Poem of the Week

 

The poet, Robert Frost, carefully chooses the words for this poem to express an image in your mind and to express that image through sound.  Read this poem aloud to yourself and try to envision what he depicts in your mind and to your ears.

THE SPAN OF LIFE

The old dog barks backward without getting up.
I can remember when he was a pup.

1) Of the two lines in this poem, which is easier to pronounce aloud? 

2) Of the two lines in this poem, which is the more difficult to prounounce aloud?

3) Why do you think Robert Frost chose to make the lines different in their ease of pronunciation?

4) Why did Robert Frost title this poem "The Span of Life"?

Basic Economic Definitions Power Point

 

For each word or term on this sheet, write the definition as it appears.  Beneath each of those words, write the word or term and its definition as it appeared in the power point from which you took notes.  In other words, you will write a word or term and its definition as it appears on this review sheet THEN find that word or term in your notes and write it and its definition, then proceed to the next word on this sheet.  In some cases, the word or term will not appear in your notes because some of these words and terms are new (though very similar).  In those cases, you need only to write the word or term as it appears on this review sheet.  If there is any word in the definition you do not know, please look it up.  And as always, complete this assignment in your own handwriting on a sheet of paper.  Please write neatly.  This assignment is due on the day of the exam.

 

1) economics - the study of scarcity, the study of how people use resources and respond to incentives; the study of decision-making.

 2) scarcity - the fundamental economic problem of having limited resources to meet unlimited wants and needs.

 3) opportunity cost - the value of the next-best alternative you give up when you make a choice;

 4) trade-off - a situation where you must give up one benefit or item to gain a different, competing benefit.

 5) trade-off vs. opportunity cost - A trade-off is the general compromise of giving up one thing to get something else, while opportunity cost is the specific economic value of the single best alternative you gave up.

 6) economy - a large system where people, businesses, and governments make, share, buy, and sell goods and services.

 7) mixed economy - an economic system that combines private enterprise and free-market freedom with government intervention and public services.

 8) free market - an economic system where prices and services are set by supply and demand with little or no government control.

 9) free market economics – an economic system with the following characteristics: 1) voluntary Exchange: Buyers and sellers trade freely because both sides believe they benefit;  2) no Government Intervention: Prices, wages, and production levels are not fixed by laws, taxes, quotas, or central planning; 3) Private Property: Individuals and private businesses own resources and the means of production; 4) Competition: Businesses compete for customers, which can lead to lower prices and better products

 10) command economy - an economic system where a central government makes all decisions about what to make, how to make it, and who gets it.  A command economy has the following characteristics: 1) central control: The government decides production goals, sets prices for goods, and controls the distribution of resources;  2) government ownership: the government owns major industries, land, and the means of production instead of private citizens; 3) supply and demand do not determine prices or output.

 11) microeconomics - a branch of economics that studies how individual people, households, and businesses make decisions to use their limited money and time.

 12) macroeconomics - the branch of economics that studies the behavior, performance, and structure of an entire economy on a large scale; the study of whole economies—the part of economics concerned with large-scale or general economic factors and how they interact in economies.

 13) market - any physical place, virtual space, or system where buyers and sellers meet to exchange goods, services, or information.

 14) supply - the total quantity of a product or service that is available for purchase, influenced by production capabilities and market conditions.

 15) demand - the relationship between the quantity of a good or service that consumers are willing to purchase and its price.

 16) Features of the “Law of Supply” - higher prices: makers of goods and services produce more because they can make a bigger profit; lower prices: makers of goods and services produce less because they make less money. The basic rule: as the price goes up, the supply goes up. As the price goes down, the supply goes down

 17) Features of the “Law of Demand” - higher prices: people buy less because the item costs too much;  lower prices: people buy more because the item is a good deal.  The rule: As the price goes up, the demand goes down. As the price goes down, the demand goes up.

 18) Law of Supply and Demand - the relationship between the quantity of a good or service that consumers are willing to purchase and its price.

 19) goods - tangible items or products that satisfy human wants, provide utility (satisfaction), and have economic value; goods can be seen, touched, and physically possessed or transferred.

 20) services - an intangible act, performance, or experience that one party offers to another in exchange for money or value.

 21) intermediate goods - inputs that businesses purchase and use up, transform, or combine to produce other goods or provide final services; products or services utilized during a production process that are not sold directly to the final end consumer.

Scarcity Video

 

Iran Conflict Videos

 Fractional Distillation

Crude Oil Fractions

How Oil Prices Really Work

The Strait of Hormuz Explained

Why the Red Sea is so Important

Iran War: The Context Explained

NOTE: YOUR EXAM IN THE IRAN CONFLICT AND ITS BACKGROUND WILL BE ON TUESDAY!

NOTE: YOUR EXAM IN THE IRAN CONFLICT AND ITS BACKGROUND WILL BE ON TUESDAY!

Instructions: Use the video “Iran War: The Context Explained to answer the following questions.  Answer the questions on a sheet of paper; write in your own handwriting; follow the rules of the English Language

NOTE: YOUR EXAM IN THE IRAN CONFLICT AND ITS BACKGROUND WILL BE ON TUESDAY!

 

1) How did Ayatollah Khomeini become Supreme Leader of Iran?  
2) What is the Iranian Hostage Crisis and how long did it last? 
3) How did the Iranian Hostage Crisis affect relations between the Iranian government and the United States?  
4) What is the cause of the current conflict between Iran and the United States?  
5) What is the Iran Nuclear Deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – JCPOA)? 
6) What did President Donald Trump do with the Iran Nuclear Deal when he became president in 2016? 
7) What did Iran start doing after the United States pulled out of the Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA)? 
8) What is Donald Trump’s main motivation for beginning the current conflict with Iran?  
9) What Iran-backed groups (military proxies) did Israel go to war against?  

9a) What event caused Israel to go to war against the Iran-backed groups (military proxies) you listed in question #9?  
10) Why did Israel invade Gaza?  
11) Who/ what was targeted by “Operation Grim Beeper”?  
12) What was “Operation Grim Beeper”? 
13) How did Israel kill Hezbollah’s leadership?  

14) What did Israel bomb during the 12 Day War?  
15) What did the United States bomb in its participation in the 12 Day War?  
16) What is “Operation Roaring Lion”?  
17) What is “Operation Epic Fury”? 

Iran Conflict Timeline Vocabulary

 

Iran Conflict Timeline Vocabulary

 

IRGC - the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It is a major branch of Iran's military that was set up after the 1979 revolution to protect the country's Islamic ruling system. It operates separately from Iran's regular army.

 

Ayatollah (Āyat Allāh) – Arabic for "Sign of God" or "Divine Sign." It is a high-ranking religious title given to advanced scholars and experts in Islamic law within Shia Islam.

 

Shia/ Shiite Islam - second-largest branch of Islam, making up about 10% to 15% of all Muslims worldwide. It began after the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 AD due to a disagreement over who should lead the Muslim community.

 

Sunni Islam - the largest branch of Islam, making up about 85 to 90 percent of all Muslims worldwide. The name comes from the word Sunnah, meaning the traditions and everyday practices of the Prophet Muhammad. Sunnis believe that Abu Bakr was the rightful first leader after Muhammad died in 632 CE.

 

Ayatollah Khomeini (Ruhollah Mostafavi Khomeini) - an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the leader of the Iranian Revolution, which overthrew Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, ended the Pahlavi era, and transformed the country into an Islamic republic.

 

Ayatollah Khameini (Ali Hosseini Khamenei) - an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who served as the second supreme leader of Iran from 1989 until his death in an air strike during a joint American Israeli attack on Iran in 2026. Khameini held the title Grand Ayatollah, he previously served as the third president of Iran from 1981 to 1989.

 

Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi - the last Shah of Iran, reigning from 1941 to 1979. He succeeded his father Reza Shah and ruled the Imperial State of Iran until he was overthrown in the Islamic Revolution led by Ruhollah Khomeini, which abolished the Iranian monarchy to establish the Islamic Republic of Iran.

 

uranium enrichment - the process of increasing the percentage of the fissile isotope uranium-235 (U-235) relative to the heavier, non-fissile uranium-238 (U-238). Natural uranium contains only about 0.7% U-235. Enrichment raises this concentration to power nuclear reactors (3% to 5%) or to build nuclear weapons (90%+).

 

military proxy - a group, government, or rebel force that fights on behalf of a larger, external country to achieve strategic goals without direct open warfare.

 

Hamas* - The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas, is a Sunni Islamist Palestinian nationalist political organisation with a military wing known as the al-Qassam Brigades. It has governed the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip since 2007.

 

Hezbollah* - Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party with an active paramilitary wing whose military and security activities have been prohibited by the Lebanese government since March 2026, amid Israel's war on Lebanon.

 

     *Hezbollah and Hamas are close strategic allies that share common goals and a primary benefactor in Iran, despite operating in different countries and having distinct religious backgrounds.

 

Houthis - is a Shia Islamist political and military organization that emerged from Yemen in the 1990s.  The Houthis are backed by Iran, and they are widely considered part of the Iranian-led "Axis of Resistance".

 

Axis of Resistance - The Axis of Resistance or Resistance Front is an informal Iran-led military coalition that operates across West Asia. It currently unites a variety of armed groups allied with Iran and committed primarily to countering the influence of Iran's rivals in the region: the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and sometimes Turkey.  The "Axis" mainly consists of Shia Islamist militant organizations, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Islamic Resistance and the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq, and the Houthis in Yemen.

 

Gaza - Gaza, or the Gaza Strip, is a small and densely populated Palestinian territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered by Israel to the north and east, and by Egypt to the southwest. Home to over two million Palestinians, it is one of the two regions that make up the State of Palestine, alongside the West Bank.

 

IDF - The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), also known by its Hebrew acronym Tzahal, is the national military of the State of Israel. Founded on May 26, 1948, it comprises the Ground Forces, Air Force, and Navy, and operates under the authority of Israel's Ministry of Defense.

 

Operation Epic Fury - a joint U.S. and Israeli military campaign against Iran that commenced on February 28, 2026. The primary objectives are to dismantle Iran's security apparatus, destroy its missile and naval capabilities, and prevent the acquisition of nuclear weapons.

The Iran Conflict and How it Affects Oil Transit

 Al Jazeera

1) How much of the world's oil transits through the Strait of Hormuz?

2) What effects resulted from Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz?

BBC

1) Of all the Persian Gulf countries (also known as Gulf States), which one produces and sends the most liquified natural gas (LNG) through the Strait of Hormuz?

2) What is LNG?

3) Natural gas is used to produce another commodity that transits through the Strait of Hormuz.  What is that commodity?

4) How much fertilizer is sent through the Strait of Hormuz by the Gulf States?

5) The territorial waters of the Strait of Hormuz lies within the boundaries of two countries.  What are those countries?

6) How has Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz affected Africa and Asia?

7) Why are the oil exporting countries of the Persian Gulf developing ways to export their oil that bypass the Strait of Hormuz?

CNN 

1) How is Iran able to restrict shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz?

2) In what way are the Houthis involved in the conflict with Iran?

Associated Press

1) List the bodies of water that Gulf States are building pipelines to as a means of bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.

2) What role are the Houthis playing in aiding Iran in the disruption of oil transit?

3) What is the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) doing to bypass the Strait of Hormuz?

4) What is Iraq doing to bypass the Strait of Hormuz?

5) How would these bypassing measures affect Asia?

Oil Price

1) Why have oil refineries in India turned to West Africa for crude oil?

2) Other than West Africa, where else has India turned to purchase crude oil?

CNBC

1) What caused the price of crude oil to fall?

2) Aside from oil and LNG, what other things transit through the Strait of Hormuz?

3) How are the Houthis acting as military proxies for the Iranians in this conflict?  Give examples.