Senor Boris' Scoutmaster Minute

                Today in Western Civilization we had a period to complete homework, as Mr. Schick had nothing planned. While we completed homework, Mr. Schick assembled some of the transfer student’s PowerPoint’s into a semblance of sense. I chose to work the kinks out of my English essay, as I had it peer-edited the period before. In English class we’re doing an essay on a Shakespearean term, and off the list I chose Blind Love. After being peer-edited it didn’t have many mistakes, mostly just formatting for MLA. It didn’t take me long to fix these, but I had to restart my computer because it was having problems with the internet. I also had to format my sources for MLA format using EasyBib, which still didn’t take very long. After that I didn’t do my blog as we hadn’t gone through the whole class yet and I was waiting for something interesting to happen. The most interesting thing that happened the whole class was Kate messing with Kiana’s hair. Just kidding, today’s Moment of Zen was pretty interesting. What’s funny about our Moment of Zen is that in Boy Scouts we have a thing at the end of every meeting where our Scoutmaster comes to the front and reads from his Scoutmaster Minute book (I time it every time, it’s never a minute).

Declaration of Independence Analysis

                Today in Human Geography Mr. Schick was out (sadness) but he left us work to do. The work for today was to read the Declaration of Independence and write an analysis which we post to our blog. I’m assuming this replaces blog as it goes on our blog site and is about what we did in class today, but if I’m wrong please correct me so I can write a blog. The first opening paragraph summarizes what’s going to be in the document, saying that it is necessary for America to leave Britain and that they will write their reasons for secession in it. The next paragraph talks about how every person is created equal by God and that by this reasoning every person’s government should support them with the rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. Then they go on to say that Britain is not following these rules and that they have the right to form a new government if these rights are not supplied. They then say they will list the reasons why the king is not following these rules. This next part is mostly short arguing points, and I’ll summarize them in the briefest way possible. The colonists say that the king creates laws that are not fair or help others, does not give them representation or a say in what happens in the colonies, and that the king has meetings about what they are doing in the colonies in ridiculous places to tire the colonies into submission. The colonists then write about how the king is disabling their ability to form their own means of basic government, while also imposing his will on those who do form any means of government. They also speak about the king interfering with their ability to expand territory (when the king said that they couldn’t move into the Ohio River Valley). They also speak of the soldiers that are positioned here to oppress the colonists and how they are invulnerable to punishment for the crimes they commit, as well as how Britain is restricting their trade rights with other countries. They also speak about taxes without consent and being tried for crimes they didn’t commit, and lastly how Britain has taken whatever they wanted form the colonists. After this, the document returns to paragraph format. The colonists write that though they did not want it to come to this, Britain does not listen to their pleas of change for the laws. The colonists end that they are officially declaring themselves independent of Britain.

The 82nd Airborne Rangers helped Army win against Navy

                Today in Western Civilization we watched a video where famous actors read the Declaration of Independence. Each actor read part of the document, and they would pan the camera while moving around the room to the next actor. It was cool to listen to it, especially with Mr. Schick’s input (that kept my mind from wandering), but the funniest thing was is that I did not recognize a single actor. I had heard the name Goldberg somewhere, but their first name was definitely not Whoopi. The only other name I recognized on that list was John Williams, who wrote the musical score for this video and the music for Star Wars. After that we had a discussion that was about differing opinions, and it somehow led to American being united during September 11^th, and then we just discussed September 11^th. After the twin towers collapsed (I still haven’t gotten this confirmed because dad isn’t home yet) I remember my dad saying that he was really fired up about going to take out the terrorists overseas, and he served in Iraq (as far as I know) helping to guard equipment. I’m pretty sure he did other things, as he was bombarded with all manners of weaponry from the hostiles in the area, but most of the pictures he has are of him in the barracks and guarding trains. I do know that my dad was an Airborne Ranger, meaning he received special training as a Ranger and did jump out of airplanes.

The indoctrination of rock climbing

                Today in Western Civilization we continued our PowerPoint on The American Revolution. The slide we were looking at involved Paul Revere’s ride, but there wasn’t any new information. We watched a video that had paintings of the ride and told a poem about the ride. The poem used lots of imagery about light and the addition of animals with rising tension to make a very well written poem. As a kid Mr. Schick had to memorize this poem (which sounds horrible). After that Mr. Schick talked about how when people said ‘Make America great again’ they meant how the Andy Griffith show was. I agree from the standpoint that it was a different time when you could trust people more and you could send your kid to go to town to get something without worrying about someone kidnapping them. Back then everyone trusted each other more because there simply wasn’t a lot of people that provided you with a reason not to. After watching a clip from the Andy Griffith Show where Andy explains Paul Revere’s ride to some kids (and his deputy). Mr. Schick showed us some pictures from the women’s rights (It was for a manner of things, but I think this would best explain it) and pictures of people that had gotten themselves irrevocably stuck on top of tall objects.

British tea party!!! YAY!!!

                Today in Western Civilization we continued our PowerPoint that is now leading into the American Revolution. The first slide presented straight facts in the Boston ‘Massacre’. After this the British repealed most of the Townsend Acts, but not the tea tax. The colonists were not happy about this and smuggled tea in from other sources. British figured this out and tried to put the colony’s tea smugglers out of business by instating another law that said only the British could supply tea. Colonists boycotted British tea and kept smuggling in tea, and in December 1773, the event known as the Boston Tea Party happened. This event coincidentally was also misnamed, and sadly there was no tea party (it would make an interesting history lesson though). Led by Samuel Adams some colonists dressed up as Native Americans and dumped a large amount of tea chests into the harbor. The person delivering wasn’t mad as he wasn’t selling the tea and only delivering it, but this was an extremely rebellious act against Britain. After this Britain responded by instating more laws that restricted colonists, by banning public meetings, closing the Boston Harbor, and sending even more soldiers to Boston. Colonists called these laws the Intolerable Acts. Once again, totally ignoring Britain, the colonists formed the First Continental Congress. Among others, this Congress contained George Washington, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and John Jay (?). This Congress created a precursor to the Declaration of Independence known as the Declaration of Rights, that stated rights that colonists should have. If these rights were not addressed, accepted by Britain, and the Intolerable Acts were not lifted, then all colonies would stop exporting goods. All the colonies agreed at the time except for Georgia who was fighting a Native American uprising and needed the help. After that we started the American Revolution, and started with a couple war-based vocabulary words (for some odd reason when you said blockades I though Star Wars prequels, but anyways…). Patrick Henry made his famous “Give me liberty or give me death!” quote and others started riling up colonists for war. Massachusetts started its own militia of Minutemen, and Paul Revere and unsung others prepared for their ride as British got ready to storm Concord where colonist munitions were being stored.

Why do places with the letter B always have violence in them?

                Today in Western Civilization we continued our PowerPoint on the early colonies of America that were under control of Britain. After reviewing the slide on the proclamation of 1763, we moved on to other proclamations that the king made. There was the Sugar Act, which taxed sugar imports to the colonies. The Stamp Act, which made it so colonists had to buy stamps for all printed materials, and using British currency, not what was being printed in the colonies. This was for all printed materials from England, including cards (I was thinking, how does that work? Did you have to stamp each card? And did you have to put it on the front of the card, or the back?). The Quartering Act, which made it so colonists would have to provide quarters for British soldiers in their own houses, regardless of whether they wanted to or could. The Townsend Act was another taxing act, taxing paper, glass, paint, and tea imports. The colonists were starting to get fed-up with how the British were treating them, but they had no representatives in England and could not send someone to fix the problem. However, they could do stuff back home, such as boycotting British products, refusing to pay taxes, and forming protest groups (such as the Sons of Liberty). After that we started a video about the Boston homicide (Oh, sorry, massacre). We had a discussion after that mostly because Angela (forever my polar opposite) thought it was totally unjustified that the British shot the Bostonians. Understanding more than most because I’ve read certain books (like the one about Audie Murphy, I forget the name), I know that under times of extreme duress human minds have a tendency to do really stupid things because of the stress, unless you’re a battle hardened veteran or something. It was kind of interesting to see Angela’s reactions to what we were talking about because she is a liberal and strongly supports the black lives matter movement against police officers and most likely supports gun control. This situation is comparable to the situations we face today, however the police officers are more justified than the British troops. One thing that I did realize while writing this blog is that while Angela supports gun control, she is proven to have no concept of how a group of people with weapons/firearms (I say this because of the bayonets) can out-fight a larger group without guns. I just kind of found that interesting and wanted to point it out to you Mr. Schick.

theodd1sout: BOY WERE THEY WRONG!

                Today in Western Civilization (Not Human Geography. Different, right?) we started a PowerPoint on Western Civilization. I think I’m seeing a theme here. What’s really funny is our new class is composed of the same kids with the same teacher and we’re in the same classroom. The first slide on the PowerPoint had two vocabulary words, ally; a nation that joins with other nations for the same cause, and cede; to surrender something. The next slide summarized what was going on at the time, where Britain had just settled the new land known as America, and the French were going to cut them off by settling in the Ohio River Valley. The British were settling in places that the French were also settling in or had already settled in. This caused MORE conflict (as the two nations were already rivals) between the two nations. The French were already friends with the local natives, trading with them and respecting each other’s rights, existing in harmony. The Indians sided with the French, and a war started between the two groups. This war began in 1745, with Britain using their standard frontal assaults with uniformed armies of many. The French played more towards strategical guerilla warfare, using the tricks that the Indians taught them and fighting with camouflage and surprise attacks. The British won in the end due to superior forces, and the French left the area. British officially owned the Ohio River Valley in 1763. The next slide had more vocab on it, containing the words proclamation; and official government announcement, representative; a person representing others, repeal; to revoke or annul something, declaration; a public statement, and revolution; a sudden complete change of government. The next couple slides were about proclamations that the king (King George III) made, but we only got through one of them. This slide was about the Proclamation of 1763. This Proclamation basically stated that nobody could settle in the Ohio River Valley, because Britain was afraid that everyone who moved farther away would be less responsive to Britain’s laws and not buy British products. Guess what? No one listened. Good job Britain. On an off-hand note, my friend got me into this YouTuber who does comics and I thought it was related to history I would show it to you (Mr. Schick). Here’s the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcNTEyEqxH0

Are Grace and Hopscotch insane? YUP!

                Today in Human Geography was a gift from Mr. Schick (probably because we weren’t being very cooperative). At the beginning of the class we had an extremely short discussion about teachers not being able to dress down. Mr. Schick honestly didn’t care that much about it, but he decided to dress up for today. Since the teachers were all trying to wear orange today, Mr. Schick got some orange paper and put it into his coat chest pocket so it looked like a handkerchief. After that we discussed protests and whether or not they were a good thing. I honestly think that protests are OK until you start breaking laws, but then they need to be stopped (if you’re breaking laws while doing a protest, it has either become a party or a riot, neither of which will help prove your point). Abby even looked up the definition of riot and Angela told us a story about how they had to walk through an anti-Trump riot on their drama trip to NYC. Mr. Schick also asked us if we would participate in a protest if we could, and I honestly wouldn’t. With the way protests have been going lately, I don’t think it would be a good idea to be involved in a large-scale protest. After that Mr. Schick decided he was done with our interruptions for the day, and let us do blog for the rest of class.

Bathroom pool; powered by urinals

Today in Human Geography we had another non-productive story time with Mr. Schick (Yay!). First, Mr. Schick finished his Gumby story (the second one). After he plunked the nun in the ribs, she thought someone had hit her, so she looked around and was really freaked out. When she found out it was a Gumby toy, she ripped it apart. However, there are little metal wires in Gumby that scratched the nun’s hand up badly, and the nun started crying because it hurt. Mr. Schick then freaked out and confessed that he was the one who did it, and the nun ran out of the room to the nurse. When the nurse came back Mr. Schick got into quite a bit of trouble, but there were more stories to follow. Mr. Schick told us about the time he survived a tornado, where the sky turned green and he and his family hid under their mattress to be safe from the storm. The storm destroyed his school, and this led to another story because Mr. Schick still had to attend school, but they crammed his school into another school. Mr. Schick was bored in class one day, and decided to use the restroom to get out of class. The teacher let him go and he went into the restrooms and used the bathroom. What Mr. Schick found was really cool were the urinals and how they went all the way to the floor. They also made really cool noises when they flushed, and Mr. Schick decided to flush all of them at once multiple times. This flooded the bathroom, and Mr. Schick had to escape through the window. When Mr. Schick got back to the classroom, he realized the teacher had left to look for him. When the teacher came back, he told Mr. Schick the bathroom was flooded. Mr. Schick said he didn’t know that and then received corporal punishment. There were a couple of other punishment stories that Mr. Schick told us that weren’t as funny, and then the class just told stories.

Revenge of the Blockheads

                Today in Human Geography we mostly talked about different subjects and debated over taking the tests. At the beginning of the class we talked about what Mr. Schick’s other class was doing (The one with foreign students). Mr. Schick’s foreign student class was actually rewriting the Declaration of Independence in the standards of today, the rewritten sections having to do with rights for certain people like slaves and women. Mr. Schick even said the students might send their modified Declaration to Washington. Next we had an extremely long debate about whether or not we were going to have a final test. Unfortunately, everyone had different opinions on what we were going to do which dragged out the process for an extremely long time until Mr. Schick just ended it. In the end we had a vote, which I did not vote in because no matter what option I was going to get an A in the class. The vote tallied so that we wouldn’t have a final test, however I would have liked to have a third-party entry into this called Gary Johnson just so I could get my vote in (Just kidding). Lastly, Mr. Schick told us a great story about Gumby, in which his Gumby eraser landed in his teacher’s coffee cup. He began the second part of the story where his full sized Gumby hit his teacher’s ribs, but didn’t get to finish because the bell rang.

The best joke I can come up with for this involves sliced ham so I just decided to skip this one.

                Today in Human Geography we continued our microloans PowerPoint. The next slide we went over was about who receives Kiva loans, and as stated before it’s for anyone who wants to start or kickstart a business. This could range from my main man Maurice’s fruit juice expansion loan to someone overseas who wants to improve their crop growth to someone who wants to make the almost nonexistent schools in their area better (or make one, for that matter). The next slide was about problems with microloans. Providing banking can cost a lot of money, and so can being the company that hands out microloans. Regular bankers might make out one large loan which takes little time to process, while microloaning companies have to process many, many small loans every day, which takes more time and resources, and time is money. Microloans only help solutions, they don’t truly cure them. However, for some poor people who need a lot of money fast but still have sums of money coming in at regular intervals, microloans are great. Loans also come with other benefits such as insurance, legal rep, and with financial planning. Microloans are extremely beneficial to people trying to break the cycle of poverty. Philanthropists play a large part in helping this move along by donating to certain causes so people can do other things with their money. One example is the donation to malaria. Instead of trying to pay medical bills to get a malaria ridden person back to health, Bill Gates put lots of money into getting mosquito nets produced to protect people who live in areas with malaria infected bugs. Bill Gates also donates to stopping malaria through research for a vaccine.

My main man Maurice

                Today in Human Geography we looked around on the Kiva site to look at who to donate money towards. This class was slightly less productive than most, but we did find out about really odd donation possibilities such as my main man Maurice, who was selling ‘fruit shots’. There were a lot of donation options on the site (over hundreds) but there were select few that we looked at. We mostly checked out people in poor countries that wanted to expand their farming capabilities to feed their families and make long term investments but didn’t have the money on hand. One family wanted to buy some pigs, but they needed money to pay for up-front costs so they could buy and feed the pigs. Another person wanted to buy solar lights so they could grow crops more efficiently. Most of these people asking for donations were trying to support their families and these investments would make them able to supply more money for their family. However, whenever somebody has something good going, there is always somebody who’s going to mess it up for everyone else. Seriously, this is a charity based system. Why are you asking people to buy you an AC unit? And anyways, if you can pay back the loan for the AC unit you can clearly save enough money yourself to get one later. Then, there is Maurice. Either this guy is a really good businessman (Which in this case he should be selling stock) or he’s a total liar, which would be incredibly funny.

Rupees! Not only in the Legend of Zelda!

                Today in Human Geography we continued our microloans unit with some microclasswork. I was to put my findings into this blog, so here goes. The first question presented was to find information about microloans related to the Nobel Prize. In October 2016 Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Prize for microfinancing and microcredit. Microcredit is another name for microloans. The second question was: how is Kiva rated as an institute? All charities are rated based off an efficiency percentage which is how much money doesn’t go to the charity itself for funding it’s infrastructure. Kiva’s rating overall was 96.69%, in financial it was 97.59%, and in transparency and accountability it was 96.00%. These scores are all out of one hundred which means Kiva is a very efficient charity. The next question was: Who are America’s top philanthropists and to whom do they give? I’m just going to list the top five and give a brief description on who they donate to. Warren Buffett- 2.84 billion to Bill Gates’ foundation and his children’s charities. Bill and Melinda Gates- 1.4 billion to his own charity foundation, which gives to global polio eradication and multiple other causes. George Soros- 654 million to mostly social rights and some medical causes. Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson- 513 million to Art institutes (he’s an art collector). Michael Bloomberg- 510 million to global environment protection, road safety programs, and data usage minimalization. The last question was: to whom do you want to make a Kiva loan, and why? I would loan to Afzala in Pakistan. She is trying to build a school to better educate those who live there so they can get better jobs. She also says illiteracy is a problem where she lives. I would donate to Afzala because the more smart children you have, the more smart adults you’ll have later. This will lead to a better country in the future and help stabilize the Middle East, making the world a better place.

Lending for cool air and Mr. Schick's hair.

                Today in Human Geography we started our mini lesson in microfinancing. On the first slide we had some vocabulary terms. Microfinance is a form of finance, but specifically for small businesses and entrepreneurs who don’t have access to normal banks or other services like it. A microloan is also for small businesses, but is a loan for the business or entrepreneur to use to expand their already working business. Mr. Schick then showed an example called Kiva, a site that runs microloans by donators paying money to a certain cause. Then the receiver uses the money and repays it over a certain period of time back to the donators. Kiva is reputedly one of the best loaning companies, and they have distributed over $950,000,000 in loans since 2005. Kiva also has a 98 to 99 percent return rate on the money they loan out, which is a very good statistic for a company that does loans. After that we looked around the website for Kiva, and looked through the different causes you could support on the website, ranging from a new school classroom somewhere overseas to an old grandma’s new AC unit (who really shouldn’t be using the site, come on people, an AC unit?).