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Sunday, November 30, 2014

SELFEVALUATION

Two weeks ago Laia Dalmau and me made an oral presentation about the idea of beauty in women throught the past cenury. 
From my point of view our resources: a prezi and a little video, were clear and well structured. Our timing was good because we lasted ten minutes. We tried to show some interesting things, appart from the historical part. Our languatge was correct but we mispronounced some words. I also should have looked more at the audience. 

We enjoyed doing a presentation about beauty and searching information about how women has changed through the years. We both think that beauty is an important thing in our society.


Here's our prezi:


NEWS: COULD YOU BARE TO LIVE HERE? INSIDE BRITAIN'S SECRETIVE NAKED VILLAGE

In a town called Spielplatz in Bricked Wood, their residents always go naked. They have been living like this for more than 85 years. For them is normal to be naked all the time, and says that they all have normal lives. Although that the condition on living there is that you have to go naked, they wear clothes if it's cold outside or if they have to do any kind of task like gardening. Tina Yates, who had an operation that left a big scar on her body, went to the town to gain self-esteem and she settled up permanently after a month.


I don't think that this is a good idea, because most of the people aren't use to that, and probably the people who lives there has a family, and I don't think that they go to see their families naked. I thought that going naked was illegal.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

NEWS: KEYS TO SUCCESS OF 9-N

Last month, on the 9th of November, there was a consult in Catalonia to know who wanted the independence. Those kind of activities are prohibited to do, but just if who organises all the things is "La Generalitat" so some political parties said that to do the consult, Catalonia would need a total of twenty thousand volunteers. The result was overwhelming: there was a total of 40.930 volunteers. The campaing was a success, and this article says that this just happened for some (four) reasons:


  1. Unity ofaction
  2. Legal dexterity
  3. Civil commitment
  4. Municipalities (942 of 947 towns agreed to vote).
As the human chain, or the giant V in Barcelona, I think that the 9-N has been another movement to get close to the independence, to show to the world what a part of Catalonia has to say. But we're not going to improve the situation because it looks like the politicians can't do anything else to go towards independence. I like this days where people of different races stick together for one cause. In another countries having different opinions about the future of the Country might cause fights, but in Spain we do pacific, and to me very moving, demonstrations.

Here's an example of the campain that was made for the 9-N. People arround Catalonia sent their messages and some of them were made into posters.




Source: El Punt, page: 74 (Catalonia Today) from the 16th of November, 2014.

NEWS: "NO" TO NEGOTIATIONS

This week the president of Spain, Mariano Rajoy came to Catalonia in a ceremony of his political party. He also took advantage of the ocasion to adress some words for all the people who agreed for the independence of Catalonia. Mariano Rajoy said that he wouldn't allow the unity of Spain to be questioned and he also said that he found that Artur Mas, the president of Catalonia wasn't correct using strong and offensive arguments. His speach, appart from speaking of Catalonia, he also said that the ecomomy of Spain was advancing to a better situation and that this was the envy of the world.

Source


I think that Mariano Rajoy was exagerating, because we still feel the crisis and there's a lot of people without a job. Although it's a normal thing to go to a place to do a political party meeting Mariano Rajoy made his speech whith many reasons and one of them was to provoke independentist people. Another one was to promote his political ideas with people who doesn't know what to vote. Anyway, in my opinion I think that a good politician shouldn't talk badly about other politicians, a good politician should gain followers by trying to convince them of their way of thinking (the more potive, the better).

Source: El Punt Diari, page: 74: Catalonia Today. (30th of November, 2014)

Friday, November 28, 2014

NEWS: NUMBER OF EBOLA INFECTIONS IN WEST AFRICA PASSES 16.000

The past three months the Ebola virus increased a lot. There was a case of Ebola in Spain, and many others in America. The problem is that instead of trying to heal just one person in our country we should help the people who are suffering the Ebola the most: in West Africa. 

A news article from The Guardian says that the cases of Ebola had increased a lot in a few weeks and that almost half of the people who were infected have died. Liberia is the city where has registered more cases and deads, but Sierra Leone is the city where the virus is spreading faster. Those two cities citizens' are in a state of malnutrition and undernutrition. 
 The scientists have said that they're making a progress in the creation of a vaccine and nowadays they've created an experimental one.

In my opinion it's unfair that we're not helping those countries to improve the situation because the Ebola is a problem that we all can have. As we have experimented before, when the spanish priestb was infected by Ebola, Spain spent millions of euros to bring him back to Spain to heal him. It doesn't make any sense to me for two simple reasons:
  1. A singe mistake in the process of carrying the priest to Spain could couse infection through all the country. And in the end the poor man died, so all the movement was made in vain.
  2. All the money that we spend would be more useful if we brought specialised doctors to Africa and then try to solve the problem there, because it's where the virus mostly lives. 

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/29/ebola-infections-west-africa-16000


NEWS: WHAT'S YOUR BRAIN AGE? A TEST TO DISCOVER HOW SIMPLE LIFSTYLE CHANGES CAN KNOCK YEARS OFF IT

This article is about a recent study that Public Health England develpoed. They found out how to calculate brain age. It's easy to know you're getting older phisically (wrinkles) but how do you know the state of health of your brain?
 The answer to calculate the brain age is to study how many brain cells we lose and how fase we lose them. When we start to lose brain cells regularly, it means that our brain starts to shrink. 
And to calculate how many brain cells we lose they've created a test where they took into account factors as weight, exercise levels, colesterol and also lifestyle factors such as how much you sleep, what you eat or how you socialize. With all the answers the scientifics are able to determinate the risk of having Alzheimer.

The test consists of approximately 25 statements and you have to answer if they're true or false for you. Some of them are:
  • I get between seven and eight hours (or more) sleep each night.
  • I have never smoked cigarettes.
Then there's a table with a score of all the trues you answered. The more trues you have, more chances you have to have Alzheimer.

Some of the tricks they give to prevent a bad health for your brain is to exercise often, sleep a lot and also have a good social life.


Source


I agree that you're going to be healthier if you take control of your body, and to sleep and connect with other people, but I didn't thought that it could be really damaging for your health not doing it  as it says in the news. Truth to be told, it's a logical thing because all those things provide you to have a happier life, so you're in a calm mental state and it's easier to keep going and doing it the best one can!


Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2821157/Try-test-reveals-brain-age-read-knock-years-it.html

Thursday, November 27, 2014

NEWS: HOW DONATELLA VERSACE TRANSFORMED HERSELF INTO A HUMAN WAXWORK WITH BOTOX

Donatella Versace is a famous woman because she's the sister of the founder of Versace's brand, and now she's the director.

Twenty years have passed since she started in the beauty industry and since she started to experimenmt with beauty treatments like bottox or laser resurfacing. Recently, the 59 years old woman has been seen outside and the media caused a big scandal because of her look.

Donatella Versace then and nowadays
Source

Although the pictures are a little scary, I think that what had happened to that woman is totally justifiable. She has been surrounded by beauty almost all her life, and beauty nowadays is related to youth, so I'm sure that is one of the reasons why she has done to herself that kind of damage. Also, once you have started using those treatments, and if you want to stay like you were before, you have to redo them every year aproximately. It's impossible to stop.
 I think that having a job in a company that promotes beauty sometimes it's a hard for your personality. We all have seen how badly social networks impact teenagers, causing them some mental or phisic diseases because of the wrong idea that we're spreading of beauty. Now imagine that you're who's spreading it, the one who has to contract models, and knowing that you're not fitting in. I don't really think that this is exactly what had happened to Donatella Versace, but I'm sure that this happens a lot in beauty industry.



Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2822755/How-Donatella-Versace-transformed-human-waxwork-Botox-implants-laser-resurfacing.html


Friday, November 14, 2014

IS HUMOUR NECESSARY?

Nowadays more experts and scientists are saying that we need humour on a daily basis to be healthier , in a psycological way. Are they right? Or the need of humour is, actually, another trend? Nowadays it has became popular to havea healthy life. And this involves going to the gym, running, eating vegetables and fruit, and also posting everything healthy you're doing in a social network, saying or showing that you're having a really good time. I do not consider this a way of having fun. Neither following  a sarcastic account on twitter is enough. I believe that there're a lot of leve,s of humour, and we could perfectly live without those kind of jokes.

From my view, there's a kind of humour that it's necessary, and it'ts the one that it's shared between people, face to face. 

Firstly, we need this kind of humour because it helps us to make bonds with people.
Secondly, if you tell jokes and the people arround you laugh at them your self-esteem will improve because you know for sure that they will respond truly to your joke.
Plus, if you're having a bad day and someone who's laughing comes next to you or tells you a joke this will cheer you up for the rest of the day.

In conclusion, humour is necessary in our lives. We need to share positive thoughts and jokes to be  happier and positive about everything.




Thursday, October 9, 2014

INFOGRAPHIC ABOUT HAPINESS AND CAREER SUCCESS

We usually think that happiness is achieved only after you did a great job. In this infographic, they try to turn happiness into a key to be more succesful at work, which means that life is going to be more grateful, how?

If you are a happy person it's easy to make a connection with other people, and to be more open to listen to them. Then, if you have a job interview you have more advantadje than someone who's moody or sad. They wouldn't get the job because of the lack of enthusiasm and their sad attitude.

We spend the majority of our day working, so if what you're doing doesn't fill you up with happiness or energy perhaps you're not in the right place. We cannot survive being happy three hours per day, that's why happiness is the key.

We need to be happy with almost everything we do, and if it's not the case, we have to fight for that objective. I agree that we are more successful when we are happy rather than if we weren't. The problem is that some people need their jobs for the salary, and they can't be bothered by if they like it or if they don't. 
Source

ELF: A FUNNY MOVIE

I know that we "just" came back from summer and that Christmas seems to be very far away now. However, when I think about a funny movie, Elf is always the first one that comes across my mind.

Although winter hasn't arrived, this is the perfect film in a cloudy day. So, if one day you just want to lie on your sofa with a blanket arround you, watching Elf would make your evening even cosier!

The film is about a human, Budy, who was raised by elfs at the North Pole, but he didn't belong there. So he packed up his things and he went down to Earth to find his real father. He's a very innocent man, who is always astonished with everything that we do, he is always very happy and that's why the film is so funny. He's not used to our behaviour, but he tries his best.  Perhaps it's not the funniest film ever, but at least you'll fall in love with the character and of course, with the Christmas spirit that surrounds Elf.

If I had to pick the funniest moments of the movie I would choose:

  1. When Budy finds the toy shop and when the employer said that Santa was coming to town, he yelled that he knew Santa. The whole conversation between them is hilarious!
  2. Budy was trying to pass a job enterview and there was a midget worker. Budy was convinced that the man was a dwarf, but the midget man thought that Budy was insulting him.
  3. He loves to eat sugar and sweet things, so in every meal he would put a tone of sugar!

Here's the trailer:



Monday, October 6, 2014

JOKE

Thursday, October 2, 2014

AN EMAIL ABOUT MY DREAMS

Dear Sònia,

I'm writing this email to explain to you my short and long term goals. The problem is that I haven't got a long term goal. 

I don't picture myself being anything for twenty years, or for the rest of my life. I think that this isn't a problem of imagination, or that I have a lack of ambition and creativity. It's just that, as you said, the WOW moment hasn't appeared to me yet, although I feel it somehow closer than last year. However I don't know if it's for the pressure of being asked everyday what I want to do with my life or because, deep inside,  I know which ways I would rather go.  

Now that I have vent my thoughts about my long-term not existing yet goal, I will explain what I know for sure that I want to do: go to university and study a degree of something related to biology, and I also would like to go to Barcelona. The hardest pressing short time goal I have at the moment (as all of my school mates I guess) is to finish the TDR as soon as possible because studying second batxillerat and having to finish the TDR is a lot to take on.

As for now my priority is to finish the TDR, and then I will have plenty of time for deciding what my future is going to be. Another thing that I know for sure is that whatever I end up choosing I will try to give the best of me.

Best regards,

Anna Camós

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

The 3 A's of awesome by Neil Pasricha

Neil Patrisha is a man who has experienced tough moments in his life like getting divorce, or the suicide of one of his friends. At that moment nowing that the tings couldn't go worse, he can just take two ways, to surrender or to try and focus on something positive.

Finally he did succeed focusing about positive things. His method of getting out of that sadness was to create a blog about positive things, but instead of writing about extraordinary positive things he writes about ordinal positive things "the simple universal little pleasures that we all love but we don't talk about enough" as he says.
The fact of having to think and write positive things for his blog and the million views that he had helped him to be more happy with himself . He won the award of the best blog of the world that was what pushed him to write a book about how can we succeed as he could.

The book is called The 3 A's of awesome: Attitude, awareness and autenticity:
  1. Attitude: Even if the conditions aren't the best we have to move foward, move on.
  2. Awareness: Being concious of your environment and taking care of it.
  3. Autenticity: We have to be happy and comfortable with ourselves because when we are authentic we do the things that we really love to do.
If we are able to achieve this three "rules", we will be able to be happy, to success and enjoy our lives.

Here's the link to go to his blog, 1000 Awesome Things.


And here's the video:

Monday, June 9, 2014

LOOKING BACK ON MY BLOG

It has been two years since I have started the blog and it's true that I have improved my level of English. Making so many posts has helped me to be quicker to write essays and perhaps it's going to help me to be more fluent when I speak.

Of all the activities that we do in English I'm very good at listenings, but I prefer doing readings, and I think that you are more able to tell is a person knows English or not by an essay than a listening test. Although, the more useful activities for me are the ones where I have to fill in the gaps, and all the options that we have are very equal so it makes me really think and I learn new words (usually connecting words).

On the other hand, the activities that I don't find as useful as the ones that I have said before perhaps are the listenigs, I don't think that I do as much as a writting exercise.

The activities that we have done this year and that I wouldn't mind repeating are presentations and comenting films.

Saturday, June 7, 2014

BULLYING

Aren't you sick of bullying? I am.

Bullying is a social problem which most of the times happens to teenagers in school or highschool. It happens when someone, or a group, starts attaking a person who isn't able to defend himself. It's not just the fact of punching constantly someone what makes bullying as dangerous as it is. It's using words as a weapon what it's dangerous. Being constantly insulted, or threatened by someone makes you think that there's something wrong with you when in reallity, there's nothing wrong! The harm has been done and it's really difficult to forget something like this.

It's also very dangerous because the people arround the person who's being bullied don't see how the other person is suffering. The victim is very scared so he's not going to say who the bully: we as friends are clueless about who it could be. It's very difficult to identify a bully. And more difficult is knowing why he acts like this. Usually they have been bullied before or they have a bad education or a bad relation at home.

I really can't see the solution to stop it. People always say to ignore them, but when someone insists everyday with the same, you end up sick. We all know that we're different and spacial in our own way, and there's nothing wrong with it. Bullies usually like to insult the others to feel better and superior. They haven't got emphaty. Having emphaty is the solution of bullying, but we're nowadays in a very selfish society.

😓
Image source


Sunday, May 25, 2014

FILM REVIEW: BAD NEIGHBOURS

A couple of weeks ago, my friends and I went to the cinema to see Bad Neighbours. We saw the trailer and we thought that it was going to be fun! We also knew that one of the main character is Zac Efron and we really like him.

The film is about a couple which just had a baby and they moved to a new neighbourhood. At first they thought that it was an amazing place, but then a brotherhood decided to live next to the family and all the problems begin. As you can imagine, the brotherhood made a lot of parties and the family made a plan to get them out.

Although I don't know if I would reccomend this film to anybody, it's a good film if you just want to disconnect and laugh a little. In my opinion all the jokes are very predictable, but they're still funny. It's a very American movie. Despite all of that, the players act really good.

Here's the trailer!

 




Friday, May 23, 2014

PROJECT BASED LEARNING

Is the PBL succesful? Project Based Learning is about critical thinking, collaboration and comunication. It's based on learning in projects as the name itself says. The teacher tries to connect with the students explaining situations that could happen in real life and with that, students are interested in the subject.

I see why this way of teaching is better for us, but I don't know if it's a better way of learning for all the students because we will also forgot things. Perhaps not as quick as with the old method but it will also go out my mind.
Also working on projects and collaborating with your mates requires a lot of free time. But with extra activities, homework, exams and considering the fact that sometimes your mate it isn't your neighbour it's difficult to meet and do projects together. We're lucky to have internet these days but, if you want to be really good you have to meed¡t with your partner to organize and talk. It's too much.
I really believe that this method has more advantatges than the older one but I don't know if it would work for all the subjects.

The Project Based Learning would work if all the subjects applied to this project by working more in groups because we also work on projects but not like PBL. Combining both methods, in my opinion is a little bit stressful.


SHOULD TEACHERS WEAR A UNIFORM OR HAVE A DRESS CODE?

It'swell known that the objective of wearing uniforms is to show that everyone is equal to everyone. We usually relate uniforms with students, but should teachers wear a uniform, too?

Firstly, I felt that they also should have to wear uniforms. Why not? It's a lot more comfortable than having to choose different clothes everyday, but besides that, it seems to me that the fact of seeing a uniformed teacher, decreases the respect and also the it would change the way that we, as students, see them. We are going to see teachers all equal, and a teacher should impose respect and discipline. Perhaps the way that the teacher shows how he/she is by wearing the clothes that he/she wants, it might influence the levels of respect (not judging any style! Just the fact of wearing all the same and everyday would decrease respect, for me).

On the other hand, it would be interesting if teachers had a dress code established and voted by them, of course. So, they wouldn't be as opressed as if they had to wear the same. 

To sum up, if I could decide what to do about the teachers' dress code I would prefer that everybody could wear what they want to wear, Because every teacher (as every person) has a different style, and perhaps the way that they're dressed influence them in a way that could change their mood. And if their mood change it will also change their lesson, so it's better to let things be the way that they're right now!


Monday, May 19, 2014

SOLUTIONS FOR CONSUMISM

It is a fact that consumism is a social problem which has increased a lot recently. Many people believe that society can't reach a solution, that powerful people are the ones who should find the solution. But that's not how it works and in the video that we could see it. It demostrates that powerful people like mayors or important bussibess men are the ones who let the problem grow.

Firstly, each person has to improve him/herself. We should have to think before we buy something if we really need it, if there are more ecological ways to get it or if you can recycle something that you already have instead of buying other things.
Another important thing is that we have to be concious about those countries that are getting poor in order to satisfy what we want exploting their resources. If we achieve this, if we could be able to change people's mind, we might be able to decrease the levels of consumism that we have. 

To sum up it is widely known that there are projects and campaigns which are eficient but they aren't enough. I personally think that by changing the way of how we look and value things is the best solution for consumism.



Here's the video that we saw:



All you need is less


NEWS: THE SECRET FOR LIVING A LONGER LIFE

Psychologists agreed that having something to do is going to make your life longer. Just as simple as that!

They have proved that some older adults who have a purpose, an achivement, are living longer than the ones who don't do anything. Psychologists think that is has a relation being active and living longer. Waking up everyday with energy, positivity and an objective could give you a healthier lifestyle, in orther to achieve that objective.
An assistant Professor Patrick Mill made a study of 6000 adults across Amrica for 14 years. At the end of the study, 9% of the people died and they were some of the ones who didn't have a purpose or were very negative. 

At the moment this isn't the solution for those hwo want the inmortality, but I can see why it's healthier for you to always keep going. Having objectives is definately the solution for not making the most of time, for enjoying it and, perhaps your life is not going to be as long as it should be, but for sure it will be more memorable.




"Always remember to fall asleep with a #dream & wake up with a #purpose." #quote #inspiration
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Give life a meaning.
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Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2627037/The-secret-long-life-Keeping-busy-having-purpose.html

Sunday, May 18, 2014

NEWS: THE GLOBAL UNDERGROUND

Could you imagine travelling fron India to L.A. on a train with no changes? At the moment it's not possible but it's also far from impossible. 

Chris Gray, from England, crated a global underground inspired by the London underground map. Most architects told him that it would be impossible because the tunnels would have to be very deep, as deep as the tectonic plates. 
He thinks that this is possible with pneumatic tube systems but they would need too many resources and time. For example, to make a tunel from London to New York it would take about 508 years to build it. Gray's idea is to make the underground very cheap, the tickets would cost 13 pounds.

Although it's a very interesting idea and it would be very helpful, there's no need to build this underground. There're other ways to go places and they might not be as cheap as this underground but I'm sure that they're more safe. If this was built, it would produce a negative enviromental impact.


Web developer Chris Gray came up with his idea for a global Underground map (pictured) when he was visiting Australia and suddenly wanted to 'nip home'. He picked the stops by  picking 'nodes' at densely populated cities and worked out the connections from there
The global underground map.

Pneumatic madness? Elon Musk's 'hyperloop' transport system (illustrated) will see passengers travelling in a pneumatic tube if it is every built. It could enable people to travel at speeds of 760mph and a version of the futuristic design could play a part in a completely connected world transport network, according to an expert
The "hyperloop" transport system.






Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2598871/Maps-reveal-WORLD-connected-using-global-underground-network.html

NEWS: COULD BIRDS BE AS INTELLIGENT AS HUMANS?

A research found out that crowns are as intelligent as children. At first you might think that it's a joke, but it isn't! Some scientists did a study that reveals that this fact is true. 

The research was about studying the way that crowns interactuate with each other and the results were surprisingly positive. They are able to work in a group to get the food or to build tools to grab the fruit. So the scientists came with the conclusion that they're as intelligent as a seven year old human.

I'm not quite convinced with the study that they made. My cousin is seven years old and I can't compare her behaviour with the behaviour of a bird! Children know what they want and how to get it. We are able to use our language to get what we want, not just with actions. For example we can use irony, or sarcasm,  also lying is a weapon. If we have more weapons than birds, we are more intelligent than them!


Clever: The 'water displacement' tasks (pictured) were all variations of the Aesop's fable in which a thirsty crow drops stones to raise the level of water in a pitcher
A crow trying to reach to the food droping stones to raise the level of the water.



Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2590046/Crows-intelligent-CHILDREN-Study-reveals-birds-intelligence-seven-year-old.html 

Sunday, March 2, 2014

A GAP YEAR

Who doesn't like the idea of having a gap year? I'm sure that we all have different ideas of what we would do. My point of view is that when we're students, in a gap year we want new experiences, but for people who has a job, the adulthood stage, are more interested for get more experience of something, or just to take a year off. 
Right now, if I had to do one, I would part my year in three parts. 
The first one would be the most radical one, I would like to volunteer in a poor country, where everything it's different, aproximately three months. It would also be great because I would get the chance to see more places around the world, and also to make a lot of friends of other cultures and other languages. It sounds great but I think that it would be a hard experience, because we aren't used to this lifestyle. The second part would be the relaxing part, after a great experience, it's nice to go back with the family and chill out for a bit. I would spend my time doing some projects that I have in mind, and trying to find a job for the  rest of the year. This would be my third part, I want to earn my own money, so I would like to work.
I think that taking a gap year it changes you life, you have the chance to see different cultures, and apreciate more the things we have. With all those experiences you grow as a person, you get more values. 


Life quote. 👏
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Me Too
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Saturday, March 1, 2014

NEWS: THE CITY OF THE FUTURE?

What do you imagine when you think of the future? 
An architect Vincent Callebaut, has a clear idea of how it should be, and he decided to show it to the world. 

He is based in an eco-living lifestyle, he wants to combine the city and the countryside, doing eco-friendly communities instead of separating our houses with fences. His project is called Flavours Orchard, and I really like it. I would be very pleasure if my future house looked like the ones he designed. They are like little palaces, with a very peculiar structure. They're all made of glass, so everything it's very illuminated and it gives a clear sensation. 

Unfortunately, all those buildings are planned for a city in China, so it would take too long to arrive in Spain (if it was possible, all this are just projects!).


The Shell Villas, resembling conical Chinese hats, stand above the ground on six stainless steel pillars reaching skywards with wind turbines fitted above the tree tops
My house.
Image source

The Mountain Villas, resembling a Chinese fan, are built from east to west to follow the sun's path throughout the day
This could be our lovely highschool!
Image source

The landscape surrounding the futuristic city will be dotted with wind turbines and solar panels to garner energy in an eco-friendly manner
Image source



Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2571330/Is-city-future-Incredible-artists-impressions-glimpse-eco-living-houses-shaped-like-cones-fans-rooftop-gardens-streetlights-switch-cars-nearby.html 






Friday, February 28, 2014

BOOK REVIEW: TIRANT LO BLANC

As I haven't got time to read my own books, I'll do a review of one book which we had to read for highschool.

The book we read was Tirant Lo Blanc, written by Joanot Martorell. It's a very important book for the literature because it changed the way of writting (not just about war and knights stories) introducing heroes showing human characteristics, like Tirant a hero that cries and he also broke his leg twice. Now it's a normal thing, but in those days, it was the most modern literature for all those aspects. At first I didn't like the idea of having to read one of "the classics of literature" because everyone said that it was very boring, and it's written in an old catalan, so it's difficult to read sometimes. I actually enjoyed! Perhaps it was because I had the lowest expectations for that book that it surprised me when I found out that it wasn't as bad as everyone says. 

The book is divided by two main stories: Tirant going to war and Tirant falling in love with Carmesina.
Tirant was a very honored knight who was always fighting against the Turks, he was nobel and loyal to his homeland: he was a hero, but he was also human. He felt in love with the daughter of the king of Constantinoble and they married secretly. I found that the part of war it was a little boring because all the battles were always against the Turks and they were very similar so it's a little bit confusing if you have to situate the battles (which one goes first?), but the part of love, the part of the social problems we might say, it's very funny and it's easy to get hooked.

I wouldn't  recomend it, but I would say that for the people who has to read it compulsery it's not as bad as it looks like!





Tirant lo Blanc
Image source

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

NEWS: THE MWC

At the end of February, in Barcelona, they're going to do the Mobile World Congress, that it's known worldwide and it's a big contribution for the city. 
The congress it's an exhibition of mobile companies from 200 different nations, where they can expose their newest electronic devices.  They do conferences to announce the news, meetings and all the things you can imagine related with mobile phones. There you can find some famous people, like Mark Zuckerberg.

Last year there was around 72.000 trade visitors, 1.900 exhibitors and 300 keynote speakers.


Mark Zuckerberg doing a conference
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That's a video where it shows the place where the MWC is and their highlights:





Source: http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/2014-event-highlights/

NEWS:THE BROKEN HEART SYNDROME

The scientists announced this month of a new research. They have found out that having a broken heart can cause more than the risk of having depression and anxiety. In fact there are proves that showed that you can have a heart failure after a few months that someone very close to you dies.

The broken heart syndrome starts with an "overdose of adrenmaline" which is normally a great fact, but mixed with emotional distress it can be very bad. Other sympthoms are hair loss, cold and flu, headaches, asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes...

They can prove this new theory because they have found examples of it in popular couples: The Prime Minister James Callaghan, who died eleven days after his wife, and also the famous country singer Johnny Cash died of died of diabetes four months after his wife.


Former Prime Minister James Callaghan died of pneumonia aged 92 in 2005, just 11 days after his wife of 67 years, Audrey
The Prime Minister and his wife
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In 2003, singer Johnny Cash, died at 71 ¿ ostensibly of complications related to diabetes ¿ just four months after wife June
Johnny cash and June, his wife.
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Although scientists say that it has been proved, it seems difficult to believe because those examples could be just a coincidence. But it's easy to relate that the fact of being depressive when somebody who you loved dies, the depression also takes different damages, not just being sad.





Saturday, February 8, 2014

ORPHAN BLACK

Orphan Black is about one girl, Sarah, who has arrived at her hometown after ten months. When she came back, at the train station, she saw an identical girl killing herself by jumping in front of the train.
Sarah had no idea of who she was but she stoled her handbag and she found her house keys and two mobile phones. She went to her house and she decides that she'll pretend to be the girl who killed herself. After that she'll have a lot of troubles with her false identity (her real and fake boyfriend, her fake job as a policewoman, the mystery of the second mobile phone, ...) but the most important thing is that she'll find out that she's a clone and that there're more like her. 
She's a clone, but she has something that any of the other clones have: a daughther.

The "sisters"!
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I really liked this serie, I think that it's very interesting the way that it's focused, about all the cloning experiments that aren't allowed in real life (yet), and it also has a lot of mistery, at the end of each episode you want to see more. What I love the most are the characters, all the clones are so well played for just one actress, they all have very different lives and ways to express themselves. My favourite character it's Fe, the stepbrother of Sarah, he's the one who'll make you laugh!


Felix
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