Posted on October 28th, 2008 in Humanities by Gregory
Chpt. 21
1. No because you could kill someone for love and that wouldn’t be right.
Chpt. 22
1. The government of the Warraskoyack village is looser than and less complicated than that of Jamestown. All the food is shared and not rationed, unlike Jamestown. In Jamestown they had playing cards for conversation. The Native Americans had hunting, making jewelry, etc. In the Native American village everbody works and there are no “gentlemen”. The religions are definitely different.
Chpt. 23
1. For example, if another country became a superpower, it would gain power and the U.S. would lose power.
2. Its saying and asking that why are the colonists attacking the Powhatans even thought it is the Powhatans that give us food. The colonists have an obvious disadvantage because the Native Americans can starve them to death. So now the colonists will starve because they attacked the Native Americans even though the Native Americans were helping them.
Posted on October 28th, 2008 in Humanities by Gregory
Chpt. 18
1. A historical myth is something that happened in the past that is more fiction than fact. The historical fact is the opposite.
2. Because if the gentleman find out that they are like a tribe to Chief Powhatan they will get angry and stuff and people might get killed.
Chpt. 19
If I were one of the commoners in Jamestown when the law came into effect, I would have thought that it was quite reasonable because the colony was in hard times. But if I were a gentleman I wouldn’t like the decree because the gentleman never worked much to start with. If this were a law in our classroom, we could probably abide it but would hate it, parents would complain, school then gets sued for child cruelty…….
2. When the two women arrive it is the year 1608. The woman make the settlement more complete but are a distraction to the men.
3. In the Indian religion there are a lot of gods but in Christianity there is only one god. However all the gods are very powerful. However certain Native American gods need sacrifices.
Posted on October 27th, 2008 in Humanities by Gregory
The Sea of Trolls
By Nancy Farmer
Pages: 450
Read: Oct. 26, 2008
Jack is an apprentice to the Bard, who is a bard who can perform magic, in a peaceful little coastal town in England. But the peace is suddenly shattered when an old enemy of the Bard, drives the Bard insane, and Vikings attack their town. Jack and his sister Lucy become slaves to the Vikings. But on the journey back to Viking lands, he learns much about magic, and becomes respected on the ship. In Viking lands, he accidentally makes the Queen’s hair fall out so he travels to the land of the trolls. It is there, where he finally comes to understand the world where he lives in.
Jack, is a very brave character. He cares for his sister a lot even though most of the time his sister is in her own fantasies, thinking she is a princess. Lucy is quite ignorant of dangerous situations. Jack learns magic, or the life force, from the Bard, or Dragon Tongue. His magic is like the force in Star Wars. Except he can also control minds, talk to animals, control the weather, drive people mad, make fire, make ice, etc. I can’t imagine if our world had somebody like Jack. Things would probably get a bit chaotic.
Posted on October 23rd, 2008 in Humanities by Gregory
I learned a few things in our Evidence Unit in our humanities class this first quarter. I learned that evidence that came in more forms than I thought before. I didn’t know that somebodies diary, journal, or historical document would count as a piece of evidence. In my mind, I used to only put evidence in one category, just evidence. Now I know that there is primary evidence, secondary evidence, etc. The book, “Blood on the River” also taught me some things about Jamestown I didn’t know before. Before I read the book, all I knew was that Jamestown suffered a lot in its first winters, there was a guy called John White was a smart leader, stuff from the Pocahontas movie (disney), and that some Indian helped Jamestown survive so that’s why we have Thanksgiving now. The Roanoke thing was pretty new for me. I don’t usually study mysteries in english class, so it was a pretty new experience. Overall, I liked it pretty much.
Posted on October 23rd, 2008 in Science by Gregory
Land degradation is where the quality of soil is lowered in an area, usually because of a combination of things that us humans do to the land. Right now, 40% of all the agricultural land in the world is very degraded. The more degraded the soil is, the less plants will grow there. Some crops are better for the soil than others. Tobacco, for instance seems to suck the life out of the soil. But no matter what you plant, its not good for the soil if you always keep planting the same crops in the same place all the time. 33% of the world’s land is now desert, and is growing rapidly. Only 11% of the the world’s land is fit to grow crops.
People should take take steps to make sure their agricultural land does not become seriously degraded. People have started taking steps, but its not enough. The world’s deserts are growing, and agricultural land is shrinking rapidly. If we don’t act soon, there is going to be another Dust Bowl, and this time it won’t just be the US. It’ll be continent.
Posted on October 20th, 2008 in Humanities by Gregory
The Shamer’s Signet
Author: Lene Kaaberbol
Read: Oct 19, 2008
Pages: 235
Dina’s mother is a Shamer, someone who can find out about your darkest secrets with one look in the eye. Dina also has this gift, it is a gift, but sets her apart from all the other children. Dina’s mother goes to the city of Dunark to solve a murder by seeing if the prime suspect, Nicodemus is guilty. But she finds he isn’t, so she is branded as a witch and thrown in a dungeon. Dina goes to find her mother, but if captured too, by Drakan, the true killer who killed in order to become the supreme ruler of the city. But just when Dina and her mother are to be fed to the dragons, help comes in the form of old friends and they manage to escape. However, Drakan is now powerful and will stop at nothing to see them dead.
If somebody really had Shamer powers in the real world, it would be really scary. Nobodies secrets would be kept hidden from him/her. However, that would probably be the end of lie detectors. And countries would be fighting to have control over that person. It wouldn’t be very good for everybody else. There are people that can tell lies from truth, (though a Shamer is much better) I wonder if the author is like that?
Posted on October 13th, 2008 in Humanities by Gregory
The essay wasn’t too hard. It was like ok. At first, when I was told it had to be a page, I was thinking, how am I going to write all that on that puny topic in one class! Well as it turns out in the end, I did 5/3 pages. I actually sort of didn’t have enough time to have a more thorough ending.
The relationship between the Native Americans and the colonists changed quite a lot over time. When the colonists first arrived in Virginia, they were attacked by Native Americans. But it was only a small skirmish, so only two of the colonists were injured.
A few days after Jamestown was born, Native Americans come to trade with the colonists. At first it looked innocent enough, but Captain Smith quickly realized that the Native Americans were also spying on them as they traded. Captain Smith then wanted to build a palisade to protect Jamestown, but President Wingfield says that it’s nonsense. So, the palisade was not built.
Only a few days later, the Native Americans launch an attack on Jamestown. This time, seventeen men are wounded and one is killed. Only then did President Wingfield order the construction of the palisade. That can be seen in the following quote, “…the president was contented the fort should be palisadoed, the ordnance mounted, his men armed…” But during the construction of the palisade, the Native Americans still launch small attacks upon anybody who strays afar from the fort.
Soon Jamestown is dying of starvation and disease, but friendly Native Americans still come and trade with the colonists. This helps revive Jamestown. Soon there are no more attacks because the fort is hard to attack and the Native Americans are becoming friendly. Captain Smith becomes more important, as his skills as a leader and a translator become recognized; so the relationship with the Native Americans is peaceful, especially when Captain Smith becomes Chief Powhatan’s adopted son. Captain Smith’s importance as a diplomat can be seen in the following quote,”…managing of all things abroad to Captain Smith…”
Unfortunately, when the colonists are ordered to make Chief Powhatan a subject of England it makes the chief really angry, so none of the tribes under his rule are allowed to trade with Jamestown. Fortunately trading quickly starts again. But, the new colonists went and killed Indians and Chief Powhatan is forced to take an aggressive stance. “…destroy them that provide you food…Whereby you must famish by wronging us, your friends.” Chief Powhatan says that the Indians are friendly, but because the colonists attacked them, there will be war. Captain Smith then successfully has peace with a nearby tribe so then Jamestown might not be attacked soon, but soon there is war anyway. There is, however, a short peace when Pocahontas marries John Rolfe, but war breaks out again and in the end the Powhatan empire is no more, just like the prophecy said “… there will come a tribe from the bay of the Chesapeake…by the end of this battle, the Powhatan Kingdom will be no more”.
Posted on October 12th, 2008 in Humanities by Gregory
The Lightning Thief
Author: Rick Riordan
Pages: 375
Read on: Oct. 10, 2008
Percy Jackson is always getting into trouble, and has bad grades in school. One example is that he accidentally blew up the school bus with a cannon on a field trip. He also sucks at english, but for some reason excels at Greek. It all becomes clear when he realizes that Greek gods are for real and his father is an Olympian God, Poseidon, which makes him a demigod, or in short a hero, like Hercules. Unfortunately, he is quickly framed for stealing Zeus’s master ligthing bolt and Hades’s helm of darkness. Fortunately for Percy, the true thief makes a mistake, and Percy manages to clear his name.
I find mythology quite exciting and interesting. Especially Roman, Greek, and Norse mythology. So I really liked this book, though it doesn’t have a lot of evidence. As much as I like Roman/Greek mythology, I still learned a few things I didn’t know about before about mythology. Like Cyclops were immune to fire (or maybe I just simply forgot). I can’t wait to finish this series ( yep, this is a series), and find out about Percy’s destiny, or rest of his life.
. The more degraded the soil is, the less plants will grow there. Some crops are better for the soil than others. Tobacco, for instance seems to suck the life out of the soil. But no matter what you plant, its not good for the soil if you always keep planting the same crops in the same place all the time. 33% of the world’s land is now desert, and is growing rapidly. Only 11% of the the world’s land is fit to grow crops.
