Neil Armstrong dies

Fill in the blanks while reading the following article, please

A family statement ………………………… (say) the 82-year-old former U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong  ………………………… (die) Saturday in his home state of Ohio, following a cardiovascular procedure earlier this month.   

Armstrong commanded the Apollo 11 spacecraft that ………………………… (land) on the moon on July 20, 1969.  After ………………………… (step) on the lunar surface, he ………………………… (send) the historic message: "that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."  As the world ………………………… (look) on, Armstrong ………………………… (spend) nearly three hours walking on the moon with fellow astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin.

Weeks after the moon walk, Armstrong, Aldrin and the mission's third astronaut, Michael Collins, ………………………… (receive) a thunderous welcome in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.  They later ………………………… (make) a world tour.

The moon walk ………………………… (mark) America's victory in the Cold War space race with the Soviet Union that ………………………… (begin) in October 1957 with the launch of the Soviet satellite "Sputnik 1."

Armstrong's Apollo 11 mission ………………………… (earn) decorations from 17 nations and many special American honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal.

In later years, he ………………………… (serve) as Deputy Associate Administrator at NASA headquarters, and ………………………… (be) a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati. He and his family ………………………… (live) on a 120-hectare farm outside of Cincinnati

President Barack Obama, in a statement Saturday, ………………………… (call) Armstrong "among the greatest of American heroes, not just of his time, but of all time.  When he and his fellow crew members ………………………… (lift) off  they ………………………… (carry) with them the aspirations of an entire nation.  They ………………………… (set out) to show that with enough drive and ingenuity, anything is possible."

Saturday's family statement ………………………… (describe) Armstrong as "a loving husband, grandfather brother and friend."  It asked the public to "honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty.  And the next time you ………………………… (walk) outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, ………………………… (think) of Neil Armstrong and ………………………… (give) him a wink."

And how about asking at least 10 questions now?

1. 82 years old
2. Saturday
3. in his home state of Ohio
4. the Apollo 11 spacecraft
5. on the moon
6. on July 20, 1969. 
7. nearly three hours
8. with fellow astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin.
9. weeks after the moon walk
10. in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. 
11.  made a world tour.
12. America's victory in the Cold War space race with the Soviet Union
13. in October 1957
14. decorations from 17 nations and many special American honors
15. served as Deputy Associate Administrator at NASA headquarters, and was a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati.
16. on a 120-hectare farm outside of Cincinnati

China's beach fad

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Lance Armstrong (audio, video and article)

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency [USADA] has announced it will strip U.S. cyclist Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles from 1999-2005 and ban him from the sport for life.

The USADA move came one day after the 40-year-old Armstrong said he will stop fighting the doping charges

Armstrong claims there is "zero physical evidence" to support the allegations, but  the USADA argues it has evidence from more than a dozen witnesses that the star cyclist used illegal drugs..

The USADA expects the International Cycling Union, to take similar action. The ICU, however, is demanding the USADA first reveal details of its case against the cyclist.

A third party to the controversy, the Amaury Sport Organization, which runs the Tour de France, said it will not comment on the matter until a hearing with the USADA and the Cycling Union takes place.

Armstrong's attorney, Robert Luskin, is quoted in The Washington Post as saying the USADA can not unilaterally strip Armstrong of his titles, because the doping agency did not award them.

World Anti-doping Agency chief John Fahey said Armstrong's decision not to contest the allegations is an admission of guilt.

Jim Ochowicz, director of the BMC cycling team said "As a friend of Lance's, I support his decision to call it an end. He has done so much for our sport over the years. I love him. I know he still has a big fight ahead of him and his battle of trying to find a cure for cancer and help survivors and carry on with the Lance Armstrong foundation".

In losing his titles, Armstrong joins Canadian Ben Johnson and American Marion Jones as the highest-profile athletes to lose championships as a result of doping sanctions.

Johnson was stripped of the 1988 Seoul Olympics 100 metres title after testing positive for a steroid. while Jones lost her 2000 Sydney Olympics gold medals when she confessed she had been taking drugs at the time.

Armstrong faces the possibility of legal action from promoters and race organizers looking to recover prize money.

While Nike was quick to stand by Armstrong, his other sponsors, including RadioShack, exercise bike maker Johnson Health Tech, sunglass maker Oakley, and Michelob are still silent.

 Last week Armstrong said. " Enough is enough. Today I will turn the page. I will no longer address this issue regardless of the circumstances."

However, the story is far from over.

After reading the article, please click on the Play Button to listen to  Susan Yackee and Parke Brewer commenting on Lance Armstron case.

And now, a short video.




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Empire State Building Shooting (video)

 



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Avon Ladies in South Africa

FOR years Alice Mthini worked as a domestic servant. Becoming an “Avon lady” in 2009 changed everything. Discovering a talent for selling, she persuaded other ladies to part with 10,000 rand ($1,190) for Avon’s make up and fashion accessories in her first month. She now earns enough to send her children to a private school. She has bought herself a laptop and a car (although she still has to learn how to drive it). “Avon is my life,” she says.

Although bad management and poor investments caused Avon's share price to fall, in South Africa it is doing well.

“You go to a doctor’s room and everyone has a brochure,” says Eunice Maseko, another of Avon’s many ladies in South Africa. “You start to think, where am I going to sell?” she laughs.

The trick for direct-sales companies such as Avon is not getting people to buy your products, but getting people to sell them. That may be easier in a country where more than a quarter of women are unemployed and formal jobs are scarce, even for educated job seekers.

Avon does not demand any formal qualifications; only a warm smile and a start-up fee of 75 rand. The firm has been operating in South Africa since 1996. In 2011 its sales in South Africa increased 29%, whereas its global sales grew 1%.

Researchers at Oxford University recently published a three-year study of Avon ladies in South Africa. They found that their incomes were above average for black women in their communities, and close to that of an average black South African man.

In rural areas, where many roads have no names and houses no numbers, Avon delivers merchandise to post offices so that reps can pick them up. Where there is no bank nearby, Avon organizes payment through the post office or a big retailer. Avon's rating system takes account of small indices of permanence and responsibility, such as a mobile phone number or a formal address.

Linda Scott, one of the Oxford project’s leaders, says that reps spoke of Avon in semi-religious terms, using words like “salvation”. In South Africa, it seems, lipstick changes lives.

adapted from The Economist

Grocery auction (audio)

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Future of Higher Education

 

A new survey of more than 1,000 Internet experts, researchers and observers of American education found that higher education will soon be more about “clicks” than “bricks.”

The survey was conducted by Elon University in North Carolina and the Pew Internet & American Life Project. 

Sixty percent of its respondents agreed with the statement that, by 2020, “there will be a mass adoption of teleconferencing and distance learning” in order to give students greater access to real-world experts. 

A majority foresees a transition to “hybrid” classes that will combine online studies with less classroom discussion.

Colleges are realizing that traditional classroom instruction “is becoming decreasingly viable financially,” says Rebecca Bernstein of the State University of New York at Buffalo.  “The change driver will not be demand or technology.  It will be economics and the diminishing pool of students who can afford to live and study on campus. "

As John McNutt of the University of Delaware puts it, “Without online education, only the wealthy will receive an education.  The traditional model is too expensive.” 

Increasingly, online access is what students will need to attend college “classrooms” of the future.

Some of the Internet experts and researchers visualize universities of the future in which “campuses” will exist mostly for tutoring, specialized training and research. 

Jeff Jarvis, of the City University of New York, wrote in his reply to the survey that it makes little sense in today’s world to subject students to “lectures - most of them bad - when the best lectures can be found and shared online.” 

However, not all the experts who were polled are thrilled with this vision. Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet Project, says some of them worry that long-distance learning “lacks the personal, face-to-face touch they feel is necessary for effective education.”

 

Russia's "Pussy Riot"

MOSCOW — In the last six months, the brightly colored ski masks of Russia’s "Pussy Riot" protesters have become icons of Russia’s opposition movement.

Judge Marina Syrova handed down her verdict on Friday in the case that brought the punk rock band world attention.  For this one minute of punk "prayer" in an Orthodox cathedral last February, the judge convicted three young women of hooliganism and gave each a jail sentence of  two years.

Last February, the three women - dressed in brightly colored tights, short skirts and balaclavas - entered a restricted area of Christ the Savior, the world’s largest Orthodox cathedral. They stepped out in front of the altar and danced and played guitars while praying for the Virgin Mary to drive out Putin.

 Russian Orthodox churches ban musical instruments, dancing and masks. Women traditionally wear conservatively-cut clothes in somber colors or black.

 About 70 percent of Russians describe themselves as orthodox Christians, and the church hierarchy maintains close ties with the Kremlin.
 
On Friday  many Russian Orthodox faithful sang prayers outside the courtroom,. However, most of the hundreds of people who came to the court seemed to favor the women, who already have been held in jail for five months. Two of the three women have young children, whom they have not seen since March.

Katia, a 21-year-old, was one of many supporters. She said she does not believe the women are guilty. Her boyfriend, Alexei, said this was not a criminal trial, but a political trial.

Standing nearby, Viktor Zakharov, a businessman, criticized the judge’s guilty verdict.  "It shows to everybody that there is no fair court in Russia,"  he said.


Before Friday's court hearing, "Pussy Riot" supporters placed brightly colored balaclavas - woolen ski masks - on the heads of statues around Moscow.

After the guilty verdict was announced, police moved in aggressively to disperse the crowd of protesters outside the courthouse, and they detained several dozen people.

Sergei Udaltsov, a leftwing opposition leader, spoke to journalists there. He invited all to a protest rally on September 15 calling for the release of the "Pussy Riot" band and other “political prisoners.” Then he, too, was arrested.

The imprisoned singers are encouraged by foreign support for them. In recent days, appeals for the women's release have come from Madonna, Sting and Paul McCartney.

As the Internet carried their cause around the globe, "Pussy Riot" supporters staged solidarity protests in places as diverse as London, Iceland, Vienna, Finland, Moldova and New York.

“It is a reputation disaster for Russia all over the world," said Zakharov.

The public-relations setback for the Russian authorities may not be only abroad. According to a poll released Friday, Russians’ approval of Putin has sunk sharply since his inauguration three months ago.

In May, 60 percent of Russians polled by the Levada opinion-research group supported the president. In early August, his approval rating fell 48 percent - the lowest level since he took office in 2000.

from Associated Press
 

The Robot Factory (video)

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Alcohol ban divides Istanbul

ISTANBUL — A last-minute decision to ban alcohol at an international rock festival in Istanbul has provoked a heated debate between religious and secular residents. The debate is taking place during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, traditionally a testing time for the diverse city, famed for both its historical mosques and vibrant nightlife. The controversy also reveals wider concerns for the future of the city.

The pious and the secular clashed head-on at a recent rock music concert at Istanbul Bilgi University. The all-day event was sponsored by Turkey's leading beer producer, but a late decision resulted in a prohibition on alcohol. Thousands of parched music fans instead had to make do with lemonade and water.

The concert was held in the Eyup district of the city, which has a large religious community where Ramadan is strictly followed. Local authorities, dominated by the ruling Islamic-rooted AK party, defended the ban, citing the religious sensitivities of the locals.

Disagreement over alcohol-ban decision

Others didn't agree with the decision. One man said that people in the neighborhood organized a petition to stop alcohol from being sold at the concert, but he did not sign it because he does not believe you should interfere in other peoples' lives.

A woman disagreed. Since it's a predominantly Muslim area, she said, the ban was necessary out of respect for residents.

Many of the country's leading newspaper columnists have criticized the ban. "This is not a battle about alcohol, but about freedom," wrote leading columnist Hasan Cemal of the newspaper Milliyet.

But Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose AK party is Islamist-dominated, proudly declared he was behind the decision to ban alcohol at the concert.

"They want all our youth to be alcoholics. What on earth is this? I told the university authorities we were upset over the festival," he said.  "For Allah's sake, how can this occur?"

Tolerance hangs in balance

Istanbul is home to some of Islam's most important mosques, but it also is famous for its thriving party scene, with bars and restaurants that date back centuries. At one restaurant, tasty tapas-like dishes are served alongside the national drink of raki - a potent aniseed spirit.

Gokhan Tan of Istanbul Bilgi University worries that the delicate balance of the city is changing.

"First, Uskudar district - the mayor - told that we are not going to sell alcohol, then we see other places, especially in Beyoglu. They don't say it directly, but the right to drink alcohol in public places is diminishing and it's an entertainment area. And they say that it is a unique place and it must be conserved. These are the municipalities of the ruling party."

In neighborhoods controlled by the center-left party, however, there has been an explosion in the number of bars and restaurants.

Change underway

In the Kadikoy district, which is on the Asian side of Istanbul, dozens of bars and restaurants have opened in the space of a year. People sit drinking and eating day and night, even during the holy month of Ramadan. And there is an awareness that the city is undergoing a transformation of sorts.

One man said that it is 25 kilometers from the Kadikoy district to where he lives, but he can not drink in his neighborhood, so he travels to  the Kadikoy district for alcohol. He said that it does not make sense.

A well-known Islamist columnist has suggested that secular and religious people should live in separate quarters.

For Tan of Istanbul Bilgi University, that's a depressing prospect.

"We feel that our lives are divided into parts, this is your area and this your area, is not a good thing. We are all the same people. We can have different feelings, different beliefs and different lives. We live in the same city, but why should I restrict myself to only 'my' neighborhood," asks Tan.

Istanbul is home to more than 15 million people - nearly a quarter of the country's population. And, in many ways, it is a reflection of it. If voluntary segregation replaces tolerance, experts warn that could be a worrying sign not just for the future of Istanbul, but all of Turkey.

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"Do Romanian schools produce idiots?"

ONE in two teenagers failed the Baccalaureate exam in Romania this year after 12 years of study. This means that another more than one hundred thousand young people could end up unemployed, hurting the country’s already fragile economy.


Those who pass the Baccalaureate exam have two options: leave the country for one of the first-class universities in the western world (if they can afford it) or stay in Romania and face a poor education system.

Many of these thousands of smart youngsters who emigrate for better education remain abroad after graduation, get a job and live as immigrants for the rest of their lives. The brain drain phenomenon has been developing in Romania especially since the country joined the European Union. University fees were significantly reduced for Romanian students and work permits could be obtained more easily.

Emigrants who return to Romania after graduation and get a job are usually overqualified compared to other entry-level colleagues. Their income is lower than what they expected. Some of them eventually return to the west.

Paradoxically, Romania is also the country where some of the most brilliant young brains in the world are born. Here the rate of gifted children is twice the average worldwide. In July, the country was ranked first in Europe at the International Math Olympics and 10th among 100 countries worldwide. Some of the most feared hackers in the world are operating in Romania. Corporations like Microsoft have a big community of Romanians among their workforce and they keep recruiting more.

Most of these achievements seem to be the result of the hard work of individuals combined sometimes with the influence of a great teacher rather than the result of a proficient education system.

After the collapse of communism, Romania faced an education crisis that it has not tackled yet. Since 1989, the minister of education has been changed 19 times. Each of these ministers argued vehemently for reform, but their different visions only created confusion. One of the reasons for their failure is that education in Romania has never been properly financed. Its budget has been dropping to just 3.6% of GDP this year, while the average European rate is 5% of GDP.

Corruption also invaded the education system, as bribes became promotion tools for many students. Poverty is another scourge: the number of children who dropped out school tripled between 2000 and 2007 according to UNICEF. The financial crisis in 2008 made this worse. Budget cuts shut down schools in rural areas, making it hard for children living in isolated villages to reach school. Earning less than €400 monthly, many highly ranked teachers left the system and were often replaced by under-qualified beginners.

While the state-funded system is facing financial problems, some private universities in Romania are making a huge profit. Also known as “diploma factories”, these institutions are enrolling a large number of students each year. The quality of education in these private establishments is usually even lower than in the state system. Many of their graduates end up unemployed.

So when it comes to education, what can the young Romanian generation hope for? Not much, it seems. The current prime minister was found guilty of plagiarising his PhD thesis and the country’s suspended president once said that “the Romanian school produces idiots”.

from The Economist

Steal a little, but don't loot

A minister in India's most populous and politically crucial state, Uttar Pradesh, said on Thursday that bureaucrats can steal a little as long as they work hard .

"If you work hard, and put your heart and soul into it ... then you are allowed to steal some," Shivpal Singh Yadav told a gathering of local officials in comments caught on camera. "But don't be a bandit."

The comments were caught by a local TV camera and then played on newscasts across the country. Yadav, a minister for public works who belongs to the state's ruling Samajwadi Party, quickly sought to control the damage, calling a news conference to explain that the comments were taken out of context .

"In that event the media was not allowed in, I don't know how they sneaked in" he said on Friday.

Uttar Pradesh, which is bigger than Brazil by population, was earlier governed by 'Dalit Queen' Mayawati. She has been criticized for spending millions of rupees on building statues of herself and buying diamond jewelry despite widespread malnutrition and poverty in her state.

from Reuters

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The London Olympics come to an end (video)

 


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Elite athletes = nature + nurture (video)

 



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Weightlifter's dream

 How about filling in the blanks?

After years of hard work and preparation, British weightlifter Jack Oliver's Olympic dream nearly ……………………………………………  (end) before it ………………………………………… (start), after he …………………………………………… (sleep) through his alarm yesterday

"My plan …………………………………………. (be)  to be up at six o'clock, go downstairs and have a nice pre-weigh-in shower and a bit of a stretch," Oliver said.

"At five past seven I …………………………………………………………. (hear) a banging on the door, ………………………………………………………. (look) at my phone and ………………………………………………………. (think) 'I'm in trouble! I'm going to have a very angry coach!'"

Oliver ……………………………………………………… (get) dressed in 30 seconds, …………………………………………………. (manage) to catch a later bus to the London ExCel arena and ………………………………………………………. (arrive) in good time for the pre-competition weigh-in, which ………………………………………………………. (begin) at 10am.

A nervous looking Oliver ………………………………………………………. (fail) to complete his first lift in the competition but  ……………………………………………………….(recover) well and ………………………………………………(set) a new personal record.

"The extra hour of sleep ………………………………….. (do) me good and I …………………………….  (have) less time to worry about the competition," he said.

The 21-year-old ………………………………….. (attend) university in Leeds and ………………………………….. (train) at the Europa Weightlifting Club in Erith. He ………………………………….. (sleep) for up to 14 hours a day to recharge his bulging muscles

What questions can you ask so as to get these answers?

 1. six o'clock
2. five past seven
3. 30 seconds
4. by bus
5. Yes, he did
6. No, he didn't
7. His first lift
8. Yes, it did
9. Yes, he does
10. at the Europa Weightlifting Club in Erith
11. 14 hours
12. to recharge his muscles

  

 
Let's try to use as many linkers as possible.  Here are some suggestions:

 1. He woke up an hour later. He managed to arrive in time.

2. He didn't complete the first lift. Later he broke two personal records

3. He had a very good performance. He trained all year long.

4. He had a bad start.  His performance was outstanding.

5. He overslept. He had less time to think about the competition.

6. He received a huge ovation ahead of his first attempt at 135kg. He was unable to lift it

7. He could not lift 135 kg. He recovered quickly and could lift it the second time.

London and Beijing Olympic Games (video)

 



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