superstudentuniverse

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Interesting English proverbs

Kicking the Bucket 'Kick the bucket' is a colloquial expression for 'die'.

One theory, albeit with little evidence to support it, is that the phrase originates from the notion that people hanged themselves by standing on a bucket with a noose around their neck and then kicking the bucket away. However, there are no citations that relate the phrase to suicide and, in any case, why a bucket? Whenever I've needed something to stand on I can't recall ever opting for a bucket. This theory doesn't stand up any better than the supposed buckets did.

https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/kick-the-bucket.html

To wet your whistle To consume a beverage of some sort. 

Technically it should only be used in reference to drinking beer because of the history of the phrase: Back in the middle ages when beer was sold in ceramic cups they would be fitted with a small whistle which could be blown upon finishing ones beverage in order to alert the bar staff that you require another beer. Therefore to get a beer would literally be "wetting ones whistle"

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Wet%20my%20whistle

Give a dog a bad name and hang him If enough bad things are said about a person, they will ruin his reputation even though they may not be true. Holds true in this social media dominated world. A lynch mob may ruin the reputation of any person.

https://peptalkindia.com/20-unique-english-proverbs-that-you-were-not-aware-of/

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Letter to manager

Dear Mr. Peters,

After a period of being part of the team at DNB, I would like to evaluate. There are several things I would like to thank you for, furthermore I got some recommendations to give. 

At the beginning of my internship, I could not have imagined the knowledge I have earned. I am stunning about the fact that there is a tremendous amount of extremely skilled people. While working with them, two things happened in my development. First of all, I learned how to broaden my knowledge in order to understand more of the financial world. Secondly, they taught me how to gain specific knowledge about certain subjects. Furthermore, I would like to give you a compliment about the way you are able to manage the division. There is a limited amount of resources, while there is plenty of work. Every time you and your team are able to reach the targets and perform effectively. 

In my opinion it is good to be critical, there is room for improvement. One does not have to be sick to become better. Therefore, I would like to point out the spirit at the workplace. In order to function fully, it is pleasant to have an open and flexible work environment. I noticed that this is not always the case. Since many colleagues have been in the same job for decades, it is hard to change the way of working and communicating. When new ideas are presented, they often form a bottleneck to implement those ideas’. By letting this group of colleagues in in the process of creating new ideas, the chance of developing a successful idea is bigger. 

Finally, I would like to thank you for the great mentor you have been. I have learned way more than I expected. 

Kind regards,

Ard Jan Smits

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Important learning experiences

In the development as business professional, several events have contributed to become the person I am now. In this blog I would like to highlight the most significant experiences that have made me grow as a professional.

Several years ago, in between studies, I needed some money and decided to take on a part-time job. I was working as a cleaner at the headquarter of one of the major television networks in the Netherlands. I preferred to call myself “interior specialist”, since that sounded much better. The work itself was not interesting or innovating, therefore I felt the urge to talk to everybody around there. As a result, I obtained contact details of people high in the organization. When my study started, I had to interview a manager about his or her profession. That’s when the contact details turned out to be useful. I arranged a meeting with the manager responsible for all the outgoing data. The conversation we had contributed to my view on the working field and made me think about my future as a professional. This helped me in creating plans for the future.

Another important learning experience was my time abroad during my minor period. I spend three months in Finland and one month in the USA. I did study a lot and learned a lot out there, but that is not my best learning experience at all. This was the first time in my life that I lived on my own. This, especially in another country, changes the way you see the world.

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Yale Lecture – Introduction: Five first lessons C1 5

https://oyc.yale.edu/economics/econ-159/lecture-1

This lecture, given by professor Ben Polak, is an introduction to the course about strategic thinking called ‘Game Theory’. For this lecture he used the prisoners’ dilemma, in which there are two prisoners, let’s call them A and B, who both have a choice to betray each other or remain silent. There are a couple of options in the dilemma: · Option 1: If A and B each betray the other, both will serve 2 years in prison. · Option 2: If A betrays but B remains silent, A will be set free and B will serve 3                    years in prison. · Option 3: If A and B both remain silent; they will only serve 1 year in prison. The most important thing is that they can’t talk to each other, so the consequence is that they can’t make an agreement.

For this dilemma he makes a distinguish between two kinds of people: evil gits and indignant angels. With this in mind we will have a look at the prisoners’ dilemma and discover five lessons: 1. You should never play a strictly dominated strategy 2. Rational play by rational players can lead to bad outcomes 3. To figure out what actions you should choose in a game, a good first step is to figure out what are your payoffs (what do you care about) and what are other players’ payoffs 4. If you do not have a dominated strategy, put yourself in your opponents’ shoes to try to predict what they will do 5. Yale students are evil

Although I already knew the prisoners’ dilemma, this lecture was still relevant because I never looked at it like Polak did. The difference in ‘evil gits’ and ‘indignant angels’ was new for me and gave it an interesting touch. If you can appoint your component in one of the two groups you will have a better idea of what the other person is going to do.

While listening to Polak it occurred to me that there is never one good answer, because it depends on the choice of the other. And even when you can talk to him or her and make an agreement you can’t get the guarantee that he is going to make the choice that he promised.

So, in conclusion we can say that when you are in a prisoners’ dilemma, the safest thing to do is make a choice based on the estimate about your component.

[superstudentuniverse]

How I became an entrepreneur at 66 TED C1 4.3

Since Paul Tasner was fired, he felt that retire was not an option for him. Out of his concern for the environment, he decided to build up a company in bio degradable packaging form waste. Which is replacing the toxic and disposable plastic. At the moment Paul runs a profitable company. With his company, he battles against the pollution of the oceans. He is believing that the older entrepreneurs can contribute to the world of business and can become an important employer. Paul is also glad that he is able to make a nice contribution to the environment. 

Paul believes, that old entrepreneurs are underrated. The society expects that when you reach a certain age, you will retire a babysit the grandkids all the time. He doesn’t believe that. He says that 70% of the old entrepreneurs are successful. He hopes for an equal validation for both young and old entrepreneurs. “I am doing the most rewarding a meaningful work of my life right now.” - He shows that the work he is doing right now is something he is  really passionate about.

“I want us to start talking more about people who don’t become entrepreneurs until they are seniors.” - He wants more attention for the older entreptreneurs.

“Let’s talk about the ventures of the older people.” - Paul would like everyone to talk about those ventures, otherwise they will be forgotten. That would be sad because they can be an asset to the business world.

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Inside the mind of a master procrastinator TED C1 4.2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU

When there is work to do, almost everyone will postpone. The work will only start a when the deadline comes close. Tim Urban explains how the mind of master procrastinator works. According to Tim there exist three elements in the brain of a procrastinator: a rational decision-maker, an instant gratification monkey and the panic monster. The rational decision-maker would like to do things that make sense, however the monkey would only choose for whatever is easy and fun. The problem is that the monkey takes over the wheel of our lives and does only what is easy and fun. When the deadline is approaching, the panic monster will wake up and scare the monkey, who is afraid of him. Because of this the monkey runs away. There is only one problem with work without a deadline. The key to make sure that work will be done, is by starting today.

“The instant gratification monkey does not look like someone you would like behind the wheel.” - It is pleasant when the rational decision-maker, and not the instant gratification monkey is behind the wheel of your life. You would rather have the rational decision-maker behind the wheel to get work done.

“Long-term procrastination has made them feel like a spectator at times, in their own lives. - The reason people are unhappy when they are postponing things.

“When the paper would come along, I would postpone it until the last moment” - The problem where the entire talk is about.

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The future of money TED C1 4.1

In the old Asia people used to have enormous stones, which was used as money. Those stones where too heavy to move, so everyone wrote down which part of the stone belonged to them. Sailors tried to ship such a stone one day, but accidentally it fell in the water. Despite the missing stone, the old Asians decided that the sailors still could use the “money” because they knew how much of the stone they owned. This explains that the value of money can’t be found in a something physical. Money does have its value, because we decided it does. It works the same with banks and online transfers. We don’t really own anything, but we recognise the numbers in our bank account as money. The downside on banks in the friction it causes and the control it has on our money. That’s why there has come up a new development: the cryptocurrency. This is a new currency which is stored in a wallet on the internet. Via a technology called Blockchain you can transfer money though different wallets.

“The only reason that money has any value, is because we decided it does” - The core message from the entire talk, because without this the money of the future would not exist.

“Transferring money across borders and across currencies is really expensive: friction” - This quote describes clearly the need and reasons of the development which causes the creation of the Blockchain and the Cryptocurrency’s

“Programmable money makes democratized money.” - Because new money is programmable, and no one is in control of it, it makes everyone in control of it. This is the fundament of the world of new money.

[superstudentuniverse]

Tesla finishes installing mega-battery in Australia C1 3.3

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42090991 

Tesla has finished installing the world's biggest lithium-ion battery and will switch it on over the coming days.

The 100-megawatt battery in South Australia is designed to provide security to the state's electricity grid.

It will store enough energy to power 30,000 homes for about an hour.

The chief executive officer of Tesla Elon Musk had said the battery would be free if it was not installed within 100 days of signing a contract for the project.

It appears the company will meet the 1 December deadline for installation of the battery array, which will be connected to a wind farm run by French renewable energy company Neoen.

Personal opinion

I personally thing that this new invention is a special asset to the energy supply in Australia. By using this new battery, new opportunities are created. On places where electricity is rare, it is good possible to provide it now. Currently everything in the world is depending on electricity. Without electricity the world would stop turning. Internet would stop working, smartphones can’t be charged anymore. I find it funny to see how convinces Elon Musk is about his battery and his company. He would have given the battery for free when not installed on time! I thing a battery like this could be used in many other parts in the world where electricity is rare and it can provide a better standard of life.

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Bitcoin Crosses $10,000 milestone C1 3.2

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42137408 

The virtual currency, the Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $10,000. Just a weeks ago, it was worth $9,000.  The rise of the Bitcoin has gone through the roof. Is it a good moment to buy the Bitcoin right now? Experts have different opinions. Some experts are believing that the cryptocurrency still has far to soar, are even saying it will reach the $1,000,000 in 5 years. Others think the bitcoin is a bubble, which will eventually pop. Due to the big “Bitcoin-Boom” serval other cryptocurrencies has risen. Next to that, it also causes new attention for the Bitcoin. It is shown in every paper and at any news site. Because of that the Bitcoin will get more attention and more potential buyers, which can cause a rise of the price.

Personal opinion I think the Bitcoin will be the currency of the future. The idea of a currency which is not connected or controlled by banks or the government really appeals to me. Because of this, we don’t have to pay the expensive cars and suits of all the bankers. We can keep that all to ourselves. Through the Blockchainnetwork, the technology where Bitcoin is built on, every Bitcoin owner can send his bitcoins to someone else, anytime, everywhere and all around the world. All the transactions are covered in a big, collective ledger. This ledger is automatically checked by mathematical formulas by all the Bitcoin users. I really believe in the new technology and think it is only going to grow in the future.

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Firms team up on hybrid electric plane technology C1 3.1

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42152484

Airbus, Rolls-Royce and Siemens have plans to develop hybrid electric engine plane technology. They are doing this for environmental reasons. The firms want to fly a demonstrator version of the plane by 2020, and they have plans to use the technology on commercial planes in 2025. Firms are racing to develop electric engines for planes after pressure from the EU to cut aviation pollution. Each of the partners in the programme will be investing tens of millions of pounds, they said on a press call. The companies are working on a hybrid plane, because a fully electrical plane is currently out of reach. There are some complications in the development process. So is the weight of the batteries an issue, it can be a restriction for the other innovations.

Personal opinion I personally thing it is a good idea to invest in a hybrid plane. The current planes fly on the expensive and polluting kerosene. The environment is badly harmed because of it and it causes an oxygen level decrease in the air. Next to that, the regular engines make a lot of noise, it would be great if that could be solved with electric engines.  I am hoping on fully electric airplanes, something like the Tesla of the planes. Unfortunately, the step from the engines we use now, to the electric engines it too big for now. Technically it must be possible, but for the airlines it is not profitable yet. I think the hybrid engine, is not the best, but a great step forward in the revolution towards the full electrical engine.

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English Language CV 2

“English is horrible”, the fist thing that came up in my mind when I opened my english book for the fist time. I was almost in the last grade of primary school and we were able to get a peak in our next year books. My fist opinion was right. Immediately after the summer break my very fist english lesson started. It was awful. Looking back, the teacher couldn’t speak english, the books were bad and the only thing we did during the lessons was singing… Almost everything in school was fine, but when we started singing I always wanted to grab my jacket and run back home as quickly as possible.

In secondary school my english learning environment did not become any better. Over a period of 5 year I had 6 different english teachers. I was still thinking english was horrible. During the first year of secondary school I discovered the world of the computers and internet. My eyes were opened. From that moment on I realised the importance of english. Spending more and more time online, combined with the english lesons at school I taught myself a lot. My grades were not amazingly good but also not terribly bad. My results were most of the time average with some peaks now and then. At the end of secondary school, when the results of the final exams were told, I was happily surprised.  I closed secondary school with an eight for my english exam!

In 2014 I went to Serbia. I have spoken english with a lot of people at that time. I don’t know whether it improved my english skills because everyone over there was terribly bad in english, on the other hand, I had the possibility to improve my english speaking skills and that is definitely not a bad thing.

Around Christmas 2015, I spent 5 days in Londen. The trip was organised by school. It was really good to be in an english atmosphere for a couple of days. Together with 3 classmates I stayed in the south of Londen at a lovely family. I think talking with the family and the people of London really improved my english and helped me cross boundaries.