QUES: Grim disappeared upstairs himself, and returned about ten minutes later in the uniform of a Shereefian officer--that is to say, of Emir Feisul's Syrian army. Nothing could be smarter, not anything better calculated to disguise a man. Disguise, as any actor or detective can tell you, is not so much a matter of make- up as suggestion. It is little mannerisms--unstudied habits that identify. The suggestion that you are some one else is the thing to strive for, not the concealment of who you really are. Grim's skin had been sun-tanned in the Arab campaign under Lawrence against the Turks. The Shereefian helmet is a compromise between the East and West, having a strip of cloth hanging down behind it as far as the shoulders and covering the ears on either side, to take the place of the Arab head-dress. The khaki uniform had just enough of Oriental touch about it to distinguish it from that of a British officer. No man inexperienced in disguise would dream of choosing it; for the simple reason that it would not seem to him disguise enough. Yet Grim now looked so exactly like somebody else that it was hard to believe he was the same man who had been in the room ten minutes before. His mimicry of the Syrian military walk--blended of pride and desire not to seem proud--was perfect.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: What aspect of the uniform distinguished him from a British soldier?

QUES: He repeatedly calls on his followers to embrace martyrdom since "The walls of oppression and humiliation cannot be demolished except in a rain of bullets." For those yearning for a lost sense of order in an older, more tranquil world, he offers his "Caliphate" as an imagined alternative to today's uncertainty. For others, he offers simplistic conspiracies to explain their world. Bin Laden also relies heavily on the Egyptian writer Sayyid Qutb. A member of the Muslim Brotherhood executed in 1966 on charges of attempting to overthrow the government, Qutb mixed Islamic scholarship with a very superficial acquaintance with Western history and thought. Sent by the Egyptian government to study in the United States in the late 1940s, Qutb returned with an enormous loathing of Western society and history. He dismissed Western achievements as entirely material, arguing that Western society possesses "nothing that will satisfy its own conscience and justify its existence." Three basic themes emerge from Qutb's writings. First, he claimed that the world was beset with barbarism, licentiousness, and unbelief (a condition he called jahiliyya, the religious term for the period of ignorance prior to the revelations given to the Prophet Mohammed). Qutb argued that humans can choose only between Islam and jahiliyya. Second, he warned that more people, including Muslims, were attracted to jahiliyya and its material comforts than to his view of Islam; jahiliyya could therefore triumph over Islam. Third, no middle ground exists in what Qutb conceived as a struggle between God and Satan. All Muslims-as he defined them-therefore must take up arms in this fight. Any Muslim who rejects his ideas is just one more nonbeliever worthy of destruction. Bin Laden shares Qutb's stark view, permitting him and his followers to rationalize even unprovoked mass murder as righteous defense of an embattled faith. Many Americans have wondered, "Why do 'they' hate us?" Some also ask, "What can we do to stop these attacks?" Bin Laden and al Qaeda have given answers to both these questions.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: Approximately how long after studying in the United States was Sayyid Qutb executed?

QUES: Sound waves are mechanical waves. They can travel only through matter. They cannot travel through empty space. This was demonstrated in the 1600s by a scientist named Robert Boyle. Boyle placed a ticking clock in a sealed glass jar. The clock could be heard ticking through the air and glass of the jar. Then Boyle pumped the air out of the jar. The clock was still running, but the ticking could not be heard. Thats because the sound couldnt travel without air particles to transfer the sound energy. Is there any other place where sound cannot be heard? Here is a hint: is there any other place that does not have air molecules? Thats right, in space sound cannot be transferred. So can astronauts hear each other? Yes, they can, because they are in enclosed space stations or pressurized suits.In both cases, they are surrounded by air molecules. If they left their space ship and did not use their electronics, they would not be able to hear each other. Next time you watch a science fiction movie, think about this factoid. When spaceships are destroyed by hostile alien beings, there would be no sound heard. Sound waves can travel through many kinds of matter.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: What can sound waves move through?

QUES: Pester came running into the room. He came to a fast stop when he saw the dog. He'd seen a dog before, every cat has, and he used to live with a black dog named Henry, but he'd never seen a brown one before. It seemed strange to him, but not as strange as it was to see Linda the brown chicken in the living room last spring. That still confused him. He thought he liked this dog, not because of the color, but because it was small. And it was so hairy. It was a like a mop that could run around. He jumped on his favorite chair and looked down as Maggie ran under it. She was kind of cute for a dog, Pester thought to himself. He layed down on the chair and pawed at her as she ran in a circle under it. He tapped her ears as she went by, and waved his tail like a flag trying to get her attention. After a little more of this, Pester curled up in a ball on the chair and took a nap.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION:
Was Pester already familiar with dogs when he came running into the room?