• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

11

According to the many billboards dotted along I-15 advertising the Mad Greek Cafe.

12

Othello, act III, scene 3, line 365.

13

You will find a mathematical breakdown of this process in appendix 1.

14

Physicists are probably freaking out reading this, since they habitually use p to denote momentum, having already assigned m to denote mass in their equations. But it’s the context that gives the variable meaning, so for now, I’m sticking with p.

15

The eighteenth-century mathematician Johann Bernoulli, whom we will meet in chapter 8, also appreciated the difficulty. “But just as much as it is easy to find the differential (derivative) of a given quantity, so it is difficult to find the integral of a given differential,” he once wrote. “Moreover, sometimes we cannot say with certainty whether the integral of a given quantity can be found or not.” † The derivative of ax N is anxN-1 (a times n times x times xN-1) for any constants a and n. Likewise the integral of ax N is equal to . Now aren’t you sorry you asked?

16

Yes, a Prius can get up to those speeds, as we learned in 2007 when former vice president Al Gore’s son was pulled over for going 110 mph in his hybrid. And the car’s sleek aerodynamic shape means it has a lower drag coefficient than, say, the boxy Scion xB.

17

It may very well be safer to drive more slowly, according to a 2008 study by scientists at the University of Adelaide in Australia. They found that the risk of serious injury or death from a car crash doubles for every 5 km/h above 60 km/h. So if you’re traveling at 65 km/h, you are twice as likely to be involved in a serious or fatal crash; at 70 km/h, that risk is four times as high. This is because drivers need at least 1.5 seconds to respond to a perceived danger, and the faster one travels, the less time there is to react.

18

“Einstein is gambling as if there were no tomorrow,” an eminent physicist is said to have remarked. His companion replied, “What troubles me is that he may know something!”

19

According to Dominic, the origin of the term eighty-sixed dates back to the days when the Mafia ran Vegas casinos. Whenever cheaters were caught, the pit boss would instruct his henchmen to “eighty-six that guy”—code for taking the victim eight miles out of town and burying him six feet under.

20

Crapaud is French for “toad,” you see, and the French are oh-so-fond of eating plump, juicy frog legs sautéed in butter and lots of garlic. An alternative theory is that the name is a corruption of a losing throw in hazard, called crabs, but that explanation lacks the jaunty panache of the crapaud theory.

21

In May 2009, a middle-aged woman from New Jersey named Patricia Demauro set a new record for the longest craps roll in recorded history: four hours and eighteen minutes. It was only her second time playing craps. She finally lost after 154 rolls of the dice.

22

Legend has it that the American Physical Society once held its annual meeting in Las Vegas. The assembled physicists shunned all the usual decadent delights: show-girls, hookers, blackjack, roulette, craps, and copious amounts of alcohol, plus they were lousy tippers. There wasn’t a single barroom brawl. The city made so little money, the APS was asked never to come back to Vegas. Now the society holds its major meetings in more sober, straitlaced places like Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Denver.

23

Apparently Disney was forced to choose between working water fountains or running toilets, and he wisely chose the latter. That didn’t stop the ungrateful crowds from accusing him of deliberately sabotaging the water fountains to sell more soda (Pepsi had sponsored the park opening).

24

A group of British adrenalin junkies formed the Oxford University Dangerous Sports Club and leaped from Bristol’s 250-foot Clifton Suspension Bridge in 1979. They were promptly arrested, but undeterred: They went on to jump from the Golden Gate Bridge, mobile cranes, and hot-air balloons.

25

Check out appendix 1 for