"Fusion Man"_ makes historic Channel flight

The Swiss adventurer Yves Rossy flew from England to France Friday propelled by a jetpack strapped to his back -- the first person to cross the English Channel in such a way.

Rossy, a pilot who normally flies an Airbus airliner, crossed the 22 miles between Calais and Dover at speeds of up to 120 mph in 13 minutes, his spokesman said.
When the white cliffs of Dover came into view, he opened a blue and yellow parachute and drifted down in light winds to land in a British field where he was mobbed by well-wishers.
"Everything was perfect," he said afterwards. "I showed that it is possible to fly a little bit like a bird."
Rossy traced the route of French aviator Louis Bleriot, who became the first person to fly across the Channel in an aircraft in 1909.
The Swiss pilot was propelled by four kerosene-burning jet turbines attached to a wing on his back. He ignited the jets inside a plane before jumping out more than 8,000 feet above ground.
After a period of free fall he opened the wing and soared across the water. With no steering controls, the only way to change direction was like a bird, moving his head and back.

from Reuters

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Paralympic Games

The Paralympic Games are a multi-sport event for athletes with physical, mental, and sensorial disabilities. This includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy. The Paralympic Games are held every four years, following the Olympic Games, and are governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). The Paralympic Games are sometimes confused with the Special Olympics World Games, which are only for people with intellectual disabilities. But may still take part in the Paralympic games .

For the most recent games in Beijing, see 2008 Summer Paralympics.

( Wikipedia )

A Tribute to the Paralympics

Hurricane Gustave

Hurricane Gustav is moving inland from the US Gulf coast after the worst of the storm missed New Orleans - the city ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Gustav, which brought torrential rain, has now weakened to a tropical storm. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin advised the two million people who had fled inland ahead of Gustav's arrival to stay away from the city for at least another day."Re-entry is just days away, but residents shouldn't return Tuesday," Mr Nagin said, adding that officials would check the scale of damage.

"Trees are down all over the city, power lines are down all over the city, and there is a significant number of homes and businesses without energy".

BBC News

Holidays are over

Holidays are over. It's time to work now. Are you ready?
I wish all the students a good school year.

The English teacher, Isabel Silva

Quotations: Back to School

_" The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet." ~Aristotle

_"As long there are tests, there will be prayer in schools. " ~Author Unknown

_ "He who opens a school door, closes a prison." ~Victor Hugo

_ "Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere." ~Chinese Proverb

_"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty." ~Henry Ford

The Origin of the Olympic Games

How did the Olympic Games get started? The ancient Olympic Games were primarily a part of a religious festival in honor of Zeus, the father of the Greek gods and goddesses. The festival and the games were held in Olympia, a rural sanctuary site in the western Peloponnesos. The Greeks that came to the Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia shared the same religious beliefs and spoke the same language. The athletes were all male citizens of the city-states from every corner of the Greek world, coming from as far away as Iberia (Spain) in the west and the Black Sea (Turkey) in the east. The ancient Olympic Games began in the year 776 bC, when Koroibos, a cook from the nearby city of Elis, won the stadion race, a foot race 600 feet long. According to some literary traditions, this was the only athletic event of the games for the first 13 Olympic festivals or until 724 bC. From 776 bC, the Games were held in Olympia every four years for almost 12 centuries. Additional athletic events were gradually added until, by the 5th century bC, the religious festival consisted of a five-day program. The athletic events included: three foot races (stadion, diaulos, and dolichos) as well as the pentathlon (five contests: discus, javelin, long jump, wrestling, and foot race), pugme (boxing), pale (wrestling), pankration, and the hoplitodromos. Additional events, both equestrian and for humans, were added throughout the course of the history of the Olympic Games. Equestrian events, held in the hippodromos, were an important part of the athletic program of the ancient Olympic Games and by the 5th century bC included the tethrippon and the keles. The marathon was not an event of the ancient Olympic games. The marathon is a modern event that was first introduced in the Modern Olympic Games of 1896.

Run the Planet

Discover the Olympic Games for yourself.

You are about to go back in time to the first Olympiad in the year 776 B.C.

click here and the adventure will begin!

Summer Quiz

If you don't know how to spend your leisure time, test your knowledge of far away places, customs and culture with a 10-question Quiz.

You can choose different levels. Try it, learn and you will have fun!

click here to start the Quiz

Summer jokes

1.
Q: What did the pig say at the beach on a hot summer's day?
A: I'm bacon!

2.
Will you remember me in an hour?
Yes.
Will you remember me in a day?
Yes.
Will you remember me in a week?
Yes.
Will you remember me in a month?
Yes.
Will you remember me in a year?
Yes.
I think you won't.
Yes, I will.
Knock knock
Who's there?
See? You've forgotten me already!

Summer afternoon - Summer afternoon...

the two most beautiful words in the English language.

Quotation ~ Henry James

click here for more summer jokes/quotations

Great on a Hot Summer Day...

Let's fly to a tropical island and...