Welcome to Dynamic History.com! This site houses information needed for Mr. Graziano's classes and is still a work in progress. It also provides numerous links and tools for students as well as parents who can view and use them for whatever they need. For the most recent information and news, please look below at "The Update." If you have any questions or need to ask me anything, please feel free to get a hold of me with the contact information that is provided below. Thank you!
DECEMBER. 27th, 2011: The world is humming with some really interesting events. So below I have selected stories and videos that are based on the country from which they originated. Check them out!
SYRIA:
Like a number of the nations in the middle east, Syria is starting to show signs of a revolution in the making. Like with Libya, Syrian protests have slowly been oppressed and are now being gunned down in numerous city's by its own government.
Since then both the UN and the Arab League have had opinions towards Syria and its leader Bashar Al-assad. Western nations such as the US, and Great Britain have spoken out against the regime and have placed sanctions on Syria itself. A resolution is being drafted but it has stalled, as Russia and China both vetoed any bill that was not to their liking. However recently Russia has stepped forward with her own draft to make a compromise.
In turn the Arab League, who feels they were left out of the negotiation process for Libya have clearly taken a stronger stance to work with Syria. (Click Here) They have put their own sanctions as well as sent its own members to see what is going on inside Syria. The following video gives very general "Need to know" facts about how this started in Syria. (Click Here)
One of the latest videos on Syria:
Most up to date video of the Arab League monitors:
North Korea:
On December 19th, Kim Jong-Il was the leader of North Korea for 17 years. With his death the tension between North and South Korea is at a high mark since information coming out of the "Hermit Kingdom" is little at best. What is evident is that Kim Jong-Il's 3rd son, 27 year old Kim Jong-Un. However, like the country itself, almost nothing is known about this new player on the world stage of the worlds 4th largest army, and a nation that has the ability to use nuclear weapons.
North Korea, or the "Hermit Kingdom" as it has become known in numerous media organizations and governments has been in a state of flux for the past decade. Food shortages, electrical blackouts, and a military first mind set has pushed the country to the brink of collapse. Getting access to video or even take photos inside North Korea is immensely rare, but in 2010 a reporter, Sue Lloyd-Roberts from Newsnight and the BBC was given the opportunity to get video inside North Korea. The following is the first and second parts of her glimpse into "The Hermit Kingdom" (Click Here). Next Part (Click Here).
China:
Two interesting stories came out of China in the past two weeks. One of the stories is of a town whos inhabitants have protested against the government and its "land grab." The last I heard was the Chinese government has let the town alone since it appears it has gained international recognition.
The second was of American actor Christian Bale who wanted to visit a unique individual, Chen Guangcheng a blind, self taught lawyer who is a famous human rights activist in China. The Chinese have had him under house arrest for some time.
Iraq:
Although US troops have pulled out of Iraq, this does not mean that everything is calm. Read the article to find out more: Click Here
OCTOBER. 21st, 2011: I ran into this on the BBC while looking up information on Libya. With the worlds economy currently in a tough spot, not many people think about the fact of the human population and how even now, it is still exploding in numbers across the globe. Check it out!
OCTOBER. 21st, 2011: On Oct. 20th, Muammar Gaddafi was captured when his convey was spotted by NATO air recon forces and then intercepted by National Transition Council forces in the area of Sirte, his home town. The story from there is unclear, but Gaddafi was killed a short time afterwards.
What this means for Libya is essentially the end of a long and bloody civil war, and the hopes of a new future for a country that has been oppressed for some time. However, as Sec. of State Hillary Clinton mentioned: "The hardest part is yet to come." What she refers to is the formation of a new government in a country where tribes and local municipalities hold a lot of sway over their specific areas. Not to mention the various ethnic/religious groups that live within Libya's boarders.
What is certain is that the NTC now has their hands full with a task that will take time, patients, and plenty of cooperation to form a new, brighter Libya. (Click Here) for Libyan Civil War timeline & videos.
AUGUST. 22nd, 2011: News in the Libyan Civil War conflict. It appears that the rebel's of the National Transitional Council which has been fighting for months have now made their way inside its capital, Tripoli. From initial reports this was a quick and well organized offensive in coordination with numerous rebel units as well as NATO air power. The video link below explains the conflict month by month as a time line. Where as the video above is the newest feed from Al Jazeera.
Click Here for the month by month timeline video.
AUGUST. 20th, 2011: I ran into a neat video today that I had to share. This goes back to when I posted about the differences of perspective and culture. This video goes right along those same lines. The video is a small segment of Stephen Fry, an English comedian who spent time in the US visiting each state for a show in the UK. Here is visiting the classic college football rivalry game between Auburn and Alabama.
JULY 8th, 2011: The Arab Spring continues to spread and take shape and effect the world's foreign policy to an immensely important part of the world. The UN continues to have internal strife dealing with each other and their various opinions. The video above gives, in my opinion, the best view with accurate information coming from Al Jazeera. (The video above contains some images that may be offensive to some, discretion is advised)
MAY 4th, 2011: Three days ago, Osama Bin Laden was killed by US forces in a city only miles away from the capital of Pakistan. With this news the United States, and the world for that matter has now breathed a small sigh of relief. My generation, which watched the towers get hit and fall first hand, will remember this day for the rest of our lives. The Article below is by Mary Marcus of USA TODAY, here is the link: (Click Here)
A decade ago they were just kids — elementary school students with Pokémon backpacks; middle and high schoolers slogging through classes.
Then terrorists directed by Osama bin Laden hijacked four passenger jets on Sept. 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000, bringing down the World Trade Center towers, damaging the Pentagon — and redefining the world for a generation.
Today they are young adults, college students and high schoolers who have been shaped, in part, by the collective anxiety bin Laden helped to create. Beyond the usual benchmarks, their youths have been marked by color-coded terror alerts and fears of when the next attack might come, as well as by multiple wars, a declining economy and increasing concern that America is losing its footing as the world's most powerful and prosperous nation.
So when bin Laden was killed Sunday in Pakistan — in a raid by U.S. forces that seemed as if it could have come from one of the military-themed video games now popular with teens and young adults — the news was riveting, especially for the young.
It was largely young people who poured into the streets in Washington, New York and cities across the nation late Sunday to chant, cheer and celebrate bin Laden's death. For many who grew up seeing bin Laden as the face of evil, it was a life-changing moment — one full of relief, vindication and a new sense of hope, if not the end of some fear.
"We're the 9/11 generation, and we all remember it," says Matthew Segal, 25, co-founder and president of Our Time (ourtime.org), a national non-profit that represents Americans under 30.
Segal was in a 10th-grade history class in his Chicago high school on 9/11. "Later, when the attack was explained, there was a villain behind it. Now, literally, the villain of our time was captured and killed," he says. "It was clearly a defining moment for our generation."
Duke University senior Annie Kozak, who was studying for final exams in the college library Sunday night when she began hearing whispers all around her about bin Laden's demise, says that in today's society, "it's an incredibly strange thing" to be "celebrating death."
News about bin Laden's killing "was cropping up on Twitter accounts, Facebook feeds, people were texting. You could feel people getting excited," Kozak says. When video of President Obama's speech late Sunday went up on YouTube, the Duke library's Internet connection went down because so many people were streaming it.
Kozak recalls being in a middle school gym class when she heard about the 9/11 attacks. In the years since then, she says, "it's always sort of been within the realm of school and academia for us."
When news of bin Laden's death reached Georgetown University's campus in Washington, D.C., Ishita Kohli, 20, a student there, headed for the White House along with hundreds of other young people who swarmed the area.
"Everybody just dropped their books and ran down here," says Kohli, who was clad in running shoes and gym shorts. But Kohli, who grew up in the United Arab Emirates and saw how that nation changed after 9/11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, says bin Laden's death won't end the war on terror.
However, "it is a huge symbolic step in the right direction and hopefully toward making things better in that part of the world," she says.
Rebecca Dolan, 24, of New York, whose father died in the Pentagon on 9/11, says that day's attacks were "one of the biggest events in American history in our timeline, something we will tell our children about some day."
Bin Laden's death "brings us all some sort of closure or vindication, knowing Public Enemy No. 1 is off the streets," she says. But "I was totally shocked when I heard the news. I personally had seen bin Laden as someone who would always be there in an ominous way."
'Imprinting' on young lives
The events of 9/11 and the subsequent decade — including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, worldwide terror alerts, increased security at airports — have affected everything from dreams to fears of those who were under 18 in 2001. In many ways, analysts say, it's sculpted a more politically aware and socially active generation.
"You've heard how baby ducks imprint on whoever raises them? Social scientists believe there's an imprinting effect on young people when they get closer to the age to get involved politically, sometime prior to 18," says Thomas Sander, who studies civic engagement at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. "So the hypothesis was that 9/11 was kind of an imprinting moment where young people realized their fates were much more interconnected then we'd been led to believe … and that international affairs are much more consequential than they were for their parents."
Bin Laden "became a symbol for my generation. … He symbolized loss and grief and hatred, and that's how many of us defined this era," says Eric Dinenberg, 28, a business school student from Paramus, N.J., who was a freshman at George Washington University in September 2011.
The fallout from 9/11 left its mark on Jasmine Odenat, 18, an Aberdeen, Md., freshman at the College of Notre Dame, inBaltimore, who was in 4th grade in 2001.
"When (9/11) happened, I had feelings of not being safe, of being frightened, that something bad was going to happen again," she says. "To get to my house you have to drive through a long tunnel, and for a couple of years I used to worry that something would happen to us when we drove through the tunnel, like a bomb or something."
Those who've grown up since 9/11 have never known a world without metal detectors, security alerts or war, says pediatrician Claire McCarthy of Children's Hospital Boston, whose five children range in age from 5 to 20. "As I look at my younger kids, they're just used to it. They've never known what it's like to not be at war."
Nine years of war have taken a heavy toll on the children of men and women in uniform, says Jane Foy, a spokeswoman on children's mental health for the American Academy of Pediatrics. Children of active-duty military personnel make 18% more trips to the doctor for behavioral problems and 19% more visits for stress disorders when a parent is deployed compared with when the parent is home, according to a study published last year in the journal Pediatrics.
Career paths were inspired by the attacks, particularly for those who joined the military.
Marine Cpl. Jesse Kyer, 21, who is based in Buford, S.C., and who was 11 in September 2001, says his job choice was influenced by the terror attacks.
"I grew up thinking Osama was a villain, like a comic book-type character. This is a really bad guy doing all this bad stuff," says Kyer, who is married to another Marine and has served for almost three years. He says his worldview and views of bin Laden have evolved since boyhood.
"Going through the military, I've realized he's just one person. It's a relief that we finally got him, but I know it's not over," Kyer says.
Martinique Perfetti, 26, of Fredricksburg, Va., a former Marine who grew up in Iowa, agrees that 9/11 "shaped our whole lives. I'd be someplace completely different if that hadn't happened."
Public service and social networking
Those who study the Millennial generation (generally those born from 1980 to 2000) say young people may indeed have reacted to the tragic events of their early years by becoming interested in public service.
In 2009, when many Millennials were entering the job market during an economic downturn, nearly 25,000 applied to the non-profit Teach for America, a 37% increase over 2007 and the most since Teach for America began in 1990. Nearly every government-funded service program saw applications jump that year.
Those who grew up in the shadow of the 9/11 attacks also are more connected socially online than earlier generations — perhaps one way they've compensated for the "look over your shoulder" and don't-trust-strangers environment in which they grew up, says Patricia Somers, an associate professor of Higher Education at the University of Texas-Austin.
"Culturally after a terror attack you realize that you don't know where the next attack may come from. Your world becomes smaller because of that. You may limit your interactions. On the other hand, we've had this huge explosion in social media, which allows people to interact without being in the same place," Somers says.
A 2010 Pew survey said three-quarters of Millennials have created a profile on a social networking site, and 83% sleep with their cellphones on or near the bed, suggesting they want to be connected constantly.
Their parents' concern for their safety likely has helped encourage that notion. Since 2001, many parents have felt a more urgent desire to make sure their children are safe and reachable at all times, says pediatrician McCarthy. "That anxiety has led parents of even young children to give them GPS-equipped cellphones, so that parents can always find them," she says.
Since the news of bin Laden's death has sunk in, the celebrating has wound down but a sense of hope prevails, which author and historian Neil Howe says is a very Millennial take on life.
He likens the news of bin Laden's death to that of the villain in the popular Harry Potter books.
"It's like Voldemort is dead," Howe says. "It's a Harry Potter world. For this generation, there's either pure evil or pure good. There's no anti-hero. They're out to get rid of these terrible forces and have a celebration. A happy ending. This is very defining for their generation. They've supplied the young troops who've been over there fighting for their lives."
But Segal says "we are not a generation that oversimplifies good and evil, nor do we revel in violence, The death of Osama Bin Laden is a sign of closure for millions, but there are thousands of my peers who are still serving and sacrificing in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. When, and if, they return home, they confront significant emotional, economic, and physical obstacles."
LIBYA:
Since Sept. 15th 2011, Libya has been in a state of Civil War. The country has essentially been split in half with rebels forces fighting against the government lead troops of Mulhammar Gadafi. NATO last month pledged support for the fledgling rebel group in the east which was spearheaded by France and Great Britain. The United States has dedicated aircardt, ships, and logistical support for the "No-Fly-Zone" that was put in place to keep the people of Libya safe from its own government. More after the jump: (Click Here)
FEBRUARY 18th, 2011:
Bahrain police fire upon protesting crowds escalating the situation further. Libya and Yemen also are starting to slowly slide out of control.
FEBRUARY 17th. 2011: For the past three weeks from the start of the Tunisian protests when Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire and Tunisia's revolution, Egypt's Feb. 11th revolution, and now numerous other countries such as Jordan, Iran, Libya, Bahrain, and other countries are now facing the same protests which lead to the eventual revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. Click Here for a live update of information about the protests and continuation of the Middle East crisis.
These events are changing our world and will have huge changes for foreign policy for the United States. Most of these protests have been started by young people under the age of 30. Social networking sites such a facebook and twitter are being used as the communication line for these protesters.
DECEMBER 9th. 2010: Students Protest in Great Britain over the rise of college tuition fees which are being tripled over the course of the next year. Students protested both peacefully and also protesting violently as the videos above show. The royal family's car was also "attacked" by protesters who threw paint and steel bars at the windows of their car.
Also in November tensions continue to mount between North and South Korea where artillery fire was exchanged between both nations. North Korea who started the hostilities claims that this was done due to the yearly South Korean/US military war games. South Korean protesters want the government to make a stronger show of force against North Korea however nothing has been done as of yet.
SEPTEMBER. 9th, 2010: Since we have recently been on the subject of Islamic affairs, two new stories of interest have come about over the past week or so.
Pastor Terry Jones of Florida who has a congregation of around 30 people has cancelled his "Burn a Koran Day" do to two conflicting stories. Jones claims he was in contact with Imam Feisal Abdul, the backer of the NYC mosque which he proposed near the Twin towers site. He explained to media organizations that he was cancelling the burning because Abdul had promised him he would stop his backing of the mosque. However Abdul explained to the media that he was not in contact with the pastor at all.
The second story which has been confirmed by the White House was that the Jones explained that he would not do it if he was contacted by the White House. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates "Urged" Jones not to do it due to the danger it could put people in all over the world. For more go to START IT UP!
AUGUST. 26th, 2010: Over the past few weeks some interesting current events have come about. Specifically the Sinking of the South Korean Frigate Cheonan, which is the name of a town in South Korea where a number of US prisoners from the Korean War were murdered. Currently there are different opinions on the report and its conclusion that the sinking was in fact caused by a torpedo from a North Korean mini-sub. More in the START IT UP section.
Mosque debate near Ground Zero from CBS: Click Here
Secondly there has been talk about the building of a Mosque near ground zero of the World Trade Center in New York City. It has caused a huge debate and a number of questions to be asked about how we as US citizens feel about Islam. Go to START IT UP for more.
JULY. 23rd, 2010: I've fixed some of my links and also managed to add some things to the "START IT UP," Civil Rights Lessons, That's Different, and the Resources section of the website. Within the Resources section, I was contacted by a Mr. Pierce Martin from the SR Education Group, he suggested to me the following link that focuses on accurate online resources. Check them out here: Click Here
When you get a chance check them out. The one about the forms of bowing to show an apology from Japan can be seen below. It is interesting to think about and understand the differences between the way Americans and Japanese apologies.
JULY. 7th, 2010: I hope everyone had a happy 4th of July! Sadly the US soccer team didn't considering they were beat 2-1 by Ghana in an overtime match a few days ago. Beyond that, I have recently updated the website with three powerpoints that I made for the Packwood House Museum in Lewisburg, PA.
I went through their collection of thousands of coins from all across the world and different time periods to produce these three powerpoints. They focus on the currency of the Civil War, World War II, and the Cold War. Here are the links: Civil War - Click Here, World War II - Click Here, and Cold War - Click Here.
JUNE. 24th, 2010: College Humor on occation seems to have some very funny things regarding our peers and their point of views of the world, but this one is just hysterical. Now, I am a big fan of the World Cup because of the sport itself as well as how it effects the world as a whole. Yet at the same time sometimes I can't help but laugh when I see an American perspective of it. Click Here
JUNE 23rd, 2010: The United States on June 18th and 23rd respectively tied Slovenia 2-2 and Beat Algeria 1-0 to advance to the semi-finals. They will be playing the 2nd seed from group D which includes Germany, Australia, Ghana, and Serbia.
There were two specific goals that the USA made that were ruled void. In the June 18th game against Slovenia the referee whistled the ball dead once the goal was made saying the USA striker was offside’s in the box. That was debatable.
However today’s game had the USA score another that by the FIFA rule book should have been a goal. Even in these good will games at the World Cup it is debatable that many countries are fans of the USA advancing their way to the Semi-Finals. Knock on wood we can win there as well to advance! GO USA!
JUNE 15th, 2010: The United States played to a 1-1 draw against England in its first match on the 12th, Keep going USA! Highlights can be viewed here: Click Here.
Also as shown in the video above Kevin Costner the American movies actor shows off his multi-million dollar machine that separates oil from water. It is interesting to listen to considering our current predicament. While I was doing some research on the oil leak I ran into this link: Click Here. It is the website that has real-time updates on the oil leak as well as the liveBP underwater cameras.
JUNE 11th, 2010: The Israeli Blockade of the Gaza strip which is controlled by the radical faction Hamas has now drawn worldwide attention for their actions days ago against what was said to be a humanitarian aid ship sent from the nearby country of Turkey. Facts are somewhat convoluted and the United States is in a hard spot to not upset both Israel and Turkey who are key allies of the US in the Middle East. However with Turkey, Iran, and other nations now putting more and more pressure on Israel, many countries are looking to see what the US and UN will do about it.
Beyond that the following link gives numerous audio accounts of both Israeli soldiers as well as passengers of the ship that was boarded. Listen and tell me what you think: Click Here
As they are saying down in South Africa today for the start of the 2010 World Cup... "It. Is. On!"
JUNE 8th, 2010: Two things that continue to reach the headlines of the US today are undoubtedly the BP Oil spill, as well as the war in Afghanistan reaching a new milestone that isn't for the better. The video above gives a little insight about the more recent events of the last couple of days fighting the spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Below is a quote from a California representative and what he believes will be happening now that we have passed the 103 months of the Vietnam War, which previously was the US's longest war. The rest of the article can be found here: Click Here.
"That June 7, 2010, marks the 104th month of US military engagement in Afghanistan and, consequently, America's longest war in history (Vietnam lasted 103 months), would be less significant if we were not fumbling on all fronts in Afghanistan, from security to development to governance. The disconcerting indication of this mile-marker is not simply that Afghanistan trumps Vietnam as "longest war in history," but that there is no guarantee that by the 116th month, in July 2011, the bulk of US presence will leave as promised." - Rep. Mike Honda D-California.
May. 20th, 2010: Sorry everyone! I have been so busy with applications that I have been unable to get anything new on the boards for quite a while as you can clearly see. But now I have some time so let me throw up some of the things that have been missed!
The Eyjafjallajokull Volcano (Top Left), for the past month and a half has been a huge thorn in side of Europe since the airways can't be travelled due to the huge amount of ash as well as in some countries the ash is so bad that day seems like night.
The BP Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (Top Right), as you can see from the photo which was taken very early by a NASA satellite the oil spill is a huge problem not only for BP but also for President Obama who is pushing for offshore drilling.
The question is however, how do both of these events effect Europe and the United States?
MARCH. 23rd 2010: An interesting video that gives some very good facts about the new Healthcare Bill that has just passed into law with its signing by President Obama today. The true question is, will this help or hurt the American people? And which people? Also included in this video is the battle between China and Google. Now Google is leaving, so what will happen next since this will effect American-Chinese relations?
Something else I found that I thought was really neat was the daily border closing between the nations of India and Pakistan. In 1965 a war broke out between the two nations and before the war until this day there is still clear tension between these two states. However the mutual respect and this daily ceremony show that perhaps both nations are on a better track diplomatically. Something else to consider in this video is the fact that both sides were at one point trained by the British military. It is quite obvious in the uniforms and "steps" that these soldiers take during the ceremony.
MARCH. 5th 2010: Today the US House of Representatives Committee of Foreign Affairs (Link) passed a resolution confirming that the Turks' acts against the Armenians in World War I was in fact Genocide. This will most certainly damage US - Turkish relations and alienate one of our few Allies in the Middle East. At the same time this was something that was long overdue:
"Germany has accepted responsibility for the Holocaust. South Africa set up a Truth Commission to look at Apartheid. And here at home, we continue to grapple with the legacies of slavery and our horrendous treatment of Native Americans. It is now time for Turkey to accept the reality of the Armenian Genocide." - Howard L Berman: HFA Chair
The vote passed 23 to 22. Both Democrats and Republicans voted for and against it, yet this is the result. Now how will it effect us?"START IT UP"
FEBRUARY. 24th 2010: Toyota boss Akio Toyoda spoke with members of Congress today to try and ease the United States' worries about the car company and its massive recalls concerning the brake and acceleration issues that many car owners have been having. The American Congressmen stressed their wish that the American people remain safe in whatever car they drive. This is an interesting move by the United States and this could certainly hurt Japanese-American relations politically. Check it out in the new "START IT UP" section!
DECEMBER. 28th, 2009: I was surfing around the web and I just ran into this video. While studying to be a teacher I always told myself I wanted to be a part of a school district which had strong community ties. When I say that I mean it in a way that shows how the students, the staff, and the administration come together to make something or in this case to show up their rival. By doing this, it shows just how strong of a connection there is between everyone over there at Shorewood High School in Washington State. Here is the link (trust me its worth seeing): Click Here
DECEMBER. 22nd, 2009: A few days ago the sign above the entrance to the Auschwitz death camp which says in German: "Work makes you free," was stolen by five people for an international collector. Police are still working on finding that collector and now the sign which was cut off of the camp entrance into three pieces and missing a letter must now be repaired. I have to ask myself why there was only a single live feed camera watching Auschwitz instead of a security detail. Surely this will not happen again because of this event.
DECEMBER. 9th, 2009: With recent troop surge of 30,000 US soldiers and about 5,000 Coalition forces to Afghanistan recent controversy has come up whether this surge will in fact help to end the war there and achieve victory or instead will only further compound the problem of the Taliban and other radical Islamic militant groups.
NOVEMBER. 18th, 2009: Two days ago NASA launched one of its last Shuttle missions, STS-129's mission is to travel to the International Space Station and give it spare parts as well as the equipment necessary to receive a new module which the space station shall receive in the up and coming missions. Space Shuttle Atlantis currently is docked with the ISS and is transferring equipment to its supply pod. To view the Launch of the Atlantis and the STS-129 mission: Click Here
NOVEMBER. 6th, 2009: Yesterday a psychiatrist in the United States army, a Major, shot 12 dead and wounded 31 at Fort Hood in Texas. This has been felt all across the United States. Stories can be found here along with video responses by President Obama and the commander of Fort Hood. God Bless our troops and the families of those who have lost in such a tragedy. Click Here
OCTOBER. 28th, 2009: NASA's new space vehicles are being tested in the next few months; starting with the launch of the "Ares 1-X" which is scheduled to fly whenever it can find a clear window. For the past two days they have been unable to launch due to bad weather. The other vehicle which will also be tested fairly soon is the "Orion," the new planetary orbital mini-station. To watch the launch live go to NASA's website here and follow the links: Click Here
EDIT: LAUNCH! The test was a success! At 11:30 Ares 1-X took flight. These tests will be immensly helpful for the next few missions NASA has planned! Also around November 16th NASA plans to launch another shuttle mission to the International Space Station: Click Here
OCTOBER. 6th, 2009: In light of recent events I dug up an old video from a few years ago about Iran's President: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. SNL decided to make a sarcastic digital short with Andy Samberg which picked fun at Ahmadinejad's policys and beliefs that the Holocast didn't happen; as well as his beliefs that there are no homosexuals in Iran: Click Here!
SEPTEMBER. 30th, 2009: President Obama later this week will travel to Coppenhagen to try and convince the Olympic council to hold the 2016 Summer Olympics in Chicago. Click Here
SEPTEMBER. 23rd, 2009: President Obama spoke today at the UN for the first time and clearly showed that he wishes to work with the world to try and help lower the weapons mass on our planet. Along with issues over Iran and terrorism. Click Here
SEPTEMBER. 8th-9th, 2009: Obama's speech to the students of the United States has caused a huge fuss amongst the Republicans and Democrats of the nation. Many feel that President Obama should not be speaking to the students of the nation, yet at the same time many feel that any speech from the President is an important one. What do you think?
Here's a quote: "As far as I am concerned, this is not civics education — it gives the appearance of creating a cult of personality," said Oklahoma Republican state Sen. Steve Russell. "This is something you'd expect to see in North Korea or in Saddam Hussein's Iraq." - Link Here
On the 9th the President was making a continued speech about healthcare. During the speech however something happened that has never happened before during a congress session: Link Here
SEPTEMBER. 1st- 2nd, 2009: Also I have uploaded a video that Dr. Starmack showed us when I was a Junior, one of the neatest videos I have ever seen; it really makes you think about things a tad deeper than you normally would: "Did You Know?"
Getting ready for the new year. While I was updating the website a little I found a neat website that I wanted to add. www.mapsofwar.com has numerous multimedia maps of wars, religious movements, and numerous other important events and puts them in a visiual representation. Very interesting!
JULY. 30th, 2009: I have added new projects and lessons to the website. Also I am prepping some new files that some of you should check out here! This article is something our education system needs to look into and that is why I posted it here for you all to see. With other news I am going on vacation and studying up on the book I will be helping to teach starting the next school year. See you all soon.
APRIL. 16th, 2009: I'm looking forward to working with Mr. J. Hippenstiel and his classes at Central Columbia High School for the PDS program! See you all in the fall of 09'.
MARCH. 24th, 2009: Check out these current events video's: The Rock Obama, Mel Gibson: The Colonel, and Jimmy Kimmel: Babies Be able to discuss the meaning behind these video's, why are they important to current events, and the media's spin.
