CAJ:The Lifeboat Space Mission

The project of a space habitat as a backup plan for human civilization is still at a very early stage. This, however does not mean that there is not much done in this field at the moment. On the contrary as the Lifeboat Foundation is currently working on rendering space flights beyond the atmosphere cheaper and come up with non-rocket methods for reaching the orbit. The most prominent name within the Lifeboat Space habitat mission is ‘Ark1’.

‘Ark 1’ is a self-sustaining space habitat, which should be made capable of ensuring the survival of humanity in the event Earth becomes uninhabitable. The artificial ecosystem should also include plants and animals and will resort to resources from the moon and asteroids since acess to the Earth, which will not be existent by this moment in time will no longer be an option. The living quarters of Ark I will be a set of two spinning wheels accumulating gravity. As an energy source, nuclear fission reactors and solar panels will power the habitat. Ark I will be a test in terms of a self-efficient environment as well as new ways of managing and obtaining resources and finally for astronautic hygiene and space medicine.

The flow of resources will be especially challenging when it comes to creating a space habitat. At the moment various technologies are being pursued to reuse and recycle resources in space. Reuse of water is already achieved aboard the ISS. The most promising model of a perpetuous artificial ecosystem is ‘closing the loop’ to minimize the need for new resources. Generating a flow of resources, which does not rely on the blue planet is crucial when it comes to providing a self-efficient space colony.

An equally important matter regards sustainable health care in space. As experience has shown  radiation, gravity and sanitation prove to be the most difficult problems to be tackled in space. Reating and preventing health problems in space is essential. In absence of the Earth magnetic field, which works as a natural protection against radiation, solutions to protect against dangerous radiation, including the sun rays have to be found

CAJ:The '21st century Planck Club'

 

In comparison to former centuries, the 21st saw very few inventions, less brilliant scientists and moderate technological advancements. The reason for this is that endowments nowadays are assigned through a system that does only support ideas, a committee of agencies consider reasonable and particularly interesting. Radical inventions and innovative plans usually have no positive reputation among these committees and are therefore denied any funding. The lifeboat foundation tries to counteract to these sad developments in order to promote possible successors of Watson, Planck and Einstein, whose contributions to the economic growth of the last centuries was remarkable and of unmeasurable value.

The program is called ‘Scientific Freedom Shield’ and supports promising researchers and scientists by providing them necessary help. The foundation refers to this elite as the ‘21^st century Planck Club’ and sees them as an answer to very questionable tendencies in current research that seems to ‘work’ with companies that are so-called ‘patent trolls’. They gather scientists, researchers, medical specialists, and investors, who theoretically invent technologies that will not exist for several years. Then they patent these ideas for future patent infringement litigation. This is unethical and stunts the innovation of the human race. It is time to give way to new brilliant inventions, as it is vital to come up with new discoveries in order to keep track with the world’s development and effectively be prepared to safeguard humanity. Impeding scientific freedom is poison for human development and will ultimately be decisive when it comes to guarantee our future existence.

 

CAJ:Should we consider singularity as friend or foe?

As I have already established in my CAJ that one of the core tasks of the lifeboat foundation is the protection against the growing power of technology. An important term in this context is singularity, or more precisely technological singularity. These expressions describe the hypothetical moment when artificial intelligence will have exceeded the capacity of the human brain. I do not refer to this point as hypothetical because it could potentially happen one day in future. No, in fact the arrival of such a moment is an absolute certainty. Greater than human intelligence is estimated to set in within the next three decades. So the reason for calling it arbitrary therefore is that the exact moment will not be reasonably measurable. Nonetheless it will have massive impact on our lives.

The relationship between computers and human intelligence can be compared to the relationship between humans and lower animals. The encompassing power of technology will leave us without any hope of control. Social, economic and ethic patterns will change inevitably as the influence of humans will reach a historic point of no return to the throne of power. Scenarios as to what such a reality, dominated by technological singularity will look like are very vague and almost impossible to make out. This makes it hard for the lifeboat foundation to provide methodology to protect humanity. Still, it is an important step to create awareness and consider it worth to actively come to terms with the phenomenon of singularity.

The most scaring aspect of artificial intelligence is the hypothesis of an ever improving cycle. More specifically we are talking about the ‘intelligence explosion’ caused by clever technology that creates even cleverer technology. Just consider the evolution of the human being from ‘homo’ sapiens until the average human of the 21^st century.

How instant photography and polaroids work

The first instant photography camera, as we know it today was invented and released in 1947 by Edwin Herbert Land, the head of the Polaroid company. Apart from the fact, that initially polaroids used black and white films, the technology remained largely the same. Understanding the basics of photographic films is essential when it comes to comprehending instant photography. Color films consist of three layers. While the top layer is sensitive to blue light, the middle one is sensitive to green light and the bottom layer is sensitive to red light. When the film is exposed to light, a chemical reaction sets in, which causes the grains to form metallic silver on the sensible parts of each layer. The pattern, which becomes visible, is a chemical record of the light. In order to get a picture, the film needs to be developed. Therefore, dye couplers attach to the non-exposed areas. The color types include combined colors such as cyan, magenta and yellow. Just as it happens with slide films, the instant camera combines the colors and arranges them on the plastic sheet. As the polaroid camera has a built-in developing system, it provides all necessary chemicals for the developing process.

CAJ: Abstract & Zombie abstract

Abstract

While dangers of nuclear wars and the survival of the human race do concern us, we tend to consider natural hazards such as comets, asteroids, volcanoes, earthquakes as unavoidable. We can be certain, though  that eventually  a global catastrophy will occur. For the first time in human history there are sufficient technical skills to begin protecting the Earth from some natural hazards. The journal is intended to illustrate how the Lifeboat Foundation tries to develop efficient defense systems to prepare for such calamities, but also how it bridges the dilemma created by intrusive surveillance technologies needed to safeguard people’s security. It tries to create awareness that many details of an individual’s private life are actually irrelevant for security purposes and that there are limits to intrusive surveillance.  The Lifeboat Foundation may be hailed in future generations as a pioneer of peace and safety  with the courage to think forward when it comes to the prevention of death and destruction.

Zombie abstract

Zombies have always been fascinating and threatening to people at the same time. The paper provides possible origins for the term ‘zombie’ and a comparison of different types of zombies in the first part. The Basic model presents the relationship and characteristics of the three types 'susceptible', 'zombies' and 'removed'. In the paper the author uses equations to back up his theories concerning the probability and intensity of zombie caused outbreak of diseases. He finally suggests quarantine and treatment theories for cases in which zombie invasion has reached uncontrollable dimensions. As a conclusion a method to eradicate zombies is presented.

CAJ: About the ATSDR and tackling contamination issues

 

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) was founded in 1983. It was coined at a time when the Times Beach in Missouri was evacuated due to dioxin contamination and the necessity of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was discerned. CDC drew the attention to identified health concerns and paved the way for ATSDR. Today it is one of 11 federal agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services. The headquarter of the agency which employs 300 individuals is situated in Atlanta. ATSDR also cooperates with universities and other departments to achieve their goals.

It is estimated that one quarter of diseases worldwide are caused by environmental factors. Chemical exposures are among the most dangerous influences. Not only may they lead to lead poisoning and asthma, but also cancer and developmental disabilities. The ATSDR plays an important role when it comes to safeguarding communities from chemical exposures. The registry’s main aims include identifying potential exposures, evaluating associated health effects and trying to minimize them. ATSDR scientists are able to model areas to see whether they have been determined at some point in the past, and if so to what extend people living there are exposed to chemicals. This method is referred to as ‘bio monitoring’. Another task the scientists fulfill is to assess emerging contaminants such as perfluoro chemicals. The ATSDR is also responsible to initiate proceedings regarding the evacuation of communities and the decision about the return into the determined area.

ATSDR educates doctors, other health care professionals, and communities about the health effects of hazardous substances and how to lessen their exposure to hazardous substances. It therefore provides educational programs that teach children and parents ways to reduce lead exposure. Moreover, ATSDR conducts and funds studies on hazardous substances and has already published documents referred to as  “toxicological profiles” on many of the hazardous substances most commonly found at Superfund sites.

 

 

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/docs/APHA-ATSDR_book.pdf

  

How to kill 'Adolf Hitler'

There are several reasons why Adolf Hitler, known as the ‘Führer’ to many has become the epitome of evil. For all those, who have always dreamed of getting the chance to change history and kill the ‘Führer’ here is how you should go about his assassination.

Materials:

-      time machine

-      nurse costume
   lethal injection (with aconitum appellus, a poisonous extract that cannot be proved afterwards)

-     small towel with Gaboxadol sleeping aid

Steps:

1.    Get into a time machine in order to travel back in time to April 20^th 1889 when Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau and has not yet committed atrocities of any kind.

2.   Go to the hospital of the city disguised as a nurse and make sure you have your lethal injection with you. (make sure it is well-hidden under your nurse costume)

3.   Find ‘baby-Hitler’ in one of the beds in the hospital of Braunau. Carefully choose the right moment between his birth and the time he will be given back to his mother.

4.   Act calm and watch out for other nurses and avoid eye contact with them unless you want to be discovered as intruder.

5.  If you find Hitler have your small towel soaked with the sleeping aid ready. Press it firmly on the baby’s mouth and nose.

6.   When he is asleep it is time to perform the lethal injection into one of his shoulders.

7.      Make sure you get away from the hospital as fast and as inconspicuously as possible.

8.    Go to your time machine and travel back to our time

Camera Lucida instructions

As we thoroughly considered the quality of the set of instructions, we found it lacks some vital points. First of all, a list of materials is missing. It is not very helpful if the items needed for the camera lucida have to be guessed from the text. The next critic regards the order of the instructions. Numbers for each step would have definitely been useful. The author seemed to have taken for granted a lot of things as he wrote the instructions. Not only did he choose to put the images without referring to what exact part of camera lucida was meant, nor did he establish a clear link between the paragraphs and the visual information. We agreed that if we were asked to build a camera lucida resorting only to this very set of instructions we would definitely end up with a bad result. We recommend to tackle these problems in order to render  it  a more structured, comprehensible and therefore useful instruction.

CAJ: Comparing three abstracts about topics relating to the journal

Human Extinction and Farsighted Universal Surveillance

Mark Walker (Department of Philosophy, New Mexico State University, La Cruces, NM, USA)

Volume 3, Issue 4. Copyright © 2012. 11 pages.

Abstract

This paper bridges the dilemma created by intrusive surveillance technologies needed to safeguard people’s security, and the potential negative consequences such technologies might have on individual privacy. The author begins with a brief review of the increasing threat to human life posed by emerging technologies, e.g., genetic engineering and nanotechnology. Next, they canvass a potential technological means to mitigate some of this threat, namely, ubiquitous microscopic sensors. The author then notes that a consequence of the deployment of such technology appears to be an erosion of personal privacy on a scale hitherto unimaginable. It is then argued that many details of an individual’s private life are actually irrelevant for security purposes, and that it may be possible to develop technology to mask these details in the data gleaned from surveillance devices. Such a development could meet some, perhaps many, of the concerns about privacy. It is also argued that if it is possible to use technology to mask personal information this may actually promote the goal of security, since it is conjectured that the public is likely to be more willing to accept such invasive technology if it is designed to mask such details. Finally, some applications to Society’s current uses of surveillance technology are drawn

 

Personal Comment:

This abstract discusses a core competence of the Lifeboat Foundation’s philosophy. Protecting people from intrusive use of technology is a rather current topic in times of growing surveillance and modernization. Even if the abstract is written as a quite monotonuous summary and somehow lacks findings it still manages to give the reader a concrete idea of the papers content.

 

 

Link: http://www.igi-global.com/article/human-extinction-farsighted-universal-surveillance/74714

Protection of the human race against natural hazards (asteroids, comets, volcanoes, earthquakes)

Joseph V. Smith1

 + Author Affiliations

1Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637

Abstract

Although we justifiably worry about the danger of nuclear war to civilization, and perhaps even to survival of the human race, we tend to consider natural hazards (e.g., comets, asteroids, volcanoes, earthquakes) as unavoidable acts of God. In any human lifetime, a truly catastrophic natural event is very unlikely, but ultimately one will occur. For the first time in human history we have sufficient technical skills to begin protection of Earth from some natural hazards. We could decide collectively throughout the world to reassign resources: in particular, reduction of nuclear and conventional weapons to a less dangerous level would allow concomitant increase of international programs for detection and prevention of natural hazards. Worldwide cooperation to mitigate natural hazards might help psychologically to lead us away from the divisive bickering that triggers wars. Future generations could hail us as pioneers of peace and safety rather than curse us as agents of death and destruction.

 

Personal comment:

The abstract resorts to very persuasive language in the beginning and therefore caught my attention right from the first sentence. It provokes a feeling of concern by referring to war in first place and then compare it to the power of natural phenomenons. Furthermore, the abstract tries to referr to the way the majority tends to think about the topic only to immediately smash it by saying that one day a truly catatstrophic natural event will occur. The abstract also ends on a high note and again a great level of persuasive language. I would not hesitate a second if I was asked to read the paper tot he abstract. It really fits perfectly into the topic of my CAJ.

Link: http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/13/10/675.short

 

COMET/ASTEROID PROTECTION SYSTEM (CAPS): A SPACE-BASED SYSTEM

CONCEPT FOR REVOLUTIONIZING EARTH PROTECTION AND UTILIZATION OF

NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS

Daniel

Renjith R. Kumar

Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc.

Hampton, Virginia USA

ABSTRACT

There exists an infrequent, but significant hazard to life and property due to impacting asteroids and comets.There is currently no specific search for long-period comets, smaller near-Earth asteroids, or smaller shortperiod comets. These objects represent a threat with potentially little or no warning time using conventional ground-based telescopes. These planetary bodies also represent a significant resource for commercial exploitation, long-term sustained space exploration, and scientific research. The Comet/Asteroid Protection System (CAPS) would expand the current detection effort to include long-period comets, as well as small asteroids and short-period comets capable of regional destruction. A space-based detection system, despite being more costly and complex than Earth-based initiatives, is the most promising way of expanding the range of detectable objects, and surveying the entire celestial sky on a regular basis. CAPS is a future spacebased system concept that provides permanent, continuous asteroid and comet monitoring, and rapid, controlled modification of the orbital trajectories of selected bodies. CAPS would provide an orbit modification system capable of diverting kilometer class objects, and modifying the orbits of smaller asteroids for impact defense and resource utilization. This paper provides a summary of CAPS and discusses several key areas and technologies that are being investigated.

Personal comment:

The abstracts builds up the first argument claiming there has not yet been a lot of research and measures to protect the Earth from asteroids. The idea to start with a scenario where there is no protection provided for a catastrophy that could potentially eradicate the earth’s population is quite shocking.

 

Link: http://www.cs.odu.edu/~mln/ltrs-pdfs/NASA-2002-53iac-ddm.pdf

CAJ:Curious aspects regarding the 'Svalbard Global Seed Vault'

The 'Svalbard Global Seed Vault' is an ambitious project to store seeds from all over the world. It is situated in the Norwegian city of Svalbard, one of the most remote towns in the world. As far as financing goes, it is primarily supplied by the ‘Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’. Other sponsors include the US agribusiness giant Du Pont/Pioneer hi-Bred and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Regarding the dimensions of the bank, it will store 3 millions of different crops of the global flora. The walls used for the bank will be one-metre thick and supported by massive steel. The main aim of the project is to preserve the global seed diversity for the future and save it from all calamities the world could  possibly be confronted with one day. This is why Svalbard is also referred to as the ‘doomsday seed bank’.

A closer look at what seems so entirely inspired by nobel motifs, however, will reveal some curious facts about the bank. The real beneficiaries of such seeds banks are namely scientists and large plant breeders as Monsanto and DuPont. The Monsanto shares the world patent rights for Genetic Use Restriction Technology with the US Government. This technology works with special seeds that commit suicide once they are harvested. As a consequence, farmers are forced to buy new seeds each year and therefore steadily earn Monsanto a fortune. The control of private seed companies is likely to grow even more due to such seed banks.

Another interesting fact involves the aforementioned Rockefeller Foundation. Ever since the early twentieth century, it has been interested in eugenics. Actually the Rockelfeller Foundation was a great supporter of the Ayran Master Race of the Nazis and their striving for the perfection of the human race. Hitler’s researchers have taken genetic engineering a long way. A company, which now seems to have rediscovered its fascination for genetic perfection in the Svalbard Global seed Vault somehow does not lack a certain macabre note.

After all and despite critical notes, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault should in first place still be seen as the result of a high reputation of the nature and the flora surrounding us. 

Diary of the bloody civil war in Syria

Silence fills Aleppo, a Syrian city, perched on a tiny mountain near the desert. The strong afternoon sun heats up the stone and the residuals of the abandoned ruins that used to be houses of happy families. Every now and then, the silence is interrupted by sequences of gunfire audible in the distance. Within a few days, the once so peaceful city has turned into a place of violence and hopelessness. The atrocities of the syrian civil war have invaded the city and caused thousands of victims. Many people were forced to leave their homes behind. In the middle of all this, a boy limps over traces of broken glass and scrap metal. He wears no shoes. Shorts and a ripped shirt barely hide the scarves and blood all over his body. His soft small face is covered with dust and his big black eyes are filled with tears. The kid is nine-year old Ashid. He, just as many other children has become an orphan ever since his parents were killed in a bomb attack on their house.

Description of the boy with the toy hand grenade

The black-and-white photograph of the boy with the toy hand grenade was probably taken in a park during daytime. A few people can be discerned in the background. The shadow of a tree falls on the small and delicate figure of a young boy, wearing a patterned shirt and dark shorts. He has suspenders of which one side has slipped down his left shoulder. In his right hand he firmly holds a toy hand grenade. His fragile legs seem to disappear to the thick socks in his shoes. He slightly leans his head to his left side and despite the colorless picture one might guess his blond hair. The expression on his face seems awkwardly tense. His lips are pinched and he is starring with wide-open eyes. The rest of his body, especially his left hand looks cramped and nervous as well. The boy’s knees are covered with dirt. He appears desperate and lonely standing on the asphalt amid the park.

'After-Death-Avatars'

There is hardly anything more devastating and dreadful than the decease of a loved person. Thanks to ‘After-Life-Avatar’, however, overcoming such traumatic situations can be made less deplorable. So it’s up to you! Either you suffer for the rest of your life or you go and get you an ‘After-Life Avatar’.

CAJ:‘The lifeboat foundation’ and other programs with the ultimate intentions to safeguard humanity, the earth’s biodiversity, and moreover enable their expansion into the solar system

 "If humans one day become extinct from a catastrophic collision, there would be no greater tragedy in the history of life in the universe. Not because we lacked the brain power to protect ourselves but because we lacked the foresight.“

 Organizations such as ‘The lifeboat foundation‘ tackle the ambiguity of modern technology as both, cause of and solution to threat of the human population on earth at the same time. We are part of an era of ever advancing technology encompassing more sections of our lives each day. While things are made more efficient, faster or possible at all, we tend to forget about the disadvantages, risks and dangers scientific progress brings about as well. We should be curious about what is currently being done to protect human beings from the negative effects Artificial Intelligence could potentially cause. So speaking of threat in this context, misuse and other malign impacts of high technology on humans must be avoided by all means, and this is exactly what ‘the lifeboat foundation’ actually aims for.

 Apart from this, however, its ambitious programs also use technology in order to provide protection for humanity from all kinds of danger. Not only tries it to preserve life and biodiversity on Earth by developing bio shields, asteroid protection systems or weather warning devices, but also tries to put forward the realization of plans regarding the population of the solar system. Actually, transferring most of the earth’s biodiversity to Mars is one of the major goals of the foundation.

I hope I could highlight what the content of my CAJ will be like. I am really looking forward to the CAJ as I am sure I will be having a tremendously exciting and interesting time doing the research work for it.

A day in the life of…Heimo

Actually, I find it quite hard to refer to an average day of my life since every day provides unique experience. Still, there are constant aspects to my day-to-day life. If it is a day during the semester, I usually get up at 8.30. Breakfast is an essential part of my daily routine, as I would definitely not work without a delicious espresso made in a traditional Italian ‘caffettiera’ (coffee-maker), accompanied by a substantial ‘Marmeladekornspitz” (small baguette made of rye).

Throughout most of the year I ride my motorcycle to get to university in order to attend between two and four courses every day. In the afternoon my athletics coach expects me for a 2-hour training session on the
track. Usually there is not much time for lunch between university and workout. So my lunch regularly depends on what the nearby ‘Billa’ or the cafeteria offers. If there is more time around lunch time I prefer eating with friends, but for the most time of a stressful and busy semester there is not sufficient time left. In the late afternoon and in the evening I am busy completing several writing and study tasks for university.

How I will continue working on my pronunciation

I really discovered the benefits of ‘howjsay.com’ or other sites providing sound samples next to vocabulary while I was preparing for PC2. I was impressed how it is possible to acquire particular sounds just by listening carefully to them and repeating them. Therefore, I will also use those sites in future, especially if I am unsure about the actual intonation of a word. Moreover, I am convinced watching British or American TV series, movies in cinema or simply videos on the internet can contribute to a better pronunciation if I listen to them with great attention. I will also try to compile a list of difficult words I come across while reading in order to check how they are pronounced correctly. I really became aware of how little attention I paid to pronunciation before, even though proper speaking is an essential part of any working conversation, sometimes leading to misunderstandings if neglected. Taking into consideration all these facts, I am determined to devote much more time and energy to pronunciation exercises. This will definitely help me ameliorate my passive and active use of English and allow me delivering more eloquent, sophisticated and comprehensible speeches.

What I did to improve pronounciation

As I prepared for the oral part of PC2 I resorted to several online sources in order to practice thoroughly within the field of pronunciation. I referred to the site‘howjsay.com’ to make sure to acquire the right sound of the word repeated by the computer voice. The feedback file I received from my teacher took me a long way concerning a purposeful preparalotion for the oral exam. Not only did it point out my weaknesses in terms of pronunciation, but it also provided a precious source of self-assessment in general, as normally I hear myself on tape quite rarely. Speaking of particular sounds of the English language I struggle with, the intonation of ‘th’ seems to be somewhat challenging for me. This fact was also documented and confirmed in the feedback file. Hopefully, continue working on this special sound will contribute to a better outcome when it comes to pronouncing this special sound. Since it is found in the very frequently occurring article ‘the’ it will be vital if I want to ameliorate my speeches and render them more authentic.

Of notebooks and other strategies for studying vocabulary

There is probably no other field of studies where approaches and study techniques differ as much from one person to another as with learning vocabulary. While some prefer reading words and their definitions just as they would read a book, others need to have the words written down by themselves once, twice or even three times before they know how to use them correctly. I would perhaps find my method somewhere in between the aforementioned strategies. More precisely the plan I formulated for myself is the following. I compiled a notebook whereto I transferred the words I wanted to become familiar with. When it comes to verbs I always try to put another expression next to them, which was either higher or lower register in order to get an overall impression of its meaning and the context it will most likely be used in. For nouns, I tried to look up possible synonyms or if there weren’t any I helped myself out with acronyms. The same method I applied to adjectives. The corpus of contemporary English was a useful source as far as research the context in which words are often found is concerned. As far as looking for synonyms and acronyms or other words of other level of register goes the ‘Oxford Dictionary for Advanced Learners’ proved tremendously useful to me. I am glad that after some initial struggle I eventually figured out the most suitable and useful way of coping with new words. Render studying more efficient and successful is a precious gift to yourself.

The Pechakucha project- post mortem to a great experience

As already introduced in my recent blog post this year’s Pechakucha was about English neologisms in Italian and vice versa. I worked together with Flavius Leahu and we met several times in order to render the presentation as terrific as possible. Fun did not miss out on this occasion as we also had great time preparing it. This contributed to make our dialog more interesting, informative, but also funny and entertaining. The recording of the dialogue turned out to be fairly tough as we wanted to avoid mistakes of all kinds to produce a presentable audio file, free from erred pronunciation or even laughter. Therefore, it required numerous attempts until eventually we got the final version right. On presentation’s day I was slightly nervous as I hoped to perform my part as good as possible having experienced some troubles during the rehearsals when switching from Italian accent to the English sometimes from one word to another. I really had to give proof of how eloquent I could be if I had to on this occasion and to me the Pechakucha seemed the ideal stage. Another concerning aspect was acting as it was essential for the kind of texts to put on a show as if we were discussing, debating and interacting with each other. Altogether, the final outcome was really satisfactory in my opinion. I was especially pleased by the fact that the presentation was perceived positive among the enthusiastic audience. Therefore it added to my joyful sensation of having accomplished something entertaining. Reflecting on what ideas other presenters came up with and how they were presenting them I honestly have to say that was somewhat impressed by the quality work almost everyone showed. The topics were interesting and one could really discern the amount of effort that went into them. The presentations which seem so easy are often the product of diligent preparation and I am sure this was true for many of them. Apart from this I was overwhelmed by the massive creativity. I could witness all forms raging from a presentation entirely documented on video until speeches delivered enormously free and with excellent acting quality. As a conclusion I will think of the Peckachucha project as a very entertaining and informative form of presenting. I am looking forward to future presentations of this kind even if it will mean to devote many hours to the project. It is always worth the work

Europe already has one foot in ‘Japanese’ deflation grave (improved summary)

In The Telegraph of October 23, 2013 Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, analyses Europe’s debt crisis. As history has shown, deflation has the potential to cause economic disaster. If total debt grows too strong, as is the case in Western Europe, deflation becomes fatal. The ‘eurostat index’ depicts that deflation is decreasing. Prices at fall are therefore witnessed in numerous states. Similar to Japan’s crisis, the euro zone economy is threatened by high debt ratios and sustained deflation. Vicious dynamics such as the ‘denominator effect’ are observed in Italy, where debt rises faster than GDP. The same is valid for private debt, as crash diets only misguided the economy of troubled states even more. According to Mr Darvas, letting inflation grow could lead out of the deflationary spiral. Responsible for money shifting to Germany is the ECB and non counteracting member states which fear Germany would exit the euro zone. Germany too could be in danger with inflation being one possible way of improvement. The resulting rise of their wages, however, could harm Germany. Europe currently appears paralyzed and hopes for global growth to successfully fight the deflation virus.