Humanities 8 Philippe

What is Power?

2008-05-20T02:46:00.000-07:00

Power can mean many things; I went through my previous blog postings to find some posts with descriptions of what power is.

Power is the ability to be more equal or more superior to someone else and to be able to make decisions without outside commands. Speaking of equality I one of my posts I spoke about the differences of sameness and equality; this is a topic that involves different levels of power.

In my “to be an adult” post I talked a bit about what life is like after the transition from teen to adult, in a way this is just about how when you get older you gain responsibility and with that responsibility comes power. And in one of my recent posts I commented on the outsourcing cartoon that showed globalization. The 10 flatteners that are causing the world to be flat are symbols of power in the world today. Outsourcing is a good example of power, it shows that you can expand and have work be done in different areas around the world.

Technology is becoming a growing symbol of power because the world today it pushing towards the future and bigger and better technologies. In one of my older posts I wrote about the most important and least important technologies and I also talked about the importance of new technology in our world today.

The most obvious source of power that has been a huge source of power for thousands of years is money. Money has driven people to be more successful and respected; it has made them able to make a higher status for themselves. Money is power.

Outsourcing Cartoon

2008-05-12T00:11:00.000-07:00

the main visual elements are the girl, speech bubble, and the dad. This cartoon covers the issue of globalization and outsourcing. The cartoonist's opinion is that globalization is taking over the world. The girl seems frustrated that she cant get the work outsourced so it shows she is too dependent on outsourcing. The dad seem mad as well because she has probably asked him before which also supports that she is dependent on globalization. This relates to our study of globalization because outsourcing is a flattener that causes globalization. To make this cartoon more persuasive the cartoonist could have made the girl say...but its cheaper.

Positives of the Population Project

2008-05-04T20:05:00.000-07:00

Many positives aspects came from the population project:

1. first of all I finally learned to stop procrastinate and do my work early! This is important because in 9th grade I will have more work so if I start early I will have less stress.

2. By finishing this project I have relieved myself of a lot of stress, this is important because I work better when I am not stressed.

3. By finishing this project I now know that I am capable of doing big projects. This is very important because going into OHP i will be more confident that I will succeed.

Sameness, Equality

2008-04-28T00:47:00.000-07:00

Sameness means lack of variety while equality means there are a difference to all the people but the laws and how they are treated are the same. However, in the giver, all the people are the same since there is nothing unique about a certain person to separate people apart as their thoughts, actions and their use of language is controlled.

To be an adult

2008-04-20T22:19:00.000-07:00

Growing up is a topic that many people will disagree on. One becomes an adult when they begin taking responsibility for their actions; it’s less about maturing physically but maturing mentally.

To be an adult means to not have to depend on others and be totally independent. To connect to that topic to not be helpful to society is when being independent could hurt your health and you need people to take care of you.

UBD plan

2008-04-14T02:21:00.000-07:00

Monday: get 2nd graph and do note cards
tuesday: do first data analysis paragraph
wednesday: finish data analysis
thursday: start research paper
friday: finish research paper

2008-03-30T22:23:00.000-07:00

The main visual elements are the three members of the family. This cartoon is about the issue of children coming home from school and not wanting to talk to their parents about it.

The cartoonist thinks that kids should talk to their parents about their day and how school went. The evidence of this is that it shows the parents wanting to know what the kid did at school but he told them to just read his blog. This is an ironic cartoon because this cartoon is in a blog posting even though the parents are telling him to tell them what happened today.

technology Feedback

2008-03-24T02:55:00.000-07:00

Vonnegut is trying to say that technology is cheating people of what they can become because they don’t let you do things to your full potential. He seems to feel strongly about the issue. He is both right and wrong for several reasons.

He is right because people have given in to technology and have given up on hard work and have just let the machines do everything, for example electrical wheelchairs, and calculators (to a certain point). He is also right because without technology we wouldn’t have nuclear war threats.

He is wrong for a few other reasons, some being that some humans have problems so they need technology to help them through everyday life (wheelchairs). And also because sometimes people have a shortage of time so things like calculators are good because they are efficient.

Technology!

2008-03-18T20:30:00.000-07:00

Technology is the practical use of science and innovations to come up with new and helpful things.

I find the use of technology in our school to be amazing for more than one reason, first of all the internet and laptops are reliable and usually work. With the introduction of Smart Boards showing students slide shows and things electronically are much easier to do now. Also having a school store with supplies like pencils and pens makes sure we have what we need to work at school efficiently.

My 5 Most Important Technologies:

Xbox 360
Internet/ Computers
Ipods
Cars
HD TV

My 5 Least Important Technologies:

The Roomba
Fast Foods
Remote Controlled Wheelchair
Clothes (when not needed)
Japanese toilets

End of Quarter 3 Feedback

2008-03-17T06:52:00.000-07:00

This quarter, like last quarter, I have only successfully accomplished one goal. That goal being to stop procrastinating, but I have only succeeded to a point because on week days I get home and start directly on homework but on weekends I always seem to procrastinate until 7:00pm on Sunday and end up rushing myself. My goal for reading 30 pages a night was completely ignored because i ended up reading my AR book on the last night beginning to end. But even though I haven't really put a structure to my schoolwork (goal number 3) I always do my homework a certain way, which gives it a little bit of a structure.

My Three Quarter 4 Goals:

Stop procrastinating (give structure to when I will work)
Get a C+ or better on my population project.
Finish eighth grade with Bs and As.

Holly War

2008-03-09T20:09:00.000-07:00

Holy war is an oxymoron because holy is attached to religion and most religions are against war. That is why when you put the words holy and war together they means the opposites. The reason so many wars on religious issues are going on is that a lot of religions think that their religion is the only religion so they want to force others into its ways. In some religions not following its practices is a reason for death so killing is accepted. But in some cases it could be that people feel that god is greater than any human so they are willing to sacrifice for the good of their religion.

Cold War Game Debrief

2008-03-06T07:20:00.000-08:00

I was the USSR in the Cold War simulation. Coming into this game we were very disorganized an we really didn't even have much of a plan. And as the game progressed we only got more disorganized because of the several times we were attacked by the US. But towards the end we were getting all our land taken and it felt like there was no hope because we had been hit for the third time with nuclear weapons, and with that state of mind any hope of organization and strategy was from realistic.

This game was obviously won by the US because they had taken over most of the miner countries and had wiped out the USSR with nuclear power several times. This made them the most powerful nation in the game. But even though thats what most people today would say about the real Cold War I would have to disagree because out of this war there was power that hadn't lost much, they had both suffered casualties as well as a downfall in their economy. All in all the war finished to be worthless and all but helpful.

VC Reflection

2008-03-02T23:17:00.000-08:00

Preproduction:

Gather information and ideas

Make a storyboard

Production:

Design layout for the video
Rehearsing and Recording the video

Post Production:

Editing video
Bibliography
Publish video

The three specific tips about VC that I would give are:

Since this project was long you should have recorded things separately then put them together.
Have good lighting in the area.
Be prepared with your script and look straight at the camera.

The two best things about the project were being able to use creativity to make our videos better and also being to use VC. The two worst things were having to cite my sources in MLA format and not having Hanna Yin around the first two days so it was hard to get finished.

Movie Critique

2008-03-02T05:33:00.000-08:00

The movie made a good adaptation to the book because of several reasons, one being that the story is narrarated by jessie. This gives you a different perspective of the book, because jessie was shown as a wise animal in the movie so it was right for her to be narrarating the story. And since it was a movie Napaleon made films for the animals to watch by bringing the TV to the barn, this way you could get a better look at what was not being narrarated by jessie (Animal Farm Movie). And to make the movie more dramatic the made it so the animals ran away at the end and came back when Napolean had died.

But the movie was also very similar to the book because so of the scenes (like the one where boxer get taken away) were moslty the same (except for the fact that the animals figured out what was going on automatically) (Animal Farm Movie). Overall the morals and themes of the book were also shown clearly in the movie except fot minor changes.

Who I Am from Animal Farm

2008-02-10T19:03:00.002-08:00

In Animal Farm I am most like the cat because I am lazy and so is she. And if I can I will try to get my way without having to work much (Orwell, p.3). Another similarity between the cat and myself is that if there is a lot of work to be done I will make an excuse to try to get out of it (Orwell, 19). The last similarity is that when food is involved I always find myself to be the first one there (Orwell, 20).

Citation:
Orwell, George. Animal Farm. 1987. London: Penguin, 1945.

Poem- life in the trenches

2008-02-06T05:36:00.000-08:00

BOOM!

“Duck and cover!” yelled the lieutenant

The sky was a sheet of cotton

Layered with smoke and poison gas

The sounds of war were deafening

Explosions crackling left and right

My heart beating furiously

Screams of excruciating pain

My trench feet becoming unbearable

The rain thundered down and blurred my vision

“Line up!” screamed the lieutenant once more

I was sure my life was over

We headed over the top

Rows of soldiers collapsed to the muddy ground

I knew my time was soon

ARMY

2008-02-04T00:58:00.000-08:00

My country, the US, has a voluntary military service. There are several different reasons why I would join the army, one circumstance is if I felt very deeply about a situation and I felt that I need to help. Another way I would join the army was if i wasn't going to be shooting guns but being a doctor or technician so i wouldn't have to be shot of shoot people, but besides that i would NEVER join the army.

77% caste groups in MP still marry off children

2008-02-03T05:16:00.000-08:00

NEW DELHI: In a shocking revelation, more than 77% of caste and community groups in Madhya Pradesh have been found to still indulge in child marriages with customs and traditions — not poverty — being the main reason for the trend.

Most such marriages, however, are not being reported from the upwardly mobile social groups, but from those who are at the bottom of the caste ladder where either education has not yet made sufficient inroads or much value isn't attached to it.

According to a recent study by the Delhi-based Centre for Social Research (CSR), the proportion of people whose caste/community still practises child marriage is 41% in Rajasthan and only 10% in Uttar Pradesh.

"Enforcement of the Child Marriage Prohibition Act continues to be a major problem," says the study conducted in two districts in each of the three states.

More disturbing is the fact that 71.2% of respondents in the MP districts — Shajapur (80%) and Bhopal (62.4%) — were aware of the illegality of child marriages.

In contrast, only 12% of the respondents in UP (Varanasi and Meerut districts) were aware it was unlawful. The awareness level in Rajasthan, however, was quite high (74% in Tonk; 98% in Jaipur).

The project, supported by the National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development, also revealed that the Supreme Court directive on compulsory marriage registration was still an exception, not a norm.

SC has directed all states to frame rules for mandatory marriage registration, besides putting the infrastructure for compliance in place.

"The failing on this count (delay in framing rules) has certainly not helped in checking the high incidence of child marriages," CSR director Ranjana Kumari said.

King Coyle Has Been Overthrown!

2008-01-30T04:24:00.000-08:00

There we many similarities between the way that the 13 colonies were ruled and the way King Coyle run things in M1. The major similarity is that the rulers of these two areas were kings, and kings that did not value the peoples opinion. Both of this examples were not self-determined because neither of them were being able to live their lives without tight surveillance or rules. With the 13 colonies the Quartering Act is a good example because people had the British watching their every move, this is also true in King Coyle's kingdom because people had to pay taxes for things that shouldn't have been taxed.

On that same note, being taxed for something that shouldn't be taxed is called injustice (where something is not fair or just but it is done anyway). In the 13 colonies not having the right to run their own government is also an example of injustice. And more obviously they were both forms of tyranny because it was a more powerful person having rule over a weaker group of people, and the threat of violence.

43rd War Absolute Location

2008-01-27T22:03:00.000-08:00

The absolute location that the book the 43^rd War takes place in is El Salvador. One piece of evidence to show this is the fact that the country had major civil war problems in the 90s (wikipedia). It also said that the climate is hot and it is as well in the book. And at the fortress the soldiers drink coffee with their meals and in El Salvador coffee is farmed a lot (Moeri, 82). I also found out that the Atlacatl was the name of a ruler in El Salvador may years ago, and maybe that is the reason that the author named the volcano in the book the Atlacatl volcano(Moeri, 60). My third piece of the evidence is that in the Chapter 4 the family goes to a Catholic cathedral and the main religion of El Salvador is Roman Catholic (Wikipedia).

Moeri probably did not mention the name of the country because she didn't want to be confined to curtain historic details and wanted to be able to add a little bit of fiction. When she talks about the war she probably had different examples from different Central American countries put together, so even though she put different experiences together it was all true.

Citations:

moeri, louis. the 43rd war. NY: Hougton miflin, 1989.

"Atlacatl." Wkipedia. 2007. Wikipedia. 28 Jan 2008 .

My Summarization of the Decleration of Independence

2008-01-23T23:34:00.000-08:00

When it becomes necessary for a country to be separated from another, they should give their reasons why. The reasons being all men are equal and those men have rights, those rights being life, freedom and the pursuit of happiness. The government gets their power from the people, and if the government makes wrong decisions the people can change or get rid of the government. Even though people are allowed to change a government if bad, if people change the government it can only be done for the better. And if the government is bad it is the people’s duty to change and replace it. King George has done some bad things to the colonies, and these are some of them.

He taxed the colonists without representation. He kept many troops in the colonies without our opinion. He also brought on the quartering act. Then He cut off trades from colonies to all parts of the world. He also wouldn’t let the government pass laws that would help the colonies. And he sometimes sent us over seas to be trilled for crimes that we did not commit. And that is only a short list of his mistakes.

In the times of hardships in the colonies we have asked time and time again for free government of a change in it, but every time we have been met with more and more hardships. We tried to remind them the reason we came to the new world, but they ignored it. Those of us that are gathered here are saying that we are and want to be free! We pledge to work together to make sure this happens!

Franklin Cartoon

2008-01-22T01:19:00.001-08:00

The main visual elements for this cartoon are the sliced up snake for one, and the bold letters on the bottom of the page saying “join, or die.” This political cartoon’s issue is about joining Benjamin Franklin political party and to convince (or rather threaten) people to vote for him. The cartoonist thought that Franklin was using threatening tactics to get peoples votes. The cut up snake supports what I said about using threatening tactics and the words join or die are also saying that if you don’t join, there will be consequences. To make this cartoon more persuasive the cartoon could have made the snake look like it was in more pain to bring out fear in the publics eye.

TBAS posting

2008-01-14T00:00:00.001-08:00

What we read in TBAS can be trusted for more than one reason. The first reason being that the author (Julius Lester) is a credible source and can be trusted, an example of this is a quotation I took from the back of the book in the “about the author” section:

“Mr. Lester is a professor of black studies at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst…” (Lester, pg. 158)

My second reason being that the quotes Lester took for his book were from slaves that had been there and experienced the lives of a slave, and therefore they know how it feels to be a slave.

“I was here in slavery days. I was here. When I come here, colored people didn’t have their ages. The boss man had it.”

Anonymous

Library of Congress

My final reason is the fact that many of these quotes come from the Library of Congress, and that is a reliable source. This quote is from the others note in the beginning of the book.

“These are the narrative material taken from the Fisk University collection of slave narratives, the Library of Congress…”

Lester, Julius. To Be a Slave. 1968. NY: scholastic inc, 1968.

Great Power Game

2008-01-10T03:22:00.000-08:00

For this game I was the USA and at first a few teams had an advantage over the others including the USA, the reason this was so was because the more powerful areas (USA, Great Britain, and France) in that time had more power so therefore we started out with more power in the beginning of the game. In the long run industries and colonies were by far the most important things to buy because nearing the end of the game you wouldn't be able to stock up on army if u didn't have the right amount of industries. That being said, industries and colonies are the the foundation of the countries success. The two things I did well in this game were from the beginning picking strong allies (even if they didn't end up to be trustworthy) so the competition was out of the way. The second thing I did well was buying lots of industry when war hadn't started yet.

My alliances at first were well picked but not too well thought trough, I picked the biggest powers, not necessarily the most trustworthy ones. One of my alliances (with France) was probably the reason our three powers didn't come out on top because he broke our treaty leaving Great Britain and I vulnerable for future attacks from countries who needed revenge but didn't have enough power.

The three most important things I learned in this game were:

1. Treaties are made to be broken.

2. You can't always trust people.

3. A country's wealth and power comes from its industries.

Quarter 3 Goals

2008-01-06T19:44:00.000-08:00

1. Become a better reader (more than 30 pages a night if reading for an hour)

2. Stop procrastinating (do all my homework before doing anything else)

3. Organization of my schoolwork (have a plan before randomly doing work)

Quarter 2 Goal Feedback

2008-01-06T19:21:00.000-08:00

Only one of my three goals were met, and it was working to my full potential. Last quarter I did my work as best as I could unlike quarter one, but the two goals bellow were the two goals that I failed to succeed at. Evidence to show that I didn't succeed at my first goal was that I only read about 30-45mins a night so I didn't get to read 30 pages a night, evidence to show that I failed at following through with my first goal was that I always did my homework later than I should have because I was either watching T.V. or on the internet.

1. Become a better reader (more than 30 pages a night if reading for an hour)

2. Stop procrastinating (do all my homework before doing anything else)

Hotel Rwanda Assignment

2007-12-10T08:20:00.000-08:00

(Question number 2)
First off, besides having many groups hating the opposing side there were many people Hutu and Tutsi that were not happy with what was going on and didn't mind Tutsis and Hutus living together peacefully (this is how Paul and his family felt) but couldn't say anything about it because they may have gotten killed for it.

Groups of people such as Tutsi rebels and Hutu soldiers did not want negotiation among each other and just wanted to fight and kill each other, for example in the beginning of the film where the Hutus come to Paul's house and takes his neighbors , his family and himself at first the soldiers won't except bribes because they just want the Tutsis to die, and when fighting and killing take place in the film the soldiers give no mercy.

The world as a whole does an even worse job of keeping peace and helping the country because as the man from the film crew said that when people watch the footage from all over the world all they do is feel bad for a few minutes then change the channel, no one really intervenes, and intervening it the only way that things can get solved when they become that bad. Ontop of that when the Tutsis were in need of the most help the only people who could help them left them (the U.N.).

work cited

2007-12-04T00:29:00.000-08:00

Cavendish, Marshall. "Zambia."Encyclopedia of World Geography.

1994.

"history world-Zambia." www.historyworld.net. history. 29

Nov 2007 .

Kaunda , Kenneth. "Kenneth Kaunda Quotes." pg. 1. 6 Dec 2007.

Moroney, Sean. Handbooks to the Modern World Africa. Volume

1. New York: 1989.

"world factbook-Zambia." www.cia.org. 2003. CIA. 29 Nov

2007 .

"Zambia: Geography and Economy."Encyclopedia of World Geography.

1997.

"Zambia." world geography. abc-clio. aes mshslibrary. 21

NOV 2007 .

"Zambia." www.encyclopedia.com. 2005. world encyclopedia.

29 Nov 2007 .

African Research Project on Zambia

2007-12-03T07:34:00.000-08:00

Zambia’s Struggle through Imperialism

Did you know that Zambia has the worst health care program in all of Africa (CIA World Factbook)? Imperialism is where this problem started. Even though the British brought education to Zambia they destroyed tribal beliefs and killed many Zambians. Imperialism had many overall effects on Africa, many of them occurring in Zambia. David Livingstone was the first European to step foot into Zambia. In the 19^th century when the British arrived in Zambia there was no specific Kingdom who could defend themselves against their power. The Zambians, after a long struggle for freedom finally got their independence on October 24^th 1964 (World Geography). Even though the British brought education to Zambia they destroyed tribal beliefs and killed many Zambians. Therefore the net effect of the British imperialism of Zambia was overall negative for several reasons, and they are; the British brought in their religion in result destroying the local ones, they conquering Zambia and many Zambians were mistreated and even killed, and finally Zambians no longer had a voice in their own country.

The first example of the negative effects of imperialism was that the British destroyed religion and culture in Africa. Even though Zambians speak a variety of Bantu languages, English is the official language because of British imperialism. And even though Zambians have some tribal beliefs, the majority of them are Christian because of the missionaries that came to Zambia when the country was being imperialized and forced them to become Christian (Cavendish, pg.2, 461). This breaks down culture and ruins countries distinctions from each other. Mission Christianity was one of the many missions brought in by the British to get all the Zambians to convert to Christianity, and it played a large roll in the shaping of Zambia (Geography and Economics). The British thought what they were doing was right even though it was quickly destroying the Zambian culture.

Secondly…, because of the British, the Zambians no longer had a voice in their own country. When Europeans first came to Zambia they gave Zambians no choice and they lead the government and the copper belt, taking all the money for the copper they found there. Then, when the Europeans left they left many forms of their culture such as religion language and forms of transportation (History World). In the 19^th century Zambia was part of the slave trade that was brought on by imperialism (World Encyclopedia). These events rapidly made sure that Zambians were being robbed of their rights.

Most importantly Zambians were mistreated and killed. One reason was because Zambia was a leading copper producer so it attracted many European engineers and administrators, forcing the Zambians to work the mines and do the hard jobs. Therefore many people were assaulted when revolting against the whites. In result workers who were not aloud to run unions, lead many strikes because they were being mistreated (World Geography). Even though in different ways, Zambians were mistreated several times.

In summary The British Imperialism on Zambia after looking over the main points was still negative. And the examples of these were that Zambians were being robbed of their freedom, that the British destroyed the Zambian religion, and that many Zambians were killed in the process. Now, to leave you something to think about, Kenneth Kaunda once wrote a quote on Zambia saying "The power which establishes a state is violence; the power which maintains it is violence; the power which eventually overthrows it is violence.” (Kenneth Kaunda pg. 1) What if this quote doesn’t only apply to imperialism in this country but maybe it even applies to the whole of Africa or maybe it also applies to the world, think about it. What does violence really accomplish?

Footprint of Africa

2007-12-03T00:49:00.000-08:00

C.R.A.P. was shown well in this cartoon, first of all the way the person used white and black to use deep contrast. Second of all the cartoonist kept it simple so the story of the image was clear. this cartoonist used alignment and proximity well by making the shoe in the middle of Africa and having a balance of imagery on both sides.
This cartoon is clearly about imperialism in Africa and how the Europeans cam and took all of the good things in Africa and left it with nothing (leaving it with no color). The cartoonist thinks that imperialism made Africa a dull continent for a while and made it have no more resources or unique culture. The fact that inside the shoe print there is dust and an empty dry plain suggests that all of Africa's resources have been taken away by the British and that the British took the joy away from the British people because the picture is black and white. To make the cartoon more persuasive the cartoonist could have drawn the person that left the destruction in African leaving, it could have added more understanding.

Outline for ARP

2007-12-02T07:56:00.001-08:00

Outline for African Research Project on Zambia

1. Introductory Paragraph

a. Imperialism had many overall effects on Africa, many of them occurring in Zambia.

b. The first European to come to Zambia, when Zambia got their independence, what happened when Europeans arrived, when the country was ruled by the British.

c. Even though the British killed many Zambians and destroyed tribal beliefs they brought education and railroads to Zambia.(Even though the British Brought education to Zambia they destroyed tribal beliefs and killed Zambians.)

d. There for net effect of the British imperialism of Zambia was overall bad for several reasons. One, because the British brought in their religion in result destroying the local ones. Two, because by conquering Zambia many Zambians were mistreated and even killed. Three, because Zambians no longer had a voice in their own country.(shorten with a ;)

2. Body Paragraph one (reason #1)

a. Most Importantly Zambians were mistreated and killed. MAKE 3RD REASON

b. A10

c. A9

d. A8

e. Even though in different ways, Zambians were mistreated several times

3. Body Paragraph two (reason #2)

a. Another example of the negative effects of imperialsm was that the The British destroyed religion and culture in Africa.

b. B2

c. B3

d. C5

e. The British thought what they were doing was right even though it was quickly destroying the Zambian culture.

4. Body Paragraph three (reason #3)

a. To begin with, because of the British the Zambians no longer had a voice in their own country

b. F2

c. F3

d. G1

e. Zambians were quickly robbed of their rights.

5. Concluding Paragraph

a. In summary The British Imperialism on Zambia after looking over the main points was still bad.

b. And they are that Zambians were being robbed of their freedom, that the British destroyed the Zambian religion, and that many Zambians were killed in the process.

c. Now, to leave you something to think about, picture Zambia as a country that was never robbed of freedom or brought into the injustices of Imperialism.

Scramble For Africa Feedback

2007-11-27T06:15:00.000-08:00

My partner and I were France. Our strategy for claiming land was to cover the weaker countries completely then start attacking them one by one. But before the attacking began we looked in the atlas for where Africa had many resources so we tried to get there and conquer before anyone else did. So our first priority was getting valuable land with rare recourses. We also made a few allies so we tried not to conquer the areas that we agreed not to touch.

France (my team) won the scramble for Africa for more than one reason, the first being that we had the first or second amount of land on the map. Second is that even though we may not have had the most land, the land we had had more recourses than most of the other countries. The final reason is that we made sure that all of our owned land was attached to the ocean so that we had easy transport to both Europe and our other owned pieces of land in Africa. By having land next to water also helps us be able to have places where we can have more costumers that can sail in and trade goods with us. The worst team in this game was the Netherlands because the had the least amount of land and half of the land they owned was land locked and surrounded by other nations.

Waiting for the Rain Feedback

2007-11-18T23:17:00.000-08:00

5 themes of geography:
Movement: The movement of people ideas and goods.

When the Millers sent their of school books (goods) to Tengo at Oom Koo's farm. (pg.36)

Region: Group of locations that have something in common.

When Tengo first gets to the city and sees building that are similar. (pg.109)

Human Environmental Interaction: When humans and nature effect each other.

When Tengo and Frikkie make biltong together (people kill animals).(pg.46)

Location: Where.

The doring kraal (absolute location). (pg.34)

Place: What.

Respecting the elderly. (pg.63)

2007-11-11T21:09:00.000-08:00

The arms of the octopus are the main visual elements. This cartoon represents British Imperialism because it shows the octopus (England) grabbing (conquering) the countries it wants. The cartoonist thinks that Imperialism is correct because he shows the English man smirking, and he doesn't show the side of the people in the countries being taken over. This is true because he shows the countries as simply being islands of earth that all look the same, and he shows these countries (that in real life are far apart from each other) all in England's reach. The cartoonist could have drawn the octopus pulling in the countries instead of reaching for them to show that they are slowly becoming a part of England. This cartoon has good contrast between the red arms and the blue water and sky, the repetition of the arms reaching to several countries helps the piece, the piece is also aligned well, there is the same amount of arms on each side. The proximity of the countries to each other are unrealistic, for example, Egypt isn't close the Canada. All together this piece uses C.R.A.P. very well.

"Violence Leads to More Violence"

2007-11-04T23:17:00.000-08:00

This quote is correct because the only only way peace can be achieved is through peace. Another reason why violence only leads to more violence is because of the human nature to want revenge, so if people strike each other it can only become worse until somebody realizes that peace is the only way to win. It is also true because violence is human nature and can not get better until an agreement is made, and violence can not be part of that agreement.

Leaders

2007-10-22T01:58:00.000-07:00

A leader has many different qualities. One of which is listening to he or her subjects and speaking for them. Making and following through with decisions is another. The leader needs to have the drive to be a leader but needs to still not be bossy or constricting.

I found that SLAMS representatives are good examples of good and selfless leaders because they join SLAMS to make the school as good as it can be for students. They miss lunch to have team meetings (for the students), they spend there time at the dance selling pizza (for students). They announce new activities and follow through with organizing them.

Conference Prep

2007-10-15T22:23:00.000-07:00

In quarter one I am proud of not having any overdue work. I handed in all of my assignments in on time. I am also proud of the Industrial Revolution museum because it was brought in on time and it fit most of the criteria.

The most challenging thing this year for me was Accelerated Reader because I don't normally read on my free time so it was hard for me to get into a rhythm where I read daily, but I am also proud of the outcome of AR. I was proud of it because I got 100% on my book quiz.

Feedback for WOW

2007-10-14T22:07:00.000-07:00

WOW is a necessary part of the school year, it teaches you things that can't be learned in the classroom. It is letting kids experience things for themselves instead of being lectured or even being given a project. An example of this is when we did team problem solving on the beach with Ms. Nesbitt.
It gives kids chances to go outside of their comfort zone and experience something that they wouldn't have other wise. For example, some kids thought it was a little scary to go on the big rapids, but they did it anyway, and some kids found it uncomfortable to have to sleep in a sandy cot.
It also lets kids have a break from their stressful school life, they have a chance to free there minds and relax. Yoga was an example of this, so was only having to do a journal and not having classes or homework.

So all in all WOW should be experienced by others!

End of Quarter One Feedback

2007-10-03T01:49:00.000-07:00

I am sure that I have accomplished both of my goals, for one, I wanted to be able to read faster and I can now. For AR i read everyday for about an hour, at first I only read 25 pages a night but by the end of the quarter I was reading about 30-34 pages each night.

My second goal was to be able to write better descriptive pieces. This was also a success, by learning to show instead of telling I got to practice how to write descriptive pieces better.

Three new goals:
1. Become a better reader (more than 30 pages a night if reading for an hour)

2. Stop procrastinating (do all my homework before doing anything else)

3. Try things to my full potential (don't shoot for a B+ in class, try to get an A+)

Industrial Workers of the World Exhibit

2007-09-23T21:26:00.001-07:00

This exhibit goes into depth about the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.). The IWW thinks that all workers should be united within group or family as a class and that the wage system should be changed. It has also stood against racial discrimination between workers.

The I.W.W. was founded in June 1905 in Chicago by a group of about 200 men and women that thought that workers should be equal and should stick together as a brotherhood. These men and women strongly believed that the policies of the American Federation of Labor were unjust to the workers in America.

The I.W.W.'s first organizers included Big Bill Haywood, Daniel De Leon, Eugene V. Debs, Thomas J Hagerty, Lucy Parsons, Mary Harris Jones (commonly known as "Mother Jones"), William Trautmann, Vincent Saint John, Ralph Chaplin, and many others. In this exhibit we touch base with the achievements of some of these people.

News Peice

2007-09-19T07:01:00.000-07:00

Strikers Killed in Mine Massacre

Strikers in coal mines in Colorado were attacked with machine guns on November 29th. John Eastenes, 34, of Lafayette, married and father of six children, died instantly. Nick Spanudakhis, 34, Lafayette, lived only a few minutes. Frank Kovich of Erie, Rene Jacques, 26, of Louisville and 21 year old Jerry Davis died hours later in the hospital. The American flag Davis carried during the strike was punctured with seventeen bullet holes and stained with his blood. Mike Vidovich of Erie, 35, lies injured in the county hospital.

The strike started on November 21^st 1927, five hundred miners came and some brought there wives and kids. They all arrived at the north gate before dawn. They carried three American flags between them. That morning the state police met them to bar there path. The miners were surprised to see even though the police were dressed in civilian clothes, they were armed with pistols, rifles, riot guns and tear gas grenades.

The strikers forced there way through the wooden gate. Hundreds of angry miners pushed forward while some scaled the fence east of the gate. The police quickly retreated 120 yards inside the fence. Louis Scherf fired two 45 caliber rounds over the heads of the strikers, which did not intimidate them. Then shortly after Scherf’s men fired shots right into the rumbling crowd. Twelve miners lay scattered on ground some moving in agony, and some not moving at all.

State police later testified that no machine guns were used in the fight. Some miners and witnesses’ testified saying machine gun were used in the fight several times. There continued to be violent confrontations during the strike. Two strike supporters were killed in Walsenburg not long ago.

1970s Stock Market Game

2007-09-16T20:11:00.000-07:00

Yes i think that I was a successful entrepreneur for two reasons, one, because I took risks (thought out risks) and that is what an entrepreneur does. Two, because I bought low and sold high every time a bought shares.

The strategy I think was the most important was buying stock at a low price then selling it again at a higher price when the stock price is greater. This strategy is what I based most of my buying on. The second strategy that helped me was "you got to spend money to make money" because it reminded me that I have to buy a few shares and take risks if I wanted to end up with a lot of money.

After playing this game I strongly think that "buy low sell high" is the most important key to being a successful entrepreneur because when I was buying and selling stock I found that you will always make a profit, and that is what happened to me.

Descirptive Peice on Big Bill Haywood

2007-09-16T00:54:00.000-07:00

Big Bill Haywood

Journal entry #1: May 6th, 1878

Yesterday, while working vigorously in the mines, side by side with other miners, the president of the Western Federation of Miners (W.F.M.) arrived to give a speech. A big commotion arose, and I wiggled my way through to the front of the crowd. He gave an enlightening speech which filled me with inspiration. The speech the man gave opened my eyes to the problems around me. Even though I am only a 9 year old boy, I can still make a difference! As soon as the speech was over, I raced down to the W.F.M. “sign up” stand. I was surprised to see the amount of people standing in line waiting to sign up! After a tiresome thirty minutes waiting in line, I had finally arrived to the front of the cue. “Name and signature kid”, a man with a cold rusty vo ice standing behind the stand called out at me. As pen hit paper I was jumping with a sense of happiness that I had never felt before! As soon as I left the stand I realized that I had just played my first roll in the American Labor Movement!

I left the mines with my chest pushed out and feeling as proud as I could possibly feel. I had left early because I couldn’t wait to tell my family what had happened at the mines that day. When I arrived from my time-consuming and exhausting walk home I raced over to the lounge where my mother was busy chatting with a friend to give details to her on what had happened, and as I did I wondered what my father would have thought of me if he didn’t pass away when I was three years old. My mother was proud and pleased to hear that I had fallen in deep interest with something and was less interested in what I was inspired by. I had never had such a good night sleep as I did that night.

The next morning at the crack of dawn I was woken up by my mothers soothing voice and gentle touch. I felt tired and grumpy until I realized what I had done the day before. Then I went off on my long and lonely walk to mines after having a good big hot breakfast of oatmeal. Mining has been hard for me this year due to my injury I caused to my right eye while whittling, the doctor said it has been permanently injured and mother says we can’t afford to get it replaced with a glass eye. But despite my injury, half way through the day it hit me, the long hours and small pay did not matter to me anymore, and nothing anyone could have said and done would have changed the way I felt! I had finally found a passion.

Image by:
http://www.pensler.com/images/Rivera%20Miners.jpg

Goals

2007-09-10T00:39:00.000-07:00

My two goals for this quarter were...

1. being able to make my writing more descriptive .

This goal has been accomplished half way through. I have learned how to show my audience when writing versus just telling them what is going on, this process makes me use more descriptive verbs. But I am still practicing this.

2. become a faster reader.

This goal has been accomplished but is always something to work on. While reading my AR book this quarter I have realized that I am becoming a faster reader and that I'm reading more every night.

Interview with Big Bill Haywood

2007-09-09T01:48:00.000-07:00

Interview with Big Bill Haywood

William Dudley Haywood (February 4, 1869–May 18, 1928) more commonly known as Big Bill Haywood. Big Bill was the founder and leader of the I.W.W (Industrial Workers of the World) and also played a big roll in the figure of the American Labor Movement. During the first two decades of the 20th century, he was involved in many important labor battles, including the Colorado Labor Wars, the Lawrence textile strike, and other textile strikes in Massachusetts and New Jersey.

What is your philosophy on industrial unionism?
I am convinced that the system under which workers worked hard is unfair and unjust. I have seen many men die in unsafe mine tunnels and once I suffered a mine injury the only help and support I got was from my fellow miners. I have differed all my life with the principles and methods of the condemned.

Did working in the mines at a young age inspire you in any way?
Yes it did, and it did in a very big way. When I was working in the mines the president of the Western Federation of Miners (W.F.M.) gave a speech and that inspired me to do something to change the problem. I signed up to be a member of the WFM shortly after and thus beginning my involvement in the American Labor Movement.

How did you feel about being sentenced for 20 years in prison?
I was filled with anger and thought that it was not right for me to be put in jail. As a reaction to my feelings I fled to Russia as soon as I got a chance! Once I was there I served as an advisor to Lenin’s Bolshevik government.

Tell me a little bit about racial unity in the labor movement.
I strongly believe that workers of all ethnicities should organize into the same union! I was one of the first people to back up my idea that we should have racial unity in the labor movement. We are big enough to take in the black man, the white man; big enough to take in all nationalities.

Have your ruthless strike tactics ever failed to succeed?
Yes, many times, but to succeed you have to know what doesn’t work. This was shown in the Paterson Silk Strike when 1,850 of our strikers were arrested. Despite our fundraising efforts the strike ended up a failure.

Net Effect of the Industrial Revolution

2007-09-03T20:12:00.000-07:00

Negatives:

many people lost their jobs
factory life was dangerous and dirty
factory deaths and injuries
working hours were long in factories
protesting laborers
police shot raging protesters
more pollution
children had small wages

Positive:

life was regulated by clocks
products were produced in commodities
families got housing if worked in factory
families got to work together
the public got a larger selection of what they could buy
more jobs for people
more education
cheaper prices
much higher quality goods coming from competition

Factory Game Day 2 Reflection

2007-08-28T07:04:00.000-07:00

Today was very different and much more frantic! The day we were creating our toy we worked slowly and easily but that was totally the opposite of today! Today the sounds of peoples rushing and nervous voices gave me a rush. The whole atmosphere was changed as soon as Mr.Coyle gave us our task and told us how long we had to do it. The smell of open markers and glue sticks sent my senses trying to run for cover. The feeling of competition overcame my body and inspired me to do a nice job manufacturing the toys. The feeling of glue drenched hands was disgusting yet felt kind of good while rubbing my hands together. The image of eleven workers frantically working towards success made me feel good inside. When we were told to stop and clean up I was proud of our team work and liked the fact that we achieved what we wanted during the class time.

Most Creative Toy Day

2007-08-27T06:54:00.000-07:00

When Mr.Coyle said we were going to have to create a toy with a few shapes that we would later on cut out of our sheet of paper I thought it was going to be really fun and I filled up with excitement! Then he handed us our sheets that felt thin and smooth, the shapes looked abstract and then I thought to myself "How in the world will I do this?". When he told us to start my heart was racing as if when the clock struck 2:00pm if I was not done my life would be over! As we started I had a smile running ear to ear and I felt like I had a pretty good idea of what I was going to make. I went over to the crayon basket and as soon as I did the aroma of Expo markers ran through my nose. As I was moving my hand through the basket searching for the color blue, I noticed that the markers had a smooth cylinder shape to then that felt good brushing against my hands. When I finally found the color blue I brought it back to my desk and opened the cap, when I did, the smell of blue raspberry filled the surrounding space. Then, when my marker hit the paper I realized that the marker was totally out. So I re-did the whole process again, but this time the marker was filled with ink! Finally after 30 minutes of hard work I finished my toy (The Pringles Guy) and proudly placed him on the white board. After leaving the class that day I felt pride and happiness walking down the hall to my locker to put my books away.

Roller Coasters

2007-08-23T07:44:00.001-07:00

When you are waiting in a long line before getting on the roller coaster you start to get nervous and excited but when you are next in line your palms start to sweat and you forget why you ever wanted to go on the coaster in the first place. When they call "next!" it's too late and there is no going back from that point onwards. You step into the ride and pull the safety belt towards you untill you hear a loud "CLICK" and then you are locked in. Your palms start to wet the railing. The monsterous coaster screams with a death defying shout and starts to move, you feel like you are going to wet your pants. It climbs the tracky hill slowly, then all of a sudden the coaster dips at a startling speed and dives down with the wind in your mouth filling your cheeks. The screams of people around you convince you that you are diving to your death! Then, as soon as you realize how high you are you start to panic and ear pearcing screams start to run out of your mouth. But before you know it the ride had ended and for some strange reason you want to experience it all over again!

quick write fruit roll up

2007-08-23T02:28:00.000-07:00

the fruit roll up packet sounds like a thunderous shower storm of hail, or a broken TV signal when crinkled. The packet is made of thin plastic. The fruit roll up itself feels like a thin sheet of fly paper, and when rolled up feels like a ball of sticky tack. As soon as it hits your tounge is sends shivers down your spine because of its delicious fruity suger surge it gives to your taste buds! It is a very colorful mix of raspberry blue with a touch of dark purple, these two colors look like they have been swirled together. It smells like a bowl of freshly sliced fruit! This candy is a sugar heaven and must be experienced!

Mother Necessity

2007-08-21T20:19:00.001-07:00

Necessity is the mother of invention because when you want or need something badly enough you try to find a way to make it easier for yourself, therefore inventing something. For example, when Thomas Alva Edison wanted light for his mother to work in he pulled through and invented the light bulb. When Alexander Graham Bell wanted to be able to communicate with someone without having to travel long distances to see them he invented the telephone. When the Wright brothers had the need to fly, they also pulled through and made the first airplane. Without these people we would not have light, telephones, or airplanes. Necessity is how every invention starts!

image from members.aol.com

How I Learn Best

2007-08-19T22:05:00.000-07:00

I learn best kinesthetically because when I am doing something like a project of a lab I tend to be more alert and I pay more attention. When I am given a lecture or a test it is not as easy to understand because I didn't experience what I was being taught hands on.

To help me learn better in this class you should have more activities where you make or do things in groups and then have chances to talk about it later.

My gang

2007-08-13T02:06:00.001-07:00

My gang if i had one would probably be Trevor, Cody, and Sean because they are all interested in the same things i am and they all share the same sense of humor as me. W e enjoy the same sports and video games, therefore we can have conversations about similar things. These three people are a big part of my life.

Feedback August 6-10

2007-08-13T02:06:00.000-07:00

My highlights for the first week of school were hanging out and playing basketball in the gym with my friends, my second highlight was getting through the week without any major school related problems.

My first impression of the humanities was that we would read a lot of novels, i thought this because when i was reading the syllabus i saw a long list of books we were going to read.

My first goal in the first quarter is to be able to be more descriptive when writing up a paper. My second goal is to become a stronger reader and be able to read faster.