Mongols on Trial

The debate today was very intense, and I think everyone really got into it (especially Futaba!). Everyone, myself included, was a lot more involved that I expected. In fact, when we were discussing our closing statements, we would find ourselves saying "we did this" and "when we did that", as if we actaully were those witnesses, even though that part of the trial was over. All in all, I think it was a good trial with lots of good points from both sides.

My job was to be one of the direct examiners for the defense. I know I didn't get as into it as others, but I'm not really bothered by that. Honestly, I hate public speaking and I get very nervous talking in front of people, so my goal was just to get up there, say my lines, and be done. I think I did a good job and the points I made were relevant, even though I didn't really get into it as much as others.

Before the trial, I probably would have said that the Mongols were guilty as charged. But after the research my group and I did, I disagree, and I think they are not guilty of these charges. After all, the Mongols were just another army, the only exception being that they were more skilled. They fought the same ways other armies did. They killed those involved in war, as any other army would. They did not target one specific group of people and try to completely exterminate them. They did not hold people against their will and torture them. Therefore, they are innocent of these charges.

Genghis Khan - Crazy Killer?

Killer? Yes. Crazy? Not at all. He was more along the lines of a strategic mastermind. All of his attacks were planned out; they weren't just random attacks on different peoples. In fact, he would often attack an enemy to "psych out", so to speak, nearby peoples. That way, they would instantly surrender and a bloody battle would be avoided. If he really was a "crazy killer", he would just go in and kill everyone. But, like any smart general, he used strategy to plan out his attacks and actually prevent excess bloodshed. Therefore, he should actually be considered a military genius.

Crusade Project 4

Here it is, all neat and spiffy! Unfortunately, Phil could not be present in this installment of the Phil and Arnold Saga, so Arnold made a new friend named Aamir! He's really old! He even lived through the crusades! Wow! Check it out!!!

OMG! CLICK HERE FOR ARNOLD THE INCREDIBLY ADORABLE TALKING PANDA!!!!

Oh, and here are my incredibly helpful sources!

www.albalagh.net/kids/history/crusades.shtml
http://atheism.about.com/od/crusades/a/crusadesviews_2.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades (used very little)
I also used some sources to a very small extent that really didn't have anything to do with the crusades (such as my search for common Muslim boy names, which is where Aamir came from.)

Crusades Project 3

I am having a lot of success with Xtranormal. After today's hectic events, I'm glad that I am using a method that is both fun and easy to work with. And after all, who doesn't love talking pandas? Of course, the computer voice doesn't always pronounce everything right, which can be problematic. But, it is easy to work around this. It is coming out to be pretty much what I had in mind, and I'm trying to make it as funny as possible. All in all, I'm confident that my Xtranormal presentation will be totally awesome (Am I listening to Starkid? No, what gives you that idea....)!

Crusades Project 2

I have been experimenting with a variety of different search engines, from Google in different countries to Yahoo! to Bing. But overally, regular Google works the best. I have been putting my searches in quotation marks so it finds websites that has all the words in the order I want. This has proven extremely useful. Additionally, Google Scholar helped me disover many useful websites. One problem I had with foreign Google was that it was very confusing. google.il for Israel was aligned on the right, which made it confusing. Also I can't read Hebrew.

Crusades Project 1

I have been playing around with Xtra Normal for the past few days, and I have decided to do that for my presentation. That's right, Phil and Arnold are coming back! My main focuses are going to be the Second Crusade, the Peace Crusade, and the Eight Crusade. This may change, but I am probably sticking with these three. They seem to have a strong Muslim opinion based on the little blurbs, and I will be doing more research on them shortly, using the different search engines provided.

Holiday Traditions

Well, this picture was taken before we had completely set up, but this is the Armenian table that I hosted with the help of my friends (who were honorary Armenians for the day). As we learned in class, Christianity spread throughout Asia and Europe and became very popular. Armenia is one of the Christian nations, with pretty much it's entire population consisting of Christians. In fact, it was the first nation to accept Christianity, therefore it was the world's first Christian nation. Armenians also belive that Jesus is the son of God.