In class participation I think I deserve a 95/100. I have asked good questions and in class and I tried to answer all the questions that I knew all the answers too.  My grades also back up my participation grade. I feel that I'm a good contributor and I tried to think outside of the box. Also I had some discussion starters in class.

In class Friday we finished watching the documentary "Guns, Germs and Steel." Jared Diamond's theory is that it was geographical luck and all animals that were able to be domesticated were in Europe and the Asia. The people from Papua, New Guinea were very intelligent but they lacked the natural resources that other countries had and were able to thrive in. If the people from New Guinea had the same resources as other people they would be very advanced in their civilization too. All they had was sago trees and they weren't that nutritious and you have to do so much work to get to the part you eat. That means they couldn't export things a lot. Today, they have so much imports that come into the island, this is another thing that is holding them back. Do not be fooled by the lack of advancement in the civilization.

In class today we continued watching the documentary "Guns, Germs, and Steel." New Guinea faced a lot of disadvantages.The only animal that was able to be domesticated is the pigs and they just came to the area a couple thousands of years ago, while they live there for about thirteen thousand years. It's not like there are a lot of animals at are able to be domesticated that are over one hundred pounds. Only fourteen animals out of 40,000 animals that are over one hundred pounds can be domesticated. All thirteen of the species started living in the Europe, and Asia. Domestication and certain types of food held them back from advancing in technology. We got into a discussion that what if they are fine with the life they are living now.

in class today we continued watching the documentary that Jared Diamond is doing an investigation on. New Guineans main natural resource is the sago tree. It has something in the tree called the dough. Also it said that it was geographic luck. New Guineans had farms like the Americas or China but the type of food and crops depended on their expansion of civilization  They could trade with other countries and get other crops and soon they could get profit off of the crops they sell. All of this was pure luck of where they migrated. We are going to watch " Guns, Germs, and Steel" tomorrow. I'm interested in what the movie will bring next class.

Jared Diamond

Jared Diamond is an author who wrote a famous book called " Gun, Germs, and Steel " and also wrote another good book called " The Third Chimpanzee." He also won the Pulitzer prize, this is the highest award in publishing and writing. Jared Diamond is a professor at UCLA and he has two PhD's. Another thing I found out about Jared Diamond is that he is an ornithologist and an anthropologist. Mr. Diamond also worked in New Guinea. He is a very intelligent man and a well respected man around the world also  Let's get back to his book, his book was so famous that it became a documentary.
Jared Diamond made a trip to New Guinea and a man asked him " Why do white men have so much cargo and we New Guineans so little. " Jared Diamond didn't know how to respond to the question either and he was in awe. That made him want to study this even more. New Guineans still do hunting and gathering and in this documentary they are going to talk about why some civilizations advanced and others didn't. The beginning of this movie was quite intriguing and I want to see more of it Monday when we return to class