Film festivals

Film festivals are events staged by private organizations, local

governments, arts associations or film societies. They provide an
opportunity for unknown film makers to present their movies to a real live
audience and to have them reviewed by professional critics. If a film is
shown at a festival, the film maker gets valuable press attention and
exposure to agents and buyers.
Some festivals welcome a wide range of films, but other festivals are
more specialised. They may accept only comedies, or only films made
by female directors.
Each festival has its own set of rules. Generally film makers are given a
deadline by which they have to submit their films. Submitting a film to the
wrong festival is likely to end in rejection. If a movie is accepted, the
organizers making the film maker. Film festivals are typically divided into
categories like drama, documentary or animation. Films are judged for
their production value, creativity and overall impression.

Learning the language

Illiteracy is the condition of being unable to read and write. Illiteracy is
also used to describe the condition of being ignorant or
unknowledgeable in a particular subject or field. Computer illiteracy is
the inability to use a computer programming language.
Most of us who use computers can send emails, or know how to create
a new folder. But we know little about programming languages, the
artificial languages used to write instructions that can be executed by a
computer.
Only a very small percentage of computer users are able to read or write
this kind of computer language. Should we make the effort to learn a
computer language, especially when they are so complicated?
The answer is “Yes”. Because of computer illiteracy, users are at the
mercy of software manufacturers. Our society has become more
dependent on information technology, and in a few years’ time, knowing
a computer language will be as essential as using a human language.
Computer users will not be able to perform effectively unless they know
the code - the set of detailed instructions that tell a computer what to do.
LEFT-HANDEDNESS
Ten percent of the population is left-handed. There's a lot of
social discrimination against left-handed people. How difficult is it for
them to live in a right-handed world?
A number of practical items such as scissors have been designed for
right-handed people. It can be very inconvenient for 'lefties' to be sitting
next to 'righties' during dinner. Commonly used computer keys are on
the right of the keyboard. Lefties have to use their own sports
equipment. Less frequently used car controls such as headlight switches
are on the right.
Forcing children to use their right hand can cause hatred of school,
which can then impact their academic development. It can also result in
a disastrous learning disability. Trying to make 'lefties' use their right
hand can explain their often rebellious behavior at school, their
clumsiness and frustration.

THE ORIGIN OF OUR LANGUAGE

Love Sir William Jones, who was born in 1746, was undoubtedly one of
the greatest linguists who ever lived. He had an amazing talent for
languages and learnt Greek, Latin, Persian and Arabic at a very young
age. At the time of his death, he had a thorough knowledge of thirteen
languages and a good knowledge of a further twenty-eight
Apart from studying languages, he studied law and became a judge in
India. He was fascinated by this vast subcontinent and he wrote a great
deal about many aspects of Indian life, including music, literature, botany
and geography. He also translated some important works of Indian 5700
literature.
Jones noticed that Sanskrit, a classical language of India, was similar to
Greek and Latin in a number of significant ways. The resemblance could
not be a coincidence. Several people in earlier times had also noted the
similarities, but Jones was the first to suggest that these three languages
had a common origin. He also suggested that they could be grouped
together with other European and Asian languages into one huge family
of languages: the Indo-European languages. English is one of these
languages.
The sport of kings
The competitive racing of horses is one of the humankind’s most ancient
sports. Horse racing was an organised sport in all major civilisations
from Central Asia to the Mediterranean and became an obsession with
the public in the Roman Empire. The sport has traditionally been
associated with royalty and the nobility. It became a professional sport at
the beginning of the eighteenth century. It is the second most widely
attended spectator sport in the US, after baseball.
In the UK the Jockey Club, founded in 1750, has completed
responsibility for horse racing. It is also responsible for the regulations
regarding the breeding of racehorses. Although science has been
unable to find a breeding system that guarantees the birth of a
champion, it is possible to produce horses that are successful on the
racetrack. Commercial breeding is a very profitable business, and
racehorses can be worth millions of pounds.

Acoustic archaeology
Acoustic archaeology studies the role played by sound in the ancient
world. It examines the connection between acoustics and religious or
spiritual sites. The main question is whether the acoustics of a place are
relevant to the way it was used.
Archaeologists have noticed that a number of ancient sites have echoes
at very low frequencies. When sounds are as low as this, you feel them
in your body, rather than just hearing them, and this creates a feeling of
happiness and contentment. Sites with such echoes were probably
chosen on purpose, to make visitors feel they were in a place of worship.
If you stand in front of the Maya Temple in Mexico and clap your hands,
you can hear an echo that sounds like the chirp of the Maya sacred bird.
This chirping echo is produced because the steps of the long temple
staircase are at different distances from the listener. Some
archaeologists claim that the Maya purposely constructed this temple to
achieve the sound. Priests used this echo effect to make people believe
that the gods were speaking to them. Similar acoustic phenomena have
been observed in sites all over the world.
FOLLOWING SWALLOWS
Bert<s job doesn't immediately strike you as exciting. He sits inside a
small construction made of cloth and wire and watches birds.
Swallows, in fact, whose arrival in Britain after a dangerous flight marks
the beginning of summer. The severe weather caused by global warming
makes their journey tougher each year.
One of their main difficulties is getting enough to eat. Insect numbers
have declined sharpening and if the birds make it to Britain, they may
still die of hunger.
Farm buildings such as barns have been converted into houses and as a
result, there are fewer places for birds to nest. Bert finds it impossible to
say with any precision how far the numbers of swallows have declined in
the area under observation. Bird populations can increase considerably
if swallows have had a good breeding season, and for the moment at
least, scientists are not overly worried.

Driving blind
The idea that a blind person could drive a car sounds crazy. And the
concept of someone that can’t see driving a car almost 150 per hour
sounds even crazier. Miranda Naylor, a blind accountant from Southport,
has done exactly that in an attempt to raise money for charity. Mrs
Maylor drove a sports car for two miles in a straight line along the
runway of a disused airfield. She was in radio contact with her husband-
Pele Naylor, who was able to give her directions and advice in this way.
Her amazing achievement was expected to raise about $ 50.000 which
will be donated to a company that trains dogs for her blind.
Mrs.Naylor has been blind since she was 6 years old and she still has
some memories of the word around her. She admits that not having her
sight makes life awkward at times. She believes that if you are disable in
any way, you shouldn't waste time feeling sorry for yourself. “ It makes a
lot of sense to keep busy,” she says. “Achieving something can be a
great source of self-confidence.” Miranda is now looking for a new
challenge and would like to try motorbike riding.
HISTORY AND STORYTELLING
Over the last few years there has been more interest in the subject of
history, perhaps because historical documentaries on television have
attracted large viewing audiences. Historians who often complain about
lack of interest in their subject should be delighted at this development,
shouldn’t they?
According to a survey, more people are applying for places at
university, and the number of those wanting to study history has
increased. However, professors of history are not particularly happy
about this increase and have expressed concern about the quality of
their students. They claim that most of their first- year students have
never read a history book and don’t have the skills to study the subject in
depth. TV programmes make students think that studying history is as
simple as storytelling. Documentaries oversimplify the subject and
concentrate on the historical personalities in an attempt to attract
audiences.
On the other hand, traditional historians could learn how to tell a story
from the makers of such documentaries. Historians don’t have good
narative skills, which is why history books are not popular with readers.

Diving deeper
Free-diving is a new sport, and it's extremely dangerous, which is
perhaps why its popularity is growing fast. Free-divers are attached to a
line, and then they give to take a deep breath dive as deep as they can
and come up immediately.
The present record is 121 meters held by the British diver Tania
Streeter. Tania trains very carefully before each dive to build a physical
fit. She never dives until she is completely confident that she is ready.
`The danger is caused by the great pressure at those depths. I think
that safety producers have to be very strict if we wants to avoid
accident,` Tania says. Tania feels that mental straight is also very
important. She has an emotional response to water and feels very calm
when she's underwater. Perhaps Tania`s greatest asset is her ability to
focus. `In free-diving there are no competitors around you and there are
no cheering spectators to encourage you. It's a lonely sport,` Tania says.