In UK, street objects will talk back to passersby through phones

The Hello Lamp Post! project in the UK is using existing codes on street furniture as a way for residents to start up a text message conversation with the object.

21st February 2013 in Tourism & Travel.

With the rise of the Internet of Things, we’ve already seen the EVRYTHNG platform provide a way to link stuff with digital information through unique identification codes. Now the Hello Lamp Post! project in Bristol, UK is using existing codes on public objects to make them more interactive and drive tourism.

The brainchild of creative agency PAN, the scheme has been picked as the winner of Watershed’s Bristol City Council-funded Playable City competition, which aims to showcase creative use of technology in the region. The project utilizes the fact that objects such as lamp posts, bollards, post boxes and bus stops are already marked with unique codes. Players will be able to text the code to a special phone number in order to start a conversation with it. Messages use artificial intelligence technology to simulate human speech, while also revealing stories about the city.

The project is a fun way to make public space more interactive and friendly, while also attracting visitors by helping them learn about its history. Could this scheme work in your part of the world?

Website: www.watershed.co.uk/playablecity

QUESTIONS FOR 'PLAYING THE ENEMY' (Introduction & chapters 1 & 2)

Answers the following questions as you read the book. We'll make corrections in class on March 13th & 14th.

Introduction 

1. Where and when did John Carlin speak to Mandela about writing the book?
2. What other sportsmen does Carlin mention as having been a shaper on political perceptions?
3. Who did Carlin have a very emotional interview with and why did this surprise him?
4. What does Carlin say are the basic conditions for a fairy story?  Do you agree?
5. In what way does Carlin say Mandela had the edge over other charismatic politicians?

Chapter 1  Breakfast in Houghton

1. What ritual could Mandela never fail to do no matter where he was?
2. What ritual annoyed his cell mates on Robben Island?
3. How did the Springboks feel that they could play a part in politics by winning the final?
4. What figure did Mandela’s bodyguard, Moonsamy, compare Mandela to on entering the stadium?
5. Name two things they were afraid could happen in the stadium to upset the atmosphere.

Chapter 2    The Minister of Justice

1. What made white people in South Africa leave and go to Britain, Australia and the USA in 1985?
2. Why did Botha decide to set up a meeting between Mandela and Coetsee?
3. Describe what happened when Mandela’s lawyer, Bizos, visited him in prison.
4. Describe Badenhorst and his management of the prison.  Describe how things improved when he left.
5. What changed when Mandela returned to prison after being discharged?
6. Describe Mandela’s relationship with Christo Brand.
7. How did Mandela win over Van Sittert?

BELGISTAN

And today something completely different and scary from my point of view.
Will it never be possible to have a world in peace, free of totalitarian ideologies, a world where we all respect the others?

Belgistan  

Listen and judge by yourself.


 

In the Netherlands, bike paths heated during winter months

I suppose a lot of cyclist in Spain would love to have something like this on our roads. Don't worry, spring is closer!

A test project in the Netherlands seeks to use the energy generated by the sun to heat bicycle paths during the winter.

12th November 2012 in Eco & Sustainability.

If commuters’ surplus body heat can be used to keep an office building warm, then why not store the heat that beats down on bike paths during the summer and use it to keep them ice-free in the winter months? That, indeed, is precisely the premise behind a test project currently being conducted in the Netherlands with help from Dutch engineering firm Tauw.

Currently under consideration in the Dutch province of Utrecht as well as the city of Zutphen, the proposed plan would call for underground pipes to be placed some 50 meters below the bike paths in question, according to a TreeHugger report. There they would collect the heat generated during summer months and store it for use later to de-ice and warm the paths in the winter, thus making travel by bicycle both safer and more appealing.

The cost of the heating system would reportedly be between EUR 30,000 and EUR 40,000 per kilometer, but that may well be made up for in the savings reaped via the salt and straw that would otherwise be used in winter as well as through reduced accident costs. Transportation entrepreneurs in other wintry parts of the world: one for inspiration?

 

Website: www.tauw.nl

 

BRITISH ENGLISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH

It's always useful to know some of the differences between British and American English. In this poster you can see some examples.

Published by one-europe.info
 

PLAYING THE ENEMY (John Carlin) - INTRODUCTION

"Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, the power to unite people that little else has ... It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers." (Mandela)

"Stripped to its essentials politics is about persuading people, winning them over. All politicians are professional seducers."

"Where Mandela - the anti-Hitler - had an edge over the lot of them, where he was unique, was in the scope of his ambition."

These quotes taken from the introduction of the book will help us understand Mandela's role in South Africa as well as his aim. He knew sport, rugby in this case, could be used to join a country severed in two in a way no one would ever dream of changing. But Mandela was a true politician who used his skills to reach his goal: to have one country for all the citizens of South Africa.



As you read the book, leave here some quotes with a brief explanation of why you chose them.


 

JOHN CARLIN. CV

 

JOHN CARLIN
Born London, 12 May 1956

2011
Book on Rafael Nadal titled “Rafa: my story” co-authored with Nadal.

2004-2010

Book on Nelson Mandela titled ‘Playing the Enemy’ "Invictus" (Penguin Press USA; Atlantic Books, UK/SA/Commonwealth) first published in August 2008, translated into 14 languages, made into a Warner Bros film named ‘Invictus’, 2009 in the US, starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, directed by Clint Eastwood. Released in December 2010 in USA. Released in Europe and the rest of the world in January and February 2010

Senior international writer for El País, the world’s leading newspaper in the Spanish language

Articles for the London Observer, Independent, Sunday Times, New York Times and others

Release of film ‘Die Hard 4’, starring Bruce Willis, based on article in ‘Wired’ magazine in the US, whose rights I sold to 20th Century Fox

 

2004
Published two books, “Heroica Tierra Cruel” (Seix Barral), on Africa, foreword written by Nelson Mandela; and “White Angels” (Bloomsbury) on Real Madrid, published in Britain, Spain, the United States, China, Japan and Brazil

Finalist for 2004 “William Hill British Sports Book of the Year”

Winner 2004 British Press Awards “Food and Drink Writer of the Year”

 

1998-2003

Winner in 2000 of the top Spanish journalism award, the Ortega y Gasset prize, for article on immigration for el País.

Articles for the London Independent; London Daily Telegraph; the London Observer; New Statesman; New York Times, Time magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Folha de Sao Paulo and others.

Interviewer and writer of Emmy-nominated PBS (USA) ‘Frontline’ documentary, ‘the Long Walk of Nelson Mandela’; script writer and consultant for Channel Four television documentary, ‘Kicking the Habit’, on Diego Maradona; interviewer and consultant for Channel Four televisions documentary on England-Argentina soccer rivalry

 

1995-1998

US bureau chief, based in Washington, for the (London) Independent on Sunday.

Articles for Wired; Spin; Conde Nast Traveler; Punch; New Statesman.
Weekly columnist for South Africa’s Sunday Independent.

 

1989-1995

South Africa bureau chief, based in Johannesburg, for the London Independent; three nominations for British foreign correspondent of the year award

Freelance articles for New Republic and others.

A number of TV and radio documentaries for the BBC on Winnie Mandela (Sony Award winner Best Radio documentary), South Africa’s “Third Force” and other topics.

 

1986-1989

Mexico and Central America bureau chief for the London Independent, based in Mexico City and Managua.

BBC radio documentaries on various subjects.

 

1982-1986

Correspondent for Times of London, BBC World Service, ABC Radio (US), CBC Radio (Canada), Toronto Star covering Mexico and Central America, based in Mexico City and,in 1984, San Salvador.

 

1981-1982

Sports reporter, film critic and political writer for Buenos Aires Herald, Argentina.

After this breathtaking CV, you'll probably like to know something else about John Carlin.
If so, click here:

John Carlin's official webpage


 

INVICTUS

INVICTUS

 

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

 

This is a Poem 'Invictus' (Unconquered, Undefeated) by William Henley. Great South African Leader Nelson Mandela (Madiba) was inspired by the poem, and had it written on a scrap of paper on his prison cell while he was incarcerated for 27 years on Robben Island.

 

"Invictus" is a short poem by the English poet William Ernest Henley (1849–1903). At the age of 12, Henley became a victim of tuberculosis of the bone.

A few years later the disease progressed to his foot, and physicians announced that the only way to save his life was to amputate directly below the knee.

In 1867 he successfully passed the Oxford local examination as a senior student.

In 1875 he wrote the "Invictus" poem from a hospital bed. It was first published in 1888 in Henley's Book of Verses, where it was the fourth in a series of poems entitled Life and Death (Echoes).

It originally bore no title. The familiar title "Invictus" (Latin for "unconquered"⁾ was added by Arthur Quiller-Couch when he included the poem in The Oxford Book of English Verse (1900)

Despite his disability, Henley survived with one foot intact and led an active life until the age of 53.

REASERCH ABOUT TEACHER MAN Group M & W

Finally we have the result of the research made by the different groups in the class.
I hope you enjoy their summaries.
Soon, you'll have the possibility of recording what you presented to the class.



Ireland in the 1930s (M & W)

Glossary Teacher Man (M & W)

Immigration in the 50s (M & W)


 

KEY TO THE GRAMMAR CHECKER

Once you have done the corresponding exercises in the Grammar Checker, you can make corrections with the key I attach.

Please, do it little by little, but do it all!

Grammar Checker Advanced Key


Thanks to Manuel and Justo, we have detected a couple of mistakes in the key of the exercises in section 5B. Here you have the right answers:

5B
a) 7 : X Did you use to eat...?
b) 5 : 's used to being ...
    6 : used to wear..., didn't you?

If you happen to find more, please, let me know and we'll add it to this post. Thanks for your help!

EXTRA ACTIVITIES AFTER READING TEACHER MAN

Now that you have finished the book and we have analyzed it chapter by chapter, you are invited to do some extra activities.

- Watch this video (or any other you can find on the Internet)

Frank McCourt at the NYS writers’ Institute in 2006

- now, had you had the chance to interview him, what other questions would you have liked to ask him?

Leave your comments, thoughts, ideas and questions on the blog!