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Tornado Alley

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Tornado Alley

There are no boundaries in this Tornado Alley.

  • Tornado Alley is a section of the United States of America that experiences a significant amount of tornado activity each year.
  • ‘Tornado Alley’ as a term, originated as a project name for an investigation into tornadoes in central United States in 1952.
  • There is no official territory designated as Tornado Alley, however the rough location is mostly in central North America, particularly the states of Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas, as well as Nebraska, in the United States.
  • The use of the term ‘Tornado Alley’ was mostly popularised and influenced by the media, however it has since been adopted by some scientists.
  • An extensive quantity of tornadoes develop in Tornado Alley due to the convergence of cold dry wind, warm dry air, and warm moist wind.
Tornado Alley, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Grey, Lightning, United States, Chasers, Storm
In Tornado Alley
Image courtesy of Lauri Väin/Flickr
  • Although in a notable tornado danger zone, there has been no or little increase in regulations in building requirements in the states that are in the Tornado Alley region.
  • An average of around 268 tornadoes occur each year in the Tornado Valley, which equals to about 30 percent of the tornadoes that occur in the United States annually.
  • Due to the large amount of tornado formations, Tornado Alley is a prime zone for scientific observations by storm chasers.
  • The ideal conditions for tornado creation in Tornado Alley, generally develop tornado formations of a higher violence.
  • In May 1957, the New York Times was among the first media outlets to use the term “Tornado Alley”, which was used as an article headline.
Bibliography:
Heberton B, A Tornado’s Cost: Living in Tornado Alley, 2014, United States Tornadoes, http://www.ustornadoes.com/2014/04/24/a-tornados-cost-living-in-a-tornado-alley/
Tornado Alley, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_Alley
Tornado Alley, n.d, National Centers for Environmental Information, https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/climate-information/extreme-events/us-tornado-climatology/tornado-alley
Zimmermann K, Tornado Alley: Where Twisters Form, 2012, Live Science, http://www.livescience.com/25675-tornado-alley.html

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Railroad Track

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Railroad Track

Railroad tracks are quite directional and controlling, if you think about it.

  • Railroad tracks are constructions that direct and provide a platform for trains to move along.
  • ‘Railroad tracks’ are also known as ‘railway tracks’, ‘train tracks’, ‘permanent ways’, and simply ‘tracks’.
  • The width of railroad tracks can vary greatly, from 0.38 to 2.14 metres (1.25 to 7 feet), with the standard gauge measuring 1.435 metres (4.7 feet).
  • Four main parts make up a railroad track – a pair of rails, which hold the train’s wheels; sleepers, which support and hold the rails in place; fasteners, that secure the sleepers and rails together; and the ballast that the sleepers sit on, which allows water to drain away and reduces the growth of vegetation around the track.
  • Early railroad tracks were known as ‘wagonways’ and were grooves cut into the ground or rock, to guide the movement of wheeled vehicles, and these are believed to have existed as early as 600 BC, and later they were commonly used in mines, from the first century BC.

Railroad Track, Invention, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Train, Line, Transport, Station

  • Railroad tracks are typically made of wooden or concrete sleepers and steel rails, that are placed on a ‘ballast’, a track bed of crushed stone, or a concrete platform known as a ‘ballastless’.
  • Improvements on wagonways in mines were made with the use of timber, until iron railroad tracks were first crafted in the early to mid 1700s, while more practical steel rails emerged in 1857, which boasted increased durability.
  • The rails of railroad tracks were originally too fragile to support the heavy weight of a steam locomotive, although an innovation of long wrought iron rails, created by English railway engineer, John Birkinshaw, in 1820 led to viable, durable tracks.
  • The fasteners of railroad tracks have historically included the combination of baseplates and spikes, bolts or screws, while springs or clips attached to baseplates are becoming increasingly common in modern times.
  • Railroad tracks are to be maintained on a routine basis to avoid train derailments, which includes the spraying of tracks to ensure no plants grow there.
Bibliography:
Lewis M, Railways in the Greek and Roman World, n.d, Science News, http://www.sciencenews.gr/docs/diolkos.pdf
Permanent Way (History), 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_way_(history)
Track (Railway Transport), 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_(rail_transport)

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Weaver Ant

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Weaver Ant

Weaver ants boast a skill that no one could ever teach.

  • Weaver ants are an ant species native to the tropical habitats of Australia, southeast Asia and India, and they are also known as ‘orange gasters’, ‘red ants’, ‘green tree ants’, ‘kerengga’, and ‘green ants’.
  • The scientific name of a weaver ant is Oecophylla smaragdina and it is from the family Formicidae, the family of ants.
  • Weaver ants are notable for constructing nests using a number of leaves, which are held together with silk, that they carefully squeeze out of their larvae.
  • Weaver ants are typically an orange or red colour, though sometimes they will have green abdomens, while the queen is often a combination of brown and green.
  • Weaver ants span gaps and bend leaves into usable positions by grabbing onto leaves with their legs and mandibles, and linking with one another in chains.

Weaver Ant, Trivia, Insect, Animal, Ten Random Facts, Leaves, Nest, White, Brown, Branches,

  • The diet of weaver ants consists primarily of insects and honeydew collected from scale bugs, and the ants live in trees.
  • Worker weaver ants range from 5 to 10 millimetres (0.2 to 0.4 of an inch) in length, and their size is relative to their role in the colony, while the queen ant reaches up to 25 millimetres (1 inch) in length.
  • Weaver ants have a natural territorial attitude towards other creatures, so farmers have used them to reduce pest numbers among crops.
  • A bite of a weaver ant is generally quite painful, as the ant commonly injects the bite with formic acid that it produces.
  • Communities in parts of southeast Asia collect the pupae and larvae of weaver ants for a variety of purposes, including food, traditional medicine ingredients, or as bait for fishing.
Bibliography:
Oecophylla smaragdina, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oecophylla_smaragdina
Tan R, Weaver Ants, 2001, Mangrove and wetland wildlife at Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve, http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/inverts/weaver_ants.htm
Weaver Ant, 2015, AntARK, http://antark.net/ant-species/weaver-ant-oecophylla-smaragdina/

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Caper

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Caper

Feeling lively? Try a caper!

  • A caper is a small, edible bud of the flower that grows on the bush of the same name, native to the Mediterranean area and some parts of Asia.
  • The scientific name of the caper bearing plant is Capparis spinosa and it is from the family Capparaceae, the family of capers, which is considered to be closely related to the mustard family of Brassicaceae.
  • Capers are roughly oval in shape and are an olive-green colour, and the leaves and berries of the plant are also edible.
  • Capers are sold commercially and are generally categorised in sizes from 7 to 14 millimeters (0.28 to 0.55 of an inch), with different names for each size – the smallest being ‘nonpareil’ and the largest being ‘grusa’, though the smaller ones are more sought after.
  • Capers are commonly dried and salted, and often pickled in vinegar or brine, to enhance the flavour before consuming as is, or lightly cooked.

Capers, Vegetable, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Vegetation, Green, Food, Culinary

  • Foods that may include capers as an ingredient include tartare sauce and other condiments, salads, pasta dishes, and meat dishes including fish.
  • The flavour of capers tends to be a blend of vinegar or other pickling solution if any, salt, and a flowery mustard or peppery taste.
  • Due to their fragile nature, capers are unable to be collected using machinery and thus must be picked by hand.
  • The cultivation of caper buds as food originates as early as 2000 BC, and their use has become more widespread throughout the centuries.
  • Capers are extremely high in sodium and a good source of vitamin K and copper, and they have many other vitamins and minerals.
Bibliography:
Caper, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caper
Fillippone P, What Are Capers?, 2015, About Food, http://homecooking.about.com/od/cookingfaqs/f/faqcapers.htm
So What The Hell Are Capers Anyway?, 2014, The Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2014/05/30/what-are-capers_n_1276491.html?ir=Australia

Mawsynram

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Mawsynram

You’ll need more than an umbrella at Mawsynram.

  • Mawsynram is a village in India’s Meghalaya, in Asia, above Bangladesh, that is notable for its wet climate.
  • Mawsynram is one of the wettest places on earth, and in 2015 it still held the Guinness World Record for having the highest rainfall annually, despite the claim that a couple of communities in South America’s Columbia receive even more rainfall, on average, in a year.
  • Mawsynram is found in the East Khasi Hill area, and sits at a height above sea level of approximately 1400 metres (4,600 feet).
  • The annual rainfall of Mawsynram is just over 11.8 metres (38.9 feet), most of which falls in April to October each year.
  • The term ‘Maw’ in ‘Mawsynram’ is translatable into English as ‘stone’, and it comes from the native Khasi language.
Mawsynram, Women, Rain, Native, Hat, India, Place, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Paddies
Women of Mawsynram
Image courtesy of Johnny Haglund
  • Historic megaliths are said to be located in the Mawsynram area, and there is a limestone cave featuring a large stalagmite, among others, in the shape of a notable Hindu deity.
  • It is not uncommon for clouds to move through buildings in the village of Mawsynram, and vegetation is used on the rooves of buidings to deaden the sound of the rain.
  • It was not until the late 1900s that Mawsynram received improved living conditions, with the introduction of electricity, running water and hard surfaced roads.
  • Many of the women of Mawsynram make ‘knups’ for the locals, that are made of woven bamboo and grass or leaves, and they function like an umbrella though they have the appearance somewhat of a turtle shell, and are worn over the head and back and do not need hands to continually hold them in place.
  • As Mawsynram features much flowing water caused by intense rainfall, live rubber tree roots are manipulated by locals to act as permanent bridges.
Bibliography:
Mawsynram, 2015, Travel India, http://travel.india.com/cherrapunjee/places-to-visit/nature-mawsynram/
Mawsynram, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mawsynram
Mawsynram in India- the wettest place on earth, 2013, NDTV, http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/mawsynram-in-india-the-wettest-place-on-earth-529799

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Ram-air Parachute

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Ram-air Parachute

Ram-air parachutes are full of air.

  • Ram-air parachutes are a type of parafoil parachute or canopy, used to lower one’s descent speed so that safe arrival on the ground can be achieved, or to glide in the air, although those used for gliding purposes are typically called a ‘paraglider’.
  • Ram-air parachutes can be either rectangular in shape, known in parachuting jargon as ‘square’, or tapered, known as ‘elliptical’.
  • The primary advantage ram-air parachutes have over other variants is greater control over direction and speed, and the design also provides lift.
  • A ram-air parachute is made of two fabric layers, typically rip-stop nylon, with a cell-like airfoil in between, which when moving, automatically fills with air.
  • Ram-air parachutes that are the combination of an elliptical shape and small, are notoriously more difficult to control, compared to larger or square ones, primarily due to increased moving speed.

Ram-air Parachute, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Flight, Gliding, Jump, Yellow, Blue, Rectangular, Sport, Invention

  • The parafoil design that the ram-air parachute is based on was designed by Canadian Domina Jalbert, in the late 1950s to early 1960s, a patent for which was filed in 1964.
  • The deployment of ram-air parachutes was originally so fast that is was dangerous, however, they have since been designed so that a slower deployment speed is achieved to avoid body injuries, though these speeds differ greatly depending on the parachute.
  • The ram-air parachute has been the most common form of parachute used for humans since its rise in the 1970s.
  • Ram-air parachutes are used in a number of different applications including sky diving, base jumping, paragliding, and for military purposes.
  • Ram-air parachutes and paragliders generally range from 6.5 to at least 41 square metres (70 to 441 square feet) in size, and sizes vary according to their use and user expertise.
Bibliography:
O’Neil A, What’s A “Ram-Air” Canopy?, n.d, About Sports, http://extremesports.about.com/od/air-sports/g/ram-air.htm
Parachute, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parachute#Ram-air
Skydiving FAQ, n.d, Fabulous Rocketeers, http://www.fabulousrocketeers.com/Photo_Sabre2.htm

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