So Apparently We Have a Quiz Tomorrow

So today we found out we have a quiz which I'm not to worried about because its only on where South American countries are. Anyways today in class we learned about grids/geography. We talked about grids and how geographers use them as a way of describing where things are. We learned that the first written map was created by a Greek stenographer named Eratosthenes and that maps serve two main purposes:

• A reference tool to identify an objects absolute and relative location
• A communications tool to convey the distribution of human activities or physical features   

We also learned about absolute and relative location. Absolute location is a position expressed in degrees, minuets, and seconds of latitude and longitude. Latitude is the geographic coordinate that specifies the north to south position on a map. Longitude is the geographic coordinate that specifies the east to west position on a map. Relative location is a regional position or situation of a place relative to the position of another place.

Situation

Today we talked about situation. Situation is the location of a place relative to other places.
Situation is valuable to indicate two things:

• finding an unfamiliar place
• finding its importance 

We use situation to find unfamiliar places by comparing it with familiar or similar ones.

Situation helps us to understand the importance of a location. For example, Singapore. Singapore is well known because they are a center of trading and distribution of goods. Singapore is located next to the Strait of Malacca. This is a vital part of why Singapore is thriving. Without the Strait of Malacca, ships wouldn't be able to pass through the port to get in and out of Singapore. 

Old Bay in the Crab's Eyes

Today in class we talked about site. We learned that site is the physical characters on a map such as climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation, latitude and elevation. Site features are essential to choosing locations for settlements. Most explorers in the early 18th century tended to settle in places that resembled the places that they originated from. We started talking about how North Korea was the same latitude as Bel Air. We talked about how Maryland's main attraction is seafood. This may be the same for North Korea because they are a peninsula. This lead us to start talking about how we eat crabs, which I can't relate to because i hate seafood. This conversation ended by Griffin saying he but Old Bay in the crabs eyes and we continued to talk about site. We also learned that places like New York built over water so they could get more land.

Aeowynn Failing at Maps

Spicing up the Blogs

Today we compared the Peter Projection Map and The Mercator Map. Here are the notes I took:

Mercator Map:

• The standard map we use everyday
• Originally presented by Flemish geographer Gerardus Mercator
• Became popular because of its property of representing any course of constant bearing as a straight segment 
• Marines use the mercator map 
• geographically incorrect

Peter Projection Map:

• Geographically correct
• Basically like the mercator map just with an accurate representation oof Greenland, Africa, and South America
• Made in 1885

Blog Day 9?

Today in class we watched a clip from an old tv show about maps. In the video it explained how the map that we use is actually not correct. After we had finished the video we discussed it. Most of us disagreed with the idea that we should flip the map because there is no point and it wouldn't solve anything. Brenna made a point that there actually is no problem to begin with so there is really no need to change the map. We also went over our tests and I did pretty good. I wasnt worried about the test but it was good to finally have it.

Blog Day 8

I was sick so I didn't go to school today.

Blog Day 7

Today was test day. At first I was kind of nervous about our test because I left my book at school, but then I realized i could study with my blog and the powerpoint. I don really think the test was hard, i just think i could have studied more. I don't want to say I did amazing and jinx myself but i think i did okay. The questions weren't that hard but I definitely think my short answer could have been written better. I also didn't know the answer to the extra credit other than I knew that it started with a D. The test was better then I expected and overall i think i did pretty good but definitely could've done better if i had studied more.

Blog Day 6

Today was an interesting class. We learned that Socrates was sentenced to death for impiety and corrupting Athens youth when he was actually just teaching them. This lead us to a conversation about gun control. Talking about controversial topics is always uncomfortable to me but i think it went very well. During our discussion Mr. Schick didn't judge us on our opinions or told us that we were wrong. Instead he asked us questions to get us thinking and support our opinions more. This is what Socrates did when he taught the children. Instead of criticizing them he taught them to think critically which i would hardly consider it corruption. After this we learned about his death sentence. A jury was called to decide if he was guilty or not. out of 500 men 221 of them found Socrates not guilty even though he confessed to the crimes. He was sentenced to death by hemlock which shuts down your organs one by one. he had the opportunity to escape, but declined and used his death as his final teaching.

Blog Day 5

Agora- Public open space used for assemblies and markets. A center of athletic, artistic, spiritual, and political life in the city state.
Polis- Political entity ruled by their bodies of citizens.
508 B.C.- Democracy was first introduced in Athens in 508. The first time recorded in history that humans had revolted against their own rulers. Clistenes was intruded as the leader of the democracy.
Socrates-A Greek philosopher. The first moral philosopher of the Western ethical tradition of thought.
The Death of Socrates- Socrates was charged with two offenses and found guilty of both. He died by "suicide" from drinking poison hemlock. Socrates used his death as a final lesson rather then fleeing when the opportunity arises.
The Socratic Method- A form of cooperative argumentative dialogue, based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking
Idiot- People who did not contribute to politics in Greece. People thought you were self-centered if you didn't vote.

The three main western philosophers are Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle.

Blog Day 4

Today we started a powerpoint presentation about excellence. The thing that really stuck out to me today what when we started talking about Arete. Arete means excellence of any kind or acting to ones full potential. Then we started talking about how humans highest potential is knowledge and self-awareness. Humans are the most self-aware being on earth. We are able to comprehend distinct inevitable things such as heartbreak and death and joy. Other animals may not comprehend these things, so that makes us more developed mentally. We then got into a discussion about how we are more developed materialistically. We as a society have come so far with technology its kind of scary. Your whole online life is being monitored at every second and most people don't think it's strange. Like in the next few years we could have a chip connected to our spinal cord that does everything our phones and computers do without us having to do anything. If you think about it we will essentially have no use for the brain because everything will just be online.

Blog day 3

In class we finished reading A Message to Garcia. We established that Hubbard thinks that People should be more like the character Rowan. Rowan was asked to do an impossible task but didn't complain. Hubbard is basically saying that humans should be more like Rowan. He talks about how humans always make excuses and only do things they are told to with the right motives. Hubbard thinks these motives should be getting fired or getting hit/beat by things. We also started a Powerpoint. In this Powerpoint we learned that A Message to Garcia was actually really popular. It was translated into 37 different languages and sold more than 40 million copies. After it showed up in the newspaper it got so popular that it was made into a book and 2 movies. At the end of class we talked about President McKinley and how he was honored after he was assassinated. After he was killed they named the tallest mountain after him. It was recently changed back to it's former name, Mount Denali while President Obama was in office.

Blog Day 2

Today we started off class by talking about high school. If I'm being honest high school has not been what i was expecting. I mean its been fun so far but its so much different from middle school which i guess is a good thing. We talked about how little high school students sleep. Most students are up for 14-16 hours nonstop everyday in school and sports and only get around 7 hours of sleep. This can be a lot to juggle for kids our age, not to mention some kids have jobs they need to be at too.

Today we also learned about a guy named Rowan. He was given the unimaginable task of finding Garcia, the leader of the Insurgents. This task was difficult because nobody knew where Garcia was. When Rowan was asked to find Garcia, he did not complain or ask where he was which makes him pretty cool.

Blog Day 1

I would say that the best part of my day was free mod because I had it with two of my friends and it was right before lunch so I could get in line before it got long. I also liked my math class which is surprising considering I hate math because I'm so bad at it. We did a game in it and my group won so that's fun. I would say that the worst part of my day was when i got lost looking for one of my classes. It was actually kind of funny but nothing else bad happened today. I like my seat because its at the back of the class so I can see everything. I would feel cramped if I was in the middle or the front rows. I don't really dislike anything about my seat honestly I think it's pretty good.