class dialogue

HYPOCRISY

A: Gladis, Gladis!

Gladis: What is it my Sir? (mexican accent, clumsy noises in the background)

A: Clumsy maid… I told you I was going to need the car this morning, why is it not ready?

Gladis: I’m sorry my Sir, I had to- (interruption)

A: It’s OK, next time you’re fired. Call a taxi.

(The taxi has arrived)

Taxi driver: Where are we going? (redneck voice)

A: Actually, I am going, you just drive…  to Harrods, quickly! (disgusted voice)

(pause)

A: I’ve got an appointment with my fellow B. It’s been years since we last met... Last time we saw each other he was suffering a terrible course of some member of the club... his nose operation went wrong and his face was an absolute disaster….

Taxi driver: Such a drama...

A: Oh absolutely!, because he used to… (taxi driver speaks over A, with an irritated voice)

Taxi driver: It’s OK, we’re here. 28 pounds please.

A: Where’s that slubberdegullion?, always late....

B: A! I’m here. (B had been around there since A stepped out of the taxi)

A: Oh my goodness! You look so gorgeous I didn’t recognize you at first.

B: You look fabulous too my dear, are those new chin implants?

A: Indeed they are.

B: Oh, how jealous I am! They look wonderful on you!

A: I know. But what about your forehead?! What’s happened here?

B: Oh, you know that amazing plastic surgeon who has operated Kim Kardashian, don’t you?

A: Of course I do.

B: Well, I got an engagement with him, don’t ask how, and he injected me some quality Botox to highlight my previous nose job.

A: That nose job was perfect, wasn’t it?

B: Of course, I only spend my money with professionals.

A: With whom if not? (little pause) Oh, did you see what happened to C for not going with experts?

B: Yep, I did… How horrible!!! (with beaming voice)

(both laughing)

A: Oh my... that was a complete disaster! She will burn with envy when she sees us!

B: She’s already jealous of us.

A: You think so?

B: Definitely

A: Because…

B: Because I told her about this appointment and she was green with envy that she couldn’t join us!

A: We didn’t invite her anyway

B: That’s why I told her not to come!

A: You’re so bad… I love it!

B: Ouhmm,  let’s drink some tea, I’ve heard about a very chic café right at at the top of the mall.

(At the café. There’s a woman of their age in another table sitting alone)

A: Look at that woman over there.

B: Oh my… how she dares to go out in the street, with such wrinkles?

A: How disgusting, a kid could see her and get a trauma.

B: That’s why I visit my surgeon everytime I get a wrinkle.

A: Oh, I can see it in your face, so fabulous!

B: Like you my dear, that’s why everyone loves us.

A: Of course they do!

B: People like her will end up alone... forever!

A: Hahaha! Absolutely right, let’s drink a toast. For our beauty!

(Suddenly a man arrives and kisses the woman with wrinkles and sits with her. They look happy)

B: Look at that woman again!

A: That’s not possible! How can that man be with her?!

B: She has to be filthy rich, otherwise there’s no explanation...

A: Well, honey... money can give you everything. That’s how our sick society works, doesn’t it?

B: Couldn’t agree more… the world is going to hell.

(half an hour later)

B: Well A, it’s been a pleasure to be with you. Now I have to go.

A: Yeah me too, thanks for your time. Hope to see you soon my dear!

B: Kisses to all your beautiful family, I’ll miss you.

A: We stay in touch!

(B’s limousine arrives, his butler Ambrosio is driving)

Ambrosio: How was the meeting my Sir?

B: I don’t pay you to ask me questions!

(little pause)

B: Well, you know, how much I hate A… but I have to be nice with him if I want his father to sell me his estates.

Ambrosio: That’d be a fine business

B: Of course Ambrosio, what did you expect from me? Well, A has always been quite ugly, but now… oh my gosh! his new implants make him look so horrible I wanted to escape.

Ambrosio: She should learn from my Sir...

B: You’re right! That fat old fool is so jealous of me.

(some minutes later)

Ambrosio: We’re home.

B: Finally… I just want to relax… I worked so hard today.

Ambrosio: I’ll be all the night working in the garden, see you tomorrow.

B: Excellent! Oh… if A rings, just tell him I’m not here… for the next five months!

matilda

I'm not very keen on watching humour films, that's why I found so difficult to write this post: I simply couldn't think of a funny film I had watched recently because I hadn't!

However, I kept on trying to remember some funny film I liked when I was little, and I came across with Matilda. Matilda is a film about a little genious girl who is born in an ignorant but rich family. She early shows up interest for books and school, but her parents still believe she is three (when she is actually six) and treat her as a baby. Then, her father, who sells cars at a fraudulent price, meets a terrible headmistress from a very strict school. They decide to take Matilda to that school, and there she starts to develope her amazing mind...

The humour of Matilda is both witty and kind of slapstick.

This hilarious film has some moving scenes and and also a lot of message in it. When you see it as a child you just make fun of the situation, but when you watch it again with some more years you realize how the film is criticizing a society focused on earning money that forget about education and ethics.

ugly heart

The other day I was  listening to some music on Spotify while I was finishing my art homework when a song I had never heard sounded. I quite liked it and, when I listened to it for the second time, and paid attention to the lyrics, I thought it would fit well with this beauty topic we're working with.

It is called Ugly heart, from G.R.L, and it tells the story of a girl who fell in love with a very handsome guy, but he broke her heart. In the videoclip, which is very funny and I recommend to watch, the girls are taking justice as they understand it and revenge from him... The last sentence of the video summarizes the clip well: "now your face is ugly, like your heart".

Even though this song is a bit about revenge, it also brings a question to your mind that makes you think about how influenced we are by fashion, the search for eternal youth... is beauty everything? G.R.L answer to this question easily, beauty is nothing if your inner part is ugly, if you're not honest, faithful... We must remember to care about our acts even more than our looking.

rainy days

It's Sunday morning and it's pouring down out there. The clouds cover the whole sky in dark grey and the wind is giving life to the dancing trees. Day to stay home!

I adore good weather, i couldn't live without my beloved sun and warmth typical from my country. Nevertheless, a rainy day in last November is always welcome as long as I'm not sailing... This weekned without sailing and with bad weather has come in handy for me to do some work I had to finish matching with the end of term at highschool. I had some TDR stuff to do and obviously a couple of new postson this blog...

Once I finish this I'm going to visit my grandparents and my cousin (who got twenty yesterday) and have lunch with some friends of the family. After that... And as I usually do on Sundays, I'll go to the cinema to wathch The Mockingjay! Actually, I've already seen it (last Friday with my friends) but my parents are ager to watch it and I can't refuse;) 

There's something I'd like to do today too, but I'm afraid it won't be possible: SUP. I really like this sport, it allows you to surf in the mediterranean. I can't wait for some good waves, and, in fact, I can hear them from home... The thing is that during the storm the waves are extremely messy and even dangerous, thus I'll have to wait a couple days for the sea to calm down and then, once in order, take profit of the swell!

jonathan ward

As technology industries rise at a stunning rhythm, so does the number of employees they hire and the facilities they require. The needing of expanding their headquarters bring to the tech-giants the chance to demonstrate their power by building modern impressive centers. 

Not only designed for being functional, these buildings are meant to represent the companies' philosophy. By constructing campus that house both offices and leisure zones, they try to turn the centres into social spaces, where colleagues interact more and even mix with citizens. The times of hieratic massive skyscrapers are gone, they say the 21st century architecture is about building cities in each building rather than erecting towers in the cities.

From my point of view, this new way of understanding work places can be extremely positive to both employees and citizens. Working in a building that transmits its nice atmosphere to the people in it, boosts creativity and productivity. And it's obvious that impressive buildings attract tourists and enrich a city.

Read the complete article.

sailing in kiel

I was skimming my blog when I realized two things: I haven't written about sailing this year, and that I haven't made a post about the race I finally went in June... so let's do it!

I orgnanized the trip with my parents and we went together with my sailing partner and another crew. We got on the van and started a 2000km ride to northern Germany: Kiel.

After two days driving, we arrived to the city and overslept there. The following day we went to the harbor and unloaded the boats. The organization there was brilliant: an enormous team of volunteers and staff were telling everyone what to do, where to go... A fleet of 56 Audi Q7 were waiting for our trailers and slide the motorboats into the water. 

Unfortunately we couldn't sail much because of the bad weather and the lack of wind. We did about six races in four days (which is far less than expected), however, it was amazing to sail there. Thousands of sailing boats were covering the bay in white, that was an astonishing spectacle!

The days were strikingly long, the sun rose at 3am and twilight was at 11pm. That was a bit confusing, but you soon get used to it. Due to the days being so long, we could get on the van and visit some interesting places. We saw both impressive gigantic forests and cozy little towns by the sea. One day we even went to Denmark! 

After an amazing week in Kiel it was time for us to return home... but we took our time in the return and stopped in several interesting places. We visited Hannover, Heidelberg and Freiburg. 

That trip to Kiel was an amazing way to start the summer vacation, I'm eager to return there as soon as possible!

Bis bald Deutschland!   

underground

Underground stations have always been known as gloomy places, where you should rush to catch the train and preserve your wallet. Yet a new trend is trying to change this by transforming these bad reputed spots into places of architectural interest.

The CNN has elaborated a ranking of the most impressive underground stations in the world.

As you may know, I'm really interested in architecture, in fact, I want to be an architect. These stunning art works, that make your journey through the underground tunnels something quite like visiting a museum or impressive buildings, fascinate me. As I see it, architecture is not only the science of constructing well, but also the art of transforming ordinary buildings into places of interest. Functionality combined with beauty make something as vulgar as a flat become a piece of art, something that represents a city, a country... 

Building practically will be useful, building practical art will be rewarding!

ehs

EHS -electromagnetic hypersensitivity intolerance syndrome- is known as the new disease triggering terrible headaches, insomnia and malaise.

Although it is not scientifically demonstrated, an increasing number of people believe they're influenced by the wireless technology. Regarding there are more than 5billion mobile phones out there, almost a wifi per family living in a developed country, radios and microwaves working in each house... it is difficult to make a math and find out the density of waves influencing our bodies.

The standard population aren't aware of this waves, but a significant group of people defend their bodies are influenced by these technologies and that they suffer from EHS. 

West Virginia, in the US is probably the only place on the developed world where wireless technologies are banned. This is not to keep people safe form radiations, but because that state is the house of the largest steerable radio telescope on earth. 

Diane Schou and other witnesses tell us their story.

In my opinion these people aren't completely wrong, mainly because I've noticed an increasing  on the frequency I suffer from headache since wifi was installed everywhere. I really appreciate this technologies, yet we must consider whether we are exposing ourselves to too much radiations and if they  worth the price we'll pay.  

News article based on CNN and Daily Mail reports.

fontus

Water out of the blue!

Kristof Retezár, an industrial design student at the University of applied arts in Vienna came up with the idea of a bottle that was able to produce water out of the air. It is meant to be used attached to a bike and while riding. After an hour cycling, and with proper conditions (20ºC and 50% humidity), it produces half a liter of fresh and drinkable water.

The device condenses the surrounding air to collect moisture in a flask or a bottle that can be changed at any time. 

This Retezár's brainchild could be very useful if improved. Can you imagine how beneficial it could be in a country with poor rains but high humidity rates? As I see it, it is a dream come true that will be, in a future, not only helpful for cyclists but also for the whole planet. The only drawback I could imagine, is what would happen if the air surrounding is polluted? However, I also see quite an easy answer: incorporate filters to the device!

needle in haystack

Sven Sachsalber wants to prove the popular saying: as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack. 

The artist, known for his bizarre performances is to spend 48h looking for needle in a haystack, as part of his exposition in the "Palais de Tokyo" in Paris. The director of the museum hid the needle and the search will be "exposed" in one of the rooms of the Palais. It is due to last for about two days but the search will take as much time as Sachsalber needs to find the needle. 

Another recent strange performance of the artist is locking himself for 24h inside a room with a cow. 

It seems that today everything is considered as modern art... I'm not saying this performance is not art, though I'd rather name it challenge or spectacle to be shown in fast motion. I've always preferred classical art such as traditional paintings (including art nouveau and contemporary art such as Dali or Picasso) to this new way of understanding art... art is beauty and critics, this new wave of artists are mixing it with eccentricity and nonsense.

Catalonia overwhelmingly votes for independence from Spain in straw poll

"Catalonia overwhelmingly votes for independence from Spain in straw poll". This is how the NY Times titled the article about the 9N in Catalonia.

2,25 Million people voted yesterday in Catalonia in favor of Catalonia's independence from Spain. Catalonia's independence is an issue that has been one of the main preoccupations in Mariano Rajoy's legislature since in 2012 a massive demonstration in Barcelona claimed for independence. After a legal fight between the governments of Spain and Catalonia, the referendum that was due to be celebrated in Catalonia the ninth of November was declared illegal by the spanish. As promised in his  electoral campaign and pressured by catalan civil organizations, Mas (Catalonia's prime minister) convened a straw poll to demonstrate Catalonia's aims to vote and decide.

As I see it, Spanish government's attitude is absolutely antidemocratic and seems to be deaf in front of Catalonia's claim. This stance demonstrates a lack of consideration to the catalans, and, in my opinion, enhances catalans' hope for independence.

There's more to add: the constant propaganda against Catalonia that spanish media are promoting is creating a hate atmosphere amongst Spain. Furthermore, these media are choosing images for their covers that do not represent the Catalan movement AT ALL. 

In conclusion: as Catalan, I'd like the Spanish government to listen to us and start, at least, to debate instead of just ignoring every single movement of the catalan society. 

drawing on humour for change

Humour can change the world. And so proves Liza Donelly with her talk. 

Women have always been at the base of our society, they race our children, and they're hard workers too. Unfortunately the role of women is not always the one they decide: women are influenced by their families, by their friends, teachers, neighbours, media... women are influenced by society since they're born to play the exact role they're ment to.

After growing up surrounded by the feminist movement, Liza decided to turn her passion, drawing, into a way of changing the world. Nowadays, her witty humour inspires us on newspapers and magazines.

In my opinion Liza was really brave to step out of the box and express her feelings by drawing, and the fact that she claims for a better world, where equality and human rights are reclaims belonging to the past, makes her a current hero.

hapiness at work

Is happiness important when working?

Of course it is! Check out this infographic and discover how happiness is involved in every single thing of our daily life. In fact, it also influences on our performance at work.

Our society tends to think that the more you have the happier you are... Really? Happiness is not about having money or brand new stuff, but feeling comfortable with yourself and with your environment. The benefits of happiness are endless, though today we're focusing on one of them: being happy at work.

Being happy at work triggers an enhance of your output and make you more likely to ascend to a better post and even boost your colleagues' job performance. Besides, the improvement of your own results will make you feel more self-confident, and... guess what: happier!

 

is humour necessary?

To laugh or not to laugh... that's not a question!

Humour is an essential part of the human race that should never be questioned. Just like other feelings tha emerge from our heart spontaneously, like anger, joy or sadness, humour is present in our daily lives. Yet humour is noy only a feeling, but also a very powerful tool to be used in many ways: to overcome sadness, to socialize one or even to change the world.

We can expect many benefits of humour: to amuse us, to change our mood... but its best point is that it boosts our eagerness to live and it triggers a noticeable enhance of our health according to what scientists of Birmingham Univeristy stated as the conclusion of many years of research.

To sum up, we must always remember Stephen Hawking’s words: giving up on humour is giving ip on yourself.  

*this is fiction, any resemblance with reality is pure coincidence;)

joke!

how to make stress your friend

Psychologist Kelly McGonigal has been teaching people for more than ten years how to avoid stress, turning it into the enemy. Now, recent research has changed her mind, and so she wants to do with us: stress isn't harmful for our bodies, but how we face it can bring serious increase of heart disease risk.

It shows up that the effects on our bodies such as sweat and heart pounding that we've always associated with negative feelings aren't that bad. Stress is preparing us to face challenges, to do our best on whatever we're doing and consequently, succeed. Another amazing result of being stressed is that we become more social: the pituitary gland pumps out oxytocin, a neuro-hormon that makes us become more compassionate, empathetic and even sorround ourselves by people we care about.

To conclude, I must say that with this talk I haven't only learnt about how to stand stress but also some new vocabulary such as nudge (gentle encouragement or reminder), seek (search, look for) or vessels (where blood flows through)... So I feel like the only thing I can say about it is thanks. Thanks Kelly for teaching us! :)

terrorism

Terrorism is a global problem. There are many ways of terrorism, one of the most recent is the informatic one, on the internet. But by now, the most common is the aggressive one, the one that causes death, terror and pain. If you read the word carefully it won't be difficult for you to understand where it comes from: the act of causing terror among people... Now think, is it a good way of trying to change things?

Of course it is not! They can't see that the only thing that terrorism gets is hate, fear and chaos.

In my opinion terrorism is the worst way of manipulation. Some organizations may even rule like a lobby, but there's no point on achieveing power by the force. We live in a democracy, and although we still have a long walk before we reach an equal society based on respect, honesty and truth, we must try to keep it improving. Terrorism is nothing but a stone on the road to freedom and we must wash it away.

How? You may ask. It's not going to be easy. I haven't said it is something we can fight within a few days. Even though, we must stand against it and try to erradicate it: together we can do anything. Together... And with some help of our governments, who must ignore any pressure they might recieve from terrorists, and also be truthful to us (but that's another issue to deal with...).

looking back

During this year I've noticed an improvement in my writing thanks to the huge amount of opinion essays we've done. Even though, I think that my best skill in English is not writing but listening and speaking. Perhaps speaking doesn't show off that much because I'm a bit shy when talking to someone who has to evaluate me, the I get nervous and start making absurd mistakes. It's been very useful for me to write that exhausting number of essays. In contrast, I don't really like writing on the blog, I prefere to handle my writings to the teacher. Something I also dislike a little is to evaluate my peers. next year I'd like to continue doing oral presentations and basically all the stuff we've been doing this year.

In conclusion, I've liked this schoolyear and I'm eager to start second of batxillerat.  

sleep for memory

Scientists in China and the US have recently discovered the connection between the quantity of sleep and the way neurons do their job. As it seems, the better and more we sleep, the better our brain works. This improvement of our sleep improves at the same time our memory. Scientists have proved with their experiment that subjects having more sleep were more likely to learn more and fatser than those sleeping less. They explain this phenomenon proving that when we sleep our brain reviews everything that we have done during the day, including that what we have studied.

I think it is fascinating to see how science can explain some incredible things such as this curious fact. Some rimes I've read in articles and books that the loss of sleep and, basically to stop sleeping, can boost our mental capacity and our brain habilites. This investigation, however, shows that it is actually the approrpiate amount of sleep what improves our mind.

More info at:  http://www.bbc.com/news/health-27695144

maleficent

Maleficent is the re-edition of the traditional Disney film Sleeping beauty. It tells the story from a different point of view, from the sight of Maleficent. At the beggining, you see a young fairy living in a magic forest. When she meets a human boy, who's come from the humanlands looking for some gemes to sell, she rapidly falls in love with him. After some years of friendship, when they are sixteen the boy kisses her promising eternal love... But this love disappears as he grows up and becomes more and more mean and ambitious. This ambition leads him to do something terrible: he betrays Maleficent when the king, in his deathbed, offers the crown to whom kills her. When he fouls her and cuts her wings, she becomes dark and dangerous and some years after that, during the new king's daughter's baptism, she appears and curses the baby. Then, the baby is sent to a cottage to be raised by three fairies who are not very able to grow up a human. Maleficent looks patienly and closely to Aurora, until something extraordinary happens...

I've really liked this film. This version of the classic offers a different point of view and represents a huge contrast with the traditional version of the sleeping beauty. Publics of all ages will enjoy this film: the little ones because of its amusing part, and the older ones because of its critical part, as well as the memory from their childhood.

welcome summer!

Welcome summer!!

Wow... It's been such a long wait for summer to come, but finally it is here. The weather is at last warm, I've finished my exams and school is about to come to an end. 

This weekend has been crazy, crazy enough to greet summer. On Friday afternoon I went to the swimming pool, as usual, but after that I went with my family to our favourite restaurant in Empuriabrava. Then, on Saturday, I woke up early to finish some stuff from school and, at eleven I met with Francesc (my new sailing partner) to train. We sailed about two hours and when we finished I rushed to Torroella de Montgrí, where I had an appointment with Vicenç Pagès (a catalan writer) for my TDR. After two hours of interview, I wandered around the streets enjoying a festival about magic they were having. Afterwards, we went to Palamós to visit my grandparents. We went shopping and then we slept in our flat by the sea.

On Sunday I woke up early in Plalamós and quickly got on the car way to st.Pere. On the road we stopped again in Torroella to have a magnific breakfast of croisants and orange juice and then we continued our return. At about eleven I arrived in st.Pere, where Carles (my coach) was waiting for me to train again with Francesc. We've sailed almost four hours and in the afternoon I've been in La Gola just enjoying the sun, the wind and basicly...  Summer!

project-based learning

Do students like learning? Of course they do. Then, why do we often think they don't? Because there IS something they dislike: the way they must learn.

What can we do to solve that? Peoject-Based learning is a new idea that promotes a more involving and motivating way of learning. PBL leads students through knowledge making them absorb plenty of new contents as well as work in a team and present their project.

As a student I enjoy PBL because it makes you more effective when searching information. It also makes you more critical with the informarion you find and, despite requiring more work, you learn a lot more than with the traditional method. Instead of swallowing units lf verbs, grammar and vocabulary you discover the words, learn the grammar and use the verbs. In addition, it improves your speaking skills and makes you more likely to work in a team with mates.

In conclusion, PBL makes learning more exciting, effective and, in fact, prepares students better for the real world.

bullying

"Bullying is an undercovered problem that affects students but also teachers, and, in fact, our educational system" -Marie Desmond, teacher and mother-

It is well-known that bullying is present in most of the schools around the world, and despite of that, we still ignore it. Why? Because it is so difficult to fight that we are lazy to do it.

A kid suffering from bullying may be ashamed of telling (or most of times scared). Sometimes not even the victim knows that he/she's being bullied because the bullies seem to be his/her friends. There are a lot of different ways to do bulling. It can be physical, psychological or it can take the appearance of tasteless, aggressive jokes.

In my opinion, we must fight all kinds of bullying. If we erradicate bullying from schools our eductaional system will work better: students will be happier and more focused on their work. There will be a better environment at school. We must change the bullies by teaching them how perjudicial their behaviour can be and how their "funny" hobby transform others, how their victims suffer.

To sum up, bullying is a great problem we must vanish from schools.

spain's king abdicates

Today, at short past ten, Mariano Rajoy, the president of Spain, appeard on an official communicate telling Spain that the king Juan Carlos the 1st had decided to abdicate and pass the crown to Felipe, his heir.

The news surprised Spain and the spanish whilst everyone was working on their jobs. By midday the breaking new had already spreaded around the country and the world. At that time, Juan Carlos have made another communicate, then talking himself about the reasons of his decision and encouraging the spanish to trust in Felipe. According to his speech, it seems that he considers he's ruled the country for long enough and it is time for his son to sit on the throne. He's also spoken about his health and the difficult moment Spain is living (the deep crisis it is suffering).

The new have instantly become trending topic on twitter and lots of politicians, economists but also citzens have given their opinion and point of view about it. It is good to remember that Juan Carlos is the third king to abdicate within a year in Europe (the Belgian and the Dutch abdicated last year). The politic tensions Spain's living with the Catalan process have become more sensible around the country, where a lot of citzens (not only catalans and euskeras) have expressed their wish to transform Spain into a republic.

As I see it, a King was very useful some time ago (...perhaps the last century?) but now, that democracy has reached its maturity, a crown has nothing to do in a country but spending its money... 

finishing 1bat

Almost nine months have passed since I started first of Batxillerat. In September, nine months looked like eternity, now, they're just dust. How have all this time flied so fast? I think I have the answer: a lot of stress and fun.

-Stress... In some ways it's been a stressful year. First, we have all the stuff to do from school plus the exams and projects. Then we have the non-stop sailing season. Between school and sailing, weeks and weekends have passed so fast that I haven't even realized. Even though, I like this lifestyle and I definetely prefere it to the boring Sunday's evenings lying on the coach waiting for a good film that never arrives...

-Fun. Despite being very buzy, I have had some time to have fun. And what's more, I have fun doing the things I do, overall, sailing. Appart from sailing, I have also enjoyed other activities, such as swimming, windsurfing... To get it better, I've been to parties, concerts, I've gone to more than a trip, I've been with my familly, etc. 

In conclusion, course 2013-14 has been very profitable: I've learnt a lot, I've enjoyed almost every second and, in fact, it's gone sooooo fast (but that's ok!).

Here you have some pictures of this year!

time flies...

Time flies. That's a fact.

How can we prove that fact? Very symple, show something that used to be modern a few years ago to a today's kid and stare at his reaction! That's what "the fine brothers" have tried with the eighties' computers.

Don't miss this funny video. First you can see they don't even know what's standing in front of them. When they reach the conclusion that that's a computer, they wonder how to turn it on, and once on... They know anything about how to use it! (Honestly, I wouldn't know neither) the first thing they look for on it is obviously internet. Mistake! There was no internet back to that time:) after that, they play with it a few minutes and quickly get bored of it.

It is an interesting experiment, and I have to say that there were two sentences that stuck to my mind. Thi first one, has a sense of humour: it looks so hipster! The other one, worried me a little: if there was no internet, how did they do their school work? This means that young generations are completely forgetting about books... Do we really want to be a society based exclusively on internet?

Internet is an undoubtable helpful tool, however, we can't rely only on internet. We must keep books and handwritten things as a treasure if we don't want our grandsons to need a keybord to write down anything.

longboarding

Last year a longboard in a shop caught my eye. Since then I asked for it for several months until one day my parents told me: "if you want a longboard, you'll have to build it yourself. We're not buying it because you'll use it twice and then forget it in the garage..." But I really wanted the "long", rather than as a toy, as a transport. So I built one.

At first I didn't really know how to start, so I looked on the internet about shapes, materials, wheels, styles... Everything. I found which woods and shapes were the best and then I took what I could from home: my high quality wood was nothing more than an abandoned wooden centerboard, and the shape... Well, I drew it with a projector on the wall.

Luckily a friend of mine was there to help me, so we did it together. I drew the desing for the bottom and the shape, he cut it and together we sanded and painted it. After that, we went to Figueres and bought the axles and the wheels. When we thought we were almost finished, we couldn't find males nor females to fix them. We looked for them in several ironmongers and finally found some that were suitable.

It took us about a week working the whole day to build the longboard, but it was really worth it. Perhaps it is not the best, and it does have some imperfections, but I'm really happy with it and I have to say that we are very proud of our handmade longboard.

green roof

Barklays center in Brooklin is set to go green with a giant roof garden. It is planned to build several housing flats around the arena. In order to muffle the sound and to make the place more attractive, the existing roof (which is based on an iron cielling with Barklays' logo) will be replaced by a colosal garden. The garden will be built on floatating trays above the existing roof so that the plants will grow covering the old one. An air gap will reduce the sound and make the plants more likely to survive.

In my opinion a green roof will be beneficial for the zone, it will look better and even reduce pollution by making more breathable air. I'm eager to see the result and, of course, I'd like to go there to see it... And to assist to a concert, as well as visiting the city!