The Tutor.com Blog

We may not remember every chemistry lecture from high school, but we could never erase the memory of our 10th grade chemistry teachers dancing around the classroom in a frenetic “Mole Day Dance.”

What’s Mole Day? Every October 23rd, we celebrate the “mole.” Not the furry creature, but the term an Italian scientist named Amedeo Avogadro coined in 1811. The mole, sometimes called Avogadro’s Number, is a unit of measurement used in chemistry.

To celebrate, we put together a selection of mole jokes. It’s brightened our day, and kept (most of us) from breaking out in embarrassing dances.

Q: What did Avogadro teach his students in math class?
A: Moletiplication

Q: What kind of fruit did Avogadro eat in the summer?
A: Watermolens

Q: Why was there only one Avogadro?
A: When they made him, they broke the Moled

Q: What kept Avogadro in bed for two months?
A: Moleonucleosis

Q: What line from Shakespeare do high school moles have to memorize?
A: “To mole or not to mole, this is the question.”

Q: What did Avogadro invent for his wife to use as a night cream?
A: Oil of Molay

Q: How much does Avogadro exaggerate?
A: He makes mountains out of mole hills

Q: What element do moles love to study in chemistry?
A: Molybdenum

Have a mole day joke you’d like to share? Post it in the comments section below!

Tonight kicks off the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London! With over 10,000 athletes competing from 204 different countries, there will be lots of tough competition to bring home a gold medal. A combination of skill, dedication, and physics will be necessary for the U.S. Women’s soccer team to stay in the competition. Yep, physics. To find out more about how the laws of physics are at play in the game of soccer we caught up with one of our Senior Science Mentors, Kristin M., who explained just that. Learn all about it below!

When most people think of soccer, they think about goals being scored or fantastic saves being made by defenders or goalies. As a former high school physics teacher, I see the laws of physics at play throughout the field.  From long kicks by defender/right back Heather Mitts, to headers by forward Abby Wambach, to fabulous saves by goalkeeper Hope Solo, my love for the game of soccer is compounded as I watch Newton’s Laws play out on the field. But it’s likely rare that the average person watching the game sees just what I am seeing.  So let’s take a look at some of the things at play.

We can start by considering Newton’s first law: inertia.  This law tells us that an object will keep moving in a straight line unless acted upon by an outside force.  We see this law all over the playing field, from goalkeepers especially. Once a shot is taken on goal, the ball wants to continue on its path straight towards the goal.  Hope Solo knows that her job is to redirect the ball. Since Olympic athletes often have quite strong shots, it is often difficult to catch the ball. But simply touching the ball, as you often see Hope do, is enough to utilize the speed the ball has and an outside force, her hand, to get the ball over the cross bar or just around the outside of the post. The same can be said for offensive players waiting in the box to score from a header or other redirection during a corner or free kick. Abby Wambach can simply apply an outside force to the ball, using its initial speed, to direct the ball past the goalkeeper. Because the ball is moving swiftly, Abby often only needs to get a body part on the ball in order to score.

The other reason such a small force is needed is related to Newton’s second law and the size of the ball.  Soccer balls have a very small mass, so a small force will create a great acceleration. Light materials are generally chosen in the production of elite level balls so that the mass of the ball doesn’t become a hindrance to the game and instead we are able to watch the skill of the players. Newton’s second law is often used to derive the concept of impulse as well, something we see repeatedly throughout the game as players touch the ball. On free kicks, a player’s foot is in contact with the ball for a longer length of time, allowing them to give the ball a larger final speed than the same force applied over a shorter time.

So when you get a chance to watch the soccer matches during the upcoming Olympics, take some time to see what physics laws you see at play. Small touches by Hope Solo, Abby Wambach, and Heather Mitts will likely be the difference in goals being scored or saved due to the high velocity the ball often travels at.

Tutor.com’s headquarters have been in New York City for more than a decade. Our original offices gave us breathtaking views of the Brooklyn Bridge. And now we walkacross the street to be greeted by the New York Public Library’s (NYPL) iconic lions.  Not too shabby.  We were lucky enough to enjoy two unique and very different cultural experiences in our old stomping grounds and new neighborhood this month. We celebrated poetry with a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and celebrated lunch at the NYPL.  One event had Bill Murrary, the other had automats. Check out the details below!

Poetry Walk: an annual fundraiser hosted by Poets House. On Monday, June 11^th, Poets House hosted its 17^th Annual Poetry Walk Across the Brooklyn Bridge and celebrated their 25^th anniversary. Tutor.com’s CEO George Cigale is on the Board of Directors and invites several employees to accompany him on this cultural walk each year.

The weather was windy and chilly for a June night, but the walk and the poems kept us feeling warm. Kicking off in Manhattan, poems were read prior to the Brooklyn Bridge, at the first and second arch, and then the final poem was read overlooking the bridge in Brooklyn. For all 17 years the final reading of Whitman’s “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” has been done beautifully by Galway Kinnell, and this year he was honored Mr. Galway was honored with the Poets House’s Elizabeth Kray Award.

The walk was followed with a dinner and reception at Bubby’s Brooklyn restaurant. While the attendees settled into their seats, started digging into their meals and made friends with others at their table, everyone’s attention soon turned back to poetry. The night continued on with readings from Marie Howe, Thomas Lux, Sharon Ods and Tracy K. Smith. The special guest of the night, Bill Murray, cracked a joke before reading some more poems. The night then drew to a close with a video discussing the inspiring history of Poets House. We want to thank all of the staff members from Poets House that worked to put together such a great event! Check out this great article on the whole evening from the Wall Street Journal.

Lunch Hour: 2012 exhibition at New York Public Library. On June 21 the New York Public Library launched its 2012 exhibition detailing the history of lunch in New York City. The exhibit runs through February 17, 2013.

Did you ever stop to think about the history of lunch? No, we hadn’t either. But New York Public Library’s new exhibit makes you wonder why you hadn’t. From Horn & Hardart’s automats to the history of the power lunch, there was a wealth of information on the meal that keeps you going in the middle of the day. Some of our favorite takeaways were:

• Dinner was originally served in the middle of the day and lunch was a small snack between that and breakfast. Initially, a lunch was defined as much food as one hand can hold.
• Oysters were sold in carts on the street and were just 6 cents for “all you can eat” in the 1820s.
• Thomas Downing, a free African American man raised in Virginia, ran the most famous oyster cellar in NYC. Once he shipped some of his oysters to Queen Victoria in London and she was so pleased she sent him a gold watch as a thank-you.
• In 1900 peanut butter was considered an elegant treat to serve at teatime or an evening reception. Unlike most fancy foods, however, peanut butter was cheap, just 20 cents per pound and it appeared just as often on economical menus as it did in upper-class meals.
• Hot dogs were named so because “hot” was a term for something good and “dogs” because they weren’t quite sure what was inside of them. When they first debuted mothers often forbad their children to have a taste.
• Since 1960, the cost of a subway ride and a slice of pizza has been nearly the same.
• There was a group of people at the 1939 NY World’s Fair called the “Exalted Order of Hot Dog Fananciers” who wanted to make the hot dog a meal, not just a frowned upon snack.
• In 1917 21% of NYC School children were estimated to be underfed. In 2011-2012, 20.7% of NYC School children, K-8th grade, are obese.
• Some popular slang terms for food in the 1940s included: axle grease for butter, belly wash for soup, dress one pig for a ham sandwich, and graveyard stew for milk toast.
• New York Public Library has one of the largest menu collections in the world. You can help them transcribe the menus at menus.nypl.org.

Stop by the exhibit to find out plenty of more interesting historical facts about lunch! Just have something to eat before you head over.

Today marks the first day we can officially say, it’s summer! But before we head out to lay by the pool or swim in the ocean, we asked one of our Tutor.com Mentors, Jeremy B., to explain exactly what the summer solstice is and why that kicks off the first day of summer. Learn all about it below!

For many students around the country, school is out and the summer has begun – or has it?  Despite the fact that school bells may no longer be ringing and tests are no longer being taken, summer doesn’t officially start until June 20, 2012.  That’s when the summer solstice takes place, giving those of us in the northern hemisphere the longest day of the year and more time for fun stuff like swimming.

What exactly does “solstice” mean and why do we have it?  To get the basic meaning, we break the word down into its Latin roots – sol meaning sun and stitium meaning to stand still.  You might be thinking, “So this means that the sun is actually going to stop on June 20^th?”  Of course, the answer to that is, “No, the Sun will still rise and set just as it usually does.”  The Sun will just climb higher and higher until it reaches its highest point in the sky on this date and appear as if it is standing still.

All of this goes back to the seasons and their cause – the tilt of the Earth’s axis combined with the revolution of the Earth around the Sun.  Instead of being straight up and down like a spinning top, the Earth’s axis is tilted at about a 23.5 degree angle.  When the northern hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun, we’re getting more sunlight than the southern hemisphere, leading to long summer days.  As the Earth revolves around the Sun, the northern hemisphere begins to point away from the Sun.  When the northern hemisphere is tilted completely away from the Sun, we reach winter.

Now, let’s say that on June 20^th you get on a plane and fly down to the Southern Hemisphere.  Even though it was warm when you left, hopefully you packed some warm clothes because it’s going to be colder down there.  The seasons are opposite in the two hemispheres, again, because of the tilt of the Earth’s axis.

To celebrate the summer solstice, the place to be is Stonehenge in England.  Each year, thousands of people meet there in anticipation of the solstice sunrise.  This goes back to ancient druid and pagan celebrations.  They view Stonehenge as a sacred place, with the Heelstone being aligned with the sunrise on the summer solstice.  Bon fires are lit the night before and people stay up all night, singing and dancing, waiting for daybreak.  Of course, if swimming is more your thing, then you’ll have plenty of time for it thanks to the summer solstice!

The new Harry Potter movie is coming out this Friday, and if you’re like me you haven’t given it much of a thought since trying to scrub the red-pen scar off your head after the midnight showing of the Half-Blood Prince.

In an effort to re-connect to the history of the wizarding world, I have compiled a brief synopsis of the first six books in the Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling. SPOILER DISCLAIMER: I am working under the assumption that the reader has ALREADY READ the series and is looking for a quick recap to be up to speed for the November 19th movie release of the Deathly Hallows Part 1.

Year 1 -Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (or Philosopher’s Stone, if you want to be British about it):

How Harry escapes the Dursleys: Uncle Vernon can’t hoard the gazillion letters addressed to Harry that keep flying through the chimney so he takes the family to a secret location where Hagrid shows up and drops the bomb that: A. There is a secret world of wizards, B. Harry is boy wizard., and C. There is a school that he’s supposed to attend.

Major Dilemma: Besides which house they were sorted into, trying to get a hold of the stone before the big V does.

Coolest magic: Bertie Botts, Invisibility Cloak, WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!

Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher: Professor Quirrell

Year 2 – Chamber of Secrets

How Harry escapes the Dursleys: Ron comes and saves the day in a flying car after Harry gets locked in his room for the ruckus Dobby created.

Major Dilemma: The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Tom Riddle’s diary and Ginny in the chamber.

Coolest Magic: Harry is a parselmouth (he can speak to snakes!)

Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher: Gilderoy Lockhart

Year 3 – Prisoner of Azkaban

How Harry escapes the Dursleys: Runs out the door after blowing his aunt up like a balloon and catches the Knight Bus to Diagon Alley.

Major Dilemma: Staying away from a guy named Sirius Black.  (Hes’s got a scary name, but turns out to be a pretty stand-up guy.)

Coolest Magic: Expecto Patronum!  And werewolves!

Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher:  Remus Lupin

Year 4 – Goblet of Fire

How Harry escapes the Dursleys: The Weasley clan comes and politely asks to take Harry off the Dursley’s hands for the Quidditch World Cup- which would’ve flown had not Fred and George left a piece of candy for Dudley to munch on…

Major Dilemma: Finding a date to the Yule ball. Living through the Triwizard Tournament and subsequent cemetery duel.

Coolest Magic: Floo Powder and Portkeys.

Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher: Mad-Eye Moody (played by Barty Crouch)

Year 5 – Order of the Phoenix

How Harry escapes the Dursleys: After getting expelled from Hogwarts for using a Patronus spell to save Dudley from a dementor, The Order of the Phoenix comes and take him away.

Major Dilemma(s): O.W.L. exams. Creating an army to take down Umbridge and take back Hogwarts. (Dumbledore was removed from the school by the Ministry of Magic). Occlumency lessons with Snape.

Coolest Magic: Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes (Extendable Ears!)

Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher: Dolores Umbridge

Year 6 – Half-Blood Prince

How Harry escapes the Dursleys: Dumbledore picks up Harry on his way to con Horace Slughorn into teaching at Hogwarts

Major Dilemma(s): Trying to convince people Draco is up to something.  Add in some teenage angst – a love triangle with Lavender, Hermione and Ron and Harry’s noble attempt at protecting Ginny by breaking up with her, and learning about Horcruxes and trying to destroy them – all the while avoiding Death Eaters.

Coolest Magic: Horcruxes, Snapes old potions book.

Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher: Snape finally gets the position! Horace Slughorn takes over potions.

Want even more Harry Potter fun? Check out your local library to see if they are hosting any Potter-themed events this week!

This Post was written by Stephen Schrage, Tutor.com’s new Sales and Marketing Team Assistant. When not reading Harry Potter, you can find Steve watching Detroit sports, listening to the Dave Matthews Band and exploring his new home of NYC! He believes that this post would be best enjoyed with a warm glass of butterbeer.

Photo credit: Woodleywonderworks



It’s Hawaii week here at Tutor.com! We’ve been traveling all over Hawaii, telling students and families all about free tutoring available for military families.

You may already associate Hawaii with hula dancing, volcanoes, gorgeous beaches and pineapples, but have you thought about Hawaii’s long career as an actor? Hawaii works hard, but is frequently uncredited. We asked Lauren Lobdell, Tutor.com’s newest Client Services manager and resident film buff to give us her favorite Hawaiian screen-time moments.

Top 5 Favorite Hawaiian Film and TV Moments

1.  Lost (2004-2010): This is one of the best pilots ever! Having watched that first episode, I quickly introduced it to all my friends and family. Before long, I always had an addicted group of fanatics salivating over every moment of the 6-season island mystery along with me. Hawaii played the show’s most important character – the remote South Pacific island nobody could find.

2.  From Here to Eternity (1953): One of my favorite old movies owes its place in history to Hawaii. It tells the story of three personally-conflicted military personnel living on a Hawaiian installation during World War II. Notably, the film won an Academy Award for Best Picture that year, as did legendary singer, Frank Sinatra for his acting performance.

3.  Jurassic Park (1993): I remember the thrill of hearing John William’s musical score for the first time as the helicopter carrying paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant to the supposedly Costa Rican island of dinosaurs swelled up in the background. In fact, it was Hawaii’s island of Kauai once again filling in.

4.  Lilo and Stitch: Disney + animation + Hawaii = a fantastic modern addition to the already fabulous repertoire of Disney animated classics. Enough said.

5.  Raiders of the lost Ark: Arguably one of the greatest cinematic characters of all time, Indiana Jones himself, was first introduced in an opening shot that assumes the identity of a South American jungle. Again, all exterior shots in the scene were provided courtesy of Hawaii.

Alternate:

1.  Hawaii 5-0: While it hasn’t been a big deal in my life, this show was a big moment in Hawaii’s grand acting career and has manifested a new reboot series currently set and filmed on location in Hawaii. Jury is still out on the new version for me, (though I liked the pilot), but it has kept Hawaii’s film crews working after the end of Lost last spring. That I really like!

For info on more Hawaii in film and TV check out the Hawaii Film Office website.

What are your favorite Hawaii roles?

There are lots of great recommendations for summer reading lists (including ALA’s Top 100 Super Summer Reads for Teens) and we are always looking for a great book for the beach, long car rides (if someone else is driving, of course!) and just sitting outside with some lemonade and SPF 50.

Sometimes you need not only a great book, but a book that feels “seasonal.” That’s why we have compiled our “Summer” Summer Reading List!

All of the books on this list take place over summer break. Can’t you just feel the ice cubes clinking together?

• Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
• Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
• The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
• The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama
• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
• The Hot and Cold Summer by Joanna Hurwitz
• Summerland by Michael Chabon
• Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
• Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene

Don’t forget the tried-and-true classics!

• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

What are your favorite summer-themed books?

Poets House held its annual Brooklyn Bridge Poetry Walk (and fundraiser) on Monday.  Lots of fun and a huge success, with over 300 people walking across the bridge, with poetry readings at the start, in the middle of the bridge, and at Fulton Landing in Brooklyn at the end, followed by a dinner at Bubby’s in the DUMBO area of Brooklyn.

Great press coverage of the Bridge Walk, including in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and in the current New Yorker magazine about Poets House’s new home on the Hudson River.  Tutor.com is a modest corporate sponsor, joining the likes of American Express and Berkshire Capital Securities, and I have helped along the way since joining the Board of Directors over a year ago.

I was joined on the walk by my daughter (an excellent writer), Tutor.com’s Julie Weintraub, and some friends from the Brooklyn Public Library.  Here are a couple of pictures from the walk and the dinner, which included readings by Galway Kinnell, Tina Chang, and Bill Murray (here’s a great link to a youtube video of Bill Murray reading poetry to construction workers as they were finishing the building of Poets House new home).

So many people worked so hard to pull of this great event, but the big standing ovation goes to Lee Briccetti, the tireless leader and Executive Director of Poets House.  Awesome job, Lee!  And wonderful how she planned for the sun to break through the overcast skies just as we stopped for readings on the bridge by Tom Lutz and Tina Chang, followed by the deep colors of a sunset at Fulton Landing behind Galway Kinnell’s reading of Whitman’s ”Crossing Brooklyn Ferry“.  Very nicely done.

Poets House is the largest library of original poetry works, with over 50,000 volumes, and is a beautiful place to browse, read and relax, and bring your family or a small school group.   We’ll be doing another walk next June, and welcome your participation and support. 

George Cigale, gcigale@tutor.com 

Previous CEO posts are also at http://ceotutor.blogspot.com/

We each take turns writing our blog posts for the book club. This entry was from Abel Martin. Abel is a developer at Tutor.com. When not building new features or reading manga, he’s playing sports, playing video games, writing code for personal projects, or planning his upcoming wedding!

I really enjoy reading manga and I wanted to bring my joy to the book club members who hadn’t experienced it firsthand.  If you’re like me and you want to introduce friends who aren’t familiar with manga, Tekkon Kinkreet: Black & White might be a worth checking out.  However, you should make sure to give novices to the genre more pointers than I gave my fellow book-clubbers.  In retrospect, I think the most important part of reading manga is to understand how the panels (individual squares on each page) add to the story.  Reading a good manga is like watching a good movie.  The story is told through both dialogue and visuals.  Here are some handy tips on panels for the freshman

Right to Left vs. Left to Right:
Before you start reading a manga you’ll need to know how to read the book.  The panels in Tekkon Kinkreet: Black & White have been Americanized.  This means that the panels read in the same direction as an American comic book (read from left to right) as opposed to traditional manga (read from right to left).  This removes a hurdle for people who are new to the genre, but keep it in mind as you read other manga.  Usually they will be a page in what Americans would consider the start of the book that’ll warn you if the panels are laid out in a traditional manner and you’ll start reading from the rear.

Look for themes that repeat:
In Tekkon Kinkreet: Black & White, like most manga, there are themes that repeat not only in dialogue, but also visually in the panels.  Take note of Black and White’s companion animals.  Ask yourself why each character gets a particular animal and what feeling each one creates for you as you read.  Also ask yourself why there are so many duos in Treasure Town and how each duo compares to the rest.

If something in a panel looks weird, ask yourself why before you move to the next panel:
In a good manga, everything in a panel is important and deliberate.  The choice of fonts, the background shadows, the lack of shadows, the graffiti, everything.  The talking turtles, the “HYUUU” that roars through the town at certain moments, and the constantly changing proportions of the characters all have purpose.    If after some reflection something still doesn’t make sense, talk about it with someone else who read the book. There’s a good bit of depth in the panels, especially the ending!

Tekkon Kinkreet: Black & White is a good introduction to manga.  I’m happy that I had a chance to introduce a new genre to my fellow book club members and I look forward to having conversations about new manga that they discover on their own.

The next book club selection is the new YA classic, Neal Shusterman’s Unwind.

The rising cost of gas is a major concern for American families these days. According to a recent Gallup poll of 1,008 respondents, 42 percent indicated gas prices had reached a crisis level. So, it’s no surprise that people are looking for ways to spend less time in their car and utilize more online resources. A recent survey of over 2,300 adults surveyed by Harris Interactive for iCongo showed that 33% of respondents cited the high price at the pumps as the reason for shopping online.

One way to save that you may not have thought about is using online tutoring instead of an in-person tutor or learning center. Traditional tutoring involves mom or dad driving to and from appointments. But, if parents switched to online tutoring, where you connect to a live tutor right from home, the savings really add up.

Tutor.com has calculated that by conducting more than 103,000 online tutoring sessions in April, we have freed up 27,635 gallons of gas from being used driving to and from tutoring centers and saved families $102,692.99.*

And, in Texas, where gas reached a record-high $3.507 a gallon, families who opted for our online tutoring service saved over $5,300 in gas expenses. Similar gas price records are happening in Utah and Maryland.

*Savings based on a six-mile round-trip drive costing $3.72 per gallon of gas for a car that averages 22.4 miles per gallon (Sources: The Bureau of Transportation Statistics and Energy Information Administration.)

Happy Holidays!

The Tutor.com Team

In Tutor.com’s first ever back-to-school season in 2001, a student connected to a tutor through the Louisville Public Library’s website to get help with an English assignment. Our 97 tutors would go on to provide 1,466 on-demand tutoring and homework sessions through the end of the year, helping students who were using the program through several public libraries including Boston Public Library, San Francisco Public Library and the Library of Charlotte Mecklenburg County.

Today, Tutor.com has more than 1,800 tutors and we conduct about 1,500 online tutoring sessions in two hours every day after-school.  Students of all ages use Tutor.com thanks to more than 1,800 public libraries, schools and corporations as well as the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps that offer Tutor.com services free to the students in their respective communities.  Students connect to a tutor from wherever they have a computer and Internet access.

A lot has changed since those first few months in 2001. We’ve since won lots of awards, brought on thousands of tutors and now, our latest achievement? We’ve conducted our five millionth session. That’s a lot of answered questions about science fair projects and balanced chemical equations. We’ve found the length of side B and the themes in Of Mice and Men quite a few times.

It’s a big number and we are really, really proud of such an accomplishment. If you are wondering how to size-up five million online tutoring sessions go to www.tutor.com/5million for our top fun facts and watch our video that shows just where across the United States students have been using Tutor.com.

We also want to say “Thank You.” Thank you to all the organizations that have provided this service to their patrons, to the students who have left us wonderful comments that make our days brighter (students told us that Tutor.com “rocks” almost 9,000 times in post session comments), to the librarians and program managers who are always finding new and creative ways to tell their communities about the service and to the thousands of tutors who are helping with all of those “aha!” moments. Thanks, and here’s to the next fifty million!