Wednesday, September 13. 2017

Today's schedule is B-A-D-C

B Block Physical Geography 12 - Today we'll do a brief introduction to topographic maps and I'll show you how to identify location, estimate area, calculate slope, and determine direction on them. We'll look at large versions of the 1:50000 scale topographic maps for the Comox Valley (92F10 and 92F11). For a large copy of the Forbidden Plateau 92F11 map click on the Online - En ligne (PDF or TIFF) at the GEOSCAN Fast-Link site. Using these maps we'll try to make sense of topographic maps in partners.


Here are a few webpages to help:
Natural Resources Canada Toporama
Reading Topographic Maps
Mount Union College Reading Topo Maps
United States Geological Survey Reading Topo Maps
National Wildfire Coordinating Group Reading Topographic maps pdf
Natural Resources & Water Queensland Australia Interpreting Topo Maps pdf
How Stuff Works Reading a Topographic Map

D Block Criminology 12 - Today you will need to set up a blog for the course. You may use Google's Blogspot, Wordpress, Live Journal,or any other blog creation site you choose. I would HIGHLY recommend staying with Wordpress, Live Journal or Blogger (you have a Google account through the school district and Blogger is a Google product so it makes sense to use your school e-mail account to create a Blogger site). Here are a few previous examples from past Criminology family members:

Criminology (Meryssa on Blogger); Criminology (Jacob on Wordpress); Crime Journal (Darion on Live Journal);

After you create your blog (IF YOU GET STUCK on the blog creation portion, then move on and in a Google Doc or Word file), then as your first entry, you'll need to write your own theory as to why people commit crime. To help, use the brainstormed list we did in class last week, your textbook along with the Crime Theory Web Site found on this link and the notes on yesterday's blog entry

Once you've done this, then find an article about a recent crime here in Canada, make a link to the news article on your blogsite and then write how your crime theory explains why the crime happened. An excellent crime news website is the CANOE CNews Crime site...or the Toronto Star Crime site...or Global News Crime site...or the Huffington Post Canada Crime site...or the Vancouver Sun Crime Blog 

And to help you here is an example from a previous Criminology family member Mariah Barth...

Crime happens for many reasons, however I believe that one of the main reasons people commit crime is because of social structures they are immersed in and the people they associate with. Obviously there are many other contributing factors such as brain chemistry, gender, drug usage, inner conflict and just plain choice, the list could go on and on, but the people we surround ourselves with play a huge role in how we behave. I know personally I act differently around my parents then I do when its just my friends and I. others play a huge influence in our lives. As children we learned everything from our parents and mimicked their behavior, then as we entered school we made friends and copied their behavior as well. If we ended up making friends with bad apples then we will most likely be doing and acting the way they are, all feeding off each others behavior in a sense Peer pressure from these same people we hang around with has a major influence on whether or not we are committing crime. For example in this article you have a 13 year old boy planning on robbing a convince store with no previous criminal record and 3 accomplices older then him, I don't personally know the kid but something tells me he was not the one to come up with the idea, maybe robbing the store what he had to do to become a member of the "Indian Posse" gang or just to impress the older boys either way it was most likely him trying to be tough and to impress someone else. I personally know a kid who at the age of 15 tried to shoplift something from a mall, I don't know what it was he was trying to steal but what I do know was he got chased and tackled by mall cops then spent a few hours in jail waiting for his mother to bail him out. This kid is not a bad kid I know that he is a good human being, comes from a good stable he's just your average teenage boy trying to fit in, but the kids he was hanging around with are kind of shady guys, I know for a fact that this boy regrets doing this, and in the long run getting caught for him turned out being more embarrassing then being too chicken to shoplift whatever it was he was attempting to steal. It just goes to show how far people will go to feel some sort of belonging in society and when they themselves feel uncomfortable with the fact that they might be different in someway or defy social norms people can go to extreme lengths to feel loved and important.

C Block Human Geography 11 - Today we'll look at the Key Question: Why Are Some Human Actions Not Sustainable? We'll look at what a resource is (renewable and non-renewable) along with the uses and misuses of resources by humans. We'll figure out what "sustainability" means and take a look at the United Nations ambitious goals for sustainable development.


I will have you and a partner look at one of the UN SDG and explain to the class:

1. What's the Problem
2. Why is it a Problem
3. What can be done about it?