Break

I will be taking a break from blogging from now until New Years.

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King Lear

II.ii. When Kent knowingly insults Cornwall and Regan, Cornwall says of Kent “He cannot flatter, he, / An honest mind and plain, he must speak the truth.” Who else does this recall?

I think that that brings to mind Cordelia, since she always speaks her mind.

About Act 2 sns. 2-3:

Kent, in disguise, comes to Regan's castle, and meets with Oswald. Kent starts calling him names, and challenges him to a fight. Cornwall, Gloucester, Edmund and Regan enter, and Cornwall has Kent put in the stocks. Gloucester tries to get Cornwall to let Kent go. Kent gives him the letter from the king. 

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The Answer to the Riddle

I'm hot when I lay in the sun

But cold if you wait for a while;

When I look like a snake you will scream,

But in summer I make you smile.


A hose!

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The Boy Scientist : Hydraulic Jacks

The Principle of Hydraulic Jacks 

The principle of hydraulic jacks is that if you apply force to a non-compressing liquid, it can raise a larger weight. How much weight you can raise depends on the amount of pressure the liquid is under. If you had a teakettle with a spout 1 square inch in diameter, and you put a plunger in the spout, and put a piston instead of the lid, and you had 10 square inches of water inside, if you put 10 pounds of pressure on the plunger, you could raise 100 pounds!! Each square inch of water is putting 10 pounds of pressure on the piston, so you are applying a weight of 100 pounds to the piston! If the spout was only a quarter of a square inch, you could raise 400 pounds! Hydraulic jacks make it very easy to lift big heavy things.

A Hydraulic Jack

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A Riddle!

I'm hot when I lay in the sun

But cold if you wait for a while;

When I look like a snake you will scream,

But in summer I make you smile.

What am I? If you know please post the answer in a comment!

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Nicias-by Plutarch

Nicias persuaded the Spartans and the Athenians to make a treaty of both offense and defense. Alcibiades stirred up much trouble, bringing up old things to try to prove his point. He even, when the Spartan ambassadors had come fully armed, brought them away from Nicias, took them to the council, and asked them if they were fully armed. They saying no, he unexpectedly turned to the council, and told them that they should not deal with these liars. This amazed Nicias, and he did not know what to say. An earthquake worked to his advantage, and he managed to work things out.

Now the time came for somebody to be banished, and people went around voting on Alcibiades or Nicias to be banished.  Now there was a big-mouthed guy who went around boasting. Alcibiades and Nicias joined together secretly and managed to get him banished! This was not good, as it just gave him a cause for boasting!

More later
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The Riddle's answer

Answer to this riddle:

What Stamps without Ink?

Whose tail is long and Fine?

What creature can Winnie without a Pooh,

What creature can carry Me or You,

Who snorts but doesn't Whine?

A horse!

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King Lear Act 1 sn. 5 -Act 2 sn 1

 

 

Act 1 sn. 5

 

King Lear sends Kent, who is still disguised, with a message to Regan. He and the fool talk some, then the horses are ready, and they ride off to the house of Regan. 

Act 2 sn. 1 

 

Edmond sends Edgar packing in this manner: 

Ed: Hark, I hear our father! Quick, draw your sword. (They draw). Run, run! He comes near (sounds of footsteps and horses, torchlight). (Edgar flees). (To himself) I must wound myself. I have seen drunkereds do more than this in sport. 

So Edmond makes his father believe that Edgar seeks to kill him, his father. Gloucester gets mad, and says that he will kill Edgar. Cornwall and Regan arrive at Gloucester's castle, and Cornwall gives Gloucester leave to kill Edgar. 

more later,

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Riddle

What Stamps without Ink?

Whose tail is long and Fine?

What creature can Winnie without a Pooh,

What creature can carry Me or You,

Who snorts but doesn't Whine?

Answers soon!

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Nicias--Part 4

 Peace

This time, Nicias is coming back to Athens, and he finds that Cleon and a friend of Cleon are dead. This is good news, because they had both been stirring up trouble. Nicias found that both the Spartans and the Athenians were tired of the war. He made a friendship between the two cities, and also helped some of the other states of Greece as well, helping to free them from the evils and calamities that they labored under, thus making a great name for himself in statecraft.  He found that everywhere the men of substance, the elder men, and the farmers all inclined to peace. And when the Athenians had tasted peace, they liked it, and wanted no more war. They remembered with joy this line:

My lance I'll leave
 Laid by, for spiders to o'weave  

and the proverb:
Those in peace are wakened by the cock, not by the trumpet

So he made peace betwixt them, and to this day it is called the Peace of Nicias.


I think it is not surprising that he found that everywhere the men of substance, the elder men, and the farmers all inclined to peace, because the war was getting tiresome, and the people wanted to be without fear. And I think that even though they wanted peace, they needed a leader to rouse them to action.

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Answer to the riddle

Here is the answer to this riddle: When young, I'm cool At middle age I'm very bright Later on I feel more calm- But I die at night. The sun!! Bell

The Boy Scientist: Ch. 5, Part 2

Boyle's Law 

Boyle's law is: The volume of a gas is inversely proportional to the pressure exerted on that gas. He did an experiment to prove this:

First he took a tube with one end closed, and bent that end into a J, or a shepherd's crook, and filled the tube with a little mercury so that it did not rise more in either side of the tube, but stayed on the bottom. There was air in the closed end. Then he poured in 29 inches of mercury, so that the air in the closed end occupied 1/2 the space it had occupied before. Then he poured in 29 more inches of mercury so that the air in the closed space occupied 1/3 the space it had originally occupied before the mercury was poured in. Can you tell me why the mercury did not take up the whole space? 

Here is the answer: It doesn't because the air still has the same number of particles, but it is squeezed into a smaller space. The air has a minimal amount of space it can be squeezed into. 

How a jet engine works

There is a compartment that is full of air, and there is a kind of fuel in the other. The compressor compresses the air as much as 6 times to greatly increase be greatly increased force exerted  when the air is mixed with the fuel and exploded. Some of this gas is released in thrust, flying the airplane. Before the gas escapes, it drives a turbine that works the compressor.

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Riddle

Here is another riddle! 

When young, I'm cool

At middle age I'm very bright

Later on I feel more calm-

But I die at night.

What am I? 

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Science Part 1

This is from a book called "The Boy Scientist".

 About Robert Boyle

Robert Boyle was born 15 years before Newton. He discovered a lot about Gases. He was born in 1627.  He learned to speak Latin and French almost as soon as he could speak English! When he was 8, went to Eton collage. When he was 11, he went on an extended tour of Europe with a French teacher. In the year 1641, when he was 14, he studied with Galileo, the year before Galileo died. When he came back to England, he studied science. He made many discoveries about gases and how they behave.

Gases

There are 3 forms which everything in the world assumes: Liquids, such as water, solids, such as wood, and gases, such as oxygen. All of these are made up of molecules. In a solid they are close together, in a liquid they are farther apart, and in a gas they are even farther apart. The molecules move very fast in a gas, slower in a liquid, and slower still in a solid. If you cool down steam (a gas), it changes into water, and if you cool down water, it changes into ice. If  you heat ice, it changes first to water and then to steam. Gas has a very interesting feature: If you put a pint of air into a gallon jar, it spreads our and fills the whole jar. It spreads our to fill the whole container it is in, to the boundaries. Any gas can be reduced to a liquid if under the proper pressure and temperature. It is so cold, 312 degrees below 0, that if you left your finger in it for 2 seconds, you could break that finger off like an icicle! A rubber ball dipped in it will shatter like glass if you tried to bounce it, and mercury dipped in it can be used as a hammer! Any liquid can be reduced to a gas, and any gas or liquid can be reduced to a solid, or the other way round.

Part 2 soon,
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Answer to the Riddle

Here is the riddle's answer:

What glows even in the cold

Should never die, should ne'er grow old

Without it, you will find that life

Will be a long and lonely road.

Answer: Love  

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NICIAS by Plutarch

NICIAS

There were some Spartans on an island near Athens, so Nicias besieged the island, but it took a long time. Cleon then started saying how he would do it faster and better. Nicias decided to just say: Prove yourself. That sounds good, doesn't it? I mean, usually they fail, and get laughed at, right? Well, this time that didn't happen. Cleon went, and within 20 days had got all of the Spartans still alive as prisoners. This was a great blow to Nicias, who had depended on Cleon's losing the battle to get rid of him. This was really bad and humiliating to Nicias. Not only had the people gotten grumpy at him, he was not respected! Nicias did great mischief to the city by giving up much of his power to Cleon. So Cleon had power. He did much damage to the city's reputation and peace. By peace I mean tranquility,without it being disturbed by brawls and such. Amongst other things, he did much damage to the decorum of public speaking. He was the first to tear his robes,slap his thigh, and run up and down while orating. He set the example, so everywhere there was discord and ruin.


I think that it would have been better if Cleon had not won that battle.  I think he would have been silenced for a long time. Instead, he put on airs, and was unbearable.

more later
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Riddle

Here is a riddle:

What glows even in the cold

Should never die, should ne'er grow old

Without it, you will find that life

Will be a long and lonely road. 

What is it? Answer soon!

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King Lear Act 1 sns. 2-3

In these two scenes I read, Edmond is trying to get rid of his brother, Edgar, who is the firstborn. Edmond decides to write a letter that is supposed  to be from Edgar, that says that Edgar is going to kill Gloucester. Edmond is told to stop this, so he makes it seem to Edgar that Gloucester is mad at him. This is going just as Edmond planned.

All the gods and goddesses are mentioned either generally or by name (Jove, Juno, Apollo) throughout. Remember, the action of the play is supposed to take place in ancient times. People in the play are always invoking the gods’ names.Do the gods answer these prayers? Is there evidence that the gods even operate in the play King Lear?

I don't think the gods ever really answer these prayers, nor do I think that they even come in and intervene, like they do in some other plays, like Cymbeline.

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The answer to the riddle

Here is the answer to this riddle:

I am the home of Polar Bears
And all the Esquimaux
I serve as roads for Camels
And Tibetans in the snow
The deepest of the Canyons
Is a Wrinkle in my Face
The sand-dunes in the Desert
Are my hand-embroidered Lace
I sing in Great Upheavals
That sometimes destroy Towns,
I can raise up Islands
And also bring them Down.

EARTH!

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Nicias--a study by Plutarch

NICIAS PART 2

Nicias decided to play it safe in the world of politics, by not doing anything in war that was not safe, and not going out to anyone's house for dinner. Knowing that successful people are looked down upon, made sure all people heard him giving thanks to the gods. He always seemed to be busy, as though public affairs always busied him. One of his friends, Hiero, told everyone what Nicias did for the commonwealth. Hiero said this had made Nicias unfit to be with his friends, so he kept away. There was a strange burst of glory in him at a battle, where Nicias won, but after gathering the dead, found that 2 men had been left on the battle-field. By law, if the victor asked to be allowed to get his dead, then he had to give up all the glory and claim of victory. NICIAS WENT BACK, AND ASKED TO BE ALLOWED TO GET THE MEN! HE GAVE UP ALL CLAIM OF VICTORY JUST FOR THOSE MEN!

Nicias refused to take credit for his own successes, fearing he would be envied. He gave all the glory to the gods. Was this an honest way of worshiping? I think not, because he was not really praising them, because he was using this as an excuse so he would not be killed. That is not true worship. That is not believing that they gave him this, but just saying so.   

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