2/28/11

Today we reviewed how cool the Skype call was with Sarah.  Mr. Schick was saying that he talked to her after the Skype call and conversation.  He said that she is an intern at a paper in Egypt and that she will try to write an article about the Skype conversation that we had.  He also told us that a John Carroll photographer for the patriot may also have work put in an Egyptian paper.  We also reviewed our tests from Guns, Germs, and Steel.  So we basically did an express review of the first unit.  Mr. Schick also told us about the test on Egypt that will happen on Friday.

2/25/11

     Today we got to talk to a 22 year old woman in Egypt about her people's revolution.  She majors in journalism at an American University in Kyro.  She was very involved in the movement that threw their dictator out of power.  She also knew a lot about the issue because she was involved.  My question was about her family and the different age people supporting the movement.  She said that people of all ages and all of her family supported the movement.  Her parents are both journalists so they are also very educated about the issue.  Someone else also asked about the Muslim Brotherhood being dangerous or having power.  She does not think that they will have a lot of power and that they are only a small part of the movement.  It was a very cool and interesting class.  

2/24/11

Questions For Sarah:
1.  What is your personal story with Mombarak?
2.  Do you know anyone who has been tortured by the government?
3.  Is it at all scary to be protesting in the square?
4.  Is fun to protest?
5.  Do a lot of young friends that protest with you?
6.  Do you know a lot of older people that protest?
7.  What are your family members' positions on the resignation of Mombarak?
8.  Do you and family talk about the issue of the government and politics?
9.  Who told you about the movement?
10.  How did you get involved in the protests and the issues?

2/23/11

Today in class we started rapping. Jordan started out reading his and Zach's rap. I then read mine which went ok.  I got an A though, so I'm happy.  We then heard a couple of other raps.  There are still a lot of people that have yet to rap.  We then talked about the Egyptian revolution.  Mr. Schick said that he would try to get his Egyptian aquaintence to Skype us so we ask questions and talk to her about it.  We also talked about another revolution along with Egypt's is sparking revolutions everywhere.  We then started watching a video that was on a news channel's website.  It is a video of a young girl who is for revolution that has a family who is not.  She explains everything.

Egyptian Rap

Egypt is the rhyming,

Rapping capital of the world,

We invented this stuff,

And it ain’t no bluff,

We name the name,

We play da game,

Rippin your organs out,

Halt,

Here comes the salt,

Your now dry as the sand,

Yeah that we did,

We’ll get rid of you in a pyramid,

After I wrap you up in this rhyme,

We do dis stuff all the time,

And every day,

We’ll bury you in pyramids of clay,

You may say no way,

You may say,

That your goin in,

You may go in but there,

But there is somdin that we all know,

Your not comin out,

Death could be instantaneous,

Or it could be slow,

I don’t know cause I’m alive,

I’m not the guy to die young,

I’m not suicidal,

Don’t be rebelial,

The floor might fall,

Trap door,

The ceiling may pick you up,

Watch out for the pit of tar,

Yeah, There they are,

In the chamber of death,

You die,

Your left for dead,

While we drink from the Nile,

It waters our crops so give us props,

We are so cool that we’ve used it to make pools,

Our gods are just crazy amazing,

We mummify you while we glorify the gods,
By the way I'm so undenied that I have my own scribe,

The first big civilization is the best of the best,

If I say rap 3 more times that’s 5 raps to rap up this rapped up rhyme.

2/18/11

Today Mr. Schick showed us a game that was building a virtual pyramids.  We got in groups of two.  I was with Vinny.  The first two groups to finish got A's.  The others got B's.  It was an insanely hard game.  You had to do and know how to do everything.  A lot of it was also just luck.  Vinny and I were the second to last ones to finish.  So we got B's.  We had to think about the area where the pyramid was built, what it was made of, workers, and what do do with the workers.  So we basically had a little bit of fun learning to build pyramids.

2/17/11

Today Mr. Schick explained his weekend and absence during the past two days, one of which we didn't have class.  His daughter was horribly sick so he told us the long story.  Today we worked on our power points and pretty much finished them.  We then watched a couple of power points.

     Egypt was the first civilization to come up with a writing system called hieroglyphs.  They had highly specialized workers that did the writing, numbering, and censuses.  Hieroglyphs are basically symbols and letters.  The huge Nile River also runs through Egypt.  The Nile river made for good soil after the floods.  People started to realize the spring floods and everything else, which made for better farming.  This led to innovations in farming and other things.  For instance they learned how irrigate the crops.

2/16/11

Today Mr. Schick was not here.  We had two different substitutes.  We got into groups to work on a power point about Egypt.  The idea is to put a couple of ideas, notes, and finally power points together to get more out of a power point.  I am partners with Vinny on the project and we have generally organized what we will probably do.  I don't really have any notes from today because I was busy putting the info from my research of the previous days in a power point.  Despite the lack of time because of the one hour late bell schedule, I did get a good amount of work done today. 

2/14/11

Today we talked about what was holding Mr. Schick up on grading the tests.  Mr. Schick then reviewed with us what we did on Friday and what we were going to continue today.  Then we started working.  We got in groups but I kind of did my own work.

     After the pharaoh's, death they believed that he became the God of death, Osiris.   They believed that the new king became the God of the Heavens, Horus.  It was believed that part of the king's soul stayed in the body.  This was called the Ka.  The people had to make sure that the king's body was taken care of correctly, or Egypt would be destroyed or plagued.  Because of this they mummified the kings and gave them luxurious tombs, such as the pyramids.  The tombs weren't always pyramids.  These tombs are notorious for having traps and for being dangerous to protect the tombs so nothing was disturbed and so that Egypt was fine.  This is just one big example of their customs and beliefs.

2/11/11

     In class we talked about the test.  We talked about how it was pretty easy and how well we thought we did.  He then told a lot of us how well we did on he multiple choice part.  We then talked about what would make the test easier and better.  After talking about the test we started talking about the current issue in Egypt.  Mr. Schick told us about his friend in Egypt.  We then started researching general historical topics of Egypt.  I did some research on the pyramids.

   Many people think that the pyramids were built by Jewish slaves.  Some of them were, but most of the pyramids were built by the Egyptians themselves.  The pyramids are said to have been built with traps and danger to keep people out.  The pyramids are mainly tombs with hieroglyphics, which is thier style of writing, on the walls.  The traps are to keep people like grave robbers from taking people of honor, pharaohs, and wealthy people out of their tombs.  The people were often put in the tombs with their valuable possessions and jewelry.  This is why the tombs in the past have been so sought after.  The bodies and jewelry have been worth a lot of money on the black market.

To be continued...     

Essay: Analyze Jared Diamond's Theory of Geographic Luck

     Jared Diamond's theory of geographic luck is a very believable and continually advancing theory.  Nally's question was a very logical question and luck is a big chunk of his answer.  The middle east was given gifts that Papua New Guinea wasn't.  New Guinea got stuck with everything that required hard labor and work while the middle east had it easy.  This is why a lot of Papua New Guinea is still stuck just plain hunting and gathering while the rest of the world was associated with the middle east which shared their luck and resources with the world.
    
     The middle east was a bunch of hunters and gatherers until they "got smart" and found out what they could do with the easy to use and versatile resources around them.  They first found out that you could plant and grow crops like wheat and barley.  When this technique called farming was starting to become universal in the area people started to establish permanent settlements.  The easy to get and make food led to many people to do other things than hunting and gathering.  When people could invent there were technological breakthroughs like making and using plaster to build things.  Because the food could stored for a long time they never had to worry about running out.  They ten starting domesticating animals for their meat, milk, and hide to make things.  These animals were perfect for them.  They didn't know that land could be over farmed so when the the land no longer profited well for them they moved east and west because the climate was the same and they could do the same things.  The moving out started civilization everywhere.

     New Guinea didn't have any ideal plants like the middle east for domestication.  They didn't have any ideal animals  either.  They always have to do the hard and manual labor by hand.  The y did not invent any thing because everyone has to worry about getting food all of the time and takes forever.  They also didn't have anywhere to go because they are an isolated island.  New Guinea didn't have any technology because they did not have ideal resources.  They did not have rescources because they didn't have geographical luck.  This is the bottom line of how civilization came about.  This is the answer to the century old question.

 

2/7/11

For some reason and some how I have to write 100 words.  Anyway...  Today we came into class and Mr. Schick told us how we were ahead and how it's a problem.  He then told me it sounded more like I was going to be writing a letter of complaint.  I guess it is kind of a letter of APPRECIATION and complaint.  It's not really either.  It's pretty much just a summary of what we did in class.  I'm kind of talking to my self right now on my blog at the begining of class.  Anyway it's nice to be able to chill, not have to anything.  So right now I'm kicking it old-school listening to some Boston and writing this blog.  I'll probably just chill or do some homework or something for the last mod of this class.  

This is the Mini Project That Our Groups Wrote

     New Guinea is constantly modernizing them-selves.  They currently have a population of 6,064,515.  Their population is continually growing.  They have picked up about 20% of their population in nine years.  They have almost nine-hundred languages.  They have about 12 religions.  Most of their religions are Christians.  Their most practiced religion is Roman Catholic.  They currently have 541 airports with unpaved roads and 21 airports with paved roads.  This means that they have a grand total of 562 airports.  They have 2 heliports.  They currently have 9,349 km of roadways.  In the way of natural resources they have a lot of precious stones and oil.  Their capital city has a population of 300,000.  Only about 18% of their population lives in urban areas.  The rest of the population lives in the mountains with their native tribes.  Their industrial growth rate is 10%.  The unemployment rate is only 1.8%.  Their literacy rate is about 57%.  Their New Guinea army is 2100 strong.

2/3/11

In class first today Mr. Schick gave us cookies.  Jordan then kept asking for a drink and was denied.  We then watched the rest of the movie.

     About 1000 years after the villages the villages became abandoned.  These villages became abandoned because the people were not aware of hurting the environment they over-farmed it.  Because they are on a piece of land that is very wide east to west, they were able to spread east and west.  They spread east and west because the climate and environment is pretty much the same.  This means they can grow the same animals and food as they were earlier.  New Guinea's problem is that they are isolated and on an island so they don't have anywhere to go.  The people spread to East Asia, Europe, and Africa.  These people carried their methods and resources to these parts of the world which caused huge sparks of civilization.  These people than brought the stuff to everywhere else in the world like the Americas.

     We then did a little research on New Guinea.  Jordan walked out of the room anyway and almost got his first detention, on student appreciation day. 

      

    

2/2/11

     Today in class Mr. Schick reminded us about our blogs.  We then watched the movie and talked about it.
    
     Today in the movie we started at the part about the domestication of animals.  There were many benefits to animal domestication combined with farming.  If these things are done well together, they lead to a good, functioning, and healthy civilization.  The domestacatable animals over 100 lbs are (the spelling is pretty bad): goats, sheep, pigs, cows, horses, 2 different types of camels, water buffulo, donkey, llamas, reigndeer, yaks, mythons, bali cattle.  The animals gave people milk, clothing, meat, and other necessities.  New Guinea's problem is that they only have one domestacatable animal, the pig.  This animal doesn't pull plows or do work though, and it only got there a couple thousand years ago.  If you have animals helping you you can have people do things other than farming.  This is where technological breakthroughs came from.