Icelandic volcano eruption

Last week the news about The Grímsvötn  volcano eruption spread out  all over the world because of the fear that it may cause Eupean airlines  closures as last year eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. The Grímsvötn volcano became active after seven years; the eruption of Iceland's most active volcano is believed not to cause a new air traffic chaos in Europe, as happened last year. One expert said that although the island was forced to close its main airport, they do not believe it may cause serious damages.
Grímsvötn volcano which is located on the largest glacier in Iceland erupted stronger than its previous time which is recorded in 2004.

The smoke cloud reached about 20 miles high, forming a huge mass over the north Atlantic island, says the news.
Experts do not expect to cause the same problems as the Eyjafjallajokull which in April last year forced European airlines not to operate for days and it became a global worry because people could neither enter nor leave the continent.

However, a weather service spokesman of Iceland has stated this week that the volcano's activity is decreasing. He said: "History shows that the violent eruption is common for one or two days before losing strength, it is impossible to say how it will be within 24 hours, but we hope it calms down,”

 I think that this is another clear example that nature is showing us once again its strength and power, and it is the one that can control the Earth through its actions (Hurricanes, Earthquakes, volcanoes eruptions) and not the man.

Melman

Review about an article published the newspaper El Perfil

            The article with the headline called “ Argentinos en el cacerolazo español” was important, because it was showing us that there were millions of people, making protest against  their President Zapatero in an  European country, like Spain. The Spanish president became into the less socialist president, because he  did all the opposite meassures that he has proclaimed in his Political Campaing.

            These demonstrations all over Spain are fighting for respecting the  real democracy and for having a better social conditions for all the Spanish population. It was actually important the active role of young  people and the oldest, who were agaisnt   the errors of the goverment.

            These protests that were called by the press as the “ indignant population” were the image of the problems and inequities in the society that were brought by the Paradigm called Neoliberalism. 

Graffiti Woman

Glee

GLEE is a musical drama television series that airs on FOX. It is based on the life of a high school glee club called New Directions, which not only catches the audience attention by singing and dancing in an excellent way, but also by dealing with teenagers relationships and problems, in addition to sexuality and other social issues.

The main characters are Rachel, Finn, Sue Sylvester and Mr. Schuster. Lea Michele plays Rachel Berry, a talented star of the glee club, who is often bullied by the Cheerios and football players. Her feelings and attitudes are sometimes excessive, that is why her partners usually expressed their disapproval to her.

In the beginning of the episodes, differences between characters were really apparent. However, being together in the glee club and sharing so much time in their company made them leave those differences aside and help each other to face their personal problems.

Glee is very funny and fascinating. I think you may find it interesting too. So, if you agree with me, please let me know.

Jackie

“Love is all around”

This is a song written by Reg Presley and performed by The Troggs. It has been sung by many artists, but the best known version was Wet Wet Wet´s cover, for the soundtrack of the film Four Weddings and a Funeral. The song was an international hit in 1994. In 2003, a parody of the song was used as a central theme in the British Christmas/romantic comedy Love Actually. They changed the lyrics of the classic "Love Is All Around" to "Christmas Is All Around". In my opinion, this song brings hapiness because there´s nothing more beautiful than love. So I strongly recommend you to listen it to if you are not feeling well, I promise it will cheer you up!

Mimi

Twelve angry men

A couple of weeks ago, we had the opportunity to see in Oral Expression 2 what I consider one of the greatest movies of all times, " twelve angry men" I had seen it before but I really enjoyed it again. How human miseries are exposed when a group of men have the big responsability to decide about an eighteen year-old boy's life. The mere fact that he is of latin origin is sufficient reason to find him guilty of murder in first grade.How a hypocritic society react before difference. How each of these men put much of their own frustrations and personal experiences and make them weight at the time of voting for guilty.Only an old man felt compassion for the boy and argued he did not certainly know if he was guilty or not; only a man could value life beyond prejudices.


Tati

Medieval punishment

I have just read an article titled, “Medieval punishment”, in a magazine, which is about one of the London’s notorious prisons “The Clink”, built by the Bishop of Winchester between 1107 and 1144. I would like to share with you my reading as we are currently dealing with some related topics in our subjects.
As an introduction, the article tells us a bit about the Clink prison’s history. It starts explaining the origins of the name "The Clink", which actually derives from the sound of the rattling of the chains that the prisoners wore.
As regards prisoners´ life there, it was hard; they were beaten and tortured brutally with various torture devices. Women were actually more severe punishment that men, they were tortured to death slowly, whereas men would often be granted the death of honour. Furthermore, prisoners had to eat mice and rats to survive because food and drink were charged at twice the correct price.
Added to this, it is said that this prison presented a source of income for the Bishop as in those times warehouse were regulated and shut down. As an evidence of that, the article tells us that prisoners´ family and friends had to pay the jailers in order to make their time better. Another example mentioned is that the law permitted creditors to send their debtors to jail so as to increase the prison’s population.
Punishment continued for a few decades during Henry VII and Mary I´s reign. However, as the costs to upkeep became higher, the prison was used less and less until finally, it was burned down.
In brief, the purpose of the article seems to be to point out that today The Clink Prison becomes a Museum, which is currently located on the original site in Clink Street, and that it tries to recreate the conditions of the original prison. To convince the reader it highlights that for its visitors it was an impressive and vivid feeling to be there. Besides, as a conclusion it presents some of the visitors´ testimonies that bear it out.
Although it offers persuasive ideas, I consider that the content of this article could be very useful to work with. Moreover, the article suggests areas where additional research findings would help us to understand the medieval context as well as other important events that took place at that time.

Abby

“The use of the force”

A couple of days ago I came across a website www.classicshort.com . It was in this site where I found an interesting short story called “The use of the force” by William Carlos Williams (1883-1963). Williams was an American author closely related with modernism and who influenced “the beat generation”, but he was also a paediatrician and probably because of this reason, the main character of this story is a doctor.

The doctor-patient relationship here is shown from the view of a physician who is summoned to attend a house call. Her patient was a beautiful child whose parents were concerned about her illness because they were afraid that it could be diphtheria, a deadly illness in those days. They were new patients for him and the girl showed a reluctant attitude towards the doctor. In order to determine if she had diphtheria or not, the doctor should examine her throat and this ended up in a situation that escalates into a battle between them, since the child resisted the examination and the doctor was convinced that it was necessary so that he could have an early diagnosis.
The narrator of the story is the doctor; consequently we can appreciate his own thoughts and feelings, as well as his reaction to this hostile situation. The use of the force is the way the physician dealt with this stubborn child but especially with his self-control issues.
In summary, “the use of the force” shows us a moment in the life of a stressed out doctor and one of those situations which medicine people are forced to face and are part of their jobs.

Erin

Something that opens my mind...

When one listens to a band like Pink Floyd, one cannot avoid letting one’s imagination run riot. The kind of songs, music and lyrics they write and play makes one feel inspired and comfortable.
Pink Floyd is an English rock band which was born more than thirty years ago. At the beginning they played sort of psychedelic music. Eventually, they changed into others styles, maintening features of their old music, but making it more mature and inspiring than before. An example of that is one of their most famous disc ‘Dark Side of the Moon’, in which we can find songs like ‘The great gig in the sky’, ‘Time’, and ‘Money’. These songs talk about things that happen in the world and things that a person feels. Years later, songs like ‘High Hopes’, ‘Hey You’, and ‘Come back to Life’, talk about hope, help oneself and others and think twice as well as being clever and not to fall in the ignorance of the ordinary human being.
Everytime I listen to them, I think deeply about life, about what I do or say.They make me feel good and sometimes sad. But all of those feelings bring me peace and hope because in some way I feel identified with their lyrics.
In my opinion, despite the fact that Pink Floyd has changed the members of the group (some died, others split up and made their own way) or even if it disappears completely, it is always going to be unique: the best band of all times.

Çalra