Writing the Essay

Today we wrote our essays for the midterm exam. I came prepared with my notecard. I thought I did a pretty good job on writing it. I did get a little nervous, however, when almost everyone in the class started getting a second paper to write on and I only used one. I reread the question that I chose and reread my essay and it seemed like I had covered everything. I just hope it was enough. I kept trying to convince myself that I was just writing smaller than everyone else and they had big handwriting and that's why they used a second page but I'm not sure. Maybe I just didn't have as much as everyone else but I think it covers the whole topic in the right amount of sentences. I didn't want to turn in an essay that I wouldn't want to read because it's so long because if I wouldn't want to reread it why would you want to read it. I hope my essay was enough to get me a good grade on this part of the exam. That's all for today.

FINAL ESSAY PREPERATIONS

Today, we finished the outline of our essay. Now, we can write out some of the outline on our notecard. I am going to write out an outline so it will help me better. I also finished writing the outline. Tonight or tomorrow I'm going to have to write out the facts on the notecard. I am going to be so prepared that I'm going to ace writing this essay. That's all for today.

ESSAY FOR THE EXAM

Today we worked on our essay for the exam. I chose the third option about the demographic transition. I stared writing the outline. So far I have the first 3 paragraphs done. So I only have to do the last two tomorrow. I think my essay is going to go pretty well. I just have to make sure I remember the parts of it. Tomorrow I’m going to finish the first two paragraphs in class and then have someone read over it. By Friday I’ll be prepared to write the best essay I can. Anyways that’s all for today. This is late because I wrote it yesterday and thought I published it but I guess I forgot.

Demographic Transition Quiz

Today we took took a quiz on the Demographic Transition. I studied for it and I thought I was going to do  well but once I saw it I don't think I did that well on it. I wasn't sure which stage in the demographic transition was the one that was beneficial to have a lot of kids. I knew that it was either one or two but I wasn't sure. Stage One could have had a lot of kids because of all the people that were dying and they needed to replace the people that were dying by having a lot of kids. Stage Two also could have been the answer because most people in stage two were farmers and needed a lot of kids to hellion the farm. So my final answer for that question was stage two but I don't know if it was right or not. I also struggled on the one where we had to write out the math problem. I think I got the right answer but I wasn't 100% sure. Anyways, I hope I passed the test. That's all for today.

More About the Demographic Transition

Today we copied down a graph about the demographic transition. It had the 5 stages going across the bottom. Birth and death rates stared at pretty much the same spot. Over time birth rate decrease slightly but was still higher than the death rate. In between the birth and death rates is the natural increase. The total population stared at the bottom and went up. We also looked at one of he videos we watched yesterday and went over it a little more in detail. Anyways, that’s all for today.

Demographic Transition Videos

Video 1 : Demographic Transition -
1. Stabilization in population occurs in most industrialized countries
2. Growth rate measures how much the population grows or shrinks over some time period
3. Most countries were in stage 1 until the 18th century when death rates in Europe began to fall

Video 2 : Demographic Transition Theory -
1. We are experiencing exponential growth
2. The plague, war, famine, and poor living conditions people died pretty young to make up for all the deaths they had to have children- stage 1
3. Cultural lag : technologies that improved mortality rates changed faster than. cultures ability to adapt

Video 3 : Why Populations Grow and the Demographic Transition Model -
1. The population growth of less economically developed countries is rapid compared to more economically developed countries.
2. One way to measure population growth is by calculating doubling time (length of time it takes for population to double in size). Calculated by dividing 70 / growth rate.
3. 2 main factors affecting population growth RNI and NET Migration Rate.

Video 3 was most helpful to me because I like to listen to people with accents. It makes me listen better. I also thought it had more facts than the other 2. It had some terms that we've learned before and some that we're new to me. It also had different ways to measure population, some of which were new to me. Even though the video was longer than the other 2 I thought I learned more from it than the others. That's why video 3 was the most helpful to me.

Demographic Transition

Today we read a packet on Demographic Transition. It is a 4 stage process. It is the change in society's population from high crude birth and death rates and a low rate of natural increase to low crude birth and death rates, low rate of natural increase, and higher total population. The 1st stage has high birthrates and deathratecs and a very low growth. No country is still in stage 1. Stage 2 has a high growth because death rates decline and birthrates remain the same. The two things that impacted most countries into stage 2 was the Industrial Revolution and the Medical Revolution. Stage 3 has crude birthrates that dropped sharply as a result of changes in social and economic patterns that will encourage people to have fewer children. In stage 4 birthrates continue to drop until their rate of natural increase is 0. In this stage women enter the labor force in large numbers. Some countries think there is a stage 5 where the population declines but the Demographic Transition doesn't count it.That's all for today.

Going Over the Quiz

Today we are about to go over the quiz. I got a 44/50. Yesterday I thought that I got 4 questions wrong so I think that may have been true. I was so excited that today is the last day and then it's Thanksgiving break. For the past few years my family and I would go to Duck, North Carolina with my Dad's side of the family but this year we're not going. We are staying home and our dog doesn't have to go to the kennel now. I was kind of mad at my brother though because he didn't have school at all this week so I thought that was a little unfair. Now we're at the last mod of the day and there's only 45 minutes until we can leave for a five day break. Anyways, that's all for today.

Quiz on 5 Major Religions

Today we took a quiz on the 5 major religions of the world. I thought I did well at the beginning but there were like 3 or four questions where I made a guess. I didn't realize that I would need to know what religion was made in the 7th century. I don't even know when the 7th century was. So I made a logical guess and picked between two that I thought were close. I had a fifty-fifty chance at getting it right. I am 99.9% positive that I got all of the ones about Christianity right. The ones that confused me were Buddhism and Hinduism. I also wasn't sure which religion was the oldest in general. I just kind of guessed between 2 of them because some of them wouldn't make sense to be the oldest. Anyways, that's all for today.    

Finishing the 5 MAJOR RELIGIOINS

Today in class we went over the last parts of the 5 major religions in the world powerpoint. The last two religions were Buddhism and Judaism. Judaism is actually the ninth most popular religion but Christianity and Islam have beliefs that came from that religion so we’re learning about it. Buddhism has a founder who is really skinny and has a story that sounds like Jasmine. He was kept in the palace  to be safe from everything outside but then he snuck out and saw that his kingdom had poverty and hunger. We have a test on all of the religions on Monday. I’m going to make sure I study so I get a good grade. That’s all for today.

5 Major Religions

Today we looked at 3 of the 5 major religions. The largest religion is Christianity with 2.2 billion people. The second largest is Islam with 1.5 billion people. The third largest religion is Hinduism with 1.1 billion. Christianity has priests and the Pope as their clergy. Islam has a clergy but you forgot to put it on the slides. We didn't get to the clergy of Hinduism. Christians and Muslims have similar beliefs and Hinduism is where things start to change. There are more facts about these three religions but I don't feel like writing all of them here after I wrote them in my copybook. Our test was moved to Monday so that we can finish looking at the slides on the 5 Types of Religions. That's all for today.

Checking Our Test

Today we checked our tests. I got a 93% and got 3 questions wrong. I got one of the population pyramids wrong. The one that was supposed to be Japan. I didn't realize that most of the people were older  I just looked at the longest bar and went with Mexico. I didn't even check the population at the top which would have been helpful. I also got the one about Total Fertility Rate wrong because I read the question too fast and didn't check back over my answers. The last question I got wrong was the last question. I wasn't sure where Rwanda was because I forgot to rewatch the TED ED video. If I had rewatched the video I probably would have gotten a better grade. I'm overall pretty happy with my grade. That's all for today.

Test on Population Pyramids, Population, and Migration

Today, we took a test on population, population pyramids, and migration. I didn't know we had a test until Friday because I wasn't there on when you announced it and I forgot to check your blog. I think I did pretty well. I was feeling really good about it up until the third page. That's where I started to lose some of my confidence in my answers. I felt like it was easier than my head was making it out to be but I did my best. I studied for it so what more can you ask of me. Anyways, I hope I actually did do well and it wasn't just false confidence I was giving myself. That's all for today.

I Wasn't Here

Today I wasn't in school because I wasn't feeling well.

Presenting Our Countries

Today we presented our country project. I think I did pretty well on doing my part of the presentation. I introduced the project and read the problems of Puerto Rico. I thought I did a great job at looking at the audience and speaking loudly. Our presentation had cool slide transitions that were fun to watch as you went on. The only group that don’t present today was Lily’s group because they didn’t have all of their team and we were running out of time. I kind of want to do another group project like this soon because I thought it was fun to work on and present it to the class. That’s all for today.

Developing and Post-Industrialized Countries

Today we got an extra day to work on our developing and post-industrialized country presentation. My team's countries are Puerto Rico and Italy. Today we did finishing touches on the slides and practiced presenting them to the class. I think our group was the only one that actually practiced the speaking parts. We had to fix the graphs because they didn't make sense. I thought it was going to snow today so I was really upset when it didn't. My phone said that it was currently snowing but when I looked outside there was no snow. Next class we have to present our presentation. I think we are going to do really well. Anyways that's all for today.

Continuing The Country Project

Today we continued to work on the country project. My group finished the slide presentation. Something that I found interesting while I was researching Puerto Rico was that it is actually a US territory. I just found that cool. Anyways we finished our presentation. We’re going to present next class. Because I’m the team captain of my group I have to introduce our presentation. It started snowing a little during class which was cool. I’m ready to show my presentation to the class. That’s all for today.

Country Project

Today we were put into groups that were chosen by team captains. I was one of the team Captains. I chose smart people in my group. I have Emily, Lizzy, Ramona, and Joi. Our countries are Italy and Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is our developing country and Italy is our pre-industrialized country. So far we have some of the slides done. We have the title slide, the title for Puerto Rico, and the title for Italy. We also have done some research already on the countries.  Puerto Rico was hit by Hurricane Maria which caused 90% of the country to lose power. Anyways that's all we did for class. I think our  presentation is going to be the best out of all of them. Be prepared for our amazing presentation on Puerto Rico and Italy. That's all for today.

EXAM QUESTIONS

Today, we answered questions for the Semester Exam. There were questions about the CIA World Factbook. For example, CIA stands for Central Intelligence Agency. You can find the CIA World Factbook on cia.gov. There were questions on the Total Fertility Rate. Like what 2.1 means in terms of the TFR. We were asked 37 question out of about 100 multiple choice questions and there are going to be essays that we have to write. We have a choice on what we want to write our essays about out of a couple topics. There were questions on Vocab terms that we learned. This is all we did for class. Class went by really quickly. That's all for today.

CIA World Factbook Facts

IMPORTANT/INTERESTING FACTS
1. The population pyramid of Ireland has most people in the reproductive years of their life. I thought this was interesting because I thought that Ireland had a fast growing population when it really is increasing slowly. This is important to what we are learning about in class because it is a population pyramid.
2. The birth rate of Iceland is 13.6 births/1000 population. I thought this was interesting because their birth rate is higher than the United States. It's important to what we're learning because we looked at birth rates and death rates.
3. India has more internet users than the United States. I thought this was interesting because I thought that India was a super poor country that barely had any internet. It's important to what we are learning because we are learning how the world communicates with one another.
4. The Infant Mortality rate in Togo is 40.8 deaths/1000 population. This was interesting because I didn't realize how many infants have the probability to die when they are born. This relates to what we learned because we looked at infant mortality rate for a little bit.
5. The population of the United Kingdom is 65,105,246. This surprised me because I thought that the United Kingdom was close to the top of the charts when it was ranked 22. It relates to what we have learned because we talked about population in class.

POPULATION PYRAMIDS
1. The population of Japan will be decreasing because most of the population is at the top of the pyramid.
2. The population pyramid of Morocco will be increasing because most of the population is at the bottom of the pyramid.
3. The population pyramid of Honduras will be increasing because most of the population is at the bottom of the pyramid.
4. The population of Costa Rica will increase slowly because most of the population is at the middle of the pyramid.
5. The population of Fiji will be increasing because most of the population is at the bottom and middle of the pyramid.

Quiz on Hans Rosling

Today, we watched the video on Hans Rosling that we watched yesterday again. After the reviewing, we took a 10 question quiz. I got 100. It was an easy quiz. Especially since we reviewed everything before hand. Because this is going in Quarter 2 my grade will be at a 100%. That is going to be a good grade to start the next quarter. It's weird to think that I already finished a whole quarter of school. It went by so fast. I was really tired today. So tired that I took a nap during my off mod. I didn't get much homework which I'm happy about. Classes were shortened so that was nice also. That's all for today.

Hans Rosling : 200 years in 4 minutes

Today we watched a video about a guy named Hans Rosling. He teaches global health. He was animating data in real space. He talked about things like how poor countries transformed into wealthier countries over time. For example in 1810 most of the countries in the world were in the poor and sick section of the graph and had a life expectancy of below forty years. When the Industrial Revolution started, countries started moving up the graph because they were building better economies. World War 1 and the Spanish Flu epidemic were major factors in why the life expectancy dropped in some countries. Hans was a very optimistic guy and believes that the world will keep getting better.

Population Pyramid

Today in class we watched a video about population pyramids. Population Pyramids are like bar graphs tilted on their side. They are made from gender and age. The age is counted in 5 year increments.  0-14 are pre-reproductive, 15-44 are reproductive, and 45-100+ are post reproductive. Men are on the left and women are on the right. A pyramid with a large base is going to have an increase in population. A pyramid with a fat middle will slowly increase over time. A pyramid with a big top is going to have a decrease in population.Demographic Transition was a word that we learned it has to do with age. For example, if your watching kids shows then your going to have commercials that are aimed for that age group. Pre-industrialized (developing countries/nations) are going to have an increasing population. Industrialized (developed countries/places) are going to have a deceasing population. That’s what we learned today.

Going Over Our Test

Today we went over our tests. I got a 93%. I got three questions wrong. One of the questions I got wrong was the one where you had to use GDP per Capita twice. I didn't realize that you could use two words more than once but its ok. The other ones I got wrong were just me not thinking right. The ones that you called gimme questions were the ones I got wrong. The test brought my 96% grade down to a 95%.  still have an A so it doesn't bother me that much but I wish I had done better. That's all for today.

TEST ON POPULATION & other stuff

Today we took a the test on population and the CIA factbook and stuff similar to that. I thought I did pretty well on it. I felt good about it when I turned it in so hopefully I get a good grade. The CIA factbook part was pretty easy. The only question I had to skip and come back to was the one about how many countries have over 1000 airports. It took me a few minutes to find the answer. The fill in the blanks I thought were simple. Hopefully I didn't make a stupid mistake and mix them up by mistake. I studied countries for the pull and push force questions so I'm pretty sure that I got those right. The bonus question that asked the NET Migration Rate of the whole world was the only question hat I really didn't know. I just guessed on it and I'm pretty sure it wrong but it was just a bonus question so I didn't think about it to much. Anyways, I'm already anxious to get the test back and see what I got. That's all for today.

Reviewing For The Test

Today in class we reviewed for our test on Friday. Here are some questions that might be on the test :

• What are developing countries? - Africa, South and East Asia, and Latin America.
• Where does most of the population growth take place? - developing countries of Africa, South and East Asia, and Latin America.
• About how many people are on the world right now? - 7.6 billion
• When was the 1st billion people on the world reached? - 1804
• What is the rate that we are gaining people? - staying the same
• How long did it take to reach 1 billion people? 10,000+ years
• Who is expected to have a longer life expectancy? - Women
• How do you find RNI? - Birth Rate - Death Rate = RNI
• How do you find Net Migration Rate? - Immigration - Emigration = Net Migration Rate
• What are Push forces? (2 & include countries) - Afghanistan ~ natural disasters & Chad ~ terrorist attacks and bombings  
• What are Pull forces? (2 & include countries) - Mexico ~ better work opportunities for other Central American countries & U.S.A. ~ religious freedom for people from Nigeria and other African counties 
• What is Total Fertility Rate? - Average number of children born per woman
• What is the significance of 2.1 for TFR? - higher than : population rising & lower than : population falling
• What is the rate of TFR? - getting lower (decreasing)
• What is GDP per capita (PPP) - Average amount of money people make
• Gross Domestic Product ÷ number of people = GDP per capita (PPP)

Talking About The CIA Factbook

Today, we talked about the questions we had to complete for homework. We talked about the CIA website. On our test, for half of the questions we will have to use the CIA Factbook to find the answers. The second half of the questions will be matching and short answers. We talked about how Luxembourg has no disputes with any other country. Japan has a low birth rate (lower than 2.1) so their population is slowly going down. Gross is the total amount of money you get from a paycheck. There are more airports in the US than Russia. We have class tomorrow, then we don't have class on Thursday, and then on Friday we have the test.

CIA World Factbook Questions

CIA World Factbook Questions :
1. The population of China is 1,384,688,986 and the population of India is 1,296,834,042.
2. The Total Fertility Rate in Japan is 1.42 children born/woman.
3. The death rate in El Salvador is 5.8 deaths/1,000 population.
4. 23-28% of the French population identify "none" as their religion. It's not verifiable because France has not officially collected data on religious affiliation since the 1872 national census.
5. 82.7% of Mexicans identify themselves as Roman Catholic. 
6. The GDP- per capita (PPP) in the United States is $59,800.
7. The GDP- per capita (PPP) in Nigeria is $5,900.
8. The GDP- per capita (PPP) in Luxembourg is $105,100.
9. 76.2% of the United State's population are internet users.
10. The number of airports in Russia is 1,218 and the number of airports in the United States is 13,513.
11. 1.201 billion people in the world do not have electricity.
12. The Infant Mortality Rate in Canada is 4.5 deaths/1,000 live births. The Infant Mortality Rate in Cuba is 4.4 deaths/1,000 live births. The Infant Mortality Rate in the United States is 5.7 deaths/1,000 live births.
13. The literacy rate in Afghanistan is total:38.2%, men:52%, and women:24.2%.
14. The three countries with the highest life expectancies are Monaco, Japan, and Singapore.
15 The countries with the lowest life expectancies are Lesotho, Zambia, and Afghanistan. 
16. The nation that has the sixteenth highest Net Migration Rate is Monaco.
17. The unemployment rate in Vietnam is 2.2%. The unemployment rate in South Korea is 3.7%. The unemployment rate in the United States is 4.4%. The unemployment rate in India is 8.5%. The unemployment rate in Kenya is 40%.
18. The Military Expenditures spent by Germany is 1.24% of GDP. The Military Expenditures spent by China is 1.87% of GDP. The Military Expenditures spent by the United States is 3.16% of GDP.
19. The three countries that produce the most crude oil are the United States (10,962,000 BBL/Day), Russia (10,759,000 BBL/Day), and Saudi Arabia (10,425,000 BBL/Day).
20. The three countries that import the most crude oil are the United States (7,969,000 BBL/Day), China (6,710,000 BBL/Day), and India (4,057,000 BBL/Day).
21. 6% of the world's population speaks Spanish. 12.3% of the world's population speaks Chinese. 5.1% of the world's population speaks English.

Measuring Population

Today we looked at measuring the population. Crude birth rate is the number of births per 1000 of the population. Crude death rate is the number of deaths per 1000 of the population. Rate of natural interest or RNI is produced by subtracting the death rate from the birth rate and it gives the annual natural growth rate - in % form - for a country/region. Net migration rate is the difference between the number of persons entering and leaving a country during a year. An excess of people entering into a country is immigration and an excess of people leaving is emigration. There are push and pull factors that persuade people to migrate. Push : civil war, environmental degradation, unemployment/underemployment, or religious/ethnic persecution. Pull : better economic opportunity, better health services, religious freedom, and political freedom.

Life Expectancy

Today we continued our powerpoint on population and settlement. We talked about life expectancy. The country with the highest life expectancy is Monaco which has a life expectancy average  of 89.52 total people. The US has a life expectancy average of 79.68 total people. The countries that have the lowest life expectancy are the developing countries. We also talked about how women have a higher life expectancy than men. We talked about it for a while and we said it was because men don't go to the doctors as often as women do for one. Men have too much pride and would rather muscle through the pain and say that it doesn't hurt unlike women. Men do more dangerous jobs. Even though women have the choice of joining the military most of them are men. That is what we focused on today in class.

Reviewing Our Test

Today we went over our test that we took on maps. I got a 23/27 but with my added 2 points I will have a 25/27. Instead of a B I should have and A on the test now. The questions that I messed up on were the Relative and Absolute locations and the questions on timezones. I'm glad that you're taking off the question that nobody got right because it will bump up my grade. We also went over how the exams work. We come in and some teachers don't let us bring our laptops into the classroom. We can study for other exams that day but we have to bring written notes and study guides. We didn't do much because each class was only 40 minutes long. So that was pretty much all we did in class today.

Population

Today we did homework while we waited for David to finish making up the test. After he turned it in we started a powerpoint on Population and Settlement. We learned that there are over 7.6 billion people on the world right now. 90% of that increasing population takes place in developing countries like Africa, South and East Asia, and Latin America. We watched a population clock for a little bit. Every 8 seconds a new person was born in the United States and every 11 seconds someone died. The first year the world got to 1 billion people in population was 1804. 124 years later we made it to 2 billion. Then, in 33 years we reached 3 billion. The world is the most populated today than it's ever been. Population is kind of interesting so far. I can't wait to see what we'll learn about next class.

TEST DAY

Today we took a test on latitude, longitude, maps, and timezones. I thought I was going to do well but I'm pretty sure I got a lot wrong. I guessed on some of the ones about absolute and relative location because I didn't remember going over what certain places were considered. I did my best and I have a pretty good grade currently so I don't think this test will drop my grade down by much. I probably made a stupid mistake on the test, like I do with most tests. Whenever I take a test I usually make at least one stupid mistake. I think I'm going to find a better way to study next time because every time we learn something new in this class I have a hard time remembering it. It's the only subject that I have a hard time in. I think that Social Studies stuff just isn't my thing but I try my best. The next time we have a test I will study better and take it knowing I got a good grade on it.

Reviewing For A Test

I got home late last night and forgot to do my blog. Anyways, yesterday we went over the slideshow for Grids and Timezones to review for our test. There will be questions about longitude and latitude. We will probably have to know where the Arctic Circle, the Tropic of Cancer, the Equator, the Tropic of Capricorn, and the Antarctic Circle are. Where the Prime Meridian is and that it passes through Greenwich, England. That there are 24 timezones. Definitions of site and situation. UTC and GMT. And the creator of one of the first maps : Eratosthenes. I studied for the test so I think I will do well.  I'm ready for the test and glad I prepared.

POP QUIZ ~ preparing for a test

Today we looked at each others test questions that we made yesterday. After we looked at a couple questions we took a POP QUIZ! It was timed and we didn't go back to look at the questions again. I got 3 wrong. The ones I got wrong were some of the easiest ones so I don't know how I got them wrong. I always reread the question on tests to make sure I picked the right one and I couldn't so it was kind of stressful. I will prepare for the test on Monday so I don't fail the test. Hopefully, the pop quiz won't bring down my grade too much. Some of the things on the test will be latitude and longitude, site and situation, and time zones. I'm gonna study the time zones again because I'm terrible at time. I can never figure out different time zones, that's why my phone changes the time for me when I travel. When I went to California, my phone changed the time for me so I didn't have to worry about that. Up until we learned about it, I thought that GMT stood for Greenwich Mountain Time not Greenwich Mean Time. So that's the thing I really have to focus on. I WILL BE READY FOR THE TEST!

Test Questions

1._____ A position expressed in degrees, minutes, and seconds of latitude and longitude is called...?
        A. relative location                      B. absolute location
        C. geography                               D. coordinate
2. _____Longitude lines are also called...?
       A. parallels        B. meridians
       C. lines            
3. _____Latitude lines are also called...?
      A. parallels          B. meridians
      C. equator
4. _____Longitude lines run in what direction...?
      A. east-west         B. west-east
      C. north-south
5. _____Latitude lines run in what direction...?
     A. north-south      B. south-north
     C. east-west
6. _____Which of these is not a tool that geographers use to find where things are...?
    A. site            B. situation
    C. hammer     C. maps
7. _____A region of the globe that observes a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purposes is...?
    A. time zone         B. Prime Meridian
    C. Equator            D. place
8. _____The physical characteristic of a place is...?
   A. situation            B. site
   C. location             D. map
9. _____The location of a place relative to other places is called...?
   A. site                    B. UTC
   C. GMT                 D. situation
10. _____What line passes through Greenwich, England...?
   A. Arctic Circle    B. Tropic of Capricorn
   C. Equator            D. Prime Meridian

Answers are highlighted

Longitude

Longitude lines are meridians not parallels. It is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is measured by imaginary lines cycling the Earth and running through the poles and used to measure distance in degrees east or west of the Prime Meridian. The Prime Meridian passes through Greenwich, England, and is given the position of 0 degrees longitude. They run in north-south directions. They are farthest apart at the Equator and meet at the poles. They cross the Equator at right angles. They are equal in length. A time zone is a region of the globe that observes a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purposes. They follow boundaries of countries because its convenient for areas in close commercial communication to keep the same time. UTC or Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. Greenwich Mean Time or GMT is often used as a synonym for UTC. GMT predates UTC by nearly 300 years. Each 15-degree band of longitude is assigned to a standard time zone.

Geography & Latitude

Geography is the study of where things are. A map is a two-dimensional or flat-scale model of the Earth's surface. Map-making is called cartography. Maps serve two purposes : to show absolute and relative location, and to act as a communications tool to convey the distribution of human activities or physical features. Latitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of point on the Earth's surface. It is measured in imaginary lines that run parallel to the equator. They never cross each other and get shorter towards the poles. The equator is measured as (0 degrees N/S). That is what we learned today.

Situation

Today we actually talked about situation. It’s where something is located relative to another place. Situation helps people when they are trying to describe how to get somewhere to someone else while talking on the phone. If your asking where a certain place is you can tell them a big landmark to look for so that they can find the place. Situation is very important for people to understand because if we didn’t we would all be lost trying to find our destination. If we had a huge power outage around the world and no one could use their phones or gps than we could talk to each other face to face  and have to describe a place someone is trying to get to. That’s why we use situation.

Site and Situation

Today we talked about site. Site is the physical character of a place. It’s how geographers describe the location of a place. Important characteristics of site include : water sources, climate, topography, soil, vegetation, latitude, and elevation. Good site qualities depend on the cultural values of each individual person. Situation was listed after site. Situation is the location of a place relative to other places. It helps us find an unfamiliar place in relation to another place. It also helps us understand the importance of the location of a place. My house doesn’t have that many unique characteristics. It’s just a simple house in a neighborhood. It has a play-set in the backyard and a tree in the front yard. I think site and situation are important for not just for geographers but also regular people to describe places to others.

Map Games

Reviewing Our Test

Today, we reviewed our test. I got a 98 out of 100. The questions I got wrong were the one about the polis and the one about the government revolts. I must have skimmed through the test and not seen the part that said "other than the United States" because I put down the United States as one of the answers. The rest of the test, however, I got right. I did really well on the essay questions. I'm proud of myself because I thought I was going to do a lot worse. All we did today was review our test so it got a little boring in class. We also went over how exams worked in December. Class today was pretty uneventful and I was still tired because it was in the morning. I will make sure to keep my test in a safe place to study for when exams come around.  

Mercator Map VS Peters Map

There are two maps that we have been learning about. The Mercator Map and the Peters Map. The more realistic map is the Peters Map. It shows the countries more proportionate to their actual size. In order for the flat map to accurately show the round Earth it distorts the shapes of the continents. The person who created the map was Arno Peters. He presented it to people and told them that it was superior compared to the Mercator Map. The Peters Map increases the size of each continent the closer they are to the equator. The continents that are closer to the equator on the Mercator map are smaller so they seem less important compared to the other countries. Next is the Mercator Map. It was created and presented by Gerardus Mercator before the Peters Map was invented. It became the standard map for navigation because it showed how to get places in straight lines. Sailors liked this map because it was easy to use a compass with it to get where they were going with the least amount of difficulty. The Mercator Map makes land far away from the equator larger which is because the scale on it is constant. Land like Greenland and Antartica seem larger than they actually are. Mercator map's also have topography and the Peters Map doesn't.

The only map I've ever seen is the Mercator Map. I didn't even know that there were other maps that showed the world in different ways. I think that the Peters World Map shows the world in a more real way but I like the Mercator Map better. It could be because it's the only map I've ever known but I think it's great. I don't really look at maps that often anyway but when I do its always a Mercator Map. Different maps show different things so I think it all depends on what you're looking for at the moment.  

Maps

Today, we looked at three different maps. The first one was used for transportation. It had cities and towns marked and also roads, like interstates. It also had topography, where you could see the different elevations. The second map was of the whole world and was called a Mercator Map. It’s the map that most people look at but it’s not that accurate. It also had topography. The third map was called Peters World Map and it is the most accurate. All of the continents sizes are proprtionate to the real thing. It’s the closet map to the reality. If you flip a map upside down it’s still the same map. It still has everything the other map is just upside down.

TEST DAY

Today we took the test on excellence and a message to Garcia. I thought I did pretty well. The only question that I had trouble remembering was the one about the polis. I looked through the slideshow  before I came to class so it was all pretty fresh in my brain. I'm pretty sure I got the bonus question right too. I thought the essays were going to be hard but they were actually pretty easy. I did keep writing down more and more for the essays because I don't like when I have a lot of blank lines left on the paper. I thought that the multiple choice questions were really easy. I liked how the paper was purple it was different from just writing on normal white paper. I was a little stressed because class was shorter than usual but I finished with time to spare. I checked all my answers before I handed in the test and they looked right to me so I think I did ok.

Reviewing For A Test Tomorrow

So tomorrow we have a test on A Message to Garcia and Excellence. Today we reviewed what will most likely be on the test. There will definitely be questions about Socrates. There will be a multiple choice section, a fill in the blank section, and two essay questions. There will be a question on what it means when the Greeks called you and “idiot”. We will probably need to know when A Message to Garcia was published (1899). We’ll need to know what was important in 508 BC - birth of democracy. After our review in class I now know what I should really focus on when I’m studying.

The Amazing Socrates

Socrates was a Greek philosopher who was one of the founders of Western philosophy. He was a stonemason when he was a younger. He taught kids right outside of the agora. He cane from a working class family and fought in the Peloponnesian War. He went on trial for two reasons : corrupting the youth of Athens and impiety. He was found guilty and sentenced to death by hemlock poisoning. He didn’t even apologize for what he did, and it shows his loyalty for the new democracy. Anyways, Socrates was considered an intellectual hero. He stood up for what he thought was right and didn’t let anyone change his mind.

Some Important Things To Know

• agora - public open space used for assemblies and markets
• polis - city-state in Ancient Greece, especially as considered in its ideal form for philosophical  purposes  
• the importance of the year 508 BC to the ancient Greeks - democracy is introduced in Athens
• Socrates - classical Greek philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, and as being the first moral philosopher of the Western ethical tradition of thought 
• the death of Socrates - went on trial and was found guilty of corrupting the the minds of the youth of Athens and of impiety, and as punishment sentenced to death, caused by the drinking of a mixture containing poison hemlock
• the Socratic method - a form a cooperative argumentative dialogue between individuals, based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and t draw out ideas and underlying presuppositons  
• what the ancient Greeks meant if they called you an idiot -  it means you did not contribute to the community or politics - came from the word "Idios" which means the self

Lazy Workers

Today we finished reading A Message To Garcia. Elbert Hubbard has a unique view on American workers. He feels like people are lazy and incompetent and he just want to beat them with a club. People now a days don't work hard to get stuff done. They take more time making up excuses to get out of it then just doing what they're asked to. The essay was written into a book and a pamphlet sold over 40 million copies. It was translated into 37 different languages. Not only was the small essay written into a book, it was also made into a movie twice. I think that this is insane because the essay was only three pages long and they made it into all of this stuff. Hubbard thinks that although we sometimes pity those who work in sweat shops we should really pity those CEOs that can't find the right people to work for them. They have to keep firing people because they don't do their jobs. Some of these beliefs still hold true today but now people actually understand that they have to work hard to keep their jobs. People who become known as reliable are going to be valued and people who are known as lazy are not going to get far in their jobs.

Sending A Message To Garcia

I didn’t get home until late tonight because of a soccer game I had. So I guess I really had to “send a message to Garcia” since I had to finish the homework I got. I had to take notes for Biology that took longer than expected. My hand got cramped up a few times because of how long it took to write. It’s only the second day but I think things are going pretty well for me. Except when I forgot my laptop in my locker. It took me three tries to get it open, so I was worried that I wouldn’t get to class on time but I made it. High school is a big transition from middle school so I’m glad that I’m getting the hang of it. I think that Rowan, in the essay, was a pretty cool guy. He just took what he was given and ran with it. No one told him where he was going, he just figured it out himself. If everyone tried “sending a message to Garcia” the world would probably be a much more productive place.

First Day of School

My first day at John Carroll has been pretty good. I had Advanced Algebra 2 first mod with Mrs. Pleiss. We were given four warm-up questions to accomplish. I was very excited when I was able to open my locker by myself because I was worried that I wouldn't be able to. My second mod was Honors Spanish 1. We introduced ourselves to the class while speaking Spanish. Next, I had Human Geography. We put ourselves in reverse alphabetical order to find our seats. It took us five minutes to get in the right order. After that we had 30 minutes of lunch. I sat with my friends that I found pretty easily. Right after lunch I went to Intro to Bible with Mr. Huber. The best part of my day is when I saw my sisters and they were able to direct me where the classroom I was looking for was. The worst part was the assembly because I was squished between everyone the bleachers. I like my seat in Human Geo because it is on the edge. I don't like being in the front and being the center of attention. All in all, I think that today was a pretty good start to my Freshman year.