Remembering Ayrton Senna
June 30th, 2010 by Chloe
The name of Ayrton Senna continues to carry resonance2 the world over. In a recent poll3 in the British weekly agazine Autosport, he received ore than double the number of votes than the second-placed candidate4 for the "greatest ever driver". The man in question is, of course, Ayrton Senna da Silva. Almost a decade after his death, it is fitting to look back at the life and times of a true legend.
More than perhaps any other driver in the history of Grand Prix racing, Senna displayed an insatiable hunger for competition matched by his ruthlessness on the track5. Terry Fullerton, a karting rival of Senna, remembers his will to win was evident long before he graduated to F1. Senna stood out from6 the rest. Not only did he have lots of ability on the track, it was because he was ob¬sessive7. He was obsessed with success. If he didn't win, he would be in the factory, talking to the mechanics and tyre technicians. He was searching for any piece of information that would give him an advantage.
Statistics don't do justice to the man but it is hard not to be impressed by Sen-na's two seasons racing British Formula Fords8 in 1981 and '82. From 39 starts he recorded 28 wins. Yet at the end of his victorious 1982 campaign (which also saw him claim the European Formula Ford 2000 title) he shocked every¬one by announcing his retirement from racing.
His father Milton, a wealthy man in Brazil, had subsidized9 his son in early racing career. His father decided that having allowed his son to indulge in10 his hobby for a few years, it was now time for Ayrton to return home to the family business. Ayrton, who placed great emphasis on" his family's approval, agreed. "I tried really hard not to race and I went home to work in some normal business. After a few months I found the desire to race was too strong and I knew that racing was going to be my future life, "said Ayrton.
Nothing was going to stand in the way of his career, as his divorce from his short marriage demonstrated just prior to the 1983 season. From 20 starts he took 12 victories and two second places. The race for the championship was so intense that it was even mentioned in the British tabloids12. Then as now, coverage of anything non-F1 was a rarity13.
By now Senna's obvious talent had attracted the attention of several F1 teams. His move to McLaren-Honda brought world championships and international acclaim but it also gave him the chance to measure himself against the one man he respected most, Alain Prost. Their rivalry would go into F1 legend but it all started many years before their titanic14 battle as teammates.
Sometimes you think you have a limit. You then go for this limit and touch this limit and you think, okay, this is the limit. As soon as you touch this lim¬it, something happens and suddenly you can go a little bit further. With your " mind power, your determination and the experience as well. You can fly very high? Senna recalled, journalists were often spellbound15 by the Brazilian press conferences. All of this happening in what was, for him, a foreign language. Such willingness to articulate and philosophise one's profession had never been heard before or since.
Of course racing drivers aren't employed for their poetic prowess16 but for their ability out on the track. And in this Senna was better than most. The world ti¬tles followed in 1988, 1990 and "91 , the second of which was won after deliberately punting Prost off in turn one at Suzuka. He denied it at the time but after clinching his third championship he admitted the move was premeditated. For Senna it was a case of revenge, as at the same venue a year earlier he was denied the championship after another incident with Prost.
His genius was never more evident than in the final car he drove, the Williams Renault FW16. Expecting the chassis to be the class of the field, Senna was surprised by the car's poor handling and general lack of grip. Convinced that the rival Benetton team was running illegal systems, Senna still managed to put the car on pole position for his three races with the team.
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Samson and the Girl from Timnah
June 29th, 2010 by Chloe
Once Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah J.^ he saw a Philistine woman. 2Then he came up, and told his father and mother, "I saw a Philistine woman at Tim¬nah; now get her for me as my wife. " 3But his father and mother said to him, "Is there not a woman among your kin, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines®?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, because she pleases me. " 4His father and mother did not know that this was from the LORD; for he was seeking a pretext to act against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
5Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah. When he came to the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion roared at him. 6The spirit of the LORD rushed on him, and he tore the lion apart barehanded as one might tear a-part a kid. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. 7Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson. After a while he returned to marry
her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. He scraped it out into his hands, and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the, honey from the carcass of the lion.
His father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there as the young men were accustomed to do. 11 When the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. l2Samson said to them, "Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments. But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments. " So they said to him, "Ask your riddle; let us hear it. " l4He said to them,
"Out of the eater came something to eat.
Out of the strong came something sweet. " But for three days they could not explain the riddle.
15On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, "Coax your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?" So Samson's wife wept before him, saying, "You hate me; you do not really love me. You have asked a riddle of my people, but you have not explained it to me. " He said to her, "Look, I have not told my father or my mother. Why should I tell you?" She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted; and because she nagged him, on the seventh day he told her. Then she explained the riddle to her people. The men of the town said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down,
"What is sweeter than honey?
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Blues is a genre of Afro - American folk and popular song in 44 time
June 28th, 2010 by Chloe
It is generally 12 bars long, falling into three phrases of four bars each (one phrase for each line of text). The most typical chord pattern for these phrases is based on the first, fourth, and fifth notes of the scale : phrase 1—HI; phrase 2—TV II; phrase 3—W. (or V) II. Each phrase of sung text is normally followed by instrumental improvisation, creating a call - and - response pattern. Blues music uses a scale in which the third, fifth, and seventh notes are freely ' bent,' or microtonally flattened in comparison with the standard major scale. Blues tends to deal with the hardships of life and the sadness of love.
Blues singing, rooted in various forms of Black American slave song, was widespread in the southern U.S. by the late 19th century. 'Archaic' and '.country' blues differed widely in their lyric and musical form; singers typically accompanied themselves oh guitar or harmonica.
Later singers in this style include Blind Lemon Jefferson and Leadbelly. In 1912, with the publication of "Memphis Blues" by W. C. Handy, blues entered the range of popular song. Classic "city" blues evolved in the 1920s and 1930s in the singing of Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, the others. Lyric and musical forms became largely standardized, and singers often worked with jazz band or piano. Adapted to solo piano, blues gave rise to boogie - woogie piano playing.
Blues and jazz overlapped, sometimes almost indistinguishably, and blues was considered a nurturing form for early jazz, but blues also developed independently. In the 1940's singers such as T - Bone Walker and Louis Jordan perfonned with big bands or with ensembles based on electric guitar, acoustic string bass, drums, and saxophones; the electric organ also came into use about this time. After 1950 B.B.King, Ray Charles, and others used improved electric guitars and louder, electric basses; brass instruments often replaced saxophones.
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No one much cared when the Bearded Gypaetus disappeared from Alpine skies a century ago
June 25th, 2010 by Chloe
Legend had it that the vulture could kill a cow and pick it clean, and then eat the bones. Worse, it could swoop down on wings that measured three meters across and carry off a lambor the occasional child. Killed off by herders and other agents of encroaching civilization, the Gypaetus survived only in the Pyrenees, Corsica and Crete. Now,because of a program that returns wild creatures to their original habitats, some three dozen Gypaeti wheel free over the Alps. To date they appear to be thriving - and not a cow, lamb or child has been lost.
Why bring back a creature like the Gypaetus? The main reason is the new enthusiasm among European environmentalists and governments for preserving species that are in danger of dying out. As a result of their efforts over the past two decades, a collection of wild bears,horses,lynxes,beavers,elks and eagles
have been transplanted back to their former homes in certain areas of Europe.
The Bearded Gypaetus, for one, has received a warm wel-com home. It turns out to be something less than the monster whose bloody exploits were recounted around old-time firesides. True,its redrimmed eyes and bone-crushing beak give it a fearsome look, but it can scarcely lift more than two kilograms, hardly enough for cradle robbing. It does swallow bones (which it digests thanks to potent gastric juices), but only bones from animal cadayers — it's a scavenger,after all. And the Gypaetus hovers over flocks when ewes are giving birth simply because it considers afterbirths a delicacy worthy of pursuit. "Attitudes have changed. Alpine residents are proud of the Gypaetus now. They have become tourist attractions,"says Birgit Kohlmaier-Schacht of the Austrian World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Gypaetus lovers even find the exotic creature handsome: alone among the vultures,it has a fully feathered neck.
Other maligned or endangered species have also made a more-or-less successful return to European habitats old or new. Dutch environmentalists are importing Konik horses from Poland and wild Galloway cows,at $ 1,600 a head,from Scot-land to regenerate the marshy Gelderse Poort area in the Rhine delta. The pony-size Koniks, which once roamed Central Europe in large migratory herds,should be able to survive and prolifer¬ate on their own within five to seven years, if enough land is available for them. "We now have too little space for nature and too much for farming, "says Netherlands WWF official Marlou vanCampen. She advocates what she calls "a creative swap," whereby much of the $2.1 billion in yearly Dutch farm subsidies would be used to buy excess agricultural Jand — and give it back to nature. Her proposal has not found support in the Dutch government so far.
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The nineteenth century brought about the greatest expansion of wealth the world had ever known
June 24th, 2010 by Chloe
Its sources lay in the industrialisation of Europe and the techniques for assuring the continuance of this growth were by no means exhausted or compromised in 1900. There had not only been a vast and accelerating flow of commodities available only in (relatively) tiny quantities a century before, but whole new ranges of goods had come into existence. Oil and electricity had joined coal, wood, wind and water as sources of energy. Alchemical industry existed which could not have been envisaged in 1800. Growing power and wealth had been used to tap seemingly inexhaustible natural resources, both agricultural and mineral. Railways, electric trams, steamships, motor cars and bicycles gave millions of men a new control over their environment; they accelerated travel from place to place and eased transport for the first time since animals had been harnessed to carts thousands of years before. In terms of consumption, or of the services to which they has access, or in the enjoyment of better health, even the mass of the population in developed countries were much better off in 1900 than their predecessors a hundred years before.
In spite of this cheerful picture, doubts could break in. Even if what might happen in the future were ignored, contemplation of the cost of the new wealth and doubts about the social justice of its distribution were troubling. Most people were still terribly poor, whether or not they lived in rich countries where the illogicalness of this was particularly more striking than in earlier times. Another change in the way men thought about their condition arose over their power to get a livelihood. It was not new that men should be without work. What was new was that situations should suddenly arise in which the operation of blind forces of boom and slump produced millions of men without work concentrated in great towns. This was "unemploy-ment" , the new phenomenon for which a new word had been needed. Nor were the cities themselves yet rid of all the evils which had so struck the first observers of industrial society. By 1900 the majority of western Europeans were town-dwellers and they lived in more than 140 cities of over 100,000 inhabitants on 1914. In some of them, millions of people were cramped, ill-housed, under-provided with schools and fresh air, let alone amusement other than that of the street, and this often in sight of the wealth their society helped to produce. "Slums" was another word invented by the nineteenth century.
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In general, employers are looking for two things in job applicants
June 23rd, 2010 by Chloe
Proof that a candidate can handle a specific job and evidence that the person will fit in with the organization. Too often, employers are most concerned with the candidate' s experience, but communication skills, enthusiasm, and motivation are close behind.
Every position requires specific qualifications. When you are invited to interview for a position, the interviewer may already have a fairly good idea of whether you have the right qualifications, based on review of your resume. But during the interview, you' 11 be asked to describe your education and previous jobs in more depth so the interviewer can determine how well your skills match the requirements.
Another consideration is whether a candidate has the right personality traits for the job. Each job requires a different mix of personality traits. The task of the interviewer is to find out whether a candidate will be able to do the job comfortably.
In addition to determining whether the applicant has the right professional qualifications and personality for a particular job, the interviewer must decide whether the person will be compatible with the other people in the organization.
Every interviewer approaches this issue of "fit" a little differently. Physical appearance is often a consideration, because clothing and grooming reveal something about a candidate' s personality and awareness of industry standards. Apart from noticing a candidate' s clothes, interviewers also size up such physical factors as eye contact, handshake, facial expressions, and tone of voice.
An interviewer might also consider age in deciding whether an applicant will fit in with the organization although job discrimination against the middle-aged is prohibited by law). If you feel your youth could count against you, counteract its influence by emphasizing your experience, dependability, and mature attitudes.
A candidate' s personal background—interests, hobbies, awareness of world events, and the like— is also regarded as an indicator of how well the per-son will fit in with the organization. You can expand your potential along these lines by reading widely, making an effort to meet new people, and participating in discussion groups, seminars, and workshops.
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Shakespeare in the Movies
June 22nd, 2010 by Chloe
Ask people what they think of Shakespeare's work and their answers will most likely contain an array1 of adjectives: creative, exciting, confusing, inspiring, difficult. Millions know Shakespeare as the icon of Western literature, but more recently, he has also gained recognition as one of the biggest names in Hollywood. Though there are actors who have movie star appeal and a small group of directors who create the blockbusters,2 when it comes to providing a great screenplay for a movie, Shakespeare stands alone.
Throughout the history of movie making, Shakespeare's plays have been adapted for film more than the works of any other author. Since the 1899 filming of a London stage production of King John, there have been nearly 200 movie versions made of Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear alone. In addition, many films, such as Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's Ran, are loose3 adaptations of Shakespeare's work, while 15 others, like Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, include references to the plays. Though his work was originally written for the theater, it is clear that the Bard's influence extends far beyond the stage.
Over the years, many scholars have speculated that Shakespeare wanted his plays to entertain as well as educate, particularly with regard to social morals. In contrast, many filmmakers today have tended to put entertainment value first, particularly those in Hollywood. Although early big-screen versions of Shakespeare's plays were little more than filmed stage performances, it wasn't long before directors were exploiting cinema's unique strengths to produce adaptations that were both crowd-pleasers and works of art in their own right. Over the years, film producers have taken various approaches to Shakespeare, with some choosing the traditional approach in which characters dress in the clothes of the period in which the original play was set. This was the predominant style of the adaptations produced by the BBC4 in the early 1980s; it was also the style used by Laurence Olivier in his Oscar-winning 1944 version of Henry V and in Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet.
Director Orson Welles was one of the first to take an alternative approach to Shakespeare with his 1936 version of Macbeth. Set in nineteenth-century Haiti,5 Welles's Macbeth was one of the first Shakespearean film adaptations that used a contemporary setting and put a new spin on themes in the original work; a more recent example is a production of Richard III set in 1930s England. In the same spirit, director Baz Luhrmann used present-day California as the backdrop for his 1996 film version of Romeo and Juliet. Luhrmann exploited the powerful imagery of film to its fullest in order to make the complex, archaic language of the play easier for a modern audience to relate to.
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Soccer and the World Cup
June 21st, 2010 by Chloe
Soccer1 is one of the most popular sports in the world. There are soccer fans in almost every country. Soccer's biggest tournament2 is the World Cup. This competition takes place every four years in a different country and is watched on television, and in stadiums, by millions of people around the world.
As with many sports, it is not known for sure how soccer began. Many believe that the earliest games were played in China and Japan over 1,000 years ago. The game we know today probably started in England. Many of the earliest soccer games were very 10 rough, and for years, British royalty tried to ban the sport. They were not successful.
In 1857, the first soccer team was created in Sheffield, 15
England. In 1863, eleven English teams met to form the first Football Association.3 In 1904, a world association was created, the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). Twenty-six years later, in 1930,
Uruguay hosted the first World Cup competition.
In the World Cup Finals, thirty-two teams from different countries compete to win the championship. In the first competition in 1930, only thirteen teams played. The winner of the Jules Rimet Trophy4 that year was Uruguay. After the 1938 games in France, the World Cup was not played again until 1950, this time in Brazil.
The 2002 World Cup championships were special. It was the first time the games were played in Asia. It was also the first time that two countries, Japan and Korea, hosted the World Cup together. It was a sporting championship to remember!
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"Windows of the soul"
June 18th, 2010 by Chloe
Whether the eyes are "windows of the soul" is debatable; that they are intensely important in interpersonal communication is a fact. During the first two months of a baby's life, the stimulus that produces a smile is a pair of eyes. The eyes need not be real: a mask with two dots will produce a smile. Significantly, a real human face with eyes covered will not motivate a smile, nor will the sight of only one eye when the face is presented in profile. This attraction to eyes. as opposed to the nose or mouth continues as the baby matures. In one study, when American four-year-olds were asked to draw people, 75 percent of them drew people with mouths, but 99 percent of them drew people with eyes. In Japan, however, where babies are carried on their mother's back, infants do not acquire as much attachment to eyes as they do in other cultures. As a result, Japanese adults make little use of the face either to encode or decode meaning. In fact, Argyle reveals that the "proper place to focus one's gaze during a conversation in Japan is on the neck of one's conversation partner".
The role of eye contact in a conversational exchange between two Americans is well defined; speakers make contact with the eyes of their listener for about one second, then glance away as they talk; in a few moments they re-establish eye contact with the listener or reassure themselves that their audience is still attentive, then shift their gaze away once more. Listeners, meanwhile, keep their eyes on the face of the speaker, allowing themselves to glance away only briefly. It is important that they be looking at the speaker at the precise moment when the speaker re-establishes eye contact; if they are not looking, the speaker assumes that they are disinterested and either will pause until contact is resumed or will terminate the conversation. Just how critical this eye maneuvering is to the maintenance of conversational flow becomes evident when two speakers are wearing dark glasses : there may be a sort of traffic jam of words caused by interruption, false starts, and unpredictable pauses.
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To say we've found a cure for executive stress would be overclaim
June 17th, 2010 by Chloe
However, when you settle into the double-density seats of the Peugeot 605 , and listen to the double-sealed doors shut with a deep, soundproofed thud, you'll feel the cares of the office slip away.
Reach for any other controls, and you'll find you don't have to reach.
The cockpit has been designed so that they all fall readily to hand, from the seven-speed fan to the sunroof switch and one-touch button for the driver's electric window.
The radio controls are duplicated on one of the four steering column stalks , so you can change stations with both hands still stationed safely on the steering wheel.
The time when many luxury cars disappoint is the moment they leave the showroom.
This is why you have an open invitation from your local Peugeot dealer to drive the 605 yourself, in any variety of road conditions you choose, because you'll find there's virtually no variation in the 605 's ride. Peugeot's engineers have built an automatic ride control into all the 3 litre models to keep your journey beautifully smooth.
A computer constantly monitors the driving conditions and the car's performance, and sends messages to tiny electric motors inside each shock absorber to adjust the setting between hard and soft. Each adjustment takes just 0. 015 of a second.
In a 605, you'll also find that going quickly from 0~60 and 60~0 becomes a decidedly unmoving experience.
Just for good measure we've added 3 silencers to the exhaust, and double soundproofing for wire conduits passing from the engine bay to the passenger compartment. We've even mounted the engine on its own hydraulically damped suspension system.
But when more relaxing than all this is the fact that as you fly by, you'll be secure in the knowledge that every 605, from the £17 022 2-litre injection Sli to the £27 097 3-litre V6 SVE24 , comes fully equipped with all-round servo-assisted brakes and ABS as standard.
Because the 605 is such a desirable car, an ultrsonic alarm system is also fitted as standard.
And each model in the range comes with a three-way catalytic converter to reduce exhaust emissions to a minimum. After all, even 605 drivers should not be totally oblivious to the concerns of the outside world.
If you'd like to test drive any of the 605 models, ask your secretary to telephone 0800 678 800, and we'll put her in touch with your local Peugeot dealer.
Or should you be too busy for a test drive, in which case you clearly need the soothing qualities of the 605 more urgently than most, we'll be happy to send you a free demonstration video for you to play when you have a free moment.
Your dealer will undoubtedly tell you that the 605 delivers the kind of interior environment that until now has only been found in the world's most expensive luxury marques. And you will undoubtedly think, "Well, he would say that, wouldn't he?"
So listen to what Autocar &. Motor had to say when comparing the 605's levels of refinement with those of the Jaguar XJ6. "In some respects it (the 605) even exceeds them. "
Now, on one can accuse us of overclaim.
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