Different Ways That the Body Maintains Optimal Temperatures

The body maintains optimal temperatures in several different ways.  Among these ways are shivering when you are cold in order to heat you up, sweating when you are hot in order to cool you down, growing hair/fur/feathers depending on what kind of creature you are in order to keep warm, and having a layer of fat to protect you from the cold.

Isn't it fascinating how the body is able to come up with such creative ways to protect itself?  I think it is amazing how often we take for granted these things!  We tend to completely disregard the fact that our bodies are able to cool themselves in the hot summer months, or warm up in the dead of winter.  It's certainly a huge blessing that our bodies know how to do these things!  Think about it.  If our bodies weren't able to produce something as simple as sweat, it would be terribly hard to handle those 90 degree days!  Likewise, if we couldn't shiver, it would be difficult to warm up after swimming in the lake!   These are definitely some big things to be thankful for!  Don't ever take for granted the ways that your body takes care of itself!

The body maintains optimal temperatures in such interesting ways, and I hope that you understand them a bit better!    

Ovid's View of the God's Ethical Performance

" What was Ovid's view of the god's ethical performance?"



     He never states his view formally in Metamorphoses, but we can get a pretty clear idea from the stories that he chooses for his poem.  The stories that he chooses are extremely lacking in ethical performance.

     Let's take the story of Jupiter and Io as an example.  The god Jupiter rapes Io and tries to hide the evil deed from his wife.

     For the lack of ethics in these stories I assume that he didn't think highly of the god's ethical performance.

Thank you so much for reading this essay, and please let me know what you think of it!

The Fascinating world of Taxonomy

"What are some of the challenges of systematics and taxonomy?  Should a biologist's classification be taken as absolute, inviolable truth?  In your opinion, is taxonomy necessary and/or important? Why or why not?


     I was asked to tell you about some of the challenges of systematics and taxonomy.  I will do just that! First of all, when a biologist tries to classify a species he can run into some annoying problems.  The problems that I'm talking about are how some species share both animal and plant characteristics.  As you can probably imagine, this poses quite a snare for the person who is trying to classify this creature.

     This information will prove crucial to answering the next question, which is if a biologist's classification should be taken as absolute.  I think not!  In the past we have seen classifications being changed as we gain more knowledge about the species that we are attempting to classify, so how is this any different?  That's just it, it's not!  Of course, most of the time we don't have people wondering where a horse falls into the grand scheme of taxonomy, unless they have completely gone mad.  But for some things, such as with the plant or animal scenario, it is entirely possible for something to be classified wrong.

     This poses a new question.  Is taxonomy important?  Well, just because we might classify something wrong every once in a while doesn't mean that it isn't important in my opinion!  I think that taxonomy is absolutely necessary!  Without taxonomy, how else would we figure out where a cow or woodpecker go. Without it, we would have difficulty differentiating between one species from another.  Without it, we might not be able to properly communicate which species we are talking about!  That would certainly cause some major challenges for scientists and biologists who are trying to study a certain species don't you think?

     Anyways, I hope that you have enjoyed this essay, and please let me know what you think!             

Aeschylus

  "What was Aeschylus's view of the Trojan war?"

      The way that Aeschylus describes the remains of Troy, and the Greek's victory was very interesting indeed!

     First of all, we see that the war is said to have been started because a woman named Helen was captured.  The war would last ten long years.

     Once the men returned to their families, we are told that the women are angry because they know that their husbands have most-likely had affairs with the captured women of Troy.

     I think that this shows that Aeschylus's view of the Trojan war was not a "blind view" so to speak.  He noticed the negative qualities that resulted from them and made sure to note of them.  I think that although I'm sure that he saw some good things as a result of the Trojan war, he also noticed the bad.

     Thank you so much for reading, and please let me know what you think!

The Peloponnesian War and Pericles' Funeral Oration

"What points is Pericles trying to make about Athens in his Funeral Oration?"


     Pericles was trying to get across how wonderful Athens was, praise the people, and honor the dead at the same time. 
     
     He talked about all the advantages that Athenian citizens had, he tried to motivate the living during a time of war, and as stated earlier, honor the dead.  
     
     He wanted to help the people to keep going by telling them about what they had to live up to (The dead soldiers).  He also tried to give them a reason(s)to keep fighting by telling them about all that they had to lose.  He told them about all of the amazing advantages that Athens had to offer like its freedom in government and ordinary life.  

     These were the points that Pericles was trying to make in his Funeral Oration.


"Why was the Peloponnesian War fought?  What was its long-term significance?"


     The Peloponnesian War was fought for these reasons.

1.  Athens appeared to be using the Delian League's ship-building funds to help beautify itself instead of to build ships for the protection of those in the Delian League.
2.  Sparta was afraid that Athens was becoming too powerful.

     Here is the war's long-term significance.

1.  Athens would lose its dominance of the other members of the Delian League.
2.  Sparta would take control of things.
3.  In the end, this war between the Greeks would ultimately weaken them and spell out some serious consequences.

     Well, That's all for this week. I hope that you have enjoyed this essay on "The Peloponnesian War and Pericles' Funeral Oration". See you next Friday, and please let me know what you think! 

     

Western Civilization Essay: Week 4

                                   "1. What was the disagreement Socrates had with the Sophists?"

   Socrates disagreed with the Sophists concerning right and wrong.  The Sophists believed that what is right for you may be wrong for me and what is wrong for you may be right for me.  They thought that there was no truth and that there was no firm idea of what was right and what was wrong.  Socrates on the other hand, believed that the Sophists were harming the people with their beliefs and that the Sophists would raise the children of Athens to be corrupt.  This was the disagreement between Socrates and the Sophists.

                                             "2. What was Plato's point in his allegory of the cave?"

    In Plato's allegory of the cave he talks about men chained in a way that they can only stare at a wall.  Puppeteers behind them cast shadows on the wall and these images are the only things they see.  They may see a shadow and call it a cup but they are only seeing shadows.  They do not know what the true things are.  To them these are real.  Now we see a man escape from his chains.  He ventures out into the real world and gains knowledge and sees that what the people in the cave see are only shadows and if they want to find the real things they must go out of the cave and find them.    
    Now that I have given you some background, here is Plato's point in the allegory of the cave.  Plato was trying to get across that unless we "leave the cave" so to speak, we will never find the truth.  We cannot learn the truth by sitting in chains and looking at shadows.  We must go out and discover "what casts the shadows."
  
    Thank you so much for reading, and please let me know what you think!    

  

"How important is the concept of historical sanctions in the Psalms?" Here is my answer.

 

  I believe that the importance of sanctions in Psalms was very significant.  I believe this because of the reasons that I will list in this essay.  

   

  God uses sanctions to protect the just from the wicked.  Without these sanctions, the world would continue to become horrid and corrupt.  The world needed these sanctions just as you would need to punish a child for doing wrong.  God uses these sanctions not because he wants to harm people, but rather, so that they can learn from their mistakes and do good in the future.  

  

  These sanctions would not be important if they were not a part of the Bible, but they are.  Anything and everything in the Bible is important, otherwise, the Bible would have never been written.  

  

  The historical value was not only important then, but it is also important now.  It is important now, because those sanctions can help us to not take a path of wickedness, but rather, a path of peace, goodness, love, and kindness.  This is the historical significance that the sanctions in Psalms hold.  This is the message that we are supposed to receive from not only Psalms, but in fact, the entire Bible.  The sanctions in Psalms are not to frighten and discourage the readers of Psalms (Of course, I'm sure that it frightened those living at that time.), they were to teach us.  

   

  Thank you so much for reading, and please let me know what you think!