Human Geo 9/29/14 Population Pyramids

Questions:

1. According to the Population Reference Bureau's "2013 World Population Data Sheet", 271 are born every minute, and 106 die every minute. That's a global net population increase of 165 per minute. This lesson was published on May 5th. What's the estimated global population increase exactly one week later (May 12th)?  A: over 10 million       B: 20,739      C: 1155    D: 1,663,200    
2. As a country slows in population growth, its pyramid shape will  A: become wider at the base and narrower at the top         B: be inverted          C: become more rectangular            D: bulge in the middle
3. What does a Population Pyramid NOT give you information about?    A: birth rates         B: actual number of people        C: life expectancy         D: death rates
4. Which continent would have the most fast-growth pyramids?   A: Africa         B:  Asia          C: North America         D: South America

CIA Fact book 9/26/14

Today in Human Geography we talked about more facts we learned from the CIA fact book. Mr. Schick called a few of us up to the front to share the facts we found on the website. A few of the facts that I found interesting were that the United States is #18 in the world for obesity.Also that Niger has the highest Total Fertility Rate in the world at 6.89 children born per women. Also the American Samoa (deserted beach near Pago, Pago, part of the Samoan Island Chain but is in the southernmost territory of the U.S.) is #1 in the world for obesity at 74.6%. We also learned about the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)  average amount of money an adult makes in a country per year. Someone got up and told us that a single person in the U.S. makes about $52,800 a year making us #14 in the world for GDP.

Class 9/25/14

Today in Human Geography, for the people that weren't in class yesterday they got their tests handed back and we discussed them some more. Mr. Schick asked us what point we were up to in the PowerPoint and we said we were at the TFR discussion. We talked even more about push forces, pull forces, emigrants, immigrants, rate of natural increase, and measuring population. Mr. Schick really wanted to make sure we understood everything we have learned because it's a lot of information to take in and it's sort of difficult information. Mr. Schick called called on people in class and basically quizzed us on stuff that was on the PowerPoint that we learned a week ago. He did this because we all agreed to knowing the information and he said if that was the case would we be able to pass a quiz if he gave us one to tomorrow but then once he started asking us questions nobody really knew that well.

Human Geo 9/24/14

Today in Human Geography Mr.Schick handed back our tests that we took last week. For people that got an A on the test he rung his bell once. If you got a 100% he rung the bell twice but no one in our class got a 100. Overall I'm pretty happy with my grade and I hope to do even better on the next test. Mr. Schick went over our tests with us after he handed them back and we went over the answers. He called on each of us to read off the answers and we got to correct the answers we had wrong. We went over the essay questions and discussed what we should have written for each essay in order to get a 10/10. We went into great depth about the essay about Socrate's quote "The unexamined life is not worth living." Mr. Schick went into a rant about people saying "live life to the fullest." He asked us each what that quote even meant and explained how it's sort of an idiotic quote because people think it means you can just go out and act stupid and live every day as if it's your last.

Notes from 9/22/14

Why do people migrate?
People migrate due to pull and push forces.

Push Forces- cause you to want to leave the place you live in.
-civil war
-environmental degradation
-unemployment/underemployment
-religious /ethnic persecution

Pull Forces- Something causing you to want to go somewhere else
-better economic opportunity
-better health services
-religious freedom
-political freedom

Total Fertility Rate (TFR)
TFR: Average number of children born per woman. For a population to remain the same, the TFR must be 2.1.
Higher than 2.1- population rises
Lower than 2.1- population falls

World TFR- 2.47
U.S.- 2.06
Nigeria- 5.38
Japan- 1.39

Notes and facts 9/19/14

Today we talked about measuring population, crude death/birth rate, rate of natural increase (RNI), and net migration rate. The crude birth rate is the number of births per 1000 of the population and the crude death rate is the number of deaths. The rate of natural increase (RNI) is produced by subtracting the death rate from the birth rate. This gives us the annual natural growth rate (in percentage form) for a country or region. The net migration rate is the difference between the number of people entering/leaving a country during a year. An excess of people entering the country is net immigration. Net immigration is written as a positive number. People leaving the country is net emigration. This is written as a negative number. The United States used to be #50 in the world for highest life expectancy but now we moved up to #42 in the world. Also, the U.S. is 18th in the world for obesity as of 2008.

Notes on migration and population

Today in class we talked about new stuff and took notes on population and migration. We learned that there are over 7 billion people in the world and the number is being increased by over 73 million per year. About 90% of population growth takes place in countries such as Africa, South and East Asian and Latin America. These are developing countries. By the time people my age reach the age of around 50, it is very likely that the population could double and many conflicts could occur because of that, such as: less food and less drinkable water. I found it very interesting that we are the 50th country with the highest life expectancy. I sort of though that we would be like #10 at least but we're #50 so that means there's 50 more countries before us that have a greater life expectancy. Such as Monaco. We believe life expectancy has to do with the developing of a country, so therefore, countries that are less developed have a lower life expectancy. Such as Chad, most people only live to their 40s if they're lucky. Here, 50 years ago our life expectancy was lower because people smoked a lot back then and there was less technological advances in medicines. Plus, a lot of people didn't know was was safe and unsafe back then. Nobody really knew the side effects of some things such as smoking.

Human Geo Test

Today in Human Geography we took our test. Mr. Schick did a great job reviewing with us on Monday and told us what would be on the test which was really helpful. He was also nice enough to let us use our blogs today while we took the test.I'm really glad I actually put important information in my previous blogs because that definitely helped a lot on some of the essay questions. I think I did pretty well on the test besides 2 of the essay questions and 2 of the multiple choice questions. The question about how many americans voted in 2012 was one of the ones I struggled with. I think the test was fairly easy but that is probably only because I studied. Overall I think I did well on it and I hope I get a good grade. After I took my test I let Mr. Schick read my Earth Science paper which he described as "sick" and said it was really good. He also said I should consider joining that newspaper club which I actually might do.

Human Geo Class 9/15/14

Today in Human Geography we went over what is going to be on our test on Wednesday. The 4 things that will be on our test are a Message to Garcia, Ancient Greece, Did You Know 3.0, globalization, and americanization. We have to know who delivered the message to Garcia, who wrote it, who was the president during the time, and what war was going on during the time it was written. We also have to know the definitions and concepts of "Arete", "Agora", and we have to know about democracy. We have to know what happened in 508 BC and when Cleisthenes granted power to men in Athens. We also have to write an essay about Socrate's quote "The unexamined life is not worth living."  We don't have class tomorrow so our job is to study for the test.

Human Geo 9/12/14

Today in class we talked about globalization and its effects. Globalization is the connection with different parts of the world. It results in the expansion of international cultural, economic, and political activities. Globalization has been around forever, it is not a new thing to society just because we have computers. It was even around during Alexander the Great's time. In class, we checked the tags on our clothes and shoes to see where they were made, we came to a conclusion that most were made in China because it's cheaper to pay Chinese employees. I found it interesting that usually when Chinese people get sick they just get fired and they get replaced very quickly. Globalization has lead to americanization of other countries. Americanization is the influence the United States has on other cultures such as the food they eat in different countries. Japan now has fast food places such as KFC and McDonalds which is obviously very common in America. Americanization has an effect on the economy and health of other countries. An example of globalization was the Silk Road of China. The Silk Road interconnected them with the rest of the world through trade of silk, tea  and other items. We also talked about the difference between BC and BCE. None of us had ever heard of "BCE" before so we learned that it means "Before the Common Era." Also, more on globalization, it spreads religious beliefs and the art of knowing more then one language. I found today's class very informational and interesting.

Human Geography Class 9/11/14

Today in class we talked more about the video we watched "Did You Know 3.0".Mr. Schick explained the fast-moving world we live in. We live in exponential times where information is spread so quickly that it is almost too hard to keep up with all of the new technology and websites. Mr. Schick explained to us the first time he used a "cellular phone" and how he called his friend Carl to tell him about it and it just showed how advanced things have become in the last 25+ years. It's funny because the computers and phones we have now most likely will not even exist in the future because everything will just be in our minds...such as the chips in our heads I have talked about in my previous blogs. We then began to talk about the new watch that basically does more then our phones and computers now. The watch enables you to swipe your arm over your bill in a restaurant and it automatically pays because its connected to your credit card. It is crazy how fast things are advancing in todays society.

Did You Know 3.0 video

Today in Human Geography we watched a video called "Did you know 3.0". This video illustrates how quickly the world is changing and how technology is advancing very quickly. Honestly, when I first saw this video I was mind blown and amazed. Its insane to think about all of that stuff. It's honestly kind of scary to think about because technology is basically taking over the world. There was a fact in the video that said "The amount of new technical information is doubling every 2 years. For students starting a 4 year technical degree this means that half of what they learn in their first year of study, will be outdated by their third year of study." It's almost pointless so learn software that is just going to be outdated soon after it's made. That right there just shows how insanely fast the technology is being updated and how fast everything changes. Another thing in the video that was mentioned was that if Facebook were a country it would be the third largest country in the world. That shows how consumed we are with social networking. It's crazy to think that there are that many people on one website. The problem with that is, people are losing social skills in real life. So many people use social networks that it's almost like they forget how to interact with people in person. That's why 1 out of 8 married in the U.S. last year met online. Clearly technology is a huge role in our lives these days if we are marrying people we met through a screen. It's honestly sad that our world is like this now.

Human Geo Class 9/8

Today in Human Geography we had quite a loud and entertaining class. Mr. Schick started out the class by telling us he was giving us assigned seats. So once everyone got got to class he assigned our new seats...of course everyone complained and said they hated their seat. It was actually pretty funny because the class was almost fighting like brother and sister with each other about seating arrangements. We then decided to challenge Mr. Schick in a debate started off by Nate speaking first. Nate definitely added some spirit into the debate and made some key points as did Reece. It was definitely funny watching all of this happen. Finally after everyone gave their opinion we took a vote and majority ruled to switch seats. Then, each of us found our new seats next to whoever we wanted and we continued to talk about ancient Greece. As Mr. Schick said, we turned the classroom into an Agora.

Definitions

Agora: A central spot in ancient Greek city-states. Normally was the center of athletic, artistic, spiritual, and political events Literal definition is "gathering place" or "assembly". They were all over the mainland and were independent nations in a way. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agora

Arete: Excellence of any kind. http://mythology.wikia.com/wiki/Aretez

Polis: an ancient Greek city-state where everybody lives and gathers. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/polis

the year 508 BC: This is the year democracy began in Athens. Meaning 'ruled by the people'. Male citizens were given the chance to vote to decide how the city-state should be run. Cleisthenes granted full rights to all free men of Athens. This was the first time that people revolted against leaders and seized power for themselves. Males were able to discuss and vote. ://www.schoolsliaison.org.uk/kids/access/greek/timeline_greece.htm

Socrates: was an Athenian philosopher whose beliefs are known through writings of other philosophers. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle were the 3 main people of western philosophy. He taught that virtue was based on knowledge. "The unexamined life is not worth living." - Socrates http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/socrates

the Socratic method: He wanted to get the views of his students and colleagues by asking questions until a contradiction was exposed which would prove the fallacy of the initial assumption. This is was named "The Socratic Method". ://www.law.uchicago.edu/prospectives/lifeofthemind/socraticmethod

what the ancient Greeks meant if they called you an idiot: "person lacking professional skill". Someone who is characterized by self centeredness. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot

death of Socrates: Socrates was charged with 2 things (corruption of youth and introducing strange gods.) He went to trial with 500+ jurors to decide his fate. They voted to have him put to death by the Athenian government for his teaching methods because they thought it was impiety toward his students. He accepted death from Hemlock. https://www3.nd.edu/~plato/bloch.htm
Below is a painting by Jacques- Louis David from 1787.

Human Geography 9/3

Today in Human Geography we actually got a lot done and talked about a lot. We started out class today by Mr. Schick checking to see if all of us had our composition note books. Then, he went over how to do our blogs again because some people didn't submit theirs right or on time so he made sure we all knew how to use blogger. We then started talking about cyber days and how useful they really are and how we will probably use it a lot this year. It was funny because Mr. Schick brought up how we might use Skype and how we would have to turn our cameras on so he could make sure we were really there. All of us joked about the Skype calls and how we would probably be eating during them or still be in our pajamas which is funny and true. Then we talked about how in years from now when all of us are married and have kids we will probably all have chips in our heads so we could easily transport information to each other and stuff like that which is probably true because technology keeps getting more and more insane every year. Then we expanded more on the topic of "A message to Garcia". We learned all about the metaphor that is illustrated through the story and all of the important facts we need to know. Elbert Hubbard wrote this rant in 1899 during the Spanish-American war. The president at this time was President McKinley who wanted this message spread and needed the message to get to Garcia. So a trustworthy man named Rowan carried this message all the way to Cuba. The metaphor in A message to Garcia is all about taking the initiative and being a reliable person. It's basically all about not being lazy and saying "do I HAVE to?" it's about getting up and going to do something without question. Oh yeah and we also watched Mr. Schick's ice bucket challenge video which was hilarious.