(submitted to Rob’s Megaphone)

By Dr. Jerry D. Wilson, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Lander University

          There are some 400 military and civilian satellites orbiting above us, along with clouds of debris – all traveling at thousands of miles per hour. NASA estimates there are 18,000 objects in orbit larger than a softball, 300,000 larger than a nickel and millions that are even smaller. They all lie in a zone called the Low Earth Orbit (LEO), which is 100 miles to 1,000 miles above the Earth.

          Where did all this space junk come from? We know how satellites got up there, but what about the debris? You guessed it – from satellites. For example, in 2007, the Chinese military shot down one its defunct satellites. (Well, not shot “down.” The pieces are still orbiting up there.) And, as you may recall, in February of this year, a 1,980-pound defunct Russian military satellite collided with a 1,500-pound phone network satellite. This left quite a few pieces “floating” around. The incident took place at an altitude of 490 miles.

          Can this space trash cause problems? Yes. Small pieces of debris might harm orbiting satellites, such as those of the GPS (Global Positioning System). In 1983, a small piece put a gash in a Space Shuttle’s window. Recently, the crew of the International Space Station was forced to take refuge in the escape module because of a close call with a piece of debris.

          Who controls the LEO space? No one, really. The United Nations has a Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, but they merely maintain a voluntary registry where nations can chose to reveal the orbital parameters of their satellites. The committee has no authority to create or regulate space highways.

          Are pieces of debris going to come raining down? Not likely. Most of the pieces in decaying orbits burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. The probability of a piece getting through and hitting someone is very, very low. There is one recorded instance of a piece of debris hitting a person. In 1997, a woman in a park in Tulsa, Okla., was hit by a piece of metal mesh from a spent Delta rocket, but there was no injury.

          This is all something to think about, but you needn’t wear a hard hat yet.

Update. One of the topics of a previous column was how rice put into saltshakers counteracts the humidity so the salt flows freely. I received a note from a column reader with another suggestion. Lisa Brown Price, who is originally from Saluda and reads the Curiosity Corner in the Saluda Standard-Sentinel, now lives in Central Florida, which she describes as the capital of humidity. She found that rice grains would sometimes escape from her large kitchen saltshaker, adding a bit of unwanted crunch to certain dishes. The solution: replace the rice with an egg noodle. Eureka! Rice escape problem solved along with no clumping of salt. (I haven’t tried this, so check it out. My salt-substitute doesn’t clump.)

C.P.S. (Curious Post Script):  Whenever man comes up with a better mousetrap, Nature comes up with a better mouse.  ~James Carswell

Curious about something? Send your questions to Dr. Jerry D. Wilson, College of Science and Mathematics, Lander University, Greenwood, SC, 29649

Twelve or more cows are known as a “flink.” A group of frogs is called an army. A group of rhinos is called a crash. A group of kangaroos is called a mob. A group of whales is called a pod. A group of ravens is called a murder.

Every time you lick a stamp, you’re consuming 1/10 of a calorie.

The phrase “sleep tight” derives from the fact that early mattresses were filled with straw and held up with rope stretched across the bedframe. A tight sleep was a comfortable sleep.

111,111,111 x 111,111,111=12,345,678,987,654,321

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

A snail can sleep for 3 years.

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, and purple.

Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them used to burn their houses down – hence the expression “to get fired.”

There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

HOW IMPORTANT DOES A PERSON HAVE TO BE BEFORE THEY ARE CONSIDERED ASSASSINATED INSTEAD OF JUST MURDERED?

WHY DO YOU HAVE TO “PUT YOUR TWO CENTS IN”.. BUT IT’S ONLY A “PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS”? WHERE’S THAT EXTRA PENNY GOING TO?

WHY IS IT THAT PEOPLE SAY THEY “SLEPT LIKE A BABY” WHEN BABIES WAKE UP LIKE EVERY TWO HOURS?

IF THE PROFESSOR ON GILLIGAN’S ISLAND CAN MAKE A RADIO OUT OF A COCONUT, WHY CAN’T HE FIX A HOLE IN A BOAT?

DO THE ALPHABET SONG AND TWINKLE, TWINKLE LITTLE STAR HAVE THE SAME TUNE?

WHY DID YOU JUST TRY SINGING THE TWO SONGS ABOVE?

Emeritus Professor of Physics
Lander University

(submitted to Rob’s Megaphone)

The Curiosity Corner on the Four Corners
The Four Corners is the only place in the United States where the boundaries of four states come together – Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. It is a popular tourist attraction and features a marker that marks the spot.

But the Corners are in trouble. The location was determined in an 1868 survey that established Colorado’s southern boundary line. Because of surveying errors, the four corner states’ intersection is approximately 2.5 miles west of the marker. That’s modern technology for you – GPS and so on. But in all fairness, the surveying was pretty good, given the crude instruments of the day.

What this means is that Utah and Arizona lost land in the original survey, and Colorado and New Mexico gained ground. Even so, there is serious doubt that the boundaries of the states will be changed.

Oh Ma
It is reported that the Chinese government is attempting to modernize its database of 1.3 billion people in order to replace hand-written identity cards with computer-generated ones. However, the government computers were programmed to read only 32,252 of the roughly 55,000 Chinese characters in which names are written.
One character is “Ma,” the 13th most common family name in China, shared by some 17 million people. Not only are the Ma families having trouble, there are about 60 million other Chinese whose name characters are missing. What does this mean? These folks can’t get their new identity cards unless they change their names. No more Fu Ma(n)chu.

C.P.S. (Curious Postscript): The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be. ~Paul Valery

Curious about something? Send your questions to Dr. Jerry D. Wilson, College of Science and Mathematics, Lander University, Greenwood, SC, 29649

CURIOSITY CORNER

By

Dr. Jerry D. Wilson

Emeritus Professor of Physics

Lander University

Trivia time. You gotta keep your trivia knowledge sharp.

* Four states do not allow billboards: Maine, Vermont, Alaska and Hawaii.

*Denmark has the highest income tax rates. Tax rates based on income run from 42 percent to 68 percent.

* Babe Ruth hit the first home run in Yankee Stadium in 1923.

* The steeplechase, a form of horse racing involving jumping fences and ditches, is so called because originally the race went from church steeple to church steeple, hence a steeplechase.

* The Canary Islands is not named after the canary (the bird), but after a breed of large dogs. The Latin name is “Canariae Insulae,” meaning “Islands of the Dogs.”

* The Tootsie Roll, introduced in 1896 by Leo Hirshfield of New York, was named after his daughter, nicknamed “Tootsie.”

* Aluminum foil began replacing tin foil in 1910. Some people still refer to aluminum foil as tin foil and use it to make tin foil hats. (Tin foil hats are supposed to shield the brain from electromagnetic fields and mind control. I know a couple of people who wear them.)

* Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.

* Cow’s milk contains 3-4 percent fat and butter 80 percent fat. Therefore, it takes about 21 pounds of milk to make a pound of butter. (Milk, like water, has a weight of about 8 pounds per gallon, so 21 pounds is 2.5 gallon.)

* The vice president’s residence in Washington, D.C., is located on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory. Historically, the VPs and their families lived in their own residences. But with the increasing cost of these Washington, D.C., residences, in 1974 Congress agreed to refurbish the house at the Naval Observatory as a home for the VP. Vice President Gerald Ford acceded to the presidency before he could use it, and his VP, Nelson Rockefeller, used it only for entertaining. Walter Mondale was the first VP to move in, followed by George Bush, Dan Quayle, Al Gore, Dick Chaney and currently, Joe Biden.

C.P.S. (Curious Postscript):  On quiz shows, some female contestants say “I have the best husband in the whole world.” How do they know? Have they tried them all?   ~Anon.

Here are some of my recent mental meanderings on mixed up meanings.

Confusing homophones

1.                  This bimonthly publication comes out every other month, and that bimonthly publication comes             

                              out twice a month. Both sentences are correct.

2.                  Loan (verb) me the money, or I’ll need to get a loan (noun)

Homophones that are antonyms

3.                  I buckle (bind) my seatbelt so I won’t buckle (fall apart) under pressure

4.                  This Christmas, we will have to trimfrom the real evidence.

Same phrase that means the opposite thing

6.                  Watch out for (look forward to) opportunities to volunteer, but watch out for (avoid) over committing.

7.                  Person 1: Did you see all the fuss about the new employee.  

                             Person 2: Tell me about it?

                             Person 2 could be saying “I already know” or “I want to know more”

Opposite phrase that means the same thing

8.                  The two houses met the same fate. This house burned up, and that house burned down.

Not true homophones, but stated orally, these sentences could be confusing.

9.                  I was thinking of moving a broad

10.              It is apparent that you are a parent

If you liked this you might also be interested in

1. Word Power

2. English is Nutty 5

3.Evolving Language

interesting words

 How many words are in your vocabulary? The average high school graduate is said to know about 10,000 words. The average 4-year college graduate is said to know about 20,000 words. Do you have room for any more words in your vocabulary?

 

 

 

Here are some interesting words, which you may not know.

Upon learning an interesting word, if you’re like me, you’ll be tempted to work it into a conversation to improve your vocabulary or just to see the expression on your friends’ faces. Since this is an online conversation, maybe you’re feeling a little motivated now.

If after reviewing this list of eight, you feel up for a challenge, please read through to the Word Power Exercise.

Eight Interesting Words

Zymurgy:  The art or practice of fermentation

Accismus: When you pretend not to be interested in something – when you really are

Snollygoster – A shrewd, unprincipled person, especially a politician

Josser – One not born to circus life

Tyrotoxism: To be poisoned by cheese

Winklepicker  a style of shoe worn by British rock and roll fans

Defenestrate: To throw out a window

Unobtanium: A material that is unobtainable, often because it doesn’t exist

Word Power Exercise:

See how many of these Eight Interesting Words you can include in a 50 word (or less) comment. The only two rules are: 1. Your comment must make sense, and 2. You may not use any of the words directly beside another one, such as in a list. Have fun, and add your blog address, so visitors can stop by and say Hi. For more word fun, check out my Eleven Interesting Words post here.

 Waiting my next batch to zymurgy, I was talking with a friend about a snollygoster, I find that accisumus.  This snollygoster was a josser.  They told me this snollygoster suffered from tyrotoxism.  My friend was dressed in an unobtanium winklepicker which made me feel like I wanted to defenestrate him.

Sensfaction: http://262291.blogspot.com

 Son, the worst form of josser is a snollygoster, from whom integrity is unobtanium, and who is more interested in zymurgy than even the trapeze. Their disinterest isn’t accismus; like those winklepickered punks in Clockwork Orange, they could defenestrate August Ringling and still have the appetite to dine unto tyrotoxism.

Drew  http://www.reddit.com/user/drewcamealong/

Politics are the pits these days. All the candidates are a bunch of snollygosters. I am sure some wish they got a case of tyrotoxism. They act so accismus in their speeches. They also try to look cool by wearing winklepickers.

 Mike  http://geography-trivia.blogspot.com

Recovering from a nasty case of tyrotoxism, I put on my winklepickers and set out to hoodwink a couple of jossers into divulging their zymurgy secrets. Then I ran into Colonel Fraudy, a local snollygoster usually out for cash. Sensing accismus on his part, I defenestrated the unobtanium. Close call.

Angry Max pterodactylpuke.com

The word SET has the most definitions of any word in the English language.

SET has 464 definitions in the Oxford English Dictionary.

Here’s how the others stack up:

RUN – 396 (defs.)
           GO – 368
          TAKE – 343
          STAND – 334
          GET – 289
          TURN – 288
          PUT – 268
          FALL – 264
          STRIKE – 250

set 1  v. set, set·ting, sets 1. To put in a specified position; place: set a book on a table. 2. To put into a specified state: set the prisoner at liberty. 3. a. To put into a stable position: set the fence post into a bed of concrete. b. To fix firmly or in an immobile manner: He set his jaw and concentrated on flying the plane through the storm. 4. To restore to a proper and normal state when dislocated or broken: set a broken arm. 5. a. To adjust for proper functioning. b. To adjust (a saw) by deflecting the teeth. c. Nautical To spread open to the wind: set the sails. 6. To adjust according to a standard. 7. To adjust (an instrument or device) to a specific point or calibration: set an alarm clock. 8. To arrange properly for use: set a place for a dinner guest; set a table. 9. To apply equipment, such as curlers and clips, to (hair) in order to style. 10. Printing a. To arrange (type) into words and sentences preparatory to printing; compose. b. To transpose into type. 11. Music a. To compose (music) to fit a given text. b. To write (words) to fit a given melodic line. 12. To arrange scenery on (a theater stage). 13. To prescribe the unfolding of (a drama or narrative, for instance) in a specific place: a play that is set in Venice. 14. To prescribe or establish: set a precedent. 15. To prescribe as a time for: set June 6 as the day of the invasion. 16. To detail or assign (someone) to a particular duty, service, or station: set the child to cleaning the closets; set guards around the perimeter. 17. To incite to hostile action: a war that set families against one another. 18. a. To establish as the highest level of performance: set a world aviation record. b. To establish as a model: A parent must set a good example for the children. 19. a. To put in a mounting; mount: set an emerald in a pendant. b. To apply jewels to; stud: a tiara that was set with diamonds. 20. To cause to sit. 21. a. To put (a hen) on eggs for the purpose of hatching them. b. To put (eggs) beneath a hen or in an incubator. 22. Sports To position (oneself) in such a way as to be ready to start running a race. 23. Sports To pass (a volleyball), usually with the fingertips, in an arc close to the net so that a teammate can drive it over the net. 24. a. To value or regard something at the rate of: She sets a great deal by good nutrition. b. To fix at a given amount: The judge set bail for the defendant at $50,000. c. To make as an estimate of worth: We set a high value on human life. 25. To point to the location of (game) by holding a fixed attitude. Used of a hunting dog. 26. Botany To produce, as after pollination: set seed.   For more definitions, visit freedictionary.com and search for set.

 

I wanted to pay it forward.

History Mystery 

 
  
Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846. 
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946. 

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860. 
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960. 

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights. 
Both wives lost their children while living in the White House.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday. 
Both Presidents were shot in the head. 

Now it gets really weird.

Lincoln ’s secretary was named Kennedy. 
Kennedy’s Secretary was named Lincoln . 

Both were assassinated by Southerners. 
Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson. 

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808. 
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908. 
  

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.

Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

Both assassins were known by their three names. 
Both names are composed of fifteen letters. 

Now hang on to your seat. 

Lincoln was shot at the theater named ‘Ford’. 
Kennedy was shot in a car called ‘Lincoln ’ made by ‘Ford’. 

Lincoln was shot in a theater and his assassin ran and hid in a warehouse.

Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin ran and hid in a theater.

Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials. 

And here’s the kicker… A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe , Maryland.

A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe.

Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

Let me know what you think.

Prestantia Pictures is Paul (www.paulsfunkystuff.com) Cruthcer and me, Robert (rob’s megaphone) Stevenson.

Paul and I work at Lander University; I am helping Paul, who is the mastermind behind this project,  tell the story of Lander University’s founder, Samuel Lander.

Related Links: Lander Forum Online

by Dr. Jerry D. Wilson,

Emeritus Professor of Physics, Lander University

Question: Is it possible for a U.S. citizen to have dual citizenship with another country?  (Asked by a curious column reader.)

Reply: Good question. Had I answered this off the top of my head, I would have said no, because I had always heard that U.S. citizens could only have our citizenship. And it was sort of that way, but no more. Here’s what I found out.

The first sentence of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, often called the “citizenship clause,” states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” (Naturalization through immigration.) The original intent of this provision passed in 1868 after the Civil War was to guarantee citizenship to former slaves and their descendents. Children of foreign diplomats are excluded, but foreign-born children of U.S. citizens are not. It is true that persons who become U.S. citizens through naturalization are required to state under oath that they renounce their old citizenship. However, the rub comes in with the laws of other countries. They may not recognize this and still consider the person to be a citizen of that country, so you have dual citizenship whether you want it or not. The U.S. was pretty strict about dual citizenship for quite a while. You can imagine the messes about voting, serving in the military and so on. However, most of the laws forbidding dual citizenship were struck down by U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 1967 and 1980. Basically, the court held that the “citizenship clause” prevented Congress from revoking a person’s U.S. citizenship without evidence of his or her intent to give up this citizenship. This allowed for dual citizenship, and the State Department, which has jurisdiction over these matters, was effectively under court order to ignore the old laws that were still on the books. The 1967 case involved a U.S. immigrant to Israel. Israeli laws confer Israeli citizenship for any Jewish immigrant without having to apply for it. The person in this case was alleged to have lost his U.S. citizenship, not because he had become an Israeli citizen, but because he had voted in an Israeli election. Citizenship in other countries may also be obtained through naturalization, for example in Canada. (In Canada, giving up the original citizenship requires signing special forms in the presence of Canadian officials … otherwise, you’ve still got it.)

So, there are our laws, and there are their laws (or sometimes “policies”). As you might imagine, there are all sorts of situations and ramifications. Here are a few concerning dual citizenship:

• You can serve in a foreign army (which is sometimes required by that country) without loss of U.S. citizenship, unless you are engaged in hostilities toward the U.S., commit treason against the U.S., or act with the intent of giving up your U.S. citizenship.
• Even if you were born in the U.S., with naturalized parents or grandparents, be careful on visiting the “old country.” You may still be considered a citizen there and subject to mandatory military service.
• Marriage to a U.S. citizen does not automatically confer U.S. citizenship on the foreign spouse, but he/she becomes an “immediate relative.” Obtaining a green card through an immediate relative is perhaps the fastest route to U.S. permanent residency. Under U.S. immigration law, an immediate relative is defined as the spouse, child (under the age of 21 years) or parent of a U.S. citizen. The biggest advantage of the immediate relative category is that it does not fall under the preference categories and there is no priority date backlog. An immigrant visa is always available under the immediate relative category.
• To serve as president, you must be a “natural-born citizen.” This might seem to imply that a person must be born in the U.S., but the first Congress extended this to children of citizens born overseas or out of the limits of the U.S. Examples:
• - Barry Goldwater, 1964 presidential candidate, was born in the Arizona Territory in 1909. (Arizona became a state in 1912.)
• - George Romney, 1968 Republican hopeful, was born in Mexico in 1907 to American parents who had moved there to escape anti-Mormon prosecution.
• - John McCain, 2008 Republican presidential hopeful, was born in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936 to American parents.

Speaking of presidents, here’s a trivia question. How many former presidents are not buried in the U.S.?

Answer:  Three. Carter, Bush, and Clinton. (They are all alive – tricky, tricky.)

C.P.S. (Curious Postscript):  Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice weaving.  ~Mignon McLaughlin

Curious about something? Send your questions to Dr. Jerry D. Wilson, Science Division, Lander University, Greenwood, SC, 29649, or for e-mail, jerry@curiosity-corner.net. Selected questions will appear in the Curiosity Corner. © JDW