Notes

Prince Prospero shows his pride by believing that he could, with all his money and vast resources, actually escape death.  He retires, with a thousand of his most hearty friends "to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys."  He and his courtiers believe they are safe behind the "lofty wall" that encircles the edifice and its iron gates (which they actually weld shut to make it even more secure).  He believes that there is no way in to the abbey and no way out, that not even death will be able to sneak into his presence from the outside.  His proud insistence that money and status will keep him safe from the plague that is decimating his kingdom, that he can drink and revel away from the world in which everyone else must succumb, seems like the ultimate in hubris: overweening pride.  Prince Prospero feels that he is a man apart, that he can decide to escape death.  In the end, he learns that he is wrong.

As he travels in the Time Machine of Time Safari, Inc. in which he has contracted for the opportunity to kill a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Eckels asks the Safari Leader named Travis if it is possible to bring down the dinosaur "cold" with the guns that they have with them. Travis replies that it is possible "[I]f you hit them right by shooting them in their two brains, one of which is in the head and another a good ways down the spinal column." But, he tells Eckels that the guides try not to shoot in these places on the dinosaur because doing so is really taking a great chance: “If you hit them right,...Some dinosaurs have two brains, one in the head, another far down the spinal column. We stay away from those. That’s stretching luck. Put your first two shots into the eyes, if you can, blind them, and go back into the brain." With his statement that being able to shoot the giant in both the head and the base of the tail is "stretching luck," Travis implies th...

On Inspector Goole's probing, Eric confesses that he had met Eva Smith at the Palace Bar one evening in Novemeber. He further admits that he was there with a few friends and had been a bit drunk. He then began talking to her and bought her a few drinks. By the time they were ready to leave, he was quite drunk or, as he calls it, 'far gone.' Eva told him that she was also somewhat drunk because she had not eaten much that day. He then mentions, on Inspector Goole's question, that he insisted on accompanying Eva to her apartment. He makes it clear that Eva later mentioned that she did not want him to enter her rooms but because he was inebriated, he became quite pushy and threatened that he would create a scene if she refused him entry. Obviously, to avoid any complications for especially herself, Eva's hand was forced and she allowed him into her lodgings. Eric then says, 'And that's when it happened.' He mentions that he he did not even remember the inci...

We all travel through time. In the last hour, I traveled through 1 hour. So did we all. However, going faster than time, either into the future or into the past is not yet possible. Time travel, as is often shown in fiction stories and movies, involves someone traveling into the future or into the past. The reality is different. According to physics, it is possible to travel faster than time, which means one can actually go into the future. To achieve this, one must travel at speeds very close to that of light. It would require extraordinary amounts of energy to achieve that, not to mention other challenges (such as space craft design, life support, coming back, etc.). The concept of the "twin paradox" is often used to illustrate this, where one twin travels at almost the speed of light and comes back a few years later, only to find his twin is very old.  Going back into time is even more challenging. Theoretically, one can travel through worm holes (which are distortions in ...

"Progressivism" is a term often used to refer to the reform movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Self-identified progressives were interested in improving the conditions of the poor, particularly the urban poor whose lives had been worsened by the rise of industrialization. Some of the specific problems that caused or fueled the movement were unsafe and unfair working conditions; big business monopolies; disease among the poor; social discrimination; and the lack of autonomy of workers. The progressive education movement reflected a desire by reformers to improve the plight of the poor by making quality schooling available to everyone; changing the student-teacher relationship in ways that increased student autonomy; and attempting to address the student's social and psychological needs. Here are the details. What specific problems inspired or caused the movement? Some of the most important include those below. Poor working conditions in factories, mines, ...

We are asked to graph the following function: `y=log_4(x)` The domain is x>0 and the range is all real numbers. The graph increases on its domain and is concave down on its domain. Some points on the graph: (1/64,-3),(1/16,-2),(1/4,-1),(1,0),(4,1),(16,2) The graph:

John Mansfield’s poem “Sea Fever” describes the feeling a mariner gets when the seafaring way of life calls to him. The seafarer in the poem says, “And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.” Tall ships were, and are, known for their sea worthiness. Their sturdy build, with oaken masts, and a variety of sails made to catch the wind, is meant for enduring long voyages in rough seas. In John Mansfield’s seafaring days, tall ships facilitated trade across the Atlantic Ocean.   Before the use of sonar and radar to chart the course of a ship, mariners used celestial or astronavigation to find their way.  Using the location of the sun, the moon and stars in relation to the horizon, mariners were able to calculate and chart their travels. Therefore, the narrator in Mansfield’s poem is asking for clear evening skies so that he see a star to chart his course. The ship and the star are all he needs.