1/30/13

Today in west civ, we took a pop quiz on prehistory. This quiz consisted of five questions. I was refreshed on what trhe first tools were and when first villages started showing up. Mr. Schick let us use the rest of our class time to write notes down on egypt. I learned a lot of intresting facts about eygpt and it helped me understand what life was like on the Nile. Egypt was one of the most advanced civilizations since Mesopatamia, the nile was a way of trade and life. Egypt had a government and a beleif in religion. They lasted for over 1000 years without internal conflict but were defeated after countless battle against foreign enemies.

notes on egypt

In the Neolithic age, people that live in the nile moved towards civilized spots. These Egyptian settlement were more stable than those of Mesopatamia. Political, foreign and sectional conflicts usually never occured and cultural influences were welcome. The country was so strong that it flourished for thousands of years, until countless attacks made their civilization shut down. Most of these villages were near the nile river, Because Egypt has a very hot climate and people need water to survive.

Geographic luck

John Perry

                Jared Diamond’s theory of geographic luck has little or no difference in what the book says. Jared Diamond has traveled across the planet looking for the answer he was asked in Papua New Guinea, “Why you white men have so much cargo, and us New Guineans so little? “ The answer is geographic luck. Thousands of years ago when advanced civilization started showing up, it was clear where this was happening. The fertile Crescent was the best place to be and was where the most developed civilizations sprouted. This started with a working government, shelter, and a good source of food and water. Papua New Guineans live in such an isolated place, that there are no crops to be grown. The soil is not rich enough. As for the Americans, they are highly advanced. Places with the same latitude share the same climate. Between 8000-4000 B.C was the Agricultural revolution. People started going from hunter gatherer to builder shelters with homes. This is all a result of geographic luck.

First Day of Western civ

Today was our first day of western civ. I am very intrested in this class and excited to get started. Mr.Schick showed us what we would be learning and helped us set up our new blogs. We got new books and i took a look in it and it looks very cool.

Class participation

I feel like i've done a pretty good job at being enthusiastic and being a part of the class and the disscussions. I would give myself a 90 because most of the time i am answering questions and asking questions, but some days im pretty lazy. I like to talk in class disscusions and work with groups.

Papua New Guinea

Today we did a report on Papua New Guinea, we learned that this country is putting 49 out of 50 people to work, which is amazing. This country has the 12th fastest growing economy. Papua New Guinea has a military and even an Air Service, they have helicopters and light airplanes, the legal age to be in the Army is 16 and there are over three million people ready to be drafted. Their is Net migration rate is zero. The number one religion in Papua new Guinea is Roman Catholic. Papua New Guinea is below the poverty line but they still want no help from the government. There are 2.4 million cell phones being used in a country with 6.2 mllion people. About 50% of people live in urban areas. The three main sports are Soccer, Rugby, and Cricket. Internet use is 125,000 out of 6 million.

Guns,Germs, and Steel

Guns,Germs, and Steel was a book wrote about the fate of humanity, it earned the Pulitzer Prize and multi million seller and there has been a documentary made out of it. Why some societies progress and just get stuck. Society needs buisness and trade and an infrasturcuture. Papua New guinea( the country Jared Diamond traveled to ) is very indigidous and still lives in t.he stone age, they are not aware of anyone outside of their country

Why Mr.Schick has us studying Jared Diamond

Mr.Schick may have us studying Jared Diamond because he was a philosipher in geography. Jared Diamond is an author, physiologist, evolutionary biologist and bio geographer. Mr.Schick obviously likes this man, They both work in the same field. He has his doctorates from Harvard university. Dr.Diamond also is an author and works in many other fields. Dr.Diamond wrote many books and has 3 fan pages in Facebook. His a scientist at UCLA. Born in Bostin. PHD in Philosophy and Geography. Hes been to Papua new guinea.