First Day Blog

Eratosthenes (195 BCE)- The first person to map the world, the only accurate part is the Mediterranean Sea Longitude- is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on Earth's surface Longitude- is measured by imaginary lines circling the Earth and running through the poles, and used to measure distance and degrees east or west from the Prime Meridian The Prime Meridian passes through Greenwich, England, and is given the position 0 degrees longitude Longitude: Known as meridians north-south direction measure east-west of Prime Meridian  Farthest apart at Equator and meet at the poles equal in length Halves of great circles

Today in class we learned about grids. Geography is the study of where things are found on Earth's surface and the reason for the locations. Geographers ask two questions: Where are people and activities found on Earth? and Why are they found there? The answer is a map. A map is a two-dimensional or flat-scale model of the Earth's surface. The art and science of map making is called cartography. Maps serve two purposes. A reference tool to identify an objects absolute and relative location. Also a communication tool to convey the distribution of human activities or physical features. Absolute location: position as expressed in degrees, minutes, and seconds of latitude (north or south of the equator) and longitude (east or west of the Prime Meridian) Relative location: the regional position or situation of a place relative to the position of other places Latitude: a geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the earth's surface Longitu

Today in class we learned about situation. Situation is the location of a place relative to other places. It is helpful for finding an unfamiliar place and understanding other locations importance. Locations are important because they are accessible to other places. We learned how the Baltimore harbor can't have really big ships come in. It is not deep enough. It would cost a lot of money to make it deeper. It would also cause lots of environmental problems. We also talked about how apple sends the designs of the products they make over to China. They make the products in factories for a lot less money than they would have to pay someone in the USA. The law is in China that you have to be a certain age to work in factories. But people work under age. We also talked about how to give location with situation. We had to say how to get to John Carroll/ where it is. 

Today in class our key question was "How do geographers describe where things are?" We learned one way which is Site. Humans have the ability to modify the characteristics of a site. Site- is the physical character of a place  Climate Weather Water Source topography soil vegetation latitude elevation The characteristics that make my own home unique: Climate- The climate can be whatever I want. If I want it really hot, I can make it really hot. But if I want it cold, I can make it cold.  Water Source- I can turn the faucet, shower, or the fridge on and get clean drinking water. People take those things for granted but people in other parts of the world are not as fortunate to have those privileges. Soil- We can buy good soil from the store to put in our flowerpots to grow plants. Vegetation- My fridge has food in it that we buy from the store.

Today in class we got our tests back in class. I got an 88%. I did really good on my essays. I got number 7 wrong. The correct answer was e. in shorthand. I got number 9 wrong. The correct answer was it was the first time in history that people over through their ruler and won. Greek democracy was also introduced. I got number 13 wrong. Two of the correct answers were political and police. The extra credit i got one point because I got the word right I just spelled it wrong. I got one point of the first essay about describing the events of Socrates' trial and death. I forgot that a piece of his defense was that he was the horse fly of Athens that was to get them moving. the second essay about deciding if Socrates' was guilty or not. I said he wasn't guilty.

There are differences between a mercator map and a traditional peters projection map. The peters map is taller and more stretched out than the mercator map. The peters map is more accurate because it is like you peeled a globe of the world and flattened it. The mercator map distorted the map to make it not as accurate. The peters projection map has correct sizes relative to where they are on the map. The latitudes are not distorted. Areas on the mercator map are exaggerated far from the equator. For example Madagascar is two times the size of the UK in real life, but on the mercator map they look the same size.On the mercator map all the different countries are all different colors than the ones around it. But on the peters map each continent has a different color. except for North America and South America which are both green. All the countries in the continent are the same color as the surrounding ones. Source: Wikipedia

Today in class we talked about maps. I took my test.

I was not in class today because I had a game at Mercy.

508 BCE- The Birth of Democracy: The first time in recorded history that people revolted against their rulers! Ever! Since then...... United States- 1776 France- 1789 China- 1851& 1949 Russia- 1917 Iran- 1979 Egypt- 2011 Many, many others  Socrates was a teacher  He met with young students in workshops outside the agora Athen's was a great big city which attracted brilliant thinkers Socrates defense: "It's my job to be gladfly to the lazy, sluggish horse that is Athen's." "I should be rewarded with free dinners for life." Socrates death: 500 male citizens found him guilty (279- 221) Sentenced to death by drinking poison hemlock He had the opportunity to escape, but he refused, providing his loyalty to Athenian Democracy An idiot in Athenian democracy was someone who was characterized by self- centeredness and concerned almost exclusively with private- as opposed to public- affairs  Citizens are not born th

Agora- Was the center of the athletic, artistic, spiritual and political life in the city Polis- Was the typical structure of a community, city- state, where people went to discuss philosophy  The Importance of the year 508 BC to the Ancient Greeks- Democracy was introduced, it was the first time in human history that people rose up against their leader and over through them Socrates- A classical Greek philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, and as being the first moral philosopher of the Western ethical tradition of thought The Death of Socrates- Was accused of "refusing to recognize the gods recognized by the state" and of "corrupting the youth." If found guilty he would be put to death. Called "The Suicide of Socrates" in 399 BC. He died by being poisoned  The Socratic Method- A form of cooperative argumentative dialogue between individuals, based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to d

     A Message to Garcia Elbert Hubbard 1899 was very popular when it was written. It was reprinted as a pamphlet and book. It sold over 40 million copies and was translated into 37 different languages. A Message to Garcia was made into a movie two different times. One in 1916, another in 1936. The slang expression “take a message to Garcia” is still used in the military. Garcia was a revolutionary seeking Cuban independence from Spain. Rowan, the one who delivered the letter to Garcia, was an Army officer. McKinley, the one who gave Rowan the letter, was the 25 th President of the United States (1897-1901). President McKinley was assassinated six months into his second term by an anarchist. After his death the tallest mountain in North America was named after him. Then was changed back to its original name, Denali, in 2015. The mountain was originally called Denali by Native Americans for many of years.