World Factbook

Today, we discussed an upcoming test that has to do with a few things that we have not learned yet. The main section of the test is using the World Factbook. We will have 15 minutes to complete 15 questions about information on the website. I do not think that the test will be extremely difficult for our class because we all seem to find the answers quickly. We will have 60 seconds for each question and that is more than enough for the easier ones.

Veracross Day

There are only a few days before the quarter ends so today we went on to Veracross and checked all of our work and missing assignments. In the end of class, Patrick went up and explained the movie "Captain Phillips" but I was not listening very intently. I checked all my classes and I am thankful for that period because it said I had something missing in Bio and I got it cleared up. It was a very helpful class period for the end of the quarter.

Assignment

The United States has a 3.9 net immigration rate. It is ranked in 29th place. The country with the highest rate is the British Virgin Islands with a 16.5 net immigration rate. I think that it is interesting that the United States is ranked 29th when it is very stressed that we have a high immigration rate that is perceived to be problematic. It is fairly high on the list but it does not seem like a problem to be ranked 29th. We have talked about immigration in class and how the United States' immigration rate has actually been dropping steadily for years now. I do not understand why it is all of a sudden a major concern and something that is talked about in today's news and society.

It is very unusual that Cuba does a better job at keeping infants alive past birth than the United States. I think of this country to be a fairly safe and healthy environment for newborns. Maybe, the United States has more urban areas that are suffering from poverty and cannot afford the proper needs for a newborn child. It is ranked as 170. This actually alarming that my country is so low on the list. Afghanistan is ranked number 1. I would not have expected the United States to be ranked as low as it is.

The United States has a population of 326,625,791.It is the third highest population in the world. This is not very surprising because I think it is a diverse country full of lots of different people with different origins. It was seen as the place of freedom and job opportunities which caused massive growth. The country with the highest population is 1,379,302,271. I understand why it is the highest because they want to keep their family name so they will most likely try to have children until they have a boy. This way, the traditional family name is passed down to the next generation. This is very important in Chinese culture.

The United States is ranked 12 for obesity at 36.2%. This could be because of all the fast food and processed meals at grocery stores that are priced lower than healthy foods. It us a lot easier to go through a drive through and order from a dollar menu than to prepare a nutritious meal. Fast food industries have had massive growth Ibn the United States. The country with the highest obesity percentage is Nauru. I am not familiar with this country but I am assuming it is fairly small and very unhealthy. The country with the lowest obesity percentage is Vietnam. I think this is because it is very usual for girls to starve themselves just to be a 00 size. I have seen documentaries and this is basically part of their culture. They have been improving in embracing normal sized bodies recently by advertising their very first plus sized model campaign.

The United States life expectancy is 80 years. I think that is pretty usual for every older person I know, but it is ranked 43. I would think that is would be ranked higher. The country with the highest life expectancy, as we discussed in class, is Monaco. This is a very rich country with fairly older aged inhabitants. It probably has very good physicians and health care because the people that live there can afford paying high insurance and medical bills. The country with the lowest life expectancy is Chad. People have very contagious disease and a bad environment with a corrupt government.

More Rates + Push and Pull

Today we talked about fertility rates and the push and pull factors that have to do with immigrating. People may leave their country due to unemployment/underemployment, environmental issues, civil war, and more. These are push factors. People immigrate to new countries for freedoms, new job opportunities, and more. These are called pull factors. We went on the CIA World Factbook website to get a glimpse of how it works. I used it in 8th grade for a project with countries so I know how to use it but things have changed since I last looked at it. Also, Mr. Schick pointed out new things that I did not know. The Factbook has links on certain numbers that will take you to the full list of countries in order for whatever category you are researching. Knowing this would have made my project last year a lot easier because it had to do with comparing countries.

Rates

Today in human geo class, we talked about rates per 1000. We discussed suicide rates in Monaco which is one of the richest places on earth. No websites had the country's suicide rate which is very odd. Maybe there is not enough information on its people to calculate their rate per 1000. We also talked about the amount of immigrants that are entering the United States and I was a little surprised by the number. With today's politics, I would have thought the number had gone up recently and then decreased but it has actually been a steady decline for years. This was kind of a shock to hear. It made me rethink what I choose to believe.

Population

Today in Human Geo we learned things about life expectancy. There are over 7.5 billion people on this planet. The population keeps rising and it worries me. What would humans do if we kept increasing at the rate we are going? I honestly do not know, but maybe some disease will wipe out half of the population. Maybe the United States would instate the law of only having one child like China did. Also with the advancing medical technology, people are living longer and babies are being born faster than people are dying. Life expectancy rates are going up. In Monaco the average life expectancy for women is 93!! I don't quite understand how that could be an average age. I think of 85 to be an average age for the women in my family.

Test Day

The test was okay I guess. I know I got a few incorrect because I was guessing sometimes. We sang the ICarly Theme Song-- "I know, you seeSomehow the world will change for meAnd be so wonderfulLive life, breathe airI know somehow we're gonna get thereAnd feel so wonderfulAnd it's all for realI'm telling you just how I feelSo wake up the members of my nationIt's your time to be There's no chance unless you take oneAnd it's time to see The brighter side of every situationSome things are meant to beSo give your best and leave the rest to meLeave it all to meLeave it all to meJust leave it all to mesource: https://www.lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/icarlylyrics.html"
It was a pretty good class and I got a lot finished once I was done with my test. I think it was pretty reasonable and if I studied even harder I wouldn't have had to guess on anything. Using the maps made the test a little easier and made me feel more relaxed, so I'm glad we had those as resources.

Test Tomorrow

I know I need to study to do well on the test tomorrow. One of the main things for me is making sure I have all the designated places labeled for time zones. I think I understand everything else pretty well. There are 24 time zones which are lines of longitude and each 15 degrees wide. Also places located in the west will have an earlier time, while places in the east will be later because the sun rises east to west. Eastern countries start their day before western countries. I will fill in my specific locations on my maps since we can use them on the quiz and review all my notes that are mainly about Maps and time zones. After I do more studying, I'll feel more prepared for tomorrow's quiz.

My World

I don't think the world is going to change drastically from how I know it. Based on the way things changed from what my parents or grandparents were expecting, I have lowered my expectations. I believe sea level will continue to slowly rise and technology will advance. I am expecting several more iPhones or the model of the phone to change tremendously. Maybe more suspicious invasions of privacy like Alexas and human microchipping. The style of architecture will most likely change. Also fashion will keep bringing back the 70s and 80s until there's something new. Maybe all schools, not just ones in Boston, will RENEW THE MAP. I have heard things about schools adding one hour to every school day but getting rid of Friday. So the hours are still there, but there is an extra day of the weekend. This saves money and still provides all the hours that a student needs in the school year. I think a lot of schools might decide to do this by the time I'm an adult.

Review

We discussed what we have learned so far in human geo class that relates to maps. Eratosthenes created the first map and the major maps we study today are the Mercator, Robinson, Goode, and Peters and Hammer. Each on has distortion, just some have less than others. We also talked about cultures. Some people in the class are not originally from Maryland, so they did not understand why "Old Bay" was such a big deal. Then, there was an outburst based on the importance of "Old Bay" as a spice.

Pop Quiz

We took a pop quiz on cartography and all the basics of maps. It was a little stressful due to the fact that we only had 10 seconds to answer each question. I felt that I needed more time to think and review my answers. I would mix up latitude and longitude since I was rushed. Personally, I would have rather had a written test and just had 10 minutes to finish it because I could go at my own pace, like standardized tests. This would have given me more time to think about questions that took longer and breeze through easier ones.

Points on Earth

A place is a specific point on Earth. A location can be identified in three ways:
Place
Site
Situation
A place can have a toponym which is any name given to a plane. For example, New York, Seattle, Virginia, and Washington D.C. are all toponyms. The site will be the climate, soil, and/or surroundings. A situation is another way to describe a place and it is relative to a toponym. There are also regions of land that can be classified ion the same way as places.

Alexas Are Listening

We talked about GPS and how things track you. Sometimes it can be helpful, but other times it invades your privacy. Ancestry.com is a big website that is questionable in its credibility. It takes your DNA so it has so much information about you. When you agree to the terms and conditions, no one really reads through the whole thing. You could be agreeing for them to share your DNA with other agencies. Alexas, Echo Dots, Siri, and many more "helpful" speaker-type things like that are constantly listening. No one knows if it is recording and storing information. In order to respond on command is it always listening to conversations.

Tests Back

We got our tests back today. We went over how particular our essay question answers are required to be. Mr. Schick will underline all the key points he was hoping to find within them, so red all over the paper is a good thing in this case. Every time a person gets an A on a test, they'll get a ring from the bell. If you get 100 or above you get 2 rings as a reward. Today, we also labeled more places on a time zone map. Unfortunately, due to me accidentally touching gum, my time for labeling was cut short so I'll go over it tonight and get my map up to speed.