Humanities 8 Lilli

Technologies

2009-03-23T01:52:00.000-07:00

What is technology?
Technology is the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science. (from dictionary.com)
What are the 5 most and 5 least important technologies used today?
The 5 most important technologies used today are computers, calculators, phones, elevators and escalators, and security systems. The 5 least important technologies used today are gameboys, electric shaver, CD players , light up shoes, and an electric toothbrush.
How do you feel about that amount of and use of technology at AES?
I feel that we have a good amount of technology at AES and I think that we use it a bit too much. For example, we usually have lights on, that is unnecessary and we use computers for almost everything.

Kurt Vonnegut

2009-03-19T22:33:00.000-07:00

“Do you know what a Luddite is? That’s a person who doesn't like newfangled contraptions. Contraptions like nuclear submarines armed with Poseidon missiles that have H-bombs in their warheads, and like computers that cheat you out of becoming. Bill Gates says, “Wait till you can see what your computer can become.” But it’s you who should be doing the becoming. What you can become is the miracle you were born to work—not the damn fool computer.”

- Kurt Vonnegut

I partially agree and partially disagree with Kurt Vonnegut's statement. I agree that we need to develop and become. I also agree that computers do a lot of our work and that they are the ones that develop and become. Another thing I agree with is that you should not create bombs and other things that destroy. You should only create technology that's for every one's advantage and not only for one country or person. One thing I with, is that computers do help us develop and learn. It speeds work up and makes life easier. Without computers we would be working on an two page essay for years just because we don't have Microsoft Word or other tools that help us. In addition, scientists help keep us healthy and up to date because they have technology and technology helps them develop medicines and other things. As you can see, I agree with Vonnegut's statement in many ways, but i also disagree with it.

Picture of Kurt Vonnegut from:http://bkmarcus.com/cache/Vonnegut/images/kurt-vonnegut.jpg

3Q reflection+ 4Q goals

2009-03-16T01:52:00.000-07:00

My third quarter goals were to improve my writing skills, improve my geography skills, and to improve my vocabulary (vivid verbs, etc.). I did not meet all of those goals. First of all, I i didn't improve my writing skills because we didn't do any major writing assignments this quarter. Second of all, I did improve my geography skills a bit due to the weekly geography two minute warm up. Lastly, I do think that I improved my vocabulary.

4th Quarter Goals

Get a B- or C+ on my UBD research paper.
Improve my writing skills (including poetry).
Improve my researching skills.
And lastly improve my geography skills even more.

I will do my best to meet those four goals in the last quarter of 8th grade!

Why is the phrase “Holy War” an oxymoron?

2009-03-08T22:09:00.000-07:00

Why is the phrase “Holy War” an oxymoron?

The phrase "holy War" is and oxymoron because of two reasons. First, there is not good or "holy" war. War is something that you should avoid and not start because you think that god will praise you for killing someone of another religion. Just because someone doesn't believe in your religion, doesn't mean that their religion is wrong and that god would want you to kill them. Also, most of the religions forbid killing, but still people fight holy wars and kill people who don't practice all of the holidays or people who believe in different religions. In addition, holy describes something honored and war describes something horrible, which are opposites, which makes it and oxymoron. In summary, because there is no good war, killing is always bad, and because most religions forbid killing, the phrase "holy war" is and oxymoron.

Do you think there will be a World War III in your lifetime?

2009-02-22T19:09:00.000-08:00

I do not think that there will be a World War III in my life time because of several reasons. First of all, peace treaties have been made to keep the peace between countries and prevent war. These peace treaties will probably not be broken. Second of all, the United Nations(UN) have been joined by almost every country. The UN makes compromises and decisions that please all the nations so that there won't be a reason for war. Third of all, people have grown smarter and know that war is not good for their country or their enemy countries. They know that no matter how strong they are, destruction and death can't be avoided if a war was to happen, and no country wants that, so they avoid war. Also, now we have much better military and weapons, which would kill thousands of people at once, and that scared people. Lastly, there aren't any dictators, or fascist countries that would start a World War right now. As you can see, because there are peace treaties, because of the UN, because people are smarter now and want to avoid war, and there are no leaders who would start a war right now, there won't be a World War III in my lifetime.
Picture from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Mushcloud.jpg/300px-Mushcloud.jpg

Word War II: A Letter from the Battlefront

2009-02-18T07:26:00.000-08:00

Wilhelm Street 15

10507, Poland

September 14, 1939

Dear Barbara,

These past 2 weeks were probably the most exhausting days of my whole life. I can’t believe I even have time to write you this letter. Since I only have little time, this letter will be rushed, but I just had to tell you about my new experiences. A few days ago, on September 1^st, the Germans invaded us on three fronts (can you believe that?), the East Prussian Front in the north, the German Front in the west, and Slovakia in the south. They used their new, unknown “Blitzkrieg” method; it was quite remarkable, but also devastating. We held them back at Kutno, and then went to regroup by the Wisla and Bzura rivers. They also had all the weapons you could possibly think of and the biggest military as well; 2600 tanks, and more than 2000 aircraft, against our 180 tanks, and 420 aircraft! To be honest, I was scared to death. And my biggest dream is for this war to end and for you, and our dearest daughter, Lola, to never have to experience something like this!

You asked for my feelings and how I am? Well, yesterday we fought, and I wasn’t unscathed. Telling you this isn’t easy, but after the fight, my left hand was injured severely. They sent me to a hospital after several hours, too many if you ask me, and the nurses said that my hand won’t mend, it had to be amputated. I’m sorry love, but don’t worry too much, I won’t die and I will come home to our beautiful house soon. We all have changed, I noticed it on the very day the Germans invaded us. We, the soldiers, now have a stern look and a spark of revenge in our eyes. I wonder if I could ever go back to our old, simple but comfortable life? Now that I’m used to such harsh conditions, bad weather (it’s been very cold lately), and food and water shortage, it’s hard to imagine the life I once lived.

I have to tell you this, though I doubt that you didn’t know this, we lost the battle. The Germans now are controlling us. We held on longer than anyone would have thought, but in the end, we still lost. Not hard to believe when you look back at the numbers of military and weapons they had! Most of us were on horseback as well, I never even thought we would win, but I wouldn’t give up. We fought till we really couldn’t go one more step without dropping dead; and more dead soldiers was the last thing we needed. On the 3^rd of September, Britain and France declared war on Germany, but we still received no help.

Yours for eternity,

Juri Pavlov

P.S. I hope that this all ends well and that I get to live yet another couple of years, to watch my beautiful daughter grow up and to spend time with my loving wife. Oh I miss you both so bad, now I know how it feels to loose someone. Please do not worry too much and if something does happen, do not let it change your life, I’m sorry. Remember, I love you forever.

P.P.S. Tell all our friends I said hello. And take care of my mother please.

Information from: http://www.kasprzyk.demon.co.uk/www/history/WW2.html

Picture from: http://pro.corbis.com/images/NA002776.jpg?size=67&uid={A97388D9-53C0-47E7-B106-372533AD6091}

WWII feedback question- Anne Frank

2009-02-17T00:23:00.000-08:00

In The New York Times the writer Anna Quindlen asked, “Would our understanding of the Holocaust be quite the same if Anne Frank had not taken a small plaid diary into hiding with her?” Respond to this question and explain your answer.
Anne Frank's diary is a big piece of the information on concentration camps and the holocaust in general. If we didn't have Anne Frank's diary, we wouln't have specific evidence and information of how the people felt and what it was like to live in a concentration camp. Also, Anne Frank was a young girl and most of the survivors who could have given us an insight of the concentration camps, were adult males since the children and women were executed. Having a girls point of view gives us even more information. In addition, it gives the emotions of the girls feelings and the point of view of a jew. In conclusion, Anne Frank's diary gives us the emotion, the point of view of a jewish girl, and specific evidence.

A Recipe for World War II

2009-02-15T22:17:00.000-08:00

World War II- a Cake

To create the first layer of a thick, hard crusted cake of world war II,
mix 118 grams of the Treaty of Versailles,
8 grams of the failure of the League of Nations,
and 68 grams of appeasement

44 grams of each, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, and the German aggression
build next layer, emerging on top of the first and hardest layer.

knead the dough for 4 minutes
then add 15.5 grams of Japanese aggression for the filling.
Shove everything in the oven, heat, and wait.

1936 minutes have passed,
BOOOM
the sign the cake is ready,
was heard in the whole neighborhood

Hard, thick, unbreakable,
the cake is unique, like a dew drop on a leaf
and hopefully will always be.

Animal Farm Movie Critique

2009-02-06T04:51:00.000-08:00

The book Animal Farm and the animated movie of Animal Farm have many similarities and a few differences. First of all, one difference, that I thought was important, was that there was no Mollie. In the book Mollie had a minor role, but she represented the nobles, who were an important part of the Russian Revolution. The fact that Mollie is missing makes the movie different from the book and mostly different from the Russian Revolution. Also, there are a lot of minor changes. One of those small changes would be that Major dies three days later(page 11), not right after giving his speech and in the movie it seems like the Battle of The Cowshed was on the same day as the rebellion, but in the book it was a few days later. These small changes don't make a big difference, but they make the movie more inaccurate.
Another change was that the Seven Commandments were supposed to have mistakes in the spelling, but in the movie the Seven Commandments were spelled correctly. "It was very neatly written, and except that "friend" was written "freind" and one of the "S's" was the wrong way around, the spelling was correct all the way through." (page 18) Then, the rest was pretty much the same, Napoleon was the cruel leader, the animals his 'slaves'.
Another difference is that when Boxer was sent to the horse killer, Benjamin knew because is said so on the wagon and he read, in the book there was a sign and all of the animals knew. In the movie this resulted in a second rebellion, this time against Napoleon, which never happened.
Also, Farmer Jones broke the windmill, which was like it was in the book. In conclusion, these are the similarities and differences between the book Animal Farm and the movie Animal Farm and all in all they are quite similar, and the movie portraits the book well.
picture from: http://mrcoyle.edublogs.org/files/2007/02/af2.jpg

With which character in Animal Farm to you most closely identify?

2009-02-01T19:15:00.000-08:00

In Animal Farm, the character I most closely identify with is Benjamin. First of all, Benjamin is smart and realizes what is happening. If I were in a situation like Benjamin was in, I would have realized what was happening. For example, if I'm in a fight with a friend, or my friends are in a fight, I would have realized not to push them further in anyway and just go along with it till they make up. Also, Benjamin is caring i.e he cared about Boxer when he was hurt and didn't leave him for a second. This I identify with, I care about my friends and family. As, you can see, I identify with Benjamin because he is smart and caring.
Picture from: http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Books/Pix/pictures/2008/06/09/farm460.jpg

Tyranny, Injustice and Self-Determination

2009-01-26T23:29:00.000-08:00

Tyranny: Being ruled by a ruler who is cruel and abuses his power.
Injustice: Acting in an unfair and wrong way.
Self-Determination: Acting and choosing what to do without someone others influence or impact.

Tyranny, injustice and self-determination are things that are represented in the book Animal Farm. Tyranny is shown by the pigs, who abuse their power. In chapter three, page 25 they order that the apples are only to be eaten by pigs and the pigs the the cow's milk, "... Our sole object in taking these things is to preserve out health." This the pigs say to explain why they get the apples and milk, of course this is not the truth. Injustice can also be represented with the previous example, the pigs get all the apples and the milk, but the other farm animals don't get any. Also, the pigs don't work on the fields at all, they only give commands to the other animals, but they still get as much of the crops as they want, this is unfair and wrong. Self-determination is shown in the first and second chapters where the farm animals plan the rebellion and when the rebellion actually happens. They want to rule themselves and be free from Mr. Jones, so they drive him out, this is an example of self-determination. As you can see, the farm animals have experienced tyranny, injustice, and self-determination.

WW1 Poem- Survive Another Day

2009-01-22T01:54:00.000-08:00

Survive Another Day

Blood, death, gas,

Running out to the trenches

The smell of sweat, fear and death does not pass

BOOM

We were dropping dead at all edges, like dried leafs falling from a tree

Glancing around, making sure that we don’t miss bomb blast or gun shot.

Fear, weapons, destruction,

Gun shots came from every direction,

And cries for help from everywhere,

The weapons are monsters, waiting to tear us apart

Soldiers were hiding and fighting,

Doing their best to survive another day.

Alliances, hopes, dreams

Britain, France, Russia- the Triple Allies,

Germany, Austro-Hungary, Italy- the Central Power Alliance,

We all were fighting for the same reasons,

Shattered dreams, and hope.

The sound of the whistle that marks the start

SSSSSSSSSS

It wasn’t the first time we heard it, there was no time to think

Running as fast as the speed of light, knowing that our time is running out,

We tried to cross the battle field

Shouts, cries, death

But we weren’t giving up, not giving up,

Only our pride stood in the way,

But we weren’t giving up, never.

Pictures from:

http://www.chemical-corps.org/history/images/GasAttack-%20WWI%20(538x406).jpg

http://www.gwpda.org/photos/bin07/imag0696.jpg

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/LAND-FORCES/Army/Images/0377.jpg

http://www.aeragon.com/00/01/WwiBattlefield-420.jpg

http://www.besmark.com/ww1battl.gif

Compulsory Military Service?

2009-01-19T00:57:00.000-08:00

In Germany, 9 months of compulsory military service are mandatory. First of all, this is needed for if we didn't make this mandatory, no one would join and our military would be too small. So, if a country declared war against us, we would not be ready. Also, you would learn certain self defense techniques which would help you if you were ever to be stalked, raped, or anything like that. Lastly, it would also help your physical fitness and your education. If you go to military you have to exercise, which would keep you fit, also, learning all the things about war and fighting helps you understand those things. As you can see, compulsory military service is needed because it expandes the military, teches you self defense, keeps you fit and helps your education.

picture from: http://www.firstworldwar.com/photos/graphics/nw_german_army_sk_01.jpg

Great Powers Game Reflection

2009-01-12T01:35:00.000-08:00

The main visual elements in this cartoon are men, from different countries, handing each other treaties that are or will be signed to form alliances. Then there is also some people in the middle who are the great powers, then there is the medium strong countries, and then there is countries that aren't even part of the circle of allies. This political cartoon is about forming alliances.
The Cartoonist's opinion about this issue is that if you have allies, you are well of and about to get rich, but if you do not have allies, you are weak and poor, and not about to become a great power. The countries(people) outside the circle are crying and poor looking, this is evidence some in the cartoon that supports my opinion on how the cartoonist feels. The cartoonist could have emphasized the alliance treaties and made it even more clear that the countries in the circle are shunning the outside countries, for whatever reason.
This cartoon relates to the Great Powers Game because in the game we formed alliances and discussed with our allies who we should attack and stay away from and also who we should bring to our side, and confide in.

Great Powers Game Debrief

2009-01-11T06:05:00.000-08:00

My empire was Germany. Building my empire was quite frustrating at times but we were one of the great powers, so we had a small advantage. Our empire was quite strong compared to most of the countries, but there were stronger countries that could have easily overtaken Germany. In the long run, it was probably more important to buy armies. It was more important because if someone declared war against you, you need your armies to win and if you do have enough to win, you can get the defeated countries armies, navies, industries, and colonies. Then you would be stronger and you probably wouldn't be attacked the next year(round) because you are so strong, that year you can use to buy more colonies and industries so you become rich.
We did well with forming alliances and winning wars, we also bought colonies, industries, navies, and armies thoughtfully. The thing I would have done differently is deciding who to be allies with and when to join a war or not. We had successful and unsuccessful allies, this helped us choose whether to help a country or not and learn how much information to share with your allies. Overall, my alliances were helpful, though one of our allies declared war against us, Germany, which in the end did not hurt us, but the attacking country. So, I wouldn't say that all of our alliances could be trusted. The three things I learned are that conflict and war is hurtful to your own country as well as others, you can't rely on your allies, and that you have to think before declaring a war, and then maybe loosing everything.

Image Location: http://mrcoyle.edublogs.org/files/2008/01/pp_uk_06.jpg

Second Quarter Reflection and Goals for Third Quarter

2009-01-05T21:06:00.000-08:00

In the second quarter of school we had to make three goals. My first goals was to get a good grade on my first 5 paragraph long research paper, this goal I achieved. My second goal was to improve my writing skills, to use more vivid and strong verbs. This goal I did not complete, though I did improve a bit, I still need to work on this skill. Lastly, my third goal was to improve my grammatical skills, like punctuation and vocabulary, this skill I did improve. As you can see, I met two of my goals but still need to work on one of them.
My third quarter goals are to improve my writing skills, improve my geography skills, and to improve my vocabulary (vivid verbs, etc.). These goals I will work on at home and in class.

Net Effect of Imperialism in Africa

2008-11-30T19:17:00.001-08:00

Positive effects of imperialism in Africa:

Schools and hospitals were built
Cities got colonized
The Europeans made infrastructure projects
Railways, shipping ports and other transportation systems were built
Made a better and more stable government

Negative effects of imperialism in Africa:

Thousands of Africans were taken to European countries and sold as slaves
Natural resources and other goods were taken for free
Europeans brought their own culture and religion and forced the Africans to do the same as they do, with that they destroyed parts of the African culture
Civil wars started
Families were separated
Africans were treated as if they weren't human

Central Africa Today

2008-11-19T06:25:00.000-08:00

Most of Central Africa's countries are poor. The Democratic Republic of the Congo was a Belgium colony until 1960. When they became independent, many Belgians left and there were only a few teachers, doctors and other professionals. This mainly happened so that Congo would stay poor. Then, Joseph Mobuto came to power in 1965, and he changed the countries name to Zaire and his own name to Mobuto Sese Seko, to make it sound more African than European. Civil war broke out and the farmers, etc. struggled, the war stopped in 1997 but they still struggled. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has gold, diamonds and cobalt and the forest provides wood. They don't earn a lot of money from it though because they scare their trading parters off with all the crimes and civil war. They also don't have railroad and ports to transport it. Cameroon if fairly stable. It is a republic, has an elected president and a lot of oil. Equatorial Guinea has elections, but it has had the same president for 25 years. Sao To Mé hand Príncipe struggle with their political instability. Unlike Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, that have oil and earn most of their income on that, They only have Cacao. Gabon only had one president since 1967 and they haven't held multi-party elections. More than half on Gabon's income comes from oil, just like Congo's. Congo also gets income from forest products though. A civil war in the late 1990's hurt its economy. Angola won its independence from portugal in 2002 and since then it has become more stable. In Zambia about 85% of the population are farmers, but they are rich anyways with copper mines. Its economy is slowly growing but it is in a lot of debt and inflation. In Malawi, about 75% of the population are villager living in rural areas. Help from foreign countries and religious groups Ehas helped its economy. People think that it will soon be able to rely on itself not other countries.

Some health issues are war and civil war. Land mines are still lying around on the fields, making it dangerous for farmers and kids playing id former war areas. People also can't work if there is fighting going on outside. Another issue is malaria. It is the most common death cause in central africa and every 30 seconds a child dies on malaria. There is almost no treatment and the treatment that they have is very expensive, too expensive for most of the victims. HIV and AIDS are another issue, and so is Malnutrition.

As you can see, there are a lot of issues in Central Africa, but the Countries are improving their economies

Africa News Current Event #3

2008-11-18T06:09:00.000-08:00

In Cameroon, a new language called Frananglais, has developed. It is a mixture of French and English. This language developed because the French speaking people wanted to communicate with the English speaking people, and the other way around. To make that happen, they made up their own language, a mixture of English and French. This reminded me of India, because there they also mix Hindi and English, to make it easier to understand for the English people.

Frananglais has its pros and cons. It is good for the community and is unites the country, but it isn't good for their language skills, writing and reading if they don't know how to separate French from English and English from French. That is why the schools have rules that on some days they are only allowed to speak French, on others only English. If students speak Frananglais, they get punished, but that doesn't stop them from speaking it when no teachers are around. They might say, "Je veux go," which simply means I want to go. As you can see, I think that this is important because it might form a completely new trend and it might make cameroon more independent, unique and united if they all speak the same language. It might also destroy their French and English skills thought. So it will be interesting to see what happens.

Link to News Article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6376389.stm

Link to Picture: http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39710000/gif/_39710213_cameroon_province_map203.gif

Colonialism

2008-11-17T14:00:00.000-08:00

The main visual elements in this cartoon are the black Africa and the white footprint that is all chipped up on it. I think that this cartoon is about the Europeans colonizing Africa and changing its culture, history and practices, leaving a big footprint behind.
I don't that the cartoonist agrees with the idea of colonialism because it is black and white which aren't happy colors and it looks like the Europeans are trampling on Africa without any respect and care. I agree with the cartoonist and that colonialism is bad. I think the cartoonist could have put some blood drops or native signs to make the cartoon more persuading.

image from: http://img.photobucket.com

Central Africa's History and Culture

2008-11-17T13:45:00.000-08:00

Central Africa's culture has changes over the years. many thousands of years ago, the native Africans lived in Central Africa and practiced their own culture and religion. The, natives, though, had less impact on Central Africa's new culture than the European colonists. They say that about 1,000 years ago people started moving to Africa because of its valuable natural resources. Central Africa had animal skins, shells, slaves and ivory, all of the Europeans favorite resources. The Europeans took millions of slaves from Africa over a span of about 300 years. The European countries, mostly France, Belgium, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal trades with African countries and made some of them richer in the beginning, but in the end, all of them were poorer. They took whatever they wanted and however they wanted and ignored the natives cultures and practices. They changed the cultures and religions of the natives and caused conflicts between the many ethnic groups. They only became independent after Word War II and Angola only became independent of Portugal in 1975. Even after they gained independence, the ethnic groups fought with each other and some still do. The Europeans changed their religion, language, and customs/ practices. The ethnic groups speak different dialects, or even different languages. There are hundreds of different languages. Most of the Natives are Roman Catholic, but there is also Protestant Catholic, Islam and Hinduism. As you can see, the Europeans had a huge impact on Central Africa's culture.

Scramble For Africa

2008-11-14T23:55:00.000-08:00

1. What strategy did you use to claim land?
Me and my team, Portugal, looked at natural resource maps on Google, looked at an atlas, looked at the economy and other research. We tried to find out and take the countries that had the most coal, iron and zinc. After the first round we realized that most of the teams were going for the countries we chose and we had to try a different strategy. The strategy we tried next was to form alliances with who ever we could. The big and powerful countries like Great Britain wouldn't become es though, so we went to form an alliance with Germany and Spain.
2. What factors did you consider in claiming land?
The factors that i considered were mostly the natural resources the country had. I did that because Europeans are always looking for coal, iron and zinc and we could become rich by selling those resources.
3. Who won the Scramble for Africa?
I think that Great Britain won the Scramble for Africa because they occupied a lot of area and most of it was the area with the most natural resources.
4. Who lost in the Scramble for Africa?
I think that Spain lost the Scramble for Africa because they only owned little land and the land that they owned wasn't the best region for natural resources and the location wasn't the best either.

Africa News Current Event #2

2008-11-13T05:37:00.000-08:00

A war might break out in Congo, again. There were Angolan and Zimbabwean troops in Congo, armed. They fear that the conflict might be re-run. Also, there are soldiers everywhere in Congo now, but the problem is that they don't speak french, Swahili or Lingala. They speak Portuguese!
I think that this is important because if two countries start fighting each other, usually they pull in their befriended countries and then these countries get other counties involved and so forth. This could turn from a conflict to a big war. Also, Africa's economy isn't very good, and if there was a war, the economy would go down, and they would become more poor.

News Story from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7726690.stm
picture from: http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45195000/gif/_45195276_dr_con_virunga_466_8.gif

Central Africa's Physical Geography

2008-11-11T21:46:00.000-08:00

Central Africa has some variety of physical geography. Central Africa's main physical feature is the Congo Basin. A basin is a flat area that is surrounded by mountains and plateaus. Some of the mountains around the Congo Basin rise up to 16,700 feet or 5,090 meters! The Congo River is another feature that makes Central Africa unique. The Congo River connects with many, many smaller river and most of them empty into the Indian Ocean. Near the mouth, many rapids and waterfalls come along. The most famous waterfalls are the Victoria Falls. Central Africa's climate is humid, warm and very tropical, it has a very dense forest vegetation. The trees form a complete canopy, which lets no light go through and get to the ground. Therefore, not many animals live on the ground, but mostly on or in the trees. Some of the ground living animals include gorillas, elephants, boars and okapis (brown, short necked giraffes). The tree living animals include insects, birds, monkeys, bats and snakes. All these animals are in danger. Forest is being cut down and they are hunted. To help the animals, the government has set up national parks to promote protection of the forest and other environmental issues. The northern and southern areas of the Congo Basin are areas with tropical savannas. These areas are warm but they are dry. Central Africa's resources include timber, dams which produce electricity, oil, natural gas, oil valuable minerals, copper, uranium, tin, zinc, gold and cobalt. As you can see, Central Africa hast many forests but also savannas, a big variety of animals and many natural resources.

Can We Trust?

2008-11-10T19:19:00.000-08:00

Can we trust Julius Lester who wrote To Be A Slave and the information in the book?
I think that we can trust the information in To Be A Slave. I think so because Julius Lester is a well known and liked author who has written other outstanding books. Another reason why I think the information in To Be A Slave is true because he used entries from other trusted books and he interviewed people who were slaves and asked them about their own experience. Also, he cited all the passages, which gives them credit and we could find out if it is true. Lester also has ancestors who were slaves, which makes him understand everything better because in his own family the same or similar thing happened. My last reason is that all books go through editing processes and if they found out that the information was invalid, they wouldn't allow the book to be published. In conclusion, I think that the information in To Be A Slave is trustworthy because of these reasons that I just discussed.

Africa News Current Event #1

2008-11-09T23:21:00.000-08:00

The elections in Gabon, Central Africa are coming up and they will happen on the 17th of December. They are electing new members for the National Assembly who will lead the city. The Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) will go against about 50 other parties, one of them being the Gabonese Presidential Majority (UMPG). The PDG is leading right now and is expected to do well at this years elections too.
This is important because of a few reasons. One of the reasons is that the winning party will lead Gabon and might improve its wealth even more, though it already is the wealthiest nations in the Sub-Saharan region. It is also important because then there would be a change in the government. Bongo who is from the PDG has been president since 1967. He is Africa's longest serving president. If they had a new president some faults Bongo had could be corrected and that would lead to a more stable economy.

Link to the news article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6182345.stm

5 Themes Of Geography

2008-11-06T21:50:00.000-08:00

The five themes of geography are movement, region, human environmental interaction, location and place. The movement in this picture is the people moving from booth to another booth and also the clothes and other goods that they sell that have moved from wherever they came from to this flee market. The region is medium warm, they speak German and there are many trees. Human environmental interaction, the people are buying goods that come from the environment, like cotton and maybe fruits. Location, this is in Germany and there are many trees. This place, Germany, has four seasons and it seems to be winter or autumn right now because the leaves fell form the trees. Also, they seem to be a bit environmental friendly, because they have bicycles and no cars. These are the 5 themes of geography in this picture.

picture from: http://lh3.ggpht.com/_y4fa8HhQaIw/R59tRBpTRAI/AAAAAAAAA60/KE7hHS2f-yM/DSC00130.jpg

"Violence leads to more violence"

2008-11-03T01:11:00.001-08:00

"Violence leads to more violence," is a quote that I think is true. I think that this quote is true because when one person gets killed, all the people who killed the person, usually get killed too in the end. One example is in the play Julius Caesar. Caesar gets killed by Casca, Brutus, Cassius and a few more people and in the end all of those people get killed because Antony, Caesar's friend, stirs the crowd up and wants to take revenge. When people take revenge, it turns out to be worse than the thing that made them take revenge. In Julius Caesar, one person was killed and then they took revenge and over three people died. One real life example is when one city gets bombed, the city that got bombed would probably bomb the whole country that bombed them. I think that a solution to this could be that 1. don't be violent at all, which of course would be nice, but probably won't happen and 2. sort things out by talking and not taking revenge, like Gandhi did.

Brutus's Moral Dilemma

2008-10-20T00:13:00.000-07:00

Brutus is facing moral dilemma and he is torn between the two sides. One one side there is Caesar, his good and loved friend. On the other side there is his beloved city, Rome. Cassius thinks that Caesar will take over power, and become a dictator because of that, and because he wants power for himself, Cassius wants to kill Caesar. Should Brutus do what's best for Rome, kill his friend Caesar or should he save his old friend and side with Caesar?
If I were Brutus, I wouldn't kill Caesar and I have a few reasons for that. First of all, Caesar would be my friend, and I'd love him. At one point in the book, Brutus says,"I would not, Cassius, yet I love him well..."(1:2:19) this shows that he loves Caesar. Another reason is that Cassius wants the power that Caesar has for himself, and that is one reason he goes against Caesar. At one point in the book he even suggests himself as a better leader. The third reason is that Caesar also wants the best for Rome. Caesar is a strong leader, he is smart and a good general. We know that he is a good general and that he can lead a group well because in Spain he defeated Pompey, who was a strong leader as well (see 1:1:1 in book. its when they celebrate that Caesar defeated Pompey). As you can see, I have many reasons for not killing Caesar.

Leadership

2008-10-13T00:45:00.000-07:00

I think the qualities of a leader are different for every type of person. For shy people for example, qualities they must have are kindness and helpfulness. Outgoing and not shy people on the other side have to make the announcements and skits. Also, a leader has to be strong, emotionally and physically, but more emotionally so that they can handle different kinds of situations. For a good leadership, you need two types of people, shy and outgoing so that every person weather shy or not has a person to talk to. In our school I think Sophia is a good example of a leader. She is nice to everyone and always helpful as well. She can also be convincing and stop conflicts and things like that.

2008-10-13T00:20:00.000-07:00

There are many similarities between countries and how they invaded weaker countries to build empires. One similarity is that they all took over countries because having many empires and colonies made their own country stronger. Another similarity is that they all invaded the weaker countries by violence and more moder technology that the other countries didn't have, like machine guns and steam engines. A third similarity is that they were all looking for natural resources like cotton, gold, oil or diamonds. Also, Europeans thought that brown and non- Christian people had no soul and that they because of that weren't fully human, but more half- devil and half- child. They used religion as an excuse for invading countries, so they converted the half- devil, half- child people to Christianity to make the more or fully human. One thing that became better was the schooling. There is one big difference though. When Southeast Asia and India were invaded, the invaders, which were the Europeans and Americans, took all their food causing a starvation. The Middle East and Africa were invaded for other reasons like gold, diamonds and oil which didn't cause them to starve. As you can see, imperialism is usually similar, with just some differences which are because of the country they were taking over and their natural resources.

1st Quarter Reflection and 2nd Quarter Goals

2008-10-06T22:31:00.000-07:00

My first quarter goals were to improve my geographic knowledge and my punctuation. I think I did a good job meeting both of my goals. The two minute tuneups really helped me with my geographic knowledge. We had similar questions every time, which helped me really remember names of rivers, capital cities, continents, etc. we wrote about three long and important writing pieces. When I wrote these, I really thought about my punctuation and I think it has improved a lot.
Since i have completed my first quarter goals, I have to make three new ones for the second quarter. My first second quarter goal is to get a good grade on our first 5 paragraph long research paper. My second goal is to improve my writing skills. I want to use more vivid and strong verbs. The third second quarter goal is to improve my grammatical skills, like punctuation and vocabulary.

Capitalism Cartoon

2008-09-22T00:44:00.000-07:00

It this cartoon, there is a big guy, wearing a tag that says "capitalism". The big guy is holding a small guy, which could be a child. The child is wearing a tag that says labor. Something is falling down from the kid, which probably is money. Lastly, there are two bags, one big, and one small, the small bag says, "Profits from child labor." This political cartoon is about the issues of capitalism. It shows how the bosses and factory owners treat their labor, who work hard for them everyday, in bad conditions to make profit for the factory owners. I think he wants to show the world how some people were working and that they need to improve those working conditions.
I come to this conclusion because he made the factory owner, the capitalist, look big, mean and rough, but he made the labor look small, helpless and innocent. Also, he drew a small bag that says that its profit from child labor. It shows that he is against child labor and wants people to pay attention to this issue.
The cartoonist could have made it more clear the conditions were horrible, and he could have made the boy thinner to show how hard they work, but how little they get for their effort.

image from:http://depts.washington.edu/labhist/laborpress/images/Socialist Voice

Mid Point of Quarter 1, Reviewing Goals

2008-09-07T22:09:00.000-07:00

My first goal was to improve my geographic knowledge. I think that I did improve a bit, I know a few more rivers, capitals, mountains, etc. but I still wish to be better at the weekly geography and yes I am two minute tune ups when it is about a city or country. My second goal was to improve my punctuation. I think I did improve in this, and my writing improved too. Another goal that I just came up with is that I need to be more descriptive, and use more vivid verbs and adjectives in my writing. I also want to get an A or A- for the first quarter. I do have an A- at the moment, which means that I fulfilled one of my goals at this moment, which is the last goal. I hope I can keep that up. As you can see, I still have to work on some of my goals, and I will do my best do complete them too.

1870's Stock market

2008-09-04T06:25:00.000-07:00

I think that Mr. Coyle's tip number 2, you must spend money to make money, and tip number 7, a fool and his money are too soon parted, describes how the game went for me the best. I spent a lot of money and in the beginning I also made a lot of money. Later on, as one of the stocks went up really high, I thought that it couldn't go any higher up and so, i sold it. Then, when I sold it, the price went way higher up, and I lost money. This was foolish, I shouldn't have sold my best stock. The one tip I thought really worked, but I didn't really follow and which doesn't represent how the game went for me is tip number 1, buy low..... sell high. This really is the major point of selling and buying stocks. It is smart to buy stocks at a low price, and then wait for it to go up, and then sell it again. I didn't listen to this rule, thought, now I think I should have.

Net effect of the IR

2008-09-02T02:12:00.000-07:00

Positive effects of the industrial revolution:

It sped up production of goods
There were more goods to choose from
Factories were built and the amount of the produced increased
More ideas, and material, and interchangeable parts (by: Eli Whitney)
Education for children who can afford it
More jobs, if not all pleasant
Shelter

Negative effects of the industrial revolution:

Increase in pollution
Population increased, which means more people who need shelter, food, water and jobs
Children and women started to do all the hard work
Lower payment for hard work since so many people had to be payed now ( children and women often didn't get payed at all if the men in their family worked for the same company. If that was that was the case, only the men got payed at all, but still not very much.)
Poverty increased
People didn't care about the meat packers, miners, weavers, etc. because immigrants like them came in everyday, and so they were easy to replace, "get a new horse," as Janik's teacher in the movie said

picture from: http://filipspagnoli.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/child_labor2.jpg

Factory Game Reflection Part 2

2008-08-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

On Friday, we put up all of the presents we made out of the paper circles, and choose the best one. Then we had to mass produce the present, which was a teddy bear. Mr. Coyle was the manager and a student was assigned as assistant. To make as many as we could in 45 minutes, we made a assembly line. There were cutters, the people that cut the shapes out of the paper, the people who glued the shapes together to make a teddy bear and the people that colored the bear. It was quite chaotic and stressful because everyone was trying to be fast, and then people were shouting at others to hurry and pass down the tiles. In the end it did work and we made around 30 teddy bears of a kind.

Factory Game Reflection Part 1

2008-08-21T07:15:00.000-07:00

Today in class we got a white sheet of paper with circles , ovals and one bow sketched on it. We were supposed to be a peasant in about the time of industrial revolution who has to make a birthday present for their small sibling out of these shapes, glue (to glue only!), crayons and markers and also scissors to cut. The paper was almost empty, except of the few sketches that were in thin black lines. It didn't make you have many ideas at first, like a paper with wild colors and fascinating shapes. I felt a bit uncreative, so I just started cutting the shapes out to see what i could do with it. I found that I could use one of the circles as a head for a teddy bear and as i cut on, I realized that I could use the humongous circle as the belly. The ovals could be used for ears, arms and legs, the rest just started to fit in in its place as I worked on. As I was working, I wondered what it was like when the children got such small and short time lasting presents. Did they know that what they got wasn't the best? And, were they happy with these presents? I wondered because if I got a paper teddy from my brother I would be quite shocked and not very satisfied. Then, I glued it all together and colored it and made it pretty. This activity got me thinking quite a lot.

Roller Coaster Ride

2008-08-20T06:17:00.000-07:00

There was no queue, since the sun was boiling hot and kids in Germany still had school, my brother, me and some other, lonely people were the only ones to have this kind of an experience. As I stepped into the small cart, I felt how I was getting hyper and how the excitement was building up in me. When the cart finally started and slowly increased its speed I finally didn't have the chance to get out anymore and I started to enjoy the whole thing. Then, "Woooosh!" I was racing up and down on steep roller coaster track. "Ahhhh" I screamed as we gracefully glided down one of the steeper tracks, with hair sticking and flying in my face. I felt some sweat on my forehead and I wiped it with a short flick of my hand away. Then I realized that it was just like flying, with the creepy prickling in my stomach and the soft rustling sound of my hair in the coaster wind. I thought the cart I was in was a furious dragon who wanted to fight his enemy as fast as he could. He was rushing toward him. It freaked me out, but I still went again, and again. The fact that you are scared, makes you want to do it over and over again. It it addicting. My head was spinning by now, and i felt sick, I got out, watching my brother go again. It still was an overwhelming fabulous experience!

"Necessity is The Mother of Invention"

2008-08-18T22:28:00.000-07:00

I think that “Necessity is The Mother of Invention” means that when you need something very badly or something is too hard and complicated, you invent something to make it easier, faster and less complicated. One example is how Elias Howe invented the sewing machine to save his mother hours of sewing. It means that we are lazy and we invent machines and other objects that make out life easier. Another example is the telephone. Alexander Graham was often sent to deliver messages by horse or even by foot, as you can imagine, he was too lazy to keep on doing that and he invented the phone. Now he could just ring the person and tell them on the phone. A third example is how Orville and Wilbur invented the first airplane. All of these examples show how people are lazy and so invent objects to make life easier.

image from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonburnell/393375462/

How Do I Learn Best?

2008-08-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

I learn best visually or auditory. By watching videos or acts, I learn well because I can see and hear things about the topic I am studying, and that helps me see and understand the topic. I also like to learn visually because it is fun to watch and it might have some highlights that make it very interesting for me to learn. It might also have something about another topic that I might be studying in science or another class. When something funny or significant happens, I usually remember it, and if it has to do with something we are studying, it helps me learn, so do jokes. I like to listen or be in discussions because I find it very interesting to get to hear everybody's point of view and I find that it helps me understand when many people explain their thoughts in different ways, which might be easy or hard to understand for different people.
To help me learn most effectively in this classroom, we could do at least one discussion on our topic. We could also watch a video on the topic.

Feedback- Quarter 1 Goals

2008-08-13T05:02:00.000-07:00

1. What were two highlights from the first week of school?

In the first week of school my two top highlights were definitely seeing my friends again and getting a schedule I like and totally agree with. It was very nice for me to see all my friends again after two months, talking to them and exchanging news. I am very happy with my new schedule which relieved me a lot. These were my two highlights from the first week.

2. What was your first impression of Humanities?

My first impression of humanities was that it was going to be fun, but also hard because we are 8th graders now and we have to get ready for high school. I also thought that we would be challenged and and that we would have to think critically. This is going to be a challenging but fun year.

3. What are two goals you have for this quarter in Humanities?

My two goals for this quarter are to improve my geographic knowledge and my punctuation. I want to improve my geographical knowledge because I forgot some of the rivers, countries, etc., and I want to know them all well. I sometimes don't know where to put a comma or whether i should put a comma or not, and I want that to change. So, those are the two things I will be working on this quarter.

My Gang

2008-08-12T02:14:00.000-07:00

My gang consists of these people, Sami, Nikaya, Natasha, Sophia, Emily, Keshav, Adrian and me. Sami is in my gang because we have been great friends for the past two years, and she is always there for me. We do many things together and have had tons of fun days. Nikaya is in my gang because she was my first real friend here when I was new at the school. We also are great friends because we care for each other and we do basically everything together. Natasha is in my gang because she is the most spazzalicious is our gang and she always makes us laugh, even when we are sad. Sophia is in my gang because she is a really kind person who is there for me and who is always optimistic. Emily is in my gang because we have been friends since 6th grade and she is very understanding. Keshav is in my gang because he is weird and he just is everywhere where we are too. Adrian is new, like Keshav, but he is also fun to hang out with, and thats why he is in my gang. These are the other people in my gang and the reasons why I consider them being in my gang. These were my closest friends, but I also have other friends, in Germany and here. Noa, Mia, McKenna, Isabelle, Vivien, Adrian, Shri, Sachi, Nandini, Roberto, Ale, Eero, Casey, Kartik and so on, are also all very nice people who care. Thats my gang!