How can we stop it?

The definition of bullying is the use of force to intimidate others, who can be abused emotionally, verbally and physically, which occurs mostly in places where people interact with each other, like school, neighborhoods and work. This terrible harassment or thread happens to 1 of every 4 kids around the world, and it has been proven that 282,000 students are physically attacked in secondary schools each month and 56% of students have personally witnessed some type of bullying.

 

Even though there are many groups of people and organizations that have created different projects to prevent bullying around the world, it seems to keep going. Many sources say that it the reduction progresses each year, but thousands of teenagers keep taking their lives because of this reason.  

A few weeks ago, a teenager called Amanda Todd took her life because of the constant threats she had to go through in school, and because of the bullying she had to deal with every day. The girl was only fifteen years old and lived in Canada.

What do you think about Amanda´s case of suicide because of bullying? Is the only way to stop being bullied is to commit suicide?

What can we do, as teenagers, to prevent these harassments?

Do you think organizations are actually making powerful changes with the prevention of bullying? 

Better Safe than Sorry

Hurricane Sandy neither has been a dream, nor a forecast exaggeration of one of the most cautious country in the world, reaching extremes that for us, seem totally ridicule. For instance, this summer I was in Palm Beach and hurricane Isaac was expected to pound the entire east coast of Florida. Panic overcame us, absolutely all TV Channels “tracked” hurricane Isaac 24/7. We were terrified, winds of 100mph were forecasted, but in the end it didn’t even reach the category “Tropical Storm”; only some heavy rain and fairly strong winds. Believe me, they exaggerated so much! However this time, the one who predicted Sandy would be a historical natural disaster wasn’t wrong. Sandy has ravaged the East Coast of United States and has exposed the obsolescence of one of the most important city’s infrastructures: leaving the public transport waterlogged, 6 million people without power and about 40 dead. All of this despite the extreme precautions taken!

After seeing how devastating Sandy was, imagine what would had happened if the one million people hadn't been evacuated!

Let me pose you this question: Do you agree that in these cases over-exaggeration can save lives?  Do you think it is better to be cautious or impetuous? Where do you stand on?

HALLOWEEN ENDS UP BEING A HORRIFYING TRAGEDY

Horror invades my soul when listening to what happened last night in a “Halloween Macrofiesta” in Madrid.  Three girls have died squashed in a stampede due to a sparkler.

Enter to both links to read what happened:

http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/11/01/inenglish/1351773824_923902.html

http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_36063.shtml

• What do you think you would have done in a situation like this?
• Do you think the crowds were reacting to their survival instinct?

It is embarassing to see the quantity of tickets that were sold. Estimations say that there were approximately 20,000 people in the concert when the maximum number of people allowed was limited to 10,600. The company which organised the concert admits they sold approximately 9,600 tickets which means only half of the people that were inside the concert had really payed. This leads us to question the security authorities. In addition, some of the witnesses of this tragedy admit that a significant part of the attendants were under the age of 18 and that nobody had asked for their ID’s at the party’s entrance.

• What do you think about this?
• Should the party organization be fined for this?

When trying to identify the bodies which resulted injured by the incident the security services found themselves with a big problem; this was the fact that most of the teenagers were carrying identification cards which weren’t theirs.

• What do you think about carrying another person’s ID? 
• Had you thought about the possible confusions that can arise because of this?

We see that the stampede was provoked by a flare. Do you think that there should be security controls, like those found in airports or even luxurious hotels, in such crowded events?

Some mistakes are worse than others

7 scientists were sentenced to 6 years in prison for a mistake that resulted disastrous. “The sentence was pronounced wrongful death, referring to the fact that the commission gave inaccurate, incomplete and contradictory about the dangerousness of the situation.” Said the prestigious jurist Stefano Rodotà, in the newspaper La Repubblica.

First, I shall put into context this piece of news.

This is L’Aquila respect Italy.

Back in 2009 in L’Aquila, Italy, an earthquake resulted in 309 deaths and about 1600 wounded people. Before the big earthquake came a group of smaller tremors which were classified as harmless by the Major Risks Committee. They also said that after those small quakes, it wasn’t likely to have a bigger one afterwards, so they announced that there was no danger. They were wrong. On the 5^th of April 2009 L’Aquila was shaken by a devastating earthquake.

 Luciano Maiani, one of the scientists charged, said that this mistake proofs that they work under a lot of pressure. Although this might be true, their mistake coasted hundreds of lives and changed the life of all the related people. Now they are going to pay for their mistake by spending 6 years in prison, they are accused of murder.

·      

•   Do you think this is fair?

Now, the governments are working to avoid a similar mistake. They are looking for alternative ways of announcing information without alarming unnecessarily the population.

·       

•   Do you think it’s possible to announce an ‘event’ like an earthquake that might happen without alarming the population?
•   How would you do it?

This is how L'Aquila looks like today.

Golden ball

Again, the debate on who will won the golden ball arises with more force than ever.This year the applicants with greater force for winning this title are Lionel Messi,Cristiano Ronaldo and Andrés Iniesta behind them other names emerge as Iker Casillas or Xavi Hernandez.
Last year the winner of this award was Leo Messi, many people think that he should won it again but in my opinion there are many players who also deserves winning it for example Andrés Iniesta, recently awarded as the best player in Europe 2012, he has been playing exceptionally way during lots of time also it's a very important player on his club ( FC. Barcelona ) and in the spanish team, we have to keep in mind that it was he who scored the winning goal in 2010 world cup final in South Africa against Holland.
Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best players in the world at this moment and we just need to check his statistics whith Real Madrid to know it. In my opinion a player of this quality has to won more than one golden ball.
Xavi Hernández, the oldest of the candidates is one of the most regular players in the world, he's always playing at a very high level and his spirit of commitment whith his club is maximum. If he doesn't win this year in my opinion he has lost his last chance to win it and I think at least he should won one golden ball.
Finally the last candidate is Iker Casillas, the best goalkeeper in the world for lots of people. The fact of being a goalkeeper increases his value because only one goalkeeper has won the golde ball and he can perfectly can be the second on winnning it. Everyone knows that some of Casillas's saves are unbelievable, I would like to remark the save that he did to robben at the final of the world cup 2010. If i could vote i would vote for because he deserves it on top of the other candidates.
Here's a video of some of Casillas's saves
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEzfFtLjngg


Who it's going to win the golden ball this year?? I would like to hear your diferents opinions

Pride and Prejudice

When your country is going down the drain, how do you hold on to your pride and sense of purpose?

In Greece, the far right nationalist party Golden Dawn is the answer for a growing segment of the population. It gained almost 7% of the vote and 18 parliamentary seats in the elections in June and is thought to have doubled its following since then.

This is the same organisation that is said to have put 600 people in hospital in the past few months. It organises attacks on immigrant workers, left-wing protesters, homosexuals and anyone else considered a threat to the future of Greece.

Listening to their chants (link to video), it is clear that the organisation provides members with a sense of pride and purpose, (even if fuelled by prejudice and hatred): "Blood! Honour! Golden Dawn" or "Greece! Greece! Victory or Death!".

Some have even gone as far as to suggest that Golden Dawn is tolerated or even encouraged by the elite (government or other leaders) as it carries out actions that the police can't be seen to do directly themselves. Certainly the organisation is careful to seek support and supporters. It has been filmed handing out food free in central plazas to all 'true' Greeks and fighting forest fires.

But it is apparent police tolerance of - or involvement with - Golden Dawn that is worrying some. Golden Dawn members have beaten up protesters while these are held in police custody and chased and beaten homosexual couples in front of officers. The organisation is happy to show its violent side to the cameras: their smashing up of a market was on the Spanish TV news two months ago and one of their spokesmen even threw water at and started thumping an opposition politician during a live TV debate.

Should we be worried about the growth of Golden Dawn in Greece? Could such a group appear here in Spain if the crisis were to worsen?

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.)