domingo, noviembre 04, 2007

The Simpsons

The Simpsons is an animated American comedy created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a parody of the Middle American lifestyle, as well as American culture, society, and television; epitomized by this family, who lives in a fictional town of Springfield.

MAIN CHARACTERS
The Simpson family consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. Homer, the father, works as a safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant— a position that is in opposition to his careless personality. He is married to Marge Simpson, a stereotypical American housewife and mother. They have three children: Bart, a ten-year-old troublemaker; Lisa, a precocious eight-year-old activist; and Maggie, a baby who rarely speaks, but communicates by sucking on a pacifier. The family has a dog, Santa's Little Helper, and a cat, Snowball II. Both pets have had starring roles in several episodes. In spite of the passing of the years, such as holidays or birthdays, the Simpsons do not physically age and still appear identical to how they did at the end of the 1980s.
The show includes an array of quirky characters: co-workers, teachers, family friends, and local celebrities. The creators originally intended many of these characters as one-time jokers or for fulfilling of functions in the town. However, a number of them have gained expanded roles and subsequently starred in their own episodes.

HUMOR
The characters use catchphrases, and most of them have at least one each. Notable expressions include Homer's grunt "D'oh!", Mr. Burns' "Excellent..." and Nelson Muntz's "Ha-ha!". Some of Bart's catchphrases, such as "¡Ay, caramba!", "Don't have a cow, man!" and "Eat my shorts!" appeared on t-shirts in the show's early days. However, Bart rarely used the latter two phrases until after they became popular through the merchandising. Bart achieves fame on the “Krusty the Clown Show” for saying "I didn't do it." The use of many of these catchphrases has declined in recent seasons.
The show's humor also turns on cultural references, so the viewers from all generations can enjoy the show. Such references, for example, come from movies, television, music, literature, science, and history. Whenever possible, the animators also put jokes into the show's background, in signs, newspapers, and elsewhere. The audience may often not notice the visual jokes in a single viewing. Some are so fleeting that they become apparent only by pausing a video recording of the show.

OPENING SEQUENCE
The Simpsons' opening sequence is one of the show's most memorable hallmarks. Most episodes open with the camera zooming through the show's title towards the town of Springfield. The camera then follows the members of the family on their way home. When they arrive to their house, the Simpsons settle down on their couch to watch television. The opening was created by David Silverman. The series' distinctive song was composed by the musician Danny Elfman in 1989.
One of the most distinctive aspects of the opening is that several segments are changed from episode to episode. Bart always writes something different on the school board, Lisa plays a different solo on her saxophone, and a different visual gag accompanies the family as they enter their living room to sit on the couch.



The Simpsons is the longest-running American comedy and the longest-running American animated program. The Homer's grunt "D'oh!" has been adopted into the English lexicon, while The Simpsons has been cited as an influence on many adult-oriented animated comedies.

Since its debut on December 17, 1989, the show has aired 404 episodes over 19 seasons. As of March 20, 2006, it was renewed for a 19th season due to be aired in 2007–2008, premiering on September 23, 2007. The season 18 finale, aired on May 20, is the 400th episode, and 2007 marks the 20th anniversary of The Simpsons franchise. The Simpsons Movie, a feature-length film, was released worldwide on July 26 and July 27, 2007.

domingo, agosto 19, 2007

One of the most destructive phenomena of nature is a severe earthquake and its terrible effects. In many regions of America the word “tremor” is used to refer to a lower intensity movement, and the word “earthquake”, to a higher. An earthquake is a sudden movement of the Earth, caused by the abrupt release of strain when the tectonic plates move looking for the balance.

CAUSES

The principal cause of an earthquake is the tectonic plate and the volcanic activity. The tectonic earthquakes are closely related to the formation of geological faults. These tremors often occur at the end of a cycle known as “Seismic Cycle”, that is the period of time in which the deformation is accumulated in the deepest place of the Earth, and at the end of the cycle, this deformation is suddenly released. That release is the phenomenon known as earthquake. When the earthquake happens, the deformation begins to accumulate again.

The deepest place of the Earth in which the tremor occurs, is known as Hypocenter, and the superficial place that is affected by the jolt is known as Epicenter. The seismic movement is propagated by elastics waves (similar to the sound) in a vertical way starting in the Hypocenter. There are three types of seismic waves, two of them occur just inside of the Earth, and the another one refers to the superficial waves that cause the destruction of works and loss of human lives.

EFFECTS

Shaking and ground rupture are the main effects created by earthquakes, principally resulting in more or less damage to buildings or other rigid structures. The severity of the local effects depends on the complex combination of the earthquake magnitude, the distance from epicenter, and the local geological conditions, which may amplify or reduce wave propagation. Earthquakes can cause landslides and avalanches, which may cause damage in hilly areas. Also fires can be generated by break of the electrical power or gas lines. About human impacts, earthquakes may result in disease, lack of basic necessities and loss of life, higher insurance premiums, general property damage, road and bridge damage, and collapse of buildings or destabilization of the base of buildings which may lead to collapse in future earthquakes.

POSSIBLE PREVENTION

Though it is not possible to predict when an earthquake can occur, in some regions certain precursor phenomena take place. Among these phenomena we can mention the underground noises, the variations of the water level of the wells, the overheating of the soil, the atmospheric disturbances and the agitation that many domestic animals demonstrate.

martes, mayo 29, 2007

An interesting thing that babies can do

Babies are really amazing: they can distinguish one language from another just by the sight of a talking face, not sound!! The research was made in infants up to 8 months old from monolingual (English only) and bilingual (English and French) households by Whitney M. Weikum, a doctoral student in neuroscience at the University of British Columbia, and colleagues. They showed the babies silent videotapes of a speaker saying things in english and french and they observed that some babies recognized a difference, so they paid more attention, because it was something new to them. The results showed that monolingual infants of 4-6 months were able to recognize that a different language was being spoken, but infants of 8 months were not able to recognized that. On the other hand, bilingual infants of 8 months could still discriminate between languages. According to Weikum, as they grow older, they lose sensitivity to this. But similar experiments with adults showed that, at some point, through experience, they regain this sensitivity.

My favourite rock band...XD