Future of public transport

Currently, the majority of public transport is fossil fuelled. It creates pollutions and relies on finite resources; however there are many alternatives which are being researched. While some of them might seem a bit futuristic others are nothing then a bit modified current solutions.



Driveless Pods
You might have seen them in Minority Report. Imagine, just getting into your car and not having to navigate the streets on the way to work.

SkyTran
It’s a personal rapid transit system that features driver-less pods on "guide-ways" built above the ground. They will run like a non-stop freeway with designed exits and entrances to stations.

Electric Bike
It combines the convenience and simplicity of riding a regular bike with the electric power increasing the speed and decreasing the time you travel from A to B.

MagLev Trains
A transportation system that is guided and propelled by magnetic levitation. They are not only significantly faster than regular trains but are also much more quiet, smooth and eco friendly. The system is currently implemented in several high developed Asian cities such as Shanghai.

SideWalks
They are similar to escalators, but instead taking you up or down, they will take you parallel to the road. They could replace conventional pavements allowing passengers to travel at higher speeds than walking.

Segway
A two wheeled mode of transportation powered by electricity allowing you to travel up to 20km/h along a pavement.

Backpack helicopter
A futuristic vision similar to a Jet Pack. It consists of a helicopter motor and rotator strapped on to an individual’s back.

Zeppelins
It’s a big comeback after 70 years. Environmentalists are favoring them to planes due to their low usage of fuel and low amplitudes on which they fly.

Last but not least - the funniest one, from the “Back to the future” movie series:
Hoverboad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsgIzU51Mr0

Questions

Which of these do you think will become popular in the not distant future?

Have you ever used any of the currently available (Segway/MagLev) mentioned transportation systems?

Which ones do you consider rather as toys and which ones as actual improvements?

When do you think Poland will implement any of these future means of transportation?

What’s your favorite one?

Extra points

Go to http://uwb2ms.blogspot.com/
and comment two presentations.

Polish drivers

In my previous post I wrote about what is wrong with Polish roads. Today I would like to write about what I think is wrong with Polish drivers.

Poland is a country with large numbers of drivers who do not meet accepted Western European norms in terms of driving skills. Many of us have extremely dangerous driving habits. These rather primitive driving habits include but are not limited to: overtaking in the face of oncoming vehicles, and then expecting the oncoming car and the car being overtaken to flee into the emergency lane; overtaking on blind bends; aggressive tailgating; overtaking on the inside on dual carriageway roads; exceeding the speed limit in the most dangerous locations.

City intersections and zebra crossings are highly hazardous to your health. Jumping lights, which have just changed to red, is common. Cars generally only stop at zebra crossings if there are pedestrians in the middle of the road.

All this summed up with the poor road infrastructure give thousands of deaths every year. Driving through Poland we can notice shrines and crosses along the roads, which mark the place where someone was killed in a road accident.

As all of you live in Poland I don’t have to prove any of what I said, however I found a video on YouTube which shows some of the behaviors I have described.



After watching the video have a look at what people wrote in the comments. It’s sad but most of them rather wrote “awesome” whereas they should “stupid”.

I have also googled a bit to find out what foreigners think about driving in Poland. Take a look at what I found:
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070526141440AAFC9dd

For more videos on crazy driver’s checkout this compilation on wyborcza.pl:
http://wyborcza.pl/1,76842,6812143,Najglupsi_kierowcy_na_polskich_drogach.html

Questions

Why so many of us do so many stupid things while driving?

Why can’t we show each other more respect on the road?

Do you have any special techniques to survive on the road?

Do you feel safe as a pedestrian in Warsaw?

What are your feelings after watching the included video?

Polish roads

With no doubt Poland is one of the worst places for car drivers in Europe. Driving in Poland is neither convenient nor safe. One of the reasons of this is that the road infrastructure is underdeveloped.

In 2009 Poland has only about 900 km of motorways, 550 km of expressways and 1200 km of dual carriageways. Rest of the network counting over 18000 km is single carriageways. This has a great impact on the number of deaths on polish roads. Mainly due to the poor infrastructure, Poland has one of the biggest rates of deaths on roads in Europe. Almost 90% of deaths in our country happen on single carriageways with 2 lanes. What else is worth mentioning is that in most European countries the death rates decrease within years whereas in Poland the rate remains relatively constant.

/Death rates in chosen European countries/


Poland's roads are in general of a very poor quality, are badly designed and maintained. Drivers should be aware of huge potholes in the roads (especially after the winter) or uneven surface made by wheels of heavy trucks. Modern roads are often poorly designed and the finish is of a poor standard. This leads to a situation when after few years the surface has to be repaired or even replaced. A good example is expressway S8 (the part from Radzymin to Wyszków), which was put into operation in December 2008. It is already known that the asphalt layer is too thin and it will have to be replaced soon.

However in recent years, the situation has improved a bit. Due to the inflow of European Union funds for infrastructure projects and organization of Euro 2012 the government started spending more money on road construction. The plan is to build additional 3000 km of motorways and expressways before Euro 2012. Will they manage to? Will the roads have decent quality? Let’s hope so.

/Motorway infrastructure in February 2008 and planned for June 2012/

/Expressway infrastructure in February 2008 and planned for June 2012/

The second main problem with polish roads is that cities lack of beltways. This forces all the transit traffic to go through city centers and causes (especially in the rush hours) huge traffic jams. Roads in cities are often very difficult to navigate and are not designed for the number of cars in them. The small amount of city entry/exit roads, leads to huge traffic jams in the morning and afternoon rush hours. All this leads to a situation in which you can travel the distance between Janki and Marki (30 km, south-west and north-east Warsaw entries) in approximately the same time as form Marki to Białystok (200 km).


Questions

What do you think about the condition of roads in our country? Is it really as dramatic as everyone says?

Do you agree that the lack of motorways and express roads is the main factor of such high death rate on our roads?

What sort of punishment would you suggest for companies that build poor quality roads?

Do you agree that the additional money from European Union and the organization of Euro 2012 has speed up road building?

Will the government plan of building additional 3000 km of motorways and express roads till 2012 succeed?

Assuming that city beltways will be eventually built, what temporary solution for decreasing traffic in cities would you suggest?

EXTREME SPORTS - Part III

Psychology of extreme sports
We now, more or less now what does it take for a sport to be an extreme one- what characteristics of a discipline classifies it to this group. But there is another question- who are the people who engage in this kind of activities? Are they only random people, who happened to take it up, as other mortals begin dance classes or tennis? Or do they posses some special traits that make them more prone to extreme sports?

The second is the correct. Most people think that sensation-seeking is connected to adrenaline rush and adrenaline addiction. However it is not adrenaline that addicts. A sudden release of dopamine, endorphins, and serotonin cause a feeling of pleasurable “rush” more than adrenaline, which is released as a effect of fear.

The fact is that psychological research, proves that this group of people is unique- psychologically and even biologically. Research done on twins show that they have extremely similar levels of sensation seeking needs. So, If your brother likes to parachute, you probably also wouldn’t mind a little jump during the weekend. It was also proved that men are more prone to risking than women and divorced people more than single or married.

Still not convinced? Most of all, sensation seeking is connected to our brain and neurotransmitters. Have a look here:



Extreme Sports: Why Do People Do It? - Click here for the most popular videos


Although the “biological” factor seems crucial, also our characteristics that stem from our upbringing and all the life experience also influence sensation- seeking, which according to Dr Zuckerman is "the need for varied, novel, and complex sensations and experiences and the willingness to take physical and social risks for the sake of such experiences". Therefore, such people are very goal- oriented, more open to novelty, quickly get bored by routine work assignments. Taking into consideration the fact that they are usually people around their 20’s, not having own families, they may be less responsible and planning , more unconcerned.

So two factors: nature and nurture- especially biological characteristics, but also personality. How about you? How do you rate yourself? Are you more or less adventure seeking? Do you think that people, who engage in such activities are biologically weaker, while the built- in hatred for risk , which enables species to survive, has failed for them?

A scientist that has devoted especially much attention to sensation seeking in his scientific work is Dr. Zuckerman, who created a Sensation Seeking Scale, which is included in Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire. Here you can test yourself:

http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/licensing/tests/driverqualificationtest/sensationseekingscale/

So how did it go? Did you rank below or above your expectations? Or your score perfectly corresponds to your personal evaluations? Do you feel more prone to engage in something risky after having some examples of how others have fun? Leave comments guys!

EXTREME SPORTS - Part II

KITING

Many modernizations can be found in “kite disciplines”. It has all started with kite surfing, which is now about 20 years but in the meantime has turned into many new inventions, which apply the usage of kite. Kite surfing became extremely popular only few years ago, but it has competition. There’s kite surfing, kite skating, kite skateboarding, doomwheels kite skating , kite buggying, kite skiing/snowboarding and kite boarding- all of them motioned with the power of kite. Each becoming hazardous due to the speed provided by kite. However, I’m not willing to describe each of them only to give an idea of kite sports diversity.








SNOWKITE



Kite discipline that I would like to mention is kite skiing or snowboarding, otherwise called snowkite. It is quite spectacular and can be linked to oncoming winter season, as it is practiced in the presence of snow and suitable equipment. It is also a discipline among extreme sports that has been gaining more and more attention. Why is it credited with the label of an extreme sport? When the wind brings you down you fall on no water , but hard ice, which may cause serious lesions. You also need to have a very good knowledge of wind. Kite enables for really large speeds so you need to have an absolute control of your ride. There are more and more snowkite school and camps, so out of the free extreme sports I’ve already mentioned I suspect that one is the most accessible for you. Easy to Google-if you are good skiers, snowboarders or kite surfers, you can try.


Here you can have a look at the masters of the discipline, tricks they make etc.





Snowkite Action - For more funny videos, click here


A few examples of common snowkite crashes





OTHER NEW EXTREME SPORTS

To extend you knowledge on newest extreme sports I found this 30-places-rank with all the novelties in the field. Some are really innovative, some very extreme. Other don’t make too much sense-at least to me. Ostrich racing- they really do that? What do you think of snowbiking or powerising? Is underwater golf even an extreme sport?
Maybe, Do You know other types of kite disciplines? Do you want to try something of these sports?

Take a look here and make a comment:
http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/top-30-new-extreme-sports-gallery

EXTREME SPORTS - Part I

Bungee jumping being a holdover?
Extreme sports may seem a many times talked over subject, which we all are quite familiar with. First associations that come to your minds after mentioning this matter are usually bungee jumping, parachuting or rafting- and you are not mistaken. There is a large chance that some of you have tried it. However, these are well-worn disciplines- new ones emerge quite frequently in different parts of the world and are more or less surprising. The aim of my presentation is to introduce you with some innovations in the “field” of extreme sports. I am myself quite often astonished with innovative “strokes of genius” of some dare-devils .

First of all, what are the qualities of the term “extreme sport”, so that a new sport can become one? An extreme sport is one that engages some uncontrollable factors- therefore you not only struggle to win with an opponent , score or achieve and aim, but you also have to strive with environment or own capabilities in an unfortunate and difficult circumstances. Sports categorized to this group are usually more typical for young people and are practiced more solitarily. Adrenaline is also an integral element when engaging in extreme sports.

Thus it is questionable, whether some sports should be credited with the term “extreme sport” e.g snowboard or scuba diving seem innocent when compared to wingsuit flying or ice kite surfing. But categorizing is not the matter of my presentation- I’m willing to make you familiar with some newest inventions under the entry of extreme sports and its extremity I leave to your evaluation.

ICE GLACIER SURFING

Giant like waves that draw up surfers from all over the world to Hawaii, for some seem not enough. The very newest invention is the Ice Glacier Surfing that not only brings novelty for adrenaline seekers, but also draws attention to global warming. Alaska may soon become very popular among surfers, as melting glaciers provoke water ruffling- brilliant conditions for courageous surfers.
-“When massive glaciers start to melt, huge chunks of ice crash into the sea, resulting in gargantuan waves. And where there are waves, there are surfers”





\


Global warming is the reason, why this is even possible to be exercised, but is it really helping to draw attention to the problem or only supposedly? This and the matter of its extremity I leave to your evaluation.



WINGSUIT FLYING




The previous sport is trifle for you? Take that- wingsuit flying is the closest thing to real flying, no additional equipment apart what you wear. Otherwise called Wingsuit base jumping. For some a revised version of skydiving for some just another kind of risking life- anyhow, it is spectacular! It involves using a special jumpsuit that shapes human body into an airfoil, which creates lifting. At the end of each flight a parachute is used for stopping and safe landing. It may not be the newest invention, but still isn’t very widespread. Especially that some forerunners of this sport find it boring to jump in open spaces- they now prefer to beguile it with a more exiting environments. I thought I was worth mentioning for its “showy” nature.








Have I mentioned that they sometimes also use so called rocket boots? Here you can take a look If you are interested


Have I mentioned that they sometimes also use so called rocket boots? Here you can take a look If you are interested

Extra points

Recommend a film/book/play/show you have seen/read recently. Give a link to it.
Even if you have seen something and you have not too good opinion of it, present it here please:)

What to choose: a pedigree or mongrel dog?

I suppose that everyone likes to look at beautiful pedigree dogs. Nevertheless, we should remember that it is not the case how our beloved dog looks like but what it is like. One dog can be cute and lovely but not smart enough to be a real, devoted friend. Mongrel dogs are as friendly and wise as the pedigree. Most people’s hearts break to see sad animals in shelters but unfortunately few of us adopt such dogs. I am also such a person but I didn’t have a different choice. I had to buy a dog which wouldn’t cause an allergy and lose its fur. Although, I haven’t got a mutt from a shelter I would really like to have a one to live with full conviction that I can save sth’s life or make it much better. I would like to encourage everyone to adopt a poor dog from a shelter and not to buy a one from illegal breeders.

How to teach your dog some tricks?



It is a common belief that only young dogs can learn tricks. Well… in my opinion it is not true. Each dog wants to spend as much time with its owner as possible. Some dogs are just bored with sitting all days in flats and it would be a great attraction for them to go out from home and fetch. But one can ask how to do that? You have to find a peaceful area without any dogs or people. Your dog and you should be alone, for example on a big empty field or on the meadow. You have to let it off the lead and start playing, ex. you run and your dog chase you and never the other way around. In general, you have to play with it, and you mustn’t punish it. From time to time, you should give it some snacks. The basic thing is that your dog has to come back to you when you call it. If a dog knows that, you can start playing with a stick or with its favorite toy. When your dog becomes addicted to fetching and does not see anything else apart from a ball or a stick (just like my dog), you can go for a walk to a common place. I did like that. Later, you can teach your dog “give me a paw” and so on. Snacks are crucial!


Start watching from the 35 second of the recording.



Questions…

• Does your dog know any tricks? If yes, how did you manage to teach it?
• Do you think teaching dogs tricks is good or bad and why?

With love for animals – our favourite pets

Our friends and our great pets

Since the time of immemorial, animals have played significant roles in people’s lives. They are believed to be the best friends which never let down. People have animals for different reasons. One of them is loneliness which can be relieved with the help of a close friend which is always near a person in need. What is more, a hug with a pet can reduce blood pressure better than some drugs. This is the reason why some animals like dogs or horses are used to cure children with special needs. A lot of blind people claim that without their wonderful pets they would not be able to exist. They are more than their friends. Sometimes, dogs turn out to be the last hope for the disabled. Besides, having a pet is a test of being responsible and that is why some couples decide to possess an animal as they want to know whether they will be good parents or not. A very similar situation is with teenagers whose parents’ want to make them reliable. There are several duties connected with animals about which every person should remember: food, walks, fun, tricks and so on.
Furthermore, infertile marriages often have pets owing to the fact that they want to transfer their protectiveness to something. When they have a pet to love and look after they usually forgot about the emptiness connected with lack of their own babies and feel relaxed.
Dogs are also used to guard or protect. There have been a lot of situations when dogs saved somebody’s life or health. Their help is crucial when accidents happen in the mountains or when police seek for drugs or lost person.
As can be seen from the above animals are significant in people’s lives because of many reasons. Those “creatures” give a lot of fun and are extremely faithful. If they love they to that to the end of their lives.

The most popular animals

According to the http://www.ranking.slupsk.pl/index.php5/rankingi/50/ web site the most common animals in Słupsk are fish. It can be owing to the fact that they do not need much attention every day. It is enough to feed them or change water from time to time. The second place on that list take cats probably because of the same reasons. One does not have to walk it or train. The third, well-deserved place have dogs which undoubtedly need much attention and care especially when you keep it in a flat and not in a house with a garden. Dogs, just like other animals, become members of our families. We spend with them a lot of time as they need to be walked, fed, treated and so on. There are some more domestic animals like a guinea pig, a rat, a hamster, a mouse, a parrot, a rabbit, a snake or a canary.

My dog



On March 2008 my wife and I decided to buy a dog. It was a very well-thought decision, not made on the spur of the moment. I was working long hours and my wife, who is a teacher, felt a little bit lonely especially because we haven’t got any family here in Warsaw and she used to have a lot of animals in her family house. We divided our duties connected with dog and went to buy it. Before it, we had been thinking about an adoption of a dog from a shelter but finally we decided that we want a dog which would not lose its fur and does not cause an allergy.





Now, Holly, because it is the name of our dog - schnauzer miniature, is less than 2 years old. (I will be writing about her using female pronoun “she” as she turned out to be a real member of our family.) Her hair, because she hasn’t got fur, is salt and pepper. She is rather small in comparison with other schnauzers and that is why we assume that she had to be the youngest dog in the litter. Her eyes are brown, a nose is small and black and ears are protruded. The coat ought to be trimmed short on the body, but the hair on , legs, and edge of the body, is retained. A very characteristic feature of a schnauzer is a beard. It should be neat and tidy and brush after every eating.





The character of this breed may be moody and that is why a person who wants to buy such a dog should know a lot in order not to be surprised. My dog’s character is more or less what you can find underline:
“The Official Standard of the Miniature Schnauzer describes temperament as "alert and spirited, yet obedient to command. Friendly, intelligent and willing to please. They should never be overaggressive or timid."Usually easy to train, they tend to be excellent watchdogs, with a good territorial instinct, but more inclined toward vocal notification than attack. They are often guarded towards strangers until the owners of the home welcome the guest, upon which they are typically very friendly to them; unlike some of their terrier cousins, they are not typically aggressive. However, they will express themselves vocally, and may bark to greet their owner, or to express joy, excitement, or displeasure. In German, the verb schnauzen means to snap vocally or to give lip to something, or to talk back
Proper socialization with other dogs and people is important.The breed is generally good with children, but as with any dog, play with small children should be supervised. They are highly playful dogs, and if not given the outlet required for their energy they can become bored and invent their own "fun." Schnauzers have a "high prey drive" (appropriate for a ratting dog), which means they may attack other small pets such as birds, snakes, and rodents. Many will also attack cats, but this may be curbed with training, or if the dog is raised with cats.” (taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniature_Schnauzer)
To sum up, I would like to state that those people who have any pets seem to be more sensitive or friendly than those who haven’t got. (That is my personal opinion yet it doesn’t mean that I don’t like people who don’t possess any animals.)

And now some questions…

Have you got a pet? What is it? What does is look like? What is it like? If you have, please put the picture of your dog. How did it happen that you have a pet? If you haven’t got a pet please write what animal you would like to have and why… Do you think an animal can be the best friend and may substitute a real human being?

Next part of my presentation will be devoted to :

• A pedigree or mongrel dog?
• How to teach your dog new tricks?