RUSSIA IS CHANGING THE FACE OF FASHION

The word Lumpen refers to the dispossessed, the unskilled, the uneducated... But it is also the name of a Model Agency located in Moscow. It was founded by Avdotja Alexandrova, a filmmaker. 

Lumpen provides models that are exclusive Russian faces from all over the world, so they are all connected to Russia. Some were born there, some have Russian mothers... But they aren't necessarily ethnically Russian. Alexandrova says that for her films she prefers faces that can tell a story, and no matter what the face looks like. She doesn't matter about the typical standards of beauty and she prefers originality

It was the distinctive Russian faces that the agency provides and the contrast to its names, what made the biggest names in fashion start turning to this exactly modeling agency. And less than two years after launching, they have already cast models in major fashion shows like Vetements, Kanye West, Lanvin and Comme des Garçons. Also Kayne West used Serva, a Lumpen model, and Alexandrova's boyfriend, as a fit model for his clothing brand Yeezus. And eight of the twelve men that walked in Comme des Garçons' Autumn-Winter 2017 Homme Plus show, were provided by Lumpen. 

The diversity of models provided by Lumpen may make them avoid the criticism against some ot its clients, like Vetements and Balenciaga that have been criticized for their casting choices, because the latter's Fall-Winter '16 show featured no black models. But in Lumpen the  color doesn't matter, and they have half-African guys, European-type looks...

MY OPINION:

I really like the ideology of this modeling agency. I think that Alexandrova had a great idea choosing special faces and forgetting about the typical standards of beauty. It made Lumpen succeed because of its originality. 

I think that this is a start of the change of beauty standards in our society and it could open the eyes of people and show them other types of beauty. 

NANNY CHASES A PACKAGE THIEF

Kate Anderson is the nanny of a one year old child. The family that lives in Washington State had recently set up security cameras when a 29 year old women arrived with a car at their porch, where there was a package and she took it.

Then she runs back to the car, puts the package on the front seat and tried to get in but the cart left her behind at the house. After the nanny saw this, she run out of the house and followed the thief. When the nanny got her, she dragged her into the home and held her for eight minutes until the police arrived. 

The thief was arrested on outstanding warrants, but she has not yet been charged with anything. And also the Seattle Police Department issued a statement warning homeowners in the area that package thefts often occur, and advised them to track their packages, require signatures for anything of value, or send packages to a monitored area such as an office. 

MY OPINION: 

I think that Kate Anderson was very brave because she followed the thief with no fear and she got her until the police arrived. Also, I think that leaving packages is not very save because things like this could happen, so I agree with the Seattle Police Department decision about warning homeowners in this area to track their packages, sent packages to a monitored area such as an office or require signatures because if it's anything of value it could be dangerous to leave it in the street. 

Here you can watch the video of the nanny stopping the thief: 

READING A BOOK OR AN EBOOK?

Nowadays, we are so familiarized with tecnology. That's why many people are starting to read books through a screen using eBooks and not how it has traditionaly been made. 

Personally, I prefer reading books, because I'm always using moviles, computers... And when I'm reading I like to disconnect of all. Also, because I like having the book to turn the pages, smell the odor of the book... But let's see the advantages and disadvantages of reading a book and reading an eBook. 

The advantages of books are that they don't need energy to run so you don't have to read it at home plugged and you can take it everywhere you want. Also you can feel the book like I've said and if you have the oportunity, the writer can sign your book.

The disadvantages are that it is more expensive than an eBook and it takes up more space.

On the other hand, the advantages of eBooks are that you can have all the books you want in the eBook, because it doesn't taked much space and also because it's cheaper than a book in paper. 

Also because it is easy to carry the eBook,  it doesn't weights too much. Finally, you don't have to move or wait to but a book you can buy it instantatly and if you need it, you can also search the definition on the eBook because some bring an incorpored dictionary. 

But the disadvantages are that eBooks need Internet to buy books and you also have to charge the battery which can ends at any time. Though you can have many books in your eBook, some don't have a digital verions of it. And the most important is that it exhausts your eyes.

SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION

Social media addiction is becoming a bigger problem that we think. The reason why people have this problem is because they spend too much time on social media and also because companies know how to make them more attractive so that people enjoy using them. 

The consequences of this kind of addiction are, in the first place that people spend too much time on the internet and they take distance from the reality and from people around them. Also, when they don't have a connection, they feel anxiety because they need to be in contact with the others. 

I think that the only way of solving this problem is by stopping focusing on the social media and really focusing on the people around you. 

"I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction, the world will have a generation of idiots." - Albert Einsten. 

When Albert Einstein said this he was predicting what was gonna happen, because it was obvious to him that someday this would happen and we would be addicted to technology, because it makes our lifes easier

Here you can watch a short documentary about social media addiction:

CHRISTMAS COMMERCIALISM

Many people say that Christmas is a materialistic holiday, that it is driven by commercialism and that it's not worth keeping Christmas anymore. 

In my opinion, it is obvious that companies are taking advantage of this time of the year when they can sell much more products because people buy many presents. But I don't think that we should stop celebrating Christmas because of it. 

For me, the most important part of Christmas is that we are able to stay home with our family and spend time together doing things that we enjoy, like decorating the house, putting up and decorating the christmas tree, baking cookies... I really do enjoy those moments as many people does too. 

My opinion about the presents is that it is true that many people is driven by consumerism because at this time of the year they buy a lot of not necessary things. It is also true that we could celebrate Christmas without presents and then we will finish with this intense commercialism, but I think that in this time of the year we really love giving presents to the ones we love and seeing them happy for it. 

And it is also true that we could just do these things every day, meeting with family, giving presents, decorating the house or just baking, so maybe Christmas is not necessary, but I think that it is special because, first of all, we don't have many free days and it's hard to organize a day when all the family can meet, and second because it is beautiful to wait all year for Christmas, to be able to do things like I said, or just to see all the streets decorated with lights and go shopping with your family. So I think that what makes it special and beautiful is that it's just a day of the year and it is the perfect excuse spending time with family, and that's why I think that Christmas is worth keeping. 

Scientists used fake hallucinations to probe the minds of people with psychosis

A new study from England, published in the journal The Lancet Psychiatry suggested that the difference between people who hallucinates and have difficulties getting through their day without clinical help from the ones that hear voices but can do a regular life, is the way they interpret their own psychoses. 

In the research they put 260 people under simulations of psychotic experiences and then they studied how the participants reacted. Of those 260 participants, 84 of them were clinical psychosis patients, 92 were not patients, although they also had psychotic symptoms, but this group didn't need medical care to live. Also, researchers said that those 92 people used specialist sources such as mediums, online forums for psychic and spiritual activities...The rest of the participants were just a control group without psychosis symptoms. 

The researchers used magic tricks like memory games in which they seemed to be able to read the participants' mind, and others. Then, the researchers did an interview with the participants to interpret their experiences. 

After this, the results showed that the clinical group was as able as the nonclinical group to identify psychotic symptoms as psychoses. So this suggests that the reason that some people is more able to avoid getting too disturbed isn't because of recognizing that what is happening isn't real.

The difference between the two groups they say is because the clinic one seemed to see something dark and mean behind what was happening and in change, the nonclinical group found spiritual explanations. 

MY OPINION: 

I think that this study is very interesting because it shows that the difference between people with psychosis who need clinical help from the ones who don't is just the way they interpret their psychosis symptoms. 

So it may be a great advance to the knowledge of the clinical treatment. It could open doors to new methods to treat psychosis because, as we have seen, the ones with clinical treatment react the same way as the one who don't have a treatment, but the second ones use other methods to explain those symptoms and this way they don't get to see a dark side on what they hear or feel during their days, and this way they can live a regular life. 

Click here to read more information.

MAN FINED FOR PAINTING EXTRA ROAD SIGNS TO EASE DAILY COMMUTE

A 28 years old man named Cai, decided to paint some additional arrows on the road in order to avoid his morning extreme commute because he was tired to frequently got caught up in the same intersection of the city of Lianyungang.

He just brought white paint, a brush and a ruler and he painted an arrow directing cars to go straight in a line reserved for left-hand turns. He did this because the straight line was always full of cars while the line that turns left was empty, so he tried to change the signs to try to speed the commute. 

But after security saw what happened through cameras, Cai wa caught and he admitted to the painting. He was fined with $200 because his actions were very dangerouse and he could have caused a collision.

The Chinese broadcaster CGTN posted a video to YouTube of Cai painting the road. He is wearing a red jacket and he is painting the straight arrow as cars, buses and trucks speed past next to him, and occasionally he moves out of the road to let pass the vehicles who hare driving on the line he is painting. 

Also, the footage shows whe the police caught up with Cai. And later in the video, we can see as traffic workers arrive at the intersection to repaint it to the original arrow. 

MY OPINION: 

My opinion about this is that the man shouldn't have done this because it is very dangerous. The third lane can't go straight. That's why the arrows say to go only left or to turn back. If you look, there are only two lanes past the intersection, so making the third lane into another straight lane would result in the lanes converging inside the intersection rather than before the intersection. If someone went straight in the third line it would have been a disaster and it would have ended with an accident. 

The reason why Cai painted the road wasn't to make it more efficient or safer, but rather he was selfish and wanted to make his commute faster at the expense of other people's safety. 

Click here if you want to read more information. 

COUPLE CARE FOR AN ORPHANED KODIAK BEAR

Susan and Jim Kowalczik from the Orphaned Wildlife Center in Otisville, New York, America. They have been rescuing bears for more than twenty years and they still take care of injured wild animals ,including Kodiak brown bears, Syrian bears and black bears on their 100 acre estate. Then when the animals get ready they release them back into the wild. 

But there are some cases like Jimmy who has been too injured to be returned into the wild. It is a Kodiak bear who is nine feet tall and weighs 1400lb, since he arrived from a West Cost game farm with an injured leg, and now he is 21 years old. 

The couple describes Jimmy as a gentle animal, and that he is unaware of his incredible strength. But though the bears are dangerous animals, they look at them like their children and they like to think about them like a family. Although, they say that sometimes the bears dive them crazy. 

The animals require full-time care and feeding, feasting on up to 30lbs of foor a day, including a mix of meat, pet food, fruit and occasionally marshmallows. And also, they have to take extra care during the mating season when the bears are not quite themselves. 

Also, they adopt other animals like chipmunks, rabbits, squirrels and deer. And the couple has many expectations for the future like to expand and to take care for even more animals. 

MY OPINION: 

I think that Susan an Jim Kowalczik are wonderful people for taking care of the non-profit Orphaned Wildlife Center because it requires a lot of work, time and money, but they like it because they have the opportunity to help many animals and the love they put in them, they get it in return like with Jimmy. 

I would love to have the opportunity to work with animals like them but the first time I saw the videos and the photos of them with the huge bear I was a bit scared because they are so big and though they look a inofensive with them it is still dangerous. 

Click here if you want to read more information.

REVIEW: "Gap Year"

In class we have watched the first episode of the series Gap Year. It is a British comedy-drama series about the adventures of a group of backpackers taking a trip through Asia. 

The first episode talks about Dylan and his old mate Sean, taking a Gap Year. At first, Sean thinks they are on vacation to escape from their life in the UK, though he totally preferred going to Thailand Dylan convinced him to go to China. But soon, he discovers that Dylan has booked the whole thing to get back with his ex-girlfriend, Lauren.

 Before finding Lauren, they meet the Americans, Ashley, Greg and May in toilets in Beijing. May has been sent to China by her mother to explore her Asian roots with the company of Ashley. Greg, who is English, travels with the girls just because he wants to protect them, but May doesn't like him. Dylan forgets his and Sean's money at the toilets, which Greg finds. Ashley, Greg and May initially take the money and begin spending it before unexpectedly finding Dylan and Sean again to return the money. They join together and head to a festival at the Great Wall of China. There they accidentally they enter into a fight and Sean scapes running and he gets lost and doesn't know how to return to the group because he has no phone and he is completely lost. Meanwhile, Dylan met Lauren at the party, but they didn't end well because Dylan was worried about Sean. 

Finally, the episode ends with Sean getting into the car of the person he fought with on the festival. But then it was too late and he wasn't able to get off the car.  

In my opinion the Gap Year series tries to show people that traveling is not as great and easy as we think it is. Going on an adventure as backpacking is very dangerous and also not as fun as we think. As we can see in this series they have some problems as losing their money, getting into a fight, also being lost or with bad company. Dylan and Sean were not happy because Sean wanted to travel to Thailand and Dylan because he understands that he has wasted a good opportunity to travel with his best friend but he decided to focus on his ex-girlfriend. Also, we can see that May is not happy with his mothers intention of discovering more of the Asian people and culture because Chinese people doesn't like her for being American and not speaking Chinese. 

MY GAP YEAR

https://mm.tt/903308290?t=GyEFCm3mqx

Advantages and disadvantages of learning English abroad compared to learning in your own country

Some years ago I had the oportunity to travel to Plymouth, UK to learn some English and to visit new pleaces. I've never been away from home that much time but it was a great expirence and I've learn a lot of English and a lot about England. 

Learning English abroad, especially in the UK, has a great advanage as you have to speak the lenguage all the time whether during classes or in daily activities such as shopping , asking for directions, and watching TV. It will certainly improve your accent and make you used to thinking in English, not in your native language. Not everyone can afford studying English abroad as it is very expensice. Also, some people cannot get along with a different culture and suffer homesickness. 

Learning English in your own country  has its pros and cons. Being with students speaking the same language and having the same problem makes studying more fun, and sometimes competition urges students to work harder. At the same time using the native language in class limits the ability  to speak English fluently. 

Taking into consideration the high expenses of learning abroad, I prefer to study in my own country and make efforts to improve my Englishby making friendships with English native-speakers who live in or visit my country. 

Portugal's Salvador Sobral wins Eurovision song contest

The 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest took place in the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, following Ukraine's victory at the 2016 contest.  

The contest consisted of two semi-finals on 9 and 11 May and a final on 13 May 2017. 

Forty-two countries participated in the contest, but the winner was Portugal with the song "Amar pelos dois" (Loving For The Both of Us) performed by Salvador Sobral and written by Sobral's sister, Luisa, who joined her brother in a duet of the song when the winner was announced. They finished with 758 points. 

This was Portugal's first win in 53 years of participation and it was also the first winning song entirely performed in a country's native language since 2007. 

The top three countries were Portugal, Bulgaria, represented by Kristian Kostov singing "Beautiful Mess" and Moldova represented by SunStroke Project singing "Hey Mamma!", and all of them achieved the highest position in their Eurovision History. 

You can read more here

MY OPINION: 

This year I didn't like many of the songs that participated on this edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. My favourite song of the night was the winner's. I liked a lot the way Salvador Sobral sang in that emotional way and though at first I didn't understand the lyrics of the song because it was in portugese I found out that it is a love song. So I completely agree with the judges and with the audience in their decision of awarding Salvador Sobral.

Also, my favorite moment of the night was when Luisa, Salvador Sobral's sister joined him in a duet of the song.

WOULD I TAKE A GAP YEAR?

There are many advantages about taking a Gap Year but also there are some disadvantages that we have to consider if we are planing to have a year off. 

When you travel outside of your country you learn many things. First of all you learn how to move all around the world which is very important when you grow up and you start living your live by your own. Apart from this, you will learn many things depending on what trip you choose. You can focus on a particular activity as a sport or just find a work or volunteer on some research... There are many possibilities depending on your personal likes. 

Another advantage is that when you travel to another country you've never been before you learn a lot about their culture, their language and their  activities. And finaly you will meet many new people and make new friends for life because you will experence many things together. 

But though there are many things you  will have to go through while you are on this new country. One is that you will be away from your family for a long time and sometimes it is hard. Also, you have to be very extroverted because you will have to meet need people. And finally, because depending on the trip you choose it could be dangerous so you have to plan a little bit the places you're going to stay at night also discover with whom you are going to stay and the activities you are going to do.

So my final conclusion is that I would take a Gap Year because it is a great oportunity to learn many things and also because it isn't very expensive depending of what trip you take because while you make many activities you can work on something. 

PERSONALITY OR PHYSICAL ATTRACTION?

When you meet someone for the first time you notice the way they dress, their body, their face's beauty, their hair, height... Basically their appearance is the first thing we see of a person even before they say a word. It's normal because we don't know at first how their personality is. So, we only see their physical appearance and we don't know anything about them. In that point, some people ask: should we focus on the physical appearance over they personality? Or their personality over their appearance? 

We live in a society where physical appearance is very important. Also, our idea of beauty may be a bit unconsciously marked by the media: Internet, television, magazines... Although we all have an own pont of beauty, most of the people have quite the same idea, which is the one that says the media. For example, the prototype of the perfect women nowadays is slim, tall but with boobs and butt. Of course, not every men and women think the same but that's. 

Also, we took as an example the celebrities; a lot of celebrities are recognized as being "the most beautiful people in the worlk" like Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Emma Watson... And there are lists that rank the celebrities based only on their looks. All of this tells us that appearance is most important so some people have a tendency to be very superficial.

Talking about love, when you are searching for your "soul mate", a good personality should definitely be at the top of your list. Of course you would like to have a partner that you are physically attracted to. But you shouldn't be in a relationship with somebody only becaue of their look. Remember that the outside beauty doesn't last forever; the inner beauty does.

But though all I think that both of them are important. I think that a part from having a good personality it's such an important thing to feeel attracted to you partner. So when we first see a person it's good to be attracted by the physical appearance but then when we start to talk and know each other we finally decide if we like their personality and we want to have a relationship with them or if not. 

'Hell' of exploited models to be revealed in landmark court case

Eight of the biggest modeling agencies in the world are going to court next month to fight a case that is going to show the horrors of the modeling industry, and if it's successful, thousands of models will cost te agencies an excess of $100million and change the way they do business forever. 

There are claims of thousands of dollars taken away from they paycheck for; extortionate rent charged for model apartments; late or missed payments and interest charged on advances that keep the most successful girls indebted and dependent on their agency.

The case is to be strongly defended by the modeling industry, who says that it would devastate them and that the claims are baseless. They say models get a fair deal, and that claims of financial wrongdoing are entirely untrue.

Louisa Raske was a model since high school who discovered her face on a box of L'Oreal hair dye in CVS, without her being paid, prompting her to begin what is now a large-scale action against modelling agencies.






"The same had happened to numerou girls" Louisa explained. "I contacted the other girls and we were like 'Let's do it'"

New York lawyer, Christopher Kercher, took on the case last spring.

'We realized this was about much more than just some agencies withholding payment. This was about the whole business model,' he said.

Rachel Blais, now 30, was 14 when she was spotted in her native Montreal. She was taken on by Canadian agency Folio and worked in Milan, Tokyo, Paris, New York and London.

'When I was 19 my agency asked me to have liposuction. That's how they also get you into big debts. They pay for it but then you owe them." Rachel explained.

'When I said I didn't want liposuction they said they had put together a little list of photographers I should be 'hanging out with,' wink, wink, sleep with.'

MY OPINION: 

I think that the modeling industry is a total lie to the everyone because we just see the result and not the process which is the most important and difficult part. We just see a magazine photo and not what this person is going through for appearing here. I think the way that this girls are being treated is horrible and this should be controlled. Also, to be a model you have to be very strong minded to support all the pressure that they suffer, because they have to be "perfect".

I just hope that they win the case so that they can work in better conditions and nobody else has to suffer the injustices that these girls have been through.

Passenger dragged off overbooked United flight

On 9th April the United Airlines overbooked the Louisville, Kentucky-bound United flight so a disturbing scene happened when a man refused to give up his seat and the airline police forced him to leave. 

Several passengers recorded the incident on their phones and posted video on social media showing three Chicago Department of Aviation security officers dragging the man, who has not been identified, down the aisle by the arms and legs while other passengers shout in protest. The man continued to resist after he was removed and ran back onto the airplane, face bloodied from the encounter. 

The incident and the system that allows airlines to involuntarily boot passengers from flights has been very criticized. But United Airlines was acting within their rights and following policy until the situation turned physical. 

First, United asked passengers to give up their seats voluntarily for compensation because four crew members needed to get on the flight in order to work another one in Louisville, if not, the flight would be canceled. 

But when no one volunteered because it was a Sunday night and the next flight was not until the following afternoon, the airline was forced to de-board people involuntarily, but though they explained to the man the situation, he refused and they followed Department of Transportation protocol and called local law enforcement to remove him from the plane. 

Two officers tried to calmly talk to the man but a third acted in an aggressive manner. The officer told him he had to get off the plane, and when he resisted, the officer grabbed him out of his seat and carried him out with the other officers. 

The man hit his head on an armrest and the he started yelling the he was a doctor and that he was being treated this way for being Chinese. 

The scene left everyone in shock, including children who started crying. 

MY OPINION: 

I don't think that the officers of the airline acted ethically and also I think that overbooking should be illegal because then some people had made plans to go back home one day and maybe they have something important to do and then they don't have a sit and they are not able to return home. 

My solution to this problem would have been asking people that didn't have a family waiting for them and also offering them a room in a hotel to stay that night because it is the airlines problem that they have to wait until the next day to have another flight.

 Here you can read more

POLLUTION

In this post I will talk about a global issue that we are fighting against nowadays. This global issue is about air pollution.

As we live in some villages around Castelló d'Empuries we are not used to see smog hanging over our heads everyday, but if sometimes we have visited some big city we could probably have seen it.

Delhi, the capital territory of India is the most polluted city in the world. This territory is half the size of Rhode Island and is twice more polluted than the entire New York City. To make us aware of what it is like to live in a place with too much pollution, a photographer named Matthieu Paley travelled there and took photos of it.




The main pollutant substance is Carbon dioxide. It is warming the Earth and we are constantly throwing it to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels such as gasoline and natural gas. Also, in the past 150 years, we have thrown enough Carbon dioxide to the atmosphere to raise levels higher than they have been for hundreds of thousands of years.

SOLUTIONS FOR THIS PROBLEM:

Industrialized countries have been working against this problem and they are taking measures to limit emissions of Carbon dioxide by making people just drive and fly more and also by recycling more. Also the Paris Agreement, which is a voluntary agreement among 118 nations to try to combat against climate change. As a part of the agreement, each country has to keep the post-industrial global temperature rise below two degrees Celsius. And also they put higher taxes on gasoline so that people will conserve more this energy and pollute less.

My personal opinion about the solution of this problem is that governments should focus more on industrial pollution because they throw many substances to the air that are contaminating the industrialized cities. But also everyone should be more aware of this problem and try to help as much as they can because it is a global issue so it affects everyone. Personaly, we should all use public transport and recycle more because people think that this doesn't help but actually it does. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours and also recycling a single run of the Sunday New York Times would save 75.000 trees.

Ear cropping and tail docking

Recently the Spanish congress has approved the prohibition of ear cropping and tail docking just for aesthetic reasons. 

The surgery to cut off a dog's tail is usually done with surgical scissors and without anesthesia when they are just a few days old because that's when their tail is still soft. It causes pain to the dog, but it is just a puppy so he is not alert and he won't remember it. 

The surgery to cut off part of a dog's ears is done with anesthesia and with dogs between 6 and 12 years old. 

Tail docking and ear cropping is banned in some parts of the world as Australia or the U.K.

I think that this decision of the Spanish congress is going to be positive, because many people use these technics to just give a look to their dogs. But obviously it is not positive for them. First of all because it causes pain to them and it is not natural. Another reason is because dogs use their tails to communicate emotions like anger or excitement, so if they cut off its tail, he will be less able to interact with other dogs. Also cutting their tail or ears is dangerous for its health because it could cause some problems as a developer of a nerve tumor or a neuroma. 

Although this surgery has been less common in the past years because it has fallen out of fashion and people stopped doing it. But the fact that the Spanish congress has banned it, is finally going to make people stop doing it.

SCIENCE LIMITS AND GLOBAL ISSUES

Science has allowed us to evolve, to learn many new things about the world we live and also to live happily and with an easier life. 

But science has also its limits and its inconvenient. One of these inconvenient is the science has created an inequality all around the world, discriminating the ones who cannot have opportunities to learn about it and to use it from the one who can. 

This inequality is a violation of human rights. Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms inherent to all human beings, from birth to death, no matter what if our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin...

But, as I have said, there are many differences in the world so we don't have the same possibilities in life. Rich people have the opportunity of studying and learning and having a better life with a proper work and house, but there are some humans that don't have the possibility of learning and going to school and some are not allowed. This is a big problem in our society and a violation of human rights, the ones that say that everyone has the right to have access to education. 

Also science violates human rights in some other aspects as the access to technology to have a proper life, the restriction of some scientific private advances, the access to health care...

DESCRIPTION OF A PERSON

In this post I will describe my father.

My father is named Valentí and he turned 50 in September 2016. He works on the construction sector selling materials, but recently he is also working as a farmer which is what he really likes, because he is a very calm person and he enjoys working in the fields.
Physically, he is no very tall, he has black short hair and blue eyes.

Also, he is a very smart person but he wasn't very good with studies when he was young, so that's why he decided to give up and start working on what he liked, with construction machines and trucks.
He is very good at repairing things so every time a familiar has a problem with their car they come home and he solves it. He has learned how cars work all alone by repairing them and seeing how they are built. Recently he has also built a machine from zero, with my cousin's help, for his tractor to facilitate the work. He is a very hard-working person.

He is a very king and humble person. He always helps everyone he can for nothing in return. Every time I have a problem and I am blocked I ask him for advice and he tries to help me trying to find a solution.

He has a sense of humor and he is always laughing and trying to make people laugh. In his free time he likes to spend it with family or just working on something at home, but he doesn't like doing nothing.

SPACE TOURISTS

Two unnamed people have already paid for places in a trip that will take them around the moon, but without landing. So late next year they will fly with SpaceX.

Many people are fascinated about the possibility of being able to travel to space in less than three years, it will be available for everyone who can afford it. But it is expected the cost of the space travel will eventually come down and become something which is affordable to more than only the very wealthy. 

Traveling to the space is not easy, they have warned that that it is a week of hard travel and it could feel like a long time in a small capsule which is for seven people and it will feel small even if just two or three are traveling there.

Also the ones that want to travel to the space have to support a long training programme of two years before they are allowed. Tourist will need to know how to operate key parts of the spacecraft in the case that there is an emergency or issue in communication with the mission control and they will be able to keep themselves and the spacecraft safe. 

YOU CAN READ MORE HERE

MY OPINION: 

I think it is a great idea that they allow citizens to take these amazing trips to the space, but I hope one day the prices are low enough for everyone to travel to the moon and not just the very wealthy.

I will really like to travel to the moon one day because I think that it will be amazing to see the Earth from another perspective, but I don't know if I would be able to support the extreme conditions of the training programme and then the takeoff. Also, I don't think it is enjoyable to be in a very small capsule for a week. 

A RUSSIAN ARCHITECT'S DREAM TO CLEAN AIR

A Russian architect named Alexei Umarov had this idea of a skyscraper that could clean the air pollution, because this situation affects all around the world with the excessive heat, polluted air, metals in the air, excessive levels of carbon dioxide... So he wanted to solve this problem. 

This project is named the HyperFilter skyscraper and it looks like a giant tree that can purify the city's polluted air. The difference between the Umarov's idea and others architects' one is that Umarov's doesn't have any flats or offices on the inside, it's just a giant air filter. 

Many architects liked this idea of using materials and techniques that could remove impurities and clean the air we breathe. Daan Roosegaarde has already created towers in cities like Beijing, which are supposed to filter impurities in the air. But there's no serious evidence that these constructions can reduce pollution levels. Though all architects try to find the way these towers really work. 

His project, the HyperFilter consists of a skeleton, a porous shell and long pipes with filters inside. The air will get sucked through the pipes, cleaned and cooled. The other substances will be separated and accumulated on the lower levels of the building where they will be recycled. 

MY OPINION:

In my opinion  Alexei Umarov's project is a very good idea because polluted air is a real problem nowadays that affects many parts of the world and that dirty the air we breathe every day. 

So if they finally get the perfect techniques that can actually remove all these substances from the air with the perfect material, I think that this would be revolutionary because many cities are trying to fight against this air pollution and many will use these towers. 

HERE YOU CAN READ MORE

SCIENTISTS MAKE MEAT

Scientists from the Netherlands finally discovered how to grow meat in the laboratory. This way we won't have to kill more animals to eat, but there are some problems.



The first problem is the cost of the production. Just a piece of meat costs around $12.500 to make, but because the laboratory has an investor from the meat industry, maybe the first hamburger will be on the market within five years.
Though all it will be expensive and in small production, because it lasts 3 months to grow a hamburger, so it will be just for restaurants and for 12-14 dollars.

The other problem is that people don't like the idea of laboratory products and they prefer the natural products, especially if the laboratory one is also expensive.

The positive part is that with this process, we will never need to kill more animals, because with just some cells from a tissue, that are able to divide into many other cells, can turn into muscle fibres and then create a burger.

But I think that we all just should have a diet with less red meat so we won't have to kill that amount of animals to eat, and also because it is healthier to have a varied diet that includes everything we need.

Here you can watch the process of creating a burger from a cell in the laboratory:

The Physician, NOAH GORDON

The Physician is a novel written by Noah Gordon. It is about a Christian British boy of the 11th-century, who lives in the poorest suburb of London. At the age of nine, Rob Cole, the protagonist, is orphaned, his father dies and then his mother from appendicitis, so he and his many brothers and sisters go to live with different families. 

Rob fears being adopted by a family and becoming a slave, but finally he is taken by a traveling barber-surgeon, whose work is so various, from entertaining people to cure them with natural medicines he creates. So Rob became his assistant. 

From this day Rob discoveres his love for medicine and also his gift, which is the power of knowing if people is going to die just by touching them. So when Rob is old enough to finally leave the barber-surgeon, he becomes also a barber-surgeon. But he wants to take advantage of his gift and learn more about medicine so that he is able to cure everyone, and also the ones who die with the same disease as his mother. 

So after this, he started asking for a physician who could teach him and someone told him about the Persian medical school, the best one, so he decides to travel there at all cost. During this journey he will have to renounce to many things, like his religion, but also he will learn so many things.

MY OPINION: 

The reason why I love this book is because it represents courage, overcoming and that everything is possible if you really want it, because Rob Cole has many problems during his journey and he had to live in poor conditions to get to where he wants. But it never came through his mind to give up and come back home where he had a proper work that gave him enough money to live in very good conditions. Also, I really liked the way Rob wishes to learn and even when he was given the option of having a rich work, he renunced because he wanted to stay next to his teacher and learn even more and also he never forgot the disease that killed his mother and he tries to discover what happened to her. 

NASA discovers new solar system TRAPPIST-1

Astronomers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have announced the discovery of a new solar system that is 39 light years away from Earth.

They have detected seven planets of the size of the Earth, or slightly smaller, orbiting the star of the TRAPPIST-1, and it is believed that they have the qualities needed to support life. 

Three of the planets could also have oceans so it gives a hope to astronomers that someday they will find a second Earth 

The planets of this system are all very close to the star, which is small and cold, and very close to each other so they are similar to see the Moon from the Earth. That's why those planets could have some water and maybe life, because they are template. Their orbits are smaller than the Mercury one.

The star of the TERAPPIST-1 has a temperature of 2550K, and our Sun 5778K.

The observations were made by the Terappist robotic telescope at La Silla, Chile, and now, the NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is searching for atmospheres around the planets. Future telescopes may be powerful enough to detect markers of life, like oxygen. 

This is the Liverpool Telescope they used. It is located on La Palma in Canary Islands where the skies are clear most of the time.

The first planet discovered outside of our Solar System was in 1992 and since then 3577 planets have been found. But just twelve of them are able to maybe support life and just three are as ideal as those they have recently found. Though all, they estimate that there coulf be 40 billion habitable worlds in our galaxy.

Here you can see the TRAPPIST-1 planets compared to 4 of our planets.

If you want to read more information about this new you can click here

MY OPINION: 

For me those new discoveries are very interesting because we all know that out of our solar system, somewhere else, life exists, so every day we get closer to find it with new technologies and new studies. And who knows, maybe one day humans can conquer another planet. 

To me, knowing that they estimate that there are 40 billion planets able to support life reminds me of the enormous things we don't already know about the place we live and the things we will never know. So we are just an insignificant planet in one of the many enormous galaxies. 

"The human race is just a chemical scum on a moderate-sized planet, orbiting around a very average star in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies. We are so insignificant that I can't believe the whole universe exists for our benefit. That would be like saying that you would disappear if I closed my eyes." - Stephen Hawking. 

COOL HUNTERS: The Legal Stalkers of Youth Culture

In the book No Logo, Naomi Klein talks about the power of the brands and the impact they have in our society. 

class we read a fragment of her book, where she talks about the Cool Hunters, professionals who work on making observations and predicting the changes of the new and present trends. I think that it is a great marketing strategy because people likes to be informed of the trends and it is a good way to emphasize with the customers. But at the same time I think it would be more original to create new styles instead of going outside with a camera and taking photos of people and copying their style. 

Anyway, I don't think that we shouldn't be that much dependent on the trends and we shouldn't give too much importance to the cool hunters, but we like to fit in the society and look cool so we were what is trending and we buy to the popular cloth shops, even if we know that we are being manipulated by the companies and we are becoming more and more dependent to their brands arriving at the point that we feel identified with them.