What did you learn in School today ? | What did you learn in School today? | Page 19

2016-04-02 (Saturday)

Posted on April 2, 2016 by What did you learn in School today ?

Today, I learned that:

Last night, I took my son and his girl friend to an outdoor consert with Skank, one of Brazil’s leading rock band for a couple of decades, which you can see in full action in the photo below. The surprising venue was Arena Brasil, located in the outskirts of Paraná’s leading textile city, Cianorte. The evening was warm and pleasant. Skank presented a mixed program spanning from some of their all-time hits until the most recent tunes. The public interacted well with the band and sang together the lyrics of the well-known songs. And the whole arena exploded when Skank once again paid a tribute to the Brazilian pastime, football. Listen to “É Uma Partida De Futebol” (It is a Football game) in reference #1 below.

Skank

Show by Skank in Cianorte, PR, Brazil on 2016-04-01

Yesterday’s event came as a relaxing break from the distressing reality of the Brazilian everyday life. However, the rotten economy, the political scandals, the official corruption, etc., are still here. Radio Sweden’s Saturday program about Economics discussed all this in a way accessible to all its listeners. Listen to the program in reference #2 below (unfortunately only in Swedish) and stay on top of the current situation here.

… That’s what I learned in school !

Refs.:

1: É Uma Partida De Futebol

2: Brasiliens ekonomiska kris

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2016-04-01 (Fredag)

Posted on April 1, 2016 by What did you learn in School today ?

Idag lärde jag mig, att:

Det är bäst att vara förvarnad för en lavin av aprilskämt, för det verkar som om kvantiteten ökar för varje år som går. Exempel på dagens skämt kan du se i referens nummer 1 nedan.

Men kvantitet är nödvändigtvis inte kvalitet, kanske det var bättre förr? Sveriges Radio sände igår ett minnesprogram om se- och hörvärda aprilskämt från anno dazumal. Naturligtvis satt TV-programmet från 1962, när Kjell Stensson fick hela svenska folket att beklä sina svartvita TV-mottagare med nylonstrumpor i hopp om att få se lite färg, i högsätet, men något som gladde mig särskilt mycket var när min hemort Herrljunga år 2014 bestämt sig för att bli helt emanciperat och byta namn till Henljunga. Missa inte programmet i referens nummer 2 nedan.

1962&2014

Aprilskämt från 1962 och 2014

Men varifrån kommer då aprilskämtet? Herman Lindqvist kunde berätta om det i ett frågeprogram för knappt två år sedan, se referens nummer 3 nedan.

… Slut för idag, tack för idag!

(The text above in Swedish is all about April Fool’s Day, in the past and the present.)

Refs.:

1: 2016 års bästa aprilskämt

2: Aprilskämt vi kanske glömt

3: Bästa minnet 2014-05-10

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2016-03-30 (Wednesday)

Posted on March 30, 2016 by What did you learn in School today ?

Today, I learned that:

If you were surprised about the consequences which an interpretation of a comma in a contract can lead to, as I wrote about yesterday, today I will write about something which can directly affect the pockets of many people, if they do not weigh the possible outcome of a simple click of “like” in a Facebook page.

This case has been judged by a court in Piracicaba, located 160 km North West of the city of São Paulo, SP, Brazil. On 2013-12-04, the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo published an article, where the journalist Monica Bergamo reveals a case, which had just been decided in that court. The original text in Brazilian Portuguese is in reference #1 below, here comes a translation of it into English:

“A person that shares offensive comments or news on Facebook can be sentenced to pay an indemnity to the other person that feels affected by it. That decision was taken by the Court of Justice of the state of São Paulo. Judge José Roberto Neves Amorim, rapporteur of the case, says that the decision is new, and affirms that it will be recommended as jurisprudence, to be applied in similar cases which arrive at the court.

The case involves a veterinarian who was accused of negligence when treating a bitch (i.e. a female dog), subject to be castrated. The unproven information was shared and received “likes” from two women, who were sentenced to pay R$ 20 000 (corresponding then to US$ 8 500 ). “Those who share messages and give their opinion in an offensive way are responsible for their acts”, says Amorim. To him, Facebook should be “viewed with a higher degree of seriousness and not by the informal character that the defendants applied”.”

Reference #2 shows the official records of this process, and according to it, the sentence may be overturned, because the defendants appealed against the decision.

… That’s what I learned in school !

Refs.:

1: Mulheres abrem jurisprudência a indenização por comentário ofensivo em rede social

2: Consulta de Processos do 2ºGrau

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2016-03-29 (Tuesday)

Posted on March 29, 2016 by What did you learn in School today ?

Today, I learned that:

Almost one decade ago, there was a big dispute in Canada over how to interpret the meaning of a comma in one paragraph of a contract between two companies in the telecommunications industry. And it was not academic, the amount in dispute was as high as 2,13 million Canadian dollars. You might have heard about the so-called “tele-comma” case, if not here is the story:

In the Canadian province of New Brunswick, located on the South East coast, the local electricity company, NB Power, leased space on their outside poles to the telecommunications corporation Rogers Communication, so that they could distribute cable TV by means of those poles. A third party, Bell Aliant Regional Communication administered the poles on behalf of NB Power, so the lease contract was drawn up between Aliant and Rogers in year 2002, with an initial validity of five years, renewable in five-year periods, and with cancellation possible with a one-year prior notice. However, in 2005, Aliant gave the one-year notice that the contract was cancelled and furthermore the cost of leasing the pole almost triplicated, from $ 9,60 per pole to $ 28,05, which multiplied by 91 000 poles would lead to an extra cost for Rogers of almost $ 1,7 million.

Aliant said that this was all regulated in the following paragraph of the contract: “[…This Agreement] shall be effective from the date it is made and shall continue in force for a period of five (5) years from the date it is made, and thereafter for successive five (5) year terms, unless and until terminated by one year prior notice in writing by either party.” They alleged that the comma in “… terms, unless …” gave them that right, which was also confirmed by Canada’s Radio, Television and Telecommunications Commission.

However, Rogers kept insisting that the cited comma did not have any real meaning, and eventually found also a French version of the same contract, where such a comma did not exist. And they were successful in their appeal with the Commission, that reversed their earlier decision due to the existence of the French contract.

NB Power poles and light house in Caissie Point, New Brunswick. Photo by Charles W. Bash

Below are three references that gives all the juicy content of this case, the two first ones being Canadian newspapers, and the third one is a British law site with a different angle to the story. Read and learn, and after that be very sure that the contracts you sign do not contain any such draconic comma.

… That’s what I learned in school !

Refs.:

1: A $2-million comma? Au contraire, Rogers tells Aliant

2: Rogers wins ‘comma’ contract dispute

3: The case of the million-dollar comma

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2016-03-28 (Monday)

Posted on March 29, 2016 by What did you learn in School today ?

Today, I learned that:

It seems that many readers appreciate when I deal with culinary treats, which of course makes us all feel good. But since my background is in technology, it is difficult to not mention how the technological development is present also there.

Today, I heard about a novel container for storing and serving wine with a twist. It is the American company Kuvée which is accepting pre-orders for their system which allegedly permits that the user can store an open bottle up to 30 days and give a higher flexibility to drinking something different than the others. Let us see what comes out of this at end of the year, when their first products are scheduled to launch. If you think that this sounds interesting, consult references #1 and #2 below.

Today’s second topic is about the continuing development in screens for mobile phones. The dominating technology has been LCD displays for quite a while, although the OLED devices are coming stronger, promising more vibrant colors than their opponent. And now production costs for OLED are estimated to be lower than for LED, so very probably, we will see more of those in our smartphones from now on. But as always, there is a product that is trying to counter attack. It is the Quantum Dot (QD) display that wants to be remembered as a viable option to OLED.

OLEDxQD

OLED and QD-LED displays side by side. Photo by Android Authority

Below are references (#3 … #5) to three articles from Android Authority, that I suggest that you read in the order I indicate, although it is inverse chronological order. It is heavy stuff, but if you want to go deep into the secrets of your cell phone display, it is all in there.

… That’s what I learned in school !

Refs.:

1: Kuvee’s smart bottle is like a Keurig, but for wine

2: Your perfect glass, anytime

3: Right on schedule, AMOLED displays are now cheaper to produce than LCD

4: AMOLED vs LCD: differences explained

5: Quantum Dot vs OLED, which is the better display?

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2016-03-27 (Söndag)

Posted on March 27, 2016 by What did you learn in School today ?

Idag lärde jag mig, att:

Sveriges Radio sänder ett program på söndagsmorgonar som är riktat till en yngre publik, 9-13 år, och som heter Helt sant! I en blandning av fakta och sketcher lär de sig vetenskaper på ett lättillgängligt sätt. Idag fick vi lära oss att papper kan återvinnas 7 gånger, men att för glas finns det ingen övre gräns. Och nu vet också våra påläggskalvar vad grafén är, den ultratunna polymeren jag beskrev i mitt blogginlägg 2016-02-01 som har Chalmers som europeisk forskningsledare. Och dagens hyllning till grafén kom i form av sång, lyssna på referens nummer 1 nedan.

Men samtidigt som vi lär ut spjutspetsteknik till våra barn, så finns det politiker runt om vår jord som förnekar evolutionen, att det pågår en global uppvärmning, och t.om. att AIDS är frukten av ett virus. Det senaste påståendet framfördes och vidhålls av den sydafrikanske ex-presidenten Thabo Mbeki. Se nedanstående bildtext och lyssna också på ljudfilen i referens nummer 2.

mbeki

Citat från Johan Bergendorff, SR Vetenskapsradions Veckomagasin 2016-03-25: “Härom veckan gick Sydafrikas förre president Thabo Mbeki ut i ett öppet brev och försvarade sin tidigare inställning att hiv-viruset inte orsakar aids. Thabo Mbekis nygamla kvacksalvarpåståenden som kostade mer än 300 000 sydafrikaner livet har rivit upp gamla sår.”

… Slut för idag, tack för idag !

(This post in Swedish deals with teaching science to children and also how the former South African president Mbeki continues to deny a connection between HIV
and AIDS.)

Refs.:

1: Materialspecial med sånghyllning till grafén

2: Thabo Mbeki fortsätter förneka att HIV orsakar AIDS i Sydafrika

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2016-03-26 (Saturday)

Posted on March 26, 2016 by What did you learn in School today ?

Today, I learned that:

We have arrived at the Easter weekend and in most countries where Easter is celebrated, it is normally Easter Sunday which attracts the main interest culinarywise. Sweden is an exception, there it is Easter Eve, Saturday, that has that attribute.

So I would like to contribute with a marvellous dessert to break the normal sweets tradition. Avocado for most people is known for its use in appetizers, e.g. filling it with prawns, caviar, etc., and of course as a guacamole dip for the tortillas or nachos. But in Brazil, we like to eat the avocado sweet, mixing its pulp with sugar and water / milk, to form a delicious cream. See the photo and reference #1 below.

Creme de abacate

Avocado cream is extremely simple to make, and yet it is so tasty. Just divide the fruit in two halves, scrape out the pulp and place it in a blender. Add some sugar and a liquid, either water or milk. Dose and blend well to desired consistency. If you use water, then some lime will give the cream a delightful contrast. But do not add lime if you are using milk, they do not go well together chemically.

This morning, I heard some distressing news from the local news program of SR Sjuhärad. It was reported that the new EU regulations about traffic safety does not oblige the car driver to have his/her tail lights lit when out driving in the fog. To me, and so many others, that seems like a dangerous degradation of the safety rules. Let us hope that the human drivers have more wit than the EU legislators and leave the lights on. See also reference #2 below.

In two earliers posts, 2016-03-10 and 2016-03-12, I reported about the outcome of the first three games of Go in a best of five series challenge between the AlphaGo computer and the Korean master Lee Sedol. Here comes the final report, in which Lee won his first game and AlphaGo won one more. So the challenge victory went to AlphaGo with a 4-1 match record.

Go45

The results of games 4 and 5 in the challenge series between AlphaGo and Lee Sedol show how the two opponents won one game each. The final result of the 5-game series is thus 4-1 to AlphaGo

… That’s what I learned in school !

Refs.:

2: Släckta bakljus ger sämre säkerhet i dimma

3: AlphaGo’s ultimate challenge: a five-game match against the legendary Lee Sedol

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2016-03-25 (Friday)

Posted on March 25, 2016 by What did you learn in School today ?

Today, I learned that:

The world of football is in mourning, the carousel master Johann Cruyff died yesterday. I was fortunate to see him in action on top of his career. My colleague Christer and I decided to test the Interrail pass (see reference # 1 below) during the summer vacations of 1974. We set out from Malmö on June 15, via Copenhagen, Hamburg (where we got involved in a traffic accident) and Amsterdam, and on June 19, there we were in Dortmund in the Ruhr gebiet. It is definitely one of the best beer cities in the whole world, which we could confirm personally, and in the evening we headed for Westfalenstadion, to assist the second round of group 3 in the FIFA World Cup, Sweden vs. the Netherlands.

The Dutch team had defeated Uruguay by 2-0 in the first round, while Sweden and Bulgaria ended in a draw, 0-0. So the Dutch were of course big favorites to win the match, and the only thing they did not do in the game was to score, in spite of all good passes and tricks delivered by their captain Johann Cruyff and his mates. Luckily for Sweden, the Swedish goal keeper was Ronnie Hellström, who was a virtual wall between the goal posts, so the match ended with another 0-0 draw. The match report can be seen in reference # 2 below. Holland ended up as vice champions of the tournament, Sweden were number five and Ronnie Hellström was elected the best goal keeper of the World Cup, which led to that he was hired by the German Bundesliga team Kaiserslautern, which he defended for 10 consecutive years.

waffles

Swedish waffles with fresh raspberries and whipped cream. The recipe (in Swedish) can be found on http://www.arla.se/recept/vafflor/

If you live in Sweden, maybe you have had your share of waffles today, since March 25 is nick-named “waffle day”. So why is that? The reason is semantic and has its origin in the following legend: The Feast of the Annunciation, contemporarily the Solemnity of the Annunciation, commemorates the visit of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, during which he informed her that she would be the mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In Swedish, the official name of today is therefore “Jungfru Marie Bebådelsedag”, but since she is also named “Vår Fru” (literally Our Lady), the day is also named “Vårfrudagen”, which easily can be pronounced as “Våffeldagen” (i.e. Waffle Day). More information (in Swedish) can be found in reference # 3 below.

… That’s what I learned in school !

Refs.:

2: 1974 FIFA World Cup Germany™ – Netherlands-Sweden

3: Vårfrudagen (Våffeldagen) | Nordiska museet

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2016-03-24 (Thursday)

Posted on March 24, 2016 by What did you learn in School today ?

Today, I learned that:

Exactly 36 years ago to the day, I set foot for the first time on Brazilian soil, more exactly at the Galeão airport in Rio de Janeiro. Cumbica airport in São Paulo did not exist yet, so I had to disembark there and switch planes. And it was worth it, because in the following flight I got a window seat on the right side of the aircraft and could see the whole Bay of Guanabara in all its beauty.

The whole week before I had been in Lisbon, where I improved my Portuguese skills and enjoyed enormously the visit to Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian with all its artifacts and objects of sheer art. The last day there, Sunday, was a perfect day to visit the medieval Sintra castle in the outskirts of Lisbon. And when it was finally time for departure from Lisbon airport, who did I meet there? The famous Swedish artist Lasse Åberg, who was bringing the whole film set to Rio de Janeiro to shoot the final scene of the comic movie Sällskapsresan (“The Charter Trip”). That scene is only a few minutes long, so I am sure that the whole film crew enjoyed their trip to Rio to get some vacation as well. See photo and reference #1 below.

sresan

“I filmens slutbilder fångar kameran in en båt utanför Copacabana i Rio, där Stig-Helmer, Majsan, Ole och Siv uppklädda sitter och läppjar på drinkar medan en orkester spelar endast för dem.”

As I said before, living in Brazil has its advantages, the (meteorological) climate and the (human) climate are of course two great benefits, and since we are in back water to the rest of the world, why would anyone ever want to perform a terrorist attack here? But I must admit that the economic and political situation right now is the worst I have ever seen during the three decades I have lived here, and there is no silver lining in view.

Enough with complaining for today, instead today was announced the highest rate of data transmission ever on our earth, a whopping 57 Gbits/s of sustained rate, with no errors! Once more, it was researchers at the University of Illinois who accomplished that feat, see more in reference #2 below.

… That’s what I learned in school !

Refs.:

1: Sällskapsresan eller Finns det svenskt kaffe på grisfesten (1980)

2: Record-speed data transmission could make big data more accessible

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