1/31/ Guns, Germs and Steel

     Today in class we got new seats, we made sure everyone sent their blog addresses to Mr. Schick, and we continued watching the movie on Guns, Germs and Steel. We reviewed the beginning of the film, and the question of how come the Pap does not have as much as others. Jarred Diamond is the name of the scientist in this video; he searches Pap for the answer to his question. He discovered that people still hunt and gather, which was the same way people got food over 13,000 years ago. However, hunting is not a productive way to find enough food. The gathering was done by the women. When all the animals and options of food in the forests were gone, the people had to move on. The scarcity of food did not always feed the entire village. Later on they set up villages that held about 40-50 people. These villages were mud walls because of the dry humidity. There was variety of foods was stored; they all started growing their own food. They planted new fields of wheat and barley, the walls wood keep them dry, safe and secure. Because of this, people in the Middle East were becoming the first Farmers. Farming brought new civilization everywhere but Pap. They were focused on Shego, which was important food but it took a long time to make and couldn't be stored because it rots fast. This crop did not have a lot of protein so they ate huge spiders to supplement their diet. Grains were not native to this area, which is why Americans had a better advantage because they grow crops like wheat which is more nutritious and productive. Farming was crucial to inequality.

1/28/2011

we did not have class today because of another snow day!

1/27/2011

we did not have school because it snowed!

1/26/2011

we did not have school because it snowed!

1/25/2011

My class did not meet today.

1/24/2011 Guns, Germs, & Steel

Today in class we watched part 1 of Guns, Germs, and Steel.

In the movie, a scientist named Jarred Diamond is interested in the study of birds. He comes to a place called Papuanewquinea, because there is a large variety of birds there but he also wants to study the people living there. He found out that they speak several languages; their people have been living in the same place for 40,000 years. They are very smart people and they learn very quickly. The question he wants to know is why their country is culturally diverse, but they are extremely poor. They believe that their power is determined by race and that white men have so much and they have so little. Jarred Diamond wants to know why the Papuanewquinea people still don’t have what other people have.