I never thought of doing that. I’m afraid of heights; well, I was. When I was a child I didn’t like rides at all. Rides in a park, you know, like a roller coaster with loops and heavy height. Actually, I was afraid of any height, even walking around a soft hill or a not excessively high roof.
But one day, in my 21st birthday, my friends made me a joke and —with a blindfold over my eyes— got me on a plane. I still don’t know what happened, perhaps the panic or the effect of 13.000 feet in my brain. Anyhow, something changed in my mind and I jumped there —beyond my instructor! I enjoyed every second of the free fall. It was a magical feeling of flying like a bird. When I reached the ground I wanted to do again. I became an addict.
Since then, I needed to jump more and more often. But jumping is so expensive that I decided to join the skydiving academy and became a parachute instructor. After twice advanced training courses I got a job in the same place where I had jumped the first time. Do you want me to be your instructor?
dimarts, 23 d’agost del 2016
dimecres, 3 d’agost del 2016
Berlin on bike
I’ve been in Berlin recently. It was a great trip, because I love modern History and I could visit several places related to the World War II and the Cold War.
Berlin is a huge capitol; the city centre, which is called Berlin-Mitte, is enormous. It’s almost as big as the whole city of Barcelona. For this reason, we hired a bike. And it was a great idea. Berlin is totally adapted to the bike as an urban mobility; there are lots of cycle lanes, and many people move by bike.
Using bike let us move around the city on our own. When we got a highlight, we stopped and locked the bike. And of course, we had a much more better view of the urban reality that if we would have moved by metro.
We also visited Wannsee and Potsdam. To this purpose, we got the train from Alexanderplatz. In Wannsee we visited a villa where in 1942 took place a meeting between Reinhard Heydrich, Adolf Eichmann and other Third Reich authorities to perpetrate the Final Solution to the "Jewish Question", the plan for the extermination of the European Jews. Today, the building serves as a memorial and education centre.
In Potsdam, we hired a bike again to visit the great Prussian palaces. Potsdam is a really-beauty city full of history, woods and amazing lakes. I had the opportunity of taking a bath in the Heiliger Lake, and the water was less cold than I imagined… We found a genuine ‘biertgarten’ (literally ‘a beer garden’), that is an outdoor area in which beer and local food are served. It was a great change to taste the German food far away of the touristic circuits.
To sum up, Germany is a nice place to visit, with great landscapes and plenty of History and kind people.
Berlin is a huge capitol; the city centre, which is called Berlin-Mitte, is enormous. It’s almost as big as the whole city of Barcelona. For this reason, we hired a bike. And it was a great idea. Berlin is totally adapted to the bike as an urban mobility; there are lots of cycle lanes, and many people move by bike.
Using bike let us move around the city on our own. When we got a highlight, we stopped and locked the bike. And of course, we had a much more better view of the urban reality that if we would have moved by metro.
We also visited Wannsee and Potsdam. To this purpose, we got the train from Alexanderplatz. In Wannsee we visited a villa where in 1942 took place a meeting between Reinhard Heydrich, Adolf Eichmann and other Third Reich authorities to perpetrate the Final Solution to the "Jewish Question", the plan for the extermination of the European Jews. Today, the building serves as a memorial and education centre.
In Potsdam, we hired a bike again to visit the great Prussian palaces. Potsdam is a really-beauty city full of history, woods and amazing lakes. I had the opportunity of taking a bath in the Heiliger Lake, and the water was less cold than I imagined… We found a genuine ‘biertgarten’ (literally ‘a beer garden’), that is an outdoor area in which beer and local food are served. It was a great change to taste the German food far away of the touristic circuits.
To sum up, Germany is a nice place to visit, with great landscapes and plenty of History and kind people.
dilluns, 1 d’agost del 2016
Baix Ebre Research Awards
Eleven years ago, the president of the Consell Comarcal del Baix Ebre, put in his budget two awards for the best high school students research work in our region: one for the humanistic work and the other for the science and technology work.
In this time, I thought it was a silly decision but it has continued during these years.
The second year, he gave a name for the prizes: the humanistic work was Federico Pastor Award and the science and technology work was Pare Romanyà Award.
Four years ago, the president at this moment decided to change of the format prizes and introduced one presentation of the work as a part of the final score and this is very interesting to hear the research works and the ability of the students to defend them.
While the jury deliberates, we can enjoyed a small performance of music.
For a lot for years I was a member of High School Joaquin Bau AMPA and I went to the awards presentation and I enjoyed it a lot.
This year I returned because one of my friend’s daughters was one of the finalists and it was fantastic to see young people defending their work and I could to learn a lot of things about different finalist themes.
This is an open act and normally only parents and teachers go but I recommend it to everybody.
I recognise that eleven years ago I was wrong in judging the decision of the president!!!
And now, who were these people who were named awards?
Antonio Romanà Pujó was born in Barcelona on 21st March 1900. After his college studies, he entered the Society of Jesus in Gandia, in 1917. Simultaneously to his ecclesiastical studies with the Bachelor of Sciences in Barcelona, which ended with an extraordinary award and obtaining the same score with his doctoral thesis "Criteria existence of closed orbits?".
He was professor of mathematics and astronomy. After an internship at the observatory at the University of Vienna he joined the Observatorio del Ebro where he was appointed head of the sections of Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity and land. After the Spanish Civil War he was the director.
Despite the hardships of war, he undertook the task of repair, recovery and calibration of stolen and damaged instruments as well as the reconstruction of the pavilions.
Spain was expelled at the end of the Second World War from international agencies of astronomy and geophysics and in 1946 he undertook negotiations to stabilise the presence of Spain as a member of it.
In October 1970, having turned 70 years old, asked to be relieved of the post of director of the Observatory, but he continued to work in the same place as honorary director until an illness made him retired. He died on October 13th, 1981.
Federico Pastor Lluís, (Tortosa, 03.31.1846 - 04.19.1923) was a writer and historian.
He studied his primary and high schools in Tortosa. It would have studied medicine in Valencia, although it seems that did not finish the career. It was chronicler of the Secció Excursionista de l’Orfeó Tortosí, honorary member of the Ateneu de Tortosa, favourite son of the city (1911) and was director of the Museu Arxiu Municipal for several years.
He was a correspondent of Las Provincias and was a correspondent member of the Ateneo de la Juventud Valenciana and the cultural society Lo Rat Penat. He was also managing partner of Centre Excursionista de Catalunya, corresponding member of Real Academia de las Buenas Letras de Barcelona and the corresponding of Real Academia de la Historia de Madrid.
His most famous work is Narraciones tortosinas (Tortosa, 1901) a collection of articles and biographies of historical people of Tortosa that during the first decades that appeared in the local press -specifically Tortosa Illustrated magazine, from 1899 with a letter-prologue by Felip Pedrell
The historical or biographical articles are scattered in local publications: Libertad, Diario de Tortosa, Tortosa Ilustrada, El Eco de la Fusion, La Zuda, El Restaurador or other like Bulletin of the Society of Castellonense Culture.
http://www.baixebre.cat/actualitat/noticies/dos-alumnes-de-linstitut-joaquin-bau-de-tortosa-guanyen-els-xi-premis-de-recerca
Tere, 1st August 2016
In this time, I thought it was a silly decision but it has continued during these years.
The second year, he gave a name for the prizes: the humanistic work was Federico Pastor Award and the science and technology work was Pare Romanyà Award.
Four years ago, the president at this moment decided to change of the format prizes and introduced one presentation of the work as a part of the final score and this is very interesting to hear the research works and the ability of the students to defend them.
While the jury deliberates, we can enjoyed a small performance of music.
For a lot for years I was a member of High School Joaquin Bau AMPA and I went to the awards presentation and I enjoyed it a lot.
This year I returned because one of my friend’s daughters was one of the finalists and it was fantastic to see young people defending their work and I could to learn a lot of things about different finalist themes.
This is an open act and normally only parents and teachers go but I recommend it to everybody.
I recognise that eleven years ago I was wrong in judging the decision of the president!!!
And now, who were these people who were named awards?
Antonio Romanà Pujó was born in Barcelona on 21st March 1900. After his college studies, he entered the Society of Jesus in Gandia, in 1917. Simultaneously to his ecclesiastical studies with the Bachelor of Sciences in Barcelona, which ended with an extraordinary award and obtaining the same score with his doctoral thesis "Criteria existence of closed orbits?".
He was professor of mathematics and astronomy. After an internship at the observatory at the University of Vienna he joined the Observatorio del Ebro where he was appointed head of the sections of Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity and land. After the Spanish Civil War he was the director.
Despite the hardships of war, he undertook the task of repair, recovery and calibration of stolen and damaged instruments as well as the reconstruction of the pavilions.
Spain was expelled at the end of the Second World War from international agencies of astronomy and geophysics and in 1946 he undertook negotiations to stabilise the presence of Spain as a member of it.
In October 1970, having turned 70 years old, asked to be relieved of the post of director of the Observatory, but he continued to work in the same place as honorary director until an illness made him retired. He died on October 13th, 1981.
Federico Pastor Lluís, (Tortosa, 03.31.1846 - 04.19.1923) was a writer and historian.
He studied his primary and high schools in Tortosa. It would have studied medicine in Valencia, although it seems that did not finish the career. It was chronicler of the Secció Excursionista de l’Orfeó Tortosí, honorary member of the Ateneu de Tortosa, favourite son of the city (1911) and was director of the Museu Arxiu Municipal for several years.
He was a correspondent of Las Provincias and was a correspondent member of the Ateneo de la Juventud Valenciana and the cultural society Lo Rat Penat. He was also managing partner of Centre Excursionista de Catalunya, corresponding member of Real Academia de las Buenas Letras de Barcelona and the corresponding of Real Academia de la Historia de Madrid.
His most famous work is Narraciones tortosinas (Tortosa, 1901) a collection of articles and biographies of historical people of Tortosa that during the first decades that appeared in the local press -specifically Tortosa Illustrated magazine, from 1899 with a letter-prologue by Felip Pedrell
The historical or biographical articles are scattered in local publications: Libertad, Diario de Tortosa, Tortosa Ilustrada, El Eco de la Fusion, La Zuda, El Restaurador or other like Bulletin of the Society of Castellonense Culture.
http://www.baixebre.cat/actualitat/noticies/dos-alumnes-de-linstitut-joaquin-bau-de-tortosa-guanyen-els-xi-premis-de-recerca
Tere, 1st August 2016
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