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Showing posts from November, 2012

An armed truce

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  I have a few questions: Why do people fight? Why do countries fight? Why do we compete? Where does this need come from? What is it good for? There must be a reason! Maybe you don't have this problem.   But I sometimes do. Alex is a Spanish guy. Once, at a German lesson he said: Ich heiβe España. So I call him España since then.   He calls me names, he would bash we with a book.   I would accidentally hit him with my backpack.   I drew a picture of him on the blackboard. Not very flattering.   He makes it even worse, and puts my name on it.   He sits at our table at lunch, we exchange verbal abuse. Yesterday Alex lost his nerves and kicked me with all his strength to my shin. I saw stars in my vision. I reacted.   The teacher came and pulled us apart before we had a chance to see who wins (Teacher wins at school). We were punished. We had to copy a paragraph from Bible in French. I hated sitting next to Alex while copying the paragraph, having unfinished business

There is a particle accelerator under my house!

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Thats right! Or very close to being under my house. Damn it! A few kilometres away 100 metres underground there is a massive Particle Accelerator 24 kilometres in circumference (24km long) Science is amazing. That's what I think.   Some people think otherwise, and I respect that.   But for me, and any scientists reading this blog, science is fantastic. I am starting a 3-part series on CERN Laboratories. Why should you know about CERN? Not many people know this, but CERN was one of the prime founders of the World Wide Web.   Yep. CERN created the Internet. I'm sure you have all heard of a Particle Accelerator.   Before I learnt about CERN, I thought a particle accelerator is just used so you can make things go really fast.   It's not .  It's absolutely fascinating. They accelerate protons in a big loop, in opposite directions, and then smash them into each other! Millions of times a second! And those tiny very colourful explosions can tell them about dark matter, the Hig

Not knowing your prepositions gets you two of everything

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  Mondays are not bad. I have a lunch break that starts at 11:15am . This is too early for the school canteen, so we have this routine with my mum.   There is a lovely place in Nyon where you can shop or get food. My favourite shop sells snacks, pizza, sandwiches and baguettes . I know what you are thinking, and it is very logical.   He is hungry; he has a break; he knows the place; he gets the food. Ehm. This is the French speaking part of the world. The little problem is the language.   The language can be a bridge to your lunch, or an obstacle on your way to get lunch. Judge for yourself. September : We were walking past the place, smelling all the lovely smells of food, coffees, and hot chocolates, but were too scared to ask for what we wanted. We just walked by, silently envying people eating the lunch of their choice. October : This is the month of our adventure. We approach the sales man. Our new vocabulary contained words Pizza with Ham and Mozzarella, Ice Tea with Peach