What are free vibrations? Is it possible to attain free vibrations in an object?

Free vibrations are when a physical system undergoes and oscillating motion between different states, but is subject to no time-varying outside forces.

Many simple theoretical models are capable of free vibration modes, such as the simple harmonic oscillator ("mass on a spring"). They generally have a natural frequency at which they oscillate, and if they are perturbed from that natural frequency they will move back toward it over time.

In the real world, however, free vibrations are exceedingly rare. Most real-world oscillations are subject to some kind of time-varying outside forces, from subtle (gravitational pull of the Moon) to dramatic (earthquakes). Even far into deep space you couldn't really escape all time-varying outside forces--you'll still get hit by the occasional gravitational wave.

Still, many real-world systems exhibit approximate free vibrations, and thus will exhibit a natural frequency of vibration. If you pluck a violin string it is not quite a free vibration, but as long as you don't jerk the violin around it will be approximately one. And far into deep space you are removed enough from most external forces that for all practical intents and purposes vibrations will be free.

It is also important to understand that damping doesn't automatically exclude a vibration from being free--there are such things as damped free vibrations. The key is that the damping must be velocity-dependent, sometimes called "viscous" damping because it is the same as that caused by vibrating in a viscous fluid such as water. The natural frequency of a damped vibration is less than the natural frequency of the undamped system, by an amount dependent on the magnitude of the damping.

A balloon at the surface had a volume of 7 cubic meters. If the balloon is taken to depth of 40 meters, what is its new volume?

To answer this question, we need two pieces of information. First, how does pressure affect volume? Second, what is the pressure at a depth of 40 meters?

If we assume that the air in the balloon is an ideal gas, we can use the ideal gas law to relate temperature, pressure, and volume:
` P V = n R T = const`

At constant temperature `T` , for a fixed amount of air in the balloon` n` , the volume `V` will simply be inversely proportional to the pressure `P` . (Think about what happens if we put the balloon in vacuum: volume goes to infinity---in other words, the balloon pops!)

`P_1 V_1 = P_2 V_2`

To answer the second question, the formula for pressure within a given fluid is `d g h` , where `d` is the density of the fluid,` g` is the acceleration of gravity, and `h` is the height of fluid above us. Here we have to add both air and water pressure; the air pressure we can assume to be about 1 atmosphere, or 100 kPa. Then we need the water pressure (remember that the density of water is 1000 kg/m^3).

`P_{H_2O} = (1000 kg/m^3)(9.8 m/s^2)(40 m) = 392,000 Pa = 400 kPa`

Thus, the total pressure on the balloon at a depth of 40 meters is 500 kPa, the sum of the air and the water.

` P = P_{H2O} + P_{air} = 400 kPa + 500 kPa`

So, we have increased the pressure from about 100 kPa to about 500 kPa, a factor of 5. This means that we must decrease the volume by the same factor, so it will shrink from 7 cubic meters to 1.4 cubic meters.
`V_2 = V_1 P_1/P_2 = (7 m^3) (100 kPa)/(500 kPa) = 1.4 m^3`

Women are discriminated in India. Justify this statement with any three suitable examples.

One example of gender-based inequality in India is the gap in education between men and women, which is best illustrated by the difference in literacy rates between the genders. In 2011, the literacy rate for men was 82%, while only 65% of women were able to read. India also has above-average rates of gender-based abortions and infanticide due to a cultural preference for sons, who are viewed as having greater economic utility and social status compared to daughters. Lastly, there are economic inequalities between men and women in India. There is a wage gap between the genders, which varies widely between industries, and many women lack autonomy over their personal finances due to relative lack of access to credit and accounts at financial institutions.

What was Neely Crenshaw's philosophy in Bleachers by John Grisham?

Neely Crenshaw is obsessed with the divide between his current life as an ordinary real estate salesman whose wife has left him and his "past life" as a football captain and star adored by the entire town of Messina. His philosophy prior to his career-ending injury during a college game was that of an athlete: complete belief in the glory of the game, a misplaced sense that being a champion is eternal, and a willingness to win at all costs.

Back then, Crenshaw was trapped in his own hero's complex, one that set him at odds with the severe techniques of Coach Eddie Rake. After his career is over, Crenshaw seems to be paralyzed by his faded fame and the fear that the people of Messina resent him for never "making it big." This internal conflict serves as one of the major points of the novel, and is perhaps best described by one of Crenshaw's fellow players:

You count the years until you get a varsity jersey, then you’re a hero, an idol, a cocky bastard because in this town you can do no wrong. You win and win and you’re the king of your own little world, then poof, it’s gone. You play your last game and everybody cries. You can’t believe it’s over. Then another team comes right behind you and you’re forgotten.

What do you think Vic sees at the end of Gaiman's "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" that upsets him so much?

Throughout the story "How to Talk to Girls at Parties," there's a hint that the women at the party are not exactly women—or even human. This idea is foreshadowed early in the story and then the narrator, Enn, explains his run-in with these non-human "women" at the party. This is why we can guess as to what Vic means when he says, "She wasn't a—"

In the story, Enn explains his trouble talking to girls. He says that while Vic could get away with not actually talking to girls because he's good looking, Enn "did not know what to say to girls." The entire story is Enn trying to talk to girls. The first girl he speaks to is named "Wain Wain" and oddly says after a long speech, "Soon I must return to Wain, and tell her all I have seen. All my impressions of the place of yours." The next girl he speaks to calls herself a tourist and says that on her last tour she "went to sun, and we swam in sunfire pools with the whales." Finally, the last girl Enn speaks to at the party is named Triolet and she calls herself a poem. She says about her people,

There are places that we are welcomed. . . and places where we are regarded as a noxious weed, or as a disease, something immediately to be quarantined and elimated. But where does contagion end and art begin?

After Triolet recites a poem in Enn's ear, Vic comes into the kitchen in a panic and says they need to leave. When they leave, Enn looks back and sees Stella, who is staring at them. Enn's description of Stella is interesting and explains these non-women:

Her clothes were in disarray, and there was makeup smudged across her face, and her eye—

You wouldn't want to make a universe angry. I bet an angry universe would look at you with eyes like that.

All of these clues lead to only one conclusion: Stella, who Vic was with upstairs, was not human. This frightens him so much that he ends up "sobbing in the street, as unselfconsciously and heartbreakingly as a little boy."

Where is King Hrothgar and what is his response to learning that Beowulf has come to his kingdom in Beowulf?

King Hrothgar of the Danes is in his mead-hall, built as a monument to his success. There the king and his men are gathered to drink and be entertained by the songs of the bards. When the herald announces that Beowulf requests an audience with the king, Hrothgar feels that Beowulf's arrival is an answer from God.

When he is told that Beowulf requests an audience with him, Hrothgar, who sits "old and hoary, with his company of earls," says,

Holy God of His grace has sent him to us West-Danes, as I hope, against the terror of Grendel. I shall offer the good man treasures for his daring. Now make haste, bid them come in together to see my company of kinsmen. (VII)

He ends by telling Wulfgar to make haste and bid them to enter. So Wulfgar passes on the message to Beowulf and his company to enter, but leave their weapons and war-shields at the entrance. Beowulf enters and greets Hrothgar with respect. As he speaks, he boasts of his intention to slay Grendel, which is a customary exercise of heroic behavior.

In physics, what is defined as the product of an object's mass and velocity?

The product of mass and velocity is momentum.  

A good way to summarize momentum is to say momentum is mass in motion. All objects have mass, but not all objects are moving; therefore, not all objects have momentum. If an object is moving, though, it has momentum. Because the equation for momentum involves multiplication, increases in either mass or velocity will result in the increase of momentum. That means a football linebacker can increase his hitting power by gaining mass, becoming faster, or both. 

Some students occasionally confuse momentum and inertia. All objects always have inertia because inertia depends only on mass. Inertia is a resistance to changes in any motion. An object will have the exact same inertia whether it is moving or not, but an object will have zero momentum if it is stationary. That particular object's momentum will increase as it begins to increase its velocity. 

What is the reaction of the lover when he is rejected by his beloved in the poem "The Last Ride Together" by Browning?

The lover in "The Last Ride Together" knows that his relationship with his beloved is over, but his reaction is to ask for one last ride with her. He knows that he has failed to secure a future with her and says, "Since all, my life seem’d meant for, fails," (line 4) (in other words, everything he wants in life has met with failure), he wants the memory of one last ride with her.  As he waits for her answer, he thinks that "life or death [was] in the balance" (line 16). His beloved relents and goes on a ride with the narrator.

The narrator's reaction to this ride is to live for the day, or carpe diem. He says, "So, one day more am I deified. Who knows but the world may end to-night?" (line 16). In other words, he decides to make the most of every moment because he does not know what the future holds. In several stanzas that follow, he decides that he is better able to live than a solider, a poet, a sculptor, or a musician because he lives in a world in which "the instant [is] made eternity" (line 108). The narrator is content to live in the perfection of the moment with his beloved.  

What is depreciation and why is it included in GDP?

Depreciation is a way accountants try to create a monetary representation of the value of a tangible asset over time based on the way that one assumes the asset to have its value be consumed over time. 

Imagine, for example, that a city builds a bridge that improves transportation links and trade. This bridge makes a positive contribution to GDP. The bridge doesn't just remain in perfect shape forever, though. It has a fixed lifespan and requires ongoing repairs. Many tangible assets depreciate, including real estate, factories, tools, and IT equipment. Depreciation, therefore, acts as a form of net loss.

Unless one factors in depreciation, politicians and executives can make themselves look good by deferring maintenance and infrastructure work to inflate GDP or value artificially. A business using 10-year-old computers might have more cash on hand than a company that spent money to upgrade its computers, but realistically, a company using obsolete technology will need to upgrade, and the decline in value of the obsolete IT is actually a form of liability; depreciation is a way of measuring this.

What are the advantages of mass media?

Mass media are any ways of communicating intended to reach many people. Given technology today, that can mean reaching millions or even billions.  Radio, television, newspapers, and various internet sources such as Slate and even Facebook are considered to be mass media. On a smaller scale, newspapers and local television or radio stations might still be considered mass media if they reach thousands. A neighborhood newspaper would not be considered mass media, though. The advantages of time, money, coverage, and impact are powerful in mass media.

Imagine that you want to let everyone in the country know your thoughts about a bill in Congress.  You could write a letter to the editor of your local paper and to every other local paper in the United States.  You could write in your blog, which has fifty followers, on the bill.  Or you could put an advertisement on the local radio stations in fifty states.  However, if you post something to Facebook's public, write a letter to the New York Times that gets published, or place an advertisement on a national television network, you will save time and money, you will get national and even international coverage, and you will have a more powerful impact.  (While network advertisements are expensive, they still represent a savings over advertising in every single local market in the United States.)

You can see that you can write something once and have it reach thousands, millions, or even billions of people, with maximum coverage and impact, having saved considerable time and money.  There are disadvantages to mass media, too, of course, and perhaps that will be a topic covered in your course. 

What is the resolution for the book Anthem by Ayn Rand?

The resolution of a story usually comes at the end when the major conflict is resolved. In Anthem, the protagonist called Equality 7-2521 struggles against a society that prohibits individual freedoms. For example, Equality has a sincere desire to improve his education by studying with the scholars, own personal property, improve the quality of his life through scientific discovery, and live a private life with the woman he loves. All of these desires are denied him by the government. Therefore, the resolution comes when these desires are satisfied. 

Of course, Equality must first fight his way through social and government obstacles that are also mentally and physically challenging. Ultimately, Equality is forced to flee the only society he knows and enter the Uncharted Forest in order to save his life. Because his girlfriend (Liberty) follows him, Equality is able to venture out into the wilderness with a companion. Fortunately, they find a house filled with books that he can learn from. He learns how to harness and use electricity, create a better life for himself and family, as well as find out more about all of the many things and ideas denied him from society. 

One of the most important discoveries that Equality makes, however, is when he learns the word "I." This word is not allowed in the society from which he flees; therefore, learning it empowers him to live a life fulfilling his personal desires. This realization means more to him than anything forced upon him previously, and it also sums up the resolution of the story. For Equality, the freedom to think, feel, act, and lead a life based on his own desires is the resolution that he achieves. Equality sums up his desires as follows:

"I shall live here, in my own house. I shall take my food from the earth by the toil of my own hands. I shall learn many secrets from my books. Through the years ahead, I shall rebuild the achievements of the past, and open the way to carry them further, the achievements which are open to me, but closed forever to my brothers, for their minds are shackled to the weakest and dullest ones among them . . . The word which can never die on this earth, for it is the heart of it and the meaning and the glory. The sacred word: Ego" (99-100 and 105).

Why did Pip not enjoy the Christmas dinner in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens?

The Christmas dinner is described in Chapter 4 of Great Expectations. Pip does not enjoy it because all of the adults, with the exception of the kindly Joe Gargary, make derogatory comments about him. He tells the reader:

But they wouldn't leave me alone. They seemed to think the opportunity lost, if they failed to point the conversation at me, every now and then, and stick the point into me. 

Unfortunately, there are many adults who make mealtimes unpleasant for children by using these occasions to instruct them on good table manners and other aspects of deportment. The fact that Pip's sister permits and encourages this at the Christmas dinner characterizes her as a woman who aspires to social advancement. This will explain why she attaches so much importance to the fact that Pip has the opportunity to become acquainted with the wealthy Miss Havisham and her adopted daughter Estella. It also explains why Pip's sister is so unhappy about being married to a humble working man like Joe Gargary.

The following excerpts from the dinner-table conversation are examples of the way Pip's sister and her guests displayed their own bad manners by "sticking the points" of their moralizing into Pip.

My sister fixed me with her eye, and said, in a low reproachful voice, “Do you hear that? Be grateful.”

“Especially,” said Mr. Pumblechook, “be grateful, boy, to them which brought you up by hand.”

Mrs. Hubble shook her head, and contemplating me with a mournful presentiment that I should come to no good, asked, “Why is it that the young are never grateful?” 

In addition to suffering under the disapproving scrutiny of all the adults except his good friend Joe, Pip is not delighted with his dinner because his sister serves him the meanest portions.

I was regaled with the scaly tips of the drumsticks of the fowls, and with those obscure corners of pork of which the pig, when living, had had the least reason to be vain. 

Pip also has a guilty conscience because he stole so many things from his sister's larder to give to the convict, as described in Chapter 3, and stole a file from Joe for the same purpose. The poor boy is living in dread of the moment when his sister will discover the pork pie is missing.

It is no wonder that Pip is shy, sensitive, inhibited, and solitary, considering the kind of environment he has to grow up in. He is fortunate to have one good friend in Joe Gargary. Although Joe cannot protect Pip from all the cruel digs he receives during this unhappy Christmas meal, Joe does his best to soften them.

Joe's station and influence were something feebler (if possible) when there was company, than when there was none. But he always aided and comforted me when he could, in some way of his own, and he always did so at dinnertime by giving me gravy, if there were any. There being plenty of gravy to-day, Joe spooned into my plate, at this point, about half a pint.

What force is needed to slide a 250-kg crate across the floor at constant velocity if the coefficient of sliding friction between a crate and a...

Hello!

Newton's Second law will help us. It states that the (vector) sum of all forces acting on a body is the same as its mass multiplied by its acceleration, `vecF = m veca.`

There are four forces here: gravitational force `mg` downwards, reaction force `N` upwards, traction force `F_T` horizontally and friction `F_f` also horizontally but in reverse direction.

The acceleration is zero, because velocity is constant. So we obtain

`m vec(g) + vecN + vec(F_T) + vec(F_f) = vec0.`

Vertical forces must balance each other and horizontal, too, so in magnitudes we obtain

`N = mg`  and  `F_T = F_f.`

Also we know that `F_f = mu N,` where `mu` is the coefficient of sliding friction. Hence `F_T = F_f = mu N = mu m g.` This is the final formula, and numerically `F_T approx 0.25*250*9.8 =612.5 (N).`

The answer: the force of about 612.5 N is needed.

How does Atticus achieve justice through his actions?

Looking at the big picture, we might be tempted to say that Atticus fails to achieve justice.  Despite his brilliant defense of Tom Robinson, Tom is still convicted by the jury.  Atticus would like to appeal the case, but Tom (understandably) falls into despair, makes a suicidal escape attempt from the jail yard, and is shot dead. Tom's family are left without a provider.  Atticus' son Jem is disappointed and disillusioned.  Most of the white people in the town (e.g. Aunt Alexandra's tea ladies) go on in their cluelessness, baffled and irritated that the black community are so upset.  So, to all appearances, it is game, set, and match for the Devil.

However, as Miss Maudie points out to Jem in Chapter 22, 

"I thought, Atticus Finch won't win, he can't win, but he's the only man in these parts who can keep a jury out so long in a case like that.  And I thought to myself, well, we're making a step - it's just a baby-step, but it's a step."

Atticus was unable to get true justice for Tom, but through his examination of Tom, his cross-examinations of Bob and Mayella Ewell, and his closing statement, he made it completely clear to everyone in Maycomb what really happened in the Ewells' cabin.  Although the jury finally did the monstrous injustice of convicting Tom, Atticus had made it very difficult for them to do so, and that is clear by how long they deliberated. 

In a sense, Atticus cleared Tom's name, and everyone in Maycomb knows it.  The black community know it, and they shower gifts of food on Atticus the next day.  Bob Ewell knows it, and he also knows that Atticus has damaged his and Mayella's credibility forever.  That is why, despite having won the case, Bob Ewell keeps trying to get revenge on Atticus.

Atticus does many other things, large and small, that achieve justice in small ways.  He does pro bono legal work for those in the community who need it.  He stands up to his family when they say snobbish or racist things.  He works hard, and though a good shot, is almost a pacifist. 

But the other major way that Atticus achieves justice is in the way he raises his children.  Many pages could be written about the ways in which Atticus strives to pass on his values to his children - by living with integrity, by talking to them about it, by the questions he asks them and by the way he answers their questions.  He is not brainwashing, but training.  He respects their minds.  By the end of the novel it is clear that he is in the process of achieving justice by releasing on the world two intelligent, moral, courageous and compassionate human beings. 

What would happen if we eliminated the use of fire and the wheel from everyday activity?

With as far as technology has advanced, I would argue that it is possible to survive and have a good quality of life without fire or the wheel, but it's really not practical or sustainable. 

Some people manage to live their lives with no fire at all. Food may be cooked on an electric stove-top, water may be heated by electricity, and there are a number of energy sources which do not requite combustion. At least when we consider fire that occurs on Earth, it is possible to live without it. If certain fires-- like the Sun-- were to cease to exist, we would certainly die. With all of that being said, the number of people on this planet who could live without fire is significantly smaller than those who rely on fire on a daily basis. Much of the world uses fire on a daily basis to cook food, heat and sterilize water, and provide warmth in the home. If fire were to cease to exist, these people might not have a secondary course of action and would certainly suffer.

I think that the wheel would be much harder to remove from our lives while maintaining the quality we're accustomed to. Wheels aren't only vital to transportation, they are a simple machine incorporated in most modern conveniences. Wheels are a part of industrialized life, so unless people are willing to adopt a mechanically simpler and far more labor intensive lifestyle, I don't think that we could get by as easily without the wheel. 

When did WWII happen?

The accepted date for the beginning of WWII is September 1, 1939, when Hitler's armies invaded Poland.  Britain and France threatened war if Germany did not leave the conquered territory; within a week, Britain and France declared war on Germany.  WWII would not officially end until September 2, 1945, when Japan surrendered to the Allied forces on board the U.S.S. Missouri.  

While this is the accepted date for the beginning of the war, there are other dates that should be considered signposts on the road to true "world war."  In September of 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria.  While the League of Nations and the United States denounced this act of aggression, Japan was not threatened with force.  In 1936, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia.  In 1938 and 1939 Hitler annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia, respectively.  In all of these invasions and annexations, the world community was desperate to avoid war, so it did not even threaten the use of force.   

Why do we feel chilly after swimming on a warm and windy day?

The process described here is evaporative cooling. Evaporation occurs when liquid water absorbs heat energy and becomes a gas called water vapor. This energy is called the heat of vaporization. Water molecules are held to other water molecules by hydrogen bonds and a great deal of energy must be absorbed to allow a phase change to occur from liquid to gas.

The water on a person's skin on a warm and windy day would gain heat energy from the sun. Some of the liquid water molecules would be transformed to gas. This process requires heat energy to be absorbed by the liquid water in order for it to become water vapor. Therefore, the person's body would cool off as the water evaporates from their skin. 

This is the process of evaporative cooling which helps to stabilize the body temperature of organisms on Earth. Evaporative cooling allows the temperatures of the oceans to remain fairly stable allowing life to exist.

What are some quotations from Hunger of Memory by Richard Rodríguez?

This memoir containing different essays about Rodriguez's own experience growing up in a system without bilingual education has many important quotations about being educated within the United States.  I have chosen four quotations that connect to the important themes of the memoir.  

Memory teaches me what I know of these matters. The boy reminds the adult. I was a bilingual child, but of a certain kind: "socially disadvantaged," the son of working class parents, both Mexican immigrants.

I want to include this particular quotation first because it connects to the title:  Hunger of Memory.  It also introduces the reader to the author's upbringing, which is the main focus of the memoir.  It is important to realize that it is Rodriguez's memory that is both the focus and the teacher here.  It is also important to realize that Rodriquez grew up with a public language (English) and a private language (Spanish).  Even though he admits to being "socially disadvantaged," it is this distinguishing factor between public and private language that Rodriguez believes leads directly to his success.

The boy who first entered a classroom barely able to speak English, twenty years later concluded his studies in the stately quiet of the reading room in the British Museum. Thus with one sentence I can summarize my academic career. It will be harder to summarize what sort of life connects the boy to the man.

Here Rodriguez admits that summarizing a life is harder than summarizing success in education.  However, he immediately connects this idea to the importance of a public language vs. a private language.  Previously, Rodriquez admits that having Spanish as a private language did make him "socially disadvantaged," but his academic success speaks for itself.  

To many persons around him, he appears too much the academic. ... He has used education to remake himself. They expect—they want—a student less changed by his schooling. If the scholarship boy, from a past so distant from the classroom, could remain in some basic way unchanged, he would be able to prove that it is possible for anyone to become educated without basically changing from the person one was.

In case there is any doubt, here is a quotation that shows that Rodriguez is against bilingual education.  When he uses the word "they," he is referring to people who believe the fairly new idea of teaching children in their native language is preferable.  Rodriguez believes these people to be wrong.  They want to see an "unchanged" person to be academic.  Rodriguez's point is that change is imperative.  The most important change, says Rodriquez, is distinguishing between a public language and a private language (and never combining the two within the educational system).

Of all the institutions in their lives, only the Catholic Church has seemed aware of the fact that my mother and father are thinkers—persons aware of the experience of their lives. Other institutions—the nation’s political parties, the industries of mass entertainment and communications, the companies that employed them—have all treated my parents with condescension.

Along with Rodriguez's anit-affirmative action stance, he also believes that the changes in the Roman Catholic Church have not been good for the community.  The traditional Catholic Church empowered Rodriguez's parents and gave them a firm foundation.  Changes in the Church seem to water it down and negate the mystery found within it.  This is a good comparison to what Rodriguez says about language.  Any time English as a public language is "watered down" to include Spanish in an effort to pander to the minority, the result is a detriment to the privately Spanish-speaking population.  Similarly, any time the Roman Catholic Church is "watered down" to include changes in order to reflect the masses, the result is a detriment to the traditional Roman Catholic Population.

How does the quote "We were both chumps. But you know what? It's not so bad when you're chumps together" fit into the novel "Okay for Now"?

This quote on page 330 of Gary D. Schmidt's novel "Okay For Now" represents a pivotal point in the life of the protagonist, Doug. In the novel, Doug has just moved to a new town with his abusive father and loser brother, and he is feeling lost. For once, he has a place in life and is experiencing real friendship with a local girl, Lil Spicer. She has procured him a job at the deli her parents own and he has begun to forge relationships with all the locals in Marysville that make him feel connected to the town in a way that he never expected. Lil, it seems, has had an extremely positive influence on his life, and is single-handedly responsible for everything good that is happening to him.

At this point in the book, however, she has experienced a tragic illness and is in the hospital fighting for her life. Doug visits her, but her illness has affected his newfound happiness in unexpected ways that make him feel like a "chump." The use of the word "chump" is significant because it refers to someone who feels stupid or foolish; in this case, Doug feels like a chump for believing that everything could end well for him. He feels foolish for allowing himself to be lead into a false sense of security and for letting himself experience happiness for the first time in a long time.

First, he feels like a chump because even when Mr. Spicer has to fire him to pay Lil's hospital bills, he offers to stay on for free. Then, when the neighbors ask about her, he almost bursts into tears, which makes him feel foolish. When he
returns to the deli and sees Mrs. Spicer crying, he cries and feels a little less foolish because they are "chumps together," meaning that they are crying and acting foolish together. 

Is Lady Macbeth the greater villian then Macbeth as she was the backbone to his actions?

Many people do argue that Lady Macbeth is the more villainous of the two because Macbeth attempted to call off their traitorous, murderous plan.  In Act 1, scene 7, he tells her, "We will proceed no further in this business" (1.7.32).  He has considered the myriad reasons he has not to kill Duncan: Duncan is his guest, his king, his friend, his kinsman -- Duncan is a good king and a good man.  Macbeth admits to having only one reason to commit the murder, his "Vaulting ambition," which is, evidently, not enough to compel him to go on with the plan.  It is not until Lady Macbeth insults his bravery and his masculinity that he relents and recommits to kill his friend.  She goads him on, pushing his buttons and deftly manipulating him so that he does exactly as she wants. 

However, Lady Macbeth later displays much more of a conscience than Macbeth does.  After he's ordered the murders of Banquo, Fleance, and Lady Macduff and her innocent children and servants, Lady Macbeth is seen sleepwalking, imagining that she cannot clean the king's blood from her hands.  She, at least, feels guilty, so guilty that she becomes unable to function and eventually takes her own life.  Macbeth grows worse and worse, more unscrupulous by the day, and some would use this as evidence to argue that he is the worse of the two.

What are some of the themes in "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe?

I will give you two themes I think are important to the story. They are in no particular order.

One theme of Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" is revenge. This should be a fairly obvious theme. Fortunato hurt and wronged Montresor in some way. The reader is not given specific details about it. Montresor vows revenge, and the rest of the story is about the execution of his plan for revenge.

The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.

Unfortunately for Fortunato, Montresor's revenge plot ends with Fortunato's death.  

Another theme is betrayal. Based on the opening line of the piece, readers can assume Montresor and Fortunato had some level of mutual respect for each other. In order for Montresor to be hurt badly enough to vow murderous revenge, at some point he and Fortunato must have had some level of trust in each other. Fortunato betrayed that trust, but the betrayal doesn't end with Fortunato. Montresor also betrays Fortunato's trust when he lures Fortunato to his horrible death.

What are the basic differences in the attitudes of Lord Canterville and Mr. Otis?

The most basic attitude difference between Mr. Otis and Lord Canterville is their attitude toward the ghost.  

The attitude difference starts out as a difference in belief.  Lord Canterville believes that the ghost is real.  Mr. Otis does not believe the ghost of Sir Simon is real.  He even states that if ghosts were a real thing, then the Americans would already have one on display in a museum.  

"I have come from a modern country, where we have everything that money can buy; and with all our spry young fellows painting the Old World red, and carrying off your best actors and primadonnas, I reckon that if there were such a thing as a ghost in Europe, we'd have it at home in a very short time in one of our public museums, or on the road as a show."

Eventually, Mr. Otis comes to accept the fact that the ghost is real.  This leads to the second attitude difference between Lord Canterville and Mr. Otis.  Lord Canterville accepts the ghost's presence as an unfortunate consequence of the property.  He believes that nothing can be done about the ghost.  Mr. Otis, on the other hand, believes that the ghost problem can be solved.  Mr. Otis, and most of his family, view the ghost as a mild inconvenience of the home -- an inconvenience that can be fixed.  

"Upon the other hand," he continued, "if he really declines to use the Rising Sun Lubricator, we shall have to take his chains from him. It would be quite impossible to sleep, with such a noise going on outside the bedrooms."

How would you analyze the verdict passed against the tenant in Langston Hughes's "Ballad of the Landlord"?

Langston Hughes's "The Ballad of the Landlord" is told from the point of view of a black tenant living in a run-down apartment. The tenant asks the landlord to fix his roof because it's "sprung a leak" and the steps because they are so broken "[i]t's a wonder you don't fall down." While the point of view remains consistent for the first five stanzas, it shifts twice in the final two stanzas, first to the landlord's point of view and then to a third-person point of view.

Hughes creates these point-of-view shifts, particularly the shift into third-person in the final stanza, to show how blacks in America at this time are often seen as aggressors. This tenant, who is threatened with eviction for asking that his housing problems be remedied, has been mistreated for a long time and attempts to alleviate the situation peacefully before he loses his temper. Outsiders, especially the police and the media, do not see this building frustration. Instead, they see a black man who threatened his white landlord with violence.

The newspaper headline for the man's sentence for threatening the landlord reads, "JUDGE GIVES NEGRO 90 DAYS IN COUNTY JAIL!" This Draconian punishment is typical of prison sentences blacks received in the first half of the 20th century. According to the third-person narrator who is speaking in the final stanza, this punishment seems perfectly acceptable.

A peoples History of the United States According to Zinn, what is the interpretive effect of Samuel Eliot Morison’s mentioning the truth of...

One can say from reading the passage in Zinn's work that the study of history is quite interpretive.  In his work on Morrison, who was a fine historian in his own right, Zinn points out that Columbus's discovery of the New World opened up a period of genocide against an entire hemisphere of people.  Though, soon after he says this, Morrison also points out that this was not intentional on Columbus's part, but rather a byproduct of his will and drive and that it should not cast any shadow on Columbus's achievement.  Zinn also points out that the sanitized version of Columbus is what is taught in grade schools.  Zinn criticizes this as not entirely accurate and he demonstrates that the telling of history has a great deal of ideology in it--a lesson in critical reading that he gives his students early in this textbook.  

How did the visit to Baltimore change Helen's life in a great way?

Helen's parents thought a trip to Baltimore to see a prominent oculist would be the answer to their daughter's problems. After examining Helen's eyes, Dr. Chisholm delivered disappointing news: he could not help her eyesight. He did, however, give them information that would start a chain of events. This chain of events led Mr. and Mrs. Keller to hire Miss Annie Sullivan, the woman who became Helen's teacher.

Dr. Chisholm told Mr. and Mrs. Keller that Helen "could be educated, and advised [her] father to consult Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, of Washington, who would be able to give him information about schools and teachers of deaf or blind children" (Chapter III). They visited Dr. Bell, and he referred them to Mr. Anagnos of the Perkins Institution. This was a school for the blind located in Boston. They wrote to Mr. Anagnos, and he found Miss Sullivan to be Helen's teacher. Miss Sullivan taught Helen how to communicate, which changed her life. She remained Helen's teacher and companion for decades.

`int 1/(1 + sqrt(2x)) dx` Find the indefinite integral by u substitution. (let u be the denominator of the integral)

Solving for indefinite integral using u-substitution follows:

`int f(g(x))*g'(x) dx = int f(u) du` where we let` u = g(x)` .

In this case, it is stated that to let u be the denominator of integral which means let:

`u = 1+sqrt(2x).`

This can be rearrange into `sqrt(2x) = u -1`

Finding the derivative of u :  `du = 1/sqrt(2x) dx`

Substituting `sqrt(2x)= u-1` into `du = 1/sqrt(2x)dx` becomes:

`du = 1/(u-1)dx`

Rearranged into `(u-1) du =dx`

Applying u-substitution using` u = 1+sqrt(2x) `  and `(u-1)du = du` :

`int 1/(1+sqrt(2x)) dx = int (u-1)/u *du`

Express into two separate fractions:

`int (u-1)/u *du = int ( u/u -1/u)du`

                      ` = int (1 - 1/u)du`

Applying `int (f(x) -g(x))dx = int f(x) dx - int g(x) dx` :

`int (1 - 1/u)du = int 1 du - int 1/udu`

                       `= u - ln|u| +C`

Substitute `u = 1+sqrt(2x) `  to the `u - ln|u| +C` :

`u - ln|u| +C =1+sqrt(2x) -ln|1+sqrt(2x) |+C`

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, what are Henry Clerval's strengths and weaknesses?

Victor Frankenstein describes his best friend, Henry Clerval, as a "boy of singular talent and fancy."  He wrote a fairy tale at the tender age of nine, and he read voraciously.  He would compose plays with various popular characters from his favorite stories for Victor, Elizabeth, and himself to act out.  In other words, Henry's strengths were his imagination, his writing ability, and his ability to truthfully depict human lives in his own creative works.  He also, as a young man, nurses Victor back to health when Victor becomes very ill after the creation of his monster.  Henry was nurturing and gentle and kind.

In terms of his weaknesses, he is, perhaps, too trusting.  He does not question his friend's integrity or intentions even when there is reason to do so; he only goes along with whatever Victor seems to need or want.  Had he questioned Victor about his real motives in wanting to delay his marriage to Elizabeth, it is possible that Victor would have revealed to him that he'd created a monster and was now tasked with making its mate.  Henry might have been able to protect himself or even distance himself from Victor (though it seems unlikely that he would).  It is difficult to find a real weakness in Henry himself as it seems that his biggest mistake was his choice of friend. 

Why are the Olympics important?

In order to understand the significance of the Olympics, it is vital that we first examine some of the history of the Olympics.  According to the official website of the Olympics, the first ancient Olympic games occurred in the year 776 BC, and though the modern Olympics began much later, generally, events that have that type of longevity are culturally significant traditions with timelines that predate most modern nations.  For instance, consider that the Olympic games are currently approximately 2,792 years old, while our nation, the United States, is just 240 years old. The Olympics are an event with a lot of history behind them.

Now let us consider the number of nations that generally compete in the Olympics.  The countries competing may have disputes militarily, economically, or socially, yet these countries are competing against one another on the same stage.  As time progressed, so did the number of countries participating in the Olympics.  For instance, the 1920 Olympics saw just 24 countries compete.  The 2012 Olympics, on the other hand, had 204 countries represented by over 10,000 athletes in 300 events.

Imagine the amount of pride winning a specific Olympic event brings to one's country, considering that most nations on our planet are represented.  This honor proves that one's country is distinguished in a certain event or activity, and it is for these reasons that the Olympics are important in our global culture and society.   

360 square tiles of length 30cm were needed to cover the floor of a room which is 7 m 20 cm long. If no tiles were cut , find the width of the room.

We are given that 360 tiles were required to tile a floor: the tiles are square and 30 cm on edge. The length of the room is 7m 20cm, and we are asked to determine the width of the room assuming that no tiles were required to be cut.

The area of the room can be found by multiplying the length by the width.

A=lw

Converting all units to the same unit, here we choose cm, we get:

A=324000 square centimeters (360 times the area of each tile or 360*900 square centimeters.)

l=7m20cm=720cm

The width can be found by dividing the area by the length:

` w=(324000 "cm"^2)/(720"cm")=450"cm"`

In The Chrysalids by Parkes and Harris, what is the significance of the finding of Aunt Harriet's body?

Aunt Harriet's suicide demonstrates the effects of the harsh doctrine on the people of Waknuk. 

Aunt Harriet, David’s mother’s sister, had a baby around the same time Petra was born.  It was not her first baby, but she was never allowed to keep any of her children.  We are not told why.  All we know is that they do not conform to the True Image in some small way.  A baby has to get a Normalcy Certificate, and Harriet’s babies would not be able to. 

Since David’s mother has Petra, Harriet comes to her in desperation.  She wants to borrow the baby for a few days so she can get a certificate for her baby, because she wants to finally be able to keep one.  David’s father is horrified that she would want to keep the baby, which he calls a “defilement.” 

A baby which, if you were to have your way, would grow up to breed, and, breeding, spread pollution until all around us there would be mutants and abominations. That is what has happened in places where the will and faith were weak: here it shall never happen.  (Ch. 8) 

For whatever reason, Waknuk is convinced that if they do not maintain genetic perfection they will be doomed.  We know there was some kind of catastrophic event in the past that they are trying to prevent recurring.  David’s father tells Aunt Harriett that by trying to keep her baby she would betray them all. 

David notes that while his mother wasn’t prepared to break the “Purity Laws,” she did cry when her sister was sent away.  It must have been hard to turn away her own sister when she was so desperate, especially when whatever was wrong with the baby was apparently very minor.  David wonders “how many mothers there might be who were turning a blind eye towards matters that did not actually infringe the Definition of the True Image.”  He doesn’t understand his father’s insistence on maintaining perfection. 

Aunt Harriet leaves, telling them she would pray for them and a world that has no sympathy for the weak. 

When they broke the news to me next day that my Aunt Harriet's body had been found in the river, no one mentioned a baby.... (Ch. 8)

It is a sad story all around.  People who do not conform to the True Image are not allowed to continue to live in Waknuk.  This means that they are expelled to the Fringes, where they live a cursed life.  As Aunt Harriet's death shows us, those who are left behind suffer too.

How many ways can the letters A, B, C and D be arranged if the first letter should be a consonant with repetitions?

There are four letters given. These are A, B, C and D.

And there are four positions that have to be filled up.

___    ___    ___    ___ 

The first position must be filled up with consonant only, which are B, C and D. So there are only three consonants that we can pick from for the first position.

`ul3`     ___    ___    ___ 

Since repetition is allowed, the second position can be filled by A, B, C or D. So there are four possible letters than can occupy the second position.

`ul3`    `ul4`     ___    ___     

Also, the third and fourth position, can be filled by A, B, C or D. So there are four possible letters that can be place in the third and fourth position.

`ul3`    `ul4`    `ul4`    `ul4`

And, multiply them together.

`ul3 * ul4 * ul4 * ul4 = 192`

Therefore, if the first letter should be a constant and repetition is allowed, there 192 ways that A, B, C and D can be arranged.

What is a balanced chemical equation for bromoethane and silver nitrate?

This looks like the reaction used to determine, or abstract, halides.

Silver nitrate is used to abstract halides and determine what the halogen atom is in the ethyl molecule. The reaction is often done in a lengthy process, and has a handful of results; if the ethyl contains bromide, the result will be a creamy precipitate that enters a clear solution with ammonia

The reaction is usually in a few parts.

1. The halogenoalkane (in this case bromoethane) is warmed.


2. Sodium hydroxide, ethanol, and water are added. This will dissolve everything into a solution, and the hydroxide ions of the sodium hydroxide will cause the halogen to ionize into the solution as the hydroxide substitutes into the ethyl.


3. Nitric acid is added to bond with the free OH ions.


4. The silver nitrate is added, which will bond in a substitution reaction with the bromine. Because the bromine is a -1 ion, and the silver is a +1 oin, this will occur in a 1:1 ratio.


5. The silver bromide will precipitate out as a pale cream, and can be dissolved into ammonia for confirmation.

In the end, your reaction will take place in a 1:1 ratio. All of the ions in the reaction are of a 1+/- charge, so the reaction is easy to balance.

Why does Susan Choi tell the story of this bombing through Lee? What's so important about him? What is this novel ultimately about? Does it tell...

It is possible that Susan Choi tells the story through Lee in order to illustrate the incalculable damage innocent civilians suffer when they are suspected of grave acts of terrorism. Choi's spotlight on Lee allows us to imagine what we will do in the instance we are presumed guilty on the basis of surface, circumstantial evidence alone and not on the truth of the matter.

If anything, the novel illustrates the true collateral damage of terrorism; in the midst of terror, the guilty and the innocent are caught up in a spiraling cycle of death and destruction, seemingly without recourse to true justice.

Briefly, Lee is a professor of computer studies at a third-rate university. He is languishing in his tenured position and unhappy with his life. Having endured two divorces, Lee is the quintessential loner who finds himself alienated from campus culture and the modern existence. Meanwhile, his colleague, Rick Hendley, is a well-liked and popular professor, a genius to his starry-eyed students. Rick, of course, irritates Lee terribly.

When Rick is killed by a mysterious bomb in his office, Lee is initially relieved that he's not the victim. His relief is short-lived when he discovers, however, that he's now a "person of interest" in the investigation. Susan Choi skilfully portrays the anger, frustration, and emotional pain an innocent man suffers when he's convicted in the court of public opinion even before he's had his day in court. The harvest of terrorism is frighteningly inclusive: the victims themselves, their loved ones, and innocent bystanders are all enmeshed in a nightmare drama of horror and death, from which there seems to be no return.

The portrayal of Lee is so important because through him, Choi paints the picture of every-man. Lee isn't perfect, by any stretch of the imagination. He is jealous, self-absorbed, and often callous in his judgments of people. His first marriage began as the result of an affair with a colleague's wife. When his first wife, Aileen, lost custody of her son, Lee was secretly happy that he wouldn't have to have another man's son around. Lee's very human nature reminds us that anyone can be embroiled in a nightmarish situation beyond his ugliest dreams. The story compels us to think about what we would do if we were in Lee's situation.
It's a question worth considering as we ponder the dangers of our time.

For a great summary of the novel, please refer to the link below.

Why did the warden call Stanley a 'caveman' in Holes by Louis Sachar?

The warden called Stanley by his nickname, Caveman.

All of the boys are called by nicknames instead of their real names at Camp Green Lake.  The warden is less interested in the boys’ development than finding buried treasure.  When the warden addresses Stanley by his nickname, which the boys have given him, she is catering to the boys in a way.  She wants them to find her treasure.

Stanley does not even realize that he is Caveman at first.  He is one of the bigger boys.

"The Caveman's one tough dude," said Squid, and he lightly punched Stanley's arm.

Stanley leaned back against the torn vinyl upholstery. Despite his shower, his body still radiated heat. "I wasn't trying to start anything," he said. (Ch. 9) 

He says he doesn’t want to get into a fight with Caveman, because Caveman is kind of a scary nickname.  It isn’t until he realizes that the boys are talking to him and calling him Caveman that he understands that is his nickname.  It sounds tougher than Stanley. 

Stanley decides he likes his nickname.  Having a nickname means that he is one of the guys. It isn’t even that bad of a nickname like Barf Bag.  The nickname means "they accepted him as a member of the group."

When Stanley finally meets the warden, everything about her surprises him.  First of all, he had no idea she was a woman.  She is also meaner to the counselors than the boys, and seems to be more interested in treasure than character-building. 

The Warden turned to Stanley. "Caveman, will you come here, please?"

Stanley was surprised she knew his name. He had never seen her. Until she stepped out of the truck, he didn't even know the Warden was a woman. (Ch. 13) 

When the Warden calls him over to fill his canteen with water, she is making a point to Mr. Pendanski.  This is one of the reasons she used his nickname.  She was being sweet to the boy and mean to Mr. Pendanski.  He contradicted her when he said that he had just filled the canteens, and she did not like being contradicted.  Stanley found the whole incident unsettling.

What kind of pet did Jesusa take in?

In the novel, Jesusa took in a coyote.

As a revolutionary soldadera, Jesusa fought side by side with her young husband, Pedro Aguilar. Her job was to load her husband's Mauser and hers as well, so that he would never be without ammunition during battle.

On one occasion, General Juan Espinosa Y Cordoba gave his soldiers the order to set up camp in the San Antonio Arenales sierra region. It was while the soldiers were hunting for wood to build fires with and Pedro was looking for branches to fashion a small makeshift house with, that everyone caught sight of a coyote. The animal was so small that many of the soldiers called her a puppy. She was an extremely trusting animal and did not shy away from human contact.

Jesusa took in the coyote as her personal pet and fed the coyote atole, a beverage made from corn masa flour. Jesusa asserted that the coyote got very attached to her and wouldn't let anyone get near her; at night, the coyote slept on her legs and kept her warm. One day, however, tragedy befell the coyote when the colonel grabbed Jesusa's arm. Although it wasn't quite clear why he did so (perhaps he did not appreciate Jesusa playing the assembly bugle in Pedro's place), Jesusa blamed this act for the death of her beloved pet; for his part, the colonel claimed that he shot the coyote in self-defense.

She accused the colonel of cruelty and maintained that the coyote was only trying to protect her. Frustrated by her accusations, the colonel offered to pay a hundred pesos as compensation for the animal's death. Meanwhile, grieved beyond measure, Jesusa ignored the colonel's offer and instead demanded the restoration of her pet to her. The colonel, genuinely puzzled by Jesusa's unreasonable demand, ignored her and walked away.

Jesusa was left to grieve for her beloved pet alone. She maintained that she often dreamed of the coyote after its death because she missed it so much. To assuage her grief, she then raised two piglets and took to caring for a sow and a dog. She named the dog Jazmin; he was a great comfort to Jesusa after the coyote's death. When Jazmin died, and it looked like the sow would die too, Jesusa begged her husband to give the sow away. So, Pedro sold the sow to a merchant from Piedras Negras. Shortly after this, Pedro was killed in battle, and Jesusa lost all desire to have pets in her life.

In the novel Night, discuss how Elie Wiesel is a different person from when he entered the concentration camps to when he left them.

At the beginning of the novel, Eliezer is a very religious young boy with dreams of one day learning Jewish mysticism known as Cabala. He enjoys his carefree life in Sighet where his father is a respected man, and Eliezer gets to spend his days studying the Torah and the Talmud. After the Germans occupy Hungary, Eliezer and his family are sent to various ghettos and concentration camps where they are separated from each other. In the concentration camps, Eliezer suffers malnutrition, both physical and psychological abuse, and lives in constant fear of being murdered by the Nazi soldiers. Eliezer's body endures extreme conditions as he is forced to march for miles in freezing snowstorms. The constant hunger and dire conditions force Eliezer to focus on his survival. At times, Eliezer even neglects the needs of his father in order to focus on his personal well-being. After witnessing such atrocities and surviving inhumane conditions, Eliezer is forever scarred with the traumatic images of dead bodies and grotesque living conditions. Eliezer loses his faith and does not believe that God exists. He cannot seem to understand why a benevolent God would allow such horrible acts of violence to happen. Eliezer no longer is a carefree young boy with a happy family. After losing the members of his family to Hitler's Final Solution, Eliezer is a broken individual with a negative view of humanity.

The sleepwalking scene is one of the most memorable in drama. Relate this scene to the play overall and examine what makes Lady Macbeth's evolution...

In terms of the overall play, Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking scene helps us to see even more clearly the tragic hero, Macbeth's, trajectory as a character.  She serves as a foil to him, helping to illuminate his progress from a relatively nice guy to a depraved and ruthless tyrant.  In the beginning, Lady Macbeth prays to be as ruthless as possible, to be drained of any remorse or compassion she might feel; at the same time, she believes that Macbeth is "too full o' th' milk of human kindness" to do anything unscrupulous in order to gain the throne.  She plans the murder of Duncan and then chastises Macbeth for dwelling on what they'd done. 

However, by the time she sleepwalks, Macbeth has devolved into a despicable human being, ordering the murders of former friends, and innocent women and children.  Ironically, Lady Macbeth's conscience can no longer support the role she has played in his change or bear up under the weight of her own terrible guilt.  Though she believed him too good and hoped to steel herself to be capable of real evil, it turns out that he was the one who was truly capable of evil and she is the one with more fundamental "goodness" than he (if we can use her guilt as evidence of her goodness).  The sleepwalking scene is Lady Macbeth's last and completes her work as Macbeth's foil, to help us further understand the extent to which he has fallen, and it also provides a great deal of irony and tension, leading up to the climax of the play.

Her evolution is incredibly provoking because Lady Macbeth had seemed to be sure, initially, that she was capable of terrible things.  She turns out to be the more scrupulous of the two, which is pretty unexpected given the way things began.

Using an illustration, discuss the relationship between work, leisure, recreation and tourism.

Work and tourism are relatively simple to define. Work is what you do because you have to (or you're supposed to), instead of because you want to. Tourism is the practice of traveling to other places for enjoyment.

The difference between leisure and recreation is subtler. Leisure is the free time you have, recreation is what you do for fun during that free time. Leisure also includes rest, where recreation is inherently active.

How are all these concepts connected?

Tourism is a form of recreation which occurs during leisure; but it also requires someone else to do a great deal of work. When you travel to visit another country, there are people working to provide the transportation, people working to serve you food, and people working to maintain your lodgings---not to mention anyone who worked to produce souvenirs or whatever sights you've come to see.

This becomes important when we realize that, with rare exceptions, one person's recreation almost always requires another person's work. For me to vacation in Paris, someone else has to fly the plane, maintain the hotel, drive the taxi. I repay this by doing my own work, which benefits others and may help them have leisure. Work is effectively the price we pay for leisure.

In the novel of Lord of the Flies, how would the book's events be different if the characters were comprised of one grown-up and the rest children?

I believe that by "children" you mean that the characters are exactly the same as before.  The only difference is that there is now a single adult among the group.  

This is a completely open question.  It's up to you to explain what you think and why.  

For me, the question is almost too wide open to give a prediction.  What kind of adult are we talking about?  If the adult is a natural leader that happens to be a male, then I think that he steps into the leadership role and all of the boys follow his lead.  I do not think that the chaos ensues that Golding wrote about, because I don't feel that characters like Jack would have the brazen confidence to disregard social norms.  The adult is a feared authority figure.  

On the other hand, if the adult is a female, I feel that the chaos might still happen.  I have nothing against women, but it definitely takes a strong lady to control a group comprised of all teenage boys.  I had a colleague one year that had an eighth grade history class made up of 23 boys.  There were no girls.  This colleague of mine was a very good teacher, and well respected across multiple classes and ages; however, she would frequently comment on how her all boy history class was the toughest class that she ever had to teach. An adult female on the island might have very little impact on the events of the story. 

Who is more of a villain: Luke O'Neil in The Thorn Birds or Rasheed in A Thousand Splendid Suns?

While neither of these men have much to recommend them, I would argue Rasheed is the more villainous of the two.

Although Luke O'Neill takes undue advantage of his wife, Meggie, he never strikes her. On the other hand, Rasheed physically assaults both his wives, Mariam and Laila, without compunction when he wants to get his way. A commonality between the two men is that both believe in the thorough infallibility and authority of the husband; yet, only one (Rasheed) believes in his right to physically terrorize his wives to the ultimate end (death), if necessary. True, Rasheed crudely forces himself on Mariam and Luke does the same with Meggie (both men make the first act of consummation extremely painful for their young brides), but Rasheed carries his physical assaults beyond the bedroom.

In The Thorn Birds, Luke is ecstatic to be married to the wealthy and beautiful Meggie Cleary. From his youth, Luke has been an indefatigable worker, shearing more than two hundred sheep a day, six days a week. The author portrays Luke as a man who worships industry and profit margins above everything else. Although he's attracted to his wife, he views her as a means to an end, both sexually and financially.

He initially makes his decision to woo Meggie on the assumption that her family might provide them with sizable land for her dowry. When he learns the Catholic Church is actually the true owner of Drogheda, he's disappointed but unbowed in his determination to snag a wealthy wife. Luke is the kind of man who loves "hard cash far more than what it might eventually buy him; not the possession of land, nor its inherent power, but the prospect of stockpiling rows of neat figures in his bankbook, in his name." Luke views Meggie as a woman who will help him realize his dreams.

Like Luke, Rasheed is wholly self-absorbed and egotistic. Luke looks at women as objects of pleasure; to him, a beautiful woman is only good for one thing. Beyond the confines of the bedroom, he has very little use for Meggie unless it concerns his pocketbook. Luke's desire for wealth far exceeds his desire for sexual satiation. Essentially, money is his god, and he makes no pretense of religious devotion. In the novel, Luke adamantly refuses to convert to Catholicism in order to marry Meggie; for her part, Meggie has to be content with being married by Father Thomas in the presbytery without the traditional nuptial Mass or blessings.

On the other hand, Rasheed proudly maintains all the outward appearances of religious devotion but secretly enjoys pornographic magazines in his spare time. To get to the heart of the matter, Rasheed's religiosity is only of a surface quality. He doesn't fast on most days during Ramadan, and his requirement that his wives wear the burqa is more a demonstration of his dominance over them than an indication of any sort of religious devotion.

The most reprehensible part of Rasheed's character is that he holds no reservations about striking his defenseless wives. When he discovers Laila has been meeting with Tariq, Rasheed becomes violently angry. He proceeds to use his belt to strike out at Laila; with great fury, he chases the terrified woman all over the house until he catches up with her and slams her against the wall. Cornered, Laila can do nothing but claw and scratch frantically at her husband. When Mariam tries to pry Rasheed away from Laila, he turns on Mariam.

In order to save Mariam, Laila slams a drinking glass against the side of Rasheed's head. Even though Rasheed is bloodied by Laila's defensive measure, he immediately turns on Laila and uses his bare hands to grab her by the throat. Mariam tries to pry Rasheed off, but she's unsuccessful. To her horror, she realizes Rasheed means to strangle Laila to death; if she doesn't intervene, Rasheed will kill both her and Laila. In the end, Mariam goes to the tool-shed and retrieves a shovel, which she uses to kill Rasheed. Even though it's an act of self-defense, Mariam is left emotionally scarred by the effort.

So, by all indications, Rasheed is more villainous, a reprehensible man willing to resort to murder to fulfill the dictates of his ego and perverted conscience.

The U.S. joined WWI because of what two events?

Actually, there are more than two events.  British and French releasing anti-German propaganda in the United States played a role.  Also, the United States loaned the Allies millions of dollars to fight the war and if the Allies lost, then the money would not be repaid.  

The main reasons that America entered the war were that Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare against Britain and the leak of the Zimmerman note.  Germany waged unrestricted submarine warfare as early as 1915, then 128 Americans died on the British liner Lusitania when it was sunk in May of that year.  While it was carrying munitions for the Allied war effort in its hold, Wilson called this an attack against innocent civilians, and Germany issued an apology, paid an indemnity, and promised not to do it again.  By early 1917, German war planners realized that their window of opportunity for winning the war was closing, so they resumed unrestricted submarine warfare anyway with the logic that the war would be over before America could be a factor.  America declared war in April of that year after a few American merchant ships sank.  

As to the Zimmerman note, Arthur Zimmerman of the German Foreign Service in Mexico wanted to distract America from the European war, so he devised a scheme where Germany would help Mexico in a war against America in return for Mexico gaining back the land it lost during the Mexican war in 1848.  This was still in the planning stages when British intelligence intercepted the telegram and sent it to the American government, where it was quickly released to the press.  This stirred up more anti-German sentiment, especially in the West.  

How do the hunters damage the wall in "Mending Wall?"

In Robert Frost's poem "Mending Wall," the narrator is inspecting the stone wall on his property for damage. He writes that the hunters "have left not one stone on a stone," meaning that they have not simply piled one stone on top of another. Instead, to flush the rabbits out of their hiding places and "please the yelping dogs," the hunters have created gaps between places in the wall. No one hears the hunters making these types of gaps, but the narrator and his neighbor find them in the wall when they go to inspect it in the spring. The types of gaps the hunters make are very different than the effects of the natural swelling of the frozen ground, which makes boulders spill out of the top of the wall and makes very large gaps. 

I'm reading Plato Theaetetus translated by M. J. Levett and I need to find literary devices throughout the dialogue. Can you help with providing...

As your assignment is to read the book yourself, and as you are reading the book to note literary devices, giving you the precise page numbers of the literary devices in your translation would be unethical, as it would undermine the point of the assignment, which is to ensure that you read the dialogue in its entirety yourself. Instead, this answer will focus on helping you complete your assignment rather than completing it for you.

One of the great paradoxes one encounters when studying Plato is that his condemnation of the poets in Republic and Ion contrasts strikingly with his own literary craftsmanship. He himself uses a wide range of literary devices with outstanding skill.

Perhaps the most common devices Plato uses are simile and metaphor, making complex philosophical points by comparing abstract concepts to concrete ones. This device is not just literary, but also reflects Plato's own understanding of the phenomenal world as a corporeal instantiation of the noumenal one. In a sense, for Plato a real apple is a metaphor for the idea or form of the apple, with the form being the tenor and the physical fruit the vehicle.

The first important metaphor we find in Theaetetus is that of Socrates himself as a midwife of ideas. The second metaphor crucial to the ontological discussion is that of the Heraclitean river as a metaphor for becoming.

Another quite common literary device in the dialogue is one known variously as epanorthosis, metanoia, or correctio. This is a rhetorical form of self-correction, in which a speaker explicitly corrects his previous statements (e.g. by stating "We must have been wrong in claiming ..."). This is something found throughout Plato's dialogues and crucial to the understanding of Theaetetus. One good example of this is the way Socrates repeatedly refines his own explications of the homo-mensura fragment. After each reductio ad absurdum, he then corrects himself by arguing that since Protagoras would not have held such an absurd viewpoint, Socrates' own interpretations must be at fault. Socrates will then offer up a new interpretation.

In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, what do the children learn about themselves?

Both Jem and Scout learn that it is more emotionally satisfying to help others by standing up for what they believe in, rather than conforming to society. Their father was the perfect role model, and he taught them to abide by their own conscience throughout the novel. Scout learns that it is better to look at situations from various points of view and solve problems with her mind instead of with her fists. She also learns that her preconceived opinions of others are often wrong and realizes the harmful effects of believing many of the rumors she hears. Jem learns that his childhood view of Maycomb did not take into account the community's ugly racial prejudice. He also learns that in order to live with his own conscience he must make an effort to protect innocent individuals like his father did. In doing so, Jem learns that his positive actions result in feelings of satisfaction and contentment.

How does a windmill work?

Old fashioned windmills were used for grinding things like flour and grain, so they were essentially a giant stone that was spun by the wind, sitting on a giant stone that could turn freely. As the top stone moved, the bottom stone could turn with it, and anything in between was crushed.

Modern electric windmills use a turbine and gearbox to rotate a magnet in a coil of wires. This generates alternating current in the wires, which is used to power things in the electric grid, as well as charge batteries.

Other windmills have operated things like pumps, so seawater could be removed from a section of land, or bellows, so iron workers could maintain high heat in their forges while they worked. 

What are some examples of symbolism in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak?

A symbol is an object or person that stands for something other than itself.  I will give you an example of an object and a person.  An example of symbolism in the story is the books that Liesel steals, and the act of reading itself, which both represent freedom and escape.  Liesel finds herself in a very difficult situation. She has lost both of her parents, and her brother.  She lives in a country and a time ravaged by war.  Liesel is unable to read when she steals her first book, but she uses it to learn.  Books become her salvation.

When she came to write her story, she would wonder exactly when the books and the words started to mean not just something, but everything. (Ch. 3)

To Liesel, reading is more than a pleasurable pastime.  Books are very valuable to her.  This is why she steals them, because she doesn’t have access to them. The very act of stealing them is a symbolic act of self-expression.  It demonstrates the crushing nature of Nazi Germany and how small acts of expression can make a difference.

Another symbol in the story is Jesse Owens, the Olympian.  Rudy is obsessed with Jesse Owens because he is impressed with his physical feats.  As a boy, Rudy appreciates that Owens can run.  Race does not matter.

Even the most racist Germans were amazed with the efforts of Owens, and word of his feat slipped through the cracks. No one was more impressed than Rudy Steiner. (Ch. 5)

His father tries to explain to him that Owens is unpopular in Germany because of his race.  Jesse Owens thus becomes a powerful symbol of the disconnect between what Germany values (race) and what it should value (achievement).  These are just two examples of symbols in a book full of symbols.

How did Ms. Sullivan teach Helen to take part in a conversation?

Ms. Sullivan repeated what others said to Helen and made suggestions when she had nothing to say.

When Helen Keller was a toddler, a serious illness took her sight and hearing and almost took her life. As a result, she never really learned to communicate with words until she met Anne Sullivan. She was aware that she was different from hearing people, and would observe their conversations with her remaining senses, frustrated because she could not take part.

I had noticed that my mother and my friends did not use signs as I did when they wanted anything done, but talked with their mouths. Sometimes I stood between two persons who were conversing and touched their lips. I could not understand, and was vexed. (Ch. 2)

When Anne Sullivan came, she was able to teach Helen language. Of course, it was not the language of hearing people. Helen had the other problem of not being able to see, which is useful for sign language. She had to have signs spelled into her hand.

Anne Sullivan realized that Helen was being left out of hearing and sighted people's conversations. She taught her to have conversations by repeating what others said to her using her language, and making sure she was involved in the conversation.

From the beginning of my education Miss Sullivan made it a practice to speak to me as she would to any hearing child; the only difference was that she spelled the sentences into my hand instead of speaking them. (Ch. 6)

If Helen had nothing to say, Anne Sullivan would make suggestions. In this way, Helen went from a little girl with no language to someone who learned to participate. It was not easy. She was stunted by needing everything interpreted for her. It was a long process, because Helen could not see people's expressions or body language or hear the tone of their voices, but she was there and a part of the discussion.