How to prevent time travelers from killing Hitler?

How to prevent time travelers from killing Hitler?

You will need:

1)    1)  A time machine

2)    2) A laptop

3)    3)  Computer knowledge or someone with computer knowledge

4)    4)  History knowledge

5)    5)  Money

Estimated time: depends on your skills

1.     1. Find a time machine. You are most likely to find one at the museum of future technology. Maybe you will have to pay to use it.

2.      2. Check out the time machine and look for the “date changing“ option.

3.   3. Set the date on the time machine back to the time when Hitler lived.

4.    4. Take out your laptop and connect it to the time machine via WiFi.

5.     5. Use your laptop to hack into the time machine's system.

6.   6.  If you do not know how to hack into a system call a friend or someone who knows how to do it.

7.   7. Once you have hacked into the system, read all the encrypted codes from the previous time travelers such as the time they went back to, their intentions, what they changed and when they returned.

8.      8. Gather all the data and create a computer program of your own.

 

9.     9. Make sure that the computer program also includes the time span from when Hitler was born until his death. Again, if you do not know when Hitler was born and died, google it or find someone who is familiar with Hitler’s biography.

10. 10. Turn the computer program into a virus. If you do not know how to do that, call someone who has some sort of computer knowledge.

11.   11. Configure the virus so that it can prevent all future time travelers from travelling to any point in time during Hitler’s life.

12. 12.  Connect to the global time travelers’ network and send out the virus to all time machines. If you do not have an account, please sign up. Do not worry, it is free of charges.

13. 13.  Congratulations, you managed to stop every future time traveler from traveling back in time and killing Hitler.

(330 words)

CAJ #4 - Introducing graphene video

While googling my CAJ I came across really interesting uses of graphene that I would like to share with you. However, before I do so, we should repeat what we have learned so far. Since YouTube is a great source for visual learning I typed “graphene” into the search bar and looked for some videos that could help me and you to understand what graphene is all about and how it was discovered. Below is a really amazing video that explains in just two and a half minutes what I have written about so far. Take a look at it. You will not regret it, believe me. Even my brother liked it and that means something since he is usually not so interested in the things I do for university.

XOXO A.

CAJ 3 - How was graphene discovered?

Phillip R. Wallace was the first to study graphene. In 1947 he studied graphene as a limiting case for theoretical work on graphite. The earliest TEM (transmission electron microscope) images of few-layer graphite were published by G. Ruess and F. Vogt in 1948.

Gordon Walter Semenoff, David P. DeVincenzo and Eugene J. Mele discovered in 1984 that the electric current could be theoretically carried by effectively massless charge carries in graphene.

S. Mouras is the first to mention the name graphene in 1987.

In 2004 graphene crystals were first isolated by two University of Manchester scientists, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov.

(Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov)

Geim and Novoselov were trying to make graphite as thin as possible using lab equipment. They were struggling for months as they could not  make it thinner than 10,000 layers. After their work the lab surfaces were often covered in graphite and they would use scotch tape to clean it. Most of the time they would just look at the scotch tape to see what was happening to the graphite but would then throw in into the trash can. One day, instead of throwing it away, they decided to look at it under the microscope. They saw transparent pieces of graphite – graphene.

It is a true miracle that Geim and Novoselov continued their research on graphene because they wanted to give up on it since they overheard that other scientist at the university also use Scotch tape to clean graphite before putting it under the lens.

(a TEM image of the porous graphene)

The two scientists were first very surprised by their discovery because their physics intuition told them that this material should not exist since we live in a 3D world and graphene is a 2D material. However, they found a way of transferring the ultra-thin flakes of graphene from Scotch tape to a silicon wafer. After succeeding, they were able to examine the electrical properties of graphene.

Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov were awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in physics for their work and experiments regarding graphene. They continue to research graphene and other related two dimensional crystal materials.

The Nobel committee was not just blown away by the discovery the two scientist had made but also by the way they did it. The playfulness the two scientists showed while experimenting with graphite was the key to their success. “A playful idea is perfect to start things but then you need a really good scientific intuition that your playful experiment will lead to something, or it will stay as a joke for ever,” Novoselov says. Geim is known in the scientific community for his playful experiments. In 1997 he levitated a frog to demonstrate his work in magnetism.

XOXO A.

P.S. Many great discoveries that changed the world were accidental. It seems that sometimes the only thing standing in the way of a great discovery is a little bit of luck.

Isaac Newton was supposedly sitting in his garden when he discovered gravity. He saw an apple fall straight down from a tree. He wondered why they apple never falls upwards or off to a side. Newton soon discovered that all things fall straight down and that there is an attractive force pulling them down. Twenty years after that the published his theory of gravity.

In 1927 Fleming was experimenting with the properties of staphylococci. Before leaving his laboratory in August for holiday with his family, he had stacked all his cultures of staphylococci on a bench in a corner. After he returned, he noticed that one culture was contaminated with a fungus, and that the colonies of staphylococci immediately surrounding the fungus had been destroyed. Other staphylococci colonies farther away were normal. Fleming then grew the fungus in a pure culture and found that it produced a substance that killed a number of disease-causing bacteria. He identified the mold as being from the Penicillium genus, hence calling it penicillin. 

CAJ #2 - Difference between graphine and graphite

Graphene! What comes first to your mind? Did you, just like me, think that graphene is the material used in pencils? If you did, you were wrong. The central core of a pencil is called graphite. Graphite is a mineral that naturally occurs in metamorphic rock in different continents of the world. It contains two layers of carbon sheets and each layer contains very strong bonds. The layers of graphite are able to slide across each other. Graphite's abillity to conduct electricity and heat well makes it an outstanding material. Graphite can be found in pencils, batteries, brake linings, refractories and many other products.

Graphene is extracted from graphite. It is entirely composed of carbon atoms forming only one single layer of graphite. The two-dimensional crystal in only an atom thick. No material is thinner than an atom because if it were, it would not count as a material anymore. This means that graphene is one of the lightest and thinnest materials in the world. A square meter of graphene is a thousand times thinner than paper. Furthermore, graphene is one of the strongest materials known to mankind. It is about 200 times stronger but six times lighter than steel. A single sheet weighing only 0.77 milligrams can support a 4kg cat. Another astonishing property of graphene is that although it is only one atom thick, it is visible with the bare eye.

Graphene is almost entirely transparent. It is impermeable to gasses, even those as light as hydrogen or helium. Graphene is often called „the most diverse material known to mankind“ because of its many properties that are only exploited when graphene is combined with other materials, including gases, metals, and sources of carbon. Chemical components can be added to its surface to alter its properties. 

For a long time copper and silicon have been considered one of the best conductors of heat and electricity. However, the discovery of graphene showed otherwise. Graphene conducts electricty a thousand times better than copper. In comparison to silicon, graphene is better bacause it is highly flexible, not brittle and conducts electricity much more efficiently. 

XOXO A.

#CAJ1 - Graphene and other super materials...

“Graphene and other super materials“ is my CAJ topic. The list we could choose from contained various interesting topics but I chose this one because I wanted to know more about graphene and how it could possibly change the world we live in. Before doing research I did not know much about graphene. I knew that it was one of the three naturally occurring allotropes of carbon, and thought that graphene is the material used in pencils. However, while doing research I discovered that graphene and graphite are two different things and are not to be confused. You will be able to find out more information about graphene and graphite in my blog posts. In the posts that are to follow I will also write general information about graphene, how it was discovered, how it could change the world, what green technology has to do with graphene and much more. I will also try to incorporate videos and pictures to help you visualize what I am writing about. No one can really predict how graphene will influence our future but it is sure that its possibilities are endless. I will not only focus on graphene but will also try to introduce you to other super materials such as stanene. I hope that you will learn something new by reading my blog posts and realize what a great and significant discovery graphene really is.  

XOXO A.

House of horror

Prior to entering the “house of horror“, as the neighbors have been calling it since the recent discovery, police officers had no idea what was awaiting them. At first glance, the house seemed like every other in the neighborhood, a swing hanging on an oak tree in the garden and a flower path leading to the entrance door of a small family house in Lancashir, Great Britain. However, the inside was not as picturesque as the outside. The smell of a rotten corpse hit the police officers as they opened the door, making them want to vomit. The wooden floors were completely covered in animal feces and leftovers. Dogs and ferrets were moving around freely. In a room covered in trash, in the back of the house, a 4-year-old was lying on a dirty mattress. 

(135 words)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2596730/Mum-jailed-child-neglect-seriously-ill-son-4-living-home-absolute-squalor-crammed-TWENTY-uncaged-ferrets-FOURTEEN-dogs.html

PSA After-Death Avatars

After-death avatars cannot bring back your loved ones nor can they replace them. Software will never be able to think, speak or act like your loved one would. Do not get fooled by them. If you are having a hard time dealing with the death of a family member or friend, seek professional help.

Say no to after-death avatars.

(59 words)

"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough." Mae West

Reflection on Pecha Kucha

It feels like Pecha Kucha was ages ago, but in reality it was just before Christmas. We were working on many projects this semester and had to write a lot of homework. Since we are getting close to the end of the winter semester, it is time to look back at what we have done. One of our biggest projects was the Pecha Kucha project. Pecha Kucha what? Pecha Kucha is a presentation style in which 20 slides are shown for 20 seconds each (six minutes and 40 seconds in total).

When Frank told us to research it for homework I had no idea what it was. I read through some blog posts and articles, but did not give it much thought until Frank told us that we will have to do a presentation like this ourselves! I thought he was joking. I do not know what to tell you. Usually I cannot wait to do a presentation, but that was not the case with Pecha Kucha. First, we got a partner for our project. Mine was Katharina and we got along well. Then, we were supposed to choose a topic. The topics were actually really interesting. Mine was the Maltese language. I loved my topic. When I was on Malta in 2011 I thought I would understand what they are talking because I assumed that the language is similar to Italian, which I speak a little. The truth is, I did not understand a single word because it is nothing like spoken Italian. When I was given the chance to do research on Maltese I was really excited. I learned that Maltese is the only Semitic language written with Latin letters. While preserving its Arabic roots, it the course of its history, Maltese pronunciation and words has been subject to strong influence from Italian and, more recently, English. Maltese, as well as English are the official languages in Malta.

My peers had also good topics for their presentations. Laura and Andrina talked about the Slovenian, and Harald and Orsy about the Hungarian language in Austria. Another cool topic was bilingual schools in Austria. If I would have to judge Pecha Kucha on the topics I listened to, I would say that it was an awesome project and that I would love to do it again, but that is not the case. Honesty is the best policy, right? I hated Pecha Kucha. I hated the way I had to present my topic. I think that every single topic we had to do was fun and that we could have learned so much from the presentation, but it was not like that. In my opinion, the whole learning process got lost in the nervousness of presenting. I know how I felt, at least. I was really under stress because of it. It is not easy to have to present one slide in exactly 20 seconds. When practicing I was either too slow or too fast, or I could not remember my lines. I was also nervous because I did not know whether our videos are going to work or not. On presentation day, at least I think so; I and my partner lost it. She was too slow and talked into my slide, and then I had to be super-fast to catch up and stay within the 20 seconds. Whenever I would catch up she would again be too slow. On one slide I could not remember my lines so I had to leave out a sentence or two. I could not wait for the presentation to be over, honestly.

I never ever want to do a Pecha Kucha presentation again. It was no fun to me, on the contrary my heart started racing, my hands started sweating and a total chaos was in my head. I really love doing presentations; it is one of my favorite parts of class. For instance the last year’s Culture Project was one of my highlights from my first year in university. I really enjoyed doing that presentation. Everyone was so relaxed and looking forward to presenting something they have been working on for weeks. Though we had a limited time there as well, the pressure was not that big. If I would ever get the chance to do either Pecha Kucha or Culture Project again, my answer would be the latter. Maybe my peers liked my Maltese presentation, maybe they did not, I do not know since we did not get any feedback. What I do know, however, is that I am not satisfied with the way I presented it. I hope you guys are satisfied with how you presented your presentation and that you had more fun doing it.

XOXO A.

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone" :)

Europe is a state of mind: Is Croatia there yet?

On July 1st 2013 Croatia became the 28th country to join the European Union. It was the end of a long road that Croatia has been on for over a decade. Even though Croatia had to make many reforms to be able to become a member state, certain countries argue that Croatia was ready to join. Europe is a state of mind, being part of the Europe Union needs to be felt as a privilege by every Croatian citizen. Also, it is important to embrace differences between cultures and people and respect them. Lately Croatia has been struggling with the latter. LGBT and minority rights have been in the focus of the Croatian public in the last months. The implementation of the Cyrillic alphabet on signs of state institutions in Vukovar brought up the ghosts of history. Vukovar, a city completely devastated by war, after it underwent a three month long occupation by the Serbs, feels as if it is not ready to accept the Cyrillic alphabet, which is the alphabet of the Serbian language. The people of Croatia decided on a referendum that was conducted on Sunday that marriage is a bond between a man and a woman and as such should be written down in the constitution. What does that tell us about Croatia respecting the rights of homosexuals and minorities? Another important issue is corruption on all levels. Though reducing corruption rates was one of the requirements on joining the Union, tremendous progress has not been made. All these examples lead us to the question whether Croatia has left its past behind or is it still affecting its present and future? The aim of this academic paper is to bring closer the Croatian culture to other people, to explain why Croatians are behaving the way they are and how that is affecting their progress as a country. I hold this topic very dear to my heart because I am Croatian and because I sometimes feel ashamed of how my fellow citizens are behaving, but on the other hand I can see why that is so. Many people dealt with this problem before me and have published papers on it so finding the sources for it should not be a problem. All in all, I think that this is an important topic since it can give the reader a different perspective on the youngest EU member and its struggle to become a true European state.

"Croatia is an amazing place" Jean Reno

XOXO A.

The European Dream

Have you ever thought about the hardships that African migrants face in Europe? The majority of them come to Europe looking for a better life without having any idea what is really out there. Their dreams and hopes are shattered once they step on European ground. Our reporters interviewed a group of migrants who were willing to share their stories.

Mopi and Emmanuel are African migrants. Both were educated as draughtsman in their home countries, but they are unable to find a job in Europe in that area because they are not educated well enough for European standards. After arriving in Europe, they were faced with many obstacles, such as having no place to live. In order to earn some money and get back on their feet they started parking cars. They usually earn four to five Euros per day, on good days even six. Most of the time, their first meal of the day comes after work. Their friends in Africa think they have money now that they are in Europe and are feel let down by at them for not sending some anything home. Emmanuel on the other hand says that people expect too much from immigrating to Europe and recommends everyone who is doing well in Africa to stay there because of the hardships they might face in Europe.

Another impressive story is about Sylvia from Uganda. She has been living in Amsterdam for 15 years, constantly facing housing problems. She moves like an outcast from one place to another. Even after she obtained her legal papers, she could not find a permanent stay. She says, “When people come to Europe, they think they will pick up money like mangos from trees, but reality is, of course, different”. When people from Africa have problems, they do not have anyone to ask for help, and when they do, it does not mean that someone is going to help them. “We grew up knowing that any person is a sister or a brother, but in Europe no one wants to help you”, Sylvia’s words cut to the heart. The issue is that it is illegal to rent a house to people without papers in Holland. Moreover, when Sylvia was broke and could not pay for the rent, her landlady implied that she should sell her body in order to earn money. After her refusal she was kicked out of the house without any of her belongings. These are the real challenges which people from Africa face every day. After this situation Sylvia wanted to commit suicide. She went to a lake with her little Bible, she was thinking and crying, but then she heard a barking dog. She supposed the owner of the dog must be near, and if he sees her, he will take her to the police and she will be deported. Why do you think people from Africa do not want to be deported? The truth is because it is embarrassing to return home without any savings and without having accomplished anything. Fortunately, Sylvia overcame her crisis and became a stronger person. Now she has a daughter and is looking to the future with confidence.

The new coming migrants are astounded by some peculiarities of European culture, where being broke means there is no use in expecting any help from other people. For example, when a street singer came to a so-called “friend” of his, he was never invited into his house, even though they knew each other very well. Back home people are more open-minded to welcoming friends into their homes. From his point of view Europeans are selfish and too self-concerned. The same conclusion was drawn by an African reporter who claims that people in Denmark are concerned with petty issues, like providing passports for their animals and the amount of money they cost. However, there are of course examples of relatively successful migrants, such as professional football players. Abu did not only make it to the main squad of FC Utrecht, he is now about to open a football Academy in Uganda, which will allow to enrich European football with talented African players. This proves that African migrants, once being accepted can provide a valid contribution to society, not only sell their bodies and park cars.

To sum up, we all want to be happy and we all deserve a better life. However, is it possible for migrants from Africa to find their happiness, is it in their own hands or is Europe being too selfish to respond to this burning issue in modern society?

My five EU topics!

Hi guys!!

I am BACK! Sumer is over(unfortunately) and I am back to serious business. This blog post is mandatory and the topic is already given so I will not be able to write to you about my summer adventures but I promise I will do so soon. Our task is to choose five topics connected to the EU. Out of those five we will have to choose one for our academic paper. I gave it some thought and these are the ideas I came up with.

1)The role of the EU in the Balkans (Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo)

The European Union has been considering elargement in the Balkans since at least the late 1990s. Slovenia joined it first in 2004. Croatia, my country, joined it on 1 July 2013 and the other ones are on its way, more or less. Since Croatia has been trying to join the EU for more than a decade I am really familiar with the EU and its politics in this region. I am also currently following the situation Serbia is in. 

2) The advantages and disadvantages of joining the EU

What does a country get with joining the EU?  What are the disadvantages of joining it? Fees? What about EU funds?

3) Is the Euro really the future of the EU?

Since the global economic crisis ht the EU in 2008 a common currency brought nothing but trouble to the EU. Maybe Greece would have been better off if they stayed with their drachme. Countries like Spain and Italy requested bailouts. Those countries are too important to the European economy to just let them go bankrupt. For instance Italy, the fourth-largest in Europe and the tenth-largest economy in the world.

4) Why Iceland does not want to join the EU anymore?

For a long time Iceland wanted to join the EU and then suddenly the Government of Iceland has announced it will suspend its application to join the European Union. Why? What happened in Iceland that they decided not to join the EU? I want to take a better look at the reasons why Iceland refused to join the EU.

5) Neo-Nazi parties on the rise in the EU

Neo-Nazi parties are on the rise in the EU again. More and more people in the countries across Europe are protesting about the EU migration policies. They feel as if the immigrants are taking away their jobs and are trying to take over their countries. Also since terrorism has become more and more so, many people are scared that immigrants are going to terrorize their country. Many Neo-Nazi parties are growing in support among the people such the Golden Dawn in Greece, the NPD in Germany or the Front National in France. I think that this topics would be really interesting to research as we all know what happened during the rise of the Nazis in Germany in the 1940s. 

XOXO A.

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."  Martin Luther King, Jr.