Issue no. 2

The BackPacker
Issue 2 / October 2012 / Week 2
Weird Phobias: Do you have any?
Photo of the Week
By Lorena Garrido
We have all been scared more
 Arachibutyrophobia- Fear of
teachers
"I
have
than one time. Maybe it was
peanut butter sticking to the
phronemophobia, so I can't
thanks to a friend’s prank, or
roof of your mouth. I think
think." Let's just hope they
perhaps you might have watched
many of us hate this, but hey,
understand...
a horror movie. The reasons that
it is too good not to eat.
 Somniphobia- Fear of sleep.
cause you fright may vary. Check
 Bibliophobia- Fear of books.
out some of the weirdest phobias;
We all have gone through this
 Xanthophobia- Fear of the
you might not know now, but
phobia in school, don't you
color yellow or the word
m a y b e
think?
yellow. This is why my favorite
you have
one
of
t h e s e
fears!
 Chrometophobia
or
Chrematophobia- Fear of
money. WHAT?!
 Didaskaleinophobia- Fear of
We sure don't have that!
color is green.
 Melophobia- Fear of music. I
can’t imagine living with this
phobia.
going to school. Thank
 Nosocomephobia- Fear of
goodness, I found what is
hospitals. I´m guessing most
wrong with me!
of us fear them…
 Phronemophobia- Fear of
thinking. That exists? SWEET!
Now we can say to the
(Continues onto next page)
(Continued from last page)
There are thousands of different
 Ablutophobia- Fear of washing,
phobias out there. You might
cleaning and bathing. Now that
want to check them out; there are
is not good…
things that you wouldn´t even
think existed. I had my fears, but
never in my
life would I
h
a
v
e
imagined
having any
of these
phobias.
Get to Know Us
WHAT WOULD I DO IF I
WON THE LOTTERY?
LORENA: I would change it all to
pennies just to annoy the banks.
SERGIO: I would buy a golden statue
of myself and put it on the moon.
PATRICIA: I would rob a bank and
get away with it.
DANIELA: Buy one million songs and
apps on iTunes and App Store.
JESÚS: I would attend to Comic Con
dressed as Chewbacca and Nemesis.
NATALIA: I would invest it in my
stepfather’s buisness and help it grow.
BULLYING IN SCHOOLS
By Jesus Lopez
Have you ever been harassed by any of your classmates? By a student from another grade? Even by a
teacher? Or have you ever, yourself, harassed anyone you know? Bullying has always existed, but the term
is relatively new for most of society. It is not as explicitly talked or debated about, but it is commonly used
all around. Bullying, also called teasing, is considered any type of aggravation or irritation; it’s when you
cause great discomfort to someone else.
Bullying happens frequently; maybe even you’ve witnessed it happening, though you don’t recognize it. It
can differ from a simple offensive joke to even physical aggression and violence.
If you are being mistreated, or offended, by bullies you have to stand up for yourself. If it is possible, talk to
the aggressor and ask him, or her, to stop. If that method doesn’t work, or if it seems impossible to
communicate effectively with the bully without any violence, then you must tell an authority about what is
happening, it is their duty to help you out.
There’s not an exact way to make bullying stop. The most you can do to reduce
bullying in schools is to aid the victims by standing up for them and taking action
when you see it happening. And, if you are a bully, ask yourself if what you are
doing is right, ask yourself if you would’ve liked for anyone to mistreat you the way
you mistreat others. Respect and good communication are the keys for an adequate
interactive environment.
TEN UNUSUAL
SPORTS
by Daniela Ochoa
Street luge
Players lie on a big skateboard, and go downhill
through the streets, these crazy people can reach
up 64-157 kilometers per hour! Ideal sport for
adrenaline junkies and/or speed junkies.
This sport was born in Southern California when
skateboarders found that they could go
faster if they laid on the skateboard, this
spor t is also nicknamed as “butt
boarding”.
The epic race between cheese and people. This
sports involves a 3kg chunk of cheese and a group
of people willing to roll down a really steep hill to
see who gets first to the bottom, it’s unbelievable
because the cheese can travel up to 48 kilometers
per hour!.
Chess boxing
A mixture between two opponents,
eleven rounds: 6 rounds of chess, each
4 minutes long, and 5 rounds of boxing, each
lasting 3 minutes. The winner is determined by a
knock-out or a checkmate.
There’s even a World Chess Boxing Organization!
“Fighting is done in the ring and wars are
waged on the board.”
-World Chess Boxing Organization
This sport was first envisioned by cartoonist Enki
Bilal, in 1992.
But the first official chessboxers were the brothers
Stewart and James Robinson.
Cheese Rolling
Pooh Stick
The sport got its name by Winnie the Pooh, it
involves throwing a stick in the river, and see who’s
stick goes the fastest to the next checkpoint! Most
thrilling sport EVER!
Alan Alexander Milne (a.k.a. A. A. Milne. creator
of Winnie the Pooh) created this sport for his son,
Christopher Robin Milne.
The story of how this sport was invented is quite...
Long:
A. A. Milne accidentally dropped a pine cone into
the bridge while he was standing on the bridge,
and ta-da! Pooh stick was invented.
2011.
"No-one's going to stop
us from doing this. They
say it's not official but we
are all Broc kwor t h
people and we're
running the cheese
today so it is official. We
strongly believe in it." Former winner Helen
Thorpe in May
Paper-scissors-rock
The traditional pla yground game (mostl y
determined by luck) taken to a whole new level, it
even has world championships held in Toronto,
Canada.
It consists of two players simultaneously changing
their fists into any of the three "objects", which then
they "throw" by extending it towards their
opponent. The three objects are 'paper', 'scissors'
and 'rock'. The objective is to defeat the opponent
by selecting a weapon which defeats their choice
u n d e r
t h e s e
rules:
p a p e r
b e a t s
r o c k ,
r o c k
b e a t s
scissors
a n d
scissors beats paper.
Extreme Ironing
People who practice this sport go to remote places
(and by remote places I
mean on top of a cliff)
and.. Iron clothes! People
who do this sport, go by
the name “ironist”.
According t o ironist,
extreme ironing is: the
latest dangerous sport
that combines the thrills
of an extreme outdoor
activity with the
satisfaction of a wellpressed shirt.
tries and try-goals. A competitive test of agility,
speed, accuracy, teamwork and tactics.
Toughest sport ever (literally).
Elephant polo
Horse polo taken to the limit. The rules are very
similar to horse polo, except the pitch is shorter
and the riders have a trainer on board with
them (called a 'manout') to help control the
elephant.
This sport is only played in Nepal, Sri Lanka,
Rajasthan (India) and Thailand.
Royal Shrovetide Football
This is an annual event held in Ashbourne,
Derbyshire, UK. It involves the town splitting into
two teams (depending on where you live): “the
Uppards” and “the Downards”, and playing
football.
The game begins when the ball is thrown in the
middle of the town and the goals are located on
each side of the town (a few kilometers apart), this
game only has two rules... You are not permitted
to kill anyone and you are not permitted to use a
motor.
Bed racing
This sport is an annual event held in North
Yorkshire Town of Knaresborough.
The sport involves of a team of six, and a bed with
four wheels and the ability to float.
The race consists of a 3km run that ends on the
famous Conygham Hall and dissolves like this:
They start of running, about halfway through the
run, the teams face the one-in-five gradient climb to
Castle Top before it’s back down the hill and
toward the final challenge – crossing a river.
Footby
Footby is a new sport and is a mixture of football,
rugby and American football. The objective of the
game is to score the most points, by scoring goals,
Take a Guess!
- It is greater than God and more evil than
the devil. The poor have it, the rich need it
and if you eat it you'll die. What is it?
- What can you catch but not throw?
The answers will be in
the next issue of The
BackPacker!
Joke of the Week
What do you call a
guy with a robber
toe?
“Roberto”
BA - DUM - TSS
APPOLICIOUS
by Sergio Melendez
Do you have a phone? By any chance is it an Android? Well if it is
you’re in luck because today I’ll be revealing the top 7 apps that are
available, for free, in the Play Store.
7. Task Manager. We all know that the more apps you download the
slower your phone will get, it even drains you battery life. Well not
anymore, Task Manager by Rhythm Software will automatically stop all
applications that are running that you aren’t even using. Say goodbye
to sudden freezes.
6. 9GAG Viewer (Tom’s Apps). I know I’m not the only one that loves
9GAG, so now we have it on our mobile! You can not only check
memes, but now you can save your favorite ones and share them with
your friends. The app is divided into Hot, Trending and Random. It’s a must have for all true 9GAG fans!
5. Simple mp3 Downloader (Golden NuggetApps). Search and download more than a million songs for
free. It’s paradise for all music lovers out there.
4. MusiXmatch Lyrics & Music (MUSIXMATCH). Have you ever heard a song and
wanted to know the lyrics? With this app that is now possible, just type in
the song’s name and instantly get the lyrics. But what happens when you
don’t know the name? Easy, just point your phone to the song, let it listen
and be amazed, the app will guess the song’s name and artist.
3. WhatsApp Messenger (WhatsApp Inc.). WhatsApp allows you to message
with your friends and family that have this app via internet access. Switch from
SMS messages to WhatsApp and send and receive messages, pictures, audios and video messages all for
free!
2. Viber: Free Calls and Messages (VIBER MEDIA, LTD). Just
like the name says it, you can now, not only text, but talk
for absolutely free to other Viber members. No more
wasting your precious minutes!
1. Lookout Security and Antivirus (Lookout Mobile
Security). The best app on the market, it doesn’t provide
any entertainment but its function is golden. It protects
your phone from viruses without wasting your battery life.
And it gets better! It conducts a detailed backup on all
your contacts, apps and messages. Which means that If
you ever lose your phone, it will manually locate it
anywhere, lock it and even sound an alarm to make sure you get it back!
TWINS
by Patricia Ochoa
This week I decided to write about twins because I
have a twin sister and there are a lot of pretty cool
facts about them that I wanted to share with you.
So, what are twins? Well, twins are when two
babies are born in the same pregnancy. There are
two types of twins, identical and fraternal.
Identical twins means that one fertilized egg
divides into two, which creates identical twins that
share the same genes and are always the same
sex. If your twins are identical, you'll have two girls
or two boys, and they'll look very much alike. Fraternal twins means that two eggs were fertilized
and two babies grow in separate “bags”.
What causes twins? No one really knows what
truly causes them since any woman can have
them, it doesn’t matter if you have relatives who
are identical twins, your chances are the same,
but probabilities of having twins do increase with
age (6% in mothers under 20, 21% in women
who are 35-39 years old and 56% for women
over 45).
Myths & Facts
Myth: Twins skip a generation
Fact: You may have heard, for example, that if
your father, or mother, have an identical twin then
you are more likely to have twins. This is false
because twins
don’t run in families, meaning having twins does
not run in your genes.
(Daniela & me)
Fact: 22% of twins are left-handed. In general
population, the number shrinks to 10%.
Myth: Twins speak their own language
Fact: Twins have a clear understanding of each
other. Since they spend so much time together; they
may pick up words said wrongly by the other twin
but both understand which might seem like a twin
language by other people.
Myth: Twins have to be born on the same date In fact, they can be born surprisingly far apart. The
longest recorded gap between twin births is 85
days.
The simplest explanation comes when one twin is
born just before midnight and the other after, but in
cases where there is a longer gap of time, it is often
because one twin is born early due to
complications, while the other is left in the womb to
further develop.
Fact: Twins separated at birth and reunited are
often found to be eerily similar in personality and
interests During the 60's and 70's, identical twins were
separated at birth in an attempt to determine
whether it was in their genes, or the way they were
raised that determined their personalities. However
unethical, the study demonstrated that a great deal
of whom we are comes from our genes; many of
the twins had an astonishing number of similarities
in personality and preferences despite spending
decades apart.
HATCHET
written by Gary Paulsen
Article by Jesus Lopez
Hatchet is one of the most awarded survival stories for teenagers, and
in my opinion, the best, for it doesn’t only describes how to survive in
the wilderness, but the story also represents an introspective struggle to
cope with past, present and future problems.
10 Random Facts of
the Week
The story revolves around a 13-year old boy, named Bryan Robeson.
Hatchet’s first scene defines
some of Bryan’s most
complicated moments with his
f amil y and t hen t he st or y
continues with the incident that
1.Cinderella is known as Rashin
Coatie in Scotland, Zezolla in
Italy, and Yeh-hsien in China.
will change Bryan’s life forever.
He is boarding on a airplane
alone with the pilot, when
suddenly the pilot dies from a
heart-attack. Bryan is then left
alone flying mid-air. After many
minutes of hovering above forest
ground he notices that the fuel
will soon run out and he is
forced to land the small plane
into a lake. Once he has touched
land, he notices that the only
thing left on him were his clothes
and a hatchet, which will later on save his life multiple times.
The story develops and shows instances of self-doubt and quick action
that obligate for immediate thinking in which the author shows the
importance of trusting
oneself and staying
focused on what is
“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase
really important in life.
Quote of the Week
perfection we will catch excellence.”
- Vince Lombardi, NFL coach (1913 - 1970)
A highly entertaining
and
extremely
powerful book,
including a faultless
knowledge of surviving through tough times makes this story an
excellent choice for not only teenagers but also adults.
2.The name Wendy was made
up for the book "Peter Pan."
3. No piece of paper can be
folded in half more than 7 times
4.Serving ice cream on cherry
pie was once illegal in Kansas
5. The Koala bear is not really
a bear, but is really related to
the kangaroo and the wombat.
6.It is impossible to lick your
elbow.
7.An elephant can die from a
broken heart 8.Crayola is a French word that
means "Oily chalk."
9.Tomatoes and cucumbers are
fruits
10 . C a t s h a v e o v e r o n e
hundred vocal sounds, dogs
only have about ten.
Tough
Mudder
Experience
by Natalia Peniche
Hey guys! I just came back from Austin. I
wanted to tell you how my experience at the
Tough Mudder event went.
We arrived last Thursday to Austin, at 6:00 p.m.
so we were able to go shopping.
The next day we just relaxed and went to visit
the city, by the way it is a really nice city.
Finally Saturday arrived and we had to get up
really early because the event was in a bicycle
park far from our hotel. Once we arrived we
signed up and started warming up. We met with
our team and at 9:30 we started along with
other 6,000 participants.
One of the first
obstacles that
we had to
overcome was
t h e “A r t i c
Enema”,
one of
the most
different
a n d
shocking things I have ever done
because you have to see how you are
going to react in a situation you have
never been before; I mean I guess
nobody of us have ever been in a frozen
tank after crossing 20 meters of mud
under barbed wire, right? So that was
something really hard but fun to do.
Almost every obstacle in the Tough
Mudder is about testing yourself, not
only physically but also mentally.
If you’re afraid of heights, or you do not
like to get dirty or you have any kind of
fear, once you are here you have to forget
about them and go through with each and
every one of the obstacles.
From my point of view the hardest part of this
experience was running almost 12 miles, I wasn
´t prepared to
run after
d o i n g
obstacles that
hard.
There was a
moment in
which, if you
s t o p p e d
running, your
legs started to
hurt, so you just had to keep on running until
you finished.
We finished all the tasks at 2:30 p.m. so it took
us a total of 6 hours the overcome all the
obstacles and run the 12 miles.
Definitely this was an unforgettable experience
that I would gladly do again.
So if you want to try any type of tough
obstacles and have a great time doing them,
the best thing I can recommend you to do is to
challenge yourself and go to a Tough Mudder.
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