Invent Your Own Technology
In the Wildlife Preserve near my house I found on the “Deer Trail” an old tree which had recently fallen near the path with such violence that it had split itself midway up the trunk. I climbed up on the tree and kicked the edge of the split until a piece of wood approximately a foot long, six inches wide and two to four inches deep broke off. I now had a material upon which a text could be written. The possible implements for writing the text were limited to some sort of cutting tool or a pigment and applicator. Due to the season the text was created in, winter, the only viable option was a cutting tool - in this case two medium sized stones of a hard density and sharp edges. The final text written upon the surface were the words “My log” and an Anglo-Saxon rune representing my name, Clay. The resulting text is permanent in as much as the wood itself remains intact. It is highly portable, not very creative but limited in its associated technologies as it requires materials ubiquitous in any wooded area.
Before writing the text, however, it was necessary to prepare the surface of the wood for it was dirty and contained some mold. This process will probably be necessary for any text created in this manner for the wood is naturally in contact with dirt and very susceptible to molds and other deteriorating organisms. In this particular instance, the wood was cleaned off with a rough stone by scraping the surface until the undesired particles were removed. Once this was accomplished it was possible to begin writing. Originally I had planned to write the title “There and Back Again” from J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. However, the size of the wood as well as the rather dull e...
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...orious. Physical effort is required to write the letters, to remove the wood. It is very limited in terms of the scope of possible texts, as well as the alphabet used. However, it is sufficient to communicate a short or simple message to another individual. It is suitable for small texts, but that is perhaps the full potential of this technology.
Works Cited
Baron, Dennis. “From Pencils to Pixels.” Writing Material. Ed. Tribble, Evelyn B. and Trubek, Anne. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc., 2003. 36-52.
Eisenstein, Elizabeth. “Some Features of Print Culture.” Writing Material. Ed. Tribble, Evelyn B. and Trubek, Anne. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc., 2003. 125-134.
Ong, Walter. “Writing is a Technology that Restructures Thought.&38221 Writing Material. Ed. Tribble, Evelyn B. and Trubek, Anne. New York: Addison Wesley , Inc., 2003. 316-335.
With only one hundred eighty-seven soldiers and fifteen civilians the Texans were able to hold off the two thousand Mexicans for thirteen days before the Mexican army finally defeated the small Texan force at the Alamo. Even though Texas had lost the Battle of the Alamo, this was just a stepping stone for Texas to be able to gain its independence from Mexico. The state of Texas came under Mexican control after Mexico acquired its freedom from Spain. (www.History.com) A man by the name of Moses Austin, an American business man, met with the Spanish authorities in San Antonio to convince them to allow three hundred Anglo-American families to start an American colony in Texas. After being granted permission to bring three hundred families into
From the early days of pioneers and settlers, thousands of Americans began to move into what would become Texas. The Mexican government was wanting to populate the Texas area to increase the economy. For a long period of time the Mexican government had placed many laws on the territory, but none that were deeply inforced. Finally when a new dictatorship came into power, they began to enforce the laws. Slavery among other issues
Chimpanzees make tools and use them to procure foods and for social exhibitions; they have refined hunting tactics requiring collaboration, influence and rank; they are status cognizant, calculating and capable of trickery; they can learn to use symbols and understand facets of human language including some interpersonal composition, concepts of number and numerical sequence and they are proficient in spontaneous preparation for a future state or event.
Now, the Mexican Revolution was just a small beginning for the eventual state of Texas. Back in 1809, Texas was just a provenance in the Spanish Empire and its inhabitants were mostly converted Native Americans and people of Spanish descent, but not native born of Spain. The Spanish born people had more rights and were, according to the law, superior to all others. This and more oppression by the Spanish against the Mexicans (i.e. the Native Americans and non-Spanish born), caused an uprising by the common people that was started by a Catholic priest in 1809. It would take 16 more years before Mexico had won its independence from Spain like the US had from Great Britain.
13 October 1834 was the first revolutionary meeting of the American citizens who’d settled in Mexico, in the area soon to be known as Texas. The people attempted a movement that soon was laid to rest by the Mexican Congress. Attempts at independence were silenced for the time being and the elections of 1835 proceeded forward. With Santa Anna moving to control Mexico, and taxes increasing, Texans grew restless and rowdy.
Our earliest ancestors are primates. They are our closest relatives which is why we can see our behavior’s and practices in them. If we observe them we can get a better understanding of them and us, human beings. But unfortunately we all don’t get the chance to see a Primate right in our backdoor. So the best thing I could do for my observation was to visit them at the zoo.
The Russian writer Ivan Turgenev wrote in Fathers and Sons in 1862, "A picture shows me at a glance what it takes dozens of pages of a book to expound” (Turgenev 196). Mark Twain was a living testament to that belief because iillustrations were an integral part of Mark Twain’s published work. They embellished his stories, informed the reader, and often reflected his humor. However, today’s fictional novels rarely include illustrations beyond the cover and fly leaf. This lack of illustrations has become more the norm in the digital publishing world because the illustrations often do not translate well to the digital format. My research paper will delineate the reasons that illustrations were relevant and necessary for the 19th century publication and why they are less relevant in the digital age. I will show that illustrations played an essential part in the success of Mark Twain’s books (1) because he made them an integral part of his writing, giving clarity to his written words; (2) because of the subscription publishing model of his era, and, (3) because of Twain’s dependence on them to describe his characters. However, the digital and audio publishing market of today has lessened the impact of illustrations in modern literary works. In Twain’s 19th century era, books were often a work of art as well as a literary treasure. The books I read today on my e-reader or listen to on “Audible” versions -- even Twain’s books -- almost never have a visual impact like Twain’s books had in the 19th century.
Bolter, Jay David. Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print. Maywah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001.
Aeneas shares the same emotional ties with his ships; failure of one causes depression in the other. Throughout the epic, the devastation of Aeneas’ fleet shakes the spirit of its captain. In the initial portions of his journey, mighty storms and rough waters batter his fleet, causing many of the vessels to plunge into the dep...
In the poem, Virgil says that all Romans ought to have two certain virtues: he must remain a pious Roman citizen, and he must remain loyal to the Roman race. In Virgil’s poem, he uses Aeneas as a portrayal of not only a roman hero, but also as the ideal Roman citizen. For a man to be pious, he must do what he is called to do and follow his destiny. Aeneas is above all pious. He follows the will of the gods, even when it makes him suffer. Aeneas’ destiny is to lead the Trojan people to the new land of Rome. Although this is tough for him to do and he runs into difficulties along the way, he keeps on striving towards his final goal. Aeneas also, throughout the entire poem, remains loyal to the Roman race. there are times that it would be easy for him to go against the Romans, but he remains loyal and keeps on fighting for the empire. Aeneas is used to represent the ideal roman citizen and the ideal Roman hero, but these characteristics do not surface until the poem is nearly over. As the poem is coming to a close, Aeneas begins to explain how it is his duty to fight Turnus. He does not have the desire to have the battle with Turnus, but he has the desire to follow his destiny and do what he has been called to do. He says, “Hold back your anger! Now the t...
In Virgil’s The Aeneid, there are many parallels found in Homer’s The Odyssey. In each epic, the heroes, Aeneas and Odysseus, are on a journey “home.” Aeneas is on the search of a new home for he and his companions to settle since Troy has been destroyed, Odysseus on the other hand is attempting to return to his home he left years earlier to fight the Trojan War. They both have Gods against them and helping them, both Aeneas and Odysseus are both held back by women, both voluntary and involuntarily, and they both have experiences visiting the Underworld. Despite these similarities, there are differences between the two characters and it reflects their values and the society they live in. Aeneas relies on his strength as a warrior, where as Odysseus uses his deception to survive which reflects how Aeneas is truly Roman is versus Greek.
and writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 12th ed. New York: Pearson, 2013. 32-37
When I was assigned to create my own writing technology I thought, “that’s going to be easy.” It was not easy. When conflicted with this assignment, the first thing I had to think about was “what am I going to write with?” I decided after what seemed like hours of brainstorm, to settle on a stick for a writing utensil. Next came ink. I first debated on creating my own ink, for this I would have to use things like books, or the Internet. Since books or use of the Internet were not in the spirit of the assignment, I used something else. I had to think what would stick to a surface and create enough of a contrast that someone would be able to read it. I came up with the idea of using some sort of fresh fruit. Frozen fruit, although cheaper, probably wouldn’t have worked well. Blueberries, as expensive as they were, seemed to be the best solution. I mashed the blueberries into a little dish, and then began to write. But then I realized I had nothing to write on. Making paper would have been hard. I can’t write on the ground, cause it wouldn’t be as permanent or portable. I found some bark from firewood that my dad had cut up. I grabbed the biggest chunk and began to write using my own creation.
Through various observations and assumptions, there have been conversations on whether or not overconsumption of food is an addiction. However, many have come to the conclusion that food is an addiction if it is overconsume excessively than it is necessary for an individual’s diet. Nevertheless, food addiction can create health issues that can affect an individual’s body. Even though, many individual may have such knowledge of overconsumption of food; however, many may choose to ignore the consequences that comes with food addiction. Becoming a food addict is harmful and dangerous to an individual’s health.
It is difficult to escape the influence of technology on modern life. It lurks behind every door: the classroom, home, office, and store. There are many who are resistant to new technology, saying that technology causes harm to society. These claims are often made without the realization that technology also includes important and indispensable parts in their life such as writing and the tools for writing. Writing was one of the first technologies invented. Technology has now become so entrenched in the majority of cultures around the world that it is hard to imagine a life or society without writing. For those that maintain a majority of technology beyond writing is harmful, imagine the difficulty in writing without the help of other technologies, which includes pencils, paper, computers, printing presses, and a number of other technological aids.