Lockett Western Civ

Today we finished the powerpoint. We discussed how Ancient Egyptian gods were half human and half animal. The Nile River was revered immensely and considered to be a god. The maat represents harmony and balance in the form of a goddess. 3100 B.C. was was the two land were united under the pharaoh Narmer. Women could inherit land and money but very few were put into political power. Ka is the spirit and soul for functioning life after death.

Today we worked on a paper in class about Ancient Egypt. We discussed the answers and had a pretty easy class. I really needed a relaxing mod and it was pretty good. I chilled on the floor and listened to music. We have a test coming up on what we've been taking notes on and I remember a lot of it from last year so I think I'll do pretty well.

1.) A delta is    is a landform that forms from deposition of sediment that is carried by a river as the flow leaves its mouth and enters slower-moving or stagnant water.  The Nile delta is in Lower Egypt. Narmer was a king of Egypt. He created a double crown of white and red to symbolize the uniting of two kingdoms. A  pharaoh was a god-king. They were thought to be as powerful as the gods. A theocracy is  type of government that is ruled based on religious authority. This is the style of government practiced in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Old Kingdom kings were placed in a pyramid after death. They were magnificent monuments built of stone, granite, and limestone. Mummification was the process of how royals were preserved after death. It involves embalming and drying a corpse to prevent it from decaying. Ancient  Egyptian scribes developed a form of writing called  hieroglyphics . It was a sacred carving in which pict...

Some notes from today's class -The Nile River flows north across Africa -over 4,1000 miles -longest river in the world -abrupt change in soil -river rose and spilled over the banks which left fertile black mud called silt -Egypt was more fortunate than Mesopotamia with agriculture  The Delta begins 100 miles before the river and enters the Mediterranean  - the delta is a broad marshy triangular formed by deposits of silt of the mouth of a river -Nile was a reliable system of transportation from upper Egypt and lower Egypt -Narmer was an Egyptian king who created a crown that symbolized the united kingdoms -the kings established the first Egyptian dynasty  -the Pharaohs ruled as gods in a theocratic government -a pyramid was the main resting place after death -the Old Kingdom was the main pyramid building phase -Some main gods were Re (sun), Osiris (death), and Isis (loving mother) but there were 2,000 more -Mesopotamians had a bleak view on ...

Today we got in pairs and made up our own laws for people in the time of Hammurabi's Law. I understand where the concept of Hammurabi's Law comes from, but sometimes I think his laws are too focused on discouraging the bad instead of promoting the good. It's very hard to differentiate the two because they are so close, but when all of the consequences are becoming a slave or death you can start to realize people are not learning from their actions. I do agree with the concept of eye for an eye most of the time. I think it helps people learn from their mistakes and makes people realize how their actions affect others. If you know that what you do to someone is going to be down to you, would you still do it? Overall, I think it would make people be better civilians.

Today, Mr. Schick got a laser pointer. He was so excited about it that he would not stay on one slide for more than 5 seconds. Eventually, he calmed down and we were able to take some notes. After we finished the powerpoint, we spent the rest of the class blogging. It was a pretty easy day. I have a pressing question on my mind. How and when did so many languages originate??? I do not understand how people can come together and form a language that becomes so widespread. It stresses me out just to think about this. There is no real answer.

Today in class, we went over the powerpoint and Hammurabis Code. The rules of Hammurabi are a little crazy but I think that's just because they are so historical. There were ones about throwing witches in the river. None of the rules were very unreasonable, considering the problems at hand. I agree with the eye for an eye concept for the most part. Sometimes, we need to consider the action and modify the consequences.

We got our tests back today and my essay bumped my grade up is I'm happy about that. Mr. Schick highlighted a to of my words so I guess I hit a lot of key points. We took notes on a powerpoint for the rest of the class on Prehistoric Eras. It was about the Origins and ages of human beings. 200,000 years ago a human species emerged in Southwestern Africa. 14,000 years ago, a worldwide human race existed. The earliest prehistoric age is also known as the Old Stone Age. After that, it was the Neotholic Age or the New Stone Age. It was marked by advanced tool making and the beginnings of agriculture. The Neotholic Revolution is also known as the Agriculture Revolution. This is when infant mortality improved and hierarchies appeared.

Today we took more notes on the pages out of the textbook. I copied the timeline and a few of the comprehension questions to make sure I was getting the main points of the pages. When I finished the notes, I went on the blog to read Hammurabi's laws. The situations that they described were specific and un usual. Everything seemed to blame the woman but that was expected since it was a very long time ago. We also got half of our test scores back. I got what I thought I would, but I don't know what I got on my essay yet. Hopefully, a little bit higher so it bumps up the grade overall.

Today we took notes on a few pages in our new textbook. We went over them briefly when we finished to make sure we were focusing on the correct topics. After that, we had a discussion about jail and the death penalty. Belle thinks we should basically kill everyone in jail. I don't completely agree with this statement but I see where she's coming from. I feel partly responsible that the class had to listen to her talk about her presidential campaign, because I brought up the death penalty. I don't think it's fair that extremely wealthy people can buy their way out of jail. That is actually quite ridiculous. Any person born out of an incredibly rich family could commit a crime and be in the financial situation to pay the fine, while a poor person could commit the same crime but not have the money to get out of the punishment.

We took the test and I honestly felt okay about it. A lot of it was repetitive from the pop quiz we took the first time we started the video. I forgot the specific types fo llamas and camels which is pretty sad but it's okay. There were some things that I wasn't sure about but overall I basically knew what I was doing. I want to know how I did. I wrote my essay on my opinion on Diamond's theory. I think I displayed my thoughts well. I partially agree with him but I think that there's more to the explanation. That's basically what I said in my essay, but with more examples.

We are basically finished the video, "Guns Germ and Steel". The answer to why some nations are not as developed as others is very complex. I do not think there is one solid answer. I believe in the  geographic luck theory but there are many other components. When there is only one way that people know how to live, and they aren't acquired with the resources to change that way of life, then they won't change it. No one loves change and I think the New Guineans learned their way of life and didn't necessarily find something to change. They never knew about how advanced other places were until the colonists came. Even then, they still had a way of life that they were used to.

We talked about our upcoming test. Not all of it will be multiple choice and it is not a scantron. There will be an essay question. I think it will be about our opinion on why some nations are not developed. I think it is a very complex question that can not be answered easily. geographic luck plays a big role but so does force of habit. I'm a little nervous to take the test because I want to do well, but the video covered a lot of information. I will have to study and go over all my notes.