Christopher Columbus, a man of intelligence and adventured, founded part of what later became this great land that we call America. Columbus was a great explorer who dedicated his life to finding new adventures and prosperous items. Many of us knew these things but never have really read a biography about him personally and some of the other things that occurred to him in his lifetime.
Who is Christopher Columbus? Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 and his family was wool workers that worked near the Mediterranean port. Why did Columbus set out West? His original purpose was to find an alternate route to Asia. In 1492 he set out and landed on land right out the coast of North America. While Columbus was gone away from the island, order turned into chaos and Columbus had to return to Spain to clear the charges against him. He took a third voyage which took him to the mainland part of South America. This voyage enable Columbus thing he was in paradise until he returned to Spain and there settlers were against him and his authority. Columbus was soon arrested and set off in chains. He had one last trip which was to regain his reputation but it ended in a shipwreck and suffering in Panama. Columbus was rescued and returned to Europe and later he died.
Christopher Columbus writes a letter to Luis de Santange describing his first voyage. He talks about his thirty three day trip. He talks about how he passed the Canary Islands with the fleet that was given to him by the king and queen. Columbus uses an excited tone as he writes to this person describing his trip. He says that he found islands with people that were of the many and they gave him much respect. Columbus names the first island that he finds San Salvador. He decides to name it this in remembrance of the Divine Majesty. Columbus’ tone used here is very interesting because it’s his first voyage and he stumbles across all these new lands filled with people of a different race and culture. He is startled because all this is happening to him of all people. Columbus finds himself to be a man of the sea because of his great discovery.
In this letter regarding his fourth voyage, Christopher Columbus writes to the King and Queen of Spain. He basically talks to them using a sincere tone. He uses this tone because he is thankful in the investment that they have made in him and his voyage. This tone is used because he knows that he wouldn’t have been able to make this voyage possible if it wasn’t for the king and queen. Because of these discoveries, now new lands have been found and Columbus wants to dedicate them to the king and queen. Also in this letter he talks about how a few years back, he was chained and had to stand in court for the “haters” of his discovery. Columbus is trying to state a fact that he made all these discoveries and worked hard to become a prisoner. Columbus feels that he worked hard and put a lot of effort into finding new places and lands and he is not getting enough credit for the tasks that he completed. He feels that he put a lot of effort in and didn’t get enough in return.
Christopher Columbus, a man of many discoveries and great expeditions, dedicated his life to the sea. Christopher spent his life finding new lands and places that people didn’t even know existed. Because of his discoveries we have what we have today. Christopher Columbus made a big impact in history and he deserves some credit for all that he has done.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Google, is it decreasing our intelligence?
The internet, is it really decreasing our reading capacity? I got a chance to read an article by “Nicholas Carr” who named his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid”. This article talks about how the internet has taken over and become a replacement for books. Books that were once used for researching and getting huge corpus’ of data are beginning to depreciate and the internet, well it is replacing them.
In Nicholas Carr’s article, one of his main topics is, “How is the internet making us stupid.” Sadly, many of use do not notice the fact that researching on the internet is messing with our minds because we are so caught up in the ease and glamour of not having to go to the library searching through thousands or books (many which had a bunch of different information, but not what we wanted). Because of the internet, it is much easier to type in the question that we have, click search, and read an article about whatever it is that we desire to learn. If you are asking yourself, “Well how is that making me stupid?” Well it is a good question that requires some thought because really, when I think about it without putting some deep thought in it, it doesn’t really make sense. Well this is how, by using the library and looking through different books researching an idea or topic we take time to let our brains work and work hard. While researching the “Old Fashion” way, a lot of times people spend several hours on researching a topic that takes us maybe all of fifteen to twenty minutes. Even though both methods get the answer to the topic or question that we may have, the longer method gets the brain working properly and increases the capacity of our knowledge. The shorter method may seem a lot easier and more convenient but it is slowly decreasing our minds.
The internet itself is decreasing the attention span of readers. Readers that use to be able to sit down and read large articles and books with many words and pages are finding themselves not able to do so. Nicholas says that reading is not and instinctive skill but rather it is something that our minds have to be taught how to do. Because the internet is making it easier to read and take in information, we as readers are becoming adequate to the effects it has. We are losing the capability of being able to read every detail that comes along with the story or information being given. Instead we just want the topic and the just of article of book.
Other major problem is that the internet is changing people to the point where their whole background and culture is being forgotten. Maryanne Wolf said in Nicholas’ article that “If we lose quiet spaces, or fill them up with content, we will sacrifice something important not only in ourselves but in our culture.” What she means by this is that technology is leaving culture behind and we are using it to fill the gap in which our culture is being missed. Technology is now being used everywhere all over the world. People are starting to use “items of technology” as an everyday thing. There are places in the world where the culture is such that technology was not needed. When it came about it ultimately changed the way the culture was originated from. Now people are starting to become similar culture wise because of the technological advances that are in our modern day world. For example, in the Indian culture, well their culture’s basis is pretty simple and not as advanced. As technology advanced, if started pulling people in and people became more caught up in technology that their culture beginnings are being forgotten in many ways.
As we known technology has made some dramatic changes in our lives in the past few years. It has its pros and its cons and it seems like there are a lot of cons that people didn’t even realize were there. Technology is changing the way of life for people in general. It has change the way we comprehend things and has also changed the amount of reading we can handle at one time. Technology has changed people’s culture and it has changed people’s way of thinking. Yes technology may make it easier to handle various tasks but it takes away some essential things that may come of value. Is it really worth it?
In Nicholas Carr’s article, one of his main topics is, “How is the internet making us stupid.” Sadly, many of use do not notice the fact that researching on the internet is messing with our minds because we are so caught up in the ease and glamour of not having to go to the library searching through thousands or books (many which had a bunch of different information, but not what we wanted). Because of the internet, it is much easier to type in the question that we have, click search, and read an article about whatever it is that we desire to learn. If you are asking yourself, “Well how is that making me stupid?” Well it is a good question that requires some thought because really, when I think about it without putting some deep thought in it, it doesn’t really make sense. Well this is how, by using the library and looking through different books researching an idea or topic we take time to let our brains work and work hard. While researching the “Old Fashion” way, a lot of times people spend several hours on researching a topic that takes us maybe all of fifteen to twenty minutes. Even though both methods get the answer to the topic or question that we may have, the longer method gets the brain working properly and increases the capacity of our knowledge. The shorter method may seem a lot easier and more convenient but it is slowly decreasing our minds.
The internet itself is decreasing the attention span of readers. Readers that use to be able to sit down and read large articles and books with many words and pages are finding themselves not able to do so. Nicholas says that reading is not and instinctive skill but rather it is something that our minds have to be taught how to do. Because the internet is making it easier to read and take in information, we as readers are becoming adequate to the effects it has. We are losing the capability of being able to read every detail that comes along with the story or information being given. Instead we just want the topic and the just of article of book.
Other major problem is that the internet is changing people to the point where their whole background and culture is being forgotten. Maryanne Wolf said in Nicholas’ article that “If we lose quiet spaces, or fill them up with content, we will sacrifice something important not only in ourselves but in our culture.” What she means by this is that technology is leaving culture behind and we are using it to fill the gap in which our culture is being missed. Technology is now being used everywhere all over the world. People are starting to use “items of technology” as an everyday thing. There are places in the world where the culture is such that technology was not needed. When it came about it ultimately changed the way the culture was originated from. Now people are starting to become similar culture wise because of the technological advances that are in our modern day world. For example, in the Indian culture, well their culture’s basis is pretty simple and not as advanced. As technology advanced, if started pulling people in and people became more caught up in technology that their culture beginnings are being forgotten in many ways.
As we known technology has made some dramatic changes in our lives in the past few years. It has its pros and its cons and it seems like there are a lot of cons that people didn’t even realize were there. Technology is changing the way of life for people in general. It has change the way we comprehend things and has also changed the amount of reading we can handle at one time. Technology has changed people’s culture and it has changed people’s way of thinking. Yes technology may make it easier to handle various tasks but it takes away some essential things that may come of value. Is it really worth it?
Thursday, August 20, 2009
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