Blog Post #13- Catch Up Day

     We did not do much in class today, it was basically just a catch up day. I finished working on the three maps: Mercator Projection Map, Gall-Peters Projection Map, and the Robinson Projection Map. We had to label the equator, prime meridian, nation of my origin, all seven continents, all five oceans, the International Date Line, Tropic of Capricorn, Tropic of Cancer, and the John Carroll School. We had the option of doing homework, but I went up to my locker to go get my earbuds so I could listen to music while I did my work in class today. Also, I went to work on my blogs that I forgot to do last week that you're being nice enough to let me turn in because you're such an amazing teacher. Todays class was pretty fun. That was my honors human geography class on September the twenty seventh two thousand and eight teen.

Blog Post #12

      In class today we worked on more notes. The prime meridian passes through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. This is the master reference for all of the points on earth. The international dateline is located at 180 degrees longitude. If you are heading towards Asia you would turn your clocks clock wise. If you were heading towards North America you would turn your clocks counter clock wise. That's all the notes we got to writing today. We spent the rest of the class time working on maps. We did the Mercator, Peter's Projection, and Robinson maps. We had to find and label the equator, prime meridian, nation of my origin, all 7 continents, all 5 oceans, international dateline, tropic of Capricorn, tropic of cancer, and the John Carroll school. Some of them were really difficult to find. I didn't get to find all of it in class so I had to finish them for home work.

Blog Post #11

     Today we attempted to catch up on more notes. Back in the day maps were reference tools(simple navigation devices). The first world map was prepared by Eratosthenes (276-194BC). Improvements to the world map were later made by Ptolemy. After Ptolemy, advancements were made by Europe and Muslims. The map shifted from being a tool that provides location to a tool used by geographers to communicate complex geographic phenomena. Map scale is the level of detail and amount of area. A map scale is presented in 3 ways: ratio scale, written scale, and fraction scale. Scientific method of transferring locations on Earth's surface to a flat map is called projection. Shape and area, distance, relative size, and direction can all be distorted. Meridians are drawn between the north and south poles. Values range from 0 degrees (prime meridian) to 180 degrees east or west longitude. There were more notes we took, but I didn't get them all.

Blog Post #10

     In class today we had to rewatch the clip taken from The West Wing. We have to describe the points made by the "Organization of Cartographers for social Equality" and decide if they're valid points and whether we disagree or agree. The first thing brought up is that the Peters Projection Map should be used in all schools in America, not the Mercator Map. I agree with this point because I feel like I've been lied to about it and it needs to be changed. The second point was that it distorts the relative size of nations and continents (Africa is 14 times larger than Greenland). I agree with this since the Mercator Map does a terrible job at showing the actual size of countries and us as people should be able to know the actual size. The third point made was that the countries and nations aren't even in the right place on the map. Germany appears to be in the center of the map when really Germany is in the northernmost quarter of the Earth. Once again, I agree because we should know where our countries are actually located. Another point made is that we unconsciously equate size  with importance and even power, third world countries are being misrepresented and are more likely to be valued less. The last point was that the Northern Hemisphere would be switched to the bottom and the Southern Hemisphere would be switched to the top. However, I don't agree with this because it's really confusing to look at. Although, I really think the Peters Projection Map should be used in schools.

Blog Post #6

     Today in class we couldn't do the slide assignment that we were supposed to do since Mr. Schick's phone wouldn't load with the computer. It was going to be that each of us came up and explained one of the slides to the whole class. There were 19 slides and 19 people so it would've worked out perfectly. We weren't able to take any notes either. It was probably all Google's fault, but it's fine. We have a test on Monday and we have to write an essay on the quote from Socrates "The unexamined life is not worth living".  We also got reminded that if you're playing games in class it's an automatic detention, but one of the guys in the class got a warning since Mr. Schick decided to be extra nice today. Our class was only 45 minutes because of the Mass. Lastly, we discussed where we are going for the mass. We didn't really do anything else in class today.

Blog Post #5

     Today we continued our notes on the powerpoint, but it was focused a lot on Socrates. We focused on what he did wrong on how he died. Socrates was charged with two crimes, corruption of Athen's youth, and impiety (not believing in the god of the states). His defense was "It's my job to be gadfly to the lazy, sluggish horse that is Athen's." He also said "I should actually be rewarded with free dinners for life." The jury back then did not like the fact that he was bashing their city state. The jury of 500 male citizens found him guilty. Socrates was sentenced to death by drinking poison hemlock. He actually had to opportunity to escape, but he refused, proving his loyalty to the Athenian democracy. That was the story of Socrates. We also learned what an idiot was back then, it was someone who was characterized by self-centeredness and concerned almost exclusively with private- as opposed to public affairs. In Athenian democracy idiots were born and citizens were made through education. Declining to take part in public, such as democratic government of the polis(city state), was considered dishonorable. Socrates' quote of life was "The unexamined life is not worth living." Might as well make your life filled with purpose.

Blog Post #4

     Today we took more notes on the powerpoint of Excellence. We learned what an agora was. An agora is a gathering place, assembly hall, and a marketplace. It's the center of athletic, artistic, spiritual, and political life in a city. Next word was polis which is the origin of the words politics, metropolitan, and poll. It is also when political entitles are ruled by their bodies of citizens. In 508 BCE was the birth of democracy. Next is Socrates. As a young man he was working as a stonemason. He fought heroically in the Peloponnesian War, and his working class background and battlefield experience shaped the way he viewed the world. He met with young students in workshops just outside the agora. His method was to ask a series of questions to determine their underlying beliefs and their extent of their knowledge. This led to the scientific method. Lastly, we took notes on Athens which was a great city which attracted brilliant thinkers. Visitors from all over the world shared their knowledge of astronomy, medicine, meteorology, literature, philosophy, and all other things scientific. This was often at odds with traditional teachings which centered around the Greek Gods, which got young people questioning their way of thinking. Those were all the notes we took today.

Blog Post #3

     Today in class we took some notes off of the powerpoint on Excellence. Originally "A Message to Garcia" was published as an inspirational essay in March 1899. It was reprinted as a pamphlet and sold over 40 million copies and was in 37 languages. It was made into a movie two times, once in 1916 and another time in 1936. "Take a message to Garcia" became a popular slang word to do what your told without asking questions and is still used sometimes in the military today. The time period was the Spanish War. Garcia was a revolutionary seeking independence from Spain. Rowan was an army officer (West Point class of 1881). The president at the time was William McKinley who was assassinated six months into his second term by an anarchist. The tallest mountain in North America was renamed after him, until 2015 which is when it went back to its original name "Denali". We also learned the definitions of the words perihelion, slipshod, imbecility, stenographer, and missive. Another word learned was the word arete which is the Greek word for excellence. It means excellence of any kind, moral virtue, fulfillment of purpose or function, but mostly... the act of living up to ones FULL POTENTIAL. Those are most of the notes we took in class today.

Blog Post #2 - A Message to Garcia -

     My interpretation of A Message to Garcia is that I agree with Elbert Hubbard's point of view. I think it's good that people who don't give up and do things right are appreciated. Taking initiative and excellence are big qualities to have in high school. You need initiative so if your teacher asks you to do something instead of saying I don't know how, you'll do it, or you could do something without being asked which is also taking initiative. Doing something with excellence is also useful because yes you might turn something in without really trying on it, but it's important to actually try and turn something in that isn't work you did in 5 minutes.  Exceeding expectations is also a good thing, however incompetence is not. You don't want to have the inability to do something. If you keep trying and pushing through a challenge in high school you'll be fine. Rowen is a positive influence since he didn't give up and had initiative.

Blog Post #1

     My first 2 days at John Carroll have actually been really fun yet kind of nerve-wracking. Even though I was a little nervous at the beginning of the day today it got a little easier since I was making new friends. Since I moved from Florida I didn't know too many people, but thankfully I'm the type of person to not be afraid to start a conversation. I was late to a couple of my classes because I got lost, but I eventually found my way there. I really love having off mods since it gives me time to do my homework and relax. I'm also really liking my teachers and the people I have classes with. I have many honors classes so I'm getting more homework but I think I'll be able to manage my time wisely. I'm really going to have to work on my time management skills. I'm ready to overcome some challenges and I'm super excited to see what this year has to come at John Carroll.