Sexual monogamy and the control of women’s reproductive rights by men became an important issue to society as an economic response to agriculture. Sexual monogamy became a problem when men who owned property and livestock wanted to pass down an inheritance to their sons, as they needed to ensure their bloodline was pure without any sons born of another male. Prior to this, predominantly in hunter-gatherer societies, monogamy was not considered a vital tenant of society and straying outside the confines of monogamy was widely accepted as a societal and sometimes even cultural normative due to the unrestricted freedom of time and location of where one was during the day, however after the advent of agriculture, time was drastically different in its allocation amongst women and men as certain duties were required to be performed to ensure a proper harvest
Month: June 2018
The Reason Marriage Was Created
Traditionally the concept of marriage was not bore out of love, but more so a way to structure a deal around something required. The upper classes used marriage throughout history to create alliances, sign peace treaties, and create military partnerships, the middle classes used marriage to create business mergers, and the lower classes used marriage to expand upon their familial labor force
The Global Achievement of the International Space Station
The International Space Station is approximately the size of a football field, orbits the Earth at over 28,000 kilometers per hour, and is situated 400 kilometers above sea level. The International Space Station is made up of 15 separate modules which come together and function as a single unit, with one end belonging to the United States of America and the other to Russia. Every piece of payload which is sent into space to be stored upon the International Space Station is weighed carefully, all the way down to the ounce
Indian Brass Knuckles
Most brass knuckle weapons around the world have a flat edge however in Mumbai, India, brass knuckle sets typically have a jagged point on each knuckle which acts as a small piercing weapon. The rationale of those who carry it is that it saves them the time of having to physically work out frequently in a gym to ensure their own safety but also because some who brandish it are not very tall or large in stature to begin with, which means that a modified weapon provides a substantial edge over one’s opponent who may be more physically domineering. Firearms are rarely seen or used by anyone involved in crime in India which is why pointed brass knuckles are so popular as it allows for multiple body shots delivered in rapid succession to inflict just enough damage to end a fight without serious harm being levied. Despite firearms not being particularly popular, knives are as both an assault and a defense weapon
Traditional Mongolian Livestock Practices
In Mongolia, horse is traditionally eaten during the winter months, and is referred to as a “cold meat”. The traditional method of slaughtering livestock is to hold it down, make a small incision in its abdomen, and finally separate the heart from the remaining circulatory system. This technique is an incredibly quick process which if done correctly is a fairly humane way to take the life of an animal. The animal may tense its limbs but it rarely if ever makes a sound during the process as it’s such a quick set of movements performed in succession. Mongolians attach a spiritual significance to blood and it is deemed wrong for any blood to touch the ground during the skinning process. Livestock blood is consumed and is considered a valuable food resource, never to be wasted
Dating Pottery Using Thermoluminescence
The dating of pottery artifacts can be accurately performed by using a technique referred to as “thermoluminescence”. Thermoluminescence involves taking a small sample of an artifact of pottery and heating it up using doses of high energy radiation which creates excited electron states in crystalline materials like pottery. In some materials, these electron states are trapped or arrested for extended periods of time by a localized defect, or imperfection. In terms of the quantum world, these states are stationary states which have no formal time dependence, however they are not stable energetically and when the material is heated it enables these trapped energy states to interact with photons to rapidly decay into lower energy states, causing the emission of photons in the process. The photons are measured and dependent of how many escape, a specified measurement of the total age can be determined. This technique can be used on most minerals and is the only method available to provide exact dating in respect to pottery as the results yielded do not have to be compared against a comparison artifact. Certain minerals store energy from the sun at a known rate and this energy is lodged in the imperfect lattices of a mineral’s crystals. Heating these crystals when creating pottery empties the stored energy reserves, after which time the mineral begins absorbing energy again. Thermoluminescence dating is a matter of comparing the current energy stored in a crystal to what should be there had not pottery not been heated during the creation process thereby establishing a “last heated during” marker or date
Mayan Human Sacrifice
There are enormous freshwater caverns all throughout the underground of Central America and South America, referred to as “cenote’s” (pronounced “see-no-tays”). The ancient Mayan’s would throw people into these cenotes sacrificially, and thought it to be a great honor to those who participated. It is estimated that the ancient Mayan’s sacrificed up to 250,000 people per year to appease the gods
The Greek Mythology of Icarus
In Greek mythology, Icarus, the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, is the creator of the Labyrinth. Icarus and his father attempt to escape from Crete by means of crafted wings which Icarus’ father constructs from feathers and wax. Daedalus warns Icarus of complacency and hubris, instructing that he fly neither too low nor too high, so that the seas dampness would not clog his wings but also so that the sun’s heat would not melt them. Icarus ignored his father’s instructions not to fly too close to the sun and when he did, the wax in his wings melted causing him to tumble out of the sky and into the sea where he drowned
The Genetic Component of Poverty
Identical twins share virtually 100% of their deoxyribonucleic acid and fraternal twins share 50% of their deoxyribonucleic acid making both types of twin ideal candidates for studies involving genetics and epigenetics to screen for factors for issues like social inequality and poverty with studies designed to research if social factors are due solely to the environment or if genetics play any role. Recent studies have demonstrated that in an economic climate of poverty, genes play almost no role whatsoever, however in a financial state of middle class or higher, genes play a formidable role, and in an income bracket of the top tier of society, genes seem to play a substantial role, being one of the key primary driving factors behind most financial decisions made by a person
Apple: The First Trillion Dollar Corporation
Apple has 100,000 employees and earned $215,000,000,000 ($215 billion) in revenue during 2016, which is more income than the total gross domestic product produced by 75% of all countries on Earth. In 2018, Apple became the first company in history to reach a value of $1,000,000,000,000 ($1 trillion), an achievement which to provide perspective would make Apple one of the wealthiest nations in the world, were it a country