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Looking Back
Looking Back
by Haley H., December 15, 2020
So far, 2020 is earning itself as one of the worst years in history. Just because a lot of bad things happened doesn’t mean there aren’t some good points to the year as well. With 2020 coming to a close, we’re going to step back and take a look at some of the pluses in 2020.
One good thing that was brought about was the increased digital exposure. Many schools and businesses have been resorting to digital forms of communication due to covid. This has led to a mass increase in digital skills learned. Our society is becoming more tech based by the day, so these skills we learn now will come back to help us in the future.
Personal projects such as home improvement have been on the rise due to the stay at home order. Spending a large portion of our time at home has given many citizens the chance to take up new hobbies and improve those they already have.
Many good hygienic habits have been developed because of covid. Because of the covid outbreak, it has been strongly encouraged that individuals wash their hands to keep their hands clean, as this reduces the chance of being infected with covid. It has also been recommended that you use hand sanitizer frequently, as well as sneezing or coughing into your elbow to prevent germ spread.
In conclusion, while 2020, was certainly not one of our better years, it has still helped many individuals develop skills, habits, and hobbies that will come back to help them in the future.
What was the Worst Year in History?
What was the Worst Year in History?
by Player, November 17, 2020
You may be thinking that the answer to this question is the current year or 2020, but if you think, a more logical answer is 536 AD, or the decade of 536-546 AD. Why is this the worst year, or in other words the worst decade?
Reason 1: Bubonic Plague
Reason 1: Bubonic Plague
It originally struck a part of Egypt that at the time was a part of Rome. From there it spread quickly to eastern part of Rome and depleted the population by almost half. This sped up the fall of Rome. Because this plague struck before any good medicine or treatments had been discovered, the only ones they had were ones such as taking a chicken plucking the back of the chicken clean and strapping it to the patient until either the patient or chicken died.
They created a mask thinking that smell was causing the sickness. The mask had flowers in it to block the smell. Sadly though, plague medical masks were not invented nor created until the later middle ages and not part of the dark ages.
Reason 2: The Mysterious Fog
Reason 2: The Mysterious Fog
Also in that year a volcano erupted in Iceland spreading ash into the air. This affected Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia. Again in 541AD a second volcano in Iceland erupts, causing another temperature drop. In 540 and 547 there were several more eruptions. The ash acted as a fog for around 18 months. This dropped temperatures down to 1.5 celsius-2.5 celsius. This also meant that no crops would grow and people starved, and even if the crops grew the farmers might have been sick with the plague. Amazingly this ash caused China to have snow in the summer!
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
This may have been a horrible year, but in 640AD there were a surge of people starting to mine silver. This eventually led to an economic recovery. Soon things were better and the dark ages were over. If humans could make it through that decade, it shows that we can make it through this.
Thanks For Reading I Hope You Enjoyed!
Sources for more information on the Bubonic Plague and the year 536.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/11/why-536-was-worst-year-be-alive
https://www.ancient.eu/article/1540/medieval-cures-for-the-black-death/ (I only used one cure but if you want to see more check this site out. Also most cures were invented in the later part of the middle ages)
Wikimedia images of volcano and ancient clock
Background Knowledge
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