2/12/2014

Today in class we didn't really do much we pretty much reviewed some more and got ready for all of the snow we are supposed to be having. I don't know if I believe we are going to get as much snow as they say but I feel like everyone is prepared to get a lot. Since we didn't really do much in class I don't think there is a lot to write. Also even though I want it to snow I am not looking forward to all of the work I am going to be receiving. I am receiving work for classes I am not even having tomorrow. Anyway i just really want there to be warmer weather because there is always less stress when it is warmer outside.

2/11/2014

Today in Western Civilization we learned more about mummification which you would only have done if you were very wealthy so pretty much only if you were a pharaoh. Besides that we didn't learn anything and Laura and Arie just kept arguing and Mr. Schick broke the desk. It was a very eventful class. But I don't really think that I learned anything that I hadn't learned in the other classes. I hope we don't have the test tomorrow though because I have a lot of homework to do tonight. Also my mom said we are supposed to get a good amount of snow because she works for Constellation Energy/ BGE and has to work Storm Duty. I have a lot of studying i need to do for this test because it is my first test in Western Civilization and I didn't do amazing in Human Geography so this class will let me know if i can take honors next year.

2/10/2014: My laptop had a virus

Today in Western Civilization we finished learning about Egypt and we were told that we have a test on Wednesday. I couldn't type a lot of stuff because I didn't have my laptop since I might have downloaded a virus but not on purpose. We talked about all the main points in Ancient Egypt such which were geography, daily life, pharaohs, goddesses and gods, and pyramids. The geography was centered around the Nile. The Nile moves into a Delta which where the Nile meets the Mesopotamia. Also every July it floods and then in October there is rich soil. The Nile was used for drinking, irrigation, bathing, and transportation. The biggest break through back then was irrigation. The social ladder consists of Slaves and Servants, Farmers, Artisans, Merchant, Scribes, Soldiers, Upper class, Pharaoh.

2/7/2014

Today in Western Civilization we finished learning a bunch of information on Egypt. I learned that the Nile river flows from South to North and that 95 percent of people live within a few miles from the river because the land a little bit farther away is to arid to grow anything and live in that area. The Nile was huge provider to the people's lives and the people in Egypt learned to irrigate crops. The leader of Egypt was a pharaoh which is someone who is worshiped as a god and can supposedly speak to the gods. He is also supposed to keep them happy if there is ever a drought or a plague the pharaoh can be over thrown because the people believe that he has angered the gods or the pharaoh will pass down his power to his son. There were not many women who were ever put in charge. When everything was going right and the people had enough food and believed the gods were happy they called it "maat." The people viewed the gods as a combination of strong animals and humans.

2/4/2014: LO3

Land of the Pharaohs: Egypt

• The Nile and the "Two Lands"
• Upper Egypt 
• a narrow strip of fertile land
• five hundred miles in length and about twelve miles in width 
• located alongside the river as it flows across the North African desert
• Lower Egypt
• a delta 
• fan-shaped pattern of water ways
• formed by the Nile before it reached the sea
• pharaohs- the rulers of ancient Egypt 
• Government by a God-King
• "Hail to thee, O Nile, that issues from the earth and comes to keep Egypt alive! Hidden in his form of appearance, a darkness by day, to whom minstrels have sung. He that waters the meadows which Re created, in order to keep every kid alive. He that makes to drink the desert and the place distant from water: that is his dew coming down from heaven."
• Tending the "Cattle of God"
• Men and Women Under the Pharaohs
• Gods, Humans, and Everlasting Life 
• The Soul Declares Its Innocence
• The Writing of the Words of God
• hieroglyphs- the earliest Egyptian writing, in which pictures stood for whole words or seperate sounds of words.
• Calendars and Sailboats 
• Pyramids and Temples 
• pyramid- a massive structure with sloping slides that met at an apex, used as a royal tomb in ancient Egypt 
• The Rhythm of Egypt's History 

2/3/2014: Snow Day

Today in Western Civilization I was extremely tired but guess what I still had to come into school because Harford County felt the need to send us in to school for two hours. I only took a math test and was give math homework to complete. They decided to let us out at ten o'clock because of the snow even when the weather forecast called for about five inches of snow. It will probably keep snowing until around 4 so why on earth did they make us come in when we will still have to make up the day. I am annoyed I had to wake up early because even though we are leaving early I won't be able to get any sleep. Don't get me wrong I am happy to get out early but i would rather be sleeping at home. This day is almost over but I don't have a ride home so i don't know what I am going to do oh well.

1/31/2014: Notes

Before Civilization and the Prehistoric Era

• "If we reduce the time since the first humanlike species appeared (about 2.5 million years ago) to the period of a twenty four hour day the five-thousand-year era of civilization takes up less than the last three minutes."

• The Origins and "Ages" of Human beginning
• Paleolithic (Old Stone) Age- The earliest and longest period of prehistory, when humans used simple stone tools.
• Neolithic (New Stone) Age- The period of human history characterized by advances in stone tool-making and the beginnings of agricultural.
• The Hunting Gathering Way of Life
• The Agricultural Revolution 
• Agricultural Revolution, also called Neolithic Revolution- The shift from hunting and gathering food to a more settled way of life based on farming and herding that occurred gradually between 8000 and 4000 BC in much of western Asia, northern Africa, and Europe, and separately in other parts of the world.
• Climate, Skills, and Technologies
• Villages and Families
• polytheism- the belief in many gods or goddesses 
• Over many generations, the life of village communities and families came to be regulated by complex systems of tradition, custom, and authority, out of which the law and government of civilized societies would ultimately grow."  
• New Environmental Conditions 
• around 10,000 BC, the planet was warming and the ice sheet that covered much of the Northern Hemisphere began to melt and withdraw northward.
• southwestern asia emerged as a region with a mid climate, fertile soil, and a good water supply- key elements for cultivating crops.
• wild grasses that bore nourishing seeds flourished naturally in the grasslands above the river valleys of the region
• The Developments of Techniques for Domesticating Plants
• women of hunting and gathering bands, who were responsible for plant food, were probably the ones who noticed that the seeds of wild grasses could sprout into plants, and they began tending garden patches.
• by choosing to put back into the soil the seeds of those grasses that grew best and were easiest to harvest, cultivators helped breed (over many generations) wheat and barley.
• Tools were fashioned to make farming possible on a large scale, Stone-bladed holes loosened the soil for seeding, and flint-edged sickles cut the edible seeds from the stalks.
• The Development of Techniques for Domesticating Animals
• wild dogs were the first animals to be tamed- probably by the men of hunting bands.
• sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle were domesticated to provide meat, wool, skins, and milk.
• toward the end of Neolithic Age, humans began to use oxen for farming, along with a new tool- the plow. The oxen and plow made it possible to cultivate larger fields and feed more people.
• with the invention of the wheel, oxen were also used to pull carts and transport goods and people.
•   Villages and Civilization
• "Nurtured by a favorable environment and then toughened by harsher conditions, there grew up in southern Mesopotamia a new kind of society, so much more complex than the older one that today it counts as one of the world's first true civilizations."