Political Geography

Mexico:

• Federal Republic government
• President Felipe Calderón

China:

• Communist 
• Hu Jinato

India:

•  
• Pranab Muhkreejee 
• Federal Republic

Afghanistan:

• Presidential system, Islamic republic  
• Hamid Karzai

Iran:

• Islamic Republic
•  Mahmoud Ahmadinejand 

Isreal:

• Democracy
• Benjamin Netanyahu 

Germany:

• Federal Republic 
• Joachim Gauck 

United Kingdom:

• Parliament
• Queen Elizabeth 

France:

• Frrancas Hollander
•  Constitutional Republic

Brazil:

• Dilma Rouseff
• Federal Republic

Venezuela:

• Federal Republic
• Hugo Chavez 

Saudi Arabia:

• Monarchy
• Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud 

Not in class

I pulled a leg muscle so I was not able to participate in school

Discussions on Questions

Today was not a normal day for human geo class. We did not have class as long as we normally do because of the powder puff game. In class today it was really chill because the students were the ones talking most of time. It was us telling Mr. Schick the questions that we thought would be good to put on the test which is going to be Friday, however

Questions

• What religion is also a ethnic group? Judaism
• Which religion, in a few decades, will be the worlds largest religion? Islam
• What is the only non Spanish speaking country in South America? Brazil
• What is the worlds business language? English
• Who is the founder of Islam? Muhammad 

Hinduism and Islamic

Today in human geo class we reviewed religions. The religions we went over today were Islam and Hinduism. The information we learned was that Islam was founded by Muhammad. There are around 1.7 billion Muslims in the world and they will soon be the world’s most populous religion and overtake Christianity. The holy book for the Muslims is called the Qur’an. Also the religion is called Islam and the people who follow this religion are called Muslims. This religion was founded in Mecca and the devout Muslims are supposed to pray 5 times a day facing towards Mecca. Afterwards I gave a presentation on Hinduism. I shared the information I knew from learning and going to the Hindu temple and learning stuff about it from my mother. I explained how it was a monotheistic religion and that there was only one god that reincarnated many different times. Then afterwards I had to leave for my football game against Boys Latin and unfortunately we lost that game.

Today in class for human geo we talked about different ethnic groups and how some coexist and others do not. There are countries in the world who just are unable to live with each other and live peacefully. They have civil wars that are horrific and very harmful to the people. Then there are other countries that are entirely made up of different ethnic groups and religions and are very successful countries. We also talked about how different religions cause civil wars and arguments. Mr. Schick believes that religion causes the most wars in the world. They all believe in one God, but they just call him different names and that progresses into millions of deaths in this world. We talked about how countries such as Korea and Japan are very isolated and only allow their own ethnic group and religion to stay in their countries. They are very blocked off from each other. Then there are countries in Africa, such as Sudan we just learned about, that have civil wars and many killings about the religion issues. However there are other countries such as the United States that can coexist and are fine with multiple different ethnicities living together peacefully and forming one of the most successful countries in the world today. In the latter part of class we talked about the blog we had to do on the 5 religions. In class we only went over Christianity so far. The central figure was Jesus and a few dozen followers progressed into 2.2 million followers of Jesus. This happened because of the Pual/Saul story and evangelism. This also was possible because of social networking. 

Classwork on FIve Religions

In class on Friday I did not start the classwork because I was helping Isaac out and telling him what class was going to be like and helping him set up his blog.
1.Christianity:
      Christianity was first established in 30 A.D. in Jerusalem  Christianity is a monotheistic religion because the people believe that there is only one true God. Yes, Christians do have a holy book and their holy book is called the New Testament in the Bible.  The New Testament is a collection of sacred texts that have been put together into one book which is known as the word of God and how Christians today can talk to God. Christianity is the worlds largest religion and 2.1 billion people claim to be Christians. The figure of Christianity is Jesus Christ who is believed to be the Son of God and has been fully man and fully God at the same time also another leader in Christianity is the Pope.. After the death of Christ his followers spread his word. Also that he is God, that he is the same as God and they are one being. Christianity is mostly found in North America, Europe, and parts of Africa.
2. Islamic
     The religion known as Islam was founded around 630 AD, to be more specific most say it was around 632 AD. The religion was founded in a place called Mecca and its founder is Muhammad. This is also a monotheistic religion because its belief is to have one and only one god. The holy book for this religion is the Quran. This book is made up of different stories and parts of Islamic history. The main figure for Islam is called Allah which is the Arabic way of saying God. There are around 1.4 billion Islamic people in the world. Islamic people are generally located in the Middle East,Northern Africa,Central Asia, South Asia, Western Africa, Indian subcontinent, Malay Archipelago with large population centers existing in Eastern Africa,Balkan Peninsula, Russia and China. .
3. Buddhism
   Buddhism has been around for a long time and was started in about the 4 century BC. This religion was founded in the northern region of India although it is still not the most popular religion in India. The founder of Buddhism is not Buddha, although that can be a nickname for him his true name was Siddhartha. There are around 350 million Buddhist people in the world and it does have a sacred holy book. The name of this holy book is the Tipitika and it is written in an old Indian language called Pali. The main figure in the Buddhist religion is Buddha himself and it most of its followers are located in various parts of Asia.
4. Hinduism
    Hinduism was founded 1500 BC or earlier than that. It is one of the oldest religions in the world. A surprising fact to most is that Hinduism is a monotheistic religion. They believe in only one God, but the god has reincarnated into many different gods. The Hindus do not just have one holy book they have a few which are called Vedas, Upanishads, Sutras, and Bhagavad Gita. There are about 900 million and some say up to 1.4 billion Hindus in the world. They rank 3rd in the world in number of Hindus. The main population of Hindus are in India, however they have moved and immgrated to many different areas such as the Americas, Australia, and Africa.
5. Judiasm
    It was founded around 2000 BC and Abraham is their founder. Judiasm also only believes in one god so it is monotheistic. The Torah is the holy book in Judiasm and is used as a rule or instruction book for the Jews. Statics show there are anywhere from 12-14 million Jews in the world and they are mostly located in Isreal, however there are small amounts in countries in North and South America, Europe, and Asia. The prominent figures of Judiasm are the prophets and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Notes on culture

Today in class we took notes for the majority of the time. The lesson today was about culture and the different kinds. The first slide was showing a map of the United States of America and the different ways the people say a soft drink. In the area we live in here in Maryland most people call it soda, however if you look at somewhere such as Chicago they call it pop. Also in class we talked on the issue of being prejudice. Mr. Schick told us a story about how his wives friend was complaining on how verizon wireless has to have an option for having Spanish. The friend of his wives said they should learn English, but it should not really matter to him and if they speak Spanish then they should have an option for it. Many customers are Spanish speakers so it would be helpful to have that and also if an American moved to a different country and the main language was not English they would want to have an English option so they can better understand. Then he complained how customer service was always an Indian, but he doesn't realize they pay half the price to them then they would to an American worker. So the bill for his phone and stuff would go extremely high and he would then get ticked off on how expensive it is!

Presentation on Native Americans

Today during human geo class we were suppose to present our slide shows on either Columbus, the Vikings, or Native Americans. My group did the Native Americans and we were prepared and had all of our stuff ready to go! Unfortunately the other groups were not prepared and had to use someone elses powerpoint. We used google drive to do our presentations. I think my group did a pretty solid job in presenting and having good information besides the one small mistake we had. In my group Cole, Sean, and I were elected to go up and present the information our group had gathered on Native Americans. I had to answer questions 4&5 for my group and I also organized the power point. I learned about the Vikings and why they did not settle into the Americas. I also learned that Columbus was not a nice guy about it he just overpowered and killed the Native Americans because they could. The Native Americans were at a disadvantage because they had no guns while the Europeans did.

Native American Presentations

Today in Human Geo class we got our tests back. I was disappointed I did not get an A on this test just because I did not know there was an "h" in PittsburgH. That was the difference from me getting and 89 to a 90. The class average grade was an 82.7 which I was gladly above! There were 4 A's in our class and 2 F's while Hailey was the only one to get a 100 in all of Mr. Schick's classes. The volleyball girls got to leave early because they had a game today! After we were done with that and checking Alex kept on asking too many questions somehow she managed to ask seven questions in like five minutes! So Mr. Schick had to tell her to put her hand down and not speak anymore. Also we got our groups for Columbus Day. My group was suppose to do the Native Americans! I finished my slides on my questions and I hope the rest of my group also did theirs!

Discussion

In class this day we went over the websites which we researched and saw. We were supposed to discuss what we thought we could do and some of the favorite websites that which we would like to support! Mr. Schick told us that the other class had a really cool idea in my mind it was to have a dress down day. The idea is to pay to dress down into jeans and a shirt which the money would go toward the people who need the money (Lost Boys). I really liked that idea and also I liked the mayardit website because it is for exactly what we were learning and talking about! We also talked about the test that we are going to have tomorrow. It is all about what we learned in the God Grew Tired of Us film! I expect to do well on it because I have been paying attention in class and watching the video for details and such. Today in class we did not start off well because we did not have a lot of ideas, but however at the end I think we had a pretty good conversation and participation!

Website For Lost Boys

Today in class it was kind of laid back do it yourself. We were told to get into a small group if we chose to or just do it by ourselves and find out about charities to help the Lost Boys. We did this because we just got finished watching the movie God Grew Tired of Us. The group I chose to be with was Caroline and Sean. We found many websites and it was interesting to see what we could find and all the possibilities we have for helping these people that will take any help they can get. My group had found many websites that we could use, but personally I think that the website named mayardit was the best one because we know it was real since it was from one of the Lost Boys themselves! I also think it will be good because it is directly related to the Lost Boys which we are learning about!

The Ending!

Today in class we finished watching our movie on the Sudanese Lost Boys. We learned that John had been ruinited with his mother and sister, but we do not know however if they lived with him or were still in Africa. They came to America and he was reuntited with his mother of 17 years! He is supporting his family and is also a graduate of Syracuse University. Also John created his own foundation to help the Lost Boys and raise awareness. Daniel however was not as lucky as John and never found his parents or family as of the day the movie was produced. He was still in the job core program where he could learn and find a job as well. Panther is a graduate of Pitt University! He earns enough money to go back to Sudan and marry his girl friends and he is also continuing in his dream to create a school in Sudan so they can use all the rich resources they have and be rich! I think we should help the Lost Boys because it is an important thing in this world of issues that we are faced with. I think a good idea would be to create awareness of this event or by donating food/money to them because of the difficulties they have!