Copyright 2018 by Gary L. Pullman
1. Fonts
I use Open office, a free
word processor that works as well as the Microsoft Office word
processor. Open office provides hundreds of fonts, including a few
fancy or exotic ones, such as Ar
Decode,
Ar
Delaney, Blackladder
ITC, Chiller,
Comic
Sans MS, Curlz
MT, Edwardian
Script ITC, Goudy
Stout, Matura
MT Script Capitals, Jokerman,
Kristen
ITC, MS
Outlook,
Ravie,
and
Wingdings
(Wingdings).
One
day, while searching for a topic for a Listverse
article, I thought there might be one at my fingertips. Literally,
there was one: what is the origin of ten unusual fonts? (Listverse
requires a list of 10 related items.) The result was that, with a bit
of research, I earned $100 for my article, “Top 10 Origins of
Famous Fonts”
(http://listverse.com/2017/05/23/top-10-origins-of-famous-fonts/).
(See? Research can
pay!)
2. U. S. State
Boundaries
We've
all seen political maps of the United States. We've noticed how
bizarre state boundaries are. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as
to why the states have the shapes and sizes they do. Texas is HUGE,
Rhode Island is tiny. Michigan resembles a mitten; Virginia, a
lopsided triangle; Oklahoma, a cooking pot; and Colorado, a giant
rectangle.
The boundaries of
the states look as though they were determined by a madman or
madwoman.
I thought, somebody
should write a book about this!
Somebody
(Mark Unger) did: How
the States Got Their Shapes:
https://amzn.to/2nR0fjp
He even turned it
into a television show broadcast on the History channel.
There's
even a website about the book:
https://www.history.com/shows/how-the-states-got-their-shapes
3. Mythological
Creatures
Centaurs. Cyclopes.
Gorgons. Lamia. Mermaids. Minotaurs. Satyrs. How did they come to be?
What made someone imagine such combinations as humans and horses,
one-eye giants, women with snakes for hair, snake women, fish women,
men and bulls, and goat men?
Scientists and
historians claim to know—about some of the origins of these
fantastic mythological creatures, at least. Centaurs were created by
people who'd never seen mounted horsemen; cyclopes were invented to
account for a mastodon skull; and mermaids were inspired by manatees.
Or so they say. But what about the other fantastic creatures of Greek
and Roman, Teutonic, and other mythologies?
4. Maps That Show
Monsters
I have also long
been intrigued by the monsters that appear on ancient and medieval
maps. Why this creature and not another? Why is the wind (personified
as a man blowing air) blowing on this area of the world and not
another? How did the cartographers, or mapmakers, know the
coordinates of this mysterious island or this particular sea monster?
Once
again, someone else (Edward Brooke-Hitching) wondered the same thing,
did some research, and wrote The
Phantom Atlas: The Greatest Myths, Lies and Blunders of Maps:
https://amzn.to/2w01zEX
5. Sketchy Dinosaurs
Originally,
paleontologists believed that dinosaurs were dim-witted,
cold-blooded, slow-moving creatures. A few decades later, these same
dinosaur doctors reconsidered. Now, the same dinosaurs were thought
to be intelligent, warm-blooded, fast-moving creatures. Oh! And, the
new school opinion was that dinosaurs descended from birds;
previously, paleontologists had supposed them to have evolved from
reptiles.
These
weren't just changes of thought; they were completely opposite
views. If dinosaur doctors could change their minds completely about
such “facts” as these, how sound were their theories, overall?
How sketchy were dinosaurs, anyway?
As
it turns out, very.
One only has to take note of the multitude of qualifications in The
Scientific American's
Book
of Dinosaurs: The Best Minds in Paleontology Create a Portrait of the
Prehistoric Era,
edited by Gregory S. Paul (https://amzn.to/2nOSMRM),
to get an idea just how shaky the whole “scientific” construct of
dinosaurs' appearances, behaviors, and, well, reality truly is. As
Mark Twain observed, “There
is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale
returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.”
What worked for me
(and Mark Unger and Edward Brooke-Hitching and “the best minds in
paleontology”) can work for you, too, if you're writing a report
based on research:
- Think about a topic of interest to you that contains a mystery.
- Using a variety of reliable sources, investigate the mystery.
- Report your findings in a clear, well-organized, grammatically correct, and readable fashion, citing your sources, and providing plenty of substantiating details.
