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Today in class we talked about longitude and timezones. Longitude is    a ngular   distance   on   the   earth's   surface,   measured   east   or   west   from   the   Prime Meridian   at   Greenwich,   England. The prime meridian has a degrees of 0 degrees. Also, we talked about the timezones such as if it were 7:00 am here in bel air it would be 7:00 in china because of the 12 hour difference. The lines of longitude run in a north- south direction and they are the farthest apart from the equator and meet at north poles. They are also known as meridians. I also learned that Eratosthenes made the first world map in 195 BCE.   

Today we talked about grids on the map. It consisted of longitude and latitude on the map. I also found out that the art and science of mapmaking is a Cartography. We also talked about the absolute and relative location. The absolute is the exact location of the place with degrees and seconds. But the relative location is like the area around it. Also, maps serve two different purposes, one is a reference tool to identify an objects absolute and relative location. The other one is a communication tool to convey the distribution of human activities or physical features.

I didn't go to to class today because I had soccer to go to.

We learned a pretty good amount of things today. We learned that the geographers describe where things are by their absolute value on the map and by the site which is the physical character of a place. Site has characteristics such as the climate, water sources, soil, vegetation, latitude and elevation. We as humans have the ability to change and modify the characteristics of site. What makes my house a unique site is my backyard is like a hill and nothing really flat. We also have a lot of soil in my backyard just from the ground and from the trees in our backyard that have weeds and flowers in them.

     North and Central America   South America

We reviewed the test, we had done a day or two ago for me because I missed the actual date for the test that Friday. I didn't do very good even though I did study I just might of didn't study the right things or didn't go through everything word for word. Some of the things on the test were really easy to me and some were pretty hard to figure out cause I just couldn't remember what the answer was from my notes. Finally, I learned that the answer can sometimes be hinted in the next couple questions.

There is a lot of differences about these two maps. Like, first when they made the the mercator map it focused on making the North American countries to be a lot bigger than what the Peter map shows. The Peter map focusses on making the 3rd world countries bigger and more clearer for everybody to see.  Yet  the popularity of the Peters Projection may have been due to a lack of knowledge about basic cartography. Also, the mercator map was to aid navigators so they could find the place or thing they were looking for. Yet it is very useful to go on the atlas or maps in books because it is  its rectangular grid and shape. Finally, t he Mercator projection has fallen into disuse from many reliable sources such as many atlases.  

Today I was one of the the few people to take the test. It was pretty easy test I just had trouble answering the two questions. When I came into class even though I wasn't In the class for like any of the class I still got to listen to a good conversation about how the earth and about how you flipped the map or globe around Antartica was where Canada is and America was flipped around. Also, if you launched a rocket ship into space you would be at the bottom of the earth and you would only see the continents that were on the bottom then you would see more of the continents the farther you got from Earth.

 I had soccer so I had to leave early.

Today we talked more about Socrates and about excellence. I learned that Socrates was a stonemason and he was a  philosopher. He also fought in one of the wars and he lived. That is also what shaped his world was the  battlefield that he fought on. I learned that what is now the scientific method used to be the Socrates method which means all socrates would do was ask a bunch of questions wanting an answer. But, it wasn't all that great, when he taught kids he corrupted their brains into thinking different things so he got put on the death penalty which caused his death. The death penalty for him was that he had to drink poison and within a few hours he would be dead. Even though he could have escaped the death penalty, he was true to his word and was killed.    

Agora- An open place of assembly.   Polis- a city-state in ancient Greece having to do with philosophical things.   Year of 508 BC-  Klisthenis came to power and he was placed the foundations of Athenian democracy with serious reforms.   Socrates- He was  one of  the creator s  of western  philosophy . Which means he was a philosopher.     Death of Socrates-  He refused to recognize the gods recognized by the state.  He was sentenced to death from poisoning.    Socratic method-      Asking the students question after question over  and over again.   Ancient Greeks “idiot”-  Greeks used the word to say that it is selfish and foolish.   

Today we talked more about the Letter to Garcia. This passage was reprinted into a book and a pamphlet which sold 40 million copies and was even made into a movie (twice). It is even used today like in the military "take message to Garcia" which means take initiative. Also, We learned that when President McKinley got killed there was the tallest mountain named after him but was sadly taken off in (2015).  We also learned that back in the day stenographers used a technique called shorthand writing where they could write down thing very quickly when said to them. They even use it today in court so they can hear the words being said and write them down quickly. Finally, as I said before Elbert wanted more people who were like Rowan and who got the job done immedially.

In this passage we learned that there was a guy named Rowan who had to deliver a message for the president so that the letter can get too Garcia. He did it and he did it without any complaining or whining that it was hard. Then there was a stork clerk in the town where when Elbert asked him to look up people in the encyclopedia the store clerk didn't want to do it he thought it was too much work. Its a lot like today there are very few people who actually did their job all day and all the time and there is most of the world where they are lazy and try to get out of doing the job. Thats why most of the time he wanted to punish them because they were lazy doing their job.

Today we really didn't do much at all because we had to wait for the people who hadn't finished their blogs yet although I was helping my friend in class try to send his blog to Mr.Schick. Also, I helped two other people start they're blogs. We also talked about how high school is going to be a lot different than middle school where the expectations are going to higher and its going to be more challenging through my future in high school as a JC patriot.  So overall it was a pretty tiresome class in my opinion because we didn't really do much.

My first day went well. I met my new teachers from all my classes like Human Geo, English, and so on. I also got to talk to most of my friends and some new people I had never met. But the part of the day I didn't really like was when we had to listen to the lectures given by the teachers that was pretty boring if I don't say so myself. I also really liked when we had lunch and I got to eat and I got to have an off mod after that. I'm not really a fan of my seat because it is in the front of the room and I just don't like being in the front of the classroom. I like being in the back of the classroom because I like hearing voices in front of me and I like seeing the whole room where I'm sitting. Where in the front I hear voices in the back of me and I can only see the front of the room only.