ENGLISH CURIOSITIES

---------SEPTEMBER---------

WEEK 5: Religion and God

"In order to understand the true nature of God, the Creator of the universe, we must separate the myths of mankind from the physical evidence of God's existence" and "Religions are simply the outgrowth of ancient myths and dogmas handed down from generation to generation and formalized into faiths, rituals and traditions", so we have to separate GOD AND RELIGION.

by Donald L. Hamilton ("Separating God from Religion
"

WEEK 6: Tortures

"...any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in, or incidental to, lawful sanctions."   UN Convention Against Torture

WEEK 7: 2012, myths and legends

There are many urban legends and myths around december of 2012. Nostradamus a famous man who made prophecies, talked about a possible cataclysm...Mayan calendar finishes in that day, and many other stories have been told around that topic. It is a shown of that...

WEEK 8: Amazing Technology

 A lot of amazing technologies are supposed to be used in the future, in fact some of them are still being worked on while other technologies are already present but in labs only, others are available for commercial uses. It's amazing how fast new technologies and inventions develop everyday, thanks to the folks we call them "nerds" at places like Microsoft, Nokia, NASA and Sony.

 The world is full of Amazing Technology, in both the past and the present-- we can only try to imagine what the future will be like!

---------AUGUST---------

WEEK 1: Advertising

"Advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to purchase or take some action upon products, ideals, or services. It includes the name of a product or service and how that product or service could benefit the consumer, to persuade a target market to purchase or to consume that particular brand."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising

 

WEEK 2: Food

"In China people eat eight, ten or twelve dishes of food at New Year. This is because an even number means double the luck. A lot of the food at New Year has a special meaning. Seaweed means good luck and long noodles mean long life. They eat whole vegetables and don’t use knives to cut things, because this means the end of your good luck."                                                     http://www.macmillanenglish.com/

 WEEK 3: Emergency Situations                

•Step 1: Stay calm and be prepared for aftershocks.

•Step 2: Check for injuries and administer first aid.

•Step 3: Listen on your portable radio for information and instructions.

•Step 4: Check your home for gas and water leaks, broken electrical wiring or sewage lines, and cracks and damage. If there is damage, turn the utility off at the source. Immediately report gas leaks to your utility company.

•Step 5: Check for downed power lines.

Step 6: If you must evacuate, leave a message at home telling others where you can be found.

eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_1241_act-after-earthquake.html#ixzz0vTi20jjX

WEEK 4: Beauty

"Beauty is a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction. Beauty is studied as part of aesthetics, sociology, social psychology, and culture. An "ideal beauty" is an entity which is admired, or possesses features widely attributed to beauty in a particular culture, for perfection."                                           http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty

Week 8: Amazing Technology

Laura

Amazing Technology: Brainport Vision Device

The brainport vision device is a visual prosthetic device which translates information from a digital camera to the tongue. It works as is explained below.

 A camera sends visual information to the central unity of the Brainport, and that unity translates the information into tongue stimulation signals which are sent to the Tongue Display Unity (TDU). Camera receives black and white signals, white pixels are equivalent to strong stimulation signals, and black pixels are equivalent to no stimulation, middle stimulation signals are representation of gray scales. Patients say that the sensation is like Champagne bubbles. It is a system of tactile vision in progress, that promises being very useful and good. Currently it is in process the miniaturization of the device. Time for learning is really short, between 2 and 10 hours.

 This is the fabricant web site:  http://vision.wicab.com/technology/


Marisol

The "Sixth Sense"


I was on internet a time ago, and I found something really interesting that can change the way we life forever. It is called the "Sixth Sense".


This is a portable device designed by Pranav Mistry that not only is used as a mobile phone, but also gives you the chance by a camera incorporated in it to get information inmediatly about the things that surround you without even clicking.


This device that will have been selling by the shops by the end of the next decade, is wearable and it has a projector and a camera that copy every image you want to get information of.

For instance if you just meet someone at Uni, the projector will show you on the body's surface of the person you are talking to, what  his/her interest are, what her/his profession is, the working experience, hobby's, etc. Impressive, right? But that's not all, also this device can help you to make better decisions in everyday life according to your interests. For example, if you are a conscious person about the ecological environment, the device will tell you what kind of products are more eco-friendly that others without the need of looking at the package.

Also, this tool doesn't word with keyboards all the actions you need to do, you can project them on almost everywhere, even if you need to know the hour you just draw a clock wherever you want and there will be projected with the current our.

Taking pictures is way easy, you just have to make a frame with your fingers, pointed out the thing you want to take a photo, and there you are!. it as well collected all your photos and you can have projected your own photo album.

As you can see this revolutionary invent will change our way of living making everything a lot easier.


Here you have the genius behind this developing, Mr. Mistry:





Carolina

Week 7: 2012, myths and legends

Carolina

Marisol
 According to Maya’s calendar, the end of earth: 2012

The end of earth: the 23rd of December 2012. Some pessimistic even took advantages of the initial confusion about the closeness of the asteroid 2004MN4 the same year, to make it believable.

The Mayas developed a sophisticated mathematician system on base 20, and they even understood the zero (0) concept. They were very interested about the nature cycles and the universe, they were great astronomies and their way to seize time was not related to the moon cycles nor to the seasons; in fact was it synchronized with the sun year. Apparently they were conscious of the discrepancy that exists, but on the contrary of the Mediterranean civilizations they didn’t try to correct it.

After the Spanish invasion in the XVI century the Mayas calendar was not used anymore until the decade of 1990 when archeologists achieved to reconstruct it despite some divergences between the experts. In that moment it was thought to have three Maya’s calendar: the TZOLKIN used for religious proposes (divided in 20 periods of 13 days), the HAAB used for civil proposes (divided in 18 periods of 20 days each, plus 5 extra days for ending the prayers, all equals 365 days) and finally the well known as “Long count” that simply counts the days since a date of beginning. The experts believe that date is the 13^th of August of 3114 b.C, but there are arguments between them about this.

Whenever the date is ¿Why is it this one and not another one? Nobody knows. The only thing that seems clear is that the reference time is before at least 1.200 years of the first evidence of Maya’s culture and 3.000 years before any kind of calendar system was invented. It is believed that the way they used to count the days (that was divided in 5 parts) wasn’t flexible, it was banned to 1.872 millions of days and so taking into account the initial date, this calendar will attempt its end by the 23^rd of December 2012.

This point is where every kind of predictions comes from. What people ignore is that Mayas had a universe adscript to daily cycles, moon cycles, season cycles and sun cycles. Thus, it has lot of sense to think that this “Long count” calendar, similar to others (like the Chinese), is itself cyclical. There is no evidence that the Mayas associated the end of the calendar with the end of the time, and  nobody would think that the initial date was the day everything was created. So, it is apprehensible to think that time for Mayas is a cycle. In conclusion, the end of the world is not in 2012, it is just a misinterpretation of the Maya's calendar which if we are right would start over again.

Según Calendario Maya, Fin del Mundo: 2012 - SPE

Laura

21st DECEMBER, 2012 - 31st DECEMBER, 999

A description of what happened at the end of year 999 is done in the book: “Doomsday 1999 A.D.”, written by Charles Berlitz. Some excerpts of the book are shown below:

“As the year 999 neared its end a sort of mass hysteria took hold of Europe. All forms of activity became affected by the specter of impending doom…Men forgave each other their debts, husbands and wives confessed suspected and unsuspected infidelities to each other and were mutually forgiven, poachers proclaimed their unlawful poachings to the lords of manors and then, although permitted by the nobles to continue their punishable actions, did not do so, demanding only forgiveness.

(…)

When December arrived mass psychosis and fanaticism appeared as well, springing from the dark side of human nature. Groups of flagellants roamed through the countryside, scourging each other and congregating in the market places of towns where they left trails of blood leading up to the doors of the churches. (…)There was a wave of suicides as people sought to punish themselves in advance of Doomsday or simply could not stand the pressure of waiting for Judgement Day.

(…)

When the Te Deum had been sung, men and women fell in each other's arms, laughing and crying and exchanging the kiss of peace. Thus ended the thousandth year after the birth of Christ." (From: http://www.billennium.com/html/main.cgi?sub=42)

There are many myths, stories and legends around December 2012, prophecies, some of them will be listed below.

1. December 2012 marks the end of a cycle of the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar, which has been associated with the Maya Civilization.
2. Nostradamus pointed the entry if the Age of Aquarius after 21st December 2012
3. Galactic alignment (John Major Jenkins)
4. Geomagnetic Reversal
5. Planet X or Nibiru
6. Web Bot Project

I did not specify what each theory says, however if you, reader, want to read more about the myths, legends and stories named, you can follow this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon

There is much advertising around 2012: Discovery and History Channel documentaries, a famous movie called: “2012”, web pages, books, articles…I do not think that the world will end in 2012, in fact, I will put here a part from Bible for Christians who believe in 2012 as the end: "However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.”(Mark 13:32).


So, if you want to forgive, to love, to be consistent with your beliefs, do it now, do not wait till 20th December 2012; I am almost sure, there will be a social problem that day, because of the mental weakness, and how easily is influence people with advertising, I hope that day to be as normal as other day, but surely, news, media, and other kind of publicity will impact people and it will not be a normal day, such as many “theories” say.

Week 6: Tortures

Marisol

TORTURE MECHANISMS.

THE RACK: The victim was tied –hands and feet- to the extremes and then he/she was pulled to opposite sides until the fore and back limbs were taken off of the body. It was mostly used in France and Germany during the inquisition.

THE MASHING HEADS:

It was designed to compress and smash human skulls. The chin of the victim was placed on the inferior supporter and a helmet placed on the head was pushed down by a screw. The effects caused by the use of this device are teeth, jaw and skull broken, making the brain to come out from the eyes cavity and pop out of the bone.

THE RAT’S TORTURE:

It was used during the inquisition but it is known from ancient China. It consist on placed a rat on the stomach of the victim, it was shut up in a cage with only one side open - the side that rest on the victim’s abdomen- while the executioner bothers the rat with sticks set on fire, leaving the rat with just one option to escape, through the intestines of the victims, the rat digs on the belly of the victim to find a way out.

THE IRON MAIDEN:

The iron maiden is a coffin where the victim stays sit while it is being closed. On the walls inside the coffin there are several sharp sticks pointing to the victim’s body so while the door is being closed the sharp elements are slowly introduced in the flesh of the person causing serious damage and indescribable pain. Also the sticks were removable so it gave to the executioner the chance to cause more harm in specific parts of the body.

WATER’S METHOD:

It consist on making the victim drink at least 10 litres of water at once causing him/her to feel like if he/she were drowning, even it could cause the stomach to explode. For this torture it was necessary the use of a funnel.

THE GOAT:

In this situation the victim is tided hand and feet, and the lasts are covered by salt or fatten. Then a goat is taken to that place and it is attracted by the salt or the fatten which it starts to lick, given its rough tongue the skin of the feet is removed leaving the flesh exposed and sometimes the bone.

THE WHEEL:

It was common in Germanic Europe, and it is one of the most horrendous types of torture. The victim is immobilized and place naked face up the floor; his/her limbs are stretch as much as they can and tied with wood or iron stakes. The executioner spanks hard to break bones and joints avoiding causing fatal injuries. Then the victim is hanged up on a wheel at the top of a post where wild animals can tear up pieces of skin and flesh until the person is death.

JUDA’S WEDGE:

The accused is hanged up over a wedge and then he/she is dropped down so the weight makes the edge of the pyramid to insert itself in the anus, vagina or scrotum of the victim. 

Laura

Chinese Torture

Chinese Torture: As painful as the human body can resist.

Chinese Water Torture

It is popular torture in which water is dripped onto a person’s forehead, one gout falls down each certain time interval unknown and variable. There is no evidence that this torture was used by Chinese, however, the name is attributed to Harry Houdini (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Houdini#The_Chinese_Water_Torture_Cell) a Hungarian-American escapologist, who created the predicament escape: Chinese Water Torture Cell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Water_Torture_Cell). The torture was done as is presented below:

Victim was strapped down with the purpose they could not move. Then after, water was dripped down slowly, on to a small area of the forehead, so, the victim was able to see the gout falling down constantly.

MythBusters, a series of Discovery Channel made a study about the Chinese Water Torture, finding that it is very stressful if the victim is not able to move, and if cold water is used, the key part of the torture (And therefore the worst) is that the time interval is not constant, it means, one gout can fall down, and the next one can take 1 second, 2 seconds, 1 minute…The victim does not know when the next one will fall down. Next video is a part of the episode.

Ball torture

It is a psychological torture which is done as is described below: The victim is fixed in a wall (It could be with ropes, or worst, with nails), and a small ball on a rope from the roof to the victim’s head is hitting the victim all the time. After months or years, maybe, the victim’s brain was reached and the victim died.
Bamboo under fingernails

Long and thin pieces of bamboo were inserted beneath the fingernails of the victim. The victimizer put the piece until the cuticle and moved the piece, if the victimizer did not obtain the information, another finger was tortured. It is shown in the image below.

Water Dungeons

Victim has to pass though many days of darkness immersed in chest deep water. Usually the water was dirty. Image below is a shown.

More tortures can be found here: http://www.francesfarmersrevenge.com/stuff/archive/torture/chinese.htm

Carolina