Evolution of the internet

1. Introduction

The Internet is one of the major reason business, home, and other users purchase computers, to have

access to it. The Internet is a widely used research tool, providing society with access to global information and instant

communication. The Inte

rnet, also called the net, is a wo

rld wide collection of networks that links million of business, government agencies, educational

institutions, and individuals. Toda, more than one billion home and business users around the world

access a variety of services on the Internet.

Figure 1. URL (uniform resource locator)

2. Evolution

The Internet has it roots in a networking project sta

rted by the Pen

tagon’s Advanced Research Project Agency (

ARPA), an ag

ency of the US department of defense. AR

PA’s goal was to build

a network that:

Allowed scientists at different physical loca

tions to share informati

on and work together on military and scientific projects.

· Could function even if part of the network were disable or destroyed by a disaster such as a nuclear attack.

The network was developed and it was given the name of

ARPANET. This network consisted of four main computers, on

e each located at the University of California at Los Angeles, the Univer

sity of California at San

ta Barbara, the Stanford Research institute, and the University of Utah. Each of these computers served as a host (more commonly known as a server, is any computer that provides services an

d connections to other computers on a network) on the network. As researchers and others realized the great benefit of using ARPANET to share data and information. This network b

egan to grow rapidly until the National Science Foundation connected its huge network to ARPANET. This last configuration of complex net

works and hosts became known as the Internet.

Figure 2. ARPAN

ET computers

3. The World Wide Web (structu

re)

Many people use the terms World Wide Web and Intern

et interchangeably; the World Wide Web actually is a service of the Internet. While the Internet developed in the late 1960s the World Wide Web developed in the early 1990s. Since then, it has grown phenomenally to become one of the more widely used Internet services. The World wide web (www), or web,

consists of a worldwide collection of electronic documents. Each electronic document is called a Web page, which can contain text, graphics, animation, audio, and video. Additionally Web pages usually have built-in connections to other documents. A web site is a collection of related Web pages and associated items, such as document and pictures, stored on a web server. A web server is a computer that delivers requested Web pages to your computer.

Figure 3. The World Wide Web

4. Impact on the world

The Internet gives us a way to communicate around the world breaking the distance barriers thanks to its velocity and availability. People around the world use a variety of Internet services in daily activities.

Internet services allow home and business users to access the Web for activities such as conducting research, reading blogs, or sharing videos; to send e-mail messages; or to converse with others using chat rooms, instant messaging. Somehow the internet created an other way to socialize, or even to live, because as the time goes more people are using it constantly. Today, more than 550 million hosts connect to the Internet.

Figure 4. “It brakes our distance barriers”

5.Journal Article Review

“Every increase in freedom to create or consume media, from paperback books to YouTube, alarms people accustomed to the restrictions of the old system, convincing them that the new media will make young people stupid”- The wall street journal.

This article talks about the interaction between the Internet and the human intellectual capacity; it mentions Internet as being able to “feed” the human mind as the books do. But the only problem that interferes with widening our knowledge with the Internet is that the Internet is full of unnecessary information, or “junk,” that instead of helping our minds to develop, is going to hamper our minds to reach a higher level of knowledge.

6.Sources

· Shirky, C. (2010, June 4,). Does the Internet make you smarter? The Wall Street Journal On-line. Retrieve information from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704025304575284973472694334.html

· DARPA / ARPA --
Defense / Advanced Research Project Agency (1997). Retrieve information from Living Internet: “the first book published on the web” web site: http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ii_darpa.htm

· Shelly, G. B., & Vermaat, M. E., (2011). Discovering computers: “Living in a digital world.” (pp. 74-81). Boston: Course Technology, Cenage learning.

Cartoons by Nico Moschetto.

I.introduction

Cartoons and animation are something this world has been able to appreciate for quite some time now. who could forget the classics like looney toons, and for my generation spongebob, courage the cowardly dog, ed edd and eddy, and dexter's laboratory. of course now the ever-so-popular japanese anime has dominated that market. but there are also a lot of new cartoons that people have taken a likeing to like, ben 10 (although overdone after the first season in my opinion), adventure time, mad, and my personal favorite, Regular Show.



figure 1

II. Discovery

The first animated film was created by Charles-Émile Reynaud, who invented the praxinoscope, an animation system using loops of 12 pictures. He presented his work on October 28th 1892 in Paris. He used an old fashoned projector to do so. stop motion animation was mainly used for real objects and was merely a bit shorter that the praxinoscope method. the idea was to take a picture of an object, move it slightly, then take another picture, and eventually the object would look like it was moving itself. these were the two earliest methods of animation. then, the walt disney company came around and dominated the animation maarket with the well known classic, snow white and the seven dwarfs.

III. Present day

Today, there are many different ways companies make cartoons and animation. for the 3D animated movies that are ever so popular but ever so time consuming and expensive, they use the CGI method. in this method, everything is computer generated, there is no hand drawn art. there is also the Cel-Shaded animation, which is most common for modern day cartoons like Regular Show. in this method, they start with a 3D model of the object. then the object is processed through a reendering engine and made flat on screen with black outlines. then through computer generation, the character is moved around and perfected to be put on screen. the third method is the stop motion method, which i mentioned earlier, believe it or not it is still used in a few popular shows, for example, robot chicken, on adult swim, is very popular today and is still currently running in its 5th season.

figure 2
wallace and gromit. stop motion animation. also a great part of my early tv life.

IV. Impact on the World

Well, the world itself has a lot to be thankful for, more in some than others, but a lot none the less. teachers are thankful for teaching, parents are thankful for their jobs, well, those who are not part of this ungodly unemployment rate, but me? im a simple guy. I'm just thankful i can go home and enjoy a nice hilarious cartoon, like Family Guy, South Park, and Regular Show. The world also likes its fair share of cartoons. today there are 114.5 million tvs in households and about 290 million viewers. sure, some of these people dont watch cartoons, but come on, you cant tell me youve never seen a cartoon in your life, if youur american at least.

V. journal article

the Types of Animation article was very helpful in my research. it explained the types of animaiton with clarity and thouroughness without being lengthy and boring. it was my number 1 source for information.

bibliography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_animation

http://hhs.hilmar.k12.ca.us/Departments/FineArts/Animation/Types%20of%20Animation.htm

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/2045324

Artificial Intelligence

I. Introduction

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the man-made intelligence of machines. It is a form of computer science. Ideally, a machine should be able to think and act as human can. As stated in the video below, machines are very good at things we are not. For example, long division and other things that requires us to process information. But, they have trouble processing things through sight and senses. The goal of artificial intelligence is to be able to create a machine that can do both simultaneously.

II. History

The field of Artificial Intelligence was founded at a conference at Dartmouth College in 1956. John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Allen Newell and Herbert Simon, became the leaders of AI research. They created computers that could solve word problems in algebra, prove logical theorems, and speak English. Since then many improvements have been made. Artificial intelligence is now used for logistics, data mining, medical diagnosis and many other areas throughout the technology industry. There are constant advances on this technology such as the computer, dubbed Watson (figure 1). A team of scientists built a computer to compete on the television show “Jeopardy.” It handily defeated the greatest contestants, Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings. There have been many other examples like this. And a computer dubbed Deep Blue became the first computer chess-playing system to beat a reigning world chess champion, Garry Kasparov. Another example is when a Stanford robot won the DARPA Grand Challenge by driving for 131 miles along an unrehearsed desert trail. A video that I found interesting was a video of a Robot dubbed iClub shooting a plastic bow and arrow.

(Figure 1)

The link is to the video of the Robot Archer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCXvAqIDpIw

III. Inventors

There are no individual inventors for AI, but some of the first and major contributors were John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Allen Newell and Herbert Simon. John McCarthy was the one who coined the term Artificial Intelligence. He was awarded the Turing Award in 1971 for his major contributions to the science. Marvin Minsky co-founded the Artificial Intelligence program at MIT. He was awarded the Turing Award in 1969, the Japan Prize in 1990, the IJCAI Award for Research Excellence in 1991, and the Benjamin Franklin Medal. Allen Newell contributed to the Information Processing Language and two of the earliest AI programs, the Logic Theory Machine and the General Problem Solver. He was also awarded the Turing award in 1975.

IV. Potential Effect on Humanity

A common theme in the media is what happens if and when the machines achieve their full potential. Another point that comes up is how will they react. In media it is portrayed as a servant (R2D2 in Star Wars), a conqueror/overlord (The Matrix), a partner (Cortana in Halo), and countless other examples. Another concept that is often talked about is robot rights. Theoretically, with artificial intelligence, the machines should be able to feel emotion. If that happens, it begs the question; do the machines deserve the same rights as humans? This is extremely controversial and is often portrayed in science fiction. Another potential problem would be extreme unemployment. Machines have proven they can do things more efficiently and more quickly than humans. If it becomes more cost productive to create machines than to use human labor, companies will be required to let people go. These are all controversial ideas that are already argued. These are probably being discussed prematurely though. The video shows how the machines can learn to identify and judge what objects are.

The link is to the video of the learning robot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9ByGQGiVMg

V. Review of journal article

The journal article that I chose was the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research. It was an article that has been constantly revised. It offered a fantastic introduction in the field of Artificial Intelligence.

VI. References

Various authors. (1975-2011). “The Jounal of Artificial Intelligence Research” Volume 40

H. Papadopoulos, V. Vovk and A. Gammerman (2011) "Regression Conformal Prediction with Nearest Neighbours", Volume 40, pages 815-840

T. De la Rosa, S. Jimenez, R. Fuentetaja and D. Borrajo (2011) "Scaling up Heuristic Planning with Relational Decision Trees", Volume 40, pages 767-813

W. Li, P. Poupart and P. van Beek (2011) "Exploiting Structure in Weighted Model Counting Approaches to Probabilistic Inference", Volume 40, pages 729-765

Wikipedia (2011) “Artificial Intelligence”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence

Youtube (2009) “ASIMOs new artificial intelligence. (ASIMO is learning!)”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9ByGQGiVMg

Youtube (2010) “Robot Archer iClub”

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCXvAqIDpIwutube.com/watch?v=QCXvAqIDpIw

Sunglasses

Sunglasses-By Sarah King

Introduction-Sunglasses are forms of eye wear that typically provide protection from the suns rays. Sunglasses can protect eyes from UV rays that can be harmful. Healthcare professionals often recommend wearing some sort of eye protection while outdoors, as the suns rays can often be damaging to the human eye. Today, medical experts recommend wearing sunglasses that can filter out %99-100 of UV rays.

History-The first account of “sunglasses” being used can date back to prehistoric times, when Inuit people wore flatten, walrus ivory “glasses” that had slits to block out the sun. In the 12^th century, or possibly earlier, sunglasses made fro

m flat panes of smoky quartz were used in China. James Asycough is accredited with the invention of sunglasses, although the devices he first invented were not intended to block the rays of the sun. he thought that by using black, blue or green tinted lenses, he could

correct vision problems. This was in the mid 18^th century, around 1752. In the early 1900’s many celebri

ties started using tinted lenses. It was thought that this was to disguise their identity from fans, but another reason given is that celebrities’ eyes were often red from the powerful lamps that were used then in moviemaking. Sunglasses, however, still remain very popular long after the powerful lamps were replaced.

Biography of Inventor: Very little is know about James Asycough, including his birth date. He died in 1759. James Asycough was an optician and an inventor of scientific instruments. He had a shop in London between 1740 and 1759. Around the year 1752, he introduced spectacles with double-hinged sidepieces.

Impact on the World Today: Today, sunglasses provide protection against UV rays, which can cause cataracts, snow blindness and various forms of eye cancers. Other uses of sunglasses can include people using them to hide abnormal appearances of the eyes, including blindness, cross-eyes and other abnormalities. Sunglasses can be used in outdoor sports, such as volleyball or skiing. However, these sunglasses must have special features, such as shatterproof and impact-resistance.

Different Styles: There are many different types of sun

glasses. One is called aviator, which usually have oversize teardrop shaped lenses held in place by a thin metal frame. The Ray-Ban Company introduced these in 1936. Clip-on glasses are simply a form of tinted glasses that can be clipped on the regular ey

eglasses for protection from the sun. Flip up sunglasses allow the wearer to flip pup the tinted lens, which makes these great for indoor use. Mirrored sunglasses have a metallic, partially reflected coating on the lenses. These glasses improve the ability to see contrasts. Oversized sunglasses were very fashionable in the 1980’s, and were made popular by Jackie Kennedy. Shutter Shades were used to decrease the amount of sun exposure that took place, not to filter the sunlight. These were inspired by the Inuit’s take on sunglasses. Wraparound sunglasses have one, smooth, semi-circular lens that covers both eyes. These sunglasses’ main use is in sports.

Journal Article:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TH0-44MFXSK-B&_user=10&_coverDate=11%2F15%2F2001&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1737086498&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=6935b57b72564a9cf75123e8f1f5be19&searchtype=a

In this journal article, the dangers of UV rays and the protection needed are discussed. In this article, it is discussed that certain sunglass lenses may not provide the right protection from the UV rays. In the journal article, it also discuss’ the current standards that are set for sunglasses.

Sources:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TH0-44MFXSK-B&_user=10&_coverDate=11%2F15%2F2001&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1737086498&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=6935b57b72564a9cf75123e8f1f5be19&searchtype=a

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunglasses

http://new-invention.blogspot.com/2008/01/invention-of-sunglasses.html

Race to the moon! … Again?? - By Kelby Fruecht

(Above is an astronaut looking for Helium 3)

Introduction:

On earth, we would say that gold or platinum is the most rare and valuable substance on our planet. We think that there is no other substance out there that can be more priceless? Well, just recently a discovery was made that puts platinum and gold in second and third place in order to make room for a material called Helium 3. Helium 3 is not your everyday helium gas that we fill up balloons with. In fact, Helium 3 is a solid, and most importantly it is a substance that can change the way we use and develop nuclear power. We have known about Helium 3 in lunar rocks for roughly 50 years now, but in recent studies with testing Helium 3 in nuclear fusion, the possibilities of a new main source of energy has been found.

(above is a picture of Helium 3 during reaction)

Discovery:

There are many people to give credit too in the discovery of helium 3, but most of the credit in my opinion should go to the astronauts who went on the moonmissions and collected the samples, the researchers at the University of Wisconsin, and N.A.S.A. An astronaut, Harrison Schmitt, wrote about his experience actually collecting the samples of rocks, he states, “A sample of soil from the rim of Camelot crater slid from my scoop into a Teflon bag to begin its trip to Earth with the crew of Apollo 17. Little did I know at the time, on December 13, 1972, that sample 75501, along with samples from Apollo 11 and other missions, would provide the best reason to return to the moon in the 21st century.” The discovery can now lead to yet another race to the moon, except this time the race is to see who will be the first to mine the helium 3 and bring it back to earth. Through analysis, they have determines that there is about 1,000,000 tons of helium 3 under the crust of the moon. This has been determined to be true from the Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 and U.S.S.R. Luna 16, and 20 samples.

Here is a overview video behind helium 3:

http://www.yourdiscovery.com/video/sci-trek-helium-3-fusion/

The difference between Fission and Fusion, How does it work?

(above shows the main difference between fission and fusion when they react)

Up till today, nuclear reactors have used nuclear fission to produce energy. The way nuclear fission harvests energy is by splitting one atom into two atoms. They do this by splitting atoms of uranium with high-energy neutrons. This produces very large amounts of energy in the form of heat, which heats water to form steam, and then spins turbines to generate electricity. The downside to fission is that it gives off dangerous amounts of radiation and radioactive waste in the form of nuclear rods, which have to be stored underground in desolate areas about forever.

In nuclear fusion however, the way it works is the exact same way except backwards. It produces energy when two atoms come together and under high temperature and pressure, they fuse together to become one, and the products are huge amounts of energy, neutrons, and helium gas. The best part about helium 3 fusion is that you have no radiation or radioactive waste that you have to worry about. So you’re left with abundant amounts of energy and no worries.

Now to explain all the specifics and science behind how it works below I decided to post a video to help best in understanding fission and fusion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNthR4lGjJQ

Impact on World/Humanity:

The significance of Helium 3 is crucially important as a means of an energy resource for the entire globe. It would not only provide as a way for new energy to replace resources which may be depleting, but also will give little to no toxic waste or radioactive by-product. This would deplete the need to use oil or any other types of energy that give off harmful waste products. Big cities and factories would no longer have air that is bad quality. It would affect every single aspect of our lives, you would be able to fill up your car by change, and even food would be cheaper because transportation of all goods would be cheaper. There is about ten times more energy that is available through helium 3 than in all the other sources of energy put together. This opportunity to have the most powerful and abundant energy resource in existence is something that shouldn’t be looked over.

Journal Article Review: Race to the Moon for Nuclear Fuel

(above is a visualization of what mining on the moon could look like)

The article talks about how the discovery of Helium 3 in fusion reactions is now making a race to the moon after seeing the capabilities of helium 3. It also talks about the N.A.S.A. moon base that they are planning on building and how it can open up the possibilities to mine helium 3. The reason that they are wanted to get it from the moon is because it is extremely rare on earth due to our atmosphere which blocks the solar rays that make helium 3. The moon on the other hand, doesn’t have an atmosphere, so after about 4 billion years of the sun hitting the moon, it is verified that there is a massive abundance of helium 3 on the moon. Whoever is the first to conquer the moon by putting the first base up there, will be the first to reek the benefits to such a powerful energy resource.

For anyone who is interested, I actually found a game about the Helium 3 race and it’s actually pretty cool! Check it out on the link below:

http://www.yourdiscovery.com/games/helium3/

Citations:

• Freudenrich, C. (n.d.). How Nuclear Fusion Reactors Work. HowStuffWorks. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from science.howstuffworks.com/fusion-reactor1.htm

• Lasker, J. (2006, December 15). Race to the Moon for Nuclear Fuel . Wired.com . Retrieved May 1, 2011, from http://www.wired.com/science/space/news/2006/12/72276

• Schmitt, H. (n.d.). Mining the Moon. Datapages - Search and Discovery. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from http://www.searchanddiscovery.

PDF files:

http://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/E-project/Available/E-project-031306-122626/unrestricted/IQP.pdf

http://fti.neep.wisc.edu/presentations/glk_isdc.pdf

http://fti.neep.wisc.edu/gallery/pdf/space_com063000.pdf

Pictures:

http://www.quantum.physik.uni-mainz.de/AGHeil/jobs.html

http://boojum.as.arizona.edu/~jill/NS102_2006/Lectures/Lecture14/sunshine.html

The Invention of the Wheel Chair- Brooke Mastmeier

I. Introduction: The Wheel chair is a chair with wheels that is used as a replacement for those who can’t walk due to injury or illness. There are many variations of the wheel chair. There are some that are propelled by motors and some that are used by the hand of the seated occupant.

Figure 1:



II. History: The earliest records of the wheel chair dated back to the 6th century, they were seen through Chinese inscriptions. The best illustrated wheel chair was invented for King Philip II of Spain back in 1565. The drawing shows the king in his chair with wheels, armrests, and footrests. In 1665, Stephan Farfler came up with a self propelled wheel chair. The Chair was propelled by hand cranks attached to the front wheel. Then in 1783, John Dawson, came up with the “Dawson Bath Chair. His design eventually began to develop and change. And by the 19th century, wheelchairs became more comfortable and less burdensome.

III. Types of Wheel Chairs: Everyday manual wheel chairs- Some of these chairs have permanently welded joints and many fewer moving parts. The Rigid chairs typically feature instant-release rear wheels and backrests that fold down flat. There are various accessories that could be added on the chair, such as: safety belts, tilt or recline features, or carrying devices for crutches or oxygen tanks. Manual chairs require human power to move them. Many of them can be folded to fit into a vehicle.

Electric powered- This chair is control by an electric motor and navigational controls, usually a small joystick on the armrest. For people who can’t manage the hand joy stick, head switches and chin operated joysticks may also be used.
Figure 2:



IV. Access and Mobility: It is necessary to add ramps and elevators to public areas for people who are using a wheel chair. In the USA most new construction for public use must be built to ADA standards of accessibility. With the aging of the population, architects will now design wheel chairs ramps for private homes. Other important adaptations to private homes would be larger bathroom doors, and accessibility to showers and bathtubs.
Figure 3:



V. Journal Article: Couch, R. H. (1992). Ramps Not Steps: A Study of Accessibility Preferences. The Journal of Rehabilitation, 58(1), 65+. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from Questia database: http://www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5002177982
This Journal Article is about the accessibility of the wheel chair in public places, and the laws that have been passed to encourage the accessibility. Also that people using his invention have been fighting barriers interfering with its use.


VI. References:
1.Couch, R. H. (1992). Ramps Not Steps: A Study of Accessibility Preferences. The Journal of Rehabilitation, 58(1), 65+. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from Questia database: http://www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5002177982
2.History of the Wheel Chair. (n.d.). Content Caboodle. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from http://www.contentcaboodle.com/news-and-society/history-of-the-wheelchair.html
3.Wheelchair - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelchair

Figure 1: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://rollingwheelchairs.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/manual-wheelchair.jpg&imgrefurl=http://rollingwheelchairs.net/&usg=__W_dKtaChtX37K2A-JTxTVNHhC1o=&h=300&w=300&sz=12&hl=en&start=0&sig2=rn_GaR7a7MRZ4xDUFZgsVw&zoom=1&tbnid=a-Sh0DI5rHdVeM:&tbnh=121&tbnw=124&ei=a9O9TbX2IIbcgQefyYC0Bw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dwheel%2Bchair%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4GGLL_enUS317US317%26biw%3D1003%26bih%3D500%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=116&vpy=164&dur=703&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=149&ty=110&page=1&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0

Figure 2: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://mobilitysales.com/products/mobility-product-images/Invacare-Power-Wheel-Chair-side1-4a1466021dc90-invacare-M51-power-chair.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.abilitycenter.com/powerchairs.php&usg=__IqqYOlkR5dO__IiGFr3C-W6Hl5Q=&h=250&w=250&sz=8&hl=en&start=14&sig2=ldojxis4-c3C0yMM-DFzlw&zoom=1&tbnid=MgZGNSOn8FGmxM:&tbnh=156&tbnw=147&ei=NtO9TfqAAYb00gHYoP3gBQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Delectric%2Bwheelchair%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26rlz%3D1T4GGLL_enUS317US317%26biw%3D1003%26bih%3D500%26tbm%3Disch0%2C184&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=139&vpy=189&dur=812&hovh=200&hovw=200&tx=114&ty=165&page=2&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:14&biw=1003&bih=500

Figure 3: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.conie.com/images/clip_wheelChairRamp.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.conie.com/project.php&usg=__UJq06qexWaEo1KXSWDQsjuAwvWc=&h=432&w=576&sz=36&hl=en&start=0&sig2=78eKu3yeHJhYyJ2azIJpgQ&zoom=1&tbnid=ZCpG1eGuFPXWpM:&tbnh=99&tbnw=132&ei=xdO9TYncN8nKgQfZuMyOBw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dwheel%2Bchair%2Bramp%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GGLL_enUS317US317%26biw%3D1003%26bih%3D500%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=224&vpy=195&dur=1266&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=183&ty=82&page=1&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0

Baseball by Sammy Bozza

I. Introduction.

Baseball, also called “America’s pastime” is a thinking man’s game. It is one of the few sports in which time is not a factor. The object of baseball is to score more runs than the other team. To achieve this, one would have to hit the baseball with a baseball bat to get on base. The teammate behind him in the batting order would then try to advance him by doing the same thing.

II. History.
Americans began playing baseball on informal teams in the early 1800s. By the 1860s, the sport was obtained the name “America’s Pastime” because it was unrivaled by any other sport at the time. The modern baseball field was invented by Alexander Cartwright in New York, in 1845. Alexander Cartwright and the members of his Baseball club, the New York Knickerbockers, created the first rules and regulations for the modern game of baseball. Baseball was based on the English game of rounders. Rounders became popular in the United States in the early 19th century and was called many different things like "townball", "base", or "baseball". “The first recorded baseball game was on June 19, 1846 when Alexander Cartwright's Knickerbockers lost to the New York Baseball Club.” The game was held at the Elysian Fields, in Hoboken, New Jersey. In 1858, the National Association of Base Ball Players, the first organized baseball league was formed.

Figure 2. Bat comparisons

III. Inventor.
Alexander Joy Cartwright was born on April 17, 1820 in New York. “He was a member of the New York Knickerbockers Fire Fighting Brigade in 1842.” In 1845 while working at the Knickerbockers fire station, Alexander became involved in playing town ball. They found a playing field, Elysian Field, across the Hudson River in Hoboken New Jersey that charged $75 a year to rent. To pay these fees, He organized a baseball club called The Knickerbockers to collect money for the rental of the field. The Knickerbockers became an official team on September 23, 1845. Cartwright also invented the rules for baseball which are the backbone for today’s rules. These include the distance between bases, balls and strikes, and so on. In 1849, Cartwright headed west in the climax of the California gold rush to search for fortune When he arrived in California however, he became ill with dysentery and decided that he would not stay in California. He then made the decision to move to Honolulu, Hawaii where he introduced the island to baseball. “During his stay in Hawaii, Cartwright became a notable citizen. He founded the library and fire department. In Honolulu, there is a street named in his honor as well as a ballpark.” Alexander Cartwright died on July 12th, 1892 at the age of 72. He was buried in Hawaii.

Figure 3. Alexander Cartwright

IV. Baseball Today.
Baseball in the modern-era is still based on the rules and regulations of Alexander Cartwright, but many adjustments have been made to them. The MLB is a multi-billion dollar organization that is ran by the commissioner Bud Selig. There are a total of 30 teams in the MLB and about 180 minor-league teams. There is also more diversity in modern baseball as many players try to make it to the MLB from different countries such as the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. Jackie Robinson is known for being the first non-white person to play professional baseball. There is also more conflict today in baseball than any other time in history. These problems mainly come from the abuse of performing-enhancing drugs such as steroids. A famous case is the Barry Bonds trial who is accused of lying under oath by saying he has never taken any drugs.

Figure 4. Barry Bonds

V. Journal Article
This article tells you just about everything you need to know about the history of baseball. It talks briefly about Alexander Cartwright, but goes way into detail about how the game had advanced throughout the years.

VI. List of References
1. Baseball. (2011). (P. V. Ueberroth, Rev.). The New Book of Knowledge. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from Grolier Online http://nbk.grolier.com/cgi-bin/article?assetid=a2002380-h
2. Alexander Cartwright-Founder of baseball (2011). Retrieved May 1, 2011. http://open-site.org/Sports/Baseball/History/Biographies/Cartwright,_Alexander
3. The History of Baseball (2011) retrieved May 1, 2011.
http://www.rpi.edu/~fiscap/history_files/history1.htm
4.Baseball. (2011). (J. Benagh, Rev.). Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from Grolier Online http://gme.grolier.com/article?assetid=0026560-0