Sci-Fi, AI & Proficiency exams

Studying for the exams can sometimes be good fun! It has to do of course with the nature of the text you are supposed to read and comprehend; (since the majority of exam tasks relates to reading comprehension). Ocassionally we stumble across a text that sparks up interest and a web research with unexpected results. That happened recently with a text about the father of Artificial Intelligence.

John McCarthy (September 4, 1927 – October 24, 2011) was an American computer scientist and cognitive scientist. McCarthy was one of the founders of the discipline of artificial intelligence; he actually coined the term "Artificial Intelligence" (AI). He also developed the Lisp programming language family, popularized Timesharing, and was very influential in the early development of AI.

On a Stanford University web page he talks about his sci-fi story “The Robot and the Baby”:

“This is the first science fiction story I have put up for the public to look at. While it was written just as a story, it partly illustrates my opinions about what household robots should be like… The movie AI illustrates one disadvantage of having robots with emotions or which elicit human emotions. Unless you make them really human they will not fit into human society. Better just make them suitable as a kind of tool…”

If you are interested in reading more, or the short story itself, here is the link: The Robot and the Baby

Forthcoming English Language Exams

May 2015 Exams: Schedule, Fees & Registration Periods

The ECCE and ECPE are administered in Greece twice a year; the ECCE is administered in May and December and the ECPE is administered in May and November.

Written sections are administered on weekends (Saturday-Sunday). Speaking sections are administered on the same or a different date, before or after the written section.

Below please find the dates, fees and registration periods for the upcoming ECCE and ECPE administered in Greece under the auspices of the Hellenic American Union:

May 2015

Examination	Date	Exam fees	Registration Period
ECCE	May 23, 2015	160 €	2/2/2015 – 27/2/2015
ECPE	May 24, 2015	180 €	2/2/2015 – 27/2/2015

For more information and instructions on how to register for the exams follow the link Registering for the Exams  and choose "Individual candidates".

Also, you can find examination dates, fees and the registration period for forthcoming Cambridge English examinations below.

Cambridge English: First for Schools

EXAM DATE	FEE	REGISTRATION
09/05/15	€160	30/01/15–18/03/15
05/12/15	€160	21/09/15–16/10/15

Cambridge English: Advanced

EXAM DATE	FEE	REGISTRATION
09/05/15	€175	30/01/15–18/03/15
05/12/15	€175	21/09/15–16/10/15

Cambridge English: Proficiency

EXAM DATE	FEE	REGISTRATION
10/05/15	€180	30/01/15–18/03/15
06/12/15	€180	21/09/15–16/10/15

For more information please visit How to Register

The exams for κπγ (the Greek state certificate) are to be held on Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th May 2015. You can register between  19/2/2015 & 9/3/2015. For more details you can have a look at κπγ-Μάιος 2015. You can also follow the link for Διευθύνσεις Δευτεροβάθμιας Εκπαίδευσης where you should register.

Treasure Island - Live from the National Theatre of London

Probably there aren’t many among us who haven’t read (or watched a screen version of) “Treasure Island”.  If you feel nostalgic or just adventurous enough to experience – once again - Robert Louis Stevenson’s exciting novel, you will have the chance on 22 January at 21:00, at Megaron (the Athens Concert Hall). A live transmission from the National Theatre of London brings to life the tale of “buccaneers and buried gold” in a thrilling adaptation by Bryony Lavery.

For more details you can visit Megaron 

Happy New Year

Ring Out, Wild Bells

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more,
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in navyress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

The Curse of Minerva

There has been a heated debate, recently fuelled by the unexpected decision of the British Museum to loan to the Russian Hermitage Museum the statue of the river god Ilissos. 

The marble sculpture is one of the disputed Parthenon Marbles pillaged by Thomas Bruce, the 7^th Earl of Elgin. The media coverage and the arguments put forward reminded me of a voice from the past, the voice of an eye-witness:

 “Mortal!”—’twas thus she (Minerva) spake—“that blush of shame

  Proclaims thee Briton, once a noble name;

     First of the mighty, foremost of the free,

     Now honour’d less by all, and least by me;

  Chief of thy foes shall Pallas still be found.

  Seek’st thou the cause of loathing?—look around.

     Lo! here, despite of war and wasting fire,

     I saw successive tyrannies expire.

  ’Scaped from the ravage of the Turk and Goth,

  Thy country sends a spoiler worse than both.

     Survey this vacant, violated fane;

     Recount the relics torn that yet remain:

  These Cecrops placed, this Pericles adorn’d,

  That Adrian rear’d when drooping Science mourn’d.

     What more I owe let gratitude attest—

     Know, Alaric and Elgin did the rest.

  That all may learn from whence the plunderer came,

  The insulted wall sustains his hated name:

  For Elgin’s fame thus grateful Pallas pleads,

  Below, his name—above, behold his deeds!

     Be ever hailed with equal honour here

     The Gothic monarch and the Pictish peer:

  arms gave the first his right, the last had none,

  But basely stole what less barbarians won.

     So when the lion quits his fell repast,

     Next prowls the wolf, the filthy jackal last;

  Flesh, limbs, and blood the former make their own,

  The last poor brute securely gnaws the bone.

     Yet still the gods are just, and crimes are cross’d:

     See here what Elgin won, and what he lost!

  Another name with his pollutes my shrine:

  Behold where Dian’s beams disdain to shine!

     Some retribution still might Pallas claim,

     When Venus half avenged Minerva’s shame.”

(The Curse of Minerva- composed on 17^th March 1811, in Athens, 

    by George Gordon Byron, aka Lord Byron)

It is probably worth watching a very short video made by Costas Gavras:

Away From Our Classroom

Away From Our Classroom is a new feature of our blog. 

It is your page where you can share with the rest of us your thoughts and ideas. 

If you think that something – a piece of news, an anecdote etc - is worth communicating to other people, please don’t hesitate to contact us sending an email to bookworm_0812@yahoo.com

We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Anniversary Celebration of October 28th

Anniversary Celebration of October 28th

Oct 27, 2014

Film screening in cooperation with the War Museum of Greece and the Scientific Association “Greek Alumni of American Universities”.

The Hellenic American Union in cooperation with the War Museum of Greece and the Scientific Association “Greek Alumni of American Universities” is honoring the anniversary celebration of October 28, 1940, by organizing a screening tribute featuring first presentations of the documentaries “Athens of War, Occupation and Resistance” and “8th Division: The First Battle” produced by the War Museum Film Archive.
The documentaries consist only of period newsreels and films, with no additional subsequent footage. Themes covered include the declaration of war, the occupation, the resistance, as well as the first battle fought by the 8th Division of the Greek Army on October 28, 1940, in defense of the “territories of the fatherland.” The event will be prefaced by the President of the Hellenic American Union, Mr. Chris Spirou, and the Director of the War Museum Film Archive, Mr. Ioannis Korodimos.

Information

Organizer	Hellenic American Union, War Museum of Greece, Greek Alumni of American Universities
Venue	Hellenic American Union Theater
Start Date	27/10/2014
End Date	27/10/2014
Starting Time	19:30
Type	Screening
Languages:	EL
Reservation Required:	No
Admission Fee	Admission is free