Western Civilization Blog

First section of notes on Grids & Time Zones - Geography: the study of where things are found on Earth's surface & reasons why they're there. 1. Where are people & activities found on Earth?  2. Why are they found there? - Map: 2d flat scale model of Earth's surface (or portion of it) - Cartography: The art/science of mapmaking. • Eratosthenes - drew that map thats kinda wrong - Maps serve 2 purposes: 1. Absolute & Relative location 2. Communications 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 Equator) & longitude (East & West of Prime Meridian) - Relative Location: regional position of a 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. Runs parallel to the equator. Most signif...

- Situation is a valuable way to indicate location for two reasons: Situation helps us to find an unfamiliar place by comparing it's location with a familiar one. Situation helps us understand the importance of a location. For example, some places are important because they are accessible to other places due to their location.  Today in class we discussed why Chicago became so populous and why America would rather buy things from China and not produce them here. Chicago became popular because European sellers would come through the great lakes, entering through the St. Lawrence. They could get to Chicago and barely have to land travel to sell their stuff. A lot of people would stop at places on the east coast where it was easy to get to and sell, but the items they sell are already being sold by a bunch of other people. The United States buys their stuff from China because the costs are cheaper there. There is a ton of factory workers that get paid terribly. About 300$ a mon...

How do geographers describe where things are? - Geographers can describe the location of a place by site; the physical character of a place. - Important site characteristics: Climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation, latitude & elevation. Humans have the ability to modify the characteristics of a site. - The southern portion of Manhattan is twice as big as it originally was because they filled in some of the water to make it buildable. Today in class we took some notes and went over the other aspects of building a new neighborhood with 20,000 residents and 30,000 workers. When you build a new building there is more than just the building and the business. There is the plumbing, electricity, the workers and construction company you have to hire to actually build it. I'm sure the porta-potty company is getting big bucks too so theres a place for the workers to pee. They have to consider building schools for the workers' kids and new roads to get around.

Today we played a country-naming game. It was hard at first but I feel that I have a better understanding of the countries.

Today we went over the test we took last week. We talked about how we need to keep the test because they will be on midterms. For the essay questions, 4 people said Socrates is guilty and 13 said not. We talked about each of the arguments on both sides. One of the arguments of the not guilty side is that he didn't make them believe what he was saying, he just made them think. While I agree with that, if he puts that idea in their head, then it is likely that they may start believing it. You shouldn't even be questioning that at their age because that's how they're raised, thats the culture and that's what they should believe until they find out on their own. Just my opinion, I say this because I didn't think to consider this as a point. We also had a shadow named Jenna.

Mercator vs. Peters  Mercator: - The map you would usually see in a city or other places - Better for navigating - Exaggerates areas further away from the equator (making the countries proportions completely off) - People in the countries closer to the equator are angry because this makes their countries look small, which makes them look inferior. - Not good for a general world map because of the disproportion - Because of the common use it may have influenced peoples' view on the world Gall-Peters: - Shows countries at correct proportions - Some schools have adopted this as their main map - Controversial - The way they first presented it came across as hostile to some, since they had seen many other map projections, and once that died down they started another way of presenting the idea and was recognized by NACIS (North American Cartographer Information Society.) - Probably so controversial due to the fact that is was so different and hard to get your head around...

Vocab: Topography: - mountains on a map Mercator: - just a regular map Peters map: - the most accurate map in terms of size and location. Notes of the different maps: Map A: Colored states Raised looking areas (mountains) Interstates Surrounded by water Could be used for direction Map B: Larger than map A Shows all countries Each country separate color Has a compass rose Each country labeled Map C: Larger than map A & B Each continent is a separate color Surrounded by ocean Looks more long Outlined area that looks like a dinosaur Each color is longer than in the other maps Shows lines of latitude and longitude

Lily's official review of the test The test we had today was relatively easy. Maybe if I had studied more it would have helped me, but I didn't so here I am. I don't know if theres much I would change about the test, as I thought that was easy, but I would have studied more. I had a harder time with the excellence part rather than the Message to Garcia. I should have studied Socrates a little more. To be honest I forgot we even had a test today, so anything I messed up is obviously my fault. I need to be more responsible or even just find a place to write homework and tests down.

End of notes: - Idiot according to Ancient Greece: characterized by self-centeredness and concerned almost exclusively with private - as opposed to public - affairs. ᛫ idiots were born but citizens are made through education. ᛫ doesn't take part in public life, such as democratic government of the polis, was considered dishonorable. - The unexamined life is not worth living - Socrates. In class: - We reviewed over notes and went over what would be on the test by coming up with questions we think would be on the test and was given confirmation, or told they weren't on it. - There is multiple choice, fill in the blank and essay questions. The first essay question is an opinion answer. - There is a bonus but it's not about Mr. Schick's dog. - Tonight I will review notes, paying special attention to Socrates and the events of 508 B.C. and president McKinley.

Notes  - 508 B.C. first revolution to overthrow gov. (ever) - Socrates ᛫ stonemason ᛫ fought in Peloponnesian war ᛫ working class background may have shaped the way he viewed the world - Socratic method ᛫ met with kids in workshops outside agora ᛫ asks a series of questions to bring find out persons' beliefs ᛫ come up w hypothesis & disprove/prove the hypothesis - Socrates controversy ᛫ Athens full of brilliant thinkers  ᛫ people came from all over to share their discoveries/knowledge ᛫ often got young people to question your beliefs (mostly about greek gods) - Socrates trial  ᛫ charged w two crimes ᛫ impiety (not believing in gods of the the state) - His defense  ᛫ "It's my job to be gadfly to the lazy, sluggish horse that is Athens." ᛫ "I should be rewarded with free dinners for life." ᛫ jury of 500 males citizens found him guilty. (279-221) ᛫ hemlock poison to drink to die ᛫ had opportunity to esc...

Define words: Agora - directly translates to 'open place of assembly' - In early Greece was an open place in the city where free-born citizens would go to listen to civic announcements, muster for military campaigns and discuss politics. - Later used as a marketplace where vendors can sell goods. Polis - an independent city in ancient Greece - Usually consisted of an urban centre, fortified with a sacred centre built on a natural acropolis/harbor. - Similar to a state, had its own culture. Importance of 508 B.C. - Democracy is introduced in Athens by Cleisthenes (he is often referred to as the "Father of Athenian democracy.") Socrates - Greek philosopher credited with laying the fundamentals of Modern Western Civilization known for inventing the teaching practice of pedagogy, where a teacher questions a student in a manner that draws out the correct response. Death of Socrates - He was sentenced to death by poison - Accused of "refusing to recognize th...

Message to Garcia notes - During Spanish-American war (1899) - McKinley needs a message sent to Garcia (got this wrong in the other post, ignore that) - Rowan delivers the message with no questions asked - Hubbard was taken aback by Rowan's work and writes this whole thing about it. - Rant about how lazy people are and how people need to be more like Rowan. - People make excuses to get out of doing work even if it's your job to do - Wants to beat his workers with a stick and fire them - Thinks the average American worker is going to get drunk and forget what they're doing while they're working. - His sympathy resides with the employers and higher-up's instead of the workers. - If someone is a slacker, fire them. - It doesn't matter how many people you fire, you have to keep doing it until you get a good one that knows what they're doing. - A bad business man can't give or take orders. - Compares bad workers to cripples - Lazy people bad (su...

Today in class we discussed what high school is like, and how it may be the most difficult time in your whole life with long working hours and time management. Along with that, in high school there is no one to hold your hand through classes, or to chase you down when you don't turn in homework. We also talked about the essay written to Garcia. Key notes from "A message to Garcia": - Written by Elbert Hubbard. - Written during Spanish-American war in Cuba. - Rowan was to deliver this message to Garcia, who Hubbard thought was this really good leader and basically was a big fan of him. - The first few paragraphs are about the messenger, who Hubbard compares everyone else to. A lot of the writing is just anger. - He also compares Garcia to others and notes how sloppy and lazy people are with their work. - He's also bashing people for being stupid (understandable). - This essay became popular because business owners were taking it and using Rowan and Garcia as ex...

1. The best and worst part of the first day: - The best part of my first day at John Carroll was getting to meet new teachers and people, since I went to a small school I had kept the same teachers and friends throughout middle school, so it's exciting getting to meet new people. The worst part of my first day was not knowing where to sit at lunch, but I figured it out pretty quickly so it wasn't really too bad. 2. Why I do like the seat I am in: - I do like the seat I was put in today. Sitting in the front makes me pay attention to what's on the board instead of having more to look at everywhere else and get distracted.