What are individuals' responsibilities to the community?

One story illustrates that responsibility to the community lies in being honest and direct, not permitting yourself to hide in subterfuge, and in having the perceptiveness to get involved with events beyond your own four walls, outside your windows, when needed, as when a woman's life may depend upon it.

The final segment of "Getting By" describes a party Gary Soto and his wife Carolyn throw to celebrate the release of his first poetry collection. With their cottage filled with friends and relatives not seen "in nine months--or years!" Soto's sister Debra drags him to a bedroom window where she points at a woman on top of a "tin shed in the back yard" yelling obscenities in self-defense at a man waving a steak knife at her. Soto pulls down the shade. He contemplates calling the police.

Pulling down the shade, I felt inclined to telephone the police. I hesitated, however, and went over to tell Carolyn about what was happening outside. She rushed ... and peeked through the shade. They were gone.

A moment later Debra tugs on Soto's sleeve saying the woman is at the front door. When he opens to her, she pretends to have a broken-down car and asks to use the phone, refusing to meet his stare. He watches her and wonders if he should directly tell her that he knows it was trouble with a man and a steak knife, not trouble with a broken-down car, that brought her to his door.

Not wanting to embarrass someone so clearly in need of comfort, not wanting to get involved, he waits, walks her to the door, and wishes her luck with her car. She thanks him.

But I said nothing, for fear of getting involved, and when the young woman was off the telephone I walked her to the door and--very stupidly--wished her luck in getting her car started. On the steps she half-turned to me and ... said, "Thanks."

Although Soto does not draw morals and lessons at the conclusions of his stories, there is a clear implication that he would have done well to have acted on his inclination to intervene in trying to rescue her from violence and that he did poorly in engaging in subterfuge with her. For the young woman, there would have been a natural inclination to hide the truth as people tend to shy away from strangers who are in danger: homes and families are instinctively protected from invasion by dangerous elements.

But for Soto, there was that half-turned-toward inclination to intervene on her behalf. He would have done well to respond to it if for no other reason than that she may have seen a new pattern of being. Two of an individual's responsibilities to the community are (1) to follow beneficial inclinations that have the potential to lead to good and (2) to reject the inclination to hide in subterfuge.

Gary Soto Biography

Why doesn't Scout recognize Boo Radley when she first sees him?

In Chapter 29, Scout recounts her story about Bob Ewell's attack to Sheriff Tate. She admits that she was unable to identify the person who helped them out and said that she thought Atticus had come to save them. When Tate asks Scout who saved them, Scout points to the shy man standing in the corner and says, "Why there he is, Mr. Tate, he can tell you his name” (Lee 165). Scout then looks at the man and notices that he has extremely pale skin which made it seem like he had never seen the sun. Scout then examines his hollow face, thin frame, and gray eyes. Whenever he flashes a timid smile, Scout realizes that she is looking at her neighbor, Arthur Radley. Scout's eyes swell up with tears as she says, "Hey, Boo” (Lee 165).

There are several reasons why Scout did not initially recognize Boo Radley when she first sees him. Boo Radley is the most reclusive individual in the neighborhood, and Scout had never seen what he looked like before. During the struggle, Scout was wearing a cumbersome ham costume which impaired her visibility. Also, it was extremely dark outside which is why she was not able to get a clear look at who saved them. While Boo is quietly standing in the corner of Jem's room, Scout has no idea who he is because she is incapable of identifying a man she has never seen before. Only after noticing his skin and demenour, does Scout realize that she is staring at the reclusive Arthur “Boo” Radley.

`arccos(x) = arcsec(x)` Solve the equation for x

The function at the left side, `arccos(x),` is defined at `[-1, 1],` because it is the range of `cos(x).`  The function at the right side, `arcsec(x),` is defined at `(-oo, -1] uu [1, +oo],` because it is the range of `sec(x).`

Thus there are only two points at which both sides are defined, `x_1 = -1` and `x_2 = 1.` Let's check whether they are the solutions: `arccos(-1) = pi` and `arcsec(-1) = pi,` `arccos(1) = 0` and `arcsec(1) = 0.`

Yes, they are the solutions. The answer: `x_1 = -1,` `x_2 = 1.`

Was it inevitable that the League of Nations would fail to preserve the peace?

There is no way to know for sure what things in human history could possibly have happened differently.  We cannot run experiments on human history to determine whether the League of Nations could have achieved lasting peace had, for example, the Great Depression not occurred.  However, I would argue that the League of Nations was doomed to fail for two main reasons.

First, the League was arguably doomed because there were countries that were potentially quite strong that were dissatisfied with the status quo that the League was trying to protect.  Germany and Japan were the most obviously unhappy countries, but Italy was not particularly happy with the status quo either.  When powerful countries are unhappy with the status quo, they will work to overthrow it.  This will make it difficult to preserve peace.

Secondly, we can argue that the League was doomed to fail because strong countries were not really willing to support it vigorously.  The United States never even joined the League.  Other powers, like Britain and France, did not try hard to enforce the League’s sanctions against countries that violated League rules.  If a country like Italy could invade Ethiopia without the League doing anything serious to stop it, why would other countries feel that they had to obey the League?  If the major countries of the world were not willing to put their weight behind the League’s rules, it would be very hard for the League to keep the peace.

While we cannot know for sure if the League was doomed to fail, I would argue that it was.  There were powerful countries who wanted to upend the status quo while, on the other hand, there were not enough powerful countries that were willing to use their power to support the League’s efforts to preserve that status quo.

When a mass of 350g is hung on a spiral spring which was designed for a maximum load of 200g, what happens?

The spring is designed to take a maximum weight of 200g. At this threshold, the spring reaches its elastic limit when the weight is attached to it and allowed to drop down towards the ground.

The extension (e) in meters (m) of a spring is related to the force (F) in Newtons (N) applied to it and its spring constant (k) in Newtons per meter (N/m) by Hooke's Law

`F = k times e `

Assuming a gravitational constant of 9.81m/s^2 (that on Earth), the maximum force that can be applied to the spring in question is

`F_max = 0.2 kg times 9.81 "m/" s^2 = 1.962 kg "m/" s^2 = 1.962N`` `

When the maximum force the spring can withhold is exceeded, the spring constant of the spring will no longer be the same. The spring is no longer in equilibrium and loses its properties of retraction and elasticity. The tension in the matter that makes up the spring is weakened, some bonds of the matter (perhaps metal or plastic) being stretched beyond a critical threshold.

Being overloaded, the spring might lose its elasticity by bending in one or more of its coils, perhaps so much so that the spring snaps. The spring would not spring back up in the direction of its original starting position before the 350g excessive weight was added, as it would with a weight less than 200g, unless the ground which the weight would drag the spring down towards were also springy.

From the point of view of the 350g weight that is added to the spring, the spring would slow the weight's progress to the ground, counteracting the acceleration due to gravity. Depending on the height of the (originally contracted) spring from the ground, the weight might drop to the ground still attached to the spring, or might drop to the ground severed from part or all of the spring, or might dangle above the ground on the spring as a result of its warping of the spring.

What is the overall message of the poem "Dulce Et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen?

"Dulce Et Decorum Est" is an anti-war poem by Wilfred Owen, a soldier in the British Army during World War I. The title of the poem is derived from a poem by Horace, an ancient Roman, who claimed that it was "sweet and fitting (dulce et decorum)" to die for one's country. This statement was being echoed by many British politicians in Owen's day, and it is his intent with this poem to prove that it was, as he flatly says, a "lie." He describes the drudgery and misery of war, opening the poem by describing soldiers slogging through mud "knock-kneed, like old beggars under sacks," coughing "like hags." As they are slowly marching along, a gas shell explodes nearby, and as the men fumble to put on their gas masks, they are horrified to realize that one of their number has failed to get his mask on. Owen then describes, in equally vivid language, the horrors of the man's death struggle as he thrashes about "like a man in fire or lime" and drowns as his lungs fill with fluid. The scene is terrifying, and Owen tells the reader that if they had witnessed such carnage, they would not tell the "old lie" that it was sweet and fitting to die for one's country. With these lines, he sends a powerful antiwar message through the eyes of one who has witnessed the worst of war.

What is the socio-economic structure of Sumerian society?

Sumerian civilization in present-day Iraq was one of the first societies in the world to create a social class system.  At the top of the social hierarchy was the ruling family.  Each city-state had a king and an aristocratic class that consisted primarily of the royal family.  Also highly regarded in Sumerian city-states were the priests that were responsible for keeping the gods happy.  They were in the upper classes and close in importance to the royal family.  A middle class emerged that consisted of warriors, scribes, merchants, and artisans.  Trade was very important in Mesopotamia and merchants could acquire wealth through trading with other city-states.  They had to work very hard for this wealth.

The lower classes in Mesopotamia consisted of farmers.  While they were very important to the city-states, they were not highly regarded.  A penal slave class existed below the farmers on the social hierarchy.