Cedric Gracia

Cédric Gracia

All of the world celebrities are gaining huge amounts of money. However, not so many are donating them to the people who are in need, or who are unable to develop their talents because of finance problems. Cédric Gracia is a mountain bike rider. Even though his income is not as great as a rock stars’, he still gives almost all he has for charity and sponsorship. By combining pleasure, and goodness, he is giving hope and helping many in need, promoting the ‘greater good’.

Cédric Gracia is born on the twenty-third of July 1978 in the city of Pau, France (Wikipedia). Ever since he is 14, he was on the bike. His professional career started in the early 1995 by beginning the sponsorship with the Cannondale team. Until 2006, he changed many other sponsors including: Volvo, Siemens, Rainer-Wurz (CG.com). In 2006 he changed his team from Cannondale to ‘Commencal  Superteam’ – OAKLEY (Wikipedia). Throughout the years he has been world champion several times, has taken the first place in many races, and won a lot of prizes.

Gracia has a big income, coming from the prizes given in the World Cup races. Also, he has his own trade-mark. Cédric donates a lot of the money for people who are in need. When he was asked to formulate his own meaning of life, he said: “My passion is riding a bike. When I was young, I did not have all the money to go and learn to ride .Then other world-champion bikers sponsored me and now I do the same; not only for bikers, but for all people who need such help” (CG.com). A huge percent from the income he gets from the clothes with his name on then he gives out for charity and poor people.

Many would say that as every other super famous person, Cédric Gracia takes money from his own name. Yes, he does; however, he is now forming a school for future mountain bikers located in France (StevePeat.com). Also, Cédric has his own foundation which purpose is to support poor and starving people in smaller countries (CG.com).  Therefore, Cédric Gracia may make money from his own popularity, but much of them are donated, or if not, invested with such notation.

Cédric Gracia is one of the world’s top mountain bike riders. As any other celebrity, he gets a lot of incomes. Nevertheless, a great part of his wealth goes for charity and purposed investments. By merging passion, and charity, he works for the ‘greater good’ which makes him a good person with meaningful life.

Works Cited

"Cédric Gracia." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 21 Aug 2007. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 21 Oct 2007 .

"Cédric Gracia." CG.com. 5 Oct 2007. Freeride Entertainment. 21 Oct 2007 .

"Steve Peat in Peaty Writes ." Peaty writes. 29 Sep 2007. Freeride Entertainment. 21 Oct 2007 .

The Lord of the Rings

 The book, written by J. Tolkien, is a fantasy trilogy and was finished in 1949. The title of the book, “Lord of the rings”, implies to the main antagonist in the story, Lord Sauron, and to his ring, in particular. This magical ring has the power to control all the other rings among the other rulers, and has enormous power. It is used to destroy the world as it was known and transform it into a reign of chaos and evil.
The story begins with the Frodo Baggins, the main protagonist, as his uncle, Bilbo Baggins, is planning to leave and take on his last journey. The setting is located in the Shire which is the land of the hobbits. Bilbo has the ring of the rings, and thanks to it, he has lived for more than one hundred years. As he leaves the Shire, he also leaves the finger there to Frodo, who should take care of it and finally destroy it in the great fires of Mordor, the kingdom of Sauron. Gandalf the Grey, an ancient wizard, so old, that no one knows his exact age, explains to Frodo his mission. Sam Gamgee overhears the conversation, so he gets involved as well. As additional help, Frodo takes two of his cousins, Merry and Pippin.
This is where their journey begins. Their first challenge is to reach the house of Elrond who is an Elven, and from there they would take on to Mordor. The Council of Elrond is formed, and it takes the decision that the ring should be sent as fast as possible to Mordor and destroyed. Thus, the Fellowship of the Ring forms.
After many battles against Orcs and other mystical creatures, the Fellowship is divided into several smaller groups. Frodo, who has the ring hanging on his neck, goes together with Sam and they alone proceed to Mordor, while the others go and search for more help. Eventually, Frodo reaches the borders of the evil land, feeling the urge to destroy the ring as fast as possible. At that time, Sauron is fighting the people of Gondor, the last men kingdom.
On the edge of the volcano, just above the fire, Frodo hesitates about letting the ring go. Gollum, the previous “owner” of the ring, bites off Frodo’s finger along with the ring and falls down in the Great Fire of Doom. When the ring melts, Sauron’s power vanishes and the peace is finally reached again.
The book is considered to be one of the masterpieces of the twentieth century. Tolkien has managed to create a world that captivates the mind of the reader right after the first few pages. Despite the story is completely fictional, it is so plausible that it just as well might have been the real course of history.

Personal statement

I have always been fascinated by computers. Ever since my fingers touched the keyboard keys, I knew that my future life would lie in computers. For the last nine years I have worked hard and tried to gain knowledge that would go beyond that of the average user. As I discovered more and more applications of this astonishing technology, I found that there is one field that is still not widely known – artificial intelligence. The thousands of new implementation that would arise from a brain made out of silicon and wires makes me want to devote all my strength to studying and further exploring the subject.

Using computers just for work or fun was not enough for me; I felt the need to understand how all the programs that looked simple at first sight actually work. I started delving into that area when I was thirteen. The IT technician at my mother’s work introduced me to programming, and it was then that I began realizing the enormous potential of computers. Day after day my ambition to become a professional programmer grew stronger. However, a few years later, when I was around sixteen, I understood that the simple writing of programs was not as difficult as it seem. I wanted something more complicated.

Last summer I worked for a school designing their online catalogue. It was a difficult task, bearing in mind all the requirements that the school directors had. It was also a learning experience for me. I learnt a lot of new techniques in programming and algorithm design; apart from that, I discovered some abilities that I never thought I had before. I understood that when I have a deadline, I will do everything that I possibly can to meet it. Procrastination is something that I despise. It is important to do everything right on time, or even a little bit before that, because otherwise others will not have trust in me and my work.

At school the Informatics teacher once asked me to teach someone some basic programming skills, because she had to take an exam. It was a great responsibility, but a great honour as well. I did my best to teach that person in such a way that she would understand everything that I said. Later, during the actual exam, she received an A. This made me realise that great responsibility goes with great pride, because this was exactly the way I felt when I heard the good news – proud of the effort that I had put in earlier.

Designing the complicated algorithms for the school catalogue, thinking of a strategy to introduce a complete novice into the complex world of programming convinced me that simple “code-writing” is not for me. I want to think of what programmers should write. The idea that it might be possible to create a machine that would think all this on its own fascinates me. It is exactly what Artificial Intelligence in its essence is: a computer that understands its surrounding and takes decisions on its own conditions, not through human instructions.

My lifelong passion for computers and their way of working, and the “need” to design complex systems make me choose Artificial Intelligence as my field of further development. I chose to apply to the UK, because of what it offers in terms of AI research and programmes.

A Trip to Cambridge

It was early Tuesday morning when I had to leave my house and go to the airport. I was going to England for a second time, and I was really excited about it, because the first time I visited that country I truly fell in love with it. I am going to skip the part with the actual trip, because nothing really special happened either at the airport, or in the airplane. After I left the Luton airport, I had the feeling that I was in another world. All the roads were perfect, there were no giant holes that would break the car’s suspension, all the sidewalks are clean… It’s like a dream world. It was strange, in the beginning, when cars stopped and let the people cross the road.
Anyway, I took the bus to Cambridge. I had never been there before, and I didn’t know what to expect. Two hours later the bus finally slowed down and stopped (busses in England drive really fast and often it looks scary). The bus stop was located next to a huge grass park, with two or three trees just sticking out of the ground. My hotel was on the other side of the park, just five minutes on foot.
The hotel was awesome. My room had a huge couple bed, a teapot with teabags, and some delicious biscuits. Also, there was a nice big bath-tub in the bathroom. It was very strange that there were two separate water sources – one for hot water on the right, and one for cold water on the left. Eventually I got used to this.
Outside everything was different from anything that I had seen before. All the buildings were old, gothic style, and all of this, combined with the clouds that were in the sky, created the feeling of mysticism. All of the things that I saw, the old universities and churches, made me want to go and study there. However…
When the night came, I decided that I would go out and have some fun somewhere in a bar or something. Much to my surprise, there was only one pub in the whole city, and it closed at half-past ten in the evening. There was no one outside on the streets, everything seemed too strict. As it turned out, the only thing that could’ve been done in Cambridge was studying or site-seeing.
Apart from the little disappointment in the evening, all the rest was totally great. England didn’t disappoint me again.

A Tiny Flaw in the Plan

Othello

Act 5, Scene 1

Lines 9-23

RODERIGO

I have no great devotion to the deed,

And yet he hath given me satisfying reasons.

‘Tis but a man gone. Forth, my sword! He dies.

                                       [He draws his sword.]

IAGO

I have rubbed this young quat almost to the sense,

And he grows angry. Now, whether he kill Cassio,

Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other,

Every way makes my gain. Live Roderigo,

He calls me to a restitution large

Of gold and jewels that I bobbed from him

As gifts to Desdemona.

It must not be. If Cassio do remain,

He hath a daily beauty in his life

That makes me ugly. And besides, the Moor

May unfold me to him. There stand I in much peril.

No, he must die. (Be ‘t) so. I (hear) him coming.

Othello, written by William Shakespeare, displays what human’s worst characteristics lead to. The combination of pure evil, selfishness, and complete loss of conscience is imported into the Iago’s character. His carefully plotted cruel plan leads to the death of general Othello, and his innocent wife, Desdemona. Iago’s desire for power and money backfires on him, thus destroying his life as well.

One of Iago’s ways of executing his plan is convincing others to do his job. He gives fake evidences, promises that cannot be fulfilled, and shameless lies. Roderigo, one of Iago’s victims, who is in love with Desdemona, believed in the villain’s every word. Even though he sometimes doubts what the hypocrite tells him, Roderigo still shows as naïve and believes him:

I have no great devotion to the deed,

And yet he hath given me satisfying reasons.

Iago has carefully manipulated the poor man, taking all of his treasures and convincing him to kill the main “enemy”, Cassio. At the end, the only person who would have any gain from all this would be Iago. He has convinced his general, Othello, that his wife is cheating on him with Cassio. Thus, Othello orders Iago to kill the poor man, not realizing that all of the villain’s words are false. Instead of at least following that order, Iago tells Roderigo to perform the murder. He, lied that Cassio is Desdemona’s lover, doesn’t need much and he easily goes in action: “‘Tis but a man gone. Forth, my sword! He dies.” This shows how Roderigo has been persuaded to such a degree, that he goes ahead with full confidence. Despite that Iago convinces him to kill another man, he begins having second thoughts about the whole thing.

At the moment that Iago starts having second thoughts about whether or not his plan would be successful if only Cassio died, the whole “pyramid” begins to collapse piece after piece. In the beginning, Iago thinks that he has one-hundred percent sure gain:

… Now, whether he kill Cassio,

Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other,

Every way makes my gain. …

This is a turnover in the whole play as it is the moment which brings the doubt in Iago’s thoughts and plan, and makes it urgent for him to come up with a “option B”. So then he thinks over what the two possible outcomes would be: if Cassio remains alive, Iago might get revealed and his evil web of lies would be finally unfolded; the second option, if Roderigo remains alive, then Iago would owe him jewels and gold that he had taken before that as “gifts” for Desdemona. The quick improvised solution that Iago thinks of, i.e. to kill both of them, doesn’t cover a third possible outcome – if both Cassio and Roderigo remain alive.

The solution comes as the most obvious one: the murder of both Cassio and Roderigo. But here Iago fails to predict that Roderigo wouldn’t have the strength to kill another man. The words “No, he must die.” show the fear in the villain’s head: Cassio must die, otherwise everything would fall apart. However, Cassio remains alive, and thus the whole evil plan collapses.

This is the passage in which Shakespeare introduces a turning point in the play – the doubt in Iago’s head. The possibility that something different might happen, not what set in the plan before that, scares Iago and makes him improvise a backup option. Nevertheless, the villain fails at predicting the future, and good overcomes evil once more. Partially.

Why I've decided to study artificial intelligence

The moment I saw my first computer on my desk, in my room, I understood that this would be my future. This happened in third grade, around nine years ago. I remember that in the first few days I managed to crash the "Windows", and I had no idea what I had done. Then, day after day, I started exploring the capabilities that computers offer, and in seventh grade I wrote my first program. It was a great experience for me, as it finally made me a little above the average users. Then I realized that computers have much more capabilities than what they initially offer. I began writing programs that helped my father in his finances, my mother's school in her book management, and many more useless piece of software. In school I choosed my profile subject to be IT, and expected to study Word or Excel again. However, much to my surprise, the teacher that standed in front of us the first IT profile class did not have the intention to teach us boring stuff. Since than, I started learning a computer language that I thought is impossible to be learnt and understood, and the teacher managed to make it sound interesting. With the help of his explanations, I finally understood some of the core elements of a computer and the way it works which were once vague to me. I visited his consultation hours(I was the only one, really), and I managed to gain a lot knowledge.
Day after day digging into the subject I found that there was one side of computers that was still unknown. It is true that modern technology can do millions of things, including complex calculations that would otherwise take years, producing real-life images, and even creating a virtual reality. However, they can't do one thing - thinking. They don't have imagination, and all of their algorithms and capabilities were once designed by a human being. This is the main technological problem nowadays - creating a machine that would take decisions on its own.
Now, during my last year at school I am faced up the question - what do i want to study? Do I want something that has been developed for many years and is already considered something normal, or do I want something that is still unknown, still unclear, something that would change the way people live just as the invention of computers did? Thus, I chose to apply and study Artificial Intelligence - the "dark matter" of the computer world.

My worst snowboard day

That Sunday I woke up around six am, so that I could have enough time to get prepared and get out of home around half-past seven. I was going to go snowboarding with my brother, who is a skier by the way, up to the nearest mountain to our home town – Vitosha. It certainly not the best choice that could’ve been made, but it was still something. Anyway, after I got up, I went to my brother’s room to wake him up. I knew that would be a hard job, but it was necessary one to do. After losing more than ten long and excruciating minutes of shaking and talking, playing to music and simply making a lot of noise, my brother finally woke up and went to wash his teeth. Then he went immediately back in his bed, which meant another ten minutes hard work. Around seven we were finally having a breakfast: nothing special, just a few slices of bread with chocolate over them. It might’ve not been a five-star breakfast, but it had everything that the body would need in such a moment – chocolate to give strength and power, and bread to fill the stomach with something. Then we had the usual argument whether or not we should take the car. My brother hated giving money for parking, I hated giving money for taxi or carrying my snowboard in the public transport. However, he had a driving license, he was older, and his was the final word: public transport. We got on the bus that lead to the chairlift, and at last we were up in the snow. Snow is not the right word though. It was a mixture of water, a little bit of dirt, small rocks, and some melting snow. Complete disaster. It was one of the last days for snowboarding for the season, so we had to use the opportunity, no matter the awful conditions. We went to our favorite track – the one with the least number of people on it. The first few runs were perfect, but then the so-called pros came and ruined everything. Since all they could do was to take pictures, they spent all their time posing on the top of the peak. Eventually, a small avalanche fell down. It was nothing big, but it still looked really frightening. The avalanche fell around eleven thirty, around two hours after we made our first “hit”. I assumed it as a sign that I should go back home, in front of the TV, instead of staying up there, wet and freezing, thinking if the next avalanche wouldn’t fall right below me. So I told my brother that I’m going home. He told me that should better blow my head off, but I said that I didn’t want to remember my last going up as a disaster. I went home, and then I realized that he was right. It was one of the last days with some snow, and I was laying on my bed, doing nothing.

A short story

This morning Tony woke up around noon. He went out to buy something to eat, because there was nothing at home. His parents were kind of strange. Actually, his whole family was strange. Everyone was eating on their own, almost hiding from each other. Why did they do that? I guess even they’ll never know. Anyway, he went to the local market to buy some bread, cheese and eggs. This was his usual meal in the morning. After breakfast he watched a few movies, called a few friends and wondered what he would do after that.


Suddenly, a very strange girl called him. Her name was Elvira. She was “different” – her hair was very short on the top, and reasonably long by the sides. It turned out that Elvira was deeply in love with Tony. She was thinking about him all the time. Unfortunately, Tony didn’t share the same feelings. Her hair was way too strange for a girl. But she had this great body.

Nevertheless, he answered the phone. They went out for a few hours. It was strange for him at the beginning, but as time went on, Tony slowly got adjusted to the fact that she was different. Elvira, of course, was near heaven every time she heard his voice. There was only thing that stopped Tony from liking her completely – her teeth. As stupid as this reason was, her teeth were really big. They were totally enormous. Whenever he looked at her face, he saw these big, a little bit yellow, teeth. Maybe if they were smaller, they would’ve looked white. No one knew. This was a huge dilemma for Tony. He could cope with everything else. Well, almost everything. Her hair was still an issue, but a bearable one.

One night Tony went along with Elvira to her home, so that she would not be alone. He accompanied her like that every now and then. It usually took him no more than ten, maybe fifteen minutes. But that time it was different. When they were in front of her front door, they had their goodbye-hug as usual. And then something very strange happened. Tony, not Elvira, but Tony, made the “first step.” He kissed her. Not on the cheek, but on the lips. It wasn’t just a mistake, but a real kiss.

As their relationship was way too far away from normal, there had to be something wrong in the whole situation as well. Earlier that day Tony went up the mountain to ride his bike. It was just a casual ride, so he didn’t take his helmet with him. This was a mistake that would’ve cost him a lot. With his bad luck, he fell down and hit his head. It must’ve shaken his brain quite a lot, because what he did next with Elvira was really odd and crazy.

Instead of moving up in her apartment, he ran away. Right after their lips touched. Maybe he remembered who he was kissing, maybe he felt the teeth underneath; it was still way too weird just to run away.

Tony didn’t call her the next few days. He needed some time to think about whether he really wanted to be with her. It wasn’t only Tony that felt strange, though. Elvira didn’t call him either. She thought that he wasn’t the right guy for her. And yes, she liked him a lot, she was even in love with him. Still…

One day Tony was lying in his bed, thinking whether or not he should call her. Suddenly, his phone rang. He thought it was Elvira, so he got really excited. It was his mom though. She told him that he must clean his room, because it was way too cluttered. And then he realized that he should call the strange girl. He had been thinking about her for the past few days, and their kiss clearly meant something. It meant something for both of them. He needed to know what. So he phoned her.

After a while they began going out on regular basis. Everyday Tony would tell his friends that he went out with her, just as friends. All of them, however, sensed that he was hiding something. And he was. He began falling in love with her as well. A year later he confessed that they were actually dating. Secretly, of course. Elvira didn’t share anything with anyone as well. It was a mad relationship. Normal people are usually proud of their affiliation. But not these two. They were both hiding it from the world.

Unfortunately, Tony had to move to Austria to finish his studies there. He studied architecture. His parents were architects, very famous ones, in fact. Elvira was very miserable. She cried for a few days and didn’t go out for some time. Sad, but true, it was impossible for a hidden relationship to last for long.