What did you think of the solution to the mystery?

"The Red-Headed League" is one of the best Sherlock Holmes stories because it is based on such an unusual idea. The criminal John Clay invents a job for Jabez Wilson to keep him out of the way while he is digging his tunnel into a bank's underground strongroom. The job can only be filled by a man who has exceptionally brilliant red hair--and it just happens that Wilson does have such hair. The scene in which hundreds of red-haired men apply for the fake job at the rented office is weird but just barely believable. In my opinion, the story is more interesting because of its characters and the adventure aspect than for the deductions of Sherlock Holmes and the solution to the mystery. Sherlock Holmes already knows John Clay and can guess that Wilson's problems with the Red-Headed League derive from Clay's desire to get Wilson out of the way. Sherlock Holmes tells Watson:

“You see, Watson,” he explained in the early hours of the morning as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, “it was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of the League, and the copying of the Encyclopaedia, must be to get this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of hours every day."

That much is "perfectly obvious, but there are a number of things about the story that are not explained. For instance, why didn't the crooks wait just a little whlle longer before posting a notice on the office-door that the Red-Headed League had been dissolved? Jabez Wilson finds the notice on Saturday when he comes to work, and John Clay is apprehended that very night. It was because Clay and his accomplice dissolved the League that morning that they got caught. There was no need to post such a notice at all. They could have just left four sovereigns in the office for that week's wages and never gone back to the office.

The two robbers had to drag thirty-thousand gold coins through a tunnel that must have been almost a block long. They intended to transfer the French gold coins into bags. Thirty-thousand one-ounce gold coins would weight 1,875 pounds. Each bag would probably have weighed a hundred pounds. Then they would have have all the gold in Wilson's cellar after four or five hours of hard work. How did they plan to get the gold up the stairs into a horse-drawn wagon without waking Wilson or running into a policeman? This problem is never mentioned, much less explained.

It is interesting to note how Conan Doyle keeps his detective in the forefront in his stories. Although Holmes brings a policemen with him, it is Holmes who captures John Clay.

Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone floor.

“It's no use, John Clay,” said Holmes blandly. “You have no chance at all.”

The story is more interesting for its unusual features--the characters of John Clay and Jabez Wilson, the unusual plot involving the Red-Headed League--than for the detection involved. It seems that any intelligent person would deduce that the Red-Headed League had been created because of Wilson's red hair and was intended to get him out of the way. The story is a good example of how a talented fiction writer like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle will create a character to suit the needs of his plot. In addition to being "not over-bright," Wilson has been out of the country for many years and therefore it is plausible that he might never have had heard of the creation of the Red-Headed League, if it has ever indeed existed.

It seems a little weak that Wilson would come to Sherlock Holmes and expect the famous detective to work for him for nothing, when Wilson has not really lost anything but has actually gained thirty-four pounds, less the cost of the paper he used to copy from the Encyclopedia Britannica. He does not have any hope of getting his job back. All he can say is:

“No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, and what their object was in playing this prank—if it was a prank—upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it cost them two and thirty pounds.”

An object weighing 15 Newtons is lifted from the ground to height of 0.22 meters What is the approximate increase in the object's gravitational...

Gravitational potential energy is given by the equation PE = mgh, where m is the mass of the object, g is acceleration due to gravity and h is the object's height above a reference point in meters. 

The given weight of the object, 15N, is equal to mg so PE = weight x h.

The increase in potential energy is therefore (15N)(0.22m) = 33 Joules

The energy unit Joule is derived from kg x m/s^2 or Newton-meters.

Gravitational potential energy is the energy an object has due to its position. Since energy is conserved, an amount of work equal to 33 Joules had to be done on the object to lift it to this height. Work is the force applied to an object multiplied by the distance that the force moves it. 

Why doesn't Mrs. Jones ask Roger about his home or parents in "Thank You, M'am?

Mrs. Jones does not ask Roger about his home life because doing so is superfluous; her powers of perception tell her all about Roger.

After Mrs. Jones foils Roger's attempt to steal her purse by muscling him to the ground with two or three passers-by noticing the physical conflict, Mrs. Jones asks if he will run if she frees him. When Roger replies that he will, she refuses to release him and examines him:

“Um-hum! And your face is dirty. I got a great mind to wash your face for you. Ain’t you got nobody home to tell you to wash your face?”
“No’m,” said the boy.
“Then it will get washed this evening,” said the large woman starting up the street, dragging the frightened boy behind her.

Further in the narrative after Mrs. Jones takes Roger home with her and asks if he is hungry, Roger reveals that there is no one at home where he lives. 

Her questions about his dirty face and if he is hungry added to Roger's revelation that his house is empty provide Mrs. Jones a wealth of information about Roger's home life. For, she can easily surmise from this information that his family is a broken one and Roger receives no supervision or loving care, both of which are extremely important. Her acts of Christian charity and love toward Roger make a profound impression upon him, and in his gratitude for her kindness in not reporting his crime "[T]he boy wanted to say something else other than “Thank you, m’am” to Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones...."

How was the Little Monk right about his parents being in danger of Galileo's new theories? From the play of Galileo by Brecht

The irony here is that even though the Little Monk warns his parents about the dangers of Galileo's radical theories, the Little Monk becomes entranced by the truth of those theories as well. 

Near the beginning of the play, the Little Monk has a good point:  the danger of revealing such a "radical" theory that the earth travels around the sun.  The Little Monk has poor parents who are devout Roman Catholics.  Their one comfort is their faith in God and their believe in the one true Church. The danger of Galileo's theory for the Little Monk's parents is that the earth is not the center of God's thought process and, therefore, that the Little Monk's parents are not being monitored by a caring God who knows all of their doings and sufferings. 

In a sense, the Little Monk believes that true belief in Galileo's theories would take his parents' hope away, leading them away from the Faith that sustains them in their poverty. Just the fact that Galileo's findings (that the earth revolves around the sun) call the Roman Catholic Church's truths (including that the sun revolves around the earth) into question.  Despite the facts themselves, any discrepancy here can cause people to doubt the Church.  Of course, the Little Monk is entranced by the truth of Galileo's theory and becomes a true believer, despite the teachings of the Church.

In conclusion, we can say that the Little Monk is absolutely enraptured by truth, both the truth of Galileo's theories and the truth of what might happen as a result of them.

How does Romeo's motivation change when Mercutio is killed?

When Mercutio is killed, Romeo, who has just married Juliet, is motivated by revenge. He had refused to fight Tybalt, telling him that he had reasons unknown to Tybalt to "love" him. He is referring to his marriage to Tybalt's cousin Juliet, which means he is now a kinsman of his former enemy. Mercutio interprets this as a "vile submission," and challenges Tybalt to a duel. Tybalt kills Mercutio when Romeo attempts to restrain him, and his death is thus on Romeo's hands. Romeo resolves to avenge his good friend's death. He chides himself for allowing Juliet's love and beauty to make him "effeminate" and says his love has "soften'd valour's steel." When Tybalt returns to the scene, Romeo attacks him and kills him in a brief duel. He realizes that, by doing so, he has at best made matters more complex—he describes himself as "fortune's fool" and says even before killing Tybalt that Mercutio's death "begins the woe others must end."

What does Amir believe is the greatest benefit of the community garden on Gibb Street?

Amir is an immigrant from India, who manages a fabric store and decides to grow eggplants in the community garden on Gibb Street. He comments that the objective in America seems to be to avoid contact and treat everyone as enemies unless you recognize them as friends. He even recalls an incident when an Italian woman called him a dirty foreigner when he gave her the wrong change in the store. When his eggplants begin to develop their beautiful purple color, the other gardeners become interested and come over to ask about them. Amir mentions that it was pleasing to have such friendly conversations with his neighbors. He says, "Those conversations tied us together" (Fleischman 75). He goes to describe how he developed a friendship with a Polish woman while gardening in the lot and tells a story about how the gardeners began helping Royce by giving him food and paying him to watch over their plants. Amir also discusses a community barbecue that took place in September. He mentions that it was similar to the harvest festivals in India where community members talked and shared what they had grown with each other. Amir clearly believes that the greatest benefit of the garden on Gibb Street is how it brings the community together to socialize and interact. He values the conversations with his neighbors and the friendships he develops with the other gardeners.

What was the exact date of the snowfall in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird?

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, while we are never told the exact date that snow fell in Maycomb, we can deduce the approximate day.

One thing we know is that Tom Robinson was arrested on November 21st in the 1930s. We know the date of his arrest based on the testimonies during the court case. For example, Sheriff Tate is the first to confirm that the incident with Mayella Ewell happened on "November twenty-first" (Ch. 17). We also know that the snow fell before Christmas since Christmas is described in Chapter 9 whereas the snowfall is described in Chapter 8. We also know that it is starting to get very, very cold; Maycomb is having the coldest winter it has had since 1885. Scout describes that, at the beginning of winter, they had "two weeks of the coldest weather since 1885" (Ch. 8). We also know that three weeks passed between the snowfall and Christmas time. We know the length of time passed based on Scout's statement that she remained on her best behavior, refraining from getting into a fight with Cecil Jacobs, for three weeks until Christmas time:

I felt extremely noble for having remembered, and remained noble for three weeks. Then Christmas came and disaster struck. (Ch. 9)

Three weeks prior to Christmas Day is December 4th. December 4th is also two weeks just after November 21st. Therefore, we can deduce that the weather turned cold after Robinson's arrest, between November 21st and December 4th. Hence, we can also deduce that the snow fell on December 4th of the 1930s.

It should also be noted that we know the book is set in the 1930s because we know the citizens of Maycomb are going through the Great Depression.

Why is the colour of krishna blue?

Many Hindu gods and goddesses are depicted with blue skin. This does not necessarily mean that Krishna--or other blue-skinned divinities such as Shiva and Rama--actually had blue skin. As Sadhguru explains, it is possible that Krishna was dark-skinned, but "people who were aware saw the blueness of his energy, so they described him as blue." This blue energy field--commonly referred to as an aura--is what artists tend to emphasize when they depict Krisha.

This blue aura represents the "all-inclusiveness" of Krishna. Additionally, the blue aura represents his irresistible attractiveness (this is different than attractiveness derived from mere physical traits) . Sadhguru gives one striking example of Krishna's ability to attract even people who hated him.

He was so irresistible that even Poothana, the assassin who came to kill him when he was just a baby, fell in love with him. She was with him for just a few minutes but she became completely entangled in his blue magic. 

As this example represents, Krishna's aura endeared people to him. Thus it should be unsurprising that one of his most memorable traits was his blue aura or or energy field.

What is being recalled in the poem "Piano" by D. H. Lawrence?

In this poem, the speaker recalls his childhood. In the present time, the speaker is listening to a singer accompanied by piano music. In the present moment, he is an adult man. The song evokes memories of his childhood because it reminds him of his mother singing at the piano. He is mentally transported back to his experiences as a child sitting under the piano while his mother (presumably) played and sang. 

Note that in the second stanza, he is transported to this memory in spite of himself. As a rational adult, he seems to resist such a romantic, sentimentalized longing for childhood. As the speaker moves into the third stanza, he says that by this time, the song of the present time is not so relevant anymore. And this is because he has been fully transported (emotionally, mentally) back to his childhood. His emotions have overrun and conquered his adult, rational mind and sent him back to the past. That's why he says his "manhood is cast . . . " Initially, he thinks it is irrational to be conjured to this overly sentimental memory, but the emotion is too much and overrides this resistance: 

The glamour

Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast

Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past. 

What is released in the air when biodiesel is burned?

Biodiesel is a fuel which is produced from vegetable oils and animal fat. Given the finite quantity of fossil fuels, including petroleum oil and the generation of greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide, etc.) from combustion of these fuels, a lot of emphasis is being placed on biodiesel and other biodegradable and low emission fuel options. Biodiesel can be used as a fuel at 100% content or can be added up to 20% concentration in regular diesel. 

On combustion, biodiesel generates carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, particulate matter, air toxics and nitrogen oxides (or NOx). It has been found experimentally that at 20% or 100% mix, biodiesel generates less emissions as compared to diesel, except for NOx (biodiesel generates more NOx emissions than diesel). Biodiesel also has less energy content as compared to diesel. Additionally, there are a number of other issues associated with generation of biodiesel, such as cost, feedstock consumption, etc., that need to be tackled before it can help in cleaning our air.

Hope this helps. 

What event should take place for the minister but does not?

The minister of Milford, Mr. Hooper, is supposed to be soon married, but his marriage will never take place.  His fiancee, Elizabeth, feels that "it should be her privilege to know what the black veil concealed," and so she is the only person in the village who dares to approach Mr. Hooper and inquire directly.

She first asks him to take the veil off and let her see his face, but he will not.  He says, "'this veil is a type and a symbol, and I am bound to wear it ever, both in light and darkness, solitude and before the gaze of multitudes [...].  No mortal eye will see it withdrawn."  He refuses her request to see his face, even one more time, for he says that no one in the world, even her -- his most beloved -- can come behind the veil. 

Elizabeth tells him what rumors are circulating in the village about him -- that he has committed some terrible, hidden sin that he longs to conceal -- and he asks, "'If I cover my face for sorrow, there is cause enough, [...] and if I cover it for secret sin, what mortal might not do the same?'"  It is this response that helps Elizabeth to understand what the veil symbolizes, and "her eyes were fixed insensibly on the black veil, when, like a sudden twilight in the air, its terrors fell around her."  She comes to understand that that the veil symbolizes the secret sin that every mortal has and feels compelled to hide from everyone else.  Her knowledge that she will always be separated from her future husband by both this secret sin as well as its symbolic reminder in the form of the terrible veil is too much for her, and she abandons him.

Why was the Declaration of Independence written?

The main reason why the Declaration of Independence was written was to explain to foreign countries why the colonies wanted to separate from Great Britain.  The colonies hoped that other countries would support them in their struggle once they learned why the colonies wanted independence.

The colonies were clearly going to have a hard time winning independence from Great Britain all by themselves.  Great Britain was the major military power in the world and the colonies were not even a country.  To win a war, they were going to need some help.  To get this help, they needed to convince other countries that their cause was just.  Therefore, they decided to write the Declaration.  The Declaration was meant to lay out their reasons for rebelling so that other strong countries would be inclined to help them.  We can say that they were successful in this attempt because France, in particular, gave the colonies very important assistance in the Revolutionary War.

Briefly explain what elements of Existentialism are in Hemingway's "A Clean Well-Lighted Place"

In "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," there are existential overtones in the old man's search for the light and a clean café, the waiter's efforts to establish order by reciting the Lord's Prayer using the word nada repeatedly instead, and the exercise of discipline in his life. 

Existentialism is a philosophy that is centered upon the individual's struggle to create meaning out of a meaningless world. The individual takes responsibility for his existence in society that is unnatural and arbitrary in its rules. Since there are many things that are irrational, the individual must create his own order through individual acts of will. In other words, the individual must decide how he will live.

In Hemingway's story, the clean, well-lighted café is for the old man an isle of order in the nothingness of his existence. His little routine of coming there helps to give some order as he starts a routine. This routine is what the older waiter understands; he tells the younger waiter that the light and cleanliness of the café are what the old man seeks. They are what provide some order and meaning in a meaningless world.

Each night I am reluctant to close up because there may be someone who needs the café.

`int sqrt(cot(x)) csc^2(x) dx` Evaluate the indefinite integral.

You need to use the following substitution  `cot x = t` , such that:

`cot x = t=>-csc^2 x dx = dt => csc^2 x dx = -dt`

`int sqrt(cot x)* csc^2 x dx = - int sqrt t dt`

`- int sqrt t dt = -(t^(3/2))/(3/2) + c`

Replacing back cot x for t yields:

`int sqrt(cot x)* csc^2 x dx = -(2/3)((cot x)^(3/2)) + c`

Hence, evaluating the indefinite integral, yields `int sqrt(cot x)* csc^2 x dx = -(2/3)((cot x)^(3/2)) + c`

What is the setting of "Eveline" by James Joyce ?

In general, the setting of James Joyce's "Eveline" takes place in Dublin at either the end of the 1890s or the beginning of the 1900s. More specifically, the bulk of the story takes place by a window in Eveline's father's house in the evening. Like all of Joyce's stories in Dubliners, the story involves some representation of paralysis. The setting contributes to this theme of paralysis because, as Eveline sits in her father's home, we get the sense of someone who is trapped and unable to move forward in life. Even worse, when Eveline gets the chance to escape this situation, she decides to stay. Therefore, the setting becomes a claustrophobic place that ultimately seems to be closing in around Eveline and preventing her from progressing or growing as an individual. Joyce's decision to stage most of his story in a single location reinforces this notion.  

If the melting point of a substance is high, would you expect it to be a hard or soft substance?

If a substance has a high melting point, it is probably an ionic compound. Ionic compounds often have high melting and boiling points because ionic substances are held together by very strong intermolecular forces. By contrast, the atoms in covalent substances are held together by weaker intermolecular forces which require less energy to disrupt. This enables covalent substances to melt and boil at lower temperatures.

Another property that is different between ionic and covalent substances is “hardness." Ionic substances tend to be hard and brittle because of their crystal lattice structure. On the other hand, covalent substances tend to be softer because they are held together by much weaker intermolecular forces.

Therefore, if you have a substance that has a high melting point, you can predict that it is probably ionic. Since ionic substances tend to be hard, you can also predict that your substance would be hard.

In Freak the Mighty, what was Max's nickname in daycare? Give an example from the book that shows why he was called that.

In the first chapter of Freak the Mighty, we learn that over time, Max has earned several nicknames from others and he has even given himself some nicknames.

On page 1, Max says, "Called me Kicker for a time - this was day care, the year Gram and Grim took me over - and I had a thing about booting anyone who dared to touch me. Because they were always trying to throw a hug on me, like it was a medicine I needed."

In other words, Max is saying that the other kids in day care would call him "Kicker" since he had a habit of kicking anyone who would attempt to touch him, which, according to Max, happened quite often. 

Max says, "I invented games like kick-boxing and kick-knees and kick-faces, and kick-teachers, and kick-the-other-little-day-care-critters, because I knew what a rotten lie that hug stuff was. Oh, I knew." 

This shows that Max was mostly upset for the unsolicited hugs and affection because he thought that were out of pity (at this point in the novel, we don't exactly know what for, but we eventually learn that people may have felt sorry for Max due to his mother's death and father's imprisonment). 

As mentioned, Max not only earns nicknames, but he also gives himself harsh nicknames. For example, in that very same chapter, he calls himself a "butthead," which might reflect on his low self-esteem. 

Why is Brigid slowing down at work in Lyddie by Katherine Paterson?

Brigid slows down because she is worried about her sick mother.

Brigid is one of the newer Irish factory girls.  Lyddie spent some time helping the new girls learn how to work the machines, but she has little patience for them.  She is too focused on her own work.

One day, Lyddie looks over and notices that Brigid is crying.  She decides that Brigid needs to “bear her own troubles.”  She doesn’t intervene.  She has her own problems, since she is worried about her little sister Rachel. 

Then Mr. Marsden, the overseer, asks her to do something to speed Brigid up.

But it was not about Rachel that Mr.  Marsden wished to speak, it was about the wretched Irish girl.

"You must tell her," he said, "that she must get her speed up. I can't keep her on, even as a spare hand, unless she can maintain a proper pace." (Ch. 15) 

Lyddie is a little confused that Mr. Marsden does not just tell Brigid himself.  After all, it is his job as the overseer.  Brigid looks so frightened when she tells her that Lyddie feels sorry for her.  Brigid reminds her of Rachel.  That is the reason Lyddie agrees to help her. 

Unfortunately, Brigid is slower than ever, and Lyddie wants to scream.  She finally asks Brigid what is going on.  It turns out the girl has been worried about something. 

At last Lyddie exploded when once again the girl's inattention caused a snarl and a ruined piece. "You must mind, girl!" she shouted. "Forget everything else but the loom." 

"But I canna forget," Brigid cried out. "Me mother sick unto death and no money for a doctor." (Ch. 16) 

Lyddie gives her money for the doctor, and things improve.  Brigid is actually early to work, and eager.  Lyddie finds her “pathetically grateful,” but she is glad that Mr. Marsden is pleased.  Unfortunately, Lyddie becomes ill.

According to myth in The Way to Rainy Mountain, where did the twins come from?

When you speak about "myth," you are speaking about the first of the three voices that Momaday uses in his book The Way to Rainy Mountain.  Just as a short explanation, let me mention that the major parts of The Way to Rainy Mountain are called "The Setting Out," "The Going On," and "The Closing In."  These parts are separated into twenty-four sections with each of them divided into three voices:  one having to do with myth, one having to do with history, and one having to do with a personal story.  Your question has to do with the mythical voice (always the first of the three voices) and, specifically, has to do with "The Setting Out."

In addition, "the twins" you speak of are very important to the Kiowa creation myth.  While the creation myth has to do with both the bundles of the Talyi-da-i (which means "Boy Medicine") and the Tai-me bundle (the creature-God of the Sun Dance), "the twins" are about the Talyi-da-i, specifically. 

The Talyi-da-i, or "Boy Medicine," part of the myth is about the offspring of the Sun and a Kiowa woman.  The child produced through this union is a son who is given to Spider Grandmother in order to raise him to adulthood on the earth.  Although Spider Grandmother worries about her charge, a miracle soon happens:  the son splits in two, forming twins. Now both twins are considered "sons of the Sun."  It is not long before one of the twins mysteriously disappears into the lake waters in order to become one with the earth.  Nature is now sacred to the Kiowa as a result.  The other twin miraculously converts himself into the ten bundles of Talyi-da-i in order to give a god-like gift from the Sun to the Kiowa tribe.

In conclusion, if you are searching for a very short answer to your question, then I can provide that for you as well.  According to the myth, the twins came from the union of the Sun with a Kiowa maiden.

`(x + 6)/(x^3 - 3x^2 - 4x + 12)` Write the partial fraction decomposition of the rational expression. Check your result algebraically.

`(x+6)/(x^3-3x^2-4x+12)`

To decompose this to partial fractions, factor the denominator.

`x^3 - 3x^2-4x + 12`

`= (x^3-3x^2) + (-4x + 12)`

`= x^2(x-3) - 4(x -3)`

`=(x-3)(x^2-4)`

`=(x-3)(x-2)(x+2)`

Then, write a fraction for each factor. Since the numerators are still unknown, assign a variable for each numerator.

`A/(x-3)`   ,   `B/(x-2)`   and   `C/(x+2)`

Add these three fractions and set it equal to the given fraction.

`(x+6)/((x-3)(x-2)(x+2)) = A/(x-3)+B/(x-2)+C/(x+2)`

To solve for the values of A, B and C, eliminate the fractions in the equation. So, multiply both sides by the LCD.

`(x-3)(x-2)(x+2) *(x+6)/((x-3)(x-2)(x+2)) = (A/(x-3)+B/(x-2)+C/(x+2))*(x-3)(x-2)(x+2)`

`x+6=A(x-2)(x+2) + B(x-3)(x+2) + C(x-3)(x-2)`

Then, plug-in the roots of each factor.

For the factor (x-2), its root is x=2.

`2+6 = A(2-2)(2+2)+B(2-3)(2+2)+C(2-3)(2-2)`

`8=A(0)(4)+B(-1)(4)+C(-1)(0)`

`8=-4B`

`8/(-4)=(-4B)/(-4)`

`-2=B`

For the factor (x + 2), its root is x=-2.

`-2+6= A(-2-2)(-2+2) + B(-2-3)(-2+2)+C(-2-3)(-2-2)`

`4=A(-4)(0)+B(-5)(0)+C(-5)(-4)`

`4=20C`

`4/20=(20C)/20`

`1/5=C`

And for the factor (x-3), its root is x=3.

`3+6=A(3-2)(3+2) + B(3-3)(3+2) + C(3-3)(3-2)`

`9=A(1)(5) + B(0)(5) + C(0)(1)`

`9=5A`

`9/5=(5A)/5`

`9/5=A`

So the partial fraction decomposition of the given rational expression is:

`(9/5)/(x-3) + (-2)/(x-2)+ (1/5)/(x+2)`

And this simplifies to:

`= 9/(5(x-3)) - 2/(x-2) +1/(5(x+2))`

To check, express the three fractions with same denominators.

`9/(5(x-3)) - 2/(x-2) +1/(5(x+2)) `

`= 9/(5(x-3))*((x-2)(x+2))/((x-2)(x+2)) - 2/(x-2)*(5(x-3)(x+2))/(5(x-3)(x+2)) + 1/(5(x+2))*((x-3)(x-2))/((x-3)(x-2))`

`= (9(x-2)(x+2))/(5(x-3)(x-2)(x+2))- (10(x-3)(x+2))/(5(x-3)(x-2)(x+2))+((x-3)(x-2))/(5(x-3)(x-2)(x+2))`

`=(9(x^2-4))/(5(x-3)(x-2)(x+2)) - (10(x^2-x-6))/(5(x-3)(x-2)(x+2))+(x^2-5x+6)/(5(x-3)(x-2)(x+2))`

Now that they have same denominators, proceed to add/subtract them.

`= (9(x^2-4) - 10(x^2-x-6) + x^2-5x+6)/(5(x-3)(x-2)(x+2))`

`= (9x^2-36-10x^2+10x+60+x^2-5x+6)/(5(x-3)(x-2)(x+2))`

`=(5x+30)/(5(x-3)(x-2)(x+2))`

`= (5(x+6))/(5(x-3)(x-2)(x+2))`

`=(x+6)/((x-3)(x-2)(x+2))`

Therefore,  `(x+6)/((x-3)(x-2)(x+2))=9/(5(x-3)) - 2/(x-2) +1/(5(x+2))` .

How does Telemachus anger Athena?

In Book III, Telemachus visits King Nestor and Nestor tells him about the ways in which Athena guarded his father, Odysseus. Nestor describes the wondrous nature of the relationship between Athena and Odysseus. They have a special bond because of their similar natures and Nestor tells Telemachus that he never saw a god show as much open affection for a human as did Pallas Athena for Odysseus. He reassures Telemachus, who is very worried about his father's safety, that he shouldn't worry—Odysseus should be safe because he has a goddess looking after his welfare. However, Telemachus despondently responds that it is too much to hope for and that a god couldn't protect his father even if the god willed it.

It is to this that Athena responds with some anger (III.230-2):

Telemachus, what a word has escaped the barrier of your teeth! Easily might a God who willed it bring a man safe home, even from afar.

How did the Renaissance help cause the Reformation?

The Renaissance helped cultivate the Reformation in several ways. First, the Renaissance placed a renewed emphasis on Greek, the language in which the biblical New Testament was written. Scholars discovered a number of ancient Greek manuscripts during the Renaissance, which sparked a renewed emphasis on the ancient Greek language. This, in turn, inspired scholars to begin studying the New Testament in its original language rather than just in Latin translation.

Second, the Renaissance, as a humanistic movement, elevated the status of the individual. The emphasis on the individual provided fertile ground for Martin Luther and the Protestants, who emphasized the role of the individual in salvation and declared that all Christians were "priests," in contrast to the Catholic Church, which emphasized the corporate nature of salvation and claimed to have the sole authority to interpret Scripture.

Which of the following opinions did MOST Progressives share? A. Government regulations of industries should generally be avoided? B. it was...

Of these, the best option is Option A.  The Progressives definitely did not believe that the government should avoid regulating industries.  Instead, government regulation of industry was one of the major things that the Progressives actually did want.

The Progressives believed that there were many ways in which industry was harming the public.  They felt that too many industries had monopoly power over their markets.  This is why they were in favor of “trustbusting.”  They believed that industries were abusing consumers.  This is why they wanted things like the Pure Food and Drug Act to prevent companies from selling harmful products to their customers.  They believed that industries were treating their workers poorly.  This is why they wanted things like regulations that would ensure worker health and safety.  In other words, the Progressives felt that industries were doing many things wrong and that the government needed to regulate the industries to prevent that from continuing.  For this reason, Option A is the best answer to this question.

What influence do the word/ideas presented by Thomas Jefferson seem to have had on Daniel Shays?

Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that every person has certain rights that can’t be taken away by anybody. He went on to say that if the government doesn’t protect the rights of the people, the people must replace the government. These rights are called the inalienable rights and include the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Daniel Shays believed the government was abusing the rights of the people. Farmers in western Massachusetts were upset that their farms were being taken away when the farmers couldn’t pay their debts. Farmers were required to pay their debts in gold or silver. It was difficult for farmers to obtain the gold or silver needed to pay their debts. Farmers were having a hard time selling their crops, and people were concerned that the paper currency had little to no value. Since the government in Massachusetts didn’t pass laws to protect people in debt, farms were being seized when debts weren’t paid. Thus, the farmers revolted to try to keep their farms. After much confusion about who should act to end the rebellion, the militia of Massachusetts put down the rebellion. This rebellion highlighted the need for a new plan of government that would give the federal government more power.

Daniel Shays believed the government wasn’t protecting the rights of the farmers in western Massachusetts. Therefore, he modeled Thomas Jefferson’s ideas and led a rebellion to try to make changes in the government or government policies.

If you were asked to cast an actor to play the role of Claudius in a film version of Hamlet, what characteristics or features would you look for?

King Claudius is a complex character and as such requires a consummate actor. Past film versions of Hamlet have featured very reputable actors; in Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of the play, Sir Derek Jacobi plays Claudius. Jacobi is a mature English actor who was knighted for this artistic contributions to theatre and film. He also starred in the PBS series Cadfael. Other veteran English actors who have played Claudius include Patrick Stewart, Anthony Hopkins, and Alan Bates, as well as American actor Kyle Maclachlan. Most of these actors have a refined air, rather than a rugged manliness.

Claudius is well-spoken, using sophisticated language and often a charismatic choice of words to manipulate those around him, particularly Gertrude, who he married after murdering her ex-husband so that he could ascend to the throne. He is ambitious and, obviously, something of a sociopath. No doubt there will be more film versions of Hamlet, and there are many fine actors who would be well-suited to play the role. I'd like to see Jeremy Irons play the part, though the role is often played by slightly younger actors. I also think Daniel Craig would make a very charismatic Claudius, as would Clive Owen.

What were the main features or objectives of Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points?

Wilson's Fourteen Points were announced in a speech to Congress at the beginning of 1918. They were intended to be a sort of statement of principles upon which any lasting peace with the Central Powers would be based. Their main features are as follows:

• A declared end to secret alliances and treaty agreements


• Freedom of the seas and of trade for all nations


• A reduction in armaments and military force


• Settlement of colonial claims among European nations (but not independence for colonial peoples)


• Borders of European nations should be redrawn to reflect ethnic and political realities rather than imperial influence


• The nations of Poland and Belgium should be free and independent


• A "general association of nations" should be formed to help maintain peace and cooperation after the war

Many of these features were written into the Treaty of Versailles negotiated after the war in 1919. But the general spirit of the Fourteen Points, which were intended to foster a spirit of forgiveness, openness, and cooperation among the nations of Europe, was not reflected in the Treaty. The United States Senate ultimately refused to ratify the Treaty because of concerns that the League of Nations violated American sovereignty. The peace that the Fourteen Points were intended to bring about lasted less than two decades.

Who do the children in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe symbolize?

To answer this question, it is important to understand that The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis is not an allegory. That means there is not a consistent one-to-one correspondence between certain characters and certain historic figures or abstract concepts. Still, readers can often recognize such similarities even when they are not completely consistent. In that way, one can see some symbolism  in the characters of the story. The strongest symbol is Aslan, who because of his cruel death as a sacrifice for Edmund, seems to represent Jesus Christ, who was crucified to redeem sinners. With that in mind, we can consider how the children relate to Aslan and identify some symbolism. Edmund, the one who betrays his siblings and Aslan by giving allegiance to the White Witch, represents sinful mankind who has wandered away from God and needs redemption. Although there are biblical characters who we might associate with Edmund--for example, Thomas, who doubted, and Peter, who denied Christ--those analogies don't hold up that well. Lucy and Susan, who comfort Aslan and stay with him during the night before his death, can symbolize Jesus' disciples who prayed with him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Lucy, who is the first to meet Aslan after he comes back to life, could symbolize Mary Magdalene, the first to see Jesus after the resurrection. And Peter, who leads the battle against the forces of the White Witch, representing Satan, could symbolize the Christian who puts on the "whole armor of God" and fights the powers of darkness with the sword of the Spirit, which the Bible says is the Word of God. These are some possible ways to view the children as symbols. 

Who volunteers to make sure Caesar goes out to the Capitol the next day?

In Act II, Scene 1 the conspirators are firming up their plans to assassinate Julius Caesar the next morning when he is supposed to go to the Senate House at the Capitol expecting to be crowned king. Cassius expresses some apprehension. He suggests that Caesar may decide not to come because of:

...these apparent prodigies,
The unaccustomed terror of this night,
And the persuasion of his augurers...

At this point the conspirators do not even know about Calpurnia's bad dream which will cause her to plead with her husband not to leave the house.

It is Decius who volunteers that Caesar will go to the Capitol the next day. He tells the others:

Never fear that. If he be so resolved
I can o'ersway him....
Let me work,
For I can give his humor the true bent,
And I will bring him to the Capitol.

In Act II, Scene 2, Cassius' foresight proves, as usual, correct. A servant tells Caesar that the augurers have found bad omens.

They would not have you stir forth today.
Plucking the entrails of an offering forth,
They could not find a heart within the beast. 

But it is Calpurnia's dream and her begging him to stay at home that make the strongest impression on Caesar. He tells Decius:

Calpurnia here, my wife, stays me at home;
She dreamt tonight she saw my statue,
Which like a fountain with an hundred spouts,
Did run pure blood, and many lusty Romans
Came smiling and did bathe their hands in it.
And these does she apply for warnings and portents
And evils imminent, and on her knee
Hath begg'd that I will stay at home today.

This was unexpected because Calpurnia had only had that dream a few hours earlier. But Decius shows himself shrewd and adaptable. He tells Caesar:

This dream is all amiss interpreted;
It was a vision fair and fortunate.
Your statue spouting blood in many pipes,
In which so many smiling Romans bathed,
Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck
Reviving blood, and that great men shall press
For tinctures, stains, relics, and cognizance.
This by Calpurnia's dream is signified.

Any dream can be interpreted in different ways. Caesar likes Decius' interpretation. He would like anything that would encourage him to go to the Capitol because he wants to be crowned king. He would tend to discount any omen that would warn him not to go to the Capitol. Decius knows this. He plays on Caesar's ambition by following up on his interpretation of Calpurnia's dream with a carrot and a stick, so to speak. He tells Caesar the crown is waiting for him but that the senators could change their minds if he failed to show up that morning. They might believe that he doesn't really want the crown, or they might feel insulted because they were all waiting for him and he disdained to appear. As Decius puts it:

If you shall send them word you will not come,
Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock
Apt to be render'd, for some one to say
“Break up the Senate till another time,
When Caesar's wife shall meet with better dreams.”
If Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper
“Lo, Caesar is afraid”?

Caesar is convinced. He tells his wife:

How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia!
I am ashamed I did yield to them.
Give me my robe, for I will go.

The scene might be expected to end here, but there is some incidental dialogue before it finally does. During this time one of the servants will go offstage to get Caesar's robe, return with it, and help him put it on. The robe will be very important. It may be of a distinctive color which makes it stand out among all the other men's robes at the Capitol. When Antony shows a robe to the mob during his funeral oration, it will be a duplicate. It will appear to be the same robe Caesar put on in Act II, Scene 2, but this duplicate robe will be totally ruined with dirt, shreds and bloodstains. Caesar's body will not be seen by the audience but only his robe, which will represent his hacked and bloody body. The plebeians who look down into the coffin will supposedly be seeing Caesar's body and reacting to the pitiful sight, but the theater audience will only be seeing the duplicate robe, which Mark Antony will be holding up in full view. Among other things, the duplicate robe will remind the theater audience that Calpurnia was right in trying to keep her husband at home and Caesar wrong to listen to Decius.

What would Robert E. Lee think of about the Gettysburg address?

Robert E. Lee probably would have supported the ideas contained in the Gettysburg Address. President Lincoln went to Gettysburg in November 1863 to commemorate the cemetery where many soldiers were buried as a result of the Battle of Gettysburg. In his speech, President Lincoln talked about these soldiers died for a cause for which they were fighting. President Lincoln emphasized that is was the responsibility of the living to finish the work that these soldiers began. These soldiers were fighting for the ideas containing in the Constitution and for the ideals for which we fought in the Revolutionary War. We believed that government must respond to the needs of the people and must protect the rights of the people.

Robert E. Lee understood these ideas very well. Robert E. Lee said he would fight on whatever side his home state of Virginia joined. He understood the causes for which each side was fighting. His belief in the southern reasons for fighting was as strong as President Lincoln’s belief in the northern causes for fighting. Robert E. Lee believed that his soldiers also died for a cause for which they were fighting. He believed the living soldiers in the South needed to carry on the fight for those southern soldiers that had died. Robert E. probably would have fully supported the ideas contained in the Gettysburg address.

What happens to Lyddie and Charlie at the end of Chapter 1 of Lyddie?

Lyddie and Charlie are sent off to go to work.

Lyddie and Charlie stay on the family farm after their mother goes off to live with their uncle because she is not capable of living on her own.  Their mother takes their two younger sisters Agnes and Rachel with her.  Lyddie is smart enough and tough enough to survive well on the farm.  She and Charlie even mate their cow so that they have a calf to sell.

Even though Charlie and Lyddie are managing on their own, they get a letter from their mother telling them that the farm has been rented out and the cow and horse sold to pay off debts.  The children will need to both work to pay off the rest of the debt.

But we can stil hop. Meentime I hav hire you out to M. Cutler at the tavern and fer yr. brother to Bakers mill. The paschur, feelds and sugar bush is lent to M. Wescott to repay dets. Also cow and horse. Lv. at wuns you git this. (Ch. 1)

Lyddie is horrified that the family is being broken up yet again.  She longs to get everyone back together and back on the family farm.  She does not want to be a slave to some tavern owner.  However, Lyddie has no choice. Her mother owns her.

Lyddie burst into tears. "I'm sorry, Charlie," she said to her brother's amazed and anxious face. "I never expected this. We were doing so good, ey? You and me." (Ch. 1)

After getting the letter, Lyddie goes to Cutler’s Tavern and her brother goes to the mill.  Things work out much better for Charlie than Lyddie.  Charlie stays with a nice family that gets attached to him.  He is able to go to school.  Lyddie is stuck with the horrible mistress of the tavern, who treats her harshly and dismisses her after only a few months when she goes home to visit without permission.

What five passages from The Lost City of Z have significant meaning and hold great importance to the overall plot?

You have been given and interesting assignment about this particular book.  Yes, The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon, written by David Grann, is a story about true "deadly obsession" that traces Percy Fawcett's exploration of the rainforest along the Amazon river.  There are quite a few quotes that further the plot.  Let us talk about a few:

Years later, another member [of the Royal Geographical Society] conceded, "Explorers are not, perhaps, the most promising people with whom to build a society. Indeed, some might say that explorers become explorers precisely because they have a streak of unsociability and a need to remove themselves at regular intervals as far as possible from their fellow men.

In looking for the "lost city of Z," many men (not just Fawcett) are lost in the Amazon.  This quotation talks a little bit about why (and about the social errors of these men).  Needing to remove himself from society, then, is an interesting reason why Fawcett would apply himself to this quest.

You know, I had a lot of romantic notions about the jungle and this kind of finished that.

This is another quotation that shows the original exploration of the Amazon by Fawcett was an obsession based on a romantic type dream.  The reality of the Amazon was quite different, as the book shows in graphic detail due to the loss of (not only Fawcett) but also many other explorers.  How did these explorers die?  The book delves into that idea as well:

They marched like madmen from place to place, until overcome by exhaustion and lack of strength they could no longer move from one side to the other, and they remained there, wherever this sad siren voice had summoned them, self-important, and dead.

The obsession of this exploration of the Amazon adds to the "siren voice" here.  If you grasp the allusion to the sirens, then you know that sirens are the females who would sing sailors to their deaths on the rocks within the tales of Odysseus.  These explorers were tempted too, by their own obsession.  They all seemed to end up "self-important, and dead" after they blindly marched along their quest.

Why do you think Roger decides that he does not want to be mistrusted in "Thank You, Ma'm"?

Roger decides that he does not want to be mistrusted by Mrs. Jones as he comes to respect her for her kindness and trust in him. Because he respects her, Roger, in turn, wants her to think better of him than she has during her first impressions.

After Roger tries to steal Mrs. Jones's purse, she grabs him and shakes him,

“If I turn you loose, will you run?” asked the woman.
“Yes’m,” said the boy.
“Then I won’t turn you loose,” said the woman. She did not release him.

Mrs. Jones drags Roger all the way to her living quarters. Once there, she tells him to wash his face and hands while she prepares a meal for them. Roger thinks of running, but he does not. Clearly, he is moved by the kindness of Mrs. Jones and the trust that she now puts in him not to steal her purse because she leaves it where he could easily grab it. And, since he now respects her, Roger, in turn, wants her to think better of him. So, he remains and sits where she can easily see him so she will know that he has no intention of going into her purse. For, Roger appreciates the second chance too much.

What are the primary and other colors?

Colors are classified as primary, secondary and tertiary colors. Primary colors are those that cannot be generated by mixing of any other color. There are three primary colors: red, blue and yellow. These primary colors can be mixed to generate secondary colors. There are three secondary colors: purple, orange and green. The secondary colors are a result of mixing any two primary colors - red and yellow yield orange, and yellow and blue generate green. Tertiary colors are a result of mixing primary and secondary colors. Some examples of tertiary colors are yellow-orange, blue-purple, blue-green, etc. The tertiary colors are named by writing the primary color first and then secondary color, separated by a hash (for example, red + purple = red-purple).

Hope this helps.  

What are examples of smell, sight, and taste in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird?

Words related to the five senses--touch, taste, sight, sound, and smell--are what we call images. Writers use imagery to help develop mental pictures in a reader's mind. In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, one passage containing many great examples of imagery concerns a description of the Negroes' cabins in comparison to the Ewells' home near the dump, which Scout narrates just prior to Bob Ewell's testimony during the trial in Chapter 17.
 
As Scout observes Ewell take the stand, she reflects on the evidence of his persistent uncleanliness and what his home is like, things that say much about his character. Scout's family has had opportunities to see his home since, each Christmas, the mayor of Maycomb asks Maycomb's citizens to help out the garbage collector by taking their Christmas trees and trash to the county dump themselves. The Ewells live behind the dump and near the Negroes' cabins. Yet, Scout marks there are considerable differences between the Negroes' cabins and the Ewells' home. Scout uses sight imagery in her narration to describe the Negroes' cabins as looking "neat and snug with pale blue smoke rising from the chimneys" (Ch. 17). In contrast, Scout uses sight imagery to describe the Ewells' fence as being made up of odds and ends and rubbish: "bits of tree-limbs, broomsticks and tool shafts, all tipped with rusty hammer-heads, snaggle-toothed rake heads, shovels, axes and grubbing hoes, held on with pieces of barbed wire" (Ch. 17). She further uses sight images to describe the Ewells' yard as being littered with rubbish:

... the remains of a Model-T Ford (on blocks), a discarded dentist's chair, an ancient icebox, plus lesser items: old shoes, worn-out table radios, picture frames, and fruit jars, under which scrawny orange chickens pecked hopefully. (Ch. 17)

Since we can see all of the above details, we know that they are all excellent examples of sight images, or sight words.

Scout further uses fascinating scent images to further distinguish the Negroes from the Ewells in order to portray the type of people the Ewells are. Scout notes that, from the fires inside of the Negroes' cabins, delicious smells arose:

... chicken, bacon frying crisp as the twilight air. Jem and I detected squirrel cooking, but it took an old countryman like Atticus to identify possum and rabbit. (Ch. 17)

Scout further notes that all fragrant scents "vanished when [they] rode back past the Ewell residence," showing us that the Ewells' home smelled of nothing but rubbish, which further shows what kind of people they are.

How do perceived risks impact a consumer's decision process? What are examples of two ways this happens?

Most human beings are risk-averse, meaning that they prefer a sure thing to a risky bet with the same expected return. For example, given the choice between getting $100 for sure or getting $200 or $0 based on the flip of a coin, most people would choose $100. To get them to take the bet, you might have to offer say $250 or $300 on the coin flip instead.

This same principle applies when people are purchasing products.

Suppose we have two brands to choose from: Brand A is familiar, and okay. Not great, but acceptable for our needs. Brand B is new, and could be better--but it could also be worse; we don't know, because we haven't tried it. Many consumers will stay with brand A, because they are afraid to take the risk of trying brand B.

A company trying to sell brand B has two basic options in order to break into this market.

First, they could make a product that is just obviously way better. If there is a good chance that the new product is far better than the original, people will be more likely to take the chance.

The second option, which is probably easier, is to take away some of the risk by offering some sort of guarantee. They could offer a 90-day satisfaction guarantee ("or your money back!"), perhaps; or they could offer to purchase you a product of the competitor's brand if you are not happy with the new brand. Finally, for some products at least, they could offer you a sample for free, so that you can see that you really do like the new product better. That removes most of the risk of trying the new brand.

For example, many people choose a car company to buy from early in life (where my mom grew up in Dearborn, it was always Ford) and always buy from that car company for the rest of their lives. It's the safe bet, the sure thing. They know exactly what to expect from that brand. Some other brand might actually be better---perhaps Honda, or Toyota, or whatever---but they are afraid to take the chance that it might be worse. If car companies were willing to offer money-back guarantees, this might happen less often; though they do already try to offer something like a "sample" by letting people visit for free test drives, and this is apparently not enough.

Risk also influences the way that people choose to shop--whether they go online or visit a store, for example. Buying online is much more convenient, but you can't see and hold the actual product, so you may know less about it. On the other hand, looking up reviews and testimonials online might provide you substantially more information about the product than you could get simply from looking at it in the store. Depending on the product, the lower-risk strategy could go either way (many people buy clothes in stores but electronics online, for example).

Note: I have linked a thorough technical review of studies of perceived risk on consumer behavior. It may be more technical than you're looking for.

What are some examples of onomatopoeia, rhetorical questions, and idioms in The Perks of Being a Wallflower?

On page 163 of the book, Patrick and Charlie are driving after Brad and Patrick get into a fight. Patrick throws a bottle of wine out of the car and it lands with a crash. In this case, "crash" is an example of a sound word, an onomatopoeia, because that is the sound that glass makes when it breaks. 

A good example of a rhetorical question from the book would be a question that Charlie receives from Sam after he royally messes up by kissing her in front of Mary Elizabeth at her boyfriend's house. It is probably the most important rhetorical question in the book, because it encompasses Charlie's insecurities. She turns to him before she runs after Mary Elizabeth and asks, "What the fuck is wrong with you?" (136). Her anger in this case tells us that she doesn't really want an answer. 

An example of an idiom in Perks of Being a Wallflower would be on page 107 when Sam tells Charlie that he should "go with the flow" while reading Naked Lunch, because the author was on heroin when he wrote it. "Go with the flow" is a common expression that we use in the United States, but is not found anywhere else, so it is considered an idiom. 

What are some examples of polar and non-polar substances?

Examples of polar substances include:

- Water (H2O)

- Ammonia (NH3)

- Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S)

Examples of non-polar substances:

- Methane (CH4)

- Carbon dioxide (CO2)

- Diatomic gases, such as oxygen gas (O2), hydrogen gas (H2), or nitrogen gas (N2)

Polar substances are covalently bonded substances that contain partially positive and negative charges. The charges are a result of electronegativity differences is the likelihood that an atom will attract a pair of bonded electrons. The range of electronegativity differences is approximately 0.7 to 4.0. Some periodic tables contain electronegativity values of each atom. The electronegativity difference between two atoms forming a bond can be used to determine the type of bond that will be formed between the two atoms, as identified below.

- Electronegativity differences less than 0.5 = nonpolar covalent

- Electronegativity of 0.5 – 1.6 = polar covalent

- Electronegativity difference of 2.0 or more = ionic bond

Please note that if the electronegativity difference between two atoms falls between 0.5 and 1.6, but there is symmetry within the compound, then that compound will not display polarity. This is the reason why carbon dioxide (CO2) is not considered to be polar.

Describe the room in which the narrator is kept in "The Pit and the Pendulum." How does he discover the shape?

“The Pit and the Pendulum” is about a man sentenced to death during the Spanish Inquisition, who awakes in the depths of a dungeon cell.  At first it is pitch black in the “vault,” dank and cold, and the man can ascertain details of his surroundings only by touch.  He assumes that the walls are made of stone, with many corners and angles around, and that the room is fifty paces in circumference.  The only thing he knows for certain is that the floor is damp and slippery, hazardous to walk upon.  Walk upon it he does, however, and discovers a deep pit in the middle of the floor, a circular well into which the Inquisition had intended him to fall.  Having discovered the plan, however, the man retreats to the perimeter and is given a draught of some sleeping elixir.  Upon awakening, he finds that he can see, and also that his assumptions about the shape and make of his room had been incorrect.

In reality, the room was square and half the size he had imagined, the walls made of iron panels, the ceiling about thirty or forty feet high.  “Hideous and repulsive devices to which the charnel superstition of the monks has given rise…overspread and disfigured the walls.”  These paintings are faded and musty as if with age.  The floor, the narrator confirms, is made of stone.  It is only later, after he once again thwarts the Inquisition’s sick, slow, torturous attempt to murder him, that he notices why he can see:  the walls are not attached to the floor, but are separated by a gap of an inch or so, through which a dim light issues.  The significance of this detachment soon becomes clear, as the walls begin to bend and tighten, pushing him in toward the well in the middle of the cell at the same time as they begin to glow with an unbearable heat.  It is this latter fate that the narrator would prefer over falling into the well, for in the light he can see what lies within – and within is a terrible thing.

What is the name of Freak's dad?

Although the first name of Kevin’s dad is actually unimportant in the story, the reader can definitely mention a few important things about this pivotal character. First, we can safely assume that Kevin’s dad is named “Mr. Avery.” We can generally assume this because Kevin’s mom is referred to as “Gwen Avery” and Kevin is referred to as “Kevin Avery.” Further, we are also told by Loretta Lee that Kevin’s dad was a “magician.” We learn quickly that this was not a job description. Instead, it is a description of Mr. Avery’s questionable character. “He must be a magician, because as soon as he heard the magic words 'birth defect,' he disappeared.” Mr. Avery is not a strong enough character to be able to handle a son with a birth defect, so he escapes the entire situation by running away and never returning. This is why Kevin’s dad remains unnamed in the book. It is also important to note that Max can be seen as a strong character in opposition to Mr. Avery. Max does not run away. Instead, Max befriends Kevin and eventually wishes to immortalize him.

How many schools closed during the Great Depression?

The Great Depression impacted all aspects of American life.  Millions of workers lost their jobs.  This resulted in many people being unable to pay their property taxes.  The lack of property tax income caused schools all over the country to face budget shortfalls.  Schools in rural areas were hit the hardest.  In total, over 20,000 schools were forced to close due to lack of funds.  Most of these schools were in rural areas, and many were segregated schools for African American students.

Some states and school districts did everything in their power to keep schools from closing.  Many teachers saw their salaries cut, and some lost their jobs as more students were crammed into classrooms.  In some areas, cafeterias were closed and cafeteria workers were dismissed.  Extracurricular programs, such as sports, were also cut back.

How does Waverly's mother try to influence her children's lives?

There is no doubt that Mrs. Jong tried to influence her children.  From the beginning of the story, Waverly stated that her mother taught her the art of invisible strength, which was supposed to help win arguments and win respect from people.  Waverly was six years old.  This shows us that Mrs. Jong took interest right away. 

Here is another example.  Waverly also recounts a story of when she threw a temper tantrum at the market when she wanted salted plums.  Her mother scolded her and told her to bite back her tongue.  Later when Waverly was at the same store and wanted the same thing (plums) and did not throw a tantrum, her mother bought her the plums. 

When Waverly started to play chess, Mrs. Jong supported her.  She made her a dress, gave her a good luck charm, took away her chores, and much more.  All of this shows that she wanted to help and influence her children.

What is the big question that Professor Diamond wants to answer in Guns, Germs, and Steel?

The big question that Jared Diamond is trying to answer in Guns, Germs, and Steel comes from what is called “Yali’s Question" in the book.  It is found on p. 14, in the Prologue.  There, Yali (a native of New Guinea) asked Diamond

Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?

When Yali talks about “cargo,” he means wealth and technology.  In essence, he is asking why “white people” became rich and powerful and “black people” did not. 

That question stuck with Diamond and he eventually wrote Guns, Germs, and Steel to answer it.  By the time he came to write the book, the question had expanded somewhat.  On p. 16, Diamond gives a rephrased version of Yali’s question.  There, he says that he is trying to find an answer to the following question:

why did human development proceed at such different rates on different continents?

In Guns, Germs, and Steel, then, Diamond is trying to account for one of the fundamental facts of world history.  He is trying to answer the big question of why Europeans and their descendants have come to (at least for the past couple of centuries) dominate the world.

What is a summary of Frances A. Miller's novel The Truth Trap?

The Truth Trap is the first of a four-volume series known as "the Matt McKendrick saga," a young-adult story that follows a teenager named Matt McKendrick as he struggles to survive on the streets of Los Angeles. This initial volume in the series is not only the beginning of Miller's story about Matt, but it also begins a protracted murder mystery in which then-15-year-old Matt is accused of strangling his deaf nine-year-old sister Katie. The Truth Trap begins with Matt suspected by two Los Angeles Police Department homicide investigators, Lieutenant Les Ryder and Tony Prado, of murdering his young sister. Following a brief chase and violent struggle between Matt and Lt. Ryder, the dirty, disheveled teenager, a large-for-his-age boy of 15, is arrested and taken to the police station for interrogation. Detective Prado sees in this young suspect an innocent, intelligent boy who may have committed the brutal act but who may also be entirely innocent of his sister's death. Lt. Ryder, in contrast, adopts initially a very cynical, cold attitude toward Matt, convinced of the boy's guilt.

As The Truth Trap progresses, both detectives are confident in Matt's innocence, and Ryder and his wife even take the orphaned teenager into their home, although questions of is innocence continue to hang over him. With the benefit of hindsight -- we know Miller wrote three more novels in the series continuing the story's of Matt's life, including as an adopted son to the Ryders, his difficulties adjusting to high school with the suspicions of murder continuing to haunt him, his emotional problems dealing with his beloved younger sister's murder, and his eventual exoneration -- so the mystery surrounding Katie's murder -- we know that The Truth Trap will not end with Matt's demise, or even his permanent incarceration, although he is not only briefly held in prison, but is subjected to a brutal rape by his fellow prisoners. So, while the notion of an ongoing murder investigation continues, we cease to be concerned with the question of Matt's innocence; we know he didn't kill his sister. 

Miller's novel is almost unrelentingly bleak in its depiction of Matt's experiences. He and Katie were orphaned when their parents were killed in an automobile accident and he escapes to Los Angeles with her to prevent her being taken away and potentially institutionalized because of her disability (her deafness). His sister is brutally murdered, he himself experiences the rape while in jail, and is later beaten by a gang who view him as a snitch for the police, and his ostracized by the other students in his high school because of their belief in his guilt for the murder of Katie. Even Lt. Ryder, in whose home Matt finds a measure of solace, continues to suspect the worst of the boy, and it is only with Matt's heroic rescue of the Ryder's daughter, who he saves from drowning, that finally convinces this hardened detective of Matt's true, and largely benevolent nature. Under the anger that seethes within Matt, the Ryder's discover, an innocent young boy struggles to coexist with the demons that haunt him.

As noted, The Truth Trap was the first in a series of young-adult novels that follow Matt McKendrick's life during his teen years. This initial exposure of the teenage boy at the center of the series can hardly be considered polite, but Miller's intention was to expose young readers to the ugliness that exists in life and to the abilities of one of their own to persevere and eventually prevail.

How does the quarrel begin in the opening scene of the drama Romeo and Juliet?

In the opening scene of the play, we meet two servants from the house of Capulet, named Sampson and Gregory. They are standing in the public market place of the town discussing, among other things, the long-standing feud between their master, Lord Capulet and his arch enemy, Lord Montague:

Gregory: "The quarrel is between our masters, and us their men."

Soon, they see two servants, Abram and Balthasar, from the house of Montague and devise a plan to start a quarrel with them. Sampson bites his thumb at Abram and this provokes a heated exchange of words between the two servants. As the argument continues to escalate they each begin to draw their swords and the fight has begun. The servants are soon joined by other members of each house, who take up their swords against each other as well. Soon, citizens enter the scene and join the fray with clubs in their hands and bedlam ensues. Old Lord Capulet and Lord Montague are drawn out of their houses by the noise and they also begin to challenge one another. 

Capulet: "My sword, I say! Old Montague is come
And flourishes his blade in spite of me."

Montague: "Thou villain Capulet! - Hold me not, let me go."

Finally, the arrival on the scene of Prince Escalus with his men puts a stop to the fight.

In A Christmas Carol, who does Scrooge wish he can speak to after seeing himself as a lonely boy?

In the first stave of A Christmas Carol, the Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge an image of himself as a young boy at school. This evokes a painful response from Scrooge who remembers the loneliness he felt at this time. After witnessing this scene, Scrooge says that he would like to see a boy who visited his house the day before and sang a Christmas carol to him. Scrooge tells the ghost that he wished he had given him something for singing the song. 

This quote represents a turning point for Scrooge. Never before has he felt compassion towards another person, especially a poor child. If we look at Scrooge before the ghost's visit, for example, we see nothing but heartlessness in his relationships with others: he turns down his nephew's offer to visit on Christmas Day and refuses to donate money to the gentlemen who are collecting for the poor and needy. But, after seeing himself as a lonely child, he starts to change dramatically. For the first time, he is considering how his actions impact on others and how a simple gesture can have a strong meaning. His character is slowly reforming and this quote marks the beginning of a new Ebeneezer Scrooge. 

Why doesn't Peter like Sheila in Judy Blume's Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing?

In Chapter 4 of Judy Blume's Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Peter informs us that he can't stand Sheila, a girl in his class who lives in his building, because "she's a real know-it-all" (p. 20). Beyond that, she's annoying.

One way in which she annoys Peter is by trying to touch him all the time and announcing that he "has the cooties," a game Peter informs the reader his classmates stopped playing in the second grade. Another time she annoys him by invading his and Jimmy Fargo's "personal rock" at the park, where they play spy games (p. 20). On this same day, Mrs. Hatcher asks all three children--Peter, Jimmy, and Sheila--to keep an eye on Fudge while she runs back to the apartment to turn on the oven. The three get distracted chasing each other in a cootie fight while Fudge climbs the top of the jungle gym, pretending he's a bird. They make it to the base of the jungle gym too late: Fudge jumps and falls face flat on the ground, knocking out his two front teeth.

Another time, Peter is assigned to work on a group project with Jimmy and Sheila, and Peter complains about Sheila's attitude, saying that she "thinks she's smarter than me and Jimmy put together--just because she's a girl" (p. 44). The three kids get into an argument about what their report should be on since Peter wants to focus on suggesting New York City's public transportation system should be revamped into a monorail. Sheila wins the argument and doles out different group assignments.

What does James Baldwin achieve by beginning "Sonny's Blues" as he does?

James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" begins in a way we call in medias res. This means he begins in the middle of his story. From there, the story goes back and forth in time.  Beginning this way draws the reader in well as we wonder who this person is, what he has read about in the paper, and what will happen next. We want to peer over his shoulder to see the article.  We can visualize this scene.  Even for someone who has never been on a subway, this is drawn fairly vividly, the man's pale face appearing as a reflection in the window as the subway hurtles through its underground paths.  This beginning passage also foreshadows and sets a certain tone on the part of the narrator. He is not identified in the beginning, nor is he ever identified, except as Sonny's older brother.  The darkness of the tunnels and the narrator's being trapped there are foreshadowing the darkness and trapped conditions of the narrator's people, most particularly his brother Sonny, who bears the darkness and cage of his skin color, the poverty of his people, the darkness of his drug addiction, and the darkness of his music, the blues. 

What are three characteristics of Buddy's best friend/cousin in "The Christmas Memory"?

Buddy's cousin/friend is eccentric, imaginative, and very loving toward Buddy.

Buddy's "sixty-something" cousin is described as "still as a child." She becomes excited as she realizes that it is once again time for her to make fruitcakes. Calling to Buddy to fetch her hat, she and Buddy pull out a dilapidated wicker baby carriage that they take to a pecan grove, where they gather the nuts. She unearths her money, hidden in an "ancient bead purse" that is stored under a loose board under her bed.
That she is odd compared to others is exhibited by Buddy's listing of the things she has never done:

1. She has never seen a movie


2. She has never had a meal in a restaurant


3. She has never ridden more than a few miles from home


4. She has never sent or received a telegram


5. She has never read a book besides the Bible, or anything else other than the funny papers


6. She has never put on make-up


7. She has never uttered any curse words, or said anything hateful to another person


8. She has never consciously lied


9. She has never allowed a dog to go hungry

On the other hand, she has done some rare things such as taming hummingbirds to balance on her finger, known the recipe for strange Indian cures, such as a wart-remover; she takes walks in the rain.

• Imaginative

Buddy's cousin puts moonshine whisky in her fruitcakes that she obtains from Mr. HaHa Jones. The fruitcakes are made for "friends," who are really strangers. Buddy wonders if she imagines them as friends because they have not hurt her feelings:

Is it because my friend is shy with everyone except strangers that these strangers, and merest acquaintances, seem to us our truest friends?

When Buddy and she make a trek to find a tree, his cousin says,

"We're almost there; can you smell it, Buddy?" ...as though we were approaching an ocean.

After they return home, she opens a trunk with all sorts of oddities: ermine tails and tinsel. She and Buddy then sketch cats, fish, apples, watermelons, angels, etc. The cousin says she wants the tree to blaze "like a Baptist window." Later, as they lie on their backs holding to their soaring kites, Buddy's cousin alludes again to the Baptist window when she talks of dying, saying that when the Lord comes for her, it may seem like this window with colored glass and light shining through it.

The cousin calls Truman "Buddy" in memory of a childhood friend. She always writes to Buddy, and encloses a dime, telling him to "see a picture show and write me the story." 
When Buddy learns of her death, he describes the message in emotive language that expresses the love they have had for each other:  

...a piece of news some secret vein had already received, severing from me an irreplaceable part of myself, letting it loose like a kite on a broken string....I kept searching the sky. As if I expected to see, rather like hearts, a lost pair of kites hurrying toward heaven.

How does the unidentified old woman in Fahrenheit 451 affect Montag's life?

In Fahrenheit 451, the firemen are called to a house on Elm Street when they receive a tip that there may be books hidden in the attic. When they get to the house, they find the owner of the house recalcitrant and resolute; the old woman simply refuses to concede her defeat. She answers defiantly when the firemen question her about the whereabouts of books in her home.

You know where they are or you wouldn't be here.

In the past, the police had always preceded the firemen; they could always be depended upon to usher the inhabitants of the home away before the burning started. In this case, however, some human miscalculation has engendered such a twist in affairs that a rebel has managed to plant herself right in the path of the flamethrowers. As the firemen drench the books with kerosene, Montag desperately begs the old woman to come away with him. However, she refuses. Her resolve mirrors that displayed by two men, charged with heresy during Queen Mary's reign, who died courageously at Oxford on October 16, 1555.

Her courage in the face of death is the catalyst for Montag's own rebellion. He starts to question the wisdom of burning up a defenseless old woman with her books. In his conversation with Mildred, he reasons that the books must represent something of value if they are powerful enough to propel an old woman to die with them. Beatty's later explanation about the need to destroy controversy of any kind and the need to preserve uniformity at all costs fails to satisfy Montag.

We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against. So! A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it.

Due to the old woman's actions, Montag is no longer satisfied with the status quo. Far from accepting Captain Beatty's words, he finds himself compelled to confront the realities of his life and his work as a fireman. Bear in mind that all revolutions start this way: one man questions and seeks answers and then feels compelled to seek out others of like mind (later, you will see Montag join a group of book rebels). So, you can see what an impression the old woman's courageous death has on Montag.

Hope this helps!

What is the meaning of the protagonist's conclusion to Mikhail Zoshchenko's story "A Trap?" Why does the story end this way?

In "The Trap," by Mikhail Zoshchenko, a Russian visiting Germany encounters what he thinks is excruciating cleanliness. He remarks that even public toilets are sparkling clean. He thinks that he should take this cleanliness back to Russia, and tell the Russians that they all have to clean up their act.

However, he gets "trapped" in one of these public restrooms, and starts banging on the door to get out. It turns out that he has forgotten to flush, and the door will not open until he flushes the toilet.

In the end, he decides that maybe the cleanliness he has seen in this country is an extortion of the people. Germany must force its citizens, in little ways like locking the door until the toilet is flushed, to keep their own country clean. Although thus disillusioned, he still wishes Russia would think this way and therefore be as clean.

Essentially, the story's meaning is that if outer beauty has a price, maybe that price should be paid. Perhaps it is worth it!

What specific instructions does Miss Maudie give Scout?

In Chapter 5 Miss Maudie instructs Scout to not refer to their neighbor as "Boo," but to call him by his first name, Arthur.

Scout and Jem have the free run of Miss Maudie's front yard as long as they do not step on her azaleas. Often Miss Maudie gives the children cake and talks with them, as well. One summer evening as Scout sits with her sweet neighbor watching the resplendent sunset, Scout asks her, "Miss Maudie,...do you think Boo Radley's still alive?" Quickly, Miss Maudie corrects Scout, "His name's Arthur and he's alive." Further, Miss Maudie contends that Arthur simply stays in his house, "that's all." She adds, "Wouldn't you stay in the house if you didn't want to come out?"

This episode reveals the true charitableness of Miss Maudie, whose character mirrors that of Atticus Finch. For, she practices "climbing into the skin" of others and trying to understand how they personally feel. Her sympathies extend to all, and she is repulsed by the sanctimonious hypocrisy of the "footwashing Baptists" such as Mr. Radley, to whom she alludes in telling Scout about Arthur.

Write about a situation where you had to choose one option out of many? What did you choose? What was its impact on your life?

There are so many ideas you could use to write this essay.  Even as a young person, you have already made choices among different options, and these choices have had an impact upon your life.  You could have chosen to learn one foreign language and not others. You may have made a choice what college to attend. You may have made a career choice for yourself. You may have chosen a girlfriend.  You may have chosen to befriend or not befriend someone. If you are out on your own, you may have chosen where to live or what job to take.  You can discuss this within the context of the poem, if you like, to compare yourself or contrast yourself with the narrator.  You may have chosen the less-traveled path or a more well-traveled path. 

Once you settle on which choice you want to write about, you need to think about what the consequences were for this choice. For example, if you chose to learn another language, that may have opened up doors for you in education or work that otherwise would not have been open to you.  Which college you have chosen has consequences in what you study, who your friends are, and where you live.  Your career choice obviously has many consequences.  The choice of a girlfriend or a friend does, as well.  Either can change a person's life.  Where you work and where you live create many consequences for you.  Once you have settled on which consequences you want to discuss, you can use those to write a thesis statement for your essay, stating what the choice is that you are going to discuss and what the consequences are that you will write about.  That thesis statement should be the last sentence in your introduction.  Then you can write body paragraphs, one for each consequence, and wrap it all up with a conclusion. 

Where can I find any chronological timeline information for the 12th or 13th centuries for my studies about Medieval History?

In addition to the sources described by the first response, there are many options for learning more about the Middle Ages. Certainly one major font of information is in literature, and the timeline approach to studying history is revealed in the changes seen in written literature, as it becomes more refined and sophisticated over time. Medieval literature's timeline is particularly fascinating, for it provides the basis for the literary and intellectual phenomenon of the Renaissance, from which western culture emerged. 

Dr. Wheeler's Medieval Literature Resources contains many very useful links for exploring the world of medieval literature and its historical context. There are links to many different aspects of medieval history including the Black Plague, chivalry and courtly love, and chronicles of war.

The are also specific timelines from 400 AD through 1400 AD, the entire range of Medieval history. The specific timeline for 1200-1300 includes such events pertaining to the Church, such as the start of the Fourth Crusade and the founding of the Franciscan order, as well as the appointment of several different Popes. This time period also saw the invasion of China, Persia, Russia and other countries by the Mongols and their leader Genghis Khan. Great Britain, a nation widely associated with the Middle Ages because of stories that inspire fascination with this period, saw many important events as well, including the battle for the independence of Scotland led by William Wallace (whose story was told in the film Braveheart). These and many other important historical events are detailed in the timeline provided.

What are the differences in structure between a lymphocyte and a phagocyte?

Lymphocytes and phagocytes are different types of white blood cells which serve to fight off infection of the body. They are part of the immune system which can recognize and subsequently attack and kill invading pathogens, along with remembering the pathogen in order to protect the body from a future attack. The body has non--specific defenses including skin, mucus, saliva, tears, or fever generation to try to stop an invasion of foreign cells. If this doesn't work, specific defenses are put into action, of which lymphocytes and phagocytes are a large part of.

The lymphocytes, or B cells, are able to produce special proteins known as antibodies. These are defenses against specific invaders that cause an infection. They travel to the infection through the blood and then either attack the invading germs or help to signal other cells to attack them. These Y-shaped proteins can bind to the antigens (foreign proteins) on the surface of invading cells. Later, T cells, another type of lymphocyte, can attack the foreign cells. Other lymphocytes can cause invading cells' membranes to rupture. 

B and T cells can even make memory cells which can remain for long periods of time so that if a new attack by the same pathogen occurs in the future, the body will be armed and ready to fight it off.

Phagocytes are capable of recognizing and engulfing dead cell parts and foreign invaders which includes disease pathogens by recognizing surface receptors as foreign rather than "self." The fact that antibodies have attached to the foreign antigens also helps the phagocytes to do their job. They subsequently surround and engulf the invaders which end up being destroyed by chemicals within the phagocyte. They essentially "eat" the foreign cells. Anything that is not recognized as "self" can be attacked which also includes allergens, cancer cells and even a transplanted organ or tissue.

The structure of a phagocyte is related to its function. It has receptors that help it to bind to the invader. It has lysosomes which are organelles that contain enzymes that help it to digest the invading pathogen. It is capable of surrounding and engulfing foreign cells by stretching around and engulfing the germ much like the way an amoeba feeds on prey. An intesting fact about a phagocyte's structure is that its nucleus is very irregular in shape.

Lymphocytes, which include B cells, T cells and killer T cells are basically small cells with a very large nucleus and little cytoplasm. They are very significant as they are the vital cells of the immune system and do most of the work of fighting off infections. The structure of lymphocytes and phagocytes can easily be distinguished when looking at a slide of blood. The link below has an excellent diagram comparing the structure of both cells.

Is the Little Prince Jesus?

Is the Little Prince Jesus? The short answer is, maybe. One of the great things about The Little Prince is that it can be understood in so many different ways. One way it can be understood is as a religious allegory, or symbolic story. In this case, there are obvious connections between the Little Prince and Christ. Like Christ, the Prince comes to Earth in a bodily form from the sky, demanding that the narrator draw him a sheep (or lamb, the symbol of Jesus). The fox, in expressing his desire to be "tamed" by the Prince, can be seen as a sinner seeking absolution. Like Jesus, the Prince is ressurected to his planet -- he dies, but his body cannot be found, and presumably somewhere in the heavens he returns to his Rose.

However, other details are not so clear. The snake, for example, is a reference to the serpent in the Garden of Eden, a manifestation of Satan, who tempts Eve and causes man's expulsion from Paradise. In The Little Prince, however, the snake, far from evil, helps the Little Prince return to paradise (his planet -- if we can think of his planet as a paradise). As is often the case with allegory, assigning specific meanings to story elements usually leads to many inconsistencies. I think that rather than ask if the Prince is Jesus, a better question might be to ask how our understanding of the story -- and Christianity -- might change if we think of the Prince as Christ.

What is the overall theme of Romeo and Juliet?

One of the main themes of Romeo and Juliet is that actions have unintended consequences.

Whatever the cause initially of the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets, it obviously got out of control.  Much blood was shed for many years, and it is clear that when the play starts no one really remembers the initial conflict.  They are just killing each other with impunity, because the two families hate each other.  Shakespeare clearly tells us in the prologue that this feud is old.

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. (Act 1, Prologue)

Another perhaps inevitable unintended consequence of the feud was Romeo and Juliet falling in love.  You see, when something is forbidden it becomes all the more attractive.  If Juliet had not been a Capulet, Romeo would not have met her at the ball, and he would not have been there in secret. Romeo and Juliet had never met because their families were feuding.  Yet the feud gave neither of them much pause.

My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me,
That I must love a loathed enemy. (Act 1, Scene 5)

Romeo and Juliet’s love seems innocent enough, other than the silly fighting between their families.  However, it causes a snowball effect of unintended consequences.  Because Tybalt is angry at seeing Romeo at the ball, he attempts to fight him.  Romeo tries to help his friend Mercutio, who fights Tybalt instead of Romeo, and in doing this Romeo accidentally causes Tybalt to impale Mercutio.

A plague o'
both your houses! 'Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a
cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart, a
rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of
arithmetic! Why the devil came you between us? I
was hurt under your arm. (Act 3, Scene 1)

Another unintended consequence of Romeo not fighting is that once Tybalt kills Mercutio, Romeo has to fight him.  He kills Tybalt, and gets banished for it.

That leads us to the greatest unintended consequence, Romeo and Juliet’s death.  To try to be with Romeo, Juliet fakes her death.  Romeo thinks that she is dead and kills himself, and then she wakes up to find him dead and kills herself.

Interestingly enough, this leads to our last unintended consequence.

A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife. (Act 1, Prologue)

Of course, the parents would probably prefer that it didn’t take the deaths of their children to end the feud, but at least something good came from so much misery.

The theme of unintended consequences runs like a thread through the play.  Love is messy, Shakespeare is telling us.  We often make a choice, and that forces other choices.  In the end, Romeo and Juliet make bad choices, and their parents make bad choices.  Mercutio, Tybalt, and Friar Laurence make bad choices.  Yet in the end, at least a good choice is made for the two families to bury their hate and live peacefully together.

Name four methods that can be used to separate mixtures?

Individual components of a mixture can be separated out by a number of methods. These are:

• gravity separation: If the various components of the mixture have different gravity, they will form different layers (when shaken and allowed to settle). This way they can be separated out.


• Filtration: Particles of different sizes can be separated out by filtering them through different size sieves or filters.


• Chromatography: is used to separate the materials on the basis of differential partitioning of individual components between mobile and stationary phase. The different components will travel different distances and hence will be separated out.


• Magnetic separation: Magnetic components can be separated from non-magnetic components by use of a magnet. We can simply move a magnet through the mixture. All the magnetic materials will attach to the magnet, while the non-magnetic substances will be left behind.

Some other separation techniques include, evaporation, distillation, extraction, crystallization, etc.

Hope this helps. 

`int_e^(e^4) (dx)/(xsqrt(ln(x)))` Evaluate the definite integral.

You need to use the following substitution  ln x=u, such that:

`ln x=u=>(dx)/x= du `

`int_e^(e^4) (dx)/(x*sqrt(ln x)) = int_(u_1)^(u_2) (du)/(sqrt u)`

`int_(u_1)^(u_2) (du)/(sqrt u) = 2sqrt u|_(u_1)^(u_2)`

Replacing back   ln x for u yields:

`int_e^(e^4) (dx)/(x*sqrt(ln x)) = 2sqrt (ln x)|_e^(e^4)`

Using Leibniz-Newton theorem yields:

`int_e^(e^4) (dx)/(x*sqrt(ln x)) = 2sqrt (ln e^4) - 2sqrt (ln e)`

`int_e^(e^4) (dx)/(x*sqrt(ln x)) = 2sqrt 4 - 2sqrt 1`

`int_e^(e^4) (dx)/(x*sqrt(ln x)) = 4 - 2`

`int_e^(e^4) (dx)/(x*sqrt(ln x)) = 2`

Hence, evaluating the definite integral, yields `int_e^(e^4) (dx)/(x*sqrt(ln x)) = 2.`

In "The Veldt," Lydia asks her husband, "What promoted us to buy a nightmare?" He responds, "Pride, money, foolishness." What does he mean when he...

The nightmare that George refers to is the $30,000 Happylife House he and his wife have purchased. In hindsight, as his children turn into spoiled monsters, he can see that the house reflected pride, because the couple thought the newest, most technologically advanced home would provide them with all the advantages that other people didn't have. It never occured to them that the house would control them, not they the house. Money motivated them to believe they could buy happiness through an expensive commodity ($30,000 was a vast amount of money to spend on a house in the 1950s) that would take care of their every need. They were foolish because they thought that technology could solve their problems. They believed everything would turn out fine if they let a nursery and giant television screens raise their children. They discovered  too late that the "easy" life the house had lured them into was a trap that left them feeling useless (especially Lydia), helpless and alienated from their increasingly sociopathic children.