Here and There

Srsly.

But I have to give props to the Master. Now, if only I could ride those coattails …

The other day, I wanted to remember the story of how a mathematician and his son coined the term “googol,” referring to 1, followed by 100 zeroes (or, in mathematical notion, 10 to 100th power, or 10¹⁰⁰). I remembered the word being spelled like the company, but I guess that’s what years of pop culture and brand loyalty will do for you.

Anyway, as I was reading through the page on wikipedia (mepedia’s distant cousin, maybe you’ve heard of it?), I came across this. True, a lot of things are done, a lot of endeavors undertaken, journeys embarked upon, merely for the sake of it. But “googolplex” (1 followed by a googol of zeroes, or 10^googol) is not one of them.

Googolplex is deep, meaningful, real. Googolplex reaches out and touches you. You are googolplex. Learn to love it.

* Don’t ask me how (because I’ll explain in a moment), but I discovered today that one of two accepted plural forms of “vagina” is “vaginae,” pronounced Vuh-JIGH-nee. Hee hee. Snicker.

Okay, okay, so here’s how I found out the above item: Was trying to verbally catalog the female genitalia with my girlfriend, and naturally we consulted Merriam-Webster online.

* On that note, we also learned that the origin for “pussy” is related to that of the words “pouch” and “purse.” Kinda makes sense, eh?

So now it’s time for Here and There to clean up its act.

* My mom, fresh from a trip to Denali National Park, informed me very matter-of-factly the other night that “reindeer and caribou are the same animal.” Whoa, wait right there. When you say, “animal,” do you mean species, mom? “Well, the way it was explained to us was, a caribou is a nondomesticated reindeer.” Whoa, whoa, whoa, reindeer are domesticated? Reindeer actually exist? “Look it up. I’m just the messenger.”

Sure enough, when you wiki “caribou,” you’re lead to the entry for “reindeer,” whereupon you’re informed that they are members of the same family, and that, yes, mom, reindeer are domesticated caribou. Moose are members of the Cervidae family as well.

Here’s the rub, though: deer deer (think Bambi) is composed of the entire family Cervidae, which includes brockets, pudus, reindeer/caribou, and moose. Wow.

* I recall hearing something about this before (maybe on my parents’ last visit, as they love to tout all things Texas), but Fort Worth, my hometown, is experiencing a boom these days thanks largely to the discovery of natural gas in something called the Barnett Shale formation, which the city was built atop. Apparently the discovery, coupled with a rather new ability to drill horizontally, is making a lot of Texans rich.

* The theme here is “Mom Told Me So.” Last night over drinks at the splendorous San Francisco Hyatt, she told me about some catholic-priest-marriage-loophole, wherein a married Episcopalian minister can convert to Catholicism and stay married!!!

It’s a tough one to verify, but here are some clues.

* Courtesy daring fireball, the itso. (love it)

* I grew up wondering exactly what “gig ‘em” meant, in the sense of the Texas A&M sports slogan, “Gig ‘em, Aggies.” Mom did the favor of explaining, by way of dropping a “TCU rules” reference in there, that the term was coined during a football game between A&M and TCU, in which Aggie fans told their team to “gig ‘em,” a reference to a method of killing frogs. Yes, TCU’s mascot is the frogs.

* Sorry to incur another sports reference here, but I also learned the origin of the name of my college’s mascot, Bevo. Wiki dispels what was discussed last night, that some time way back University of Texas mascot (a longhorn bull) was stolen by students of the then-named Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas. He was branded “13-0,” which was the score by which A&M beat UT years before. UT students then got the longhorn bull back and changed the brand to “Bevo.” Crazy? Dumb? Yes, yet I’m interested.

A few tidbits I picked up yesterday:

* Finished an article in the August 20, 2007, issue of The New Yorker about Asperger’s syndrome, a mild form of autism. The author, someone with the condition, describes its symptoms, which include “early precocity, a great ability to maintain masses of information, a lack of ability to mix with groups in age-appropriate ways, ignorance of or indifference to social norms, high intelligence, and difficulty with transitions, married to a preternatural ability to concentrate on the minutia of the task at hand.” Wow.

I read the article, well, because I try to read as much of the magazine as I have time for, but also on the specific recommendation of a coworker, who suggested another coworker had the condition. Ha!

* Late one night at work recently, I approached a third coworker for some small talk before the end of the shift. He’s an avid wikipeder, and had up on his monitor the “Platypus” entry. “Did you know they can sting with their tails?” he asked me. Apparently, these aquatic mammals have a venomous spur in their hind feet that can hurt people pretty badly. I remember a few years ago when I watch Sir David Attenborough’s Life on Earth series.

* Talked last night with my parents, who just returned from their first trip to Alaska. They saw Mt. McKinley, commonly known to be the highest point in all of North America, at 20,320 feet above sea level. What I learned is that to most Alaskans, the mountain is known simply as “Denali.” As in the SUV. As in the national park. Good to know.

* How are SPF levels determined? From listening to the Slate Explainer podcast, which I do from time to time: So what they do is get a little study group together, made up entirely of people who burn easily. There’s a scale for skin type, a spectrum ranging from blondes and redheads all the way to dark brown skin. The ones they use for the tests are on the light end, naturally. They simulate UV rays on a small patch of subjects’ skin, and see how long it takes to burn. Then they repeat the experiment with the product being tested and record the time it takes to burn. After a simple bit of math, they derive the SPF.

* The origin of the word “galaxy.” From a photo caption in the latest New Yorker. It comes from the Greek word for “milk,” or “galakt,” according to wikipedia.

* Not learned as much as reminded: “Your Love” (”I Don’t Want to Lose Your Love Tonight”) was written and performed by a band called The Outfield (who, amazingly, are still together). Heard the song at a bar the night before, and couldn’t for the life of me remember who it was.

This is the first installment of a new feature on Here and There, tentatively titled “mepedia.” I hope you enjoy.

These are some of the things I learned yesterday, Monday, August 13, 2007:

* Karl Rove will resign from the Bush administration at the end of August. Reactions are expected and generic, but my insight is that the “family” excuse is to politics what the “busy” excuse is to the rest of us. Sort of. At least in its transparency.

* Brooke Astor dies. Okay, “news” of a 105-year-old woman dying isn’t exactly, well, news. But I’d like to give my boss props for calling this one the night before (Sunday) on, as far as I can tell, absolutely no evidence. He also mentioned some friends of his at The New York Times who had Astor and Pavarotti on their death watch. Luciano lives another day.

* Finished an article in the August 13, 2007 issue of The New Yorker about Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, a rare, fucked-up disorder found only in males in which the sufferer is compelled to destroy himself. It manifests most readily in the eating of the fingers and lips. Article mentions a spectrum of self-mutiliating behavior that encompasses a bad habit of mine: eating cuticles till they bleed. Help! Danger!

* After going over a story on transit-oriented development somewhere in the Peninsula (in the city of San Mateo, I believe), a coworker told me about the idea of arcology, or massive structures of huddled humans living in a sustainable, ecologically sound way.

* From visiting the wikipedia page on arcology, I found the concept of the count noun, such as “cattle” or, formerly, “fish.” Never knew that term, but it’s handy for making people think I’m some kind of grammarian.

* Toward the end of the shift last night, a coworker informed me of Van Halen’s reunion tour, which former bassist Michael Anthony will unfortunately not be taking part in thanks to his sacking by Eddie van Halen earlier this year. The younger van Halen brother replaced the band’s longtime bassist (and proud purveyor of the Jack Daniels bass guitar) with none other than his own son, 16-year-old Wolfgang van Halen. Natch.

* Read somewhere that the new Minneapolis bridge(s) will have five lanes each way. Well, the smaller bridge didn’t work, so what else to do but build bigger??

* Another New Yorker tidbit: From James Surowiecki’s Financial Page, learned the term rent-seeker, describing “a company [that] seeks to manipulate economic conditions rather than actually create value.” Sounds vaguely familiar.

* Finally, began an article in the same New Yorker about elaborate, highly lucrative European olive oil scams. Learned a little about the process of making olive oil, which the author describes as similar to juice extraction. Also learned that olives are closely related to cherries and plums (and mangoes, which the author omitted), all of which are known as drupes. Nice word.