Friday, January 29, 2010
Describe the importance of water in the ancient world
Water was very important to the ancient world. Water gave cities a place to develop near. Water can be used for drinking, trading, irrigation for farm, and more. Water was key to the survival of any ancient civilization because it fueled the entire civilization. For example, the Egyptian civilization wouldn't have survived if not for the Nile River which gave them supplies to make everything they needed. Water was key if any civilization was to be successful and grow. Examples of civilizations that thrived because of a water source would be Harrapa, Egypt, and Mesopotamia in the ancient world. Without water sources civilizations could never reach their full potential.
Article 2: Is Change a Good or Bad Thing?
Article 2: Is Change Good or Bad?
Change happens every day and there is very little that anyone can do to stop it. Change has affected the world in many great ways or ways that have negatively affect the world. Change affects everyone and is inevitable in everyone’s life. An ancient proverb says that, “change is the only constant.” This saying sums up that change will happen to everyone everywhere, making it constant. Many famous visionaries in history have spoken about change in the world for better or worse. Another saying about change was said by Buddha, “Everything changes, nothing remains without change.” If you look at these two sayings then you have to realize that change will directly and indirectly affect you every day, but the questions is will it be for better or worse.
Change has happened for the better many times throughout history; for example, the change from the United States being a colony of England to changing our ideals and becoming a free nation in the Revolutionary War. The world changes for the better constantly, like new inventions, ideas, civilizations, and more. Without change the world would not be the same. Change not only positively affects individuals but nations as well. Change can be brought on by a specific leader, for instance Martin Luther King Jr. bought on the change from segregation to acceptance for African Americans, but change can be brought on that is caused by anyone. Change that is positive is a great way for the world to reform itself. One of the great periods of change was the Renaissance where the arts and ideas of ancient Europe was changed all around and the entire world benefitted from this period and helped shape the world today. Positive change can be one of the best things in this world, but the downside is change is never for the better. With positive change, people think that all change is good but as history shows, change can negatively affect people as well as help them.
Change for the worse can be very negative factor in the development of a civilization. Negative change is a major setback in the development of a nation, city, or entire civilizations. For example the recent tragedy in Haiti with the earthquake has slowed development in an already suffering area. This is an example of negative change. One more example of negative change that goes back to ancient times is the change the Roman Empire switching from a democracy to being ruled by Julius Caesar. This however wasn’t something that Rome chose, Caesar claimed his power which also shows that change is sometimes not chose, but brought upon by someone with power.
The argument of is change good or bad can be fought either way. Change is good in the aspect that with good ideas and positive change, the world improves and advances forward. Change can be bad because if change is brought about without consent or cause, it is not always beneficial. IF change is for the worse then change can bring about very bad consequences and even the destruction of civilizations. The change brought about by the Conquistadors in Central America was detrimental to civilizations. The changes brought from Europe to these ancient cities decimated populations and ruined any future success in that region.
The case for change being positive is very strong though. Without change, even change that hurts society, where would the world be today? Without change some of the great events throughout history would never have happened, without the American colonists wanting to break away from England, the Declaration of Independence. This change in the minds of the leaders in the new World has now led to America being one of the most powerful nations in the world and a superpower. In the Industrial Revolution, the companies of the world found new ways to create profit and opened up jobs, Henry Ford changed transportation with the invention of cars. All these things cause people to believe that change has benefitted the world tremendously.
Even in the examples of change being bad, great things have come from it. The Dark Ages which was a period of time that held no development for the world led to one of the greatest periods in history, the Renaissance, African Americans being suppressed led to the civil rights movement that revolutionized the way the world views race. These two examples are hard to argue against that change is good, but everyone has an opinion.
If change doesn’t occur then the world is no longer advancing or declining. Change is always happening, big or small it doesn’t matter. Change cannot be stopped just by trying to tell people your views on it. The world will change on its own forever. Change doesn’t only have to include people. The Ice Age was a major climate shift that reshaped the world which shows the humans aren’t the only people who can bring about change. Right now, people are changing our environment by using the world’s supplies on fossil fuels and putting greenhouse gasses that can possibly be causing Global warming. People don’t realize that change will happen with or without your approval of it.
In conclusion, without change the world wouldn’t thrive. People in the world will always get a boost out of change, even negative because then that negative change can inspire people to change the world. Muhammad Gandhi had a great quote to tell people about change. He said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” If the world could follow this policy of you making the change you want, then the world could benefit from people taking control of their lives by living by Gandhi’s words and starting to help the world change for the better. It all comes down to the fact that if change can be good or bad, it only really matters how you will respond to the change in your life, positively or negatively. When you see something that should be changed don’t think of how someone should change it, think about the ways you can.
Bibliography
1. "Change Quotes and Sayings." Sayings and Quotes. Web. 29 Jan. 2010.
2. Wikimedia Commons. Web. 29 Jan. 2010.
Change happens every day and there is very little that anyone can do to stop it. Change has affected the world in many great ways or ways that have negatively affect the world. Change affects everyone and is inevitable in everyone’s life. An ancient proverb says that, “change is the only constant.” This saying sums up that change will happen to everyone everywhere, making it constant. Many famous visionaries in history have spoken about change in the world for better or worse. Another saying about change was said by Buddha, “Everything changes, nothing remains without change.” If you look at these two sayings then you have to realize that change will directly and indirectly affect you every day, but the questions is will it be for better or worse.
Change has happened for the better many times throughout history; for example, the change from the United States being a colony of England to changing our ideals and becoming a free nation in the Revolutionary War. The world changes for the better constantly, like new inventions, ideas, civilizations, and more. Without change the world would not be the same. Change not only positively affects individuals but nations as well. Change can be brought on by a specific leader, for instance Martin Luther King Jr. bought on the change from segregation to acceptance for African Americans, but change can be brought on that is caused by anyone. Change that is positive is a great way for the world to reform itself. One of the great periods of change was the Renaissance where the arts and ideas of ancient Europe was changed all around and the entire world benefitted from this period and helped shape the world today. Positive change can be one of the best things in this world, but the downside is change is never for the better. With positive change, people think that all change is good but as history shows, change can negatively affect people as well as help them.
Change for the worse can be very negative factor in the development of a civilization. Negative change is a major setback in the development of a nation, city, or entire civilizations. For example the recent tragedy in Haiti with the earthquake has slowed development in an already suffering area. This is an example of negative change. One more example of negative change that goes back to ancient times is the change the Roman Empire switching from a democracy to being ruled by Julius Caesar. This however wasn’t something that Rome chose, Caesar claimed his power which also shows that change is sometimes not chose, but brought upon by someone with power.
The argument of is change good or bad can be fought either way. Change is good in the aspect that with good ideas and positive change, the world improves and advances forward. Change can be bad because if change is brought about without consent or cause, it is not always beneficial. IF change is for the worse then change can bring about very bad consequences and even the destruction of civilizations. The change brought about by the Conquistadors in Central America was detrimental to civilizations. The changes brought from Europe to these ancient cities decimated populations and ruined any future success in that region.
The case for change being positive is very strong though. Without change, even change that hurts society, where would the world be today? Without change some of the great events throughout history would never have happened, without the American colonists wanting to break away from England, the Declaration of Independence. This change in the minds of the leaders in the new World has now led to America being one of the most powerful nations in the world and a superpower. In the Industrial Revolution, the companies of the world found new ways to create profit and opened up jobs, Henry Ford changed transportation with the invention of cars. All these things cause people to believe that change has benefitted the world tremendously.
Even in the examples of change being bad, great things have come from it. The Dark Ages which was a period of time that held no development for the world led to one of the greatest periods in history, the Renaissance, African Americans being suppressed led to the civil rights movement that revolutionized the way the world views race. These two examples are hard to argue against that change is good, but everyone has an opinion.
If change doesn’t occur then the world is no longer advancing or declining. Change is always happening, big or small it doesn’t matter. Change cannot be stopped just by trying to tell people your views on it. The world will change on its own forever. Change doesn’t only have to include people. The Ice Age was a major climate shift that reshaped the world which shows the humans aren’t the only people who can bring about change. Right now, people are changing our environment by using the world’s supplies on fossil fuels and putting greenhouse gasses that can possibly be causing Global warming. People don’t realize that change will happen with or without your approval of it.
In conclusion, without change the world wouldn’t thrive. People in the world will always get a boost out of change, even negative because then that negative change can inspire people to change the world. Muhammad Gandhi had a great quote to tell people about change. He said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” If the world could follow this policy of you making the change you want, then the world could benefit from people taking control of their lives by living by Gandhi’s words and starting to help the world change for the better. It all comes down to the fact that if change can be good or bad, it only really matters how you will respond to the change in your life, positively or negatively. When you see something that should be changed don’t think of how someone should change it, think about the ways you can.
Bibliography
1. "Change Quotes and Sayings." Sayings and Quotes. Web. 29 Jan. 2010.
2. Wikimedia Commons. Web. 29 Jan. 2010.
Article 1: what is history?
Article 1: What is History
Throughout time, the question of what is history has been asked by many people. I believe that history is everything and everyone that has happened or come before us. Many people look at history and base it simply off of the great world leaders, war battles, political conflicts, etc, but to me history includes everyone everywhere. Simple artifacts in history can tell us more about the time than people really think. History can be analyzed in many ways. Four of the more popular ways are Hegelian’s theory, the vortex theory, linear, or cyclical. Hegelian’s theory consist of the idea that there is a thesis and an antithesis which then leads to the synthesis. Linear theory is basically a timeline. The vortex theory is that things start large like a great empire or nation which then fall into something small, and then come back to being large again. Cyclical is based on everything being a cycle. The concept of history is very interesting and there has never been a true answer that everyone has agreed on. I feel that out of the four examples of the ways to look at history from above, that the vortex is the best way.
Throughout history, people have always used basic ideas and base history around them but in reality history is not just the big factors everything that happen on every as trivial as a car accident in China to large events like World War II. I feel that history can never be described as a single idea History is the summary of events dating back to the start of time.
Linear history is the most commonly used way to show history. It is used every day in timelines, but I don’t think it is the most effective. I feel that for an overview of what history is, a timeline is the best way to look, but for more advanced ways to look at history I don’t see it as that because linear history highlights certain events and not all and cannot be applied to every situation. Linear history is a key example of how most people look at history because it doesn’t give the full respect to certain events for a period of time, instead in highlights key figures and battles which to me is only half of the story. An example of how linear history is used is shown here:
Cyclical history is another way to study history. Cyclical refers to a cycle which indicates that history will just keep on repeating itself overtime. This is an inappropriate way to look at history as well because history will not continuously repeat itself forever, ideas, leaders, tactics, and technologies will always be changing which will throw the cycle off. The idea that history repeats itself has been brought up by historians for many years, and in some aspects I believe that history can, but it is the people in the era that decide what is going to happen, it is not just a continuous cycle that no one can break.
The third of the 4 most popular ways to look at history is the Hegelian theory. This is a simple concept but I think that it is the second best way to look at history. It is based on the concept of thesis plus antithesis result in the synthesis. For example, a boy leaves his clothes around the hours (thesis) + He is looking where he is going and these two would lead to him tripping on some of his clothes and broke his arm(synthesis). Hegel's theory is kind of like a cause and effect but there two events which lead to the events synthesizing and creating the end result. I think that this is a good way to analyze history because it can be applied to many events and makes a lot of sense. Hegelian’s theory is a good way to analyze a single event at a time but it cannot summarize very large events or more than one event at a time which I think limits it.
A fourth way is the vortex theory. I think that this is the best way to analyze history. The vortex theory is based on the theory that things will start out large then go to small and then back to large or vice verse. I think that in this aspect, history does repeat itself. It has been proved many times throughout history with some of the great civilizations in the world. It has been proved the civilizations of Harappa which was the most advanced civilization of its time which fell and essentially vanished from the Earth, The Persian Empire which was massive but fell to Alexander the Great, then when Alexander died, his empire of Greece fell. Another example would be the Roman Empire controlling a good part of Europe which fell, of the entire continent of Europe going into the Dark Ages and then coming out into the Renaissance. All of these examples back up the vortex theory because they have all happened in different time periods but are all relatively the same. There are countless examples of this even in your own life. The phrase “life has its ups and downs” is a very good way to sum up the vortex theory and people say that without even realizing it.
History is a very complicated study of everything that has happened before right now. I think the truth is that the little things all make the large parts of history possible so everything plays its role in the world. There is no one master way to view history that will allow you to see all aspects, but in reality all of these ways to look at history combined create the best way to look at history from key events of a timeline to simple situations analyzed by Hegel’s theory. History cannot be summed up by key events in the past but it is the summary of everything that happens before us that can then help us understand more about ourselves and learn from the past.
Bibliography
1. Wikimedia Commons. Web. 29 Jan. 2010.
2. "History -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 27 Jan. 2010
Throughout time, the question of what is history has been asked by many people. I believe that history is everything and everyone that has happened or come before us. Many people look at history and base it simply off of the great world leaders, war battles, political conflicts, etc, but to me history includes everyone everywhere. Simple artifacts in history can tell us more about the time than people really think. History can be analyzed in many ways. Four of the more popular ways are Hegelian’s theory, the vortex theory, linear, or cyclical. Hegelian’s theory consist of the idea that there is a thesis and an antithesis which then leads to the synthesis. Linear theory is basically a timeline. The vortex theory is that things start large like a great empire or nation which then fall into something small, and then come back to being large again. Cyclical is based on everything being a cycle. The concept of history is very interesting and there has never been a true answer that everyone has agreed on. I feel that out of the four examples of the ways to look at history from above, that the vortex is the best way.
Throughout history, people have always used basic ideas and base history around them but in reality history is not just the big factors everything that happen on every as trivial as a car accident in China to large events like World War II. I feel that history can never be described as a single idea History is the summary of events dating back to the start of time.
Linear history is the most commonly used way to show history. It is used every day in timelines, but I don’t think it is the most effective. I feel that for an overview of what history is, a timeline is the best way to look, but for more advanced ways to look at history I don’t see it as that because linear history highlights certain events and not all and cannot be applied to every situation. Linear history is a key example of how most people look at history because it doesn’t give the full respect to certain events for a period of time, instead in highlights key figures and battles which to me is only half of the story. An example of how linear history is used is shown here:
Cyclical history is another way to study history. Cyclical refers to a cycle which indicates that history will just keep on repeating itself overtime. This is an inappropriate way to look at history as well because history will not continuously repeat itself forever, ideas, leaders, tactics, and technologies will always be changing which will throw the cycle off. The idea that history repeats itself has been brought up by historians for many years, and in some aspects I believe that history can, but it is the people in the era that decide what is going to happen, it is not just a continuous cycle that no one can break.
The third of the 4 most popular ways to look at history is the Hegelian theory. This is a simple concept but I think that it is the second best way to look at history. It is based on the concept of thesis plus antithesis result in the synthesis. For example, a boy leaves his clothes around the hours (thesis) + He is looking where he is going and these two would lead to him tripping on some of his clothes and broke his arm(synthesis). Hegel's theory is kind of like a cause and effect but there two events which lead to the events synthesizing and creating the end result. I think that this is a good way to analyze history because it can be applied to many events and makes a lot of sense. Hegelian’s theory is a good way to analyze a single event at a time but it cannot summarize very large events or more than one event at a time which I think limits it.
A fourth way is the vortex theory. I think that this is the best way to analyze history. The vortex theory is based on the theory that things will start out large then go to small and then back to large or vice verse. I think that in this aspect, history does repeat itself. It has been proved many times throughout history with some of the great civilizations in the world. It has been proved the civilizations of Harappa which was the most advanced civilization of its time which fell and essentially vanished from the Earth, The Persian Empire which was massive but fell to Alexander the Great, then when Alexander died, his empire of Greece fell. Another example would be the Roman Empire controlling a good part of Europe which fell, of the entire continent of Europe going into the Dark Ages and then coming out into the Renaissance. All of these examples back up the vortex theory because they have all happened in different time periods but are all relatively the same. There are countless examples of this even in your own life. The phrase “life has its ups and downs” is a very good way to sum up the vortex theory and people say that without even realizing it.
History is a very complicated study of everything that has happened before right now. I think the truth is that the little things all make the large parts of history possible so everything plays its role in the world. There is no one master way to view history that will allow you to see all aspects, but in reality all of these ways to look at history combined create the best way to look at history from key events of a timeline to simple situations analyzed by Hegel’s theory. History cannot be summed up by key events in the past but it is the summary of everything that happens before us that can then help us understand more about ourselves and learn from the past.
Bibliography
1. Wikimedia Commons. Web. 29 Jan. 2010.
2. "History -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 27 Jan. 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Which do you think is a better roadmap of history artifacts of the humanities (art, music, dance, theatre, literature, philosophy, architecture, etc)
I think that in history many things all contribute to being able to make a "road map" of the world over time. Between things like art and culture and polictical or military battles, I think that the aspects of art, literature,architecture, etc are the best way to look at history. Military battles is only one of the aspects of history but by looking throughout history, we constantly see all of them changing rapidly and they define the culture of the time and what people were doing. For example, in ancient times, with the first signs of art, we can infer that people were beginning to settle down and stay in one area instead of being hunter gatherers that they had been for the last hundreds or thousands of years. As the world grew and expanded in technologies, the art, architecture, literature, culture, etc. evolved with it. From these examples from history, I think that these parts are more important to the road map of history rather than political/military conflicts.
Picture: Wikimedia Commons. Web. 29 Jan. 2010.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Best Way to View History
Of the four ways to view history that we looked at in class I think that the vortex theory is the best way. I think think because the way to look at history as a timeline only highlights certain events and not everything that has happened or even why is happened. The vortex theory has been proven again and again throughout history with the rise and fall of nations around the world. Some key examples would be the Roman Empire, the United States going into the Great Depression but then coming back out strong and being a leading power in the world, Europe going into the Dark Ages and the the Renaissance, etc.
Wikimedia Commons. Web. 29 Jan. 2010.
Notes
Notes 1: The first kind of history is linear history(timeline). The second kind is cyclic history like reincarnation where everything is a cycle. A third kind of history was though of by Hegel where history is made up of things conflicting with eachother and then things change.It is sumed up as thesis + antithesis = synthesis. See Hegelian Theory of History. The thesis is event 1, the antithesis is event 2 and then event three is the synthesis which then leads to a new thesis. I
Event 1: John, strongest kid in class, doesn't tie his shoes + Event 2: John picks on group of kids, bullying them.
Event 3: = John chases the kids, but slips out of his shoe.
II
Event 1: John sprains his ankle. + Event 2: John gets jumped on the way home from school.
Event 3: John goes home injured
III
Event 1: John is beat up and has to go to the hospital + Event 2: John leaves the hospital healed
Event 3:John goes back to school and beats up the kids who jumped him.
One more kind of history is vortex theory of history. This theory states that you go from big to small then to big again. William Butler Yeats said that civilization go from big to small then to big again. For example Roman Empire went from a small village to a huge empire then fell back to little again during the Dark Ages, and then got big again during the renassiance.
History is often taught through cause and effect situations like this happened because this happened but, history isn't the same everywhere so lots of different things happen at once.
Notes 2: In the land that is now Pakistan was called the Indes Vaalley, all of the cities grew around the river. The two main cities were Harappa and Mohenjo- Daro. Around 3000 B.C, the people of the area made they a public sewage system today. These cities were able to make these inventions by having a good amount of trade, very smart people, and a very steady food supply which gave them the time to work on this. From these facts we know that they had a complex society and had a very good trading system because historians have found things that they made in the Indes Valley were found in the Greek society. To this day anthropologists do not know what happened but the Harappan society disappeared and we have no idea what happened to them. There was no evidence of their cities or artifacts anywhere, as if they we vanished off the face of the Earth. What happened to Harappa is a very good example of the Vortex theory.
Event 1: John, strongest kid in class, doesn't tie his shoes + Event 2: John picks on group of kids, bullying them.
Event 3: = John chases the kids, but slips out of his shoe.
II
Event 1: John sprains his ankle. + Event 2: John gets jumped on the way home from school.
Event 3: John goes home injured
III
Event 1: John is beat up and has to go to the hospital + Event 2: John leaves the hospital healed
Event 3:John goes back to school and beats up the kids who jumped him.
One more kind of history is vortex theory of history. This theory states that you go from big to small then to big again. William Butler Yeats said that civilization go from big to small then to big again. For example Roman Empire went from a small village to a huge empire then fell back to little again during the Dark Ages, and then got big again during the renassiance.
History is often taught through cause and effect situations like this happened because this happened but, history isn't the same everywhere so lots of different things happen at once.
Notes 2: In the land that is now Pakistan was called the Indes Vaalley, all of the cities grew around the river. The two main cities were Harappa and Mohenjo- Daro. Around 3000 B.C, the people of the area made they a public sewage system today. These cities were able to make these inventions by having a good amount of trade, very smart people, and a very steady food supply which gave them the time to work on this. From these facts we know that they had a complex society and had a very good trading system because historians have found things that they made in the Indes Valley were found in the Greek society. To this day anthropologists do not know what happened but the Harappan society disappeared and we have no idea what happened to them. There was no evidence of their cities or artifacts anywhere, as if they we vanished off the face of the Earth. What happened to Harappa is a very good example of the Vortex theory.
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