12/12/12

In class everyone did there presentations based on their projects. Personally, I think our group did good except for a few things here and there. I didn't talk during the presentation of my group, but I controlled the computer to switch the slides from one to another. Before we did the presentations, we all received a piece of paper. On the paper we were supposed to grade each others presentations out of 100 and make comments based on a list of questions we received. Of course, I gave my group the highest grade. We also had to do how much of the work percentage everyone did in our groups. Since we had 5 people in my group, I had to split the percentages among us. Mr. Schick also said that out of the class that had gone prior to us, our class was the most prepared and had the best presentations.

12/11/12

We worked on our project today. Since my group finished all the computer and slide show work, we made our advertisement. My group decided to make our ad on a poster instead of on a computer. I brought the paper and Maria brought the coloring supplies. She brought these huge markers that were actually poster sharpies, kind of paint like. So we colored and designed our poster. Since we were comparing shoes made in China and American, we decided to draw a foot and color the sole of the foot red and white stripes. With the toes, we colored it blue then added white stars with white out that we got from Mr. Schick. Tomorrow we present our projects so hopefully my group will do well and I think we will.

12/10/2012

Today in class we worked on our project. My group is Doori, Maria, Kristen, Holly, and me. We are supposed to convince people to buy American-made goods over Chinese-made goods. We are telling people why they should buy shoes that are made in America instead of buying shoes made from China. We didn’t start the project at all over the weekend, but we were very productive in class today. We finished the entire project today in class. Tomorrow we are going to make our poster to advertise the American-made goods. I research one of the two American shoe products and wrote about it in the slide. I also helped come up with ideas on why American companies are better than Chinese companies. Some of the reasons are that the American companies don’t produce as much pollution. Also, American companies have higher safety standards. For tomorrows class I’m supposed to bring in the paper for our advertisement. 

12/5/12

Today in class we talked about the four vocabulary words we had to define when we got into class. Mr. Schick wanted us to use different websites instead of the normal, but I used dictionary.com still. I even cited where I got the definitions from so I didn't plagarise without giving credit. I also added my own definitions to the bottom of the information from dictionary.com The four words we had to define were capitalism (which I defined for the class), free enterprise, communism, and free market. Mr. Schicks blog said to add the definitions to tonight post, but I already made a post for that so I'm just going to have two different posts. Mr Schick keeps getting mad at our class because we talk to much, especially when other people are trying to talk.

Vocab Words

capitalism

noun

an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, especially as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth.

My notes: political and economic system

communism

noun

1.

a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.

2.

(often initial capital letter) a system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party.

3.

(initial capital letter) the principles and practices of the Communist party.

My notes: No upper, middle, or lower class (classless). State owns everything- no individual owned businesses. 

free enterprise

noun

1.

an economic and political doctrine holding that a capitalist economy can regulate itself in a freely competitive market through the relationship of supply and demand with a minimum of governmental intervention and regulation.

2.

the practice of free enterprise in an economy, or the right to practice it.

My notes: No state control. 

free market

noun

an economic system in which prices and wages are determined by unrestricted competition between businesses, without government regulation or fear of monopolies.

My notes: No government regulations. Companies chose the price of the product based on competitors pricing of the same object. 

ALL OF MY INFORMATION IS FROM DICTIONARY.COM with a few of my notes taken from class

12/4/12

Today in class we continued to watch part 3 of the capitalism in China. But before we could do that, several people were absent from class yesterday so we reviewed what happened yesterday in the movie and what we did in class. The part of the movie we watched today was more about how the transportation of China has transformed with the exposure of cars in China. The Chinese car brand, Likand, is expected to grow increasingly because it is cheaper and more affordable than the world-wide brands like Ford. They are also expected to be one of the world's largest car producers in the world. I also learned that China is one of the biggest producers and users of steel because of the car industry. In fact, there are no very large steel companies in USA because most of the big companies either moved to China or became bankrupt because everyone was getting cheaper steel from China.

12/3/12

Today in class we watched part 3 of the Capitalism in China. We skipped part 2 for unknown reasons. Part three talks about how all of the people used to ride bikes to get around the major cities in China, but now people use cars. China is increasing by thousands of new people buying cars everyday. For many people, it is the first car in their family history. A few decades ago, only rich people, political people, and foreigners had cars. Today, more and more middle class people are able to purchase a car. 9 out of 10 people who buy cars use cash. They were also showing the constructions of major highways. In America, what we would have machines do, people in China are doing. By people doing these jobs  they take a lot longer to complete. We also got our essays back. I got a 99% so I'm pretty happy with that.

11/28/12

We watched some of the movie again today. We didn't get to watch that much of the movie since we were having a discussion about stocks, money, countries benefiting from certain things, and how seasonal migrants. We did watch some of the movie. One thing that stuck in my head was how the lady who lost her job to the chinese people, bought stuff from Wal-Mart. About 95% of the things from Wal-Mart are made in China, so by her buying the stuff from China (but complaining about how her business she was working for and went to China and started to build the engines in China), it's giving Wal-Mart and the chinese workers a small income. Mr. Schick told us a funny story about Wal-Mart. He said that whenever he goes in there, there is always some lady yelling at her children. I would believe this, last time I went into Wal-Mart (last year around Christmas) there was a fight over presents and the cops had to come and everything.

11/27/12

We watched more of the movie today about China and how it is capitalism. We did a lot of math. We realized that by the motor company moving to China,they saved about ten million dollars a year. They are able to do so because in the USA, the workers were making about $11 an hour and in China, they can pay people about a dollar per day. Within the period of a year they save over ten million dollars. They are able to keep the prices in America low because of all the money they are saving in China. Even with the shipping from China to America, the motor company is saving money enabling them to sell the small motors at a low price. Outsourcing is how things are cheaper to make in one country than other, so the company moves to the cheaper country to produce the product.

11/26/12

Today in class we watched a movie about China and how their economy effects the rest of the world, especially America. One of the most shocking thinks I learned was how some women only make up to two dollars and some men make up to four dollars a day, thinking that it is good money. Some of the people in China are just so poor they would do anything. I also find it crazy that since you can only have one child per family (except under certain circumstances) and if your child dies, you have to prove it to the government that your child died, so you can have another child without being fined. We also talked about the assembly that will be occurring tomorrow. Gerry Sandowski (with a G, not a J) is coming to school to talk about how his life has differed since what happened to Jerry Sandowski. If we ask him a question, we get 10 bonus points, but I can't think of any questions to ask, so unless I can think of one, I'm going to pass on asking questions.

11/19/12

Today in class, we turned in our essays that we wrote over the past weekend. Some people didn’t write the essay correctly or did the formatting wrong. One person even forgot to write the essay. We took a test on the different foreign leaders again. The first part of the quiz included matching the leaders with the country, second part was matching the leaders up with facts about them or their country. The final part of the test included matching either the leader with their picture, more facts about them/their country, and matching the leader with the country shown in the map. Overall, I think I did well on the test, especially since we could use our blog. For Afghanistan, in the third part, we had to match the leader with a picture of him and I got lucky and the picture I had on my blog of the Afghanistan leader, was the picture used for the test.

11/16/12

On Friday's class we went over the essay some more. It is going to be worth 200 points. We also talked about the recent events occurring in Israel and Gaza. They're exchanging bombs and rockets between each other. Mr. Schick said we could use these events for part of our essay, but I don't think I am going to. We looked at some pictures of the destruction because of the damage of the rockets. We went on easybib.com to learn how to cite our sources for the essay. We were also told we were going to have a quiz on monday about the world leaders again. We discussed how China has a new president named Xi Jinping. Israel has a bunch of drafted soldiers ready to invade the other country. They have tanks lined up on the shared border, ready to attack if necessarily. They have about 16000 soldiers that were drafted to fight for the country.

11/14/12- essay dicussion

When we arrived in class, we got new seats. Mr. Schick let us pick the seats we got but there was an order. Mr. Schick didn’t announce the order, but I’m pretty sure the order was by your grade. The people with the highest grade got to go first, with the person with the lowest grade going last. I have an A in the class so when my name wasn’t called early on, I was kind of confused. It turns out the Mr. Schick skipped me and Nadia causing us to pick our seats next to last. By that time, there were many seats left, so I had to choose my seat where I sat before. After we got new seats, we went over the essay we have to due by Monday. We had a choice to work with a partner or not, I chose not to work with a partner so I won’t have to hope what they written is in depth and accurate. If I do the essay myself, I have no worries. The essay is going to about comparing the relations between the USA and two other countries of our choice and there presidents relation with Barack Obama. The essay is either going to be worth 100 points or 200 points.

Political Geography Research

United States

Declared independence on July 4, 1776

From the 1500s through the 1700s, they were settled and colonized by the Spanish, British, French, Dutch, Portuguese, and other European nations.  The original thirteen colonies were held by Great Britain until the Revolutionary War, after which they became the first thirteen states.  There are now 50 states in the United States.  The United States is considered the last true superpower, with the world's largest military and the world's largest economy.

Israel

Israel became an independent state on May 14, 1948

Following World War Two, the newly-formed United Nations drafted a treaty dividing up some of Palestine's land.  They established an independent Arab state and an independent Jewish state.  Many Jews emigrated to the new nation of Israel post WWII.  Creation of this new Jewish state was not universally accepted by Arabs, even though Israel was officially admitted to the UN on May 11, 1949.  There is still controversy surrounding Israel's very existence in the Middle East.

China

China's official date of independence is October 1, 1949.

China is one of the world's oldest civilizations.  As long ago as 221 BC, China was unified as a nation during the Qin dynasty.  They formed a republic on January 1, 1912.  The current Communist government, officially called the People's Republic of China, was formed in 1949.  

Brazil

Brazil officially gained independence in September 7, 1822.

Before Brazil become independent, they were under the Portuguese rule for over three centuries. The Portuguese claimed the land in April 1500 when Pedro Alvares Cabral and his fleet landed. The discovery of gold and other natural resources caused a lot of people to migrate to Brazil. Today, Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world.

Venezuela

Declared independence on July 5, 1811.

Spain colonized Venezuela in 1522 even though they the natives did not want the Spanish there. Venezuela was the first Spanish-American colony to declare independence; however the independence was not official until Gran Colombia collapsed in 1821. Today, Venezuela has 23 states with a large population in the north and excels in the export of oil. 

India

India became independent in August 15, 1947.

India was once ruled by the United Kingdom power. They became independent because of a non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi. India has a lot of important historic trade routes. In current times, India has the second largest population and home of many religions, the mains being Hinduism, Buddhims, Jainism, and Sikhism.

Afghanistan

Gained independence on August 19, 1919.

Britain controlled Afghanistan. The Pashtun tribe founded Afghanistan in 1747. Afghanistan is land between the British and Roman Empires,serving as a buffer. Afghanistan was home to the silk road, an important trade route in history. The Taliban is located in Afghanistan. Currently there is a war in Afghanistan and it is not a very safe place to visit. 


Iran

Iran became independent on April 1, 1979.

Iran is known as the Islamic Republic of Iran as of 1935 when the ruling monarchy was overthrown (Iranian Revolution). Before 1935, Iran was known as Persia, meaning "land of the Aryans." The Iranian Revolution began in January 1978 when the first major demonstrations against the The Shah occurred. December 1979, the country approved a theocratic constitution. Today, Iran has a population of 75 million + and is a founding member of United Nations as well as several other groups. 


France

France does not have an official date of independence, according to CIA, but on October 4, 1958, the Fifth French Republic was established. 

Luckily for France, they were never the subjects of another country, so technically, they never "became" independent, they always were. France was a place that ruled a bunch of countries, the last one gaining independence being Vanuatu in 1980. The debate whether or not let Algeria become independent almost evolved  in a civil war. The Fifth Republic has a strengthened Presidency.  Now-a-days, France is a European leader when it comes to culture, economy, military, and politics. France also has a large supply of nuclear weapons. 

Mexico

Mexico achieved independence in the the early 19th century, to be exact it was September 16, 1810. 

The Aztecs were all living in Mexico before they were conquered by the Europeans. Hernán Cortés was the man who established Mexico and took over it.  It is located in North America and borders America and Guatemala. 


Germany
Was established on January 18 of 1871. 

Before Germany declared their independence the Holy Roman Empire ruled them.  There were many other countries under this rule, and all of them eventually established into a country rather than being under the Holy Roman Empire.  Germany is in Europe and borders Poland Beligium, France, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.




Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia was established on September 23, 1932, this is the modern Saudi state, bu the first colony was founded in the 18th century.

This country is also known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  This country was founded by Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, after Muhammad's death.  Saudit Arabia borders





United Kingdom

United Kingdom was officially independent on April 12, 1927. 

The country used to rule many other countries and covered a large amount of land (but not half).  They never actually had anyone rule them, it was just the reverse.  United Kingdom in located in Europe and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean.

11/12/12

Today in class we went over the quiz we took on Friday about the different political leaders around the world and facts about them. The test was matching so for most of the questions, I was able to do process of elimination. By doing this process, I was able to get only two wrong, receiving a 92%. It was also veterans day so we got a little off topic and talked about Aberdeen and the testing of bombs that occurs there. We also talked about the different world wars in the past. We spent the majority of our off topic time discussing neculear bombs and different neuclear treats. I learned that when the USA bombed Japan, it was the first and last time anyone has ever neuclear bombed people. There are testings that occur in Nevada and other deserts, but no other people neuclear bombed other people because of the mass destruction that occurred. We also talked about how Cuba once had weapons and the war in Mexico.

11/9/12

Today in class we took a "pop" quiz. Mr. Schick had it written down on his blog but since I, and almost everyone else in the class, didn't check his blog, it was a "pop" quiz for us. We spent like the first 10-15 minutes of class studying for the test, after panicking and talking to people I finally began to study for the test. Right when I was about to start studying, Mr. Schick announced that the test was about to begin. Right as I was putting my laptop away, he announced that we could use our blog, not his, for the quiz. As soon as he said that, everyone was relieved to know that they wouldn't be failing the quiz. The first part of the quiz was to match the countries with the leaders. I'm pretty sure I got that whole section right considering we could use our blogs. The second section of the test was matching facts with the people. I didn't have any of the facts that were on the quiz on my blog, so I'm not sure how well I did on that section. With most of the people I could guess which fact they belonged to or I remembered it from class discussions; however when I got to about 3 people left, I couldn't tell who went with what, so I just guessed.

11/7/12

In the beginning of class, everyone was sitting in the wrong seat, but then Mr. Schick told us to all go back to our normal spot. We asked him if we could get new seats and he told us we could, but I think he forgot because we never get new seats. Now for the actually learning part of class, we continued to go over what we did in class yesterday. Even though we finished all of the people, we just continued to add more facts. We had a class discussion about some of the old rules for the election that are still in effect even though we don’t have the same issue as the people did back then so they should either get rid of those rules or modify to fit todays current society. One of the rules that should be changed is how everyone votes on Tuesdays, but in modern day it would be more practical to have them on a weekend since the majority of people work on Tuesdays.

Interesting Facts about World Leaders

Mexico

• President Enrique Pena Neito
• promised to open Pemex (Mexico's state owned oil company) to a private sector
• believes that Mexico needs to expand its economy to in order to create new jobs

China

• President HU Jintao
• he refuses to pressure trading partners
• because of Hu, China expanded its influences overseas in resource-rich developing nations
• most powerful economy in the world because of him
• active in politics since a young age
• head of the communist party in China

India

• President Pranab MUKHERJEE
• promises to protect and defend the Indian constitution
• only finance minister to have presented budgets in the pre and post liberalization time periods
• 2010 best finance manger in Asia

Afghanistan

• President Hamid KARZAI
• Origionally a supporter of the Taliban before the death of his father, after the death he  campaigned for an anti-Taliban movement
• fluent in English- can effectively communicate with foreign nations 
• the Taliban was in charge before President Karzai came into office

Iran

• President Mahmud AHMADI-NEJAD
• not an activist for women rights
• very conservative
• doesn't spend enough time dealing with the economy- unpopular with the people

Israel

• Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu
• entered politics after his brother was killed when leading the 1976 mission to rescue of hijacked Israeli hostages from Uganda
• motivated to get into office

Germany

• Chancellor Angela Merkel
• first women to become Chancellor of Germany
• one of her priorities was to strength economic relations by meeting with Obama in 2007

United Kingdom

• Prime Minister David CAMERON
• urged politicians to focus on improving people's happiness and general well-being instead of finical wealth
• wants to improving teaching
• deals with more of the issues, Queen is a figure leader
• received a good education- did very well in school- smart person
• Graduated from Oxford (one of the best schools) with a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics

France

• President Francois HOLLANDE
• he worked hard to change his boring image during election
• pledged to get the soldiers home by 2014 
• agnostic

Brazil

• President Dilma ROUSSEFF
• first women economist to be elected president in Brazil
• wants a mix of market-friendly policies with a strong role for the state in economic development
• supports abortion but only when the mother is in danger or was raped
• went to jail and was tortured because she tried to overthrow the government at age 22

 Venezuela

• President Hugo CHAVEZ
• used massive social spending to expand health and education programs to win votes
• poor from a poor family
• has cancer
• tried to overthrow the government- spent two years in prison
• hates America

Saudi Arabia

• King and Prime Minister ABDALLAH bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud
• created a regulatory body for capital markets
• encourages the development of non-hydrocarbon sectors
• 14 wives- lots of children

United States

• President Barack Obama
• When he was younger he experimented with drugs- marijuana and cocaine
• First black president of the USA