5/26/11 & 5/27/11

     Today we got to go outside for class which made class all that much better.  We today were discussing and learning about the setup for, and fall of the Roman Empire, and how it happened.  Their money had  been inflated because they had not as much silver in their money.  The money wasn't worth as much so prices shot up.  Diocletian started persecuting Christians and split the empire i half.  He died.  Constantine was the next emperor.   He had a vision and won a battle because he put crosses on his men's shields.  He became Christian and made it the empire's official religion.   The economic problems continued though and things like doubling the army size and using barbarians for men.  Things accumulated and Rome collapsed.

5/25/11

Today we turned in our final copy of the paper on Rome.  We then went over the test on Rome that I got a 91% on.  Here is my final copy which I better get a 100% on:

Change For the Better or Worse?

            The Roman government went through many huge and sudden changes, as did Rome as a whole.  They were the some of the most influential people in the world as they were conquering it.  They conquered what was at their time; the middle of the world and out.  They went through extreme changes and somehow managed to hold on to their nation for so long.  They went to extremes to get to where they were.  It was a time when change was everywhere and for everybody, as the government changed.  The changes everywhere that were made influenced the world as they owned it.  The Roman government was one of the most influential changes that was made.  The dictatorship changed to a republic, which changed to what we now know as the Roman Empire.  Was this change a good or a bad thing for the Romans?  There are many factors in this and not everyone agrees.

            A small dictatorship in one city is how Rome started and Rome started to get bigger.  Some dictators were to much of control freaks some times.  Then came along this guy named Tarquin.  The people got really fed up.  They finally decided to do what Greece did at first.  They overthrew him and eventually came up with the Roman Republic.  But the people would not remember this lesson they learned.

            A republic is a form of government where there are representatives that are elected by citizens who are supposed to have say or power in the government.  In Rome they had a bit of different way of running the government.  They had an assembly which a little bit like the modern day house of representatives.  That branch resembled a democracy.  They then had the senate which resembled an aristocracy.  There were then the two consuls who were like monarchs, but could veto each other.  There was then one dictator who would only have control for six times at a month when there was a huge emergency.

            Julius Caesar had been a dictator and then bent the rules.  He ended up being a dictator for over 10 years.  He was very good and became extremely powerful and popular.  He was killed by the members of the senate because they were afraid of him getting to much power.  Julius threw out the republic and things could change in a heart beat.  He chose three people to run the government.  Octavian had got rid of the other two and took power.  He started Pax Romana and Rome prospered.  He died and passed power to Tiberius who was about fifty five when he took power.  Tiberius once had a problem with soldiers rebelling since they thought they were treated unfairly.  He sent out Germanicus who had a son named Caligula.  Germanicus settled the issue.  Tiberius later killed Germanicus’s family accept for Caligula because Germanicus gained to much power.  Tiberius later started to like Caligula and made him the heir to the throne.  Caligula did well until he went crazy.  He would have “quick affairs” with other men’s wives and then talk about it during desert.  He also killed Jews and mocked them while saying that he was a god.  He was assassinated.  His heir was Claudius who actually had some disabilities and was sort of an outcast.  He was extremely humble.  He conquered Britain and Rome prospered.  He was famous for having a wife killed when she was with a guy who she was helping to get power.  Otherwise he built, renovated, and was the best that Rome had seen.

            I think that the republic was the best form of government.  Things were getting continually better with it until Julius threw it out.  Things were not consistent with the Empire.  Things were getting consistently better in the Republic.  One crazy person could not as easily destroy the world of Rome.  In conclusion the Republic was more consistent and should have been kept.   

5/23/11

Today we brought in our papers on Rome and peer edited them.  I did a three way switch, so I am not sure who's paper I got.  But I do know that Brad got my paper.  My paper was seven hundred and eighteen words long.  This was a bit too long of a paper.  Mr. Schick told me I need to shorten it to close to six hundred and fifty words.  I worked my butt off on that paper and apparently put to much detail in it.  Hopefully I will get 100 on it because it looked pretty much perfect to me with all of those words.

5/20/11

     Today Mr. Schick wasn't here...  so the smart ones worked on there papers.  I got most of mine done.  I finished a bit for homework.  Here is my rough draft...

Change For the Better or Worst?

            The Roman government went through many huge and sudden changes, as did Rome as a whole.  They were the some of the most influential people in the world.  They conquered what was at their time; the middle of the world and out.  They went through extreme changes and somehow managed to hold on to their nation for so long.  They went to extremes to get to where they got to.  It was a time when change was everywhere and for everybody.  The changes everywhere that were made influenced the world.  The Roman government was one of the most influential changes that was made.  The dictatorship changed to a republic, which changed to what we now know as the Roman Empire.  Was this change a good or a bad thing for the Romans?  There are many factors in this and not everyone agrees.

            A small dictatorship in one city is how Rome started and Rome started to get bigger.  Some dictators were to much of control freaks some times.  Then came along this guy named Tarquin.  He later earned the name Tarquin the Proud.  Superbus is actually what they called him and that translates to proud.  He was basically someone who loved his power and was a complete tyrant.  He had done things like kill senators and break a lot of traditions.  The senators were killed because he suspected them of still being loyal to a political enemy named Silias.   He even started wars with other people and his people didn’t approve of the wars. The people got really fed up.  They finally decided to do what Greece did at first.  They overthrew him and eventually came up with the Roman Republic. 

            A republic is a form of government where there are basically representatives that are elected by citizens who are supposed to have say or power in the government.  There is then a President who “overseas” things.  This is the “modern day” definition.  In Rome they had a bit of different way of running the government.  They had an assembly which a little bit like the modern day house of representatives.  That branch resembled a democracy.  They then had the senate which resembled an aristocracy.  There were then the two consuls who were like monarchs, but could veto each other.  There was then one dictator who would only have control for six times at a month when there was a huge emergency.

            Julius Caesar had been a dictator and then bent the rules.  He ended up being a dictator for over 10 years.  He was very good and became extremely powerful and popular.  He was killed by the members of the senate because they were afraid of him getting to much power.  He chose three people to run the government.  Octavian had got rid of the other two and took power.  He started Pax Romana and Rome prospered.  He died and passed power to Tiberius who was about fifty five when he took power.  Tiberius once had a problem with soldiers rebelling since they thought they were treated unfairly.  He sent out Germanicus who had a son named Caligula.  Germanicus settled the issue.  Tiberius later killed Germanicus’s family accept for Caligula because Germanicus gained to much power.  Tiberius later started to like Caligula and made him the heir to the throne.  Caligula did well until he went crazy.  He would have “quick affairs” with other men’s wives and then talk about it during desert.  He also killed Jews and mocked them while saying that he was a god.  He was assassinated.  His heir was Claudius who actually had some disabilities and was sort of an outcast.  He was extremely humble.  He conquered Britian and Rome prospered.  He was famous for  having a wife killed when she was with a guy who she was helping to get power.  Other wise he built, renovated, and was the best that Rome had seen.

            I think that the republic was the best form of government.  Things were getting continually better with it until Julius threw it out.  Things were not consistent with the Empire.  Things were getting consistently better in the Republic.  One crazy person could not as easily destroy the world of Rome.  In conclusion the Republic was more consistent and should have been kept.   

It came out to be 718 words.

5/19/11

     Well today we waited a few minutes for Mr. Schick.  Jordan and I were tossing a water bottle back and forth when he decided to throw in behind his back and hit Morgan in the head.  Then it bounced of her head and hit Julia.  Jordan got a double kill then blamed me.  We then took a twenty five question multiple choice test on the Roman Empire.  It was a fairly hard test.  I think that I did really well on it.  I will win the wager with Jordan. I definitely got 100 including the extra credit question.  I wouldn't doubt it if I got 103%.  we the were assigned a paper to do by Monday.

5/18/11

     Today we finished the Power Point on the Roman Empire.  Here are my notes on what we did today:

Romans had their own Gods and Emperors occasionally are proclaimed Gods.

The Jews (Zealots) started a revolution.

Christians and Jews were persecuted because they were monotheistic.

Christians were fed to lions at coliseums.

By 200 AD 10% of the Roman Empire was Christian.

We have a test tomorrow.  So after we did a small part that was the last of the Power Point.  We then got in groups and kind of studied and socialized.  I was with Jordan and Zach.  We just kind of got stuff organized.

5/16/11

     Today we went over a Power Point about some of the main points of the Kings and Jesus.  Here are my notes:

Augustus started Pax Romana and Rome built and prospered.

Augustus died and passed power to Tiberius.

Jesus was a Roman citizen and practicing Jew.

Jesus argued with high priests and stuff.

"My kingdom is not of this world" worried many Jews and Romans.

Jesus preached to all people especially to poor people.

The governor of the Roman province of Judea, Pontius Pilot.

Paul was an important word spreader about Jesus.

Tiberius was August's stepson and adopted son.

Tiberius hated the Senate.

Tiberius sent Germanicus to calm soldiers and he later killed him because he was powerful.

Caligula was the only survivor of Germanicus's son.

Caligula did good for the people and then startd to fight with the senate, claimed to be a god, and mocked the Jews.

He tried to make his horse a consul, screwed other men's wives during dinner and then bragged about it over desert.

He was then assassinated.

Claudius had some disabilities but was the last adult male in the family and became Emperor.

Claudius conquered Britain, built, renovated, and worked for the people.

His wife messed with some one who wanted to mess with the government he killed them.

I quote Jordan: "Kevin thinks all Muslims are terrorists."  I want to address this issue.  This is not true at all.  We had a discussion about Muslims becoming more of the population.  I said that this could be bad news.  First off I said that there just happen to be more Muslim extremists who use terrorism.  This has a lot to do with it being in the Koran that all who are not orthodox Muslim are horrible people and should be gotten rid of.  Or at least it can be translated this way by the Muslim extremists, and they take it to heart.  They then take action.  So there being more chances of their being more terrorists is bad.  Christians, because of this interpretation would not be treated well.  Indoctrination may would also be started by orthodox or extremist Muslims and it could be indoctrination like the Nazis and the Jews all over again.  Christians would then be looked down upon as the people who were ruining the world because we were different than the extremists.  This is just a dramatic example of what could happen way way in the future.  There is an example in Egypt where Christians are often looked down upon by the 90% Muslim population.  They are extreme rivals.  This is part of what I was trying to explain.  Short and simple: Christians may be looked down upon if the Muslim population goes way over the Christian population.  

PS:  I hopefully will blog about our socialism issue later.