The Golden Heian Era: The geomancers in 794 decided that Heian-kyo (modern Kyoto) would be an auspicious site for the imperial family. It was indeeduntil 1869. Grants of tax-free land over the years had been made to Buddhist temples and members of the court aristocracy. The most powerful families thus carved out for themselves whole regions that were to become the fiefdoms of Japanese feudalism. By the end of the eighth century the clans had created a hierarchy of shiki, or rights, from the highest to the lowest ranks of society. The aristocrat or court patron lent his prestige to a powerful provincial proprietor, who employed a competent estate-manager to oversee smallholders, who in turn worked their farms with dependent laborers. This elaborate structure of interdependent rights and obligations was to serve Japanese society right into the 20th century. Meanwhile, Heian court life blossomed in an effusion of aesthetic expression. Princes and princesses judged the merits of birds, insects, flowers, roots, or seashells. Literary party games held in ornate palace gardens required each guest to compose a small poem as his wine cup floated toward him along a miniature winding channel of water. Expeditions were organized to the best viewing points for the first spring cherry blossoms, and special pavilions were built to watch the rising of the full moon. Every gesture, from the most banal opening of an umbrella to the sublimest act of lovemaking, had its appropriate ceremonial. Conversation often took the form of elegant exchanges of improvised verse. The changing role of Chinese culture in Japanese life was epitomized in the language itself. In the absence of an indigenous alphabet, Japanese scholars had with the greatest difficulty tried to adapt the complex ideograms of monosyllabic Chinese to the essentially polysyllabic Japanese. Thus developed the katakana system used as a vehicle for writing Buddhist names and concepts. After rival Fujiwara factions had been struggling for years to gain control of the imperial throne, they turned to the Taira and Minamoto armies in 1156 to wage the four-year war that heralded the end of the golden age of the Heian court. The Taira, controlling the region along the Inland Sea, defeated the Minamoto armies based in the Kanto province east of the capital.

Question: "Which people were able to experience, for example, literary party games in ornate palace gardens and expeditions to the best places to see the first spring cherry blossoms?"

Answer: "The Chinese"

Response: no

Force is a vector. What then is a vector? Think about how you would give directions to a friend. You would not say, just walk half a mile. The person may walk a half mile in the wrong direction! More information is needed. You may say, follow this particular road for a half mile. You may say, look for the green house on Sumter St. In both examples, you provided a direction. You also gave the distance. In other words, you provided a vector. You did not just give a distance. Both pieces of information are needed to find a location. This is just like describing forces. To explain forces, both size and direction are needed. Notice the girl in Figure 1.1. She is pushing the swing away from herself. Thats the direction of the force. She can give the swing a strong push or a weak push.

Question: "What two pieces of information does a vector provide?"

Answer: "Motion and distance"

Response: no

The family across the street has a cat. He is a cute black kitty named Dillon. The cat is about two years old, and the family has had him for about a year. He is an indoor cat who is not allowed to go outside. The children like to play with Dillon because he still acts like a kitten. Dillon jumps around, and chases flies, beetles and spiders. When he plays with the children, he sometimes uses his paws to attack them, but he doesn't try to hurt them with his claws. Dillon is a great cat but he has one problem: he likes to eat bread. The family only feeds him cat food, never human food like steak or potatoes. But the cat likes the smell of bread so much that he tries to find it everywhere he can. Dillon jumps up on the kitchen table when a sandwich is there, and tries to carry it away. He finds loaves of bread from the store on the floor and claws through the wrappers. The cat climbs into the bread cupboard looking for hot dog and hamburger buns. The family tries to make Dillon stop getting into the bread by spraying him with water when he goes after bread. They yell at him when he walks on the table. But Dillon does not listen. The kitty keeps trying to find bread to eat. The family thinks that the man who took care of Dillon when he was a very young kitten must have been a baker or cook, and that's why Dillon likes the smell and taste of bread so much!

Question: "What are the ways Dillon tries to get bread?"

Answer: "He jumps on the kitchen table to get sandwiches, climbs into the bread cupboard and claw through bread wrappers"

Response: no

Not until 1998 did al Qaeda undertake a major terrorist operation of its own, in large part because Bin Laden lost his base in Sudan. Ever since the Islamist regime came to power in Khartoum, the United States and other Western governments had pressed it to stop providing a haven for terrorist organizations. Other governments in the region, such as those of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and even Libya, which were targets of some of these groups, added their own pressure. At the same time, the Sudanese regime began to change. Though Turabi had been its inspirational leader, General Omar al Bashir, president since 1989, had never been entirely under his thumb. Thus as outside pressures mounted, Bashir's supporters began to displace those of Turabi. The attempted assassination in Ethiopia of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in June 1995 appears to have been a tipping point. The would-be killers, who came from the Egyptian Islamic Group, had been sheltered in Sudan and helped by Bin Laden. When the Sudanese refused to hand over three individuals identified as involved in the assassination plot, the UN Security Council passed a resolution criticizing their inaction and eventually sanctioned Khartoum in April 1996. A clear signal to Bin Laden that his days in Sudan were numbered came when the government advised him that it intended to yield to Libya's demands to stop giving sanctuary to its enemies. Bin Laden had to tell the Libyans who had been part of his Islamic army that he could no longer protect them and that they had to leave the country. Outraged, several Libyan members of al Qaeda and the Islamic Army Shura renounced all connections with him. Bin Laden also began to have serious money problems. International pressure on Sudan, together with strains in the world economy, hurt Sudan's currency. Some of Bin Laden's companies ran short of funds. As Sudanese authorities became less obliging, normal costs of doing business increased. Saudi pressures on the Bin Laden family also probably took some toll. In any case, Bin Laden found it necessary both to cut back his spending and to control his outlays more closely.

Question: "What are three reasons for Bin Laden's money troubles when he was based in Sudan?"

Answer: "The government advised him that they intended to yield to Libya's demand to stop giving sanctuary to its enemies"

Response:
no