Week 5 [18.05 – 24.05] How to choose you first car?

Week 5 [18.05-24.05] How to choose you first car?

               Cars in our lives have always been main transport vehicles. Statistically, there are as many cars in Poland as working-age people. Therefore, we can assume that almost every adult has to choose his first car.

               After graduation, after starting a family or after getting our first job, no matter what we must choose a car we want to buy. But where to start? According to 2 major auction portals there are over 600,000 cars available to purchase. 600k, seriously?

               Make, engine size, body type, colour, power, transmission, price, age, mileage, fuel type etc. There are so many various features we must take into consideration. All these things help us defining our dream car. Considering only body type there are plenty of options such as: saloon, hatchback, coupe, estate or convertible.

Source: http://www.alphamalenation.com/how-to-choose-the-right-car-for-you/

               As an expamle I will decribe the parameters I considered while buying my first car. First of all, I set the budget. Actually, price is a factor that always comes first. Considering my car, the most significant parameters were:

 - engine type ( only petrol engine )

- body ( I prefer small cars, hatchbacks or small saloons)

- distance to car dealer ( up to 100km)

These parameters were permanent for 2 reasons:

               - I had no time to travel across the whole country

               - my husband owns estate with diesel engine           

All other features such as mileage, colour, car body condition, equipment and overall car condition were negotiable.

               I do not say that my approach was perfect, after all I am not a professional dealer, but I admit there are as many attitudes to the topic as future drivers.

PS, a friend of mine once bought a car only after kicking the tires several times 😊

1.     Did you find buying your first car difficult? (if you own one)

2.     What is the best time to buy your first car?

3.     What is your dream car?

Week 5 [18.05 – 24.05]  Is it a plane? Is it UFO? Nope. It's "just" Elon Musk.



















source: https://biznes.wprost.pl/gospodarka/10320200/satelity-starlink-elona-muska-zagrozeniem-dla-badan
-astronomicznych-sa-teraz-wyjatkowo-dobrze-widoczne.html

Haven't Elon change the world enough? His accomplishments could have been easily spread over all 
few beautiful minds. Fully automatic electric cars, "5th type of transport" called Hyperloop, Roofs that create
power, Space rockets wich can land, and offcourse his plans for colonisation of Mars. 
Few weeks ago we were able to see chain of lights flying through the night sky. For those who didn't 
know what in the hell this is, it must have been strange experience, but I think that fully acknowledged people also
 had their jaw at the level of their shoes. What was it? It another launch of 60 satellites for tests of project Starlink.
















source: https://antyweb.pl/12-000-to-za-malo-spacex-starlink-potrzebuje-30-000-satelitow-wiecej/


           Project Starlink is a plan for satellite constellation, which will be a huge competitor for other companies providing internet. Thanks to this the internet can get to the places that have big problem
 with it. Up to year 2027, Musk is planning to send to space almost 12 000 of those beauties. For a 
comparison at this moment above our heads there is "only" around 2,4 thousands active satellites so one
 more time we can say that Musk is reshaping our world, even our space. The Starlink will cost at least 10 
billion dollars and is set to eventually fund Mars project wich will be offcourse much, much more expensive. 
Wise move Elon!


























source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMDUd-ZIjj8
                Each satellite weighs 227 kg and is equipped with solar panel providing electricity, stars tracker helping with orientation in space, Hall engines allowing orbital maneuvers and also deorbitation after the
years of service and camera.
According to SpaceX, prelaunch of the project will be possible after seven rounds of satellites 
"shooted" in the sky. For tests there are 256 terminals the size of "small pizza" locate on the rooftops
of 5 buildings in Washington, where are centers responsible for satellites. Those terminals will be able
to communicate with satellites.
Astronomers have started complain, that because of too much light reflected from satellites, the 
sky observation become a lot harder. That is why the latest launch contained modified satellite, so-called 
"DarkSat", covered with a coating that reduces the amount of reflected light. 
What about space waste?
According to information published by SpaceX, the current generation of satellites consists of components
 that will be 95% destroyed when they enter the atmosphere. The next version of the structure is to be built 
in such a way that it completely disintegrates when returning to Earth. Therefore, despite the use of engines
 with very low thrust, which do not allow precise determination of the place of deorbitation, the satellites 
entering the atmosphere should not threaten the population.


1. Do you think Elon Musk is making good move sending this much satellites into the orbit?
2. What is your favourite Musk's invention?
3. Do you sometimes look at the night sky and think "Damn, what is out there?" ?

4. Are you excited about Mars project?

Week 5 [18.05 – 24.05] Yoga & Zen Lifestyle 🌱

When you realize nothing is lacking, the whole world belongs to you. 

Life, according to the principles of Zen, means being guided by serenity, peace and distance from mundane things on a daily basis. It designates the art of living in well-being, spiritual simplicity and spontaneity. The severity of this leads to sensitivity and total freedom, teaches how to love oneself and others. Zen principles teach us distance, showing that we often complicate our lives ourselves and do not accept who we are.

I started reading about art and Zen a few months ago. Due to the long time I spend working with the computer, I decided to buy a mat and start my yoga adventure. I tried to exercise every morning, until it became my habit and now I exercise twice a day and meditate in the evening with pleasure. I also gave up some unhealthy habits. I noticed big changes in my physical and mental well-being. Thanks to yoga, I got rid of back pains and headaches. It's is easier for me to wake up in the morning and after a whole day I feel less muscle tension and less tired.

On the Internet you can find many tutorials, starting with basic poses to more complicated sessions or schedules for several days to improve circulation, detox or fat burning. Personally I do believe, that this is a great way to exercise for many people who would like to improve their health or body shape in a pleasant way and in the comfort of their own home (although classes with an experienced person certainly give more and correct more posture errors, which at the beginning are frequent).

At the moment, I'm in the process of looking for interesting literature on the topic of Zen, yoga and meditation. One of the most interesting items for me is Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies and the Truth about Reality - a book written by Brad Warner, author and priest of Zen.

Questions:

• Have you heard of the concept of Zen before?
  Have you ever been interested in this subject?
• Do you have your favourite ways to relax during the day
  or unusual ways of dealing with stress?
• Have you heard of any other types of this lifestyle? 
• Do you think that people today are guided by the principles described above? Do you think they're valuable? 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and have a nice day! 

Week 5 [18.05-24.05] Beekeeping

Beekeeping

I would like to share with you my thoughts on the fascinating topic of beekeeping. Few years ago my uncle found himself very engaged in the matter of beekeeping. He wanted to create a space for bees in two places, one of which was the field by his house and the other one was the backyard of my house. To turn the idea into reality, he started with buying all the necessary equipment, such as beehives, frames, smoker, suit and of course bees and the queen. After a few months of gaining the experience, he finally was satisfied with all the work he had done. Beekeeping has become his favourite hobby since then and now he devotes all his free time to this passion.

Beekeeping is not only a leisure activity, but also a good source of additional income. If you run organic production the products you obtain can be super valuable. It requires specific conditions, however honey obtained using organic methods is much more valuable, than the one made from sugar. Some types of healthy honey include: Acacia Honey, Buckwheat Honey, Linden Honey, Multiflower Honey. Another advantage of having a hive, besides honey of course, is the opportunity to collect different healthy products like bee pollen or propolis. You can add them to yogurt for breakfast and they contain a lot of vitamins and nutritional values. I really recommend trying to switch up from sugar in your kitchen to organic honey. It gives you nothing more, but benefits for your health. And it tastes so good!

     The benefits of beekeeping are vast, but the one especially important to mention is that bees make a huge contribution to better climate. Since people are in lockdowns nowadays, we hear the news that environment has become more bee-friendly. This is good news, since bees were becoming an endangered species due to pollution and environment harassment. We have to remember that most crops require pollination, and this small creatures are flowering most of the plants around the world every single day, giving us food. We need to keep that in mind!



Below and above are represented pictures of beehives near my house:

Here you can listen to a podcast and read about a man who found the activity of beekeeping healing:

https://www.bbcearth.com/blog/?article=the-man-whose-life-was-saved-by-honey-bees&fbclid=IwAR3Clf5F2mmIQtI7ZqxGZTTxPc0vrhxGbMywp5IWqdN2J6tQs_TduiOxCdA#_

Questions:

1.     Do you find beekeeping interesting? Would you consider it as a hobby?

2.     Do you like consuming honey? If yes, which type is your favourite?

3.     Do you somehow contribute to climate change for the better? What do you do to make the environment gain and not lose?

Sources:
1. https://www.bbcearth.com/blog/?article=the-man-whose-life-was-saved-by-honey-bees
2. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200506-why-lockdown-is-helping-bees?fbclid=IwAR1L4lzJUfBuAGsT3fwkKdbpRGnwlZITBpeYB6pnKZjVClFUIDyoyvEqgb4
3. Pictures: My private gallery

Week 4 [04.05 – 11.05] Sneakerheads.

Have you ever heard phrase sneakerhead?

Last decade in Poland is a milestone, sprint to catch up with West-standards, so back then lot of people were still buying clothes from States. In the 2010 when I was in high-school when I've noticed that one of my friends owns bunch of unusual shoes - pairs that's unavailable in our local or even country shops. He introduced me to whole new world of people who are interested in different kinds of sport-based and often then fashion shoes. I wasn't aware that it's a whole culture about that - in Poland it's started to grown for 2-3 years then, but West-Europe and US were already in the middle of huge movement.

At first the most valuable shoes were the collaboration between boutiques and major brands like Adidas, Nike or New Balance. The idea was that there'd be plenty of streetwear-related shops around the globe with their own community based on the region that got access to release "regular" shoe model but with it's own colors, materials and additives (special box, laces etc.). Mostly they're extremely limited like 50-350 pairs worldwide, often with even more rear friends-family releases (10-15 pairs only for shop-crew or most popular community members).

At first it was relatively small group of people who where talking about the history/details on the forums, so the idea or rarity on the mentioned above level was fine for supply-demand rule. In short period of time from my European perspective, market started to change dramatically fast and demand become much higher than supply. Major companies didn't wait long until they've started to collaborate with artists rather than aiming to small boutiques, producing "limited" products in thousands or tens of thousands pairs. Collecting become 100% global, with the monopoly of majors.

Also, the whole thing become really attractive from financial point of view when people started to resell most hyped pairs of tens of their retail value. That in my opinion changed the whole community for worse. Back in 2010 there were few releases yearly, now it's almost a daily or weekly number with prices doubled or tripled, people are using bots to buy whole stocks or even a pair of most desirable/profitable items.


Questions:
1. Are you familiar with the idea of collecting sneakers?
2. Did you think that's a good idea to make a side-income from your hobby?
3. Do you think that once collecting sneakers become mainstream it's effected sneaker-community negatively?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and I convince you to make a brainstorming center out of this article.

Cheers!

Week 4 [04.05 – 11.05] Strange utensils

Recently, during my not really official quarantine I’ve watched Toy Story 4 and wondered how a little girl could get so fascinated with the plastic cutlery. I mean, she was probably seeing a fork at least few times a day and still it somehow became the best toy for her. So I started digging for information about unusual kitchen tools and it turned about to be pretty funny and interesting topic. Here’s the result of my research.

The first thing I’m going to show you is the combination of spoon and fork. You’ve probably seen it many times already since it’s pretty popular design but did you know it’s called “Spork” and the first attempts to patent it date back to at least 1874?

Protospork - combination of spoon, fork and knife, invented by Samuel W. Francis

Actually it seems pretty dangerous to eat with due to the knife on the right side of the spoon but the design was still quite innovative. Fortunately, modern concepts of spork abandoned this idea so it has become pretty useful tool on the campings.

Another cool and much more modern invention is the haptic fork, which is basically fork with bunch of tracking devices.

HAPIFork - smart fork official design

It tells you when you should eat, what’s the optimal pace of eating and even measures the size of the bite of the food - all for your good. It seems useless at first but if we take into consideration how many gastric problems are caused by eating too fast, it’s not that stupid idea. The project started on Kickstarter in 2012 - 2013 and reached 1,268 backers so it sure had its target group but for now it looks like the HAPIfork is as good as dead - the BUY NOW button on official website doesn’t work and it’s Currently unavailable on Amazon. 

The third and probably the most useless item I’m going to show you is Oreo Cookie Dipper.

Cookie dipper

Personally I don’t know anyone who eats Oreo with milk but commercials say otherwise, so maybe there’s someone who will actually find it helpful. Cookie dipper is basically the hook, which is narrow enough to fit in between two Oreo cookie parts. According to Amazon it’s actually pretty popular gadget but to be honest I can’t imagine spending few dollars on this one. 

If you feel you wasted few minutes on reading this post, here’s the short TED movie which pushed me to write this presentation and contains a few trivia facts you may found interesting:

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spork
https://www.hapilabs.com/product/hapifork
http://www.dudeiwantthat.com/gear/food-drink/oreo-cookie-dipper.asp

Questions:

1. Did you have any favourite kitchen tool (for instance Nesquik spoon straw) as a child?
2. What do you think about HAPIfork? Do you think there’s place for smart devices on our tables or in kitchen?
3. Have you ever heard about any other strange utensils that may or may not revolutionize the way we consume food?