Cigdem Göle

I, too, find her voice unimpressive, sometimes even annoying but the tunes are catchy

On 16 June, 2007 a retired army member was arrested because his fingerprints had been found on the grenades discovered in a house by the police along with many documents. After that, forty-six people including a famous journalist, a retired general, the leader of a political party, a mafia boss, a retired rector and the spokesperson of the Patriarchate were taken into custody. In the indictment, it is claimed that the members of Ergenekon were powerful public figures who had easy access to money and arms. It is also claimed that these members encourage people to join the organization. Especially those who had a tendency to commit crimes and/or people who already had criminal records. The founders of the organization, Veli Küçük (the general), Doğu Perinçek (the leader of labor party), Sevgi Erenerol (the spokesperson), İlhan Selçuk (the journalist), Kemal Alemdaroğlu (the rector) and Fikri Karadağ (the head of a nationalist group) are to stand trial. It seems to be a very powerful organization who have members from the military, the media, the NGOs and of course the mafia. Along with many provocative activities, Ergenekon is also claimed to have been responsible for the bombing of the Cumhuriyet building, which is a newspaper owned by İlhan Selçuk (one of the founders of the Ergenekon group).

Such a good song and a video Turin Brakes - Something In My Eye http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKUBi1ipEGI The Ting Tings http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r23cm7bL9E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UX0p7uAW2s And a classic from Suede http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXo1f37Pexg

Hi Len Thank you for bringing up the subject. No need to apologize. I dont mind being under the spolight. The thing is noone in Turkey is sure about the said coup organization and its objectives. As you noted, some say it's a group that was planning to overthrow the government, and some say it's a conspiracy designed by the government to silence its opponents. The organization is known by the name Ergenekon (based on a Turkish myth from the time when the Turks were Shamans). The name was written on one of the files the police discovered in a house along with 27 grenades on June 12, 2007. In light of the the information obtained from the files, the police started to investigate the names that appeared in them. As far as I know, most of the people whose names were in the files (including writers, retired military men, journalists etc)have been arrested and now they're charged with establishing an organization to commit crimes in order to cause chaos by provocation, therefore, carry out a coup. One of those crimes which is attributed to the Ergenekon group is the court killing on 16 May, 2006, where a young lawyer fired shots at judges, killing one of them. The sad thing is I personally knew the victim and the ones wounded. Judge Yücel Özbilgin and my mother, who is also a judge,worked together for years. Had my mother not been retired in 2001, she would probably have been in the same courtroom, where the attack took place. My personal opinion is that Ergenekon is indeed an organization formed to overthrow the government. Although I strongly object to and even detest the current government and its policies, it's an elected government and in democracy, however hard it may be, we should all learn to accept the majority's choice and try to find democratic and decent ways to get rid of it. As a side note, the current government got 47% of the votes in the last election, which was a result of the left wing parties' inability to join the forces and enter the election as one party.

While The Osmonds were carrying on their secret mission along with The Beach Boys, MI5 recruited three brothers to reciprocate. Barry, Maurice and Robin were among the most successful agents who were full of enthusiasm. The good thing was they were also into disco music. Every evening after work, they sang and danced together in their bedrooms. They even had a name for their band (The Bee Geeks), which noone except their mother knew. They needed little training for the mission since they were already musicians. They released many albums, gave numerous concerts all over the world including America but Americans didn't like them. They didn't buy their LPs or go to their concerts. The mission was a failure. It was devastating for MI5. They didn't know what to do or how to explain the high cost of helium, which was inhaled by the band members before each concert and studio recording session to cover their terrible voices.

Kent (from Sweden) Their album Isola (1997) is one of those timeless albums. Columbus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k2RdYza8OQ 747 (from Isola) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL5D-3Gr7eQ...feature=related Kram

I've only recently heard about Wikiversity and took a look at it. It seems like a good resource for both teachers and students. http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wikiversity...ersity_teachers http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Portal:Learning_Materials http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Portal:Education http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Learning_project http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wikiversity...munity_projects http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Portal:Pre-school_Education http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Portal:Primary_Education http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Portal:Secondary_Education http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Portal:Tertiary_Education http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Category:School_subjects http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Portal:History

One of the many tributes to the film with the original soundtrack, Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometimes (Beck) The video covers almost all of the memorable scenes in the movie, including Joel and Clementine's escape from the memory erasers.

Paul Banks; talent, melody and poetry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyqzpXAJ3SA edit--wrong link

Could be...maybe the root of the controversy was the question of who will touch him and who won't. With apologies to Kathy Becket Another rock group that didn't last long was The Brain Strokes, who released a single titled Last Nite I Had A Near-Fatal Brain Injury in 2001 but mysteriously vanished afterwards.

A little-known band from the 1960s that broke up due to some unspecified controversies, The Ministers Quartet: Dan, Your post reminded me that I should mention another band that broke up long ago. Adolf and The Hitlers became known around the world with their hit single, I Wanna Hold Your Land in 1939 but the band broke up in the mid 1940s due to the ego frictions among members.

A little-known band from the 1960s that broke up due to some unspecified controversies, The Ministers Quartet: They shouldn't be allowed to touch anyone.

Lots of activities, worksheets and downloads for teachers and students. http://www.esl-galaxy.com/ http://www.csun.edu/~hcedu013/eslplans.html http://www.handoutsonline.com/ http://iteslj.org/

I was planning to be in Dallas for the NID conference this year until something unexpected came up, so I had to cancel my trip. Debra Conway and Sherry Fiester are two respectable people who are dedicated to solving the JFK assassination. Being a member of and participating in the JFKLancer forum has broadened my viewpoint on both the JFK and RFK assassinations. They're doing a wonderful job there. I'm hoping to be in Dallas next year to meet Debra and Sherry in person as well as my dear friends Kathy and Jerry.

I teach university students and observe that the ones who listen to gangsta rap/hip hop are more likely to be abusive. They copy the way these rappers dress and behave. Last year, one of them threatened another student with a knife in the campus cafeteria. There's an interesting article about the subject in Copernicus Journal for Young Scientists http://www.journal-for-young-scientists.ne...ent/view/27/44/

Last week, I attended two Longman seminars about their Longman Interactive Online. It seems to be a useful tool. Apart from the physical class, the teacher and students have another class online where they do homework and self-study. So, the program enables the teacher to monitor what kind of work the students do outside the classroom.

Amusing video and a very nice tuneMull Historical Society Robin Thicke http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO8aaAaSApc The song is very good. The video can be good, too if you disregard the white hat and the funny dance moves. But it's really bad. I hope Noel Gallagher is feeling better. Oasis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMqlXHp8-IY

Especially in foreign language learning, homework is important because it helps the students to review and practise what they have learnt in school. On the other hand, the subject of the homework should be chosen properly and shouldn't be used as a punishment.

Yet, my little Diary, I don't want to die, I still want to live .. I would wait for the end of the war in a cellar, or in the attic, or any hole, I would, my little Diary, I would even allow that cross-eyed gendarme who took the flour from us to kiss me, only not to be killed, only to be left alive! You can read more about Eva Heyman here : http://www.annefrank.dk/children/new_page_5e.htm

Behind every successful man is a woman who is not married to me. --- Except for the day before the day I met you, this is the happiest day of my life. Al Bundy - Married With Children

Nickelback, Fallout Boy, Metallica (and all the other hair metal bands),Limp Bizkit, Creed, Black Eyed Peas, Milli Vanilli (I need a memory erasure to forget them), Status Quo (only they can play just one song with many different titles), Nelly Furtado/Lindsay Lohan/Beyonce/Britney/Christina/Jessica&Ashlee Simpson clan. It can't get much worse...

There are always some music groups that we think should never have broken up. Such as; The Smiths Geneva Mansun New Order Savage Garden

Due to the loaded programme that is being applied in the Preparatory English classes, there's little time to study novels in the classroom. Instead of studying them in the class, I prefer to let my students choose a novel they want to read and tell them to read it at home. After a month we discuss why each of them chose that particular novel and whether they enjoyed it or not. I saw that the book the student chooses to read helps the teacher and also his/her classmates to understand the student's personal preferences and views. Also, they are really enthusiastic to discuss their novel in the classroom, which is very good because each student learns about a different novel and a writer and also most times develops interest in reading what his/her friend recommended.

British Sea Power Interpol http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6oIzvholME Editors Puressence http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOLZq65Wwyg

Some videos with nice choreographies OK Go http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI A good example of how to make a music video without spending any money. The Avalanches One of my all time favourites. Fatboy Slim A classic.