Even More Mental Floss


 

Even More Mental Floss

28) Transliteration is the process of writing out phonetically in one alphabet the sound of a word or proper noun from another alphabet. We English speakers, for example, transliterate names from the Cyrillic or Arabic or Hebrew or Greek alphabets into the Roman alphabet so that we can pronounce them. Why, then, are several transliterated names from Arabic written with a Q not being followed by a U, in violation of English rules? How is one supposed to pronounce Qatar, for example?

29) Midnight is the boundary between two days. To which day does it belong? Is it the last moment of the old day or the first moment of the new?

30) Why are rainbows curved? Can one see a rainbow at noon? Why / why not?

31) If a colored cloth gets wet, the color turns darker. As it dries, the color turns lighter again. Why?

32) How could one devise a clinical trial to test a new placebo? Should a placebo carry an expiration date?

33) What is fire?

34) If wax is the fuel in a candle, why do we need a wick? What purpose does it serve?

35) Why is a candle extinguished when we blow it out?

36) If you wanted to throw out your old garbage can, how could you get the Sanitation Department to take it away?

 

37)  When we are told that a river is N feet above flood stage, I take that to mean that if N foot walls were erected all along the banks of the river, it would no longer flood.  How is this number N determined? 

 

38)   When a new diagnostic test is being developed for a new disease, how do we know if it is accurate?   If we don’t know the true diagnosis, how can we say that the test results are correct or not?

 


Home PageTable Of ContentsE-Mail