Self evaluation

Arià Canadell: Research project
Presentation (10%)	Do you use any resources? Are the resources relevant and attractive and focused on the topic? Do they support your presentation? Is the timing 5-7 minutes? I used a Prezi which is always useful, I put in it all the titles and some images to make my presentation understandable. I also brought the home model in order to entretain the crowd a bit, that made longer my presentation. I don't know  how much time I was speaking but I calculated to speak more or less five minutes without the home model.		10
Body language and eye contact (10%)	Are you looking at your audience most of the time? Are you reading occasionally from your notes? Are you doing any gestures / movement to hold the attention of the audience? I didn't do it, I said the text without looking any note, but I was so nervous that I whatched too much the images in the prezi.		7.5
Structure (10%)	Do you organize your ideas in order of importance? Do you use discourse markers to make your ideas more clear? I tried to organize the text in three parts: the introduction, the main explanation and the conclusion.  In the introduction I said which parts I were going to explain: construction, software and hardware. In the main explanation I explained these parts and in the conclusion I showed the home model.		10
Content (35%)	Do you introduce interesting, NEW information to your audience? Is your information detailed and clear? Do you give / show examples? Is your information copied from a source or is it original? Did you look up information/facts/ideas in the Internet/books…? I think so, it was my research project and I don't know if there were any expert in the room but I hope it was interesting for someone. All the information was original from my project. The information was well selected.		32.5
Language (25%)	Is your grammar correct, complex? Is your vocabulary rich and varied? Do you use sentence linkers? Do you use pause fillers? I made a quite good presentation until I explained the home model, because I didn't study any technical words and I didn't know the correct vocabulary so it was a bit embarasing		12.5
Pronunciation  (10%)	Do you know how to pronounce all your words? Did you check the pronunciation with a dictionary, a classmate or the teacher? Do you change your tone of voice or use a monotone tone all the time? Did you speed in a fluid continuum or with breaks and interruptions? Before the presentation I knew how to pronounce it all but when you're in front of the class you change  all, you try to pronounce it good but your mouth is thinking on which is next word has to say. Total: 77.5%		5
Oral presentation:	(-1) Project TGIF, my name is Arià Canadell and I will do my research project’s oral presentation that is the building of a smart home controlled by mobile devices. First I will explain my project and finally I will show my home model. 0 Introduction I chose a technologic topic because I’ve been always interested on it, it’s a science that evolves very fast and it has immediately effects on the society. I proposed myself to make a smart home model but a teacher said to me that it was too seen and he proposed me to control it by mobile devices. My research project is divided in the theoretical part and the explanation of my programs and the build process. 1 Home automation I divide my theoretical part in these points. Firstly the definition of Home automation is “set of electronic elements connected between them to automate a house”. There are four types of components: sensors, transmitters, control unit and actuators. There are three types of systems; I used the centralized one where the control unit is the most important element. There are a lot of applications for example the power control, automation, security and communication. 2 Home model I divide my home model in three parts to explain it, build process, hardware and software. Build process 1-    I impressed my standard house from a design I made on a program called Sweet Home. Then I pasted it to a black foam board. 2-    I made the walls with the same material and I made the window joining pieces of plastic by clips, and all connected to the servo. 3-    I connected Dupont cables from the control unit to the actuators. 4-    This is the final result; we can see all sensor and the actuators on their places. Hardware I will not explain the hardware used because it’s not important now, I will just show the elements I used, and here there is the outline of the connections on the motherboard. Software I made two types of programs, the first one which was App Inventor is used to create the mobile application. The language to program is very visual. Basic is the language that I used to introduce the instructions I wanted in the motherboard PICAXE. It’s easy to program with it because there are only a few important words from where you can create a lot of combinations. Conclusion It had been difficult to summarize my project in the presentation, and the translation has been shorter, so I have omitted a lot of information. There are a lot of technical words that I didn’t know before. I’m happy with the final result of my smart home model because I have reached all the objectives I proposed myself at the beginning even more complex than I thought. I hope you have enjoyed with my presentation. Now I will show you the home model. Do you have any question?.

Research paper abstract

My research project is the study of the construction of a home model controlled by mobile devices. I made it trying to be realistic according to the needs we use to have. I incorporate the mobile to control it to make the difference between similar projects. I concluded that it will make easier our daily routine but nowadays it has the price issue.

Pride and perjudice- Social class

In the book we read there were explained many situations that make us a little idea of the ancient social class and the difference between characters according to their incomes. The most surprising thing I saw in the novel was the interest showed by the mother to find a rich husband for her daughters. In that age rich families could only got married with other high class' families to preserve the richness and the reputation. Nowadays it's different in my opinion, I think that it can keep happening in some families but we can find some cases where a rich man meets a nice middle class girl and they get married, for example our prince Felipe and Leticia. I don't know the current situation in Britain but according to the video we saw in class there are still families who have a lot of money and they live in palaces, all inherited from their ancestors. They have different manners because they are educated different than the rest.

How succes affect people behaviour?

Nowadays we watch almost every day on TV how people (singers, athletics, actors...) become famous and even more rich in a short time. They earn amazing amounts of money while they are adults but in some cases they are teenagers. How can they manage to keep on with their life's styles, their friends, their family... 

I think that in many cases society spoil them. Our curiosity brings the press to burst their lives constantly and sometimes it's published false information. Why they get married and divorce so many times? What's love for famous people, is it the same than for us? It seems that they only want even more money trough exclusives. It can cause a wheel where they can't escape. There are famous who manage carefully their success and try to live normal in private places. On the other hand we have famous people that enjoy too much of their richness but it will just causes them problems.

Burst

Violence

Violence... A much discussed topic. For example Hobbes said that human race is bad until their born while Locke thought that we are good people when we born but the society corrupt us. I don't know who was right but it's a fact that there are wars, battles, fights, arguments... Violence. I've never fought against another person but I've seen a lot of fights. When I see two persons fighting I feel really strange, between nervous and afraid. There is a little part of me that says "close your eyes right now" but there is another one that forces me to watch the show. I suppose that I feel like that because I don't know the end, that's why I'm afraid. I consider important damages on the fighters and I don't want that. I have only view students battles and some adult fights which are really amazing. 

I think it's a stupid way to show your disaprovement to the people. My father always says: "In a battle you can ONLY lose, there isn't any chance to win, even if you hit harder". 

Electronic devices

There is a topic that nowadays we hear many times: a strong addiction to electronic devices. Is it true? The society can't live without them? Nobody has the certain answer. I'm a teenager, so I can just give my humble opinion.

Everybody has to admit that the mobile phone is very useful for many of us, we need the phone because without it we can't work, we can't communicate as well as now, we can't do several sorts of things... So it's true that we need it and consequently most of us use it a lot of time. But we can't consider it an addiction, is sleeping an addiction? Is food an addiction? I don't think so, when we think  on an addiction we are thinking on the extreme of everything. 

All in all we can find one addicted to electronic devices considering these things: It can causes health problems? He/she avoid any of his/her responsibilities to play any electronic games? He/she prefers the electronic way to express herself/himself than the personal one?. If any of these questions is positive you can have a problem with nowadays' technologies.

Roger Federer won Dubai's tournament

World number eight Roger Federer produced another impressive comeback to beat Tomas Berdych and win the Dubai Tennis Championships for a sixth time.

Federer fought back from a set down to beat Novak Djokovic for the first time in 18 months in Friday's semi-final.

The 32-year-old needed those powers of recovery again as he fought back from a set and a break down to beat Berdych.

A 3-6 6-4 6-3 victory secured the 78th tour-level title of the Swiss' career - and first for nine months.

Third seed Berdych, 28, had won his previous encounter with Federer, in the Dubai semi-finals last year, and the Czech looked on course for another victory when he took the first set.

Federer squandered an early break of serve lost four games in a row from 2-1 ahead and managed to get just 40% of his first serves in.

But after saving consecutive break points with aces in the fifth game of the second set, he stamped his authority on the match to secure the title.

Roger Federer after nine months has won an ATP tennis tournament. He is currently in the eight position of the world’s ranking. Roger eliminated tennis players like Novak Djokovic (2) or Berdych (6), a good week for the Swiss’ player

Roger Federer, he doesn’t need any explanation… He is a legend. Roger has won many tournaments but this one is not like all the other ones. Why? Because Federer is thirty two years old and he keeps staying in the tennis world’s top.  Nowadays he is not wining as he used to, it’s completely normal, and I suppose that are difficult times for a big player like him. So I was glad to know about his  championship victory in Dubai.

LINK

comeback

squandered

stamped

Mobile World Congress

The annual Mobile World Congress highlights the latest trends in mobile technology and services. It runs from 24 – 27 February in Barcelona, this year, and is organized by the GSMA (GSM Association). The congress brings together mobile operators, equipment vendors as well as industry figures.

Every year there is global meeting where the most important companies take out their new products and they expose their best qualities. The mobile world congress always attracts a lot of people so it’s so good for the city where it takes place, in this case, Barcelona. Many people come here from all around the world, especially sector employers to discover all the updates. It brings a lot of money to the city so it’s an honor to receive it. This year the most shocking new product was the Samsung V which was very expected.

I’m a fan of new technologies but I’ve never been in a world congress. I don’t know if I can go to one of them but probably isn’t open to everybody.  

LINK

practicing any skill for 10,000 hours is sufficient to make you an expert?

A much-touted theory suggests that practicing any skill for 10,000 hours is sufficient to make you an expert. No innate talent? Not a problem. You just practice. But is it true?

One man who decided to test it is Dan McLaughlin, 34, a former commercial photographer from Portland, Oregon.

"The idea came in 2009. I was visiting my brother and we decided to play a par three, nine-hole course," he says. "I had never really been on a golf course and went out and shot a 57, which is horrible. It's 30 over par on an easy nine-hole course."

Far from being discouraged by his apparent lack of any natural talent for golf, Dan and his brother started talking about what it would take to become a professional golfer. Dan soon decided he wanted to try.

Many experts suggest that there is a specific number of hours to learn a sport. In this case a photographer, who didn’t played before golf tried to become a professional golfer, finally he achieve it approximately after 10.000 playing golf. Once a musician made an experiment, he observed two little children with the same age (5). Both without any apparent talent to play the violin, at the age of eighteen, one had practiced 10.000 hours and he played as an expert but the other one, with just 4.000 hours practiced didn’t play as good as the other one, but there was a big difference between them. The big musician concluded that in a certain number of hours we make a big change for the better.

 In my opinion it can be true but I think that they have to make clear which kind of training is useful because training without an expert supervision can cause injuries and bad habits in the sport technique.

LINK

Much-touted

Can Internet change the world for the better?

It's obvious that Internet will change the world, but in which way?. Our children will have a completely different life. It has its advantatges and its disatvantatges. Let's discuss a few of them:

On the one hand, Internet will change the world in a positive way because it will make our daily routine easier. So far for example we can already buy an extensive sort of things without leaving home. Moreover, we can find an amazing amount of information. Consequently, we don't need to buy books and we must not kill as many trees as we used to. The last but not least positive effect it will have is that it's a powerful way to move forward in our society.

On the other hand, it can hurt us in some ways. To be in front of a screen for many hours can be unhealthy, the commodity I mentioned above can cause a lack of activity that it will increase the obesity. However, the main problem is the addiction that Internet produces. Adding to that, less personal comunication.

All in all, Internet will make better our lives but we have to control ourselves using it.

Next year: eighteen years old.

When I think that next year in September I will be 18 years old many thoughts come to my mind. I'm glad because I will be able to take my driving license. When I was sixteen many friends had their own motorbike, but I couldn't because my parents wouldn't. So I have had the obligation to go everywhere with them. But next year... The things will change. A car is like a freedom passport, you can go anywhere you want. The only problem will be the car, in my family we are three (without counting the dog) and there are only two cars. I'll have to share one. Well, firstly I have to pass two exams, a theoretical one and a practical one, the first one doesn't worry me as much as the second one.

The second advantage is that I will be able to vote, and you feel that you fit in the society. Other thing to consider is that I will be able to go to jail, that's maybe disadvantage, but I'm not a troublemaker, I don't feel worried about this. If there isn't a turn for the worst this year I'll finish high school and that's a big change in my routine, because  I have been here for six years, waking up very early every morning and going to sleep late at night. 

Marriages

So your first marriage did not work out. But now you’ve found another special someone. Maybe you have kids from your previous marriage. Maybe your new partner does. Maybe you are dreaming about the bucolic life you will all live together once your families are joined through marriage – happily, peacefully, without conflict.

Time to snap out of it. Even if everyone gets along fabulously and your child-rearing philosophies are similar, it might not be so rosy. For one thing, divorce rates are higher in remarriages, reports US site SmartStepFamilies.com. Financially, blended or stepfamily dynamics are tricky: his money, her money, ex-spouses, past financial obligations and future ones, to o. All in all, combining families takes a little more financial – and life – planning.

Of course, you won’t be alone on this road. About four out of 10 US marriages include at least one step-relative, according to a Pew Research Center survey. In the UK, 10% of all families are stepfamilies, according to UK charity One Plus One. In Japan, one out of four marriages is a remarriage for one or both spouses. That figure rises to one out of three marriages in New Zealand, according to The International Handbook of Stepfamilies.

Here are some tips for swimming in the blended family waters, financially and otherwise.

What it will take: Honesty. Before you become a stepfamily, sit down with your partner and discuss everything — the good, the bad, and the financial.

I can't speak about the perspective of a stepfamily because in my particular case my parents are together for 19 years, but I think that discussing different viewpoints, benefits to the couple. To take part in quotidian conversations is positive, always dialoguing ang keeping the respect. I supose that living together is not easy (problems in the work (if you have), children's education (if you have), tiredness...) but I think that is important to be patient and comprehensive. Some days are bad for one and some for the other one. 

To initiate a new relationship perhaps is not difficult but to keep it with the ties of the past is different (how the article shows). Each member will have more affinity or love to its own children although one make an effort in order not to do differences. So how it says the article "sit down with your partner and discuss everything."

To snap out

Child rearing

Blended

Tricky

Glasgow helicopter crash: Four victims named by police

Four of the eight people who died when a police helicopter crashed into a busy Glasgow pub on Friday have been named.

Police Scotland confirmed the three helicopter crew were among the dead. They were pilot David Traill, 51, and Police Constables Kirsty Nelis, 36, and 43-year-old Tony Collins.

Gary Arthur, 48, from the Paisley area, has been named as among five people who died in The Clutha bar.

Police said they cannot rule out the possibility of more bodies being found.

Police Scotland Chief Constable Sir Stephen House said the force's helicopter crashed into the pub as it was returning from an earlier operation at about 22:25 on Friday.

This helicopter crash ended with 8 lives in Glasgow. In the accident four men were identified as middle aged between 36 and 51. It's a shame, some of them (the crew of the helicopter returned from work) and the other ones were having fun in a pub. Cruelty of life took people at random to die. This accident could have produced more dead people because the pub was too concurred. Four more bodies without life have to be identified, this is very hard for all families waiting for these awful news.

Once more the accident could answer to a human error or perhaps to a mecanical problem, anyway for people who have died it doesn't matter, they are no more staying among us.

Crew

Playstation 4

Sony's PlayStation 4 was launched in the UK at midnight and is already "starting to sell out".

Fans camped overnight for a chance to get their hands on one of the consoles.

The first-come first-served launch was considered one of the only ways for people to get hold of a console before Christmas.

Amazon said customers who had not pre-ordered before 13 November would not receive a console in time for Christmas.

The UK launch comes two weeks after the PS4 was launched in the US and a week after Microsoft's Xbox One was launched worldwide. Both consoles sold over a million in the first 24 hours.

In a statement to the BBC a Sony spokesman said: "We are starting to sell out - very rapidly but [we] will continue to work with all parts of the supply chain including our partners at retail to get more, as and when we can."

The company said it was facing "unprecedented" demand and it would be setting up a stock-tracker website to help customers find "those elusive units".

The launches are seen as a fight for dominance in the key Christmas season says the BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones.

Imran Choudhary was the first in the queue outside the venue in Covent Garden, London.

"It was always my goal to try and be one of the first people in the country to get hold of a PS4," he said.

First of all, I must admit that I'm a big fan of Playstation, I have two of them (2 and 3). I won't have the new one because I don't play with my PS3, I don't have enough time and nowadays I spend more hours chatting or playing in my mobile. The price is quite high, about five hundred Euros, but they used to get lower with time. I hope that one of my friends will buy it to play with them on my free time, probably on Christmas or in summer. It isn't recommended to buy the first PS4 type, because they use to improve it.

If anyone how is reading this post and wants to buy PS4 I don't recommend it because I have heard that some consoles don't open correctly. 

The competency of the Sony's company is Xbox consoles, they are a bit more expensive ones but they offer different functions. 

Camped overnight

Chain

Queue

Nip/tuck

Scenario:  A young couple in the garden of the hall residence of their university.

Characters: Jane & jack

Jack: Look at her boobs. Darling, you should have them! jeje

Jane: Shut up jack, I’m happy with my body! Don’t you?

Jack: I was joking, you are fucking perfect.

Jane: Well, there is a thing that I have been thinking for a long time…

Jack: What?

Jane: Jack, you… you don’t satisfy me enough... Your little bird is… is a… bit small to me. I’m wrong?

Jack: WTF? What do you mean? Are you kidding me?

Jane: Jack, come on… You know what I mean.

Jack: Oh liar, you always have pleasure with me.

Jane: I have to accept it, I simulate when I’m shouting. You know, the shower satisfies me more than you darling.

Jack: Okay okay. Do you know what? I wasn’t joking about your boobs. I have seen bigger apples.

Jane: Oh Jack! You don’t think so! In any case, at least I can have them erected for a few minutes.

Jack: What?!

Jane: Your bird Jack… it’s faster than the light…

Jack: I can’t support it any more, you’re a fucking slut and you will never find anybody like me. That’s all, we have finished…

Jane: At last!, don’t make me laugh, my little sister is more man than you.

They leave opposite directions. Both thinking on their own.