Ryanair may charge £ 1 for lavatory use

Ryanair may charge £ 1 for lavatory use
Ryanair is considering charging passengers £1 to use the lavatory on its flights, according to chief executive Michael O’Leary. In an interview on BBC television this morning, Mr O’Leary said that the low-cost airline was looking at the possibility of installing a coin slot on the lavatory door.
Ironically, in a light-hearted survey conducted by Telegraph Travel last November, we asked readers which service they thought no-frills airlines might start charging for in the future. 56 per cent of readers said that a charge for "using the loo" would be the most likely; while 31 per cent chose "reclining seats" and 11 per cent opted for "sick bags".
Mr O’Leary said that Ryanair was determined to make air travel easier and more affordable. “I don’t think there’s anybody in history gone on board a Ryanair flight with less than a pound,” he added. Later, Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said: "While this has been discussed internally, there are no immediate plans to introduce it." "However, this highlights Ryanair's continuing obsession with lowering costs and passing these savings on in the form of lower fares.” "Passengers using train and bus stations are already accustomed to paying to use the toilet so why not on airplanes?
The Dublin-based airline has gained a reputation for its high booking fees and additional charges. The carrier charges £30 to check in a bag, £10 to pay for flights with a credit card, £60 to check in sports or music equipment, £15 for each kilo of excess baggage, £50 to change a flight and £100 to change the name on a ticket.
A spokesman for rival low-fare carrier easyJet said: "We have no plans to charge passengers £1 to use our toilets.”Inflation appears to have gone crazy if it now costs £1 to spend a penny."
Question 1 (2 points)
Indicate whether the following statements are true or false and write down which part of the text justifies your answer.
a) Michael Leary announced on television today that Ryanair had decided to ask passengers to pay one pound for going to the toilet.
b) Mr Leary says that Ryanair passengers get on the plane with money.
c) People waiting to get on some trains or buses already have to pay to use the toilet.
d) Ryanair’s idea will be used by Easy Jet.
Question 2 (2 points)
Answer the following questions in your own words.
a) What predictions did Telegraph readers make in the survey?
b) What extra charges do you have to pay if you travel with Ryanair?
Question 3 (1.5 points)
Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the words and definitions given.
a) not serious (paragraph 2)
b) cheap (paragraph 3)
c) draw attention to (paragraph 3)
Question 4 (1.5 points)
Complete the following sentences without changing the meaning.
a) Telegraph Travel asked readers to say what services airlines might charge them for in the future.
Readers ……………. what services they ….
b) Ryanair charges for extras, so fares are low.
If
c) "Inflation appears to have gone crazy if it now costs £1 to spend a penny." said an Easy Jet spokesman.
An Easy Jet spokesman said that .....
Question 5 (5 points)
Write a short essay (120-150 words) on the following topic:
• Travelling helps us understand the world.
Self-Access Group Ciefp Santander

Ryanair may charge £ 1 for lavatory use

Ryanair may charge £ 1 for lavatory use
Ryanair is considering charging passengers £1 to use the lavatory on its flights, according to chief executive Michael O’Leary. In an interview on BBC television this morning, Mr O’Leary said that the low-cost airline was looking at the possibility of installing a coin slot on the lavatory door.
Ironically, in a light-hearted survey conducted by Telegraph Travel last November, we asked readers which service they thought no-frills airlines might start charging for in the future. 56 per cent of readers said that a charge for "using the loo" would be the most likely; while 31 per cent chose "reclining seats" and 11 per cent opted for "sick bags".
Mr O’Leary said that Ryanair was determined to make air travel easier and more affordable. “I don’t think there’s anybody in history gone on board a Ryanair flight with less than a pound,” he added. Later, Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said: "While this has been discussed internally, there are no immediate plans to introduce it." "However, this highlights Ryanair's continuing obsession with lowering costs and passing these savings on in the form of lower fares.” "Passengers using train and bus stations are already accustomed to paying to use the toilet so why not on airplanes?
The Dublin-based airline has gained a reputation for its high booking fees and additional charges. The carrier charges £30 to check in a bag, £10 to pay for flights with a credit card, £60 to check in sports or music equipment, £15 for each kilo of excess baggage, £50 to change a flight and £100 to change the name on a ticket.
A spokesman for rival low-fare carrier easyJet said: "We have no plans to charge passengers £1 to use our toilets.”Inflation appears to have gone crazy if it now costs £1 to spend a penny."
Question 1 (2 points)
Indicate whether the following statements are true or false and write down which part of the text justifies your answer.
a) Michael Leary announced on television today that Ryanair had decided to ask passengers to pay one pound for going to the toilet.
b) Mr Leary says that Ryanair passengers get on the plane with money.
c) People waiting to get on some trains or buses already have to pay to use the toilet.
d) Ryanair’s idea will be used by Easy Jet.
Question 2 (2 points)
Answer the following questions in your own words.
a) What predictions did Telegraph readers make in the survey?
b) What extra charges do you have to pay if you travel with Ryanair?
Question 3 (1.5 points)
Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the words and definitions given.
a) not serious (paragraph 2)
b) cheap (paragraph 3)
c) draw attention to (paragraph 3)
Question 4 (1.5 points)
Complete the following sentences without changing the meaning.
a) Telegraph Travel asked readers to say what services airlines might charge them for in the future.
Readers ……………. what services they ….
b) Ryanair charges for extras, so fares are low.
If
c) "Inflation appears to have gone crazy if it now costs £1 to spend a penny." said an Easy Jet spokesman.
An Easy Jet spokesman said that .....
Question 5 (5 points)
Write a short essay (120-150 words) on the following topic:
• Travelling helps us understand the world.
Self-Access Group Ciefp Santander

SourceGuardian 7 for PHP

PHP Encoder - Key Features

The SourceGuardian PHP Encoder contains numerous features to protect your PHP code. The following provide some of the key features. If you wish to know more, then please contact us - we'd love to hear from you.SourceGuardian for PHP Features List

Protection method
The SourceGuardian for PHP Encoder protects PHP scripts by compiling PHP source code into a bytecode format and this is followed by encryption. This protects your scripts from reverse engineering.

Supported PHP versions
SourceGuardian for PHP works with the following versions and above: PHP 4.x and 5.x are fully supported.

Interface
A new GUI for Macintosh and Windows is available. Windows version supports Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 and Windows Vista. Macintosh version includes universal application which will run on PowerPC and Intel based Macintosh computers. In addition, we have also developed a powerful cross-platform command line encoder that runs under Linux. Command line encoder is also included in Macintosh and Windows versions of SourceGuardian.

Locking
To protect your scripts from unauthorised usage SourceGuardian for PHP has added features that can optionally lock your scripts to run only from predefined IP addresses, domain names or LAN hardware addresses (MAC). SourceGuardian for PHP can also easily produce trial versions of your scripts by setting an expiry date for the script or by limiting the number of days that protected script will work. To protect against local date change for trial version of protected script there is an option for time checking with atomic clock servers available online. For larger projects SourceGuardian for PHP provides an option to protect an entire project so that all scripts used in the project will work only with other protected scripts. No one may include a protected script from another unprotected script and this adds another level of protection.

Here is a sample list of features:

• * locking to date with optional atomic clock servers checking
  


• * locking to multiple domain names* locking to multiple ip addresses
  


• * locking to multiple LAN hardware (MAC) addresses
  


• * improved locking to a specific domain name with encryption. The domain name is used as a part of key for encryption, so protected scripts may not be decrypted and run from another domain.
  


• * improved locking to the ip address with encryption. The ip address is used as a part of key for encryption. This means that protected scripts cannot be decrypted and run from another ip address.
  


• * locking of an entire PHP project, so that no protected script can run if any other script is substituted with an unencoded one or encoded with another installation of SourceGuardian. This is ideal for protecting settings, passwords etc within a PHP project.
  


• * locking with an external license file produced by the built-in SourceGuardian for PHP license generator. This is ideal for creating protected scripts to be distributed between different users and it will even allow different locking options for different users. The SourceGuardian for PHP license generator tool can run from GUI or as command line tool which adds another powerful element - It provides a method for licenses to be dynamically generated and this would be useful (for example) when selling scripts online.
  


• * locking so the protected script will work only online

Encoding of HTML templates and other non-PHP files

We have added an option for encoding HTML templates, or other non-PHP files, using the SourceGuardian encoder. HTML template or other non-PHP files may be encoded by the encoder and read and decrypted from the protected script. Template files which are encoded as a part of a project may be used only from protected scripts which were encoded as a part of the same project. It's impossible to use protected templates from unencoded scripts or from scripts encoded with a different SourceGuardian project. New SourceGuardian API functions my be used to encrypt and decrypt non-PHP files from the protected code. This is useful for protecting dynamic configuration files, HTML and email templates etc.

Cross platform

Cross platform encoding. A script encoded under one operating system will run under any other supported operating systems. Currently we have an encoder for Macintosh, Windows and Linux and Script Loaders will run under Macintosh, Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris and HPUX. In the near future we will support more operating systems.

Download Link:

http://rapidshare.com/files/102472425/SourceGuardian_7.0_for_PHP_install.rar

Mirror

http://rapidshare.com/files/102655605/SourceGuardian_7.0_for_PHP_install.rar

Zend Studio for Eclipse Professional v6.1.1

Zend Studio for Eclipse combines proven Zend technology and the Eclipse PHP Developers Tools (PDT) project to create the world’s most powerful IDE for developing rich Web applications. By combining proven Zend PHP editor technology, integration with Zend Platform and Zend Core, built in database connectivity, integrated debugging , profiling, code coverage and testing capabilities, team support with extensible version control support, support for Zend Framework, support for Web Services, comprehensive with multi-language support and extensibility provided by the vibrant Eclipse open source community, developers have the tools they need for support of the entire PHP application lifecycle.

Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista

Download Link:

http://rapidshare.com/files/189983118/Zend.Studio.for.Eclipse.Professional.Edition.v6.1.1.Incl.Keymaker-CORE.part1.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/189991874/Zend.Studio.for.Eclipse.Professional.Edition.v6.1.1.Incl.Keymaker-CORE.part2.rar

Zend Studio Enterprise Edition v5.5.1.282

Zend Studio 5 is the only Integrated Development Environment (IDE) available for professional developers that encompasses all the development components necessary for the full PHP application lifecycle. Through a comprehensive set of editing, debugging, analysis, optimization and database tools, Zend Studio 5 speeds development cycles and simplifies complex projects.

Zend Studio is designed for new PHP programmers wishing to create PHP applications for the coolest Internet programs and Web pages. It is the perfect PHP development environment for delivering robust and bug-free applications in record time. With a state-of-the-art PHP editor and an award-winning Internal Debugger, Zend Studio delivers all the basic features a PHP developer needs:

• - Increase productivity with the proven PHP development environment. Includes advanced PHP 5 Support, Code Editor, Code Completion, Syntax Highlighting, Project Manager, Wizards, and an Internal Debugger.
  
• - Enhance your productivity. Test your application on the spot using Zend Studio's renowned and award-winning Internal Debugger. Advanced debugging features include conditional breakpoints, stack trace view, advanced watches, variables and output buffer.
  
• - Deliver applications in record time with the productivity of 100+ reusable Code Snippets. Zend Snippets Explorer lets you organize, view, and add utility functions and code samples. Connect automatically to the Zend hosted code Gallery where you can select, download, rate or upload additional Code Snippets.
  
• - Develop faster and smarter with Syntax Highlighting. Enhance code comprehension with color highlighting for PHP 4, PHP 5, HTML, JavaScript, XML and CSS.

Download Link:

http://www.rapidshare.com/files/105679887/Zend.Studio.Enterprise.Edition.v5.5.1.282.Multilingual.Incl.Keymaker-CORE.rar

Free Yahoo Emails Dump

This is a 20.000.000 mail list and also in the archive you will find a software with the help of which you can send mail to all of them at once

Download Link:
http://rapidshare.com/files/193103713/20.000.000_maillist.rar

10 Interesting social applications for your Google Phone

If you have a Google Phone I suggest you to take a look at this list with ten interesting and useful social applications for your mobile phone Android based. This list includes a Twitter client, Delicious bookmarks manager, MySpace and Facebook apps, Wikipedia and some music and contacts managers.

Any suggestion about other Android applications? Leave a comment, thanks!


1. Twidroid
Twidroid is a very nice client application for using twitter or identi.ca on your android mobile phone. It includes direct messaging, photo posting, replies and background notifications.

2. Delicious Bookmarks
This application allows you to save bookmarks to Delicious from the Android web browser. The current implementation simply adds the option to 'Save to delicious' when 'Bookmark page' or 'Share page' is selected from the browser menu. You can also view your bookmarks in the browser by clicking on the 'Delicious Bookmarks' icon in the application list.

3. Last.fm Android App
With Last.fm Android Application you can choose an artist or genre and Last.fm builds the perfect playlist just for you, fresh every time, featuring your favorites and new discoveries powered by millions of Last.fm users sharing the music they love. You can skip any song and find out about concerts, too.

4. MySpace App
If you love MySpace, you're really going to love MySpace Mobile for Android. Simply download the free application to stay connected with your friends, share photos, and check out the tour schedules of your favorite bands… anytime, anyplace!

5. Phonebook
Contacts are among the most important data on your phone. Phonebook gives them the place they deserve on your G1 phone.Phonebook is a great alternative to the Contacts application and it comes with a new user interface and extra features such as a landscape view, an activity log which includes calls and messages.

6. imeem App
Imeem for Android helps people easily discover music that matches their tastes. The application enables users to create custom Internet radio stations by searching for specific artists, discover new music through personalized recommendations and listen to the most popular artists in the imeem community. The application also gives people the ability to purchase DRM-free downloads by linking to the Amazon MP3 application on Android.

7. Quickpedia
Quickpedia is a free app for browsing Wikipedia on your Google Phone. Quickpedia's many features include:View Wikipedia pages optimized for comfortable and easy viewing on your phone's small screen; search Wikipedia articles using our fast find interface that puts you a click away from your most frequent searches;Dig deeper and find out more about current events and much more.

8. Fbook, Facebook App
fBook is an Android app that wraps and optimizes the Facebook iPhone website for your Android phone. In addition to the features available from Facebook's iPhone web app, fBook adds several important new features. You can upload photos directly from your phone to your Facebook account.

9. Snap!
Snap! stands for Social Networking on Android Phones. Snap! makes it easy to meet new people with common interests and to keep in touch with your friends and colleagues. Snap! turns your phone into a social networking companion and combines the best features from mobile devices and social networking sites. Check out the short screencast with audio below if you are interested.

10. Palringo
Palringo is the ultimate Instant Messaging client for mobile phones and computers. Palringo allows you to instantly exchange text, photos, and vocal IMs with groups or individuals. Keep in touch with all your buddies on all the most popular IM services, without installing or switching between different applications. Palringo allows you to chat to your friends on MSN, AIM, iChat, ICQ, Yahoo!, Jabber, Gtalk, Gadu-Gadu and Facebook.

Sexy Body tattoo and Tattoo art

Typoork | A clean, professional and free Blogger Template

Finally after some days I'm really happy to release for my readers this new blogger template: Typoork. Typoork is a clean and professional Blogger template totally free and highly customizable. It supports inline comments form, delicious and retweet counters in each post.

How I said, this template is totally free! The only thing I ask you is please don't remove the link to Woork in the footer. Take a look at this preview:

Download Typoork template here Typoork live preview

Disclaimer

PLEASE, READ THIS! This is an highly customized Blogger template which I suggest to use only if you have familiarity with HTML, CSS and Blogger. Before to make changes on your actual Blogger template, save a copy of your template on your local hard disk, so, if something go wrong with the update, you can restore it. Take a mind, if you use custom Widgets on your actual Blogger template, they will be removed using this template. I'm not responsible for eventual problems. Ok? :)

I provide HTML instead XML code because in this wat you can modify this template simpler if you use an wysiwyg like Dreamweaver.

Blog title

Find this code and change the content into the tag title with the title of your blog:

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "item"'>
<title>Typoork | A clean, professional and free Blogger Template</title>

Customize the header

Find this code and change the comment "Your logo here" with some line of HTML code for example adding a logo, adding some links a background image, etc:

<div id="typoork-header">
<!-- Your logo here -->
</div>

About me

"About me" is the section where you can add a short description about you, your blog and add some links to your main social identities (in this case I addedd Facebook and Twitter by default).

Find this code to customize your social identity links:

<a href='#'>Facebook</a> | <a href='#'>Twitter</a>

...and change '#' with your Facebook and Twitter profile link.

Then, find the following code and add a picture of you and a short description about your blog.

<!-- ABOUT ME -->
<div class="sidebar-section" style="background:#EFEFEF; padding:8px;">
<img src="#" class="profileImage"/>
Add a short description of you here
<div class="spacer"></div>

You can also add your picture in the section above comments:

Find this code and replace "#" with the link to your image:

<img src="#" style="padding:4px; background:#FFFFFF;"/>

Feed RSS links

Find this code and change '#' with the link to your Feed RSS file:

<!-- FEED RSS -->
<h3>
<span class="feed-small-right">
<a href='#'>Subscribe now!</a>
</span>Feeds RSS</h3>
<div class="section-links">
<a href='#'>Subscribe to my RSS Feeds</a>
</div>

I suggest you to use Feedburner to manage your feeds RSS. It's perfectly integrated with Blogger and simple to use.

Latest posts

You may active a Feedburner account to display your latest post list. In your FeedBurner account login, click on "Publicize" tab and select "BuzzBoost" service. Follow instructions on the page and substitute BuzzBoost code into the section highlighted in bold:

<!-- Latest Post -->
<h3>Latest posts</h3>
<div class="section-links">
<div class="spacer"></div>
<ul style="margin:0; padding:0; border:0;">
<li><a href="#">Your link 1 here</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Your link 2 here</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Your link 3 here</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Your link 4 here</a></li>
</ul>
</div>

...Feedburner code it's something like this:

<script src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/Woork?format=sigpro" type="text/javascript" ></script>

Add new section in the sidebar

In the sidebar you can add new sections like the following (Hot links) simply adding this code:

<!--Hot links -->
<h3>Hot links</h3>
<div class="section-links">
<div class="spacer"></div>
<ul style="margin:0; padding:0; border:0;">
<li><a href="#">Your link 1 here</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Your link 2 here</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Your link 3 here</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Your link 4 here</a></li>
</ul>
</div>

You can customize sections how you prefer, adding link, images and external widget (MyBlogLog, Google FriendConnect, etc)

That's all! For your feedback about this template, please leave a comment! Thanks :)

Add a retweet counter on your posts with Tweetmeme

Twitter is the best service I use daily to drive constantly a big amount of traffic on my blog. Retweets from my followers help me every time I write a new post to become popular on delicious and reach easily delicious home page.
Tweetmeme is a service which help you promote your blog by using the tweetmeme button, a simple and easy way you can integrate twitter into your blog and websites.
The result is a button like this:

If you want to add the tweetmeme button on your blogger template use this simple code:

<script type="text/javascript">
tweetmeme_url = '<data:post.url/>';
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js"> </script>

The only thing you have to change from the original code provides by Tweetmeme is set the var tweetmeme_url = <data:post/url>.
That's all! If you have some problem or suggestion please leave a comment. Thanks!

Letter of application

Task:

Wtite a letter of application, answering the following advert,

You have seen the following job advertisement in a magazine:

SUMMER CAMP ASSISTANTS Wanted!
(July to September 2009)
Summer Fun Ltd. is looking to recruit six Camp Assistants to work with children aged 11-16 from a number of nationalities. Priority will be given to applicants who:
• have a special interest in Drama, Sports, or Arts and Craft
• are responsible and can cope in a crisis
• can speak at least two languages

If you would like to be considered for the post, please apply in writing. (References are essential.)
Write your letter of application to the school owner. (around 120-180 words)
Ideas for writing
Ask yourself the following questions to help you get started:
• What information can you put in your letter to show that you have a special interest in one of the areas required?
E.g., I am a student in my final year of a Sports Science degree...
• How can you show that you are responsible and able to cope in a crisis?
E.g. recently attended a First Aid course, which has given me the confidence to deal with emergency situations.
• Can you prove that you can speak two languages?
E.g. I am a native speaker of French and I recently passed my First Certificate in English...
• Are you available for the dates given? Make this clear in your letter. In addition, you will have to supply references so you could mention this at the end:
E.g. Both of my referees are happy to be contacted immediately...
• Drafting and proofreading your work
You should look at your first draft of the task and decide:
Have you answered the question?
Is the letter organised in a clear and logical way?
Is the language correct with a good range of structures?
Is the style OK for a formal letter?
If the answer to any of these questions is 'no' you will need to do some more drafting!

or click here to find a list of jobs which might be suitable for you, then write your letter of application

Letter of application

Task:

Wtite a letter of application, answering the following advert,

You have seen the following job advertisement in a magazine:

SUMMER CAMP ASSISTANTS Wanted!
(July to September 2009)
Summer Fun Ltd. is looking to recruit six Camp Assistants to work with children aged 11-16 from a number of nationalities. Priority will be given to applicants who:
• have a special interest in Drama, Sports, or Arts and Craft
• are responsible and can cope in a crisis
• can speak at least two languages

If you would like to be considered for the post, please apply in writing. (References are essential.)
Write your letter of application to the school owner. (around 120-180 words)
Ideas for writing
Ask yourself the following questions to help you get started:
• What information can you put in your letter to show that you have a special interest in one of the areas required?
E.g., I am a student in my final year of a Sports Science degree...
• How can you show that you are responsible and able to cope in a crisis?
E.g. recently attended a First Aid course, which has given me the confidence to deal with emergency situations.
• Can you prove that you can speak two languages?
E.g. I am a native speaker of French and I recently passed my First Certificate in English...
• Are you available for the dates given? Make this clear in your letter. In addition, you will have to supply references so you could mention this at the end:
E.g. Both of my referees are happy to be contacted immediately...
• Drafting and proofreading your work
You should look at your first draft of the task and decide:
Have you answered the question?
Is the letter organised in a clear and logical way?
Is the language correct with a good range of structures?
Is the style OK for a formal letter?
If the answer to any of these questions is 'no' you will need to do some more drafting!

or click here to find a list of jobs which might be suitable for you, then write your letter of application

Ridiculous Complaints Made by Holidaymakers

Have a look at the 20 Most ridiculous complaints published by the telegraph

"It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England it only took the Americans three hours to get home."

Tell your students to choose one of them and ask them to write a letter of complaint to the travel agent

Ridiculous Complaints Made by Holidaymakers

Have a look at the 20 Most ridiculous complaints published by the telegraph

"It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England it only took the Americans three hours to get home."

Tell your students to choose one of them and ask them to write a letter of complaint to the travel agent

3000 Web Icons, PNG Files, PSD, Blog Icons

3000+ Web Icons, PNG Files, PSD, Blog Icons



Collection of graphical items for use in your website or other projects.


Download:
http://rapidshare.com/files/200758245/Mega.Icon.Pack_www.afwarez.com.zip

It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated.
Alec Bourne

It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated.
Alec Bourne

Winston Churchill didn't really exist, say teens

Winston Churchill didn't really exist, say teens

A fifth of British teenagers believe Sir Winston Churchill was a fictional character, while many think Sherlock Holmes, King Arthur and Eleanor Rigby were real, a survey shows.
The canvass of 3,000 under-twenties uncovered an extraordinary paucity of basic historical knowledge that older generations take for granted.
Despite his celebrated military reputation, 47 per cent of respondents dismissed the 12th-century crusading English king Richard the Lionheart as fictional. In contrast, a series of fictitious characters that have featured in British films and literature over the past few centuries were awarded real-life status.
King Arthur is the mythical figure most commonly mistaken for fact - almost two thirds of teens (65 per cent) believe that he existed and led a round table of knights at Camelot.
Holmes, the detective, was so convincingly brought to life in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novels, their film versions and television series that 58 per cent of respondents believe that the sleuth really lived at 221B Baker Street.
Fifty-one per cent of respondents believed that Robin Hood lived in Sherwood Forest, robbing the rich to give to the poor, while 47 per cent believed Eleanor Rigby was a real person rather than a creation of The Beatles.
The study also shows a marked change in how people acquire their historical knowledge these days. More than three-quarters of those polled (77 per cent) admitted they did not read history books, and 61 per cent said that they changed channels rather than watch historical programmes on television.
Paul Moreton, the channel head of UKTV Gold which commissioned the poll, said that while there was no excuse for demoting real historical figures such as Churchill, the elevation of mythical figures to real life showed the impact good films could have in shaping the public consciousness.
"Stories like Robin Hood are so inspiring that it's not surprising people like to believe these characters truly existed," he said.

Question 1 Indicate whether these sentences are true or false. Justify your answers with evidence from the text:
a) All the people interviewed were not older than 19.
b) Richard the Lionheart was a famous soldier.
c) 221B Baker street was the home of a real detective
d) Nowadays people read more about history rather than watching historical documents.

Question 2 Answer these questions in your own words:
a) Who ordered the survey and what did the results show?
b) What effect can films have on our perception of history?

Question 3 Find a word or phrase in the text that means the same as:
a) par. 2 survey
b) par. 3 appeared
c) par. 7 considerable

Question 4 Rewrite the following sentences without changing the meaning
a) Despite being a mythical figure, almost two thirds of teens believed King Arthur.
Although………………………………………………………….
b) 47 per cent believed Eleanor Rigby was a real person.
Eleanor Rigby was ……………………………………………………..
c) "Stories like Robin Hood are so inspiring that it's not surprising people believe these characters truly existed," he said.
d) He said that ……………………………………………………………………

Question 5 Write a short essay (120 to 150 words) on the following topic:
 What is the best way to learn about history?
Self-Access Group. Ciefp Santander

Winston Churchill didn't really exist, say teens

Winston Churchill didn't really exist, say teens

A fifth of British teenagers believe Sir Winston Churchill was a fictional character, while many think Sherlock Holmes, King Arthur and Eleanor Rigby were real, a survey shows.
The canvass of 3,000 under-twenties uncovered an extraordinary paucity of basic historical knowledge that older generations take for granted.
Despite his celebrated military reputation, 47 per cent of respondents dismissed the 12th-century crusading English king Richard the Lionheart as fictional. In contrast, a series of fictitious characters that have featured in British films and literature over the past few centuries were awarded real-life status.
King Arthur is the mythical figure most commonly mistaken for fact - almost two thirds of teens (65 per cent) believe that he existed and led a round table of knights at Camelot.
Holmes, the detective, was so convincingly brought to life in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novels, their film versions and television series that 58 per cent of respondents believe that the sleuth really lived at 221B Baker Street.
Fifty-one per cent of respondents believed that Robin Hood lived in Sherwood Forest, robbing the rich to give to the poor, while 47 per cent believed Eleanor Rigby was a real person rather than a creation of The Beatles.
The study also shows a marked change in how people acquire their historical knowledge these days. More than three-quarters of those polled (77 per cent) admitted they did not read history books, and 61 per cent said that they changed channels rather than watch historical programmes on television.
Paul Moreton, the channel head of UKTV Gold which commissioned the poll, said that while there was no excuse for demoting real historical figures such as Churchill, the elevation of mythical figures to real life showed the impact good films could have in shaping the public consciousness.
"Stories like Robin Hood are so inspiring that it's not surprising people like to believe these characters truly existed," he said.

Question 1 Indicate whether these sentences are true or false. Justify your answers with evidence from the text:
a) All the people interviewed were not older than 19.
b) Richard the Lionheart was a famous soldier.
c) 221B Baker street was the home of a real detective
d) Nowadays people read more about history rather than watching historical documents.

Question 2 Answer these questions in your own words:
a) Who ordered the survey and what did the results show?
b) What effect can films have on our perception of history?

Question 3 Find a word or phrase in the text that means the same as:
a) par. 2 survey
b) par. 3 appeared
c) par. 7 considerable

Question 4 Rewrite the following sentences without changing the meaning
a) Despite being a mythical figure, almost two thirds of teens believed King Arthur.
Although………………………………………………………….
b) 47 per cent believed Eleanor Rigby was a real person.
Eleanor Rigby was ……………………………………………………..
c) "Stories like Robin Hood are so inspiring that it's not surprising people believe these characters truly existed," he said.
d) He said that ……………………………………………………………………

Question 5 Write a short essay (120 to 150 words) on the following topic:
 What is the best way to learn about history?
Self-Access Group. Ciefp Santander

Agatha Christie’s grey cells mystery

Agatha Christie’s grey cells mystery

The mystery behind Agatha Christie’s enduring popularity may have been solved by three leading universities collaborating on a study of more than 80 of her crime novels.
Despite her worldwide sales of two billion, critics such as the crime writer P D James pan her writing style and “cardboard cut-out” characters. But the study by neuro-linguists at the universities of London, Birmingham and Warwick shows that she peppered her prose with phrases that act as a trigger to raise levels of serotonin and endorphins, the chemical messengers in the brain that induce pleasure and satisfaction.
“Christie’s language patterns stimulate higher than usual activity in the brain,” said Dr Roland Kapferer. “The release of these neurological opiates makes Christie’s writing literally unputdownable.”
The study — The Agatha Project — involved loading Christie’s novels onto a computer and analysing her words, phrases and sentences.
One finding was that she used a very limited vocabulary. “It means that readers aren’t distracted and so they concentrate more on the clues and the plots,” said Dr. Danielsson.
Despite the grisly theme of her novels, researchers say that much of her vocabulary is pleasing and gentle.
Favourite words or phrases, repeatedly used, help to stimulate the pleasure-inducing side of the brain. They include she, yes, girl, kind, smiled and suddenly. Common phrases include “can you keep an eye on this”, “more or less”, “a day or two” and “something like that”.
However, Mathew Prichard, Christie’s grandson, was sceptical of the research. “It’s not really a mystery. She was simply a writer of great plots,” he said.

Glossary:
Unputdownable:so interesting or exciting that you do not want to stop reading it.
from The Sunday Times December 18, 2005

Question 1 Indicate whether these sentences are true or false. Justify your answers with evidence from the text:
a) Critics dislike only the way Agatha Christie wrote.
b) The less variety of vocabulary, the more you focus on the story.
c) Her vocabulary has nothing to do with the kind of plots she wrote.
d) Agatha Christie’s family agrees with the result of the study.

Question 2 Answer these questions in your own words:
a) What is the main conclusion of the study?
b) How does the repetition of words and phrases affect us as readers?

Question 3 Find a word or phrase in the text that means the same as:
a) Main par 1. b) something that produces an immediate result par 2. c) series of related events par. 5

Question 4 Rewrite the following sentences without changing the meaning
a) The mystery of her enduring popularity may have been solved by three leading universities.
Three...
b) Despite the grisly theme of her novels, researchers say that much of her vocabulary is pleasing and gentle.
Although...
c) “It means that readers aren’t distracted and so they concentrate more on the clues and the plots,” said Dr. Danielsson.
Dr. Danielson said that it...

Question 5 Write a short essay (120-150 words) on the following topic:
 What do you prefer a good book or a good movie?


Self-Access Group. CEP Santander

Agatha Christie’s grey cells mystery

Agatha Christie’s grey cells mystery

The mystery behind Agatha Christie’s enduring popularity may have been solved by three leading universities collaborating on a study of more than 80 of her crime novels.
Despite her worldwide sales of two billion, critics such as the crime writer P D James pan her writing style and “cardboard cut-out” characters. But the study by neuro-linguists at the universities of London, Birmingham and Warwick shows that she peppered her prose with phrases that act as a trigger to raise levels of serotonin and endorphins, the chemical messengers in the brain that induce pleasure and satisfaction.
“Christie’s language patterns stimulate higher than usual activity in the brain,” said Dr Roland Kapferer. “The release of these neurological opiates makes Christie’s writing literally unputdownable.”
The study — The Agatha Project — involved loading Christie’s novels onto a computer and analysing her words, phrases and sentences.
One finding was that she used a very limited vocabulary. “It means that readers aren’t distracted and so they concentrate more on the clues and the plots,” said Dr. Danielsson.
Despite the grisly theme of her novels, researchers say that much of her vocabulary is pleasing and gentle.
Favourite words or phrases, repeatedly used, help to stimulate the pleasure-inducing side of the brain. They include she, yes, girl, kind, smiled and suddenly. Common phrases include “can you keep an eye on this”, “more or less”, “a day or two” and “something like that”.
However, Mathew Prichard, Christie’s grandson, was sceptical of the research. “It’s not really a mystery. She was simply a writer of great plots,” he said.

Glossary:
Unputdownable:so interesting or exciting that you do not want to stop reading it.
from The Sunday Times December 18, 2005

Question 1 Indicate whether these sentences are true or false. Justify your answers with evidence from the text:
a) Critics dislike only the way Agatha Christie wrote.
b) The less variety of vocabulary, the more you focus on the story.
c) Her vocabulary has nothing to do with the kind of plots she wrote.
d) Agatha Christie’s family agrees with the result of the study.

Question 2 Answer these questions in your own words:
a) What is the main conclusion of the study?
b) How does the repetition of words and phrases affect us as readers?

Question 3 Find a word or phrase in the text that means the same as:
a) Main par 1. b) something that produces an immediate result par 2. c) series of related events par. 5

Question 4 Rewrite the following sentences without changing the meaning
a) The mystery of her enduring popularity may have been solved by three leading universities.
Three...
b) Despite the grisly theme of her novels, researchers say that much of her vocabulary is pleasing and gentle.
Although...
c) “It means that readers aren’t distracted and so they concentrate more on the clues and the plots,” said Dr. Danielsson.
Dr. Danielson said that it...

Question 5 Write a short essay (120-150 words) on the following topic:
 What do you prefer a good book or a good movie?


Self-Access Group. CEP Santander

Man trapped in bowling club toilet for four days

Man trapped in bowling club toilet for four days

A retired teacher survived on tap water after getting trapped in a freezing bowling club toilet with no food or mobile phone for four days. David Leggat was trapped at Kittybrewster and Woodside Bowling Club after the door to the gents jammed behind him.
The 55-year-old spent 16 hours of each day in darkness and, in a desperate bid to keep warm in the freezing building, he dipped his feet in hot water. "I did a survival course once and knew I had to keep my feet warm, so I kept running a basin of hot water and putting my feet in, to send the heat through my body," he explained to the Aberdeen Evening Express. Mr Leggat was eventually freed after Cathy Scollay, the club's cleaner, heard his cries for help.
Mr Leggat's ordeal began last Monday afternoon when he entered the bathroom and the inside handle to the door jammed. A few days earlier the outside handle had fallen off. The bowler said he quickly realised he was in for a long wait as the club is rarely used in winter. Mr Leggat, who recently retired from Kemnay Academy, where he taught English and history, said: "I was lucky to get three hours' sleep a night."
Ms Scollay, who keeps her cleaning equipment in the gents, discovered Mr Leggat on Thursday morning. She said today: "I put on the light as normal, pushed the door and just heard a voice shouting 'you can't get in here, I have been locked in here for four days'. I just couldn't believe it." Ms Scollay could not manage to free Mr Leggat, so she called club secretary Bob Ewing, who used a screwdriver to open the door. "David looked awfully grey and shaky when he came out," Ms Scollay said. "But he managed to walk up the road to his house." "Nobody had been looking for David. A wife may have wondered where he was but he is not married," she said.
Mr Leggat told the Evening Express: "At least there was a toilet to use. The only thing I regret is not getting trapped behind the bar."

Question 1 Indicate whether these sentences are true or false. Justify your answers with evidence from the text:
a) Mr Leggat went to the bowling club after his lessons.
b) When Mr. Leggat went into the bath room there was a handle on the door
c) He expected to get out in a short time.
d) He didn’t need any help to get back home.

Question 2 Answer these questions in your own words:
a) How did Mr Leggat manage to survive?
b) How did he get out?

Question 3 Find a word or phrase in the text that means the same as:
a) Men’s toilet par. 1
b) Rescue par. 2
c) Nightmare. par. 3

Question 4 Rewrite the following sentences without changing the meaning
a) Mr Leggat said: “I was lucky to get three hours’ sleep a night”.
Mr Leggat said that ………………………………………………………….
b) Bob Ewing used a screwdriver to open the door.
A screwdriver ……………………………………………………..
c) A wife may have wondered where he was but he is not married.
If David had……………………………………………………………………

Question 5 Write a short essay (120to 150 words) on the following topic:
You can always learn from experiences

Self-Access Group. CEP Santander

Man trapped in bowling club toilet for four days

Man trapped in bowling club toilet for four days

A retired teacher survived on tap water after getting trapped in a freezing bowling club toilet with no food or mobile phone for four days. David Leggat was trapped at Kittybrewster and Woodside Bowling Club after the door to the gents jammed behind him.
The 55-year-old spent 16 hours of each day in darkness and, in a desperate bid to keep warm in the freezing building, he dipped his feet in hot water. "I did a survival course once and knew I had to keep my feet warm, so I kept running a basin of hot water and putting my feet in, to send the heat through my body," he explained to the Aberdeen Evening Express. Mr Leggat was eventually freed after Cathy Scollay, the club's cleaner, heard his cries for help.
Mr Leggat's ordeal began last Monday afternoon when he entered the bathroom and the inside handle to the door jammed. A few days earlier the outside handle had fallen off. The bowler said he quickly realised he was in for a long wait as the club is rarely used in winter. Mr Leggat, who recently retired from Kemnay Academy, where he taught English and history, said: "I was lucky to get three hours' sleep a night."
Ms Scollay, who keeps her cleaning equipment in the gents, discovered Mr Leggat on Thursday morning. She said today: "I put on the light as normal, pushed the door and just heard a voice shouting 'you can't get in here, I have been locked in here for four days'. I just couldn't believe it." Ms Scollay could not manage to free Mr Leggat, so she called club secretary Bob Ewing, who used a screwdriver to open the door. "David looked awfully grey and shaky when he came out," Ms Scollay said. "But he managed to walk up the road to his house." "Nobody had been looking for David. A wife may have wondered where he was but he is not married," she said.
Mr Leggat told the Evening Express: "At least there was a toilet to use. The only thing I regret is not getting trapped behind the bar."

Question 1 Indicate whether these sentences are true or false. Justify your answers with evidence from the text:
a) Mr Leggat went to the bowling club after his lessons.
b) When Mr. Leggat went into the bath room there was a handle on the door
c) He expected to get out in a short time.
d) He didn’t need any help to get back home.

Question 2 Answer these questions in your own words:
a) How did Mr Leggat manage to survive?
b) How did he get out?

Question 3 Find a word or phrase in the text that means the same as:
a) Men’s toilet par. 1
b) Rescue par. 2
c) Nightmare. par. 3

Question 4 Rewrite the following sentences without changing the meaning
a) Mr Leggat said: “I was lucky to get three hours’ sleep a night”.
Mr Leggat said that ………………………………………………………….
b) Bob Ewing used a screwdriver to open the door.
A screwdriver ……………………………………………………..
c) A wife may have wondered where he was but he is not married.
If David had……………………………………………………………………

Question 5 Write a short essay (120to 150 words) on the following topic:
You can always learn from experiences

Self-Access Group. CEP Santander

O'Reilly: Upcoming Javascript training class with Douglas Crockford in San Francisco

If you develop sites or applications for the Web, don't miss this class with Douglas Crockford in San Francisco. This class is a must, whether you’re managing object libraries or just trying to get Ajax to run faster. You will get a detailed look at JavaScript’s elegant features, including syntax, objects, functions, inheritance, arrays, regular expressions, and methods, Document Object Model (DOM), and much more.


In this Master Class, JavaScript expert Douglas Crockford (author of JavaScript: The Good Parts) will scrape away the language’s bad features to reveal all the good ideas that make JavaScript an outstanding object-oriented programming language.

You can use the discount code "SPH25" to recieve a 25% discount.

Schedule and location:
March 30, 2009 from 9am - 5pm
Mission Bay Conference Center
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)
1675 Owens St.
San Francisco, CA 94143
1-866-431-8273

Fore more information please, take a look at the O'Reilly website.

Useful scripts to plot charts in web pages

In this post I want to suggest you a list of some interesting scripts you can use to plot easily charts (line, area, pie, bar...) in your web pages using jQuery, MooTools, Prototype and other JS frameworks.

Any suggestion? Please add a comment!


1. Flot
Flot is a pure Javascript plotting library for jQuery. It produces graphical plots of arbitrary datasets on-the-fly client-side. The focus is on simple usage (all settings are optional), attractive looks and interactive features like zooming and mouse tracking. The plugin is known to work with Internet Explorer 6/7/8, Firefox 2.x+, Safari 3.0+, Opera 9.5+ and Konqueror 4.x+. If you find a problem, please report it. Drawing is done with the canvas tag introduced by Safari and now available on all major browsers, except Internet Explorer where the excanvas Javascript emulation helper is used. Take a look at some examples here.

2. JS Charts
JS Charts is a free JavaScript based chart generator that requires little or no coding. With JS Charts drawing charts is a simple and easy task, since you only have to use client-side scripting (i.e. performed by your web browser). No additional plugins or server modules are required. Just include our scripts, prepare your chart data in XML or JavaScript Array and your chart is ready!

3. TableToChart
TableToChart is a MooTools script which converts a list of values contained in a HTML table drawing a graphic chart. You can use table tag to generate charts. Bars, lines (filled and wire) and pies are available.

4. PlotKit
PlotKit is a Chart and Graph Plotting Library for Javascript. It has support for HTML Canvas and also SVG via Adobe SVG Viewer and native browser support.

5. Yahoo UI Charts Control
The YUI Charts Control visualizes tabular data on a web page in several possible formats including vertical columns, horizontal bars, lines, and pies. Notable features include support for the DataSource Utility, customizable series and axes, a customizable mouse-over datatip, combination charts, and skinning.

6. ProtoChart
ProtoChart is an opensource library using Prototype and Canvas to create good looking charts. This library is highly motivated by Flot, Flotr and PlotKit libraries. It supports line, bar, pie, curve, mix, and area charts, multiple data series on same graph, customizable legend, grid, grid border and background. It supports: IE6/7, FF2/3 and Safari and even works on an iPhone.

7. EJSChart
EJSChart supports mouse tracking, mouse events, key tracking and events, zooming. Scrolling, and crosshairs raise interactivity and user experience in web charting to a new level. You can choose multiple chart types: line, area, scatter, pie, bar and function series. Every aspect of the charting display can be configured and customized through well-documented properties and methods.

8. fgCharting
fgCharting is a nice jQuery plug-in which allows you to plot easly charts. It supports several types of charts (line, filledLine, additiveLine, additiveFilledLine, pie, bar, additiveBar) you can customize how you prefer.

9. Pure Css Data Chart
Data visualization is mostly achieved with flash applications or with help of some programming languages. Are those solutions the only way to present, let's say simple data chart? How about giving it a try with nothing but good ol' css? CSSGlobe provides this useful tutorial which explains how to draw simple data Charts using only CSS, without using JavaScript or any backend application.

Related Content

- Free resources for quickly developing AJAX applications
- 10 Beautiful Web UI libraries
- Beautiful datepickers and calendars for web developers
- 20 Great PHP framework for developers
- Interesting html FORM Validators for web developers
- Best Image Croppers ready to use for web developers
- File uploaders collection for web developers

3D Season Wallpapers

Sexy Bikini Models wallpapers and Photo

Useful formulas and resources for becoming a spreadsheets master

This tutorial is a step-by-step guide which illustrates how to use some useful formulas in order to simplify the way you work with spreadsheet tools. I also added some interesting links to my previous posts about the same topic.

In this tutorial I used Zoho Spreadsheet, a free and powerful on-line spreadsheets tool, but you can reuse all concepts in the most common spreadsheet tools (Google Spreadsheets, EditGrid, Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice Spreadsheets, etc.)

You can download this tutorial for Microsoft Excel and OpenOffice Spreadsheets or take a look at the on-line spreadsheet.

1. vlookup()

Vertical LookUp - vlookup() - is a powerful formula to check if a specific value is contained in the first column of an array. The function then returns the value to the same line of a specific array column named by index. For example take a look at the following image.

Add this formula into the cell F2:

=VLOOKUP(D2;A1:B4;2;false)

"Translated" is: find the value contained in the cell D2 looking in the interval A1:B4 and return the value to the same line in the column with index 2 (in this case, A:index =1, B:index=2 so the formula return the value in the column B).

The formula returns #N/A if the name in input doesn't exist in the table:

Take a mind: You can use exactly the same formula with Microsoft Excel. But if you use Google Spreadsheets you have to change the syntax of all formulas in this tutorial changing the char which separates formula parameters (;) with (,). For example using Google Spreadsheets you may to use this syntax:

=VLOOKUP(D2,A1:B4,2,false)

2. type()

Type() returns the type of value. For example, if an error occurs, the function returns a logical or numerical value. In the VLOOKUP example, if you don't like to see #N/A you can use type() to create a custom message if the value doesn't exist in the table:

Add this formula in the cell F4:

=TYPE(F2)

...and the result in the cell F4 is 16 if F2 is equal to #N/A. Then in the cell F6 add this formula:

=IF(F4=16; "Name not found";"")

You can also embed into a single formula directly into the cell F2:

=IF(TYPE(VLOOKUP(D2;A1:B4;2;false))=16; "Name not found"; VLOOKUP(D2;A1:B4;2;false))

3. hlookup()

Horizontal look up - hlookup() - is the horizontal version of VLOOKUP. The formula searches for a value and reference to the cells below the selected area. The function returns then the value in a row of the array, named in the Index, in the same column. For example take a look at the following table:

Add the following formula in the cell B6:

=HLOOKUP(A6;B2:D3;2;false)

If the name you are looking for in the cell A6 doesn't exist in the table the result will be #N/A.

4. Subtotal()

Subtotal() calculates subtotals in a specific range of cells. If a range already contains subtotals, these are not used for further calculations. Take a look at this table:

Add this formula into the cell B2:

=SUBTOTAL(9; B3:B4)

The first parameter (9) is a number that stands for the function SUM. You can change it with the following values, depending on the operation you have to do:

- 1 AVERAGE
- 2 COUNT
- 3 COUNTA
- 4 MAX
- 5 MIN
- 6 PRODUCT
- 7 STDEV
- 8 STDEVP
- 9 SUM
- 10 VAR
- 11 VARP

The result will be 12+23 = 35

Then, copy and paste the previous formula into the cells B5 and B8. Now to obtain the total of all subtotals add this formula in the cell B11:

=SUBTOTAL(9; B2:B10)

5. Choose()

Choose() returns a value from a list of up to 30 values. The value to return is identified with an index (an integer from 1 to 3o). For example, in this example I want to choose the value contained in the range A2:A9 in the position 4 (index=4):

Copy and paste this formula in the cell E2 (the index of the value you have to choose is contained in the cell C2):

=CHOOSE(C2; A2;A3;A4;A5;A6;A6;A8;A9)

The result is "Micheal".

Take also a look at the following links to find other resources on Woork about the topic "spreadsheets":

Google Spreadsheets Tips: Add custom charts
Google Spreadsheets Tips: Gantt Chart (Microsoft Project-like) using Widget
Use Google Spreadsheets to get financial informations about companies
Google Spreadsheets Tips: invert word position using formulas
Google Spreadsheets: formulas tutorial
Gantt Chart with EditGrid online spreadsheets
Implement a Project Plan and manage activities with Google Spreadsheets
Project Management: a project plan with Excel (template)
Gantt Chart using Google Spreadsheets and conditional formatting
Project Management: Excel Gantt Chart Template