Question: Could a force like Alexander the Great exist today? Why or why not?

Question: Could a force like Alexander the Great exist today? Why or why not?

A force like Alexander the Great could not of existed today. Alexander the Great was a great ruler back in his day but his strategies would not of worked in modern times. He conquered countries nonstop so his empire would be one of the strongest in the world. If the United States started conquering other countries to become larger other countries would from a union and stop us. Plus with the deadlier weapons such as nuclear bombs we could just end up getting nuked. If we started invading countries and doing what we please the other countries would not be too happy about that. Alexander the Great could invade other countries because his country was the greatest. There was no way another country could get threatened and be like oh no, “Alexander the Great is coming at us lets nuke him.” There was no technology like that and there were barly any unions between countries. Alexander the Great was a great military forces and in his time his techniues worked very successfully and he was considered the son of god until he died in his 30’s from a fever. His entire country looked up to him and he led a great country, however, when he died his country had no back up plan and they fell apart. He helped his country greatly but also set it up for failure. Alexander the Great was great force but it would not exist today.

Was Alexander the Great a "good leader"? Compare/Contrast with Pericles.

Was Alexander the Great a "good leader"? Compare/Contrast with Pericles.

Alexander was a good leader as was Pericles. Both of these leaders helped their stated through tough times and the each developed their own plan on how to succeed. However, Alexander the great went directly to the enemy and put his plans to action as soon as possible. Alexander anted everything to be done vastly so he could establish a vast empire until the day he was no more. Pericles was more worried about fixing his city and certain structues and made Athens one of the best cities in all of Greece. Alexander was more worried about the size of his city and Pericles was more worried about the content. Alexander was a great military leader and was considered a god b his people. However i would rather be ruled my perciles becase his country was better knowledge wise. Alexander Created a great empire but it was all mostly lost after he died. Alexander was a very good and strong leader but Perciles was a better one.

Peloponnesian War Skit

Sam Foard

February 17, 2011

Peloponnesian War

Aspasia: Athenian Citizen

Thia: Athenian Citizen

Cecrops: Athenian Citize

Guards: Athenian Guards

                                                              Scene 1

(Story begins on a road in Athens, two friends are talking like they always do the morning before there work, times are tough and the plague has just hit Athens.)

Aspasia: Ugh I don’t feel so good.

Thias: What’s wrong?

Aspasia: My head has been very hot and my eyes are bright red!

Thias: Do you think you are infected with the plague?

Aspasia: I sure hope not, there is no cure and infection would mean almost certain death.

Thias: I know! I’ve already lost many good friends do to this plague.

Aspasia: These darn Spartans! They have imprisoned us in our own city! How can our leader let us starve like this!

Thias: There is nothing we can do brother, if we surrender they will surely make our life so miserable we would rather be dead.

Aspasia: Maybe there Is a way we could escape! Like a secret passage or something.

(A man named Cecrops who is also an Athenian cannot help but overhear Thias and Aspasia’s conversation and walks over.)

Cecrops: I hear your looking for a way out of Athens?

Thias: Who are you?

Cecrops: I am a noble Athenian just like you and your friend trapped in our own city.

Aspasia: What do you think we should do?

Cecrops: Actually I have secretly been planning an escape route out of Athens.

Thias: That is a crime!

Cecrops: Locking us in our homes to die of this wretched disease is a crime.

Thias: But what would…

Aspasia: (Interrupting) where is the escape route?

Cecrops: Follow me.

(They all follow Cecrops and exit.)

END SCENE

                                                          Scene 2

(Cecrops, Thias, and Aspasia are talking around a shed close to one of the back walls of Athens.)

Cecrops: Alas, we are here. Now what we must do is…

Thias: ( Interrupts) Took you long enough.

Cecrops: I’m starting to not like your attitude.

Thias: I’m starting to not like your plan!

Aspasia: Brothers, brothers, we should not be fighting; we are almost done our journey. I am getting iller by the hour and if I don’t get out of this city I will surely die. Right now we have to work together to get out of her without getting caught. Now Cecrops, go on.

Cecrops: As I was saying before I was interrupted, (glances at Thias), in this shed there is a secret tunnel that takes us to the docks. At the docks we will board a ship and sail to a more peaceful city and restart our lives.

Thias: Do u eve know where we are going to be sailing to?

Cecrops: We will go wherever the wind takes us. I have already made a noble sacrifice to the god of the sea, Poseidon. We will have a good voyage I promise you.

Thias: Okay let’s move.

(They enter the tunnel and come out on the docks and board the ship.)

Aspasia: Lets set sail quickly I think the guards noticed something.

Guards: Is someone there?

Thias: Im done setting up the sails lets move!

Cecrops: Okay! (cuts the rope and the boat starts to pick up speed.)

Guard: (Checks out the dock and notices nobody starts to walk back to his post) I could off sworn I heard something. Wait wasn’t their a boat there? I think my minds just playing tricks on me again.

END SCENE

Week 4 Friday

What compels someone to lead others?

If you are the best at something, obviously you are the leader.If you are playing lacrosse and nobody can setup and run the offence sometimes a player just has to step up and tell everyone how to do what there supposed to do. If i wanted to lead my old lacrosse team i would have to be good. Nobody listens to somebody if the cant do something as well as they can. A slave wont listen to his master if his master is weaker and less powerful than he is. He would have no control over him. You also need good social skills. If you cant talk to your teamtes our your subjects, how are they supposed to hear you. You cant hear something if theres nothing to hear. If your leader is doing something you dont like it will make oyu less respectful of them. This is an easy thing to do in our lives. If something is not going the way you want it to that will compel you to lead others. You must, however, be able to communicate with them and be good at what you do.

Week 4 thursday

Daily #14

Write the script for a skit exploring the Persian Wars from the Persian point-of-view.


Characters:
Armani- general
Gasper- soldier
Cyrus- soldier
Xerxes- soldier


Setting: Greece around 480 BC


Armani:  Men! we have are about to do battle! This should be a easy victory but i still want  you to fight with everthing you have! Do this for Persia!
(All of the men cheer and get excited but are alittle afraid to fight)
Cyrus: We got this!Xerxes: Yea, our army is so much better there going down!

5 days later
(men enter)

Gasper: I can't beleive we lost!

Cyrus: I cant beleive Armani died!

Xerxes: How could we possibly let this happen?

Gasper: It dosen't matter, we lost alot of good men out there and we need to regroup and rebuild our strenghts.
Xerxes and Cyrus: Agreed!
Cyrus: We must go to battle soon and regain our honor!
Xerces: soon comrad soon, but first we must rest.
Gasper: I like that idea.
Cyrus: How can we rest after they just killed our general!
Xerxes: I loved Armani like a brother but he is dead now. If we charge back in we will all be dead too, te only thing we can do now is rest and rebuild and we will take them agian later.
Cyrus: fine
(Men make camp and go to sleep.)

Week 4 wednesday

Was Athens really a 'democracy'?


A democracy is"government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system." (dictionary.com) From this definition Athens was sort of like a democracy. They voted to kick people out of Athens though and not to elect leaders. They also had the power to vote for whatever they wanted
But when you really think about it, i believe Athens was a democracy. We honestly shouldn't even be able to say whether they were a democracy or not. They were there first and were one of the first if not the first culture to succesfuly use a democracy system to govern their people. All we did was improve upon it. Without their version of a democracy we would not even have a democracy. We would still be ruled by dictators and emperors. Our citizens wouldn't be able ot vote and veto laws and our emperor would be in complete control. Egypt for example was not very well controlled. They would have one very good ruler but then the kingdom would get passed down to a son who may not be such a good ruler and the country would be in chaos. This is not a good system of government. Before Athens had a democracy they were ruled like this too. Athens at first was completely run by the citizens because the rulers were so worried they were going to get overthrown. They would vote on everything. In america we just vote on our president and senators and ect. and then they vote for the bills for us. This is simpler. I actually disagree with my first answer and consider Athens a democracy.

week 4 monday

1. Do you think Socrates got what he deserved? Why didn't he accept exile?

        I do not think Socrates got what he deserves. He could have gotten off with exile but he decided to take the death penalty. Athens was blaming him for almost everything. They considered him one of the many reasons times were so tough on them. They took him to a court and he could of sucked up to them and begged for forgiveness and probably got it. Instead he acted almost arrogant and teased them and almost made sure he would be considered guilty. This is a very gutsy thing to do. He even told them that his dinners better be free. When it came time to count the votes almost all said he was guilty. Socrates could of accepted exile but instead was killed. Even when he knew he was going to die he insisted he bathed himself because he knew that when he died Athens citizens would have to bath his dead body and he did not want to make them  have to do that. Socrates was a brilliant man. He thought with reason instead of emotion. He was also not the most physically attractive man. He considered some of his defects advantages. For example he has eyes that bulged out and a big nose. He claimed his eyes bulging out made him see better and his big nose helped him smell better. Socrates was a great man who could of just accepted exile but I believe he took the blame for Athens so they could get over it and start to rebuild.

Week 3 weekly

John Carroll Megalith History

               Our civilization is called the Xobile civilization. They have lived in Bel Air, Maryland for thousands of years. This civilization was founded around 100 b.c. my the famous Myan explorer, Kimosabe. Our civilization prospered to to the areas high amount of fertile soil. The Xobile took off agriculture making new tools such as plows and domesticating local deer to pull the plows.
            Our culture fell upon poor times when the climate dropped majorly. Many people died of starvation. All of our domesticated deer died. When the summer came around though due to the leadership of Kimosabe the leader rebounded. They population came back and they were able to create enough surplus  to survive the winter.  Thanks to Kimosabe our civilization was able to survive. When Kimosbe died everybody was very sad. They decided to build a massive burial tomb. They traded many of their valuables for these massive stones and dragged them to their holiest spot. They made a glorious tomb to recognize their leader. This tomb has survived for thousand of years even though the civilization was wiped out.

Week 3 Friday

5. "Structures, both social and physical are continually improving." agree or disagree (from @the Corcoran)

Structures, both social and physical are not continually improving.  Even though technology is continually increasing sometimes we have too much technology. A good example of this is communicating. When someone, let’s say texts someone, they are communicating with that person. The problem with texting however is when you see that person is real life sometimes it is harder to communicate because you don’t have much to talk about. Face to face conversations are the best way to have a conversation. The new iPhone has a feature where you can have a face to face video chat. This is a great thing because you can talk to someone about business or something even though they are far away. Video confrencesing has been a major to help to some large business. Even in the white house when a representative of a certain state cannot make it they will use video conferencing. Physical structures are not improving either. The physical strength of the average American is not very good. America is the most obese country in the world. In ancient times however there were very few obese people and those people where the kings and queens of ancient civilizations. Back then being obese was a good thing because it meant you were wealthy and could afford a lot of food. Now being obese is considered a bad thing. Structures, both social and physical are not continually improving and are actually doing the opposite.

Week 3 daily thursday

"War is a form of technology". Agree or Disagree.

      War is a form of technology. I agree with this statement. War has caused many technological advances. Without war there were be no need to advance. If you did not need t put up walls to protect your farm then there would be no need to invent ways to take down that wall. If everyone lived in perfect harmony there would be no need to advance majorly. If there was no war there would never be the industrial age and we would have no machines. If there was no war we would still be making advances but not nearly as fast. Sure war does come with consequences though. Without war there would be less death. There would also be less orphan kids and there would be greater civilizations. I am not saying that war is a good thing. War is also very expensive. Countries after war are sometimes in depressions due to exhausting all of their money. When England defeated the Spanish Armada Spain went from one of the richest countries to one of the poorest. War should be avoided at all costs. IF war is necessary though by all means wage it. War is also a mental fight. Many countries deceive other countries. Egypt’s pharaoh tricked on of his enemies before by taking a goat path and catching his enemy completely off guard.  War Is a form of technology and without war there would be a lot less major technological advances.

Week 3 Wednesday

3. Why do you think so many conspiracy theories surround the pyramids and the megaliths? Give examples of a few and explain where you think they come from.

There are many conspiracy theories surrounding the pyramids and the megaliths. A reason for this is because these things are massive and would of taken forever to make in today’s times. These things were constructed in Ancient times and without our technology would have been a extremely laborious task. The pyramids were made using slave labor of thousands of slaves. There is no idea how the megaliths got there but there are many of theories. The stones are massive and way a ton. It would of taken forever to put up these stones and they have no idea where they came from because most of the time they are in fields where there are no other massive stones nearby. These stone were hauled in from miles away and people have no idea what they were used for. Some people believe the massive stone heads found on Easter Island are made to show appreciation for their leaders. They could also be tombs. The pyramids after exploration were where they burry the pharaohs. The Megaliths are also burial sites because they have found remains of humans and animals inside of them. The megaliths are also believed to be some sort of ancient sun dial. There are many conspiracy theories about the pyramids and megaliths due to their mysteriousness but some of the best explanations are that they are burial sites and giant sundials. 

week three daily 1

1. What is the oldest human-created artifact that has mattered to you? Why/how does it matter? (from @butwait on Twitter)

The oldest human created artifact that has mattered to me is the hammer. Even though this is not the oldest artifact ever and the most artistic, it was very important in the advancement of mankind. Without a hammer it would be one hundred times harder to build things. You would not be able to build houses or bridges. If it took longer to build your house. If it took longer to build your house you would be more open to attack. If it took longer to build a bridge your civilization would not be able to explore more. If your civilization can explore more you can find different sources of food and more land for your civilization to grow. Without hammers we would not be able to make other tools. If we didn’t have other tools such as plows and tractors it would take us so much longer to plant and harvest crops. If it took us longer we would have less food and less time to focus on our defenses. Without defenses we would get attacked by other tribes. If we got conquered by other tribes we would become slaves. A hammer is one of the most important inventions mankind has. Without a hammer life would be extremely more difficult and civilizations would not last as long.

Week 2 daily 4

4. Describe the importance of water in the ancient world. (from Twitter)

Water was very important in the ancient world. Almost all cities were built next to a river or some continuous supply of water. Obviously if you don’t have water you will die of dehydration. You also need water for agriculture. Without the ability to water your plants they will die and if your plants die you will have no food. Most cultures had developed an irrigation system to draw water from rivers and streams in order to supply all of their crops with plenty of water. You also need water for your animals to drink. If your domesticated animals can’t drink then they will die and if they die than you have no supply of meat which is very important for your body to have. There were no supermarkets with unlimited amounts of prepackaged food and people would have to make their own food. You couldn’t go drive in your car to shop right and buy some pre sliced precooked chicken for dinner. You had to raise your chicken and slaughter, skin them and cook them etc. Clean drinking water is essential for humans and any other living organisms. Water covers about 70% of the earth’s surface but almost  all of it is salt water and barley any of it is fresh drinking water. In the future I believe we will have wars over water just like we have wars over oil now.  Water was very important in the ancient world and it is still very important now and it will be very important in the future.

week 2 daily 3

3. Which do you think is a better roadmap of history, artifacts of the humanities (art, music, dance, theatre, literature, philosophy, architecture, etc) or political/military conflicts? Why? (from Twitter)

I believe a better roadmap of history artifacts of the humanities. Artifacts of humanities are things such as art, music, dance, theatre, literature, philosophy, architecture, etc. People always refer to the renaissance of one of if not the best times of humanity. Culture flourished and there was no war. Whenever a country is in war it resources, wealth, and people are exploited. It starves the country and limits culture. If you were to make a roadmap of history I believe that it would best to use artifacts of humanities such as art, music, dance, theatre, literature, philosophy, architecture, etc. instead of political or military conflicts. Countries such as Egypt are going through political conflicts and its people ae rebelling against their leader and forcing him to step down as form his position as a dictator. This is one of the lesser parts of Egypt’s culture and its citizens are getting seriously injured and are dying. This would not make a good roadmap of Egypt though because if you go back a couple thousand years Egypt was very culture and even though it was a dictator ship its people were happy and it was one of the strongest civilizations with a great culture, religion, and art. If created its very own writing system out of Hieroglyphs. This is a very impressive feat. 

Week 2 daily 2

If I were faced with a situation like this I would help millions of people. For example let’s say this invention was the cure for a deadly disease such as cancer, of course you would want so save people’s lives. If you were to wait three months just so you know you would make a profit of it that would be sick. One of the best feelings you can get is helping others. After you help others you feel happy for a long period of time. Money can buy happiness for a short amount of time but are you truly happy? Most millionaires live lonely lives because they can’t tell if the girl really likes them or just wants to marry them so they can divorce them and take half of their stuff. On the other hand if you were responsible for saving the lives of millions of peoples you would have done one of the greatest feats of all time. Plus you would probably still make a small profit even if it might not be as big as if you were to wait and secure a patent.  I believe that if I was ever faced with this kind of situation I would do the right thing and help the millions of people and not worry about profit.

Week 2 weekly

       Many people will ask this popular question, "Is change a bad thing"?  I personally believe that change is not a bad thing.
      If you use the change in art as an example, change is a very good thing. Art began as poor, inaccurate drawings of people and animals on caves. Then art slowly progressed and progressed but declined during medieval times when art wasn't that important. Then during the Renaissance period art skyrocketed and many new masterpieces were made. New art techniques were used too such as depth perception and drawings of humans became much more accurate.
      Change is also a very good thing in the agriculture revolution. In the beginning of time humans were hunters and gatherers and there was no agriculture. Then for reason which are not known but there are many different theories agriculture took off and humans started farming. We created irrigation systems and domesticated animals. It made it easier on humans and made it so they were able to stay and settle in a certain area instead of traveling all over the place following herds of animals.
      Urban planning is another good example that change is a good thing. Urban planning is, "Urban, city, and town planning integrates land use planning and transportation planning to improve the built, economic and social environments of communities. Regional planning deals with a still larger environment, at a less detailed level." (Wikipedia). This allows humans to live in one place for a long amount of time and to settle and to be able to focus on other things instead of just their next meal.
      Change is not always but most of the time a good thing. Good examples of this are the change in art, the agriculture revolution, and urban planning.

Week 2 language daily

Does the earth go around the sun

Nus eht dnuora og htrae eht seod

The earth goes around the sun not the other way around

Dnoura yaw rehto eht ton nus eht dnuora seog htrae eht

Run      

Nur

Moon

Noom

Eat

Tae 

the trick to this language is everything is backwards and the sentence is backwards. So the sentence, "How are you?" would translate, "uoy era woh?". 

Week 1 daily 4

A hypertext world would make us more accepting of cyclic history. If you could just click on thins to explain things we would have to research more quickly. If we could click on something that would take us somewhere else we would be much more understanding. The definition of a Hypertext is “text displayed on a computer or other electronic device with references (hyperlinks) to other text that the reader can immediately access, usually by a mouse click or keypress sequence. Apart from running text, hypertext may contain tables, images and other presentational devices. Hypertext is the underlying concept defining the structure of the World Wide Web, making it an easy-to-use and flexible format to share information over the Internet. Hypertext is text displayed on a computer or other electronic device with references (hyperlinks) to other text that the reader can immediately access, usually by a mouse click or keypress sequence. Apart from running text, hypertext may contain tables, images and other presentational devices. Hypertext is the underlying concept defining the structure of the World Wide Web, making it an easy-to-use and flexible format to share information over the Internet.[1]” (Wikipedia). When you are reading a document online and a key word is highlighted and if you click on it will take you to another article. This allows you to understand more. If you were to keep clicking on hyperlinks you would keep going to different articles. This would eventually make you work in a circle. 

Week 1 daily 3

3. Don't our traditional forms of information communication, notably "the book" and especially "the textbook" contribute to our belief in linear history? 

Our traditional forms of information communication such as the textbook do contribute to the belief that history is linear.  In a textbook, let’s say a history textbook, starts at the beginning and ends at the end. This is linear history. It displays history as a straight line. If u read a textbook history appears to just be certain events occurring at certain times. You can draw a line a label it with certain major historical events. I personally believe that history is cyclical. History does repeat itself. Civilizations will rise and fall and rise again. If history were linear nothing will change. If you only learn about history from textbooks history appears to occur from the beginning of time and ends at the end of time. If history is circular then we can predict what is going to happen. We can attempt to change things for the better. We can learn from our mistakes and make the future better.

week 1 weekly

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/10882498

Week 1 Dailies post 2

2. Is modern life "always" better than it was in the past?

Modern life is sometimes but not always better than it is in the past. Inn modern life we have better health that helps people live longer. In modern life we can accomplish building tools, such as a hammer, much faster than what we can do in the past. In modern life there are fewer babies that die on birth and our culture is thriving. We are very well educated and can communicate to other cultures through the translation of languages. In modern life we can travel greater distance much faster do to advances in technology such as airplanes. Our weapons are also much greater so we can defend ourselves more easily. But in the past life is much simpler. Families seemed happier and even though they may not be as wealthy or have as much material goods as we do now in the modern era such as tv’s and Gameboys, they still had their own ways of having fun. There were also no such things as cyber bulling because there was no internet. People would actually have to communicate to each other and couldn’t just text. There were also probably a lot less headaches due to the fact that there weren’t computers and lights and TV’s. Life in the past had a much less obesity rate also. Food was scarcer and there were no major food processors. Life in modern times may be easier but life in the past seems more fulfilling.