Just Another Ohioan Town 

By Andrea Parisca

Most people in the United States of America live in small towns in different states. Of course, depending on the state, these towns differ in characteristics, for example in Florida the towns have nice weather year round and are somewhat close to the ocean while in Maine the towns are cold most of the year. Now in Ohio, most of the towns are small, flat, and cold. I'm not saying that living in Ohio is a nightmare but it isn't anything like living in New York City or any other big city. The towns are usually next to big feilds and suburbs. In Ohio, many of the towns and small cities adopted names from other well-known cities around the world. These towns include; Lima, Dublin, Hamilton, Lebanon, Macedonia,Toledo and more.

Toledo, Ohio is a small city that I know very well. I lived in Toledo since I was 2 until I was 15. I lived on the border of Toledo and Sylvania, the town that I did most of my activities. It's a pretty calm place to live and most of the people who live there were born there and will die there. I didn't exepcionally like Toledo and if you talk to the people living there now, they will tell you that life there is pretty boring. Toledo was once the great city of glass, famous for its glass and car factories, but now, it's just an old rundown city with many different ethnic groups and gangs. Fortunately, I did not live in the center of the city because it is dangerous and education wise, it doesn't have much to offer. I was lucky to live in the outer suburbs next to Sylvania, a very small, educated, and wealthy town. Most of my friends, activities, and my school were in Sylvania. The center of Sylvania is very charming although it only consists of about a couple brick streets with litlle commerce. The one inevitable trait is the fact that most neighborhoods wind and twist trapping you in between the immense houses.

Where I lived, there was an enourmous lack of sidewalks, but since there is no need or use for sidewalks in Toledo, they have very few. The distances are so large it's almost impossible to not drive around all day in a car. Houses are huge and they have huge yards and next to these gigantic neighborhoods there are enormous supermarkets with huge parking lots. As you can see, space in Toledo is not an issue. My favorite supermarket was Meijer. It was full of everything you could ever need. I could spend hours walking around it's fun isles. Of course, that is not what I did with my friends for fun. My friends and I usually just had sleepovers and hung out at eachothers' houses but when we went out in big groups it was hard to find something to do. Sometimes we went go-karting which was great fun but it was 15 dollars for 3 minutes. Other than that there is not much else to do in Toledo. Walking throug parks, eating icecream, and going to country clubs in thwe summer can be a source of amusement but the weather only allows three short months of these activities. The one thing that never fails to give amusement is just hanging out with friends.

Even though I didn't love Ohio there are great things to do and great people to be with. When i moved I realized that in reality living there wasn't all that bad and I knew that I was going to miss my old home. Know when I visit I know exactly where I want to go and with who and I can enjoy myself more.

Facebook

By Lydia Giménez

Facebook is a social networking service launched in February 2004. Facebook has over one billion active ursers, more than half of them using Facebook on a mobile device. In 2011 Facebook won 3,71 billions.
The creators of Facebook were: Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Chris Hughes and Dustin Moskovitz
Users can participate in one or more social networks, in relation to their academic status, workplace or geographic region.
In mid-2007 the free versions in French, German and Spanish appeared to expand it outside the United States, because its users were mainly in the United States, Canada and the UK.
In October 2012, Facebook reached 1,000 million users, over 600 million mobile users. Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico and the United States are the countries with the largest number of users.
Facebook began allowing students, whose schools were not included in the site, to incorporate. 
Since September 2006, Facebook is open to all users of Internet. Then, in October 2007, Facebook sold 1.6% of the company to Microsoft  for $ 240 million, with the agreement that Facebook would become a business model for some brands, to offer their products and services. On September 15th of the year they announced it, they reached 300 million users, and on December 2nd already had more than 350 million. In September 2011 there were over 800 million users.
Facebook has around 900 million registered users around the world. It is the most popular page for uploading photos,with statistics of more than 83 million photos uploaded daily.

SUPER SIZE ME
By Amanda Garrido
Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. Super Size Me is an American documentary film that shows that fast food is very unsane. Experiment:

• He must fully eat three McDonald's meals per day: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• He must consume every item on the McDonald's menu at least once over the course of the 30 days.
• He must only ingest items that are offered on the McDonald's menu, including bottled water. All outside consumption of food is prohibited
• He will attempt to walk about as much as a typical U.S.A citizen, based on a suggested figure of 5,000 standardized distance steps per day,but he did not closely adhere to this, as he walked more while in New York than Houston.

- So, we shouldn't eat fast food every day because it's very unhealthy.

The Strange Similarities With President Assassinations

By Andrea Parisca

Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in April 14, 1865. This was a sad day in America knowing that a civil rights actavist was murdered so brutally. The thing is that almost 100 years later a strangely similar phenomenon occured. On November 22, 1963 President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Another horrible tragedy for americans to grieve about, remembering that he too was a very popular civil rights actavist. Although the events aren't exactly 100 years apart you'll be suprised to find out that both presidents were killed by a single shot in the head. Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was born in 1838. He shot lincoln, who was in the Ford theatre, while hidding in a nearby warehouse. Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was born in 1939. Lee shot Kennedy, while traveling in his car called Lincoln built by Ford. At the moment Oswald shot Kennedy, he was hidden in a theatre. Both shootings occured on a Friday. Both of the shooters were known by their three names composed of fifteen letters.
Everyone Knows how truly important both presidents were in shaping how the U.S. is today and i'm sure that no one forgot when they were chosen to lead the country. Lincoln was elected to congress in 1846, Kennedy was elected to congress in 1946. Lincoln was elected for president in 1860 while Kennedy was elected in 1960. Both of the first ladies lost one child while living in the white house. If this isn't enough information to raise a question, President Abraham Lincoln had a secretary by the name of Kennedy who advised him to not go to the theatre the night of his murder while, President John F. Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln who suggested to him to avoid going to Dallas. Finally Lincoln's sucessor was named Andrew Johnson and was born in 1808 and John F. Kennedy's sucessor was named Lyndon Johnson and was born in1908.

Fast Food Makes You Slow

By Andrea Parisca
We all love to dig into a big plate of french fries, hamburgers, and chicken nuggets every once in a while. But I think that the "once in a while" has turned into way too often. Most people don't realise what they're getting into when they begin to replace home cooked meals with fast food. The truth is that our health is lacking because of our constant search for the tastier, the faster and the cheaper. They say that the world runs on money and that's exactly what the owners of these fast food companies are aiming at when they make such unexpectedly attractive food. These fast food companies have found a way to trap us using catchy slogans, fun colors, and tasty food, but when we uncover the truth we find ourselves far away from all of the fun. Since 1980 child obesity in the United States has almost tripled. We also know that low income workers are more at risk to becoming obese. This shows that the companies are getting better at promoting their poison and that they're also targeting low income households because they know that these households are looking for easier ways to dine without spending a lot of money.

McDonalds food is anything but healthy. If you where to eat a normal meal, for example, big mac (550 calories), french fries (230 calories), and a coke (150 calories), you would consume 930 calories which is about half of our daily intake in just one meal! These three foods are also very high in sodium containing 1130 milligrams, 47 percent of your daily intake! You would think that these numbers are enough to shake people out of their bad habits but you are wrong. Even when you choose a Premium Southwest Salad with Crispy Chicken and fruit on the side you are still taking in 670 calories. The healthy salad and fruit in reality isn't so far away from the burger and fries. Mcdonald's meat is said to come mainly from America and is frozen as fast as possible to ensure freshness but do we really know how the animals are treated and if they, themselves are healthy.

In a documentary, Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock personally explores the effects of eating fast food. He quickly gains wieght, and learns that fast food makes him feel tired and sick but it also makes him want to eat more and more. The documentary takes you through a very visual tour in what exactly fast food can do to you. So next time you pick up a juicy burger think twice before biting into it.

Top 10's

10 POISONOUS FOODS WE LIKE TO EAT

By Dieter Englert

MUSHROOMS

Around 5% of mushrooms are poisonous

RHUBARB

All the green parts contain oxalic acid:

it can produce you kidney stones or kill you if enough is eaten

KIDNEY BEANS

They contain large quantities of the lectin toxin:
Just three uncooked beans could produce severe vomiting and diarrhoea.

APPLES

The seeds from an apple contain cyanide: they can cause vomit if enough is eaten

TOMATOES

All the green parts contain the toxin "tomatine" wich is used as a plague control

POTATOES

Green potatoes contain very high level of Glycoalkaloid poison: death by potatoe is not common but possible.

CHERIES

Their pips contain hydrogen cyanide: it can cause vomit and breathing problems and in the worst case, kidney failure.

BRAZIL NUTS AND ALMONDS

Brazil nuts are the worlds most radioactive food: they contain 1000 times more radium than any other food

Almonds cotain a toxin called "alfatoxins" wich make them taste bitter

NUTMEG

It's a hallucinogen: it causes nutmeg pshycosis

PUFFERFISH

This japanese delicacy can lead to paralysis and death if it is not prepared in the correct way, chefs need to train for 3 years before they can serve this dish

"There is too much football on TV, other sports are as important as football"

By Anastasia Macovei

In my opinion, there is too much football on the TV, on the newspapers, on the internet, etc. Everyone can see what he wants, but, for example in the news, you turn on the TV and you see only football. The football has to have a limit, it’s ok to tell the results when a match finishes, and say the goals, but now we see interviews, amateur’s opinion, curiosities, many statistics, and they are too much. It’s alright to put football but I think that there are other things that are more important than the sport. They can talk about another thing, because nowadays the world has a lot of problems, crisis, and earthquakes or other things.

In a lot of countries the football is very important, and it is part of the national culture, and a lot of things of our life turn around it. They publish newspapers, football magazines, TV channels,… A study proves that the football changes the state of mind, when a team wins or loses, but I’m still thinking that the football isn’t the best in our lives. A day later after the match, you only see news about it, photos, and the people only talk about this matter.

Other sports are as important as football, for example the surf. When you see the news, you don’t listen anything about it, and for me the surf is more important than football, and it is a sport like the others, but you don’t listen, don’t read anything in the newspapers, only football. And the same happens with the photos, only photos about football, and only gossip about player’s life. Although they are famous, and play very well, I think it might be less football on TV and the news.

Toys

By Àlex Santomà

Toys. Everybody has played with toys in his childhood: rich, poor, Chinese, African, European people... In short: everyone. Toys were part of us when we were young: playmobils, action man, scalextrix, nancy... All of us has had, at least, more than one toy in his house. But, are the same the toys of the past than today toys? No. Before, the toys were only a doll, a car, a simple piece of wood, or a stone.. You could spend all the day with one doll inside of one car, or with a piece of woof, imagining that that was a sword, and you imagined that "invisible enemies" were around you. You didn't need to plug in the toys, and you could bring them anywhere. You had fun always everywhere anytime with anybody. Nowadays, the toys are all electric, like radio-controlled cars, electric-dolls..., and in some toys you need a CD to play, like PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo..., but, are these new toys funnier? No, before you should spend days playing the same thing, but now you get tired of the toy in a few days. Nowadays, the toys do all, you don't imagine and you can't do anything, because for one game, there is one toy. Before, with one toy you could play hundreds of games, and the toys were a little bit of the fun, and the imagination was all the part of the fun. Now, the toys put all the imagination, and you don't have to do anything.

FUTURE, a big question

By Nicolás Ordax

How do we imagine future? How will we move? How will we live? Everyone makes himself these questions.

Personally, I think that people in the future will be more ecological. I think people will recycle more and pollute less. Today, for example, people drive petrol cars and doesn't recycle much. In the future, cars will be electrical and people will recycle more every day. So, I think environement won't be so affected like it's today.

One point about I'm not so optimistic is the third world. Unfortunately, I think that people will stay egoistic and won't help the needed people, but I hope I'm wrong.

My vision of the future is a global net of everything: information, passengers, goods...much more evolved than now. Everyone will be able to travel everywhere, to buy things which are produced on the other side of the world, get the news exactly when they happen and much other things. This will improve living conditions because we'll have much more choices in our lives.

Technology will improve a lot from nowadays. In my opinion, we'll be able to live on the moon or create sophisticated robots which will work in factories or on the farms. So they will ease a lot our lives. There won't be need to work, because all will be done for us.

On the other side, it might be that in the future, humanity doesn't evolve; or that it gets back; or a lot of other options. The only certain thing is that we don't know what will happen.

Nuclear power

By Àlex Santomà

Nuclear power is energy produced by the nuclear reactions that take place in nuclear elements such as Plutonium-239 and Polonium-210. We use this energy, which is really immense, to produce electric energy.

But there are two opinions on this matter:

- People who are against nuclear power plants, because they create a lot of residues that are damaging the environment. They think that is not necessary to use this type of dangerous energy because nature can provide sufficient energy to satisfy all our needs.

- People who are for energy nuclear plants, because with only one plant we can produce as much energy as more than five wind farms, and this means that it is cheaper. Also, nuclear plants are very safe and not dangerous if they are regulated and maintained in good conditions. You could live next to a nuclear plant and none of your family would have any problems. Furthermore, nuclear graveyards don't create any risk for the people living nearby. And of course, at least in Spain, without nuclear plants we couldn't use our refrigerator or watch TV.

So, I think that there are more reasons to continue producing nuclear energy than to end the so-called Nuclear Revolution.

Facebook Forever

By Helena López Fortuny

Facebook is the perfect social network for most teenagers nowadays. But, is it really perfect?

No, it isn't. Facebook is a social network that allows you to post your personal information, photos and feelings. Other people who have a Facebook account can consult your profile, with everything you have published.

And, what happens if you want to leave Facebook? The web page has an option to close your

Facebook account, but it is a trap. Your Facebook doesn't disappear, it's still saving your information, and sometimes, this information is used and you don't know anything about it, it's very dangerous for you.

So, think twice before opening a Facebook account, and if you are sure that you want to have Facebook forever, do it.

CHILDREN'S EXCESS WEIGHT AND OBESITY

By Joel Suñé

There are a lot of overweight and obese children in the United States. The percentage is 33%, 1 out of 3 kids, and this figure is still rising. So, that's alarming.

This happens because many kids do not take any exercise and spend more time playing videogames, watching TV, on the computer... Furthermore, they eat a lot of fast food and drink soft drinks, so it's normal that they get fat. Nowadays families are very busy and cannot prepare nutritious, home-cooked meals, so children eat fast food everyday.

Parents need to take some measures to prevent kids from becoming overweight. The problems are nutrition and the exercise, and if you know what the problems are then it is easy to find the solutions. But the solution is not just knowing these measures, it is a question of adapting the child to the new order: adapting the way your family eats and exercises, and how you spend time together. Helping kids lead healthy lifestyles begins with parents who lead by example.

Jack the Ripper

By Timotei Savu

Jack the Ripper is one of the mysteries of London in Victorian times. Jack the Ripper is a pseudonym that was attributed to an unknown murderer who committed five famous murders. All these murders were committed in Whitechapel, a poor district of London. 
 There were more murders, but it is doubtful that they were committed by Jack the Ripper. The victims were Marie Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Marie Jane Kelly; they were all prostitutes. You can see the map of the murders via this link: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Whitechapel_Spitalfields_7_murders.JPG
 A lot of detectives investigated this case but no one discovered anything. The Scotland Yard detectives who investigated the case were Edmund Reid, Frederick Abberline, Henry Moore and Walter Andrews.

I think that Jack the Ripper had some connection with schools because all the murders were committed near schools (see the map). Jack the Ripper will continue being a mystery.

Wikileaks

By Antonio Rodríguez

Wikileaks is a website that reveals information of public interest, often related to political and religious affairs. The site was created in 2006 and was defined as a public service. Its creator was Julian Assange. Assange was born in Australia in 1971. He is a journalist and software programmer. It supports itself through donations. Wikileaks has more than one million public documents, most of them about the USA. The Wikileaks team comprises five people, with further support from 800 anonymous individuals.

The new relationships on internet

( you can find the love on the web )

By Carlota Pérez

All the people ask these questions : Is the love on the web ( Affinity, Meetic,... ) different from the love face to face? Is it possible you find the love? Is it true, serious and reliable? Are the lies more frequent? What is the magic formula to find love on internet?

Every day 42 people in Spain start a new relationship in Meetic.com. Click only the computer mouse and add photos and people in your profile! It is a new way to discover love. The social networks like Facebook or Twiter also allow you to talk on line and increase your list of friends all over the world.

Nowadays harassment on internet (in the social pages ) is a problem that harms to the person who suffers it (especially the children).

Personal information is at the mercy of everybody on the social netwoks, because people post it.

Pieces of information:

*Every day 42 people in Spain start a new relationship in Meetic.com (facebook)

*There are over 900 million “objects” people interact with (pages, groups, events and community pages,...)

*80 community pages, groups and events.

*An user creates 90 pieces of content each month

*More than 30 billion pieces of content (web, news stories, blogs, notes, photo albums, etc.) are shared each month.

*Facebook installs 20 million applications every day.

*250 milions people use facebook every day. It has 500 milions of users in the world.

FAST FOOD

By Henar Marin

In 1912 the first automat food machines appeared in cafeterias in New York. They offered prepared food behind a glass window and customers paid by inserting coins into a slot. The system already existed in Berlin and in some US cities, such as Philadelphia.

The company Horn & Hardart popularized take-away food with the slogan "Less work for Mom”.

These machines were replaced by fast food restaurants. The most famous are: Kentucky Fried Chicken, Subway, Burger King, and McDonald's.

One of the most important features of fast food is that it can be consumed 
anywhere, and it can be served on the spot, delivered at home or eaten in the street. Examples of this type of food are pizza, hamburgers, fried chicken, 
tacos, sandwiches, chips, onion rings, etc.,

Nowadays, fresh food cooked at home is increasingly being replaced by industrial food 
cooked with preservatives and additives. Eating fast food and, furthermore, having bad habits like skipping breakfast, not eating fruit and vegetables on a daily basis, drinking soft drinks instead of water and eating sweets and junk food all damage people’s health and increase the levels of obesity.

More than nine million children and teenagers aged between 6 and 19 are considered overweight and obese.

Cartoons

By Sílvia Rovirosa

The cartoons I watched when I was a child were more suitable for children than the series nowadays, such as “Family Guy”, “The Simpsons”, ...

When I was child, the morst classic movies, and the prettiest, were Disney movies, such as “Cinderella”, who was a poor girl who overcame social obstacles through love, and “Pocahontas”, a nice story about racism and nature. Other popular movies were “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Little Mermaid”; these taught us that love is the most important thing and outer beauty doesn’t matter. None of these stories were very real but they showed what children should learn about life.

When I was child, the most classic cartoon series on television were “Winnie the Pooh”, “Mickey Mouse” and “Tom and Jerry”. They were innocent, educational and specifically made for children. But nowadays the cartoons made for children are too violent and unsuitable, as in the case of “Family Guy”, because the protagonist is rude and a man who sets a bad example to his children, who have psychological problems.

YOUNG PEOPLE'S TASTES

By Nicolás Ordax

We all know that everyone has different tastes but young people normally have similar ones.

-Fast food: As I have observed above, this is not the healthiest way to eat, but if you eat it only occasionally, there is no problem. It is a very popular way of eating, as it is quick and cheap. People all over the world, but most especially in the USA, eat in fast-food restaurants.

-Chewing gum: this can be a very disgusting habit, especially when people spit in out on the floor. Young people chew gum a great deal, and this always causes problems in class.

-Vegetables: Young people do not eat vegetables – that is a golden rule. I personally think that it is because here in Spain most of the vegetables are not prepared well, they usually are just boiled and lose all their taste.

DIET

By Nicolás Ordax

Nowadays, people are little concerned about following a healthy diet. Many people often eat in fast-food restaurants and only a few take exercise. This is a big problem because all the calories they eat accumulate and this can endanger their health. It is therefore advisable to follow a natural and balanced diet that includes meat, vegetables, dairy products, bread, rice, pasta, fish, eggs... all in the right quantities.

These quantities, and the diet in general, also depend on the age of the person. A six-year-old, for example, will not eat the same than a fifteen-year-old. It is also important to eat a little bit of everything, in order to to consume a wide range of nutrients.

-Pasta provides inmediate energy.

-Milk, cheese and yoghurt provide calcium, which is important for the growth of bones.

-Vegetables provide vitamins, which are important for some body functions.

-Meat, eggs and fish provide proteins, which have structural functions.

The meals in fast-food restaurants are very rich in fat, and their customers do not usually take any exercise, so they become obese. This is a very common condition these days – so, next time, think it over carefully before going into a fast-food restaurant!

The Internet

By Nina Vanishvili

We live in a technological world. Everything around us is managed by technology. The dependence on the new technologies is stronger in teenagers and young people than in older people. If we speak of new technology, in most cases we mean computers. Dependence on computers is greater and greater every day, and this is made possible by the Internet. This little word moves around the world all the time. The use of the Internet is unparalleled, with millions and millions of people working with it all the time, and millions more playing, using and enjoying it. Play stations and other similar types of games are also highly dependent on technology. Old people use technology as well, but they use it for personal reasons, because they need to, but they only depend on it in a few cases. Young people, and particularly teenagers, however, depend on technology because they are accustomed to using it. Moreover, some teenagers are addicted to technological games, computers (the Internet), etc. Technology is one of the most important elements in today’s world but, in my opinion, it is not essential. We lived for thousands of years without technology and I think that we can still live without it now.