Modern life creates a modern disease-Cancer.

Cancer is a worldwide killer. Scientists have found out that it is a man- made disease caused by the excesses of modern life, such as pollution as well as poor diet and a lack of exercise. The disease is so big that people warn about it openly on boxes of cigarettes. In today’s Daily Telegraph we could read about Prof Rosalie David and Prof Michael Zimmerman’s research about Egyptian Mummies whose death was hardly ever caused by Cancer. In fact there was only a few that suffered from something that now kills one in three people, which proves that cancer was extremely rare in antiquity. According to the researchers, the disease rates have risen massively since the Industrial Revolution, in particular childhood cancer – proving that the rise is not simply due to people living longer.

David and Zimmerman also analysed ancient literature from Egypt and Greece for indications of cancer, as well as medical studies of human and animal remains going back to the age of dinosaurs. They suggested that the evidence of cancer in animal fossils, non-human primates and early humans was rare, with a few uncertain examples. As they analyzed ancient literature, they did not find descriptions of operations for breast and other cancers until the 17th century. The first reports in the scientific literature of distinctive lumps have only occurred in the past 200 years, such as scrotal cancer in chimney sweepers in 1775, nasal cancer in snuff users in 1761 and Hodgkin's disease in 1832.

One possible reason cancers might have been comparatively rare in antiquity is that the short life span of individuals back then precluded the development of the disease. Still, the researchers did note some people in ancient Egypt and Greece did live long enough to develop all different types of serious diseases.

Well, if we know what causes such a nasty disease we can surely avoid getting it. Scientists say that a healthy diet, regular physical activity and maintaining a healthy weight could prevent a third of the most common cancers. Therefore, our life will not be in such a big risk of getting killed by the disease.

Freshers Fashion Feature

My first ever feature is so totally published on the internet! Yay. Hana and I worked so hard on it. It was definitely worth it. Watching something we both created and something that actually looks good and quite professional gives such a good feeling. Of course it was difficult to get all the shots and ideas to put together, but editing was killing us. Slow computers, constantly freezing Final Cut Pro was a nightmare. We got through it all though smoothly, which I am very proud of. I never thought that finding people to pose for us and talk us through their outfits would be so difficult. If someone asked me to do something like that, I would run without even thinking about it. It’s supposed to be fun! Many people were embarrassed and shy to be our models. Thankfully, we found some chatty and bubbly people who were happy to pose for us. I am just getting into fashion, as I know nothing about it. For me, clothes are clothes. There isn’t a ‘deep meaning’ in an outfit, expect for those colourful ones I wear which express my constant happiness. Therefore, I definitely had so much fun producing that piece, just because I have learned quite a lot from it.
I also love presenting. I feel good in front of the camera, it makes me happy. It’s a shame I have an accent, otherwise maybe I would have been going for the Winol presenter next semester :)

Here is our feature. Watch it, enjoy it, and leave comments!



This week, Hana and I decided to do something bigger. It’s a feature in a form of a diary. I set myself a challenge to try to live off a food budget of £20 this week. It’s great fun so far. We will see if I will be able to do it :) I will definitely write the results when we finish.

Till next time!

Modernism- The Age of Analysis

Each movement was played out until the progression of another began. A constant quest for uniqueness and originality emerged and the world of Modernism took off. How would the world ever be able to move forward if there was such a strong connection to the past? The answer was, it couldn"tmt. No one really knew at the time where this was all leading to, but they were definitely willing to find out. Artists at this point were pushing previously set boundaries and experimenting with things were never even heard of.

Modernism had an effect in many aspects, especially in Architecture, Music, Art and Science.
Modernism came after Romaticism and it means to religion, less Christianity, more individualism against democracy.

Modernist architecture emphasizes function. It attempts to provide for specific needs rather than imitate nature. The roots of Modernism may be found in the work of Berthold Luberkin (1901-1990), a Russian architect who settled in London and founded a group called Tecton. The Tecton architects believed in applying scientific, analytical methods to design. Their stark buildings ran counter to expectations and often seemed to defy gravity.

Another very important person that brightened the age of Modernism was Maria Sklodowska Curie, who was a Polish physicist and chemist, one of the most ingenious scientists of the 20th Century, and indeed of all time. She worked in a partnership with her husband Pierre Curie, whom she met in Paris. She is generally known for her discovery of the radioactivity of polonium and radium in 1898. Her scientific achievements led her to receive many honours and medals, most notably the Nobel Prize for physics in 1903 and for chemistry eight years later. Curie became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize and the first person to win two Nobel awards. She was also the first female to lecture at the Sorbonne University in Paris. After her death of leukemia caused by overexposure to radiation, her ashes were enshrined in the Pantheon, a monument to France's national heroes. No woman before her had received such an honour.

HCJ Week 1, Year 2. WilliamHearst, the birth of Popular Journalism and Tabloid Nation

William Randolph Hearst was born on April 29, 1863 in San Francisco, California. He was born into a family wealthy from his father's discovery of and involvement in some of the greatest mines in United States history (including the Anaconda mine, the Homestake mine, and the Comstock load). After attending primary schooling, young Hearst was off to Harvard, studying in journalism. He worked on the Harvard Lampoon and was even an apprentice under Joseph Pulitzer while there.

Frontier Thesis- America began to grow and expand. It gained a sense of adventure. The more west you went the more adventures and American you became
George Hearst was one of ten thousands of men lured to California by the promise of gold. This was known as the Gold Rush.

There were two types of early American Newspapers. Both of them were Penny Papers. One of them was political and the other was commercial. The political papers were financed by political parties- George Hearst wanted the Examiner to be a cheerleader for his campaign.

William Hearst took over the Examiner in 1887 and transformed it. The old Examiner had a front page filled with dozen of stories- a wall of text. He reduced the stories and doubled the size of the headlines and eliminated the advertisements, above the masthead he put endorsements and circulation figures. He also included illustrations- ‘they attract the eye and stimulate the imagination of the power classes and materially add comprehension’. He thought that pictures in a newspaper would help sell the paper as even people who can’t read would understand it. The writing became more focused and more urgent.
The Examiner was pro labour (democrats) anti-capital and railroad. It supported the unions but was occasionally guilty of virulent racism.

Yellow Kid

In 1896 Hearst poached the Yellow Kid from Pulitzer,
‘Yellow journalism, or “yellow press”, refers to an unethical, irresponsible brand of journalism given to hoaxes, altered photographs, screaming headlines, “scoops”, frauds, and endless promotions of the newspapers themselves’
This term was first used in the 1890’s to describe the competition between two rival New York City newspapers, the World, and the Journal. Hearst poached the yellow kid from Pulitzer in 1896. Pulitzer tried to stay in the game and got a cartoonist to copy the yellow kid. At the time there were to papers with the yellow kid and they soon began to be described as the yellow papers- YELLOW JOURNALISM.
Crime

The journal and the world even battled to solve crimes. The amount of awards that was suggested for anyone who had a crime with any evidence in terms to solve them was unbelievable. All the newspapers were desperate to publish the story first.

Tabloid Nation
The book is based on the rise and fall of the Mirror newspaper, which remains such an integral part of 20th century British popular culture. Harold Harmsworth, who is the main character of the book, was born in Dublin 1865. He was an indifferent scholar he was educated at St John's Wood, a small, private day school in London. He developed an interest in journalism when he began editing the school magazine.
The book also mentions The Daily Mail which was the first newspaper in Britain that catered for a new reading public that needed something simpler, shorter and more readable than those that had previously been available. One new innovation was the banner headline that went right across the page. Considerable space was given to sport and human interest stories. It was also the first newspaper to include a woman's section that dealt with issues such as fashions and cookery.

Reformation of Daily Mail from ‘a newspaper written by and for gentle woman’ to a normal daily newspaper was needed. Harmsworth wanted a change because as he said ‘women can’t write and don’t want to read’. Instead of writing about society he rather wanted the newspaper to be about something interesting and sufficiently simple.

University Style

The first week back at uni is the most exciting one. Despite the nervous feeling about the incoming year and the amount of already given work, it is still great to see friends that I haven’t seen all summer. While catching up with them and visiting old pubs and clubs you feel like you never left Winchester.
The only thing that has changed is seeing new faces while walking down to lectures. It’s impossible not to look at what the freshers are wearing. Their outfits say everything about them. You can play a game of guessing what they are like. Are they fashionable? Are they rich? Geeks perhaps?

This year it is modesty that took over female freshers fashion, whereas male freshers went for more of a stylish and modern style. The most seen shoes worn by girls are uggs- grey, brown or black colour. They are such stylish, school girl like, comfy footwear. They go well with skinny jeans, leggings, and even skirts. Flat shoes are definitely all you need this year- especially in a very hilly Winchester.

Brown big belts, jeans and t-shirts remind of Wild West. It’s quite a usual outfit that girls wear around campus. This could never be out of fashion. Another essential accessory is a bag. Of course, big bags still dominate in this year’s girls fresher’s fashion. What else does a female student need than a big bag that will carry all the important notebooks, lecture books and reading, pens, make up (of course), an ipod etc. We need all these things!

The most popular clothes shops in the student’s world are New Look, H&M, Next for girls. Burtons, Top Shop for guys. However, Primark, is of course the most chosen clothes store. Not only because of low prices but also because of the variety of different outfits, as well as costumes, you can make from Primark’s bits and pieces.


It's been interesting to find out all these information. The begnning of the year is looking promising :)

Passion about fashion?

Fashion hasn’t been my cup of tea for a long time. I used to dream of being a magazine writer. Being in the world of glamour was all I wanted to do. Then I stepped off that track a little and desired to be a presenter or a correspondent between countries. Writing about shoes and scarves couldn’t be more unexciting. Politics, Science, serious subjects are what’s pulling me, for sure. Boring? I don’t think so.

Now, after I started working for Winol Winchester News Online I became a feature writer as well as being a member of the Production Team. My first feature is aimed at Freshers Fashion. I must say it has been so enjoyable. Researching ‘what’s in’ this term and meeting new students has been more fun than I expected. Some of the outfits were unbelievably interesting. Some of them were crazy, quite colourful, well coordinated and some were just grey and modest- however- very stylish. I can’t believe I have never paid attention to other people’s styles. This project definitely changed my opinion on fashion. I realised that there is more to it than just a shoe. An outfit can tell you everything about the personality and the mood people are in. It might be a beginning of my new passion.

"Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street; fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening." Coco Chanel

The Dead Sea is... dying!

Israel's Dead Sea is, ironically, as old as life itself, is in a serious danger of drying. Hidden in the world's deepest valley and protected by majestic desert mountains, the Dead Sea is one important feature in a land of mysteries, miracles and biblical legends that we must see before it's too late. In another three decades, the evaporating Dead Sea could possibly become the dry sea.

The pier which used to lead directly to water, today it’s ending in the air. On the desert there are boards marking bathing beaches, although there isn’t a liter of water around . It is the lowest place on Earth- 1,300 feet below sea level -- it's closest to all the deep Earth's minerals and, most visibly, the Earth's salt and it still continues to shrink more each year, dropping a meter every century. Scientists are desperately looking for a solution to save it.

Scientists agreed that the reasons for drying of The Dead Sea are climatic changes and global warming as well as the use of Jordan waters for agricultural purposes.

One of the most seriously considered ideas for saving The Dead Sea concerns a construction of the canal that joins The Red Sea and The Dead Sea. Therefore, waters from the Red Sea would fill the drying surface of the dying sea. It’s hard to estimate whether it’s a good solution, however. Taking into account only goal is to raise the water level in the Dead Sea, the idea is certainly good. But no one knows how the investment would affect the surrounding ecosystem. Mixing the waters of two seas is spectacular, but the chemical composition of water in the Red Sea is quite different from the more saline one. Also, plenty of living beings would come with waters- although the vast majority of them wouldn’t live for long in a specific environment of the Dead Sea, but it’s really hard to tell how this experiment could be completed.