Daily #10

One example of a monument that is familiar to people here in Maryland would be the B&O Railroad Museum. This museum is located in the heart of Baltimore and is considered one of the most important railroad treasures in the whole world. The museum contains numerous 19^th and 20^th century artifacts from railroads and locomotives and was named a US National Historic Landmark in 1961. The original site of the museum was actually built in the year 1829 and the actual museum opened on July 4, 1953. I is situated at Mount Clare Station, which was part of the Mount Clare Shops that is the oldest railroad manufacturing company in the United States. Many people here know about this museum because of the famous B&O Railroad, but people far away might not understand why it was so important or even know anything about it. Another monument that is familiar to us here is the Washington Monument State Park. It is located in Washington County, Maryland, and honors one of the most important individuals in our country, George Washington. It was built in 1827 and was included as a National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Even though many people do not even know what this monument is, people in Maryland definitely understand and respect this monument.

There are also monuments from Pennsylvania that are important to the people of that state and the state of Maryland also. One of these historic landmarks is the Brandywine Battlefield historic site. This was part of the site of the Battle of Brandywine during the American Revolution and is located in Delaware County, PA. The battle that took place here was one of the most important battles during the American Revolution and when the British won this battle, it allowed them to take control of Philadelphia. This site became a National Historic Landmark in 1961 and became a state park in 1949. A famous monument remains on the site, which is George Washington’s headquarters and this was also called the Benjamin Ring House. Many people are familiar with this historic site in the Philadelphia metro area, but many outsiders would need an explanation to what this is.  

http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/destinations/landmarks/museums-tours/family-vacations-baltimore-ohio-railroad-museum.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monument_State_Park

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Brandywine_Battlefield.jpg

Daily #9

There are so many human-made artifacts in the world that are over 2,000 years old. Some are more important than others, but this depends on what type of person you ask.  All over the world artifacts were created to reflect their specific cultures and they helped future civilizations make their own artifacts. Something that made past artifacts stand out was probably their size because people seem to remember things that were big and large. That characteristic also applies to me because I like large things because they impress me a lot and they show me how much work people must have put into it just to finish it. Many of the large artifacts of history have become famous but this is not saying that much smaller artifacts have gained recognition throughout time. If humans put a lot of time and work into building such important artifacts, those artifacts must be recognized for all the hard work put into building them and that is why they are so famous now.

Since I like things large, I would say the most important artifact to me is the Great Pyramid of Giza.  This enormous pyramid is one of the oldest pyramids ever built, and was the tallest man-made structure for over 3,800 years. It was probably finished around 2560 B.C. and it took over 15 years to build. The main theory to why it was built is it was a tomb for Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu. To build this, the Egyptians would have to work long hours every day for about 20 years so I am personally amazed on how this was accomplished.  It is also amazing how they built this structure almost with perfection because there were few errors and the four sides are perfectly aligned to represent the ideal pyramid.  This artifact is important to me because it paved the way for future structure to be built and it guided the construction of large structures to be built in the future. Also, I think an artifact should be noticed if so much planning and effort was put into it and I respect people who pretty much spend most of their lives building one enormous pyramid.  I think if this pyramid was not built, then no structures with that size and weight would exist today because something had to lay the foundation and the Great Pyramid did.

Weekly #2

Andrew B.

Mr. Wojewodski

Western Civilization

3 February 2011

Weekly Assignment

            Change is a very universal term and it can be a good thing or bad thing depending on what people a person asks. During the time period of Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley, people were not used to change and did not really know what it was at the time. Mesopotamia was considered where civilization first started, and it was the first area where people actually gathered and lived their lives together. It is located in present-day Iraq near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, which was a particularly great place to start a civilization with all the resources available. This was the area where the idea of agriculture really revolutionized and began to grow because many towns in this area had farms and they were able to sustain them most of the year. Architecture also grew because many cities and towns began to build buildings and towers to help protect themselves and have some sort of defense system. Urban growth was probably the most important thing that changed because civilizations began to grow so they built cities for people to live in and so there was a central place where everything happened. All of these ideas changed dramatically when Mesopotamia finally emerged as the first area with civilizations but it depends if the change really benefited them or not.

            Many of the first origins of art occurred in Mesopotamia because of the first civilizations that took place there. Art flourished in Mesopotamia as well as the Indus Valley because many types of art were made and it really reflected their culture. Art became so important in these areas that more and more of it was built and also became more complex as the years went on. Many civilizations in the future would use the basis of their arts to make their own art that reflected their cultures. Before the time of Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley, there was not many examples of art that were discovered yet so it was probably difficult for the people in these areas to make art in their own way. Somehow this was accomplished on their own and the people realized that they exceled at it, so they continued to make more and more forms of art. Change in art was most likely a good thing because the art in Mesopotamia and Indus Valley would lay the groundwork for other civilizations to use and we would not have art if the people in the past did not start it and make it popular.

            An agricultural revolution really took place during Mesopotamia because the main focus was on hunting but people started to shift their attention to farms and crops. Hunting was still used during that time but not as much because the Tigris and Euphrates rivers provided fertile farmland for farmers to grow crops and use irrigation. Agriculture helped support families because the farms gave families the food they needed and it gave them the money since they could trade and sell their crops. Animals were also used to help produce and harvest crops from the farms and the domestication of animals was really helpful during this time. If the weather was really dry for a long period of time, farmers would use irrigation to water their crops and let them grow. The two rivers were the most important things in Mesopotamia because they gave life to just about everything and helped sustain the revolution in agriculture at the time. Even if the rivers flooded into the cities and the farms, dams were built to control the flow of water. I think it was hard for the people in Mesopotamia to transition to agriculture and farming because hunting was so important to them but I think this change was better for the development of the civilizations.

            Architecture was also a very important change in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley for many reasons. First of all, the first civilizations needed building and towers to help protect their cities and to help protect from attacks from the outside. Many of the blueprints for the buildings were based on the past because the people wanted to keep the traditions with them. High- scale palaces were also built in the cities for the noble people and for storage in case of emergencies. The people could actually live in permanent homes made of mud and plaster and the size of the house really depended on how wealthy the family was. There were also statues made of the gods and goddesses for the people to worship so the architecture could have also reflected their religion and their beliefs. The people could finally stay in one spot because of the homes they could live in and it was not necessary for the people to be nomads and wander from place to place in search of food. The main function of the architecture was to help defend the city and protect the farms that were prospering from any outsiders. I think the architecture was mainly a good change because it helped cities grow and prosper but maybe the people wanted to keep past architecture the way it was.

            Urban planning was very important in the Indus Valley because that area had the first urban areas and cities in the world. They also had the first urban areas to have sewage and draining systems and these were very advanced for their time. The cities were the main place for people to gather and they had a large population since cities did not exist before. The people there really had knowledge for urban planning because the quality of the cities was great and the effects of their knowledge are evident. Social interaction was also a major contribution to the growth of the cities because the people could make trades and sell products in the center of the cities. The cities made room for plenty of homes in the area and they all had access to clean water to use to bathe and cook with. They also built tall walls to protect the city from outside attacks and the overall city was heavily guarded all the time. I think that this change in urban planning was the best change in this time because the cities allowed for so much more activity and protection of the people and it gave people a place to live- something they never had before.

Daily #8

Artifacts of the humanities are objects or ideas that are somehow made or developed by human beings. These artifacts can include art, music, dance, theatre, literature, philosophy, and architecture. Within these categories is when human begin to create objects and things that can help us learn more about history and we can see it progress when more and more artifacts are discovered. Humans have been creating these artifacts for thousands of years and they can guide us to a time in history when they were made. These artifacts are so important in history because throughout the years we can see how each artifact has progressed through the years and how they have revolutionized from simple things years ago to complex things today in the present. Political/military conflicts have been occurring since the beginning of time and some have been major while some have been relatively minor. Historians can see that wars occur almost all the time and since there have been so many, we can find out if the state of wars in the world are getting better or worse. The results can tell us if history really is guiding us in the right path for the future or it is not progressing and it is going to get much worse. Both of these ideas can be roadmaps of history where they guide us in the right path and we can learn from them in the past, but it depends on which idea is better for us to use from.

I think that the artifacts of humanities are a better roadmap for history because we can track the artifacts for these humanities from thousands of years ago and we can see how much we have grown in these categories. Art has vastly improved through the years because art has grown more complex these days compared to how simple it was back in the day. Philosophy is one of the artifacts that have grown the most because there were many famous philosophers in the past including Socrates and Plato that developed systems of philosophy, and today we have based many of our philosophies on the ones in the past. All of the other artifacts of humanities have greatly improved throughout time and have led me to believe that history is getting much better because of the improvements of these artifacts. These artifacts are guiding history in the right path in my opinion and I think the artifacts are a great way to see if history is going in the right path. I just think it is easier to see the progress of history and how it is changing through artifacts made by the people than wars created by us.  

Daily #7

Venus of Willendorf was a very famous statue that was created between 22,000 and 21,000 B.C. that depicts the image of a nude woman. It is only about eleven centimeters tall but it is probably one of the earliest forms of art ever discovered. It was discovered only about 100 years ago in 1908 by Josef Szombathy near Willendorf, which was a small village in Austria. This statue was carved out of limestone and it had leaded the way for similar statues and forms of art, which were eventually referred to as Venus figurines. It is unknown who actually carved it out and where it was carved, and the only thing known was when it was created. It did not have an identifiable head and the size of its stomach symbolized a fertility symbol so pregnant women could have had luck in child birth and they could have a lot of children. It could have also given good luck to fertile land during the agricultural season and good luck to a good hunting season. The main point is that this form of art was one of the first ever created and many sculptors based their work on it.

At the same time in history, many forms of art were taking place, including the famous cave paintings at Lascaux. This was a cave in France that had paintings all over the walls of animals that depicted the hunting season and how it affected the animals. It was discovered in 1940 by four teenagers and it is open to the public since it is so famous. If the cave paintings at Lascaux and the Venus of Willendorf were created roughly around the same time, it means that the people during that time had two things they had to do- have children and go hunting.  The domestication of animals was also occurring during this time so all these events are occurring and are somehow related. I think that these are all related because there was going to be a whole new revolution in agriculture that was going to happen soon. Venus of Willendorf was a token of good luck for fertile land to grow crops and the domestication of animals would help the people use animals to help them with their harvest of crops. This would grow into one of the most prosperous forms of work during that time and it would replace hunting by using the animals for good instead of killing them.

Daily #6 My languange

Andrew B. and Josh M.

2/2/11

Mr. Wojewodski

Western Civilization

Our New Language

This is our newly developed language with many words you have never seen before. It is very interesting and I hope you have time to learn it on your own. We are still trying to make a name for it and we are trying to discover new words to add to our language.

Nouns:

Sun- Raus

Water- Wak

Tree- Arb

Wood- Yad

Rain- Luoy

Fire- Ulv

Wind- Vre

Dead- Yui

Blood- Gyioip

House- Hty

Sky- Weq

Storm- Poz

Deer- Fal

Bear- Gry

Moose- Zran

Bird- Cyl

Wolf- Aak

Verbs:

Play- Jyge

Speak- Hilir

Hunt- Huyr

Sleep- Tef

Eat- Feg

Drink- Keli

Kill- Truk

Swim- Nazb

Run- Coziy

Shine- Raxd

Adjectives:

Small- Zaf

Big- Faz

Short-Qio

Tall- Oiq

Pretty- Hwd

Ugly- Dwh

Bright- Syh

Dark- Hys

Smart- Zyx

Foolish-Xyz

Young- Tox

Old-Xot

Good- Byk

Evil- Kyb

Hard-Jie

Soft-Eij

Brown- ah

Yellow- aha

Green- ahal

Blue-ahala

Red-ahalaj

Orange- ahalaja

Black- Oog

White-Oig

Adverbs:

Tomorrow- Kyiou

Yesterday- Uoiyk

Quickly- Tygir

Slowly- Rigyt

Greeting Words

Hi- Deka

Bye- Aked

Good Morning- Byk mor

See ya- Fyz fa

Good night- Byk nor

Hey- Lek

Good afternoon- Byk lor

Howdy- Deba

Welcome- Clum

What’s up- Kwa ru

Yo- Oy

 Rules:

1.)    There is no real order to the placement of the words. Except adjectives come after the noun.

2.)    To make a noun plural add an “x” to the beginning of the word.

3.)    To make a question just add the word “kyu” at the beginning of the sentence.

4.)    No real punctuation

5.)    No articles, prepositions, or pronouns.

6.)    Give your name for the pronoun.

Daily #5

You accidentally discover an invention that can immediately help millions of people; but only if you act immediately. On the other hand, if you just wait three months, you can secure a patent and get rich. Which do you choose and why?

I would definitely act quickly and help all the people in need because I could become a great hero where everyone in the world would respect and look up to me. Also, it is way more important to do things for others than to be selfish and keep things to yourself and you should always put others before yourself in your daily life. I think it is always a great feeling to help others in my life, and I cannot imagine how great it would be to help millions of people and save them. This would probably be a decision where I would not have to think long and hard about because you always do what is right for the people when the time comes and do helpful things that benefit others. On the other hand, I could use the money from my device to do positive things for the world and help solve major conflicts that are occurring. Even though there are so much things I could buy and use for the good of the world if I became rich, God and my family would want me to do what is right for others and the world.
One thing that would influence my decision is how much time I have to act upon the situation. If I take too much time to make a decision, my chance to save millions will go down the drain and I would feel terrible if that happened. Something I could think about to help me is the importance and significance of the event. This opportunity usually never happens during a person’s lifetime, so I would consider myself pretty lucky to be given this huge chance to help the world in a big way. I would still probably get somewhat rich if I helped millions of people because I would more than likely be honored for my achievements and I would be rewarded somehow. My device would probably get a patent anyway because it would be so famous for helping millions of people and I would be able to use it again in the future without anyone stealing it. Making the choice to help the millions of people would definitely be the better end of the deal and it would help me become a better person mentally and physically.