Winter Break is Coming Up!

Today in class we talked about stuff that is going to be on the exam tomorrow. Mr. Schick answered all of the questions that we had and told us what we should know for the exam. There will be 130 Scantron questions and 2 essays which isn't as overwhelming as the other exams, but still a lot. I am really nervous that I am not going to do well, but I am definitely going to try my best. Good luck to everyone!

Reviews

Today in class we went over the test we took yesterday and the Political Geography test. For people that failed, they are able to come after school Monday and retake the test to get a the highest score of a 70%. It is a great opportunity for people to bring up the grade a little bit. Monday we will be reviewing for exams.

Test

Today is the day we took the test and I'm very thankful I took time these past few days to study. I think I did fairly well even though some of the questions were kind of difficult. I really hope I did well because I want my grade to be higher. I hope everyone else did well too!

Mr. Schick's Birthday

Today is Mr. Schick's birthday so he handed out cookies to each of us but then he had to leave to set up for an academic meeting. So Mr. Kimble came in as our substitute and I got to spend time studying for tomorrow's test and finished homework I had.

End of PowerPoint

More on Buddhism
Four Noble Truths
There is suffering
Attachment to desire is the origin of suffering
There is a cessation of suffering
The Eightfold Path will lead to the cessation of suffering

The Eightfold Path
RIGHT VIEW
RIGHT INTENTION
RIGHT SPEECH
RIGHT ACTION
RIGHT LIVELIHOOD
RIGHT EFFORT
RIGHT MINDFULNESS
RIGHT DEDICATION

Judaism 
number of adherents- 14-18 million
called- Jews
geographic location- Israel
founder- Abraham ?
holy book- Talmud and the Torah
beliefs- ethical monotheism- God is one, and concerned with the actions of humankind. Ten Commandments and 13 Principles of Faith

More Cultural Characteristics Notes

Today in class we talked about spatial divisions, religion, and we also listened to Mr. Schicks rap song.

Examples:
Political Alliances
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Commonwealth of nations
Organization ofAmerican States (OAS)


Five Major Religions 
Christianity
-# of adherents: around 2.2 billion (largest in the world)
-called Christians
-geographic location: Europe, the America, southern Africa
-denominations: Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Protestants (Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, anglicans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians,etc)
-founder: Jesus Christ
-holy book: The Bible, especially the New Testament
-beliefs: Jesus is both human and divine
-clergy:  the Pope is head of the church, priests are local authorities.

Islam
-member of adherents: 1.5 billion (second largest)
-called: Muslims
-geographic location: Indonesia, Middle East, north Africa
-denominations: Sunnis 975-90%), Shiites (10-20%)
-founder: Muhammad (570-632)
-holy book: Qur'an
-beliefs:monotheistic, Abrahamic, Five Pillars (testimony, prayer, alms-giving, fasting, pilgrimage)
Muslims see their purpose in life as serving and submitting to Allah (God), and observing Islamic Law.

Hinduism
number of adherents: 1.1 billion (third largest)
called: Hindus
geographic location: India, Nepal
holy book: the Vedas- eternal truths revealed to ancient sages; written in verse form (meant to be sung and easily memorized)
founder: no distinct founder- series of intellectual philosophical points of view. Probably the oldest religion, although Hinduism is less a religion than a way of life. Believe in reincarnation.

Buddhism 
number of adherents: 500 million- 1.5 billion
called: Buddhists
geographic location: southeast Asia, China, Nepal, Japan, there are over 1.2 million in the US
founder: Siddhartha Gautama
denominations: Tibetan, Zen, Theravada, Amidist

Cultural Characteristics Part 2

Religion: can be both a unifying force.

There are 5 major religions in the world today--Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. They have millions of followers all believing the same thing. 

Religion can also be a dividing force around the world. Hindus and Muslims fight in India (Hindu) and Pakistan (Muslim). 

There are conflicts between Catholics and Protestants (two forms of Christianity) in Northern Ireland. 

Jews, Christians and Muslims all claim Jerusalem as their religions holy site. They are constantly fighting over the land. 

Spatial Divisions 

Spatial divisions are how we divide the livable space found on the earth by establishing social, economic, and political control. 

You can be a member of more than one spatial group.

Spatial divisions can also cause conflicts or cooperation. 

Examples: Countries, Economic alliances, European Union (EU). Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

PowerPoint Notes- Cultural Geography

Cultural characteristics are parts of a group's everyday life. There are the ideas and themes which the group will teach to all members. These same characteristics can also link or divide a region.

Examples:
Language- Arabic unites the Arab world. Spanish unites the Hispanic World. Brazil is the only South American nation which does not speak Spanish. It speaks Portuguese.
Canada is a bilingual nation. French and English are their official languages.
The United States does NOT have an official language.
Switzerland has multiple languages but very little conflict between the groups. English is now considered the world language and is used for most business transactions around the world.

Religion- 

Ethnic Heritage- In Yugoslavia, many ethnic groups were made into one country (Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Albanians). When strong leadership died out, the different groups fought a very bloody civil war and now they all have separate countries. In the countries of Rwanda and Burundi in Africa, two ethnic groups are dominant, the Tutsis and the Hutus. The United States and Switzerland have peacefully merged multiple ethnic groups in their countries. Korea, China and Japan have primarily one ethnic group.

Slumdog Millionaire

Today Mr. Schick let us re-watch the ending of Slumdog Millionaire because some people didn't get to see the ending. It was definitely a great movie I really enjoyed watching it. After we watched the movie we had like 10 extra minutes so we discussed the movie and asked questions. Tomorrow we will be starting PowerPoints again so today was a nice break.