Kevlar is awesome. Thus, the women who invented Kevlar, is also awesome! Who'd a thunk that a stuff that lab technicians usually threw out, later was developed into Kevlar!! Nice right?!! So here is a brief look at why Kevlar is awesome:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevlar
So many uses! Isn't that great?! So Kwolek, during her time at DuPont, was able to isolate the substance, and although according to some sources she wasn't responsible for developing a lot of the uses of Kevlar, she is credited with making the discovery that the substance is extremely resilient. And any women who helps develop something that keeps America's troops safe on the front lines, deserves and award in my book. Thank you Stephanie Kwolek.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Marie Curie
Physics is awesome. Just saying. The new accelerator in Europe, imo, is an amazing accomplishment, and morons thinking it will create a black hole and suck up the earth are completely wrong. I can't wait to see what kind of data they can get from it. That being said, the turn of the 20th century was an amazing time in physics. After the first industrial revolution, technology had begun its exponential climb towards the HD scoiety we have today. Essentially the same thing happened in physics. We began to discover the whole microscopic world around us, radiation, atoms, protons, all that good stuff that very few people enjoy studying in school. And Marie Curie's contributions to the evolution of physics are amazing.
She helped discover 2 new elements, Polonium, and Radium. Polonium is useless, but Radium is commonly used as a source of neutrons for physics experiments. Both of the elements are extremely heavy, and radioactive, which lead to several lawsuits involving Radium. So it is sort of sad to say that both of the elements she found were, well, sort of useless, but none the less!! At the time, her new discoveries helped map the periodic table of elements, and increased our understanding of radiation, isotopes, and how these phenomena exist all around us in nature.
According to our Wiki-experts, her largest contribution to the scientific community was not the discovery of these two elements, rather her discovery that the more of these elements you collected, the greater the radiation. This helped prove that the radiation was coming from the atoms themselves, and that it was based on quantity, and not some random reaction that they were unable to examine. Apparently she also found out that thorium was radioactive, and for those of you interested in alternate nuclear fuel sources, I would recommend watching this video, otherwise known as the future of nuclear power:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWUeBSoEnRk
Continuing on, she would be awarded a Nobel prize, the first women to receive one, and then a second Nobel prize, and she is still the only women to have ever received 2 Nobel prizes. \o/ physics!
She helped discover 2 new elements, Polonium, and Radium. Polonium is useless, but Radium is commonly used as a source of neutrons for physics experiments. Both of the elements are extremely heavy, and radioactive, which lead to several lawsuits involving Radium. So it is sort of sad to say that both of the elements she found were, well, sort of useless, but none the less!! At the time, her new discoveries helped map the periodic table of elements, and increased our understanding of radiation, isotopes, and how these phenomena exist all around us in nature.
According to our Wiki-experts, her largest contribution to the scientific community was not the discovery of these two elements, rather her discovery that the more of these elements you collected, the greater the radiation. This helped prove that the radiation was coming from the atoms themselves, and that it was based on quantity, and not some random reaction that they were unable to examine. Apparently she also found out that thorium was radioactive, and for those of you interested in alternate nuclear fuel sources, I would recommend watching this video, otherwise known as the future of nuclear power:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWUeBSoEnRk
Continuing on, she would be awarded a Nobel prize, the first women to receive one, and then a second Nobel prize, and she is still the only women to have ever received 2 Nobel prizes. \o/ physics!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Lady Gaga
So, I just finished talking about one music icon, now I am going to talk about another, Lady Gaga, or the so called Madonna of the 21st century. Do I agree with that statement? I think so. She was the first person to ever get a combined 1 billion online music videos, which is pretty ridiculous, which also happens to be the word that perfectly describes her videos. Utterly ridiculous, but maybe in this day and age we would call that original. Am I old fashioned?
Anyway, she has some pretty good songs, and she enjoys wearing outrageous cloths, which isn't necessarily new to the industry, but she has definitely taken it to the next level. To talk about her impacts on the world, maybe she hasn't HELPED too many people, but perhaps she has begun to have the same effect that Madonna did at the same time in her career. Looking at her career, her first album came out in 2008. That was...2 years ago. That, to me, is honestly ridiculous. That someone can go from absolutely unknown, to her status in 2 years is insane. Of course the internet is the catalyst for that, but still. In my opinion, her songs find an often simple theme (well I guess like most songs) and connects them with the audience in a very smooth manner. I feel like we will be hearing her name for a very long time.
Anyway, she has some pretty good songs, and she enjoys wearing outrageous cloths, which isn't necessarily new to the industry, but she has definitely taken it to the next level. To talk about her impacts on the world, maybe she hasn't HELPED too many people, but perhaps she has begun to have the same effect that Madonna did at the same time in her career. Looking at her career, her first album came out in 2008. That was...2 years ago. That, to me, is honestly ridiculous. That someone can go from absolutely unknown, to her status in 2 years is insane. Of course the internet is the catalyst for that, but still. In my opinion, her songs find an often simple theme (well I guess like most songs) and connects them with the audience in a very smooth manner. I feel like we will be hearing her name for a very long time.
Madonna
Oh snaps. It's Madonna. Shes crazy, wild, and has a couple of songs I like. Actually not really. She is pretty famous, but I never really liked her music all that much. Her song, Hung Up, totally stole the melody from the Abba song - gimme gimme gimme. Actually while just browsing around I came across this site:
http://www.aishamusic.com/lawsuit_many_artists_madonna_stole_from.htm:
Which actually has some pretty funny stuff. The "iconic pictures" section is pretty funny, considering most of the pictures are of women who "had a major influence on her." Maybe they had a little more influence on her, as in she just sort of took the same pictures, with a little bit different lighting and an updated outfit. That being copying other peoples work happens so often in the music and entertainment industry that it doesn't even matter. Someone gets sued every so often, but the results of the case are rarely publicized. So she has definitely had an impact on the world, but she couldn't have done it alone.
http://www.aishamusic.com/lawsuit_many_artists_madonna_stole_from.htm:
Which actually has some pretty funny stuff. The "iconic pictures" section is pretty funny, considering most of the pictures are of women who "had a major influence on her." Maybe they had a little more influence on her, as in she just sort of took the same pictures, with a little bit different lighting and an updated outfit. That being copying other peoples work happens so often in the music and entertainment industry that it doesn't even matter. Someone gets sued every so often, but the results of the case are rarely publicized. So she has definitely had an impact on the world, but she couldn't have done it alone.
Coco Chanel
So Coco had a major impact on the...fashion industry. Okay so maybe her influence through fashion helped women become more independent, but I still think fashion is a bit...of a stretch when talking about women who changed the world. She is definitely famous, and everyone knows her name, but did she really do all that much? I dunno.
I want to talk about her time in Paris during wwII though. Apparently she stayed the entire time in a hotel, reportedly having an affair with a German. A lot of people seemed upset at this etc, but I really think what she did was a logical, rational choice. When your country is invaded, occupied, and ruined by a foreign country, people will be willing to do anything to survive. Given the circumstances I feel like she cannot be held accountable for her actions. It was a war, a world war, I mean come on, some people have obviously taken what she did out of context.
I also find the quote: "There have been several Duchesses of Westminster. There is only one Chanel." to be utterly ridiculous.
I want to talk about her time in Paris during wwII though. Apparently she stayed the entire time in a hotel, reportedly having an affair with a German. A lot of people seemed upset at this etc, but I really think what she did was a logical, rational choice. When your country is invaded, occupied, and ruined by a foreign country, people will be willing to do anything to survive. Given the circumstances I feel like she cannot be held accountable for her actions. It was a war, a world war, I mean come on, some people have obviously taken what she did out of context.
I also find the quote: "There have been several Duchesses of Westminster. There is only one Chanel." to be utterly ridiculous.
Angela Merkel
So I chose to present on Angela Merkel because in my opinion, as well as Forbes' opinion, she is indeed the most powerful women in the world right now. The EU is going through a financial crisis, however Germany's economy is doing well, thanks to Merkel. That being said, the expectations that fall upon her to lead the EU out of the economic recession, as well as save Greece require nothing short of a miracle to achieve, however I believe she will be able to do it. Her calm and methodical approach to policy has allowed her to reach final decisions that always seem correct, according to one economic writer.
I think it is very important to look at the fact that she was raised in East Germany, because in that kind of society, having a strong opinion, being outspoken or rash, could have potentially be deadly. Thus she was raised to keep her emotions in line, and developed a sort of poker face that in politics is also key to policy making. As for her background in physics, I think it is refreshing to see someone in political power with a background in science, rather than politics or business. I feel like her thought process is more logical and systematical, than someone who has spent their whole lives in politics. It also gives her a more vivid view on power sources, because apparently in Germany they rely on Russian power as their main source, and at the same time are attempting to move away from nuclear power, which I personally disagree with (the nuclear power part). But she has 3 years left as chancellor, it will be interesting to see what she does, considering how fast the world changes these days.
I think it is very important to look at the fact that she was raised in East Germany, because in that kind of society, having a strong opinion, being outspoken or rash, could have potentially be deadly. Thus she was raised to keep her emotions in line, and developed a sort of poker face that in politics is also key to policy making. As for her background in physics, I think it is refreshing to see someone in political power with a background in science, rather than politics or business. I feel like her thought process is more logical and systematical, than someone who has spent their whole lives in politics. It also gives her a more vivid view on power sources, because apparently in Germany they rely on Russian power as their main source, and at the same time are attempting to move away from nuclear power, which I personally disagree with (the nuclear power part). But she has 3 years left as chancellor, it will be interesting to see what she does, considering how fast the world changes these days.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Dewi Sukarno
I got a 10/10 on the quiz!! YAY \o/
Soo...Dewi Sukarno. An interesting case I think. She has certainly...been around the world a couple of times. I guess I will start her....younger years? So being 19, working as a hostess, meeting the leader of Indonesia, and marrying him. I gotta say that is a little bit ridiculous. Certainly something I would not expect a Japanese person to do, especially considering the fact that he was what...57 at the time? That is only a little bit creepy. Apparently he had some deep pockets or something, because as soon as he croaked she went off to have fun around the world.
Maybe she didn't have too much fun while she was traveling the world, apparently she worked for an organization called UNEP to help work on environmental issues. What exactly her capacity was though....I guess we don't really know. Hopefully she was doing something worthwhile for the environment, but assuming her age was late 20's to early 30's I can't imagine she played a very large role.
Her connections with North Korea however are extremely interesting. It is very surprising that she is able to enter the country, donate food, and maintain that sort of relationship. I would assume that because she is of Japanese descent, she would be barred from entering the country, guess I got that wrong. I wonder why she decided to donate food to North Korea though...
Apparently she also runs her own company now, I would assume that company is in Tokyo where she now lives as an outspoken celebrity, also something that is looked down upon in Japanese society. Apparently she has been in several court cases, flamed a couple of other celebrities, and enjoys stirring up the ant hill every once in awhile, which is pretty funny considering how taboo some of that stuff is in Japanese society.
But what has she actually changed, or done? She has been involved with humanitarian aid, and has worked with organizations to help the environment, but it seems like the majority of her fame comes from her antics, rather than her work.
Soo...Dewi Sukarno. An interesting case I think. She has certainly...been around the world a couple of times. I guess I will start her....younger years? So being 19, working as a hostess, meeting the leader of Indonesia, and marrying him. I gotta say that is a little bit ridiculous. Certainly something I would not expect a Japanese person to do, especially considering the fact that he was what...57 at the time? That is only a little bit creepy. Apparently he had some deep pockets or something, because as soon as he croaked she went off to have fun around the world.
Maybe she didn't have too much fun while she was traveling the world, apparently she worked for an organization called UNEP to help work on environmental issues. What exactly her capacity was though....I guess we don't really know. Hopefully she was doing something worthwhile for the environment, but assuming her age was late 20's to early 30's I can't imagine she played a very large role.
Her connections with North Korea however are extremely interesting. It is very surprising that she is able to enter the country, donate food, and maintain that sort of relationship. I would assume that because she is of Japanese descent, she would be barred from entering the country, guess I got that wrong. I wonder why she decided to donate food to North Korea though...
Apparently she also runs her own company now, I would assume that company is in Tokyo where she now lives as an outspoken celebrity, also something that is looked down upon in Japanese society. Apparently she has been in several court cases, flamed a couple of other celebrities, and enjoys stirring up the ant hill every once in awhile, which is pretty funny considering how taboo some of that stuff is in Japanese society.
But what has she actually changed, or done? She has been involved with humanitarian aid, and has worked with organizations to help the environment, but it seems like the majority of her fame comes from her antics, rather than her work.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)