Friday, October 26, 2012

Mr. Rotts Classroom Blog for October - November 2

WELCOME TO OUR JUNGLE SAFARI! Class Blog 10/29/12

 

Well we have been fighting the jungle of testing... not much fun I am sure but you could look at it as a way for you to be proud of what you know!  I wish I could get you all to understand the importance of studying for an exam.  It’s not just so you can have a score you’ll be proud of but its also to help you learn and practice being responsible.  PLUS, you need to develop good study habits to help you in high school and college.

Math A, 2nd and 4th Period:

This week we will be working on multiplying and dividing decimals along with another test on comparing and ordering decimals.

Math B, 5th period:
We continue our work with equations.. We are a long way from 2+2 aren’t we!  So this week we will work on linear equations and that will take most of the week to get through.. 


BLOG FACT FOR THE WEEK: UNCONTACTED TRIBES
 Here is a copy of a great article in Livescience.com that talks about the amazing discovery of an uncontacted tribe.  This means a tribe of people have been found who have not or never been contacted by any other humans... pretty exciting I would say!

In 2008 Brazilian officials have confirmed the existence of approximately 200 Indians who live in the western Amazon with no contact with the outside world.


This uncontacted tribe is not "lost" or unknown, according to tribal advocacy group Survival International. In fact, about 2,000 uncontacted Indians are suspected to live in the Javari Valley where the tribe's homes were seen from the air. But confirming the tribe's existence enables government authorities to monitor the area and protect the tribe's way of life.


In 2008, Survival International released photos of another uncontacted tribe near the Brazil-Peru border. The striking images revealed men aiming arrows skyward at the plane photographing them. Uncontacted Indian groups are aware of the outside world, a Survival International spokesperson told LiveScience at the time. But they chose to live apart, maintaining a traditional lifestyle deep in the Amazon forest. The latest images reveal that the newly confirmed tribe grows corn, peanuts, bananas and other crops.

Because the tribes are so isolated, contact with the outside world can be deadly. Survival International's website, http://www.uncontactedtribes.org/, tells the story of the uncontacted Zo'e tribe. When missionaries contacted the tribe in 1987, 45 Indians died of common diseases that they had never encountered and thus had no tolerance for, including the flu. In Peru, half of the previously uncontacted Nahua tribe died of disease after oil exploration began on their land in the 1980s.

Nearby oil exploration in Peru also threatens the newly confirmed tribe, Fabricio Amorim of Brazil's Indian Affairs Department said in a statement.

"Among the main threats to the well-being of these groups are illegal fishing, hunting, logging, mining, cattle ranching, missionary actions … and drug trafficking," Amorim said.

Also from the web site “survivalinternational.org” it says cattle ranching has destroyed nearly all the Akuntsu’s land. Of all the tribal peoples wiped out for standing in the way of ‘progress’, few are as poignant as the Akuntsu. Their fate is all the more tragic for being so recent.

No-one speaks their language, so the precise details of what happened to them may never be known. But when agents of Brazil’s Indian affairs department FUNAI contacted them in 1995, they found that the cattle ranchers who had taken over the Indians’ land had massacred almost all the tribe, and bulldozed their houses to try to cover up the massacre.

Introduced diseases are the biggest killer of isolated tribal people, who have not developed immunity to viruses such as influenza, measles and chicken pox that most other societies have been in contact with for hundreds of years. 


In Peru, more than 50% of the previously-uncontacted Nahua tribe were wiped out following oil exploration on their land in the early 1980s, and the same tragedy engulfed the Murunahua in the mid-1990s after being forcibly contacted by illegal mahogany loggers.

One of the Murunahua survivors, Jorge, who lost an eye during first contact, told a Survival researcher, ‘The disease came when the loggers made contact with us, although we didn’t know what a cold was then. The disease killed us. Half of us died. My aunt died, my nephew died. Half of my people died.’

Many areas inhabited by uncontacted tribes are being invaded illegally by loggers. Their presence often brings them into contact with the tribal people; many have died from diseases introduced by the loggers, or even been killed by them.

In Peru the situation is especially grave. Areas inhabited by uncontacted Indians are also home to some of the world’s last commercially-viable mahogany stands, and illegal loggers, taking advantage of the lack of any effective state control, have been plundering these areas at will.

The Murunahua were decimated by contact with loggers and, if nothing is done to stop the invasions, the same fate awaits the Mashco-Piro tribe. ‘The loggers arrived and they drove the Mashco-Piro further upriver, towards the headwaters,’ said one indigenous man who has seen the Mashco-Piro more than once. ‘The loggers have seen them on the beaches, their camps, their footprints. The loggers always want to kill them and they have done.’

 
Blog Questions: SEE Blog fact for the week 
1) If there are about 2,000 uncontacted tribes living in the jungle and one tribe consists of 200 tribe members, how many other tribe members might there be?

2) If there were 200 people in a tribe and 50% were lost due to catching a cold, how many members would still be alive?

3) How long has it been since the tribe living in the Javari Valley was first spoted?

4) What do you think should be done with a tribe that is found that has lived all their lives unknown to the outside world?     



FEEL THE SPIRIT!!!  Not to many more days and the season begins!!!!!!

SCHEDULE:
Southern Utah Thunderbirds Friday, November 09 2012
West Virginia Mountaineers Monday, November 12 2012
South Dakota Coyotes Sunday, November 18 2012
Clemson Tigers Thursday, November 22 2012
Pacific Tigers Saturday, December 01 2012
@ Washington St. Cougars Wednesday, December 05 2012
Illinois Fighting Illini Saturday, December 08 2012
Kansas St. Wildcats Saturday, December 15 2012
Campbell Fighting Camels Wednesday, December 19 2012
Baylor Bears Friday, December 28 2012
@ Oklahoma St. Cowboys Monday, December 31 2012
@ Pepperdine Waves Thursday, January 03 2013
@ Santa Clara Broncos Saturday, January 05 2013
St. Mary's, Calif. Gaels Thursday, January 10 2013
@ Portland Pilots Thursday, January 17 2013
@ Butler Bulldogs Saturday, January 19 2013
BYU Cougars Thursday, January 24 2013
San Francisco Dons Saturday, January 26 2013
@ Loyola Marymount Lions Thursday, January 31 2013
@ San Diego Toreros Saturday, February 02 2013
Pepperdine Waves Thursday, February 07 2013
Loyola Marymount Lions Saturday, February 09 2013
@ St. Mary's, Calif. Gaels Thursday, February 14 2013
@ San Francisco Dons Saturday, February 16 2013
Santa Clara Broncos Wednesday, February 20 2013
San Diego Toreros Saturday, February 23 2013
@ BYU Cougars Thursday, February 28 2013
Portland Pilots Saturday, March 02 2013

Even though life can seem to be wild and crazy... or that your lost in a jungle.. Keep pressing forward! And always remember, you are amazing, incredible people with the whole world waiting to be changed by YOU!

Mr.Rott

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