Friday 30 October 2015

Quote of the day

"Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they're finished." 
Dan Gilbert


Thursday 29 October 2015

Quote of the day

It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.
Charles Spurgeon

Wednesday 28 October 2015

Quote of the day

 “I can’t give you a surefire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time.” – Herbert Bayard Swope, first recipient of the Pulitzer Prize

Random thoughts in the autumn

Today i gonna give you a lot of goodies. Trust me, I am not an engineer! Ha, ha!

* Let's start with M.C. Escher. Who is this? You probably do not know, but you have seen his work, i am sure of this. Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) is one of the world's most famous graphic artists. His art is enjoyed by millions of people all over the world, as can be seen on the many web sites on the internet. He is most famous for his so-called impossible constructions, such as Ascending and Descending, Relativity, his Transformation Prints, such as Metamorphosis I, Metamorphosis II and Metamorphosis III, Sky & Water I or Reptiles. But he also made some wonderful, more realistic work during the time he lived and traveled in Italy. Castrovalva for example, where one already can see Escher's fascination for high and low, close by and far away. The lithograph Atrani, a small town on the Amalfi Coast was made in 1931, but comes back for example, in his masterpiece Metamorphosis I and II. M.C. Escher, during his lifetime, made 448 lithographs, woodcuts and wood engravings and over 2000 drawings and sketches. Like some of his famous predecessors, - Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Dürer and Holbein-, M.C. Escher was left-handed. Find more of his prints here

** You got children? They eat sweets? Then you probably need to read this article that was published yesterday in NY Times. It is backed up by solid data, and i can even think about applying this for adults too, really. Check the article here

*** Now, in a futuristic twist, they are thinking how to program a self drive car in a moral dilemma,  the example when it is to choose between 5 workers being on the street and one worker on a side way, or between 5 workers and your own life, as i learned from my Harvard Justice course, with Professor Michael J. Sandel, i could easily answer to this. But i will let you to think about and eventually comment what do you think. With the unlike scenario when the car will kill you for the greater good (more lives saved), is this a revival of Jeremy Bentham work of early utilitarianism? Serious people, are we going back to the 17th century philosophies? It is very easy, and i will tell you what they need to do, you should pre-program your option and then deal with the consequences. If you choose to preserve your life at all cost, so be it. but it is your responsibility. The full article here


That's it for the moment. Have a nice week. See you soon.
G.

Tuesday 27 October 2015

Advance warning

Huh, my next post will be probably at least about M C Escher drawings, one 11 year old selling secure passwords and LUIS - language understanding intelligent service. I will try to do it a bit later, i just write it here to remember my ideas.
Have a nice day!

Monday 26 October 2015

Quote of the day

Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.” ~ C. Jung

Sunday 25 October 2015

I-phone screen protection 100%

Good new if we believe this article from Appleinsider website. Fall and drop screen protection on iphone on the way to become reality.

Apple invents retractable motorized iPhone screen protector
By Mikey Campbell
Thursday, October 22, 2015, 02:15 am PT (05:15 am ET)

In continued attempts to prevent costly display damage due to accidental drops, Apple has devised a system that automatically extends retractable tabs above an iPhone's screen when a drop event is sensed, thereby creating a buffer zone between delicate glass and the ground. 
Source: USPTO
Despite concerted industry efforts to develop resilient display cover materials, devices like iPhone are still woefully prone to suffering catastrophic damage when dropped on hard surfaces. Apple addresses the problem in a new patent application titled "Active screen protection for electronic device," published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday.
The basic idea is to outfit an iPhone or similar device with a series of retractable tabs that, when activated, deploy outward above the screen, creating a gap and reducing the chance of contact with a hard surface. In some cases, the protectors might curve over the screen, collapse or otherwise absorb impact forces. Apple has in many ways invented a smart shock absorber.
In certain embodiments the tabs are installed around a screen's periphery, flush with the display or surrounding chassis. Tab material varies depending on construction, though Apple says both flexible and rigid plastics, polymers, thin metals or other composites are suitable. 
Powering tab movement are motors or actuators attached to a mechanism similar to a rack and pinion drive. Each motor is operably connected to a pinion that in turn meshes with one or more screen protectors, translating rotational motion into linear motion. Alternatively, an actuator might directly interface with a given tab.
The job of drop sensing falls to a variety of components, most of which already come installed in modern iOS devices. Positioning sensors like accelerometers and gyroscopes, or environmental detectors like altitude sensors, are obviously well suited to the task, but Apple also notes cameras can detect proximity to a fast-approaching object (the ground) with specialized motion capture software. In another example audio components can be used to determine height, speed and other metrics by emitting and capturing reflections of ultrasonic pulses.
After sensing a drop event, extending a device's screen protectors and absorbing the fall, Apple's system again taps its sensors to confirm motion has ceased. Once a drop event ends, or a preset timer expires, the mechanism returns the screen protectors to a retracted position.
Apple has in the past shown interest in active fall protection for its portable product lineup, but has yet to integrate patented designs into shipping hardware. Instead of elaborate motorized mechanisms and complicated mechanical solutions, the company has chosen to focus on decidedly less exotic — though just as complex, if not more so — work on material-level improvements. For example, the latest iPhone 6s models incorporate specialized Corning glass that flexes to support 3D Touch input, while remaining resistant to surface scratches and breakage.

Apple's active screen protector patent application was first filed for in April 2014 and credits Tyson B. Manullang, Stephen B. Lynch and Emery A. Sanford as its inventors.

Thursday 22 October 2015

Quote of the day

“I always wanted to be someone better the next day than I was the day before.”
Sidney Poitier

The 1% rule. Improve yourself 1% every day, and after one year your will be 356% better. And that is a lot. you will be, in theory, 4,5 times better. Now, we do not know how to quantify that exact 1%, some days will be 1%, some days will be 2%, but the important thing is to improve daily, in some way. Got it?

Have a good night!

G.

Mental capacity and deprivation of liberty

Inspired by the libertarianism movement, today i will post some random thought about mental capacity act and deprivation of liberty. A very serious problem in UK, but not a great deal in some ex-Russian countries, for example. Mental capacity act can be learned from two big books, one is green, Code of practice, the other one is blue, talking about deprivation of liberty safeguards. Both of them can be founded on the Ministry of justice website. You can also look online for AMCAT -  mental capacity audit, where you can use the tool provided to check this. Also another resource will be WWW.koha.ork.uk/imca where you can find about the independent MC advocate. Lasting power of attorney, when you leave someone to take care of your wishes, in the event of you missing mental capacity. Could be about finance and property or about health and wellfare. You will need to see an OPG 100 form to check it. Lasting power of deputy is another version, when a judge choose instead of you if needed. We can also mention advanced decisions, like a DNR - do not resuscitate. An advanced decision allow only to refuse treatment, you need to be over age of 18, have capacity and put it in writing.

Are you a bit confused? Good. Now you can do an online search to find more about.

See you soon
G.

Quote of the day

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
Benjamin Franklin.

Yes, all of us know it, but we often forget to apply it. Preparation is everything. And being unprepared today is more than laziness, if we think how many tutorials, youtube videos and webinars we can find about absolutely anything. Or to quote another great american - Abe Lincoln - If i have six hours to cut that tree, i will spend four sharpening my axe. Great piece of advice, we can use it anytime, anywhere.

See you tomorrow
G.

Wednesday 21 October 2015

Aeroponics

Motto:"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
Aristotle

*   Seems there is a way there to grow plants even if you do not have the soil. And i found quite a lot of devices on internet for this. But what is this method? What aeroponics means? 
      Aeroponics is the process of growing plants in an air or mist environment without the use of soil or an aggregate medium (known as geoponics). The word "aeroponic" is derived from the Greek meanings of aero- (air) and ponos (labour). Aeroponic culture differs from both conventional hydroponics, aquaponics, and in-vitro (plant tissue culture) growing. Unlike hydroponics, which uses a liquid nutrient solution as a growing medium and essential minerals to sustain plant growth; or aquaponics which uses water and fish waste, aeroponics is conducted without a growing medium. Because water is used in aeroponics to transmit nutrients, it is sometimes considered a type of hydroponics. Is this a solution for the future? I can think this can be applied on dessert climate or Mars for example.

** One simple equation for today. Let's call it motivational math. Are you ready? 
Achievement = talent + preparation. 
Am i right? Of course i am. If you got the raw talent, but you do not use it, you will lose it, if you want to really prepare for something, then you will need  let's say 10.000 hours for mastery (see Ericsson study of 10.000 hours mastery). But if you got both the talent and willing to prepare, then you probably can drop the numbers to 5000 hours or maybe even less. Where you can use this equation? In any domain you like. Now go, start training. Fulfill your destiny! Fly little sparrow, fly!

*** Wow, you need background in linear algebra and statistics to learn about advanced machine learning. Damn you linear algebra! Then, in a corner of my mind, somebody whispered me: "Dude, linear algebra is Flatland geography". Ok. Now i got it! Thank you Brain, guardian angel or whatever it was!

Tuesday 20 October 2015

Quote of the day

Happiness is a choice. You can choose to be happy. There's going to be stress in life, but it's your choice whether you let it affect you or not.
Valerie Bertinelli

Quote of the day

You don't have to be rich to be a gentleman, my father says, or to live like one.
Cynthia Marshall Rich, in "My Sister's Marriage"

Sunday 18 October 2015

Random thoughts

Today is Sunday, it is random day thoughts. Let's see 5 of my today's best ones.

1. I am thinking to plan a holiday Pole2Pole - From North to South pole, from Svalbard to Ushuaia. I will keep this thought in mind for future reference. But i like the idea.
2. If you always want to have a Nobel Prize winner as your teacher and want to tick this from your list check this blog post. Achievement done.
3. Flight tip. If you travel with little children and you want them to behave on the flight, let them to stay up until late (they will not mind at all), and book an early flight after.
4. If your company use to flight often in Europe, BlueBiz is the corporate benefits programme from AIR FRANCE, KLM, Alitalia and Delta Air Lines. Once you sign up for free, your company can start earning Blue Credits on flights with AIR FRANCE, KLM, Alitalia, Delta Air Lines and our partner airlines. Every time you book a business trip with AIR FRANCE, KLM, Alitalia, Delta Air Lines or their partner airlines, your company earns Blue Credits. Members of our frequent flyer programme, Flying Blue, MilleMiglia or SkyMiles will also earn Miles at the same time. So, the advantage is double the points for the same flight. Nice, isn's it?
5. One interesting concept i stumbled upon these days is transactive memory.  Transactive memory is a psychological hypothesis first proposed by Daniel Wegner in 1985 as a response to earlier theories of "group mind" such as groupthink. A transactive memory system is a mechanism through which groups collectively encode, store, and retrieve knowledge. They somehow refer at it for example as a collective memory of a family, after it was pointed out that each of family members is in charge with some specific domains. As mum with cooking, young children with tablet and smartphone use and so one, so each one will know who to ask to find more about directions related to this or that subject. Going even further, some researchers are thinking that this could be one of the reason we feel incomplete after a break-up or loss of a close family member.

This was all for today fast blog post, see you again soon.
Wish you a very nice Sunday afternoon.
G.

Saturday 17 October 2015

Quote of the day

You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.
Christopher Columbus

Friday 16 October 2015

Gentleman's guide - how to prevent stress, depression and over-work

Motto:"We never fail when we try to do our duty, we always fail when we neglect to do it."
Lord Baden-Powell

What is your duty as a gentleman? First and most paramount is to take care of yourself. No excuses. Have a clean shave with a brush and classic single blade safety razor. If you do not know how, check this post - How To Shave Like Your Grandpa - that i found on this very interesting website. Then go for a proper haircut at your Italian barber. Mine is so skilled that i let him to do what he choose to in order to look good. I just give some general directions and let him work. After that go home. Have a shower. Warm first, cold after. Polish your shoes. Brush your suit. Dress impeccable with the suit and shoes before mentioned. Tell your friends to meet you at the pub. Enjoy your favorite drink (Newcastle Brown Ale in my case) and listen to what happen to them lately. If happen to be in the same time with the rugby or football game even better. I like their passion for big football matches even if i support only some small local teams. What can be better? And the compliments you get on your way there from everyone who knows you will last for a while. Why not admit it, don't we all need this from time to time?

Thursday 15 October 2015

Quote of the day

Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life like a champion.
(Muhammad Ali)

Wednesday 14 October 2015

Gentleman guide - minimal garderobe

Just because i was asked about by a friend who happen to know about my future book projects, today's post will be about the smallest garderobe a gentleman need to have.

1. Plain white or black boxers - loose fit, 7 pairs
2. Plain black socks - cotton with a bit of Lycra, 7 pairs
3. Black jeans that fit well
4. Plain white t-shirt, 7 pairs
5. White shirt - tailored, 2 pairs
6. Navy blue suit
7. Black shoes leather sole rounded toe
8. Brown loafer squarer toe
9. Dark colored thick wool overcoat jacket collar
10. Black belt
11. Brown belt
12. Navy blue tie
13. Black turtleneck sweater, 2 pieces
14. Steel, chrome or silver cuff-links
15. Watch with steel case and black leather
16. Plain white pocket square - hankie, 4 pieces
17. Aviator sunglasses
18. Other good quality ties, 3 pieces
19. Black suit
20. Black overcoat military style

All this can be packed in one suitcase. You will also need a proper leather shoulder bag. Once you got this, you can add more. But remember, good quality items, even if they are more expensive, last much longer, especially if they are properly  cared.

Monday 12 October 2015

Autumn is coming

Motto:
“There is no better time than the autumn to begin forgetting the things that trouble us, allowing them to fall away like dried leaves. There is no better time to dance again, to make the most of every crumb of sunlight and warm body and soul with its rays before it falls asleep and becomes only a dim light bulb in the skies.”
Coelho - Adultery


What we will talk today. I have some ideas

* I will start with good news. If you ever heard me rambling about off the grid houses and other stuff like this, here is something that will make to think about. They made a battery that it is working on air. Of course, it is not only air, as it is based on a reaction of oxidation of a Zinc element, which is interchangeable. And it is providing only enough energy for charging your phone tens of times, or to have a light bulb working for a bit more than a week. But it is a start. More about this on this link.
**If i am talking about houses and energy independence, you can check here for some interesting free plans. Choose one and you will save at least 6-800 dollars for not paying for the planning and project.
***We got Edward Thorndike and his Kansas Experiment, where people where asked how much money they would ask for some pain related experiences as pulling a front tooth, eating a 10 cm worm, killing a cat with bare hands, moving to a Kansas farm for the rest of their life and few more. The results were surprising as more money were asked for moving to Kansas - around 200k, and eating a worm - around 100k, than pulling a front tooth - around 4.5k. But this make some thinking that for every painful experience we can allocate a definite amount of money. And one step too far was Phillip Morris study in Czech Republic about the benefits of smoking. Yes, you really read this right, the benefits of smoking for the Czech government. They said that the main disadvantage it is in the increased cost in care, but than, many other benefits must be underlined, as healthcare savings from early dead of the smokers, pension savings and also less money for housing care. It is good to smoke, you die early and the state will save because of that. What a sad application of the old principle of Jeremy Bentham's Utilitarianism. Of course they realized when the media start to write about that was a mistake and they said they are sorry. A far cry of Ford Pinto case.

And that it's all for today, i hope you will enjoy the lecture and ask yourself, why and when we need ethics?

See you soon,
G.



Saturday 10 October 2015

Daily bundle stuff

*I decided to test an app called Peak, that should have brain power boosting as effect. But probably i will still stick with that wonderful free app called meditation. The advantage is that you can used even if you do not have a phone, all you need is a place to sit and quiet your mind. Ha,ha!
**Listening to a guy called Dr Jonny Bowden, about some diet on which you give prevalence to good fats instead of carbs, in order to burn fat as in your twenties. The guy is not very good at talking in my opinion, but then i was just listening too many great orators later, and why to not say it, he is a scientist. I will try some version of this for a short period of time to see how it is working.
***I just stick a mental note here, i need to remember to learn how to synchronize 2 laptops documents, in the eventuality of one having Windows and one Mac OS. A google search should help. But i will do this tomorrow.
****Some drinking advice. Short version. Drinking to much. Vasopressin hormone going low. Pee a lot. Getting dehydrated. That is next morning brain freeze, headache and all that. Easy way. One water glass for each strong drink. Keep hydrated (sensible advice), soda and lemon are your friends. This should, at least in theory, to help you get drunk without any side effect. Eating a full fat food before, or some avocado, should help a bit too.

Idea: separate blog about genius and geniality, multipotentialite, multipods, Renaissance personality and all that, i have a lot of research on it, but i do not want to spam posts on this blog. Still thinking at this.

See you tomorrow
G.

Thursday 8 October 2015

The Roseto effect

If it this to define it, the Roseto effect is the phenomenon by which a close-knit community experiences a reduced rate of heart disease. The effect is named for Roseto, Pennsylvania. A place where people died of old age, a place with zero rate of criminality, a place like no other. They observed this in the Sixties, when a doctor observed that Rosetans do not have confronted with illness like heart disease, which was a big issue at the moment.

As Dr.Rock Positano said. it seemed like a virtual fountain of youth, with a heart attack mortality rate roughly half the rate of every surrounding community. Same water, same neighborhood, same occupational mix, same income level ranges, same races. So what was the difference and why?

Well, you had to ask the Rosetans for the answer, and the next question you ask should be, Who are the Rosetans?

The Rosetans are inhabitants of Roseto, Pennsylvania, a pretty but remarkably modest village nestled in Eastern Pennsylvania. Back in 1962, in a scene out of the movie Outbreak, investigators descended on Roseto with the full equipment of scientific investigators...with the blessings of the Federal and State governments. Roseto was a starkly healthier place to live, and no one could guess why. It was up to these researchers to figure out why, and they stayed for several years.

Pouring over death certificates from 1955 until 1965, the investigators concluded that the reason was unusually clear for science. Just to make sure, the Rosetans were compared with neighboring communities, including the aptly named "Nazareth" and "Bangor" towns. The confirmations just kept on showing up in everything the researchers did. And the conclusions have had tremendous implications since they were confirmed in 1992.

What made Rosetans die less from heart disease than identical towns elsewhere? Family ties. Another observation: they had traditional and cohesive family and community relationships. It turns out that Roseto was peopled by strongly knit Italian American families who did everything right and lived right and consequently lived longer.

In short, Rosetans were nourished by people.

In all ways, this happy result was exactly the opposite expectation of well-proven health laws. The Rosetans broke the following long-life rules, and did so with a noticeable relish: and they lived to tell the tale.

They smoked old-style Italian stogie cigars, malodorous and remarkably pungent little nips of a cigar guaranteed to give a nicotine fix of unbelievably strong potency. These were not filtered or adulterated in any way.

Both sexes drank wine with seeming abandon, a beverage which the 1963 era dietician would find almost prehistoric in health value. In fact, wine was consumed in preference to all-American soft drinks and even milk.

Forget the cushy office job, Rosetan men worked in such toxic environs as the nearby slate quarries. Working there was notoriously dangerous, not merely hazardous, with "industrial accidents" and gruesome illnesses caused by inhaling gases, dusts and other niceties.

And forget the Mediterranean diets of olive oil, light salads and fat-free foods. No, Rosetans fried their sausages and meatballs in.....lard. They ate salami, hard and soft cheeses all brimming with cholesterol.

Nor were the Rosetans left to their own devices, as Rosetans actually suffered from anti-ethnic discrimination, replacing the formerly English and Welsh miners who didn't like or care for the new immigrants. It should be noted that while not directly affected, the notorious and violent "Molly McGuires" murdered and looted immigrants and mining facilities just a few miles away form Roseto.

And they left others alone. There was no crime rate and few applications for social assistance (then called Relief). That's not a typo...there was a zero crime rate (meaning no reported crimes) and no files for any emergency relief.

Part of the bargain: Rosetans, regardless of income and education, expressed themselves in a family-centered social life. There was a total absence of ostentation among the wealthy, meaning that those who had more money didn't flaunt it. There was nearly exclusive patronage of local businesses, even with nearby bigger shops and stores in other towns. The Italians intermarried in Roseto, from regional cities in Italy. Families were close knit, self-supportive and independent, but also relied...in bad times...on the greater community for well-defined assistance and friendly help.

No one was alone in Roseto. No one seemed too unhappy or too stressed out. And the proof was a heart attack death rate almost half of everyone else around them. Wealthier towns suffered from heart disease though their medical facilities, diet and occupations were either better or at least equal than available in Roseto.

Each house studied contained three families, or three generations. The elderly were neither institutionalized nor marginalized, but were "installed" as informal judges and arbitrators in everyday life and commerce.

In 1963, these investigators made a prescient observation: they believed that as Rosetans became more Americanized (meaning less close, less modest and less interdependent), they would also become less healthy. The wearing off of the now famous "Roseto" effect would be apparent within a generation. And so it was.

A relatively recent (1992) survey, as published in the American Journal of Public Health, confirmed this sad prediction. The officials of the AJPH, no doubt beguiled by Roseto's fate, descended on the town yet again. Again the investigators rifled through the death records of Roseto, and again they compared them with the surrounding towns of Nazareth and Bangor. The result: the Rosetans now suffer equally from the ravages of heart disease as every other town does, in the vicinity or not.

In fact, the wearing away of intra-marriages (Italian to Italian), the careless dismantling of the social ties between family and community, the return to conspicuous consumption by wealthy Rosetans, and ignorance of common values, could be charted with precision from decade to decade. Lo and behold, there is an almost perfect correlation between Americanization and heart disease death rates.

In a recent book, The Power of Clan, authors Stewart Wolf and John Bruhn covered the town from 1935-1984: their conclusions dovetailed with the other studies. The magic of Roseto was the total avoidance of isolated individuals crushed by problems of everyday life. Rosetans didn't feel isolated or crushed, rather they avoided the internalization of stress. Stability and predictability...hardly Americanized virtues...even in the early years, was life soothing, hence life lengthening.

Consumer pressure was vitiated by a total taboo against showing off wealth. But the townspeople did work harder than most. Toward the goal of "a better life for the kids."

But so much for the oasis of healthy living. In the 1970's, there was suburbanization of the region, including the town. Single family homes, fenced yards, country clubs were brought in. But the social ties weakened and then started to fail. They failed with a significant event.

It took until 1971 for the first person under age 45 died of a heart attack took place in Roseto.

So the Rosetans joined the rest of the United States and like the legendary Scottish town of Brigadoon, the healthy oasis of Roseto, Pennsylvania has departed into the mists of scientific history. For now, the Roseto Effect, as sociologists call it, remains a beguiling, even teasing note in American health history. With the almost total lack of such ties in American society, the Rosetans pass through the years as a stark reminder of what modern life exacts as a toll from even the healthiest American.

So, in conclusion, living a stress free life could practically make you to live longer, better, healthier. Why not to try? Now, the trick is that you need to find your own ways to deal and eliminate the stress from your life. I use yoga, writing and running, as well as spending a pleasant time with a dear one. What do you do for that? You can tell me. I am genuinely interested.

Tuesday 6 October 2015

The Roseto effect

My next article will be most probable one of the 'Pathways to immortality' series, about the Roseto effect, or how one entire town population was not getting sick. At all. I need only to finish to read the manuscript from the research sustained about this amazing subject.

Quote of the day

Living it is better than regretting.

Saturday 3 October 2015

Quote of the day

Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war.
By Donald Trump

Friday 2 October 2015

Quote of the day and much more...

* Did you ever heard about Lee Cronin? You should, very soon. His idea is revolutionary, even if seems to be far fetched, but he is working at it and already got results. Lee Cronin's lab at the University of Glasgow does cutting-edge research into how complex chemical systems, created from non-biological building blocks, can have real-world applications with wide impact. At TEDGlobal 2012, Cronin shared some of the lab's latest work: creating a 3D printer for molecules. This device -- which has been prototyped -- can download plans for molecules and print them, in the same way that a 3D printer creates objects. In the future, Cronin says this technology could potentially be used to print medicine -- cheaply and wherever it is needed. As Cronin says: "What Apple did for music, I'd like to do for the discovery and distribution of prescription drugs."
Lee Cronin TED talk here.

** One interesting quote of the day coming from the creator of "Dilbert" - Scott Adams.
"Always fail in the way that will put you ahead instead of failing in a way that put you behind." What that means? Means that we can always learn through each of our failures if we fail researching way to improve ourselves, instead of just trying aimlessly just for the sake of.

*** One short story to make us thinking and question everything that we do automatically through our daily routine. It is the story of the five monkey, and what i want to talk about it is a experiment done 32 years ago. Five monkey were sitting together in a cage, and one basket of bananas was hanging in the middle of the room. They also had a pair of stairs, but here it is the trick, every monkey who tried to use the stairs triggered a mechanism that start to splash very cold water on all five monkeys. After one week, one of the monkey was taken out and a new one came instead. Obviously, the new one will try to get the bananas from the basket, but the other four will stop it. And so on every week, until no monkey from the first lot remained in the cage. Every week the new one was stopped to get the bananas, long after the cold water was used, and no water splash was used on the new ones, but because of what they were learning every newcomer to the cage, no monkey dared to use the stairs to get bananas from the basket. In some way, each of us accepted something just because it was told. What i want you to do this week is to question everything, and find if it is really like this or you just accepted what you were told by others. Good luck.

****  I will finish with some very interesting article about lunch pack served at school around the world. It is amazing what they eat in some countries. "Me like it" to quote Hulk. Go and see it with your eyes.
Link here.