.com/nsu/000309/000309-10.html
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/research/msp/msp.html
http://ltpwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/tharsis/agu_f98.html

More Cool Facts about Mars:
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1997/09/15.html
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1999/07/13.html
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1999/11/19.html

What happens when you make a snowball?

When you make a snowball, you squeeze together a scoop of snow and it clumps into a semi-solid mass. Why does it do that? Do the snowflakes get caught on one another? How does the snowball hold together?

The pressure you apply when you pack the snowball melts a small fraction of the ice. When you release the pressure, that melted ice re-freezes, holding the whole ball together. The same thing happens when an ice skater skates: there's a thin layer of liquid water under the skate blade, formed by the increased pressure there.

When it's extremely cold, snowballs are hard to make, and it's harder to skate on the ice. That's because the colder the ice is, the more pressure it takes to melt it.

Why it's impossible to have a snowball fight on Mars:
http://www.aspsky.org/mercury/mercury/9801/snowball.html

More Cool Facts about snow and ice:
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1997/07/25.html
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1998/11/06.html
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1999/01/14.html

Why do birds fly in a "V" formation?

Have you seen seagulls or migrating geese flying in a "V"? Through evolution, flocks of birds have spontaneously developed the best instinctive strategy for long-distance flight as a group.

Freeway drivers may be familiar with the "wake effect" that reduces gas usage when one follows just behind and to one side of a large truck. The "V" flying flock takes advantage of exactly the same effect.

By flying in a "V", birds minimize the energy used by the whole flock to get where it's going. Recent research shows that even the leader of the "V" benefits from the formation. A "V" flock of 25 birds can travel 70% farther than an unformed flock, and it also flies faster.

More about formation flying by flocks:
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF12/1248.html

Even today, bird flight is still quite mysterious:
http://www.nwf.org/nwf/natlwild/flight.html

More Cool Facts about flying birds:
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1997/07/30.html
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1998/01/16.html
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1998/09/30.html

What kind of helicopter fits in your hand?

Researchers at Stanford University are developing tiny flying machines that use helicopter rotors to stay in the air. These miniature helicopters are not quite microscopic, so they are called mesicopters (mesi- means "in the middle").

A mesicopter is about the size of a postage stamp with four or more tiny rotors that spin at around 50,000 rpm. Powered by tiny lithium batteries, a mesicopter could fly for up to 30 minutes without running down.

Smart mesicopters with on-board brains could be used to explore Mars or other planets with atmosphere, or they could be used to study tornadoes, hurricanes, or other weather phenomena. But for now, the trick is getting them to stay in the air.

More about mesicopters:
http://www.newscientist.com/ns/19990605/whirlybugs.html

A gallery of mesicopter images, real and simulated:
http://adg.stanford.edu/mesicopter/imageArchive/

Stanford's official mesicopter site:
http://aero.stanford.edu/mesicopter/

What, exactly, is an itch?

We don't exactly know. We visit the planets, map the human genome, and split the atom. But an itch is still largely that which you scratch, one of medicine's last frontiers.

It's a stimulus affecting the nerve endings between the dermis and epidermis; scientists liken it to a form of pain. But that's neither here nor there. It's usually caused by histamine released in the epidermis. Scratching stops it, either by interfering with the nerve impulses or by temporarily damaging the nerves themselves. That's it.

So if you would like to make your mark in medicine, investigate the itch. But you won't get much help from research so far. You'll just have to start from scratch.

(Source: ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA)

What common affliction was almost unknown before 1800?

Many people experience sniffling, sneezing, and itchy eyes during certain times of year. This affliction, known as allergic rhinitis or "hay fever," was almost completely unknown until the last century or so. Today it affects one third of Americans and 40% of Australians.

Hay fever results from the body's reaction to particles carried in the air, including especially pollen grains and mold spores. Pollen and mold spore levels have not changed much in the last century, so why has hay fever become so widespread and severe?

No one knows for sure, but there are several theories. Fewer childhood infections may leave the body more sensitive to foreign particles, and increased pollution may make the situation worse. It may be that the body needs to be exposed to high levels of allergens in early life in order to learn how to "recognize" them so they don't cause problems later on.

More about hay fever:
http://www.lungusa.org/air/envhayfever.html
http://www.pathfinder.com/drweil/database/display/0,1412,60,00.html

Another Cool Fact about spores and pollen:
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1999/09/29.html

Why is an idea or plan that's stale called "cut and dried?"

It figures that we would draw from nature for much of our language. For example, "any budding genius who wishes to find the root cause of something must branch out and let new ideas flower." These botanical comparisons are fresh, alive and permeated by growth. Cut and dried, on the other hand, is a phrase that suggests the end of the life force, aridity, no room for growth, the ordered arrangement of a thing as opposed to the creative chaos of life.

There are two theories of the origin of cut and dried. One holds that it describes the herbs that were used before modern
medicine, cut and dried rather than fresh picked because they could be compounded with greater precision without moisture
interfering. The other explanation suggests that the reference is to harvested timber. But I find that stale and stiff--in fact, rather wooden, don't you?

(Source: WHY YOU SAY IT and BREWER'S DICTIONARY OF PHRASE & FABLE)

What were the largest birds that ever lived?

When humans first came to the island of Madagascar around 600 AD, it was home to the largest birds that ever lived, the giant, flightless elephant birds (Aepyornis maximus). The last one probably died about 800 years ago.

The liquid capacity of one elephant bird egg was about two gallons (7.5 liters), 180 times that of a chicken egg, possibly making it the largest single cell ever. An adult bird probably weighed about one thousand pounds (450 kilograms). Like their living cousins the ostriches, they were running birds with thick, muscular legs and vestigial wings.

The elephant birds were among many species of large animals that disappeared from Madagascar after humans arrived. Today, the island's animal life is much reduced. Destruction of habitat has eliminated many species, and many more are threatened.

More about the gigantic elephant bird:
http://www.aristotle.net/~swarmack/patra.html

The elephant bird was a ratite:
http://www.geobop.com/Birds/Ratites/

Cool Facts about ostriches, the largest surviving birds:
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1997/05/05.html
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1997/09/05.html

Do dolphins really save people from drowning and shark attacks?

Yes, sometimes, but even then it's only an accident if they do.

If life were perfect, baby boomer memories of the TV program "Flipper," about a friendly and helpful dolphin, would now be burnished by scientific research showing dolphins to be altruistic as well as smart. But dolphins don't help people because the creature feels warm and fuzzy about us.

For example, dolphins attack sharks in self-defense. If a person is helped in the process, that's just a coincidence.
As for drowning people pushed to the surface by dolphins, that happens sometimes, but it's now attributed to the dolphin's inborn instinct to do that for its young. Flail around enough and you might be lucky and get mistaken for a young dolphin.
(Or unlucky and, in the process, recognized as a person by a shark.)

(Source: READER'S DIGEST DID YOU KNOW?)

Recent Cases of Book Censorship

-=- Father Christmas, by Raymond Briggs (1979)
Removed from all elementary classrooms in Holland, Michigan
when several parents complained that it portrayed Santa Claus
as having a negative attitude toward Christmas.

-=- The Living Bible, by William C. Bower (1981)
Burned in Gastonia, North Carolina, because it was allegedly "a perverted commentary of the King James Version."

-=- Doris Day: Her Own Story, by Doris Day (1982)
Removed from two high school libraries in Anniston, Alabama due to its "shocking" contents, particularly "in light of Miss Day's All-American image." It was later reinstated on a restricted basis.

-=- Working, by Studs Terket (1983)
This oral history of Americans and their jobs was removed from an optional reading list at the South Kitsap, Washington, high school because the chapter about a prostitute "demeaned marital status and degraded the sexual act." It was also deleted from the seventh-and eighth-grade curriculum by the Washington Arizona, school district with the following explanations: "When we require idealistic and sensitive youth to be burdened with despair, ugliness and hopelessness, we shall be held accountable by the Almighty God."

-=- American Foreign Policy, vol. II, by Thomas Paterson (1984)
Banned by the school board of the Racine, Wisconsin, unified school district for containing "judgmental writing" and, in the words of one board member, "a lot more funny pictures of Republicans and nicer pictures of Democrats." It was returned to the curriculum one week later.

-=- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain (1985)
Removed from school libraries in London by education officials who accused it of being "racist" and "sexist".

-=- Encyclopedia Britannica (1986)
Banned and pulped in Turkey for spreading "separatist propaganda."

-=- The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie (1988)
Banned in India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Somalia, Sudan, Malaysis, Qatar, Indonesia, and South Africa for allegedly blaspheming Islam and the Koran. In Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini sentenced to death Rushdie and anyone else involved in the publication of the book.
Khomeini also offered a substantial cash reward to whoever
assassinated Rushdie.

-=- Cerberus, by Bernard Evslin (1990)
Removed from elementary school library shelves in the Francis
Howell school district in St. Peters, Missouri, for being graphic and gruesome and because its illustrations were "pornographic." The illustrations were drawings by Michelangelo and other masters. The book was also said to "encourage Satanism."

-=- My Friend Flicka, by Mary O'Hara (1990)
Pulled from optional reading lists for fifth- and sixth- graders in Clay County, Florida, because the book uses the word bitch to refer to a female dog.

What's so special about laser beams?

Laser stands for "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation." A laser beam is produced when light bounces back and forth between two mirrors with a special medium (gas, liquid, or solid) between them. As it bounces, the light triggers energized atoms in the medium to release more light, some of which leaks out through one of the mirrors to produce the laser beam.

A laser beam is special because all the photons (discrete "particles" of light energy) in the beam are vibrating in exactly the same lockstep way. The beam is tightly focused and perfectly aligned because all the photons are "marching in phase" like soldiers in a troop.

In an ordinary beam of light, the photons vibrate every which way. Because laser photons are in phase, the beam can stay aligned for very long distances and it can be focused down to a very tiny spot without losing its alignment.

How lasers work, from a company that does spectacular laser light shows:
http://www.laserfantasy.com/Cool_Stuff/how.html

This site has lots of detailed technical information for experimenters:
http://plop.phys.cwru.edu/repairfaq/sam/lasersam.htm

Today's Person Of The Day is laser researcher Kumar Patel:
http://www.LearningKingdom.com/person/archive/2000/03/22.html

More Cool Facts about lasers:
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1997/10/16.html
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1998/11/18.html
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1999/03/02.html

Why is something small referred to as "dinky?"

Recently I traveled by train, and my itinerary required me to take a shuttle the rest of the way. I asked the conductor where I could get the shuttle and he said, "The dinky stops over there."

What was this, baby talk? A little research set me straight. "Dinky" (probably from a Scottish word that originally meant "neat" and "trim") was first used in railroading for the small switching yard locomotives.

So, I thought, dinky, a synonym for small, was used to describe those undersized choo-choos, and then applied to the
mini-train that makes up a shuttle. Not so, it turns out. Dinky as a synonym for small started with railroading, then spread to general use. I had mistaken the engine for the caboose.

(Source: DICTIONARY OF WORD AND PHRASE ORIGINS)