Week 4 [23.11-29.11.2015] One day from a programmer’s life

Hi! I’m Kamil – a  22 year old programmer. I have worked for a software house (an office that makes office applications) for 3 years. I started as a trainee and now I am a middle-developer. I've always wanted to do what I'm doing and I can’t imagine another job – why? I'll talk about this later.

And what about you? You may have heard about nerds, the people who wear glasses, a  plaid shirt, who can’t talk about other subjects than computers. Hahaha that’s not true, at all. Can you imagine a programmer’s job? Let me describe one day from a programmer’s  life.

Computers, applications, smartphones, and even refrigerators have been overrun by software developers, and we even don’t know it. Every device must have software to do something – who is creating this software – programmers! That is incredible and makes programmers gods – hahah that’s true. Can you imagine your life without smartphones or the Internet? Probably not. Me neither and I was decided to start working as a developer to be able to create our modern world :)

Every day from 9:00am to 5:00pm I work in an office with 15 other developers in the “Soho Factory” (a small business district in Warsaw Praga). We are called the “EDGE Technology” - www.edge.do. We aren’t nerds and don’t wear shirts – there is no dress-code. Probably you think we sit in front of computers all day long, I have to disappoint you… The very first very important point of the day is coffee :) This is the casual time when we meet us with managers and talks about ongoing projects– something like the scrum, this takes 10-20 minutes. The next step is the computer – we write our part of projects in code. Each of us has a favorite notepad or a compilation application – yeah! Save the logical sequence of commands in code that creates an application invented by a customer. That process lasts sometimes even for several months – next for several months as well we fix bugs and the biggest errors, and after probably a year we could deliver the application to our customer. Our programming languages are C++, Java and PHP, and we write applications for BGK, AXA, TVN and some other companies… Often we meet with demanding clients... :)

Work is work but no one is limited only to work – there are corporate events (dancing, karaoke, competitions and games). In our office we have a relaxation  area, something like in Google, where we have TV, a PlayStation, a Microsoft Xbox - you can feel like a child, when you have a break.

"Relax area" in Google

And as I’ve mentioned the break – our break starts at 12am and continues for 2 hours when we can do anything we want to. We usually go to a restaurant to have dinner. We have several options – there are 3 restaurants (“Szklarnia”, “Warszawa Wschodnia” – Mateusz Gessler’s and “Paleta Smaku”). Stress-free programmers’ lives are the topics of discussions – not computers, software or hardware – food and fun… From 9:00 am to 12:00 am we can hear only “what we have eaten?”, “where we have eaten?”, “are you going to play CS?”…  30 year old people that behave like children. It's a bit surprising but stereotypes don’t work here. Maybe you think: what’s going on? They only have fun! That’s right, but this fun, a casual style integrate and motivate people to work hard– relaxed people do more and more effectively. Programmer’s work  is creative work, and having fun they have new ideas to write the smartest, fastest algorithms. After dinner and several minutes of rest it’s time for coffee and discussions about relationships, women, sport and of course sex – our team includes only men. Sorry there is one female programmer – Mariola :) She is very kind, slim, pretty, but she is crazy about technology and sometimes she thinks like men do… She is good at her job. I do not think she is a  good candidate for a girlfriend… Sorry Mariola…    

My working day ends at 5:00 pm when we close notepads, application compilations, turn off computers and go home. I don’t know what you do at home. We have two singers and two people playing the guitar in our team, so I guess that they have fun also after work…

Interesting people, interesting characters, interesting work and a good team - would you like to learn more, get to know us? Feel free to discuss and ask questions in the comments.

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Source:
1.  YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg, access: 23-11-2015 06:29 pm
2.  paulchong.net, http://paulchong.net/2012/05/11/google-headquarters-a-wonder-of-a-workplace/, access: 23-11-2015, 06:32 pm
3. payscale.com, http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2013/05/what-its-really-like-to-be-a-female-programmer, access: 23-11-2015 06:30 pm

Week 4 [23.11-29.11.2015] Van Gogh Alive Exhibition

            Now in Warsaw we can see a very interesting exhibition about the creativity of a popular painter, Vincent Van Gogh. After Berlin, Shanghai, Petersburg, and Florence we can visit this popular exhibition in the center of Warsaw-the Exhibition Center near ‘PGE Narodowy’.

Van Gogh Alive is a modern way to present an art. We can see  big format paintings presented on of  the gallery’s walls. We can admire almost all Van Gogh’s pieces of art in one place, there are about 3 thousand paintings, which are presented in the new technology called SENSORY4. It is a modern media platform. The system displays graphics which are dynamically displayed by 40 projectors, combined with multi-channel cinematic sound, and it creates an exciting art show. Here you can see a substitute of this multimedia exhibition:

source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThOA4NStrHM

Now I want to present some information  about the outstanding artist Vincent Van Gogh.

               Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) was a Dutch Post-impressionist painter whose work was appreciated after his death. His output mainly includes portraits and landscapes. The most popular paintings are:

•          The starry night

source: http://www.vangoghgallery.com/catalog/image.aspx?fn=images/0612.jpg

•          Vase with Twelve Sunflowers

source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_128.jpg

•          Self-portrait (1889)

source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Vincent_van_Gogh_-_Self_portrait_with_bandaged_ear_F529.jpg

             He produced more than 2100 artworks including 860 oil painting and more than 1300 watercolors, drawings and sketches. He was deeply religious as a younger man, because his father was a pastor. After finishing school, he started to work for an art gallery in Paris.  He fell in love but  the woman  broke up with him, and after that he suffered a nervous breakdown. Because he couldn’t live alone in France he came back to his home town where he got a job as an assistant of an English teacher. The important moment of his life was a trip to Brussels in 1880,then he decided to become an artist. When he was 27 he started painting. After next heartbreaks, he fell deeply into depression and was infected with a venereal disease. As a result of neurosis and hallucination, he cut himself the left ear. In 1885 he went to Antwerp where he wanted to start studying, but his modern and exceptional technique didn’t get a recognition. Vincent Van Gogh  moved to Arles in Provence where he created the most popular works. His depression deepened, and he committed a suicide by shooting himself in the chest with a revolver.

Van Gogh Alive is something different from common museum exhibitions, where in a complete silence and deep focus we have to watch only a few paintings presented on  white walls. This puffed up atmosphere can easily discourage people.

             source: http://www.turkishairlines.com/images/skylife/4-2012/3189/130_3189cityscope__03.jpg   

              An innovative form of Van Gogh Alive is something completely new.  It is designated not only for a connoisseur of art but for all people, even not interested in art. This exhibition connects corresponding music, biography of an artist, and visual effects that will delight all. This exhibition captures the dynamism of his paintings,  a vibrant symphony of lights, colors and sounds, which  will take you into the world of the artist.

1. What do you think about this way of presenting art? 

2. Have you ever seen any other exhibition? Did you like it?

3. A painting is a form of expressing yourself, do you have other ways to express your emotions?

Source:

http://vangoghalive.pl/home/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh

http://wyborcza.pl/magazyn/1,149284,19184022,van-gogh-gwiazdzisty-mozg-cala-warszawa-bedzie-ogladac.html

http://www.kulturalna.warszawa.pl/wydarzenia,1,146998,Otwarcie_multimedialnej_wystawy_quot%3BVan_Gogh_Alive_ndash%3B_T....html?locale=pl_PL

Week 4 [23.11-29.11.2015] Lifelogging

Lifelogging

Do you know how many steps you went yesterday? Do you know how many glasses of water you drank last Monday? Do you know how well you slept today?

I know. We are now living in times where almost everything can be measured, saved and compared later. And I’m not saying about some specialist equipment. We can do all these things by ourselves.

Nowadays there is a popular a trend called lifelogging. It concerns everything that collects information about our daily activities. Mobile apps for instance. We bring our smartphones literally everywhere so gathering the information isn’t a difficult task for them. What is more, if you do some sport and you don’t want to run with a huge 5 or more inch smartphone strapped to your arm you can always buy a smaller, wearable device like a band or a watch. Possibilities are endless. Every big company has to follow trends to be competitive on the market so all of them have gadgets used to measure almost every aspect of your life in their portfolio.

Source: www.engadget.com

Some people say that this trend is unnecessary or even wrong. In their opinion we shouldn’t let others (producers of apps and gadgets) know about every step we take. But let’s think about it.

What is wrong with checking the amount of eaten calories during the day or monitoring the weight to keep fit? MyFitnessPal is now the most popular application which lets you set up your diet goal, note what you eat, when you eat and how much. It just helps you monitor your diet, that’s it.      

Another situation is when you do some sport like running. Is it bad to use Endomondo to track a route? Or to check your speed? Or to tell your friends about your new record? What if you have a watch on your wrist that measures your pulse which you can check later to see when you got tired?

Source: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.endomondo.android

Even if you don’t do any sport it’s good for your health to move a little bit. With a simple band on your wrist or again - a mobile app installed on your smartphone - you can check how many steps you have done today. Maybe it’s not enough? Maybe you can get off the bus one bus stop earlier and go for a walk.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAb44Zyuxbs

It’s good that we have become more conscious of our daily activities and behavior. On the other hand, I must agree that there are a few absolutely ridiculous products on the market which I want to present to you.  

There is an app used to count how many glasses of water you have drunk during the day and if it’s not enough it sends you a reminder. Do you really need that kind of information? Do you have to have an app which tells you that you should now drink something? Event if you don’t feel thirsty?

Another great example is an app with a compatible… fork. Yes, the fork. The main purpose of it is to measure the speed of your eating. I have no idea how I could use the information that I eat with the speed of 3 forks/minute. Additionally, there should be a spoon included. What if I eat only soups? I will miss much valuable data.

Source: http://designsekcja.pl/inteligentny-widelec/

To sum up, lifelogging isn’t a bad trend. It can be very useful in many ways supporting our training, diet or just giving us information to change slightly our daily habits, to become more active.

Do you log your life? Do you use any app or device for it? Share your experience in comments!

Week 4 [23.11-29.11.2015] Can You Really Be Anonymous Online?

When you connect to the Internet you are assigned a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address that allows your computer to communicate with others. Through a unique IP address, other people  can identify your ISP and figure out approximately where you're located. User control on the Internet  is needed because it allows you to track down criminals by law enforcement agencies. IP address  is also used for censorship, for example, in China, where the government restricts users to access all network resources.

If someone wants to be truly anonymous on the Internet,  they will  use  TOR.

What is TOR?

TOR  (Eng. The Onion Router) is a virtual computer network  which implements second-generation onion routing. Onion routing is a technique for anonymous communication over a computer network. In an onion network, messages are encapsulated in layers of encryption, analogous to layers of an onion. The project was founded in 2004 by  Roger Dingledine, Nick Mathewson and Paul Syverson.

It is a network of virtual tunnels that allows people to improve privacy and security on the Internet. Tor works by sending traffic through three random servers (also known as relays) in the Tor network; then traffic is sent to the public Internet.

What data can we find in TOR?

If someone wants to be anonymous,  they usually  have bad intentions ...

Best- known hackers in the world use the TOR Network.

They usually trade scans of  important documents, which they  send to each other in e-mails.  They create fake online accounts in banks, loan companies, auction sites.

If you think that such problems do not concern you ... you're wrong. In February 2014,  Polish hackers used TOR to publish  Internal Security Agency’s materials.

That's not all .. TOR is used for:

-          theft

-          tax evasion

-          drug trafficking

-          database leaks

-           extortion,

-          Document forging,

-          avoiding incarceration,

-          smuggling.

You need new documents, a fictitious identity? You will find everything here – you just have to negotiate the price with hackers.  Some hackers even offer  training’ how to steal from ATMs’.

Unfortunately, these are not all of TOR’s issues:

They also include:

-revenge,

-blackmail

- stalking

- illegal trade in firearms

 There is also pornography, including pedophilia. Frightening is the fact there are plenty of  images, information, advice, tips and experiences.

We can find exchange experiences on  how to take revenge on somebody or how to destroy him/her. We can read extremely accurate advice on how to effectively “ get rid of the body "or homemade abortion.

Shocking is also advice on how to take revenge on a pregnant woman:  ‘buy a needle infected with HIV and stab her’…

As you can see, connecting to TOR is quite simple, but is this right?

Have you ever used  the TOR network?

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_(anonymity_network)

http://www.chip.pl/news/internet-i-sieci/dostep-do-internetu/2014/07/rosja-chce-zlamac-zabezpieczenia-sieci-tor

http://www.pcformat.pl/Nierozpoznane-slady,a,1914

https://www.torproject.org/

Week 3 [9.11-15.11.2015] Celebrity endorsement

Companies have various methods of creating convincing advertising campaigns. One way is to involve superstars to magazine, television, radio or social media advertisements. This practice has been known from the beginning of advertising and it’s called celebrity endorsement.

Have you ever desired a product because a famous person was also a user of the item? Have you ever bought something that was signed by a celebrity? Is it important to you? Yes? So you’ve been cheated with maybe not a cheap but simple marketing trick.

http://img.allw.mn/content/celebs/2012/04/8.jpg

 The use of celebrities as brand ambassadors is a powerful tool that increases consumer engagement. It’s also a good technique to build brand equity through the name recognition, which allows the company to achieve larger sales and profits.  Another valuable reason for using a celebrity is the fact that it can link the product to the celebrity's skills. An example is the commercial of Nike Inc. with Cristiano Ronaldo, a famous football player, and Rafa Nadal, a great tennis player.

On the other hand, this practice is not as perfect as it seems. First of all, celebrity endorsements aren’t always worth their costs. Instead of spending a lot of money on employing a famous person, you’d be far better served  investing that money in unusual, unconventional marketing ideas. Secondly, celebrities make mistakes and those mistakes can affect an endorsed brand. Tiger Woods is a good example.  He lost ad-contracts with General Motors, Gillette and Accenture after news about his infidelity in 2009. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/19/AR2010021902442.html). There is always some risk that a celebrity will become overexposed or he/she will overshadow the endorsed brand.

http://c0248141.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/RAIK_04048_12656202A.JPG

Source:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/onmarketing/2015/06/27/keeping-up-with-the-evolving-world-of-celebrity-endorsement/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinharrington/2014/01/31/save-your-money-celebrity-endorsements-not-worth-the-cost/

http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/stories/2008-11-14/the-trouble-with-celebrity-endorsementsbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice

Week 3 [9.11-15.11.2015] CrossFit - be active!

CrossFit - be active!

Jumping, pushing, running, lifting…I could go on and on. The result of these exercises is always the same – huge fatigue and effort. These are not tortures but acts of free will. Allow me to introduce you to CrossFit. I think that a lot of you may be familiar with the name, but you don’t really know what stands behind it. I would like to share with you basic information about this physical activity. Consider CrossFit if you want to look fit and healthy. Personally, I have been attending classes for three months.

Allow me to present some historical context. CrossFit was created in the nineties in California by Greg Glassman. Soon after he started to use this kind of exercises to train cadets in a local police department. Next he was responsible for the training regime of marines, firemen and  American soldiers. In 2000 he founded a fitness company CrossFit Inc. which grew into a fitnessclub network.

CrossFit is a strength and conditioning program consisting of body weight exercises, a mix of aerobic exercises and Olympic weight lifting. To put it more simply, CrossFit is a universal set of exercises that can be done by everyone. It is a sport for people who expect training to be something more than monotonous and long repetitive exercises.  Fitness and experience take a back seat, since we can change equipment and determine your own limits. We train our respiratory and cardiovascular resistance,  muscles strength and endurance, stretchability, speed and balance. There are no long pauses between each set of exercises. The training’s core is based on a very short and fast sequence of exercises that consists of 3-4 different workouts done continuously for 15-20 minutes. Each workout has a few 15-20 minute rounds. Most importantly the training must be intensive. We should feel every muscle after every round.

CrossFit consists of various exercises. Which exercises can we chose? For example:

•    Squats:

-          Overhead Squat: a squat with the weight overhead.

-          Front Squat: a squat holding a barbell on the front of the shoulders.

-          Squat Jumps: a squat with a jump at the top.

• Deadlift:

source: http://www.crossfithardcore.com/assets/images/exercises/deadlift2.jpg

• Box Jump:

source: http://www.crossfithardcore.com/assets/images/exercises/box-jump.jpg

•  Pull-up: Hanging on a bar we must pull up with arms straight until our chin is over the bar.

• Push-up:

source: http://www.crossfithardcore.com/assets/images/exercises/pushup2.jpg

•   Burpee:

source: http://www.crossfithardcore.com/assets/images/exercises/burpee.jpg 

•      Knees-To-Elbows: Hanging on a bar you must raise the knees until they make contact with      the elbows.
•    Toes-To-Bar: Hanging on a bar we must bring feet upward until they make contact with the      bar.
•       Kettlebell Swings:

source: http://www.crossfithardcore.com/assets/images/exercises/kettlebell-swing.jpg

•   Press:

-      Push Press: Dip and drive motion is used to press the barbell upwards.

-      Push Jerk: Drop under the bar receive the bar at a lower position.

-      Split Jerk: One leg goes forward and the other backward.

•  Wallball:

source: http://www.crossfithardcore.com/assets/images/exercises/wall-ball.jpg

Those and more exercises you can find at www.crossfit.com/exercisedemos/

How does an exemplary CrossFit training look?

•        Warm-up
•        WOD (workout of the day):

-    First round (Deadlift x15, Overhead squat x8, Front squat x8 )

-     Second round (Wallball x10,  Kettlebell swings x20, Toes-to-bar x10/Knees-to-elbows x10)

-     Third round (Push-Up x15, Pull-Up x15, Box Jump x10)

•       Stretching

If you train CrossFit you will have results after 4-5 weeks. You will build your stamina, speed and strength. I must point out that you should take up an additional training capacity, for example riding a bicycle or running twice a week. Remember when practicing sport you should maintain a diet and enforce a proper exercise technique. The diet should consist of a lot of proteins and healthy fats and fibers.

If you feel tired – slow up and relax, if it is not enough for you – speed up! 

Break your barriers with CrossFit! J

1.        What kind of sport do you train? Have you ever heard about CrossFit?
2.         How often do you workout?
3.        Do you know a fast and effective way to lose weight and strengthen your muscles?