Nina’s Blog

In these past two/three social studies classes, we have been playing a game, with a mixture of stump and blunder questions, that required us to research, and learn more about.The few main things I learned about was different places, alchemy, paper money, newspaper, wrist watches, and the history of the fork.

While researching different vocal points in the city-state of Florence, and learned about places such as Palazzo Vecchio and Palazzo Pitti, and the purpose of each building, and what services did it do to the people of Florence.

I learned alchemy was a study of how to make gold from simple metals, and to find the method of making the “Philosopher’s Stone“, which would supposedly make one live forever. I also learned that alchemy was extremely popular, but died out centuries later, yet gave birth to a new type of science, chemistry. And to prove alchemy was popular, I learned that Sir Issac Newton’s true passion in life was alchemy! And he spent so much more time on alchemy then on his theories that made him famous. But that just proves, maybe alchemy is just wistful thinking, for nothing from the heavens were produced by any alchemist.

Imagine all of the money in your pocket, paper money of course. But now, imagine all that money in coins! You’d have to lug them everywhere! Well, that’s what the people of the Renaissance had to do, at least until paper money first emerged from Sweden in about 1661. That’s must have been a load of their shoulders! Or should I say a load out of their pockets?

Today, we get our daily dose of news from a lovely set of newspapers delivered to us. But what did the people of the Renaissance? At first, information most probably spread through word of mouth, but suddenly a (most likely) genius came up with the ideas of newspapers in the city of Venice. At first, it was a government paper, that only came out once a month, but when other cities of Italy began to copy this great idea, the Italian government banned newspapers, and the idea only returned to Italy years after that.

While getting a blunder card, it was determined that we had to research the history of the fork. I learned that even though forks were invented, only the upper class used them, but at lavish dinner parties they would not supply forks. Why? Because it was considered rude! To be considered proper, one had to bring their own eating utensils (including the fork) in a box called a cadena. Now that defeats the purpose of the fork to me, it certainly isn’t convenient!

I also learned about illuminated manuscripts, and how even after the printing press was invented, so much work was put into the making of books! In manuscripts, the text would be written at first, and then decorated, sometimes with the most delightful things, such as gold or silver! As you can imagine, they must have been very valuable, and I can understand why the “Renaissance Thieves” would steal it! Any good thief would!

And last but not least, the history of the almighty wrist watch! Watches were invented around the Renaissance period, but they were big, and kept in the pockets of a coat. Only during the 1990’s, were the wrist watches invented, because soldiers need clocks to tell them of the time, and keep them punctual, but to make it convenient they wore watches on their wrist. So, THUS, the wrist watch was born!

And that is what I learned, about the history of Renaissance and other things, while playing an enjoyable game. This was a pleasurable experience, and I hope we do this, or something like this again!

#1. Think about class today and reflect on the presentations you listened to. Explain with details and specific information what you learned and what you found interesting about the presentations you heard in class.

We listened to “interviews” of some of Renaissance’s most important people. Most of the recordings were clear, and easy to understand, while others were not so much. Some people did a fantastic job, and composed 3 minute long interviews, which came together, like Bach’s greatest symphony, while others still did a GOOD job, but perhaps could have exerted more effort into their recordings. Overall, the recordings were very well done, and our class really learner lots of new things. So, good job Block G! Now, listed below are just a few snippets of information I learned while listening to my classmates.

In class, the interview we heard first was Iqmal’s, and his renaissance person was John Hawkins. He was born into a family of treasurers and merchants, and constantly lived in luxury. Now, John Hawkins was in the navy, a very honorable job I must say, but who knew a person with an honorable job had once been a slave trader and a pirate! From what I could comprehend from the recording, he has caused a war between the Spanish and the English because he had accidentally traded someone he shouldn’t have! Yet he made it up by assisting the English in this war. One of the most important things he contributed though was that he created an efficient and powerful warship, which eventually was the most common trading vessel in Europe. He later then was knighted by the Elizabeth the First in 1588. Not bad for an ex-pirate!

The second interview we heard was Max’s, and his person was Johann Gutenberg. He was born in Germany, and was known for inventing the movable printing press. This was a big step in those days, because that means books could be produced much more quickly, so more and more people were interested in books. In those times though, many people were illiterate, and Johann was one of the few who could actually read! Now that is also a great achievement! Max’s interview was well done, because it was informative, yet entertaining, for example, how Johann was arrested for illegal sales! This creative touch was extremely entertaining, and Max was the only person who really tried to put comedy in information. Good job Max!

The fourth interview was Danielle’s, and her person was John Calvin. John was born in 1509, and his true passion was literature, yet his father wished for him to follow the family footsteps and study law (which he did). But while his father was on his deathbed, he told John to do what he truly wanted, so from there on out, John studied literature. Through literature, John brought more understanding to religion, and wrote many books. What was interesting about this interview, was how John’s father was so bent on John being a lawyer, but then changed his mind as his dying wish. He could have saved John a lot of unnecessary time studying law!

The fifth interview was Charlotte’s, and her person was Giovanni Boccaccio. He was born in 1313, and lived in his father’s hometown. Now, unlike John Calvin, Giovanni’s father was extremely supportive and boosted his career in many ways, but not much was said about his mother. He enjoyed literature, and was a writer, poet and an expert on writing love stories! He moved to Naples, which was where he really explored his abilities, which was where he wrote his books, and met his stunning wife. I think that Charlotte’s interview was good, for it had an introduction to the person, which was extremely informative, yet her questions/answer had even MORE information! Very informative Charlotte!

The sixth interview was Tony’s, and his person was Nicolaus Copernicus. He was born in February 1473. He was inspired by his father, who had changed his life greatly, so Nicolaus inspired to be like his father. He only studied astronomy at a later point of his life, yet he made many theories, and proved theories wrong! I find it interesting that he dared to oppose theories that were almost called tradition, yet he persevered, and turned out he was correct! So that proves Nicolaus was most DEFINETLY an intelligent man.

The last interview we heard in class was Debora’s and her person was Sandro Bonticelli. His real name was Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi though, but he was more commonly known as Sandro.  He was an Italian painter, who made many religious paintings for the church. Some of the most famous paintings of the Renaissance period were indeed his. He opened a workshop, which was where he spent almost every hour of every day.  At the peak of his career, he was extremely successful, and painted many paintings dedicated to religion, which he deemed important. Later in his career though, he explored new styles of art, such as “Goth” style paintings, and he drew drawings in pen outline. Now that’s an artist who will go down in history!

#2. What would you change to improve your interview/presentation if you were to do the assignment again?

If I had to do this particular assignment again, I know exactly what I would do to improve it. When Cecilia and I had to record our interviews, we had to do it after school, since we were absent. Since the computer lab was only open for a limited amount of time, we had to work fast, which lead to areas in our interviews that could have improved much more. We hardly rehearsed reading out the interviews, because of our very limited amount of time. Because of this, we had mispronounced some names and places, but we could not redo the whole interview since we had to then repeat a four-minute interview, while only 10 minutes were left in the period in which we could work in, and we still needed time to post our interviews. We did our best though, and we helped each other on our own time, so that was simply great!

Another factor of this assignment, which I feel I could improve, was my research. I felt in some sites that I used to gather information, had too many opinions. One example is in one site, they said Machiavelli was Anti-Medici, and so he was tortured, yet another said he was not, but he was wrong accused and tortured. So, I think to secure my information and findings, I should have double-checked with a reliable source, such as Encyclopedia Britannica, or something like that. Yet I think my information was mostly correct, even if it was a little opinion-oriented. But besides those two things, I think I followed the rubric and (hopefully) exceeded expectations!

Remember the story we were fascinated about?

Max’s current event?

Well it was found!

If you want to read about the airliner go to this link:

Cameroon airliner black box found

In our daily lives, we seem to not care to wonder, who actually made all the things we have possible in the modern world, so I write today about Niccolo Machiavelli, in hope that you will get to know the father of Modern Political Science. He was born near the city-state of Florence on May 3rd, 1469. At a young age, he became a pupil of a acclaimed Latin teacher, Paolo de Ronciglione. From then on, Machiavelli involved himself with many different things, varying from literature, for he wrote “The Prince” in 1513, “Discourses Upon The First Decade of Livy” in 1917, “Art of War” in about 1920, as well as many plays and poems; to politics, which he was constantly involved in, for he was an ambassador in 1494, a secretary of the a governing body in the Florentine republic, and in 1499 he began to go on diplomatic missions until 1512, when the Medici family regained control of Florence; and then to history, as he was employed as a historiographer from 1521 to about 1525, and he based many of his theories of politics on views of human nature in history. Niccolo was a brilliant multi-talented man, who could do a hundred things and more, and if I had to write them all, one paragraph would simply not be enough! Without Machiavelli, perhaps we wouldn’t live in such luxury, our governments would not be as organized, and our countries would we distraught with discord. So I say (and Machiavelli proves!) we must look in our past, to help us in the present, resulting in a better future.

And here’s our very own, Niccolo Machiavelli

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Santi_di_Tito_-_Niccolo_Machiavelli%27s_portrait_headcrop.jpg

 niccolo-machiavelli-interview.mp3

A few of His Great Accomplishments

The cover and a few pages of The Prince

http://ckmac.com/auctions/as04b.jpg

The title page of Discourse Upon the First Decade of T. Livius

http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/nlanews/2004/may04/images/p14i02.gif

A newer edition of the Art of War

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Images/Chicago/0226500403.gif

New Article

Link:

New ’super-Earth’ found in space

Citation:

“New ’super-Earth’ found in space.” BBC News. 25 Apr. 2007. BBC. 29 Apr. 2007
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6589157.stm#top>.

New Information

Information found in the New ’super-Earth’ found in space Article

Using the Eso.3.6m Telescope in Chile, scientists have discovered a planet which may or may not harbor life.

They have discovered that the mean temperature of this new planet is between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius, so all water would be liquid, which heightens the chances of extraterrestrial life.

The radius is estimated to only be 1.5 times larger than the Earth’s radius.

Many involved in the discovery of this planet believe that it may become a highly important target for future mission in space regarding extraterrestrial life. Missions such as these will send telescopes to space which can tell and identify certain things associated with biological processes. The observers would try to identify many atmospheric gases such as methane, and more.

The plant is 14 times closer the star it’s orbiting, than we are to the sun. But, the star the planet is orbiting is a red dwarf star (smaller and colder than our sun), but still the planet lies in the habitable zone, which is the area around a star where water could be liquid.
What did you find interesting about this topic?

I found this topic very intriguing, because the very thought of life somewhere else sends shivers up and down my spine! When thinking about this new planet, I wonder if there really is somewhere else people could go, and what it’s like somewhere else. Do they look like us? Have they evolved like us? Is their technology as advanced (or more) as ours? These are all questions that lurk in my head.

It also excites me that scientists will be able to discover more about life, and explore and observe planets in the future, to determine what happened in our past. I would love to know more about the Earth’s endless history, even though we know the rough outline of what happened, we don’t quite know the details.

What did you like about the initial blog posting?

I think Sara had a good understanding of her topic, and knew many facts about her topic, but she did not communicate about her article very well. From what I could see in her write up of the current event, she did not use the proper format (this is what I recall from her presentation, since I could not go back to her blog, for she has none), so she could have organized that better, and perhaps that would have helped her thought process. While Sara was presenting her current event to the class, she told us a lot of information, and she could answer all the questions our peers was inquiring about, BUT even though it was quality information, it was not a quality presentation (The presentation was still good though, it just need a couple of modifications) This is because, at some points when Sara was talking, she would be distracted by the audience, and would temporarily turn her attention to them, and lose her train of thought (and speech). Most of what she was saying while presenting was about her article, but the occasional “Umm” and “Yeah, so…” came up, accompanied by a laugh or giggle. I think to avoid these sort of things Sara should rehearse more, and know exactly what’s she going to say before she says it. Take that advice Sara, and next time you’re sure to have a stellar presentation!

Resource

Citation:

“US university shooting kills 33.” BBC News. 17 Apr. 2007. BBC News. 17 Apr.
2007 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6560685.stm>.

Link:

US University Shooting Kills 33

Picture:

URL:

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42808000/jpg/_42808561_virginianew16.jpg

Map:

URL:

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42809000/gif/_42809907_shooting4_map416.gif

What is the issue?

At the Virginia Tech University, there was two incidents in which 33 people were killed, included the gunman. The first incident was at a student dorm, and only two people were killed. The second incident was two hours after the first, at Norris Hall, the engineering building. The reason why the students on campus were not evacuated after the first incident, and after people were informed of the shootings was because the University Council of such, believed that the first incident was isolated. Police as well believed that the first shooting was a domestic incident, and that the gunman had left campus. It is believed at this point, the gunman is dead, one out of 33 people. Apparently the police have identified the gunman from fingerprints found on two weapons found at the scene, but they have not released the identity to the public yet*.

*While watching CNN at 9:48 o’ Clock, I learned of new information being released. Now, the identity of the gunman is public, and it’s been announced the gunman is identified as Cho Seung-Hui, 23 years of age. New information is emerging by the hour, so I will not be able to report all the current facts. But the information in this blog posting was from an article with the information known at precisely Tuesday, 17 April 2007, 00:22 GMT 01:22 UK

Who is included?

The 32 victims who died, the gunman, family and friends of victims, the government of the U.S.A., administrators of Virginia Tech, and the 26,000 students that attend Virginia Tech.

Who is affected and how?

• The victims of the shooting, because they lost their lives on that unfortunate day.
• The gunman himself, because he was the cause of all the deaths.
• Family and friends of victims, because they lost loved ones.
• Students/Faculty of Virginia Tech, because they have been evacuated, and it has not been announced when they will go back.
• The Police force, because they classified the incident “domestic”, and assumed the gunman had left the building, but after the second incident, their assumption obviously seemed incorrect.
• The administration of Virginia Tech, who decided to resume classes, and not evacuate the campus, but then later realized if they had done so, they could have saved many lives.
• President George Bush, and the government of the United States, for they still have not abolished the law stating that any American can buy firearms/guns, once he or she has gone through the proper legal process, even though incidents like this have happened, for example the Columbine High School incident, which left 15 people dead (including the shooters).

What would you do if you were directly involved?

If I was President George Bush, I would immediately rid the US of the “Right to Bear Arms” Law, that is in the United States Constitution, because too many people have died from these types of incidents, for example, if you click on this link, Timeline: US School Shootings, you will see the history and time line of US school shootings.

If, though, unfortunately the law could not be abolished, I would FURTHER tighten the security of places such as schools, universities, hospitals, and public place. This would take a long time to do, but it would help ensure the safety and well-being of my people. Another thing I would do, if the law was not abolished, would be to make sure the people purchasing guns legally are good people, who only want it for security reasons by doing multiple check ups, and extending the process of legally obtaining guns longer, so gun companies could interview the people, to see if they are “suspicious”. I would also not allow availability of guns at K-Mart, or Walmart for example, and I would entrust the right to sell guns to government-oriented companies who go through the proper legal process. And for even tighter security, I would track down all illegal dealers of weapons, and give them a life-long sentence in jail.

Americans doesn’t deserve the types of incidents to occur, yet it is their own fault, they respect tradition (the Constitution) before the lives and the safety of their people in present.

A public figure which I think is a true “Renaissance person” would be none other than Oprah Winfrey. This extraordinary woman has a variety of different skills, and helps and influences so many people around the world (which fits the definition of a “Renaissance person”). The first thing in which Oprah excels at, is communicating to her faithful watchers all over the world, through her famous talk-show “The Oprah Winfrey Show“. In this show, Oprah interviews a score of different people, such as former drug-addicts to A-List celebrities such as Tom Hanks. The secrets and words that come out of the interviewee’s mouth usually touch the watchers, and influences the way many people then think of a certain think. In 1985 , Oprah proved that she had another talent, acting. She co-starred in “The Color Purple“, and she did such a good job, she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, but lost to Anjelica Huston. Yet another talent Oprah had was writing, for she helped co-author five books. She is also a book-critic, further showing her interest in Literature. She created O magazine, as well as two others, which were all included in her interactive website Oprah.com (as well as her shows, book club, etc). Through Oprah.com, Oprah raised over three million Dollars for Hurricane Katrina Victims, showing that she was talented, yet compassionate as well. Further extending her compassion, she established Oprah’s Angel Network (to help underprivileged children) and visited South Africa in 2004 to try and help and bestow clothes and toys to poverty-stricken children. While there she began the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, [a all-girls boarding school] which was meant for gifted young girls (lacking money for a proper education) who show potential for changing the world of tomorrow. And these are only a few things Oprah has done out of so much things Oprah has contributed to the world. To tell you all, I would have to write a new paragraph. But, the guidelines for this assignment is clear, yet I know by reading this you have learned why truly, Oprah Winfrey is a “Renaissance person”.

URL: http://l.yimg.com/img.tv.yahoo.com/tv/us/img/site/53/48/0000035348_20061023151149.jpg?y=626&sig=DCinki0RPSaCt0j5oaooiQ–

There are definitely of ever growing number of people who are willing to give their lives, or give up their lives for a cause they believe in, or for something they define as important.

Reasons for this vary, but the first reason that stands out in my mind would be terrorism, which often is in the method of suicide bombing. It happens much too regularly, so that now its almost never a big issue in the news, you see it below the actual news show, in the headlines almost nobody bothers, or cares to read. Suicide bombings are drastic measures, but it shows how much some people wish to change the world of their families, and of their enemies, even though they’ll never live to see if their attempt at changing the world really was successful. Usually, from a suicide bomber’s perspective, it is, for it spreads fear into people’s heart, which shouldn’t be there. Suicide bombers usual are born into worlds of poverty, and grow in communities which detest a certain thing or a certain people. For example, children in present day Iraq may feel that the United States of America has taken so much from them, their family, their country, and more, which results in anger and disturbing thoughts in a once-innocent child’s mind, who might grow up to be a suicide bomber, and give his life to destroy the U.S. It’s more than possible that the hijackers of the planes that flew into the World Trade Center in New York, and the Pentagon and caused the infamous 9/11 incident may have been these type of people.

Another type of “occupation” that relates to fighting is that of the military. Millions of men (and women!) have signed up to defend or fight for their country, or anything else they believe in. Often, a soldier would die honorably, fighting for what he believed in. War could be for good reasons, or for bad. Usually, a war would be between perhaps two countries, yet there is many types of wars. One that is most regrettable would be a civil war, which is when a country fights within itself. The soldiers in a civil war and almost killing their own brothers when they engage in combat with their fellow country men. Civil wars could lead to genocide, which are exterminations of a certain people, which don’t have the same beliefs as another people. For example, the horrible Rwandan genocide of 1994.Yet, at least these wars only involve a population of the world, but there are some wars, which can lead discord to countries who don’t want to fight. This type of war is called a World War, and it brings pain to countries which just want to stay out of it. Even though you can “enter” the World Wars, no country is safe.

Not all things that people were willing to give up their lives necesarily dealt with death, fighting and war. There are modern day things which are completely innocent, which people are willing to sacrifice their time for; all we have in life is time, so actually, they are giving their lives. Really, any occupation that a person has, and has worked for, has probably taken much of their life time.

One thing that really helps the people of the world, and is run by people who have dedicated their lives to the people of the world is the United Nations. They help countless people around the world in dire need, whether its from refugee camps, to UNICEF, or to anything that a large enough population needs!

A major thing that the people are willing to give their time for is education, and teaching. The majority of today’s youth have to give their lives to learning new things, about the past and present, to prepare them for the future (if they are willing or not!). But, the real people who give their lives to education are teachers. Teachers will most likely always be teachers, and help shape the future citizens of the world who move on to better things, while the teachers stay to shape more lives.

And there are endless things which people are willing to give their life, and these are only a few examples! Other examples could be:

• Being a doctor, and always being on duty, helping people who just need a check-up, or medication, or a person who is near death.

• Being an tree-hugging environmentalist, who gives his or her life to help preserve the earth and Mother Nature.

And these examples don’t even make half of all the things that the people of today are willing to give their lives for. There are simply too many!

I think that to the people of the Middle Ages, religion was very important for the following reasons. Religion dictated one’s life, take monks as an example. Monks were men willing to spend their lives in monasteries for their whole lives and dedicate their lives to God, sometime oblivious to the outside world. They did more than serve God though, monks were also expected to farm, teach, build, help the sick and poor, not allow the poor to go hungry, bake, and copy manuscripts of the bible.

Monks are only one example though, there were also people called friars, which were sort of like traveling monks. Friars used to wander the country for the majority of their life, and to preach and help the poor and sick in the villages they would come across on their almost endless journey. To survive, friars had to beg for food and shelter, for they were not permitted to own a single thing.

At first, the religion of Christianity, was a religion of nobles, who forced their serfs, and those below them to start to accept the religion and to attend services. At first they did not succeed, but soon religion became a part of life. It was so part of everybody’s life that a church was often in the middle of the fief so everybody could reach it at the same time, so it was usually a focal point for meetings of the people.

The people believed so much in God, and in Jesus, that if people disobeyed the supposed wishes of the Lord they would be severely punished. Examples were more often that not very minor, such as not attending Sunday morning service, or working on Sabbath day (day of rest).Punishments could range from lashes, to extra work in the fields.

At some point in the time, the Church’s power grew and grew. The church leaders usually were the only educated ones, and were the only ones capable of reading and writing. They would often assist the king in major decision because of their wisdom. The church grew so powerful that, even the poorest pauper would have to give a tenth of their earnings annually to the church. The number of churches, cathedrals, and monasteries increased greatly over the centuries gaining more and more power.

To further show their dedication, nobles, or the people that could afford to, went on pilgrimages to holy places, such as Jerusalem, or a major cathedral, to get more in tune with God, and with their religion. Usually pilgrimages were dangerous, for bandits would wait along the roads for the pilgrims, so that they could loot them. Yet so many people wanted to show their dedication for their Lord.

So, all those reasons add up to the great answer, to the great question “How important was religion to people of the Middle Ages?”. People were crazy about religion, they would do anything if the right people told them to. But this is only about the people in the west, you should also hear about the more learned people in the east!

New Article:

Link:

Arctic winds sweep over North America

Citation:

Ridge, Nina. “Arctic winds sweep over North America.” BBC Weather Centre. 21
Feb. 2007. BBC. 21 Feb. 2007 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/news/
06022007news.shtml>.

New Information

Information in the Arctic winds sweep over North America Article

Winds still are causing several temperature drops, such as minus low twenties in Michigan and Wisconsin. It is thought that maybe the wind will make the temperature even lower, even to the minus thirties.

Because of the cold temperature, doctors are advising people to wear heavy clothing to keep the body covered, to prevent hypothermia and frostbite. Yet, there were four new deaths on Sunday in Minneapolis due to the cold weather.
In Canada, the temperatures were extremely low, and the lowest they had been for 68 years. In Chicago, temperatures are almost record breaking, for the arctic air mass is the coldest one in the decade or more.

American forecasters predict that temperatures will rise two or three degrees daily, for the remainder of this week, slowy but surely allowing the cold winds to go.

What did you find interesting about this topic?

I find this topic interesting, because with all the worry about global warming, all of a sudden the world’s largest consumer (US) suddenly becomes the opposite of warm, which is, of course, cold! Another factor about this topic that interests me is how can winds or a certain type of weather from different places affect places, which are no where near each other, and where you wouldn’t expect to be affected. This shows us how strong Mother Nature can be, whether she’s raising a hurricane, or blowing winds down from the north.

What did you like about the initial blog posting?

I think Debora did a good job on her current event blog, because she gave reasons and facts for most everything, and did not write too much detail, making her blog easy to understand, and getting the point of the article right across, better than the actual article, because she wrote in her own words, and did not copy the article word for word. Also, Debora did a good job of considering all the factors when she was thinking of what she would do if she was directly involved, because, as she said, we can’t control the weather!