become a polygot

I have always wanted to see a page like this, and I finally found it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_phrases_in_different_languages

test your lexicon

Hey fellow learning friends

Here is a site for a fun little vocab quiz to test you lexicon on:)  There are also other quizes available.  Enjoy, and may the force be with you

 

http://encarta.msn.com/quiz_44/By_Definition_A_Vocabulary_Quiz.html

Tims random things from meeting

Here are a few things that I shared this month at the meeting:

Queueing Theory: A mathematical study of waiting lines... very interesting.

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is very interesting, especially pages 83. It can be found here.

There were the about the same amount of Indians as their were Pilgrims at the first Thanksgiving. Chief Massasoit said he brought 90 Indians with him. Lincoln declared thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863. Before this it was celebrated as 'Founders Day" in the northeast. There has been many 'thanksgiving' feasts even before the 'First Thanksgiving'.

There are some interesting criticisms of PowerPoint. How can we make PowerPoint more effective?

The search bar in FireFox is most useful. I created a plug in to search the BYU Library. There are many more cool ones.

White Elephants

Anything in the dense jungles of South East Asia is incredibly hard to find, but a White Elephant was found in Myanmar in 2002 after a month of searching. Just a few centuries ago, the best white elephants were given to the king (of Thailand), but the lower grade ones were given as gifts, and since the elephants were sacred, they could not be put to work, causing a great financial burden on the recipient.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant

Slime Molds

If you have never heard of slime molds be prepared for a shock.  Scientist are not quite sure how to classify these things, some put them in with fungi and others classify them a protists.  The really interesting thing about them is that although they function autonomously during certain times, they can "team-up" and form giant blobs that can move like cat sized amoebas.  Pretty cool huh?  For example if a group of them are lining a pipe and conditions aren't good they could team up to form a blob and climb up into your sink.  People have found massive pulsating blobs in their backyard thinking they have discovered an alien or a new species only to be informed it's just slime mold.

Mausoleum vs. Museum

"A mausoleum is a large and impressive tomb, usually constructed for a deceased leader. Grant's Tomb in NYC is an example.

The word came from the Mausoleum of Maussollos, the tomb of King Mausolus, the Persian satrap of Caria, whose large tomb was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World."

The word "museum" comes from the Latin museum, plural musea, which is in turn derived from the Greek mouseion, which refers to a place or temple dedicated to the Muses, the patron divinities in Greek mythology of the arts.
It is said that there are more museums per person in Finland than in any other country in the world.

Source: Wikipedia

Seven Wonders of the World

Here is a cool site that talks about the seven ancient wonders of the world.
I can never keep them straight so this was insightful.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001327.html

Info from meeting on Thursday, 13 October

Professor Roundy- Ecology and wilderness land management

Land management is becoming more and more difficult as people move into
wilderness areas. In recent years the patterns of range fires have changed
due to over-management by humans and the importation of new plant species.

For example in the Great Basin area of Utah/Nevada a grass that was brought
over from the Mediterranean. Since this new grass has taken hold, the range
fire frequency has increased from 15-30 years to 3-5 years. The change in
the flora of the area brought on by the new Mediterranean grass is
responsible for this increased frequency.

Another example is that forest fires have become more intense and larger in
recent years. This is in great part due to the overmanagement of forest
lands. In an effort to protect lives and property, the fires are
extinguished too quickly and fuel begins to accumulate. When the fuel has
accumulated, an intense fire begins and cannot be extinguished and burns
uncontrolled.

There is a growing interest in using controlled fires to clear large areas
of wilderness land of accumulated fuel and promote a balanced, diverse
ecosystem. One interesting area of study is researching fire patterns by
studying scorch marks on trees. By examining the rings on trees both living
and dead, researchers can find out how often fires occur in that particular
ecosystem. This gives us direction of how to manage fires as closely as
possible to the area's natural cycle.

The nationl Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research is actually underneath the
football stadium of the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Another growing problem in the west is water management. As the population
grows in the arid regions of the west, there are more and more conflicts
over how water rights are divided. Of particular concern is the recent
growth of Las Vegas because the city owns few water shares. They are
looking into alternate ways of acquiring water including underground
resevoirs that are remanants of Lake Bonneville and desalinization of sea
water.

Other interesting things we learned that day:

Scorpions glow under black lights, the reason why is really not understood
although many speculations exist.

We also visited the DNA sequencing lab and learned about the process of
analyzing DNA samples.

Isaiah and Dead Sea Scrolls

Some knowledge shared by Donald Parry.

"And" is the most common word found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, New Testament,
and possilby the Book of Mormon. Check it out by turning to any random
chapter in the Book of Mormon and reading the first word of each verse.

Isaiah was a master at puns; unfortunately they aren't as obvious in English
as they were in the original language ?example: dual meaning of word
�borne?Isaiah 1:12

Acrostic poems (the letter 'n' was missing)

The book of Esther is missing in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

In the ancient language of the bible the text was written without vowels.
Some of these writings were mistranslated (Appear before God vs. See the
face of God).

Book of Mormon names found in other ancient manuscripts that are not the
Dead Sea Scrolls.

Cool thoughts on Color

Colors are a pretty cool thing.  Babies cry more in Yellow rooms.  The blue outfits worn by Roman public employees endure today in blue uniforms for police and other workers.  Green is easy on the eyes and can improve  vision!  No wonder it's my favorite.  Check out some interesting things on color.  http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors1.html

ancient bridge to Sri Lanka ?

Not too long ago, when the oceans were a few feet lower it appears there was an ancient bridge to Sri Lanka! Currently no ships can travel between India and Sri Lanka - it is too shallow!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rama%27s_Bridge

First Post

This blog was created to share interesting nuggets of knowledge. As we learn broadly we become well rounded and interesting, and we are able to talk anyone intelligently about their field of study. These are just a few benefits of never stopping to learn widely. So learn, post, and share your knowledge!