Friday, January 30, 2015
Super Bowl Hype
On Sunday, February 1st at 6:30pm on NBC, the NFL Super Bowl XLIX (49 for those of you just as confused by Roman numerals as I am) at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona the New England Patriots will play the Seattle Seahawks. Being a Packers fan myself (thanks to my best friend dragging me into the madness several years ago), I lost interest in the Super Bowl when the Packers lost to the Seahawks. As much as I try to be excited for the game, it's just not the same knowing we were so close but lost in an overtime after being tied and the Seahawks getting a touchdown. The whole point of this story is that the Super Bowl is literally being shoved down mine and everyone else's throats and quite frankly it makes me NOT want to watch it! The opposite effect that they're trying to get with all the promoting and advertisements. I've seen it all over the news on TV, ads on websites, and the radio. Seems like all media can focus on now is the Super Bowl when other more important things are happening in the world...
Friday, January 16, 2015
How Did Written Communication begin? (A Brief History Lesson, Kids)
Let's go back really, really, really far into the past, shall we?
25,000-30,000 B.C. there were cavemen and cavewomen who wanted to express themselves, show what they liked and their every day life, and thus the cave drawings were born! It was a way to communicate other than the grunts and body language (like pointing at what they want others to see) and began the process of (kind of) a written language. (click Here to read more on cave drawings and symbols)
*This is what I think of when talking about cavemen- 
Then, fast forwarding clay and Egyptian hieroglyphics starting from about 3300 B.C. for about the next 3,500 years ("The ancient Egyptian word for hieroglyphs, literally translated as "language of the gods," indicates their importance. Priests used hieroglyphs to write down prayers, magical texts, and texts related to life after death and worshiping the gods. When preparing their tombs, many people had autobiographies and hieroglyphic guides of the afterworld written on the surfaces of tomb walls and on the insides of coffins. The Egyptians believed that these texts helped guide the dead through the afterlife." click Here to learn more about Egyptian Hieroglyphics)
Then in 1500 to about 1000 B.C., The Chinese were like "Well, we should probably get to doing some of this 'writing' nonsense, too." and so, the Chinese writing was created, and found on some bones as the first kind of their writing. This writing became the fundamentals for languages such as Japanese, Korean, Yi Scripts, Khitan ("a powerful Mongolian tribe that dominated Northern China and established the Liao dynasty between the 10th and 12th centuries BCE") etc. To read more on Chinese manuscripts history, click Here
As time went by, others were also curious as to having their own little thing in communicating. The first alphabet to be created was the base for both the Latin and the Hebrew alphabets, the Palestine alphabet. "Ancient writers wrote on a variety of other materials besides papyrus, including pottery, animal hides, wood, and even ancient paper. There was, to a certain extent, a progression over time from the use of papyrus to parchment and later, paper"- Here
Later, a guy named Johann Gutenberg created the world's first printing press in the 1450's and printed the first book, a Bible. "Between 1450 and 1455, the Gutenberg Bible was completed. Early documentation states that a total of 200 copies were scheduled to be printed on rag cotton linen paper, and 30 copies on velum animal skin. It is not known exactly how many copies were actually printed. Today, only 22 copies are known to exist, of which 7 are on velum". click Here to learn more about this game changer.
After years and many different changes in the printing presses, someone by the name of Joseph Henry created the telegraph, then Samuel Morse created the Morse Code, and then Alexander Bain with the first fax machine in 1843.Click Here for more.
Basically, humans became smarter and smarter and more innovative and eventually we ended up where we are today- living for technology. If it wasn't for these people evolving language and print and communication, we wouldn't have computers or maybe we'd even still be all cavemen-like and such, or maybe we would be cavemen with computers…? Who knows?
Then, fast forwarding clay and Egyptian hieroglyphics starting from about 3300 B.C. for about the next 3,500 years ("The ancient Egyptian word for hieroglyphs, literally translated as "language of the gods," indicates their importance. Priests used hieroglyphs to write down prayers, magical texts, and texts related to life after death and worshiping the gods. When preparing their tombs, many people had autobiographies and hieroglyphic guides of the afterworld written on the surfaces of tomb walls and on the insides of coffins. The Egyptians believed that these texts helped guide the dead through the afterlife." click Here to learn more about Egyptian Hieroglyphics)
Then in 1500 to about 1000 B.C., The Chinese were like "Well, we should probably get to doing some of this 'writing' nonsense, too." and so, the Chinese writing was created, and found on some bones as the first kind of their writing. This writing became the fundamentals for languages such as Japanese, Korean, Yi Scripts, Khitan ("a powerful Mongolian tribe that dominated Northern China and established the Liao dynasty between the 10th and 12th centuries BCE") etc. To read more on Chinese manuscripts history, click Here
As time went by, others were also curious as to having their own little thing in communicating. The first alphabet to be created was the base for both the Latin and the Hebrew alphabets, the Palestine alphabet. "Ancient writers wrote on a variety of other materials besides papyrus, including pottery, animal hides, wood, and even ancient paper. There was, to a certain extent, a progression over time from the use of papyrus to parchment and later, paper"- Here
Later, a guy named Johann Gutenberg created the world's first printing press in the 1450's and printed the first book, a Bible. "Between 1450 and 1455, the Gutenberg Bible was completed. Early documentation states that a total of 200 copies were scheduled to be printed on rag cotton linen paper, and 30 copies on velum animal skin. It is not known exactly how many copies were actually printed. Today, only 22 copies are known to exist, of which 7 are on velum". click Here to learn more about this game changer.
After years and many different changes in the printing presses, someone by the name of Joseph Henry created the telegraph, then Samuel Morse created the Morse Code, and then Alexander Bain with the first fax machine in 1843.Click Here for more.
Basically, humans became smarter and smarter and more innovative and eventually we ended up where we are today- living for technology. If it wasn't for these people evolving language and print and communication, we wouldn't have computers or maybe we'd even still be all cavemen-like and such, or maybe we would be cavemen with computers…? Who knows?
Friday, January 9, 2015
Print Media in Danger After Attack in France?
By now, the world has heard of the atrocity that occurred two days ago in France. Eight journalists, two police officers, a maintenance worker and a visitor were killed in the attack on the Paris newspaper that had offensive cartoons of the Muslim Prophet, Muhammad. After the terrorist attack on the newspaper that had been threatened many times before, will print media become more restricted?
"'No barbaric act will ever extinguish the freedom of the press," the French president said in a tweet. "We are a united country.'"
Clearly, the French president isn't changing his mind soon, even after the stubbornness caused 12 deaths.
I believe that the whole world is going to be a little more careful about what they post or print, due to this eye opening event. I hope only the best for everyone in France, and for print media overall.
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/paris-magazine-attack/charlie-hebdo-shooting-12-killed-muhammad-cartoons-magazine-paris-n281266
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