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.

In 1831 Darwin’s life started to change dramatically. His former biology professor, John Stevens Henslow, suggested him as the scientific companion on the HMS Beagle which was a British ship which did surveys and charter duties for the British Navy. The following five years Charles Darwin spent on the HMS Beagle exploring the world.

When he returned he had not only a giant tortoise is in luggage but also lots of records, fossils and other findings which were the base of his famous publication “On the origin of species”. Until now it is still a controversial book because contradictory to the way of how the church described the development of the species, Charles Darwin states that it is due to the relationship of the animals in which due to natural selection only the Fittest one, the one which adapted the best to its environment, could survive and pass on its genetic information to the next generation.

That was only a short overview of the Darwin’s achievements but I believe that it is very difficult to express the complex biological terms in an easy manner. For further information I can highly recommend you the book “Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species” Last year we celebrated Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the release of “The Origin of Species”.

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.

An very fitting model for the development of informal groups was created by Mr Tuckman.
1st Stage (Forming): Everyone’s behaviour is driven by desire to be accepted and liked by the others and conflicts were avoided. It is a rather superficial level because serious issues and deeper conversations don’t arise.
2nd Stage (Storming): First problem start to bother the members of the group and they can’t stay unspoken anymore. Problems can be solved but it can also be possible that people leave the group in that stage.
3rd Stage (Norming): After a short period of reflection the members have a better understanding of another and values the other skills and experiences and know how to address the others. The group grows into an effective one and the cohesiveness increases.
4th Stage (Performing): The group can finally focus on their performance. The members of the group can trust each other and accept the new formed norms. All the interrupting issues are cleaned away.

Another important aspect of the informal group is that there isn’t a hierarchy. It is more that there is a rotational leadership. The leader emerges when he/she possesses qualities that the others don’t have. And if he/she don’t has them for the next topic anymore the leader changes.

One last point I read is that the leader of a group is most of the time the person “on the table” who talks the 2nd most. I have tried to listen to groups in my environment and I could see that as well. Keep your eyes and ears open, you might learn a lot

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.

Hopefully this can stop the Iraqi’s trust in the “bomb detector” and so safe the lives of people.

I still can’t believe how someone can be so selfish to sell a false detector and see how people get killed because of the trust in the device from time to time.

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!

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!)

There are 6 different disciplines:
Individual, Sprint, Pursuit, Mass Start, Relay and Mixed Relay.

Now a little bit about the athletes. Especially the German women’s team has been really successful in the recent years. In their current top team are Magdelena Neuner, Kati Wilhelm, Andrea Henkel, Simone Hauswald, Martina Beck, Kathrin Hitzer, Juliane Doell and Tina Bachmann.

My Favourite Female Magdalena Neuner

My favourite female athlete is Magdalena Neuner. She’s one of the younger ones in the team with only 22 years. She is the fastest German female and her major weakness is the shooting. Due to that her races are never boring and very often she can make up her bad shootings by running faster than the wind In 2007 she got the award “Best German Athlete (female)”
The German male squad isn’t unfortunately as successful. Members of the team are: Michael Greis, Andreas Birnbacher, Arnd Peiffer, Michael Rösch, Christoph Stephan, Andreas Birnbacher, Alexander Wolf, Daniel Böhm and Simon Schempp.

My favourite male athlete is from Norway and is called Ole Einar Björndalen. He won 5 gold medals, 3

My favo male Ole Einar Bjoerndalen

silver and 1 bronze at the Olympic Games, at the Biathlon races 33 medals, and 6 times the overall world cup. With 92 prizes in the weltcup in biathlon and cross-county skiing he is the most successfull winter athlete of all times. He is an absolute perfectionist and can stay calm and concentrated even in stressful situations at the shooting place. Today again he let all his competitors behind and gained the 1st position in mass start.

Next week the races take place in “Ruhpolding”, then “Antholz” and in February there are the Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada. There is still a lot to watch. Maybe you’ll get “infected” with the beautiful love for biathlon sport as well. Give it a chance and you won’t be disappointed. GUARANTEED!

Well Christmas 2009 is approaching the last presents need to be bought as well as the Christmas tree. Family members return home to celebrate this special occasion with their loving ones. Christmas Carols, fairy lights and delicious cookies everywhere!

My favourite carol is “Carol of the Bells” by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych in 1916. It is a four harmonious piece for 2 female and 2 male voices. He used a four note ostinato as the base.

So now you’ve got something to sing and now something to read:

At the moment I am reading “Driving Home” by Joern Morisse and Stephan Rehberger. It is made through lots of little stories describing children returning their parents’ home for Christmas. I haven’t finished it yet but so far I don’t like that it puts Christmas in a negative light. No one enjoys it and it seems as if it is a torture for everyone! I’ll recommend to read instead Charles Dickens’ “Christmas Carol“. It is about an old man who isn’t has no social relationship to anyone and hates Christmas. During the night he gets visits from four ghosts. They not only change his attitude towards Christmas but also his behaviour towards other people.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I’ll be back then with lots of interesting posts for you!

The Psychologists Robert Livingston and Nicolas Pearce did a study about the topic which facial features help black and white people to become successful, or the other way around, how do successful black and white leaders look like? Is there a trend, a difference or doesn’t it matter at all.

First of all they classified leaders which have the so-called “Babyface” : “Chubby cheeks, rounder face, smaller nose, larger forehead, fuller, pouty lips; ” The in my eyes very interesting fact they found out is that a “Babyface” is more common by black leaders than by white! But why?

Their explanation is that reaching the heights of corporate leadership, it appears that black men must look less maturefaced than white peers, or more “babyfaced”. (Unfortunately) blacks are still often noticed as threatening and therefore these “babyfaces” help them to gain trust by others and counteract negative stereotypes.

"Babyface?"

In contrast to that “babyfaces” among white leaders lead others rather to question their competence and strength.

Take a closer look at the managers you know, you’ll realise that there is truth is the study, or not?! What have you found out?

Yesterday I wanted to enter a club with some very special friends but the “not so friendly” security guy refused to let us in because we had a sip of drink in front of the club. I tried to convince him by telling him that it was my bday but it didn’t seem to matter to him at all! I tried to get in through another security without any luck. Then I said that I lived in Berlin and would tell everyone about that situation and to stay away from that club and there we went straight into the club! Rudness and pressure the main key words for getting what I/we wanted. I even asked for a special birthday discount and believe it or not, we got one - as an exception.

I still can’t believe that it worked out that well this way. Why not through being friendly and calm? Strange that certain people need such behaviour to fullfil your wishes.

Strange World!

Have you had such experiences with rudness? Positiv or negative ones? What do you think? Have you got good strategies! Tell me

“I didn’t do anything” the scared and shocked lady replied who can be made responsible for all that mess.

Broken crockery everywhere – a great big mess!  The tea lady came to cheer me up and said that I have to be very lucky in the future due to all that broken crockery! Thanks I am waiting for it to knock on my door or ring me! (haha)

But where does this saying come from?

Why does broken crockery bring you luck?!?! For me it was only a lot of stuff to tidy up!

Well it actually is a kind of misunderstanding because the German word “Scherbe” (crockery) means in the handcraft of pottery the finished and already burnt crockery product. It means that when you have a lot of stock that you will be due that and with it lucky in the future.

At the wedding-eve party broken crockery has also the affect that it will keep ghosts in the future from the bridal couple away. If they break the crockery together it also symbolises that they will solve all problems they might have it their future together.

Only a prejudice or truth?

Do you believe in them? Do you walk under latters? Touch chimney sweepers? What does Friday the 13th mean to you? And black cats? And the horoscopes?

Let me know you thoughts, I must admit that I am a bit superstitious!