Just a little reminder!

Hello guys! I noticed many of you are still visiting the blog here, so I just wanted to remind you, about https://papercoffeestore.wordpress.com as all new posts will be available there. So far, I've posted one about education, and you can read it here:
https://papercoffeestore.wordpress.com/2015/08/19/power-of-education/
Many more are coming this upcoming week, including a new "thinking ouside the box" post, and a book review. Stay tuned and stay awesome! Thank you for all your support, you rock!

Have a lovely day,
Jessie

Changes, changes are coming!

Hello guys! I have news for you: things are changing! I've decided to join the Wordpress family and leave Blogger. It has been amazing two months with Blogger, and I own it a lot, but I feel like it's time for changes. I hope you will continue to support me, and I would be honored to keep blogging with  you and for you. My new blog address is here: https://papercoffeestore.wordpress.com/
Hopefully... see you!
Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Have a lovely day,
Jessie

When You and I had tails

Hello! You might not remember it, actually you stand no chance of remembering it, but once upon a time you had a tail. So did I.  (P.s: My new blog address is here: https://papercoffeestore.wordpress.com/ )

source:tumblr

Not like this, though. Sadly! Nevertheless, that's a real info, and it takes us back to evolution. Actually everything takes us back to evolution. What kind of a queen/king of everything! As Theodosius Dobzhansky, a well known evolutionary biologist titled his essay: "nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of Evolution". Now you might ask - when did you become interested in biology and why are you writing about this? Well, I'll give you my answer: my anthropology course on Open2study (I'm definitely going to write a post about this website soon!) covers a lot of evolutionary material, and the second thing: it's fascinating. I hope you will find it fascinating too. Let's get back to the title, though. We all used to have tails. Evidence? You still have a tail bone - coccyx. Before coccyx, near the base of your spine you had five vertebrae, which later on fused into a bone. It all happened when you were just an embryo.

source: www.biotate.com/

What is its function? Well, it's kind of useless - though some scientists disagree - but it's a kind reminder that: your ancestors did have tails. Had you been a different breed, you would also have it now, but humans changed and they don't need it anymore. So what did happen to your tail? Well, when the DNA, which controlled the process of your development figured out you didn't really need the tail, so it was absorbed by your immune system. Once in a while, a child is born with a tiny tail, but professionally we call it "a caudal appendage" (you can google it for pictures!) . It happens, when the instructions saying "Get rid of it" become a bit illogical, and the tail isn't reabsorbed. There have been over 100 documented cases like that. Fascinating, isn't it? Well, the world's first name should be fascinating. To end with a poem would be nice, so here we come, Mr Bukowski.

Oh Yes - Poem by Charles Bukowski

there are worse things than
being alone
but it often takes decades
to realize this
and most often 
when you do
it's too late
and there's nothing worse
than 
too late. 


So if you need to stay home alone tonight, and you're missing so much fun, just remember you could learn something new and fascinating and that's cool too. Explore, dream, discover.

Would you like to have a tail? Let me know!


Have a lovely day,
Jessie

Malala: one book and one pen can change the world

Hi guys! It's a Sunday evening in Poland, and the sky is filled with little stars, smiling at me. As their fading light is already a memory when it reaches our Earth, it's like the past encouraging us to keep on going. Little miracles of everyday can also be beautiful. Another of the little miracles is that you can read that text. (P.s: My new blog address is here: https://papercoffeestore.wordpress.com/ ) No, by no means I imply it's awesome. What's awesome, though, is the fact you were given an opportunity to learn how to read. It might seem quite normal, but millions of people were never able to go to school, and education helps fight too many problems for this not to be a big issue. Malala Yousafzai is a girl, who decided to stood up for the fundamental right of every human - the access to education. As the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate, she became a symbol of fight against terrorism and violation of human rights. Born in Pakistan, she had to leave her beloved home country after she was shot on her way home from school. Malala, being only 18 year old, lives in England now, and in 2013 she published a book - "I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban".

source: meetup.com

After having read that book, I would love to share my thoughts about it with you, so let's call it a mini-review. Malala's story is set in Pakistan, and page by page we follow her daily life - from school fights with her best friends to financial struggles of her family, and we witness the process in which Malala became so passionate about human, especially girls', rights. The book tells not only a story of one girl, but of the entire community. It educates us on Pakistani history, and is abundant in life wisdom. The book, created by both Malala and Christina Lamb, is written in a pleasant, simple, yet convincing manner. The Nobel Prize laureate portrays herself as a regular girl with dreams to change the world. She fights with her friend, and can be moody, but never does she give up on her dreams to guarantee everyone an access to education. I believe her book holds a great message, and can inspire us to be kind. It is surely worth-reading and I would definitely recommend you to give Malala some of your time. It would be nice to end with a quote, so I will.

source: lifepopper.com

P.S:

Now you can follow Papercoffeestore on Instagram and like it on Facebook. I would be very honored and incredibly thankful if you could do it. 

Have you ever heard about Malala? Who are your role models? Let me know!

Have a lovely day,

Jessie

God, bless the tech: Duolingo & Memrise

Hello guys! How are you? I need to tell you one thing: little miracles can happen. After two months of being gone, my dog was found. We literally had no hope, and thought he would never come back, but today life surprised us in a very positive way. Never underestimate the unpredictability of life!

Anyway, today is the day, when I start my new series: God, bless the tech. (P.s: My new blog address is here: https://papercoffeestore.wordpress.com/ )

It will be all about my favorite apps, websites, and online things. The first post will be all about Duolingo and Memrise, as I believe education could be the panaceum for almost everything. Both Duolingo and Memrise are apps designed to help you with learning, but despite many similarites, they also differ quite a lot. I'm going to discuss both of them to highlight their essence.

source: pulsosocial.com/

1. Duolingo -  Perfect tool for learning languages. Courses are targeted at users of many languages, not only English, but the greatest variety of languages is offered to people, who ca n speak English. They can choose from Spanish, French, German and Portuegese to Dutch, Swedish, Italian or Turkish. They are many more courses to come, including Polish, Hindi and Hungarian ones, but they haven't been finished yet. When it comes to non-English users, they have less options, sometimes only English. Those, who are fluent in Spanish can't also complain though, because they're offered 6 courses. Myself, I have been using Duolingo for awhile, and I'm content with its form and functionality. It definitely helped me to get down to Spanish and recall what I learnt during German lessons in high school. What needs to be said is that you both learn how to say something and write it, so I would call it a rather effective approach, plus it has a nice motivation mechanisms - you're sent e-mails to remind you about your daily learning time. There are daily goals, so you can feel as if you accomplished something big, after 20 minutes of quality time with Duolingo. Plus, you can also use Duolingo as a website: https://www.duolingo.com

The only two cons I can think of is that there aren't too many languages to choose from, even if you're willing to learn everything in English (I wanted to go for Arabic, but it wasn't possible), plus it's for languages only, so it can't be your multifunctional learning tool. The greatest advantage, aside from amazing content, would be its price - 0. It's complately free, so don't hesitate to give it a try!

source: www.mustseeon.net/

2. Memrise - if I say "universal", Memrise could pop up in my head, because it's truly like that.  It is based on popular mechanism of so called "flashcards", which help you memorise almost everything. Memrise seems to be all about Aristotle's quote "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.".  Unlike Duolingo, it offers courses on variety of subjects ranging from arts, literature, history and languages, to maths, science, geography and the natural world. It can also help you to prepare for standardized tests, such as college admissions, SAT, driving license, CAE or IELTS. It can be easily accessed via computer, because it also functions as a website, aside from being an app. Thanks to Memrise, I was able to start learning Arabic online,  but anyone interested in Japanese, country mapping, Morse Code, anatomy and many other subjects, should be satisfied after having chosen Memrise. Obvious advantages are price (again, it's FREE), and the variety of available courses. The cons, on the other hand, can be its flashcards' mechanism, as it's boring for many people. 

To sum up, I would say both of these websites/apps are wonderful in their own ways, and can definitely improve the quality of your online learning. Speaking from personal experience, combining both of them, helps me a lot to stay on the right track and improves my language skills. I would definitely recommend you to see if they can work for you. It costs nothing, and who knows how many little miracles could a little learning bring? You will never know if you never try.

Have you ever used Duolingo and/or Memrise? If so, what's your experience with them? Do you study online? What language would you like to master? Let me know!

Have a lovely day,

Jessie

You'll go to paper towns and never come back...

Hello guys! How are you doing? The first thing that needs to be said is: THANK YOU! You have visited my blog over 1000 times, and I couldn't be more grateful. Each view makes me happy, and reaching this first milestone means a lot to me. Every view, comment, and like is something amazing. You all are truly inspiring, and you've helped me to become a friend of words once again. THANK YOU! Do you know who's also awesome and inspiring, aside from you? Ladies and gentlemen - John Green! Some of you might have heard of him, as his books are bestsellers and there's no way to escape them in a bookshop, plus he's quite a force on Youtube with his educational videos. What I will be talking about today is the movie based on his novel "Paper towns". Yesterday the movie was officially premiered in Poland, and as a Green fan I just had to go. (P.s: My new blog address is here: https://papercoffeestore.wordpress.com/ )

source: msmagazine.com/

The story tells a story of a young man - Q - who goes on a road trip with his friends in hopes of finding a missing next-door girl - mysterious Margo Roth Spiegelman, who suddenly disappears after their night escapade.  I don't want to spill too much, especially if you didn't read the book, so let's just say that their journey is full of funny moments, universal truths, and important questions. What is love? Friendship? Life? Q wanted to know too.  The trailer will explain a lot, so take a look, please!

The movie was directed by Jake Schreier, and main roles were played by Nat Wolff as Q, and Cara Delevingne as Margo. I foundthe cast's acting nice, yet not impressive. Before watching a movie, I wasn't sure if Cara could pull Margo off, given she was mainly a model, not an actress, but she did okay. To be honest, I believe she didn't capture all of Margo's magic, but she didn't do a terrible job either. In my humble opinion,  she was amazing at times, but quite average in general, and that's it.

source: tumblr

The script was quite in line with the book, despite few modifications, which deprived the movie of some of the book's depth.  My example? Some of very smart, and crucial to the book words.

source: tumblr

Anyway, the music was well chosen, especially Vance Joy with his song "Great summer", as its summer vibe was on point. To sum up, I'm happy they didn't turn one of my favorite books into a terrible movie, but I somehow feel it could have been much better. I would totally recommend it to anyone, who didn't read Green's book, and when it comes to those, who did read it - well, there's a great chance you're far less likely to be blown away, but you will probably be able todeal with what you will see. At least... I could.  To end with a quote would be nice, so here we go. Well, I need to say one last thing - the internet said the quote was written by John Green, but it turned  out to be said by a young blogger. It's still incredibly nice, though. Here we go... again.

source: weheartit

Do you like Green? Have you watched "The paper towns"?  If so, did you enjoy it? Let me know in comments!

Have a lovely day,

Jessie

Stay out, Nina

Hello guys! What are you up to these days? Myself, I've been reading a lot, but there's something I've been doing way more often and that would be listening to music. Today's coffee break is going to be all about music, and to be precise, about one particular musician - Nina Nesbitt. She's a Scottish sensation, who stole hearts of thousands of Brits, plus mine. Born in 1994, she managed to release few EPs and one full album - Peroxide, which has been on shops' shelves since February 2014. I found out about her from my friend Adam - big thanks to him, because I like my evenings better now with Nina's music. Anyway, Nesbitt comes from Scottish Edinburgh, which takes pride from its vivid artistic scene. Rightfully so, it seems. Five points for Edinburgh! (P.s: My new blog address is here: https://papercoffeestore.wordpress.com/ )

source: www.mtv.com/

Nina's most known for her song "Stay out", which I shared with you in previous post. The song peaked at number 21 on the UK Singles Chart, what's pretty great  for a newcomer. Below I'll post 5 of my favorite Nina's songs, and reasons behind my choices.


1) Selfies

As its title says, it's all about self-photographs! It's a fun song with a cute video, but the message is actually deeper than it initially seems.  Look closer at these five lines:

"Taking pictures of myself, self, self
I guess I'm reaching out to be a assured 
All I wanted was to be adored

Now you're telling me I'm vain, vain, vain
Yeah, but you don't feel my pain, pain, pain"

Sometimes we judge people, who post everything online, but actually so many people are insecure, and facebook likes help them accept, what God gave them. At least until likes don't stop.

2) Stay out


There's so much to explore, and as one Hobbit once said "you step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to". Just remember that:

"All these boys and girls are people
Looking for someone to be
All these boys and girls are people
Waiting for their hearts to beat"

3) No interest

A three minute way to communicate someone you're tired of their nonsense, and they should back off. Politely said.

4)  The Apple Tree

The cute accent thing is everything, plus lyrics are so on point. Sometimes we end up just like Adam and Eve, but there's no  apple tree to blame.

5) Statues

A beautiful ballad, perfect for thinking about people, who you used to know. "You're just a statue of the boy I used to know" - well said, Nina.

These are only few of Nina's songs, and I would definitely recommend you to listen to the rest of her songs, especially "Mr C", "Some you win", "Boy" and "Way in the world" to name some.

P.s: did you know that Ed Sheeran's song "Nina" is about Nina Nesbitt? They used to date.


What about you? What are your favorite songs and musicians?



Have a lovely day,
Jessie