Yesterday, I went to an exhibition about the dead sea scrolls. It was pretty amazing. In reality it was about the bible, the people involved and the scrolls. I would mention the scrolls discovery and what interests me, the copper scroll.
The dead sea scrolls were found near the dead sea, in a place called Qumran. There are 9 caves and all contained items. Cave 4 is the most productive with 15000 pieces from 200 texts. According to the guides at the exhibition, the scrolls were found be a boy looking for a missing goat. On the way, he found a cave. He thought the goat might be in it, so he trew stones in to try to scare the goat out. Instead of finding his goat, he heard sounds of breaking pottery. Under investigation, he discovered the pottery were filled with scrolls. This cave would turn out to be cave three.
Now about the particular item that interests me. The copper scroll was the last one of 15 scrolls found in cave 3. It is written on a thin sheet of copper, and rolled up. Iy=t is actually 2 pieces, presumely because it broke in half when it was rolled up. The copper scroll was ultimately cut into sections by a saw as it could not be openned by conventional means due to large amounts of erosion. The scroll is actually a list of specific places, 64 in total, and the large amount of treasure hidden at those places. The treasure consists of mainly talents of gold or silver or other precious metals. The total is estimated in tons. The list also mentions another list in which there would be further intructions and directions. The interesting thing is, it could not be a hoax. At that time people did not really have such a good sense of humour as to write a treasure map and hide it among other well known documents in order to trigger a massive treasure hunt for nothing in the future.
The other scrolls were written on animal skin. This made it very difficult for the scholors to read what was on the scrolls as the skins blackened the invention of infra-red technology finally gave the scholors a look at the scrolls and try to piece them together. The first thought was to use the handwriting style to piece them together until the scholors realised that the same scribe could be copying the same script over and over again, so they realised they had to use another different method. The use of DNA testing came about. The animal skins pieced together had to have the same DNA. All together, the testing cost a lot. The translation however, has yet to be completed, even though the scrolls have been discovered half a century ago.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
BP (Lost count)
Before I start writing this BP (probably the eighth one), I would like to apologise for the period of silence, I have been studying for tests and I only managed to pull myself up now. Also, the available BPs are getting tougher to answer. Its almost like the teachers aspect you to get better at writing through this compulsory piece of work. Then again, they probably do.
/*Discuss how terrorism has changed the way we lived.*/
/*Discuss how terrorism has changed the way we lived.*/
Terrorism has changed our lives in many ways. For example, the security of various important and even unimportant places have risen considerably. This impedes movement in places like airports and removes some of the freedom in travelling. People around the world are more cautious and afraid of things like bombs and mass killings. Terrorism has put many previously unknown people or nations of "unimportance" into the limelight.
Fighting terrorism is difficult to the point of being impossible. That is why it is so scary and dangerous. Anywhere you go, terrorism could be lurking around the corner. Perhaps terrorism has changed the world more than we think. It could be good. for example, People all over the world are more cautious about their mortality, also, various nations from all over the world are working together, be it through NATO, the European Union or ASEAN and other multinational organisations, fighing off this danger. However, it has changed the world to be far worse than ever before. More people around the world live in fear, more materials that are precious and disappearing are being used up to make more weapons and bombs, more people, innocent or not, are being killed every single day.
Most of all Terrorism has made us more cynical, more alert and more informed. People might read the news to find out more about a certain subject and learn more about current affairs. More people would look at things in a whole new way when they see something that does not seem quite right. More people would check their surroundings in public to look for any suspicious items or people. All this would help to make the world a much safer place from terrorism.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
E-learning BP, Gambling
/*The casino being built in Singapore is supposed to be a money-maker and job creator. However, many people have spoken against it. Talk to a parent or adult and get their view on the casino. Listen to the NPR and YouTube offerings and choose one that substantiates your viewpoint and include a quote from it as well. Your blog entry has to be at least 200 words and you must either support the casino or condemn its construction and ultimately the hardships it will cause in Singapore*/
I support the casino being built in Singapore and many people around Singapore share my view. Although many people believe that the casino would fail terribly in its first years due to the current recession, why can't it work the other way around?
People without jobs and who desperately need the money can resort to gambling for money. Hardcore gamblers might start going to the casino once it opens and perhaps start going there regularly. People from all around the world, especially South-East Asia, would come to Singapore just to go to the casino. This also boosts the tourism industry. The casino creates jobs for the people, along with many other jobs in the IR.
All the good things the casino can bring definitely outweighs whatever hardships it may bring in the future.
My mother works as a stock broker. She too, supports the casino being built. The stock market has got very still over the past few days. The recession probably has bottomed out, with the "worst of it" over. This means that the chance to earn has pretty much gone down the drain. In other words, she joked, people might go to the casino during their lunch break to "try their luck" and get back to the office after some time.
Would this happen all around Singapore too? People may be motivated by the recession. The casino may be another, external source of revenue for the working class.
No doubt the casino may bring hardships to Singaporeans, but the good things it can bring to Singapore ultimately outweighs them all.
I support the casino being built in Singapore and many people around Singapore share my view. Although many people believe that the casino would fail terribly in its first years due to the current recession, why can't it work the other way around?
People without jobs and who desperately need the money can resort to gambling for money. Hardcore gamblers might start going to the casino once it opens and perhaps start going there regularly. People from all around the world, especially South-East Asia, would come to Singapore just to go to the casino. This also boosts the tourism industry. The casino creates jobs for the people, along with many other jobs in the IR.
All the good things the casino can bring definitely outweighs whatever hardships it may bring in the future.
My mother works as a stock broker. She too, supports the casino being built. The stock market has got very still over the past few days. The recession probably has bottomed out, with the "worst of it" over. This means that the chance to earn has pretty much gone down the drain. In other words, she joked, people might go to the casino during their lunch break to "try their luck" and get back to the office after some time.
Would this happen all around Singapore too? People may be motivated by the recession. The casino may be another, external source of revenue for the working class.
No doubt the casino may bring hardships to Singaporeans, but the good things it can bring to Singapore ultimately outweighs them all.
Monday, June 29, 2009
William Blake
William Blake was a poet, a painter, and a print maker. The 19th century scholar William Rossetti characterised Blake as a "glorious luminary," and as "a man not forestalled by predecessors, nor to be classed with contemporaries, nor to be replaced by known or readily surmisable successors."I chose William Blake as his poems are enjoyable to read. His poems are very symbolical and are usually religious. He was also thought to be insane by many of his close friends in his later years!
William Blake was a very religious person. His poems have religious themes in them, probably the most obvious one would be "The Lamb" from Blake's "Songs of Innocence"
Little lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed
By the stream and o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Little lamb, I'll tell thee,
Little lamb, I'll tell thee:
He is called by thy name,
For He calls Himself a Lamb.
He is meek, and He is mild;
He became a little child.
I a child, and thou a lamb,
We are called by His name.
Little lamb, God bless thee!
Little lamb, God bless thee!
On the day of his death, he stopped working and decided to draw a portrait of his wife, who had "been an angel to [him]". Having completed this portrait, Blake laid down his tools and began to sing hymns and verses.
It is not difficult to admire his work. For example, many of us have probably heard of "The Tyger" by now.
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
The poem is actually about the tiger. William Blake did not make a spelling mistake, he just wanted to make it sound more...mysterious. This seems to be the opposite of the poem "The Lamb". They are from two different books. "The Lamb" is from the "Songs of Innocence", while "The Tyger" is from the "songs of experience".
Another poem by William Blake I like is "The Land of Dreams"
Awake, awake my little Boy!
Thou wast thy Mother's only joy:
Why dost thou weep in thy gentle sleep?
Awake! thy Father does thee keep.
"O, what land is the Land of Dreams?
What are its mountains, and what are its streams?
O Father, I saw my Mother there,
Among the lillies by waters fair.
Among the lambs clothed in white
She walked with her Thomas in sweet delight.
I wept for joy, like a dove I mourn -
O when shall I return again?
"Dear child, I also by pleasant streams
Have wandered all night in the Land of Dreams;
But though calm and warm the waters wide,
I could not get to the other side.
"Father, O Father, what do we here,
In this land of unbelief and fear?
The Land of Dreams is better far
Above the light of the Morning Star."
And yet another peom by William Blake, "The Clod and the Pebble".
"Love seeketh not itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care,
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a heaven in hell's despair."
So sung a little Clod of Clay,
Trodden with the cattle's feet,
But a Pebble of the brook
Warbled out these metres meet:
"Love seeketh only Self to please,
To bind another to its delight,
Joys in another's loss of ease,
And builds a hell in heaven's despite."
How are these three peoms? "The Tyger", "The Land of Dreams", and "The Clod and the Pebble".
William Blake was a very religious person. His poems have religious themes in them, probably the most obvious one would be "The Lamb" from Blake's "Songs of Innocence"
Little lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed
By the stream and o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Little lamb, I'll tell thee,
Little lamb, I'll tell thee:
He is called by thy name,
For He calls Himself a Lamb.
He is meek, and He is mild;
He became a little child.
I a child, and thou a lamb,
We are called by His name.
Little lamb, God bless thee!
Little lamb, God bless thee!
On the day of his death, he stopped working and decided to draw a portrait of his wife, who had "been an angel to [him]". Having completed this portrait, Blake laid down his tools and began to sing hymns and verses.
It is not difficult to admire his work. For example, many of us have probably heard of "The Tyger" by now.
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
The poem is actually about the tiger. William Blake did not make a spelling mistake, he just wanted to make it sound more...mysterious. This seems to be the opposite of the poem "The Lamb". They are from two different books. "The Lamb" is from the "Songs of Innocence", while "The Tyger" is from the "songs of experience".
Another poem by William Blake I like is "The Land of Dreams"
Awake, awake my little Boy!
Thou wast thy Mother's only joy:
Why dost thou weep in thy gentle sleep?
Awake! thy Father does thee keep.
"O, what land is the Land of Dreams?
What are its mountains, and what are its streams?
O Father, I saw my Mother there,
Among the lillies by waters fair.
Among the lambs clothed in white
She walked with her Thomas in sweet delight.
I wept for joy, like a dove I mourn -
O when shall I return again?
"Dear child, I also by pleasant streams
Have wandered all night in the Land of Dreams;
But though calm and warm the waters wide,
I could not get to the other side.
"Father, O Father, what do we here,
In this land of unbelief and fear?
The Land of Dreams is better far
Above the light of the Morning Star."
And yet another peom by William Blake, "The Clod and the Pebble".
"Love seeketh not itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care,
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a heaven in hell's despair."
So sung a little Clod of Clay,
Trodden with the cattle's feet,
But a Pebble of the brook
Warbled out these metres meet:
"Love seeketh only Self to please,
To bind another to its delight,
Joys in another's loss of ease,
And builds a hell in heaven's despite."
How are these three peoms? "The Tyger", "The Land of Dreams", and "The Clod and the Pebble".
Sunday, June 28, 2009
The School Boy
The School Boy by William Blake
I love to rise in a summer morn,
When the birds sing on every tree;
The distant huntsman winds his horn,
And the sky-lark sings with me.
O! what sweet company.
But to go to school in a summer morn,
O! it drives all joy away;
Under a cruel eye outworn.
The little ones spend the day,
In sighing and dismay.
Ah! then at times I drooping sit,
And spend many an anxious hour,
Nor in my book can I take delight,
Nor sit in learnings bower,
Worn thro' with the dreary shower.
How can the bird that is born for joy,
Sit in a cage and sing.
How can a child when fears annoy.
But droop his tender wing.
And forget his youthful spring.
O! father & mother if buds are nip'd,
And blossoms blown away,
And if the tender plants are strip'd
Of their joy in the springing day,
By sorrow and care's dismay.
How shall the summer arise in joy.
Or the summer fruits appear.
Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy
Or bless the mellowing year.
When the blasts of winter appear.
This poem seems to use lots of hyperbole, to emphasise on the point that preceeds it. For example, "But to go to school in a summer morn,/O! it drives all joy away". Here, William Blake is exaggerating on the school boy's reluctance to go to school on a lovely "summer morn". Other examples of hyperbole are:
"When the birds sing on every tree;"
"The little ones spend the day,/In sighing and dismay."
Now to move on to metaphors
"How can the bird that is born for joy,/Sit in a cage and sing."
I'm pretty sure this is a metaphor. It relates the child to a bird, and school to a cage. The school boy does not want to go willingly into a cage, to learn to "sing" when he was "born for joy".
"Ah! then at times I drooping sit,"
This relates the school boy to a wilting plant. The bored boy sits, slouching on his table, is compared to a weak plant that desperately needs nourishment.
"O! father & mother if buds are nip'd,
And blossoms blown away,
And if the tender plants are strip'd
Of their joy in the springing day,
By sorrow and care's dismay.
How shall the summer arise in joy.
Or the summer fruits appear.
Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy
Or bless the mellowing year.
When the blasts of winter appear. "
This whole stanza should be a metaphor.
Here, school is the wind, blowing away the blossoms and nipping at the bud, instead of letting them drop naturally. How can the "Summer fruits" appear this way?
I like this peom because I can relate to it, being a student. It explains every student's hatred of school and gives them a good reason not to. Jokes aside, This poem is also beautiful as it uses many examples of nature, especially the bird, as it relates best to a child and freedom. This poem is written by one of my favourite poets, William Blake, and I enjoy reading his other poems as well. This is one of his "innocence" poems and the school boy reflects that innocence well.
I love to rise in a summer morn,
When the birds sing on every tree;
The distant huntsman winds his horn,
And the sky-lark sings with me.
O! what sweet company.
But to go to school in a summer morn,
O! it drives all joy away;
Under a cruel eye outworn.
The little ones spend the day,
In sighing and dismay.
Ah! then at times I drooping sit,
And spend many an anxious hour,
Nor in my book can I take delight,
Nor sit in learnings bower,
Worn thro' with the dreary shower.
How can the bird that is born for joy,
Sit in a cage and sing.
How can a child when fears annoy.
But droop his tender wing.
And forget his youthful spring.
O! father & mother if buds are nip'd,
And blossoms blown away,
And if the tender plants are strip'd
Of their joy in the springing day,
By sorrow and care's dismay.
How shall the summer arise in joy.
Or the summer fruits appear.
Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy
Or bless the mellowing year.
When the blasts of winter appear.
This poem seems to use lots of hyperbole, to emphasise on the point that preceeds it. For example, "But to go to school in a summer morn,/O! it drives all joy away". Here, William Blake is exaggerating on the school boy's reluctance to go to school on a lovely "summer morn". Other examples of hyperbole are:
"When the birds sing on every tree;"
"The little ones spend the day,/In sighing and dismay."
Now to move on to metaphors
"How can the bird that is born for joy,/Sit in a cage and sing."
I'm pretty sure this is a metaphor. It relates the child to a bird, and school to a cage. The school boy does not want to go willingly into a cage, to learn to "sing" when he was "born for joy".
"Ah! then at times I drooping sit,"
This relates the school boy to a wilting plant. The bored boy sits, slouching on his table, is compared to a weak plant that desperately needs nourishment.
"O! father & mother if buds are nip'd,
And blossoms blown away,
And if the tender plants are strip'd
Of their joy in the springing day,
By sorrow and care's dismay.
How shall the summer arise in joy.
Or the summer fruits appear.
Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy
Or bless the mellowing year.
When the blasts of winter appear. "
This whole stanza should be a metaphor.
Here, school is the wind, blowing away the blossoms and nipping at the bud, instead of letting them drop naturally. How can the "Summer fruits" appear this way?
I like this peom because I can relate to it, being a student. It explains every student's hatred of school and gives them a good reason not to. Jokes aside, This poem is also beautiful as it uses many examples of nature, especially the bird, as it relates best to a child and freedom. This poem is written by one of my favourite poets, William Blake, and I enjoy reading his other poems as well. This is one of his "innocence" poems and the school boy reflects that innocence well.
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