THE KWIK-E-MART

In the Simpsons TV serie, there's a supermarket, and its owner is an Indian man, his name is Apu. I discovered that several shopping centers in the United States have used this publicity to turn the supermarkets like in the series.
It's very funny 'cause there are many things equal: There's the same building with the same placard. Even the shopman looks like Apu. There's also the machine of the famous Squishees, which are called in Spanish "fresisuís". You can also buy the famous donuts from The Simpsons, with pink icing and colorful shavings. There's also the famous Krusty cereal, the KrustyO's. There are also figures of characters from the series, for example Homer, or the old man who was frozen in the refrigerator. In the walls are painted graffitis of "El Barto" (the Bart Simpson's signature) and caricatures of Skinner, the director of the school.
It's a very curious thing, I'd like to go there and be able to see it, I think it would be so funny.

Here you can see some photos:

Too much caffeine causes hallucinations

I recently read an article that I found very curious. It talks about caffeine efects on humans.
We all know the major effects of caffeine: decrease sleepiness and increase the ability to concentrate. But the article describes another curious effect: caffeine causes hallucinations.
A group of psychologists from Durham University, UK says that people who during the day consume the caffeine equivalent to seven cups of coffee are more likely to hear voices and suffering hallucinations. In fact, scientists say that auditory hallucinations are more common than we think: 3% of the population hears voices when there's no one really, but the risk is greater for people who consume coffee. Moreover, caffeine not only causes auditory hallucinations, they also see things that don't exist, like dead people. Scientists think that this is because coffee causes making more cortisol, the stress hormone.

So, if you think you see dead people or voices that doesn't exist, drink less coffee!



Anna.

TDR

This week we had to decide the topic of research project. Personally I think it's a very difficult decision because I it's the most important project. With this project there are a lot of things that are critical to the future, so you can't choose any topic.
At first I didn't know which topic to choose, none of the list convinced me, so I thought to propose one. I wanted to do it on a topic related to health, 'cause I want to study medicine.
My father, who is a doctor, helped me. We thought about many topics, and finally I decided to do it about the general state of health, related to respiratory function. By a pulsioximetry (to measure the oxygen level in blood) and a peak flow (to measure lung capacity), you can see the health status and then compare. I can also relate it to age, sex and bad habits, and say the most common respiratory diseases.

It's a topic that interests me a lot, and I hope to do a good project.

My dog

The last term I wrote about my cat, but it isn't the only animal I have. I also have a dog.
I had a dog for a long time, but it disappeared and never reappeared again, so it was a very strong blow, and impacted me a lot because it was a dog that I loved so much. Sometime later my parents decided to have a cat, and this helped me a lot.
I never imagined I'd have a dog again, in fact I had thought about it many times, but I thought that my parents didn't want another dog.
The day my parents decided to adopt it, was a surprise. I still remember the moment the woman took off the dog from the cage; I thought that it wasn't for me. Then my mother gave it to me and I picked up the dog in arms. I still didn't believe it.
It's a beautiful dog, great dog. It's the Golden Retriever breed; it has grown a lot since it was a puppy. In April it'll be two years old. It has got a very dark eyes and the nose also. It’s quite large. It has the long gold hair. Whenever I come home it is always there to receive me with the queue moving, it's always enthusiastic, always eager to play. It always needs company, and is sometimes a bit nuisance. It's a very clever dog, and also very wolverine.
The cat and the dog know to live together. They've never fought. At first the cat was a little jealous, but not anymore. I love both in the same way.

Rotten: No Irish, No blacks, No dogs.

A few weeks ago I read a very interesting book, and I decided to talk about it.
The title of the book is No Irish, No Blacks, No dogs. Is an authorized autobiography of the singer of the punk group Sex Pistols, Johnny Rotten, whose real name is John Lydon. The title comes from a poster of one of the motels where the singer stayed during his tour of U.S.A. (he was born in Ireland, so it's curious).
Rotten narrates her life since he was a child until the separation of the Sex Pistols in 1979, in full U.S. tour. While he's telling his life, he also explains the history of the original punk, 'cause Sex Pistols were the forerunners of the movement in the UK. Not only the punk movement, also the philosophy and the ideology. He explains a way of life. He gives his particular point of view of that period of the mid-seventies, and he denies everything that is considered "punk" and in reality it isn't because there's no individuality.

Personally I liked so much the book because it's a topic that interests me a lot and I've learned many things I didn't know about his life and also about the punk movement. I recommend this book to people who are interested to know what punk really is.