Week 7 [14-20.06.2021] Books: printed or electronic?

 Books: printed or electronic?

Being university students, we all know the benefits of reading books. They have been our source of knowledge and entertainment for centuries and one of my predecessors even did a presentation about them, so I do not think I have to introduce their qualities any longer. Today, however, I would like to present a different debacle. Considering the new age of digitalization we live in right now, why do we still stick to paperback books instead of any other form of written word?

A printed book is a centuries old invention, going back as far as 2000 years and our civilization got very used to the idea behind it. The medium used to transform a spoken word to a written word changed from stone to papyrus to paper and many many more. Lately however, I suspect books face the biggest transformation of all time. In a nutshell, we changed the form of book from a physical object to a collection of data, which we can read on whatever device we own.  

           

https://i2.wp.com/woblink.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/freestocks-org-PkyL3p9Kx8c-unsplash-e1562835502925.jpg?fit=1011%2C674&ssl=1

There is many pluses to owning an ebook device like Kindle. One of the more obvious ones is definitely its efficiency. We can store hundreds of books on one device, which is both practical in terms of space saving, but also can provide a variety of positions in the most unusual places. Second very important advantage is the conservation of trees used for producing paper. Living in age of environmental changes and growing awareness, I can see how this argument can be incredibly convincing. The last argument in favor of ebooks, that I will put forward here is the fact, that after the initial cost of an ebook device like Kindle, ebook files are several times cheaper than their paperback equivalents. After three hard examples like that it is obvious we all should already skip paper and go electronic, right?

Well, not really. Studies show, that in 2019 paper books were still almost 40% more popular than ebooks. Considering how long ebooks have been on the market, the difference is astounding. The easiest answer is probably the sentiment connected to owning a paper edition. The cover and feel  of pages makes it easier to distinguish one book from another, studies show. The smell can evoke memories. We as a civilization are still in lover in paper book, because of its physical qualities. And it does not seem to be willing to go away quickly.

 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/5Y8I0v7HU_jq4uhcrSdOq-Zq5khS3tDINOL8IRuhezTO60E0waZ_mmjEjb9t9UIMuAi7RbYKpo4uga9idnznwsO4z9fKXHHas0qY7fJW4aSaW17ympLel9mbzwzRw7Ekf-vqI51K0BbpGg 

Sources:

https://www.tonerbuzz.com/blog/paper-books-vs-ebooks-statistics/

https://www.businessinsider.com/ebooks-vs-books?IR=T

https://www.writoscope.com/reading/ebooks-vs-printed-books-reasons-better/

Questions:

1. Do you think we will gradually get rid of paperback publications?
2. Are you sentimental when it comes to books? Or maybe you like the collecting aspect of paper editions?
3. Are you an ebook fan, paper edition fan, or maybe both?

Week 7 [14-20.06.2021] Possible natural cases of extinction of life on Earth

 When will our planet’s suitability for life end? – 100 ways to annihilate life.

 

Have you ever wondered what ways life on Earth might end? How much time do we have for all living organisms to disappear from the surface of our planet for purely natural reasons, not related to the activities of humanity? Recently I’ve come across some interesting articles and research concerning the end of life on Earth. While they literally all go back millions of years ahead, they are incredibly fascinating. Let’s have a look together and choose the best apocalypse!

https://i.insider.com/56fbc4ebdd089570618b4a40?width=700&format=jpeg&auto=webp

Starting with something simple and well known to everyone – a comet impact or an asteroid threat. As it turns out, for the complete annihilation of life on Earth, an object with a diameter of 50 km would be enough to boil Earth's oceans by force and energy of the impact and cause the rocks to evaporate in the process. An example of such a celestial body is the Hable-Bopp’s comet, which could be observed with the naked eye from May 1996 to December 1997. It needs about 2,450 years for one orbital cycle. So far, it doesn’t threaten our planet, although, there are speculations that such an event could take place over the next 100 million years.

https://cosmicpursuits.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Hale-Bopp-March-27-1997-scaled.jpg

Going further – a volcanic apocalypse. Within 100,000 years from today, a supervolcanic eruption is likely to occur on Earth, as a result of which 500 km³ of magma will be released to the surface. Moreover, in a minimum of 1 million years, there will be an even larger supervolcanic eruption, which will release as much as 3,000 km³ of magma. This will be comparable to the eruption of the supervolcano Toba 75,000 years ago which is known to wipe out almost all primitive humanity from the face of the Earth at that time.

The Sun vol. 1 – in a billion years, the Sun's brightness will increase by 10% compared to today, bringing the average temperature of the Earth's surface to about 50°C – oceans will evaporate as a result. Within 3 billion years, the average surface temperature of the Earth will reach about 150°C. Life will die out completely.

Death from within – solidification of the Earth’s outer core. Expected to occur in the next 3-4 billion years, assuming that the inner core continues to expand at a rate of 1 mm per year. Without a liquid outer core, the Earth's magnetic field will collapse and the planet will lose its atmosphere, leading to the extinction of all living species.

Finally, a „positive” touch (The Sun vol. 2) – in almost 8 billion years, the Sun will reach the top of the „Red Giant's Branch”, having a radius 256 times larger than the present one. As it grows, it can consume Mercury, Venus, and Earth. As a result, the surface temperature of Titan (one of Saturn's moons) would be able to rise to a level where life can survive.

https://wccftech.com/analysis-indicates-next-5-billion-years-sun-will-expand-destroy-life-earth/

As you can see, our planet and most of life on it still have a lot of time to enjoy themselves. Leaving aside all scenarios like overpopulation, nuclear war, pandemic, and so on... which could happen much earlier than „natural” ones, we can sleep peacefully. There are many other catastrophic visions still out there, but this one article won’t be enough to contain them all. If you’re curious, I encourage you to browse the links listed below and add something from yourself by doing your own research.

Thank you for reading. I hope you found the article interesting, be sure to let me know in the comments and share your thoughts!

 

Guiding questions:

1. Which scenario presented in the article did you find the most interesting or threatning and why?

2. Do you know any other „natural” ends of the world and how soon might they happen?

3. What do you think, what scenario of the end of our civilization will be the fastest or the most brutal, taking into account only those that are influenced by humanity itself? Why?

 

Sources:

https://www.businessinsider.com/what-can-kill-planet-earth-2016-3?IR=T

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-14199-x?source=post_page-----fd59bb3d9a79----------------------

https://physics.aps.org/articles/v7/124

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/aug/31/greatest-threat-to-life-on-earth-may-come-from-space-asteroids-satellite-debris

https://astronomy.com/news/2021/05/how-will-life-on-earth-end

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150323-how-long-will-life-on-earth-last

Week 7 [14-20.06.2021] Old vs new cars

I want to introduce you to my point of view about classic and modern cars. There are as many opinions as there are cars. As for me classic cars are 100% better than modern vehicles. We all know that cars nowadays have a lot of electrical system which may be or may not be useful, in my opinion those systems make the driver lazy and not so much interested on what is going down on the road. But let's get to the few points about them both. 

One of the most popular topics to discuss is design, as we all can see new cars looks so much more futuristic that sometimes I don't know if it is a car or a spaceship. But if it comes to older cars they were designed with a character and were very unique. Now when I see cars it is really hard to say which car company it is, is it a KIA or is it a Ford, i don't sometimes know because they are very similar. Below i am posting few photos of older and new cars to compare for yourself about the design. One of them is a BMW which now is very controversial I don't know if the front is very appealing since it looks like i can take that grill from it and make a barbecue for my whole family. But of course it depends on your own taste. :) 

As I mentioned in the beginning modern cars make people lazy, we have so many support system that are meant to help us drive safe but is it that safe? Maybe systems that are designed not to crash or hit anyone, for example when pedestrian walks on a street or someone stop in front of us suddenly. Sure that thing is very helpful but what if it won't work since it is all electric and we are depending on a computer. In old cars drivers had to become better and better in driving because they don't have any support systems that is why people are paying more attention to the road. Let us take us on a highway, in all new cars we have a cruise control, so while we are on a highway we press a button and our car drive with a constant speed of let's say 120 km/h so we do not have to press any pedals. I think that is a terrible thing since it is really boring and can make a driver fall asleep behind a wheel. On the other hand all those point depends on a driver. I always have one question, what would someone who drives a automatic new car daily have to drive old manual car without any systems. :D 

There are a lot of points that we can discuss like:

- price older cars were much cheaper and affordable for a normal person who does not make millions a  year,

- headlights, have you noticed while driving at night on the street that you got blinded very often? Now cars have xenon lights which might be sometimes installed improperly and cause a lot of inconvenience for drivers in front of you,

- driving experience old cars are about the driver and their experience on the road, giving them a little thrill and fun on the road,

- maintenance, in modern cars if something breaks it costs us a lot of money and mostly we have to give a car to a mechanic because we are not able to do anything since it is all electronics and needs programs that are made for this kind of repairs.

As w talk about older cars there are a lot of them that are very rare and interesting which are a candy for an eye to look at when they got seen on the street, below i am posting few photos of them. It is fun to see or drive a car like this because they are very unique comparing to the new cars that we see everyday on the streets. 

Toyota Supra 

Nissan Skyline

and a cheaper one but very cute Maza Miata MX 5

Here is an addition youtube video with a Miata race: 

Questions:

1. Which cars do you prefer older ones or modern?

2. What to you think about assistance systems in new cars?

3. If you would pick a car for yourself (your dream car)?

Sources:

https://www.lelandwest.com/blog/listing.asp?2016/12/10-reasons-why-classic-cars-are-better-than-modern-ones

https://www.footmanjames.co.uk/blog/classic-car-vs-modern-car

Week 6 [ 31.05-06.06.2021] Coding challenges

Coding Challenges

https://codecondo.com/coding-challenges/5-coding-challenges-to-help-you-train-your-brain/

Overview

    Every man who does sport professionally or takes seriously his sport-related hobby goes to the gym to keep his body in shape and good condition. The same rules apply to programmers. It is highly recommended to solve puzzles and work with algorithms to keep your brain in great shape. One of the great and fun activities that provide all of that is coding challenges.

    

https://insights.dice.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Code-Coding-Challenge-Senior-Developer-Dice.png 

    Solving algorithm problems leads to several benefits. First of all, we will have better problem-solving skills. In the future, this skill provides a possibility to transform some tricky and complicated problems into easy and understandable solutions in a small amount of time. Another benefit would be in-depth language understanding. Some problems are really easy to solve if we know the specific properties of the programming language. For example, using python modules as singletons. Someone can say that this can lead to problems while testing or harder bug diagnosis but there are a lot of cases when it's best and most easy to implement the solution this way. For someone else, the biggest advantage of investing time in programming puzzles is fact that many companies use it for tests in the hiring process. So if your experience in these tasks is higher you have better chances to shine at a job interview. 

    

https://skillvalue.com/en/blog/tech-skills/coding-challenges-land-your-dream-job/

Where can we practice?

    There are a lot of websites that provide such possibilities. I will mention 3 of them I mainly use.

• https://www.codewars.com/

"Codewars is a platform that helps you learn, train, and improve your coding skills by solving programming tasks of many types and difficulty levels." 

This quote comes from Codewars main page and basically describes whats that portal is about. This platform is the one I use the most. The overall experience is great, You can compare your solutions with other users, write unit tests for your own cases, or just practice. While You solve more complicated problems you can get more points and increase your account level. It can be motivating for some people. The only con I can find is the lack of problems that point to real-world scenarios.

• https://leetcode.com 

This portal is highly oriented on job interviews and to be honest many of the puzzles available at this portal are used in hiring processes. The biggest con for me is the lack of some functionalities in a free account.

• https://www.hackerrank.com 

https://www.hackerrank.com

The image above comes from Hackerrank portal and describes it perfectly. This page is used by developers and also by hiring companies. It's really possible that the task that you practiced will be used at the interview.

    We can read on many forums that it is really often case when a senior developer refuses to take a coding challenge because it's "too trivial for him". To be honest I've never heard such a silly thesis. In my opinion many of senior developer don't practice as much as when they where starting and they are just not sure if the will manage to complete puzzle ;) I know from myself that many algorithms I knew from studies are hidden far away in my brain. Many challenges push me to open old articles and books and refresh my knowledge. It's really possible that junior dev gonna solve some puzzles faster than senior because his algorithm knowledge is fresher. If you don't have time to solve this kind of challenge just be honest about it, don't put in conversation phrases like "easy", "trivial" etc. 

    If You are a programmer and never had the possibility to use this kind of portal I really encourage You to try to solve this puzzle for example: 

https://www.codewars.com/kata/5672682212c8ecf83e000050 

It's a medium-level puzzle, which pushes You to choose an efficient solution and use optimization techniques.

1. Do You ever hear about coding challenges? What Do You think about it?
2. Are You programming? If yes, did You tried the puzzle I've proposed? If no, Do You plan to learn to program?
3. What do You think about portals mentioned in articles?

 

Sources:

https://codecondo.com/coding-challenges/5-coding-challenges-to-help-you-train-your-brain/

https://insights.dice.com/2019/07/03/senior-developers-refuse-interview-coding-challenges/

https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-10-most-popular-coding-challenge-websites-of-2016-fb8a5672d22f/

https://geekflare.com/coding-challenges-to-sharpen-thinking/

Week 6 [ 31.05-06.06.2021] Benefits of herbal medicine

As people who live in times of constant technological development, we are eager to move to big cities in search of great experiences, fascinated by the fast pace of life and enchanted by the gorgeous views from skyscrapers. We do not think about less important matters. Only continuous development matters. If necessary, we know that we can easily take advantage of various amenities. One of such facilities is public health care. Another convenience, thanks to the development of medicine, is the availability of all kinds of drugs and supplements. Due to the incessant race, we often forget about things as simple and accessible as, for example, natural medicine. The gifts of nature in the form of herbs are a valuable treasure that we had been using for years, but unfortunately, we do not use it so often recently.

https://pixabay.com/pl/photos/zio%C5%82a-naturalnych-farmaceutyczny-906140/

Herbal medicine is nothing different but a reasonable use of the healing properties of plant extracts. Herbs help to fight chronic diseases, food poisoning, stomach pains, headaches, and sore throats. Herbal medicine supports our immune system and helps people who suffer from nervous disorders. Interestingly, some herbal brews also help with such ailments as nosebleeds, fever, hormonal imbalances, or even bad breath.  They can also be used in the form of compresses for rheumatic ailments, burns or acne. You can make brews out of many herbs even out of such plants as plantain or mistletoe. I can recommend you highly fennel tea for stomach aches, white mulberry brew to lower blood sugar levels and rosemary tea which has antibacterial and antifungal effects comparable even to some antibiotics.

You need to remember that certain herbs can cause strong effects on your body, and it is best to use them as prescribed by your doctor. I have experienced some strong effects of herbs myself. I once bought Ashwagandha in powder form. Ashwagandha is a plant extract with many health benefits, especially those connected with stress relief. The recommended dose on the package was as much as 3 teaspoons (which NOTE is a quite large dose, especially for the first use). One morning, after taking the Ashwagandha extract for the first time, I went to work. After half an hour, I felt my heart rate drop significantly and I became so incredibly sleepy that I had to put my head on the desk. In addition, I felt a slight stomachache. Fortunately, the symptoms passed within half an hour. This situation presents how powerful herbs can be and that you have to be careful when using them. I have been using ashwagandha since then - of course in reasonable amounts and I must admit that I am satisfied with the results.

Synthetic drugs, commonly available in pharmacies, often have many side effects. Herbal medicine on the other hand, when used responsibly, does not cause any side effects, but provides advantages only. We feel the best in natural environment, and we should more often make use out of what it offers.

https://pixabay.com/pl/photos/herbata-pi%C4%87-%D1%84%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%87%D0%B0%D0%B9-zio%C5%82owe-3673714/

Below I attached two short videos: the first about the History of Herbal Medicine and the second about Ashwagandha:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8SHvgM1bMc

https://www.bbc.co.uk/reel/video/p094qx83/is-ashwagandha-the-new-super-herb-

 

Questions:

1.      Did you have any experience with herbal medicine? If yes, how did you feel about it? Did it work for you?

2.      If you feel sick, do you use painkillers right away or are you looking for other solutions first?

3.      What is your favorite kind of tea/herbal brew if you have any?

 

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o53_csOQI6M

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jhprs

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zwkm97h/revision/3

Week 5 [17-23.05.2021] Benefits of keeping a houseplant

From health benefits to enhancing the overall appearance of space – reasons to have an indoor plants in house are plenty. Not only do plants create ‘like home’ feeling, but also they are able to boost your mood, reduce stress level and support the healing process.

Why do we need them?

First of all, they just look good. Plants can rapidly increase the property value. They can breathe life into any room by giving the sense of final decor touch. Some of the varieties have the ability to release delicate scent, which can’t be compered to any artificial air refreshers. Adding some green plants is a simple hack, commonly used in home rental or sales process to make potential buyers more at home.

Reducing stress and anxiety level. Spending time in nature has been proven to relive stress, relax and rejuvenate both body and mind. Plants also have the ability to purify the air, which has overall positive effects on health. To ease anxiety and fight insomnia, try lavender. It’s commonly seen in essential oils and candles scents, but keeping it as a plant could also work. If you are an enthusiast of herbal infusions you can also try lemon balm to calm nerves.

More benefits of houseplants:

• Boost creativity and productivity.

• Better mood during winter.

• Increased quality of sleep.

• Taking care of houseplant can be therapeutic.

 

When it comes to taking care of plant, it almost seems that some of us are just born with green thumb. Others believe that they can kill a cactus. The hesitation behind becoming a plant parent and buying first plant is totally understandable. But fear not! Recommendations for aspiring plant parents with short descriptions below:

 

Monstera    

Or so called ‘trendy plant, which can be seen almost everywhere.’

This tropical, evergeen beauty is famous for it’s characteristic leaf-holes. 

Monstera thrives in indirect, bright to medium light, needs watering every 1-2 weeks and prefers humid conditions.

 https://www.pexels.com/pl-pl/zdjecie/zielona-roslina-w-bialym-garnku-5858235/

 

 

Snake plant

 Also known as ‘Mother-in-Law’s Tongue’ or Sanseveria is one of the easiest to take care of plants. Very forgiving but dosen’t like too much water or soggy soil (which can lead to root rot). 

Prefers bright, indirect light. Just remember to protect this plant from drafty windows during winter.

 https://www.pexels.com/pl-pl/zdjecie/zdjecie-green-snake-house-plant-2123482/

 

 

 

Peace Lily

Another easy to go houseplant. This lovely, popular plant choice, not only brights up the space,

but also clears air. Enjoys medium to low light and tolerates underwatering over overwatering. To chceck if your peace lily needs watering, just touch the soil once a week and check it its dry or still damp. 

 https://zielony-parapet.pl/blog/skrzydlokwiat-kwiaty-domowe-oczyszczajace-powietrze

 

 

 

Are you a plant parent? Do you have any plant at home or want to have? If so, do you enjoy taking care of your plants?

Do you enjoy spending time in nature?

Do you agree that nowadays people started to 'treat their plants as pets and pets as children'?

 

Sources:

https://www.struttandparker.com/knowledge-and-research/5-surprising-health-benefits-of-having-plants-in-your-home

https://www.thesill.com/blogs/care-miscellaneous/why-you-need-plants-in-your-life

https://www.bhg.com.au/indoor-plants-best-house-plants

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbes-personal-shopper/2021/01/08/best-indoor-plants-best-house-plants/

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/gardening/advice/g1285/hard-to-kill-plants/

https://www.thesill.com/blogs/plants-101/how-to-care-for-monstera-monstera-deliciosa

https://www.almanac.com/plant/snake-plants

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/houseplants/peace-lily/peace-lily-plants.htm

 

 

Week 5 [17-23.05.2021] Are Electric Cars Really Greener

 

Over the last few years, we have seen huge pressure from governments and society to change from traditional combustion vehicles to fully electric ones or at least hybrid for ecological reasons. In this article, I would like to present less obvious information about the production of electric cars and a comparison of the ecological aspects of traditional combustion cars to fully electric cars.

The first point is the process of manufacturing the car. The first car is the one with an internal combustion engine. The "cost" of producing a car with an internal combustion engine is about 10 tons of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere. It is a very high value of this gas, but unfortunately it is much lower than in the case of electric cars. This is primarily related to the batteries necessary in electric cars, additional cost in the case of a small electric car is about 5/10 tons of CO2, while in the case of large electric cars such as e.g. Tesla Model S is up to 20 tons of CO2 with the largest version of the battery. This value is three times higher than in the case of an average car with an internal combustion engine.

Another issue is CO2 emissions during the operation of the car. For example, an Opel Corsa with a 130 HP internal combustion engine emits about 136g of CO2 per 1km, while an electric car of the same manufacturer with similar power officially emits 0 CO2. Unfortunately, we have to take into account how electricity is produced in a given country, so for example in Poland it is mainly coal power plants which also emits CO2 where, calculated (in the source) it gives us about 110 g per 1 km. The situation is much better in the case of countries where energy is based on renewable energy sources. Another aspect of ecology in the production of these electric cars is the fact that electric batteries are made of a large amount of minerals such as cadmium, lithium and nickel. These raw materials are very harmful to the environment, they are also difficult to dispose of because their reuse or regeneration is not profitable.

A big problem that is not discussed yet is the question of the durability of these batteries. Manufacturers guarantee a battery life of up to about 160,000 km or 8 years. In the event that this time or mileage limit ends, the replacement is unprofitable due to the price of the battery, which is often not much less than the value of the entire car. In addition, in the event of a collision in which the battery has been damaged, the car cannot be repaired and is completely scrapped or the entire battery has been replaced (remember about CO2 emissions in the production of batteries). Norway is a good example, where 54% of new cars are fully electric. It turns out that even with the smallest bumps, cars are scrapped due to the unprofitable repair or the inability to repair it. As a result, scrap yards in Norway are flooded with new cars.

The last thing I want to discuss here is the air condition in Poland and what percentage of this phenomenon is caused by cars. Every year in Poland smog kills many people, but what percentage of air pollution is caused by cars. According to the NIK report from 2018, pollution in Poland caused by cars is only 6%. It turns out that the greatest percentage of the tragic air quality is caused by households which cause 82% to 92% of smog (poor quality of fuel burned in stoves and outdated technology of stoves). They go back to pollution caused by cars. From these 6%, we can distinguish three main sources of pollution, of which as much as 80% is secondary dust, i.e. road dust that is carried by all cars, including electric ones, while 13% is abrasion of tires and brakes. . Only 7% of air pollutants caused by cars are exhaust fumes. This means that car exhaust fumes are responsible for only 0.5% of air pollution in Poland.

Questions:

1.       Did you know that electric cars are not so green?

2.       Do you prefer electric cars or internal combustion car?

3.       What fuel can be better for cars if not electricity?

 

Sources:

https://www.nik.gov.pl/plik/id,7764,vp,9732.pdf

https://youmatter.world/en/are-electric-cars-eco-friendly-and-zero-emission-vehicles-26440/

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/02/climate/electric-vehicles-environment.html

https://e.autokult.pl/35416,blisko-100-tys-zl-za-akumulatory-w-autach-elektrycznych-wysoka-cena-ratowania-swiata

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYkQDLJMSu8&ab_channel=Ca%C5%82aPrawda