Long time

WOW! Its been such a long time since I’ve written on this blog! :) Well… I don’t know what to say… Even though i haven’t been writing I have been changing the theme (i love this new one!!!), I somehow find it strangely amusing! :-) HAHAHA!!!!

Thats it for today,

Bye Bye!!!! :)

United Nations World Issues Reflection

To see presentations go here: http://unworldissues.wikispaces.com/Block+D+Projects

Think about the presentations and reflect on the projects your classmates presented and the information you listened to. Explain with details and specific information what you learned, what you found interesting, surprising, or shocking about the presentations you heard in class.

Last class and this class we watched presentations about Poverty, Drug Abuse, Child Labor, Human Rights, Girl Child, and Children’s Rights. they were made on iMovie, Voice Thread and PowerPoint. A lot of these presentations were very shocking to me especially girl child, drug abuse and my own one because i found a lot of the information shocking. On the drug abuse iMovie i saw these pictures of a girl in jail having drugs through her life, at the beginning she looked OK, but at the end she looked a mess. On the Girl child voice thread I learned that girls are treated badly and they don’t have equal rights. They also aren’t allowed to go to primary and secondary school. There is an organization that gives vegetable oil to a family if they send their girl child to school for 20 days a month. All this information was really shocking to me and I would really like to help in the future.

What would you change to improve your project/presentation if you were to do the assignment again?
If i wear to do the assignment again I would add more information and try to put the little movies that my group did. We didn’t have enough time to finish everything so next time I would like more time to work on the project, that way we don’t have as much pressure to finish it. That would be all i would change because I think everything is nice as it is.

Responce Posting

Respond to: Bea’s Current Event

Info is from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6637385.stm

How are the two events connected? 

The two events are connected because they both talk about HIV/AIDS and the drugs that people use to treat it. The thing that’s different is that my article is about how Bill Clinton made a deal with two Indian companies to make drugs ,that are cheaper and more affordable, that help AIDS in countries that people cant afford expensive drugs.

What did you find interesting about this topic?

What I found interesting was that so many people have AIDS and are dieing but finaly they maybe found the cure and now this man (ex-president of the US: Bill Clinton) is trying to make drugs that are cheaper for people without much money.

What did you like about the initial blog posting?

What I liked about Bea’s blog posting was that Bea had very good pictures that illustrated exactly what the virus was. I also liked how she explained the information.

UN Security Council Veto Power

Q: Should the permanent members of the Security Council continue to retain their veto power? Why or why not?

It really depends on the situation the Security Council is facing. For example, lets say the members of the UN say they want a world covered with candy and the security council says no then they made a good decision because if the world was covered in candy then all the children would start eating it. If the children start eating it they will get obese and then they will probably die of heart disease. Another example would be that some countries in the UN start having a fight about who is the strongest, they get really mad and then declare war on each other and that could cause a World War III because those countries will attack other countries because they think they’re hiding some army of wherever and declare war on them and so on. Then some people that are not involved in the war say that they don’t want this thing happening but the security council just say ” Let them fight it out, they are bound to get tired” or ” Let them fight to see who’s the strongest and that will finish it!” If they said that it would end in a total catastrophe, so there they would make a BIG mistake. If the members of the Security Council make good choices then they should continue to have veto power but if they don’t then they should loose it.

By Malaika
Block D

Current Events: A New Planet Discovered!

URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6590000/newsid_6590600/6590625.stm


URL: http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/physics/news/Panda_news/images/exoa.jpg

What is the issue?

The issue is that a new planet was found outside our solar system. This planet still has no name but it is the most Earth-like planet that scientists ever found. The planet is 20.5 light years away from hear and 1.5 times bigger than Earth.

Who is involved?

- The scientists that found the planet.

- The scientists all over the world.

Who is affected and how?

- The scientists that found the planet are effected because they found something new and very important.

- The scientists that are interested are involved because they want to know more about this new planet and will probably help with the research.

What would I do if I was directly involved?

What I would do if I was directly involved would be to start doing more research immediately. I would also start sending shuttles with people in them to see what is on the planet and if there’s any life or anything edible, water

Famous Egyptian Reflection

What I learned in class today was that there were some gods that had the same power like Hathor and Bastet, I also learned about the Pharoahs and Queens and what they did for their country. One of the most interesting people was th Queen Nefertiti becuase she was a lady Pharoah and had to pretend to be a man when she was in public but when she was alone she dressed like a woman. Another interesting presentation was about Imhotep the Great, I really liked that speech becuase it was full of expression and you could clearly understand who it was about.

What I would like to change about my presentation would be to add more expression and detail and also memorize it abit more so I wouldn’t have to look at the paper most of the time.

Famous Egyptian Speech

Mighty Maat

They say I’m mighty and unalterable, can you guess who I am? I’m married to Thoth the god of scribes and knowledge and I have eight children, the most important of which is Amun. Can you guess who I am? Have you guessed? Yes, I am Maat, goddess of all gods.

Here is some general information about me and how I came to be. I am the goddess of law, order and truth, I came out when the world was empty on Ra’s sun boat directing him through the sky. The feather on my head is the Feather of Truth, it’s used in The Weighing of the Heart ceremony.  Let me explain a bit about that ceremony, when you die your soul comes to the Hall of Two Truth, then I have to weigh your heart on the scale against my feather. If your heart weighs more than my feather your heart will be eaten my Ammut and you won’t be able to go to Duat (the underworld). If your heart weighs the same as my feather then I will lead you down to Osiris in Duat. That was a bit of my background life.

I am a very important goddess to both humans and gods alike. Without me the world would be nothing, it will be full of chaos and destruction. Everything needs rules and order without them there is nothing, even some gods need order like Ra. The Egyptians believed that if their pharaoh didn’t live by and maintain me chaos would come and the earth would be destroyed. Even the pharaohs, the most important humans have to live by my rules.

I didn’t have many temples dedicated to me, in fact I had none. I only had I small, actually, I had a tiny shrine dedicated to me. Queen Hatshetput built it in the temple of Karnak. I am very thankful to her of this because otherwise no one would come and pray to me.

Now you know why I’m probably the most important goddess. Since I am so important to the humans the pharaohs started to put my name in their title and they lived according to my rules. If you need to come and pray to me for something then just come to my little shrine in Karnak!

URL: http://magedm.freeyellow.com/isis-maat.jpghttp://magedm.freeyellow.com/isis-maat.jpg

 

 

Pictures of Egyptian Gods

These are pictures of the Gods of Egypt.

Ra: The Sun God

URL: http://www.stencilkingdom.com/images/designs/egypt41_large.gif

Maat: Godess of Law and Order

URL: http://magedm.freeyellow.com/isis-maat.jpg

Isis: Protector of the Living and the Dead

URL: http://www.newton.mec.edu/Bigelow/classroom/walker/egypt/14egyptwebgmhjpsak4/isis.jpg

Osiris: Lord of the Underworld

URL: http://www.fileane.com/photodenderah/denderahphotos2/11osirisvert.jpg

Bes: Bringer of Happiness

URL: http://www.kemet.org/ntjr/bes.gif

Hapi: The Personification of the Nile

URL: http://www.egiptoaldescubierto.com/mitologia/dioses/hapi.jpg

Horus: The Sky God

URL: http://www.logoi.com/pastimages/img/horus_3.jpg

Thoth: The God of Scribes

URL: http://www.enormousfictions.com/wp-content/5399a.jpg

Responce Posting

Responce posting to Andrea’s Blog.

Article site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6385033.stm
How are these two articles connected?

The two articles are connected because they are both about bombs killing people. But they are different because one is about bombs in cars and the other one is about chemical bombs.

What did you find interesting about this topic?

What I found interesting about the topic was that people would actually put bombs to kill other people, they dont realize it could cause a lot of bad things to happen like pollution and global warming.

What did you like about the initial blog posting?

What I liked was that Andrea put a map and a picture, I also liked the information and the layout, it was very neat. I think Andrea did a great job on her posting.

Current Event Posting: South Africa faces Crime Challenge

Site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6347717.stm

http://www.holidaycity.com/southafricahotels/map.gif
What is the issue?

The issue is that crime in South Africa is getting out of hand. The people can not go out without being afraid of getting kidnapped or murdered. The most murders have occurred in Johannesburg The government is trying to stop all this.

Who is involved?

The people involved are:

• The people of South Africa
• The government
• The criminals

Who is affected and how?
The people are affected because they are the ones who are losing there loved ones and the ones who are being kidnapped and murdered.

The Government is affected because they have to try and stop the killing and kidnapping, also to make sure everyone is safe to go out again.

The criminals are involved because they are the ones who are killing everybody and making the family of loved ones sad.

What would you do if you were directly involved?

I would try to track down the people who are killing and kidnapping and I would execute them or cut one of there hands of (all these are too harsh), or I would put them in jail for fifty years so they will learn there lesson.

Reflection 2 (Ancient Africa Wiki)

1.What would you change about the final product (the wiki you created) if you were to do the assignment again?

What I would change is the time we got and how much information we needed because we had too little time to make more than a perfect wiki. I would also change the information titles because instead of doing ‘Human, Physical, Location, Movement or Regions’ my group did ‘Culture, Trade, Kings, Religion, Geography, Climate & vegetation, Food and agriculture,Timbuktu and Facts’. That’s all I would change.

2. Look at some of the other wikis from any class and find a few that you think are done exceptionally well. Tell me the name of the empire and the block, and then explain what you like about their wiki.

1. Kongo Kingdom, Block E

I think the page on Location is great because there are loads of links and also a lot of maps.

2. Zimbabwe, Block H 

I think the page on Region was very good because of all the pictures. It really helped to understand the text.

3. Ancient Ghana, Block D

I really liked the Environment page because all the information was very detailed and they had very good pictures to go along with the text.

Wikispace Reflection: Ancient Africa D

1. What did you learn from this task?

I learned how to evaluate web sites, how to collaborate in a group and distinguish good info from bad info. I also learned a lot about the Mali empire and it’s rulers.

2. Did you find this difficult or easy? Why?

I found this difficult and easy, the wikspace was easy because all you had to do was write the information down. The researching was difficult though because it was hard to find good and up to date information for the wiki.

3. What would you change about the process you went through to complete the wiki if you were to do the assignment again?

I don’t think I would change anything except to have more time because two weeks isn’t much to complete one whole wikispace. I would also try to find more research and maybe even try a different empire or kingdom.

Ancient Africa Links

Responce to Felicia’s Post

Felicia’s Post: http: //felicia.learnerblogs.org/2006/11/30/15/#respond

Site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6159767.stm

Picture site://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6159767.stm

I have something more about the snow leopard on Felicia’s posting.

How are th two events connected?

The two events are connected because the two articles are both about the snow leopard except that my article is newer than Felicia’s article.

What did you find interesting about this topic?

What I found interesting was that the reaserchers were very brave to save the snow leopards. I laso found the topic interesting because I really love cats and i would do anything to save them.

What did I like about the initial posting?

What I liked about the initial posting was that Felicia had very good formatting and she chose a good artickle that didn’t affect the world but still affected alot of people such as animle lovers and just normal people that like cats.

Reflection on the Presentation(How Africa Developed)

This is the URL for this posting: http://ssmeetsit.edublogs.org/2006/11/30/homework-for-block-d-wednesday-29-november/

We presented our group topics and we talked about:

~ **Iron Technology’s Impact on West Africa.**~

What I learnt: I learnt that before the discovery of iron they used bones and stone to make weapons. I also learnt how they found iron and how they made things out of it.

What I found interesting: What I found interesting was how they found, etracted and moulded the iron.

~**The Kingdom of Gold**~

What I learnt: I learnt that most government officials converted into Islam and soninke. I also learnt that the indigenous religeon beleived in a god that made the earth and other smaller gods for different things.

What I found Interesting: What I found interesting was the fact the the indigeons believed in a god that made the world like in christianits or islam.

~**The Kingdom of Mali Under Mansa Musa**~

What I learnt: I learnt that there was a king, Sumanguru and he had 11 sons. He killed all of them but one survived. When Prince Sundiata went back to his home land to claim the throne he brought 500 slaves and 60 thousand people. He also brought 80-100 camels too.(I thought that was very interesting.)

~** How the songhai Empie Grew to Greatness**~

What I learnt: I learnt that in 1483 the Songhai empire replaced Mali a the greatest empire.(I found that interesting)

~** The Conquest of Songhai by Morocco**~

What I learnt: I learnt that a sultan called Al-Mansur wants to control the sources of salt and gold to fund his army.

What I found interesting: What I found interesting was that Gao offered gold and salt to the Songhai army so they would stop attacking them.