A Ton of Crap (54 page)

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

Overthrow of the Monarchy
On August 10, 1792, French citizens numbering as many as 30,000 marched to the Tuileries Palace in an effort to capture King Louis XVI. The king had heard of the oncoming mob and moved himself and his family to the Legislative Assembly building. The Swiss Guard protecting the castle was never made aware of these plans, and when the mob approached, they attempted to defend the palace, but ultimately surrendered. As the mob stormed the castle, they killed anyone inside. Leaving the castle, they advanced toward the Legislative Assembly building where King Louis XVI was found and arrested. This was the end of the monarchy.

DEVELOPING A PARAGRAPH

The Concluding Sentence
The concluding sentence is kind of like the reverse of the topic sentence. Instead of beginning a topic for discussion, this is meant to conclude the main idea of the paragraph. One type of concluding sentence would be to summarize all that was said in the topic sentence and supporting sentence. Not every paragraph needs a concluding sentence, but if the paragraph is long or has lots of information, a concluding sentence can be very useful.

BASIC ALGEBRA

Division with Algebraic Expressions
When dividing algebraic expressions, you should first write the problem out as a fraction. The next step is to then simplify the coefficient, and then cancel out like variables in both the numerator and the denominator.

For example:

CHEMICAL FORMULAS

Isotopes
Isotopes are different versions of the same element having different numbers of neutrons. Isotopes are indicated with a superscript number on the left-hand side of the formula. For example, the isotope Uranium 235 is expressed as 235U. The 235 refers to the number of neutrons and protons combined, or the mass number.

BELARUSIAN

Dialects
Though some consider Belarusian to be a dialect of Russian, many consider it to be a different language altogether. In Belarus, there are two main types of dialects: South-Western and North-Eastern. These dialects are separated by Ashmyany–Minsk–Babruysk–Homyel, a hypothetical line. The South-Western dialect is characterized by a harder “r” sound, and the North-Eastern has a softer sounding “r.”

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

The September Massacres
Starting on September 2, 1792, a mass killing of prisoners took place. Following the overthrow of King Louis XVI, there was an imminent threat of invasion by Austrian and Prussian forces to restore the monarchy. The French feared the political prisoners were going to join together and create a counterrevolution. The killings lasted for five days, and 1,200 prisoners were killed.

DEVELOPING A PARAGRAPH

Making Sure Your Paragraph Is Well Developed
It can be hard to know when a paragraph has enough information or perhaps too little information. To make sure your paragraph is well developed, here are some helpful tips. Make sure you describe the topic you’re going to talk about, analyzing it and citing any information that helps get your idea across. Cite facts and details, talk about causes and effects, use stories or anecdotes, define terms, and compare and contrast when you can.

BASIC ALGEBRA

Solving for
x
When solving for
x
, you want to get
x
all by itself. For example:

2
x
 = 10

To get
x
by itself, you have to divide 2
x
by 2, and whatever you do on one side, you must do on the other side. So you end up with
x
 = 5. No matter how complex the problem might get, as long as you remember to get
x
by itself, you will be able to solve the problem.

CHEMICAL FORMULAS

The Empirical Formula
The empirical formula is the simplest way of expressing the ratio of the elements present in a compound. For example, the molecular formula for glucose is C6H12O6. However, the empirical formula breaks that down further into its simplest form. So glucose expressed in the empirical formula is CH2O.

BELARUSIAN