Presenting the presentation

It could have gone better. I made my feelings clear on the day about group members turning up late (if they turned up at all) to lectures/group meetings; about group members completing, to be honest, very simple research, two weeks after they were asked to do it; and the general sense of apathy toward the assignment.

I'd have also thought that, given that we are at university, we'd all have learnt by now that merely reading from a piece of paper and making no eye contact with the audience, is not the best way to give a presentation. But apparently not.

But, I'm not going to turn this post into an "I hate my group, our presentation was shit" rant. It could have been worse. We didn't ramble. The questions proved that the audience had been paying attention. All our members did turn up (eventually).

And it's over now. I'd just like to say thank you to my group, for taking my faith in humanity and stretching it to breaking point.

Presentation

Our presentation day finally arrived. As Rochelle stated on her post, one member came late, it was me! When I arrived I could not locate my group so I began to prepare for the presentation alone. Rochelle stated that the group went to the lecture to take notes, I was not aware of this so I was at the wrong place. When I arrived to the presentation, there was no time to make any more preparations. The majority of the group was okay for me to do the presentation so I made my contribution. I did prepare for the presentation because I was late I had no time for group preparations. I think that the presentation went quite smoothly. It could have been better if I was not late. Despite this minor misunderstanding, the whole group was there and we all tried our best.

P.S. I'm a fucktard.

Presentation Post

Thursday began very early at 6.30am to prepare for the presentation. People went out of their way to ensure that their members were present for the presentation. We all met up, 3 out of 4 of the group, did a practise run of the presentation and ironed out any remaining problems there after. We all then decided that we would go to the class to watch and take notes of how others were presenting their work. Nearly at the moment our presentation was to take place, our last team member arrived. After several little quiet chats, it was decided that the fourth member would join us. It was quite clear that this fourth person had not really prepared, but the main thing was that we were all there as a group and tried our best. So well done everyone.

Tabloid Journalism of Jack The Ripper

In1888, Daily Star became the first tabloid newspaper to report on the White Chapel murders. The paper consisted of four pages, with 6 columns on each page, totalling 24 reports in the paper. In August 1888 the murders could've gone unnoticed in The Star, recieving a staggering 0.75% of total news coverage. However by October 1st 1888, the murders accounted for a massive 54.41% of total news coverage, reflecting its progression and imporance within the tabloids. But the case was eventually closed officially in 1892, after going on for four years.

Jack the Ripper has opened a new light for serial killers in the 20th century. It is continually being reinvented with films such as Hannibal, which shows the brutality of being a violent serial killer, with many scenes torture and death.

Motor Car (Automobile) by Karl Benz

Karl Benz first revealed his 3-wheeler in 1885 at Mannheim in Germany. The vehicle was powered by a water cooled gas engine that was driven by the vapour of ligroin, or benzene. The rear wheels received the power by a pulley and belt that were attached to a transmission shaft whilst the water cooling was by water evaporation in a jacket round the cylinder.

From 1893 Benz then changed his vehicle to a 4-wheeled design (The Benz Viktoria). Benz then later merged with Daimler to become Daimler-Benz or Mercedes-Benz as most people know of it today. The name "Mercedes" came from one of Daimler's business partners Emil Jellinek. Emil Jellinek was an Austrian businessman, who had a young daughter, named "Mercedes".

Hiram Maxim

Hiram Maxim was born in Sangersville, Maine in 1840. He became a coachbuilder in an engineering works in Fitchburg, Massachusetts.

In 1881, whilst visiting Paris a man told Maxim: "If you wanted to make a lot of money, invent something that will enable these Europeans to cut each other's throats with greater facility”. This triggered Maxim to work on producing an effective machine gun.

In 1885 he was successful in his endeavour as he demonstrated the world's first automatic portable machine gun.

After the success of his machine gun, Maxim continued with his experiments. Maxim also invented a pneumatic gun, the gun silencer, a smokeless gunpowder, a mousetrap, carbon filaments for light bulbs and a flying machine. Hiram Maxim died in 1916.

Nietzsche and Morality

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900) discarded the conventional moral philosophy, and described a new philosophy in which morals are not handed down to Man from a higher power, but are constructed by the individual. No where is this more evident that the remark, “God is dead.” (The Gay Science, 1882). Nietzsche did not mean that God is dead in any physical sense; more that, as humanty develops, there is no need for the rigid morality of previous epochs.

The concept of individually constructed morality is embodied in Nietzsche’s idea of the Ubermensch, or overman. He claimed that, once man has forsaken (primarily) Christian morality and constructed his own, he will go beyond Man, “beyond good and evil” (Beyond Good and Evil, 1886). This overman will imprint his existence upon the universe, regardless of everyone else, using his Will to Power (the human will to dominate, contrasted with Schopenhauer’s Will to Live).

Jack the Ripper as Nietzschian Ubermensch?

Moral Philosophy

The philosophy of morals, at least that which has developed in Western culture, arguably started with the Ancient Greek philosopher Plato. In his Republic, Plato portrayed morality as a universal set of ideals, unchangeable by Man. This idea of a concrete morality, given to Mankind by a higher power, was the basis of moral philosophy for almost 2000 years, from Plato, through Descartes, and up to Schopenhauer. It is especially obvious in Christian morality, in which good and evil are defined by an unknowable higher power, that of the Judeo-Christian God. Under this philosophy, the Whitechapel murderer would be seen as undeniably evil, acting as he is against Mankind’s “heaven-sent” morality.

Thomas Alva Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was born on the 11th February 1847, in the bustling port of Milan, Ohio. His family moved to the vibrant city of Port Huron, in Michigan, which ultimately surpassed the commercial preemince of both Milan and Odessa.

He was both a Scientist and an Inventor. When Edison was born, Society thought electricity as a novel. When he died, entire cities were lit by electricity.

The most famous of his inventions was an incandescent light bulb. He also developed the Phonograph and a Kinetoscope (which is a small box for viewing moving films).

Thomas Edison was quoted saying "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration".

He died on the 21st of October 1931.

The Invention Of A FingerPrinter

Henry Faulds was born in the Scottish Town of Beith, North Ayrshire, into a family of modest means.

Henry Faulds is known as the 'Father of Fingerprinting' for his work. He was the first person to suggest the use of fingerprints for idenftification of criminals. His article was published in Nature on October 28th 1890 and mentioned how he had noticed human and animal fingerprints, and the racial differences in patterns.

He described how to take impressions using printer ink in forensic identification of criminals. Most importantly, he mentioned in closing "forever un-changeable finger-furrors or important criminals".

His life-cycle was 1843 - 1930.