Sunny's Study Club

[Mercutio]

It seems to me that UPN's membership base consists of a lot of people who are in some kind of education like school or university and a smaller number of people who are out of it but are very knowledgeable about various things. We have a wide range of knowledge and skills, from linguistics to natural sciences to and maths to politics.

This thread seeks to capitalise on all of this, inspired by Talon's brilliant Japanese language thread. The idea is that if you need help with something you're doing at school, such as research for a project or an essay, you post here with a summary of your needs and questions and people who know something about the area (or know where to look) reply with tips and hints.


The loose rules of the thread are as follows:

1) When requesting help, be succinct (we don't want to read 1,000 words) but be comprehensive; ask for what you need and what it's for so that people know how best to help you. Don't leave out important information! Always include deadlines.

2) Do not request that we straight up write your assignments for you; this is not a plagiarism tool.

3) Be patient when requesting help; don't expect a flood of accurate and expert information to come your way within five minutes of a query!

4) For those replying, always include a link or citation to places where you get your information. Makes it easier for everyone concerned.

5) Don't be scared! Not everyone knows about every subject and we all know what it's like to have to do a piece of work that we don't know much about to begin with. Similarly, when posting advice, don't be scared to suggest things you're not totally sure about (as long as you tell people that you're not sure!).



I have no idea if this thread will take off or if there's a need for it, but I think it would be nice if we got some productivity out of our pokémoning!

[Amras.MG]

Aw Kush you've made me the happiest MG in the whole wide UPN! I like this.

[Mercutio]

In no way is this procrastination for the intensely boring presentation topic I'm sadly writing for tomorrow morning. No sir-ee.

[Doppleganger]

There used to be a thread like this on Arlong Park. I don't mind helping out, but I found that people over there tended to not trust random people online enough to consistently ask for help/questions.

[Mercutio]

One of my internet nests is predominantly a forum that does this kind of thin; I find that people are willing to use it, as long as it's not always the same one or two people replying (uselessly).

[Mercutio]

So, does anyone know anything about European Parental Leave Regulations? I'm writing a long (and important) essay on them and it is deathly boring.

[Mercutio]

How much do I have to pay one of you to do my analysis of this for me?

Anyone?

;;

[Emp]

If you have to ask then you can't afford it

[Mercutio]

Hngggggggggg.

It's really interesting and everything but I just wish I wasn't doing a dissertation and had all week to look for jobs and work on the project I'm leading at work. Ugh.

[Mercutio]

So I handed in a 15,000 word MA dissertation recently. Probably as good as it could have been considering the fact that I should really have changed the research design and cases but generally I'm happy with it.

...

What do I do now?

[Amras.MG]

Get drunk, and then apply to PhD programs.

[Fallen Icarus]

Ugh so I'm having a serious problem in that I keep getting distracted by the internet instead of doing my homework. >_>; It does not help that nowadays my school is leaning towards the technology approach and is assigning more internet reliant HW.

...Help? Some pointers in not how to procrastinate would be nice ^^; I have an incredible power of not being able to fulfill self-made goals. xfd

EDIT: Not being on this thread would probably be a good starting point xfd

[Talon87]

If you're willing and able to have multiple web browsers, one thing you can do is have a "for homework only" web browser which is separate from your general purpose web browser. Example: Firefox for general use, Chrome strictly for homework. It might be easier to form good working habits if you subconsciously associate the one browser's skin, bookmarks, etc. with schoolwork. You might find yourself less likely to websurf when using that browser.

Sign out of any IM programs when they're not actively being used. No idling.

Don't check UPN until your homework is done. Too easy to lose time to discussions or debates.

[Fallen Icarus]

Thanks Talon. I just made a new Chrome profile and linked my school account to it. When you make one, you get a new shortcut and everything! Go figure. Hopefully, That'll work and I'll actually get stuff done >_>

[Jerichi]

I know Chrome has a nifty website blocking feature that helps you shut out websites that might distract you from homework. I suggest you google that. I used one on my old computer and it helped me really concentrate on my papers when I needed to.

[Mercutio]

Yeah do that.

[Lanturn]

Bump 2 week old thread

Can someone briefly explain endothermic and exothermic? I'm stupid. Endothermic is reactant gaining heat from surrounding while exo is reactant losing heat to surroundings, right?

Also, I have a bit of problem here. I have my exams on Wednesday, but for some reason, I can't concentrate at home. Do you think I should go library or find some spot where I can eat/drink (I'mgluttony that way)

[Princess Ana]

Endothermic means that the reaction requires more energy than it releases, and that the products have more potential energy than the reactants.

Exothermic means that the reaction releases more energy that it requires, and that the products have less potential energy than the reactants.

[Mercutio]

Go to the library and use a site which blocks out distraction such as focal filter.

[deh74]

Originally Posted by Mercutio

I can help you out. But I suggest answering my questions in the homework thread.

1) Define unify? Do you mean a full on European federal state or do you just mean greater social and/or economic cohesion?

2) Define plausible? Like, does it have to actually be feasible that it could happen or does it just have to be vaguely credible that it might happen one day?

3) Define Europe? Are we talking the EU as it is now or do you have to consider the possibility of countries such as the UK leaving the EU in the next ten years and the possibility that countries such as Albania may join?

1. Unify in a Federal system. sub-national monarchies are allowed, but only if they already exist (UK, Spain, Netherlands)

2. In a way that could feasibly happen

3. from as small as the Eurozone to as large as everything outside the former USSR.

It should also not be dominated by one state like Yugoslavia and Austria-Hungary were.

EDIT: getting it within ten years is extra.

[Mercutio]

Oh I was gonna say, yeah, number one is fundamentally impossible within the next decade. There is absolutely no conceivable way that you could get that to happen. This is because, as with the UN, powerful national governments dictate the way in which the current system operates. This is accentuated by the set up of the Council of Ministers, which is inherently run by national governments. The parliament and commission gaining relatively greater power mitigates this a little. Similarly, there are wildly different cultures, economies and politics across Europe. COmpare Germany to Greece, Spain to Norway or Britain to Turkey. These are significant divergences that are arguably much greater than those between some EU states and AMerica, Canada or Australasia. So you aren't going to get a federal state in the next decade. See also the presence of numerous Eurosceptics in several countries, particularly the UK, and the fact that there are serious policy inequalities between the North and South and, to a slightly lesser extent, the East and West. It's not unlikely that the EU will lose Britain in the next ten years and some Eurozone countries are close to getting booted out of the currency union so we'll have to wait and see.

In fifty years? Yeah sure. It probably requires a catalyst such as a large war, an economic/political crisis or something else but you could feasible see much of the current EU joining together in to a state. I suspect that what would actually happen is that they would form a confederation of sorts which had united foreign, defence and various other policies but then kept certain other things at national level. If Russia regains its status as a super power, the US continues down its path of self destruction and China, Brazil and India become more powerful, Europe will likely be forced to come together to a greater degree anyway.

A more plausible alternative is greater political union within the Eurozone. Most people in the EU have now realised that currency union without fiscal union was a monumentally terrible idea and there are a number of opinions on what to do about that. These are broadly to either tear the whole thing down or to try and bring policies closer together. Both are difficult to pull off in a productive way. I think that a grouping of separate sovereign states with a greatly conjoined military, economy and foreign policy is reasonably likely to happen in the next few decades.

Note also: someone told you that imperialism was the answer. That person is super wrong.

If you want a more professional answer, ask what clarifications you want.

[deh74]

So could I have America pulling out of Europe to base more troops in Korea and Japan because of a stronger China and a North Korea thats somehow gotten more insane, followed by Russia continuing to become more powerful coupled with maybe partially succeeding in making the Eurasian Union, and then India and Brazil growing to achieve Great Power status leading to the EU becoming a Confederacy-like entity with unified Foreign policy, military, and a stronger European Parliament?

This is the worst run-on sentence I've ever written.

[Mercutio]

A vaguely feasible scenario, yeah. How much detail do you have to go in to?

[deh74]

It has to be six pages long, looking back at the unification from the perspective of a future historian.

[Mercutio]

Six pages, not too bad. Ok, you want to talk about the existing state of unification and what the political and economic difficulties are. You'd be wise to talk about the structural funds, which are basically an attempt to kill inequality. Then I'd go for a bit about the possible catalysts for change. Then talk about the nature of the new thing.

Good luck!