SKIING

Skiing is the action of travelling over snow or ice with one's feet placed on skis (long narrow pieces of wood or other material). There are many different forms of skiing. Some skiing events take place on icy mountain slopes and peaks and others take place on level or bumpy runs and trails. Skiing events in the Winter Olympics are categorized as Alpine, Nordic or Freestyle. Alpine skiing events take place on steep terrain. Many people call this "downhill" skiing. The boots are attached to the skis with bindings. The toe and heel of each boot are firmly fixed to the skis. Top downhill skiers can go 100 kilometres per hour or faster. Their average speed is similar to a car on a highway. Nordic skiing is generally for terrain that is less steep. In this type of skiing, the toe is fixed firmly to the ski, but the heel is free. The most popular type of Nordic skiing is "cross country". Freestyle skiing is a form of acrobatics. Skiers show off their skills by doing tricks.

History
Nordic skiing has been around for about 5,000 years. It likely developed as a method for hunting. Skis were carved out of wood. In Scandinavia, skiing was a major mode of transportation before it became a sport. Alpine skiing required more sophisticated bindings to hold the toes and heels to the skis. These were developed in the late 1800's. Downhill skiing originated in the European Alps. This is where it got its name. Nordic skiing became an official Olympic event at the 1928 Winter Games in Switzerland. This was the first year the Winter Olympics were recognized by the IOC. Alpine skiing was added in 1936. Since then many more skiing events have been added to the Olympic program, including the popular sport with one large ski better known as "snowboarding".

Equipment
Different types of skiing require different equipment. The length of the skis worn depends on the type of skiing. Some skiers hold ski poles for balance and wear helmets to protect their heads. Many professional skiers wear goggles to protect their eyes as well. Ski lifts, chair lifts or gondolas are often used to transport skiers up to the top of a mountain to ski down a run. Snow-grooming machines are sometimes used when there is not enough real snow. Skiers call real fresh snow "powder".

In the Olympics there are various types of Nordic events, including individual races, relays, sprints, combined events, and races of different distances.

Cross Country
There are two main types of cross-country skiing. Classical cross-country skiing involves straight skiing on designated trails. Freestyle cross-country is a faster type of skiing. In this sport skiers push off on each ski every time they take a stride. Some events combine cross-country and freestyle skiing. Skiers do not go down steep inclines on cross-country skis.

Ski Jumping
This event is held at the top of a hill. The hill can be "normal", "large" (higher), or "ski-flying" (highest). Skiers start at the top of the hill called an "inrun". They then jump from a ramp. The score for a ski jump is based on the distance and the style of the jump. Skiers make a V with their skis to clear the most distance. Ski jumping in the Olympics is a male-only event. Women ski jumpers hoped the sport would be added in 2010, but the IOC chose not to include it.

Nordic Combined
In this event, skiers must complete a cross-country race and at least one scored ski jump from the top of a ski hill. The distance, order and number of jumps in the Olympic Nordic combined event changes often.

Biathlon
This event involves cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. Skiers race around a track and make several stops to shoot at targets. When skiers miss a target they receive a penalty, such as having to ski an extra loop or having time added to their total. Racers are free to use either classic or freestyle forms of skiing.

Alpine Skiing
In the Olympics there are five types of Alpine events, including the main four below, plus an event that combines downhill and slalom racing. Downhill and Super G are "speed events" while slalom and giant slalom are "technical events". Men and women compete in the following races against other skiers of their own gender.

Downhill
This is the longest type of downhill race. Skiers compete to have the fastest time. They have one run down a very steep hill that is usually covered in ice. Downhill courses (seen right) feature a variety of terrain including turns, jumps and straightaways.

Slalom
This is a short course with sharp turns. Skiers must go through sets of gates (poles) that are very close together. In the Winter Olympics, skiers go down the run twice. The gates are moved for the second run. The two race times are added together for a total. Short skis are worn to maximize movement.

Giant Slalom
This is similar to slalom except that the gates are farther apart and the course is longer. The turns are not as sharp and the speeds are faster in the giant slalom.

Supergiant (Super G)
This is an event that combines downhill and giant slalom events. It is a longer run than the giant slalom and skiers use the "tuck" position as they do in the downhill events. The gates are placed farther apart, allowing skiers to pick up a lot of speed. As in all of the slalom events, skiers are not allowed to take a practice run. They are permitted to view the course ahead of time.

Freestyle Skiing
Acrobatic skiing was previously known as "hot-dogging". It was a demonstration sport at the 1988 Winter Olympics and has been an official discipline ever since. The two main forms of freestyle skiing are aerials and moguls. Outside of the Olympics, skiers compete in many other freestyle forms.

Aerials
Aerials became an Olympic sport in 1994. Skiers jump off an elevated area and do flips, summersaults and other twists in the air. Their formation in the air is worth 50% of their score. Skiers are also judged on how high they "fly" and how well they "land".

Moguls
"Mogul" is another word for "bump". Skiers race down a run that is full of moguls. Their score is based on how fast they ski and how well they turn corners and perform tricks.

SLANG

British slang and language related sites:
London Slang - current usage, including rhyming slang. With an introduction, slang survey, bibliography and films, it's well worth a butchers.
Completely Lanky - a wonderful insight into the Lancashire dialect. Based on Dave Dutton's reyt funny book of the same name.
United Kingdom English for the American Novice - a listing of British words and phrases, from an American's perspective, including some slang, with definitions in American. (Last updated Jan 1996)
Everyday English and Slang in Ireland - a starting point for those interested in the rich language of the Irish, and although not strictly


US slang and language related sites:
Amerispeak - contains a selection of expressions associated with the US.
A Seattle Lexicon - for 'Lingo from the Far Corner' offering sections on geography, events, sports and coffee amongst others.
American Dialect Society - founded over a century ago and the only scholarly association dedicated to the study of the English language in North America.
Bay Area Hip Hop Dictionary - a good collection of slang from San Francisco, including Bay Area links.
Slang City - guide to American slang, including explanations of popular songs and movies, bad words, body parts and more.
A Historical Dictionary of American Slang - presents a unique way for studying slang. It contains over 2200 slang words with the centuries in which they were first printed.

SPICE UP YOUR LIFE

Anjali Patak gives us lessons in Indian cooking

We all know that Indian food is a lot of nations´ favourite , yet so many people are afraid to try it at home. Thankfully, Patak has made us cook authentic Indian meals with little time and effort - and without a cupboard of overflowing spices.

http://www.pataks.co.uk/

Christmas Holidays

I am spending my Christmas holidays in Rome. Thanks to my dearest friends Tyron and Marzia I have been able to taste Paneforte or ‘strong bread’. It is a delicious, candied confection, more than a cake. It is a traditional Christmas cake from Siena in Tuscany. It dates back to the Crusades and it is a predecessor of modern day fruitcake. Also, I tried another typical Christmas Italian sweet, Panettone, made with raisins and dry fruit.

With my friends, I have wandered about the Eternal City centre revisiting such antique monuments as the Colosseum, Capitol Hill and its Roman Museum, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona with its stands selling handicraft Cribs, The Monument to the Fallen at Piazza Venezia, and the lift that exists there which takes you to the very top of the monument and its breath taking sights of the city, etc. All under the new light shed by being in the company of my friends which showed me their city as only a local can. Again I thank them for this wonderful experience which has given me new knowledge of Rome.

Vocabulary related to social siences

This is a list of vocabulary items related to social sciences

Society
A society is a population of humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive culture and/or institutions. More broadly, a society is an economic, social and industrial infrastructure, in which a varied multitude of people are a part of. Members of a society may be from different ethnic groups.

Antisocial
Antisocial (against society) is often used in colloquial speech to mean unfriendly or not sociable (asocial). In scientific use, antisocial refers more specifically to a person who is harmful or hostile to others, or to society in general.

Social exclusion
Social exclusion relates to the alienation or disenfranchisement of certain people within a society. It is often connected to a person's social class, educational status, relationships in childhood and living standards and how these might affect access to various opportunities. It also applies to some degree to people with a disability, to minority men and women of all races, to the elderly, and to youth (Youth Exclusion). Anyone who deviates in any perceived way from the norm of a population may become subject to coarse or subtle forms of social exclusion.

Here are some definitions of Social exclusion :

“Social exclusion is about the inability of our society to keep all groups and individuals within reach of what we expect as a society...[or] to realise their full potential."
"Whatever the content and criteria of social membership, socially excluded groups and individuals lack capacity or access to social opportunity.
Social class
Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions (or stratification) between individuals or groups in societies or cultures.

People may be part of lower, middle or higher classes.

Minority
A minority or subordinate group is a sociological group that does not constitute a politically dominant voting majority of the total population of a given society.

A minority group can be defined as:

"a group of people who, because of their physical or cultural characteristics, are singled out from the others in the society in which they live for differential and unequal treatment, and who therefore regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination."
Examples of minority groups include emigrants, blacks, ...

Social solidarity
Social solidarity refers to the integration, and degree and type of integration, shown by a society or group.

Association
A voluntary association or union (also sometimes called a voluntary organization, unincorporated association, or just an association) is a group of individuals who voluntarily enter into an agreement to form a body (or organization) to accomplish a purpose for the good of society.

Examples of association include associations for the defence of human rights, minorities, the disabled ...

Multicultural Society
A society in which there is a cultural diversity.

Health care
Health care, or healthcare, is the prevention, treatment, and management of illness and the preservation of health through services offered by the medical, dental, nursing, and allied health professions. Health care embraces all the goods and services designed to promote health, including “preventive, curative and palliative interventions, whether directed to individuals or to populations”.

Voluntary work
Voluntary work is done by volunteers for the benifit of a community or society.

A volunteer is someone who works for a community or for the benefit of environment primarily because they choose to do so. Volunteers do not normally get paid.

Homelessness
Homelessness is the condition and social category of people who lack housing, because they cannot afford, or are otherwise unable to maintain, regular, safe, and adequate shelter.

People who are part of this social category are called homeless people.

Poverty
Poverty is the deprivation of common necessities such as food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water, all of which determine our quality of life. It may also include the lack of access to opportunities such as education and employment which aid the escape from poverty and/or allow one to enjoy the respect of fellow citizens.

Citizenship
Citizenship is membership in a political community (originally a city or town but now usually a country) and carries with it rights to political participation; a person having such membership is a citizen.

Gender Roles
A gender role is defined as a set of perceived behavioral norms associated particularly with males or females, in a given social group or system. It can be a form of division of labour by gender.

Domestic violence
Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or spousal abuse) occurs when a family member, partner or ex-partner attempts to physically or psychologically dominate another. Domestic violence often refers to violence between spouses, or spousal abuse but can also include cohabitants and non-married intimate partners.

FILMS AND LITERATURE

Novel: THE PAINTED VEIL by William Somerset Maugham

Summary: Kitty Fane is a beautiful young woman whose mother has raised her to make a suitable match. But Kitty refuses a number of suitors; several years pass and eventually she is reduced to marrying Walter, the colonial bacteriologist in Hong Kong. Walter is a shy and awkward man who loves Kitty passionately, but has no idea how to express it; Kitty is charming and socially adept, but vacuous. In Hong Kong Kitty engages in a yearlong affair with Charles Townsend, the assistant colonial secretary, and a married man whose celebrity potential far eclipses Walter's stolid scientific work. The novel opens when Walter discovers his wife's infidelity.

Kitty believes that Townsend is madly in love with her and prepared to divorce his wife and sacrifice his career to marry her. Walter, who suffers from a broken heart, gives Kitty an ultimatum--either Townsend must promise to divorce his wife and marry her, or Kitty must accompany Walter to a city in the interior where he has volunteered to go to fight the cholera epidemic. Townsend demurs; Kitty is crushed; and the desperately unhappy pair travels to the cholera-ridden city, where they move into the house of the newly-dead missionary.

There, Walter (who is also a medical doctor) sets to work, day and night, to institute public health measures and care for dying patients. Meanwhile, Kitty meets Worthington, the British consul, a cynical alcoholic, who is at heart a good and honest person; and the French nuns, who labor tirelessly to care for orphans and the ill. Impressed by the nuns' selflessness, Kitty begins to devote herself to assisting them and trying to understand their spirituality.

When he learns that Kitty is pregnant, Walter asks if it is his child; Kitty responds, "I don't know." This completes the destruction of Walter's heart, and he soon dies of cholera--presumably as a result of experimenting on himself to find a cure. Kitty learns that the nuns, the soldiers, and all the people of the city consider Walter a saint, who has sacrificed himself for their welfare. However, while Kitty has learned to respect her husband, she could never love him.

Kitty stays only briefly in Hong Kong before returning home to London. Shortly before her arrival, she learns that her mother, whom she believes is responsible for her (Kitty's) shallowness, has died. The novel ends with Kitty vowing to bring up her daughter as a strong and independent woman, and preparing to move with her father to the Bahamas, where he has recently been appointed Chief Justice.

Film: THE PAINTED VEIL by John Curran

INCEPTION