Top 10 most important events in history

I am going to start posting what I think are the top ten most important events in history and why I think they are the most important. I am starting today with number 10.



The Plague:
The plague was the greatest thing to happen to Europe, at least for those who survived. Before the plague, 95% of Europe was landless, wageless peasents who worked the land in order to stay alive. Right before the plague, Europe began a series of enclosure acts that closed the previously public land that serfs used to plant crops and raise their livestock and sold it off to the highest bidders. This was devestating to everyone in Europe who did not have enouigh money to buy land. The plague killed up to 75% of the people in some places (about 33-66% total in all Europe). Suddenly, the same amount of work needed to be done with half the people. Now the peasentry had a huge bargaining chip. They could now start to demand wages instead of a percentage of the crop. They were no longer tied to the lands, and many moved into these new cities that were popping up wverywhere. Not only did the peasentry now fight back against the nobility, but they started to innovate. A noble who would have paid 50 peasants to cut the grass around his estate with scissors could now pay the 1 peasant who invented a lawn mower. This opened Europe to advances in technology that might not have occured before the plague. The plague jumpstarted the Industrial Revolution which probably would not have occured when it did if the plague never happened as pre-plague, feudal Europe did not have any reason to innovate.

You know what grinds my gears??

When some commercial says something like, "This product is only for those who want to be millionaires, or real estate gurus, and have fun doing it!" Do the advertisers think we are stupid?? Do they expect us to say, "Well, I want to be a millionaire and I want to have fun. Maybe I should buy this 45 page $75 book written by Donald Trump on the secrets of how to be a fun millioniare-real-estate-guru!" Is there anyone that actually does not want all that? Is there anyone that actually thinks they can get all that by reading a book written by Donald Trump??

Stats for this semester

I am right aroung the half way point for this semester and the end is looking so sweet. I am going to take 2 summer classes, but they are going to be in the second summer session, so I get 7 weeks off between the end of spring semester and beginning of summer semester. Here is where I stand so far this semester:

History of the Atlantic World - solid B
Historical Writing - low A
Development of American Law - high B with potential for A
History of Modern Christian Thought - low A
Books read - 20
Books left to read - 15
papers written - 12
papers left to write - 9

Flying Time

Why does time fly by so fast when you want it to the least? This past week was spring break and I feel like I blinked and the week was over. That was literally the fastest week of my life and now I have to start class again tonight. The week before last was possibly the longest week of my life because I couldnt wait for spring break to start. Einstein was trying to describe his theory of relativity one day and when describing the relative-ness (?) of time said (and I paraphrase) "When you are taking a math test, time will go by slowly. But when you are talking to a girl, time will fly by."

"Studies have shown"

How much authority do we give a statement when it is prefaced by the phrase "studies have shown?" Anyone can say "studies have shown" something and no one really doubts what they say. Usually when someone says that, there are no actual studies that are referred to. If there was a study, who conducted the study? What control group did they use? What were their methods for conducting the study? What presuppositions might they have personally that would taint their results? What was the purpose of the study? Very importantly, who funded the study? Where was the study done, and did it have enough variables to achieve accurate results? I no longer lend much credit to someone who says "studies have shown" (I am referring mostly to people in the media) because when someone refers to a "study" they are usually using that study to enforce something that they already believe. Next time you hear someone say "studies have shown," think about what their reason is for quoting the study and see if they mention anything about the actual study, or just mention the results.

Nature Shows

So Michelle and I are watching this nature show miniseries on the Discovery Channel and I recommend that everyone watch it. Its called Planet Earth and its on Sunday nights for the next couple weeks or so and it is literally breathtaking. There are some awesome shots that you might not ever see anywhere else. For instance, there was a scene in one of the episodes where a snow leopard (one of the most rarely seen animals on Earth by the way) snuggling its kids and then hunting a mountain goat. It was pretty amazing to see. Each episode has a theme and we watched the "under-water" themed one last night. It seriously blew my mind!! I was sitting there for 45 minutes in some hypnotic trance not being able to turn my eyes from all of the stuff that I was seeing. For those of you who know me, you would know that it took me a little bit ot get over some whale shots, but once they were done with that they went deeper in the ocean and showed some of the most bizarre looking, bioluminescent, blobs of goo that somehow had the intelligence to look for food. Then they showed a time-lapse shot (I think it was over a few days) of a sperm whale that had died and sunk two miles to the ocean floor and all of the scavengers coming to eat the carcass. Anyways, if you like to see all of the most beautiful things about this planet that we live on, then you should definitely check this show out.

Conservativism vs Liberalism

I am really curious to hear everyone's response to this. I know what these words mean to me, but what does it mean to you to be conservative? Liberal? What does it mean to be a Republican? Democrat? And what do you consider yourself?