What is the answer to life? Why are we here?

"Life" is not a question but rather a noun referring to a state of being or consciousness. As answers respond to questions, the singular term "life," while it may have a definition, cannot have an answer.

Living beings are distinguished from inanimate ones by several characteristics. First, living beings grow by absorbing nutrients and using the energy gained from those nutrients to grow and reproduce in some fashion. Second, living beings respond to external stimuli. Finally, living beings demonstrate some form of purposive activity.

The question of "why we are here" is also worth parsing. It assumes that there is some purpose to human existence. While certain religions do argue that humans were created for a purpose, non-theistic thinkers are more likely to argue that we are simply a product of random mutations and natural selection. Among religions, accounts of the reasons for the existence of human beings vary, though they generally tend to assume that humans have some special relationship to the divine.

Different belief systems make different claims about the purposes of individual lives. Most religions believe that the purpose of humans is some form of salvation or reunion with the divine. Other belief systems argue that our purpose is to maximize our happiness. Some belief systems argue that in the absence of a divine purpose, we each must figure out our own purposes in life.

In Lois Lowry's The Giver, how is the problem of homelessness solved by the community?

The community in Lowry's The Giver solves the homelessness problem through population control. For instance, one of the community's policies is to allow only a specific number of babies to be born each year. In chapter 14, the Giver explains to Jonas that the Committee of Elders once asked about increasing the number of births each year so there would be more laborers in the workforce. Some family units also desired to have three children instead of two. At the time, the Giver drew upon his memories and remembered the devastation that could be the result of having large populations--widespread hunger. Therefore, he told the Elders not to increase the population. His reasons are as follows:

"And the strongest memory that came was hunger. It came from many generations back. Centuries back. The population had gotten so big that hunger was everywhere. Excruciating hunger and starvation. It was followed by warfare" (111).

After receiving the Giver's advice about population control, the Committee of Elders decided not to allow more children to be born than could be fed. As a result, the policy to continue limiting family units to having only two children remained in effect. Furthermore, Nurturers like Jonas's father continued to euthanize the smaller baby of twins so the population's number could stay balanced. Jonas actually sees this policy in action in chapter 19 when he watches a video of his father releasing a baby who was born a twin. Jonas becomes horrified when he witnesses the killing of an innocent baby by his father; but the Elders believe that it is better to kill a twin, thereby maintaining population control, in order to keep hunger and warfare at bay.

What was Gulliver's experience in Lilliput and Brobdingnag? Please keep your response within 200-250 words.

In Lilliput, Gulliver finds that he is ten times the height of the average native.  The Lilliputians prove themselves to be, in many ways, warlike and intolerant: one especially vitriolic disagreement over which end of the egg to crack resulted in thousands of deaths.  Further, when Gulliver refuses to help the emperor of Lilliput destroy the navy of their neighboring enemy, Blefuscu, and enslave its people, the emperor turns on Gulliver, charging him with treason against the state and planning his execution.  Gulliver escapes only with the aid of the Blefuscudian emperor.

In Brobdingnag, Gulliver is, at first, grossly exploited by a farmer who realizes that he could use the tiny man (now ten times smaller than the natives) to make some quick money.  He almost works Gulliver to death.  In time, Gulliver is purchased by Brobdingnagian royalty and he lives in relative peace at the palace with his child nurse, Glumdalclitch, to care for him.  He does have a number of unfortunate run-ins with the court little person (jealous as a result of the favor Gulliver receives), a monkey, and even a dog.  He is eventually carried away by a very large bird, only to be dropped into the ocean and picked up by a ship. 

A block of mass 1.5 kg is placed on a rough table (horizontal) and is pulled by a constant force of 1.2 kgf. The coefficient of friction between...

Hello!

By Newton's Second law, the acceleration is equal to the net force divided by the mass of a body. The net force is the vector sum of all forces acting on a body.

These forces in our problem are the traction force (horizontal), the friction force (horizontal), the gravity force mg and the reaction force R (both vertical).

Because the movement is horizontal, the acceleration and the net force are also horizontal. So the vertical forces are balanced, R = mg. Next, the friction force is 0.3R = 0.3mg = 0.45g (in Newtons).

The traction force is 1.2 kgf = (1.2g) Newtons. Thus the net force is equal to 1.2 g - 0.45 g = 0.75 g (N), and the acceleration is (0.75 g)/1.5 = 0.5 g.

So the answer in terms of g is 0.5.

How do elements in "The Most Dangerous Game" make it a commercial fiction story?

Originally published in Collier's in 1924, Richard Connell's short story "The Most Dangerous Game" achieved both commercial and literary success. It spawned a number of radio and motion picture adaptations as well as being widely anthologized in high school and college literature textbooks. Although now it is certainly considered a great literary achievement, it also has several elements that originally made it highly commercial. Popular author and writing instructor William Bernhardt has qualified those factors which make a story a commercial success.

First, it must have "readability," and "The Most Dangerous Game" is certainly a page turner. Connell grips his reader from the opening reference to the mysterious "Ship-Trap Island" through the nerve wracking hunt between Zaroff and Rainsford. Second, there must be "strangeness" to the story. This element is revealed early on in when Rainsford happens upon the strange chateau in the middle of a deserted island. The appearance of the deaf and mute Ivan at the door of the chateau adds to this "strangeness." Third, the story should provide controversy. In Connell's work the controversy surrounds the ethicality of big game hunting. The character Whitney introduces the controversy early in the story by suggesting that animals experience fear and pain.

Fourth is what Bernhardt calls "big actions with big consequences." By calling Zaroff a cold blooded killer and refusing to hunt with him, Rainsford's actions lay the ground work for the coming hunt and suspenseful action which dominates the second half of the story. Fifth, the story must have, what Bernhardt labels a "nuanced uniqueness." By this, he means the story must be well within a particular genre of stories, yet it should be slightly different. "The Most Dangerous Game" qualifies because, while it is an adventure story set in an exotic locale like so many other adventure stories, the element of man hunting man makes it different from other stories in the same category.

Sixth, the story must have "extreme situations." What could be more extreme than a man hiding in a jungle attempting to save himself from a maniacal sociopath? Rainsford himself creates these extreme situations when he lays various traps for Zaroff such as the "Malay man-catcher" and the "Burmese tiger pit." Finally, the author must give the reader a reason to care about the story. While this is certainly a subjective category it seems likely that most readers are reasonably interested in the well being of Rainsford, especially after his harrowing swim after falling from the yacht. Because of the black and white nature of the hunt, the reader is most certainly rooting for Rainsford to escape the diabolical General Zaroff.

How does the irony in "Araby" heighten the moment of epiphany within the story?

There are many different types of irony, but, in general terms, something is ironic when something very different than what was expected happens. Often, irony is used for comedic purposes but, in the case of James Joyce's "Araby," irony has more to do with bitterness and melancholy than with humor. 

In "Araby," a little boy has an intense crush on Mangan's sister, one of the girls living in his neighborhood. Mangan's sister asks the narrator to buy her a gift at the bazaar, and the boy gleefully imagines this to be his chance to prove his love through some grand, romantic gesture. However, when the boy finally arrives at the bazaar, he finds it to be a far cry from the exotic adventure he imagined, as it is dark, largely empty, and uninviting. The story ends with an epiphany, as the narrator realizes his dreams of love have been foolish childhood fantasies.

The irony here is that, instead of being an exciting display of foreign treasures, the bazaar is rather disappointing. Moreover, despite his obsessive desire to find a gift for Mangan's sister, the narrator does not ultimately buy her anything. The ironic end emphasizes the narrator's epiphany and displays the foolishness of his childhood fantasies, revealing them to be at odds with the harsh reality of the adult world. All in all, irony is an important element in "Araby," as its presence underlines the bitterness of the narrator's epiphany. 

What was going on in the Ford Madox Ford chapter and what is his significance in the book?

In A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition there are actually two sections dealing with the English writer and editor Ford Madox Ford. One of these sections, "The Acrid Smell of Lies," was added in the restored edition by Hemingway's grandson Sean. Both vignettes are extremely unflattering to Ford. In the chapter called "Ford Madox Ford and the Devil's Disciple" Hemingway details an encounter with Ford in a Paris cafe. He describes Ford derisively "as an ambulatory well clothed up-ended hogshead." Hemingway goes on to insult Ford throughout the piece, suggesting that Ford had a bad odor and that Hemingway needed to hold his breath when he was near the man. In the introduction to the restored edition Sean Hemingway admits that his grandfather's dislike for Ford has "puzzled" biographers, especially because Ford often praised Hemingway's writings and was one of the first publishers, in his Transatlantic Review, to print Hemingway's stories. Hemingway's disdain of Ford, however, is quite in line with the insulting treatment (although a bit harsher) he gives other literary luminaries who were his friends, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein and Sherwood Anderson (in Torrents of Spring).

The main insult in "Ford Madox and the Devil's Disciple" is to suggest that Ford could not even recognize the famous French writer and historian Hilaire Belloc (and thus was probably unable to recognize true genius). Ford claims that he has "cut" Belloc when he refuses to acknowledge the writer's presence when Belloc looks toward the table where he and Hemingway are seated. At the end of the sketch after Ford has left, Hemingway discovers that the man who Ford thought was Belloc was actually Aleister Crowley, an occultist who was often accused of worshipping Satan. This portrait of Ford tends to be ironic since Ford was well-known for recognizing great writing and promoting the careers of men such as Joseph Conrad, H. G. Wells, Thomas Hardy and Hemingway himself. As with many of Hemingway's relationships, there seems to be a good deal of jealousy on Hemingway's part. Another explanation of the poor treatment of Ford is posited by Sean Hemingway and is explicitly revealed in "The Acrid Smell of Lies" where Hemingway writes, "He [Ford] lied about money and about things that were important in daily living that he would give you his word on." Therefore, Hemingway's dislike may have originated because of a deal involving money. Years later, then, when he was writing A Moveable Feast, Hemingway couldn't help but harangue Ford in the worst of ways.