Dakota Access Pipeline Protests

Have you heard about Standing Rock Sioux tribe protest against Dakota Access Pipeline?

Here you can read about it and watch some video from the spot:
Dakota Access Pipeline Protests

Source: http://www.narf.org

What do you think about their struggle? Do you think that company should stop its project or people should stop protesting against it?

Week 3 [31.10-06.11.2016] Sign painting – gone with the wind?

Do you remember when you saw really nice and high quality storefront? Perfectly designed shop fascia with a sense of style, using traditional and time-consuming methods? Simply, when you called it a piece od art? Never? Of course. It’s very rare in Poland. 

Sign painting, this is what we have forgotten. There was a time – as recently as the 1980s, up to the fall of communism – when sign painters worked without the aid of computers or other mechanized means. Storefronts, murals, banners, billboards, and even street signs were all hand-lettered with brush and paint. Unfortunately, like many skilled trades, the sign industry has been overrun by the technology, it’s quicker and cheaper. Our landscape is full of vinyl based, colourfull stickers wich are ushering sameness onto our environment. In Poland after reinstation of democracy, and capitalism, old techniques were abandoned and every man were excited about new materials and simplier ways of advertising. Artists were no longer needed, every simple computer was able to put random font and print it on a cheap material.

http://wiktorpraga.deviantart.com/art/Szyld-Gabinet-Kosmetyczny-477317935

In western countries, there’s a growing trend to bring back traditional sign painting techinque. If you walk down the streets of Glasgow, you can see how many storefronts are made in classic method aside from some high-street shops. You can learn this skill in regular schools, and do it as a proffession.

http://www.brianthebrushuk.com/us_portfolio/gibson-mill-weaving-shed-hardcastle-craggs-hebden-bridge/

Hand lettered signs are more sophisticated and very unique. Each artist have a different style of painting, so you can see differences between their pieces of work. Even if they copy font shape from templates, they are making it on their unusual way. Of course, everybody can see the imperfection of brush edge shape but it doesn’t matter, it is way better than synthetic computer-made graphics. If you order a hand-painted sign or outdoor advertisment, one thing’s for sure – it will be the most distinguish commercial from among rest of boring ones.

http://stgu.pl/art-case/art-szyldy-inaczej.html

There is a niche, gap in polish commercial marketplace. Maybe some artists can fill it? 

I’m highly recommend a documentary film about sign painters in USA. Several histories, all about present-day sign artists whom didn’t forget this traditional art.

 Movie clip:

 vimeo.com/61006621

Questions:

Sign painting – needless, remote in time or brilliant, worth of care?

Imagine that you have a small grocery: do you want to put the cheapest, the most colorful store fascia with window stickers, or rather pay more for getting more sophisticated and better designed sign?

Did you ever see, knowingly, hand painted sign (on a wall, plate or fascia)?

 

Week 3 [31.10-06.11.2016] How the Internet destroys your brain

Read the presentation How the Internet destroys your brain at http://konwersatorium1-ms-pjwstk.blogspot.com/2016/10/week-4-2410-30102016-how-internet.html and comment on it/ discuss it on our blog. 

Week 3 [31.10-06.11.2016] IoT

Internet of Things (IoT) is one of many IT buzzwords nowadays. Long story short, IoT is when a milk carton tells you it’s running low and it’s time to buy milk. Sounds insane, doesn’t it? Going further, the Internet of Things connects billions of sensors and devices such as everyday consumer objects and industrial equipment onto networks. Increasing amount of data produced by those sensors and connected devices are hence acquired, logged and stored. Networked inputs are then combined into bi-directional systems for better decision making, increasing efficiency, new services or environmental benefits. Just like the following video presents:

IoT is here, it’s real and inevitable. It’s just not very evenly distributed. However, it starts to be more visible in our everyday lives.

“The whole sensor field is going to exploding. It’s a little all over the place right now, but with the arc of time, it will become clearer I think”
Apple CEO, Tim Cook

Can you imagine that there is a fork that can connect to the Internet and communicate with your mobile? No? Meet HAPIfork:

The HAPIfork is an electronic fork that helps you monitor and track your eating habits. Has it ever crossed your mind that you eat too fast? Let’s check it with HAPIfork - it will gently vibrate when you eat unhealthily fast.

Or maybe you are a number cruncher and want to collect and analyze data regarding your daily oral hygiene routine? Beam Toothbrush is for you. Does your toothbrush have a mobile app? You can even share your tooth brushing statistics with your dentist. Or post them on your friend’s Facebook wall - don’t let them beat you in brushing!

I could go with such funny examples further, but in fact I came across some IoT implementation that interested me. For instance, there is a smart egg tray which syncs with your smartphone to tell you how many eggs you’ve got at home (up to 14 eggs) and when they’re going bad. I really thought I would like to test it. One of definitions says that IoT is an “intelligent interactivity between human and things to exchange information and knowledge for new value creation”. I always dreamt about exchanging knowledge with eggs I left in my refrigerator.

IoT home devices are supposed to be user friendly and idiot-proof. But mostly they are quite unstable. Recently I have read an article about an Englishman who spent eleven hours trying to make a cup of coffe/tea in a Wi-Fi kettle. In fact, he is quite a smart guy (works as a data specialist), yet he still couldn’t make all of his IoT devices cooperate. His story went viral, so you could have heard about it. If not, you can find more details here and there on the internet:

• English man spends 11 hours trying to make cup of tea with Wi-Fi kettle (The Guardian)
• The iKettle, the Eleven-Hour Struggle to Make a Cup of Tea, and Why It Was All About Data, Analytics and Connecting Things Together

In recent days I have another, more serious concerns regarding IoT, namely their security. Last weekend happened probably the biggest DDoS attack ever. Many highly popular services like Netflix, Spotify, Amazon and others were down due to a massive internet traffic directed to DNS servers. Probably you know that if your personal computer gets infected with a computer virus, it can be attached to the so-called botnet - a network of devices that can be controlled remotely by hackers. Such botnets can be used to conduct DDoS attacks. Note that IoT devices are small computers and there are billions of them. Latest DDoS attacks could have been carried out with a botnet comprised of IoT devices, like hacked home surveillance cameras. Can you imagine your fancy HAPIfork attacks the Netflix server while you’re eating porridge?

1. What do you think about IoT in general?
2. Do you use any IoT device? Can you imagine one which would be useful for you? Use your imagination :)
3. What do you think about IT security in your daily life?
4. Do you think that you can keep control of your IT security in terms of IoT?

Sources:

• https://software.intel.com/en-us/iot/home
• http://www.zdnet.com/article/serious-security-flaws-found-in-osram-smart-bulbs/
• https://krebsonsecurity.com/2016/10/hacked-cameras-dvrs-powered-todays-massive-internet-outage/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_things
• https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/12/english-man-spends-11-hours-trying-to-make-cup-of-tea-with-wi-fi-kettle
• https://medium.com/mark-rittman/the-story-behind-the-ikettle-the-eleven-hour-struggle-to-make-a-cup-of-tea-and-why-it-was-all-769144d12d7#.90vncwh8n
• https://www.hapi.com/product/hapifork

Week 2 [17.10-23.10.2016] Is there a problem with how we communicate with each other?

I think I may be not the best person to answer this question. I’m a little bit old fashioned. Do I use modern technology? Yes, obviously. I cannot imagine living without it! But, on the other hand, I can see its negative influence on people I know. Part of it is how we communicate with each other.

First, let’s define communication. It’s a process of exchanging information between two human beings by speaking, writing or using some other medium. It can have a direct or indirect form.

In the past communication used to be a privilege. Reaching other people via letters or telegrams wasn’t easy. Sometimes it wasn’t cheap as well. So we might assume that if somebody was about to share any kind of information it had some kind of value, it wasn’t meaningless. If a lover was sending a perfumed letter to his partner you could be sure he meant it. The lady who was the addressee of such a letter would read it fifteen times and keep it under her pillow. If another person was sharing some bad news about the funeral of a family member, it had to be written in a mature and mellow way. People used to put some effort in creating such messages. They were aware of its importance.

Does it still work this way? Unfortunately not. I blame common access to technology. Its bad usage. Mobile internet access is very cheap, we don’t pay anything for sending mails or Facebook messages. We can access those services any time and pass information right away. So… why should we care about things I wrote about above? We don’t have to pay attention to the  form of communication anymore. We can end up conversation any time. We can say things we don’t believe in or things we wouldn’t say during face to face conversation. We can use a lot of shortcuts, memes as replies and smileys. What does it lead us to?

We exchange tones and tones of meaningless messages. We spend our time in front of computers, with smartphones in our hands, but do we really talk with each other? Do we hear each other? I don’t think so. We want communication to be quick. We want to be able to pass a lot of information having not so much time. This means passing very simple messages. We think in simple, uncomplicated way. We don’t even bother ourselves trying to send good quality messages. Grammar? Screw it! Good manners? Who has time for it?!

In fact, we are becoming more and more stupid. Obviously, it’s not the fault of technology, which just enables communicate easily.  It’s a sign of our times. It’s a result of the end of ‘knowledge cult’. But what can be fixed in our communication? I think we should go back to our roots. We need to understand the importance of the form. People need to realize that the ability to pass information  is a necessity--a certificate of our intelligence. It’s a measure of respect. It’s a proof of being fully dedicated to conversation, to your interlocutor. We need to understand that communication is a tool in our hands, it has its purpose but it’s not a purpose by itself.

Link:

http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/texting-teens-adults-communication-0726126 

Week 2 [17.10-23.10.2016] Halloween and its Celtic Roots

Where does Halloween come from?

http://hamsterart.blog.pl/2015/10/28/halloween-dobre-czy-zle/

The name Halloween  probably stands for “All Hallows' Eve”, which means "the eve of All Saints" and  is on October 31st. After dark, in Anglo-Saxon countries  and now also in many others (including Poland), children and adults celebrate it. Halloween is a festival  with pre-Christian roots;  it has  roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain.

http://www.globalimmersions.com/go-global-blog/the-origins-of-halloween

Samhain was the period during which farmers were preparing for the coming winter. 

They celebrated tor nine days.It was the time of preparing inventories for winter, it was 

time to return to winter settlements with  cattle and spend time with  families and neighbors.

At that time the Celts watched dying nature, which reminded them about the cycle of human

life and the inevitability of death. They believed that the souls of those who  passed away

visit the world of the living people  to meet with them and share their stories. 

Celtic people were  scared of the anger of ghosts; therefore, they left  them gifts (like food and lanterns) in front of the house. They believed that the gifts pleased ghosts and they left their villages.

The custom of celebrating Halloween survived for centuries  in Ireland. It moved to America

in the nineteenth century (20th in Europe) thanks to Irish immigrants who left their homeland 

in large numbers. 

 http://www.history.com/news/hungry-history/the-halloween-pumpkin-an-american-history

The symbol of Halloween  and its almost indispensable gadget  is… pumpkin. Carved pumpkin with  lantern (in Irish “will-o'-the-wisp”) means wandering souls in the living  world.

Today, the pumpkin  with carved eyes, nose and mouth is placed in  in front of the house . So scary pumpkin entertains and scares the participants at Halloween parties.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/top-lists/halloween-trick-or-treating-times-for-cook-county-ill-2013/

During Halloween  people  dress up as ghosts, vampires, characters from horror movies. Kids collect sweets under the threat of pranks "Trick or treat!"

Halloween is the second-largest commercial holiday, with Christmas being the first. According to the Federation of Retail Trade in the United States, Americans in 2015 spent on Halloween about USD 7.86 billion.. In 2016 it could be $ 10 billion. In the UK last year It was more than 350 million pounds (12 million in the early 90s). 

http://petiole.co/halloween-decorating-idea/halloween-decor-ideas

Nowadays, I think Halloween has nothing to do with the real Day of the Dead. We shouldn’t connect these two concepts. Halloween is the only day of fun, when you can dress up as witch, ghost, mummy and other ugly characterizations.

Do you celebrate Halloween? If yes, How?

Do you think the tradition of Halloween should spread in Poland?

Do you have a favorite dish of pumpkin? :)

( I recommend a recipe for a delicious pumpkin pie !

https://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/18470/libbys-famous-pumpkin-pie/) 

https://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/jack-o-lantern-orange-pumpkin-pie/ad5f3fed-62ae-4a3f-8be9-66373e554e7a

Sources:

https://www.thebalance.com/halloween-a-really-sweet-business-opportunity-2947977

http://www.livescience.com/40596-history-of-halloween.html

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/top-lists/halloween-trick-or-treating-times-for-cook-county-ill-2013/