English Conversation Course

Pythagoras cup was comonly used during siege of the island Samos, when water (and the wine) were rationed. Cups allows equal divide of the drinks and if somebody was greedy and pour himself more, all content of the cup poured out and recived nothing. Here is a quick video showing how does it works and also small experiment. 1) What do you think about Pythagoras cup?  2) Would you like to play with one? 3) Knowing that you can buy it as a gift on Samos island would you consider this location as holiday spot? Sources:  https://www.geekipodrozniki.pl/kubek-pitagorasa/

At the begining of the 1980’s rallies were very popular. The highest class was the WRC Group A. But its “drawback” stemmed from a lot of regulations. Minimum mass, minimum engine displacement, maximum power, tire width and so on. The list was very long. In order to be allowed to use their car in the competitions, the producer had to manufacture 5000 units of the specific car. All of this caused rallies not to change that much from year to year because the manufacturer didn’t want to create fresh 5000 units with slightly different specification each year. That was a time when an idea was born. An idea of creating something new, that will incorporate all of the good features from the Group A and add a lot of more good stuff. That’s where an idea of creating Group B came from. An ideal rally group that pushes car development as far as possible. And it happened in 1982. The mighty Group B is born. The point of creating it was to add fast cars into rallye. And we are talking about formula ...

    Do you have problems with thinking about your job after you’re finished in the office? Are you reminding yourself about your projects for school to prepare even when you’re with your friends or family? Watch the video below to see how specialist advice to “turn off” your mind from work thoughts. https://www.ted.com/talks/guy_winch_how_to_turn_off_work_thoughts_during_your_free_time Questions: 1. Do you find yourself in the situations where you still ruminating about your projects after you’re finished in the office? 2. Do you have your own ways to stop ruminating about your job/school in your free time? 3. Would you try examples presented in the video to stop ruminating about your job?

You might recognize people who play games as a freaky nerd who wear glasses and have a lot of pimples on their face, but that’s wrong thinking. In fact, playing games may positively impact your health (ignoring the fact that it may harm your vision if you spend too much time in front of PC or mobile phone). Here are some benefits that I find interesting about playing video games: 1. Video games improve your mood             Every player knows the feeling when you finally figured out how to beat that tough boss or a level. It’s the feeling of victory. People always want to feel victory after achieving some goal in life (or a video game in this case). So if you want to find a way to feel the accomplishment, have a way to relax after hard day at work and just overall brighten your mood – start playing video games! 2. Video games train your brain            Certain logic games such as Sudoku or even Bingo may have...

     Dragons are usually described as mighty, powerful creatures. But have you ever wondered, how they would fit in our world, if they really existed? Or even how would they look like? Afterall, we have lots of examples of dragons in myths or folklore, and nowadays in books, movies and many other medias as well. There are many possibilities, from fluffy dragons, which we meet in fairy tales for children, to dangerous creature, from for ex. Tolkien's universe. Although it turns out that dragons in clash with how our world works, would be very restricted and prove to be mostly a thing of fantasy. Questions: What's your favorite dragon? Do you think that dragons, in form we know today, could really ever exist? Do you know any dragon/dragon type, that would be more fit to be winner of this video?

https://tensura.fandom.com/pl/wiki/Tensei_Shitara_Slime_Datta_Ken_Wiki?file=Wiki-background                When I was younger, I used to watch a lot of anime, but with time passing, I drifted further and further from this form of entertainment. But lately, I was introduced to something that really caught my attention, namely - isekai. For people unfamiliar with this term, it means "different world" and it is a subgenre of fantasy. Usually isekai is a story about character that was transferred or reincarnated (probably with help of a truck) in another, fantasy world, where said character is the "chosen hero" with mission to save the world from big evil forces like for example demon king. To be honest, it seems and sounds kind of dull. Especially if we delve into this genre, because really, how many times can we see almost the same story, just in a bit different setting? Well, in my case it turns out, that quite a lot, because currently I'm eve...

Ventriloquism some love them other hate them and there are even those who are afraid of them. Name comes from the Latin venter (belly) and loqui (speak) and as the name suggest this is the art of speaking in such a way that the sound   seems to come from a distance or from a different source than the speaker. The most popular form of ventriloquism involves the use of dolls or dummies as props and creating illusion that these inanimate toys have come to life and can speak. The puppeteer must learn to manipulate the character positioned on his knee, arm, or pedestal and engage in dialogue with him, while at the same time maintaining the illusion of life as he fulfils his duties as a puppeteer . Traditional ventriloquial figures often referred to as a “dummy” , have heads that are carved from wood and soft bodies made from fabric. The faces of the dummies typically have moving mouths, and some of them can even be made to move their eyes and turn their heads. Today,...

          Digital government where citizens conduct nearly all public services online where you never had to fill out paperwork again…   is this a dream…  NO! this is Estonia 1. What do you think about Digital government in Estonia? 2. Do you think this can be implemented in your country? Or maybe already is implemented? 3. Can you think of any disadvantages/ advantages of this?

Nowadays we’re beginning to struggle with climate change, wildfires in Australia are the newest example of it. People are realising that there is a problem and we will have to face it, whether we like it or not. There are many protests happening around the world in order to draw attention to the environmental degradation, but there are also individuals, who collect data showcasing the changes. Billy Barr from Colorado is one of those people and the video presented below shows someone who is not just passively protesting, but is doing something to convince others, that the threat is real and is already happening. Questions: 1. Would you like to live in conditions presented in the video? Why / why not? 2. If you were forced to stay alone in the wilderness for a long time, how would you keep yourself occupied? 3. Was the video just about living alone in the woods or was there a deeper meaning to this story? If yes, what was it?

Every day we are bombarded with dozens of advertisements trying to sell us something. The marketing teams are trying their best to draw our attention to their product and make it stand out. They usually create the message using six principles of influence depicted by Robert Cialdini in his book ‘The Psychology of Persuasion’. His theory is about factors that influence peoples decisions and how these rules are applied in everyday life and marketing. The first rule ‘reciprocity’ is about returning a favour. It can be observed when a client receives a free sample. If a person gets that kind a ‘gift’, they are more likely to buy something else from that company, because they want to pay back the favour. The second principal is ‘commitment and consistency’. If we are forced to make many decisions during the day, it’s easier for us to choose something and stick to it, even if it stops being beneficial. We also want to be seen as consistent and not unsteady. For example, if we choose ...

My favorite motorsport is drifting, unfortunately it is not a very popular sport and not everyone knows it. The low popularity of this sport makes training difficult because there is a small amount of training space. However, despite these difficulties, the Polish driver goes very well and is valued all over the world. I am just building a car as I intend to take part in smaller competitions. I’m building my car in accordance with the specifications of the Polish championships, maybe one day I will be able to  participate in professional competitions. Source: redbull.com An example of Polish drivers in Poland is Piotr Więcek. In my opinion, Wiecek is one of  the best drifting drivers in the world. He started in Poland but now he is competing in the  most important European Drift Master European Championship. However, Więcek also  participates in a series of US Formula Drift competitions. He often takes high places on the  podium, including often tak...

I love driving . Cars are one of my biggest passions. I love their design as well. The heart of the car is the engine, and   in my opinion it is unusual how they are constructed. In all engines the operating principle is the same and yet they are all built differently. The most refined sports engines, one of the most commonly used engines, is the one created by Toyota called 2JZ. The following video shows the construction of this unit for motorsport. 1. Have you ever heard of this engine? Do you know other engines? 2. What do you think about internal combustion engines? 3. What is your dream car?

Sl oths are considered to be the laziest and from time to time even the ugliest animals on the planet. They are widely known for their lack of movement, similarity to Mona Lisa’s contorted smile and surprisingly high meme potential. But what if they have much more to offer? What if, these furry, lazy creatures conceal the true recipe for healthier and happier lifestyle? If you want to find out more about nature’s irony to create animal so unexpectedly unique – check out this video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m19jit19v9w Questions: 1. Have you ever seen a sloth in a real life? 2. What fact about the sloth surprised you the most? 3. To what aspe cts of your life could you apply the sloths’ philosophy?

I bet you all have heard surnames such as: Rutkiewicz, Kukuczka, Berbeka. But have you ever thought more about the life they had chosen and the dangers lurking them during each trip? Let me tell you a story … https://jerzykukuczka.com/pl/archive/27315/ J.Kukuczka (1948-1989), W.Rutkiewicz (1943-1992) Year 1996 will probably forever be remembered as the most tragic year considering Mt. Everest mountaineering. It all started when two friends – Rob Hall and Scott Fisher had decided to start their own expedition companies and organise professional tours to the highest peaks of the world. It all started quite well. Even though privately best friends had to compete with each other (specifically – who w ould take more clients to the summit), they managed to work out a professional and well-developed rivalship that enabled all the expeditions to ascend and descend quickly, efficiently and with as little effort as possible, considering these altitudes. http://cballe...