AND I'M STILL HERE

Hello again!!
The school year has just started again and I resume the blog. This course will be harder than the last one, and I think that because of two things: we must submit the “Research Work” and we need to prepare for the university entrance exam.
The first week has just finished and I am fed up with these two issues. I think that if we used half of the time we spend saying “we must study”, “we must work”, “we must ...” to make what we really must do (the research work, for example), we would finish it before.

And now, I’m going to stop grumbling and I’ll continue my post.

Throughout this summer I’ve been looking for information for my research work and I’ve read a book which has made me change my point of view about our society. The book is called “The hydrogen economy” (by Jeremy Rifkin) and, well, I admit it is a bit apocalyptical and pessimistic, but I’ve learned that we can’t wait until the end of fossil fuels (if it’s true that it will happen): we need to act and change our habits. Because of this, some of my future posts will be related with this topic (climate change, fossil fuels, etc.). Apart from this, I’ll try to write about funny issues to make it more enjoyable.

Finally, I want to change a little bit the face of the blog with some gadgets (I’ve said “a little bit”, I don’t want to write in a circus =/).

Well, that’s all for today, bye!!

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Man's best friend

Dogs are one of my passions. I haven’t got a dog because my family doesn’t let me have one but, when I’ll have my home, I’ll have a dog.

My favorite dogs are the huskies. I like the color of the fur and that they are big (I don’t like small dogs a lot because most of them are like big rats and I always have in mind the image of a person with the dog in the handbag. But I need to say that I’ve met some small dogs that are better than the others.) Maybe one of the bad points of the huskies is that they tend to be very haughty (this is what I’ve heard), and I don’t like arrogant animals.
But I’m sure that I won’t pay a lot of money to buy a dog because, after all, I don’t mind if a dog has got pedigree or not. Surely I’ll visit a dog pound and choose one. I prefer doing this because these dogs are more pleasant and they need more affection because they have had bad experiences like mistreatments or abandonment. I think that people who mistreat dogs are despicable.
And now, if my friend Ariadna lets me do it, I put the link to this video, because I saw it and it’s incredible. We should stop these actions and be more respectful with animals, because they won’t kill us because of stupid causes.

WATCH VIDEO

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Sport, tournament, handball

Today there has been a handball tournament in Castelló d’Empúries. In June, all the championships have finished and it’s the last day we play handball because in summer there aren’t trainings.
Like every year, we have gone to the pavilion at early morning (well, sometimes it’s good to wake up early). We have made the teams (we used to make the teams one or two weeks before the tournament, but this year it has been more improvised). Then, after saying our name (the “Ex-Patayas”) and receiving our t-shirt, matches have started. At the morning, we have played five matches (we have won three of them) and then have had dinner (I was very hungry after playing all the morning). When we have finished we have played another match because we had been classified, but we have lost. I’ve stayed to watch the last match. It has been very exciting because the two teams were so equaled, they have played two parts and there was a draw. After the play-off, there was another draw but the players were very tired and they have finished it with a penalty. Now I’m very tired, but it has been worthy. I have a medal (the cup has been very close but...).In the photo you can see our goalkeeper, with one of his savings.

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To be left-handed

Left-handedness happens when a person has a preference for the left hand over the right hand to do most of the activities in his life. It isn’t optional, it comes with the genes. Most of the people are right-handed and, because of this, we live in a world designed by and for right-handed. Then, left-handed (also called lefties) need to learn how to do the activities with the right hand, and then we have the ambidexterity.

Some religions, cultures or groups have thought that left-handedness is something evil, a bad sign, and some words like “sinister” have got a negative meaning, while words related with the right side have got good meanings. For example, the word “right” is used to talk about the side or to say “good” and “to put something to rights” is to “repair something”. In some states, teachers told lefties off if they use the left hand.



If we look around us, we can see that most of the objects and tools have been designed for being used with the right hand. Scissors and knives can’t be used if the edge isn’t asymmetrical. The mouse of the computer is usually placed in the right side. It can be configured to be used with the other hand, but some of the buttons aren’t accessible with this way. Another curious thing that goes unnoticed is that the letters in pencils, pens, crayons, etc. are written in a manner that, if you use the right hand, words can be read, but with the other hand, all the words are upside down. Moreover, the main button of a camera is pushed by the right hand, and the screen is in the left side. Furthermore, the set squares and most of the instruments (for example, guitars) have got the same problem



I am left-handed and one of the things that I think it’s very uncomfortable is to write. I need to write from left to right and, if I don’t care, I spread all the ink over the paper. Then, I need to write in a weird position which isn’t very good for my wrist and I can’t use some types of pens because the ink dries up slowly. I also hate the rings or the spirals of the notebooks. Necessarily, I’ve learned how to use my right hand: I cut, I use the mouse, I play the guitar, etc.

I think that lefties should be more beard in mind, because a 7-10% of the population is a very important part. Since 1976, the 13th of August is the International Lefthanders Day and there are some shops specialized in tools for lefties.

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My dear madwomen

Hello! Today I’m going to talk about these two characters: Estela and Àngels. I haven’t got a photo with them (well maybe one but I don’t know where it is) and I’ve stolen this one from their blog.

I’ll start with Àngels: I know her since we were very little and we played basketball in the same team. She was (and is) one year older than me and the other players and she took advantage (that year we finished in the third position!). Now we have grown but she is as madder as then (well, now a little bit more). When she laughs she does it very loudly, then she weakens but, after a few seconds she laughs again. One of her phrases is something like “two stones!”. Don’t worry if you have a heart attack or you break a bone, because she is an excellent lifeguard and she will look after you.

And now, Estela. Maybe you can think she is more serious when you look at her, but that’s false, when she starts laughing she can't stop. I call her “mop”, because she doesn’t match with the oranges. Then, she doesn’t like it and she blows up her cheeks and shows the tongue. And now I am thinking and I don’t remember when I met her... (My memory is failing).

Well, if you want to see them you only should go to Las Vegas. Bye!

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Do you believe in luck?

Some people only live for the game, the gambling, they believe in something with a supernatural power that can decide their future. There are a lot of persons leaving their money or their life on luck’s power. They wear charms or they pray. They also try to find a four-leaf clover or a leprechaun. Everything is good for having more luck: to get up with the right foot or to agree with the devil.
On the other hand, they believe in things that bring the bad luck nearer, for example, to walk under a ladder or to break a mirror.
I believe a bit in luck, but I especially believe in Murphy’s Law: “If anything can go wrong, it will”. For example, if a toast falls from the table, the side of the butter will touch the floor, or, if you need to take a decision with a 50 of chance to get right, you will always choose the wrong option.
Another thing that I think it’s very curious is the “feng shui”. It comes from Asia and it is based in the objects in the house: If they are in the correct place, the feng shui will flow and you’ll be lucky, but if they aren’t well put, you’ll be unlucky.

I’ve found a very happy experiment: Theoretically, the toasts usually fall with the worst side on the floor, and cats always fall on the floor on their legs. The experiment is this: What will happen if we tie a toast on the back of a cat?



Unfortunately, the person who made this experiment didn’t calculate well the distances and the cat died. Moreover, the toast fall from the cat and dirtied the floor.

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Change finished. It's time to check it.

I think that this photo shows the reality. Money means power in our society, but I think that if we hang up a lot of people in the other side of the scales, we can tip the scale.

Well, at the end I have finished the first part. It’s been difficult because the Windows Vista didn’t accept the Ubuntu. Then, I erased the Vista and I’ve added the Windows XP (the last version). Now I have two Operating Systems. It’s a hard job to install the XP, because I needed all the drivers for my laptop and I didn’t find the drivers for the wireless system, but I’ve finally found them.
At first sight, it works faster than Vista. It works faster and it hasn’t frozen yet.
About the Ubuntu, I haven’t used it a lot yet because I am getting used to it.

I’ve got a lot of experience with this process, because I’ve learnt a lot of words and things that I didn’t know before this. Some things are very complicated, but there is one that is very simple and I want to share it with you: DON’T BUY VISTA.

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Adding another OS

I’m going to tell you what I’m going to do with my laptop.

Last year I got a new laptop. Then, it was the starting of the “new” Windows Vista, and I’d got used to the last operating system (the Windows XP), which was installed in my old PC. I think that this new OS is good, but I think that it consumes a lot of the capacities of the laptop, and I’ve heard that it would work better with another OS, specifically Linux (and more specifically, Ubuntu). But there has been passed one year, and I have some programs and documents that I don’t want to loose, so I want to install the Ubuntu without eliminating the Windows.



On one hand, the Microsoft’s Windows is the “typical operating system”. It comes pre-installed by force in most of the computers and you can’t choose another one. It is also expensive, because I think that the simplest version costs about 200 dollars and the most expensive costs 600 dollars more or less. There are a lot of games or programs that only work with this OS, but this situation is changing every day. It is being outshined by its previous versions because Microsoft is now working on the following version called Windows 7.



On the other hand, there is the Ubuntu. It’s free and it is updated every six months. Every day there is more people using this OS. It’s safer than Windows, it consumes less resources and it has got a lot of variants because anybody can help improving it.

As you can see, the second option seems to be the best one, and I’m going to try it. If I don’t like it, I can go backward. If it surprises me, I’ll kick my Vista.
I’ve been watching the official webpage and there are some instructions to do this, but I think it is a bit difficult. I’ll tell you the results.

If somebody is using Ubuntu or has used it, I’ll receive gratefully your comments.

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