TED

So... Of course as I was approaching the 7 minute mark of this video, the video cut out and wouldn't start up again.  I have no clue what 2 thirds of the speech was about.  All I can talk about is what I did hear and see.  The main point I got from the beginning was that countries strive with laws created from reason.  The countries that have historically pulled ahead have all had a set of laws for the citizens to follow.  I agree that this makes sense.  With laws, there is a normal way people act based on fear of consequences mixed with predisposition to follow instincts.  Without laws, people have no reason to not do something if it doesn't affect them self in a negative way as jail time or fines would.  Another big example for reasonable versus not reasonable was communism.  As communism sounds like it could work, it is an extreme.  In both Germany and Korea, when the country was split, half became communist.  It both cases, the communist half fell behind as the non-communist side accelled in both technology and culture.  So, from the small amount of the video I saw, I agree with Niall Ferguson.  His points make sense, and coincide with what I believe.  I have a feeling that I missed a big point in the video, but what can I do; I just can't always rely on technology.

The Islamic Empires

A lot of people didn't like the textbooks organization for this chapter.  I actually did.  It was choppy, but it mostly stayed in chronological order.  The Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals were put together because they happened together.  They were all around the same time.  They even interacted with each other.  I think putting them together was good because it showed the interactions and effects on each empire.

Overall, I think this period of interaction was good thing.  Not everyone got along, but that never really happens.  Interaction among multiple groups of people is always good for the world.  Even if people die or there are wars, culture and people spread.  It makes the whole world, or at least those societies, more united.  There were three prominent Islamic empires, and they all had defining characteristics.  All being around the same time made it easier to see which of these characteristics worked and which didn't.

Capitalism... For Real

Capitalism is an economy designed to circulate money through buyers, sellers, and producers.  It is completely based on supply and demand.  Supply and demand determine what is made, how much is made, and what price it is worth.  When people need something a lot, demand goes up which means there needs to be more supply.  The sellers buy from the producers, then they sell to buyers for a profit.  When more people need something, and the supply is not as high, the cost of that product goes up.  When there is an over-abundance of something, the cost goes down to help get rid of the product.

Hmmmmm... March 1st

First of all, Christianity keeps breaking up and branching off.  Why? Because Christians finds things in Religion they like, and things they don't like.  People from different parts of the world obviously don't always want the same things out of religious, no less than they believe much different things.  Christianity has become very broad.  In the past, whenever it moved to a new place, the people there would adapt to it but keep the parts they like and change other things.  For example, Lutheranism.  It is basically Christianity just with the "important" parts highlighted and everything else fallen by the wayside.  As this continues to happen, Christianity continues to spread and become a more general term.

And wait... capitalism? That's what the US is supposed to have, right?  I don't know much about it and could be completely wrong, but I think it is a type of economy based off of buyers and sellers.  People buy things and put money into "the system."  Producers use the money to produce and distribute.  Sellers get more money from buyers to pay for production and distribution.  It works something like that.  Also, taxes are thrown in pretty much everywhere.  It might just be a US thing, but the government seems to take money from pretty much everything.  And why is the US still in billions of dollars in debt? ...But that's a different topic.