[Week 12] Best presentation

Dear Students,
As the course is about to finish, please vote for the best presentation made this term. Justify your choice.

[Week 12] World Press Photo

World Press Photo

the most important photo competition. The participants are all reporters from around the globe. Photos are judged in nine categories: local news, news agency, people and events, sports, science and technology, art, nature and the environment, portrait and everyday life. Every year, the in the competition participate over 40 thousand photo reporters. Each of them has an equal chance at the beginning. The most interesting photos are presented in the exhibition, which is shown in more than 30 countries.

http://www.worldpressphoto.org

This year's best picture has many layers of meaning. It touches upon the issue of immigration. Men who try to maintain a bond with other families in the country. Their longing for a family home, and loved ones left in the country. This image says something about the photographer. He also travels a lot around the world and wants to keep in touch with his family.

http://cdn19.se.smcloud.net/t/photos/t/277865/world-press-photo-2014_18431637.jpg

Photos are sometimes shocking, sometimes impressive, often drastic. A photography must arise emotions. Photographers know this, and go to distant places in the world, conflict areas, where people meet war and injustice.

http://www.swiatobrazu.pl/zdjecie/artykuly/284869/1985-r.-frank-fournier.jpg

http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/10/45/75/2252616/7/628x471.jpg

Press photo is not an easy job. A photographer does not work in a studio, there is no time for correction of light settings. He can’t ask the model to change the position and give him some time. In the world of reporters being in the right place at the right time is the key to success. Of these photographers we often say hyenas. Why? They will do everything to make the best possible photo. On the other hand, if they were not there the world would not see the problems of other people.

http://www.swiatobrazu.pl/zdjecie/artykuly/284837/1968-r.-fot.-eddie-adams.jpg

We also have a many Polish winners. The most well-known Polish journalist is Tomasz Gudzowaty he is a 6 times winner.

http://independent.pl/images/old_files/root/sztuka/prace/g/gudzowaty_tomasz/indian_wrestling.jpg

Personally, I love James Nachtwey’s photos. He is an American photojournalist and a war photographer.

http://www.jamesnachtwey.com

He is talented and award-winning, he has won world press photo contest a few times. In 2013, he was hit by a grenade shrapnel in Baghdad. In February this year in Thailand he was shot in the leg during a street riot. He is 66 years old, and he has no plans to stop traveling the world and doing an extraordinary reportage.

His work is so good that a documentary film was made about him.

http://erickimphotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/jamesnachtwey_hutuman_1994.jpg

Questions:

1. Would you like to take part in this competition?
2. Which photos made ​​an impression on you?
3. What do you think about James Nachtwey, his age and the desire to take pictures?

[Week 12] Why we love gadgets

Why we love gadgets

Gadgets used to be called little tiny things often unsuitable. Several years ago gadgets were pens, flashlights, key chains and other items. Gadgets tend to be used by companies or institutions for promotion and advertising.

Now let us try to look through the prism of the present times.

Let’s google what now gadgets mean:

Let's look again. We see phones, ipods, tablets, watches, cameras etc. But now everybody uses them what is more important, we use them every day. If everybody uses them can we still call them gadgets? 

Gadgets used to be unique and they didn’t have many functions. Now these are mostly mainstream products.

They are electronic but still small. 

What makes them unique and allows you to talk about them as gadgets?

We see that gadgets have a new definition. Let's go back in time and see some great gadgets from the past:

Nintendo Game Boy

Game Boy had sold over 32 million units. Game Boy Color have sold 118.69 million units worldwide. Games like Mario and Pokemon Are the most recognizable in the world. 

http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/scale_small/0/7465/942953-database_hardware_gameboy01.jpg

Tamagotchi 

http://znanydobryblog.blox.pl/resource/tamagotchi1.jpeg

keychain-sized  virtual pet  simulation game. Who hasn't had a tamagotchi? You took care of a virtual pet.The game was extremely popular 76 million units were sold. 

The Nokia 3310

The 3310 was known for having many features that were rare for the time. We can laugh but it first had a calculator, a stopwatch and a reminder function!. Do you remember games like Snake II, Pairs II Space Impact and Bantumi?  This phone was so good that now the internet creates memes about it: 

http://www.katalog-telefonow-komorkowych.pl/files/mobily/st1/62/800x600_pl_PL/1330685050-nokia-3310-81.jpg

http://www.quickmeme.com/img/f6/f6e80bc086b4106ec6df57dce1ee4165108abbfc5ed48a2f6515fdb96ff70258.jpg

The Motorola RAZR

http://cdn2.gsmarena.com/vv/pics/motorola/mov3_00.jpg

Few years Motorola showed was the phone that everyone wanted to have. Its futuristic appearance was one of its most impressive features. The flip phone, just half an inch wide, was thin enough to fit in a back pocket.

Now let's compare these few products with new gadgets: 

Oculus Rift

The operation of these glasses is relatively simple. The device has two displays,  The glasses also hav a spatial orientation system. data sent from the sensor goes to the computer, where the image is adjusted  o the position of our head. The image goes back to glasses. 

http://gry.gadzetomania.pl/2013/07/16/oculus-rift-wirtualna-rzeczywistosc-wreszcie-zachwyca-czekalismy-na-to-latami

Lytro

http://lastgadgetstanding.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/lytro_Camera.jpg

Lytro is a pocket sized camera, capable of refocusing images after being taken. 

Let's watch a trailer where you can check how cool this camera is. Photography really becomes alive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhw9YwgNHC4&list=UUAj08yTpXgDiTAFz0xOjoMw

Still images viewed from multiple perspectives gives us a completely different sense of space and atmosphere of the picture. 

1) What is your favorite gadget? 

2) Do you think gadgets should be less mainstream and more unique?

3) If you could build in the future a futuristic gadget, what would it be for? 

[Week 12] Engineers Without Borders

Engineers Without Borders - International EWBI is an international non-profit organization. Established in 2002 in the U.S. Its purpose is to improve the quality of life of people in difficult circumstances around the world. They support the development of society through education, implementation of sustainable engineering projects, provide technical expertise and assistance in solving important problems affecting health of our planet.

http://www.ewb-international.org

http://www.csuohio.edu/engineering/civil/graphics/EWBWaterPipes.jpg

Its activities are based on a partnership of a wide range of institutions and local organizations. The organization is focuses on integration. They take care to promote values ​​such as dignity, honesty, respect for diversity, justice.

http://www.salem-news.com/stimg/october032006/engineers_wo_brders350.jpg

"Our program isn't so much an engineering program, It's a social program with an engineering aspect." - Raima Amin

The organization has been involved in many projects:

http://www.engr.psu.edu/ewb/projects/Projects-Map.jpg

http://www.ewb-international.org/projects/

Let's look at real work they do:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r98yqbkcn6U

EWB helps create a more stable and better world, addressing basic human needs providing necessities such as: clean water, power, sanitation, and education. EWB has more than 350 projects in over 45 developing countries around the world.

Now I'd like you to watch a highly emotional and personal presentation of a person who is a part of this organization. David Damberger’s work with Engineers Without Borders has taken him from communities in India to Southern Africa to help build infrastructure.

The presentation shows the scale of the problems of developing countries. Most of us are not aware of the differences between Europe and Africa. These countries need multidimensional assistance. Give them something they do not have is not enough. They need knowledge of what it is, how it works and more importantly how to fix it to make it work again.

Personally the presenter impressed me, his commitment and desire to do something great for strangers. Willingness to share knowledge and more importantly the ability to admit to his failure.

1)What do you think about such organizations?

3)Would you be able to leave everything and go to a developing country to help them?

4)If you know similar organizations present them.

[Week 12] High growth is giving the self-confidence. Short the suspicion and paranoia.

Noticing world from the position of several dozen centimeters lower makes people with paranoid tendencies feel threatened.

In the Guardian we can read about an interesting experiment. British scientists were studying how a person's growth affects on noticing the world among people with paranoid tendencies.To do this they conducted survey on a group of 60 women - they were put helmets which „send” them to virtual reality in which they were traveling by underground.

During one travel the perspective was changed so that the person on which they were doing research was shorter for a 30 cm. After such travel there were researched on degree of about paranoid feelings.

It appeared that when we perceive world from 30cm lower , it changes our self esteem and we become to feel threatened. Daniel Freeman , professor of „A person who is situated lower that usual is feeling worse than others, which leads to perceiving hostility , which doesn't really exist.” says Daniel Freeman,professor of clinical psychology, who did these surveys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoUfiDaGX6k

There's no need to jump to conclusions. 'It doesn't matter that shorter people have paranoid tendencies- the research shows only what happens to a person whose growth is shortened- says the author of a research. It may help scientist to help people with such tendencies.

In our culture a growth is a virtue. Most man asked for their growth adds a few centimeters to their real growth. Persons who are taller are perceived as more attractive , self estimated and has more leadership advantages. Whereas short people are neglected or even to disregarded. Nothing to be surprised about- the growth affects on our life and relations with other people. Even language reflects that tendency, for example- to look down on somebody.
Willem-Paul Brinkman, who uses virtual reality to heal people with psychic disturbances on University of Delf in Denmark, says that this research confirms other researches made thanks to virtual reality- adding somebody’s avatar a few centimeters makes him or her more confident. Brinkman adds that such research are valuable because they helps to assess patient's mental state systematically, just after an experiment, whereas psychology and psychiatry are based largely on patent's memories.

1. Do you agree with relation, the higher growth the stronger self-confidence?Maybe you know some examples against this statement?
2. Do you know some interesting examples confirming this theory?
3. Do you think that it alway works like that : highest growth is giving the self-confidence, and low the suspicion and the paranoia?Would you choose shorter or taller avatar? Maybe one-time experience in virtual reality can't show real feelings-what do you think?

[Week 12] Brain fitness club

Recently, a big breakthrough in research on Alzheimer's disease has occurred. Scientists promise that we will soon be able to prevent the disease. The agile American nation , instead of waiting for these promises come to fruition , has taken matters into their own hands and started to work out hard in neurofitness clubs.

In the U.S. , near thousands of fitness clubs, the" brain fitness clubs" started to appear. Nobody expected such popularity – a total madness on their point begun. Their creator and trainer, Michael Gonzalez- Wallace claims that these systems "in addition to strengthen of your muscles can also train your brain cells ."

Wealthier Americans do not limit themselves to visiting neurofitness clubs regularly but they are also willing to pay even a few thousand dollars for solving puzzles or rebuses with a private " mental consultant ." And if someone haven't the time or money , they choose one of hundreds applications for phones and tablets. The most popular is the Luminosity .

Gary Small is a professor of neuropsychiatry and author of many books about memory. The last one - " The Alzheimer 's Prevention Program : Keep Your Brain Healthy for the Rest of Your Life " - is on the bestseller's list created by "New York Times " . While other doctors , make fun of the Small's Hollywood lifestyle, patients line up in a long queue to see him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV68_tM_Sgo

In response to these demands and thousands of questions about protecting from dementia , the doctors specialized in brain created so called " Memory Boot Camps". These are a several hours long activities where you can get to know neurofit exercises , learn the remembering techniques and stay up to date with innovations on the prevention of Alzheimer's.

Maybe the interest in disease , about which we would prefer to forget , is followed by U.S's fashion for DNA testing . These results of a long list of genes that may predispose us to various diseases. We can get for example an information whether we have the APOE gene, which occurs in some patients with Alzheimer's disease and may cause the disease even for 30-40 -year-olds . Such tests are available only on request.“ Silver Alert " is an action which shows people the importance of acquisition of such knowledge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1XDro7o-H8

We should reacts before we see the negative consequences- Paul Ainsen says. When the patient complain about disorientation, has problems with concentration and forgetting the closest people names- it is probably too late to stop his or her brain damage.

American Research Institute for Aging shows that the diet consisting of vegetables and fruits is essential. A healthy diet can reduce the risk of dementia by as much as 50 percent . Experiments on rats fed with modern diet consisting of fats and simple carbohydrates have shown that rodents after three months of such diet fell out much worse on memory tests .

The second piece of that puzzle is an activity . Proof ? This is the classic research made few years ago. When you ask young people about the solution to a simple task , and peeping at their brains, using magnetic resonance, scans shows activity in several brain areas . For older people who do not lead very active lifestyles , the same job involves more areas . Probably the brain cannot cope , it is a bit confused and has to operate more resources. But for older people who regularly exercise , the scans looks very much like in young people . How is this possible ? The rodents show the answer again . Physical exercise increases the number of blood vessels supplying blood to the brain, affect the number of connections between neurons and increase the level of nerve growth factor . All this means that neurons can easily regenerate .

For this we need to add the brain cells work .

So , to protect your brain , you have to train it when you're a young person. For those who did not, remains neurofitness . But does it work? Many scientists look skeptically at neurofitness clubs , treating them as another marketing product for terrified customers . In the end, we know crosswords and sudoku for years. Maybe they are worth a trying?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpm4GbO4V18

1. In your opinion, how much marketing and how much scientific is in neurofitness clubs?
2. Do you agree with the statement that people who exercise the mind longer persist in their health?
3. Do you think that neurofitness fashion will appear in Poland?

[Week 12] Light bulbs

An artificial light source is undoubtedly one of the most useful inventions of man. Whenever you need to light up your bedroom - you will surely appreciate not having to start a fire.

Until quite recently, our best options were oil and gas lamps. It was in 1835, when a first electric light was demonstrated by British scientists. The following years saw a multitude of attempts to improve the design - which was expensive and had a very short life.

After trying out several different materials, in 1879 a team led by Thomas Edison created a light bulb with a carbon filament, which could work for just about 14 hours. Shortly after, by using different materials and construction, they managed to extend its life even further - to an impressive 1200 hours. That’s about the lifespan of the incandescent light bulbs we still use today.

http://europa.eu/rapid/exploit/2009/09/MEMO/EN/m09_368.eni/Pictures/100000000000025800000268C87F82C8.jpg

Fast forward to the 1930s. Energy shortages created the need for a more efficient lighting solution. This led to the development of a fluorescent lamps.

Still, the compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) that we use today were created much later. And even though they were introduced back in the 1980s, they weren’t really useful until about 10 years later, when improvements made them cheaper, smaller, brighter and more durable.

All this comes at a price - the CFLs have several downsides, such as blinking (more visible in poor quality bulbs), non-natural light spectrum, and toxic mercury inside the tube.

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/pmiller/assets_c/2012/10/CFL%20Image-thumb-500x280-8213.jpg

Currently the most efficient light source is the LED, the luminescence-emitting diode. Today’s LED light bulbs, although very efficient, are still pretty expensive and usually dimmer than their CFL counterparts. This, however will most likely change soon, considering the speed at which this technology moves forward.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/60_LED_3W_Spot_Light_eq_25W.jpg

1. Do you use LED bulbs in your home?

2. What is your preferred type of light source?

3. Do you care about light bulb power consumption?

http://energy.gov/articles/history-light-bulb

[Week 12] GPS

The Global Positioning System - GPS is the most widespread global navigation system in use. Almost every phone today is equipped with a GPS receiver, not to mention cars and their built-in navigation.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Global_Positioning_System_satellite.jpg

A GPS satellite

The system itself consists of three parts - the constellation of satellites in orbit, and the control stations on the ground, which monitor and track them. The third, most obvious part is the user’s receiver.

To determine its location, the receiver needs the signal from at least 4 satellites, though additional ones will improve precision. After measuring the distance to each of the satellites, exact position can be determined.

Apart from providing location, GPS can also be used as a very precise time source - thanks to atomic clocks onboard the satellites, a receiver can get a time accurate to about 100ns.

Also, a fact that is not widely known, every GPS satellite ever launched is equipped with a nuclear detonation detection system.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/SiRF_Star_III_%D0% [...]

A typical GPS receiver module, complete with an antenna

Currently a typical (non-military) GPS receiver has a precision of a few meters. This makes smooth road navigation possible. However, until May 1st, 2000, the USA were encoding the signal, thus limiting the civilian users to a maximum of about 100 meter precision.

Talking about military, for a GPS receiver to be freely sold it has to satisfy a few limits, which are meant to prevent them from being used in self-guided rockets or planes. Namely, a receiver must not work when moving over 1800km/h, or when it’s altitude exceeds 18 kilometers.

Most of us use GPS either through a smartphone app or a standalone car navigation. A multitude of choices is available on the market for both of those, each offering different features. Still, the civilian GPS use is not limited to navigation per se - other common uses include for example clock synchronization, pet tracking or cartography.

1. Do you use GPS (for example in a smartphone) frequently?

2. Did your navigation ever fail you?

3. What is your map software of choice?

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System]

WEEK 12: LET THE SUMMER BEGIN

Probably, there are a few people, who haven't been at a musical concert. I bet that everyone in this group has gone to a concert at least once in their life. Whether it is a light or classical, or any other kind of music, people can choose from various events what and who they want to listen to and see. Every year there are more and more artists and festivals to go to. This year, for instance, there are at least five groups/artists who will play concerts in Poland, that I would like to see. Unfortunately, buying tickets to all of these concerts is too expensive, I'm forced to reduce my wishlist to only two of them.

http://kansan.com/media/2013/08/AEG_6696__lift_AG_press.jpg

The special kind of concerts are music festivals, which are held mostly in summer time. They last at least several days and include several concerts of various artists. The oldest music festival I believe is Woodstock, which first took place in 1969 near New York in the USA. Nowadays there are many music festivals all over the world. Most notable ones are, for example Lollapalooza in the US, Glastonbury Festival and Reading Festival in the UK, Rock am Ring and Hurricane Festival in Germany, Roskilde in Denmark, Sonisphere, which has an international range and takes place in various countries (inter alia in Poland).

http://cdn13.mowimyjak.smcloud.net/t/photos/t/12400/opener_festival_2013_program_kto_235408.jpg

Poland also awaited its own festivals, such as Open'er in Gdynia, Orange Warsaw Festival, Malta in Poznań, Przystanek Woodstock, which is great because after years of communism, we finally can compete with large foreign festivals, and go to gigs of great foreign artists in our own country. And every year they arrive in greater and greater numbers.

Q time:
1. Have ever you been at a music festival/musical concert/both? What was it? If you had been at more than one, which artists' performance you enjoyed the most?
2. Do you intend to go for any gig this year? What artist(s)?

WEEK 12: WEIRD INSTRUMENTS

Has any of you ever heard about some weird musical instrument? I bet some of you had. Here I will present to you five instruments you probably haven't heard of. Let's start.

http://chickgeek.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/w1.jpg

1. WHEELHARP

This is quite a new instrument. It imitates the sounds of stringed instruments and has sixty one strings controlled by a keyboard. The strings are bowed and thanks to that, one musician can sound like a whole string section. The wheelharp was inspired by and based on hurdy-gurdy.

2. HARDINGFELE

A traditional instrument in Norway, Hardingfele (or hardanger fiddle) has twice as many strings as a violin. Four or five strings are placed under the four main strings, and they vibrate when a musician is playing on the upper ones. Resemblance to the violin is striking, however hardingfele is richly ornated.
You can hear the sound of it here:

http://youtu.be/cc-WGo4N8h8

3. SINGING RINGING TREE

I was surprised myself when I learned about this instrument. The singing ringing tree was made by Mike Tonkin and Anna Liuin and is one of the four sculptures in East Lancashire, England, which together compose The Panopticons installation. Steel pipes of different length, which tree is made of, are placed in various orientations. You can hear the sound of it as a result of blowing wind:

http://youtu.be/4B0hGyKV9qs

4. GAMELESTE

Gameleste is the hybrid combination instrument of a celesta and gamelan, and was designed and built by Björgvin Tómasson as it was ordered by Björk to use it in her album "Biophilia". Wanna hear?

http://youtu.be/q-7vRl7EEfo

5. KATZENKLAVIER

This is probably the weirdest "instrument" of all (at least in this presentation).
Katzenklavier, which means simply "cat piano", is very similar to our well known piano. The difference is, that instead of strings, there is a cage with a cat attached to every key of the keyboard. When a key is pressed, a nail is driven into a tail of a poor beastie, which naturally screeches.

https://static-secure.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Arts/Arts_/Pictures/2014/1/20/1390238570768/Cat-Piano-010.jpg

This instrument was designed by Athanasius Kircher, a 17th-century German Jesuit scholar, and fortunately, has never been produced.

Q time:
1. Are you familliar with these instruments? Could you give an example of a weird musical instrument you heard of?
2. Would you like to play one of these instruments? Which would it be?
3. Why is it Katzenklavier? ;)

WEEK 12: MARIO, WARIO AND OTHER DONKEY KONGS

Let's go for another (after LEGO) sentimental trip. One of the symbols of my childhood is GameBoy. Not the GB Advanced or  Micro crap, but the oldie-but-goldie GB Classic and Pocket (OK, GB Color  is acceptable ;) ).

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Nintendo_Gameboy.jpg

At the time, Game Boy was super advanced technological novelty, and  every kid wanted it, including me of course. After begging and pleading  my parents, they finally got me one of those beautiful grey bricks, with two games: "Alleyway" and "Super Mario Land". Later on, I got "Super  Mario Land 2" and "Donkey Kong", which became my favourite. Games like "Wario Land" or "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall Of The Foot Clan", were the ones my parents never bought me, but a few years ago I bought them on allegro.pl with GB Color, which I also always wanted, for a ludicrously low price, comparing to 90s when GB's were pretty expensive.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Gameboy_Pocket.jpg

Not so long after GB was released, the GB Pocket entered the market. When my best friend got his brand new Pocket, I must admit, I envied  him. I still think that GB Pocket is the best GB ever, even though it has a monochromatic display (technically GB Color transcends it).

http://blog.solopress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/game-boy-camera-and-printer.png

As every kind of modern device, GB also had an army of accessories. The curious and impressive thing is that Game Boy could do some things, a modern SmartPhone can do. For example, a Game Boy Camera was a cartridge with a digital rotating camera, through which one could take and edit photos. Not too good quality but, after all, it was 1998(!). The most notable peripherals are also a GB Printer (think everyone guesses what it did), a Game Link Cable (you could play with your friend(s) in a multiplayer mode on two or more GB's) and a Screen Protector to save players’ eyes. The weirdest gadget for GB is a Game Boy Pocket Sonar which allowed to scan the water basin to search for fishes. Can your smartphone do that? :)

http://splatter.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/gamesniped.jpg

Q time:
1. Did you own a GameBoy? (If you didn't, what electronic device(s) you played with in your childhood?)
2. What was/is your favourite game for GB/other devices?
3. Do you know about some freaky gadgets for GB/other devices? Describe them.