Corriere Liceo Aeronautico "Locatelli"

At the beginning of September I had the chance to do an incredible experience I would like to share it with you.

After 13 hours of travel we arrived at the capital of Tanzania, Dar Es Salam: new air, new perfumes , new melodies and new sounds… but this was just the beginning!

The day after we began the true mission: helping little children of 15 different countries in many different ways.

What was really incredible was the welcome everyone gave us, smiling faces, big curious ,sincere eyes greeting us. Karibuni (welcome!)

Many times I wanted to get out from the pick-up and give them something but every minute was for us valuable, either we were going to visit a very poor village, or a well to repair, or a kinder garden that had not material.

The fact that a priest was with us was very important to them because it was a chance to celebrate Mass which for them is fundamental and brings joy and serenity. Masses are very long, their songs very cheerful and happy.

Their music is truly spectacular, they use it in every occasion, especially to welcome us and show their gratitude, they use it in the kinder garden and  in schools, too.

I have already said that the land where they live is spectacular, the landscapes are beautiful but what really makes the difference is the sincerity of their smiles and their happy eyes despite the poverty that is inhumane: they have nothing, maybe a hut, maybe a couple of clothes to cover up, two bowls where to eat beans or rice, when they can afford it, maybe some water.

It was an incredible experience of life because slowly, day after day, you understand the value of life, what it means to have a litre of water, and simple things, we understand that the soil and nature resources are valuable for human kind and should not be polluted.

I feel that I have not done enough to help them, it was no more than a drop in the ocean, but what if all of us would do the same?

Romina Benvenuti, 4 A Coreutico

Those who tour Morocco will discover the warm welcome of Moroccan people. 

This Moroccan welcome is always accompanied with the traditional ceremony of tea, also known as “Atay Naa Naa”. It’s considered a thirst-quenching drink, particularly in the Sahara where nomadic people can relax tasting some good tea in company. 

As the famous Tinariwen’s piece, “Iswegh Atay”, says, the tea in the desert has to be tasted following a ritual which is used to suspend the daily actions and to relax one’s mind and body. 

Usually the head of the family or the most representative person of the group takes this important ritual upon himself. 

The tea is served with a lot of sugar and it’s flavoured with mint leafs, called “Naa Naa” in Moroccan. 

To warm up the tea-pot which contains water, mint leafs and tea, Saharan people use coal embers. 

The holiest moment is when the tea is poured and served.

The tea is kept in infusion for a few minutes to then be passed from a glass to another one, and again in the tea-pot till it reaches a rich taste.

It will be then served to the guests in the glasses. 

“Atay Naa Naa” is always offered to welcome people and it’s drunk very hot also during the warmest hours which, at these latitudes, can reach 50 degrees.   

Nisrine Nzihi, 5 A Scientifico 

Super advanced technology, cyber impenetrable system and top secret programs.

These are the things that you think when you speak about nuclear weapons. But for the U.S.A.F.  (United States Air Force) the reality is a bit different.

The 450 nuclear bombs “Minuteman III” in the hands of American military airforce are distribuited in 5 different settlements in 5 diferent states, and a part of their launches is controlled by computers that use information charged on floppy disks.

This the reality: the launch of total destruction nuclear weapon is controlled by computers of 1960/70 and information are charged on old plastic and perishable disks.

In additions the telephonic line is damajed and ineffective.

This is the real situation of nuclear launching bases of U.S.A.F. and not super advanced systems of inexpugnable structures.

Emanuele Colombo, 2 B Ls

2016 and the great rise of the hybrid cars. In the last years, pollution is increased a lot because dangerous factors had damaged our planet. The most common factor is the dispersion of CO₂ in the atmosphere. This important dispersion provokes damages to the humans but also to the superficial layer of the earth’s atmosphere. This fact is also known as the ozone hole.

Cars are one of the main cause of air pollution. To fight against this effect, the world trade launched on the market a new kind of car: the hybrids. These cars have a double engine: an electric engine and a gasoline one.

The electric engine enteres in function when the car starts, thanks to the energy accumulated in the batteries of the car. This furnishes the necessary push to reach modest speed. The gasoline engine enters in function when the car exceed an exact valor of speed. This new cars are great because they are less polluting and there is less dispersion of CO₂.

In the last year it was registerd a high number of sale of this kind of cars. Infact a lot of people considered the hybrids the cars of the future; they think also that they are important for the safeguard of our planet. Others don’t agree, they think that this new cars are not satisfactory because they have lower performances.

Luca Pezzotta, 2 B Ls

A Chinese company went visiting the Como Aeroclub trying to obtain a collaboration to open a flight school in China.

Thanks to a partnership with the Aeroclub Como, within this year, a flight school is going to start up in West China, more precisely in Nanchino, a sub-provincial city of the country.

The Chinese company wants a flight school to train pilots and in the meanwhile a touristic and commercial company; to realize this goal they thought that the Aeroclub was a perfect consultant ‘cause of his nearly century experience in this working environment. This school will be the first one in all Chinese country.

The Aeroclub Como is even source of inspiration and in fact it will give a determinant  provision for the birth of this Chinese school, by helping them with the settings, with the infrastructures and with the formation of the pilots. The Chinese Aeroclub will open only when all the permissions will be given by the Chinese government of Jiangsu province.

Stefano Macchia, 1 A Ls

Have you ever thought about Japanese high schools?

There are many animes that show how schools are in Japan, but in the animes we can’t see the real daily life of a Japanese high school student.

Japanese teenagers are very busy. Every school has extra curricular courses, such as sports (tennis, soccer, karate, kendo) or music (orchestra, singing) and also courses of writing and communication (radio) that students have to choose and attend for the 3 years of high school.

Each course is taken every day in the morning, before normal lessons, and in the afternoon after lessons, and they last circa 1h and 30 min.

Before starting afternoon courses all students have to clean their classes because it is the student’s duty, so in every class there is a cupboard where there are cleaning tools.

For this reason students care a lot about their classrooms and they learn to respect the environment!

After school students attend other courses to improve their school capacity this courses are called “jyuku”. They can attend English, Math, Grammar and Science. It’s a long school day!

Generally in the schools there are many rigid rules that must be respected. For example all students have to wear the school uniform; boys have to cut their hair and girls have to tie one’s hair if long; it is forbitten to  bring cigarettes at school because legally under 18 years old they can’t smoke.

Japanese classrooms are very big and in one class there are about 35~40 people (it depends on the school’s reputation). There are just two kinds of schools: a professional and a generarical one.

School’s days in Japan are 250 so holidays are just a few. A hard day of school, a hard year but the majority of the students will attend University and they will become good citizens.

Anna Locatelli, 2 B Ls

Leni Riefenstahl: who was she?

Helene Bertha Amalie Riefenstahl, better known as Leni, was a lot of things. She was infact a German film director, a producer, a screenwriter, an editor, a photographer, an actress, a dancer and also a propagandist for the Nazi. She was all this and much more than this.

She was born in Berlin on 22 August 1902 into a Lutheran Protestant family. After seeing a promotional poster of the 1924 “The Mountain of Destiny”, Leni was inspired to move into the acting. Between 1925 and 1929, she starred in five successful motion pictures.

In 1932 she heard Adolf Hitler and she was attracted by his talent as public speaker. After meeting Hilter, she was offered the opportunity to direct “The Victory of Faith”: a propaganda film about the fifth Nuremberg Rally in 1933. Leni agree and she and Hitler got on well, forming a friendly relationship. Hitler was impressed about the film and asked her to film “Triumph of the Will” about the 1932 party rally in Nuremberg.

Initially she resisted and didn’t want to create further Nazi Party films, instead waiting to direct a feature film based on Hitler’s favorite opera, “Lowlands”. Hitler was able to convince her to film “Triumph des Willenson”. Despite allegedly vowing not to make any more films about the Nazi Party, Riefenstahl made the “Day of Freedom: Our Armed Forces”,  about the German Army in 1935.

Hitler invited Riefenstahl to film the 1936 Summer Olimpics scheduled to be held in Berlin, a film which Riefenstahl claimed had been commissioned by the International Olympic Committee “The Blue Light” and in 1930 she directed “Olympia” and the “Triumph of the Will”. Both movies are widely considered two of the most effective, and technically innovative, propaganda film ever made. The exact nature of her relationship with Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler remains a matter of debate.

She arrived in New York City on 4 November 1938, five days before the “Night of the Broken Glass”.  When news of the event reached the United States, Riefenstahl publicly defended Hitler. When Germany invaded Poland, on 1 September 1939, Riefenstahl was photographed in Poland.

From 23 September until 13 November 1940, she filmed in Krün near Mittenwald. The extras playing Spanish women and farmers were drawn from gypsies detained in a camp at Salzburg-Maxglan who were forced to work with her. Filming at the Babelsberg Studios near Berlin began 18 months later in April 1942.

The last time Riefenstahl saw Hitler was when she married Peter Jacob on 21 March 1944. Riefenstahl and Jacob divorced in 1946. As Germany’s military situation became impossible by early 1945, Riefenstahl left Berlin and was hitchhiking with a group of men, trying to reach her mother, when she was taken into custody by American troops.

At the end of the Second War World, Leni was arrested but she wasn’t associated with war crimes. Helene died of cancer on 8 September 2003  at the age of 101.

Riccardo Bernocchi, 3 B Ls

Spaceships (also called spacecrafts) are vehicles designed to fly outer space. They are used for variety of purposes like communications, earth observations, meteorology, navigations, planetary explorations, space colonization and transportation of humans and cargo.

There are five principles steps to follow in order to obtain a spacecraft. The first step is to determine the mission’s purpose and the mission performance requirements. The second step is to define the design that has to provide support systems and other things basing of the mission’s purpose. In the third step engineers must analyze aerodynamic, structural stresses, effects of high speed, heat tolerances and the performance trajectory. Moreover engineers have to chose appropriate material which could reduce the weight and the costs of the spacecraft. In the fourth step every single component of the vehicle must be certified for the flight through a series of performance, vibration and thermal tests. In the last step a mock-up of the spacecraft is built with inexpensive materials to test it again and after it passes successfully these tests it is finally ready!

I’m now going to explain briefly just two of the many spaceships.

The Soyuz is a Russian Spacecraft which carries people and supplies from earth to the ISS (International Space Station) and viceversa. It can host three people who are situated in descent module of the capsule; cargo and other stuffs for experiments are in the orbital module of the capsule, where astronauts can live during their mission in space; the instrumentation and service module housed life supports that allows people to live and things like batteries, solar panels and steering engines.These orbitals are part of the capsule of the Soyuz which separates from the Soyuz rocket during the launch.

The space shuttle was NASA’s transportation system which is the world’s first reusable spacecraft. The first space shuttle flight took place on April 12, 1981. The shuttle made it’s final landing on July 21, 2011 due to high costs for the missions. Normally missions had a duration of 5 /16 days. During those 30 years the space shuttle was launched on 135 missions in which 355 astronauts flew. It was used for many purposes not just to carry people and cargo from earth to space and vice versa but also it was used as an orbiting science laboratory, it launched satellites, it’s crews improved other spacecraft like the Hubble Telescope; on its later missions was employed to work on the ISS. The structure of the Space shuttle is divided in three parts: the Orbiter, which is the white space plane where astronauts live and work which has a payload bay for carrying cargo into orbit; the external tank is the orange fuel tank and the two white solid rocket boosters provides the majority of the thrust in the first 2 minutes of the launch. Today the three Shuttles (Discovery, Atlantis, Endevour) and the Enterprise (which was just used for tests) are in different USA museums.

Now space agencies are working to design a reusable spacecraft which would fly to space and back as a single unit. The shuttle’s human transport role is to be replaced by SpaceX’s Dragon V2  and Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner (for NASA’s commercial crew development program) no later than 2017. The shuttle heavy cargo transport role is to be replaced by expendable rockets such as the Space Launch System and SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy.

Celine Polepole, 2 B Ls

Imagine to be born as a machine: you would be able to do anything you want, and if some parts of you break, you’d be able to replace it with a spare part.

Unfortunately, you are a human being, and you cannot replace parts of your body with some new ones as a machine does. Or can you?

Nobody knows that it is possible to generate new organs, that will be 100% compatibles with your body. This thanks to something that everyone has since he was born: the umbilical cord, or better the stem cells of the umbilical cord. These special cells have incredible power: they are like supercells, able to create any type of tissues, like the epithelial or the muscular ones, so we can create new organs to use as substitutes of others that could be affected or damaged.

This would be possible for you, if you still had your own umbilical cord. Unfortunately, the doctor you met when you were born threw it away, in a common rubbish can. This happens to umbilical cords all over the world every day, and it is an incredible waste of resources. Now the good news comes: it is possible to save the umbilical cords of the newborns, and it is very easy.

During the pregnancy the parents have to choose to safe  it and when the labour time will come, the father will call the agency specialized that, thanks to a 24H out of 24H service, will come to the hospital and will take some samples.

It is a totally safe procedure, and neither the mother or the baby will get hurt. This because the blood, which contains the stem cells, is taken from the umbilical cord once the child is born. Once taken, the samples will be carried to the agency, where will be put in cryopreservation, which means to a temperature of about -150°C. So they are frozen and will be defrosted in the hour of need. This is incredibly helpful, because, thanks to these stem cells, scientists are able to treat more that 80 pathologies, including common blood diseases like leukaemia and anaemia.

All this is fantastic, but there is one, little big problem. In Italy, private agencies of this kind are forbidden, they don’t exist. There are only public centres, where the umbilical cords can be collected and used by everybody. The stem cells are compatible only with the biological owner and his immediate family, while there is very little chance to find stem cells that are compatible with your body.

Fortunately, near countries like England, Switzerland and the best in Europe, San Marino, have private agency, where you can keep the umbilical cords of your sons and daughters, and furthermore, the price is very cheap! The keeping costs about 2000 euros for  20 years! Now that you have all the necessary information, it’s up to you: will you save your children’s life with this simple and cheap gesture?

Riccardo De Biasi, 3 A Ls

Perché il problema come sempre è l’ignoranza, la disinformazione che porta agli sbagli. Continuiamo a correre in soccorso di coloro che abbandonano le coste del “continente nero” con nulla in tasca ma migliaia di sogni nella testa: chi mosso da disperazione, chi in fuga dalla guerra, chi con un proprio “american dream”.

Loro cercano salvezza verso le nostre coste. Centinaia di migliaia di persone dedicano la loro vita per potersi pagare un biglietto, un posto su un barcone per poter raggiungere la Sicilia o la Grecia con la speranza di raggiungere ed esaudire desideri di una vita, che a noi sembrano banali, ma che per loro sono quasi inimmaginabili, come per esempio una casa propria, un lavoro, condizioni di vita umane.

Se arrivano, appena toccata terra si renderanno conto che i sogni erano tutte fantasticherie.

Saranno raccolti in centri che li tratteranno come merce, per denaro: lì loro non sono persone, ma solo i mezzi per ricevere agevolazioni statali.

Tutto potrebbe cambiare, potremmo far cessare gran parte di questi sbarchi clandestini informandoli, smentendo i loro sogni sul nostro Paese, per poterli però realizzare nel loro.

Se tutto ciò che desiderano, se tutto ciò per cui sono spinti a solcare quelle paurose e, ormai, sanguinose acque lo portassimo noi da loro? Se migliorassimo noi le loro condizioni di vita, non sarebbe meglio?

Noi ci lamentiamo del loro continuo afflusso, ma non cerchiamo soluzioni; cerchiamo al massimo soluzioni al nostro problema, ma non al loro.

Dobbiamo pensare alla causa che porta allo scaturire di tutti questi flussi migratori. Spendiamo milioni per il loro soccorso e sostentamento, ma se li spendessimo per costruire case, pozzi o per cessare guerre non sarebbe forse meglio e più utile?

Marcello Colombi, 3A Ls

Imagine this scene:  you are in a place full of people; your eyes cross the eyes of a stranger just for a second, in that moment you stay there, looking to each other, but then you look away as soon as possible.

Have you ever asked yourself why is so embarrassing to look someone else straight in the eyes? Here you can receive some answers.

Scientists at the University of Vincennes in Saint-Denis, France, have proved that the eye contact with other people revives the awareness of our body, so our brain became suddenly more conscious of the feelings that are having place inside us.

The psychologist Matias Baltazar showed to 32 volunteers a series of pictures representing positive and negative situations and asked them to tell the emotions caused by each one.

The 32 people were also connected to a special device that registered the emotive reactions through the hand sweating.

Each positive or negative photo had been preceded by another image of a male or female face: some of these faces stared at the volunteers, others had their gaze looking away.

Researcher discovered that, after the subjects saw the faces which stared at them in the eyes, they showed more effective and accurate descriptions of their physiological reactions to the positive or negative photos.

“Our results show that the body consciousness of an adult becomes more acute when we’re under someone else’s gaze”, says Baltazar. Researchers have proved that the improvement of the feeling description regards only the actions connected to the body consciousness.

This discovery could be useful to stimulate the consciousness in people who have a distorted view of their body as the ones who suffer from anorexia or depressive disorders.

Francesca Ferraro, 2B Ls

Ricordare. Una delle più belle tra le azioni che un uomo sia in grado di fare. Ricordiamo tutto, o quasi: il primo giorno di scuola, la nostra data di nascita, il nostro primo amore… Qualsiasi cosa riesca a farci provare emozioni la intrappoliamo nella nostra testa, e la teniamo lì, a far polvere fino a quando non decidiamo che è arrivato il momento di rivivere quell’attimo, quell’istante così intenso come se fosse lì, di fronte a noi.

Non sempre questo è possibile. Non sempre la nostra testa ci permette di rivivere quell’attimo. Alcune volte ne dimentichiamo particolari, altre intere sequenze e altre ancora ci ricordiamo solo l’inizio o la fine. Alcuni attimi però ce li ricordiamo tutti. Dall’inizio alla fine. Ogni singolo particolare. Ogni fottuto dettaglio.

Ero lì. Fermo. Non so se era il freddo che mi bloccava, ma non riuscivo a muovermi. Fissavo il letto a pochi centimetri dal mio naso e pensavo. Pensavo a qualunque cosa. La mia famiglia, che non sapevo se fosse morta o viva, il perché mi trovavo lì rinchiuso in una baracca come un animale, il come era potuto succedere.

All’improvviso si spalanca la porta e ci fanno alzare sbraitando parole in tedesco che nemmeno capivo. Mi metto in fila come gli altri e usciamo in modo ordinato e lineare. Ci ispezionano attentamente per vedere se c’è qualcuno di malato, non in grado di lavorare.  Tutti sembriamo essere idonei e quindi ci mandano alle nostre postazioni.

Devo percorrere un po’ di strada per arrivare al mio impiego. Sulla mia destra vedo il grosso edificio dal quale esce giorno dopo giorno sempre più fumo, senza mai fermarsi un istante. Tutto mi sembra come gli altri giorni. Solita sveglia, solta camminata, solito lavoro.

Di fronte a me, in procinto di entrare nel cortile del grosso edificio fumante, vedo un gruppo di bambini. Mi si stringe il cuore. Loro si guardano, giocano, riempiono l’aria di quella loro così pura e candida risata, completamente ignari di quello che sta succedendo. Li  guardo ormai varcato il cancello allontanarsi piano piano, mano nella mano con un soldato tedesco, avvicinarsi sempre di più alla cortina di fumo che separa il regno dei vivi e quello dei morti.

Uno però era rimasto indietro, se lo erano perso.

Si avvicina e mi chiama. Io mi fermo nonostante le minacce della guardia che mi stava scortando. Il bambino mi consegna un bambolotto e mi chiede se lo posso portare a suo padre. Io gli chiedo dove posso trovarlo, ma lui non me lo sa dire. Si mette a piangere.

Allora decido di mentire. Gli prendo il bambolotto e gli prometto che su papa l’avrebbe ricevuto. Intanto di corsa stava arrivando una guardia per recuperare il bambino rimasto indietro. Gli consegna alcune caramelle e lo convince a seguirlo per andare a “giocare”.

Il bambino mi chiede se ho voglia di andare a giocare con lui. Io lo guardo. Il cuore mi si riempie di compassione, tristezza, rabbia.

Incomincio a piangere silenziosamente e tra un singhiozzo e l’altro gli dico che l’avrei raggiunto poco più tardi. Lui mi guarda con uno sguardo innocente e mi annuisce quasi entusiasta. Lo vedo allontanarsi. Ha superato anche lui la cortina di fumo. Con gli occhi gonfi per le lacrime guardo il fumo alto nel cielo. Mi sembra di vedere una sua sagoma. Vengo trascinato a forza a lavorare.

Ti devo una partita piccolo amico mio.

Ludovico Zaccaria, 4A Ls

La storia scolastica non è una materia particolarmente affascinante per gli studenti. Spesso la conoscenza che ne abbiamo si limita a semplici nozioni su guerre, battaglie e avvenimenti di cui abbiamo una visione vuota, artificiale.

Poi però ci sono anche gli studenti per cui la storia è una passione, e le passioni c’è chi le coltiva fino in fondo. Un esempio è Riccardo Bernocchi, alunno del nostro istituto, nella classe 3B Liceo, che di questa passione ha fatto anche un progetto per l’alternanza scuola/lavoro.

La sua passione per la storia nasce già da piccolo, poi è cresciuta fino a trasformarla in un canale YouTube prima, una rivista stampata in proprio poi.

Il progetto si chiama “History & World” e nasce nel dicembre 2015 con la pubblicazione su YouTube di un video relativo alla Battaglia delle Ardenne. Poi, col tempo, i video sono aumentati e migliorati, fino ad arrivare a ottobre 2016 con la pubblicazione della prima rivista. Il gennaio successivo è la volta del secondo numero: “Del resto i tempi di scrittura, correzione e stampa sono lunghi – spiega – ma le ore che impiego sono valide per l’alternanza scuola-lavoro”.

La rivista “History and World” è stata presentata il 20 gennaio a un circolo culturale in Città Alta. “È stata accolta bene”, commenta con modestia.

L’autore confessa: “Il mio periodo storico preferito è la Seconda Guerra Mondiale, ma cerco di sempre spaziare il più possibile negli argomenti.” Per ora gli articoli per ciascun numero della rivista sono tre.

“La lettera di apertura serve a instaurare un rapporto di amicizia col lettore – specifica Bernocchi – Il primo articolo può parlare di un tema anche non prettamente storico”.

Nel primo numero si trattava delle Colonne d’Ercole, poi Napoleone, ma in futuro potrebbe essere anche un tema artistico, sempre con un aggancio alla storia. Segue un articolo centrale a carattere storico: “Anche se – puntualizza –  l’articolo sul Kursk del secondo numero è ancora tra storia e cronaca. L’affondamento è avvenuto nel 2000”.

Il tutto è reso leggero da immagini (anche l’impaginazione è curata dall’autore) e curiosità.

La rivista si chiude con una “graduatoria” di personaggi o eventi storici: “Nel primo numero ho trattato gli imperi più grandi della storia, nel secondo gli strateghi più astuti”. Gli argomenti sono pochi ma mirati: “I miei obbiettivi sono due. Il primo è quello di far conoscere al lettore fatti che non conosce e che spesso non rientrano nei programmi scolastici di storia. Il secondo è quello di far riflettere sugli argomenti trattati”.

Matteo Bevilacqua, 3B Ls

I was asked to write an article based on whatever I wanted. I’ve been thinking for very long time, trying to search something to write about, something interesting and objective because this kind of writing has to capture the attention of each single reader.

Then I realised that it is impossible to treat an argument or to report a fact without being subjective, without modifying sources in the way they best serve us. For this reason I want to write about the power that journalists have and how easily they condition our minds.

We are continuously circled by news, articles and information that we read on papers and on the Internet or that we listen on TV. We firmly believe in what they say and we ignore that who writes the articles doesn’t do it for the pleasure of writing, but for money and success.

They can exploit situations (even dramatic ones) to get the best scoop or the last minute’s news. We never know what’s going on in the world in a totally true way because the facts are filtered, magnified and sometimes also invented.

If something is not sure it’s possible to make it certain, a journalist can destroy the reputation of a person and hide information (as the presence of more than 400 wars around the world).

For example, the earthquake that a few months ago killed 300 people, destroyed cities and let thousands of inhabitants homeless in the centre of Italy is a catastrophe and is used by TV’s talk-shows to get more audience, journalists take advantages of it for their interest.

I think that it’s their job and it’s normal trying to write something that everyone can appreciate, but knowledge and information should be free and true.

Alessia Corti, 3A Coreutico

After 8 years of presidency, on the 20th January 2017, the 44th president of United States Barack Obama, passed his charge to the 45th president Donald Trump. In these 8 years, Barack Obama made many important changes for the American people: for example the ObamaCare which is a US healthcare reform that expands and improves access to care and curbs spending through regulations and taxes. It has helped over 9.9 million US citizens to have new health insurance, and more than 4 percent of all have gotten health insurance for the first time.

In 2013 he incited the US states to increase the minimum salaries to 10.10$ per hour: 18/50 states agreed. He cut taxes creating, saving millions of jobs and helping the raise of car industries after the financial crisis. He also signed a legislation where men and women could be paid equally.

Obama also signed a legislation against the   discrimination of any individual because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity a federal crime. Obama had a fundamental role in the Paris Agreement, setting with other Countries regulations to limit the Climate changes.

He had also won the Noble prize for peace for have signed the end of the nuclear era in Iran. During these years we had the opportunity to get to know better the Obama’s family made up of Barack Obama, Michelle Obama Robinson, the two daughter Malia and Sasha and their two dogs called Sunny and Bo.

Malia and Sasha have grown up in the White House: in November 2008 they were 8 and 11 years old, now, January 2017 they are 15 and 18. Malia, the older daughter has already finished high school and after a gap year, she’ll attend Harvard University. She wants to be a filmmaker. Sasha, the youngest, has to do other 2 years in high school. Michelle Obama was a very active First Lady promoting physical and mental health: for example in 2013 she launched a campaign named “Let’s move against obesity” especially through young people as kids and redesigned the school’s launch program.

But now…Where are they? Where do they live? What will they do in the near future? Well, American and also international presses already know some facts about their future.

First of all, where did they move to? They moved to the exclusive Washington DC neighborhood of Kalorama, 2 km away from the White House. They chose to stay in a luxurious brick villa of 761 square-meters, with three floors, 9 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, 2 garages and a huge garden. From the American presses they’ll stay there for two years, until Sasha graduates. This fact made Obama the first president to live in Washington DC after his term (since 1921).

Obama is still younger than the other president at the and of their presidency: he is only 55 years old while his wife is 53. So What will they do? From some interviews they’ve made,  they will have a break, sleeping and relaxing with the family. Then they announced the creation of the Obama foundation that has his headquarters in south Chicago.

With this foundation the Obamas and private citizens will bring all the ideas, beliefs and hopes of American people and they’ll try to transform them into reality. Then they will continue to be part of the “My Brother’s Keeper Alliance” for the  poor Black and Latinos boys. Both Obama and Michelle will write books.

Then there are other possibilities: for example Barack Obama could be a guest speaker thanks to his fame as a great orator. He is a lawyer so he can be also a Supreme Court Lawyer if Trump appoints him, the Senate accepts him and if he wants, of course.

Before he became president he also taught at the University of Chicago so he can also go back and continue teaching.

There are other hypothesis about Barack Obama future but we know for sure that he will be active in  community life.

Celine Polepole, 2B Ls

The school-work is a state project started two years ago where pupils, during the last three years of secondary school, can have an impact on the world’s work. Pupil will spend 200 hours or 400 hours in a work place as companies, industries and workshops.

This project starts with a safety training which is required by the law, in order to work safely.

You can decide where you want to work or anyway what kind of experience you want to do. You will have a school tutor and a company tutor.

The project is not seen too well by school pupils because during “maturità” teaches will ask about this experience.

In my own opinion this project is very important because it makes kids understanding what it means to work, to depend on someone, obey and many other things in the field of work that are very frequent. I hope and I know that this experience will be very beautiful.

Samuele Cometti, 3A Ls

Trump vs Clinton: is it a new era for the USA? On Tuesday November the 8th we will know who the next president of United States will be.

A man or a woman will be the ruler of the world to come? The majority of the people doesn’t know who mrs Rodham is, without her husband surname (Clinton) and his presidentship too would have passed unnoticed without the sexual scandal involving him and Monica Lewisky. The former Secretary of State founded his election campaign on immigrants rights, gays marriage, a new plan for social security and social equality, in particular the rights about black women. She wants pure energy with hydroelectric power station or with aeolian deposits, to reduce environmental pollution.

She wants to build also new infrastructures to give home to homeless. Clinton wants also to do a fiscal reform to eliminate the multinationals which move American industries abroad.

Trump is an entrepreneur who wants to reduce debts and deficit that afflicts the USA since 2008 and so he wants to increase workplaces. On the theme of immigration he wants to build a wall on the Mexican boundaries, the elimination of the right of citizenship for the one born in the USA and an economic plan to improve wages and security for all Americans, so he wants to reduce criminality.

About energy he wants to use petrol again because he thinks that the global warming is a good thing. In foreign policy he wants to release the tensions with Russia and China, to avoid any chance to have nuclear power in Iran, to send troops abroad only if necessary and to defeat ISIS once for all.

Both were involved in scandals: Hillary sent, using her mail, 22 top secret documents and so she compromised the national security, while Trump was accused of harassment.

I’m not American and so on Tuesday I won’t vote, but I’d like to ask to all Americans: do you do it for real? Are these people really the best of your country? The ones that represent you? A sexists millionaire and an ex First Lady who even can’t send an e-mail?

Luca Silini, 2B Ls

First of all, what is Ozone Layer? Ozone layer is a natural sunscreen that protects us from the sun’s damaging ultraviolet radiation.

This sunscreen contains three oxygen atoms. It is constantly being formed and broken down in the stratosphere (that is the atmosphere layer above the troposphere). The destruction of ozone layer is caused by one factor which is Cholorofluorocarbons, found commonly in aerosol cans and released by many electronic appliances like air conditioning.

Ozone layer depletion has consequences on humans, animals and plants. This typically results from higher UV levels reaching us on earth, hurting human (and animal) health; this means that it causes for example skin cancers, sunburns and premature aging of the skin; eye diseases like blindness: UV radiation can damage several parts of the eye, including the lens, cornea and retina.

As I mentioned before, the UV radiations, that pass through the ozone layer hole, can have adverse impacts on agriculture, forestry and natural ecosystems: several of the world’s most important crop species are particularly vulnerable to increased UV, resulting in reduced growth, photosynthesis and flowering. These species include wheat, rice, barley, oats, corn, soybeans, peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, cauliflower, broccoli and carrots.

Also the marine life is involved: in particular, plankton (which are tiny organisms in the surface layer of oceans) are threatened by increased UV radiation. Plankton is really important because is the first vital step in aquatic food chains. This begins as mid-May brings on the onset of winter, the Antarctic stratosphere cools and descends closer to the surface.

The Coriolis effect (caused by the earth’s rotation) sets up a strong westerly circulation around the south pole, forming a rectangle shaped vortex which varies in size from year to year. Australia receives a lot more UV radiation than the UK.

This means that people living in Australia face up to 15% more solar radiation than we do. Over the past few years, extensions of the Antarctica ozone hole have spread as far as parts of Argentina, Chile and the Falkland Islands. For sure you’re asking yourselves if there are solutions to this problem, maybe producing our own ozone gas to replenish what is lost in the stratosphere.

The sun naturally produces ozone with a lot of energy all the time. To do the same thing, we should be looking at using immense energy too, about twice the energy used in the USA.

That is just impossible. So in our daily life we can just do this little but important things: limiting vehicle driving, using eco-friendly house cleaning products, avoiding the use of pesticides, developing stringent regulations for rocket launches and banning the use of dangerous nitrous oxide.

These actions will not solve totally the problem, but they can reduce the velocity of the ozone layer degradation.

Celine Polepole, 2B Ls

Probably many of you take the trains every day. In Italy trains are always late or normally they always caused problems to you.

But in Japan is quite different. Rarely trains are late and the seats and the train stations are always cleaned like your grandmother’s house.

Probably the mentality of Japanese people is different from the one of Italian people. Since elementary school Japan classes and toilets are cleaned by the students, so children learn what cleaning means and they learn that cleaning is not easy.

So when they grow up they don’t dirt places. A lot of people use trains to go to work or to school. If the trains don’t work well the nations will not be good.

Mainly in big cities there aren’t a lot of car parks so people moves in general by train or by bus.

Trains must be on time to maintain a good society. Is it possible to became like Japanese society?

Yes, but it depends on us.

Anna Margherita Locatelli,  2B Ls

Would you spend most of your life walking? Obviously not, but this bird lives in flight. It is called Swift and it is a small European migrator bird that seems to be mold to stay in the air. Its peculiarity? It can fly for 10 months non-stop.

This fact has been confirmed by a research made by the biologist Anders Hendenstrom, from the University of Lund (Sweden). In his studies he used a detector that weights 1.1 grams and includes an accelerometer and a light sensor, used to define the position of the bird during the flight.

He has followed 19 Swifts day and night and he saw that three of them literally never laid on the ground, the others laid rarely and only for a few minute. These birds interrupt the flight just when they have to build their nests and to lay and sit on eggs. The rest of the activities, as sleeping, eating and reproducing, is done in the air.

So how can they sleep if they fly all the time? The answer is easy: they sleep while they are flying. This affirmation is proved by a research that demonstrates that these birds are able to have both a unihemispheric sleep and to maintain the abilities to fly and to orient also in REM phase, a stage of the sleep that involves the complete loss of muscular tone.

This deduction is the result of a study made by Niels Rattenborg of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology (Germany), who created, with other colleagues, an engine able to monitor the electric activity of birds brain during the flight. The result is that during the day the birds stayed awake, while when the sun went down and they were at a high altitude, they showed in different minutes periods of sleep at slow waves, sometimes in one hemisphere (especially during the flight handlings), other times in both.

The birds have the aerodynamic control also when the brain is totally asleep. From this monitoring the scientists could understand that swings need few minutes of sleep per day (just 42 minutes).

Another fascinating aspect of the life of these birds is that swifts create relationships with a partner that last forever.

During the migration the Swift can lose his partner but at the end of this period the two “overs” find each other and rebuild their abandoned shelter.

Quite busy life, don’t you think so?

Francesca Ferraro, 2B Ls