What a man!

“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.” – Charles Darwin

One of my favourite scientists is Charles Darwin. He lived from 1809 – 1882 and has made huge achievements in the evolutionary biology, with the Evolutionary Theory, which made him one of the most distinguished natural scientists of all times.

In school he wasn’t one of the outstanding brains – a rather a little less than average student but he was always somehow connected to science. His grandfather Erasmus Darwin already wrote a book in which he didn’t foreclose a relationship between the different types of animals. The book though was forbidden by the Catholic Church.

After finishing school Charles Darwin started studying medicine but stopped it fairly quickly due to his antipathy of dissection and the cruel operational methods. His concerned father enrolled him in the theology studies instead. Charles Darwin followed his father’s wishes but was mainly interested in the biology courses which were at that time still part of the theology studies.

Let’s build a Team!

By definition a team is a union of several people who gather together to achieve a certain goal. In contrast to members of a group the members of a team share with complementary skills. Due to that do the members of a team get in dependence of another.  The group (eg. the staff in a company) could be further categorised in a formal group with a certain hierarchy (the CEO is the official or formal leader), a structure (the shift times and outlines of the goals to be achieved in the future), a stated purpose (e.g. increase sales) and of course a set of written laws and rules.

But on the other hand, the in my eyes more interesting groups that arise are the informal groups. Because we have needs beyond the work itself, informal groups develop to fill certain emotional, social and psychological needs. People get together who find each other interesting and can easily relate to. The new build informal group satisfies one’s affiliation needs for friendship and support.

A Good Turn!

Yesterday whilst babysitting I watched a very interesting report on BBC about the “Bomb detector” which was sold for millions of pounds to the IRAQI government. The inventor is the British man Jim McCormick. In the report it was investigated and confirmed by several scientists that the bomb detector doesn’t work at all! Jim McCormick refused talking to the journalists and hid instead in his million dollar farmhouse with horses and a porsche in front of it. The man has earned millions by purchasing the predicted “miracle instrument” to more than 20 countries.

ADE-651

The ADE-651 is said to detect bombs, drugs or other explosives, simply by pointing with the metal stick towards it in a range of 1km. But as scientists found out there is no way that this can be possible. You could achieve the same effect by putting a bended stick into a ruler and subconsciously you make it point towards the centre of your attention. The special chip card which is supposedly specifically modified is nothing more than the chip which is inserted into the goods in a shop to prevent theft. It is unbelievable that the creator Jim McCormick would sell something so useless and even dangerous since it lets the user believe to detect explosives for $60 000 per unit!

The Iraqi Government the biggest demander of the ADE-651 has already spent $85 millions on them. Unfortunately even though the results have been presented to the Iraqi government it still trusts in the effectiveness of the device.

General Jihad said ”We conducted several tests on them, and found them successful”.

On Friday the British government has set up a ban for exporting the “Bomb detector” to Iraq and Afghanistan. Sadly the government can’t forbid it to other countries as well because “that our legal power to control these goods is based on the risk that they could cause harm to UK and other friendly forces.“

On Saturday Jim McCormick was arrested on suspicion of fraud by misrepresentation.

Let’s get started

Why does the time always pass so quickly? It’s nearly the end of the semester again which means that the most stressful time can start again. Studying time. There are different types of people and different methods or strategies how to study in the most effective way. The early starter who is already finished a day before the actual exam and the late starter which doesn’t get much sleep the night before the exam and can’t talk to anyone in the train to the uni because he/she needs to memorise the last facts/ equations etc.

Here are some questions which might help you to get the timing right:

• How much material do you need to cover?
• How difficult is the material?
• How much time is available?
• Do you have any other priorities during the study period?
• What is the format of the exam?
• How important is the exam?
• What is your performance target for the exam?

I am rather the early starter because I have the problem that I can’t properly sleep the night before the exam when I studied before sleeping. I calculate the whole time or try to solve the questions whilst sleeping and can’t rest at all.

What type of study person are you? Have you got any suggestions?

Good luck everyone for the upcoming exams!

There is no winter – without that SPORT

The best sport ever

Well it’s wintertime which seems to be more obvious this time than I have ever experienced before. Snow everywhere as far one can see and there is no end coming in the next days or weeks I believe. We can already tick one ingredient for a perfect winter off the list. The minus degrees and the darkness are here as well but today I could finally cross another important one out – maybe even the most important one for me!

I had finally time to watch my beloved BIATHLON again For the ones of you who don’t share that interest of mine I will give you some details about that fascinating sport:

Biathlon has a very old history. 5000 years ago Norwegian hunters used their skis when hunting during the snowy winters. Later on the combination of skiing and shooting was used in the military and after the 2nd world war the sport was demiliterised and opened for the general public. In 1960 Biathlon was for the first time participated at the Olympic Games. The sport has been very popular in the Scandinavian countries and Russia and since the 1990s biathlon has gained much popularity Germany as well due to the good German athletes.

The key aspect which makes the sport so interesting for me is the combination of skiing (the ski touring skis are only 5cm wide) and shooting (the rifle is 3,5 – 6 kg heavy, and in each discipline the athletes have to hit the 500m away target, when lying down 45 millimeters diameter, standing up 115 millimeters). It is very difficult to predict who will win the race because one shoot can change everything due to the penalties for not hitting the target  (e.g an extra 150m in the penalty round or even 1 min penalty time on top of the actual!)