19 January 2008

The University of Google

A few days ago I saw an interesting post in the blog of a friend of mine - Dimitar Milanov. You can see what he wrote about the "Google University" right here (Note: his blog is in Bulgarian).
Since that "Google University" stuff is interesting I thought that I may add something too.
First you should probably read this article.
According to Prof Brabazon students do their homework as follows:
1. Log on to Google/Wikipedia.
2. Type a few words the engine should search for.
3. Copy the first thing you see.
And these three steps make students dumb.
According to me students did not get dumb because of doing this, but they did this because they were dumb. Prof Brabazon blames Google and Wikipedia for her students being lazy and dull. That's insane! Sure, these technologies make many things easier, but so do all other technologies. You can blame television and radio as well for making people watch and listen to the news instead of reading them. But there is actually no harm in all of this.

"Too many students don't use their own brains enough. We need to bring back the important values of research and analysis."
Prof Tara Brabazon



It's not anyone else's fault but theirs that they do not use their brain! But how come they entered any university in the first place if they are so stupid?

"I ban my students from using Google, Wikipedia and other websites like that. I give them a reading list to work from and expect them to cite a good number of them in any work they produce."
Prof Tara Brabazon



This is no way to make someone learn how to make researches! You can not ban someone from using Google, Wikipedia etc. ! That's just the wrong method. Something right may just be that you tell the person: "Make a report on .... by using 5-10 articles you find via Google and nothing else. And any nonsense I see in your work will lower your mark!". That way student will really learn HOW to use information sources in order to get only good information.
Limiting yourself to just a number of books may be as stupid as using only Google's first result.

13 January 2008

Meet Kolyo the cat

Kolyo Yesterday I was reviewing some pictures from around New Year and hit some movie of my grandmother's cat. As you know cats are usually very lazy, but this cat is probably the laziest in the world. Not only that, but he has some very strange habits. On the video you can see him sleeping on his back :). As he wakes up it looks like if he is saying "Huh? Did I miss something? Oh.. it's just some camera. Oh well, good night again..."
See for yourself.



11 January 2008

Manowar in Kavarna

Great news everyone! A couple of days ago I read an online article that Manowar are coming once again in Bulgaria. In fact it's not only them - its a three-day metal festival at Kaliakra Stadium in Kavarna. The first day of the fest (when Manowar will be playing) would be 5th July. After that its Europe on the 6th and Judas Priest on the 7th.
Last time Manowar came to Bulgaria they really rocked, or should I say "Manowar killed!" :P. They even performed the national anthem. (Note: Bulgarian users can dowload it from here.)
For more information about the festival you may check:
http://www.last.fm/event/438103
http://www.kaliakrarockfest.com/
I still haven't decided if I'll go, because a three-day ticket will cost about 45 euro, which is a bit high price for me. I haven't got any information yet about a single-day ticket, but I hope there will be such and they'll be a bit more affordable. So I just may go to see at least Manowar.

Frosty

The first thing I saw when I woke up today was that everything around me was covered with frost. Everything outside that is. All the trees were so white and crystalline I just couldn't hold myself back and decided that I should take some pictures. Even with a fever and high temperature I went outside and took both macro and landscape photographs with my camera. Now I share with you three of the best ones.

All that whiteness looks very pretty. It invokes many positive thought about the snow and the winter. Just a few days ago I was very sceptic about the cold weather and the slippery ice. But now I actually enjoy all of it. It's so beautiful, so clean that I'd like to see it at least several more days.


However, it'll be best if this rime melts as soon as possible because it's quite harmful for most trees and make cause them not to blossom in the spring. I hope this won't happen. After all we've enjoyed these picturesque scenery - lets hope we'll have some more when the spring comes up.

10 January 2008

Horo a.k.a. Bulgarian folklore dance

The horo is the Bulgarian folklore dance. Actually, there are many types of horo in Bulgaria. The most popular ones are Paidushko horo, Daichovo horo and Rachenitsa. What makes them special and differs them from most other dances is their rhythm. Horo dances are not like the usual two four, three four or even four four time dances. They are composed in any of the so called uneven times - five eight time (Paidushko horo), seven eight time (Rachenitsa) or nine eight time (Daichovo horo).
Some people find it hard to follow along with the uneven timing of the horo dances. In fact there is nothing much to it. You just need to know how exactly these uneven timings came to be.
Horo dances are adorned with little jumps here and there. That is when you need one extra eighth in the time.

09 January 2008

Test Post

Hello everybody!
This is my first blog yet and my first post in it, so I decided it would be best if do not start directly with some serious stuff, but have a test post just to see how things work around here.
I hope I will enjoy blogger.com and it will give me the chance to make my blog my best site ever (Note: if you'd like to see some web sites I've made you could pay a visit to http://www.gpopov.ubb.cc/, http://www.jbmo.eu/ and http://www.magadanskiuchen.data.bg/ - the last one can be oppened from Bulgarian users only - sorry, but it's the hosting company's fault).
It was great having you read all this. I hope soon I'll write some more and you'll pay the same attention which you paid to this particular one :).
Have a nice day!