John’s Blog

     What is happening to the world’s oil? That is a very good question. Some people don’t know this but, we are near the peak of oil production. We will have to find something else to power the transportation devices the world uses and replace the energy used to make thousands of products. It’s hard to believe that about 1.7 trillion barrels of oil have been discovered and 900 billion barrels of oil are yet to be discovered. In the Persian Gulf region there is an oil organization called OPEC. OPEC stands for Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. OPEC also controls most of the world’s oil with Saudi Arabia having 25% of the world’s oil. In fact, OPEC is having it’s 144th meeting on March 15, 2007 in Vienna, Austria.                                                                

     The Ottoman Empire, founded in the late 13th century, was ruled by an Asian ethnic group called Turks. These people migrated to Anatolia during the A.D. 900’s. Here, they created a powerful Muslim empire called the Ottoman Empire, led by the descendants of Osman I. In the 1400’s, the Ottomans conquered the city Constantanople which had been the capital of the Byzantine Empire for almost 1,000 years. They renamed this port city Istanbul as it is called it today. Istanbul is the only city in the world which is located on two continents, Asia and Europe.

       Socially, economically, and militarily the Ottoman Empire was a medieval state, unaffected by the developments in the rest of Europe. The Ottoman Empire was ruled by sultans who believed that leadership was a divine right bestowed on a chosen family. Ottoman princes were sent off to the provinces with their tutors to learn the business of government. Often these princes had to compete for the throne. The sultan would likely kill most of his male relatives to secure his position on the throne. Bribery and corruption were common in the government and the sultans had little actual involvement in any public affairs.

       The sultans lack of control led to the decline of the empire while World War I led to the actual collapse of the empire. In 1922, Turkish  nationalists overthrew the sultan and modern Turkey’s history began.    

 I got my information from infoplease.com and Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia.

[googlevideo]1342581201055111088&q[/googlevideo]If I could go anywhere in the world, it would be Hawaii. I would go there because of the sandy beaches, enormous volcanoes, and the delicious refreshments. I would probably go cliff diving as much as I could. Another reason I would go there is to surf the huge waves. The water is so clear there that I could probably see millions of fish and maybe even some sharks! I would go visit almost every volcano. I would definitely buy some souvenirs. Check out this picture that was photographed in Hawaii, presented by google.