Map summary

Yesterday in Human Geo we took a day to catch-up. Our catching up day consisted of us finishing our maps and doing our blog or any missed work that we had. On our maps we had to label a bunch of things including the 7 continents, the oceans, the equator and the prime meridian. We also had to label on the map where are ancestors were from. My ancestors are from Germany, Ireland and Poland. Since i am mostly German i decided to label Germany on the map. Germany is right near Belgium and the Netherlands. I colored in Germany then labeled it as "Where i am From". I really liked the Catch-up day because it gave me a chance to finish my maps and get caught up on my Human Geo work so far.

Latitude and Longitude and how it effects the world

Latitude and Longitude effect the planet and how it runs in many different ways. Today in Human Geo I was able to learn some of them. For example I learned that the location that you are at on the globe will effect the time of day it is. If you live in the Central time zone then you are are one hour behind the Eastern time zone. So right now it is 7:10 in the Eastern time zone but 6:10 in the Central time zone. This is because in the United States there are 6 different time zones. Depending on where you are in the United States you will have different Time on a clock, phone Etc. The Earth is divided into 24 time zones. 360 degrees divided 24 time zones equals 15 degrees. Located at the Prime Meridian is Greenwich England. It is considered the Master reference time for all points on Earth.

Cartographers for social equality points

In the video I watched of the Organization of Cartographers for social equality pitching their idea to the Presidents representatives. The Cartographers for social equality wanted the president to make all of the public schools in the United States to change the map they teach with. They wanted the map to be changed from Mercator map to the Peters Projection map. The Mercator map was made by a German Cartographer in 1569 as a navigation tool for European sailors. One of the points that was made by The Cartographers for Social Equality was that the map is so old that it is extremely distorted. One of the examples they use is that on the Mercator map Greenland and Africa appear to be the same size but in real life Africa is 14 times bigger then Greenland. The German Cartographer increased the land masses by the poles so that would line up with the lines of latitude and longitude. Another point made by the Cartographers for Social Equality was that when a lot of people learn about maps in school or just see them they associate Land with power. So if they saw a bigger land mass some people might think that it has more power over the rest of the world. This makes people believe that the smallest countries have the least power over the world when that is not necessarily true. That is why the Organization of Cartographers for Social Equality want the President to make all of the public school kids in the United States use the Peters Projection map instead of the Mercator map.

Projection

 On Thursday in Human Geo we talked about projection. I learned that the Scientific method of transferring locations Earths surface to a flat map is called projection. Earths spherical shape causes distortion when drawing it on a flat piece of paper. There are 4 different types of distortion. The first one is the shape of an area can be distorted. The second one is Distance between points may become increased or decreased. The third one is the relative size or different areas can be altered. The fourth and final one is the direction between the points can be distorted. The level of detail and the amount of area covered on the map depends on the map scale.

Maps of the world introduction

In Human Geo today we talked about maps. I learned many things about maps including that we have been using maps for hundreds of years. Maps serve the purpose of a reference tool to identify on objects and relative location and as a communication tool to convey the distribution of human activities or physical features. I also learned that the first world map was prepared by Eratosthenes in 276-194 BC. Improvements to the world map were later made by Ptolemy. After ptolemy the advancement in cartography was primarily made outside of Europe by Chinese and islamic world. Mapmaking revived during the age of exploration and discovery. The last thing I learned was that Mediterranean means the middle of the earth.

opinion on first test after taking it (socrates, excellence and democracy)

Today in class we took our first test in Human Geo. I thought that it was pretty easy compared to tests I have previously taken. I studied at my house for about an hour so I think that made it easier. There was only one question that I had trouble on. I had trouble remembering impiety for one of the things that socrates was charged for. Although this question was a bonus, I could not seem to remember what the mountain was named now. I can remember that they just recently changed the name back to an Native American name. Other then that I thought that the Essay and test were both pretty fair to what we learned in class. The test also wasn't very long. It only took me about 20 minutes to complete the whole test including the essay. I don't know if it wasn't long because I knew most of the answers as soon as I saw it or because the test only had like 20 questions. But overall I thought that the test was easy and fair.

Test on Monday 9/17

 Today in Human Geo I found out that we have a test on Monday. We talked about the expectations for test taking. Some expectations include no open notes during the test and cheating. we also talked about what was going to be on the test. For example many questions on socrates, excellence and a message to Garcia. I also found out that we will have to write an essay on excellence and why we learned it at the beginning of the school. This weekend I am going to outline my notes so I can memorize the more important parts of the information we learned so far. I hope that I will get a good grade on my essay and test since this is the first big grade in Human Geo this school year so far. I will also study so I can get a good grade on my first test in Human Geo this year!

Socrates and his time in jail

Socrates would meet people in the agora to question their beliefs in order to make sure that they learned about what they believed. People from all over the world would share their messages about astronomy, medicine, meteorology, literature, philosophy and all things scientific.  Everyone would learn something new from each of the people meeting at the Agora. This helped with advances in education.  This was also around the time when traditional teachings of the Greek gods were very big and got young people thinking. Eventually the Greek government got upset that Socrates had started this new way of education. The government was mad because they believed that Socrates was teaching kids more logically explanations instead of Greek gods. They charged Socrates with corruption of Athens young and impiety. Socrates stood infant of a jury of 500 people and admitted what he did and had no signs of regret when doing it. They found him guilty and sentenced him to death. Socrates had the choice of escaping but instead took the punishment and drank the hemlock that slowly killed him.

Ancient Greece, Democracy and Socrates

Today in class we learned more about ancient Greece, democracy and Socrates. I learned that the first time in recorded history people had revolted against their ruler was in Greece. This led to the birth of democracy in 508 BCE. A polis is political entities ruled by their bodies of citizens. The word polis is a root word politics, metropolitan and poll. We also learned about socrates. Socrates was a stone-mason as an young man but then went on and fought heroically in the Peloponnesian war. As a result of fighting in the Peloponnesian war some people believe that his battlefield experiences may have shaped the way he viewed the world. Socrates met with students outside the agora and used his method where he would ask a series of questions to determine their underlying beliefs and the extent of their knowledge. This helped Socrates become well known in Ancient Greece. In conclusion, Ancient Greece, Democracy and Socrates helped develop politics, and government today in the real world.

A message to Garcia translated

After talking about a message to Garcia in class I have a better understanding of what it is we are learning. Based on what we talked about today in class I now understand that Elbert Hubbard just wanted workers to do their job without being told to. For example if you saw the printer was out of ink you'd replace the cartridge not wait until your boss tells you too. He also wants people to use common sense and knowledge. He uses the greek word arete to explain this. Arete is excellence of any kind or fulfillment of purpose or function but mostly, the act of living up to ones full potential. The highest human arete is knowledge.  Elbert wanted people to have arete but instead they were slipshod and imbecility. This made Elbert mad and upset that people weren't working as hard as others but still getting the same rewards. Elbert also wanted people to take initiative. "Take a message for Garcia" even became a popular slang for telling people to take initiative.

A Message To Garcia blog

 After reading A Message To Garcia By Elbert Hubbard, I do believe that in some ways this relates to high school and in other ways it does not. It relates to high school because now lots of kids have gotten lazier when doing school work. For example instead of getting a dictionary and looking up the word most kids will just pull up dictionary.com since it takes less effort.  Also most kids will ask their friends for help instead of opening up their binder since its less work to just get the answer from someone. This essay does not relate to High school because although some people might take the easier route, this isn't the case for all. Lots of people like to research, and do their own work so that when they get a good grade on something they feel that they have earned it. Also many kids fear that they will get in trouble for taking the easy way out and it won't help them in the long run. Although Elbert Hubbards essay does have some good points I do not believe that everything he says directly relates to an high schooler.

My first day of school as a patriot

I was very nervous about my first day of school at John Carroll. I was scared that the upper class man would be rude and not care about the freshman. I was wrong, all of the upper class man were very nice and one even offered to help me open my locker and answer any questions that I had. I was also scared that I would not have enough time in between classes to go to my locker and get my books. I quickly realized that 5 minutes was plenty of time to go to my locker. Once I stopped worrying I started having a lot of fun. In intro to bible I learned about the origins of John Carroll, I made friends, and even learned a little Spanish. All of this was very fun but the best part was leaving school early to go to an away volleyball game at Maryvale. I really liked the atmosphere at the game, everyone was cheering each other on when we made mistakes and when we did good. We ended up winning our volleyball game which was a perfect ending to a great day at school.