The Chronologic Progression of the Units of Knowledge

Throughout the course of the semester I have noticed the progression of the units in class. These knowledge units build off one another and each have a specific area that they are used in a culture. Folk knowledge is chronologically first because of the minimal requirements needed for it to be used. Oral knowledge builds off of folk knowledge because it is basically folk knowledge but is disseminated publicly. Written knowledge further builds off these two since it was used to write down folk and oral knowledge so that they would not be forgotten. Print knowledge is written knowledge that is massed produced and easily accessible to the world at large.
As I have posted about folk knowledge and have read others’ posts, I have noticed that folk knowledge is taught mostly in the home and is most important for children. Some folk knowledge posted on the blog was my post on brushing teeth, or Alyssa’s post on midwifery. In my folk knowledge group during today’s salon we agreed that things such as rituals and traditions are folk knowledge. Things such as when a boy becomes a man through rite of passage or marriage are folk knowledge and have different meanings and traditions in different cultures.
Oral knowledge builds off folk knowledge. As cultures became more advanced individuals and groups (bards, Greek philosophers, etc.) traveled throughout their country disseminating knowledge that they had gathered. Tales of Gods and heroes and different philosophical ideas were some of the knowledge that was disseminated orally. Diane’s post on Homer’s epics and Kody’s post on prayer are examples of oral knowledge. During the salon my group and I discovered that before things were written down most government, religious and civil matters were of an oral nature. Heralds are a good example of this. They were king’s messengers who were sent to give proclamations.
Written knowledge is very connected to oral knowledge as compared to the other knowledge units. During the time of the Greeks and Romans, Oral knowledge reached its greatest zenith through great orators like Julius Caesar, Cicero, Plato and Socrates. Also, written knowledge grew just as rapidly. Massive libraries in Rome and Alexandria were established. Monuments with written text also reached their zenith during this time period. Alyssa’s post on Why did Plato Write? and Kody’s post on medicine and writing show the importance of written knowledge and its connection to oral knowledge.
Print knowledge is very similar to written knowledge with several key differences. With the invention of print books could be mass-produced, lowering the cost. With the lowering of cost, subjects that did not have as much priority, when knowledge had to written by hand, could now be published. Also, the perusal of knowledge became a much more individual pastime. Before, books were owned by the elite and the Catholic church. Common people had to listen to them to get information and had to take their word that what they were saying was true. Now, almost everyone has access through printed material. In my salon group I brought up an interesting subject that had to do with my civilization. My civilization was the Jewish nation and with the invention of the printing press the Jewish scholars had to debate whether or not the Torah should be allowed to be printed. Before, the Torah was written by hand by one person from start to finish. This ensured that copies were pure in form and that they were written by a holy individual. In the end, they decided that it was okay as long as some Torahs were written by hand. It is interesting to compare this to the Bible. Christians were very anxious to have the Bible printed and distributed to the general population.
This class has opened my eyes to a world I had not noticed before—the world of the institutions of knowledge. Before this class I had the narrow-minded view that everything came from Google and Wikipedia. Now I understand that I have learned so much from so many different sources, some very ancient in origin. Never again will I look at the acquisition of knowledge the same again.

Pre-Salon Notes

Pre-Salon Notes

Self directed Learning: Brushing Your Teeth; This was my first blog ever and it was a real eye-opener for me. This post revealed to me how much is not learned formally. I have noticed a definite improvement of my blogging over the semester. My favorite is brushing your teeth. Blogging has taught me how to be informal yet educational at the same time.

Others' Blogging: Alyssa's post on tattooing was very interesting. She has a lot guts to do that. This post showed me how broad folk knowledge is. I never considered tattooing folk knowledge. There has been such a variety subjects that have been blogged. I have learned a ton.

Collaborative Learning: Preparing for the interviews with my group was very insightful. Planning and preparing for the interview was a fun yet kind of iffy experience. I didn't know my group very well so we had to go by feel how we interacted. The other projects also helped the group come together.

Projects/Activities: Learning and teaching folk knowledge gave me the insight on how much of it I pass on to other people like my siblings. The King Benjamin's speech showed how difficult it is to pull of such a large group effort. The Rosetta project was my favorite because of the of the tranlating and how my group bonded because of the difficulty of it.

Typography Thesis- I could use some help.

I'm having a bit of a problem with finding a thesis for this paper. I've been in the library for over five hours, looking through books on typography. I hit wall after wall. Some of my thesis ideas are these: Ornamentation in books have declined because of changing societal values; How fancy fonts have fallen into disuse because of changing societal values.

All I can find so far is books on ornamentation in books and font types. They do not actually give me the history for why these type of fonts were used and why they declined etc.

If anyone can point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated.

Rabbi Dan Levin of Temple Beth El - Why we celebrate Chanukah

Since I have done a post on the Jewish equivalent to Thanksgiving it would be fitting if my next post was about Hanukkah which seems to be the Jewish equivalent of Christmas.

Hanukakah is also known as the Festival of the Lights, is an eight-day Jewish Holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jersalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE. Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calender, which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calender.

The festival is observed by the kindling of the lights of a unique candelabrum, the nine-branched Menorah or Hanukiah, one additional light on each night of the holiday, progressing to eight on the final night. The typical Menorah consists of eight branches with an additional raised branch. The extra light is called a Shamash and is given a distinct location, usually above or below the rest. The purpose of the shamash is to have a light available for use, as using the Hanukkah lights themselves is forbidden.

This video clip is of a rabbi who very concisely explain the background of the holiday as well how it is celebrated now. I chuckled a bit when I found this clip because I think of a rabbi as an old, wise-looking man with a white beard. He looks like a bishop from the LDS church.

King James Bible Exhibit

When I went to the Bible exhibit the most interesting thing to me was the time-lines they had there. I love maps and graphs and I love to analyze them. the time-line was very illuminating. So much effort and time has gone into the publication of the Bible. It's crazy how many people have sacrificed everything including their lives for it. The devil has worked so hard to stop the Lord's work. I also enjoyed looking at the old Bibles. It's amazing to me how these very old artifacts have survived in such good condition.

That's really all I have to say. I really enjoyed the exhibit especially the time-lines. There have been blogs about the lighting and the way books are preserved so there really isn't a lot for me to talk about. It was definitely worth my while to go and I would recommend it to anyone to go.

Typography Bibliography

I wasn't planning to do my post on typography but I had a writing class on type and how it should be used I decided to do that. I always thought type was interesting. I mean, who as a little kid hasn't gone on to Microsoft Word or some equivalent and messed around with the font and size of the letters. I remember making very complicated titles for stories I never even started to write. I would just dream up an awesome sounding title and make it look cool. Now, all my brothers and sisters do this back home.

Roberts, W. Printers' marks : A chapter in the history of typography. London, England: George Bell & Sons,1893.

Gives some general aspects of printer's marks. Goes through the printer's marks of England, France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Dutch and Flemish and then gives some modern examples. Has a lot of info. Sidenote: W. Roberts was nicknamed "the bookworm." [Found this on the BYU library website.]

Goudy, Frederick W. Typologia : studies in type design & type making with comments on the invention of typography, the first types, legibility and fine printing. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1940.

Typologia presents more or less graphically Frederic Goudy's work in type design and describes his own methods of type production. His remarks on type legibility and fine printing, as presented in the body of the book, present the conclusions of a craftsman intensely interested in every phase of typography. [Found this on the fifth floor of the library.]

Hoe, Richard March. The literature of printing. A catalogue of the library illustrative of the history and art of typography. London, England: Chiswick Press, 1877.

Richard Hoe was something of an expert in the world of printing. He invented the rotary printing press which could fold newsprint as fast as the eye could follow. The title basically explains the book: history and typography and a how-to type of instruction for it. [Found it near Typologia.]

Frederic Nelson Phillips, inc. (firm). Phillips' Old-fashioned type book : showings, alphabetical and otherwise, of approximately one thousand odd fonts of old-fashioned, exotic, ancient and antique type faces; old-time printers' ornaments, borders, cuts, &c.; many old specimens of printing, advertisements, bills, labels, &c.; old reprints of history & other interesting data on printing & typography of long ago. New York: Grederic Nelson Phillips, inc., 1945.

Are you out of breath from reading the title. I got out of breath and I was reading it in my mind! Goes through a lot of old fonts (about a thousand), what types were used with advertisements, bills etc. [I so the super long title and I pick it up and it turned out to be about typography.]

Reed, Talbot Baines. A history of the old English letter foundries; with notes, historical and bibliographical, on the rise and progress of English typography. London, England: Faber and Faber, 1952.

A History of the Old English Letter Foundries was first published in 1887. Writing as an enthusiastic amateur historian, and wholly incorporating Edward Rowe Mores' classic 1778 Dissertation on English Typographical Founders and Foundries, Reed inspected a multitude of type specimens to supplement the veracity of his mostly bibliographical presentation.

All of these books can be found on Amazon and Google Books.

Rosetta Project- Part 2 Eqyptian to Arabic

So this is what we needed to translate: Eqyptian Hieroglyphics. At first I thought that this would be pretty easy. Check out some books from the library, locate the glyphs, find the English meaning, then translate that in Hebrew and Arabic. Boy, was I wrong.

So my group reserved a room at the library and we checked out a bunch of books about Egyptian Hieroglyphics with their English meanings. No big, right? Well, it turns out Egyptian Hieroglyphics are way more complicated than that. It turns out there are several way to read them. You basically read them left to right, but then it gets tricky if there are some glyphs that are stacked. Some stacked glyphs equal a word or they could be a phrase.

It gets even harder because of the dynasties. I have never thought about it but the hieroglyphics changed over time, especially when new families or dynasties took over.

Sukkot- The Jewish Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is over and it's almost time to return to college and homework. I'm just waiting for my flight and I decided I might as well do a blog post. Since Thanksgiving is so recent and my civilization I decided to look at some Jewish thanksgiving holidays. I found Sukkot, an agricultural thanksgiving holiday.


Sukkot is agricultural in origin. This is evident from the biblical name "The Feast of Ingathering," from the ceremonies accompanying it, from the season – "The festival of the seventh month"– and occasion of its celebration: "At the end of the year when you gather in your labors out of the field" (Ex. 23:16); "after you have gathered in from your threshing-floor and from your winepress" (Deut. 16:13). It was a thanksgiving for the fruit harvest. Coming as it did at the completion of the harvest, Sukkot was regarded as a general thanksgiving for the bounty of nature in the year that had passed.

It is interesting how similar the Jews celebrate this holdiay compared to us. Originally the Jews had feasts and special prayers given. In modern times, they do this on top of parades and other modern ways of celebrating such as fireworks.

Longevity of the Torah

How do we know that the Torah we have today is the same text given on Mount Sinai?
The Torah was originally dictated from God to Moses, letter for letter. From there, the Midrash (Devarim Rabba 9:4) tells us:

Before his death, Moses wrote 13 Torah Scrolls. Twelve of these were distributed to each of the 12 Tribes. The 13th was placed in the Ark of the Covenant (with the Tablets). If anyone would come and attempt to rewrite or falsify the Torah, the one in the Ark would “testify” against him. (Likewise, if he had access to the scroll in the Ark and tried to falsify it, the distributed copies would “testify” against him.)

Rosetta Project- Part 1

Koran in Arabic.

Torah in Hebrew.

This project gave me a greater appreciation and understanding of the different writing mediums and languages of the world. I have always thought "the Egyptians carved in stone because that what was available to them and they were good at it, it was probably a breeze for them." Now, I can imagine some tired stone-cutter thinking "man, I hate this job, why can't the gods have been more merciful and given mankind an easier writing medium?"

Veterinary Medicine- From Cows to Pets

I really enjoyed the post by Kody on medicine. I learned quite a bit from it. For my post I have decided to branch off a little from his topic and talk about one of my favorite subjects: veterinary medicine. I am a biology major and I want to be veterinarian.

Treatment of animals in ancient Epgyt.

Veterinary medicine has been around for a long as humans and animals have been together. The first documentation known for recipes to cure animal illnesses is in 2500 B.C in China. Some 4,000 years old Indian art show men caring for horses and elephants. The Ancient Egyptian art shows how men checking the health of their cattle and dogs.

It is interesting to see the change in veterinary medicine over history. Back then, animals that were cared for were farm animals cattle, sheep, horses etc. The latin root for veterinarian is veterinae, which means "cattle". Now, at least in U.S. most animals treated are pets.

Though it is not known exactly when published a Roman scholar named Columella wrote 12 volumes on the topic of animals and agriculture. He wrote about breeding, livestock health, and animal care and treatment. Columella was the first to use the "veterianarius" to describe a doctor who treats animals.

Ancient Hebrew Education

Since my civilization was the Semitic culture I thought I would focus on the Hebrew education. I mean, it should be pretty easy to find something on education and how they taught writing in particular. What I found was exactly the opposite. I found quite a few papers from professors from prestigious universities talking about the lack of information on ancient Hebrew education.

A passage from the Apocrypha, Wisdom 7:17-22, gives some idea of the curriculum:

For it is he who gave me unerring knowledge of what exists,
to know the structure of the world and the activity of the elements;
the beginning and end and middle of times,
the alternations of the solstices and the changes of the seasons,
the cycles of the year and the constellations of the stars,
the natures of animals and the tempers of wild beasts,
the powers of spirits and the reasonings of men,
the varieties of plants and the virtues of roots;
I learned both what is secret and what is manifest,
for wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me.

From this we see that Hebrew education is broad. But we really don't know how the students were taught.

Psalms- Remembering Jehovah through Song

When I was looking for some ancient Hebrew oral subjects I thought I wouldn't be able to find anything. Then I realized that it was staring me in the face. Probably the most famous songs in Christian history the book of Psalms are a perfect example of oral expression in Hebrew culture.

Psalm 8 sung in Hebrew

It is important to recognize that the psalms are not doctrinal statements, creeds, or history but that they are both poetry and prayer, poetry intended to be set to music and prayed in worship. In ancient Israel, no less than in the modern world, poetry and music were the means by which people expressed the deepest of human feelings and emotions, the most profound of insights, and the most tragic and joyous of human experiences. It is no accident that after Israel’s deliverance from Egypt on the banks of the Reed Sea the people sang (Exod. 15:1-18)! Or that Hannah lapses into song at the dedication of Samuel (1 Sam. 2:1-10; note Lk. 1:46-55)! Or that David mourns Saul and Jonathan in a beautiful poetic elegy (2 Sam. 2:19-27). Much of the language of the Psalms is metaphorical and symbolic, the language of the poet.

The Psalter, as the Book of Psalms is often called, is actually a collection of different kinds of poetry spanning many centuries of history (from c. 1100 BC, Pss. 29, 68, to c. 400 BC, Ps. 119) and reaching essentially its present form around 300 BC. Evidences of the collective nature of the Psalter are seen in its division into five 'books' (for example, Ps. 72:20), the references to various authors (for example, Psalm 89), as well as the different time periods represented (Ps. 137 is clearly from the period of Exile, c. 550 BC).

In biblical worship, the psalms were chanted or declaimed. We do not know exactly how this music sounded, though recent research has confirmed the similarity between Hebraic music and ancient forms of Christian chant. (See the article on Music and Worship in the Bible on this web site.) The psalms formed part of the developing liturgy of the Eastern and Western churches, along with Greek and Latin hymnody. In the Western church, the psalms found more regular usage within the "offices" or daily periodic worship of the monastic communities. The Catholic heritage of chant, often called Gregorian chant because of the influence of Pope Gregory the Great (540-604), includes the use of the psalms sung to standard "tones" or melodies according to conventional rules. This music was performed by choirs of clergy or members of monastic orders, who had developed the necessary skills. Originally the psalms were sung monophonically, i.e. with one unharmonized melody, or "plain chant." In the later Middle Ages additional voices were introduced, with such devices as counterpoint (a different simultaneous melody) or organum (a sustained tone over which others sang the melody). The departure from the simpler form of chanting was opposed by those who believed that more elaborate musical detail called attention to the performance and thus degraded the worship of God.

This early psalmody was exclusively vocal. It is paradoxical that the psalms, which so often mention the use of musical instruments in the praise of God, were sung for centuries in the church without any instrumental accompaniment. Today both the Eastern Orthodox churches and some Reformed and other Protestant groups exclude musical instruments from use in worship.

Cited works:

http://www.crivoice.org/psalmsintro.html

http://www.laudemont.org/a-stp.htm

Semites- More Than Just Jews

A stylised T and O map, depicting Asia as the home of the descendents of Shem (Sem). Africa is ascribed to Ham and Europe to Japheth

Map showing the distribution of Semitic languages

When I first learned that my blogs were to be on the Semitic civilization I thought that it would be pretty easy. I mean, when a person thinks of Semites they think of Jews don't they? But when I did a google search I was surprised what I found. Semites not only refer to Jews but to they whole region of Mesopotamia and Arabia. It turns out that the stereotype of only Jews being Semites is very recent.

The term Semitic was first suggested by German scholar Ludwig Schlozer, to signify languages that were closely related to Hebrew. The word "Semitic" is an adjective derived from Shem, one of the three sons of Noah in the Bible. The idea of "Semitic: peoples is derived from Biblical accounts of teh origins of the clutrues known to the ancient Hebrews. Those closest to them in culture and language were generally deemed to be descended from their forefather Shem. Enemeis were often said to be descendants of his cursed nephew, Canaan. In Genesis 10: 21-31, Shem is described as the father of Aram, Asshur, and Arpachshad: the Biblical ancestors of the Arabs, Arameans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Sabaeans, and Hebrews, etc., all of whose languages are closely related. (Try saying this list out loud, you run out of breath pretty fast.)

The term "anti-Semitic" pretty much refers to Jews only. It was first used in 1879 by German journalist Wilhelm Marr in a pamphlet called, "The Victory of Germandom over Jewry." Marr argued that Jews who had Judaized Geramans beyond salvation. In 1879 marr founded the "League for Anti-Semitism".

Martial Arts- Go to a school to learn them

Martial arts have been around a long as civilazation has been around. With humans living in close proximity of each other there has been a need for self-defense. There are basically two schools of thought for martial arts, the Western and the Asian. The Asian martial arts depend mainly on form, quickness, and agility (judo, karate, etc.) while the Western focuses on strength and direct force to conquer an opponent (boxing, wrestling).

Wrestling has been used by many countries. But perhaps the most famous country for wrestling is Greece. The Greeks were famous for their wrestlers and at the Olmpyics people would travel from around the ancient world to see them. The Greeks taught in a specific gymnasium called a xystos. Athletes were frequently taught by former champions.

Karate began in China by the Pechin class of the Ryukuans. After China-Japan relations had been established some of this class moved to Japan and began teaching Karate. Karate and most Asian martial arts were taught by professionals who formed there own schools. That is how martial arts basically are taught to the rising generation. Professionals compete and fight until they retire and then they form their own schools and teach students who are interested in them.

Krav maga- Hand Combat

I apologise for the late post but this was the only time the person I could teach was available. I've been racking my brain all week about what I am good at so that I could teach someone. And then I remembered: I have been taking Krav maga classes for quite a while, and even though I'm not being taught now I still teach myself. And it is folk knowledge. I never really considered martial arts folk knowledge but it is. You can learn out of a book but you will always learn better from an instructor.

Now what is Krav maga? Krav maga is Hebrew for "hand combat." It was developed by the Jews in eastern europe when the Nazis took over as a means of self-defense. After the country of Israel was created it became even more important as terrorist attacks increased. Krav maga is an integral part of the Iraeli army, and since every citizen must serve for at least two years every citizen knows Krav maga.

I started teaching my roommate by showing hime the proper fighting stance. It's important that you don't clench your fists as this tenses your mucsles so your reaction time is increased.

This in the proper fighting stance. (This in not a video.)

I then taught my roommate how to get out of front and back choke holds, how to block knife thrusts, and how to disarm people with guns. Since giving a description of the moves would bore people this video clip shows what you can do with Krav maga. This video is intense and I enjoy watching it a lot. Enjoy!

Field stripping a M16

I'm in Army ROTC and I'm on the marksmanship team. There is a competition every year at Fort Benning, Georgia where teams from all over the country compete. BYU placed 6th last year. My instructor taught me how to field strip the m16.

There are two pins above the trigger which come out which allows the low end of the gun (the part with the handle) to seperate from the upper end (the barrel). For me that was the most difficult because the pins were stuck on very tight.


If you go to this link www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgVOj0Dznfw it show you how fast you can field strip a m16. (For some reason I can't post the video here).

Your breath stinks, Dude! Did you brush your teeth?

All right. You're about to go to your date's house to pick her. You look at yourself in the mirror. Hair: check. Clothes: no wrinkles. Socks: clean. Face: You just shaved (looking good, man).

You're ready. You drive over to her house, nervous but fairly confindent. You knock, wait, the she opens the door. "Hi" you say. Her face turn from excited to unbelief and disgust. You cast about in your mind for the problem. You checked everything before you left right? Oh great, I forgot to brush my teeth! You decide to simply grin and bear it until its over, and then you will be a hermit living in Antarctica with no contact with humanity, especially women, and especially that girl.

Hopefully this scene has never happened to you, but it does bring home the point of the importance we put on clean teeth and nice smelling breath. I can't even remember when I never brushed my teeth. I can only remember as a kid my mom telling to brush again if I failed her inspection and my parents horror that we were in a public place and that I had food in my teeth.

The toothbrush seems to have its origins in the chewing sticks of Babylonia as early as 3500 BC. Ancient Greek and Roman literature discusses the use of toothpicks. The toothpick evolved into the chewstick, which was about the size of a pencil. The ancient Chinese chewed one end of the stick until it became brushlike, the other end was pointed and used as a toothpick. The twigs used for this were from aromatic trees and freshened the mouth as well.

As long ago as 5000 BC the Egyptians were making a tooth powder consisting of powdered ashes of ox hooves, myrrh, powdered and burnt eggshells and pumice (can you imagine ash and eggshell in your mouth, ugh!). The Greeks, the the Romans "improved" toothpaste by adding abrasives such as crushed bones and oyster shells. They also added powdered charcoal, powdered bark and more flavouring agents to improve breath. (Just a thought, how good would your breath smell if used bones and charcoal for toothpaste? Maybe someone should try that out for a date, some girls like a rebel.)

Keeping clean is something the elite can do much easier than the poor. While rich Egptians were using costly toothpaste and twigs, the poor used there fingers to spread around cheap ill-made toothpaste. The ancient elite also had the time to brush more frequently while the poor only did it ocasionally, if at all.

Some folk knowledge is hardly in use and is mostly in use as hobbies. People deplore the fact that few people sew or bake. But I've never heard of anyone complain that we don't make toothbrushes out of sticks or make toothpaste out of bones and charcoal.