Group items tagged

CH. 5, KI#3: Highlight and annotate at least two major ideas in this article that seem meaningful in understanding why individual languages vary among places, such as in the US. (Do this by 11/21 for 1 extra credit point. :-))

"Contrary to what your teachers may have tried to tell you, there is no such thing as "correct English." Any manner of speaking that follows the rules of a dialect is equally "correct." Words like ain't are "real" words in some dialects and perfectly acceptable to use." This quote shows how languages and their rules are arbitrary. The main point of language is just to communicate ideas, so as long as the message is spread then the rules don't matter as much.

"Pennsylvania Dutch, a dialect of German spoken by people in this area (in this context, 'Dutch' is actually a mispronunciation of the German word, 'Deutsch,' which means 'German')." PA Dutch is an example of a creole language because the German migrators' language fused with the indigineous residents' language which formed PA Dutch.

In your article is says "About 80 of those local companies will be featured among the 200 exhibitors at the Mother Earth News Fair, a massive natural products trade show..." It's very exciting to see these small scale, local businesses thriving. In a country dominated by commercial manufacturing, it is good to see these true home grown enterprises succeeding.

This article shows how when moving into a new country because of its economic potential could be dangerous if the government not yet completely stable. Though all the site and situation factors make India a prime country to set up shop, an unstable government can negatively turn the tables, making India a risky country to put a foreign owned company in.

As seen before, the effects of war can be physically and mentally gruesome as spontaneous acts of violence unravel extreme havoc to numerous civilians. In fact, recent violence has caused insurmountable refugees (mostly Syrians, Afghans, and Eritreans) to leave their homes and embark on a journey to Europe for their safety. This portrays the example of mobility as large amounts of people are leaving their homes in hopes of a better future. This is an example of relocation diffusion. As stated on page 11 of the textbook reading, relocation diffusion brings the ideas and practices of the migrant(s) to a new region. Furthermore, this mimics the events of Ishmael (the protagonist) in the memoir, A Long Way Gone, as he leaves his nation of Sierra Leone to live a safer life in New York City. Along with mobility, the geographical theme of globalization is also represented in the article. As the number of refugees crossing the Mediterranean increased, the European Union decided to distribute the thousands of refugees across its 28 nations. As a result, the European Union itself is an example of globalization as they communicate and connect with its members. All 28 countries are connected with one another, and they communicate to solve problems regarding peace, human rights, and economic development in Europe. Moreover, nations with a greater access to technology and communication (such as the members of the European Union) have a much better chance of establishing global connections because of the resources they have. Thus, this sudden rise of refugees migrating into European nations is correspondent to the themes of mobility and globalization. However, how does the increase of migrations affect the European nations bordering the Mediterranean? What economic problems will arrive with the increase of labor and population? How will the core-periphery pattern of formal regions, in regards to Syrian culture, change as many of its civilians depart?

Nicely done, Sam. Good job weaving the current event into themes from your book. The current migration flows n the Mediterranean region have tremendous political, economic, and social implications. How do you think the cultural landscape of European countries such as Norway or Germany might change as a result of recent migration flows?

I believe as the number of cultural groups migrate, they will bring their cultural characteristics to the new region. One of them, most likely, is religion. This might affect the landscape because religious shrines or temples will now be incorporated in European nations. In turn, it will definitely diversify the architectural styles seen in the new region.

Religious conflicts are reaching new highs around the world as the government puts more restrictions on the faith of the people.  Why does the government restrict religions and what do the people or government gain from these restrictions?

Since the Communist takeover of the region in 1949, the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority in China, have gotten a lot of religious and cultural persecution by Han Chinese. Similar to convicted communists during The Red Scare, Uyghurs have been prosecuted under false circumstances for separatist activities. While this isn't necessarily a dispute over territory, it's certainly an ethnic conflict and because of these hostilities, Uyghurs have a hard time finding migrant work within China. How does this relate to other ethnic conflicts like in Russia or Palestine?

I agree with Alexander about the similarity to Native Americans. Not only is China helping these people with jobs, but they are also making them go through the training programs which includes learning Mandarin, to the point where the minorities are in fear of losing their own identities. The Native Americans were forced to go through similar programs in order to "help them".

One of the cities that we will be traveling to in China is Xian. This city has a large Muslim minority. Do ethnic groups form enclaves as a refuge?

This article discusses an Islamic terrorist group in Nigeria, known as Boko Haram, that opposes all elements of Western culture. They have launched numerous attacks on civilians, including kidnapping nearly 200 school girls.  What sparked this violence?  Will it ever stop?

The fact that it took four days for news of this attack to spread is a testament to how much location, specifically isolation, can affect the diffusion of news and information. In regards to the attack itself, I fail to see how this attack gets the group closer to achieving a goal. How does attacking a village, killing 33 people help to eliminate Western culture? This is just senseless killing.

This conflict connects to territorial conflicts among religious groups because it talks about how various countries are starting to persecute Atheists and target them with hate campaigns. Why have countries started to bring up the past of Religious prosecution if it destroyed so many lives in events like The Holocaust?

This is different from the religious conflicts we discussed in class because the conflict between Palestine and Israel is mainly over the land, whereas this example of persecution is a result of the concept of atheism. In addition, Saudi Arabia, one of the countries mentioned in the article, is almost all Muslim and religious freedom is virtually nonexistent. Of course a country like this one will not tolerate atheists as other religions and freedoms are also extremely restricted.

In this article, ethnic groups, such as the Maori, which are found in New Zealand, are getting paid lower wages and they are not considered equal to the other non-ethnic groups. Even though this has not escalated to a full out war (yet), what would happen if the Maori stopped putting up with being "inferior" to the other groups? Would a territorial conflict arise? I think the answers to these questions are obvious because land equals money, which equals power. So, for these Maori people to get the equality they deserve, maybe all they need is a territorial war to gain back power?

I don't think war is a good idea, it seems that if the people want equal pay, they have to do something about it. As seen in the Arab-Israeli conflict, it may not be the best idea to go to war, but perhaps the people need to do something else.

I agree with Brooke. Despite the fact that land equals money and money equals power, does a war guarantee that the minority group will gain land and thereby power to be paid the same amount? In addition, a war requires political power and money in order to gain access to resources. If the minority group has little power to begin with, how are they to obtain the resources necessary to win a war? There must be a better solution to this issue than to go to war.

It is very surprising to hear that in the very new future, one little program of 3-D printing made available to consumers could jump-start thousands of new businesses and has the ability to create close to a million new jobs. In what other ways will 3-D printing change manufacturing in the future?

This directly relates to how the tertiary sector is growing, because other sectors, like manufacturing is in, are declining.

Hello APHUG! Enjoy your day off from school.  Which one of these new UN goals is needed the most in your developing country?  Let's see if any patterns emerge. 

The Environmental Protection Agency has recently disclosed plans to lower the amount of methane emissions from gas and oil by 40 to 45 percent by the year 2025. The proposed plans would require emissions to be stopped at new natural gas wells, and repair all known leaks at these wells. The goal of the EPA is to reduce the amount of total pollution as it affects climate change and public health. The proposed regulations aren't being received very well by Republican lawmakers and energy groups, who argue that methane emissions have actually been falling in recent years. They believe that taking these plans into action will threaten security and economic growth, as they will increase the cost of energy for Americans. The EPA has also looked to set regulations on carbon pollution from planes, as well as trucks and vans. The theme of nature culture can be observed here, as many people of various political standpoints are fighting for their opinions on how nature should be protected, and the extent of human manipulation in nature. Through this we can see how the emission of gases is extremely difficult to reduce, and that the fight for nature preservation will be ongoing, as it has been for years and years.

Excellent application of the nature-culture theme. What's the relationship between a nation's development and their ability to help the environment?

What themes of geography does this article suggest?

Interesting article ... Why do you think Hershey Park needs to create a new attraction this coming year?  In what ways does the park operate like a city? Think about it and share your thoughts. 

Hershey park might need to create another ride to boost their profits. I am sure they expected a jump in sales when skyrush came out but, it hurt some peoples legs. Personally I think it's worth it for the ride. Anyway; In what ways does the park operate like a city?; I think the park operates like a city in a manner that all the rides are constantly informed of the weather. The security service acts as the news team and reports dangerous electrical storms on their way to the houses(rides) and tells them to shut down so no one gets hurt.

This site is an excellent tool to help you stay current with the latest news.

Most Indian-Americans are born in the NYC metro area.

This does't surprise me that there are the most Indian born born people in New York because it is a major city which lots of jobs are available.

The highest amounts of Indian born populations are located near major cities. The greatest amounts are in New York City, Washington DC, and Chicago. It was interesting to observe where these people congregate. The greatest numbers occur in the larger cities. New York City has the highest population because when they emigrated from India, they most likely first stopped in NYC. Most families probably stayed in the area.

This article explains the changing jobs in the developed country, Australia.

First thought...interesting article Cameron. It encouraging to see a country like Australia developing and implementing services in its economy. I wonder how this will effect the prices of the minerals Australia exports to the majority of the world? With more people moving to the service sector there will be less in the mines, so my gut tells me that the world wide prices will go down due to the fact that companies will be able to make a bigger profit selling the same amount of material due to lower labor costs.

I feel like Australia has a lot going for it! Like you mentioned, it has a high HDI- this is no coincidence. As we know, it has access to important natural resources. It is fairly isolated, which can hurt its economy, but there is less competition for jobs. It is also a highly popular area for tourism. It doesn't get involved in a lot of matters occurring in the northern hemispheres, which keeps it out of costly wars.