STARBUCKS!! I usually work once a week at Starbucks so I decided to let my friends have a glimpse of what we do at work. Some screenshots of preempting my friends about my live and me asking them which drink they would like me to do.
This week, we watched a video on Vasco da Gama by PBS Education, which was part of their series called Explorers: Age of Encounter. Apart from Zheng He and the Arab navigator in Malindi, who else is missing from these Eurocentric narratives? Hint: Watch the video on Magellan!
Although Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese, he was one of the first European to cross the Pacific Ocean by organinsing a Spanish expedition to the East. He played a crucial role in the first circumnavigation of the world. During his expedition, he was accompanied by a slave named Enrique who could speak Malay, proving himself as an interpreter for the Spaniards when on their way to the spice land.
There was speculation about Enrique after Magellan’s death, when Enrique left the crew in Cebu with the intention to return to his homeland, Malacca in Malaysia. There were no sightings of Enrique after that and people speculated that if Enrique was able to return to Malacca successfully, he would be the first person to circumnavigate the world with Malacca being his start and endpoint.
On the other hand, the first person to be documented for be the first person to circumnavigate the world was Juan Sebastian Elco. Although he was one of the pardoned mutineers of Magellan’s expedition, he took over Magellan’s expedition after his death and became the first person to circumnavigate the world, where they returned from Spain after the crew of San Antonio mutinied with a vessel full of cinnamons and cloves after almost exactly 3 years on the sea.
Personally, below is a video that I came across on youtube which gave great insight about the Megallan navigation and I felt that the contents were easy to understand and digest.
During 1400s, ever since Portuguese navigators discovered the ivory trade in Africa, the elephant population depleted drastically with the increasing demand of ivories. European sailors soon joined in the trade and African hunters have to travel further and further as the elephant population declined in the area. Following after, in the near centuries, Benin bronzes came into light and the metals were acquired in the form of manilla. These manilla were brought in by the European traders in exchange of slaves. In 1897, Benin Bronzes that decorated the Benin Kingdom was seized by the British when they invaded the kingdom.
Through this video, I felt that it was a pity that the Benin Bronzes were displaced from their original home. While some may argue that Nigeria today do not have the ability to maintain these bronzes and they will be better preserved in the museums spread across the globe, I feel that ultimately, just like the ivories, these bronzes were made and produced during the Benin empire and the value of these bronzes will differ in a different setting. These bronzes are proofs about the history of the Bening Kingdom and with the bronzes in their original place, people are able to better relate to the stories behind each piece and understand their origins.
Our LED Rainbow reenacts our initial idea of a collective effort to activate the installation. With all three buttons pressed, will the installation be lighted up.
The technology, known as ADAMM Intelligent Asthma Monitoring, is a soft, flexible, waterproof, wearable device, which communicates with a smart phone app and web portal using Bluetooth, WiFi, and cellular connections. It attaches to the upper torso using skin-safe adhesive and tracks precursor symptoms of asthmatic attacks, including cough rate, respiration patterns, heartbeat, and body temperature.
Resource: https://www.rdmag.com/article/2017/09/wearable-iot-device-predicts-asthma-attack-it-happens
ADAMM be used with or without the connected smartphone app and web portal—the wearable itself also provides alerts via vibrations when the user’s symptoms deviate from their individual norm. These same alerts are also sent to the app and web portal where additional analysis is available, and if the user designates, they are sent via text to a caretaker, such as a parent, as a cautious precaution.
Most people ignore when they are coughing, or they may be coughing during the night when they are asleep so they are not cognizant of it. The device collects that information demonstrates that they are deviating from their baseline, and gives them an earlier indication of an asthmatic attack than they normally would have.”
Coughing is a common act and whenever we cough, we tend to ignore it. However, these symptoms might be the warning of an upcoming asthma attack and people do not realise it. Quite a handful of people around me have asthma and whenever they have an attack, they do not know when and why. This device acts like a data collector and tracks the user breathing patterns. Thereby, this allows the user to be prepared for upcoming asthma attacks and to treat it beforehand.
This device provides individual patients with a personalized approach to their asthma management as compared to what works at the population generic-base level.
Group Members: Felicia, Jin Yee and Yi Jie
Tik Tok application, Garden and Eyebrows
By posting videos on Tik Tok, creators will create a garden of their own. Viewers/ Users may give “likes/ dislikes” to creators through raising their eyebrow for like and frowning for a neutral/ dislike stand. Each like will water the plant in the garden, allowing trees to grow. This calls for a motion of sustainability and creating a green environment.
