Another year’s approaching
We can start our lives anew
What we wish for this year
Is to have a real breakthrough
We’ll take one step at a time
And we’ll do our best
We’ll use our inner strength
While this year lasts
We wish to accomplish
Each one of our goals
We know that’s tough
But we do have bulls
We wish to have fun
All this year through
We wish to party a lot
Join us! Yes, you!
We wish to get older
But just one more year
(Oh, that’s already going to happen
And that’s what our parents fear)
We wish to get smarter
We’ll learn and read a lot
We wish to quit our old habits
Sign… or maybe not!
1107
13 March 2008
12 March 2008
A Day In The Forest
Deena and Sarah spent their summer vacation with Deena's uncle Samoa, who was a retired teacher, living in a remote house in the middle of a huge forest. Every day they strolled with him in the forest, listening to his strange stories about trees, witches, and fortune tellers. There was no end to his stories - he could go on and on - so one day Deena asked him, "Where have you read all these stories?""I haven't read them. They just pop into my mind when I see things."
"How come?"
"You see, when I see an old oak tree, I try to imagine the experience this tree is possessing."
"A tree has no memory," Sarah laughed.
"How do you know? Anyway, I said that I imagined i. All the people who have passed this tree during the years - lovers -- walkers - workers - all kinds of people. And I imagine the tree telling me all this - and there you go - the story is there!"
"So you mean that the tree possesses stories," Deena said, pondering.
"No, but the presence of the tree makes my mind come up with imagination. When I am alone, I just see visions, but when I'm walking with you, the visions come to words, and I tell you the story. Do you see?"
"No," both the girls said, and Sarah went on, "The story must be somewhere, before you find it."
Uncle Samoa frowned. "So you mean that stories are in the world on beforehand, waiting for us to pick them up?""
"In a way," Sarah said.
"No," Deena said. "Things are there - events are there - thoughts are there - and people's minds make connections between them."
"Oh, I see," Uncle Samoa said.
Deena went on. "For animals there are only things and events, and they do not connect them the way we do. They are not supposed to. But people have minds, and the meaningness of the human mind is to learn to connect events and things with their thoughts."
"So you mean that thinking is sort of a tool for connection and understanding," Sarah said.
"Not really. Thoughts are dead themselves - they can only come to life through emotions and fantasy. The ability to imagine things - to pick up stories as Uncle Samoa does - or to make music or paint or dance or make a ballet - this ability makes it possible for people to connect all this in their minds."
Uncle Samoa listened intensely. Then he said, "What you say is - well, mental creation or something like hat. Does this mean, that you mean, that our goal is to create? That it is more important to create than to think?"
"Sure," Deena said. "Creation is there all the time, waiting to be experienced by us, and waiting to be discovered all the time - on and on again. The deepest of our minds is creation and not thinking."
"So you mean," said Sarah, "that our fantasy and our imagination are the deepest of our - I don't know - the deepest of our soul, if we have one."
"That's it," Deena said. "Life is creation. Creation is there all the time, waiting for us to see."
"Look," Uncle Samoa said. "Look at that marvellous tree. See a story there?"
"Yes," Sarah laughed. "It's a story about love - Man's love for Nature, and Nature's love for us."
"Or a ballet - look at the leaves," Deena said eagerly. "They move in the wind like a ballet."
"I can almost hear the symphony," Uncle Samoa said. "The forest-symphony, telling us to take care of Nature - dance with it - pick up all stories - make a painting of this marvellous world. I do agree with you - there is nothing but creation. So let's join our hands and dance to my house. I expect a whole orchestra waiting for us there."
"This is just beautiful," Deena said. "Three people dancing in the forest, while the leaves make their ballet above our heads. I think I'm going to fold out my wings and fly home."
"Sure, why not! Everything is possible, when the mind is ready and open."
And there Uncle Samoa stood, looking at the two flying girls. "What a story," he said. "What a story!!"
by Per Jespersen
Easter Time
Since its conception as a holy celebration in the second century, Easter has had its non-religious side. In fact, Easter was originally a pagan festival.
The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with an uproarious festival commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eastre. When the second-century Christian missionaries encountered the tribes of the north with their pagan celebrations, they attempted to convert them to Christianity
. They did so, however, in a clandestine manner.
It would have been suicide for the very early Christian converts to celebrate their holy days with observances that did not coincide with celebrations that already existed. To save lives, the missionaries cleverly decided to spread their religious message slowly throughout the populations by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner.
As it happened, the pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ. It made sense, therefore, to alter the festival itself, to make it a Christian celebration as converts were slowly won over. The early name, Eastre, was eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter.
The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with an uproarious festival commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eastre. When the second-century Christian missionaries encountered the tribes of the north with their pagan celebrations, they attempted to convert them to Christianity
. They did so, however, in a clandestine manner.It would have been suicide for the very early Christian converts to celebrate their holy days with observances that did not coincide with celebrations that already existed. To save lives, the missionaries cleverly decided to spread their religious message slowly throughout the populations by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner.
As it happened, the pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ. It made sense, therefore, to alter the festival itself, to make it a Christian celebration as converts were slowly won over. The early name, Eastre, was eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter.
Haunted London
This ghost tour can be done at anytime, although its is best done on a weekend night when the City of London is eerily empty of its working populace and you really do have th streets and darker alleyways to yourself. This atmospheric haunted tour of London begins at the historic hub of London and even starts at a haunted Underground Station.
Bank Underground sits at the historic hub of the City of London, surrounded by such venerable institutions as the Bank of England, the Royal Exchange, and the Mansion House, which is the home of the Lord Mayor throughout his year in office. In addition to its being an extremely busy station, it is also haunted. It is the maintenance workers whose unenviable task it is to attempt to keep the Central Line running, who have most often experienced the supernatural activity here in the early hours of some mornings. As they have worked away, they have suddenly been overcome by a foul stench (“like the smell of an open grave” is how one employee described it), and in its wake there comes a dreadful feeling of foreboding and melancholy. It is thought to be connected with the fact that the next station along, Liverpool Street, is thought to have been built on the site of a 17th century plague pit. Is it possible that something from all those decomposing bodies that were buried together has impregnated the soil roundabouts, and when conditions are right does some form of miasma steep down into the tunnel and drift towards Bank Station to afflict the nostrils and the sensibilities of the London Underground maintenance workers?
Bank Underground sits at the historic hub of the City of London, surrounded by such venerable institutions as the Bank of England, the Royal Exchange, and the Mansion House, which is the home of the Lord Mayor throughout his year in office. In addition to its being an extremely busy station, it is also haunted. It is the maintenance workers whose unenviable task it is to attempt to keep the Central Line running, who have most often experienced the supernatural activity here in the early hours of some mornings. As they have worked away, they have suddenly been overcome by a foul stench (“like the smell of an open grave” is how one employee described it), and in its wake there comes a dreadful feeling of foreboding and melancholy. It is thought to be connected with the fact that the next station along, Liverpool Street, is thought to have been built on the site of a 17th century plague pit. Is it possible that something from all those decomposing bodies that were buried together has impregnated the soil roundabouts, and when conditions are right does some form of miasma steep down into the tunnel and drift towards Bank Station to afflict the nostrils and the sensibilities of the London Underground maintenance workers?
5 March 2008
Croc feeding frenzy
A crocodile feeding frenzy has been caught on camera.
A BBC crew managed to film over 40 of the huge beasts gathering and working together to feast on fish migrating up the Mary River in Australia.
This cooperative feeding behaviour has only recently been discovered - saltwater crocodiles are usually highly territorial creatures.
The animals were filmed with the help of infrared cameras because the spectacle took place during the night.
Mullet migrate in spring; they wait for the high-tide so they can swim up-river to breed.
The crocodiles knew when to gather at the river. The BBC crew filmed them picking the mullet off one by one as the fish swam past.
A BBC crew managed to film over 40 of the huge beasts gathering and working together to feast on fish migrating up the Mary River in Australia.
This cooperative feeding behaviour has only recently been discovered - saltwater crocodiles are usually highly territorial creatures.
The animals were filmed with the help of infrared cameras because the spectacle took place during the night.
Mullet migrate in spring; they wait for the high-tide so they can swim up-river to breed.
The crocodiles knew when to gather at the river. The BBC crew filmed them picking the mullet off one by one as the fish swam past.
New free music downloads!
Warner Music has signed a deal with media site 7digital.com to offer its music without copy protection.
Customers in the UK, Ireland, Spain, France and Germany will be able to download albums by artists such as Madonna and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
The MP3 files can be played on nearly all music devices including Apple's best selling iPod.
7digital.com is the first European site to offer Warner's music free of Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems.
The label had previously signed a deal with Amazon to sell its tracks in MP3 format. The service is currently only available in the US although this is expected to change later this year.
Customers in the UK, Ireland, Spain, France and Germany will be able to download albums by artists such as Madonna and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
The MP3 files can be played on nearly all music devices including Apple's best selling iPod.
7digital.com is the first European site to offer Warner's music free of Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems.
The label had previously signed a deal with Amazon to sell its tracks in MP3 format. The service is currently only available in the US although this is expected to change later this year.
Gossip Girls :)
Princess reveals glamorous image
Photos in the society magazine show a glamorous Eugenie.
Princess Eugenie has said her parents are the "best divorced couple I know", in an interview to mark her birthday.
The princess, who is sixth in line for the throne and turns 18 on 23 March, described her family in an interview with Tatler magazine.
Accompanied by glamorous pictures, the princess said the Queen is "truly one of the most amazing women ever". "She is also very funny. All I can say is that she has this air of magic about her," she added.
Princess Eugenie said her parents, the Duke and the Duchess of York, had a very amicable split.
She said: "They are the best divorced couple I know. I don't remember much of the divorce happening. They just always went out of their way to make us feel loved and secure."
She also admitted to bickering with her older sister Princess Beatrice. "Like all sisters we have silly arguments about unimportant stuff, but we do love each other to death," she said.
Princess Eugenie is studying for her A-Levels at Marlborough College in Wiltshire where she is head of the poetry society.
The princess is to celebrate her birthday in a low-key event with family and close friends.
The princess, who is sixth in line for the throne and turns 18 on 23 March, described her family in an interview with Tatler magazine.
Accompanied by glamorous pictures, the princess said the Queen is "truly one of the most amazing women ever". "She is also very funny. All I can say is that she has this air of magic about her," she added.
Princess Eugenie said her parents, the Duke and the Duchess of York, had a very amicable split.
She said: "They are the best divorced couple I know. I don't remember much of the divorce happening. They just always went out of their way to make us feel loved and secure."
She also admitted to bickering with her older sister Princess Beatrice. "Like all sisters we have silly arguments about unimportant stuff, but we do love each other to death," she said.
Princess Eugenie is studying for her A-Levels at Marlborough College in Wiltshire where she is head of the poetry society.
The princess is to celebrate her birthday in a low-key event with family and close friends.
Better late than never!
International Mother Language Day
Last Thursday we celebrated the International Mother Language Day in our school and we went to the library with our English teacher.
We learnt that 21 February was proclaimed the International Mother Language Day by UNESCO on 17 November 1999. Its observance was also formally recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution establishing 2008 as the International Year of Languages.
The International Mother Language Day was originated as the international recognition of Language Movement Day, which has been commemorated in Bangladesh since 1952, when a number of Bangladeshi university students was killed by the East Pakistan police and army in Dhaka.
This day is very important to promote linguist and cultural diversity and multilingualism. In the entire world are spoken 6700 languages and Portuguese is the sixth most spoken language.
Last Thursday we celebrated the International Mother Language Day in our school and we went to the library with our English teacher.
We learnt that 21 February was proclaimed the International Mother Language Day by UNESCO on 17 November 1999. Its observance was also formally recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution establishing 2008 as the International Year of Languages.
The International Mother Language Day was originated as the international recognition of Language Movement Day, which has been commemorated in Bangladesh since 1952, when a number of Bangladeshi university students was killed by the East Pakistan police and army in Dhaka.
This day is very important to promote linguist and cultural diversity and multilingualism. In the entire world are spoken 6700 languages and Portuguese is the sixth most spoken language.
Joana Araújo, 1106
School Uniforms
I’m going to write about school uniforms, if they are good or bad. I’m going to write about them because, when I lived in London, like every other student, I had to wear a uniform and it bothered me. I’m going to tell you the main pros and cons on school uniforms.
Potential Benefits of School Uniforms:
Preventing gang colours, etc. in schools;
Decreasing violence and theft because of clothing and shoes;
Instilling discipline among students;
Reducing need for administrators and teachers to be 'clothes police' (for example, determining whether shorts are too short, etc.);
Reducing distractions for students ;
Instilling a sense of community;
Helping schools recognize those who do not belong on campus.
Potential problems of School Uniforms:
Students and parents argue that uniforms violate their freedom of expression;
Parents raise concerns about the cost;
Families fear it might interfere with religious clothing like yarmulkes;
Most students feel uncomfortable with school uniforms.
Although I agree that school uniforms bring more benefits than problems, I hated using them! And all students hate using uniform, and when I came to Portugal, one of the things I liked was not having to wear uniform. But I know that they prevent bullying provoked by financial problems, so it’s good.
Eva Oliveira, 1106
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