Blog Smith is inspired by the myth of Hephaestus in the creation of blacksmith-like, forged materials: ideas. This blog analyzes topics that interest me: IT, politics, technology, history, education, music, and the history of religions.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
World History I: Chapter 4: Ancient Greece
Early Greek civilization consisted of many small, independent city-states. Trade led to Greek colonies, and Greek civilization gradually spread throughout the Mediterranean world.
Section 1 Early Civilizations in Greece
The Minoan civilization flourished on the island of Crete from 2700 B.C. to 1450 B.C. Most historians believe it was destroyed by the Mycenaeans from the Greek mainland. The Mycenaean civilization consisted of powerful monarchies that flourished between 1600 B.C. and 1100 B.C. After the collapse of this civilization, Greece entered a period known as the Dark Age. Food production decreased, and the population declined. At the same time, Greeks sailed extensively on the Aegean Sea and settled on islands and in Asia Minor. Iron replaced bronze in the making of tools and weapons. During the eighth century, the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, and Homer wrote his famous epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, chronicling the Trojan War.
Section 2 The Greek City-States
By 750 B.C. independent city-states became the focus of Greek life. Trade and the search for new farmland led to colonies throughout the western Mediterranean and the spread of Greek culture. Trade also produced a new group of wealthy individuals who resented the power of the aristocrats. The new rich, along with many peasants, supported the rise of tyrants who seized power from the aristocrats. When the rule of tyrants declined, some city-states became oligarchies. In Sparta, a military state, a small group of men decided what issues to place before adult male voters. In Athens, aristocratic rule dissolved into political strife between peasants and aristocrats. Leadership shifted between reform-minded aristocrats and tyrants, until land reform and an assembly served as the foundations of Athenian democracy.
Section 3 Classical Greece
As the Greeks spread throughout the Mediterranean, they came into conflict with the Persians. Although Athens itself was partly destroyed in a war, Greece emerged victorious, and Athens became the center of power of a Greek empire. Pericles was the dominant figure in Athens and undertook the rebuilding of the city. During the Age of Pericles, the Greek empire expanded. At home, a direct democracy flourished, in which all adult male citizens could vote. A woman's primary role was to be a good wife, mother, and manager of the household. Distrust between Athens and Sparta led to the Great Peloponnesian War. After Athens was badly defeated, Sparta, Athens, and Thebes struggled to dominate Greek affairs.
Section 4 The Culture of Classical Greece
Religion was central to daily life in Greece. The Greek religion focused on performing rituals to gain the favor of the Greek gods. To learn the will of the gods, Greeks made use of oracles. Greek drama developed during this period. Classical Greek philosophers, such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, devoted themselves to rational thought as a means of understanding the nature of the universe. Aristotle also created the foundations of Western science. Herodotus and Thucydides wrote the first histories in Western civilization with their lengthy works on the Persian and Peloponnesian wars respectively. Classical Greek art, which sought to express eternal ideals, is reflected in temples and sculptures.
Section 5 Alexander and the Hellenistic Era
In 359 B.C., Philip II came to the throne in Macedonia and built a powerful army. He longed to unite Greece and Macedonia. Fearful of Philip's intentions, the Greeks formed a defensive alliance, but they were defeated. Philip's son Alexander, who became known as Alexander the Great, within a few years defeated the Persian Empire and expanded his empire as far east as modern Pakistan. Although Alexander's empire was short-lived, it was successful in spreading Greek culture in the region. During the Hellenistic Era, Greek colonies thrived in Southwest Asia, and important works of science, philosophy, art, and architecture were produced throughout the Hellenistic world.
Student Web Activity Lesson Plans Alexander the Great
Introduction
Alexander conquered a large amount of territory in a remarkably short time. Despite his many invasions and conquests, he gained the respect of many of those he conquered by showing respect for local cultures and rulers. Although his empire was short-lived, it left an enduring Greek cultural imprint on the civilizations that had been conquered. In this activity students will learn more about Alexander's life and conquests.
Lesson Description Students will explore a Web site about Alexander the Great to read about Alexander's conquests of Persia and India. They will answer four questions about what they have read and will then write a fictional Indian or Persian newspaper article reporting on local reactions to Alexander's conquest.
Instructional Objectives
The learner will be able to sequence Alexander’s conquests and successes in Persia and Egypt.
The learner will be able to analyze the complexities of Alexander's motivations as a leader.
Alexander the Great
Introduction
Alexander conquered a large amount of territory in a remarkably short time. Despite his many invasions and conquests, he gained the respect of many of those he conquered by showing respect for local cultures. Although his empire was short-lived, it left an enduring Greek influence on the civilizations he conquered. In this activity you will learn more about Alexander's life and conquests.
Destination Title: Alexander the Great
http://faq.macedonia.org/history/alexander.the.great.html
Directions
Scroll through the Website and read the information.
Take notes as you scan the text.
Use the information you found to answer the following questions.
1. What is the legend of the Gordian knot?
2. Give an example of Alexander's attempts to blend Greek and Persian cultures.
3. What did Alexander do when he found the Persian King Darius, his main opponent, dead? Analyze the reasons for his actions.
4. How did Alexander treat important local rulers, such as Porus, a powerful Indian leader?
5. Write a short newspaper article from an Indian or Persian perspective reporting on local reactions to Alexander's conquest. As you "report," take into account as many consequences of the invasion as you can identify from your reading.
Suggested Answers
Student Web Activity Answers
1. Legend had it that the person who could untie the Gordian Knot would rule the world. Alexander is said to have slashed the Gordian Knot, unraveling it.
2. Alexander married a Persian woman. He also established programs to teach the Persians about Greek and Macedonian cultures, and he encouraged marriage between his officers and Persian women.
3. When the emperor Darius was killed by his own men, Alexander executed the men and gave Darius a royal funeral. Alexander’s actions show respect toward the Persian ruler, but they also suggest that Alexander wanted to win over the support of the Persians.
4. Alexander treated many of his defeated enemies with great respect. Following the capture of Porus, Alexander allowed Porus to continue to govern. Alexander even granted Porus an additional province.
5. Students' newspaper articles will vary but should include details on Alexander's conquests mentioned on the Web site.
References
Interactive Maps
Classical Greece and the Mediterranean basin, 800-500 B.C.E.
http://glencoe.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0078799813/195015/map09.html
Muslim Bites Boy: Claims Cultural Misunderstanding
SPRING, Texas - A man is charged with injury to a child after he was accused of biting an 11-year-old boy on both cheeks.
Chris Sigler said his son was riding his go-kart through their Spring neighborhood when Abdus Sattar, 70, bit his son on both cheeks.
Obama to Cede America's Sovereignty, Gun Control by U.N.
The UN Arms Trade Treaty that has been identified by observers as a flagrant threat to the Second Amendment and which Obama is determined to sign has its roots in a 1961 State Department memorandum which explains how the United Nations will oversee “complete disarmament” of the American people under the ruse of preventing war. The UN Arms Treaty has caused so much controversy because it outlines a plan to target “all types of conventional weapons, notably including small arms and light weapons,” according to Forbes’ Larry Bell.
Former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton also warns that the agreement “is trying to act as though this is really just a treaty about international arms trade between nation states, but there is no doubt that the real agenda here is domestic firearms control.”
Monday, July 23, 2012
Egyptian Actors Pranked on Candid Camera Turn Violent When Told TV Channel Is Israeli MEMRI
CATHOLIC CHURCH PAID TO SEND OBAMA TO ANTI-CATHOLIC RADICAL ALINSKY-FOUNDED GROUP’S COMMUNITY ORGANIZING TRAINING
CATHOLIC CHURCH PAID TO SEND OBAMA TO ANTI-CATHOLIC RADICAL ALINSKY-FOUNDED GROUP’S COMMUNITY ORGANIZING TRAINING
A book, No Higher Power: Obama's War on Religious Freedom, by Phyllis Schlafly and American Spectator journalist George Neumayr exposes never-before-seen documents that show that the Catholic Church supported, and gave monies to, Obama in the 1980s to attend a community organizing training with the Saul Alinsky-founded Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF).
Obama received support from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), an arm of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:
"In the 1980s, the Catholic archdiocese of Chicago contributed to the training of Obama in the very Alinskyite radicalism that would culminate in such anti-religious measures as the HHS mandate. In fact, in the course of writing this book, we met a source who once had access to copies of documents from the archives of the Chicago archdiocese. This source supplied us with never-before-published copies of invoices, checks, and letters that confirm the Church’s support for the man who would one day seek to destroy its religious freedom.
In a series of appendices, we have reproduced the check and invoice showing that the archdiocese of Chicago paid for Obama’s plane trip to a conference in Los Angeles run by the Industrial Areas Foundation, the community organizing group founded by Alinsky."
Obama Calumet Reimbursed
Then, a follow-up note shows a memorandum from the Campaign for Human Development (the name given to the group before “Catholic” was later added in), which confirms a travel payment to the then-community organizer.
Campaign for Human Development and Obama
Reimbursement
Southwest
Schlafly and Neumayr continue, providing more on the close relationship between Alinsky and Church officials:
"Alinsky had always targeted churches for radical infiltration, and to a certain degree he succeeded. The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) was the Alinskyite branch of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops which had offices in dioceses across the country. It was founded in 1969 by priests and bishops close to Saul Alinsky, such as Monsignor John Egan, who sat on Alinsky’s Industrial Areas Foundation board. The group was originally called the Campaign for Human Development, with “Catholic” added later as its socialist work began to draw criticism.
Alinsky had initially won favor with some in the Archdiocese of Chicago by appearing to be an advocate of justice for the poor. In the 1950s, in fact, Alinsky received tens of thousands of dollars from the Church to “study” poverty and racism."
Cf. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/new-books-ironic-claim-catholic-church-paid-to-send-obama-to-an-alinsky-founded-groups-community-organizing-training-see-the-documents/
Sunday, July 22, 2012
HARVARD PROF. PREDICTS EU CRISIS WILL CONSUME AMERICA…AND WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
Harvard University history professor Niall Ferguson says that Americans should be paying more attention to the eurozone crisis. He believes that the issues facing Europe are going to make their way to the U.S.
Writing in The Daily Beast, Ferguson explains why we should be paying close attention:
The first reason is that, with American consumers still in the doldrums of deleveraging, the United States badly needs buoyant exports if its economy is to grow at anything other than a miserably low rate. And despite all the hype about trade with the Chinese, U.S. exports to the European Union are nearly three times larger than to China.
Indeed, the EU and the U.S. economies account together for about “half the entire world GDP and for nearly a third of world trade flows,” writes the European Commission website.
Consider the $240 billion that the U.S. made from exports to the EU and compare that to the $91.1 billion that the U.S. made from China. It would stand to reason that a total collapse of the eurozone could have disastrous economic repercussions in the U.S.
And Ferguson has more to say.
Europe’s problem is not just that governments are overborrowed. There are an unknown number of European banks that are effectively insolvent if their holdings of government bonds are “marked to market”—in other words, valued at their current rock-bottom market prices.
His fear is that, because of the existence of our present global economy, some U.S. financial institutions will naturally be affected by the euro banks collapsing. Consider the fact that some of the biggest U.S. banks have some sort of “exposure” to euro bonds and banks. If the euro banks become “effectively insolvent,” this will affect the U.S. banks that have investmenst in those bonds.
A more timely example: “MF Global, run by former Goldman Sachs CEO Jon Corzine—just blew up because of its highly levered euro bets,” writes Ferguson. Now imagine the fallout of Mf Global but on a much larger scale involving major banks. That’s what Ferguson is worried about.
And although these are all valid points, Ferguson goes on to say that that’s not even the worst of American concerns. He continues writing:
…what is happening in Europe today could ultimately happen here. Just a few months ago, almost nobody was worried about Italy’s vast debt, which amounts to 121 percent of GDP. Then suddenly panic set in, and Italy’s borrowing costs exploded from 3.5 percent to 7.5 percent.
Today the U.S. gross federal debt stands at around 100 percent of GDP. Four years ago it was 62 percent. By 2016 the International Monetary Fund forecasts it will be 115 percent. Economists who should know better insist that this is not a problem because, unlike Italy, the United States can print its own money at will. All that means is that the U.S. reserves the right to inflate or depreciate away its debt. If I were a foreign investor—and half the debt in public hands is held by foreigners—I would not find that terribly reassuring. At some point I might demand some compensation for that risk in the form of … higher rates.
Athens, Rome, Washington … The shortest route from imperial capital to tourist destination is precisely this death spiral of debt.
Marines, USMC as Cops
BATMAN SHOOTER AS 18-YEAR-OLD PRESENTING AT SCIENCE CAMP
He was one of the few students who had been awarded a federal grant to study behavioral science.
GUN RANGE OWNER THOUGHT BATMAN SHOOTER SEEMED ‘BIZARRE’
Misleading Webster Commission FBI Report on the Fort Hood Islamist Massacre
This report bends over backwards to exculpate Islam:
"The FBI's report on terrorist acts in the U.S. between 1980 and 2005 identified 318 events (including bombings, arson and malicious destruction, and shootings); only 7% of those events were attributed to Islamic extremists."
On that page, as part of their excuse for not catching Hasan sooner, the report points out, without any hint of irony, that "He was a religious person."
Now here's the best part: this same report, on page 11, highlights some FBI's successes in catching terrorists. Sixteen names are listed:
• Antonio Martinez
• Mohamed Osman Mohamud
• Farooque Ahmed
• Shaker Masri
• Zachary Chesser
• Mohammed Mahmood Alessa
• Carlos Eduardo Almonte
• Hosam Smadi
• Michael Finton
• James Cromitie
• Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari
• Colleen LaRose
• Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif
• Walli Majahidh
• Waad Ramadan Alwan
• Mohanad Shareef Hammadi
Now of course ten of these are obviously Arabic, Muslim names. But the other six aren't obviously identifiable, so perhaps the report simply reflects political correctness. On the other hand, a bit of research is revealing.
• Antonio Martinez converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Hussain: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/13/AR2010121305708.html
In other words, sixteen out of the sixteen were Muslims. It is misleading to refer to only 7% Islamists described in Chapter 1, is it?
• Zachary Chesser converted to Islam and changed his name to Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee: http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/CHESSER%20FINAL%20REPORT(1).pdf
• Carlos Eduardo Almonte converted to Islam and changed his name to Omar: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bloodlust_of_tjUWgKCSnGMpRDcz9eUBXJ
• Michael Finton converted to Islam and changed his name to Talib Islam: http://www.globaljihad.net/view_news.asp?id=1096
• James Cromitie converted to Islam and changed his name to Abdul Rahman: http://www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2010/nyfo101810.htm
• Colleen LaRose converted to Islam and changed her name to Fatima: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/10/colleen-larose-jihad-jane-charges
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Another Doctored Image For Obama
Most of the analysis here is speculative however it does appear to be a black hand rather than Anne's hand in the photograph.
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