The Spark (or TheSpark.com) was a humour web site created by Chris Coyne, Sam Yagan and Christian Rudder. Created in January 1999, it quickly became very popular amongst students in particular. Humour (Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the ability or quality of people, objects or situations to evoke feelings of amusement in other people. ... Students attending a lecture at the Helsinki University of Technology Etymologically derived through Middle English from the Latin second-type conjugation verb stŭdērĕ, which means to direct ones zeal at; hence a student is one who directs zeal at a subject. ...

The four features of the site which made it so popular were: In pattern recognition, features are the individual measurable heuristic properties of the phenomena being observed. ...

• SparkNotes: Free online study notes in a similar vein to the printed Cliff Notes. Originally these focussed solely around literature, but in later years their popularity grew and they encompassed a wider selection of school subjects. SparkNotes.com quickly became a site independent of the Spark, and its success is generally accepted to have been the reason for the main site's closure.

• PimpinCupid: The original idea behind the Spark site, PimpinCupid was a free online dating service in which matches were made based around a rather comprehensive, humorous, personality test. This test is still running today as a subsection of the SparkNotes site.
  • Having seen the popularity of the personality test, others were created, quickly developing into their own section on the site, the Test and Answer (T&A) series. Topics covered were generally to do with identity and relationships, as well as the very popular "Death Test". All of these tests contained humorous questions and hypothetical situations. Some are still available under the SparkLife subsite at SparkNotes.com .
  • Although PimpinCupid is no longer active, the site's original creators have since launched OkCupid.com, which bears a very strong resemblance to it.

• Science: Several series of articles by Mahlon Smith and Christian Rudder detailing bizarre "science projects" they carried out. The first and probably most widely-known of these is the "StinkyMeat" project, in which Smith planted several types of uncooked meat in an oblivious neighbour's garden, checking every day for the presence of insects, as well as deterioration and changes in the smell of the meat. Another project involved Rudder setting up his sister, Melissa, on dates with different men, whilst secretly spying on her with video cameras and recording any progress in the relationships.

• Features (or The Sparkive): Parodic articles written and illustrated in the style of a newspaper, covering a range of headlines, including "Poor-Spelling Children Pay Dearly for "Letters to Satan"" and "Kid Rock Rocks Kids: Young Goats Treated to Surprise Show".

Whilst it was active, the Spark was also critically acclaimed, having been declared a "Site of the Year" in 2000 by Maxim Magazine, as well as receiving recognition in such publications as USA Today, Time and Newsweek. The site as a whole was purchased from the original creators by Barnes & Noble in March 2001, whose primary interest was in only one of the four cornerstones of the site, SparkNotes. Although the entire Spark site remained active for three years after the purchase, eventually more and more emphasis was placed on the independent SparkNotes site, until finally the Spark was closed altogether in June 2004. SparkNotes is an internet-based youth-orientated education product. ... Study guides are student tools used to help facilitate learning and comprehension of literature, research topics, history, and other subjects. ... CliffsNotes are a series of student study guides in the United States and all over the world. ... Open Directory Project: Literature World Literature Electronic Text Archives Magazines and E-zines Online Writing Writers Resources Libraries, Digital Cataloguing, Metadata Distance Learning Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Classicism in Literature The Universal Library, by Carnegie Mellon University Project Gutenberg Online Library Abacci - Project Gutenberg texts matched with Amazon... See subject (grammar) for the linguistic definition of subject. ... A Net dating service, also known as online dating or internet dating, is an example of a dating system and allows individuals, couples and groups to meet online and possibly develop a social, romantic or sexual relationship. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... In philosophy, it is important to distinguish between two senses of identity, qualitative identity and numerical identity. ... See: relational model personal relationship mathematical relationship, including: inverse relationship direct relationship relation (mathematics). ... A hypothesis (= assumption in ancient Greek) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. ... active active lifestyle active volcano sexually active, meaning to regularly undertake sexual activity active grammatical voice active electronics are components, circuits or units of equipment that consume power other than the signal itself, most normally to provide amplification. ... // What is science? There are different theories of what science is. ... Meat is animal tissue (mainly muscle) used as food. ... Neighbourhood is also a term in topology. ... Part of a garden in Bristol, England A flower bed in the gardens of Bristol Zoo, England Checkered flower bed in Tours, France A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. ... Classes & Orders Subclass: Apterygota Orders Archaeognatha (Bristletails) Thysanura (Silverfish) Monura - extinct Subclass: Pterygota Orders Ephemeroptera (mayflies) Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) Diaphanopteroidea - extinct Palaeodictyoptera - extinct Megasecoptera - extinct Archodonata - extinct Infraclass: Neoptera Orders Blattodea (cockroaches) Isoptera (termites) Mantodea (mantids) Dermaptera (earwigs) Plecoptera (stoneflies) Orthoptera (grasshoppers, etc) Phasmatodea (walking sticks) Embioptera (webspinners) Zoraptera... Declining-balance depreciation of a $50,000 asset with $6,500 salvage value over 20 years. ... The term smell may refer to one of the following articles: Olfaction - The sense of smell, that is, the ability to perceive odors Odor - the object being perceived by the sense of olfaction See also Wiktionary:Smell This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that... Sister may refer to: a female sibling a member of a sorority a female member of a religious institution or congregation, often referred to as a nun in common language a female member of a mutual organisation such as a trade union one of a pair or larger group of... Spy and secret agent redirect here; for alternate use, see Spy (disambiguation) and Secret agent (disambiguation). ... A video camera can be classified two ways: Professional video cameras, such as those used in television production Camcorders used by amateurs This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... See: relational model personal relationship mathematical relationship, including: inverse relationship direct relationship relation (mathematics). ... In contemporary usage, parody is a form of satire that imitates another work of art in order to ridicule it. ... Article may refer to multiple things: in grammar: grammatical article in medicine: a joint between two bones In a journal, magazine, or newspaper, an article is a piece of writing or essay on a topic. ... A headline is text at the top of a newspaper article, indicating the nature of the article below it. ... Spelling is the writing of a word or words with all necessary letters and diacritics present in the correct order. ... A male Caucasian toddler child A child (plural: children) is a young human. ... Gustave Dores depiction of Satan from John Miltons Paradise Lost Satan (שָׂטָן Standard Hebrew Satan, Latin Sátanas, Tiberian Hebrew Śāṭān; Aramaic שִׂטְנָא Åšiá¹­nâ: both words mean Adversary; accuser) is an angel, demon, or minor god in many religions. ... Kid Rock Kid Rock (real name Robert Ritchie, born January 17, 1971 in Romeo, Michigan) is a performer who combines many genres of music together ranging from rock to rap and even country. ... Species See Species and subspecies A goat is an animal in the genus Capra, which consists of nine species: the Ibex, the West Caucasian Tur, the East Caucasian Tur, the Markhor, and the Wild Goat. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... A 2004 cover of Maxim (US) magazine, featuring Josie Maran The cover of the first American issue of Maxim magazine, featuring Christa Miller Maxim is an international mens magazine that is prominent for depicting popular actresses, singers, and other female celebrities in sexually alluring poses, usually wearing lingerie or... To publish is to make publicly known, and in reference to text and images, it can mean distributing paper copies to the public, or putting the content on a website. ... The USA Today logo USA Today is a national American newspaper published by the Gannett Corporation. ... (Clockwise from upper left) Notable Time magazine covers from the dates May 7, 1945; July 25, 1969; December 31, 1999; September 14, 2001; and April 21, 2003. ... The Newsweek logo Newsweek is a weekly news magazine published in New York City and distributed throughout the United States and internationally. ... A typical Barnes & Noble bookstore. ... 2001 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December Events: March 3 - A U.S. Air Force Materials Command C-23 Sherpa transport crashes during stormy weather in the U.S. state of Georgia, killing 21. ... Cornerstone has several possible meanings and uses: A cornerstone is an important cultural component of western architecture, often indicating a building time and significant builders, enscribed on the stone. ... 2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December See also: June 2004 in sports Deaths in June • 28 Anthony Buckeridge • 26 Naomi Shemer • 26 Yash Johar • 22 Bob Bemer • 22 Thomas Gold • 22 Francisco Ortiz Franco • 16 Thanom Kittikachorn • 10 Ray Charles • 5 Ronald Reagan...