HUMOUR

It is a well-known fact that humour has plenty of benefits, physical and psychological ones, but does it really play an important role in life?

In the first place, I believe that anything that has any kind of benefit is important in our life. As I see it, it is important to let go all those things that have a bad impact in our life, and to hold onto what can improve it, such as humour and laughter.

Secondly, I feel life would be sad without humour. Some people think that humour is a secondary thingm, less important than other “serious elements”, and that it is not important for us to go on with our life. In my opinion, however, life needs to be a combination of serious and “relaxing” moments, in which you can let yourself ho and enjoy. And laughing is one of these relaxing moments. It is sometimes necessary to disconnect and to laugh until your belly hurts, just to be able to get strength and carry on.

It seems to me that, as a result, things will become easier to overcome and life will feel more complete.

All in all, I strongly believe that humour plays, not only an important role, but an essential role in our lives, because it only provides good things and because of its importance in making our lives complete. 

CLIENT-FACING WORK

Client-facing work is complicated, both for the clients and for the way you have to act.

Sometimes there are clients that are just so annoying and disrespectful, as well as there are employees like this. And that's something that I hate.

On the one hand, if you work in a job in which you are facing the public, you should try to be polite and to treat your clients well, so they'll come again. I know that it can sometimes be difficult, because of some kind of clients that just make you lose your nerves. But I think that one of the main things if you work facing the public, is to have patience and to know how to put a smile on your face and still be kind even if you are exhausted or tired of the clients.

In my opinion, it's annoying when you go into a shop and the employee answers you in a rude way or just in a way that doesn't make you feel good. And another thing I find annoying is when the employee follows you to control that you don't steal anything. It's understandable, becaue employees are human and they can have a bad day; and it's also understandable that they want to aviod people stealing. But I think they should try to control that, because, for example, in my case, it makes me feel intimidated and uncomfortable, and it doesn't make me want to go again into that shop. Of course, everyone can have a bad day, but the problem comes when someone uses this excuse to be always rude.

On the other hand, as a client, I think we should all try to be understanding and to bear in mind that we can all make mistakes or have a bad day. If an employee makes a mistake, it's not necessary to go there and shout or complain in a bad way; you can just say, politely, to the employee that he has made a mistake. And also I think that is important to understand that, most of the times, employees are not the boss, and they are just doing what they are told to do. It means that maybe they don't agree in the way they have to do something, but they can't decide to do it in another way, so it has no point complaining about something they can't change.

After all, I think it is, as many other things, a matter of empathy, which I think it's not abundant in the nowadays society. We should all try to walk in other people's shoes, to see their difficulties and to act in a reasonable way. This way, we would be so much understanding with everyone, and we'll all feel better with each other, avoiding fights and arguments.

METEOROLOGISTS TRAPPED BY POLAR BEARS

Five meteorologists have spent about two weeks trapped in their laboratory located in a remote Russian island due to a herd of polar bears that stayed ouside the door. The island is part of the archipielago of the Izvesty TSIK Islands, and it's a place where polar bears are common. Even so, this year the population of these mammels has increased a lot.

The meteorologists have run out of flares they normally use to scare the bears, what makes them be choiceless in the face of the bears. Thses bears have been sleeping outside the windows of the laboratory, as the men have reported to a news agency via satellite phone.

In order to not harm them, the meteorologist's only option is to wait for a boat from the city of Arkhangelsk, which will bring flares to scare the bears and release the weather experts. The boat will take about a week to get there, and meanwhile they have had to stop doing work that requires going outside.

Some environmental experts have declared that polar bears are an endangered specie, affected by the global warming which melts the ice where they normally live, making it difficult for them to hunt. That's probably why they have gone near humans: to get food.

PERSONAL OPINION:

I found this news curious and I hope everything goes fine and anyone gets wounded. I like the fact thay refuse to harm the polar bears, even though they have the weapons to do it. I think it's exacly what they should do, as bears are an endangered specie. Also, apart from finding it curious, it also makes me sad, becaue it is a sign of what polar bears are suffering because of global warming.

VOCABULARY:

· to swarm: moure's en ramat o grup

· flare: llum d'emergència/ balisa

· chief: líder, cap

LINK: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russian-meteorologists-are-trapped-polar-bears-2-800-miles-moscow-n647366

COULD 3D PRINTED HAIR FOLLICLES HELP WITH HAIR LOSS?

The company L'Oreal has considered the possibity of use 3D printed hair follicles as implants, and that's why it has partnered with the bio-printing company Poietis, which has already created some cell-based objects.

Even though, as they say, it is too early to be getting excited, they believe that maybe in a period of three years the process of printing hair follicles will be possible and adapted.

If everything goes as it is planned, after having printed hair follicles they expect to be able to study them and to answer some questions about hair loss, in order to fight and prevent it.

If they are able to get this, the next step will be to implant those follicles. They will use a specific technique that has been already used by Poietis several times, which allows the printing of organic material. This technique uses a laser and requires a previous digital map, the needed printing tools and a quite complex method, and Poietis says it normally takes about 10 minutes to print a small piece of skin, but in the hair follicles case it will take more because of its complexity.

The charity Alopecia UK stated that this is a good idea and it's fantastic that an enterprise is using money and time to help the people with hair loss problems, but they also think it is too early to get excited about it. And also, they are concerned about the price the treatment will have, in case it becomes a reality, because it will probably be possible only for a few people.

PERSONAL OPINION

I totally agree with Alopecia UK, I think it is very interesting and it is good that a company is studying the hair loss and working on the prevention and solution for it. But in case this is finally a possible, not everyone will be able to afford it, and it will only be available for some people.

But even though that will maybe be a problem in the future, I still believe this is a good initiative and helpful to explore it. Because I think that, once it has been possible and they know how to do it, they can try to find a way to make it cheaper, so more people can afford it and benefit from it.

VOCABULARY

· Tissue: teixit muscular, múscul

· Droplet: goteta

· Nozzle: tovera (boquilla)

LINK: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37484835 

JOKE

MY GOALS

Dear Lourdes,

My name is Mar, I'm seventeen years old, and I'm studying 2^nd batxillerat in Castelló d'Empúries. In this mail I'm supposed to talk about my goals but this is actually a bit difficult for me. Focusing in short-term goals it's easier, for example one of my goals is to finish the Treball de Recerca, be proud of the final result and of course, get a good mark. Another one is to finish this school year with the same or even better results than I had last year. In each one of these there are possible challenges that I can find on the way, such as lack of time because of too much work, difficulties in the process of edition of my practical part of the project, that doesn't allow me to get the result I wanted, or other kind of challenges. To overcome them I should organize myself better with the time, to put effort on those things and also try to find other alternatives when I can't get what I wanted. In these cases, what's most important is that I work hard, even though teachers or my TDR tutor can help me to stay on track.

When it comes to long-term goals, it's more difficult. I can't really think about something concrete that I want to achieve. I don't really know what university degree I want to get and what I want to work as when I finish. I guess I could say my goals are to study a degree I like and to have a job I like, but I can't specify more. In this case, what I need to do is to have good marks in batxillerat and in Selectivitat in order to be able to choose a degree I like. But apart from that, I don't have in mind any other concrete goals. I would say may main goal in life is to be happy. I know it may sound so hipster, but in my opinion it's the most important thing in life. You will have to face different challenges, but I guess that to be able to overcome them you have to try to take advantadge of the good and bad situations, and to try to concentrate on the good things you have. You can try to achieve as many goals as you want, and you will succed in some of them and fail in others, but if at the end, you are happy with your life, I think it's more than enough.

"And you won't necessarily succeed at everything. That's okay."

I would like to comment this sentence because I agree with it. I think that a lot of times when we fail at something, we tend to think that we're not good at it, that we will never get it and that it's not worth trying again. And we aren't the only ones who think this. We all tend to think this about other people, and this can be even worse. If you fail once or twice, and have a bunch of people by your side telling you to stop trying because it's not your thing, you will probably stop trying and you will never get it. That's why it's important to keep in mind that it doesn't matter if we fail a hundred times, you never know if at the hundred and one try you will achieve it, so if it's something that you want, you should fight for it.

I look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes,
Mar

TED TALK: WHY 30 IS NOT THE NEW 20?

In this talk, the psychologist Meg Jay talks about the 20s decade and goes against the popular belief that the "30s are the new 20s".

Nowadays things like marriage, having kids or finish your degree and start working happen later than it did years ago. Some time ago, people in their 20s did all those things and everything happened earlier in life, but nowadays people tend to settle down and in their 30s. Because of this, some people sees the 20s decade as some throwaway decade, in which the things you do don't have to be necessarily important or relevant for your future life. That's why they believe it's okay to, for example, according to Meg Jay's thoughts before, date any guy or sleep with whoever you want, even if they're not good for you, just because you know that, as it is happening in your 20s, it won't be relevant in your life.

In this talk, Meg tries to make the people see that your 20s are still an important decade, in fact, as she says, those years are the key years in the development of the adult version of a person and the things that normally happen in the 20s decade are the ones that have the most impact on us. Through examples of two of her twentysomething girl patients, Alex and Emma, she explains the significance of the 20s and the importance of making right decisions during these years. Jay says that all those life events happening later, shouldn't stop you from start planning and making important decisions in the 20s decade, and she stands out the importance of not living these years like a irrelevant period of time, because then, when you reach the 30s, you will feel pressured and in a hurry to start settling down, and you will not make the decisions sensibly.

After thinking about what Meg Jay says in this talk, I can say I agree with what she says, but with some touches to clarify. I think she's right when she says that we mustn't flee from all the important decisions during our 20s, because as she says, then we'll feel pressured and we won't think mindfully the decisions we make in our 30s. But I don't think the 20s should be a "30s preparing decade". We shouldn't spend all those years thinking about the future and planning everything for our 30s. It's okay to take advantadge of this events delay in life, and see the 20s as a period of time to form yourself, to have fun, to try new things and to make mistakes and learn from them. But always thinking a little bit about the future, to make sure we enjoy the next different period of our lifes, the 30s.

VOCABULARY:

Twentysomethings: people who is between 20 and 30 years old.

Kick the can down the road: to defer conclusive action with a short-term solution.

Growth spurt: it is a sudden growth.

Arsonist: someone who sets property on fire.

TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/meg_jay_why_30_is_not_the_new_20#t-26167