aldabarros

Professora Alda Barros

2008-06-08T16:15:00.000-07:00

Tive a liberdade de fazer esta montagem e espero realmente que a professora goste.
Joana Silva, 11º A

THE LAST DAY

2008-06-08T15:40:00.002-07:00

Fotos de Joana Silva (http://www.flickr.com/joanarodrigues)

2008-06-07T10:39:00.000-07:00

Para os meus alunos-11ºA

2008-06-06T14:44:00.000-07:00

Sinto a necessidade de vos dirigir as palavras que hoje de manhã a comoção impediu que as proferisse. Como sou um pouco fraca a gerir as emoções utilizei esta forma esta forma de poder expressar tudo o que me vai na alma e dizer-vos que nestes dois anos também passei momentos muito bons convosco. A vossa alegria contagiante e a vossa espontaneidade muitas vezes me "amaciaram" os meus momentos menos bons.

Tenho também de vos dizer que jamais esquecerei o vosso apoio e a vossa presença ao meu lado no momento mais difícil da minha vida. Nunca irei esquecer a vossa solidariedade. É isto que faz com que esta profissão seja tão gratificante.

Não posso diexar também deixar de vos pedir desculpa por as coisas não terem talvez decorrido pelo melhor devido ás circunstâncias da minha vida pessoal. Foi por isso que ficaram privados da vossa visita de estudo por não vos puder acompanhar.

E para terminar quero desejar-vos que todos os vossos sonhos se concretizem, porque vocês merecem: sois uns "miúdos" fantásticos! Ides ficar para sempre no meu coração!!!!!!

E nunca se esqueçam:

"When there is a will, there is a way"

2007-12-04T10:03:00.000-08:00

more exercises on adjective formation

2007-12-04T09:58:00.000-08:00

adjective formation exercises

2007-12-04T09:53:00.000-08:00

adjective formation -practice

2007-12-02T06:47:00.000-08:00

more adjective formation exercises

2007-12-02T06:36:00.000-08:00

adjective formation

2007-11-29T13:41:00.000-08:00

another dictionary of slang

2007-11-29T13:36:00.000-08:00

dictionary of slang

2007-11-23T04:13:00.000-08:00

dolphin massacre in japan

2007-11-22T13:28:00.000-08:00

new age travellers

2007-11-22T10:57:00.000-08:00

about veganism

Animal Rights

2007-11-11T13:26:00.000-08:00

"Rise Against is an American punk/melodic hardcore band from Chicago, Illinois, which was formed in 1999. Many themes in its songs relate to social commentary. It currently consists of four members, Tim McIlrath (vocals, guitar), Joe Principe (bass guitar), Brandon Barnes (drums), and Zach Blair (guitar).
The band is all vegetarian and active with the animal rights group PETA, they serve the group by offering them their time and money.
According to their website, Rise Against endorses liberal political philosophies, as they are "big fans of Fat Mike's political views." Fat Mike is the lead singer and songwriter of the band NOFX which is known for left leaning politics. Moreover, they endorse the Punkvoter website, which is a liberal site for punks.
All of the group's members are vegetarians (as stated in an online interview that also talks about Joe's love of pizza) and active supporters of PETA. Their video for the single "Ready to Fall" addresses environmental degradation and its effect on animals, as well as animal cruelty inherent to factory farming and sport hunting. The group has called the video the most important video Rise Against has ever made. The Director's Cut of the video was first made available to a PETA website. " - In wikipedia

Lyrics

2007-11-11T08:54:00.001-08:00

GMF - cartoons

2007-11-11T08:34:00.000-08:00

cartoons

The zero article - exercises

2007-11-07T01:39:00.000-08:00

The Definite or Zero Article Exercise

Fill the gaps with the correct answer in brackets.

1 I'm tired. I'm going to ______________. ( the bed / bed )

2 Blast! I forgot to go to ______________. ( the bank / bank )

3 I hate going to ______________, don't you? ( the church / church )

4 I'm nervous because I've got to go to ______________. ( the dentist / dentist )

5 I loved being at ______________. ( the university / university )

6 We need to be at ______________ in an hour. ( the airport / airport )

7 I normally watch ______________ after dinner. ( the TV / TV )

8 I listen to ______________ in the morning. ( the radio / radio )

9 All politicians should be sent to ______________. ( the prison / prison )

10 Her husband got home early from ______________. ( the work / work )

11 I'm having ______________ at Begonya's tonight. ( the dinner / dinner )

12 I love ______________. ( the cheese / cheese )

13 Have you seen ______________ in the new delicatessen? ( the cheese / cheese )

14 Why didn't someone tell me he was in ______________? ( the hospital / hospital )

15 He lives somewhere in ______________ Germany. ( the southern / southern )

16 That pub is somewhere in ______________ of the city. ( the north / north )

17 Holistic medicine is practised by ______________. ( the Chinese / Chinese )

18 I love ______________ food. ( the Chinese / Chinese )

19 HMV is in ______________ Street. ( the Oxford / Oxford )

20 We met for drinks in The Lamb and Flag near ______________ Garden. ( the Covent / Covent )

Jethro tull- wond'ring days

2007-10-04T10:59:00.000-07:00

song

Funny Environmental Quotes

2007-10-02T09:02:00.000-07:00

There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist."
Mark Twain

"The college idealists who fill the ranks of the environmental movement seem willing to do absolutely anything to save the biosphere, except take science courses and learn something about it."
P.J. O'Rourke

"If a tree falls in the woods, and there's no one there to hear it, how will the Environmentalists react?"
Anonymous

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better. It's not."
Dr. Seuss, from The Lorax

"A Zen master, when asked where he would go after he died, replied, 'To Hell, for that's where help is needed most.'"
Roshi Philip Kapleau

"A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory."
Steven Wright

"I think that all good, right thinking people in this country are sick and tired of being told that all good, right thinking people in this country are fed up with being told that all good, right thinking people in this country are fed up with being sick and tired. I'm certainly not, and I'm sick and tired of being told that I am."
Monty Python

Wond'ring Again by Jethro Tull

2007-10-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

"Wond'ring Again"

There's the stillness of death on a deathly, unliving sea,
And the motor car magical world long since ceased to be,
When the Eve-bitten apple returned to destroy the tree.

Incestuous ancestry's charabanc ride,
Spawning new millions, throws the world on its side.
Supporting their far-flung illusion, the national curse,
And those with no sandwiches, please get off the bus.

The excrement bubbles, the century's slime decays;
And the brainwashing government lackeys would have us say,
It's under control and we'll soon be on our way.
To a grand year for babies and quiz panel games
Of the hot hungry millions you'll be sure to remain.
The natural resources are dwindling and no one grows old,
And those with no homes to go to, please dig yourselves holes.

We wandered through quiet lands, felt the first breath of snow.
Searched for the last pigeonslate grey, I've been told.
Stumbled on a daffodil,
Which she crushed
In the rush;
Heard it sigh,
And left it to die.
At once felt remorse and were touched by the loss of our own,
Held its poor broken head in her hands,
Dropped soft tears in the snow,
And it's only the taking that makes you what you are.

Wond'ring aloud, will a son one day be born
To share in our infancy,
In the child's path we've worn?
In the aging seclusion of this earth,
That our birth
Did surprise
We'll open his eyes.

Artist: Jethro Tull
Album: Living in the Past

Martin Luther King

2007-05-11T06:21:00.000-07:00

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led the civil rights movement and fought for racial equality with something much stronger than tolerance.
By Charles Gilmer

Persistent recurrences of racial incidents and the public debate over welfare reform and affirmative action continue to engage the American consciousness with the question of race. The 1992 riots in the wake of the verdict in the Rodney King beating trial were the first signs of fracturing. Varying reactions to the O.J. Simpson trial verdicts revealed the differences in perspective that black and white Americans generally possess. Both cases stirred anger and resentment across racial lines.

Then the 1995 Million Man March led by Louis Farrakhan called on black men to appreciate, demonstrate and appropriately use their power. This march was a stark contrast to the 1963 March on Washington where Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech was delivered. Bigger, blacker, and more masculine, the Million Man March abandoned Dr. King's call for the moral conscience of the nation to awaken. Instead a new, self-authenticating black power dismissed the need to identify any real common ground with the larger society. To the organizers of the march, the pursuit of self definition rendered the feelings and thinking of whites, Jews and other minorities incidental.

How did Martin Luther King's vision of a cooperative, unifying society turn into this very different image? Some would call it a reconciling of King's dream with reality, a more practically grounded approach to positive change in the black community. Others found it disturbing, the positive and hopeful messages of the day tainted by the leadership of a controversial leader of an Islamic sect.

Tensions continue, and weekly we hear of yet another incident somewhere in our country where race is presented as a precipitating factor.

What has become of Martin Luther King's Dream?
In the wake of the civil rights movement in which Dr. King was so dramatically used, there came a flood of social programs that sought to address the causes and consequences of racism. Cultural education, cross cultural dialogue, and the current multi-culturalism all hearken back to the civil rights movement for their mandates.

In the pursuit of the rights of various groups, under the civil rights umbrella, one thing has become clear. That which was called right by one group is often called wrong by another. Rather than resolving the differences, tolerance is championed as the appropriate response to the varying perspectives that have emerged. Yet tolerance has no cohesive nor healing power in society. It means little more than leaving one another alone. It leads to indifference, not understanding. Tolerance allows the gulfs between us to remain in place. In fact, there is little in the concept of tolerance to pull us away from racial isolation.

Tolerance brings with it an implicit moral relativism. Who is to say what is right and what is wrong? Moral relativism suggests that there are no absolutes to which we can all be held accountable. Such a thing was far from the thinking of Martin Luther King. In one of his works Dr. King makes the following statements:

"At the center of the Christian faith is the affirmation that there is a God in the universe who is the ground and essence of all reality. A Being of infinite love and boundless power, God is the creator, sustainer, and conserver of values....In contrast to the ethical relativism of [totalitarianism], Christianity sets forth a system of absolute moral values and affirms that God has placed within the very structure of this universe certain moral principles that are fixed and immutable."
Dr. King did not speak in terms of tolerance. His ideal was love.

"Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." (Strength to Love, p. 51)
Yet, in current discussions of race relations the word love is seldom mentioned. Dr. King insisted love was the dominant or critical value by which we could overcome racial strife. The love he spoke of was a biblical love, one that is unconditional, unselfish and seeks the absolute good of another party. That kind of love is a tough love, one that confronts wrong and injustice with the truth--absolute truth as decreed by an all powerful God and enables the individual to love their enemy.

Martin Luther King's Dream
As we consider giving new life to "The Dream," we have to acknowledge that, in Dr. King's speaking and writing, "The Dream" does begin with God. For without God, there is no absolute transcendent truth on which to base a call to justice. Nor is there any source from which to draw the strength to love about which he spoke.

A certain degree of skepticism about this perspective is understandable. Too often, those who claim to be Christians have failed to live in keeping with the clear teachings of the Christian Scriptures. These failures have frequently been in matters of race. It is clear from the Bible (and Dr. King affirmed) that the church ought to provide spiritual and moral leadership in society. However, as we observe the history of the American church, many parts of it have been passive, or even regressive, in matters of race. Even in the current era, the church speaks to the issues of the day with a fragmented voice. A case in point is the tendency for African-American clergy to align with Democratic candidates, while many white pastors align with Republicans. Yet, Dr. King implored people not to dismiss Christianity on the basis of these observations.

Dr. King lived in an era when the leadership of the church in addressing racism was even less credible than it is today. Dr. King clearly understood that to often there was a difference between what Christianity taught in the Bible and the varieties of Christianity observed around him. His life was devoted to challenging this nation to live out a more consistent obedience to the moral absolutes of the Bible. His repeated plea was for men and women to enter into the kind of personal relationship with God that transcended that which could be seen and that which was being experienced.

Hear Dr. King as he speaks to the man or woman who contends that God is unnecessary or irrelevant to our modern lives:

"At times we may feel that we do not need God, but on the day when the storms of disappointment rage, the winds of disaster blow, and the tidal waves of grief beat against our lives, if we do not have a deep and patient faith, our emotional lives will be ripped to shreds. There is so much frustration in the world because we have relied on gods rather than God. We have genuflected before the god of science only to find that it has given us the atomic bomb, producing fears and anxieties that science can never mitigate. We have worshiped the god of pleasure only to discover that thrills play out and sensations are short-lived. We have bowed before the god of money only to learn that there are such things as love and friendship that money cannot buy and that in a world of possible depressions, stock market crashes, and bad business investments, money is a rather uncertain deity. These transitory gods are not able to save us or bring happiness to the human heart. Only God is able. It is faith in him that we must rediscover. With this faith we can transform bleak and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of joy and bring new light into the dark caverns of pessimism." (Strength to Love, p. 51)
Are you discouraged about the prospect of us never overcoming the racial divisiveness that permeates this nation? Or are you frustrated by your inability to genuinely love others who are different from you? Martin Luther King recommended faith in Jesus of Nazareth as antidotes for both maladies.

"Evil can be cast out, not by man alone nor by a dictatorial God who invades our lives, but when we open the door and invite God through Christ to enter. 'Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.' God is too courteous to break open the door, but when we open it in faith believing, a divine and human confrontation will transform our sin-ruined lives into radiant personalities." (Strength to Love, p. 126)
Racial Equality
A relationship with God gives us the power to overcome whatever sin we may be struggling with, including the sin of racism. Racism stands not only as a barrier between people, but as an offense between us and God. The reason Dr. King could recommend Christ as a solution to the problem of racism is Jesus' death on the cross paid the price for all of our sins. He then rose from the dead and now offers us the forgiveness of God and the power to live new lives. Dr. King put it this way:

"Man is a sinner in need of God's forgiving grace. This is not deadening pessimism; it is Christian realism." (Strength to Love, p. 51)
What Martin Luther King described as our need for a "divine and human confrontation" is offered at God's initiative. It requires that we place our faith in what Jesus did as our own personal payment for sin, and inviting Him to enter our lives "when we open the door and invite God through Christ to enter."

Dr. King's words still ring true today. We can give new life to "The Dream," following the path of Dr. King. Our path may not lead to martyrdom by an assassin's bullet as it did for Martin Luther King, but it does lead to dying to our selfish ways and self-sufficiency. Such a faith is not a weak-kneed, escapist religious exercise, but a courageous pursuit of that which is ultimately good, right and true.

"In his magnanimous love, God freely offers to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Our humble and openhearted acceptance is faith. So by faith we are saved. Man filled with God and God operating through man bring unbelievable changes in our individual and social lives." (Strength to Love, p. 51)
"The Dream" starts with God as revealed through His Son, Jesus Christ. Through a relationship with Him, we can be agents of healing in a world that is sick with racial and ethnic conflict. Won't you seriously consider placing your faith in Christ, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did? God offers us this relationship with Him, and we simply respond:

Jesus Christ, I invite you to come into my life, to forgive me of my sin, to give me a new relationship with you. Bring into my heart your love and your power to love others. Thank you for transforming my life right now.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2007-05-11T06:15:00.000-07:00

Maoris

2007-05-08T13:48:00.000-07:00

Pakeha and Maori are two different kinds of New Zealanders. Pakeha are white people whose ancestors lived in Europe. Maori are brown people whose ancestors have lived in New Zealand for many generations. New Zealand does not have separate class for people of mixed Maori and Pakeha blood. Nor does it insist that all people of Maori descent be classified as Maori. According to recent population estimates, there are about 400,000 Maori in New Zealand's population of 3.5 million-about one Maori for every 12 Pakeha. Most Maori still live in the North Island. They have concentrated in North Auckland, the Waikato-king County. They all have large Maori population. Maori culture continues to exist, but its form has changes greatly since mid 1800s. The Maori way of life has become more like the general New Zealand way of life. regain some of its features of the old Maori culture as it is for them to match the Pakeha in terms of earning money and owning material goods. Such values as aroha (love and generosity), mana Maori (prestige and respect within Maori society) and Maori tanga (Maori culture) are, in this view as important as financial success and status.

MAORI TRIBES TODAY
The Maori still retain membership in their particular tribes, even though the members of each tribe may be widely scattered throughout the country. They know what is their tribal committee and probably still own shares in some of the land there. They may be members of the tribal committee. They will return to their own marae (A piece of land owned in common by a subdivision of the tribe. Used as a meeting place) to some ceremonial gathering.

MAORI POLITICS
4 Maori members elected by the electorates represent the Maori in Parliaments. Since 1975, The Maori, including the descendents have the right to choose whether to vote in a Maori or a general electorate rather than before, where they were required to vote for one of the four. People of the tribe hold Maori seats in the Parliament themselves. Most of the time, they will be in the Labour party. Sometimes they stood for general election and were elected. There are many outstanding talented Maori politicians who helped people through their difficulties associated with changing from the old Maori way of live to the new ways of the modern world.

MAORI RELIGION
Both Protestant and Catholics began to work in New Zealand early in the 1800s. By 1840, almost all Maori had become Christians. Today, some Maori belong to the churches with Anglicans having the highest percentage of members from both races. Equal proportions of the Maori and Pakeha are Catholics, while more Maori than Europeans are Mormons.

MAORI SPORTS AND RECREATION
Maori athletes excelled in ruby, basketball, tennis and most recently, golf. Most Maori community has a club that promotes Maori song and dance, which cater for their liking in music and singing. Maori musicians play string instruments like ukuleles and guitars at social gatherings.

url:http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/9338

K K K

2007-05-06T11:19:00.000-07:00

Ku Klux Klan

2007-05-06T05:30:00.000-07:00

Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is the name of several past and present fraternal organizations in the United States that have advocated what is generally perceived as white supremacy, anti-Semitism, racism, anti-Catholicism, homophobia, and nativism. These organizations have often used terrorism, violence and acts of intimidation such as cross burning to oppress African Americans and other groups.
The Klan's first incarnation was in 1866. Founded by veterans of the Confederate Army, its main purpose was to resist Reconstruction, and it focused as much on intimidating "carpetbaggers" and "scalawags" as on putting down the freed slaves. The KKK quickly adopted violent methods. A rapid reaction set in, with the Klan's leadership disowning violence and Southern elites seeing the Klan as an excuse for federal troops to continue their activities in the South. The organization was in decline from 1868 to 1870 and was destroyed in the early 1870s by President Ulysses S. Grant's vigorous action under the Civil Rights Act of 1871 (also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act).
In 1915, a second distinct group was founded using the same name. It was inspired by the newfound power of the modern mass media, via the film The Birth of a Nation and inflammatory anti-Semitic newspaper accounts surrounding the trial and lynching of accused murderer Leo Frank. The second KKK was a formal membership organization, with a national and state structure, that paid thousands of men to organize local chapters all over the country. At its peak in the early 1920s, the organization included about 15% of the nation's eligible population, approximately 4-5 million men. The second KKK typically preached racism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Communism, nativism, and anti-Semitism, and some local groups took part in lynchings and other violent activities. Its popularity fell during the Great Depression, and membership fell further during World War II, because of scandals resulting from prominent members' crimes and its support of the Nazis.
The name "Ku Klux Klan" has since been used by many different unrelated groups, including many who opposed the Civil Rights Act and desegregation in the 1950s and 1960s, with members of these groups eventually being convicted of murder and manslaughter in the deaths of Civil Rights workers and children (such as in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Alabama). Today, it is estimated that there are as many as 150 Klan chapters with up to 8,000 members nationwide. These groups, with operations in separated small local units, are considered extreme hate groups. The modern KKK has been repudiated by all mainstream media and political and religious leaders.

First Klan

Creation

The original Ku Klux Klan was created after the end of the American Civil War on December 24, 1865, by six educated, middle-class Confederate veterans from Pulaski, Tennessee, who were bored with postwar routine. The name was constructed by combining the Greek "kyklos" (κυκλάς, circle) with "clan".
The Ku Klux Klan soon spread into nearly every southern state, launching a "reign of terror" against Republican leaders both black and white. Those assassinated during the campaign included Arkansas Congressman James M. Hinds, three members of the South Carolina legislature, and several men who had served in constitutional conventions."
From 1866 to 1867, the Klan began breaking up black prayer meetings and invading black homes at night to steal firearms. Some of these activities may have been modeled on previous Tennessee vigilante groups such as the "Yellow Jackets" and "Redcaps."
In an 1867 meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, an effort was made to create a hierarchical organization with local chapters reporting to county leaders, counties reporting to districts, districts reporting to states, and states reporting to a national headquarters. The proposals, in a document called the "Prescript," were written by George Gordon, a former Confederate brigadier general. The Prescript included inspirational language about the goals of the Klan along with a list of questions to be asked of applicants for membership, which confirmed the focus on resisting Reconstruction and the Republican Party. The applicant was to be asked whether he was a Republican, a Union Army veteran, or a member of the Loyal League; whether he was "opposed to Negro equality both social and political;" and whether he was in favor of "a white man's government," "maintaining the constitutional rights of the South," "the reenfranchisement and emancipation of the white men of the South, and the restitution of the Southern people to all their rights," and "the inalienable right of self-preservation of the people against the exercise of arbitrary and unlicensed power."
Despite the work that came out of the 1867 meeting, the Prescript was never accepted by any of the local units. They continued to operate autonomously, and there never were county, district or state headquarters.
According to one oral report, Gordon went to former slave trader and Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest in Memphis, Tennessee, and told him about the new organization, to which Forrest replied, "That's a good thing; that's a damn good thing. We can use that to keep the niggers in their place." A few weeks later, Forrest was selected as Grand Wizard, the Klan's national leader. In later interviews, however, Forrest denied the leadership role and stated that he never had any effective control over the Klan cells.

Second Klan

In the four and a half decades after the suppression of the first Ku Klux Klan, race relations in the United States remained very bad—the nadir of American race relations is often placed in this era, and according to Tuskegee Institute, the 1890s was the peak decade for lynchings.
Creation

Movie poster for The Birth of a Nation
The founding of the second Ku Klux Klan in 1915 demonstrated the newfound power of modern mass media. Three closely related events sparked the resurgence:
• The film The Birth of a Nation was released, mythologizing and glorifying the first Klan.
• Leo Frank, a Jewish man accused of the rape and murder of a young white girl named Mary Phagan, was lynched against a backdrop of media frenzy.
• The second Ku Klux Klan was founded with a new anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, and anti-Semitic agenda. The bulk of the founders were from an organization calling itself the Knights of Mary Phagan and the new organization emulated the fictionalized version of the original Klan presented in The Birth of a Nation.

Decline

The second Klan collapsed partly as a result of the backlash against their actions and partly as a result of a scandal involving David Stephenson (at the time a member of the Republican Party, after previous active membership in the Socialist Party and then in the Democratic Party), the Grand Dragon of Indiana and fourteen other states, who was convicted of the rape and murder of Madge Oberholtzer in a sensational trial (she was bitten so many times that one man who saw her described her condition as having been "chewed by a cannibal").
The Klan fell out of public favor in the 1930s and withdrew from political activity. Grand Wizard Hiram Evans sold the organization in 1939 to James Colescott, an Indiana veterinarian, and Samuel Green, an Atlanta obstetrician, but they were unable to staunch the exodus of members. The Klan's image was further damaged by Colescott's association with Nazi-sympathizer organizations, the Klan's involvement with the 1943 Detroit Race Riot, and efforts to disrupt the American war effort during World War II. In 1944, the IRS filed a lien for $685,000 in back taxes against the Klan, and Colescott was forced to dissolve the organization in 1944.
Folklorist and author Stetson Kennedy infiltrated the Klan after World War II and provided information on the Klan to media and law enforcement agencies. He also provided Klan information, including secret code words, to the writers of the Superman radio program, resulting in a series of four episodes in which Superman took on the KKK. Kennedy's intention to strip away the Klan's mystique and trivialize the Klan's rituals and code words likely did have a negative impact on Klan recruiting and membership. Kennedy eventually wrote a book based on his experiences, which became a bestseller during the 1950s and further damaged the Klan.

year membership
1920 4,000,000
1924 6,000,000
1930 30,000
1970 2,000
2000 3,000

Map of Australia

2007-04-18T05:50:00.000-07:00

http://www.kreativdesign-zug.ch/roundtheworld/bilder/australia_map.jpg

AYERS ROCK

2007-04-18T05:29:00.000-07:00

Ayers Rock is also known by its Aboriginal name 'Uluru'.
Uluru is considered once of the great wonders of the world.
Ayers Rock is a large magnetic mound large not unlike Silbury Hill in England. It is located on a major planetary grid point much like the Great Pyramid in Egypt.
Uluru (also Ayers Rock or The Rock) is a large rock formation in central Australia, in the Northern Territory. It is located in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, 350 km southwest of Alice Springs at 25 degrees 20' 41" S 131 degrees 01' 57" E. It is the second-largest monolith in the world (after Mount Augustus, also in Australia), more than 318 m (986 ft) high and 8 km (5 miles) around. It also extends 2.5 km (1.5 miles) into the ground. It was described by explorer Ernest Giles in 1872 as "the remarkable pebble".
Kata Tjuta National Park is owned and run by the local Aboriginals. The Australian government handed ownership of the land back to the Aboriginals somClimbing Uluru - The local indigenous community request that visitors respect the sacred status of Uluru by not climbing the rock, with signs posted to this effect. In 1983 the former Prime Minister of Australia, Bob Hawke, promised to respect the request from the community that climbing Uluru be prohibited, but broke his promise when title was handed to the traditional owners in 1985 because access for tourists to climb Uluru was made a condition before they could receive the title. The climb crosses an important dreaming track, which has been a cause of sadness and distress among traditional owners. Neverthless, they are unable to prohibit climbing, and climbing Uluru is a popular attraction for a large fraction of the many tourists who visit it each year. A rope handhold makes the climb easier, but it is still quite a long and steep climb and many intended climbers give up partway up. There are several deaths a year as a direct result of climbing the rock, mainly from heart failure.
The Rock is arkose, a course-grained sandstone rich in feldspar at least 2.5 km thick. Uplifting and folding between 400-300 mya turned the sedimentary layers nearly 90 degrees to their present position. The surface has then been eroded.
Depending on the time of day and the atmospheric conditions, the rock can dramatically change color, anything from blue to violet to glowing red ! Many avid photographers set up for days and record the many changing colors of Uluru.
Ayers Rock was named for the Premier of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers. It extends down over 3 and a half miles beneath the surface.
Approximately 500 million years ago it was part of the ocean floor at the center of Australia. Some report that there is a light source emanating at various times of the year. Most likely this can be explained scientifically.
The Aborigines believe that there it is hollow below ground, and that there is an energy source that they call 'Tjukurpa' the dream time. The term Tjukurpa is also used to refer to the record of all activities of a particular ancestral being from the very beginning of his or her travels to their end. Anangu know that the area around
Ayers Rock (Mount Uluru) is inhabited by dozens of ancestral 'beings' whose activities are recorded at many other sites. At each site, the events that took place can be recounted, whether those events were of significance or whether the ancestral being just rested at a certain place before going on.
Usually, there is a physical feature of some form at each ancestral site which represents both the activities of the ancestral being at the time of its formation and the living presence of Tjukurpa within that physical feature today. For the Australian Aboriginal people, that physical feature, whatever its form or appearance, animate or inanimate, is the Tjukurpa. It may be a rock, a sand hill, a grove of trees, a cave. For all of these, the creative essence remains forever within the physical form or appearance.
Around Mount Uluru there are many examples of ancestral sites. The Anangu explanations of these sites and of the formation of Mount Uluru itself derive from the Tjukurpa. Most of these explanations are in the realm of secret information and are not disclosed to Piranypa, the non-Aborigines.
'The Dreaming' is not a creation myth, per se, but a myth of formation. The world existed, but was featureless. Giant semi-human beings, resembling plants or animals, rose up from the plains where they had been slumbering for countless ages.
These ancient heroes roamed the land aimlessly. As they wandered around, they carried out the tasks that the present Aborigines do today including camping, making fires, digging for water, fighting each other, and performing ceremonies. When the heroes became tired of doing these things, Dreamtime came to an end.
Wherever the creators had been active, some form of natural feature now marks the place. The creators made everything with which the aborigines are in daily contact and from which they gain their living. The heroes also established laws that govern all aspects, both secular and sacred, of the tribes.
Dreamtime was in the past, but it is the Aborigines present religion and culture. The saying, 'As it was done in the Dreamtime, so it must be done today,' dominates all aspects of aboriginal behavior. Because of their beliefs in 'the dreaming,' ceremonies and rituals are held, stories are told, pictures are drawn, and daily life is defined.
In order to understand the religion of the Aborigines, one must have a basic understanding of the organization of the tribes. All men and women belong to small groups, called clans. Each clan posses a distinct body of spiritual properties, or sacred sites.
A clan may have several sacred sites that they claim, and the area surrounded by the connection of these sites forms the clan's estate. Clans are linked by common religious traditions, intermarriage, shared dialects, and overlapping foraging rights.
file:///G:/Ayers%20Rock,%20Uluru.htm

ABORIGINES

2007-04-18T03:28:00.000-07:00

Aborigines
The Worlds Oldest Inhabitants?

The word "aboriginal" means "the first" or "earliest known". The word was first used in Italy and Greece to describe people who lived there, natives or old inhabitants, not newcomers, or invaders.

Australia may well be the home of the worlds first people. Stone tools discovered in a quarry near Penrith, New South Wales, in 1971 show that humans lived in Australia at least twelve thousand years before they appeared in Europe.

So far three early sites have been discovered in Australia, the Penrith one being dated about forty-seven thousand years old, a Western Australian site forty thousand years old and another in Lake Mungo, New South Wales, thirty-five thousand years old.

To put this in perspective, so that we can appreciate the time scales, since the first fleet arrived in 1788 there have only been 8 generations of settlers. On the other hand, there have been in excess of 18,500 generations of aboriginals!!!

Aborigines And Their Culture

More than 30,000 years ago the population of the world was small, and people lived in family groups, hunting, fishing and food gathering. There where no cultivated crops, animals were not herded for food and metalworking was yet to be discovered.

At that time, known as the last great Ice Age, Australia was joined to New Guinea. Islands such as Java and Borneo were larger than today, sea passages between them narrower. This made it possible for the ancestors of the people now called Australian Aboriginals to reach Australia from lands to the north.

Aboriginal Raft

It is not known from where the Aboriginals began their journey, but it is certain that people with some kind of water craft crossed the 100 - 160 kilometres stretches of water between the islands to the north; and reach the southern continent. This sea voyage is the earliest evidence of sea travel by prehistoric man.

Aboriginal Raft

As the ice flows of the Ice Age began to melt, the sea level rose, isolating Australia, and making the sea passages too wide for crossing by the simple forms of watercraft available at the time. About 10,000 years ago, Tasmania became separated from the main land, thus isolating the people there, and about 5,000 years ago the Australian continent took on the shape of that it has today.

Nobody knows how long the Aboriginals took to reach Australia, or how they settled the continent when they arrived. At present archaeologists are searching ancient camping sites for evidence of their history, and each new discovery provides links in the history of the thousands of years before the white man reached the Great South Land. New discoveries also are changing previous ideas about the length of time that Aboriginals have been in Australia, and modern scientific methods of dating have provided new possibilities for further research. It is certain that man reached Australia more than 40,000 years ago. Australia, once called the "lost continent of prehistory", is fast losing that title.

A Perfect Environment

The first Aboriginals found an Australia with a better environment than today. Large animals, now extinct, provided more meat than the animals with which we are familiar. Some parts of the continent were richer in vegetable foods, but the land contained no cultivated crops, or animals that could be domesticated, such as cattle and sheep.

Whatever their early history, Aboriginals had settled throughout the entire continent many thousands of years before the white man came and had evolved a way of living that was in harmony with the environment, and that satisfied their needs. Because Australia was isolated from the rest of the world, Aboriginals had little contact with outside groups from whom to "borrow" techniques, to trade goods, to acquire crop seeds, or animals, as was happening in the North of the world. It was only for a few centuries prior to white settlement that visitors came from islands to the north. However, the Aboriginals adjusted to the environment, learned to understand it and gained the maximum from it.

Land, The Ultimate Provider

Each clan grouping occupied a well-defined area of land, their "clan" territory with which they had close and dependent relationship. The group belonged with, or to, the land - like the animals and plants of the area; man was an integral part of a relatively unchanging environment. They had no concept of being able to buy or sell land, the land was given long ago in the Dreamtime. Land was not something to be bartered, and the future of the group was tied closely with the continued ability of the land to provide food for gathering, animals to kill, and fresh water.

Gatherers

Aborigines were limited to the range of foods occurring naturally in their area, but they knew exactly when, where and how to find everything edible. But food was not obtained without effort. In some areas both men and women had to spend from half to two thirds of each day hunting or foraging for food.

Ausralian DesertInland

The quest for water was a life and death matter. Aborigines survived where others would perish. They knew where the water holes and soaks were in their area. They drained dew, and obtained water from certain trees and roots. They even dug up and squeezed out frogs, which store water in their bodies.

Aboriginal Camp

Within the clan grouping, all speaking the same language, or the same dialect, small bands of families carried out their daily living as a group. They moved around their clan country, from place to place, depending on the season and the availability of food. In coastal areas, and the more fertile parts of the continent, groups were relatively static, because food was readily obtainable, but in the desert areas vast tracts of land could support only a few people, and these had to travel long distances in their endless quest for food.

The necessity to be mobile meant that Aboriginals could afford only those possessions that were essential to their way of life. Many belongings were multipurpose - like the coolamon, a curved wooden dish, which was used to dig, to carry water or the baby; to toss seeds or collect the plant food gathered daily by the women.

Aboriginal Hunters

Often, the men carried only a spear thrower, spears, and those weapons needed to procure the animals native to his territory. The women carried the rest - babies, household utensils - to leave the men free to use the weapons.

Full use was made of natural resources to produce whatever possessions were needed. String, cord and hair were woven into nets, baskets, mats and fishing lines. Wood and bark were used to make dishes, shields, spears, and boomerangs, to make dugout canoes, and other types of watercraft, such as rafts. Stone was chipped to form tools that could be used as weapons, or to cut and carve wood. Large pebbles and flat stones were used to grind seeds to flour. Pieces of bone were sharpened into spear points, and even used as needles to sew together skin for cloaks and rugs. Skins of animals were treated to carry water, and in some places human skulls were used for the same purpose.

Clubs, nets, snare and spears were used to catch different types of animals and birds. Large animals were speared or clubbed, smaller ones caught in pits and nets. Fish were speared, or caught with traps, and sometimes water was poisoned with plant juices. The foot tracks of animals - and of every member of the group - were recognised. After years of training, the Aboriginals developed extraordinary skills in tracking their prey, by following broken twigs, or by very faint markings, even on hard ground.

Many ingenious devices were used to get within striking distance of prey. The men approached their prey running where there was cover, or "freezing" and crawling in the open. They were careful to stay downwind, and sometimes covered themselves with mud to disguise their smell.

Mud also served as camouflage, or the hunter held a bush in front of him while stalking in the open. He glided through the water with a bunch of rushes or a lily-leaf over his head until he was close enough to pull down a waterbird. He prepared "hides" and, with bait or birdcalls, lured birds to within grabbing distance. He attracted emus, which are inquisitive birds, by imitating their movements with a stick and a bunch of feathers or some other simple device.

The catch of the hunter was in addition too, not always constant, to the daily plant food and small animals gathered by women. Women collected the larger part of the group's daily needs, and their skill in finding food, even in the poorest conditions, often kept the group alive. Fruit, manna, honey, lizards, snakes, witchetty grubs, roots, yams, grass seeds - almost anything grew, or moved could be use for food. The women then usually prepared and cooked the food in an earth oven.

As Aboriginals had to make use of the natural materials available in their area, huts were often made from bark and boughs, sometimes flimsy and sometimes more substantial, depending on the climate, the time of year, and the length of time that the group forced to remain in one camp.
Children

When an Aboriginals child was born, he began to learn how to cope with the material and non-material elements of his world. He had been born into the group, and had to learn to become a full member with a knowledge of how to keep alive and also the rules and traditions that governed his nomadic society.

When very young, children were indulged - played with and loved by all members of the group. But soon, each child had to begin to fend for himself. Shortly after he could walk, he began to handle small spears, followed his father and the other men, watching while they fished, made tools. Little girls began to follow their mother, helping her and trying to copy what she was doing.

As well as the practical side of life, they began to join in spiritual matters. They were taught the rhythms of dances in preparation for later participation in sacred and non-sacred rituals. Children began to learn songs and stories that embodied knowledge to be passed on from generation to generation.

From early childhood to death, the Aboriginal was continuously learning more about the traditions of the past. Religion was related to the past, the present and future. Man identified with animals, plants and other natural phenomenon, and grouped himself according to this identification - his totem. Relationship with a totem meant a responsibility towards that totem - for example, people of a kangaroo totem might not kill kangaroos, and carry out special ceremonies to ensure the continued increase of the kangaroo.

Dreamtime

The "Dreamtime", the mythological past, was the time when spirit ancestors had travelled throughout the land, giving it its physical form, and setting down the rules to be followed by the Aboriginals. Beings such as the "Fertility Mother", the "Great Rainbow Snake", the Djanggawul brothers and sisters, survive in stories and ceremonies that have been passed down from generation to generation.

Some sacred aspect of these stories and ceremonies were available only to initiated adult males. Women had their own sacred ceremonies from which they excluded men, but there were ceremonies and songs in which the whole group joined men, women and children.
Art

Aborigial Turtle

Art was regarded as an integral part of life, not simply something that was decorative but outside the import and areas of life. Bodies were painted for ceremonies; the markings and designs have totemic significance and were taught to the young. Rocks were engraved and became one of the few art forms to survive. Designs were painted on the walls of rock shelters; these were perishable, and relied upon regular re-touching for preservation.

Bark painting is probably the most well known Aboriginal art form but this could be done only in areas where trees with suitable bark were available, such as Arnhem Land. Pigments were made from rocks, clay and charcoal, a narrow range of colours that produced characteristic red, brown, black and white of Aboriginal art.

Aborigial Lizard

Paintings told stories; in fact they were the forms by which preliterate people kept a record of their daily life and religious beliefs. They reflected also what was happening around them - drawing the animals of the area, and later telling stories of contact with other peoples, such as the Macassans who visited Arnhem Land and other northern coastal regions.

Adulthood

As children reach puberty they began to take on greater responsibilities. To mark the transition from childhood special ceremonies were held. For girls these were fairly simple, although they could be spectacular. For boy's initiation ceremonies extended over several years, and were associated with the intensive training in the traditions and mythology of the clan - in many clans the focal point of initiation was circumcision. From the point of view of the group, the boy was entering upon membership of society. However, he did not learn everything at his initiation, it merely open the door of adulthood, and to the sacred life of the group.

After a boy's final initiation ceremonies, he could marry, and it was only when he had a wife, and sometimes a child, that the community regarded him as a fully-grown man. He now had an obligation, obtaining food by using hunting skills learned in childhood, skills used for the group's survival.

The Supernatural

In Aboriginal society, like every other society, there were problems; droughts, shortages of food, people became sick or injured, and they died. Supernatural forces were blamed for almost every event, and magic and ritual used to correct the situation. The "medicine man" or "doctor" was a powerful man, and tried to cure many physical ills, sometimes by massage or sucking, to remove the "evil" causing the pain, or by the application of natural medicines made from plants or roots. The emphasis on healing was on the spirit, rather than the body. It was the belief that the spirit was the primary resource of illness - evil thoughts act first on the spirit, and the physical symptoms came later - that led to "evil thinking" someone, as in the well-known custom of "bone pointing". The person who was a victim of a spell would usually sicken and die, because he believed that this would happen.

Old people in Aboriginal society were cared for, and respected for their wisdom and knowledge. When a person died the mourning custom and burial rights were complex and varied from region to region. The mourners freely expressed their sorrow and distress, sometimes covering themselves in ochre and clay. The dead were either buried, cremated, placed on platforms in trees, or left in caves or rock shelters. Sometimes the bones were recovered and part, such as the bone of the forearm, kept as relics for long periods.
First Sightings

The first recorded sighting of Australia was in 1606 by the Dutch captain of "Duyfken" William Jansz who described the natives as "...savage, cruel, black barbarians who slew some of our sailors". In the same year the Spaniard, Luis Vaez de Torres sailed around the strait that bears his name. He described the natives as "...very corpulent and naked. Their arms were lances, arrows, and clubs of stone ill fashioned". Jan Carstenz in 1623 described several armed encounters with Aboriginals, and judged the country "...the most arid and barren region that could be found anywhere on earth; the inhabitants too, are the most wretched and poorest creatures that I have ever seen in my age or time". As a result of such reports the Dutch government decided the land that was not suitable for colonisation.

Macassans: The First Visitors?

In northern Arnhem Land, and on Melville and Bathurst Islands, the Aboriginals carved special wooden grave posts. These posts were adapted from the masts of the Macassan boats that visited the northern coast each year from Macassar and Celedes to collect trepang.

The Macassan visitors came in what the Aboriginals regard as historic times, and their camps were both large and well organised. The campsites are still marked by tamarind trees, which grew from the seeds of the fruit, dropped by the fishermen.

The Macassan introduced the dugout canoes and taught the Aboriginals the use of steel in making knives, spear blades and tomahawks. The Aboriginals watched or took part in the entertainment and ceremonies; they learned to play cards, and began to adapt their song rhythms to the strange tunes and sounds of foreign musical instruments.

The Aboriginals learned more about the culture of the visitors by travelling to Macassar with the fishermen, returning with the fleet the following season; some of them remained in Macassar. The Aboriginals adopted some Macassan words into their own languages; for example compass directions, names of tools and parts of the boats. The names of Macassans are still remembered, and Aboriginals often adopted Macassan names as well as their own
William Dampier

Dampier

In 1697, the Englishman William Dampier had published his "New Voyage Round the World" in which he described Aboriginals on the Western Australian coast as "the miserablest people in the World ... they were tall, straight bodied, and thin, with small long limbs. They have great heads, round foreheads and great brows. Their eyelids are always half closed, to keep the flies out of their eyes." His observations remained the most detailed description of the Western Australian Aboriginals for well over a century.

Captain James Cook

About this time in Europe, the concept of the "noble savage" was changing people's attitude to other races, a belief that the material and spiritual simplicity of "primitive" people's was an ideal to be aspired to. This idea was given to later explorers, and was adopted readily by Captain James Cook. He set out in 1768 with the aim of exercising "...The utmost patience and forbearance with respect to the native ... They are human creatures, the work of the same omnipotent author, equally under his care with the most polished European; perhaps being less offensive, more entitled to his favour."

Captain Cook's observations of the Aboriginals were numerous and detailed; "these people may truly be said to be in the pure state of nature, and may appear to some to be the most wretched upon the earth; but in reality they are far happier than ... we Europeans."
Colonisation

In 1788 when the First Fleet arrived in Australia, the country was inhabited by an estimated 300,000 Aboriginals.

Governor Phillip

The British did not wish harm the Aboriginals - in fact, Governor Phillip began the penal settlement with the good intentions of "reconciling the Aboriginals to live amongst us, and to teach them the advantages they will reap from cultivating the land". But the newcomers assumed that their ways were superior to those of the Aboriginals, and that a people who were not Christians and who did not try to "improve" the land of their birth by agriculture were not only inferior beings, but also deserve to have their country take over.

Few attempts were made to understand the Aboriginals, their beliefs or their customs, or to understand how the Aboriginals had come to terms with an often-harsh environment - an environment that ruined many early settlers and cause the death of some white "explorers". Governor Macquarie in 1816 invited the natives to "relinquish their wandering, idle and predatory habits of life, and to become industrious and useful members of a community where they will find protection and encouragement".

Not surprisingly, the Aboriginals did not want to give up their way of life and enthusiastically embrace the ways of the newcomers, who in turn found their reluctance only further proof of the Aboriginals inferiority.

There were no treaties to regulate the movement of the British on to Aboriginals Land, and the attitudes of the two groups towards Land differed greatly. To the Aboriginals, to whom the Land was part of this life and the future of his group, land was not something to be bought and sold - it was not a commodity for exchange. The British believed that land could not only be bought and sold, but taken to be exploited by productive agriculture, and that those who carry out this obligation had some kind of "moral right" to the land.

As the settlers moved inland, the Aboriginals began to lose their hunting grounds, their watering holes, in fact their source of life. They contracted diseases to which they had no resistance; they suffered from the effects of alcohol, and from fighting between the groups.

Aboriginals resisted the advancing parties of the white man, sometimes so effectively that farming and grazing ventures had to be abandoned. Settlers retaliated and with their superior weapons sometimes wiped out whole groups of Aboriginals, justifying violence with the argument that these "savages" needed to be "taught a lesson" to ensure for future peace. Although the Aboriginals were supposed to be protected by British law, this protection was difficult to enforced - almost impossible at the frontiers of settlement.

Aboriginal Flag

The Aboriginal flag is divided horizontally into two equal halves of black (top) and red (bottom), with a yellow circle in the centre. The black symbolises Aboriginal people and the yellow represents the sun, the constant renewer of life. Red depicts the earth and also represents ochre, which is used by Aboriginal People in ceremonies.

The flag - designed by Harold Thomas - was first flown at Victoria Square, Adelaide, on National Aborigines' Day on 12 July 1971. It was used later at the Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972.

Today the flag has been adopted by all Aboriginal groups and is flown or displayed permanently at Aboriginal centres throughout Australia.

Torres Strait Islander Flag

The Torres Strait Islander flag - designed by the late Bernard Namok - stands for the unity and identity of all Torres Strait Islanders.

It features three horizontal coloured stripes, with green at the top and bottom and blue in between - divided by thin black lines.

A white dhari (headdress) sits in the centre, with a five-pointed white underneath it. The colour green is for the land, and the dhari is a symbol of all Torres Strait Islanders. The black represents the people and the blue is for the sea. The five-pointed start represents the island groups. Used in navigation, the star is also an important symbol for the seafaring Torres Strait Islander people. The colour white of the star represents peace.

file:///G:/Aborigines.htm

Invitation

2007-04-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

My dear students don't forget to post any kind of material you find related to the unit we are going to learn this term - A WORLD OF MANY CULTURES. This blog is also yours.
GOOD WORK

Happy Easter

2007-03-27T11:07:00.000-07:00

Inversion of the subject - Correction

2007-03-05T07:27:00.000-08:00

VERB INVERSION - CORRECTION

1. Seldom does he write to his family.

2. Rarely has he visited us.

3. Hardly does he understand what she says.

4. Only in this way did they make the law.

5. Never before have I seen anything like that.

6. Hardly could I believe it.

7.Hardly did he know about it.

8. Not even once did he speak to me.

9. Nowhere were the protests against globalisation stronger than in London.

10. Seldom do retired people protest or demonstrate.

11. Rarely have I seen her these days.

12. No sooner does the production rise, than the living conditions improve.

Inversion of the subject- Practical exercises

2007-03-05T07:25:00.000-08:00

EXERCISE

Rewrite the following sentences starting as indicated below
1. He seldom writes to his family

Seldom .....................................

2. He has rarely visited us

Rarely ................................

3. He hardly understands what she says.

Hardly ......................

4. They made the law effective only in this way.

Only in this way ....

5. I haven't seen anything like that before.

Never before ...

6. I could hardly believe it.

Hardly ...

7. He hardly knew what to do about it.

Hardly ......

8. He didn't speak to me even once.

Not even once .....

9. The protests against globalisation were nowhere stronger than in London.

Nowhere ....

10. Retired people seldom protest or demonstrate.

Seldom ....

11. I have rarely seen her these days.

Rarely ...

12. As soon as the production rises the living conditions improve.

No sooner ...

Emphatic inversion of the subject

2007-03-05T07:18:00.000-08:00

USE
- We use the verb inversion as an emphatic form with some adverbs, adverbial phrases, expressing negation or simple restriction, at the beginning of the sentence.
- When the verb is used in the Simple Present or the Simple Past, we must use the auxiliary verb do/did, as in a question structure.

- Some adverbs and adverbial phrases, which used at the beginning of the sentence are followed by verb inversion:
Hardly; scarcely ;seldom; rarely; never; not only; only today; only yesterday; only by change; only with difficulty; only by luck; only on rare occasions; not until; no sooner ... than ; no longer; nowhere; neither ;nor; in vain; little; not evenNo sooner was a new legislation implemented, than the unemployment rate fell drastically

Examples:

At no time has it been more difficult to fight forest fires than nowadays.

Never in his life will he make such a good profit.

Only after learning it could I teach local workmen how to restore those old precious houses.

Only by chance does he come on time.

Seldom did we visit her house.

Brief History of the radio

2007-02-28T11:22:00.000-08:00

The Beginning

First developed in 1879, the first radios were bulky, noisy, and had poor reception. With the advent of improved technologies such as vacuum tubes and rectifiers, the radio was honed into the interesting little device that made it into such a craze during the 1920s.
Once radio signals could be transmtted and received with improved clarity around 1920, the idea of public radio began to take hold in America. The first public radio broadcasting station opened in Pittsburgh, 1922. It was an instant success; listeners would sit around the radio listening to everything that was broadcasted. As a result many more radio stations popped up during the 20s, some even over night.

The Effect on America

Radio provided a cheap and convenient way of conveying information and ideas. The first broadcasts consisted of primarily news and world affairs. Later in the decade, radios were used to broadcast everything from concerts and sermons to "Red Menace" ideas.
The radio was certainly one of the most important inventions of the 1920s, because it not only brought the nation together, but it brought a whole new way for people to communicate and interact.

Verb Tenses - Exercises

2007-02-21T07:18:00.000-08:00

A. Complete this text about S. Paulo, Brazil, using the Simple Present or the Present Continuous

Everyone ____________ (know) what a megacity ___________(look) like. Take S. Paulo for example. S. Paulo _____________ (be) one of the most densely populated cities in the world. A third of its population ___________ (live) in slums, where their standart of living is unbelievably low.

Today safety in S. Paulo ______________ (get) worse and worse and social discontent _____________ (grow) bigger and bigger. Robberies and assaults _____________ (happen) everywhere, everyday.

In an effort to stop violence the government _________ (try) to take stricter safety measures, but things _____________ (not seem) easy to solve.

Adapted from "That's It!" 11º Ano

B. Choose the correct form the verbs in brackets.

1. Many people (think/ are thinking) that the battle for a "better and clean world" is helpless.

2. Environmentalists (are feeling/will feel) totally satisfied when there is no more pollution.

3. People often (left/leave) rubbish behind when they go on a picnic.

4. They (are having/ have) a panel on environmental issues on BBC this evening at 10.

5. I always (am taking/take) public transport to school. This way I try to minimise the human impact on earth.

6. Due to recent disasters, some people all over Europe ( protest/are protesting) against the use of aging oil tankers.

7. My friend Peter (has left/left) for Italy a few days ago.

8. She fell asleep while the train (rolled/was rolling) slowly down the mountain.

9. He always (feel/feels) sick when he smokes a cigarette.

11.If she studies, I’m sure she (is passing/ will pass) her exams.

12. The train (had already left /has already left) when we got to the station.

13. We (see/will see) Mary on Monday.

14. The next train (leaves/will leave) at 7.30

15. They (emigrated/have emigrated) to America in 1965 and (have lived/ live) there since then.

16. Mr Davis (is/ has been) in hospital since he (was/ has been) run over by a bus two weeks ago.

17. The Davies (have just moved/ just moved) into a new flat, you know.

18. Many people (lose/lost) their lives and property in the Great Fire of London.

C. Put the verbs in brackets in the correct form.

1. My friends and I usually ............ out to the disco on Saturday nights. (go)

2. My children never ............... their beds when they .......... to school. (make/leave)

3. The Douglas ............... a well-paid job (not have)

4. The English ............ tea about six times a day (drink)

5. The postman ................ twice a day. (not come)

6. George, what .................... this morning? (you/do)

7. Look! He .............. now. (come).

8. She ............. at home this evening (stay).

9. I ........... tickets for the cinema tonight (buy)

10. I hope it ............... nice day next Sunday, (be)

11. What ............., if he doesn't come? (you/will)

12. I ............. there on time. I promise you. (be)

13 ................. to a rock concert? (you/ever/be)

14. Tom's father ................. a musician since he left school. (be)

15. I ................. . for the cinema tickets. (already/pay)

16. ................ the seats yet? ( you/book)

17. Jill .......... in New York for two weeks, but she ......... a musical on Broadway yet. (be/not see)

18. The band .............. the studio (just/left)

19. They ............. to this town three years ago. (move)

20. I ................ my last holidays in Spain . (spend)

21. Last night I .............. asleep while I .................. TV. (fall /watch)

22. The phone ............ while I ................. a bath yesterday. (rang/ have)

23. It .............. to rain as I .............. home, (begin/ walk)

24. When I came home last night, she ............... (already/leave).

25. They ...............all the seats when I got to the box office. (already/sell)

26. What ................., if you saw a ghost in your bed? (you/do)

D. Choose the correct form of the verb in brackets .

1. ________________ you (read/have read) Rachel Carson's Silent Spring? Yes, I __________ (have/did). I __________ (read/have read) it a few months ago.

2. Although Silent Spring was written many years ago people _____________ (didn't cease/haven't ceased) to admire it.

3. Rachel Carson's books ____________ (contribute/have contributed) a lot to rise concern about environmental issues.

4. Rachel Carson ___________ (started/has started) her career as a Marine Biologist.

5. Silent Spring ______________ (was published/has been published) in 1962 and _______________ (has been read/was read) ever since by thousands of people.

E. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tenses.

I usually ____________( watch) TV for about 3 hours a day and right now I _______________ (watch) a documentary about environment. My brother __________________ (not like) documentaries, so I can only ___________ (watch) half of my programme and then we have to change channels so that he _____________ (can) watch half of his favourite programme, cartoons.

I ______________ (not like) cartoons very much. So, when we _________ (change) channels I, most of the times, _________(go) to my bedroom and do my homework.

Today I must write a report about the school trip we ______________ (do) to the Zoo last Wednesday. We ____________ (go) there with some of our teachers and we _____________ (see) lots of strange animals. I ____________ (enjoy) it very much, because I really ____________ (like animals).

____________________ (you/ever/be) to the Zoo? Some people _________ (think) Zoos are a sort of prisons for the animals that are kept there, but I _____________ (disagree) totally with it. All the animals I _____________ (see) there last Wednesday _______________ (seem) to be happy. At least they __________ (feel) protected there.

Passive voice - Exercises

2007-02-21T06:31:00.000-08:00

English Practice - Vocabulary and Grammar -
Passive Voice - Practice
Exercise A.
Rewrite the following sentences as indicated below (All tenses)
Simple Present

1. They kill 50.000 seals a year

50.000 seals ...

2. He gives an interview every month

An interview ……

3. The housekeeper doesn't lock the door every night

The door ...

4. They buy the newspaper every day.

The newspaper

5. They sell the newspaper in that kiosk.

The newspaper ...

Present Continuous
1. John is writing a new article on consumerism

A new article on consumerism ...

2. They are building a new road.

A new road ….

3. Pollution isn’t affecting the area.

The area …

Past Simple
1. He increased the voltage slowly

The voltage ....

2. He occasionally turned the machine off

The machine ...

3. They didn’t give any information about the school rules.

No information ...

4. We didn’t see the advertisements.

The advertisements…

Past Simple continuous

1. They were carrying out a survey.

A survey …

2. The TV was informing the consumers.

The consumers …

3.Peter wasn’t taking a different attitude

A different attitude …

4.They were studying the problem.

The problem ….

Present Perfect

1. The police have raided the area frequently.

The area ...

2. Somebody has scratched my car

My car ...

3. Somebody has killed the President

The President ...

4. They haven't contacted her mother yet .

Her mother ....

5. We haven’t executed all their orders yet.

All their orders …

6. Jack has written that note

That note …

7. We have just visited that old medieval town

That old medieval town …

Present Perfect continuous
1.. They haven’t been executing his orders.

His orders …

2. They have been warning the population about the dangers of contaminated water.

The population …

Past perfect

1. They had followed his example

His example …

2. We hadn’t visited that town yet.

That town …

3. They had published a new book.

A new book ….

Future; Conditional; Modal verbs
1. They will postpone the meeting.

The meeting ...

2. They can produce the brochures here.

The brochures

3. You must abandon the scheme.

The scheme

4. They couldn't repair the tractor.

The tractor ...

5. They would encourage the students to use the dictionary.

The students …..

6. They must repair the pavements.

The pavements …

B. Spot the mistakes in these sentences.

1.The books is written by a Portuguese writer.

2.The prize was been won by the school team.

3.The door was opening with an old key.

4.Decisions will being taken by common agreement.

5.The results will announce in two weeks time.

6.Cars are been sold at a higher price.

7.A new museum are been built in the city centre.

8.The new sports centre were built last year.

9.New mummies have are discovered in Egypt.

C. Rewrite as indicated below
1.The policeman stopped the burglar

The burglar ...

2. Thousands of people watched the rock concert

The rock concert ...

3. They will repair our bathroom at the end of the week.

Our bathroom...

4. They have elected a new President.

A new President ...

5. The government is building a new hospital.

A new hospital ...

6. They have closed the motorway.

The motorway ...

7. Our students write interesting articles for the school newspaper.

Interesting articles ...

8. Someone stole my wallet.

My wallet ...

9. The Greek team won the European cup.

The European cup ...

10. The waiter in a red coat served dinner.

Dinner ...

Correction

D. Rewrite as indicated below..

1. They have closed the school.

The school ...

2. Millions of people speak English all over the world.

English ...

3. One of the students left the gym equipment in the playground.

The gym equipment ...

4. The burglars have left the office door open.

The office door ...

5. The people of London have wellcome the Queen.

The Queen ...

6. The headmaster will punish the students that have missed the classes.

The students that have missed the train ...

7. The director postponed the meeting.

The meeting ...

8. The City Mayor is doing a good work.

A good work ...

9. The police have arrested a group of terrorists.

A group of terrorists ...

10. The English team will play the semi-final next Friday evening.

The semi-final ...

E. Rewrite the following sentences as indicated below (Indirect Passive)
1. They give us the information every week.

E.g. We are given the information every week.

2. They don't give him a present every year

He ...

2. They usually tell her everything they know.

She ...

3. They aren’t telling her all the truth

She ….

4. They aren’t paying him much.

He …..

5. He didn't tell Mr Y what was happening.

Mr Y ...

6. They paid Mr Y £500

Mr Y ...

5. The experiment didn't injure Mr Y

Mr Y ...

6. They didn't ask Mr Y to come back later

Mr Y ....

7. They weren’t informing her properly.

She ….

8. The teacher has given the students a severe telling-off

The students ...

9. They have been visiting Mary a lot lately.

Mary …

10. They had already given her that book.

She ….

11 They will accuse her of theft.

She ....

F. Indirect Passive - Rewrite these sentences as indicated below.
1. They told us she is working at the international office

We ...

2. They allowed her to make remarks during the rehearsal.

She ...

3. Nobody could allow him to play hockey because he wouldn’t keep the rules.

He ...

4. They have granted her the request to open a shop here.

She ...

5.They will allow you to take part in the festival.

You ...

6. No one expected her to answer.

She ...

7. Someone gave the guide a good tip for his service

The guide ...

8. They will offer him lots of money for his discovery.

He ....

9. Somebody insulted me when I was walking down the steet.

I ...

10. They paid him ten shillings a day.

He ...

G. Rewrite these sentences in the passive form (Miscellaneous)
Someone gave him the wrong medicine.

He ...

2. People have offered Mary a lot of money.

Mary ...

3. Someone has broken the glasses.

The glasses ...

4. The authorities are banning the traffic from the city centres.

The traffic ...

5. People all over the world are learning English.

English ...

6. Someone painted the walls.

The walls ...

7. The players are wearing new equipment for the match next Saturday.

A new equipment ...

8. They must build a new bridge over the river.

A new bridge ...

9. They ate all the food at the party.

All the food ...

10. They didn’t leave any drinks on the table.

No drinks ...

H. Rewrite as indicated below - (Miscellaneous)
1. Someone showed the child how to use the telephone

The child ....................

2. They have promised Mary a new opportunity.

Mary .....................

3. They asked her to sign her name at the information desk.

She ....................

4. The embassies are refusing young people a visa.

Young people ................

5. The doctor won't prescribe us a different diet

We ....................

6. They will ask you several questions.

You ...................

7. They hadn't promised him a rise in the salary.

He ............................

8. They call young executives "Yuppies"

Young executives ..........................

9. Dangerous driving is causing many accidents.

Many accidents...

10. They built this house in 1930.

This house....

11. They cancelled the flights because of the fog.

The flights....

12. People have advised us not to out alone.

We .....

13. They have told her to avoid going out at night.

She ....

14. They should forbid children to watch some TV programmes.

Children .....

15. We are expecting the result of the tests in about two hours' time.

The result ....

16. You must not allow the children to see television until late.

The children ....

17. It will be difficult to reach an agreement.

An agreement ...

18. They requested all spectators to leave the stadium in good order.

All spectators ....

19. The government sent a team of experts to study the problem.

A team of experts ...

20. The experts will have to instruct the local farmers about the new farming techniques.

The local farmers ...

I. Rewrite the following sentences as suggested below. (Miscellaneous)

1. They didn’t invite me to the party.

I ...

2. A long noise woke us up in the middle of the night.

We ...

3. I didn’t realise that somebody was recording our conversation.

I didn’t realise that our conversation ...

4. They have postponed the concert.

The concert ...

5. Somebody has cleaned the room.

The room ...

6. They are building a new ring road round the city.

A new ring road ...

7. They must do something about the situation.

Something ...

8. They can’t farm this land.

This land ....

9. They keep all their books in here.

All their books ....

10. This company employs two hundred people.

Two hundred people ….

11. They made a terrible mistake

A terrible mistake …

12. Walt Disney created several cartoons

Several cartoons …

13. They are decorating the house

The house …

14. They gave her a new car on her birthday.

She …

15. They will ask John to go to Paris

John …

16. We had to postpone our trip to the Bahamas

Our trip …

17. You should show Pauline her new bedroom.

Pauline …

18. People can keep these plants at home.

These plants …

19. They will offer us valuable presents.

We …

21. It will be extremely difficult to achieve a similar effect.

A similar effect ...

Passive voice - exercises

2007-02-14T06:31:00.000-08:00

Change into the passive voice.

They make shoes in that factory.
Shoes ---------in that factory.
People must not leave bicycles in the driveway.
Bicycles ----------------- in the driveway.
They built that skyscraper in 1934.
That skyscraper ------------ in 1934.
The students will finish the course by July.
The course ---------- by July.
They are repairing the streets this month.
The streets ------------------- this month.
They make these tools of plastic.
These tools ---------------- of plastic.
They have finished the new product design.
The new product design -------------------.
They were cooking dinner when I arrived.
Dinner ---------------------when I arrived.
Smithers painted 'Red Sunset' in 1986.
'Red Sunset' ----------------- in 1986 by Smithers.
Did the plan interest you?
-------------------- in the plan?
They had finished the preparations by the time the guests arrived.
The preparations -------------------- by the time the guests arrived.
You should take care when working on electrical equipment.
Care ----------------- when working on electrical equipment.
They are going to perform Beethoven's Fifth Symphony next weekend.
Beethoven's Fifth Symphony -------------------------- next weekend.
Someone will speak Japanese at the meeting.
Japanese ------------------- at the meeting.
Karen is going to prepare the refreshments.
The refreshments -----------------------by Karen.

Résumé

2007-02-14T03:41:00.000-08:00

What Usually Goes into a Résumé

Name,
address,
e-mail address,
and telephone number.
Employment objective. State the type of work or specific job you are seeking.
Education, including school name and address, dates of attendance, major, and highest grade completed or degree awarded.
Consider including any courses or areas of focus that might be relevant to the position.
Experience, paid and volunteer. For each job, include the job title, name and location of employer, and dates of employment. Briefly describe your job duties.
Special skills, computer skills, proficiency in foreign languages, achievements, and membership in organizations.
References, only when requested.
Keep it short; only one page for less experienced applicants.
Avoid long paragraphs; use bullets to highlight key skills and accomplishments.
Have several people review your resume for any spelling or grammatical errors.
Print it on high quality paper.

Job Application Letter

2007-02-09T03:30:00.000-08:00

Example of a job application letter.

English language fill in the gap exercise. Improve your vocabulary and grammar.

Dear Sir/Madam,
I 1) ________ writing this letter to apply for 2) ________ position of
student assistant that I saw advertised on your website. I 3) ________ interested 4) ________ working 5) ________ 6) ________ teachers' resource library, or 7) ________ 8) ________ accommodation department.I have recently graduated from 9) ________ WSB Business School 10) ________ Warsaw and received high grades 11) ________ both my English and Business Courses. In addition, we had to use all of 12) ________ Microsoft Office programs 13) ________ 14) ________ preparation of our finished assignments, so I 15) ________ able to do most things with computers.Since I was 15 years old I have helped my father to run his small import-export business. I have been involved 16) ________ helping 17) ________ variety of clients and also 18) ________ general administration of 19) ________ business. In 20) ________ past 2 years I have worked 21) ________ 22) ________ WSB library, helping teachers and students to find and use 23) ________ resources there. This experience has given me 24) ________ ability to deal with 25) ________ needs of all types of people.I have an outgoing, diligent personality and find that I enjoy 26) ________ challenges of working 27) ________ busy environments. In addition, my studies and experience have taught me to be accurate and efficient 28) ________ organising my work so I would be 29) ________ valuable addition to your school.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours faithfully
Pawel Minescz

The answers are: 1 = am 2 = the 3 = am 4 = in 5 = in 6 = the 7 = in 8 = the 9 = the 10 = in 11 = in 12 = the 13 = in 14 = the 15 = am 16 = in 17 = a 18 = the 19 = the 20 = the 21 = in 22 = the 23 = the 24 = the 25 = the 26 = the 27 = in 28 = in 29 = a

How to Lay out Letters

2007-02-09T03:11:00.000-08:00

How to lay out letters

Letters are made up of different parts.

The greeting
We normally begin both formal and informal letters with Dear …

The opening paragraph
Contains a clear statement of our reason for writing.
Signalling the end The final sentence or paragraph often indicates that the letter is going to finish.
The closing
This phrase puts an end to the letter. For formal letters, we usually end with Yours sincerely when we know the name of the person we are writing to and have used their name in the greeting (e.g. Dear Mr Johnson,) and Yours faithfully, when we do not know the name of the person we are writing to and have started the letter with Dear Sir / Madam,…
The signature
In a formal letter, it is common to print your name under your signature. In an informal letter, you may just sign with your first name.
Look at two candidates' letters, script A and script B, below. Which is formal and which is informal? Look at the highlighted sections of the letters and label them using the information above.

A
Dear Ms Smith,
I am very sorry to read that Mr Brown is ill. However, I am sure you will replace him very well and that your group will be well looked after.
These are the answers for the questions you asked me in your letter: Your group has been booked into the Palace Hotel in Princess Street, which is in the centre of the town.
I am happy to inform you that it is situated very near to the conference. All you have to do is to turn left and walk straight for approximately 3 minutes. The conference takes place in our college which you will surely notice as its walls are painted green.
I am glad to let you know that our town has many attractions for visitors. I would especially recommend you to see the Old Oak Castle in the east part of town.
I hope I have clearly answered all your questions. If you have any more, do not hesitate to contact me.
I am looking forward to seeing you.
Your sincerely,
Matthew Burns

B
Dear Maria,
I thought you'd never reply to my last letter! Anyway, back to your question. Well, if I were you, I'd choose the museum job.Working in a restaurant would be very tiring. Trust me I've done such a job, and I quit within a month! However you talk to lots of people, listen to their discussions which can sometimes be very interesting but still you get really tired.Working in a museum though can be really interesting. You just have to explain to the visitors what is what. You may think that you will have to talk all day, but that's not true. You see many people just like to browse through the museum. You also have to remind the rules of the museum to some that disobey them, but these people are usually very few; not something you should worry about. I heavily suggest you take the museum job. It's easier and less tiring. I'm looking forward to get your reply.
Lots of love,
George

Gap Year

2007-01-22T01:42:00.000-08:00

Pease visit this link if you want to get more information about this topic.
You can get to know other young people who engaged in this kind of experience.

http://www.gapyear.com/things_to_do/

2007-01-19T01:06:00.000-08:00

Benefits of Taking a Year Off

Many students head off to college right after high school because that’s the customary path. But if you are thinking that you are not quite ready for college, then you may want to consider taking a year off to explore foreign countries, gain work experience, or improve upon your studying skills. Check out the following benefits of taking a gap year before you begin college.
• You will become more mature. Students who take a year off before they enter college mature earlier than their peers who come straight to college from high school. Taking a year off to travel foreign places or work full-time will give you real world experience. Think about how much you would mature if you got to travel to Ghana by yourself and teach English to schoolchildren or if you got to explore South East Asia by working in the rain forests. On so many levels, you develop a certain maturity when traveling on your own and experiencing new people and customs. That maturity will allow you to become excited about going to college and allow you to get through the social and intellectual stressors of the four or more intense years to come.
• You will become more focused. When you take a year off to discover who you really are, you will be more focused on what you want to do with the rest of your life. Many students, who thought they knew what they wanted to major in, realized that they did not enjoy working in their presumed major after they delved into their gap year of full-time work. These students were able to take the rest of their gap year to explore different jobs in order to find out what they wanted to major in at college. If you are not exactly sure what you would like to major in, then consider taking a year off to explore different career fields.
• You will be academically prepared for college. Students who lack basic study skills may run into difficulties at college. If you feel that your grades or your study skills are not up to par by the time you graduate from high school, then you may want to consider taking a gap year to improve yourself academically. Contemplate the option of enrolling in a postgraduate program to enhance your concentrated studying. There are many programs that offer refresher courses in algebra, geometry, English, etc. Some programs even offer introductory college-level classes. These postgraduate programs can help students master the art of college writing and studying and can possibly help students boost their grades before applying to college.
• You will have an appreciation for college. If you are going to college because that’s what your parents want you to do, then you may have a hard time appreciating what college has to offer you. A gap year may shed a new light on college. Consider the following situation: You take a year off from college to work full-time. You work long hours with very low pay. It won’t take you very long to realize that in order to get ahead in life, you need a college degree. When your gap year is over, you will have a new appreciation for college and know that you really want to be there, instead of just going because that is what your parents want you to do.
Remember that taking a gap year isn’t for everyone. If you already know exactly what you want to major in, and you think that you are mature enough for the intense work that comes along with college, then you probably want to continue on to college right after high school. Weigh out your options and pick the best decision for you. If you do decide to take a year off, it is best to apply to college during your senior year of high school. After you receive an acceptance to the college, you can request to have the acceptance deferred for one year. Some colleges will allow you to defer; others will request that you reapply. Be sure to make a plan and set goals for your gap year. Decide on an activity that will be beneficial for you in the long run, such as volunteering in a foreign country, exploring different career paths, or improving your study skills. Whatever you decide to do, one thing is for certain: you will enroll in college a changed person.

TeenTexters' Tabs Take Off

2007-01-08T06:10:00.000-08:00

(CBS) Many parents consider cell phones a necessity, so they agree to spend the money to provide them to their teenagers. However, says The Early Show correspondent Trish Regan, teens often turn cell phones into tools for socializing. And all this socialization is costing their parents lots of money. If teens were just making calls, it might not be that much of a problem. But they're taking advantage of additional features on phones, features that are frequently not included in service plans. Such as text messaging. Its popularity is exploding among teens, and it's become one of the most common forms of communication among them, Regan reports. More than 2.5 billion text messages are sent each month, triple the number of just three years ago, and most are sent by teens and young adults. They also happen to be the ones most often not responsible for paying their cell phone bills. Regan spoke to numerous teens and asked the simple question: Why is everybody texting? "Sometimes, it's easier just to communicate like that when you can't be on your actual phone. So, you just send a text message and you just wait for a response. It's easier and quicker," one teen explained to her. And so, says Regan, they're texting -- all the time. But what many teens and their parents don't realize is that it costs money every time a message is sent. Unable to make money on traditional long distance calls, cell phone companies are cashing in on texting and other add-on services. "The cell phone companies are looking to things like text messaging, picture messaging, ring tones as a way of increasing their revenue," observes Consumer Reports magazine Deputy Editor David Heim. …Texting certainly does add to the cell phone companys' bottom line. Do the math. …The problem for the cell phone customer is that those text messages really add up quickly. And if you're not careful, you can be spending 10 dollars a month extra, $100 a month extra." Still, notes Regan, it doesn't take too many of these additional charges before parents wise up, and look to take action. She tells The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm text messages generally cost a nickel to a dime apiece, which doesn't sound like a lot, but if you are sending 70-80 messages a day, it accumulates pretty quickly. So how can parents avoid getting hit with these overage charges in the first place? First of all, says Regan, parents need to talk to their kids about how use their phones. A lot of parents don't even know what text messaging is until they get hit with the bill. So, it's important to know what the phone will be used for. Once they know, they need to make sure they're signed up for the right plan. Cell phone companies offer plans that include text messaging so, the key is to find a reasonable plans. The other alternative is to simply limit the kids' use of their cell phones. Parents need to tell their kids exactly what a plan includes and if the kids go over the limits, let there be consequences -- maybe the teens pays the overage themselves, or perhaps the phone is even taken away.

Cell Phone Etiquette

2007-01-08T04:15:00.000-08:00

Cell-phone etiquette is really just common courtesy. Most people today have a Mobile phone. In fact, many people can't imagine how they ever got along without a portable phone. However, many people also complain about cell phone users. People complain about other people loudly discussing personal matters in public places. They complain when cell phones ring in movie theaters and concert halls. They complain about people driving too slow, and not paying attention to where they are going because they are talking on a cell phone. And they complain about people walking around talking to people who aren't there.
Whenever a new communications technology becomes popular, it changes the way society is organized. Society has to invent rules for the polite way to use the new devices. Our social etiquette, our rules of politeness for cell phones, is still evolving.
Cell-phone etiquette apply to most public places. Always try to keep your phone ringer as low as possible or put your mobile phone on vibrate, so it does not distract the people around you. A good time to leave your phone at home, or at least in the car, would be at a funeral, wedding or some event along those lines.
Basic Cell phone etiquette rules include :
Switching it Off : Know when to turn it off or vibrate it. eg meetings, movies, worship, seminars, etc . Vibrate mode when in places where you can take a call, but don't want to disturb others.
Be Brief : When you get a call and you're with friends, keep the call short.
Permission : Often, it is correct etiquette to inform others at the beginning of the meeting that you are expecting an important call and get their permission.
Be Polite : Don't scream : speak in a lower-than-normal voice, you will be heard by the caller, and not others in the room
Don't Distract : Avoid talking where you may be distracting to others.
Driving : It is not only very dangerous, but also unlawful in most countries ( even India ) to drive & talk on your cell Phone

2007-01-08T01:37:00.000-08:00

TEST ON REPORTED SPEECH

Change the following sentences into reported speech using appropriate verbs in the main clause where necessary:

1. The managing director, 'Bring me the new plans as soon as possible, Neil!'
2. The doctor, 'Get more exercise, Tom! You are getting too fat'.
3. The personnel manager asked Mr Jonson, 'Would you like a bigger desk?'
4. She said, 'I didn't have any breakfast this morning.'
5. Mrs Russ says to her son, 'You must go shopping tomorrow.'
6. He asked the teacher, 'May I leave the room?'
7. He replied, 'I will have finished my homework in ten minutes.'
8. Mary asked Tom, 'Do you think I will understand the problem?'
9. His friend responded, 'I am sorry, but I won't be able to come because I already have an appointment tomorrow morning.'
10. Martin said, 'Don't spoil the new carpet with your dirty shoes! It has just been dry-cleaned.

2007-01-05T01:37:00.000-08:00

Protecting Privacy in the Global Market:A German-American Concern

While the transatlantic trade battle over bananas might have been solved last week, another problem remains a serious challenge. It is one that has been a research topic at AICGS since 1996 -- the protection of consumer privacy in a global economy.
Last week, the EU and the U.S. squared off -- not for the first time -- over how to regulate the transfer of personal data across the Atlantic. The current situation is a tense one as, during the next decade, major obstacles will emerge in trade relations and the further development of electronic commerce. With a huge market at stake, Germany and the U.S. are major contenders in this area.
Internet penetration rates are soaring throughout Europe, particularly in Germany, but commerce online has been slower to develop. While users of the World Wide Web are growing worldwide, Internet shoppers and the products and services that they are purchasing online are not, in part because of concern about privacy. The United States still tends to dominate electronic commerce. But that will change in the coming decade, provided adequate safeguards for data protection are implemented.
Consumers in both the United States and Europe report fear of invasion or misuse of information supplied as part of an online transaction. This shared interest, as well as the experience of European countries in providing greater privacy protection, heightens the tensions between U.S. and European leaders seeking a consensus on regulating the problems.
In the fall of 1998, the European Directive on data protection went into effect with a regulatory approach that governs the handling of private data across the industrial spectrum. It contains a particular provision that prevents the transfer of personal data to third countries unless they can prove they have an adequate standard for data protection. American industrial leaders expressed concern about the meaning of "adequate" because the American approach to data protection has always been a mixture of sector-specific laws and self-regulation within the industry. Without agreement about standards, the EU directive could result in significant trade barriers to American trade on the Internet and e-commerce development, argue both American government and industrial leaders.
An effort to resolve this clash was made last year. The so-called Safe Harbor agreement worked out by the Department of Commerce and the European Union is a self-regulatory framework that is designed to satisfy the EU adequacy standards. U.S. industry engaged in data flow accepts the objectives of the EU directive on a voluntary basis and is subject to the supervision of U.S. authorities. Because they are doubtful about its effectiveness, few U.S. companies have associated with the Safe Harbor framework and are seeking other means to address the privacy requirements.
While the EU voted to accept the safe harbor agreements, the current clash stems from the American concern about the intended enforcement of the EU Directive. It requires the consent of individuals for the use of their data, prevents transfer of the data to third parties and demands erasure of the data after its use. With billions of dollars in e-business at stake, American government and industrial leaders are arguing that such requirements are out of sync with the demands of the global market place. The EU replies that any company that does not measure up to the Safe Harbor standards or alternative models will be prevented from exporting data. That, according to Representative Bill Tauzin, Chairman of the House Commerce and Energy Committee, could be "one of the largest free trade barriers ever seen."
Within the EU framework, Germany has played a key role in setting the standards for data protection. It's own domestic standards and administration are the most rigorous in Europe. In addition to a federal Data Protection Officer, each of the Länder have their own as well. The federal data protection law stipulates that any company using data must employ a privacy officer to oversee its business operations.
In the wake of the Nazi era, mistrust of government use of personal data was pervasive in Germany. Two decades ago, the Greens successfully led a campaign against a planned national census claiming it was too intrusive. Today, concerns about the use of data by corporations is equally extensive. The current Federal Data Protection Officer, Joachim Jacob, recently issued a report very critical of a significant increased sale of addresses and the potential misuse of gene testing.
The conflict sparked between Germany and the EU with the United States stems from different historical experiences and legal approaches to privacy rights. It has to do with different approaches to the role of government in protecting individual freedoms. And, it has to do with difficult questions relating to the jurisdiction over privacy in a global economy. But with the increasing pace and power of worldwide e-commerce developments, there is also an increasing need to find solutions to these problems.

2007-01-05T01:28:00.000-08:00

Ethics in Advertising

Advertising. The attempt to send information to people to convince them to spend their money with a certain company. This concept is the foundation of much of the modern financial world. The ads can attack any of the senses. Sight, hearing, touch even smell or taste. For example movie popcorn has a specific smell that's been refined over years to entice others in the movie theater to buy their own large bucket.
Advertising is big business. Billions of dollars are spent each MONTH on advertising. Many industries exist solely due to the influx of money advertising brings in. The cable TV industry, magazines, newspapers and many other media and non-media industries would be drastically changed if they couldn't sell advertising space.
Plus we wouldn't know what to buy.
Because of these facts, companies try all sorts of tactics to get our attention and money. Sometimes these attempts involve illegal, underhanded or dirty tricks.
Some examples of illegal tricks involve the old bait and switch. This tactic requires placing an ad for an item at tremendous value. Upon reaching the store, the shoppers finds that the item is "no longer available" and in order to alleviate their sorrow at missing the deal they are directed to a similar item that, while not as good of a bargain (sometimes no bargain at all) closely matches what they came in for.
An example would be an ad for a brand new computer with P3 1.2 Gig processor, 256 megs of Ram, 60 Gig hard drive, DVD, cd-writer and free software for only $599.95. What a bargain! As soon as you inquire: "I'm sorry, we're all sold out of that amazing deal, but since you need a computer, I can show you this one. It only has half as much processing power, ram or hard drive, but that sale item was probably too big for you anyway. It's a steal at just $600. If you need the DVD, I can have one installed for only $99..." and off you go being sold an item that you didn't initially want.
Why is this advertising method illegal? For two reasons.
It relies on false information
It works way too well
One of the main problems is that often times, these underhanded techniques work all too well. They're based on deception, misdirection and other highly refined but sharply unethical techniques.
In many ways, and especially on the internet, the porn industry has had its share of unethical advertising.
One of the most common tactics used by the porn industry websites is to create pages that rank well for unrelated but "free" stuff. You are searching for something, say information on the latest Angelina Jolie movie, on the search engines and you see a search result offering free videos of Ms. Jolie. Sounds cool of course and you head to a page which flashes tons of banner ads (Which the owner gets paid for if you click on any of them. Another unethical practice.) The page offers secret pictures and videos of Ms. Jolie completely naked. Just click this link. You click and go to another dizzying array of ads before finding another link. You end up at a page that offers plenty of sexy naked women. All you have to do is fill in your name and credit card number...
And there you are, tempted to pay for pictures that have nothing to do with Angelina Jolie (Or if they do, they are often her face placed on top of some nude model.) but there you are anyway. You most likely don't even remember what you were searching for in the first place. (Info on her latest movie ring a bell?)
Does this technique work? Would the entire industry use it if it didn't?
Sometimes, the advertising attempt is covered in a veneer to make it sound OK to people with objections. They say they are just trying to offer "relevant content" to people that may want it, or say that all they have to do to stop receiving the ad is... If you receive e-zines with ads on them and don't want the e-zine anymore, sometimes it involves an act of congress and a true sighting of Godzilla to get off their list.
Advertising works best when it's aimed at "people who would most likely use the product". Because of this many unethical attempts are done to place ads in places they shouldn't be.
Let's say that Nike created an ad campaign of spray painting ads onto sidewalks. After all, people who are walking obviously need shoes, and they'll want the latest from Nike, right? Hey, this isn't defacing property. This is a major corporation simply marketing it's products to it's customers. That shouldn't be a problem, right? Never mind that they didn't pay the owners of the sidewalks for ad space. That's no big deal. (NOTE: To date, I'm not aware of Nike or anyone else doing this kind of ad campaign.)
I'm waiting for the day when someone creates prescription glasses that the wearer gets for free. The glasses simply flash occasional ads on the bottom right hand portion of the lens. Would this be unethical? What if you weren't told about the ads until after you got the glasses?
Where to draw the line?
So what line can we draw to tell unethical advertising from ethical advertising? The simplest method is: Does the ad campaign rely on misinformation or misdirection? If the ad lies to the customer promising one thing but then tries to deliver something else, that is unethical. Period.
How much further can advertising go? I think I found it.
The bottom of the barrel?
A company that I have found recently is guilty of many unethical practices, all at the same time. That company is Ezula.
They have a made a program that creates link ads on all webpage you view. They sell particular words or phrases to companies as advertising fees. This browser plug-in reads the words on the webpage you're reading and if it finds one of these words/phrases, it creates a link out of it that goes to the paying customer. For example, if the webpage you're reading has the phrase "hotel reservations" and you have this plug-in, then it creates a link out of that phrase that points to expedia.com. Nevermind that I, as a web designer didn't want that link there. That money making link shows up whether I like it or not.
You don't even have to download this program. It comes with another popular, but unrelated program: Kazaa. A program to find and download mp3's. Kazaa has raised in popularity with Napsters demise.
So let's see what's happening:
The company Ezula creates a browser plug-in that can make links on every webpage you view based on a database of phrases. If the phrase is in the database, the link is made.
Since it's a browser plug-in, they don't have to adjust anyone's HTML coding. It doesn't affect the computer next to you or the one next door, it just adjusts the computer it's installed on.
Ezula then "sells" these phrases, or rather sells the link. When we click on this link, they pay money to Ezula.
Let's see just how many unethical practices this entails:
Stealing ad space They are selling the phrases on MY website and they aren't paying me a dime. I, as a website developer get nothing from this. They are selling ad space on my site, and not paying me.
If I created a device that could be placed on the TV cable outside your home and inserted little ads into your TV shows that the cable company didn't authorize, I could then sell advertising space. Of course, what I was doing would surely be found illegal and they would make me stop.
Defacing property There is also the fact that they are defacing my site, in terms of adjusting it without my consent, or even knowledge.
There is the argument that web designers already don't have much control over how a webpage is presented because different browsers can show the same webpage in slightly (in some cases drastic) ways. Therefore, they shouldn't complain that some program might alter the look their sight.
However website developers care very much about how their site is presented. We care so much, that we often remake our entire site in three or four ways then use methods to send browsers to the correct version so the viewer will get what we want them to get.
But what do I do about this? I would have to search all my entire sites for ezula-linked words and change my wording. This is impossible since some of the words Ezula links are simple ones like "sports" or "mortgage". These words are hard to skirt around all the time.
Gambling with people's honor Then there's the matter of honor in terms of content. If I write an article about gambling, links would be created that point to websites that I don't endorse. If someone doesn't understand that I didn't place that particular link and they get angry at me thinking that I am endorsing something that I'm not, what can I do? My reputation depends on making sure certain ethical standards aren't crossed.
One page on a site I work on focuses on kid friendly links. Parents trust that page and expect me to keep it very clean. If a sentence like "I'm betting this will work." shows up and the term betting creates a link to an online gambling casino, I'm in trouble.
Back door installation This program comes piggybacked almost hidden in Kazaa's program. there is nothing on Kazaa's website that even remotely suggests that this program will also be downloaded and installed along with the program you intend to get. This in itself is unethical, although an increasingly common tactic.
Ezula claims that all you have to do is opt-out when you install Kazaa. There is one (and only one) screen where you can choose to not have Ezula's program installed. You are barely even told what the program does. As we have already mentioned, not everyone on the internet is computer savvy. To get a program installed is quite a feat, much less install just the correct one's when multiple programs are added.
When you install Internet Explorer, it installs some programs that are associated with it, such as Macromedia Flash plug-ins.
The Ezula program has nothing to do with Kazaa's program whatsoever. Shame on Kazaa for installing this, and three other unrelated, programs.
Even though I am computer savvy, if I didn't know about this program, I would have installed it too without thinking about it. The only reason anyone would be given to not install it would be because of bad publicity like this program deserves.
Changing identities This program used to be called Toptext, this is the name most who know this situation still call it, but right after the bad news came out, they have changed the name of the program. In fact they have changed the name four times. There program has been called TopText, HOTtext, DesktopDollars and now ContextPro.
The only reason for doing this that I can think of would be to escape the bad publicity this program is generating.
Hacking in the name of corporate business They are hacking sites, in the sense that they are altering the look of the sites without my consent.
If I somehow could place ad links on all the government sites that they didn't authorize, how soon do you think they would label me a hacker and shut me down? It wouldn't matter if I hacked into their site, or created a browser plug-in and gave it secretly to tons of users.
But, since this is done in the name of business I guess it's OK.
If I created a company called Duplitech Inc. and grabbed a bunch of popular and expensive software programs and hacked them so anyone could install them without having to register them and offered the hacked versions for sale at $5 each or 5 for $20, I would make tons of money. Since this is done in the name of business I guess it's OK. (NOTE: Some of you might think this is at odds with my article on hacking, but re-read it and you'll see it's not.)
Opting out takes trust In Ezula's defense, they have a system where they can place domains on a "do not place links here" list. Being on this list keeps links from showing up on your site. So anyone who doesn't want links can just place their sites on this list and everything is OK, right?
Of course not. I dare you find out how to get on this list. There's no information about it on their website. There's information about this list in their install information, privacy policy, terms of use, nothing. There is no public place that tells you how to be placed on this list. If you can't find the list, you can't get off of it.
OK so you finally find out that in order to get on the list you must email support@ezula.com with a list of the domains that you want no links to appear on. Well, now you have to wait and see if they place your domains on the list. What if they "forget"? Then you have to contact them again, and again and...
Also, what if someone downloads a local version of your site? Or what if a cached version of the page appears, such as in Google's Cache section? The links show up again and there's nothing you can do about that one ever.
Hypocrites in action This is by far the crowning piece of unethical advertising.
Ezula claims that this marketing action is not intrusive to any website. They claim it's not hurting anyone to place these simple links on other people's site. Oh Really?
One of the phrases currently being sold is "online business", which happens to be on their own site at http://www.ezula.com/news/media_coverage.asp. But if you have their program and look at that page, you'll find that phrase isn't linked.
Well, maybe it somehow doesn't meet the link criteria. Maybe there's two spaces between the words so it doesn't match. Let's look at google's cached version of that page. Since the cached page is at google.com which isn't on the list.
Low and behold the link appears. Let's go back to their page and download a local version and look at that. Gee, there's the link again.
Ezula claims their links don't cause any harm to anyone, but they don't allow the links on their own site!!
If I sold some unethical product and claimed it was perfectly safe for everyone, but refused to use it myself, what would people think?
Is Ezula the bottom of the barrel? Unfortunately not. Will people and businesses stoop to lower depths? Yep. But as long as we let obviously unethical and illegal actions go unpunished, these actions will get larger and more invasive.
8/7/2001 Update
It appears that another company has been trying the "keyword sale" game. Gator sells keywords which create popup ads. This is being used to create popup ads at competitor's websites. For example going to AmericanAirlines.com would popup an ad for Delta Air Lines. The reasoning is this: Someone shopping the competitor would be a perfect target for promotions.
Here's a question: What if Chevy sent tons of people to stand outside BMW dealerships with bullhorns. Whenever a customer comes onto the BMW lot the Chevy people would yell through the bullhorn, "HEY, YOU THERE, ON THE BMW LOT. COME ON OVER TO THE CHEVY DEALERSHIP AND I'LL GIVE YOU A COUPON FOR $50 OFF A NEW CAR. I'LL EVEN DRIVE YOU THERE FOR FREE." Those people aren't on private property, they're just marketing to people just like these keyword popup ads.
I'd love to see businesses doing this. That would be great during lunch.
HEY, YOU IN THE MCDONALDS DRIVE THROUGH. I'LL GIVE YOU $5.00 OFF YOUR NEXT MEAL AT WENDY'S IF YOU DRIVE THROUGH WITHOUT PAYING.
Maybe I need to start selling bullhorns. I'd be rich.
HEY, YOU. $9.00 OFF YOUR NEXT BULLHORN FROM ACE HARDWARE!
Who said that?

2007-01-04T01:52:00.000-08:00

Exercise on Reported Speech

Helen is in front of the class holding a presentation on London. As Helen is rather shy, she speaks with a very low voice. Your classmate Gareth does not understand her, so you have to repeat every sentence to him.
Complete the sentences in reported speech. Note the change of pronouns and verbs.
Helen: I want to tell you something about my holiday in London.
Gareth: What does she say?
You: She says that ...
Helen: I went to London in July.
Gareth: What does she say?
You: She says that ...
Helen: My parents went with me.
Gareth: What does she say?
You: She says that...
Helen: We spent three days in London.
Gareth: What does she say?
You: She says that ...
Helen: London is a multicultural place.
Gareth: What does she say?
You: She says that ...
Helen: I saw people of all colours.
Gareth: What does she say?
You: She says that ...
Helen: Me and my parents visited the Tower.
Gareth: What does she say?
You: She says that ...
Helen: One evening we went to see a musical.
Gareth: What does she say?
You: She says that ...
Helen: I love London.
Gareth: What does she say?
You: She says that...
Helen: The people are so nice there.
Gareth: What does she say?
You: She says that ...

2007-01-04T01:16:00.000-08:00

Reported Speech

Choose the correct option

Mary "I love chocolate."Jill: "Mary said (that) she ___ chocolate."
a. loved
b. loves
c. loving
Mary: "I went skiing."Jill: "Mary said (that) she ___ skiing."
a. went
b. had gone
c. have gone
Mary: "I will eat steak for dinner."Jill: "Mary said (that) she ___ eat steak for dinner."
a. willing
b. will
c. would
Mary: "I have been to Sydney."Jill: "Mary said (that) she ___ to Sydney."a. had beenb. has beenc. was beingAnswera
Mary: "I have had three cars."Jill: "Mary said (that) she ___ three cars.a. hasb. has hadc. had hadAnswerc
Mary: "I'm going to go to Long Beach."Jill: "Mary said (that) she ___ going to go to Long Beach."a. isb. wasc. wentAnswerb
Mary: "I don't like spinach."Jill: "Mary said (that) she ___ like spinach."a. doesn'tb. don'tc. didn'tAnswerc
Mary: "I have never been to London."Jill: "Mary said (that) she ___ never been to London."a. hadb. hasc. haveAnswera
Mary: "I was swimming."Jill: "Mary said (that) she ___ swimming.
a. has been
b. had been
c. have been
Mary: "I had a cat."Jill: Mary said (that) she had ___ a cat."
a. have
b. has
c. had
Mary: "I can't swim."Jill: "Mary said (that) she ___ swim."
a. can't
b. couldn't
c. can not
Mary: "I won't buy a new car."Jill: "Mary said (that) she ___ by a new car."
a. won't
b. will
c. wouldn't
Mary: "I have to do my laundry."Jill: "Mary said (that) she ___ to do her laundry."
a. had
b. has
c. have

2007-01-04T01:07:00.000-08:00

WHAT IS TELEMEDICINE?

Medical science is at its best today. However, its benefits are available to privileged few in the urban areas. Even though the majority of population lives in the rural backyard, only two per cent of India’s qualified doctors practice in the countryside. What’s needed is a system that facilitates medical aid from a distance. Telemedicine does just that. A confluence of communication technology, information technology, biomedical engineering and medical science, telemedicine helps patients in distant and remote areas to avail timely consultations from specialist doctors without going through long hours of travel across distances, incurring huge expenses. Telemedicine consists of customized medical software integrated with computer hardware along with diagnostic equipment like ECG, X-ray, pathology microscope etc, connected through satellite-based communications means like the VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) system at each location. The facility transmits patient’s medical images and medical history to the specialist doctors, either in advance, or in real-time, who studies it, diagnoses and advises the local doctor or the paramedic at the patient’s end during the two-way audio and videoconference. Apart from providing timely medical assistance, telemedicine is also cost-effective. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), as part of application of its programme ‘Space Technology for Healthcare and education’, under GRAMSAT (rural satellite) has initiated a number of telemedicine pilot projects.

Telemedicine

2007-01-04T01:03:00.000-08:00

What is Telemedicine/Healthcare Telematics?

Telematics is the use of telecommunications technologies to solve a wide variety of problems, remotely. Healthcare Telematics or Telemedicine is the application of telematics to medicine to facilitate healthcare delivery.
Telemedicine can be defined as the investigation, monitoring and management of patients, using systems which allow ready access to expert advice and to patient information, no matter where the patient or relevant information is located.
This involves the transfer of medical information from one location to another. Increasingly, computer technology will allow much of the work currently being carried out in hospital, to be carried out in people's homes, in an effort not only to improve the efficiency and standards of patient care, but to reduce its cost drastically.
There are four main components of telematics, all of which are applicable to healthcare:

Remote database access/update
Tele-monitoring
Tele-Video Conferencing
Case Handling/Message Passing

The Benefits of Telemedicine:

Despite the initial outlay costs of investing in the computer hardware, it is anticipated that there are considerable savings to be made in the long term, by decentralising patient care and moving it from the hospital to the local or even the European community. Remote patients who would not otherwise have received speedy treatment can be dealt with easily, and medical data can be transferred instantaneously, saving time and energy.
In short, Telemedicine improves the mobility of patient care, and assists the access to all kinds of medical information. The patient gets improved treatment, and scarce resources are used more efficiently, securing the reputation of Healthcare Telematics as the future of medicine.

2006-12-20T10:25:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas

2006-12-20T01:32:00.000-08:00

I wish a Merry Christmas and

a Happy New Year to all my students

(10º K, 10º B, 11º A, 11º B)

site for online dictionaries

2006-11-22T06:52:00.001-08:00

online Dictionary:
http://dict.leo.org/
http://www.iee.et.tu-dresden.de/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/wernerr/search.sh
http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/
http://world.altavista.com (translation machine, but be careful it is only a machine, human translation is much better)

very good sites to learn English

2006-11-22T06:43:00.000-08:00

conditional sentences (type 1 and 2)

2006-11-22T06:36:00.000-08:00

Complete each sentence below by giving the correct form of the verb in brackets.

1. If the city ________ (expand) the parking lot space downtown, we would not have to park so far away from the movie theatre.

2. Whenever my roommate ________ (snore) loudly, I cannot sleep.

3. Children may be disappointed if they ________ (not receive) good grades.

4.I f it ________ (be) winter, all these trees would be covered in snow.

5. I ________ (try) to find more opportunities to write in English if I were you.

Game consoles and their effect on youth

2006-11-22T05:35:00.000-08:00

Game Consoles and Their Effect on Youth

Video games as we known them first appeared in the early 70's, with the infamous Pong. Though nothing more than a ball bouncing back and forth across the screen, it would eventually lead to entire worlds within worlds, epic battles between good and evil, and scenery that looks like it came off a postcard. (Herman, Horwitz, Kent, and Miller, 1995-2003)
In recent years, video games have become a staple for many young children. Statistics report that kids that play these games spend an average of 90 minutes a day on them. (Farrales, 2002) The videogame market is a popular, profitable one. (Herman, Horwitz, Kent, and Miller, 1995-2003)
Violence in Video Games
In the beginning days of video games,. Violence was nothing resembling realistic. Villains would puff off in a cloud of smoke, or just blink off inexplicably. There was little that could connect this with real life violence. (Hatcher, 1998)
However, as videogames and their technology matured, so did the realism. Now, instead of disappearing in a cartoonish fashion, characters would be gunned down with authentic looking machinery, then lay in a rather Gothic fashion while the player continued their mission. The base goal of the game would remain: shoot until the bad guy is dead. (Farrales, 2002)
Effects on Fans
But in the youngest fans, if their minds start to connect violence to problem solving, then where does that leave the accepted methods of getting your point across? Their mentality may begin to operate on a "you did that, I didn't like that, so now you pay" basis. Videogames do, admittedly, promote a skewed vision of society, where if someone gets in your way, you simply exterminate them. In other words, violence is not a bad thing. Rather, it's a solution. (Farrales, 2002)
Worse still, violent games can lead to desensitization to brutality. (Farrales, 2002)The scenes onscreen look real, but they aren't realistic; meaning, of course, that the situation would be unacceptable in the real world. But if they blur the lines against fact and fiction, then clarity is gone. It can cause aggression in children, unresolved anger that has no outlet. (Hatcher, 1998)
Lt. Col. David Grossman stated, "Children don't naturally kill; they learn it…from violence as entertainment in television, movies, and interactive video games. We are teaching children to associate pleasure with human death and suffering. We are rewarding them for killing people. And we are teaching them to like it." (Farrales, 2002) Certainly, all violent video games have a common thread; among them is the encouragement of killing (in fact, it often is an objective in the game) and the lack of punishment for said killing.
You would think that the older fans of these games would be relatively immune to the effects. But while a child can take this newfound aggression out on other kids, through bully-like behavior and rough play, an older person can through increased hostility on a test or heart rate. (Farrales, 2002)
A study at Stanford University investigated the connection between videogames, violent behavior, and children:
The study found that when third and fourth graders television and video game consumption were reduced to under seven hours per week for 20 weeks, their verbal aggression decreased by 50% and their physical aggression decreased by 40%. There are many cases that show how players of violent video games exhibit increases in aggression, especially in younger audiences. In spite of this, there are very few cases showing how playing violent video games leads or was the cause of violent behavior.
It's a complex issue: there are some children whose aggression is provoked by these games, while others still show no particularly violent tendencies. (Hatcher, 1998) Certainly, children were violent before the advent of videogames, so it would be unrealistic to say that they're the modern cause of aggression in our children.
Not Just Psychological Aside from the psychological effects, there are numerous health issues that are being investigated. Most controllers that come with the console, for example, that repeated and constant use could cause carpal tunnel syndrome. The most common cause of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is inflammation of the tendons in the tunnel which can normally be attributed to repetitive use of the hand and/or wrist. (Biomax, '98-'02)
Repetitive Strain Injuries (the cause of carpal tunnel syndrome) can happen to anyone whose work calls for long periods of steady hand movement, such as the operation of a game controller. RSIs tend to come with work that demands repeated grasping, turning and twisting. Also, it is not limited to any age group. Young people can contract as easily as an older person. (Biomax, '98-'02)
Frequent game use can also lead to high adrenaline rates, which can translate into hyper-aggressiveness as well as symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). (Farrales, 2000) ADD is diagnosed by the following symptoms: distractibility (poor sustained attention to tasks); impulsivity (impaired impulse control and delay of gratification); hyperactivity (excessive activity and physical restlessness). While this doesn't mean the child will develop ADD, since it's is most likely caused by biological factors, it means he/she could acquire the symptoms. (ADDA, '96-'03)
There is even a chance of stimulus addiction, a typical response to a child immersed in violent yet realistic games. This could lead them to seek more powerful stimulus as the addiction grows, in an attempt to revive that emotional high. (Farrales, 2000)
Passionate Opposition
Organizations advocating the abolishment of such entertainment have grown in numbers. One such organization, MAVAV has a website, which posts articles pertained to the so-called "addiction" that gamers suffer. Extremist anti-video violence groups would have you believe that all these games corrupt our children. One such excerpt reflects this attitude:
"…Videogames have been proven to prevent the development of the proper social skills and interaction needed for a long happy and enjoyable life. Young gamers are prone to being burdened with depression and sadness all throughout their life."
However overblown these views seem, is there merit to their fears? Do videopgames promote anti-social behavior? No concrete evidence, aside from sketchy testimonials, have been released to back this up. The most vocal of videogame supporters are those who play them, naturally. Usually dismissed as "feral young children and pre-teenage gamers", many find it frustrating to be written off despite having a valid point. It's a case of stalemate for both sides.
Conclusion
While it's doubtful these two groups will ever see eye to eye, there remains a looming question mark over the danger of videogames to developing minds. Does it really teach violence? Or simply bring existing aggression to the forefront? The media has often been used as a scapegoat for whatever was wrong with society. It's a tradition that dates back to Elizabethan days, when theaters were blamed for spreading the plague. But despite numerous scientific studies for each side, public opinion remains firmly divided.
ReferencesAttention Deficient Disorder Association, 1996-2003
Violence and Electronic Games: Colin Gabriel Hatcher, 1998
The History of Video Games: Leonard Herman, Jer Horwitz, Steve Kent, and Skyler Miller, 1995-2003
Mothers Against Videogame Addiction and Violence
Violence in Video Games: Bernard Farrales, 2002
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Biomax Health Products, Inc., 1998-2002

The impact of technology

2006-11-22T05:30:00.000-08:00

Teens, Technology and Socialization

When first thinking about this topic, I was compelled to write about computers: internet, chat rooms, email, message boards, instant messaging and other forms of communication using computers. And then I realized that computers are not the only form of technology that allows us to socialize and communicate with others. Using the telephone, television and even high-end gadgets enables us to socialize with our friends and family. With the aid of all these forms of technology, we have become a world reliant on different and interesting ways of socialization and communication.
There are many forms of communication and socialization available to us with the use of a computer and an Internet connection. Let's take email for example. Email is used everywhere and by anyone who either has a job or a computer. You email your friends about a party coming up on the weekend, you email your boss to tell him that your proposal is ready for reviewing, and you email you coworkers to gossip about your boss (I'm sure). But not only is email used for business details, it is also used to talk to your dad who maybe lives in Russia or to your mom who is on vacation in Florida. It is used to communicate overseas or even next-door. And unlike the telephone, it won't cost you a fortune to email your dad in Russia or your mom in Florida.
Another way to talk to your friends using a computer is by using a chat room service (see appendix A). It is unsafe to give out any personal information such as you address, telephone number, or sometimes even your full name, but it is an easy way to meet new people and chat with your friends. "Chat rooms are best reserved for communication between people who already know each other."
(site: http://www.family.org/cforum/research/papers/a0002553.html)
Some people even find the person they will one day marry through the use of a chat room. And although this may seem weird and even creepy to us now, it is becoming more and more common each day.
The most widely used way of socializing with the use of technology among teens these days is quickly becoming instant messaging using services such as ICQ or MSN. These services are free to use and are a good and efficient way to talk to all of your friends at the same time. Lets discuss the ICQ instant messaging service for a moment (see appendix b). This service offers a multitude of settings and options you can use to make your screen look pretty and functional. Another handy feature of this program is the memory feature. It allows you to go back and look at any previous conversations you have had with a friend. This way you will not forget important details such as dates, times and names. A negative side to this memory feature however is that anyone could read your conversations if left unattended. A convenient way that will help to prevent this from happening is to use the password feature provided for you to rule out any such possibilities. You simply choose a password of your choice and then you, and only you, will be able to access your program. The MSN instant messaging system (see appendix c) is much the same as the ICQ system, but it lacks one of the main features that ICQ is known for…the memory. When using MSN, once you exit a conversation, it's gone. There is no option to go back into the history of your conversations and review what's been said. As I previously mentioned, this can bee a good feature or a revealing feature. If you don't want there to be any chance of anyone ever viewing your conversations, this is the service for you! Another negative side to services such as ICQ and MSN is that you are not actually speaking with the person you are writing to. "If you use it too much it's going to affect your social skills in one way or another"
(site: http://www.bishops.ntc.nf.ca/ct3200/students01/jonm/term2paper.html)
While instant messaging is on the uprise, and has been for quite some time now, there is one technology that has not ceased to be overused and abused by those who can gab. This is of course the telephone. It will never cease to amaze me how some individuals can stay on the phone chatting with the same person for four and five hours in one sitting. I mean is there really that much to talk about. The telephone is an invention that will never fade away, people will always find uses for the telephone, whether it be to gossip, trade recipes, or receive vital information. The telephone is by far the most convenient way of communication to others. A book is provided will all the numbers you would ever need to use and to use the telephone takes no intelligence or skill what so ever. While it is not the most private way of communication if you don't have a sound proof telephone room in your home, as most of us I'm sure do not, it is a simple and efficient way to communicate and socialize that will never go out of style.
On this same topic of telephones, you will find today that almost all adolescents have access to, or own their very own, you guessed it…Cell phone (see appendix e). Teens today spend more time now talking to their friends via cell phone than most do using their home phone. I'm not sure if it's because the feeling of a mini phone next to your face feels cool, or if your mom is on a call, and you're just too impatient to wait until she's finished. Either way, cell phones and becoming more and more common in households everyday. They're a convenient, high-tech and compact way to chat with your friends on a daily basis.
Another form of technology that never fails to bring people together is none other than the television. No matter who you are or where you come from there's nothing like gathering around the T.V. to watch your favorite show with a group of friends. Not only does this spark quite a few interesting conversation topics, it's also a well-needed rest period for you and your hyperactive buddies! Although taking part in this activity for too many hours on end may cause problems for you visually (or so my mom tells me) as well as socially, anything taken in moderation is fine and often times recommended. The television allows your imagination to explore new and enticing worlds of mystery and romance, among other things. Now I know that there are many positive and high sides of taking time to watch T.V., but believe it or not, there are some negative sides as well. To name a few, (and I can tell you these from personal experience) your schoolwork may start to fall behind and your mid-section may begin to show signs of enlargement. But most importantly, too much time spent in a fantasy world tends to make you forget what it takes to survive in the real world. So, though there are many good aspects of socialization through the watching of T.V. with your friends, you must be able to know when to call it quits and find a new hobby.
Another form of watching T.V. is going to the movie. This is a different take on watching T.V. than just lazing around on a couch for a few hours with a blanket and the remote handy. This gets you up and out of your house and into the world. Nothing beats going to a movie with a bunch of friends, loading up on popcorn and drinks and having a ball. This does in fact cost a bit of money, but I'm sure it's nothing we can't all handle once in a while. Like T.V., movies are great conversation starters. "Did you see when…" or "Wasn't it hilarious how…". Many people who are just starting out in a relationship will often go to a movie on a first date. It avoids those awkward silences and will also give you something to talk about when the movie has finished. Though this is indeed at times a costly form of socialization, I believe it successfully accomplishes the task.
Moving on in our technology-advanced world, there are always those high-end gadgets to keep you busy. Some will gather just to show off the new digital camera (see appendix h) they just received for their birthday, or the new PDA (see appendix I) their dad bought them for Christmas. With an endless number of features and tools, these gadgets could quite possibly tie you and your friends up for a good afternoon or two.
No one knows what the future will hold for the ways we can communicate and socialize with our friends through technology, but as you can see, there are quite a few different ways as of now to keep us interested for a little while longer. While some may be better than others considering privacy, efficiency, and convenience, they all will allow teens today to have fun and communicate with each other on a regular basis.
References 1. Teens, Technology and socialization

http://www.bishops.ntc.nf.ca/ct3200/students01/jonm/term2paper.html 2. Teen Socialization Author: Terrie Bittner Published on: January 2, 2001 http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/3111/54028 3. Tech-savvy teens teach computers to older adults Author: Karima A. Haynes Published on: December 31, 2002 http://www.bakersfield.com/24hour/technology/story/696375p-5156735c.html 4. Protection and socialization Author: Steve Watters http://www.family.org/cforum/research/papers/a0002553.html
Apendix

verb tenses -simple past or present perfect?

2006-11-22T05:05:00.000-08:00

Verb Tense
PART A
All of the following sentences should be completed using the Simple Past or the Present Perfect. You must use the words in the parentheses to fill in the blanks. Hint: remember Non-continuous Verbs cannot be used in any continuous form. If you are confused, go to the Simple Past Page or the Present Perfect Page.
EXAMPLE A) I (visit) visited my grandmother yesterday. B) Sandra (travel) has traveled abroad several times.

1. A: Did you like the movie "Star Wars"? B: I don't know. I (see, never)_____________________ that movie.
2. Sam (arrive)___________________ in San Diego a week ago.
3. My best friend and I (know)_______________________ each other for over fifteen years.
4. Stinson is a fantastic writer. He (write)______________________ ten very creative short stories in the last year. One day, he'll be as famous as Hemingway.
5. I (have, not)_____________________ this much fun since I (be)_______________ a kid.
6. Things (change)______________________ a great deal at Coltech, Inc. When we first (start)___________________ working here three years ago, the company (have, only)____________________ six employees. Since then, we (expand)____________________ to include more than 2000 full-time workers.
7. I (tell)_____________________ him to stay on the path while he was hiking, but he (wander)____________________ off into the forest and (bite)______________________ by a snake.
8. Listen Donna, I don't care if you (miss)____________________ the bus this morning. You (be)_____________________ late to work too many times. You are fired!
9. Sam is from Colorado, which is hundreds of miles from the coast, so he (see, never)__________________ the ocean. He should come with us to Miami.
10. How sad! George (dream)______________ of going to California before died, but he didn't make it. He (see, never)______________________ the ocean.
11. In the last hundred years, traveling (become)_______________________ much easier and very comfortable. In the 19th century, it (take) _________________________ two or three months to cross North America by covered wagon. The trip (be)________________________ very rough and often dangerous. Things (change)_________________________ a great deal in the last hundred and fifty years. Now you can fly from New York to Los Angeles in a matter of hours.
12. Jonny, I can't believe how much you (change)_______________________ since the last time I (see)___________________ you. You (grow)_______________________ at least a foot!
13. This tree (plant)___________________________ by the settlers who (found)_________________________ our city over four hundred years ago.
14. This mountain (climb, never)______________________________ by anyone. Several mountaineers (try)______________________ to reach the top, but nobody (succeed, ever)__________________________. The climb is extremely difficult and many people (die)__________________________ trying to reach the summit.
15. I (visit, never)___________________________ Africa, but I (travel)________________________ to South America several times. The last time I (go)____________________________ to South America, I (visit)______________________ Brazil and Peru. I (spend)___________________________ two weeks in the Amazon, (hike)___________________ for a week near Machu Picchu and (fly)___________________________ over the Nazca Lines.

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Verb Tenses-exercises

2006-11-19T12:59:00.000-08:00

Verb Tense Test

Part A
1. When Carol (call) ______________________ last night, I (watch) ________________________ my favorite show on television.
2. I (work) ___________________________ for that company for more than thirty years.
3. Sharon (love) ______________________ to travel. She (go) ______________________ abroad almost every summer.
4. Thomas is an author. He (write) _______________________ mystery novels and travel memoirs. He (write) _______________________ since he was twenty-eight. Altogether, he (write) ________________________ seven novels, three collections of short stories and a book of poetry.
5. We were late because we (have) ________________________ car problems. By the time we (get) _________________________ to the train station, Susan (wait) __________________________ for us for more than two hours.
6. Sam (try) ______________________ to change a light bulb when he (slip) _______________________ and (fell) _______________________.
7. Everyday I (wake) _______________________ up at 6 o'clock, (eat) _______________________ breakfast at 7 o'clock and (leave) _________________________ for work at 8 o'clock. However, this morning I (get) ____________________ up at 6:30, (skip) ______________________ breakfast and (leave) ______________________ for work late because I (forget) ______________________________ to set my alarm.
8. Right now, Jim (read) _________________________ the newspaper and Kathy (make) _________________________ dinner. Last night at this time, they (do) _________________________ the same thing. She (cook) _________________________ and he (read) ___________________________ the newspaper. Tomorrow at this time, they (do, also) _________________________ the same thing. She (prepare) _________________________ dinner and he (read) _________________________. They are very predictable people!
9. By this time next summer, you (complete) __________________________ your studies and (find) ________________________ a job. I, on the other hand, (accomplish, not) _______________________ anything. I (study, still) ______________________ and you (work) ___________________________ in some new high paying job.
10. The students (teach, usually) ______________________ by Mrs. Monty. However, this week they (teach) __________________________ by Mr. Tanzer.

Part B
Read the sentences and answer the comprehension questions.
1. Jane talks on the phone. Bob has been talking on the phone for an hour. Mary is talking on the phone.
Who is not necessarily on the phone now? ______________________________
2. Jane paid when Bob answered her question.
Did Jane pay first or did Bob answer the question first? ______________________________
3. Jane left when Tim arrived. Bob left when Tim had arrived. Tim arrived when Mary was leaving. John had left when Tim arrived. After Tim arrived, Frank left.
Who did not run into Tim? ______________________________
4. Jane is talking in class. Bob always talks in class. Mary is always talking in class.
Who's action bothers you? ______________________________
5. Jane never left Jamestown. Bob has never left Jamestown.
Who is still alive? ______________________________
Part C
The sentences below contain common verb form mistakes. Find the errors and correct them.
EXAMPLE: went A) She would always go on vacation last summer.

1. When I was a kid, I dreamt that I would always be an actor when I grew up.
2. I would live in London when I was a child.
3. I used to going to the beach every day when I lived in Los Angeles.
4. When he asked for help with his homework, I told him I was going to help him. I can never refuse a request for help.
5. She would constantly be tall when she was in elementary school.

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Defining and non defining relative clauses exercises

2006-11-18T13:42:00.000-08:00

Identify the mistakes and correct them

1. Ann, who party we went to last month, has just got a job.
___________________________________________
2. I like the course I've chosen it.
__________________________________________
3. That's the man who's company was awarded a prize.
__________________________________________
4. The job that you want it requires many skills.
__________________________________________
5. The chairs who you brought to the office are very comfortable.
_________________________________________

Join the following pairs of sentences by means of a relative pronoun.
1. She's the woman. She lives next door.
_________________________________________
2. She's the woman. Her husband works at that bookshop just around the corner.
__________________________________________
3. I know a big bookshop. It sells all kinds of books.
__________________________________________
4. This is the car. We bought it from Ted Elliot.
__________________________________________
5. These are the people. I invited them for my party.
____________________________________________

Join these sentences by means of a relative pronoun. Don't forget the necessary commas.
1. Mrs Elliot went to hospital.. Mrs Elliot had a terrible pain on her back.
______________________________________________
2. Ted Elliot is telling David about his problems. Ted's wife left home some days ago.
_____________________________________________
3. The new disco in Main Street has just opened. Everyone is talking about the disco.
_______________________________________________
4. Wordsworth was a famous English poet. His house was by Windermere lake
_______________________________________________
5. My cousin Ted won a tennis tournament. This makes our family very proud of him.
________________________________________________
6. That high yellow building on the corner was recently built. There's a solar panel on its roof.
________________________________________________

Join these sentences by means of a relative pronoun. Don't forget the necessary commas.

1. Thousands of people have been killed in the terrorist attack. They were innocent.
_________________________________________________

2. The last match was very good. The match was played between two national top teams.
_________________________________________________

3. The coalition soldiers occupied the capital city. They came to protect the population.
___________________________________________________

4. One of my best friends has got many cousins. I can’t remember their names.
____________________________________________________
5. My friend John runs the best pet shop in town. He is very fond of animals.
____________________________________________________
6. My neighbour Sheila complained at the police station. Her house was robbed last night.
______________________________________________________
7. Many other neighbours were there too. Their cars were also robbed.
______________________________________________________
8. . A police officer is taking note of all the cars. They were robbed last night.
_______________________________________________________
9. Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon. He was an American astronaut.
_______________________________________________________
10. Mr Taylor had been driving all day. He was tired and wanted to stop.
_______________________________________________________
11. The keys are on the table. They are mine.
_______________________________________________________
12. She was dancing with a boy. He is my brother.
_______________________________________________________
13. That is the Spanish girl. I told you about her last evening.
______________________________________________________
14. The book is very good. I have just read it.
______________________________________________________
15. The Johnson's’ boy can speak French very well. I met him in Paris last Summer.
______________________________________________________

Join the sentences by means of a relative pronoun. Omit it when possible.

1. We often visit our company headquarters. They are only 15 kms away.
______________________________________________________
2. Ann is one of my closest friends. I have known her for years.
______________________________________________________
3. They didn't thank us for the help we gave them at work. This was very rude of them.
______________________________________________________
4. Our History teacher was late this morning. He comes always on time.
______________________________________________________
5. The boy is paying no attention at all. The teacher is looking at him.
______________________________________________________
6. The girl is very pretty. You have talked to her just now.
______________________________________________________
7. The strike at the shipyard is now over. It lasted 4 days.
______________________________________________________
8. Our Secretary speaks both English and German fluently. Her mother is German
_______________________________________________________
9. The course gave us a lot of information on time management. I thought it would be useless.
______________________________________________________

Join the sentences by means of a relative pronoun
1. What's the name of the man. You borrowed his car.
_____________________________________________________
2. I met a nice girl. Her mother is an English teacher.
_____________________________________________________
3. The woman is a doctor. She lives next door.
____________________________________________________
4. Where is the cheese. It was in the fridge.
____________________________________________________
5. A bus goes to the airport. It runs every half hour.
____________________________________________________
6. Jane went to see the doctor. Jane hasn’t been feeling well lately.
____________________________________________________
7. Mark is telling David about his problems. Mark’s wife has left him.
____________________________________________________
8. These are the people. I invited them for my party.
____________________________________________________
9. She’s the woman. She lives in Birmingham.
___________________________________________________
10. The new disco in High Street is very popular with young people. Everyone is talking about it.
____________________________________________________
11. Budy is planning to go to university. This makes his parents very proud of him.
____________________________________________________

Join the sentences by means of a relative pronoun. Omit it when possible.

1. The girl is Ann's sister. She worked as a volunteer in Africa .
________________________________________________________
2. Ann's father works for an international company. It does business with African countries.
______________________________________________________
3. My car was quite old. It was destroyed in a crash.
______________________________________________________
4. Some of the girls are coming to Portugal next year. You met them in Rome.
______________________________________________________
5. Cultural differences prevented the deal from concluding. The deal was very profitable for both countries.
_______________________________________________________
6. Tolerance is very important nowadays. Most people don't show it towards anything or anyone.
_______________________________________________________
7. Harmony Day is celebrated in Australia. It should become a world celebration.
_______________________________________________________
8. The UNESCO already operates worldwide. It should have more economic power in order to solve situations more efficiently.
_________________________________________________________
9. The UNESCO agents are often attacked. They must be protected in their their humanitarian actions.
________________________________________________________
10. The friend is studying in Paris. I'm writing this letter to him.
________________________________________________________
11. Two students are absent today. Their names haven't been called.
_______________________________________________________
12. Have you seen the article? I told you about it yesterday.
_______________________________________________________
13. James Larson is in a difficult situation. His father has just died.
_______________________________________________________
14. My dressmaker went to Paris last year. Her models are highly paid.
_______________________________________________________

Can TV remote-control our kids?

2006-11-18T13:20:00.000-08:00

Can TV remote-control our kids?
Some claim the media make children fat and violent; others argue the media can help to make children more socially responsible. Both sides should get a grip.
Wendy Earle

The media make children fat and violent – or so some would have us believe. Others argue that we should be harnessing the positive power of the media to promote healthy eating and to discourage anti-social behaviour. But how powerful are the media? Are they able to create or solve social problems?

It is widely accepted today that the media have contributed to the increase in childhood obesity. Google ‘children’ and ‘obesity’, and you would think that the media’s role in giving rise to obesity is a foregone conclusion. Much of the blame is pinned on television in particular: that medium is said to make children, who watch too much of it, sedentary and inactive compared to earlier generations, and it is also accused of showing too many tempting ads for crisps, sweets and fast food.

As a result, the government quango Ofcom – the Office of Communications – is proposing to regulate TV advertising to children of foods high in sugar, salt and other additives considered fattening or bad for children. Since March this year Ofcom has been running a consultation about options for implementing regulation on the basis that:

‘There is now a growing body of evidence of the links between television advertising exposure and children’s food preferences. It is also clear that while television advertising of food to children is declining each year, it remains significant; television is still the key medium for communicating messages about food and drink products to the widest audiences.’

Similarly, if you Google ‘children’, ‘violence’ and ‘media’, you will discover that there is something of a global consensus that violence in the media contributes to violent crime. Events such as the massacre at Columbine High School in 1999, when two boys opened fire on their classmates, or the murder of Jamie Bulger in 1993, when two 10-year-old boys lured a toddler away from his mother and kicked him to death, generate panics that watching violent films or playing violent videogames creates murderous children.

Children’s relationships to the media have been subject to a considerable amount of research, yet surveys of the literature on the media’s role in causing obesity or violence in children consistently reveal a lack of hard evidence of a link.

Fat and fiction

Starting with obesity. The Role of the Media in Childhood Obesity (2004), a report published by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) , a major organisation in the US that sponsors and centralises research on children, summarised research findings both on the time children spent watching TV and the impact of TV advertising on childhood obesity.

To the question ‘Do major studies find a relationship between childhood obesity and the time children spend using media?’, the answer was ‘yes’, ‘maybe’ and ‘no’, depending on the study. The report suggests that the causal relationship may be less to do with the amount of TV children watch, and more to do with the kind of television programmes they watch. It therefore asks, ‘Do the food ads children are exposed to on TV influence them to make unhealthy food choices?’ Again, the answer is inconclusive, but overall there is a lack of hard evidence that advertising plays any role in causing obesity.

In another recent review of the evidence, Harm and Offence in Media Content, British researchers Andrea Millwood Hargrave and Sonia Livingstone (2006) failed to find any solid evidence for the link between advertising and obesit . They concluded that:

‘Research tends to show modest evidence for harmful effects of advertising, particularly on children, although this remains contested. Since the influence of advertising is not large, according to the evidence, research is needed to determine what other factors also influence these harmful outcomes.’

As this statement demonstrates, the conviction that the media have harmful effects often outweighs the failure to find evidence of such effects. Such evidence as there is suggests that advertising has a relatively minor role in influencing children, and even this is challenged by other research. As Livingstone and Hargrave point out, the exact impact of TV advertising on children is far from understood. There is little substantial research (in the public sphere at least) on how children use advertising or how it influences them in the context of other influences.

Presumably, as advertisers continue to target children, TV ads must have some impact. The question that remains unanswered is: exactly what impact does it have, and is it necessarily harmful? As much of the research into the impact of advertising on children has been done by market research companies for the advertisers, the results have not been made public – so we don’t really know if they have any answers to these questions. The growth of agencies that specialise in marketing for children reflects the sense of potential that this market represents to consumer industries. The KFF report quotes a newsletter of marketing agency Harris Interactive:

‘This generation has become a huge consumer group that is worthy of attention from many businesses seeking to maximize their potential.’

Pestering parents

However, advertisers’ strategies suggest that they rely heavily on the relationship between parents and children. The KFF survey points to a number of studies that demonstrate children’s influence on their parents in supermarkets and elsewhere. Parents are more susceptible than they used to be to their children’s expressed wants and desires, and more eager to include children in family decision-making processes. Parents now tend to want their children to express an opinion on what food to buy in the supermarket or which restaurant to go to. There is also increasing evidence to suggest that parents involve their children in decisions about which car to buy – a fact recognised by car advertisements that use children or children’s toys as their central characters. According to one study, in 2000 children 12 years and under, directly and indirectly, influenced the household spending of over $600 billion.

Ads make children aware of products and try to persuade them to want the products, but parents have the power to say ‘no’. That parents can and do make the decisions is demonstrated in a study (quoted in the KFF report) which notes the effectiveness of a campaign to popularise dried fruit snacks, because of the coincidence of children’s influence on their parents and their parents’ belief that dried fruits were better for them than sweets.

There is no foundation to the idea that there is something harmful about the fact that ads influence children’s and their parents’ choices. In a survey of the literature, Jeffrey Goldstein points out that ‘there is no convincing evidence that advertising affects children’s values and materialism, eating habits, the use of tobacco and alcohol, gender and ethnic stereotypes, violence, socialisation, or has any long-term effects’.

Goldstein makes the point that advertising only has as much power as we allow it to have, because we make choices primarily based on our needs and wants, which are determined by a range of factors that have little to do with what advertisers tell us. He also suggests that most of the evidence indicates that children are more influenced by their peers and parents than by the mass media. Often the popularity of a particular product is developed through word-of-mouth fads, not advertising on TV – a fact reflected in marketing agencies’ desperate attempts to capture the word-of-mouth effect through viral marketing. The success of a restaurant chain like Pizza Express is an example. The restaurant strikes a clever balance: providing food that seems healthy, and catering to the tastes of both adults and children. However, it doesn’t do big advertising campaigns and toy promotions, so these have little role in its business success.

The ‘pester power’ of children can only be as strong as parents let it be. The fact that parents increasingly include their children in decision-making processes is what creates pester power – not the advertising per se. However, pester power can also be seen as part of the negotiation process. Goldstein argues that children’s early exposure to advertising, far from making them more susceptible, makes them more sceptical of what advertisers offer. This makes sense. Children may find out about the existence of a product through seeing a TV ad, but whether they end up consuming the product depends on a range of factors, including whether their friends have it and whether their parents can afford it and are prepared to buy it. My young nieces and nephews, for example, now spurn McDonald’s because their parents are hostile to the restaurant chain.

This process of negotiation itself educates children. Through talking about their choices, children learn about the persuasive tactics of advertisers, among other things. As a result, most children are surprisingly savvy about the claims of advertisers. As David Buckingham points out: ‘While younger children may be uncertain about the persuasive intentions of advertising, most children become aware of this by around the age of seven or eight; and they quickly develop a set of “cognitive defences” which enable them to resist and challenge the claims of advertisers.’

Finally, the KFF report on the media’s impact on obesity points out an interesting contradiction: if advertising is blamed for encouraging children to eat too much of the wrong food, other media messages promote the opposite of obesity – television shows, magazines and movies promote unrealistically thin body types as the ideal. The report notes that ‘after years of an imbalance towards depictions of thin characters, the true weight-related health emergency among young people is, paradoxically, obesity. This paradox has yet to be explained.’ Indeed. Perhaps this should alert commentators to the fact that the media give contradictory messages, and the claim that the role of advertising in obesity justifies its regulation would not hold up in court.

Unfortunately, lack of hard evidence makes little difference to those who advocate regulation. The KFF in the US and Ofcom and its advisers in Britain claim that even the possibility, however unproven, that food advertising on children’s TV might contribute to obesity is sufficient cause for concern to make regulation a necessity.

Violent images, violent children?

A similar blindness exists in relation to children and violence in the media. The preoccupation with the effect of TV and film violence has a long history. The arrival of mass television in North America in the 1950s was soon followed by a dramatic increase in violent crime between 1960 and 1990. Many people – academics, politicians, journalists and social commentators – made a connection and much research has been done since to try to pin down the relationship between violence in the media and real violent crime.

In their recent review of the evidence, Hargrave and Livingstone indicate that most research does not stand up to criticism. At best, some research demonstrates short-term effects on attitudes and behaviours among a particular sample, but generalising these findings, or making assumptions about long-term effects based on them, is untenable. Of videogames they point to ‘a growing body of research…which suggests harmful effects, especially for games with violent content and especially on boys or men who play them.’ But, they add, the significance of this research for aggressive situations in everyday life remains contested.

Jonathan L Freedman is more trenchant in his criticism of the evidence of the effect of media violence on aggression. Examining around 200 studies – ‘virtually all the original research on the topic’ – he concludes that far from proving the hypothesis, the evidence tends to contradict the presumption that there is a causal link between media violence and aggressive behaviour.

He dissects the evidence provided by a variety of different studies using a range of methodologies, including surveys, laboratory experiments, field experiments, longitudinal studies, comparison studies (with and without television) and other methodologies. He finds the evidence that the media causes violent behaviour to be ‘weak and inconsistent, with more non-supportive results than supportive results’. In fact, evidence from the US Justice Department shows violent crime has actually decreased over the past 30 years, despite the growing popularity of violent videogames, such as Grand Theft Auto.

Freedman rightly criticises organisations that continue to claim a causal link between media violence and individual behaviour for using ‘junk science’. As he points out, many highly respected organisations, such as the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Paediatrics and the American Psychological Association, ‘are guilty of the worst kind of irresponsible behaviour’ because they make claims of a causal connection without conducting a thorough review of the research; in court they ‘could be convicted of perjury’.

Bad media, good media

While some campaigners invoke the alleged negative power of the media in order to call for further regulation and controls, others seek to use the media to get across ‘positive’ messages about acceptable behaviour and healthy eating habits.

In the UK and in the USA, the media are increasingly deployed to encourage healthy eating and exercise. In 2004 the Food Standards Agency announced plans to encourage broadcasters to use celebrities, characters and cartoons to encourage children to eat healthier foods. On the basis that ‘the media have a role to play in encouraging improvements in children’s diet and exercise’, the British Medical Association has recommended that ‘celebrities and children’s television characters should only endorse healthy products that meet nutritional criteria laid down by the Food Standards Agency (FSA)’.

Responding to this, BBC Worldwide has revised its policy on the use of CBBC characters, such as the Fimbles, to promote brand food products; it now ensures that the branded products are nutritionally sound. ‘By controlling the use of branded children’s characters, the BBC is taking a positive leadership role in influencing the diet of children and encouraging healthy eating’, the corporation claims.

In 2005, Nickelodeon and PBS started to incorporate messages in programmes like Sesame Street, such as ‘too many sweets can make kids feel sick’ and ‘it’s important to exercise and be active’, on the spurious basis that ‘we want to put the power back in the kids’ hands’. The Disney Channel did likewise, with ‘The Wiggles’, for example, advocating ‘Fruit salad, yummy, yummy’.

There is even less evidence that these tactics are effective in influencing positive behaviour than that violence or advertising on TV influence bad behaviour. The main likely outcome is that children become increasingly suspicious of being manipulated by the media as their favourite programmes become dominated by moralistic messages about their eating habits and behaviour. Historically, children have tended to vote with their feet, choosing programmes that thumb their noses at authority. The development of children’s television in the 1970s and 80s, for example, was driven by the popularity of such programmes as British school drama Grange Hill, which was initially condemned for being anti-authority and anarchic, and the Saturday morning show Tiswas, which was ‘very anti-adult and on the side of the audience’. We can only hope that programmes which start slipping in worthy messages about nutritious food plummet in their ratings as children switch to another channel.

Resist regulation

Why does the conviction persist that there is a causal link between the media and children’s behaviour? As both Goldstein and Freedman point out, a critical survey of the research indicates that there is virtually nothing to show that the media cause bad behaviour or obesity. But because the media are so prevalent in our lives – and increasingly so with the advent of digital media, the internet, mobile phones, etc – the fear is that they must be doing something to us, particularly to children and ‘vulnerable’ people. In a society where risk consciousness dominates, the risk of harm, however minute or uncertain, outweighs the evidence of non-harm. This sense of risk is imbued with the conception of the mass of human beings as victims of media messages, passive recipients who can’t be trusted to make rational choices.

In this context, children are seen as particularly vulnerable. Demands for further regulation are justified by the belief that, increasingly, parents are overwhelmed by the complexities of media technologies and cannot be trusted to manage their children’s media consumption, while many parents endorse the idea of regulation because they do not want advertisers to add to their difficulties by targeting their children with persuasive messages. It might suit parents not to have to argue with little Lucy about buying sweets and crisps, or an expensive brand of trainers, but this kind of negotiation is part of the rich tapestry of family life. And, as most parents are aware, advertising plays a minor role, if any, in these discussions; a far stronger influence on children is what their peers say.

But does it really matter if parents want a little help in limiting their children’s access to media content? If it makes parents and guardians of children’s welfare happier, is there anything wrong with restricting advertisers from promoting potentially harmful products between children’s television programmes? Apart from the argument made by commercial broadcasters – that such restrictions could reduce funding for children’s programmes – there is a wider problem with accepting such regulation. It reinforces ideas about the power of the media.

By accepting that children need protecting from the media, and that parents are incapable of managing how their children access and respond to the media, we allow increasing government regulation into our private spheres and personal relationships, and endorse the belief in government circles that we can’t control our own lives.

Wendy Earle is commissioning editor of educational publishing at the British Film Institute. She is chairing the debate Is TV good for children? at the Battle of Ideas in London in October 2006.

(1) Television advertising of food and drink products to children, Ofcom, paragraph 1.10
(2) The role of media in childhood obesity, Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation
(3) Harm and offence in media content, Andrea Millwood Hargrave and Sonia Livingstone, Intellect Books (summary version)
(4) Factsheet: Children and advertising, MediaWise
(5) Commercial Communications Newsletter, No. 13, European Commission, July 1998
(6) D Buckingham, 2003, Media Education: Literacy learning and contemporary culture, Routledge
(7) J Freedman, 2002, Media Violence and its Effect on Aggression, University of Toronto Press
(8) ibid: p200
(9) Caution: children at play, Game Revolution
(10) Freedman p9
(11) Food Standards Agency agrees action on promotion of foods to children, Food Standards Agency, 6 July 2004
(12) Childhood obesity, British Medical Association, March 2006
(13) BBC tackles obesity issue through programming and children’s food, International Business Leaders Forum
(14) PBS, Nickelodeon tuck health messages into popular kids shows, Arizona Republic, 22 July 2005
(15) Children’s television shows have a healthy new message for kids, Carey Bryson, About.com
(16) Anna Home, 1993, Into a Box of Delights: A History of Children’s Television, BBC Books

reprinted from: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/1287/

You might be a shopaholic...

2006-11-17T13:53:00.000-08:00

You might be a shopaholic if ...

Is your closet overflowing with never-worn clothing, the price tags still waving in the breeze?
Is your attic bulging with boxes and boxes of shoes that have never touched pavement?
Do you buy new makeup weekly or compact discs by the fistful?
You might be a shopaholic.
Studies estimate that as many as 17 million Americans, better than one in 20 of us, can't control our urge to shop, even at the expense of our job, our marriage, our family and our finances.
Not that funny In the land of conspicuous consumption, compulsive shopping is the smiled-upon addiction, the butt of countless sitcoms and Sunday comics, one of the few disorders that it's still OK to laugh at. Shop till ou drop. The one who dies with the most toys wins. Heck, President Bush even called it patriotic to splurge. Where's the harm?
Manhattan psychologist April Benson, author of "I Shop Therefore I Am: Compulsive Buying and the Search for Self," has seen firsthand how destructive compulsive shopping can be.
"One patient of mine got fired because she was compulsively shopping on the Internet all day. There are other people who neglect their children and park them in the mall constantly because that is what they need to feed their habit. Lots of marriages break up over compulsive buying. In fact, we don't call it compulsive buying unless there is some significant impairment in some aspect of your life

5 myths about shopaholics
Not only is compulsive shopping tacitly condoned by our materialistic society, it is just as widely misunderstood.
For starters, according to Dr. Donald Black, a University of Iowa psychiatry professor who specializes in obsessive-compulsive disorder, compulsive shopping isn't a true compulsion at all, but instead an impulse control disorder.
"A compulsion is a behavior that is produced to counteract an upsetting thought; for example, I'm contaminated or dirty, therefore I will deal with that anxiety by washing my hands more," he says.
"There is no upsetting thought prompting compulsive shopping. It is a very pleasurable impulse and people act on those impulses."
Famous shopaholicsNor is compulsive shopping a modern-day "designer disease." According to Black, a German psychiatrist published the first clinical description of the disorder in 1915.
Famous shopaholics in history include Marie Antoinette, Mary Todd Lincoln, William Randolph Hearst, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Imelda Marcos and Princess Diana. Their addictions ranged from clothing (Jackie O, Diana) to art and antiques (Hearst) to shoes (the heralded Marcos collection) to gloves (Mrs. Lincoln owned 84 pairs of them).
"Now maybe it's more prevalent now because you clearly need available goods, a market economy and disposable income, and those elements haven't always been around," he notes.
Men are 'collectors,' women are 'shopaholics'While research suggests that nine in 10 shopaholics are women, Benson says it's a common misnomer to tag this as a female disorder.
"People who are part of their studies are psychiatric in- or outpatients, and women self-refer for these problems much more so than men. Recent studies coming out of Europe suggest that more men are beginning to have these problems. In addition to the fact that they don't self-refer for the types of studies on which these statistics are based is the fact that society often calls men who are compulsive buyers 'collectors.' It gives it a refined and slightly highbrow image."
The same is true of the misconception that compulsive shopping is a malady of the privileged class.
"We say that money is an equal opportunity mood changer," says Benson. "There have been a few studies linking socioeconomic class with compulsive buying and no significant results have been found. I had a colleague who had a guy on welfare who compulsively bought."
As long as we're exposing myths, Black suggests we discard the notion that shopaholics are unaware of their problem.
"They are perfectly aware of what they're doing. Intellectually, they know that their closets and maybe their attic is full, but then they will be in the store and think, well, maybe I do need this one blouse or this will come in handy or I don't have one in this particular shade so I'll buy it. They usually hide it from their husbands. They do have feelings of guilt."

Are you a shopaholic?

2006-11-17T13:34:00.000-08:00

Take this Quiz:

Are you a compulsive shopper?

True or False?
Evaluate the following statements:

1. When I am feeling depressed, I usually go shopping.

2. I spend a lot of money that I do not have on things that I do not need.

3. I get a rush when I make a purchase, but I “crash” soon afterwards.

4. I have closets full of clothes that I have never worn, and countless gadgets that I have never used.

5. I often feel reckless and out of control when I shop.

6. I lie to my friends and family about how much money I spend.

7. Even though I feel very distraught about my debt, I still shop.

8. I feel emotionally upset and disturbed by my own shopping habits.

9. After a big shopping trip, I sometimes feel disoriented and depressed.

10. My shopping has caused problems in my personal relationships in one way or another.

Did you answer “True” for four or more of the above statements? If so, it is possible that you have a real problem with compulsive shopping.

What is compulsive shopping?

Compulsive shoppers, or shopaholics, have in recent years been spotlighted on television programs and women’s magazines. They have become topics of conversation in the realm of pop psychology. While the media sometimes uses the term loosely or in an off-handed manner, a true compulsive shopper suffers from a very real, and sometimes very frightening, lack of self-control.
Without a doubt, we live in a very “spend-happy” society. As a whole, we are living above our means and many of us are drowning in debt. Many people, no matter their level of income, view shopping as a hobby. They take weekend-long shopping excursions, spend money they do not have, and often regret their purchases the next day. Does this mean that they have a problem? Not necessarily.
A true shopaholic shops out of compulsion. They will make purchases long after they are over their heads in debt. They shop when they are feeling emotionally distressed, and use spending as a coping mechanism. They do not shop because they merely enjoy it, or because they are purchasing things that they have a need for. They buy things because they feel they HAVE to. A shopaholic is out of control.
Tips on Controlling Overspending and Treatment for Compulsive Shoppers
(1) Get rid of your credit cards, checkbooks, and ATM cards before you go shopping. Use only cash.
(2) If you spot something that you would like to purchase, never allow yourself to purchase it on the spot. Instead, walk away and give yourself a “mandatory waiting period” (or if you must-- ask the store to hold it for you. Most stores will hold items for their customers for at least a day). If you still want the item in a few days, then you can go back and make your thought-out purchase.
(3) Make a budget and put it on paper. Give yourself some “mad money” for each month, and do not allow yourself to purchase anything that is not in the budget.
(4) Write down everything you purchase for two weeks; groceries, gas for your car, the electric bill, and even that candy bar from the vending machine! This will make your more conscience of where your hard-earned dollars are going. Being more aware of your spending will also make your more in control.
(5) If you are overwhelmed with debt, contact a credit-counseling agency. There are several non-profit organizations (you can even find some online!) whose goal is to get your out of debt. They will help you consolidate your bills into a smaller monthly payment, and get your credit report in good standing once more. Most credit counseling agencies will also help you set up your monthly budget.
If you found that you answered many of the Quiz questions “True”, your may need more than a few frugal tips to help keep your spending under control. If your shopping behavior is interfering with your life, consider counseling. A counselor will be able to help you figure our why your spending habits are so out of control. A knowledgeable counselor can walk you through behavior modification techniques that have a proven track record. Compulsive shoppers sometimes suffer from depression or bi-polar disorder, which can be diagnosed and treated with counseling. Some shopaholics are diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which can also be treated with the aid of a psychologist or psychiatrist. With patience, persistence, and sometimes professional help, compulsive shoppers can get their lives back in control.

The impact of advertising

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The Impact of Advertising

The advertising business has become such an important factor in the economy in many countries, especially in the United States, that it also changes the economy itself, society, culture, and the political system.
The stimulation for the demand of products and services helps the economy grow stronger and stronger. New inventions become known much faster and can establish their spot in the sales figures of the economy. If there are more people buying these products the overall costs will drop and the product will become cheaper for the customer which raises his willingness to buy even more. On the other hand advertisements are very expensive and some economists believe that these costs are put on top of the actual price paid by the customer
Critics argue that advertising can also have a huge influence on society. It tells the consumers that only purchasing products makes you happy and therefore people compare each other on their belongings. Women also compare themselves with the beautiful and very skinny models they see on commercials and ads. This sometimes results in eating disorders and a low self-esteem of women who don’t look like these models. Another bad effect is, that minority groups, especially in the United States are portrait in a subordinate position, which settles in the minds of people. Commercials are also an important part of the income of a TV station which leads to the suspicion that a news channel might not report on an incident about a company they depend on. A lot of TV shows are also based on these commercials, and if the ratings aren’t good enough the show will be stopped. Only those shows which attract a lot of viewers will be shown, which is not very differentiated and put minorities like older people at a disadvantage.
Advertising can also have an impact in politics. $ 467 million were spent on advertisements and TV commercials in the elections of 1998. It gives the opponents the chance to respond to charges very quickly reaching a few million viewers. But since this is very expensive only very rich people have to chance to run for a political position or at least depend on the donation of wealthier people who could have a huge impact on democracy this way. The political issues talked about in an election are also very much simplified because the spots are only about 30 seconds long, and you can’t really discuss a lot in such a short period of time.
There is finally the impact advertising can have on the culture of a country. The globalized economy uses the same commercials in a lot of different countries, which leads to a break down in the differences of these societies. Children will grow up not knowing how their culture has been before in their country. It can also lead to a lot of discussion about moral values if we just think about the very controversial ads of Benetton we have discussed.

grammar sites

2006-11-17T13:16:00.000-08:00

Grammar sites

http://www.englishlearner.com/tests/report.html

http://www.fh-karlsruhe.de/ifs/html/eng/efs2_exercises/unit5_1_reported_speech.htm

http://members.chello.at/english4u/rep_speech_ex1.htm

http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/words/activities/modal_verbs_ma01.html

http://webster.commnet.edu/cgi-shl/quiz.pl/modal_quiz.htm

http://www.fortunecity.com/bally/durrus/153/gramtoc.html

http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/Inversion.htm
www.esec-braamcamp-freire.rcts.pt/paginas/whatsup/on-your-own/10-
http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Grammar_and_English_Usage/

Common advertising stratagies

2006-11-17T11:50:00.000-08:00

Common Advertising Strategies

1. Ideal Kids
The kids in commercials are often a little older and a little more perfect than the target audience of the ad. They are, in other words, role models for what the advertiser wants children in the target audience to think they want to be like. A commercial that is targeting eight year-olds, for instance, will show 11 or 12 year-old models playing with an eight year old's toy.
2. Heart Strings
Commercials often create an emotional ambience that draws you into the advertisement and makes you feel good. The McDonald's commercials featuring father and daughter eating out together, or the AT&T Reach Out and Touch Someone ads are good examples. We are more attracted by products that make us feel good.
3. Amazing Toys
Many toy commercials show their toys in life-like fashion, doing incredible things. Airplanes do loop-the-loops and cars do wheelies, dolls cry and spring-loaded missiles hit gorillas dead in the chest. This would be fine if the toys really did these things.
4. Life-like Settings
Barbie struts her stuff on the beach with waves crashing in the background, space aliens fly through dark outer space and all-terrain vehicles leap over rivers and trenches. The rocks, dirt, sand and water don't come with the toys, however.
5. Sounds Good
Music and other sound effects add to the excitement of commercials. Sound can make toys seem more life-like or less life-like, as in a music video. Either way, they help set the mood advertisers want.
6. Cute Celebrities
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sell pizza. Spuds McKenzie sells beer. "Joe Cool" camel sells cigarettes. All of these are ways of helping children identify with products either now or for the future.
7. Selective Editing
Selective editing is used in all commercials, but especially in commercials for athletic toys like frisbees or footballs. Commercials show only brilliant catches and perfect throws. Unfortunately, that's not the way most children experience these toys.
8. Family Fun.
"This is something the whole family can do together!" or "This is something Mom will be glad to buy for you." Many commercials show parents enjoying their children's fun as if the toy will bring more family togetherness.
9. Excitement!
Watch the expressions on children's faces. Never a dull moment, never boring. "This toy is the most fun since fried bananas!" they seem to say. How can your child help thinking the toy's great?
10. Star Power.
Sports heroes, movie stars, and teenage heart throbs tell our children what to eat and what to wear. Children listen, not realizing that the star is paid handsomely for the endorsement.

Super advertising slogans

2006-11-17T11:29:00.000-08:00

Super advertising slogans

Advertising slogans or taglines pushing sales are great for getting a customer’s attention as they often tangle and hold them hostage for a second or two.Some taglines catch the user’s attention, but most are simply confusing, causing them to “escape the trap” and run away.The combined yearly budgets of all the strangely composed slogans promoting various branding worldwide would easily add up to billions of dollars. Corporations make extraordinary efforts to capture these few words on a string and liberally fund the most lavish extravaganzas when it comes to pushing these cutesy and strange sentences.Not too long ago, a major credit card company collected some hundred plus executives from their national offices around the world to an exercise organized by a major ad agency with the sole purpose to find a new slogan.
That project was called “universal words” The first order of the day was to dress some of the executives in fictitious characters, like Superman, Spiderman, or Tarzan, and the others in various imaginary titles from a CEO to shipper or an engineer to garbage collector, and so on.Each participant had to make a mock costume from a large tear sheet from the flip chart. 48 hours of role playing later, they came up with a distilled series of universally accepted words: “life,” “without,” “the card” and “really boring”, hence the tagline, “life without the card is boring” This million-dollar cost was easily absorbed as a finder’s fee for these magical words, and many additional millions were spent to promote the new tagline for a little while.
Some taglines that are still easy to recall have only worked because of tens of millions of dollars in yearly expenditures, such as “a tiger in the tank” or “his master’s voice” “the real thing” and “just do it”. There are other stories, and it seems shorter the better. IBM’s “Think” and now HP’s “invent” Samsonite’s “worldproof” or “Relax. It’s FedEx” The long ones are, “What can Brown do for you?” for UPS or Cannon’s “Know how. Here’s the future, let’s go to work.”Here are some more examples. Match the following slogans with their respective companies. The difficulties of recognizing the companies are obvious:
Slogans:
1) “the life unscripted”
2) “software that can think”
3) “what’s on your mind?”
4) “better ideas driven by you”
5) “think big, move fast”
6) “what good thinking can do”
7) “moving ideas”
8) “TV for the chosen few”

Two critical factors: When corporate identity is weak: When names of corporations are obviously weak, like strange initials or unclear words, then they are no longer able to convey a clear marketing message, and a tagline becomes essential to identify the purpose of the advertising pitch. This short gist is supposed to be a small platform to park the ideology of the corporation. Sometimes capturing the idea, as a large paragraph is just too long, equally, a few shorts words are just too limited to paint the entire story.For that reason a vast majority of taglines convey very confusing messages. Upon, a newly invented tagline line, often, the entire corporation amazingly gets intoxicated with the slogan while repeating and singing every morning like a mantra as an hypnotic internal branding exercise.
While the poor customer at large has no idea of this deep secret, and what the real message is in such a riddle. “We bring what you desire” or “trust life, as it is valuable.” Really?Furthermore, the consumer is getting busier and busier by the second, and has no time to memorize or to be able to recognize a company upon coming across that strange riddle again. Slogans are like fireworks; they stay lit in the sky for a second or two and immediately die when the big budgets are cut.
When ideas cross over: Very often, same products can serve many different markets than it is recommended, to present such ideas with supportive explanations for those specific markets. In that case, a common-sense approach translated into a plain sentence is better than a twisted creative riddle. A simple sentence tells the customer a simple marketing message.
Branding concepts and positioning is best achieved by strong and original names and not by fluid and ever-changing slogans. Colors, stripes, logos and slogans come and go, they flow with the budgets and the trade winds, but a solid name identity stays forever. Solid names slowly grow at the grass root level without major budgets, and eventually become a well-known brand. This is a simple common sense approach.
Recommendations: Use slogans that are common, everyday sentences. Use them freely for different products and services, and describe their specific features and benefits. For example, for a line of alarm clocks; “enjoy seven different ways to set up your wake-up calls” rather than “rhythmic vibrations, better sexual fantasies”.Slogans are great when they can be easily developed internally and created like simple sentences within an organization. Later, they can be dropped freely without any loss or pain, in contrast to spending extraordinary monies in creating ridiculously twisted and ever-so-confusing slogans.
Just keep it sweet and simple. Naseem Javed, author of Naming for Power and Domain Wars, is recognized as a world authority on global name identities and domain issues. Javed founded ABC Namebank International, a consultancy he established a quarter century ago, and conducts executive workshops on image and name identity issues. For comments reach Naseem at njabc@njabc.com.The opinions expressed herein or statements made in the above column are solely those of the author, & do not necessarily reflect the views of Wisconsin Technology Network, LLC. (WTN). WTN, LLC accepts no legal liability or responsibility for any claims made or opinions expressed herein.

Welcome to my blog

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I hope my blog would be useful for all my students. I will try to give you relevant information in order to make you more independent while studying English alone. I've already posted some texts so you can have some extra information about the topics we are learning now and some useful sites as well. You can click on them. Have fun!