House fires.

Since humans discovered the fire (about 500.000 years ago), accidents and problems with it started. Actually some of the most deadliest events happened in houses are directly or inderecty related to flames. Let's see the most common fire causes and how to prevent / extinguish it.

Cooking fires. 

The 44% of fires start in the kitchen, when flames from the stove set fire to oil in the fryingpan. Then, these flames can burn down the kitchen furniture, producing toxic gases and finally burning your house. What can you do if a fryingpan starts to burn? Look what to do and what not:

BAD:

GOOD:

1.- Turn off the gas / heat.

2.- Wet a cloth in the sink.

3.- Wring the cloth, removing the surplus of water.

4.- Spread out the cloth on the fryingpan. The fire will fade in a few seconds.

VERY IMPORTANT: DO NOT MOVE THE FRYING PAN, BECAUSE BURNING OIL CAN SPLASH YOU.

Electric fires.

Electric fires usually start when you connect a lot of electrical appliances to the same socket (left). In these cases an electric overload happens; and then the powerstrip starts to burn.

Don't try to put out these kind of fires, because you need a special extinguisher. Simply do not connect too much plugs to the same socket or powerstrip.

Gas heaters and fire places.

If you don't take care, heaters and fireplaces can be very dangerous, because they can set fire to curtains, clothing or furniture, even from distance. The best advise:

DO NOT SET ANY FLAMMABLE ITEM NEXT TO FIRE. KEEP A SAFETY DISTANCE.

Sugar.

Sugar is a natural product which can be found in fruits and vegetables. Thus, when you're eating apples, strawberries or cherries, you're eating sugar; a healthy and natural sugar.

The problem appears when humans take plants with a high sugar content (like beet or sugar cane, see below) and transform them into industrial sugar. This sugar isn't natural, and damages your health.





The photo on the left shows a sugar factory. There, by means of chemical processes (addition of phosporic acid, calcium hydroxide or calcium phospate), the sugar that you eat in everyday meals is produced. This sugar is unhealthy, and produces a great series of illnesses.




Here I refer you the five most common illnesses related to sugar consumption:

1. Obesity: the direct consequence of eating too much sugar. Your weigh increases, and you get fat. Obestity results in many other problems, mainly in relation with heart and circulatory system. Scientists asseverate that overweight people die much before than not overweight persons. 
2. Hypertension: it's when your blood makes too much strenght against your veins. Sugar increases your blood pressure, and can produce strokes and heart attacks.
3. Diabetes: sugar is processed thanks to insuline, a liquid produced by pancreas. When you take too much sugar during too much years, your pancreas finally crash down, stopping the insuline production. Then, sugar cannot be processed, and it starts to attack your internal organs: eyes are blinded; rash appears on skin; your kidneys stop working; and your hearing decreases. Extreme and non controlled sugar levels in your blood can also produce sudden death.
4. Tooth decay: sugar ruins your teeth, difficulting food chewing and digestion.
5. Cancer: recent studies show that there is a relation between high sugar consumption and cancer.

So, please: next time you take a dognut, some sweets, a lollypop or anything else, please, before eating up it, read the label and remember what I have told you.

Bullying.

Bullying is something very old, as old as humans are. It consists in to harass to somebody systematically without any specific purpose. Why bullies harass you? Here I point the most common causes:

• You wear glasses.
• You aren't popular.
• You are over or underweight.
• You are of a different race, country or religion.
• You are from a different socioeconomic background.
• You are gay or lesbian.
• You have a disability.
• You are different.

NOTE: You could check that all the causes are stupid; as stupid as bullying is.

When you are bullied, how do you feel?

Emotions are varied. Bullied students usually feel alone, isolated, threatened, insecure... They also feel some psycological dysfunctions, like anxety, stress or depression. In extreme cases, the bullied person can commit suicide.

Why do some children bully?

This is a more complex matter. The bully child is a kind of psycho who cannot put himself in the place of the bullied person. It is a sick mind, somebody unable to feel empathy, affection or sympathy. Bullies usually come from problematic families. Many times their agressive and cruel behaviour hides a lack of emotion, familiar mistreatment or personal suffering. But this is not a excuse. He / she is doing wrong, and we must stop her / him in any case.

How to stop bullying?

There are two positions: how to stop bullying when you are being bullied and how to stop bullying when you are a spectator.

• When you are being bullied... Don't be silent. Tell the problem to your family, friends and teachers. They want to help you against your enemy, and they will help you defeating him. If you keep silent, the bully will keep bullying you, each day a bit more. Remember: the bully will never stop if you don't stop him / her. How much time could you put up with it?

• When you are a spectator... Don't look aside. Don't be coward. Don't permit injustice. Don't permit suffering. Help your friend if she / he is being bullied. Tomorrow you may could be the bullied person and then... would you like to be alone and isolated, without anybody on your side?

Conclusion.

 I know that this is a very complicated topic. And I also know that it is very easy to say what to do, but difficult to do it. I tell you: "don't be scared; be brave; report the bully; protect your friends against the bully". But we really know that out of the school the bully is waiting for you, may in the park, may in the library, perhaps in a dark corner at the playground, waiting for the moment in which you have no protection.  The last choice it's yours: you can be weak or strong; you can hide yourself or face your enemy; you can be lamb, prey of wolves; or mastiff, warden of the herd. What do you want to be?