What does the Declaration of Independence say?

The Declaration begins by describing the purpose of government. It argues that all men have basic rights, and that the purpose of government is to protect these rights--"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." It further says that if governments, which are established by men, fail to uphold these rights, then it is the right of the people to "alter or abolish" those governments. It then proceeds to list a series of grievances against the King, who is made to stand for all of Great Britain. It accuses him of taxing the colonies without their consent, of raising slaves and Native Americans up to fight against the colonists, of dissolving assemblies and failing to approve laws that would be good for the colonists, among many other accusations. Because the king had violated their rights in these ways, the colonies assert that they will, through the delegates chosen to attend the Continental Congress, declare their independence from Britain, and that the Declaration is their formal announcement of this action to the world. So, very briefly, it is an assertion of rights, a statement of the foundations of government, a list of the ways in which the king had violated their rights, and a formal declaration of independence.

If the mass of an object is 1 kg, what is the range of possible accelerations?

The range of possible accelerations of a body is dependent on two things: its mass and applied force. According to Newton's Second Law of Motion, force, mass and acceleration are related as follows:

F = m x a

where, F is the applied force, m is the mass of the object and a is its acceleration. If we know the mass of the object (say 1 kg, as in given case), we need to know the applied force to determine the possible acceleration, as a ratio of applied force and mass of object (a = F/m). For example, say an external force of 10 N is applied on the body, then its acceleration would be 10 m/s^2 (= 10/1). However, if we applied a force of 10 kN, the acceleration would be 10,000 m/s^2.

Thus, without knowing the applied force, we cannot determine the acceleration. And the range of acceleration would depend on applied force. 

Hope this helps. 

How did the ruling in Gibbons v. Ogden extend federal power over the states?

Like many of the decisions of the Marshall Court, Gibbons v. Ogden greatly enhanced the powers of the federal government. In this case, it did so by asserting the exclusive power of the federal government to regulate interstate commerce. The case itself involved the granting of a license by the state of New York that essentially gave Aaron Ogden a monopoly of steamboat ferries between that state and New Jersey. When he used this license to try to force a competitor, Thomas Gibbons, to stop running his ferry line, the case went to court. It eventually made its way to the Supreme Court, where the Court held that the Interstate Commerce clause gave Congress the power to regulate any commerce that passed between states--not just trade. Conceding that the "completely internal commerce" within a state would be under the jurisdiction of that state only, Chief Justice John Marshall wrote in his majority opinion that:

The power of Congress, then, comprehends navigation, within the limits of every State in the Union, so far as that navigation may be in any manner connected with "commerce with foreign nations, or among the several States, or with the Indian tribes."

This, essentially, gave Congress the power to regulate all commerce that could possibly be construed as "interstate." As the national economy became increasingly complex, this term could be used to describe almost any commerce. So the decision greatly expanded the regulatory powers of the Congress. 

What are some of the significant differences between the film and the book?

The main difference between the novel The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and filmmaker Peter Jackson's adaptation for the screen lies in the portrayal of the world of heaven experienced by the main character, Susie (played by Saoirse Ronan). The character of Susie is dead, having been brutally raped and murdered while still a teenager. The novel's first line is “My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.” 

Sebold's novel won the prestigious Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel, but the film garnered mostly negative reviews. Despite the book's haunting and rather disturbing story (based in part upon author Sebold's own experience of being raped), the film has a fantastical quality, full of special effects and fantasy sequences, that seems to diminish its seriousness. It is possible that Jackson sought to downplay the brutality of Susie's demise and to emphasize the world of "heaven" she now inhabits; but for many critics and viewers familiar with the novel, this approach does not seem like an effective adaptation.

Jackson, most well known for his award-winning work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is a director known for imbuing his works with dazzling special effects. His film Heavenly Creatures, which dramatizes the true story of two teenage girls whose obsessive friendship leads them to commit murder, is full of scenes of fantasy and romance. But this film's fantastical elements reflect the bizarre psychological circumstances of the girls' friendship, and draws upon their actual diary writings to re-create their relationship. In contrast, The Lovely Bones feels wrong-headed due to the brutality of the main character's death, which seems at odds with the strange beauty and pleasant qualities of her "heavenly" existence.

In the 1800's, what was important in the story?

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was a short story published in a collection called The Sketch-Book in 1819 and 1820 in installments.  Washington Irving brought forth the popularity of the American short story with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in the 1800s.

The story itself took place in the late 1790s.  There were several important happenings in the story.  One was that Ichabod Crane became infatuated with Katrina Van Tassel.  He visited her often and tried to woo her.  He went to a party at her father's farm, seeking to impress her.  Instead, he heard Brom Bones tell a story of the Headless Horseman who was said to haunt the area.  Ichabod was already superstitious, and he nervously rode his horse home later that night.  Suddenly he came across what appeared to be the Headless Horseman.  He was chased away and never heard from again.

“It was a memory that he must have deliberately pushed out of his consciousness over many years.” (pp. 167-168) What does this quote mean in...

In 1984, this quote appears when Winston is relating to Julia a dream that he had about his mother. In this dream, Winston returns to his childhood and relives the last day he spent with his mother and sister. He stole his sister's chocolate ration and ran out of the house, feeling shamed. When he returned some hours later, his mother and sister had disappeared, never to be seen again. 

Evidently, this memory is a painful one for Winston, hence his repression of it for so many years. But the quote is significant for another reason, too: it brings about an important change in how Winston views himself, the party and the proles. He looks back to a time before the party, when people created their own loyalties and controlled their own feelings and thoughts. We see evidence of this in the following line about his mother: "Her feelings were her own, and could not be altered from outside."

When the party came to power, all of this changed: "Once you were in the grip of the Party, what you felt or did not feel, what you did or refrained from doing, made literally no difference." In other words, the party destroyed the natural feelings and loyalties of ordinary people. This realisation has a profound impact on how Winston views the proles. Previously, he thought of them as lowly people but now he sees them as representatives of this old way of living: "The proles had stayed human. They had not become hardened inside." 

This realisation marks a turning point for Winston. It gives him the impetus to continue his rebellion against the party and to keep fighting against Big Brother. 

Describe Tom's reaction upon seeing the Devil. What does this tell us about his character?

Tom encounters the Devil (who he names as "Old Scratch", an outdated slang term for the Devil) while taking a shortcut through the woods, and resting for a moment near a ruined "Indian fort" - though it is little more than a burial ground at this point. As the reader, the setting of the fort is given a great deal of foreboding Gothic imagery that makes it seem hostile and evil, but Tom doesn't seem to mind. 

At first, Tom is surprised by the appearance of the Devil, but mostly because he hadn't thought anyone else was around, and because the Devil has a distinct appearance unlike any person Tom has met - black skin, red eyes, and so forth - but Tom quickly settles into his typical mannerisms. 

We might assume that any normal person, upon encountering the Devil, might be surprised, shocked, fearful or in awe. Tom, however, behaves as if the Devil were like any other person. This indicates that Tom is probably brave and foolish, and he has not learned to fear evil as others might.