Kamis, 26 Mei 2011

article

Artikel

Kris Jenner Says Kim Kardashian's Fiance's Name Is 'Creepy'; Khloe & Kourtney Kardashian Dish On Weddings, Baby Names

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Kim Kardashian's newly announced fianc, New Jersey Nets star Kris Humpries, fits right into the Kardashian clan - sharing a "K" name with Kim's mom, Kris Jenner.
However, the Kardashian family matriarch has her reservations about sharing a moniker with her daughter's beau!
PLAY IT NOW: Kris, Khloe & Kourtney Talk 'Keeping Up With The Kardashians' Season 6
"I don't think it's a good thing if your fianc's name is the same as your mother," Kris Jenner told Access Hollywood at the "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" Season 6 junket in Los Angeles on Wednesday. "What if you're in bed and you start yelling out your husband's name in the middle of sex? It's weird. It's just a little creepy."
"Mom, what are you thinking about? That's obviously his name! She's not thinking about you, trust me," a horrified Khloe responded to her mother. "Do you yell Kim's name when you're sleeping with Bruce [Jenner]?"
VIEW THE PHOTOS: The Bling Is The Thing! Hottest Celebrity Engagement Rings
With the exception of the same-name debacle, Mama Jenner has given Kris her seal of approval to the basketball star, and said she thinks he'll be able to handle life in front of the ever-present cameras.
"He's a really easy-going guy, and really easy to be around and he does his own thing," Kris said. "I think he has his own job and his own career and his own thing going on, so he'll just do what he wants to do."
Always entertaining, Kris, along with daughters Kourtney Kardashian and Khloe Kardashian Odom, proceeded to dish on the upcoming sixth season of their hit E! reality series - including the revelation that fans will expect to see two weddings on the show.

present perfect

Present Perfect
Present Perfect


Present Perfect
Present perfect tense is used to express action or situation that has or has occurred. When did the act or situation is not too important.

Sentence patterns present perfect tense.

Pattern I
(+) S + have / has + V3
(-) S + have / has + not + V3
(?) Have / has + S + V3

Pattern II
(+) S + have / has + been + adj / Adv / N
(-) S + have / has + not + been + adj / Adv / N
(?) Have / has + S + been + adj / Adv / N

Example sentence pattern I:
I have finished my work.
She has not eaten lunch.
Have you seen That movie?

Sample sentence pattern II:
She has been sick for two days.
They have not been busy for one day.
Have you been here for two hours?


Notes

Has used if the subject is third person singular (he, she, it).

In conversation (present perfect tense) is usually the subject and auxiliary verb experiencing condensation (contraction). And sometimes in the form of writing, the cutting is also used.
I've finished my work.
She's been sick for two days.

Abbreviations' s after the subject of a third person can mean the auxiliary verbs (auxiliary verb) have or be. "It's eaten" can mean:
It has eaten. [present perfect tense, active voice]
It is eaten. [present tense, passive voice]
Consider the context, it will be clear where auxiliary verbs are used.

Present perfect tense is often used in England than in America are more likely to use past tense forms.
Have you Had lunch? (English)
Did you have lunch? (United States)

Senin, 16 Mei 2011

ballet

Ballet is a formalized kind of performance dance, which originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France, Russia, and Britain as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with most of the audience seated on tiers or galleries on three sides of the dancing floor. It has since become a highly technical form of dance with its own vocabulary. It is primarily performed with the accompaniment of classical music and has been influential as a form of dance globally. Ballet has been taught in ballet schools around the world, which use their own cultures and societies to inform the art. Ballet dance works (ballets) are choreographed and performed by trained artists, include mime and acting, and are set to music (usually orchestral but occasionally vocal). It is a poised style of dance that incorporates the foundational techniques for many other dance forms. This genre of dance is very hard to master and requires much practice. It is best known in the form of Late Romantic Ballet or Ballet Blanc, which preoccupies itself with the female dancer to the exclusion of almost all else, focusing on pointe work, flowing, precise acrobatic movements, and often presenting the dancers in the conventional short white French tutu. Later developments include expressionist ballet, Neoclassical ballet, and elements of Modern dance.The word ballet comes from the French and was borrowed into English around 1630. The French word in turn has its origin in Italian balletto, a diminutive of ballo (dance) which comes from Latin ballo, ballare, meaning "to dance", which in turn comes from the Greek "βαλλίζω" (ballizo), "to dance, to jump about".Ballet emerged in the late fifteenth-century Renaissance court culture of Italy as a dance interpretation of fencing, and further developed in the French court from the time of Louis XIV in the 17th century. This is reflected in the largely French vocabulary of ballet. Despite the great reforms of Noverre in the eighteenth century, ballet went into decline in France after 1830, though it was continued in Denmark, Italy, and Russia. It was reintroduced to western Europe on the eve of the First World War by a Russian company: the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, who came to be influential around the world. Diaghilev's company came to be a destination for many of the Russian trained dancers fleeing the famine and unrest that followed the Bolshevik revolution. These dancers brought many of the choreographic and stylistic innovations that had been flourishing under the czars back to their place of origin.

In the 20th century, ballet had a strong influence on broader concert dance. For example, in the United States, choreographer George Balanchine developed what is now known as neoclassical ballet. Subsequent developments now include contemporary ballet and post-structural ballet, seen in the work of William Forsythe in Germany.Classical ballet is the most methodical of the ballet styles; it adheres to traditional ballet technique. There are variations relating to area of origin, such as Russian ballet, French ballet, Danish Bournonville ballet and Italian ballet, although most ballet of the last two centuries is ultimately founded on the teachings of Blasis. The most well-known styles of ballet are the Russian Method, the Italian Method, the Danish Method, the Balanchine Method or New York City Ballet Method, and the Royal Academy of Dance and Royal Ballet School methods, derived from the Cecchetti method, created in England. The first pointe shoes were actually regular ballet slippers that were heavily darned at the tip. It would allow the girl to briefly stand on her toes to appear weightless. It was later converted to the hard box that is used today.

Classical ballet adheres to these rules:

* A position called 'plie' is used in almost every exercise
* Everything is turned out.
* When the feet are not on the floor, they' pointed.
* When the leg is not bent, it's stretched completely.
* Posture, alignment, and placement are vital.
Neoclassical ballet is a ballet style that uses traditional ballet vocabulary but is less rigid than the classical ballet. For example, dancers often dance at more extreme tempos and perform more technical feats. Spacing in neoclassical ballet is usually more modern or complex than in classical ballet. Although organization in neoclassical ballet is more varied, the focus on structure is a defining characteristic of neoclassical ballet.
Scene from Act 4 of Swan Lake, Vienna State Opera, 2004

Balanchine brought modern dancers in to dance with his company, the New York City Ballet. One such dancer was Paul Taylor, who, in 1959, performed in Balanchine's Episodes. Balanchine worked with modern dance choreographer Martha Graham, expanding his exposure to modern techniques and ideas. During this period, Tetley began to consciously combine ballet and modern techniques in experimentation.

Tim Scholl, author of From Petipa to Balanchine, considers George Balanchine's Apollo in 1928 to be the first neoclassical ballet. Apollo represented a return to form in response to Serge Diaghilev's abstract ballets.Contemporary ballet is a form of dance influenced by both classical ballet and modern dance. It takes its technique and body control using abdominal strength from classical ballet, although it permits a greater range of movement that may not adhere to the strict body lines or turnout set forth by schools of ballet technique. Many of its concepts come from the ideas and innovations of 20th century modern dance, including floor work and turn-in of the legs. This style is generally danced barefoot.
Arms in Cecchetti's "Spanish fourth" position.

George Balanchine is often considered to have been the first pioneer of contemporary ballet through the development of neoclassical ballet. One dancer who danced briefly for Balanchine was Mikhail Baryshnikov, an exemplar of Kirov Ballet training. Following Baryshnikov's appointment as artistic director of American Ballet Theatre in 1980, he worked with various modern choreographers, most notably Twyla Tharp. Tharp choreographed Push Comes To Shove for ABT and Baryshnikov in 1976; in 1986 she created In The Upper Room for her own company. Both these pieces were considered innovative for their use of distinctly modern movements melded with the use of pointe shoes and classically trained dancers—for their use of "contemporary ballet".

Twyla Tharp also worked with the Joffrey Ballet company, founded in 1957 by Robert Joffrey. She choreographed Deuce Coupe for them in 1973, using pop music and a blend of modern and ballet techniques. The Joffrey Ballet continued to perform numerous contemporary pieces, many choreographed by co-founder Gerald Arpino.

Today there are many contemporary ballet companies and choreographers. These include Alonzo King and his company, Alonzo King's Lines Ballet; Complexions Contemporary Ballet, under the direction of Dwight Rhoden; Nacho Duato's Compañia Nacional de Danza; William Forsythe, who has worked extensively with the Frankfurt Ballet and today runs The Forsythe Company; and Jiří Kylián, currently the artistic director of the Nederlands Dans Theatre. Traditionally "classical" companies, such as the Kirov Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet, also regularly perform contemporary works.

platypus

The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a semi-aquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. It is the sole living representative of its family (Ornithorhynchidae) and genus (Ornithorhynchus), though a number of related species have been found in the fossil record.

The bizarre appearance of this egg-laying, venomous, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammal baffled European naturalists when they first encountered it, with some considering it an elaborate fraud. It is one of the few venomous mammals; the male platypus has a spur on the hind foot that delivers a venom capable of causing severe pain to humans. The unique features of the platypus make it an important subject in the study of evolutionary biology and a recognisable and iconic symbol of Australia; it has appeared as a mascot at national events and is featured on the reverse of the Australian 20 cent coin. The platypus is the animal emblem of the state of New South Wales.[3]

Until the early 20th century it was hunted for its fur, but it is now protected throughout its range. Although captive breeding programmes have had only limited success and the platypus is vulnerable to the effects of pollution, it is not under any immediate threat.The body and the broad, flat tail of the platypus are covered with dense brown fur that traps a layer of insulating air to keep the animal warm.[6][11] The platypus uses its tail for storage of fat reserves (an adaptation also found in animals such as the Tasmanian Devil[14] and fat-tailed sheep). It has webbed feet and a large, rubbery snout; these are features that appear closer to those of a duck than to those of any known mammal. The webbing is more significant on the front feet and is folded back when walking on land.[11] Unlike a bird's beak (in which the upper and lower parts separate to reveal the mouth), the snout of the platypus is a sensory organ with the mouth on the underside. The nostrils are located on the dorsal surface of the snout, while the eyes and ears are located in a groove set just back from it; this groove is closed when swimming.[11] Platypuses have been heard to emit a low growl when disturbed and a range of other vocalisations have been reported in captive specimens.[6]
A colour print of platypuses from 1863

Weight varies considerably from 0.7 to 2.4 kg (1.5 to 5.3 lb), with males being larger than females: males average 50 cm (20 in) in total length while females average 43 cm (17 in).[11] There is substantial variation in average size from one region to another, and this pattern does not seem to follow any particular climatic rule and may be due to other environmental factors such as predation and human encroachment.[15]

The platypus has an average body temperature of about 32 °C (90 °F) rather than the 37 °C (99 °F) typical of placental mammals.[16] Research suggests this has been a gradual adaptation to harsh environmental conditions on the part of the small number of surviving monotreme species rather than a historical characteristic of monotremes.

Modern platypus young have three-cusped molars, which they lose before or just after leaving the breeding burrow; adults have heavily keratinised pads in their place. The platypus jaw is constructed differently from that of other mammals, and the jaw-opening muscle is different. As in all true mammals, the tiny bones that conduct sound in the middle ear are fully incorporated into the skull, rather than lying in the jaw as in cynodonts and other pre-mammalian synapsids. However, the external opening of the ear still lies at the base of the jaw. The platypus has extra bones in the shoulder girdle, including an interclavicle, which is not found in other mammals. It has a reptilian gait, with legs that are on the sides of the body, rather than underneath.[11] When on land it engages in knuckle-walking to protect the webbing between its toes.

great wall of china

The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups. Several walls have been built since the 5th century BC that are referred to collectively as the Great Wall, which has been rebuilt and maintained from the 5th century BC through the 16th century. One of the most famous is the wall built between 220–206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Little of that wall remains; the majority of the existing wall was built during the Ming Dynasty.

The Great Wall stretches from Shanhaiguan in the east, to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. The most comprehensive archaeological survey, using advanced technologies, has concluded that the entire Great Wall, with all of its branches, stretches for 8,851.8 km (5,500.3 mi). This is made up of 6,259.6 km (3,889.5 mi) sections of actual wall, 359.7 km (223.5 mi) of trenches and 2,232.5 km (1,387.2 mi) of natural defensive barriers such as hills and riversThe Chinese were already familiar with the techniques of wall-building by the time of the Spring and Autumn Period, which began around the 8th century BC.[5][6] During the Warring States Period from the 5th century BC to 221 BC, the states of Qin, Wei, Zhao, Qi, Yan and Zhongshan[7][8] all constructed extensive fortifications to defend their own borders. Built to withstand the attack of small arms such as swords and spears, these walls were made mostly by stamping earth and gravel between board frames.

Qin Shi Huang conquered all opposing states and unified China in 221 BC, establishing the Qin Dynasty. Intending to impose centralized rule and prevent the resurgence of feudal lords, he ordered the destruction of the wall sections that divided his empire along the former state borders. To protect the empire against intrusions by the Xiongnu people from the north, he ordered the building of a new wall to connect the remaining fortifications along the empire's new northern frontier. Transporting the large quantity of materials required for construction was difficult, so builders always tried to use local resources. Stones from the mountains were used over mountain ranges, while rammed earth was used for construction in the plains. There are no surviving historical records indicating the exact length and course of the Qin Dynasty walls. Most of the ancient walls have eroded away over the centuries, and very few sections remain today. Later, the Han, Sui, Northern and Jin dynasties all repaired, rebuilt, or expanded sections of the Great Wall at great cost to defend themselves against northern invaders. It is estimated that over 1 million workers died building the wall.[9]

The Great Wall concept was revived again during the Ming Dynasty, following the Ming army's defeat by the Oirats in the Battle of Tumu in 1449. The Ming had failed to gain a clear upper-hand over the Manchurian and Mongolian tribes after successive battles, and the long-drawn conflict was taking a toll on the empire. The Ming adopted a new strategy to keep the nomadic tribes out by constructing walls along the northern border of China. Acknowledging the Mongol control established in the Ordos Desert, the wall followed the desert's southern edge instead of incorporating the bend of the Huang He.
Photograph of the Great Wall in 1907

Unlike the earlier Qin fortifications, the Ming construction was stronger and more elaborate due to the use of bricks and stone instead of rammed earth. As Mongol raids continued periodically over the years, the Ming devoted considerable resources to repair and reinforce the walls. Sections near the Ming capital of Beijing were especially strong.[citation needed]

During the 1440s–1460s, the Ming also built a so-called "Liaodong Wall". Similar in function to the Great Wall (whose extension, in a sense, it was), but more basic in construction, the Liaodong Wall enclosed the agricultural heartland of the Liaodong province, protecting it against potential incursions by Jurched-Mongol Oriyanghan from the northwest and the Jianzhou Jurchens from the north. While stones and tiles were used in some parts of the Liaodong Wall, most of it was in fact simply an earth dike with moats on both sides.[10]

Towards the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Great Wall helped defend the empire against the Manchu invasions that began around 1600. Under the military command of Yuan Chonghuan, the Ming army held off the Manchus at the heavily fortified Shanhaiguan pass, preventing the Manchus from entering the Chinese heartland. The Manchus were finally able to cross the Great Wall in 1644, when the gates at Shanhaiguan were opened by Wu Sangui, a Ming border general who disliked the activities of rulers of the Shun Dynasty. The Manchus quickly seized Beijing, and defeated the newly founded Shun Dynasty and remaining Ming resistance, to establish the Qing Dynasty.

In 2009, an additional 290 km (180 mi) of previously undetected portions of the wall, built during the Ming Dynasty, were discovered. The newly discovered sections range from the Hushan mountains in the northern Liaoning province, to Jiayuguan in western Gansu province. The sections had been submerged over time by sandstorms which moved across the arid region.[11]

Under Qing rule, China's borders extended beyond the walls and Mongolia was annexed into the empire, so construction and repairs on the Great Wall were discontinued.

zorro

Zorro is a spanish fictional character created in 1919 by New York-based pulp writer Johnston McCulley. The character has been featured in numerous books, films, television series, and other media.

Zorro (Spanish for fox) is the secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega (originally Don Diego Vega), a nobleman and master living in the Spanish colonial era of California. The character has undergone changes through the years, but the typical image of him is a dashing black-clad masked outlaw who defends the people of the land against tyrannical officials and other villains. Not only is he much too cunning and foxlike for the bumbling authorities to catch, but he delights in publicly humiliating those same foes.Zorro (often called Señor or El Zorro in early stories) debuted in McCulley's 1919 story The Curse of Capistrano, serialized in five parts in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly.[1] At the denouement, Zorro's true identity is revealed to all.

Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, on their honeymoon, selected the story as the inaugural picture for their new studio, United Artists, beginning the character's cinematic tradition. The story was adapted as The Mark of Zorro in 1920, which was a success. McCulley's story was re-released by the publisher Grosset & Dunlap under the same title, to tie in with the film.

Due to public demand fueled by the film, McCulley wrote over 60 additional Zorro stories starting in 1922. The last, The Mask of Zorro (not to be confused with the 1998 film), was published posthumously in 1959. These stories ignore Zorro's public revelation of his identity. The black costume that modern audiences associate with the character stems from Fairbanks' smash hit movie rather than McCulley's original story, and McCulley's subsequent Zorro adventures copied Fairbanks's Zorro rather than the other way around. McCulley died in 1958, just as the Disney-produced Zorro television show was becoming phenomenally successful.In The Curse of Capistrano Don Diego Vega becomes Señor Zorro in the pueblo of Los Angeles in California "to avenge the helpless, to punish cruel politicians," and "to aid the oppressed." He is the title character, as he is dubbed the "curse of Capistrano."

The story involves him romancing Lolita Pulido, an impoverished noblewoman. While Lolita is unimpressed with Diego, who pretends to be a passionless fop, she is attracted to the dashing Zorro. His rival and antagonist is Captain Ramon. Other characters include Sgt. Pedro Gonzales, Zorro's enemy and Diego's friend; Zorro's deaf and mute servant Bernardo; his ally Fray (Friar) Felipe; his father Don Alejandro Vega; and a group of noblemen (caballeros) who at first hunt him but are won over to his cause.

In later stories McCulley introduces characters such as pirates and Native Americans, some of whom know Zorro's identity.

In McCulley's later stories, Diego's surname became de la Vega. In fact, the writer was wildly inconsistent. The first magazine serial ended with the villain dead and Diego publicly exposed as Zorro, but in the sequel the antagonist was alive, and the next entry had the double identity still secret.

Several Zorro productions have expanded on the character's exploits. Many of the continuations feature a younger character taking up the mantle of Zorro.
[edit] CharacteristicsIn The Curse of Capistrano McCulley describes Diego as "unlike the other full-blooded youths of the times"; though proud as befitting his class (and seemingly uncaring about the lower classes), he shuns action, rarely wearing his sword except for fashion, and is indifferent to romance with women. This is, of course, a sham. This portrayal, with minor variations, is followed in most Zorro media.

A notable exception to this portrayal is Disney's Zorro (1957–59), where Diego, instead, appears as a passionate and compassionate crusader for justice—but masquerades as "the most inept swordsman in all of California." (Though he still adapted the more foppish persona early on to convince the then corrupted government officials that he was harmless.) In this show, everyone knows Diego would love to do what Zorro does, but thinks he does not have the skill.Zorro is an agile athlete and acrobat, using his bullwhip as a gymnastic accoutrement to swing through gaps between city roofs, and is very capable of landing from great heights and taking a fall. Although he is a master swordsman and marksman he has more than once demonstrated his prowess in unarmed combat against multiple opponents.

His calculating and precise dexterity as a tactician has enabled him to use his two main weapons, his sword and bullwhip, as an extension of his very deft hand. He never uses brute strength, more his fox-like sly mind and well-practiced technique to outmatch an opponent.

Some versions of Zorro have a medium-sized dagger tucked in his left boot for emergencies. He has used his cape as a blind, a trip-mat and a disarming tool. Zorro's boots are also sometimes weighted, as is his hat which he has thrown, Frisbee-like, as an efficiently substantial warning to enemies. But more often than not he uses psychological mockery to make his opponents too angry to be coordinated in combat.

Zorro is also a skilled horseman. The name of his jet-black horse has varied through the years. In The Curse of Capistrano it was unnamed. Later versions named the horse Tornado/Toronado or Tempest. In still more versions from time to time, Zorro rides a snowy white horse named Phantom.

McCulley's concept of a band of men helping Zorro is often absent from other versions of the character. An exception is Zorro's Fighting Legion (1939), starring Reed Hadley as Diego. In McCulley's stories Zorro was aided by a deaf mute named Bernardo. In Disney's Zorro television series, Bernardo is not deaf but pretends to be, and serves as Zorro's spy. He is also a capable and invaluable helper for Zorro, even wearing the mask himself occasionally to reinforce his master's charade. The Family Channel's Zorro television series replaces Bernardo with a teenager named Felipe, played by Juan Diego Botto, with a similar disability (his muteness is the result of trauma) and pretense.

kate middleton biography

Catherine Elizabeth "Kate" Middleton (born 9 January 1982) married to Prince William of Wales, elder son of Prince Charles, and the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

After her marriage, the official title of Miss Catherine Middleton is - Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge.
Early life Kate Middleton

Born at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, Berkshire, England, Middleton is the elder daughter of self-made millionaire Michael Middleton (born 1949), who was an airline officer at the time of her birth, and his wife, the former Carole Goldsmith, who was an air hostess. Her parents now own Party Pieces, a mail order company that sells children's party paraphernalia. She has a younger sister, Philippa ("Pippa") and a younger brother, James.

Middleton was raised in Bucklebury, Berkshire, in the south of England. She kate_middletonwent to St Andrew's School, Pangbourne until she was 13 and then attended the public school Marlborough College (the same school William's cousin Princess Eugenie of York attends), where she passed eleven GCSEs and three A-level exams. Like the Prince, Middleton was a student at the University of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland. She graduated in 2005 with a 2:1 (Upper Second-Class) MA (Hons) degree in History of Art.

In early 2006, it was rumoured that Middleton intended to found her own mail order company, selling high-end children's clothes. After a key investor stepped down, however, she decided to hold off on this plan. In November 2006, she accepted a position as an accessories buyer assistant with the British clothing chain Jigsaw.
Kate Middleton and Prince William

While attending the University of St Andrews in 2001, Middleton met Prince kate_middletonWilliam of Wales. At the time, Middleton was already in her second year at St Andrews. Since around Christmas of 2003 she and Prince William have been involved in a relationship that has been subjected to intense media attention.

The couple were first seen publicly on a ski trip in Klosters in April 2004. During 2005, the British media began speculating that the Prince and Middleton would eventually become engaged.

Middleton's status as the girlfriend of Prince William brought widespread media coverage in the UK and abroad, and was often photographed on her daily outings. On 17 October 2005, she complained through her lawyer about harassment from the media, stating that, she had done nothing to court publicity. In December 2005, the German magazine Das Nee published photos of the exterior of Middleton's London flat, revealing its location in London. This prompted a security review by police amidst concerns for her safety and a report in the London Evening Standard that Prince William was considering going to the European Court of Human Rights over concerns for Middleton's and his own privacy.

In February 2006, it was announced that Middleton would receive her own 24-hour security detail supplied by the Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Department. This fuelled further speculation that she and Prince William would soon be engaged, since she would not, otherwise, be entitled to this service. No engagement occurred, and Middleton was not granted an allowance to fund this security.

In 2007, the couple briefly split after struggling to find time as Prince William pursued his army career. However, they soon came back together. Engagement of Kate Middleton and Prince William

On 16th November, 2010, Kate Middleton and Prince William announced their plans to marry in the new year.

Announcing their engagement Prince William said: "The timing is right now, we are both very, very happy." Miss Middleton added that joining the Royal Family was a "daunting prospect" but said: "Hopefully I'll take it in my stride." Wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William Kate Middleton and Prince William were married on Friday 29th April 2011 at Westminster Abbey, London. Catherine Middleton wore a dress designed by Sarah Burton. The dress was ivory gown with lace applique floral detail and an intricate train measuring two metres 70 centimetres. Her tiara was a little known 1936 Cartier "halo". It was loaned to her by the present Queen, a tradition for Royal Weddings.On the morning of the wedding, the Queen gave a new title to her son, Prince William - The Duke of Cambridge. They have also been given the Scottish titles of Earl and Countess of Strathearn. The couples third title is a Northern Irish one, Baron and Baroness Carrickfergus.

The official title for Miss Catherine Middleton on her marriage is Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge.

After the wedding, the couple intend to continue residing on the Isle of Anglesey in North Wales, where Prince William is based as an RAF Search and Rescu

a little titanic story

Of all the amazing tales told about the Titanic, there is one little story I always find fascinating even though it tells us absolutely nothing about the details of the tragic sinking on that cold night in April 1912.

It is not the fact that the great liner was designed and had the space to carry 48 lifeboats but only 16 were actually included to fulfil the letter of the law. It was not the fact that in spite of ice warnings the ship's speed was not reduced. If it had been, then fewer watertight compartments would have been flooded, and the ship would have remained afloat much longer, and possibly been salvaged.

Not even the fact that after the order was given for women and children to go first, all of the children from the 1st. and 2nd. class were saved but most of the children in the 3rd class were drowned. (All 5 of 1st class children saved, all 24 of 2nd. class children saved but only 23 of the 76 in 3rd. class saved, 60% of these were lost). Or that all of the rocket signals fired by members of the Titanic crew were misunderstood by sailors on a ship not far away.

No. It was none of these. It was the story of Jerome Bourke from Cork.

Jerome Bourke was a young enthusiastic lad from Glanmire near Cork City. He planned to go to America in the Spring of 1912 following two of his sisters who had gone to the USA some time before.
One of the last known photographs of the Titanic

Another sister of his, Nora was very friendly with the checker at the ticket office and he suggested that Jerome could travel on the new liner 'Titanic' which would be calling at Queenstown a few weeks later. Jerome's dreams were coming true.

Before his departure, a neighbour, Mrs 0'Connell, came to the Bourke house with some holy water. Jerome's mother filled some of this water into a small bottle so that Jerome could take it with him. His sister Nora had been on a trip to Lourdes the year before and she brought this special bottle back with her.

On the morning of April 11th Jerome said good bye to his family and with his few possessions, including the bottle, he embarked on the new liner at Cobh. That evening he had his last view of the Cork Coast as the ship sailed silently past the Daunt Rock and out to sea.

The ship hit the iceberg on the night of the Sunday 14th of April at about 10.40 pm and within an hour many lifeboats were filled and lowered to the water. It was 2.20 am on the Monday morning when the ship actually went down and most of the passengers died from exposure in the ice-cold water while floating about wearing their life jackets.

Like everybody else, the Bourke's learned of the tragedy of the sinking. They feared for the worst and every day for about three weeks people called at the house to see if they had any news of Jerome. By early May they got the dreaded news and they mourned for Jerome, and all the other people whose lives and hopes and dreams were dashed by this tragic happening.

Over a year later in early Summer of 1915, a man walking with his dog along the shore, half way down the river in Cork harbour (near Dunkettle), found this unusual bottle which appeared to have come in with the tide. On removing the cork he found a rolled up piece of paper containing a message written with pencil.


Jerome Bourke's note

Did this bottle come all the way back to Cork harbour and end up on the the shore near Dunkettle. There are a number of possibilities as to how the bottle came to be on a shore only a few miles from the Bourke's home in Glanmire.

1. The bottle may have been thrown there recently by some other person.
- But Jerome had the bottle with him on the Titanic when leaving Cobh.

2. Jerome may have thrown the bottle into the sea as the ship left Cork harbour.
- But why write the 13th April when it was only the 11th when leaving Cork ?

The last known photograph of the Titanic

Since the date on the note was the 13th, we can reasonably accept that the message was written on the Saturday, the day before the Titanic hit the iceberg. There is also the slight possibility that Jerome wrote this note on the Sunday night after the accident, but made a mistake when writing the date. The note was rolled up and inserted into the bottle and the cork then firmly pushed down into the neck of the bottle which was then thrown into the sea. The little bottle stayed afloat and the current carried it back again towards the Irish coast, a journey of nearly 3000 miles. It is a coincidence that it should be carried back in through Cork harbour and end up in the Parish where Jerome was born, - even if it did take nearly 14 months before it was found.

Not having Jerome's remains or his grave to visit, Jerome's Mother and family were very thankful to have something tangible to remind them of Jerome after such a tragic end to a trip to America.

The above story was related by John Bourke (nephew) and by Brid 0'Flynn (his grand-niece) on an the Nationwide Programme broadcast on RTE a few years ago.

bloody mary

Bloody Mary is a ghost or witch featured in Western folklore. She is said to appear in a mirror when her name is called three times or sometimes more, depending upon the version of the story, often as part of a game.
One of the more common ways participants attempt to make her appear is to stand before a mirror in the dark (usually in a bathroom) and repeat her name three times, though there are many variations including chanting a hundred times, chanting at midnight, spinning around, rubbing one's eyes, running the water, or chanting her name thirteen times with a lit candle. In some versions of the legend, the summoner must say, "Bloody Mary, I killed your baby." In these variants, Bloody Mary is often believed to be the spirit of a young mother whose baby was stolen from her, making her mad in grief, eventually committing suicide. In stories where Mary is supposed to have been wrongly accused of killing her children, the querent might say "I believe in Mary Worth." This is similar to another game involving the summoning of the Bell Witch in a mirror at midnight. The game is often a test of courage and bravery, as it is said that if Bloody Mary is summoned to kill Marina Franco, she would proceed to kill the summoner in an extremely violent way, such as ripping their face off, scratching their eyes out, cutting their head off, driving them insane, bringing them into the mirror with her or scratching their neck, causing serious injury or death. Some think if she doesn't kill the one who had summoned her then she will haunt them for the rest of their life. Other versions tell that if one chants her name thirteen times at midnight into a mirror she will appear and the summoner can talk to a deceased person until 12:08a.m., when Bloody Mary and the dead person asked to speak to will vanish. Still other variations say that the querent must not look directly at Bloody Mary, but at her image in the mirror; she will then reveal the querent's future, particularly concerning marriage and children.[1]
Divination rituals such as the one depicted on this early 20th century Halloween greeting card, where a woman stares into a mirror in a darkened room to catch a glimpse of the face of her future husband, while a witch lurks in the shadows, may be one origin of the Bloody Mary legend.

Bloody Mary Worth is typically described as a child-murderer who lived in the local city where the legend has taken root years ago. There is often a specific local graveyard or tombstone that becomes attached to the legend and a destination for legend trips.

On the other hand, various people have surmised that the lore about taunting Bloody Mary about her baby may relate her tenuously to folklore about Queen Mary I, also known as "Bloody Mary", whose life was marked by a number of miscarriages or false pregnancies.[2][3] Speculation exists that the miscarriages were deliberately induced. As a result, some retellings of the tale make Bloody Mary the queen driven to madness by the loss of her children.[4] The mirror ritual by which Bloody Mary is summoned may also relate to a form of divination involving mirrors and darkness that was once performed on Halloween. While as with any sort of folklore the details may vary, this particular tale encouraged young women to walk up a flight of stairs backwards, holding a candle and a hand mirror, in a darkened house. As they gazed into the mirror, they were supposed to be able to catch a view of their future husband's face. There was, however, a chance that they would see the skull-face of the Grim Reaper instead; this meant that they were destined to die before they married.[1][5]

j.k rowling biography

Biography J K Rowling

J.K Rowling was born in Chipping Sodury, July 31st 1965. Her childhood was generally happy, although she does remember getting teased because of her name, “Rowling” – She recalls often getting called “Rowling pin” by her less than ingenious school friends. J.K. Rowling says she never really warmed to her own name, although, she does remember having a fondness for the name Potter from quite an early age. J.K.Rowling studied at a school in Gloucestershire, before moving to Chepstow, South Wales at the age of nine.

From an early age, J.K. Rowling had an ambition to be a writer. She often tried her hand at writing, although little came from her early efforts. In her own autobiography she remembers with great fondness, when her good friend Sean became the first person to give her the confidence that one day she would be able to make a very good writer.

“he was also the only person who thought I was bound to be a success at it, which meant much more to me than I ever told him at the time” (1)

Sean was also the owner of a battered old Ford Anglia, which would later appear in one of the Harry Potter series as a flying car.

After finishing school, her parents encouraged her to study French at the rowlingUniversity of Essex. She slightly regretted choosing French, saying she would have preferred to study English. However, it was her parents wish that she study something “ more useful” than English.

After having spent a year in Paris, J.K.Rowling graduated from university and took various jobs in London. One of her favourite jobs was working for Amnesty International; the charity, which campaigns against human rights abuses throughout the world. Amnesty International, is one of the many charities, which J.K.Rowling has generously supported since she attained a new found wealth.

It was in 1990, that J.K.Rowling first conceived of the idea about Harry Potter. As she recalls, it was on a long train journey from London to Manchester when she began forming in her mind, the characters of the series. At the forefront, was a young boy, not aware that he was a wizard. The train was delayed for over four hours, but she didn’t have a pen and was too shy to ask for one nothing, so nothing was written down. But she remembers being very enthusiastic, and excited about the ideas which were filling her mind.

On arriving in Manchester, she began work on writing the book immediately, although, it would take several years to come to fruition. It was also in December of 1990 that J.K.Rowling lost her mother, who died of Multiple Sclerosis. J.K.Rowling was very close to her mother, and she felt the loss deeply. Her own loss gave an added poignancy to the death of Harry Potter’s mother in her book. She says her favourite scene in the Philosopher’s Stone is, The Mirror of Erised, where Harry sees his parents in the mirror.

In 1991, J.K.Rowling left England to get a job as an English teacher in Portugal. It was here that she met her first husband, and together they had a child Jessica. However, after a couple of years, the couple split after a fierce argument; where by all accounts J.K.Rowling was thrown out of the house. So she returned to England in 1994; still trying to finish her first book. She was also working full time, and bringing up her daughter as a single parent. Eventually, she finished her first copy, and sent it off to various agents. She found an agent, Christopher, who spent over a year trying to get a publisher. Eventually, a quite small publisher, Bloomsbury agreed to take the book on. The editor Barry Cunningham also agreed to pay her an advance of £1500. The decision to take on the book was, in large part, due to his eight year old daughters enthusiastic reception of the first chapter (However she was advised to continue teaching as writers of children’s books don’t tend to get very well paid.)

Within a few weeks of publication, (1996) the book sales really started to take off. The initial print run was of only 1,000 – 500 of these went to libraries. First editions are now said to be worth up to £25,000 each. She also received a grant from the Scottish arts council, which enabled her to write full time. After the books initial success in the UK, an American company Scholastic agreed to pay a remarkable £100,000 for the rights to publish in America. In 1998, Warner Bros secured the film rights for the books, giving a seven figure sum. The films have magnified the success of the books, making Harry Potter into one of the most recognisable media products. Under the close guidance of J.K.Rowling, the films have sought to stay close to the original plot; also at J.K.Rowling’s request all the actors are British.

On the 21st December 2006, J.K.Rowling finished her final book of the Harry Potter Series – "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". The book was released in July 2007, becoming one of the fastest selling books of all time. J.K.Rowling has said the book is her favourite, and it makes her both happy and sad. She has said she will continue writing but there is no chance of continuing the Harry Potter Series. She however, may release a dictionary of things related to Hogwarts and Harry Potter, that were never published in other books.

J.K.Rowling currently lives in Scotland, on the banks of the river Tay, with her 2nd husband Neil Murray; J.K.Rowling has 3 children, two with husband Neil.

lady diana biography

Biography of Diana, Princess of Wales

Lady Diana Frances Spencer, (Diana Frances Mountbatten-Windsor, née Spencer) (July 1, 1961–August 31, 1997) was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales. From her marriage in 1981 to her divorce in 1996 she was styled "Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales". After her divorce from the Prince of Wales in 1996 Diana ceased to be the Princess of Wales and also lost the resulting Royal Highness style,[1] She received the title normally used by the ex-wives of peers, Diana, Princess of Wales under Letters Patent issued by Queen Elizabeth II at the time of the divorce.

Diana was often called Princess Diana by the media and the public, but she did not possess such a title and was not personally a princess, a point Diana herself made to people who referred to her as such. Contrary to belief, being Princess of Wales does not make one a princess in one's own right. It merely indicates that one was married to a Prince of Wales. Princesses in their own right only exist by creation of the monarch or by birth. Diana was in fact the first non-princess to be Princess of Wales for centuries. Previous Princesses of Wales, such as Alexandra of Denmark or Mary of Teck were already princesses by birth when they married a Prince of Wales.

An iconic presence on the world stage, Diana, Princess of Wales was noted for her pioneering charity work. Yet her philanthropic endeavours were overshadowed by her scandal-plagued marriage to Prince Charles. Her bitter accusations via diana princess of walesfriends and biographers of adultery, mental cruelty and emotional distress visited upon her, and her own admission of adultery and numerous love affairs riveted the world for much of the 1990s, spawning books, magazine articles and television movies.

From the time of her engagement to the Prince of Wales in 1981 until her death in a car accident in 1997, the Princess was arguably the most famous woman in the world, the pre-eminent female celebrity of her generation: a fashion icon, an image of feminine beauty, admired and emulated for her high-profile involvement in AIDS issues, and the international campaign against landmines. During her lifetime, she was often referred to as the most photographed person in the world. To her admirers, the Princess of Wales was a role model - after her death, there were even calls for her to be nominated for sainthood - while her detractors saw her life as a cautionary tale of how an obsession with publicity can ultimately destroy an individual.


Early years of Princess Diana

Diana Frances Spencer was born as the youngest daughter of Edward Spencer, Viscount Althorp, and his first wife, Frances Spencer, Viscountess Althorp (formerly the Honourable Frances Burke Roche) at Park House on the Sandringham estate. She was baptised at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, by Rt. Rev. Percy Herbert (rector of the church and former Bishop of Norwich and Blackburn); her godparents included John Floyd (the chairman of Christie's) and Mary Colman (a niece of the Queen Mother). Partially American in ancestry — a great-grandmother was the American heiress Frances Work - she was also a descendant of King Charles I. During her parents' acrimonious divorce over Lady Althorp's adultery with wallpaper heir Peter Shand Kydd, Diana's mother sued for custody of her children, but Lord Althorp's rank, aided by Lady Althorp's mother's testimony against her daughter during the trial, meant custody of Diana and her brother was awarded to their father. On the death of her paternal grandfather, Albert Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer, in 1975, Diana's father became the 8th Earl Spencer, and she acquired the courtesy title of The Lady Diana Spencer and moved from her childhood home at Park House to her family's sixteenth-century ancestral home of Althorp. A year later, Lord Spencer married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth, the only daughter of the romance novelist Barbara Cartland, after being named as the "other party" in the Earl and Countess of Dartmouth's divorce.

Diana was educated at Riddlesworth Hall in Norfolk and at West Heath Girls' School (later reorganized as the New School at West Heath, a special school for boys and girls) in Sevenoaks, Kent, where she was regarded as an academically below-average student, having failed all of her O-level examinations. In 1977, aged 16, she left West Heath and briefly attended Institut Alpin Videmanette, a finishing school in Rougemont, Switzerland (Diana's future husband was also dating her sister, Lady Sarah at that time). Diana was a talented amateur singer, excelled in sports and reportedly longed to be a ballerina.

Diana's family, the Spencers, had been close to the British Royal Family for decades. Her maternal grandmother, Ruth, Lady Fermoy, was a longtime friend of, and a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

The Prince's love life had always been the subject of press speculation, and he was linked to numerous women. Nearing his mid-thirties, he was under increasing pressure to marry. In order to gain the approval of his family and their advisors, including his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten of Burma, any potential bride had to have an aristocratic background[citation needed], could not have been previously married, should be Protestant and, preferably, a virgin. Diana fulfilled all of these qualifications.

Reportedly, the Prince's former girlfriend (and, eventually, his second wife) Camilla Parker Bowles helped him select the 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer as a potential bride, who was working as an assistant at the Young England kindergarten in Pimlico. It was at this kindergarten school that the famous iconic snap of a 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer was taken by John Minihan with the morning sun to her back, her legs in silhouette through her skirt.

Buckingham Palace announced the engagement on 24 February 1981. Mrs. Parker Bowles had been dismissed by Lord Mountbatten of Burma as a potential spouse for the heir to throne some years before, reportedly due to her age (16 months the Prince's senior), her sexual experience, and her lack of suitably aristocratic lineage.
Wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana

The wedding took place at St Paul's Cathedral in London on Wednesday 29 July 1981 before 3,500 invited guests (including Mrs. Parker Bowles and her husband, a godson of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother) and an estimated 1 billion television viewers around the world. (Comment: Similarly large viewing audiences have been reported for television audiences of the Academy Awards and the NFL Super Bowl, but such numbers are not substantiated.) The acclaimed New Zealand opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa sang Handel's "Let the Bright Seraphim" at the wedding ceremony.

Diana was the first Englishwoman to marry the heir to the throne since 1659, when Lady Anne Hyde married the Duke of York and Albany, the future King James II (although, unlike Charles, James was heir presumptive and not heir apparent). Upon her marriage, Diana became Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales and was ranked as the third most senior royal woman in the United Kingdom after the Queen and the Queen Mother.

The Prince and Princess of Wales had two children, Prince William of Wales on 21 June 1982 and Prince Henry of Wales (commonly called Prince Harry) on 15 September 1984.
Princess Diana - Break up of Marriage with Prince Charles

In the mid 1980s her marriage fell apart, an event at first suppressed, but then sensationalised, by the world media. Both the Prince and Princess of Wales allegedly spoke to the press through friends, accusing each other of blame for the marriage's demise. Charles resumed his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, whilst Diana became involved with James Hewitt and possibly later with James Gilbey, with whom she was involved in the so-called Squidgygate affair. She later confirmed (in a television interview with Martin Bashir) the affair with her riding instructor, James Hewitt. (Theoretically, such an affair constituted high treason by both parties.) Another alleged lover was a bodyguard assigned to the Princess's security detail, although the Princess adamantly denied a sexual relationship with him. After her separation from Prince Charles, Diana was allegedly involved with married art dealer Oliver Hoare and rugby player Will Carling. She did publicly date heart surgeon Hasnat Khan before becoming involved with Dodi Fayed.

The Prince and Princess of Wales were separated on 9 December 1992; their divorce was finalised on 28 August 1996. The Princess lost the style Her Royal Highness and instead was styled as Diana, Princess of Wales. However, since the divorce, Buckingham Palace has maintained that Diana was officially a member of the Royal Family, since she was the mother of the second and third in line to the throne.

In 2004, seven years after her death, the American TV network NBC broadcast tapes of Diana discussing her marriage to the Prince of Wales, including her description of her suicide attempts. The tapes were in the possession of the Princess during her lifetime; however, after her death, her butler took possession, and after numerous legal wranglings, they were given to the Princess's voice coach, who had originally filmed them. These tapes have not been broadcast in the United Kingdom.
Princess Diana Charity work

Starting in the mid-to-late 1980s, the Princess of Wales became well known for her support of charity projects, and is credited with considerable influence for her campaigns against the use of landmines and helping the victims of AIDS.

In April 1987, the Princess of Wales was the first high-profile celebrity to be photographed knowingly touching a person infected with the HIV virus. Her contribution to changing the public opinion of AIDS sufferers was summarised in December 2001 by Bill Clinton at the 'Diana, Princess of Wales Lecture on AIDS', when he said:

"In 1987, when so many still believed that AIDS could be contracted through casual contact, Princess Diana sat on the sickbed of a man with AIDS and held his hand. She showed the world that people with AIDS deserve no isolation, but compassion and kindness. It helped change world opinion, and gave hope to people with AIDS with an outcome of saved lives of people at risk."

Princess Diana also made clandestine visits to show kindness to terminally ill AIDS patients. According to nurses, she would turn up unannounced, for example, at the Mildmay Hospice in London, with specific instructions that these visits were to be concealed from the media.
Princess Diana and Landmines Campaign

Perhaps her most widely publicised charity appearance was her visit to Angola in January 1997, when, serving as an International Red Cross VIP volunteer [1], she visited landmine survivors in hospitals, toured de-mining projects run by the HALO Trust, and attended mine awareness education classes about the dangers of mines immediately surrounding homes and villages.

The pictures of Diana touring a minefield, in a ballistic helmet and flak jacket, were seen worldwide. (In fact, mine-clearance experts had already cleared the pre-planned walk that Diana took wearing the protective equipment.) In August that year, she visited Bosnia with the Landmine Survivors Network. Her interest in landmines was focused on the injuries they create, often to children, long after the conflict has finished.

She is widely acclaimed for her influence on the signing by the governments of the UK and other nations of the Ottawa Treaty in December 1997, after her death, which created an international ban on the use of anti-personnel landmines. Introducing the Second Reading of the Landmines Bill 1998 to the British House of Commons, the Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, paid tribute to Diana's work on landmines:

" All Honourable Members will be aware from their postbags of the immense contribution made by Diana, Princess of Wales to bringing home to many of our constituents the human costs of landmines. The best way in which to record our appreciation of her work, and the work of NGOs that have campaigned against landmines, is to pass the Bill, and to pave the way towards a global ban on landmines. "

As of January 2005, Diana's legacy on landmines remained unfulfilled. The United Nations appealed to the nations which produced and stockpiled the largest numbers of landmines (China, India, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and the United States) to sign the Ottawa Treaty forbidding their production and use, for which Diana had campaigned. Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said that landmines remained "a deadly attraction for children, whose innate curiosity and need for play often lure them directly into harm's way".
Death of Princess Diana

On 31 August 1997 Diana was involved in a car accident in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris, along with her friend and lover Dodi Al-Fayed, and their driver Henri Paul. Fayed's bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones is the only person who survived the wreckage. The death of the Princess has been widely blamed on reporters, that were reportedly hounding the Princess, and were following the vehicle at a high speed. Ever since the word paparazzi has been associated with the death of the Princess.

hellen keller biography

Helen Adams Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Her family lived on a homestead, Ivy Green,[3] that Helen's grandfather had built decades earlier.[4] Helen's father, Arthur H. Keller,[5] spent many years as an editor for the Tuscumbia North Alabamian and had served as a captain for the Confederate Army.[4] Helen's paternal grandmother was the second cousin of Robert E. Lee.[6] Helen's mother, Kate Adams,[7] was the daughter of Charles Adams.[8] Though originally from Massachusetts, Charles Adams also fought for the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, earning the rank of brigadier-general.[6]

Helen's father's lineage can be traced to Casper Keller, a native of Switzerland.[6][9] Coincidentally, one of Helen's Swiss ancestors was the first teacher for the deaf in Zurich.[6] Helen reflects upon this coincidence in her first autobiography, stating "that there is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his."[6]

Helen Keller was not born blind and deaf; it was not until she was 19 months old that she contracted an illness described by doctors as "an acute congestion of the stomach and the brain", which might have been scarlet fever or meningitis. The illness did not last for a particularly long time, but it left her deaf and blind. At that time, she was able to communicate somewhat with Martha Washington,[10] the six-year-old daughter of the family cook, who understood her signs; by the age of seven, she had over 60 home signs to communicate with her family.

In 1886, her mother, inspired by an account in Charles Dickens' American Notes of the successful education of another deaf and blind woman, Laura Bridgman, dispatched young Helen, accompanied by her father, to seek out Dr. J. Julian Chisolm, an eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist in Baltimore, for advice.[11] He subsequently put them in touch with Alexander Graham Bell, who was working with deaf children at the time. Bell advised the couple to contact the Perkins Institute for the Blind, the school where Bridgman had been educated, which was then located in South Boston. Michael Anaganos, the school's director, asked former student Anne Sullivan, herself visually impaired and only 20 years old, to become Keller's instructor. It was the beginning of a 49-year-long relationship, Sullivan evolving into governess and then eventual companion.

Anne Sullivan arrived at Keller's house in March 1887, and immediately began to teach Helen to communicate by spelling words into her hand, beginning with "d-o-l-l" for the doll that she had brought Keller as a present. Keller was frustrated, at first, because she did not understand that every object had a word uniquely identifying it. In fact, when Sullivan was trying to teach Keller the word for "mug", Keller became so frustrated she broke the doll. [12] Keller's big breakthrough in communication came the next month, when she realized that the motions her teacher was making on the palm of her hand, while running cool water over her other hand, symbolized the idea of "water"; she then nearly exhausted Sullivan demanding the names of all the other familiar objects in her world.

Due to a protruding left eye, Keller was usually photographed in profile. Both her eyes were replaced in adulthood with glass replicas for "medical and cosmetic reasons".[13
Starting in May, 1888, Keller attended the Perkins Institute for the Blind. In 1894, Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan moved to New York to attend the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf, and to learn from Sarah Fuller at the Horace Mann School for the Deaf. In 1896, they returned to Massachusetts and Keller entered The Cambridge School for Young Ladies before gaining admittance, in 1900, to Radcliffe College, where she lived in Briggs Hall, South House. Her admirer, Mark Twain, had introduced her to Standard Oil magnate Henry Huttleston Rogers, who, with his wife, paid for her education. In 1904, at the age of 24, Keller graduated from Radcliffe, becoming the first deaf blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. She maintained a correspondence with the Austrian philosopher and pedagogue Wilhelm
Jerusalem, who was one of the first to discover her literary talent.[14]
Anne Sullivan stayed as a companion to Helen Keller long after she taught her. Anne married John Macy in 1905, and her health started failing around 1914. Polly Thompson was hired to keep house. She was a young woman from Scotland who didn't have experience with deaf or blind people. She progressed to working as a secretary as well, and eventually became a constant companion to Keller.[15]

Keller moved to Forest Hills, Queens together with Anne and John, and used the house as a base for her efforts on behalf of American Foundation for the Blind.[16]

After Anne died in 1936, Keller and Thompson moved to Connecticut. They traveled worldwide and raised funding for the blind. Thompson had a stroke in 1957 from which she never fully recovered, and died in 1960.[1]

Winnie Corbally, a nurse who was originally brought in to care for Thompson in 1957, stayed on after her death and was Keller's companion for the rest of her life.[1]Keller went on to become a world-famous speaker and author. She is remembered as an advocate for people with disabilities, amid numerous other causes. She was a suffragist, a pacifist, an opponent of Woodrow Wilson, a radical socialist and a birth control supporter. In 1915 she and George Kessler founded the Helen Keller International (HKI) organization. This organization is devoted to research in vision, health and nutrition. In 1920 she helped to found the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Keller and Sullivan traveled to over 39 countries, making several trips to Japan and becoming a favorite of the Japanese people. Keller met every U.S. President from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon B. Johnson and was friends with many famous figures, including Alexander Graham Bell, Charlie Chaplin and Mark Twain.

Keller was a member of the Socialist Party and actively campaigned and wrote in support of the working class from 1909 to 1921. She supported Socialist Party candidate Eugene V. Debs in each of his campaigns for the presidency.

Keller and her friend Mark Twain were both considered radicals at the beginning of the 20th century, and as a consequence, their political views have been forgotten or glossed over in popular perception.[18] Newspaper columnists who had praised her courage and intelligence before she expressed her socialist views now called attention to her disabilities. The editor of the Brooklyn Eagle wrote that her "mistakes sprung out of the manifest limitations of her development." Keller responded to that editor, referring to having met him before he knew of her political views:
“ At that time the compliments he paid me were so generous that I blush to remember them. But now that I have come out for socialism he reminds me and the public that I am blind and deaf and especially liable to error. I must have shrunk in intelligence during the years since I met him...Oh, ridiculous Brooklyn Eagle! Socially blind and deaf, it defends an intolerable system, a system that is the cause of much of the physical blindness and deafness which we are trying to prevent.[19] ”

Keller joined the Industrial Workers of the World (known as the IWW or the Wobblies) in 1912,[18] saying that parliamentary socialism was "sinking in the political bog". She wrote for the IWW between 1916 and 1918. In Why I Became an IWW,[20] Keller explained that her motivation for activism came in part from her concern about blindness and other disabilities:
“ I was appointed on a commission to investigate the conditions of the blind. For the first time I, who had thought blindness a misfortune beyond human control, found that too much of it was traceable to wrong industrial conditions, often caused by the selfishness and greed of employers. And the social evil contributed its share. I found that poverty drove women to a life of shame that ended in blindness. ”

The last sentence refers to prostitution and syphilis, the former a frequent cause of the latter, and the latter a leading cause of blindness.Later life

Keller suffered a series of strokes in 1961 and spent the last years of her life at her home.[1]

On September 14, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the United States' highest two civilian honors.[27] In 1965 she was elected to the National Women's Hall of Fame at the New York World's Fair.[1]

Keller devoted much of her later life to raising funds for the American Foundation for the Blind. She died in her sleep on June 1, 1968, at her home, Arcan Ridge, located in Easton, Connecticut. A service was held in her honor at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., and her ashes were placed there next to her constant companions, Anne Sullivan and Polly Thompson.

Kamis, 05 Mei 2011

article direct and indirect

A Direct to Indirect
While reporting Assertive sentences indirectly, observe the following rules:-
1 The Reporting Verb - say - is changed into - tell - if there is an object after it, otherwise it remains unchanged.
2 Remove the comma and the inverted commas and start the reported speech with the Conjunction -that.
3 Nouns or Pronouns in the vocative case are treated as objects of their verbs.
4 Changes of tenses, pronouns and the words showing nearness are carried on accordingly.
5 Other general rules are to be observed.
Late is better than never
Observe the following examples:
1 The teacher said, "Raju, you are a lazy boy." (Direct)
The teacher told Raju that he was a lazy boy. (Indirect)
2 He said to me, "I do not like your habits." (Direct)
He told me that he did not like my habits. (Indirect)
3 The teacher said, "I shall not take my class today." (direct)
The teacher said that he would not take his class that day. (Indirect)
4 Mother said to me, "You are just like your father." (Direct)
Mother told me that I was just like my father. (Indirect)
B Indirect to Direct
While changing Assertive Sentences from Indirect form to Direct Form of speech the rules given above are reversed.
Observe the following examples:
1 He told his mother that he would become a brave general one day. (Indirect)
He said, "Mother, I shall become a brave general one day." (Direct)
2 I told Mala that I would see her the following day. (Indirect)
I said to Mala, "I shall see you tomorrow." (Direct)
3 You told her that you had done it. (Indirect)
You said to her, "I have done it." (Direct)
4 The Angel told Abu that his name was not there in that book. (Indirect)
The Angel said, "Abu, your name is not there in this book." (Direct)
Conversion of Interrogative Sentences

A Direct to Indirect
While reporting Interrogative Sentences, beginning with Auxiliary Verbs, indirectly, observe the following rules:-
1 The Reporting Verb - say - is changed into - ask or inquire etc. if there is an object after the reporting verb.
2 Remove the comma and the inverted commas and start the reported speech with the conjunction - if or whether.
3 Change the interrogative form of the reported speech into Assertive form (Helping Verb after Subject).
4 Nouns or Pronouns in the vocative case are treated as objects of their verbs.
5 Other general rules are observed too.
Observe the following examples:
1 The Visitor said to me, "Is your father at home?" (Direct)
The visitor asked me if my father was at home. (Indirect)
2 Netaji said to his men, "Are you ready to die for your country?" (Direct)
Netaji asked his men if they were ready to die for their country. (Indirect)
3 The host said to the guest, "Would you like to have a cup of tea?" (Direct)
The host asked the guest if he would like to have a cup of tea. (Indirect)
4 Sohan said, "May I use your pen, Mohan?" (Direct)
Sohan asked Mohan if he might use his pen. (Indirect)
5 The clerk said to his officer, "Shall I type this letter again, Sir?" (Direct)
The clerk asked his officer respectfully if he should type that letter again. (Indirect)
Never speak ill of others
6 The crow said, "Are the grapes sour, Mr. Fox?" (Direct)
The crow asked the fox if the grapes were sour. (Indirect)

B Indirect to Direct
While changing this type of interrogative sentence from Indirect to Direct Form of Speech the rules given above are reversed.
Observe the following examples:
1 He asked me if the should open the window. (Indirect)
He said to me, "Should I open the window?" (Direct)
2 The traveller asked the man if he could tell him the way to the nearest inn. (Indirect)
The traveller said to the man, "Can you tell me the way to the nearest inn?" (Direct)
3 I asked Rakesh if he would go with us for a picinic. (Indirect)
I said, "Will you go with us for a picnic, Rakesh?" (Direct)

C Direct to Indirect
While reporting Interrogative Sentences, starting with (What, Why, How, When, ….. etc) indirectly,
Observe the following rules:
1 The Reporting Verb - say - is changed into - ask or inquire - etc. if there is an Object after the Reporting Verb.
2 Remove the comma and the inverted commas and start the Reported Speech with the Interrogative word itself.
3 Change the Interrogative Form of the Reported Speech into Assertive form (Helping Verb after Subject).
4 Nouns and Pronouns in the vocative case are treated as Objects of their verbs.
5 Other general rules are to be observed too.
Observe the following examples:
1 The teacher said to Gopal, "Why are you late?" (Direct)
The teacher asked Gopal why he was late. (Indirect)
2 Geeta said to Suresh, "Why did you break my slate?" (Direct)
Geeta asked to Suresh why he had broken her slate. (Indirect)
3 He said to me, "How have you done this sum?" (Direct)
He asked me how I had done that sum. (Indirect)
4 Raman said to the policeman, "Which is the short-cut to the railway-station?" (Direct)
Raman asked the policeman which the short-cut to
the railway-station. (Indirect)
D Indirect to Direct
Observe the following examples:
1 She asked me what my name was. (Indirect)
She said to me, "What is your name?" (Direct)
2 Ram asked her where she lived. (Indirect)
Ram said to her, "Where do you live?" (Direct)
3 The lady asked Ramesh when he had met her brother. (Indirect)
The lady said to Ramesh, "When did you meet my brother?" (Direct)
As many mouths, as many tongues.

Minggu, 01 Mei 2011

DIRECT dan INDIRECT

"pengertian DIRECT dan INDIRECT speech
penjelasan direct and indirect speech
Kalimat Langsung Dan Kalimat Tak Langsung
Bilamana reported speech menyatakan kata-kata yang sebenarnya, ini disebut direct speech (kalimat langsung). Kalimat-kalimat tersebut tidak dihubungkan oleh “that” melainkan harus ditandai dengan (tanda baca) koma.

Bilamana reported speech memberikan isi pokok kata-kata yang dipakai oleh si pembicara dan bukan kata-kata yang sebenarnya ini disebut indirect speech (kalimat tidak langsung). Dalam indirect speech kalimat-kalimat itu dihubungkan dengan kata “that”.

Bentuk waktu reporting verb tidak diubah, akan tetapi bentuk waktu reported speech harus diubah berdasarkan atas bentuk waktu reporting verb.

Dua cara perubahan bentuk waktu pada reported speech :

Peraturan I

Kalau reporting verb itu past tense, bentuk waktu kata kerja dalam reported speech itu harus diubah ke dalam salah satu dari empat bentuk past tense.

Direct Speech – Indirect Speech

Simple present – menjadi – Simple past

He said ” The woman comes “ He said that the woman came

Dari contoh di atas dapat disimpulkan perubahan untuk bentuk waktu dari reported speech sebagai berikut :
Direct Speech

Simple present

Present continuous

Present perfect

Present perfect continuous

Simple past

Past continuous

Future

Present
Indirect Speech

Simple past

Past continuous

Past perfect

Past perfect continuous

Past perfect

Past perfect continuous

Past

Past

Kekecualian :

Kalau reported speech berhubungan dengan kebenaran umum atau fakta yang sudah menjadi

kebiasaan, present indefinite atau simple present dalam reported speech tidak diubah ke dalam

bentuk lampau yang sesuai, melainkan tetap persis sebagaimana adanmya, contoh :

Direct Speech – Indirect Speech

He said, “The sun rises in the east” – He said that the sun rises in the east

Dalam reported speech, bila present tense diubah ke dalam past tense dengan peraturan I, kata sifat, kata kerja atau kata keterangan umumnya diubah:
Direct Speech

this = ini

these = ini

come = datang

here = di sini, ke sini

hence = dari sini

hither = ke tempat ini

ago = yang lalu

now = sekarang

today = hari ini

tomorrow = besok

yesterday = kemarin

last night = tadi malam

next week = minggu depan

thus = begini

contoh :

He said, “I will come here”.
Indirect Speech

that = itu

those = itu

go = pergi

there = di sana, ke sana

thence = dari sana

thither = ke tempat itu

before = lebih dahulu

then = pada waktu itu

that day = hari itu

next day = hari berikutnya

the previous day = sehari sebelumnya

the previous night = semalam sebelumnya

the following week = minggu berikutnya

so = begitu

He said that he would go there

Akan tetapi kalau this, here, now dan sebagainya menunjukan pada benda, tempat atau waktu ketika berbicara, maka tidak dilakukan perubahan.

Agus said, “This is my pen”. – Agus said that this was his pen

(ketika berbicara pena berada di tangan pembicara)

Peraturan II

1) Bila reported speech kalimat berita

Dengan peraturan ini reporting verb dianggap dalam present atau future tense tertentu dan kapan saja ini terjadi, bentuk waktu dari kata kerja dalam reported speech tidak diubah sama sekali dalam mengubah direct menjadi indirect speech.

Reporting verb – Reported speech

Present tense – Any tense (bentuk waktu apapun)

Direct : She says to her friend, ” I have been writing “.

Indirect : She says to her friend that he has been writing. (tidak berubah)

Direct : She has told you, ” I am reading “.

Indirect : She has told you that he is reading. (tidak berubah)

Direct : She will say, ” You have done wrongly “.

Indirect : She will tell you that you have done wrongly. (tidak berubah)

Direct : She will say,” The boy wasn’t lazy “.

Indirect : She will tell them that the boy wasn’t lazy. (tidak berubah)

2) Bila reported speech merupakan kalimat tanya

a) Reporting verb say atau tell diubah menjadi ask atau inquire. Dengan mengulangi kata tanya dan mengubah tenses jika pertanyaannya dimulai dengan kata tanya diberitakan.
Direct

He said to me, “Where are you going?”

He said to me, “What are you doing?”
Indirect

He asked me where I was going

He inquired of me what I was doing

b) Dengan menggunakan if atau whether sebagai penghubung antara reporting verb dan reported speech dan mengubah tenses, jika pertanyaannya dimulai dengan kata kerja diberitakan :
Direct

He said to me, “Are you going

away today?”

He asked me , “can you come along?”
Indirect

He asked me whether I was

going away that day.

He asked me if I could come along.

3) Kalimat perintah (imperative sentences)

Bila reported speech merupakan kalimat perintah, reporting verb say atau tell harus diubah menjadi kata kerja tertentu yang menandakan :

• command (perintah), misalnya ordered, commanded, dsb yang berarti menyuruh, memerintahkan.
• precept (petunjuk, bimbingan, didikan), misalnya advised yang berarti menasehati.
• request (permohonan), misalnya asked yang berarti meminta, memohon.
• entreaty (permohonan yang sangat mendesak), misalnya begged yang berarti meminta, memohon (dengan sangat).
• prohibition (larangan), misalnya forbade yang berarti melarang.

Dalam perubahannya dari kalimat langsung menjadi kalimat tidak langsung, modus imperatif harus diganti dengan infinitif. Tegasnya, reported verb (kata kerja yang diberitakan atau kata kerja dalam reported speech) harus diubah menjadi infinitive with to.