Mom in the Cold War

Me: I have to ask you about anything you remember about being in the Cold War for history.

Mom: I was scared.

Me: Anything more?

Mom: Yea, I had the constant fear of being bombed. By the Russians. But now they're weak sauce.

African and Middle Eastern Writer

I have read one book by an African writer, called Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.

I have read one book by a Middle Eastern writer called The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

Little Country, Big Country (countries)

When I first looked at the two maps, I tried looking really hard for a reason why there would be any conflict. Then I realized, a noticeable portion of the major oil-producing is produced in Kuwait. To the north east of Kuwait is the large country of Iran, to the south of Kuwait is the equally larger country of Saudi Arabia, and to the north west of Kuwait is the somewhat large Iraq. Being such a small country that produces a major amount of the oil that lies between three behemoths can start human conflicts like a forest fire. I don't have any other choice but to think that the miniature country of Kuwait has some thing that Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabi either don't have, need, or want (or an existing alliance). Other than those reasons, I don't see why one or all three of the countries can't just invade Kuwait, using their over-powering armies, and recieve the profit that Kuwait is gaining from their oil producion.

Yes: they are the same

I believe that the measures taken have the same end goal. It is very easy to think otherwise as the measures taken were of two totally different ways of going for the goal. It's like, if two people had the same destination and while one person walked, another one took a plane. One of the ways the person got there might be totally different and may lead you to think that their "end goals" are different, but they are both going to end up in the same direction, even if walking is a lot slower and less reliable. What I do believe is that the less violent approach is a lot more affective in trying to reach the goal. When you take the violent approach, you are looked at as some radical group creating havoc, rather than a civilized party trying to make a point.

Ma Boy Dinesh

Dinesh D'Souza has a negative view on Islam. I read that in a debate, he stated that the Koran has a lot a violent text. And that it is the cause for a lot of "hideous deeds". I think Dinesh D'Souza has a good point. Most of the terrorist acts that are performed today are fueled by their religion. Islam. I also noticed that D'Souza's arguments are very well thought out and worded whenever he tries to state his opinion. Although I never looked as Islam as a threat, Dinesh D'Souza convinced me with only a few, "sense making" points. In this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BqTrhrF86o) he even brings up the question, "Is liberty actually good for us?". He can take what people think as a largly popular view, and make you question it. Dinesh De'Souza's arguments about his opinions are substantial and can really change one's mind.

WHOOOOO Are You, WHO WHO WHO WHO

The first thing I noticed about Cameroon is the life expectancy rate for men and women. For men its 50 years, and for women its 51 years. The WHO African Region life expectancy rate for men is 47 years, and 49 years for women. Despite the large rate of Malaria related deaths for children under 5, I calculated that the people of Cameroon can expect to live 2.5 years longer than the people of the WHO African Region. I also realized that even though the leading cause of death for children under the age of 5 is Malaria, the leading cause of death for everyone is HIV/AIDS. And with kids dying young of Malaria, and adults dying of HIV/AIDS, the amount of children being made is decreasing. To prove this, it says that the annual growth rate for Cameroon in 2004 was 1.9, whereas it was 2.2 for the WHO African Region

Research Questions

Questions:

1. How did the French families deal with the war?

2. How did they determine who won the battle?

3. How did they decided to make the monument?

These are my research questions for my project. My first question gives insight to the battle off the battlefield. Knowing this can be just as important as knowing what happened on the war front. My second question makes sure I have some closure on to how the battle ended. My third and final question allows me to know why this monument is important to the French.

The monument of the battle of Verdun is of great importance. This battle took place in 1916. The people that were affected by this the most were the French and German families. The monument tries its best not to be one sided. It strives to portray that not only were the French suffering, but the German's were too. The monument does a good job of serving as an educational tool. Physically, the monument is placed in the center of the battle field. Placing it in the center helps commemorate all the soldiers that were lost during battle. All in all, the monument of the battle of Verdun, is a great monument in terms of visuals, and educational facts.

WWII Movies/Books

1. "Saving Private Ryan" is a movie that is based on D-day

2. "Maus" is a book about the life of a Jewish Holocaust survivor

3. "Death to Smoochie" is a movie about a tv actor who is brought down by being set up to perform at a Nazi rally.

4. "Cabaret" is a movie about the Nazi's rise to power

I think NBC aired this piece in 1995 to show the world that the U.S. does have regret about dropping the a-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Although some of the WWII veterans were saying how dropping the a-bomb saved millions of lives from being lost in an invasion, the way NBC portrays the a-bomb dropping and the effects it had make people look at th U.S. as a "nice" country instead of a "jerk" country who has no feelings for the lost lives of innocent people. To me, this clip tells people that we as the U.S. have legitimate feelings for what we did and for the lives we affected. Also, this video tells us about how much information the government kept from the people. At the end of the video, you see all the people celebrating in the streets only knowing that Japan surrendered. What the government did not tell these people is that more than 70,000 japanese people were killed in Hiroshima and even more in Nagasaki. Today, people would have known the affects of the bomb the next day.

WWII/Holocaust...Separate?

When the textbook separates WWII and the Holocaust, it makes the Holocaust seem like a whole separate piece of history. To me, it does not make sense to separate the Holocaust with WWII. If I had organized the text book, I would have put the Holocaust together with WWII so they are taught at the same time. Although the Holocaust was catastrophic, I would not put it on its own pedestal because it did not occur in a totally different time period. Yes, the Holocaust was one of the most devastating events in world history, but I would teach it along with WWII.

I personally do not have any relatives that were greatly affected or part of WWII. But a friend of mine's grandfather was part of the US army but was never deployed. So he instead stayed in America and did logistics.

Appeasing is Pleasing

Ahh appeasement, what is done to someone in order to give them a sense of "power/freedom", but in reality is kept under a glass ceiling. This tactic is used all the time in sports. I cannot recall the last time I appeased anyone, but I have recently witnessed an example of it. On my younger sister's basketball team, it is obvious who are better players than others. After spending numerous games spectating from the sidelines, one of the players sent the coach an email about possibly getting more playing time. It is clear that the girl is not as good of a player as the girls who got most of the playing time, but the coach felt bad and decided to take action. The next game, the coach put the complaining girl in the game during the first moments of the game. After about one minute and thirty seconds, they girl was right out. By doing this, the girl felt like she contributed to the team and was satisfied. When a coach does something like that to a player, he/she is basically saying, " I'll let you get a little taste, but you won't be in long enough to make a huge difference". I have also recently been the victim of appeasement and just now realized. My dance instructor knows that I prefer one specific dancer (in another class) over the other dancers. Realizing this, she placed me in the same number of my "prefered dancer". At first I thought, " Yes! I get to dance with my prefered dancer!". I soon realized that I would only be moving props around while she dances. I still found that satisfying enough, but I know see that I was just another victim of appeasement.

In the article I found, the writer argues that democracy is the producer of this monster; Adolf Hitler. Ian Kershaw, the writer, believes Hitler got to such high power through democracy. Because he was able to get some power by doing it the "right" way, he took advantage of that and began to take more power into his own hands. Ian Kershaw also states that even today, skilled politicians know how to and go on to do do, manipulate the system into gaining higher status and more control. I agree with him on this. Although we don't see exactly what politicians do to get to where they are, I believe that some of them have the skill and know how to "trick" the system. In addition, one thing that separates today's politicians with Adolf Hitler, if and when they do manipulate the system, they do not want to kill or anihilate anyone.

Girls Just Wanna have Fun...and Learn

The Taliban do not have the right to prevent girls from receiving an education in Afghanistan. The girls in Afghanistan have done nothing wrong to receive such punishment. The Taliban have their own vision on what things should be like. When something or someone goes against their vision, they force what ever it is to make it fit. In the girls in Afghanistan's case, they had acid thrown onto their faces to prevent them going to school. Although this had life altering affects on this group of girls, they continued to go to school a year later anyways. That is what they should do because they should not be cheated out of an education just because the Taliban decided that they shouldn't have one. Also, I believe that the Taliban are afraid of what women can do if they receive an education. This is like how in the past, when slaves weren't allowed an education so they wouldn't become too smart. This is what the Taliban is doing to the girls in Afghanistan. The girls have all the right to learn just like the boys if they want to.