Explain the following exchange: Mercutio: "Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance." Romeo: "You have dancing shoes with nimble soles. I have a...

This very clever pun appears as Romeo, Mercutio and the other Montague men are on their way to Capulet's party in Act I, Scene 4 of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. A pun is a play on the multiple meanings of a word or two words that sound alike but have different meanings. Shakespeare was one of the greatest punsters of all time and more elaborate puns appear later in the play during the exchange between Romeo and Mercutio in Act II, Scene 4. In this scene Romeo is still depressed over his unrequited love for Rosaline and Mercutio is trying to cheer him up by convincing him that when they get to the party Romeo should dance. The pun involves the homophones soul and sole. Homophones occur when two words sound the same but have both different definitions and different spellings. Romeo claims that Mercutio has "nimble soles," meaning the bottoms of his shoes, but that he has a "soul of lead" because he is sad over his love for a girl who will not return his affection. 

Why did United States colonies need the First Great Awakening?

There is no objective, non-religious reason that the colonies needed the First Great Awakening. There is no way to prove that a country ever needs a religious revival.  In the United States today, many say that citizens need to honor God more.  There is no way the people making this argument can prove they are right.  There are also people who say the US needs less religion, but they can’t prove they’re right, either.  Therefore, we cannot really say that the colonies needed to have the Great Awakening.

Obviously, though, many individual colonists believed they needed more religion in their lives.  If they had not believed this, the Great Awakening would not have happened. Looking at things in this way, we can say the colonies (or individual colonists) needed the Great Awakening because they had moved away from an emotional connection to God and toward religious views influenced by the Enlightenment.

The Enlightenment taught that people should use their rationality to answer questions and make decisions.  Proponents of the Enlightenment said people should rely on logic and scientific evidence when trying to decide what is true.  Religion, to Enlightenment thinkers, was supposed to be about logic and thought, not about feelings and emotions.

By the time of the Great Awakening, these ideas had taken hold among many colonists.  This kind of logical, rational religion was not emotionally satisfying for many of them, however.  They did not feel a close connection to God and therefore did not feel the emotional support that type of religion can provide.  Colonists needed the Great Awakening to bring them back to a more emotional religious experience. They needed to have a real connection with God, not just a set of beliefs based on logic.  Thus, we can say that the colonies needed the Great Awakening because many colonists did not receive the emotional and spiritual satisfaction they needed from the Enlightenment-influenced religion of the day.

What charitable work was Princess Diana involved in?

Princess Diana, "The People's Princess," was widely renowned for her incredible commitment to public service. She was directly involved in campaigns for the banning of the use of landmines via the Landmine Survivors Network and HALO Trust, even touring a minefield in Angola and paying visits to Bosnia and Herzegovina to attract attention to the issue.  

She acted as an advocate for the homeless (Via Centrepoint), young people, elderly people (via Help the Aged), the disabled (opening the Richard Attenborough Centre for Disability and the Arts), those suffering from drug addictions, and those coping with various illnesses.

Princess Diana also did a great deal of work to promote awareness around AIDS (despite the disapproval of the Queen), often working directly with those suffering from the immunodeficiency virus. The visibility that she provided was indispensable at a time when those suffering from the illness still faced a great deal of stigma. 

She was a patron to the British Red Cross, British Red Cross Youth Chester Childbirth Appeal, the Trust for Sick Children in Wales, the British Lung Foundation, the National AIDS Trust, the Welsh national Opera, the National Children's Orchestra, and many, many more organizations. Whether it was through direct activism or financial assistance, Princess Diana was one of the greatest humanitarians of her generation--a legacy that has lasted even after her untimely death in 1997. 

What is the main difference between the two major categories of air pollutants?

Air pollutants are the gases, particles and molecules which make air unfit for living organisms. Air pollutants may cause discomfort, infection and/or diseases to the various life forms. There are two main types of air pollutants: Primary pollutants and secondary pollutants.

Primary pollutants are those pollutants that are directly emitted from the source to the atmosphere. These could be a result of the combustion of fuels (gasoline, diesel, etc.) from automobiles or from industries (such as coal or natural gas combustion from thermal power plants, etc.) or exhaust from any other source. Carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide generated from vehicles, soot generated from coal-powered thermal power plants, etc. are all primary air pollutants. 

Secondary air pollutants are formed from the reactions of primary air pollutants and are not emitted directly from the source. Examples of secondary pollutants include ozone, which is formed by the reaction between nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic matter (VOC) in the presence of sunlight. Smog is another secondary pollutant and is formed by a combination of smoke and fog. 

Hope this helps. 

What was happening during the Renaissance Period that relates to Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet?

As William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet is set during the Italian Renaissance, just about everything that happened during this time period has to do with the play! More specifically, the play focuses on two young lovers who come from families who hate one another. The Italian nobility of the Renaissance were constantly caught up in feuds with one another, and Shakespeare has used this fact to create an all-the-more dramatic love story! 

The noble families of Italy were both wealthy and powerful. An unfortunate consequence of using one's wealth and power to make changes in society was that you might upset someone just as wealthy and powerful as you! Members of noble families often brawled in public as displays of domination and defending one's honor. We see this all throughout Romeo and Juliet, as the young men of the Montague and Capulet families engaged in public fights.

Shakespeare never really tells us why the Montagues and Capulets are feuding. It is possible that their grudge is so old that nobody living remembers why the fighting began. Alternately, perhaps it is a hate which began with a small offense and escalated through greater action into the murderous state which sets the social backdrop of the play. Feuding could begin for any number of reasons-- political, financial, social-- and often carried on for so many generations that the families forgot why they started fighting and simply carried on out of habit.

`(1, 4), y = 4x + 2` Find the distance between the point and the line.

Take note that the formula to determine the distance from a point `(x_o, y_o)` to a line Ax+By+C=0 is:

`d = |Ax_o + By_o +C|/sqrt(A^2+B^2)`

To apply, set one side of the given equation equal to zero.

`y=4x+2`

`-4x + y - 2 =0`

Then, plug-in the coefficients of x and y, as well as the constant to the formula.

`d=|-4x_o + 1y_o + (-2)|/sqrt((-4)^2 + 1^2)`

`d = |-4x_o + y_o - 2|/sqrt17`

And, plug-in the given point (1,4).

`d=|-4(1) + 4 - 2|/sqrt17`

`d=|-2|/sqrt17`

`d=2/sqrt17`

`d=2/sqrt17*sqrt17/sqrt17`

`d=(2sqrt17)/17`

Therefore, the distance between the point (1,4) and the line y=4x+2 is `(2sqrt17)/17` units.

What is the main claim Martin Luther King makes in his "Letter from Birmingham City Jail"?

In his "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Martin Luther King's main claim is to promote the urgent need for and biblical soundness of nonviolent protest.

King wrote the letter in response to a letter written by Birmingham clergymen, published in the Birmingham Post Herald, protesting against King's demonstrations in Birmingham. These clergymen, although they expressed opposition to segregation, promoted patiently waiting for justice rather than active protest. They also argued that King's protest, while nonviolent, incited violence in others.

King refutes their argument for waiting for justice by pointing out that no gains in civil rights have ever been made "without determined legal and nonviolent pressure," because "privileged groups" rarely give up their privileges without such pressure. He further asserts that individuals are likely to see the truth of immoral actions and be willing to make changes, but groups, whose members solidify each other's views with pressures, never come to understand what of their actions are immoral: "groups tend to be more immoral than individuals." For this reason, King knows that progress in civil liberties can only be made if the group of racist whites holding onto their privileges are pressured into extending their privileges towards others.

King refutes the clergymen's arguments against nonviolent protestation by explaining exactly what steps are taken in a nonviolent protest and how the steps can be biblically justified. In refuting their statement that nonviolent protest should be censured because, though it strives to be nonviolent, it incites violence in others, King questions their logic:

But is this a logical assertion? Isn't this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery? ... Isn't this like condemning Jesus because his unique God consciousness and never ceasing devotion to God's will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion?

In saying the above, King is pointing out that the violence does not stem from the innocent people such as the man who is robbed and Jesus; it stems from the evil outside of the innocent people. Therefore, the only way to stop the violence is not by condemning peaceful fights against it but by "protecting the robbed and punishing the robber," meaning protecting those who are treated unjustly and punishing those who instigate unjust, violent treatment.