Passenger

It works. Well done! :D

First I have to disagree on the point of Germans acting strange on "soul, genuine love". Is that an empirical assumption? How do you justify this claim? I'd say it was the tradition of the upper and middle class at the time to raise their children on principles of pragmatism and reason. Similar examples can be found all over Europe and America during the beginning of the 20th C. Focus was the accomplishment of wealth and reputation, not love. It so reminds me of "Citizen Kane", a film showing the life of a business man by claiming his unhappiness arose from his childly upbringing. I say, ROSEBUD. :D Anyway, White Ribbon was great. ;) And yes, very scary! You expect people with reason to commit such crimes e.g mischief, depression etc. We want our logic to explain the cause. But the emphasis of the film is on children - the innocent. How can we live in peace if not even the innocent understand the difference between right and wrong? It implies a profane failure of society.

A-level results 2010: A-level pass rate rises to 97.6% A-level pass rate rises for 28th year, sparking intense battle for university places (37) Tweet this (96) Comments (147) Jeevan Vasagar, education editor guardian.co.uk, Thursday 19 August 2010 09.30 BST Article history Students celebrate getting their A level results. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA A-level pass rates today rose to another record high of 97.6% while an unprecedented 27% of entries achieved an A, in results which will sharpen the intense battle for places at university this year. Just over 8% of the entries were awarded the A* grade, which was introduced this year and is meant to help the most competitive universities select the best candidates. As students find out today whether they have achieved their predicted grades, it will trigger a desperate scramble for places in clearing. Around 170,000 people are predicted to miss out on a place on a degree course this autumn after applications surged to another record high this summer. The A-level pass rate rose for the 28th successive year, in results published today for candidates in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, increasing by 0.1% from 97.5% who passed at grades A to E in 2009. An increased proportion of entries passed at grade A, including A*, which requires marks over 90% in a candidate's second year exams. Last year, 26.7% passed at grade A. The increased proportion of A grades will intensify competition for university places. Nine of the elite Russell Group universities have said they will offer some places through clearing. Cardiff said it would have around 260 places available, Manchester 120 and Newcastle around 100. Leading universities are split over whether to use the A*. Among the Russell Group, Cambridge has made A*AA its standard offer in most subjects, while Imperial has requested it in seven courses, UCL in four and Warwick in one. But some top universities including Leeds have declined to use the A* this year, partly because of fears that private schools will perform disproportionately well. Oxford has declined to use it because of concern about the accuracy of teachers' predictions. In 2009, more than 50% of A -levels taken by privately educated pupils scored an A compared with 20% of those in state schools, widening the gap in achievement between the sectors. Today's results are the last A-levels to have been taken, in part, under a Labour government that came to power promising to transform education. The rise in the pass rate over the last three decades has prompted concerns that A-levels have got easier while candidates' abilities have remained the same. Research at Durham University has found that a candidate who would have got a C two decades ago would get an A now. The study by Dr Robert Coe found that "candidates of comparable ability are being awarded higher grades each year, both at A-level where the trend has been consistent and substantial since 1988, and at GCSE." The research was based on comparing A-level grades over the years with scores for tests that looked at general ability rather than curriculum knowledge. Coe said it could be that exam performance had improved; there was more focus on preparation and schools were being more selective about who sits exams. Changes such as coursework or modules made it easier for today's candidates to shine with the same quality of work as in previous years, he said. Meanwhile, Britain has slipped in comparison with other countries. According to a respected international study, the OECD's Pisa survey, the UK fell from fourth in the world for school science in 2000 to 14th six years later. It slipped from 7th to 17th for reading and eighth to 24th in maths. The findings were based on independent tests of children's ability. source: The Guardian, 19/08/2010

GAY Music Top 100 --> good list! btw, it's not rude to call a song gay. i don't wanna start again by saying "my best friend and i" ... but... yes, with him i always talk about gay music. :D Gay music is great fun! Super gay songs: YMCY by Village People Go West by Pet Shop Boy Eurovision songs

So true. It's one of the best! [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBZPa-kLLCE&feature=related]YouTube- Comptine d'un Autre Été: - The Fabulous World of Amelie OST[/ame]

source: Daily Mail

Agree. Very good music!!! I personally like soundtracks that combine various songs eg Dirty Dancing, The Darjeeling Limited (Stones, Kinks, ...), No Reservations (oh yes, amazing tracklist)! [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWCBhKfmSUg&feature=related]YouTube- Mark Isham - Building a family (No reservations soundtrack)[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONd4qSs5B5k&feature=related]YouTube- The Kinks - This Time Tomorrow[/ame]

A-Team 3/10 - so disappointing! Felt like they were trying to sum up all 5 seasons in one movie. went horribly wrong! The Wrestler - 9/10

My travel plans this year are very much focused on Central Europe and the East. I already spent a week in Helsinki, and will travel to Prague, Poland (mainly Warsaw + north) and St. Petersburg. I live very close to the East but never managed to see all these places until I finally decided to do it. :lol: I'll be broke before I go back to uni this October... :thinking:

International law mainly works on bilateral relations, it's mainly about to take revenge.

I agree, there's nothing to be ashamed about. I love ABBA and a lot of Eurovision songs. :D Otherwise I used to go to a lot of "Cheese Nights" at our union... S Club 7, Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, ... good times. :laugh3:

source: BBC.co.uk, 9 August 2010 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10912658 Moscow's health chief has confirmed the mortality rate has doubled as a heatwave and wildfire smog continue to grip the Russian capital. There were twice the usual number of bodies in the city's morgues, Andrei Seltsovsky told reporters. Meanwhile, a state of emergency has been declared around a nuclear reprocessing plant in the southern Urals because of nearby wildfires. Continue reading the main story Related stories Moscow smog and heat: Your experiences Russia reduces harvest forecast And there was a new warning over shortfalls in Russia's grain harvest. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said this year's harvest, hit by fire and drought, would be worse than previously forecast. Currently expected to be 65m tonnes, it could be as low as 60 million tonnes, Mr Putin said. Mr Putin also said that a ban on grain exports could be extended beyond the end of 2010 because of shortages for domestic markets. Russia is the world's third largest wheat exporter. Its biggest customers include Egypt, Turkey and Syria. As of Monday morning, 557 wildfires continued to burn in Russia, 25 of them peat fires, the emergencies ministry said. While 239 fires were extinguished on Sunday, 247 new ones were discovered. The head of the state weather service, Alexander Frolov, said on Monday that the heatwave of 2010 was the worst in 1,000 years of recorded Russian history. "It's an absolutely unique phenomenon - nothing like it can be seen in the archives," he was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying. How peat bog fires spread Peat is formed from decayed vegetation in bogs, moors or swamps. Deliberate drainage or drought can expose peat to air. Peat can then be ignited by wildfires or spontaneously combust. The air flow allows the peat to continue burning. Once alight, the smouldering fire spreads slowly through the peat and can cause the ground above to collapse. 'Puzzling' death data Recent death rates for parts of central Russia other than Moscow, which are seeing similar droughts and wildfires for more than a month, have not been released. Continue reading the main story “Start Quote On normal days, between 360 and 380 die - now it's around 700” End Quote Andrei Seltsovsky Head of Moscow city health department Soon after Mr Seltsovsky gave his information, Russia's Health Minister, Tatyana Golikova, demanded a formal clarification of his data. Her ministry said it was "puzzled by the unofficial figures quoted at the briefing". Mr Seltsovsky did not give a time frame but earlier reports had spoken of the death rate in Moscow for July rising by up to 50% compared with the same period last year. "On normal days, between 360 and 380 die - now it's around 700," Mr Seltsovsky told reporters. Moscow, he said, had 1,500 places in its morgues and 1,300 of these were currently occupied. While stressing there was still capacity, he added that about 30% of bereaved people were asking to have the body kept in a morgue for more than three days, "which slightly complicates the situation". The concentration of carbon monoxide in Moscow was still more than double acceptable safety norms on Monday as smog from peat and forest wildfires continued to blanket the city. Temperatures of more than 35C (95F) are forecast for the city until Thursday. Since the second half of July, at least 52 deaths in Russia as a whole have been attributed directly to fires, which have destroyed hundreds of rural homes. Mr Seltsovsky did not attribute the rise in the mortality rate to the heatwave or smog but doctors, speaking off the record, have talked of morgues filling with victims of heat stroke and smoke ailments. Nuclear plant alert A nuclear plant in the Urals being threatened by the wildfires was the site of Russia's worst nuclear disaster in 1957. Fires are still burning across central Russia Some of the land around the Mayak plant in the town of Ozersk (known in Soviet times as Chelyabinsk-40) is believed to be still contaminated from the disaster, in which a tank of radioactive waste exploded. Several leaks of radioactive waste have been reported from the plant in recent years. Ozersk's administration announced on the town's website that residents were forbidden from entering the region's abundant, picturesque woodlands until further notice, and ordered urgent, unspecified fire safety measures. According to Russia's Itar-Tass news agency, Moscow airports were working normally on Monday after last week's disruptions due to smog. Sunday saw more than 104,000 air travellers leaving the capital - a record number, according to Russian news agencies. Those who remain in the city of 10.5m people were being urged to wear face masks if they ventured outdoors, and to hang wet towels indoors to attract dust and cool the airflow. Most apartments in the city lack air conditioning and there are media reports of wealthier citizens moving out of their homes into hotels, shopping malls, offices and private cars. Witness reports: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10916011 Excerpt: Irina, Moscow "The situation in the city is totally devastating. I feel like a smoked fish placed in an oven. I had to ask my boss if I could leave the city, and then fled to St. Petersburg to stay with my relatives. I did not care how much the tickets cost. I just had to get away from the hell that is Moscow right now. I grabbed the first available tickets and fled. I could not imagine that something like that was possible. God save us."

Apparently part 2 is in development. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1483018/ not sure there's need for it though.

:shocked2::shocked2::shocked2:

:D Those are the best stories.

Bram Stoker - Dracula Came back from a nice night out with some friends and didn't feel like sleeping, so started reading. Guess 3am is the best time to enjoy Dracula. lol

Can't say I have a fav book. There are many books that inspired me though e.g. The Sea The Sea by Iris Murdoch, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, On Beauty by Zadie Smith, Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt or Mephisto by Klaus Mann. A modern book I really enjoyed was A Fraction of a Whole by Steve Toltz. I also love Anna Gavalda's stories. And I admit, Persuasion by Jane Austen is great. :)

Citizen Kane 9/10 So need to watch it again.

E. M. Forster - A Room With A View

apparently they don't even have a proper insurance policy and announced their inability to pay for the victims... it's the least they should have done for the families.

Richard Yates - Revolutionary Road

I am currently on a visit in Germany and saw it somwhere here. Yeah, I definitely have to think hard to come up with a film which was as bad as this one.

Having been in the same situation as you, I totally understand your opinion. The film was rubbish and I wish I hadn't wasted money for it. However, we ended up watching it coz there was nothing else on - though - yes - maybe Karate Kid would have been the better choice. lol