Netball

Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. In Australia and New Zealand, netball is the most popular sport played by women. The sport shares many similarities with basketball, having been derived from early versions of women's basketball. It developed as a distinct sport in the 1890s in England, from where it spread to other countries. Netball is popular in Commonwealth nations and is predominantly played by women.
Netball was first played in England in 1895 at Madame Österberg's College[3] and soon spread throughout Australia and indeed most British Commonwealth territories.
On the 6th June 1907 an exhibition of "Net Ball" was organised between the "Ladies" and "Gentlemen" of the Regent Street Polytechnic as part of a garden party to celebrate the opening of their sports ground in Chiswick (West London). Poly Netball Club can trace an unbroken heritage back to this match and are therefore seen as the world's oldest netball club.
The ball resembles a basketball but is lighter, smaller, slightly softer in construction, and generally white. There are seven players on each team.





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netball

Mood Food

The food you eat can have a big effect on your mood and how you feel.
Caffeine is probably the most widely used behaviour modifying drug in the world. We reach for a cup if we are feeling tired and irritable to give us a boost and help us concentrate. Too much caffeine though and we can get symptoms such as anxiety and nervousness.
Obesity and depression are the biggest problems. There’s growing interest, in how food can affect your emotional and mental health. More and more people today are shunning pills and potions to help them feel happy and healthy. One self-help strategy is to change what we eat.


How does food affect our mood?
There are many explanations for why food affects our mood:
1. blood sugar highs and lows can cause changes in mood and energy, and are affected by what we eat;
2. the way we think, feel and behave is affected by brain chemicals. They can be affected by what we’ve eaten;
3. a diet low in vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids can affect mental health. For example, links have been demonstrated between low levels of omega-3 oils and depression.


A FEW TIPS :
Eat foods high in antioxidants to keep your brain young:

•Pomegranates;
•Berries like Blackberries, Blueberries, Goji Berries and Acai Berries;
•Dark Chocolate;
•Teas like Green, White and Rooibos tea;
•Nuts including Brazil nuts, Peanuts and Walnuts.

Also very healthy things to eat: almonds, bananas and kiwifruits.


http://www.moodfoodcompany.co.uk/Healthy-Food-Online-Healthy-food-High-fibre-pomegranates-dark-chocolate-green-tea.html ; http://www.moodfoodcompany.co.uk/About-Moodfood/Online-Health-Food-Healthy-Gluten-Additives-Free-Food-Organic-Fairtrade-Ethical-Snacks.html

Kiwi

Kiwi are flightless birds from New Zealand. The kiwi is also a national symbol of New Zealand. At around the size of a chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites and lay the largest egg in relation to their body size. There are five recognised species.
The largest species is the Great Spotted Kiwi, which is about 45cm high and weighs about 3.3 kg, males about 2.4 kg. It has grey-brown plumage with lighter spots. The female lays just one egg and both parents incubate. Population is over 20,000.
The very small Little Spotted Kiwi, is unable to fight by pigs, stoats and cats, which have led to its extinction on the mainland. About 1350 remain on Kapiti Island. They are about 25cm high and the female weighs 1.3 kg. She lays one egg which is incubated by the male.


Māori (the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand) traditionally believe that kiwi are under the protection of Tane Mahuta, god of the forest. Kiwi feathers are particularly important to Māori, as they are used for kahu-kiwi – ceremonial cloaks.
The name Kiwi ( pronounced [kiːwiː], "kee-wee"), is from the Māori language.






http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwis

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of the British monarch since 1837. Although in use for the many official events and receptions held by The Queen, the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace are open to visitors every year.
Buckingham Palace has 775 rooms. These include 19 State rooms, 52 Royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms. The Palace is also the venue for great Royal ceremonies, State Visits and Investitures, all of which are organised by the Royal Household. Although Buckingham Palace is decorated with works of art that form part of the Royal Collection, one of the major art collections in the world today. It is not an art gallery and it is not a museum.
For those who do receive an invitation to Buckingham Palace, the first step across the threshold is into the Grand Hall and up the curving marble stairs of the Grand Staircase. Portraits are still set in the walls, as they were by Queen Victoria.
In the Throne Room The Queen, on very special occasions like Jubilees, receives loyal addresses. Another use of the Throne Room has been for formal wedding photographs. George IV's original palace lacked a large room in which to entertain. Queen Victoria rectified that shortcoming by adding in 1853-5 what was, at the time of its construction, the largest room in London. The Ballroom is the largest multi-purpose room in Buckingham Palace. Four Royal babies - The Prince of Wales, The Princess Royal, The Duke of York and Prince William - were all christened by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Music Room.



http://www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalResidences/BuckinghamPalace/BuckinghamPalace.aspx

Queen Elizabeth II

Elisabeth was born at 2.40am on 21 April 1926 at 17 Bruton Street in Mayfair, London. She was the first child of The Duke and Duchess of York, who later became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
Princess Elizabeth's quiet family life came to an end in 1936, when her grandfather, King George V, died. His eldest son came to the throne as King Edward VIII, but, before the end of the year, King Edward VIII had decided to give up the throne in order to marry the woman he loved, Mrs Wallis Simpson.
Upon his abdication, Princess Elizabeth's father acceded to the throne as King George VI, and in 1937 the two Princesses attended their parents' coronation in Westminster Abbey.Princess Elizabeth was now first in line to the throne.

The queen has been an animal lover since childhood. The most she loves horses. As an owner and breeder of thoroughbreds, she often visits race meetings to watch her horses run. The Queen's horses won races at Royal Ascot on a number of occasions.
There was a notable double on 18 June 1954 when Landau won the Rous Memorial Stakes and a stallion called Aureole won the Hardwicke Stakes, and in 1957 The Queen had four winners during Ascot week. In 1984, 1986 and 1991 Her Majesty made brief private visits to the United States to see stallion stations and stud farms in Kentucky.
Other interests include walking in the countryside and working her Labradors, which were bred at Sandringham. A lesser known interest is Scottish country dancing. Each year during her stay at Balmoral Castle, The Queen gives dances known as Gillies' Balls, for neighbours, estate and Castle staff and members of the local community.
She is also known (at least for me) for her beautiful hats.



http://www.royal.gov.uk/HMTheQueen/Interests/Overview.aspx ; http://www.royal.gov.uk/HMTheQueen/Earlylife/Earlylife.aspx

To be, or not to be – that is the question

William Shakespeare (26. April 1564 - 23. April 1616) was an English poet and playwright. His works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into almost every living language and are performed more often than any other playwright.
He was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, who bore him three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later.
By the end of the sixteenth century he wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language. He is regarded as the greatest writer in English and he is often called England's national poet.


Shakespeare's grave.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare

Cate Blanchett

Catherine Élise Blanchett (born 14 May 1969) is an Australian actress and theatre director. She and her husband Andrew Upton are currently artistic directors of the Sydney Theatre Company.
She has won a lot of acting awards. Most important awards she has: two SAGs, two Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTAs, an Academy Award, as well the Volpi Cup at 64th Venice International Film Festival.
She came to international attention in the 1998 film Elizabeth. In there she played Elizabeth I of England. She is also well-known for her portrayals of the elf queen Galadriel in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Colonel-Doctor Irina Spalko in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator, a role which brought her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Blanchett was born in Melbourne. She is the daughter of June, an Australian property developer and teacher, and Robert Blanchett, a U.S. Navy Petty Officer who later worked as an advertising executive. When Blanchett was 10, she lost her father to a heart attack.
She has a older brother and a younger sister.
Blanchett attended primary school in Melbourne at Ivanhoe East Primary School. For her secondary education, she attended Ivanhoe Girls' Grammar School and then Methodist Ladies' College, from which she graduated, where she explored her passion for acting. She studied Economics and Fine Arts at the University of Melbourne before leaving Australia to travel overseas. When she was 18, Blanchett went on a vacation to Egypt. A fellow guest at a hotel in Cairo asked if she wanted to be an extra in a movie, and the next day she found herself in a crowd scene cheering for an American boxer losing to an Egyptian in the film Kaboria, starring the Egyptian actor Ahmad Zaki. She returned to Australia and later moved to Sydney to study at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1992 and beginning her career in the theatre.

Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains is a mountainous region in New South Wales, Australia. It is starts from 50 kilometres west of Sidney. The area begins on the west side of the Nepean River and and it goes westward as far as Cox's River.
When the Europeans arrived in Australia, the Blue Mountains had already been inhabited for several millennia.
It is mainly consisting sandstone plateau. The area is dissected by gorges up to 760 metres deep. The highest point of the range is 1,190 metres above sea level.
A large part of the Blue Mountains is incorporated into the Greater Blue Mountains Area World Heritage Site.
The Blue Mountains area includes the local government areas of the City of Blue Mountains, the City of Hawkesbury, the City of Lithgow and Oberon.
It is also a tourist attraction. Example The Edge Cinema offers visitors a panoramic view of the Blue Mountains.

Koala

Koala is one of the best known Australian animals.
They have soft, grey or brown fur on their backs and white fur on their stomach. Koalas that live in the south have thicker fur than those in the north because of the cold winters. Koala has a large nose and round ears.
Koalas eat the leaves and young shoots of some kinds of eucalyptus. In Australia there are over 600 species, or kinds, of eucalypts, but koalas only eat about 20 species.
Koalas communicate with each other using a range of noises ranging from one that sounds like a loud snore.
The reason, why koalas are so sleepy, is because eucalyptus leaves are very tough and they use a lot of energy to digest.
Koalas don't often drink water, as they get moisture from eucalyptus leaves.


http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/koalas.htm

George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) was born in Dublin. He was a son of a civil servant. He had a irregular education. After working in an estate agent's office he moved to London in 1876. There he established himself as a leading music and theatre critic. He also became a prominent member of the Fabian Society.
He started his literary career as a novelist and as a advocate of the new theatre of Ibsen. So he decided to write plays to illustrate his criticism of the English stage. His earliest dramas are called: Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant, Widower's Houses and Mrs. Warren's Profession, Arms and the Man, The Man of Destiny.
Other important plays by Shaw are: Caesar and Cleopatra (1901), Androcles and the Lion (1912), Major Barbara (1905), The Doctor's Dilemma (1906), Candida (1898), Pygmalion (1912).
George Bernard Shaw has got the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925.



http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1925/shaw-bio.html

Blarney Castle in Ireland

Blarney Castle was built almost six hundred years ago by Cormac MacCarthy. He was one of Ireland’s greatest chieftains.
Over the last few hundred years, millions have visited Blarney. It certainly is one of Ireland’s greatest treasures.
For over 200 years people have joined the pilgrims climbing the steps to kiss the Blarney Stone. The legend tells that kissing the stone endows the kisser with the gift of eloquence or skill at flattery. The stone was set into a tower of the castle in 1446.
The castle is a popular tourist site, it brings visitors from all over the world to kiss the Stone and tour the castle and its gardens.


Person kissing the Blarney Stone.



http://www.blarneycastle.ie/ ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blarney_Stone ; http://www.blarneycastle.ie/pages/stone

St Patrick`s Day in Ireland

Saint Patrick`s Day celebrates Saint Patrick and people celebrate it on 17th of March. It is a national holiday in Ireland but it is also celebrated in Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, United States, New Zealand and other countries. St. Patrick's Day is a holy day of obligation for catholics in Ireland. It is a first class feast in Ireland.
Saint Patrick was living in c. 387-493. He was a Roman-Briton and Christian missionary who is the most well-known patron saint of Ireland.
When he was about 14 he was captured from Britain by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Ireland. He lived there for six years before escaping to his family. After entering the Church, he returned to Ireland as an bishop in the north and west of the island. Little is known about the places where he worked.
By the eighth century he had come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland.
Legend tells that Patrick was teaching the Irish about the concept of the Trinity by showing people the shamrock (3-leaved clover) using it to highlight the Christian belief of three divine persons in one God.
St Patrick`s Day colour is green. The color green - because it is the color of spring, Ireland, and the shamrock.
For the St Patrick`s Day the Chicago River is dyed green in every year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick's_Day ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick