Jan-Ove Waldner

     Jan-Ove Waldner (Stockholm, 3 October 1965) is a Swedish table tennis player. He is known as "the Mozart of table tennis" and is a legend in his native Sweden as well as in China. Jan-Ove Waldner's potential was recognized at an early age and was displayed in 1982 as a 16-year-old when he reached the final of the European Championship, losing to teammate Mikael Appelgren. When he was young, he, along with other Swedish players, went to a training camp in China and was amazed by their dedication and claims he learned much during his stay. In China, a country that loves table tennis, he is the best-known Swede and a well-known sports personality. In the 1990s he was more recognized in China than Bill Clinton. Waldner is referred to as "the evergreen tree" and "Old Wa", and people often flock to see him when he comes.

        Jan-Ove Waldner received the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 1992. As of 2012, Waldner has been playing international elite level table tennis for 30 years, which is unusual in the table tennis world where hand–eye coordination and quick reactions are essential factors. Some young Chinese players that he has recently played against are trained by those he played against in the 1990s, who were in turn trained by others he played against in the 1980s. Jan-Ove Waldner is one of seven active table tennis players to have competed at the first five Olympics since the sport was introduced to the Games in 1988. 

        The others are Swede Jörgen Persson, Croatian Zoran Primorac, Belgian Jean-Michel Saive, Hungarian Csilla Bátorfi, Serbian-American Ilija Lupulesku, and German Jörg Roßkopf. In 2010 Waldner won his ninth Swedish championship against Pär Gerell, born the same year Waldner became Swedish champion for the first time. He is one of seven active table tennis players to have competed at the first five Olympics since the sport was introduced to the Games in 1988. The others are Swede Jörgen Persson, Croatian Zoran Primorac, Belgian Jean-Michel Saive, Hungarian Csilla Bátorfi, Serbian-American Ilija Lupulesku, and German Jörg Roßkopf.

         In 2010 Waldner won his ninth Swedish championship against Pär Gerell, born the same year Waldner became Swedish champion for the first time. Jan-Ove Waldner played for TTC Rhön-Sprudel Fulda-Maberzell in the German Bundesliga until May 2012. In May 2012 Stefan Frauenholz, Fulda-Maberzell's President, confirmed that Jan-Ove Waldner finished his contract with the club. Timo Boll: "Was yesterday's match against us the last one for Jan-Ove Waldner?" referring to the Bundesliga semifinal between Borussia Düsseldorf and Fulda-Maberzell. This ended his career at the international elite level, at the age of 46 years.

         Jan-Ove Waldner is one of four male players in the history of table tennis to achieve a career grand slam (World Champion and World Cup winner in singles, Olympic gold medal in singles) (in 1992). The others are: Liu Guoliang, China (in 1999), Kong Linghui, China (in 2000) and Zhang Jike, China (in 2012). When it comes to Olympic singles medals he is still (after the 2012 Olympics) the leader of the scoreboard, with one Gold and one Silver medal. In 2012 he started playing for Spårvägens BTK.

Roger Federer

           Roger Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player who is currently ranked world no. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals. He has been ranked inside the top 10 continuously since October 2002 and the top 20 since April 2001. Numerous commentators, pundits, and former and current players of the sport regard Federer as the greatest tennis player of all time.

            Roger Federer holds several men's world records of the Open Era: holding the world no. 1 position for 302 weeks overall,that also includes a 237-consecutive-week stretch at the top from 2004 to 2008; winning 17 Grand Slam singles titles; reaching each Grand Slam Final at least five times; and reaching the Wimbledon final nine times. He is one of seven men, and one of four in the Open Era, to capture the career Grand Slam. Federer also shares the Open Era record for most titles at the Australian Open with Andre Agassi and Novak Djokovic (4), at Wimbledon with Pete Sampras (7) and at the US Open with Jimmy Connors and Sampras (5).

              Federer has also appeared in 25 men's singles Grand Slam finals, with 10 in a row, both records, and appeared in 18 of 19 finals from the 2005 Wimbledon Championships through to the 2010 Australian Open. Roger Federer is also the only man to reach at least the semifinals of 23 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments, from the 2004 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open. At the 2014 US Open, he played in a record 60th consecutive Grand Slam tournament, reached a record 43rd Grand Slam quarter-final and a record 36th Grand Slam semi-final. Earlier at the 2013 French Open, Federer reached a record 36th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final. He has also won the most matches, 279, in men's Grand Slam tournaments and is the only player to record 60+ wins each at all the Grand Slam tournaments (70+ wins at 3/4 slams).

Studying the Effects of Playing Violent Video Games

           The moral issue of playing violent video games is that it could lead to violent acts in the real world. It is certain that boys play them at some point; girls play at lower rates and are scientifically less likely to play violent video games. In a newspaper article titled “Studying the effects of playing violent video games” they talked about how social scientist have been studying and debating the effects of media violence behavior. It was not clear whether over long periods of time of such a habit increases the likelihood that someone will commit a violence crime, like murder, rape, or assault, like the Newtown-like massacre. They discovered that a dose of violent gaming makes people act a little more rudely than they would otherwise, at least for a few minutes. Playing the game can and does stir hostile urges and mildly aggressive behavior in the short term. Many psychologists argue that violent video games “socialize” children over time, prompting them intimate the behavior of the games characters, the cartoonish machismo, the hair-trigger rage, and the dismissive brutality. Violence rates are seasonal, generally higher in the summer than in the winter; so are video game sales, which peak during the holidays.

            This article mainly tells us that to some people, playing violent video game like Call of Duty, Killzone 3, and Battlefield 3 can cause side effects such as rage. Its okay to enjoy playing violent video games, but it could also sometimes lead to death and violent behavior. The behavior of the player depends on the video game they are playing like a first person shooter the are playing as a killer, if they are playing a third person game they are playing as the character, they are more likely to behave rudely and aggressively when they play as a violent character. Lastly, when playing any violent video game they are rewarded for killing the bad guy, but then when you transfer it into real life when killing someone you don’t get rewarded with points or a medal; they just killed an innocent person for nothing.

           Different ways violence is shown is by young kids playing with toy guns like water guns and pointing them at there friends, who knows if it was a real gun and they were pointing at there friend. Violence is often shown in competitive sports, media, song lyrics and computer games. It is okay to play violent video games most of the time, but when kids play hours and hours of violent video games they can sometimes turn into psycho-path killers. Young kids ages 7-10 are most likely to play violent video games because once they see an advertisement for the game, they start to beg for it and then there parents get it for them. Young kids should not be aloud to play these types of games because then they can ruin there life or someone else’s.

          In conclusion, the article “Studying the effects of playing violent video games” talks about playing too much of violent video games can cause rude behavior, and can make people want to kill people in real life. This problem can be solved, when playing a violent video game like Call of Duty, once you get killed turn off the TV, walk away and stop playing the game for the rest of the day. That makes the player feel like the people who would die in real life if they were someone with a gun trying to kill as many people as they can to win. This is why people have the decision to keep playing violent video games and maybe eventually start to kill people in real life or to play the game until they die and turn of the TV and walk away.

Tennis

           Tennis is a game in which two or four players hit a ball with racquets over a net stretched across a court. The game is played with a felt-covered hollow rubber ball on a grass, clay, or artificial surface. The object of the game is to play the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a good return. The player who is unable to return the ball will not gain a point, while the opposite player will earn a point. 


Some professional tennis players include: 

• Roger Federer
• Rafael Nadal
• Pete Sampras
• Andy Murray
• Milos Raonic
• Andre Agassi
• Gael Monfils

           Did you know that Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society and at all ages and that the sport can be played by anyone who can hold a racquet,including wheelchair users. Also that the game of lawn tennis was patented under the name 'Sphairistike' by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield in 1874 and that sewing a tennis ball into the back of a person's pyjamas is a recommended remedy for snoring. Also that the ball is only in play for about 20 minutes of an average two-and-a-half-hour tennis match.

            In Tennis history, the longest match was 11 hours and five minutes long. It took place over a period of three days and before 1986, the tennis balls used at Wimbledon were not yellow. The color was added to allow people to see the ball better while in play.Tennis was first played in the Olympics in 1896, and then removed in 1924. In 1988 it was re-added to the Olympics as a real event.

Golf

               Golf is a precision club and ball sport in which players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course using the fewest number of strokes. Golf is defined as "playing a ball with a club from the teeing ground into the hole by a stroke or successive strokes in accordance with the Rules."

                It is one of the few ball games that do not require a standardized playing area. Instead, the game is played on a course, in general consisting of an arranged progression of either nine or 18 holes. Each hole on the course must contain a tee box to start from, and a putting green containing the actual hole. There are various other standardized forms of terrain in between, such as the fairway, rough, and hazards, but each hole on a course, and indeed among virtually all courses, is unique in its specific layout and arrangement.

Some golfers include:

• Tiger Woods
• Bubba Watson
• Phil Mickelson
• Rory Mcllroy
• Gary Player

                Did you know that golf balls travel significantly farther in hot weather. The warmer the ball is, the more resilient the rubber becomes and did you know that the youngest golfer to ever sink a hole-in-one was from right here in Littleton, Colorado. His name is Coby Orr and he made the historic shot in 1975 at only five years old. Also did you know that Golf is very good way for exercising.

Creativity at Work

“Creativity is a crucial part of the innovation equation. Creativity requires whole-brain thinking; right-brain imagination, artistry and intuition, plus left-brain logic and planning”

Creativity isn’t a science it is something that every individual is born with and as they get to the age of working, companies are trying to keep employee creativity in work. There are some companies like Google, Facebook, Lego, Zynga and others that have creativity at work, like slides, interior gardens, writeable walls, pool tables and other game-like elements that try to keep creativity at work. Other ways companies try to influence creativity by putting up visually appealing images that inspire happy and creative thoughts. 

Some companies have brainstorming sessions so that everyone can express their creativity and other companies encourages people in interact and have a conversation with others, this could lead more creative ideas and solutions.  When being creative failure is always an option because it’s a risk. Everyone is creative in their own way they express either through play, brainstorming, or even in a conversation either way companies are to harness creativity in the workplace. 

Our group supports the idea of having creativity in the workplace. Creativity has a part in technology because people use their creativity for Photoshop and writing and is something that should be used every day. The benefits of technology in the office is it makes working more effective like using the phone or making work look more efficient. The drawbacks of technology in the workplace are office distraction, maintence costs and increased security.

 An example of a career that has changed dramatically as a result to technology is the Music Industry because first it was CD’s and now it has changed to buying music online instead of having CD’s. There is not a positive change because people are selling pirated copies of songs and stores have been closing down because people are buying online for the phones and other mobile devices instead of buying CD’s.

Provinces and Territories 

             Saskatchewan is located in the Western Canada Capital of Saskatchewan is Regina. The National Flower, Tree and Bird of Saskatchewan are the Western Lily, Spruce Tree and Sharpe-Tail Grouse. Saskatchewan entered Confederation in 1905 after the Reil Rebellion: Battle of Duck Lake in 1885.

              Ontario is located in Central Canada and the capital of Ontario is Toronto. The National Flower, Tree and Bird of Ontario are the White Trillium, Eastern White Pine and the Loon. Ontario entered Confederation in 1867. This province is known for Fishing and Wildlife, Mining, the Beaver, Agriculture and Forestry.

              Quebec is located in Eastern Canada and the capital of Quebec is Quebec City. The National Flower, Tree and Bird of Quebec are the Iris Versacolour, the Yellow Birch and the Snowy Old. Quebec entered Confederation in 1867. This province is known for Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, the Ice Palace, Downhill Skiing and Snowboarding.

               The Northwest Territories (NWT) are located in the Mountain area in Canada and the capital of NWT is Yellowknife. The National Flower, Tree, and Bird of NWT are Mountain Avens, Gyrfalcon, and the Tamarack. Northwest Territories entered Confederation in 1870. This province is known for mining (oil, diamonds, gold and gas), fishing, fur, artic grayling and agriculture.
 

Cubism

Cubism is an early 20^th century style and movement in art, especially painting, in which perspective with a single view point was abandoned. Cubism is made of simple geometric shape, interlocking planes, and collage. Cubism had highlighted from futurism into the next art movement by the depiction the movement.

 Georges Braque helped invent and develop Cubism with Pablo Picasso. Pablo Picasso is known greatest and most influential artist of the 20th century and the co-creator of Cubism. Pablo Picasso had produced a painting that was unlike anything he had ever painted before, it would profoundly influence the direction of art in the 20th century: "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," a chilling depiction of five nude prostitutes, abstracted and distorted with sharp geometric features and stark blotches of blues, greens and grays. In today’s society, it is considered the precursor and inspiration of Cubism. 

Paul Cezanne he formed the bridge between late 19th century Impressionism and the early 20th century's new style, Cubism. The mastery of design, tone, composition and color, is what makes Paul Cezanne recognizable from around the world. Paul Cezanne had influenced both Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.   Albert Gleizes was driven to produce art; he was influence by Pablo Picasso and other Cubist-inspired artists.