Global warming vs. local warming

Instead of addressing the issue of global warming, Joseph Yossi Vardi ventured local warming. He is a lengenday community-builder, connector and prankster with an absurd sense of humor and a refreshing set of values that drive his approach to new investments. In this video, he warns male bloggers of how a laptop increases scrotal temperature and results in health problems.

For instructors, the video may serve as a warm-up to get learners ready for a serious topic such as global warming or a complement to rigid textbook readings. For learners, you may find it useful to follow the step-by-step instruction and improve your language skills.

Step 1: Please watch the video with Chinese subtitles to get the main idea of the whole speech.

Step 2: Please change Chinese subtitles into English subtitles to locate the following target words and figure out their meanings from the context. (You can change the subtitles from the bottom of the video.)

target words: posture, ventilation, balance, thigh, gene, geek, endangered species, population growth, laptop penetration, wireless keyboard, Wi-Fi, protection measures, scrotum/scrota, sleek, well-groomed, overpopulation

Step 3: Please watch the video with English subtitles AGAIN and answer the following questions with an oral presentation or a written composition.

1. What is Joseph’s definition of “inconvenient truth"?

2. What is the important health message that Joseph delivers?

3. Why did people laugh when Joseph was explaining the difference between scrotum and scrota?

4. In your daily life, do you follow the principle of “Practice the preach; walk the talk” as Joseph do?

5. Nowadays, there are many social campaigns in the world featuring “think globally; act locally.” Could you give more examples?

Step 4: Please watch the video WITHOUT subtitles, and keep up with the speech rate.

Note: You may be interested in the transcript at the bottom of the video.

Ig Nobel Prize–how a dead duck changed my life

In senior high textbooks, there is a unit talking about an unusual award–the Ig Nobel Prizes. Some school teachers may have a hard time teaching this unit because their students are not into science. Actually, it is not rocket science that baffles everyone; instead, the class will roar with laughter because of the hilarious way of doing research and inspiring ideas behind.

For teachers, you may have students read the following description of the Ig Nobel Prizes from wikipedia first, watch the video “How a dead duck changed my life,” and ask them to share their ideas in class. For learners, you may be interested in more winners and their researches after watching the video; here is a list of the Ig Nobel Prize winners for your reference. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ig_Nobel_Prize_winners

The Ig Nobel Prizes are an American parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given each year in early October for ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. The stated aim of the prizes is to “honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The awards are sometimes veiled criticism (or gentle satire). Organized by the scientific humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research (AIR), they are presented by a group that includes Nobel Laureates at a ceremony at Harvard University‘s Sanders Theater, and they are followed by a set of public lectures by the winners at MIT. The name is a play on the words ignoble (“characterized by baseness, lowness, or meanness") and the Nobel Prize. The pronunciation used during the ceremony is /ˌɪɡnoʊˈbɛl/ ig-noh-bel, not like the word “ignoble".

2003 Ig Nobel Prize winner–Kees Moeliker “How a dead duck changed my life”

(English subtitle and transcript are available at the bottom of the video.)