ENGLISH HELP!
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week_2_feedback.rtfENGLISH FEEDBACK
1) In the article by Andrew Keen: "Introduction, The Cult of the Amateur", the author, by comparing the millions of internet users to the infinite monkeys portrayed in the “infinite monkey theorem” from T. H. Huxley. In closing, the author seems to whine rather sadly about the downfall of the arts as we know it, about the looming extinction of “experts and cultural gatekeepers”, the end of news, music and movies as we now know them. It seems to me that this is a rather crap attitude to have. Instead of nay-saying the output of all these internet users and comparing them to monkeys with nothing to offer, think about all of the writers who can now get published online. Think of all the music that is now created, and shared, thanks to these monkeys. I admit, not everything found online is worth the time spent evaluating it and more often than not, it’s absolute rubbish. But there are webisodes, eBooks, music mash-ups, video commentary, that are really quite good, funny, and entertaining that would not be available for anyone outside the creators circle of friends to enjoy. To web 2.0 and all the creative monkeys in the world that have an internet connection, thank you.
2) In the article, “Introduction, The Cult of the Amatuer”, Andrew Keen describes that with all the technology and information available at everyone’s fingertips via the internet, anyone can claim to be an expert or professional. Keen suggests because the opportunity to find the data is readily available to everyone, while comparing humans to monkeys, someone is bound to come up with a masterpiece even without the qualifications.
Keen sounds bitter in his argument that technology has taken over claiming that we should “Say good-bye to today’s experts and cultural gatekeepers” (pg 96). It sounds like he is upset that people aren’t sitting in libraries gathering data anymore. I picture him as someone who liked things the way they “used” to be and hasn’t kept up with technology and the times. I think he is a little extreme in his statement that internet users have “no more talent in the creative arts than our primate cousins” (pg 96). Although there is tons of information on the internet available to users, one must know how to find the information, gather it and put it together in order to make a new idea or creation of their own. Keen should learn how to make the most of the resources available to him and embrace the new technology so he too can be an author of the future.
HISTORY FEEDBACK
How does Egyptian civilization develop? How does it differ from Mesopotamian? How is it similar? How does it change over time and why? Egyptian religion and compare it to other societies beliefs
Egyptian civilization began to develop in much the same way as Mesopotamia. Residents in the area were introduced to collecting wild grains by migrants from Northern Ethiopia. By 5000 BCE Egyptians were relying on agriculture. When productivity led to an increase in population they began moving beyond the Nile’s immediate floodplains to feed the rising population. With the rising population came the need for formal organization or government. Originally small kingdoms appeared around 4000 BCE. (52) By 3200 BCE Egyptians had a form of writing called hieroglyphs. (62) About 3100 BCE Menes, a minor official from Upper Egypt, conquered and unified Egypt. (52) The order of social classes in Egypt differed from Mesopotamia in that instead of a series of kings their pharaoh ruled as a supreme central leader. This caused the Egyptians to rely on administrators that served the pharaoh instead of nobles that were born into their position. Common people had the ability to move up social classes, people could choose what profession they wanted to pursue. (58, 59) Egyptians differed from Mesopotamians in the way that they thought of their rulers. Early pharaohs claimed to be a god living on earth and took servants with them to the grave so that they could continue to serve them. (53)
Many religions believed in multiple gods that each had a purpose. Egyptians were different in that early on they believed that their pharaoh was a god living among them. Specifically they associated their pharaoh with the sky god Horus. During this time, pharaohs were buried with royal servants with them so that they could continue to serve their master in the afterlife. Later they began to believe that their pharaoh was the son of Amon, a sun god and that after his death he would merge with Amon. Rather than a centralized religion, each city had its own beliefs. While similar, Amon originated as a local Theban deity while Re, also a sun god, was worshipped at Heliopolis. During the Old Kingdom these two gods combined to make Amon-Re and then during the New Kingdom worshippers began to think that Amon-Re might be a universal god, presiding over all. During the reign of Amenhotep or Akhenaten, the sun god Aten was honored as the sole god of the universe. (63) The Egyptians were not the only monotheistic society at the time, the Hebrews also believed this of Yahweh. (38) In the New Kingdom Osiris was thought to have the power to decide who would be allowed to continue to the afterlife. After death, a person’s heart would be weighed against a feather, if the heart was heavier from carrying evil and guilt they did not deserve an afterlife, but if the heart was pure and lighter than the feather the gift was an eternal life. (64)
Bantu are ethnic groups in Africa who speak related languages known as the Bantu language. Bantu means people or peoples. They were believed to have originated from West Africa around modern day eastern Nigeria and southern Cameroon. [1]
Bantu migration happened over a long period of time. Around 2000 B.C.E, Bantu migrations was spreading in to the southern region of Africa. By 1500 B.C.E., they had reached the rain forest and by 500 B.C small groups emerged from it in the savannahs of the south where the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and Zambia are situated. Iron smelting which was a huge help in the expansion and migration of the Bantu. The use of iron tools like hoes to till the land or machetes to clear it, were manufactured which increased the food production for the growing population. By 1000 B.C, some groups went east and reached the great lakes of east Africa where they could flourish in a better environment and open land that were better suited for growing crops. New staple foods were introduced like bananas, yams and millet. The excess crop could be bartered or sold which led to the development of trade. Other groups of Bantu-speakers migrated south to the dry, grassy coast of Southern Africa. The land was best suited for raising livestock such as sheep, goat and cattle. They finally reached Kwazulu by 300 A.D and the northern province of South Africa by 500 A.D. [2]
The Bantu migration across Africa led to the development of more than five hundred related languages. The way of living changed and permanent dwellings were built, intermarriage between tribes and nomad built to different society and trade system that exist till today. They built a complex but fully structured society with direct distinction of responsibilities and duties usually led by chiefs.
[1] Bentley and Ziegler, 108
[2]” Bantu Expansion”, New World Encyclopedia, last modified May 25, 2008, accessed June 11, 2013, http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Bantu_expansio
BIO FEED BACK
1)In this chapter we learned about energy and what its definition is. Which is the capacity to do work. The simple laws of thermodynamics and how they work such as; you cannot create nor can you destroy energy and the second law is that energy tends to disperse on its own in a spontaneous manner. Learning about how energy comes in and energy goes out was confusing at first so I just drew it out. It made much more sense in that when the energy from the sun is gathered by producers, those producers use the energy into another form of energy that the consumers then use as energy for themselves and their functions. I learned about the ATP/ADP Cycle and that when ATP (adenosine triphosphate; tri as in three phosphate groups) loses one of its three phosphate groups, energy is released. As the ATP loses this phosphate group, it then become ADP (adenosine diphosphate; di as in two phosphate groups). When the ADP binds with another phosphate group using free energy it then becomes ATP and completes the ATP/ADP Cycle.
I also learned that most enzymes are proteins however some enzymes are RNA and that each kind of enzyme reacts differently depending on the substrate that attaches to it. I had no idea that vitamin C was a coenzyme. I take this every day and its something that I had no idea what it really was or how it intereacted with different things in my body. This is all so much stuff that I had no idea about. I took biology in high school but I have no recolection of any of this material. This is all new to me and I hope to have a good grasp and undstanding of everything that is to follow. One questions that I do have that popped in my head. Are iron pills for anemic people an enzyme as well?
2Animals get there energy by consuming things and converting those things into energy. Plants use the sun to convert the solar rays into the same kind of energy. The plants uses a certain wavelength for its absorbing properties. They absorb pigments and their most common pigment is chlorophyll a. These plant absorb the reds and violets but to use the leaves appear as green. It really just depends on where the plant is that determines what wavelength the plant will absorb. There are these things called that are on the plant itself. These things are what convert the sun rays into energy. Inside of the chloroplast are many little chambers.Its very difficult to try to explain how it exactly happens but the suns energy becomes electrons that goes through multiple stages before it is absorbed into the plant. The plant also needs water molecules as well as oxygen molecules in order to brake down the energy electrons. This energy then goes through a process to create carbon. The plant is made of carbon and that is how that plant survives.
3)There are two ways for animals to brake down carbohydrate to get energy. One is aerobic respiration and the other is fermentation. The chapter mainly talked about glycolysis which is when different types of sugar are broken down and what it produces. The over all results produce lots of ATP molecules. Glycolysis has multiple steps that it has to go through in order to yield the large amounts of ATP. There are three stages to this brake down the second one is called krebs cycle. The third stage is when the electrons are transferred throughout the body. There is another way to brake down carbohydrates and that is called lactate fermentation. This types produces enough ATP to get the job done but doesn't yield large amounts. Every types of food can be broken down one way or another. In the end it all yield ATP.
