The History of the Swastika

     The Swastika, or the hooked cross has been used at least 5,000 years ago. It is thought to have been used in Eurasia during the Neolithic period. The symbol has been used in eastern cultures, and it has been used as a sacred symbol in Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism. In Buddhism, the swastika represents how buddhists try to transcend people's physical existence through spiritual practice and moral behavior. To Hindus, it is one of many symbols that represent the deity Vishnu the Preserver. The word swastika is actually derived from sanskrit word svastika, which in one translation means "all is well."
     The resurgence of the symbol wasn't until the late 18th century. It most likely had to do with Heinrich Schliemann's rediscovery of the symbol in ancient Troy during an archaeological dig. The symbol then started to be used all over Europe with various meanings, but it usually meant some sort of "good luck." However, the swastika started to be associated with Aryan pride movements. That is probably why Nazi party started using the symbol. The swastika eventually became the symbol of the Nazi party, showing up on their propaganda. However, as the atrocities of Adolf Hitler were carried out, the symbol was everywhere, on badges, flags, etc. The sight of the swastika now is associated with the Nazi party and a symbol of terror for some. In modern context bringing up swastikas tends to come with controversy, although many do not know the true origins of the symbol.

Gurinder Singh Mann, Paul David Numrich, and Raymond Brady Williams. "Buddhism Comes to America." Buddhists, Hindus, and Sikhs in America (December 1, 2001). Elibrary (accessed February 28, 2013).

Images:
 http://www.richardcassaro.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Hindu-Temple-Swastikas.jpg
http://www.galenfrysinger.com/images/nurnbe1.gif

The Mathematics of History And The Singularity

An example of exponential growth.

Technological advancement can be likened to unfettered bacterial population growth. The original organism splits into two, then each of those new organisms split into two, and so on. The equation for such this particular growth would be 2^n where n is the number of cycles of growth that have happened. We call this type of growth (some constant k raised to the n) exponential or logarithmic growth. This same paradigm can be applied to technological advancement. Each invention assits us in inventing the next, thus technology can be likened to the bacteria. We can imagine each invention assits us by giving us k new inventions per year. If k is two, it would be the same scenario as the bacteria: each one splits into two, or in this case helps us get two more inventions.

A graph of exponential growth over time with linear axis.
(http://image.tutorvista.com/cms/images/38/exponential-growth-graph.JPG)

If we were to graph this growth over time, it forms a distinctive accelerating curve. With each n we can imagine that we multiply by k, producing this curve.

A graph of Moore's Law with the time axis linear and the growth axis exponential.
A note: This graph should be a line if we are following perfectly exponential growth.
It is not. It appears to still be curved. For the reader who has already finished the
article, one explanation for this could be that we are approaching the singularity
and thus our simple exponential growth is starting to accelerate to singularity growth.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PPTMooresLawai.jpg)

If we were to, however, graph an exponential curve along a linear time axis and an exponential size axis (each 'tick' along the axis is k times more than the last), we would be able to simplify our graph to a line. Let's start by looking at a narrow field: transistors. If we set k to 10 per 20 n years and graph the decrease in the size of a transistor over time, we see a clear exponential pattern (as in it appears as a line when size is graphed on an exponential axis). This phenomenon is commonly known as Moore's law.

A graph of human technological advancement with time linear and growth exponential.
A note: The time axis is flipped, we have not exponentially devolved over time.
The fact that this graph is a line additionally indicates exponential growth.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ParadigmShiftsFrr15Events.svg)

What does this mean for history? When we do the same thing that we did for Moore's law for general human advancement, we get an amazing, yet not very surprising, result. Human advancement is almost perfectly exponential. What does that mean? It means that each successive generation will experience an exponentially larger increase in technology.

This on its own however doesn't mean much. There exists, however, another factor: our own intelligence. The speed of the exponential growth (represented by s in k^(n*s)) is our intelligence; it's what allows us to use our technology to create new technology. If we were to suddenly get more intelligent it would drastically alter the shape of the theoretical exponential technology curve. This is where we get to the idea of the singularity.

A graph of what our final equation looks like with linear axis.
A note: This particular graph is of the equation 2^(x^2).
(http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2%5E%28x%5E2%29)

The singularity is the idea that at a certain point we should be able create some sort of super-intelligence to do the advancement for us, either through technologically enhancing ourselves or creating some sort of self-fixing super-intelligent AI. If we assume that this is possible, it means that the speed (s) of technological growth is a function of n. Therefore, we should be able to represent our final growth equation in the form k^(s*n^a) where k is some growth constant, s is some speed constant, n is time, and a is our new all-important self-enhancement constant. If we plot our new equation we get a rather shocking looking graph. Ignoring the negative side, we see that at a certain point the graph appears to skyrocket. All the exponential growth before the rocket point is irrelevant compared to what happens after. We humans have not hit that point yet. What the point represents is the singularity, the point at which we start using super-intelligence instead of our own intelligence to advance. The singularity is so named because, just like its counterpart in physics, once we pass it's event horizon, all bets are off. We have no idea what will happen once we reach that point, and how could we, if our model is to be trusted, our current state of exponential growth is essentially irrelevant compared to what will happen at the singularity.

A Short History of Stained Glass.

Medieval glass at Chartres Cathedral

Have you ever walked into a space covered in multicolored light thrown by a stained glass window? If you have, you will have known the wonder and awe that large panes of stained glass can produce. However, you might have wondered to yourself that it seems wasteful and expensive to put so much multicolored glass and iron in that window. Why did they do it? Well, this should answer your question.

The art of blowing glass into shapes to make items of use has been around for thousands of years. However, someone had the idea of making stained glass windows only in the Gothic era of architecture. As cathedrals became more ornate, they began to have larger and larger windows. Since medieval glassmakers were incapable of making very large plates of glass, they used metal supports to connect together medium-sized pieces of glass. At this time, the clergy also was faced with a problem of connection to the common people. Bibles (like all books at that time) were expensive to print, and almost all commoners were illiterate. Then, several people came up with the idea to combine the scriptures with the windows: The windows could offer pictoral representations of the stories contained within the bible! Thus, glassmakers began to mix dyes into their glass and build intricate frames, and created windows that showed biblical figures, scenes, and locations. Everyone's problems were solved, and the common people could get a better grasp of what was happening in the biblical tales read aloud during mass.

Chartres-inspired 20th century glass

late 19th century glass

Continued evolutions in design over the next several hundred years such as shading different areas on the glass different colors helped produce more realistic-looking figures, while advances in dyes meant that the glass could be stained more and brighter colors. However, some artists went away from the realistic designs of the late nineteenth century to more abstract designs that now rely on symbolism and may commemorate various inventions, ideas, and historical figures. Other artists however specialize in making glass similar to the ones first put into use in the middle ages, looking at the art at such places as Chartres cathedral in France for inspiration.

All images from Wikimedia Commons under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license, which can be read in full here

A Very Brief History of Horoscopes

Signs of the zodiac

                       Horoscopes are one of my favorite parts of magazines and newspapers. I can't explain my fascination with them because usually the predictions turn out to be false and if not, they are so ambiguous that they will probably end up coming true (such as "Your hard work will yield good fortune."or "A thrilling time is in your immediate future."). Why do so many people follow these silly prophecies so religiously?
                      It all started back in ancient times when people would study the appearance of the sun, moon, and a variety of constellations in order to determine the best time for planting their crops. The Ancient Greeks believed that every person's life was predetermined based on the constellations in the sky during that person's birth. The ancient Maya had astrologer-priests that would use horoscopes in order to determine whether a new born baby would be a warrior, priest, public servant or human sacrifice.
                     During the Middle Ages, horoscopes were seen as taboo, while Christianity became the dominant belief system. It wasn't until the 17th century when William Lily, a British astronomer, deemed horoscopes "Christian astrology." This statement eventually led to the popularity of horoscopes in modern day.
                     Perhaps horoscopes have become so popular today because of their incredible significance in the past. In ancient times, horoscopes didn't just determine little insignificant parts of your life, but rather, whether you would be a warrior or a human sacrifice. The random organization of stars at certain times of the year meant the difference between life and death for an innocent little baby.

The Future of History

History is interesting to discuss because it is dependent upon the people's interpretation of the past and present. During the French Revolution, history was most likely viewed as the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Scientific Revolution (and all else earlier); the Enlightenment was probably too recent to be thought of as history even though we study it as such now. People weren't talking about the impacts of their actions during the French Revolution because it was a chaotic mess of power and death. Not until later could one step back and really study each fact of the Revolution to find patterns and motivations that just weren't clear in the late 1700's.

Other questions arise for me as well when thinking about history. One is namely how the practice of studying will change a hundred years from now or a thousand. At this moment we have events two millenniums ago or fifty years ago that we call history and that we study. But in the future, there will be even more history, more dates to memorize, more people to remember, more patterns that have emerged, and perhaps people will begin to know less and less about specific events in history because there is simply too much to retain. It is possible that in the future, centuries of dense culture will be blended into one for practicality and for the sake of saving time, because there just won't be enough time to learn everything.  History will lose specificity, each moment its definition, and figures we remember now will be lost in the endless torrent of historical knowledge that will bombard the future.

Throughout history classes over the years I have studied US History, European History, Latin America, India, China, and the Middle East. I've been taught about varying societies and events and how trade routes in Asia connect to America's economy. But now I wonder what I've missed. What schools have decided not to teach us, about events that happened and that were important but not important enough that we had to know them. Even now we are all missing some part of history; something or things that have been lost to the flow of time. We may have skipped over a revolt in the Middle East or a drought in Africa, we may have even lost the entire past of an island in the Pacific. And as significant or insignificant as these events were, we and those who came before us have chosen what we perceive as the content of history. The future of history has and will be defined by what we choose to know and what we decide to let go. History is not just what happened in the past, it is about what we remember in the present.

                          Who was Nicolas Flamel?

           
            As a child who grew up reading Harry Potter I never put much thought into the strange names or words that appeared in the book. Not until I was a bit older did I start to learn that many of the words for spells had actual meaning behind them and that many of the story elements are references to western myths and legends about magic. I didn’t find out until recently that Nicolas Flamel who appears in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone as the creator of the philosopher’s stone was a real person. Around the 16^th century people actually believed that he had created the philosopher’s stone and there were many theories and legends surrounding him. J. K. Rowling simply treated the legends as true and applied them to her story.

         
          What was believed about Flamel from the 15^th to 17^th centuries is quite similar to Rowling’s version of the story. For a long time alchemists believed that in 1382 Flamel managed to create the philosopher’s stone, a key tool in turning lead into gold and creating the elixir of life. The main reason why this story was so widely believed is that a book called Livre des figures hiéroglyphiques (Exposition of the Hieroglyphical Figures) was published in 1612 supposedly by Nicolas Flamel along with some other texts on alchemy around the same time and explained his creation of the philosopher’s stone. Evidence for this theory came from the facts that while Flamel was a simple scribe he somehow managed to become wealthy and many reported sightings of him plus a couple of books published by him during the 17^th century, three hundred years after his discovery of the stone. In addition to books apparently published by Flamel, more evidence for Flamel’s work on the philosopher’s stone was found when Vincenzo Cascariolo tried to decipher Flamel’s texts on alchemy in 1603. He was not able to reproduce the stone, but did succeed in synthesizing barium sulfide, a substance which glowed yellow after being left out in sunlight.

Nicolas Flamel's grave

           
            The story of Flamel inspired many alchemists like Newton and Cascariolo in their search for the philosopher’s stone. Sadly, none of the Alchemists who believed the story of Flamel would have had to look very far to figure out that the legend of Flamel was a complete fabrication. Flamel’s wife, Perenelle, had some money from previous marriages and he himself became achieved some wealth through real estate. He died in 1418 and both of their graves could easily be found in Paris and none of the evidence of his eternal life appeared until the 17^th century.  In reality he really was just a notary living in the 14^th century and there is no proof that he was nearly as wealthy as the philosopher’s stone should have mad him. He and his wife were both very catholic and donated quite a bit to charity.

 Sources:

The right alchemy: Harry Potter and Nicolas Flamel. Making gold was a wizard 14th-century idea. Unfortunately, it never happened. Schwarcz, Joe. The Gazette

Britannica Academic Addition

What should truly be 'Important?'

When looking back, we humans, of course, can't look at everything. Instead, we narrow our focus to the 'important' things. What, however, is really 'important?' We often look to large wars or movements, but often times we end up determining that things of relatively little significance at the time are 'important.' One example of this is the battle of Marathon. Scholars often look to this battle today as the beginning of Greece, yet it meant very little at the time. What, then, is 'importance' if not significance at the time? What all events we consider to be 'important' (wars, movements, etc.) share in common is a large impact upon our modern world. We see this idea of importance appear all over in the ways in which we study history.

The first place we see this is in the idea of local history. If the importance of an event is judged by its impact on the world around oneself, that key variable, the world around oneself, varies from place to place. This is why we humans place such importance on things like family history, state history, country history, and even continent history. What has impacted the geographic area around us is likely to impact us.

The second place we see this is in the idea of current events. The visible impact of an event tends to erode over time, meaning that current events often have a much larger visible impact, and thus a much greater historical importance than ones far in the past.

The third place we see this is in the study of history itself. This concept of importance underpins the idea of "Searching for the Modern World." The way we currently study history, we look at events in terms of their impacts, and we use those impacts to help make connections to our modern world.

Is this a good thing?

Maybe, maybe not. It's important to understand our modern world so we can better operate within it, but it's also important to understand the past. The past is the source of all emperics, and knowing those emperics, whether they have had any impact on our modern world, can help us understand how our world works on a broader scale. The past shows us what has worked and what has failed, and we can use those emperical examples to help us craft policies for the future. Perhaps it is time we re-evaluate our idea of importance. While we should still, of course, put focus on those events that have had a large impact on our modern world, we should also judge importance based on the value of the emperics of the event. This means that rather than focus on things like ancient culture, with a large impact on our modern world but few useful emperics, we might be better off focusing on things like uprisings and specific governmental policies, often with a small impact on our modern world, but with useful emperics and lessons for it nonetheless. We should remember not to cast out something out from importance, however, simply because it has had a large impact on our modern world. Learning about our modern world is good, and many things that have had large impacts upon our modern world (inventions, discoveries, etc.) also provide us with useful knowledge that we can use in other areas of our lives, another metric that we can use to judge importance.

The lesson from all of this is that we should remember that events are important for a few reasons: impact on our modern world, usefulness of information gained, and applicability of emperics learned, and that we should remember not to get too focused on a single one as to the exclusion of the others.

Above all, however, we should choose events that are interesting, for after all, I can't think of a more 'important' metric.

A (very) Brief History of the Babbage Engine and Early Mechanical Computing

The second No.2 Difference Engine under operation in San Jose

When Charles Babbage set out to build his difference engine, he did not anticipate that it would have a profound effect on our modern world. Instead, he simply set out to create a mechanical solution to a human problem. A bright mathematician, Babbage was frustrated by errors he found in tables produced by human computers, so he set out to automate the process. To do this, he began to design a mechanical computer, using industrial revolution technology. His idea involved the use of a system of gears, levers, and arms (a few of some 25,000 parts) to add numerical values set on columns. This system allowed the difference engine to tabulate polynomial functions, from which then could be approximated logarithmic and trigonometric functions. This machine was not without its problems, however.

Since the manufacturing tolerances, while attainable, were so high, the work was expensive. Due to this and the fact that the British government eventually became disinterested and annoyed at the cost, they eventually withdrew funding. Babbage, however, carried on and designed a printer for the difference engine (which printed results), the multipurpose, Turing complete computer (the Analytical Engine), and the difference engine no.2, which was an updated, streamlined version of the first engine but with fewer moving parts and more efficient operation. However, Babbage was not able to complete any of these, as did not have the money and disagreed constantly with his chief engineer.

It was not until the late twentieth century that Babbage's work was rediscovered. The London Science Museum had acquired Babbage's plans and began to construct a No. 2 difference engine in 1988. Their construction using Victorian-era tolerances and tools was successful, and they have subsequently built the an analytical engine, printer, and second no.2 difference engine, which currently resides in San Jose, California.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution Generic 2.0 license.

A Brief History of the Tulip

Originally cultivated in the Ottoman Empire, or modern day Turkey, the tulip is a flower whose delicate beauty, aesthetic symmetry, and colorful variety has allowed it to become the focal point of a flora-oriented craze denoted Tulipomania. After renowned botanist Carolus Clusius introduced the flowers to the Netherlands, the tulip suddenly became a source of rapidly acquired fortune that indicated the status of a wealthy European aristocrat. Prized for their seemingly never-ending variety, tulips were carefully cultivated to develop the most stunningly rare patterns and color combinations, with striped tulips becoming the most prized. When it was eventually discovered that the infinite variety of the tulips were due to numerous genetic mutations that could induce entirely new assortments of colors and patterns when appropriately paired, the tulip economy exploded, with the most expensive bulbs amounting to $30,000 each at the tulip industry's peak in 1634. Money wasn't the only form of payment used; a brewer exchanged his entire brewery for a single bulb, while it was common for prospective buyers to offer entire swaths of land or dozens of oxen for the price of a single tulip bulb. Everyone wanted the status and wealth that the innocent tulip promised.

In 1637, the flower that had once garnered astronomical sums of money instead became the source of an entire country's downfall. Fearful of the drastically increasing prices, a number of influential tulip traders lost interest in the industry and sold their carefully cultivated flowers on the market en masse. Prices dramatically dropped, and suddenly, the once fashionable trademark of status and wealth became    anathema as Holland's economy collapsed. Those who had relied on the magnificent flower for their livelihood were trapped; some fled, desperate to avoid imminent bankruptcy, while others committed suicide. After the Tulipomania in Holland died down, a similar tulip craze began, ironically, at the source of the flowers; Turkey was soon plunged into an identical "tulip epoch". In the American Industrial Revolution, tulips became a dual source of wealth and beauty in a changing, unpredictable world.

A Short History of Surgery

Surgery is an integral part of the lives of modern day people. But of course, surgery and healing the body have been important since early Neolithic and Mesopotamian times. The earliest people were primitive in their healing methods, using rocks or other hard tools to drill a hole through the skull to relieve pressure on the brain. In Mesopotamia, bronze tools resembling scalpels, knives, and other surgical tools were discovered. Another early method of medicine was bloodletting, which was intended to rid the body of whatever evil demons or toxins were hiding within. These methods, though basic, primitive, and probably dangerous, were the predecessors to modern surgery.

In Herculaneum and Pompeii surgery developed further with precise, recognizable tools that closely resemble those of today. There were scalpels, bone forceps, probes, tweezers, and needles with wool thread among many. In fact,  at the ruins of an ancient home in Herculaneum known as the "House of the Surgeon" were where most of these tools were found. The surgical instruments discovered in Herculaneum and Pompeii were advanced enough that their basic structure was maintained throughout western history. 

Vesalius was a 16th century scientist who is referred to today as the father of modern anatomy. He lived during the beginning of the Scientific Revolution: a time of heighted scientific activity when scientists were making monumental discoveries in mathematics, biology, physics, and astronomy. He worked at the University of Padua where he dissected human corpses to explain detailed anatomy to his students. Vesalius is also famous for his extremely thorough drawings of the human body, detailing bone structure, muscles, and internal organs. Before Vesalius, people had only a crude understanding of the workings and anatomy of the human body because no one had really dared dissect a body, but with Vesalius’s work people could better create surgical tools and improve medicine. 

During the Enlightenment period from the 17^th to 18^th centuries, there became a large public interest in all things scientific and philosophical. Thus, people dove at the core problem of health and sanitation, creating the first hospitals run by aristocrats. These hospitals then became publicly centered and owned. There was an increased awareness of sanitation and the prevention of diseases, which shaped a healthier population.

Today hospitals, surgery, medicine, and doctor's appointments are all a part of daily life. Many of the theories and tools invented by early Western thinkers provided a foundation of the surgery we have today. 
image 1: roman-medical.jpg from http://historyoftheancientworld.com/2011/01/surgery-in-ancient-times/
image 2: vesal_fabri2big.jpg from http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/history_02

The Lasting Effects of the French Revolution

As Americans, we are constantly heralded with the success and heroism of the American Revolution: its ability to establish a long-lasting stable Democracy. On the other side, there is the French Revolution; long and bloody with little final governmental result. The French government went from the monarch Louis XVI to Emperor Napoleon, two autocratic individual rulers. Although the French revolution was not a very successful in the end it had lasting less concrete effects: the French revolution was important in spreading and cementing enlightenment ideals. 

Source: Wikipedia French Revolution

While the American Revolution may have inspired other later revolutions and many ideas of the French revolution, the American Revolution did not disestablish a monarchal system that had been in place for over a millennia and the American Revolution did not spark an outrage with the king of Austria, the King of Prussia, and the pope. Maybe some of the impact of the French revolution lies in the ambiguity of texts of the French revolution. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizen notably gleams over the rights of minorities, women, and slaves while the original  American Constitution inconspicuously but tactfully denies the rights of these groups. In many ways, the issues brought forth by the French Revolution are many issues still dealt with today and the French revolution is instrumental to the formation of our modern world.

Scoffing at History

             Everyday, technology and science move forward at a rapid pace. We are always disproving statements that were formerly thought of as completely factual.

             We look back at history and scoff at those who believed that the sun revolved around the Earth. We laugh at those who believed that the earth was flat. We find it ridiculous that people used to cure most illness with leeches or by drilling a hole in the skull to “let the bad spirits out.”

"Trepanning" aka drilling holes in the skull. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

               This pattern of laughing at the past will likely continue. Many of our current assumptions about science are probably false. Three hundred years from now, everyone will probably laugh at the largely held beliefs of the early 21^st century.

                 Perhaps we should observe history more humbly, rather than assuming that everything we believe is right. We are more similar to our predecessors than we think.

                 All this begs the question, where will the future lead?  What else can we possibly discover and create? The invention of the television would have been completely unthinkable for people living a mere century before its invention. A laptop or an iPhone are nowhere near anything they could have even possibly conceived of. The idea of this blog itself would have baffled the minds of those of the 19^th century. What kind of advances will have been made two hundred years from now? It’s impossible to imagine.

Marie-Antoinette Kardashian

Credit to altrapoint.com

In a country where 95% of the population was starving, the people of the French Revolution were quick to attack Queen Marie-Antoinette. With top-notch Parisian designers clamoring to dress her and a house so large and beautiful that it was unimaginable to the large working class, her extravagant lifestyle was an easy target.
It's only been a little over a year since the Occupy movement swept the nation and it was common to find town squares clustered with people holding handmade signs and chanting, "We are the 99%!" The people were angry with the global wealth distribution that had created a small but thriving class of billionaires while millions of Americans were laid off from their jobs, evicted from their homes, and trapped in a struggle to recover from the Great Recession.

Credit to socialitelife.com

Follow Kim Kardashian on Instagram and you'll see the same thing day after day: shots of designer shoes, friends on yachts, and views from luxurious hotel balconies. Despite the hundreds of thousands of likes each picture receives, the comments are full of upset. People criticize Kim for bragging about her many privileges. They point out that some can't even afford their next meal, let alone the pair of $5,000 stilettos Kim buys without a second thought.
The French royal family and the Kardashians have their parallels. While the Jenner mansion (where half of the large family lives) does not begin to compare to the palace in Versailles, it carries the same message to many poverty-struck Americans of unnecessary glamour.
There are the differences. Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI were the rulers of their country, charged with the task of caring for their people. The Kardashian family has no such burden. They no doubt do many hours of community service, visiting hospitals and using their status for good.
The contradiction is this: while the French royal family was sent to the guillotine for their excessive spending and "Let them cake" attitude, the Kardashians only get millions of viewers on their reality show, "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," and more and more endorsement deals, appearances, and clothing lines. But, why?

Global Warming

       The Earth's general climate system is given energy by solar energy emitted from the sun. Earth absorbs around 70% of the incoming heat, and also gives off infrared energy7 already within its climate system. The overall climate of the earth is determined by a balance of absorbed and released heat. Atmospheric Gases, otherwise known as greenhouse gases, absorb this infrared energy that the Earth is trying to release. The process of atmospheric gases absorbing the Earth's energy and reducing the amount of heat omitted is known as the greenhouse effect. Water vapor and carbon dioxide, both greenhouse gases, are the main contributors to the greenhouse effect. However, not everyone knows that there are many other dangerous greenhouse gases, and that human-generated greenhouse gases make up 40% of the total effect. As more of these gases are released into the atmosphere, more heat becomes trapped and as a result the Earth's overall temperature rises. However, the effects of this global warming are not immediately noticed because much of this heat is stored within the depths of the ocean. Scientists have determined that from 1900-2001 the global temperature has risen 0.6 degrees Celsius, but when the time frame is expanded to 1900-2006, it becomes 0.74 degrees Celsius.
       During the industrial revolution, people in the U.S. needed more and more energy for the new technologies that were being created, like the steam engine. The U.S. mainly burned coal as an energy source, and became reliant on it. However, coal is a fossil fuel, or a natural fuel source formed by dead organisms, so it releases carbon dioxide when burned. The world has become reliant on fossil fuels as a source of energy: around 80% of the world's energy is from the use of fossil fuels.
       If this trend of global warming continues, there will be many consequences for it. The polar ice caps are currently melting, raising the sea level. If the sea level is raised high enough, it will eventually change our current shorelines and threaten cities that are close to sea levels. In addition, as the ocean grows warmer, more intense tropical storms will strike. These are few of the many problems that will arise due to global warming. Rapid climate changes will occur, and there is no guarantee that people will be able to adapt quickly enough.

Ramanathan, V. and Tim P. Barnett. "Experimenting with earth." The Wilson Quarterly Vol. 27, No. 2 (April 2003), pp. 78. Elibrary (accessed February 10, 2013). 

Image sources:
 http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/global-warming2.htm

Neoclassical Architecture

Our trend is neoclassical architecture, which involved the design and construction of buildings to meet the romanticized pureness of form of ancient Roman and Greek buildings, which the architects considered superior the to late baroque flamboyance of the 18th Century.
Neoclassical architecture exemplifies the spirit of the Enlightenment by showing that, especially around times of revolution, art and architecture often goes along with the revolution. In this case, buildings became more simple and rational, with a greater emphasis on function than previous styles. This creation affects our modern life and modern world by indicating a return to more simple and more minimalistic forms of architecture very prevalent in our society today. By moving away from the lavish baroque and rococo stylings, architects paved the way for future architectural movements based upon form instead of upon decoration (such as modern and minimalist design and architecture.) 

Neoclassicism is a movement that sprung up in the age of Enlightenment that centered around Greek and Roman styles, especially art.  Architecture was and is a large factor in this movement, and both in past records and buildings of today we can see the influences of Neoclassicism.  The style includes columns, marble, domes, and an imposing presence.  Notable buildings today that are neoclassical include the United States Capital Building, the White House, Churches, Schools, and Federal Buildings all over the world,
All images courtesy of wikimedia commons under the terms of the GNU free-documentation license.