BBC and CBC news stories: 23 Nov 07

Cameron writes...

French Transit Strike

Both the BBC and CBC cover the strikes in France in articles on their websites. Both articles were relatively the same and said how civil servants walked off the job on Tuesday; joining transit workers and energy workers who say no, to what they say is a decrease in earnings and available jobs. The BBC however, also has a section on some incidents of what SNCF says are vandalism and sabotage by militants. It reports several fires that were disrupting TGVs which were already slowed up by the union strike over reforms.

Giant Sea Scorpion Fossil

Both the BBC and CBC cover the “giant sea scorpion fossil” story, on their websites. This story is about a 46cm claw found near Prum in south-west Germany. Using this claw, scientists guessed that the sea scorpion it belonged to would have been about 2.5 metres long. Both also included quotes from Doctor Simon Braddy from the University of Bristol, in the UK. The scorpion was named Jaekelopterus rhenaniae, and was discovered by Markus Poschmann, one of Braddy’s colleagues.

Cave of Romulus and Remus

Again, both the BBC and CBC cover this story in articles on their websites. These articles cover how a cave was discovered which archaeologists say they are sure is the one in which ancient Romans believe a she-wolf nursed Romulus and his twin brother Remus. Romulus is believed to have the founded ancient Rome after killing Remus in a fight over who should control the city. The cave has been probed and looked at through endoscopes and laser-scanners, as archaeologists feared it would not stand up to a full excavation.

Links

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7105045.stm

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/11/20/france-strike.html#skip300x250

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7104421.stm

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/11/20/giant-scorpion.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7104330.stm

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/science/071120/g112006A.html

Interesting News Stories: 23 Nov 07

Meghan writes...

Explorer Ship Sunk

On Friday November 23^rd, a ship carrying 154 people hit an iceberg near Antarctica. The Canadian ship, the Explorer, sank 20 hours later. The rescue was very organized and all of the passengers were saved without injury. There were 12 Canadians on board, 24 British, 17 Dutch, 14 Americans, and 10 Australians. There were also other passengers from Argentina, Denmark China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden and Columbia.

California Wildfires

Some weeks after firefighters fought fires in southern California, a new fire started up in Malibu. It was because of the hot dry winds going through. There were some 1,700 firefighters there. Later in the day the winds started dying down. It gave them more of a chance against the fires.

Our Big Trip to Germany

Cameron writes...

In mid-October we decided we were going to go on a trip to Berlin and Rostock. Berlin and Rostock are two cities in Germany where some of my dad’s relatives live. We also decided we would first stay in Berlin for 3 days, then go to Rostock for 3 days, and then stop in Berlin for a day on our way back home.

On the 8 November, we set off on a train to Offenburg, Germany, which is just 25 minutes away. From there we caught a train to Berlin. On the way there we took the computer out and played on it using the plug-ins provided on almost any major European train. We also ate and read some books.

In Berlin, we got some S-bahn¹ passes and took the S5 line to Friedrichstrasse. From there we took the S1 straight to Birkenwerder, the place Horst and Eva live. Horst is somehow related to my dad’s mother. They welcomed us with a good supper, and then Meghan and I went to bed while our parents sat up talking with them.

On Saturday Horst’s son Matthias² came and we had supper with him. For supper there was a little grill in the middle of the table, first you were supposed to put some meat on top. Then you put other things in a little pan in the bottom (e.x. potatoes, cheese broccoli). When both the meat and “others” were done, you took them out and ate them together. It was a wonderful supper and you never really got full, because you always had to wait a little for it to cook.

On Sunday Matthias drove us up to Rostock. There we met Tess and Gina for the second time. Their mother’s name was Sabina, and Matthias let her and her three kids (we didn’t meet Gloria) stay on floor two of his four-floored apartment. We got all settled in a spare room and went to bed on the two beds there.

The next day we were supposed to go to Gina’s English class and tell them about Canada. The teacher there was teaching them simple past tense verbs, but still had time for the kids to ask us questions. They also got to tell us a little about their school. It was quite an interesting experience, both being in a German school and hearing about it from the class.

Over the next few days, we played Playstation 2 with Tess and Gina and had them over for supper once. On Wednesday we were supposed to go back, but there was a train strike in Germany, so we ended up leaving on Friday. In the meantime we went bowling with Gina and Matthias, but Tess was too sick to come. It was a lot of fun. Late Friday afternoon we finally got back to Berlin.

We spent Saturday in Berlin, and then left on Sunday Morning. On the train we again pulled out the computer, and that helped pass the 5 or 6 hour train ride a lot. After a while we ate lunch, and then my mom and dad tried to catch up on missed sleep for awhile. At 2:30 we got off in Offenburg and switched to the final train back to Strasbourg.

We were glad to finally be home again even if it meant more schoolwork. Travelling is ok but after awhile it really takes its toll. Now we are greatly anticipating our trip to Italy. Hopefully it will be even more fun than our trip to Germany!

¹S-bahn: S-bahn is a type of inter-city train which runs both above and below ground.

²Pronounced “Ma-Tee-Iss”

Our trip to Berlin

Meghan writes...

On the 8^th of November, we left our apartment at 7:00. We were going to Berlin. We wanted to go there to visit Horst and Eva. They are some relatives of ours. (I do not know exactly how they are related to me). Although it was an early start, we had a very good trip there, going by train, and arrived at about 3:30.

We stayed in Horst and Eva’s house for three nights, and then went in Mathias’s car to his house. He lives in a nice apartment in Rostock, which is two and a half hours’ drive from Berlin. There are only four floors in the apartment. Mathias has two and Sabina (the person that lives downstairs with three girls) has one. There's a restaurant at the bottom. Gina and Tess live downstairs, and we went to their school for a day.

We stayed at their school for an hour and a half. (We went during their English lesson) It is a nice school; it has lots of floors instead of one, like the schools in Canada. At the schools in Germany (maybe Europe too) they have to learn three languages. The English teacher (during English) also taught a little bit of French and a little Russian.

We also went bowling with Gina and Mathias. (Tess was sick). We were planning to go back to Berlin the day after but then there was a train strike. We left a couple days later, going back in Mathias’s car again. It was no problem for him because he was going somewhere else and Berlin was on the way there.

We stayed in Berlin for another day. In that day we visited Asta, (who is 86 years old) her two sisters, her daughter, and one of her sister’s husband. We left the day after, and had the same uneventful (in a good way) train trip as the one on the way there.

Louvre Greek and Roman art comparison: 5 Nov 07

Cameron writes...

Greek Art: The Satyr

The satyr was the companion of the Greek god of wine Dionysus. They were most recognizable by their pointed ears and stunted horns. This bust is a mere part of the statue it used to be. It is from the collection called “invitation to dance” and was probably created during the Roman epoch.

In the scene he used to be posed in, he was inviting a young woman “nymph”, who was sitting on a rock, to dance. His original group is lost today, but is known by some pieces of money they were seen on. It looks like a type of Hellenistic art called “rococo”. The Romans liked to sometimes put statues of satyrs, like this one, in their gardens.

Roman Art: Emperor Commodus

This is a marble statue of the Roman emperor Commodus. It appears to be made after he was already emperor for awhile. It was also made on the special occasion of his marriage to his wife Crispine. The impressionist that created it appears to have used a style that seems one of the possible outcomes of the Antonius Style, which was already present in some statues on Marcus Aurelius.

Similarities/Differences

The Satyr	Commodus
Neck very detailed	Not much detail in neck
Appears relaxed, laughing	Appears very “serious”
Head slightly tilted	Head slightly tilted
Cheeks very meticulous	Cheeks very un-detailed
Hair less curly	Hair much tighter curled
Very apparent eye-lids and detailed eyes	No eye-lids or detail in eyes
Ears very small	Ears very small

Over all I think the Greek art is much more detailed and expressive. The satyr is laughing and joking around while Commodus sits and stares at you with his nonexistent eyes. The satyr’s neck has a lot of details in muscle structure, much like his cheeks. For some reason both the Romans and the Greeks like people with tilted heads more that straight ones. They also make people with small ears.

I think they both civilizations have different reasons for doing statues this way. The Roman generals might have wanted to appear fierce and mighty, while the Greeks care-free and happy. It could also be that the Louvre doesn’t have all the art in the world; this is just a small dose…

Greek and Egyptian Sculptures at the Louvre

Meghan writes...

We went to Paris by train on November 5^th. We were going there to see the Louvre museum. There were a lot of people there. There was a big pyramid that was made of 673 panes of glass and you have to go inside it to get into the Louvre. There was lots of security there, kind of like an airport. The Louvre building looks very old.

First we went to see the Mona Lisa. We went into the Denon wing and followed the signs that said “Italian Paintings”. There were lots of people gathered there to see the famous painting. I waited until there was a gap in the people and then snuck through to get a picture of it. It is a nice painting.

I am going to compare two types of statues, one is Greek and one is Egyptian.

This is the Greek one:

The Greeks are expressive sculptors. They also like sculpting the gods. This statue is made of marble and the lady in the sculpting is Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt. Artemis is also the daughter of Zeus. The statue was discovered in Italy. It was restored twice, once in 1602 by Barthëlemy Prieur and once in 1808 by Lange.

This is the Egyptian sculpture:

This Egyptian sculpture is made of sandstone. It is a statue of king Seti II. With another statue kept in the museum in Turin, it provided guidance entry to a repository in the courtyard of the Temple of Amon at Karnak. The Egyptians put a lot of writing on their statues. I think the Greeks put more detail on their statues than the Egyptians.