Russia Posts Katyn Massacre Documents on Internet

On Wednesday, Russia's archives posted documents about the massacre of over 20,000 Polish officers and citizens during World War II. This was the first time the documents had been posted by Russia since the war, although they had been public for many years. They did so as as gesture towards Poland to mend relations because the case looms large in Polish history and has soured relations between the two countries for decades. The documents were posted to show that Russia was finally excepting responsibility for the killings in Katyn and else where in the 1940s. The documents show signatures giving permission to Soviet soldiers to kill Polish prisoners of war. The document do not reveal the names of the officers that carried out the executions, but Russia plans to make those documents public on a later date. The release of these documents is playing a positive role in helping Russia come to terms with its painful history under Stalin. Since the tragic plane crash on April 10 that killed the President of Poland and 94 other on boards, relations between Russia and Poland have grown warmer.

Link:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/04/28/russia-posts-katyn-documents-internet/ 

Niger's Crop Failure

In Niger, they are facing a huge drought that is drastically affecting their economy. A lot of the crops that Niger normally produces are not growing due to the lack of water. Nearly 8 million people are affected by this drought and the UN is trying to help. They have stated that it would take nearly 13 million dollars to get the Niger crops and economy back on track, which is looking like something that cant be done. The UN is hoping they can adress this issue much earlier unlike what happened to Niger in the 1980s where millions of people died due to a drought that wasnt addressed. Niger's economy went under the tank and great controversy arose as the UN and many other nations did not act to help the Nigerians. People in Niger are only able to have about one meal a day and sometimes people dont even eat. The UN is doing everything to prevent another food crisis like they have seen in history.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8648215.stm

"Dancing Across Borders"

Sokvannara Sar was just 16 when Anne Bass saw him preform in Cambodia as a ballet dancer. She was so inspired that she moved him to her sprawling Connecticut House and tried to enroll him in a New York Ballet school. However, she and Sokvannara soon learned that Cambodian ballet and western ballet are quite different. EVen though he was a performer in Cambodia, he was at the skill level of a 10 year old in the U.S. This is because the Cambodian dance style is "much closer to the ground" and does not have as many spins or leaps. Ms. Bass does a large amount of charity work in Cambodia, pushing the arts after the destructive campaign of the khmer rouge. Sy (nickname for Sokvannara Sar) did not make it into a ballet school right away and so Bass hired an instructor. He learned very quickly and Bass took a video camera to his practices to help him learn and perfect his techniques. He made it into the Seattle Pacific NOrthwest Ballet and now at 25 is looking for something new. Bass turned all the footage from when she first saw him in Cambodia and his practices in America into a video called Dancing Across Borders, which is an award winning documentary.

Hubble Telescope

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04/photogalleries/100424-hubble-telescope-20th-anniversary-pictures/#hubble-cloudy-nebula-ngc-602_19426_600x450.jpg

This website is about the Hubble Telescope and the photos it had taken. I think it would be interesting to compare and contrast from the first telescope to the hubble and talk about the industrial revolution.

Current Event

http://www.helium.com/items/1813038-report-states-obama-health-care-plan-will-cost-more-and-may-not-be-sustainable

This website share the new health care plan that Obama has created, and how it is not the brightest decision. I guess it would be social, but it is more political.

- 1 Possible connection to history would be how the government has changed. Also he is the president of the USA.

The History of the Atomic Bomb

Sixty five years ago, the US dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and dicated war against Japan. The bomb was so forceful that Japan's government decieded to raise a white flag and give up. The era of the bombings were the first of using extremly more powerful weapons then guns and cannons. This bomb destroyed Hiroshima and almost all of its citizens. The controversy of the bombings were based on killing so many people. If you think about it, it isnt that much worse than two countries at war, it wipes out many more people at one time, but in war, killing is not so fast but still a lot of people are murdered. In reality it is all bad but by wipping out all of the citizens at once was extremely more powerful and sent out a message to people not to mess with the US because their weapons are MUCH stronger than guns and knives.

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/index.htm

Causes of WWII

I think the biggest cause of World War II was no one standing up to Germany and Italy. At the end of World War I, Germany got 10% of their land taken away, their military was cut down, and they had to pay for the reparations. Italy on the other hand got nothing out of the Treaty of Versailles. At the beginning Germany followed what the Treaty of Versailles said however, when Hitler came into power he increased the military and stopped paying the reparations. But no one protested. The war had just ended and no one wanted to fight again so they didn't say anything. Germany then annexed Austria, Czechoslovakia, and other German speaking parts. This was against the Treaty of Versailles and yet no one did anything. Britain and France had a small conference with Germany asking them to stop increasing their land, which Germany did not follow through. As you can see France and Britain didn't even try stopping them and this caused Germany to break loose and do as they pleased. If someone would have stood up to Germany and put an end to it, I don't think the events would have happened as they did.

Sources:
Notes
Strayer 645-649
"Long Term Causes of World War II" <>

Freud- Id, Ego, Superego

In the video we learned about Freud and his ideas about our unconscious mind. He talked about how people wanted to kill their father because they were jealous of them because they really liked their mother. That is kind of gross to think about. Many people of that time agreed and were very disturbed by the thought of his ideas. He came up with the terms id, ego, and superego. Id is the "pleasure" part of our minds and is what we want. Ego is the "reality" part which thinks of the real world and takes into consideration the id perception and tries to figure out if it works. When thinking of reality, it considers the fact that other people have wants too and so you can't be selfish because that hurts others.. Finally, superego is the part that tries to balance the two and considers the moral parts of situations. In the movie, id was sort of seen as the red, and "evil" figure or part of your mind. It was thinking of the person's wants and would set everything else aside to achieve those wants. ID being red could be seen as a devil sort of figure. Ego was seen as the white, angelic character, considers the reality situation and it talks about what the person can do and what will hurt others. Id is selfish while ego is considerate of other and how the person's actions will effect his or hers surroundings. Superego tries to balance both of those. People sometimes think of the superego as your conscience. It tells you what is right or wrong. Consciences tend to hold onto the bad things that you do and they bug you until you fix them. The superego is what tries to balance what you want so you are satisfied but also at the same time making sure that other people are content. These were very obscure and unsettling ideas at the time, and given the father mother situation, still today they may upset people. Here is the video from Youtube that we watched in class if you would live to watch it.

Video

Sites:

http://allpsych.com/psychology101/ego.html

Class on Friday

The Na'vi

Na'vi flag of Ewya

The four stars on the right side represent the four clans of the Na'vi. The blue background represents the color of our skin. The tree in the middle is what we call home tree and it is where we live and where our culture is based. The red triangles make it look kinda cool and serve no purpose whatsoever. The black and white circles represent our peace with between the good and bad in nature and our unity with nature and our home tree.

National Anthem:

O land of the Na'vi, of rivers and plains;
Made rich by the sunshine, and lush by the rains,
Set gem like and fair, between mountains and sea,
Your children salute you, dear land of the free!

Green land of Pandora, our heroes of yore,
Both bondsmen and free, laid their bones on your shore.
This soil so they hallowed, and from them are we,
All sons of one Mother, Pandora the free!!

Great land of Earth, diverse though our strains,
We are born of their sacrifice, heirs of their pains,
And ours is the glory their eyes did not see,
One land of two peoples, united and free!

Dear land of Earth, to you will we give,
Our homage, our service, each day that we live;
We guard you, great Eywa, and make us to be
More worthy our heritage, land of the free!

http://naviblue.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=122&start=10

National History:
We are known as the Na’vi. Our nation is located on the eastern coast of what is know Brazil, but we are spread out all across South America. There are 4 major tribes that fall under our nation, each one having its own unique dynamic that makes the Na’vi so powerful and diverse. The first tribe is known as the Omaticaya. The capital of the Na’vi empire is located in the center of the Omaticaya tribe in the dense forests of Brazil. We live in what we call the Hometree were everyone in the tribe is located. We all live in this tree because it enables us to connect with the one thing we value most, and this is our bond with nature. We feel that all beings including animals, plants, and humans are all connected and share one common bond. We feel that you should try and differ yourself from your common being but try and be with them. Some ways we try and make ourselves one with our planet is we wear minimal clothes. This helps be as much part as the Earth as the animals we live with. The only time we use accessories is when we go into battle, which has only been one time in our history. This is when the British came over to our homeland and tried to change our ways. They wanted to bring us new technology that would diversify ourselves from nature. They insisted on bringing new technology and even diseases to us, we resisted. We then summoned all 4 tribes of the Na’vi to fight off the evil Englishmen and were able to defeat them fairly easily. This truly send a message to the rest of the world that our land was not going to be taken over and we were not open to this outside influences that wanted to change our ways. We then broke back into our four tribes and went on with living our way of life.

One thing that is very unique to our people that no other nation obtains is our special bond we have with nature. We strongly believe in a secret bond that we share with all organisms and this helps us be that much more with our Mother Earth. This is a special ritual we do and accomplish this ritual by putting our feet in the roots of the plants. These plants then give us the nutrients that help them survive and let us be even more one with the world. We do this with animals by taming them completely and being able to rid the animals across the plains of Nagat. When we able to accomplish this, we are accepted into manhood because our Mother has accepted us as part of her. Our Mother is also called Ewya by our people and it is what we value most in We believe that all creatures on Earth’s fate is controlled by the sentient intelligence Ewya. We have no choice but to live in harmony and natural equilibrium with their surroundings. If we become too numerous, Eywa will devise a way to limit their numbers before they cause an ecological imbalance. Over the years of our existence as a nation, we have a healthy respect for their surrounding environment. In return, the environment has provided them with sufficient food and shelter, creatures to ride for ground and air transportation, and an ambient, comfortable temperature throughout one creature, but only for the balance of nature.

At first we were willing to interact with humans, but after concluding that humans had nothing of value to offer to them, they break off contact and start engaging in guerrilla warfare to resist the human's mining operations. The Na'vi have no far-reaching political structures on the scale of nation-states, but are organized into relatively structured clans. Occasionally different clans from far-reaching areas will cooperate in times of great crisis.

sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na'vi_language

http://james-camerons-avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Na'vi

Alliances and Connections:

Christmas town to Christmas land

Flag:


Anthem:


National History:

Halloween town was at the top of the world. Everyone knew about Halloween town; they had the best exported items, they had the money to buy anything in the world they wanted, and they even had possession of 4 different holidays (countries). Christmas town was a branch off from Halloween town, they were more peaceful and respectful rather than Halloween town. They didn't like fighting, but they were very patriotic and nationalistic. Over the course of 100 years, Halloween town became very needy and greedy. They started taking things from Christmas town and Easter town more than usual. They never asked or told the towns what they were taking, they would just TAKE. Christmas town was getting tired of being the nice one and decided the rebel. Even though it was going against their way to break the peace, they were being treated unfairly and they did not like that more than anything. Christmas town finally won after a long hard battle and was could finally become their own nation. As a part of their emancipation, they called themselves Christmas land. A new nation deserves a new name. I compared this "becoming a nation" to how USA broke off from Britain. They didn't like how the British were taxing them, so they decided to rebel. Both cases the weaker nation was treated unfairly and in order to be your own nation, you have to govern yourself.

Alliances and Connections

Elle, Kaitlin and I decided to make our nation named Christmas Tree Land. It is in the North Pole so therefore we decided to be allies with Europe, Canada, and Russia. We are very open to new cultures or different people. We have our own traditions but we are open to new options and suggestions because we try to have open views. Europe had part of the Ottoman rule which was very strong for a long time. Europe also had the rising Scandinavian Countries which were very strong and had powerful nationalism. We also have powerful nationalism and we take pride in what we do. We would be alliances with Canada because they are a big country and Russia is as well. The North Pole being relatively empty and weak needs those bigger nations and countries to help us when we need protection.

Pacifica

National Flag:

National Anthem:
Pacifica is so profound,
Battling the torment of our brotherʼs ground,
And as our city bells do sound,
Weʼll keep living on this world around.

National Culture of Pacifica
Pacifica has a free-form government and is very accepting of all races and religions. The only times we draw the line is when one forces religion on another. We have a very diverse palette of languages ranging from English, Spanish, French, and more. Our dominant language is English, due to the large percentage of our people previously being American. But when we broke off we did not lose the cultures that the US had, we simply added the other cultures. Holidays that were once practiced in the US are still practiced in Pacifica, but we do not make them mandatory. We still appreciate the efforts that brought the 50 states together, only now we thank them as a separate nation. Everyday life in Pacifica is fairly similar to the lives of most Californians. But we have tried to create eco-friendly communities and have self sufficient cities. We do not want to be forced into trades by other nations, but rather only export specialty goods. Being small in size, we do not have much to offer, but just like Japan and China, we have a large threshold for learning, and we will stop at nothing.

National History
Our nation is called Pacifica, our nation grew out of California and are located in the Bay Area. Unlike the Ottomans who became chunks and had its down fall, we became a very successful nation. Pacificans broke off from the US and bought the land that way we could build our own laws. We believed US was too independent, we wanted to build a strong bond between the rest of the Americas and maybe even the world. When we saw that Canada was lending out a hand to us, we immediately took it and that was our first step as a nation. Canada helped us with resources because the US was furious with our actions and henceforth they cut all connections between us at the time. After some years Mexico decided to take arms with us because they saw our prosperity. Also they people of Mexico were considered inferior and the idea of acceptance of all appealed to them. Not long afterward the US gave in to the Pacificans as allies and they became one of our strongest allies. We do not resemble other nations like China, because when they wanted to close their doors to westernization and make China for the Chinese they fell profusely. We instead do the opposite. We open our arms to the foreign allowing us to prosper because we have learned that we can prosper better as one. That is why our allies are so strong, since we have accepted them.


Allies and Connections
The main 3 allies are Canada, Mexico, and the United States. All four of us are on the same continent of North America, so it makes great sense for us to be friends. We watch everyone's back. If one of us is at war, we are at war. We watch our borders to the West, Canada to the North, the United States to the East, and Mexico to the South. All four of us are allied nations. We could be compared to brothers and sisters. Together we are the nations of the future. None of us can do it alone. Each and every one of us is necessary for this equation. If one of us backs out, in essence we all back out. Together we shall prevail, and alone we shall die.

MustacheLand

National Anthem:  

 

What is your National Identity?

Our great country of Mustacheland is well known across the world as a country of happiness and good people. We welcome all and love all. We do not have one distinct faith. We believe in everyone having his or her own beliefs. We speak Mustache a mix of Pig Latin and Spanish. We are a mix of ethnicities being that we allow anyone to come live in our humble country. We have a wonderful president named Mr. Must Ardinstache. He is our leader and we would have nothing without him. He makes us strong and holds us together. Our main Industry is hair coats. These are coats woven from our countrymen’s great Mustaches. Every year on the fifth of May all men and women shave their mustaches for the first time that year. The hair is then used for the rest of the year to produce widely known hair coats that are warmer than fur coats. If you were to compare us to one other glorious nation it would be America. Even though America is not known as the United States of America yet we would best be described as that wonderful nation of the future.

Mustacheland- The Creation of the Nation; "A Fable"

The humble nation of Mustacheland was brought to this earth during the 1600s. The people of northeastern Cuba experienced a time of great depression, struggling through a deprivation of necessary items. One of these items happened to be shaving cream and razors. This led to the rapid growth of vast valleys of upper lip hair. The use of mustaches began being used for all common necessities, such as coats, blankets, clothing, hats, etc. When the discovery of great usefulness their upper lip hair was to them, it became the secure provider of warm clothing. This in turn led to the people of the land to shave their mustaches once every few months and make coats/warm clothing out of them. This nation became a strong community and gained much wealth through the vending of their newly discovered clothing. Since then, they have industrialized and created mass production industries, causing a great boom in their economy and coat sales. To this day, coats have kept their value and has made Mustacheland a valuable and dependent trade partner.

All hail Mustacheland!

Connections and Alliances

One country we would relate to is Japan, post Meiji Restoration. Mustacheland is know for its warm mustache hair coats, so since Japan is westernized we would partner up with them. At first we would trade with them, since their ports are open to western trade. We would trade our coats to them in return smelted iron, silk. Although it is a long distance to travel in order to trade, Japan had built steam ships by then, and would have no problem crossing the seas.

Eventually we would like to have Japan's help in mass producing the coats because they built many factories which specialize in mass production, and have large fleets of ship in order to trade with the rest of the world, so this could lead to a strong alliance. Their skill in production and trade, and our valuable and high quality coats.

The Star-Spangled Banner

I chose the United States National Anthem because I had never read it in its entirety, despite the fact that the first stanza is often sung at major events in our country. The anthem's lyrics come from a poem written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key entitled, "Defence of Fort McHenry."
I don't believe that our anthem defines our nation. I can't speak for all 300,000,000+ Americans, but I can say that it does not inspire me or encourage me to do anything. For some, it may make them feel independent or free, as the anthem was written about the United States fighting against Great Britain in 1812.

Matthew Perry

Matthew Perry was an commander in the US navy around the nineteenth century. He was in the service of the navy for forty two years and was crazy about it.

Matthew Perry traveled to Japan on an expedition trying to open japan for use of a base to stop, do unloading, renew their coal and it would be great. Japan was the perfect location because it had the same latitude lines as san Francisco which means it would be a straight shot.

And of course having a port in Japan would help trade tremendously as a way to stop their and trade the US' goods. It was just a perfect stop for the american ships.

Griffiths, Ben. "Commodore Perry's Expedition to Japan." Griff World.
http://www.grifworld.com/perryhome.html (accessed January 13, 2010).

Japanese and Their Rise to Power

The Japanese had been shelled up on the little island for years. After seeing what happened to their next door neighbors the Chinese be destroyed by the British for shunning western influences, they knew that they had to embrace it. The Japanese had always been agaisnt trading with the westerners like the Americans because of their Shin-To philosophies but after the Opium War in which the Chinese were left in rubble, they knew it was time for a change. This lead to the Meiji Restoration, which resulted in the Shogun steeping down from his position of authority in 1867. With this brought great fortune to the Japanese because of the fact that Americans and other Western nations were willing to give them technology and other tools the Japanese could use because of their new found western philosophy. The Japanese were able to become a force across the world and established themselves as the true Asian Power by successfully defeating the Chinese in the 1900s. Even though they brought in these beliefs to their culture, they keep their Japanese roots and still resented the westerners despite their generosity in terms of technology as we saw in World War 2, in which they used some of the same weapons the Americans supplied them with to fight the Americans. Even though they embraced western philosophy, the Japanese mostly used it for their own benefits to break out of their shell.

http://alumni.ox.compsoc.net/~gemini/simons/historyweb/meiji-resto.html

Politics then and now- Both endured their flaws

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Politics/obama-briefed-terror-plot-reviews-meeting-national-security/story?id=9484260

Strayer- pg. 562

Again, when scanning CNN.com for interest sparking articles, I stumbled upon multiple articles regarding Obama and his controversial feedback he received after his first months as President. The expectations of those who voted for him were high, due to the fact that the promises he made society were of high caliber. They also promised a better America. Government today is based on the rules and regulations created in the very first government. When trying out a government for the first time, what came with this was almost a trial and error effect. There was positive feedback as well as negative feedback. This was the case both in the past and present in terms of government, whether it's the Reign of Terror, World war 2, or today's issues such as Obama's presidency not living up its expectations, this article called to my attention yet another connection between the time era's we've learned about and now. Throughout the government of the Incan's, the Aztecs, the Moguls, the Europeans, and the Americans, there were pros and cons in all aspects of the government. The same goes for today's government as shown by articles like this one.

Yet another mobile phone released- thanks to the breakthroughs of the scientific revolution

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/05/google.nexus.announcement/index.html

Strayer, Chapter 16 pg. 477-484

When scanning CNN.com and reading an article regarding the release of Google's newest mobile phone, what consistently arose in the article was how impressed the critics were by the technological details included in the phone. I couldn't help but continually realize that these technological advancements would be not be possible if it weren't for the scientific revolution. The scientific revolution was a time period in which science was exposed to society in a way that had never occured before, allowing those interested to excel in science and allow it to benefit both themselves and their neighbors. The release of this one was not a surprise, however instead this was just another reminder that the rate of technological advancements is rapidly increasing. Whether it's the improvement of iPhones, cellular devices, computers, laptops, or mp3 players, every item of technology released today is based off of the first items released years ago, during the scientific revolution. The scientific revolution and the release of yet another handheld technological device compliment eachother and in turn come hand in hand, due to the fact that one could not be possible without the other. This aspects helps me comprehend the true significance of the scientific revolution, and allows me to truly wrap my head around the fact that the rate of technology advancements is faster now than ever before.

You may now erase all this text.

what was so interesting about the southern most tip of Africa

Today in class Ms. Xia asked us why were two countries from northern Europe fighting over some land at the southern most tip of africa? In this blog i will attempt to bring in what we learned about the Berlin conference to help explain why it was that these two countries ended up here. SOuth Africa was valuable for a couple of reasons. It had some valuable natural recources like diamonds, silver, and rubber. This of course was extremely appealing to both nations because their own lands have terrible natural recourses (either because there was never any gold or silver there, or because by that point in time it had already been used up by the countries' inhabitants). So it had great stuff, but so did other parts of the world that were much closer to get to, and the waters around South AFrica are some of the most rough waters in the entire world. The reason that sailors would travel all the way around the southern tip of Africa is because otherwise they would have to take an even more dangerous land route. The land route would have them cross some extremely arid places. BY land, merchants, conquerors, and mitionaries would have to sail over to the easter Mediterrranean, walk hundreds of miles or ride a horse (but that would require extra supplies) then get another ship to take them across the Indian ocean to places like British India or the the Dutch invaded Indonesian Islands. SO you see both countries wanted to own the water route to their Eastern provinces so that they would make a convinient pit-stop on this long water voyage. The initil interest in Africa was created by the Berlin Conference where Africa was split up. ALthough they already had provinces in Africa, the Berlin conferences was a fiinilization of realizing what both countries wanted. They saw the AFrica was valuable real-estate with some great natural recourses and South Africa was in a perfect location. You can guess that with two countries wanting the same land, it would end up in a war specifically in this case it was the 1st BOer War.

Tells of Atrocity in Belgian Congo

In the reading (599-600) it talks about the outrages being widely publicized in Europe. So I thought I would look for one of those articles, and I found one. It is from the New York Times in 1909. It talks about a little 2 year old boy from Congo, and how important he was and how everyone on the ship wanted to shake his hand. It also sort of shows how long it took people to hear about what was happening around the world because we now know that by 1908 Leopold's reign of terror was already over.

Here is the Link.

Opium War/Anglo-Chinese War

In the 1830's the British had a huge drug cartel, one bigger than any drug cartels today. They were growing Opium/Poppies in India and having it shipped out to them by the East India Trade Company. The company shipped lots of opium which were then traded for Chinese goods and other things like that. This massive amount of opium being distributed created a country filled of drug addicts. In 1836 trafficking became illegal but the British would just bride the officials. The amount of opium in China was getting smaller and smaller. The addicts were getting sadder and sadder. This period of time was called the Great Tragedy and to help ease the pain of not having the drugs, the emperor made opium illegal. The English were still sending ships trying to get the drugs into the country. China decided that they would just go out and force the ships to turn around and not bring the drugs into their country. Well, this idea worked but gave the English another idea, they could just bring warships with them on their trafficking trips. Now the Chinese warships were nothing compared to the English, with their gunships. The British would go back and forth on the coast firing at forts and fighting on land. Finally the Chinese were forced to agree to the Treaty of Nanking, which made it so that all British people on Chinese soil committing a crime would be subjected to British law. No restrictions were placed on the British trade into China, so the drug trafficking doubled, and the opium levels grew once again.

I learned everything off of this site. Here!