Limerick

There was a mouse, which made fun of a cat
Of course, the cat did not like that
In addition to that information
The mouse eventually ended cat's starvation
Now cat's happy, because the mouse was fat

Reflection 7

Anniversary of Polish independance and patriotism, that many people show at this time, makes me reflect on patriotsm's influence each year. My initial thought, is that it divides people. We shouldn't stress the differences in nationality. Everybody is related after all. On the other hand, patriotism probably unites inhabitants of the country. I think, that finding the balance is the key.

Reflection 6

I am wondering why so many people believe in aliens. First of all, there seems to be no evidence for existence of any. I think, that when an ordinary event happens people ascribe it to aliens only because they started believing in them at first. I often hear an argument, that life couldn't have started at only one of so many planets. I disagree with this argument, because one event of life beginning is already something special. Such unusal event happening two times only doubles the impropability. Also, I read somewhere, that it is less probable for molecules to line up to creat life than for a person to correctly bet on a second from a period of 5 billion years. I am lead to a conclusion, that people believe in aliens, because they don't want to be alone in the universe.

Reflection 5

Two weeks ago, my history teacher said, that he likes to know history of a country he visits, because he then can understand the local people and monuments better. I found it a very good motivation to learn history more. In advance, I always had the feeling, that I should understand the surrounding world well. What made me upset was the fact, that my knowledge about the past is rather insignificant. I thought about it for some time and understood, that it's extremaly hard to, like I said, understand the surrounding world well from every perspective. Supposedly: one person knows how the house was built, second one knows how this house is built on a molecular level, third person knows the history of the same house. Each of them is ignorant about the house in a way, but it doesn't make anyone uneducated. Also, after we gain knowledge about something, we see more things to learn about it. 

Reflection 4

Sometimes, I hear my friends complaining about math and saying it's pointless to learn it, because it's useless in real life. Well, it is very unlikely, that one will have to find the root of a certain function or check if a given sentence is tautology, during his/hers ordinary day. However, math is an universal language, which can describe the universe or make it more predictable. It turns out, that even nature follows some mathematical patterns(flowers using phi constant, for example). That's why I think everyone should understand rudimentary principles of mathematics and school system ensures it so far. Another reason to learn it is the way it develops our thinking processes and paves the way we solve problems. So having all of this in mind, I am convinced it's more favorable to teach maths in school.

Reflection 3

How would world look like if there weren't any animals? - I thought one day and I started to think about it. I am very curious, if we would feel lonely without them. Also, animals may make us feel more secure. We might be unaware, that seeing them doing their job without worrying about the next day has such effect on our minds. Secondly, inventions, which were made by observing creatures and copying them, wouldn't be made. In advance, through ages, scientists tried to unveil secrets of our body by researching animals' bodies. Finally, plants cooperate with animals to create favorable conditions for us, humans. 

Reflection 2

FIFA is selecting the best footballer of the year annualy. Performance during the matches as well as trophies won with the team are taken into account. The ceremony for year 2018 was held yesterday and the first ten places were announced. Lionel Messi happend to be only 5th despite having the most goals, assists, chances created, succesful driblings and MvP awards among all players. Adding to that three trophies and only four matches lost makes his result in the plebiscite ridiculous. Can it be, that he became victim to his own greatness? It would mean, that people started to be bored of his effective means to win matches and they are no longer amazed by his outstanding skills. For sure Leo set the bar very high and he may be expected to be better and better, but everyone will agree, that any other player with such statistics would win the prize right away. This situation annoyed me even more due to the fact that Messi's play is also nice to watch for most football fans and experts. The good observation would be, that even those at the top must improve consequently to still be considered the best.

Reflection 1

Recently, I was a witness to a situation, that made me think about human relations. I was casually looking through a car window, when I saw a car, that had just hit another one. They weren't going fast so it wasn't dangerous and the only effect could be a scratch. As me and my dad were coming closer to these vehicles, we could hear two drivers having loud and tense conversation. Woman, whose car was hit, yelled and insulted her interlocutor, who obviously didn't drive into her on purpose. I didn't observe this incident from beginning to end, but there was a better way to behave in such situation. I think, that people often lack empathy or are under stress and react so aggressively. We shouldn't be so hostile to people, because we won't solve any problems in that way.

What do we learn about modern society from the film "Joneses"?

This film reveals our weakness to advertisements, particularly stealth marketing. Many people will buy a product if it's presented with something they like. In the film, Larry starts to envy relationship Steve has with Kate. As a result, he buys products, that his friend has, believing it will make his own life as good as Steve's. Spectator, after watching this film, can learn how advertisements affect people and be more aware of such tricks.

Does art have to be beautiful?

In my opinion art is supposed to either express emotions of an author, be nice to watch/hear or be thought-provoking. Having this in mind, art doesn't have to be beautiful, but should fulfill one of criteria I invented. I also think, that we mustn't tell the artist what to do, because it may kill his creativity. Secondly, everyone has a different taste and maybe there is someone who actually likes not-beautiful works. To sum up, art doesn't have to be beautiful and can be made for different purpose than amusing watchers' eyes/ears.

What does mean to be a real man in 21st century?

There are very few features of a real man, that doesn't apply to women. Man are often stronger than women so they should use it wisely and in order to help rather than to rule over women. If he is a father, he ought to educate and be a good example for children. A real man is someone, who knows his advantages and rights and uses them for good.

Review

I recently watched a video titled "Tree of life". It shows evolution of animals on Earth from a single cell. This interesting animation was narrated by David Attenborough.
In the beginning we hear "modern genetics has confirmed[Darwin's theory's]fundamental truth". This magic sentence is supposed to turn imagination into science, although narrator doesn't say what did exactly prove the evolution theory. Afterwards, we can see animals doing what they can't do nowadays- developing new features (adding new information to the DNA code). The presentation ends with mammals' origin and summary from David Attenborough. 
I don't recommend this video, because it isn't supported by any scientific research. Also, developing new feature wasn't observed for thousands of years and this clip shows this happening all the time in the past, which is illogical. 

Would I like to work in Mandarin Oriental Hotel?

I would like to work in Mandarin Oriental, because it is place, where I can spend good time and learn a lot. I consider working in such hotel a great opportunity to meet interesting people and master my English language. Living in such beautiful city with big opportunities like London is a big advantage, too. Mandarin Oriental seems as a perfect hotel for people, who like cooperating with others and want to widen their horizons.

Is it possible, that we will stop being a throwaway society?

There is a minor chance for people to stop being a throwaway society. It can't be an instant switch from wasting and destroying our environment to disposing wisely every gram of natural resources. People will slowly realise, that they run out of petrol or water or something useful and maintain their habits to those changes. So we may stop being a throwaway society in future, but with serious problem, that will motivate us to do so.

Why in the age of science do people believe in supernatural things?

People believe in supernatural things, usually because of lack of intelligence or shallow knowledge in particular area. Natural world has been described with observations and experiments and there is no need to add anything to it. However, some people try to modify their environment and insert beliefs out of clear blue sky. Those include ghosts, lucky talismans, ability to predict future and many more strange things. It's not good idea to trust something which you can't prove. The only rational supernatural thing to believe in is God, because we haven't come up with natural explanation, that doesn't omit several laws of science,  how world got to the present state. People don't know something or are unsatisfied with natural explanation and therefore come up with supernatural one.

Who or what is to be blamed for modern epidemic of obesity?

It's hard to choose the main cause for epidemic of obesity in modern world, but parents play a huge role in this wide-spread problem. They give bad example for their kids in case of diet and healthy eating. Additionally, they often take their children to fast food restaurants instead of preparing nutritional dish. People rarely change their habits from the past and there is no exception in diet. As a result, there are many grown-ups who eat unhealthy, just like they did when they were young. I am awere there can be little time or energy to feed kids properly, but it's worth it, for their sake.

Should people spend money on space exploration?

People shouldn't spend money on space exploration, because it can be spent on something more important. All, that is required to explore cosmos, costs a lot and the ones, that are funding it, are tax-payers. This money could be used instead to lower social differences or support studies on biology, for instance. The only reason I can think of for space exploration is seeking for another Earth-like planet. This can be tough task, though. Planets made of rock, with water, circular orbit, magnetic field, comfortable temperature and gravity are pretty rare. Summarising, space exploration shouldn't be our priority as there are people in need around us. We can waste much time and energy in vain after all.

Carbon dating

Carbon dating was invented in the beginning of XIX by Willard Libby who later received Nobel Prize for it. I will now explain the idea of this method.
Our planet is constantly stroked with sun rays and radio waves. Nitrogen can be transformed into an isotope of carbon(carbon-14) when exposed to them and this is what happens in upper atmosphere. Just like all isotopes, carbon-14 is unstable and half of it will become nitrogen again after ∓5730 years. The amount of carbon-14 is precisely measured(let's name it X for clarity of explanation) by scientists and it is assumed that this amount was always the same. Plants "breath in" carbon dioxide and make their tissue out of it and animals eat plants. Then plants and animals contain the same percentage of carbon-14 as atmosphere does. After death, organisms stop consuming new carbon-14. 
To estimate something's age, you have to measure how much carbon-14 does it contain. If it contains half the X, then the age we are looking for equals 5730 years. A quarter of X means 11460 years old etc. This method can't be used for organisms older than 30000 years.
The whole idea of carbon dating might be based on false assumptions, though. We don't know if the amount of carbon-14 was the same in the past. We don't know how fast carbon decayed earlier, either. 

Homework 03.01.18

Interesting words and phrase from video to learn:

1. Bairn=child
2. Cloth - materiał, tkanina
3. Unbeknownst to sb - nieznany dla kogoś