Last Class

Today was our class Human Geo class! We took a test today and it was pretty hard. I'm sad it is our last class. I had a lot of friends in this class and i don't know anyone that's in my West Civilization class with Mr. Teter. I heard west civ isn't as interesting. I really liked human geo! I didn't like blogging when we didn't do much in class. It was really hard to do 150 words every night. I liked watching the video Shift Happens and the Nike video. I also liked the google docs. Also i liked the God Grew Tired of Us video. I liked all of the videos because they were really interesting and fun to watch!

Review

Today in class we finished the movie about Papua New Guinea and reviewed for the test tomorrow. I don't know how i'm going to do because i have a lot of homework and i also have my health exam. I'm hoping i have enough time to get all my work done!  I hope i do well because it is my last human geo test before the semester ends! I'm sad tomorrow is going to be my last class with Mr. Schick!

Video Malfunctions

Today in class we were going to watch more of the Papua New Guinea documentary but the video wouldn't load. We spent most of the class trying to get it to work and talking about what we watched yesterday. Finally we got it to work but we only got to watch 15 minutes of it. 

New Video

Today in class we started to watch a video about a guy named Jared Diamond who is investigation why some countries have so much while others have so little. He went to a country named Papua New Guinea. I thought it was really interesting how they got their food. Some of their food they even got out of a tree!

2 hour delay

Today we had a short class because we had a 2 hour delay but we continued to talk about the Greek and Roman cities. We also talked about how steel used to be used to make everything but now most things are made out of plastic. We talked about how a lot of Steel Mill's are shut down because there isn't enough things to make. We also talked about the Urban Revolution and the second revolution. 

Urban Geogrpahy

- have a surplus of food 
-social stratification (a leadership class)

5 hearths of urbanization 
- Mesopotamia, 3500 BCE
-Nile River Valley, 3200 BCE
- Indus River Valley, 2200 BCE
- Huang He and Wei River Valleys, 1500 BCE
- Mesoamerica, 200 BCE

Theocratic centers- where rulers were deemed to have divine authority and were god-kings 

Diffusion of Urbanization 
1) The Greek Cities 
- by 500 BCE, Greeks were highly urbanized
- Network of more then 500 cities and towns
- On the mainland and islands
- each city had an acropolis and an agora 

2) The Roam Cities 
-A system of cities and small towns, linked together with hundreds of miles of roads and sea routes 
- sites of roman cities were typically used for trade 
- A roman cities forum combined the acropolis and the agora into one space
- Roman cities had extreme wealth and extreme poverty (between 1/3 and 2/3's of the empires population was enslaved) 

First Day Back

city- a conglomeration of people and buildings clustered together to serve as a center of politics, culture and economics

urban: the buildup of the central city and the suburban realm- the city and the surrounding environment connected to the city

• Urban areas are the most common place to live 
• A rural area can become urbanized quite quickly in the modern world 

The First Urban Revolution 

• Before any urbanization people clustered in agricultural villages

- a small village where most the the villagers are involved with agriculture. About 10,000 years ago people began living in agricultural villages. 

Exam Review

Excellence 

• A message to Garcia- some things are worth doing a good job at 
• Socrates/ Ancient Greeks- don't just do what your told, question authority ("the examined life is not worth living") if you don't go above and beyond your no better than your dog 
• Did you know?/Shift Happens - keep learning as our world is changing faster than ever 

Population and Migration

• RNI, TFR, crude birth rate, crude death rate 
• Net Migration Rate
• push/ pull forces 
• developed/developing nations
• infrastructure- electricity, good education, health care, transportation (boats to export and import goods) 
• god grew tired of us
• (need to realize alot of countries have different problems, the US thinks we're falling apart but compared to other poor countries we're doing very well. 
• (America is the greatest country) 

Cultural Geography 

• language 
• major religions (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism 
• ethnic heritage 
• (look at peoples culture from a different point of view) 

Political Geography

• country, nation, nation/state 
• world leaders we studied (12, plus the US) 
• type of government, leader and title, photographs of countries 

Economic Geography 

• microfinance 
• infrastructure 
• kiva
• peace corps 

Mandela

Today we finally got back to school from the snow but we still had a two hour delay. Also it was a Wednesday so we had very short classes. In class we went over our test. I only got one wrong but thats still a 93%. I knew that answer i just read to question wrong, i am so mad at myself that i didnt get 100. For the rest of class we talked about Mandela who just died. I didnt know who he was until i saw it in the news. I found in interesting that the leader form Israel wasn't at his funeral.

Test

Today in human geo we took a test. I'm almost positive i got 100%. I thought it was really easy. I was surprised i knew all the answers because i didn't study until this morning. I'm glad i did much better then the last test!

microfinance- a form of finical services for entrepreneurs and small businesses lacking access to banking and related services 
microloan- a small loan given to individuals who might not have access to typical baking services, usually to start or expand small, self sufficient businesses

Who prides microloans? 

• kiva.org is the best known  
• has given away half a billion dollars in loans 
• Kiva's repayment rate is 99.01% 

Who receives them?

• microentrepreneurs who are trying to get a kickstart 
• villagers needing to fund a clinic, hospital, or heal care center
• teachers trying to run a school
• students wanting to advance their education 

Problems with microloans?

• high interest rates
• cost of providing banking services 

How do they help?

• take place of banking services 

Challegnes 

• substandard education 
• poor health care 

Malaria 

• means bad air 
• a mosquito-borne infectious disease
• humans and animals can be infected through the bite of a female mosquito 
• to vaccine exists 
• kills around 665,000 people a year, many of them children in sub-Saharan Africa 
• mosquito nets can be effective 

Philanthropy 

• is the generous donation of money to good causes, and Bill and Melinda Gates are the second gratest philanthropists in hisotry. ($28 billion, 1/3 of their wealth)
• they support research and developemnt for a vaccine,diagnostics, and mosquito-control measures- like mosquito nets
• 
  

10 questions

1.) What is a microloan? - loaning people money to help them get a kickstart in a small business that will be beneficial to help their business be successful.

2.) What are some problems that can be helped my microfinance? Malaria, Drought, and Clean Water

3.)  How can microloans help? benefit others instead of the person allowing the community to benefit from it.

4.)  What is microfinance? -  is a general term to describe financial services to low-income individuals or to those who do not have access to typical banking services.

5.) What’s a microlender? - an organization that makes business loans to individuals who are not able to obtain financing from traditional lenders. (usually charge higher-than-average interest rates)

6.) what is malaria? What is it caused by? Its a disease transmitted from person to person through the bite of a female Anopheles mosquito, which requires blood to nurture her eggs.

7.)  What are some effects of droughts or heavy rains? -The climate in the region affects the farming which is relied on in many because they are not as developed as other places.The weather is unpredictable. Many times there won’t be as much rainfall that is needed for the crops to survive, these times are called droughts Other times there is too much rain, this leads to many of the crops getting washed away because they are already full of water and can’t take any more in. Both resulting in little/no crops.

8.)  How do loans affect small business? - Loans help people with small businesses to get a kick start on what they want to do. They may get funds, structure investments, housing, and help for the economy in small areas near by.

9.) Who is the biggest provider for mosquito nets? - Bill Gates

10.) How many deaths does malaria cause each year? - 6,000

Microfinance- a general term to be describe financial services to low-income individuals or to those who do not have access to typical banking services

Microloans- loans people money to help them get a kickstart in a small business that they think will be beneficial to their own village or town

• Microloans also helps investments in infrastructure, education, and legal reforms

What does it do?

• Provides people who don’t have the money to get a loan to start a business, pay for medical attention, pay for schools etc.
• Helps small businesses start up and stay running. This helps the local economy it also helps pay for insurance
• Is an opportunity for the less fortunate people to have stuff they wouldn’t be able to afford or start up
• Allows poor people to improve their homes

Developing countries

In most developing countries most people are poor, but it is the poor people who are least likely to be helped by regular banks

Problems in developing countries that can be helped by microfinance-

• Malaria
• Drought
• Clean water

Malaria - life threatening disease transmitted by mosquitos. It was once thought that the disease came from fetid marshes. Every year it causes 655,000 deaths. Every minute a child dies from malaria 

Bill Gates: 

• is a philanthropist
• Bill and Melinda gates donate billions of dollars to help cure diseases and help sell mosquito nets

• Microlenders is an organization that makes business loans to individuals who are not able to get money from traditional lenders
• Charge higher than average interest rates. 
• Their maximum loan is usually 25,000 or less
• People who receive microloans are usually individuals in poverty or in development zones in the US or who live in developing nations.

Ways Microloans can help: 

•  helps expand their business
•  the business can have a positive affect on the community around them
•  allows small business loaners access to insurance
•  create choice, allows people to switch professions and work in a field that interest them or interest them more than their last job

No Plans

Today in human geo we didn't do anything. Mr. Schick said he had nothing planned for us so we just sat and talked. We talked about schools and how Jazz is leaving. There's nothing really to write about so yeah. 

Peace Corps Challenge

Today in class Mr. Schick wasn't here so Mr. Torres told us to continue playing the Peace Corps Challenge game. You have to save the village from a drought, mosquitoes, and malaria. Girls aren't going to school because of all these problems that are destroying the village. You have to talk to Gwafa, and tell him what you think the solution to the problem is. If he agrees with you, he will usually give you stuff, like a chicken, roots, root juice, a pineapple, or a bag of fried ants. 

Emmy

Today in human geo we got to see and hold and Emmy that the guy that came to our school won. Mr. Schick didn't tell the guy he was taking it to class but i don't think he minded. Then we watched a video about this new TV thing where you can flip the channels by pressing the buttons. We tried to watch the whole thing but John Carroll's wifi isn't the best so it wouldn't load. After that we played the game on Mr. Schicks blog. I got pineapple, root juice, roots, and other stuff. I saved the village. 

Reviewed test

Today in class we reviewed the world leaders test we took. A lot of people read the directions and questions wrong and wrong the leader in stead of the country. I did that on a few of the questions but i got a 83% on the test. At first i got a 80% but Mr. Schick marked one of my answers wrong but it was right. In my notes on my blog i think i just wrote down the wrong things, and there was also a lot to copy so i didn't get all of it down. I think that is why i did do too good on the test. We also are starting to do economic geography. 

Economics

Today in class Mr. Schick gave everyone who didn't finish their test more time. I wish i would've known this because i wouldn't have rushed through my test and wrote down random answers. I got to see my test and I got a 80%. I'm not very happy with this but i didn't do as bad as some other people. Then once everyone was done their test we started learning about Economics by looking at the links on Mr. Schick's blog .One was about Micro finance on Kiva. Also Anna and Katie came into our class and we talking about how West Civ is going to be boring. I'm going to miss your class. Hopefully i do better on the next test!

leaders quiz

Today in class we took the leaders quiz. I thought for the most part it was easy but some of the questions were hard to find, like the leader who's nickname is Bibi. I didn't know it so i just guessed. I think i either got a B or a C on this quiz, hopefully it won't lower my grade too much. 

COUNTRIES ON A MAP!

Mexico 











China


India


Afghanistan


Germany


United Kingdom


France


Brazil


Venezuela 


Saudi Arabia 


Iran


Israel