martes, 5 de agosto de 2008

Guanes




Guanes were a small group who lived mainly in the area of Santander, Colombia until 1586. They spoke Chibchan languague  and were farmers cultivating cottom, fruits especially pinaple, cassava, corn, coca, tobacco using advanced agricultural techniques.

They were also excellent and skilled artisans, they worked in cotton textiles and made their own weapons, including arrows and spears. The develop of their own textile industry had a great importance because:

  • Their need to interchange blankets, textiles and clothing to obtain products that they didn't have in their territory. 
  • They used to pay taxes to their political leaders and "Caciques" with textiles.
  • They buried their people with luxurious blankets.
They had good trade relations with Chitareros, Musicas and Yariguíes different groups  of nearby regions interchanging food, textiles, pottery, salt  and snails who had an important meaning in their rituals. 

Besides agriculture, The Guanes also cultivated "Hormigas Culonas", a typical variety of ants from the region that are consider as a delicacy for the local people and it is a custom that remains in these days.

It is a shame that we don´t  have a good knowledge of this interesting culture of our region and a few vestiges remain, thanks in part to the extinction of this group by the Spanish conquest. 

Is Email a Good or a Bad Thing?


PROS(+)                

Everyone can use it. 

You can access to it from everywhere. 

You can create your own business without a  lot of money.  

You save paper.      

You can store all kind of information like pictures, videos, documents, etc. 

All distances are reduced to a single click.

Is cheaper and faster than other media.

If you need information about something you don´t have to leave your home.

You can access to databases, libraries and information sources around the world  in real time. 

 

CONS(-)                

You always want more and more space to store your information and they don't offer so much space.

It is not safe for your computer, it could get   infect with all kind of viruses and spams. 

There are a lot of garbage mails that appear every day in your mailbox. 

Maybe you can´t find privacy, if somebody hack your account and see all your information.

You can be swindled and sometimes until having threatened and extorted by virtual criminals.

Email is globalizing the culture, we are losing our identity.


I think the email has more advantages than bad things, I know email is impersonal and avoid face to face communication, it is not the safest and can take over your life, but since it was created, it has made our lives easier, you can meet new people from many countries, send messages to others far away from you, is a fast and an easy way to make some money creating your own virtual business. I think email makes part of our evolution and of course it has to improve many things, but it has changed our lives completely.