Inventions Timeline Middle Ages Innovations

Though there is a dispute as to the exact years that bookend the Middle Ages, most sources say 500 A.D. to 1450 A.D. Many history  books call this time the Dark Ages as it reflected a lull in learning and literacy, but, in fact, there were plenty of inventions and highlights during this time.   The time period was known for its famine, plague, feuding and warring, namely the biggest period of bloodshed was during the Crusades. The church was the overwhelming power in the West and the most educated people were the clergy.  While there was a suppression of knowledge and learning, the Middle Ages continued to be a period full of discovery and innovation, especially in the Far East. A lot of inventions sprouted from Chinese culture. The following highlights range from the year 1000 to 1400. Paper Money as Currency   In 1023, the first government-issued paper money was printed in China.  Paper money was an innovation that replaced paper money that had been issued by private enterprises in the early 10th century in the Szechuan province. When he returned to Europe, Marco Polo wrote a chapter about paper money, but paper money did not take off in Europe until Sweden began printing paper currency in 1601.   Movable Type Printing Press   Although Johannes Gutenberg is usually credited with inventing the first printing press about 400 years later, it was, in fact, Han Chinese innovator Bi Sheng (990–1051) during the  Northern Song Dynasty  (960–1127), who gave us the  worlds first movable type printing press  technology. He  printing  paper  books  from ceramic  porcelain china  materials around 1045. Magnetic Compass   The magnetic compass was rediscovered in 1182 by the European world for maritime use. Despite European claims to the invention, it was first used by the Chinese around 200 A.D. mainly for fortune-telling. The Chinese used the magnetic compass for sea travel in the 11th century. Buttons for Clothing Functional buttons with buttonholes for fastening or closing clothes made their first appearance in  Germany  in the 13th century.  Prior to that time, buttons were ornamental rather than functional.  Buttons became widespread with the rise of snug-fitting garments in 13th- and 14th-century  Europe. The use of buttons used as adornment or decoration have been found dating back to the Indus Valley Civilization around  2800 B.C.,  China  around 2000 B.C. and the ancient Roman civilization. Numbering System   Italian mathematician, Leonardo Fibonacci introduced the Hindu-Arabic numbering system to the Western World  primarily through his composition in 1202 of  Liber Abaci, also known as The  Book of Calculation. He also introduced Europe to the sequence of  Fibonacci numbers. Gunpowder Formula   English scientist, philosopher, and Franciscan friar Roger Bacon  were the first European to describe in detail the process of making  gunpowder. Passages in his books, the Opus Majus and the Opus Tertium are usually taken as the first European descriptions of a mixture containing the essential ingredients of gunpowder. It is believed that  Bacon most likely witnessed at least one demonstration of  Chinese  firecrackers, possibly obtained by Franciscans  who visited the Mongolian Empire during this period.  Among his other ideas, he proposed flying machines and motorized ships and carriages.   Gun It is hypothesized that the Chinese invented black powder during the 9th century. A couple hundred years later, a  gun or  firearm  was invented by Chinese innovators  around 1250 for usage as a signaling and celebration device and remained as such for hundreds of years.  The oldest surviving firearm is the  Heilongjiang hand cannon,  which dates back to 1288. Eyeglasses   It is estimated about 1268  in Italy, the earliest version of eyeglasses was invented. They were used by monks and scholars. They were held in front of the eyes or balanced on the nose. Mechanical Clocks A major advance occurred with the invention of the  verge escapement, which made possible the first mechanical clocks around 1280 in  Europe. A verge escapement is a mechanism in a mechanical clock that controls its rate by allowing the gear train to advance at regular intervals or ticks. Windmills The earliest recorded use of windmills found by archaeologists is 1219 in China.  Early windmills were used to power grain mills and water pumps.  The  concept of the windmill spread to Europe after the Crusades. The earliest European designs, documented in 1270. In general, these mills had four blades mounted on a central post. They had a cog and ring gear that translated the horizontal motion of the central shaft into vertical motion for the grindstone or wheel which would then be used for pumping water or grinding grain. Modern Glassmaking The 11th century saw the emergence in  Germany  of new ways of making sheet glass by blowing spheres. The spheres were then formed into cylinders and then cut while still hot, after which the sheets were flattened. This technique was perfected in 13th century  Venice around 1295.  What made Venetian  Murano glass  significantly different was that the local quartz pebbles were almost pure silica, which made the clearest and purest glass.  The Venetian ability to produce this superior form of glass resulted in a trade advantage over other glass producing lands. First Sawmill for Shipmaking In 1328, some historical sources show that a sawmill was developed to form lumber to build ships. A blade is pulled back and forth using a reciprocating saw and water wheel system. Future Inventions Future generations built upon the inventions of the past to come up with marvelous devices, some that were unfathomable to the people in the Middle Ages. The following years include lists of those inventions.

The Government Protecting Citizens from Corruption

Introduction The fundamental ground of our democracy is â€Å"The First Amendment† that gives its citizens the promise of freedom of expression. The First Amendment may be seen as a concept of basic freedom, which carries the idea that it, is more important to practice rather than to protect it. Regardless if a person is liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, the role within the United States government is to carry out essential responsibilities its citizens cannot perform. The United States citizens are responsible of electing politicians into government positions to solve the problems the country faces. One of those problems is corruption. The power of money is at the center of political corruption and even though fraud has been in existence for a long time, in recent years it has become a lot worse. In the past when politicians sought to run for office each individual had to raise a few thousand dollars, businesses in the past were smaller, manageable and the risk factors were minimal. Currently political contributions run in the millions, making Washington a booming business. Most of the money that is raised goes to lobbyist, campaign aids, deceiving PR operations, and pretentious grass-roots groups. The American citizens have felt the repercussion with the political and lobbying establishments who are now in control of the public debates and the policy-making process all for the benefit of the well-financed special interest groups. 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Truman and Stalin Eats and West Rivalry free essay sample

Shamil Aly IB History HL Period E 26th January 2011 Re-do Test Essay (Question 2) During the Second World War, Truman and Stalin were allies because the US and the USSR were the two most powerful countries that took part in the war. Their will do defeat Germany is what kept their alliance stable and they became much more powerful after combining their powers. After the Second World War the east and the west were having bad relations which caused a separation of the two areas, Stalin controlled the east while Truman controlled the western areas. The events that occurred during this separation led up to the start of the Cold War. This event was post revisionist; this means that both Stalin and Truman were to blame for start of the Cold War. The reason why they became enemies was because they both wanted to prove to be more powerful and that just made things worse. Both Stalin and Truman had similar and different actions and thoughts while they were in power and their alliance ended which caused them to become eager on making every attempt possible on attacking each other. Before the Cold War both Stalin and Truman were quite defensive. They didn’t plan on any attack to another country but instead focused mostly on protecting their land and themselves in general. This was before the development of the atomic weapons which then changed this and made them feel more confident with their military. They both also had alliances with other countries and this made them feel more secure. The USSR had a stable alliance with China and West Germany which had just been founded. On the other hand the US had an alliance with two European countries being the UK and France. I believe that the fact that they played a defensive role was a good choice because if a war started then many countries would get involved. Later on East Germany was founded and became allies with the US. This means that Germany was split into East and West because they had different allies. Truman and Stalin decide to make a move and overtake Korea, what actually ended up happening was that Korea got split into North and South. Truman was in power of North Korea while Stalin was in power of South Korea. This agitated Truman and Stalin to start a war between each other because they both wanted to keep power in Korea. Then the Marshall Plan containment was made, it stated that the US would support the European countries economically by making loans so that they could rebuild their economy from the damage caused by the Second World War. The Comecon was the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance which was founded by the Soviet Union. It was similar to the ERP and the Comecon stated that Economical support would given to the European countries in order for them to rebuild. Stalin and Truman both had ideological and realpolitik thoughts about the world and didn’t just have one way of thinking. They both refused to stay neutral and they wanted to gain as much power as they could. The atomic age began in 1945 and it started with the US which was led by Stalin. The atomic weapons were developed in private by the Manhattan Project. The Project continued at around the end of the Second World War until July 1945 in which a successful bomb was produced. Stalin was Communist while Truman was Capitalist. Truman tried to end the spread of Communism and he used the atomic monopoly as a threat to the Communists since the US was the only country with atomic weapons. The time in which the atomic weapons became successful was basically the start of the Cold War. US lead the monopoly but scientists figured that it was just a matter of time before Stalin/the USSR developed atomic weapons too. During this time period in which the atomic weaponry wasn’t developed in the USSR made the US feel very powerful. The Truman Doctrine was then brought up by Truman himself. It basically stated that the US would support any government which was being threatened, the Truman Doctrine didn’t mention anything about communism but Truman said that he would let any country get taken over by the USSR which was communist. Stalin had broken promises at Yalta and so Truman decided to get him back by trying to remove troops from Eastern Europe and holding up free elections from the countries that were part of Eastern Europe. Stalin wanted to turn Greece to become communist and so Truman saw this as a good opportunity to start a war against the communists. Truman decided that the best option would be to move all the communists to Russia. Berlin was a Capitalist island in East Germany which was led by Truman. He changed the currency of West Berlin and wanted to make Germany more independent. Truman made a blockade in Berlin and no rivers would lead to Berlin. Truman supplied food to Berlin with the use of aircrafts as a mode of transport. The West lost around 100 million US Dollars using the aircraft method of transport, around 79 deaths occurred and overall it was very expensive. Stalin gave up on Berlin and decided to leave it as a Capitalist island. Stalin then claimed victory of East Berlin and East Germany. West Germany became independent, the Berlin Blockade made Stalin and Truman realize that if they kept wanting more power then the war would never end. This caused the creation of NATO. After Roosevelt died the East and West created bad relations with each other because Truman didn’t get along with Stalin while Roosevelt and Stalin had made peace between each other. Also the UK was being led by a new president which was inexperienced and couldn’t create peace between Stalin and Truman unlike the vice president who could do so. The Cold War started because both Stalin and Truman were eager to gain as much power possible and this created a rivalry between them, the development of the atomic bomb just added to the reasons of why the Cold War should have started. Both Truman and Stalin contributed to the breakdown of the East and West relations.

Politic Fights Essays - Arbitration, , Term Papers

Politic Fights Every election year brings on the same hurdle for the firefighter's union. The mayoral candidates approach the union and ask for their support throughout the election. This is a major decision the union (union representatives) has to make. The representatives of the union have to approach the membership with their recommendation for whom to support so that the candidate will have full support from the union. Hopefully, the candidate chosen by the representatives of the union wins the election. If the candidate chosen does not win the election, the elected candidate not supported by the union, understandably, he has little or no respect for the union at that time. In the 1993 election year the union had to make a major decision on whom to support for mayoral position, the one we chose was defeated. Because he did not win, there was a struggle between union and management. This did not come about because the union was looking to control the new administration, but the town wanted benefits given back which were negotiated with the mayor that we were supporting. The union's main goal during this time frame was to get the new administration to have some kind of respect for us when we went down to the town hall to resolve issues that arose. For the first few years, the only way the town would see it our way was when the arbitrator's decision was in our favor. This was quite often. Since 1993, I have been either on the executive board or vice president of the union and received experience in grievances, arbitration and negotiations. The town is forever taking us to arbitration and seldom winning. We have a contract that protects us. Our contract was negotiated collectively by the union and management. When a new administration controls the finances of the town, their first goal is usually to attack the benefits in our contract. The administration now, which is running the town of Johnston, took over in 1994. They thought that the firefighter contract was a lucrative one. The town leaders thought that they would win many benefits back by just taking us to arbitration. Along with this attitude, the town leaders had little respect for the union and the leaders of the union because of the reasons mentioned before. The town of Johnston's first task with the firefighters union was to negotiate a contract. They came after our Blue Cross insurance, pension, pay, and our promotional exam. They would soon find out that the firefighters union was in no position to just give benefits back to the town. They were in for a fight. These negotiations went on for an extensive amount of time. Being part of negotiations in the past, I knew that most concessions the town was asking for were part of negotiations and immaterial to them. After weeding out the non-essential proposals we were down to the bottom line. The raise was the last item left that would make or break the agreement. The negotiation team, which I was a part of, came up with a unique way to receive a raise. We were to receive no raise for eighteen months then go from a bimonthly payment schedule to biweekly a payment schedule, which gave the union a eight percent raise that year and a total of thirteen percent over a three year period. The town agreed and the contract was signed. The union and town ended the negotiations, with the union not conceding to any issues we felt were significant to us. This would be our first major victory. The town's next fight was not to pay the union members their longevity the way it was calculated in the contract. We went to the town leaders to rectify the situation but the administrators would not negotiate anything but what they thought the contract said. Since the town and the union could not reach an agreement, the union filed a grievance with the American Arbitration Association (this association will schedule a date and an arbitrator to hear the case) so that the two parties could resolve the issue. This was another major mistake the town made, in not having any respect for the unions advice in how to handle the dispute the town cost the taxpayers money in arbitration and in payment to the union members. The town would not take our advice no matter how straightforward we were with them. I can understand that they thought we were trying to manipulate them into the way we seen