American Jobs

Today in class we talked about  what happened in the video. W etalked about how relocating a factory to China can affect people in the United States. Alot of companies manufactor their products from China becuase of the cheap labor, but that means that many Americans lost their jobs. i thought it was very ironic how a woman lost her job becuase of her company relocating and she was mad. She lost her job to a chinese worker, but she still was supporting them by going to places like walmart, which manufators almost all of its items from China. We talked about how you can choose what you want to suppor tor not. For example by going to Mcdonalds and buying food you are supporting their company. If you do not want to support it then do not go to McDonalds anymore.  For the last ten minutes of class we watched more of the video.

Assembly

Today we had our assembly were Gerry Sandusky came and talked to us. I thought it was a very great assembly. He was a very funny speaker and kept me interested the whole time. I liked the way that he overcame his situation in a good. He talked to us about how the other Jerry Sandusky changed his life. I thought it was interesting how before this all happened the good Gerry Sandusky and the bad Jerry Sandusky had done a news story on how they had the same name but where not related. At the end of his talk people got to ask questions and people asked alot of good questions. In class we watched more of the movie about China. We rewatched the part were a factory was relocated from the United States to China. Alot of Americans lost there jobs while Chinese people gained jobs. Companys do this becuase in China their is no miniumum wage and labor is cheap.

China

Tommrow we are going to have an assembally that was organized by Mr. Schick. Gerry Sandusky will be coming to talk to us tommorow. He is coming to talk about the other Jerry Sandusky, who is currently in jail, and how this has changed his life. Gerry Sandusky has recieved death threats and rude comments on social media sites becuase people think he is Jerry Sandusky. He is going to talk to us about how he has had to adapt to this kind of behavor on a normal day.We are going to learn how to deal with a difficult situation when you have done nothing wrong. Mr. Schick said that if we ask a good quality question tommorow at the assembly we can recieve ten extra credit points in human geo. Then after we talked about the assembly we watched a movie. The movie is callled The People's Rupublic of Capitalism. This movie is about China and there economy.Chongqing, a city in China, is called tje biggest city you have never heard of and is along a river and very industrial. Workers in China get paid very low becuase their population is so huge. There ar eabout 1.5 million people working in construction. We also learned that becuase of China's large population Chinese people are only suppose to have one child and if you have more they fine you and make it very hard economically on your family.

Free Rice

Today was our last class before Thanksgiving break. Mr. Schick did not want to start a new lesson becuase it was the last class. We played free rice for the whole class. Free rice is a website were you play games, and you earn rice that will be donated to the poor people. We had to play a geography game where you looked at a map then had to pick which country was highlighted. When we earned three hundred grains of rice Mr. Schick would grade our test that we took yesterday. I recieved a one  hundred on this test! I was very happy becuase it raised my overall grade up.

Test on World Leaders and Countries

When we came in to class today we handed in our 500 word essays on the two countires compared to the United States. Then we studied for our test for about five minutes. We were aloud to use our blogs for the test. The first part of the test was matching the leaders with their countries. The second part was matching the leaders with their descriptions. The last part of the test was matching pictures and maps with their leaders. When we were done our test we could do whatever we wanted. I choose to study for my math test that I have later. I think I did well on this test and hope I get it back soon, so I know what I recieved on this test.

on the brink of war

We  are going to have a  quiz on monday on the 13 leaders and their countries. To prepare for this quiz we should study our last quiz. On the quiz on monday the first part will be to match the leaders up with their country. There will be a small change in this becuase China has gotten a new leader. Hu Jintao is not the president anymore. The new President of China is Xi Jinping. Xi Jinping was the vice president of China before he became the president. Last year he came and toured the United States. Instead of staying in an embassy and meeting with the President of United States he stayed with a normal family in Iowa. The next part of the test is when we match the leaders with facts about them. The last part of the test will be something we have not done before. We need to be able to look at a map and point out where each of the countries are. We also talked about the  mini war between Isreal and Pakistan. Each of them had started firing bombs at each other and some people have been killed. If this does not stop Isreal will probally invade Pakistan.

New Seats and New Assignment

We started off class by getting new seats. I now sit in the front of the room right by the door. We got to pick our seats by who had the highest grade in the class. The person with the highest got to go first then the person with the lowest grade picked last. Next we talked about the paper that we have to right by monday.We have to choose two countries and talk about how they relate to the United States. We were given the choice to work with a partner or by yourself. I choose to work by myself becuase I think it is easier to write in on your own then have to wait for your partner to give you their information. I also would not have time this weekend to meet up with my partner and work on it. This paper is either going to be worth one hundred point or two hundred points. Personally I would like it to be worth two hundred points so I can try and boost my grade before mid quaters.

Political Geogrpahy Research

United States

Declared independence on July 4, 1776

From the 1500s through the 1700s, they were settled and colonized by the Spanish, British, French, Dutch, Portuguese, and other European nations. The original thirteen colonies were held by Great Britain until the Revolutionary War, after which they became the first thirteen states. There are now 50 states in the United States. The United States is considered the last true superpower, with the world's largest military and the world's largest economy.

 

Israel

Israel became an independent state on May 14, 1948

Following World War Two, the newly-formed United Nations drafted a treaty dividing up some of Palestine's land. They established an independent Arab state and an independent Jewish state. Many Jews emigrated to the new nation of Israel post WWII. Creation of this new Jewish state was not universally accepted by Arabs, even though Israel was officially admitted to the UN on May 11, 1949. There is still controversy surrounding Israel's very existence in the Middle East.

 

China

China's official date of independence is October 1, 1949.

China is one of the world's oldest civilizations. As long ago as 221 BC, China was unified as a nation during the Qin dynasty. They formed a republic on January 1, 1912. The current Communist government, officially called the People's Republic of China, was formed in 1949. 

 

 

 

 

Afghanistan  

 

Declared Independence  August 19,1919 from the United Kingdom.

 It was never officialy part of the British Empire. The Afganistan people fought three wars with the British before they won there independence called the  First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–1842), the Second Anglo-Afghan War(1878–80) , and the Third Anglo- Afgan War(1919).




Brazil

 

 Independence Day is September 7,1822
The first European to explore  Brazil was sponcered by Portugal named Pedro Álvares Cabral. From the 16th to 19th centuries Brazil was a Colony of Portugal. It declared its independence on September 7, 1822 and became The Empire of Brazil.  Brazil was first a constitutional monarchy when they  first won their independence, but then in 1889 it became a republican goverment. Brazil has also been a dictatorship and  had military rule it for awhile.

France
There is no official date for their independence day but they celebrate it on the 14th of July. It is referred to as Bastille Day, the celebration actually commemorates the holiday held on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille (on 14 July 1789) and the establishment of a constitutional monarchy.The anniversary of the storming of the Bastille fortress-prison was seen as a symbol of the uprising of the modern nation.





Germany

 The Indepence day  is the  18th of January, 1871. It was divided into four zones  (UK, US, USSR, and France) in 1945 after World War II.Federal Republic of Germany (FRG or West Germany) annonced independence  on 23 May 1949 and included the former UK, US, and French zone. The  German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) proclaimed on 7 October 1949 and included the former USSR zone. West Germany and East Germany unified on 3 October 1990. Now  all four powers formally divided now united rights on 15 March 1991.  The National Holiday is celebrated on October 3, 1990.

India

The date of Independence is  August 15, 1947 from the United Kingdom. They celebrate this holiday called republic Day  on January 26th. India got its freedom following an independence movement noted for largely peaceful nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience led by the Indian National Congress.

Mexico

Mexico declared independence on September 16, 1810.

Mexico has been around for longer than two millennia. First populated more than 13,000 years ago, the country produced complex indigenous civilizations like the Aztecs before being conquered by the Spanish in the 16th century. Since the Spanish Conquest, Mexico has fused its long-established native civilizations with European culture. It was taken over by Spain from 1519 - 1810 and was finally recognized as an independent nation by Spain in September 27, 1821. France also invaded Mexico in 1861 and set Maximilian I on the Mexican throne, which lasted until 1867.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Iran

Iran's official date of independence on April 1, 1979.

The Persian Empire proper begins in the Iron Age, following the influx of Iranian peoples which gave rise to the Median, Achaemenid, the Parthians, the Sassanid dynasties during classical antiquity. Once a major empire of superpower proportions, Persia, as it had long been called, has been overrun frequently and has had its territory altered throughout the centuries. Invaded and occupied by Greeks, Arabs, Turks, Mongols, and others, Persia has always reasserted its national identity and has developed as a distinct political and cultural entity. Iran is home to one of the world's oldest continuous major civilizations, with historical and urban settlements dating back to 4000 BC. The Medes unified Iran as a nation and empire in 625 BC. The Islamic conquest of Persia (633–656) ended the Sassanid Empire and was a turning point in Iranian history. The achievements of the previous Persian civilizations were not lost, but were to a great extent absorbed by the new Islamic polity and civilization.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia unified their nation on September 23, 1932.

The modern state of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 with the union of the kingdoms of the Hejaz and Nejd. the region existed in relative obscurity and isolation, although from the 7th century the cities of Mecca and Medina had the highest spiritual significance for the Islamic world, Mecca being the destination for the Hajj annual pilgrimage. They were at a few points under the influence of Turkey and the British Empire, not many countries wanted to take over the vast deserts of Saudi Arabia.

 

 

 

 

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has always been an independent nation and has never needed to declare independence from another country.

This country has played a leading role in developing parliamentary democracy. The British Empire in the 19th century spread over 1 out of 4 of the earth's surface. It declared independence in April 12th 1927. On that date the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Acts establishes current name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. They were never under anyone's rule, they instead took over other countries, including the United States.

Venezuela

Venezuela gained their independence on July 5, 1811.

In 1522, Spain began their colonization of Venezuela. But, on December 17, 1819 the Congress of Angostura declared Gran Colombia an independent country. After two more years of war, which killed half of Venezuela's White population, the country achieved independence from Spain in 1821 under the leadership of its most famous son, Simón Bolívar. Venezuela, along with the present-day countries of Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador, formed part of the Republic of Gran Colombia until 1830, when Venezuela separated and became a sovereign country.

Nuclear Bombs

Today we got back our pop quizzes. I only got three questions wrong. The onesi got wrong are that Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz has had 13 wives and at least 35 children. Francois Hollande is a soialist who defeated Nicolas Sarkozy this summer. Angela Merkel is the fourth most powerful person in the world, largely due to her country's economic strength in the European Union. Then we started talking about Cuba and how it use to be a large tourist place for people in the United States until it became a communist nation. Then we talked about nuclear bombs. In the middle east Isreal is supposedly building a nuclear bomb, and Iran wants bomb the place were they are building it before they finis making it. The United States is trying to tell Iran that we should just talk things out first before any bombs are dropped. The only nuclear bomb that has been dropped was by the United States on Japan. During the cold war we became very close to dropping more nuclear bombs. Russia and the United States kept building nuclear bombs at a very fast pase.  Then when Russia started setting up bombs in Cuba the United States said that if they set up anymore we would bomb Cuba and Russia. Russia then stopped putting up nuclear bombs in Cuba and no nuclear bombs were ever fired.

Pop Quiz

Today in class we had a pop quiz on the world leaders. We spent the whole class taking this quiz because classes were shortened today since we came in an hour late. Before the test we got about fifteen minutes to review. The beginning of the quiz was like the last pop quiz that we took. I think I got one hundred on that part of the quiz. The next part was harder becuase we had to match a description with the leader. I hope I did well on this quiz. Next time I don't have class on Thursday I will make sure to check his blog, so I could have been more prepared for this quiz.

Presidential Election

Today we finished talking about the leaders of the countries. Hamid Karzai, president of Afghanistan, can speak fluent English.  Before he came into power the Taliban was running the country. In the United Kingdom David Cameron, the prime minister, runs the government. He graduated from Oxford with a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.  Queen Elizabeth has been in power for 60 years, and she speaks fluent French. The President of China, Hu Jintao, has been active in politics since a young age and is head of the communist party.  He is expected to step down this year as President. In China they do not vote like we do. The leaders of the country get together for about a week with no media and discuss who they want to be the new President. We also talked about the Presidential Elections that happened yesterday. Mr. Schick explained how the president is picked by electoral votes instead of my majority of votes. Yesterday President Barack Obama won the election. This will be his second and final four year term as President of the United States. Before becoming involved in politics he was a civil-rights leader and a teacher. He graduated in 1983 from Columbia University with a political science degree. He is from Hawaii and is currently the 44^th president of the United States.

Facts about World Leaders.

Today we went over the facts about the leaders of the countries. I learned that Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Suad does not give religious freedom to his country. He also has fourteen wives and thrity five children. Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, currently has colen cancer. When he was younger he tried to coup d'etat and was thrown in jail for two years for it. Coup d'etat is when you try to overthrough the goverment from within with force. Pranab Mukherjee, presiden tof India was named the best financial leader of Asia in 2010. Dilma Rousseff, president of Brazil, believes in abortion for rape and if the mother is in danger by having the child. She was also tortured why she was in jail by being hung upside down like a bird and electricuted. The President of China, Hu Jintao, made China have the largest economy in the world. The PResident of Isreal, Shimon Perez won the noble peace prize in 1994. Everytime someone shared the fact that they had Mr.Schick would throw a inflated ball  of the world, and we would have to locate the place were the fact about their leader was from.

World Leaders

President-Elect Enrique Peña Nieto= 46 year old former governer of the state of Mexico, whish is the richest of the states in Mexico, and he is the leader memeber the PRI which was kicke dout of power in 2000 but will return this year becuase he is now president.
Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud=Is 88 years old and is currently in frail health. He is also the defense minister
Angela Merkel=She is the chancellor of Germany and is the first woman to be the chancellor. She is a physical chemist by proffession.
President Shimon Peres= He served diplomatically and militarily in  Isreal's War of Idependence. He has served  two terms as a prime minister.
Hu Jintao= longest serving leader of any nation but he is excpected to step down from office november 2012. He is said to have a photographic memorey.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad= He was an engineer and a teacher and came from a poor background. He is the sixth president of his country. He is already in his second term and is not elgible to run again after August 3rd, 2013.
Hamad Karzai= Hasa master's degree from India. He has damage to his facial nerves from surving a bombing attack.
François Hollande= He was the secratory of the french socialist party from 1997 to 2012. Hollande was raised Catholic but is now agnostic.
Pranab Mukherjee=His political career has been going on for six decades. He was Union France Minister from 2009 to 2012.
Hugo Chavez= He is formaly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 till 2007. He was born into a middle class family and became a career military officer.
David Cameron=the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. He lost the first time he ran for prime minister in 1997.
Dilma Rousseff= The first woman to ever be elected in Brazil. She was also the  first woman to become Cheif of Staff to the Predisent of Brazil in 2005. She was a socialist during her youth and from 1970 to 1972 she was in jail and supposedly tortured.

Five Major Religions Quiz

Today in class we got back our test on the five major religions. I recieved an 81 on that texts. We got back the quiz and went over the questions we got woring. We need to know the answers for the final in December.The first question I got wrong was the Serbs,Croats,Bosnians, and Albanians coexisted in the country of Yugoslavia. I put Switerland instead of Yugoslavia. The next question I got wrong was the two major religions sects of their religion are called Sunnis and Shiites, and the answer was Islam. I also got their writings are called Vedas, and I answered Islam instead of Hinduism. I also got wrong that Islam is the second largest religion right now; and within a few decades it may be the largest. I also got worng that Judiasm is the oldest surving monotheistic religion. The next questions I got wrong was five times a day, devout Muslims bow and pray in the direction of the city Mecca. I also got wrong that Medina is the birth place if Muhammad. Then we went over our homework.