Waffle - The French School Of Sydney

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THE INTERNATIONAL WAFFLE N°1 2014-2015 A hard pill to swallow – Waffle Just how far are pharmaceutical companies willing to go? Upcoming Science– Meditation – A 6-step guide to a better life! Nanotechnology Bug Burgers I-watches Techno music … and more The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 The International Waffle is a new kind of magazine. It was produced thanks to the combined efforts of a group of Year 11 students of the Lycée Condorcet, the International French School of Sydney during a few hours of English class time. The articles within therefore reflect the interests, the writing skills (and difficulties) of the students who wrote them. Collectively they chose the name of the magazine, decided on the table of contents and wrote the articles you will soon be reading yourself. What is more, before the publication of this first electronic issue, very little editing was done. The articles were proofread by the students themselves and only the most obvious remaining mistakes were weeded out by me. The only articles I looked at a little more carefully, before putting them online with all the others, were those submitted by other students having heard of the project and also wishing to collaborate. Because there are so many different articles to pick from, from in-depth articles on current affairs to cooking recipes, I feel sure that there is something in this magazine for you too. If not, perhaps you would prefer a lighter read… and should have a look at the Sydney Morning Croissant. Enjoy your read! The Editor The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 Table of contents A hard pill to swallow - Pharmaceutical companies are willing to go to great lengths to boost their sales. They even pay doctors to prescribe drugs which aren’t needed. Animation is not child’s play - Many think cartoons are “childish” and others consider them a work of art. It is true that, in appearance, animated movies are simply moving drawings. But what if they were more than that? When a surfer protects his passion - An interview with Mister Australia 2010, Mr. Boulenger. Mulan: the story as it was first told - There are many differences between the traditional story of Mulan and the Hollywood version. But, the moral of the story is always the same: women are equal to men. Meditation: a 6 step guide - Meditation is good for you. Follow this guide and you’ll be on your way to a better life! Apple Watch: Reactionary not Revolutionary! - For many months now there has been a rise in speculation, that Apple, the multibillion dollar company is opening its horizons by creating an Apple watch. History of Marathon – 2,500 Years of heroic running. Music from organic to electronic – Music has taken a logical direction that is breaking it away from its organic roots. The growing world of nanotechnology – Can nanotechnology pave the way to the next industrial revolution? Bug Burgers – Eating insects instead of beef might be a good decision to make. Old versus new technology - Technology has improved a lot over the last century. Gender equality and women’s empowerment – Gender equality is a major issue in the world, but changes and improvements are starting to decrease the equality gap between the sexes. Vogue: Still in vogue - The French magazine for women is resisting the crisis affecting the world of magazine edition. Waffle of the year – The chocolate waffle cookie Sydney Weather Forecast The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 A HARD PILL TO SWALLOW Pharmaceutical companies are willing to go to great lengths to boost their sales. They even pay doctors to prescribe drugs that aren’t necessarily. The pharmaceutical industry has become quite a lucrative business nowadays. Based on numbers published by the IMS (Institute for Healthcare Informatics), pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. earned around 330 billion U.S. dollars selling medication. To reach such results, these same pharmaceutical companies spent enormous sums of money on marketing. Some reports have claimed that budgets allotted to marketing drugs have by far exceeded those for research and development of new medicines. Nonetheless, we’ve all noticed that all those marketing ads always end in the same manner: “Ask your doctor if said drug is right for you”. Indeed, doctors are the people who can make or break a drug. Pharmaceutical companies can’t directly sell their products to the consumer no matter how much marketing they do. Medication needs to be prescribed by a physician. Which is why, while pharmaceutical companies spend roughly 4 billion U.S. dollars marketing directly to consumers, they are said to spend an estimated 24 billion U.S. dollars a year marketing their products to doctors. Lucrative business: Pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. earned around 330 billion dollars selling drugs. It’s quite a secretive business, but it is widely known that pharmaceutical companies establish contact with doctors through their sales representatives (commonly known as drug reps). On the surface, it is said that drug reps are employed to persuade doctors to prescribe their drugs to patients. When looking more closely at the methods used by these drug reps to convince doctors to promote their drugs, the answers are surprising to say the least. Doctors can receive small gifts, such as free dinners, tickets to an event or for travel, even job offers for the drug company, consulting/speaking fees, and all-expense-paid trips in luxury resorts or to exotic locations. Followed on the next page The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 INNOVATION The International Waffle In exchange, the doctor is expected to prescribe one companies’ drug more than a variant made by another drug company. There are ways drug companies can verify that, one method consists of accessing pharmacy sales records, where every medication prescribed by a doctor is registered. In the event that a doctor is prescribing a rival companies’ drug, the drug rep puts an enormous amount of pressure on the doctor, by reducing the amount of “free gifts”. Now there is absolutely no problem with drug companies advertising to doctors to prescribe their drugs if the doctor is correctly prescribing the medication. The problem is when they prescribe a drug when it isn’t necessary. With this level of pressure on the doctors, pharmaceutical companies have in the past crossed the line, pushing doctors to prescribe pills for non-approved uses. A company called AstraZeneca, once pushed doctors to overprescribe Seroquel, an anti-psychotic with dangerous side effects. Seroquel is a drug that has fairly narrow uses, treating bipolar disorders and schizophrenia, and they were marketing it for insomnia, depression and dementia. Unsurprisingly, AstraZeneca denied any wrongdoing, but paid half a billion U.S. dollars to settle the lawsuit. Furthermore, just about every major drug company has paid money to settle similar charges: Johnson & Johnson paid 2.2 billion U.S. dollars, Eli Lilly paid 1.4 billion, Pfizer Inc. paid 2.3 billion and GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) paid a record 3 billion dollars to settle accusations that it had pushed Wellbutrin, an anti-depressant as a cure for weight gain and sexual dysfunction. Furthermore, doctors can always refuse to see the drug reps. However, pharmaceutical companies have one other trick up their sleeve. This consists of paying doctors to talk to other doctors about their products over dinner. Now these procedures are banned in some countries around the world, notably in Great-Britain. However, pushing pharmaceutical drugs is legal in countries like Canada and the United States, which is worrying, considering the fact that 70% of the American population take prescription drug every day and that 50% take as many as 2. Researchers say a record 4 billion prescriptions were prescribed in 2011. To put it all briefly, the United States is a big market for prescription drugs. But the most striking information is that multiple reports have found that many drugs top prescribers are also often getting money directly from drug companies. This is especially worrying because we trust doctors with our health and well-being. Luckily, the American Health Department has opened a federal website in which average American citizens can search for all the perks given to doctors by pharmaceutical companies. This move is a step in the right direction; however, it would be best to ask your doctor if he is taking any pharmaceutical company money before you let him prescribe any drugs to you. N.T.T.F. The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 Animation: not just child’s play Many think cartoons are “childish”. Others consider them as a work of art. It is true that, in appearance, animated movies are simply moving drawings. But what if they were more than that? Animated cartoons are a big part of many people’s childhood, and they are becoming more and more recognized in the cinematic world around the planet. Pixar, Disney, DreamWorks, we all know the big names of the industry and no matter how old we get, we all know that we are still going to be excited to hear about the release of a new movie. But how big is the amount of work behind these cartoons? If you have already sat through the credits at the end of a film, in the hope of a hilarious final scene, you know how long the list of names goes. There are approximately 600 artists working solely on the animation aspect of the venture. Added to the number of people involved in screen writing, lighting, sound effects, artistic conception, voice over, etc. it makes up to about 900 employees. But why, you may ask, do we need so many for a simple 125 min cartoon? That is because there are approximately 50 frames per second in that kind of movie… and each and every one of them has to be produced individually. Furthermore, a single frame of an animation film can have millions of moving parts. For example, Sully, in Monsters, Inc., has 2,320,413 individual hairs on his body. When he moves, the animators have to animate each hair on his body to create a highly realistic effect. A single frame involving Sully took 11-12 hours of creative time and, on average, an hour of film involves 100,000 or more frames. The “rendering process” for 3D animated Monsters.inc . At the very beginning, each frame was drawn by hand. This was the case for the Disney classic “Sleeping Beauty”. But thanks to technological innovation, animation techniques were able to evolve as well, making the movies more and more realistic. Frame by frame of Disney’s Alice in Wonderland The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 With the recent development of 3D animation artists, nowadays, do not draw every single frame for their movie but rather use computerized methods to animate their characters. Surprisingly enough, animation is now more a technician’s job than that of an artist, and Mathematics are what it takes in this form of media. For example, mathematical algorithms are elaborated to generate the snow in “Frozen” or influence the light effects in “Ice Age”. Snow algorithms testing (Frozen) But, is all that work really worth it? Financially, it is: Pixar has made, from its movies, almost 7 billion dollars. And what about their artistic value? Is this hard work really recognized since few really acknowledge it? Many say it is, firstly because they are important for children: animators “create dreams”. But animation is absolutely not only for children for many reasons. A lot of adults and teenagers recognize the artwork. It is also a medium that allows expression and depth without the limitations of traditional media. A lot of animated movies were also created specifically for adults, and much like satirical cartoons, they can be used to criticize. Animation can also be considered as a bridge over the age gap. And we can all admit that we do feel nostalgia when watching children’s animated cartoons, as this is a feeling that keeps us young. Overall, we do not “grow out” of animation, it is a stigmatizing social idea that states that animation is more suited to younger kids than to adults. Article written by Louise Sieg The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 When a surfer protects his passion An interview with Mister Australia 2010, Mr. Boulenger. Tim Boulenger, is better known by the name of Mister Australia 2010. He is a young Franco-Australian surfer. His daily life is based on the ocean. Though he oscillates between his job as a surf coach and the manager of a bikini brand, he is also a great defender of the sea. In fact he teaches younger surfers how to respect their environment. Q: How long have you been surfing? The truth is that I see less pollution in the water now than before but only because infrastructures have been built to send all the pollution out of people’s sight -for example, through off-shore pipes. Tim Boulenger: I have been surfing half my life (15 years) and don’t plan to stop. Q: Have you noticed any changes in matters of surfing and pollution? Tim Boulenger: It is no secret that the planet is getting more polluted every day. In third-world countries such as Indonesia and India, water pollution is very high as people are not environmentally conscious and many lack education. The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 In Australia, the government and the population are concerned but still have a lot of progress to do. Q: Why is it important to teach young surfers to respect the sea? Tim Boulenger: Our natural instinct is to believe that everything is there for our taking. My philosophy is to respect others and others will respect you. If young and old surfers respect the ocean and its marine life, the ocean will provide clean waves and a fun environment for us to enjoy. So in the end it’s also about respecting ourselves. Q: What would you like to say to our readers? Tim Boulenger: Humans are the most amazing creatures on Earth. They have the power to create as much as to destroy and as Voltaire said: “With great power comes great responsibility”. As surfers it is our responsibility to keep and improve the health of our beaches, reefs and lagoons. KEEP SURFING! Interview by Jules BASSE The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 Mulan: the story as it was first told There are many differences between the traditional story and the Hollywood version of Mulan. But, the moral of the story is the same: women are equal to men. Picture of the Disney Mulan We all know the story of Mulan thanks to Disney. In fact, the traditional story of Mulan is very different from the story Disney tells us today. The original tale springs from The Poem of Mulan written between 386 and 533 A.D. This was a very brief text which basically consisted of the plot line: “Mulan gets bored of weaving, goes to war in place of her father, wins, comes back home and carries on weaving”. During the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), a play titled The Female Mulan Joins the Army in place of her Father by Xu Wei developed this basic plot and gave birth to the legend of Mulan as we know it today. The story of Mulan, by Xu Wei A bandit known as Leopard Skin gathers hundreds of thousands of men in a rebellion against the Emperor and declares himself King. In defence, the Emperor sends out conscription notices to every family ordering them to join the war effort against the usurper. Consequently, Mulan’s father is called upon to wage war against Leopard Skin. Mulan is a confident seventeen year-old girl. She is proficient in all the martial arts, including sword-fighting and archery. Due to her strength and intelligence, she can easily pass as a man. When her father is called upon to go to war, it appears completely sane and logical for her to go instead of him, so she takes to the task. As soon as she hears about her father’s conscription, Mulan drags her servant out to get some military supplies. While dressing up, she has to carefully unbind her feet – keeping in mind she will need to rebind them if she ever wants to get a husband after the war – and then practice her martial arts and sword skills. Finally ready, she suggests to her parents that her father cannot go to war and, as her little brother is too young, she is the only one who can replace him. Her father says nothing during the entire exchange, whereas her mother The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 seems more concerned about whether Mulan will return a virgin after travelling and sleeping next to men. Mulan assures her she will return a virtuous woman, and then heeds the call of the army recruiters. Her family lauds her and then cries as she leaves on her horse. Picture of the Xu Wan’s Mulan as she rides off to battle Thanks to her military skills, the army keenly welcomes her into the fold. Mulan (now known as Hu) is recommended as an able soldier. The commanding general picks Hu/Mulan for the important task of cutting through the battlefront and capturing Leopard Skin when they mount their next attack. By the time Mulan actually joins the army, the majority of the bandit army is already more or less wiped out by the commanding general. All that is left to do is for the Emeror’s army to lure Leopard Skin out of his hideout towards some steep cliffs by firing a catapult. As he tries to escape, Mulan grabs him and hands him over to the Emperor. The army triumphs due to Mulan’s quick thinking and after 12 years awy from home she can finally return to her family. There is no romantic love plot in this older version of Mulan. Indeed, Mulan is simply married to her neighbour as soon as she gets home. As for ancestral guardians, there are no supernatural elements in Xu Wei’s play whatsoever. There are no spiritual ancestors lending her a hand, and no tiny dragon. This makes any earlier version of Mulan the simple tale of a girl who goes to war instead of her father. When Mulan finally returns to her village, her family is busily arranging her next door neighbour as a husband for her. They are very happy to see her. Her husband-to-be comes over to visit her. Mulan becomes shy and retiring once again. She reverts back to being a modest woman. Equally, when she returns from war she is able to carry on with her weaving as a woman. It is only when she is back home that her comrades discover that she was a woman all along. After the war, she invites them back to her home village, and then disappears into the house to greet her parents. Her friends march in after her and happen to notice that she is suddenly female. Instead of baring their swords, shouting about dishonour, they gasp and shout with elation, saying that this is the greatest miracle of all time. This traditional story of Mulan is about a brave woman devoted to her family and her country that unsettles gender stereotypes. M.B The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 Meditation: a six step guide Meditation: a six step guide Meditation has long been lauded, and you have probably heard of it... If not: relax, for it is good for you! All you need to do is to follow these 6 steps and you’ll be on your way to a better life. Science has recently proven that meditation can actually improve our bodies at a genetic level... Impressive, right? Indeed, researchers of Harvard Medical School have found that long-terms practitioners of relaxation methods, such as yoga or meditation, have far more “disease fighting genes”. The good news for people with less healthy genes is that our genome is continuously modifying itself. Only two months of meditation and changes will become clearly noticeable. So what are you waiting for? Start now with this quick 6 step guide. 1- Start small. Meditation is something slow to acquire. Just as will all disciplines, it needs practice so the more you do it, the better you’ll get at it. You’ll feel better for adding something to your life without taking anything away. 2- You have to want it. Meditating is much simpler than you think. But, just like anything else, you have to want it to succeed. Say it out loud to yourself: I am open to meditation and I welcome a new practice into my life. This simple statement will give you all the energy and enthusiasm you need to continue reading and beginning your practice. It’s very important to accept that anyone can meditate as long as they want to. Cultivating meditative sensitivity includes listening to your truth, especially if that truth is “not right now, OK?”. 3- Set the mood. Candles? Pillows? Fountains? It’s great to create a space in your house that’s quiet, uncluttered and serene. This space can be dedicated to your practice. Keep in mind, though, that you can meditate anywhere. You can meditate on a park bench, on your desk, in the bathtub, even on the subway. Meditation can become a part of your daily routine and you can do it anytime, anywhere. 4- Experiment. While many of us think that meditation is all about sitting nice and tall on a firm floor beneath (?) a Bonzi tree, beginners should try to meditate in different ways... Try sitting, lying, opening your eyes or closing them, etc. Don’t be afraid to vary! 5- Clear you mind. Start with a deep breath. Focus on it. How does it feel? Where is the air going? Feel it flow in and out of your lungs. If a thought comes rushing into your head, try not to go with it. Meditation is all about the present and focusing on yourself, letting go of the thoughts that try to invade your mind. If you can’t let go of feelings or emotions overwhelming you, simply focus on these. How do they make you feel? In four words: feel your body live. You can create a mantra for yourself to listen to yourself (repeating “Om” for instance). 6- Finish off slowly. No one wants to finish meditation with “Oh shoot, I forgot to send the E-mail to my boss! Better do it now...”. No. Take your time, stand up slowly. Take deep breaths, stretch out and congratulate yourself with a small (healthy) snack or cup of tea. Meditation is hard work, and you will inevitably come to a point where it seemingly does not fit into the picture anymore. THIS is when you need to re-invigorated with the practice. Chances are that losing the ability to focus on meditation is parallel with your inability to focus in other areas of your life! Meditation is an absolutely wonderful practice... All you need to do is to follow the tips above and you’ll be set! Guru Flora The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 APPLE WATCHES Ever since 1999, Apple has been characterized as “revolutionary” thanks to the mouse with the Macintosh, the scroll wheel with the iPod, and the multi-touch of the iPhone. It seems however that Apple may today have gone too far. Could it be more reactionary than revolutionary? For many months now there has been a rise in speculation. Apple, the multibillion dollar company is opening its horizons by creating an Apple watch. Apple claims to have introduced the most personal device on the market, one with a unique variety of designs capable of pleasing a global population. Apple watches are said to cost between $499 and $14,000 and will be launched on April, 24th 2015. Apple watches are also said to be the first truly multifunctional watches. They will not only allow users to know the time but will simultaneously keep them in touch with the rest of the world. Some people, however, think that such a creation only offers solutions to non-existing problems. The so-called Apple watch is a miniature Iphone ...and its cost is 75% of the Iphone6. What is a watch? A watch is a small timepiece worn typically on a strap to one's wrist to tell you the time. The Apple watch does not present any new capabilities but a new interface. It will be an interface that we wear on our bodies rather than tuck away in our pockets. Moreover, the use of this watch will not be to tell simply tell you the time but to prevent people from fishing for their phones every couple of minutes when they are waiting for a message. Why fix something that is not broken? The new device seems very un-Apple-like. It is, in fact, not revolutionary but reactionary considering what is already on the market. Apple has not put on the market a novel design since the death of its co-founder Steve Jobs. The company has since then tried to reinvent the Apple idea. The Apple watch will not however enrich your life compared to many of the firm's other innovations. The watch is in fact just a fashion accessory to the Iphone6. The watch just does on your wrist what you can already do on your phone. This may seem like a good idea but it The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 does not really answer the question of why you’d spend several hundred dollars for a device that does nothing more than what you have already got in your pocket. Can Apple watches become a burden? Of course, there remains the slight possibility that the watch won’t free you from a device but instead do the opposite. People may become addicted to their new device and seclude themselves from reality. They will be unable to relax and will be constantly distracted. Furthermore, the Apple watch has generated further issues: is it sustainable, is it waterproof, will it have a long battery life? This watch seems to be more of a burden than a pleasure compared to other watches where there is no need to charge every night or be careful about the weather conditions. The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 The History of Marathon The modern Marathon is a reminder of the run of the soldier Pheidippides from a battlefield near the site of the town of Marathon, Greece, to Athens in 490 B.C. During the 2004 Olympic games, the legend of Pheidippides was honored by a 24.85 mile (40,000 meters) run from Marathon Bridge to the Olympic stadium in Athens. This route, run by the 2004 marathon runners, was the very same as that followed by Pheidippides centuries ago. Legend has it that the Greek soldier Pheidippides was bringing news of a Greek victory over the Persians. As he delivered the momentous message "Niki!" ("victory"), he suddenly collapsed and died. 2,500 Years of Heroic Running... The marathon race was first organized on 10th April 1896 and was especially important to all the Greeks. Greece was hosting the first modern Olympic Games that same year and they had yet to win a medal and bring glory to their nation. 25 runners therefore assembled on Marathon Bridge in Athens. The starter mumbled a few words and fired the gun, and the race was on. When it was all over only nine runners finished, 8 of them were Greeks. The host nation was ecstatic, and the marathon was born. The United States was one of the 9 nations present at the 1896 Athens Olympics, thanks to sponsorship of athletes by the Boston Athletic Association. Middle distance runner Arthur Blake was the only American to enter the first marathon. Blake won a silver medal in the 1,500 meter race, 3 days before the marathon and was thus exhausted and had to drop out after only 14.5 miles. During the 1908 Olympic Games in London, the marathon distance was changed to 26.2 miles, with the 2.2 miles added on so that the race could finish in front of royal family's viewing box. This added 2 miles to the course, and is the origin of the Marathon tradition of shouting "God save the Queen!" . After 16 years of extremely heated discussion, this 26.2 miles distance was established at the 1924 Olympics in Paris as the official marathon distance. In 1996, on the 100th anniversary of the modern Athens Marathon, more than 3,000 runners from every part of the world gathered to run in the footsteps of Pheidippides. Today, the marathon is a famous and popular aspect of the Olympic Games, but only those athletes having participated in an earlier race can take part. J.C. The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 Music: from organic to electronic Music has taken a technological direction breaking it away from its organic roots. Today, music is less organic and more “electronic” than in the olden days. Music isn’t being made yet in factories but musicians have access to electronic instruments, sophisticated software which very much mechanise the process of musical creation. Moreover, the beat has become more accurate and consistent thanks to drum machines and click tracks. Before the creation of computers, the tempo would shift and differ within each song. Songs today, however, have lost much of their originality and their authenticity because of the precision of the electronic devices which helped create them. Since the dawn of time, humankind has had music, it has been the ideal way to define ourselves. As society has changed, the music created has changed too. The different genres have evolved and revolutionised the music created in the 21st century. Music is a vocal or instrumental sound combined in such a way as to produce a form of beauty, harmony th and express emotions. The 20 century is described as the age of musical diversity. The musicians have more creative freedom. Music, however, seems to have taken a technological direction. Composers have created their own unique music thanks to the use of computers and thanks to the evolution of technology. This shift in creativity is explained by the different layers and the precision of the technique: such as the combination of the instruments, the shifts in dynamics, meter and pitch. There has been much improvement in radio, TV and recording. Some people, however, say that these advancements have gone too far: music has lost its “purity”, it can no longer be recognized as quality music since it has become a ‘kind of one man band’. The way we listen to music has changed drastically throughout the years, some artists still release their albums on vinyl records since they feel that they keep their authenticity and the soul of the singer. However, in 2001, when the Apple Ipod was launched on the market, this changed the way the entire world listened to music forever, making it portable and allowing us to expand our music collections. With more advances in computer technology and increased Internet capabilities, the songs have become relatively low cost. Television influences the way we listen to music with artists. The music seems to be way louder as part of the so-called “loudness wars”. Some songs produced nowadays seem to have lost all of the soul of the music. They have lost all meaning as to what music was initially all about: to tell a story (love story…). Clara T The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 The Growing World of Nanotechnology Could nanotechnology be the new industrial revolution? “In thinking about nanotechnology today, what is most important is understanding where it leads, what nanotechnology will look like after we reach the assembler breakthrough.” - K. Eric Drexler microscopes such as the scanning electron microscope, the atomic force microscope or the scanning tunneling microscope. “Nanotechnology is the idea that we can create devices and machines all the way down to the nanometre scale, which is a billionth of a metre, about half the width of a human DNA molecule.” – Paul McEuen Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter at the atomic, molecular and supramolecular scale, that is to say, one billionth of a metre. That’s really, really small, so small in fact that we can’t even see it with traditional microscopes (the ones you use at school), if we want to take a peek at this microscopic world we have to utilise some of our finest Nanotechnology varies from one nanometre to 100 nanometres; manipulating matter at such a small scale is very hard and expensive. However it is already possible and will become mainstream as prices drop and new technologies arrive on the market for consumer use. The benefits for humanity could be enormous, nanotechnology could tremendously boost medical research speeds, and it could be implemented in foods, increase our living standards, exterminate famine all around the globe, and would also be beneficial to electronic research. However, some believe that it could also be our worst nightmare, in the wrong hands this new technology could potentially end humanity’s existence, and lead us to extinction. The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 First of all, let’s start by talking about the positive aspect of this rising technology. The potential it has is immense, if used in the right hands it could lead our race to prosperity and give us the life we dream of, one where everyone is happy, where you don’t have to work in order to live and where, if we use it correctly, we could live forever. The most famous and widespread idea of what nanotechnology could look like is the “nanobot” that could go in our veins and do just about anything to our body. This is indeed one of the shapes it could take on, and it could be the most revolutionary one out them all. That way it could, like I said, go into our body and after being programmed to cure us of all diseases, destroy cancer cells if the patient has cancer, eliminate any virus or bacteria, rendering us immune to just about any epidemics that could pose a threat to our continued existence. But that’s just one of the many uses it could have if it were implemented as a miniature robot, it could also replace a portion of our red blood cells and could store much more air therefor enabling us to run for fifteen minutes without taking a breath. If not used for our body, it could go into the atmosphere and destroy the CO2 molecules fixing global warming once and for all. The only problem for this type of nanotechnology is that it costs a lot to simply make the bots one by one, so one answer would be to program them to self-replicate until they reach a certain number making their growth much more affordable. This form could also cure us of our greatest disease: death. Indeed it could enter our body and replace or repair our degrading cells, this would mean that aging would be stopped and we would theoretically live forever. The one problem for this use is that it is very tricky for us to even map the brain, to actually modify it (repair the cells or replace them) would be too dangerous due to the unknown side effects. Another form it could take on is the “assembler” as K. Eric Drexler would call it; its main function would be to reassemble nanoscale particles to make any object desired from anything. This assembler could theoretically turn dirt into a fresh steak or any kind of food and end world hunger. The assembler, if used at a large scale, could also create a never ending energy supply to our civilisations: it would create fuel, coal, and other energy producing materials. Many more uses can be found of this arising technology but these are the main ones being discussed today as they are the source of quite a few ethical and technical problems. The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 This is where the negative side to all this comes in. The first and most alarming problem to this technology has to do with the “self-replicating” thing that the nanobots have going on. In order for them to self-replicate they would have to be programmed to do so. And, as many theorists would say, humans aren’t perfect, so they can’t make perfect things, and since they are the ones that write the program there is the possibility for a mistake. And if this mistake affects the self-replicating procedure, it could have everlasting effects on our existence. For example, if the machines were originally programmed with the order to “eat up the CO2 particles in the atmosphere and keep replicating until we tell you to stop”, and the program had a flaw, it could lead to the machines nonstop replicating and eating up all of the CO2 on earth until non is left, killing us all on its way to destroy the evil CO2 it was programmed to take out. But that’s only one scenario and some researchers are worried that it could actually happen. The other major issue is that with the assembler, there would be no more need for anyone to work, and if we can make anything so easily then money would be rendered useless because everything would immediately lose all value. That can pose a major concern for us due to the fact that there would be a need for massive social change and we (humans) don’t tend to accept change so easily, that could provoke some rebellions and even acts of terrorism. And if terrorists got a hand on nanotechnology it could be disastrous. All in all, nanotechnology has the potential to bring about an age of everlasting prosperity and peace where we wouldn’t have to work and poverty, famine and disease would be history, but it also could lead to a dystopian future where we no longer have control over it and would eventually be wiped out. It is for us to decide whether we want the good future or the bad one and we must take the necessary steps to insure the success of this technology and the realisation of its potential. The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 Cyrian Joannon Bug burgers In the West, we eat beef, chicken or pork just about every day. But in other civilizations from South and East Asia or Latin America insects are consumed instead of meat. In fact, eating insects could solve many of our problems caused by plethoric beef livestock: water could be saved, and greenhouse gases could be reduced. So will we all be eating insects? One of the most eaten insects in the world is the grasshopper, so let’s establish a comparison with beef. First, a dietary comparison. Beef has a high percentage of cholesterol compared to the grasshopper which has nearly none. Moreover, a 100 gram portion of beef contains 285 kilocalories and 18 grams of fat whereas the grasshopper contains between 96 and 153 kilocalories and only 6 grams of fat. Therefore, beef provides 48 % of fat and grasshoppers only 16 %. What is more, the main characteristic of beef is its source of protein. Beef contains 52 % of protein and grasshoppers contain 72 % of protein. So insects are a much more reliable source of protein. They finally provide much less fat and calories than beef. Yet another advantage of eating insects is that we can actually eat much more of them than we can eat of a cow. 80 % of the body of the insect is edible, whereas only 40 % of a cow is edible. Secondly, an environmental comparison. In order to produce one pound of beef, it takes 2.900 gallons of water and 1.345 square metres of land, whereas only one gallon of water and 134 square feet of land to produce one pound of crickets. Furthermore, the cows and the crickets need to be fed in order to generate meat. Because of the fact that 80 % of the body of the insect is edible, whereas only 40 % the beef is edible, if 10 kilograms of food are provided to the cow, then one kilogram of meat will be produced, but the same amount of food provided to crickets will allow the production of 9 kilograms of meat. Finally, crickets reject only 1 % of the methane that cattle reject when producing equivalent amounts of meat. Beef might have a delicious taste, but it has much less protein and much more fat than insects, which are actually delicious too! Plus, the production of beef has a bad impact on the environment since it rejects methane and carbon dioxide and demands a lot of water whereas insects are much more eco-friendly. Insects are good for the taste buds and the environment, so why not start eating them! The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 Old vs. New Technology Sport Vitesse has a top speed of 258 MPH, and goes from 0-60 in 2.46 seconds. Technology has improved a lot over the last century 5 – In 1996, a 20-year-old person in the U.S. with HIV was expected to live about three to five years. Today, that person is expected to live to be 69 years old. New technologies are any set of productive techniques offering a significant improvement over the established technology for a given process, in a specific historical context. 6 – In 1921 the deaths per million miles driven was 24, in 2012 it is of 1.13. So the fatal car crashes have dropped by 95%. 7– Over the last century, remarkable advances have been made in the automobile, aeronautical and health industries and in technology in general. 10 Facts about technology 1 – A 265 GB thumb drive holds the same amount of data as 213,000 floppy disks. 2 – The cheapest kindle can hold 1,400 books. Considering that the average weight of a book is 1kg, you will have to have 1,400kg in your pocket to do the same as a Kindle. 3 – In 1908 Ford Model T had a 20 horsepower engine. Today you can buy a riding mower with the same horsepower. 8 – The smallest iPod holds about 480 songs. It is the equivalent of 32 cassette tapes. 9 – A 1965 Super 8 film cartridge held enough film to record 2.5 minutes at 24 frames per second. A GoPro records 2.25 hours of footage at 30 FPS. 10 – In 1946, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania created ENIAC, one of the first computers. It was a 30-ton machine with 17,468 vacuum tubes, 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors and occupied a 10 x 15 metre room. It was a calculator. 4 – The 1938 Bugatti Veyron Type 57SC Corsica had Théo Berthet-Bondet a top speed of 110 MPH, and went from 0-60 in 10 seconds. The 2013 Bugatti Veyron Grand The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 VOGUE: Still in vogue Compared to Cosmopolitan or Glamour which have both undergone respectively a 6,43 % and a 11,52 % decrease in the number of issues published, Vogue Paris has increased its distribution by 2,42 % during the years 2013 and 2014. Concerning the total number of sales of the magazine, this, however, has decreased by 0.84 %. This remains a relatively small slump compared to Cosmopolitan’s 8,32 % fall in sales and Glamour’s 12,25 % catastrophic drop. Vogue is therefore not a magazine like any other. It is here question of very envied exceptional quality and arousing the attraction of the "lower" social classes, which have no access to the types of products mentioned in articles or advertisements. It is the fashion magazine showing the example, and by which the women are going to be inspired to try to imitate the supreme elegance and the people who carry her. Next to the necessity, the luxury would be essential to dream. Arouse the dream; it is to lean on a product of very high quality, a big longevity, an exaggerated price level, it is to benefit from the image and from the established prestige of a brand. Luxury is based on the know-how of creators, small businesses, artists, as well as on the aura of prestigious Evolution of the number of magazines published brands. Perfumes, wines, fashion design and the over 4 years high-end of ready-to-wear clothing, jewellery and 4.00% accessories, furniture are the key sectors of the 2.00% luxury industries. These are all covered by Vogue 0.00% which makes buying Vogue the equivalent to -2.00% buying luxury. -4.00% Diffusion France -6.00% Diffusion totale In France, unemployment is 9.9 % and the growth -8.00% -10.00% Total sales for each magazine between 2010 and 2014 -12.00% 450000 -14.00% rate amounts to 0.4 %. French society is strongly marked by disparities in income. It has been estimated that between 2004 and 2011 high incomes have risen by 42,8 % while the income of the rest of the population has decreased by 73 % (source: The Monitoring Observatory based on data produced by the INSEE). The 10 % richest portion of the population had in 2011 an annual average income of 57,645€ while the poorest 10 % had on average 8,020€ to live on for a year. Nombre d'exemplaires distribués Pourcentage of evolution It is "THE" archetypal magazine. It looks like no other. Inside the glossy pages are also quality content. 400000 350000 300000 250000 Vogue 200000 Glamour 150000 Cosmopolitan 100000 50000 0 2010 2011 2012 2013 20132014 So, in front of a big majority of the population affected by the crisis, there is a small minority (10 % of the population) which can still allow itself "ostentatious" spending. To conclude, many different reasons could explain why the Vogue Magazine has not undergone the edition crisis. Vogue Paris also differs by its price. With a price of 4,90€, the magazine is by far more expensive than its competitors: 1.78€ for Cosmopolitan and 1.80€ for Glamour. If luxury is rare and if what is rare is expensive, then we can say that Vogue is unmistakably a luxury magazine. Camille Guezello The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 Society | Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Gender equality is a major issue in the world, but changes and improvements are starting to decrease the equality gap between men and women. Gender equality should be a basic human these countries, there is relatively equitable right, but in our world there is a persistent gap distribution of available income, resources, and between women and men in access to opportunities for men and women. The greatest opportunities and decision-making. Globally, gender gaps are identified primarily in the Middle women have fewer opportunities for economic East, Africa, and South Asia. However, a number of participation than men and win less money; they countries in these regions, including Lesotho, also have less access to basic and higher South Africa, and Sri Lanka outrank the United education. Furthermore, women have greater States in gender equality. health and safety risks. Empowered women and The Peace Corps Volunteers are working with girls contribute to the health and productivity of communities to address gender equality and their families, communities, and countries, empower women and girls. In 1974, Congress creating benefits for everyone. signed the Percy Amendment requiring Peace Education is a key area of focus. Although Corps Volunteers to actively integrate women into the world is making progress in the economic, political, and social development of achieving equality in education, girls still make up their countries. Many Peace Corps Volunteers a higher percentage of out-of-school children than implement the Camp GLOW program, also known boys. Approximately one quarter of girls in the as the Girls Leading Our World, to help girls developing world do not attend develop self-esteem and leadership skills. school. Furthermore, 1 out of 5 people in the Recognizing that men and boys must be equal world are illiterate, 2/3 being women. By partners in achieving gender equality, volunteers prioritizing girls' education they are more likely to also teach leadership and life skills to boys through postpone marriage, raise a smaller family and have Teaching Our Boys Excellence (TOBE) camps. Peace healthier children. Corps Volunteers promote gender equality and Moreover, another important means for attaining women's empowerment through health gender equality is women's economic and political education, business development, and by raising empowerment. Though women comprise more awareness of women's rights and contributions to than 50% of the world's population, they only own their communities. 1% of the world's wealth. Annualised full-time Therefore, even if gender equality is still earnings for women are, on average, 18.8% less an issue in today’s world, this problem is becoming than for men. Throughout the world, women and more and more minor thanks to associations, girls perform long hours of unpaid domestic volunteers and groups who aim to actively work and win less money at work than men. integrate women into economic, political and Globally, no country has fully attained gender social development throughout the world. equality. Scandinavian countries like Iceland, Norway, Finland, and Sweden lead the world in their progress toward closing the gender gap. In L.V. The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 The chocolate waffle cookie Waffle of the year Recipe: Cream the butter and sugar, then add the eggs, cocoa and vanilla and mix until combined. Then add the flour and mix until combined, scraping down the sides. Mixture will be thick. Heat your waffle iron and spray with cooking spray. Take a scoopful of batter and place in each waffle grid and lower the lid. Cook for approximately a minute or two. Let cool on a rack and spread chocolate frosting on top and sprinkle with chocolate chips if desired. Ingredients Original recipe makes 10 to 12 waffles        ½ cup butter (1 stick) ¾ cup sugar 2 eggs 6 Tbsp. cocoa 1 tsp. vanilla 1 cup flour Chocolate frosting, if desired The History of the chocolate waffle cookie: The chocolate waffle cookie was actually a cookie first created at home. It was inspired by the recipe of waffles. It is in fact a waffle with a thicker batter which will make the waffle into a cookie. This recipe is a very old and was actually very common in the 1960s. Most people now know of this recipe from their parents or grandparents. A very famous cooking blog found this recipe on an old grocery list in a very old cooking folder. The blog is “Yummy Healthy Easy” by Jen. However, the chocolate waffle cookie can be a very demanding desert. In one serving (around 2 cookies) you can consume around 81 calories. Here are the nutrition facts (amount per serving):                Calories 80.7 Total Fat 5.3 g Saturated Fat 1.6 g Polyunsaturated Fat 1.1 g Monounsaturated Fat 2.3 g Cholesterol 17.0 mg Sodium 48.3 mg Potassium 31.2 mg Total Carbohydrate 7.8 g Dietary Fiber 0.5 g Sugars 3.2 g Protein 1.3 g Vitamin A 3.7 % Vitamin B -120.7 % Vitamin B -60.4 %                Vitamin C 0.0 % Vitamin D 0.5 % Vitamin E 2.7 % Calcium 0.6 % Copper 4.1 % Folate 2.9 % Iron 3.8 % Magnesium 2.3 % Manganese 6.5 % Niacin 1.7 % Pantothenic Acid 0.8 % Phosphorus 2.3 % Riboflavin 2.9 % Selenium 4.5 % Thiamin 3.0 % The International Waffle Online 2014-2015  Zinc 2.0 % Master Chef Clea The International Waffle Online 2014-2015 The International Waffle Online 2014-2015