Daily Question: 1/31

 Identify the 'Venus of Willendorf'. What does it suggest that the beginnings of art and the domestication of animals happen during the same period in human history? -- or -- The domestic cat and domestic dog both date to the same moment in human history, Syria about 17,000 years ago. How essential were these animals to the development of agriculture and cities? Why? How did humans sleep in the days before domesticated dogs?

      The Venus of Willendorf is a 4.3 inch statue of a pregnant woman made out of oolitic limestone. It was made in 21,000 B.C.E. In 1908, it was found in Southern Austria by two archaeologists.  People say that the statue could have been a lucky charm for a productive farm year or pregnancy. It suggests that when people made stuff in the beginnings of art, they created something for a reason. In the case of the Venus of Willendorf, it was a basically a good luck charm. Also, people used to paint many pictures of hunts in caves located in France. I think that they painted all of these because they were either a really good, prosperous hunt or it could symbolize a trophy for us today. The winners of a hunt got their killings painted up on the wall for everybody to see. It suggests about the domestication of animals that farms were trying to become more developed. People started to try to domesticate animals so they could do all of the hard, strenuous work. During this farming season, people needed luck so they could have a plentiful amount of crops for there family and to sell the extras for needed supplies/money. I could imagine the Venus of Willendorf was a very important and sacred statue to many people during this time period. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_of_Willendorf

Weekly Project 1/24-28/11

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/8312404/

xtranormal video

Daily Question: Thursday 1/27/10

Will a "hypertext" world make us more accepting of cyclic history? 
     First of all, a "hypertext" world is a "method of storing data through a computer program that allows a user to create and link fields of information at will and to retrieve the data non sequentially." (dictionary.com). This means a world that stores all of its history in computers and lets people access their information on their own whenever they want in an unordered way. I don't think that a hypertext world will make us more accepting of cyclic history because because it doesn't matter how or where the facts are, it matters how the events happen. Cyclic history is theory that dictates that the major forces that motivate human actions return in a cycle (wikipedia.com). Even if people recorded everything in computer form, it would not change the way events happened. For instance, if there was a war, according to cyclic history, there would be another war within the cycle. If we had a hypertext world, it may be easier to access and learn about history, but it wouldn't make a difference for Cyclic, Hegelian, Linear, or Vortex History. All of these forms of history could be displayed in a hypertext way.

Daily Question: Wednesday 1/26/11

Don't our traditional forms of information communication, notably "the book" and especially "the textbook" contribute to our belief in linear history? 
       I do believe that "the book" and "the textbook" contribute to our belief in linear history because a textbook shows all the events that have happened in the past up till now. Linear history shows all the historical events from the beginning all the way to an end, and there are no patterns. This is shown in textbooks because the books show events that have happened many, many years ago to relatively recently events like the attack on the twin towers, and the textbooks just show them in one straight "timeline". Most information communications show history in this form because I think it would be the easiest way to record and talk about all of the important historical events in the most simple way.
       

Daily Question: Tuesday 1/25/11

Is modern life always better than it was in the past? 

       I believe that some things are better now in this modern time period than in the past, but everything isn't always better. Yes, we have developed much better health care, technology, education, government, and ways to live. Animals have developed overtime into a better form to survive their climate and habitat. And people have discovered much more, but all these beneficial changes haven't made "everything" better. In the 1900's there were crimes and now in 2011 there are still crimes committed. Even though the law enforcement has gotten better and now there is more advanced technology to stop crimes, there are still horrible events that aren't any better than past events. Not only do we still have them, but it is not like they are minor stealing crimes. People are still badly murdered, abducted, and injured today just like 100 years ago. A huge murdering today isn't better than ones in the past, a murder is a murder, it's horrible anyway around it. For instance, just in recent times, there was a political event in Arizona where a man came to the event and shot and killed and/or badly injured many people. The only reason why he did it was because he didn't believe in their political views. In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered while giving a political speech by a person who just didn't agree with what King was saying. Both of these events are related, and there are still crazy people out in the world today as there was in the past.  Saying this, obviously not all people have become "better" than people in the past. Also, today we are still fighting in wars and there are genocides just like the past. The U.S. has been at war with Iraq and Afghanistan for quite some time without a plan just like the war in Vietnam. I do agree that some things are better in modern times than in the past like how life, technology, and the world have developed more, but everything is defiantly not "always" better in the present than in the past. 

Daily Monday 1/24/11

Does history progress? Is an elephant really "better" than a mammoth? 
 History is a continuous, systematic narrative of past events as relating to a particular people, country, period, person, etc., usually written as a chronological account (dictionary.com).  I do think history progresses in a numerous amount of different ways. If history didn't progress, everything would be the same as it was in the 1600's. For instance, the people today have changed from the people just 100 years ago very much. We dress differently, we have different laws, we eat differently, the economy is more advanced, and the world is more technically advanced. Also, people have learned a lot from the past. Today we have better medical care then 100 years ago because people have developed more cures, medicines, and machinery to help the medical field. Another reason why we progress is that even though this would be very short history (and it isn't really history because it is not a event), if I was playing a game and I tried one strategy and it didn't work, I wouldn't continually try the strategy that doesn't work because I have learned from my past results. Also, animals have progressed because over time, they have developed better traits and more efficient ways to survive in their climates/habitats. I don't think an elephant is really better than a mammoth, but I don't think the mammoth is better than the elephant either. I would say that both animals have traits better than and weaker than the other equally. Mammoths had a good quality of being very hairy to survive in colder climates. Elephants don't have much hair so they can live better in hot temperatures. Both animals have tusks, but the mammoths were a little bit bigger. Elephants have bigger ears than mammoths though, so they might be able to hear their predator sooner and they wouldn't have to have as big of tusks. Also, both animals are a very large size. I believe that the elephant and mammoth are pretty equal animals.

Question 14

With Emma Wall

10 Steps

1. Continue use of the computers
2. More updated text books and other teaching material
3. More use on Smart Boards from teachers
4. Learn more about recent events in the global society. 
5. Do more reaching out to less fortunate students of other countries.

Question 8

not finished
https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=dfbxt8x4_9hffw4kd5

Question 9

The French President thinks that the United States and France should be allies against terrorism because everyone wants to fight against it, and if they fight it together, it will be a stronger force. Because France just had a terrorist attack, Obama spoke some about it with him, and Sarkozy believes that they need to fight against the terrorist together

Question 7

A regional food hub is a place where your food is processed, stored, distributed, and basically handled. They are essential to sustainable to agriculture and food distribution because thats where they keep all the food people all over the world eat, and if the place is dirty or infected with something, they can get many people sick and then all those people could sue them and ruin their whole business. 2. Explain where you would find USDA approved organic poultry, beef, and vegetables closest to John Carroll. You can find the beef at the Mill in Bel Air. You can find poultry at Brooms Bloom Dairy at 1700 South Fountain Green Road  Bel Air , MD  21015. You can find vegetables at Brad's Produce at 550 Asbury Road  Churchville, MD  21028. 3. Proposal to Cafeteria. I think having a "JC Sustainable Food Day" is a good idea for many reasons. First, many students could learn about what they eat, where their food comes from, and a better way to eat if they are eating unhealthy. We could teach them all of these things, and we could also show them how easy it is to buy food at local farm markets so they could be eating better. If the school and some students taught other students about all of this, John Carroll would be a more knowledgeable school on healthy eating and could teach other schools in the county all about it. I think this would be a great idea and it doesn't take that much work. If everybody worked together on this, our whole county could be eating better and not a risk at getting bad diseases like E. Coli from food distributing hubs.  

Question 2

1) What color is the car parked in front of 30 Vesey St.? The car is a lighter blue. 2) What time was is when the Google pics were taken (hint... explore down Vesey St.) It was about 6:10 3) What is the name of the chapel that sits in front of the WTC site? The name of the chapel is 

Question 5

John Dau screen shot

Question 6

1. What causes climate change? The NAOO says how the greenhouse effect is causing climate change. "Without the greenhouse effect, the temperature of the earth would be about zero degrees F. This means that the greenhouse effect is helping, but now since there are so many greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide being released so frequently, the greenhouse effect is going to be too strong. 2. Is the human activity contributing to climate change? Yes, human activity has been immensely contributing to the climate change. NAOO says, "Human activity has been increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (mostly carbon dioxide from combustion of coal, oil, and gas; plus a few other trace gases)." Most people in the united states drive a car everyday and factories are working everyday. This means that there are harmful gases being released into the air at a very high rate, and the human population is increasing this. 3. Is the climate warming? Yes the climate has been warming in the past 100 years. The NAOO states,"Lastly, seven of the eight warmest years on record have occurred since 2001 and the 10 warmest years have all occurred since 1995." But the NAOO also said how some areas are actually getting a little bit colder. Areas like Southeastern U.S. and parts of the North Atlantic. 4. If global warming is real, why has the East Coast of the USA been hit with massive blizzards the last two years? The East Coast, USA has been hit with massive blizzards the last two years because they are experiencing the "blanket effect". This is because when the greenhouse effect is greatly enhanced, it makes some areas on the lower part of the stratosphere cool off, which the East Coast has been in the winter. 

Question 4

Why are there so many names for "soda pop" in New Mexico? There are so many names for soda pop in New Mexico because there are so many different cultures there. The graph shows that "coke" is the main word used there, but "pop" and "soda" are also used in different groups. Many people migrate to New Mexico from different parts of the country, but they still use the same "lingo" as they did at there original state or country. (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJMBhv1Djdlv44uNy8r7U4fJdjNCgktzRWN9A2ogRhRnWGCFwROLb6DjgOAcBWw8lGQnrXTFVGoTHs71yKqn3wWHB4tAYx7tD7bG8vL8e-P1wQgcCmqcD8LZ8yJEeJdDZQ3lQz0HLuxgs/s1600/Pop_vs_Soda.gif)

Question 3

According to today's issue of http://www.koreatimes.com/ what is the most unfriendly city in the USA? Koreatimes.com says that Los Angeles which was nicknamed Kkophyeoteul  is the most unfriendly city in the USA. (http://www.koreatimes.com/article/639616)

Question 1

1.  Explain the sudden dip on the following graph. The graph shows Overseas arrivals to the United States. This means that the dip is showing a drop in the amount of people coming to the United States from other countries in 2001. This happened because in 2001, the terrorist attack on the twin towers happened, so less people traveled during this time period. In 2002, the amount picked up a little bit, but still not the same number of people in 2000. The graph continually rose until 2001, when 9/11 happened.
2.  Explain how statistics can help to elucidate/explain the significance of historical events. Statistics can help explain the significance historical events because like the graph to the first question, it can show the effect compared to other times. For example, on Gap Minder when using the dots on different counties, the dots will suddenly get smaller or bigger depending on if something happened there. In class we looked at a graph in Gap Minder that showed the effects of earthquakes and in Indonesia in 2004 the dot got a lot bigger because there was a huge tsunami there and it had a great effect on the country.

Midterm Exam

Questions on next blogs


On my honor I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this graded academic work.
Sophie Centi

Interview of an Exchange Student

Q. What was it like learning English?
A. "Learning English was like when a baby learns to walk"
      -I think that it would be like learning to walk or even riding a bike. Learning Spanish is fun, but difficult at times. If I had to learn enough Spanish to speak it fluently it would be very hard and frustrating.

Q. Was it harder to learn how to speak English or how to write in English?
A. "It's harder to speak English than to write"
      -I think I would agree if I was comparing myself to him but with Spanish. In Spanish, there are all these accent marks, and grammar makes it worse. I  know that English is very particular on grammar, so it must have been very difficult to learn.

Q. What was your country like?
A. "My country was a very old country"
      -Since Cameroon is a very old country, maybe there is more possibility of more languages spoken in the country.

Q. Do you wish you were still living in your country?
A. "No I don’t because my country changed over time"


Q.  How big was your school?
A. "My school was something like 2 acres"
      -I learned that different languages read stuff differently. For instance, I meant how big was your school as in the total number of kids there. I should have used different wording because it sounded like how big was your school as in the size of the campus. Because i'm use to speaking English with other people that speak English, I assumed this would be the population type of question. I thought that was very interesting and cool.


Q. Did you have to learn other languages in your school at home?
A. " Yes you have to learn some foreign languages like German, Spanish, English, Chinese"
      -I think that it is awesome that they have to learn many other languages because it helps to get a better job, you can hold a conversation with many different speaking people, and its fun to know them!


Q. Can you speak any other languages? And if you have, which was the hardest to learn?
A. " I used to speak Spanish when I was in 5^th grade but not very well"
     -I think that learning different languages at a younger age is important because you can get use to it a younger age and kids are more efficient at learning other languages young.

Q. Did people at your home know many other languages?
A. " Yes they did they know many other languages like German, Spanish, etc."
      - I think that it is important for people in your country to speak different languages to get diversity and so people can learn from each other. Having French, Spanish, and German in one country is really cool because the languages aren't very similar.


Q. Did you have a lot of homework at school?
A. "We did have a lot of homework when I say a lot that was a lot" 

Q. Did you have sports at your school?
A. "I did have sports in my last school."
     -I think that it is important to have sports in school so you can participate in after school activities with friends and not just be sitting around.


Q. Do you still speak your original language to people you know at school from the same country?
A. " I only know my brothers at school who can speak French so I only speak French with them but there isn't really anyone else who speaks French at John Carroll"
     -I think it would be fun to be able to speak English with friends and my original language with my family. Then you could say stuff that no one else knows what it means!


Q. Did many people in Cameroon know how to speak English?
A. " In Cameroon English is also official language so we speak English and French in Cameroon. My country is divided in 2 parts, French part and English part many people in Cameroon speak English"
    -I never knew this about Cameroon and I thought this was a very interesting fact!


Q. What language are you taking now at John Carroll?
A. "I still took French at JC"
    -I wonder if it is like
 English speaking students taking English class or if it is really easy for him to know.


Q. Do you think you could teach someone how to speak English?
A. "Not really, I think it would be hard"
     -I think I could teach someone some basics of Spanish, but not a whole language.


Q. What was the best part about learning English?
A. "The best part when you learn English it’s when you can speak English very well"
    -I would agree...if I could speak Spanish fluently.


Q. Are you happy you had to learn English or does it not matter?
A. " I’m so happy to learn English because that will be a big advantage for me in the future. I could go anywhere in the world" 
    -This is a very good point. Knowing many languages does help a lot!


I learned a lot from my interview. I realized how important it is to know how to speak other languages. I interviewed Lionel Owana. He use to live in Cameroon where most people speak French in his area. I think it would be really fun to learn another language so I could speak it fluently, but at the same time, it would be very difficult. For instance, right now I am taking Spanish, but I doubt that I could hold a conversation with someone. This was a very interesting project and I had a lot of fun!

Here is a picture of Cameroon and their flag.

image from: http://www.thecommonwealth.org/YearbookHomeInternal/138354/

image from: http://www.33ff.com/flags/worldflags/Cameroon_flag.html

If it Were My Home: Australia

        Australia is a continent located in Oceania. This is in between the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean. It is an arid country with a tropical north and the south has mild weather. Australia is a country that is "greener" than the United States in a few ways. Ifitweremyhome.com stated how Australia uses 29.48% less oil than the U.S. If we we were more careful about some of the trivial ways we used so much oil, the U.S. would already have a little bit better of an environment then we do now. Also, Australia uses 17.35% less electricity than the U.S. I think people in the United States are sometimes careless about trying to save electricity. I know that I occasionally forget to turn lights off or unplug chargers that I am not even using. I loved how the people in Australia were more concerned about their environment. It wasn't very hard fitting in because even though they have an accent, 92% of the country speaks English. The majority of the country is Catholic, so that was another thing I already had in common with the people in Australia. The main sports played in Australia were cricket, netball, field hockey, and rugby. I thought cricket was a very interesting sport. It was sort of reminded me of  baseball, but it was a little different in the way it was set up and how the game was played. Netball was very similar to basketball. There are two teams with defense and offense, there is a 10 foot hoop, and about the same size court. The rules that are different in netball are that their are seven people from each time on the court at once. Also, the court is separated into thirds and you have to stay in your section. Finally, there is not backboard on the hoop. It is just a hoop on a pole ten feet in the air.The best part of Australia was all of the animals! The country has 755 species of reptiles, this is the highest number of reptile species in the world! Marsupials are also very common animals in Australia. Some marsupials are kangaroos, koalas, wallabies, wombats, bandicoots, tasmanian devils,  and opossums. All of these mammals have pouches to hold their offspring. I wanted to go to the beautiful beaches everyday. The water was crystal clear blue and it had soft, white sand. At night, there was always a beautiful sunset on the beach. The house that I stayed in was very contemporary. It used many colors with black and white, and was very trendy. Australians and Americans eat roughly the same food. The Australians were very into their barbeque's and fresh produce or salads. One meal I had for breakfast was called lamington. It is sponge cake with melted chocolate on and powdered coconut on top. It was very good, especially because I love coconut! Overall, I loved Australia! From the weather to the animals to the food, everything was fantastic! I would be an exchange student there again any day! I would like to take a family vacation there too!


https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/as.html
http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/compare/US/AU
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_kind_of_food_do_Australians_eat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsupial
http://www.nevisculturama.net/nevisnetball/whatis.htm

Image from: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/pacific/australia/

Image from: http://www.somalinet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=261229

LAMINGTON
image from: http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/lamington_bars


image from: http://yeinjee.com/tag/bizarre-exotic-food/page/2/

image from: http://photos.igougo.com/pictures-photos-p301430-sunset_over_wollongong.html

Cricket
image from: http://www.topnews.in/sports/gilchrist-rates-australia039s-2004-series-victory-india-high-point-his-career-2268

Netball
image from: http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/bF7piaOeWiB/Australia+v+Jamaica+World+Netball+Series/LbGfYxGHT-Q/Susan+Pratley

image from: http://www.viahouse.com/home-architecture-tag/house-interior-design/

image from: http://www.tropicalhavens.com.au/

image from: http://www.outback-australia-travel-secrets.com/australian-wildlife.html

image from: http://www.immigration-consultants.gr/countries/australia/australia-animals.html

image from: http://www.edwardjkleinschmidt.com/animals.php

image from: http://www.roamingreptiles.com.au/schools.php

image from: http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2008/04/019950.htm

image from: http://www.penrithcity.nsw.gov.au/index.asp?id=5586

Population Unit: Brazil

note**The stuff that is green pertains to both countries**
Brazil

• Capital- Brasilia
• Location- Eastern South America and it borders the Atlantic Ocean
• Size-he total country is 8,514,877 square kilometers (in comparison to the world, its 5th)
• Climate- mostly tropical weather
• Terrain- mostly flat in north, some plains, hills, and mountains near middle 
• Natural Resources- bauxite, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, platinum, tin, rare earth elements, uranium, petroleum, hydro power, timber
• Natural Hazards- continuous droughts in northeast; floods and occasional frost in south
• Population- 190,732,694 (5th compared to the world)
• Median Age- about 28 years old
• Life Expectancy- men: 69 female: 76
• Religion- Roman Catholic 73.6%, Protestant 15.4%, Spiritualist 1.3%, Bantu/voodoo 0.3%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.2%, none 7.4%
• Language- Portuguese (official and most widely spoken language); less common languages include Spanish (border areas and schools), German, Italian, Japanese, English, and a large number of minor Amerindian languages
• Government- Federal Republic
• Independence-September 7, 1822. They gained there independence from Portugal.
• GDP- $2.01 trillion
• Population below Poverty Line- 26%
• Agricultural Products- coffee, soybeans, wheat, rice, corn, sugarcane, cocoa, citrus; beef
• Industries- textiles, shoes, chemicals, cement, lumber, iron ore, tin, steel, aircraft, motor vehicles and parts, other machinery and equipment

United States in Comparison

• Capital- Washington D.C.
• Location- North America, it borders Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. It is in between Canada and Mexico
• Size- 9,826,675 square kilometers
• Climate- mostly temperate; southern countries are more tropical, northern countries are more arctic
• Terrain- very mountainous in the West. Low mountains and hills in East.
• Natural Resources-coal, copper, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, rare earth elements, uranium, bauxite, gold, iron, mercury, nickel, potash, silver, tungsten, zinc, petroleum, natural gas, timber
• Natural Hazards-tsunamis; volcanoes; earthquake activity around Pacific Basin; hurricanes along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts; tornadoes in the Midwest and Southeast; mud slides in California; forest fires in the west; flooding; permafrost in northern Alaska, a major impediment to development
• Population-310,577,000 (3rd compared to world)
• Median Age- about 37 years old
• Life Expectancy- male: 76 female: 81 
• Religion- Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic 23.9%, Mormon 1.7%, other Christian 1.6%, Jewish 1.7%, Buddhist 0.7%, Muslim 0.6%, other or unspecified 2.5%, unaffiliated 12.1%, none 4% 
• Language- English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo-European 3.8%, Asian and Pacific island 2.7%, other 0.7%
• Government- Federal Republic 
• Independence- July 4, 1776 (gained independence from Great Britain 
• GDP-$14.12 trillion 
• Population Below Poverty Line- 12%
• Agricultural Products- wheat, corn, other grains, fruits, vegetables, cotton; beef, pork, poultry, dairy products; fish; forest products
• Industries-petroleum; consumer goods, lumber, miningm, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, 

Together:

As you can see, Brazil and the United States have many things in common. There are things such as there government type, religion, some of their natural resources, some natural hazards, and some industries that both countries are alike in. Although Brazil is still a big country, the United Sates is slightly bigger. Also, the United States is the leading industrial power in the world and they are a little bit more advanced in their technology than Brazil. This shows because the United States has a median age of 37 years old and a life expectancy of about 79 years old. Whereas Brazil only has a 28 year old median age and about an 72 year old life expectancy. Both countries have Roman Catholic and Protestant at the top of their countries for main religions. Brazil and the United States are two very interesting countries that have many things alike and different.

Pictures of Brazil

Image from: http://www.wiu-usa.edu/images/brazil_map.jpg

 Image from: http://www.braziltravelpictures.net/travel-Brazil-Rio-de-Janeiro-cokada-photo.jpg

 Image from: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/graphics/flags/large/br-lgflag.gif


Image From: http://www.myfreewallpapers.net/nature/pages/fernando-de-noronha.shtml

 Image From: http://www.birdingpal.org/tours/BrazilItineraryNew.htm

Image From: http://ecolocalizer.com/2009/01/06/why-is-brazil-doubling-its-military-protection-in-the-amazon-rainforest/

Pictures of United States
Image From: http://www.digital-topo-maps.com/county-map/

Image from: http://sunsitesarizonalandrush.com/

Image From: http://geronimo-texas.olx.com/pictures/sold-20-hectares-of-land-in-acapulco-mexico-iid-107081490

Image From: http://www.mapsofworld.com/flags/united-states-flag.html

Image From: http://www.concierge.com/travelguide/chicago/photos/photoview/58453

Image From: http://internetpopculture.wordpress.com/2009/08/11/eight-great-american-landmarks-to-see-before-you-die/

**Note Below**
Everything written in blue at the top is from the CIA Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/br.html

Everything written in red at the top if from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population