English Conversation Course

Airplane accidents somehow attract public attention with their drama and destruction. Any car accident doesn’t equal the size of air disaster. Comparable could be possibly train or ship crashes like Titanic . Below you have three largest plane catastrophes in history. 1.    Tenerife Airport Disaster, 27 March 1977 http://randomstory.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/14.jpg It is the worst accident in the history of commercial aviation. 583 people died after two Boeing 747s (KLM – Dutch airlines and Pan Am) collided on a runway in Tenerife at Los Rodeos Airport (now Tenerife North Airport). This case is classic miscommunication, human failure. The following series of circumstances contributed to the sad end. First of all, it was very foggy. The KLM flight was in a hurry because of strict Dutch regulations of flying quota. They fueled the plane in Tenerife instead of Gran Canaria to save time. This caused that the plane was heavier and it’s contributed to a bigge...

Do you remember a story about people who wanted to build the highest building to find God? Source: http://www.arch.mcgill.ca/prof/sijpkes/philo-2009/tower-lecture/16630418fae9d172ccc68bb88d215dc5106146ce.jpg Nowadays we can see buildings rising in  the sky but built not for religious reasons. They are created for earning money, some of them are used for showing prestige for instance the tallest building in the world - Burj Khalifa, built in Dubai. 829.8 meters high, amazing architecture wonder. 162 floors, 1 million m2, 57 lifts.  The tower is placed in the center of the artificial lake. Spa centers, swimming pools, hotels, rest rooms, entertainment centers always are open for people who by a special visa.  Source: http://extendcreative.com/burj-khalifa-dubai-the-tallest-building-in-the-world/ The concept and form have been based on some flower growing in this region. The foundations consist of 192 piles (1,5 meters in diameter and approximatel...

Let’s talk about some of the prank videos we can see on websites like Youtube. A prank video is a video which is a practical joke people make on another person or a group of people. This type of video is very popular and while many of them are really funny, some of them may be harmful in more than one way. Not all practical jokes are dangerous, but in this presentation I will focus on those that in my opinion are. Some pranks are staged but even if they are someone may want to imitate it and then things may go terribly wrong. I am also not saying that the videos are not funny, I’m just pointing out the side effects of such jokes. What harm could come from an innocent practical joke?  It depends on what kind of joke it is. 1. Scary jokes Many people find it funny to watch other people run away or scream in terror because of things that aren’t really dangerous. The thing is that the pranked people don’t know that they are being pranked. Fear can block your reasoning and ma...

  I would like to introduce an architectural and social movement which advocates living in very small houses. The first thought that usually comes to mind is: why would anyone deliberately chose to live in a smaller house? People usually try to get the biggest houses they can afford. A person’s wealth is usually estimated by other people based on the size of their houses. The bigger the house the richer its owner appears to be. There are many reasons why people decide to join the movement. Smaller homes are cheaper to build, heat, maintain and repair. They are also more eco­friendly, take fewer resources, what leads to producing less pollution. Another reason is that some people feel that they just don’t need that much space or just don’t like vacuuming and dusting: a small house means less space to clean. What is a small house? In order to be qualified as a small house, it has to be about 90 m^2 or smaller, a typical small house is no more than 45 m^2. There are als...

The Hubble Space Telescope is in orbit for 25 years. At that time, it made countless photographs that have helped astronomers to better understand the nature of the universe. Here are few most spectular of them The Hubble Space Telescope was launched on located approx. 570 km above the Earth's orbit on 24th April of 1990. This is a great achievement, because the telescope sent to this planet thousands of photographs. Some of them contributed to a better understanding of the nature of the universe, others made further questions. Initially, the success of the Hubble Space Telescope was not obvious. Even after the elevation of the unit into orbit, it turned out that a mistake in grinding mirrors. Although the benefit concerned, mistakes of 4 microns (0.004 mm!), it meant that the telescope gave very blurry images. Rescue mission does not come right away. Only in 1993. Hubble was delivered to the lens COSTAR (Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement), so that the imag...

In Poland you may have a fire gun  but only if you get a required license. But should we fully legalize weapon possession in Poland? http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/World_map_of_civilian_gun_ownership_-_2nd_color_scheme.svg In Poland obtaining a permit for a gun is not easy. The exam is not only  practical  but theoretical as well: it confirms your knowledge of the law and the ability to use the weapon. We must also provide a valid reason why we need such a permit. A person who would like to obtain a permit for a gun should: ●      be at least 21 years old; ●      be a permanent resident of Poland ●      have  active legal capacity ; ●      be mentally and physically healthy ●      not have a criminal record. . Are we safer without widespread access to weapons? The US has the highest gun ownership rate in ...