Biology Essay 9

Fruits are “expensive” for a plant to produce, in the sense that the plant must use a lot of nutrients, sugars, water and space to create something that the plant will ultimately “throw away.” Is it worth it (from the plant’s point of view)?

When a plant is creating a fruit it is like a protective barrier for the seed to ensure the seeds safety, and keeping the seed surrounded has a lot of benefits. While it acts as a protective barrier it also makes sure that the seed will be carried away from the original plant so that the seeds can be fertilized and blossom into a new plant. There are many ways that the seed can be passed on, one way is when humans pick the fruit we eat the fruit and discard the seed depending on where it lands it can be fertilized and grow. Another way that seeds can be fertilized is when an animal eats the fruit it gets passed on through the digestive system and discarded when the animal discards it’s waste and the seed is surrounded by fertilizer and can grow.

The tree is like a parent who wants their child to grow up and blossom, and the tree makes the fruit to ensure that their “child” will go on and become a new plant and also to ensure that they have children and their species can reproduce.

History Western Civilization Essay 18

What was the Carolingian Renaissance, and why was it significant?

The Carolingian Renaissance was when a man named Charlemagne wanted to restore the old glory of Rome so he sought to rebuild it but with Christianity at the root of the new Rome. In this period of time there was not a lot of original works of art and literature because Charlemagne basically copied a lot of the old works of literature and even based his autobiography on the stories of ancient Rome. Charlemagne also made education available to everyone whether they were in the church or not. We also where given our writing from a text called the Carolingian Miniscule where there are spaces between words when we write, and we have certain symbols for different purposes to clarify what we mean.

Describe the process by which Christianity was spread in England.

Englad at the time when Christianity started to spread there was taken over mostely by a group of people called the Saxons, and this happened because there had been so much peace in England that they forgot how to defend themselves so they hired a group of people called the Saxons to defend them. The Saxons saw this as an opportunity to take over England and they did. Pope Gregory the Great wanted to convert the Saxons into Christianity but many of the other Popes and people who had lived in England before the Saxons had invaded their land were very bitter at the Saxons and did not want to tell the Saxons about Christ, so Gregory set sail with some other Popes to go tell the Saxons about Christ. The Saxons did eventually convert to Christianity and after a while England took on Roman style of Christianity and still have it that way.

History Western Civilization Essay 17

Discuss the shift in power from the Merovingians to the Carolingians. Why did it occur, and how?

These two groups were both Frankish people and when their leader Clovis was baptized things began to change and not necessarily for the better. It was custom for the Franks that when the leader of a people had converted to a different belief the people would be forced to change their religion by force. This made many people question if the Franks were really Catholic or if they did it under pressure and practiced their own beliefs in secret, and the answer is yes. There was also a lot of blood-shed because the kingdom would be divided between the sons after the king died and they wanted to rule all of it. They did not care who they killed, if it was for their own personal gain they would do it. After many years of this happening the Carolingians were a part of the church and they had gotten a hold of some power after Charles Martel had defeated the Muslims in 732.

What was the significance of the Papal-Frankish Alliance? What were two factors that helped make the alliance possible?

The Carolingians were held in much higher regard in the church because they would act like Catholics, and the opposite was said for the Merovingians. Because they were liked more by the Pope a man named Pepin asked the Pope to give the Carolingians control over the Frankish people. The Pope said yes and he did this because they needed protection against a group of people called the Lombards and he saw this as a way of helping the church. The Carolingians were given power over the Frankish people in 751, after a lot of negotiating Pepin had gotten back what had been taken by the Lombards and gave it back to the church.

Western Literature Essay 17

“How important were the miracles in the book’s account of Jesus’ early ministry?”

Jesus used his ministry to teach people about God and how he loved them and if they followed God they would have a good life. Jesus used miracles to show people the power that he had and the power that God had, and he used parables to teach people about God’s kingdom. One of the most known parables is the parable of a mustard seed, Jesus is teaching a crowd about God and he uses a tiny mustard seed to help them understand. Even if there is a tiny seed, once planted and nourished and taken care of it can grow and become a huge plant. This was a representation of God’s kingdom and how it can and will grow.

Now onto the miracles, Jesus used miracles as a form of showing authority and sovereignty over the people but he also showed the kindness and grace of God when he healed these people. Other times it was to only show power, like the time Jesus walked on water but most of Jesus’s miracles were performed on people.

I would say that Jesus’s miracles were needed in the very beginning to show the power that Jesus had to prove that he was the messiah. They also helped him heal the sick and may people came to see him for that reason, but many times they would stay after to hear him preach. Now in this day and age I would say that miracles are not needed as much because Christians have seen what God can do through people and can testify to it, so it is not needed as much anymore.

Biology Essay 8

How does photosynthesis affect the transfer of energy through an ecosystem? Consider the forms of energy that are typically available, and processes that make this energy available to other organisms in your answer.

When photosynthesis occurs it is taking the carbon, water, and sunlight in the air and transferring it into energy or food for the plant. This changes the ecosystem because when the carbon and water is leaving the atmosphere it takes the carbon and expels the oxygen that humans and animals breathe, ensuring that we can live. That is not the only way that photosynthesis can help us, once photosynthesis occurs the plant can grow and get bigger and then some herbivores such as a cow can eat the plant and get their energy from the plant, then we can eat the cow and get our energy from the cow. So it is all very connected and weaved together into a system that helps all of the living creatures. This changes an ecosystem because there are plants dying, animals coming and dying, and humans coming.

History Western Civilization Essay 16

Why was Rome significant in the history of Western civilization?

Rome was a very influential country and to this day we have been influenced by the Roman culture. Some of the most notable are the roads and the architecture, we now have roads and paths that we can build and follow and we took those ideas from the Romans. The Romans started to build roads way back before Jesus was born and that was one of their contributions to society, many of the original roads are still being used to this day. We modeled our roads after the Romans and they are not as good but we still learned how to make them from the Romans. Another thing that we took from the Romans is the architecture we have some very similar looking buildings and houses that the Romans built. There are other things as well such as literature, language, art, and even our political system.

What was the significance of St. Augustine in Christian history?

St. Augustine before a Christian looked for answers everywhere as to what life was about and who was in control of it, one of his biggest questions was how are we positive that what we believe is correct. At the time when he was teaching Platonism he had heard about a man who was a Christian who was a very good speaker, Augustine wanted to hear him speak so he and one of hid friends went to go listen to him. Augustine was amazed by him and after a year of listening to him preach he decided to become a Christian. After he had become a Christian and many years of studying he began to debate against others who believed in Platonism and other beliefs, he cleared up some questions about Christianity and developed a way that they could understand Christianity. After many years of preaching the people of Rome blamed Christianity for the collapse of Rome and he defended it by saying that Rome was not a city of man but a city of God.

Western Literature Essay 16

“What was Horace’s concept of personal ethical cause and effect?”

Horace believed that you should be emotionless and not care about anything because it was all in the fate of some higher being, even though he never specifies who that higher being is. It could be the gods or the fates or chance he never says who is in ultimate power. Apart from the religious aspect of the last sentence this is called Stoicism, it is where you believe that everything you do does not matter because you have no control over the outcome or the next series of events that are going to happen. You should also never be scared for the future because you have no control over it, it is a way of saying you are not responsible for the results of your actions and just a way to shrug off those responsibilities.

Another thing that he supported was having only a little bit of money to spare, he was not saying to be poor or cheap, but he did not believe that you should be rich in money. His thought was that if you are rich and money is the only thing that defines you, then what makes it so important, You can not take it with you when you die so why be rich? He thought that you should only have enough to spare some and then you were in the golden area money wise.

There are five main themes in Horace’s Odes that I would like to go through.

1. He does not specify where the authority comes from. He does not say if it is the Fates, Jove, Fortune, or Chance, or the gods. I suppose he did not think that it really mattered because after all, everything that happens to you is random and out of your control.
2. In his books Augustus was the leader, he probably did not want to get on any Roman official’s bad side so he made Augustus as the leader.
3. Again we do not know who controls us but we do know that ethics does not control us. That is because there are no ethics or consequences because it is all random, and surely your actions could not have an effect on what will happen to you.
4. The sanctions are random and you should not worry about them because nothing matters because you are going to die anyway.
5. If you do end up having something good happen to you don’t think that it matters either because it will not last. He says to enjoy it while you have it, but do not expect more of it.

In my conclusion I want to talk about a couple of the problems with these statements. Just a disclaimer I am not saying that I am completely right, these are just my thoughts on why these statements and life style do not work.

1. We are humans and we worry and if you are not a worrier that is great, but we are all going to worry about something at one point or another and going through life emotionless is useless because we are going to feel emotion. We feel emotion for the people we love, or don’t like, we feel emotion for ourselves. If we feel sad or hurt or angry we are going to feel those things and act out upon those feelings unless you have a very good self-control.
2. If Horace so strongly believes that having a lot of money is bad for you and does not matter, then why does he think that having just enough money to live comfortably matters. You could make the argument that he wants to live comfortably but as Horace very clearly says that good things do not matter in fact nothing matters, so why is it that Horace now believes that having enough money to live off of matters.

History Western Civilization Essay 15

In what ways did Christianity represent a departure from the ideals and practices of ancient Greece and Rome?

In many ways the Christians were very different from the Greeks and the Romans, one of the most notable being that the Christians believe in one God and the Greeks and Romans believe in many different gods. The Christians departed from a lot of the customs of the Roman citizens being that they would refuse to call the emperor’s god’s or having power, they were very kind and helped the widows and orphans not just helped them but were kind and generous and loving towards them. They also were kind to everyone which was not customary, if you had an enemy you pursue them and get revenge. The Christians were kind and even helped their enemies if they were hurt or sick. Many of the other people said that they were a peaceful people and did not understand it, while others mocked them and scorned the fact of kindness.

Discuss the relationship between Rome and the Visigoths.

The Visigoths were a Germanic people who respected Rome and wanted to be a part of their civilization, so Rome let them be just outside their borders and see how the people behaved and if they just wanted war. After many years of living outside the borders a group of people called the Huns were attacking and killing many people and villages around the area and the Visigoths were scared that they would be next, so Rome finally decided to let them in but they had to give up their weapons and give their youth up to the government. They were feed very poorly and they were getting angry that they had to give their children up just to be able to eat, and Rome was very aware of this the Visigoths leader was called to a meeting that was really just a way to kill their leader. The leader was informed of this and fled back to his people and then decided to revolt. They fought for many years and Rome had to call soldiers from their borders to help fight which let other Germanic people to help fight against Rome and finally the Visigoths were successful in defeating Rome and pillaged for three days.

Western Literature Essay 15

“What was Ovid’s view of the gods’ ethical performance?”

Ovid displayed the gods as having ultimate power and being in control of everything, but they could be outsmarted and you run the risk of angering them and you as in many cases could be turned into an animal.

In the story of Arachne and Minerva (also known as Athena) Arachne was an incredible weaver and Minerva was also very good at weaving, Arachne was boasting of her great ability when Minerva challenged her to a weaving contest. They both started weaving in and out with beautiful colors and with great speed and ability, while they were working a big crowd showed up watching the weavers work. When they had finished the two weavers showed off their works of art Minerva’s picture was full of beauty, but Arachne’s was even more magnificent. Her colors were bold and bright and the art work showed many depictions of the gods in horrid ways. It showed them killing people, hurting them, but the picture was so beautiful it looked like it had come too life. Out of spite and with a great rage Minerva cursed Arachne to spin and weave forever, her arms started to multiply and she started to shrink her fingers were leaving her hand and turned into a very small paw, and Arachne had just been turned into the first spider.

The next story is about Apollo and Cupid and one day Apollo was hanging around and Cupid showed up and Apollo was taunting Cupid, mocking his power so Cupid decided that he was going to get back at Apollo by making him fall in love with a tree nymph. Cupid shot his arrow of love at Apollo, and an arrow of hate at the nymph. Apollo would chase the nymph making a fool of himself while Cupid would watch and laugh at the stupidity of Apollo, one day while Apollo was chasing the nymph she prayed to the river to change her into a tree so she could be left alone and she was changed into a laurel tree. Apollo loved the tree and the laurel tree represented Apollo because that was the first laurel tree ever and the story became famously known.

So as we see in both of these stories the gods are clearly over the men and the men are below the gods. When someone tries to break out of these rules the gods put them back in line many times by changing them into animals or anything related to nature. We also see that the gods can mess with the other gods, and from both stories we see that revenge is the natural nature of the gods and they clearly relish at the thought of revenge.

Biology Essay 7

There is a lot of disagreement over the exact classification of many prokaryotes, but scientists generally agree that they are incredibly diverse. Discuss the diversity of prokaryotic organisms by giving examples of their habitat, use of oxygen, modes of obtaining nutrition, etc.

Prokaryotes are extremely diverse, there are some that just co-exist with animals and humans and they don’t effect the host. Some do make you sick and can give you some diseases such as lyme disease and some can help you. So as you can see there are many different types of prokaryotes so let’s break it down.

1. First the Prokaryotes that don’t effect you but can effect them, the prokaryote can live in you but it does not harm you it is just taking some of your energy and feeding off of that, don’t worry it is not enough to see a notable difference.
2. The Prokaryotes that can harm you are bacteria that is infected and can hurt you, the prokaryote is normally passed on through a different species lyme disease is passed on through ticks and is passed into your system.
3. Prokaryotes can help you, there is a prokaryote that lives in your intestine that helps you to digest that food.