Notes

The United States had some conflict with Cuba in the early 1960s. We weren’t on good terms with the new Cuban government led by Fidel Castro. Castro had allied his country with the Soviet Union. We were fighting the spread of communism, and we weren’t pleased when Cuba became communist. In April 1961, we supported an invasion at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. This invasion was designed to cause to an uprising in Cuba against Fidel Castro. We backed about 1400 Cuban exiles that tried to invade Cuba. The entire operation was a disaster and led to a worsening of our relationship with Cuba. In 1962, we discovered that the Soviet Union was building missile sites in Cuba and placing missiles there. We established a blockade around Cuba and announced we wouldn’t let Soviet ships through the blockade. We demanded that these sites should be dismantled and the missiles should be removed. After a tense two weeks and very deliberate negotiations, the Cuban Missile Crisis ended peacefully. However, our r...

`int(4x)/(x^3+x^2+x+1)dx` To solve, apply the partial fraction decomposition.   To do so, factor the denominator. `int(4x)/(x^3+x^2+x+1)dx = int(4x)/((x+1)(x^2+1))dx` Then, express the integrand as sum of proper rational expressions. `(4x)/((x+1)(x^2+1))=A/(x+1)+(Bx+C)/(x^2+1)` Multiply both sides by the LCD. `4x =A(x^2+1)+(Bx+C)(x+1)` `4x = Ax^2+A + Bx^2+Bx+Cx+C` `4x=(A+B)x^2+(B+C)x + A+C` Express the left side as a polynomial with degree 2. `0x^2+4x+0=(A+B)x^2+Cx+A+C` For the two sides to be equal, the two polynomials should be the same. So set the coefficients of the two polynomials equal to each other. x^2: `0=A+B`     (Let this be EQ1.) x: `4=B+C`     (Let this be EQ2.)     Constant: `0=A+C`    (Let this be EQ3.) To solve for the values of A, B and C, isolate the A in EQ1 and the C in EQ2. EQ1:      `0=A+B` `-B=A` EQ2:   `4 = B + C` `4 - B = C` Plug-in them to EQ3. EQ3: `0=A+C` `0=-B+4-B` `0=-2B+4` `-4=-2B` `2=B` And, plug-in the value of B to EQ1 and EQ2. EQ1: `0 =A + B` `0=A+2` ...

Historically, race has not been a positive thing. It has been used to justify the enslavement, segregation, subjugation, and murder of people considered to be in an inferior racial group. Racism has been most evident in the former colonies of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, in the apartheid era of South Africa, and in the Jim Crow era in the United States. Despite the disappearance of  de jure or, legal, discrimination in the latter two places, the vestiges of racism remain and are dealt with everyday. It is important to understand that race is a sociological construct, not a biological one. There are black people, for example, who appear to be white -- and phenotypically, may have mostly European ancestry -- who identify as black and are considered to be so due to the presence of African ancestry. This is due to the lingering "one-drop rule" in the United States which identified anyone with any African ancestry as black, thereby excluding those who could "pass" from th...

For four years, Equality 7-2521 works as a street sweeper. His day begins when the bell rings at the Home of the Street Sweepers. He has half an hour to dress and then to eat breakfast at one of the five long tables in the dining hall. After breakfast, Equality 7-2521 takes his broom and rake to work on the streets of the city. He has to work for five hours before he is allowed to walk back to the Home of the Street Sweepers to eat lunch. A half hour is accorded for the noon meal, and when he is done, Equality 7-2521 has to return to his work on the streets. He works for another five hours before he is again allowed to march back to the Home of the Street Sweepers for his evening meal. This time, he is given an hour to eat his dinner. After dinner, the bell rings to signal that it is time to attend the Social Meeting at one of the City Halls. A Social Meeting is a gathering of tradespeople and the leaders or Councils of the different homes. Usually speeches are given by the leaders, wh...

In chemistry, the concentration of a solution refers to the amount of solute dissolved in a solution. There are various ways to report concentrations depending on the units used. Some of the most common ones are molarity, molality, and percentages. Percent of a solute can be weight by volume (w/v) or weight by weight (w/w), which is simply the ratio of the mass of the solute to the total volume or weight of the solution. Molarity and molality makes use of the ratio of the moles of solute to either the volume (in liter) of solution or the mass (in kilogram) of solvent, respectively. Molality is most often used in experiments that involve a significant change in temperature as molarity is sensitive to temperature due to expansion/compression that may result to significant changes in volume - and hence, apparent concentration. In brief, molality is one way to express the concentration of a solution. It is the ratio of the number of moles of solute to the mass in kilograms of solution: `m ...

From the outset, it is clear Abigail is in command. She is the one who instructs the girls about what to do, and they all answer to her. This is pertinently illustrated when she threatens them in Act One: Abigail: Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam's dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it; I saw Indians smash my dear parents' heads on the pillow next to mine, and I have seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down! The girls are terrified of Abigail and follow her lead. More evidence of Abigail's central role is found in Act Two, when Elizabeth and John Proctor discuss Mary Warren's visits to the court to testify. Elizabeth tells John what she was informed by...

Throughout the majority of the novel, Ralph is a proponent for civility and views the savages with contempt. After the boys agree to hunt the beast, Ralph joins the hunters as they explore the island. In Chapter 7, Ralph takes part in a hunt and becomes excited after he hits the nose of a boar with his spear. Although Ralph only injures the animal, he is extremely proud of his accomplishment. Golding writes, "He sunned himself in their new respect and felt that hunting was good after all" (162). When Ralph begins to reenact the hunt, Robert plays the role of the pig and all of the hunters begin poking him. Ralph gets carried away by the excitement and starts jabbing Robert using Eric's spear . As the hunters begin to chant "Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!" Ralph attempts to harm Robert (Golding 164). Golding writes, "The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering" (Golding 164). Ralph's behavior depicts his primitive...

Water vapor is the atmospheric gas that has the most impact on an air mass and the weather associated with the interactions of different air masses.   An air mass is a large body of air that has similar temperature and moisture throughout.  The air mass gets its moisture and temperature characteristics from the area over which the air mass forms.  That area is called a "source region."  In general, the source regions are combinations of hot, dry, cold, and wet.  For example, an air mass that forms over the Gulf of Mexico is likely to be warm and wet.  Compare that with an air mass that forms over the southwestern United States.  That air mass is going to be warm and dry.  An air mass that forms over Canada would be cold and dry, and an air mass off the coast of New England would be cold and wet.  The temperature and humidity are both of equal importance for the associated weather conditions of a specific air mass, but water vapor is the only atmospheric gas of the two.   Gene...

A pretty broad array of thinkers can be categorized as "Renaissance philosophers," and their targets of criticism were varied. But in general, Renaissance philosophers in Europe embraced the concept of humanism, an intellectual orientation that emphasized the study of classical texts as a means of studying man himself. From this, they argued that medieval philosophy (this was, above all, the focus of their criticism) was dogmatic and limited. According to Renaissance writers like Pico della Mirandola, whose Oration on the Dignity of Man set the agenda in some ways for Renaissance philosophers, man was to be glorified, not degraded. "[M]an," according to Mirandola, "is rightfully named a magnificent miracle and a wondrous creation." Where medieval scholars supposedly had emphasized the debased nature of man versus the perfection of God, Renaissance humanists celebrated the notion that God had made man in his image, and that man was to be celebrated and eve...

One of the first examples is the description of the way that Mr. White plays chess. His style is reckless to the point that others comment on it. In the game they are playing as the story opens, Mr. White only sees that he's made a huge mistake after the fact. He tries to distract his son by commenting on the wind, "having seen [the] fatal mistake after it was too late." This foreshadows how the family's wishes on the paw will ultimately affect them. Another example would be the way that Morris responds to the request that he tell the tale of the Monkey's Paw. Clearly, he would very much like never to speak of it, as he knows there could be terrible consequences. This foreshadows the terrible consequences of using the paw. When Morris tells the tale and sees that his hosts are interested in the paw, he throws it upon the fire. When Mr. White snatches it out, Morris says, "better let it burn." Clearly, this artifact will bring no joy to the one who posses...

Scientists use a method known as radioisotope dating or radioactive or radiometric dating to determine the age of rocks, fossils, etc. Radioactive atoms decay over time to form new products and once we know the rate of decay we can use them for finding the age of rocks. We typically determine the half life of such elements, which is the time over which the material will decay to half its original content. The idea is to compare the abundance of daughter products with that of original radioactive material and use it to determine the age. For example, say atom A divides to form B and has a half life of 1 billion years. If we find a 1:1 abundance of A and B in a rock (which contained no B initially), we know that 1 half life has passed and 50% of A has decayed into B and thus, the rock is 1 billion years old. Hope this helps. 

We are asked to graph the function `y=(x-4)/(x^2-3x) ` : Factoring the numerator and denominator yields: `y=(x-4)/(x(x-3)) ` There are vertical asymptotes at x=0 and x=3. The x-intercept is 4. Since the degree of the numerator is less than the degree of the denominator, the horizontal asymptote is y=0. The first derivative is `y'=(-(x-6)(x-2))/((x^2-3x)^2) ` ; y'=0 when x=2 or x=6. The function is decreasing on x<0 and 0<x<2, has a local minimum at x=2, inccreases on 2<x<3 and 3<x<6, has a local maximum at x=6, and decreases on x>6. The graph:

"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursala Le Guin explores the theme of scapegoats. Within the text, the suffering child acts as a literal scapegoat for the rest of the town's happiness; since the child permanently suffers, the rest of the town can live in utopia. While this supernatural balance does not translate to the real world, the greater ideas of scapegoating do. Historically, scapegoats have existed for centuries with anything from ritualistic sacrifices to genocide "cleansings"  to blaming leaders/politicians for the pitfalls of whole-societal issues. For more examples, see this Huffington Post article, "The Blame Game: 11 Scapegoats In History."   Le Guin brings up this issue to invite the reader to think about his or her own choices and ways of thinking. For instance, is scapegoating moral? If you go along with scapegoating, are you a "bad" person? Is the idea of the "greater good" moral? Is your happiness worth the ...

One of the most admirable characters in the novel is Candy. Though she is described as "small, not more than five two, and thin as a dime" (page 16), she is a strong person who is committed to helping others. Right after Beau Boutan is found dead on Mathu's lawn, Candy tries to take the blame. She says, "I won't let them touch my people" (page 17). She protects Mathu, an African-American man, as a white woman, and she summons other men to arrive at Mathu's house with twelve-gauge shotguns and number five shells so they can confuse the sheriff about who actually committed the murder. She risks her life and imprisonment to protect Mathu and others in the community. One of the least likable characters is Fix Boutan, Beau's father. Snookum says he "expects to hear Fix and his drove coming in them trucks with them guns any minute now" (page 11). People expect Fix to turn to vigilante justice and start shooting people before the sheriff even has ...

Ponyboy directly comments that Sodapop has a happy-go-lucky personality in the first chapter. Ponyboy says, "Soda more than I've ever loved anyone, even Mom and Dad. He's always happy-go-lucky and grinning..." (Hinton 3). Pony goes on to mention that Sodapop is always joking and messing around. Sodapop's personality is one of the main reasons that Ponyboy admires him so much. Unlike Darry who is strict and treats Ponyboy like he is a child, Sodapop doesn't take life too seriously and listens to Ponyboy. Later on in the novel, Sodapop is in the waiting room of the hospital when several reporters arrive and begin asking Ponyboy questions. Sodapop cannot resist making a joke out of the whole situation and begins mimicking the TV reporters. Ponyboy mentions that Sodapop had them "in stitches." Pony goes on to say that Sodapop reminded him of a colt and comments, "I guess he would have enjoyed it more if it hadn't been so serious, but he couldn...

At first glance, Peter Quince is not a central character in Shakespeare's  A Midsummer Night's Dream.  After all, he's not part of the Athenian relationship debacle, nor does he have a central comedic role like Bottom. That said, Quince is more important than many readers might think, as he's the director and writer of the play-within-a-play, the centerpiece of Act 5. Indeed, it seems that Quince is in charge of the bulk of the rude mechanicals' theatrical exercise, as he assigns the roles and generally seems to manage the other tradesmen's energies (especially Bottom's). The play becomes an important comedic device, as it provides not only a hilarious conclusion to an already uproarious play, but it also becomes a brilliant commentary on the nature of theatrical narrative and artistic representation. Since the play-within-a-play would not happen without Quince's organizational efforts, and since this play becomes a vital aspect of  A Midsummer Night...

Elie's internal conflict revolves around his image of God. Earlier in the book he proclaims that his God had been murdered after he witnessed children being thrown into a pit of flames. For the remainder of the book, he questions how God could have done such a thing to the Jews. In the opening of section five, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, "thousands of silent Jews gathered" for prayers. It is during this blessing that Elie reels off a litany of questions and condemnations of God: Why, but why should I bless Him? In every fiber I rebelled. Because He had had thousands of children burned in his pits? Because He kept six crematories working night and day, on Sundays and feast days? Because in His great might He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many factories of death? How could I say to Him: "Blessed art Thou, Eternal, Master of the Universe, Who chose us from among the races to be tortured day and night, to see our fathers, our mothers...

The domain is the set of values that can be put into a function, usually x values. but in this case r values.  So you should be thinking, "What values is r allowed to be?" So, since we are considering a circle, and the radius r is a distance on that circle, r cannot be a negative value or 0.  No other limitations are given to the problem, so you can make the radius as big as you would like.  So the domain is `0<r<oo or D:(0,oo).` ``

Zadie Smith is an English novelist with a Jamaican mother and English father, who was raised in London, graduated from Cambridge University, held a post-graduate fellowship at Harvard, and has since become a tenured professor at New York University. On Beauty is an academic novel, resembling closely works such as Byatt's Possession , David Lodge's "Campus Trilogy," and Jane Smiley's Moo . The primary audience for academic novels is often professors and graduate students, as people often enjoy books about familiar settings. The writer's own ethnicity and the issues of race in this novel create a second, broader audience of people who are interested in race and how ethnic issues affect our perceptions of art.  As this novel has much in common with the author's own life in the way it addresses the issues of people of mixed ethnic ancestry and the clash of different classes and races within an elite academic setting, part of its purpose may be for the author ...

When Scout begins school in the first grade, her teacher is Miss Caroline Fisher, who has "bright auburn hair, pink cheeks" and crimson nail polish. She is a poor teacher, mostly because she is inexperienced. Miss Fisher is young, no more than 21, and she shows her inexperience in two main ways. First, she expresses unhappiness that Scout already knows how to read. She tells Scout to let Atticus know not to teach her anymore. Miss Fisher believes she has to "undo the damage" of Scout's early reading experience. A more experienced teacher would value a student knowing how to read. She also doesn't believe Scout when she says that Atticus didn't teach her to read. Second, Miss Fisher shows her inexperience by not understanding that she should not have offered Walter Cunningham a quarter when he said he forgot his lunch. When Scout tries to explain that Walter will never bring a lunch because he's too poor and that the Cunninghams will never accept char...

First of all, you should develop the habit of referring to the voice in the poem as the speaker, not the poet himself (or herself). Poems are often autobiographical or semi-autobiographical, but not always. The speaker in this poem has great admiration and pride for the physical labor his father does. The poem's diction and imagery emphasize the efficiency and prowess the father demonstrates when he is planting potatoes. The speaker also has great admiration for the work his grandfather, his father's father, did in cutting turf. In Ireland and elsewhere, peat turf was cut to burn as fuel to warm homes. He boasts that his grandfather cut more turf than any other man digging in a particular peat bog. He recalls a specific memory of his grandfather barely taking a break when the speaker brought him a bottle of milk. Both the speaker's father and grandfather are favroably described as machines—efficient and tireless. The speaker is careful to characterize his decision to be a w...

There are a couple of key events in Part 2, Chapter 7, of 1984  that can be used to develop a thought-provoking question for discussion. In this chapter, for instance, Winston wakes up crying because he has remembered the "last glimpse of his mother." This is very painful for Winston because he remembers that he stole his sister's share of the chocolate ration. Winston ran away from the house and never saw his mother again. It is worth considering why these repressed memories are suddenly coming back to Winston or how he connects these painful feelings to the Party's control of Oceania. Additionally, in this chapter Winston and Julia talk about the inherent dangers of their relationship. They know, for instance, that if the Party catches them in this room, they will be tortured and probably killed. Consider how Winston and Julia distinguish between confessing to their guilt and betraying each other. Is Julia right when she says the Party cannot alter the way people fe...

Two traits of the narrator are insanity and paranoia.   That the narrator is insane is very clear.  You can tell he is insane because he thinks that his roommate has an evil eye.  Then he kills him.  People who kill their roommates because they have vulture eyes are not sane.  I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye … but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye.   The narrator thinks that his roommate has an evil eye and opens the door every night for a week to look at it.  Then he kills him, and then chops him up and hides him under the floorboards.  This would be bad enough, but then the paranoia is his undoing.  The narrator is also paranoid, or overly afraid, because he thinks that the old man’s heart is still beating after his death.  The narrator lets the police in and leads them to the spot where he hid the old man.  He keeps them there and talks to them, th...

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I would argue the inability to feel emotions makes someone not fully human, and Lois Lowry's  The Giver  shows the high cost of suppressing emotion. Without emotions, we are not really that different from robots, and are easily led and controlled. Emotions motivate us and give us our drive. When we are stripped of these, as the people in the story are, the Elders can do what they please. After all, it takes a certain amount of anger to revolt. In the story, people have been deprived of not just the opportunity to be unhappy, but also the opportunity to be happy. They do not experience envy or jealousy, it appears, but they also do not experience love or sexual desire. Only when the Giver shares memories of love and pain does Jonah understand what he and the community have been missing. It does not seem possible to experience positive emotions without also being able to experience negative emotions. Even negative emotions can lead us to a good result, such as overthrowing a tyrant o...

There is plenty of verbal irony in the encounter between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Grimesby Roylott right after Roylott's stepdaughter Helen Stoner has departed for home. Roylott tries to intimidate Holmes into telling him why Helen came to Baker Street and what she told him. Holmes is characteristically fearless and frigidly polite. His replies to Roylott are ironic because he is saying the opposite of what he is thinking. For example: “I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran.” “Indeed, Doctor,” said Holmes blandly. “Pray take a seat.” “I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I have traced her. What has she been saying to you?” “It is a little cold for the time of the year,” said Holmes. “What has she been saying to you?” screamed the old man furiously. “But I have heard that the crocuses promise well,” continued my companion imperturbably. The author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, probably had a special purpose for having some of Holmes' ironic replies deal wi...

Personification is a figure of speech where human qualities are given to animals, objects, or ideas. There are quite a few examples of this concept in  Tuck Everlasting.  For example,  Outside, the night seemed poised on tiptoe, waiting, waiting, holding its breath for the storm. In this quote the night is personified.  Of course nighttime does not have a body, so it definitely can't tiptoe or hold its breath.  The sentence is a wonderful sentence though, because it helps build some tension in the story.   Another example of personification from the story is this example:  The first week of August was reasserting itself after a good night’s sleep. The first week of August can't do anything (let alone assert itself).  A week is a measurement of time, nothing else.  But the personification in this quote helps to sell the idea that the events of the book are somewhat fated.   One last example. The ceiling swam with bright reflections, and sunlight streamed across the dusty, chip-s...

This problem can be solved by the Washer method easily, Given `y = secx` , `y = 0` ,     `0 <= x <= pi/3` so, we need to Find the volume of the solid generated by revolving the region bounded by the graphs of the equations about the line y = 4 so, by the washer method the volume is given as `V= pi*int_a^b [R(x)^2 -r(x)^2]dx` where `R(x)` is the outer radius and the `r(x)` is the inner radius and now , `R(x) = 4 ` and `r(x) = 4-secx`   as the rotation of solid is about y=4 as, `0 <= x <= pi/3` so , `a=0 , b= pi/3` V= `pi*int_0^(pi/3) [(4)^2 -(4-sec x)^2]dx` = `pi*int_0^(pi/3) [(16) -(16+sec^2 x-8secx)]dx` =`pi*int_0^(pi/3) [(16) -16-sec^2 x+8secx)]dx` =`pi*int_0^(pi/3) [8secx-sec^2 x]dx` =`pi*[8ln(secx+tanx)-tanx]_0^(pi/3)` =`pi*[[8ln(sec(pi/3)+tan(pi/3))-tan(pi/3)]-[8ln(sec0+tan0)-tan0]]` =`pi*[8ln(2+sqrt(3))-sqrt(3)]-[0]]` =`pi*[8ln(2+sqrt(3))-sqrt(3)]]` is the volume

Korean Airlines flight 007 was shot down over Soviet airspace in 1983. As the plane entered Soviet airspace, the Soviet Union sent two fighter jets to intercept the plane. The pilots of the Soviet fighter jets shot warning signals, but they still got no response from the pilots of the Korean passenger jetliner. It was then that the Soviet Union shot at the plane, eventually bringing it down. There are several questions that remain unanswered. Why didn’t the Soviet pilots try to contact the Korean pilots via the radio, which would have been normal procedure in such a situation? Since the plane continued to fly for another twelve minutes after being hit before crashing into the ocean, why were no bodies ever recovered by the Soviet military? Did the Soviet Union rescue any survivors and then imprison them? Did the Soviet Union try to hide evidence from the incident by possibly destroying the bodies? Over 30 years after this incident occurred, there are still unanswered questions about th...

Since Hamlet struggles with many different philosophical quandaries during the course of Hamlet , it is nearly impossible to decide whether Hamlet pinpoints the essence of humanity or how humans find meaning in life. There are, however, a few major points worth looking at.  One of the play's major themes is the frailty of life. Hamlet spends much of his energy ruminating on the concept of death. Also, by the end of the play, most of the main characters are dead. As such, one of the essences of being human is the presence of death and the inevitability of an end to life. This is an undeniably grim theme, but it also highlights the importance of vitality while it exists. As such, part of the "meaning of life," according to the play, is the recognition that life is finite and must end at some point.  Related to this idea is the notion of fate. In the famous "fall of a sparrow" speech in Act V, Scene 2, Hamlet finally renounces his incessant analysis and gives himse...

In Toni Cade Bambara's short story "Raymond's Run," Cynthia Proctor is a character who Squeaky, the narrator, talks about. Readers never meet this character directly. Squeaky gives readers enough information about her to infer that she is prideful and pretentious.  Cynthia is prideful because she wants to draw attention to herself and her many talents. She wants other people to think that her academic and musical talents are effortless and come naturally to her. Cynthia is pretentious because she goes to great lengths to be noticed. She "accidentally on purpose" gets knocked around so it looks like she just falls onto the piano stool, and then begins playing complicated pieces. She wants everyone to think she is casually amazing, but in reality, she is designing scenarios so she can draw attention to herself in various ways. "Now you take Cynthia Procter for instance. . . If there’s a test tomorrow, she’ll say something like, “Oh, I guess I’ll play hand...

Edgar Allan Poe, the creator of the story, has made it easy for Montresor to chain Fortunato to the granite wall and easy to build a stone wall to conceal him. Here is how Montresor describes the crypt and the chains. Within the wall thus exposed by the displacing of the bones, we perceived a still interior crypt or recess, in depth about four feet, in width three, in height six or seven...A moment more and I had fettered him to the granite. In its surface were two iron staples, distant from each other about two feet, horizontally. From one of these depended a short chain, from the other a padlock.  Fortunato is in a "crypt or recess" only four feet deep and three feet wide. Its height is only about the same height as a man. Montresor only has to build a small wall of stones in order to conceal his victim. This enables Poe to finish the story quickly. It also explains how Montresor is able to build a stone wall when he cannot have had much experience. The stone wall only has ...

One strength in Barber's work would be the way he helps to identify new realities in the globalized world.  A weakness would be that his binary distinction could blur all the complexities within it. Barber was ahead of his time in defining a new reality of a post-Cold War world in  Jihad vs. McWorld .  He was able to envision how globalization would expand all over the world and be so easily embraced. He also was able to forecast how fundamentalism would rise as its countervailing force.  In a world devoid of the traditional superpowers, one of the strengths of Barber's work is that he was able to identity two trends of socio-political mobilization that would come to play critical roles in defining the new era. Along these lines, I would say that a weakness of the work is that it strives to reduce the complexities of the modern setting to a binary distinction.  If Barber is right in that we have entered a world where the Cold War superpowers no longer exist, then we should prob...

George Lucas is the creator of the Star Wars films, starting with the surprise hit Star Wars in 1977.   Star Wars became the highest grossing film to date and won six Academy Awards. Lucas then produced The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). Lucas grew up in Modesto, California, and attended Modesto Junior College and later the University of Southern California (USC) to study film. He was very interested in racing cars and began filming races with an 8mm camera. Lucas was also drawn to cutting-edge 16 mm filmmakers such as Jordan Belson, as well as to European New Wave films such as Godard's Breathless . His first major film was American Graffiti (1973), and he founded his own company, Lucasfilm in 1971. He is also the creator of the Indiana Jones films, including Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).

Daniel Burnham and Henry Holmes were both brilliant in some ways, but Burnham used his brilliance to create, while Holmes used it to destroy. Burnham was the architect who created the magnificent World's Columbian Exposition of 1893--a formidable feat, given the hurdles he faced to get it built. The results were so opulent that "some [visitors] wept at its beauty" (page 6). The fair also introduced visitors to new experiences, including the sights of Egypt and the taste of Cracker Jacks. One exhibition hall had more volume than the U.S. Capitol, St. Paul's Cathedral, and several other large structures combined. Dr. Henry Holmes (an alias), on the other hand, used the fair to showcase his capacity for malevolence. He constructed a hotel not far from the magnificent fair grounds that housed airtight vaults that were used as gas chambers. He also built a crematorium in the basement of his hotel. Holmes killed many young women who attended or worked at the fair, and he ev...

The tannery has indeed changed the lives of the four women. Although three of the women lament the changes, Kunthi is positively inclined towards the tannery. She is appreciative of the economic benefits it brings to the village. As an example, Kunthi tells Rukmani and Janaki that her two eldest sons already bring home more than a man's wages from working at the tannery. Kunthi is also pleased that the tannery has apparently changed their dreary village into a growing town. She is simultaneously ecstatic that this change is accompanied by the appearance of droves of young men to the village. Kunthi delights in going into town, "where, with her good looks and provocative body, she could be sure of admiration, and more, from the young men." Meanwhile, Janaki is less than enthused with Kunthi's attitude. She frets that her husband's shop is struggling to compete against the newer, bigger shops in town. Eventually, Janaki and her family have to leave the village in or...

Rusty-James is the younger brother of Motorcycle Boy in S. E. Hinton’s acclaimed, violent, and action-packed coming of age novel Rumble Fish. He’s the main character of the novel, who, at 14, has already started to drink, play pool, smoke, and is the leader of a small, dying gang. The story revolves around Rusty-James’ struggle to live up to Motorcycle Boy’s reputation, and his longing for the glory days, when gang warfare was more active than it is in the industrial town in which the story takes place. Virtually an orphan, with his mother gone, a father who drinks, an education that is meaningless for him and relationships that lack substance, he allows himself to be drawn into one last gang fight in which his older brother is killed and he is sent to a reformatory. The title comes from a scene towards the end of the book where Motorcycle Boy is in a pet store staring at some Siamese Fighting Fish which he calls Rumble Fish.

"The White Man's Burden" expresses the idea that imperialists are engaged in a noble but thankless task. The native peoples they colonize will, Kipling argues, benefit. But they will hate the imperialists. Only other imperialists (in this case, the British) will understand and respect those who take on the burden. In essence, the argument is that native people aren't competent to rule themselves. The imperialist is acting selflessly, taking over in order to deliver the benefits of Western civilization. But, like unreasonable children, the natives will resent being controlled. To understand this point of view -- which is today recognized as racist -- it helps to consider the historical context. Kipling wrote this poem for the express purpose of persuading the United States to act as an imperial power in the Philippines. Many citizens, like Mark Twain, opposed this. They believed that the Philippines should be left to rule itself. But Kipling argued that the United Stat...

This is something I've looked into quite extensively, because I myself have a master's degree in economics (so we might say it was in my rational self-interest). The option I ended up going with was to continue on for a PhD; I'll probably go into research and teaching at the university level. But you sound like you want to go straight into the job market after the MA; economics is one of a handful of fields where that is actually a viable option. (Business, public policy, social work, and teaching are the only others I can think of off the top of my head.) If you want to stay in the field of economics, there are a variety of economic research positions available to people with master's degrees; top choices include policy think-tanks (such as the Economic Policy Institute or the Cato Institute, depending on your political leanings), government agencies (such as the Federal Reserve and the Bureau of Labor Statistics) and financial service companies (such as Wells Fargo an...

The American Revolution resulted from a conflict between Thirteen American Colonies, who were opposed to the tyrannical administration of the British monarchy and parliament. One of their main complaints was the issue of taxation without representation in the British government. The escalation of these demands led to a split in the American society with the emergence of two opposing factions. The Patriots who were against British authority, and Loyalists who sought to maintain the relationship with the British Monarchy. Pros of the American Revolution include: The establishment of the United States as an independent nation The creation of a new Constitution which was among the benefits of self-rule/ determination The establishment of a strong national government that provided an opportunity for equal representation The conflict inspired other territories to assert their rights for self-governance Cons of the conflict include: Significant loss of lives from both sides High financial los...

The weird sisters' prophecy has several important functions in the play. First, their meeting on the blasted heath creates an ominous atmosphere of supernatural horror at the start of the play. It is one of the most dramatic scenes in the play and an audience favorite.  More importantly, Shakespeare lived in a place and period where most of his audience would have been Christian and believed witches to be evil and allied with the Devil. Thus they provide a religious and moral context for understanding the play. Next, they set in motion the main plot of the play. It is their prophecy that causes Macbeth to turn his ambition, which has previously been manifested in loyal service to Duncan, to focusing on killing Duncan and taking the throne himself. Because it is evil witches who tempt him to do this, the audience knows that his choices are not justified and that he will prove evil as well. The witches constantly bring out the worst in Macbeth.

The Battle of Normandy, which began with the Anglo-American assault on the Normandy coast on June 6, 1944 (D-Day), was significant because it marked the opening of the Western front in Europe. Nazi Germany, which previously had to contend only with the Soviet Union in the East (and, to a far lesser extent, the United States in Italy) was forced to fight a two-front war. After establishing a beachhead on D-Day, the Allies drove fairly quickly through northern France, liberating Paris. After a daring and massive German counterattack was driven back in the Battle of the Bulge in late 1944 and early 1945, Germany was permanently placed on the defensive. The Normandy invasion thus marked not only a major turning point in the war, but a real death blow to Germany, which faced invading armies from the east and the west. 

Franklin leaves out a lot of the details about his life that might be considered unflattering, and he also leaves out a great deal of personal and emotional details. For example, he addresses his book to his son, William, but he does not mention that William is illegitimate. He also does not mention his daughter, Sarah, and only glancingly mentions that his other son, Francis, died of smallpox when he was very young. Franklin does not speak much about his wife, except that she practices thrift, and he does not include his emotional response to events such as his younger son's death. In hiding his older son's illegitimacy, Franklin glosses over anything about himself that could be considered less-than-ideal and, in general, makes his life one of model values, save a few youthful indiscretions. He leaves out these types of details to make himself seem successful in reaching his own project of "moral perfection." The intention of his autobiography was in part to give an ...

In simplest terms, Oswald demonstrates extraordinarily rude behavior toward King Lear.  A pronounced example of this rudeness occurs when Oswald refuses to acknowledge Lear's summons and questions about his daughter in Act 1, Scene 4. A servant's refusal to acknowledge a king's request would have been the height of insubordination, making Oswald's actions very rude indeed. However, he's not just being rude to be cruel; instead, he's acting on Goneril's orders to be rude in order to force a confrontation between herself and her father. Thus, Oswald's actions play a small but important part in the sisters' plans to cast out their father and and gain power over his realms. By this point in the play, they've already received territory from their father by flattering him. As such, all they need to do to rid themselves of Lear is to find a reason to start a quarrel and toss him out into the wilderness. Oswald's rudeness plays a key role in this end...

Plants are living organisms and their organic compounds contain carbon . Some of those include cellulose--a carbohydrate found in cell walls, sugar--formed by photosynthesis, starch--an energy reserve stored in plants as well as proteins and lipids. Even nucleic acids-DNA and RNA contain the element carbon. When a plant carries out photosynthesis , carbon dioxide is taken into the leaves through pores known as stomates. It is used as a reactant, along with water and energy from the sun, to produce glucose sugar and oxygen. Inside the molecules of glucose are carbon , hydrogen and oxygen atoms.  When a plant dies, or carries out cellular respiration, carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere once again. If a plant doesn't need some of its carbon for processes like growth, it can exit the roots and enter the soil as part of its organic matter component. This material helps soil to retain water and maintain its fertility. It helps to feed soil organisms. Also, anything that decays will a...

In Lakota Woman , Mary Crow Dog writes on page 76 about being introduced to the American Indian Movement, a grassroots Native American activist movement that started in St. Paul, Minnesota to deal with problems related to Native Americans living in the city. They were mainly urban Indians who were cut off from traditional ways, and they worked with the Sioux on the reservation. She writes that the Sioux were kept behind what they called the "Buckskin Curtain," which kept them isolated from modern life. She writes that by working together, the Indian movement became a national force. She says that as a result of being introduced to the American Indian Movement (AIM), she stopped drinking, and that "Others put away their roach clips and airplane glue bottles" (page 76). In other words, AIM gave Mary Crow Dog something to care about so that she gave up abusing substances, as did others. Later, she became a speaker at AIM rallies at colleges and in churches and met many...

Red has a lower frequency (longer wavelength) than green, which has a lower frequency than violet. Light we see as red has a frequency range of about 400 to 484 THz and a wavelength of about 620 to 750 nm. For orange, the frequency range is about 484 to 508 THz and the wavelength range is about 590 to 620 nm. For yellow, frequency is about 508 to 526 THz, wavelength is about 570 to 590 nm. For green, frequency is about 526 to 606 THz, wavelength is about 495-570 nm. For blue, frequency is about 606 to 668 THz, wavelength is about 450 to 495 nm. Finally, for violet, frequency is about 668-789 THz, wavelength is about 380 to 450 nm. All of these are approximate, and actually different people will vary as to the precise color they see for any given frequency. We are most sensitive to light in the range around green, and least sensitive around red and violet; frequencies lower than red are invisible infrared , and frequencies higher than violet are invisible (and hazardous) ultraviolet.

The beginning of your analysis of Geoffrey Hill's poem "Genesis" should focus on the title. The title is an obvious allusion to the Biblical book of Genesis. Two aspects of the Biblical story are important. The first is the account of God's creation of the world, including the physical earth (both land and water) and the animals and humans that populate it. The second important aspect of the Genesis story for the poem is the concept of Adamic naming, in which Adam gives names to the creatures populating the world. Hill here is using a common trope in which the poet's act of naming in the poem is seen as parallel to Adamic naming. Just as God's creatures are in the image of God, so Adamic naming is an image of the act of creation. The poem is structured to follow the six days of Creation as set forth in the Biblical story. On a formal level, you should examine the meter of the poem. Although the base meter is iambic tetrameter, there are several rhythmical vari...

Nat and his friends illuminated William’s house with jack-o-lanterns because he was jealous.   Kit’s uncle tells her that William has been the victim of an “insulting prank.”  He tells her that William’s house has been “illuminated.”  "You mean they burned it down?" gasped Rachel. "No. They well might have. They put lanterns in the window frames that are waiting for the new panes. Lanterns made out of pumpkin heads, with candles inside, and unholy faces cut in the sides to show the light." (Ch. 16)  Kit finds this funny, even though the Puritans think it is horrible.  Her uncle calls jack-o-lanters the “devil's invention.” The three “ringleaders” are being held in a shed and will be put in the stocks on Lecture Day.  Kit goes into town to see Nat in the stocks.  He tells her to get away, not wanting the townspeople to see her talking to him.  She doesn’t care.  Deliberately Kit stepped closer. She marked the way the tight boards were chafing the hard brown wrist...

Pressure, symbolized as P or p in physics, measures the amount of continuous perpendicular force applied to a surface. Pressure is calculated by dividing the amount of force (typically measured in newtons) by the surface area that the force is being applied to. The SI unit for pressure is the pascal, which is the equivalent of one newton of square force per one square meter of surface area. However, pressure is often measured in non-SI units when calculating liquid or atmospheric pressure. An example of a common non-SI unit of pressure is the bar, a unit equivalent to 100,000 pascals that is most often utilized to measure the Earth's atmospheric pressure. Pressure is also a unit of ideal gas law, varying linearly with absolute temperature and the amount of substance, and inversely with the volume of the gas.

In Macbeth's opening soliloquy, he lists the great many reasons he has not to go through with Duncan's murder: he is Duncan's host, his subject, his friend.  Further, killing Duncan doesn't necessarily mean he gets the throne; more action will be required to achieve this.  He also knows that Duncan is a good king and that Macbeth will compromise his soul by killing him.  However, he finishes with his one reason to go forward: his "Vaulting ambition" (1.7.27).  Even his ambition, though, is not enough.  When his wife enters, he tells her, "We will proceed no further in this business" (1.7.31).  He has resolved not to kill the king as a result of the multitudinous points against it.  Then again, Lady Macbeth begins to work on him: cajoling, persuading, and insulting him.  She says that he won't be a man if he doesn't go through with the murder and how she'll count him as disloyal to her if he goes back on his word.  At last, she convinces h...

Autotrophs which are also called producers are vital to any ecosystem. They are the basis of the food chains that operate in an ecosystem. Autotrophs are green plants or algae, capable of photosynthesis .  Autotrophs contain the green pigment chlorophyll which allows them to capture light energy from the sun and use this energy to power the photosynthesis reaction. Carbon dioxide and water are converted into chemical energy in the form of glucose molecules. The glucose can later be consumed by organisms like herbivores (plant eaters) or indirectly by carnivores (meat eaters) which consume other animals. Autotrophs will use the glucose they produce to provide energy for their own needs. The chemical energy in food like glucose sugar is potential energy that can be used for cellular respiration, growth and any other work that cells perform. To summarize, autotrophs are the bottom of the food chain. Without their contribution of producing organic molecules like glucose, from the inor...

This excerpt comes in the third chapter, when Barack finally has the chance to spend a whole month with his father. (In the hardback edition, this quote is on page 70.) Obviously, he wants to learn as much about him as possible. He wants to “see” himself in the man, in his perceived role model. At a Dave Brubeck concert, I struggle to sit quietly in the dark auditorium beside him, unable to follow the spare equations of sound that the performers make, careful to clap whenever he claps. Free-form jazz music can be difficult to understand, if you’re not used to it. Sometimes you can’t tell when a piece is finished. Barack not only wants to confidently applaud when it is polite and appropriate to do so, but also longs to emulate his father. So he pays attention to every move he makes. This scrutiny is important, because this time will mark the only extended personal interaction Barack will ever have with Dr. Obama.

Harper Lee's  To Kill A Mockingbird  explores the notion of privilege (and the lack thereof) at length, and so an answer to this question could easily fill a book. However, I'll choose a couple of specific examples of privilege in the novel to give you an idea of how some characters have privileges that others don't. Some characters, such as Scout and Jem, have the privilege of having parents who value education, while others, such as Burris Ewell, do not. This fact is exemplified in Chapter 3, when we learn that the Ewells attend the first day of school and play hooky the rest of the year, as Mr. Ewell clearly doesn't care for education and raises his children to be similarly contemptuous of it.  Additionally, some characters have the privilege of having regular meals, while others don't know when they will eat again. Once again, Jem and Scout are privileged, as they eat regularly. In Chapters 2 and 3, Scout reveals that Walter Cunningham is one such character who ...

Often typical of horror stories, W.W. Jacobs short story "The Monkey's Paw" is about a group of seemingly good people who are drawn into evil by temptation. In this case, the Whites are a happy family whose lives are destroyed by their greed. When Sergeant Major Morris visits the family on a dark and stormy night he relates stories of his adventures in India and Mr. White cannot resist asking about a "monkey's paw" which Morris had mentioned in an earlier conversation. The paw is a magic talisman which apparently is able to grant three wishes to its current owner. When asked if he had made three wishes, Morris answers positively but never details what he wished for. It is only noted that his "blotchy face whitened" as he thought about it. He does, however, tell the Whites about the previous owner whose last wish was for death, adding that he had thought of selling the paw but that most people thought his story a "fairy tale." Then he thro...