Action-Control / Self-Control 

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By Selim Gautschi, Switzerland

How free are our thoughts and actions really?

Isn’t it interesting and fascinating to understand one’s actions and intensions? I think this topic is important in today’s life because everyone has goals and desires and has to struggle with discipline. The origin of our actions often comes from unconscious decisions we make in everyday life. Our emotions are a big part in this process of deciding and thinking.

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The term “Action-control” was invented in the early 1980s by Julius Kuhl, a German professor in differential psychology. The term includes processes where intensions are protected from neurological distractions. Everyone who has tried to stop smoking or lose weight knows how hard it is to control their actions. Whether we execute discipline or not depends a lot on our ability to control our emotions. Studies show that people who can control their emotions tend to live a happier, healthier and wealthier life.

 

Having willpower in your childhood years determines your willpower for adulthood, especially when it comes to emotional situations. Probably the best known experiment in the 3history of psychology shows what impact willpower has on our personality. In the 60s, Walter Mischel, a personality psychologist, did 4the marshmallow-test with 4 year old kids. In this popular test, several kids wrestle with waiting to eat a marshmallow in hopes of a bigger prize. This video is a good illustration of temptation and the hope of future rewards. Video: Marshmallow Test

The good news is that we can train and use different techniques to execute and stay disciplined and determined about our goals.
There are five strategies to a more conscious way of acting:  5

  • Attention-control
  • Motivation-control
  • Emotional-control
  • Environmental control
  • Economy of information processing

The diversity of being a make-up artist

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by Jill Stauffer, Switzerland

A makeup artist is an artist whose medium is the human face and body. He or she applies make-up or other items to create certain effect. The great thing about this job is that you have so many different options to express your creativity. There is a wide range of employment possibilities such as for television, filmmaking, fashion, magazines, weddings and so forth.  The most important thing is to be creative and brave because when it comes to make-up artistry there are no limits. Only if you push through the boundaries and are not afraid to try out new ideas, there’s a chance that you will make the big business. As the more skills you have, the more options you have when it comes to jobs. In this article I would like to tell you more about this amazing job and it’s different ranges.


Show your creativity

A good way to show your creativity in this job is through body painting and/or airbrushing. Bodypainting is a kind of body art. It means painting something temporary, painted onto the human skin. Most of the artists combine body painting with airbrush make-up. Airbrush make-up is a make-up sprayed onto the skin using an airbrush gun instead of brushes, sponges, fingers or other methods. Airbrush make-up is also used as wedding make-up because it lasts very long. To do a full body painting can take up to seven hours or more. Each year the best body painters of the world show off their skills during competitions at the world bodypainting festival.

The fascination of SFX make-up

SFX make-up also called special effects make-up and FX prosthetics is the process of using prosthetic sculpting, modeling and casting techniques to create advanced cosmetic effects.

 Special make-up is often used to transform someone into a totally different character or to create realistic injuries.The options range from are full body transformations to just small parts like a scar or a cut. The most important thing for a realistic result is to study detail of the end result you want to reach. For example when you have to do an injury you have to know how it happens and when it happens. A bruising looks different on the first day than on the fifth.  

  

 

 

Be the one who makes a bride’s day perfect

To make someone happy is the best feeling you can have. Especially brides are so thankful and it is a great experience to accompany them on their way to getting married.  A bridal make-up is maybe not the most creative one but it’s also challenging. It’s all about organization. A very important thing is to do find out what the bride’s wishes for and will be wearing so you can find the perfect make-up for her.

Make-up artist and hairstylists

It’s also highly probable that you are not just doing the make-up but also the hair.  Maybe just an easy braid or some waves but as more skills you have the more jobs you get. But most of the time there are special artists which are trained just in hairstyling. Then you work together as a team, someone does the make-up, someone the hairstyling and also stylists choosing the right dresses.

 

It is the combination of teamwork and the skills from the particular that makes the perfect picture, editorial, film, runway look or whatever. To meet this entire people is also a big part of this wonderful and exciting job. It’s more than just apply some colors onto the skin. It’s the creativity and the diversity of all the people in this industry what makes it interesting. To be a make-up artist is not just a job, it’s a lifestyle.

Haunted House in Puerto Montt, Chile

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Since the 8th of February, a family in the city of Puerto Montt, located in the southern part of Chile, is living a real nightmare. The southern part of that country is known by its many stories and legends, like: El  Trauco, a beast that kidnaps women, take them to the forest, to finally leaves them pregnant, or El Caleuche, a haunted pirate boat, with a ghost crew. The local people say that if you see it, (happens rarely) bad lucks comes into your life.

 

 

 

Mostly of the southern citizens know this story, but ignore them. It was a real surprise when this family in Puerto Montt called the police officers with a haunted house problem. The police in Chile, called by the name of Carabineros de Chile, came into the house and reported: windows broken when they entered, flying furniture(See the Conjuring if you don’t understand that expression), and a burning mattress when the house was empty(they saw the smoke from outside). Of course, the police officers left the house immediately after these events. The Captain of the Puerto Montt police station said to the media that it was a “diabolic presence”.

 

The local citizens, terrified about all these events, called a priest for him to bless the house and repel all the “dark forces” that wander around the house. One of the kids living there entered with the priest to the house and recorded a video of a furniture suddenly falling down just in the priest location. Hopefully, they noticed and successfully dodged it (Watch the video). In the recording you may see the priest terrified about all those paranormal issues and refuses to make any declaration after he finished the job.

 

 
The police officers, once outside, made the 100% sure declaration that the house was haunted. Also, they testified about things very similar to the video of the furniture suddenly falling down: flying knives chasing them, furnitures burning alone, etc. The press media arrived to the place of the facts, and now it is known around all of Chile and every part of the world. Even here in Santa Barbara, California, I have hear classmates talking about that, not only Chileans, even Europeans!.

 

 

 

These events happen rarely but, make us think about their probabilities of being true. There will always  be sceptical people who do not believe in that, but the videos and the testimonies prove they are there. Its your choice to believe it or not. Personally, I’m a Catholic person, so I believe in demonic presence and also in the demons.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC59xEdWMCo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgykLkjYz6I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS2SwOGHfLw

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Difference Between Food In Switzerland And The USA

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By Gioia Mathis, Switzerland

Food is a very important thing for me and for most people because, to stay healthy and to have energy, we have to eat good quality food which are rich in vitamins. This means if we want to have a happy life, we have to care about our food ,but that’s not easy and we have to educate ourselves about how to eat healthy and to care about what we eat and where it comes from, and that is often the problem. We need to learn this as children and it is good if the parents care, but often they don’t. So we have to be taught at school, but sadly most countries don’t offer this kind of education. The US, for example, barely does this. Only a few schools teach their students the meaning of good and healthy food. Switzerland in contrast, really cares about it and also where food comes from. We are taught what is healthy for our bodies and what is not. So we have to learn about different kinds of sugar, salt, proteins etc. that we need to consume to be healthy. We have to take at least two years of cooking lessons as well.

Compare the meals between Switzerland and the US:

Breakfast:

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This is a typical Swiss breakfast. It’s made of yogurt, fruits and oatmeal. It is very simple but it is delicious and it makes sure that we have enough energy to start our day.  You can add any time fruit you like and maybe some cinnamon.

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This a typical American breakfast made of eggs, French toast, pancakes, bacon and French fries. It may look amazing but it is, for sure, the wrong way to start a healthy day. It is made of fat, sugar, and high calories.  Fat and sugar are really bad for the heart and too much sugar can cause diabetes.

Lunch/Dinner

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This is what a lunch in Switzerland could look like. It is made of Roesti, a typical Swiss meal made of fried, thin sliced potatoes. Together with meat and a cream sauce it is a perfect and quite healthy lunch, but often Swiss people don’t have enough time because the lunch break its quite short. So instead they eat a salad or a sandwich and the dish on the picture is called “Zueri Geschnetzeltes”. They eat it on the weekend, so there is time to enjoy this delicious meal.

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This is the most common lunch for an American. It is made of oily fries and burger with a lot fat. This is the cheapest and fastest option that’s why most people choose this as their lunch/dinner.

Maybe this looks like a cliché that everybody just thinks that Americans eat a lot of junk food, but sadly this is the most common meal in the US. The reason is that healthy food is very expensive and fast food is the low-cost option. All this unhealthy food causes diseases and a lot people suffer from diabetes or become overweight. That’s why I think it is so important to teach children what is healthy and what is not, what causes people to gain weight or develop different kinds of diabetes. They need to grow up having a healthy relationship with food.

I don’t want to offend anybody. I’m talking in general terms but it is no secret that American people suffer much more from diseases caused by unhealthy food than people in Switzerland.

Why Zurich is one of the most attractive cities to visit

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Robin Ryffel, Switzerland

Zurich; although the biggest and most well-known city of Switzerland, it’s not the capital. Actually, Switzerland doesn’t even have a capital. The Swiss constitution considers Berne as their federal city, that’s not an equivalent for capital city, though. However, to get back to the main topic of this essay, I would like to point out the many strengths for a tourist when visiting Zurich.

zurich 1 CITY OF ZURICH

Zurich is located in the north-eastern part of Switzerland, which itself is placed in the middle of Europe. The city lies right next to the beautiful lake of Zurich, and a river called Limmat, originating from the lake, runs through the heart of Zurich; a perfect opportunity to enjoy your lunch at the bank, sunbathe all day long or just go for a swim.

zurich 2 LAKE OF ZURICH

One of the greatest things to do is without any doubt shopping. The most popular place to do that is definitely the Bahnhofstrasse. This street, translated to English Station Street, was laid out in 1867. It provides many shops, both internationally unknown Swiss clothing stores as well as shops from acclaimed international designers. It’s also the second most expensive street of the world, right after New York’s Fifth Avenue.

zurich 3 BAHNHOFSTRASSE

If you love old and absolutely stunning architecture, you just can’t miss Zurich’s old town, the Niederdorf. Literally translated to low village, it was actually the least developed part of medieval Zurich. That’s probably one of many reasons why it looks so special for today’s standards. In addition to its very own construction style, there are a lot of cheaper shops compared to the Bahnhofstrasse, and delicious restaurants. Whether you like Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Japanese or Brazilian cuisine, you will find it here.

zurich 4 NIEDERDORF

There are a bunch of other great activities and things to do, when you, after reading this essay, hopefully take the next plane to Zurich. If you are interested in sports, there’s a local ice hockey and even two soccer clubs which all three play in the highest Swiss league of their respective sports.

zurich 5 KUNSTHAUS

Zurich is also an art and education city. There are a lot of history and art museums, as well as great universities that are definitely worth a visit.

Utrecht: my hometown

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Evie de Graaff, the Netherlands

It was 50 years before the Common Era (BCE) when the Romans decided to build a fort called Traiectum. This was the moment the city Utrecht was born. Now, more than 2017 years later Utrecht is one of the famous cities in whole Europe. And I am so glad the Romans build that fort because otherwise I would never have grown up in such a great and beautiful city.

Utrecht-2

History of Utrecht

Around 50 years BCE the Romans built the fort Traiectum. They built this fort as a border for the Roman Empire. Around 270 years CE the Romans abandoned the city. After that, several nations where located in Utrecht. Around 1122 the city got their official documents and Utrecht was officially born. In the 16th and the 17th century, Utrecht was important for the art development. A few famous painters are Jan van Scorol, Cornelis van Poelenburch and Jan Both. In the 17th century the famous University of Utrecht was created. Today more than 30,152 (2014) are joining this fantastic university. According to Shanghai Jiaotong University’s university ranking in 2014 it is the 57th best university in the world.

Geography of Utrecht

Utrecht is located in center of the Netherlands. Utrecht is the capitol and most popular city from the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is the fourth largest city in the Netherlands with a population of 338,949 and counting. Utrecht is famous for her old history, her beautiful channels, the dom tower and of course Miffy. It’s the city where I live. The city Utrecht is a part of the ‘Randstad’ which is part is of the area with the most important cities where most of the money is generated.

The most important train station of the Netherlands is located in Utrecht: Utrecht Central station, because it is located so central, every train to almost every location depart from the train station of Utrecht.

The city of Utrecht is divided into 10 city quarters:

  1. City center
  2. East
  3. Leidsche rijn
  4. West
  5. Overvecht
  6. South
  7. North- East
  8. South – West
  9. North- West
  10. Vleuten- de Meern

Sightseeing

Utrecht is a very popular city for tourists. Most of the tourists are coming from Japan, China, Germany, Spain and the U.S. There are beautiful places where you can discover the beauty of Utrecht. Here is a list from the most famous highlights of Utrecht:

  • The Dom tower: The Dom tower is the symbol for the city of Utrecht. The tower is 112,5 meter tall and has a beautiful history.
  • Oude gracht: The Oude gracht is the most famous street in Utrecht. It is located in the center of Utrecht with beautiful channels and bridges. This is also the biggest shopping street in Utrecht.
  • Botanic Garden: The Botanic Garden is located next to the main building of the University of Utrecht. Is has beautiful unique flowers, plants and my absolute favorite, the butterflies.
  • Tivoli Vredenburg: Tivoli Vredenburg is a very famous music building in Utrecht. A lot of famous artists and bands have played here.
  • Soccer team FC Utrecht stadium: This is the stadium of the national soccer team of Utrech: FC Utrecht. There is capacity for 23.750 spectators.
  • Gerrit Rietveld museum: This museum shows the art of famous designer and architect.
  • Nijntje museum (Miffy Museum): I believe Miffy is the most famous creature of Utrecht. The little bunny is a creation of painter Dick Bruna who has lived all his live in Utrecht. Especially the tourists from Japan and China love Miffy.
  • Aboriginal Art museum : Located at the Oude gracht this museum has a small exhibit of Australian Aboriginal Art.
  • Railroad museum : This museum shows the history of the Dutch railroads.

 

 

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Oude gracht

 

 

The Dom Tower

The Dom tower of Utrecht is the tallest church tower in the Netherlands. The tower is 112,5 meter tall. The Gothic-style tower is the symbol of the city. The tower was part of the Cathedral of Saint Martin of Utrecht, also known as the Dom church. The tower was built between 1321 and 1328. However the cathedral was never finished because there was not enough money. Unfortunately a part of the cathedral was collapsed in a heavy storm in 1674. From that moment the tower became a free standing tower. It is very popular to climb the tower and enjoy the beautiful sight of the city.  If you want to do this you have to be able to climb 465 stairs, but I can tell you that it’s totally worth it.

In 2015, the 102th edition of the Tour de France started in Utrecht. The first game of the teams was in the center of Utrecht. All the members of the teams biked next to the dom tower, it was so much fun!

 

Tour de France in Utrecht

 

Miffy

Miffy (in Dutch: Nijntje) is a female little bunny in a famous series of books for children created by Dick Bruna. Miffy was created in 1955 by Dick Bruna after he told his son bedtime stories. What I find so special and funny is because the drawings of Miffy are so easy but it tells so much. When I was a little child I had a stuffed animal from Miffy and it was really a part of my childhood. Bruna has made more than 124 stories about Miffy. The books of Miffy are translated in more than 50 languages, and over 85 million books have been sold all over the world. Dick Bruna has won many awards for his creations about Miffy. In 2005 Miffy celebrated her 50th birthday. In 2006 the museum about Miffy was opened, called the Dick Bruna House or ‘Het Nijntje museum’. It’s located in the center of Utrecht.

Dick Bruna

Unfortunately on the 16th of February this year Dick Bruna passed away at the beautiful age of 89, but I know for sure Miffy will always be popular.

 

Famous people in Utrecht

Because Utrecht is a very popular city in the Netherlands with a lot of great opportunities it is almost logic that there are famous people who live in this amazing city ;). Also in the past, a lot of great and important people lived in Utecht. Hopefully, in a couple of years I will also be on this list!

  • Pope Adrian VI (1459–1523) – head of the Catholic Church
  • Louis Andriessen (1939) – composer
  • Marco van Basten (1964) – football player
  • Dick Bruna (1927-2017) – writer, illustrator (Miffy)
  • H.D. Buys Ballot (1817–1890) – meteorologist
  • Theo van Doesburg (1883–1931) – painter, artist (De Stijl movement)
  • Paul Fentener van Vlissingen (1941–2006) – businessman and philanthropist
  • Anton Geesink (1934–2010) – judoka, first non-Japanese worldchampion Judo
  • Gerrit Rietveld (1888–1964) – designer, architect (De Stijl movement)
  • Dafne Schippers (1992) – sprinter/heptathlon Olympian

 

 

dafne schippers 1
Dafne Schippers 

 

Fun fact: The King of The Netherlands, Willem- Alexander der Nederlander was born in Utrecht in 1967 in the same hospital I was born!

 

Introduction of SonyA6000 camera By Boxuan Zhan, Macau,China

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Boxuan Zhan, Macau,China

What is the best camera for a beginner? I would say it must be a Sony A6000. To begin with, A6000 uses a mirrorless system, which makes it more portable so we can carry it easily when we go traveling and to family events. Moreover,  the lightweight feature enables us to carry more equipment such as lenses and a tripod which helps to improve the picture.

Personally, I am one of the Sony A6000 users. The first thing that attracts me is its focus speed. It is way faster than other mirrorless cameras. In this case, you may think, focus speed may not be a big deal but in fact, it becomes very significant when the shooting subject is moveable, like sport, kids and pets. Have you ever been in this situation? When you tried to shoot something but it takes a long time to focus on the subject? This won’t occur with the A6000 (in general) because it allows the user to catch what they see immediately.

In addition, it can take 11 shots in a second. When you are shooting at high speed, it can’t be difficult to miss the moment especially when shooting sports. With the high speed focusing, it guarantees that you won’t miss your kids or the player’s movement.

download

As you can see the picture above, there are not too many buttons on the camera, so it will be easier for the beginner to use. Considering that sometimes people will freak out when there are many buttons and they don’t know which one to press. Furthermore, the A6000 has an electronic viewfinder, which helps people to focus more easily during shooting. It gives you a clearer vision under a strong light environment. This viewfinder can show what the picture will look like, which an optical viewfinder can’t do. For example, if your photo is too dark or too bright, you can notice it in advance so you can adjust it immediately. The screen of A6000 is adjustable. It can flip up 90 degrees and flip down 45 degrees. With this feature, you don’t need to lay on the ground to shoot low angle shots and you can also put your camera higher than the crowd and get some awesome shots. Moreover, hotshoe and built-in flash are other features of the A6000 which allows you to adapt the flash or other equipment. The built-in flash can flip up so the light would become more natural.

download (1)

Sony A6000’s lens system is the Sony E-mount. That means all E-mount lenses can be mounted on the A6000. As a changeable lens camera, the advantage is that you can change lenses for different usages. For instance, if you are shooting a landscape, you want to show the imposing view, you might need a wider angle lens to capture as much as view possible into your photo. If you want to shoot the moon or things are far away from you, you will need a telephoto lens to help you.

Diagram-1

Another amazing things is that the A6000 can use adapter to adapt other brands lens such as Nikon, Canon and other lens mounting system. Then you just need to buy a adapter and borrow the len that fits the adapter or you can just use your old one.

As there are a lot of lens available, which lens is more suitable? At first, you have the kit lens (SEL1650) and a basic telephoto lens (SEL55210) that comes with your camera. Basically, these two lens can provide your most need. The kit lens can fullfill all your daily needs. Also the basic telephoto lens (SEL55210) can let you shoot distant things and these two lens provide the basic need for beginner. However, if you think that having two lens would bother you, then you can consider having the SEL16200 and cambined the kit lens and the basic telephoto lens.

Z-sony-a6000-with-70-200mm-L

For other lens choice, the SEL1670z is better than SEL1650, and SEL70200G or SEL70200GM is better than SEL55210. Their image quality is better but the weight is heavier. For wide angle lens, SEL1018 is a good choice, however it is a bit overpriced. For a cheaper choice, you can try the Rokinon 12mm f/2.0.

To summarise, the A6000 is a great photographing and vlogging camera because of its fast focusing speed and 11 shot per second and other useful feature, but there are still a few drawbacks. Firstly, the screen can not flip 180 degree which is not convenient when taking selfie or group photo. Secondly, the battery life cannot compare with DSLR camera, but carrying more battery could be the solution of this issue and the power can stay one day of daily shooting.

picture from a6000 by me

ARE YOU READY TO LET A TRIP CHANGE YOU?

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Lucia Tartagni, Italy

lucia1

 

Can travelling alone make us happy and free? 

Can a woman travel alone?

 

We try to find out!

 

I am a woman and I love to travel alone. I will try to show you my experience.

There are a lot of positive aspects when you travel alone, but don’t forget the negative ones and the preparations that will take a lot of time:

  • Before departure remember to complete all the documents required by the country you are visiting;
  • Prepare in advance a list of emergency contacts: police, hospital, fire fighters…
  • Because you are alone you can’t share your ideas, how you feel, your mood with other friends;lucia3
  • Take a paper map with you every time ;
  • Every day you have to plan your trip, the place you want to visit or where you want to sleep;
  • Last but not least, especially for a woman, don’t turn into dark places in the evening and don’t be provocative with someone you don’t know.

 

Don’t be afraid! After finishing these small and simple steps, you will look forward to starting your trip. Try to have faith in experiences! You will be filled with adrenaline to the point of not being able to sit still a minute.

 

lucia2I think that everything I have listed will become positive aspects of all my trips to introduce me to the best view in the culture of the various countries. In a solo trip you don’t have any commitments, distractions. You are alone and you must listen to yourself. There are only your own requirements that take you to capture the happiness of being with yourself. Every fear builds a path of growth and change. To do this you will need to face your fears and difficulties. You must not be afraid of the changes and challenges that you encounter, but only with your personal power will you find ways to overcome them.

“If you don’t allow the trip to change you a bit, you might as well stay at home”    (Nicolas Bouvier)

lucia5

You are alone, you can do what you want, you can go and sleep where you want, you can change plans as often as you want. You will take a trip with  people as well as within yourself. You must respect their culture, you will go into their home. Every person and every culture you meet will teach you something.

 

lucia 4

So what are you waiting for?

Are you ready to dive 360 degrees in the culture of a country?

Are you ready to change your way of thinking and dealing with what happens to you?

 

Embark! Try it but don’t go back at the first difficulty, that’s where the road to happiness begins!

Travel alone video

 

NUCLEAR ENERGY: DECIDE WHICH SIDE YOU’RE ON

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By Arthur Gris, France

arthur image 1

“Nuclear power will help provide the electricity that our growing economy needs without increasing emissions. This is truly an environmentally responsible source of energy.” assured American politician Michael Burgess, while former Finnish President Tarja Halonen warned “Nuclear power is not a miracle key for the future.”. People have been arguing about nuclear power since its creation in the 1940s, until today in 2017. And we’re pretty sure that it will last forever whatever happens. If it stays like this, the debate will remain the same as the pro-nuclear and anti-nuclear will keep on arguing, and if nuclear power is banned, it’s very likely to see the pro-nuclear continue to argue to get it back.

arthur image 2

 

 

 

 

The aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, 1945.

After its well-known and controversial use in the 1940s with the 2 atomic bombs in Japan which made approximately 250,000 victims, the nuclear power were used in the next decade to offer a brighter and peaceful future designed for the development of new technologies. In the 50s, people saw in the atomic power the actual key to the future. However, we soon learned the limit of that extraordinary power as it was expansive and complicated to maintain. That is when it became really disputed with on one hand industries that preferred to keep going with the traditional sources of power (such as gas, coal and oil) that were in their opinion more reliable and cheaper, and on the other hand those who wanted this power because of its plentiful of positive aspects.

The nuclear power reached its highest peak during the oil wars that started in the 70s and which caused oil prices to shoot up, leading to more and more investments in the atomic power: more than half of all the nuclear reactors were built between 1970 and 1985. Since then, what made this power controversial were mainly the catastrophes such as the Chernobyl one in 1986 and the Fukushima disaster in 2011 which both caused casualties when and after the accidents happened due to the mortal and extremely expandable radioactivity.

Nowadays, the nuclear plants are getting old though new ones are planned for the next years in some countries, mainly developing. The situation faced today by those “nuclear countries” is whether spend money to make their nuclear plants brand new with the latest technologies, or move towards other kind of power.

arthur image 3

The “cons” of this power are well known and are the reasons why it’s so controversial and why people are protesting. One of them is the fact that developing nuclear power can lead to proliferation of nuclear weapons. These kinds of weapons, owned by both enemy nations are often said to be the cause of a 3rd world war. But a war with nuclear weapons on both sides would be an unseen massacre in the history of humanity and for the earth too. A less scary yet worrying situation is the pollution due to the nuclear rejections and wastes coming from the nuclear plants. We still don’t know what to do with it, and bury them in the soil of the earth is not a good and durable solution even though it is very little compared to greenhouse gasses and rejections and waste from the regular sources of energy. Lastly, the major accidents we seen had a radioactive spreading that was very serious and certainly the cause of cancer for the individuals located in many kilometers square around the area. In the most famous case of Chernobyl, the catastrophe will cause about 270 000 cancers (93 000 fatal) within 70 years, according to Greenpeace.

The “pros” however, are often ignored by most of people. They can be divided into two main points. At first, NASA scientists demonstrated that it is cleaner than the gases that fossil fuels produce. Which means that, in a way, there are a lot more deaths due to the fossil energy exploitation, but when people died because of the nuclear energies its mainly due to the catastrophes mentioned earlier in the article which always have a great impact in people’s minds. Actually, the NASA scientist said that in 2009, 1.8 million deaths have been prevented thanks to the nuclear energy replacing other kind of energy.

arthur image 4

 

 

 

 

Fuel needed to power a lightbulb, nuclear is clearly the less consuming energy.

Second, the new technologies which will be used to rebuild the old nuclear plants will reduce a lot the risks of such disasters. If countries invest in those specific fields of technologies, they might be able to control the risks and use nuclear power instead of poisonous fossil energies. Yes, the aftermaths of the nuclear catastrophes are terrible and are what is frightening and repulsive to people regarding nuclear energy, but since there has been already not a lot of such catastrophes in the past 50 years with the old technologies, the newest being more secure might stop or prevent any catastrophes. It definitely looks like the best solution to produce energy, only before we can fully produce only with renewable energies (in 40 years in the best scenarios, according to experts).

arthur image 5arthur image 6

So…                                 Is it good?                                                                       Is it bad?

Geneva (Switzerland)

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Mylène Barbotin – Switzerland

 

Geneva (Switzerland)

Post Tenebras Lux

Seven things to do in Geneva.

 

1 ) Jet d’eau 

GENEVA 2

The “Jet d’eau” is the principal symbol of Geneva. You can find this monument when you go to the lake. 

Five hundred litres of water per second are jetted to an altitude of 140 metres by two 500 KW pumps, operating at 2,400 volt, consuming one megawatt of electricity.

The water leaves the nozzle at a speed of 200 kilometres per hour.

The diameter of the nozzle is exactly 10 cm. Maximum height of water jet is about 140 metres above water level. When it is in operation, at any given moment there are about 7,000 litres of water in the air.

Unsuspecting visitors to the fountain which can be reached via a stone jetty from the left bank of the lake may be surprised to find themselves drenched after a slight change in wind direction.

The last summer, I had switch on the Jet d’eau with a friend of my father during my summer work. I was so happy, and my friends didn’t believe me, I had do this.

 

 

2) Geneva Motor Show

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The “Geneva Motor show” is very important in Geneva. The show begin of the begin of March every year and it’s open for two weeks. A lot of personalities and medias come during this show.

There are more than seventy different brand for show the new models.

For the 2017 show the brand come from Switzerland, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, United States, United Kingdom, South Korea, Sweden, Liechtenstein, India, China, Hong Kong, Czech Republic, Netherlands and Denmark.

 
3) St. Peter’s Cathedral

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The “St. Peter’s Cathedral” was build between years 1160 – 1252. The Cathedral is 64 meters long. Cathedral is rented for concerts.

There is no entrance fee for the St. Peter’s Cathedral. There’s an archaeological site under the Cathedral, you can visit all the time, but you have to pay 8.- CHF for adults and 4.- for children’s. The Cathedral is in the old town in Geneva. There’s small street. It’s very beautiful. GENEVA 6

 

 

4) L’Escalade

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“L’Escalade” is an event between 3rd December and 15th December, every years.  We celebrating our win of the surprise attack during the night of 11th and 12th December 1602.

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There are festive traditions that includes chocolate cauldrons filled with vegetable-shaped marzipan treats.

Geneva organize every year a race “Course de l’Escalade”. This race takes place in Geneva’s Old Town, and has been very popular. Non-competitive racers have fun by dressing in pretty costumes for the “Marmite Race”.

 

 

5) Genève Servette Hockey Club

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One match of “Genève Servette Hockey Club”. During september and may, the local club has some match in the Ice Skating against other team in Switzerland. There’s two famous matchs like derby against Lausanne HC and Fribourg-Gottéron. There’s a big ambiance and it’s typical swiss match. For now best teams are Zurich Lions and Sc Bern. They win a lot of match now and it’s difficult to win against but not impossible.

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6) Palais des Nations

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“Palais des Nations” is the garden for the ONU.  Built between 1929 and 1936, the Palais des Nations houses the European headquarters of the United Nations and, after New York, is the largest center of the United Nations. More than 25,000 delegates are welcomed there each year and numerous works of art are on display.

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7) Carouge

 

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“Carouge” is a neighborhood of Geneva City.  A stone’s throw from the city center, Carouge is the Greenwich Village of Geneva! Its architecture recalls its Sardinian origins and gives you the impression of being in the South. Traders, shaded terraces, craftsmen and antique dealers live in the many alleys of Carouge, where strolling hours is a real pleasure. At nightfall, the atmosphere is at the rendezvous thanks to the many trendy bars, renowned throughout the city.

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