History & Geography

NBA location map: Let's play !

2011-10-18T15:59:00.000+01:00

Do you like Basket-Ball ? Even if you don't, you can try this game I've made for you. It's about where the NBA Franchises are located in the USA and Canada. It's very simple: you see the name of the franchise, its logo and you have to place it on a map. I give you a little information on the franchise and the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) where it is.

Among the 15 most populous MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Area), Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue (WA) is the only one not represented.

On the contrary, Salt Lake City, New Orleans, Oklahoma City and Memphis are the least populous MSAs (beyond the 40th place) represented in the NBA.
The next season NBA starts at the end of this month.

Let's play here !

If your computer is not able to read a PowerPoint 2007, you can play with the previous version here. The File is more than 45 M heavy...

Expression #1 : "You can't judge a book by its cover"

2011-09-24T13:48:00.005+01:00

Imagine you want to know if someone is really the person his or her appearance seems to tell. The French would say that "the ecclesiastical dress doesn't make the monk"...

But the English language prefers to speak about books. The idiomatic expression in english is :

"You can't judge a book by its cover"

An other possibility would be "All that glitters is not gold"

A famous song by Bo Diddley has been titled "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover" in 1962. Many versions were sung later (Elvis Presley, Stevie Wonder, Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds,...). It's a great song against prejudice.

Have a look at the lyrics :

You can't judge an apple by looking at a tree
You can't judge honey by looking at the bee
You can't judge a daughter by looking at the mother
You can't judge a book by looking at the cover

Oh can't you see oh you misjudge me
I look like a farmer but I'm a lover
You can't judge a book by looking at the cover oh oh oh

Oh come on in closer baby
Hear what else I gotta say
You got your radio turned down too low
Turn it up oh

You can't judge sugar by looking at the cane
You can't judge a woman by looking at her man
You can't judge a sister by looking at her brother
You can't judge a book by looking at the cover

Oh can't you see oh you misjudge me
Well I look like a farmer but I'm a Lover
Can't judge a book by looking at the cover come on

Oh how am I doin' baby oh

Yeah you can't judge a fish by lookin' in the pond
You can't judge right from looking at the wrong
You can't judge one by looking at the other
You can't judge a book by looking at the cover

Oh can't you see oh [Incomprehensible]
Am like a farmer but I'm a lover
Can't judge a book by looking at the cover

Ellis Island : the Gateway for America

2011-09-22T07:37:00.001+01:00

Welcome on Ellis Island ! Click on the links below to answer the questions on your paper.

I. Immigration since XVIIIth century

Peopling of the United States

Population clock

II. Ellis Island : the gateway for the “American dream”

Ellis Island history

III. Visiting Ellis Island

Ellis Island Gateway (réseau du lycée uniquement)

1798: Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population

2011-09-20T16:38:00.000+01:00

[Title page of the first english edition]

"Must it not then be acknowledged by an attentive examiner of the histories of mankind, that in every age and in every State in which man has existed, or does now exist
That the increase of population is necessarily limited by the means of subsistence,

That population does invariably increase when the means of subsistence increase, and,

That the superior power of population it repressed, and the actual population kept equal to the means of subsistence, by misery and vice."

Thomas Robert Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population (published in 1798)

Malthus (1766-1834, his portrait by John Linnell on the right) therefore thinks that natality has to be limited by chastity before mariage and postponement of mariage until people could support a family. He also condemned assistance to the poor as unuseful. He was a reverend and an economist.

"Andrew Lansley Rap": NHS explained ... and defended !

2011-09-07T13:05:00.003+01:00

A young rapper called Nxtgen has recently written a rap song that adresses the actual fate of the NHS in the hands of the conservative-liberal government. The video has spread on the internet last spring. The musical blog Histgeobox has decided to study this song and to introduce interested students in the history of the National Health Service in Britain, from its inception to nowadays.

Listen to this very political rap and watch the video here

Making music after Katrina: Brass Bands

2011-03-20T21:33:00.007Z

Teacher and musician (drummer), Bruce B. Raeburn is a well-known academic in New Orleans. He is the curator of the Hogan Jazz Archive in Tulane University (New Orleans). His late work has been about the Brass Band tradition in the city before and after Katrina. We've asked him a few questions about the musical aftermath of the Hurricane, especially for Brass Bands.

1. Can you tell us about the situation of the Brass Band scene in the first half of last decade, prior to Katrina?

Since the late 1970s, the brass band scene in New Orleans has been one of great vitality, deriving from the Fairview Baptist Christian Band experiments inaugurated by Danny Barker that enabled young brass band musicians such as Leroy Jones, Gregg Stafford, and Gregory Davis (among many others) to follow different aesthetic visions, some traditional, others quite experimental, as with the Dirty Dozen BB. Danny told them to work on discipline, skill, and comportment, but never dictated style to them. Bands from the 1980s, such as ReBirth, or the 90s, such as Soul rebels and Hot 8 followed in the wake of the Dozen, while more traditional bands, such as Treme, Young Tuxedo, and Algiers stayed with the old time repertoire. In general, however, saxophones gradually replaced clarinets in many of these bands, becoming the dominant reed instrument. Despite the emergence of younger bands prior to Katrina, such as TBC (To Be Continued, formed 3 years before the storm), ReBirth and Hot 8 competed for the best parade spots. Soul Rebels had decided not to parade well before Katrina in order to establish themselves more effectively as a hip hop act in the contemporary national market.

2. What are the most represented neighborhoods of New Orleans in this music and how is their relationship with the city as a whole?

Treme, Central City, and Gerttown are primary zones for “second line” activity, but 9th and 7th wards also figure on occasion. The bands go where the Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs that want to hire them are situated. Of these neighborhoods, Treme probably has the highest percentage of brass band musicians resident in a single neighborhood, even as they perform all over town.

3. How Katrina has affected the musicians of the city?

Fewer jobs and less money for the jobs that are obtained. Instrument replacement was a big issue over the first two years following the storm, a problem largely solved by Music Rising(1), along with housing, a more difficult issue. Some musicians have taken advantage of the Musicians Village project in the 9th Ward, but few of these were brass band musicians because of the credit protocols in place with Habitat for Humanity (2), which excluded musicians who did not file tax returns and have regular credit histories. There was uncertainty in some quarters as to whether New Orleans musical heritage could survive—five years later we can say that it has, but not without some changes.

[The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, What's Going On, 2006]

4. How Katrina and its aftermath have changed the way these bands consider themselves, their musical tradition and their city?

Katrina forced most brass band musicians to contemplate their situation, which led to an overall resurgence in interest in tradition and where a given band fits in that continuum. Soul Rebels did a lot of community service in 2006, Hot 8 worked with Dr. Michael White to deepen their understanding of and commitment to traditional brass band repertoire, at Sounds Café in 2007, and in general the boundary between traditional and modern seems to have become less rigid, with a growing realization that all brass band practitioners deserve a place of honor if their skills merits it, regardless of style.

[the Baby Boyz Brass Band]

5. Is there an important link between Brass Band music and Hip Hop?

Soul Rebels, Baby Boyz, Young Fellas, TBC, Coolbone, ReBirth and Stooges—many New Orleans brass bands have explored synergies with hip hop, leading to the emergence of bounce in the 1990s, and post-Katrina to a merging of the genres, scenes, and audiences at places such as Duck Off, on A.P. Tureaud in the 7th Ward. Katrina seems to have strengthened this connection, while also generating a renewed interest in traditional style and repertoire.

6. Can you give us the titles of some of the most representative songs of Brass Band music?

Bunk’s Brass Band, “Oh Didn’t He Ramble”
Eureka Brass Band, “Sing On”
Young Tuxedo Brass Band, “Joe Avery’s Piece (Second Line)”
Olympia Brass Band, “It Ain’t My Fault”
Dirty Dozen, “My Feet Can’t Fail Me Now”
ReBirth “Casanova”
Hot 8 “Sexual Healing”

Here is a playlist of those tracks (some are not available on Youtube, I've selected other tracks by the same band or the same title by an other band) :

Many thanks to Bruce Raeburn for his kindness and availability

Dr. Michael White, mentionned in this interview, interviewed by New Orleans Podcasting about the brass bands before and after Katrina and jazz music.

Notes :

(1) Music Rising is a charity founded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, dedicated to preserving the musical heritage of the Gulf Coast region.

(2) Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit, oecumenical Christian housing organization building simple, decent, affordable housing in partnership with people in need.

Our other articles about New Orleans (in french) on Samarra :

Katrina, 2005 : Entretien avec Romain Huret
Blacksad : un privé à la Nouvelle Orléans
Treme, Nola après Katrina
Faire de la musique après Katrina (coming soon, it is the french version of this interview)
Le rap de La Nouvelle-Orléans : Entretien avec Jean-Pierre Labarthe
La Nouvelle-Orléans dans la BD francophone
Le Funk de la Nouvelle-Orléans (coming soon)
Petite histoire de la Nouvelle-Orléans :
- La fondation (1718-1763)
- De l'ère espagnole à la vente (1763-1803)
- Le XIXème siècle (1803-1865)
- Reconstruction et ségrégation (1865-1965)
- Entre déclin et catastrophes (1965-2011)

Age of Discovery: a collaborative map

2011-03-19T15:06:00.002Z

[Waldseemuller's map (1507) made in Saint-Dié, the first to mention "America"]

Find here the map we're working on :

Afficher Age of Discovery/Grandes découvertes sur une carte plus grande

England in the Middle Ages

2011-02-20T09:37:00.004Z

From Norman Conquest to the limitation of royal power: See the whole Bayeux Tapestry on this very good website. Read a translation of the full text of the Magna Carta (1215).

The Tower of London in the Middle Ages

Medieval London : Find a lot of information on the Museum of London Website (themes, people, timeline, objects, texts and even some games)

Hundred Years War: See the War told in a funny way through some drawings here. Joan of Arc is one of the most painted charachter in history, even by English painters like Dante Gabriel Rossetti (right), find more paintings on this page.

See the video made by an english pupil about the Battle of Crécy we've watched in the classroom :

I also like this one :

You can also see the Battle of Agincourt (1415) as told by William Shakespeare in his play Henry V and shown in the film where Kenneth Branagh plays the King :

English Week in Epinal: The pictures !

2011-02-06T19:29:00.000Z

Here are some pictures of last week. I've not selected the most embarrassing ones...

I've selected some musics, you can try to guess the artists and leave a comment on this post. Enjoy !

English Week in Epinal
envoyé par augris

Water ! (and some music please...)

2011-01-22T15:44:00.002Z

[Pic. : Michaël Wagler]

Here are some songs about water in english, german, italian, spanish or portuguese. Enjoy !

Découvrez la playlist Water Agua Aqua avec Santana

And some more in French here

Rome reborn in 3D in Google Earth

2010-12-20T11:05:00.006Z

To further study Rome history, from the City (Urbs) itself to Roman Britain, here are a few links :

Four universities (including a french one) started a project more than a decade ago. Its aim was to recreate virtually the ancient city of Rome around 320 AD, when Constantinus was Emperor. The project found its final home in Google Earth in 2008.

How to use it :

[Hadrian's Wall (in the North of current England); source]

Hadrian was Emperor from 117 to 138 AD. His image has often shifted from one of a capitulator to one of a brutal pragmatist and sometimes one of a visonnary. The fascination for the Emperor, known in Britain for the building of the wall called "Hadrian's Wall", was at its peak in 2008 as the British Museum organised an exhibition : "Hadrian : Empire and Conflict". See here some videos presenting the exhibition and Hadrian's life and places (Tivoli, the Wall) [source].

P.S. : Tacitus, the famous historian and writer, is Agricola's son-in-law

The 3rd most populous city (MSA) of the USA is...

2010-12-06T08:45:00.004Z

....Chicago ! It used to be the "Second City", one of its nickname along with the "Windy City". But the population of Los Angeles has increased faster than the population of Chicago in the XXth century.

Before this year Census can deliver more recent figures, here are the estimates of population for the first five Metropolitan Statistical Areas and Rankings in 2009 (and change from 2000):

New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island (NY-NJ-PA MSA): 19,069,796 (+4.08%)
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana (CA MSA): 12,874,797 (+4.12%)
Chicago-Joliet-Naperville (IL-IN-WI MSA): 9,580,567 (+5.30%)
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (TX MSA): 6,447,615 (+24.92%)
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington (PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA): 5,968,252 (+4.94%)

What is a MSA ?

"Metropolitan Statistical Areas have at least one urbanized area of 50,000 or more population, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting ties."
There are also Micropolitan Statistical Area : "Micropolitan Statistical Areas – a new set of statistical areas – have at least one urban cluster of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000 population, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting ties. Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas are defined in terms of whole counties (or equivalent entities)."
"The term "Core Based Statistical Area" (CBSA) is a collective term for both metro and micro areas." [source : U.S. Census Bureau]

To know better these cities (and the 20 next in the rankings) locations, try our NBA location quiz here.

[Picture, E.Augris : The" Loop" (downtown Chicago) and Lake Michigan as seen from the top of Hancock, 2000]

U.S. Midterm Elections 2010 : a Webquest

2010-11-12T08:54:00.002Z

Use the links below and complete your paper :

General information

Congress : link #1, link #2, link #3
Checks and balances : link #1, link #2, link #3, link #4
Results
Other elections : link #1, link #2 (for California)
Ideas (taxation, health care, abortion, gun control, immigration, capital punishment): link #1, link #2 (see Politics comparison),
Symbols : link
The "Tea Party" : link #1, link #2
Name origin : link #1, link #2

For the last question , once you've selected a cartoon, click on this link to see the "students' corner" of this blog.

Cartoon # 1 : "Halloween Fright" by Wasserman

2010-11-02T09:41:00.002Z

Dan Wasserman

[Published in th Boston Globe; source]

Quotation # 4 : Difficult subjects

2010-11-01T18:54:00.003Z

"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly pesruaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."

Leo Tolstoy (Russian writer), 1897

(as quoted in the very interesting book about the subprime crisis The Big Short, Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis).

N.B. : Slow-witted means slow to comprehend.

Rust Belt and the subprimes in songs

2010-10-21T19:42:00.003+01:00

You can listen to the Beat Assailant song on Deezer here.

Here is the video of the Billy Joel song. To learn more on "Allentown" and read a translation in french, have a look on histgeobox.

NBA location map: Let's play !

2010-10-18T16:20:00.010+01:00

Among the 15 most populous MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Area), Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue (WA) is the only one not represented.

Let's play here !

If your computer is not able to read a PowerPoint 2007, you can play with the previous version here. The File is more than 45 M heavy...

WWF map of ecological footprints worldwide

2010-10-15T19:58:00.003+01:00

As I've mentionned today, a WWF report shows planet's resources are being used at 1.5 times the rate nature can replace them – but long-term decline of animal life appears to have been halted.
Richest countries in the North and in the Gulf like the United Arab Emirates (among them Dubaï) have the biggest ecological footprint per person. Least Developped Countries (LDC) have the smallest footprint, like in Sub-Saharian Africa.
Juliette Jowit writes in the Guardian that "the richest countries consume, on average, five times the quantity of natural resources as the poorest countries. At the extremes are the United Arab Emirates, with an average footprint of more than 10 hectares, and Timor-Leste at less than one hectare. The global average is about three hectares".

[My source]

Religion in the USA

2010-10-01T14:47:00.000+01:00

According to a recent survey, 78,4 % of the adults in the USA are Christians. Among them, 51,3 % are protestants (evangelical or mainline) and 23,9 % are catholics.
4,7 % have an other religion (Jewish 1,7%, Buddhist, Muslims and Hindus under 1%).
16,1 % are unaffiliated (atheist or agnostic).

Here are two of the maps we've studied this week. The first tells us about religious practice. Even if adherence level is high on average in the USA compared to other countries, it is higher in the Middle West, some counties in the West (Mormons area) and the South.
The second map shows us the most practised religion in each county. Catholics are the majority in predominantly hispanics areas along the southern border, in the West and in the North-East. Evangelical Protestants, especially Baptists, are the majority in the so-called "Bible Belt" in the South. Lutherans are more numerous in northern Middle West where many Americans have German or Scandinavian ascendency.

Muslims and Jews are more represented in urban areas, especially in the North-East and the West. Detroit (Michigan) is one of the metropolitan area with the biggest share of Muslims. Jews are more represented in the North-East (New York), Florida, California and Nevada (Las Vegas).

My source for the map. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life offers a very usefull examination of issues, beliefs, practices, maps and demographics on this subject.

Ellis Island : the Gateway for America

2010-09-28T00:50:00.003+01:00

Welcome on Ellis Island ! Click on the links below to answer the questions on your paper.

I. Immigration since XVIIIth century

II. Ellis Island : the gateway for the “American dream”

Ellis Island history

III. Visiting Ellis Island

Ellis Island Gateway (réseau du lycée uniquement)

Quotation # 3 : Malthus

2010-09-16T10:48:00.002+01:00

[Title page of the first english edition]

Thomas Robert Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population (published in 1798)

British Rap for ... Dummies

2010-09-04T14:51:00.005+01:00

Listening to your favorite kind of music, it seems that rap music has as many haters as lovers...

Maybe you've heard of american rap or french rap but do you know british rap ?
If not, let's listen to these two podcasts in which I briefly talk about the birth of british rap in the 80's and 90's and make you listen to some of the finest rappers of the 2000's. It's in French but you can hear many songs listening to the podcast, the playlist and some videos.

Podcast # 1 : 80's and 90's. From the pionneers to Roots Manuva
Podcast # 2 : 2000's. Grime & Diversity.

[Clockwise : Bomb The Bass, Black Whole Styles, Roots Manuva, Dizzee Rascal, Roll Deep, Wiley, Tinchy Stryder, Chipmunk, N-Dubz, Professor Green, Jammer, Tinie Tempah, The Streets, Speech Debelle and M.I.A.]

Quotation # 2 : The Few

2010-08-24T08:46:00.004+01:00

"never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few"

Winston Churchill, 20 August 1940

In London (House of Commons), the then Prime Minister was praising the courage of the Battle of Britain pilots who where fighting against German planes. See and listen to the full speech here.

Beheaded... but back on a stamp !

2010-06-23T09:26:00.007+01:00

More than three centuries after his beheading, Charles the first's head is back in England !
Due to a set of new stamps by the Royal Mail featuring the Stuarts, the autocritic king now appears on enveloppes and postcards...
In 1649, after a nine year civil war, he was seized and executed. As a king, he had the chance of being beheaded, a century and a half before his french colleague Louis XVI was subjected to the very same fate.
The presse release issued by the Royal Mail seems to ignore the failings of the Stuarts and the set includes William, Mary and Anne, the monarchs who followed the deposed James II in 1689 after the "Glorious Revolution". They are classified as Stuarts, which is "technically correct but historically misleading". Historians consider 1689 to be the beginning of a new era.

[Source]

Quotation # 1 : Language

2010-06-22T14:46:00.004+01:00

" The limits of my language mean the limits of my world"

Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922)

A message of Peace from Hiroshima

2009-09-08T09:16:00.003+01:00

Using the words of President Obama and declaring himself and those asking for a nuclear free world the "Obamajority", the mayor of Hiroshima send a message of peace. He made his statement during the ceremony commemorating the 64th anniversary of the atomic bombing on his city, august 6th 1945.
Reminding the sufferings of the hibakushas (victims of the bomb), he used their words in saying "No one else should ever suffer as we did."

Here is the english translation of his speech.

[Document given by Nicolas]

"The Troubles" in Northern Ireland by U2 : "Sunday Bloody Sunday"

2009-08-29T14:26:00.003+01:00

In 1983, the famous four of Dublin became world famous with the LP War. In this album, the song "Sunday Bloody Sunday" was written in the memory of 14 people killed after a shooting by british paratroopers in 1972. They were part of a peaceful march protesting against discrimination towards catholics in Ulster.

Listen to this song, read the lyrics (in english) and learn more about the origins of the "troubles" in Northern Ireland (In french)

Welcome on this blog !

2009-08-29T14:13:00.001+01:00

This Blog intends to make you enjoy history & geography. It is written by a teacher for his students.
English is not my mother tongue so I apologise for any mistake I'll write.

Enjoy !