Domain: sparknotes.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to sparknotes.com.
Comments · 63
-
it's not really cheating
I use Sparknotes.com often and it really helps you understand books and better prepare for tests. I also use myBiblio for bibliographies which works pretty well too. tutors arent consideredd cheating so why should study aids?
-
The Importance of Being Earnest
I don't know if the movie touches on the significance of MJ being in this play. It's one of Oscar Wilde's famous comedies, and it's all about the dangers of living a double life.
The short of it; a young country gent(Algernon) goes to city to flirt around and cause trouble, but when in the city goes by the name of Ernest so that no rumours of his city life make it back to his home in the country. One of Algernon's city friends, Jack, travels to the country to dally with Algernon's young ward, and he also uses the name Ernest. Combined with some witty dialogue, a good does of sarcasm, and some smacks at the upperclass, its probably one of Wilde's best works. And Oscar Wilde, along with GB Shaw should probably be up there with Shakespeare among England's finest playwrights.
Summary here
Full text here -
Re:Pet peeve.
An animal is something with animal cells.
-
Which sugar? (Warning: contains rambling prose)Ok first and foremost we need to define what we are actually discussing here. "Sugar" is not sufficiently specific.
From the first post, I assume we are referring to sucrose but not the more commonly occurring sugars like glucose, fructose (the major sugar in most fruits - to the troll), lactose, etc. Sucrose does not occur in large concentrations in nature except in a few specific cases - sugar beets, sugar cane, etc. From a bio-historical perspective it is quite obvious that we are not well adapted to eating large amounts of purified sucrose.
If you would like further information on some of the sugars and the differences between them you could have a look here.
What astounds me about the american diet is the amount of sugar that is in EVERYTHING! Even your bread has huge amounts of sugar in it. If I had to eat something sweet in the morning (as seems traditional in a number of countries) I would blow chunks all over the place - salty, fatty, plain, whatever just don't coat it in bloody sugar!
Avoid prepackaged foods and don't cover your food in sugar is the long and the short of it. Buy a bread maker, read labels (usually the ingredients are ordered in terms of weight - so the KFC coleslaw where the ingredients start "cabbage, sugar, carrots..." lets you know that the second largest ingredient is sugar... ack)
Btw, I would not reccomend that anyone eats refined (white) sugar. The processes used in it's manufacture are not what I would like to ingest - raw sugar is far preferable (I still like a bit in my tea:).
While I am meandering from topic to topic - I would reccomend that anyone who uses artificial sweetners tries this experiment. Find an ant's nest, place a unit of of your preferred artificial sweetner next to it, and see what the ants do. If it ain't good enough for ants, it ain't good enough for me.
Ok, one final ramble to the parents out there - be good with your kids. It seems a lot of the attitudes towards sweeteners and sugar content in food is very hard to "un-learn" once taught. I am trying my best to make sure that my son isn't imprinted with too many bad eating habits. This is not to say that they cannot enjoy sweets, but they are not and should not be part of a day-to-day diet. My little boy loves his fruit, and would take a good nectarine over a lollypop anyday.
Q. (Waxing Lyrical)
-
Re:Harry's right...
As everyone who has recently taken a high school literature class knows, you should just read the Spark Notes.
-
Re:Haven't we seen this?but instead will resemble more of a kaleidoscope, thousands of streams of content, some indistinguishable as actual channels.'"
Maybe its just me, but I am more then vaguely reminded of the "TV walls" of Bradbury's Farenheit 451 . It sounds like TV will turn into an amalgam of streaming video, with the sole purpose of transfixing its audience.
This may allready be the case for some cahnnels, but some people (mostly non
/.ers) get their news from TV still. This "kaleidoscope" sounds like trouble to me. -
Suggestions for Math and Physics
There are "for Dummies" books that cover many of the topics you've listed. I was never fond of them, but you may want to take a look at them.
The biggest problem when you're undertaking a self-study endeavour is that most books that are available are either
- Very specialized topics (What does pi mean?)
- Refresher-course books (Lots of problems, few explanations)
The specialized topics books - commonly reviewed in magazines such as Scientific American - are fun to read, but I'm not sure if they serve the purpose of what you're seeking.
How much of algebra do you know? If you can look through the table of contents of a textbook for Algebra I and II and are confident in all the topics, then I'd move on to geometry/trigonometry before calculus.
Also, keep in mind that conceptual physics texts are divided between algebra-based and calculus-based reasoning. Take whichever you're more comfortable with.
Some 'refresher-course' books that will come in handy with the conceptual books that others may suggest:
Schaum's Outlines
Research & Education Association's Problem Solvers series
CliffsNotes and SparkNotes -
Re:lessig is right
You are an ignorant fucktard. Bach didn't copy his symphonies from some other musician/composer and rearrange them himself, to his liking. He wrote them by learning the techniques of those before him.
Showing our extensive knowledge and refined taste in the arts now, are we, to complement our gentlemanly demeanor? Well...
All through his life, Bach learned by copying out works of other composers, among them Vivaldi, Albinoni, Corelli and Marcello.
Oh, but your're not done yet...
Michaelaneglo didn't paint by numbers when he painted the Sistine Chapel. He learned the techniques of painting then expressed himself through this medium. While the concepts in teh Sistine Chapel might not be completely original, his work most certtainly was.
Ahem:
The thirteen-year-old Michelangelo joined the studio as an apprentice, and there he learned fresco painting and began to draw compulsively, copying works by Early Renaissance masters Giotto, Masaccio, and Schongauer.
Listen, my friend, it's time to stop spouting and start thinking about just where you and your opinions fit in the grand scheme of things, and how you might go about improving that situation. Bye now. -
BBC and spyware
Well, it's unfortunate but a lot more sites are doing that, as far as I can see. I always get gator popups here at sparknotes for example and it's a pain to click no all the time.
Well, I guess my 2 cents wont get very far =/ -
Re:Some patterns to live by...
Wow, he's got to be the only goy in the Jewish American Hall of Fame! And to think he was offered the presidency of Israel! And all those synagogues named after him! And, above all else, the fact that both of his parents were Jewish!
Truly a remarkable man, to have remained non-Jewish through of all that! -
Re:my thoughts
It's interesting that you post this because you're obviously not very paranoid AT ALL:
__Thomas Tuttle__
Email: ThomasTuttle@@@EarthLink.net
AIM: MooseGuy529
Yahoo: MooseGuy88
ICQ: 1484(space added to prevent spam)03856
Most (un)likely matches in Real Life(tm):
Thomas T Tuttle, (617) 928-016X, XX Lowell Ave, Newton, MA 02460
Thomas R Tuttle, (617) 923-923X, XX Bailey Rd, Watertown, MA 02472
An X was added to protect privacy (just a little). I don't believe this is you, since you were probably born in 1988 and probably don't have your own phone line.
Some of your hobbies: Cybiko, reading books (such as "The Giver": taken from here), HAM Radio, Lego Mindstorms.
Member of the Boston Ham Radio Club
You're probably still using AOL as your primary net connection (you're still young, probably paid for by parents). You're also probably frustrated by this.
You have a TI-85 (or similar) calculator that you like to fiddle with (and want to play games on)
All this in just a couple quick searches. Maybe you SHOULD be paranoid. I haven't even looked at your slashdot info (just google'd a bit). -
Re:Why Is Everyone So Tough On Jon Katz?
Excellent perspective - if more slashdotters would read and try to understand rather than flaming posts like this, they might come to understand why the JonKatz's of the world rarely make it out of the academic world (who else would have them, since they produce nothing of value).
In many respects, Katz is an aspiring Monk Toohey. In fact, the behavior is so consistent that you'd have to believe he's using the reference as his formula (hard as it is to believe, but there are many on the fringe left that aspire to the anti-hero mythology, such as Kaczynski, McVeigh, etc).
As pointed out by numerous posters:
- he subjectively declares numerous items to be of extreme classification - e.g. "revolutionary", "crisis," etc. (what katz declares as reality /is/ reality)
- he posts tirades that are thousands of words, but can't find the time to engage in a dialog (only katz's reality is of interest and should be studied and absorbed by the masses; katz already knows reality as he has declared it, and doesn't need to waste time discussing it with others).
- he opposes concepts consistent with predominant slashdot philosophy (free speech & free press ala areopagetica, free software, individual achievement overcoming conspiracy of the masses e.g. microsoft, etc.) and yet presents himself as the self-declared spokesperson for the slashdot community (much through the failure to engage in dialog - e.g. "my thoughts /are/ the view of slashdot and require no further introspection from me").
A question, however:
For this he is paid and patted on the back.
Paid? No, really? God, hopefully not by the word... that'll completely blow my theory.
*scoove* -
Re:Well of courseThis particular WashPost article does a disservice by not fully explaining the science behind the discovery and is going to get creationists in an uproar, because the tone of the article and the presentation of facts vaguely imply that there is some sort of "intent" or "will to live" in these chemicals. It's another case of the journalist not understanding the science, because the truth is more interesting.
The behaviour of lipid molecules is no more mysterious than the behaviour of a bimetal strip or the self-organization of crystals. The molecules that this article describes are elongated, and have their charge distributed such that there is a positive, hydrophilic (water-attracting) end and a negative, hydrophobic (water-repelling) end. Common soap has the same property.
When you get a lot of these molecules together, and place them in water, think about what's going to happen. The molecules are going to point their hydrophobic sides are towards each other, and their hydrophilic sides away from each other, organizing into two-dimensional sheets. Lateral attraction becomes surface tension, and voila, it wants to be a sphere instead of a sheet.
So these molecules are still very simple, and nothing anywhere near as complex as an amino acid or DNA. And no, it is not surprising. You make lipids, you put them in water, you get tiny bubbles. The author seems to imply we expected something else.
I recommend interested persons read an introduction to cell membranes.