What were the Europeans first impressions of the Japanese?

Portuguese traders reached Japan in 1543 over 200 years after Marco Polo made contact with the region and its people. They introduced firearms and worked as middlemen dealing in products from China in the Nanban trade.

Marco Polo suggested that the people he met were civilized and more like Europeans. A description by Tome Pires argued that the Japanese were trustful men and more dignified compared to their Asian counterparts. Religiously, the first Europeans considered the Japanese as heathens just like other Asian communities they encountered during their voyages and exploration. Racially, they referred to the Japanese as white, but not as pale as people in the northern nations. The Europeans regarded the Japanese as a superior people and compared them to the ancient Romans in terms of character. This was stated and confirmed by Alessandro Valignano and Giovanni Maffei.

“...not only all other Oriental people, but surpass the European as well”- Alessandro Valignano

“They surpass in judgment, docility, and memory not only the oriental but also the occidental nations.”- Giovanni Maffei

Why did the treaty of Nanjing hurt China?

The Treaty of Nanjing, signed in 1842, ended the first Opium War. The war, fought between Britain and China, resulted in the Qing dynasty losing power and the British gaining more power in their trade relationship with China. The war was fought over Britain's illegal importation of opium from India into China, which had disastrous effects for China's economy and society. Britain won this won and was able to gain more privileges in their trade with China. 

As a result of the treaty, Britain gained the territory of Hong Kong, and their trade expanded from one port city (Canton) to five treaty ports. Shanghai was one of the new ports that was opened to British trade, and it quickly became an international center of trade. In addition, Britain was able to try its citizens who were accused of crimes in their own courts, and Britain gained most favored nation status (meaning that they had any rights that were granted to other foreign countries). The treaty began the process of China's loss of power to foreign nations, including France and the United States, both of whom soon demanded and received the same trading privileges as Britain had. 

What aspects of contemporary family life do the "Happylife Home" and the nursery satirize? What exactly have the Hadleys "purchased" for their...

The Happylife Home and nursery in "The Veldt" satirize the inventions of the early 20th Century that made life more convenient for many Americans and the rise of television, which became a regular household item about the time the story was published in 1950. 

It's important to look at the history surrounding the writing and publication of "The Veldt." The early 20th Century saw a boom in the creation of items that made life in America easier. Automobiles, radios, televisions, escalators, air conditioning, refrigerators, and electric washing machines were all invented in the decades before Ray Bradbury wrote this story. 

In "The Veldt," Bradbury takes the convenience created in this part of the century and extrapolates what might happen in the near future. This is how the Happylife Home and nursery are created. The Happylife Home offers the Hadleys convenience. The narrator says, "the house clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang and was good to them." 

Unfortunately, for the Hadleys, the family has become completely dependent on the home.

When George suggests they shut off the house entirely, Lydia, the wife, says the following:

"[Y]ou'll have to change your life. Like too many others, you've built it around creature comforts. Why, you'd starve tomorrow if something went wrong in the kitchen. You wouldn't know how to tap an egg."

This dependence on household items has continued today. Cell phones, computers and cable television have becomes items originally created for convenience into things that have become crutches for people. Removing these items from peoples' hands can be a traumatic experience. This is why "The Veldt" remains relevant today.

According to Chapter 9, what is Lyddie's first impression of the mill?

Lyddie’s first impression of the mill is that it’s noisy and frightening.

Lyddie is fascinated by the machines she sees at the mill.  She uses a lot of animal imagery to describe them.

Creation! What a noise! Clatter and clack, great shuddering moans, groans, creaks, and rattles. The shrieks and whistles of huge leather belts on wheels. And when her brain cleared enough, Lyddie saw through the murky air row upon row of machines … (Ch. 9)

Lyddie is impressed by the reactions of the girls who work at the factory.  They are not bothered by the noise, and they handle the machines well.

The girls didn't seem afraid or even amazed. As she walked by with the overseer, girls glanced up. A few smiled, some stared. No one seemed to mind the deafening din. How could they stand it? (Ch. 9)

Lyddie wants to turn and run, because the noise and controlled chaos is overwhelming.  When she is spoken to, she can’t even understand the words.  Diana rescues her from Mr. Marsden, offering to help her out.

Lyddie is amazed at how Diana manages the machines.  She tells Lyddie to be careful not to ruin the piece, because if she does she does not get paid.  It takes all of Lyddie’s strength to run the machine.  Diana helps her learn her way around it so that she does not get hurt.

After this long day, Lyddie has to study the regulations.  Diana helps her, but reading the regulations is a struggle for Lyddie because she is not well educated.  She did not get to go to school after her father left because of her mother’s fragile mental condition.  Lyddie does soon discover a love of reading when she first hears Oliver Twist read to her.

Where is the fulcrum when a boat is being rowed?

The two pivot points that attach the two oars to the side of the rowboat are the fulcrums on the rowboat.

A fulcrum is the point on which a lever rests or is supported. The lever pivots on the fulcrum. A pivot is a central point on which a lever or other mechanism turns.

A rowboat uses mechanical power to move. On a row boat, a person sits on a “bench” in the middle of the boat. This person is called the rower. The rower has two oars, one in each hand. An oar is a pole that has a flat blade attached to the end. The oar is anchored in a pivot that is attached to the side of the row boat. The rower moves, or rows, the oars in the water in order to project the boat forward.

In Frankenstein, how does Victor become lost at sea?

Victor rows out to sea to dispose of the body of the second creature, a female, he has created. While out on the water, Victor feels refreshed by the breeze on the water, so he stretches out in the boat and resolves to stay out on the water longer than he has planned. He is lulled by the dark atmosphere and the waves, so he falls asleep in the boat. When he wakes, Victor realizes that the boat has drifted way off course, and he is lost. He does not have a compass with him, and he distresses over his state. The entire day passes before Victor sees land where he can dock and get provisions for himself. So Victor gets lost at sea and ends up sailing towards Ireland because he simply falls asleep in the boat.

How does the author in "There Will come Soft Rains" feel?

The author, Sara Teasdale, wrote "There will Come Soft Rains" in the aftermath of World War I, which to her seemed to raise the prospect of the complete annihilation of the human race. She herself was a chronic invalid, prone to melancholia. She committed suicide at the age of 48. 

In the poem, however, we see the point of view of a narrator. We cannot assume that the narrative voice necessarily expresses the attitudes and feelings of the poet herself. 

First, we can assume some degree of sadness at the prospect of humanity destroying itself utterly. The notion of "soft rains" washing away the evidence of war and bloodshed seems inherently sad; most people do not rejoice at the idea of the deaths of millions of people (approximately 18 million people died in World War I). 

There is an elegiac tone to the poem, but one that mingles sadness at human death with an appreciation of the great beauty of nature and its resilience. 

How does Macbeth behave/what is his reaction right before Duncan's murder?

In Act 1, Scene 7, Macbeth is worried about committing the murder. He worries about retribution. If he kills Duncan, someone might take revenge upon him. Macbeth says, "Bloody instructions, which being taught return to plague the inventor." (I.vii.9). He who commits the initial murder (the inventor) risks "teaching" others to murder him in return. He then considers if he has good reason ("spur") to kill Duncan. He can only conclude that his ambition must overrule any moral or logical misgivings he is having. 

In this same scene, Macbeth goes back and says he will not go through with it. But after encouragement and scolding from Lady Macbeth, he commits himself to it. But he is still quite reluctant. 

In Act 2, Scene 1, Macbeth imagines (or hallucinates) that he sees a dagger in his hands. He sees the blood that will result from the murder. He is trying to psyche himself into going through with it. He is using his own thoughts and words to encourage himself: 

Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives. (II.i.69) 

In other words, 'breath gives heat to deed that is too cold.' He is trying to use his own breath/words to give him the heat (courage) to go through with the deed. 

The cost of manufacturing x units of a product can be modeled by C(x) = x3 − 11x + 16. Evaluate C(x) for x = 50, and describe what...

The cost of manufacturing x units of a product can be modeled by .We are asked to evaluate C(x) for x=50 and explain what this represents:

Evaluating C(x) at x=50:

we substitute 50 for x

C(50)=124466

We are not given the monetary units (dollars, euros, thousands of pounds, etc...) If we assume that the cost is in dollars, then it will cost $124,466 to produce 50 items.

(It would be an interesting discussion to place the type of product this would have to be, or the domain for the model. There aren't many items that cost less than $10 to produce 1 or 2, but over a hundred thousand dollars to produce 50. Maybe the produce has a relatively rare component -- easy to get at first but costly as you request more?)

In "The Masque of the Red Death," does the sequence of rooms of different colors mean something?

The narrator says that the rooms run from east to west, starting with the first room in a vivid blue.  The second room is purple, and the third is green.  The fourth room is orange, the fifth white, and the sixth violet.  The seventh and final room is the only one in which the window panes do not match the tapestries hung on the walls; the room is draped in black, but the windows are blood red.  The rooms run east to west, which is the same direction in which the sun travels, and often the day is considered symbolic of the human lifespan: sunset is representative of birth, the sun is at its height when we are in the prime of our lives, and sunset is representative of death.  It seems, then, that we could read the progression of rooms as the progression through a life, ending in the black and red room of death (with the ebony clock which symbolizes mortality as well).  Given the fact that the people are locked in the abbey, attempting to avoid death, this symbolism seems applicable here.

Further, some scholars believe that the seven rooms parallel the seven ages of man described by Jacques in Shakespeare's As You Like It:

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then, the whining school-boy with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then, a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the 'pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then, the justice,
In fair round belly, with a good capon lined,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws, and modern instances,
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Jaques says that men play seven parts during their lives: first the infant, then the school-boy, the lover, the soldier, the judge, then a skinny old man in slippers with droopy tights and glasses, and finally an old man, near death, who becomes like a child again.  Each room corresponds, then, to a different stage of life, again moving from birth to death.

What does Ray Bradbury assume you already know before reading Fahrenheit 451?

There are many allusions in the novel.  An allusion is a reference to history or literature.  The allusion works if you already know something about the history or literature being mentioned.  For example, there are several references to famous people that most people would know, so that the reader understands what Montag’s society has given up when it banned books. 

When his neighbor Clarisse asks Montag how he feels about banning books, he brings up the firemen’s official slogan.  It mentions several authors that readers will know, using alliteration with the days of the week.

"Do you ever read any of the books you burn?"

He laughed. "That's against the law!"

"Oh. Of course."

"It's fine work. Monday burn Millay, Wednesday Whitman, Friday Faulkner, burn 'em to ashes, then burn the ashes. That's our official slogan." (Part I)

Bradbury does not have to assume that his reader will know all of these authors, but he hopes that his reader will recognize one.  It will connect the readers to Montag’s world, and connect Montag’s society to ours.  It reminds the reader that Montag’s world seems to be based on ours.

Bradbury does this again with the founding of the Firemen. 

"That's rich!" Stoneman and Black drew forth their rulebooks, which also contained brief histories of the Firemen of America, and laid them out where Montag, though long familiar with them, might read:

"Established, 1790, to burn English-influenced books in the Colonies. First Fireman: Benjamin Franklin." (Part I)

The story is obviously false, but readers will connect with this bit of revisionist history, and it will hopefully make them stop and think about what is really happening here.  Saying that one of our beloved historical figures, Benjamin Franklin, founded the firefighters will make the readers stop and think about what is going on.  They will wonder why the firemen would say that.  Connecting Franklin’s name to the firemen gives them legitimacy.  Maybe not everyone in Montag's society is as supportive of the book-banning as it seems.  Of course, we find out later that this is the case.  

How have Lyddie's feelings about the petition changed in Lyddie?

Lyddie changes her mind and decides to sign the petition, but it is too late.

Lyddie takes her job as a factory worker very seriously.  She values her work because she wants to make enough money to pay off her family’s debts so that she can get the farm back.  This is why she is so against the petition at first. She does not want to risk getting fired.

The petition for a ten-hour day has been circulating among the factory workers.  Lyddie’s friend Diana is one of the organizers.  She has been at the factory for fifteen years, and acts as a mother or big sister to all of the girls.

Lyddie’s friend Amelia explains why she wants to sign the petition.

"Wouldn't I just? When I started in the spinning room, I could do a thirteen‐hour day and to spare. But in those days I had a hundred thirty spindles to tend. Now I've twice that many at a speed that would make the devil curse. I'm worn out, Amelia. We're all worn out." (Ch. 12)

 Lyddie explains to Betsy and Amelia that she can’t sign the petition because she needs the money.  In her mind she keeps telling herself that she isn’t a slave.  She has to work at the factory, and she works hard, but she does it by choice.

Lyddie gets hurt one day working in the factory.  She gets hit in the head with a shuttle from the loom.  Diana helps her, taking her to a doctor friend of hers.  Lyddie has to miss work until she is strong enough, and she is grateful to Diana.  Lyddie gets a package, delivered by Luke Stevens, which includes $50.  He is paying her back her loan. 

She told no one about the money. She wanted to tell Diana. Diana, she knew, would rejoice with her, but she decided to wait. She was so close now to having the money she needed, and when she did, she would surprise Diana by signing the petition. (Ch. 15)

Lyddie now no longer needs the job so badly.  She decides to sign the petition, to help Diana.  Unfortunately, when she shows up at the meeting she learns that the petition has already been submitted and failed.  Diana appreciates the thought.

Lyddie was never against the idea of the petition.  She just feared for their jobs.  She knew that anyone who signed the petition would be fired, and she cared about money more than anything else.  She saw girls getting sick and hurt around her, and even heard about deaths, but what mattered was the money.  As soon as she had it, she was ready to sign.

Please explain the first stanza of "The West Wind" by John Masefield.

The fond memories of the poet’s homeland are instantly aroused when the west wind begins to blow. Unlike the harsh winter, the west wind is comforting because it’s mild and warm. It heralds the advent of the pleasant spring after the severe winter.

The poet’s home is located in the west among “old brown hills.” But, at present, he is far away from his native place, possibly to earn his livelihood. 

As soon as he perceives the soft touch of the west wind, he gets nostalgic and as a result “tears are in my (the poet’s) eyes.”  It stirs up the cherished memories of his native place during this fine weather.

Describing the magnificence of his homeland in April, the poet says, with the blowing of the west wind the atmosphere becomes resonant with the sweet “birds’ cries.” Daffodils begin to come up and beautify the environment.

But he is miles away, sad and depressed, yearning to return to his place among his family and people.

What would be a good investigation on the changing of duration of light exercises?

People do light exercises to stay fit, improve blood circulation and stay healthy in general. Light exercises can include walking, light chores, etc. Basically, anything that does not raise your heart rate too much (not more than 50% of the maximum heart rate) can be termed as light exercise. 

An investigation involving change in the duration of light exercises may include its effect on weight loss, heart rate, stamina, blood circulation, etc. For example, we can study the effect of changing the duration of light exercises (say 30 min, 45 min and 1 hr) on weight loss over a period of 1 month. We can also investigate the effect of different durations of light exercise on stamina, etc.

Thus you need to determine which parameter you would like to investigate and plan accordingly.

Hope this helps.

How can the boiling point and the liquefaction point of OXYGEN be the same (-183°C) when the liquefaction point of water is 0°C and its boiling...

Liquefaction means conversion to liquid. The liquefaction temperature of water ice at 1.00 atm pressure is 0 degrees C because, when heated, it begins to turn to liquid at that temperature. Similarly, oxygen gas will begin to turn to liquid when cooled to a temperature of -183 C. When warmed it changes back to gas at the same temperature, -183 degrees C, making that also its boiling point.

For a given substance at a given pressure, boiling and condensation temperatures are the same and melting and freezing temperatures are the same. Since a substance can become a liquid by either melting of the solid phase or condensation of the gas phase, a liquefaction point can be either a boiling point or a melting point.

I need examples of alienation in the book "In Pharaoh's Army: Memories of the Lost War" by Tobias Wolff.

It is hard to imagine thinking about the Vietnam War without considering feelings of isolation and despair.  The war was wildly unpopular in the United States, so as a soldier in the conflict, you were essentially isolated because of public opinion.  Toby Wolff, a soldier in the conflict, does not see a lot of action.  He is alone in his thoughts to contemplate the distance between himself and his loved ones at home.  He thinks about his relationship with his father.  Despite his best efforts, he never realizes the paternal bond that fathers and sons share.  The distance between them now seems infinite.  Toby discusses his feelings of isolation with his girlfriend Vera that existed because of her mysterious nature and her peculiar personality.  The distance between them has complicated matters.  Toby is especially isolated because of the loss of his friend from high school who was killed in action.  Wolff is plagued throughout the narrative of this single event.

What does Jonas notice that is unusual about The Receiver in The Giver?

Jonas notices that the Receiver is the only one with books.

Jonas makes a lot of observations about the Receiver.  He notices that he seems very old, and that he is usually apart from the rest of the community.  He does not take part in most community events.  Before being selected as the new Receiver, Jonas is only vaguely aware of who he is.

The Receiver was the most important Elder. Jonas had never even seen him, that he knew of; someone in a position of such importance lived and worked alone. (Ch. 2)

Jonas notices that the man, “a bearded man with pale eyes,” is watching him during the ceremonies. Of course he came to that ceremony, because it was the one were his successor would be announced.  He wanted to be there when Jonas was selected, and watch him.

When Jonas begins his training, he notices that the Receiver’s quarters are very different.  The furnishings are unique, and the dwelling itself is isolated.  There is also something else very different about the Giver’s quarters.

But the most conspicuous difference was the books. In his own dwelling, there were the necessary reference volumes that each household contained: a dictionary, and the thick community volume which contained descriptions of every office, factory, building, and committee. And the Book of Rules, of course. (Ch. 10)

It makes sense that the community would not have books.  After all, they have no sense of history so the past can’t be written down.  The community does everything it can to isolate its people in a continuous present.  This is why they keep the past in the Receiver of Memory.  One person contains all of the community’s memories so that they do not make mistakes made in the past.

The books help Jonas realize that he is definitely in a different world now.  It is the first sign that things are not what they seem in the community.  Why would one person have books that no one else is allowed to have?  As Jonas continues his training, he learns that there is definitely more to the community than he ever realized, and he learns what the community is hiding.

What are the differences between single entry bookkeeping and double entry bookkeeping?

Single-entry and double-entry bookkeeping are two of the most common types of tracking financial assets of a company.   The single-entry style is geared toward small businesses using the cash basis accounting. This means, the company accounts for profit or loss when it impacts the company. The accrual method, usually used with double-entry bookkeeping, accounts for profit when it’s earned rather than when it’s received and losses are accounted for when they occur. As the name implies, single-entry bookkeeping requires the account to only show one entry for each financial transaction, much like a check ledger. A running total on the bottom of the account shows the financial balance of the liquid assets on hand. It is a good style for small or cash intensive businesses with little inventory or company owned assets. However, a major drawback is the lack of oversight. Accounting errors may not be discovered for days, months or years.

Double-entry bookkeeping requires two entries for each transaction; a credit and a debit. This system is better for more complicated business where profit is actually realized after it is earned. For example, if a client is delivered goods the profit is earned but it is not realized until the client pays the money. Single-entry would only account for it when paid, but double-entry allows the company to count the profit immediately because it will be paid in the future. The double-entry accounting allows for a more complete financial understanding of the companies actual liabilities and assets.

Explain the process of amending and revising the Texas constitution and why there are more than 450 amendments.

The Texas Constitution currently has 385 sections compared to the original version which had 289 sections. The Constitution has been updated at least biennially over the years since 1876, through amendments proposed by the legislature. There are no restrictions on the number of amendment proposals, however, each proposal requires the mandatory two-thirds vote by representatives in the senate and the house. Amendments are approved or rejected by the Texas body of voters.

As of 2014, 666 proposed amendments had been submitted to the legislature with only 662 reaching the voters. Of the 662 amendments, 483 were approved with 179 being defeated by the Texas electorate. The highest number of proposed amendments made in a single year was in 1987 with the proposals numbering 28. The year with the highest number of adopted amendments was 2003 with a total of 22 amendments being adopted in that year.

In summary, the legislature proposes amendments to the constitution. The proposal requires a two-thirds vote in the house and the senate in order to proceed to the electorate. The proposal is finally adopted or rejected by the electorate. The Texas Constitution does not set a limit to the number of amendments, which explains the high number of amendments over the years.

In what way was the Reformation a necessity for the political, social, and religious developments of Europe?

The Reformations in Europe provided avenues for the people to challenge traditions and existing religious, political and social systems. Religiously, the Reformations challenged the relevance and role of the church and its leadership with regards to leadership. Further, reformers such as Martin Luther challenged the papal authority and the Catholic Church’s ability to define Christian practice. These reformers insisted that it was only the Bible that had the capacity to make this definition. To this effect, they advocated for the Bible to be distributed to the public. Politically, it became necessary to separate the church from state. This was initiated by King Henry, who took religion to the masses and reduced the authority of the papal office. He did this after Pope Clement VII refused to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Socially, the people were allowed vernacular worship and the use of a Common Book of Prayer. Reformation was necessary for the continuity of Renaissance and the onset of the Modern Era.

Find the volume of the solid obtained by rotating the region bounded by the given curves about the...

The volume of the solid obtained by rotating the region bounded by the curves , about x axis, can be evaluated using the washer method.

Since the problem provides you the endpoints , you may find the volume such that:

V

Hence, evaluating the volume of the solid obtained by rotating the region bounded by the curves about x axis , using the washer method, yields .

Solve by finding all roots

Find all zeros of the function :

The only possible rational roots are factors of 18. We find that x=-1 and x=2 are factors. We can use long division or synthetic division to find the remaining quadratic factor:

We can factor further in the complex numbers:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The real solutions are -1 and 2. The imaginary solutions are 3i and -3i.

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** The problem as stated has no rational roots, so I assume there was a sign error.**

How is Oedipus Rex a tragedy of fate?

First, Oedipus received a prophecy from the oracle at Delphi, indicating that he would kill his father and marry his mother.  The ancient Greeks believed that the oracle was the servant of Apollo, and when the oracle says something is going to happen, it is going to happen.  Nonetheless, Oedipus attempts to evade the prophecy by never going back to his home, in Corinth.  He figures that if he isn't around his mother and father, then he cannot possibly fulfill that fate.

What Oedipus doesn't realize is that the people he thinks are his parents are not actually his parents.  This is what he went to the oracle to find out, but the oracle didn't tell him.  His birth parents had sent him away to be killed when he was a baby because they, too, had heard the prophecy and were attempting to evade it.  However, the servant did not kill Oedipus, but gave him to a servant from Corinth instead, and this is how he ended up there.

Therefore, when Oedipus makes his way toward Thebes, he has no idea that this was actually his birthplace and that his parents were the king and queen of Thebes.  On his way, he ran into his birth father, the king of Thebes, they had a physical altercation and Oedipus killed him (without realizing, of course, that this man was his father).  He accidentally fulfilled this half of his fate, and when he gets to Thebes and finds it in need of a king, he marries the queen (his mother) and takes the throne (he had saved Thebes from the sphinx, and so they thought it was appropriate to crown him).  

In the end, Oedipus never had a chance.  His fate was determined even before he was born, when his parents heard the prophecy, and cemented by his own actions when he attempted to escape the prophecy.  Perhaps if he'd have just gone home to Corinth and asked no more questions, it would have turned out all right; maybe the gods would have changed their minds.  However, in trying to escape his fate, he actually enabled it to occur.  His terrible pride, in thinking that he could outsmart the gods and defy the oracle, contributed to his downfall, but because his fate was already determined, Oedipus Rex can be considered, in part, a tragedy because of this fate.

What measure do the Bashkirs use to sell their land in Leo Tolstoy's story "How Much Land Does a Man Need?"

By Chapter 6 of Leo Tolstoy's "How Much Land Does a Man Need?," we learn from the Chief of the Bashkirs that the tribe sells their land at the price of "one thousand roubles a day." The Chief continues further to explain that they sell as much land as can be marked out on foot in one day, from sunrise to sunset. However, he also discloses one stipulation: all money is lost if the purchaser does not return to the exact spot he started walking from on the same day, meaning before sunset.

While this sounds like a good deal to Pahom, little does he realize how easy it is for a person to get carried away and be unable to return to the exact same spot. Because of his greed, Pahom tries to walk much more of a perimeter than he is physically capable of handling. Because he walks too great a distance, he is unable to make it back in time before sunset without pushing himself even harder physically. By the time the end of the day is nearing, he must run back to his starting point after having already pushed himself beyond what he could physically endure by walking. He pushes himself so hard that, by the time he reaches his starting point, he collapses and dies, probably of heart failure, showing us that the Chief of the Bashkirs' deal was really just a scam.

What answer to the Queen's riddle is the knight given?

Canterbury Tales by Geoffery Chaucer was written in 1392, but not published until 1475.  It is a compilation of 24 captivating tales.  One of the most famous is "The Wife of Bath's Tale." The story is one of crime, punishment, penance, and karma.

The crime consists of a young lady being raped by one of the King's less-than-noble knights.  His punishment is determined not by the King, but by the Queen. She gives the knight one year and a day to come up with the correct answer to her question. His penance is to fulfill a promise to the woman who finally supplies him with the elusive answer. 

The Queen's question was, "What is it that women most desire?" The knight diligently sought the answer from a wide variety of fair maidens.  

The answer, "A wife most desires sovereignty over her husband" was supplied by an ugly hag who demanded the knight marry her in exchange for the answer to the riddle.

The knight was relieved to be able to supply the Queen with the correct answer, even if it meant that his "blushing bride" would be an unsightly crone.  However, karma stood true.  Once he submitted and accepted his wife, she became a truly stunning maiden and they lived a full and happy life.

Why does Pi use plan seven to keep him alive? What is the significance of the number seven?

In chapter 54, Pi considers the odds of survival while living on a lifeboat with a 450-pound tiger. They aren't good. So, he considers a few options he might have for getting rid of Richard Parker. Pushing him off of the lifeboat first comes to mind; but, with tigers being very good swimmers, he could just swim over and climb back in the boat. Then Pi thinks of attacking him with six morphine syringes, attacking him with all available weaponry, choking him with rope, poisoning him, setting him on fire, and electrocuting him. These ideas are flawed because of the lack of materials or because of uncertain outcomes. Plan number six is simply to outlast the tiger with patience and hope the tiger dies first; but this is passive, and not proactive. It isn't until chapter 57 that Pi gets the seventh idea to tame the tiger.

Taming the tiger becomes the most productive, proactive and efficient idea because it helps Pi to establish himself as a predator rather than prey. Plan number seven also helps Pi to claim more territory on the boat, and it enables him to provide food and water for Richard Parker more easily. Providing food for the tiger forces it to become dependent on Pi for its needs. Pi thus solidifies his importance on the boat, which should hold off the tiger from eating him.

The number seven is significant because of the ties it has to the Bible and Christianity—one of the religions Pi believes in. For example, the Bible says that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh; Jacob, whose name is later changed to Israel, works seven years in order to marry Rachel; Jericho is taken after seven days of laying siege to it; there are seven seals, seven vials, seven churches; and the list goes on. The number seven is evidently sacred.

How does the poet decide between roads in the poem, "The Road Not Taken"?

"The Road Not Taken" is a poem commonly understood to be about a man who took the road less traveled in life and found this choice to be more rewarding. Many view the narrator as seeing two paths, one well-trodden and one dense and wild with growth. However, a close reading of this poem will show this to be incorrect.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

The earlier lines can be interpreted as suggesting there is a difference between the two paths, but the latter lines ("Though as for that the passing there / Had worn them really about the same") reveal this separation to be untrue. 

The Paris Review recently posted an article about the common misunderstanding of "The Road Not Taken." A quote is below:

Most readers consider “The Road Not Taken” to be a paean to triumphant self-assertion (“I took the one less traveled by”), but the literal meaning of the poem’s own lines seems completely at odds with this interpretation. The poem’s speaker tells us he “shall be telling,” at some point in the future, of how he took the road less traveled by, yet he has already admitted that the two paths “equally lay / In leaves” and “the passing there / Had worn them really about the same.” So the road he will later call less traveled is actually the road equally traveled. The two roads are interchangeable. - The Paris Review (link attached)

The poem can be read as a commentary on how people craft the narratives of their lives. People are prone to believe their choices in life were the preferable choices, but this is often just nostalgia. At the end of the poem, the narrator says the path he chose made all the difference, but this is self-confirming. 

Of course, as The Paris Review article articulates, poems are not arguments, but rather they are things to be interpreted. The narrator in this poem decided his path almost at random, but in retrospect he believed that his path was the preferable one. 

How has J.D. Salinger made New York both familiar and strange in The Catcher in the Rye? What is so ironic about this juxtaposition?

Holden Caulfield has grown up in New York City. Throughout The Catcher in the Rye he points out memories from his childhood about different locations. Because of this, it would be safe to assume that Holden should know his way around the city pretty well. It would be ironic if he ever felt lost because even though New York City is a big town, anyone who calls it his home town should be more familiar with it. By having Holden feel both familiar and strange in his home town, Salinger may be showing how the boy's mental capacities are waning. We also get a look into how Holden can become confused and unreliable as a narrator because of the mental distress he is suffering.

One example of Holden becoming confused and lost in New York City is when he forgets the fencing team's foils on the subway. The following is his explanation of the mistake:

"It wasn't my fault. I had to keep getting up to look at this map, so we'd know where to get off" (3).

Granted, New York City is big and the subway system is probably the most complex in the world, but a native might have been able to handle finding the right stop. On the other hand, this can prove that even natives don't always know the city like they think they do. This certainly sets Holden up to discover more strange parts of the city when he becomes a runaway.

For an example, Holden gets a dose of the strange when he checks into the Edmont Hotel on the first night that he runs away. His perception is interesting:

". . . I checked in. . . I'd put on my red hunting cap when I was in the cab, just for the hell of it, but I took it off before I checked in. I didn't want to look like a screwball or something. Which is really ironic. I didn't know then that the goddam hotel was full of perverts and morons. Screwballs all over the place" (61).

It's as if Holden is discovering a different side of New York City that he never knew existed; however, one would think that his parents would have taught him about certain areas to avoid. This begs the question if Holden was specifically trying to experience a different side of New York, or if he was simply naïve. Either way, the answer would be ironic because the unexpected seems to happen to Holden at every turn. Just when he thinks he knows how to handle a situation or place in New York City, it turns out differently than he expects and that is a good example of irony.

In Lord of the Flies, is having a chief the only choice for how the boys can organize themselves?

A number of possible ways to organize themselves could have been used by the boys in Lord of the Flies. The boys could have had a council, a triumvirate, or a partnership to act as leaders. They could also have had a buddy system. 

A council of five or seven of the oldest boys might have been a wise choice. Such an arrangement would have allowed various perspectives to be shared more fully, and it may have prevented the jealousies between Jack and Ralph from getting out of hand. By having an odd number of boys on the group, tie votes would have been impossible. Jack might have been held in check if four other boys with equal authority all tried to rein him in.

A triumvirate of Ralph, Piggy, and Jack might have been effective, but it probably would have ended up with Ralph and Piggy siding against Jack, which is what happened anyway. Jack would have had to be willing to accept Piggy as an equal, which he may not have done. 

A partnership would mimic a parenting situation. If Ralph and Jack had been co-chiefs, some of the jealousy could possibly have been avoided, and Jack may have been more vested in the success of the society. However, a father and mother generally have love for one another that allows a level of give and take in the relationship, resulting in a softening of the harsher partner and a strengthening of the milder partner. Since Ralph and Jack did not have a commitment to or love for each other, partnership rule could have resulted in stalemates and competition, which happened anyway.

A buddy system could have been put in place no matter what the leadership strategy was. Instead of assigning Piggy the task of cataloging all the littluns himself, each older boy could have been assigned a younger boy to mentor and keep track of. Having a younger boy for whom to act as a role model may have resulted in many of the boys "stepping up" to take responsibility on the island in a personal way--rather that just being part of the "hunters" group, for instance. The buddy system may have prevented the loss of life of the boy with the mulberry birthmark in the first fire. The organization the boys put in place, with its top-down structure, did not place enough emphasis on the emotional and social development of the boys and created a selfish mindset where most boys only thought of their own needs and desires. Establishing a buddy system from the beginning may have resulted in a different outcome for the boys. 

How do Scout and Jem feel about their father at the beginning of Chapter Ten?

We learn at the beginning of Chapter Ten that Atticus is considerably older than most of the other kids' fathers in Maycomb--he is almost fifty years old. Because of his age, and his personality as well, Atticus can't (or won't) do many of the things the other fathers do. He won't play football with Jem, he doesn't hunt, and for that matter, he doesn't drink or smoke. "He sat in the livingroom and read," Scout tells the reader (92).  Miss Maudie tries to make them understand that their father is a wonderful lawyer and, she adds, very good at checkers. It seems that the children are a little embarrassed by their father, and they wish he was, for lack of a better word, cool.

They are surprised, then, at the end of the chapter when Atticus returns home to shoot a rabid dog in the street. In fact, Sheriff Tate gives him his rifle because he knows what the children do not--that Atticus once was, and apparently still is--the best shot in Maycomb. He proves this when he takes the mad dog down with a single shot to the head. With this, Jem in particular is suddenly very proud of his father.

Why did Jabez Stone go to Daniel Webster for assistance?

In The Devil and Daniel Webster by Stephen Vincent Benet, Jabez Stone sells his soul to the devil because he is having bad luck growing crops in the rocky soil of his farm in New England.  He agrees with the devil (Ol’ Scratch) that he will give him his soul in seven years.  When the devil comes to collect his due, Jabez talks him into an extension of three years. As the time grows nearer for the devil to come and take Jabez’s soul, Jabez goes to see the famous speaker and lawyer, Daniel Webster, convincing his to argue for his soul against the devil in a trial. 

Daniel Webster takes the case and argues in defense of Jabez in front of a tough jury of dead pirates, slavers, criminals, politicians, and even Judge Hawthorne of the Salem Witch Trials.  By pleading to their original emotional love for freedom and democracy, Webster wins the case.  He also insures that Ol’ Scratch will never bother Jabez again by drawing up and having Scratch sign a document agreeing to leave Jabez alone.

What does Kipling mean when he says we should treat triumph and disaster "just the same"?

Rudyard Kipling's "If" is a poem that discusses manhood, leadership, manners, and perseverance. It's as if he gives the next generation tips on how to manage the vicissitudes of life and keep one's sanity and reputation intact. Life is full of different voices urging us to go one way and then another, ups and downs, and successes and failures. The lines in question discuss how a person should handle success versus failure and/or a crisis.

"If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same. . . (Lines 11-12).

 The idea within these lines is that each person will face victory and defeat as well as success and crisis in life, but Kipling calls these things imposters. Often we are fooled by labels. We are fooled by other people's perceptions about us, or we can be fooled by the labels and perceptions we have about ourselves. The advice suggests that if we humbly take a triumph and a disaster as learning opportunities, rather than succumb to selfish feelings about either one of them, we will enjoy life more fully and in a more authentic way.

What does Secondary Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) refer to?

Secondary Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) occurs when someone has an indirect exposure to a traumatic event. Although secondary PTSD is different than PTSD, a person who experiences an indirect exposure can still exhibit the same symptoms as someone who has direct exposure. 

Secondary PTSD can occur when someone hears about the first-hand traumatic experiences of another person, often a person who is close to them (but not always).  

A person with Secondary PTSD can experience many of the same symptoms as someone with PTSD.

Some of these symptoms include:

• Avoidance of anything related to the traumatic experience (people, places, sounds)


• Nightmares surrounding the events of the trauma


• Mood swings


• Increased or decreased sleep


• Anxiety or panic attacks

Interestingly, someone who experiences Secondary PTSD will experience symptoms related to the first-hand traumatic experience of someone else, and not in relation to their own fears/ experiences.

In short, secondary PTSD is stress experienced by family members of those with PTSD. This answer makes the most sense given the definition of Secondary PTSD. A family member of someone with PTSD would likely hear first-hand accounts of a traumatic experience, which could make them susceptible to any of the symptoms associated with PTSD.

Between Romeo and Juliet whose love is more passionate and how?

Though Romeo and Juliet are quite infatuated with one another, I would say that Romeo is more passionate about Juliet than she is about him. Let's consider the circumstances for the titular characters at the open of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo is heartbroken and listless because Rosaline does not return his affections. We learn that Romeo is "in love with love," and wishes to be so. Juliet, on the other hand, is not really interested in love, but certainly does not care to be married to the man her mother is planning for her to meet.

When Romeo and Juliet meet, I think that they are falling in love with the idea of one another rather than the people they are. The two hardly speak more than a handful of words to one another—though physically attracted to each other—when they begin kissing and wooing! Juliet is quick to be in love because it provides an alternate to her mother's arranged marriage- maybe she can marry Romeo instead! (At this point, she does not know he is a Montague.) Romeo is perhaps quicker to fall in love—entranced by Juliet's beauty, Rosaline is entirely pushed from his mind.

It may sound harsh, but I think that Romeo and Juliet are using one another. It is difficult to say whether they manipulate each other, but they definitely exploit their perceptions of each other to achieve their own desires. Who's to say whether their love was genuine? If they did not truly love one another, they must have loved the idea of each other because they were willing to become married and even commit suicide rather than face a life "out of love" or in an undesired marriage.

Regardless of whether any manipulation or using occurred, I think that Romeo was more passionate in his affections for Juliet or the idea of her. Consider the famous balcony scene of Act II, Scene II. When Romeo speaks of Juliet (to himself) he goes on and on about how she is more beautiful than the moon, as beautiful as an angel, and how he wishes to stroke her cheek. In contrast, Juliet (speaking to herself) only ho-hums that she wishes Romeo was not a Montague. Even when the two begin to address each other directly, Romeo seems to not care that Juliet is a Capulet, but he does feel sorrow that he is a Montague and her sworn enemy. Couldn't he just as easily be angry at her for having been born a Capulet?

Later, in Scenes III and V of Act II, we can sense this difference in passions when Romeo and Juliet speak of each other to their confidantes. In Scene III, Romeo has come to Friar Laurence to ask him to marry him to Juliet. Fair Juliet, who he professes to love with all his heart, and who he is certain he really loves and wants to be with. When Juliet speaks to Nurse, she is all business. She does not speak so fondly of Romeo and instead plainly asks whether he had anything to say about their marriage. Even with her most trusted friend, Juliet has the opportunity to gush about how much she likes and loved Romeo, but she doesn't. 

To me, it seems that Juliet is really only in love with the prospect of being married and taken away from her mother's designs on Paris as a husband. Romeo, at least, focuses his love on Juliet as a part of being "in love."

Who were the Romans?

The Romans were an ancient people who came from the Italian city of Rome. According to legend, Rome was founded in 753 B.C. by its first king, Romulus and, between the third and first centuries B.C., grew to become one of the most wealthy and prosperous cities in the world. This was due, primarily, to a number of imperial conquests which placed Rome at the centre of an enormous empire. This vast empire included all of Europe and extended well into North Africa and Asia. 

The Romans not only built a huge empire - they were also great architects and engineers who built roads and developed modern systems, like sewage and drainage. The Romans were also a polytheistic people: they believed in a number of gods and goddesses who each ruled over a different part of life. Neptune, for example, was the god of the ocean and the Romans prayed to him to protect them at sea. 

There are three leading economic indicators, Economic Growth rate (%∆ in Real Gross Domestic Product or %∆RGDP), Inflation Rate (%∆CPI), and...

For your convenience, I've added reference links to interactive official Federal Reserve graphs of all three of these indicators.

We may not quite be at full employment, but we are fairly close. Our current unemployment rate is 4.9%, so under the usual assumption that "full employment" means about 4.5% unemployment we're almost there.

We are definitely not in a recession anymore. Smoothing over some unusually strong seasonal variation, our current growth rate in real GDP is about 2.3%, which is a bit slow but definitely positive.

Inflation is also definitely not a problem---actually deflation may be a problem, as our current growth rate in the CPI is only 0.1% and falling. If we do hit another recession soon, it will likely be because this deflation has not been stopped.

Stagnation might be an issue, particularly if this already somewhat slow GDP growth slows down any further. But stagflation isn't, because inflation is too low, not too high.

But the main concern for me at least is not on any of these indicators---it is our interest rates, which remain extremely low, just slightly above zero. If we do suffer deflation, or even if we simply can't get inflation back up closer to 2%, our real interest rates will also be nearly zero, which effectively removes the Federal Reserve's ability to expand the money supply and thereby bring us out of a recession. This is called the zero lower bound.

Monetary policy is basically powerless here; only fiscal policy could solve this problem. Speaking from the consensus position of macroeconomists today (which is more or less Keynesian, generally called the New Neoclassical Synthesis), the best thing to do right now would be to greatly expand the government deficit by spending on worthwhile projects such as education and infrastructure development. This would boost the economy directly and also put upward pressure on interest rates to raise them above the zero lower bound. This would hopefully bring GDP growth back up to target, and it would give monetary policy a lot more room to restore the balance when we do hit another recession (which, if history is our guide, is only a matter of time).

What was Steinbeck's purpose for writing The Pearl?

John Steinbeck's The Pearl is a parable; as such it is meant to teach a moral lesson.

As a social realist, Steinbeck is concerned, with "life and living," as John S. Kennedy, a friend and critic wrote. Todd Lieber views Steinbeck as a writer whose talent lies in his ability to

...penetrate to the sources of human thought and behavior and present in the form of some objective correlative the archetypal and mythopoeic knowledge that lies deep in the mystery of human experience.

So, in The Pearl, the "Pearl of the World" becomes such the objective correlative because it acts as a "psychological talisman" for Kino's hope that he can rise from his class by having a wedding ceremony and giving his boy an education and a better life than that of a peasant. Unfortunately, to move upward socially and economically is not facile, and the great pearl fails Kino in his purpose. In fact, when Kino has his family attempt to live at a higher social level, new evils enter their lives, and to escape them, Kino must do as Juana has begged him early on: to throw the pearl back into the sea. Thus, Steinbeck may well be pointing to the corruption of more "sophisticated society," or the capitalistic society. At any rate, after Kino finds the Pearl of the World, he becomes obsessed with the things of the world (ceremonies, clothes, social mobility) and he loses the "Song of the Family" that he has been accustomed to hearing, a song more meaningful than any material possession.

And, yet, Kino and Juana are tragically wiser for their experiences. Thus, some critics view the Pearl much like the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil since Kino and Juana have fallen from innocence after procuring the Pearl of the World. This final tragic position somehow seems more worthy of respect than their previous untested ignorance of the world outside them.

Describe Gulliver's journey from Luggnugg to Japan.

Apparently the kingdom of Luggnugg does a good deal of trade with the empire of Japan, and after Gulliver repeatedly refused a court position from the king of Luggnugg, the king agreed to write him a letter of recommendation addressed to the emperor of Japan. The king gave Gulliver a large sum of money to aid his travels and sent a guard with Gulliver as far as Glanguenstald (the port city in Luggnugg), and after six days there, Gulliver found a ship bound for Japan. He spent fifteen days on board, and eventually landed at Xamoschi, a town on the southeastern side of Japan. The letter helped Gulliver once he made port as the magistrates there provided him with transportation and servants to get him to Yedo, where he met with the Emperor.

What challenges did Martin Luther King, Jr. face and/or overcome?

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a leader of the Civil Rights movement who faced enormous challenges in his lifetime. His first major protest was the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott of 1955-1956, when he, along with Rosa Parks, protested conditions that African-Americans faced on buses in that city. Under the laws of Jim Crow, African-Americans were forced to move to the back of the bus in Montgomery and other southern cities when whites boarded, and African-American riders were often treated unfairly and rudely. From the outset, Dr. King faced hostility from segregationists, and his life was threatened repeatedly. For example, during the bus boycott, his house was bombed, and he was arrested during a campaign to desegregate the city of Birmingham, Alabama (he was jailed several times during his lifetime).

Dr. King also faced life-long depression and the tension of uniting African-Americans and sympathetic whites into a movement that would achieve his goals. He advocated a policy of non-violence, inspired by ideas of Gandhi and others, and started the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). In the 1960s, several civil rights groups developed, such as SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee). Leaders of SNCC thought that Dr. King was not connected with their concerns as younger members of the Civil Rights movement. Later leaders, such as Malcolm X, a Muslim, often believed in more direct and violent confrontations to achieve their aims than Dr. King did (though Malcolm X became more convinced of the power of non-violence before he died). 

Another of Dr. King's challenges was to convince the federal government to become involved in helping the Civil Rights movement. At times, this pressure could take a long time to result in legal changes. For example, during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Supreme Court eventually passed a law (in December of 1956) that supported a lower court's ruling outlawing segregation in busing in Montgomery, Alabama. However, the boycott had already been going on for more than a year at this point, forcing African-Americans to walk or carpool to get to work or school. In addition, federal laws to protect the civil rights of African-Americans on a national scale took a long time to pass; finally, in 1964, the national Civil Rights Act was passed. The Voting Rights Act, passed in 1965, was passed to protect the rights of all citizens, including African-Americans to vote. This act was the result of a long period of pressure that the SCLC and SNCC and others had put on the federal government to protect voting rights. In addition, the movement had to endure a great deal of violence and hatred before this law was passed. 

Dr. King also turned to issues that were difficult to solve. For example, in 1968, he went on the Poor People's Campaign to improve jobs and housing for African-Americans, particularly in urban areas. These issues were difficult to solve, and when Dr. King was assassinated in April of 1968, he was still trying to solve these types of difficult issues of economic inequality that are still present in the U.S. Therefore, Martin Luther King, Jr. faced enormous challenges, including violence, the problems of uniting his movement, the problem of pressuring the federal government for change, and the problem of inequality, among others. 

I am supposed to write a feature story on any interesting topic of my choice and I was interested in looking at teenage pregnancies and abortions....

It may be difficult for you to find an angle on teenage pregnancy and abortion that hasn't been covered before, as this is a highly controversial issue which has prompted lots of public attention and media coverage. 

Some alternate ways of looking at the subject of teen pregnancy and abortion might be:

• The effects of the availability of birth control (including hormonal birth control) on rates of teen pregnancy and abortion. How has the criminalization of abortion affected teen pregnancy rates? How has wide availability of birth control affected teen pregnancy rates, especially when birth control is offered at reduced or no cost? How has the defunding of public services like Planned Parenthood affected teen pregnancy and abortion rates?


• What effect does sex education have on teen pregnancy and abortion rates? What kind of sex education has been offered and/or received prior to the pregnancy? Was it compulsory school-based sex education, social education (as in learning from friends), information given by physicians, or "the talk" from parents? What do teens know about sex, pregnancy, and abortion?


• Who is getting pregnant and having, or not having, abortions? What age(s) are these teens? What is their socioeconomic status? What is their family unit like? Are they involved in other high-risk activity like the use of drugs and alcohol? How have these demographics shifted over the past ten, twenty, fifty years?

I hope these ideas help you develop your article. I would also like to suggest doing some reading on the subject and making notes on what catches your eye- are there any interesting statistics or stories that you could ask more questions about?

What are some things Atticus says in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, that represent acceptance? Some things that show he knows he is going to...

You basically ask three questions - how does Atticus show acceptance, where does Atticus show understanding that he will lose the case, and where he believes in equal rights. 

First, Atticus's whole life shows acceptance. Let me give you a few examples. He treats Calpurnia, a black woman, with respect and courtesy.  In fact, she is very much a part of the family.  The black community loves and respects him.  This is only because they know him to be an honest and good man towards all. Finally, he also shows acceptance to people like the Cunninghams. He does legal work for them, even if they cannot pay with money. 

Second, Atticus is a realist. He knows the racism of Maycomb. He knows that he will lose the case.  He actually says this. Here is the quote:

“Atticus, are we going to win it?"

“No, honey."

“Then why—"

“Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win,” Atticus said.

Finally, as for equal rights, the case with Tom Robinson shows Atticus's strong belief in equal rights.  He defends him at all cost. In other words, he goes into the fray with his eyes wide open, knowing that hardships will come.  That speaks volumes. 

What are some example of loss in Of Mice and Men?

Of Mice and Men is replete with examples of loss. In fact, most, if not all, of the characters have experienced loss in the past or experience it in the course of the novella. Additionally, some of these losses add to the bigger theme of the unattainable American Dream.

The first example of loss can be seen with Candy and the death of his dog. When Carlson insists on shooting it because he "stinks," Candy responds, "I had him so long. Had him since he was a pup. I herded sheep with him." Through his persistence, Carlson finally gets the okay to kill the animal, leaving Candy on his bed, rolled over facing the wall and silent. He has ultimately lost his only friend and companion in an already lonely ranch.

Later, in chapter 5, we learn that Curley's wife once had the hope of becoming an actress but lost that dream when her mother made it impossible for her to achieve it. She indicates to Lennie that a man she once met "said he was gonna put (her) in the movies." When this didn't happen, her desperation to get out of her mother's home led her to ultimately marry Curley the same night she met him. Now that she's trapped on the ranch and has forever lost the opportunity to become an actress, she goes on to list all of the things she could have done if she had succeeded, such as had nice clothes, gone to movie previews, and "sat" in hotels, all losses in her book.

Finally, at the end of the novel, Candy and George both realize that, with the death of Curley's wife, they have lost their chance at the American Dream, their farm. Candy asks, "You an' me we can get that little place, can't we, George?" He soon answers his own question. "Candy dropped his head and looked down at the hay. He knew."

How are Tom and Huck similar in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?

Tom and Huck are similar in several ways.  Both boys love adventure, although while Tom experiences adventure through his imagination that comes from romantic novels, Huck, a realist, lives his adventures.  Tom and Huck are also seasoned liars.  Not only does Huck lie his way out of situations he finds himself in during his journey down the river, he also lies and becomes Tom Sawyer in the final episode of the novel.  Tom lies about Jim being a free man at the end of the novel as well. 

Another way they are similar is they like to play tricks or pranks on others.  Tom hangs Jim’s hat on a tree branch one night when he and Huck are sneaking out.  Jim later thinks that a witch hung it there.  Huck plays pranks on Jim all along the river.  He puts a snake skin under Jim’s blanket, he pretends to get lost in the fog, and he tricks Jim into thinking he’s going to shore to see where they are on the river but really intends on turning Jim in as a runaway slave.

Both boys also like to tell “whoppers,” as Twain would call them. They tell elaborate stories about pirates and highwaymen.

Tom and Huck are two boys who are typical for their age.  They want to experience adventure and have fun.  

What are some important features of Stonehenge?

There are over seven hundred archaeological features in the entire Stonehenge World Heritage site. Stonehenge is a megalithic site, which means it is an ancient monument made of stone. The word 'henge' is defined as a prehistoric structure that consists of a circle of stone or wooden uprights. Stonehenge obviously fits that criteria.

There are two types of stone used. The larger stones are called sarsens and can reach heights of thirty feet. Sarsens, on average, weigh about 25 tonnes. The smaller stones of the complex are called blue stones and weigh about four tonnes. They are called blue stones because when freshly cut, or when they get wet, the stones have a bluish tint. It is believed that glacial movement brought these large stones into the region, but archaeologists have not ruled out the possibility that they were moved by the people of the era.

One of the interesting features of Stonehenge is the astrological alignment of the site. Stonehenge is aligned along the midwinter sunset, midsummer sunrise solstitial axis. This means that its alignment can be used to predict the midyear based on the way shadows are cast. Other monuments around Stonehenge have this arrangement or the opposite midsummer sunset alignment. This would have been important for agricultural purposes as well as ceremonial.

Holes that are dug around the complex seem to have two purposes. First, it was used as a cremation cemetery, with people burying the ashes of the deceased in the holes. Secondly, the holes may have been used to predict lunar eclipses, which would have been useful to priests or shamans. In general, with over 350 burial mounds, the Stonehenge ward was an important necropolis in ancient times.

The entire region around Stonehenge was considered sacred ground, probably because of the abundance of wild game. The Stonehenge monument itself is the most architecturally sophisticated henge structure built in prehistory.

What is Article VI of the Constitution?

Article VI of the Constitution has several parts. The first part states that the debts the U.S. government incurred while the country was ruled by the Articles of Confederation are still valid and that the government will pay them now that it is ruled by the Constitution. Part of the background behind this part of the article is that Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, wanted the United States government to have a debt. Once the government had assumed and began to pay off the debt, people would come to trust the government to a greater extent.

The second part of Article establishes the Supremacy Clause--that is, the idea that the Constitution, as well as federal laws and treaties made pursuant to the Constitution, are the supreme law of the land and take precedence over state level laws. John Marshall, later the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, helped establish the Supremacy Clause in practice through cases such as McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), a case in which the Supreme Court decided that states could not levy taxes on the federal bank because states cannot impede laws carried out as part of the powers given to the federal government in the Constitition.

Finally, the third part of the article requires government officials to take an oath but states that the oath must not be religious in nature and that the government cannot require religious tests of its employees. This article is an expression of the separation of church and state in the government. 

Who was the third president in Great Britain?

Great Britain calls their political leader a prime minister, rather than a president.  Today, the prime minister performs similar duties to a president.  

Sir Robert Walpole is considered the first prime minister of Britain by most.  He served as the First Lord of the Treasury in the 1700s.  Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, is considered to be the second prime minister of Britain.  At this time, the person who held the role of prime minister was more of a figurehead.

For those who consider Sir Robert Walpole and Spencer Compton to be the first and second prime ministers of Britain, Henry Pelham is the third.  Henry Pelham was financially minded.  Under his leadership, Britain adopted the Gregorian calendar.  Jewish people were also permitted to become naturalized under Pelham's time as prime minister.

What are some physical characteristics of Jesse Aarons?

As Chapter 1 begins, we learn that Jesse likes to dress in overalls without a shirt underneath when he's going running, so we know he dresses a little on the nerdy side, but that's probably just normal clothing for kids who work on farms in Jesse's rural area.

The narrator gives us a quick description of what Jesse looks like in Chapter 1:

"His straw-colored hair flapped hard against his forehead, and his arms and legs flew out every which way. He had never learned to run properly, but he was long-legged for a ten-year-old, and no one had more grit than he."

So, we know that his hair is the color of straw, which is light blonde. He's only ten years old, but he has long legs, and his legs and arms kind of flap out everywhere while he's running--so we also know that he's gangly, or kind of in an awkward stage of his pre-adolescence. Picture a skinny kid with long arms and long legs, who's probably going to grow more muscular soon because he gets so much physical exercise, and that's Jesse.

One more physical trait is worth mentioning: Jess's body is often "tired and tensed-up," as we learn in Chapter 2. His family life is stressful, and he lives in poverty. The only kind of escape he seems to have at the beginning of the story is drawing, so he probably appears relaxed and happy when he's doing that, but otherwise, his posture is probably rigid, showing his nervous disposition.

What was Nick's plan in chapter 5? Did it work?

Mrs. Granger assigned an oral report on dictionaries to Nick.  Nick was notorious for being a skilled time-waster at school.  He loved to distract his teachers to waste time and avoid classwork.  Nick soon discovered that Mrs. Granger was more aware than his previous teachers had been.

Nick had the idea to make his oral report last for the entire class period. He reported on his research, and also read excerpts from the dictionary itself.  Mrs. Granger stopped him when there were only ten minutes left of the class period.  She gave the students work to do with only eight minutes left, and it was all "a blur of verbs and nouns and prepositions."  She even gave the class "another homework assignment."

The plan to waste the entire class period did not work and Nick was surprised.  Not only did the students still have to complete work and were assigned homework, but the report seemed to make Mrs. Granger happy.  She approved of Nick's oral report, and she seemed impressed by his knowledge and research.  Nick did not realize that this would happen.  Her attitude toward Nick made him feel that "he was being treated like... the teacher's pet."

Which of the Five Faces of Oppression do the people in Harvest of Empire struggle against?

In Harvest of Empire, Juan Gonzalez details a comprehensive history of the United States and its relationship with neighbors from the south of its borders. Gonzalez presents a compelling argument that exploitation has been a common theme in this relationship. Gonzalez believes that Latinos have been exploited by the United States and its corporations. This exploitation has taken the form of trade agreements, resource grabs, and hiring workers that are underpaid. Gonzalez argues that the United States has used the free market system as a means of oppressing the people of Latin America to the point that they have been forced to leave their homelands to seek employment in the United States. Gonzalez details many examples of exploitation in the book including, but not limited to:

• Territorial expansion into Latino lands in the 1800's


• Military excursions into Mexico and interference with the sovereignty of the Latino nation


• Construction of the Panama Canal


• American owned plantations throughout Latin America

What traits characterize Tom in Chapter 3 of Firegirl?

In Chapter 3, we learn that Tom is wistful and obsessive, unrealistic and imaginative, and passive:

Tom goes into exquisite detail as he describes Courtney's beauty, grace, and smell, all of which reveals the extent of his obsessiveness. He admires her intellect and even her voice as she reads aloud. Through this description, Tom states multiple times that Courtney is "perfect." His crush on her consumes his mind, and yet he never tries to talk to her or ask her out. He simply keeps her at a wistful distance from him.

In addition, Chapter 3 reveals how Tom fantasizes constantly about how he could rescue Courtney in some amazing feat of daring and strength. There would be an earthquake, he muses, and he would sweep her out of the crumbling building and into safety. She would faint, and he would catch her. These unrealistic fantasies of Tom's are nevertheless full of incredible detail, revealing the depth of his imagination.

Finally, Tom's passiveness is hard to miss in Chapter 3. His own friend, Jeff, makes fun of him in front of their peers, calling attention to how Tom is in the "dumb group" in reading class. Tom gives no response and is still friends with Jeff! And of course, by keeping his crush a secret instead of attempting to get to know Courtney, Tom is content to sit passively by and live mostly in his imagination instead of in the real world.

Who attended Gatsby's parties?

Gatsby's parties are attended by a bunch of people who don't know him or care to know him. They care about "chatter and laughter, and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot, and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other's names." In other words, they are often vapid and usually vain, interested in nothing serious like actually getting to know someone. They seem to come only to have a good time and get roaring drunk. This includes a few people from East Egg—the more fashionable of the "Eggs" where the old money set live—and then there are many more people from West Egg: people involved in the film or theater industries, people who came to gamble, and others who seem to have no occupation or even another place to go (Klipspringer seems to live at Gatsby's and is known as "the boarder"). In all, it's a pretty rowdy crowd, mostly people who lack the refinement and manners of East Egg residents like Tom and Daisy. This is a mostly West Egg crowd, and they are unsophisticated and gauche by comparison. However, they are noisy and seem to have a good time, and so Gatsby welcomes them again and again (until Daisy professes her dislike of them and his parties cease altogether).

In Leon Uris's Trinity, how are all the characters connected in regards to religion and its role in their lives?

Conor Larkin, the protagonist of Leon Uris' Trinity, is an Irish Catholic. The novel itself is set in the early twentieth century, a period in which Ireland was fighting for independence from England, with exposition tracing the earlier history of the English conquest of Ireland and its consequences. 

The vision of Roman Catholicism we have in the novel is one which links Catholicism to Irish patriotism, mainly because the English under Henry VIII, who fully subdued Ireland, were Protestant and Anglo-Norman in heritage, while the Irish Celts were Roman Catholic. Even though historically, Roman Catholicism was imposed on the Celts (who were first pagan and then adopted Celtic Christianity, which differed from the Roman model in several details), especially after the English conquest, Catholicism became a form of nationalism and indigenous opposition to England. The importance of Catholicism in every aspect of Irish life is seen in the following quotation from Trinity, which expresses the degree to which even the Republicans could be frustrated by the degree to which religion had become a focus of Irish sentiment:

The only time we can attract a crowd is for some pilgrimage up some god-damned holy mountain to chase the snakes and banshees out of the country.

The novel emphasizes how the Protestant Ascendancy monopolized power and wealth in Ireland and the degree to which the Irish Catholics were oppressed. 

How did technology prolong the First World War?

The last element of the European military establishment to embrace the limitations of set piece formation was the command element. In the early phases of the War, horse cavalry was still considered an essential part of the offensive formation, but very quickly it became clear that it was too vulnerable to concentrated machine gun and artillery fire to be practical.

By then, however, it was too late to alter the broad tactical mindset, and the subsequent rapid mechanization of the War made it possible for these grandiose tactical maneuvers to be deployed on a hitherto unprecedented scale.

It was not simply the mechanization of the battlefield that made this possible, but also the support systems of railways, motorization, the industrial production of food, uniforms and equipment and the evolution of modern naval battle fleets that created an escalating standoff between two elements of a swiftly modernizing society.

The inability of either side to overwhelm the other created an arms race that ended only with the utter economic and social exhaustion of the Central Powers. Had either the senior command element adapted to these changes earlier, or had warfare been conducted on more traditional lines, there is every reason to believe that victory or defeat would have been registered a great deal earlier.

What is difference between point mutations and frameshift mutations?

Mutations are changes in the genetic code. DNA holds the genetic code. Nucleotides make up DNA. Therefore, mutations change the order and/or the number of nucleotides changes within DNA. If the codons on the complementary mRNA strand that is created during transcription do not code for the same amino acids that are brought over during translation, then mutations can change the structure and function of the protein produced. However, some mutations are unnoticed because the altered and original nucleotide sequences both code for the same amino acid(s). In this case, no changes would occur to the protein produced.

In a point mutation, one nucleotide is swapped out for another. Therefore, the mutation occurs at a single point or location within the DNA strand. Point mutations usually only affect the codon that contains the altered nucleotide.

Frameshift mutations are due to either insertions or deletions of nucleotides. This causes the entire DNA strand to elongate or to shrink in size. Thus, frameshift mutations may alter all of the codons that occur after the deletion or insertion. Therefore, frameshift mutations tend to be more detrimental than point mutations.

How did Magwitch from Great Expectations make Pip feel after he told Pip his backstory? The emotions are unclear.

Pip is taken aback when Magwitch (Provis) tells him the story of his life. Pip realizes that the villain he had imagined Magwitch to be is not the entire story. The convict's childhood must give some cause to his adult life of crime, unlike that of Compeyson (Magwitch’s fellow convict). The feelings of pity begin to grow within Pip’s heart, even though he has determined to reject Magwitch’s role as his benefactor, though he does not tell Magwitch this. He also determines at first that he cannot tell Magwitch of his daughter, Estella, fearing what Estella’s reaction would be. Though he has begun to realize his hopes of marrying Estella have disappeared with Magwitch’s return, his friendship for her still leads him to want to protect her. Eventually, Pip does tell Magwitch about his daughter, though it is too late for them to meet. It is with real grief that Pip mourns Magwitch at his death.

How does the short story "The Luck of Roaring Camp" contain some kind of assumption, whether explicit or implied, about nature?

Harte's classic short story "The Luck of the Roaring Camp" contains several assumptions about nature.

Some of them are about gender. It is an assumption about what it means to be male or female when Harte says of Cherokee Sal that she lacks " her sex’s intuitive tenderness and care."

A second assumption is that there should be an alignment between people's physical selves and their characters...but there isn't. Look at the discussion of the men in the camp, and their character, early in the story.

Other assumptions address nature in general more specifically. After the child is born, he is very healthy, due (perhaps) to the " invigorating climate of the mountain camp." This indicates some environments are more innately healthy than others.

Another assumption emerging after the baby is born is that people should be aware of the beauty in nature...but often aren't. The men's work and entertainment blinded them to natural beauty. Once they are taking care of the baby, they are aware of the beauty in rocks and pebbles.

Evaluate the long-run and short-run sustainability of export subsidy? The question is base on export subsidy.

The notion of an export subsidy is typically considered to be an unfair business practice in most cases.   

Let's say that companies in country A have created a car which runs on air.   Everyone knows that this kind of car is going to sell all over the globe.

The government in country A sees the advantage in not having companies in other countries  developing  their own version of this kind of car.   There are many reasons for this perspective which I will get in below. 

In order for country A to create a near-monopoly in the manufacture of this type of car, they tell domestic companies that they will give them $5,000 for every "air car" that they build for export.  

Companies in countries B, C and D see that the import "air car" is selling  in their countries for thousands of dollars less than their own manufacturing costs  would be.    Building this type of car in countries B, C, and D would not only be unprofitable - it would be a financial disaster

So while countries B, C and D postpone or cancel plans to build an "air car", companies in Country A are becoming experts in the technology and the names of their cars, their brands, are becoming respected and household names all over the world. 

This implementation is very advantageous to companies in country A.   They are selling cars by the millions, reaping enormous profits - but it is being done in way that is unnatural - actual business forces have been removed artificially.

It is likely that Company A can't keep up with providing these subsidies - for every car exported they lose $5,000 and seemingly get nothing in return - only the companies benefit.

There is one factor that may convince Company A to see the subsidies as helpful to its overall economic conditions.  While the air-cars are being sold exclusively throughout the world, 200,000 laborers are employed in the building of these cars.   These employees pay federal taxes on their income and, while employed, these people, and their families, rely very little on expensive government programs - they don't need financial help.

But, when other countries realize what country A is doing to be so successful in this industry, there will be a backlash against their country.  Other countries can start a trade war, create huge tariffs on imports, or create subsidies of their own for products that have expertise building or growing.

Ultimately the unfairness of the subsidy program will be damaging to country A. 

How do the seasons of spring and winter play out in the narrative of the story "A Sorrowful Woman"?

The story opens in the winter: "One winter evening she looked at them: the husband durable, receptive, gentle; the child a tender golden three," the first line states. During this winter season, the woman retreats into a room of her own, unable any longer to cope with the demands of being a wife and mother. This room becomes a safe haven for her. She has "a fire in the hearth" and wears a familiar old sweater from her high school (ie, premarried) days. She watches the snow-covered branches from a room that is white like the season. She reads novels about "other people moving through other winters." She takes care of herself, and returns to a virginal premarital state, symbolized by both the white room and the white snow. 

However, as "the snow was melting from the branches," life slowly begins to change for the woman. She doesn't read as much. When spring comes, she even leaves her room, entering her kitchen in order to see it "in daylight." She notes that "Things were changed." Coming out of her winter white bedroom, out of her retreat, she bakes a loaf of bread and leaves it on the counter. 

The full return of spring leads the woman out of the bedroom and into a frenzy of domestic activity. Suddenly "the days were too short. She was always busy." She has no time to take care of herself: "no time for hair brushing." Once again, her life revolves around taking care of others.

Spring is associated in this narrative with her final burst of domestic activity. She bakes bread, turkeys, glazed ham and pies, does piles of laundry, leaves love sonnets for husband and creates "watercolor beasts" stories for her son. At the end of this activity, "the house smelled redolently of renewal and spring."

But this "spring," this outpouring of her energies and creativity for the sake of her husband and child, does not renew the woman. Instead she dies.

In a reversal of our usual associations of spring with life and fertility--"renewal"--as the story calls it, spring doesn't bring new life to this woman. Her "rebirth" into domesticity instead brings her death. The virginal "winter" state of girlhood she lived in her bedroom may not have solved her problems, but at least it allowed her to survive.

Evaluate the indefinite integral.

You need to use the following substitution  , such that:

Replacing back  for u yields:

Hence, evaluating the indefinite integral, yields