A Ton of Crap (28 page)

The High Middle Ages
The High Middle Ages, which lasted from the eleventh to the thirteenth century, was defined by urbanization, a unifying religion in Christianity, and a rise in population and military expansion. It is during this time that the Crusades, a series of wars fought between Christians and Muslims over the Holy Land occurred. From the Crusades came contact with Arab science, math, and philosophy, which had been developed from the classical works of Ancient Greek philosophers. The contributions made by the Muslim world were passed on to Europe.

LISTENING

Active Listening
There is a difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is a physiological process, but listening requires work. To actively listen, one must understand, interpret, and evaluate what has just been heard. There are three elements involved in active listening: comprehending, retaining, and responding. Comprehension involves the listener discerning the sounds and determining the context. Retaining uses memory to create a meaning of the words one hears. Responding can be both verbal and nonverbal.

MEASUREMENT

The United States Custom Units
There are only three countries in the world that have not adopted the metric system: Myanmar, Liberia, and the United States (though the metric system is used for scientific and medical measurements). The measurement system in the United States is based on the imperial system used in England (though England has since converted to the metric system). The system is not a base ten system.

GENETICS

Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance
From his findings, Mendel came up with three laws regarding inheritance. The law of dominance states that if there is a pair of genes, the one that appears in the offspring is most likely the dominant one because that is passed on more often than the recessive gene. Mendel’s principle of segregation states that an individual inherits an allele (or a unit of information) about a trait from both parents, and during the formation of the gamete, these alleles segregate from one another. Mendel’s law of independent assortment states that the factors for characteristics are distributed independently to the reproductive cells.

BULGARIAN

Old Bulgarian Old
Bulgarian was also known as Old Church Slavonic (which you might recall from the lesson on Russian). It was spoken from the ninth century to the eleventh century, and it was the first written Slavic language that was used universally throughout the land. Old Bulgarian shared many qualities that other Slavic languages had; however, certain sounds were solely found in Bulgarian.

THE MIDDLE AGES

The Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages, which lasted from 1300 to 1500, was a time defined by climate change, famine, disease, war, and social upheaval. The Great Famine of 1315 to 1317 and the Black Death led to an incredibly large loss of life. It is during this time that the Hundred Years’ War was fought between England and France, and it is in the Late Middle Ages that the schism in the Catholic Church occurs.

LISTENING

Active Listening Barriers
There are several barriers that can interrupt active listening, and they can be anything from outside distractions to one’s own emotions. Daydreaming or glazing over while a person speaks is one example of a barrier to active listening, as are interruptions and shift response. In shift response, instead of passively listening, the listener turns the conversation into one about him- or herself and no longer actively listens but focuses on the self.

MEASUREMENT

Length
The units of length used every day in the United States are inch, foot, yard, and mile. In this system, 12 inches makes 1 foot, 3 feet equals 1 yard, and 1 mile is 5,280 feet. In the metric system, 1 yard measures to be 0.9144 meters and 1 inch is measured to 2.54 centimeters.

GENETICS

Inheritance Patterns
There are three types of inheritance patterns: single-gene inheritance, multifactorial inheritance, and mitochondrial inheritance. These are all useful in understanding disease. In single-gene inheritance, also known as Mendelian inheritance, a single gene is mutated and then follows the predictable pattern of inheritance. In multifactorial inheritance, it is not due to a single gene but rather several genes and environmental factors. In mitochondrial inheritance, disease is transmitted by the mitochondria, organelles that are inherited only from the mother’s egg.

BULGARIAN

Middle Bulgarian
From the twelfth century to the fifteenth century, the language changed dramatically. Middle Bulgarian was the official language used in the administration of the Second Bulgarian Empire. Many vowels lost their nasal quality, and consonants were harder in the West, while in the East, there was still a difference between hard and soft consonants. Also during this time, a new class of verbs developed.

THE MIDDLE AGES