Summer Plans

Ok, so other than the fact that school is not on my list of things for the summer, I have a few other plans for the best time of the year.

1) Get a job.

2) Get my learner's permit.

3) Hang out with friends and otherwise have a good summer.

I already have the first plan set in motion. I have applied for a job at the Candy Shoppe downtown, and I think I have a good shot at getting it. They are looking for help with candy buffets at weddings and stuff, as well as help at manning the store. Also, I am hoping that Ms. Tanya, who owns the studio, will let me teach a few classes next year.

Mom and Dad have agreed to get me my permit after I finish school, finally. I have in Geometry, if I don't do more than one lesson a day, 3 weeks of school left. But I don't have three weeks. I am doing 2-4 lessons a day and will finish within a week and a half, especially if I work on weekends. Fingers crossed I can get it done before things get too hectic with the dance recital.

I was talking with Mom about joining the dance troop at the studio, and I asked if, if I can pay my way through the competitions, could I join troop. She said talk to Dad, and I am hoping that I can, because the troop kids get more challenging dances, as well as seeming to have more fun. Here's hoping.

Wisdom and Knowledge

There is a big difference between wisdom and knowledge, even though many people count them as one and the same. Knowledge is merely knowing various facts about a subject. With knowledge, we take exams and use what we have learned in school.

Wisdom, however, is using common sense and logic. Wisdom is knowing when and when not to do something, and how it might affect those around you. With wisdom, we go about our everyday life, judging our actions and others.

Pythagoras' Secret Cult Religion

Today I focused my activities on the one's based around Pythagoras, the famous mathematician, who brought us the Pythagorean theorum, a squared + b squared = c squared. Despite his fame, he believed that only a select few should be allowed to study the secrets of numbers and that mathematics should be kept secret from the general public. So, he formed a cult of sorts with which he shared his secrets.

Personally, I think that keeping knowledge like what Pythagoras discovered away from the public is wrong. I think it should be shared so that everyone gets a chance to grow mentally. I believe that all knowledge that could be useful in helping a community grow should be shared. That way no one can say that they are better than someone else because they have a secret knowledge that only they were entrusted with.

Philosophical Questions

This week is all about science and philosophy. Zeno, a scientific philosopher, had two problems which he gave to his students that have been passed down to us since then. I am going to ask them and post the answer tomorrow. Please comment with your answers.

1) If a man shot an arrow at a target, and every second of travel the arrow went 1/2 way to the target (1/2 of the distance it had left to go), how long would it take the arrow to reach the target?

2) If a man had a boat, and as the boat began to wear out, he replaced each worn out part with a brand new part until at last teh entire boat was replaced with new parts and all the original parts were gone, then would his boat be the same boat he had in the first place? At what point could you say he had a different boat and why? What if he had licensed the original boat, would he then have to re-license the boat at some point? If someone asked him how long he'd had his boat, what would he say?

Other teachings of Zeno were that is was foolish to try to change things from the way they were to the way we would like them to be. He believed we should just accept things as they are. These were the beliefs of the Stoics. I think that this might be true about some things, but others, like war, or poverty, or other problems should be changed and not just accepted. I think it is important to accept some aspects of life the way they are. But we should always strive to better the bad things of life. That way everyone is able to bask in the glory of the world God gave us.

Spartan View of Life

When Spartan women had children, they had to have them inspected by the authorities. If the child was sickly looking, weak, small, or had birth defects, it was thrown off the edge of a cliff. This ensured that only the strong and vigorous were allowed to live. They did this so the Spartans developed a shield against guilt for killing another human being. It also encouraged a contempt toward those that weren't perfect.

In today's society, we do not kill people to create a callousness against others, but we develop one just the same. Slamming those that are different than us, or do something wrong, builds a contempt in us towards someone that does those things. Some people teach their kids that people of a certain color, race or tradition are bad and therefore are inferior to them. All these things do to us exactly what throwing a kid off a cliff did to the Spartans: we just don't care about those that aren't like us or aren't perfect.

Spartan Helmet

This week, as I study Sparta, I was tasked to make a Spartan helmet. After three days of work, I finally finished it. It looks pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

Here is the first part of it.

Finished. The visor is a little small, but I might be able to adjust it.

Greek Final Project

As of last week, I began working on my final project to show what I learned in Greece. If all goes well, I will have a 7-10 page report about ancient Greece's battleships, battle tactics, and overall naval power, several models of the above described items as well as army weapons, and a feast comprised of food they would have eaten in ancient Greece. I was debating about a slide show, and I might still do it to illustrate the either items I don't have models for or pictures from battles. Fingers crossed it all turns out well.