Last Day

Today in Human Geo, we took our last test of the semester for Human Geo and it was the last day. After that class, to be honest while everyone who is moving on to Mr. Tether will miss Mr. Schick because he was such an awesome teacher and made Social Studies fun. I felt that mixed in with disappointment. I didn't study for the test for Human Geo because I didn't think I needed to. I thought I knew all the information I needed to know. After seeing the questions, I knew that I made a huge mistake. In the end, I was hoping for luck. While everyone was getting As and Bs, I got a 70 barely a D. This grade brought my 93 to an 88 for the quarter. It also brought my semester grade from a 90 to a 88 or 87. I was really hoping to take Honors social studies next year but that test screwed up my quarter grade, semester grade and the class I wanted to  take next year. I'm very dissapointed but learned a lesson with this. It was a great semester with a great teacher. I learned many things and had fun with this. Too bad this semester ended with such a bad note.😪

Today in Human Geography, we went over the test questions and a review of Guns, Germs, and Steel. 2 million species of animals. 148 has the potential to be domesticated but only 14 have been domesticated that were used to get civilization. They are goats sheep pigs cow horses donkeys Bactrian camels Arabian camels water buffalo llamas reindeer yaks mithins bai caylea. None of the love in New Guinea. Australia Africa or North America. One lives in South America which is the llama. The rest live in Asia Europe and Northern Africa. A theory from Jared Diamond is that New Guinea is geographically unlucky, they have no crops or domestic arable animals making it hard for them to develop. Middle East had the best 4 cows pigs sheep and goat and 2 of the best crops. Jobs of Jared Diamond are Bord watcher cultural anthropologist professor of ucla best selling author. Upcoming are test answers. Hunting and gathering and lived in nomadic groups are what people did 13000 years ago. Papa New Guinea is the only place that lives like the Stone Age. Middle East had the best stuff for civilization to get jump started. Drah is the oldest village in Meaopotamia. Climate changes why propel didn't stay in Mesopotamia. Location is most important factor for civilization to do well. Long lasting and nutritious are characters of good crops.

Guns, Germs and Steel Review

Today in Human Geo, Schikman returned to class after one day of absence. Before class, Mr. Schick told us that instead of taking the test tomorrow, we will take it Wednesday due to all the no school and delay days. In class, we went over the video we watched yesterday which was Guns, Germs and Steel. The movie is about a man named Jared Diamond. Jared, a cultural anthropologist bird watcher out of UCLA goes to New Guinea to research stuff. At New Guinea, he notices how the people there live. They live liked people did 2000 years ago. For food, they would cut Sago trees and take the inside, mix it with water and process it for their food. However, it was low in protein so it did not reach their daily requirements. Out of all this we think about the idea of whites are better and more intelligent than blacks because of the way they live but really they are equally as intelligent as blacks, they just live differently. We also learn about the theory geographic luck.

Guns, Germs and Steel

Today in Human Geo, we watched a video called Guns, Germs and Steel. In the video, we have a man named Janet Diamond. He explores and discovers how guns, germs and steel shaped the history of our world. The video starts with Janet watching birds and he tells us about his passion for birds and that he started watching birds at 7 years in the US. Then comes along a man named Yowling. He asked the question "Why do you whites have so much and why do we Indians have so little." This question brought up other questions such as how do these worlds end up so different and why different place progress and develop so much faster than other places. Although the question seemed so simple, the question took a lot of research to answer. In order to answer this question, Janet had to go back in history to do some research. He went back in time where every nation was the same as the other. People had to gather their needs and hunt using a bow and arrow. For food, they would chop sag trees and take out the inside and do something with it. Then we go to the time where there was an ice age. Archaeologist wondered how did people back then in the Middle East survive these times of the Ice Age. It took them 4 years of digging for them to come to a conclusion. They came up with farming. Farming emerged in many places where civilizations had become developed. Then we go to New Guinea where the crops lacked protein. In fact, since there was so little protein they had to eat giant spiders. Then came the question could farming play a role in this or is there another division. Since there was no protein in cropping, they would use animals for milk which contains protein. They also used other animals. Goats and sheep were first farm animals then follow the same farm animals we have today. Pigs would be use for protein. Horse would be use for muscle power. Sheep for wool. Goat and cows for milk These are just 5. Farmers and workers would also try to catch large heavy strong animals like the elephant. They could never catch him in Africa but more likely in Asia. They also tried to catch zebras since there like horses but they were unable to catch them. All over the world we come to 14 types of farm animals but 13 of them come from Adia Borth Africa and Europe. 1 comes from South America. Moving on from farm animals we learn that fire was essential for making steel, a technology that would change the world. We also learn that over exploiting the environment and unable to farm land would result in no grass few trees and they have to move on. That's where we stopped

Urban Geogrpaphy Part 2

Today in human geo, we resumed our urban geography unit. All the notes taken in class are posted after this. 

Many ancient cities were theocratic centers where rulers were deemed to have divine authority and were god-kings

Between 300 and 900 CE, Altun Ha. Belize served as a thriving trade and distribution center for the Caribbean merchant canoe traffic.

The Greek Cities by 500 BCE, Greeks were highly urbanized.

-Network of more than 500 cities and towns

- On the mainland and on islands

-Each city had an acropolis and an agora

The Roman Cities- a system of cities and small towns, linked together with hundreds of miles of roads and sea routes

- Sites of Roman Cities were typically for trade

- A roman city's Forum combined the acropolis and agora into one space

-Roman cities had extreme wealth and extreme poverty

Urban Geography 😜

Today in human geography, we started our last unit Urban Geography. I took all the notes in my notebook which is copied in my blog ahead.

City-conglomeration of people and buildings clustered  together  to serve as a center of politics cultures and economics

Urban - the buildup of the central city and the suburban realm - the city and the surrounding environs connected to the city.

In the last few years, the first time in human history over half of the population live in an urban city

China is trying to become an economic power with a lot of factories and as a result, it is filthy.

In 25 years Shenzhen changed from a fishing village with duck ponds and rice patties to a major metro politician.

Before urbanization, people often clustered in agricultural villages - a relatively small, egalitarian village, where most of the population was involved in agriculture. About 10000 years ago, people began living in agricultural villages.

Two components enable the formation of cities
1. an agricultural surplus
2. social stratification

Five Hearths of Urbanization
Mesopotamia - 3500 BCE
Nile River Valley - 3200 BCE
Indus River Valley - 2200 BCE
Huang He and Wei River Valleys - 1500 BCE
Mesoamerica - 200 BCE

In each of these bearths an agricultural surplus and social stratification created the condition necessary for cities to form and be maintained

Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were two of the first cities of the Indus River Valley.

-intricately planned

-houses equal in size

-no palaces

-no monuments

The chinese purposefully planned their cities.

-centered on a vertical structure

-inner wall built around center

-temples and palaces for the leadership class

Test Results

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Today in Human Geo, we went over the test. It was a 2 hour delay day after 2 days off of school. The answers were C,D,A,C,C,B,A,B,C,A,C,B,B,D,A. From the test, one can learn that microloans can have positive effect on a community in many ways. Eliminating your business's competition is not one of these ways. Students wanting to attend college are the most recipients of microloans. KIVA is a successful microloan provider who has lent money to over one million borrowers. Almost half a billion dollars is the approximate total value. 410.89 is the average size of KIVA loans. The repayment rate for KIVA loans is just over 99%. Sometimes the interest rate charged for their loans  can be as high as 23% is the main problem with the KIVA microloan program. I have met someone who actually lent money through KIVA.org. A microentrepeneur is a business operator who runs a very small business. Malaria is a mosquito born disease, A philanthropist is a person who generally donates money to good cause. Malaria kills at least 665000 people. Removing people from areas near stagnant water is not an effective way to eliminate malaria. Bill Gates is a billionare donating money to battle malaria. Poor people find it hardest to access banking services. A female mosquito can give people malaria.