Why were the Aztecs open to deception by the Spanish conquerors?

The Aztec civilization practiced human sacrifice and usually any surprise visitors were captured then sacrificed to the gods. However in 1500s when Cortes, the Spanish conquistador, arrived in the Aztec territory with a small party of men the Aztec’s did not realize the true purpose of their visit. The Aztecs thought that the Spanish were sent by Quetzalcoatl, their god. Quetzalcoatl was an important god for the Aztecs, they believed that the god was going to reappear when the world was coming to an end and save the Aztec people. At the time the Aztecs were under the impression that the world was coming to an end which is one of the reasons they were performing many human sacrifices. The sacrifices were believed to keep the god happy which might persuade him to put off ending the world for a time. When the Conquistadors entered the capital city of the Aztecs they had no idea that they were lucky just not to have been captured and sacrificed. The true reason for the Spanish being there was to see if there was gold and riches to be had and to convert the people to Christianity. The Spanish were welcomed by the Aztecs and even stayed as guests of the emperor. However, the longer the Spanish stayed in the capital city the more suspicious the Aztecs became. First of all the Spanish behaved nothing like the Aztec gods. They did not go to the sacrifices made in their honor. Eventually the Aztecs decided it was time for the Spanish to leave, they did not want to kill them however because they believed there was still a chance they actually were gods. The Spanish did leave but they returned they brought with them horses, dogs, weapons, and many men. They were also able to rally the support of the other tribes in the area who didn’t realize how horrible they would be treated by the Spanish. These other tribes just wanted to rid themselves of the Aztecs. Eventually the Aztecs were defeated but it was disease that caused it. The Aztecs did not have the same immunities that the Spanish had, when exposed to diseases like measles the Aztecs were decimated.

How is the theme the importance of family shown at the point when Ponyboy and Sodapop might get put in an orphanage in The Outsiders?

Ponyboy is worried about losing his family because his brothers are all he has.

Ponyboy’s parents died in a car accident, leaving his older brother Darry guardian of Soda and Ponyboy.  Darry is only twenty, and not much older than his brothers.  Pony and Darry are constantly arguing, but the most important thing for the Curtis family is to stay together.

When Pony and Johnny are attacked by a group of Socs in the park, Johnny kills one that is drowning Pony.  The two boys go on the run, and end up in an abandoned church.  The church catches fire and they get hurt trying to rescue a group of children who get caught in it.

The incident puts an end to their running.  Johnny is badly injured, so he is never charged.  Pony, Johnny, and Dally get a lot of publicity.  Pony worries about what the close scrutiny could do to their family.

If the judge decides Darry isn't a good guardian or something, I'm liable to get stuck in a home somewhere. That's the rotten part of this deal. Darry is a good guardian; he makes me study and knows where I am and who I'm with all the time. (Ch. 11)

Darry certainly grew up fast.  He got a job and took care of his brothers.  Soda dropped out of high school, but Soda was never much of a scholar.  Pony, the youngest, got A’s in school and was in honors classes.  As far as he was concerned, the three of them were doing just fine.

Darry and Pony often argued.  In fact, it was a fight where Darry hit Pony that led him to that park in the middle of the night in the first place.  After all that happened, Pony wants to avoid fighting so much since they are back together.

We couldn't do anything to hurt Soda. Sodapop would always be the middleman, but that didn't mean he had to keep getting pulled apart. Instead of Darry and me pulling me apart, he'd be pulling us together. (Ch. 12)

Family is very important to Pony and to his brothers.  They are a family, even though there are no parents.  The loyalty the greasers have for each other is also a type of family.  They have to stick up for each other, because no one else will.

In the story "The Piece of String," do you think Malandain really believes Hauchecorne found the wallet? If not,why does he lie?

Maitre Malandain probably does not truly believe that Maitre Hauchcorne has stolen the wallet, but having "the tendency to hold grudges," he takes advantage of an opportunity to deal misery to his foe.

Just as Saki satirized those of the Edwardian Age in England, Guy de Maupassant mocked the pettiness of the peasantry of Normandy, a province in northwestern France. In the exposition of his story, Maupassant describes the Norman women in the market who stubbornly held to their prices in the market and would only relent when a customer began to walk away. Then, they would shout after him or her, "All right...It's yours."

It is this same obstinate and petty personality that Hauchcorne and Maladain exhibit. So, when Malandain is asked by the authorities if he has noticed any suspicious behavior, he readily mentions that he has seen Maitre Hauchcorne bend and pick up something, then stoop again sweeping the dirt with his hand as though searching for something else. 

When the authorities interrogate Maitre Hauchorne he explains that he merely bent to pick up a piece of string; however, he is too proud to admit that his brushing the ground with his hand afterwards has been done only to make Malandain believe that he was searching for something he lost. Instead, he protests that he has done nothing wrong, but Maitre Malandain confronts him and even repeats the statement he has given to authorities under oath.

They hurled insults at each other for a full hour. Maitre Hauchecorne was search at his own request. They found nothing on him.

When the villagers question Hauchecorne out of "good-humored curiosity," he retells his story, but then they begin to not believe him. The more he protests, the more they begin to doubt his honesty because of their ingrained suspiciousness. They now call him "a sly old rascal" because Maitre Malandain, has fed suspicions that grow each time his foe protests the accusations. He does this with what the peasants perceive as unintentional paralipsis.

How believable is the play The Bear?

The play The Bear is pretty unbelievable, when you really think about it. Here is a man who is owed money, a woman who has locked herself up in her house because her cheating husband died, and they go from hate to love in a total of about ten minutes.

Smirnov comes to the house angry. He is a businessman owed money from pretty much everyone, and he owes money to the bank. So he goes from customer to customer demanding his money, and each has a more ridiculous reason for not paying him. He comes to Popova, who is in herself a pretty ridiculous character. After her husband's death, she finds out he has been cheating on her, so to prove to him what real love is, she locks herself in her house, refusing to come out for anyone.

Is this realistic? Parts of it are, of course. But the chairs all break under Smirnov, her servant is a bit outrageous, and then there's the whole idea of the duel. Smirnov is so enraged that he decides to duel Popova, a woman, and she accepts, then asks how to shoot a gun. Would someone get into a duel who never shot a gun? Of course not.

Then there's the fact that they fall in love, which is pretty ridiculous as well. Smirnov goes from wanting to kill this woman to love in about a minute, and she eventually accepts his love.

In short, the play is a farce.

How many 25 g bags of crisps would a child need to eat to get the guideline daily amount of energy (for a child)?

The guideline amount of energy for children is 1500-2000 calories. The amount of calories in a pack of crisps vary between 57 calories (for a pack of Shapers Cheese and Onion Rings) to 133 calories (for a pack of Walkers Ready Salted Crisps). The high end of daily needs (2000 calories) can be fulfilled by eating about 15 packs of Walkers Ready Salted Crisps and the lower end (1500 calories) can be fulfilled by about 11.3 packs (or 12 packs) of the same. If we choose the low energy crisps, that is, Shapers Cheese and Onion Rings, the child will need to eat about 35 packs to get 2000 calories and 26.3 packs (or 27 packs) to obtain 1500 calories. Thus, the number of packs will vary depending on the specific type of crisps one chooses. Should one actually eat that many packs of crisps a day is another matter!

Hope this helps. 

What do the silhouettes on the wall suggest about the family?

In "There Will Come Soft Rains," the silhouette on the wall is the most haunting image Ray Bradbury presents because it shows the instant a nuclear blast killed the unsuspecting family. Each member of the family was in the middle of some activity: the father was mowing the lawn ("the silhouette in paint of a man mowing a lawn," the mother was gardening ("Here, as in a photograph, a woman bent to pick flowers."), and a boy and girl were playing catch with a ball ("a small boy, hands flung into the air; higher up, the image of a thrown ball, and opposite him a girl, hands raised to catch a ball which never came down."). 

This image helps Bradbury develop his theme that nuclear annhilation will destroy everyone. And that this annhilation can happen at any time.

This image also helps explain the absence of people in the house. It explains why the food the house makes goes uneaten and the cards go unplayed. In addition, the absence of people makes the house meaningless. 

In general, this idea of a silhouette after a nuclear blast comes from reports of nuclear shadows on walls after the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

What does the language in the description of Ralph foreshadow?

The first sentence of the novel describes Ralph as "the boy with fair hair." As a leader, Ralph will prove to be "fair." He has the best intentions and uses the conch to give everyone who wants a chance to speak the opportunity to do so. He is the "fair" leader whereas Jack will prove to be the tyrant. In the opening paragraphs, before he meets Piggy, Ralph continues to be named "the fair boy." 

Ralph has the appearance of being between childhood and adulthood. He has "lost the prominent tummy of childhood." He is in a maturing stage. He looks athletic but not in a threatening way: 

You could see now that he might make a boxer, as far as width and heaviness of shoulders went, but there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil. 

This description suggests that Ralph is physically fit, having a look other boys might be intimidated by or would admire. This is confirmed when Piggy watches him in the pool. "Piggy appeared again, sat on the rocky ledge, and watched Ralph’s green and white body enviously." Given the "mildness" Ralph expresses, this shows he is, again, a "fair" and reasonable boy. Physically, Piggy is Ralph's opposite. Ralph is lean and moves with confidence. Piggy is fat and awkward. Ralph is a natural and fair leader in physicality and mindset. He is someone the boys would look up to for the way he looks and someone the boys will respect because he is a fair, mild leader. 

How can you compare and contrast Act I Scene 3 to Act V Scene 5 of Macbeth? How do both hint at Macbeth's downfall because of his desires and the...

In Act I Scene 3, Macbeth and Banquo learn of their fortunes thanks to their "chance" meeting with the weird sisters upon the heath. Neither really believe the prophesies given them. It has already occurred to Macbeth to murder Duncan, but the idea disturbs him greatly. He settles his mind (for the time being), but noting: "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, / Without my stir." That is, if he is fated to be king, it'll happen to him even if he does nothing to make it happen quicker. He's still a good man here. He knows he could "play foully" for the crown, but he doesn't have to; that's how fate works--it comes true no matter what you do. 

Compare this, then, to his attitude in Act V Scene 5, where he no longer feels much of anything. For example, he hears the cries of women from within the castle, and says: 

I have almost forgot the taste of fears;
The time has been, my senses would have cool'd
To hear a night-shriek; and my fell of hair
Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir
As life were in't: I have supp'd full with horrors;
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts
Cannot once start me.

His conscience has been seared, and nothing bothers him anymore. He's no longer concerned with being good and holy. Even when they tell him his wife is dead, he seems oddly unmoved. He merely notes that it would have happened at some point, anyway, but he doesn't have time to grieve now, anyway. He does, however, note (in possibly the most poetic expression of this idea in the English language) that life is ultimately meaningless. He has lost his religion, his belief in goodness and loyalty and doing what is right. Everything meaningful to him is lost, except perhaps his own life. 

His desires were for power, and his lady pushed him to do the unthinkable to get it. The lessons he has learned is that what he has done to get that power and to keep it ultimately were not worth it. 

Describe the nurse in Romeo and Juliet in one word.

Loving.  Whatever else Juliet's nurse may be, she certainly loves her charge a great deal, and her greatest desire is Juliet's happiness.  

The fact that she can recall precisely when Juliet stopped nursing, when she could stand on her own, and so forth, shows that she's been more present in Juliet's life than Juliet's own mother has been.  The nurse wants Juliet to be happy, more than anything else, and she acts as go-between when the young couple are arranging their plans to marry and also after Romeo has slain Tybalt, incurring the punishment of exile from Verona.  The nurse even goes to find a ladder that she can prop up against the house so that Romeo can climb up to his bride's bedroom on the night of their wedding.  After Romeo is exiled, and Juliet's parents insist that she marry Paris, the nurse eventually agrees with them, but only because she thinks that Juliet will be "happy in this second match, / For it excels [her] first, or, if it did not, / [Her]  first is dead [...]" (3.5.235-237).  What happiness can Juliet have with Romeo as her husband, hated by her family, and exiled from Verona forever?  It's not what Juliet wants to hear, certainly, but it is the truth, told lovingly by a friend who only wants what is best for her.

How are Dravot and Carnehan’s adventures representative of the British Empire in Rudyard Kipling's novella "The Man Who Would Be King"?

In Rudyard Kipling's novella "The Man Who Would Be King," Dravot and Carnehan behave like the British Empire by trekking about all over India swindling the natives out of money. What's more, after they meet the narrator of the story, they make their way into Kafiristan at the "top right-hand corner of Afghanistan" to, as they declare, become kings. In Kafiristan, they actually do temporarily fulfill their wish.

In Kafiristan, they first begin to establish themselves as rulers by forcing 10 natives with bows and arrows into subordination by use of their guns and resolving a conflict between two villages. Soon enough the villagers begin worshiping them as gods. Dravot and Carnehan also realize that some of the natives they have met practice Freemasonry, yet the tribesmen know nothing of the highest order of the Craft; therefore, Dravot easily convinces them that he is the Grand-Master. Since the tribesmen see Dravot as the Grand-Master and both Dravot and Carnehan as gods, they make Dravot king and Carnehan Commander-in-Chief of their army. In other words, Dravot and Carnehan take advantage of what they see as being the ignorance of a native society in order to make them their subordinates and place themselves in a position of authority, which is the exact same behavior exhibited by British imperialists.

British imperialists conquered native peoples because they believed natives to be inferior. British imperialists made natives their subordinates under the pretext that the imperialists were civilizing the natives when, in reality, all the imperialists were doing was exploiting the natives of their wealth and resources.

In The Hobbit, what mistakes do the dwarves make about Durin's Day? What does this tell you about them?

After much searching, the dwarves and Bilbo find a narrow shelf on the western side of the Lonely Mountain that leads to a flat smooth surface. They recognize it at once as being the secret entrance, but they have forgotten the translation provided to them by Elrond that the passage can only be opened with the key when the last light of Durin's Day strikes the door. The dwarves try to force the door open and to break the rock from which it was made, but their weapons prove to be useless against it. No amount of pushing or prying causes it to move in any way. The dwarves become discouraged, giving up on the door. It is only Biblo who eventually remembers the translation, and as the sun sets on Durin's Day a ray of light strikes the door, revealing the keyhole that can be used to open it.

This series of events speaks of the general character of the dwarves in the mythology of Tolkien. The dwarves are talented craftsmen and have a great knowledge of the value of things, but they are also rather blunt and stubborn. It is only the patient thoughtfulness of the hobbit that allows them to gain entry to the mountain and continue on their quest.

Y=6x-11 -3x-2y=7 solve by substitution

When simplifying  equations that are done simultaneously it is important to make one variable the subject of the formula to simplify solving the equations. 

We already have y the subject of the formula of the one equation:

`y = 6x -11`

Now we can make y the subject of the formula for the next equation: 

`-3x -2y = 7`

`-3x-7 =2y` (apply inverse operations)

`(-3x-7)/2 = y` (apply inverse operations)

Since we have two equations, we can now equate the two equations and solve for x: 

`6x - 11 = (-3x-7)/2`

`2(6x -11) = -3x -7` (inverse operations)

`12x - 22 = -3x -7` (multiply out)

Now get the variable x on the one side, and the constants on the other side:

`12x + 3x = -7+22` (apply inverse operations)

`15x = 15`

`x =1`

Since we know what x is, we can substitute it in the first equation as it is the easiest equation: 

`y = 6(1) -11`

`y = -5`

SUMMARY: `x = 1, y =-5`

3.3) I'm not sure whether it is correct or not. I'm am confused because of the Applied Force being at an angle. Am I only working out Fx and would...

Hello!

There are some mistakes in your solution. First, the transition from `F_f` to `mu*mg` is incorrect. We know that `F_f=mu*N,` where `N` is the reaction force. But in this case `N!=mg` because `F` acts partly upwards. We have to consider the both projections, vertical and horizontal.

For the vertical axis we obtain  `N-mg+F*sin(alpha)=0`

and from the horizontal  `F*cos(alpha)-F_(f) =F*cos(alpha)-mu*N=0.`

Express `N` from the first equation and substitute it into the second:

`N=mg-Fsin(alpha),`

`Fcos(alpha)=mu(mg-Fsin(alpha))=mu mg-F mu sin(alpha).`

So  `F(cos(alpha)+mu sin(alpha))=mu mg`  and the final formula is

`F=(mu mg)/(cos(alpha)+mu sin(alpha)).`

Now recall that `alpha`=20°, `mu=0.4,` `m`=50 kg and `g`=9.8 `m/s^2,` and compute:

`F approx (0.4*50*9.8)/(0.94+0.4*0.34) approx 196/1.08 approx` 181 (N). This is the answer for 3.3. Now you can easily solve 3.4 and 3.5.

Note also that 0.4*50*9.8 = 196 and not 16 as you wrote (maybe you simply omitted 9).

Why are writing systems and paper important inventions?

The invention of writing divides time into pre-history and history. Writing has many forms and purposes, but all written material has something in common: the transmission of information. Prior to the invention of writing, all communication of information was verbal or based on body language. Writing has the benefit of being more inclusive with regards to content — speaking often demands that we leave some information out — as well as the possibility to share information throughout time and across space. The major reason we know so much more about history than pre-history is because historical time is defined by having been recorded in some form of writing. 

Writing first developed in Ancient Sumeria, but was also independently developed in Mesoamerica and China. Early written material in Sumeria was primarily for accounting and administrative purposes, while in China, writing developed out of divination practices. Regardless of where writing systems developed, people rapidly began keeping track of what was happening around them as well as sharing narrative histories and myths. 

Writing and paper to write on are fundamental parts of most people's education. It is really wonderful that information can be recorded in or on some material and preserved for others to learn. Having an intermediary form of information, like a book, changes the nature of information exchange between people. The human brain is not perfect when it comes to retention, and it is highly unlikely that any one person could remember as much as they wanted or needed to. Those early Sumerian accountants certainly wanted to keep track of all of their goods and stores, but found writing to be more efficient than trying to remember it all.

I would argue that paper is a less important invention than writing, as many materials have been used to record information. Vellum, cotton, hemp, clay, stone, wood, and even papyrus have all been used for writing surfaces. Wood-pulp paper is certainly a major industry in our world, and most texts are printed on wood-pulp paper. If wood-pulp paper had never been invented, we might just read books printed on hemp instead.

Writing is a dynamic and expressive form of information that enables the intellectual pursuits of people throughout time and across space.

Why was Common Sense important?

Common Sense articulated in clear, lucid prose the reasons why the colonies ought to declare independence from Great Britain. Published in early 1776, Common Sense was written at a time when an increasing number of Americans were beginning to feel that the war with Great Britain had made the idea of continued union with the mother country untenable. Too many people had perished for the war to be about asserting the rights of the colonists as British subjects. It is difficult to measure eighteenth century public opinion, so it is possible that Paine's Common Sense was expressing the general spirit of the times more than persuading an unwilling people to part with Great Britain. Either way, there can be no doubt that Common Sense was a phenomenon from the moment it was first published. Hundreds of thousands of copies were distributed throughout the colonies. The Americans read within its pages a searing critique of Britain and of monarchy in general, an argument for the economic necessity of independence, and a vision for beginning a new nation founded on the principles of liberty and republicanism. With the publication of Common Sense, independence had an eloquent and persuasive spokesman.