Either we like it or not, summer is
here. So, inevitably, we start thinking about and making holiday plans. If you
are interested in staying somewhere with somereal character, here are some
suggestions for alternative holidays and unusual places to stay in Britain.
What about a night in a luxury treehouse instead of the more conventional 5star
hotel room? Or maybe a stay in a castle is more your thing?
Sunday lunch is a big deal for many
people around the world, and Britons seem to take it very seriously. The celebrated
main meal is the Sunday roast, which of course could be eaten on any day of the
week. Consisting of roasted meat, roast or (rarely) mashed potato and accompaniments
such as Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, vegetables and gravy, the meal is often
comparable to a less grand version of a traditional Christmas dinner.
You could
enjoy it at home, with your family and friends, or eat out. If you happen to be
visiting London, you could check out one (or more) of the 21 unmissable spots recommended. In any other case, you can still enjoy a Sunday lunch recipe by
Jamie Oliver.
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 Lispprogramming 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
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:
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.
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.
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.
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 7th 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 17th March 1811, in Athens,
by George Gordon Byron, aka Lord Byron)
It is probably worth watching a very short video made by Costas Gavras:
