The President known as the "Great Communicator" wasA) George H. W. Bush B) Jimmy Carter C) Richard Nixon D) Ronald Reagan

The answer to this question is that Ronald Reagan was the
president who was known as the Great Communicator.  So the answer is
D.

Reagan had been a farily famous movie actor before he
entered politics.  Because of this, he had a great deal of experience and projecting
various kinds of emotions to people via the media.  He used this experience to be a very
good politician.  He was called the "Great Communicator" because he was said to have a
knack for getting people to sympathize with his points of view.  His movie acting
experience came in handy in this regard because he knew how to proect the proper image
to people as he spoke.

What was the cosmological argument, and what is the problem (weakness) with it?

The Cosmological Argument is a standfard argument for the
existence of God, expounded by the theologian Thomas Aquinas, (1225-1274). The argument
is based upon the premise that every being and every event has an existing cause which
preceded it. This is accepted as universally true in our world; things do not pop into
being from nowhere, and things do not happen for no reason. But if every being and event
must be caused by a previous being or event, and that cause in turn must have a cause,
it seems as if the line of causes must stretch back into the past infinitely, an idea
described as an infinite causal regress. An infinite causal regress is considered an
impossible model for understanding the nature of existence because it does not explain
how the infinite chain of causes and effects itself came into being. Therefore, how the
universe originally began appears to present a problem, since it cannot have been caused
by nothing, but if it was caused by something, that thing would have had to have been
caused by something else. The Cosmological Argument claims that this problem proves the
existence of a First Cause of the universe, which was unique in that it itself did not
have to be caused. The First Cause is usually supposed to be the traditional
Judeo-Christian God, and thus the argument proves the existence of
God.

There are several problems with the cosmological
argument. In the first place, the argument is not a hard-and-fast proof of its
conclusion, but instead just offers us both a problem, and a conclusion, which, if it
were true, would resolve the dilemma. This reasoning is similar to a detective charged
with solving a murder pointing out a suspect who plausibly could have committed the
crime, and announcing that the mystery is solved, since the murder is now explained. It
is true that declaring the suspect guilty "explains" the murder, but this does not mean
that it is the true explanation. Likewise, it is true that if we accept the notion of
God as an uncaused being, the problem posed by infinite regress vanishes. But this does
not mean that it is the true or only solution. In fact, we can only arrive at this
conclusion by denying the first and most basic premise - that all things have a prior
cause. A good argument does not deny its own
premises.

Another problem with the argument is that it
doesn't actually explain much of anything. It merely states that the First Cause was
uncaused, but not how or why this could be possible. Why the "first cause which existed
uncaused" is any different from a concept of the universe itself simply beginning
uncaused is not clear.

Finally, the argument does not prove
that the First Cause is identical to the tradional God. Since the only thing the
argument claims to prove about the First Cause is that it, A), was uncaused, and B),
caused everything else, it does not follow from this that it has any of the other
attributes of God. It is quite possible even to concieve of a First Cause which has
since ceased to exist.

What kinds of comedies are Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and As You Like it?

Shakespeare’s As You Like It and
A Midsummer Night’s Dream were famously classified as “festive
comedies” by C. L. Barber in his highly influential book Shakespeare’s Festive
Comedy: A Study of Dramatic Form and Its Relation to Social Custom
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972). What, however, does the term “festive
comedy” mean precisely? What are some distinguishing traits of festive comedies? In the
introductory chapter of his book, Barber outlines some of the special traits of
“festive” comedies and explains why he thinks many of Shakespeare’s early comedies
exhibit those traits. Among the traits he mentions are the
following:

• their tone is “merry”
  (3)


• they exhibit a “happy comic art”
  (3)


• they resemble the comedies of the ancient Greek
  playwright Aristophanes (3)


• the exhibit a basic movement
  “through release to clarification” (4)


• they were
  influenced by “the social form of Elizabethan holidays”
  (4)


• they were influenced by the English theatrical
  tradition of the clown and Vice figure (5)


• they were
  influenced by “the cult of fools and folly” (5)


• they were
  influenced by the custom of “seasonal feasts” (5)


• they
  emphasize “beneficent natural impulses” (7)


• they depict
  “ritual abuse of hostile spirits” (7)


• they emphasize
  “liberty,” “mirth,” and “wanton vitality” (7)


• in these
  comedies, “inhibition is freed for celebration” (7)


• they
  emphasize “a heightened awareness of the relationship between man and nature”
  (8)


• they “present a mockery of what is unnatural”
  (8)


• they also present “a complementary mockery of what is
  merely natural” (8)


• the characters mocked in these plays
  seem unnatural because they are “killjoys” (8)


• however,
  the satire in these plays is only incidental; it is not the main purpose of these plays
  to be satirical (8)

Barber then proceeds to
devote individual chapters to particular comedies by Shakespeare that display these
“festive” traits. The plays he discusses as “festive comedies” include As You
Like It and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Most analysts
would agree with Barber that these plays exhibit many of the traits itemized
above.

In any case, these are definitely happy plays, with
happy conclusions. They are not biting or satirical in the ways that some of Jonson’s
comedies (for instance) are. They emphasize romantic love between attractive (if
somewhat foolish) young people, and the opposition those young people face to their love
is rather easily overcome. Both plays involve a movement away from somewhat unattractive
courts into a beautiful rural landscape. Shakespeare’s purpose in these plays seems to
have been to celebrate the joys of life, to make mild fun of its follies, and to show
how genuine love can be the basis of the establishment (or reestablishment) of a happy,
charitable, and content society.

Can anyone summarise "Like the Sun" by R. K. Narayan?

This story by R. K. Narayan features Sekhar, who is a
teacher with a belief that just as people avoid staring at the sun, likewise people
avoid confronting the truth. He recognises that people deliberately alter what they say
to avoid hurting or shocking others. To prove his point and as an experiment, he decides
to speak and receive only the truth for one day, no matter what the consequences might
be. He starts the day as he means to continue by telling his wife precisely what he
thinks of her cooking (foolish man!), and then gives his opinion of someone who has just
died. Then his headmaster, his boss, who has spent lots of money on music lessons, asks
his opinion of his singing. Sekhar is an authority on musical matters and the
headmaster's performance is terrible, and Sekhar tells him so. The next day, nervous
about how he will respond, Sekhar is surprised to be thanked by his headmaster for
telling the truth, but he gives Sekhar one hundred papers to mark in a single night.
Sekhar feels that "sitting up all night with a hundred test papers was a small price to
pay for the luxury of practicing Truth."

What do you think about Mrs. Stevenson according to the drama "Sorry, Wrong Number" by Lucille Fletcher?

Mrs. Stevenson is a character who eventually evokes quite
a bit of pity from the audience.  At first she seems to be a wealthy, perhaps spoiled,
lady who lays around and gossips on the telephone.  Later, we learn that she is really a
lonely, bedridden shut-in whose husband is planning her
murder.

This murder plot is revealed when Mrs. Stevenson
attempts to use the telephone, and the wires somehow get crossed.  She, along with the
audience, is slowly pulled into the plot, slowly understanding that the mastermind is
her husband, and slowly realizing that she is the intended
victim.

Most people can empathize with a feeling of
helplessness and vulnerability, and most people are afraid of being alone at night and
suddenly finding that somebody else is there!  As a result, the audience identifies
with Mrs. Stevenson and feels both pity and fear for her. 

What is a good conclusion for the influences of Hamlet?I need something good to understand it.

I think you are asking for things that have an influence
on Hamlet's behavior and attitude in the play.  If so, here are a few things to
consider.

One strong influence on Hamlet are his religious
beliefs.  He vehemently opposes the marriage of his mother and his uncle because he
regards it as incestuous, as would have the Catholic church at the time.  He also
considers suicide, but doesn't do it because it is against God's
laws.

The ghost influences Hamlet to take vengeance on
Claudius for his murder.  He makes sure to tell Hamlet exactly what happened to him and
how he feels about the marriage of his wife to his brother so that Hamlet will feel the
emotional tie to his father and do what he is told to do.  When the ghost returns in Act
3, Hamlet is influenced to stop being so harsh with his mother and focus his attention
on the task of vengeance.

Fortinbras influences Hamlet from
afar.  Hamlet sees Fortinbras going off the Poland to fight over a worthless piece of
land and Hamlet is then inspired anew to take his vengeance against Claudius -- to fight
for something that is very worthwhile and dear to
him.

Claudius influences Hamlet to do he needs to do to
save himself.  Hamlet reads Claudius's note intended for the English king, and decides
re-write the note to condemn Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.  This isn't something he
would have done in other circumstances, but Claudius kind of forces his
hand.

What problems does Mr. Jones have in Animal Farm?

Mr. Jones' excessive drinking causes many of the problems
that occur on Manor Farm. Even the animals agreed that he was once a capable farmer, but
a lost lawsuit had been the stimulus for him to drink all the more. Jones would lay
about the house while his paid workers were idle and dishonest. Weeds took over the
fields, hedges went untrimmed, buildings needed repair and, most importantly, the
animals were underfed. Meanwhile, Old Major, Mr. Jones' prize Middle White boar, has a
dream which he shares with the rest of the animals. In his dream, man has vanished and
animals rule the world. Old Major suggests that the animals take over the farm and rule
it in a way that Mr. Jones has failed to do.

One
Midsummer's Eve, Jones went into town to get drunk and did not return till the next day.
Although the cows were milked, the animals again went unfed. So, the animals broke down
their stalls and helped themselves to their feed bins. When Jones and his men whipped
the animals for this, the revolt of the animals began.