The Via Aurelia... The Interstate Highway during the Ancient Times

The Roman Empire at its highest encompasses much of Europe and areas surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. Through many military campaigns and bloody battles, Rome was powerful and intimidating to many other civilizations. The process of Romanization and certain Roman architectures reinforced the strong uniformity of the vast conquered lands of Rome. Diffusion of Roman culture was fast and efficient than ever with interstate roads that kept the Roman Empire a hub of interaction among peoples. The Roman roads played a huge role historically, the Via Aurelia specifically, and promoted productive Romanization as well as achieving successful Roman Engineering.

For many centuries, the expansion and protection of the Roman Empire depended upon the effectiveness of the Roman army. Roads served as ease of travel especially for armies marching along.  According to the article, over the next decade after 12 BCE “surveyors, engineers, and construction crews carried off one of antiquity’s greatest feats: grading and paving a road” During Augustus’s height of power, he commanded his legions to build a highway that would cross the area of Gaul. The network of the Roman roads was primarily to link their military garrisons. As the empire expanded, so did the roads. It resulted in ease of travel for Roman armies that had to march across the vast empire.  Thus, the construction of roads resulted in Rome being a central cosmopolitan. The Pax Romana which took place in the first two centuries CE of the Roman Empire brought political stability and economic prosperity. Thus, trade flourished along Roman roads and allowed easy spread of cultural practices, technologies, and religious ideas. With the Roman roads, the spread of Christianity was especially fast. Between 45 and 58 CE, Paul traveled across the Roman Empire via the roads and spread the idea of Christianity.  With roads being the important aspect for the uniformity of the Roman Empire, the Via Aurelia Augusta specifically was the great highway that served and greatly improved overland travel in the empire.

The Via Aurelia Augusta was a highway as a means of Rome to assert its power.  It moved troops back and forth effectively at a fastest rate possible. According to the article, the Via Aurelia was “regarded as an extension of the empire’s road from Rome to Pisa, commissioned in 241 BCE by the censor Caius Aurelius Cotta.” The very highway was successful and provided ease of travel. It was up until around 235 CE that the Via Aurelia began to disintegrate. At the end of the Pax Romana, civil wars within the state of Rome took place. According to the article, “In 406 CE, the Rhine froze over and barbarians spilled into Gaul… Over the next millennium, roads, bridges, aqueducts, and other public works commissioned by Augustus and his successors disintegrated, and the precise route of the Via Aurelia were lost.” The roads of Via Aurelia had rest houses every ten to twelve miles in which travelers can repair their chariots and even stay for a night. The road was also used to travel wheat and other food supplies to feed the population in Gaul. It served as the southern Gaul’s primary route which had armored soldiers crossing, charioteers, traders, and government officials passed constantly. Unlike the Via Domitia which was well preserved and remains standing, the Via Aurelia went through tough times and disintegrated. However, the system of roads proved the very powerful innovation of Roman Engineering. Thus, it also led to rapid Romanization which benefited the Roman Empire as it expanded.

With the Empire of Rome growing, the process of Romanization wasn’t forced upon the state government. In addition, the diffusion of Roman culture was reinforced with the vast network of roads. Majority of the indigenous peoples of provinces chose to Romanize because of political and economic advantages. It would be very similar to Hellenistic era spreading in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Many were attracted to the success surrounding the Latin language and culture of dominant peoples. In their military conquests, the Romans rarely faced united opposition. In fact, certain native rulers frequently gave up unequal struggle and made terms. The Romans usually made alliances with native rulers who were willing to fight alongside with them. Unlike the Greeks, the Romans granted some or all of political, legal, and economic privileges of Roman citizenship to conquered peoples. The Romans knew in order to maintain and keep an Empire; it would have to be a cosmopolitan. Which was true, it turned Rome into a hub of commerce and trade. Throughout Roman history, advancements in roman engineering prevailed such as the vast networks of roads.

Roman Engineering enabled massive cities to hold enormous populations. The Roman roads are one of the most prominent examples of innovative engineering. It promoted ease of merchants to sell and trade and also helped early Christians to spread their faith.  According to the article, the romans perfected the intricate design of the aqueducts in which “The height of the arches was delicately calibrated to maintain an even flow and pressure-another example of Roman engineering skill.” With structures of aqueducts, it brought running water to cities for the public use. It was also used in sophisticated irrigation systems for agriculture. Another big prominent example of Roman Engineering would be the invention of concrete. With the invention of concrete, it practically revolutionized architecture. It led to the buildings of theaters, forums, and the famous coliseum.

During the time period of the Roman Empire, roads served as uniformity and means of basic infrastructure. It allowed people to trade and Romanize among vast conquered lands. Most importantly, the networks of roads promoted the spread of early Christian faith. It enabled Rome to be a cosmopolitan and hub of trade. The roads prominently exemplified Roman Engineering and skill. 

The Founding Fathers' Enlightenment Principles... The Principles of Reason for Man...

The American Revolutionary War was one of the major events that took place during the Age of Reason. The British colonists in the Americas did not like being taxed without sufficient representation of the British Parliament. The Stamp Act, the Boston Massacre, and the Boston Tea Party were all acts of infuriated British colonists who weren’t being treated equally as English citizens. The English colonists believed that they were entitled to the same rights as people in England have. The Enlightenment principles, which emphasized human society should be run based on rationality over tradition, inspired the English colonists to critique England’s rule and eventually declare independent from England. The Enlightenment principles created the framework of future America, the very country the rebel British colonists were fighting for. Thus, the founding documents such as the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and the Constitution, portray the idealistic views of the Enlightenment and human natural rights associated with the outcome of the Revolutionary War.

The Declaration of Independence announced that the 13 original colonies will be separate and sovereign from the British authority/control. The document emphasized on the establishment of a government by the people instead of a totalitarian monarch. The document also addressed that the natural rights exist for all human beings which paralleled the principles made by John Locke, an English philosopher in the 1680s. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” In the document, the colonies were telling the king that they were in charge. They believed that the people were the true power of government, similar to that of the English Civil War.

 The United States Constitution is another founding document that portrays the idea/principles of the Enlightenment. It was not only the basic framework of the United States Government, but also a way to avoid one branch of the Government having total power (absolutism). The Articles I, II, and III all discuss the distribution of power among the three branches of the US Government. Each branch has a set duty/capability within that set amount of power. This avoided having one branch too much power compared to the other three. The Enlightenment principle critiqued that of absolutism which was associated with the monarch usually. So it was very important that the colonists whom were fighting against totalitarian rule create a state of non-absolutist rule and can be seen in the United States Constitution. “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

The Enlightenment also emphasized heavily on individualism/individualistic rights (natural rights). The Bill of Rights was a viable document that would restrict the Government’s authority towards that of natural rights to individuals. For example, the first amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” This gave the people, the rights to what is considered unalienable/natural. The United States Bill of Rights is also very similar to that of the English Bill of Rights. Both draw the limit between how much powers the Government (or Monarch in terms of the English Bill of Rights) can have. 

The Power of Motivation

I remember during my freshman year of high school reading this biography called, "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. Often throughout the book, professor Pausch would emphasize the importance of following your dreams. 

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” 

I believe that when one is motivated to do something, one can overcome obstacles/adversities. There is a famous saying, "Motivation can lead to Innovation". When one is motivated and wants to keep pursuing their objective, there is a high chance of discovery of something new. In history, the motivation for wealth and glory was leading drive for the Age of Exploration around the 16th to early 17th Century. Columbus seeked out west to the Atlantic in search of a quick route to the riches of the Indies (*cough *cough He ended up disoving the Americas). Throughout history, the motivation of survival led many innovative people inventing revolutionary technologies that would make life for mankind easier. 

I wrote this because of  what I observe around my school. It became apparent to me that students who are "motivated" in terms of learning interesting material or not, their grades are much higher than students who aren't motivated. School hours can be long and excruciating. It is the school board members and teachers; however, that I think are responsible for coming up something that would create students to be life long learners. Self Intuitive learning is what I think should be the main focus taught in part of our curriculum. When you are given a student a smart phone, they don't have a teacher to teach them. Matter of fact, they don't expect quizzes or tests that are based upon whether or not you can use a smart phone.

They are automatically teaching themselves how to operate such sophisticated tasks on their smart phones without the help of a teacher. When students are interested in something, they will be self learners, teaching and exploring themselves. Therefore, I believe if the curriculum was made interesting or applicable in terms of teachers that engage all students to equally learn towards the subject, it will hopefully at least improve student's interests. If students are self life long learners, it will all be due to motivation or that leading drive. 

Exploration Missions and Scientific Discoveries are not funded by Curiousity but by Geopolitcal Reasons

In the past week, I watched a YouTube video called, "The Great Debate: The Storytelling of Science" and the points addressed by Neil DeGrasse Tyson in regards to scientific exploration/discovery was mind blowing. It struck me that the NASA Space Exploration missions back during the Cold War Era was not funded due to peoples curiousity and desire to explore but because of geopolitical reasons. I knew that the United States and the Soviet Union had a long competition regarding societal progress and advancement. Almost everyone knows the term "Space Race" which was the competition between the US and USSR in space exploration. The Apollo missions was not funded because of a high interest in pure scientific curiousity but because of JFK's extraordinary speech that motivated the American people in success over the USSR. Even the Internation Space Station was funded due to geopolitcal reasons. The station holding both astronauts and cosmonauts portray the "good" international relations between the US and Russia today. Now the assertion presented in this article doesn't mean all scientific discoveries are funded by political drive but most are. Why is that NASA is being less funded throughout the 21st Century compared to the 20th Century especially during the Cold War?

New Year's Celebration (Very Old Tradition)

With the New Year approaching, we have yet overcame another human milestone. Most of us will be waiting for the great ball to drop in Times Square and others will be partying. This got me thinking to where this holiday originated and also how it started.

Today, countries all around the world have been celebrating the start of each new year. The traditional celebration begins on December 31st (New Year's Eve) to which it continues into the early hours of January 1st (New Year's Day). The most common way of celebrating this such milestone includes but limited to: attending parties, eating awesome meals, making resolutions, reflecting upon the year, and for most Americans, waiting for the ball to drop in New York Times Square.

The earliest recorded festivities regarding the celebration of a New Year dates back around 4,000 years to ancient Babylon. To much surprise, it didn't start on December 31st but rather sometime in late Mardch. This was due to the different type of calendar used by the ancient Babylonians. However, throughout time civilizations started developing much sphisticated calendars like the first day of the Chinese New Year which would start on the second new moon after the winter solstice.

January 1st would actually become the established New Year's Day with the introduction to the Julian Calendar that closely resembles the more modern Gregorian calendar that most countries around the world use today. Emperor Julius Caesar established January 1 to be the rist day of the year and also to honor the month's name Janus, the Roman god of beginnings.                          

             

Healthcare: Profit over Health?

I realize writing a blog relating to healthcare is going to bring negative/positive feedbacks, but I wanted to write about what I think about healthcare especially in America. Currently in the country of the United States, there is no universal healthcare in which the government provides health to all of its citizens. Rather, there are private health insurance companies that supposedly "covers" the cost of an individual's health expenses. While it may seem like a good idea there is a lot of hidden backsides to this type of health program.

While there is Medicaid and Medicare provided and established by the government, majority of citizens have health insurance in order to "cover" their health expenses. The Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan was enacted by President Richard Nixon February 6, 1974 as a means of health care reform policy. To this day, that very Health Insurance Plan has been the top topic of political debate since the early 20th Century. While it proposed affordable health to the common people, it brought about negative consequences. First off, owning health insurance
is almost a must when it comes to health care in America. Without a universal health care system the private health insurance companies takes  advantage of most medical profits. This puts a major burden among some peoples. Buying insurance isn't that cheap. Also most of the time, most insurance companies will only cover partial of a medical bill depending upon each policy. Companies reject a lot of applicants too because they don't meet up with their "criteria". To me, the  Health Insurance Plan seems to only be for profit rather than being an accessible health coverage for citizens. Many hospitals unfortunately had to reject patients sometimes pregnant women because they did not have valid insurance. In one of the scenes from the movie Sicko by Micheal Moore, a handful of American citizens are left ill because their medicine is expensive and cannot be covered by their insurance. Thus, they travel to Cuba where the same exact medicine that cost $150 in the U.S would only cost around $8 in a rural pharmacy. Now I am not the one to be judging and reforming America's heath care plan, for that is the job of our congress. I am only writing this to inform the possibilty of why America's healthcare is failing.

The Best Book I Have Read in 2014

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth
By: Chris Hadfield

Throughout this year I have read a handful of books and felt that blogging upon what my most favorite read is appropriate. With that being said, my best read this year is "An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth". Personally, I have a big interest in space and Chris Hadfield is one of my all time favorite astronauts. He drew major interest among many people through social media especially on YouTube with his video David Bowie's 'Space Oddity'. This book provides a new insight on how much determination one needs to have in order to acheive their highest life long dream which in Chris Hadfield's case was becoming an astronaut. It draws upon various lessons he learned while training as a pilot and an astronaut. This book is part biography but rather focuses upon Chris Hadfield's learnings throughout his space career (logged nearly 4,000 hours!). Overall I think this book is a good source for motivation and inspiration. The personal experiences of Mr. Hadfield really makes you want to keep going on your goals and dreams.

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Christmas is arriving in just two days! As finish the last days of 2014 and enter a new year once again, I wonder what new insights and events hold beyond our future as we ride through 2015. Will there be a war? Will there be any world changing discoveries? While a full year may seem long, in reality to me it seems short. To my surprise,  movies from the 90s or 80s portrayed society in 2010 or higher to be really futuristic with hoverboards and floating cars. Only if the creators knew we would still be using gasoline to this very day as a major source for our automobiles. The use of hoverboards today seem very unreal just like in the 90s. Take a look at NES games for example. Such games took placed in the year 2010 and almost all of them featered hoverboards!!!

Nevertheless, I hope everyone have a nice and safe Christmas holiday and begin a new chapter for 2015! 

Using a cheap USB Controller on the OUYA (Must be Rooted!)

Back in 2013, I came across an open source gaming console called the OUYA. I bought it as soon as possible because not only was it cheap, but there was unlimited possibilities one can do on the OUYA. To be frank, I bought the console primarily as a means of emulation purposes. So I also ordered two USB NES Controllers on Amazon cheap (like $10). Unfortunately, the console won't recognize the controllers I bought which was a huge dissapointment. Up until now, I played my NES emulator using the OUYA controller which was ok, but I wanted an even close experience in retro gaming which was to use the correct controller. I don't know why is took me almost an year before I figured it our but  now  I present to you, how to map the keys of a cheap USB Controller on the OUYA. 

Instructions

1. Your OUYA must be rooted in order for this to work
2. Hook up your USB Controller onto the OUYA
3. Sideload the app, "usb/bt joystick center" on the OUYA and launch it (If you don't know how to sideload an app on the OUYA, search it on google or youtube for an easy tutorial.)
4. Launch the app and using the OUYA touchpad, tap the "search" button
5. After the search, there should be a bubble labeled, "Gamepad 1"
6. Tap on "Gamepad 1" and tap on the bubble that says either "Driver" or "Create Driver" I forgot which
7. This is where you map the controllers to a designated function
8. Assign each button to each designated bubble labeled "X-Button" (X is a number). If you have two buttons you want to assign, there should be "1-Button" for one and "2-Button" for the second. When pressing a button, you should see changes in the mapping grid. Using the touchpad, tap on the grid squares that represent the button you press.
9. For the D-Pad, add a stick bubble that should say "1-Stick". Tap the "C" on the bubble to calibrate the D-Pad and don't forget to tap on the grid squares that represent each d-pad direction (up,down,left,right).
10. Repeat step 9 for the joysticks.
11. After mapping each button and joystick, make sure to save your driver 
12. Navigate to the main screen of the app where you can finally map each button of your usb controller to a function. (Turn IME ON; located in the top left corner)
13. When you tap on the "Gamepad 1", there should be a series of sqaures underneath it to which you can tap on one of them and press/move a button/joystick direction. For instance, I assigned the B button on the NES Controller, as Z  and A button as X. 
14. Once every button/joystick direction is assigned, you can exit the app the controller should work! 

Feel free to comment below on any questions... I will glady answer them!

I was so happy when my controller worked on my NES.emu. There was no delay whatsoever!!!

One of My All Time Favorite Christmas Story!!!

The Christmas Truce of 1914

Starting on Christmas Eve, many German and British troops sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines, and at certain points the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.

At the first light of dawn on Christmas Day, some German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man’s-land, calling out “Merry Christmas” in their enemies’ native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang carols and songs. There was even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer.

Some soldiers used this short-lived ceasefire for a more somber task: the retrieval of the bodies of fellow combatants who had fallen within the no-man’s land between the lines.

The so-called Christmas Truce of 1914 came only five months after the outbreak of war in Europe and was one of the last examples of the outdated notion of chivalry between enemies in warfare. It was never repeated—future attempts at holiday ceasefires were quashed by officers’ threats of disciplinary action—but it served as heartening proof, however brief, that beneath the brutal clash of weapons, the soldiers’ essential humanity endured.

During World War I, the soldiers on the Western Front did not expect to celebrate on the battlefield, but even a world war could not destory the Christmas spirit.

"Christmas Truce of 1914." <i>History.com</i>. A&E Television Networks, 1 Jan. 2009. Web. 20 Dec. 2014. &lt;http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/christmas-truce-of-1914&gt;.

My Favorite YouTube video of "The Christmas Truce"

Has Christmas become a more secular holiday?

When typing in "what is christmas" on Google, I get the standard definition which is, "the annual Christian festival celebrating Christ's birth, held on December 25 in the Western Church," As a Christian myself, we try keep this idea in our mind while celebrating such a beloved holiday. However, have we lost the true meaning of Christmas in our contemporary society? After all, this sacred holiday was a means to celebrate Christ's birth to which relates to the Christian faith heavily. So where does all this Christmas trees, Santa, decorations, and buying gifts to loved ones come from?  I guess I can kind of see how Santa relates to Christmas but it has evolved a lot throughout times in society. The holiday appeals to the majority of peoples around the world, non-christians included. I asked one of my friends if he celebrates Christmas which he said "yes". But, when I asked him if he was a Christian, he said "no". Perhaps the modern holiday of Christmas is more secular in which families get together with much joy and happiness but I also think it lost the true meaning of Christmas as well. I mean, since when does decoration ornaments and giving presents to others become such a tradition to a holiday where we should be remembering the birth of Jesus and rejoicing about it?

Leave a comment on what you think about Christmas and it's relation to Christianity!

The Preconceived Notions of History...

During my AP World History class my teacher mentioned something about how such preconceived notions upon certain groups of people exist. He stressed and emphasized that while teaching us about the Amerindians that lived in the Americas of the New World. Speaking of Amerindians, I remember in elementary school when we would learn about the Native Americans (Cherokee, Pueblos, and the Eastern Woodlands). My teachers in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade talked about how Native Americans were mostly nomadic and lived a simplistic lifestyle. They even went on talking about how they were so close in ties with nature. They drilled those concepts into my head and I thought that this was accurate indeed. However, what my AP World History teacher said blew my mind. It changed the way I viewed history forever. While some Native Americans were nomadic, most groups settled in a permanent area. Matter of fact, some Amerindians had a much advanced civilization with great urban centers. Even the great architectures of the Mayans and the Aztecs prove to be different and contradicting that Indians lived a "simplistic lifestyle".  At first, this perplexed me, but as my teacher showed us the lifestyle of Cahokia and the great city of Tenochtitlan, I began to realize my previous taught concepts weren't fully right. 

City of Tenochtitlan