Tuesday April 30: Your Answers to Your Classmates questions

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner! Here is our first entry:


Imani

Construct a well organized plan to get your supplies to another country without resorting to violence. Answer in a paragraph(5-7 complete sentences)

and here is our second entry
Simon Aidyn Kyle
Do you think that your country's natural resources are susceptible to attack, and if so, how? How could you prevent such an attack? What kinds of attacks are these resources vulnerable to (Ex: hacking, war, petitions, etc.)? Which nation would most likely attack your resources and why? (5-8 sentences per paragraph, 2 paragraphs required)


and here is our third entry
Noah

If you were the leader of a small nation and you desired to establish yourself on the world stage as a powerful force to be dealt with, what resources would be to your immediate benefit? In what ways would you obtain them?

-Consider the materials necessary to remain in power for a prolonged period, what could a nation possibly require to become powerful and/or influential? Have you considered the possibility that other nations may already posses these resources? If so, how might you go about purchasing or obtaining them from those lands? Answer in two paragraph(3-5 complete sentences each)

and here is our fourth entry

Craig, Davonte, Simon

How does one's own nation's manufacturing of outsourced resources (say, the U.S.'s outsourcing of GMO's to India) effect it's own economy and the economy of the nation it is outsourcing goods from? Is it beneficial or harmful, and which one to which nation? Answer in at least seven sentences and give an example (besides the one already given) to explain your answer. After that, identify a resource that is a staple of your country and outline a plan of how you could outsource it and make a profit. In this plan, include what this resource is, your country, the country that the resources and labor is being outsourced to, how the outsourcing effects the economy of both countries, how you benefit from it, and how you can successfully pull it off. Answer this in at least eight, descriptive sentences, and give good, logical reasoning.

All the rest of you are responsible for answering this question. Please make haste and send in your own

cheers,
Mr. L

Monday April 29: Your Call

Greetings, superior humans!

Today I would like to do a two part assignment:

A) Creating your own questions

B) Inflicting them on your classmates

Lets start with point A)

The questions I have in mind will naturally have to do with the topic at hand: resources, which nations have them, the stuff that's made from them and their strategic overall importance.

The kind of questions I'm looking for are the higher level questions, those that fall into these categories

Types of Questions I am looking for	Keywords that would go with each set of questions
Applying: can you use the information in a new way?	choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write.
Analyzing: can you distinguish between the different parts?	appraise, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test.
Evaluating: can you justify a stand or decision?	appraise, argue, defend, judge, select, support, value, evaluate
Creating: can you create a new product or point of view?	assemble, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, write

What I will require each group of you to do is to create at least THREE higher order type questions. Along with each of these questions, you will create the conditions for answering these questions, ie what specific issues you want your classmates to address, as well as the minimal amount of writing you will require of them to answer each of these questions (number of complete sentences, word count, etc etc)




Now for point B)

After each group sends me three higher order questions, I will consider them, and choose that which is best. It will be posted on this blog later on this class, with your names just above it. All other groups will be required to answer this question, and send it in to me by email. Before the end of this class

If NONE of your questions proves to be taking this assignment seriously, I will ship them back with a "start over" message. Which means you will need to come up with something that's for real.

I will be posting the questions as I receive them. Those who created them are not responsible for answering them; that's the job for the rest of you.

Cheers,
Mr. L

Thursday April 25: your nation's best strategies CRITIQUED

OK, now for the next step: below I have posted at least one response from each of the teams. Each team will now review at least two of these plans -- plans that are NOT your own. The review is pretty simple:

A) List and explain not less than four points about their plan which you believe make sense, are workable, and WHY you see it this way. One complete sentence for each point

B) List and explain not less than four points about their plan which you believe do NOT make sense, are inherently unworkable, and WHY you see it this way. One complete sentence for each of these points

Please send your findings in the body of an email. The subject line should include your names, plus the phrase "best strategies CRITIQUED"

cheers,
Mr. L

PS If none of your teams' strategies are listed here, it is because they never arrived. They are officially late at this point



 A) One of the strategies we examined last week about gaining access to another nation's -- resources "your" nation does not have is  by war. Describe a war strategy that can get you what you want, while lessening or eliminating the the risks to you of an armed conflict
RESPONSE 1A
 It all depends on how big the other country is, but this strategy will work with most countries south of Mexico. In order to get what they want they would need to build up their military strength near the borders of the opposing country in order to intimidate them. The example of this working at this moment in fact is North Korea. They intimidate people with their military power and we all give them stuff to stop but they never do.

RESPONSE 1B
we decided to go with terrorism. We went with that because its random attacks and random actions. we could blow something up at a  random time and leave the country speechless, shocked, scared, etc. the more times we "Terrorize", they will just have to make an alliance with us. 

  B) You have proposed a more than reasonable trade agreement with another nation, yet their government stubbornly refuses to even enter into negotiations -- they won't even sit down and talk. Outline a strategy that is NOT war to make the government of this other nation come to its senses
  
  RESPONSE 1B
 If a nation is being stubborn the best way to get what you want is to offer something they can't resist. If the nation is at war you can offer support and help. You can offer war tactics, armies, or weaponry. If the nation is not in war, but needs supplies that they can not get from anyone else you can use that as leverage. Often times when someone is that stubborn they often want to feel in control. Make them feel like they have complete control of the trade and that they have all of the leverage. 

RESPONSE 2B

The first step would be to try and form an alliance by
explaining the benefits for both nations. The alliance would be
to support the ally. The alliance would be be equal.
The second step would be to show how we as a nation
can support ourselves. However, we prefer to have an alliance.
Also, to show how our nation can help the other nation.
The third step would be prove that we could provide
protection. We would prove that we are not a weak nation.
This would demonstrate that we could further help the other
nation.



C) You are a government leader in one country. You are in contact with business leaders in another country; 
corporate leaders who can provide your nation resources which it needs. You can make it legal for these 
foreign business leaders to sell their resources in your nation, but you don't want this to become public knowledge.
List and explain four different plans which would make this happen

RESPONSE 1C
Have restrictions on what can be said in newspapers
 This would prevent journalists from telling people about the private trade
 Have restrictions on what can be said on television
 Reporters will not be allowed to mention this to the public if they know about it
 Keep this as a government trade
 Not involving civilians
 Don’t tell the people of the country
 Same as keeping this as a government trade, not involving civilians





D) Your nation wants very badly to sell its resources to "country X" However, country X allows a free press-- newspapers, radio stations and TV can all say whatever they want, whenever they like. One of the things they like talking about is the truly horrible working conditions in the places in your country where these important resources are found. Please list and explain at least four different steps you can take to make these media outlets see the "better side" of your nation

RESPONSE 1D There are several different things that we can do so that people don't know about the horrible working conditions.  We can bribe the press to lying for us so people don't know about the horrible working conditions. This might work because they could take the money and no one would know about the horrible conditions. We improve working conditions.  We could be kind and fix up the conditions so people and other countries won't think badly of us.  We kick them out of our country.  We can simply kick these reporters and press out of the country so that they can't say anything.  We can also have more positive events happen in the country to distract them from the poor working conditions.  The press would go away and people wouldn't see the poor working conditions.

Tuesday April 23 : the book of lists

Greetings, monumental geographers!

Today, while we are waiting for everyone in class to finish their "resource strategies" from last week, we will make good use of our time by making some lists

A) The first list you should already have: it's a list of resources which your country has quite a lot of

B) The second list you should also have: it's a list of the items manufactured from these resources.

C) Now for the third list: WHO is actually making these items? Who is gathering these resources? By this I mean, which companies in your nation are doing both of these -- making stuff, AND getting the stuff to manufacture that stuff. You know: bauxite to aluminum, gold ore to Krugerrands,  timber to tables and baseball bats, etc etc

The easiest way to start is by doing a search for "100 biggest companies in [name of your country goes here]"

You can also get a good idea by searching the companies listed on your nation's "stock exchange" ...for that, you will need to do a search for "stock exchange [name of your nation goes here]

When you a good listing, you will want to pick out the names of companies that you're pretty sure are native to your nation... not that it's always possible, but then again, even though Coca Cola has locations in South Africa and Mexico, they are still an American company 

D) From this list, start looking for websites for each of those companies you have found. Try to compile of list of at least 14 websites

E) On each of those websites, there will no doubt be a section about what they do... that's the gold mine; that's your silver tuna. List what they manufacture just beneath each website address

F) If for any reason you're "coming up empty" for a particular company, scrap it and try another

When you're finished, send me an email with your information in the main body and your names, your country's name and the phrase "book of lists" in the subject line

cheers,
Mr. L

Tuesday April 16: your nation's best strategies

All nations have needs for various resources, and varying abilities to make use of those resources. Nations engage in trade and diplomacy and go to war for the sake of these resources. Now it's time to consider what sort of strategies might best suit your nation in its pursuit of greater power and prosperity.

Please answer the following questions using not less than three paragraphs of three complete sentences for each answer. Send your answers my way in the body of an email, with your names and your country's name and the phrase "Nations best strategies" in the subject line

cheers,
Mr. L

A) One of the strategies we examined last week about gaining access to another nation's -- resources "your" nation does not have is  by war. Describe a war strategy that can get you what you want, while lessening or eliminating the the risks to you of an armed conflict

B) You have proposed a more than reasonable trade agreement with another nation, yet their government stubbornly refuses to even enter into negotiations -- they won't even sit down and talk. Outline a strategy that is NOT war to make the government of this other nation come to its senses

C) You are a government leader in one country. You are in contact with business leaders in another country; corporate leaders who can provide your nation resources which it needs. You can make it legal for these foreign business leaders to sell their resources in your nation, but you don't want this to become public knowledge. List and explain four different plans which would make this happen

D) Your nation wants very badly to sell its resources to "country X" However, country X allows a free press-- newspapers, radio stations and TV can all say whatever they want, whenever they like. One of the things they like talking about is the truly horrible working conditions in the places in your country where these important resources are found. Please list and explain at least four different steps you can take to make these media outlets see the "better side" of your nation

PS At some point during class, I will be picking out at least one answer to one of these questions from each group. I will post these answers, and each group will critique at least two of the plans made by other groups -- details on this to follow

Monday April 15 : what's in your wallet?

A NOTE OF COMMUNITY INTEREST: GRADES FROM LAST WEEK'S ASSIGNMENTS WILL BEGIN GOING UP ON POWERSCHOOL SOMETIME LATER TODAY. YOU HAVE NOW BEEN INFORMED -- MR. L 

Last week, we began to look at how different nations possessing different resources -- and different approaches to using those resources -- would have different ways of interacting with each other. Each of you teamed up into groups and chose a nation from a list, then explored what resources they had vs which resources they did not have. Finally, you began to consider what "your"nation might do to obtain the resources it needs from others. Some of these methods could be peaceful, some of them most assuredly were not.

Today, we will explore a little further, and see what sorts of things each of your nations manufactures from the resources it possesses. You begin  by going here:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

And, using the interactive world map, clicking on the region your nation is part of, then clicking on your nation; this should bring you to a webpage which contains very detailed information about your nation and what it produces. The section on "economy" is where you need to be. You are searching for, not just the stuff they grow or dig up out of the ground, but the things they build from those resources.

You will also want to find out who their major trading partners already are, what items your nation exports, and what stuff it imports. You will definitely want to list any items you import which you have either none or very small amounts of in your own country

Additionally, you will want to discover how your nation produces its electricity and other forms of power.

Please send all such information to me via email, with your names, your country's name and the phrase "what's in your wallet?" in the subject line

cheers,
Mr. L

Thursday April 11: if you don't hold it, you don't own it! part four

OK, so now here is where it gets creative: how do you get these other nations to trade with you so that you can obtain the resources which your country needs to have? There are many different options; here are some general possibilities:

A) trade agreement --  the simplest way is to just ask. Offer something in return for what you seek. Just a simple trade of resources.

B) An alliance -- either political or military or both. Offer to help them out with them there pesky neighbors or fiendish archrivals

C) cash -- if your nation has enough of it that is

D) bribery/corruption -- perhaps your money doesn't go so far. Well who needs to buy a whole country when you can just bribe some officials in its government? Or perhaps you can funnel some money into "buying" an election.... who knows? The possibilities here are endless

E) threats -- if they won't see the light, maybe you can turn up the heat. Make trouble for them somehow. 

F) war -- when you get right down to it, there's nothing like a full on invasion to make a country change its mind -- and probably its government leaders as well

OK, that should be enough examples. I want you to pick out just four of the resources you're looking for. List three countries that each have this resource, and for each nation, at least three complete sentences explaining

1) What method you would use
2) what makes you think this will work -- use some historical precedent or examples
3) at least one known risk associated with that method, especially as applied to the particular nation in question

Send your results to me with your name, your nation's name and the phrase "gettin the goods" in the subject line

cheers,
Mr. L

Thursday April 11: if you don't hold it, you don't own it! part three

OK, so now you know which nation you "represent". And by now you know the stuff your nation has and what it lacks. Now it's time to figure out where go you from here: how do you get the stuff your nation needs?

To make this assignment more practical, I would like you to pick out just seven of the resources your nation lacks. Then, once you have them listed, make two additional lists:

A) What items are manufactured from this resource that you need? For example, bauxite is useful in making aluminum. Silver is used for circuits used in everything from laptops to cellphones to Blueray players to microwave ovens. Petroleum is used for making not just gasoline, but also road tar and plastic. Sugar can be used to flavor foods; it can also be distilled into ethanol and burned inside internal combustion engines

So, list at least 5 or 6 uses for each resource in your first list

B) Who are the nations most likely to consider trading this resource to you? This might be influenced by geographical proximity -- its easier to trade with nations that are close by -- but not always. For example, Israel is very close by to Saudi Arabia, but I don't forsee them becoming major trading partners anytime soon, since they hate each other. Ditto for India and Pakistan: they share a long border, but there is no love lost between these two nations.

You might want to check to see which nations "your" nation has traded with in the past... you can Google this by searching like so:

who are [name of your nation goes here] major trading partners?

You might also want to include nations which you HAVEN'T  traded with much in the past, but have resources which you could use. Just try to make sure there isn't a major stumbling block, such as a war that happened between your two nations. You can Google something like

war between [your nation] and [this other nation].... this will no doubt pick up any major armed conflicts between the two

Tuesday April 9: If you don't hold it, you don't own it! part two

NOTE: THIS  ASSIGNMENT IS DUE NOT LATER THAN 8PM WEDNESDAY 
04/10/2013

Greetings once again!

Every nation on Earth is composed is people. Every nation is run by governments, which are themselves collections of people. these governments have power, and the people in charge of them very much like the idea of keeping their power.

Resources of every kind feed this power. At it's most obvious, you need resources so that a government can enforce its will: that means people with weapons who keep their rulers in power -- armed forces and police. So at the very least, you need things like steel for vehicles and weapons, 

You also need resources to keep your people alive. Whether your government treats its people well, or like slaves, the people have to be kept alive and (relatively) functional. Its hard to be a slavemaster if all your slaves are in a hunger-induced coma; and if your government rules by the consent of the governed, well then its even more important to keep the people happy. So you need things like drinking water, shelter, food, clothing. These items in turn are dependent on resources. Water is a resource; the chlorine which keeps it fit to drink is a resource too. To make food, you need dirt, seeds, water, air, sunlight and of course, some sort of tools.... in most countries, these tools are mechanized, meaning they're run by machines. These machines need fuel, and of course the machines themselves are made out of things that are also resources - steel, rubber, glass etc.  You also need fertilizer. What's modern fertilizer made from?

To make shelters, usually you need building materials: wood, metal, concrete, glass

To make clothing, you need fibers of some kind, either natural -- cotton, wool, silk -- or manufactured -- rayon, polyester, etc etc, all of which are derived from the resource called petroleum -- "crude oil"

You probably also need electricity -- even the most primitive nations now have it, even if only for their governments and their police and military. How do you produce electric power? What resources can you use to do this?

OK, so now let's pretend that each of you is a leader of one of the governments I am going to be listing here. You may work in groups of two or three, but you MUST be able to work together -- I'm not throwing any civil wars into the mix! Your first order of business is to list all the resources which your country has, then list all the resources it DOESN'T have. That might be difficult to find out on your own,but luckily for you, I have found this website:


http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/geo_nat_res-geography-natural-resources

which will make your research easier. It lists pretty much every nation on earth, along with the resources it has got. By definition, this should mean that the ones that aren't listed for a particular nation means it either doesn't have them or it doesn't have enough of them.

Your job for each group will be to compile the list of what your nation has and what it doesn't have. For example, India has "arable land", while Japan has no such listing. Ireland has natural gas and silver, but not petroleum and chromium, while Iran has exactly the opposite.

Just to make it interesting, I am limiting your choice of nations to the following:

Australia
Brazil
China
England
Germany
India
Mexico
Nigeria
Russia
South Africa
USA

Your choice of nation is on a "first come, first served" basis, so get going and tell me who you will be, and who you're working with. Then get cracking on this assignment

cheers,
Mr. L

Monday April 8: If you don't hold it, you don't own it! part one

UPDATE: THIS ASSIGNMENT IS OFFICIALLY DUE BY THE END OF CLASS ON THURSDAY APRIL 11

Greetings, and welcome back!

Today we will begin a unit on resources: who has them and what they are good for, and how they affect your day to day life

Visit these websites and answer the questions that follow. Use at least two complete sentences per questions; be sure to send your responses to me by email with your name  and the phrase " If you don't hold it, you don't own it! part one" in the subject line

            http://www.myfootprint.org/

            http://www.rprogress.org/footprint/ecolFoot.shtml

What does the Ecological Footprint measure? 

How is it calculated?

How big is your ecological footprint? 

How many Earths would we need  if everyone on Earth consumed as many resources as you do?

---------------------------------------------------

Additionally, you will begin work on writing  a two-to-three-page essay (approximately 500-750 words) in reaction to what you found from calculating your footprint. You may choose to critique the methodology of the footprint calculator (either as being too conservative or too generous), or you may analyze your impact on the environment in terms of what you've learned about the concept of an ecological footprint. OR, you may choose to question the whole philosophy behind the concept of a "footprint" : perhaps its not the Earth that needs to be "bigger" but our understanding of it that needs to expand. Perhaps we don't need to consume less resources; perhaps we need to find new uses for stuff that today we don't even think of as a resource

Whatever part of this you can finish today, please send to me in an email with your name and the word "resource essay" in the subject line

cheers,

Mr. L