John Carroll Human Geography

We took our first quiz of the new semester today, and I got a 100. Im really happy with my score. After that, we started reading on civilization in ancient Egypt. Life in Egypt was dependent on the Nile river. The river provided water and fertile soil to land that was surrounded by vast deserts. The yearly flooding of the Nile set peasants with a schedule for their planting of crops, since the flooding was always at the same time. Unfortunately, the floodwaters were not always the same amount. Waters lower than normal resulted in thousands starving, and waters higher than normal resulted in floodwaters destroying houses and fields. The Nile river was itself worshipped in the form of a god. Egyptian rulers were pharaohs, god-kings in a theocracy. In a theocracy, religious authority determines political power. Because these rulers were deemed divine, they were extremely powerful in their civilization.

I was out sick today and couldn't complete this blog.

What areas of life did Hammurabi's code cover? Hammurabi's code covered most aspects of life, including family relations, business conduct, and crime. This was to ensure the code reached everything impacting the community. The code also applied to everyone, regardless of class or gender, but despite this, punishments differed between the rich and the poor, as well as between men and women. Punishments in Hammurabi's code were mainly retaliation, or 'eye for an eye.' The government was responsible for what happened in society, including crime, and would compensate those that had been robbed.

1. Fertile Crescent- Land facing the Mediterranean Sea. Curved shape, fertile soil.    Mesopotamia- Plain in the Fertile Crescent, "land between the rivers".    City-State- A city and surrounding land that has its own government within a united territory.    Dynasty- A series of rulers from a single family.    Cultural Diffusion- An idea or product that spreads from one culture to another.    Polytheism- Belief in multiple gods/ deities.    Empire- Previously independent states brought together under a single ruler.    Hammurabi-Ruler, lawmaker and military leader of vast empire, made a single unified legal code. 3. The three environmental challenges for Sumerians were (1) unpredictable flooding paired with periods of little or no rain (2) no natural barriers to protect them, and (3) scarce natural resources.

We discussed school shooter situations and the reliability of rocks as weapons, then we talked about our classes next semester. I'll still be with Mr. Schick, and I'm happy I don't have to find another classroom and meet a new teacher. Next semester, I'll also get a new textbook, but we don't get to take it home. We also get to keep our same blogs, which is cool because I don't wanna have to make a new one. It's a three day weekend this weekend, since we have Monday off school. I like that we get a little break before the second semester, and I don't really want the second semester to start because I have gym class next, which is lame. Anyway, we watched more Jeopardy in class today, and it was cool.

We watched Jeopardy Teen Tournament in class today since we didn't have anything else we had to do. I don't really like Jeopardy since my mom and sister are obsessed with it, but Alex Trebek is cool so I'm content. A girl won after correctly answering 'the statue of liberty' for a question on Americana. On the next episode, a girl talked about how she set the school record for reciting digits of pi. It was a fun class, and I learned a lot.

We took our test on guns, germs and steel today in class. There were test questions regarding animal domestication, plant domestication, and how location can benefit the civilization developing there. I think I did pretty well, but I would've definitely done better if I was present for the days I was absent. We listened to peaceful music during and after the test, then read comments. A lot of people listening were sad and stressed, but seemed to be in a good mind space while listening.

I was out of school due to a medical procedure and couldn't complete this assignment.

I had to stay home sick today and was unable to complete this blog post :(

We continued watching the documentary, and in the viewing, we learned about the importance of productive crops in the development of a civilizations. China grew a large population after rice farming, the Americas grew a large population following the farming of beans, squash, and corn, and Africa grew a larger population after the farming of millet, yams, and sorghum. But in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, farming and plant domestication didn't benefit the civilization as much. This is because the plants in Papua New Guinea, such as bananas, sago tree pulp and taro root, don't provide many nutrients, many people living in these civilizations will eat giant spiders to make up fr the lack of protein in their diets. Also, the food grown here doesn't keep well, and must be eaten shortly after being harvested. Essentially, how a civilization develops is entirely due to geographic luck. In James Diamond's book, he uses this to explain how Eurasian predominance isn't d

We continued watching the documentary based off of Jared Diamond's book, Guns, Germs, and Steel. In our viewing, we learned that all great ancient civilizations, including Egypt, Maya, Rome, Mesopotamia, and Greece, had three things in common: advanced technology for the time, large population for the time, and a well-organized workforce. We then looked further into the hunter-gatherer lifestyles of people living in the jungles in Papua New Guinea, one of the few places where people still live this way. People hunted with bows and arrows, and gathered pulp from trees to make food. After this, we learnt about Draa, one of the oldest known permanent villages. In a time where everyone was living a nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle in groups of roughly a dozen, a group of 40-50 people were living in Draa, in the Jordan valley near the Dead Sea. People living in Draa were the first people to domesticate plants, specifically grains like wheat and barley. Since they were no longer noma

Today was the first day back to school after winter break. We got back our exam grades (I got a 98), and began discussing what we'll be doing in class for the next two weeks before the third quarter/ second semester. We're going to be watching Guns, Germs, and Steel, a piece explaining that Eurasian predominance is not due to a genetic superiority, but rather geological factors that benefit the people evolving in these environments. This is a book written by Jared Diamond, adapted into a documentary later on. We'll be watching this documentary. We're going to watch this documentary in pieces over multiple classes. Essentially, the place on earth that a civilization develops influences how that civilization evolves and develops. This connects to the naturally occurring minerals in a place, the domestication of plants, and the domestication of animals. As we started the video, we learned about Jared Diamond's expertise in the bird population of Papua New Guinea, a