Introduction
Navigating a complex universe requires comprehensive schemas and storyboards to make sense of endless details. You often struggle to find clear patterns in the overwhelming vastness of natural and human-made systems.
Barbara Ann Kipfer addresses this need by compiling around 400 orders covering 13 general areas. The book functions as a reference guide and brainstorming tool.
The work maps these systems through successions, structures, sequences, scales, rankings, hierarchies, divisions, classifications, and branches. You can explore this vast taxonomy by examining several key questions:
- How is the natural world organized into physical benchmarks?
- What numerical tiers govern technology and time?
- Which hierarchies and lineages structure human societies?
- How do institutions and philosophical systems organize collective life?
1. The Earth and the Natural World
The natural world is organized into chemical components, mineral rankings, weather scales, and biological classifications that establish physical benchmarks.
You can observe this planetary order directly in the composition of the Earth's crust. Chemical elements are ranked by their percentage of presence from most to least common. Oxygen makes up 46.6 percent, silicon accounts for 27.7 percent, and aluminum comprises 8.1 percent. Iron follows at 5.0 percent, calcium represents 3.6 percent, sodium reaches 2.8 percent, potassium stands at 2.59 percent, and magnesium accounts for 2.1 percent.
Mineral hardness is measured using the Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness, which ranks minerals from ten to one based on their ability to scratch one another. Created by German mineralogist Friedrich Mohs, who lived from 1773 to 1839, the scale provides benchmark testing objects for you to use in the field.
- Cannot be scratched by knife or file: 10 diamond, 9 corundum, 8 topaz
- Can be scratched by streak plate (hardness 6.5): 7 quartz
- Can be scratched by glass plate or steel needle: 6 orthoclase
- Can be scratched by knife or file: 5 apatite, 4 fluorite
- Can be scratched by copper penny: 3 calcite
- Can be scratched by fingernail: 2 gypsum, 1 talc
Earth and Weather Systems
The Environmental Protection Agency established the Air Quality Index to measure specific pollutants and categorize health risks into distinct numerical tiers. The index evaluates carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide, and particulates. Safety levels are divided from good to hazardous based on numerical thresholds that dictate cautionary actions and stay-indoors alerts.
- 0-50: good, no cautionary status
- 51-100: moderate, no cautionary status, however some pollutants may affect a very small number of people
- 101-150: unhealthy for sensitive groups, no cautionary status
- 151-200: unhealthy, alert for elderly or ill to stay indoors and reduce physical activity
- 201-300: very unhealthy, alert for general population to stay indoors and reduce physical activity
- 301-500: hazardous, emergency alert, all stay indoors, windows shut, no physical activity
Tornado intensity and the severity of resulting damage are measured on the Fujita Tornado Scale, ranging from F0 up to F6. The scale categorizes tornadoes by wind speed and specific physical devastation inflicted. An F0 tornado features winds of 40-72 mph, an F1 reaches 73-112 mph, an F2 hits 113-157 mph, and an F3 records 158-206 mph. Winds of 207-260 mph designate an F4, 261-318 mph indicate an F5, and 319-379 mph classify an F6.
Biology and Human Systems
Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle established an early classification of animals by dividing them strictly into groups possessing blood versus bloodless groups. Aristotle's system grouped animals containing blood into birds, amphibians, reptiles, fishes, and whales. Animals that are bloodless included cephalopods, higher crustaceans, insects, and testaceans.
Bee colonies operate under a strict social hierarchy divided by specific reproductive and labor roles. The queen bee is the fertile mated female that lays all the eggs, while drones are the males that fertilize the queen. Workers are sterile females handling either hive workers or foragers duties.
Mammalian gestation periods vary drastically across species, ranging from less than two weeks in marsupials up to nearly two years in elephants. Gestation takes 660 days for elephants, 560 days for rhinoceroses, 406 days for camels, 330 days for horses, and 285 days for cows. Humans require 275 days, chimpanzees need 237 days, goats take 151 days, sheep use 144 days, and pigs run 114 days. Dogs and cats experience 61 days, rabbits take 31 days, mice need 20 days, and the opossum gestation lasts 13 days.
Substances exhibit vastly different levels of addiction potential based on empirical indexing, with nicotine and smoked methamphetamine rating near absolute certainty. Nicotine rates 100.0 percent, methamphetamine smoked hits 98.5 percent, crack reaches 97.6 percent, and methamphetamine snorted records 94.0 percent. Valium stands at 85.6 percent, alcohol and heroin rate 81.8 percent, cocaine reaches 73.1 percent, and caffeine hits 72.0 percent. Marijuana registers 21.1 percent, Ecstasy stands at 20.1 percent, psilocybin mushrooms rate 17.1 percent, and LSD records 16.7 percent.
The human ear processes external sound through a sequential mechanical and neurological pathway starting from sound collection and ending in brain interpretation.
- Sound waves are gathered by the ear and passed to the auditory canal
- Sound waves cause eardrum to vibrate
- Vibrations are passed on and strengthened by the three ossicles: malleus, incus, and stapes
- The oval window vibrates, and vibrations pass into the cochlea
- Vibrations are detected by special cells in the cochlea
- Vibrations are converted into nerve impulses
- Information is sent via the auditory nerve to the brain
2. Technology, Measurements, and Time
Human innovations, astronomical events, electrical impacts, and historical calendars rely on strict numerical tiers and ordered sequences.
Technology and Power
J. Allen Hynek categorized close encounters with unidentified flying objects into three distinct kinds based on physical evidence and direct contact. The classification scales from simple sightings to direct physical evidence left behind, and finally to actual contact with the UFO or its occupant.
- Close encounter of the first kind
- Close encounter of the second kind
- Close encounter of the third kind
The Torino Scale categorizes the impact hazards of near-Earth asteroids and comets into a color-coded ten-level system ranging from no hazard to certain collision. Levels 0 and 1 represent no hazard or normal routine discoveries with near-zero collision chances. Levels 2 through 4 merit attention by astronomers due to close passes or 1% chances of localized or regional devastation.
- 0 - White, No Hazard: likelihood of collision is zero
- 3 - Yellow: 1% or greater chance of collision capable of localized destruction
- 8 - Red: collision is certain, once per 50 years to once per several thousand years
- 10 - Red: collision is certain, once per 100,000 years or less often, global climatic catastrophe
Levels 5 through 7 are threatening, indicating serious potential for regional or global catastrophes. Levels 8 through 10 denote certain collisions capable of causing localized destruction, regional devastation, or global climatic catastrophe.
The Big Bang is characterized as a rapid expansion during which fundamental forces separated and matter gradually formed over billions of years. The sequence starts with the separation of gravity from the electromagnetic, strong, and weak nuclear forces during Planck time, followed by the separation of the nuclear and electromagnetic forces, cosmic inflation, quark combination, formation of light atom nuclei, and finally the condensation of gaseous clouds into protogalaxies and stars.
- 10^-43 seconds: Planck time before gravity separated
- 10^-10 seconds: time taken for strong and weak nuclear forces and electromagnetic force to separate
- 10 microseconds: time taken for quarks to combine to form particles
- 3 minutes: time taken for nuclei of light atoms to form
- 500,000 years: time taken for the first true complex atoms to form
- Several hundred million to a billion years: time taken for gaseous clouds of hydrogen and helium to condense into protogalaxies and stars
eBay uses a color-coded star and shooting star hierarchy based on the number of positive transaction points accumulated by a user. The status progresses from a yellow star starting at 10 points up to a red shooting star representing 100,000 points or more, mapping out trader reputation levels.
- Yellow star: 10 to 49 points
- Blue star: 50 to 99 points
- Turquoise star: 100 to 499 points
- Purple star: 500 to 999 points
- Red star: 1,000 to 4,999 points
- Green star: 5,000 to 9,999 points
- Yellow shooting star: 10,000 to 24,999 points
- Turquoise shooting star: 25,000 to 49,999 points
- Purple shooting star: 50,000 to 99,999 points
- Red shooting star: 100,000 points or more
The physiological impact of electric current on the human body scales drastically with the number of amperes, moving from a tingling sensation to cardiac fibrillation and death. Currents under 0.01 amp are nearly imperceptible or cause a tingling sensation. At 0.03 amp, breathing is disturbed, and at 0.1 amp, death occurs due to ventricular fibrillation.
- less than 0.01 amp: imperceptible or tingling sensation
- 0.02 amp: painful, cannot let go of object conducting current
- 0.03 amp: breathing disturbed
- 0.07 amp: breathing very difficult
- 0.1 amp: death due to fibrillation
- 0.2 amp+: no fibrillation but severe burning and no breathing
Electronic components use a standard resistor color code mnemonic to determine standard and precision numerical values from zero to nine. Each color correlates to a precise digit, running from black for 0 up to white for 9, which helps technicians read component ratings.
- Black: 0
- Brown: 1
- Red: 2
- Orange: 3
- Yellow: 4
- Green: 5
- Blue: 6
- Violet: 7
- Gray: 8
- White: 9
The National Fire Rating System uses a diamond-shaped label with specific quadrants to denote hazards related to flammability, health, reactivity, and specific risks. The red top square marks flammability from 0 to 4, the blue left square indicates health hazards from 0 to 4, the yellow right square covers reactivity and explosion dangers, and the white bottom square handles specific hazard designations like oxidizers or water reactivity.
- 0 to 4 scale across flammability, health, and reactivity parameters
Measurements and Calendars
Apothecaries' weight measures rely on a historical system originating from troy weight to precisely weigh tiny quantities using grains, scruples, drachms, and pounds. The system breaks down weights where twenty grains equal a scruple, three scruples equal a drachm, and specific ratios bridge apothecary ounces to avoirdupois units.
- 1 grain = 0.0020833 troy ounce = 0.06479899 gram
- 20 grains = 1 scruple = 0.04166 troy ounce
- 3 scruples = 1 drachm = 0.125 troy ounce
- 12 ounces apoth. = 1 pound apoth. = 373.2417 grams
The pH scale categorizes aqueous solutions from acid to base using values from 0 to 14. Zero represents strong acids like battery acid, seven represents neutral pure water, and fourteen represents strong bases like drain cleaner.
- 0: hydrochloric acid, battery acid
- 7: pure water
- 14: antacids, drain cleaner, potassium hydroxide
The Maya calendar uses synchronized cycles combining a sacred year and a solar year alongside long count time units. The system couples the 260-day tzolkin sacred year with the 365-day haab solar year to form a 52-year Calendar Round, supported by extensive temporal units like tuns, katuns, and baktuns.
- Tzolkin: 260-day sacred year
- Haab: solar year of eighteen 20-day months plus a five-day unlucky period
- Tun: 360 days
- Katun: 7,200 days
- Baktun: 144,000 days
3. Religion and World Rulers
Religious traditions and political successions structure human societies through spiritual hierarchies, sacred duties, and dynastic lineages.
Barbara Ann Kipfer compiles the organizational structures of faith and power. You can trace how spiritual realms and temporal governments arrange human activity.
Angels are organized into three distinct hierarchies containing nine specific orders, as compiled by Gregory the Great in the 6th century A.D. The first hierarchy includes Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones. The second hierarchy consists of Dominations, Virtues, and Powers. The third hierarchy comprises Principalities, Archangels, and Angels.
Global religious demographics show widely varying approximate numbers of adherents across world faiths. Statistics range from smaller groups like Zoroastrians and Jains up to major global traditions.
- 2,500,000: approximate adherents of Zoroastrians
- 4,000,000: approximate adherents of Jains
- 900,000,000: approximate adherents of Hindus
- 1,500,000,000: approximate adherents of Muslims
- 2,000,000,000: approximate adherents of Christians
Christian monastic practice divides daily prayer and praise into seven canonical hours based on biblical scripture. Derived from Psalms 119:164, these set times structure the devotional day for praising God.
- Matins with Lauds: midnight or 2 A.M., and often at sunrise
- Prime: first hour of the day, or 6 A.M.
- Tierce: third hour after sunrise
- Sext: sixth hour of the day, or noon
- Nones: ninth hour after sunrise
- Vespers: late afternoon or in the evening
- Complin: just before bedtime
Islam is structured around five core duties and practices known as the Five Pillars. These pillars govern daily ritual, charitable giving, fasting, and pilgrimage.
- Salah or Prayer: five prayers a day, at designated times, facing Mecca
- Zakat: almsgiving; giving a proportion of one's wealth to the needy
- Sawm or Fasting: between dawn and dusk during Ramadan
- Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca once in one's lifetime
- Shahadah: profession of faith
Buddhism explains the nature of human suffering and its resolution through the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Noble Path. The doctrine states that life is full of suffering caused by attachment, greed, or desire.
- Right understanding: seeing the world as it really is
- Right intentions: kindness and compassion
- Right speech: not lying, criticizing, hurting with words
- Right action: not harming, not stealing, not overindulging
- Right livelihood: earning a living by not harming others
- Right effort: attempting to do meritorious things
- Right mindfulness: being aware and alert
- Right concentration: meditation and avoidance of excess
Traditional Hindu society and life progression are structured by social divisions and four stages of life. The social fabric divides people into four Varnas, while individual life follows four sequential roles.
- Student (Brahmacarin): first stage
- Householder (Grhastha): second stage
- Forest dweller (Vanaprastha): third stage
- Renouncer (Sannyasin): fourth stage
During the Passover Seder, the youngest child traditionally asks four questions explaining the unique customs of the night. These questions highlight variations from normal behavior.
- Ask why this night is different from all other nights
- Ask why only bitter herbs are eaten on this night
- Ask why food is dipped twice on this night
- Ask why people recline instead of eating sitting upright on this night
Dante Alighieri structures Hell in The Inferno into a system of nine main descending circles that house specific sinners according to their transgressions. The architecture moves from Limbo and Dis through Malebolge to Cocytus and Lucifer at the center of the earth.
Political Dynasties and Rulers
Political organization relies on strict successions, dynastic lineages, and symbols of authority. You encounter these systems across ancient empires and modern nations.
Ancient Sparta maintained a dual monarchy system with two simultaneous reigning kings from separate dynasties. Sparta practiced a double kingship where power was shared concurrently by two rulers from the Agiad and Eurypontid dynasties.
Roman governance transitioned from early kings and the Republic into a vast succession of emperors governing Western and Eastern realms. The timeline maps out leaders starting with Romulus in 753 B.C., moving through Augustus ruling from 30 B.C. to A.D. 14, and concluding with Romulus Augustus as final Western Emperor in 475–476.
The leadership of Macedonia evolved through the Argead, Antipatrid, and Antigonid dynasties. Prominent figures include Philip II and Alexander III “the Great” reigning from 336 to 323 B.C.
In 922 B.C., Palestine was structurally divided into two separate kingdoms: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Jeroboam I initiated the northern kingdom of Israel, while Rehoboam inaugurated the southern kingdom of Judah.
Russian leadership evolved from early grand princes into an autocratic tsardom and later the Soviet Union's executive framework. Ivan IV “the Terrible” was the first to rule as Tsar of Russia starting in 1547.
Turkish statehood is traced from ancient Hittite rulers through the centuries of the Ottoman Empire down to the modern Turkish Republic. Suleyman II “the Magnificent” ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1520 to 1566.
4. Government, Society, Arts, and Philosophy
Social institutions, military ranks, psychological structures, economic cycles, and philosophical systems organize human collective life and thought.
Government and Military
The United States Air Force is structured from the individual airman up to massive air commands, categorized by specific organizational tiers and officer and enlisted grades. The organizational flow goes from a single airman, section, flight, squadron, group, wing, air division, air force, up to air commands. Ranks span from E-1 for Airman basic up to 5-star, special for General of the Air Force.
The United States Army organizes personnel from small squads of soldiers up to massive field armies, incorporating commissioned officers, warrant officers, and noncommissioned officers. A squad contains 4 to 10 soldiers, and a division consists of 10,000 to 18,000 soldiers. Ranks range from Private E-1 to General of the Army.
Military draft classifications systematically define your status regarding military service, exemptions, or deferments. Classifications range from 1-A meaning available to serve, to 1-O conscientious objectors, 4-F medical disqualifications, and the age of liability under 5-A, which is 25 or previously deferred 35.
Gun salutes are strictly regulated by degrees based on the rank or occasion of the person being honored. Salutes range from 50 guns for July 4 at noon down to 21 guns for the arrival and departure of the president, and 11 guns for a brigadier general, rear admiral of the lower half, and consul general.
The United Nations operates through primary organs that handle discussions, security, economic and social issues, trusteeships, and international justice. Key organs include the General Assembly, Security Council with 5 permanent members, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice with 15 judges elected for 9-year terms, and the Secretariat.
The U.S. Constitution has been amended multiple times to protect fundamental personal freedoms, adjust voting rights, and alter governmental procedures. There are 27 total amendments listed, including the Eleventh Amendment in 1895.
Crimes are classified across legal systems from most to least serious and categorized through criminal typologies like violent, property, occupational, and public order crimes. Criminal classifications rank treason as the most serious, followed by felonies and misdemeanors. Anglo-American law distinguishes between acts mala in se and mala prohibita.
Specific mnemonics are used by law enforcement and legal professionals to quickly recall critical details during operations and warrant conditions. CYMBOL tracks automobile details for police radio communication:
- C — Color
- Y — Year
- M — Make
- B — Body style
- O — Occupants
- L — License plate number
Feudal systems structured society based on land tenure, loyalty oaths, and strict hierarchical classes ranging from rulers down to serfs. In the English and medieval European feudal systems, the king leased fiefs to lords, who relied on vassals, knights, squires, and villeins and serfs who worked the land. A page in training was 7 to 13 years old, and a squire was 14 to approximately 21 years old.
Society, Arts, and Philosophy
Archaeology categorizes early human eras based on their predominant tool-making technologies into three main ages. The first age of the Stone Age runs from creation to the deluge, 4004–2349 B.C., alongside the Palaeolithic stage, the Bronze Age from 3000–1200 B.C., and the Iron Age from 1100 B.C.–A.D. 1000.
Sigmund Freud divided the human psyche into three structural categories and consciousness into three levels. The structural categories consist of the ego, id, and superego, while consciousness moves through the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. Child sexuality develops through oral, anal-sadistic, and phallic-genital stages.
Carl Jung outlined four stages of competence representing the progression of learning and skill acquisition. Abraham Maslow organized human motivations into a hierarchy of five basic needs, moving from physiological and safety needs to social, ego, and self-fulfillment.
Gene Sharp expanded Mohandas K. Gandhi's principles into specific tactics of nonviolent action. The tactics are grouped into nonviolent protest and persuasion, nonviolent noncooperation, and nonviolent intervention.
An International Standard Book Number consists of specific numerical components that identify the publishing standard, country, publisher, title, and a check digit. ISBN formats use 13 digits or 10 digits. Barbara Ann Kipfer demonstrates this with 978-0-7611-5044-2, where the digits denote the GS1 global standardization prefix, the country code, the publisher name, the book title, and a check digit to prevent errors.
Erich Moritz Von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs classified musical instruments into five primary families based on their initial vibrating body in a classification established in 1914. The system categorizes instruments into aerophones, chordophones, electrophones, idiophones, and membranophones.
The business cycle alternates through specific phases of economic activity, prosperity, and depression. Economic fluctuations move from crisis and emergency liquidation to depression, readjustment, recuperation or revival, prosperity, and overextension and speculation.
Gold purity is measured in karats, where each karat represents a one-twenty-fourth part of the total metallic mixture. Pure fine gold is rated at 24 k as 100 percent pure fine gold, while 18 k is 75 percent, 14 k is 58.3 percent, 12 k is 50 percent, 10 k is 41.7 percent, and 9 k is 37.5 percent.
A Universal Product Code bar code configuration uses a specific sequence of digits from left to right to identify products, manufacturers, features, and verification. Digit 1 identifies product type, digits 2 to 6 identify the manufacturer assigned by the Uniform Code Council, digits 7 to 11 give product description, and digit 12 is the check digit.
Traditional American and modern anniversary gifts follow a structured sequence of materials and items corresponding to the duration of the marriage. The 1st anniversary features paper or plastic, cotton or clocks as traditional and modern options, while the 50th anniversary is marked by gold and the 70th anniversary by platinum.
Evaluating wine professionally involves a systematic six-step sensory progression:
- See (examine the wine)
- Smell and sniff
- Swirl
- Sip
- Savor and swish in mouth
- Swallow
Francis Bacon identified four false ideas or idols that handicap human understanding and obstruct clear thinking in Novum Organum, published in 1620. He categorized intellectual errors into the Idols of the Tribe, Idols of the Cave, Idols of the Market Place, and Idols of the Theater.
Aristotle explained that any effect or result is produced through four distinct types of relationships or causes: material, efficient, formal, and final. Ludwig Wittgenstein proposed a systematic method for overcoming philosophical puzzlement and linguistic bewitchment using language games and recognizing intellectual bewitchment:
- Select a set of concepts which may cause difficulty, leading to paradoxical statements.
- Examine repeated instances of the normal use of these concepts to banish philosophical puzzlement.
- Reveal the nature of the language games being played by inventing new language games for comparison.
- Recognize that everything is open to view with nothing further to explain.
Benedict de Spinoza defined intellectual salvation as a progression from imagination to timeless scientific understanding using ratio.
The basic yoga sun salutation sequence integrates a specific series of postures practiced across both sides of the body:
- Stand in Mountain Pose.
- Inhale and raise your arms above your head into Volcano Pose.
- Exhale and swan-dive forward into Standing Forward Bend.
- Inhale and lift into Extended Standing Forward Bend.
- Exhale and bend your knees, then reach your right leg back into Lunge. Inhale.
- Exhale and move into Plank Pose (or Push-up Pose).
- Inhale and arch up into Upward-Facing Dog.
- Exhale and let the legs pull you backward into Downward-Facing Dog. Breathe.
- Exhale and reach your right foot forward into Lunge. Inhale.
- Exhale and step your left foot forward into Extended Standing Forward Bend. Inhale.
- Exhale and release into Standing Forward Bend.
- Inhale and rise up into Powerful Pose. Exhale.
- Inhale and rise up into Volcano Pose.
- Exhale and release your arms into Mountain Pose.
- Repeat the entire series on your left side, using your left foot to reach back into Lunge and your left foot to reach forward to return to Lunge.
Astaunga yoga outlines an eight-step path to attain spiritual and physical mastery, beginning with self-control and ending in ecstasy:
- Yama: Control of self
- Niyama: Purity of thought
- Asana: Control of the body
- Pranayama: Absorption of vital forces
- Pratyahara: Introspection
- Dharana: Concentration
- Dhyana: Meditation
- Samadhi: Ecstasy
Auto racing utilizes a standardized system of colored flags to communicate track conditions and race instructions to drivers.
10 Key Ideas
- The Environmental Protection Agency's Air Quality Index categorizes safety levels from good to hazardous based on numerical thresholds that dictate cautionary actions and stay-indoors alerts.
- Friedrich Mohs created a scale ranking ten minerals from diamond down to talc based on their ability to scratch one another, providing benchmark testing objects for field use.
- Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle established an early classification of animals by dividing them strictly into groups possessing blood versus bloodless groups.
- Mammalian gestation periods vary drastically across species, ranging from 660 days for elephants down to 13 days for the opossum.
- Substances exhibit vastly different levels of addiction potential based on empirical indexing, with nicotine and smoked methamphetamine rating near absolute certainty while LSD records 16.7 percent.
- The Big Bang is characterized as a rapid expansion starting with Planck time before gravity separated, followed by nuclear and electromagnetic force separation, cosmic inflation, quark combination, light atom formation, and protogalaxy condensation.
- The physiological impact of electric current on the human body scales drastically with the number of amperes, moving from a tingling sensation under 0.01 amp to ventricular fibrillation and death at 0.1 amp.
- The Maya calendar uses synchronized cycles by coupling the 260-day tzolkin sacred year with the 365-day haab solar year to form a 52-year Calendar Round.
- Gregory the Great compiled nine specific orders of angels divided into three distinct hierarchies containing Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominations, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels.
- Sigmund Freud divided the human psyche into the structural categories of ego, id, and superego alongside consciousness levels moving through the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious.