My Learning of the 5 Themes of Geography

Definition

What is geography?

Geography is the study of the Earth and its lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena.


Theme 1: Location

Where are you right now? Describe your location in as many ways as you can.
Im In School Now. Hsinchu International School Right Now In flour 2 202 Mr. Truchon room. Who Teach Us Math Class.

Theme 2: Place

What are the physical, human and cultural characteristics?

The Physica:
Physical is a health care profession which provides services to individuals and populations to develop, maintain and restore maximum movement and functional ability throughout life.

Theme 3: Human-Environment Interactions

How do humans adapt to and/or change the environment? How do we depend upon the environment?

I Think people adapt environment is that they try to know new friends new people and weather and food ad things in the world.

Theme 4: Movement

How does movement affect your daily life? What “items” are being moved that you interact with on a regular basis?

I think people move as what it's brain says and what do they wanna do. And I think People move to see what things move.

Theme 5: Regions

Describe the difference between a formal, functional and perceptual description of a region.

Religion have three type
Christianity:

Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in the New Testament.



Islam:
Islam is a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion originating with the teachings of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure.

Judaism:
Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating from the saga of the ancient Israelites, as embodied and codified in the Hebrew Bible, as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts.


And Also What is religions?
A religion is an organized approach to human spirituality which usually encompasses a set of narratives, symbols, beliefs and practices, often with a supernatural or transcendent quality, that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power or truth.

And I think it's God.

National Standards Review

In Humanites Homework
We have a homework that we need to watch a movie called National Standards and We need to write what we learned


-------


There are six things:
1.The World in Spatail Terms
2.Places and Religions.
3.Phycical Systems
4.Environment and Society
5.Human Systems
6.The Uses Of Geography.

And Here is The Grography Skills:

Skill 1. Asking The Geographic Question.
Skill 2. Acquiring Geographic Information.
Skill 3. Organizing Geographic Data.
Skill 4. Geographic Information System.
Skill 5. GIS: Software for Geographic Data.
Skill 6. Analysis and Synthesis.
Skill 7. Finding Answers.



This is what I learned
More Information Please Go:

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/environment/index.html

Puzzle Time Activity

In Science Class we had a game called Puzzle Activity and what had Ms.Smith had gave us is
One Big peace of paper and she cut it in a lot of peace and cut it a lot of strange peace it make it really hard to put it back into write peace of paper.
And we have a lot of group with 3 people and I'm in a group with andrew and peter and at first it's hard we wanna give up but at last we try very hard and we try to find the paper that the side look the same and it make them fit togather and we find one by one and after that we fit all togather to make it in to one big peace paper. Or we did one more ideas is to bring a new big peace of paper that look the same as when you fit the small peace of paper togather and we try to fit every peace in the new big paper looks if it fit and if it fit we will put all together.

And the next class we use news paper And The Same group and same people and we used news paper it's more easy but it look like more messy that there is a lot of words and there is a lot of color in it so it makes it very hard.
And we did a different way to fit it together we first find the side and find the words and the color look that if it make's it in words and we try to fit it togather


And I think this activity is cool And Ms.Smith helped us a lot too~ After that we did a work sheet too write about the shape and how we made it.

And I learned a lot from this activity too!
I learned that we can;t give up anything because you don't even know if you have more chance to do it and if you give up to early than you will never win and if you keep trying you will think it's fun and you will also think that it's intresting and it help you learn more too~!


I Love Science

Facebook privacy story a beat-up

This is the news due wednesday.



Facebook's chief privacy officer has spoken out defending the company's controversial decision to change its terms of use, saying the entire story was a beat-up and Facebook never intended to use people's personal information outside of the site.

It was the latest in a series of privacy rows for the social networking site as its 175 million users wise up to the dangers of publishing their personal details on the internet through a commercial entity.

In a telephone interview, Chris Kelly said despite Facebook rolling back the changes, which gave the company "irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid worldwide license" to users' information even after they deleted their account, the social network did not believe it had done anything wrong.

Kelly said the license was only intended to cover the site against legal action under copyright law and only allowed the company to use people's photos and other information on the Facebook site and within the privacy settings chosen by each individual.

"License is different to ownership ... So the speculation about people's faces showing up on billboards or Facebook owning the photos that they uploaded was just completely false," Kelly said.

"If you had only agreed to display a photograph for instance to five users, which you can do under your Facebook privacy settings, Facebook's license only extended far enough to allow us to display that photograph to those five users."

The issue flared up after consumer advocate blog Consumerist wrote that Facebook had tweaked its terms of service to give it more control over users' information, even after a user deleted their account.

It led to thousands of news stories all over the world and many Facebook users vowed to delete their account in protest. People who attempt to delete their account today are first shown a message from the site apologising for the terms of use "mistake".

Speaking to The New York Times, Consumerist co-executive editor Ben Popken said that the original blog post had been viewed more than 580,000 times by Wednesday - the site's most popular post ever.

But Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Kelly, said the changes were only made to make the site's policies clearer to users. The clause stating that Facebook could use user information even after they deleted their account was meant to ensure messages left on friends' Facebook pages would not disappear.

Kelly said Facebook only rolled back to the former terms of service to make it clear that the site's intention was not to own users' information. People are now being invited to join the Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities group to share their thoughts on Facebook's privacy policies. ( http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=69048030774)

"I think we're at an interesting time in the history of the world when a lot of things that weren't recorded or captured in any form are being captured [and shared] - and people are understandably nervous about that," Kelly said.

"I think that people are by and large very concerned about online privacy and with having more control over their data and their information, and we think that's very important and we've always recognised that by investing a great deal in building an infrastructure that allows them to choose who gets to see their information, as opposed to saying either you put it up on the internet or you don't."

Rihanna's Family Opens Up About Chris Brown Arrest

This is the news that due wednesday.

Rihanna's family is opening up about the relationship between Rihanna and Chris Brown after an alleged altercation before the Grammy Awards that left Rihanna injured and Brown arrested.
One family member told People.com that Brown "flew so far under everyone's radar that we just didn't think he was that [abusive] type." The relative added that the news comes as a surprise because "he was always looking after her needs making sure she was happy."
The relative agreed with Rihanna's dad, Ronald Fenty, who thinks his superstar daughter should "move on" from the relationship. "I don't want her to go back to him," the family member said. "I don't think anyone does."

Earlier this week, Kimora Lee Simmons, who was showing her line Baby Phat during New York Fashion Week, spoke about the incident with The Associated Press, saying she saw the pair earlier in the night before news broke.

"I saw them that night ... and I think it's a very unfortunate situation," she said. "And I wish them both all the best and I send them my love and I'm very personally attached to both of them. And sometimes I think young lovers go through things and I really don't know what happened, so I wish everybody the best."

Ray J, who was at the fashion show supporting Simmons, said he and Brown are good friends and sends prayers out to the pair. "I've got a chance to hang out with them a couple of times, and, you know, they're cool people. Keep your head up," he told the AP. "You know things like this happen in life. And in life, sometimes these are the tests and obstacles that you got to overcome."

Map Again -- (Humanities)

Here is the Picture Map About From My house to Some other People’s House.
First I went out from my house and I Lived in 19 flour So I need to get to 1 Flour and I need to walk streat down to the Next building Beside me and I go Up to 15 Flour and Find My Friend. It take’s About 5-8 Minute From My house to My Friend house.

The Geography Story -- What Is Geography What Do They do? -- (Humanities)

Where do the people live?
Some People Lived in China And Some people Lived in India. South And North
What did they eat?
In China They Eat Dumplings and In India They Eat Rice.
How Do They Wear?
They Were like japan people and They Sometimes wear white things and bring a hat made of cloth and there hair are curly and big and messy.
How Do they live?
They Work And Find Things to eat and make things to eat and walk..... Just Cheers With people all day.and Work

Here is the movie about geography people and place:
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/environment/index.html

Geograpgy -- (Map Thingy)

This is the Mind Map That I draw about What Is Geography?
Geography I think Is a Land or Book Or House Or Something.

Art Room

This is Our School's Art room
Beside the highschool Office and You can see the Art Room If your In Humanities Class 303 Room And you need to Go from your left when you go out to Room 303 and Go Down Stairs to 1 F And Go Right and Go Throw High School Office and You Ca see the Art Room!!!

All School Gathering -- Comment

In All school gathering We talked about Peter and Jacob and the story is Peter's macbook has broke and he borrow Jacob's macbook and jacob said that If he broke it he need to give the new macbook to jacob and peter said yes but after that peter broke it and peter doesn't want to give his macbook to jacob but jacob want's his new macbook and the new computer and the question is do you think peter need to give the new macbook for jacob or just fix it?
I think Peter need to give the new macbook because he said that he will give the new macbook if peter broke's it and I think Peter should keep the old macbook because thanpeter have no computer and jacob only said that if he broke's it peter need to give the new macbook jacob didn't said that peter need to give the old macbook and I think Peter only nee to give the new macbook because peter said yes before and This is my answer.

The 8 country --- (Earth)

Taiwan:

Taiwan (historically 大灣/台員/大員/台圓/大圓/台窩灣) is an island in East Asia. "Taiwan" is also commonly used to refer to the territories governed by the Republic of China (ROC) and to the ROC itself, which governs the island of Taiwan, Orchid Island and Green Island in the Pacific off the Taiwan coast, the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait, and Kinmen and the Matsu Islands off the coast of mainland Fujian Province. The Kuomintang (KMT) party lost its control of mainland China to Chinese Communist Party in the Chinese Civil war and moved its government to the island of Taiwan in 1949 which it had acquired control of from Japan in 1945. The island groups of Taiwan and Penghu (except the municipalities of Taipei and Kaohsiung) are officially administered as Taiwan Province of the ROC. However, in practice, almost all government power is exercised at the national and local (city/county) levels.

The People's Republic of China (PRC) claims Taiwan as its province although the PRC has never controlled Taiwan or any of the current ROC territory commonly referred to as "Taiwan". The PRC claims that Taiwan has been a part of China for hundreds of years. In 1895, Japan took over control of Taiwan following its military defeat of China in First Sino-Japanese War. Taiwan again came under Chinese control after Japan surrendered to the ROC subsequent to Japan's military defeat in World War II. ROC was the de facto government of China. The PRC considers itself the successor of the ROC and therefore entitled to all ROC holdings, including Taiwan[2].

The main island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa (from Portuguese (Ilha) Formosa, meaning "beautiful (island)"), is located in East Asia off the coast of mainland China, southwest of the main islands of Japan but directly west of the end of Japan's Ryukyu Islands, and north-northwest of the Philippines. It is bound to the east by the Pacific Ocean, to the south by the South China Sea and the Luzon Strait, to the west by the Taiwan Strait and to the north by the East China Sea. The island is 394 kilometers (245 miles) long and 144 kilometers (89 miles) wide and consists of steep mountains covered by tropical and subtropical vegetation.

This is the picture map of taiwan:








China:
This article is about Chinese civilization. For the modern political state comprising Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, see People's Republic of China. For the modern political state comprising Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu, see Republic of China. For other uses, see China (disambiguation).

China (traditional Chinese: 中國; simplified Chinese: 中国; Tongyong Pinyin: Jhongguó; Hanyu Pinyin: zh-zhongguo.ogg Zhōngguó (help·info); Wade-Giles (Mandarin): Chung¹kuo²) is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia.

China has one of the world's oldest people and continuous civilizations, consisting of states and cultures dating back more than six millennia. It has the world's longest continuously used written language system, and is the source of many major inventions, such as what the British scholar and biochemist Joseph Needham called the "four great inventions of Ancient China": paper, the compass, gunpowder, and printing. Historically, China's cultural sphere has extended across East Asia as a whole, with Chinese religion, customs, and writing systems being adopted to varying degrees by neighbors such as Japan, Korea and Vietnam. The first evidence of human presence in the region was found at the Zhoukoudian cave and is one of the first known specimens of Homo Erectus, now commonly known as the Peking Man, estimated to have lived approximately from 300,000 to 550,000 years ago. Noticeably, it is also known that the Peking Man was able to control and use fire.

The last Chinese Civil War (which ended in 1949) has resulted in two political entities using the name China:

* the People's Republic of China (PRC), commonly known as China, has control over mainland China and the largely self-governing territories of Hong Kong (since 1997) and Macau (since 1999).
* the Republic of China (ROC), commonly known as Taiwan, has control over the islands of Taiwan, Pescadores, Kinmen, and Matsu.

Contents
[hide]

* 1 Etymology


This is the picture map china:




Japan

Japan (日本 Nihon or Nippon?, officially 日本国 Ja-nippon_nihonkoku.ogg Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku) is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters which make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes identified as the "Land of the Rising Sun".

Japan is comprised of over 3,000 islands[5] making it an archipelago. The largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for 97% of Japan's land area. Most of the islands are mountainous, many volcanic; for example, Japan’s highest peak, Mount Fuji, is a volcano. Japan has the world's tenth largest population, with about 128 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.

Archaeological research indicates that people were living on the islands of Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan begins with brief appearances in Chinese history texts from the first century A.D. Influence from the outside world followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. Since adopting its constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament, the Diet.

A major economic power,[6] Japan has the world's second largest economy by nominal GDP and the third largest in purchasing power parity. It is a member of the United Nations, G8, OECD and APEC, with the world's fifth largest defense budget. It is also the world's fourth largest exporter and sixth largest importer. It is a developed country with high living standards (8th highest HDI), the longest life expectancy in the world (according to UN estimates);[7] and is a world leader in technology, machinery, and robotics.

This is the map of japan picture:






Korea:

Korea is a geographic area composed of two sovereign countries, a civilization, and a former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. It borders China to the north and west, and Russia to the east, with Mongolia situated farther to the northwest, and Japan to the east. The Korean Peninsula is divided into two separate states, North Korea and South Korea.

According to Samguk Yusa, the history of Korea began with the founding of Gojoseon in 2333 BC by the legendary Dangun.

Limited linguistic evidence suggests probable Altaic origins of these people, whose northern Mongolian steppe culture absorbed migration and trade with the peoples of Manchuria and China. The adoption of the Chinese writing system ("Hanja" in Korean) in the 2nd century BC, and Buddhism in the 4th century AD, had profound effects on the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Baekje later passed on a modified version of these cultural advances to Japan.[1][2][3][4]

Since the Goryeo Dynasty, Korea was ruled by a single government and maintained political and cultural independence until the nineteenth century, despite the Mongol invasions of the Goryeo Dynasty in the 13th century and Japanese invasions of the Joseon Dynasty in the 16th century. In 1377, Korea produced the Jikji, the world's oldest existing document printed with movable metal type.[5] In the 15th century, the turtle ships were deployed, and King Sejong the Great promulgated the Korean alphabet Hangul to increase literacy among his people who could neither read nor write Hanja (Chinese characters).

During the latter part of the Joseon Dynasty, Korea's isolationist policy earned it the Western nickname the "Hermit Kingdom". By the late 19th century, the country became the object of the colonial designs of Japan and Europe. In 1910, Korea was forcibly annexed by Japan and remained occupied until the end of World War II in August 1945.

In 1945, the Soviet Union and the United States agreed on the surrender and disarming of Japanese troops in Korea; the Soviet Union accepting the surrender of Japanese weaponry north of the 38th parallel and the United States taking the surrender south of it. This minor decision by allied armies soon became the basis for the division of Korea by the two superpowers, exacerbated by their inability to agree on the terms of Korean independence. The two Cold War rivals then established governments sympathetic to their own ideologies, leading to Korea's current division into two political entities: North Korea and South Korea.

This is the pic of korea map:



USA

The United States of America (commonly referred to as the United States, the U.S., the USA, or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to its east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories, or insular areas, scattered around the Caribbean and Pacific.

At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with about 305 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and third largest by land area and by population. The United States is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[7] The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with an estimated 2008 gross domestic product (GDP) of US$14.3 trillion (23% of the world total based on nominal GDP and almost 21% at purchasing power parity).[4][8]

The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain located along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed their independence from Great Britain and their formation of a cooperative union. The rebellious states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence.[9] A federal convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its ratification the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, comprising ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many fundamental civil rights and freedoms, was ratified in 1791.

In the 19th century, the United States acquired land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and annexed the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Disputes between the agrarian South and industrial North over states' rights and the expansion of the institution of slavery provoked the American Civil War of the 1860s. The North's victory prevented a permanent split of the country and led to the end of legal slavery in the United States. By the 1870s, the national economy was the world's largest.[10] The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. In 1945, the United States emerged from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a founding member of NATO. The end of the Cold War left the United States as the sole superpower. The country accounts for approximately 50% of global military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.[11]

This is the picture of USA map:







French

France (en-us-France.ogg /ˈfræns/ (help·info) or /ˈfrɑːns/; French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃s]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, French pronunciation: [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various overseas islands and territories located in other continents.[11] Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as L’Hexagone (The “Hexagon”) because of the geometric shape of its territory. France is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its main ideals expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

Metropolitan France is bordered (in clockwise direction from the north) by Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra, and Spain. France's overseas departments and collectivities also share land borders with Brazil and Suriname (bordering French Guiana), and the Netherlands Antilles (bordering Saint-Martin). France is linked to the United Kingdom by the Channel Tunnel, which passes underneath the English Channel.

France is the largest country in the European Union and the second largest in Europe, France has been one of the world's foremost powers for many centuries. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonized much of North America; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built one of the largest colonial empires of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Pacific islands. France is a developed country and possesses the fifth largest economy[12] in the world—according to nominal GDP figures. It is the most visited country in the world, receiving 82 million foreign tourists annually.[13] France is one of the founding members of the European Union, and has the largest land area of all members. France is a founding member of the United Nations, and a member of the Francophonie, the G8, NATO, and the Latin Union. It is one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and owns the largest number of nuclear weapons with active warheads and nuclear power plants in the European Union.

This is the picture map about france:













Spain

Spain en-us-Spain.ogg /ˈspeɪn/ (help·info) (Spanish: España?·i, Spanish pronunciation: [esˈpaɲa]) or the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.[note 6] Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar; to the north by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal. Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, that border Morocco. With an area of 504,030 km², Spain is the second largest country in Western Europe after France.

Because of its location, the territory of Spain was subject to many external influences, often simultaneously, since prehistoric times and through the dawn of Spain as a country. On the other side, the country itself has been an important source of influence to other regions, chiefly during the Modern Era, when it became a global empire that has left a legacy of over 400 million Spanish speakers today.

Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a parliamentary government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a developed country with the eighth largest economy in the world based on nominal GDP.[note 7] It is a member of the European Union and NATO.

This is the map pic about Spain:






Singapore


Singapore (Chinese: 新加坡; pinyin: Xīnjiāpō; Malay: Singapura; Tamil: சிங்கப்பூர், Cingkappūr), officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island microstate located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It lies 137 kilometres (85 mi) north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands. At 707.1 km2 (273.0 sq mi),[4] Singapore is one of four remaining true city-states in the world. It is the smallest nation in Southeast Asia.

Before European settlement, the island now known as Singapore was the site of a Malay fishing village at the mouth of the Singapore River. Several hundred indigenous Orang Laut people also lived along the nearby coast, rivers and on smaller islands. In 1819 the British East India Company, led by Sir Stamford Raffles, established a trading post on the island, which was used as a port along the spice route.[5] Singapore would become one of the most important commercial and military centres of the British Empire, and the hub of British power in Southeast Asia. The city was occupied by the Japanese during World War II, which Winston Churchill called "Britain's greatest defeat".[6] Singapore reverted to British rule immediately after the war, in 1945. Eighteen years later (1963) the city, having achieved independence from Britain, merged with Malaya, Sabah, and Sarawak to form Malaysia. However, less than two years later it seceded from the federation and became an independent republic on 9 August 1965. Singapore joined the United Nations on 21 September that same year. It is also a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations.

Since independence, Singapore's standard of living has risen dramatically. Foreign direct investment and a state-led drive to industrialisation based on plans drawn up by the Dutch economist Albert Winsemius have created a modern economy focused on industry, education and urban planning.[7] Singapore is the 5th wealthiest country in the world in terms of GDP (PPP) per capita.[8] This small nation has foreign exchange reserves of more than US$177 billion.[9]

The population of Singapore is approximately 4.84 million.[2] Singapore is highly cosmopolitan and diverse with Chinese people forming an ethnic majority with large populations of Malay, Indian and other people. English, Malay, Tamil, and Chinese are the official languages.[10]

The Constitution of the Republic of Singapore established the nation's political system as a representative democracy, while the country is recognised as a parliamentary republic.[11] The People's Action Party (PAP) dominates the political process and has won control of Parliament in every election since self-government in 1959.[12]


This is he picture map about Singapore:

Scientists create genetic blueprint of Neanderthal

An international team Thursday said it has completed a draft of the genome (or genetic blueprint) of Neanderthals, which shows that our extinct cousins made "very little, if any" contribution to human genes.

Team chief Svante Pääbo of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig described the work as a 63% complete gene map. This genome was stitched together from fossil DNA samples taken from four Neanderthals found in Europe.

Neanderthals occupied Europe from about 800,000 to 30,000 years ago. Scholars have long argued over their extinction, and their relationship to people.

"We still have lots of gaps, but we also now have a good overview of the (Neanderthal) genome," said Pääbo, in a webcast from Germany. The announcement previews a presentation scheduled for Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago. "We see this as a tool for future biologists (looking for) what's really unique to modern humans."

"I think it is spectacular, to get something out of bones 40,000 years old, absolutely stunning," says anthropological geneticist Henry Harpending of the University of Utah, author of The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution.



--------


The Neanderthals, "represent the last diverging branch on the bush of human evolution," said Max Planck's Jean-Jaques Hublin, who spoke at the briefing. "Study of Neanderthals tells us what made modern humans really modern."

The results suggest that the primitive human ancestors of Neanderthals and modern humans separated, to Europe and Africa respectively, about 800,000 years ago and that Neanderthals became genetically distinct from that common ancestor only about 300,000 years ago. The genes of Neanderthals and modern humans are more closely related than chimps and humans, Pääbo says, but Neanderthal genes differ 50% more than the differences between the most distantly-related humans. The researchers have sampled Neanderthal bones for DNA since 1997. Only last year did researchers produce a gene map of Neanderthal "mitochondrial" DNA, genes found outside the center of cells. The draft genome of "nuclear" DNA found in the center of cells required mapping 3.7 million gene elements to find:

• Humans and Neanderthals share a speech gene, but not a gene that regulates brain size in humans.

• A "tiny" possibility of interbreeding between humans and Neanderthals, although European genes lean slightly closer, in a statistical sense, to the extinct race; researchers think that may signify trace contamination of their samples with lab researchers' DNA.

• Uniformity suggesting the Neanderthals, like modern humans, arose from a small population.

Paleontologist Christopher Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London, says the genome suggests "while interbreeding was probably possible, it may have occurred only rarely, with trivial impact on modern humans"

The draft genome relied on state-of-the-art gene sequencing machines and techniques, including the radioactive tagging of verified Neanderthal genes, to produce results only a decade after the completion of a draft human genome. The researchers relied on a 37,000 year-old thigh bone found in Croatia, as well as 43,000-year-old from El Sidron, Spain, a 41,000 year-old-bone from Germany and a 70,000-year-old bone from Mezmaiskaya Cave in the Caucasus. They hope to have a 100% complete Neanderthal gene map within three years.

Gene maps of extinct creatures, such as the woolly mammoth and cave bear, have served as tune-ups for the Neanderthal effort in recent years. But Pääbo threw water on the question of whether the genome would enable cloning of Neanderthals. "I would say starting with just DNA, it is and will remain impossible. But we can all speculate as much as we like."

Deadly Plane Crash Near Buffalo Kills 49

Sholnn Freeman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 13, 2009; 1:44 AM

Authorities say 49 people are dead after a regional commuter plane, carrying at least 44 passengers and 4 crew members, crashed into a home in suburban Clarence, N.Y., near the Buffalo Niagara International Airport.

State police spokeswoman Rebecca Gibbons confirmed early Friday the 48 deaths aboard Continental Connection flight 3407, operated by Manassas, Va.-based Colgan Air.

Clarence emergency control director Dave Bissonet says the crash also killed one person on the ground.

The airplane, a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, apparently was set to land on a specified runway at the airport under weather conditions that include light snow. Video from local television reports showed fire fighters battling blazes at a crash site. The flight was bound to Buffalo from Newark's Liberty International Airport.

The National Transportation Safety Board is preparing a team of investigators to leave from the Washington region at 6 a.m.

Colgan Air, is a subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines. Colgan operates planes under the Continental Connection, United Express and US Airways Express names. It has operations in Boston, Houston, New York, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Geography --(Humanities)

Geography:

Geography is the study of the Earth and its lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena.A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes Four historical traditions in geographical research are the spatial analysis of natural and human phenomena, area studies, study of man-land relationship, and research in earth sciences. Nonetheless, modern geography is an all-encompassing discipline that foremost seeks to understand the Earth and all of its human and natural complexities-- not merely where objects are, but how they have changed and come to be. As "the bridge between the human and physical sciences," geography is divided into two main branches - human geography and physical geography.


The Introduction:


----

Traditionally, geographers have been viewed the same way as cartographers and people who study place names and numbers. Although many geographers are trained in toponymy and cartology, this is not their main preoccupation. Geographers study the spatial and temporal distribution of phenomena, processes and feature as well as the interaction of humans and their environment.[5] As space and place affect a variety of topics such as economics, health, climate, plants and animals, geography is highly interdisciplinary.
“ mere names of places...are not geography... know by heart a whole gazetteer full of them would not, in itself, constitute anyone a geographer. Geography has higher aims than this: it seeks to classify phenomena (alike of the natural and of the political world, in so far as it treats of the latter), to compare, to generalize, to ascend from effects to causes, and, in doing so, to trace out the great laws of nature and to mark their influences upon man. This is 'a description of the world'—that is Geography. In a word Geography is a Science—a thing not of mere names but of argument and reason, of cause and effect. ”


Geography as a discipline can be split broadly into two main sub fields: human geography and physical geography. The former focuses largely on the built environment and how space is created, viewed and managed by humans as well as the influence humans have on the space they occupy. The latter examines the natural environment and how the climate, vegetation & life, soil, water, and landforms are produced and interact.As a result of the two subfields using different approaches a third field has emerged, which is environmental geography. Environmental geography combines physical and human geography and looks at the interactions between the environment and humans.

Submarine SMASH Day Reflection

Summarize --
-- What did we do for SMASH Day?
-- What was your mission?
-- What supplies were you given?


Today is SMASH Day,
And in science class we did a lot of things we use 1 hour to make a thing and to make a thing is that the teacher BIG BIG BIG PANDA Smith will out a box on the table and the table is water we can't go thorugh it on the top of the water and Ms. Smith will put some stuff in the box and we need to try to know what that is but we can't look it and can't go up above the water (Table) s we need to try to make a thing to make us can see the thing in the box and there is one hour if you can't finish you have to give up but if everyone done with no cheating we can have no homework free day hahaha:):) yeah so cool I know... and we have some things only can help us to see those thing. It's really fun!!! and the last I wanna say





----



We All Live in a Yellow Submarine
We All Live in a Yellow Submarine
We All Live in a Yellow Submarine
We All Live in a Yellow Submarine
We All Live in a Yellow Submarine
We All Live in a Yellow Submarine
We All Live in a Yellow Submarine
We All Live in a Yellow Submarine
We All Live in a Yellow Submarine
We All Live in a Yellow Submarine





COOL~

Religions -- Question

Why do we have religions?

In today's world and throughout history, religion has played a predominant role in the affairs of men and women and the groups with which they associate. Probably more than any other single factor, religion has had an influence which far outweighs virtually everything else. The manner in which people have lived their lives, fought their wars, sought peace and tried to pursue happiness have all been heavily influenced by the religious dictates of the time and place in which these people have lived.

But is religion really needed for such pursuits as happiness, sociability, war and peace? Are there, perhaps, better alternatives?

On the most basic level anyone professing to the beliefs and lifestyles of any religion must ultimately ask the question: Why have religion? What justifies its existence, especially in lieu of having other alternative devices with which we might prefer to use in order to motivate ourselves and to create our own reality? One might even question the role religion might ideally play within a society which claims to be civilized or humane. Ultimately, it comes down to the most fundamental (pardon the pun) of questions: Why even bother with religion?


----




"Religion is one of the most powerful social phenomena in the world. It guides nations, wars, societies, even whole eras; it has catalyzed climactic moments in history. As such, it should be studied -- and thoroughly. Religions hinge on truth claims, usually embodied in texts and carried out through social practices and belief sets that are often highly institutionalized and structured. The texts, truth claims, belief sets, and structures of religion can and should all be put to the sort of tests to which other institutionalized phenomena are subject, namely: tests for internal logical consistency in belief sets, tests of corroboration for truth claims, and examinations of the efficacy of institutions and other structures within the boundaries of religions. We do this with ideologies in political science. We do this with theories in economics. We do this with nontheistic philosophies. Scholarly integrity and academic honesty demand that the same level of criticism be employed for religions and their institutions as for other social phenomena." [6]

One reason such a question is asked is that bloody and horrific wars have been fought over religious differences. This is the case wherein essentially the fundamentalists of one sect or cult were arrayed against the fundamentalists of another sect or cult, and a whole host of seemingly innocent people invariably got in harm's way. The fact that the higher ranking members of either fundamentalist sect or cult pretty much escaped the ravages of wars and devastation they were so instrumental in initiating, proliferating, or profiting thereby is... well... another matter altogether.


More Information Please go:
( http://www.halexandria.org/dward838.htm )

Why is where important?

Information from:
( http://blogs.murdoch.edu.au/juliah/2008/07/30/hello-world/ )



This is the ‘where’ of this blog which then sits or floats in the ether of th internet all of which is tenuously anchored through this keyboard and computer, which makes my sense of location difficult.

Part of the assumption that I have about thinking is that context (and therefore location) is primary in giving the thoughts and ideas a flavour or an aroma. For thoughts to come alive and spring off this page then i as writer and you as reader must have a sense of the historical, social, economic context in which these ideas exist. Is the internet a medium that works against this or with it? Or does it have no impact in this regard?


Information from:
( http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-Is-Where-You-Want-To-Go-Important-To-You?&id=703686 )


Are you where you want to be? Given the number of self improvement books to self improvement websites, the answer to that question for many people is probably Not.

Before you can answer the question are you where you want to be, you must first know where are you. Think for a moment when you ask for directions. What is the first response that you get from the person giving you the directions? That’s right, where are you now?

Until you can determine where you are now, you cannot make any plans to go to where you want to be. When you know where you are, you then can begin to also build why is it important to you not to be where you are any longer.

So where are you right now? Several years ago I constructed a personal life wheel that had 8 sections. Each section counterbalanced the section opposite.

* Mental and Health
* Career and Financial
* Family and Social
* Purpose and Spirituality or Ethics & Values

Take some time right now and draw a circle. Divided the circle into 8 sections or 8 pieces of pie. Then label the first section you select as Mental. Label the section immediately opposite Health. Complete the wheel using the remaining sections as noted above.

Then, using the center of the circle as zero, start assessing or evaluating your own sense of happiness. The outer rim of the circle represents 100% happiness or satisfaction. Fill each section from the inside out toward the outer rim of the circle.

Upon completion, make a heavy line that connects all the sections together. Then, strip away the outer rim of the original circle. Now ask yourself, this simple question:

Am I going to have a smooth ride or a bumpy ride as I travel down the road of life? If you are like most, myself included, you will be probably having a bumpy ride.
Now that you know where you are, you can begin to construction a Goals Action Plan to smooth out the bumps. As your goals are achieved within each section, your Life Wheel becomes more balanced. Better balance increases efficiency as well as speed.

The Goals Action Plan is only one aspect of helping you to discover the importance of where you are going. Attitudes and Self Leadership skills (strong interpersonal skills) are also part of this self assessment.

When you understand the why of where you are going, you can get to there where much easier. So before you start a journey of self improvement, find out where you are currently and why you want go grow forward toward success.

If you want more information about Goals, Attitudes and Self Leadership, you may be interested in Three Missing Pieces of Organizational & Personal Success. Visit http://www.processspecialist.com/e-books.htm to learn more about this combination e book and e work book.

Call me, Leanne Hoagland-Smith, The Business Coach, at 219.759.5601 or visit at http://www.processspecialist.com to explore everything from how my solutions double results to articles and resources including the Simply Speaking series.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Leanne_Hoagland-Smith

Mesopotamia and Egypt

Mesopotamia:
Ancient Mesopotamian civilization started in, what we called today, the Fertile Crescent. It started from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. It got it's name because the soil there was rich and shaped like a crescent. It's between the Tigris and the Euphrates River.
Origins of Mesopotamia Civilization:
The first people who came to Mesopotamia are the Sumerians.



-----

Egypt:
By the Paleolithic Period, 1.8 million years ago, hunter-gathers started settling in the Nile Valley. This is where the Egyptian Civilization started.
The Important Historical Events:
In the Early Dynastic Period, 3150 BC, the first pharaohs appeared and consolidated their control of lower Egypt by making their capital Memphis. Then the Old Kingdom came, and there were many progresses in architecture, technology and administration.

Phil Predicts Another Six Weeks of Winter

· The world's most famous groundhog saw his shadow yesterday, predicting that winter will last for six more weeks.

The annual ritual in the Pennsylvania town of Punxsutawney took place just after dawn on a tiny hill called Gobbler's Knob when the groundhog named Phil emerged in front of an estimated 13,000 witnesses.

According to legend, if a hibernating animal wakes up and casts a shadow on Feb. 2, winter will last six more weeks. If there is no shadow, spring will supposedly come early.

Early American farmers relied on groundhogs, though there is no scientific evidence that the animal has any weather-predicting skills.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

· Would you ever consider taking a swim in water that was only about 40 degrees?

Well, on Sunday, more than 2,700 people did just that in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

These folks -- including Delaware Gov. Jack Markell -- took the chilly plunge in the Atlantic Ocean to raise money for Special Olympics.

This year about $490,000 was raised for the state's program, which provides sports training and competition for people with disabilities.

Many Kids Don't Need the Vitamins They're Taking

MONDAY, Feb. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Many healthy U.S. children and teenagers may be popping vitamins and mineral supplements they don't need, researchers report.
The experts note that vitamin and mineral supplements are not considered necessary when a person eats a varied diet.

On the other hand, children who actually need these supplements -- those with poorer nutrition, less physical activity, and from low-income households -- may not be getting the dosage of vitamins and minerals they require, according to researchers reporting in the February issue of the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine.

For its part, the supplements industry views the findings as a "call to action" to get vitamin and mineral supplements to this underserved population, said Duffy MacKay, vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs at the Center for Responsible Nutrition, in Washington, D.C.

The American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend supplemental vitamins for most children over the age of 1. The supplements are recommended for children with chronic diseases, eating disorders and certain other conditions.

In fact, supplement overdose or poisoning can be an issue, especially in younger (2-to-4-year-olds) children; overdoses can lead to vomiting, or to more serious problems such as kidney or liver damage.

"We were curious about why certain parents may choose to use over-the-counter multivitamin supplements for children, and some might not," said study author Dr. Ulfat Shaikh, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of California Davis School of Medicine and pediatrician at UC Davis Children's Hospital. "We hypothesized that supplements might be used to reduce adverse effects if parents thought their child wasn't eating right or were wondering where their next meal was coming from."

The authors reviewed data on vitamin and mineral supplementation as well as diet, exercise and health insurance factors on almost 11,000 children and adolescents aged 2 to 17 from the 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

About a third (34 percent) of young people had used vitamin and mineral supplements in the month before being interviewed.

As expected, underweight children used vitamins and minerals the most.

Surprisingly, however, these supplements were more likely to be consumed by children who did not need them as much, i.e. white children from families with higher incomes, more food security and, overall, better nutrition and physical activity levels. Thirty-seven percent of these children (who were also less likely to be obese) took vitamins, compared to 28 percent of those in less privileged situations.

Cost seems to be the biggest obstacle to lower-income households adding supplements to their children's diet, the team found.

"One of the things that we thought was responsible for this was the possibility that income and parental education status might override other factors," Shaikh said.

And, indeed, the data showed that 22 percent of children in households below the federal poverty line used vitamins, compared with 43 percent in households above the poverty line.

Thirty-eight percent of children in households without food stamps used vitamins, compared with 18 percent of youngsters in households that did use food stamps.

The Center for Responsible Nutrition has been lobbying to get vitamins and mineral supplementation covered by the food stamp program and WIC (Women Infants Children), Duffy said.