Definitions

 Capitalism- an economic and political system that is based on private ownership of the means of production and the production of goods or services for profit. Lead by private individuals, Government doesn't tell you what to do.

Communism- A system of government meant to create a classless and stateless social order. Meant to make sure that everybody has enough money, too little or too high.

Free enterprise -An economic system where few restrictions are placed on business activities and ownership.

Free market-  a market where the price of a good or service is determined by supply and demand, rather than by governmental regulation.

The People's Republic of Capitalism

     Today in class we continued watching the YouTube video an moved onto part two of the video. This video is all about the interdependence between the US and China. one important relationship between the US and China is the economy. People in the US are losing jobs because Americans wont work and do hard labor for little amounts of money, but the Chinese will. So, American people lose their jobs because all the these big companies lay people off of their jobs because , why pay more money to receive the same exact labor. But, there's a twist. This may sound bad because Americans are losing their jobs, BUT, since the companies are paying less money to have all of these items made, it costs a much lower price.
   In the video today it talked about the crowdedness of major cities. The automobile industry has just been introduced to China. Before cars, people commuted to destinations by mostly bicycle and by foot. Now with  have automobiles and an immense population, China's road systems are extremely loud, dangerous, and crowded. Also, most people never learned how to drive. So, imagine millions of people who are not particularly good at driving, driving around everywhere. 

More Stuff on Countries

     So today in class we discussed our answers for the questions on the countries we've been associated with for the past couple of weeks, so we should be experts on them by now. This time we talked about their history and background/political geography. We had to say when each country declared independence, if they were ever part of another country, when they were founded, and lastly, where they are found on a world map. Mr. Schick also informed us that we will be writing a 500 word paper on two of these countries and their relationship with the United States. I'm thinking about choosing China as one of my countries because I know that almost all of our trading come from there. Another country I might choose would be Venezuela because the United States buys most of it's oil from there, but their President, Hugo Chavez, doesn't like us too much. But a country like Afghanistan would also a good pick because of the war in Afghanistan, and I could describe why it is happening. So those three countries are my top picks.

World Countries

    United States
Declared independence on July 4, 1776
From the 1500s through the 1700s, they were settled and colonized by the Spanish, British, French, Dutch, Portuguese, and other European nations.  The original thirteen colonies were held by Great Britain until the Revolutionary War, after which they became the first thirteen states.  There are now 50 states in the United States.  The United States is considered the last true superpower, with the world's largest military and the world's largest economy.


   Israel
Israel became an independent state on May 14, 1948
Following World War Two, the newly-formed United Nations drafted a treaty dividing up some of Palestine's land.  They established an independent Arab state and an independent Jewish state.  Many Jews emigrated to the new nation of Israel post WWII.  Creation of this new Jewish state was not universally accepted by Arabs, even though Israel was officially admitted to the UN on May 11, 1949.  There is still controversy surrounding Israel's very existence in the Middle East.


China
China's official date of independence is October 1, 1949.
China is one of the world's oldest civilizations.  As long ago as 221 BC, China was unified as a nation during the Qin dynasty.  They formed a republic on January 1, 1912.  The current Communist government, officially called the People's Republic of China, was formed in 1949.






Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia's independence day is the same as the day the kingdom was founded because they were not ruled by any other country. This day is September 23, 1932.









Iran
Iran is a middle eastern country founded in 1935 and became independent on April 1, 1979 when the ruling monarchy was overthrown and Shah Mohammad Reza PAHLAVI was forced into exile. Before Iran gained it's independence, it was know as Persia.









France
France has no official date of independence but, they celebrate a national holiday known as Fete de la Federation on July, 14.This holiday is to celebrate the establishment of a constitutional monarchy dating back to 1789. Te oldest traces of human life in what is now France date back to 1,800,000 years ago.






India
India was under the rule of the United Kingdom and declared independence on August 15, 1947. India was one of the few countries that did not have to fight for their independence.

Test Review

    Today in class we went over our tests that we took last week. Our class got the most A's out of all the other sections, and we had the highest average score compared to the other sections with a score at 88.1%. So this seemed to be a pretty good test for our class. We began reviewing the test and realized not everyone still knew the pronunciations for the world leaders, but we're getting there. We also, talked about the drug trading business in Mexico. The drug trading business, which is extremely illegal, makes millions and millions of dollars a year and there is basicaly no way to stop it. This is because our country is the biggest buyer of drugs so they keep making more. Also, they make enough money to basically bribe officers out of punishing them because they can give them twice as money as they already make, and in some cases, the only option the officers have is to agree with them or else they will be shot. We also talked about how Hu Jintao will most likely be replaced by a man named Xi Jinping in a couple of days. We went over how different their government compared to most places because the people don't choose their leader and they don't have the slightest affect on who is chosen. Also, when a leader is picked in China, their term lasts for 10 years.

New Unit

         On Fridays class we took our tests on world leaders. The first part of the test was the exact same as the quiz we took a few days before, so it was pretty easy. On the back of the test we had to identify which leader went along with certain facts given about those leaders, but we got to use our blogs on it, which made it easier than it sounds. After we finished taking the test we began to talk about colonialism and imperialism. Imperialism a process through which a state attempts to control the economic, political, and/or cultural make up of another state. Colonialism Is the most developed form of imperialism whereby the controlling states invades another state to exploit resources and for large scale immigration. In some ways both of these things can be viewed as good OR bad, it just depends on how you look at it.

Beach Ball Earth!

      Today we did some more reviewing on the country leaders and we had to spot out those countries on a globe, or beach ball I should say. We would tell everyone something interesting about one of the leaders we have been studying, them Mr. Schick would throw us the Earth and we'd have to find the country of that leader in around 5 seconds. After all of those fun and games, we had a quest come into the room. She seemed like any other student just stopping by to say hi to an old teacher but she was not. Mr. Schick began quizzing her on the country leaders and all that, but then she reached for Mr. Schick's water bottle. At this point the class got all silent and it felt really awkward as she began taking a sip out of her teachers water bottle. After she finished drinking the water she turned to the class and after a few seconds she said "Oh that's my dad" and pointed to Mr. Schick. So that made the whole scenario a lot more understandable.

Country Leader Facts

 Enrique Peña Nieto
      - the former governor of Mexico but has now been elected to be the President. He will officially be the Mexican president on December 7th.
      -Peña Nieto proposed that he will reinvigorate Mexico's economy and reduce drug violence that has left more than 55,000 dead in six years.

King Adbulla Bin Abdul Aziz
       - one of the many sons of the founder of Saudi Arabia
       -First public office was the mayor of Mecca

Angela Merkel 
       -first woman to be the chanseller of Germany. 
       -she was the president of the European Council in 2007 (she was the second woman to do so)

Hu Jintao
       -During his term in office, he reintroduced state control in some parts of the economy.
       - Hu is the first leader of the Communist Party without any significant revolutionary credentials.

 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
        -He launched a gas rationing plan in 2007 to reduce the country's fuel consumption
        -he cut the interest rates that private and public banking facilities could charge.

Hamid Karzai
        -is not very powerful
        -fights for his country himself
        - Taliban was in charge before him

François Hollande
        -He previously served as the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party from 1997 to 2008.
        - He is also the first President to be elected without having prior experience as a Minister and / or Junior Minister since Paul Deschanel in 1920.
        
Pranab Mukherjee
         - He was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress
         -Mukherjee got his break in politics from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi

Hugo Chavez
         - He introduced a new constitution which increased rights for marginalized groups and altered the structure of Venezuelan government.
         - He is a highly controversial and diverse leader.

David Cameron
          - He is the youngest Prime Minister since Earl of Liverpool in 1812. He
          - He earned a first class honors degree in politics, philosophy, and economics at Oxford.

Queen Elizabeth II of England
          - She has the second longest reign for a British monarch lasting 60 years and still going.
          - She was homeschooled

Dilma Rousseff
           - First female president of Brazil.
           - Tried to overthrow government in her early 20's. She spent 2 years in jail and was tortured.
Barack Obama
           -Graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School.
           - Ended war in Iraq

Test Review

    Today Kishan and I reviewed the test with the class, which was a first. Him and I just stood at the front of the room and re-asked the questions on the test, but we wouldn't let them answer by just saying "A, B, C, D or E. They had to give the actual verbal answer so it would help them review better instead of just looking at their paper and saying B! That was really all we did the whole class but we had about 5-10 minutes left over. But Mr. Huber just let us do what every we wanted silently.

Government

Mexico      
Federal Republic      
President Felipe Calderón        










 China
 Communist
 President Hu Jintao

India

Federal Republic

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

Afghanistan

Islamic Republic

President Hamid Karzai

Iran

Theocratic Republic

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Israel

Parliamentary Pemocracy

President Shimon Peres

Germany

Federal Republic

President Joachim Gauck

United Kingdom

Constitutional Monarchy and Commonwealth Realm

Prime Minister David Cameron

France 

Republic

President François Hollande

Brazil

Federal Republic

President Dilma Rousseff

Venezuela

Federal Republic

President Hugo Chávez

Saudi Arabia

Monarchy

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia

United States
Constitution Based Federal Republic
President Barack Obama

Test Postponed

     Today we had an evacuation due to a bomb threat which threw off everyone's schedule, so our test, that we were supposed to take today, was postponed until Friday because Mr. Schick will not be here tomorrow. So, today in class Mr. Schick took more input from us for the tests. We gave him possible question that will be on the test and reviewed. Also, something amazing happened in class today, Ryan raised his hand!!! Hahaha, it was a pretty amazing occurance. Anyways, these questions include stuff about the five religions we have been studying, cultural characteristics, and the "discovery of America". So today was not as eventful as others because we had a short class and all we did was review. Which isn't such a bad thing.

Possible Test Questions

1) Who were the first group of people to discover America?
         Native Americans

2) Name three cultural characters that unite (and ununite) people together.
          Language
          Ethnic Heritage
          Religion

3) What are the five major religions in the world?
          Christianity
          Judaism
          Buddhism
          Islam
          Hinduism

4) Why can some countries have many different ethnic heritages but still get along?
          Good leadership

5)When and where was Christianity founded?
            Around 30 A.D in Jerusalem.

More Religion.

       Today in class we had a few conversations about religion and at one point, we had Kishan tell us all about Hinduism. He explained to us (or at least tried to) about how many people think Hinduism is a polytheistic religion but it is not. Kishan explained that Hindus believed in only one god, but has been reincarnated to other Gods, it's a difficult concept to perceive. We also learned many different cultures have different laws a punishments for breaking those laws. For example, in many middle eastern countries women are not treated with any respect and have little rights, and if they break those right they can get severe  punishments such as amputation of certain body parts depending on the crime. Also, in those places, women are not allowed to show many "features". Women have to wear loose fitting clothes and cover their whole body including most of their face.
      After we discussed those thing for a while, we started to get into to talking about Buddhism. We learned about Siddhartha Gautama's philosophy on how everyone suffers.The Buddhists also have an eight fold path that is kind of similar to what our guest speaker said about our thoughts, words, actions, habbits, and character. The Eightfold path is right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

More Culture...And Religion!

       Today in class we continued talking about culture. First we talked about ethnic groups and how in some cases there are many countries with many different ethnic groups. Now that is not always a good thing. Having more than one ethnic group in a country can lead to civil war , especially if that country is not under good leadership. For example, the US has many different ethnic groups among it but for the most part everyone gets along and there are no civil wars happening. But in places like Rwanda and Burundi in Africa have 2 dominant ethnic groups, Tutsis and Hutus, and they do not get along. After we discussed that, we went on to talk about religion. Religion is both unifying and dis-unifying. If people disagree on their beliefs, in many cases, it causes war and even civil war. But, when people have the same religious beliefs it brings them together to practice those beliefs. We, also learned about the five major religions which are; Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism  and Judaism. We only really got into talking about Christianity and none of the other ones so I think I know what we will be doing next class.

Religion Mini-Project

    Christianity was founded in the first century in Levant region of the middle east by Jesus Christ of Nazareth. It is a monotheistic religion and their holy book is the Bible. About 33% of the  world (2.1 billion people) are Christian. Their central figure is Jesus and most Christians are located in North and South America, Africa, and Europe.
      The Islam religion has about 1.6 billion followers which is around 22% of the worlds population. Most Muslims are found in Middle Eastern countries. Its is a monotheistic religion that was founded in the 7th century in the Middle East. The Islamic central figure is Allah and their holy book is the Qur'an.
       Buddhism began in the late 6th century in east India. It is a polytheistic religion but their central figure is the Buddha. Their are about 500 million followers of Buddhism and the holy book is the Tripitaka. Most Buddhists are located in many part of Asia.
      Hinduism was founded around 1500 BC near the Indus river.The Hindu holy book is known as the Vedas. There are around 1 billion Hindus in the world. It is a polytheistic religion and most Hindus are located in India.
      Judaism is a monotheistic that was founded around 3 thousand years ago and their central figure is God. There are about 13 million followers of the Jewish religion. Their holy book is the Torah, or The Hebrew Bible. Jews are mainly located in Israel.

Culture

        Today in class we went over a power point all about culture. We learned about all the things culture does and how it links and or divides people/regions together. We also looked at a map of how people all over america differentiate on how they refer to soft drinks. Many places in the west called it pop, others called it soda, and other just called every type of soda coke, even if it was not actual coca cola, which I find in of strange, and other people that call it pop or coke would think it is weird that I refer to it as soda. One big part of culture that links people together is their language. Most countries have one main language that is spoken among people so it allows them to communicate with each other. English is such a well know language that it is the language of the world, it is used it world wide business trade and it is usually the second language taught in non english countries.

Presentations

        Today in class presented our projects. I went up with Kishan and Sean to present about Native Americans. I feel we did a very good job, especially because no other group really did the project. So they had to use projects from another class. I learned that the Vikings arrived in America in about 1000 A.D and they traveled by ships. They used three different types of ships which were the snekke, drekkar, and sniek. The Vikings were not sent by anyone to go there, they went on their own and when they arrived they did not fight for the land. The Vikings did not stay in America for long at all because they did not find it special, they could do all the stuff they could do there that they could do at home. After that group presented, I learned about Christopher Columbus and his arrival at America. I learned that ,obviously, he was NOT the first one to arrive there. The Native Americans and Vikings were there first. But, unlike the Vikings, Columbus and his men fought the Native Americans for their land and pushed them west into the country.

Test Review and Columbus Day!

      Today we got out test on the Three Lost Boys of Sudan handed back to us. I only got one question wrong which was about the name of the group they formed to entertain them and discuss their situation, I put The Lost Boys, but the answer was Parliament. I also got 1 point taken off of a question because I forgot the "H" in Pittsburgh... "H" is stupid anyways. Other than that I did fairly well on the test and I hope to keep it up. After we reviewed our tests we began a Google presentation on either Christopher Columbus, The Vikings, or Native Americans. My group and I were researching Native Americans, who were there before Christopher Columbus "discovered" America. The Native Americans were actually there about 10,000 years before him, but he killed many Native Americans who were defenseless since they did not have guns and Europeans took natural resources and basically invaded the Native Americans. They were forced to move out of there homeland and go west.

Test Today and Unusual Cultures

        Today we took our second test which was about the movie we watched, "God Grew Tired of us". I think I did an OK job but I'm pretty sure might have missed a few questions. After every one finished the test, Mr. Schick told us to search up unusual cultures and that's where things got interesting. We all searched up cultures that seem to be odd and different from ours and we found many crazy things. One strange culture I found was in Indonesia people point with their thumbs because it is considered rude to point with your index finger and in America people point with their index finger. There were many other strange cultures like camel wrestling, gurning, and day of the geese. One thing I think is funny is that if it is your own culture you don't find it weird. For example, in many western civilizations young kids believe in a fairy that collects lost teeth and gives them money if they put it under their pillow when they sleep. Most people in our region would find this normal for kids to believe in whereas people from other cultures would find this crazy, and this would be the same for our perspective on other "weird" traditions in cultures. So, the different places in the have many cultural differences and people just seem to find other culture strange and unusual.

Charity Discussion

      Today in class we talked about various different charities that we could follow up on. First we talked about Toms, the shoe company. Toms donates one pair of shoes to people in Africa for every pair of shoes you buy for 80$. But we realized that would not be the best choice because its better to give them something that they can use to build on their own rather than just give them something. Just like the saying, "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. But, teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime". Then Mr. Schick complained about how we bury our heads in our computer and don't pay attention in class. After that be continued our discussion on the foundations. The foundation I thought was good was Save the Children. I liked this one because it said they helped families in Africa help themselves. Which is what they need in order for their country to grow and prosper.

Sudan Charity

          Today in class we began working on our collaboration document on Google. On this document we had to search up foundations and charity to see if we could follow through with them. These charities would help with poverty, lack of food and water, and clothing . They would also provide better medical care for these people. One charity I found was savethechildren.org. This charity provides food, water, and medical supplies for countries in Africa that were ravaged by war, famine, and disease just like South Sudan. So this charity would be very helpful for people like John Bul Dau, Panther, and Daniel before they came to America. Plus, there are many other charities just like this one and if we choose one and fund raise , we could really make a difference and help poverty stricken families prosper to make the world a better place.          

End of the movie

           Today in class we finished up our movie we had been watching for the past few days, God Grew Tired of Us. At the end of the movie, John Bul Dau met with his mother and sister after being separated for 17 years. This part of the movie really showed how much struggle he faced in America, living without seeing your family for 17 years is a pretty challenging thing to do. Through all, Panther, John, and Daniels struggles, they end up in a much better position they were in a few years ago with the exception of Daniel who has still not found or heard from his family. Panther gets married, reunites with his family, got his bachelors degree, and wants to open a school in Sudan. John also got his bachelors degree and is building a medical clinic in Sudan. Daniel is still working in the job corps. John was really impacted from this experience and is trying to make a difference in Sudan and help everyone in need and suffrage, while others who had that opportunity just took care of themselves and didn't really care that much about everyone else still back there.

Movie Part 2

    Today we got deeper into our movie about the Sudanese Civil War. The movie is about 3 people that moved to America. Their names are John, Panther, and Daniel. John was moved to Syracuse, New York by himself while Panther and Daniel were sent to Pittsburgh to live together. None of these guys have seen a lot of things that we find normal like showers, lamps, light switches, refrigerators etc. And they don't understand many things about food. For example they were eating butter and mayonnaise out of the package and obviously that wouldn't taste very good, so they didn't like the food. Now they have to focus on how to get jobs and continue living where they are and possibly help their family come there too. I'm looking forward to finishing the movie tomorrow to see how they adapt to all these new things coming at them.

Test Review and Movie!

           Today in class we got our tests handed back to us and reviewed them, and if you received an A on the test, the bell was rung for you. Then we went over answers, and the question I got wrong was about who had the most immigrants between Canada, US, and Mexico. I chose US but the answer was Canada. After we went over our test, we began watching a movie about the Sudan Civil War. The movie talked about how the north Sudan government tried to kill all male children no matter what age. This caused all the children to flee to a refugee camp in Kenya. They had to survive off of very scarce food and water for weeks. Most of them formed make-shift families and took care for one another. I assume we are watching the rest of the movie next class and it looks like it will lead to an intriguing discussion.

First test and Sudanese Civil War

       Today we had our first test and I thought it was SUPER easy. I think I did exceptionally well on it. Now we are moving on to our second unit. Our first assignment is to get facst on the Sudanese Civil War.

• Lasted from 1983-2005.
• Millions of people died from famine, disease, and the war.
• Caused partly from racial a religious differences.
• Another cause is because southern Sudan was not included in important negotiations.
• In 1972 Christian missionaries were expelled and christian schools were closed.    
• Southern protester were attacked by the government which lead to fights and grew to a full scale civil war.
• Southern Sudan has more access to water because of the Nile river, and it has more resources of oil and is much more fertile than the north where most of their border is the Sahara desert.
• The south decided to maintain the resources where they live and not share with the north and. contributed to war.
• Sudanese refugees also wanted revenge on the government fro being kicked out of their own country. 

TEST ON MONDAY!

     So Monday is our first test of the year for human geography. In class on Friday we reviewed a lot of material from all our previous classes and talked about what kind of questions were going to be on the test. The test is going to include just about everything we have talked about in class, like The Message to Garcia, the CIA world factbook, population statistics like growth rate, total fertility rate, rate of natural increase gross domestic product (GDP) and GDP per capita. Also, I am going to have to know all of the terms we had from ancient Greece, Socrates, The Socratic method, arete, polis, 508 b.c, and agora. Plus, we are going to have to know some stuff about our classmates' presentations on their assigned country, so it seems like I have a good amount of studying to do, but I think I'm going to do well on the test.

Presentation Day

      Today we started off class by finishing our google presentations even though we were supposed to have it it done by today, but Mr. Schick let it slide because when he left to get his cart we all willingly moved the desks into our group formations. So after we worked for about 15 minutes we began sharing. The first group did their presentation on Thailand. I learned that it has a fairly well life expectancy at around 70-75 years. The next group to go up did their presentation on Nigeria. They said Nigeria was a developing country because it has a very high unemployment rate, a low life expectancy, and it has a fast growing population. Then my group performed. We had Stoots go up and present our assignment to the class while I searched up answer for question Mr. Schick asked and Stoots didn't know the answer to, which I was extremely good at. Sometimes i would answer his question before he asked it. But beside the fact, I think we did a very good job on our presentation and I fell confident we will receive a good grade on it.

Google Presentation

    Today in class we finally didn't really have a discussion which is a little different from previous classes. Instead, today we began a project telling whether some countries around the world were developed or not. My group and I, chose the country Italy. To tell whether a country is developing or not, you have to find certain facts about the country like what type of government it has, its'  population, and what its' medical care is like. So, our group got together and worked on the project for the entire class.

Populatoin

    Today our discussion was all about population and what things change population, what things effect population of certain areas, and many more things. Something else we talked about was crude birth and death rate and how the difference between them make up the rate of natural increase. We also talked about how the population of the world has sky rocketed exponentially. For example, in the early 1800's there was about 1 billion people in the world and that took 10,000 years to happen. Then 100+ years later that 1 billion doubled. Then, 100 years later, that 2 billion becomes 7 billion. Plus we discussed push and pull factors of countries, the difference between immigrants and emigrants, and the difference between developed nations and developing nations. Developed naion are nation like the US, we have good health care and government and things are mutual. Whereas countries like India and China are developing countries because they still have changes to be made. Developing countries are also where a majority of our population. The two largest countries in the world by population are both developing countries.

Interesting Fact Discussion

      Friday in class we shared our two most interesting topics from the "Did You Know 3.0" video. We talked about how some of these facts show how fast the world is growing in many ways. For example, Apple is now the largest company in all of history and its hasn't even been invented for 10 years. Things like technology are such a major part of how the world functions today, and without it, we would not have grown nearly as much. We use technology to communicate to people all the way across the world. Another fact we talked about was the size of Facebook and how if it were a country, it would be the third largest country in the world with about 845 million users. This is very amazing because it's so many people from all around the world on ONE social network. Many other facts from the video just all show how the world is growing and what seems like the best new thing today is going to be forgotten about tomorrow because of new inventions and such great technological growth.

Did You Know 3.0

        Thursday in class we were told to watch the video "Did You Know 3.0" and everybody was told to pick out two facts from the video and explain why it was interesting to them. One thing I thought was interesting was how we are preparing for jobs that haven't been invented yet. This is interesting to me because this demonstrates how fast things are moving in the world today. For example, Apple is the largest company in all of history and wasn't even a company a decade ago. Another fact that surprised was was that a weeks worth of New York Times contains more information than a person was likely to come across in the 18th century. This is interesting because it shows how information back then did not get spread very far or very quickly and now, when something happens, people know about it (depending on the importance) within the next few hours or days. Whereas back then, by the time someone received the information about something it has probably became false. So these facts show how change is over time and how technology is a big part of the world today.

The 21st Century

     Today in class we reviewed our CIA Factbook questions from yesterday. History is changing every instant. Someone is being born, someone is dying, the population is constantly changing, countries are growing, and history is almost instantly outdated. Technology is rapidly growing in many countries, but some other countries that is not the case. Also, many countries depend on one another for the transporting of goods like oil and many, many other things that we get from China. We learned that the reason we buy good from China is because it is a lot more cheaper if we were to make them nd sell them. That is because the minimum that someone can be paid in the US is 7.50$ an hour. So if we were to have people make the goods they would be sold at a lot higher price because some of the price is based off of the payment of the workers. But in China, there is no legal payment amount. This means they can do the job for a much more cheaper price.

CIA World Factbook

1. What is the population of the United States? 313,847,456

2. What are the five largest countries in the world, by population? China, India, US, Indonesia, Brazil.

3. What is the population of Pakistan? 190,291,129

4. What kind of government does the United States have? Democracy

5. What is the unemployment rate in Zimbabwe? 80%

6. What is the largest country in the world by area? Russia

7. What country has the third greatest number of airports? Mexico

8. What country has the greatest number of exports? China
9. What country exports more oil than any other? Saudi Arabia
10. What country imports more oil than any other? United States
11. What country consumes more oil than any other? United States
12. Can women serve in combat roles in China’s military? Yes
13. What is GDP? Gross Domestic Product.
14. What country has the highest GDP per capita in the world, and how much is it? Liechtenstein, $141,100.
15. Is the US in the top ten for GDP per capita? No
16. Most of the countries with the highest birth rates can be found in what continent? Asia
17. 11 of the top 12 countries with the highest number of deaths from HIV/AIDS can be found in which continent? Africa
18. What other country is in the top ten? India
19. Where does the US rank in HIV/AIDS deaths? 18th
20. Is the US #1 in number of cellular phones? No
21. What percentage of the US is Roman Catholic? 23.9%
22. What percentage of Mexico is Roman Catholic? 76.5%
23. What is Net Migration Rate? A rate of the difference of the number of people entering and leaving a country.
24. Does the US have the highest Net Migration Rate in the world? No
25. What is the current population of the entire planet? 7,021,836,029 

Evaluating Websites

1. cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html. This is a reliable site because it had accurate information and it is also updated weekly.
2. http://www.pbs.org/wned/elbert-hubbard/message-garcia.php This site is reliable because Mr. Schick used it to read us a passage and I don't think he would use an unreliable site.
3. http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/cfr_and_trilateral_commission.htm This site is not reliable at all because America is not ran by these two groups of people.
4. http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/nowinspace/Crew_32_on_ISS.html This site is not reliable because there has not been 32 expeditions to space so the info is false.
5. http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/04/opinion/schlossberg-young-voters-obama/index.html?hpt=hp_t2 This site is reliable because it obtained info from primary quotes and sources.
6. http://www.nytimes.com/ This site is reliable because it references it's information to other sites and have direct quotes from primary sources.
7. http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/07/10/dont-be-fooled-by-usa-today-good-news-for-obama/ This site is reliable because it is a website made by a new station.
8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Times#Notable_current_and_former_writers. This is a reliable site because it cites many references and sources from where they got their info and it includes many alternate links to related topics.
9. http://schickhumangeo.blogspot.com/ Is this a trick question? For other people coming upon this site for research I think they would believe it is not reliable because they could think it was someone just posting random information because there is no cited sources. But it is reliable for me because I know it is not false info. Plus I need to use it for homework.

Wikipedia

          Today in class we talked about Wikipedia and we learned Mr. Schick is in love with it. Some pros that we learned about Wikipedia, is that it is a lot more convenient than a world book encyclopedia. This is because world books are not constantly updated, so there could be information that was true but something happened to make it false. Whereas Wikipedia constantly updates and gives current information. The one con about Wikipedia is that people can change and edit the information and make it false, but there are people that are on look out for false info like that constantly and some pages are even blocked for anyone to edit. Also, Wikipedia site it's sources, so you can check out those sites and maybe check if its true or learn more about your topic.It also puts footnotes and keywords to help clear things up and allow you to learn more. So we learned Wikipedia is a very good place to research online.

Essay Three

     My five point action plan for my upcoming school years is;
1. Try my hardest on everything I do whether it be something like schoolwork, tests, homework, classwork, and all those types of things, or sports related things and extra curricular activities. I am also going to try my hardest to not procrastinate because it is not a healthy habit for school at all.
2.Stay out of trouble. Making one big mistake could impact my future for college and might make me not get into a certain school of my choice. Following the rules will benefit me more than not.
3. Get involved in outside school activities like sports and clubs. This could also help me with my future education and have a good influence on colleges and could possibly lead to scholarships.
4.Be myself. I'm not going to let other's bad decisions influence me to make a bad decision and ruin my potential. So I am going to
5. Be a good person. What could be bad about being nice to people? It will only help me in the long  run and its the right thing to do school or not.
  With this plan, I think it will lead me to a successful high school experience and I am really looking forward to it.

Relaxing Friday Class

    Friday was kind of a chilled out class. We touched up and reviewed our discussion on Wednesday about Socrates, excellence, and ancient Greece and we reviewed all of our terms that we had to define like arete, polis, city-state, the Socratic method, agora, and how democracy was started for the first time ever 508 b.c. After that, we all just talked about things going on in the school, well that's what I think was being talked about, I wasn't paying too much attention because I was busy beginning my assignment and getting other work done so I didn't have to do it later in that day. So today was basically just a review and relaxed day. Untill we were introduced to our weekend assignment which was to write three mini essays about the things we discussed for the past few days.

Essay Two

       If Elbert Hubbard and Socrates were to travel in time to come to the present I think They would Have mixed emotions about society in America today. I think Socrates would be glad democracy was being used as our government because he was a strong believer in democracy and died because of that strong belief. And of course both of them would be amazed at the new technology. I think Elbert Hubbard would think technology is a great improvement on people's laziness. I say this because if someone were to get told to send "A Message to Garcia", they could just simply call them or shoot them a text, but if they both fail, then he'd better have someone trustworthy to send out that message. But if he did have to rely on someone actually find where he was and physically hand him or tell him the message, It would be easier to find him because of technology and GPS, so if "Garcia" had a phone of something on him, he could be tracked down.

Essay One

        My definition of arete is basically excellence, and being the best you can possibly be. The ancient Greeks demonstrated arete because in 508 b.c. democracy was introduced into the world for the first time ever. Introducing democracy changed government. It allowed the people to have a say on major decisions that affected them rather than having one person with all the power decide. Basically the people had the power and they ruled themselves.The Greeks used democracy on mostly everything they did. The voted on things as little as the price of goods and as big and important as war decisions.  This type of government worked so well that we still use it today in the United States. Socrates also demonstrated arete. He demonstrated arete because he always spoke his mind and didn't tell any other people how to think when they had questions for him. He would just help them find the answer by asking them question and begin big discussions among lots of people. Plus, Socrates was a large believer on democracy, and when he was sentenced the death penalty he could of gotten out if it. But since he was voted to die, he did. This shows that he did not change his beliefs even when facing death, and that demonstrates arete.

Socrates and Excellence

            Today in class we talked about the Greek terms we had to define on our previous blog, like arete, Socrates, The Socratic method, 508 b.c, Socrates death, and polis. But the main things we talked about was Socrates, arete and, without really knowing at first, the Socratic method. We learned how Socrates thought and how he thought critically and tried to get other people to think critically. Socrates discovered scientific breakthroughs and realized why certain things were happening while everyone else presumed that these things were happening because of the gods. He walked the streets and had many young followers that seeked his wisdom and told them his reasoning. So, he received punishment for doubting the gods and their power and corrupting youth by telling them the same thing. He was outvoted the death penalty 280-220. Socrates had believed strongly in democracy so since he was voted guilty he did not resist his punishment.

Massage to Garcia

          Today we discussed the passage written by Elbert Hubbard, A Message to Garcia. This passage, basically, was about how most all people are just plain lazy. He said that when you ask someone to do a simple task, most people ask a question about it, tries to get someone else to do it for them, or doesn't even do it. In the passage, a man named Rowan is told to send a message to Garcia and no one knows exactly where Garcia is. When Rowan is told to send him the message, he doesn't ask questions, he just goes. This shows that there is that one person who will do what he is told, get it done and do it right. Mr. Schick shared this to us (I believe)  so we could be like Rowan, do all our tasks to the best of our ability no matter where we are, in school or not. This will help us in future life experiences and motivate us to do things we are told to do.
        Arete - virtue or happiness
        Polis- city-state
        Socrates- Greek philosopher who changed philosophy
        The death of Socrates- was accused of corruption of youth and refuse to recognize the gods recognized by the state and recieved death penalty.
         Socratic method- a method of teaching by asking series of questions
         idiot- in ancient Greek an idiot is a person who does not vote
         agora- market place and meeting place
        508 bc- Kleisethens establishes democracy 
        

First legitimate day.

               Today in class we discussed the class syllabus. We went over all the rules of the class, materials that will be needed throughout the year, the grade scale, late policies, and where we can go if we need Mr. Schick throughout the day. We also learned that we will not be taking notes on our tablets because of temptation. Temptation of playing games or doing other activities when we should be paying attention to the lecture or information being given to us and writing it down. Some other things we did was go over nicknames of each other, which started to get interesting, I'll leave it at that... But today was a very important day for the rest of the year because we learned the rules and expectations of the class and how it will help us prepare for college. So, overall I think I will enjoy this class very much this year. (And I'm not just saying that Mr. Schick!).

My first day at John Carroll

          On my first day at John Carroll I was a little nervous about it being my first day at not only a new school, but it was my first day of high school too. The first thing I (and everyone else) did was go to the meeting in the auditorium, there we discussed basic information about the school. Then I went to the cafeteria for a snack and listened to what some of the staff members had to say. After that, I went to my advisory and met my advisory teacher. My advisory teacher's name was Ms. Reyerson, she seemed like a very nice teacher and I think I am going to enjoy having her as my advisory teacher throughout the four years. Next, I went to three other locations in the school, the library, the brown room, and the upper gym (for pictures). Then I went to lunch and ate pizza with some of my friends I met from the soccer team, which eased a lot of the nerves because I was around people I knew. After that I went to all of my classes that I will be having throughout the semester and met my teachers and some of my classmates, Overall I think I am really going to enjoy this school and I'm excited to see what opportunities it brings me.