Political Geography

United States

• Consitutional-based federal republic
• President Barack Obama

Mexico

• federal republic
• President Felipe CALDERON 

China

• communist state
• President HU Jintao

India

• federal republic
• President Pranab MUKHERJEE

Afghanistan

• islamic republic
• President Hamid KARZAI

Iran

• theocratic republic 
• President Mahmud AHMADI-NEJAD

Israel

• parllamentary democracy
• President Shimon PERES
• Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu

Germany

• federal republic
• President Joachim GAUCK
• Chansel Angelia Merkel

United Kingdom

• constitutional monarchy and Commonwealth realm
• President Queen ELIZABETH 2

France

• republic 
• President Francois HOLLANDE

Brazil

• federal republic
• President Dilma ROUSSEFF

Venezuela

• federal republic
• President Presidetn Hugo CHAVEZ

Saudi Arabia

• monarchy
• King and Prime Minister ABDALLAH bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud

10/23/12- Questions for Test

Today in class, we told Mr. Schick questions that we thought should be on the test. Some of the questions people asked made no sense, some questions were very smart, then there were some overly complicated ones. Few and far between, were the good questions that could possibly be on the test. Some of the information that is going to be on the test includes: the two different types of Muslims, the different characteristics of the five religions we talked about in class (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism). We also need to know that the other name for Buddha is Siddartha Gautama. There are a bunch of other things we need to know, but I left my book at school and I don't remember them so. Doori had a laughing attack in class for no reason at all and started crying, this continued for about 10 minutes and happened several times throughout the class. The test is on Friday even though it is scheduled on Wednesday, but that is okay.

10/15/12- Notes from Culture Geographical

Today in class we continued to go over the power point on Culture Geography. I learned that religion can unify or disunify a nation. Saul, also known as Paul, is one of the major reasons the Christianity didn’t die out and continued to be a prospering religion. The Saul/Paul story was told today and I have never previously heard this story. But the story goes somewhat like this, Saul was a Roman who persecuted Christians. He was riding his horse and was suddenly struck by blindness for three days. Then a voice came to him and told him to stop persecuting Christians. Saul’s sight instantaneously came back. Saul then started to promote the Christian way of life. Also I learned that “Amazing Grace” is the song of Saul/Paul. Qur’an, the holy book for Muslims, can also be spelled Koran. In my essay that I wrote over the weekend, I stated that there were only 14 million Christians in the world, I know realize how inaccurate that statement was. 1 out of every 3 people are Christians. Muslims don’t believe that Jesus was crucified, this concept was new to me.

Essay about Religions

Five out of the many religions in the world include: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judiasm. Chirstianity was founded around 30 AD in Palestine by Jesuss' disciples. Islam was formed in 610 AD in present day Saudi Arabia. Buddhism and Hinduism were both founded in India, except Buddhism was founed in 460 BC and Hinudism was discovered up to 1500 BC. Judisam was founded in Mesopotamia in the year 1300 BC. Christinaity, Islam, and Judiasm are Monotheistic religions. Buddhism is not Monotheistic or Polytheistic since they do not believe in a God created the Earth. Hinduism has Polytheistic elements included within the religion. The holy book for Christianity is the Bible. For Islam, they holy book is the Quran.  Tipitaka is the holy book for Buddhism. Hindusim has multiple holy books know as the Vedas, Upanishads, Sutras, and Bhagavad Gita. Judiasm's holy book is the Tanakh. Islam has the most amount of followers with 1.5 billion people. Next comes Hinudism with 900 million. Buddhism follows Hinduism with 330 million to 500 million followers. Judaism has 14 million followers. Christianity, with the least amount of followers, has 2.1 million followers. God is the central figure for Christianity. For Islam, the central figure is Allah. Buddhisms' central figure is Buddha. Hinduism  has a central figure known as Brahman. Judiasm "shares" a central figure with Christanity, who is God. The religion of Christianity is spread through out the world in North and South America, Russia, Europe, and Australia. Africa and Asia has the most amount of Muslisms, but the religion is worldwide. In Indonesia there are 182.2 million, Pakistan has 136.9 million, Bangladesh hass 115 Muslisms, and India has 108.6 million. In Asia, there are 313.1 million Buddists. Buddhism in Europe takes up 272 thousand people. 541 thousand Buddists are in Latin America. In Nothern America there are 558 thousand Buddists and 407 thousand in Europe. Hindusim is a religion located mainly in India, United Kingdom, and United States. Judaism is located throughout Israel, Europe, and United States. Christanity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judiasm are five prominent religion in the world.



Sorry for this being late, my interent was not working Saturday.

 

10/10/12- Geogrpahical Culture Silde Show

Today in class we went over a slide show on Cultural Geography. We did not finish the presentation but we did talk a lot about how Language and Ethnicity contributes a lot to how a country gets along. Such as in Switzerland, there are 4 different main languages, but they all get along and there is very little conflict. Other countries, such as Yugoslavia, the different groups don't get along, a civil war forms, and then the country splits apart into several countries. We did not get a lot done in the slide presentation because people had a lot of questions and Mr. Schick would answer them and then we would get sidetracked. We also discussed how language unites people through Education, and having a common language to talk to people with even if they are from a different country but speak the same language, such as the Spanish language. English is the language of money and/or business so a lot of people learn it as a second language.

10/9/12- Native American, Vikings, and Christopher Columbus Presentations

Today in Human Geo class we did the class presentations about Christopher Columbus, Vikings, and Native Americans. I took notes from the three presentations, excluding the presentation my group did on Vikings. I learned that the Native Americans came to America by a land bridge between Asia and Alaska. They came to America between 12 thousand years ago to 17 thousand years ago. The Native Americans were the first people to arrive in North America so no other cultures were present and they did not have to fight for any land until the Europeans and other nations came years later. The Native Americans took good care of the land. They even had a strong spiritual connection with the land. I also took notes on Christopher Columbus. They notes included that Christoper Columbus arrived in North American on October 12, 1491 in present day Bahamas. He arrived by three ships: The Nina, The Pinta, and Santa Maria. They did conquer the Americans, taking the land away from the Native Americans. Christopher Columbus and the other Europeans did not respect that land or the people on the land.
Notes from slide shows.

10/8/12

Today in class we went over the tests that we took on friday. I wasn't expecting the bell to ring for me, so when it did ring I was excited. I didn't get any questions wrong, I just misspelled four words. PantHer, Eithiopia, PittsburgH, and SYracuse are the four words that I spelled wrong. After we went over the tests and got them back, we talked a little about Christopher Columbus, since it is Columbus day. Then we split into three groups: vikings, Native Americans, and I think Europeans. We had to answer 7 questions in a powerpoint which I believe we will be presenting soon. My group included, Doori, Maria, Kristen, Nadia, Holly, and myself. My group chose the vikings. I helped Doori set up the presentation on google docs so that everyone could edit the slide show. I had the question, "Were there other cultures of people present in the Americas when they arrived?"
I said that there were other cultures of people present because there were Native Americans there.

10/3/12

Today in class we discussed a lot about the different foundations and what one we should chose to participate with. We never came to a final result but we went through about 10 different foundations and why they are good, why there are bad, whether or not we should use them, and what good do they use to Sudan. We wanted to try and get Paul Bol Dau to come to school and talk to us, but it costs six thousand dollars. That is a lot for 60 kids to raise. Someone had the idea of walking to wawa to raise awareness about what is happening in Sudan, like they did in "God Grew Tired of Us." Personally, I like the idea of walking to wawa because it can help Sudan and we are recreating something that happened in the documentary so we know it will be useful. Doori had the idea to go to different schools and talk about the movie to the different students. I like this idea too but I like the wawa/walking idea better but I still think Dooris' idea was good.

10/2/12

Today in class we talked about some of the foundations that help Sudan. We made groups and researched other foundations that help Sudan. Then Mr. Schick had us write what the foundations did and some of its purpose on a document that everyone could edit at the same time. This did not go over to well, a lot of people kept adding in random stuff, putting there name on other peoples work, and at one point all of the information got deleted. But in the long run, we finished and everyone got their posts up on the document. I posted about the Sudan Foundation. The Sudan Foundation helps by bringing European resources and business/non business leaders together to rebuild the economy in Sudan. The economy will be based on open involvement with organizations and business associates scattered across the globe.  The chairman of the foundation is D.H.C Brouwer. Mr. Schick also showed us an email from John Dau about him coming to school, I thought his grammar mistakes were funny.

10/1/12

Today in class we finished watching “God Grew Tired of Us.” I’m sad that the movie ended because I enjoyed watching it every day. The movie ended by saying what the three narrators, Daniel, Panther, and John Paul Dau, did with their lives after the movie ended. John Paul Dau made a non-profit organization to help with the war in Sudan. John Paul Dau also gets reunited with his mother. John Paul Dau dreams to build a medical clinic in his hometown. Daniel has not been lucky enough to locate any of his family members unlike the other two narrators. Panther goes back to Africa to find his girlfriend so he can marry her and go back to the United States. Panther also wants to create a school in Sudan so children can get an education to use the resources that Sudan has to offer. Panther also gets reunited with mother, brother, and sisters. A charity that helps with the war in Sudan is the The John Dau Foundation. The foundation is created by John Paul Dau. The point of the organization is to provide healthcare in the regions were there was war. To provide healthcare, they build and sustain medical clinics and train community health workers.