MOSAIC - THE GOOD SHEPHERD

THE  GOOD  SHEPHERD

Mosaic is an art from which uses small pieces of materials placed together to create an unified whole. Each piece is a tessera and the materials commonly used are marble or other stone, glass, pottery, mirror or foil-backed glass, shells. The word "mosaic" is from the Latin "mosaicus" and means "belonging to the Muses".

The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, erected in the first half of V century, is a Roman building in Ravenna, Italy and it is patrimony of UNESCO. Inside the compound, rich Byzantine mosaics cover the walls of the vault and the dome. Inside the lunette that overlooks entrance is represented "The Good Shepherd", realized by Stokstad in 2004. The man is dressed in golden tunic, leant against a cross and surrounded by his flock, looking him while a sheep comes near to be caressed. The scene is set in a landscape of low hills in the background of trees and bushes. The elements mentioned have references to the Christian faith: the shepherd is considered Christ's personification, the Golden Cross proclaims Christ's victory over death that brings hope of salvation to all the faithful and the halo describes holiness. So the scene can be interpreted as an allegory: as the shepherd guides his sheep, Christ protects his people.

THE MERCHANT'S TALE

This tale tells the story of an old knight, called January married with a young girl, called May, but she doesn't love him because she fell in love with a handsome page, called Damian, that he wants to meet her. The old knight is very jealous of his wife and, when he becomes blind, he prohibits May from going out. A day the girl decides to meet Damian on the side near a pears' tree situated in the garden of January's house, but the God Pluto decides to give the view to the old knight and he discovers the two naked lovers and so he is angry. May says that what he has seen is a joke of recovered view. January believes wife's words and they go home together.

MOTHERS GET LESS SLEEP THAN FATHERS

Researchers at Georgia Southern University in the United States of America analyzed data on the sleeping habits of 3000 women and 3000 men. Their purpose was to see effects adults' sleep. In fact researchers discovered that having children in the house reduced the number of hours that a mother slept each night. This had an adverse effect on mothers' energy level, but fathers' sleep remained the same. The study reveals that children were the biggest cause of mothers being sleep deprived that increased the risk of diabete, obesity and depression.

HALAL SNACK HELPS BRING AUSTRALIANS TOGETHER

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0feJDXPp6fF

MY OPINION ABOUT ENGLISH

In my opinion, English could be the official language of the world because in the past, after be developped in the British Isles, English was exported all over the world by sailors, soldiers, pilgrims and merchants. Then people nedded the importance of a common language to communicate well with other countries and so English became a national language. In addition today English can be the official language because it has a simple grammar: few verbal times and not much conjugations. We could improve English listening to music, watching tv programmes and reading magazines and newspapers.

INSTAGRAM

Today we belong to a society influenced by technology. Computers, mobiles and others elettronic machines have changed our lifestyle. One of the most popular social networking site is Instagram, Instagram is a social service that allows to users to take photos, to apply digital filters and to share them with an user or others social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Tumbrl. The app was developped by Kevin Systram and Mike Krieger the 6th of October of 2010, but in the 2012 it was bought by Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's creator, for about one billion of dollars divided between money and actions. During last months, one of the reasons that Instagram has become so popular concerns two news: the first, you can share a photo with people you follow and it is visible for 24 hours; the second, you can make a short video composed by several photos without audio, this phenomenon is called Boomerang, These days Instagram has more than 150 millions users register every month.

A STREET CAT NAMED BOB

It is a fairytale story. James Bowen was an English musician, but he had no success and became homeless. He slept on the streets or in hostels for homeless people, living a very poor existence and becoming a drug addict. During the day he sang and played in Covent Garden to make some money. One evening he returned home and he found a ginger cat in his block of flats without owners. So he took it in and he called the cat Bob. Bob enjoyed riding on the bus with James that soon the two of them were a double act because the cat enchanted people while James played his guitar. Bob's presence was very popular and made more money for James. The couple became a hit on Youtube and tourists came from around the world to see them. James managed to go out from his drug addiction. James and Bob's story became a bestselling book named "A street cat named Bob".