Schickmobile on Urban Dictionary

                Today in Western Civilization we had a test. After almost being hit by the Schickmobile (I might post that word to Urban Dictionary) I tried to sit down. However, Mr. Schick had to come over and turn the desks so we could have the desks ready for the test. Mr. Schick gave us a warning not to tell the other classes that the test was open blog, and gave us the test. The test was…… interesting. Sure, I had a good spread of notes and was able to answer half the questions without them, but there were some that totally threw me off balance (Good job). One of the questions, about how many Senators and Representatives there are, was pretty easy to do as I only needed to know one statistic in order to solve all three questions. I say solve because you used multiple choice, and all I had to do was simple addition to get the questions right. I am writing this under presumptions, as I haven’t actually checked the answers, but the answer was pretty clear as there were only four choices. Sorry Mr. Schick, but I got you there. I am also surprised that you didn’t include extra credit on this test, as the information you could have pulled from had so many little facts that could be overlooked (like some of the questions on the test I tried to answer) but you are writing the test, not me.

P.S., my answer to the Senate question was right.

P.P.S., I just submitted Schickmobile to Urban Dictionary, and it said it was under review by my ‘peers’.

Is it bad that I mentioned that our family owns weapons in front of the school president?

                Today in Western Civilization we went over what was going to be on the test tomorrow. In reality, more of the class was discussion than Mr. Schick actually telling us what was on the test. Mr. Schick opened the class by discussing what was happening when there was a supervisor was in the room last class. The adult in the classroom was the president of the school. He was supervising to see how Mr. Schick runs his class and how effective he was at teaching. Mr. Schick talked about how stressful it was in other schools to pass this inspection, as instead of telling you what you did right, they would pick out the most minute details of what you did wrong. Mr. Schick didn’t think he was going to get a bad report, but he did have one thing to say, which was about the usage of computers during class time. I do remember you saying at the beginning of the year that you never wanted us to use computers during class, and I was a little bit surprised when you didn’t get on to kids about it more often as of late, but you teach how you want to. I do agree that computers are a large distraction in class as the temptation to do other things on your computer when the teacher isn’t looking is pretty high, especially when what the teacher is teaching isn’t appealing to you. After that we had a long discussion on what was going to be on the test, and checked notes.

GUNS ARE FUN!!! (President Hughes edition)

                Today in Western Civilization we continued looking at and discussing the Constitution and its amendments. Before class started Mr. Schick came over to me and asked if I wanted to be a ‘guest speaker’ and speak about the Second Amendment (I think those should be capitalized, but I’m not sure). I said yes, not remembering what the Second Amendment was about at the time, and waited for class to start. When class started, I got up and went to the front of the class and summarized what the Second Amendment was about (I would’ve made more jokes but there was another teacher in the room supervising, and since I didn’t get to say it earlier, GUNS ARE FUN!). After that we discussed why it was written the way it was, how the militia part of it didn’t apply in this time, and I answered a couple of questions about gun regulations, which I didn’t know too much about surprisingly. The rest of my family doesn’t talk about guns that often, but we do support the right to carry them. My grandparents on my dad’s side lean farther right than I do (My grandpa was in the Vietnam war, so he is military and is a very do-it yourself person, I think you’d like him. No surprise about the gun part there.). I think that having weapons in the right hands can be a good thing when it comes to self-defense or upholding moral standards (fancy terminology for what the police do), but there is a definite risk factor with allowing just anyone to buy guns. After my brief stint as guest speaker I returned to my desk and we continued through the amendments. The 3^rd amendment basically terminated the Quartering Act, the 4^th speaks of no unreasonable search or seizure of property, the 5^th speaks of fairness towards criminals on trial, where no person can be tried for the same crime twice, no one will attest against themselves in court (they will always get an attorney), and that people are innocent until proven guilty. The 5^th also states that trials will be public and speedy, so no one waits excessive amounts of time for their trial, and they will be public so they are fair. The 7^th states that you can ask for a jury trial for on a petty case (less than $20 dollars’ worth) but you will always get a jury trial for more than $20 dollars’ worth or in a serious trial (felony). The 8^th amendment says that there will be no excessive bails or cruel punishments.

My sister got sick on the ski trip and we left early

                Today in Western Civilization we continued our PowerPoint on the Articles of the Bill of Rights and started looking through the amendments of the Constitution. We started on Section 2 of Article 3, which was about impeachment. The article says that all people shall receive trial by jury unless it is in the case of impeachment, in which the other branches vote. Section three covers treason against the U.S., which is defined as waging war against America or helping its enemies. Treason is the only crime listed because you can say whatever you want about America (protecting the first amendment) but it doesn’t matter what you say until you take action. Article is all about outlining the relations between state and the federal government. Section one says that in matters such as credit, trade, or treaties with other countries the other countries will talk to the federal government and not the state. Section 2 talks about how if you commit a crime in a state, then go to another state to escape justice, the state you went to is obliged to take you back to the state you committed the crime in to serve trial. Section 3 says that Congress has the right to admit states, and that these new states will follow the rules laid out by the government that all the other states follow. Section 5 says that only 2/3 of Congress are needed to ratify amendments, which happened 27 times. Article 5 starts off saying that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, that state judges have to uphold the Constitution, and that states can’t make laws that contradict the Constitution. Article 7 states that if 9 states agree (out of 13) then the Constitution will be established. Finally, we started on the amendments to the constitution, the first being about the five freedoms; religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition.

Harry Daghir's Axe-spray flamethrower vs skiing

                Today I missed Western Civilization because I left school as lunch was starting. My mom and dad picked me up and I left at around 1:40. Unfortunately, since I left so early in the day I’m missing Western Civilization as well as a test in The Mission and Ministry of Jesus Christ class and a test in Algebra 2. I’m actually writing this blog in the car on the way to the place we’re going (No, my mom didn’t tell me to do this) and I guess I’ll just post this blog once I get back into a wifi zone so please excuse it if this blog comes in late for today. My family and I are going skiing in New York at a mountain called Windham. I’m kind of excited about this as there’s lots of green slopes (just in case you’ve never gone skiing the difficulty ranking goes like this: green circle, blue square, black diamond, double black diamond, triple black diamond, and in some places yellow triangles for avalanche areas). I’m not a very avid skier, and I’m not very good at blue slopes and I almost never touch black slopes. I’m also missing one of my Boy Scout friend’s Eagle Court of Honor, which I’m disappointed about because he was really nice to me when I first joined the Troop and we became good friends over the course of summer camp.

I'm President Hughes, and I approve this message.

                Today in Western Civilization we continued our PowerPoint on the Bill of Rights. We had a brief discussion before starting the PowerPoint on what we reviewed yesterday, mostly pointed towards presidential succession. If the President is disabled from service, then the Vice President steps in. If the Vice President is disabled from service, it continues to move down a list of people, based off of when their branch was formed. The current top three behind the President is the Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and the President pro tempore of the Senate Orrin Hatch. Since Homeland Security is one of the most recently created branches, it’s at the bottom of the list. Quite honestly, I think that Homeland Security should near the top of the list as the most likely the president would be disabled from office would be through an assassination attempt. Therefore, Homeland Security could take immediate control, and since this threat would most likely be from a large organization, Homeland Security could lead the country and disable the threat at the same time (I also think someone military-based would make a good president. Ex. Teddy Roosevelt, George Washington, President Lincoln, and so forth). Lastly, the president must separate himself from his outside financial affairs while in office and does not get a pay downgrade or raise throughout their term. They must also take an Oath of Office before being able to enter Presidency. Section two of the document  discusses the powers of the President, being that the President is the commander-in-chief of the army, and that he/she can grant pardons.

I wrote two blogs today..... yay

Today in Western Civilization we started a PowerPoint on the Bill of Rights. The first article of the document, which has ten sections, discusses the Legislative branch. First, we got the basic information, although I do want to note that I didn’t know that the Legislative branch has two Houses, Congress, and the House of Representatives (I thought they were one thing). It stated the powers of Congress, those powers being the ability to draft and pass laws, borrow money for the nation, declare war and raise military, and do checks and balances on the other two branches. Skipping to section four, this section covers the Executive branch. This states that the President and Vice President will be elected together, and will have a four-year term. It also states the Electoral College election method, and the qualifications to become president. These qualifications are that you have to be born in America, lived fourteen years in the U.S., and be the age thirty-five or above. This article also talks about presidential succession, where the Vice President will immediately be put in charge if the President is disabled from duty in any form.

Happy day after Valentines Day (Because that's when I'm writing this)

                Yesterday in Western Civilization it was Valentine’s Day. Jess brought in heart-shaped lollipops for the whole class (and still had a small buckets-worth of candy at lunch). For the whole class we had an open discussion on the first amendment of the Constitution. This consisted mostly of talking about the right to practice religion. Mr. Schick talked about his trip to the Newseum, which I think influenced his choice of what the day’s discussion were about. We had four Moments of Zen today (Some which made some sense some which didn’t) and the discussion took up the rest of the class. I’m actually writing this blog a day late and my memories kind of fuzzy about the specifics of the discussion, but I’ll give this my best shot. At some point in the discussion Mr. Schick had us look up the oath of office for the president, and how different presidents swore on different Bibles. Each president would use a different Bible of their choice, while some would even use two (President Obama). We also looked up the first amendment’s exact script several times, as we were looking at the exact wording of it.

Today's special guest; Reese

                Today in Western Civilization we got our tests back and went over them. Unfortunately, I got two questions wrong, one because Mr. Schick made a mistake and the second was wrong because the Ohio River Valley text was so close to the next question my brain didn’t register that it was an answer. I think this may also be since the rest of the questions only have four answers while this one had five. I looked at my essays and I got full points for both. I was kind of surprised because when I was writing them I wasn’t totally sure if everything I was writing in there was true, but I guess I sounded pretty convincing because I got full credit. After going over the test, we had some free time while Mr. Schick put grades in and I began writing this blog during this time. I only got a sentence or two, but since I got more material for this after that I guess I’ll just write that in. Mr. Schick came over and told me that one of his classes (I forgot which, but I think it had something to do with journalism. Sorry.) was taking a field trip to the Newseum in Washington DC. He had me look some pictures up and I thought it looked pretty cool. I also went to the website and looked over their exhibits. I did tell my parents about it and they said they knew about it, so I guess I could try to go there with my family eventually.

I get kind of irritated with the people considered the opposite of insensitive

                Today in Western Civilization we began our PowerPoint for the separation of powers. We didn’t get far, as we had a long open discussion. Mr. Schick started out by talking about how the system of balances and checks are still being applied today that were put into place many years in ago. For example, President Trump’s actions over banning certain countries from immigrating into the U.S. is being questioned by Legislation right now, but Trump is being backed by the Judicial branch. We somehow got into the topic of religion in schools. I think religion should be allowed if the school is public. However, instead of preaching one specific religion you could give a religion comparison class, or when telling kids to pray or whatever else they do to prepare to do so generically. This would save a lot of trouble when parents freak out saying ‘Oh my gosh, why are you teaching my child this? My child is ______ religion!’. It’s the people like this I can’t stand. If someone chooses to practice their religion in front of a class, just don’t participate. I’ve never heard of a religion that says they can’t listen to what someone else is saying simply because what the other person is saying isn’t based off of their religion.

Mr. Schick was out (keels over)

                Today in Western Civilization Mr. Schick was absent, so instead we sat around for thirty minutes and waited for our assignment to come in (Yay, half a free period!). Our assignment was to look at the Preamble to the Constitution and the Articles of the Constitution and summarize them in our blog. In the Preamble, the document speaks about why they are establishing this document. The first article of the constitution establishes the legislative branch of the government. The second article establishes the Executive branch of government. The third article establishes the Judiciary branch. The fourth article defines the relationship between the states and government. The fifth article states that amendments can be made to the Constitution. The sixth article states that all government must swear to the Constitution. The final article (The seventh) tells who signed it and that this document is ratified. Each article is much more detailed than this, but I have summarized them here.

Three-fifths....of a person....

Today in Western Civilization we continued our PowerPoint about the developing government of America. First, we reviewed the PowerPoint slides we already went over, and since Mr. Schick’s voice was dead (I didn’t think it was) the class read and explained them until the last slide. We didn’t listen to the rap battle again (sadness). Then there was a brief, nondescript timeline of the events that happened. On April 19, 1775, the Revolutionary War began. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed and released (Independence Day!). In 1777 the Articles of Confederation were written, and in 1781 all of the U.S. ratified them. On October 19, 1781, the Brits surrendered at Yorktown. On 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed. In May of 1787 the Constitutional Convention gathered. There were 55 delegates, all in Philadelphia. George Washington was presiding, while other famous men were also present. The discussions made were kept secret from the public and press (Although I think nailing your windows shut would attract a lot of attention. The objective was to design a new government, and even with controversies the convention managed a compromise where there were two houses. Each state had the same number of votes, but the House of Representatives had to determine how to count slaves. Since they were regarded as lesser beings, three-fifths of slaves were counted as people.

EPIC RAP BATTLE (But Mr. Schick can still spit more fire)

                Today in Western Civilization we started a PowerPoint on the developing American government after the Revolutionary War. This took place from about the 1700’s to the 1800’s. After the war, the Second Continental Congress was formed. In 1777 the Articles of Confederation were written (Maryland ratified these documents last). This was America’s first constitution. It gave the country a name (The United States of America), established diplomacy, set up trade with other nations, and set up cooperation between states. However, this document was flawed as it had many large controversies and loopholes. Each state was treated as a separate country, each maintained itself separate from the government, and there was one vote for each state in the “Congress of Confederation”. This last one wasn’t considered fair as some states put in more than others. The property value of each state determined how much they paid, which meant bigger states paid more but technically got the same say compared to states who were smaller and gave less. Quebec was invited to join the U.S., but declined (Canadians!!! WHOOOOOO!!!). Unfortunately, the country began to have many issues due to these loopholes. Debts couldn’t be paid because Congress couldn’t collect taxes. Each state printed their own money, which led to problems as you couldn’t use one state’s money in another. Britain has cut off trade, and the U.S. needed new trade partners. The country’s governing power was in deadlock as each side pushed either more government control or rights for the states. Secretary of state, Thomas Jefferson, said that states should handle their own affairs, while Alexander Hamilton said that America should consolidate banking and taxes and work together.

Drone cameras make some pretty good videos.

                Today in class I completed my missed test on the early settlement and separation of America from Britain. Unfortunately, I think I missed the daily Moment of Zen due to this. The multiple choice questions were relatively easy, but the short answer took longer than I thought. Due to being half asleep from my cold, my mind kept wandering as I was trying to write the essay. Oh well, if you think it’s good Mr. Schick, then I guess it’s O.K. The three documents I was told to take notes on and research were A.B.C.; standing for The Articles of Confederation, The Bill of Rights, and the Constitution.

The Articles of Confederation

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=001/llsl001.db&recNum=127

-Opening paragraph discusses which states are accepting this document

-There are five articles

-Each article states how a different part of government will work

-First article states that this confederacy shall be called the United States of America

Bill of Rights

http://www.billofrightsinstitute.org/founding-documents/bill-of-rights/

-The Bill of Rights is the first Ten Amendments to the Constitution

-The first amendment is about freedom of speech, religion, etc.

-2-4 talk about the rights of people towards the government or the military, mostly saying that the government/soldiers will do the exact opposite of what Britain did

-6-7 discuss the rights of people in court

-7-8 discuss jail and bail (rhymes)

-9-10 discuss that government can’t take away your rights and that the rights not owned by the government are owned by the people

The Constitution

http://constitutionus.com/

-Opening phrase ‘We the People’

-Has ‘Sections’ and within those, ‘Articles’

(I’m going to use the headers for each section from the site, but I’m not going to use quotes so don’t freak out)

-Article 1- Legislation

-Article 2- Executive

-Article 3- Judicial

-Article 4- State’s Relations

-Article 5- Mode of Amendment

-Article 6- Prior Debts, National Supremacy, Oaths of Office

-Article 7- Ratification

Side note: I know I’ve already mentioned these people in a past video, but it somehow didn’t click until now. Impact Props not only makes great game props, but they also make fantastic videos. Thought you might at least see the opening, as it has some cool camera effects.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0Zg-FuqO-g

Egyptian brain scooping

                This blog is for Tuesday (because I’m dumb and didn’t remember to blog or how to do it). Over the weekend I went on this great Boy Scout outing called Operation Icicle. The theme for this year was Strike It Rich. Many different Boy Scout Troops come from all over the state (and occasionally from out of it) to participate in the competition. There are different stations around the camp where you demonstrate different Boy Scout skills, like fire building and knot-tying, and some not-so-generic ones like currency identification. I was in a three-man tent with four boys (it was so warm that we had the tent door open for a whole night and we were fine. Unfortunately, the kid sleeping next to me was sick during the trip, and when he got diagnosed by a doctor afterwards, it turned out he had the flu. Monday night I wasn’t feeling great, and I didn’t go to school the day afterward. When we went to the doctor I got tested for the flu and strep, but I didn’t have either (I hope you never have and never will have to be tested for flu. Ever. Getting a wooden stick with a swab on the end of stuck up my nose 4 inches made me pass out. Bleah.). I guess I just have a cold. Anyways, that’s why I wasn’t at school (or in class) Tuesday.