Human Geography Blog 8-29-17

Today in Honor's Western Civilization we continued reviewing for the test that we will be taking when we come back from break. We talked about Alexander's  museum and how much of an impact he was on the culture and science of Alexandria. After reviewing we watched a movie scene of Alexander's battle at Guagamelala. Alexander used amazing military tactics to defeat Persia's King Darius. I learned that none of Alexander's generals supported his tactics because they all believed that even with all of the luck and gods in their favor they still would not be able to win the battle since they were outnumbered 250,000 to 40,000. However, Alexander trusted his gut and continued his battle strategy. His strategy proved to be successful and allowed Alexander to win the battle. After the video the bell rang and dismissed class. I brought the textbook home as well to study over break and get a 100% on the upcoming test.

Today in Honor's Western Civilization we took a vote on when we want to take the second Ancient Greek test. The options were either to take the test tomorrow and be done with it to enjoy our Spring Break, however, if we fail it could be catastrophic to the enjoyment of our Spring Break. The other option was to take the test the first day when we come back from break. We all voted to take the test on the day we come back from breaks in order to have more time to study. After the vote we reviewed Alexander's museum and the art and culture of Alexandria. Alexander had a small observatory in his museum where astronomers studied the stars and planets. Eratosthenes was an astronomer who determined that the Earth was round and what the actual size was. Many great astronomers studied here and made ground-breaking discoveries to boost science. After this the bell rang and ended class.

Today in Honor's Western Civilization we discussed, as a class, how much Alexander the Great was an influence towards the Macedonian Empire and the entire south Europe and southwest Asia. Alexander the Great was made king just when he was a shocking 20 years old. His father was the previous leader of Macedonia and was about to conquer Persia when he was killed. To honor his father's dreams Alexander decided to conquer Persia. This is when Alexander first came into contact with King Darius II. Alexander defeated Darius causing him to flee the country. Every time Alexander's troops came into contact with Darius' troops it was a slaughter. Darius' military tactics were nowhere near as powerful as Alexander's. Alexander eventually completely conquered the Persian Empire. Alexander carried on to conquer parts of India and southwest Asia. His reign lived on until he and his troops returned home after 11 years of over 11,000 miles of walking. Once he returned he died.

Today in Honor's Western Civilization the final group finished their presentation on Ancient Greek pottery and finished the class by taking notes out of our textbook. I found the pottery project very interesting. It was neat to see the way they made pottery by molding it and eventually putting it on the wheel like you see in the movies. They then painted it to make it look Greek and attached handles on it. I also found it interesting how creative the Greeks were and how competitive they were. Greek artists would literally paint on their pottery and say that they were better than another particular artist in Greek. After their presentation we took notes from the textbook. The notes from the textbook were basically about Alexandria and how beutiful it was. It was so beutiful that it attracted people from all around the world. The pages also talked about how philosophy made a personal change towards people's lives. After this the bell rang and ended class.

Today in Honor's Western Civilization we took notes on pages 142-145 in our comp books. During my reading I found many interesting facts about Alexander the Great. Alex became king of Macedonia when he was just 20 years old. After he conquered the Greek city-states he pursued on his father's attempt to invade Persia. He showed up to Macedonia with a 20,000 person army outnumbered by about 20,000 people under King Darius. Alexander used a 16 levels deep phalanx with a cavalry charge behind it. This caused Kind Darius to flee. Alexander ended up winning so many battles that Darius offered him a majority of Persia allowing Darius to have some of the land. However, Alexander did not accept it and eventually conquered all of Persia. Alexander had some more conquests but after traveling 11,000 miles in 11 years his troops were ready to go home. So, Alexander and his troops returned to their homes in anger. Alexander soon died from a fever after. After this the bell rang and ended cla

Today in Honors Western Civilization we finished presenting our Ancient Greek projects. The group that presented today was the Olympics group. They made a video describing and acting out what would happen at the Ancient Greek's Olympic ceremonies. If the athletes were to win a competition they would win an olive branch. They would have the discus throw where they would throw frisbees that were way heavier than what they are today. The person that threw their disc the furthest won. They also had sprinting competitions where the fastest sprinter won. They also had wrestling matches. Finally, they had the chariot races where armored men would stand or sit in a light, wooden chariot pulled by horses. They would typically do seven laps around their track. The fastest racer would win. After the presentation we talked about Mr. Schick's awesome career in movies until the bell rang.

Today in Honor's Western Civilization we presented our projects that we have been working on. To start of the day the 1st group that presented was the group that made honey cake, bread, and oil (they also served sparkling cider in the place of wine). They then explained how honey and wine were staples in the Greek diet and consumes at almost every meal. After that group, the next group came up and presented their model of a trireme. I found the trireme very interesting because it was used as a battering ram to destroy other ships. It was also rowed by 170 to 180 men across 3 levels on the ship. The model was also pretty cool because Owen included broken ships that it destroyed. After that group it was our turn and we presented our trident and phalanx model. After our presentation the bell rang and ended class.

Today we continued working on our Ancient Greece project. I decided to team up with the one and only Dominic Comello. Instead of building a catapult we are going to build a model of the Anxient Greece phalanx. I find this much easier and much more relevant to Ancient Greece. We decided we will get a piece of cardboard and make it look like grass. We will then put LEGO characters on to act as soldiers and use some long wood sticks like chopsticks for spears. I think this project will turn out very well

Today in Honors Western Civilization we worked on our Ancient Greece project. I decided that I will build a catapult just like the Ancient Greeks used. So today I began researching Ancient Greek catapults and the physics of them. I found it very interesting that the original engineering of the catapult was forgotten during one of the many plagues. The engineering is actually quite simple. It is done all using tension and releasing it. I also found it interesting that the Greeks used several different types of catapults. After this the bell rang and ended class.

Today in Honor's Western Civilization we finally finished watching the Crash Course on philosophy. Here are some of the notes that I took over the course of the entire video: -Metaphysics- the branch of philosophy that studies the nature and scope of knowledge -Epistemology- The branch of philosophy that studies the nature and scope of knowledge -The Value Theory consists of two branches -Ethics- the branch of philosophy that studies the nature and scope of knowledge -Aesthetics- the branch of philosophy that studies the nature of beauty -fallacy- a failure in reasoning or flawed reasoning that leads to an invalid or unsound argument The steps to philosophy consist of- 1. Try to Understand 2. Critical Evaluation After taking these notes people in the class tried to explain how we never actually see color, however, I still do not understand it at all. After all the debating the bell rang and ended class.