Person of Interest

Perhaps it is not the best TV show of this decade, or perhaps it is, after all.... but it is superbly well done and its script do not leave to surprise me.

 If you like procedurals, or police-related, or spy-related, or post-9/11 fictions, or an updated good story about surveillance and 1984-like fears, or terrorism-fighting-related, or..... or even if you hate some of them, or most importantly, if you like good character-developed, human-approached stories.... you must watch it! From its very beginning, Season First, Episode One, right through the third season finale, and beyond (I hope!)..... it is, simply said, as entertaining as worthwhile..... 

 Check out the people's reviews, if you like.... i.e.: 

IMDB reviews

  

If its first season got us engaged in the innards of the Machine and how it interacts with the main characters, and the second season explained us the threats to those characters, plus some new enemies both to the Machine and the protagonists, along with some interesting stories about New York's Mobs and thugs, this third season has introduced us the dilemma of the prescient artificial intelligence on the verge of taking apart the humanity, nothing less!

Same old story as it has been told several prior times, in fiction, science-fiction and their crossovers, but this time it is on TV, with film quality, and with new twists and turns to make it even more appealing, and even more important, that we can easily get involved with the characters. The script is really careful in that matter and, despite the shoots and the rigid approach that always have obscured spy-related stories, this one feels both natural and human-warmed.... 

Also to pray is the acting. Michael Emerson on its bests, Jim Cazievel who fits his performance like a glove, also his best, and an ensemble cast of actors who have become deeply linked with this series and, in some cases, they have achieved a well-deserved recognition.

All in all, a fine piece of modern TV, which is on par with other shows like Homeland, to name just one with some terrorism and special services involved.... The sci-fi elements, like the Machine, could not be as fictional as they appear and most of us would like them, after all.... Just think about the Big Data problem and the use of it for develop best advertising, the several NSA-related scandals... 

The fog catcher's forest

The original document, as graphical PDF, here:

Gapped texts and other paraphernalia...

20140505_classwork.doc (on Google Docs)
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bH7cgUK7MYf2OM2gC83q5qWvatZQo8DboU014d132fs/pub>

If you prefer to view and/or download it directly, and not to use Google Docs instead...

20140505_classwork.doc (on Google Drive)

<https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-AvDkFJA9-DMjJwQ0gyc0tfNTg/edit?usp=sharing>

The version as PDF, which also includes the proposed exercises which were scanned (the above Word document lacks those final scanned images, all is copied&pasted or typed):

20140505_classwork.pdf
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-AvDkFJA9-Da2hqNDVjalpyaGs/edit?usp=sharing>

CU!

Being out of your mind while others are out of their mind....

Speaking about recursive recursions which could never end........

I did think that I've seen almost every absurdity on TV realities..... You know, from 'woodcutters on a tight schedule' to 'we're not making our quota of crocodile purses', passing through (not without eye-sore sacrifice) all kind of nightmares on cooking, nightmares on auctions, nightmares on...... You get the idea, don't you?

By any means it was something related to some personal project. Actually, I do not watch that kind of TV shows. Probably, I do not see any kind of TV shows, such is my pleasure to pick up carefully which I really watch (out of its original scheduling). But you should live inside a salt mine, really far away of any copper electric-cable, not to mention TV/Satellite/IPTV and related sockets, to avoid watching some footage of those TV shows..... They enjoy far wide popular support and it's simply impossible not to get caught by them....

And it turns out that some of these shows are trying to entertain us, but also, disguised into the effort, to make some serious scientific research.... For that matter, there will be always some crazy guys devoted to 'capture the impossible'.....

Well, yesterday I got struck by the famous YouTube viral video of the 'Tornado Alley' TV show. It seems that finally they've got themselves caught inside a real tornado, and they have the footage ...and they survived the event.

Of course, the good IMAX quality footage would be reserved for the TV show. On YouTube you can see the footage taken by a normal video recorder inside the armoured car they used. It seems that they had several video recorders running, and this one was more or less focused on a 'hands-on subjective take', so it looses the steady shot from time to time. But given the weather conditions, it might be excused.... There was a serious risk of loosing the steady shot, the steady armoured car, even the steady terrain behind them....

They've also got a devoted Internet site, from which the image above was cut, that 'heavily-photo-shopped' imagery...... Do not miss the 'fun facts' and the hardware depictions under the 'explore' menu........

A mystery to solve....

Recently this faked photo, allegedly taken aboard the ISS in one of the two tours paid by Chris Hadfield to it, has struck the social media in Internet..... Hadfield got famous using his Twitter account @Cmdr_Hadfield to post news about his space journeys, and also for a really well made video in which he performed 'A Space Oddity' aboard the ISS.

One might think that, due to the troublesome process of getting crops in microgravity, which is fully explained in the May 2006 issue of 'Spaceflight', which you can access here, ISS astronauts have to stow (stow away!) their own weeds......

But not, they do not..... Probably they just got banned both to put 'that' in the payload of the Shuttle or Soyuz, and also to smoke anything in orbit.......

But that photo? Well, it's a fake, an elaborated one, if not too difficult to achieve one. The real photo is even more mesmerizing.....

What are those? Easter Eggs? 'Kinder Surprise'? Just coloured boiled eggs?....XDDDDD

Yeah, they were just Easter Eggs....

Candidate's Guide for Official Certification Tests. June 2014.

Anna has warned us about the Guide, which you can access or download using the next links:

At the cece..gva.es site....

Backup in the Google Drive, just in case....

In both cases you'll get direct access to the PDF, and it is up to you to download it from your embedded PDF reader or using the download tool in Google Drive.

CU!

More class materials!

This evening we've got more papers for our preparation:

* An example of real CPE Writing Tests, and its guidelines. The  CPE_Writing_Sample_Paper.pdf
* Several sheets with useful guidelines for several types of writing (essays, articles, formal letters, and so on...). The CPE_Writing_Guidelines.pdf
* A BBC online News article about the always on the vogue theme: Stem Cells. The original articles are HERE and HERE.

That's all, folks!

True Detective

Those who know me well also know that I'm not a big fan of police procedurals, as TV series have sprayed us along the last decade with all kind of these fancy new stories about the police work 'catching the bad guys'.

And if we have to start talking about the most watched TV series procedurals, like CSI in their various incarnations, and so on.... well. Then my rebellious character and the professional knowledge about the forensic details (at least, those referred to Analytical Chemistry, I'm a chemist!) force me to run away....

CSI is not a procedural, it's funny science-fiction set on an American city, instead of the outer space!

Well, having said that, some procedurals shed a light on the genre, because its oddly strange approach to it (like that ill-fated pilot from Ron. D. Moore, '17th Precint'), or because they are a re-vamped writing of something well known, but now it's been furiously updated to the 21th century (BBC Sherlock comes up to my mind), or simply because it distillates quality from every corner.

And that's the case with 'True Detective'. superbly acted (Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey in their best performances ever, and that's a nice surprise after their last works), even better set (photography, light treatment, rhythm, and how sound all characters, surprisingly real, English accents included).

But I might get it wrong..... let's get a sneak peek elsewhere....
http://www.metacritic.com/tv/true-detective:

http://www.vulture.com/2014/01/tv-review-hbos-true-detective.html:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/hbos-true-detective-starring-matthew-668182:

Well, it seems that I didn't get so wrong, after all.

Now, a piece of advice, for us, English students. This is not a drill! Unlike 'Sherlock', which sports a decent set of British accents in their several forms, from the more difficult to grasp to a pure 'BBC-south-Londoner' a.k.a. 'I_work_on_BBC_Radio_What's_Up?', so it's worth a try without subtitles, even if Cumberbatch goes 'all ahead flank' (for that, precisely, is the rewind button in your video player, my children!), 'True Detective' has a wide range of US southern accents hitting us from the very beginning, all mixed with some slang and police chatting, and acronyms. What's more, some characters do not refrain to talk 'as true as it seems' and even them have to rehearse twice in front of a mirror to understand themselves!

So a good set of subtitles is more than advisable, even if you dare to hide them at first. In my case I usually follow British and US series without them, forcing their appearance now and then when things get nasty, or better, rewinding just ten seconds, or for grasping the exact spelling of a new word.

But with 'True Detective', even when they talk slowly, you know, that utterly peaceful rhythm, almost tiresome, definitively 'do not dare to rush me' of some southerners , without subtitles each minute can go five, so hard I would have re-winded in some parts.....

You've been warned! Do not miss it, .... but dress appropriately! 

Fechas de pruebas y evaluaciones extraordinarias en las escuelas oficiales de idiomas de la Comunitat Valenciana para el curso 2013-2014

Amaya warned us using WhatsApp of the recent publication of the resolution (RESOLUCIÓN de 29 de enero de 2014, de la Dirección General de Formación Profesional y Enseñanzas de Régimen Especial, DOGV num. 7208, 6/2/2014) in which are published the dates for extraordinary exams in September.... just five days at the very beginning of it, quite tight scheduling!

So, for the time being, the so-called 'convocatoria de Septiembre' still stands, even if with that nightmarish calendar.....

Christmas 2013 Homework

Here you can find the proposed Christmas homework......
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-AvDkFJA9-DZ3I3MXJaN2lzdjQ/edit?usp=sharing>

And here the key answers for it.....
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-AvDkFJA9-DVG1ac0ZzWmp3cWc/edit?usp=sharing>

That quick vocabulary test...

Before Christmas, we did a vocabulary test....here it is!

<https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-AvDkFJA9-DajExdGV4c1lscGc/edit?pli=1>

Working sheets EOIC2 English, September, 23rd, 2013

Before anyone could buy the book, some sheets were provided to start....

<https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-AvDkFJA9-DdjNEa2V3cnRlUUE/edit?pli=1>

Unyielding Laws of Our Nature....

'All submerged body in the bathtub will ring the phone' (Gonnakillmeesel's Law)
'Everyone gracefully sat on the toilet will forcefully set off the door bell'. (Cannot Througshit's Law)
'When you need to open that door with only one hand available, the key will stand in your opposed
pocket' (Donumberto Sea's Law)
'The one and only time the door slams closed by itself is always when you forget your keys inside'
(Ohmigod W. -for Whatablackangst- Destiny's Law).
'When you get your hand dirty with the blackest grease, your nose inevitably gets hot' (Ohmigod
Gotohell's Law).
'Your insurance policy covers it all, excepting what happened' (Dadsrun Onjourcount's Law)
'If things seem to go better, you've just forgot something' (Fucked Fuckingbad's Axiom)
'If you are calmed down when everybody else go nuts, you are over the moon and cannot see
thoroughly' (Youdonot Getit's Axiom).
'Troubles do not appear out of the blue, nor get resolved by themselves, they just move on.... usually
shitting over you' (Thisisnot Alife's Law)
'You never arrive to the phone in time to hang it down...... You just hear it hanging up' (Ring Rang's
Principle)
'Each time you plan on an Internet dialing-up connection, that long awaited call will income'
(Good Timingman's Principle).
'If just two TV channels are worthwhile, they always get programmed at the very same time'
(Datsaah Balls' Law).
'The more clean you need to be, the more dirty you'll get eating' (Watta Stain's Law)
Alternative statement: 'The likelihood of get dirty when you are eating is directly proportional to
your eagerness to remain clean' (Watta's Son, once he got the zillionth stain, and before he
committed suicide...)
'The more expensive your hairstyle gets, the stronger that damn wind blows' (Llongueras'
Principle).
'Once you make that long time awaited choice, to throw away that damn useless thing, it'll pass no
more that a single week to discover how essential now it is' (Mader Foeker's Law).
'If you get in time to an important date, nobody stands for accounting it, but for your late arrival,
everybody will arrive before you and they will curse on you' (Dayegot Rolex's Principle).
'Do not get life so seriously, actually you will not get out of it alive' (Deadtohole Alivetoenjoy's
Theorem).

This was a '0.9-version' translation, more or less imaginative one, from an original in Spanish received by some WhatsApp group...... As I said then, improvements are encouraged, towards the 1.0-version and beyond!

The original says:

'TODO CUERPO SUMERGIDO EN LA BAÑERA HARÁ SONAR EL TELÉFONO'. (Ley de Mevi

Amatar)

'TODO CUERPO SENTADO EN EL INODORO HARÁ SONAR EL TIMBRE DE LA PUERTA'. (Ley de

Nicagar Puedeuno)

'CUANDO NECESITES ABRIR UNA PUERTA CON LA ÚNICA MANO LIBRE , LA LLAVE ESTARÁ EN

EL BOLSILLO OPUESTO'

(Ley de Mecago Enlamar)

'LA ÚNICA VEZ QUE LA PUERTA SE CIERRA SOLA ES CUANDO HAS DEJADO LAS LLAVES

DENTRO'. (Ley de Angustias Negro Destino)

'CUANDO TENGAS LAS MANOS LLENAS DE GRASA, TE COMENZARÁ A PICAR LA NARIZ'. (Ley

de Vayusté Pordiós)

'EL SEGURO LO CUBRE TODO. MENOS LO QUE TE SUCEDIÓ' (Ley de Esoco Rede Sucuenta)

'CUANDO LAS COSAS PARECEN IR MEJOR, ES QUE HAS PASADO ALGO POR ALTO'. (Axioma de

Chungo Palos Pollos)

'SI MANTIENES LA CALMA CUANDO TODOS PIERDEN LA CABEZA , SIN DUDA ES QUE NO HAS

CAPTADO LA GRAVEDAD DEL PROBLEMA'. (Axioma de Noten Teras)

'LOS PROBLEMAS NI SE CREAN, NI SE RESUELVEN, SÓLO SE TRANSFORMAN'. (Ley de Esto

Noesvida)

'LLEGARÁS CORRIENDO AL TELÉFONO JUSTO A TIEMPO PARA OÍR COMO CUELGAN'.

(Principio de Rinrin)

'SIEMPRE QUE TE VAYAS A CONECTAR A INTERNET, SE PRODUCIRÁ LA LLAMADA QUE HABÍAS

ESTADO ESPERANDO DURANTE TODO EL DÍA'. (Principio de Justo Ahora Hombre)

'SI SOLO HAY DOS PROGRAMAS EN LA TELE QUE VALGAN LA PENA VER , SERÁN A LA MISMA

HORA'. (Ley de Queco Jones Tienen)

' LA PROBABILIDAD DE QUE TE MANCHES COMIENDO, ES DIRECTAMENTE PROPORCIONAL A LA

NECESIDAD QUE TENGAS DE ESTAR LIMPIO'. (Ley de Menudo Lamparón)

' LA VELOCIDAD DEL VIENTO AUMENTA PROPORCIONALMENTE SEGUN HAYA SIDO EL PRECIO

DEL PEINADO'. (Principio de LLongueras)

'CUANDO TRAS AÑOS DE HABER GUARDADO UNA COSA SIN USARLA DECIDES TIRARLA, NO

PASARÁ MÁS DE UNA SEMANA SIN QUE LA NECESITES DE VERDAD'. (Ley de Lama Dreque

Loparió)

'SIEMPRE QUE LLEGUES PUNTUAL A UNA CITA NO HABRÁ NADIE ALLÍ PARA COMPROBARLO,Y

SI POR EL CONTRARIO LLEGAS TARDE, TODO EL MUNDO HABRÁ LLEGADO ANTES QUE TÚ Y

QUEDARÁS FATAL' (Principio de Longines)

'NO TE TOMES TAN EN SERIO LA VIDA , AL FIN Y AL CABO NO SALDRÁS VIVO DE ELLA'.

(Teorema de Muertoaloyo Vivoalbollo)

Working sheets during professor's absence

Here you have them....
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-AvDkFJA9-DNEhGeENnODFaN3M/edit?usp=sharing>

The last set of papers were provided before (the torturing long NYT article about data centres which some crazy guy prepared....):

Unabridged article

 <https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-AvDkFJA9-DeXFWVHRoLW5PVlk/edit?usp=sharing>

Video

<https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-AvDkFJA9-DN0xUUDJLNThlTGc/edit?usp=sharing>

computing_farms_resumed.pdf

<https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-AvDkFJA9-DZWdkdXppTTVHeTg/edit?usp=sharing>

computing_farms_resumed_glossary.pdf 

<https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-AvDkFJA9-DTTdVUDkwMldYZGc/edit?usp=sharing>

computing_farms_resumed_MCQ.pdf

<https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-AvDkFJA9-DYW5zWXI4UU9wa00/edit?usp=sharing>

This is posted here and in the WhatsApp Group.....you may find it also in the Flipboard magazine.....

OMG! My dwarfs are growing!....XDDDDDD

P.S.: Before any evil-minded one says anything..... the absent-minded professor, in this case, is US!