Month: January 2011

Day in brief

Wikipedia on common misconceptions

It is way too easy to get lost on Wikipedia.  Pages upon pages upon pages of information, with links to each other and to outside resources make time stop.  But once in a while one can stumble across a page that conveniently collects numerous bits of knowledge and wisdom in a lengthy item list.  Today I saw just such a page – List of common misconceptions.

Some of those misconceptions are well popularized by now.  Some I’ve seen before by accident (for example, “MythBusters” show on Discovery channel takes care of some).  Some are not at all important to me.  But some really surprised and shocked me.  After reading through the whole list, here are those that were new and surprising to me:

  • It is a common misconception among Americans that the signing of the Declaration of Independence occurred on July 4, 1776. The official signing occurred on August 2, 1776.  Never knew.
  • Napoleon Bonaparte (pictured) was not especially short. 1.68 meters.  I thought he was indeed short.
  • There is no evidence that Vikings wore horns on their helmets. This is the biggest shock to me.  No, really.
  • In ancient Rome, there was no wide-spread practice of self-induced vomiting after meals, and Romans did not build rooms called vomitoria in which to purge themselves after a meal. Vomitoria were tunnels underneath the seats of a stadium, through which crowds entered and exited.  I’ve heard this too many times and never heard anything of the opposite.  So I assumed it was true.  Better check next time.
  • Entrapment law in the United States does not require police officers to identify themselves as police in the case of a sting or other undercover work.  Every time I saw it in the movies, I thought it was stupid nonsense.  Turns out I was right.
  • When a meteor lands on Earth (after which it is termed a meteorite), it is not usually hot. In fact, many are found with frost on them.  Never knew.
  • It is a common misconception that seasons are caused by the Earth being closer to the Sun in the summer than in the winter. In fact, the Earth is actually farther from the Sun when it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere. Seasons are the result of the Earth being tilted on its axis by 23.5 degrees.  They taught me this misconception at school.  Back when I used to believe my teachers.  Damn it.
  • People do not use only ten percent of their brains.  I never believed this anyway.  Good to know I was right.
  • There is also no evidence that reading in dim light or sitting close to a television causes vision to deteriorate.  Again, I am surprised I was right.  Never ever did I believe this for a second.  And I had proof of my perfect vision.
  • Prolonged exposure to cold weather such as rain or winter conditions does not increase the likelihood of catching a cold.  I kept saying this for years.  Every time people looked at me like I am an idiot. I’m not denying that I am an idiot, but give me a break with the looks when I say at least something that is true.
  • Although it is commonly believed that most body heat is lost through a person’s head, this is not correct. The head loses as much heat as any other part of the body.  I was told this so many times that I almost believed.  Good thing I had my own data for not wearing a hat at -25C.
  • Humans have more than five senses. I always knew that we have more. I just was not smart enough to think of examples.  Thank you, Wikipedia.
  • Bulls are not enraged by the color red, used in capes by professional matadors. Cattle are red-green color-blind. It is not the color of the cape that angers the bull, but rather the movement of the fabric that irritates the bull and incites it to charge. This is new to me. And shocking.  I’ve seen an angry bull once.  I should have been more worried about my movements than my cloths.  I’m glad I survived to learn this.

Have you been surprised by any of the misconceptions in that page?

Bob, the fish

My son Maxim has been asking Santa for a gold fish.  Among a billion of other things, of course.  And while he wasn’t so sure about all those toys, he somehow was certain that Santa will bring him a gold fish this year.  For it was an almost done fact.  Something like tomorrows sunrise.  It’s not here yet, but you know for sure it’s coming.

Neither me, nor my wife Olga know anything about fish.  Except that it lives in the water and you can eat it in a variety of ways.  But fish as a pet is weird.   Still, we decided to go along with it.  So, for the New Year’s Santa did bring Maxim a small glass bowl for aquarium with a gold fish in it.

Maxim was overjoyed.  I think part of it was due to him expecting the gold fish for Christmas, and not getting it, sort of, downed his hopes a bit.  And then he didn’t find the aquarium under the tree for the New Year’s.  Santa was afraid that our cat will either eat the fish or knock off the aquarium and spill all the water, so he left the present on the table.  And Maxim just didn’t check there.  Yeah, I know, modern age kids.  Back in our day we’d check everywhere!  But I digress.

As I said, Maxim was very excited to have a fish.  He wanted to do things with – watch it, feed it, put more water in the aquarium, move the aquarium around, put more stones on the bottom of the aquarium, feed the fish again, and watch it some more.

By the end of the day, I noticed that the water in the aquarium wasn’t as crystal clear as before.  And the fish seemed to be swearing at us all.  At least it looked that way.  Now of course I think that the fish was trying to breath with its mouth.  Anyway.  Dirty water.  So I changed it – spilled half of it out and put some new water in.  The fish looked better.  But not for long.  The next day I felt like I need to change the water again.  And again.  And again.

Then it hit me – the Internet!  I had to read at least something about the fish.  Since I didn’t know which brand, model, class, or type this fish was, I just read a bit about gold fishes.  And even that little that I read made me worried.  Here is a list of things (I don’t dare call them facts yet) that I read:

  • Aquarium gold fish don’t exists in natural habitat.  They were created by humans for humans.  And while some of them are beautiful, they are very fragile.  One small mistake and the fish is dead.  One big mistake and the whole aquarium is cursed.
  • Aquarium fish is very sensitive to water.  Preparing and maintaining the right water is almost as hard as sending human to Mars.  Maybe not that expensive though.  Aquarium has to be prepared with water before the fish goes in.  Once the fish is in, it’ll take a couple of days for it to settle and adjust the water for itself.  And then that’s what you’ll need to maintain.
  • Gold fish needs a lot of space.  Suggestions varied between a 10 liters and 20 liters of aquarium space per each fish.  Our fish bowl was under 2 liters.
  • Gold fish are a common present for office competitions, birthdays, and other holidays.  But because most people don’t know how to take care of the fish, the fish usually survives only for 3-4 days.  Oops!

Well, at least we tried.  With water changing and everything.  But that didn’t help.  Today morning I woke up to a dead fish.  Bob-the-fish was its name.  And it survived in our custody from December 31st, 2010 to January 5th, 2011.  That’s almost a week. And somewhat longer than the average for a gold fish present.  Not even long enough for me to make a photograph of it.  Sad.

Today we’ll probably have a family meeting to decide if we want to try again.  And as much as I am for having pets in homes where children grow up, I am against torture and animal cruelty.  If we are to try, we’ll need better preparations this time.  We’ll need to learn something.  And we’ll need to get a bigger aquarium.  That’s for sure.