In Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, how did the riot squad calm the crowd?

In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, John instigates a riot when he tries to free the crowds from the influence of soma. The policemen who calm the riot use two main tools to prevent the riot from spreading. 

First, they pump the air with soma vapor. The calming effects of the drug take immediate effect. Soma placates people, allowing them to relax and pacify any conflict or difficult emotions. 

Next, police use an audio system: the Synthetic Music Box. Instead of music, they play a calm voice repeating the same sentiments at an overwhelming volume. It refers to the listeners as friends and pleads with them to stop. The speech itself is entitled "Synthetic Anti-Riot Speech Number Two (Medium Strength)," and it is delivered by a Voice. Huxley's decision to capitalize the first letter in the word voice transforms the term into a proper noun that commands recognition, much like a name. This deliberate choice, combined with the soma and the speech itself, result in a powerfully calming combination. 

In "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles, why does Finny make up the story about "the fat old men"?

The war is a supremely important and serious event that everyone in Finny's life seems to be talking about. The entire world around him is focused on producing soldiers from his generation to fight in the war. However, Finny cannot fight due to his injured leg. As we know, Finny loves to be the center of attention, which is why he wears eccentric clothing and is always found in the center of the crowd. The war makes Finny feels left out due to his injury.

Finny wants to train Gene to compete in the 1944 Olympics. He tells Gene that since he (Finny) can no longer compete, Gene has to do it for him. In this way, Finny can live vicariously through Gene even with his (Finny's) injury. Having a war going on gets in the way of this plan. Gene wants to enlist in the war, which would separate him from Finny. So Finny makes up a story (which he himself believes and convinces Gene to believe) about the "fat old men" who are conspiring to fool the younger generation into thinking that there is a war, to stop the young people from having any fun. The lie about the "fat old men" serves as a way for Finny to keep Gene under his thumb, to keep Gene close to Finny, and to enable Gene to fulfill Finny's fantasy about competing in the Olympics. If Gene thought that the war was real, he would be much more likely to enlist. Therefore, believing that the war is fake keeps Gene from focusing on things other than Finny and their friendship.

Being the only two people who "know" about the "fat old men" draws Gene and Finny into a world of their own, where they can only trust each other. This brings them closer together.

Finny's vision of the fake war invalidates the commonly accepted world view. Within his dream of sending Gene to the Olympics, he creates a new reality to fill the void created by his (Finny's) disbelief of that world view. In this new reality, the war is fake, and can only drag on for so long. It will end before 1944, and Gene will be able to compete in the Olympics. The 1944 Olympics can occur only in a world where the war was fake. In this new reality that Finny created, his vision of living vicariously through Gene's athletic success could come true.

Finny's offer/demand to train Gene for the Olympics was an invite to a whole new world - a world where the war and wartime troubles did not exist. Ultimately, it is an invite into a new world where Gene could be more like Finny, just like Gene always wanted. 

What are learning disabilities?

Causes and Symptoms

An understanding of learning disabilities must begin with the knowledge that the definition, diagnosis, and treatment of these disorders have historically generated considerable disagreement and controversy. This is primarily attributable to the fact that people with learning disabilities are a highly diverse group of individuals with a wide variety of characteristics. Consequently, differences of opinion among professionals remain to such an extent that presenting a single universally accepted definition of learning disabilities is not possible. Definitional differences most frequently center on the relative emphases that alternative groups place on characteristics of these disorders. For example, experts in medical fields typically describe these disorders from a disease model and view them primarily as neurological dysfunctions. Conversely, educators usually place more emphasis on the academic problems that result from learning disabilities. Despite these differences, the most commonly accepted definitions, those developed by the United States Office of Education in 1977, the Board of the Association for Children and Adults with Learning Disabilities in 1985, and the National Joint Committee for Learning Disabilities in 1981, do include some areas of commonality.

Difficulty in academic functioning is included in the three definitions, and virtually all descriptions of learning disabilities include this characteristic. Academic deficits may be in one or more formal scholastic subjects, such as reading or mathematics. Often the deficits will involve a component skill of the academic area, such as problems with comprehension or word knowledge in reading or difficulty in calculating or applying arithmetical reasoning in mathematics. The academic difficulty may also be associated with more basic skills of learning that influence functioning across academic areas; these may involve deficits in listening, speaking, and thinking. Dyslexia, a term for reading problems, is the most common academic problem associated with learning disabilities. Because reading skills are required in most academic activities to some degree, many view dyslexia as the most serious form of learning disability.

The presumption of a neurological dysfunction as the cause of these disorders is included, either directly or indirectly, in each of the three definitions. Despite this presumption, unless an individual has a known history of brain trauma, the neurological basis for learning disabilities will not be identified in most cases because current assessment technology does not allow for such precise diagnoses. Rather, at least minimal neurological dysfunction is simply assumed to be present in anyone who exhibits characteristics of a learning disorder.

The three definitions all state that individuals with learning disabilities experience learning problems despite possessing normal intelligence. This condition is referred to as a discrepancy between achievement and ability or potential.

Finally, each of the three definitions incorporates the idea that learning disabilities cannot be attributed to another condition such as vision or hearing problems, emotional or psychiatric disturbance, or social, cultural, or educational disadvantage. Consequently, these conditions must be excluded as primary contributors to academic difficulties.

A number of causes of learning disabilities have been proposed, with none being universally accepted. Some of the most plausible causal theories include neurological deficits, genetic and hereditary influences, and exposure to toxins during fetal gestation or early childhood.

Evidence to support the assumption of a link between neurological dysfunction and learning disabilities has been provided by studies using sophisticated brain imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) scanning and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Studies using these techniques have, among other findings, indicated subtle abnormalities in the structure and electrical activity in the brains of individuals with learning disabilities. The use of such techniques has typically been confined to research; however, the continuing advancement of brain imaging technology holds promise not only in contributing greater understanding of the nature and causes of learning disabilities but also in treating the disorder.

Genetic and hereditary influences also have been proposed as causes. Supportive evidence comes from research indicating that identical twins are more likely to be concordant for learning disabilities than fraternal twins and that these disorders are more common in certain families.

A genetic cause of learning disabilities may be associated with extra X or Y chromosomes in certain individuals. The type and degree of impairment associated with these conditions vary according to many genetic and environmental factors, but they can involve problems with language development, visual perception, memory, and problem solving. Despite evidence to link chromosome abnormalities to those with learning disabilities, most experts agree that such genetic conditions account for only a portion of these individuals.

Exposure to toxins or poisons during fetal gestation and early childhood can also cause learning disabilities. During pregnancy nearly all substances the mother takes in are transferred to the fetus. Research has shown that mothers who smoke, drink alcohol, or use certain drugs or medications during pregnancy are more likely to have children with developmental problems, including learning disabilities. Yet not all children exposed to toxins during gestation will have such problems, and the consequences of exposure will vary according to the period when it occurred, the amount of toxin introduced, and the general health and nutrition of the mother and fetus.

Though not precisely involving toxins, two other conditions associated with gestation and childbirth have been linked to learning disabilities. The first, anoxia, or oxygen deprivation, occurring for a critical period of time during the birthing process has been tied to both developmental and learning disabilities. The second, and more speculative, involves exposure of the fetus to an abnormally large amount of testosterone during gestation. Differences in brain development are proposed to result from the exposure, causing learning disorders and other abnormalities. Known as the embryological theory, it may account for the large number of males with these disabilities, since they have greater amounts of testosterone than females.

The exposure of the immature brain during early childhood to insecticides, household cleaning fluids, alcohol, narcotics, and carbon monoxide, among other toxic substances, may also cause learning disabilities. Lead poisoning resulting from ingesting lead from paint, plaster, and other sources has been found in epidemic numbers in some sections of the United States. Lead poisoning can damage the brain and cause learning disabilities as well as a number of other serious problems.

The number and variety of proposed causes not only reflect differences in experts’ training and consequent perspectives but also suggest the likelihood that these disorders can be caused by multiple conditions. This diversity of views also carries to methods for assessing and providing treatment and services to individuals with learning disabilities.

Treatment and Therapy

In 1975, the US Congress adopted the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, which, along with other requirements, mandated that students with disabilities, including those with learning disabilities, be identified and provided appropriate educational services. Since that time, much effort has been devoted to developing adequate assessment practices for diagnosis and effective treatment strategies.

In the school setting, assessment of students suspected of having learning disabilities is conducted by a variety of professionals, including teachers specially trained in assessing learning disabilities, school nurses, classroom teachers, school psychologists, and school administrators. Collectively, these professionals are known as a multidisciplinary team. An additional requirement of this educational legislation is that parents must be given the opportunity to participate in the assessment process. Professionals outside the school setting, such as clinical psychologists and independent educational specialists, also conduct assessments to identify learning disabilities.

Because the definition of learning disabilities in the 1975 act includes a discrepancy between achievement and ability as a characteristic of the disorder, students suspected of having learning disabilities are usually administered a variety of formal and informal tests. Standardized tests of intelligence, such as the fourth edition of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, are administered to determine ability. Standardized tests of academic achievement, such as the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement and Cognitive Abilities and the Wide Range Achievement Test, also are administered to determine levels of academic skill. Sometimes a child may be asked to take more than one of each kind of test, as a multi-test battery is considered to produce more valid results.

Whether a discrepancy between ability and achievement exists to such a degree as to warrant diagnosis of a learning disability is determined by various formulas comparing the scores derived from the intelligence and achievement tests. The precise methods and criteria used to determine a discrepancy vary according to differences among state regulations and school district practices. Consequently, a student diagnosed with a learning disability in one part of the United States may not be viewed as such in another area using different diagnostic criteria. This possibility has been raised in criticism of the use of the discrepancy criteria to identify these disorders. Other criticisms of the method include the use of intelligence quotient (IQ) scores (which are not as stable or accurate as many assume), the inconsistency of students’ scores when using alternative achievement tests, and the lack of correspondence between what students are taught and what is tested on achievement tests.

In partial consequence of these and other problems with standardized tests, alternative informal assessment methods have been developed. One such method that is frequently employed is termed curriculum-based assessment (CBA). The CBA method uses materials and tasks taken directly from students’ classroom curriculum. For example, in reading, CBA might involve determining the rate of words read per minute from a student’s textbook. CBA has been demonstrated to be effective in distinguishing among some students with learning disabilities, those with other academic difficulties, and those without learning problems. Nevertheless, many professionals remain skeptical of CBA as a valid alternative to traditional standardized tests.

Other assessment techniques include vision and hearing tests, measures of language development, and tests examining motor coordination and sensory perception and processing. Observations and analyses of the classroom environment may also be conducted to determine how instructional practices and a student’s behavior contribute to learning difficulties.

Based on the information gathered by the multidisciplinary team, a decision is made regarding the diagnosis of a learning disability. If a student is identified with one of these disorders, the team then develops an individual education plan to address identified educational needs. An important guideline in developing the plan is that students with these disorders should be educated to the greatest extent possible with their peers, while still being provided with appropriate services. Considerable debate has occurred regarding how best to adhere to this guideline.

Programs for students with learning disabilities typically are implemented in self-contained classrooms, resource rooms, or regular classrooms. Self-contained classrooms usually contain ten to twenty students and one or more special education teachers specially trained to work with these disorders. Typically, these classrooms focus on teaching fundamental skills in basic academic subjects such as reading, writing, and mathematics. Depending on the teacher’s training, efforts may also be directed toward developing perceptual, language, or social skills. Students in these programs usually spend some portion of their day with their peers in regular education meetings, but the majority of the day is spent in the self-contained classroom.

The popularity of self-contained classrooms has decreased significantly since the 1960s, when they were the primary setting in which students with learning disabilities were educated. This decrease is largely attributable to the stigmatizing effects of placing students in special settings and the lack of clear evidence to support the effectiveness of this approach.

Students receiving services in resource rooms typically spend a portion of their day in a class where they receive instruction and assistance from specially trained teachers. Students often spend one or two periods in the resource room with a small group of other students who may have similar learning problems or function at a comparable academic level. In the elementary grades, resource rooms usually focus on developing basic academic skills, whereas at the secondary level time is more typically spent in assisting students with their assignments from regular education classes.

Resource room programs are viewed as less restrictive than self-contained classrooms; however, they too have been criticized for segregating children with learning problems. Other criticisms center on scheduling difficulties inherent in the program and the potential for inconsistent instructional approaches and confusion over teaching responsibilities between the regular classroom and resource room teachers. Research on the effectiveness of resource room programs also has been mixed; nevertheless, they are found in most public schools across the United States.

Increasing numbers of students with learning disabilities have their individual education plans implemented exclusively in a regular classroom, a practice known as mainstreaming. In most schools where such programs exist, teachers are given assistance by a consulting teacher with expertise in learning disabilities. Supporters of this approach point to the lack of stigma associated with segregating students and the absence of definitive research supporting other service models. Detractors are concerned about the potential for inadequate support and training for the classroom teacher, resulting in students receiving insufficient services. The movement to provide services to students with learning disabilities in regular education settings, termed the Regular Education Initiative, has stirred much debate among professionals and parents.

No one specific method of teaching these students has been demonstrated to be superior to others. A variety of strategies have been developed, including perceptual training, multisensory teaching, modality matching, and direct instruction. Advocates of perceptual training believe that academic problems stem from underlying deficits in perceptual skills. They use various techniques aimed at developing perceptual abilities before trying to remedy or teach specific academic skills. Multisensory teaching involves presenting information to students through several senses. Instruction using this method may be conducted using tactile, auditory, visual, and kinesthetic exercises. Instruction involving modality matching begins with identifying the best learning style for a student, such as visual or auditory processing. Learning tasks are then presented via that mode. Direct instruction is based on the principles of behavioral psychology. The method involves developing precise educational goals, focusing on teaching the exact skill of concern, and providing frequent opportunities to perform the skill until it is mastered.

With the exception of direct instruction, research has generally failed to demonstrate that these strategies are uniquely effective with students with learning disabilities. Direct instruction, on the other hand, has been demonstrated to be effective but has also been criticized for focusing on isolated skills without dealing with the broader processing problems associated with these disorders. More promisingly, students with learning disabilities appear to benefit from teaching approaches that have been found effective with students without learning problems when instruction is geared to ability level and rate of learning.

Perspective and Prospects

Interest in disorders of learning can be identified throughout the history of medicine. The specific study of learning disabilities, however, can be traced to the efforts of a number of physicians working in the first quarter of the twentieth century who studied the brain and its associated pathology. One such researcher, Kurt Goldstein, identified a number of unusual characteristics, collectively termed perceptual deficits, that were associated with head injury.

Goldstein’s work influenced a number of researchers affiliated with the Wayne County Training School, including Alfred Strauss, Laura Lehtinen, Newell Kephart, and William Cruickshank. These individuals worked with children with learning problems who exhibited many of the characteristics of brain injury identified by Goldstein. Consequently, they presumed that neurological dysfunction, whether it could specifically be identified or not, caused the learning difficulties. They also developed a set of instructional practices involving reduced environmental stimuli and exercises to develop perceptual skills. The work and writings of these individuals through the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s were highly influential, and many programs for students with learning disabilities were based on their theoretical and instructional principles.

Samuel Orton, working in the 1920s and 1930s, also was influenced by research into brain injury in his conceptualization of children with reading problems. He observed that many of these children were left-handed or ambidextrous, reversed letters or words when reading or writing, and had coordination problems. Consequently, he proposed that reading disabilities resulted from abnormal brain development and an associated mixing of brain functions. Based on the work of Orton and his students, including Anna Gilmore and Bessie Stillman, a variety of teaching strategies were developed that focused on teaching phonics and using multisensory aids. In the 1960s, Elizabeth Slingerland applied Orton’s concepts in the classroom setting, and they have been included in many programs for students with learning disabilities.

A number of other researchers have developed theories for the cause and treatment of learning disabilities. Some of the most influential include Helmer Mykelbust and Samuel Kirk, who emphasized gearing instruction to a student’s strongest learning modality, and Norris Haring, Ogden Lindsley, and Joseph Jenkins, who applied principles of behavioral psychology to teaching.

The work of these and other researchers and educators raised professional and public awareness of learning disabilities and the special needs of individuals with the disorder. Consequently, the number of special education classrooms and programs increased dramatically in public schools across the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. Legislation on both state and federal levels, primarily resulting from litigation by parents to establish the educational rights of their children, also has had a profound impact on the availability of services for those with learning disabilities. The passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975 not only mandated appropriate educational services for students with learning disabilities but also generated funding, interest, and research in the field. The Regular Education Initiative has since prompted increased efforts to identify more effective assessment and treatment strategies and generated debates among professionals and the consumers of these services. Decisions resulting from these continuing debates will have a significant impact on future services for individuals with learning disabilities.

Bibliography

Bender, William N. Learning Disabilities: Characteristics, Identification, and Teaching Strategies. 6th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2006. Print.

Farrell, Michael. New Perspectives in Special Education: Contemporary Philosophical Debates. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print.

Hallahan, Daniel P., et al. Learning Disabilities: Foundations, Characteristics, and Effective Teaching. 3d ed. Boston: Allyn, 2005. Print.

Harkins, Seth B. "Mainstreaming, the Regular Education Initiative, and Inclusion as Lived Experience, 1974–2004: A Practitioner's View." I. E.: Inquiry in Education 3.1 (2012). I. E.: Inquiry in Education. Digital Commons, 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.

Healthy Children. "How Learning Problems Are Managed." American Academy of Pediatrics, May 11, 2013.

Jordan, Dale R. Overcoming Dyslexia in Children, Adolescents, and Adults. Austin: Pro-Ed, 2002. Print.

Levinson, Harold N. Smart but Feeling Dumb: The Challenging New Research on Dyslexia—and How It May Help You. Rev. ed. New York: Warner, 2003. Print.

Lovitt, Thomas. Introduction to Learning Disabilities. Needham Heights: Allyn , 1989. Print.

MedlinePlus. "Learning Disorders." MedlinePlus, August 14, 2013.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. "What Are the Symptoms of Learning Disabilities?" National Institutes of Health, November 30, 2012.

Rief, Sandra F. The ADHD Book of Lists: A Practical Guide for Helping Children and Teens with Attention Deficit Disorders. San Francisco: Jossey, 2003. Print.

Swanson, H. Lee, Karen R. Harris, and Steve Graham, eds. Handbook of Learning Disabilities. New York: Guilford, 2006. Print.

Wong, Bernice, and Deborah L. Butler. Learning about Learning Disabilities. 4th ed. Waltham: Academic, 2012. Print.

Does Judaism allow child labor?

There is nothing in Jewish tradition which promotes or provides guidelines for child labor. In fact, the Pirkei Avot (Chapters of the Fathers) does not count anyone under twenty years of age as part of the eligible work force, and the Talmud teaches that young people should be in school until they are ready to work. 

While no religion actively promotes child labor, many children around the world are part of the workforce. Even Jewish children may work, either by their own decision, coercion, or force. In 1949, Israel passed a Compulsory Education Law that dictates all Israeli children must attend school until the age of sixteen, and that it is illegal to employ someone under sixteen on a school day. This is consistent with the Talmudic ethic of ensuring children and young people have access to schooling, while also addressing the social and economic issue of child labor.

What inference or conclusion can one make about how Watergate will affect future presidents?

Watergate, an event that occurred in the 1970s, still impacts each President today. Watergate can’t be viewed as a stand-alone event. It occurred during all of the turmoil that existed with our involvement in the Vietnam War. The trust that the American people had in our government was declining because of the events in the Vietnam War. People were beginning to doubt the government. The Watergate scandal deepened the distrust in and the lack of confidence in our government and in its leaders. This distrust continues today. People continue to lack confidence in our government. This impacts how people view a President, and how they feel about the job he is doing.

Ever since President Nixon was impeached, presidents have had to deal with the possibility being impeached. It seems leaders of the party not in control of the presidency are no longer afraid to say that the actions of the President may be impeachable. There was talk about impeaching President Reagan over the Iran-Contra Affair. There was talk about impeaching President Obama over the Affordable Care Act. We seem to be willing to move toward the thought of impeachment much quicker today than in the past. This will continue to be something that hangs over the head of each President.

The Watergate scandal continues to impact the President of the United States and probably will continue to do so in the future.

How did Two-Bit get his switchblade?

In Chapter 8, Two-Bit and Ponyboy go to visit Johnny and Dally in the hospital. After they see Johnny, Two-Bit and Ponyboy head into Dally's room where he is in the middle of an argument with the nurse. Dally explains to them that Tim Shepard came to visit him and was rubbing in the fact that Dally wouldn't be able to participate in the rumble. Out of nowhere, Dally asks Two-Bit for his fancy switchblade. Ponyboy mentions that Two-Bit's switchblade was his pride and joy. Two-Bit had acquired the black, jet handled, ten-inch-long switchblade by stealing it from a hardware store. Ponyboy says that Two-Bit walked aimlessly around the hardware store to divert suspicion for two hours in order to steal it. Ponyboy also mentions that he doesn't think Two-Bit ever used it on anyone and that he kept it more as a showpiece than anything.

In Act III, to whom does Hamlet say, "Give me that man / that is not passion's slave, and I will wear him / in my heart's core"?

Hamlet is speaking confidentially to Horatio in Act III, Scene 2, just before the play-within-a-play is about to begin. The main purpose of Hamlet's long speech to his friend seems to be to establish that Hamlet likes and trusts Horatio so thoroughly that he has decided to tell him everything he heard from the Ghost in Act I, Scene 5. What Hamlet means when he says the lines, "Give me the man / That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him / In my heart of hearts," etc., is explained by the lines immediately preceding them.

For thou hast been
As one, in suff'ring all, that suffers nothing;
A man that Fortune's buffets and rewards
Hast ta'en with equal thanks; and blest are those
Whose blood and judgment are so well commeddled
That they are not a pipe for Fortune's finger
To sound what stop she please. 

Hamlet is characterizing Horatio for the benefit of his audience as a man of strong character and sound judgment. Hamlet wants Horatio to observe the King's reaction to what is coming in the play-within-a-play because the Prince feels that he would like to have someone to verify his own observation of Claudius and his opinion of the King's behavior. Horatio is the ideal character to render a second opinion. Hamlet's wish to have his own opinion corroborated by that of another man whose intellect he respects is shown at the end of his speech.

Give him heedful note;
For I mine eyes will rivet to his face,
And after we will both our judgments join
In censure of his seeming.

This confidential meeting between Hamlet and Horatio will get Shakespeare's entire theater audience focused on the face of King Claudius, and they will all see positive proof that he is guilty and the Ghost was telling the truth. This is validated when Hamlet and Horatio meet again after Claudius has fled the performance.

HAMLET
O good Horatio, I'll take the ghost's word for a
thousand pound!
Didst perceive?

HORATIO
Very well, my lord.

HAMLET
Upon the talk of the poisoning?

HORATIO
I did very well note him.

Evidently Hamlet really attaches great importance to verifying that what the Ghost told him was the truth. This is not just an excuse for procrastinating. One of the concerns that has kept him from assassinating the King up to this point has been his fear that the Ghost might have been the Devil in disguise and that he might be getting tricked into committing the terrible crime and sin of regicide.

After the King gives his guilt away by his horrified facial expressions and his flight from the room, Hamlet will be a changed man. His mind is relieved, and he experiences a change of character from a confused and unhappy youth to a focused and determined prince. From that point on he will have definitely decided to kill the fraudulent, illegitimate King, although he will be delayed by being sent off to England and captured by pirates.

This play-within-a-play is a stroke of genius. Shakespeare wanted Claudius himself to reveal his guilt to Hamlet as well as to the entire theater audience. Otherwise, there is nothing but hearsay evidence from the Ghost.

What does the word "rapier" mean in the novel The Red Pony?

A rapier is a long, thin sword.

The rapier belongs to the old man, Gitano.   Gitano seems like an old cowboy, a vestige of the Mexican occupation of their land. Jody sees Gitano with a rapier one day, and decides to never tell anyone about it.  He is mesmerized by the sword, and Gitano’s careful care of it.

Jody stood overwhelmed by the thing in Gitano’s hand, a lean and lovely rapier with a golden basket hilt. The blade was like a thin ray of dark light. The hilt was pierced and intricately carved. (Ch. 2)

He asks Gitano where he got the sword, and Gitano tells him he got it from his father.  He does not know where his father got it.  Jody understands that the sword is very important to Gitano.  He is also very curious about Gitano’s close-lipped discussion of the sword.

What do you do with it?"

Gitano looked slightly surprised. "Nothing. I just keep it."

"Can't I see it again?"

The old man slowly unwrapped the shining blade and let the lamplight slip along it for a moment. (Ch. 2)

Gitano tells Jody he needs to go in.  As Jody goes inside, he thinks to himself that it would be a “dreadful thing” if he told anyone about the rapier.  It seems like a personal, deep secret.  He feels sorry for Gitano in general, and therefore decides to respect his privacy.

To Jody, there is something very romantic about Gitano and the rapier.  It is an old-fashioned heirloom, a vestige of a nobler time.  He is aware that that sword is a connection to Gitano's heritage, though he does not even know the sword's whole story himself.  It was something his father gave him.  Jody longs for this time of adventure, represented by Gitano and his old rapier.

What are mumps?

Causes and Symptoms

Mumps
infection
is acquired after contact with infected respiratory secretions. An infected person can spread the disease from twelve to twenty-two days after infection. One case in a family generally means that every family member has been infected. Mumps is most commonly transmitted in the winter and early spring. During the sixteen- to eighteen-day incubation period, the virus grows first in the nose and throat, moves to the regional lymph nodes and then into the bloodstream, and spreads to multiple organs and the central nervous system.

One-third of patients with mumps infection do not have symptoms or have very mild symptoms. Mumps is more severe after puberty. The first symptoms include fever, headache, stomach upset, loss of appetite, and a mildly congested nose. The most common finding is swelling of the salivary glands.
This swelling usually starts on one side and then moves to both sides in three-quarters of cases. Salivary gland pain is most pronounced during the first few days and is associated with discomfort when eating or drinking acidic foods such as orange juice. Rarely, a thin red rash can occur. The fever usually resolves in three to five days, and the salivary gland swelling subsides within seven to ten days.

Between 1 and 10 percent of patients have clinical evidence of central nervous system infection, most commonly meningitis but very rarely encephalitis. Infection of the central nervous system is more common in males than in females. Central nervous system disease typically occurs one to three weeks after the onset of salivary gland swelling, but it can also precede or follow this swelling. Symptoms include headache, fever, lethargy, stiff neck, and vomiting. Seizures occur in 20 percent of hospitalized patients. Central nervous system infection is almost always limited, without any lasting effect or complications. Hearing loss occurs during mumps illness in 4 percent of patients but is not higher in those with central nervous system involvement. Higher-tone deficits are noted most frequently. Recovery from hearing loss usually occurs within a few weeks following onset. Persistent hearing loss is usually only one-sided.

Orchitis, an infection of the testicles or ovaries, can also occur with mumps. The highest risk for this disease occurs after puberty, usually in males from fifteen to twenty-nine years of age. Between 14 and 35 percent of males with mumps infection develop orchitis. Fever, malaise, vomiting, and stomach pain are common symptoms. Testicular pain, swelling, and tenderness generally last for three to seven days. Involvement is one-sided in most cases. Symptoms usually began four to eight days following the onset of salivary gland swelling, but they can occur in the absence of gland swelling.

Mumps infection can cause other, less common complications. Infection of the kidney is almost always limited, but rare reports of kidney failure with mumps do exist. Multiple joint migratory arthritis with joint fluid has been described and is usually of short duration. Joint complaints are more common in males in their twenties. The usual signs of joint disease occur one to three weeks after the onset of salivary gland swelling. The large joints are more commonly affected.

Inflammation of the heart occurs in 4 to 15 percent of patients with mumps. It is most common in adults and generally resolves itself within two to four weeks. Infection and inflammation of the pancreas can occasionally occur. Pancreatitis can lead to fatty diarrhea and, very rarely, diabetes. Women who have mumps infection during pregnancy do not have an increased risk of delivering an infant with congenital malformation.

Very rarely, mumps will cause death. It is unclear why, prior to the advent of vaccination, mumps infection killed people each year. More than 50 percent of deaths are of adults.

Not all patients with salivary gland swelling have mumps. Swelling in this area of the face may be attributable to another disease of the salivary gland or another disease affecting other tissues in the face such as lymph nodes or bones. Persistent or recurrent swelling of the parotid gland should be evaluated by a physician.

Treatment and Therapy

Conservative therapy is indicated for mumps infection. No antiviral therapy is available. Adequate fluids and nutrition are important. A patient’s diet should avoid acidic foods and should be light and generous in fluids. Occasionally, mild pain medications may be necessary for severe headaches or salivary gland discomfort. Stronger pain medications may be needed with testicular involvement. In unusual cases where vomiting is severe, intravenous fluids may be required. A spinal tap (lumbar puncture) is rarely indicated, but patients who have this procedure frequently find that it relieves their headaches.

Exposure to mumps infection may cause anxiety in adult family members or day care employees. A child with mumps should be isolated for nine days after the start of salivary gland swelling. Vaccine administration will probably not prevent infection after exposure, and a history of family exposure to mumps probably indicates past infection. The physician will reassure any adult exposed family members and indicate that it is unlikely that the vaccine will prevent this disease. Nevertheless, exposure may dictate the need to administer the vaccine, as determining immune status is generally not practicable.

Mumps is a self-limited illness and does not require the administration of antiviral medications, antibiotics, or antibody preparations. Mumps vaccine should be given to children to prevent this disease. The combined vaccine containing measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccines should be given to children first when they are twelve months to fifteen months of age; a second dose should be given before the child first starts school (four through six years of age). About 98 percent of children will respond to this vaccine and not acquire mumps infection.

Perspective and Prospects

The term “mumps” is derived from an English dialect meaning “grimace,” attributed to the painful parotid gland swelling. The virus was first described in 1934, and a live vaccine was first licensed in 1967. Prior to 1980, the age-group most affected by mumps was five- to nine-year-olds. In the 1980s, this group shifted to children and adolescents aged ten to nineteen. In the 1990s, most cases occurred in adults over twenty. This change was caused by the increased use of the mumps vaccine in children but not in adults.

Vaccination has been very successful, especially when combined with measles and rubella vaccine, given in the second year of life, and repeated prior to school. Side effects from mumps vaccine are extremely rare and can include anything that is seen in mumps infection. Recent research in the area has been directed toward determining whether the vaccine in its present form or in another form should be considered for administration both to decrease adverse reactions and to decrease its cost and improve its applicability to a broader population.

Bibliography:

American Medical Association. American Medical Association Family Medical Guide. 4th rev. ed. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2004.

Badash, Michelle, and Kari Kassir. "Mumps." Health Library, Sept. 27, 2012.

Beers, Mark H., et al., eds. The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy. 18th ed. Whitehouse Station, N.J.: Merck Research Laboratories, 2006.

Bellenir, Karen, and Peter D. Dresser, eds. Contagious and Noncontagious Infectious Diseases Sourcebook. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1996.

"Fast Facts about Mumps." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mar. 24, 2010.

Gorbach, Sherwood L., John G. Bartlett, and Neil R. Blacklow, eds. Infectious Diseases. 3d ed. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 2004.

Litin, Scott C., ed. Mayo Clinic Family Health Book. 4th ed. New York: HarperResource, 2009.

"Mumps." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Oct. 6, 2010.

"Mumps." MedlinePlus, May 2, 2013.

"Mumps Vaccination: Who Needs It?" Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Jan. 12, 2012.

Sompayrac, Lauren. How Pathogenic Viruses Work. Boston: Jones and Bartlett, 2002.

Woolf, Alan D., et al., eds. The Children’s Hospital Guide to Your Child’s Health and Development. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus, 2002.

How do people learn in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury?

The society of Fahrenheit 451 emphasizes entertainment over learning. The owning and reading of books is forbidden; instead, people are encouraged to pursue leisure activities, like driving fast and playing sports.

In this society, schools still exist, although their form has changed significantly, as Beatty explains:

School is shortened, discipline relaxed, philosophies, histories, languages dropped. English and spelling gradually neglected… Life is immediate, the job counts, pleasure lies all about after work.

Moreover, learning is discouraged because it may upset certain social groups, like minorities. Society thus focused less and less on learning about the achievements of specific individuals or the history of events and moved towards magazines which became a "nice blend of vanilla tapioca." In other words, offensive and non-intellectual topics became increasingly popular and sought-after:

Let the comic-books survive. And the three-dimensional sex magazines, of course.

Over time, society came to view intellectuals and book-lovers as outsiders. We see this most clearly in the character Clarisse, who the authorities watch and Beatty labels as a "time bomb."

For those few people who still want to learn, their only option is to break society's rules by seeking out books. The people who do this, like Montag and Faber, are cast out by society and run the risk of an encounter with the fearsome Mechanical Hound.

What is the current situation with regard to immigration in the US today?

There are many ways to answer this question as it is very broad and somewhat vague.  Let us look at some of the most important facts about immigration today.

Perhaps the most important fact about immigration today is that we are in midst of an immigration boom.  As you can see from the graph at the bottom of the link below, we are near to an all-time high in percentage of Americans who were born in another country.  That percentage has more than doubled since 1970 and is only slightly lower than the percentage in the last great wave of immigration in the early 1900s.

A second very important fact about immigration today is that it is comprised of both legal and illegal immigrants.  This is the first time in our history that this has been true.  This is mainly important because it makes our political dialogue about immigration more complicated as we have to try to distinguish between our attitudes towards illegal immigrants and legal immigrants.

A third fact has to do with illegal immigrants and how they come.  While we have people like Donald Trump who vow to build a wall across our border with Mexico to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country, this is really not how all of them come.  According to this link, something like half of all illegal immigrants actually entered the country legally but then did not leave when they were supposed to.

A fourth fact about immigration today has to do with the ethnicity of today’s immigrants.  In the past, immigrant waves were made up exclusively of Europeans.  Today, this is not true.  Today’s immigrants come from Latin America, particularly Mexico.  They come from Asia and Africa.  They are, therefore, much more different from previous waves of immigrants in terms of ethnic background.  This is changing the racial makeup of our country.

A final fact about immigration today is that it is very controversial.  Some Americans think we should allow more immigration on humanitarian grounds.  Others say our economy needs more unskilled workers to do tasks “native” Americans won’t.  Others say we need to keep out the unskilled and only allow in skilled workers whose skills are in demand and who will add a great deal of value to our economy.  Others simply oppose immigration because they believe we have too many immigrants in our country as it is.  Immigration has become an issue that divides us more than it ever has in the past.

What would be some interpretive observations from Shakespeare's Macbeth?

When one reads Macbeth, one can notice many themes and motifs that are worth being examined thoroughly. I would like to focus on the role of ambition in the play and its impact on Macbeth because it is certainly one of the most important issues that needs to be discussed.

Macbeth's unchecked ambition leads to his imminent downfall because he completely succumbs to it and forfeits his right to be viewed as an individual who deserves redemption. His determination to put aside his sense of right and wrong for the sake of fulfilling his ambition to unlawfully become the king of Scotland is evident when he decides to murder king Duncan, who is also his relative, with the help of his wife. He even admits that his unrestrained ambition is the chief reason why he wants to follow through with his plan of murdering the king:

I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
And falls on the other.

His perilous ambition leads him to commit many more atrocious deeds (he orders the execution of Banquo, Macduff's family, etc.) and makes him unable to stop. As he gains what he desires, he feels more and more insecure and becomes obsessed with guarding his position as the king at any cost.

In the end, his ambition gets the better of him as he is defeated by Macduff, so the natural order is restored again. The play suggests that good triumphs over evil sooner or later and that any sort of ambition which threatens to disrupt the natural order of things is bound to be eradicated.

The assignment says I should argue the merits of my chosen author who is to be inducted into the Literary Hall of Fame. My book is Q & A by Vikas...

Vikas Swarup has an interesting place within the Western literary canon because he presents an authentically Indian voice and vividly portrays the conflict between Indians and Western culture. India was at one point under the colonial rule of England, and British imperialism and its tremendous effects are just beneath the surface of Swarup’s novels. Like many postcolonial novelists, Swarup examines how British imperialism affected his region, and he juxtaposes Indian cultural elements with Western-influenced culture; this is prominently on display in novels such as Q&A and Six Suspects. This, for me, is one major reason why Swarup deserves to be inducted into this imagined Literary Hall of Fame.

The themes you hope to examine are solid. Personally, I am most interested in how Swarup addresses social prejudices in his novel. More specifically, Swarup illustrates the distrust that exists between individuals of disparate socioeconomic statuses. Ram Mohammed Thomas is under scrutiny for winning a quiz show specifically because he is from a lower socioeconomic status. When he meets his lawyer early in the novel, she is incredulous that he had the ability to answer all twelve questions correctly. He becomes frustrated by her suspicion, and calls out her attitude:

“The look of utter disbelief on Smita’s face says it all. I can take it no longer. I erupt in sadness and anger. ‘I know what you are thinking. Like Godbole, you wonder what I was doing on that quiz show. Like Godbole, you believe I am only good for serving chicken fry and whisky in a restaurant. That I am meant to live life like a dog, and die like an insect’” (17).

That potent imagery that Swarup uses when he compares Ram’s life to that of a dog or insect brilliantly reflects Ram’s marginalized position within Indian society. He does not have the same prospects as those above him, and he is treated as subhuman as a result. This can be seen in many of the scenes from his poverty-stricken life.

Thus, Swarup deserves to be included in this fictional Literary Hall of Fame because he addresses the concerns of Indian citizens; he holds an important position within Western literature because he presents readers with an authentic Indian voice and examines the issues inherent with modern India.

What would be considered a good topic sentence for an essay about innocence and innocent characters throughout Maycomb County in the novel To Kill...

Topic Sentence:

Harper Lee explores the theme of innocence throughout the town of Maycomb by juxtaposing pure characters against the backdrop of a prejudiced community.

Innocent characters like Scout, Jem, Dill, Boo Radley, and Tom Robinson are drastically affected by the prejudiced community members of Maycomb. Scout, Jem, and Dill lose their childhood innocence after witnessing Tom Robinson's trial. Tom Robinson and Boo Radley both become victims of prejudice throughout the novel. Boo Radley is viewed with contempt by his community members and becomes the victim of ignorant rumors throughout Maycomb. Tom Robinson is wrongly convicted of raping and assaulting Mayella Ewell simply because he is black. Also, one of the most significant lessons Atticus teaches his children deals with how to treat innocent individuals. Atticus tells Jem and Scout that it is considered a sin to kill a mockingbird. Mockingbirds symbolize innocent human beings like Tom Robinson and Boo Radley, who do nothing but help others. Harper Lee illuminates the theme of innocence by exploring how innocent characters are affected throughout the novel.

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, what is important about the testimony of the first witness at Tom Robinson's trial, Sheriff Heck Tate?

In Chapter 17 of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Sheriff Heck Tate's testimony during cross-examination is very revealing and helps Atticus discredit both Ewells as reliable witnesses, especially Bob Ewell.

During cross-examination, one thing Atticus gets Sheriff Tate to reveal is that a doctor was not summoned to examine Mayella the night of the alleged crime. When Atticus asks Sheriff Tate, "But you didn't call a doctor? While you were [at the Ewells' home] did anyone send for one, fetch one, carry her to one?," Sheriff Tate answers in the negative to all of the above. This is extremely important because, in the US court of law, a defendant cannot be tried for a crime if no concrete evidence exists to prove the crime actually took place. We call this principle corpus delicti, which translates from the Latin to mean "body of the crime." For example, no one can be tried for murder if a body is not found to prove a murder actually took place, and no one can be tried for theft unless it can be proven something was actually stolen. Likewise, no one can be tried for rape unless it can be proven that a rape actually took place, and a doctor's examination serves as crucial evidence. Therefore, through cross-examination Sheriff Tate's testimony reveals that Tom Robinson had been imprisoned and is being tried illegally.

The second piece of crucial evidence Atticus gets Sheriff Tate to reveal upon cross-examination is that Mayella Ewell had been bruised in her right eye. Sheriff Tate at first can't remember which of her eyes was bruised, but after deliberation, he finally says, "It was her right eye, Mr. Finch. I remember now, she was bunged up on that side of her face ..." (Ch. 17). Even Sheriff Tate realizes the significance of his statement: only a left-handed person would have been able to hit Mayella in her right eye while she was facing her attacker; Tom Robinson has been crippled in both his left arm and hand since he was a boy.

Hence, as we can see, Sheriff Tate's testimony reveals crucial evidence proving Robinson's innocence, despite the jury's verdict.

What are the central themes of Moneyball by Michael Lewis, and how do they relate to business management?

The central themes of Michael Lewis's nonfiction examination of one professional baseball organization's unusual level of success despite its limited financial resources, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, include the advantage to be held by thinking creatively when evaluating talent and to incorporate innovative thought-processes into budgetary decisions. 

Michael Lewis is an interesting individual. He is a journalist who specializes in writing about financial matters, but from a very unconventional perspective. His first book, Liar's Poker, was about his experiences as a young bond salesman at the high-profile New York investment firm Salomon Brothers. Lewis's depiction of the behind-the-scenes shenanigans that dominated the backrooms of this prestigious Wall Street company, combined with an easy-to-understand style of explaining arcane financial concepts for the uninitiated, made his introductory volume hugely successfully, both commercially and critically. He has continued to employ his informal yet informative style of writing to additional topics within the realm of finances. In fact, his book The Big Short, adapted for film, provided a fine, relatively-understandable explanation for the financial crisis of 2007-2008--a crisis that literally shook the entire world and from which the United States is still struggling to extricate itself.

Moneyball, on first look, might seem a little outside of Lewis's normal analytical realm, but it actually fits his style quite well. As he wrote in his preface to this volume, the genesis of this particular study lied in the author's ingrained need to understand the relationship of money to human conduct:

"It began, really, with an innocent question: how did one of the poorest teams in baseball, the Oakland Athletics, win so many games?"

Like many of us a fan of baseball, Lewis was struck by the success, in terms of wins versus losses, of the Oakland A's baseball team. The distinction between so-called "small-market" and "big-market" franchises, with the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers exemplifying the latter and teams like the A's, the Kansas City Royals, and the Milwaukee Brewers typical of the former, has been a continuing area of interest for baseball aficionados for many years. The long-time dominance of the Yankees was easy to understand given the deep pockets of the team's ownership. Of more interest to Lewis, then, was the success of those small-market teams and, particularly, of the Oakland franchise. He focused his attention, then, on the team's management, personified by general manager Billy Beane. What, Lewis wondered, was Beane doing differently that led his small-market team to win more games on a consistent basis than every other team in the league save one, the Atlanta Braves. Moneyball provides his conclusions.

Chapter Four of Moneyball isi titled "Field of Ignorance," a play on the baseball film "Field of Dreams." If there is one section of Lewis's book that drives-home the basis of his approach to his topic, and why an author who specializes in understanding and writing about complex financial matters would focus on baseball, it is this chapter. In it, Lewis describes the variety of characters who applied mathematical models and statistical data to the sport of baseball. He discusses in this chapter Eddie Epstein, a government economist with the federal Office of Management and Budget, who, like Lewis, is a fan of baseball. He also introduces the reader to Dick Cramer, a research scientist for a major pharmaceutical company who used company computers--very, very powerful computers--to apply his skills at mathematical models and his interest in statistics to his true passion, baseball. Individuals like Epstein and Cramer, Lewis points out, discarded old assumptions (personified, Lewis notes, by old baseball scouts) regarding methodologies for evaluating talent. Cramer, the author writes, discovered, contrary to conventional wisdom regarding certain baseball "beliefs," that such beliefs did not stand-up to scientific scrutiny. Using as just one example, Lewis discusses Cramer's focus on the subject of "clutch hitting," the term applied to baseball players believed to be especially talented at hitting the baseball under the most tense of circumstances:

". . .Cramer had a hypothesis about clutch hitting: it didn't exist. No matter what the announcers said, and what the coaches believed, major league baseball players did not perform particularly well—or particularly badly—in critical situations."

Cramer's hypothesis, then, is typical of the findings Lewis describes in Moneyball.  If there is one central theme to this book, it is the value in thinking "outside the box" when it comes to evaluating conventional approaches to issues or problems that involve statistics. And, baseball, if anything, is a game notoriously subject to statistical analyses. 

What is an analysis of the short story "The Marionettes" by O. Henry?

In O. Henry's short story "The Marionettes," a character named Dr. James lives a double life. A doctor by day, he gains and betrays his patients' confidence to learn where they hide their valuables. By night, he uses his deft hands and tools to break into their houses. In this story, however, he finally experiences a change of heart.

On his way home from robbing a dry goods store, where he finds much less money than he had expected, a maid summons Dr. James into the seemingly wealthy house of Mr. Chandler. The wife swoons after her husband is taken ill, and the husband mutters something about twenty-thousand dollars. The doctor administers a heart stimulant that he knows will kill his patient and asks him where the money has been hidden. The patient first directs him to a safe, but the doctor finds it empty. Dr. James later learns that the husband, who is about to die from the heart stimulant he has administered, has gambled away all the money, leaving his wife nothing. The doctor leaves the wife the money he has stolen from the dry goods store.

The story operates by presenting a series of doubles. The doctor has a double life as a physician and a thief. He is then paired with Mr. Chandler, who is also a rascal. Seeming the evil in Mr. Chandler, Dr. James has a change of heart and rescues Mrs. Chandler by leaving her the ill-gotten gains he received that night. The reader is left wondering if Dr. James can reform himself and recover the better side of his nature and if the doctor should be excused for administering the final blow to the evil Mr. Chandler. 

What were the basic features of the government of the American colonies? What were the major similarities and differences between the government of...

Most of the American colonies shared a few basic governmental features, all of which were derived from English political tradition. All had a governor that was either royally appointed or chosen by the proprietors of the colony. In some colonies, governors were often natives of the colony, but in most they were sent from Britain, usually having secured the appointment by earning the favor of the King or one of his ministers. These governors had to work with the lower house of a representative assembly, chosen through elections by landowning colonists (the amount of land a person had to own varied by colony). These representative bodies, comparable to the British House of Commons, made laws and often fiercely guarded their power to tax and emit money. Most colonial assemblies, like Parliament, had an upper house. In Parliament, the upper house was the House of Lords, but in the colonies it generally served as a governor's council, which was chosen by the executive himself. Finally, most colonies, like England, had county governments, with county officials that included sheriffs, coroners, and justices of the peace. These people were either appointed or elected, but as in England, they were the political officials that most ordinary people interacted with the most regularity. What was most different was the extent of political participation. While both the British and colonial governments set landholding requirements for voting, the extent of landholding in the colonies was far greater than in Great Britain. Therefore, a much higher proportion of American colonists could vote than in the mother country.

How is William Golding's Lord of the Flies an allegory for World War Two?

William Golding served in Great Britain's Royal Navy during World War II and published Lord of the Flies in 1954, nine years after the end of the war. It can be seen as an allegory of the war through its representation of senseless jealousies, brainwashing, and senseless murders. In the words of Golding, "Lord of the Flies ... was simply what it seemed to be sensible for me to write after the war, when everyone was thanking God they weren't Nazis. And I'd seen enough to realize that every single one of us could be Nazis" (Wagner, "William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies' Adapted for the Stage," Ohio University).

In Lord of the Flies, Ralph, the good looking, intelligent boy who strives to rule democratically, represents democratic Western civilization, especially such powers as Great Britain, France, and America who had just finished fighting the first world war started by Germany and Austria-Hungry. As a result of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles ending World War I, Germany lost many of its territories. Previously German-owned Alsace-Lorraine went to France; parts of West Prussia and Silesia went to Poland; parts of East Prussia went to Lithuania; Germany's Hultschin district went to Czechoslovakia; Germany's city of Danzig became protected by the League of Nations; and, Germany lost all of its colonies ("Map: German Territorial Losses, Treaty of Versailles, 1919," United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). The desire to regain lost territory and power was one of the greatest driving motives for Hitler's decision to invade countries, leading to the start of the Second World War. Hence, it can also be said that Germany was jealous of the power seized by other countries, and this jealousy was a major driving force behind the start of World War II.

In Lord of the Flies, Golding captures that same jealousy in his character Jack. Jack first becomes jealous of Ralph in the opening chapter when Ralph is chosen as chief. Jack had nominated himself as leader, saying, arrogantly, "I ought to be chief ... because I'm chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing a C sharp." But when the other boys vote for Ralph, except for the choir boys, who "with dreary obedience ... raised their hands" for Jack, Jack feels furious and humiliated. Golding describes Jack's feelings of furor, humiliation, and jealousy in his narration:

Even the choir boys applauded; and the freckles on Jack's face disappeared under a blush of mortification. (Ch. 1)

This power battle between Ralph and Jack, with Ralph emerging triumphant, represents the power struggle between Western democracies and Germany that led to World War I and soon to World War II.

As the story continues, Jack's character flaws continue to show and develop, resulting in the murders of two boys. The senseless murders of Simon and Piggy are representative of Hitler's Holocaust. Moreover, Jack influences most of the boys on the island to follow his insane lead, showing us just how easy it is for human beings to be persuaded to give into their more evil natures, to be brainwashed into giving into their evil natures, just as Hitler's regime brainwashed millions into following his lead, before and during the war, through propaganda. Golding uses Jack's influence over the boys to show his readers just how easily human beings can become influenced, how easily human beings can, as Golding phrased it, "be Nazis."

In Robert Herrick's "Corinna's Going A-Maying," how are “church” and “sin” redefined? How are Nature and natural processes spiritually...

Like his poem "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time," this is a carpe diem poem. It encourages the reader to seize the day and enjoy life. In the poem, the speaker criticizes those who do not go out and enjoy the spring (May). This the symbolic time of rebirth and awakening. And while going "maying" can mean to gather flowers and celebrating nature in May, it also has sexual connotations. So, these themes of rebirth and awakening also suggest a getaway to a romantic or sexual realm. The speaker notes that it is a sin to "keep in" - stay inside and/or not experience the world. The interesting thing (or redefining) about this is that he suggests that it would be a sin not to have a sexual or romantic encounter. Whereas in some of the more Puritanical beliefs of Herrick's day, sexual dalliances like this were thought to be sinful. But Herrick says it would be a sin not to indulge. 

In embracing life, with and without the romantic references, Herrick imbues nature with spirituality. Herrick invokes the goddess Aurora: 

See how Aurora throwes her faire

Fresh-quilted colours through the aire:

Aurora is the goddess of the dawn. Here, nature and a sense of spiritual welcoming (from Aurora) are combined. In this same stanza, the birds sing "Hymns" as if their songs are proclaiming the divine presence of nature, particularly in spring time. The speaker also mentions Flora, a goddess of flowers, spring, and fertility. 

What disruption to the carbon cycle would increase the amount of carbon in the environment?

The carbon cycle is one of the primary biogeochemical cycles and depicts the various pathways through which carbon cycles through the environment. There are various sources and sinks of carbon in the cycle. Any disruption in the cycle may either increase or decrease the amount of carbon in the environment. If any sink (a reservoir that accumulates and contains something) of carbon were disturbed or removed, the result would be more carbon in the environment.

Plants consume carbon dioxide during the process of photosynthesis (in addition to water) and convert it, in the presence of sunlight, into glucose and oxygen. If plants were removed from the cycle, a major carbon sink would be absent, yet the producers of carbon (such as human beings and animals) would stay in the cycle and hence the amount of carbon in the environment would increase.

Thus, deforestation (or any removal of plants) is an example of a disruption that increases the amount of carbon in the environment.

Hope this helps. 

What are beta-glucan's therapeutic uses?

Overview

The term “beta-glucan” refers to a class of soluble fibers found in many plant
sources. The best documented use of beta-glucan involves improving heart health;
the evidence for benefit is strong enough that the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has allowed a “heart healthy” label
claim for food products containing substantial amounts of beta-glucan. Much weaker
evidence supports the potential use of certain beta-glucan products for modifying
the activity of the immune system.

Requirements and Sources

Beta-glucan is not an essential nutrient. It is found in whole grains (especially oats, wheat, and barley) and fungi such as baker’s yeast, Coriolus versicolor, and the medicinal mushrooms maitake and reishi.

Different food sources contain differing amounts of the various chemical constituents collectively called beta-glucan. Grains primarily contain beta-1,3-glucan and beta-1,4-glucan. Fungal sources contain a mixture of beta-1,3-glucan, and purified products containing only the 1,3 form are also available.

Therapeutic Dosages

For improving total and LDL cholesterol, studies have found benefit with beta-glucan at doses ranging from 3 to 15 grams (g) daily. However, benefits have been seen more consistently at the higher end of this range, and one carefully designed study found no benefit at 3 g daily.

Beta-glucan products can contain molecules of various average lengths (molecular weight). Some manufacturers claim superior benefits with either high or low molecular weight versions. However, one study failed to find any difference between high molecular weight and low molecular weight beta-glucan for normalizing cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

Therapeutic Uses

A substantial, if not entirely consistent, body of evidence indicates that beta-glucan, or foods containing it (especially oats), can modestly improve a person’s cholesterol profile. The most reliable benefits have been seen regarding levels of total cholesterol and LDL (low-density lipoprotein, or bad) cholesterol. Modest improvements of up to 10 percent have been seen in studies. Possible improvements in HDL (high-density lipoprotein, or good) cholesterol have been seen only inconsistently. It is thought that beta-glucan reduces cholesterol levels by increasing excretion of cholesterol from the digestive tract. This affects two forms of cholesterol: cholesterol from food, and, more important, cholesterol from the blood “recycled” by the liver through the intestines. However, virtually all studies involved oats and were conducted by manufacturers of oat products; independent confirmation remains minimal.

Beta-glucan may also modestly improve blood
pressure levels, though not all studies agree. In addition,
beta-glucan may help limit the rise in blood sugar that occurs after a meal. This
could, in theory, offer heart-healthy benefits, especially in people with
diabetes.

The other primary proposed use of beta-glucan products involves effects on the
immune system. Test tube, animal, and a few controlled studies in humans suggest
that beta-glucans can alter various measurements of immune function. In the
alternative medicine literature, these effects are commonly summarized as
indicating that beta-glucan is an “immune stimulant.” This description, however,
is an oversimplification. The immune system is extraordinarily complicated and, as
yet, incompletely understood. At the current level of scientific understanding, it
is not possible to characterize the effects of beta-glucan more specifically than
to say that it has “immunomodulatory” actions, or that it is a “biological
response modifier.” These intentionally unsensational terms indicate that it is
known that beta-glucan affects (modulates) immune function, not that it improves
immune function. Some of the immune-related effects seen in studies include
alterations in the activity of certain white blood cells and changes in the levels
or actions of substances, called cytokines, that modulate immune
function.

Based on these largely theoretical findings, as well a small number of very
preliminary human trials, various beta-glucan products have been advocated for the
treatment of conditions as diverse as allergic rhinitis, cancer,
infections, and sepsis (overwhelming infection following major trauma,
illness, or surgery). However, the evidence for actual clinical benefit remains
highly preliminary.

One study failed to find that beta-1,3-glucan (in topical gel form) was helpful
for treatment of actinic keratosis, a form of sun-induced precancerous changes
seen in aging skin. Another study found that it had no significant effect on
periodontal disease (gingivitis), an inflammation of the
gums caused by bacteria found in dental plaques.

Safety Issues

Beta-glucan, as a substance widely present in foods, is thought to have a high
margin of safety. However, if it really does activate the immune system, harmful
effects are at least theoretically possible in people with conditions in which the
immune system is overactive. These include multiple
sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma,
inflammatory
bowel disease, and hundreds of others conditions. In
addition, people taking immunosuppressant drugs following organ transplantation
surgery could, in theory, increase their risk of organ rejection. However, there
are no reports as yet to indicate that any of these hypothetical problems have
actually occurred. Maximum safe doses in young children, pregnant or nursing
women, or people with severe liver or kidney disease have not been
established.

Bibliography

Davy, B. M., et al. “Oat Consumption Does Not Affect Resting Casual and Ambulatory 24-H Arterial Blood Pressure in Men with High-Normal Blood Pressure to Stage I Hypertension.” Journal of Nutrition 132 (2002): 394-398.

Jenkins, A. L., et al. “Depression of the Glycemic Index by High Levels of Beta-glucan Fiber in Two Functional Foods Tested in Type 2 Diabetes.” European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 56 (2002): 622-628.

Jenkins, D. J., et al. “Soluble Fiber Intake at a Dose Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a Claim of Health Benefits: Serum Lipid Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease Assessed in a Randomized Controlled Crossover Trial.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 75 (2002): 834-839.

Keogh, G. F., et al. “Randomized Controlled Crossover Study of the Effect of a Highly Beta-glucan-Enriched Barley on Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Mildly Hypercholesterolemic Men.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 78 (2003): 711-718.

Kirmaz, C., et al. “Effects of Glucan Treatment on the Th1/Th2 Balance in Patients with Allergic Rhinitis.” European Cytokine Network 16 (2005): 128-134.

Onning, G., et al. “Consumption of Oat Milk for Five Weeks Lowers Serum Cholesterol and LDL Cholesterol in Free-Living Men with Moderate Hypercholesterolemia.” Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism 43 (2000): 301-309.

Pins, J. J., et al. “Do Whole-Grain Oat Cereals Reduce the Need for Antihypertensive Medications and Improve Blood Pressure Control?” Journal of Family Practice 51 (2002): 353-359.

Can I get a summary of the poem "The Vaccum" by Howard Nemerov?

"The Vacuum" by Howard Nemerov is told from the perspective of an older man who is a widower.  He misses his dead wife.  He is impacted by her absence, and he sheds light on his feelings through the object of a vacuum cleaner.  The title "The Vacuum" also refers to the void left by his wife's absence.

The poem opens with the words "It is so quiet now."  The man then states that "the vacuum cleaner sulks in the corner closet."  The quiet is referring to the fact that his wife is no longer in the house.  The house is also quiet because his wife is no longer there to run the loud vacuum cleaner.  The man remembers what a meticulous housekeeper his wife was.   When he does turn on the vacuum cleaner, he thinks of his wife and how meticulously she cleaned "in the corner and under the stair."  He cannot stand to run the vacuum cleaner because it causes him to remember and miss her.

Did violence solve the Civil War?

I assume that this question is really asking whether violence solved the problems that led to the Civil War.  If this is really the question, the answer is that violence did solve the problems to some degree, but it did not solve them completely.

The major problem that led to the Civil War was the fact that the North and the South distrusted one another and were very different in many ways.  The most important way in which they were different was that the South had slavery and the North did not.  The issue of slavery was clearly solved by violence.  The North could not make the South abolish slavery through political means.  However, it was able to force the South to do so after it defeated the South in the Civil War.  Thus, violence most definitely solved the problem of whether the US would be a country with slavery.

However, the violence did not solve all of the problems that led to the Civil War.  Violence could not make the North and the South trust one another any more than they previously had.  Violence could not make the two regions of the country similar in terms of culture and history.  These problems, in a sense, continue to be with us even up to the present day. 

Violence is able to solve some problems. When all you need to do is force people to change laws or give up territory or something like that, violence can solve problems.  However, violence cannot solve problems that are based mainly in people’s minds.  It cannot change the way people think or feel.  To the extent that it was differences in laws (on slavery) that caused the Civil War, the violence did solve those problems.

What persuasive techniques are used in Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech?

Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is one of the most often studied, cited, and referenced speeches in American history. While it’s true that some of its appeal is derived from the context of its creation and delivery (the 1963 civil rights watershed moment called the March on Washington), its power is chiefly due to the effective use of the persuasive and rhetorical techniques that we all studied in high school.

In reading the text of King’s speech, it doesn’t take long to uncover several of those techniques. Let’s look at the second paragraph.

Technique: Transfer

Transfer is used to link the speaker’s cause with something else, usually something that is well respected and accepted. If it works, some of that respect and acceptance is “transferred” to the speaker’s cause.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

Listeners knew that King was referring to Abraham Lincoln, a president who is now revered as possibly the greatest American leader. By mentioning Lincoln, King sought to align the civil rights cause with Lincoln’s reputation, which would give it a legitimacy that some Americans were not yet willing to recognize. Respect and acceptance is transferred from Lincoln to the civil rights movement.

Technique: Emotive words

Emotive words are words used to create an emotional response from the reader. This usually involves taking a simple idea and phrasing it with words that will sway the readers’ perception. The following line does this well.

This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice.

King could have said this instead: The Emancipation Proclamation gave hope to enslaved negroes. By using the italicized words, King elicits a stronger, emotion-based response from the reader.

Persuasive Technique: Figurative language (more specifically, metaphor and symbol).

The third and final sentence of the paragraph is:

It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

This persuasive technique is also a common rhetorical device. We call it persuasive here because its function is to convince listeners to agree with the speaker.

Speakers and writers create metaphors and symbols to help define their ideas. By telling what something is by comparing it to something else, they shape the listener’s perception of their message. The words “joyous daybreak” and “long night” are figurative terms, they are not literally true. The slaves did not suffer for just one long night, it was really many thousands of nights. And their freedom wasn’t really a “daybreak,” it was a legal right conferred upon them. But by using these metaphors, King imparts a greater emotional power to the idea that Lincoln freed the slaves from one kind of tyranny, although, as evidenced by the marchers protests, not all kinds of tyranny.

Near the end of the speech, King’s tone changes a bit. He knows that many Americans are not yet accepting of minorities as their equals.

Technique: Fear

And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights.

The fear King is stoking here is the fear of civil unrest. While he is not directly encouraging violent protest (in fact in directly argues against it in a subsequent paragraph), he knows that many Americans have been dismayed by the scenes they have witnessed on television, as protesters have been attacked and riots have occurred. He is appealing to their fear of further violence and protest (note that the violence was almost always committed by whites against the protesters, not the other way around).

As you can see, there is a lot going on in this speech. King also uses other techniques, such as repetition, parallel structure, hyperbole, slogan, etc.

We should also note that this speech is exceptional because of King’s oratorical skills. He can deliver a speech with charisma and power. If you haven’t actually seen and heard the speech yourself, watch it on YouTube (or wherever). There’s no better speech anywhere.

How did the railroads help industry during Reconstruction in the West and South?

The growth of the railroads affected the development of industries in the South and West during and after Reconstruction. Prior to the Civil War, most industries were located in the North. During and after Reconstruction, industries also developed in other parts of the country.

Railroads helped industries grow in several ways. One factor was that the expansion of the railroads in the South and West allowed for the easier transportation of materials needed to build the industries. Additionally, the railroads made it easier and quicker to transport the products the industries produced. This allowed industries to sell more products. The ability to get the products to market is necessary for any industry.

Railroads also made it easier for people to move to the South and West. Workers were needed to work in the factories. As more people moved to the South and to the West, the factories had a decent supply of workers to make the products they produced. The increasing population also created a demand for the products they were making.

The railroads helped industries grow in the South and West during and after Reconstruction.

What external conflict does Faber have in Fahrenheit 451?

In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Faber is an ex-professor of English who acts as a mentor to the protagonist, Guy Montag. You could say that Faber's overarching external conflict is with the entire society of Fahrenheit 451—in his conversations with Montag, he points out the shallowness and emptiness of modern life and critiques the fireman system, the media, and the decline of reading and books. In this way, Faber and Montag can be said to share an external, person vs. society conflict that brings them together. Faber also comes into an external, person vs. person conflict with Montag when Montag reads "Dover Beach" to Mildred and her friends in spite of Faber's pleas (via the "green bullet") for him to stop.

Faber's main external, person vs. society conflict comes to a head the night Montag takes shelter in his house with the Mechanical Hound on his trail. If the Hound tracks Montag all the way there, Faber's life as well as Montag's will be in danger, and the firemen will, at the very least, burn Faber's home and his books. Before he flees, Montag tells Faber to clean all the surfaces that Montag has touched and to turn on the sprinklers to get rid of his scent. On his way to the river, Montag looks through the windows of houses at their "parlor walls," which are all broadcasting the manhunt. He watches the Hound pause outside Faber's house, where the sprinklers are indeed running, and then continue on its way, so we know Faber survives that particular external conflict.

After seeing the city he has fled decimated in the bombing, Montag thinks to himself that at least Faber has already left on the early morning bus—but that it's likely Faber's destination has been destroyed as well. Though we don't know what happens to Faber after this, we can surmise that a whole new external conflict awaits the ex-professor as he, like Montag and his new companions, sets out into this changed world.

Discuss two factors that may threaten or limit the democratic functions of the media.

One way of the democratic functions of the media is the function of “watchdog.”  In this role, the media watches the government and alerts people when the government is doing things wrong.  For example, the media might expose corruption in the government where officials are taking bribes in return for favors. 

One factor that can limit or threaten this role is government pressure.  The government might threaten to arrest or fine journalists who write articles that it does not like.  It might order officials to refuse interviews to media outlets that write or air stories critical of the government.  It might order government agencies to crack down on such media outlets by doing such things as constantly claiming that the outlet is behind on taxes, getting people to make complaints about sexual harassment by bosses of the company, and other such things. In these ways, the government could put significant pressure on the media to look the other way instead of reporting on government abuses.

A second role of the media is to make sure that people know what they need to know.  As the link below says, the media should “provoke public debates leading to greater public participation in important decisions.”  Here, the media is supposed to give us high quality information about important events and issues.

A factor that can limit this is the media’s need to make a profit.  Many people are not interested in important topics and issues that have to do with government. People would rather watch or read stories about sports, celebrities, or other topics that are not particularly important.  They do not want to watch or read things that are meant to educate them, for example, on things like tax policy or the impact of free trade.  Because the media wants to make a profit, it needs to produce stories that people are interested in.  This can push the media towards reporting exciting stories on unimportant topics and ignoring important stories that would give people the information they need to help make decisions in a democracy.

After their meeting, what do Enfield and Utterson both suspect about the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde?

Both Mr. Enfield and Mr. Utterson suspect that Mr. Hyde is blackmailing Dr. Jekyll with some information, perhaps about the doctor's behavior when he was young, or "some of the capers of his youth."  Mr. Enfield says, after seeing Mr. Hyde, that it simply isn't possible that anyone would be friends with him of their own accord.  However, the fact that Mr. Hyde had produced, in Mr. Enfield's story, a check signed by Dr. Jekyll, a check that was obviously not forged, leads Mr. Enfield to refer to the house into which Mr. Hyde went to retrieve this check the "Black Mail House."  The fact, also, that Mr. Hyde has a key to this house is further indication of some intimate relationship between the two men, and Mr. Hyde's "'damnable'" character makes it impossible that he could be friends with someone like Dr. Jekyll, who "'is the very pink of proprieties."

The Milky Way is an example of a ______.

The Milky Way is a galaxy.

We live on Earth, which is a planet. Our Earth is part of the solar system, a system of planets which orbit around the Sun, a star. Our Sun is an average star and is just one of an extremely large number of stars in our universe. A large cluster of stars is denoted as a galaxy. Each galaxy contains billions of stars. Our Sun is part of a galaxy known as the Milky Way. Our galaxy contains about 100 billion (1 followed by 11 zeroes) to 400 billion (4 followed by 11 zeroes) stars. The Milky Way is a disc-shaped spiral galaxy and has a central bulge. Interestingly, we are not even at the center of our own galaxy, let alone the universe (contrary to the view held by human beings for a very long time).

Our closest neighbor is a spiral galaxy known as the Andromeda galaxy. 

Hope this helps. 

"The Canterville Ghost" is a ghost story with a difference. To what extent is this true?

"The Canterville Ghost" has all of the elements of a traditional ghost story: it is set in Canterville Chase, a haunted mansion, has its share of supernatural phenomena, like the blood-stain on the library floor, and features a resident ghost called Sir Simon.

But "The Canterville Ghost" is also a ghost story with a difference because it is filled with unexpected instances of humour and satire. We see this most clearly in the characterisation of the Canterville ghost himself because he is so different from the ghosts depicted in traditional stories. He is easily offended, for example, and is constantly outwitted and terrorised by the Otis children. When they create their own version of the Canterville ghost to scare him, in Chapter Three, the real ghost is terrified:

Never having seen a ghost before, he naturally was terribly frightened, and after a second hasty glance at the awful phantom, fled back to his room.

In fact, "The Canterville Ghost" is a story which flips the traditional ghostly tale on its head. This is because the Otis family are more successful in scaring the ghost than he is in scaring them. It is this twist which makes "The Canterville Ghost" so darkly funny and so different from other ghost stories. 

In "To Build a Fire," why is the man not worried about the unusual weather conditions?

Even though the main character of the story had been warned multiple times about the severe cold he was going to walk through, he refused to listen to any of their advice.  One of the main character flaws that London mentions is that the man "was without imagination."  He understood, scientifically at least, what the thermostat meant when it said that it was 50 below zero, but in his mind, he could understand or predict the consequences as they would apply to him.  As well, London comments, "Such fact impressed him as being cold and uncomfortable, and that was all. It did not lead him to meditate upon his frailty as a creature of temperature, and upon man's frailty in general, able only to live within certain narrow limits of heat and cold; and from there on it did not lead him to the conjectural field of immortality and man's place in the universe."  For the man, he was invincible, until the moment when he was not.  It is at that moment, when he cannot build a fire to warm himself, that the panic sets in.  There were many warning signs before that: the tingling in his fingers when they were becoming frozen, the spittle and breath that froze on his beard, the dog's resistence to follow the man.  But the man does not follow any of those signs because of his lack of imagination, and in the end, it is what led to his demise.