Last Day Together :(

          Today in Human Geography class we took our last quiz together as a class. After that class some of my classmates split ways form Mr. Schick and will be off to have a new Western Civilization teacher tomorrow. I am very happy to say though that I will still have Mr. Schick as a teacher and he will teach my new class and I about Western Civilization or basically history I guess. Over the course of just one semester we have had many fun times in Mr. Schick’s class, where we have laughed about a goat’s smile and just introduced each other through the classroom. It’s sad to say that our awesome class is splitting apart, or at least as a class, but I know that we will still see each other and have other great times. I sure hope that I have as much fun meeting my new class as I did with the other!

P.S. Here's something for you Mr. Schick.

Class Participation

         Personally I believe that for my class participation grade, I should be able to at least get an eighty-five or even a ninety-five. I think so because I have always turned in all my assignments on time and always participated in class. I have raised my hand in every class and have almost always had an answer to Mr. Schick's questions. I have never been late for class and have always come prepared with all my Human Geography books, papers, and assignments. I could go on with many other achievements that I have completed in Mr. Schick’s class, but most of all; I have always respected Mr. Schick and what he does. His class is my favorite of all and I think that I have shown him that just by trying my hardest to do well in his class. I feel that of all my classes I have put the most effort.

New Guinea

Today in Human Geo class we took several notes about Papua New Guinea and I created this essay with them:

Papua New Guinea is a place located in Eurasian or more exact northeast of Australia. Although some people think this Eurasian country is very much still in their Stone Age, there are still a lot of New Guineans that have things like electricity and cars according to the CIA Factbook. Some of its resources that are the most valued and beneficial to them is gold, copper, silver, natural gas, timber, oil, and fisheries. This island nation is tropical as are most islands located in near the equator. Since there is such a hot and tropical climate in New Guinea, it is clear that they have a rainforest. This rainforest is now being destroyed by growing commercial demand for lumber. Showing once again that some New Guineans aren’t still in the past.

As their own nation, they do have a government and that type of government is a Constitutional Parliamentary Democracy and Commonwealth realm. Their capital is Port Moresby and is also one of their most civilized cities, and if it isn’t it is their most civilized city. Several key factors that also show how modernized they’re becoming is that they have a military, air force, and navy. They let both men and women in their army and have an estimated three million people fit for service right now. And there are currently 3.896 workers in New Guinea of all types.

Their best agricultural products which they ship to other countries includes: coffee, cocoa, copra, palm kernels, tea, sugar, rubber, sweet potatoes, fruit, vegetables, vanilla, poultry, pork, and shellfish. These agricultural products are produced by some of many industries in New Guinea including: copra crushing, palm oil processing, plywood production, wood chip production, mining (gold, silver, and copper); crude oil production, petroleum refining; construction, and tourism. New Guinea’s resources is actually helping the country to become even smarter, more developed with schools, roads, and hospitals; and just helping get out of the quote on quote “Stone Age”. 

We're Done!

       Today in Human Geography class we finished watching the documentary about Jared Diamond's discoveries about how Eurasian societies became so different from each other and why some have such great technology and why some are basically in the Stone Age. Today we talked about the people that started farming in the Fertile Cresent  and how over the coarse of the drought and over-farming the land the people exhausted the land. After this they moved east and west and conveniently found areas that were extremely similar to the one they had recently left. Once again meaning that they could thrive extremely well even after moving so far away from where they started. And also once again Jared Diamond restated his simple, but also complex explanation for why we are so different in technology. What decided our fate was plants, animals, and geographic luck. This was the story of Guns, Germs, and Steel. 

Mr. Smiling Goat

         Today in Human-Geography we continued to watch the documentary about how societies became so diverse from each other. In Jared Diamond’s theory we all became so diverse merely because of geographic luck. This includes animals of many kinds being located in certain areas. Of the one hundred forty eight plant-eating mammals that weigh over one hundred pounds, we have only domesticated about fourteen of them and have been able to use them for our own needs. These animals that we have domesticated include: goats, sheep, pigs, cows, horses, donkeys, Bactrian camels, Arabian camels, water buffalo, llamas, reindeer, yacks, mithans, and Bali cattle. The first animals we have domesticated were the goat and sheep in the Middle East followed by the larger animals that we have today. Most of the animals we have today however started in areas like Australia, America, and Africa. In New Guinea where the documentary is focused the New Guineans first domesticated pigs which came from Asia. Tommorrow we’ll learn even more about Jared Diamond and what he has learned from his own experienced and education.

More Documentary Stuff

         Today in class we continued watching the documentary centered around Guns, Germs, and Steel, a story about how Eurasian countries began to differ so much in technology and knowledge. We started class by watching part two and continued into part four, where we stopped at six and a half minutes in. During the video we learned that the reason some societies can to differ so much was the mere factor of plants and geographical luck. Some of the plants grown in the Middle East where the first farmers were, were wheat and barley. These plants helped the people of the Middle East, because the plants were so plentiful and they were also very nutritious. Some of the crops grown in America (both north and south) were corn, squash, and other grain types. Next time we watch this documentary I hope that we will know what else might decide the fate of a civilization. 

Guns, Germs, and Steel Documentary

         In Human Geo class on Friday we began to watch a documentary about Jared Diamond and his theories and encounters in Papua, New Guinea. This documentary was called Guns, Germs, and Steel, and it is a story of why some Eurasian societies are so technologically and socially diverse from ours. It gives you a real sense on why some societies are still somewhat living in the past. So far from what we watched, Jared Diamond had been asked a question by a native and this question is one that sets up the entire documentary, “Why do white men have so  much cargo and we New Guineans have so little?”. Since then Jared has been investigating why this is, and he has found that because that the New Guineans have been separated from getting resources from the rest of the world for so long they do not have as much cargo. But if they had, had so much cargo they might not be able to survive and make shelter the way they do today.