Summary: The key to success? Grit

http://www.ted.com/playlists/158/graduation_now_what

Angela Lee Duckworth left a very demanded job for a more demanding job: Teaching. So she teached maths to seventh graders, then she realized that some of the smartest students weren't doing well and some of the best performers didn't have the highest IQ. After several years of teaching Angela realized that they need a much better understanding of students and teachers and if we do well in studies and in life it depends on much more than IQ. 

Then Angela became a psychologist and in every study she asked herself the same question: Who is successful here and why?.After studying many situations one characterisitic emerged as a significant predictor of success: grit.

Grit is the perseverance to achieve long-term goals. Grit matters in everything, so school isn't a exception because according to a study she made, gritter students are more likely to graduate.

The problem is that nowadays we still don't know how to build grit. We know that talent doesn't make us gritty. Angela things that the best way to build grit in kids (so far) is "growth mindset" which means that the ability to learn isn't fixed that it can change with effort. So basically, she means that the key to success is being gritty and we can achieve it with effort.

News: Anonymous declares war on ISIS

Link: http://nypost.com/2015/11/16/anonymous-declares-war-on-isis/ 

French hackers from the activist group Anonymous have declared war on the so-called Islamic State after the Paris attacks.

In a video posted on YouTube, a representative wearing a hood and the group's distinctive Guy Fawkes mask said the violence that left 129 people dead can't go unpunished. The statement said, “That's why Anonymous activists from all over the world will hunt you down.

Anonymous threatened "Yes, you the vermin, who kill innocent victims. We will hunt you down like we did to those who carried out the attacks on Charlie Hebdo."

So get ready for a massive reaction from Anonymous. Know that we will find you and we will never let up. We are going to launch the biggest ever operation against you. Expect very many cyber-attacks. War is declared. Prepare yourselves.

Finally, they declared "The French people are stronger than you and will come out of this atrocity even stronger.”

In my opinion, due to the cyber world we live in, Anonymous may be important on fighting the terrorist war, actually since today the have hacked many social media accounts from the Islamic state.

News: Charlie Sheen Says He Has H.I.V. and Has Paid Millions to Keep It Secret

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/18/business/charlie-sheen-hiv-positive.html

Hollywood actor Charlie Sheen has revealed in a TV interview with NBC that he is HIV positive. Sheen said he learned about the diagnosis four years ago but said it was “a hard three letters to absorb”.

The 50 year-old actor rose to fame in Hollywood in the 1980s but is best known for his portrayal of Charlie Harper on U.S. comedy series "Two and a Half Men”. This role made him the highest paid actor on TV until he was fired in 2011 for debaucherous behaviour. 

Asked on NBC whether he had transmitted HIV to anyone, the actor said it was "impossible," although he admitted that he was "not entirely" aware of how he contracted the virus.

Sheen has struggled with drug addiction in the past and has admitted to sleeping with prostitutes. His doctor told the programme that Sheen does not have AIDS. The actor claimed that people who knew his HIV-positive status had extorted money from him to keep it secret. He said it cost him millions.

He proclaimed he would stop paying people now that his HIV status was public saying, "I release myself from this prison today." Media speculation has been rife for weeks about the star's health. Sheen said he decided to go public with the personal news to put a stop to what he described as very harmful stories that were threatening the health of so many others. 

In my opinion, It's kinda shocking that Charlie has HIV and he paid to keep it secret. Because it is his problem and if he didn't want to make it public, he wouldn't have to pay for it. The lost of privacy is a thing that produces a hopeless feeling on me.

Your say: Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols

Never Mind the Bollocks was the first and only studio album by the punk band Sex Pistols. The album was released in the UK on October 28, 1977 by Virgin Records label immediately causing controversy over the inclusion of the word "Bollocks" in the title. This pretentious album is considered the wildest LP that rock 'n' roll had since then, the album has 12 very direct songs, with a very minimalistic sound,  which is crowned with a very acidic lyrics and an overwhelming invasion of sharp guitars.

Sex Pistols The disc opens with "Holidays in the Sun," a powerful theme that begins with a military march as a sonic warning about that the invasion is a reality, the second cut, "Bodies" is critic to abortion, "No Feelings" and "Liar" are two very visceral and crushing sound issues that devastate consciences with his lyrics, very angry and honest. "Good Save the Queen" is a hymn of all time, a very ambitious track, which leads to the continuity of "Problems" and thereupon to the youth of "Seventeen" . Then we find "Anarchy in the UK", "Submission" and "Pretty Vacant", three very enveloping songs and above all very emaciated, devastating reality by the Western world and the hopelessness of his youth. In the end we come to "New York" and "EMI", two important controversial songs.

Finally, I recommend this album to everyone even if you don't like punk it's a classical LP, a must-hear and essential to understand the evolution of the genre thorughtout the decades. Never Mind the Bollocks marked a turning point in music of the 20th century.

Your say: Beauty and subjectivity

First of all, we got to define beauty as an abstract notion linked to many aspects of human existence. This is mainly studied by the philosophical discipline of aesthetics, but is also addressed by other disciplines such as history, sociology and social psychology. As a consequence beauty is commonly defined as the characteristic of a thing through a sensory experience, which seeks a feeling of pleasure or a feeling of satisfaction. Therefore, In this sense, the beauty comes from events such as the shape, the visual appearance, movement and sound, although it is associated, to a lesser extent, the tastes and smells.

As we all know, beauty is an abstract concept that arises from the appreciation of a given viewer, so what some individual considers "beautiful" may not be "beautiful" for another spectator, it is the view of the observer (influenced by the socio-cultural skills , ideological, environmental, etc.) from which beauty is determined. And it is subjective as opposed to objective, because it can't be measured or calculated.

In conclusion, that's why I think that beauty can be found in every corner of the world if one only knows how to find it, because it's based on a subjective opinion which differs from that of any other individual.

Your say: One flew over the cuckoo's nest.

To begin with, One flew over the cuckoo's nest is a classical drama film in which the foremost thing is onscreen battle between Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher which represents the culture wars of the 1970s and testament to the director's vision that the film retains its power more than three decades later.

Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), a man convicted of assault, and a free spirit who lives crosscurrent, is detained in a mental hospital. The center inflexible discipline emphasizes its contagious tendency to disorder, which eventually triggering a war between patients and clinic staff with cold and severe Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) to the head. The fate of every patient is at stake.

I loved how the Czech director, Milos Forman and Jack Nicholson addressed to the insanity as a concept, the dignity of the individual and the American Psychiatric complaint system. The movie's directing is great, the acting is outstanding, the script is captivating, and as a proof of that One flew over the cuckoo's nest is one of the few movies that gained the five main Oscars awards.

Finally, I recommend this movie to everyone, it's a must-watch classic which aged magnificently.

Mail about dreams

Hi Sonia,

I'm Michel Paris and this first time I'm writing this mail about my dreams and ambitions.

Dreams, everyone have dreams, some of them are easier to accomplish than others but in the end it doesn't even matter. Some things may be too complicated but all things are difficult before they are easy. However,  the important thing is to fight for them so they stop being dreams and they become reality. 

When I look to the future, I see my future self related to arts things and that's why I'm looking forward to study audiovisual communication. I'm not completely sure about what I want to be in the future, although a movie director or a videogames director sounds good to me. 

On the other hand I also like music and more or less It's been a year since the first piano class that I took. My goal is to be as good as Ray Manzarek from The doors or Jon Lord from Deep purple or even better! Nevertheless I know that's a very ambitious dream but Rome wasn't built in a day, and for me, giving up is not an option.

Finally I'd like to go to Japan, pass the advanced English test and I'd also like to take some Italian classes because I lived there when I was little. I'll carry on, everyday I'm a step closer to accomplish my dreams, so I'll keep swiming otherwise I'll be sinking like a stone. Therefore I'm sure that I can and I'll make them real.

Well, that's all I hope that now you know me a little better. 

See you in class.