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HONEY, YOU WERE NOT DOWNLOADED, YOU WERE BORN! Written by: Anna
Nowadays, we can barely find ourselves not holding a smartphone in our hands. We start our day by checking our Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and so on… You may think, you are not one of those people. Oh, but you are, 100%! The modern age has become all about technologies and it has turned our life into a much easier ride. The world has rapidly gone digital and young people are the leaders of the new trends and technologies that might make various other items outdated. As young adults normally turn to digital gadgets for amusement and schoolwork, the field of education might change too. In past times students were only carrying paper notebooks, pens and pencils to school. These days, students have digital devices such as tablets, laptops, phones and other digital gadgets. We have to admit, cheating on a test has become a lot easier, hasn’t it? (A two can keep a secret if one of them is dead) Moreover, text messaging has replaced convention-
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al modes of everyday conversation. There are a lot of positive aspects of going digital. Typing is quicker for good keyboard users which a lot of children have turned out to be because they have grown up with computing devices at home. That makes taking notes much easier. If notes and projects are stored in a computer, there is less probability of them being lost, particularly if significant files are regularly backed up. Information stored in a computer can effortlessly be altered into numerous different formats, perhaps making it less difficult to study. Texts can be converted into graphs or charts with a lot of word processing software. Learners can cut and paste essential quotes or illustrations into essays and so on, preserving time on homework. When it comes to streamlining backpacks, electronic readers and some other products remove heavy books. That can be viewed as a huge benefit to learners who have grown familiar to carrying around lots of books.
As a lot of teachers use online resources, for example e-mailing and publishing tasks on a personal web page, students practically need to keep up with the occasions with some kind of device that provides Internet access. Digital gadgets can be great studying instruments, but they likewise give quite a few distractions to learners. When a student is meant to be taking notes on a notebook in the classroom, they might be using their laptop to
browse social networking sites, watch videos or check out celebrity news. One thing that is bad about digital education is that all these gadgets have implied calculators that enable children to think by themselves. Teachers are often joking about that and encouraging kids to study algebra. “It’s important to learn maths because someday you might accidentally buy a phone without a calculator”. If only they knew that in Georgia, no one is allowed to use calculators at exams!
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BY THE WAY: I GAVE MY VOTE TO SOMEONE I DON’T EVEN REMEMBER Written by: Zviadi The following is a small excerpt from Ben’s diary. It is 2030 and action is taking place in Austria. Several reforms have been made. European Parliament voting procedure has been simplified to an extent that voters can cast their vote online. On the other hand voters are obliged to
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participate in elections or they will be fined. “God I’m so tired of paying these debts. Paying fines was a casual thing like paying for speeding, trespassing or not buying a ticket in a bus. I have never imagined that I would have to
pay for not pressing that one button and especially paying them for someone else. Right now things are really getting annoying. I never thought helping my family would have meant paying their fines, fines that were only imposed because they forgot to do one simple thing. I’m tired of my brother’s excuses that his internet is slow and complaints from my parents who are always so forgetful. They are always saying that it is because of their age. In the end - guess what? I have to pay for their problems. I cannot believe there are so many troubles only for not clicking one button. I sometimes ask them: Does it really matter for whom you vote? Just press the vote button on one of the candidates and that’s it. It is such a simple thing. You do not even need to register. You can even attach your own Instagram to your voting account. Isn’t it unbelievably easy? You just have to like the picture of the politician you are voting for and that’s it. But those careless people do not even bother to do that. This new way for voting is just insane. I understand when it is used for disabled people who really cannot go to the voting point to cast their vote but making voting online only to grow the quantity of voters has utterly failed. This way of increasing the turnover of voting just does not work.
For me that is enough. I am seriously done with it. I have my own life and I really do not want to waste it on paying fines. Last week I was in Italy - I had a great time there. This place was so beautiful and so inspiring - I could not stop thinking about it. I really wonder whether governors there are elected based on same principles as ours. It does not make sense. I guess people there are more interested in their country’s future than us, although, we still care. Why is not all of us feeling the same way about the EU as other nations do? Why are we so careless? I guess we don’t have the same feeling of integrity as other nations do. If all of us knew and understood more about the EU, this problem would not have occurred. We learn so many things about the history of our country and its current stance in schools but compared to that the knowledge we receive about the EU it is really minor. We do not even have enough cultural exchange programs to feel as European. Even though we know that we are members of one big family some of us still have not been anywhere outside Austria. But just whatever - I really do not care about that stuff. Last week I had a really great time - I visited a lot of museums and went to parties in evenings. And by the way I gave my vote to - oh I really can’t remember to whom.”
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STORY OF THE BOY WHO ALLOWED Written by: Rusa As Hugo turned 14 and received his first Smartphone as a present from parents he decided to join several social networks so he could be as cool as his age-mates. With the vast of excitement to finally become part of this madhouse, of course without reading the permission page, he clicked “allow” and started uploading his best photo so far. This way he became a data subject, who obviously knew nothing about the way his personal information could spread in seconds or about his rights and the Data Protection Directive. He was just happy to have an ability to post something with hashtag and emojis. Who would feel the different way on his place, right? As everyone else, during his teen years he added thousands of silly pictures, posts revealing the current situation in his life, and much other personal information to his page. Back then he meant nothing to world, so his information more or less was safe. The years passed, things have changed, and Hugo has changed as well. Now he was standing in the spotlight of his career and the world was just at the beginning of realizing
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who Hugo, that young boy we know from the beginning of the article, has turned into. Now he was a leading lawyer in a successful law firm, having access to the current politically engaged cases. Oliver, who was a bartender in a small town, could barely live with his salary. He had to listen to dozens of stories about people with unhappy lives, and at some point he realized he was one of them. All his childhood he was dreaming to be someone meaningful, someone everyone would know, but then things haven’t worked out and now he’s here, standing at the bar, listening to another costumer, who has found the cure in the drink. Her boyfriend left her for his “silly job”, she said. “He forgot where he comes from; how I took him under my wing in high school, when others were laughing at his silly hair. Oh! But right! He’s a lawyer now and doesn’t need some like me next to him when his fancy new friends will meet him in that French restaurant! So he left me, and now I’m alone. Mom was right…” The monologue didn’t stop here, moreover, that girl was sitting there for two more hours, but Oliver wasn’t there
anymore. His imagination took him to that glamorous restaurant from that girl’s story. He was wearing that expensive suit from the billboard and waiting for his new client to find their table, which was reserved few weeks ago… Oliver wasn’t silly. He knew it would be hard to transform him into a fancy lawyer. Then he remembered that boy, with silly hair. Oh right! That boy, what was his name? Oh! He remembered! That was Hugo. The boys were attending the same school; sometimes they even did the homework together and remember? Now Hugo is a lawyer in that big law firm.
Oliver had to do something, he had so many plans but something was telling him none of that would work out. So he decided to blackmail his old friend Hugo. His skills in computer was just fine, and plus he was the first like on the Hugo’s very first profile picture, and he knew that the small boy from the first paragraph of the article wouldn’t have read the permission page. He paid attention to the fact that could use third country which was not operating under EU data protection directive, and so he could actually blackmail Hugo, the boy who allowed the social network to make his personal information available for public…
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DANGER HIGH VOLTAGE Written by: Lera 172 countries and territories, 620,000 cases and more than 10,400 landmarks and monuments switched off their lights during the Earth Hour 2015. Despite I was a part of it, my way towards sustainable energy in the world has begun much earlier. I remember the story as if it had been yesterday. It was the year 2000. I was sitting on the bed trying not to fell asleep in strong protest to the system (read - “parents”). Hundreds of thoughts were passing through my mind. They were addressed to such crucial issues as the social life in my kindergarten, the necessity to draw something cheerful on the walls and, for sure, the way to raise awareness of the balance of the renewable and nonrenewable resources. Suddenly I realised that I cannot stand it anymore, my young brave heart desired tremendous actions and I understood there was too much light in the room. Since it was 7 years before the very first Earth Hour I needed another reason for decreasing the electricity consumption and I successfully noticed the hairpins on the table. The
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next second I was holding them in my hand and looking for an empty power socket. I guess you already know the next step… Yes! I pushed one hairpin into the socket. I was young, stupid and taken aback by a slight electric shock. Our apartment was unpowered till the morning. Nowadays there are safer and more productive methods available to change energy in Europe more affordable and sustainable. For example in the USA, there is a practice of establishing clean energy standard, that means the consumed energy should be received (by a certain percent) from the renewable sources. Particularly in New York the mentioned standard should constitute 50% by 2030 while the general goal for the USA is 80% by 2030. Besides, the EU Member States should build all new buildings with the usage of renewable energy sources by 2020. Furthermore, the European Commission noted that: “The Renewable Energy Directive and its legal provisions have contributed to the overall
achievement of EU’s energy and climate policy goals, security of energy supply, employment, public acceptance of renewables and regional development”. A 5-year old boy went out of the toilet in the cafe and didn’t turn the light off. His older sister immediately ran and reproached him because he did not care about the energy efficiency of that place with the further explanations of why is it critical to care about energy problem. That is how children are taught the awareness and sustainability. Guess, where did this story take place? Germany, France, the UK..? No. It was a country, where the use of renewable energy sources is
only in its infancy but still where it’s recognized as a state’s policy priority - in Belarus, in a small station cafe. People need to be aware of all the abilities and obligations such as clean energy standards, building new constructions with the usage of renewable sources, the legal provisions of the Renewable Energy Directive etc. Moreover, being a part of such fantastic social and ecological projects as the Earth Hour also contributes greatly (don’t forget to turn off your light on 19 March 2016). But what is more important - we should care about the energy situation in our country and it’s sometimes worth to learn it from the 5-year old child! TSS’16 - TechnoCornMedia
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WHEN A FEW CLICKS DOES NOT WORK ANYMORE Written by: Nikita The future of society resembles a world where the swirly buffer circles on the web are not accepted anymore and all 3 Wi-Fi bars are demanded in one’s device. Apart from uploading a selfie on any given social media, in the age of technological advancements, necessities such as e-learning and e-health have advanced. I remember when I had to wait at least 20 minutes for a YouTube video to load and when I considered the in-
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vention of Internet a blessing as long as a website could be accessed. These thoughts make me realise how much speed we developed in such a short period of time and how easily enraged I become whenever something takes an additional second to load. I begin to furiously mash the refresh button, coming in at approximately 10 clicks per second and yet, it never seems to work. Now imagine the rich kid next door never having any
sort of issues with internet connection. It feels the same as someone would slowly sprinkle salt on a severe wound while you are forced to watch a documentary about the Kardashians. I know - savage. In case you still cannot figure out how much of a cruel world we are living in, let me provide more examples: 1. Imagine Netflix being so slow that you find it discomforting to chill, 2. Picture checking out your ex-girlfriend/boyfriend’s Instagram and every post takes time to load, as if it was not painful enough in the first place, 3. Not being able to update a profile picture on Facebook exactly on 11 PM quick enough and because of it, you start losing likes, 4. Every browser feels like Internet Explorer,
5. Having unsuccessful attempts when using search engines whenever you forget the least handsome One Direction member’s name (It is either Louis or Liam), 6. Video games drenched in such lag that the main characters walk like Ke$ha on a Friday night, 7. Failing to harvest your imaginary crops in Farmville, so you weep miserably due to not having enough farming coins to afford a new thanksgiving exclusive lawnmower. Okay, I admit the last one was not that lethal, however, the rest of them are and sadly, I can think of many more. If you believe me that there are more crucial abilities of the almighty Internet that a lot of people do not have the luxury to benefit from, you are well enough informed for the problem EU is trying to face today.
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SHARING ECONOMY WHEN WHAT IS MINE BECOMES YOURS Written by: Veronika When it comes to deciding whether you should work for yourself or not, it is important to know the consequences and the most important thing is that you have to “think differently” as they say. Imagine people telling you: “Oh, you are your own boss. That’s so great!”, when for you that is the problem! You are your own boss, you can never get away with anything – for example you want to steal some supplies and then it hits you: “But these are mine!” or you are lazy and not getting the job done - how can you fire yourself? No one is ever coming to replace you. If you are bad at what you do - how can you shout at yourself? On the other hand, there are benefits: you do not have to do early mornings in the office nor put on makeup everyday in order to not scare everyone around, you can work when laying in bed, wearing pyjama or even go with just panties. Sounds fun, right? First of all, one has to clearly understand what does sharing economy mean. Sharing economy is an economic model in which individuals are
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able to borrow or rent assets owned by someone else. The sharing economy model is most likely to be used when the price of a particular asset is high and the asset is not fully utilized all the time. Communities of people have shared the use of assets for thousands of years, but the advent of the Internet has made it easier for asset owners and those seeking to use those assets to find each other. This sort of lending is sometimes referred to as a peer-to-peer (P2P) rental market. However, there are some challenges that come with being self-employed and before you take the plunge, it is important to consider the risks associated with self-employment. Some of the biggest risks come in the form of the finances. You are suddenly responsible for your own health care, two sides of the payroll tax and figuring out your tax strategies so that you can make your quarterly estimated payments. If you have a low cost home business, the financial risks are not as big. If your business
idea involves moving off site and buying or leasing space, then you will have enormous costs. What happens if you are not able to pay them? Add the fact your business is likely to result in a variable income. You need to be prepared to budget accordingly. Some months will be great and others will be lean. Some days you will be motivated but other days you might think what the hell am I doing here? You need to be ready to save money aside during the good months and cut the budget on the lean months. During tough economic times you might have even more trouble, since your customer base might shrink as spend-
ing habits are curbed. These concerns can put stress on your family’s finances and lead to concerns about debt. In the end your spouse might be working part of the time in order to support the family as you struggle to keep the business going. You have to realise that there are emotional risks that come with being self-employed. One important thing you have to remember, though, is that you will always be the employee of the month! Woo hoo it is Friday! Oh wait, I am a freelancer...
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A STANDARD SHEET OF WRITING PAPER AS THICK AS THE UNIVERSE? Written by: Ani The myth: You cannot fold a standard sheet of writing paper in half more than eight times. The reality: Given a paper large enough (and enough energy) you can fold it as many times as you want. The problem: Believe it or not, if you continued to cut the paper into two sheets, placing one a top of the other, doubling the size of the stack just 103 times, the thickness of it would be larger than the observable Universe - 93 billion light-years. Seriously - how can a 1mm thick paper be as thick as the Universe? The answer is quite simple: exponential growth. Exponential growth is also applying to the human population. English economist and demographer Malthus has pointed out that human population is increasing exponentially, while the capabilities of agricultural resources rise arithmetically. Population began expanding very slowly, but over generations our growth rate has increased more and more rapidly, similar to a snowball effect. It took the human population thousands of years to reach
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1 billion, however not more than 123 years were needed to double to 2 billion. If we continue at our current rate, the human population will reach 8 billion in several decades. While reading this article world population is growing with 400-500 people. Doubling from our present count of 7 billion to 14 billion will have a much greater impact than our last couple doublings combined. Population growth is inevitable, while 13% of us do not have drinking water, nearly 1 billion people do not have enough food supplies 400 million are permanently malnourished. A Malthusian catastrophe is a prediction of a forced return to subsistence-level conditions once population growth has outpaced agricultural production. Although, do you not think that Malthus forgot about the existence of human mind? He definitely forgot that growing needs of society would be met by the growing power of inventions in agriculture. Advances in technology are the key to the future of agriculture, as farmers strive to feed the world with limited natural resources. You
can find five high-tech solutions helping to support global growth of sustainable agriculture and food production below. Digital Soil Mapping is the key to plan sustainable agricultural intensification and natural resources management. With open access, these interactive maps are publicly available to be explored on Google Earth. Have you ever thought of Lettuce grown by microchip? Japanese might be surprised to discover their rocket, radish and baby spinach has not only been cultivated locally in the country’s first licensed indoor vegetable farm, but by an electronics giant better known for TVs – Panasonic. Thanks to specialised LED lighting to optimise photosynthesis, greens are now grown faster than twice the speed of normal field production. Greens fed on rainbow waste – Hydroponics, as the name suggests, is a growing method based on use of mineral-enriched water, bringing together fish and plant farming in one recirculating system. The fish provide most of the plant nutrition, in turn, fish waste metabolites are removed by direct uptake of plants, with the suitably treated water then flowing back to the fish. In all, it is claimed this virtuous circle of reciprocity requires up to 95 per cent less water than traditional horticulture farming.
Power of a No-salt-diet – Water efficiency in farming and food production represents a key metric in the face of global population growth and climate change. Considered together, scarcity of freshwater resources and the fact that 71 per cent of the Earth’s surface is nevertheless covered in water, therefore make a compelling argument for desalination. Sundrop farms harvest solar power to generate energy for desalination to supply hydroponic greenhouses. Side order of wings – Quantum VRT design allows farmers to adopt precise fertilisation strategies via accurate flight-planning software with evaluation of crop conditions, so reducing reliance on fertilisers and boosting yields. Even the above-mentioned examples prove that there has been impressive growth in food production in recent decades, which has been attributed to the development of improved, disease-resistant varieties of staple crops, the increased use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, as well as the expansion of irrigated cropland. Loveliest delegates of AGRI will be challenging themselves to balance environmental sustainability with the increasing world demand of food production via the ways of implementing and developing a modern agricultural technology.
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POTATO BREAD WITH THE HEAD-ORGANISER Ingredients for the potato bread: * 2 breads * mashed potatoes * pepper Introductions: You take 1 bread, put some mashed potatos on that. Let the bread swim in oil a bit and after that add as much pepper as you can. To complete the dish, add another bread on the first one.
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