Menzie's Argument

Q: Do you buy Menzie's argument that Zheng He's fleet made it to America before Colombus? Evaluate the evidence he used and explain why or why not? 

A: Personally, I really do believe that Zheng He's fleet made it to America before Columbus, based on Menzie's argument. I found his argument about maps to be the most interesting. He stated that the Chinese and Italians both had the exact same maps, but this is because the Italians got there maps from the Chinese in the first place. He also states that in China, Confucian thinkers had their documents destroyed and this would be how Italy got their hands on such maps. Pretty solid argument if you ask me!

5 Proofs that God Exists (According to St. Thomas Aquinas)

In the first proof, St. Thomas states that everything on earth moves and changes. The second proof talks about cause and effect, saying that everything is caused by something else, and something cannot be the cause of itself, and this first cause is God. In the third proof Aquinas argues that things can either exist or not exist, but they cannot last for eternity. The fourth proof is that is God is the driving force lf everything. Aquinas uses this proof to state that there is a more perfect form of everything. Therefore, there must be something that is the most good and perfect of all things, which is God. In this final proof, Aquinas refers to the ordering of things found in nature and the idea that things that lack intelligence move and tend towards a certain result.

Post- Classical Africa Map

Learn History Like the Griots?

I would really love to learn history verbally as the griots did in Africa. Not only were the lessons factual and informative, but they gave the lesson in a story form. I personally love when history is taught like this because it gives some else's perspective of the history. And although reading does help, I believe that listening to someone else giving their recollection of a certain time period is much more informative  than just reading facts out of a textbook.

Final Day of Trial, PLUS Results!

Last day of the trial, the closing statements, went fantastic. Olivia did a great job wrapping up and summarizing the key points of our case. Ashay did well too, but he shuddered from time to time, which I believe made the prosecutions closing statement a little weak. I was disappointed with the outcome of the trial though. Even though we did not get accused of genocide, we were still convicted of kidnapping and terrorism, which I thought and still think is sad. I think part of it was my fault though, with my stage fright while cross-examining. But on the bright side, at least we didn't get convicted of all three charges. Overall I had fun during the case, and I did learn a lot as well! This was a great way to prepare for the test and I'm very proud of the Mongol D.

Day 2 of the Trial

Day two of the trial went OK. Nathan went ahead and questioned the second Yuan peasant without asking me if it was ok. I'm over it, but I wish I could've made up for my mistakes yesterday. I hate to admit it, but Michelle was actually a really good cross-examiner. But I do believe that Pappas hit it out of the park when he questioned Kristoff Yamonovic (<--- I think that's how you spell it?). I am eager to hear Ms. Fishel's final verdict, but right after the closing statements. We have total faith in Olivia! On a side note, it was unfortunate that Kublai (Sabrina) was not able to make an appearance, but we had a back up and we think he did great! (Arvind)

Day 1 of the Trial

First day of the trial was today, and in all honesty, I did not do well in front of the rest of the class. Stage Fright at its worst! But I did make the witnesses swear so I take that as a plus. To ought, I'm definitely gonna study up for the other Yuan Peasant, aka Tori Condon. Hopefully I do a complete 180 and actually make a point with the questions that I am going to ask. But other than that, I think the rest of the gem performed excellent, especially Pappas, who literally made Rachel tremble with fear on the stand.