http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article6256509.ece
Summary:
An article on Google and it next step into the sky's. after Google's search engine and Google Earth it is now expanding it's horizons into the unknown. As city light pollutes the night sky's more and more it seems to be getting harder and harder for people to identify stars. let alone navigate by them. thus google comes up with an application that allows people to identify stars and planets. using GPS the phone's position is determined and by pointing their camera phones to the night sky the phone will automatically add tags to the image on the phone's screen. The software is called star-droid but some have already referred to it as google universe. astronomers hope that this software, which will be free of charge, will help to inspire and educate a new generation of star gazers. on a different google-note: The company has received criticism on several fronts over the last few months. It's street view function that was recently added to google earth and provides a 360 degree view of many UK city's has sparked privacy concerns and has been criticised as a potential tool for burglars. furthermore the London Times revealed how the company managed to avoid paying 110 milion pounds of tax in a single year.
Reaction:
I can truly be amassed by Google. Or maybe even more so the tecnological advancements of man kind. I can't quite beleve how fast these developements have occured over the last 200 years and even more so how they keep occuring and becomming more and more advanced every day. When google earth first came out I was very impressed indeed. However I must agree that I have my concerns when it comes to the privacy rights of the people with the street view application. as well as for myself whilst hanging out on my roof terrace over de last few extremely beautifull sunfilled days. I can also very much imagine burglars using the application as a tool to explore the streets for possible houses to break in to. Or let's say graffiti writers to pick out safe spots, but I'm not really concerned with this. I think you should always just make sure your house is not easy to break in to, becouse the risk has obviously always been there.
zondag 10 mei 2009
Swine flu: Pandemic 'would infect four in ten Britons'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/swine-flu/5237382/Swine-flu-Pandemic-would-infect-four-in-ten-Britons.html
Summary: This is an article on the hot topic of swine flu. It shows how many people are infected worldwide and what the epidemic could cause within the UK if it were to become a global pandemic. It shows us that travel companies have cancelled their flights to Mexico and advises people who have booked a flight there to contact their insurance in order to get their money back. The Ministry of Health says to have been prepared for situations like this for many years now and that Britain is one of the most well prepared countries in the world. In the governments worst case scenario it shows that if half the population were to attract pandemic flu there could be around 709.000 deaths occurring to it in the UK. More then 1,300 people contacted the NHS direct yesterday with swine flu-related complaints. 238 of whom were referred to their GP for treatment. The number of people taking the services on-line cold and flu self-assessment test has nearly tripled over the last few days.
Opinion: To be honest I am always quite concerned when a new potentially deadly flu breaks out in the world. The thing that scares me about it is the fact that these out breaking flu's are always new to us and therefore cures need yet to be found. Of course there are many diseases us humans can not cure yet, however these usually are not viruses that spread like flu and we can protect ourselves against them. In flu cases the entire world is basically under threat and if we do not arm ourselves against these cases by keeping victims in containment and so on it could mean a serious threat to many people or even worse mankind. I am not saying this would necessarily be a bad thing in the long run; for I am sure planet earth could use a break from us, but on the other hand I do not wish for an early death because of such an inconvenient thing happening to the world. Too much life is left to live for me.
Summary: This is an article on the hot topic of swine flu. It shows how many people are infected worldwide and what the epidemic could cause within the UK if it were to become a global pandemic. It shows us that travel companies have cancelled their flights to Mexico and advises people who have booked a flight there to contact their insurance in order to get their money back. The Ministry of Health says to have been prepared for situations like this for many years now and that Britain is one of the most well prepared countries in the world. In the governments worst case scenario it shows that if half the population were to attract pandemic flu there could be around 709.000 deaths occurring to it in the UK. More then 1,300 people contacted the NHS direct yesterday with swine flu-related complaints. 238 of whom were referred to their GP for treatment. The number of people taking the services on-line cold and flu self-assessment test has nearly tripled over the last few days.
Opinion: To be honest I am always quite concerned when a new potentially deadly flu breaks out in the world. The thing that scares me about it is the fact that these out breaking flu's are always new to us and therefore cures need yet to be found. Of course there are many diseases us humans can not cure yet, however these usually are not viruses that spread like flu and we can protect ourselves against them. In flu cases the entire world is basically under threat and if we do not arm ourselves against these cases by keeping victims in containment and so on it could mean a serious threat to many people or even worse mankind. I am not saying this would necessarily be a bad thing in the long run; for I am sure planet earth could use a break from us, but on the other hand I do not wish for an early death because of such an inconvenient thing happening to the world. Too much life is left to live for me.
The world's best job? No, thanks
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/sathnam_sanghera/article6180263.ece
Summary: Some time ago, I can actually remember reading this, there was a job opening being offered for what supposedly would be the worlds dream job. The idea was someone would get paid the ridiculous amount of 75.000 pounds for attending to an island. Basically feeding and swimming with turtles, picking up the islands post and living rent free in a three bedroom ocean front villa for six months. As a reaction to this offer some 35.000 people applied for the job. However the author of this article says he would not take the job even if they paid him so much money for it. The reason for this is, because it turns out this job is not such a dream job at all. There are a number of characteristics which make a job appealing to people. This job however has none of these characteristics working for it and therefore simply is not a dream job to anyone. Reading the article will explain to you why.
Oppinion: I could not agree more with the author of this acticle. Ofcourse it seemingly is anyones dream to have such a job, but in reality it probably isn't any fun at all. First of all you will be on this island all by yourself. Ofcourse there are people who are able to really enjoy this and just read books for six months. I, however, am not such a person and I do not think I would be able to handle this solitude for so long. Furthermore this job opening is just a PR stunt and in the jobspecifications it says you would have to give ongoing media interviews as well. Me, I am not up for this ever. I do not like being the centre of attention, and even more so, I do not like repeating myself a thousand times. Therefore I agree with the author and would not want the job. No wonder i have not applied for it.
Summary: Some time ago, I can actually remember reading this, there was a job opening being offered for what supposedly would be the worlds dream job. The idea was someone would get paid the ridiculous amount of 75.000 pounds for attending to an island. Basically feeding and swimming with turtles, picking up the islands post and living rent free in a three bedroom ocean front villa for six months. As a reaction to this offer some 35.000 people applied for the job. However the author of this article says he would not take the job even if they paid him so much money for it. The reason for this is, because it turns out this job is not such a dream job at all. There are a number of characteristics which make a job appealing to people. This job however has none of these characteristics working for it and therefore simply is not a dream job to anyone. Reading the article will explain to you why.
Oppinion: I could not agree more with the author of this acticle. Ofcourse it seemingly is anyones dream to have such a job, but in reality it probably isn't any fun at all. First of all you will be on this island all by yourself. Ofcourse there are people who are able to really enjoy this and just read books for six months. I, however, am not such a person and I do not think I would be able to handle this solitude for so long. Furthermore this job opening is just a PR stunt and in the jobspecifications it says you would have to give ongoing media interviews as well. Me, I am not up for this ever. I do not like being the centre of attention, and even more so, I do not like repeating myself a thousand times. Therefore I agree with the author and would not want the job. No wonder i have not applied for it.
Abonneren op:
Posts (Atom)
