Sunday, May 30, 2010
100,000 US teachers face nationwide layoffs
By Nick Anderson
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Senior congressional Democrats and the Obama administration scrambled Wednesday to line up support for $23 billion in federal aid to avert an estimated 100,000 or more school layoffs in a brutal year for education budgets coast to coast.
As early as Thursday, the House Appropriations Committee expects to take up a bill that couples the school funding with spending for the Afghanistan war — a measure that has bipartisan support. But a parallel push in the Senate stalled this week after a leading proponent concluded that he couldn’t muster enough votes to surmount Republican opposition.
"We desperately need Congress to act — to recognize the emergency for what it is," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Wednesday on Capitol Hill. "We have to keep hundreds of thousands of teachers teaching."
Republicans and some Democrats say the government can’t afford an extension of last year’s economic stimulus that would add to the federal deficit. The stimulus law kept many school budgets afloat with $49 billion in direct aid to states and billions of dollars more for various programs. But the stimulus funding is trailing off before state and local tax revenue can recover from the recession.
Skeptics of a new education jobs fund point out that the teaching force in recent years has grown faster than enrollment, with schools adding instructional coaches and reducing class sizes.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
50 Best Business Books
Compiled by James Pressley
May 28 (Bloomberg) -- With so many business books spilling from the shelves, we’re often asked for a comprehensive list of recommendations. Here are 50 of our favorite titles published since Jan. 1, 2009.
“Animal Spirits” by George A. Akerlof and Robert J. Shiller (Princeton). The two economists explore how psychology drove us from boom to bust.
“Bailout Nation” by Barry Ritholtz (Wiley). A financial blogger chronicles why the U.S. came to embrace bailouts.
“The Big Questions” by Steven E. Landsburg (Free Press). The Armchair Economist dips into physics, mathematics and economics to answer the eternal questions of philosophy.
“The Big Rich” by Bryan Burrough (Penguin Press). A galloping history of the wildcatters whose drive, ranches and gaudy mansions inspired the Beverly Hillbillies and J.R. Ewing.
“The Big Short” by Michael Lewis (Norton/Allen Lane). The author of “Liar’s Poker” tells the story of a loner with a glass eye and other outliers who shorted the subprime market.
“A Colossal Failure of Common Sense” by Lawrence G. McDonald with Patrick Robinson (Crown Business). McDonald, a former trader at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., offers a scathing inside look at how the firm became a house divided.
“Crash Course” by Paul Ingrassia (Random House). A poised account of Detroit’s slide “from glory to disaster.”
“Crisis Economics” by Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Mihm (Penguin Press/Allen Lane). The prescient New York University professor explains why booms and busts occur.
“The Devil’s Casino” by Vicky Ward (Wiley). A look at the destructive rivalry among Richard S. Fuld Jr. and four other men who rose to power at Lehman in the 1980s.
“Don’t Blame the Shorts” by Robert Sloan (McGraw-Hill). A history of America’s (misplaced) distrust of short sellers.
“The Education of an American Dreamer” by Peter G. Peterson (Twelve). The co-founder of Blackstone Group LP has led an improbably diverse life, as this disarming memoir shows.
“The End of Wall Street” by Roger Lowenstein (Penguin Press). A decade after capturing the hubris of Long-Term Capital Management LP in “When Genius Failed,” Lowenstein reports on what he calls “the mother of all bubbles.”
“In Fed We Trust” by David Wessel (Crown Business). The Wall Street Journal columnist shows how Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and other policy makers dug into an emergency tool kit to keep the financial system afloat.
“The First Tycoon” by T.J. Stiles (Knopf). Fistfights, shipwrecks and market manipulation enliven this monumental biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt.
“Fool’s Gold” by Gillian Tett (Free Press/Little, Brown). Tett introduces a band of JPMorgan Chase & Co. bankers who pioneered some of the credit instruments that plunged the world into chaos.
“Freefall” by Joseph E. Stiglitz (Norton/Allen Lane). The Nobel Prize-winning economist describes the flawed theories and misguided policies that wrought the meltdown.
“A Gift to My Children” by Jim Rogers (Random House/ Wiley). The “adventure capitalist” distills the lessons of his investing life into an open letter to his daughters.
“Good Value” by Stephen Green (Atlantic/Allen Lane). The chairman of HSBC Holdings Plc reflects on how to rebuild trust in global capitalism.
“Googled” by Ken Auletta (Penguin Press). Is Google Inc. a force for good -- or for ill? Auletta explores this vital topic in exhaustive detail.
“The Greatest Trade Ever” by Gregory Zuckerman (Broadway/ Viking). A reconstruction of John Paulson’s trade against the housing bubble.
“The Great Reset” by Richard Florida (Harper). The crisis could allow Schumpeterian “creative destruction” to sweep away obsolete systems and make room for innovation, Florida says.
“House of Cards” by William D. Cohan (Doubleday/Allen Lane). The formerLazard Freres & Co. banker recounts the cocky rise and meteoric fall of Bear Stearns Cos.
“How Markets Fail” by John Cassidy (Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Allen Lane). Cassidy traces the dangerous emergence of what he calls “utopian economics.”
“How the Mighty Fall” by Jim Collins (HarperCollins/ Random House). The author of “Good to Great” and “Built to Last” turns to what he calls the dark side.
“Identity Economics” by George A. Akerlof and Rachel E. Kranton (Princeton). Decisions that shape our lives often hinge on our perceived place in society, not solely on a calculation of financial costs and benefits.
“The Invisible Hands” by Steven Drobny (Wiley). The co- founder of Drobny Global Advisors frets that taxpayers may end up bailing out pension plans. He blames Harvard’s class of ‘69.
“I.O.U.” by John Lanchester (Simon & Schuster; published as “Whoops!” by Allen Lane). Warren Buffett mingles with a Mafia don and zombies in this mischievous primer on the crisis.
“Keynes” by Peter Clarke (Bloomsbury). A succinct account of the life and work of the English economist.
“The King of Oil” by Daniel Ammann (St. Martin’s). The story of billionaire commodity trader Marc Rich.
“Jimmy Stewart Is Dead” by Laurence J. Kotlikoff (Wiley). The Boston University economist makes his case for “limited- purpose” banking.
“Last Man Standing” by Duff McDonald (Simon & Schuster). A biography ofJamie Dimon, one of the few Wall Street executives to emerge from the crisis with his reputation intact.
“Lords of Finance” by Liaquat Ahamed (Penguin Press/ Heinemann). A vivid history of how four central bankers brought on the Great Depression.
“The Match King” by Frank Partnoy (PublicAffairs/Profile Business). All about Ivar Kreuger, the enigmatic financier who cornered the match market in the 1920s.
“Meltdown Iceland” by Roger Boyes (Bloomsbury). A reconstruction of how Icelandic oligarchs frolicked as the island sank under debt.
“The Myth of the Rational Market” by Justin Fox (HarperBusiness/Harriman). A crowd of brainy theorists come to life in this history of the efficient-markets theory.
“No One Would Listen” by Harry Markopolos (Wiley). A first-person account of the struggle to convince the Securities and Exchange Commission thatBernard Madoff’s returns were mathematically impossible.
“On the Brink” by Henry M. Paulson Jr. (Business Plus). The former U.S. Treasury secretary describes his fight to prop up the financial system.
“Past Due” by Peter S. Goodman (Times Books). A richly reported look at how Americans became profligate borrowers partly because the U.S. economy isn’t creating enough good jobs.
“Priceless” by William Poundstone (Hill and Wang). Companies, restaurants and even artists exploit psychology to extract more cash from the rest of us, as Poundstone shows.
“The Quants” by Scott Patterson (Crown Business). A behind-the-scenes look at the turbulent lives of four quants, including Ken Griffin.
“The Road From Ruin” by Matthew Bishop and Michael Green (Crown Business). We need to stop the finger pointing and move beyond old ways of thinking about markets, the authors argue.
“Selling America Short” by Richard C. Sauer (Wiley). A former SEC attorney takes us on a lively tour of his fraud investigations.
“Soccernomics” by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski (Nation; published by HarperSport as “Why England Lose”). A brainteaser of a book for any beach-bound soccer fan.
“SuperFreakonomics” by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (Morrow/Allen Lane). Why suicide bombers should buy life insurance and hookers work overtime around the Fourth of July.
“13 Bankers” by Simon Johnson and James Kwak (Pantheon). Unless too-big-to-fail banks are broken up, they will trigger another meltdown, the authors say.
“This Time Is Different” by Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff (Princeton). Wherever you open this landmark study, you’ll find proof that debt-fueled expansions have ended in financial ruin for 800 years.
“Too Big to Fail” by Andrew Ross Sorkin (Viking/Allen Lane). A cinematic reconstruction of how the top dogs of Wall Street and Washington struggled to save the system (and their own skins).
“War at the Wall Street Journal” by Sarah Ellison (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). An inside look at Rupert Murdoch’s takeover.
“What the Dog Saw” by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown/ Allen Lane). The author of “The Tipping Point” is back with a new collection on topics includingNassim Taleb and Enron Corp.
“You Are Not a Gadget” by Jaron Lanier (Knopf/Allen Lane). The virtual-reality pioneer dismantles the tropes of the “Web 2.0” online culture and calls for a more humanistic digital future.
(James Pressley writes for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)
Monday, May 24, 2010
Video Lesson - Critical Thinking for Children
This instructional video was created from the Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking for Children by the Foundation for Critical Thinking. There are 5 Parts to this video (including the introduction) that teaches the concepts of fair-minded critical thinking to children. Although intended for K-6 audiences, even adults can learn from and enjoy this video.
Part 1 Introduction (this video)
Part 2 Three Kinds of thinkers
Part 3 What is Critical Thinking? (standards)
Part 4 The Parts of Thinking
Part 5 Intellectual Virtues
Video Music Lesson - American Pie with lyrics
A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And, maybe, they'd be happy for a while.
But february made me shiver
With every paper I'd deliver.
Bad news on the doorstep;
I couldn't take one more step.
I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride,
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died.
So bye-bye, miss american pie.
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin', "this'll be the day that I die.
"this'll be the day that I die."
Did you write the book of love,
And do you have faith in God above,
If the Bible tells you so?
Do you believe in rock 'n roll,
Can music save your mortal soul,
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?
Well, I know that you're in love with him
`cause I saw you dancin' in the gym.
You both kicked off your shoes.
Man, I dig those rhythm and blues.
I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck,
But I knew I was out of luck
The day the music died.
I started singin',
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
And singin', "this'll be the day that I die.
"this'll be the day that I die."
Now for ten years we've been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rollin' stone,
But that's not how it used to be.
When the jester sang for the king and queen,
In a coat he borrowed from james dean
And a voice that came from you and me,
Oh, and while the king was looking down,
The jester stole his thorny crown.
The courtroom was adjourned;
No verdict was returned.
And while lennon read a book of marx,
The quartet practiced in the park,
And we sang dirges in the dark
The day the music died.
We were singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
And singin', "this'll be the day that I die.
"this'll be the day that I die."
Helter skelter in a summer swelter.
The birds flew off with a fallout shelter,
Eight miles high and falling fast.
It landed foul on the grass.
The players tried for a forward pass,
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast.
Now the half-time air was sweet perfume
While the sergeants played a marching tune.
We all got up to dance,
Oh, but we never got the chance!
`cause the players tried to take the field;
The marching band refused to yield.
Do you recall what was revealed
The day the music died?
We started singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
And singin', "this'll be the day that I die.
"this'll be the day that I die."
Oh, and there we were all in one place,
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again.
So come on: jack be nimble, jack be quick!
Jack flash sat on a candlestick
Cause fire is the devil's only friend.
Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage.
No angel born in hell
Could break that satan's spell.
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite,
I saw satan laughing with delight
The day the music died
He was singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
And singin', "this'll be the day that I die.
"this'll be the day that I die."
I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news,
But she just smiled and turned away.
I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd heard the music years before,
But the man there said the music wouldn't play.
And in the streets: the children screamed,
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed.
But not a word was spoken;
The church bells all were broken.
And the three men I admire most:
The father, son, and the holy ghost,
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died.
And they were singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin', "this'll be the day that I die.
"this'll be the day that I die."
They were singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin', "this'll be the day that I die."
Music Video Lesson: 'Perfect Day'
Here's a great chance to practice listening to a variety of authentic English accents.
Listen to this classic Lou Reed song and complete the lyrics. I recommend that you listen to it once to get a feel for it and then listen to it again and type in the missing words.
You don't need to listen to the whole song. I have only included the lyrics for the first two minutes.
Do you recognize any of the famous musicians in the clip?
- Just a perfect day, sangria in the park
- And then when it gets dark,
- we go
- Just a perfect day, animals in the zoo
- Then later a , too, and then home
- Oh, it's such a perfect day I'm I spend it with you
- Oh, such a perfect day,You just keep me on (x2)
- Just a perfect day, all left alone
- Weekenders on our own, it's fun
- Just a perfect day, you me forget myself
- I I was someone else, someone good
Music Video Lesson - "Leaving on a jet plane"
Leaving on a Jet Plane is one of the English language's great emotional love songs, originally sung by the late John Denver. Practice your listening and phrasal verb skills by completing this gap-fill! I suggest listening once first, then begin completing the gap-fill while listening another two times. You do not need to listen to the whole song, just the first couple of verses.
When you have finished click on Show Full Lyrics (below) and sing along!
Today's lesson is by Sebastian E'Silva EC Cape Town English School
Show Full Lyrics
- All my bags are I'm ready to go
- I'm standing here
- I hate to to say goodbye
- But the it's early morn
- The taxi's waiting he's his horn
- Already I'm so I could die
- So kiss me and me
- Tell me that you'll me
- Hold me like you'll never
- Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane, Don't know when I'll be ,Oh babe, I hate to go.
Full Lyrics
Leaving on a Jet Plane
All my bags are packed I'm ready to go
I'm standing here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breaking it's early morn
The taxi's waiting he's blowing his horn
Already I'm so lonesome I could die
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
There's so many times I've let you down
So many times I've played around
I tell you now, they don't mean a thing
Every place I go, I'll think of you
Every song I sing, I'll sing for you
When I come back, I'll bring your wedding ring
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
Now the time has come to leave you
One more time let me kiss you
Close your eyes I'll be on my way
Dream about the days to come
When I won't have to leave alone
About the times, I won't have to say
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh baby, I hate to go
Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
After keeping us waiting for a century, Mark Twain will finally reveal all
The great American writer left instructions not to publish his autobiography until 100 years after his death, which is now...read more....
getty images
Mark Twain, pictured around the turn of the 20th century, created such loved characters as Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer
Sunday, May 23, 2010
William Jessup University's Cambodia Mission Team Departs May 21
William Jessup University's Cambodia Mission Team will be working alongside both Youth with a Mission (YWAM) and Agape International Ministries (AIM). Students will participate in a children's ministry, relational ministry, church ministry and whatever else God brings their way!
Many of the children that the team will be working with are victims of sex trafficking, a horrific but very real issue running rampant in this region.
The team is one of two mission trips that the university is sponsoring over the next few weeks. The other team is headed for Sao Paulo, Brazil on May 27
William Jessup University's Cambodia Mission Team is (left to right, back row): Sway Phal, Justin Woodward, Billy Stratman, Jeremy Glenn. (Front row, left to right): Valerie Gray, Ashley Olsgard, Sabrina Johnson, Amy Sowers, Anna Rutherford and Elizabeth Berados.
Lost Treasures of Tibet-The Kingdom of Mustang
Excellent video discussing the art and history of Tibet, focusing on a massive art restoration project in the capital of Mustang (Nepal today).
Saturday, May 22, 2010
What's in a name?
Dear All,
Juliet:"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
Shakespeare - Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)
I have been asked on several occasions about the origin of my name (or nickname) Heng Soy. One reader suggested that I must have been born from very confused parents, another one asked: ‘…are you between Lucky & Unlucky? You should call yourself "Misfortune"’. Several people sent me emails ending with something like this: “I hope today is Heng for you and not Soy”. Some even went on to claim that I must be related to one “soy sauce” family.
While I can’t claim to smell as sweet as a rose (far from it, I hope), let me give you here my version of the story and, in doing so, I hope I could entertain you somewhat.
According to my aunt who raised me, my mother was pregnant with me before the Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia. With the wave of refugees traveling to Thailand following the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia, my parents and my aunt’s family decided that they would leave to Thailand also. At first, my aunt was reluctant to travel with my parents because she was concerned about my mother’s pregnancy and how close she was to the delivery date. Nevertheless, my father who was always an idealist, decided that he did not want to see his child born in a country that is occupied by foreign troops, so off they went. As they were about to cross the border into Thailand, the travelers formed into a long single file, walking one after another. Somehow, somebody in the front row stepped on a landmine and the group was so startled that they all spread out in different direction. My father was only able to help his wife while his sister and her husband got separated from them.
Later that night, my parents’ group managed to continue their journey and arrived at a refugee camp in Thailand. With all the commotion of the day, it turned out that my mother started to go into labor as well. With that, I found myself born in the foreign land of the Thais. Right on the spot, my mother decided that my name would be “Heng” because she was lucky enough not to have to deliver me inside the jungle.
On the other hand, my father found himself very sad to be separated from his sister. About a week after I was born, my father asked his neighbors to help look after his wife and newborn child as he decided that he would go back to Cambodia to look for his sister and her husband. That was the last we ever heard of him, a week later, people whom my mother knew told her that my father stepped on a landmine and was killed during his trip back to Cambodia. Meanwhile, my aunt and her husband who were lost in the forest all this time, managed to arrive at our camp also to the delight and chagrin of my mother.
About six months after I was born, due to grief and malaria, my mother passed away, leaving me with my aunt and uncle. Being quite superstitious, my aunt believed that my name “Heng” had something to do with the misfortune that befell my parents. One day she told my uncle: “I think my sister-in-law defied the Tevodas and Neak Ta (spirits) that protect this region by daring to call her child “Heng”, that’s why they took revenge on her and her husband. So from now on, let’s change Heng’s name to Soy, that way, the spirits would not come near him anymore.” From that day on, my name was switched to Soy. However, when my aunt was applying to leave the refugee camp, my uncle urged her to keep both the name my mother gave me and the nickname my aunt called me. That is how I became to be known as Heng Soy.
Later in life, I learnt from Einstein’s relativity theory (I think) that “everything is relative”, therefore, Heng or Soy does not matter, it’s all “relative”, just like anything else in life, it’s 50-50, sometimes it’s Heng (lucky), sometimes it’s Soy (unlucky). Therefore, folks, don’t cry nor laugh at me should you meet me in person one day!
Thank you!
Heng Soy - The Lucky Unlucky fellow
While I can’t claim to smell as sweet as a rose (far from it, I hope), let me give you here my version of the story and, in doing so, I hope I could entertain you somewhat.
According to my aunt who raised me, my mother was pregnant with me before the Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia. With the wave of refugees traveling to Thailand following the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia, my parents and my aunt’s family decided that they would leave to Thailand also. At first, my aunt was reluctant to travel with my parents because she was concerned about my mother’s pregnancy and how close she was to the delivery date. Nevertheless, my father who was always an idealist, decided that he did not want to see his child born in a country that is occupied by foreign troops, so off they went. As they were about to cross the border into Thailand, the travelers formed into a long single file, walking one after another. Somehow, somebody in the front row stepped on a landmine and the group was so startled that they all spread out in different direction. My father was only able to help his wife while his sister and her husband got separated from them.
Later that night, my parents’ group managed to continue their journey and arrived at a refugee camp in Thailand. With all the commotion of the day, it turned out that my mother started to go into labor as well. With that, I found myself born in the foreign land of the Thais. Right on the spot, my mother decided that my name would be “Heng” because she was lucky enough not to have to deliver me inside the jungle.
On the other hand, my father found himself very sad to be separated from his sister. About a week after I was born, my father asked his neighbors to help look after his wife and newborn child as he decided that he would go back to Cambodia to look for his sister and her husband. That was the last we ever heard of him, a week later, people whom my mother knew told her that my father stepped on a landmine and was killed during his trip back to Cambodia. Meanwhile, my aunt and her husband who were lost in the forest all this time, managed to arrive at our camp also to the delight and chagrin of my mother.
About six months after I was born, due to grief and malaria, my mother passed away, leaving me with my aunt and uncle. Being quite superstitious, my aunt believed that my name “Heng” had something to do with the misfortune that befell my parents. One day she told my uncle: “I think my sister-in-law defied the Tevodas and Neak Ta (spirits) that protect this region by daring to call her child “Heng”, that’s why they took revenge on her and her husband. So from now on, let’s change Heng’s name to Soy, that way, the spirits would not come near him anymore.” From that day on, my name was switched to Soy. However, when my aunt was applying to leave the refugee camp, my uncle urged her to keep both the name my mother gave me and the nickname my aunt called me. That is how I became to be known as Heng Soy.
Later in life, I learnt from Einstein’s relativity theory (I think) that “everything is relative”, therefore, Heng or Soy does not matter, it’s all “relative”, just like anything else in life, it’s 50-50, sometimes it’s Heng (lucky), sometimes it’s Soy (unlucky). Therefore, folks, don’t cry nor laugh at me should you meet me in person one day!
Thank you!
Heng Soy - The Lucky Unlucky fellow
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
100 Most Common Words in English
The First Hundred | ||||
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These most commonly used words are ranked by frequency. The first 25 make up about one-third of all printed material in English. The first 100 make up about one-half of all written material, and the first 300 make up about sixty-five percent of all written material in English. Taken From: The Reading Teachers Book of Lists, Third Edition; by Edward Bernard Fry, Ph.D, Jacqueline E. Kress, Ed.D & Dona Lee Fountoukidis, Ed.D.
Easter Island discovery sends archaeologists back to drawing board
Archaeologists have disproved the fifty-year-old theory underpinning our understanding of how the famous stone statues were moved around Easter Island.
Fieldwork led by researchers at University College London and The University of Manchester, has shown the remote Pacific island’s ancient road system was primarily ceremonial and not solely built for transportation of the figures.
A complex network of roads up to 800-years-old crisscross the Island between the hat and statue quarries and the coastal areas.
Laying alongside the roads are dozens of the statues- or moai.
The find will create controversy among the many archaeologists who have dedicated years to finding out exactly how the moai were moved, ever since Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl first published his theory in 1958.
Heyerdahl and subsequent researchers believed that statues he found lying on their backs and faces near the roads were abandoned during transportation by the ancient Polynesians.
But his theory has been completely rejected by the team led by Manchester’s Dr Colin Richards and UCL’s Dr Sue Hamilton.
Instead, their discovery of stone platforms associated with each fallen moai - using specialist ‘geophysical survey’ equipment – finally confirms a little known 1914 theory of British archaeologist Katherine Routledge that the routes were primarily ceremonial avenues.
The statues, say the Manchester and UCL team just back from the island, merely toppled from the platforms with the passage of time.
“The truth of the matter is, we will never know how the statues were moved,” said Dr Richards.
“Ever since Heyerdahl, archeologists have come up with all manner of theories – based on an underlying assumption that the roads were used for transportation of the moai, from the quarry at the volcanic cone Rano Raraku.
”What we do now know is that the roads had a ceremonial function to underline their religious and cultural importance.
“They lead – from different parts of the island – to the Rano Raraku volcano where the Moai were quarried.
“Volcano cones were considered as points of entry to the underworld and mythical origin land Hawaiki.
“Hence, Rano Ranaku was not just a quarry but a sacred centre of the island.”
The previous excavation found that the roads are concave in shape –making it difficult to move heavy objects along them
And as the roads approach Rano Raraku, the statues become more frequent – which the team say, indicated an increasing grades of holiness.
“All the evidence strongly shows that these roads were ceremonial - which backs the work of Katherine Routledge from almost 100 years ago, “ said Dr Sue Hamilton.
“It all makes sense: the moai face the people walking towards the volcano.
“The statues are more frequent the closer they are to the volcano – which has to be way of signifying the increasing levels of importance.”
She added: “What is shocking is that Heyerdahl actually found some evidence to suggest there were indeed platforms.
“But like many other archaeologists, he was so swayed by his cast iron belief that the roads were for transportation – he completely ignored them.”
Notes for editors
Routledge and her husband arrived at Easter Island in 1914, to publish her findings in a popular travel book, The Mystery of Easter Island in 1919.
Geophysical surveys are used to create subsurface maps by passing electrical currents below the ground and measuring its resistance.
High quality images are available.
Drs Hamilton and Richards are available for comment
For media enquires contact:
Mike Addelman
Media Relations Officer
Faculty of Humanities
The University of Manchester
0161 275 0790
07717 881 567
michael.addelman@manchester.ac.uk
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Collocation: Verbs and Nouns
This page contains links to vocabulary resources, and a matching exercise on this vocabulary.
Collocation is a group of two or more words that often go together. This can be with
- verbs and nouns; e.g. 'to chair a meeting',
- adjectives and nouns; e.g. 'critical thinking', or
- adjectives and prepositions; e.g. 'interested in'.
In fact collocation happens between words of many parts of speech.
Knowing collocations will improve your English speaking and writing because:
- using the wrong collocations is an error
- using correct collocations shows that your English is good
- using correct collocations makes your English more like a native speaker
Instructions:
For each word you can click on the links to get a definition, example sentences, pronunciation or a Chinese translation.
Introduction:
Instructions:
Match the items in the boxes on the left with the items on the right:
- Click in the table cell containing the item you want to move.
- Click in the table cell where you want the item to go. The words will swap position.
- If an item is in the right position, it will have a green background and a tick.
- When all the table cells are green and have ticks, you have finished.
Microsoft steps into Google territory with cloud-based Office 2010
Microsoft has commanded the attention of business folk around the globe by announcing the world-wide release of its new productivity suite, Office 2010. As well as introducing more new features than you can shake a stick at, the company's cloud computing aspirations are given form with the introduction of browser-based versions of the likes of Word and Excel.
Office 2010 officially left technical preview in November last year to enter public beta. Microsoft reports the largest ever participation in beta testing for Office 2010 with some 8.6 million people getting involved, more than three times the number of the previous Office beta phase.
Since releasing Office 2007, a new breed of professional productivity software users has emerged. No longer tied to one working location, they've been treated to regularly updated applications and they're spoiled with a choice of free-to-use tools to help them achieve their goals. In such a climate, it's almost unthinkable that a company could wait three long years before launching a new version of its software but that's exactly what Microsoft has done, only just now announcing the next version of its flagship software suite to business users.
Need new features? Done
The newest incarnation of Office is positively overflowing with new features but, as ever, exactly how useful such things prove to be will depend on how the suite is used. Users will find some familiar ground of course but new feature highlights include new picture formatting tools such as color saturation and artistic effects aimed at bringing documents to life. Backstage view replaces the familiar file menu and gives a more modern polished feel to saving, sharing, printing and publishing documents.
Sharing the workload and benefiting from multiple input is made possible with the inclusion of co-authoring tools in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote and Office 2010 is geared towards offering a similar user experience across PC, phone and browser platforms (more on the latter a bit later).
The old Document Map feature in Word is out, having been replaced by the new and improved Navigation Pane that provides quick and easy visual representation of document structure. Microsoft claims to have made improvements to the search functionality and given modern computing more than a passing thought with the inclusion of formatting enhancements especially for tablet devices.
An interesting addition to Excel is Sparklines, which can deliver a clear and compact visual representation of data through small charts within individual worksheet cells. Pivot tables get a host of improvements to filters, views and charts. Power users benefit from streamlined integration of data from multiple sources and speedy manipulation of huge data sets, the 64-bit version also caters for immense database development opportunities.
A long overdue addition to debut in the new Outlook is conversation view which can help bring together emails and replies on a themed subject into one expandable thread. Integrating graphics into emails might just help make your point stand out even more and the new Outlook Social Connector brings social network feeds directly within the popular productivity tool, which now also benefits from communication history.
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