life and death

Today in class was a deeper discussion then usual. We talked about the world and how we have a population of over 7.6 billion. We also learned how 90% of the birth rate right now comes from developing countries such as Africa and India. I think it’s sad how a lot of these births are because women in these countries don’t have the ability to be education about the topic or are able to get birth control. Another reason is pressure to have boys instead of girls ,so people will have abortions just because it’s a girl. I hope the economy of these places get better so people all around the world can have a good education and know about these things like we so here in the United States. A creepy thing we learned is that every 11 seconds someone dies but every second 2.5 people are born. It’s also cool how we have a census that tracks are population very well and they put it on a website so we can look at it. The population is a crazy thing and we are just starting our unit on it.

we got our tests...

Today we went over our tests and I got an eighty one on it, but Mr.Schick said he is going to give us the rick questions and the UTC questions which we did not go over in class. We learned that the other class had a debate about number fourteen and fought about it all class. Our average was around seventy five percent which is a C. To me that is horrible, but Mr.Schick said it was an average grade. After the test since there was a China question in the test we looked at the T square protests and the guy who stood in front of the tanks. I moved with them and was willing to die for his cause. Over 1 million people protested and China had to send the Army in go get rid of it. Lots of people got shot and hurt and to this day it is illegal to talk about it in China. The fact that so many people rioted about the same things makes it seem like whatever they were rioting about had an effect on a lot of Chinese citizens. I cant believe they are not allowed to talk about it in their own country, and I heard people in Hong Long are getting arrested for it.

the test

Today we took the test, and I think I failed. I don't think it was that fair because we never really went over UTC at all, and it was not in any of my notes. I really hope I do not get another B because that would be very bad, and it would be hard to bring up. All I know it that I got the -5:00 question right, which is good because I spent a lot of time thinking about it, and checking my answers. I also looked over relative and absolute before the test, but didn't know it would be such a big part of the test. For about six questions we didn't go over it that much. I was the last one done because I went over all the questions I did not know and took an educated guess about it. Also I am dressed as Dopey the dwarf and six others are the other ones. Right now in class we are doing a crossword puzzle which Mr.Schick said his daughter completed in 12 seconds. I don't know how someone could think so fast and type the words in 12 seconds. Mr.Schick is last in his family which is kind of sad. Today overall was ok-ish and hopefully i dont have a B.

POP quiz!

Today we finished the last of our debate and maintaining time zones won it. I knew we were going to win because abolishing them makes no sense. We also talked about the metric system and how the US government pushed for it about 40 years ago, and Americans did not like it. We took a pop quiz and i got an 8/10 on it, which means i got an 80% on it. I think I will do well on the test tomorrow (that I just found out about) but it seems like the hardest test will will take so far. We also went over the use of scan tron in our next quiz, and that led on to discussion on SAT's and PSAT's. We talked about how the PSAT's do not really matter and you do not have to prepare or study for them because colleges do not look at them. Also how the SAT's probably are worth too much to colleges, how not all the biggest colleges are better than smaller ones, and how to not bubble in your answer as hard as you can because if you do and you realize you get it wrong, then the machine reading it will think its the incorrect answer. That is basically what we discussed in class today.

The Debate

Today we had a debate in class. We did not have that much time to do it and time went very fast. I did not get all my points across but abolishing time zones is just a dumb idea in general because timezone are working very well for us right now!!! Here's some points from my research:

• The whole world would have to learn a new way of living, this would also disturb schedules and transportation times, but both keep the problem of it being dark in one part of the world and light in the other
• Not all countries will want to abolish this because it would ruin everything!!!!!!!!

3. Daylight Savings Time

• we add 1 hour of natural daylight to our afternoon schedule
• longer evenings motivate people to get out of the house. The extra hour of daylight can be used for outdoor recreation like golf, soccer, baseball, running, etc.
• The tourism industry profits from brighter evenings. Longer nights give people more time to go shopping, to restaurants, or other events, boosting the local economy.
• Studies have found that DST contributes to improved road safety by reducing pedestrian fatalities by 13% during dawn and dusk hours.
• Another study found an 7% decrease in robberies following the spring shift to DST.
• adjusting daily routines to the shifting day length during summer may indeed help to save energy. A German analysis of 44 studies on energy use and DST found a positive relationship between latitude and energy savings. (basically less artificial light is used)

Why abolishing Time zones is just stupid

Today we learned that we are going to have a debate Friday, and I am set on winning. I have written down arguments and defenses. Some of the people in the middle did research and are already on our side. Getting rid of time zones is just dumb and would do no good for the world. I hope no one looks in my blog for this information but here is some of the research I found that will be a great asset in helping us win.
The people trying to abolish time zones use these as an argument:

1. Replace with a system aptly named the Hanke-Henry Date and Time

• The calendar would be identical every year, except for a one week-long 'mini-month' at the end of December every five or six years

2. Would be easier for businesses and transportation

• This would be a bad idea because at noon here it would be sunny, but noon in China would be completely dark and they would be sleeping (would make no difference abolishing time zones and make it more confusing) ex. “What time is it?” “It’s 14 o'clock” “So is it morning or night?” “I don't know but if we had time zones it would be easier and keep everything more organized)
• Every business in the world is already accustomed to timezones, if we abolished these, then every business in the world would be confused, world-wide communications would be disturbed (ex. “Lets have a meeting at 11:00; sorry we are sleeping here”
• All agriculture businesses would be doomed. Farmers and distributors would be confused about when to plant their crops, and changing the time will be hard (ex. “When should i plant my crops?” “6:00 in the morning” “But it is not sunny so they can’t grow”)

Time Zones

Today in class we finished the last part of the longitude power point; here are some things I recorded

• Are known as Meridians
• Farthest apart at the equator and meets at the poles

Then after that we started learning about time zones, and everyone was really confused. When we all saw the timezone map we debated about whether we should just make the world one time zone, keep it at 24 confusing areas, or even add more!!! While looking at the map the class observed how certain places only had one whole timezone, even though they were in different ones and how that counties government could decide what timezone they are in. For example, North Korea has 30 minutes increments instead of hour long ones. Here are some notes I took:

TIME ZONE - a region of the globe that observes a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purposes; tend to follow boundaries of counties

• Earth is a sphere divided into 360 degrees of longitude
• Divide 360 by 24 time zones (one for each hour of the day)
• Each band of longitude is 15 degrees