Notes

Italy in the 15th century was unique in comparison to other European nations like France or Great Britain, which were united under one monarch and divided into strict class systems.  Under these class systems it was virtually impossible to increase your wealth or social status, since the classes had strictly assigned roles.  Italy, however, was instead divided into independent, self-governing “city-states.”  The Renaissance began in one such city-state, the independent republic of Florence, where the merchants and traders were wealthy and powerful. This was much different than other European nations where the noble classes ruled and subjugated the lower classes. Florentines had much more freedom, due to the republican form of government (as opposed to a monarchy) and because the absence of a feudal system allowed more upward mobility in terms of wealth and social status.  The wealthiest Florentines would flaunt their money and power through “patronage,” meaning that they provided suppo...

Renewable energy is the energy obtained from sources which are practically limitless in amount and regenerate very quickly. Some examples of renewable energy are solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, tidal energy, etc. This form of energy is much cleaner and much more environmentally friendly as compared to nonrenewable energy. Yet, there are many obstacles to overcome in order to replace nonrenewable energy and enact a large-scale adoption of renewable energy.  Renewable energy is a localized form of energy and is also time bound. For example, one cannot expect same amount of solar radiation at every location and 24 hours a day. So, solar energy can only be used in places that have more sunshine. Wind energy is similarly localized to windy areas. The energy has to be stored in batteries during non-production hours (night for solar energy and non-windy for wind energy, etc.). The efficiency of energy conversion of renewable energy sources is very low. A good solar panel will ha...

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The religious climate of the Salem Witch Trial period was one of Puritanism. Puritans were called such for two reasons: They sought to purify new Protestant practices from any vestiges of the Catholic Church. In the eyes of new-world Protestants, no branch of Protestantism had yet gone far enough in throwing off all remnants of Catholic thought and ritual. Puritans were also given their name due to their puritanical way of life, which sought to rid all bodies and communities of sin, with a particular focus on lust/sexual sin, which is an evident theme in The Crucible . Women were branded witches for many reasons in Puritan society, but most often -- as in Miller's play -- women were punished for inspiring lust and for performing any acts perceived as ritualistic, as ritual is a strong component of the Catholic faith. It's also important to note that the time of The Crucible 's writing was reflective of the Salem Witch Trials' period, at least culturally. Arthur Miller u...

Georg Simmel (1858-1918), a German sociologist, published his thoughts on value as it relates to currency in "The Philosophy of Money" (1900).  Simmel's main theme in the work is the impersonal nature of money among people in society.  He argues economic exchange is a social interaction and money is the medium of the exchange.  Money is merely the token upon which both parties agree represents the exchange item, tangible or otherwise.  The impersonal nature of monetary exchange allows for growth of personal freedom, but can hinder personal growth due to social comparison.  Simmel claims the impersonal nature of transactions limits the social interaction to the matter at hand; an exchange of goods or services.  The monetary system helps to overcome social isolation by creating a universal method of communication and understanding.  However, the dark side of value is the disparity which arises when one person feels socially outcast due to society deeming their contribution...

Relationships between organisms are an important part of ecological systems. If a relationship is  symbiotic,  this means that two organisms live in close quarters and may interact with one another. There are several types of symbiotic relationships, including parasitism, commensalism, and mutualism. Parasitism is a specific kind of relationship where one organism lives off of another. Insects like fleas are parasites and engage in parasitic relationships where they drink the blood of a host organism. Commensalism is kind of the opposite of parasitism-- two organisms may share a living space and one benefits while doing no harm to the other. For example, clown fish live inside of anemones. The anemone can cause stinging, but because the clown fish coats itself in a protective slime, it does not get stung. In this way, the clown fish is protected by the anemone, which may sting other organisms, and the anemone is not at all harmed. Mutualism describes a mutually beneficial symbiotic rel...

Louis Riel was a Canadian activist who helped found Manitoba. In 1869, he led the Metis (Canadian people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry) in their fight against the encroachment of Anglo-Protestant immigrants into their territory when the Hudson Bay Company wanted to sell Rupert’s Land (about 1/3 of Canada’s land mass in the Northwest) to the Dominion of Canada. The Red River Colony (founded in 1812 in Rupert's Land) resisted the sale for fear they would loose their social, cultural, and political status to the Canadian Confederation. Under Riel’s leadership, the newly formed Metis National Committee was able to thwart progress toward the sale, and by December 1869, produced a provisional government for all of Rupert’s Land. In their "Declaration of the People of Rupert's Land and the North-West," the people rejected Canada’s right to govern the territory and proposed a negotiated settlement between the provisional government and the Confederation government...

Limiting reagent is the chemical which dictates the chemical reaction in terms of whether the reaction takes place or not and how much reactants are consumed and products are formed. The simplest way to determine the limiting reagent in a chemical reaction is to write the well-balanced chemical equation of the reaction and determine the molar ratio in which reactants combine and products are formed. Then using the molar mass of each species, figure out the number of moles of each chemical and, using stoichiometry, find out the limiting reagent.  For example, for cellular respiration, which takes place as per the following well-balanced chemical equation: `C_6H_12O_6 + 6O_2 -> 6CO_2 + 6H_2O + ATP` 1 mole of glucose reacts with six moles of oxygen to form 6 moles of carbon dioxide and 6 moles of water and ATP molecules. The molar mass of glucose is 180 g, while that of oxygen is 32 g. If we are given 180 g of glucose, but only 96 g of oxygen, 1 mole of glucose will not be consumed. Th...

Perhaps the most significant theme in Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is that of the government's control over freedom of thought. In the novel, members of society are not allowed to read books because it promotes freethinking and original thought. Anyone who is found hiding books is taken into custody, and their books and home burned to the ground. It is not without irony that one of the story's strongest rebels against this process is found in Guy Montag. At the beginning, he is a fireman who burns books and houses. He muses, "It was a pleasure to burn." However, he receives guidance in the form of Clarisse McClellan's challenging questions, as well as witnessing the woman at 11 N. Elm Street who is willing to die rather than live in a world without her books. In response, Montag's once-unquestioned perceptions (based on the government's dumbing-down propaganda) begin to change. Beatty provides a glimpse not only of what the fireman's job is, but also...

In Dessa Rose , Dessa is interviewed by Adam Nehemiah in the first section of the book. As the story unfolds, we discover that Dessa is in prison for her part in a slave revolt that resulted in the deaths of five white men and the maiming of a slave trader, Wilson. In addition, thirty one slaves had been killed or executed in the process, nineteen had been flogged for their part in the revolt, and almost thirty eight thousand dollars of damage had been incurred as a result of the rebellion. In order to keep Dessa speaking to him, Nehemiah has to keep his disdain and contempt for her under wraps. Ultimately, however, he introduces two instances of revisionist bias into his interactions with Dessa. The first is when he questions Dessa about a supposed file that had been used to free the rebel participants from their chains. There had been, of course, no indication that a file had been procured by any of the slaves to free their fellow rebel participants from their chains. Dessa's res...

"Chapter 1: Arrival on Himmel Street" can be found within the larger “Part One: The Gravedigger’s Handbook.” Because the narrator of our story is the character Death, the entire narration is spoken by him. Even quotations spoken by another character are told to us by Death. The first quote about death in “Chapter 1: Arrival on Himmel Street” is spoken as a part of Death’s narration: A six-year-old boy died in the third carriage. This refers to Liesel’s brother’s death. This moment is one that will haunt Liesel for a long time. Death relates that Liesel is the one holding her brother when he dies and that he died after a “spurt” of coughing. The two children are on their way to live with their foster parents, but Werner “didn’t make it.” The next quotation talks about the finality of this death: Her brother was dead. Liesel Meminger is the titular character. Her brother is Werner Meminger. Death always gives details in an unemotional way, and this quote is no exception. Liesel...

Igneous rocks are one of the three types of rocks, the other two being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are formed when magma cools down and solidifies. The interior of Earth is very hot and temperatures are high enough to melt rocks. These molten rocks (known as magma) rise upwards and cool down either above the surface of Earth or below the surface. When the magma cools down below the surface of Earth, it has plenty of time to do so and hence the cooling process is very slow. This allows sufficient time for crystal growth and hence these rocks have large crystal sizes. These igneous rocks are known as intrusive rocks or plutonic rocks. An example of an intrusive rock is granite. When the magma cools down above the surface of Earth, it has to do so rapidly. This means less time for cooling and hence less time for crystal growth. Thus, the crystals of these rocks would be small in size. Such igneous rocks are known as extrusive rocks. Basalt is an example of an extrusive rock...

Temperature and pressure of a gas are directly proportional to each other. This can be also be written as: `P alpha T` This also means that `P/T = constant` or, `P_1/T_1 = P_2/T_2` where P1 and P2 are pressures at temperatures T1 and T2, respectively. This is true if the volume is held constant. One way to think about the pressure-temperature relationship is to consider what happens when the temperature changes. If we increase the temperature of a gas, its molecules will have more kinetic energy and they will have more collisions with each other and the container they are held in (as long as the container volume is fixed). This will cause an increase in the pressure in the container. On the other hand, if we decrease the gas temperature, the molecules will have lesser kinetic energy and this will result in a reduced number of collisions with the container and hence lower pressure. The above equation is also known as Gay-Lussac's Law and can be derived from the ideal gas law. Hope t...

Longfellow and Alcott were both New England writers; Longfellow was born in Maine and Alcott lived in Concord, Massachusetts. Their lives overlapped somewhat; Longfellow was 26 years older than Alcott but they died about six years apart. They were both important 19th century American authors. Along with their biographical similarities, they share similarities in their writing.  Alcott's best known book is Little Women, which remains a classic in children's literature. It is the fictionalized, idealized story of Alcott and her three sisters as they grew up. Alcott's actual childhood had been difficult, since her father had a hard time keeping a teaching job due to his radical ideas of education. In fact, Alcott wrote Little Women as a way to help the family's finances.  As a romanticized portrayal of childhood, Little Women shares characteristics with Longfellow's poetry, particularly his poetry about children. Here is the opening of Longfellow's The Children...

Although Cassius sensed that he was bringing Brutus around to joining his proposed conspiracy, he decided to follow up by sending him counterfeit letters purportedly from various important Roman citizens urging him to act against the tyrant Julius Caesar. Shakespeare got this, as he did so much of the information used in his play, from Plutarch. The playwright has Cassius say to himself at the end of Act I, Scene 2: I will this night, In several hands, in at his windows throw, As if they came from several citizens, Writings, all tending to the great opinion That Rome holds of his name, wherein obscurely Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at. And after this let Caesar seat him sure; For we will shake him, or worse days endure. In Act II, Scene 1, we see how Cassius's ploy has an effect on Brutus when he reads one of the phony letters. He opens the letter and reads. "Brutus, thou sleep'st. Awake, and see thyself. Shall Rome, et cetera? Speak, strike, redress." And t...

In Book IX, Odysseus briefly describes the time he spent with Calypso, who kept him prisoner, and Circe, "full of craft" who kept him in her palace.  However, he describes, at much greater length, the problems he faced in Ismarus, the land of the Lotus-eaters, and the land of the Cyclops.  Ismarus was the first place his crew stopped after their victory at Troy, and after they'd pillaged the town, Odysseus advised them all to return to the ship and go, but they decided to get drunk and fall asleep.  They are then attacked at night by those who survived the earlier violence, and six men from each ship are killed.  In the land of the Lotus-eaters, he sends only three men ashore, but after they taste the lotus fruit, they have no more desire to return home.  Odysseus must physically drag or carry each of them back to the ship. At the island on which Polyphemus, the Cyclops, lives, Odysseus's men try to convince him to take food and return to the ship, but he refuses.  Th...

According to John Rawls, the original position is not a place but rather a point of view. It is a point of view that is neutral and which takes into account the needs of all people, not just ourselves. The point of entering into the original position is so that we can create a set of just rules for our society. In his book A Theory of Justice , Rawls tried to set out a way in which people could have a just society. He wanted both legal justice and economic justice. In order to accomplish this, he used the idea of the original position. The most important part of the original position is the “veil of ignorance.” Rawls said that people needed to mentally put themselves behind this veil of ignorance when they tried to critique their society’s laws. The word “ignorance” in this phrase refers to ignorance about one’s own personal characteristics and one’s own place in society. In other words, when we go to critique our society’s laws, we need to try to pretend that we do not know who we are...

It is generally accepted that Shakespeare wrote 10 plays that are classified as tragedies, but which of them are true tragedies is often at the center of ongoing academic debate. Some scholars argue that a couple of Shakespeare’s plays are actually tragi-comedies and therefore cannot be categorically declared tragedies, while other scholars claim that because those same plays meet a complex set of criteria for defining tragic plays, they must be tragedies. The same argument swirls around his history plays. In addition, the plays were written across three periods of Shakespeare’s career, but what most scholars do agree on is that Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies were written during the second and third periods. These plays include Romeo and Juliet , Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra. There is rarely disagreement that Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra are tragedies. Although they are based on historical figures, the stories are both for...

The primary difference between the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration of Independence is that the latter is a declaration of war by the North American British colonies against the crown of England, while the former is a philosophical document drafted at a United Nations (UN) summit in Paris in 1948. Though the UN hoped to codify a definition of human rights among its member nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights does not provide a plan of action for governments or citizens to ensure such rights. The UN calls the document "a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations" (para 1). Conversely, the Declaration of Independence lays out specific grievances, and makes plain the colonies' plan of action for severing ties with England. 

Romeo says that love "pricks like thorn"; in other words, he feels injured by love.  Mercutio, however, tells him to "be rough with love / Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down."  Prick means to poke, and this is the way Romeo uses the word, but Mercutio's response relies on the other meaning of prick, creating the pun.  A prick is also a slang term for a penis.  Therefore, Mercutio's pun implies that Romeo should have his way with love rather than allow it to hurt him. While Romeo's friends are attempting to goad him into going to the Capulets' party, Romeo says that he is done.  Mercutio responds, "Tut, dun’s the mouse, the constable’s own word. / If thou art dun, we’ll draw thee from the mire [...]."  The pun is on the word dun .  First, Romeo says that he is done, meaning finished, and then Mercutio uses a popular expression that essentially means "Be still," and then says that if Romeo is dun/done, then they will p...

The properties and characteristics of acids and bases are as follows: Acids Conduct electricity Taste sour React with and neutralize bases React with active metals to produce hydrogen gas pH is less than 7 Bases Conduct electricity Taste bitter React with and neutralize acids Feel slippery  pH is greater than 7 Therefore, we would expect household cleaners and soaps to be bases . Litmus Paper Litmus is a colored organic dye. Litmus has a pH range of about 4.5 to 8.3. Litmus paper can be either blue or red. When red litmus paper is placed in an acid, it will remain red . When red litmus paper is placed in a base, it will turn blue . When blue litmus paper is placed in an acid, it will turn red . When blue litmus paper is placed in a base, it will remain blue . Therefore, we would predict that cleaning products and soaps would turn red litmus paper blue . The answer is b .

There is really no date for the end of the Cold War--some would put its end as 1989, when the communist governments of Eastern Europe collapsed, while others would choose 1991, when the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Whatever the date, the Cold War came to an end with the collapse of communism. This process occurred for a number of reasons. One was that the Soviet Union faced major economic hardships as it struggled to maintain its military power. The Soviet economy, it is often said, struggled to provide its people with both "guns and butter." Mikhail Gorbachev, the reform-minded Soviet leader who took power in 1985, sought to institute structural economic changes that were impossible to implement while spending so much money on the military. So he sought more normalized relations with the United States. He also encouraged a new policy of openness, "glasnost", in the USSR. When the countries of Eastern Europe, beginning with Poland, began to pursue similar reforms, ...