WSU Students enter Imagae Cup, are Finalists!

 

Please vote every day in support of your international classmates.

WSU students Parbati Sanjel (Nepal) and Tauseef Hemayet (Bangladesh) and Chase Lundstrom (USA) of "The Miracle Workers" are currently in first place in the software design category of the Imagine Cup Project!

The team has designed a sleeping pad for infants to help prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and other respiratory diseases. The sleeping pad monitors the infant's heartbeat, breathing and movement, sending the data to a PC which in turn sends alerts via a Windows Phone application using Microsoft Visual Studio.

To vote for "The Miracle Workers" design, text "Miracle" to 45444 or tweet your vote: @mstechstudent "I am voting for #Miracle in #ICPeoplesChoice." See how their design works by checking out their YouTube video here.

For more information about Image Cup, please visit here: Image Cup Info

For More information about Team Miracle Workers, please visit here: Team Miracle Workers

How to Vote for our WSU students: remember, you can vote everyday!

 

Voting can be done every 24 hours between now and May 19th. 

There are two ways to vote.  Help the students and vote twice each day, once by each method-

1 1. Log onto Facebook and click this URL to be taken to a Facebook application: http://meme.ms/hd4xk3.     

2 2. Text “Miracle” to 45444

By Voting You Are Eligible For A Chance To Win These Weekly Prizes:

Prize Period	Prize
Week 1	One HTC HD7 Mobile Phone (Unlocked) (ARV: $284.99)
Week 2	A prize package consisting of one 4 GB Xbox 360 with Kinect (ARV: $249.99) and two Xbox 360 Wireless controllers (ARV: $59.92)
Week 2: Special Saturday April 14 incentive only! (12:00 AM – 11:59 PM)	In addition to the weekly prize, if more than 5,000 votes are collected Saturday April 14, one winner will receive a 12 month Xbox LIVE Gold Membership (ARV: $35.99)
Week 3	A prize package consisting of one Acer Aspire S3-951-6646 - 13.3" laptop (ARV: $799.99) and one Arc Touch Mouse (ARV: $59.95)
Week 4	A prize package consisting of one Beats by Dr. Dre Studio Headphones (ARV: $299.95) and 3200 Microsoft Points (ARV: $37.98)
Week 5	A prize package consisting of one Acer Aspire S3-951-6646 - 13.3"laptop (ARV: $799.99) and one Arc Touch Mouse (ARV: $59.95)
Week 6	A prize package consisting of one 4GB Xbox 360 with Kinect (ARV: $249.99) and 2 Xbox 360 Wireless controllers (ARV: $59.92)
Week 6: Special Saturday May 12 incentive only! (12:00 AM – 11:59 PM)	In addition to the weekly prize, if more than 5,000 votes are collected Saturday April 14, one winner will receive a 12 month Xbox LIVE Gold Membership (ARV: $35.99)
Week 7	A prize package consisting of one GAEMS G155 with Xbox 360 250 GB Console (ARV: $499.99) and one 12 month Xbox LIVE Gold membership card(ARV: $35.99)
Grand Prize	A prize package consisting of one Acer Aspire S3-951-6646 - 13.3" laptop and one Arc Touch Mouse (ARV: $859.94) and one LifeCam Cinema (ARV: $79.95)

Thank you so much your support!

Visit Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Firstly, “Cuti-cuti”  means holidays. And Malaysia is a great destination to travel and explore during your holidays. Malaysia consists a variety of cultures, foods, festival celebrations, dance and art from the different races of Malay, Chinese, Indian and minorities.

There’s all kind of places to visit in Malaysia. However this time, the destination is the heart of Malaysia, the city that represents the pride of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur (KL), the capital. The moment you touch down in Malaysia, you will realize the grand and enormous airport, Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). It is a pretty great shopping area to get last minute souvenirs and items from Malaysia. 

Next, the monumental building that is one of the world’s top ten tallest buildings with a height of 1483ft (451.9m) and consisting 88floors, the Petronas Twin Tower. It is the tallest twin towers ever built. And it is possible to climb the building, but you have to get there early as there will be a queue waiting and only a certain number of people are allowed to enter. Moreover, the base of the twin towers is a shopping complex with the latest fashion brands existing. There is also a philharmonic orchestra if you are a fan of classical music, and a huge park outside for a picnic or a stroll.

Moving on, Bukit Bintang (Starhill) street is the place to go to for shoppers, as it is a street filled with many shopping complexes and hotels. It is a street filled with life, especially at night, when there will be street performances and vendors, not excluding the bars and bistros. It is a great place for a night fill with fun and excitement. Other great shopping complexes for the shopaholics will be Midvalley, Gardens, Ikea, Curve and 1Utama that is one of the world’s top ten largest shopping malls.

How about food you say? Well, you can always enjoy your meals at KL tower rotating restaurant. KL tower is a tall building slightly shorter than the Petronas Twin Tower and located in the middle of town. So, you can enjoy your meal and look over KL city skyline, or amazing night view. However, I recommend you to head to Look-out Point. The place is just few minutes away from KL yet still overlooks the whole KL for a splendid view, but with more variety of food choices from the numerous restaurants there. And these restaurants offer various foods that represent Malaysia. 

There’s a whole lot of other exciting places to visit in KL, the museum, aquaria the state-of-the-art oceanarium, Chinatown and not mentioning the delicious, scrumptious food of Nasi Lemak, Bak Kut Teh, Roti Canai, and so on. So, head to the airport and catch the next flight to Malaysia for the upcoming holidays.

Written by: Jen Juan Wong

WSU International Student

Malaysia

Learning Korean Words

Learning Korean words is easier than one might think. Learning another country’s language is very tough. There are many ways to learn a second language but it is a time consuming process. At first, you have to understand that language’s structure and grammar. And later you should learn vocabulary. And lastly, you will learn their culture and nuance. Of course, there is no exact order in which you learn the different aspects of the language. You can learn culture and nuance while you are learning grammar, structure and word.

Korean language is very hard to learn for foreigners. Even some surveys discovered that Korean language is one of the most difficult languages to learn in the world. At Winona State University, I am meeting many American students. But I haven’t met someone who is learning Korean. So here is one way for American students to easily communicate with Korean students in Korean. Korea has been affected by America. Some of the Korean words are from English. In other words, even  American students who don’t study Korean are still able to understand some of the words. There are many similar words and if you check the roots of the words, you can easily apply them to communicate with Korean students. Below is a list of words that are same in Korean as they are in English. But be careful because although they are used in the same way, the pronunciation is a little bit different.

Game, note, dollar, bus, video, shopping, camera, chocolate, coffee, cup, Christmas, television, piano, pizza, hotel, taxi, table, news, radio, shower, ice cream, juice, fork, knife, sports, menu, card, jacket, pen, cidar(sprite), T-shirts, motel, files, bags, key, USB, zipper, percent, image, sheet, channel, TV, fast food , lobby, party and so on.

Below are words from America but they are slightly changed in Korean. So if you check their roots, you can easily understand it. We call it Konglish(Korean English) in Korea. 

Here are some Konglish words! Handphone(cell-phone), Remocon(Remote controller),Aapart(Apartment), colla(Coke), Aircon(Air conditioner), ball-pen(pen), Handle(Steer wheel), Sign(Signature), One shot(Bottom up), Vinyle bag(Plastic bag), Conning(Cheating), Dutch pay(Split the bill) and so on.

Written by: Seung Hoon Song

WSU International Student

South Korea

Jeremy Lin

Have ever heard about the ‘Linsanity’ or ‘Lin-Possible’?  One Taiwan guy who is named Jeremy Lin is now taking over the National Basketball Association (NBA).  It is no longer just big in Asia but in the world beyond the U.S.  Actually, one month ago, no one could imagine his amazing activities like now. Most people even didn’t know his name. He is just the one of the unknown oriental players no more or no less but the situation is completely changed. Right now, he became the hottest player in NBA and he has made people startle every game by showing terrific performance. His remarkable activities make new words such as ‘Linsanity(Lin is insane because he showed incredible activities)’ or ‘Lin-possible(There is nothing impossible for Lin’. He has renewed his career high every day and surpassed his limit ability. The wind which seemed to be gone as quite becomes the remarkable typhoon.  The world is falling in Jeremy Syndrome.

 He born in LA and his father was Taiwan and his mother was Chicness. Although he was totally Asian, he was really tall and had a good sense of various sports, especially basketball. When he was a high school student, he did a good job and showed his talent for basketball. From that time, he was dreaming of being a NBA player. However, he had to go through discrimination on the court or off the court because of the reason that he was just only the Asian. In addition, many people had a negative opinion about his dream because there was a stereotype for Asian sport player and there was no history that Asian player became a successful NBA player. In fact, A hundred of thousand people who played the basketball are dreaming of being a NBA player because NBA is the best stage for them. However, most people failed to come true their dream because it is really competitive to enter the NBA team. Just some players succeed to enter the NBA team and only a few people gained fame and survived in the NBA as a star player. Despite these negative prospects, Lin didn’t give up his dream and took a step one by one to achieve his goal. When he was senior high school, he failed to enter universities which were famous for the basketball such as Duke, Stanford and North Caroline. He had no choice but to find the other university which was not well known for basketball to maintain his dream. He decided to go to the Harvard University. Playing basketball in Harvard is really hard and big challenge for him because Harvard has no scholarship system for sport players and he had to study hard to catch up with the classes.  

He endured these hardships and finally entered the Golden State in NBA. Although he achieved his dream but adopting in NBA was not easy.  Of course, he was a great player but there were tons of competitors and it was hard to overcome physical limit. He had a hard time to deal with big American guys and he needed to find solution to overcome his weakness. He didn’t show impressive activities at that time and then finally he was kicked out his first team.  He didn’t give his dream up and practiced more hard to survive in NBA. Next years, He tried to apply for draft again to enter NBA team again and was pointed by New York Nix. Despite going to the NBA again, he couldn’t get the chance to show his ability. Nix picked him as a substitute and just for marketing strategy. He had no choice but to play in minor league for NBA. Meanwhile, he got a chance to make a debut because of other people’s injury and he dramatically grabbed the chance. He showed insane performance at his debut game. After that, one unknown player has become the hottest player who blew up in NBA right now. In fact, many experts agreed and praised his recent activities but they have been concern about him. If other teams are accustomed to his play, they will get to know how to defend him and then he will have a hard time. In fact, many other NBA teams are studying and analyzing his style and trying to find this weakness.  

Anyway, he has showed unbelievable ability in every game regardless of these worries. After retiring Yao-ming, many Asians have been craved to enter new Asian NBA star and Appearance of Jeremy Lin hold their attention.  Right now, no matter what he comes from Taiwan, he becomes a hope and hero for everyone who enjoy the NBA.   

Written by: Suk Hyun Jung

WSU International Student

South Korea

SniffIt Ltd/LLC

The city of Winona is being used as a test city for a new SniffIt application. SniffIt is a free map-based mobile application available on both iPhone and Android platforms. WSU students Andrew Klinkner, Alex Corcoran and Eric Petzel started the company SniffIt LLC, Nicholas Donnelly starting it in the United Kingdom as SniffIt Ltd. All five are current or former WSU students and therefore had obvious ties to Winona and WSU itself.

The SniffIt app lets you know businesses surrounding your current location, as well as the specials, deals and features the businesses are offering in the palm of your hand. The SniffIt app connects with businesses and develops exclusive, unique “Sniffit Deals.”

SniffIt was created to give everyone the information they needed in one free, convenient application. So far the WSU students have had great feedback and user numbers continue to increase. They are continuing to develop the application with the user in mind, making it easier to use, creating more features and as much information for the user’s needs. The company is continuing to grow in Winona with future goals set.

Anyone who owns an Android or iPhone smartphone can download the application from his or her application store or marker for free.

For more information, please visit www.sniffitapp.com.

 Written by: Nicholas Donnelly

WSU International Student

United Kingdom

Physiognomy and Fortune

Can you believe that your appearance decide your fate? In South Korea, having one's fortune told with a physiognomy is very common thing.  It is a superstition among Korean, however people tend to pay attention to their appearance and even have plastic surgery to make their appearance look good in physiognomic view.

According to shape and location, each part of face has different meaning. Generally, forehead represents ups and downs in life and nose shows disease and property. Flat and square-shaped forehead represents someone’s sincere characteristics and good relationship between others. Meanwhile, eyebrows are important because they decide a great part of someone’s first impression. Thick and tip-tilted eyebrow represents active and firm characteristics. If someone has cut eyebrows, it means remarkable intuition and creativity but at the same time, impatience. In terms of nose, nose represents safe so if someone’s nostril is seen in a full face, it means someone might lose their property easily. At the same time, ears represent wealth too. If someone has big earlobe and round ears, it means that person earn a lot of money during his/her life.

Meanwhile, dot in a face has meaning also. The dot beside philtrum or in the bridge of the nose and the tip of a nose means property. If someone has dot beside the lips, that person might have great appetite. Meantime, a dot on the lips means popularity from the opposite sex. If there is a dot on the eyelash, it represents that person is wise and intelligent.

Generally theses interpretations coincide with someone’s life but sometimes these are incorrect. Therefore people in South Korea have one's fortune told with a physiognomy just for fun and do not take it seriously. Because, as people all know, our fate will be changed and get better by our effort. 

Written by: Soyeon Kim

WSU International Student

South Korea