1. 1) Explain the sudden dip on the following graph. 2) Explain how statistics can help to elucidate/explain the significance of historical events. Give a specific example such as any we discussed in class.
2. Using Google Maps Street View at http://makehistory.national911memorial.org/ please answer the following questions: 1) What color is the car parked in front of 30 Vesey St.? 2) What time was is when the Google pics were taken (hint... explore down Vesey St.). 3) What is the name of the chapel that sits in front of the WTC site? 4) How many people on the top deck of Broadway Gray Line Bus 71512 (standing in front of the AT&T store) are wearing sunglasses?
3. According to today's issue of http://www.koreatimes.com/ what is the most unfriendly city in the USA? (Please give the name of the city and the url of the article).
4. Why are there so many names for "soda pop" in New Mexico? https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ-sD7sQz-eSOLi0auVeFvyrVttq5HoI9x2cAOMjrLreB9vANsKQ8Zu8d9DkadSW3mDmMdP8MvtQst_xQUH1KkMcTLuMihaXbuv15nkvGGDIAWydw0Q8OWYM74tmusIJQTOSEdaJK8dWk/s1600/Pop_vs_Soda.gif
5. Find Sudanese 'Lost Boy' John Dau's Twitter feed and send him a Tweet congratulating him on the South Sudan vote. Cite this BBC article http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12252699 in your Tweet by using the URL shortener. Take a screen shot of your Tweet and post it as a pic on your blog.
6. Read: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalwarming.html and answer the following; use the research from NOAA to support your answers. 1) What causes climate change? 2) Is human activity contributing to climate change? 3) Is the climate warming? 4) If global warming is real, why has the East Coast of the USA been hit with massive blizzards the last two years?
7. 1) View http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5088011&acct=wdmgeninfo and explain what a regional food hub is and why they are essential to sustainable agriculture and food distribution. 2) Go to http://www.harfordfarms.com/ and explain where you would find USDA approved organic poultry, beef, and vegetables closest to John Carroll. 3) Write a proposal for the JC cafeteria for a "JC Sustainable Food Day"; plan out where they could acquire organic foods and how they (and you) could help educate the school community on the issue of sustainable agriculture.
8. Choose a country that begins with either the second or fourth letter in your first name from http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/ and create a Google Presentation comparing that country to the USA. Supplement your presentation with resources, data, and pictures from CIA World Factbook, Wikimedia Commons, BBC News, NY Times, National Geographic, and PRI's The World (at least one citation from each of those sources).
9. France will chair the G-20 this year. Please read http://www.lemonde.fr/ameriques/article/2011/01/10/obama-et-sarkozy-s-entretiennent-sur-le-g20-et-le-terrorisme_1463703_3222.html and explain the French president's position on fighting terrorism and whether he thinks the US is an ally or not.
10. Go to http://www.g20.org/about_faq.aspx and read FAQ #6. Out of the nine topics mentioned, which in your opinion are the three most important. 1) Briefly explain why you think these are the most important three. 2) Find two significant web resources for further study of each of the three (total six web resources). Your sources must be of high quality and meet our class requirements for a serious source; furthermore, you are finding two sources for each so that the sources can aid in vetting one another's accuracy.
11. Go to CIA World Factbook; choose a country under 'East and Southeast Asia'. Then open a new 'My Map' in Google Maps and complete the following: 1) Find the three largest cities in your chosen country; pin the cities and give details for population in the description box of each. 2) Estimate the geographical area of the largest city in your country as compared to the geographical area of Bel Air, MD (i.e. Beijing is ___ approximately ____ times larger in geographical area than Bel Air, MD. 3) Bring up the traffic map and explain whether the traffic in your city is better or worse on average at this time of day than the traffic in New York City. All of your answers go in the description box. Please make sure to 'share' the map with me and post the link on your blog.
12. What does the following gapminder graph tell us about the relationship between health expenditures and global health? www.bit.ly/d74oHw
13. Using the data from this gapminder graph www.bit.ly/b9p3dA and encyclopedic information from Wikipedia, explain the following: 1) Why is the UK in the lead in the beginning? 2) Why does the USA surpass the UK when it does? 3) Why the drop in CO2 production around 1929? 4) When does China enter the picture? 5) Despite the fact that there are far more people in China than in the USA, the data shows that the US population consumes much more CO2 -- why? 6) Explain Trinidad and Tobago in the 1940s. 7) Explain Luxembourg. 8) Explain all of the tiny countries near the top.
14. With a partner, write up a 10-step plan of ways that our school could use technology to live up to its stated mission of preparing young men and women "to serve responsibly in shaping a more just and compassionate global society".
