Below is David Beckham’s message for Neymar Jr. posted on Twitter:
Tag Archives: germany
Vending Machine that dispenses ideas
Today’s Daily Prompt: Soft drinks, electronics, nutrient-free snacks – you can get all of those from a vending machine. But what type of vending machine is sorely needed but doesn’t yet exist? Share your automated retail fantasies with us!
First of all, I must say that this prompt is a very, very cool one! Kudos to the peeps at Daily Post!!
I found it very hard to think of a really cool, yet non-existent vending machine. What I really wanted already existed – a vending machine that dispenses cars. Look:
What I think this society needs is a vending machine that dispenses really bright and cool ideas. Most people (that I have encountered) lack imagination, creativity and innovative ideas, and I feel that we could all use an easy way out. I know that this idea sounds ridiculous as each of us may have a different opinion of what constitutes a good idea and what doesn’t. Also, who would monitor and manufacture the vending machines? Nevertheless, even though it is a wild idea, I would stick to it.
There’s a catch, though. Every idea that you get from the vending machine comes with the chip that Sheldon Cooper described in the Big Bang Theory:
PINGBACKS:
Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Rememberance Day)
It was Yom HaShoah yesterday, also known as Holocaust Rememberance day. The whole world were reminded of the horror that happened relatively recently in our history. Six million people were killed just because they were Jewish; just because they were different.
I cannot begin to imagine what those people went through- young, old, men, women, almost all practically walked and worked to their deaths. I also can’t imagine how the Nazi soldiers were thinking while they did what they did. It’s horrible, it’s depressing, but we need to remind ourselves of it to make sure that it does not happen again.
What can we learn from it? Well, we should treat people fairly. We should not discriminate against anyone who are different from us. Difference in s colour, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, psychological and physiological states, gender and sexual orientation should not matter. We deserve respect from each other.
Theories and speculations about ‘Paul the Octopus’
Since hatching in 2008, “Paul the Octopus’ has successfully predicted 12 out of 14 football matches, inclduing last sunday’s World Cup finals. Understandably since Paul had become a superstar of his own right, people are arguing about the credibility of his predictions. I am not convinced that an octopus can predict a football match, despite Paul’s record. I’m almost certain that there is an underlying cause behind this.
As I am in no ways an expert on biology/zoology, I would not be able to offer any scientific enlightenment on the subject. I have however, come up with several theories as to how this octopus makes his predictions:
1. He tends to favour flags with the most amount of yellow in them.
In this year’s World Cup, he predicted Germany to win against Australia, Serbia, Ghana, England and Uruguay, possibly because the German flag had higher percentage of yellow in it than the others. He picked Spain to win against both Germany and the Netherlands again because the Spanish flag had higher amount of yellow in it. But is this a plausable theory? Do octopuses distinguish between colours? If so, Paul would have needed to be trained to prefer yellow in order to make the predictions.Also, the flags have different colours between them and picking out the one with the most percentage of yellow would require a sofisticated eye and brain processing. Again, I cannot back this theory up with scientific facts.
2. The Right box
He always prefers the right box, bar the England/Germany one. I only based this theory based on the 5 videos that I have seen on his predictions of this year’s World Cup games.
3. It’s the mussels.
As we know, Paul the octopus has a choice of two boxes with flags in front of them and a piece of mussel inside each box. I wonder if those mussles are two different ones that emit 2 different signals (smell, colour, or whatever). And if so, do the people that look after Paul make the predictions themselves and then place the same kind of mussel in the box that has the flag of the team they predicted to win?
These are the only three that I’ve come up with. I’m sure that there would be a dozen or so more predictions out there. I’m hoping that readers will shed a light on this topic and give the right answer or at least give a more plausible one.
Understanding and Embracing Diversity 