First Week of June

There’s only one word running through the mind of millions of kids right now: S.U.M.M.E.R. The school year is over. Whether you’re about to be the top dog or the fresh fish, new experiences await.

Some people are proud of what they’ve been able to accomplish this year. Others are not. Around my own school, I’ve been hearing a lot of There’s-always-next-years and I-can-try-agains or even This-year-I will-make-the-honor-rolls. To those people, trust me. It really is not that hard. You’re in a country where dreams can always blossom. Somehow, setting your mind to program a little bit less on FarmVille and a little bit more on Othello can make a huge difference.

And since there has to be a reason why I’m talking about how to do better in school, I now bring you: best-websites-to-go-on-even-if-you’re-bored,-or-you’re-just-doing-homework-that-will-surely-help-you-with-your-homework-no-matter-what-media-has-taught-us.

You know when you need to find the answer to a history question, but no matter where you look, you can’t find it? Well, I’m going to list websites that have provided tremendous help to me and might provide help to you as well. Here goes!

Answers.com

In this website, all you need to do is type in a keyword (for definition) or a question and it will provide you with the answer. Example?

Q: Who was the first elected prime minister of Nepal?

A: Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala. He led the Nepali Congress, a social democratic political party. He was the Prime Minister of Nepal from 1959 to 1960.

(Help from Netra for this one!)

CIA-The World Factbook

If you want to know about the geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation, military, or transnational issues about any country on Earth, this is the place to go. They have page after page of information about every single country and even a page dedicated to the world, giving facts about the Earth as a whole. Example?

Q: How many airports are in Nepal?

A: 47 (in 2009)

Google

There is no doubting the maginifique power of the mighty Google. It provides answers to almost any question on Earth, but sometimes, you must really search deep down and look around before you find something. Nonetheless, how many of us haven’t started our queries on Google? C’mon, we all do it. Example?

Q: What is the capital of Nepal?

A: Kathmandu.

Wikipedia

I don’t care how much people bash Wikipedia. It has worked 100% of the time for me, and I trust it. I once read an article titled, ” Wikipedia is the greatest source of information ever [citation needed].” The author stated that Wikipedia has led some wrong answers and it is not trustable, although many college students seem to think it is so. Sure, it may been an easy way out, but sometimes you don’t have time to read a book on who won the Grammy in 2003 for Album of the Year. Example?

Q: Who won the Grammy in 2003 for Album of the Year?

A: Norah Jones for Come Away With Me. (Found in 36 seconds, using a stopwatch!)

No Fear Shakespeare

Ever need help on Antony and Cleopatra, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, Hamlet, Henry IV, Part I, Henry IV, Part II, Henry V, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, any of his sonnets, The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, or the Twelfth Night? This website is here for the rescue. No Fear Shakespeare provides a side-by-side version of Shakespeare’s original play and a modern version that we all can understand. Example?

Original (Prologue in Romeo and Juliet):

Two households, both alike in dignity

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life,

Whose misadventured piteous overthrows

Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.

The fearful passage of their death-marked love

And the continuance of their parents’ rage,

Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove,

Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage—

The which, if you with patient ears attend,

What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

Modern:

In the beautiful city of Verona, where our story takes place, a long-standing hatred between two families erupts into new violence, and citizens stain their hands with the blood of their fellow citizens. Two unlucky children of these enemy families become lovers and commit suicide. Their unfortunate deaths put an end to their parents’ feud. For the next two hours, we will watch the story of their doomed love and their parents’ anger, which nothing but the children’s deaths could stop. If you listen to us patiently, we’ll make up for everything we’ve left out in this prologue onstage.

CliffsNotes

Like No Fear Shakespeare, CliffsNotes helps the reader understand what something means in a college-bound book. The website has in-depth analysis or short-cut summaries. It has a character map that shows how each character relates to the other. I used this website to help me study for a test about The Odyssey and without it, my ‘A’ would not have been guaranteed. Example?

Q: What does the first chapter of the Kite Runner mean?

A: Chapter 1 opens with the words “December 2001.” A nameless narrator immediately refers back to the winter of 1975, when the narrator “became what I am today” and obliquely mentions an event that occurred in an alley when he was twelve years old. The narrator then mentions a phone call last summer from a friend in Pakistan, Rahim Khan, and unatoned sins. Going for a walk, the narrator notices kites flying in the San Francisco sky. He recalls Hassan, the harelipped kite runner and list names such as Baba, Ali, and Kabul. The chapter ends with another reference to 1975 and the assertion that the event that transpired in the winter of 1975 “made me what I am today.”

Word of the Week

Contumacious(adjective) stubbornly perverse or rebellious; willfully and obstinately disobedient.

Provided by: dictionary.com

Example

“He was a world of trouble to you, ma’am,” said Mrs. Hubble, commiserating my sister.

“Trouble?” echoed my sister; “trouble?” and then entered on a fearful catalogue of all the illnesses I had been guilty of, and all the acts of sleeplessness I had committed, and all the high places I had tumbled from, and all the low places I had tumbled into, and all the injuries I had done myself, and all the times she had wished me in my grave, and I had contumaciously refused to go there. (CliffsNotes)

 
Picture of the Week
 
Memorial tribute
 
A Philippine soldier blows his bugle along the halls displaying engraved names of soldiers fallen during the World War II at the commemoration of US Memorial Day at the Manila American Cemetery in Fort Bonifacio, Manila.

0 thoughts on “First Week of June”

  1. Very informative.I really wasn’t aware BP was the first PM of Nepal.Thanks for sharing!!!!!!!God bless all.

  2. Enjoyed reading the article, very useful websites.

    One comment though BP (Bishweshwar Prasad) Koirala is the first elected PM of Nepal, as far as I know Bhimsen Thapa is the first PM of Nepal.

  3. Thank you so much! I will immediately change that. I guess the site really isn’t that trustable:)

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