The Book Of General Ignorance Part 2

Chameleons can rotate and focus either eye independently to look in two completely different directions at once, but they are stone deaf.

The Bible forbids the eating of chameleons.

How do polar bears disguise themselves?

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They cover their black nose with their white paw, don't they?

Adorable but unfounded, unfortunately. And they're not left-handed either. Naturalists have observed polar bears for many hundreds of hours and have never seen any evidence of discreet nose-covering or of left-handedness.

They like toothpaste, though. There are regular reports of polar bears wreaking havoc in Arctic tourist camps, knocking over tents and trampling equipment, all in order to suck on a tube of Pepsodent.

This may be one of the reasons the town of Churchill in Manitoba has a large concrete 'polar-bear jail'. Any bear moseying into town is apprehended and incarcerated there. Some serve sentences of several months before being released back into the community, embittered, inst.i.tutionalised and jobless. Formerly the morgue for a military base, it is officially designated Building D-20. It can hold twenty-three bears at a time. Polar bears don't eat during the summer, so some of the inmates aren't fed for months at a time. They're held until spring or the autumn their hunting seasons so that when they're released they go off fishing and don't just wander back to Churchill.

The earliest-known captive polar bear belonged to Ptolemy II of Egypt (308246 BC BC), and was kept in his private zoo in Alexandria. In AD AD 57, the Roman writer Calpurnius Siculus wrote of polar bears pitted against seals in a flooded amphitheatre. Viking hunters captured polar bear cubs by killing and skinning the mother, spreading her pelt on the snow, and nabbing the cubs when they came to lie on it. 57, the Roman writer Calpurnius Siculus wrote of polar bears pitted against seals in a flooded amphitheatre. Viking hunters captured polar bear cubs by killing and skinning the mother, spreading her pelt on the snow, and nabbing the cubs when they came to lie on it.

The scientific names can be a bit misleading. Ursus arctos Ursus arctos isn't the polar bear, it's the Brown Bear. isn't the polar bear, it's the Brown Bear. Ursus Ursus means 'bear' in Latin and means 'bear' in Latin and arctos arctos means 'bear' in Greek. The Arctic is named after the bear, not the other way around; it was 'the region of the bear', where bears lived and where the great bear in the sky, the constellation Ursa Major, pointed. The polar bear is means 'bear' in Greek. The Arctic is named after the bear, not the other way around; it was 'the region of the bear', where bears lived and where the great bear in the sky, the constellation Ursa Major, pointed. The polar bear is Ursus maritimus Ursus maritimus the sea bear. the sea bear.

The constellation Ursa Major has been identified as a bear by a number of cultures including the Ainu of j.a.pan in the east, the American Indians in the west and ourselves in the middle. Even though all polar bears are born, literally, under the constellation of the Great Bear, astrologically they are all Capricorns, born in late December or early January.

The Brown Bear is the same species as the Grizzly, which is the term applied to Brown Bears living in inland North America. Male and female bears are known as boars and sows, despite being about as closely related to pigs as koalas are to seals. Bears' closest relatives are actually dogs.

STEPHEN Ahh. They are beautiful animals, aren't they? You must admit they are very, very beautiful animals. Ahh. They are beautiful animals, aren't they? You must admit they are very, very beautiful animals.

ALAN Well, I'd certainly tell one he was beautiful if he came near me Well, I'd certainly tell one he was beautiful if he came near me ... ...

How many galaxies are visible to the naked eye?

Five thousand? Two million? Ten billion?

The answer is four although from where you are sitting, you can only see two; and one of those is the Milky Way (the one we're in).

Given that there are estimated to be more than 100 billion galaxies in the universe, each containing between 10 and 100 billion stars, it's a bit disappointing. In total, only four galaxies are visible from Earth with the naked eye, only half of which can be seen at once (two from each hemisphere). In the Northern Hemisphere, you can see the Milky Way and Andromeda (M31), while in the Southern Hemisphere you can see the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.

Some people with exceptional eyesight claim to be able to see three more: M33 in Triangulum, M81 in Ursa Major and M83 in Hydra, but it's very hard to prove.

The number of stars supposedly visible to the naked eye varies wildly, but everyone agrees that the total is substantially less than 10,000. Most amateur-astronomy computer software uses the same database: it lists 9,600 stars as 'naked-eye visible'. But no one really believes this figure. Other estimates vary from around 8,000 down to fewer than 3,000.

It used to be said that there were more cinemas (around 5,200) in the former Soviet Union than there are stars visible in the night sky.

At the Canadian web-site www.starregistry.ca you can have a star named after yourself or a friend for $98 CDN (or $175 CDN with a framed certificate). They list 2,873 stars as being visible to the naked eye. None of these are available as they already have historical or scientific names.

What man-made artefacts can be seen from the moon?

Deduct ten points if you said the Great Wall of China.

No human artefacts at all can be seen from the moon with the naked eye.

The idea that the Great Wall is the 'only man-made object that can be seen from the moon' is all-pervasive, but it confuses 'the moon' with s.p.a.ce.

's.p.a.ce' is quite close. It starts about 100 km (60 miles) from the Earth's surface. From there, many artificial objects are visible: motorways, ships on the sea, railways, cities, fields of crops, and even some individual buildings.

However, at an alt.i.tude of only a few thousand miles after leaving the Earth's...o...b..t, no man-made objects are visible at all. From the moon over 400,000 km (some 250,000 miles) away even the continents are barely visible.

And, despite Trivial Pursuit Trivial Pursuit telling you otherwise, there is no point in between the two where 'only' the Great Wall of China is visible. telling you otherwise, there is no point in between the two where 'only' the Great Wall of China is visible.

Which of these are Chinese inventions?

a) Gla.s.s b) Rickshaws c) Chop suey d) Fortune cookies Chop suey. There are many fanciful stories about its American origin but it is a Chinese dish.

In E. N. Anderson's definitive The Food of China The Food of China (1988), chop suey is named as a dish local to Toisan in southern Canton. They called it (1988), chop suey is named as a dish local to Toisan in southern Canton. They called it tsap seui, tsap seui, which means 'miscellaneous sc.r.a.ps' in Cantonese. Most of the early immigrants to California came from this region, hence its early appearance in America. which means 'miscellaneous sc.r.a.ps' in Cantonese. Most of the early immigrants to California came from this region, hence its early appearance in America.

Gla.s.s isn't Chinese: the earliest-known gla.s.s artefacts are from ancient Egypt in 1350 BC BC. The earliest Chinese porcelain dates from the Han dynasty (206 BC BCAD 220). Ancient China built a whole culture on porcelain, but they never got to grips with transparent gla.s.s. This is sometimes used to explain the fact that they never had a scientific revolution comparable with the one in the West, which was made possible by the development of lenses and transparent gla.s.sware. 220). Ancient China built a whole culture on porcelain, but they never got to grips with transparent gla.s.s. This is sometimes used to explain the fact that they never had a scientific revolution comparable with the one in the West, which was made possible by the development of lenses and transparent gla.s.sware.

The rickshaw was invented by an American missionary, Jonathan Scobie, who first used it to wheel his invalid wife through the streets of Yokohama in j.a.pan in 1869.

Fortune cookies are also American, though they were probably invented by a j.a.panese immigrant, Makato Hagiwara, a landscape designer who created the Golden Gate tearoom in San Francisco. He served small, sweet j.a.panese buns with thank-you notes inside from about 1907 onwards. Restaurant owners in the city's Chinatown copied them and the notes soon started to tell fortunes.

But who's complaining? Chinese resourcefulness has given us: the abacus, bells, brandy, the calendar, the compa.s.s, the crossbow, the decimal system, drilling for oil, fireworks, the fishing reel, the flamethrower, the flush toilet, gunpowder, the helicopter, the horse collar, the iron plough, the kite, lacquer, magic mirrors, matches, the mechanical clock, miniature hot-air balloons, negative numbers, paper, parachutes, porcelain, printmaking, relief maps, rudders, seismographs, silk, stirrups, the suspension bridge, the umbrella, the water pump and the wheelbarrow.

PHILL Was the rickshaw invented by a bloke called Rick Shaw Was the rickshaw invented by a bloke called Rick Shaw?

Where did Marco Polo come from?

Croatia.

Marco Polo (or 'Mark Chicken' in English) was born Marko Pili in Korcula, Dalmatia, in 1254, then a protectorate of Venice.

We shall probably never know whether he really went to the Far East as a seventeen-year-old with his merchant uncles or if he simply recorded the tales of Silk Road traders who stopped off at their Black Sea trading post.

What is certain is that his famous book of travels was largely the work of a romance writer called Rustich.e.l.lo da Pisa with whom he shared a cell after being captured by the Genoans in 1296. Polo dictated it; Rustich.e.l.lo wrote it in French, a language Polo didn't speak.

The result, which appeared in 1306, was designed to entertain, and it became a best-seller in the era before printing. As an accurate history its status is less secure.

Its original t.i.tle was Il Milione Il Milione 'the Million' for reasons that are now obscure, although it quickly became nicknamed 'the million lies', and Polo now a rich and successful merchant was known as 'Mr Million'. It was probably just a catchy thirteenth-century version of a t.i.tle like 'Wonder Book of Wonders'. No original ma.n.u.scripts survive. 'the Million' for reasons that are now obscure, although it quickly became nicknamed 'the million lies', and Polo now a rich and successful merchant was known as 'Mr Million'. It was probably just a catchy thirteenth-century version of a t.i.tle like 'Wonder Book of Wonders'. No original ma.n.u.scripts survive.

Marco Polo is also supposed to have brought pasta and ice cream to Italy.

In fact, pasta was known in Arab countries in the ninth century and dried macaroni is mentioned in Genoa in 1279, twenty-five years before Polo claimed to have returned. According to the food historian Alan Davidson, the myth itself only dates back as far as 1929 when it was mentioned in an American pasta-trade journal.

Ice cream may well be a Chinese invention but it seems unlikely to have been introduced to the West by Polo, as it doesn't get mentioned again until the middle of the seventeenth century.

PHILL A lot of people thought he was a Dalmatian. He was actually Irish. He was Marc O'Polo A lot of people thought he was a Dalmatian. He was actually Irish. He was Marc O'Polo!

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What is Croatia's most lasting contribution to world business?

The neck tie.

Hravat is the Croatian word for 'Croat' and it's where we get the word 'cravat' from. So, Croatia means 'tie-land'. is the Croatian word for 'Croat' and it's where we get the word 'cravat' from. So, Croatia means 'tie-land'.

In the seventeenth century Louis XIII of France kept a regiment of Croatian mercenaries during the Thirty Years War. Part of their uniform was a broad, brightly coloured neckcloth by which they became known. The flamboyant yet practical style became very popular in Paris, where military dress was much admired.

During the reign of Louis XIV, the cravat was replaced by a more restrained military Steinkirk Steinkirk, tied about the neck in a loose knot, but it wasn't until the reintroduction of the flowing cravat by dandies (or 'macaroni' as they were then known) in the late eighteenth century that individual styles of tying them became popular, the generic name then changing to 'tie'.

The relentless march of the tie through the twentieth century has made it the dress item de rigeur for men in all but the most casual of businesses. Bremer Communication, a US image consultancy, has divided the now ubiquitous 'business casual' into three levels: basic, standard, and executive. Only at the basic level is a tie not required, and they recommend that this is best restricted to 'those days when you have little customer contact or are taking part in an informal activity'.

In the late 1990s, two researchers at Cambridge University used mathematical modelling to discover that it is topologically possible to tie eighty-five different knots with a conventional tie. They found that, in addition to the four well-known knots, six other knots produced aesthetically pleasing results.

STEPHEN My prep school tailors were called Gorringe, funnily enough. My prep school tailors were called Gorringe, funnily enough.

SEAN 'Which 'Which ... ... which side does young Sir dress on?' which side does young Sir dress on?'

BILL 'Would Sir like to wear a cravat on the cross-country run?' 'Would Sir like to wear a cravat on the cross-country run?'

Who introduced tobacco and potatoes to England?

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It's not who you think it is.

Walter Raleigh, poet, courtier, explorer and Renaissance man, is a perfect example of how popular myths attach themselves to attractive characters. His fame now rests almost entirely on things he didn't do.

The first report of a smoking Englishman is of a sailor in Bristol, seen 'emitting smoke from his nostrils'. This was in 1556, four years before Raleigh was born.

Raleigh never personally visited Virginia or any other part of North America. It was a Frenchman named Jean Nicot, from whose name the word 'nicotine' is derived, who introduced tobacco to France in 1560, and it was from France, not the New World, that tobacco reached England.

Raleigh was a keen smoker and probably helped popularise the tobacco habit after he was introduced to it by Sir Francis Drake.

The term 'smoking' is a late seventeenth-century coinage; until then it was referred to as 'drinking smoke'.

Potatoes were known in Spain by the mid-sixteenth century, and probably reached the British Isles from Europe, rather than directly from America. As a member of the nightshade family the plant was a.s.sumed to be poisonous (as, indeed, the upper portions are). When Raleigh planted one in his garden in Ireland, his neighbours threatened to burn his house down.

Potatoes gradually caught on. By the middle of the seventeenth century the surgeon Dr William Salmon was claiming they could cure tuberculosis, rabies and 'increase seed and provoke l.u.s.t, causing fruitfulness in both s.e.xes'.

As for the cloak spread across the puddle for the Queen, the story originated after Raleigh's death with the historian Thomas Fuller. It only became famous as a result of Walter Scott's 1821 Elizabethan romance, Kenilworth Kenilworth.

Raleigh's name was spelt many different ways but it seems to have been p.r.o.nounced 'Raw Lie'. His first name was probably p.r.o.nounced 'water'.

He spent fifteen years on death row writing his projected five-volume History of the World History of the World but never got further than 1300 but never got further than 1300 BC BC.

After his execution, his head was embalmed and presented to his wife. She carried it with her at all times in a velvet bag until she died twenty-nine years later and it was returned to Raleigh's tomb at St Margaret's, Westminster.

Who invented the steam engine?

a) James Watt b) George Stephenson c) Richard Trevithick d) Thomas Newcomen e) A Heron from Egypt Heron (sometimes called Hero) takes the prize, some 1,600 years before Newcomen's engine of 1711.

Heron lived in Alexandria around AD AD 62, and is best known as a mathematician and geometer. He was also a visionary inventor and his 62, and is best known as a mathematician and geometer. He was also a visionary inventor and his aeolopile aeolopile or 'wind-ball' was the first working steam engine. Using the same principle as jet propulsion, a steam-driven metal sphere spun round at 1,500 rpm. Unfortunately for Heron, no one was able to see its practical function, so it was considered nothing more than an amusing novelty. or 'wind-ball' was the first working steam engine. Using the same principle as jet propulsion, a steam-driven metal sphere spun round at 1,500 rpm. Unfortunately for Heron, no one was able to see its practical function, so it was considered nothing more than an amusing novelty.

Amazingly, had Heron but known it, the railway had already been invented 700 years earlier by Periander, tyrant of Corinth. Called the Diolkos, or Slipway, it ran for 6 km (4 miles) across the isthmus of Corinth in Greece, and consisted of a roadway paved with limestone blocks in which were cut parallel grooves 1.5 m (5 feet) apart. Trolleys ran along these tracks, on to which ships were loaded. These were pushed by gangs of slaves forming a sort of 'land-ca.n.a.l' offering a short cut between the Aegean and the Ionian seas.

The Diolkos was in use for some some 1,500 years until it fell into disrepair around AD AD 900. The principle of railways was then completely forgotten about for almost another 500 years, until people had the idea of using them in mines in the fourteenth century. 900. The principle of railways was then completely forgotten about for almost another 500 years, until people had the idea of using them in mines in the fourteenth century.

The historian Arnold Toynbee wrote a brilliant essay speculating what would have happened if the two inventions had been combined to create a global Greek empire, based on a fast rail network, Athenian democracy and a Buddhist-style religion founded on the teachings of Pythagoras. He briefly mentions a failed prophet who lived at 4, Railway Cuttings, Nazareth.

Heron also invented the vending machine for four drachmas you got a shot of holy water and a portable device to ensure that no one else could drink the wine you brought along to a bottle party.

ALAN I know something interesting! Stephenson's Rocket went at 30 miles an hour, and they were sure if you went to 30 miles an hour or over, you would suffer irreparable brain damage. So they put fences alongside the tracks so that pa.s.sers-by wouldn't have to witness them just losing it. I suspect that the person who came up with that notion wasn't a medical doctor or anything like that; I suspect it was a fence-maker. I know something interesting! Stephenson's Rocket went at 30 miles an hour, and they were sure if you went to 30 miles an hour or over, you would suffer irreparable brain damage. So they put fences alongside the tracks so that pa.s.sers-by wouldn't have to witness them just losing it. I suspect that the person who came up with that notion wasn't a medical doctor or anything like that; I suspect it was a fence-maker.

Who invented the telephone?

Antonio Meucci.

An erratic, sometimes brilliant, Florentine inventor, Meucci arrived in the USA in 1850. In 1860, he first demonstrated a working model of an electric device he called the teletrofono teletrofono. He filed a caveat (a kind of stopgap patent) in 1871, five years before Alexander Graham Bell's telephone patent.

In the same year, Meucci fell ill after he was badly scalded when the Staten Island ferry's boiler exploded. Unable to speak much English, and living on the dole, he failed to send the $10 required to renew his caveat in 1874.

When Bell's patent was registered in 1876, Meucci sued. He'd sent his original sketches and working models to the lab at Western Union. By an extraordinary coincidence, Bell worked in the very same lab and the models had mysteriously disappeared.

Meucci died in 1889, while his case against Bell was still under way. As a result, it was Bell, not Meucci who got the credit for the invention. In 2004, the balance was partly redressed by the US House of Representatives who pa.s.sed a resolution that 'the life and achievements of Antonio Meucci should be recognized, and his work in the invention of the telephone should be acknowledged.'

Not that Bell was a complete fraud. As a young man he did teach his dog to say 'How are you, grandmamma?' as a way of communicating with her when she was in a different room. And he made the telephone a practical tool.

Like his friend Thomas Edison, Bell was relentless in his search for novelty. And, like Edison, he wasn't always successful. His metal detector failed to locate the bullet in the body of the stricken President James Garfield. It seems Bell's machine was confused by the President's metal bed-springs.

Bell's foray into animal genetics was driven by his desire to increase the numbers of twin and triplet births in sheep. He noticed that sheep with more than two nipples produced more twins. All he managed to produce was sheep with more nipples.

On the plus side, he did help to invent a hydrofoil, the HP 4, which set the world water-speed record of 114 kph (70.84 mph) in 1919 and stood for ten years. Bell was eighty-two at the time and wisely refused to travel in it.