What are some examples of how different leadership and/or motivational approaches should be considered for different countries?

As a leader, it is essential to understand the cultural differences that exist between different countries and their working styles. In order to better understand how to lead and motivate people from different countries, I would strongly recommend you take a look at Hofstede's cultural dimensions.

In this framework, Hofstede describes the effects of a society's culture on the values of its members, and how these values relate to behavior.

For example, let's compare the...

As a leader, it is essential to understand the cultural differences that exist between different countries and their working styles. In order to better understand how to lead and motivate people from different countries, I would strongly recommend you take a look at Hofstede's cultural dimensions.

In this framework, Hofstede describes the effects of a society's culture on the values of its members, and how these values relate to behavior.

For example, let's compare the appropriate leadership style required for people in the US and Japan. (I have attached the link to the comparison below.)

If we look at the dimension Individualism, we can see that the US nearly doubles the score of Japan (91 and 42, respectively). This implies that people in the US love the idea of being unique, whereas in Japan people may prefer working with a team and unity. Similarly, we can see that Japan doubles the score of the US in Uncertainty Avoidance, which implies that Japanese businesspeople may be very conservative in regards to risk-taking decisions.

Therefore, if we look at these results from the perspective of a leader, one would be able to lead and motivate individuals in the US by rewarding individual creativity. In contrast, one would need to understand the importance of unity and teamwork when leading people in Japan. In fact, there is a Japanese saying that perfectly embodies the importance of conformity in their culture: "The nail that sticks out will be hammered".

During World War II, why were people of Japanese descent living in the United States forced to relocate to internment camps?

In February, 1942, two months after Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, sending over 120,000 Japanese-American people to 10 internment camps located away from the West Coast. After Pearl Harbor, the press and politicians began to suggest that Japanese-Americans would participate in so-called "Fifth Column" activity in which they would help the Japanese government through espionage. Relying more on racist arguments than on any concrete evidence, public opinion...

In February, 1942, two months after Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, sending over 120,000 Japanese-American people to 10 internment camps located away from the West Coast. After Pearl Harbor, the press and politicians began to suggest that Japanese-Americans would participate in so-called "Fifth Column" activity in which they would help the Japanese government through espionage. Relying more on racist arguments than on any concrete evidence, public opinion condemned Japanese-Americans as unpatriotic and more connected to their mother country than to the United States. Almost two-thirds of the people interned were Nisei, or people born in the United States. They had never seen Japan and were therefore not likely to be more loyal to Japan than to the United States. 

Another reason behind the internment was clearly racism. While about 150,000 people of Japanese descent lived in in Hawaii, only about 1,500 were interned because there was less racism against Japanese people in Hawaii. On the West Coast, however, there was a longstanding tradition of racism against Asians. For example, the Immigration Act of 1924 banned immigration from Japan and many other Asian countries. People who were as little as one-sixth Japanese were interned, supporting the idea that internment was motivated more by racism than any military necessity. German-Americans, on the other hand, were never interned, again suggesting that racism played a large role in the decision to intern Japanese-Americans. Finally, many people on the West Coast had long feared competition from Japanese-American farmers and businesspeople, and internment of the Japanese-Americans removed them as competition for the duration of the war. 

How does the play Death of a Salesman criticize capitalism and the American way of life?

The play centers around the tragic and frustrating death of the salesman Willy Loman. As a person who believed aggressively and relentlessly in the American dream of pulling oneself up through working hard and being charming and in the gaining of wealth leading to happiness, his character embodied blind faith in capitalism and the American way of life.

For example, in Act 1, when Willy learns about his first-born son Biff's inability to make something of himself professionally, he ponders it over:

"WILLY: Biff Loman is lost. In the greatest country in the world a young man with such—personal attractiveness, gets lost. And such a hard worker. There’s one thing about Biff— he’s not lazy.

LINDA: Never.

WILLY: [with pity and resolve]: I’ll see him in the morning; I’ll have a nice talk with him. I’ll get him a job selling. He could be big in no time."

Willy's blind optimism in the American system and its endless opportunities for someone who is attractive and hard working is his failing. He doesn't see that Biff's success is not guaranteed.

Willy isn't the only character with misplaced faith in the system. Later in the same act, Biff himself reflects on his attempts to get ahead, saying:

"Well, I spent six or seven years after high school trying to work myself up. Shipping clerk, salesman, business of one kind or another. And it’s a measly manner of existence. To get on that subway on the hot mornings in summer. To devote your whole life to keeping stock, or making phone calls, or selling or buying. To suffer fifty weeks of the year for the sake of a two week vacation, when all you really desire is to be outdoors with your shirt off. And always to have to get ahead of the next fella. And still—that’s how you build a future."

This doesn't have to be the way to build a future. Biff is limited in his thinking by his family's beliefs in the American system and a narrow definition of success. It's clearly making him unhappy and, over the course of the play, he struggles to divorce his personal happiness from his career achievements (or lack thereof). 

The futility of this whole enterprise and the proof that career and financial success doesn't automatically lead to happiness is shown in Willy's second son, Happy. Talking with Biff in Act 1 about their adult lives so far, Happy says,

"All I can do now is wait for the merchandise manager to die. And suppose I get to be merchandise manager? He’s a good friend of mine, and he just built a terrific estate on Long Island. And he lived there about two months and sold it, and now he’s building another one. He can’t enjoy it once it’s finished. And I know that’s just what I’d do. I don’t know what the hell I’m workin’ for. Sometimes I sit in my apartment—all alone. And I think of the rent I’m paying. And it’s crazy. But then, it’s what I always wanted. My own apartment, a car, plenty of women, and still, goddamnit, I’m lonely."

Capitalism supposes that once you have "made it" and can buy everything you've ever wanted, you'll find happiness. Happy proves that that isn't the case. He is just as lonely and lost as his brother and his father are. 

In the end of the play, Willy dies with few friends and less money, still clinging to the idea that his physicality, charm, and hard work can ensure success, even in his final suicidal act to set Biff up with life insurance money that will supposedly get him started on his career as a business owner. The audience and Loman family knows just how futile this death is. 

What quotes show that Roger is a victim of Jack?

Roger is not a victim of Jack but is in full agreement with Jack's methods and uses them to inspire his own brutal conduct. Early in the story after Maurice and Roger finish their stint as fire-tenders, they head to the beach. Roger immediately terrorizes the littluns on the beach, destroying their sand castles. While Maurice exhibits a sense of conscience for making one of the boys cry, Roger doesn't. He proceeds to tease Henry by throwing stones at him from behind a tree, aiming to miss. When Jack shows Roger the face and body paint, "Roger understood and nodded gravely."

During the sow hunt, Roger pushes past Jack and inserts his spear into the sow's rectum, driving it further and further in. Jack selects Roger to be one of the boys to steal fire from the others, and Roger doesn't object. During Jack's feast, "Roger became the pig, grunting and charging at Jack, who side-stepped." This is not the action of a victim, but rather a partner. When Jack makes plans to steal fire again, this time Piggy's glasses, Roger volunteers to go with him.

When Roger comes to Castle Rock and sees that Jack has created a defense that would "send the rock thundering down to the neck of land," Roger approves, saying, "He's a proper chief, isn't he?" Later, when Ralph and Piggy come to Castle Rock, Jack is away hunting, and Roger is manning the defenses of the camp. He begins throwing stones at the twins, "aiming to miss." But then "some source of power began to pulse in Roger's body." Later he begins zinging rocks very close to Ralph's head. When Roger sends the rock down on Piggy, it is from his own "sense of delirious abandonment," not from Jack's order. When Roger sees Jack merely prodding the captured Samneric, he declares, "That's not the way," and evidently causes the twins actual physical harm, causing them to tell Ralph, "He's a terror." In the final hunt for Ralph, it is Roger who has "sharpened a stick on both ends," presumably in order to kill Ralph the way he killed the sow. Throughout the story, Roger's acts of cruelty are the result of his own choices, not a submission to Jack's influence. 

How is prevention better than a cure?

It is a common proverb: Prevention is better than cure. It is a good suggestion and common advice. It simply warns someone to stay away from danger or prevent sickness as much as possible. Think about it this way: would you rather take medicine and be in pain or maintain a healthier lifestyle and stay healthy? 

Prevention is always better than cure, as it results in less discomfort, cost, and use of resources. From an...

It is a common proverb: Prevention is better than cure. It is a good suggestion and common advice. It simply warns someone to stay away from danger or prevent sickness as much as possible. Think about it this way: would you rather take medicine and be in pain or maintain a healthier lifestyle and stay healthy? 

Prevention is always better than cure, as it results in less discomfort, cost, and use of resources. From an environmental perspective, it is much easier and convenient to protect the water quality of a river or stream by not adding any waste to it. That is prevention (preventing any pollutant from entering the stream). If instead we did not prevent pollution, the only cure would be to clean the water of the stream, which is going to be not only expensive and resource-intensive but also uncomfortable to people affected by it (say, those living downstream of the point of pollution, etc.).  

We can think of many other similar scenarios, like a lab accident due to negligence on the part of the researcher. A number of examples can be seen day-to-day as well.

Thus, it is always better to prevent something from happening than to look for the cure.

Hope this helps. 

In "The Ransom of Red Chief," why did Sam and Bill decide on a semi-rural area rather than the city?

In those horse-and-buggy days a very large percentage of Americans were subsistence farmers. There were many small towns dotting the Midwest because of the transportation factor. It would be an all-day affair for a farmer to drive into town in a wagon pulled by a horse or mule and then get back home again. There probably was no big city within hundreds of miles of the town of Summit. Sam and Bill themselves were small-time crooks who preyed on simple country folk. They wouldn't have known how to operate in a real city. They wouldn't have known how to communicate with city people. They might not even have known how to find any children in a city. They were relatively sharp compared to country people, but they would have been like country bumpkins in a big city.

Consider Sam's plan to collect the ransom. He was going to be hiding in a tree right up above the drop-off site. That was the extent of his thinking. Imagine trying to stage a kidnapping in a city with that game plan! Cities have lots of crime and are prepared to cope with it by having efficient police forces. Those small towns of O. Henry's day had little crime and therefore little police protection. It was nearly impossible, for instance, to rob a bank and make a getaway with a horse and buggy. Men would grab the horse by its harness, and others would stop the buggy by throwing their canes between the spokes of a wheel.

Crime escalated in America when cheap, mass-produced automobiles became common. It was cars that created gangsters like John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Bonnie and Clyde, and others. They could rob a bank and be twenty miles away by the time the law ever got there. The excellent 1967 movie Bonnie and Clyde, starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, is good entertainment and also good American history. The film shows how automobiles were changing America. Nowadays towns like Summit are dying because automobiles make it possible to drive much longer distances then was possible with horses. Country people are doing their shopping at huge Walmarts and other big-box stores, while the little shops on all the Main Streets are standing empty and boarded up.

O. Henry's "The Ransom of Red Chief" is good entertainment and good history too. It shows what small-town American life was like in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

At the beginning of The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Jody has a tendency to shirk his responsibilities, and he sometimes fails to...

It's true that Jody shirks his responsibilities, sometimes failing to finish his chores. Talking about how slowly Jody does his chores, his mom says, "'To see him hoe, you'd think he was a snail.'"

Jody is also a bit lazy. Here he is at the beginning of Chapter 3:

"Jody opened his eyes unwillingly. Sometime, he thought, he would slip away into the woods and sleep from Friday until Monday."

We notice that Jody is...

It's true that Jody shirks his responsibilities, sometimes failing to finish his chores. Talking about how slowly Jody does his chores, his mom says, "'To see him hoe, you'd think he was a snail.'"

Jody is also a bit lazy. Here he is at the beginning of Chapter 3:

"Jody opened his eyes unwillingly. Sometime, he thought, he would slip away into the woods and sleep from Friday until Monday."

We notice that Jody is thoughtful, a dreamer, and likes to seek out places for quiet reflection. He longs for a pet to ease his loneliness--he wants a companion. But his family says no; they can't afford the extra food.

Despite all this laziness and immaturity, Jody tries to please his parents and obey their orders, such as when they tell him to get ready to go hunting, or to wash his hands before sitting down to a meal.

Jody is immature and innocent. His laziness and dreaminess paint the picture of a naive boy who lacks knowledge about the world.

What does the speaker's mood have to do with time and place in Dover Beach?

In the poem, the speaker is looking out the window at Dover Beach by night.  The title and first stanza of the poem describe this setting.  It is a calm night.  The coast of France is visible across the channel; the famous white cliffs of Dover are "glimmering and vast;" the scene is "tranquil."  A reference to "the moon-blanched land" lets us know that the moon is full or nearly full.  

This is a time and place that would fill most people with a sense of well-being.  They might find it calm, beautiful, or romantic.  But surprisingly, that is not what the speaker takes from this particular time and place.  Instead, it reminds him of "the turgid ebb and flow/Of human misery."  By the end of the poem, after thinking about the desolateness of the human experience, he has almost descended into nihilism.  

Apart from the obvious inference that the speaker brings some of his own despairing mood to the beautiful scene, the thing that seems to set his thoughts on their dark path is the "grating roar/Of pebbles which the waves draw back and fling,/At their return, up the high strand."  Apparently he is close enough to the beach to hear this sound.  If he were only able to see the beautiful scene, perhaps it would give a peaceful impression.  But the sound of the pebbles, which is jarring, somewhat irregular, and relentless, is a rude reminder of the realities of a beach (the sea is rough with things and people), and so, of the realities of life.  It may be a case of a beautiful scene being ruined by a little too much detail.

Who is the speaker in the poem "Lines Written in Early Spring" by William Wordsworth?

Since the sentiments and the themes suit Wordsworth's perspectives on nature and human interaction, we can say that the speaker is Wordsworth himself. But beyond the biographical context, a reader can also claim that the speaker of the poem is anyone who appreciates nature while critiquing society. 

He (Wordsworth/speaker) notes how the naturally blending sounds of nature ("grove") have put him in a sweet mood. He adds that this natural peace makes him consider "sad...

Since the sentiments and the themes suit Wordsworth's perspectives on nature and human interaction, we can say that the speaker is Wordsworth himself. But beyond the biographical context, a reader can also claim that the speaker of the poem is anyone who appreciates nature while critiquing society. 

He (Wordsworth/speaker) notes how the naturally blending sounds of nature ("grove") have put him in a sweet mood. He adds that this natural peace makes him consider "sad thoughts" and this has to do with humanity. 

In the second stanza, he says that Nature linked her (Nature's) good works to each human soul. In other words, as humans, we are spiritually and naturally connected to the beauty, peace, and joy that we see in the natural world. Again, at the end of the stanza, Wordsworth then wonders why there is so much suffering, hate, and disorder in the social world of humans. 

For Wordsworth, nature and all of its component parts seem to take pleasure in every moment. This is in stark contrast to the potential corruption that he sees in man (humanity). This pessimism stems from Wordsworth's disappointment with the outcome of the French Revolution. This poem also reflects Wordsworth's admiration for nature and contains his message that each individual should acknowledge this connection to nature and perhaps adapt his metaphoric notion that, like the primrose tufts, birds, and budding branches, each breath, motion, and reaction should be filled with pleasure and appreciation. 

How did The Women Rights Movement strengthen the Civil Rights Movement?

The Women's Rights Movement of the 19th and 20th centuries challenged the idea that a person's value was determined by their biology. One of the major changes resulting from the Women's Rights Movement was with regard to the attitude of what was "natural" for a man or woman and what their capabilities in life were. Traditionally, woman's place was "in the home," and this attitude was supported by a belief that biology prevented women from...

The Women's Rights Movement of the 19th and 20th centuries challenged the idea that a person's value was determined by their biology. One of the major changes resulting from the Women's Rights Movement was with regard to the attitude of what was "natural" for a man or woman and what their capabilities in life were. Traditionally, woman's place was "in the home," and this attitude was supported by a belief that biology prevented women from doing good work outside of the home. The opinions and efforts of women were valued less than those of men, and any agency a woman had was seen to come from her relationships with the men in her life. 

Suffragettes like Elizabeth Cady Stanton challenged the governmental and societal structures which served to oppress women and devalued their personhood. Women and People of Color faced similar limitations on their rights and lives-- both were discriminated against in the types of work available to them, both were considered to be biologically inferior (to a white-male archetype,) and depending on the location may not have had a right to vote. The Women's Rights Movement began to challenge the status of the white-male as an ideal form of personhood and agency. Much of the work done by women fighting against sex- or gender-based discrimination laid the way for racially or ethnically motivated discrimination to be challenged and outlawed.

Though great strides have been made, neither the Women's Rights or Civil Rights Movements are finished. Even in the present-day in the United States, people are discriminated against on the basis of their biology. For example, Women of Color earn significantly less in the work place as compared to their white-male counterparts. In 2013, Latina and Hispanic women earned, on average, only 54% of what a white man earned for performing the same job. We must not fool ourselves into thinking that just because we talk about the Women's and Civil Rights Movements as having occurred in history that equality, regardless of biology, has been achieved.

What are the characteristics of bats as they are portrayed in the short story "My Life as a Bat"?

Throughout the story, the narrator reveals many characteristics of bats, showing their physical features, their habits and behavior, and the way she imagines their personalities or souls.

In Section 1 of the story, we're told that bats are merciless killers, but they don't hate their prey. They also don't pity or gloat.

Section 2 reveals that bats dislike encounters with humans, and that they enjoy finding a cool, quiet place to rest,away...

Throughout the story, the narrator reveals many characteristics of bats, showing their physical features, their habits and behavior, and the way she imagines their personalities or souls.

In Section 1 of the story, we're told that bats are merciless killers, but they don't hate their prey. They also don't pity or gloat.

Section 2 reveals that bats dislike encounters with humans, and that they enjoy finding a cool, quiet place to rest, away from the harsh glare of the sun.

We find out in Section 3 that bats hate getting tangled up in things, and that they are definitely not the awkward, evil-looking creatures that vampire films portray them as.

In Section 5, we see that bats have soft, round bodies; that their teeth are sharp, their eyes are shiny, and their wings are slippery; that a bat’s nose looks like “a dead leaf” or “a radiator grill;” and that mother bats lick their babies tenderly.

Putting this all together, bats are characterized in the story as beautiful, graceful, efficient, and appreciative of comfort and quiet.

In what ways are Mr. Hoodhood's motives set on Holling in Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars?

In Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars, one of Mr. Hoodhood's great ambitions is to pass his architecture firm, Hoodhood and Associates, down to his son Holling when Mr. Hoodhood is ready to retire. Mr. Hoodhood's ambition serves as motive to treat his business as the most important thing in his life, which leaves Holling feeling neglected. In addition, seeing Holling as the heir of the business serves as motivefor Mr. Hoodhood to be...

In Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars, one of Mr. Hoodhood's great ambitions is to pass his architecture firm, Hoodhood and Associates, down to his son Holling when Mr. Hoodhood is ready to retire. Mr. Hoodhood's ambition serves as motive to treat his business as the most important thing in his life, which leaves Holling feeling neglected. In addition, seeing Holling as the heir of the business serves as motive for Mr. Hoodhood to be easily angered anytime he feels Holling behaves in a way that may jeopardize the business.

Mr. Hoodhood ignores and neglects Holling constantly throughout the story. One example can be seen in the opening chapter when Holling goes to his father to express his concern that "Mrs. Baker hates [his] guts." Rather than expressing concern for his son, Mr. Hoodhood demands to know what Holling did to deserve it. The best example of Mr. Hoodhood neglecting Holling is seen when Mr. Hoodhood fails to fulfill his promise to take Holling to the Yankees baseball game on Opening Day.  

In addition, multiple examples of Mr. Hoodhood being easily angered by Holling can be seen since the prosperity of the business is more important to Mr. Hoodhood than Holling. For example, when Holling announces, "Dad, Mrs. Baker hates my guts," Mr. Hoodhood replies by reminding him that Hoodhood and Associates is one of the top three architecture firms the Bakers of the Baker Sporting Emporium are choosing between for their new building. He further reminds Holling that anything he did to make Mrs. Baker hate him will equally make other Bakers hate both him and the "name of Hoodhood,  which will lead the Baker Sporting Emporium to choose another architect, which will kill the deal for Hoodhood and Associates, which will drive us into bankruptcy, ... and which will mean there will be no Hoodhood and Associates for you to take over" ("September"). Likewise, Mr. Hoodhood is infuriated when he hears rumors about Holling having ruined the cream puffs served by Mrs. Baker to the Wives of Vietnam Soldiers and when he sees that Kowalski and Associates have somehow managed to steal Hoodhood and Associates' design for the new junior high school after Holling has been spending a lot of time with Meryl Lee Kowalski.

What do you make of Socrates? Was he truly as humble as he suggested when he claimed that the one thing he knows is that he knows nothing? Would...

It's quite clear that Socrates was not actually all that humble, and he seemed to derive great enjoyment from undermining other people's arguments and generally annoying them.Perhaps the greatest evidence that Socrates was in fact quite arrogant is the speech he gave after being found guilty of impiety and corrupting the youth; he could have asked to be sent into exile and would likely have received this punishment, but instead jokingly suggested that he...

It's quite clear that Socrates was not actually all that humble, and he seemed to derive great enjoyment from undermining other people's arguments and generally annoying them.

Perhaps the greatest evidence that Socrates was in fact quite arrogant is the speech he gave after being found guilty of impiety and corrupting the youth; he could have asked to be sent into exile and would likely have received this punishment, but instead jokingly suggested that he be rewarded for his great contributions. His comments were so arrogant and aggravating to the jury that more jurors voted to execute him than had originally voted to find him guilty.

Though not charged with it, he probably was guilty of sedition, as several of his students may have used his arguments against democracy as their motivation for overthrowing legitimate city-state governments and terrorizing thousands of people. 

Indeed, there is a kind of arrogance even in asserting that one knows nothing; it implies that you have such a monopoly on epistemology that you can firmly declare that even the most basic facts (the sky is blue, the Sun rises in the East) are in reality not true facts but only unsupported suppositions. It is essentially an attempt to tear down the entire edifice of philosophy, and other many other philosophers were understandably angry about it.

What does the sign say at the beginning of the story in "A Sound of Thunder"?

The sign tells customers that they can go to any time period and shoot any animal.

The story takes place at some point in the future where the technology exists to travel through time.  In addition to traveling through time, they apparently have developed some pretty sophisticated weapons.  They can shoot animals like dinosaurs. 

People have used this technology for what may seem like the frivolous practice of time travel safaris.  Time Safari, Inc. has...

The sign tells customers that they can go to any time period and shoot any animal.

The story takes place at some point in the future where the technology exists to travel through time.  In addition to traveling through time, they apparently have developed some pretty sophisticated weapons.  They can shoot animals like dinosaurs. 

People have used this technology for what may seem like the frivolous practice of time travel safaris.  Time Safari, Inc. has a sign at its entrance to greet customers.  Eckels seems fascinated by it when he first comes in.

TIME SAFARI, INC. SAFARIS TO ANY YEAR IN THE PAST.

YOU NAME THE ANIMAL. WE TAKE YOU THERE. YOU SHOOT IT

Apparently the technology to travel through time and shoot dinosaurs is common enough and inexpensive enough that it can be used for commercial purposes.  However, this activity is government regulated.  There is heavy regulation because going back in time can change the future. 

“We don’t want to change the Future. We don’t belong here in the Past. The government doesn’t like us here. We have to pay big graft to keep our franchise. A Time Machine is finicky business. Not knowing it, we might kill an important animal, … thus destroying an important link in a growing species.”

Eckels hired Time Safari to take him back to the time of the dinosaurs to shoot a Tyrannosaurus Rex.  He was a big game hunter, and wanted a more challenging hunt.  He paid ten thousand dollars to hunt the T-rex.  Yet when he was face to face with the dinosaur, he panicked.  It seemed too big and scary to actually hit.

It turns out that stepping off the path does change the future.  Eckels gets so frightened by his experience that he accidentally kills a butterfly, and when he returns the lettering on the sign has changed just enough that we can tell that the future was altered.  A different man is president.  It is the butterfly effect.

Why was Okonkwo exiled? |

In Things Fall Apart, the main character Okonkwo is exiled from his tribe. Even though he is a successful man in accruing wealth from his yam farm, Okonkwo has trouble balancing his emotions and he is violent and angry most of the time. When he accidentally shoots and kills an elder's son during a funeral, the Earth Goddess Ani decides to banish Okonkwo from his village. Ani is already angry at Okonkwo because he...

In Things Fall Apart, the main character Okonkwo is exiled from his tribe. Even though he is a successful man in accruing wealth from his yam farm, Okonkwo has trouble balancing his emotions and he is violent and angry most of the time. When he accidentally shoots and kills an elder's son during a funeral, the Earth Goddess Ani decides to banish Okonkwo from his village. Ani is already angry at Okonkwo because he is violent with his family. Also, he has killed Ikemefuna who was his adopted son. Even though Okonkwo is warned not to take part in the killing of Ikemefuna, Okonkwo is afraid of appearing weak so he murders Ikemefuna. Ultimately, Okonkwo kills the son of an elder as his gun explodes. This is an action that is punished by exiling a tribe member. 

Okonkwo’s immoral actions affect the community. During the funeral rite for the elder Ezeudu, Okonkwo’s gun accidentally explodes, killing Ezeudu’s son.

Because Okonkwo has a list of crimes, the Earth Goddess Ani banishes Okonkwo for seven years. He has to go and live in his mother's village. Ani cannot allow Okonkwo to corrupt his village with his angry actions:

His irrational actions are destroying the moral fabric of traditional life. Therefore, Ani banishes Okonkwo to Mbanta, his mother’s village, for seven years.

In his mother's village, Okonkwo will be in touch with his feminine side as he learns the feminine principle to honor his mother's nurturing love. Okonkwo is banished to learn how to become a balanced man who understands the supremacy of his mother's feminine qualities.  

Why was Margot unhappy on Venus in "All Summer in a Day"?

Margot is unhappy on Venus because she came from Earth and misses the sun. 

The story takes place on Venus, a planet where it rains almost all of the time.  In fact, the sun has not come out in seven years.  Margot, however, came from Earth five years before the story starts. That means that unlike the other children in her class, she remembers what the sun looks like.  She misses it terribly. 

[She]...

Margot is unhappy on Venus because she came from Earth and misses the sun. 

The story takes place on Venus, a planet where it rains almost all of the time.  In fact, the sun has not come out in seven years.  Margot, however, came from Earth five years before the story starts. That means that unlike the other children in her class, she remembers what the sun looks like.  She misses it terribly. 

[She] sensed it, she was different and they knew her difference and kept away. There was talk that her father and mother were taking her back to Earth next year; it seemed vital to her that they do so, though it would mean the loss of thousands of dollars to her family. 

Margot does not get along with the other children.  She doesn’t play their games, and they are jealous of her for having recently been to Earth and for having the chance to go back.  For this reason, the children bully Margot and she isolates herself.  She doesn’t seem to make any friends. 

On the day the sun is supposed to finally come out, the children decide to play a cruel trick on Margot.  They tell her the scientists were wrong, and then lock her in a closet so that when it does come out, she won’t see it.  She is horrified. 

They surged about her, caught her up and bore her, protesting, and then pleading, and then crying, back into a tunnel, a room, a closet, where they slammed and locked the door. They stood looking at the door and saw it tremble from her beating and throwing herself against it. 

Although the children are cruel bullies, the trick they played was terrible.  Margot is very sensitive and this will likely have a great effect on her.  They know this, and seem just as horrified when they realize what they have done.  After the sun leaves, they go to take her out again knowing that she will never be the same.

How is current media different from older media?

"Media" is the plural of "medium," and a medium is a method of transmission.  Media could be anything.  It could be television, radio, magazine, or even smoke signals.  In each case, some kind of message is being encoded by a sender and translated by one or many receivers.  

Perhaps the simplest difference between media today and old media deals with the definition of "mass media."  There are arguments about when mass media actually became ...

"Media" is the plural of "medium," and a medium is a method of transmission.  Media could be anything.  It could be television, radio, magazine, or even smoke signals.  In each case, some kind of message is being encoded by a sender and translated by one or many receivers.  

Perhaps the simplest difference between media today and old media deals with the definition of "mass media."  There are arguments about when mass media actually became mass media.  Media experts tend to fall into two main camps: the classicists and the modernists.  Classicists believe that mass media has been around since the ancient Greek amphitheaters were built and audiences could see the same thing at the same time.  

A modernist doesn't believe that particular audience was large enough though.  A modernist believes that three things needed to be in place before mass media could really take hold.  Those three things were money, mechanics, and masses.  Masses refers to large numbers of people.  Mechanics refers to the ability to get a message out to a large mass quickly.  A modernist would say that the invention of the printing press was the first item to allow mass communication to happen.  Money is referring to disposable income that is accessible to that large mass of people.  You can print and broadcast all the messages that you want, but if your population can't pay for newspapers, magazines, movies, and cable TV, then the message is never received.  All three of those items strongly emerged during the industrial revolution.  

Since then, media has been evolving ways to reach more people at a faster rate.  News can be broadcast to millions of people within minutes of it happening.  A single tweet can reach hundreds of thousands of people within seconds.  That is the key difference between today's media and old media—speed and range.

What would have happened if Plessy v. Ferguson had not been overturned by the Supreme Court?

The Supreme Court's decision in 1896 in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson established the constitutionality of state sponsored segregation based on the pernicious legal doctrine known as "Separate But Equal." This doctrine gave Southern states the authority to segregate blacks and whites for purposes of schooling, housing, and even bathroom usage. The entire social and political landscape of the post-Reconstruction South hinged on the ability of whites to corral freed African Americans into black neighborhoods, where housing, education and job opportunities were substandard, and far worse than those for whites.

If Brown v. The Board of Education had not overturned Plessy v. Ferguson in 1954, the Civil Rights Movement would have likely been delayed even further. Brown v. The Board of Education ruled that separating black and white students into separate schools could only result in black students having a poorer quality of education; the ruling correctly recognized that school funding was based on property taxes, and the revenue from substandard housing in black neighborhoods was significantly less than the revenue collected from wealthier white neighborhoods, which in turn guaranteed white students better facilities, teachers and books.  Brown v. the Board of Education stated that segregating students based on race could only result in inequality.

The ripple effects of that ruling soon led to the desegregation of universities and housing, and set up the much larger showdown between Martin Luther King's Southern Leadership Conference and its liberal allies and the racist, backward looking leaders of southern states, cities and schools. The upheaval that followed led to a national movement that culminated in federal Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act (1965), which gave equal protection under the law to all citizens of the United States, regardless of race.

The decision of the Supreme Court to strike down Plessy v. Ferguson made it possible for a new generation of black leaders to get good educations, and enter the medical and legal professions (among others) in much high numbers. This led to a larger black middle and upper-middle class, who in turn exercised their franchise in lasting, powerful ways. If Plessy v. Ferguson been been upheld, we might today still live in a semi-Apartheid state, as South Africans did until the 1990s. Our economy, culture and standing in the world would have suffered immensely.

Why is it important to study the different periods and performance venues in the arts?

When you are studying any form of performance art, you are studying something that is embedded in a context. Without knowing something about that period and context, it is difficult to understand a work of art.

One of the major difficulties with studying performance is that, paradoxically, with a very limited number of exceptions, we are not actually studying the performance. For example, when you study Antigonein a classroom, you are reading a book...

When you are studying any form of performance art, you are studying something that is embedded in a context. Without knowing something about that period and context, it is difficult to understand a work of art.

One of the major difficulties with studying performance is that, paradoxically, with a very limited number of exceptions, we are not actually studying the performance. For example, when you study Antigone in a classroom, you are reading a book containing an English translation of a Greek text. Antigone, however, was not written in English and was experienced by its original audience not as a text but as a performance. If you watch a video of Antigone, you are experiencing a medium that was invented over 2,000 years after the death of the playwright Sophocles. Moreover, 21st century interpretations may be very different from the original staging. Many of the gender issues in both ancient and Elizabethan drama were affected by the fact that female characters were played by male actors.

Even if your interest is only in contemporary performance theory, many of the traditions of modern performance are grounded in historical traditions. For example, it is difficult to understand the notion of "breaking the fourth wall" unless you have a sense of how the proscenium arch evolved and the development first of realism in drama and then the rebellion against it.

What are some of Anne Frank's frustrations?

In Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank's frustrations come from her perception of others and their lack of foresight. Anne does not have a friend she can confide in and names her diary "Kitty" so that she can feel like she is sharing her concerns with her best friend. 

Anne does not feel as if she "fits in" with her own family, particularly her mother and sister, Margot. In her diary entry of Sunday, July 12, 1942, she complains that she feels herself "drifting further away" from them. Only her "adorable" father tries to understand her although he still sides with them, in Anne's opinion. The issues between Anne and her mother occupy Anne's thoughts repeatedly. Her mother's inability to see Anne's perspective is a constant reminder of their poor relationship to the point that Anne cannot even bring herself to think of her as "mother." Margot is also a constant irritation to Anne, "morning, noon and night," (Thursday, November 5, 1942).   

Anne is angry with herself for being unable to do better but she is also angry with her parents because they do not recognize their own "inadequecies" (November 7, 1942). The fact that Anne never gets encouragement from "someone who loves [her]" is also a source of disappointment to Anne. She is beginning to feel "deserted."

Anne admits that she is "an incorrigible chatterbox" as her teacher always told her, but she feels that she is unfairly singled out for talking by the "unbearable" Mrs. van Daan (September 21, 1942), and with everyone thinking that she is an "ignoramus," Anne feels that others have no right to disapprove of her. On September 28, Anne tells Kitty that she is tired of adults who criticize her when they cannot attend to their own "quarrels." 

Anne is very distressed at the news of people being transported away by the Gestapo and the treatment they receive. She feels powerless as there is nothing any of them can do. She also feels guilty that she sometimes feels "cheerful" but knows that a "Melancholy Annex" (September 1942) won't help anyone. 

In 1944, in a comment that Anne adds to a previous diary entry from 1942, Anne speaks of her "homesickness" which is always on her mind. After some time in the Annex, she has realized that some of her previous comments were inappropriate and immature and due, in part, to never having had anyone to talk to. She is now so desperate that she "selects" Peter (Thursday January 6, 1944) as someone she can talk to. Their relationship develops but it is very overwhelming. 

Due to being stuck in the Annex, no one ever has anything new to talk about and all that anyone can do is hope that things will eventually change. Anne has no idea how her diary will impact the world and give a face to the many children and adult victims. 

What is the significance of the title A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man? How does it relate to the growth and evolution of Stephen Dedalus?

The title of James Joyce's novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, refers to it's main protagonist, Stephen Dedalus. The novel follows Stephen throughout his childhood and adolescence, chronicling his life as a toddler, a schoolboy, and, finally, as a young artist setting off into the world to pursue his art. In the title, the words "artist" and "portrait" refer to Stephen's identity as an artist; though Stephen is an aspiring writer,...

The title of James Joyce's novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, refers to it's main protagonist, Stephen Dedalus. The novel follows Stephen throughout his childhood and adolescence, chronicling his life as a toddler, a schoolboy, and, finally, as a young artist setting off into the world to pursue his art. In the title, the words "artist" and "portrait" refer to Stephen's identity as an artist; though Stephen is an aspiring writer, the word "portrait" illustrates his love of art and his ambition to create representations of reality. Furthermore, the final words, "young man," allude to Stephen's youth, inexperience, and growing pains. All in all, the title has come to signify one of the greatest coming of age stories in English literature.

It must be noted that the word "portrait" is a deliberately strange choice here, and so it warrants further inspection. A portrait is a static object, something that neither moves nor evolves over the passage of time. This is a strange word, therefore, to choose as the title of a novel. One can speculate, however, that by using the word "portrait," he meant to add a static form to his novel and to the development and evolution of Stephen himself. Rather than following the easy chronology of earlier works, Joyce was set on creating something truly experimental, a work of literature based on a series of vignettes rather than a traditional narrative. Thus, "portrait" signifies the novel's nearly cubist aesthetic, as it accurately describes the way in which Joyce stitches together scenes from Stephen's life and growth without actually forcing a definite meaning or narrative upon them. 

What are five clues in The Hound of the Baskervilles and what does each one mean?

In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel, many of the clues Holmes and Watson discover are red herrings, which lead down a false trail, while others are true clues to solving the mystery. Here are some of each:

Red Herrings

1. The legend of the curse of the Baskervilles: this story forms the basis for the way Sir Charles was killed, but the murderer is using it to help hide his crime by making people think it was a supernatural event.

2. Mrs. Barrymore crying: this may cast some suspicion on the Barrymores, especially since Mr. Barrymore was the last person to see Sir Charles alive, but her tears have to do with her escaped convict brother.

3. Mr. Barrymore flashing a candle in the window: again, it makes him look suspicious, but it has to do with Selden, the convict.

4. The Man on the Tor: Watson observes a mysterious figure out in the wild area around Baskerville Hall; it turns out to be Holmes himself, who has been gathering information while wanting to keep away from the Hall.

5. Mr. Frankland: the disagreeable neighbor seems as if he could have been involved in the crime, but he has no direct involvement.

Actual Clues

1. The boots: because the new boot was returned after it was stolen from the hotel and then an old boot was stolen, Holmes realizes they are indeed dealing with a real dog, not a phantom (which he rejected anyway).

2. The convict attacked: when the convict, who was wearing some of Sir Charles' old clothes given to him by the Barrymores, is attacked by the dog, it shows that the dog had earlier been put onto Sir Charles' scent.

3. Mr. Stapleton's odd reaction to Sir Henry: when Sir Henry displays romantic interest toward Mr. Stapleton's "sister," it suggests their relationship is not as it appears. It turns out they are married.

4. Miss Stapleton's reaction to Watson: when Miss Stapleton first meets Watson, she thinks he is Sir Henry, and she warns him of danger. That shows she knows more than one would think.

5. The LL letter: the letter signed "LL" that Watson gets from Barrymore is key to the death of Sir Charles; Holmes is able to find Laura Lyons and make the connection between her and Mr. Stapleton.

6. The portrait: Holmes notices that Stapleton bears a remarkable likeness to the portrait of the Baskerville ancestor, helping him link Stapleton as a relative, making the motive obvious. If Sir Henry dies, Stapleton (under his real name) would become the heir.

7. The warning note: although they don't actually find out who sent it in time to help them, the note was written by Mrs. Stapleton because she was not in favor of her husband's plans. She also tried to warn Sir Henry, but she spoke with Watson instead.

As in any good mystery, sifting out the red herrings from the real clues creates a challenge for the detective—as well as for the reader.

Identify two groups that brought about an end to the Byzantine Empire; describe what they each did.

The Byzantine Empire faced a number of threats from different fronts. The Byzantine Empire was engaged in long-running conflicts with both the Bulgarian and Serbian Empires. However, the two groups that played a major role in its decline were the crusaders or the Catholics of the Western Roman Empire and the Turks who later formed the Ottoman Empire.

The conflict between the Byzantine Empire and the Western Roman Empire revolved around religious differences. The Byzantine...

The Byzantine Empire faced a number of threats from different fronts. The Byzantine Empire was engaged in long-running conflicts with both the Bulgarian and Serbian Empires. However, the two groups that played a major role in its decline were the crusaders or the Catholics of the Western Roman Empire and the Turks who later formed the Ottoman Empire.

The conflict between the Byzantine Empire and the Western Roman Empire revolved around religious differences. The Byzantine Empire identified with Orthodox Christianity while the Western Empire identified with Catholicism. These differences led to the sacking of Constantinople by the crusaders of the Western Empire resulting in the growing enmity between the two groups. These conflicts drained resources that would have otherwise been used in the growth and development of the Byzantine Empire.

Losses suffered by the Byzantine Empire made the region vulnerable to attacks by the Turks. The Turks took the opportunity to annex Byzantine lands. The Empire was forced to seek help from the Western Empire. However, the condition to renounce Orthodoxy for Catholicism was unpopular among the Byzantine people, who rejected the condition. This delayed the help from the Western Empire, and by the time compromises were made, it was too late, and the Empire fell to the Turks who later united to form the Ottoman Empire.

Why has the president’s staff grown so much in the last seventy years?

There are two main reasons why the president’s staff (also known as the White House staff) has increased in size so much over the last 70 (80 would be a better number to use) years.  One reason is the increasing size of government.  The other reason is the politicization of the bureaucracy and the presidents’ desire to have staff who are loyal only to them.

Beginning with the New Deal, the size of the federal...

There are two main reasons why the president’s staff (also known as the White House staff) has increased in size so much over the last 70 (80 would be a better number to use) years.  One reason is the increasing size of government.  The other reason is the politicization of the bureaucracy and the presidents’ desire to have staff who are loyal only to them.

Beginning with the New Deal, the size of the federal government in general has increased dramatically.  Before the New Deal, the government was not very involved in regulating the economy and other aspects of American life.  Since then, government has gotten much more involved.  We have all sorts of government programs that are meant to improve health, help the environment, promote education, and the like.  With the exploding size of government in general, it makes sense that the size of the White House staff would increase as presidents need staffers who are expert in a wider variety of areas.

The other factor comes from the fact that the regular bureaucracy is not under the president’s direct control.  While bureaucratic agencies are part of the executive branch, Congress also has a great deal of influence over them.  In addition, most of the bureaucrats are civil servants who the president cannot simply remove from office at will.  This means that the president cannot count on bureaucrats to support him (or someday her) unconditionally.  This is where White House staff comes in.  These people are hired directly to the president and answer to no one else.  Therefore, they do not have any conflicting loyalties and will always support the president.  In today’s world, with a more politicized bureaucracy and more polarization between the two parties, presidents feel more of a need to have people who are directly loyal to them.  This is the second reason why the size of the president’s staff has increased so much.

What are some of the major events that cause Macbeth's downfall?

First, and most obviously, he believes the Weird Sisters.  Despite Banquo's warnings that they might not be telling him the truth, Macbeth whole-heartedly believes their prophecies to be fact. This inflames his ambition and desire for power.

As a result, he kills Duncan.  Despite his very many reasons not to kill him -- Duncan is his relative, his friend, his king, his guest, and just all around a really good guy -- he had only...

First, and most obviously, he believes the Weird Sisters.  Despite Banquo's warnings that they might not be telling him the truth, Macbeth whole-heartedly believes their prophecies to be fact. This inflames his ambition and desire for power.

As a result, he kills Duncan.  Despite his very many reasons not to kill him -- Duncan is his relative, his friend, his king, his guest, and just all around a really good guy -- he had only one reason to go ahead, and that was his ambition.  When Lady Macbeth wounds his pride by insisting that he is not a man if he will not go through with it, she seals the deal.

Later, although Macbeth has attained the position he wanted, he now has to work to hold onto it.  He fears that Banquo's family will somehow take his throne from him because the Weird Sisters said that Banquo would father kings (and so Macbeth interprets this to mean that he will not pass on his crown to his own heirs).  Thus, Macbeth arranges the murders of Banquo and Fleance, though Fleance escapes.

At this point, Macbeth tells his wife, "Blood will have blood" and "We are yet but young in deed" (3.4.151, 176).  He means that now that they have committed one murder (two for him), they will have to keep going; there are still many more people they will need to get rid of if they want to feel secure in their positions.

When next he goes to see the Weird Sisters for more information, he again believes everything he sees and hears, despite having little reason to trust them.  Hecate said that she would raise "artificial sprites" designed to make Macbeth feel more secure than he really is, and so he will let down his guard.  He naively believes everything he hears and becomes overconfident.

In the end, Macbeth's credulousness (in terms of believing everything the sisters tell him), his ambition and pride (the two qualities that compel him to murder Duncan), and his ultimate willingness to do and kill whomever is necessary, lead to his downfall.

What page number in the book To Kill a Mockingbird is the quote "She won, all ninety eight pounds of her"?

In the Warner Books edition with the image of the tree and the bird on the cover, it's on page 112.

The exact page number will depend on what version of the book you have, but it's very easy to find. Look for Part Two, where Chapter 12 begins, and then scoot backward just a tiny bit to the second-to-last paragraph of Chapter 11. That's where you'll find the quote:

"'It’s when you know you’re...

In the Warner Books edition with the image of the tree and the bird on the cover, it's on page 112.

The exact page number will depend on what version of the book you have, but it's very easy to find. Look for Part Two, where Chapter 12 begins, and then scoot backward just a tiny bit to the second-to-last paragraph of Chapter 11. That's where you'll find the quote:

"'It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew.'"

This is when Atticus is talking to Jem about Mrs. Dubose.

If you need to find a quote fast in your text, try locating a full-text HTML or PDF document online of your book. You can usually find one of these by Googling for "[Title] full text," in this case "To Kill a Mockingbird full text." (However, please be aware that not every resource you find this way abides by copyright laws.)

Then search for a key word or phrase from your quote. If you can't find it, look for grammar or punctuation errors in your search term that you could correct. Here, for example, if you were searching for the phrase "ninety eight" without the hyphen, you wouldn't find your quote until you changed your search term to "ninety-eight." Try shortening your search term, too, and using just the most salient word or phrase that's likely to be rare in the text, like "pounds of her."

How does Steinbeck present the character of Crooks in Of Mice and Men?

Although the men refer to Crooks with a derogatory term which was widely used at that time, Steinbeck treats the character sympathetically. When he is first described in chapter two, Candy, the old swamper, tells George and Lennie that he likes Crooks and tells them why he has a crooked back:

“Yeah. Nice fella too. Got a crooked back where a horse kicked him. The boss gives him hell when he’s mad. But the stable buck...

Although the men refer to Crooks with a derogatory term which was widely used at that time, Steinbeck treats the character sympathetically. When he is first described in chapter two, Candy, the old swamper, tells George and Lennie that he likes Crooks and tells them why he has a crooked back:

“Yeah. Nice fella too. Got a crooked back where a horse kicked him. The boss gives him hell when he’s mad. But the stable buck don’t give a damn about that. He reads a lot. Got books in his room.”

Crooks is segregated and sometimes the victim of racism, as with the episode in the bunkhouse at Christmas, involving "Smitty." Because of this, he is naturally "aloof" and suspicious. His segregation makes him understandably mistrustful as he angrily tells Lennie why he's not wanted in the bunkhouse:

“’Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me.” 

Crooks is also terribly lonely. He expresses this loneliness to Lennie in Chapter Four. He tells Lennie many of the details of his life, including how when he was a kid he played with white children. As an adult, however, he has grown bitter because he is generally excluded from companionship with the other men on the ranch:

“A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. I tell ya,” he cried, “I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick.”

When Candy enters the scene, talk turns to how George, Candy and Lennie are buying a farm. While Crooks is at first skeptical, he soon begins to believe in the dream and offers to go along and "lend a hand." Unfortunately, Curley's wife soon reminds Crooks of his position as a second class citizen, and at the end of the chapter he withdraws his offer go to with the men. 

Crooks is used by Steinbeck to help establish the theme of loneliness which pervades the novel. It's not a coincidence that the two loneliest characters in the book, Crooks and Curley's wife, also a second class citizen, would clash in Chapter Four as the girl threatens Crooks with hanging if he doesn't keep his "place." After this episode, Crooks is once again diminished as a black man in a world that views him with derision, and he retreats into the solitude of a lonely and distant figure:

Crooks had reduced himself to nothing. There was no personality, no ego—nothing to arouse either like or dislike. He said, “Yes, ma’am,” and his voice was toneless. 

Is the monologue from "Cold Blooded Murderer" by Elisa Thompson published?

In searching for this monologue online it doesn't seem to exist as anything other than a videotaped performance, or in a transcribed form that exists only as a monologue. It is possible the monologue was never part of an entire play or a published work, but written only to be performed. Some actors and writers will work this way and create short works that allows them to explore specific characters or situations. Nicole Blackman is...

In searching for this monologue online it doesn't seem to exist as anything other than a videotaped performance, or in a transcribed form that exists only as a monologue. It is possible the monologue was never part of an entire play or a published work, but written only to be performed. Some actors and writers will work this way and create short works that allows them to explore specific characters or situations. Nicole Blackman is a monologuist who mainly performed original short pieces, for example.

Maybe you could find a published play or screenplay that allows you to explore similar emotions or situations? For example, the film Monster starring Charlize Theron is about a female serial killer, and being a screenplay it exists in published form. It is unusual to find stories about female serial killers, especially those who do so with intent (Monster portrayed a prostitute who sought revenge against men who brutalized her). You might want to ask, what is it that makes this particular monologue so powerful to you? Would reciting a monologue of, say, Lady Macbeth, prove just as powerful? She also plots a murder and must convince Hamlet to conspire with her.

How many milliliters of water are needed to make a 0.711 M solution that contains 1.00 g of NaCl?

Molarity is equal to the number of moles of solute per liters of solution.

   Molarity (M) = moles (mol)/liter (L) 

Step 1: Rearrange the formula to solve for liters.

First, multiply both sides of the formula by 1/moles. "moles" cancels out on the right side of the formula giving us:

   Molarity (M)/moles (mol) = 1/liters (L)

Next, flip both sides of the formula:

   moles (mol)/Molarity (M) = liters (L)/1

Finally...

Molarity is equal to the number of moles of solute per liters of solution.

   Molarity (M) = moles (mol)/liter (L) 

Step 1: Rearrange the formula to solve for liters.

First, multiply both sides of the formula by 1/moles. "moles" cancels out on the right side of the formula giving us:

   Molarity (M)/moles (mol) = 1/liters (L)

Next, flip both sides of the formula:

   moles (mol)/Molarity (M) = liters (L)/1

Finally, rewrite the formula so that the unknown variable (liters) is on the left side of the formula:

     liters (L) = moles (mol)/Molarity (M)

Step 2: Change grams to moles.

First, we will need to calculate the molar mass of the substance (NaCl). The molar mass of a substance is calculated by multiplying each atom's subscript by its atomic mass, and adding the resulting products together:

   Molar mass of NaCl = (1)(22.990) + (1)(35.453) = 58.443 g/mol

Next, convert the given grams of NaCl (1.00 g) to moles by dividing by the molar mass of NaCl:

  1.00 g x 1 mol/58.443 g = 0.0171 mol NaCl

Step 3: Use the rearranged molarity formula from Step 1 to solve for liters (L).

   liters (L) = moles (mol)/Molarity (M)

   liters (L) = 0.0171/0.711 M = 0.0241 L

Step 4: Convert liters to milliliters by moving the decimal point three places to the right.

   0.0241 L = 24.1 mL of water

What are the strengths and weaknesses of New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton?

One of Sean Payton's strengths is his breadth of football knowledge on the offensive side, something matched by his team's defensive weaknesses.

Payton is an extremely knowledgable offensive coach.  The Saints' offense has ranked as one of the most efficient in the NFL.  The quarterback, Drew Brees, is in the upper echelon of signal callers in the game today.  Payton's offensive background contributed to the emergence of Marques Colston and Jimmy Graham.  Payton's effectiveness as...

One of Sean Payton's strengths is his breadth of football knowledge on the offensive side, something matched by his team's defensive weaknesses.

Payton is an extremely knowledgable offensive coach.  The Saints' offense has ranked as one of the most efficient in the NFL.  The quarterback, Drew Brees, is in the upper echelon of signal callers in the game today.  Payton's offensive background contributed to the emergence of Marques Colston and Jimmy Graham.  Payton's effectiveness as a coach is reflected in how he "trusts" his instinct in talent evaluation, as well as his ability to move offensive players beyond their perceived capacity. Even though they were not first round draft picks, Brees, Colston, and Graham all experienced massive growth while playing for Coach Payton, showcasing his strengths as an offensive mind. 

Where Coach Payton is challenged is on defense.  Simply put, the Saints featured one of the weakest defenses in the league.  Last season's "historically bad defense" impacted Coach Payton's effectiveness.  Penalties, blown coverages, and the inability to simply stop the other team from scoring highlight the work to be done.  The defense gave up nearly 30 points in a game, a statistic that shows how difficult it is to win games with an ineffective defense. 

Coach Payton has won a Super Bowl and is credited with the resurgence of post-Katrina New Orleans as the Saints unified a broken city.  However, unless his defensive units play better, it is difficult seeing his team return to such glory.

What is an example of imagery in "My Dungeon Shook"?

In the second paragraph of James Baldwin’s letter to his nephew, the author speaks of his relationship with his brother.  Here we have many images of the nephew’s father as a young child, and of Baldwin in the role of older brother.  “I have…carried your Daddy in my arms and on my shoulders,” Baldwin writes, “kissed and spanked him and watched him learn to walk.”  The author states that if you have seen someone grow...

In the second paragraph of James Baldwin’s letter to his nephew, the author speaks of his relationship with his brother.  Here we have many images of the nephew’s father as a young child, and of Baldwin in the role of older brother.  “I have…carried your Daddy in my arms and on my shoulders,” Baldwin writes, “kissed and spanked him and watched him learn to walk.”  The author states that if you have seen someone grow up as he has seen his brother grow, you start to understand the effects of time and pain from a different point of view, and he states that when he sees his brothers face, he is seeing every face that his brother has worn at every stage of his life. 

“Let him laugh and I see a cellar your father does not remember and a house he does not remember….Let him curse and I see him falling down the cellar steps, and howling, and I remember, with pain, his tears, which my hand or your grandmother’s so easily washed away.”

Here we have imagery of the author’s youth with his younger brother, linked indelibly to the present for each of them; those tears easily wiped away as a child parallel those more permanent, “invisible” ones, caused by the oppression of African-Americans in the twentieth century and crimes against them committed in the name of hate.  These images also reveal the tight-knit family into which James (the nephew) was born, and gives the boy – and the reader – context for understanding the relationships within this family.  In addition, it reveals the multi-generational struggle of African-Americans in the United States, a struggle in which "it is the innocence which constitutes the crime."

This is a very important and revealing letter, beautifully written, and I recommend reading it for yourself – it is not very long, and within its six paragraphs dwell a myriad of images, and an even greater number of truths.

What is the thesis of Animal Farm by George Orwell?

Animal Farm by George Orwell was written as a fictionalized repudiation of communism. Orwell was strongly opposed to all types of totalitarian systems, and though his sympathy with the working classes initially made him support Trotskyite ideals, his firsthand experiences in Spain and his understanding of how the communist revolution in the Soviet Union had evolved from idealism into authoritarianism made him increasingly skeptical of all totalitarian political systems, whether those of Hitler or Stalin. 

...

Animal Farm by George Orwell was written as a fictionalized repudiation of communism. Orwell was strongly opposed to all types of totalitarian systems, and though his sympathy with the working classes initially made him support Trotskyite ideals, his firsthand experiences in Spain and his understanding of how the communist revolution in the Soviet Union had evolved from idealism into authoritarianism made him increasingly skeptical of all totalitarian political systems, whether those of Hitler or Stalin. 

The main thesis of Animal Farm is that absolute power corrupts and that even the most idealistic revolutions can be subverted by self-serving authorities. While the animal revolution is triggered by genuine abuses -- animals are used as food by humans -- the result of the revolution is not a utopia but instead a system even worse than the rule of the human farmer, with what once was a legitimate cause being transformed into propaganda covering up the self-interest of a new ruling class. 

What are the functions of steroids?

I am going to assume that your question is referring to natural steroid molecules that our bodies make and use. Steroids are a type of lipid molecule made up of 4 fused carbon rings. Different steroids vary slightly in their structure, but they all have 4 fused carbon rings. 

The most common steroid in our bodies is cholesterol. Cholesterol functions to stabilize the cell membrane and make it more resistant to changes in temperature. Our...

I am going to assume that your question is referring to natural steroid molecules that our bodies make and use. Steroids are a type of lipid molecule made up of 4 fused carbon rings. Different steroids vary slightly in their structure, but they all have 4 fused carbon rings. 

The most common steroid in our bodies is cholesterol. Cholesterol functions to stabilize the cell membrane and make it more resistant to changes in temperature. Our cell membranes need to maintain a consistent fluidity, and cholesterol helps with this as it is embedded in the cell membrane among the phospholipids. When the temperature increases cholesterol helps keep the membrane from becoming too fluid and falling apart, and when the temperature decreases cholesterol helps keep the cell membrane from becoming too rigid.

Other steroids are essentially a modified version of cholesterol and act as hormones. Other common steroids in humans are estrogen and testosterone. Progesterone and cortisol are also steroids that act as hormones. Since these hormones are lipid soluble, they can easily enter cells, move through the nuclear membrane, and act directly on the DNA by turning parts on or off. In this way, estrogen and testosterone are able to travel long distances in the body and affect cells that are far from where the hormones originate in the ovaries and testes.

In the novel That Was Then, This Is Now, what does Bryon say he has become?

After calling the police on Mark, Bryon's personality drastically changes. Bryon understands that he has possibility ruined his relationship with Mark and feels numb. He mentions that he goes through his days mechanically and cannot feel any type of emotion. Byron no longer cares about anything and even breaks up with Cathy. After testifying against Mark, Byron is emotionally exhausted and keeps to himself. Bryon also seems more mature and says that he has become...

After calling the police on Mark, Bryon's personality drastically changes. Bryon understands that he has possibility ruined his relationship with Mark and feels numb. He mentions that he goes through his days mechanically and cannot feel any type of emotion. Byron no longer cares about anything and even breaks up with Cathy. After testifying against Mark, Byron is emotionally exhausted and keeps to himself. Bryon also seems more mature and says that he has become "a mixture of things" that he had picked up from Charlie, Mark, Cathy, M&M, Mom, Mike, and the Shepards (Hinton 155). Bryon comments that he has learned something from everyone and doesn't feel like the same person he was just a year ago. Bryon also says, "I was mixed up" (Hinton 155). At the end of the novel, Bryon is left with numerous questions and regrets. He says that he has become "too mixed up to really care" and feels unsure about a lot of things in his life. Bryon's traumatic experiences have left him numb and searching for answers. However, he has become mature and realizes how fragile life and relationships really are. Bryon used to find breaking the law and acting reckless fun to be fun, but his numerous negative experiences have left him feeling mixed up and confused.

In J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, what three words does Holden use repeatedly?

In Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, the voice of Holden Caulfield is, at times, hilarious. Because Holden's narration, which is sometimes described as an internal monologue, reads almost like a journal, the words seem to come out of Holden's brain and onto the page without a filter or any editing. Salinger's style is inspired by the narrative technique known as stream-of-consciousness—where anything and everything goes onto the page and out to the reader as if...

In Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, the voice of Holden Caulfield is, at times, hilarious. Because Holden's narration, which is sometimes described as an internal monologue, reads almost like a journal, the words seem to come out of Holden's brain and onto the page without a filter or any editing. Salinger's style is inspired by the narrative technique known as stream-of-consciousness—where anything and everything goes onto the page and out to the reader as if we were reading the thoughts overflowing from the character's brain. This way of writing creates a raw honesty that comes across in a refreshing and unconstrained way. That being said, there are a number of three-word one-liners that Holden uses throughout the story that help to depict how he would probably talk when surrounded by friends. Since Holden is sixteen, he would say certain phrases with his friends that he probably wouldn't use when speaking with adults or writing an academic paper. These phrases also help to show Holden's personality, which is sometimes funny and sometimes depressed and intense. The following is a list of a few phrases that he repeats throughout the story:

1. "For God's sake!" (83).

2. "Swear to God!" (84).

3. "I'm not kidding" (85).

4. "I really did" (90).

5. "That killed me" (17, 55) or "It killed me" (106).

6. "Full of phonies" (13).

How can I critically analyze Francis Bacon's essay "Of Delays"?

Bacon's essay "Of Delays" might well be called "Of Proper Timing" because its subject is the importance of weighing carefully when to move ahead with a plan and when to wait. The essay opens with the word "fortune" and compares fortune to a market where, if you wait, prices might fall, or as we would say today, products might go on sale. But the word fortune held a significance to Bacon's audience that we might not understand today, especially when coupled with the idea of prices rising and falling. People would have understood that Bacon was talking about the wheel of fortune, a widely used image at that time. Luck or fortune was seen as cyclical--it went round and round like the seasons. Sometimes you hit good fortune, sometimes bad, but it would always change: you would never always have good fortune or bad. 

If we think of fortune as like a merry-go-round, Bacon is saying we need to weight when to jump on. If we wait too long we may miss the proper point of good fortune, but if we jump on too soon, that might also be a mistake. Timing is everything. As Bacon puts it:

There is surely no greater wisdom than well to time the beginnings and onsets of things.

While Bacon advises meeting dangers "halfway" and advises against the "extreme" of either waiting too long or too short a time before acting, he doesn't offer any advice as to when would be the right time to act. Bacon, who as a rationalist and an empiricist is always going to look very carefully at what is around him and weigh the evidence, advises others to do the same: before we act, we should watch with the "hundred eyes" of Argus, a monster from Greek mythology whose many eyes later became the "eyes" on the peacock's feathers, according to the myth.

But while we should carefully observe and weigh our options before acting, when we do act, we must do so with "celerity," which means speed. In other words, once you have a made a reasoned decision, act on it a swiftly as you can, with the speed of a bullet, and don't second guess yourself. 

What is the balanced equation when you oxidize propan-1-ol with potassium permanganate?

Propan-1-ol is also known as 1-propanol and is a primary alcohol. Potassium permangante is an oxidizing agent and oxidizes the primary alcohol to carboxylic acid in a two step process. In the first step, the primary alcohol is oxidized to an aldehyde and in the next step, the aldehyde converts to the carboxylic acid. The overall reaction is written as:

`C_3H_7OH + KMnO_4 -> C_2H_5COOH + MnO_2 + KOH + H_2O`

In this equation, the...

Propan-1-ol is also known as 1-propanol and is a primary alcohol. Potassium permangante is an oxidizing agent and oxidizes the primary alcohol to carboxylic acid in a two step process. In the first step, the primary alcohol is oxidized to an aldehyde and in the next step, the aldehyde converts to the carboxylic acid. The overall reaction is written as:

`C_3H_7OH + KMnO_4 -> C_2H_5COOH + MnO_2 + KOH + H_2O`

In this equation, the primary alcohol gets oxidized, while the permanganate gets reduced. However, this equation is not balanced. One can check that by counting of number of atoms of each species on the reactant side and product side of the chemical equation. For example, number of hydrogen atoms on reactant side is 8, while on the product side, it is 9. 

The well-balanced chemical equation is as follows:

`3C_3H_7OH + 4KMnO_4 -> 3C_2H_5COOH + 4MnO_2 + 4KOH + H_2O`

Interestingly, this reaction works only for the primary alcohol. 

With a secondary alcohol, acetone is the final product. With a tertiary alcohol, no oxidation takes place.

Hope this helps. 

The copper(II) ion in a copper(II) sulfate solution reacts with potassium iodide to produce the triiodide ion, I3-. This reaction is commonly used...

The very step in solving this question is to write a well-balanced chemical equation for the given reaction. It can be written as:

`2CuSO_4 + 5KI -> 2CuI + KI_3 + 2K_2SO_4`

Here, 2 moles of copper sulfate reacts with 5 moles of potassium iodide to form 2 moles of copper iodide, 1 mole of potassium triiodide and 2 moles of potassium sulfate. 

Molar mass of each of the species is given as:

CuSO4 =...

The very step in solving this question is to write a well-balanced chemical equation for the given reaction. It can be written as:

`2CuSO_4 + 5KI -> 2CuI + KI_3 + 2K_2SO_4`

Here, 2 moles of copper sulfate reacts with 5 moles of potassium iodide to form 2 moles of copper iodide, 1 mole of potassium triiodide and 2 moles of potassium sulfate. 

Molar mass of each of the species is given as:

CuSO4 = 63.55 + 32.06 + 4 x 16 = 159.6 g/mole

KI = 39.1 + 126.9 = 166 g/mole

CuI = 63.55 + 126.9 = 190.45 g/mole

KI3 = 39.1 + 3 x 126.9 = 419.8 g/mole

K2SO4 = 2 x 39.1 + 32.06 + 4 x 16 = 174.26 g/mole

It is given that 2 gm of KI is added, that is, 0.012 moles (= 2/166) of KI is added. It is added to 0.525 g CuSO4 or 0.0033 moles of CuSO4.

Since, 2 moles of CuSO4 reacts with 5 moles of KI, CuSO4 is the limiting reactant and it will react with only 0.0083 moles of KI (= 5/2 x 0.0033) and this will leave out 0.0037 moles of KI.

The amount of products formed can be calculated by stoichiometry.

CuI :  2 moles CuSO4 produces 2 moles CuI, which means, 0.0033 moles of CuI will be generated, or 0.63 gm (=0.0033 x 190.45) of CuI will be produced.

KI3: 2 moles CuSO4 generates 1 moles of KI3, which means 0.00165 moles of KI3 will be produced, or 0.693 g (= 0.00165 x 419.8) of KI3 will be generated.

K2SO4: 2 moles of CuSO4 generates 2 moles K2SO4, which means 0.0033 moles of K2SO4 will be generated, or 0.575 g (= 0.0033 x 174.26) will be generated.

Hope this helps. 

What effect did Eli Whitney's cotton gin have on the Southern economy?

The cotton gin impacted the South’s economy by improving it, but also by making it depend more on cotton and therefore on slavery.

Before Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, cotton was not a very big crop in the United States.  It was simply too hard to get the seeds out of the cotton.  Therefore, it was not widely grown.  Whitney’s cotton gin changed this by making it rather easy to remove seeds from the...

The cotton gin impacted the South’s economy by improving it, but also by making it depend more on cotton and therefore on slavery.

Before Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, cotton was not a very big crop in the United States.  It was simply too hard to get the seeds out of the cotton.  Therefore, it was not widely grown.  Whitney’s cotton gin changed this by making it rather easy to remove seeds from the cotton.  According to the link below, the US produced only 1500 pounds of cotton in 1790.  By 1800, the country was producing 35,000 pounds per year.  By 1815, the number 100,000 pounds and production actually exceeded 1 million pounds in 1848.  According to this link, the US produced almost four times as much cotton in 1860 as it had in 1830.

What this shows is that cotton boomed after Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin.  This improved the Southern economy because it created this huge cash crop that became the basis of the South’s economy.  Less happily, it also caused the South to base its entire economy on slavery.  Cotton in those days could not be grown without slave labor.  If the South needed cotton, that meant that it also needed slaves.  In these ways, the cotton gin impacted the South’s economy by giving it a new cash crop, but it also made the South depend on slavery for its economic prosperity.

Identify the figure of speech in each of the following quotations from "Ode to the West Wind" by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Explain what he is saying in...

It is common for writers to find that they can no longer recognize their own thoughts after they have written them and some time has passed. Shelley is referring to the thoughts he has published which hopefully will seem fresh to others although they seem outdated to him because he has now gone further in the life of the mind. He is, of course, comparing his published writings with the dead leaves that are being...

It is common for writers to find that they can no longer recognize their own thoughts after they have written them and some time has passed. Shelley is referring to the thoughts he has published which hopefully will seem fresh to others although they seem outdated to him because he has now gone further in the life of the mind. He is, of course, comparing his published writings with the dead leaves that are being blown helter-skelter by the West Wind.

What Shelley means by the West Wind wakening the Mediterranean from his summer dreams is simply that the Mediterranean is typically extremely placid during the summer months, but it can become turbulent in the fall and winter. "Wakening" means forming white caps and waves. The Mediterranean can be dangerous for sailors. Most of Homer's Odyssey is about the struggles Ulysses had with the god of the sea who was trying to prevent him from returning home after the Trojan War. Shelley himself was drowned while sailing on the Mediterranean in a storm shortly before his thirtieth birthday. He seems to have foretold his own death in the last stanza of "Adonais," the poem he wrote as an elegy to John Keats:

The breath whose might I have invoked in song
Descends on me; my spirit's bark is driven
Far from the shore, far from the trembling throng
Whose sails were never to the tempest given.
The massy earth and spheréd skies are riven!
I am borne darkly, fearfully, afar!
Whilst, burning through the inmost veil of heaven,
The soul of Adonais, like a star,
Beacons from the abode where the Eternal are.

What is the enthalpy for the reaction between Mg and HCl?

Mg reacts with HCl according to this equation:

`Mg_((s)) + 2 HCl_(aq) -> MgCl_2_(aq) + H_2_(g)`

If this reaction takes place under standard conditions the enthalpy change (∆Hº)  can be calculated using the standard enthalpies of formation of the products and reactants. It's calculated as follows:

∆Hº(reaction) = `Sigma` ∆Hºn(products) - `Sigma` ∆Hºn(reactants)

The n represents moles. Each molar value for ∆H is mulitplied by the corresponding coefficient from the equation.

The standard enthalpy of...

Mg reacts with HCl according to this equation:

`Mg_((s)) + 2 HCl_(aq) -> MgCl_2_(aq) + H_2_(g)`

If this reaction takes place under standard conditions the enthalpy change (∆Hº)  can be calculated using the standard enthalpies of formation of the products and reactants. It's calculated as follows:

∆Hº(reaction) = `Sigma` ∆Hºn(products) - `Sigma` ∆Hºn(reactants)

The n represents moles. Each molar value for ∆H is mulitplied by the corresponding coefficient from the equation.

The standard enthalpy of formation of an element in its standard state is zero. Since the standard state for hydrogen is gas and the standard state for magnesium is solid the ∆Hº of formation values for each of these elements is zero. The other values that we need are obtained from a table of standard enthalpies of formation, found in most textbooks and available online.

In the table I included under "Sources," refer to the bottom section, "Standard Enthalpy of Formation for Atomic and Molecular Ions." 

For MgCl2, we must add the enthalpy of formation for Mg (-462.0) to the enthalpy of formation of Cl (-167.4) x 2 because there are two Cl molecules. We follow the same procedure for HCl, adding the enthalpy of formation for H (0.0) to to the enthalpy of formation of Cl (-167.4).

MgCl2 (aq)  = -796.8 kJ/mol

HCl (aq) = -167.4 kJ/mol

Plugging in these values give us:

∆Hº(reaction) = [(-796.8 kJ/mol) +0] - [(0 + 2(-167.4 kJ/mol)]

∆Hº(reaction) = -462 kJ/mol

The negative sign tells us that this is an exothermic reaction.

How does Winnie’s talk with Miles when they go fishing relate to her earlier talk with Angus in Tuck Everlasting?

Winnie discusses the downsides of immortality and why everything needs to die someday with Angus and Miles.

The Tuck family is immortal.  Winnie stays with them while they explain to her how they became immortal and why she should not drink the water and become immortal herself.  She has conversations about immortality with both Angus and Miles.

Angus explains to Winnie that being immortal is not all it’s cracked up to be.  When you are immortal and no one else in the world is, you are not fully experiencing life.

That's what us Tucks are, Winnie. Stuck so's we can't move on. We ain't part of the wheel no more. Dropped off, Winnie. Left behind. And everywhere around us, things is moving and growing and changing. (Ch. 12) 

If Winnie were to drink from the spring, she would become stuck too.  She would be a little girl forever.  It would be the same problem that Miles has, and especially Jesse, because when you are a child forever you really miss out on important things in life.

Winnie tells Miles that she wishes nothing had to die.  Miles, who can’t die, explains to her that there is a reason for death.

"Well, now, I don't know," said Miles. "If you think on it, you come to see there'd be so many creatures, including people, we'd all be squeezed in right up next to each other before long." (Ch. 17)

Miles tells Winnie that things kill and die.  This is the natural way.  When they catch a fish, she makes him put it back.  He understands why she does not want to see the fish die.  She still wants to believe that everything can live forever, even though she knows why it shouldn’t.

Miles tells Winnie that he wants to do something important eventually.  She understands this sentiment.  Miles has all the time in the world, and he wants to make it matter.  Winnie wants to become someone.  Before she was “kidnapped” she wanted to go on an adventure.  Now she has had one.

How is Darcy's proposal to Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice satirical or ironic?

Darcy's proposal to Elizabeth is ironic because he really doesn't want to be in love with her.  He loves her and proposes marriage to her, as Elizabeth says, "'against [his] will, against [his] reason, and even against [his] character.'"  During his proposal, he spends a great deal of time discussing the fact that her family and social connections are dramatically inferior to his and that his marrying her is, in many ways, a "degradation" of...

Darcy's proposal to Elizabeth is ironic because he really doesn't want to be in love with her.  He loves her and proposes marriage to her, as Elizabeth says, "'against [his] will, against [his] reason, and even against [his] character.'"  During his proposal, he spends a great deal of time discussing the fact that her family and social connections are dramatically inferior to his and that his marrying her is, in many ways, a "degradation" of himself.  These are not exactly the kinds of things a man typically says when he proposes to the woman he loves; explaining that she is beneath him in basically every way is hardly the way to win her favor or acceptance.  Further, these aren't exactly the kinds of things a woman being proposed to wants to hear; Elizabeth feels insulted, even more so by Darcy's seeming confidence, notwithstanding his professions that he is apprehensive about her response.  Therefore, his proposal is ironic because Darcy does the opposite of everything that a person hoping to gain the acceptance and love of another should do.

What word is used to describe a solution that is neither acid nor salt?

A solution which is neither an acid nor a salt is a base. When we mix an acid and a base, we obtain a salt. 

Acids are compounds that can donate a hydrogen ion when mixed in a solution. For example, hydrochloric acid (chemical formula: HCl) dissociates into a hydrogen ion and chloride ion when dissolved in water. Acids change the color of blue litmus paper to red.

Bases are compounds that can donate a...

A solution which is neither an acid nor a salt is a base. When we mix an acid and a base, we obtain a salt. 

Acids are compounds that can donate a hydrogen ion when mixed in a solution. For example, hydrochloric acid (chemical formula: HCl) dissociates into a hydrogen ion and chloride ion when dissolved in water. Acids change the color of blue litmus paper to red.

Bases are compounds that can donate a hydroxide ion when mixed in a solution. For example, sodium hydroxide (chemical formula: NaOH) dissociates into a sodium ion and a hydroxide ion when dissolved in water. A base changes the color of red litmus paper to blue.

When we mix an acid and bases, say hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide, we get sodium chloride, which is a salt.

NaOH + HCl -> NaCl + H2O

Thus, we can classify solutions into acids, bases and salts; something which is neither acid nor salt can be termed a base.

Hope this helps. 

Why are algae an important part of the marine forest community? What are the different types of marine algae? Is ‘algae’ a Linnaean...

Algae is important for a marine ecosystem because it serves as the main food source at the bottom of the food webs found in those communities. It provides the energy that will flow through the food chain as organisms are eaten. Algae are generally classified as part of the Kingdom Protista because they are more related to protists than to plants. Algae lack the vascular structures and roots, shoots and stems that plants have.

There are three different groups of marine algae: brown algae, green algae and red algae. You may hear about blue-green algae, but it is classified as a cyanobacteria since it is more closely related to bacteria than to other algae. 

Brown algae are generally multicellular organisms that can grow at deep depths and can grow very large. A common example of brown algae is kelp, which is a very important part of marine kelp forests. In a kelp forest, the kelp serves as an essential food source and form of shelter for many different organisms. Green algae can vary from unicellular to multicellular organisms that may look similar to plants. Since green algae need large amounts of sunlight for photosynthesis, they grow in shallower waters than brown algae. Red algae are also usually multicellular and grow more slowly than green algae. The red color comes from pigments called phycobiliproteins. 

In Linnaeus' original classification system, he included three kingdoms: plants, animals and minerals. The minerals were discarded early on, and the kingdoms have been modified and added to. Most scientists recognize five kingdoms, but there is growing use of the three domain system (bacteria, archaea and eukaryota). Algae falls into the Kingdom Protista as described earlier, and in the domain system it belongs to the Domain Eukaryota. These groups did not exist in the original Linneaen classification system.

Humans use algae for a wide variety of reasons, including food (the green seaweed wrapped around sushi is algae), ingredients in toothpaste, paint, cosmetics, and food additives, and in medical settings for wound dressings and the agar to make petri dishes in microbiology. Lastly, the oil and natural gas we use is made up mainly of the remains of algae that lived millions of years ago.