tobacco and its harms

Tobacco is the most consumed drug in our world. Some years ago it wasn’t frowned upon, but nowadays smokers are marginalized. Two years ago the Spanish parliament approved an anti-smoking law. Now smokers have to go out from where they are to smoke. And I think that this is a good law because non-smokers have to have more rights than the other. I dont mean that smokers deserve less rights but those who don’t like it should have priority.

Thats what smoking does to your body:
“Smoking hurts your lung’s natural cleaning and repair system and traps cancer-causing chemicals build in your lungs. Smoking destroys the tiny hairs, which line the upper airways and protect against infection. Normally, there is a very thin layer of mucous and thousands of these hairs lining the insides of your breathing tubes. The mucous traps the little bits of dirt and pollution you breath oxygen in, and the hairs move together like a wave to push the dirt-filled mucous out of your lungs. Then you have to waste your time coughing , swallow, or spit up the mucous, and the dirt is out of your lungs. When your lungs’ natural cleaning and repair system is hurt, germs, dirt and chemicals from cigarette smoke stay inside your lungs and never come out. This puts you at risk for a cough that never goes away, chest infections, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease .”

But not only those who smoke are who suffer it’s damage. I’m referring to secondhand smokers. Secondhand smokers are who breathe the smoke when they are not smoker, for example, children, waiters… here we have the result of the damage that it causes:

-The EPA says secondhand smoke causes 3,000 cancer fatalities in Americans each year.
– The American Heart Association says that secondhand smoke causes 50,000 fatal heart attacks in Americans each year.
– An unspecified number of Americans are dying each year from “respiratory illnesses” attributable to secondhand smoke.

Most of the smokers are young. There are only a few who start smoking being an adult.
Teenagers start with it because they think that it is cool or that they may have more friends.
I don´t know. But what we know is that smoking is really harmful for our health and we must
not start with it.
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The principal countries that cultivate tobaco are: Cuba, India, China, USA and Pakistan.
They use many pesticides that harm seriouly the ground. Tobacco companies recommend up to 16 separate applications of pesticides just in the period between planting the seeds in greenhouses and transplanting the young plants to the field. Pesticide use has started because the producers want to get larger crops in less time. Pesticides often harm tobacco farmers because they are unaware of the health effects and the proper safety protocol for working with pesticides. These pesticides, finally, end up in the soil, waterways, and the food chain.

References:

The Second-hand Smoke Will Endanger Non-smokers Health
·http://www.directessays.com/viewpaper/98472.html

Passionate Anti Smoking Tobacco
·http://www.123helpme.com/passionate-anti-smoking-tobacco-essay-view.asp?id=155505

Anti-Smoking Movement
·http://joedawson.org/Interests/SmokersRights/Essays/issues1.html

Tobacco
·http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco
·http://www.tobacco.org/

MORE ECO PLEASE!

IF WE ARE WHAT WE EAT, ARE NOT WE CLOSER TO “NATURE” IF WE INCORPORATE NATURAL AND ORGANIC FOODS INTO OUR DIET?

 The “organic”  label is one of the more recent vintage and is the product of its own countercultural revolution. Its prominence in grocery store aisles reflects a cultural repulsion against factory farms and their reliance on chemical, biological and other industrial solutions to the myriad challenges posed by growing crops and raising animals for safe human consumption.

Two of the most symbolic words in food promotion nowadays are “organic” and “natural.” Generally defined, “natural” means “present in or produced by nature” and is not something “altered, treated or disguised,” but rather “faithfully represents nature or life.”  “Organic,” in its most abstract sense, means “simple, healthful, and close to nature.”

Organic products they are rare even among Spanish  consumers. However, Spain is the second European country as a producer of organic food, almost 80% is exported to other countries. The reasons cited by citizens for not buying these products are unknown (33.3%), difficult to find in the market (31.3%) or the highest price (28.1%), which sometimes reaches overcome the traditional foods of 100%, especially fruits and vegetables.

What is ecological farming?
Organic farming also known as biological or organic, is a way to cultivate and care for the land and raising cattle respectfully with nature, without the use of toxic chemicals (fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, so on). Seeded modified genetically (called GM or GMO) without forcing fertility cycles or animal feed. Its purpose is to get healthy food for all, at its maturity, with all the flavor, aroma, texture, with all the vitality and all the benefits of healthy food.

Besides, these foods offer many advantages over traditional reasons to opt for them.

Why eat ecological food?
Because they are healthy and safe for the body and have all the nutrients and vitamins own food.
Come from organic farming, that by not using toxic chemicals helps protect our health and care of the farmers and the environment.

Because plant or animal ingredients have not been genetically modified. Organic farming takes account of traditional agricultural knowledge while knowledge is up to date and cutting edge techniques to keep improving in all aspects, but not away from life or nature, and is managed with strict quality standards.
Because they come from an agriculture that preserves and enhances biodiversity by encouraging the planting of hedges and trees, to remove chemicals that affect wildlife and the entire food chain by diversifying crops, conserve indigenous seeds.
Organic farming is also a commitment by the farmer and the farmer to look after the land, woodland and water, to enable the animals to develop their innate behavior and are at all times in a position of comfort, to respect their cycles and needs.

Because they come from an agriculture that promotes work and country life preserving its own culture and contributes to satisfaction, health and culture of living in the city. While maintaining the diversity of the landscape with its beauty and harmony, helping to create jobs by requiring more labor and reduce agricultural surpluses with promoting quality rather than quantity.

Because organic food to take contribute to responsible consumption. A consumer of organic products know that organic farming contributes to rural development to better use of resources and a brake erosion and fires, a survival of the caring professions field then enjoyed by all; a fair prices for farmers.
Buy organic food, it is, food from the agriculture and livestock, is to support farmers to do their work gladly, watching the economic and social development of our peoples.
Because organic farming helps us recover the flavors almost lost, eating nice food gastronomic culture we know and we like for its aroma, its flavor.
Ultimately for their good quality.

How can we identify an ecological food?
All packaged products are obtained according to the rules of organic farming with its labeling are: “Organic farming” (in Castilian or in any of the languages ​​of the European Union) and a logo or seal indicating authority or body control which certifies that this is so. If the product is produced and packaged in the EU can carry the logo European Organic and Biological.

If the product is fresh and not packaged (fruits, vegetables), make sure that the producer is enrolled in a watchdog and has a certificate of organic farming and production control.

Nowadays, it is demanded definite values which are linked to differential products, among the quality, safety, health, sustainability, so on. Food is a social and cultural fact as well as biological. Therefore, we do not only ingest nutrients, but also symbols. Through this act, we build an important part of our individual and social identity.
It is an interest for the traditional, the authentic, the craftsman, natural, products our land.

To sum up, organic foods have become part of daily food consumption thanks to its distinction, health, safety, nature, tradition, so on.
A dynamic that relies on new consumer trends in post-industrial societies, eager to find in nature the lost sensations by the advance of modernization and connecting with new marketing strategies that aim to consolidate “the local “as a brand or seal of quality and differentiation.
Organic production allows farmers and rural agro-industries to acquire a small space of autonomy from corporate power, in an increasingly competitive environment.

This strategy allows us to analyze the interaction between the local and the global, between tradition and innovation, and between the legacy of the past and the future bet. It goes without saying that the world echoing lets you discover a mosaic of men and women who work our land with a deep respect for the environment, animal welfare and food quality, healthier and they do these days with a optimistic mood, because we know that we are a small gift will be the great future buts. It is ultimately a way of raising awareness about organic food and highlight the quality and richness of our land.

REFERENCES:

– AGUILAR CRIADO, E. (2007), Productos locales, mercados globales. Nuevas estrategias de desarrollo en el mundo rural, en García Docampo, M. (ed.), Perspectivas Teóricas en Desarrollo Local. La Coruña: Netbiblo, pp. 147-169.

– ALONSO BENITO, L. E. (2004). “Las políticas del consumo: transformaciones en el proceso de trabajo y fragmentación de los estilos de vida”, en RES. Revista Española de Sociología, nº 4, pp. 7-50.

– ALONSO BENITO, L. E. (2002). “¿Un nuevo consumidor?”, en Abaco: Revista de cultura y ciencias sociales, nº 31, pp. 11-18.

– BESIÈRE, J. (1998), “Local Development and Heritage: Traditional Food and Cuisine as Tourist Attractions in Rural Areas”, en Sociologia Ruralis, nº 38 (1), pp. 21-34.

– BRUGAROLAS, M.; RIVERA, L. M. y SÁNCHEZ, M. (1997). “Potencial de mercado para nuevos productos alimentarios: la producción ecológica.” Investigaciones europeas de dirección y economía de la empresa, nº 3(1), pp. 61-76.

– CALOMARDE BURGALETA, J. V. (2000). “Marketing ecológico”. Madrid: Ed. Pirámide y Esic Editorial.

– CÁCERES, J. y ESPEITX, E. (2002), “Riesgo alimentario y consumo: percepción social de la seguridad alimentaria”, en Gracia (Coord), Somos lo que comemos. Estudios de alimentación y cultura en España. Barcelona: Ariel, pp.317-348.

– CÁCERES, F.; CRUZ, J. C.; RODRÍGUEZ, A.y RUBIO, L. A. (2004). “Calidad agroalimentaria y denominaciones de origen.” Cuadernos de la Tierra del Agricultor y Ganadero, Nº 3, PP. 6-16.

– DÍAZ MÉNDEZ, C. y GÓMEZ BENITO, C. (2001). “Del consumo alimentario a la sociología de la alimentación”, EN Distribución y Consumo, Nº 60, PP. 5-23.

– GONZÁLEZ RUIZ, L.y COBO QUESADA, F. B. (2000). “Agricultura Ecológica en España: las estrategias de marketing, claves para el éxito”, en Distribución y Consumo, nº51, pp.39-55.

– HERVIEU, B. (1997). Los campos del futuro, Madrid: Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación.

– LOZANO CABEDO, CARMEN (2007), “La agricultura ecológica en el nuevo modelo de ruralidad. Una aproximación desde la Sierra de Segura (Jaén)”, en Neira, X.; Cervera, A. y Simón, X., Agroecoloxía e Agricultura Ecolóxica en Galiza. Catarroja (Valencia): SEAE, pp.91-99

– MURDOCH, J. y MIELE, M. (1999). “‘Back to Nature’: Changing ‘Worlds of Production’ in the Food Sector.” Sociologia Ruralis, 39(4), 465-483.

– NYGARD, B.y STORSTAD, O. (1998). “De-globalization of Food Markets? Consumer Perceptions of Safe Food: The Case of Norway.” Sociologia Ruralis, 38(1), 35-53.

– RENARD, M.-C. (1999). “The Interstices of Globalization: The Example of Fair Coffee.” Sociologia Ruralis, 39(4), 484-500.

– WILLER, H.;SORENSEN, N.y YUSSEFI-MENZLER, M. (2008). “The World of Organic Agriculture. Statistics and Emerging Trends 2008.

The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company is the world’s largest beverage company, which offers its consumers nearly 400 brands of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups . It was founded in 1886 by pharmacist Dr John  Pemberton in Atlanta, Georgia. But nowadays the Coca‑Cola Company is the world’s leading manufacturer, marketer and distributor through the higher beverage dispensing system in the world which operate in over 200 countries at a rate of nearly 1,600 billion servings a day. Together with Coca-Cola, recognized as the world’s most valuable brand, the product portfolio of the company includes 12 other brands with a value of several billion dollars, including Coca-Coca Light, Fanta, Sprite, Coca -Cola Zero, vitamin water, Powerade and Minute Maid.

In Spain, Coca-Cola works with 7 bottlers with 100%Spanish capital and 16 factories, who directly employ more than 5,000 people and serve over 450,000 customers. The Coca-Cola Company in Spain has 56 brands and more than 70 products. This wide range of productsincludes carbonated soft drinks and non-alcoholic, iced teas, juices, waters, sports drinks, energy drinks and new generation products.  The Coca-Cola Company focuses on a series of initiatives to protect the environment, to conserve resources and enhance the economic development of the communities where it operates.

The Coca‑Cola Company’s Mission

• To refresh the world – in mind, body and spirit
• To inspire moments of optimism – through our brands and actions
• To create value and make a difference everywhere we engage

The Coca‑Cola Company’s Values

• Leadership
• Passion
• Integrity
• Accountability
• Collaboration
• Innovation
• Quality

Coca‑Cola has had a long-standing commitment to responsible marketing for many years, and in 2009 the company set out explicitly what these commitments mean in practice.

The Responsible Marketing Charter (1)* is a set of principles that guide Coca-cola’s team entire approach to marketing and establish firm rules for what they should and shouldn’t do. Some of them are:

• We (Coke Company) don’t market any drinks to children under 12 because we believe parents should choose the drinks that are right for their families. We help parents make informed choices through better consumer information
• We (Coke Company) will work with an independent consultancy to constantly monitor TV ad placement
• We (Coke Company)  do not have direct commercial agreements with primary schools and are only in secondary schools by invitation
• We (Coke Company) will not associate ourselves with cinema films where the core audience is under

But also, as in the Coca-cola Company’s official web said: “We’ll also continue to have a dialogue with consumers and other stakeholders on responsible marketing, to ensure we keep delivering a wide variety of great quality drinks” (2)*. Meaning that the Company will be in touch with its customers to get comments, suggestions and complaints about Coca-Cola with the aim of improve its products consequently increase its consumption. Therefore we can find different ways to contact with the company. Firstly in Facebook, The coca-cola company has more than  51 millions of “Like-s”. It’s “fan page” is considered one of the most  successful page of the social network, Facebook, ranks 10th in number of followers. But why this success? That’s because one of the aims that Coca-Cola Company persues and promises is the “Happiness” to its customers, and also, thanks for some solidarity mobilizations which make the followers stop being audience, but content generators. Therefore, since 2010 Coca-cola Company has spent 6.6% less than 2009 on TV ads

With the same strategy, the successful promotions in the second more used social network by Coca-Cola Company, Youtube  has Coca-Cola amassed 146 million views. Of that, the U.S. company created only 26 million videos with your own content and were consumers who brought 120 million visits with home videos to collaborate.

But as I said before, Coca-cola also has other social medias where is present. Social medias like in Twitter, which there is a Coca-cola account created on June of 2010 for customers from Spain named @CocaCola_es, and until today has gathered more than 50.000 followers. Furthermore, in Tuenti the north American company has more than 400.000 followers, therefore we cannot say that Coca-cola does not have a strong presence in social medias. In its official web page, we also find all its news and developments, which later will be distributed through it social medias. Most of them developments are contests and promotions which makes consumers interact with each other and with the company and then increase the consumption of Coca-cola; because Coca-cola is always listening to its customers, it receive them message and it send the same message to all its followers, making the company the principal via of them interactions. Is important to highlight some promotions like “the Happiness Machine”, which was present in more than 20 countries, “Coca Cola Village” which the main via of communication between its participants was through social medias.

To sum up, is really important that large companies like Coca-Cola are present not only in TV ads or advertisements but also on the Internet have strong presence in many social medias that make us (the customers) the principal purpose of them different sales strategies. Because nowadays most of us we are present in any social media and the best way for these companies to find and reach us is through social networks. Therefore, companies like Coca-Cola, has invested more in social medias promotions than at any sites to market them products and  become the principal sellers of the products.

References:

• (1)* The Coca-Cola Company. (2010). Responsible Marketing. Retrieved December 9, 2012, from http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/about-us/responsible-marketing.html
• (2)* The Coca-Cola Company. (2010). Responsible Marketing. Retrieved December 9, 2012, from http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/about-us/responsible-marketing.html
• Cocacola company. (2012). La compañia. Retrieved December 9, 2012, from http://conoce.cocacola.es/conocenos
• REDES SOCIALES. (2012). Así funcionan las redes sociales de la gaseosa más famosa del mundo. 2:50 p.m. | 24 de Septiembre. Retrieved December 9, 2012, from http://www.eltiempo.com/tecnologia/internet/ARTICULO-WEB-NEW_NOTA_INTERIOR-12249188.html
• Coca-Cola apuesta por las redes sociales. (2011).28/03/2011 10:11. Retrieved December 9, 2012, from http://www.europapress.es/portaltic/empresas/noticia-coca-cola-apuesta-redes-sociales-20110328101148.html
• Stratmann jo. (2011). Coca-Cola cut ad spend by 6.6% and invest more in social media. 21st March 2011, 05:04 pm. Retrieved December 9, 2012, from http://www.freshnetworks.com/blog/2011/03/coca-cola-cut-ad-spend-and-invest-more-in-socia-medi/
• Liberos, E. (2012). CocaCola y las redes sociales, primera parte. 13 de Marzo. Retrieved December 9, 2012, from http://blog.iedge.eu/direccion-marketing/marketing-interactivo/social-media-marketing/eduardo-liberos-coca-cola-las-redes-sociales-primera-parte/
• Alvaro Reyes. (2012). Coca-Cola revela parte de su secreto para tener éxito en las redes sociales. 12/09/2012 . Retrieved December 9, 2012, from http://www.clasesdeperiodismo.com/2012/09/12/coca-cola-revela-parte-de-su-secreto-para-tener-exito-en-las-redes-sociales/
• Alimarket Alimentación. (2012). Coca-Cola se hace fuerte en las redes sociales. 4 de Diciembre . Retrieved December 9, 2012, from http://www.alimarket.es/noticia/111568/Coca-Cola-se-hace-fuerte-en-las-redes-sociales

 

Mrs. Dalloway

Mrs. Dalloway, which was published on 14 May 1925, is a Novel by Virginia Woolf, an English writer regarded as one of the greatest modernist literary figures of the twentieth century. The whole novel is the detailed and meticulous explanation of a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, but the innovative treatment of time and the different types of narrator have established this work as one of the reference modernist novels.

Virginia Woolf

This is the story of a high class woman who lives in London with her husband Richard Dalloway and her daughter Elizabeth. The whole novel is a description of one only day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway. At the beginning, she is going around the city in the morning, getting ready to host a party that evening, and the history ends that same day together with the end of the party. Yet, as the narration goes on, different issues take place, just like the appearance of Peter Walsh, who was Clarissa’s former boyfriend, and Sally Seton, her first true love who was also her best friends. These reunions make her wonder what would had happened if she has decided to marry the enigmatic and romantic Peter in except of the reliable Richard, and she also revives the feelings she had to Sally which seem not to be completely forgotten.

Together with Clarissa’s history, we also find Septimus Warren Smiths case. He was a veteran of World War I suffering from physiological problems due to the death of her best friend Evans. He lives with her Italian-born wife Lucrezia, who takes care of him, but although she was always looking after him she couldn’t avoid his suicide.

Clarissa’s party in the evening is a success. It is attended by most of the characters she has met in the book, including people from her past. She hears about Septimus’ suicide at the party and gradually comes to admire the act of this stranger, and makes her think about which is the sense of her live.

It is important to know that the main characteristic of the novel isn’t what it happens but how it is narrated. Virginia decided to leave apart the external actions to dive into the inside world of every character, so most part of the work is just meditation and thinking of the protagonists. Hence, it is important to recognize the themes of the novel, as they are considered the essence of all Virginia Woolf’s works.

There is a vast diversity of themes in the novel Mr. Dalloway, but some of them are much more important than others. The problems and themes analyzed in this novel are not particular issues like they used to be in the 19^TH century novel, they are problems concerning the human being, common worries, and although she introduced them using a single character, she used them as a symbol of what she wanted to transmit. These are some of them:

Firstly, she speaks about the situation of women in the Victorian society. The idea of a woman in that time was based on the concept of a perfect lady to be shown to the society; the lady is only the one that goes with an important man. But Clarissa shows a different view of this issue, she doesn’t think a women is nobody without a man, she knows that a woman can be successful for herself.

Secondly, we find the issues concerning death and suicide, and Septimus is considered the great symbol. This character thinks he is able to see a truth anyone else is able to appreciate, and it is such cruel that he ends up committing suicide. By this fact we can understand how difficult life was for the writer, and what her point of view of humanity and world was.

The third important theme is the time. This is an important issue due to the way in which it is used, changing the traditional notion of time as a chronologic structure based novel, intro a fragmentary novel with different techniques to show us which are the consequences of time in human life. The time and how the time changes a person were some of the obsessions of Virginia Woolf, and they are very important to understand the novel.

Overall, it is clear that Mrs. Dalloway is a highly representative novel, as it shows how Virginia Woolf lived and felt; like a woman born in a time that just didn’t suit her.

Reference:

• La Señora Dalloway, Virginia Woolf, Alianza Editorial S.A. (2004)
• Mrs. Dalloway, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs_Dalloway

My Favorite author: Jane Austen.

Jane Austen.

Jane Austen was born in Steventon, England 16 December 1775. She was a well-known British writer who lived while XVIII and XIX centuries. She was the daughter of the reverend Austen. Jane had six brothers and a sister named Cassandra. The relationship between both of them was not only special because they were sisters, but also because they were very good friends. In fact, they were confidents and there is a collection of letters they wrote to each other in which some relevant points of Jane Austen’s life are revealed.

Between 1785 and 1786, Jane and Cassandra were students of a private school in Reading. Moreover, three of Austen’s brothers signed in the army and that is why the writer used to know so much information about the way of living in the regiment. After 1787, Jane started writing, for the joy of her family, Juvenilia, which included some parodies about the literature of that time.

When talking about her personal life there is not constancy about any husband, there were however, two important men in her life. The first one was Thomas Letroy, a man she met at the age of 20. She seemed to be in love with him but his precarious economical situation did not let him marry Jane. We do not know much about the second man; the only thing that is known is that she used to go on holidays to the coast every summer. She met him there and he apparently fell in love with her, and so did she. However, he tragically died. This story does not appear in the letter collection of the sisters but Cassandra told it to her nieces once. Neither Jane nor Cassandra got ever married.

In 1803 Jane Austen sold her first novel,’ The Northanger abbey’, but the book was not published until 14 years later. In 1805, her father died letting her, Cassandra and their mother without any money.  In 1806, they moved to Southampton a town near the navy base of Portsmouth. That changed allowed her and her sister visit their brothers who were working there. In 1809 she continued writing and revising some novels, she sold ‘Sense and sensibility’ in 1810. The author also tried selling ‘Pride and Prejudice’ but this was sold in 1812, and published in 1813.

                           

Nevertheless, even though her career as a writer was going well, indeed, she published ‘Emma’ in 1815, she started to get sick and she was moved to Winchester in 1817. She died the 18^th of July of the same year there, and her last words were: I do not want anything but death. She was buried in Winchester’s cathedral.

FEATURES OF HER WORK:

Jane Austen was known because of her capacity of describing common and real things in a romantic and special way. James Edward Austen-Leigh wrote in his sister’s memories that ‘she opened her mouth with wisdom and in her tongue is the law of kindness ‘.  With her, a new style of writing was born; her descriptions were realistic and showed good behavior apart from showing fictitious experiences, always maintaining the truth principles.  She wrote with romantic sensibility typical scenes of the time, everything with a touch of affection and traditionalism.

Lionel Trilling wrote in one of his essays about the writer:

“Jane Austen was the first writer who represented the modern personality specifically. She talked about the culture in which this was produced. Moral life had never been showed as she did show it.  Moral life was never thought to be so complicated, hard and exhaustive. Hegel talked about secularizing spirituality as an essential feature of modernity and Jane Austen was the first one telling us what that secularization supposed.”

NOVELS:

• Pride and Prejudice
• Sense and sensibility
• Emma
• MansfieldPark
• Persuasion
• The Northanger abbey.

Monsters of the Sea

Many people are afraid of the sea, not only because of water, but also because of animals. Animals of the sea are not only small fishes, dolphins or whales; there are bigger and more dangerous animals as well. One of those dangerous and enormous animals are the sharks. Sharks are thought like animals which kill people as they want, but actually, they are not. It is true that they can be dangerous if they are hungry or even if you have blood, because they smell it; but they can also be as quiet and beautiful as dolphins. There are many types of sharks, but one more beautiful and amazing than the next, as we are going to see now.

The most known types of sharks are: the great white shark, the blue shark, the tiger shark, the bull shark, the mako shark and the hammerhead shark. Each of these “monsters”-called fishes, have some basic differences that make them easy to identify. Let’s see some features:

·The Great White Shark: it is the biggest and wildest shark, apart from the whale-shark, and it is usually fat, it has black eyes and its body is round. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_white_shark

·The Blue Shark: is long and thin, the thinest os every sharks, and its nose is very long as well. It is light-blue and it has a very black eyes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_shark

·The Tiger Shark: its body is not as grey as the others, and it has some paralel and vertical lighter marks, as tigers have. It is not very big but it is neither small, but its nose is large and crushed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_shark

·The Bull Shark: it is a fat but short shark, usually dark grey, and with light eyes. It seems as it has a hump. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_shark

·The Mako Shark: it is one of the smallest sharks, with a dark but bright grey, and very black eyes. It is one of the few types of sharks that have its teeth very out from the mouth. Its face is one of the ugliest and frightenings. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isurus

·The Hammerhead Shark: it is not small, it is medium size, but its best characteristic is its head: it is horizontal, long, and its eyes are each one in each corner of its head. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammerhead_shark

There are many types os sharks, and it is impossible to explain all of them and completely here, that’s why I put here some links if some of you want to read more about these strange but dangerous animals…or so-called “monsters of the sea”. An aim of these post is to promote interest and less fear for these beasts, because they are not as bad animals as others. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharks

Jon Iparraguirre Corrales

Internet life

We cannot avoid the fact that social networks ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network) are getting more famous these days. More and more people get inside of them and even more and more organizations also get inside those social networks. Social networks are normally used to share information with friends or other people, and within this information we find images, music, data, videos…etc and this all may create a new profile of us in the Internet. That profile is called digital identity and gives everyone that can see it an image of us. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_identity

Digital identity is actually important if you want to find a job, but we all must know that anyone else can see that information, and that’s why we all must setup our social network’s profiles. The reputation we gain when people see that information that we share, can be both good and bad, depending on who is the person that sees it. http://www.slideshare.net/pmhs/digital-reputation
The importance of setup our profiles in the social networks is getting bigger as day after day more and more people get inside of social networks, and they are more eyes to see what you share. There have even been some kind of problems as abuses by messages and things like that, and another problem that is not as common as the last one, is the fact that sometimes the information you want to send to someone arrives to anyone else. http://www.life123.com/parenting/tweens-teens/social-networking/issues-with-teens-and-social-networking.shtml
The problems of social networks are not avoidable and that’s why we must be careful of what we share and who we share with. Digital reputation can be good and important but also bad and dangerous. The identity we acquire in the Internet must be the one we want to, and we all must pay attention of what we share, who we share with, when and where if we want to keep our information safe.

Jon Iparraguirre Corrales

Internet for Universities

These days technology has advanced so much that even universities use the internet for some purposes. The University of Deusto is one of them, and it has some tools or resources to promote itself. Not only personal web pages, but also social networks are, nowadays, a good way for companies to present themselves to the public. The University of Deusto has some pages where we can find information about it in an easy way, as I am going to show now.
Deusto’s most used page is its own web page http://www.deusto.es/ where it has information about the university, about its grades… and where its students can look for their marks and so on. But it is not the only web page of the University.

Social networks such as Facebook or Twitter are also used by many organizations, and Deusto has its own profiles in those networks:

•In Facebook the University has information about the campus and some of the activities that people can do there. There you can also find links to other profiles of the University where you can find basic information and even the history of the University. http://www.facebook.com/deustocampus

•In Twitter people can see the last changes or news that the University launches, as well as the last comments of people that study there or knows it, and it can be a very good source of information for some people. https://twitter.com/#!/deusto

Here I cannot explain completely all the aims of the university but I hope that who reads it develops interest about it. I let here another information page just in case someone need it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Deusto

Jon Iparraguirre Corrales

Lenguas románicas

LENGUAS ROMANICAS:

Laurentino Rodríguez Contreras explica de donde provienen las lenguas románicas:

“La verdadera lengua matriz, que dio nacimiento a las lenguas romances, fue… el italiano, pero el italiano no proviene del latín como comúnmente se cree, si no que es, y esto forma parte también de su tesis, una lengua más antigua, desprendida en tiempos remotos del tronco itálico.”

De acuerdo con un experto de la Comisión Europea en lengua francesa, que es Jean-François Baldi, asegura lo siguiente:

“Hoy que las lenguas románicas pueden ser un “antídoto” contra la lengua “hegemónica”, el inglés, y por ello propuso que su estudio sea complementario al de la lengua franca anglosajona.”

Lo que quiere explicar este experto es que en el futuro se podrán abordar las lenguas románicas como el francés, portugués, español, catalán, gallego, italiano, rumano… No obstante, Baldi incidió en cuanto a la importancia de estudiar inglés como lengua además de otras lenguas. Al igual que Baldi, Hartung tambíén explica la importancia del inglés. El jefe de plurilingüismo de la Comisión Europea, Harald Hartung afirmó que:

“Es necesario tener una lengua franca. como el inglés. La Unión Europea no impondrá una lengua, aunque el 90 por ciento de los estudiantes aprende el inglés como primera lengua.”

Al mismo tiempo Hartung expone que la Unión Europea  podrá fomentar y disponer de un servicio que se trata de la interpretación y traducción de 23 lenguas oficiales románicas, mientras que 40 serán no oficiales.

Al estudiar una lengua románica, de acuerdo con Edison R., cada persona lo estudia de diferente manera. Él mismo explica el estudio de la lengua francesa:

“Cada quien tiene su historia de amor y de odios hacia el francés, con sus logros y sus decepciones. Yo opiné que en relación al idioma era necesario aprenderlo dos veces. La primera vez es el francés que se aprende en los cursos normales de idioma. Luego de un tiempo en estos cursos, llega un momento en que uno cree que ya sabe francés. En efecto, entiende casi todo lo que dice la profesora y la profesora entiende casi todo lo que uno dice. Además, se pueden comprender los textos escritos y se pueden hacer composiciones sin cometer demasiados errores. Entonces piensa uno: ¡Ya sé francés!”

Referencias:

• Laurentino Rodríguez Contreras “El verdadero origen de las lenguas romances.” (27 Junio 2010). http://grupos.emagister.com/debate/el_verdadero_origen_de_las_lenguas_romances/1398-725729
• Jean-François Baldi y Harald Hartung. “Un experto francés aboga por las lenguas románicas como “antídoto” al inglés hegemónico”  (12 Marzo 2009). http://www.telecinco.es/informativos/sociedad/frances-lenguas-romanicas-antidoto-hegemonico_0_918508360.html
• Edison R. “El idioma francés y la lengua quebequense”. (Lunes, 19 Diciembre 2011).  http://quindianossherbrooke.blogspot.com/2011/12/el-idioma-frances-y-la-lengua.html

Twitter’s beginning

Haven´t you asked yourself about Twitter? Who created it or when it was made? I have found some pages talking about the answers to these questions. Firstly I found Techcrunch that talks about Jack Dorsey, one of the creators of Twitter. In that page we found the comments of Dorsey about the creation of the Social Network:

Dorsey also reveals that the reason they initially droped the vowels out of “Twitter” was to try and get the SMS shortcode. …But Teen People already owned it. (Mig Siegler; Sunday, March 13th, 2011)

Apart from what Mig Siegler (the journalist of Techcrunch web page) sais, there appear a lot of tweets of Dorsey and he mention the Twitter of his partners creators:

The team was small: @noah came up with the name & managed, @florian & I programmed, @biz designed, all under the roof of Odeo & @ev. #twttr (Jack Dorsey, 13/03/2011)

If we continue reading we are going to find an interesting text which talks about Twitter:

Twitter, founded by Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams in March 2006 (launched publicly in July 2006), is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to post their latest updates. An update is limited by 140 characters and can be posted through three methods: web form, text message, or instant message. The company has been busy adding features to the product like Gmail import and search. They recently launched a new site section called “Explore” for external and third party tools that interact with Twitter and a new visualization tool called Twitter Blocks.

References:

• Techcrunch web page: http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/13/twitters-beginning/ (Mig Siegler; Sunday, March 13th, 2011)
• An interesting text which talks about Twitter: http://www.crunchbase.com/company/twitter (There are different texts and information from different people and different date)

Maya Angelou

“Puede que tengas que enfrentarte a muchas derrotas pero nunca debes acabar derrotado”. The hard life of this African-American woman is summarized in this phrase.  She was born in St. Louis (Missouri) the 1928. Her childhood was full of hard times. Her brother and she had to live for a long time with her ​​grandmother because her parents’s divorce. The 10 years spent with her grandmother in Stamps (Arkansas) provided her the most of the materials she would use in her famous autobiography: I know why the caged bird sings. In the book describes what it meant to be a colored girl in the state of Arkansas in the decades of 30 and 40.

When she was 8 years old she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend. After revealing the name of the attacker, Angelou had to go through trials and later for the murder of the rapist caused by her uncles. So, she realized that her words had the power to kill and she spent 5 years in silence. Decades later, the writer said: “Escribo para recuperar la voz negra y para todos aquellos oidos que quieran oirla”. Later, during her adolescence she had a brief drop in prostitution and she also got into the drug world.

But her political activism and her commitment to literature enabled her to get out of this deep well. Over the 60 and 70 decades Angelou was involved in the struggle for civil rights of her people. On the other hand, she traveled to several African countries where she worked as editor of newspapers and collaborate on humanitarian projects.

In addition to his autobiography, Angelou is a great writer of poems, here goes a poem based on his book:

I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS

The free bird leaps

on the back of the win

and floats downstream

till the current ends

and dips his wings

in the orange sun rays

and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks

down his narrow cage

can seldom see through

his bars of rage

his wings are clipped and

his feet are tied

so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings

with fearful trill

of the things unknown

but longed for still

and is tune is heard

on the distant hillfor the caged bird

sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze

an the trade winds soft through the sighing trees

and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn

and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams

his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream

his wings are clipped and his feet are tied

so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings

with a fearful trill

of things unknown

but longed for still

and his tune is heard

on the distant hill

for the caged bird

sings of freedom.

References:

• All the information about Maya Angelou appearing in this post has been taken from the book Entre dos mundos (Aitor Ibarrola)
• All about I know why the caged bird sings (Literature Study Guides, it doesn´t appear the author and the date): http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/cagedbird/
• Poems of Maya Angelou, third poem of 20 (two dates: Friday, January 03, 2003; and Tuesday, May 31, 2011): http://poemhunter.com/poem/i-know-why-the-caged-bird-sings/

Social networks such as Facebook,Twenty or Twitter,create lazy individuals and social imbeciles.

BECOMING SOCIAL FOOLS

 

Trees are not the only ones who take roots. We are anchoring our lifes, our future, our world, to a simple and silly “computer and I relationship”. Social Networks are becoming our strongest roots, inmersing us into a lazy and non-working society.

Since social networks such as, Facebook, Twenty or Twitter appeared, our society has become much lazier and passive than it was a decade ago. This clearly means, that with the emergence of these kinds of networking sites, people is even less likely to hang out for the beach on a sunny day or go out with friends to take some coffee, due to the fact that the idea of staying in front of the PC sounds much more appealing to them than spending time in real life.

Therefore, as it seems that social networks have somehow worsen our lifestyle, we should consider whether it is worth wasting time posting comments on a friends wall or sending private messages to your best friend, when you have the possibility of talking to them face – to face.

I do believe that these sites play an important role when you want to keep in touch with someone you’ve met in summer holidays, or old school friends you don’t see in your everyday life routine. Nevertheless, we ought to learn how and with whom to share our personal information, our pictures and profile data, as the cyber world is pretty huge and keeps increasing more and more each day.

Moreover, from my point of view, I would say that, if you carry on adding friends to your social networks and keep on wasting time talking to people virtually instead of speaking with them in real time and place, you would not success in making new relationships, as you won’t know how to act, react or speak to a person face-to-face.

 

References:

http://babiloniaunahoraentrecriados.lacoctelera.net/post/2010/09/21/redes-sociales-y-su-influencia-la-sociedad-romina

http://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/media-society/social-networking-young-adults/

http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-scientific-reasons-social-networks-are-bad-society/

 

“The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”

Guk The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde liburuari buruz idatziko dugu. Liburu hau Robert Louis Stevenson (Edimburgo,Eskozia,1850ko azaroaren 13a- Upolo, Samoa, 1894ko abenduaren 3a) idazle ingelesak idatzi zuen eta 1886ko urtarrilean argitaratu zen. Oso ezaguna eta literaturaren historian aztarna garratzitsua  utzi du.  Horregatik, orrielde ugari daude liburu honi buruzko informazioa ematen duena. Hala ere, gehienetan gertatzen den bezala orrialde hauek ingeleses daude gehienbat. Hau izan da  gai honi buruz idaztearen arrazoi nagusienetarikoa.

Artikulu hori egiteko iturri eta erreferentzia ugari bilatu eta erabili behar ditut. Horietako bat  http://www.sparknotes.com/ web orrialdean aurki dezakegu. Lanak egiterako orduan ugariak dira iturriak aukeratzeko irizpideak, hala nola, informazio kopurua,agertzen den informazioaren fideltasuna,informazioa ondo antolatua egotea…  Irizpide hauek guztiak betetzen dituen horietako dugu http://www.sparknotes.com/.

Zergatik aukeratu dut artikulu hau?

Lehenengoz esan beharra dago lehen begiradaz ikus daitekeela orrialdea ondo egituratuta dagoela informazioa atal bakoitzaren barnean sartua. 12 ataletan banatzen du informazio osoa : Testuingurua, argumentua, pertsonaien zerrenda, protagonisten analisia, gaiak, laburpena eta analisia kapitulua bakoitza sakonki aztertuz, zitak, faktore esanguratsuak… Atal bakoitzeko informazioa oso osatua  eta garatuta dago. Horrek antolaketa onaren faktoreakin batera orrialde hau hartzea eta ez beste bat hartzearen arrazoi nagusinetarikoa da.

Hau aukeratu izanaren beste arrazoi garrantzitsu bat gai honen inguruan dauden beste liburu batzuen erreferentzia eta informazioa iturriak ageri direla da.

Azkenik, orrialdean lehen aldiz sartzean pentsa dezakegu ez dela oso fidegarria. Baina ez da egia, gaian ikasiak diren diren irakasleak idazten baitituzte artikuluak. Gainera, hau ikasgai  eta literaturako lan guztiak ditu bere barnean zeinahi ikaslek erabil ditzan.

ERREFERENTZIAK:

– Sparknotes: http://www.sparknotes.com/

– Wikipedia, the free enciclopedia  ,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Case_of_Dr_Jekyll_and_Mr_Hyde /

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Louis_Stevenson

Linked Data

Linked Data is theway that the Semantic Web has to link the different data that are distributed on the Web, so that is referenced in the same way they do the links on Web pages.

The Semantic Web is not just the publication of data on the Web, but they can be linked to others, so that people and machines can explore the web of data, being able to related information referred from other initial data.

In the same way that the web site of the hypertext, the web of data is built by documents on the web. However, unlike the web of hypertext, where links are relationships between points of the documents written in HTML, the data link arbitrary things described by RDF.

For example, assuming that a directory of companies publishes specialized informationon relative to organizations, such as size or professional area, you may want to indicate also information about location. There are web sites with large geographic databases with detailed information on locations, the business directory can refer to the geographical data that are arranged in the external source. Thus, the initial data of the organization are enriched with information provided by experts in the geographical area.

As we can read in the book of Tom Heath and Christian Bizer ( Linked Data: Envolving the Web Into a Global Data Space, 2011):

The term Linked Data refers to a set of best practices for publishing and interlinking structured data on the Web. These best practices were introduced by Tim Berners Lee in his Web architecture note Linked Data and have become known as the Linked Data principles. These principles are the following:

1. Use URIs as names of things

2. Use HTTP URIs, so that people can look up those names.

3. When someone looks up a URI, provide useful information, using the standards (RDF, SPARQL)

4. Include links to other URIs, so that they can discover more things

– References:

* Linked data. (2012, April 27). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:15, May 8, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Linked_data&oldid=489499805

* http://www.w3c.es/Divulgacion/GuiasBreves/LinkedData

* http://www.maestrosdelweb.com/editorial/web-3-linked-data-web-semantica/

* Linked Data: Envolving the Web Into a Global Data Space by Tom Heath and Christian Bizer (2011) http://books.google.es/books?id=OFv59Wcfkx8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=linked+data&hl=es&sa=X&ei=-oypT5eKM8n98QPPuP3UCg&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=linked%20data&f=false

Weeds: esperientzia ezberdin bat.

Beste postean azaldu dudan moduan, neuk aukeratutatako gaia Weeds telesaila izan da eta ez zaizkit suertatu arazo handirik hau egiterakoan nahiko erraza zelako dena.

Besterik gabe gogoratzeko, Weeds telesaila Agrestic deituriko fikziozko hiri batean kokatzen da. Telesailaren pertsonai nagusia Nancy Botwin da; alargun geratzen da, Judah bere senarra bihotzekoak jota hiltzen delako. Hortik aurrera duen bizimaila mantendu ahal izateko, marihuana saltzera behartut ikusten da. Erosleen artean bere auzokideak edota bere kontalaria eta abokatua daude. Telesailaren garrantzizko beste bi pertsonai Silas eta Shane dira; Nancyren semeak dira. Hirurak bizi dira Agresticken eta telesaila ikusten badugu hainbat egoera eta momentu paregabeak ikusiko ditugu. Nahiko atsegin dut telesail hau eta hau egitea erabaki dut.

Weeds zortzi denboraldi ditu bain seiri buruz egitea erabaki dut. Aipatzekoa da telesail hau arrakasta izan duela mundu osan zehar. Estatu Batuetan hasi, Latinoamerikara garatu eta Espainiara iritsiz; Europako beste hainbat hiritan ere telebistan agertuz. Beste datu interesgarria bat, antzezeleek lortu dituzten sarien zerrenda da: 2005ean Nancy Botwinek aktoresa hoberenaren saria irabazi zuen, 2006an Urrezko Globoen saria jaso zuen eta 2006an, telesailaren sortzailea, Jenji Kohanek gidoi hoberenaren saria irabazi zuen.

Erreferentzia nagusitzat Wikipedia bai Ingelesez bai Gaztelaniaz izan dut; hala ere, beste zenbait web-orri erabili ditutz denboraldien eta pertsonaien atala betetzeko.

Azkenik Weets telesaila gomendatu nahi dizuet guztiz entretenigarria delako eta gure eguneroko bizitzan gertatzen zaizkigun gauza asko bertan igortzen dira.

Genetic Genius

According to a recent study of the psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman, the best musicians are born, not made. Researchers at St Thomas’s in London claim that genes are responsible for up to 80 per cent of our ability to recognize pitch, the jey to musical success and  greatness. The discovery by the hospital’s Twin Research Unit, the largest of its kind in the world, accounts for the prevalence of musical families from the Bachs to the Corrs and the Strausses to the Jacksons.

El concepto de préstamo y otros términos interrelacionados

El termino préstamo crea bastante polémica por su amplio y ambiguo significado, ya que como afirma Castillo Carballo (2006: 6) se suele utilizar para hacer referencia a cualquier elemento que surja como resultado de las relaciones interlingüísticas, con independencia de todas las puntualizaciones efectuadas. Del mismo modo, Gomez Capuz (2005: 9-10) señala que el concepto de préstamo resulta bastante ambiguo al ser un reflejo de los contactos entre las distintas sociedades y culturas, por lo que, al mismo tiempo, está relacionado con una multiplicidad de fenómenos como extranjerismo, calco, préstamo semántico, etc.

Sin embargo, otros autores como Louis Guilbert (1975: 92-93) usan el término extranjerismo para nombrar a las palabras procedentes de otras lenguas y distingue tres categorías por el grado de integración en la lengua: préstamos, xenismos y peregrinismos. El primero de ellos, estaría compuesto por extranjerismos que son plenamente aceptados por la sociedad, por lo que su uso se generaliza, y aparecen sin mayores problemas en los diccionarios de la lengua (jamón, guerra, tambor, izquierda). El uso de peregrinismos, por su parte, está generalizado entre los hablantes, pero estos siguen sintiéndolos como extranjeros, pero no tienen ningún problema para emplearlos ni para entenderlos (aftersun, crack, gay). Por último, los xenismos son aquellos que se mantienen como tales en la lengua, y los hablantes los tienen y reconocen fácilmente como extranjerismos (freak, reach, rider) (Alvar Ezquerra, 2005: 13).

Wikipedia: Comunidad educativa

Wiki es una palabra hawaiana que quiere decir “rápido”; sin embargo, su significado a cambiado gracias al surgimiento de la web 2.0 porque , actualmente, esta palabra se relaciona con páginas electrónicas que se editan en linea a traves de múltiples usuarios. La más famosa es Wikipedia: “wiki” (escrito en comunidad) y “pedia” del griego padeia (educación).

Como usuaria de Wikipedia puedo crear, modificar y borrar el contenido de una página de forma fácil y gratuita, además de ver los cambios realizados instantáneamente en la misma; también, me permite escribir en colaboración a través de la Web y recuperar fácilmente cualquier información anterior o posterior a mi colaboración.

Writing about a writter

Nora Roberts is a bestselling American author that has fought to erase the women’s stereotypes. She fought against “machismo” or “machoism” through her novels and she took part in this fight in hard times in which being a female writter was absolutely strange. We think that she has been one of the pioneers of the feminist movement against all the odds and this is the main reason for choosing her and her books to write a Wikipedia article in Basque, since Basque people ought to know about her too. Wikipedia has no article about her in this language and we thought it was a great idea to provide this information to other Basque speakers. We have learnt a lot about the writter but also about information management since we have been working in our wiki and in Wikipedia. Between all the knowlegde we gained doing this exercise we could underline the ability to create a common page in a wikipage where we could all contribute, the skill to submit this information to Wikipedia and to provide it to the general public and the collective building of an article with other Wikipedia members.

Relevant sources on Jay Asher

When I came across with the american writer, Jay Asher, I instantly wanted to know more about him. Unfortunately, the information given by Wikipedia wasn’t deep enough to follow his carreer so I decided to seach more about his work.

From his most famous novel, Thirteen reasons why, I found it necessary to analyse which had been his influences or “reasons why” he decanted himself in favour of youth public, instead of adult public. The best way of answering this cuestions was finding an interview made to him, and that is exactly what I got after making some reseaches. This kind of interviews provide a large amount of information about the author that other kind of sources just can’t, such as life experiences or data about their personal motivations and explanations about the novels they’ve written.