Technology review

First, a great talk by Kevin Kelly on technology and evolution that will change the way you think about technology:




Your mission: To present an example of new technology to the class in under 10 minutes.

You need to record sources, e.g. links to articles and videos. Find links to companies involved in producing this technology.

Questions you might use:

How new or original is this technology? What does it build on?

What is put forward by the producers of this technology as the main use we can have for it?

Does it have any other potential uses?

Post sources, images and videos here: Hagaberg Tech Review (Feb 2016)

Some good websites:

http://berkeleytechreview.com/

https://www.technologyreview.com/

The Obesity Era

We are looking at 2 works examining the issue of rising obesity and diabetes:

Poland, L. (Director). (2014). Carb Loaded: A Culture Dying to Eat [Motion picture]. USA: The Scene Lab.
More info: https://www.youtube.com/user/CarbLoaded

Berreby, D. (2013, June 19). The Obesity Era. Retrieved February 7, 2016, from https://aeon.co/essays/blaming-individuals-for-obesity-may-be-altogether-wrong

 We're going to have a seminar examining the issues raised by these two works on Monday 15th February.

When watching the film and/or reading the article, ask your self the following:

• What main message is(are) the author(s) trying to put across?
• 
  
• Identify particularly interesting points made by the author(s) that you'd like to talk about.
• 
  
• What issues raised by the author(s) deserve further research? 

 
When we have the seminar on Monday, we'll divide into 2 groups - one group will focus on the film and the other will focus on the article.

Each person will be invited to say something about the film (see the 3 questions above) and then the discussion will be opened up to all members of the class.

To make it a good seminar, you need to have really thought about the article/film and read a bit around it.

No diet, no detox... by Bee Wilson

Text: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3tnmkaB4Navd0NZa0pnaDRkU3M/view?usp=sharing

Podcast: http://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2016/jan/22/no-diet-no-detox-how-to-relearn-the-art-of-eating-podcast

Original article: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jan/05/diet-detox-art-healthy-eating

Questions:

"Traditional cuisines across the world were founded on a strong sense of balance, with norms about which foods go together, and how much one should eat at different times of day."
To see if this is true, describe one or more "traditional meals" in terms of ingredients and nutrition.

"It has become common in the past couple of decades for many toddlers to eat no fruit and vegetables at all..."
What things need to change about the way we introduce children to food and what we feed them?

"Once we accept that eating is a learned behaviour, we see that the challenge is not to grasp information but to learn new habits."
At a national or European level, are there structural changes* that we should make to improve our dietary habits?

* e.g. regulation, taxes, new laws etc.

More on food by Bee Wilson...

Steps towards treating people like human beings

“For perhaps the first time in his life, he (Hashem) feels like a government is treating him as a human”. 

 Kingsley, P. (2015, June 9). The Journey. Retrieved January 10, 2016, from http://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2015/jun/09/a-migrants-journey-from-syria-to-sweden-interactive

Together, let's create a long list of things that we can do to ensure that each person feels like they are being treated as a human being.

Think about these top 5 regrets of people who were on their deathbeds:

 " I wish I hadn't worked so hard."
"I wish I'd stayed in touch with my friends."
"I wish I'd let myself be happier."
 "I wish I'd had the courage to express my true self."
"I wish I'd led a life true to my dreams, and not what others expected of me."

How can we enable one another to have happier lives?

Link to presentation that you can edit:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1lNtg5Mo2ldNI0qsZKDdClhg_QjAhKdw6LpvcVwHbPKc/edit?usp=sharing

2 interesting events in February for English students...

Tuesday 9th February, 13:00-16:00 Södertörns högskola

Linus Andersson: Where technology goes to die: Electronic waste in global television news

We spent some time last term studying the problem of electronic waste. This is a chance to step back and think about how the media shapes our thinking about electronic waste. It's also a chance to check out Södertörn's Dept. of Media & Communication Studies!

If you want to come, you'll need to take the 12:10 bus from Hagaberg to Östertälje Station and then the train to Flemingsberg. You can borrow an SL card from school.

Here is a short video from 2013 of the person leading the seminar, Linus Andersson:

* * * *

Tuesday 16th February, 09:00-12:00 Kungl. Myntkabinettet (Gamla Stan)

Human rights and anti-discrimination in Eastern Europe

ForumSyd have invited a really interesting range of speakers who are all actively involved in campaigning for human rights. Come and be inspired by these amazing people!

Full program and speakers here: http://www.forumsyd.org/PageFiles/5975/Programme_day%20II.pdf

Note that although this event is free, you must register by Friday 29th January at the latest.

Here is one of the contributors, Olena Shevchenko:

and another, Svetlana Zakharova:


If you know anyone else who is interested, please invite them too!

Sustainable lifestyles - Abas mini project

Over the coming week, we're learning about what "sustainability" means by evaluating different lifestyles according to how sustainable they are.

Decide if you wish to work alone or with one or two others.

a) Think of a lifestyle.

b) Describe that lifestyle using words, pictures and if appropriate, a video.

c) Evaluate that lifestyle by answering the following questions that test its sustainability:

• Financial - can you afford this lifestyle?
• Physical - how does this affect your body in the short and long term?
• Relationships & family life - does this lifestyle help or hinder relationships?
• Physical environment - does this lifestyle improve or damage the physical environment?
• Mental and social environment - how does this lifestyle affect other people?
• Resilience - can this lifestyle survive even if things change?
• Carrying capacity - can EVERYONE have this lifestyle?

Fill a couple of slides with pictures, videos and information here:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qEnsxsu8F7sa-ZNFfql4VnVHDLoMtqQCTz5H6vx5Ljo/edit?usp=sharing

Let's aim to present our work on Thursday 28th January at 8:45.

Best of luck!