Author: Isabelle Amaya

Hello everyone! Today I would like to talk to you about a new invention, something created by the nation that brought us Nutella. I believe that most people love Nutella specially on toast. But imagine if we could transform a drink to make it spreadable, crazy right? Well this is what two Italian chefs had in mind when they decided to create spreadable beer. Everyone can buy it! It only costs 8£ and you can get it  at a farmacy or a supermarket. This new invention is great because you can spread it on toast, on pies or even use it as stuffing. I related this to the notion idea of progress because it is original and it demonstrates how far science has come. However, we still don’t know if consuming it is very healthy and what the percentage of alcohol resides inside it. But to think that in the future  all of our favorite foods will be sold in many different ways is thrilling. Now I would like to ask you : would you try it ?

Last class I presented as the teacher, an article about some research made in the University of San Diego which proves that people working in green buildings are more productive. It’s a building painted in green but which also pays attention to the impact on the environment. Furthermore having green plants in an office decreases stress levels. There are German researchers who have proved that just looking at a green rectangle increases your creativity by 20%. The colour green is linked with nature, so bringing plants inside makes people be more relaxed. If you want more productive people at work “go green!”.

I linked this article to the notion idea of progress, because it’s a really good way to be more productive at work. Plus, making environment caring building helps a lot with the situation of the planet Earth.

On Thursday 15 November, I presented an article about a restaurant that was opened in Bollate prison, Milan, Italy. This restaurant is called Ingallera and I heard that there is indeed food worth going to this prison. During the preparation of the presentation, I learnt about a reinsertion program established in order to adapt convicts into the world, which I feel is a really noble cause since you are giving people a second chance in life. This program is based on teaching felons work habits, values, skills they did not have and showing them ways to contribute to society. While presenting this article I mainly talked about the cause and its purpose but I should have added the fact that this gives people the chance to see another face of the convicts so they don’t stick with the usual stereotype shown mainly by T.V shows. 

Today I wanted to present you with an amazing article entitled “Build your own phone” published in October 17^th, 2013. In this article we learn about a brilliant idea that a Dutch designer called Dave Hakken had. He understood that digital waste is becoming nowadays a real problem for society since we always want the new phone and we throw away our old ones even if they are still working. So, to stop this problem, he created the Phoneblocks which is a mobile phone made up of little blocks that can be replaced in case they stop working or if we broke them. This means that we can keep our phones forever and just replace the broken parts, also we can create our ideal phone based on our personal needs or our liking.

I linked this article with the notion idea of progress because I think that with his idea, we can start saving the environment by recycling our phone and keeping it forever. Plus, in that way we save money too and use it for essential needs. To finish, I just wanted to say that I really believe in his invention and I invite you all to look up Phoneblocks on the Internet and to give it a chance, because it can really save the planet.

Hello class ! I will present you a article named « Tweet after you die » published on 1st March 2013.

It’s about a new service of twitter named Liveson and a service of Facebook named Ifidie. With this service you can write a message, record an audio or a video for your family and friends which will be published after your death. With this invention you can say goodbye and all you want to say to your family before your death. It could be interesting if it’s an accidental death for example. Indeed, we can think that it’s a little morbid but you are not forced to do it.
I linked this article with the notion the idea of progress because I think that the fact you can speak to your family and friends after your death and to say farewell is a form of progress. In addition, It can be really helpful for the family if  the victim couldn’t say goodbye before dying.

I didn’t know that this service existed. To me, it is reassuring because I feel very afraid to die without saying goodbye to my family but I have to admit that it would be very weird to watch a video of my grandmother for example after her death. It could be traumatizing.

 

Are you looking for a holiday home in Italy? You can buy it for just one euro!

This house is located in the town of Gangi, in the South of the country. Gangi’s mayor came up with the idea to put some life back into the town because poverty caused many inhabitants to leave it after World War II. Even if this offer seems too good to be true, there is a catch: people have to renovate the house within three years and this could cost you more than €20,000. However, this idea still attracts many persons. What do you think?

I linked this article with the notion Idea of Progress. First of all because Gangi passed from being an uninhabited town to a famous and visited place. Secondly, the money tourists spend on it, helps the economic situation of the Italian town.

I am personally interested because of the price. I also think people can be creative and original renovating the house as they want, beautifying the town of  Gangi.

Hello class, today I am more than pleased to share with you an article, which totally changed my way of organizing. The article is entitled “Mess makes you more creative”, published on April 6th, 2014.

The article treats about an experiment done by a marketing professor, where she tested 48 people. She wanted to study if a place or a situation can affect the way of thinking or making decisions. So, she placed a portion of the individuals in an unkept room and the other part of the individuals in a nice and organized room. After the experiment, she concluded: more artistic and creative ideas are developed in an untidy room and on the contrary, precise and faster decisions are taken in a much more organized room.

I linked this article with the notion places and forms of power, this notion refers to the capacity that a location has to change somebody or something. In this case, it refers to the ability of a place to influence the way of thinking of a person, because of the messiness or tidiness of a bedroom.

Personally, I really enjoyed this article. Not only because I think I am a really creative person and now I have an excuse for my messy room, but I think it is interesting how the state of a place can affect someone so much. From now on, I will keep my room much more well-kept, so I can be at the same time creative and being able to take decision faster. I hope you enjoyed this article as much as I did.

I want to share with you this article I chose, which is entitled: “A Coffee, Please!”  posted on TinyText Blog on the 30^thJanuary 2014.

It tackles the subject of a coffee shop in France. According to the costumer’s mood, they decided to set up a price policy for a cup of coffee.

The prices can go from 1.40 euros to 7 euros depending on your good manners. For example, if you say to the coffee tenders “Good morning, can I have a cup of coffee, please?”, your cup will be cheaper than when you just say “ a cup of coffee”.

I decided to link this article with the notion idea of progressbecause good manners are essential for a society to progress. They help people to show respect and to be polite.  Maybe they are nearly extinguished but without them we will become a cold society and unfriendly people. This puts an accent on what we need to change to progress.

That is why I love this article because in daily life I can see some people being disrespectful with employees, teachers and even their parents. So this article teaches us that it is easy to say “thank you” or “please”. Good manners never get old.

Hello Class! Today I want to share with you an awesome article entitled, Back to the 80s. In the article we learn about a peculiar Canadian family. But What is so special about them? Well imagine living a whole year like the people in the ’80S did, with no Internet, Netflix, games nor Tv and wearing vintage attire.

That was the experiment that this family decided to try. If the kids wanted to search something for a homework, they needed to go to the library and look it for themselves. If they wanted to watch movies at home, they could always use the old VHS player.

Don’t worry, these people did this crazy experiment because they were spending too much time indoors, specially the kids. But this story has a happy ending since the mother reported that by the end of the experiment her family was more united than ever.

I chose to classify this article into idea of progress since I think that nowadays technologies are becoming so powerful in our lives that we need to try and emancipate ourselves from them, just like the family did. I shared with you this article because all of the time I complain about how the period of the ’80s was better than now, but reading the article I think that I wouldn’t be able to live without the Internet. Just to show I’m not the exception,  I am dependent on technologies too!

The article I chose is about a telephone service called Talk2Me. It helps workers in Australia that are under stress to talk to someone about their problems and complaints for $2,97 per minute. Specialized people help you by listening to you and they don’t interrupt you. They let you talk all the time.However, you have to be careful so you do not end up paying too much.

I linked this article with the notion “Spaces and Exchanges” firstly because it is only available in Australia and secondly you can use this service without being with the person physically. They can be in different places in Australia.

This service also make people exchange their help for money which benefits the company but also the person.

I chose this article because it is interesting that people pay to be heard and talk about their problems to feel better without being criticized.