Thursday, May 26, 2011

General Announcements:

• If you ever notice something missing or wrong on the blog, comment to let me know about it - I don't always have the whole picture. -Grace
• Thurs., May 26: Instrumental Music Festival featuring guitar/bass students, violin students/orchestra, and ukulele club.
• Eighth Grade Project resource page updated 4/27, including project deadlines through the end of the project. Page will be updated as I get new information.
• Download Ukulele Club documents (links fixed) here.

Math:

Grade 7:
• Due Fri., 5/27: Do #1 on p. 9 and #5 on p. 10

Grade 8:
• Due Fri., 5/27: Complete 1.1 on p. 6, begun in class.

Language Arts:

• Due Fri., 5/27: Complete first draft of letter to Greens using friendly letter format, stating what you felt worked in their play about the Mill River Flood.

Social Studies:

• Quiz Friday, 5/27: On recent Renaissance topics, particularly power structures of Florence, the rise of the Medici family and the Gozzoli fresco.
  Panels from the fresco:

  • Main Panel

  • Panel 2
  • Panel 3

Science:

• Nada

Moment of Zen:

Exchange Rates Aren't What They Used to Be

The highest denomination bill ever printed is Zimbabwe's 100 trillion dollar bill (pictured above), which was released in January 2009 in response to hyperinflation of the Zimbabwean dollar as the country's economy continued to collapse. At the time of its release, the bill was worth about US$30. When ZImbabwe abandoned circulating its own currency several months later, it was virtually worthless, with Z$300 trillion being worth less than US$1.

These days, it's worth about five bucks — at least, that's what it's going for among currency collectors.

When first introduced in 1980, the Zimbabwean dollar was set even to the British pound, at about US$1 = Z$1.47. Economic collapse in the last few years, due to internal political instability and global economic pressures, triggered the shockingly high inflation of the currency, with inflation percentages estimated in the trillions of percent annually close to the end. Currently, all financial transactions in the country are conducted using currency from neighboring countries like South Africa and Botswana, or highly internationalized currencies like the British Pound, the Euro and the US Dollar. Zimbabwe does not have any plans to begin circulating its own currency again in the near future.