Exodus's New Writeups

A comparison of the protagonists in Medea, A Doll's House, and Joan of Lorraine (idea)

2001-08-11T02:29:11Z

The following is an essay I wrote over the summer of 2002 as a pre-school assignment. I'm submitting it to the database as part of the whole "Node Your Homework" schtick. The prompt is as follows:

Read Medea, Joan of Lorraine, and A Doll's House. Using all three main characters, write an essay examining their strong a weak points, and comparing and contrasting their roles. Limit your paper to 600 - 800 words.

It's due August 13th. I'll post the grade here when it's returned.

Update 11/01/01: It was just returned, and I earned an 82. Grrr. Maybe you shouldn't use it as a springboard for ideas.

While Medea, Joan, and Nora are all very headstrong women, between them are more differences than similarities; and though the three share the extrinsicality of obstinance, each persona…

Examples of the inadequacy of the English Language (idea)

2001-08-10T20:16:20Z

"Manure stinks, but a rose...?"

A rose embalms. It also perfumes. This isn't an inadequacy of the English language so much as it is an inadequacy of the evolution of the English language. As the language progresses, words lose meaning and parts of speech change. Not many people think of perfume as a verb, yet it is (yes, it's also a noun, but the fact that you can buy perfume in stores has caused the verb to be overlooked.)

As for embalm, dictionary.com defines it as "To impart fragrance to; perfume." However, use of the word embalm conjures up images of the embalming process -- something which, by all accords, is most certainly not pleasant smelling.

Like I said, this isn't the language's fault. The words you're looking for exist; most people are just too lazy to get out a dictionary or thesaurus and find out what they are, so they aren't ever used. Don't blame the language, blame yourself.

…

Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (idea)

2001-06-15T00:01:47Z

It is of some interest to know that this film is eerily similar to Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Disney's latest cash cow. Even if we take into consideration the occasional similarities due to the identical subject matter, the coincidences are still overwhelming. One might argue that an identical plot is theoretically plausible, but that train of thought is derailed by the character designs which are, oddly enough, damn near identical.

Of course, the director of Disney's film has been quoted as saying that he hadn't even heard of Nadia until "long after we'd finished production...."

Somehow, this doesn't surprise me in the least.

Here is a further list of similarities:

The hero in Nadia is a sandy haired boy adorned with round, oversized glasses and a red bowtie.
The hero in Atlantis is a sandy haired man adorned with round, oversized glasses and a red bowtie.

They're both intelligent characters, and over time we…

The theory that Venus came into our solar system relatively recently (idea)

2001-06-12T13:44:54Z

I hate to break it to you, but Venus' crater pattern is dodgy for a reason. The surface of Venus is very hot (approximately 470ºC) -- so hot, in fact, that parts of it are molten. Now, you'd be hard pressed to find a crater on a molten surface, but it is possible -- we've seen them on Venus. Venus' surface has one interesting quirk, though, which accounts for the aforementioned lack of craters. Every so often (I think it's 100,000,000 years or so, but I'm not sure. Ask a professional.), Venus' surface wipes itself clean. Craters? Gone. Islets of molten rock that managed to cool enough to solidify on the surface? Gone.

No one I've asked has been able to tell me why this happens (hypothetical answers I've been given have had to do with the pressure on Venus, subterranean floes, etc. Use your imagination), but apparently it does.

Update: no comply says check out my WU in the venus node, the wipe out you talk…

The green light at the end of Daisy's dock (idea)

2001-05-13T02:59:58Z

The green light at the end of Daisy's dock symbolizes not only what's been said above, but also many other things. Jealousy, for instance. Gatsby was in love with Daisy, but he was also insanely jealous of Tom. It signifies greed -- Gatsby wanted Daisy all to himself, and he went to great lengths in an attempt to win her (Really, I'm surprised he didn't cut the books.) This is a slight stretch, but it's possible the light also symbolized, well, greenness. East Egg was full of those with new money (well, except for Nick), and while in that case it would make sense for the light to be on East Egg, then only those on West Egg would be able to see it and, well, it probably wouldn't mean much to them, being from old money and all.

liquid (thing)

2001-05-05T16:24:35Z

An interesting tidbit about liquids: While liquids can exist in outer space (read: a vacuum), they can't exist naturally -- they need to be imported. If you want liquid H2O in space, you need to bring it with you.

This is why comets go from a solid (ice/rock) to a gas (tail/dust tail) immediately while plunging towards the sun.