Discovering the Global Past

I think that Emperor Claudius and Xinchen both have strengths and weaknesses as leaders. To begin with, one of Emperor Claudius's strengths was his accomplishment of several creations, such as an aqueduct and the "drainage channel of Lake Fucine and the harbor at Ostia." Both of these public works helped individuals and their life easier. On the other hand, one of his weaknesses was that he was not very much involved in the process, rather he ordered people to do it for him. Along with his lack of participation, his works-which were not many-took a very long time to build, even with hundreds of men helping.

In contrast to Emperor Claudius there is leader Xinchen. One of his strategies which is also considered a strength was his interest in building benefits for the people. His true involvement in activities like the digging in canals and ditches, proved his real interest in the well being of others. He was also in and out of the fields, and stopping at villages and cantons. Another strength he had was his ability to assemble regulations for people concerning water. Because of his hands on assistance and his firm regulations, Xinchen ran a smooth ruling as a leader, and was able to accomplish creations that would benefit the individuals under his ruling.

In my opinion, Xinchen is a better leader, simply because he was strongly involved in his plan to make villages better. He also created rules that allowed everything to run smoothly, but more importantly prevent disputes over distributions such as water from happening.

A Paleolithic Woman in the Twentieth Century

Nisa's story is definitely captivating and shocking. As reader, we can see that Paleolithic people lived a very simple life. She mentions how she did not own any animals, but based her way of living on hunting and gathering. Another aspect revealed about Paleolithic lifestyle is the remedies that they used to cure people. It is mentioned in the reading that a healing ritual "N/um" was very popular among her  people. It was believed to be very painful, but useful at the same time. It could however not work in certain cases.

Another interesting topic mentioned by Nisa was God. It seemed as if she was very disappointed with him, and thought everything bad that happened to her was because of him. She believed that he had the power to make everything good, but also make very bad things happen. It seemed to be that she doubted him many times throughout her life, especially through the tough times.

The last subject that was quite shocking in this reading was the topic of lovers. The idea of cheating on your partner is something that would be a bigger part of modern society, yet it has been going on for many years before us. Its a contrast to the way of living they had back then, because since they had such a simple life, many of them wouldn't think in my opinion of such thing. Yet it is something that was common, and it also seems as if they were not ashamed of it nor were they trying to hide it.

Reading Blog #1: Paleolithic migrations; Population of the Planet

The Prologue and Introduction of the book Ways of the World by Robert W. Strayer is quite interesting. Its compelling to see how the humans species evolve throughout the years and adapt to different and harsh conditions. Another fact that is fascinating is how hunting/gathering sustained humankind for more than 95% of time on earth. Migration was also a huge part of their survival skills. But for the first 150,000 years humans only lived on Africa, and around 200,000 to 250,000 years ago Homo Sapiens emerged. The paleolithic societies were small, only around 25 to 50 people, they were also seasonally mobile but most importantly they were free from tyranny and oppression. Overall, the transition of human species is impressive, their survival and migration skills helped them develop throughout hundredths and thousands of years.

yay I'm done!