encyclopaedia – Page 69 – Jineral Knowledge

Locust

Posted on 20/02/201111/02/2019 by Jinavie

Locusts are a well-known symbol of destruction. The path of a locust swarm is bound to be left bare with nothing in sight. The most amazing feature of this insect is its reproductive abilities, which can be considered explosive. Furthermore, increased tactile stimulation of a locust’s hindleg causes it to release a neurotransmitter called serotonin, which causes mutual attraction, change of colour and increased consumption of food, thus priming them for reproduction. This allows them to reproduce even faster as the population grows, letting it easily reach numbers of billions in a short time. A large population then causes the locusts to swarm and migrate, and some species can cover distances of up to 500km. These swarms have been known to cover over 1000 square kilometres of land, and any food source in its path is instantly eaten up and used as fuel for reproduction. Because of this, locusts have become an icon of horror and destruction since ancient times as it can destroy crop fields within a matter of hours. This symbol is employed by the bible also, for example as the eighth plague of Egypt.

In some ways, a locust swarm can be seen as natural selection at its best. Explosive reproduction and voracious appetite is the basics of survival, skills that allow a species to beat the fierce competition of “the survival of the fittest”. Although humans curse locusts for destroying crop, they are not the only species that breed thoughtlessly and consume all resources in their path.

History & Literature

Toast

Posted on 19/02/201111/02/2019 by Jinavie

A toast, which is a must when drinking, symbolises friendship, community and love, and an important ritual of building trust. This ritual originates from kings, whilst feasting, clashing their goblets together to mix the drinks, thus proving that they did not poison each other’s drink.

Ergo, the ritual that symbolises “trust” originates from the meaning of “I will not kill you”.

As an addendum, Ancient Romans used to also add pieces of burnt bread into glasses of wine because people were led to believe that charcoal reduced acidity in wines. Hence the origination of the term “toast”. The act of toasting, however, came from ancient Greece.

Science & Nature

Making A Human

Posted on 18/02/201111/02/2019 by Jinavie

What ingredients are needed to make a human being?

Water 35L
Carbon 20kg
Ammonia 4L
Lime 1.5kg
Phosphorous 800g
Salt 250g
Niter 100g
Sulfur 80g
Fluorine 7.5g
Iron 5g
Silicon 3g
And traces of 15 other elements such as zinc, copper, magnesium etcetera.

To buy all of the above ingredients costs less than $5 USD.

Philosophy

Evidence

Posted on 17/02/201111/02/2019 by Jinavie

When a person dies, what do they leave in the world? As an old proverb states, tigers leave their hide after death and people leave their name after death. Little is left after death: bodies slowly decay and return to the ground, wealth is split up and taken by others. If you think about it, the only thing that remains as evidence that the person existed is their name, and people’s memories regarding that name. Official records or photos can be lost among time and forgotten about, but a strong bond between people is hard to forget.

But as even memories fade away, a person who you met once or twice will be forgotten eventually. Therefore, a person who never was close to people or make an impact in someone’s life would “not have existed” to anyone other than a select few, such as family. Therefore, his or her life would have had no meaning, as it may have never existed. Although some may argue that there would have been meaning while the person was alive, there is no greater meaning outside of the past and present, with no impact in the future.

However, if one is close to many people and actively leaves some mark in someone’s life, they will be remembered for those “marks”. In other words, the way people see you is how you will be remembered after death, and by extension, it will define who you were. If you were generous and kind, you become a “good person” forever, but if you did not interact with people or treated them with little respect, you are then defined as a “not so good person”, or even worse, not defined at all. This is regardless of what kind of person you are on the inside, as that would be completely destroyed after death.

The main point of this thought process is that if you do not leave some evidence that you existed, more specifically a good mark, whatever you did in your life will be meaningless. One could accomplish a great feat and have their name known across the world, or leave a work of art or literature that will be seen and read, or even just befriend many people and leave an everlasting impression of yourself in their mind.

But if you do not want your life to have any impact on the future, there is the option of simply enjoying the present and disappear as Andersen’s Little Mermaid did.
Ergo, it is ultimately your choice whether you want to leave a mark in the world or not.

Life & Happiness

A Little

Posted on 15/02/201111/02/2019 by Jinavie

There’s always a little truth behind every “just kidding”

A little knowledge behind every “I don’t know”

A little emotion behind every “I don’t care”

And a little pain behind every “It’s okay”

Psychology & Medicine

Love And Heartbeats

Posted on 15/02/201111/02/2019 by Jinavie

A thumping heart is often quoted as the first sign of love – a way of your body telling you that the girl or boy in front of you is what you desire.
But does love come first or does your heartbeat come first?

Although most people believe that their heart is beating faster because they’re in love, science proves that it is in fact the opposite.
An experiment was designed where male subjects were asked to answer a questionnaire given out by an attractive woman. One group had to cross a very long suspension bridge first, the control group had to cross the same distance on flat, solid ground. It was found that men from the first group were more likely to complete the questionnaire, give answers that were more romantic and sexual, and even call the survey girl afterwards.

Similarly, a group of men were shown four women while being connected to headphones that played back their own heart sounds. They were then asked to rate which girl was the most attractive.
After the experiment, it was found that the third girl received a landslide win, despite the different tastes of each man in the group. When asked, the subjects all replied that they heard their heart speeding up, thus believed that they found her the most attractive.
The twist was, when the third girl was shown, the audio was changed from the subject’s heartbeat to a pre-recorded heartbeat that beat faster than normal. Therefore, the men were fooled into thinking that the girl was more attractive by “increasing” their heart rate. This phenomenon was found in women also.

The answer to the question is that dopamine and serotonin, neurotransmitters secreted when a person is in love, also has the effect of increasing one’s heart rate. The brain therefore can misinterpret an increased heart rate as the effect of love through false association.
This effect is quite well known in dating tips as people are encouraged to go to places that invoke fear or excitement, such as an amusement park, horror movie, or high place to gain the best response from the opposite sex.
Ergo, science does play a role in love and just like anything else, it can be easily manipulated.

Psychology & Medicine

Forer Effect

Posted on 14/02/201103/01/2024 by Jinavie

Read the following passage, and rate out of 5 how accurately it describes you:

You have a great need for other people to like and admire you. You have a tendency to be critical of yourself. You have a great deal of unused capacity which you have not turned to your advantage. While you have some personality weaknesses, you are generally able to compensate for them. Disciplined and self-controlled outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept others’ statements without satisfactory proof. You have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted, affable, sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, reserved. Some of your aspirations tend to be pretty unrealistic. Security is one of your major goals in life.

Does it fit your personality quite closely? Interestingly, in a study of 150 university students, the average score given was 4.26 out of 5. This is actually composed of pieces of horoscopes by the psychologist Bertram R. Forer, who studied the psychology of horoscopes. As one could see (on retrospect), the above paragraph involves many sentences that would fit almost everyone.

It is through these broad yet somehow specific-sounding statements and the human psychology that the words describe exactly who they are that allow horoscopes and fortune tellers to gain such a profit.

Zodiac by Alphone Mucha (1869)

Philosophy

Butterfly Dream

Posted on 13/02/201111/02/2019 by Jinavie

Zhuangzi was a philosopher whose writings are still famous for their deep and influential thoughts. The following is one of the most famous stories he tells, questioning the concept of reality and mind:

One day I dreamt that I was a butterfly, flying freely and doing what I pleased, without knowing that I was Zhuangzi.
But when I woke up, I was Zhuangzi without a doubt.
So did Zhuangzi dream of being a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming of being Zhuangzi?

History & Literature

Logic

Posted on 12/02/201111/02/2019 by Jinavie

The following logic problem was set by Einstein, who said that 98% of the world would not be able to solve it.

There are five houses of five different colours.
In each house lives a person with a special nationality.
The five owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain
brand of cigars, and keep a certain pet.
No owner has the same pet, smokes the same cigar, or drinks the same beverage.

The question is: Who owns the fish?

Hints:

The Brit lives in the red house.
The Mexican keeps dogs as pets.
The Chinese drinks tea.
The green house is on the left of the white house.
The green house’s owner drinks coffee.
The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhills.
The man in the centre house drinks milk.
The American lives in the first house.
The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
The man who keeps a horse lives next to the man who smokes Dunhills.
The owner who smokes Bluemasters drinks beer.
The German smokes Prince.
The American lives next to the blue house.
The man who smokes Blends has a neighbour who drinks water.

History & Literature

Palindrome

Posted on 11/02/201111/02/2019 by Jinavie

A palindrome is a word or sentence which can be read both ways and still be exactly the same. This type of mirroring can be found in words such as radar or level, or in more advanced sentences such as “Was it a rat I saw?”.
The following is an example of how far a palindrome can be taken.

The Faded Bloomer’s Rhapsody

Flee to me, remote elf — Sal a dewan desired;
Now is a Late-Petal era.
We fade: lucid Iris, red Rose of Sharon;
Goldenrod a silly ram ate.
Wan olives teem (ah, Satan lives!);
A star eyes pale Roses.

Revel, big elf on a mayonnaise man —
A tinsel baton-dragging nice elf too.
Lisp, oh sibyl, dragging Nola along;
Niggardly bishops I loot.
Fleecing niggard notables Nita names,
I annoy a Man of Legible Verse.

So relapse, ye rats,
As evil Natasha meets Evil
On a wet, amaryllis-adorned log.
Norah’s foes’ orders (I ridiculed a few) are late, Pet.
Alas, I wonder! Is Edna wed?
Alas — flee to me, remote elf.

– Howard W. Bergerson

It is interesting to note that there have even been a couple of novels written that are completely palindromic.

Another interesting literature technique is called a semordnilap. This is a word or a phrase that reads something completely different when read in reverse (a keen reader may note that “semordnilap” is “palindromes” spelled backwards). Examples include live/evil, star/rats and stressed/desserts (ironically).