The Straight Dope Science Advisory Board Essay Example for Free

The Straight Dope Science Advisory Board Essay Abstract: Is it possible to create a science fiction-type force field? The article begins with a person asking the staff of The Straight Dope Science Advisory Board a question concerning the possibility of creating a fiction-type force field. The staff member asks the person to clarify the question by asking if it is a force field that protects a ship, a tractor beam or something to keep prisons in holding. She then explains the different kinds of forces considered by physicists and ow some theories have combined the different forces. Briefly giving explanations, she looks at the possibility of a force field using the each of the different forces. She covers the four main forces: strong, weak, gravity and electromagnetism. Strong and weak forces cannot create a force field unless there are aliens or enemies with no electrons. The forces are for relatively very short distances, smaller than the protons and neutrons inside a nuclei. In other words, strong and weak forces are inefficient in creating a force field seen in science fiction movies. Next, she evaluated gravity in the possibility of creating a force field. Through her explanation, she shared two reasons gravity is not a good choice for creating a field. First, gravity is the weakest force. It is also is an attractive force, not a repulsive one. It could not prevent aliens or enemies out, but would do the opposite, keep them in. It could be used as a tractor beam; however, but due to calculations, it would need a black hole. Electromagnetism was looked at last as a possibility. The main problem is the fact that these forces work on charged matter. We are electrically neutral and the aliens would likely be as well. She suggested creating an immobile sheet of electrons, basically a wall. Her last suggestion was sharing that to make the force field invisible, you Just use plexiglass.

The Last of the Mohicans Essay -- essays research papers

The Last of the Mohicans   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In James Fenimore Coopers' book, The Last of the Mohicans, we find a classic story set in the 1700's. During this time, the war between the French and English is raging, complicated by an additional contention between the Mohican Indians and the Huron Indians. The location is in the area of Lake George in the Hudson Valley,somewhere between New York and Canada. The theme of this book is a conflict between civilization and savagery, each being personified in both the whites, the Indians, and in nature itself. The author seems to be showing the truth of human nature: that there is a fine line between acting in a civilized manner and giving in to the primitive urge to totally destroy other human beings. The ruggedness of the region provided a similar conflict with man. At times, it was beautiful, sheltering, protecting, and nourishing the characters with food and water. At other times, it was obviously wild and untamed bringing danger and aiding in destruction.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There were many prominent characters in the book. These include Chingachgook and his son, Uncas, who are the last remaining Mohicans and the protagonists of the story. Another was Hawk-eye, who is a white man raised from birth by Chingachgook. Major Duncan Hayward is an officer with the English military who is assigned to transport two sisters from Fort Edward to their father at Fort William Henry. The antagonist, or dominant enemy, of the story was Magua, a Huron Indian who was a leader of his people and was driven by the traditional savagery of his tribe.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The story begins with Major Hayward preparing to carry out his orders to transport Alice and Cora Monroe to their father, General Monroe, at Fort William Henry. In order to make the journey safely he hired a guide familiar with the area to lead the party through the treacherous territory. Unknown to him, his guide, Mage, had a plan to entrap them by leading them to the Huron's where they would surely be killed. As they pressed on through thick forests and deep rivers, they came upon a psalmist named David Gumet sitting beside the path. Gumet was a pleasant person and a gifted singer who had lost his horse and his provisions. They encouraged him to join them for his own safety. Shortly down the path, the Mohicans ambushed them with th... ...e bargained with Magua, Uncas tried to sneak up on him. Magua saw him and killed Cora. Uncas leaped on Magua trying to pull him down, but Magua stabbed Uncas multiple times killing him. Hawk-eye took his gun and shot Magua, causing him to fall down the steep mountain cliff to his death. After joining back together for a ceremony, the story comes to an abrupt end as they all went their separate ways.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Overall, the book was enjoyable to read because there was constant adventure and it was full of surprises. Cooper seemed to highlight the strength of the friendships between the characters throughout the book and how they were able to overcome adversity. The only Christian character in the story was David Gumet, who played a minor part. The story portrayed a definite secular worldview, particularly with the constant violence and the spiritual practices of the Indians. The wording was, at times, difficult toread and the author had a tendency to jump back-and-forth between characters and situations. Nevertheless, I would recommend this book to others because it was adventurous and not boring. I found it difficult to put down once I started reading it.

Socio-Economic and Political Conditions in Sparta and Athens After 800 B.C.E.

Ancient Greece was in a pretty bad shape during the period from 1200 to 800 B. C. E, which is referred as the Dark Age of the Greece. Eventually, after 800 B. C. E, Greeks started expanding their empire from the Mediterranean towards east as far as the Black Sea, and towards west as far as the Atlantic Ocean. At this time, two prominent city- states named Athens and Sparta stood as two pillars in the Greek history. Although these two city -states are geographically close to each other in Greece, they were rivals and shared many differences.However, some of the social conditions were similar in these two city -states. During the Archaic age (800- 500 B. C. E. ), these two city- states progressed tremendously both politically and economically. Even though the Greeks came out of the Dark Age and were expanding with prosperity, they faced new problems with growing population, hunger, and land shortage. Moreover, their lands were not fertile to feed the needs of the growing population, an d there was turmoil everywhere because of the tyranny of the aristocrats.To improve their economical, social, and political conditions, the Athenians and the Spartans created new political systems, introduced important reforms and stood as the role models in the Greek political development. The Spartans responded to the economic crisis by conquering Messene, their rich neighbor, in 715 B. C. E so that they can add the rich region’s resources. Sparta is a city -state in the southern part of Greece which was under the control of aristocracy. In fact, Sparta’s asset was its powerful military, and it is the protector of Greece.Spartans oppressed the Messenian slaves after their revolt against the Spartans. In order to appease the non- nobles, who demanded equal rights, as they assisted the Spartans in the war, the aristocrats later, reformed the state system to â€Å"Lycurgan regimen. † According to this reform, all Spartans were given equal rights, and the state wa s ruled by two kings with the assistance from the nobles. Taking into consideration the economic situations in Sparta, the Messenian slaves called â€Å"Helots† did all the physical work while the men of Sparta devoted their lives for the military.Boys in their young age were forced into military training. Although family life was important to Spartans, their social life was compromised as men spent much of their lives in the military. So they established close relationships with other men in the military. The main aim of the Spartan men was to be trained as the best infantrymen and sacrifice their lives in the battle. Spartan women were good wives who devoted their lives in bearing children and had rights to own property.In the same way, Athenians implemented law of codes, reforms, and adopted democracy with the help of prominent and thoughtful aristocrats and ascended from the economic and political distress and oppression of the aristocrats. In the late sixth century B. C. E, Draco, an aristocrat, published the first law of code which asserts that law belonged to all citizens, Later, Solon, an aristocrat who became â€Å"archon,† a chief magistrate of Polis, reformed the prevailing social conditions by freeing the slaves, recalling exiles, and made enslavement for debt illegal.He thus introduced democratic ideals into their political system in response to the tyranny of the aristocrats and nobles on small farmers and landowners. Although Athens was under the aristocratic rule in the beginning, it later adopted the democratic form of government under the leadership of a prominent aristocrat named Cleisthenes. Undoubtedly, Athenians were the first to introduce democratic sovereign and legislation with a council (â€Å"Boule†) and an assembly of citizens (â€Å"Ecclesia†). They also developed their infrastructure, and â€Å"Acropolis† clearly reveals their love for architecture.Young boys were not forced into military and wer e given opportunity to excel in education, arts, and other talents. The Athenians enjoyed better social life than the Spartans, and family life was important. Like Spartan men, Athenian men maintained close relationships with other men. Women were confined to giving birth and raising children along with other household chores, and they were considered inferior to men. Unlike the Spartan women, they had less freedom. Even though Athenians adopted democracy, women and slaves have limited rights and were not granted citizenship. Ancient Greeks rose from their dark age in 800 B. C. E.  and started expanding their empire in the neighboring regions.With their progress several economic and social tensions appeared such as population growth, hunger, and food shortage. In response to this economic and social distress, the two city-states, Athens and Sparta, with their own distinctive social structure, developed into two significant political systems. Athenians emphasized not only on firm p olitical development, education, and culture but also on individual freedom and justice. Democracy and legislation with two presiding bodies were introduced into their political system and even the poor were allowed to vote in the election.On the contrary, Spartans focused on training their youth as soldiers and thus strengthened their military. With the military power they conquered their resourceful neighboring region, Messene, and later reformed their state system with two ruling kings and five noble overseers. Their reform system also presented equal rights to all Spartans. The above discussed political and social reforms were necessary for both the city-states at that time of chaos in order to survive. Even though they underwent many deadly conflicts, Athens and Sparta established themselves as prominent city-states in the political development of ancient Greek history. Socio-Economic and Political Conditions in Sparta and Athens After 800 B.C.E. Ancient Greece was in a pretty bad shape during the period from 1200 to 800 B. C. E, which is referred as the Dark Age of the Greece. Eventually, after 800 B. C. E, Greeks started expanding their empire from the Mediterranean towards east as far as the Black Sea, and towards west as far as the Atlantic Ocean. At this time, two prominent city- states named Athens and Sparta stood as two pillars in the Greek history. Although these two city -states are geographically close to each other in Greece, they were rivals and shared many differences.However, some of the social conditions were similar in these two city -states. During the Archaic age (800- 500 B. C. E. ), these two city- states progressed tremendously both politically and economically. Even though the Greeks came out of the Dark Age and were expanding with prosperity, they faced new problems with growing population, hunger, and land shortage. Moreover, their lands were not fertile to feed the needs of the growing population, an d there was turmoil everywhere because of the tyranny of the aristocrats.To improve their economical, social, and political conditions, the Athenians and the Spartans created new political systems, introduced important reforms and stood as the role models in the Greek political development. The Spartans responded to the economic crisis by conquering Messene, their rich neighbor, in 715 B. C. E so that they can add the rich region’s resources. Sparta is a city -state in the southern part of Greece which was under the control of aristocracy. In fact, Sparta’s asset was its powerful military, and it is the protector of Greece.Spartans oppressed the Messenian slaves after their revolt against the Spartans. In order to appease the non- nobles, who demanded equal rights, as they assisted the Spartans in the war, the aristocrats later, reformed the state system to â€Å"Lycurgan regimen. † According to this reform, all Spartans were given equal rights, and the state wa s ruled by two kings with the assistance from the nobles. Taking into consideration the economic situations in Sparta, the Messenian slaves called â€Å"Helots† did all the physical work while the men of Sparta devoted their lives for the military.Boys in their young age were forced into military training. Although family life was important to Spartans, their social life was compromised as men spent much of their lives in the military. So they established close relationships with other men in the military. The main aim of the Spartan men was to be trained as the best infantrymen and sacrifice their lives in the battle. Spartan women were good wives who devoted their lives in bearing children and had rights to own property.In the same way, Athenians implemented law of codes, reforms, and adopted democracy with the help of prominent and thoughtful aristocrats and ascended from the economic and political distress and oppression of the aristocrats. In the late sixth century B. C. E, Draco, an aristocrat, published the first law of code which asserts that law belonged to all citizens, Later, Solon, an aristocrat who became â€Å"archon,† a chief magistrate of Polis, reformed the prevailing social conditions by freeing the slaves, recalling exiles, and made enslavement for debt illegal.He thus introduced democratic ideals into their political system in response to the tyranny of the aristocrats and nobles on small farmers and landowners. Although Athens was under the aristocratic rule in the beginning, it later adopted the democratic form of government under the leadership of a prominent aristocrat named Cleisthenes. Undoubtedly, Athenians were the first to introduce democratic sovereign and legislation with a council (â€Å"Boule†) and an assembly of citizens (â€Å"Ecclesia†). They also developed their infrastructure, and â€Å"Acropolis† clearly reveals their love for architecture.Young boys were not forced into military and wer e given opportunity to excel in education, arts, and other talents. The Athenians enjoyed better social life than the Spartans, and family life was important. Like Spartan men, Athenian men maintained close relationships with other men. Women were confined to giving birth and raising children along with other household chores, and they were considered inferior to men. Unlike the Spartan women, they had less freedom. Even though Athenians adopted democracy, women and slaves have limited rights and were not granted citizenship.Ancient Greeks rose from their dark age in 800 B. C. E.  and started expanding their empire in the neighboring regions. With their progress several economic and social tensions appeared such as population growth, hunger, and food shortage. In response to this economic and social distress, the two city-states, Athens and Sparta, with their own distinctive social structure, developed into two significant political systems. Athenians emphasized not only on firm p olitical development, education, and culture but also on individual freedom and justice. Democracy and legislation with two presiding bodies were introduced into their political system and even the poor were allowed to vote in the election.On the contrary, Spartans focused on training their youth as soldiers and thus strengthened their military. With the military power they conquered their resourceful neighboring region, Messene, and later reformed their state system with two ruling kings and five noble overseers. Their reform system also presented equal rights to all Spartans. The above discussed political and social reforms were necessary for both the city-states at that time of chaos in order to survive. Even though they underwent many deadly conflicts, Athens and Sparta established themselves as prominent city-states in the political development of ancient Greek history.

Anthology Definition and Examples in Literature

In literature, an anthology is a series of works collected into a single volume, usually with a unifying theme or subject. These works could be short stories, essays, poems, lyrics, or plays, and they are usually selected by an editor or a small editorial board. It should be noted that if the works assembled into the volume are all by the same author, the book would be more accurately described as a collection instead of an anthology. Anthologies are typically organized around themes instead of authors. The Garland Anthologies have been around much longer than the novel, which didn’t emerge as a distinct literary form until the 11th century at the earliest. The Classic of Poetry (alternatively known as the Book of Song) is an anthology of Chinese poetry compiled between the 7th and 11th centuries B.C. The term â€Å"anthology† itself derives from Meleager of Gadara’s Anthologia (a Greek word meaning â€Å"a collection of flowers† or garland), a collection of poetry centered on a theme of poetry as flowers he assembled in the 1st century. The 20th Century While anthologies existed prior to the 20th century, it was the modern-day publishing industry that brought the anthology into its own as a literary form. The advantages of the anthology as a marketing device were plentiful: New writers could be linked to a more marketable nameShorter works could be collected and monetized more easilyDiscovery of authors with similar styles or themes attracted readers looking for new reading material Simultaneously, the use of anthologies in education gained traction as the sheer volume of literary works required for even a basic overview grew to huge proportions. The Norton Anthology, a mammoth book collecting stories, essays, poetry, and other writings from a wide range of authors (coming in many editions covering specific regions [e.g., The Norton Anthology of American Literature]), launched in 1962 and quickly became a staple of classrooms around the world. The anthology offers a wide if somewhat shallow overview of literature in a relatively concise format. The Economics of Anthologies Anthologies maintain a strong presence in the world of fiction. The Best American series (launched in 1915) uses celebrity editors from particular fields (for example, The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2004, edited by Dave Eggers and Viggo Mortensen) to attract readers to short works they may be unfamiliar with. In many genres, such as science fiction or mystery, the anthology is a powerful tool for promoting new voices, but it’s also a way for editors to earn money. An editor can pitch a publisher with an idea for an anthology and possibly a firm commitment from a high-profile author to contribute. They take the advance they’re given and round up stories from other writers in the field, offering them an up-front, one-time payment (or, occasionally, no up-front payment but a portion of the royalties). Whatever’s left when they have assembled the stories is their own fee for editing the book. Examples of Anthologies Anthologies count amongst some of the most influential books in modern literary history: Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison. Published in 1967, this anthology launched what’s now called the â€Å"New Wave† of science fiction, and was instrumental in establishing sci-fi as a serious literary undertaking and not silly stories aimed at kids. With stories collected from some of the most talented writers of the time and a no-holds-barred approach to depictions of sex, drugs, or other adult themes, the anthology was groundbreaking in many ways. The stories were experimental and challenging, and changed forever how science fiction was regarded.​Georgian Poetry, edited by Edward Marsh. The five original books in this series were published between 1912 and 1922, and collected the works of English poets who were part of the generation established during the reign of King George V (beginning in 1910). The anthology began as a joke at a party in 1912; there had been a craze for small chapbooks of poetry, and the party attendees (including future editor Marsh) mocked the idea, suggesting they do something similar. They quickly decided the idea had actual merit, and the anthology was a turning point. It showed that by collecting a group into a ‛brand’ (although the term wasn’t used in that manner at the time) greater commercial success could be attained than by publishing singly.​Literature of Crime, edited by Ellery Queen. Queen, the pseudonym of cousins Daniel Nathan and Emanuel Benjamin Lepofsky, put together this remarkable anthology in 1952. Not only did it elevate crime fiction from the cheap paperbacks into the realm of â€Å"literature† (if only by aspiration), it made its point by self-consciously including stories by famous authors not normally thought of as crime writers, including Ernest Hemingway, Aldous Huxley, Charles Dickens, John Steinbeck, and Mark Twain.