The Black Death

The Black Death was the most devastating disease during human history and it occurred during the Renaissance. It was an outbreak of the Bubonic Plague which is caused by the bacteria Yersinia Pestis. It was originated in China and was passed on by merchants who crossed the Silk Road until it got to Russia. Later on, this disease was all over Europe. The Black Death killed a 60 percent of Europe's population, which is a big number considering the population at the time. It took 150 years for the population to recover. 


The disease started all because people were not so clean at the time. Fleas carry the bacteria, fleas were on rats and people didn't care about rats at the time, they let them walk over their food, etc, and just didn't care. At first huge buboes appeared over the neck and under the armpits, later on large black spots appeared on the arms, legs, and the rest of the body. When these dark spots appeared it was sure you were going to die. Bocaccio describes the symptoms of the plague vividly: "In men and women alike it first betrayed itself by the emergence of certain tumours in the groin or armpits, some of which grew as large as a common apple, others as an egg...From the two said parts of the body this deadly gavocciolo soon began to propagate and spread itself in all directions indifferently; after which the form of the malady began to change, black spots or livid making their appearance in many cases on the arm or the thigh or elsewhere, now few and large, now minute and numerous. As the gavocciolo had been and still was an infallible token of approaching death, such also were these spots on whomsoever they showed themselves." 

The Characteristics of the Renaissance

Renaissance means "rebirth". This is a cultural movement that took place from the 14th to the 17th century. It began in Italy and it later on spread to the rest of Europe. Some characterisctics of this movement is that painters stated using perspective on ther work. Also, there was an educational reform. People were more humanisctic and the idea of the "Renaissance Man" was developed. A "Renaissance Man" was someone who was good at everything he did. In the religious point of view since people started being more humanistic there was a backdrop in christianity, there were less believers. People were aware of the change, everybody knew that eveything was different. Leonardo DaVinci and Michaelangelo are the two most famous painters of the Renaissance. The made magnificent paintings with perspective. Michaelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sixtine Chapel and Leonardo DaVinci is best known for The Mona Lisa. It has been known that The Mona Lisa was originally a self-portrait of Leonardo but then he decided to make her a woman. There are many curious things about Leonardo's paintings: in most of them, there is always somebody pointing up.

As said before, the Renaissance started in Italy and it spread slowly through Europe. The invention of the printing press allowed this to happen much faster. After Italy, it spread to Italy's neighbor country, Portugal. It arrived because of Italian merchants. After Portugal, it got to Spain, it first started in the city of Valencia and then to the rest of Spain. Then, the renaissance got to Northern Europe, and change here was so significant that it was called the Northern Renaissance. In Englad the greatest change it had was in the English literature. As an example of this there is William Shakespeare, one of the greatests poets in history. Later it spread to Germany and Hungary at lastly it got to Russia. The Renaissance affected Russia in many ways, but mainly in architecture. Prince Ivan the II introduced this type of architecture to the Russians. And a Russian monk was the first to make Russian Vodka.

How does technology impact your everyday life?

Technology has become something very important in our everyday life. Everyday, whether we know it or not, we use technology in our life. Some people have become dependant on technology. I can relate to this because I use my cell phone all day long, and when I don't have it I just need it. We use computers for everything, to save information, to make researchs, to watch videos, to socialize, etc. Humans have just become dependant on technology. Iphones, iPads, iPods, computers, Blackberries, etc. I'm sure that most people own at least one of the things I mentioned before and that's because we thing that we need these things to be happy and to be productive people.

Qur’an

The Qu'ran is the religious book of the muslims. This book was verbaly revealed to Muhammad by the angel Jibreel through 28 years and was later on writen down. Muhammad and his followers memorized the Qur'an and used to recite it amongst themselves and other people or to tell other people about Allah. There are many rewards in reciting the Qur'an and there are some stories in the book that are very important to most muslims because they are of great moral values.

Link :)

Ramadan

Most muslims fast during the sacred month of Ramadan, I used to think that they only did this but they don't. I read an article which described what muslims did on this month. Other than fasting, they make a special night prayer and including reciting the Qur'an. Also this is called the month of patience and for those who are patient the reward is Heaven according to the article. It also said that by doing good deeds that come from the heart on this month, that will be rewarded on Heaven and if muslims are not good people during this month and don't do their obligations they will be punished with 70 obligations in another time. As I said before, muslims fast during this month, they can't eat nor drink anything while there is still light, when the sun goes down they have a great feast commemorating que holy month of Ramadan.

Click here for the article. :)

The roots of Islamic terrorism

I was on the New York Times web page and saw an interesting article about muslim terrorism. This article talked about how Islam encourages people to atc violently but at the same time to atc peacefully. The Koran says that no religion shall have fighting but it also says that he who doesnt die in battle dies as an unbeliever. Mohammad, The Prophet expanded the Islamic religion through military conquest and died in battle. Al Qaeda mixed many ideologies into one in which terrorism seems "good". I think that this is wrong, if you are to expand a religion you should do it with love not with military conquest and submission. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/27/opinion/27iht-edpabst.html

Mumbai Muslim criminal has 4 wives and 28 children

Today I read about a criminal, Atique Shaikh who had four wives and 28 kids. He has been followed for about two years and finally surrendered. What happened is that his whole family (four wives and kids) got together and decided to convince him to surrender. Shaikh fell in love with his four wives at different time periods, they all live on the same neighbourhood, so it was quite hard for him to say no to their request to surrender. He said that he was tired of his life and he wanted to live a normal life with his family. http://islamicterrorism.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/mumbai-muslim-criminaal-has-4-wives-and-28-children/

Who knows me best?

Well, its kindda hard to say who knows me best, but I think that would have to be my mom. My mom, is not like most moms, she is also my best friend. She and I talk about everything with a lot of trust. I am sure that I can tell her anything and she wont say a thing to my sister or to other people but she will also give me the right advice. I also think that my mom is who knows me best because she has been with me since the moment I was born, she has seen me grow up, develop ideas, etc. She has always been there so she has to be the one that knows me the best. She carried me for nine months, its impossible for someone else to be so close or have as much trust as we both have, so my mom knows me better than anybody else I know.

My craziest experience in a restaurant or shopping mall

It's kindda hard to think about my craziest experience in a restaurant or shopping mall but I would have to say it was one time at Galerias with a friend called Norma. We were coming out from the food court and we noticed this guy was looking at us and we just kept on walking, then we turned around and the guy was following us. This was a guy wearing a hat and a hoodie, like to hide his identity. We were really scared and we just started running and then we see the guy running behind us, we did not know what to do and we entered the tunnels behind the movie theaters and went into the movie theater, a guard saw us going through there and the guard started following us so we started running. In the end I fell down and the guard caught us, we explained him what was going on but he did not believe us, instead he said he would call our parents, he asked for our parents phone numbers and we just left. I gave him my phone number so he called my phone and I pretended to be my mom. Later, we were just walking and we see the same guy behind us, we started running again and I called my mom to come pick us up, while we waited we ran from the guy and we entered a restaurant, in that restaurant we created a mess but the guy was still behind us, then my mom came and we ran to my truck and left. We told my mom what happened and she was terrified but we never saw the guy again.

How I Use Facebook and why you can’t live without it

Facebook is one of the world's most used social networks. I have a facebook account as my friends, facebook has become something of great importance in most of our lives. Now, there is no one that doesn't have facebook. Every time somebody takes pictures at an event the day after we automatically go to facebook searching for the pictures of the day before. I would say I can't live without facebook because I have many friends that live outside Nicaragua and facebook is a way to stay in touch with them, I've become so addicted to facebook that I even have a facebook application on my phone and I am logged in 24/7, I even upload photos to facebook from my phone.

'Alien' artist Giger: Monsters came from my nightmares

While browsing on CNN.com I came across an interesting article called "Alien' artist Giger: Monters came from my nightmares". H.R. Giger is the creator of the character "Alien". While an interview he reavealed that he got the idea from the monsters from his dreams. At first, Giger was an artist, he did scenery and landscapes, but he thought it was "boring". then he had a dream, a nightmare. In his dreams he saw all the monsters he later painted and brought to life in his movies. He now says that he does not have nightmares anymore, that everytime he sees a monster in his sleep is a dream come true.

My Favorite Movie

If I had to choose a favorite movie it would be Casablanca because it is not like many other romance movies. I remember that I saw this movie with my brother, at first I didn't want to watch it because I thought it was boring since it was in black and white and my brother begged me to see the movie with him, until I finally agreed. The movie started and I was falling asleep since we where at my brothers room, on his bed. I fell asleep at the beginning and my brother poured a cup of water on me to wake me up. When I woke up we restarted the movie. I saw the movie and in the end, the guy does not stay with the girl, she leaves. And I really liked this because in most romance movies in the end the guy stays with the girl, in this one, that changed.

My Favorite Song

If I think about my favorite song its very hard to decide because I am a musician so its very hard for me to think only of one song. But, if I had to choose I would say a song called "Re: Stacks". "Re: Stacks" is a song by the french group Bon Iver, which means "good winter" in frech. I guess this is my favorite song because I've knowned it since I was a little child.
My dad, used to play guitar, piano and sing. When I was a child he used to sing this song to me whenever I felt sad, or scared, it just soothed me, however, I never knew how the song was called. On 2008 my dad died and I never knew how the song was called.
One night, I was watching House and I suddenly heard that song, I just started crying because I felt a mixture of feelings and a mixture of ideas. I waited for the credits and wrote down all the names of all the songs that appeared on that specific episode, then, went to my computer and searched one by one for my song, my special song. Then I found it, and just felt happy.

Now, whenever I feel sad or scared or worried, I just listen to that song and feel happy, it makes me feel safe, it makes me remind all the times my dad sang it to me, it makes me feel like if he was here with me.