Living life conjoined

Watch this video from The New York Times on two US siamese sisters and answer the questions below about it.

WHO are Krista and Tatiana Hogan?
WHERE do they live?
WHERE did a documentary about them in their early years air?
WHEN did their mother discover she was carrying conjoined twins?
HOW do doctors think one twin with her eyes covered is able to “see” what the other twin is looking at?
WHAT is the twins’ relationship like?
WHY did the parents decide early on not to do a surgical separation?
WHY are there concerns about Tatiana’s heart?
WHY do you think their mother is so determined to make their lives “as normal as possible”?

You can read the related article here and a slideshow here.

Ophra

After 25 years, leading daytime TV with her talk show, Ophra finally bid her farewell on Wednesday.

Watch this PBS video, where Ophra's impact on TV and American culture is analysed.

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

You can read a transcript here.

Why do we believe in luck

Is there such a thing as a lucky person or a lucky streak? And does belief in good and bad luck play a part in whether we are prepared to take chances, asks Megan Lane.

I won a pair of cinema tickets recently. Then a free haircut. While sceptical about luck, I couldn't help but wonder if it might run in threes.

This is the way Megan Lane starts her article on luck on the BBC website. Read the article to find out more about it, and don't miss the three-minute video by Professors Mike Aitken and David Spiegelhalter on how to measure risk and on the real existence of luck.

Why we do what we do

Tony Robbins discusses the "invisible forces" that motivate everyone's actions. He makes it his business to know why we do the things we do. This pioneering life coach has spoken to millions of people through his best-selling books and three-day seminars.

Shakira at Oxford Union

Watch the speech Shakira gave at Oxford Union about the work of her charity, Barefoot.

Sex and the City Kristin Davies on Letterman

Watch this extract of the interview to Kristin Davies on the David Letterman show some way back and try to understand what she says about the following items:

Solar-powered housed
Building a house
Africa
Oxfam



You can read the transcript here.

Language is a precious gift

Language is what makes us human. It is a precious thing, worth all our senses and more combined. We should treasure each and every one.

However, languages are disappearing and the human “ethnosphere” or may I say, “linguasphere” is eroding. Our planet is worse for this lack of linguistic diversity.

In this amazing talk, anthropologist and National Geographic spokesman, Wade Davis, passionately outlines where we need protect and nurture each and every language. A must watch!

Negative inversion

We have been studying inversion in the last few days in class. Chance has it that Warsaw Will, from Random Idea English, published some online activities on inversion just yesterday.

If you need to brush up your knowledge of inversion, you can read this other blog entry  in Warsaw's blog.

If you'd rather jump in at the deep end, simply do the online exercises that will come up after clicking on the image below.