Stupid, stupid Charles

Hey what’s up people!!!??!! This is dial 99.11 and you are listening to the radio…. No, okay it´s a joke, this is not a radio. You are not even listening to me so just forget about this. Sorry.

Well, I’m Charles and today I’m going to… start a game. About Minesweeper. Okay no. What I’m going to do is to talk about a feeling. We all remember things about the past. Sometimes we remember the past as something beautiful. Other times, we remember things that we did in the past, and the only thing that we want to do is to travel back in time, and to kill ourselves for the thing that we did. I want to talk about that feeling, that I call “stupid, stupid Charles”.

The most common stupid, stupid Charles´ feelings that I normally have, deals with homework. Even when I have one month to do my homework, I always do it in the last minute (literally), in that moment you always say: why didn't I do it before. And you would have that feeling that I am saying.

There is always some moment in everybody's life which somehow illustrates the feeling that I’m explaining. And it is our childhood. For example, I remember that I liked high school music (I was a very stupid child). Nowadays, if a man likes a film that is mostly produced for girls, his friends won't care (well maybe not, my friends are going to hit me when they discover the film that I liked XP). However when I was young (I’m saying as if I were an old man, but I’m just 16 years old) if your friends discover that you liked that film, you´d miss them.

I thought that to like that film was very normal, and I decided to confess it to one of my friends. I did it, but that day I had to suffer a lot of bullying. Stupid, stupid Charles.

Another similar feeling that I have, occurred some years ago. I had a friend in my neighbourhood, and there was a new guy in the neighbourhood. The new guy and my friend became friends, but I didn´t like the new guy. One day, a cold day, they were playing football in the street and I saw then. I was a little b****** and I told my friend to come to my house, but he couldn't bring the new guy. He accepted, and he told the new guy to wait some minutes there. My friend and I spent like one hour playing Call of Duty. When suddenly my mother arrived and she told us that the new guy was waiting outside (we forgot about him and he had been waiting for us for an hour, outside on a cold day) the funniest thing is that my friend decided to go outside, told him to go home, and we continued playing Call of Duty. The most ironical thing is that now, the guy that was waiting outside, is my one of my best friends, and the other guy is like nothing to me. Since that day, I stopped having prejudices.

QUESTION!!! Which is your stupid, stupid Charles moment?

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Bullfighting, no longer an art form

One part of the Spanish population loves bullfighting. They enjoy seeing this “art”. They consider it as an essential part of their culture. They think Spain wouldn’t be anything without it; but, how can they love killing an animal?

Since the 18^th century, Spain has taken the tradition of bullfighting. It was taken from the tradition of the cult and sacrifice to the bulls. However, Spanish people took it wrongly. They started enjoying it, when in the first place it was not for having fun. Therefore, they took this practise to different countries, spreading the torture.

Bulls have never been aggressive animals. They have been bred to form part of a show that may satisfy people’s thirst of entertainment. As with every single animal, if you don’t make them angry, they won’t face you; but we have modified them so much, that they don’t even need anger.

In every Spanish celebration, a bullfight is present. The government has to be aware of the cruelness of this feast. For example, in Medinaceli, Soria, the bull runs through the town with the horns burning. They have to forbid these practices in every territory. Fortunately, some areas have started prohibiting it, but it is not enough. It needs to be banned not only in some areas, but everywhere.

For all these reasons, we have to fight. We have to fight to make these awful traditions change. We have to show everyone who is in favour of killing this animal that it is unfair. We have to show them that if they want to continue with this “art”, the bull and bullfighter should be in the same conditions. We have to end with this “art”. We really need it, and we have to do it as quick as possible.

Persecuting Marsupials

Marsupials are usually known because of their adorable and hugable faces, at least some of them. They are often found in Australia and the surrounding islands. However we can also see them in South America and in Madagascar. Marsupials are slightly weird mammals, you'll see.

There are many species in the marsupial family. I´m going to tell you about the types that exist in the place with most marsupials over the world, Australia, just for you to see that not only koalas and kangaroos live there. We can find four groups of marsupials. The first is the group of the kangaroos and its derivatives (Macropodidae), in second place is a kind of opossum group, although not similar to the ones in North America (Diprodontia). Thirdly the group that includes little insect eaters, the cool group (Dasyuridae) . And finally, to end with Australian marsupial groups, the last that includes the Bandictus (Paramelidae).

Now I´m going to tell you about my favorite marsupial, the koala, I know that the kangaroo is also great but koalas can sleep for 20 hours, who doesn't want to be a koala? The koala is a herbivore mammal from Australia. Koalas are also called Koala bear, but they have nothing in relation with bears, I don´t know if I have mention that they are marsupials. The koala is not a endangered specie although recently, the population has highly decreased. This is due to the destruction of their habitat, nothing new. The construction of roads and diseases are ending the lives of these furry sleepyheads.

Social Networks

Nowadays, people, mainly teenagers, use social networks for almost everything: to do homework, to buy things that aren’t available in their villages, to search for information about everything and for many more things. Actually, if the Internet wasn't available in our daily life it would be much harder to obtain what we wish or need.

We can download social networks in many “markets” like Google play or the app store. They are mainly known as apps. These apps could be free or paid, but the most apps are the free ones.

Some of the common apps in a teenager's mobile phone are:

INSTAGRAM: This app is mainly used to upload photos or videos with other people, mainly with your friends.

FACEBOOK: This one is one of the most used apps around the world. In this one you can upload photos, videos, gifs; and also you can interact with other people, write posts, tell the whole world your thoughts, etc.

TWITTER: Actually this app is like Facebook, but with a limitation in writing. You can only tell what you think in 140 characters and a maximum of 4 photos per tweet. This one is also one of the most used around the world, but with Facebook still being the first one.

PINTEREST: This app is less known by teenagers, but actually is one of my favorite social media apps. It consists of uploading photos that allows people to get inspiration from other ones and sharing more ideas. It has many categories like: art, DIY, science and nature, food, sports, etc.

 SNAPCHAT: This social media app is quite enjoyable. It allows uploading photos or videos with a limit of 10 seconds. These photos only last 24 hours, and you can also send them to your friends but no one could see them and will be deleted when they see them. It includes filters and some funny “faces”.

There are many more apps, very useful ones and also some of them very useless. The world is moved by social networks, it is a revolutionary movement that day by day is taking a giant step forward. Maybe in the near future we will be able to talk with our family or friends with our minds by just pushing a button. We will look forward to seeing that. 

I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for reading it!

Cars

We hear everyday about pollution on TV, they say that we have very old cars, they say that they pollute a lot, they say we are responsible for global warming, they say bla, bla....

Now, we can check how responsible we are. If we look at the technical data of our car, we will see that it is under a legislation of contamination, probably Euro 3, Euro 4 or Euro 5. These are all different legislation done by the EU, which is against pollution and which require manufacturers to include in their cars a lot of things that lessen polluting. EGR, DPF and catalyst are the best-known ones. They “help” to pollute “less”, that is right. But how do all these affect the pollution of the world and “global warming”. Just 0,0000000001% Why? Simple, because cars are the ones which represent the smallest part of pollution around the world. And just an example, did you know that a single flight between Madrid and Berlin pollutes more than all the cars in Europe in a whole year? Why do we have to suffer all the problems these filters cause? For example, when DPF gets old, we usually have to get it cleaned, by 3 months and the price is €200 each time... And if we need to replace it, we will need €1000 or maybe more!! But, maybe the problem is not our car… Still, we have to suffer for it.

OK, OK, you will say, but on TV they are saying all the time that we are the most responsible for global warming. It is said in the news, it is also said by the government... And what is the government offering now? The “PIVE”. It is an economic assistance to buy new cars that pollute less. That is good, we will get our new car cheaper, and we give them our old car... False!! What they want is that we buy new cars to improve the economy and that we buy and buy, because they also get taxes from us!!!

Apart from all that we have seen, we also see advertisements, advertisements which say that all these new cars pollute less than the ones we own now, advertisements which offer hybrid cars, with very few electric range. Electric cars, which requires a new electrical installation in your garage, still need fuel to work, because they just have a 50 km range, or maybe 100 km. This is OK if we are driving through the city, because with 50 km it is enough, therefore, we don't pollute. But, is this real?? No, it isn't. Although Spain is one of the nations with more renewable energies working, most of our electricity comes from non-renewable resources, and the most important here are nuclear and thermal power. Is nuclear power clean? The one whose waste doesn't disappear for thousands of years, the one that was used for atomic bombs, the one that can potentially kill animals, people, the one which can cause damage to normal people??? Or maybe thermal power? Most of it comes from natural gas and... Gas-oil!! But, is it the same gas-oil that we put into our cars? No, it isn't, it is the worst gas-oil, the cheapest, the one with more waste!! And apart from being the worst gas-oil, does it have DPF, EGR or catalyst? No, it doesn't!!!

I think that it is time to open our eyes!! I think that it is time to think about we think!! I think it is time to research!! I think we can make this world better, but all together!!

My inspiration

We are small, we are teenagers, we are over 15, 16 years and we love being inspired. Our inspiration comes from different places all over the world, but nowadays thanks to the Internet we don't need to move or to travel to go and check other customs, we can do it by the net.

Today I will tell you about one of my favourite online inspirations: Youtube.

This platform has been very 'in' these last few years, and it is great. Youtube provides a lot of information to thousands and thousands of people each day. It is very funny and interactive, and it is entertaining at the same time. That is why people love it. It is a great way to meet new people, to chat and argue a lot of times in the comments section, wherein a lot of times arguments can be found. Youtube is considered a job to a lot of people nowadays, being a 'vlogger' or 'youtuber' isn't that known but is being practised more and more.

Vlogging consists of carrying a camera with you everywhere and just recording what you do. Maybe it sounds stupid, but it is very funny and a good way of learning. Normally I watch videos of people who don't live in the same place as I do, that way I learn about other cities and about tourism without actually moving from my couch. Most of the important youtubers set themselves in LA, a city in which vlogging it is very common. A lot of important events take place there, such as Vidcon or Beautycon. If you like the idea of travelling and experiencing stuff without moving from your couch, check Youtube! 

I like this world and I enjoy it, what about you?

Are You Superstitious?

Superstitious people believe that there are some situations in our lives that will led us to others in the future. Usually, the causative thing has nothing to do with its supposed consequence. This is because superstitions are based on the beliefs in supernatural coincidences.

There are several facts on the world that don’t have an explanation. When we humans can’t explain these facts through science, we invent something which seems to be coherent. In this way, we can understand the strange things that happen in our lives. This is why, throughout history, many people have believed in prophecies, witches, ghosts, spirits, etc.

Nowadays, people are less superstitious than before. However there is still a huge amount of people who believe in superstitions. Believing in them depends on cultures, the countries and the people. In spite of this, there are some beliefs that are commonly known throughout the world. Another thing is that people take them as real or not real.

I have a friend that takes superstitions as real. She tries to avoid doing something important on Friday 13th as this is a day that brings bad luck and misfortune. She doesn’t think that when she looks at herself in a mirror it takes her soul but if someday she breaks one, she would be afraid of be cursed for seven years. She has never opened an umbrella on a closed place because she doesn’t want bad luck raining on her. She has always tried not to look at black cats as it is said that they are bad witches. She gets in and out of bed by the same side, she has never slept in a table and she avoids walking under a ladder in order to avoid bad luck. 

Obviously, not everything brings bad luck. She told me that she wants to find a four-leaf clover because that would give her good luck and fortune. She has a horseshoe hanging in her bedroom as she thinks that it removes evil spirits and brings good luck too. When she wants something to happen, she crosses her fingers and wishes for it or she knocks on wood to make it real. She thinks that step on shit, wear new clothes on Easter, a lock of a baby’s first haircut or wearing her favourite dress brings her good luck. She also says that if your left palm itches, you will earn a lot of money. 
 

I don’t believe so much in superstitions as does my friend. However I have never liked to tempt fate. I think that they aren’t true but I don’t feel like saying that they are false. And you? Do you believe in superstitions? Or, do you think that they are completely false? Leave your comments below!

Teenager’s Rights

Throughout history, children and teenagers have supposedly had a secondary and really hard life in society. They were undervalued and in most of the centuries they have been exploited and forced to work from sunrise to sunset. Children were considered half-man, they had half-rights, society treated them as nothing and although, they worked double time.

Some countries like England legalized way child slavery in a way by considering them as simply market objects. Children did not have any kind of rights that protected them from the harmful hand of adults. In the cruel and cold societies from the past, they were exposed. Their right to education was not even considered and some parliamentarians in England and also in other parts of the world were in favour of killing the homeless kids because they considered them “obstacles for society”.

 However this horrible situation has been overcome thank to your grandparent’ grandparents, who fought for a global treatment in favour of equality and freedom: it was called “Human Declaration of Rights”. Thanks to this declaration now you have a house (and internet connection), you are not being exploited and you have the same rights that your parents. 

Despite the huge beneficial impact that this declaration has had in our society, it didn't reach the expectations of millions of children around the world. Special protection for kids or teenagers, the right to education, favorable treatment in legal matters and working terms were not considered in any of the articles.

Consequently, in 1924 the “Children Declaration of Rights” was created based on the great work of Doctor Janusz Korczak, consisting of his research and life work. After nearly 100 years, 190 countries out of 192 have signed this treaty.

Teenagers and children of the world, you finally have the same rights as adults. However we cannot ever forget that is thanks to adults that you have your current situation. Finally, please don't ever forget who you were when you finally become an adult.

Travelling to the Mayan culture

Mayan culture rose in the 2600 BC and lasted until the Spanish conquest, in the 16th century. This civilization was located in present-day Mexico, in Central America. Mayan culture was really advanced at things such as architecture, medicine, agriculture and astronomy.

 In this culture, religion was very powerful. They used to make offerings to their gods through harvest, animals or by sacrificing people. In the interest of their religion they built pyramid temples to praise their gods, and based their astronomy and calendars on their gods vision.

Mayan people worked the land: they were skilled farmers. They worked with on cornfields and their diet was based on that. They had cotton, cacao and vanilla crops, as well as chocolate, in that they were very advanced. Incidentally, they also domesticated dogs for hunting.

One of the most influential things about the Mayan culture was their mathematics and their calendars: in them they made predictions for the future, like the 2012 phenomena everyone was worried about. For them a new way of living and a better world was going to emerge, although I haven’t noticed it yet. Many hypotheses affirm aliens may have visited this civilization and had introduced to them agriculture and technology. There are several drawings of spaceships made by Mayan people, and it is supposed that they left there their artifacts and taught them to use them. Many people believe it could be possible, although there are people who know that the Mayans were very advanced at hallucinogens and so they keep thinking about other theories for those drawings. 

All in all we can say that they were very advanced and who knows what could have happened if they had predicted their extinction.

Music and the Brain

People usually think that music is just a sequence of order sounds and silences. Nevertheless, it provokes emotional reactions in human beings, from depression to ecstasy. Moreover, music is good for us in a mental way. It makes us enjoy pleasant times, remember facts about the past and feel different emotions in songs. But do you know how music affects our brain?

To begin with, we must know that music is interpreted in our body by the brain. This organ separates music into its different elements (rhythm, tone and lyrics) and each of these elements is interpreted by different parts of the brain.

Once you have interpreted it, it begins to have effects on you. Music doesn't only have instantaneous effects, it also has long-term effects. It has been demonstrated for example, that the brain of a musician develops a different structure than the brain of a person who usually doesn't hear music.

There are a lot of studies which talk about music and what it produces in our brain. These studies show really interesting facts. One of those facts is that the people who have listened to music since their childhood have better language skills, are more creative and happy.

Listening to music helps lower anxiety levels, decreases pain and makes people more optimistic. The experts say that the field of music therapy helps a lot to elder people. This field formally debuted in 1950.

Recently, researches have focused on how music can benefit those who suffer from Alzheimer's disease. Anecdotal tests demonstrate that music can make people re-live memories and reduce anxiety, pain, cardiac frequency and arterial pressure. It can help accelerate the process of treatment, stimulate learning, improve neurological disorders and increase social interaction.

However, the researches about music and its effects are in their infancy. This has just begun. Experts will continue their investigations. But we can all agree that music is good for us in many ways, so, while the experts investigate, why don´t we hear some music?

Eurovision

Lot of people talk about Eurovision: some of them talk badly about it because they think the decisions are all based o politics; and some of them well because they love every song contestants sing. However, most of these people don’t know its origins.

Eurovision was an idea initially taken by Marzel Bezençon, who wanted to represent the idea of an Italian festival (Festival di San Remo). He wanted to unify European countries by means of songs. Finally, he got it the first time in 1956, with only 7 countries, but every country sang 2 songs each, one extraordinary case in this festival. 

From that year on, lots of countries have participated. Even, from African countries like Morocco. In the first decades, until the 80’s, there were already 20, although some countries decided not to participate anymore. However, the countries involved increased.

In 1992, Yugoslavia was divided, so this led to many countries whose aim was to continue participating. The quantity in 2000 was 24 countries, but it nearly doubled, and this year, they are 43 countries.

Eurovision has been done in lots of places. Mainly, in the ones in which the winner comes from. For example, this year, Eurovision is going to be done in Stockholm because Sweden won last year with Heroes and Mans Zelmerlow.

Spain has been participating since 1961. We have won only twice, in two consecutive years, 1968 with “La, la, la” and Massiel; and “Vivo Cantando” (I live singing) with Salomé. On the other hand, we have been in last place for four times. Spain, also, is part of the countries which passes directly to the finals, because it forms part of the “Big 5”.

This year, our performer will be Barei. He was chosen among 6 contestants: Barei, Salvador Beltran, Maria Isabel, Xuso Jones, Maverick and Electric Nana. Will he be a favorite this year? 

Best video games of 2015

2015 was a very good year for video games. A lot of new games were released, some of them stand out because they are very good and need a lot of hardware to work (Fallout 4, Star Wars: Battlefront...). However, in 2015, indie (independent) video games had a lot of success. Games like Nuclear Throne or Downwell are games done by a very small group of people, and they have very simple graphics based on the typical 16-bit quality (like the first Super Mario).

Another genre that had good success in 2015 was the shooter. It consists on shooting and/or killing other players with weapons. It may seem simple, but it is very entertaining and can catch a lot of your hours. I think that happens because it makes you compete yourself in order to improve your skills in the game. Some examples of good shooter games in 2015 are Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, Battlefield Hardline and Star Wars: Battlefront.

The third successful genre in video games for 2015, is the sandbox, that consists of an open world in which you can complete assignments or just mess around in the map doing all the things that the game lets you do (things like killing people, driving cars, buying clothes, etc...) the best games in this genre that were released in 2015 are Fallout 4 and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

All things considered, I am giving you the 5 best video games and DLC´s (downloadable content) released in 2015. I am not only including the games with better quality, more hardware requirements, etc... I am also including the ones that I think can take you more hours to complete, and the most entertaining ones.

5. Fallout 4

Well... What more can be said about this video game? It is probably the best game in its genre. It is a sandbox game but controlled in first person, set in an post-apocalliptical world. It has an incredibly long campaign (around 40 hours), a lot of people around to talk with, a lot of weapons, and a lot of emotional attachment to the principal character. This game, could easily be in the first place, but as it has high hardware requirements, in consoles it does not work as good, and it did not live up to the hype. And to play it in PC, you need at least NASA´s PC. It has been released in PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

4. Bloodborne

Do you remember Dark Souls 2? It was a role video game that has one of the best stories ever. So Bloodborne, a game based on the highly popular Dark Souls 2, can make you stand hours and hours next to your television, thinking only of improving your skills and trying to defeat all the bosses that the game has. It is an incredible game, made for a niche group of people (the ones that like very difficult role video games). The setting that it has, that way in which you control your character and you kill the different monsters that appear in the world, the way in which you improve your personal skills, and the ones that the game offers to you... It is incredible the way in which you can become addicted to this video game... It is just incredible. This game was only released for the PS4.

3. Nuclear Throne

This game is an indie video game, whose genre is rogue (the world generation is completely aleatory and changes when you start a new run), which is definitely my genre, the one that entertains me more. These video games normally have one or more hidden secrets, and this one is not the exception. The goal of this video game is to complete different dungeons in order to advance, killing enemies and mini-bosses that are in your way until you reach “The Throne”, the final boss. It is very difficult to advance, and you will find different weapons, morphs and mutations in order to make your trip easy. This game was only released in PC, but there is a planned release for the PS4.

2. The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth

This is the only DLC that I have included in the list. This DLC is a complement of The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, which for me is the best video game of all time. It is a rogue-like game with a lot of Easter eggs related to religion. You are Isaac, a little kid that feels guilty of the death of his sister, Maggy. His mother, obsessed with religion, heard a voice that said that his son was corrupted by sin, so she had to take off all his toys and clothes and enclose him. After doing that, another voice told her that it was not enough, so she had to sacrifice his son. As Isaac didn't want it, he got into a flap that was in his room. From there, the story develops and you have to kill your mother and the different nightmares and the elements that make you get scared. Then, you have to decide if you go to the Cathedral or to the Dark Room in order to complete the game and be among the “good”, or among the “mad”. In the game, there are more than 400 different objects, that can modify your synergy or build it, which will help you to advance and complete the runs. What you use to kill the monsters are your tears (you are crying because your mother is trying to kill you). This game has more than 130 playable hours (but it is so entertaining that you can continue playing more and more). Is difficult to explain this video game in just a few words, so I will write another post explaining the story of the game a little bit and the religious Easter eggs that it has.

1. Super Mario Maker

The combination of simplicity and originality makes this the most addictive game that has been released in a long of time. This amazing game, designed by Satoru Iwata (dead the last year), consists of playing in Super Mario levels that have been created previously by other players, not by the designers of the game. It is also possible to create your own levels, publish them to the rest of the players around the world and share them to your friends. The graphics of the game is the same as any of the 2D Super Marios that were released before New Super Mario Bros 2. The best thing about this game is that the levels are unlimited, because people will be creating them constantly and you can play them whenever you want. You can also search levels, filter them by their difficulty, size, name, graphics, etc... For designers, this game is perfect because the levels are made by other people, and there are a lot of very good games released; and for the players it is fantastic because they can play unlimited levels, filtering them as they want and they can also create them and play the levels of their friends. For me, this is the masterpiece for 2015's video games. It is only available on the Wii U (Super Mario made by Nintendo).

So this is my SUBJECTIVE list of the top video games of 2015, I hope you liked it. Bye!

#Say_No_To_Bullying

Today I´m going to write about bullying because I think that it is very important to know how a bullied person feels, so I have pretended to be one of them and written a little text expressing how they may feel:

“My wall, the one that has protected me from my fears is breaking very fast. 
Inexistence is running after me in a race that I can´t win.

Each morning is a vacuum that I try to live through.

I walk through the corridors as if I were a ghost wandering between thousands of bodies moving very fast.

Sometimes I´m not sure if my life continues and really I don´t care, maybe I prefer to switch off the switch that connects me to real life.

Everyday I feel more lonely, more isolated... as if my efforts to fit into society don´t give any fruit.

Just because in a withered tree the spring never comes, the flowers never Bloom and time remains frozen in the continuous winter.

I try to disconnect, to switch off the switch and try not to be affected by anything. However, in each attempt the fall is worse, my wounds do not heal and the only feeling I still had has vanished.

I am not much more than simple snow flakes falling over a carmine colored sea, melting with the heat of my wounds that back in time I tried to hide, but it was useless to hide my pain, because finally, the mask that covered my face was broken, like my soul, into small pieces that time fades away without a trace.

And maybe the paper girl has to get back into her paper town. Inhabited by no-one. The perfect place for a soul without home. The suitable passage for a mystery that has not been solved, for a great hidden treasure…”

#Say_No_To_Bullying 

Society must change

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog. We are a group of teenage students from the High School Virgen del Espino in Soria (Spain). We are between 15 and 16 years old and with this blog we want to share with you our  point of view about life...

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