Lonely and dependent beings

This morning on the bus, while making a stop before reaching Murcia, I had a reflection about the human being after seeing a dog through the window. His owner had entered the station cafe, and the dog sat facing the door, looking through the glass how the owner took a coffee. If the dog did not have affection and dependence on his owner, might well have escaped instead of remaining outside sitting; however, the dog was there, staring at his master and waiting patiently until he was over breakfast. At first glance, it may not seem like something that is interesting, there are dogs with their owner everywhere, but what I find fascinating is the look with which the dog was waiting for his owner, as if his life depended on being with him. After spending several minutes sitting looking out the window, the dog lay beside the door until the man come out, stroked him and left together.

Since we are born until we die, people interact with others every one of our days. Sometimes we do it because we have no choice (money, work, ...), but most of the time we do it because we need others and avoid loneliness: we like to share our opinions and experiences with people around us and have fun with them, all that makes us feel alive. Therefore, the human being is dependent on others and cannot live without communicating with his kind, like the dog that I mentioned earlier depended on his owner, not only for food but also for coexistence and love that they give each other. 

Otherwise, not all people admit that social need in the same way. There are people who prefer not to relate to other people, who prefer solitude and individuality. Wanting to be alone is normal, either by certain circunstances or because of the character; however, nature is wise and warns about the offensiveness of this way of being. It is shown that loneliness produces harmful effects on health: have comorbidities such as depression, stress, anxiety and lack of self-esteem. In 2006, research conducted with 2,800 women with breast cancer suggested that those patients who saw little family and friends were up to five times more likely to die than those with a more active social life. Our own body asks us to be with and depend on others, so if you're a loner, turn off the computer and go with your family or go outside to enjoy the people!

Techno-lovers

Being a 18 years old student connected to the internet almost 24 hours a day, obviously I am not against these key breakthroughs. Moreover, I do not understand people defending their elimination. However, I will not deny that, like everything in life, these advances have their advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, in relation to leisure is a real advantage: broadband connections let you make online shopping, listen ring tones for free, watch latest fresh films, launch anything and earn money... All these facilities just pressing a button. Also people fond of photography, for example, can unleash their creativity with the available cameras or digital camera phones, with which they can make awesome and light photos. In addition, in the academic, technological advances provide an immense support: personally speaking, I do not know what I would do in the university without my laptop. Globalization is part of our generation and we cannot stop evolution.

On the other hand, let's see the disadvantages of new generation breakthroughs. Young people do not know what we do with perspective, and we do not realize that we are increasingly becoming dependent on technology. If you go to the street, 60% of young people speak for Whatsapp completely absorbed with their mobiles in hand as they walk without looking where they are going. While it is great that the internet allows us to communicate with anyone around the world in real time, it also poses a serious danger: we expose ourselves to the world, we lose our privacy and any depraved can benefit. Part of the responsibility lies with young people, of course, but the main culprits are parents for not help stop this dependency by education. You can enjoy the benefits of new technologies but in the full knowledge of the consequences. We must learn to master the technology if we do not want it to dominate us.

Manga 2014

The last weekend I went to Manga held Friday, Saturday and Sunday, where all the geeks of Murcia and exterior, including me, attended. A Manga or Anime Convention is an event or gathering with a primary focus on anime, manga and Japanese culture. Commonly, anime conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activities and panels, with a larger number of attendees participating in cosplay than most other types of fan conventions. Anime conventions are also used as a vehicle for industry, in which studios, distributors, and publishers represent their anime related releases. 

Anime conventions have long and varied worldwide history. The original Comiket, mostly based on fan published manga called dōjinshi, started in 1975 with around 700 people in Tokyo. The Comiket of today see several hundred thousand people, showing the lasting popularity of the medium in its home country. Other Japanese anime conventions are arms of or heavily sponsored by certain studios or publishing companies and are used as platforms for new releases, such as Jump Festa. The main reason I love going every year is because I meet many people who share my interests in Japanese culture, anime and manga, and also the amount of activities you can do: cosplay competitions, karaoke, dancing, drawing, workshops of any kind, video game competitions, lectures on Japanese history, culture, and others. Unfortunately, in my hometown there're no conventions or specialty stores in these matters, so every year I'm hoping November to go to this event and enjoy there with all my friends.

Few friends and I attending karaoke contest

Here I post a video about Manga in Murcia this year, hope you like it (^_^)

Gun ownership

The society is divided into people who think that violence is the solution to any problem, and people who use their reason and realize that it is not. I belong to the second group. Just take a look back at the history of the world and see how the man-made weapons have only brought misery to people, although in countries like America, a gun is considered a measure of protection and self defense. Many feel the best way to protect themselves is through gun ownership: having a gun can be the first line of defense against burglars and other criminals. While there is indeed a security benefit that comes with having a gun, I assure that the safety risks outweigh the benefits.

First of all, having a gun can put you at an increased risk for accidents at home. If you have children at home, there is a possibility that they will get a hold of the gun even if it is locked up. Among gun-owning parents who reported that their children had never handled their firearms at home, 22% of the children said that they had. Children often don't understand the risks associated with guns, and they might accidentally hurt themselves, a friend, or a sibling, while thinking that that they are just playing. If you have a gun in the home, there is also a possibility that you will harm a friend, neighbour, or family member by accident. In fact, studies indicate that guns kept at home are involved in the death of a family member 18 times more often than in the death of an intruder. Additionally, guns kept in the home are often used in suicide. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention reports that 83% of gun-related deaths in the home are the result of suicide, often by someone other than the gun owner. Risks such as these should be taken into consideration when thinking about keeping a gun at home.

Owning a gun is a personal decision that every person needs to make for themselves. Carefully weigh the advantages and disadvantages of gun ownership and make the decision based on what is best for you and your situation. It's important to be informed, weigh your options, and let your opinion be known. As always and foremost, the most important thing is to value and preserve human life, both ours and those of our loved ones, so if you are for gun ownership, maybe you should meditate twice. 

Homemade chocolate cake

I am a great lover of food, especially chocolate. This week it is almost all my family members' birthday, so every year my mother decides to make a chocolate cake with cookies whose recipe has been passed down from generation to generation, and I thought it is good idea to share it with you. I hope you get to like it as much as me. Let's see if you are brave enough to get your hands dirty with chocolate and pudding !

INGREDIENTS

-Cookies (if you want to make a round cake as the photo, use round cookies; if you prefer a square cake, use square cookies, obviously)

-2 liters of milk

-Royal pudding (custard powder) for 8 servings

-18 tablespoons of cocoa powder

-2 tablespoons of instant chocolate milk (or nesquik, do not mind)

-A dash of anise

-Strawberry jam (optional)

-Chocolate chips (this is for decorating, but you can put smarties, whipped cream, strawberries, what you like)

LET'S START !

1. First, take a casserole pot and dissolve 18 tablespoons of cocoa powder in a liter of milk, over high heat. Stir it slowly, gently, do not stop stiring it. It will take you some time, but do not stop stiring until it becomes a mass of thick chocolate. When you see it has become thick enough, get it away from the heat and let it get cool.

2. Now, take another pot and dissolve the custard powder in 750 grams of milk, over high heat too. As you did above with the chocolate, stir it slowly and wait it to boil. When it does, get it away from the heat and let it get cool.

3. Be patient, chocolate and custard take time to get cold enough. If you do not wait them to have curdled, then your cake will collapse. When you see both the chocolate and the pudding are ready, we can proceed to make the cake.

4. Have prepared the container in which you want to make the cake. Take a bowl and squirt milk, a bit of anise, and 2 tablespoons of instant chocolate milk on it. 

7. Now, take cookies and go one by one dunking them in the bowl and then placing them next to each other, forming the base of the cake. Next, cover the base with the cool chocolate you let getting cool before. Apply the chocolate carefully, making a cake is like painting a picture: must be meticulous.

8. After covering the base with the chocolate, cover it with another layer of dipped cookies. Then, take the cold custard and spread it over cookies. Again, put another layer of cookies over the custard. If you want to add strawberry jam to the cake, now it is the moment to take it and spread it over cookies. To sum up, you must have this: cookies - chocolate - cookies - custard - cookies - strawberry jam - cookies - chocolate - ...

9. Continue the step 8 until the cake remains large as you want. When finish, cover the entire cake with thick chocolate and put it in the fridge for at least 5 hours before serving. Finally, decorate the cake with chocolate chips, whipped cream, or whatever you prefer. LET'S EAT ! ～('▽^人)

Gore genre

People are usually afraid of corpses, skeletons, blood, bodies being cut in parts, because these are uncomfortable scenes. However, personally speaking all these things are really interesting. Every weekend, a friend and I love to meet and decide where we would like to watch horror and creepy films, her house or mine. Of course, I know that common teens should go out with other friends or go shopping, which I do; even so, my friend and I really like gore, so we do not mind people's opinion. While most young people go to the cinema, meet each other to drink a lot or waste money on clothes, few friends and I look forward to choosing what is the best horror film produced until now, and watch it. It is funny when I tell my mother about bloody films, because she stares at me with a concerned face and says "are you crazy?", but that is the point of the attractive of the world: a lot of people, a lot of tastes and preferences. If there were not people who liked this kind of films, gore would not exist as a genre. Blood, corpses ad fear are part of us, of our life, so we must get used to them unless we want to be frightened the rest of our life.

If you have curiosity about gore, here I posted few trailers of gore films (most are a bit old, but the point is to see blood):

The Wizard of Gore

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Hills Have Eyes

Dead Alive

How to prevent animal cruelty

Cruelty to animals is an unpleasant but real problem that is currently in effect. Many dogs are plagued with illnesses like kidney or heart disease as a result of the conditions they’re kept in. Each year, thousands of young and healthy greyhounds are killed because they lack racing potential or have been injured while racing and are no longer competitive. Due to genetic manipulation, 90% of broiler chickens (chicken bred specifically for meat production) have trouble walking. More than 50% the fur in the United States comes from China, where there are no penalties for abusing animals, which are raised in unbearably cramped and run-down cages on fur farms. All these are examples that occur today, and could continue to telling more, but my intention is to tell potential solutions to this problem.

Since the largest number of major abuses is produced by large companies or illegal markets, the first option at hand is to report these cases. If justice function as it should, the abuse would stop after complaints; however, many organizations in animal welfare have tried without getting results, thus reporting is not as effective as we would like. Even hearing this, the cause is not lost ! As a common citizen, you can still work to protect animals in your own enviroment doing things that are within your reach. For example, you could save dozens of animals lives by donating to shelter money, your home and/ or wild life sanctuary. It does not even have to be for local shelter, you can donate to the animal shelters all over. Make sure that you only support clean, honest shelters. Another way to prevent animal cruelty is to avoid using products unless they specifically say that they were not tested on animals. Over 100 million animals are killed each year for chemical, drug, food, and cosmetics testing. Without animals, the balance of the world would be harmed harming humans, mostly, so it is time to move !

If you are interested in this topic, here are some pages about organizations in defense of animals, they can tell you how you can help further.

AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association)

ASPCA (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals)

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)

WWF (World Wildlife Fund)

Greenpeace

E-Book or book ?

After last advances in smartphones, tablets and the emergence of e-books, it has created a kind of dispute between the advocates of paper and screen. Let's reflect on characteristics of each and choose which one we prefer. On the one hand, on trips eBooks allow you to bring a whole library with you wherever you go, you can switch between titles with ease and the weight is lighter than a standard paperback. Speaking of space, using an e-Book will save you a lot of storage space and also means you have a backup online if something happens to your books. Furthermore, e-Books are often cheaper in the long run because there are no printing fees associated with them, and when you buy one your reward is instantaneous, you do not have to wait for your reading after ordering. Last, if you read in bed, an eBook may be a good option as they are easy to use and won’t get in the way like the lights attached to actual books do.

On the other hand, if your e-Book breaks, you will have nothing to read until you receive a new one; however, if a book does get damaged to where you can't read it, you can just go to the bookstore and buy another copy, rather than worrying if it is still covered by the warranty. In addition, while most readers have a good battery life, there will still be times when you forget to charge it and then can’t read at all. You’ll never have this problem with a standard book, and also you don’t need to worry about hurting your eyes with a physical book. Finally, let’s face it:  you’re never going to get that comforting smell of paper or the weight of a good book in your hands when you read an eBook. Personally speaking, I really love to smell all my books and the touch of their pages, it is so comfortable. Whether paper or screen, the most important thing is to read ! ( ^_^ )

My father

Although he may looks like a Spanish civil guard, my father is the most reliable person I know. At first glance, his appearance may scare you a bit, since he is tall like a closet, has broad shoulders, and the first thing that stands out when you see him is his thick, black mustache. Most people think he is strict and always angry, but I can assure you that is not true at all. One of the things I admire most about him is his calm and patience, especially when my mother gets angry with him (it's fun, really). My father is very persistent: he likes to water his plants and flowers every morning, cook different meals, and if you interrupt while doing these things he doesn't get angry with you. I'm sure that if ever I have a problem, I can certainly ask him for help, and he will help me indeed. I really love my father, and I do not know what I would do without him.

By the way, today it's his birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!