Category: History & Literature

Posted in History & Literature

Baker’s Dozen

Posted on by Jinavie

A dozen is a counting term used to describe 12 of something. But when you have a baker’s dozen of bread, you have 13 pieces of baking, not 12. This may seem like a charitable gift from the baker, but the historical origin is somewhat different.

In the Middle Ages (particulary around the 13th century), baking was not an exact science and loaves of breads were made with varying sizes and weights. This made it easy for bakers to short the customer by giving them smaller loaves than what the customer needed.

To stop this, many countries implemented laws that prevented bakers from shorting the customer, usually by setting a minimum weight for a dozen loaves of bread. However, it is entirely possible for the baker to lose a few loaves of breads to accidental dropping, burning or thieves stealing them. Because the breads may come out smaller, it could not be guaranteed that a dozen loaves would be heavy enough to meet the guidelines – no matter how honest the baker was. To offset this, bakers began adding an extra loaf to ensure that they would not disobey the law (and pay a hefty fine or be seriously punished).

Another theory with less historical evidence is based on the shape of baking trays. Most baking trays are made in a 3:2 ratio and the most efficient way to place loaves of breads on these trays is a 4:5:4 hexagonal arrangement. This arrangement has the advantage of avoiding the corners, where the temperature will heat up then cool down faster, making the results less perfect. Therefore, bakers may have sold a batch of 13 loaves together instead of selling 12 and leaving one out.

Posted in History & Literature

Scribbling

Posted on by Jinavie

When we make a mistake while writing in pen, we usually scribble out the mistake. But whether you draw zigzags, spirals or scratch left and right, it is difficult to complete hide the mistake as the letters will show through the scribble. The brain has a fantastic skill of recognising letters, so it can read between the lines, so to speak.

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To truly obscure your mistake or to redact confidential information, the best way to scribble it out is by writing on it. If you write over your mistake repeatedly with random letters of the alphabet, it will completely obscure whatever word lies beneath.

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Posted in History & Literature

The Devil’s Interval

Posted on by Jinavie

(See below NB for a simple guide to musical notes and tones)

In music, depending on what notes you use in a single chord, you can produce beautiful harmonies as the tones complement each other. The opposite of this is called dissonance and it results in a harsh, unpleasant sound. A famous example of this is a tritone – a chord made from two notes exactly three whole tones apart. In a standard C major diatonic scale (which doesn’t involve any flats or sharps), there is only one tritone per octave: F and B. But on the chromatic scale (all keys), any number of tritones are possible.

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Historically, the tritone has been the black sheep of music theory due to its dissonance crashing any harmony of a song and being difficult to sing. It sticks out like a sore thumb among the sea of beautiful harmonies that other tones make. The tritone was hated so much so that it was named diabolus in musica (“the devil in music”) or the devil’s interval since the Middle Ages, even being banned in the production of music prior to the Renaissance. To this day, the tritone is suggested as an “evil”, “scary” sound.

Over time, composers worked around the tritone until they realised that thanks to the connotations, the tritone was a useful way to express “evil” in a musical way. The cultural association was exploited freely in works such as Franz Liszt’s Dante Sonata, where the tritone is used to depict Hell. The association is found in modern music as well to produce an unsettling feeling, such as the opening notes of Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze. The tritone is a common feature of heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath.

Even though these songs use the devil’s interval, they are not at all inferior to “normal” major scale music. They are still beautiful in their own, interesting way. Perhaps the notion of good and evil have no place in judging whether something is beautiful or not.

NB: Musical tones are noted using the alphabet: C, D, E, F, G, A and B, with a flat(b) to denote a semitone lower, or a sharp(#) to denote a semitone higher. This is easy to visualise on a piano keyboard, where a single tone interval involves a white key, a black key in between and another white key. The interval between a white key and a black key is a semitone.

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(Image: Portion of Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights depicting musicians’ hell)

Posted in History & Literature

Break A Leg

Posted on by Jinavie

In theatre, there is a superstition that wishing good luck to an actor or actress brings them bad luck instead. Because of this, theatre cast around all around Europe have traditionally wished bad luck on each other or cursed to counteract this. This superstition is likely the root of the phrase “break a leg”, which is an expression used to wish well for a person who is about to perform. Similar customs are found in other European countries, such as “merde!” in France (meaning “shit”). “Merde” is also used frequently in professional dancing circles, especially ballet dancers.

The exact meaning of the phrase is not known, but there are many theories. The “leg” may be referring to the side curtains of the stage. In the past, actors were not paid unless their act made it onto the stage. Therefore, “breaking” the “leg” – as in stepping past the curtains on to the stage – was an act of success and a guarantee of a paycheck. “Breaking a leg” may be referring to the act of bending one’s leg and bowing – something that is done repeatedly at the end of a show, especially if it was successful. More obscure theories include the story of a famous British actor in the 18th century literally breaking his leg while passionately acting out a scene from Shakespeare’s Richard III.

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Posted in History & Literature

Tea Etiquette

Posted on by Jinavie

The following are some etiquettes invented in Victorian England when the culture of tea drinking boomed:

  • Stir the tea with your spoon back and forth rather than swirling it
  • The spoon is placed behind the cup and never left in the cup
  • Hold the teacup by its handle between your thumb and fingers without curling your fingers in the hole
  • Holding out the little finger is not a traditional way of holding a teacup and can be considered rude
  • Never cradle the cup with your fingers, keep the saucer close to the cup instead
  • Sip instead of slurping
  • Never sip tea from the teaspoon
  • When drinking the tea, look into the teacup, never over it
  • When not drinking the tea, the cup should be placed on the saucer

The “pinky out” rule of fanciness likely came from a Roman tradition of a cultured person eating with three fingers, contrasting the commoner using five. It is likely that the “pinky out” rule is a misinterpretation of the “three finger” rule and a misguided show of elitism (or irony).

Of course, these “etiquettes” are merely arbitrary social rules imposed on what can be enjoyed however you like it, so unless you feel extra fancy, drink tea in whatever way you please.

Posted in History & Literature

Free Lunch

Posted on by Jinavie

In the late 19th century, there was a common tradition in American bars where they would offer a “free lunch” to people who purchased a drink. Although it seems like a good deal at face value, the lunches offered were quite salty, meaning that eating it will make you thirstier for another drink. On top of that, the price of the drinks would usually more than compensate for the price of lunch, while making the patron think he or she got a “free lunch”.

This is the free lunch referred to in the saying: “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch”. Nothing in life is free. If someone tries to tempt you with a free product, there will no doubt be a string attached in one way or another, such as a hidden cost. To have something, you must trade in an equal amount of something, such as time, money or work, or take it from someone else. Because you cannot make something from nothing. Such is the way of the universe.

Every resource is finite, meaning that you must make choices on how to use these resources. Every decision comes with an opportunity cost – the cost of not being able to use your resources for a different outcome. If you have $2, you can buy a bag of chips or buy a drink, but you cannot have both.

The most useful application of this principle is time. When you procrastinate or leave your work to tomorrow, you are not having a “free lunch” in the sense of having free time to yourself. You are borrowing that time from the future, as you will no doubt pay the cost of having to work harder or end up with a less comfortable life.

If that is the case, then how are we supposed to have the time to keep ourselves happy, when we have so much work and so little time? Economically speaking, the only way you can have anything close to a free lunch is by improving your efficiency. By being efficient, you reduce the time you spend doing work and you can gain more happiness while investing less time. For example, instead of procrastinating watching television, if you engage in your favourite hobby and enter a flow state, you will achieve far greater happiness for the same amount of time.

Posted in History & Literature

Marathon

Posted on by Jinavie

In 490BC, The Greek city states were hard at war with the almighty Persian Empire. One well-known battle (out of many) is the Battle of Marathon, fought between about 10,000 Athenian soldiers (with some Plataean reinforcements) versus 26,000 Persian soldiers. Despite the Persians having superior numbers and cavalry, the battle concluded with a decisive victory to Athens thanks to a well-implemented flanking strategy and the temporary absence of the Persian cavalry at the base camp. The battle was a turning point in the First Greco-Persian War and the crushing defeat drove the Persian invasion force off Greek lands for ten years.

The popular story goes that a runner named Pheidippides was sent from Marathon to Athens after the battle to bring the good news, as the people of Athens were still gripped in fear that the Persians would directly strike the city soon. It is said that Pheidippides ran a distance of about 40 kilometres back to Athens and on arrival cried out “We have won!”, then collapsed and died from exhaustion.
When the modern Olympics was being designed at the late 19th century, the organisers decided to use this story to inspire what we now call the marathon – a 42.195km endurance run. The story was to recall the glory of ancient Greece and the heroic act of Pheidippides (also referred as Philippides in some texts).

Unfortunately, the story is a romantic amalgamation of two separate stories. But then again, the actual story is just as incredible.
Despite the decisive Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon, the war still raged on and the Persians changed directions and headed for Athens instead. The Athenian army marched swiftly back home to pre-empt the Persian landing force. They marched 40km within a day – an amazing feat considering the fact that they just fought a massive battle and were armoured from head to toe.
The runner, Pheidippides, actually ran a distance of 225 kilometres from Athens to Sparta seeking reinforcements before the Persian army landed in Marathon (i.e. before the Battle of Marathon). He then ran back to Athens, meaning he ran roughly 450~500km within a few days. There is not much historical evidence of whether he actually ran this far in such short time but there are some anecdotal recordings.

The world record for the fastest marathon is 2 hours 3 minutes 23 seconds (as of 2014) by Wilson Kipsang of Kenya. The world record for the longest marathon ever run is set by Shiso Kanakuri, who started the marathon on July 14, 1912, during which collapsed from heat exhaustion around the 27km mark. He had to withdraw from the race, but could not bear with his “failure” all throughout his life. In 1967, he challenged himself again at the age of 75 to finish the remaining 15km, eventually setting the record time for the longest marathon ever run – 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes and 20.3 seconds.

Posted in History & Literature

Sweat Like A Pig

Posted on by Jinavie

The English idiom to describe profuse sweating is sweating like a pig. However, pigs lack the ability to sweat properly due to ineffective sweat glands, which is why they roll in mud to cool their bodies. The idiom is not wrong though, as it is not referring to the animal, but pig iron.

When refining iron, the iron ore is smelted in a furnace until it is liquid. As the liquid metal is extremely hot, it is poured into a mould where it can cool. The iron was set in a branching mould that apparently resemble many piglets suckling from a mother sow – hence the name: pig iron.

Back in the old days when technology was not as advanced, it was difficult to tell when the pig iron was cool enough to transport safely. This is where science came in handy. As the metal cools, the surrounding air reaches a dew point, causing droplets of water to form on the pig iron as condensation. The condensation made it look like the pig iron was “sweating”, hence the idiom. When the pig iron sweats, it is a sign that is cool enough to be moved safely without spilling and burning everything around it.

Posted in History & Literature

Bra Size

Posted on by Jinavie

Like most clothes, bras (brassieres) come in different sizes. But the sizing system can be quite confusing for men as it involves seemingly random digits and some “obvious” lettering grade, such as 34C.
The bra size gives away two pieces of information: band size and cup size.

Band size is the circumference of the woman’s ribcage, not accounting for the breasts. Each brand measures band size differently, but usually the measuring tape is placed around the woman’s torso under the breast where the skin folds, while some companies measure above the breasts. The number refers to the band size in inches, centimetre or dress size (e.g. 34″ = 75cm = size 10). A similar number is bust size, which includes the breasts. This is measured with the measuring tape around the torso and the fullest point of the breasts.

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The letter in the sizing refers to the cup size, which describes the breast volume. This is calculated by taking the difference between the bust size and the band size. For example, if a woman’s bust size is 36 inches and her band size is 34 inches, the difference is 2 inches and therefore, her cup size is C (UK system, in the US, it would be a B). The corollary to this is that a size “D” does not necessarily mean the woman has big breasts. A 28D will not be much bigger than a 32B, but the breasts will be bigger compared to the torso. In fact, band size will typically affect actual breast size more than the cup size. Cup size measurement differs depending on the country, with the US system being 1 inch larger. The following is a table showing what each cup size letter refers to:

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Bra size is not an exact science as there are many other factors such as physical constitution, breast shape, asymmetry and pendulousness. Some surveys show that up to 80% of store bra fittings result in poor fit, showing how difficult it is for women to even know their own proper bra size. As for men looking to buy a bra for their significant other, it will probably save you much effort and brainpower asking them instead of trying to work it out yourself.

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Posted in History & Literature

Martini

Posted on by Jinavie

A martini is a classic cocktail made from 3~4 parts gin and 1 part dry vermouth. It is then stirred in a mixing glass with ice cubes, strained then garnished with a green olive or a twist of lemon peel. It is most famous for being the drink of choice of James Bond – the most famous spy in the fictional world. Bond frequently orders a vodka martini (vodka instead of gin) and is famous for asking it to be “shaken, not stirred”.

The reason for his preference has never been given in the novels, but that did not stop Bond enthusiasts, martini connoisseurs and even scientists from investigating why Bond may have preferred a shaken martini as opposed to a stirred one.

When you shake a drink with ice, it becomes colder than when it is stirred for the same amount of time. This may be the main reason Bond liked a shaken martini (also called a Bradford), as a martini is typically served as cold as possible.

However, shaking a cocktail has some consequences. The vigorous shaking will introduce more air into the cocktail (“bruising” the drink), which makes it taste sharper and more bitter. The bubbles also makes the drink cloudier and have a different texture. Furthermore, shaking causes the ice to chip (as opposed to the much gentler stirring), which serves to make the drink cloudier and more diluted. Therefore, the shaking essentially makes the drink weaker.

An alternative theory as to why Bond asked for his martini to be shaken is that vodka was often made from potato more than grain prior to the 1960s. Potato vodka has an oilier texture and shaking helps disperse the oiliness and improve the taste.

A biochemical analysis of stirred versus shaken martinis reveal that shaking causes more hydrogen peroxide to break down, meaning a shaken martini leaves half the peroxide left in a stirred martini. The reduced hydrogen peroxide content results in more antioxidants, which has health benefits such as reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, cataracts and stroke.