4: Phenomena
Prompt: Find and document, both visually and textually, a phenomena. It should include things, frameworks, and clockworks.
For this entry, I decided to choose a phenomenon that many people are familiar with as one of the main mysteries of the world - Stonehenge. Existing today in Amesbury, United Kingdom, this massive structure has caused many controversial arguments through centuries of its study. It is thought to have been built between 3100-1800 B.C., and is presumed to be a way that ancient people observed and predicted the coming of astronomical phenomena like solstices and eclipses.
This structure can be described as phenomenal because it possesses things, framework, and clockwork.
An example of things in this phenomena are the stones themselves - huge, multi-ton slabs of rock that are arranged in a circular fashion. A framework, in the case of Stonehenge, can be classified as the way the rocks are aligned, in a set of circles thought to be used to measure the shadows of the sun and estimate the distance between stars to predict when another important astronomical event would take place. A clockwork at Stonehenge is daylight. The structure is oriented northeast-southwest, so each morning when the sun rises it hits the structure and the sun's rays appear perfectly aligned within the horseshoe-shaped ring in the middle.
Stonehenge is a phenomena because it is something that cannot be fully understood. It is something perceived by the senses and that exhibits behavioral characteristics and boundary conditions.
I think that Stonehenge will continue to be one of the world's biggest mysteries - something that we will never be able to understand completely because of our lack of our knowledge about its history, the people who put it there, why they built it, and how such ancient people were able to understand something about the ways of the world that we to this day cannot.
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Image: http://www.puzzlehouse.com/images/webpage/stonehenge.jpeg
General Facts/Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge
http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/Stonehenge/
Comments
Hi Marin - fabulous start!
Just a couple small points:
1) I find it good practice to cite the source of any photo I use that I didn't take myself, and I never use copyrighted images.
2) Your writing is some of the best I've seen for this course. However, it could benefit from a later reading by yourself to ensure that your words represent exactly what you want them to. I'd be happy to point out the small examples I saw, but feel that your attention to detail will pick them up after you've had a chance to step back from your text.
3) You give great background on examples such as Stonehenge, but remember - as discussed in section - cite any sources for those that want to confirm your facts/sources. For the purpose of this blog you can just enter whatever source at the bottom of your blog. I hope this doesn't discourage you from using facts in your future responses!
4) I'm a Tigers fan - I trust that won't be an issue any more... sorry about your Twins :(
happy blogging!
sw
Posted by: sarah wolbert | October 11, 2006 5:00 AM