Eruojdf, Kyiv (2026)

17/05/2022

Easter Day

Easter Day is the central religious feast in the Christian world. According to Christian scripture, Jesus rose from the death on the third day after his crucifixion. Some Christians celebrate this resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday (also Resurrection Day or Resurrection Sunday). Easter is a moveable feast, meaning it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar.

According to the traditions, Easter Sunday is celebrated by taking part in an Easter vigil, lighting a new fire outside the church early on Sunday morning. Another custom involves lighting the Paschal candle and decorating it with studs to celebrate Christ’s wounds. Chanting of the Easter proclamation, reading the Old Testament, singing hymns and wishing happy Easter Day are other characteristics of the celebration.

Relatively newer elements such as the Easter Bunny and Easter egg hunts have become part of the holiday’s modern celebrations, and those aspects are often celebrated by many Christians and non-Christians alike. The Easter Bunny, which is a counterpart to the Santa Claus of Christmas, brings gifts, a basket of colored eggs, to children on the night before the celebration. Easter eggs used to be painted chicken eggs, but a modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery such as jelly beans. These eggs are often hidden, allegedly by the Easter Bunny, for children to find on Easter morning.

24/04/2022

Why Waiting Is Torture

Some years ago, executives at a Houston airport faced an inordinate number of complaints about the long waits at baggage claim. In response, the executives increased the number of baggage handlers working that shift. The plan worked: the average wait fell to eight minutes, well within industry benchmarks. But the complaints persisted.
Puzzled, the airport executives undertook a more careful, on-site analysis. They found that it took passengers a minute to walk from their arrival gates to baggage claim and seven more minutes to get their bags. Roughly 88 percent of their time, in other words, was spent standing around waiting for their bags.
So the airport decided on a new approach: instead of reducing wait times, it moved the arrival gates away from baggage calim. Passengers now had to walk six times longer to get their bags. Complaints dropped to near zero.
Research on queuing has shown that, on average, people overestimate how long they’ve waited in a line by about 36 percent.
This is also why one finds mirrors next to elevators. The rationale behind the mirrors was similar to the one used at the Houston airport: give people something to occupy their time, and the wait will feel shorter. All else being equal, people who wait less than they anticipated leave happier than those who wait longer than expected. When a long wait ends on a happy note we tend to look back on it positively, even if we were miserable much of the time.
Also we are more concerned with how long a line is than how fast it’s moving. Given a choice between a slow-moving short line and a fast-moving long one, we will often opt for the former, even if the waits are identical.
Perhaps the biggest influence on our feelings about lines, though, has to do with our perception of fairness. When it comes to lines, the universally acknowledged standard is first come first served: any deviation is, to most, a mark of iniquity and can lead to violent queue rage. A study of fans in line for U2 tickets found that people are just as upset by slips and skips that occur behind them, and thus don’t lengthen their wait, as they are by those in front of them.
Surveys show that many people will wait twice as long for fast food, provided the establishment uses a first-come-first-served, single-queue ordering system as opposed to a multi-queue setup. Anyone who’s ever had to choose a line at a grocery store knows how unfair multiple queues can seem; invariably, you wind up kicking yourself for not choosing the line next to you moving twice as fast.
But there’s a curious cognitive asymmetry at work here. While losing to the line at our left drives us to despair, winning the race against the one to our right does little to lift our spirits. Indeed, in a system of multiple queues, customers almost always fixate on the line they’re losing to and rarely the one they’re beating.
Americans spend roughly 37 billion hours each year waiting in line. We’ll never eliminate lines altogether, but a better understanding of the psychology of waiting can help make those inevitable delays that inject themselves into our daily lives a touch more bearable. And when all else fails, bring a book.

19/04/2022

Youngster Nadal rallies past Puerta to claim title

Teen prodigy Rafael Nadal lost a tiebreaker filled with marvelous exchanges, faced three set points in the fourth set and still beat unseeded Argentine Mariano Puerta 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-1, 7-5 to win the French Open on Sunday for his first Grand Slam title.

Two days after celebrating his 19th birthday by defeating top-ranked Roger Federer, Nadal overcame a gallant effort from Puerta.

The young Spaniard, seeded fourth, became the first man to win the French Open on his initial try since Mats Wilander, who claimed the first of his seven Grand Slam titles at Roland Garros in 1982.

The opening set inspired the best kind of clay-court creativity, keeping both players on the run as they chased drop shots, lobs and sharply angled groundstrokes. Some of the best rallies came in the tiebreaker, with each point seemingly more spectacular than the last.

Puerta, hampered by a sore thigh and weary from consecutive 31/2-hour five-setters in the previous two rounds, kept battling even after losing the second and third sets.

Puerta's efforts to force a fifth set won over the center-court crowd, who repeatedly chanted his name in the last set, and drew applause even from Nadal's coach and uncle, Toni Nadal.

The Argentine was one point from winning the fourth set serving at 5-4, 40-15. But in another series of thrilling exchanges, Nadal rallied to break serve for 5-all. Two games later, after 3 hours, 24 minutes of tennis, he closed out the victory when Puerta pushed a forehand wide.

Nadal collapsed to the clay, flat on his back, then rose and embraced Puerta at the net. The young Spaniard then trotted to the other end of the court to shake hands with the king of Spain sitting in the first row.

With his 24th consecutive victory, Nadal surpassed Andre Agassi for the longest winning streak by a male teenager in the Open era. All of the victories have come on clay.

Nadal celebrated shots by flexing his Popeye-caliber biceps, and with leaps, uppercuts, and other muscular moves worthy of Olympic judo champion David Douillet of France, seated in the second row.

But while the charismatic teen delighted fans, so did the journeyman Puerta. He won one point with a flying forehand volley, a la Boris Becker, and another when he faked a drop shot to send Nadal into a skid, then hit a deep forehand winner instead.

It was the first all-lefty men's final at Roland Garros since 1946, and Nadal become the first left-handed men's champion since Thomas Muster in 1995. He's the youngest men's winner since Michael Chang, the champ in 1989 at age 17.

On a cool, gray afternoon, Nadal broke in the opening game and led 3-1 when Puerta called for a trainer in the middle of the next game.

18/04/2022

Florida Hurricane Katrina

Rain began to fall and the wind picked up Thursday as the outer bands of Tropical Storm Katrina reached South Florida.

The storm's center is predicted to make landfall, possibly at hurricane strength, in the evening Thursday or early Friday.

More than 5 million people in Broward, Palm Beach, and Miami-Dade counties were warned to prepare for hurricane conditions as Katrina slowed over the warm waters of the Gulf Stream and gained strength.

Gov. Jeb Bush urged Florida residents to take Katrina seriously, even if the storm does not develop into a major hurricane.

"I assure you, this is a dangerous storm," Bush said in Tallahassee. "This storm will bring a lot of rainfall over an extended period of time."

He added that Katrina could pose the most danger as torrential rain continues after the center passes.

A 170-mile stretch of coastline between Vero Beach and Florida City is under a hurricane warning, which means winds of at least 74 mph are expected.

But the biggest trouble will be rain, up to 20 inches in some spots, said state meteorologist Ben Nelson.

The forecast calls for Katrina to make landfall between Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. But forecasters warned that the storm could wobble at the last minute to the north or south.

Katrina then is predicted to slice across the Florida peninsula through the Everglades before entering the Gulf of Mexico late Friday and regaining hurricane strength.

If Katrina makes landfall near Fort Lauderdale, it would be the city's first direct hit since Hurricane Cleo 41 years ago.

From there, the track was more difficult to predict, but Bush and other officials urged residents of Florida's west coast and Panhandle to prepare.

Some gas stations along the Interstate 95 corridor between Miami and Fort Lauderdale were reportedly running dry, and people were stocking up on bottled water, plywood and other supplies. Bush said gas shortages could occur in Katrina's wake.

In Hollywood, near Fort Lauderdale, Alberto Soddu was buying plywood to cover some of his windows that aren't protected by shutters.

"After the (Hurricane) Andrew experience, I am taking it seriously," he told CNN. "It's coming."

At 1 p.m. ET, Katrina's core winds had increased from to 65 mph. Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center, told CNN the storm has a "very good chance" of strengthening into a Category 1 or Category 2 hurricane by the time it reaches Florida.

"People need to take it very seriously," Mayfield said.

Officials in Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, warned residents to expect street flooding, downed trees and power lines and inoperative traffic lights.

Boat owners were urged to move their vessels inland. Drawbridges in Broward and Palm Beach counties were locked in the down position at noon.

In Miami-Dade County, Mayor Carlos Alvarez recommended that people living in low-lying areas and mobile homes voluntarily evacuate and use a public shelter at a local middle school. Shelters opened this afternoon as many South Florida residents evacuated the barrier islands.

As forecast, the storm slowed as it neared South Florida. Forecasters said that means it could hang over the area much longer, creating the potential for 6 to 12 inches of rain.

Schools were closed in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, and students in Palm Beach county were sent home early.

Florida Power and Light, which serves 1.6 million customers in South Florida, activated its emergency center in Miami on Wednesday.

"Flooding may affect underground facilities, and outages might be prolonged as a result," said Geisha Williams, FPL's vice president of distribution.

At noon Thursday, Katrina's center was about 40 miles off the coast, between Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton. It was moving west at about 6 mph, and expected to slow down, according to the National Hurricane Center.

"It's going to give the storm more time to strengthen," Ed Rappaport of the National Hurricane Center said of Katrina's slow speed.

The hurricane center's latest five-day forecast shows Katrina curving to the north after it enters the Gulf, which would take it directly into the Panhandle, at hurricane strength, by late Sunday. Because of the erratic nature of tropical systems, such long-term predictions often change.

A tropical storm watch remains in effect for the central Florida coast, from Vero Beach north to Titusville, including Merritt Island, and for the Florida Keys from Seven Mile Bridge to Florida City. A tropical storm watch means tropical storm conditions are possible within 36 hours.

Katrina is the 11th named storm of the busy 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, with more than three months left to go. By contrast, in the past 60 years, the average number of named storms in an entire season was just 10, according to statistics from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The large number of early storms prompted forecasters to update their estimates of hurricane activity this year, projecting that as many as 21 named storms might develop. Historically, the busiest months for tropical activity are September, August and October, respectively.

With oil prices surging, Katrina's gathering strength is causing concern among energy traders, who fear the storm will slow oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, which accounts for up to a quarter of U.S. oil output.

16/04/2022

Quotes

A benevolent man should allow a few faults in himself to keep his friends in countenance.

Franklin

Let us be thankful for the fools: but for them the rest of us could not succeed.

Twain

The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be.

Valery

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.

Twain

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

A proverb

We drink one another's health and spoil our own.

Jerome

Honesty is the best policy.

A proverb

Honesty is the best policy - when there is money in it.

Twain

An archaeologist is the best husband any woman can have: the older she gets, the more interested he is in her.

Christie

Ideals are like the stars: we never reach them, but like the mariners of the sea, we chart our course by them.

Anonimous

12/04/2022

Cricket

Cricket is a bat and ball sport played between two teams, usually of eleven players each. A cricket match is played on a grass field (which is usually roughly oval), in the centre of which is a flat strip of ground 22 yards (20.12 m) long, called a pitch. At each end of the pitch is a set of three parallel wooden stakes (known as stumps) driven into the ground, with two small crosspieces (known as bails) laid on top of them. This wooden structure is called a wicket. A player from the fielding team (the bowler) bowls a hard, fist-sized cork-centred leather ball from one wicket towards the other. The ball usually bounces once before reaching a player from the opposing team (the batsman), who defends the wicket from the ball with a wooden cricket bat. The batsman, if he or she does not get out, may then run between the wickets, exchanging ends with the other batsman (the "non-striker"), who has been standing in an inactive role near the bowler's wicket, to score runs. The other members of the bowler's team stand in various positions around the field as fielders. The match is won by the team that scores more runs.

Cricket has been an established team sport for hundreds of years. It originated in its modern form in England and is popular mainly in the present and former members of the Commonwealth. In the countries of South Asia, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, cricket is the most popular sport. It is also a major sport in places such as England and Wales, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Bermuda, and the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean, which are collectively known in cricketing parlance as the West Indies. There are also well established amateur club competitions in countries as diverse as the Netherlands, Kenya, Nepal and Argentina, among others; there are over one hundred cricket-playing nations recognised by the International Cricket Council. Cricket is arguably the second most popular sport in the world.

The sport is followed with passion in many different parts of the world. It has even occasionally given rise to diplomatic outrage, the most notorious being the Basil D'Oliveira affair which led to the banning of South Africa from sporting events. Other examples include the Bodyline series, played between England and Australia in the early 1930s, and the 1981 underarm bowling incident involving Australia and New Zealand.

10/04/2022

Sculpture - art of producing in three dimensions representations of natural or imagined forms. It includes sculpture in the round, which can be viewed from any direction, as well as incised relief, in which the lines are cut into a flat surface.

Techniques and Materials

Sculpture embraces such varied techniques as modeling, carving, casting, and construction—techniques that materially condition the character of the work. Whereas modeling permits addition as well as subtraction of the material and is highly flexible, carving is strictly limited by the original block from which material must be subtracted. Carvers, therefore, have sometimes had recourse to construction in which separate pieces of the same or different material are mechanically joined together. Casting is a reproduction technique that duplicates the form of an original whether modeled, carved, or constructed, but it also makes possible certain effects that are impractical in the other techniques. Top-heavy works that would require external support in clay or stone can stand alone in the lighter-weight medium of hollow cast metal.

The principal sculptural techniques have undergone little change throughout the ages. Hand modeling in wax (see wax figures), papier-mache, or clay remains unaltered, although the firing of the clay from simple terra-cotta to elaborately glazed ceramics has varied greatly. Carving has for centuries made use of such varied materials as stone, wood, bone, and, more recently, plastics, and carvers have long employed many types of hammers, chisels, drills, gauges, and saws. For carrying out monumental works from small studies, various mechanical means have been developed for approximating the proportions of the original study.

Bronze casting is also a technique of extreme antiquity (see bronze sculpture). The Greeks and Chinese mastered the cire perdue (lost-wax) process, which was revived in the Renaissance and widely practiced until modern times. Little Greek sculpture in bronze has survived, apparently because the metal was later melted down for other purposes, but the material itself resists exposure better than stone and was preferred by the Greeks for their extensive art of public sculpture. Metal may also be cast in solid, hammered, carved, or incised forms. The mobile is a construction that moves and is intended to be seen in motion. Mobiles utilize a wide variety of materials and techniques (see also stabile). Contemporary practice emphasizes the beauty of materials and the expression of their nature in the work.

08/04/2022

Будьте добрішими і чуйнішими!
Миру!

Eruojdf

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