Ghost Map 1-55 — Zack Long

In Pages 1-55 of the book “Ghost Map” by Steven Johnson talked about the epidemic in London where millions of people died from an outbreak of Cholera. The reason why they had this outbreak was because of an unsanitary living condition. For example, their sewage system wasn’t that great that they’d hire people know as Night Soil Men to clean the pits below the houses of the waste. As the population was growing, it became harder to remove the waste from people’s homes which eventually lead to the waste being transported out through the drinking water thus only spreading the Cholera when people would drink from the contaminated water

Jekyll and Hyde transformation — Zack long

Comparing the three transformations of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from the picture, novel, and movie shows quite a few differences. For example, the movie showed a choking and difference in physical structure, the novel just said that he was dizzy, but didn’t seem as detailed as the others, and the picture shows a big difference between Jekyll and Hyde and Jekyll looks a bit dizzy as though from the transformation.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — Zack Long

In the novel “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and the 1932 film of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have differences in the portrayed story. For example, In the novel no one knows that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are the same person until the end, and that Jekyll/Hyde die from suicide, but the film has the audience knows they are the same, but most of the others in the film don’t know that. Also Jekyll/Hyde die from a bullet from an officer rather than the suicide. Both the movie and the book were enjoyable, but the movie was easier to follow.

World’s Fair — Zack Long

What I found most interesting in the film was the Manufacturing and Liberal Arts building because of it’s tremendous size and able to hold so many things under one roof. Just imagining what it would be like to see the building with so many shops and objects on display could blow a person away.

Master and Commander — Zack Long

The movie, Master and Commander, was a great movie about the naval battles back in the 1800’s. There was exciting battles, interesting moments that showed how different their time is to ours, and even small moments of comedy. One of the most interesting parts of the movie to me was the medical practice in the movie. For example, when the doctor had to amputate the child’s arm after this one battle, and how the doctor had to operate on himself because he was shot by one of the members of the crew who was trying to kill a bird. All-in-all the movie was enjoyable and did did a great job showing a naval battle in the 1800’s

Galileo’s Battle for the Heavens — Zack Long

In the movie Galileo’s battle for the Heavens was about how Galileo and how he revolutionized the original thought that the earth was the center of everything and that it all orbited around earth. Galileo Galilei didn’t just start off in astrology, he actually thought about becoming a priest, but when he went to college he was taking classes about medicine. With all the images and material having to be approved by the pope and other holy figures, Galileo switched to mathematics after a few months in the college. Even later Galileo left his former college to get academic training that’s not dictated by a king or a pope. Eventually, there was news about a Dutchman who made the telescope that was originally for fun, but Galileo thought of a better use though he had to craft his own lenses to make it powerful enough for his use. Galileo’s early telescopes were powerful enough to see ships out on sea that it would take another two hours until it could be seen by the naked eye. Galileo used his telescopes to look up into the heavens, and started to look at Jupiter. As Galileo looked at Jupiter he noticed four specks near the planet, which he originally thought were just distant stars. The next night, Galileo looks at Jupiter again, but he noticed the four specks have moved, and eventually he learns that those four specks are actually Jupiter’s moons. Galileo adopted Nicolaus Copernicus’ view that the sun was the center of this system and not the earth, but no one believed Copernicus and he became a laughing stock, now Galileo was going to find more proof that Copernicus was right after all. As Galileo’s reputation was growing about his astrology and telescopes, other people were looking at him as an ignorant man. Galileo had some students himself and got the suggestion that Venus would be a key to the evidence he needed. As it turns out that Venus was the key, and by studying the shadows of Venus that the only way it could go from a full planet to a crescent would be if Venus was closer to the sun and that everything was revolving around the sun. Galileo soon realized this information and the church looked at him as a heretic. The church would punish heretics with torture or death, but with Galileo he silenced from speaking about it anymore and any book by Copernicus was banned. No one believed Galileo about the earth rotating on its axis and going around the sun because the earth didn’t look like it was moving when they looked at their ground. Galileo’s example about why we don’t notice earth moving around the sun is about a horse rider dropping a ball. If a man on a horse was to drop a ball while the horse stood still, the ball would land right next to the horse; If the man on a horse was to drop the ball while the horse is at full gallop, the ball would land next to the horse because the ball is moving at the same speed relative the horse thus when dropping the ball, the ball is moving forward while falling down. Galileo continued his work even though the church didn’t allow the idea and Galileo’s next discovery was with sunspots. By studying that the sunspots move towards a side of the sun and vanish, he learns that the sun itself rotates on an axis. The rest of the world believed that the sun was still and perfect and never rotated. With Galileo’s persistent pursuit of astrology, the church was about to imprison Galileo into the dungeon, but by kneeling in front of the inquisition and saying that he was wrong, Galileo avoided imprisonment but was placed under house arrest. Galileo looked through his old work since he was stuck inside his house and found his mathematic work, and now he went to work on the mathematics of motion. Galileo noticed objects falling, on a ramp or free fall, that the objects accelerate to fall at a fixed pace. For example, if a ball was rolling down a ramp and it travels one unit of measurement in a given amount of time, it would then travel three units, five units and so on in that pattern. This mathematics of motion is later picked up by Isaac Newton who later gives us the laws of motion.

Blog Paper on Hound of the Baskerville — Zack Long

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is by far a rather different tale than the other Sherlock Holmes’ stories than from the other stories I have read in this class. For example, the other stories like The Sign of Four would start off by saying how some unknown person committed some crime, but instead the case is presented to Sherlock Holmes as some apparition that killed these people named Baskerville.

I find that before the terrible event occurred several people had seen a creature upon the moor which corresponds with this Baskerville demon, and which could not possibly be any animal known to science. They all agreed that it was a huge creature, luminous, ghastly, and spectral. I have cross-examined these men, one of them a hard-headed countryman, one a farrier, and one a moorland farmer, who all tell the same story of this dreadful apparition, exactly corresponding to the hell-hound of the legend. I assure you that there is a reign of terror in the district, and that it is a hardy man who will cross the moor at night. (Doyle 22-23)

This conflict on the possible murderer of the Baskerville family makes this case seem like a nearly impossible case, but Sherlock Holmes, being a man of science, doesn’t believe this story to be true and that this legend of the hound is just that, a legend.

Sherlock Holmes’ method to solving this case was to send Watson to Baskerville Hall along with Dr. Mortimer and the recent heir, Sir Henry Baskerville, but Holmes’ stayed behind in his home at Baker Street. By doing so, the enemy of this case would be more alerted knowing Holmes’ was at Baskerville Hall thus making this case much harder to solve, so instead Holmes’ came to the area and sheltered himself in one of the stone huts of the moor while having a child bring him food and clues to the case. “Had I been with Sir Henry and you it is confident that my point of view would have been the same as yours, and my presence would have warned our very formidable opponents to be on their guard.” (Doyle 125) Another one of Holmes’ methods to solving the case are the same three qualities that Holmes uses in every case: observation, deduction, and knowledge.

Throughout the story there were some interesting characters and settings that put some unexpected twists in the story. For example, the Bronze Age ruins made great hiding spot for the mysterious person on the Tor, who turned out to be Holmes. Another location was the swamp that could kill a person who stepped in the wrong area, and bury them which ironically happened to the villain of this story since he placed beacons in the swamp to guide him so he doesn’t fall in. There was also an interesting secondary character in this story named Selden. Selden escaped from Princeton, an asylum, and he is somewhere on the moor of the Baskerville Hall hiding. I believe the purpose of the escaped psychopath from Princeton and these settings were to throw the reader off incase on what the ending would be, I know it threw me off.

The opposition between science and the supernatural led to showing whether this hound that haunts the Baskerville family was really a hound from the depths of Hell or a clever plot from an evil man to kill off the rest of his family. Holmes’ needed to use his science against and a power that no one could really explain and was able to triumph over it. Holmes’ and Watson’s attitude to amateur scientists like Dr. Mortimer and Stapleton who believe in the supernatural is rather cynical and will start mocking their belief in the supernatural with his sarcasm.

In conclusion, The Hound of the Baskervilles was a great story that showed Holmes use his scientific methods to even face possible supernatural activities, and through observation, deduction, and knowledge that science can disprove the supernatural events.

Hound of Baskervilles (53-109)–Zack Long

After reading pages 53-109 of The Hound of Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I’ve noticed that the interaction between Holmes and Watson is rather limited in this story. This is because Holmes has to stay behind on this while Watson goes with Baskerville and Mortimer, and Watson has to survey all clues himself and report it back to Holmes via a letter. This has made the story very interesting because Holmes was usually on the scene and he could deduce everything that happens with his superior sleuthing skills, but instead Watson has to be on the scene as Holmes’ eyes. What really makes it more interesting to see how they solve this case because Watson, at the beginning of this story, didn’t get the right deduction of the owner of the walking stick left behind in their room so Watson could possibly overlook a clue that Holmes might need. I am very curious now how this story will end and whether this creature is really a myth or is it real.

The Hound of Baskervilles — Zack Long

My reactions to The Hound of Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is that this makes it a very interesting mystery, but slightly different than the other mysteries from other Sherlock Holmes stories the class has read so far. For example, in this story it mentions about a supposed “hellhound” and a “curse” on the Baskervilles’ estate which is much different because of the possibility of the supernatural being behind this case. The story itself does have my interest and I am curious to see how it ends and if there really is some sort of giant  demon dog or if it was really something without the supernatural at all.

Holmes’ Scientific Method — Zack Long

After the readings of Sherlock Holmes’ stories I believe that Holmes’ methods are scientific. I believe this because by looking at the evidence around him he’ll come up with a hypothesis and experiment on whether is could be true or false. Holmes has knowledge in various fields which helps him find certain clues that could even be on a person. For example, Holmes concluded that Watson came from Afghanistan because Watson had a darkened face from being in a “tropic” area, the darkened skin is not his natural color because his wrists are paler than his face, and since Watson is injured (noted from the uncomfortable position of his shoulder) that the only place Watson could get such an injury in a tropic area was from Afghanistan while being in the Army.