Skyping with the Egyptian Lady during class today.

     Today we had a skype conversation with a person from Egypt named Sara. We got to ask her questions about her experience in Egypt and the revolution. I asked her how social media affected her like facebook or twitter. I asked her if she went to any protests or marches or anything. I also asked her how it felt when they finally won the revolution. She answered all my questions in detail and was very nice and friendly. Many other people asked her questions and she also answered all them in detail. We will continue discussing all the things we learned in class when we get back on Tuesday. This was a very cool experience to have especially since it was a few days after the revolution happened, a historic event.

Learning how facebook started a revolution. Kinda

     Today we watched a video on the protests and marches in Egypt for the revolution. We learned a lot about how Facebook and Twitter helped start the revolution by spreading word about marches, and protests and why people should go. We saw how the police were brutal to people who opposed the government and the people wanted to change that. They did marches on police day which was ironic and another one to the presidential palace called the day of rage referring to how they were mad over the polices brutality. The group who started the revolution on facebook is called the April 6th group. One of their memebers was arrested by police at one point. I finished watching the video at home tonight. Tomorrow we are talking to a person who was part of the revlution in Egypt, via skype.

10 Questions for our Egyptian Skype Buddy.

1. How did social media involve you during the revolution. Did you join any groups on facebook, follow feeds on twitter etc.
2. Did you go to any marches or protests and if so, what where they like.
3. What was the feeling like when you finally succeeded in toppling the president.
4. Did you have any opposing views with your friends or family during the revolution about the president.
5. What were the main problems you had with the president or what did you think was wrong with the regime.
6. What kind of government would you like to see put into place now after the president has left.
7. Has anything in your daily life changed since the president has left.
8. How long have you wanted the president to leave for.
9. Did you ever have a run in with the police during the revolution or do you know anyone that did.
10. How did you find out about the marches and protests occuring.

Throwin down some mad rhymes in class today.

Today in class we all did our raps or songs. My song was pretty amazing thanks to a beat layed down by Amir. We also learned a bit more about the revolution in Egypt and watched a video about it where a girl and the rest of her family have opposing views on what is right and wrong about the government and whether it should be overthrown. This starts arguments between the opposing family members. We also learned that we might talk to one of Mr.Schicks friends on Egypt, via Skype, about the revolution. She was a person active in the revolution. We will learn more about the revolution tomorrow and finish up the video.

Egyptian Rap

" Egyptian Rap"

By: Cole Alban

You better know where Egypt is on a map cuz im about to throw down an Egyptian rap

Egyptians are awesome, they are cool

they were very smart they weren't fools

they built pyramids high in the sky

the great pyramid is a wonder of the world that ain't a lie

They buried their dead pharaohs in these pyramids when they die

because when they die they rise up to the heavens real high

They become a sun god and join the rest

they have hundreds of gods which they believe are the best

these gods represent things like animals plants and the sun

after the pharaoh died the new divine figure is the pharaohs son

The pharaohs all wore some special clothes

the fact they were the pharaoh is something everyone would know

they wore things like the shendyt and the nemes

these were a royal kilt and headcloth and they looked clean

sometimes Egypt had pharisees 

woman who ruled the land and strived to please

The Nile river allowed the Egyptians to travel and water plants with ease

they could travel down through Africa at their please

without the Nile Egypt would never advance

the Nile helped Egypt blow by everyone like they were in a trance

the Nile helps water Egypt's plants since they get little rain

without it farming would be a huge pain

As you can tell Egypt is a really cool place

if you don't agree ill slap you on the face

The worst computer game ever created 2-19-11

     Today for class we had to play a game about Egypt where we had to build a pyramid. I thought it would be easy but it was possibly the most frustrating, annoying, toughest game I have ever played. How anyone beat this game is unknown to me as I tried and failed about 15 to 20 times. Luckily it was only worth 20 points so not too much. For homework this weekend we have to write a rap or any kind of song about Egypt. I will probably write a rap.

Showing slideshows on Egypt in class today. 2-18-11

     Today we watched two slideshows during class. We watched mine and Rachels. We learned about pyramids, pharaohs, the Nile, mummification,  and Egyptian gods. We found out things like how Egyptians believed in many Gods and thought that they represented things like the sun, animals, and local villages. The Egyptians thought they needed to worship for life to run smoothly. We learned that Egyptians mummified animals and humans. We learned that the Egyptians thought the body had six parts. The physical body, shadow, name, personality, immortality, and spirit. Each of these factors was neccesary and needed to be reborn into the afterlife. Finally I found out pyramids were built out of limestone. That was all the things I learned from the slideshows we have watched so far but we havent seen them all.

Putting Together a Powerpoint on Egypt. 2-16-11

     Today in class Mr.Schick was out again so he told us to put together a powerpoint on Egypt with the notes we took. We intermixed with other groups and shared all our information to put together a slideshow about Egypt. In my group we have me, Mark, and Colleen. We are doing our on Pyramids, Pharaohs, and the Nile River. We will most likely present them whenever Mr.Schick returns.

More Egypt research in class see notes below 2-15-11

     Today Mr. Schick wasnt in class. We had Mr. Wojo as a substitute teacher today. We continued on our notes and shared them within out groups. My notes were added on to last weeks note on the below post with the bullet points.

Egypt Research in class today 2-12-11

     Today in class we began research on ancient Egypt. Every group picked a different topic to do research on and we researched it. My group looked up things on pyramids. We also had to lost the sites we used in a new links gadget. Finally Egypts dictator finally stepped down today.

Egyptian Pyramids

• Pyramids were built by workers who lived in villages by the pyramid build site. not the slaves or foreginers
• these villages had bakers, brewers, garneries, houses, even health care facilities
• some people were official employees of the pharaoh some were women
• many workers too a lot of pride in their work
• at giza about 20 to 30 thousand people worked on the pyramids over 80 years
• egyptians believed when pharoahs died they became king od the dead
• the new pharaoh became king of the sun and the heavens
• people believed that people had to take care of the pharoajs dead body because a part of their spirit remained or disasyter would befall egypt
• people would give the pharoah everything they need for their afterlife liek food, dolls, gold furniture
• pharoahs didnt only get pyramids sometimes they only had a tomb but it was enourmos
• at first huge tombs were built with a mound of dirt over it
• these inspired pyramids
• Some Pyramids are
• step pyramid of djoser
• maidum pyramid
• Bent Pyramid
• Red Pyramid
• Great Pyramid ( the largest)
• Pyramid of Phafre
• Pyramid of Menkaure
• Pyramid of pepi II
• The tombs built before pyramids were called mastabas
• Egyptians believed Pharoahs were gods so they built the pyramids as tombs for them,
• he first pyramid was the step pyramid at saqquara built for king zoser in 2750 BC
• the pyramids were constructed out of limestone blocks and desert clay
• the pyramids were meant to mimic the kings palace one main burial room and other small rooms surrounding it containing thingss like jewerly
• most people say the pyramids were built in 3200 BC
• Built during the Old and Middle King periods
• King Khufu began building pyramoids
• 
  

Guns Germs and Steel test 2-10-11

     Today we took a test on guns germs and steel. It had 25 multiple choice questions, a few short answers, and an essay. The test was about all the things we saw in the movie Guns Germs and Steel like why some civilizations advance, and how farming helped people advance.  Tommorow we will start Egypt.

Western CIv Test Essay 2-10-11i

Essay Letter (A)

     

     Before ancient civilizations  that we know of existed, everybody hunted and gathered food. This means people would be nomads. They would move from place to place gathering food, and hunting animals. They would do this until the food supply ran out. This worked but was very time consuming and the people spent all their time looking for something to eat and traveling to new areas with food. After a while people discovered how to farm food, and domesticate animals. This opened up a new world of opportunities but how did they make the transition. 

     Around 13,000 years ago everyone was hunting and gathering. This, like I said, was very time consuming and people spent all their time looking for food. After a while, in the fertile crescent, people discovered how to farm the useful crops of wheat and barley. They would plant the seeds of this crops and control when they grew, were harvested, and basically controlled the plants. Eventually this domesticated the plants and turned them into the crops we know today. They could grow plants whenever it was in season and they could stockpile all these crops for later use. This meant not everybody had to spend all their time trying to find food. Also people domesticated animals by controlling when they eat, what they eat, and where they went. This allowed the people to use the animals for fur, milk, manpower, and meat. This all allowed people to do other things called specialized jobs. These were things like weaving, plaster making,  weapon making. and other things that people developed. All these things now allowed people to move forward in civilization because they had advanced technology. They could advance in civilization all because people changed from hunters to farmers.

     Making the transition from hunting to farming was very important in the growth of people. It might have taken a long time, over thousands of years, but once people started to farm crops and animals they sped ahead. They could develop many new technologies and advance. Without farming we would not be where we are today. We might still me living like they did 13,000 years ago when they hunted and gathered. Although the transition may have been hard it was very important to advances in civilization. 

Guns Germs ans Steel presentations 2-9-11

     Today in class my group got to present our project about how Papau new Guinea has adapted to 21st century culture. I talked about how Papau New Guinea has advanced in ways like their economy, transportation, technology, communications, and literacy rate. We then did a test review for our test tomorrow. We talked about geographic luck, how farming and animals helped people advance, Jared Diamonds theory, and specialzied labor. Tomorrow we will take the test on Papau New Guinea. It will be part multiple choice and the other part short answer

Guns Germs and Steel project 2-8-11T

     Today we began working on a Project about Guns Germs and Steel. We had to write about how Papa New Guinea is adapting to 21st century culture. Papa New Guinea has cities where there is technology but it is minimum. They only have two TV channels, three radio networks, 600,00 cellphones, and 90,000 landlines but service is limited. They have airports and helicopters and they also have internet. They produce gold, copper, silver, palm tree oil, and crayfish to name a few things. They import machinery, food, and oil to name a few. They also have about a 57.3 percent literacy rate. Their GDP is 14.93 billion and it has a 6.2 percent growth rate. The GDP per capita is about 2,500 dollars. Finally 87 percent of their workforce goes into farming and they produce crops like coffee, cocoa, copra, palm kernels, tea, sugar, sweet potatoes, vanilla, shellfish poultry and pork. The project is being made by my group with amir, jason, and me.The class was good with the sub today.

Guns Germs and Steel 2-5-11

     Today in class we continued watching the movie Guns Germs and Steel. Today we learned more about how farming, and domesticating animals helped civlizations advance. We also learned how the animals and plants spread all over the world. We learned about the 14 domesticated animals again and why they were domesticated and other animals were not. For one we can not domesticate carnivores who are agressive and will either or attack or run away. Also some animals have a natural fear of humans and will run away. We learned most of the domesticated animals came from the Asia Europe and North Africa. with only one coming from South America( the llama). The big four animals (cattle) came form the middle east. After a while people eventually overfarmed the middle east. People in the Middle East created the first civilizations when they built homes to actually stay in and not just to sleep in. There wasnt enough water to farm and give to the animals and the land dried up. This forced them to move away from the fertile crescent to places all over the world like africa or Europe. Once they came to these places they brought their animals and plants with them and taught all these people how to succesfully farm with their useful wheat and barley and how to use the animals effectively. ( also moving away from the fertile crescent was easy because many places were directly east or west of the Fertile Crescent which made it easy to get there, and these places had similar crops and climates.) Once the animals and plants were brought to these areas civilization quickly sprung up. For example the arrival of these crops in egypt made the famous civilization we know for making pyramids spring up because Egypt could now have specialized workers. Same with Europe who now had powerful soldiers, and famous artists. Eventually all these things came to America also a place that had no native domestic animals. All these sepcilized workers allowed steel to be made a vital part of humanities advancement. at Papa New Guinea, all these things arent brought in easily because theyre on an island with no boats that cant take them to other places or transport cargo. Also Papa New Guinea was easily counquered when Westerners came because the Westerners had advanced technologies. So once again we go back to the fact the geographical luck is why some people advance and others dont.

Guns Germs and Steel movie 2-3-11

      Today in class we continued watching Guns Germs and Steel. We saw a lot of about how animals were a big influence in the advancement of Middle Eastern People. Once the ancient people began to farm they also learned how to domesticate animals to use for various things. They would use the animals for meat, milk, muscle power, hair, and other things. Some of the animals they domesticated were the Camel, goats, sheep, pigs, cows, horses, donkeys, camels, water buffalos, llamas, reindeers, yaks, mithan, and balli cattle. These are the only 14 plant eating mammals over 100 pounds that man has domesticated. Man cant domesticate animals like lions, tigers, and zebras for the obvious reason that they are either naturally aggressive or fearful. Domesticating the animals gave the people food, milk, and material to ,make clothes. Also the animals could be used to plow fields and to ride on so it made farming easier. In Papa New Guinea the only domesticated animal is the pig which can only be used for food not farming so that doesnt help them. Once again the whole luck of where you are geographically plays in for reasons like what animals are in your area. We will continue watching the movie in class tomorrow.

Class notes on Guns germs and steel 2-2-11

     Today we continued watching guns germs and steel. We got a better idea of why some civilizations advance faster than others. To discover why some civilizations advance and others dont he went back in time( in research) to find out. He found out that after the ice age a long time ago hunters and gatherers were everywhere. They would hunt and gather food in one place and once all that food was gone they would move on to another area. This didnt let the people learn new things or invent new things there whole life was put to finding food. In the Middle East, people were going through a drought and they had a low supply of food. This meant they couldnt travel a lot and they had to stay near a water source. This forced the people to start farming food and storing it for later. They plant the food cut it down themselves to eat. This distubed the natural pattern of the food and they domesticated the food. They then stored the food in graneries and could store it for later. This let these civilizations move forward because they could do other things than hunt and gather all the time. They could develop weapons, weave, and make new things. Hunters and gatherers fell behind. Now Papa New Guinea still farms but their food isnt very effiecient because its harder to plant, grow, and process than the wheat and barley in the Middle East. Also their plants like sago aren't nutritious enough and don't have a lot of protein in them. This is why Papa new Guinea fell behind.
     We we continue the movie tommorow.