Suggestion Form!

So here is the suggestion box I mentioned. PLEASE use it. I'll stick a link to this post for future list on the side bar to the right.

Not Enough Time

Ok, so instead of leaving all of you who read this wondering where in the world I've been and why there haven't been any articles lately I've decided to post this little tidbit on what's been going on. Basically I've been busy for the past week and I'm not sure how it's going to do in the future. I really hope and aim at continuing to post up random stuff. However, I am in constant need of ideas so that being said I'm going to try and get us a submission form added to this page so that you guys can just pop in suggestions. You can even type up your own (I'll check it and possibly make some corrections) and you'll be featured in a Guest Post.

So that's what the future holds for the [rq}. I really wanted to make it a Daily Blog, but I think that time has come and gone. However I shall at least update this blog a minimum of once a week (hopefully it won't drop down that far though.) So I'm going to get to work on making that form and thanks for being patient with all the un-updates.

[Insert Title Here] - RPS Champs

So It's quite hot right now so I'm going to be doing only a really brief article now but today I'm exploring the world of Rock, Paper, Scissors. That's right the game you thought was just complete luck has made it to the big leagues. How big you may ask? $50,000 first prize kind of big. At Las Vegas, Nevada the first URPSL (the USA Rock Paper Scissors League) held one of its competitions. It was so popular that ESPN showed up and there were referees and spectators to see the show. It's best two out of three and the winner moves up to the next round.

Now for those who don't know, rock (a closed fist) beats scissors (two fingers in the shape of scissors), scissors beats paper (a flat hand), and paper beats rock. Now the image I've included is for the advanced players reading and is Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizards, Spock. Try it out sometime.

I know I haven't been posting as often as I should lately but you do have to realize that I'm quite busy so if anyone has any Guest Posts they would like to write please do so. It would be a help to us all. Thanks.

'Tis a Tidbit

Ok, I've been busy lately so I decided to create this new column which will be used when I don't have enough time to actually write up a whole article (expect a few of these whithin the next few days). Basically what I've done is broken up the original Straight From the Almanac column and condensed it to just a few tidbits of information per post. So here are the first two random facts for you to savor.

One (1) gill is equal to 7.219 cubic inches

In the year 2003 the word "s'more" was officially added to the dictionary.

Poll Answers - Not Cambodian?

Again I am sorry for not posting timely but yesterday was busy and I haven't had a whole lot of time to work on writing articles. The next few days are going to be busy for me, yet I'll try to keep updating daily. Anyways, this week's poll asked for the Cambodian Province that didn't belong and I have to say the readers failed this week. The correct answer was Vil Oddarr, which I had again just made up off the top of my head, though it does sound official. The majority of the votes were for Battambang, which is in fact a province of Cambodia, though it sounds like it belongs with the Flintstones. That bumps the score to:

[rq} - 2
Readers - 1

So here is some brief information on the three real topics:

Battambang, this is what you guys chose as the fake answer but it is located in the Northwestern area of Cambodia. You also wouldn't believe it but the capital of Battambang is Battambang. The province is composed of thirteen districts and it has a few really old temples.

Koh Kong, you weren't fooled with this province as it is real, though no giant monkeys here. It's located in the Southwestern bit of Cambodia and is composed of only eight districts. Again the capital shares its name with the province, but a lot of the area is undeveloped and its home to a large national park.

Phnom Penh, I'm glad no one chose this choice as everyone should know that the capital of Cambodia is Phnom Penh, which again is the capital of the Phnom Penh province as well as the country. Now I did hear that you can get a lobster dinner at Cambodia for like only a dollar, don't know if there is any truth to that.

The image for this post is Angkor Wat, which is the most famous of temples located in Cambodia, but alas it isn't located in any of the Province choices.

Oh and the total votes for this poll was 3.

People of Interest - Robert Browning

Today's article is going to be short, but it does contain an interesting little tidbit you've probably never heard about. If you don't know, Robert Browning is a famous English poet who lived from 1812 to 1889. He gained quite a lot of popularity, and I would list some of his works but none of them seem familiar to be (though I don't know too many poems). What this entire post deals with is connecting Robert Browning with Thomas Edison.

Thomas Edison invented, among thousands of other things, the phonograph. While we think of them as playing the flat round disks, but Edison's invention used a round cylinder with a wax covering and the first words played were "Mary had a little lamb...." Now you might be wondering where in the world I'm going with this but as it turns out Robert Browning was the first person to have their voice heard after they were dead.

In April of 1889 at a dinner party he recorded on one of Edison's phonographs the poem "How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix." Browning then died in December of the same year, but on the anniversary of his death in 1890 a group of his admirers played the recording and it was the first time anyone had been heard by others once they had passed on.

Hope you found this little piece of information interesting.

Geo Expo - Velociraptor Truth

Sorry about that but I was busy yesterday and didn't have a chance to get online, I was fossil hunting, so I thought it would be appropriate to post an article on a dinosaur, though there are only trilobites, rugose (horn) coral, brachiopods, and crinoids where I went. To the average person, the Velociraptor is shrouded in fear because of the Jurassic Park portrayal of these creatures. They were in fact no bigger than a turkey, not the human size that Hollywood would like you to believe and lived during the late Cretaceous not the Jurassic.

Director Steven Spielberg took some dramatic licensing with the Jurassic Park franchise, especially when it came to the Velociraptors. They were made taller and smaller than their real life counterparts, as a full grown adult would be only be three feet tall, if that. The dinosaurs seen in the movie, while called Velociraptors, where based more on the Velociraptor cousin Deinonychus which was much larger. Jurassic Park also portrayed them as being ultra-smart, such as being able to open doors, yet the reality is that they weren't any smarter than lions or other large cats.

The Velociraptor was small yet it was swift and built perfectly for hunting. Its name means "Swift Robber" because it body type mimics those of egg stealing dinosaurs and while it could have stolen eggs for food, it is certain that they at least ate meat. It has also been discovered that they in fact did have feathers as evidenced by quill nodules found on the bones. Fossils of Velociraptors are generally found in Mongolia and the sudden sand storms could quickly bury the creatures and allow for fossilization. One specimen was found locked onto a Protoceratops as they were killed while in combat. The movie did get one thing correct however, that is that they do have the famous sickle shaped claw, though not as big.

Comics

Well the original [rq} always had a comic section and it being Sunday I thought it appropriate to bring you some good comics I've collected. They're a nice little break from the monotony of everyday life. Now of course these belong to their respective owners, being those at Explosm and xkcd. So here are just a couple of comics to check out, I've got plenty but it's deciding to be difficult in loading them up, so just two for today.

From the Depths of the Dictionary

Now this article is just here to provide you with a larger vocabulary, what I do is write a list of words from A to Z that most people have never heard of. It is still wicked hot out so my brain is having a hard time concentrating on interesting topics. Now some of the words are a bit familiar, such as the letters B and X, while others I've never heard of but you should learn something. And for those wondering what the image is today look at the letter W. So here is the first edition of From the Depths of the Dictionary:

Aurum - gold
Bovine - ox like
Collunarium - nose drops
Dislimn - to obliterate
Entophyte - a plant growing in an animal
Funambulist - a tightrope walker
Gerah - a Hebrew weight unit
Hokum - nonsense
Intumesce - to bubble up
Jocund - cheerful
Kismet - destiny
Lamiaceous - belonging to the mint family
Mitrailleuse - a French machine gun
Nystagmus - an involuntary oscillation of the eyeball
Obduce - to conceal
Pentad - a period of five years
Quondam - formerly existed
Ratel - a badger like carnivore
Suprarenal - above the kidney
Trechant - keen
Uxoricide - one who kills his wife
Vim - energy, force
Wivern - a two legged dragon
Xi - the fourteenth letter of the Greek alphabet
Yoicks - cry made to urge fox hunting hounds
Zaptiah - a Turkish policeman

Numistmatistic Values - Dollar Secrets

Take out a dollar bill and take a good hard look at it. Did you ever wonder why there is a five-pointed star above the eagle, or whether it was a left or right eye above the pyramid? Did it ever occur to you that each word and line on the dollar bill has a deeper meaning than what you originally thought?

Well today isn't going to be an article but rather a list of interesting facts about the dollar. You see I found a notebook with a bunch of random information and in it I found a list I jotted down awhile back with secrets of the dollar. I had read a book entitled The Secret Symbols of the Dollar Bill by David Ovason, which I highly suggest reading for those wanting even more information on how many secrets a single piece of paper can hold. But here are some highlights from the book.

The dollar sign ($) never appears of the bill.

The word dollar actually comes from the German word "taler" which were silver coins used back in the day.

The 1935 dollar we love today is chock full of Freemason stuff such as the radiant eye and five pointed star.

There is no known developer of the first Seal.

There are 13 stars on the front and 14 on the back.

The Swiss artist DuSimitiere drew the left eye in the triangle.

Gilbert Stuart painted the Washington in 1796.

Washington isn't smiling because he had just put in a brand new set of wooden teeth. They needed to be broken in.

The Greek letter Omega surrounds Washington, which is odd because he was the first President surrounded by the last letter.

The capital letter A appears 13 times on the front.

The Latin phrase Annuit Coeptis means He favors our undertaking.

The Latin phrase E Pluribus Unum means Out of many, one.

The Latin phrase Novus Ordo Seclorum means A new order of the ages.

There is only one English motto on the bill.

The pyramid is made up of 13 steps and is Masonic.

There are 72 stones in the order - 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 7, 8, 3

Now there are a ton of other interesting little tidbits that you never knew could have existed about the dollar bill in the book. So if any of this peaked your interest, and remember these are just some facts about the dollar, the book delves into the meaning and importance of even more secrets that you never knew could have existed about the United States Dollar. So see if your local library or book store has this book and give it a look. You can amaze your friends and family with your knowledge on this National Treasure.

[Insert Title Here] - Extreme Heat

This week has been so hot that it's been hard to concentrate on writing some good material so I thought I would go with the flow and write an article on all some record high climatic temperatures. You just need to remember that these are records based on observation, which means that it could have been hotter someplace in history just no one was there to record it.

Highest Temperature on Earth: 136 F
On September 13, 1922 in Al'Aziziyah, Libya the temperature peaked to the highest that has ever been observed by humans through instrumentation. While there have been reports of temperatures reaching a whopping 188 degrees Farenheit, they have never been confirmed and thus the record stays at 136.

Highest Temperature in the US: 134 F
It should be no surprise that this record high was observed in Death Valley, California in 1913. It fell behind the world record high by only a few degrees so it can be said that this was a scorcher of a day. Unless you live in the desert where there is a possibility of the temperature getting up there in the 120's you shouldn't sweat.

Now instead of listing the record high temps of various countries and places I've decided to do some brief interesting points on more hot stuff.

Bonfire Temperature: ~1250 F
So large bonfires typically reach around this temperature in the very center which is 9 times as hot as the hottest recorded temperature found on Earth. Don't touch the coals as it can result in some nasty burns. And speaking of burns I just discovered that there is a Fourth Degree burn which is when the skin is completely gone and and the underlying muscle and tendons are burned and scarred. Ouch.

Aluminum Melting Temperature: 1221 F
Well just compare this temperature with the above bonfire temperature and you'll discover that if you get a hot enough fire that you can melt metal. This means that by sticking pieces of aluminum (Al) into the hottest part of the fire it can melt, like soda cans.

Surface of the Sun Temperature: 9950 F
Now at first glance it may not seem that hot but you do have to realize that this is only the surface, the part where the blazing ball of flaming gas touches the very cold realm of space. The interior is much much hotter. You must also remember that our sun is only an average star, there are much hotter stars with much hotter surface temperatures and even hotter core temps.

Body Temperature: Varies
Now I found a website which states that the body temperature of an individual varies and that the 98.6 F that we all come to know isn't always right. Oral temperatures fall to that value but the more precise internal measurements, rectal, are a whole degree above that. Individuals with higher metabolism will also have higher body temps and lower temps are found in people with lower metabolisms. Your temperature will also naturally be lower in the morning and higher at night.

Poll Answers - Not a Nut?

Ok, it has been waaay too hot around here for me to concentrate on writing a really good new article, and the poll just expired so I'm going to briefly take a look at that. It's just harder to concentrate when you're stuck in a hot room with a laptop that just makes everything hotter.

So the polls will be kind of a competition, with the first polling being a tie. You see I'm going to try and trick you and if the majority of the votes is for the wrong answer I get a point and if you successfully choose the correct answer than you get a point. Right now the score stands at:

[rq} - 1
Readers - 1

The correct answer was that the Norvil Nut is actually not a nut but rather some random name I made up off the top of my head. Though if it were a nut I would say it would live somewhere in Northern Europe, but that's just me. And here are some brief facts on the actual nuts:

Pistachio - I thought I would give all of you a freebie with this one, most people have heard of this nut as it even has its own ice cream flavor. They are kind of green on the inside and have a shell. Popular to eat.

Mongongo - I've never heard of this one and yet it received no votes. It is an actual nut that is native to Southern Africa.

Candlenut - This is the fake one you guys voted as the wrong answer and its origin cannot be precisely determined because of how far its been moved around due to human intervetion. The image at the top of the article is in fact a candlenut.

So try out the new poll and just for administrative purposes there were 4 votes total.

Ancient Information - The First Computer

While modern computers hold their roots with the creation of the algorithm by Alan Turing in 1936, arguably one of the first computers is the Antikythera Mechanism which dates back to 150-80 B.C.E (If you've ever wondered B.C.E. stands for Before the Common Era). While there have been a wide array of theories about its existence, I'm going to skip the ones that say that the Greeks were aliens.

The Antikythera Mechanism was discovered in the Mediterranean Sea in 1901 and has proven to be a mystery as to who built and designed it. It is Greek in origin, as can be seen by the inscriptions on it and it was found between the Grecian coast and the island of Crete. There is a theory that it might be connected with Archimedes however many believe Posidonius may have created it, he was a historian and worked mainly with studying how the sun and moon moved.

What makes this little piece of mechanics and gears is its calculating and computational power. What you would do is turn a crank to set a date and the computer will tell you the position of the sun, the moon, the other known planets at the time, the Zodiac, and the times some select stars would rise and set. It was a very complicated piece of equipment with over 30 gears and possibly up to 72. It is so complex that the scientists were baffled with the origin as this kind of technology wasn't supposed to be around until the 16th century.

Its perplexity has been examined to death as many scientists try to determine the mysteries yet to be solved. The piece you see at the top of this post is the main body, which is severely broken due to being submerged for two millenniums. It was found in a wooden box which cracked when exposed and dried in the sun. There are several parts missing and thus the exact extent of its use can't be determined with 100% certainty but there have been multiple recreations made that mimic the device's function. Scientists continue to try and decipher all the encryptions and find the true meaning and value of this awesome and ahead-of-its-time computer.

Kingdom Plantae - The Ghost Chili

So I was watching the Discovery Travel Channel last week, Man vs. Food was on, and the challenge that Adam had to accomplish was to eat the Four Horsemen. This was a cheeseburger with four hot peppers - jalapenos, habaneros, serranos, and the spiciest of the spicy: the ghost chili. I then decided it would be be interesting to write up a post dealing with spicy peppers and I shall proceed in order of increasing spiciness using the Scoville Scale (the higher the number the higher the pain).

Pimiento, a.k.a Cherry Pepper, 0-999
These are the little red things in green olives and are also commonly used for stuffed peppers. They aren't very hot, listed as mild.

Poblano, a.k.a Ancho Chile, 1,000-1,500
A pepper found mainly in Mexico it is used in some foods as it is listed as low heat.

Jalapeno, 2,500-8,000
One of the most popular of all the chili peppers it is used in a variety of dishes and is listed as medium heat.

Serrano, 10,000-20,000
One of the Four Horsemen in the challenge it brings some heat with an intensity of hot.

Cayenne, a.k.a Bird Pepper, 30,000-50,000
Another hot pepper, it is widely popular in cooking spicy meals and is used for some homemade medicinal remidies, as the spice temporarily relieves pain by wearing out the neurotransmitters.

Tabasco, 30,000-50,000
If you're wondering where your tabasco sauce lies on this scale, it's about equal in heat to the Cayenne, listed as hot.

Habanero, 100,000-350,000
If you wanted hot you've got exceptionally hot. Believed by those who haven't heard of the Ghost Chili to be the hottest pepper it brings the pain. Popular for use in insanely hot wings and salsa's a little drop goes a long way.

Naga Jolokia, a.k.a Ghost Chili, 855,000-1,050,000
Number one on the list and holding the Guinness Book of World Records for the hottest pepper is the Ghost Chili. Now if you're wondering what is it that makes it, and the other chili's so hot, the answer is that they all have the chemical capsaicin. The peppers use the chemical to deter away hungry herbivores as touching the fruit as well as chewing it can cause a burning sensation. The Naga Jolokia is actually native to India and set your mouth on fire for another 30 minutes after eating the pepper. It's name actually means King Cobra, as the natives named it after the snake (which is highly poisoinous by the way). The picture at the top is of the Ghost Chili, so be warned next time someone offers you to try it, you may just end up regretting you did. If you have to eat with latex gloves than you're better off not eating it.

People of Interest - The Real Uncle Sam

Will the real Uncle Sam please stand up. That's right, today's post is going to tell you exactaly who Uncle Sam was, I'll give you a hint he wasn't the man in the funny hat. In 1961 Congress officially recognized Mr. Samuel Wilson of Troy, New York as the namesake to the Uncle Sam we know today. Wilson wasn't the tall, gray bearded man we generally associate with the Uncle Sam of "I want you!" posters but rather only an everyday meat packer.

It started during the War of 1812 when Sam Wilson was contracted to supply meat to the American soldiers. The barrels of meat were marked with the initials U.S., which stood for United States, however some of the people who saw the barrels didn't quite know what they stood for and it was joked that they stood for Uncle Sam. Now much of the military supplies at the time were marked with the U.S. initials and Sam Wilson handled many of them so over time his name became synonymous with the United States. Later, it would be Nast who would create the character that is so widely popular today, though others had drawn other Uncle Sams.

Now something interesting came up while researching Uncle Sam, and it was that before Uncle Sam was popularly used to characterize the United States, another person was widely used. His name was Brother Jonathan and during the early years of the country he would be found in political cartoons to indicate the United States. Just like Uncle Sam he was quite patriotic and dressed appropriately. He was used throughout the Civil War but his days were numbered as he soon fell under Uncle Sam's shadow.

So the next time you see good ol' Uncle Sam and his all American attire, think of Samuel Wilsonn the meat packer and how he helped feed the hungry troops of America.

Guest Post - The Art of the Big Bang

Today is going to be the first of our guest posts in which someone other than me writes up the post about an interesting subject. It might turn out that Saturday's will become our annual guest strips but we'll just have to wait and see. Oh yeah, this firework picture is one that I took myself, and with no further ado I present Rachel's article:

Have you ever wondered how the fireworks launched during Independence Day celebrations are created? Fireworks contain flammable materials that make the light, sound, and color. The fuel (usually black powder, sulfur, and a metallic compound) produces extremely hot gases when they are lit. This propels the firework out of its launcher. The launcher, made of steel tubes, is about three times the length of the firework, but has the same diameter to create an air-tight seal around the firework. The fuse is lit by electrical wires, through which an electric current rushes that ignites the fuse. There are two secondary fuses that are lit by the main fuse that react to light the lift charge and the time-delay fuse. The time-delay fuse burns as the firework flies through the air and ignites the black powder at each break. The time-delay fuse is very important because timing is critical. Within the breaks, which are compartments within the shell, there are small pieces of a chosen metallic material, known as stars. These “stars” create the brilliant flashes of light and color that is seen in a firework display.

What makes the memorable colors in fireworks? Colors in fireworks are controlled by their content. Specific colors appear when certain metal compounds are used. Fireworks come in the following colors: violet (potassium), yellow (sodium), yellowish-red (calcium), green (copper), scarlet (strontium), red (lithium), white (aluminum), and dull blue (copper chloride). Pyrotechnics still have not created a bright blue to be used. A way to test these metals is the flame test. In this test, a glass or metal rod is dipped in the metal substance to be tested, and then placed in a flame. The color of the flame will change according to which metal substance is present.

This light and color is also a result of combustion reactions. Combustion reactions have certain needs in order to work. They need an oxidizer, fuel, and energy. An oxidizer uses oxygen to create combustion. One common oxidizer in fireworks is potassium perchlorate. The first reaction in a firework is the lighting of the main fuse. The shell is propelled out of the launcher from a build up of carbon dioxide gas. The last reaction in a firework is the intense heating of aluminum, magnesium, or titanium. The final result is a breath-taking explosion of color and enjoyment.

If you would like to learn even more about fireworks check out this NOVA site. And a special thanks to Rachel for providing our first guest post.

Geo Expo - A Spiny Sauropod

While the column Geo Expo wasn't in the original [rq} I have such a passion for rocks, minerals, and fossils that it deserves to have its own topic. So here is the article I wrote up on a pretty cool sauropod, that's a 'long neck' in layman's terms, for you to enjoy.

First off is the Amargasaurus which as you can see from the above image is quite interesting. The most notable and obvious feature is the double row of spines on its back, which tapers down into one line. Now modern scientists aren't quite sure what the function of these spikes are, but there have been a few theories. One main idea is that they were utilized for mating purposes, similar to how other animals show off their features like colors or horns. There is also the question on whether or not their was a flap of skin that made the spines into a sail, however this has been heavily disputed and many think that this is not the case. If it was a sail it could have been used as temperature control, like how Dimetrodon (which actually is not a dinosaur), otherwise it could have been possibly have been used as defense.

Amargasaurus gets its name from the area where it was found La Amarga and only one species is known called A. cazaui. It has been found to reach lengths of 33 feet and is estimated to have weighed up to five tons. Like many sauropods it is thought to have walked in herds. It probably lived around 130 to 125 million years ago in the area that is now present day Argentina (the site where it was found). Not too much else is known about this believed-to-be herbivore but it remains one of the bizarre creatures that inhabited our past. If you would like to learn more about Amargasaurus and many other very odd creatures of the Cretaceous, that's right they weren't around during the Jurassic, check out this interesting National Geographic article on bizarre dinosaurs.

Numistmatistic Values - Aluminum Cent

Now coin collecting is a small hobby of mine and the coin to rule all coins is the 1974 Aluminum Penny. You see out of the 1,571,167 coins to have been produced only a few remain, in fact to date only one has ever been found. Known as the Toven specimen, an officer working at the U.S. Capitol Building saw a Congressman drop what he thought to be a dime at the time and when he tried to return it the Congressman simply told him to keep it. It was later found in 2001 and certified to be an authentic 1974 Aluminum Penny which was given the grade of AU58 (AU stands for About Uncirculated) by the ICGC, the Independent Coin Grading Company.

You see, back in the 1970's copper was getting expensive and it was proposed to make them out of aluminum. So the mint made up a batch of over 1.5 million while the bill was being discussed in Congress to make it legal to put the aluminum coins into circulation. Yet the bill failed to get passed and thus the mint had to melt down the entire batch of coins. But before the coins were destroyed the U.S. Mint had distributed some of the coins to some Congressmen in order gain support for the legislation. These few coins are suspected to never have been returned and thus the search for the 1974 Aluminum Penny continues.

Now the Toven specimen resides within the eternal wall of the Smithsonian Institute. However, if any of the others pop up the U.S. Secret Service has the authority to confiscate them. As it turns out the U.S. Mint doesn't have any authority to take back the coins, which are considered United States property as they were never issued, and thus have entrusted the Secret Service to uphold the law. So if you find a shiny silvery colored penny from 1974 that weighs a lot less than normal pennies you might just have found one of the elusive Aluminum Cents.

[Insert Title Here] - Trirectangular

So the first actual article is going to be on one of my most favorite little pieces of geometry. Now everyone's been taught that a triangle can only be composed of 180 degrees within its three angles, now what if I told you it can have 270? For those who did the math a triangle would need to have three right angles of 90 degrees each in order to accomplish this feat, the same angles found on a square or a rectangle. That would mean that each line would be perpendicular to its connecting line and thus a shape like |_| would ensue, basically an open box (and not a triangle). However the trirectangular (the triangle with 270 degrees is still possible). How you might ask?

The key to the trirectangular is that it isn't confined to the 2 dimensional plane of a sheet of paper, but rather is placed into all three dimensions we see, height, width, and depth. If you place a triangle on a sphere, such as a globe, it is possible to have three straight lines that form three right angles. If you want to experiment yourself take an old globe and draw a line down from the North pole to the equator, then draw another line from the North pole (in respect to a right angle from the first line) and draw it down to the equator. Connect the lines by drawing the final segment along the equator and presto you have three right angles and a trirectangular.

Now there are sure to be the few of you who are skeptical on whether or not this is actually a triangle and I shall prove to you it is through definitions. We'll start off with the definition of triangle from the Merriam-Webster dictionary:
"A polygon having three sides"
The definition for polygon has two definitions that we care about they are:
"A closed plane figure bounded by straight lines" and
"A closed figure on a sphere bounded by arcs of great circles"
So thus as long as it's connected on these arcs it's still legit.

Well that's my first article and I hope you enjoyed it and learned something in the process if you would like to know where I discovered this it was in the book entitled Visual Vexations, authored by David J. Bodycombe. Oh, and you should know that the image was found off of Wikipedia.

Introduction to the [rq}

So I found this site and thought it would be a cool place just to organize all the interesting sites and information that is found on the web. This blog is more going to be used for my homepage but feel free to check it out. I'll be posting with all that random stuff that people so enjoy, the useless information that scours the history books.

To give you some background on the [rq} it started out as a small little booklet I made awhile back just for fun. The cover page featured a bunch of tidbits that I'd find in the Almanac such as the population of Finland or how many centimeters in a fathom. Then there would be a few articles on, well random stuff. There are a few common columns including Amazing Animals, Numistmatistic Values, From the Depths of the Dictionary, Ancient Information, Astronomia, Where in the World, MegaPixels, Something Upcoming, Fun Trivia, and my favorite article: [Insert Title Here].
I later did a second edition with many of the same articles, but it had basically stopped there. However it did not end as I created a FunTrivia.com quiz entitled Random Quotient which you can find here. I planned on making a sequel, yet I never did get around to it.

So I hope you find enjoyment with this blog, I think that I'll be posting random articles that I come up with, or just parts of other sites that have some nifty information on them. Everyone just has to remember that when I do post something that is not of my creation I shall be giving credit to the original author, especially with comics as they deserve the credit. And we'll see how this goes.