Remembering Troy Davis: “Guilty” until proven innocent

A year and a month ago from today, the state of Georgia executed Troy Anthony Davis for a crime many believed he did not commit. He was executed despite major doubts about evidence used to convict him of killing police officer Mark Mac Phial (including the recantations of seven of the nine non-police witnesses). There was an international movement that called for his life to be spare. However despite all this Troy Davis was put to death on September 21, 2011.  

Do you believe Troy Davis was innocent? And, after watching the video do you think there was enough evidence to sentence him to death?

Crime is an evident part of society, and everyone is aware that something must be done. What punishment do they really deserve? Many believe that criminals deserve only one fate: death penalty; they say, “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth and life for life” However, others believe this is totally immoral and ethically incorrect. Whenever such a harsh idea comes up, people from both sides start arguing. One side says justice; the other says vengeance. 

I invite you to express your opinion towards such a controversial issue. 

• Where do you stand on? 
• Do you think death penalty should be abolished? 
• Should someone have the power to decide on somebody else’s life?

•  Does your opinion change with Ray’s Story, another “Death Penalty Mistake”?

F.C.Barcelona

The last match of Barcelona, started brightly, with a 0-3. But in the end, the match complicated for them, and they nearly lose 3 very important points. the final result was 4-5 for Barcelona. here you can see a brief summary of the match.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wosZY69OPVk

Barcelona, was going to play versus Deportivo. Not a very good team. It just came from second division. It seemed as if it was going to be a very suitable match. when the match started, everyone thought the same. In the minute 17', Barcelona was winning 0-3, a very difficult result for Deportivo to go back.
But suddenly the referee whistled a penalty that verily, it wasn't. These changed the entire match. Deportivo scored the penalty, and a few minutes later scored another goal (2-3). Before the end of the first half of the match, Barcelona scored another goal (2-4). We all started to think that we had won.
But, just starting the second half, Deportivo scored another goal, that scored the 3-4. Then,  5minutes later a Barcelona player was expulsed. The fear started to appear. But Messi appeared, and scored for Barcelona (3-5). Nobody thaught that Deportivo was going to score again, but they did (4-5). Te last ten minutes were apothosis everone could score, the match was brokenn.
Finally the end of the match arrived. Barcelona won 4-5, and the 3 important points came to Barcelona. We all suffered a lot, because it seemed to be a easy match, and it started like these, but suddenly all changed and we sufferes too much. For Barceona, the players who scored were: Jordi Alba, Christian Tello and Messi x3. For Deportivo, the players who scored were: Pizzi x2, Álex Bergantiños, and finally Jordi Alba scored in his own goal.
- Who will win the League?
- Will Madrid catch up Barcelona?
- Another team will make so much problems for Barcelona?

Marc Castellà

Eton Style Gangnam

The latest viral sensation on the web is the Eton version of the Gangnam video clip. Enjoy! (Open it on Youtube to read the lyrics.)

The clip is full of references to life at Eton and these are explained here.

Eton is the exclusive UK secondary school which has been responsible for the education of the current Prime Minister (David Cameron), current Mayor of London (Boris Johnson) and members of the royal family (Prince William).

In fact, David Cameron is one of an increasing number of 'famous people' to perform the Gangnam dance! The Gangnam video has been seen over 510 million times and spawned a huge number of take-offs. The United Nations has called it, 'a force for world peace'.

• What do you think of the video... and Eton?
• Do you think these videos can affect 'world peace'?
• Could we and should we make an 'Oak House Gangnam'?

iSurprise

What do you know about how your iProduct is produced? This short video takes you inside Apple's main factory, where:

• Thousands crowd the recruitment lines to earn less than $2 an hour;
• 99% are migrant workers and almost a third live in bare 8-people dorm rooms;
• Pay was doubled and nets hung to put an end to worker suicides; 
• 5 days and 325 pairs of hands assemble each iPad - hardly a robot in sight;
• The 73,000 workers share an average age of 23-years-old yet work long hours in silence;
• 10,000 iPads are produced every hour with one operator handling 3000 per shift.

Is this what you expected? Is it in keeping with Apple's ideology of innovation and easy-living? Is it right?

(Data taken from the news report and from the Fair Labour Association audit of the plant.)

Factors affecting career choice

I want to be lawyer! Or do I? 

Previous research in factors influencing career choice seemed to point primarily to an inherited genetic makeup. However, new studies reject this hypothesis and attribute career choice predominantly to parental influences.

George Holden, a psychologist at Dallas Southern Methodist University, has revived the debate of whether parents have a significant role in their children's career choice. Holden’s theory argues that parents initiate professional trajectories based on their personal preferences, and not in their child’s skills. Moreover, he discusses that career paths can be founded on the encouragement and praise from the parents in determined fields, and can block child-initiated trajectories. “This model helps resolve the nature-nurture debate,” he said.

Dr Nazima Dharsee, an epidemiologist from Aga Khan University, moreover debates that children can subconsciously follow their parent’s professional paths, discouraging them to explore other options. “Parents may also become overly-involved in career decisions because they want their children to be more content in a career than they are in their own jobs”, she adds. Nonetheless, she points out that adolescents who perceive high expectations from their parents, in many cases, have higher aspirations of their own.

Although parents can have a decisive role in career choice, it's not the only factor affecting this decision.

Peer pressure can limit adolescents from exploring new options, afraid at what other people might think. Plus, boyfriends or girlfriends can influence the decision of career choice, especially in studying abroad. Another factor that has been observed to influence career decision is media and information. Since 2000, when the popular CSI TV show was broadcasted initially, a radical increase in forensic sciences courses at university has been reported. Is a TV show really a solid factor to base this important decision on?

This graph shows other key considerations that influence career choice.

• Do you think your parents have a substantial influence on your career inclinations? 
• What do you believe are the most important factors in career choice? 
• What are your professional aspirations and why?

Please, if you are going to write bleak waffle comment on another post: only honest observations here!

I'm not an adrenaline junkie!

Who are you trying to kid, Felix?  

On Tuesday, due to high winds, Felix Baumgartner was frustrated in his attempt to skydive from 23 miles up in space down into the earth's atmosphere and (hopefully) onto the New Mexico desert. No doubt, we'll soon hear that he'll be going ahead once the weather is favourable.

If the jump goes well, he'll break a new world record: the first human to break the sound barrier. If it goes badly, his skin will boil. And then there's the small question of his maintaining consciousness and his parachute opening properly.

Still, Felix insists that he's in this for the challenge of planning - not for the adrenaline rush. He should be happy then: with the help of Red Bull, he has spent five full years planning this event (as well as undisclosed millions). It has to be one of the most expensive publicity stunts ever. (Watch the video here.)

As the man who jumped from the Kuala Lumpa skyscrapers, the Petronas Towers, Felix is used to difficult jumps. There the air currents around the building were treacherous and the time to open the chute very short. This time the challenge is quite different.

No doubt, once in the past, someone said casually, "Well, the sky's the limit." And you know what? Felix must have turned round and said, "No, it isn't!"

• What, for you, is the limit? What's next on the tick-list of crazy records?
• What, for you, is the most amazing stunt you've come across?
• What, for you, is your personal challenge?

A martyr at 14?

When Malala Yousafzai appeared on national Pakistani and international television to campaign the right of girls to education, few imagined that she would soon be hitting the headlines for a very different reason. But at this moment, the attempted execution of Malala by Taliban hitmen, with a shot to the head, is causing an outcry in her home country and abroad. The Taliban not only claim responsibility, but have announced that 'she will not be spared' as she is secular and anti-Taliban.

Malala Yousafari, aged 14

Ironically, it was her fame which led to her being singled out by the Taliban. In 2009, aged only 11, she started a diary about life after her valley was taken over by Taliban militia and her school closed. Her work was kept secret until the Taliban were driven out of the valley, when she was given a prize for bravery... and gained national (and international) recognition.

Is there any hope when the few brave enough to stand up for individual and collective freedom are singled out and shot? Does this mean it is more sensible to stay quiet, or is it worth risking your life for 'the greater good' or for your personal dreams and ambitions? Should those adults around her have protected her better by keeping her quiet?

Stupid Stunt

A “stupid stunt” that took place nearly 50 years ago has cost one Iowa man his job at Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational diversified financial services company with operations around the world. The bank fired Richard Eggers from his job of seven years as a customer service, because they found out that in 1963 Eggers got caught putting a fake dime in a washing machine at a laundromat. Since 2010, the federal authorities press the financial institutions in order to dismiss all the corrupt employees or with a criminal past. But do you thing this is fair? Is this particular case justified by law? According to me it isn't. Are laws and rules today still sensible or are we living in a nanny state that's lost its sense of perspective? What do you think? Augusta Thoenig

Sex discrimination in UK when sending students on to studying A-Level physics?

The Institute of Pysics, IOP, has indicated that girls in England are much more likely to study A-levels physics if they are in a girls' school. Further researches from the national pupil database show that 49% of state co-educational schools in the UK did not send any girls to study physics at A-level in 2011.

Girls have twice the possibilities of accessing those studies if they come from a girls' school, but this difference of opportunities doesn´t take place in all subjects, not even in all science subjects.  

                         

Does this mean physics has been stereotyped as a boys' subject in many  mixed english schools? 

It is said that physics is the studies which open more doors in the scientific area, it offers higher education and  career opportunities, therefore, offers a higher status and quality life. Researches clearly show that schools are keeping the doors firmly shut to girls, in other words, many girls in England are not given the education and opportunities they should. 

Does this mean society hasn't defeated sex discrimination yet?
What do you think about the fact that the government knows about this and ignore it?
How do you feel when you know that discrimination is still taking place nowadays?



Juliet Pietrocola Ardevol.

Parody problems

You may have seen that these two local 'cops' have been suspended without pay for their paradoy of Serebro's car video clip.

Do you think it is so wrong? Shouldn't we all be allowed to let off steam once in a while? Doesn't it show our 'human side'? Do we prefer our law enforcement officers to be always serious, distant... or threatening?

And which video do you prefer? The original or the cops'?

Does your decision about the balance between being human and being responsible change when the protagonists are not local policemen, but rather Israeli soldiers on active duty in Lebanon?