ENGLISH CURIOSITIES

---------SEPTEMBER---------

WEEK 5: Religion and God

"In order to understand the true nature of God, the Creator of the universe, we must separate the myths of mankind from the physical evidence of God's existence" and "Religions are simply the outgrowth of ancient myths and dogmas handed down from generation to generation and formalized into faiths, rituals and traditions", so we have to separate GOD AND RELIGION.

by Donald L. Hamilton ("Separating God from Religion
"

WEEK 6: Tortures

"...any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in, or incidental to, lawful sanctions."   UN Convention Against Torture

WEEK 7: 2012, myths and legends

There are many urban legends and myths around december of 2012. Nostradamus a famous man who made prophecies, talked about a possible cataclysm...Mayan calendar finishes in that day, and many other stories have been told around that topic. It is a shown of that...

WEEK 8: Amazing Technology

 A lot of amazing technologies are supposed to be used in the future, in fact some of them are still being worked on while other technologies are already present but in labs only, others are available for commercial uses. It's amazing how fast new technologies and inventions develop everyday, thanks to the folks we call them "nerds" at places like Microsoft, Nokia, NASA and Sony.

 The world is full of Amazing Technology, in both the past and the present-- we can only try to imagine what the future will be like!

---------AUGUST---------

WEEK 1: Advertising

"Advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to purchase or take some action upon products, ideals, or services. It includes the name of a product or service and how that product or service could benefit the consumer, to persuade a target market to purchase or to consume that particular brand."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising

 

WEEK 2: Food

"In China people eat eight, ten or twelve dishes of food at New Year. This is because an even number means double the luck. A lot of the food at New Year has a special meaning. Seaweed means good luck and long noodles mean long life. They eat whole vegetables and don’t use knives to cut things, because this means the end of your good luck."                                                     http://www.macmillanenglish.com/

 WEEK 3: Emergency Situations                

•Step 1: Stay calm and be prepared for aftershocks.

•Step 2: Check for injuries and administer first aid.

•Step 3: Listen on your portable radio for information and instructions.

•Step 4: Check your home for gas and water leaks, broken electrical wiring or sewage lines, and cracks and damage. If there is damage, turn the utility off at the source. Immediately report gas leaks to your utility company.

•Step 5: Check for downed power lines.

Step 6: If you must evacuate, leave a message at home telling others where you can be found.

eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_1241_act-after-earthquake.html#ixzz0vTi20jjX

WEEK 4: Beauty

"Beauty is a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction. Beauty is studied as part of aesthetics, sociology, social psychology, and culture. An "ideal beauty" is an entity which is admired, or possesses features widely attributed to beauty in a particular culture, for perfection."                                           http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty

Week 8: Amazing Technology

Laura

Amazing Technology: Brainport Vision Device

The brainport vision device is a visual prosthetic device which translates information from a digital camera to the tongue. It works as is explained below.

 A camera sends visual information to the central unity of the Brainport, and that unity translates the information into tongue stimulation signals which are sent to the Tongue Display Unity (TDU). Camera receives black and white signals, white pixels are equivalent to strong stimulation signals, and black pixels are equivalent to no stimulation, middle stimulation signals are representation of gray scales. Patients say that the sensation is like Champagne bubbles. It is a system of tactile vision in progress, that promises being very useful and good. Currently it is in process the miniaturization of the device. Time for learning is really short, between 2 and 10 hours.

 This is the fabricant web site:  http://vision.wicab.com/technology/


Marisol

The "Sixth Sense"


I was on internet a time ago, and I found something really interesting that can change the way we life forever. It is called the "Sixth Sense".


This is a portable device designed by Pranav Mistry that not only is used as a mobile phone, but also gives you the chance by a camera incorporated in it to get information inmediatly about the things that surround you without even clicking.


This device that will have been selling by the shops by the end of the next decade, is wearable and it has a projector and a camera that copy every image you want to get information of.

For instance if you just meet someone at Uni, the projector will show you on the body's surface of the person you are talking to, what  his/her interest are, what her/his profession is, the working experience, hobby's, etc. Impressive, right? But that's not all, also this device can help you to make better decisions in everyday life according to your interests. For example, if you are a conscious person about the ecological environment, the device will tell you what kind of products are more eco-friendly that others without the need of looking at the package.

Also, this tool doesn't word with keyboards all the actions you need to do, you can project them on almost everywhere, even if you need to know the hour you just draw a clock wherever you want and there will be projected with the current our.

Taking pictures is way easy, you just have to make a frame with your fingers, pointed out the thing you want to take a photo, and there you are!. it as well collected all your photos and you can have projected your own photo album.

As you can see this revolutionary invent will change our way of living making everything a lot easier.


Here you have the genius behind this developing, Mr. Mistry:





Carolina

Week 7: 2012, myths and legends

Carolina

Marisol
 According to Maya’s calendar, the end of earth: 2012

The end of earth: the 23rd of December 2012. Some pessimistic even took advantages of the initial confusion about the closeness of the asteroid 2004MN4 the same year, to make it believable.

The Mayas developed a sophisticated mathematician system on base 20, and they even understood the zero (0) concept. They were very interested about the nature cycles and the universe, they were great astronomies and their way to seize time was not related to the moon cycles nor to the seasons; in fact was it synchronized with the sun year. Apparently they were conscious of the discrepancy that exists, but on the contrary of the Mediterranean civilizations they didn’t try to correct it.

After the Spanish invasion in the XVI century the Mayas calendar was not used anymore until the decade of 1990 when archeologists achieved to reconstruct it despite some divergences between the experts. In that moment it was thought to have three Maya’s calendar: the TZOLKIN used for religious proposes (divided in 20 periods of 13 days), the HAAB used for civil proposes (divided in 18 periods of 20 days each, plus 5 extra days for ending the prayers, all equals 365 days) and finally the well known as “Long count” that simply counts the days since a date of beginning. The experts believe that date is the 13^th of August of 3114 b.C, but there are arguments between them about this.

Whenever the date is ¿Why is it this one and not another one? Nobody knows. The only thing that seems clear is that the reference time is before at least 1.200 years of the first evidence of Maya’s culture and 3.000 years before any kind of calendar system was invented. It is believed that the way they used to count the days (that was divided in 5 parts) wasn’t flexible, it was banned to 1.872 millions of days and so taking into account the initial date, this calendar will attempt its end by the 23^rd of December 2012.

This point is where every kind of predictions comes from. What people ignore is that Mayas had a universe adscript to daily cycles, moon cycles, season cycles and sun cycles. Thus, it has lot of sense to think that this “Long count” calendar, similar to others (like the Chinese), is itself cyclical. There is no evidence that the Mayas associated the end of the calendar with the end of the time, and  nobody would think that the initial date was the day everything was created. So, it is apprehensible to think that time for Mayas is a cycle. In conclusion, the end of the world is not in 2012, it is just a misinterpretation of the Maya's calendar which if we are right would start over again.

Según Calendario Maya, Fin del Mundo: 2012 - SPE

Laura

21st DECEMBER, 2012 - 31st DECEMBER, 999

A description of what happened at the end of year 999 is done in the book: “Doomsday 1999 A.D.”, written by Charles Berlitz. Some excerpts of the book are shown below:

“As the year 999 neared its end a sort of mass hysteria took hold of Europe. All forms of activity became affected by the specter of impending doom…Men forgave each other their debts, husbands and wives confessed suspected and unsuspected infidelities to each other and were mutually forgiven, poachers proclaimed their unlawful poachings to the lords of manors and then, although permitted by the nobles to continue their punishable actions, did not do so, demanding only forgiveness.

(…)

When December arrived mass psychosis and fanaticism appeared as well, springing from the dark side of human nature. Groups of flagellants roamed through the countryside, scourging each other and congregating in the market places of towns where they left trails of blood leading up to the doors of the churches. (…)There was a wave of suicides as people sought to punish themselves in advance of Doomsday or simply could not stand the pressure of waiting for Judgement Day.

(…)

When the Te Deum had been sung, men and women fell in each other's arms, laughing and crying and exchanging the kiss of peace. Thus ended the thousandth year after the birth of Christ." (From: http://www.billennium.com/html/main.cgi?sub=42)

There are many myths, stories and legends around December 2012, prophecies, some of them will be listed below.

1. December 2012 marks the end of a cycle of the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar, which has been associated with the Maya Civilization.
2. Nostradamus pointed the entry if the Age of Aquarius after 21st December 2012
3. Galactic alignment (John Major Jenkins)
4. Geomagnetic Reversal
5. Planet X or Nibiru
6. Web Bot Project

I did not specify what each theory says, however if you, reader, want to read more about the myths, legends and stories named, you can follow this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon

There is much advertising around 2012: Discovery and History Channel documentaries, a famous movie called: “2012”, web pages, books, articles…I do not think that the world will end in 2012, in fact, I will put here a part from Bible for Christians who believe in 2012 as the end: "However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.”(Mark 13:32).


So, if you want to forgive, to love, to be consistent with your beliefs, do it now, do not wait till 20th December 2012; I am almost sure, there will be a social problem that day, because of the mental weakness, and how easily is influence people with advertising, I hope that day to be as normal as other day, but surely, news, media, and other kind of publicity will impact people and it will not be a normal day, such as many “theories” say.

Week 6: Tortures

Marisol

TORTURE MECHANISMS.

THE RACK: The victim was tied –hands and feet- to the extremes and then he/she was pulled to opposite sides until the fore and back limbs were taken off of the body. It was mostly used in France and Germany during the inquisition.

THE MASHING HEADS:

It was designed to compress and smash human skulls. The chin of the victim was placed on the inferior supporter and a helmet placed on the head was pushed down by a screw. The effects caused by the use of this device are teeth, jaw and skull broken, making the brain to come out from the eyes cavity and pop out of the bone.

THE RAT’S TORTURE:

It was used during the inquisition but it is known from ancient China. It consist on placed a rat on the stomach of the victim, it was shut up in a cage with only one side open - the side that rest on the victim’s abdomen- while the executioner bothers the rat with sticks set on fire, leaving the rat with just one option to escape, through the intestines of the victims, the rat digs on the belly of the victim to find a way out.

THE IRON MAIDEN:

The iron maiden is a coffin where the victim stays sit while it is being closed. On the walls inside the coffin there are several sharp sticks pointing to the victim’s body so while the door is being closed the sharp elements are slowly introduced in the flesh of the person causing serious damage and indescribable pain. Also the sticks were removable so it gave to the executioner the chance to cause more harm in specific parts of the body.

WATER’S METHOD:

It consist on making the victim drink at least 10 litres of water at once causing him/her to feel like if he/she were drowning, even it could cause the stomach to explode. For this torture it was necessary the use of a funnel.

THE GOAT:

In this situation the victim is tided hand and feet, and the lasts are covered by salt or fatten. Then a goat is taken to that place and it is attracted by the salt or the fatten which it starts to lick, given its rough tongue the skin of the feet is removed leaving the flesh exposed and sometimes the bone.

THE WHEEL:

It was common in Germanic Europe, and it is one of the most horrendous types of torture. The victim is immobilized and place naked face up the floor; his/her limbs are stretch as much as they can and tied with wood or iron stakes. The executioner spanks hard to break bones and joints avoiding causing fatal injuries. Then the victim is hanged up on a wheel at the top of a post where wild animals can tear up pieces of skin and flesh until the person is death.

JUDA’S WEDGE:

The accused is hanged up over a wedge and then he/she is dropped down so the weight makes the edge of the pyramid to insert itself in the anus, vagina or scrotum of the victim. 

Laura

Chinese Torture

Chinese Torture: As painful as the human body can resist.

Chinese Water Torture

It is popular torture in which water is dripped onto a person’s forehead, one gout falls down each certain time interval unknown and variable. There is no evidence that this torture was used by Chinese, however, the name is attributed to Harry Houdini (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Houdini#The_Chinese_Water_Torture_Cell) a Hungarian-American escapologist, who created the predicament escape: Chinese Water Torture Cell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Water_Torture_Cell). The torture was done as is presented below:

Victim was strapped down with the purpose they could not move. Then after, water was dripped down slowly, on to a small area of the forehead, so, the victim was able to see the gout falling down constantly.

MythBusters, a series of Discovery Channel made a study about the Chinese Water Torture, finding that it is very stressful if the victim is not able to move, and if cold water is used, the key part of the torture (And therefore the worst) is that the time interval is not constant, it means, one gout can fall down, and the next one can take 1 second, 2 seconds, 1 minute…The victim does not know when the next one will fall down. Next video is a part of the episode.

Ball torture

It is a psychological torture which is done as is described below: The victim is fixed in a wall (It could be with ropes, or worst, with nails), and a small ball on a rope from the roof to the victim’s head is hitting the victim all the time. After months or years, maybe, the victim’s brain was reached and the victim died.
Bamboo under fingernails

Long and thin pieces of bamboo were inserted beneath the fingernails of the victim. The victimizer put the piece until the cuticle and moved the piece, if the victimizer did not obtain the information, another finger was tortured. It is shown in the image below.

Water Dungeons

Victim has to pass though many days of darkness immersed in chest deep water. Usually the water was dirty. Image below is a shown.

More tortures can be found here: http://www.francesfarmersrevenge.com/stuff/archive/torture/chinese.htm

Carolina

Week 5: Religion and God

Laura

RELIGIOUS WAR

What I will say below represents my personal opinion.

I was starting this post and the first thing I did was to make an exact translation from Spanish to English of “Guerra Santa” which is “Holy War” but when I did it, I found that it is not right; the equivalent name is “RELIGIOUS WAR”. It could be not important for most of people; there are many differences between a language and another one; however it is very important for me, because I think the difference between “holy” and “religious” is similar to the difference between GOD and RELIGION.

GOD is a hide explanation of  beauty and of perfection in world, is the reason of nature, the reason of creation and evolution, but It is not observable, it is the way given by the human imagination for finding an answer to questions like: Where did we come from?, Who created us? Second Thermodynamics Law implies that Universe is constantly losing energy, which allows admit that Universe is not eternal, it has a beginning, the moment when entropy was zero…But who or what was the author of that moment? It is GOD.

And…What about religion? Religion could be understood as a cultural way that points a guide for living, a set of practices and beliefs around what is considered Sacred or Divine. Religions in the world have power and influences for controlling the moral and life of billions of people.  

Be careful! You can believe in God, without bellowing to any religion, you can follow certain doctrines but you have to be clear that GOD and RELIGION are not the same, it is your choice.  

In a fast way I will write something about what is Religious War. Religious war is a war justified by religious differences between two or more different religions, or between two or more sects from a same religion. The most famous Religious War is The Crusades which happened in Medieval England between Muslims of the Middle East and Christians; the reason: Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the place where Jesus was born, spent most of His life and was crucified, because of what Jerusalem is the most important place for Christians called “City of God”, on the other hand, Muslims has Jerusalem as Holy Land because Muhammad was there. In conclusion, recaptured Jerusalem was the cause which justified Crusades.  There are other examples of Religious War like French Wars of Religion, Thirty Years War, Milhemet Mitzav.

More information can be found in: http://justsaynotoreligion.com/religious-wars/

Marisol

“¿ God or Matter?”  The scientific explanation of god’s existence.

Frequently scientists have argued, following Hawking, that the origin of the universe was the result of the Big Explosion. If it is to question about the origin of that explosion, it has been explained as a result of a previous explosion. Thus, the universe is the product of several explosions occurred over and over again while the universe expanded or contracted itself, then another universe came out (this is called “Accordion theory”). Nevertheless everything in our physical universe has a beginning, it means that something has had to cause it and the Universe is not an exception. There is an origin of the physical events beyond the finite world.

Aristotle explained that origin long time ago in ancient Greece; he called it “The first engine”.  In the natural world everything is changing constantly that happens because every object is power and act which means that when “a thing” is in power needs of something else to change its properties to act. In addition that “something else” that switches the properties of “The thing” has to be in act likewise; “A cold body warms up because of other body that is already warm, a thing moves because other thing pushes and gives it propelling force…but nothing can carry on the movements indefinitely, thus it must exist a first engine which transmit movement to all natural objects; this engine is not moved by anything else but itself that is why it is eternal, immutable and pure act” Aristotle identified this first engine with God. This prove of God’s existence is explained in Book VIII of Aristotle’s Physic and Book II of his Metaphysics, it is clearly an antecedent of “The prove for movement” founded by Thomas of Aquin.  

In addition to these philosophical assertions, physics, cosmology and specially the thermodynamic laws support the idea of God´s existence.  The universe exists and it’s real so it has to have a beginning, because the universe itself cannot be explained as its origin. The Universe is a contingent entity that has a cause of existence, as all things in the Universe; this is the law of cause and effect.  The law explains that any material effect must have a precedent adequate cause. The material effects without any cause adequate do not exist, plus the causes never happen after the event. It makes nonsense to talk about a cause that comes after the effect or an effect that comes before the cause. This is the reason why scientists say that any material effect has to have a cause adequate (the book didn’t fall down of the table because a fly stood on it that is not an adequate cause)

Three theories are to explain the origin of the Universe 1. The Universe is eternal, has ever existed and will exist forever. 2. The Universe is not eternal but it created itself out of nowhere. 3. The Universe is not eternal and it was creating by something (someone) outside. The three of these explanations deserve to be analyzed. 

Is the universe eternal? Modern science reckons that the Universe is not eternal, it has a beginning and it will have an end. This is proved by the thermodynamic laws, the first law (law of the conservation of energy and matter) says that no matter neither energy can be created or destroy. The second law (law of increased entropy) states that everything is constantly decaying this means that the use of energy is less and less available. The entropy (a measure of causality, disorder or disproportion) is growing of course this means that at some point the universe will destroy itself. The second law points out 1. A beginning: the time when the universe had all the energy available to use, 2. An end: in the future when the energy won’t be available again and the universe will be destroyed. In other words the universe is like a big clock which has been wind up, but soon it will be used up. In conclusion the universe is not eternal because eternal entities have nor a begging neither an end, they do not decay either.

Did the universe come out of nothing? Any material object can’t be created by itself. The universe is the creation not the creator. Supposing that something comes out from nothing is contradictory with the first thermodynamic law.

Was the universe created by someone? The universe is an effect that is why it has to have a cause that must have existed before the universe, be superior of it and have different nature.  Furthermore if there would be a time when nothing existed at all, nothing would have existed ever, since nothing can create anything.  Consequently there had to exist something before everything was created, something that has existed forever.

In conclusion everything that exists is matter or mind, things exist now so something has to be eternal, and in conclusion matter or mind is eternal.  Matter is not eternal, it was proved previously then the mind is eternal.  Moreover matter is contingency it means that depends on something while mind is not contingency or independent, thus universe is contingent and its cause is independent, and so eternal. 

Week 4: Beauty

Laura

GOLDEN RATIO AND MUSIC

‎"Music is a secret exercise in arithmetic of the soul, unaware of its act of counting." --Gottfried Leibniz, philosopher and mathematician.

Is beauty subjective or objective? Is it on the eye of the beholder or is it an absolute truth? There are many ideas around those questions, and the conclusion seems to be the same always: It can work both ways.  An example for each one is shown below. First, subjective, subjectivity can be defined in many ways, however it can be simplified as “in the mind of a subject” so a typical example is that to get that many people agree about aesthetic judgments, is an impossible task; second, objective, objectivity also can be defined of many ways, but it will be defined as "inherent to the object" here. As an example “Caño Cristales” ubicated in Colombia will be used, as it is shown in the image below, its beauty is inherent to itself, it is called the river of 5 colors, and is one of the most beautiful natural places in the world. But... Is there any mathematical way to measure the beauty? And the answer is definitely YES. There is a universal ratio called, “The Golden Ratio”, as Tomas de Aquino said: “Senses are delighted in things with the due proportion”. Scientists agree than a beautiful body has the golden ratio present in many parts, such as Da Vinci showed in The Vitruvian Man. 

On the other hand, music has been an important way of enjoying since many centuries ago. Music is a point where art, science, mathematics, and letters are found; and as it should be guessed a beautiful melody must have the correct proportions, and this is the point where the Golden Ratio enters. But, what is the “Golden Ratio” or “Divine Proportion”?  The golden ratio is an irrational mathematical constant, approximately 1.6180339887; it is found many times in nature, architecture, films, music, etc., as an expression of beauty. Also there is a sequence called FIBONACCI that is shown below, and is closely related to the divine proportion.

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 88, 144… 

Each number is the sum of the two before, and the relation between a number and the below is each time closer to the golden ratio.  So Fibonacci is a shown of beauty, an objective beauty measured with the golden ratio, or phi.

Many famous composers used Golden Ratio or Fibonacci sequence in their works, however it is not known if it was conscious or not, but there is a classical example: Bartók in his work “Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta” where the rhythm of the xylophone solo opens the third movement based on the Fibonacci  Squence using the rhythm with sequence 1:2:3:5:8:5:3:2:1. He assigned a number to each note 

• DO   1
• RE    2
• MIb  3 
• FA    5
• LAb  8

And there are much more evidence: The fugue is done in 89 compasses, and there is a change in the compass 55. A strange representation of this theme is presented in the image below. 

Finally next video shows an amazing modern composition inspired on Fibonacci sequence.

More information:

http://www.educacion.es/exterior/ad/es/publicaciones/Aula_Abierta2_Musica.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_for_Strings,_Percussion_and_Celesta

http://www.intmath.com/Numbers/mathOfBeauty.php

http://theblog.philosophytalk.org/2006/08/its_often_argue.html

http://theblog.philosophytalk.org/2005/03/beauty_and_subj.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number

Marisol

BEAUTY - SKIN

The skin is the part of the body that needs more care. Remember that a healthy skin means a nice one. Skin is a main part of a women’s beauty, that’s why we should take care of it in order to look pretty and young.

To eliminate blotches, patches, spots or blemishes apply a little bit of eye drops every 10 minutes during an hour.

If the blemishes are brown, lemon is the solution. You can apply lemon juice two or three times a day, BUT BE CAREFUL because if you expose the area to the sun, the blotches will get worse. Also you can apply lemon juice with a cotton ball just at night, and wash your face with cold water in the morning. Lemon is used as well to white freckles. A more elaborated trick to fight against patches in your face is to dice onion and left them into lemon juice for ten minutes, then take the remaining liquid and apply it on the spots leaving it for fifteen minutes.

¿do you want your face free of black spots? That is as easy as wash you face! To eliminate those horrible black spots just clean you face with a solution of warm water with an aspirin dissolved inside.

Exfoliate your body is easier than you think! Add a soup spoon of sugar into your cosmetic cream and rub it on your skin making little circles, doing so you will eliminate death skin. Salt has the same effect, but in that case the mixture is elaborated with thick salt, olive oil and rosemary.  This last mixture will clean and purify your skin, but it only can be used in your body, because the salt can damage your face.

Plants and fruits are also useful for caring your skin. Open a leave of aloe vera, put it on your skin and leave it. Doing so you will end up with irritations and sun burnt. In case you have dry skin take mangos peel and pass it backwards on your skin, if you rinse the peel before passing you will get a very smooth skin texture.

If you have stretch marks keep in mind that they are very difficult to eliminate, but here I will tell you two homemade creams that can reduced them. 1. Take the peel of five purple beetroot, peel of five peaches and a carrot core. Blend them altogether and apply them on white stretch marks. 2. Apply almond oil after having a shower or aloe vera gel before going to sleep. 

Remember to consume the amount of vitamins recommendable.

Carolina

Week 3: Emergency Situations

Carolina

Laura

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO PREPARE FOR AN EARTHQUAKE?

BEFORE…

• In case you have shelves, make sure, they are fastened to the walls.
• Put heavy objects lower in shelves, they could fall down.
• Breakable objects must be in closed cabinets, lower in shelves, such as poisons as pesticides or herbicides.
• Hang objects like pictures or mirrors away from beds or anywhere people sit.
• Identify safe places in each room (What are safe places? Away from glass, under strong furniture, against inside walls)
• Identify safe places outdoor (away from buildings, bridges, trees, electrical lines, etc.)
• Make sure, constantly, about the good conditions of electrical an gas connections, repair them if needed. During the earthquake, if possible, turn off them.
• Have a disaster Kit, it must include at least a flashlight, batteries, battery operate radio, emergency food, drinking water, cash, sturdy shoes, whistle and a compass.
• Make an agreement with your family for select a meeting point, sure.
• Provide a place for your pets.

DURING…

• If you are indoor

Take cover, away form glass that might break, against an indoor wall or beneath a sturdy furniture.
Don’t try to leave! It is the worst thing can be done during an earthquake.

• If you are outdoor

Move away form buildings, bridges, trees, electrical lines. Stay there until the earthquake ends. If there are not empty places closet o you, look for the porch of a nearby house.

• If you are at the cinema, theater, or somewhere like that

Stay calm. If you have not an exit near, snuggle up next to the chair.

• If you are in a moving vehicle

Don’t stop the vehicle next to buildings or over a bridge. Search an empty land. If it is posible, go out the vehicle in an empty place, without buildings, electric lines, trees, etc., near.

AFTER…

• Turn off electrical, gas and water connections.
• Avoid or vacate dangerous areas.
• Make an human inventory.
• Make a rational use of communications.
• If you are trapped. Save your energy, you will need that, until you are rescue; try to cover your nose and mouth with a handkerchief; make a sonorous signal, periodically; control your breath with a soft, slow, and sustained rhythm. In an extreme case, you have to control your dehydration by drinking your own urine.
• Be care if you drive after an earthquake, think about other people.
• Be care if you drink water from the pipeline, that could be contaminated.
• There could be gas leaks, so do not switch on electrical connections, matches or candles.
• Be care with the information flow. Do not spread rumors.
• Put your pets in the place provided for them, they need you.
• Be patient and stay calm.
• Use gloves, and masks, do not touch corpses.

Marisol

How to act in home accidents?

At home there are many places where little kids can get injured: the most dangerous rooms are the bathroom and the kitchen. This guide will help you to know what to do and how to keep calm due this circumstances.

Kitchen is the place at home where the most of the accidents occurred, followed by the bathroom. That is why young children cannot remain alone anytime. The main idea is to prevent and prepare everything at home to be saved against child’s curiosity. Nevertheless, there is always a chance of a mishap that is why it is necessary to know how to behave in these situations and take the better choice.

Be careful with doors and windows:

There are lots of elements that can be insecure for your children, even more when babies start to crawl and discover everything around.  If in spite of your precautionary measures your child gets hurt, pay attention to the advices below:

If your child happens to grippe his/her fingers with a door and these are turning purple: you should wrap some ice into a cloth and place it in the affected area. If you doubt about if there is a fracture, please consult the pediatrician.

If the child hits his/her head, faints or his/her head becomes swell up: in case of lost of consciousness you should not make the kid to be in motion.  Take him/her to the closest emergency centre or call for an ambulance.

If your child takes a butt and burned his/her fingers: in case of any kind of burnt injured you should put something cold in the affected area. If the wound is deep and blisters appear, cover them with lint, and then consult a specialist.

Backyard and kitchen:

 Kitchen is the place where the most common home accidents occurred, precisely because there are too many elements that are risky. In case of any accident follow the instructions below:

If your child takes a knife or some scissors and cuts him/her self:  wash the area with running water, dry with a clean towel and press strongly. In case the bleeding does not cease, keep the compression with the towel and go to the closest medical centre.

If the child manipulates the washing machine and his/her fingers get jammed: put compressions on the area with cold water and remember if you suspect there is a fracture, please consult the specialist.

If the child is bit by a dog, cat or other animal: Clean the wound with abundant water. Depending on the animal that bit him/her (the family’s one or a stranger) the kid has to get vaccinated against rabies.  In any case, the child has to be taken to the hospital.

In the bathroom:

The bathroom is the second most dangerous place for young children, the main causes of accidents in this room are the huge amounts of water managed there and other elements that can be hurtful.  In case of accident please followed the instructions below:

If the child falls down into the WC with his/her head in and his/her foot hanging out: the best thing to do here is prevention. It is not recommendable to leave children alone in places where they can find stagnant water, because it is just necessary 10 centimeters of depth for a child to be drowned. The recommendation here aims for avoiding left the kids alone in places like baths, toilets, swimming pools, water buckets and elements with the same characteristics.  In case an accident like these happens the kid must be taken out of the water and stimulated by touch, then disposed him/her face down on the floor and press hard between his/her shoulder blades intermittently.

The same procedure is done if the child swallows any strange element (even solid). If the color of the kid and the heart rate do not seem to be recovered, you must consult an emergency centre immediately.  If he/she does not respire or his/her pulse is weak, you must begin with resuscitation, do not leave the child alone until emergency services arrives.

Remember to always keep calm, inform yourself about resuscitation and first aid, it is better to be prepared.  If faced with any doubt please consult a doctor.