Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: Why Can’t I Shoot My Favorite Painting?

December 6, 2015

Before the age of smartphones, most museums had a no-photo, not-even-without-flash, don’t-even-think-about-it policy. There were multiple reasons for shutting down shutterbugs: first, concern over copyright of artwork and nefarious reproduction; second, good security practice meant museums didn’t want would-be crooks conducting “research;” third, flashes degrade painting pigments and delicate works on paper over time; fourth—and maybe most surprising—looking through a viewfinder makes people clumsy. In other words, you’re more likely to back into a rare sculpture or fall into a priceless painting. Now that everyone has a sophisticated camera in their pocket, it’s a whole new ballgame, and museums are challenged to adapt. Many have embraced the crowd-sourcing potential of social media, letting people Instagram-away as a means of engagement and creative looking. Improved security systems have made casing the joint with a camera less of an issue, but distracted, selfie-stick wielding visitors remain a threat to collections. So, next time you say “cheese” in front of a Van Gogh or O’Keefe, just check the museum’s photo policy and take care. When you shoot artwork, don’t shoot to kill.

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Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: Can a Sheep Say They Never Forget a Face?

December 4, 2015

It’s a refrain uttered at many a cocktail party: “Oh, sorry, buddy I’m terrible with names; great at faces, though!” This might make Jim? Bill? Bob? Steve? feel a little unappreciated, but it is technically true. Humans can recognize hundreds, if not thousands of individual faces. Sheep, however? They may not fare as well at a high school reunion.

Studies have shown that sheep can only recognize the individual faces of up to 50 sheep. While their facial recognition skills are rather sophisticated compared to other animals, what if a sheep wants to see the world? Go to college? Start a 51-sheep dance troupe? Could get tricky. A team of British scientists put sheep’s memory to the test by showing them 25 pairs of sheep faces, with one out of each pair being associated with a food reward. After about 30 trials, sheep were about to correctly recognize the food-related faces 80% of the time. In the following weeks, sheep were shown photos of the same sheep, only this time the photos were of their profiles, rather than head-on shots. Sheep were still able to recognize the food-related sheep, even though they’d never seen them from that perspective before. However, these memories eventually began to fade and after 600-800 days, their recognition levels began to decline.

So if you’re going to upset a sheep, maybe wait a solid 800 days to come around again.

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Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: Is There Any Rhyme or Reason to Area Codes?

December 3, 2015

Most people know that ZIP codes are roughly geographic, but area codes seem a bit more random. Why is New York 212 while Los Angeles is 213? Turns out, it can all be traced back to the rotary phone.

Before 1951, all long distance phone calls required an operator’s assistance. Once operators were cut out of the equation, the phone system’s infrastructure was in need of an organized routing system. Since everyone used rotary phones, area codes were given out with dialing speed in mind. The bigger the city, the less time you have to wait for the numbers to loop around. New York’s 212 took only 5 clicks to register while Nova Scotia’s 902 took a whole 21.

Until recently, all area codes had either a 1 or a 0 in the middle number so local calls could still be dialed without the area code. (The central computer was programmed to know that a second digit of 0 or 1 meant an area code, so it would wait to receive all ten digits before making the call.) However, the addition of cell phones and countless new phone numbers made this an impossible standard to keep up.

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Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: Who Smashed the First Guitar on Stage?

December 2, 2015

Who smashed the first guitar? Yes, they did.

Pete Townshend, legendary guitarist of the classic British band first destroyed his instrument on stage in 1964…by accident. Soon, the Who was known for the instrument-smashing melees that punctuated their exuberant live shows, including Keith Moon’s exploding drum kit, live on the Smothers Brothers Show. Since then, the annals of rock history have been full of violent instrumental sacrifice, with other performers getting more and more inventive with their destructive showmanship: Jimi Hendrix set his Strat on fire at the Monterey Pop Festival, Keith Emerson abused his Hammond organ with a dagger he carried for just that purpose, and Kurt Cobain made an art form of reviving Townshend-style guitar sacrifice. Today, busted-up basses and six strings are mostly relegated to museum collections, but in the classic rock era, no axe was truly safe in the spotlight.

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Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: Is it Really All About That Bass?

December 1, 2015

It depends on the low-frequency context. A stand-up bass in a jazz trio can contribute to a soothing chill-out. The rhythmic bass line of your favorite workout jam can provide essential inspiration. But studies show that Low Frequency Intrusion (LFI)—sounds such as cars with giant sub-woofers that rattle the whole neighborhood—causes negative symptoms in unwitting listeners, including anxiety, decreased concentration, elevated blood pressure, increased heart rate, and insomnia. In other words, intrusive, booming bass is anything but music to many ears. But in other parts of the animal kingdom, low-frequency sound provides essential communication. Some whales use ultra-low notes in their “songs” to keep in touch with each other over great distances because long, low-amplitude sound waves hold their sonic integrity better over large distances in water. So, don’t be surprised if see a blue whale hanging out near the PA at your next rock concert—they’re all about that bass…and krill.

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Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: What puts the “X” in “X-Ray”?

November 30, 2015

Sure, there are rays involved, but why the X? The X-ray came to be almost by accident as professor Wilhelm Roentgen was experimenting with the conduction of electricity through low-pressure gases in 1895—as one does during a quiet evening at home. While using an induction coil and partially evacuated glass tube, he discovered a mysterious ray capable of lighting up a fluorescent screen a few meters away. When he passed his hand between the ray and the screen, he saw a shadow of his own bones. Rather than freaking out and questioning the meaning of life, as we’re sure we would have done, he calmly continued his experiment and found that the screen could be replaced with a photographic plate—thus beginning a revolutionary milestone in modern medicine. So why the x? To math lovers, it would seem obvious: x is used as the unknown quantity. And what could have been more unknown at that time than the inner workings of our own bodies?

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Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: Can it Rain Diamonds?

November 29, 2015

If you happen to be on Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, or Neptune, it sure can! Not that anyone has actually been able to observe this amazing phenomenon first hand, but planetary scientists think it’s likely that the gas giants of our solar system feature showers of diamonds along with their other amazing meteorological phenomena. The vast, gaseous spheres of these planets are plentiful in methane and other hydrocarbons. Epic lightning storms turn the methane into concentrations of carbon, which becomes graphite—and then diamond—as it falls through the crushing pressures of the gas giants’ atmospheres. What happens to these showers of Liz Taylor’s dreams? On colder planets like Neptune, they may pile up on the solid surface of the core (if it has one), but on hot giants like Jupiter, they may liquefy toward the core into lakes or seas of amorphous diamond. As the crew of Firefly might say: shiny!

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Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: What’s the Point?

November 28, 2015

Although mechanical voting machines are largely a thing of the past, you might remember the large, manual contraptions, their satisfying click as levers were pushed down, and a familiar symbol: little silhouettes of hands pointing to party lines. The symbol in question has gone by many names throughout history. Most commonly called the “printer’s fist” today, historically it also went by the name of manicule. William Sherman’s “Toward a History of the Manicule” points to the origins, use, and meaning of this handy icon. He notes that manicules (from the Latin manicula, or “little hand”) hail from 12th century Spain as a directional device in manuscript marginalia. But it’s not until the 18th or 19th century that the manicule becomes ubiquitous shorthand for “look here.” Sherman asserts that “printer’s fist” is printer-speak for the symbol, used extensively in pamphlets, broadsides and signage during the golden age of letterpress printing. And the printer’s fist is enjoying a resurgence in the letterpress revival. Transcending its original function as an anthropomorphic arrow, it has invaded pop culture–from Monty Python animation to contemporary typophiles’ tattoos.

The essence of the manicule / printer’s fist as universal pointer may not lie anywhere in its academic history. Rather, it may be man’s best friend who most clearly demonstrates the impact of the pointing finger. Recent research has shown that part of the long-standing, uncanny bond between dogs and people relates to canines’ ability to comprehend human gestures, including pointing. Not even our fellow primates have an innate recognition of this common gesture of non-verbal communication. Our interactions with dogs can teach us much about our own nature, including the power of a pointing index finger to convey direction and importance in both text and spatial situations. Got it? Good boy!

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