What was the Enlightenment? When was it?

The Enlightenment, often called the Age of Enlightenment, happened in the eighteenth century (originating in Europe) and was a movement that valued reason as the main authority.  This movement was mainly philosophical and was designed to end the abuses of the government and the church in their corruptions of society.  The exact dates of the Enlightenment are debated but are generally regarded as 1715, which is when King Louis XIV of France died, and 1789, which began the French Revolution.  The general reason why it was called “Enlightenment” is because it left the old ideas and blind beliefs of the past in the dark in order to bring humanity into the light (especially the light of scientific thought and reason).  The ideas from the Enlightenment permeated all aspects of life and its representative authors are Locke, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Hume (among many others).  The great thinkers of the Enlightenment believed in the facts behind science and rationality.  They thought that science could explain most everything in the natural world (including the human world).  The scientific method was to be used to improve each aspect of our society.  The Enlightenment led the way for many of the world’s government revolutions that would follow, not the least of which are the American Revolution and the French Revolution.  In fact, the authors mentioned above inspired many of those revolutionary thinkers.  In these ways, the Enlightenment permeated each aspect of the eighteenth century and most especially philosophy, science, politics, and religion.

Why do we have the Electoral College?

We have the Electoral College in the United States because the men who wrote the Constitution feared democracy.  They did not want to give the people too much direct power over the government.  One way they limited the people’s power was by preventing them from directly electing the president.

At the time that the Constitution was written, most educated people distrusted the idea of democracy.  There had never been a democratic country in modern times and even the Athenians and Romans were not truly democratic.  The Framers of the Constitution read philosophers like Plato, who emphasized that democracy was a bad form of government because it allowed a mass of people, most of whom knew nothing about running a country, to rule. They felt that democracy would inevitably collapse, or would turn into tyranny as ignorant people elected a demagogue to rule them. 

Because the Framers distrusted the idea of democracy, they tried to limit the degree to which the US would be democratic.  If we consider the presidency, the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Supreme Court to be the four main parts of government, the Framers only allowed the people to elect one part directly.  The people got to elect the members of the House, but Senators were to be chosen by state legislatures, the president by the Electoral College, and Supreme Court justices by the president and the Senate.  The Electoral College was simply one way of insulating the government from the people so our system would not be excessively (in the Framers’ minds) democratic.

But why do we still have the Electoral College now that we no longer fear democracy?  The main reason is that the small states would not agree to change the Constitution to do away with it.  The Electoral College makes each state relevant as an entity, not just as a group of people.  It gives small states more power in the presidential voting because it gives them a disproportionate number of electors.    For example, California has more than 70 times as many people as Wyoming, but only about 18 times more electoral votes.  Because the Electoral College makes small states more important than their population size would warrant, those states would be unwilling to ratify a constitutional amendment to do away the College.

What is a character sketch of the hermit from "The Three Questions"?

In the story, the hermit is an impoverished outcast who lives a simple life. We are told he is "frail and weak" and is barely able to turn the soil with his spade. The hermit is a very wise man, however, and we discover why as the story progresses.

As a matter of practice, the hermit is an individual who concerns himself with the present. He initially ignores the king when the monarch approaches and asks him three questions. For his part, the king interprets the hermit's silence as disinterest, so he offers to do the hermit's work for him. The hermit, however, is not so much disinterested as he is concerned about the task at hand.

When a wounded man comes their way, the hermit turns the king's attention to the stranger. Since the stranger is in a bad state (due to this stomach wound), the hermit and king tend to the man's wounds. The hermit does not encroach on the king's interactions with the stranger; he gives the king room to come to some sort of understanding with the wounded man.

In this, the hermit is discreet as well as perceptive. He does not meddle where he is not needed. In the end, it is revealed the wounded man originally planned to kill the king as an act of vengeance for his brother's execution. Since the king saved his life, the stranger vows he and his sons will serve the king as faithful servants.

By allowing the king to help him and the wounded stranger, the hermit essentially answers the king's three questions. Rather than supplying the king with verbal answers to his questions, the hermit guides the king to the answers by encouraging him to engage actively in the tasks at hand. In the end, because actions speak louder than words, the hermit gets his points across clearly without resorting to sermons of any sort. In this, the hermit demonstrates his reputation as a wise man has been well-earned.

What can HR managers do to ensure that their recruitment and selection process are not discriminatory?

Recruitment and selection are crucial aspects of the human resources department, and in today's legal environment in the United States, care must be taken to ensure that neither the efforts nor the results are discriminatory or even appear to be discriminatory.  For these processes to result in a diverse work environment is the goal, and that is the very best defense against charges of discrimination. 

Recruitment in many companies is done in ways that yield more of the same race, sex, or ethnic group.  For example, employees will let friends know of an opening.  There is nothing inherently discriminatory about that, but Americans live in remarkably segregated ways, many white people having no black friends or not living in diverse neighborhoods. So the consequences of employee recruitment are that you get more of the same kind of pool.  And then when you use broad spectrum advertising for a position, even though people of all kinds might see a posting, your organization may have begun to have the reputation of being only white, or only black, or only Indian.  And others will not bother to apply if that is the case. 

While there is no legal requirement that one recruit in a way that promotes diversity, it is in the HR manager and company's best interests to work a little harder at this.  For example, a day of recruiting at a historically black college or an all-female may yield some recruits.  Placing ads in smaller neighborhood publications will encourage people of various backgrounds to be interested in a company.  Arranging for internships through local colleges that have highly diverse student populations is another way to do some more long-term recruitment.  Letting a rehabilitation agency know you have positions might elicit some recruits who have disabilities but who can perform the functions of the job quite well.  When you recruit, the qualifications you are seeking should be relevant to the position, because if they are not, they could be perceived as means of keeping out various groups.   If it is not necessary to be able to lift fifty pounds, including this to keep out most women is a terrible idea and may hurt your company later on.  If you are committed to the goal of a diverse workforce, your recruitment should reflect this commitment.  How one recruits in and of itself is not usually a legal issue, but how one recruits can be used as evidence in a discrimination suit, to be sure.

If your selection process consistently results in hiring the best person for the job, you are doing well, since that is the very best defense you have against a discrimination suit.  As you set up a selection process, you need to be sure that it is a consistent process, for example, the same questions being asked of everyone at interviews.  The process should be written down and followed to the letter.   Even before interviews, though, the scrutiny given to all resumes should be consistent, so that it does not turn out later on that all of the applications or resumes of Latinos were discarded.  The selection process must be completely in alignment with the requirements and qualifications of the position, as well. If you are hiring someone because he has ten years experience in some completely unrelated field over a woman who has five years of experience in the work the company does, all other things being equal, you are likely to be accused of sex discrimination.

At interviews, there are some questions that are inherently discriminatory and unlawful, and asking them is a risky business.  For example, asking someone if he or she is married, asking if he or she has children, asking if he or she has childcare are all illegal questions.  Asking someone about his or her general health is illegal, too.  You are permitted to ask a person if he or she can perform the essential functions of the job, and what accommodations might be needed to do the job.  If you can remember that all questions should relate only to the job, you are likely to do fine.  A list of questions asked and notes from each interview should be retained as a means of defense in the event that there is a complaint of discrimination.  

If you recruit intelligently and follow a process that is meant to lead to hiring the best person for the job, you are doing well as an HR manager.  The pool is wider and deeper, allowing you to choose from people who bring perspectives.  The selection process focuses on getting the very best.  The result is a diverse workforce that makes for a much better organization and which is also a very good defense against complaints of discrimination. 

Please provide a summary of Chapter 5 in The Story of My Life by Helen Keller.

Helen climbed a tree and was frightened by a storm, but later that spring she climbed another tree anyway. 

Helen is still young and learning about the world after her “soul’s sudden awakening.”  Helen enjoys nature.  She spends time exploring and learning the names of objects, increasing her “sense of kinship with the rest of the world.” 

One day she learns that nature can also be frightening and dangerous.  She had climbed into a tree when a sudden thunderstorm hit. 

Suddenly a change passed over the tree. All the sun's warmth left the air. I knew the sky was black, because all the heat, which meant light to me, had died out of the atmosphere. A strange odour came up from the earth. I knew it, it was the odour that always precedes a thunderstorm, and a nameless fear clutched at my heart. (Ch. 5) 

Anne Sullivan came along and helped her down, but Helen had a better appreciation for the diversity and force of nature after that.  For a long time, she did not climb another tree.   What once seemed pleasant and inviting now held possible terror. 

One spring morning Helen was encouraged by the smell in the air and the sunshine on her face to try to climb a tree again. 

But I had a delicious sense that I was doing something unusual and wonderful, so I kept on climbing higher and higher ... I sat there for a long, long time, feeling like a fairy on a rosy cloud. (Ch. 5) 

After this, Helen spent many hours in the “tree of paradise.”  She had gotten over her fear, and the result was that she had learned that despite challenges, there are some things worth doing.  While Helen might be more wary of the world because she cannot experience it with all of her senses, she is learning to rely on the senses she has.

Identify the phrasal category of the bold constituent "extremely dedicated" in the following sentence. You have an extremely dedicated team.

You have an extremely dedicated team.

The words "extremely dedicated" constitute an adverbial adjective phrase that is a pre-modifier to the head noun "team." The phrasal constituents "extremely dedicated" are pre-modifiers of the noun phrase "an extremely dedicated team," with "team" being the head noun of the phrase. 

The word "extremely" is an adverb, while "dedicated" is an adjective, "dedicated" being the adjectival past participle form of the verb "dedicate." Both the adverb and the adjective fill the pre-modifier slot adjacent to the head noun. The simple description of the order of pre-modifiers in a noun phrase is this:

Article, possessive + quantifying determiner + definitive, pronoun, article determiner + numerical determiner + adverb, adjective participle (phrase) + noun modifier (phrase) + head noun. [An even simpler description is available from the British Council and a more complex one from BYU.]

Noun phrase construction can be constituted of one single noun or pronoun, as in "[You] Go home." Noun phrases can also be complex having many pre-modifying quantifiers, determiners, adjective and adverbial adjective or noun phrases, as in this elaborate example: "Only half of the twenty-seven diversely smallish brightly decorated Easter eggs were found." The italicized words are pre-modifying quantifiers and determines, adverbs and adjectives. "Easter eggs" is the countable compound head noun.

The final constituent modifying phrase of the "Easter egg" example matches the targeted constituents in your sentence. Specifically, "brightly decorated" is an adverbial adjective phrase pre-modifying a head noun just as "extremely dedicated" is an adverbial adjective phrase pre-modifying a head noun.

What is the ending number of chromosomes in meiosis?

Meiosis is a reduction division that produces haploid (n) gametes with half the chromosomes as seen in a diploid (2n) body cell. Meiosis occurs in the gonads or sex organs and produces gametes or sex cells. In sexually reproducing organisms, it is the fusion of the sperm nucleus which is haploid and the egg nucleus which is also haploid that will produce a diploid fertilized egg or zygote.

To observe an example of the ending number of chromosomes after meiosis we can use the chromosome number of 46 which is the diploid number found in human body cells. After meiosis occurs in the male or female gonads, the resulting four cells will be haploid and have 23 chromosomes each.

In spermatogenesis, one testis cell gives rise to four haploid sperm cells with 23 chromosomes in each. In oogenesis, one ovary cell gives rise to one ovum with 23 chromosomes, and three polar bodies, each with 23 chromosomes.

To conclude, meiotic division results in cells with the haploid number of chromosomes which become gametes to be used during sexual reproduction.

I have included a link with a diagram comparing oogenesis and spermatogenesis.