QUES: Light rays strike a reflecting surface. They are then reflected back. You can predict the angle of the reflected light. Imagine a ball bouncing off a surface. Light can do the same thing. That is, assuming the surface is shiny. So how do you know where light will go after it strikes a shiny surface? It depends on how the light initially strikes the shiny object. Light does not always go straight toward a surface. Therefore, not all light bounces straight back. Sometimes, light can hit a surface at an angle. The angle at which it strikes the surface tells us how it will bounce off. While light is different to a ball, they react in a similar manner. Many sports rely on knowledge of reflection. Pool players know a lot about reflection. They take great care when they strike the pool ball. They need it to go to a certain place. They know the angle it will hit the side of the pool table.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: What can bounce off a surface similar to a ball?

QUES: Electronic theft by foreign and industrial spies and disgruntled employees is costing U.S. companies billions and eroding their international competitive advantage. That was the message delivered by government and private security experts at an all-day conference on corporate electronic espionage. "Hostile and even friendly nations routinely steal information from U.S. companies and share it with their own companies," said Noel D. Matchett, a former staffer at the federal National Security Agency and now president of Information Security Inc., Silver Spring, Md. It "may well be" that theft of business data is "as serious a strategic threat to national security" as it is a threat to the survival of victimized U.S. firms, said Michelle Van Cleave, the White House's assistant director for National Security Affairs. The conference was jointly sponsored by the New York Institute of Technology School of Management and the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, a joint industry-government trade group. Any secret can be pirated, the experts said, if it is transmitted over the air. Even rank amateurs can do it if they spend a few thousand dollars for a commercially available microwave receiver with amplifier and a VCR recorder. They need only position themselves near a company's satellite dish and wait. "You can have a dozen competitors stealing your secrets at the same time," Mr. Matchett said, adding : "It's a pretty good bet they won't get caught." The only way to catch an electronic thief, he said, is to set him up with erroneous information.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: Who does the government and private security experts say is committing electronic theft?

QUES: The earliest signs of people on Jamaica are the remains of the Arawak, an AmerIndian society that originated on the north coast of South America. Arawak peoples migrated to various Caribbean islands, arriving in Jamaica by the beginning of the eighth century. They were peaceful and lived by "slash-and-burn" farming. For meat, they bred pigs and ate iguana, both native to the island. They were highly skilled in such manual activities as thatching and weaving. In fact, the hammock was an AmerIndian invention that remains with us today; it is an object which, more than any other, evokes an image of a warm sunny day on a tropical isle. The Arawak left a legacy of paintings in places such as Runaway Caves near Discovery Bay, and shards of pottery found at their settlements near Nueva Sevilla and Spanish Town have added a little to our knowledge about them. Over 200 Arawak sites have been identified, and it is said that when the Spanish arrived in Jamaica there were approximately 100,000 Arawak living on the island. They called Jamaica "Xaymaca" ("land of wood and water"). Columbus and the Arrival of Europeans Columbus first arrived in Jamaica on 5 May 1494 at Discovery Bay, where there is now a small park in his honor. He stayed for only a few days but returned in 1502, landing here when the ships of his fleet became unserviceable; he waited at St. Ann's Bay for help to arrive from Cuba. After the death of Columbus in 1505, Jamaica became the property of his son Diego, who dispatched Don Juan de Esquivel to the island as Governor. Esquivel arrived in 1510 and created a base called Nueva Sevilla near St. Ann's Bay, from which he hoped to colonize the rest of the island. The Spanish immediately began subjugating the Arawak population, many of whom died under the yoke of oppression and of diseases carried by the Europeans. A number of them committed suicide rather than live the life created for them by the Spanish. The site of Nueva Sevilla proved to be unhealthy and mosquito-ridden, and in 1534 the Spanish founded Villa de la Vega, today known as Spanish Town. Pig breeding was the main occupation of these early settlers, but they also planted sugar cane and other crops that required large numbers of laborers. The number of Arawak had already fallen dramatically, so the Spanish began to import slaves from Africa to work the land; the first Africans arrived in 1517.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: Name some things the Arawak ate and invented.

QUES: Boone, Ia. -Poor and elderly people may soon go without legal representation in Boone County. Boone County Legal Aid, which for 31 years has provided legal services to those who couldn't afford them, will close in February if a $10,000 grant from Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino is not awarded. The legal service is one of the few programs in Iowa that offers legal representation to those who qualify without turning to the state for its services. "It is a very sad situation, but that's the fact," said Alan Schroeder, city attorney and supervisor of Boone County Legal Aid. For the past two years using money mostly from the city and county, Schroeder has upheld the outfit alone, taking on about 60 clients a year, and settling cases that range from domestic abuse to bankruptcy. He also has a private practice. If the legal service closes, he's unsure where his clients will go. The city of Boone gave Schroeder $6,300 in July to resolve pending cases, said Kathy Berg, Boone's finance officer. Without that, the program might already be closed. "All governments are having problems with finances," Boone Mayor George Maybee said. "No one else stepped in. The county didn't. The state didn't." Donovan Olson, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors, said the board quit funding the legal service in July because it felt the county didn't need it. Drake University ended its funding after the 2000 spring semester "for a variety of reasons," Suzanne Levitt, the law professor who oversaw the program, said via e-mail. Olson said Schroeder must prove Prairie Meadows is the primary money source for the board to grant the program any more money. Schroeder ran the program without the help of law students or Drake, which had provided as much as two-thirds of the money in some years.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION:
Where does Alan Schroeder work?