EPOTI-Video transcription game

extracted from http://groups.google.com/group/epoti-team/browse_thread/thread/b3381c978385678e?hl=en

Ignacio said,

Well done, Jola!
Yes, it wasn't easy to pick a video. This one includes some technical terms, but remember it's not important to understand every single word; the goal is to transcribe what you do understand. Don't worry about the rest. Remember that you are free to transcribe as much as you want.
Some minor comments: 1. It's never easy to understand people's names, and unless they spell it, chances are that you'll misspell it. The name of the girl is *Eugenia Kim*. What you wrote could have been possible too. 2. No "a" before "Computer Science E1". 3. "A" and "our" may sound similar. In this case, she's more likely to say "This is *our* video of the week". 4. CSS is short for Cascading Style Sheets (you missed the -ing and the -s). It's only the name of this technology, and of course, you don't have to be familiar with it. Perhaps Eugenia will teach us something about it? 5. ... *the* term CSS refers to ...
These are just nuances. The rest is perfect! Congratulations!
So, this is what we've go so far:
<>
(Left off at 1.10)
Much appreciated, Jola. I also added another sentence.
So, who wants to go next? Come on, don't be shy! Of course, you can also comment on what has been transcribed.
Ignacio

Ignacio said,


Thank you, Jola! Very well done! Don't worry about the gaps.
Instead of telling you which words those are, I'll give you some hints. You or someone else can try to tell (or guess) the missing words.
(1) You wrote:
Clearly, the missing word is a verb. The meaning is clearly "the characteristics *go through* many changes." Eugenia doesn't say "go through," bus she uses a synonym. (Extra hint: 7 letters, starts with an U) ;-)
(2) You wrote: .
Again, I'll write something close to what she says: "it is easy to make those changes by yourself." (Extra hints: the first word starts with an M, has 8 letters and is the opposite of 'automatically').
Here's your part with the gaps and minor changes plus another bit of my own:
<>
(Left off at 2:12)
Who want's to go next? Don't be afraid to make mistakes!
Ignacio


Ignacio said,

Thanks to all those who helped complete the transcription of this video!
Below is the complete transcription (actually, the last part is missing, but that's not very important -- you're welcome to complete it if you want, though!).
What do you think about this kind of exercise? Was this video too hard to understand? Is it still hard with the text? Share your comments and thoughts!
If you liked this exercise, I invite you to pick a video and post the link here.
So, here's our first group transcription:
-------------------------------------------------- http://videos.howstuffworks.com/harvard-extension-schools-computer-science-e-1-understand/2744-css-video.htm -------------------------------------------------- Hello! My name is David Malan, and I'm the instructor for computer science E1, "Understanding computers and the Internet," at Harvard University's Extension School.
You're watching one of our videos of the week. For more such videos or information about this course visit us on the web at "computer science one dot org." Enjoy the show.
Hello, my name is Eugenia Kim. I'm a teaching fellow for Computer Science E1 "Understanding Computer and the Internet".
This is our video of the week on CSS.
So, what is CSS? Umm, technically it's short for "Cascading Style Sheets," and the term Cascading Style Sheets refers to a technology used to manipulate the presentation of HTML and XHTML content.
Basically, it is a way to control how that cotent is displayed: the layout, the font, all the stylistic elements of a web page.
And it also helps deal with the problems that things like nested tables can present in a Web site.
The so-called "style rules" are written in CSS syntax and can be saved to a Web page in one of three ways: inline, embedded or the external style sheets.
So, what are the advantages of using CSS? Well, three words and short: flexibility, browser rendering and accessibility.
So, let's start with flexibility. When making a web site, you may have a lot of little factors involved: your font style, your background colour, your element locations, so on and so forth.
Quite often these characteristics undergo many changes during the course of development. If you have only one or two pages in your site it is easy to manually go in and make those cchanges, but if you have ten, twenty, or even fifty pages, having to make the same changes in each page can be time-consuming and you run the risk of creating errors.
With CSS you can edit one file and have those changes be applied to all the pages at once.
You can also offer your viewers a more personalized experience on your website, by allowing them to customize the way they view it, by offering multiple or customizable style sheets.
Here's one example of how you can apply multiple styles sheets to a page from the World Wide Web Consortium or W3.
Also, in this day an age, fast Internet connections may feel like a given. However, there're still many users on dial-up connections.
Having elements like font tags or nested tables can result on pages that are slow to load.
With CSS a dial-up user's browser can start rendering when it receives the page from the server, because there's little, if any, actual presentational mark-up in it.
Additionally, if external style sheets are used, the browser has to download the CSS file only once. As soon as it is cashed by our computer, it can more quickly apply styles to successive pages in your site.
Also, you may want to take into acount that there are visually-impaired users. Those kind of users will often use software called "screen-readers" to read and use the Web. These readers have a really hard time with nested tables. They often cannot decide if they should treat the content left of right, in columns like in a news-paper or if it needs to skip something.
If it needs to skip something, how does it get back to that content later?
Using CSS, the screen-reader sees just the content.
Now that we've talked about why CSS is useful, let's take a look at how it works with one simple example: making a piece of text appear red.
With in-line text, you would type: "open angle, span, space, style, equals, open quote, color, colon, red, close quote, close angle bracket, your text, open angle bracket, slash, span, close angle bracket."
This makes the text that's only between the two tags appear red.
With the embedded you would type: "open angle bracket, style, space, type, equals, quotation, text, slash, CSS, close quotation, close angle bracket, p, open curly bracket, color, colon, space, red, close curly bracket, open angle bracket, slash, style, close angle bracket" in-between the style tags, in your XHTML document head, then every time you use the paragraph style, your texts will appear red.
With the linked file you would type: "open angle, link, space, R E L, equals, quotation mark, stylesheet, close quotation mark, space, type, equals, quotation mark, text, slash, CSS, quotation mark, space, H REF, equals, quotation mark, style dot CSS, close quotation mark, slash, close angle bracket" in your document head, to link to an external file named "style dot CSS".
Then you will create a file called style dot CSS, and define the paragraph element tags as being the color red, by typing: "P, space, open curly bracket, color, colon, space, red, close curly bracket" within the dot-CSS file. --------------------------------------------------
(Stopped at 5:50)
Enjoy,
Ignacio

How to buy a laptop?

1. http://videos.howstuffworks.com/howstuffworks/44-how-to-buy-a-laptop-video.htm

This video is really amzaing. If you're a learner of English, you definitely would like it.

Cracking jokes

Ref: http://english-practice-over-the-internet.blogspot.com/search/label/slang%20expressions



Cracking jokes I

An excellent way to improve your foreign language skills is by means of jokes.A joke is a short story or ironic depiction of a situation communicated with the intent of being humorous. They often introduce new vocabulary and force you to think in English (or whatever other language) in order for you to understand them, and you can also have a good laugh.“To crack a joke” means to tell a joke, and it's commonly used in the informal language. If something (or someone) makes you laugh a lot, then it (or the person) “cracks you up.”I'll share today a joke that introduces vocabulary mainly related to physical appearance:
«A woman rushed to see her doctor, looking very much worried and all strung out. She rattles off: "Doctor, take a look at me. When I woke up this morning, I looked at myself in the mirror and saw my hair all wiry and frazzled up, my skin was all wrinkled and pasty, my eyes were bloodshot and bugging out, and I had this corpse-like look on my face! What's wrong with me, Doctor!?"The doctor looks her over for a couple of minutes, then calmly says: "Well, I can tell you that there ain't nothing wrong with your eyesight."»

The theatre

Extracted from EPOTI, http://www.englishtap.com/vocab/interest/theatre.htm?login=0&lang=en

Modern Theatre
Have you ever been to see the fringe theatre?

Compared to Elizabethan times modern theatres may stage a play anywhere, they can conjure up an impromptu stage from any flat area without stalls and balconies. Some makeshift seating for the audience is all that's required. Famous actors are rarely used as preference is given to up and coming actors, many of whom may consider themselves to be budding stars of the future. The main priority of the director is to keep within a low budget. Often these modern renditions of traditional plays are set in contemporary times, using modern costumes and modern language as a backdrop to the old classic plot . Critics may say that the music was deafening and discordant and the plot disjointed yet for the audience the performance may have been enjoyable and memorable.

Critical appraisal


If it goes off well, the critics may give it a stunning review. The critics review does not often concur with that of the audience. Critics can pan or laud a play regardless of whether it gets a standing ovation or is booed off stage. Critical appraisal, however, can boost the popularity of a play. When the play hits the headlines we can rely on a full house and tickets will be sold out beforehand. People will queue in front of the box office to see Mr AB in the role of King Lear, "whose gripping performance in the last scene elicits insatiable desire for encores ."

Fringe Theatre festival

Though many cities now host fringe Theatre Festivals, Edmonton's was one of the first, biggest, and best. Really taking off in the 1980s, this festival allowed lesser-known actors from around the world to perform in warehouses , former bus barns, and other such venues around Old Strathcona on Edmonton's southside. In its earlier days, tickets were a few dollars each, and it was necessary to line up just before the show to buy rush seating. With its popularity, some of this spontaneity gave way to convenience of pre-sold ticketing, etc. The best plays were often promoted through word of mouth and posters, though a parade kicking off the event, shown here, gave performers a chance to promote their work.

English Grammars

Yes , he is . My father is

a: old

b:over

c: at

d: ready


....70 now.


The answer is definitely c.

English Grammars

22. The man told us that the next train would arrive ........... .
a. at three thirty
b. at three thirty o'clock
c. in three thirty
d. in three thirty o'clock

Answer: a

ref: EPOTI