In The Kite Runner, how do the political events in Afghanistan shape the lives of Amir, Assef, and Hassan?

The political climate shapes all three of these characters
quite differently in The Kite Runner. In the case of Amir, he is
one of the privileged members of Kabul society--the son of the wealthy, philanthropic
Baba, whose family has socialized with past rulers of Afghanistan. When the Russians
arrive, however, Baba must flee for his life, leaving his fortune and social status
behind. Baba and Amir begin a new life in California, a lower middle class life much
different from what they had experienced in their homeland. Assef's family is also a
wealthy one who stays in their country and suffers at the hands of the Russians;
however, when the Taliban come to power, Assef joins them and rises in the ranks. He
takes to the murderous eradication of Taliban enemies, and thrives in this new
atmosphere of terror that rules Afghanistan. Hassan's life is a better one while Baba
lives there. Although the Hazari are the lowest in Afghan culture, they are able to live
in relative peace. Things really do not change for him during the Russian rule, but when
the Taliban take over, they attempt to purge the Hazari. Hassan and his wife eventually
become just two of their many victims.

what is the meaning of e=mc(square)?

E = mc^2 is popularly known as Einstein's Theory of
Relativity.  Although he did not come up with the formula, he was the first scientist to
put it to practical use.

E = mc^2 is mass-energy
equivalence.  E is for energy, m is for mass, and c is the speed of light in a vacuum. 
The speed of light (c) is a constant 299,792,458 miles per second.  Energy and mass
vary, depending on the object.

Mass-energy equivalence
means that an object has the same amount of energy regardless of motion.  Keep in mind
that an object that is not in motion has potential energy, while an object in motion has
kinetic energy.  As the speed of an object increases, the mass decreases and the energy
increases at an equivalent ratio.

The basic goal of
mass-energy equivalence is mass conservation and energy conservation.  Nature is
designed to waste nothing.  Energy can neither be created nor destroyed.  It only
changes form.  Following this line of logic, you can determine that mass also can
neither be created nor destroyed.

A prime example of E =
mc^2 is a nuclear reaction.  When two hydrogen atoms are united through fusion,
resulting in a helium atom.  The resulting helium atom has less mass than the two
original hydrogen atoms.  Thus, the missing mass gets converted into energy.  This
concept is also demonstrated through the thermal energy of the sun.  Hydrogen is
continuously being changed to helium through the process of fusion.  The energy is
released to warm the earth, and the mass of the sun is compensated by generating more
hydrogen.

Describe how the trial affects Scout, Jem, and Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Although the trial of Tom Robinson is alluded to on the
first page of the novel, the subject is not mentioned again until Chapter 9 when Scout
gets in a fight with Cecil Jacobs after he claims that Atticus "defended niggers."
However, the trial quickly becomes the primary focus of Part Two of the novel. Atticus'
decision to take the case turns the family's life upside down. Scout is forced to defend
the family name at school, usually by fighting, and the children have to endure the
gossip they hear on the streets of Maycomb. Atticus takes the case only because he knew
he wouldn't be able

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"to face my children otherwise. ... I'd hoped to
go through life without a case of this kind, but John Taylor pointed at me and said, '
You're It. '"

It is a case
Atticus knows he cannot win, considering the fact that Mayella Ewell is white and Tom
Robinson is black, and how a white man's word is always accepted over the word of a
black man. Jem is mightily affected by the guilty verdict, and he questions the validity
of a jury that can allow jurors to overlook the evidence they are presented. Scout
understands about the "secrets courts of men's hearts" who have made up their minds
before the trial begins. The death of Tom Robinson doesn't end the matter, since the
children  nearly forfeit their lives at the murderous hands of Bob Ewell, who Atticus
disgraced on the stand.

How might one analyze the essay "A Dialogue on Democracy," by A. S. Hornby?

A. S. Hornby’s “A Dialogue of Democracy” is a brief work
in which a young couple, Jack and Anne, discuss the different ways in which the word
“democracy” can be (and has been) defined. Among those ways are the
following:

• The American system of government,
  with a President and Congress. This system gives the President great
  powers.


• The British system of government, with a
  Prime Minister and Parliament. This system limits the power of the Prime
  Minister.


• The ancient Athenian system of
  government – a democracy in which free persons nevertheless owned
  slaves.


• A system, such as that in Britain, in
  which civil servants seem both powerful and limited in their
  power.


• A system, such as that in Britain, in
  which Members of Parliament are elected by the people but are told how to vote by party
  leaders.


• A system, such as that in Britain, in
  which the people can replace one government with another if they choose but in which
  elections can be delayed for years by the party in
  power.


• A system in which people often vote in
  their own self-interests, even when they do not understand many issues on which they are
  voting.


• A system in which at least two parties
  compete against each other.


• A system involving
  “People’s Democracies,” in which much property is owned by the
  state.


• A system in which the people are free to
  criticize the government.


• A system in which all
  people can vote but in which various kinds of inequalities still
  exist.


• A system in which people regard one
  another as equals and address one another as
  equals.

As Jack appropriately exclaims
in the very last sentence of the work,

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How difficult it is to get a definition
for this word!

Two ships leave from the same port. One ship travels on a bearing of 157º at 20 knots and the other on a bearing of 247º at 35 knots. After 8...

The first ship travels with a bearing of 157 degrees at 20
knots. Let the bearing be with respect to a ray pointing towards the east. After 8 hours
the ship has traveled 20*8*cos (157) towards the east and 20*8*sin (157) towards the
north.

Solving, we get the position of the ship as 147.28
nautical miles west and 62.51 miles north.

Similarly, the
position of the second ship is 35*8*cos (247) towards the east and 35*8*sin (247)
towards the north.

This gives the position of the ship as
109.4 miles towards the west and 257.74 miles towards the
south.

The distance between the two ships is
sqrt[(147.28-109.4)^2+(62.51+257.74)^2] = 322.48 miles.

The
bearing of the second ship is 247-157 = 90 degrees with respect to the
first.

The bearing of the second ship is 90
degrees with respect to the first and it is 322.48 miles away from it after 8
hours.

Can Human sperm fertilize animal eggs?We hear about animals producing human-like creatures, how do their ovules get fertilized by human sperm, is...

Well, the short answer is no. Both animals and plants have
evolved extensive mechanisms which prevent this from
happening.

First, sperm have to find their way to an egg.
In mammals, when the egg is released from the ovary it is surrounded by a loose group of
follicle cells. These cells release a chemical signal that the sperm swim toward. If the
signal is not correct, the sperm won't find the egg.

While
the sperm are swimming up the female's reproductive tract, ions that her body secretes
are absorbed into the sperm cells, causing internal changes that are referred to as
capacitation. In humans, capacitation takes 5 to 6 hours and must
be completed before the sperm can accomplish its next job, which is to penetrate the
zona pellucida, or egg coat. The zona pellucida has proteins that
are similar to the proteins used by the immune system, and these proteins make
cross-species fertilization nearly impossible.

Once the
sperm has successfully penetrated the zona pellucida, the acrosome
reaction allows the sperm to fuse with the membrane of the egg so that the
male's DNA can enter the egg cell. The acrosome reaction requires specific proteins that
again prevent hybridization between species.

In order for
cell division to occur and create an embryo, the paternal and maternal DNA must line up
- another block to hybridization, as DNA varies from species to species enough for this
to be unlikely to work.

An interesting side note is that
fertility clinics sometimes use enzymes to strip the zona pellucida away from hamster
eggs, and then use the stripped eggs to test human sperm for penetrating power. Although
healthy sperm can penetrate the hamster eggs in this case, the DNA alignment fails and
the fertilized eggs die without undergoing mitosis.

Which nerve controlles adductor pollicis in the hand ?

The adductor pollicis muscle has two heads both on the
palmar side of the hand. The transverse head has its origin at the volar crest of the
third metacarpal of the hand. The oblique head is attached to the ligaments of the
capitate bone at the base of the second or third metacarpal. These heads join into an
insertion on the ulnar side of the proximal phalanx of the thumb. Its motions have to do
with the adduction of the thumb.

The adductor pollicis gets
its innervation from the ulnar nerve, which has its origin at the eighth cervical
vertebra. The functioning of the innervation of the adductor pollici is tested by
looking for Froment's sign. In order to perform this test, the patient is asked to hold
a piece of paper in a pinch grip between the thumb and forefinger. The test is to try to
pull the paper out. In a normal hand there should be reasonable resistance, whereas in
palsy of the adductor fromis the paper will pull out very
easily.

Refering to "Composed upon Westminster Bridge," show why the speaker feels so awestruck and amazed at his first sight of London so early in the...

You might want to focus on the way that the poem
personifies the city of London, making it seem human. Note that we are told that London
"like a garment" wears "the beauty of the morning," the river has "its own sweet will"
and the houses are said to "sleep." Lastly, the entire sight is personified in the last
line as being a "mighty heart":

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Dear God! the very houses seem
asleep;

And all that mighty heart is lying
still!

If we examine all of
these characteristics, what seems to amaze the speaker so much is the city's beauty and
tranquility on this morning. The city throughout the poem is presented as being peaceful
and beautiful, as these three lines make clear:

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Never did sun more beautifully
steep

In his first splendour, valley, rock, or
hill;

Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so
deep!

It is the sight of this
"mighty heart lying still" in the beautiful morning sunshine that produces this sense of
calm and peace in the speaker, which makes him feel more calm than he has ever felt in
his life. This is a very novel perception of the city, for in Romantic literature they
were normally depicted as ugly and enchaining men rather than liberating them.
Wordsworth in this poem re-envisions the city, showing that it to can be a sight of
natural beauty and exploring how it can bring peace to the soul.

What are the internal conflicts in The Most Dangerous Game?

Rainsford faces many tough decisions throughout his
adventure on Ship Trap Island.  First, it was his original opinion that hunters are all
important and have no need to consider the feelings of their prey.  This is put to the
test, however, when he becomes the prey and realizes that fear rushes through the body
throughout the chase.  Though it's not revealed, the reader assumes Rainsford will
reconsider his position on hunting in the
future. 

Rainsford is also confronted with the dilemma of
playing "the game" with the General or having to fight off Ivan.  Though Rainsford is
disgusted with the whole concept of "the game", he realizes he stands no chance in hand
to hand combat with Ivan, but he can use his hunting skills and knowledge to beat the
General at his own game. 

Finally, upon returning to the
General's chateau after jumping off the cliff to avoid being captured, the General
congratulates Rainsford for beating him at the game.  He says he will arrange for
Rainsford to be sent home.  Rainsford must choose whether to trust that the General will
follow through with his promise or fight him to determine a real winner.  Of course,
Rainsford chooses to fight and comes out the winner.

Analyze the character of the elderly man in the story "Dusk" by H.H. Munro (SAKI).

The story "Dusk" by H.H. Munro (known as Saki) tells us
about a man named Norman Gortsby, who wanders around the city at dusk to take a look at
the people who come out at this time of day. Gortsby claims that only those who need to
hide from society, those who are miserable, and those who are in trouble are the ones
who would go out during dusk.

While he is at the park
sitting, he spots an elderly man who sits next to him. Instantly, Gortsby concocts a
profile about this man based solely on his looks. The impression that the elderly man
causes in him makes Gorstby believe that the man must be a loner, an angry man, and
someone who is ignored. This, he bases on the fact that the elderly man is not showy,
nor dressed to impress.

The story describes the elderly man
in the following manner:

an elderly gentleman with
a drooping air of defiance that was probably the remaining vestige of self-respect in an
individual who had ceased to defy successfully anybody or anything. His clothes could
scarcely be called shabby, at least they passed muster in the half-light, but one's
imagination could not have pictured the wearer embarking on the purchase of a half-crown
box of chocolates or laying out ninepence on a carnation buttonhole. He belonged
unmistakably to that forlorn orchestra to whose piping no one dances; he was one of the
world's lamenters who induce no responsive
weeping.

What we actually see is the figure of a
simple man. He is not flashy, petulant, nor asks for anything. He is the typical social
figure that seems to dissappear in the crowds precisely because of its simple and
transparent nature. However, to Normal Gorstby, these characteristics are symbols of a
weakness of character. As a result, he feels repulsed by the
man.

Contrastingly, when the flashy youth shows up and
tells him the lies that he invents (to get money from Gortsby), Gortsby immediately
feels a tendency to believe him and even identifies himself with the youth. When the
young man tells him that he needs money because he has lost the address to his hotel,
AND a bar of soap from the chemist shop, Gortsby does not believe him. However, when a
bar of soap happens to show up underneath the sit where the youth was sitting, Gorstby
resolved to loan him money and send him on his way.

In the
end, we know that the elderly man is the actual owner of the bar of soap, that he is
probably the one who lost it, that the youth may have even stolen it from him, and that
Gorstby has been duped. This is the lesson to be learned: Age, demeanor and appearance
do not dictate morals nor character. One cannot judge a book by its
cover.

What writing technique is used by Mark Twain in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer?

The Adventures of Tom
Sawyer is written in an episodic, humorous
way.

More than a single storyline, the book
is written in an episodic way with multiple separate storylines.  Once the story begins
moving along to the climactic incidents of the cave and the treasure, we start to have a
longer plot line.  However the beginning of the book is made up of several brief plot
lines lasting a chapter or two.

By using episodes, Twain
keeps the story light and humorous.  It is not until the end that things really seem
serious, but even serious events like the murderous Injun Joe are treated with humor. 
When Tom fakes his death, there is a pang of sorrow, but the story is still funnier than
it is sad.

How are the themes of knowledge of self and rhetorical power used in Shakespeare's Othello?

The themes of self-knowledge and rhetorical power can be
seen in many places throughout Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, and
indeed Shakespeare’s treatments of these themes are so complex that they cannot easily
be discussed here. One passage, however, invites particular
attention.

In that passage, Othello has been summoned
before the aristocrats of Venice and has been accused by one of these men, Brabantio,
with the crime of using witchcraft to seduce and marry Brabantio’s daughter, Desdemona.
Othello answers these charges in one of the most famous and rhetorically powerful of his
speeches in the entire play. Othello begins by addressing the assembled
aristocrats:

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Most potent, grave, and reverend
signiors,

My very noble and approved good
masters,

That I have ta’en away this old man’s
daughter,

It is most true; true I have married her.
(1.3.76-79)

Othello speaks
with quiet authority and genuine eloquence, even though he later wrongly claims, “Rude
am I in my speech” (1.3.81). His rhetorical power derives from his strong
self-confidence and his strong sense of self-knowledge.  At this point in the play, he
knows who he is in particular and also the kind of person he wants to be. He knows his
values; he knows his history; he knows his strengths; and he knows that Desdemona loves
him. The speech that begins “Her father loved me” is extremely powerful rhetorically,
partly for all the reasons just mentioned (1.3.127-169). Indeed, the speech is so
powerful that when it concludes, the Venetian Duke comments, “I think this tale would
win my daughter too” (1.3.170).  In this scene, therefore, Othello demonstrates the
strong tie between self-knowledge and rhetorical
power.

Ironically, another character in the first act who
also demonstrates a strong tie between self-knowledge and rhetorical power is Iago. 
After cleverly using rhetoric to manipulate Roderigo, Iago congratulates himself on his
self-knowledge and worldly wisdom:

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Thus do I ever make my fool my
purse;

For I my own gained knowledge should
profane

If I would time expend with such a
snipe

But for my sport and profit.
(1.3.372-75)

Iago is such a
rhetorically powerful figure throughout the play because he knows himself so well and
can therefore manipulate others so easily. His absolute self-assurance and
self-knowledge allow him to use rhetoric to control others, especially those who are
less and less sure of themselves, as later becomes true, ironically, even (or
especially) of Othello.

Solve for x : 3^(2x-1)=5^(x+1)

The equation 3^(2x-1)=5^(x+1) has to be solved for
x.

It is only possible to solve the given equation by the
use of logarithm and an approximate result can be
obtained.

Take the log to base 10 of both the sides of the
equation.

log(3^(2x-1))=log(5^(x+1))

Use
the property of logarithm log a^b = b*log a

(2x - 1)*log 3
= (x + 1)*log 5

(2x - 1)/(x + 1) = log 5/log
3

Now the value of log 5/log 3 is approximately
1.464973521

2x - 1 = (x
+1)*1.464973521

x*(2 - 1.464973521) = 1.464973521 +
1

x*0.5350364793 =
2.464973521

x =
2.464973521/0.5350364793

x =
4.60711300325

The solution of the equation is x =
4.60711300325

What is the difference between cytoplasm and protoplasm

cytoplasm 
Cytoplasm is a homogeneous, generally
clear jelly-like material that fills cells. The cytoplasm consists of cytosol and the
cellular organelles, except the cell nucleus. The cytosol is made up of water, salts,
organic molecules and many enzymes that catalyze reactions. The cytoplasm plays an
important role in a cell, serving as a "molecular soup" in which the organelles are
suspended and held together by a fatty membrane. It is found within the plasma membrane
of a cell and surrounds the nuclear envelope and the cytoplasmic
organelles.

Function
The cytoplasm plays a
mechanical role, that is, to maintain the shape and consistency of the cell, and to
provide suspension to the organelles. It is also a storage place for chemical substances
indispensable to life, which are involved in vital metabolic reactions, such as
anaerobic glycolysis and protein
synthesis.

protoplasm 
Protoplasm is the living
substance inside the cell. At the simplest level, it is divisible into cytoplasm and
nucleoplasm. It is also sometimes termed "bioplasm", (Beale: meaning the essential
substance of living matter within a cell) and is distinct from non-living cell
components lumped under "ergastic substances". Ergastic substances can occur in the
protoplasm. In many plant cells most of the volume of the cell is not occupied by
protoplasm, but by "tonoplast": a large water filled vacuole enclosed by a
membrane. 
The idea that protoplasm is divisible into a ground substance
called "cytoplasm" and a structural body called the Cell nucleus, reflects the more
primitive knowledge of cell structure that preceded the development of powerful
microscope of organic and inorganic substances, mysteriously directed by the nucleus and
controlled by the cell membrane. Today, it is known that the cytoplasm is structurally
very complex, and that protoplasm is living because of the complexity of the
"cytoplasmic organeles" and their careful separation and orchestration of multiple
chemical processes. 

Charles Darwin and his contemporaries viewed
"protoplasm" as the sole content of a cell, in other words, cells were nothing but
simple blobs composed of protoplasm. This simplified view of "cells biology"
circumvented the problem of the origin of life that Darwin and others struggled with.
However, that problem was later introduced in the 1950s when the complex structure of
DNA was discovered. 

The concept of protoplasm is the essence of life,
being something nearly sacred, induplicable by man. Organisms are able to ingest
chemicals produced by nature and made in a laboratory. It can evolve into quite a number
of other living creatures. 

Protoplasm exists in three forms: solid
state, liquid state and sometimes a combined solid and liquid
state. 

Whether the protoplasm is in either of the three forms depends
upon the physiological state of the cell. 

Please explicate the following lines from Keats' "Ode to a Nightingale." O for a draught of vintage! that hath been Cool'd a long age in the...

In these lines the speaker, Keats himself, is only
expressing the wish that he had something to drink and that he could get thoroughly
intoxicated. Keats was a young man, but he was developing a strong liking for
intoxicants. Many creative writers have a liking for alcohol and drugs which can be
dangerous, as I believe Emerson noted in his essay "The
Poet."

In the beginning of this poem Keats mentions hemlock
and an opiate, which would probably be a mixture of opium and alcohol. Later in the poem
he thinks of the musk rose as "the murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves"--in other
words, as a sort of pub where the flies hang out and get drunk on the nectar the flower
produces.

Keats was troubled by thoughts of death. Several
members of his family had died, and he himself expected to die of consumption. A number
of his poems deal with thoughts of death, including "Bright star, were I as steadfast as
thou art," and "When I have fears that I may cease to be." There was no cure for his
disease, so he tried to escape from thinking about it by at least two ways--drinking and
writing poetry. In "Ode to a Nightingale," which he wrote while listening to one of
these melodious birds late at night in a friend's garden, he is simply saying that he
would like to get drunk and escape from his morbid thoughts--but he just doesn't have
anything to drink. So he decides that he will try to escape in his imagination, which he
calls "the viewless [invisible] wings of poesy."

Keats
excelled in sensuous descriptions. He was not a deep thinker, but had a powerful visual
imagination. The lines quoted in your question are nothing but a description of the kind
of wine he wishes he had. He would like a whole beaker (about a quart). It would be a
red wine from the south of France. No such wine is produced in England; it would have to
come from the wine country of Europe.

The best lines in
this stanza are:

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O for a beaker full of the warm
South!
 Full o the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
  With beaded
bubbles winking at the brim
     And purple-stained
mouth.

The warm south held a
strong attraction for Keats. He felt that the warmth of southern France or Italy might
heal him, or at least make him suffer less than he did in cold, damp England. He
actually went to Itay to try to recover his health. He died there and is buried beside
another great English poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, with whom he is often compared. The
Merriam-Webster online dictionary gives the followiing definition
of Hippocrene:

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:  a fountain on
Mount Helicon sacred to the Muses and believed to be a source of poetic inspiration

Evidently Keats like to
drink for poetic inspiration as well as for escape from his thoughts of death.

Everyone must have noticed how the little
bubbles collect at the top of a glass of wine and cling to the rim and could be said to
be strung together like beads. These little bubbles pop and might be said to be winking.
A person's tongue does become purple-stained when drinking red wine. This type of
imagery is characteristic of Keats' poetry and is the best thing about most of it. The
entire poem is full of vivid visual descriptions that will take the sensitive reader
along with the poet into the world of the immortal nightingale. F. Scott Fitzgerald
loved Keats and borrowed the beautiful phrase "tender is the night" from the fourth
stanza for the title of his best novel.

What does Ralph do to the pig's head at the end of the story Lord of the Flies? Thanks.

At the beginning of Lord of the
Flies there is a definite attempt by the boys to create their own community
which will function in a way that "grown ups" would expect. Even Jack acknowledges the
need in chapter 2 for "rules" reminding the boys that they are "not savages. We're
English..." Although reluctant at first, Jack has accepted Ralph's position as chief and
discusses how he will ensure that the choir boys who are now his "hunters" will take
care of the signal fire.  

By the end of the novel, the
order and good organization of the boys no longer exists. The conch which represented
the closest thing to democracy for the boys and which had been so significant when Ralph
was voted as chief is no more than "a thousand white fragments" (ch 11). Simon and Piggy
are dead and Ralph is alone.

When he comes across the pig's
head there is little hope for rescue or even for Ralph's survival as Jack hunts him like
he would a pig. It is ironic that as Ralph considers the possibility that Jack's hunters
might leave him alone, he compares the "lifeless" skull which is all that is left of the
pig's head, to the conch as it "gleamed as white as ever the conch had done" (ch 12).
The power has shifted and now lies with Jack.  

Ralph
wonders about the skull and is filled with "a sick fear and rage" upon which he punches
the skull but to no real purpose except that now that it has broken into two pieces its
grin is "six feet across." Ralph takes the stick which Jack had so proudly instructed
Roger to "sharpen... at both ends" (ch 8) and now it is Ralph who holds it as he would a
spear. Ralph does not turn his back on the skull as he backs away from it and continues
in his quest to protect himself. 

How is Mosca presented as a parasitic figure in Volpone?

Clearly, the way in which Mosca's name is derived from the
Italian for fly presents us with the theme of parasitism in the play at its very
beginning. Most importantly, however, is Mosca's soliloquy in Act III scene 1, where he
praises the position of being a parasite, and also argues that everyone is actually a
parasite, to a lesser or a greater extent. Consider what he says about the role of being
a parasite:

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O! your parasite

Is
a most precious thing, dropt from above,

Not bred 'mongst
clods, and clodpoles, here on earth.

I muse, the mystery
was not made a science,

It is so liberally profest!
almost

All the wise world is little else, in
nature,

But parasites, or
sub-parasites.

Mosca's view
of the world, with everyone feeding off others in some way of course is borne out by the
action in the play. All the characters are shown to attempt living off the riches of
other characters, avoiding hard work themselves. Clearly, the three death-bed suitors
are perfect examples of people "sucking" wealth from others, but let us also remeber
that Volpone is only rich because of his ability to extract wealth from
others.

What is key to realise however is the way that
parasitism is presented in an extremely positive light. As Mosca shows and discusses, it
takes considerable intelligence and skill to be a successful parasite. It is not about
laziness. Consider how Mosca presents the "art" of being a "true"
parasite:

But
your fine elegant rascal, that can rise,

And stoop, almost
together, like an arrow;

Shoot through the air as nimbly as
a star;

Turn short as doth a swallow; and be
here,

And there, and here, and yonder, all at
once;

Present to any humour, all
occasion;

And change a visor, swifter than a
thought!

This is the creature had the art born with
him;

Parasitism is therefore
depicted as a form of superiority, as the successful parasite "feeds" off other
characters through their abilities to manipulate and deceive.

Do Greek myths offer one cohesive vision of the role of women in Greek society, or is there different roles women play?

Women play different roles in Greek myths, suggesting that
women played various roles in Greek society.

Among the most
famous female goddesses are Aphrodite, the goddess of love; Athena, the goddess of
wisdom and war; and Artemis, the virgin goddess of the hunt. By just comparing these
three female figures, we see startling differences in their roles: Aphrodite is a
sensual being interested in the erotic and has many lovers, Athena is revered by heros
and philosophers and is depicted as a counselor in myth, and Artemis is revered for her
purity as well as her skill in hunting and is thereby depicted as an Amazonian-type
goddess.

Greek myths offer various prototypes of women that
have propagated in subsequent western literatures, and are often invoked by poets. The
very passionate Aphrodite and the chaste Artemis may be seen as a binary within both
Greek myth and later literatures, presenting women as one of two extremes. However, as
can be seen by Athena and others, there is nuance Greek myth's depiction of
women.

What is the main difference between Night and Dawn?

I think that the main difference between both works is
that one is a narrative of what happens during the Holocaust and the other one deals
with the implications of consciousness after it.  The premise of
Night is Eliezer's struggle to survive in the midst of absolute
horror.  The ending of the narrative is Eliezer surviving, staring in the mirror with
the incapability to recognize the figure staring back at him.  In
Dawn, the focus is more along the lines of how the survivor deals
with the anger and hatred that results when considering what happened during the
Holocaust.  Elisha's involvement in a terrorist organization whereby murder of those in
the position of power over atrocities committed.  In this case, Elisha is discharged
with the killing of Dawson, a British officer.  In such a narrative, Wiesel is exploring
the psychological implications of the post- Holocaust emotions that envelop the
individual.  This would include anger, regret, revenge, as well as how the role of
violence is a part of the post- Holocaust narrative.  In this, the scope and focus of
Dawn is different than that of
Night.

How did the Industrial Revolution change the way people lived at home.I get that it made life easier because products became much cheaper and...

To understand how the Industrial Revolution changed life
at home, you need to understand how manufacturing worked beforehand.  Taking the textile
industry as an example, the processes of carding wool, spinning and weaving were all
done in the home.  The weaver (for it would often be the head of the household) would
either employ his family or even have apprentices on
hand.

Naturally, the Industrial Revolution and the
introduction of mechanization changed all that, moving manufacturing out of the home and
into the factories.  There emerged a strong interupt between the world of work and what
went on in the home.  For the working classes this represented a great change, and
whilst the Industrial Revolution produced cheaper goods, the people who produced them
were not necessarily the ones who were able to afford them right
away.

For the middle classes, cheaper goods meant a
tremendous change in lifestyle.  If you put in today's terms, think about the products
of certain big box stores which are able to provide cheap consumer goods for low-waged
families and you have a very good idea of how middle class families were affected. 
There you have the effect.  The increase in consumer goods allowed the middle class to
ape the lifestyles of the upper classes.  So, instead of china from China, immitation
china from the English midlands adorned the table (now it is the other way around
again).

As a society we are always interested in acquiring
those things that will make life either easier or even give the impression of
affluence.  Therefore, when studying this topics it is important to note that changes to
the home came at different stages for different groups in society.  Our
great-grandmothers washed laundry by hand and continued to do so until mechanical and
then later electrical appliances were affordable.  What has been the sum effect?  Who
does the laundry in the house?  How much time is freed up?  What is done with the
balance?  These are the questions you need to consider and by looking at other household
activities and their effects you can chart the effects of the Industrial Revolution on
households.

Please give a summary of Doctor Faustus by Marlowe.

The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus,
by Christopher Marlowe, is an English play based on Faust by Johan
Goethe. It is well worth reading, and I highly recommend that you do so. In summary,
Faustus is a professor of sorts who believes that he has reached the end of all
available knowledge and determines to study magic. This leads him to make a deal with
Mephistophilis, the servant of Lucifer, that he is to have all power for twenty four
years; however at the end of the twenty four years his soul is damned forever. This
arrangment is the origin of the term "Faustian deal" when one makes a very poor decision
for short term gain, thus figuratively selling one's soul to the
devil.

During his twenty four years, Faust is given
frequent opportunities to repent, but refuses. Instead he uses--and abuses-- his power
by summoning the spirit of Alexander the Great and even Helen of Troy. When he sees
Helen, Faust utters some of the more famous lines from the
play:

Was
this the face that launch'd a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of
Ilium--
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.--
Her lips suck
forth my soul: see, where it flies!--
Come, Helen, come, give me my soul
again.
Here will I dwell, for heaven is in these lips,
And all is
dross that is not Helena.
I will be Paris, and for love of
thee,
Instead of Troy, shall Wertenberg be
sack'd;

There is much more
detail than can be related here; and again, you are strongly urged to read the entire
play. However, at the end, when his time is up, Faust at last repents, but it is too
late. Faustus is carried away by devils to hell. The play ends with a solemn admonition
by the chorus, an admonition that many students, seeking to make a "Faustian deal" might
do well to heed:

readability="13">

Cut is the branch that might have grown full
straight,
And burned is Apollo's laurel-bough,
That sometime grew
within this learned man.
Faustus is gone: regard his hellish
fall,
Whose fiendful fortune may exhort the wise,
Only to wonder at
unlawful things,
Whose deepness doth entice such forward wits
To
practice more than heavenly power
permits.

In The Picture of Dorian Gray, how do Dorian and Sibyl differ in their views of art?

It is Chapter Seven that you need to refer to in answering
this question which features the conversation between Dorian and Sibyl after her
disastrous performance and also the end of their relationship. The answer also relates
explicity to one of the central conflicts or relationships that run through the entire
novel: the relationship between art and real life. Sibyl, in a very moving piece of
dialogue, talks about how her love for Dorian has changed her ideas and concepts about
art and life. Note what she tells him:

readability="14">

I believed in everything. The common people who
acted with me seemed to me to be godlike. The painted scenes were my world. Iknew
nothing but shadows, and I thought them real. You came--oh, my beautiful love!--and you
freed my soul from prison. You taught me what reality really is. Tonight, for the first
time in my life, I saw through the hollowness, the sham, the silliness of the empty
pageant in which I had always
played.

Thus we can see that
before Dorian entered her life, Sibyl's art was her reality. It was this that ironically
made her attractive to Dorian in the first place, as he makes clear straight after
Sibyl's speech:

readability="9">

I loved you because you were marvellous, because
you had genius and intellect, because you realised the dreams of great poets and gave
shape and substance to the shadows of art. You have thrown it all away. You are shallow
and stupid.

Through her love
for Dorian, Sibyl has exchanged art for reality, and as a result is now no longer able
to act. Dorian, it is shown, clearly prizes art above reality, and therefore now can no
longer Sibyl now she has become Sibyl, a real person, rather than just an actress who
has no concrete identity.

In Guns, Germs and Steel, how do hunter-gatherers control their population size?

A key element of the answer to Yali's question which
dominates the book is the fact that hunter-gatherers are necessarily limited societies.
The way that their lack of farming and agriculture necessitates the involvement of all
of its peoples in hunting and gathering has the following impacts on societies, as
demonstrated by the Chatham Islands as explained in Chapter Two of this great
non-fiction work:

1) Population density is
low

2) There are no developed
economies

3) There are no expert
craftsmen

4) There is no big system of
leadership.

The difference between hunter-gatherer
societies and societies that relied on agriculture to supply its needs are very notable,
as the dispersed bands of hunter-gatherers were never able to settle in one location and
thus this impacted population size. The number of people that can be supported by such a
style of life compared to the number of people that can be supported by an
agriculturally based society is much smaller.

In regardst to The Prince, why is Machiavelli considered the first political realist?

Macchiavelli has to be considered as one of the first
political realists because he was able to tear the veil off of politics and reflect its
true nature of power.  Prior to Machiavelli, rulers and leaders were seen as agents of
the divine, and their successes and failures were attributed to the graces of God. 
Machiavelli is honest enough to argue that the successes and failures of the prince or
political leader is dependent on their judgment, or the counsel they receive from their
advisers.  Church attendance, divine revelation, and their own spiritual base are not as
important as how the leader judges their body politic and their reactions to policies
and initiatives.  The base of all Machiavelli's logic is power and how to keep and
develop it. This is the ultimate in realism.  Machiavelli is considered to be a
political realist because he argues that the political ruler is responsible for the
success or failure.  It is not the will of fate or destiny or even God.  For
Machiavelli, if one wants to use those elements to win over the support of the people,
it makes sense to do so.  Yet, in the end it is the ruler, themselves, the prince, who
is in the ultimate position to be a success or failure.  In this, he has to be seen as
the first political realist, as he changes the scope of what constitutes
ruling.

What appropriate literary theory should we use to analyse "Games at Twilight" and the interaction among the children?

I would suggest that approaching this story from a
psychological standpoint would be most appropriate. Although Anita Desai is an author
whose fiction can be analysed from the viewpoint of postcolonialism, at the same time, I
think this story lends itself more to a psychological approach, as the epiphany that
Ravi experiences at the end of this story makes clear. Consider what Ravi learns about
himself:

He
had wanted victory and triumph--not a funeral. But he had been forgotten, left out, and
he would not join them now. The ignominy of being forgotten--how could he face it? He
felt his heart go heavy and ache inside him unbearably. He lay down full length on the
damp grass, crushing his face into it, no longer crying, silenced by a terrible sense of
his insignificance.

Such a
description reveals that the prime focus of this short story is Ravi's own psychological
awareness of his own lack of significance. Note too the way that, ironically, Ravi
refuses to play the funereal game yet he has experienced a kind of death that he becomes
aware of--the death of his innocence. His personal concerns, although so important to
him, are disregarded by everybody else. This is an important psychological stage that we
all have to go through as humans.

Describe the character of Sir Roger de Coverley in The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers?

Sir Roger de
Coverley, an old bachelor in his mid-fifties, is a fictional character created by Joseph
Addison as an author of letters and papers published in the periodical, The
Spectator, launched in the early 18th century by Addison and his friend,
Richard Steele. Sir Roger has been portrayed as a country gentleman, the benevolent
autocrat, the baronet of a large Worcestershire estate. The knight possessing  exemplary
humaneness, sympathy, moral sense and sense of responsibilty  serves as an ideal country
squire of the 18th century. In London, Sir Roger presides over the "Club,” an informal
 group of men of divergent interests and personalities. He pursues in a harmless way his
Tory politics. On the whole, Sir Roger is a fine literary portrait of a an affable
gentleman.

Can entrepreneurship solve the unemployment problem in india?

This is, of course, a matter of opinion.  My argument is
that more entrepreneurship would be a help, but that the government of India is enough
of a problem that it must be fixed before India's economy can truly take
off.

As can be seen in the link below, there are still
major problems with corruption in the Indian government.  This comes about in part
because of the continuing prevalence of the "licence Raj" which makes potential
entrepreneurs get all sorts of official permissions before they can act.  This red tape
gives many opportunities for corruption.

So, I would argue
that more entrepreneurship would help, but that India must also reform its government to
reduce red tape and corruption if it wants to solve its unemployment
problems.

What is history?

The commonly accepted (although not entirely accurate)
definition of history is the study of the past of human beings. This explanation is too
simple, as one's breakfast is part of one's "past." History is more precisely defined as
the "study of change over time." Many events happened in the past, people are born,
live, and die, but this is not "history." History is rather the study of those events in
the past which evoked change, from the time early man learned the use of fire and
developed settled architecture until the more recent events such as the War in
Afghanistan. An integral part of the study of change is also the study of continuity; a
true story of history must involve both the changes that have occurred and the customs,
practices, beliefs, etc. that have continued unchanged.

Is Alexander the Great the only person in history to have been given the title "the Great?"In class we are studying Alexander the Great and it got...

Alexander the Great is certainly the most famous person to
be called "the Great," but he is by no means the only
one.

There have, for example, been at least three rulers of
Russia who have come to be known as "the Great."  These are Catherine the Great, Ivan
the Great, and Peter the Great.  There have also been rulers of other countries, such as
Frederick the Great of Prussia, who have been given this
title.

Since there is no criteria for who gets to be called
"the Great," there is a great deal of variation in how famous and how important the
people are.  Whether or not they "deserve" it, many people other than Alexander have
been called "the Great."