Feedback 24-28 (Pros and Cons of Imperialism)

Positives

• Improved communications
• Better transportation
  
• The general uplifting from the dark ages into the modern age of industry and wealth
• Continental Language
• Development of resources
• Global Trade
• Exploration of undeveloped areas
• Attempt to civilize and proselytize Africans
• Gave medicine and health care for free
• David Livingstone
  

Negatives

• Complete destruction of African Culture
• Exploitation of resources
• Development of Slavery
• Draining of resources
• Creation of states that are suicidal
• Mass slaughter
• Incited genocide
• Creation of the Apartheid
  
• They came, used Africa, and left, leaving almost no knowledge behind
• Creation of "spheres of Influence"
• King Leopold
• Death by foreign diseases
  

Southern Africa Current Event (3)

Annan, Carter and Machel's Zimbabwe visit blocked

The condition of Zimbabwe has continued to collapse. The political infighting has increased, along with a near total collapse of utilities and amenities. This has prompted a survey visit from three representatives of the U.N to asses the humanitarian crisis. However, Zimbabwe has banned and blocked the three people and stopped their visit. The three people, known as experienced politicians are former President Jimmy Carter, former U.N secretary General Kofi Annan, and the wife of Nelson Mandela, Graca Machel. The reason for this injustice was printed in a government owned paper, The Herald. "The visit has been deemed a partisan mission by a group of people with partisan interests." This small snippet of text pretty much sums up the government's argument, and those of the Zimbabwean politicians concerning the U.N. So by banning the U.N visit, a dying nation has thrown down the gauntlet. What is to come in the next few days will be closely watched.

I believe this is news for few reasons. The first and most prominent reason is "unexpectedness." No one at all expected these respected people to be banned from a country. The story is also relevant, and it is about a conflict that has been raging for a while now between the political icons. It is also "bad news" for the people of Zimbabwe. 

Government and Economy of Southern Africa.

The development of a true African Government began shortly after the Apartheid was abolished. This happened primarily because of economic sanctions against Africa, and the general movement of people beginning to realize how unfair the Apartheid really was. One of these people was Nelson Mandela, a young activist who was imprisoned for protest. This is the same man who would eventually shape South African politics, win a Nobel Peace Prize, and become a hero, after twenty-six years of imprisonment. 

As to the countries themselves, alot of them were incredibly dependent of the Afrikaans and Europeans for support. This was because it was the trade the Europeans brought that created the Southern African economy. The only nation that stayed strong after the Apartheid ended was South Africa. It had a vast amount of resources, a stable government, and the initiative to lead development in Southern Africa. Meanwhile, small kingdom countries like Lesotho and Swaziland became dependent on South Africa , supplying mineral resources, food crops, and labor for the developing economy. Other countries like Namibia, the Comoros, and Madagascar are rich in resources, but have an unstable government, resulting in a failing economy. One success story is Botswana, which managed to establish a stable government and pull through the chaos that came after the Apartheid. Overall, Southern Africa has many problems facing it in the near future. It's a conflict loaded with resources people have been attempting to control for many generations. It is going to be difficult, but with the current rate of development, Southern Africa can pull through the problems to a better and brighter future. 

Feedback November 10-14

The main visual elements of this cartoon are the black Africa, and the giant footprint cutting across most of the country. I believe that this cartoon is about the colonization and subsequent draining of resources that occured in Africa. Also about how the spirits, the country, the people, and the culture of Africa was crushed by a "White" opressive foot. Therefore I'd have to say that the cartoonist dislikes the colonization of Africa. My support comes from the contrast between black and white, also from how the foot has left a desert-like mark, indicating that the people were crushed.  The image kind of gives of the feeling of Africa being used up. Kind off like a doormat that everyone crushes and wipes their feet on. I guess this is actually an effectively used propaganda technique. If I could do one thing better, I would add a caption. It would probably be confusing to other people who aren't studying imperial and colonialism. 

History and Culture of Southern Africa

As long as 2000 years ago, the African people were hunter gatherers who were divided into many ethnic groups. These people, called Khoisan, were intruded upon by the Bantu people migrating from West and Central Africa. This mix combined cultures, something that would happen more with the European invasion of Africa. One race, the Shanu, constructed a magnificent stone walled city called New Zimbabwe. As the population grew, Great Zimbabwe became a trading center and capitol of known South Africa. It’s trade routes were said to encompass the Indian Ocean trade network. In fact, it was the wealth obtained through trade that made the Europeans invade Africa. Countries like Germany, Netherlands and the French created small colonies, and yet again the cultures were intermingled. This resulted in a new language called Afrikaans which influenced language development. Violent countries like the British established claim and made war over land owned by tribes, one of which were the Zulu. By the 1900’s, the Afrikaners, descendants of Western colonists, controlled the government. They established racist policies called apartheid which divided people into four racial subgroups. These groups were allocated better or worse resources depending on race. However, the Africans struggling to throw off racism caused by the Europeans achieved freedom in 1980. They put back together their culture, which combined Christianity, many languages created by Afrikaneers, and holidays and festivals from many diffrent ethnicities.

The Scramble for Africa

While other countries fought it out for territory of questionable value, we attempted to claim territory wanted by other countries. Using this territory, we gained the upper hand in peaceful negotiations over land that we wanted. Also, using this bargaining chip, we would form alliances, like our deal to take over Botswana with Portugal. Our deals were often complicated and sometimes backfired, like us gaining only three squares in South Africa. These constant negotiations prevented other countries from attempting to take our land, and also let us slowly claim more territory to bargain with. When we first laid out our plan, we were looking for the resources mentioned in the note in African Countries. In particular, zinc, iron and copper. We also checked if other countries wanted that area, and if so, was there a way we could work together to get the best out of the territory instead of fighting. We also prioritized our claims of land, so valuable countries were captured first. 

I think that France won the Scramble for Africa. They were looking for iron, diamonds, zinc and petroleum, and managed to secure massive amounts of all but petroleum. The also used an effective strategy of taking over South Africa and moving upwards. They claimed a lot of coastline, which was valuable land, and Madagascar, an island with a gigantic amount of disposable resources. I think that Great Britain did the worst out of all the countries. It started out promising, but did not manage to secure any of it's resources. Also, the third objective to control the Suez Canal was thwarted, and the territory divided. On top of all that, they also didn't manage to subdue the french. 

South Africa Current Event (2)

iafrica.com | news | sa news SA's low life expectancy

This link links to a news article regarding the life expectancy of Africans on iAfrica.com, an african news source. 

The basic story in the article is the declining life expectancy of the African people in Africa. It has dropped so low, that its lower then the expectancy of war-ravaged Iraq. The world average life expectancy is men-65 years and women-70. However, in Africa it's fallen to men-52 and women-54. It gets even worse. In South Africa, it has lost another three points leaving at men-49 and women-50. This information was gathered by the United Nations Population Fund on Tuesday. Also in the report was information stating that The Hiv Infection rate is fourteen percent in males, and twenty one percent among women. On top of that, the birth ratio is wildly out of check, resulting in twenty three babies born for a thousand teenage girls. Overall, Southern Africa has to get it's death and birth rates in check if it wants to survive as a developing/developed country. 

This article can be considered news for a few reasons. Firstly is Impact, because this article deals with lives of South Africans, and how it's going to affect their lifestyle. Also Magnitude, because it doesn't deal with just one South African, it deals with ALL South Africans. Third is Timeliness, because the report dealing with this issue was released only two days ago. It also refers to something negative, in this case, the horrible life expectancy of South Africans, which is a bit unexpected. 

Physical Geography of South Africa

Southern Africa is mineral rich region of intense physical contrast. If you were to walk across South Africa, you would see plateaus, mountains, rivers, and vast deserts. It is on these elevated plateaus deserts that the African people have adapted to survive. Most of the region is located on these grassy plains, with mountains like the Drankensburg and Inyaga separating them into different countries. Other inabitants of these plains are a variety of animals such as lions, tigers, elephants, gazelle, and antelope. Crisscrossing down from the mountians of Centeral Africa are many rivers vying from control over the main plataeu. They almost all empty into the Indian Ocean. It's believed that once rivers like these flowed through the arid deserts like the Namib, resulting in heavy mineral deposits from times past. This wealth is shown in coal, platinum, copper, uranium and iron ore. So overall, the region of South Africa houses rich minerals, diverse cultures, and a variety of geographic features.

Feedback November 11th

Can we trust the truthfulness of "To Be A Slave?"

I believe that we can for a few reasons, the first one being that the book was published under "history" in the first place. If the editor didn't think that the information in the book was credible he wouldn't have published it in the first place. The second reasons is that the reviewers have commented on the truthfulness, "This [To be A Slave] is how it was-a powerful chronicle of tragedy skillfully assembled from the eloquent slaves themselves..." Let me continue with the fact that this book is the winner of countless awards, one of which is the Newbery Honor Book Award. It also appears that Mr. Lester was a deeply motivated historian, with a lot of his books dealing with ideas about race and African culture. In conclusion, I believe that Mr. Lester is a credible author for three reasons. The first was that the boook was published in the first place, the second is that critics believe it's truthful, and finally that Mr. Lester was a historian and all his books deal with African Culture.

South Africa Current Event (1)

SADC leaders fail to break Zimbabwe impasse.

This link links to an article found on NewZimbabwe, an online Zimbabwean news network. 

The article talks about how, yet again, the South Asian Development Council has failed to end hostilities between President Mugabe and opposition Leader Morgan Tsvangirai. The old attempt at equality, a power sharing deal between the two, has collapesed in a dispute of control over the powerful Home Affairs Office. The two stand at opposite ends of the spectrum. Even with eminent speaker President Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa leading the approach, committee members failed to organize a strategy to heal the rift.  Meanwhile, the inflation rate of Zimbabwe is still rising, and coupled with a breakdown of basic services has led to complete panic across the capitol. So while a country slowly tears itself apart, it's two most powerful leaders spend their time bickering.

This news is relevant for a few reasons.  The first one is Impact, because if this problem is not sorted out, its going to change the lives of many Zimbabweans for the worse. Also Conflict, because apparently, the rivalry between Mugabe and Tsvangirai  has been going on for a while.  Timeliness and Relevance are also legitimate reasons, because this story affects almost all of the "local" community in Zimbabwe, and the story is pretty recent, and is still going on. 

Five Themes of Geography

Image taken from http://www.interstate-guide.com/

I think that this photo (above) has all five of the themes of geography. The first theme is movement, and the cars and motorcycles in the picture are moving, carying ideas, to New York. They move along asphalt and cement roads which were created by clearing out the environment in that area. The point mentioned before is an example of the third theme (H/E interaction). You can tell these cars and infrastructure are part of the western region because the writing is English and the state of New York is in the USA. This is also part of the location. The full location is probably somewhere on one of the boulevards coming into NYC. The photo is connected to many overlapping regions of culture. The first major one is of the USA and New York State. On a broader scale, the "West" and on a smaller scale, Interstate 95. This place is unique from all the other places for a few reasons, the first being that it is located in New York instead of anywhere else. Also it has a special type of sign that was discontinued from use shortly after all the intestates leading into New York Area were completed. 

All the above covers, M.R. HE.L.P.

Feedback October 27-31

"Violence leads to more Violence."
Well, most of the time this statement is true, because human beings react solely on danger, but it can also be wrong. For instance, there are times when swift and necessary action have saved the day. However, even swift action can lead to violence, for example in Julius Caesar, Brutus believed that assassinating Caesar would free Rome. Instead, this small act caused a full scale revolution and civil war. The death of Cinna the Poet is also a good example. A man who had nothing to do with the conspiracy to kill Caesar was murdered to quench the bloodlust of the rioters. Also, going back in American history, a blacksmith threw a rock at a American boy. The result of this puny act was the Boston Massacre. Even today, in the modern social environment we exist in, a threat is always responded to with another threat. The terrorist attack of 9/11 and from there straight to the Iraq War. In places where this statement is wrong, the death of Adolf Hitler lead to the freedom of Europe and Germany. So in my opinion this statement is mostly true, and only sometimes, in the presence of great individuals, wrong.

Feedback October 13-17

I believe that as Brutus I would have chosen the good of rome. I have a few reasons why I believe that is true. The first reason is that Caesar was millitary leader, and while loved by the people, not of the people. If Caesar came to power, he would rule rome as a dictatorship, using the millitary to gain power, not social forms like research and trade. For example, in Act two Scene one, lines 18-20, Brutus states, "That at his will he may do danger with. The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power." This statement reveals that Caesar might abuse the power of Rome's army. Secondly, Brutus thought about the big picture of Rome, how it might or might not survive depending on his decision. If something I could do would define the future of a country, I would make sure something like friendship didn't get in the way.  Finally, it comes down to personal values. As we can see from the book, Brutus is all about Honor, and doing the right thing. In my case, my values would and my loyalty would be to something greater than just one person, which is, in this case, Rome. So in conclusion, if I was Brutus, I would have chosen the good of Rome over Caesar. 

Feedback October 6-10

As the west strove in the sciences and technology, resources were necessary to fuel the world-spanning economy created at the peak of the Industrial Revolution. The gleaming gem of the Asian continent, rich in land and labor, quickly attracted the attention of the British people’s immense greed. They set their sights on flourishing cultures in India, Africa, and South East Asia. Their method of attack and control was first trade related, then a complete invasion using brute force. For example, the East India Company, a trading conglomerate that controlled almost all trade routes in and around Asia, infiltrated India and other wealthy nations through trade. With the British led trade came the superior knowledge gained from the Industrial Revolution. Knowledge that improved transportation by building railroads, improved communication by building telephones and telegraphs, and largely affected the lifestyle of Asians in general. Other countries like Singapore and Malaysia or the Africas didn’t escape the expansion of British control. They too were modernized and utilized to their fullest potential. But there were reasons for British Imperialism, and these stemmed from three major aspects of British culture; God, Gold, and Glory. The gold aspect was cash crops, cheap labor, and vast stretches of unused land which was rare in England. Also, the glory of taking key ports like Singapore and Madras defined England and the British Monarchy as the ruling power in the world which consisted of trade. Overall, Imperialism greatly affected the people of the Asian continent culturally, economically, socially, and politically. While some of the aftereffects were bad, most helped sustain a period of growth after Brittan released it’s iron grip. Countries all around the world were changed by British Imperialism, and nowadays, it is these countries that shape our way of life.

Part 2:
The qualities of a good leader are hard to describe. There are the unseen ones like charisma and luck, but these aren't the ones most often used to describe leaders. A good leader must be able to do two things, one is to be able to work together with almost anyone, and the second is to be able to think outside of the box. A leader must be a trendsetter, someone who doesn't conform to society completely and lose his/her initiative. This doesn't necessarily mean they have to be smart, with an IQ of over 140, but it means they can innovate. When a tense situation comes up, a leader is someone who can take control and mediate between those two groups. There are alot of leaders in and around the schools, but one of the more noticeable ones is Aysha. Aysha is a trendsetter, who has an opinion and isn't afraid to show it. Everyone follows her not because she exerts control, but because she works together with everyone well.

End of Quarter 1 Feedback

I'm happy to say that I've managed to cover all three of my goals. The first one, about the socratic seminar was completely finished yesterday, when I got back my grade for the IR socratic seminar. The rubric said that I backed up 75 percent of my facts. My second goal was one about being able to write and review a an essay without too much peer revision. On my expostiory piece, I got an okay amount of peer revision and got an A on it.

I have a three goals for the next quarter. The first one is a long term goal, and it's to turn in all my assignments on time. I didn't manage to keep that goal over the last quarter, but I think I'll be able to this quarter. My second goal is to study harder for my tests, and review along the way. The third goal is to read for my AR a little earlier, because last time I had to rush to finish AR before the due date.

Cartoon Analysis

Around the IR many people, often muckrakers, expressed their opinions through expository articles and political cartoons. The cartoon displayed here, on the right is one of these attempts. The picture describes a gluttonous man who represents capitalism, robbing the skinny immigrant, who represents labor, of his money. The idea that the author attempted to portray was that the capitalistic system robbed immigrants and workers of their money. Capitalism is portrayed as an obiese man becuase the higher classmen that controlled the capitalism system were often gluttonous, and indulged in everything they could. Meanwhile, labor is portrayed as a skinny imigrant, becuase usually immigrants who The money bags around the men are filled with the money derived from child labor. The little caption on the bottom says, "Fi Fi Fo Fam, I smell the blood of the working man. Be he swift or be he slow, I'll grind his bones and get his dough." In this case dough is a slang term for money. This is my evidence that my analysis of the cartoon coincides with those of the author. Overall, this cartoon attempts to point out how the working class was thouroughly exploited by the capitalistic system.

My Goals, an update.

My first goal is to be able to have a Socratic Seminar where we actually have all the facts to back up our ideas and opinions. My second goal is to be able to write and revise my own essay without too much peer revision.

Well, so far one of my goals has been ticked off the list. In the final Socratic seminar, we rambled a little bit but over all we managed to base most of our facts off of points in the book. Also my final grade wasn't that bad either.
On my second goal, I think I'm doing pretty well. On the Interview assignment, I managed to edit my piece with an equal amount of peer revision. There wasn't much destructive criticism, and the comments were few, but helpful. I think that by the end of this Industrial Museum segment, I'll be able to publish a good piece that meets my goal.

The Stock Market Game

"You have to spend money to make money."

I feel that this quote relates to me in the stock market game we played. We started with only eighty dollars, but I managed to make it over two hundred dollars through buying and selling stocks. Part of this quote involves taking a risk, or spending money on what you think is a good investment. If you make the correct move, the money you spent can double or even triple in value. When Drexel Morgan hit a low of five dollars, some people thought I was crazy buying up that stock. However, when it spiked I made over fifty dollars per share. There was a risk that if Drexel Morgan had fallen farther, then I would have lost a lot of money. If you don't spend any money in investments, then you can never gain money if your potential stock rises. For every risk there is an equal and great reward. You can either take that risk, or stay happy with what you have, it's up to you.

Feedback August 25-29

Pros
-The Industrial Revolution promoted a century of economic and social growth
-It promoted the creation of time saving machines
-Created an evolved form of capitalism that benefits the buyer
- It created better infrastructure, roads, canals, etc.
- It promoted trade between nations all around the world

Cons
-The amount of air, water pollution that was emitted during the IR was enormous
-The horrible working conditions that people faced in factories
-The Laissez-faire that was created was out of control
-Monopolies were created that shut out small business owners
-With a rise in economy, living standards fell to shambles

So far, my view on the industrial revolution is described in the picture below

The Factory Game 2

This time in the factory game, instead making things by hand we created an assembly line to make the item. An assembly line is a chain of people who repeatedly assemble different parts of an item. The assembly line is overseen by a manager, and is usually capable of producing a lot of the item relatively quickly. However, in this case our efficiency was poor and our ability to handle large amounts of manual labor was tiny. It took twenty minutes before our first item, a pig, was created. However, it only took a few minutes thereafter to create about thirty pigs like the prototype original version. Compared to Part 1, Part 2 was very hectic but productive. In comparison to the efficiency level of part 1, part 2's efficiency level was off the charts. But even though we made a lot of pigs, the line was hard to control and manage. Sometimes parts didn't come fast enough and sometimes to many came at once. Often there were backups and misunderstandings leading to extra time wasted. Besides these faults, I'd have to say that part 2 is a better and smarter way to create a commodity.

The Factory Game 1

The factory game was very cool. The background was that we were serfs or peasants before the industrial revolution. Back then all objects were made by hand. It took me a while to put together a simple paper cut out, so how long would it have taken a craftsman to create a wooden tool. We only had to cut out a two dimensional figure, but a craftsmen would have to carve out a perfect tool out of a wooden block with no measurement tools of any type. If goods were being manufactured by hand they must have been good quality. Therefore, I'd have to say that Part 1 of the factory game was a form of a cottage industry. If before the industrial revolution, all the economies of the world were controlled by cottage industries, then prices would be high, and the demand would always exceed supply.

Roller-coaster Ride

I stood with my eyes flicking back and forth across the giant metal ribbed structure towering towards the sun. I was almost four feet away from the rickety wooden carts, and I could hear them squeak with age. The attendant was slouched over the control board shouting into the mike, “Would the next people please step up.” I slid onto a stiff seat adjacent to a walking ball of flab (a fat human being) and slowly felt the smooth padded covering. With a lurch and a groan, we accelerated slowly up the incline. We could all smell fear, anxiety and B.O as we slowly drifted up to the edge. “Yea!!!” Screamed the riders as we rocketed down the track. The ball of flab smothered me when we soared over the turns. The next thing I knew, the car was dangling over what seemed like a ninety-foot drop. “Oh no…” I whispered to myself, and then the flab smothered me and everything went black. The wind whipped at my hair, but I kept my eyes closed. Round and round, back and forth, this way and that, and after what seemed like hours of this horror, we skidded to a stop. Adrenaline poured through my veins as I detached myself from the flab. My hands still shook and I spat out lunch, but in my mind I knew I was going to ride “The D-Coaster” again no matter what.

What does the phrase, "Necessity is the mother of invention," mean? Three examples along with it.
I believe the phrase means that when someone needs a better or easier way to do something, an invention will be created to deal with that problem make that life easier. Literally, if you find the meaning of the words, it becomes, “Need gives birth to invention.” However, as the cartoon adequately displays, “Greed is the father of necessity.”

In the 1920s, there was a need to travel distances without traveling on horseback. My first example is the automobile. Henry Ford gave America the invention that solved that problem. Soon every household had a automobile, and Mr. Ford became a very rich man. 

The next example is the telephone. After the invention of the telegraph, the information rush slowed down. However, in the 1880’s the need to distribute info spiked, causing Mr. Graham Bell to create of the telephone. The telephone transferred words and sound acro

ss miles and miles of distance. Just like Henry Ford, Mr Graham became a very rich man. 

My third and final example is the lever. This invention dates back to cultures as old Indus River Valley Civilization. There was need to move and lift heavy objects, and the man/woman who created this device is not known. After the creation, building became easier because heavy loads could be moved faster. I’m sure that this per

son gained a lot more chickens and whatever materials used for trading in that time than he could ever use.

Feedback, August 11-15

How do you learn best? What can Mr. Coyle do to help me learn most effectively in the class?
I think that I learn best through auditory means like discussions or lectures. This may seem kind of boring to others, but I feel that it gives the varied opinion of my classmates as well as the teacher’s. For me it creates an open environment where people can share their thoughts on the subject being discussed. Usually after a lecture or a discussion is over, I spend time thinking over the idea or talking with my friends about it. Overall, auditory learning prompts me to look deeper into ideas and discuss them openly. I also like visual learning aspects like videos and reading. I mean, seriously, who doesn’t like watching a cool video or T.V show that explains a hard concept? Also, literature or textbooks give lots of examples and explain ideas thoroughly. Just like when hear a lecture, after reading something interesting I often research it a little more. Basically I’m an auditory and visual learner.
I believe that you, Mr. Coyle, in the three weeks that I’ve been in your humanities class so far have added a good blend of all three types of learning mentioned. Creative and exciting ways of learning keep students interested and aware of the topic that is being taught. If you follow all three different types of learning students will probably like the idea and keep investigating it after the lesson is over. However, if you keep doing the same type, like auditory, over and over again students tend to stop paying attention and lose interest. Mr Coyle, so far your doing great at teaching us, and I hope it stays a great learning experience.

Feedback, Quarter 1

What are two highlights from the first week of school?

My first highlight was going to a soccer game again for the first time in 4 months. It felt great to play with my friends and feel the exhilarating rush that you get in a game. My second highlight was meeting all the new people at AES and making a few friends. We even got together to hang out for a while. 

What was your first impression of Humanities?

My first impression of humanities was that it was going to be an enjoyable and learning experience. The little Simpsons figures were a give away that humanities eight is great time. Also, all the old 8th graders told me how much fun your class is. 

What are two goals you have for this quarter in Humanities?

  My first goal is to be able to have a Socratic Seminar where we actually have all the facts to back up our ideas and opinions. My second goal is to be able to write and revise my own essay without too much peer revision. 

my "Gang"

I've had some good freinds in my life. One of them is Paul, and I've known him since I was 6th months old. We went to the same school since preschool, and the eariliest memory I have is of playing with him in the park. Even though I moved to India, we still talk alot. Back at my old school in NYC I had alot of friends. In AES there are a few people who make up my "gang," excluding my parents. Kris, Sebastien, Sam G, Sam R, Adi, Garrett, Snorri. I met Kris on my first day last year, and we've been good friends since. Sebastien wandered into Aes halfay through last year and now were pretty close. I dont really know what to say about Adi, he appeard one day in my humanties class, and he's pretty funny, he can make anyone laugh any time. I'm sure there are a bunch of others, but I probably forgot about them. These guys are my gang because I hang out with them and spend time with them. All of them are always there for me if I need them. We can cry, laugh, smile, frown and play sports together. However, were still working on the synchronized swimming part.

Well this is my second year here, so who knows which friends are gonna stay and which ones are gonna leave, but this is where it stands as of now, August 12 2008.