Assignment #1 1. Quezon City, Philippines is located in Asia. 2. There are no countries bordering the Philippines because it is an island like Japan. 3. The closest major body of water is Pacific Ocean. More specifically the North Pacific Ocean. 4. The Philippines is in the Southeast Pacific Asia region. 5. I associate some of my friends to the Philippines because they always come in with Lechón, a popular fiesta food that is made of a full adult pig being roasted. Sometimes baby pigs are a substitute for the adult pig.

1. Damascus, Syria is also located on the Asian continent. 2. Syria is bordered by Turkey on the north, Lebanon and Israel on the west, Iraq on the east, and Jordan on the south. It consists of mountain ranges in the west, the Syrian Desert in the east, and the Jabal al-Druze Range in the south. 3. Syria is closest to the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. 4. Syria is located in the Western Asia region. 5. What I know about Syria is that is holds a certain religious standing in my life. I visit Syria because of certain mausoleums that are currently over there. I also know that Syria’s government is republic under an authoritarian regime. I also do know that although Syria does consume a lot of oil, they do try to use renewable energy such as hydroelectric power.

1. Kigali, Rwanda is on the African continent. 2. The countries that border Rwanda are Uganda, which is located to the north, Tanzania, which is located to the east, Burundi, which is located to the south, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is located to the west of Rwanda. 3. There are a couple of lakes that are near Rwanda but the closest major body of water is the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. 4. Rwanda is located in both east and central Africa because it runs through the equator. 5. There are a few events that come to mind when I think of Rwanda. In one Model UN conference, I was debating with Rwanda over renewable energy and I figured out that Rwanda is a very poor but yet efficient country because almost half of its country runs on hydroelectricity! The other event that comes to mind is the Rwanda genocide, which was a genocidal mass slaughter of the Tutsis by the Hutus that took place in the 90’s. For about 100 days, almost half a million people were killed which is about 20% percent of the country’s population. This occurred because of longstanding ethnic competition and tensions between the minority Tutsi, who had controlled power for centuries, and the majority Hutu peoples, who had come to power in the rebellion of 1959.

1. Seville, Spain is located on the European continent. 2. France (northeast border), Portugal (southwest border), United Kingdom (border with Gibraltar), Andorra (northeast border), and Morocco (border with Ceuta and Melilla) border Spain. 3. The North Atlantic Ocean is the closest major body of water to Spain. 4. Spain is in the southwestern region of Europe. 5. I don’t know a lot about this country even though it is a famously known country. I do know the majority of people there like soccer (football) and are famous for Barcelona and Real Madrid, two of the greatest soccer teams in the soccer league.

1. Vienna, Austria is located on the European continent. 2. The countries that border Austria are Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland. 3. The closest major bodies of water to Austria are the Mediterranean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. 4. Austria is located in the East Central Region of Europe. 5. To be honest, I know nothing about Austria. While I was researching this country, I came across information about the official language of Austria and it was German which surprised me because I thought it would be Italy because it is bordered by them.

1. Poria, Papua New Guinea is located in Asia and is also considered a part of Oceania. 2. Papua New Guinea is only bordered by Indonesia. 3. The closest major body of ocean is the Indian Ocean. 4. Papua New Guinea is located in Southeast Asia. 5. I wanted to pick countries that I didn’t really know but wanted to find out about and I learnt that Papua New Guinea’s energy consumption is close to 50% renewable!

1. Al-Muzahmiyya, Saudi Arabia is located on the Asian continent. 2. Saudi Arabia is bordered by Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. 3. Al-Muzahmiyya is closest to the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. 4. Saudi Arabia is located in the Southwestern region of Asia. 5. Saudi Arabia is associated with not using renewable energy and totally dependent on fossil fuels but they are in the top 5 of crude oil exporters!

1. Rangali Island, Maldives is located on the Asian continent. 2. There are no countries that border Maldives because this country is made up of islands. 3. Since Maldives consists of islands, the closest body of water which surrounds it is the Indian Ocean. 4. Maldives, although it is made up of islands, is in the South Asian region. 5. The only reason I picked this country out of the others is because Rangali Island, Maldives sounds exotic enough to me that I would like to learn about this place and maybe one day go on vacation here since it is an island! Since they are an island, they cannot really export anything so I believe they would export fish as a tool of trade.

1. Melbourne, Australia is located on the Australian continent. 2. Since Australia is both a continent and country, there are no borders to it. 3. Australia is nearest to the Indian Ocean. 4. Melbourne is in the South corridor of Australia. 5. The things I associate with Australia are the cool accents, the dangerous snakes, Australia being referred to as “down under” and the wonderful beaches. Also, Australia is the number 1 net exporter of coal and accounts for almost 30% of the world’s coal!

1. Milan, Italy is located on the European continent. 2. Italy is bordered by Austria, France, Vatican City, Sand Marino, Slovenia, and Switzerland. 3. The closest sea that I can “sea” () on the map is the Mediterranean and the closest ocean is the Atlantic. 4. Italy is in the Southern region of Europe. 5. Italy is famous for a lot of things such as the majestic Eiffel Tower and it is known for creating love. Also, the funny Italian accent, language, beret, mimes, and the most beloved hazelnut spread to me, Nutella. I could go on and on about how good Nutella is and how expensive it has become but I guess you have to figure that out for yourself. Anyway, their art is beautiful, pasta is a stereotype for most Italians, and they manufacture one of the most beautiful car companies ever, the Bugatti. From the beautiful canals of Venice to the spectacular beaches on the Southern Coast to the Vatican City, almost everything there is awesome and beautiful. The one thing that holds me back from going there are the clothing shops and their expensive prices. For a regular dress, it costs $500 and people pay for that which leaves me flabbergasted!

Assignment #2
Video 1 1. Describe how many years from1800 it took to reach each of the following milestones: * In 1930, 130 years later, the Earth’s population reached 2 billion. * After another 30 years, in 1960, the population reached 3 billion and it took 160 years from 1800! * In 1974, the population reached 4 billion and that only took 14 years and it took 174 from 1800. * It took 13 more years, which was in 1987, to reach an astonishing 5 billion which was 187 years from 1800. * In 1999, 12 years later and 199 years from 1800, the population reached 6 billion! * And in 2011, the population reached 7 billion! It took 12 years from 1999 and it took 211 years to reach 7 billion since 1800! 2. The reason people are starting to live longer is because the life expectancy for humans have increased from 1960. In 1960, the average person lived until 53 years old but in 2010, the average human lives until 69 and the number will keep increasing because our advancements in the medical industry. We always are coming up with new inventions that help further our society and help the human race. In the video, it clearly states that every second, 5 people are born and 2 people die which leaves an increase of our population by 3 every second. If there weren’t any wars or murders or genocides, I am 100% confident that our population would have already surpassed 9 billion! Also, there have been several baby booms during mid-1900. In Africa, because of the AIDS virus becoming popular, people would start making more babies to compensate for the children that had died because of AIDS. 3. As I had answered in the previous question, the life expectancy increased by 16 years. This is because of our advancements in the medical industry and our new inventions in order to help the human race live longer. 4. The video defines a megacity as a city which its population exceeds 10 million people. There were only 3 megacities in 1975 which were Japan, Mexico City, and New York City. Today, we have 21 megacities. 5. If we all stand shoulder to shoulder, we could fill the city of Los Angeles, California. 6. According to the video, the problem in the world is not space, it is balance. The problem is we consume too much energy and according to the video, 5% of us would consume 23% of the world’s electricity. Also, 13% of us do not have clean drinking water and that is a huge number because 13% of 7 billion is 910 million people! 38% of people lack adequate sanitation which is a big issue because without correct sanitation, it could lead to fatal diseases and viruses that can run rampant around the globe. 38% of 7 billion is 2.66 billion people!
Video 2 1. The physical and cultural characteristics of the world’s most typical person are: * Right handed * Makes less than $12,000 a year * Has a cellphone but no bank account (less than 25% of us do) * Median age is 28 * Largest ethnic group is Han Chinese
So basically the most typical person in the world is a 28 year old Han Chinese man. Research has shown that there are about 9,000,000 people that fit these characteristics. 2. By 2030, the world’s most typical person will come from India. 3. I think there is a difference because Japan is a first-world country and their healthcare is top-notch and the medical industry is very advanced. Plus, because they are a first-world country, they are very sterile and they are not really disease prone which increases life expectancy. On the other hand, Afghanistan is a third-world country and is probably part of that 13% which don’t have proper drinking water and the 38% which don’t have adequate sanitation which means diseases are more common there. Also, they aren’t advanced in healthcare so they probably have extremely high infant mortality rates and that can cause stress on the parents which reduces your lifespan. So, the reason Afghanistan has a lower life expectancy is because they are a third-world country, disease prone, not medically advanced, and according to www.cia.gov, they have quite a few deadly disease that are transported by food and water.

Assignment #3 My family consisted of 3 people: my mom, sister, and me. We migrated to the U.S. from Kenya. We came in here in 2001 in August. I was about 1 and I was turning 2 that September. It really hurt that 9/11 happened that year because we were new immigrants and it was my 2nd birthday on September 12 so I didn’t really get a chance to celebrate it. We moved to America was because there was more economic stability. In Kenya, the jobs weren’t really reliable so you had to work multiple jobs just to make sure you always have an income. I feel America is starting to become like that for the lower class. They need an income but so many people are being laid-off. In 2001, there were so many more job availabilities. Now, there aren’t as many but back then, it was much easier to get a job that paid well. A major reason that we migrated here was because of family. Sure there was family back in Kenya but my grandma and all my aunts and uncles had already migrated here so it was only a matter of time until we also came. Family was the main reason we lived in New York. We didn’t first come to Elmont. My mom rented an apartment in Queens then after a couple of years, we moved to Elmont. In the 12 years I have been in the U.S., I have moved about 8 times. We mostly moved around Elmont and once in Valley Stream. We didn’t try to live in other countries before we came to New York so this was our first time living so technologically advanced and so squeezed together with other people. To get from Africa to America, we obviously didn’t travel by foot and boat would have been way too dangerous so we traveled by a plane. We had left most of our furniture and items back there because it was too expensive to get them shipped. Coming to U.S. was not exactly the easiest thing to do because we had so many difficulties. There were so many language barriers! I didn’t really know any other language than English when I grew up because I didn’t start talking proper English until I was about 3. Anyway, my mom and my sister only knew Swahili and Urdu and the U.S. was not popular for those languages so it was hard for my mom to get a job and the other difficulty my mom had relating to getting a job was that she wore hijab so after 9/11, there was a lot of racial tension against us and not many people hired Muslims.

Assignment #4 1. The title, How India Became America, describes the idea of globalization by showing the concept of interconnectedness of different places in the world. The title clearly shows that India transitioned into another country and since we are talking about globalization and not imperialism, America didn’t take over India so India must have become like America. This change might have been through political reasons or through economic reasons which it probably was. 2. Well, the author first supports his beliefs that India has become more American by saying that it started in the early 1900’s when India liberalized their economy. After that, he says that when he went to boarding school in America in 1991, he came back after two years when he graduated high school and he said, “Indian cities had filled with shopping malls and glass-paneled office building”. He also went on to explain in the countryside, thatch huts had transformed into concrete homes, and the plantations were being replaced with gated communities. The author explained that there were tangible and intangible manifestations to this change. The tangible signs included more availability of American brands, more American businessmen that owned 5 –star hotels. He also said that there was an increased usage of American accents and idioms and gave an example of how young Indian boys would refer to their colleagues as “dude” which made him turn his head. He said that the intangible evidence of the Americanization was that there was more of an energetic vibe from the economy, a more of a “can-do ambition and an entrepreneurial spirit that I can only describe as distinctly American” as the author says. This author backs his statement by showing that bookstores have released books that show that India has changed from its original state. 3. When the author describes India as more complex than what it appears, he means that there is always a positive and negative reaction to every decision. He states in his article that because of the abandoned plantations, there have been “…indications of a looming agricultural and environmental crisis.” He goes on to say that ancient structures are losing their history, family bonds are becoming frayed, and he said that in villages, the elders have lost their traditional authority. He also gave a story of how he talked to a woman who was in her 50’s and how she had a concrete roof and her son had a cellphone but that there was so much murder. The woman said, “We were poor, but at least we didn’t need to worry about our lives. I think it was better that way.” With these examples, I think the author doesn’t exactly like this change because this is his hometown and to see his people in danger. I think he sees this change as productive but more destructive. 4. Globalization of culture can be positive for individuals and cultures because you’re learning new ideas, concepts, foods, and you’re starting to see how the other culture lives their daily life. Also, this can create a new culture which could either be productive or destructive. For example, if you put two countries which have high economic standards together, I don’t think that that globalization would be productive because they must be rivals. However, if you put together two countries with decent economic standards, that could blossom into a powerful economy. The negative aspects of globalization is that you are putting two different types of people together but you don’t know if it will work out for the greater good. And, money could play a huge role in globalization like it was shown in the article. If there is a poor economy, then people will do anything, including murder, in order to acquire money.
Assignment #5 1. What I think of the 10th parallel is that it is a line that separates a few countries that have different religious views and that is the reason they are divided. Christianity and Islam are widely debated religions and have many different sects to them. It is a place of battle between two different cultures over a land which flows heavily with oil. This is the motivation for the Northerners, or Muslims, to fight for the Southern part of Sudan. It is also cultural because the Christians in Southern Sudan have all these methods of trying to convey that they are Christian and those methods aren’t exactly by-the-book Christian so it must be culture because culture and religion shouldn’t mix. 2. I think the relationship between Christians and Muslims along the 10th parallel is definitely complicated and is not a healthy one. What I mean is that the relationship is dangerous and harmful for both sides. Near the beginning of the article it states, “three times in the previous twenty years, soldiers from the north had laid siege to Todaj, raping women and children, killing and carrying off young men, and burning to the ground the villagers’ thatched huts and the Episcopal Church made of hay”. She also says, “…soldiers had received shipments of automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.” This obviously means they are ready for war. You don’t get assault rifles as a peace offering. 3. Well, this relationship started back when the Prophet Muhammad had sent some of companions to see this Christian king, Negus. After the Prophet had died, armies had come to try to take current day Sudan but they made a peace treaty with the Nubian Christians. The peace had been kept until religious wars broke out and then the Christians fell to the Muslims. The Muslims wanted to create a trade route throughout the whole Africa all leading to the Holy city of Mecca. As they tried moving south, they realized that there were tsetse flies that had been created there so their campaign to spread Islam had been stopped. But the Christians had come from countries to the east of Africa and used to currents of the ocean to land in Africa and they had started to move to southern Sudan. 4. There are many geographical patterns of the region that affect their relationship and one of them is that because the Earth is growing warmer, droughts and flooding become more and more unpredictable causing the African Nomads, whom are Muslims, and the farmers to rely on the farming patterns from centuries ago, forcing them to move. Now because they are moving, the two groups inevitably start moving closer to each other. As a result, the tension rises and that could cause trouble in the interaction between Muslims and Christian. Also, because these farmers are always on the move for new places to grow crops, sometimes when they want children, they have to overproduce. Some kids might die and some might live which increases the population tremendously if each couple does that. This is a geographical pattern because of the droughts and flooding causing a lower stock of food. This could also be taken as one group will start attacking the other group for crops and food but that is just my hypothesis. Anyway, because of the growing population, as stated in the article, the relationship between the Muslims and Christians become more unstable as each group needs more land. Another geographical pattern which affects the relationship between Muslims and Christian’s is the fight over oil. It is a huge geographical conflict between the two because if the Muslims attain control of the oil, they will make a lot of money and will start to kick the Christians out of Africa. 5. Elisa, the author, proves the growing population has a bigger strain on the conflict between the Christians and the Muslims by stating that the more people there are near the 10th parallel, there is a higher chance of war because the two sides will fight over land, food, oil, and water. Especially oil.
Assignment #6 1. Hebert argues that it is impossible to depict the Earth on a map without having to distort reality when he states, “…to try and imagine a map that shows the world as it is...” and “This map has not been scaled to make anything bigger or smaller than it is in reality; it is exactly the size and shape of the land that it depicts.” This shows that the reason that maps have to distort reality is that impossible to get every point and angle and direction in the world in a map. It is physically impossible. Even if you are an astronaut, you cannot see the whole world, you only see half. There is no possible way to make a duplicate of the Earth or even a recreation of it. 2. There are a few choices of maps and here they are: * Mercator- Used for navigation purposes because great circles appear as straight lines on maps utilizing this projection but by doing this, this projection is forced to distort the area of any given landmass relative to other landmasses. * Peters- The Peters combats the area of distortion by sacrificing accuracy of shape, distance, and direction and this might be less useful then the Mercator in some ways, those who support it say that the Mercator is unfair in that it depicts landmasses in the high latitudes as being much larger than they really are in relation to landmasses in the lower latitudes. The people who say this believe that it creates a sense of superiority among people who live in North America and Europe, areas that are already among the most powerful in the world. * Robinson and Goode’s- These two maps are very similar in their make because there is a sacrifice between the two extremes and these maps are commonly used for general reference maps. Both projections sacrifice absolute accuracy in any particular category in order to be relatively accurate in all categories. 3. Hebert’s view on modern day maps are justified in her article when she says that all the conventions- or those symbols that are used on the maps- are biasedly put on to the map and “…they have become all but invisible to the casual map observer.” She gives an example of how the little black lines represent ginormous highways. She states, “This is why maps are so powerful. Mapmakers are able to display what they want how they want and not be questioned.” 4. When she says New Hampshire is just an idea, she means that there no boundary lines that show that when you get to a certain point, New Hampshire starts there. There is no such thing because the idea of states was made up by humans and it was not there when the Earth was created. So when Hebert says that New Hampshire is just an idea, she means there aren’t any carved in lines in the Earth that show the boundaries of the state but rather you can only figure that out if you use a map. 5. This article taught me a couple of things such as the idea that a map could be used for superiority. What I mean is that people say the Mercator proves that countries at higher latitudes have more power than countries in lower latitudes. It also taught me that maps are not exactly accurate and truthful in what they show because they have to sacrifice some stuff in order to be accurate in other. I didn’t exactly learn, but more understood, about state lines and how they are not really there but only exist on maps.

Assignment #7
The American Society: Impacted by Fast Food
Eric Schlosser’s article on fast food really captured my mind and made me realize the true face of the fast food industry. For one thing, I occasionally order fast food because, as Eric states, it tastes great! Let’s start with the American diet. Fast food has had a ginormous effect on the diet of an American. Most people watch TV and fast food restaurants, such as McDonalds, like to advertise their products everywhere and even in the article its states, “McDonald’s spends more money on advertising and marketing than any other brand.” This shows that McDonald’s likes to promote their products. So, when Americans watch TV, they want this juicy burger and golden, crispy fries so they go and eat fast food and it happens so regularly that “the typical American now consumes approximately three hamburgers and four orders of French fries every week.” This statistic is flabbergasting! I don’t need to do the math of the amount of calories that add up every week from eating that much to know that that is a lot of calories! So the American diet consists of fatty foods and the issue of obesity is even bigger because American’s are so big that they just want to eat more and more fatty, oily items from fast food places.
Fast food has had a huge effect on the economy. Although it helps with jobs, which pertains to workforce, I feel fast food doesn’t help the economy because as it states at the beginning of this article, “Americans now spend more money on fast food than on higher education, personal computers…” and other expensive things. This shows that people are using their hard earned money on something that doesn’t even benefit their health in any way. In the article, it explains that a tremendous amount of money is used to buy fast food and it says, “A generation ago, three-quarters of the money used to buy food in the United States was spent to prepare meals at home. Today about half of the money used to buy food is spent at restaurants- mainly at fast food restaurants.” This piece from the article shows that people would rather use their money to buy from restaurants that are more expensive but quicker than cooking at home which is cheaper but requires more work. Because people buy food mainly at fast food places, it comes back to the problem of obesity. The fact that Americans are buying a lot of food from fast food, obesity is becoming more and more popular because a lot of kids are not eating healthy. Also, the amount that the employees get paid is very low. They get paid minimum wage and the only other job that gets paid lower are migrant farm workers.
The workforce that fast food places have is tremendous. Places like McDonald’s hire about one million people annually which is more than more than any American organization, public or private. Needless to say, fast food places hire swarms of people each year but this also leads back to how it hurts the economy because these people get hired even if they have little to no qualifications for any other job, which makes it easier for students in school to just give up and get a job at a fast food restaurant. In the article, it states, “While a handful of workers manage to rise up the corporate ladder, the vast majority lack full-time employment, receive no benefits, learn few skills, exercise little control over their workplace, quit after a few months, and float from job to job.” It also says, “…and it pays some of the lowest wages.” Which was in regards to fast food restaurants. This shows that although places like McDonald’s hire a whole bunch of people per year, it is not a good job because the conditions are not the best, you don’t have benefits and you are not learning anything except how to fry burgers and other manufactured foods. And the worst part is you are making barely any money!
Lastly, how has fast food altered the general American population culture? In the article, there was this paragraph that shows that the culture of the Americans has changed. It states, “Pull open the glass door, feel the rush of cool air, walk in, get on line, study the backlit color photographs above the counter, place your order, hand over a few dollars, watch teenagers in uniforms pushing various buttons, and moments later take hold of a plastic tray full of food wrapped in colored paper and cardboard. The whole experience of buying fast food has become so routine… that it is now taken for granted, like brushing your teeth or stopping for a red light.” Although this is a long paragraph, it shows that culture from back in the 1800’s and today is a complete change. People are eating way more fast food and are not stopping themselves. If anything, in ten years the issue of obesity will be a world epidemic because of fast food.

Assignment #8 1. Well to me, the reason there was a gender difference is because back during Arab times, the practice of burying the daughter started because the Arabs were ashamed of their daughters and needed a man in the house but the God of Islam, All_h, has said in the Quran that on the Day of Resurrection that the infants that were buried alive will come back and complain to Him about what problem did they serve to their parents that the parents had to bury them. In the article, one of the ways that show the gender difference is the use of sonograms in India and China. They advertised how much money you could save if you just abort the baby girl. Another reason is that because men are more likely to die in infancy, they overcompensate for men by killing the women and letting the men live. Another reason is that many families have a need to have a man in the family to protect them. The other reason is that they feel they save money by having a boy and not having to pay for the whole wedding by having a girl. 2. There are many results of the skewed gender ratio and here are a few. Some of the negative effects of gendercide are that there are more same sex marriages because of the lack of one gender. Another consequence is that there is more violence because of a lot of frustrated single men that are not getting married. As a result, there are problems such as drug and sex trafficking, prostitution, bride abduction, rape. Another result of gendercide is suicide. Women start to commit suicide because they cannot hold the stress of killing a baby. 3. China, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, South Korea, India, Serbia, Belarus, Bosnia, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, Macedonia, Yimeng area of the Shandong province, Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat. These are some of the countries/areas that have skewed gender ratios. 4. When the neighbor says, “Raising a daughter is like watering you neighbors’ garden.” I interpret it to be that as you raise your daughter, you’re not gaining anything because in the end, you are sending them away and that is it. No more relationship between you two. The neighbor is basically saying that the parent does all the hard work and then has to give it up to the neighbor and all that hard work doesn’t help the parent because she doesn’t get to see what has blossomed from the plant that she has been watering. 5. The sonogram machine has had a huge impact because the advertisements say, “Pay 5,000 rupees today and save 50,000 rupees tomorrow.” This shows that if you just pay 5,000 rupees (approximately $110) you will save 50,000 tomorrow because you can then abort the child if it is a girl. It goes on to say that because of sonograms, the only female babies that were born after a sonogram sweep were babies that were mistaken as a women or had a male twin. This has a huge impact on the increasing gendercide because you are now aborting children more effectively because you are able to know whether they are a boy or a girl and then you can abort the girl.