The Monty Hall Problem and The Birthday Problem

The Monty Hall Problem

The Monty Hall problem is a probability puzzle loosely based on the American television game show Let's Make a Deal and named after the show's original host, Monty Hall. The problem, also called the Monty Hall paradox, is a veridical paradox because the result appears odd but is demonstrably true. The Monty Hall problem, in its usual interpretation, is mathematically equivalent to the earlier Three Prisoners problem, and both bear some similarity to the much older Bertrand's box paradox.

The problem was originally posed in a letter by Steve Selvin to the American Statistician in 1975. (Selvin 1975a) (Selvin 1975b) A well-known statement of the problem was published in Marilyn vos Savant's "Ask Marilyn" column in Parade magazine in 1990 (vos Savant 1990):

Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1 [but the door is not opened], and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, "Do you want to pick door No. 2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?

Vos Savant's response was that the contestant should always switch to the other door. If the car is initially equally likely to be behind each door, a player who picks Door 1 and doesn't switch has a 1 in 3 chance of winning the car while a player who picks Door 1 and does switch has a 2 in 3 chance. The host has removed an incorrect option from the unchosen doors, so contestants who switch double their chances of winning the car.

Many readers refused to believe that switching is beneficial. After the Monty Hall problem appeared in Parade, approximately 10,000 readers, including nearly 1,000 with PhDs, wrote to the magazine claiming that vos Savant was wrong. Even when given explanations, simulations, and formal mathematical proofs, many people still do not accept that switching is the best strategy. The Monty Hall problem has attracted academic interest because the result is surprising and the problem is interesting to formulate.

The Birthday Problem

In probability theory, the birthday problem or birthday paradox pertains to the probability that, in a set of n randomly chosen people, some pair of them will have the same birthday (month and day). By the pigeonhole principle, the probability reaches 100% when the number of people reaches 366 (every day of the year). However, 99% probability is reached with just 57 people, and 50% probability with 23 people. These conclusions are based on the assumption that each day of the year (except February 29) is equally probable for a birthday. This is to say, if you take just 57 people you are 99% likely to find two people with same birthday, contrary to the common conclusion it would take near 365 to reach that likelihood.

Note From Josh
See the Wikipedia links at the bottom for the mathematical explanation of these problems. You can also see visual descriptions for each, respectively, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhlc7peGlGg and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16zXXmSX2v0

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Hall_problem and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_problem

Castrato

A castrato (Italian, plural: castrati) is a man with a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto voice produced either by castration of the singer before puberty or one who, because of an endocrinological condition, never reaches sexual maturity.

Castration before puberty (or in its early stages) prevents a boy's larynx from being transformed by the normal physiological events of puberty. As a result, the vocal range of prepubescence (shared by both sexes) is largely retained, and the voice develops into adulthood in a unique way. Prepubescent castration for this purpose diminished greatly in the late 18th century and was made illegal in Italy in 1870.

As the castrato's body grew, his lack of testosterone meant that his epiphyses (bone-joints) did not harden in the normal manner. Thus the limbs of the castrati often grew unusually long, as did the bones of their ribs. This, combined with intensive training, gave them unrivalled lung-power and breath capacity. Operating through small, child-sized vocal cords, their voices were also extraordinarily flexible, and quite different from the equivalent adult female voice, as well as higher vocal ranges of the uncastrated adult male. To prevent the child from experiencing the intense pain of castration, many were inadvertently administered lethal doses of opium or some other narcotic, or were killed by overlong compression of the carotid artery in the neck (intended to render them unconscious during the castration procedure).

The training of the boys was rigorous. The regime of one singing school in Rome (c. 1700) consisted of one hour of singing difficult and awkward pieces, one hour practicing trills, one hour practicing ornamented passaggi, one hour of singing exercises in their teacher's presence and in front of a mirror so as to avoid unnecessary movement of the body or facial grimaces, and one hour of literary study; all this, moreover, before lunch. After, half-an-hour would be devoted to musical theory, another to writing counterpoint, an hour copying down the same from dictation, and another hour of literary study. During the remainder of the day, the young castrati had to find time to practice their harpsichord playing, and to compose vocal music, either sacred or secular depending on their inclination. This demanding schedule meant that, if sufficiently talented, they were able to make a debut in their mid-teens with a perfect technique and a voice of a flexibility and power no woman or ordinary male singer could match.

In the 1720s and 1730s, at the height of the craze for these voices, it has been estimated that upwards of 4,000 boys were castrated annually in the service of art. Many came from poor homes and were castrated by their parents in the hope that their child might be successful and lift them from poverty. There are, though, records of some young boys asking to be operated on to preserve their voices

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castrato

Joan Pujol Garcia

Joan Pujol Garcia (14 February 1912 – 10 October 1988), was a double agent during the Second World War who was known by the British codename Garbo and the German codename Arabel. He had a key role in the success of Operation Fortitude, the deception operation intended to mislead the Germans about the timing and location of the invasion of Normandy towards the end of war. The false information Pujol supplied helped persuade German intelligence that the main attack would be in the Pas de Calais, resulting in a decision by the German government to deploy the main body of troops there instead of in Normandy.

Born in the Catalan city of Barcelona, Pujol developed a detestation of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union after his experience of fascism and communism during the Spanish Civil War. He decided around 1940 that he must make a contribution to the war by helping Britain which, with its Empire, was Germany's only adversary at the time. He initially approached the British but they showed no interest in employing him as a spy. So he resolved to establish himself as a German agent before approaching the British again to offer his services as a double-agent.

Operating initially in Lisbon, he pretended to the Germans that he was in Britain. He fabricated reports about shipping movements based on information gleaned from the library in Lisbon and from newsreel reports he saw in cinemas, and successfully convinced the Germans that he was reporting real information. He claimed to be travelling around Britain and submitted his travel expenses based on fares listed in a British railway guide. During this time he created an extensive network of fictitious sub-agents living in different parts of Britain.

Eventually, he offered his services to British intelligence again. The British had become aware that someone had been feeding the Germans misinformation, and realised the value of misinformation after the German navy wasted resources hunting down a non-existent convoy reported to them by Pujol. This time he was accepted. He was relocated to Britain in the spring of 1942, and operated as a double agent under the aegis of the XX Committee. His spymaster was Cyril Bertram Mills, whom he knew only as 'Mr. Grey'.

On occasion he had to fabricate reasons why his agents had failed to report easily available information that the Germans would eventually know about. For example, he reported that his (fabricated) Liverpool agent had fallen ill just before a major fleet movement from that port on the north-west coast of England. The illness meant that the agent was unable to warn the Germans of the event. To support the story of the illness, the "agent" eventually "died" and a notice was placed in the local newspaper as further evidence to convince the Germans, who were also persuaded to pay a pension to the agent's "widow".

In order to maintain his credibility it was decided that Garbo, or one of his agents, should forewarn the Germans of the timing and some details of the actual invasion of Normandy, although leaving it too late for them to take effective action. Special arrangements were made with the German radio operators to be listening to Garbo through the night of 5/6 June 1944, using the story that a sub-agent was about to arrive with important information. However when the call was made at 3am, no reply was received from the German operators until 8am. Turning this piece of bad luck on its head, Garbo was able to add more details of the operation to the message when finally sent and increase his standing with the Germans.

On June 9 (3 days after D-day), Garbo sent a message to German High Command saying that he had conferred with his agents and developed an order of battle showing 75 divisions in England (when in reality there were only about 50). His message pointed out that units of the First U.S. Army Group (FUSAG) (a fictitious unit which was part of the British deception) had not participated in the invasion and therefore the first landing should be considered a diversion. A German message to Madrid sent two days later said "all reports received in the last week from Arabel [Garbo's German code-name] undertaking have been confirmed without exception and are to be described as exceptionally valuable."

In late June Garbo was instructed by the Germans to report on the falling of V1 flying bombs. Finding no way of giving false information without arousing suspicion, and being unwilling to give correct information, Mills arranged for him to be 'arrested'. He returned to duty a few days later, and forwarded an 'official' letter of apology from the Home Secretary for his unlawful detention.

The Germans paid Garbo (or Arabel, as they called him) US$340,000 to support his network of agents, which at one point totaled 27 fabricated characters.

For his efforts in aid of the Allies Garbo received an MBE from the British; in an ironic twist of fate, following the war he ended up encountering one of his German handlers, who gave him the Iron Cross for his contribution to the German war effort; the Nazis never realized that Garbo had fooled them, and thus he earned the distinction of being one of the few people during World War II to receive decorations from both sides.

After World War II ended, Pujol faked his death and moved to Venezuela, where he lived in anonymity. Mills believed Pujol to be dead, and Pujol had been told that Cyril Mills, or 'Mr. Grey' as he knew him, had been killed as well. However, in 1982 they were emotionally re-united at Mills' home in London. Pujol lived in Lagunillas, Zulia, Venezuela, where he ran a bookstore called 'La Casa del Regalo'. He subsequently moved to Caracas, where he died in 1988. Juan Pujol is buried in Choroní, a town inside Henri Pittier National Park by the Caribbean sea.

Lunokhod Programme

Lunokhod (Russian: Луноход, "Moonwalker") was a series of Soviet robotic lunar rovers designed to land on the Moon between 1969 and 1977. The 1969 Lunokhod 1A was destroyed during launch, the 1970 Lunokhod 1 and the 1973 Lunokhod 2 landed on the moon and the 1977 Lunokhod was never launched. The Lunokhods were primarily designed to support the Soviet manned moon missions and to be used as automatic remote-controlled robots to explore the surface and return pictures. The Lunokhods were transported to the lunar surface by Luna spacecraft, which were launched by Proton rockets. The moon lander part of the Luna spacecraft for Lunokhods were similar to the ones for sample return missions. Not until the 1997 Mars Pathfinder was another remote-controlled vehicle put on an extraterrestrial body.

During its 322 Earth days of operations, Lunokhod 1 traveled 10.5 km and returned more than 20,000 TV images and 206 high-resolution panoramas. In addition, it performed twenty-five soil analyses with its RIFMA x-ray fluorescence spectrometer and used its penetrometer at 500 different locations.

Lunokhod 2 operated for about 4 months, covered 37 km (23 miles) of terrain, including hilly upland areas and rilles, and currently holds the record for the longest distance of surface travel of any extraterrestrial vehicle. It sent back 86 panoramic images and over 80,000 TV pictures. Many mechanical tests of the surface, laser ranging measurements, and other experiments were completed during this time.

For comparison, the similarly sized NASA Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity had, by their fifth anniversary in January 2009, traveled a total of 21 km (13 mi) and transmitted over 125,000 images.

According to a French documentary TV film "Tank on the Moon" by Jean Afanassieff, the Lunokhod design returned to limelight 15 years later due to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. The East German made remote controlled bulldozers available to Soviet civil defense troops weighed dozens of tons. Too heavy to operate on the remaining parts of the partially collapsed reactor building roof. Human laborers could not be employed effectively to shovel debris, since work shifts were limited to 90 second intervals due to intense ionizing radiation.

Lunokhod designers were called back from retirement, and in two weeks rovers used nuclear decay heat sources for internal rack climate control, their electronic systems were already hardened to resist radiation. This benefit allowed the 1986 designers to quickly devise a derived vehicle type for nuclear disaster recovery work. Eventually two rovers were delivered to the Chernobyl accident zone and proved useful for clearing debris, earning awards for the designers. Due to extremely high radiation levels, all rovers eventually failed, and human workers (later named liquidators) were called in.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunokhod_programme

Cesare Bonizzi

Brother Cesare Bonizzi, also known as Frate Cesare and Fratello Metallo ("Brother Metal") - which was also the name of his band, is a Capuchin friar belonging to the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, who was known as a heavy metal singer.

Bonizzi was born in 1946 in Offanengo, Italy. He entered a monastery in 1975, and subsequently carried out missionary work in the Ivory Coast. After returning to Italy he was ordained a priest in 1983. Since 1990 he has been interested in using music as a means of contemplation and spiritual devotion, and he has released numerous albums in various styles from new age to rock. After seeing Metallica in concert, however, he became passionate about heavy metal as a musical vehicle. According to him, "Metal is the most energetic, vital, deep and true musical language that I know." He currently lives in the convent of Musocco, a district of Milan. In late 2009, he announced that he would no longer perform.

Although his full transformation to heavy metal is only found on Fratello Metallo's 2008 release Misteri, Bonizzi has recorded numerous albums in various musical genres. He cites Megadeth and Metallica as major inspirations on his transformation to metal. With his new style of music, which he calls "Metrock" as a combination of metal and rock, he was the opening act at 2008's Gods of Metal, Italy's largest heavy metal festival.

Bonizzi performed in full Franciscan habit. Although he was frequently mistaken as making the sign of the horns in concert, he actually extended his thumb along with the index and pinkie, which is the handsign for "I love you" in the American Sign Language.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_Bonizzi

Lucy Temerlin

Lucy Temerlin (1964–1987) was a chimpanzee owned by the Institute for Primate Studies in Oklahoma, and raised by Maurice K. Temerlin, Ph.D., a psychotherapist and professor at the University of Oklahoma and his wife, Jane W. Temerlin.

Temerlin and his wife raised Lucy as if she were a human child, teaching her to eat with silverware, dress herself, flip through magazines, and sit in a chair at the dinner table. She was taught American Sign Language by primatologist Roger Fouts as part of an ape language project and eventually learned 140 signs. She appeared in Life magazine, where she became famous for drinking straight gin, rearing a cat, and using Playgirl and a vacuum cleaner for sexual gratification. Around that time, the Temerlins introduced her for the first time to a male chimpanzee, and she was frightened and did not relate to him, let alone find him attractive. Fouts has written that when he arrived at Lucy's home at 8:30 every morning, Lucy would greet him with a hug, take the kettle, fill it with water, find two cups and tea bags, and serve the tea. The experiment was to test nature versus nurture; that is to say, would a chimp retain chimp behaviors if raised as a human or would she think of herself as a human being.

By the time she was 12, Lucy had become very strong and was very destructive in the Temerlin house. Eventually, she was shipped to a chimpanzee rehabilitation center in Gambia, accompanied by University of Oklahoma psychology graduate student Janis Carter. For years, Lucy was unable to relate to the other chimps in the rehabilitation center, and never reproduced, displaying sexual attraction only to humans. Lucy showed many signs of depression, including refusal to eat, and expressed "hurt" via sign-language. Though her adopted Temerlin parents stayed with Lucy for only a few weeks in Gambia, Janis Carter remained at the Center for years, devoting much of her life to helping Lucy assimilate to life in the wild.

Several years after leaving Lucy, Carter returned with some of Lucy's belongings. Lucy and a group of chimps greeted her, and Lucy embraced her, and then left with the other chimps without turning back, which Carter interpreted as Lucy having assimilated to life as a chimpanzee. One year after that, Carter returned and found Lucy's skeleton with hands missing and head separated from the rest of the body, and no sign of skin or hair, from which Carter concluded that Lucy had been poached. However, others who were intimately involved in Lucy's rehabilitation question this possibility, because the skeleton, in its advanced state of decomposition, could not provide evidence of poaching over some other cause of death.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Temerlin

Numbers Station

Numbers stations (or number stations) are shortwave radio stations of uncertain origin. In the 1950s, Time magazine reported that the numbers stations first appeared shortly after World War II. Numbers stations generally broadcast artificially generated voices reading streams of numbers, words, letters (sometimes using a spelling alphabet), tunes or Morse code. They are in a wide variety of languages and the voices are usually female, although sometimes men's or children's voices are used. Evidence supports popular assumptions that the broadcasts are used to send messages to spies. This usage has not been publicly acknowledged by any government that may operate a numbers station.

It has been reported that the United States uses numbers stations to communicate encoded information to persons in other countries. According to the notes of The Conet Project, which has compiled an impressive number of recordings of these transmissions, numbers stations have been reported since World War I. If accurate, this would make numbers stations among the earliest radio broadcasts.

It has long been speculated, and was argued in court in one case, that these stations operate as a simple and foolproof method for government agencies to communicate with spies working undercover. According to this theory, the messages are encrypted with a one-time pad, to avoid any risk of decryption by the enemy. As evidence, numbers stations have changed details of their broadcasts or produced special, nonscheduled broadcasts coincident with extraordinary political events, such as the August Coup of 1991 in the Soviet Union.

Although no broadcaster or government has acknowledged transmitting the numbers, a 1998 article in The Daily Telegraph quoted a spokesperson for the Department of Trade and Industry (the government department that, at that time, regulated radio broadcasting in the United Kingdom) as saying, "These [numbers stations] are what you suppose they are. People shouldn't be mystified by them. They are not for, shall we say, public consumption.

These stations still operate and exist in numerous countries around the world. You can listen to samples from The Conet Project here: http://www.archive.org/details/ird059. Addionally, many websites are dedicated to finding and sharing these stations. Check them out if you have some radio equipment. - Josh

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_station

Narrative of the Life of James Allen

Published in 1837, there is hardly a more curious treasure in the Athenæum Library than a little volume, bound in what seems a grayish leather, curious not only in itself, for it is the deathbed confession of a highwayman (robbing late travelers on the highways), but more curious by reason of its binding---in the skin of its author. Known as anthropodermic bibliopegy (the practice of binding books in human skin), was not unknown at the time.

Peter Low, had come to Boston from London, where his father and grandfather were in the book business. Here he was engaged in bookbinding, for the Old Corner Book Store and other clients. The skin used for binding Walton's book came from Massachusetts General Hospital on the very day of his death. Walton was a Jamaica mulatto, and the skin, taken from his back, had been treated to look like a gray deer skin. Peter Low had not realized at first the precise nature of the material placed in his hands. By the time his day's work was done, however , he was in great distress of mind and, and nightmares filled the night that followed.

Because of its age, the book is in the public domain and is freely available on the Internet: http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/node/192

Upon special request, the book is viewable at Boston Athenæum Library.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrative_of_the_Life_of_James_Allen

And: http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/node/191

Indiana Vacation!

Well, it’s finally that long-awaited time of year for me. I’m on vacation this week so as a result I’ll be taking a break from sharing and weird and interesting article from Wikipedia. It seems most of you subscribers live in Indiana so I lieu of that weekly article here are some random Indiana curiosities. While the following aren’t Indiana vacation destinations, they are certainly weird or interesting and worth checking out if you have the chance.

Medical history Museum - Indianapolis
The museum maintains a collection of scientific artifacts from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in a completely authentic setting. Constructed in 1895 and inaugurated in 1896, the nineteen-room Pathological Department Building, as it was then called, is equipped with three clinical laboratories, a photography lab, teaching amphitheatre, autopsy room, and library. The most notable part of their collection is the room full of preserved human brains in jars. The brains come from patients suffering from various mental illnesses.
From: http://www.imhm.org/

Our Lady's Chapel in the Meadow - Edinburgh
The chapel is located at camp Atterbury. The interior is painted with frescoes and is only the size of a small bedroom. Camp Atterbury was created in 1941 and was used to train US forces before being shipped to Europe during the war. The camp later served as a POW interment camp for 10,000 German and Itiallan POWS. Upon request, the POW’s were given permission on build a chapel on the grounds. Due to the shortages during the war, the prisoners could only use materials scrounged up in the immediate area. The chapel fell into disrepair in after the war, but was restored in 1987
From: http://www.italianheritage.org/

The LST Ship Memorial (LST-325) - Evansville
An LTS (Landing Ship, Tank) is a is a ship that was designed to land on beaches. The flat bottom design allowed easy offloading of tanks and other armored vehicles. The LST-325 measures 300 feet long and is the It is the only remaining operational WWII LTS out of the original 1000. This particular LTS was part of the invasion on the beaches of Normandy. Later, it was donated to the Greek navy until a group of retired military men vied to have the ship returned to the US and relocated to Evansville. It now serves as a floating museum on the Ohio river.
From: http://www.lstmemorial.org/

Crown Hill Cemetery - Indianapolis
The historic 555 acre Indianapolis cemetery is largest non-government cemetery in Indiana and the third largest in the United States. It is estimated that 82% of those who lived in Indianapolis prior to 1825, and who stayed here, are now buried at Crown Hill. Among those buried are many notable historic figures: John Dillinger, Charles Fairbanks, Benjamin Harrison, Caroline Harrison, Col. Eli Lilly, Thomas Marshall, James Whitcomb Riley, Booth Tarkington, and others. Daily tour are offered.
From: http://www.crownhill.org/

The Blue Monkey Sideshow
The Blue Monkey Sideshow is a Indianapolis-based traditional vaudeville sideshow with a modern edge and a humorous twist. Complete with authentic sideshow banners, live music, platform and sound. They feature contortion, knife throwing, juggling, sword swallowing, glass walking, and other sideshow favorites – all with a lovely and humorous presentation. I highly recommend checking out one of their shows when they are in town.
From: http://www.bluemonkeysideshow.com/

Providence Health Care Center - Jasper
The shrines on the grounds were constructed with tens of thousands of geodes from a small farm in Helton, IN. The construction was lead by Father Tad Sztucko in the 1960s and took almost a decade to complete. Father Thad wanted re-create the peaceful, spiritual setting of Loures. The care center was a home of the mentally handicapped at the time (these individuals were typically otherwise neglected by society). The entire project was made without blueprints, "just inspiration". On a side note, Father Thad participated in wedding me to my lovely wife.
From: http://www.providencehome.org/

Shoe Tree - Milltown
Since the early 1960's , people have been tossing old pairs of shoes into this tree. There is no agreement as to how the
tree started, but the collection of shoes has certainly grown over the years. The tree survived a lightning strike a few years back, although some of the shoes were melted to branches.
From: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/2679

The Blue Flash - Bruceville
Bruceville,IN resident John Ivers built his own personal rollercoaster from scratch in his backyard in 2001. It’s 188 feet long, 20 feet tall, and is the world’s only self-built 360 degree corkscrew coaster in the world. "I'm not engineer educated," John said. "A lot of it was trial and error. I just thought one day, 'Man, a roller coaster coming down the side of that shed would be pretty neat." John said that the project was simply, "something fun in the backyard for the kids". And, yes, you can ride if you ask.
From: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/29694

Ropkey Armor Museum - Crawfordsville
Fred Ropkey's museum created from his private collection is home to a multitide of military tanks, fighter planes, aterially boats, jeeps, combay boats, motorsycles, and cannons from WW1, WW2, Korean way, Vietnam was, and desert storm. He even has a shuttle module from a NASA space flight. All of his collection is in working order. He even leases parts of his collection out for movies. You may have seen some of his collection. Tn The Blues Brothers, Tank, The Siege, or Mars Attacks.
From: http://www.ropkeyarmormuseum.com

* Additional information for these entries was provided by “Indiana Curiosities”: http://www.amazon.com/Indiana-Curiosities-3rd-characters-roadside/dp/0762754184

Linnaeus' Flower Clock

Linnaeus' flower clock was a garden plan hypothesized by Carolus Linnaeus that would take advantage of several plants that open or close their flowers at particular times of the day to accurately predict the time. He called it specifically the Horologium Florae (lit. "flower clock"), and proposed the concept in the 1751 publication Philosophia Botanica. He may never have planted such a garden, but the idea was attempted by several botanical gardens in the early 19th century, with mixed success. Many plants exhibit a strong circadian rhythm, and a few have been observed to open at quite a regular time, but the accuracy of such a clock is diminished because flowering time is affected by weather and seasonal effects. The flowering times recorded by Linnaeus are also subject to differences in daylight due to latitude: his measurements are based on flowering times in Uppsala, where he taught and had received his university education.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linnaeus'_flower_clock

Bicycle Infantry

Bicycle infantry are infantry soldiers who maneuver on (or, usually more correctly, between) battlefields using bicycles. Though their use has waned over the years in many armies, they continue to be used in unconventional armies such as militias.

Numerous experiments were carried out to determine the possible role of bicycles and cycling within military establishments because bicycles can carry more equipment and travel longer than walking soldiers. To some extent, bicyclists took over the functions of dragoons (mounted infantry), especially as messengers and scouts, substituting for horses in warfare. Bicycle units or detachments were formed at the end of the 19th century by all European armies and the US armed forces.

The United Kingdom employed bicycle troops in militia or territorial units, but not in regular units. In France, several experimental units were created. In the United States, the most extensive experimentation on bicycle units was carried out by a 1st Lieutenant Moss, of the 25th United States Infantry. Lt. Moss and his troops carried out extensive bicycle journeys covering between 500 and 1,000 miles. Late in the 19th century, the United States Army tested the bicycle's suitability for cross-country troop transport. Buffalo Soldiers stationed in Montana rode bicycles across roadless landscapes for hundreds of miles at high speed.

The first known use of the bicycle in combat occurred during the Jameson Raid, in which cyclists carried messages. In the Second Boer War, military cyclists were used primarily as scouts and messengers. One unit patrolled railroad lines on specially constructed tandem bicycles that were fixed to the rails. Several raids were conducted by cycle-mounted infantry on both sides; the most famous unit was the Theron se Verkenningskorps (Theron Reconnaissance Corps, a Dutch unit led by the scout Daniel Theron, whom British commander Lord Roberts described as "the hardest thorn in the flesh of the British advance." Roberts placed a reward of £1,000 on Theron's head—dead or alive—and dispatched 4,000 soldiers to find and eliminate the TVK.

During World War I, cycle-mounted infantry, scouts, messengers and ambulance carriers were extensively used by all combatants. Italy used bicycles with the Bersaglieri (light infantry units) until the end of the war. German Army Jäger (light infantry) battalions each had a bicycle company (Radfahr-Kompanie) at the outbreak of the war, and additional companies were raised during the war bringing the total to 80 companies, a number of which were formed into eight Radfahr-Bataillonen (bicycle battalions).

In its 1937 invasion of China, Japan employed some 50,000 bicycle troops. Early in World War II their southern campaign through Malaya en route to capturing Singapore in 1941 was largely dependent on bicycle-riding soldiers. In both efforts bicycles allowed quiet and flexible transport of thousands of troops who were then able to surprise and confuse the defenders. Bicycles also made few demands on the Japanese war machine, needing neither trucks, nor ships to transport them, nor precious petroleum. Using bicycles, the Japanese troops were able to move faster than the withdrawing Allied Forces, often successfully cutting off their retreat. The speed of Japanese advance, usually along plantation roads, native paths and over improvised bridges, also caught Allied Forces defending the main roads and river crossings by surprise, by attacking them from the rear.

Bicycles continue in military use today, primarily as an easy alternative for transport on long flightlines. The use of the cycle as an infantry transport tool continued into the 21st century with the Swiss Army's Bicycle Regiment, which maintained drills for infantry movement and attack until 2001, when the decision was made to phase the unit out. The Tamil Tigers made use of bicycle mobility in the fighting in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan army also has a bicycle unit. They are mainly stationed and deployed in high security zones in the capital city Colombo.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_infantry

Pica

Pica is a medical disorder characterized by an appetite for substances largely non-nutritive (e.g., metal, clay, coal, sand, dirt, soil, feces, chalk, pens and pencils, paper, batteries, spoons, toothbrushes, soap, mucus, latex gloves, ash, gum, lip balm, tacks and other office supplies, etc.) The name of the condition originates from the Latin word for magpie, a bird that is reputed to eat almost anything. Pica is seen in all ages, particularly in pregnant women, small children, and those with developmental disabilities. Pica is more common in women and children. Pica can also be found in animals and is most commonly found in dogs.

The scant research that has been done on the causes of pica suggests that the disorder is a specific appetite caused by mineral deficiency in many cases, such as iron deficiency, which sometimes is a result of celiac disease or hookworm infection. Often the substance eaten by someone with pica contains the mineral in which that individual is deficient. More recently, cases of pica have been tied to the obsessive–compulsive spectrum, and there is a move to consider OCD in the etiology of pica; however, pica is currently recognized as a mental disorder by the widely used Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV)..

Examples:
Coprophagy: Consumption of feces
Geophagy: Consumption of soil, clay, or chalk
Hyalophagia: Consumption of glass
Mucophagia: Consumption of mucus
Odowa: Consumption of soft stones eaten by pregnant women in Kenya
Pagophagia: Pathological consumption of ice
Self-cannibalism: Rare condition where body parts may be consumed; see also Lesch-Nyhan syndrome
Trichophagia: Consumption of hair or wool
Urophagia: Consumption of urine
Xylophagia: Consumption of wood or paper

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pica_(disorder)

One Red Paperclip

The website One red paperclip was created by Kyle MacDonald, a Canadian blogger who bartered his way from a single red paperclip to a house in a series of online trades over the course of a year. MacDonald was inspired by the childhood game Bigger, Better, and the site received a considerable amount of notice for tracking the transactions.

MacDonald made his first trade, a red paper clip for a fish-shaped pen, on July 14, 2005. He reached his goal of trading up to a house with the fourteenth transaction, trading a movie role for a house. This is the list of all transactions MacDonald made:

1. On July 14, 2005, he went to Vancouver and traded the paperclip for a fish-shaped pen.

2. He then traded the pen the same day for a hand-sculpted doorknob from Seattle, Washington, which he nicknamed "Knob-T".

3. On July 25, 2005, he traveled to Amherst, Massachusetts, with a friend to trade the Knob-T for a Coleman camp stove (with fuel).

4. On September 24, 2005, he went to San Clemente, California, and traded the camp stove for a Honda generator.

5. On November 16, 2005, he made a second (and successful) attempt (after having the generator confiscated by the New York City Fire Department) in Maspeth, Queens, to trade the generator for an "instant party": an empty keg, an IOU for filling the keg with the beer of the holder's choice, and a neon Budweiser sign.

6. On December 8, 2005, he traded the "instant party" to Quebec comedian and radio personality Michel Barrette for a Ski-doo snowmobile.

7. Within a week of that, he traded the snowmobile for a two-person trip to Yahk, British Columbia, in February 2006.

8. On or about January 7, 2006, the second person on the trip to Yahk traded Kyle a cube van for the privilege.

9. On or about February 22, 2006, he traded the cube van for a recording contract with Metal Works in Toronto.

10. On or about April 11, 2006, he traded the recording contract to Jody Gnant for a year's rent in Phoenix, Arizona.

11. On or about April 26, 2006, he traded the one year's rent in Phoenix, Arizona, for one afternoon with Alice Cooper.

12. On or about May 26, 2006, he traded the one afternoon with Alice Cooper for a KISS motorized snow globe.

13. On or about June 2, 2006, he traded the KISS motorized snow globe to Corbin Bernsen for a role in the film Donna on Demand.

14. On or about July 5, 2006, he traded the movie role for a two-story farmhouse in Kipling, Saskatchewan.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_red_paperclip