Why does Atticus like reading the newspaper?

Like many men at the end of the day, besides wanting to news, Atticus enjoys retreating into the other world of the newspaper. He also uses the opened newspaper to shield him while he ponders personal and professional problems that he needs to resolve; with this shield before him, Atticus prevents his children from seeing the consternation on his face.

• In Chapter 2, when Scout is scolded for having been taught to read an improper...

Like many men at the end of the day, besides wanting to news, Atticus enjoys retreating into the other world of the newspaper. He also uses the opened newspaper to shield him while he ponders personal and professional problems that he needs to resolve; with this shield before him, Atticus prevents his children from seeing the consternation on his face.

• In Chapter 2, when Scout is scolded for having been taught to read an improper way, Scout demurs, "Atticus ain't got time to teach me anything." Somebody did. You weren't born reading The Mobile Register." Evidently, then, on those many evenings when his little girl curls up on his lap, Atticus has probably read aloud so that he can both digest the news and pacify her.


• At other times when he is rather disturbed by the events of the day, Atticus shields himself behind his newspaper. For instance, in Chapter 15, after the men who have come to the front yard to ask Atticus to have Tom Robinson's trial moved depart, Atticus reenters his home and goes to his chair and picks up the evening paper. Scout remarks,

I sometimes think Atticus subjected every crisis of his life to tranquil evaluation behind The Mobile Register, The Birmingham News, and The Montgomery Advertiser. [These papers are publications of the major cities of Alabama].

• Further in this same chapter, fearing a lynch mob may come to the jail, Atticus stations himself outside before the cell of Tom Robinson. Sitting on a chair propped against the jailhouse, Atticus shields himself behind the newspaper so that the Old Sarum bunch will not think he is worried.


• In Chapter 22, after the Tom Robinson verdict, Atticus is up early, sitting behind his newspaper, attempting to relax and distract himself for a while from his concerns. 

What theme does the author of the History of Plymouth Plantation want to convey? How does this theme relate to God's providence?

One of the major themes of the History of Plymouth Plantationis, in fact, God's divine Providence. Throughout the book, Bradford interprets every event that occurs, both good and bad for the Pilgrims, as God's will, and connected to some divine purpose that was usually impossible for human beings to understand. On the voyage to Plymouth, for example, a very profane young man, who was given to blasphemy and insulting the pious Pilgrims, got very...

One of the major themes of the History of Plymouth Plantation is, in fact, God's divine Providence. Throughout the book, Bradford interprets every event that occurs, both good and bad for the Pilgrims, as God's will, and connected to some divine purpose that was usually impossible for human beings to understand. On the voyage to Plymouth, for example, a very profane young man, who was given to blasphemy and insulting the pious Pilgrims, got very sick and died. Bradford reflects that this was surely God's way of chastening the people, reminding them of proper behavior for a Christian:

Thus his curses light on his own head, and it was an astonishment to all his fellows for they noted it to be the just hand of God upon him.

Bradford believed that whatever successes the Plymouth settlement experienced were the result of God's mercy and Providence, which would be extended to them only as long as they maintained their faith in God. Almost every event, good or bad, is prefaced by the phrase "it pleased God." "It pleased God," for example, "to visit them this year with an infectious fever," or to "send home a great quantity of beaver." Everything that happened to and around the Pilgrims portrayed by William Bradford was an example of God's will. So essentially, the main theme of the book is in fact God's providence.

What effects does authorial intrusion yield in "The Crucible"?

Arthur Miller's intrusions into the play help readers to better understand these complicated characters because he offers us quite a bit of insight into their fictional lives.  For example, he tells readers that Abigail Williams is a fantastic liar and master manipulator, and this helps us to read into her behaviors and get to know her much more quickly that we might otherwise.  Likewise, we quickly develop an understanding of the complexities of John Proctor's...

Arthur Miller's intrusions into the play help readers to better understand these complicated characters because he offers us quite a bit of insight into their fictional lives.  For example, he tells readers that Abigail Williams is a fantastic liar and master manipulator, and this helps us to read into her behaviors and get to know her much more quickly that we might otherwise.  Likewise, we quickly develop an understanding of the complexities of John Proctor's character as a result of Miller's exposition on him (exposition is the presentation of background information that usually occurs toward the beginning of texts as a way to help the reader quickly get to know the people and places).  This helps us to contextualize Proctor's and Abigail's conversation with one another in Act I, and our opinions of these characters can begin to crystallize much more quickly.

Additionally, Miller's comments -- in acquainting us with these fictional characters -- help readers to understand how Miller has differentiated and changed them from their real-life counterparts.  Many of these names were real players in this tragic era of American history, and Miller makes some important changes (such as bringing Abigail and John closer together in age and creating their sexual affair).  His intrusions into the text allow us to quickly ascertain what changes he's made to the history.

Calculate the electric field above a ring of charge of radius `R` and charge density `lambda` at a point `P` centered on the axis of the ring.

In general, the contribution to the total electric field `E` from an infinitesimal piece of charge `dE` is

`dE=(k*dq)/r^2`

The total field is then calculated by integrating over all the charge:

`E=int(k*dq)/r^2`

Where `k=1/(4pi epsilon_0)` and `r` is the distance from `dq` to the point `P` . 

For this problem, if the point `P` is a distance `z` above the ring then we can set up a triangle to get a relationship between `z`and...

In general, the contribution to the total electric field `E` from an infinitesimal piece of charge `dE` is

`dE=(k*dq)/r^2`

The total field is then calculated by integrating over all the charge:

`E=int(k*dq)/r^2`

Where `k=1/(4pi epsilon_0)` and `r` is the distance from `dq` to the point `P` . 

For this problem, if the point `P` is a distance `z` above the ring then we can set up a triangle to get a relationship between `z` and the distance `r`.

`r^2=z^2+R^2`

The vector `dE` pointing at point `P` from a chunk of charge, can be broken up into two components, one in the radial direction and one in the vertical direction.

`dE=dE_r+dE_z`

When considering the total electric field contribution from the ring, the radial contribution of every piece of charge will sum to zero and only the `z` contribution will be left due to the symmetry of the ring.

`dE_z=dE*cos(phi)=dE*(z/r)=(k*dq)/r^2*(z/r)`

`E_z=int(k*dq)/r^2 *(z/r)`

`E_z=int (k*z*dq)/r^3`

`lambda` is the piece of charge divided by a piece of length along the ring.

`lambda=(dq)/(dl)`

From the fact that `r*theta` is equal to the arc length around a circle we can say that

`dl=R*d(theta)`

Therefore,

`E_z=int (k*z*lambda dl)/r^3`

`E_z=int (k*z*lambda R d(theta))/r^3`

Now substitute for `r` and integrate theta from `[0,2pi]` .

`E_z=int_0^(2pi) (k*z*lambda R d(theta))/(sqrt(z^2+R^2))^3`

`E_z=(k*z*lambda R)/(sqrt(z^2+R^2))^3 int_0^(2pi) d(theta) `

`E_z=(2pi k*z*lambda*R )/(sqrt(z^2+R^2))^3`

Therefore the electric field at point `P` is entirely in the `z` -direction with magnitude:

`E_z=(z*lambda*R)/(2epsilon_0(sqrt(z^2+R^2))^3)`

Has the growth of presidential powers been positive for American democracy, or does increased executive power infringe upon the duties of the...

The increased powers of the executive, particularly with regard to war powers, and the ability to issue executive order to various departments within the executive branch, have resulted in a less powerful legislative branch than our founders had anticipated. That does not necessarily mean that increased executive authority is bad for our democracy, but it does pose some worrying problems.

Despite The War Powers Act of 1973, which forces the President to notify congress within 48 hours of sending troops into an armed conflict, Presidents have continued to engage in military operations without getting a Declaration of War from congress, mostly because, as Commander in Chief, the President can mobilize forces on his own, and once he does, it is politically unpalatable for congress to then refuse to fund those ongoing operations, with troops in the theater of battle.

This power of the president to begin a military action unilaterally certainly infringes on the constitutional authority of congress, which is supposed to “advise and consent” over matters such as war. The ability and proclivity of modern presidents to begin armed conflicts and only then ask for congressional approval limits the ability of congress (and therefore, of the people) to check the president's powers. In the modern era, once the people elect a president, that president has remarkably free reign to wage war for the next four years, despite what happens in the intervening congressional elections. Unless congress is unified in its opposition to a president’s decision to wage war, which it almost never is, due the fact of divided government, the ability of congress to exercise its power to consent, is greatly diminished.

Likewise, because the federal government has grown exponentially in size and in the magnitude of services it is responsible for carrying out on a daily basis, the President's cabinet has grown from just a handful of secretaries to an entire roomful. Each of those secretaries reports directly to the President, and each secretary oversees thousands or hundreds of thousands of federal employees. Consequently, the daily business of governing is now conducting by millions of technocrats who report not to congress, but to their respective department heads, who in turn report those cabinet members who serve at the pleasure of the president. While this is inevitable in a large country with a modern, diversified economy and enormous civil service, it means that the ability of congress to oversee such a massive and complex bureaucracy is severely curbed.

 The president, meanwhile, has a great deal of leeway to issue executive orders that direct that same, vast civil service in how to perform their duties and how to allocate the resources that congress initially appropriates. Although congress still passes the laws of the land and has the power of the purse in theory, the daily doling out of funds, and thus the prioritization of objectives within in each department, has become the purview of the executive branch, rather than the legislative branch. This development is not necessarily a bad thing, because the country could not operate if members of Congress had to oversee ever decision made by millions of technocrats tasked with the daily functioning of the government.  

Yet this increased remoteness between those civil servants who interact daily with American citizens, and the representatives those citizens choose to govern, exponentially lessens the responsiveness of government and erodes the ability of individual citizens to affect change through the ballot box.

When and why did the ancient mariner set sail with his crew in the poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

The poem doesn't explicitly answer the questions of when and why the mariner and his crew set sail in the first place. We can assume that the weather was fair when they set out, for "

'The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,

Merrily did we drop

Below the kirk, below the hill,

Below the lighthouse top.

The sun comes up and down in its diurnal rhythms, and there's enough wind for the ship to...

The poem doesn't explicitly answer the questions of when and why the mariner and his crew set sail in the first place. We can assume that the weather was fair when they set out, for "

'The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,

Merrily did we drop

Below the kirk, below the hill,

Below the lighthouse top.

The sun comes up and down in its diurnal rhythms, and there's enough wind for the ship to make good time. Otherwise, we aren't told what time of year it is, what year, or where they were going. 

Bill Whelen, author of Captain Cook's Navigator and Coleridge's Poem: William Wales, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," suggests that Coleridge based his poem on the adventures of Captain Cook, a British explorer, and cartographer who sailed and mapped the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, going as far south as Antarctica. Coleridge took a class from Cook's retired navigator and had access to his journals, and Whelan speculates that Coleridge wrote his famous poem based on them. This would suggest that the goal of the mariner's fictional journey was exploration. 

Is Zeus mortal or immortal?

Zeus is immortal. This simply means that he cannot die, as opposed to mortals, who can. He is the god of sky and thunder, as well as lightning, law, order, and justice. He's the father of the gods in the Greek pantheon, the one whom all the other gods fear and respect. He's also the object of veneration from human beings, or mortals, who honor him with countless sacrifices and rituals. Zeus, like all the...

Zeus is immortal. This simply means that he cannot die, as opposed to mortals, who can. He is the god of sky and thunder, as well as lightning, law, order, and justice. He's the father of the gods in the Greek pantheon, the one whom all the other gods fear and respect. He's also the object of veneration from human beings, or mortals, who honor him with countless sacrifices and rituals. Zeus, like all the gods, regularly intervenes in human affairs—taking sides in conflicts, sending down bolts of thunder to destroy those mortals foolish enough to defy him, taking on the form of animals to allow him to mate with mortal females. He's certainly not someone to be trifled with, by either god or man. He is truly the first of the gods.