How Facebook’s newest teen engineer supported his family with apps until cashing in There’s nothing that highlights the fact that Silicon Valley is the new Wall Street, gold rush, colonial settlement — insert your American Dream rags-to-riches historical moniker here — quite like the story of 18-year-old Miami resident Michael Sayman. This week, Facebook hired Sayman as one of its youngest full-time engineers in history. He wouldn’t tell me his salary, but admitted his friends are already pressuring him to “buy a Tesla,” which he won’t do because he’d “rather save the money.” Before you go throw up at the idea of a teenager buying himself a Tesla off tech riches, there’s few people who deserve that luxury quite as much as this kid. I met Sayman four months ago, when the then 17-year-old developer caught Mark Zuckerberg’s eye. He had poured the last year of his life into building the game, which was a version of charades. “I’m beating Starbucks, Luminosity, Fitbit, Lyft… oh my gosh, it’s number 123 in the overall app store ratings!”
Expérience sociale choc : ils achètent un tee-shirt à 2€, puis découvrent comment il a été fabriqué - Purebreak La vidéo, très bien réalisée, montre des passants attirés par un distributeur de tee-shirts vendus 2€. L'automate est attrayant et les tee-shirts arborent des logos tendance : à première vue, tout laisse à penser qu'il s'agit d'une opération efficace de street-marketing comme on en voit souvent dans les grandes villes. Mais une fois le tee-shirt et la taille choisie, une vidéo se lance et présente au client Manisha, l'une des millions de travailleurs pauvres d'Inde, du Bangladesh ou du Cambodge qui produisent, jusqu'à 16 heures par jour dans des ateliers parfois non sécurisés, les dizaines de millions de vêtements à bas prix que nous nous arrachons dans les enseignes de prêt à porter. De quoi faire réfléchir sur le juste prix à payer des vêtements que l'on achète et la façon dont ils sont fabriqués. Plus d'informations sur le site (en anglais) Fashion Revolution , à l'origine de cette campagne virale.
5 Reasons To Write A Letter To Your Future Self | This Is QuarterLife In March, I turned twenty-five years old, and on that most dreaded day I received a letter from my twelve year-old-self. At twelve, I distinctly remember listening to Britney Spears’ “Ooops I did it Again,” consuming Fruit by the Foot, surviving Y2K, and wearing checkered school jumpers that came down to my knees. It was that magical time right before pimples started growing uncontrollably and watching Saturday morning cartoons was still acceptable. Reading my letter evoked a lot of emotions in the span of two minutes. Aside from the obvious hilarity that comes out of a twelve year-olds mind, it amazed me how much my twelve year old self seemed to know about life. 1) It reminds you of who you once were We’re always growing and changing — you’re not the same person now that you were at 15, and at 35 who knows what new interests, goals, and people will be a part of your life. 2) Writing a letter helps you reflect 3) Writing can help us to know ourselves better
Oceania Through Videos The Oceania exhibition that is now on at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris originated at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. The RA has a number of videos in English online in connection with the exhibition that are excellent for class work on the topic. You might like to introduce the topic with this video mentioned in the Paris exhibition downloadble teaching pack. It's a promotional film calling for future students for the Pacific Institute of Perfoming Arts. It includes dance, costume and a poem simple enough for pupils from A2, with the repeated refrain "We are the sea", and the line "We should not be defined by the smallness of our islands but by the greatness of our oceans. The RA videos all come subtitled, so are not really appropriate for listening comprehension unless you don’t show the images. The exhibition includes both photos of contemporary Samoan tattoos, and tattoos on historical artefacts. The Ocean: Moana Copyright(s) : Cinzia Jonathan/Pure New Zealand
Your Words Matter Your Words Matter. I had a teacher who once told me I would most likely be a college dropout. Her words mattered. When I told my wife I wanted to write a book and she said without blinking an eye, “Do it.” I told my daughter the other day how proud I was of her for writing a full sentence! My words mattered. And when I hear back from the teachers and parents that read this blog, I know my words matter. “Learning how to use language effectively will be the most valuable skill you will have to use for the rest of your life.” Woah. Want to get a job? Want to get married? Want to sell something? What Are We Teaching Our Children About Their Words? The problem I see across the board in schools and in the workplace, is that most people rarely think about the power their words have to make a positive impact. DON’T use your words to bully another person (important). or DON’T use contractions (not that important). Your Words Matter To matter means to be of consequence or importance to others.
Climate Change and Global Warming for Children Introduction to Climate change Many people make Climate Change and Global Warming a scary and difficult thing to understand, but it’s not. Scientists have warned that the world's climate has changed a lot, and has affected many living and non-living things. Many places that were warmer are now getting colder, and many colder regions are getting much colder or even warmer (know as Global Warming). For example, between 1901 and 2012, it is believed that the earth's temperature has risen by 0.89 °C. Some people do not believe that these are caused by human activities. Well, whatever it is, we would like to know more, and take a few good points from this confusion, and use them to make our world a better place to live. Tip... Global warming (as well as global cooling) refers specifically to any change in the global average surface temperature. Let’s start by learning a few tricky terms that we may need to explain Climate Change better.
What it’s like to grow old, in different parts of the world At TED2013, Jared Diamond shares some of his research on how different societies treat the elderly. Photo: James Duncan Davidson The world’s population is getting older. Across the globe, people are living longer thanks to improvements in healthcare, nutrition and technology. This population shift brings with it incredible possibilities, but also a new set of challenges. How do we care for our elderly? Jared Diamond: How societies can grow old better In today’s talk, Jared Diamond examines the vast differences in how societies across the globe view and treat their senior citizens. The Western system for elder care is far from perfect, notes Diamond, and everyone stands to learn something from how different societies care for their seniors. Who is considered old? As Diamond mentions in his talk, the perceived value of the elderly is an important factor in determining whether seniors are respected or not. Where do the elderly live? What words describe the elderly?
Saving the Earth | Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab Pre-Listening Exercise [ Randall created this listening activity on saving the environment with his daughter, Aubrey. She has appeared in many conversations on this site, including another one on saving the planet called, “Water Conservation,” produced in December 2016. ] Idioms “be way out in left field” = be totally wrong“Some people thought the scientist was way out in left field when he suggested that cooking oil could be recycled to power car engines. In the end, the scientist was right.” “scratch the surface” = only begin to deal with a small part of the problem“The government is only beginning to scratch the surface in dealing with serious environmental issues.” Listening Exercise A. Post-Listening Exercise Conduct research on how paper and glass are recycled and then report on the types of products that are produced from these recycled materials. Online Investigation What recycling programs are set up in your city to handle waste?
Make Your Life into a Masterpiece Make Your Life into a Masterpiece The most important masterpiece you’ll ever create is your life. But to create your masterpiece you must first design it. You must have a vision of what it looks like. To help you with your design you can ask questions such as: What does your life look like when you are at your healthiest, strongest, and best? What does your family situation look like while you are pursuing success in your work? What matters most? What priorities drive you each day? What are you doing that makes you come alive? What are you born to do? What are you doing to live and share your purpose? When you look back on your life what do you want to be able to say about it? How do you want to feel? What will you have wanted to accomplish? What legacy will you have left? I asked these questions at the peak of my unhappiness 13 years ago and realized that instead of creating my masterpiece I was building a piece of a junk. For some the answers to these questions may lead you to a new career. -Jon
Prince Ea – Why I Think This World Should End Lyrics | Genius Lyrics