Welcome to Armenia in America!

First off, I'd like to express my utter hatred for Blogger. This is not the first or the second time which I am forced to type this same post, but the THIRD. Being the saint that Blogger is, it preaches to its users that it will randomly save your post as you type to keep it safe. But no. Miraculously, Blogger does not extend this service to me, as it clearly hates me. Not only does Blogger not auto save my drafts, but when I order it to publish my post, it ignores me and signs me out of the website. I HATE YOU BLOGGER. Anyways, for holiday traditions this year, I functioned as an honorary Armenian in order to help my friend work her table based upon Armenian Christmas. Armenian Christianity directly relates to several things we have studied this year. First off, several religions that we have touched upon all developed in the Middle East - conveniently, the Armenian Christian sect developed in this area as well. It directly correlates with our most recent study on Europe in the middle ages and the division of the Christian church based upon differences in the churches in the West and the East - as Armenian Christianity is another sect of Christianity, it represents another division in the church. Lastly, (and quite obviously), this religious sect is immediately related to what we have learned so far in AP World, as due to its Christian base, we have studied its origin in class in that we have learned about its beginnings, the Christian religion in general, and Jesus the prophet. I dislike Blogger - my first two blog posts would have been better.

JeopardyJeopardy

While playing the review games, I am noticing that in terms of the religion category, I am not as strong in the Islam section. Questions on the Indian leader at the time of Islamic invasions (Mahmud) and the word Islam meaning submission are two that I got wrong. In terms of political structure, I need to remember that Charlemagne's officials to bring counts under control were the missi dominici. The bureaucracy of merit in Tang China elected officials based upon examinations...I need to study political structure more.

I found an error! In "that awkward post-classical jeopardy game", under social structure for 200, an error exists in that women were not encouraged to participate in foot binding, but had absolutely no day whatsoever, as foot binding was a form of control. Sorry Heen...

On the "Post-Classical Review" game, an error was found in that the question called for two places that India traded extensively with, when the poor soul to construct the question answered with "the subcontinent and on the ocean to the south" which not only makes literally no sense, but the correct answer is actually China and the Middle East. This was found under economy for 100.

In the same section for 500, the question is wrong because feeding 20 serfs for 2 points is completely unlike feeding literal people to keep them alive. At the same time, having this information will not help me in succeeding on e test. Since this is illegitimate and rules for a game rather than real life, it is wrong.

Sweeeeeeeeet emooootiooooooon!

4. Monasteries that kept to the Rule could be useful to society in the fact that many aided public affairs by acting as orphanages, schools, etc. Additionally, all how participated in the Rule (which was many people, because they were all scaredy cats) would be kept in line and not threatening the public through wrongdoing and crime, as it would be against their religion. Seeing as so many people followed this lifestyle, it probably helped Europe out with their crime rate. Their policy of helping the poor obviously was of great assistance to society, as many people were being aided by these institutions.

5. Of the social structure of the time period, one may guess from the copious amounts of rules that surrounded a monastic lifestyle that social structure was probably very set and carried many requirements of the inhabitants - in this respect I mean that one may wonder that perhaps for certain levels of society, many things were expected of the people who composed them. In terms of the economic structure, one may guess that it was struggling but still pulling up from the depths of the fall of the Roman Empire. This may be drawn from the fact that monks were to give to the poor. If so many people were monks at the time, Europe must have been ridden with the poor. From this, we may guess that perhaps the economy at the time was still pulling itself back up.

Burning down the house...

To be honest, I don't really like these poems. I'm not a huge poetry fan, because it bores me and I don't really understand what they mean. Because of this, I feel unintelligent and I feel as though I am being smited by an inanimate object. Therefore, I don't really like these poems. However, I do think that they reflect Indian society a little bit through their mentioning of the caste system and religious views - such as, according to one poem, their God being everything around them. Caste differences are reflected in the poems by the wording chosen to describe a girl of a lower caste in one of the poems.

As a matter of fact, I did forget that this assignment existed.

First off, after years of being bored to tears with poetry units in English class, I did not enjoy this poetry, simply because to me it seemed to ramble and I had trouble following it through my boredom. The two styles of poetry, between the Song and the Tang, seemed similar in the fact that the poems seemed to deal primarily with nature, or factors of nature. For example, many mentioned rivers. The Tang style of poetry, however, was made up of lines of 5-7 characters and each had 8-12ish lines. Many ended up as haikus - whereas the Song poetry seemed more of a free for all. In addition, I noticed that many of the Tang poems dealt with relationships between people - relationships severed by death, desired relationships, friendships, etc. The Song poetry was also noted as being sung, rather than only recited. The poetry of these societies may also reflect the societies themselves. For example, the natural focus of the Tang poetry may be related to the society itself due to the society's care of nature - for example,the equal field system was enacted in order to distribute land, thus promoting farming and such. In terms of both societies, agricultural developments were made, such as the creation of fast-ripening rice. This again reflects on the natural nature of these poems. I do believe that poetry and other forms of art may tell a lot about society. When art is creates, most of the time it reflects the beliefs and opinions of the creator. In this way, art would automatically stand for the views of th society of the creator.

Listening to the Pirates of the Caribbean Soundtrack Makes Me Feel Intense.

http://www.showme.com/sh/?i=92103

4 Day Weekends = My Savior

The conversions of both Constantine and Prince Vladimir to Christianity prove rather different in comparison. Constantine's conversion has been rumored to have been brought about by the "nagging" of his wife. Nevertheless, he established the Edict of Milan, which allowed his subjects to practice their faith in Christianity freely as they pleased. In terms of Vladimir's conversion, his turning to the religion seems to be of his own choice. However, he did not prove to be quite the role model for the religion - he was a heavy drinker and pretty promiscuous. He also demanded thatbhis subjects follow his lead and convert to Christianity as well. Comparing these two men, one may derive that Constantine was more fair about his belief. He converted and established a means for Christians to worship freely, however, he did not shove his belief down the throats of others. Vladimir, on the other hand, went right on to shove his beliefs down the throats of his subjects. By this comparison, perhaps the transition of Constantine and his empire to Christianity was far smoother and more easily accepted by the people - his subjects were provided with a freedom of religious choice, and by the time it got around to Theodosius introducing the idea of establishing the religion, one may infer that perhaps much of the empire was already practicing the religion. On the hand of Vladimir, one may also assume that perhaps the transition to this religion was not so smooth, as it was forced upon the people.

"I had one simple request. AND THAT IS TO HAVE SHARKS WITH FRICKIN LASER BEAMS ATTACHED TO THEIR HEADS."

Though Dr. Evil's problems are not very related to Byzantine architecture, the specified building technique may be described as simple. There seem to be trends in colors used in buildings and in paintings. In buildings, there was heavy use of browns and light reds. In reference to paintings, rich, golden colors were used. Many brick buildings have been noted, and I also noticed a great deal of domed ceilings on the public buildings pictured. It also seemed noticeable that though the exterior to these buildings were plain, the interiors were well decorated with art and bright color. Though not very distinctive, Byzantine architecture seems to serve primarily for function. There was not anything seeming to be too decorative about it. I did not note many connections to American architecture, however, I did notice connections due to the fact that we too have brick buildings and domed ceilings, and most of our buildings are colored plainly and indistinctly.

"So, so you think you can tell heaven from hell?" - Pink Floyd

The first document featured in the reading pertains to discussing random aspects of the city of Constantinople. Its content may be perceived as a review of the city. For this reason, I believe that the document was written by a traveler, directed towards outside people who have never traveled to Constantinople. The information included talks about the city in general, so one would assume that perhaps the document was written in order to educate others, in this case outsiders who have never traveled to the city, of people and places outside of their realm. The second document talks about the city in an almost awe inspired way, discussing pilgrims and their reactions to the city. For this reason, I believe that the document was perhaps written by a pilgrim to the city, for its discussion of religious elements and its reverence of the city. It is arguable for this reason that the document was written towards others of a similar religious faith as the writer, in order to serve as a story to tell. The third document discusses an attack of barbarians, who "did not appreciate beauty," upon the city. Its disapproving nature of this attack and clear anger in reference to it makes me infer that this document was written by an inhabitant of the city, who witnessed the attacks. Because of this, if this inference is somewhat true I believe that the document was written for later citizens of the city, in order to educate them on their past and history. Document four is a painting of a map of Constantinople. I believe that it was probably created by an artist of the city, for its detail and the fact that it seems like a decent map, so it must have been created by someone familiar with the place. It must have been created for merchants or other travelers, to aid their movement. It also probably served as an efficient history preserver. Document five is a picture of the interior of the church Saint Sophia. I believe the picture was probably taken by a recent modern age photographer. Because of this, it was probably meant for people outside of the area of Constantinople, in order to educate others on culture in the city. Document six revolves around the emperor of Constantinople. Because it is so centered on this man, I believe the document to be written by a servant or worker for the emperor, intended to portray him in a very positive light. It was probably directed at the citizens of the city, in order to make them happy with the emperor and to encourage approval of him. Document seven talks about privileges granted to the citizens of Venice. It seems very biased, leading me to believe that the writer of the document was an inhabitant of Constantinople, who felt their exemptions to be unfair. It was probably directed to the other inhabitants of the city, who felt similar ways, intended to bring attention to the matter. Of all these documents, I feel that the first is the most reliable, due to the fact that it simply provides an overview of the city and lacks an opinion. It merely summarizes what a traveler witnessed, and had no reason to be biased.

Mappity Map Map Maps

For an artistically non-inclined student such as myself, there was great room for error in a project such as this. However, a few things did follow a preferred route for us. For one, deciding the method of passage for each of our traded items was fairly easy. Once we had done our research and had a basis of understanding for the trade, it was not very hard at all to think of how they would be transported. On another hand, a second thing that went well was locating natural obstructions to our trade routes. As we placed these geographic formations last, they we easy to locate. Lastly, a third thing to go well was our actual drawing of routes. Conveniently, we managed to pick items that had fairly simple routes to document. In terms of what went wrong...I wish I would not have to talk about it. However, Im going to have to in order to get my check plus on this homework assignment. First of all, the presence of a scale was absolutely infuriating. I get really uptight about having things right and not out of place...so having to follow a scale with a hand drawn map was a really panic-inducing feat for me. The pressure freaked me out, Mr. Whitten. Secondly, I am an awful artist. Because of this, I feel that our map was not quite so neat as it could have been. Cue stress. Thirdly, it was really difficult to relate the big map to a map about a sixth of its size. To be honest, this project was pretty difficult. The paper portion was fine, but the map...that's a different story. I had a very hard time with it...drawing the map over on to an absolutely prehistorically obsese MAMMOTH poster board was very difficult for me (I'm not an artist AT ALL). In complete honesty, if it weren't for the savior paper portion of this project, I would have truly hated it. Thankfully it is all over now, however. In terms of collaboration, it went well. I was very glad to have my partner, Melissa, working on the map with me. She is a good artist, and it was very helpful to have her there. Plus, without a partner, I think I would have absolutely drowned in the work that went into the map. I was very thankful to be able to have a partner. If I were presented with this project again, I would first cry myself to sleep a little bit to eliminate stress off the bat. Maybe I wouldn't cry myself to sleep. But I'd do something close to that. However, I would allot myself more time on the map portion by taking it home and working on it at night to make sure I could have it as accurate and neat as possible.

Battle of the Prophets. It's On.

When it all comes boiled down, it seems that the teachings of Jesus Christ are fairly similar to the teachings of Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Socratic belief, with scattered differences here and there. First up: Jesus vs. Zoroastrianism. The teachings of the two are similar in that they both call for and encourage honest treatment of others and honest behavior. However, while Jesus preached that his followers should acknowledge their only one God, followers of Zoroastrianism believed in several deities in addition to Ahura Mazda, their supreme deity. In the case of Confucianism, one may observe a great deal of similarities to the teachings of Jesus. Predominant is the belief of treating others kindly, as one would want to be treated themselves. This high regard for respect permeates Jesus's teachings. In this same way, the teachings of Jesus are similar to Daoism as well. Daoism teaches that one should be like water, and "benefit all." This belief mirrors the similarity between Confucianism and the teachings of Jesus - that one should be kind to all and treat all with respect. Strengthening this similarity is the fact that Jesus also taunt to his followers that they should help others - just as Daoist followers were taught to benefit all. Jesus taught that the poor should be assisted, which draws a tie of similarity to Buddhism. Buddhist teachings extended to the lower caste members, allowing them a chance to better their lives. One may argue that this is aligned with Jesus's preaching for assistance to the poor, and the appeal of his teachings to the poor. In addition, like the past faiths mentioned, Buddhism also preached for correct, kind behavior - another similarity to the teachings of Jesus. Hinduist ideas preached of a reward to those who lived religiously and morally and followed these religious laws. This is similar to Jesus's teachings that one may be admitted to heaven with religious and moral behavior in life. It may also be argued that the Hindu belief in salvation of the soul is like Jesus's preaching of a happier life in heaven. Finally, Socratic teachings are similar to the teachings of Jesus as several other of the previously mentioned faiths are. Like Jesus, Socrates taught of leading honest lives and being good to one's neighbor.

I've been listening to too much Nirvana.

Why do empires form? I honestly feel that empires stem from the need for space in a rapidly growing society. Once an area becomes successful, its population rises. Everyone knows that once you have a bit of an economy going it's time to start building up the family, right? As populations grew and grew, leaders needed to find a way to accomodate their people. The only solution (other than mass murder or birth control perhaps)? Expansion. As societies expanded to become larger and larger, it was of course necessary to take over surrounding lands. And resulting from this, we find the empire. Just ask the Chinese - expansion was provoked during the Han dynasty when high agricultural production supported rapid growth and prosperity. By the end of the former Han dynasty, the population had tripled. In the case of India, the ruler Ashoka conquered considerable land to the Mauryan Empire. He had encouraged the expansion of agriculture with irrigation systems - obviously the population probably jumped from this. Finally, in terms of Rome, after establishing a stable agricultural economy, the empire expanded all over Europe, Mesopotamia, northern Africa, and even parts of Britain, most likely with the side note that their population was growing. Obviously, I stand by my belief that empires form from the need for space.

Wikiwikiwooooo It's a Beautiful Saturday Afternoon and I'm Feelin Shnazzy

"Oh and by the way, even though the topic of this project is not discussed anywhere on the Internet but Wikipedia, don't use Wikipedia. It's unreliable." Okay. I guess I'll make up some information of my own instead? Easy enough for me, Mrs. (insert some teacher's name here); I'll just say that ceiling fans are important to society because they prevent the spread of malicious little elves. It's from my imagination rather than Wikipedia, so it MUST be more reliable, right?
Bah humbug. A great deal of people write Wikipedia off without giving it a chance because they assume it to be an unreliable source. In all honesty, it is a highly useful and convenient tool that is capable of providing quick, general information on a wide array of topics. In class yesterday, my group investigated Buddhism through Wikipedia. We then proceeded to test its content with our all-knowing textbook. We found, despite common belief, that Wikipedia got virtually everything right. The one exception was a different point of view on the early life of the Buddha - Wikipedia told us that he was kept in his father's palace as a child, as he was going to be king, while the textbook claims that he was free to leave the palace whenever he pleased. Despite this, Wikipedia got everything we investigated spot on. I feel that teachers should give the tool a chance. It's easy print and font size make it very easy to read, and it provides quick and general information, so as not to bore or overwhelm the stressed reader. Because of this, I prefer Wikipedia far over I do our textbook. All the information I need is condensed and present on a Wikipedia page, however, in the textbook you are required to hunt around for certain tidbits of information, as there is so much fluff stuffed into those dreaded pages. We proved Wikipedia's usefulness, convenience, and relative accuracy...why not make our lives easier and use it more?

The Bhagavad Gita: Whoop Dee Doo....

The Bhagavad Gita - my favorite thing to compare to Zoroastrianism and Confucianism. Don't you just love it? Sigh. Confucianism deals with the belief that individuals possessing the traits of ren, li, and xiao (humanity, propriety, filial piety) will gain influence in society and become junzi, or leaders. Political and social order were thought to be resorted through enlightened leadership. Zoroastrianism, on the other hand, believes that good ultimately prevails. Honest, moral humans would go to paradise, while demons would go to hell. Followers were allowed to enjoy the world in moderation. Finally, we approach the Bhagavad Gita. This hunk of words basically portrays the belief that you have to "fight your battle" to get to heaven, and those who enjoy worldly pleasures are not successful. In this way, the Bhagavad Gita is both similar to Zoroastrianism and Confucianism, and very different from Zoroastrianism. All three religious elements all agree upon the fact that if a person is good, they will succeed (in the case of the Bhagavad Gita, if they work hard). Zoroastrianism conflicts from the newest installment of BHS's AP World classes' religious portfolio. While Zoroastrianism allows for human followers to enjoy worldly pleasures, while the Bhagavad Gita believes the exact opposite.

Blogs - the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly...

So what makes a blog a good one? Well, to be honest, I don't think any blog post can be a bad one. It is composed of your own personal thoughts and opinions, correct? Well if that is the case, to call a blog bad would be to criticize someone's opinion. Therefore, we really can't just evaluate a blog. I believe the best way to judge a blog is to judge ones own thoughts while taking the post in. Does the blog form an opinion in the reader's mind? Does it pose interesting points? Honestly, I believe those previous criteria are what we should really be looking for when we evaluate someone's blog post. If you can read a post and finish it with a certain opinion, whether you agree with it or not, then it is a great post, as it provokes thought from the reader. I think it would be wrong to base judgement on conventions - spelling and such (or incorrect use of elements...for example, my use of the dash right there may be questionable, but hey, it makes me happy). A blog post is a personal thought and opinion. Let me ask you, do your dreams formulate themselves in perfect grammar? How about your thoughts, or instincts? Nope, and even if you say they do, you and I both know that that is probably only in some instances. So how exactly would one go about grading them on a scale of 1-3? Well first off, no one who writes a blog post should receive a zero, as their blog reflects their thoughts and opinions, and to award them a zero would be the equivalent of telling someone that their opinion is wrong. A work that would earn three points would contain thought provoking matter and would display a great deal of thought and effort on the writer's part. A two-worthy piece of work , in my opinion, should be interesting and thought out. A one, however, should be earned by a work that may show opinion but is not necessarily too interesting. I honestly feel that it would not make much of a difference should we as the students grade each other's blogs or should Mr. Whitten grade them. If the students were to grade each other, it would allow for a separate assignment in which the students could observe the opinions of others and reply to beliefs and ideas. However, overall I do not think it would make much of a difference in reference to which party would do the evaluating. Personally, I believe that we should be judging and evaluating blog posts based upon whether or not they provoke thought, opinion, or interest from the reader.

Hey America, Take Notes.

Book XII.7        Tzu-kung asked about government.  The Master said, “Give them enough food, give them enough arms, and the common people will trust in you.
                Tzu-kung said, “If one had to give up one of these three, which should one give up first?”
                “Give up arms.”
                Tzu-kung said, “If one had to give up one of the remaining two, which should one give up first?”
                “Give up food.  Death has always been with us since the beginning of time, but when there is no trust, the common people will have nothing to stand on.”

Many segments from "the Analects" may be derived as useful to our present day government despite their age and reeking of old fashioned behavior. For example, the previous quote mentioned is an ideal picture of trust that one would desire of a citizen-government relationship. The United States government could most certainly take note of Confucius's belief. It is highly probable that should the government take measures to build trust with the common citizen and attempt to preserve it at all costs, such as detailed by Confucius, the American people would be in a much happier state - they would accept the actions of our government more strongly, and therefore, the government would receive less hate mail...or on a more important level I suppose, the common citizen would feel less resentment towards the governing administration. Sure, the government will have some supporters anyways, but there will always be a population that will resent it for all it is worth. Should more trust be built, the population of the disapproving folks may decrease greatly. Hence we observe the importance of trust in one's government. Should the government place the trust of its citizens over other elements - war, money, etc. such as Confucius suggests, they will be met with a much more positive response daily from the people and will not receive so much backlash for various actions.

Alexander "the Great"? Nah, I don't think so.

Alexander "the Great"...a name that would suggest a heroic, noble nature; a role model, a leader. But was he really that great? Honestly, I don't think so. First off, the guy seemed to be a bit full of himself...and by "full of himself", I mean to say that the dude really loved himself. Enlisting servants to follow you about and document your life? You would have to be pretty vain for such an action as that. However, Alexander did it. From this, I take that his ego was vastly blown up and out of proportion. Adding to this, he named a handful of cities that he conquered "Alexandria", after himself. Really man? One was not enough? Clearly he cared more about himself and his image than he cared for his people. As a leader, you have a responsibility to your people. As Alexander seemed more concerned for himself, I definitely wouldn't assign the title "the Great" to him...he needed to focus more on the wellbeing of his people. In addition, he obviously did not care about the ideals of his troops either. This is proven quite distinctly in his pursuit of Bessus, Darius's murderer. The kill of Bessus was highly unnecessary - he did not pose a threat to neither Alexander nor his people. Yet Alexander led his troops farther and farther away from home, despite their unwillingness. Clearly, Alexander cherished his childish need for revenge over the basic needs of his troops. One may also considered how many lives were lost of the troops in transit to the capture. Personally, I do not feel that the revenge of one compensates for the death or injuries of many innocent soldiers. Finally, the burning of Persepolis...it was a unnecessary and murderous act of Alexander, as innocent people were obviously killed. I stand by my belief that Alexander most certainly was not "the Great".