Fungi are helping us in several fascinating ways. Fungi are helping our bakeries through yeast which is used in allowing bread to rise, they are assisting in cleaning up the environment by acting as decomposers, and some can even be eaten as food by us. I will give an example.
There is a kind of mushroom called a truffle that is extremely valuable to those who harvest it, and it is considered a delicacy to those who buy this mushroom. In this way the mushroom is both helping people to get something to eat, but it is also helping our economy as a source of income.
Fungi are even helping us to collect important medical information that will help us in our lives.
As you can see, fungi are helping us in absolutely amazing ways everyday, just as they have throughout the history of our ancient world. The world is filled with strange, intriguing, disturbing, and beautiful things, and although each of these things only makes up a small part of the picture, when they are put together they make a brilliant painting filled with wonders nearly beyond our comprehension. My point is that although fungi may seem small and insignificant in the makeup of our world, they play a vital role in the survival of nature.
I hope that you have found even a small portion of enlightenment from this essay, and I hope that you have a lovely day enjoying our magical planet!
Showing posts with label world. Show all posts
Showing posts with label world. Show all posts
Monday, April 21, 2014
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
The Carolingian Renaissance and Venerable Bede
"What was the Carolingian Renaissance, and why was it significant?"
The Carolingian Renaissance was a time of trying to continue the beautiful and admirable works/personality of the ancient past. It was a time of study and meditation of everything from the fantastic structures to the scriptural doctrines.
During the Carolingian Renaissance, Charlemagne had concluded that there was a lack of those who where literate in understanding Latin. Hence, Charlemagne ordered that a chain of schools be brought up to train the people.
Because of the Renaissance, even music started to take a turn. Charlemagne had a decent admiration for music, so he wanted there to be more writing and copying of music theory.
For the above reasons the Carolingian Renaissance was significant in our beloved history.
"Who was the Venerable Bede, and why was he significant?"
Venerable Bede (St. Bede), was an English monk who was made Doctor of the Church by LeoXll. He was a man of skilled translating and linguistic abilities which allowed him to write pieces of Theological significance, as well as pieces pertaining to science and history. He even wrote poetry!
St. Bede is also known for the time when he is said to have calculated the age of the world for himself instead of simply accepting the age that people said.
For the reasons listed above, it is no wonder as to why he was significant! He was a writer, a thinker, and he was a man worth remembering!
The Carolingian Renaissance was a time of trying to continue the beautiful and admirable works/personality of the ancient past. It was a time of study and meditation of everything from the fantastic structures to the scriptural doctrines.
During the Carolingian Renaissance, Charlemagne had concluded that there was a lack of those who where literate in understanding Latin. Hence, Charlemagne ordered that a chain of schools be brought up to train the people.
Because of the Renaissance, even music started to take a turn. Charlemagne had a decent admiration for music, so he wanted there to be more writing and copying of music theory.
For the above reasons the Carolingian Renaissance was significant in our beloved history.
"Who was the Venerable Bede, and why was he significant?"
Venerable Bede (St. Bede), was an English monk who was made Doctor of the Church by LeoXll. He was a man of skilled translating and linguistic abilities which allowed him to write pieces of Theological significance, as well as pieces pertaining to science and history. He even wrote poetry!
St. Bede is also known for the time when he is said to have calculated the age of the world for himself instead of simply accepting the age that people said.
For the reasons listed above, it is no wonder as to why he was significant! He was a writer, a thinker, and he was a man worth remembering!
Monday, March 3, 2014
How Seeds Make Our World a Better Place
Today I thought that I would write a simple essay on how and why seeds matter. I will start off with discussing about them as a food source.
Seeds come in all sorts of interesting shapes and sizes. Among these shapes and sizes are some seeds that are quite delicious! For instance, the sunflower seed is one of the most well-known edible seeds. People have used them as salad toppings, little crunchy bits in energy bars, or simply as a snack for years! For many, the sunflower seed plays quite a large role in their diet.
Now Let's say that you are on a nature hike in the woods with your friends. I want you to look around. What do you see? You see plants of many varieties. Some of the plants are small, others are large, and still others are somewhere in-between. Of course this is obvious, but almost all of these plants come from seeds. The mighty oak tree, the small blackberry bush, and the wild flowers growing by the sparkling pond all come from seeds. These seeds generally have some kind of protective coating, as well as some method of transportation.
First of all, I will tell you about the seed's protective coating. The coating can be anything from a piece of fruit to a hard shell. Let's use the apple as an example. Once you finish eating all the fruit on an apple, you will see the core. In the core, you will see many small brown apple seeds. The protective coating for these seeds was the delicious apple that you just ate.
Now we move on to discussing the transportation of several kinds of seeds. Seeds move from location to location in many ways. One way is how certain kinds can stick to people and animals. We all know the things I'm talking about. Those nasty, irritating, and poky little demonic pickers that ruin our clothes and cause our pet's fur to become matted. Believe it or not, how they stick to us is quite an ingenious form of transportation for these seeds. Once they stick to an animal or a person, they can travel long distances until they finally fall off and grow into another poky plant. Another method of transportation that I think I should mention is how seeds can travel by being eaten. As gross as this sounds, it happens a lot, and is crucial to the survival of plants of various kinds. Once an animal or person eats a fruit that contains seeds, the seeds will come out the other end. If the seeds are lucky, they will land in a place where they can successfully grow into healthy strong plants. Some seeds also have the advantage of being able to float through the air like little fairies. A perfect example of this is the dandelion, which when it starts to die, forms these fuzzy things in place of it's petals. When we make a wish on these fuzzy things, they will carry lots of seeds through the air. Once these land, the ones that find profitable soil will grow into more dandelions and the process repeats itself.
I hope that you have enjoyed this essay, and please let me know what you think!
Seeds come in all sorts of interesting shapes and sizes. Among these shapes and sizes are some seeds that are quite delicious! For instance, the sunflower seed is one of the most well-known edible seeds. People have used them as salad toppings, little crunchy bits in energy bars, or simply as a snack for years! For many, the sunflower seed plays quite a large role in their diet.
Now Let's say that you are on a nature hike in the woods with your friends. I want you to look around. What do you see? You see plants of many varieties. Some of the plants are small, others are large, and still others are somewhere in-between. Of course this is obvious, but almost all of these plants come from seeds. The mighty oak tree, the small blackberry bush, and the wild flowers growing by the sparkling pond all come from seeds. These seeds generally have some kind of protective coating, as well as some method of transportation.
First of all, I will tell you about the seed's protective coating. The coating can be anything from a piece of fruit to a hard shell. Let's use the apple as an example. Once you finish eating all the fruit on an apple, you will see the core. In the core, you will see many small brown apple seeds. The protective coating for these seeds was the delicious apple that you just ate.
 |
| Here is an example of a fuzzy dandelion. |
Now we move on to discussing the transportation of several kinds of seeds. Seeds move from location to location in many ways. One way is how certain kinds can stick to people and animals. We all know the things I'm talking about. Those nasty, irritating, and poky little demonic pickers that ruin our clothes and cause our pet's fur to become matted. Believe it or not, how they stick to us is quite an ingenious form of transportation for these seeds. Once they stick to an animal or a person, they can travel long distances until they finally fall off and grow into another poky plant. Another method of transportation that I think I should mention is how seeds can travel by being eaten. As gross as this sounds, it happens a lot, and is crucial to the survival of plants of various kinds. Once an animal or person eats a fruit that contains seeds, the seeds will come out the other end. If the seeds are lucky, they will land in a place where they can successfully grow into healthy strong plants. Some seeds also have the advantage of being able to float through the air like little fairies. A perfect example of this is the dandelion, which when it starts to die, forms these fuzzy things in place of it's petals. When we make a wish on these fuzzy things, they will carry lots of seeds through the air. Once these land, the ones that find profitable soil will grow into more dandelions and the process repeats itself.
I hope that you have enjoyed this essay, and please let me know what you think!
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Rome's Significance and St. Augustine
"Why was Rome significant in the history of Western civilization?
Rome played a quite drastic role in the history of Western civilization! So drastic that I don't even have enough time to write about all of it's significance in our history. I will give you some of it's main roots of significance though.
I would like to start off with it's significance in it's beautifully written masterpieces of literature. Ancient Rome's literature has been inspiring us since it was first written and is still continuing to do an amazing job of that in today's society. From Livy's History of Rome to Ovid's Metamorphoses, the literature of ancient Rome was simply stunning! For this reason it is still read and admired by a great many today.
Another reason that Rome is significant in the history of Western civilization is due to it's Latin language. I can't even begin to stress how many English words have been derived from the Latin language. The words quest, quip, tend, and example all have the Latin language to thank for their existence.
One of the other reasons that Rome was significant in the history of Western civilization is because it took great care in preserving the wonderful aspects of the Greek culture. Even though Rome was great, it certainly thought of Greece as being greater in some aspects.
And last but not least, perhaps one of Rome's greatest places in the history of Western civilization is from it's astonishing architecture. Rome played an absolutely vital role in allowing us to attain some of the styles of building and road making that have been used for centuries! The craftsmanship of ancient Rome was magnificent, and it is no wonder that we continue to use much of it today!
"What was the significance of St. Augustine in Christian history?"
His significance in history comes from many aspects of his life I do believe. Personally, I suppose that one of these aspects is how he was a sort of philosopher for God. He was continuously looking for the truth, and he said that he found it in Christianity. For some Christians (and non-Christians), this might seem like an encouragement to keep on searching for the one indisputable truth.
Another aspect is how he seemed to enlighten more people to find the thing beyond the physical. Like I said earlier, he was always on a search for the truth.
Another is how he wrote his inspiring work, The City of God. During the time when the City of God was written, Christianity was being blamed for the fall of Rome. In the first half The City of God he is trying to explain why Christianity was not to be blamed for the fall of the empire, and what was to be blamed. In the second half he tried to explain God's world and an evil world in an interesting way. He described them as two cities. One filled with those who were good and wanted to know the truth. The other, filled with those who had no desire to love God and keep his commandments. This great work of his undoubtedly encouraged and inspired many people considering how it is still being read to this very day!
Thank you so much for reading, and please let me know what you think!
Rome played a quite drastic role in the history of Western civilization! So drastic that I don't even have enough time to write about all of it's significance in our history. I will give you some of it's main roots of significance though.
I would like to start off with it's significance in it's beautifully written masterpieces of literature. Ancient Rome's literature has been inspiring us since it was first written and is still continuing to do an amazing job of that in today's society. From Livy's History of Rome to Ovid's Metamorphoses, the literature of ancient Rome was simply stunning! For this reason it is still read and admired by a great many today.
Another reason that Rome is significant in the history of Western civilization is due to it's Latin language. I can't even begin to stress how many English words have been derived from the Latin language. The words quest, quip, tend, and example all have the Latin language to thank for their existence.
One of the other reasons that Rome was significant in the history of Western civilization is because it took great care in preserving the wonderful aspects of the Greek culture. Even though Rome was great, it certainly thought of Greece as being greater in some aspects.
And last but not least, perhaps one of Rome's greatest places in the history of Western civilization is from it's astonishing architecture. Rome played an absolutely vital role in allowing us to attain some of the styles of building and road making that have been used for centuries! The craftsmanship of ancient Rome was magnificent, and it is no wonder that we continue to use much of it today!
"What was the significance of St. Augustine in Christian history?"
His significance in history comes from many aspects of his life I do believe. Personally, I suppose that one of these aspects is how he was a sort of philosopher for God. He was continuously looking for the truth, and he said that he found it in Christianity. For some Christians (and non-Christians), this might seem like an encouragement to keep on searching for the one indisputable truth.
Another aspect is how he seemed to enlighten more people to find the thing beyond the physical. Like I said earlier, he was always on a search for the truth.
Another is how he wrote his inspiring work, The City of God. During the time when the City of God was written, Christianity was being blamed for the fall of Rome. In the first half The City of God he is trying to explain why Christianity was not to be blamed for the fall of the empire, and what was to be blamed. In the second half he tried to explain God's world and an evil world in an interesting way. He described them as two cities. One filled with those who were good and wanted to know the truth. The other, filled with those who had no desire to love God and keep his commandments. This great work of his undoubtedly encouraged and inspired many people considering how it is still being read to this very day!
Thank you so much for reading, and please let me know what you think!
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Epicureanism and Ancient Liberty
Ancient Liberty Compared to Today
As you can probably guess, the liberty of the ancient world (specifically Greece, which is what I will be focusing on today) was very different than today's world. For instance, the ancient's idea of freedom was more focused on the whole community, whereas we are focused on mainly the individual. The ancients seem to have thought more along the lines of, "If I can participate in politics, then I am free." Whereas, we think along the lines of, "If I can own a business, have a family, participate in whatever religion I see fit, go to and from where I live, etc., I have liberty."
Let's take Sparta for instance. In Sparta, people had very little freedom. Spartan boys were taken away from their homes and went through military training up until they reached the age of twenty. That's when they were entered into the citizen army and were finally allowed to marry. They were not allowed to live with their families until they reached the age of thirty. Once they were thirty years old, they could live with their families but they still had to eat at a public mess hall.
Now we get to the part where they participate somewhat in politics. Every Spartan male over the age of thirty was a part of an assembly of citizens.
In Athens, we do not see such a strict military district, but we do see Athens focusing mainly on the community as a whole rather than on the individual.
For instance, if there was a certain number of votes regarding to the banishment of a person from Athens, he would be banished. The person may have not even done anything! The people may have just seen him as a threat to their future.
Needless to say, we find many things lacking in the liberty of the ancients, but then again, I'm sure that they would find things lacking in our liberty. It's funny to me how every point in history finds it so easy to see the things wrong with the other point, but not of itself. I hope that we will not forget the things lacking in our liberty as I find it wrong to criticize other times in history without noting that we also face difficulties in our own time regarding our liberty.
Epicureanism
Epicureanism is based on the teachings of Epicurus. The "mystery religion" was founded about 307 BC, and taught that pleasure is the ultimate good. But not just being a pig about what you indulge in. Epicurus thought that a simple life and no pain was the greatest pleasure. They believe that to much of a good thing is a bad thing because it results in displeasure, but that you should not deprive yourself of pleasure.
Let's use drinking and eating as two examples. If you have only a little wine, you will have pleasure, but if you have a lot of wine, you don't feel good the next day. The same thing goes for eating to much. You shouldn't eat to much because that results in displeasure, but you should not deprive yourself of eating.
Epicurus believed that everything was made of atoms but we still have free will. This is a challenge to the atomists who believed that everything is just made of atoms bouncing around and that no one really has free will. They believed this because if everything is the result of atoms bouncing around, then our thoughts and actions are also just the result of this.
Epicureanism teaches that gods do not interfere in human matters. It also says that gods are made up of atoms.
I hope that you have enjoyed this essay, and please let me know what you think!
As you can probably guess, the liberty of the ancient world (specifically Greece, which is what I will be focusing on today) was very different than today's world. For instance, the ancient's idea of freedom was more focused on the whole community, whereas we are focused on mainly the individual. The ancients seem to have thought more along the lines of, "If I can participate in politics, then I am free." Whereas, we think along the lines of, "If I can own a business, have a family, participate in whatever religion I see fit, go to and from where I live, etc., I have liberty."
Let's take Sparta for instance. In Sparta, people had very little freedom. Spartan boys were taken away from their homes and went through military training up until they reached the age of twenty. That's when they were entered into the citizen army and were finally allowed to marry. They were not allowed to live with their families until they reached the age of thirty. Once they were thirty years old, they could live with their families but they still had to eat at a public mess hall.
Now we get to the part where they participate somewhat in politics. Every Spartan male over the age of thirty was a part of an assembly of citizens.
In Athens, we do not see such a strict military district, but we do see Athens focusing mainly on the community as a whole rather than on the individual.
For instance, if there was a certain number of votes regarding to the banishment of a person from Athens, he would be banished. The person may have not even done anything! The people may have just seen him as a threat to their future.
Needless to say, we find many things lacking in the liberty of the ancients, but then again, I'm sure that they would find things lacking in our liberty. It's funny to me how every point in history finds it so easy to see the things wrong with the other point, but not of itself. I hope that we will not forget the things lacking in our liberty as I find it wrong to criticize other times in history without noting that we also face difficulties in our own time regarding our liberty.
Epicureanism
Epicureanism is based on the teachings of Epicurus. The "mystery religion" was founded about 307 BC, and taught that pleasure is the ultimate good. But not just being a pig about what you indulge in. Epicurus thought that a simple life and no pain was the greatest pleasure. They believe that to much of a good thing is a bad thing because it results in displeasure, but that you should not deprive yourself of pleasure.
Let's use drinking and eating as two examples. If you have only a little wine, you will have pleasure, but if you have a lot of wine, you don't feel good the next day. The same thing goes for eating to much. You shouldn't eat to much because that results in displeasure, but you should not deprive yourself of eating.
Epicurus believed that everything was made of atoms but we still have free will. This is a challenge to the atomists who believed that everything is just made of atoms bouncing around and that no one really has free will. They believed this because if everything is the result of atoms bouncing around, then our thoughts and actions are also just the result of this.
Epicureanism teaches that gods do not interfere in human matters. It also says that gods are made up of atoms.
I hope that you have enjoyed this essay, and please let me know what you think!
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