TED Talk - Nonny de la Peña - The future of journalism? Virtual reality.

http://www.ted.com/talks/nonny_de_la_pena_the_future_of_news_virtual_reality

VOCABULARY

to push the envelope - to attempt to extend the current limits of performance. To innovate, or go beyond commonly accepted boundaries.

Her gymnastic skills are absolutely stunning. She's not afrait to push the envelope of athletic performance and always surprises spectators. 

 
to bawl - to shout or cry loudly 

I was watching my daughter playing in the garden. I heard the phone ringing, so I rushed to answer it. When I came back, little Adele was lying on the lawn and bawling. I saw blood dripping from her wounded knee. 

-Why are you bawling? I'm trying to focus here!!!
-Oh, you are always so insensitive! I won't tell you what happened if I'm a trouble to you!
 
to have a seizure - to have an attack

People with diabetes should mind the hours of meals. If the sugar in their blood drops too low, they risk having a seizure and even falling into a coma. 

-What happened to dad? Why is he in the hospital?!
-He's had a seizure. A heart attack. But he will be fine, the doctor said. 
 
peripheral vision - a part of vision that occurs outside the very centre of gaze.

John was jogging in the park, when suddenly, his peripheral vision captured two squirrels swiftly climbing a spruce.

Peripheral vision is an important feature - it allows you to notice potential danger appearing in your field of view.

duct-taped - fixed with a duct tape . See below.

When the police entered his flat, they found him fixed to a chair with a piece of rope, his mouth duct-taped so that he couldn't speak.

-What happened to mum's favourite vase?
-I broke it by accident.
-And you thought that duct-taping it would pass unnoticed? 

to commission - to arrange for someone to do a piece of work for you. 

We commissioned an expert to evaluate the potential price of the painting we found in the attic. 

For the expo, the organisers commissioned by a famous artist several scupltures representing innovation and progress. 

an outpouring - when an emotion is being expressed a lot in public.

Nobody has ever seen such an outpouring of rage as the one displayed that day in the supermarket by a 5-year-old boy to whom his mother refused to buy a light sabre. 

When Tom Hiddleston gets married, we can expect an outpouring of grief among his fangirls. 

to cock a gun - to pull back the hammer (or hammer mechanism) to ready the gun for fire.

'Say goodbye to life' he said, cocking his Walther. 

 Before you fire off a gun, you have to cock it.

TED Talk : Rose George : Inside the secret shipping industry

Rose George : Inside the secret shipping industry

http://www.ted.com/talks/rose_george_inside_the_secret_shipping_industry

VOCABULARY:

shipping the transport of goods by sea (or any other means)

Very few people think about how commercial goods are transported, so they are usually rather surprised to hear that we all owe 90% of deliveries to shipping. 

Should there be any problem with shipping, the delivery of commodities to the client might be delayed.

seafarer a person regularly travelling by sea

I bet there is no seafarer that suffers from sea sickness. 

A seafarer's life is really tough - weeks or months spent on waters, no women, no Internet.... 

vessel a ship or a large boat

Everybody on the lifeboats! Thevessel is going down!

The Titanic was said to be an unsinkable vessel and yet, over 1500 people lost their lives when it drowned. 


on a par with equal in importance or quality to

I never buy cheap perfumes - they will never be on a par with good old Chanel. 

This employee may have the least experience of all but he is on a par with the others in terms of efficiency. 

admiralty the jurisdiction of courts of law over cases concerning ships or the sea and other navigable waters

flag of convenience a flag of a country under which a ship is registered in order to avoid financial charges or restrictive regulations in the owner's country


dregs what is lefs of a liquid in a container, together with any sediment

I only drink instant coffee, because I can't stand dregs from the ground one.

(metaph) When she finally arrived home from work, she used the dregs of her energy to nibble a slice of bread and feed the cat before she fell half-alive on her bed. 

soot a deep black powdery or flaky substance consisting largely of amorphous carbon, produces by the incomplete burning of organic matter

No wonder that the air in Cracow is so polluted - if you look at the funnels during the winter season, you will see smoke full of soot coming out of them.

We should clean up fireplace - the pane is all black from soot, you can barely see the fire!

plight a dangerous, difficult or otherwise unfortunate situation

During the war, plights became a part of his everyday routine - he had to be very careful not to get shot.

Our hitchiking trip was great, though we got involved into a plight once, when a truck driver took a detour and for a couple of hours we had no idea where we were going. 

garrulous excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters

Christmas is coming, which means that we will have to listen to your garrulous old auntie again... She's definitely too talkative!

He was alively, garrulous man who liked feasting in a jolly company. 

to be in two minds be unable to decide between two alternatives

Honey, could you help me with the gift for your mother? I'm in two minds - I can't decide whether to buy her a book or a new baking tray.

Should I dye my hair red or black? I'm in two minds...

TED Talk of the week: Bandi Mbubi - Demand for a fair trade cell phone

Bandi Mbubi - Demand for a fair trade cell phone
http://www.ted.com/talks/bandi_mbubi_demand_a_fair_trade_cell_phone

VOCABULARY:

to boil down to sth - if a situation or a problem boils down to sth, that is the main reason or an esential meaning of it

All the troubles we are having with my son boil down to one thing - he cannot cope with our divorce.

Being a politician in rarely about altruism and community service - everybody knows that it all boils down to money.


heat conductor - a substance or an object made of such substance which can transfer heat.

Iron is a good heat conductor - you can observe it when you put an iron skillet over a burner of a stove that has been turned on. 

When feeling cold, it's good to have a boyfriend nearby - when he hugs you and your body becomes warm, you'll see that human body is a good heat conductor too! 


alloy - a substance composed of metal+metal or metal+nonmetal

Bronze is an alloy consisting of copper and tin.

Produced from a combination of polymers and metallic alloys, it is highly corrosion resistant and almost maintenance free. [Oxford Learner's Dictionary online]


to instill sth - to infuse slowly or gradually into the mind or feelings

The spooky atmosphere of the graveyard instilled fear in her as she was passing by. 

His wife's late arrivals at home instilled suspicion in his mind.


illicit trade route - a way through which illegally sold products are transported

Columbia is notorious for its intricate net of illicit drug trade routes. 

The police is aiming to work out secret illicit trade routes. 


misconduct - unacceptable or improper behaviour, especially by an employee or professional person

Mike was suspended for misconduct - he came to work completely drunk. 

Misconduct in the workplace can be a reason for disciplinary dismissal. 


to mount pressure on sb - to insist on somebody doing sth, taking up an action, starting to handle with a problem etc.

Environmentalists are mounting pressure on authorities to make them take up definite actions aiming to a reduction in air pollution.

Nurses are mounting pressure on the Polish government in order to obtain higher salaries. 

TED Talk of the week: Ann Morgan and her 'Reading the World in a Year" adventure.

Ann Morgan - My year reading a book from every country in the world
 
http://www.ted.com/talks/ann_morgan_my_year_reading_a_book_from_every_country_in_the_world?language=en

VOCABULARY: 

primed to do sth : prepared to act in a situation (because one has been given relevant information on it)  -> to prime: make sth ready for action or use

Having received a report on the situation on the front, the troop was primed to attack the enemy. 

Wooden furniture should be primed before painting. 

upshot (the upshot is that...) : the final or eventual outcome or conclusion of an action, discussion, series of events etc.

The discussion turned out to be completely pointless, as there was no upshot of it. 

The upshot of the series of terrorist attacks in France will remain unknown until the French government decides what measures should be implemented as a response. 

go to (great) lenghts to do sth : to work very hard to accomplish sth, to make great efforts trying to do sth

Mark went to great lenghts to succeed in his bar examination - he barely slept and spent most of his time craming.

If you want to lose weight, prepare for going to great lenghts to reach your goal - it always is a huge struggle. 

to go out of one's way to do sth : to do sth that inconveniences one, to make an unusual effort to accomplish sth

Please don't go out of your way to make me feel better. I have to handle my problems on my own.

Although I didn't feel like preparing a birthday party for my mother-in-law, I went out of my way to do it, because I wanted my wife to be happy. 

 

wordsmith : a skilled user of words

I love reading Shakespeare! In my opinion, he was the greatest wordsmith in the history of the English literature!

This boyfriend of yours is a true wordsmith, but I'm afraid that behind his sophisticated speech there's not much relevant content. 

 

cumulatively :1) in a way that increases in quantity, degree or force by successive additions

 Blogbogs are a great way to expand cumulatively your range of English vocabulary.

2) taken as a whole, in combination

Cumulatively, we have earned 19,000,000 zlotys this year, taking into account all sources of income.

 

incentive  : a thing that motivates or encourages sb to do sth

Young people in ageing european societies need a proper incentive to be more willing to have children.

I felt ashamed to come up and speak to Joseph, but seeing Madeleine approaching to him was a sufficient incentive to get my act together. 

TED Talk - Andrew McAfee - What will future jobs look like?

TED Talk of the week - Andrew McAfee - What will future jobs look like? 

https://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_mcafee_what_will_future_jobs_look_like 

VOCABULARY:

gratuitous - being without apparent reason, cause, or justification

You really shouldn't charge him with such gratuitous accusations.

The assumptions behind the Hay diet remain gratuitous - there has been no scientific proof that avoiding mixing carbohydrates and proteins in one meal slows down metabolism. 

troubleshooter - 1) skilled worker employed to locate trouble and make repairs in machinery and technical equipment; 2) a person skilled at solving or anticipating problems, difficulties or disagreements

He has worked as a diplomatic troubleshooter in the Middle East conflict. 

The servers are down again, I'm afraid. I've already called the troubleshooter to help us fixing the problem. 

drudgery - hard or dull work, esp. not requiring a lot of skill and lacking prestige

Nowadays, mechanisation of agriculture largely relieved the farmers from their drudgery. 

I was fed up with that corporate drudgery, so I quitted and now, I'm happy as a freelance worker. 

toil – exhausting physical labour

 

Used to everyday toil but not fit for dance, he felt clumsy at the party thrown by Lady Susan. 

 She seemed feeble and delicate, but she dealt well with the toil of the country life.

 

dystopian vision – an imaginary perception of a place where everything is as bad as it can be

People fear that in the future, robots will take over our jobs, but I wouldn't produce such dystopian visions - I believe that the human factor will remain a fundament of economy. 

Orwell's visions of the future society were characteristic for dystopian novels.  

turn sb out – fig. to train or produce someone with certain skills or talents. 

 

 Nowadays, public universities turn out too many philosophers and psychologists, while the demand for these specialists has already been met. 

Eton College turned out many prominent personalities, among which we count numerous British Prime Ministers, writers, scientists and actors.  

Swearing - BBC.com - The Brits and the Americans swear in different languages

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20151109-english-speakers-or-not-brits-and-americans-swear-in-different-languages

VOCABULARY:

banter - The playful and friendly exchange of teasing remarks (also as a V).

 John must have a thing for Mary - whenever they meet, he can't help bantering with her.

Our kids are playful and they like a good banter - we often burst out laughing when we hear them teasing one another.

puritanical streak - the element of a very strict or censorious moral attitude towards self-indulgence

American culture is often associated with flashy images and moral indulgence, so many people are surprised to discover a puritanical streak in its society. 

 Karen's family reguralry attends masses and never takes part in revelries, but their friends say that behing this puritanical streak, they are friendly, fun-loving people. 

coarseness - the quality of being rough and harsh; vulgarity, rudeness; coarse language - vulgar language

The coarsness of my hair gives my much trouble, especially in the morning - they don't give up to styling.

A true gentleman should, by any means, avoid using coarse language.

expletive - a swear word 

When I heard him producing a stream of expletives, I knew that the situation made him very angry. 

Stop with these expletives of yours! I won't put up with this kind of language!

to lay into sth  - to attack, consume, or scold someone or something 

I was so hungry that I laid into a plate of chicken nuggets as soon as I entered the kitchen.

My sister laid into me for using her precious make-up foundation. 

[definitions: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/, http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ ] 

TED Talk of the week: Frances Larson - Why public beheadings get millions of views

 Frances Larson - Why public beheadings get millions of views

http://www.ted.com/talks/frances_larson_why_public_beheadings_get_millions_of_views?language=en

VOCABULARY

unequivocal (e.g. answer, effect) - leaving no doubt, unambiguous

He gave me an unequivocal answer to my request - he said he wasn't there to do things for anyone. 

With extreme temperatures and violent weather phenomenons, we can see that the climate change is unequivocal. 

unbeknownst to sb - without the knowledge of sb

My coworker copied the files unbeknownst to me.

to hack sth off - to cut sth off with rough or heavy blows  ;  [PHR-V] to hack sb off - to infuriate  sb

Before the invention of the guillotine, it was the executioner who would cut off with a sword or an axe the heads of convicts.

It really hacks me off when you keep repeating that I should lost weight. 

 

 
contraption - a device that seem strange or unecessarily complicated, often badly made or unsafe.

I hate this computer contraption! It never acts the way I want it  to and it's always freezing when I'm in a hurry!

What's this monstruous contraption? I can't possibly imagine how it works! 

 

gallows - a structure for the hanging of criminals.

In the Nuremberg Trials after the World War II, Hans Frank, the Governor-General of occupied Poland's General Government territory,  was sentenced to the gallows and hung soon afterwards.

He was pardoned and saved from the gallows when the actual murderer made a plea of guilty. 

suicide baiting - a situation when witnesses to a suicide attempt maliciously encourage that person to commit it.

There were reports of suicide baitings in each of three cases - the crowd shouted at the suicides "Go on and jump!" and "Hurry up, won't you?!". 

to stumble upon sth inadvertently - 1) to trip upon sth accidentally, 2) to encounter sth by chance







 Walking in the dark, I inadvertently stumbled upon my son's tricycle and almost fell down the stairs.

Searching for a book in the library, I inadvertently stumbled upon my ex. There was a moment of awkward silence between us before I quickly wandered off.

to be a pawn in sb else's show/game - to be used by others for their own purposes

Gary thought himself to act independently, but in reality, he was only a pawn in the gang's game.

You should stand up your rights in the company instead of just being a pawn in your manager's show of his power over everybody!  

TED Talk : Emilie Wapnick: Why some of us don't have one true calling

https://www.ted.com/talks/emilie_wapnick_why_some_of_us_don_t_have_one_true_calling

VOCABULARY:

to resign oneself to (doing sth) – to accept sth reluctantly

I’d been searching for a dream job for many years, but, unsuccessful, I finally resigned myself to working for an international corporation.

My dad wanted us to stay in the UK for the summer holidays, whereas we, together with mum, insisted on spending them on the sunny beaches of Spain; being in the minority, daddy had to resign himself to going so far abroad.

innocuous – nor intended or likely to offend or upset anyone; harmless

When I asked you about things between you and Sally, I didn’t mean to stick my nose into your private life. It was just an innocuous question.

Although this spider can bite, its venom is completely innocuous to people.

to have no place in a framework – not to be suitable within a particular system or set of beliefs

All activity of an entreprise is to be exercised in accordance with the legal framework in vigour at a given time.

We cannot tolerate politicians whose projects are driven by sole particular interest; there is no place for them in the framework of a fair, democratic system.

to be well-versed in sth – having a lot of knowledge about something or skill in something.

We are searching for potential employees who are well-versed in cooperative work, data analysing and marketing techniques.

Penny is so young and yet, she is already astoundingly well-versed in science and mathematics.

to overcome an affliction – to deal with pain and suffering or something that causes it.

He used to suffer from severe back pains, but thanks to regular exercise he managed to overcome this affliction.

Kate is a very shy person, so she has serious trouble with socialising. Overcoming this affliction, with a psychologist’s help, could help her gain more self-confidence in everyday contacts with other people.

to start from scratch  - start at the beginning with no advantage; start from the very beginning

After the flood, in which they lost all their belongings, they had to start from scratch.

Don’t buy cake mix to bake a cheesecake. It’s so much better if you start from scratch and prepare everything on your own!

to hone sth – to develop and improve sth, esp. a skill, over a period of time.

Having spent years on teaching, she honed the ability to create fun, compelling lessons, well suited for her pupils’ needs.

I hadn’t felt very confident playing the piano when I was a child. Nevertheless, I would practice for hours every week and thus, I honed a perfect technique and an ability to display a variety of emotions hidden in scores.

to morph into sth – to change into something different

Being a multipotentialite means, among other things, that you can easily morph into anything you need to be, switching from one role to another.

In his dream, the figure of  his beloved one morphed into a representation of his deepest fears, assuming the shape of a spider.

Reading: DEATH [a creepy one, I know]

I have chosen two articles related to death. First of them concerns the largest study on the possibility of life and conscience after death. The second one (you may laugh but it's actually a serious matter) is about deadly selfies.

1. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/life-after-death-largest-ever-study-provides-evidence-that-out-of-body-and-near-death-experiences-9780195.html

VOCABULARY:

clinically dead – when somebody is declared to have stopped living on the basis of medical observation of cessation of heartbeat and respiration, even though his or her brain continues its activity

When the doctors declared her clinically dead, her husband was the one to decide when she would be disconnected from life support.

Clinical death remains a discutable issue, as medical scientists disagree whether the cessation of respiration and heartbeat or the stop of the brain functions constitute the determinative moment.

hallucinatory  - being, resembling or causing a hallucination; illusory, phantasmagoric.

He was stranded in the desert for so long, that the heat and the lack of water started to give him hallucinatory visions.

We should stop quarelling about hallucinatory problems and start seeing the issues that are truly burdensome.

to give an account of sth – to give testimony of, to relate sth.

When they met after many years, Sandy gave Tom an account of her exotic voyages.

Many individuals gave account of their seeing a tall, lean figure in a black suit, so afterall, perhaps Slenderman exists beyond the urban legend.

to bleep – to give a short, high-pitched electronic sound in order to attract attention.

Suddenly, my computer bleeped, I saw an error warning, the screen flickered and went off.

Gathered by our father’s hospital bed, we greeted every bleep of the life-support machine with relief.

compatibile with sth/sb – working well with, being well suited with sth/sb

Me and my husband are perfectly compatibile – we share the household duties, we have the similar interests and we never quarrell.

This printer is compatibile with any kind of operating system.

Nowadays, professional career and personal life are rarely compatibile.

2. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34466322

to gore – when an animal with horns or tusks pierces with it through flesh and there is a lot of blood everywhere (note also: ‘gore’ (n) – blod that has been shed, especially as a result of violence [Oxford Dictionary]).

Things went badly for the toreador when he was gored by the fierce bull.

A proper medieval combat included severed limbs and gore soaking in the soil of the battlefield.

to go viral – to become very successful or widely discussed on the Internet, to spread quickly from one Internet user to another. (Think of a virus that spreads rapidly all over the world).

The image of the Grumpy Cat went viral after the first meme featuring the poor animal appeared on one of the websites.

The newest trend in marketing is putting ads on the blogs that have recently gone viral – this is a good way to attract a large number of potential buyers.

a let-up – a decrease in intensity of something dangerous, difficult or tiring.

The snow is going to stop next week, so everybody is expecting a let-up to the cold snap.

I have been as busy as a bee recently and there are still a lot of things to do, so I don’t think I can hope for any let-up until the summer holidays.

death-defying – willing to face a deadly danger / perceived as extremely risky or dangerous.

Beowulf took up a death-defying challenge of defeating Grendel the monster completely unarmed.

Are you joking? The exam is tomorrow and you’re telling me you haven’t studied yet? And you know that professor Jones is very strict. That’s basically a death-defying approach to the task!

to draw the line at sth – to refuse to do something because it’s wrong or too extreme, to refuse to go any further than sth

He usually spoke his mind very openly and used strong vocabulary but he drew the line at swear words.

I know that everybody has the right to decide of his own body, but I think we should draw the line at unregulated abortion and euthasia. 

  

TED Talks: The unexpected beauty of everyday sounds

https://www.ted.com/talks/meklit_hadero_the_unexpected_beauty_of_everyday_sounds?language=en

Meklit Hadero : The unexpected beauty of everyday sounds

VOCABULARY

lineage - ancestry, pedigree. Meklit speaks of her sonic lineages - musical influences that shaped her musical taste and her own creation.
My sonic lineages are incredibly varied: I grew up listening to jazz, punk rock, pop, rap and even classical music. I try to combine all these influences in my music, so my compositions are very ecclectic.

score - a written representation of a musical composition; before a musician starts to interpret a piece of music, he opens the score on his music stand.

to creak - make a scraping or squeaking sound when being moved . Like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82a4aO66SQQ

a clank - a sound produced when two metal objects are struck together. Like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJG_7BRRLsc or this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZBV5g1OJdI

to be awash in sth - to be immersed in sth, sourrounded by sth
We are awash in music even though very often we don't realise it. In reality, our environment is full of sounds.
 
seminal - innovative, creative, groundbreaking
Copernicus shook the foundaments of humanknowledge and  perception with his seminal ideas. 
 
hard-wired for sth - genetically determined to have a certain inclination  or behave in a certain way.
We are all hard-wired for experiencing fear and seeking refuge when exposed to danger. 
 
It stopped me cold - it stopped me immediately, I became like frozen.
When you told us the bad news, it stopped me cold.