DOCTOR WHO & OUTLANDER, TRAVELLING BACK IN TIME

Today, The Morgans and The Grandma have been preparing for their next time travel. They have the help of Doctor Who and Claire Randall, as well as the powerful skills of Elsa Morgan, who masters all kinds of time mechanisms, including the TARDIS, and a new secret mechanism that allows time travel: José Luis Morgan's Bon Bon Bum.

The family wants to travel to the Highlands of Connor MacLeod and William Wallace, as well as see for themselves whether Nessie is really a reality or a legend. They have hired Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson and Scotland Yard to investigate the theft at the British Museum and clear them of all suspicion.

Before preparing for this new adventure, The Grandma has been talking about the Middle Age and the origin of some of the oldest police forces in Europe, and they have been studying a little English grammar with the Zero Conditional, the First Conditional and Since/For.

More info: Zero Conditional & First Conditional

More information: Since & For

More information: Test English

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson, follows the adventures of the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being from a humanoid species known as Time Lords. 

The Doctor travels through space and time using a time travelling spaceship called the TARDIS, which has an exterior that resembles a British police box. The Doctor encounters various civilisations, which he seeks to protect by outwitting foes and solving crises. The Doctor usually travels with a companion.

Beginning with William Hartnell, fourteen actors have headlined the series as the Doctor; the most recent being Ncuti Gatwa, who portrayed the Fifteenth Doctor from 2023 to 2025. The transition between actors is woven into the story via the plot device of regeneration. When a Time Lord is fatally injured or weakened by old age, their cells regenerate into a new body; while they retain their memories, their personality changes. The different portrayals function as distinct stages within a single, continuous narrative. Due to time travel, these different incarnations occasionally cross paths.

A British popular culture staple with a global cult following, the show has shaped generations of British television professionals. Fans of the series are sometimes referred to as Whovians. The series has been listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running science-fiction television series in the world, as well as the most successful science-fiction series of all time, based on its overall broadcast ratings, DVD and book sales.

The series originally ran from 1963 to 1989. There was an unsuccessful attempt to revive regular production in 1996 with a backdoor pilot in the form of a television film titled Doctor Who. The series was relaunched in 2005, with production moving to BBC Wales in Cardiff.

Since 2023, the show has been co-produced by Bad Wolf and BBC Studios Productions in Cardiff. The Doctor Who franchise -or Whoniverse- spans a wide range of media, including television spin-offs, literature, audio dramas, and films.

As a global cultural phenomenon, it has become one of the most frequently referenced and parodied series in television history.

More information: Doctor Who

Download Make Your Own TARDIS

Fear me, I've killed hundreds of Time Lords.

Doctor Who

 

Outlander is a historical fantasy television series based on the book series of the same name by Diana Gabaldon. 

Developed by Ronald D. Moore, the show premiered on August 9, 2014, on Starz. It stars Caitríona Balfe as Claire Randall, an English former World War II military nurse in Scotland who, in 1945, finds herself transported back in time to 1743. There, she encounters and falls in love with a dashing Highland warrior named Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), a tacksman of Clan Fraser of Lovat whom she later marries. Here, Claire becomes embroiled in the Jacobite rising.

The 16-episode first season of the television series is based on the first novel in the series, Outlander, and was released as two half-seasons, with the first part being aired from August to September 2014 and the second part from April to May 2015. The second season of 13 episodes, based on Dragonfly in Amber, aired from April to July 2016. The 13-episode third season, based on Voyager, aired from September to December 2017. The 13-episode fourth season, based on Drums of Autumn, aired from November 2018 to January 2019. The fifth season of 12 episodes, based on The Fiery Cross and the beginning of A Breath of Snow and Ashes, aired from February to May 2020. The sixth season of 8 episodes, based on A Breath of Snow and Ashes, aired from March to May 2022. The seventh season, which consists of 16 episodes, is based on the end of A Breath of Snow and Ashes, An Echo in the Bone, Written in My Own Heart's Blood and elements of Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, and was released as two half-seasons, with the first part aired from June to August 2023 and the second part from November 2024 to January 2025.

By February 2022, development had begun on a prequel series titled Outlander: Blood of My Blood, which will focus on Jamie Fraser and Claire Beauchamp's parents. 

In January 2023, Outlander: Blood of My Blood was officially confirmed for a ten-episode first season, and Outlander was renewed for a ten-episode eighth and final season, premiered on March 6, 2026, based on Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone and parts of the upcoming tenth and final novel in the series.

More information: Sony Pictures

 That amount of time does not exist.

Claire Randall

ADA LOVELACE, A PIONEER ENGLISH SCIENTIST & WRITER

Today, The Winsors and The Grandma have visited Ada Lovelace, the English mathematician and writer, and one of the most important figures in computing, together with Ramon Llull.

Before visiting Ada, the family has studied some English grammar with the First Conditional, and they have been talking about science and faith with Manel Esteller, Dana Scully and Fox Mulder, who are always fighting the future.

Finally, March, 8 is coming, and they have remembered some scientific women, who have been important for human development, and Susana Winsor has introduced an amazing post named Ciencia Radiante.

More information: First Conditional

Download The Weather

More information: The Jones and Ramon Llull, The Art of Learning

More information: March 8, When Women's Rights are Human Rights 

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (10 December 1815-27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine.

She was the first to recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and published the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is sometimes regarded as the first to recognise the full potential of a computing machine and one of the first computer programmers.

Lovelace was the only legitimate child of poet Lord Byron and his wife Lady Byron. All of Byron's other children were born out of wedlock to other women. Byron separated from his wife a month after Ada was born and left England forever four months later. He commemorated the parting in a poem that begins, Is thy face like thy mother's my fair child! ADA! sole daughter of my house and heart?.

He died of disease in the Greek War of Independence when Ada was eight years old. Her mother remained bitter and promoted Ada's interest in mathematics and logic in an effort to prevent her from developing her father's perceived insanity. Despite this, Ada remained interested in Byron. Upon her eventual death, she was buried next to him at her request. Although often ill in her childhood, Ada pursued her studies assiduously. She married William King in 1835. King was made Earl of Lovelace in 1838, Ada thereby becoming Countess of Lovelace.

Her educational and social exploits brought her into contact with scientists such as Andrew Crosse, Charles Babbage, Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Michael Faraday and the author Charles Dickens, contacts which she used to further her education. Ada described her approach as poetical science and herself as an Analyst & Metaphysician. When she was a teenager, her mathematical talents led her to a long working relationship and friendship with fellow British mathematician Charles Babbage, who is known as the father of computers. She was in particular interested in Babbage's work on the Analytical Engine. 

Lovelace first met him in June 1833, through their mutual friend, and her private tutor, Mary Somerville. Between 1842 and 1843, Ada translated an article by Italian military engineer Luigi Menabrea on the calculating engine, supplementing it with an elaborate set of notes, simply called Notes. These notes contain what many consider to be the first computer program -that is, an algorithm designed to be carried out by a machine.

 

More information: Famous Scientists

Other historians reject this perspective and point out that Babbage's personal notes from the years 1836/1837 contain the first programs for the engine. Lovelace's notes are important in the early history of computers. She also developed a vision of the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching, while many others, including Babbage himself, focused only on those capabilities. Her mindset of poetical science led her to ask questions about the Analytical Engine -as shown in her notes- examining how individuals and society relate to technology as a collaborative tool.

  

Lord Byron expected his child to be a glorious boy and was disappointed when Lady Byron gave birth to a girl. The child was named after Byron's half-sister, Augusta Leigh, and was called Ada by Byron himself. On 16 January 1816, at Lord Byron's command, Lady Byron left for her parents' home at Kirkby Mallory, taking their five-week-old daughter with her. Although English law at the time granted full custody of children to the father in cases of separation, Lord Byron made no attempt to claim his parental rights, but did request that his sister keep him informed of Ada's welfare.

Lovelace was often ill, beginning in early childhood. At the age of eight, she experienced headaches that obscured her vision. In June 1829, she was paralysed after a bout of measles. She was subjected to continuous bed rest for nearly a year, something which may have extended her period of disability. By 1831, she was able to walk with crutches. Despite the illnesses, she developed her mathematical and technological skills.

Lovelace became close friends with her tutor Mary Somerville, who introduced her to Charles Babbage in 1833. She had a strong respect and affection for Somerville, and they corresponded for many years. Other acquaintances included the scientists Andrew Crosse, Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Michael Faraday and the author Charles Dickens. She was presented at Court at the age of seventeen and became a popular belle of the season in part because of her brilliant mind.

On 8 July 1835, she married William, 8th Baron King, becoming Lady King. They had three children: Byron; Anne Isabella; and Ralph Gordon. Immediately after the birth of Annabella, Lady King experienced a tedious and suffering illness, which took months to cure. Ada was a descendant of the extinct Barons Lovelace and in 1838, her husband was made Earl of Lovelace and Viscount Ockham, meaning Ada became the Countess of Lovelace.

 

More information: Jstor Daily

Throughout her illnesses, she continued her education. Her mother's obsession with rooting out any of the insanity of which she accused Byron was one of the reasons that Ada was taught mathematics from an early age. She was privately schooled in mathematics and science by William Frend, William King, and Mary Somerville, the noted 19th-century researcher and scientific author. One of her later tutors was the mathematician and logician Augustus De Morgan. From 1832, when she was seventeen, her mathematical abilities began to emerge, and her interest in mathematics dominated the majority of her adult life.

 

Lovelace believed that intuition and imagination were critical to effectively applying mathematical and scientific concepts. She valued metaphysics as much as mathematics, viewing both as tools for exploring the unseen worlds around us.

Lovelace died at the age of 36 -the same age at which her father had died- on 27 November 1852, from uterine cancer probably exacerbated by bloodletting by her physicians.

Throughout her life, Lovelace was strongly interested in scientific developments and fads of the day, including phrenology and mesmerism.

After her work with Babbage, Lovelace continued to work on other projects. In 1844 she commented to a friend Woronzow Greig about her desire to create a mathematical model for how the brain gives rise to thoughts and nerves to feelings -a calculus of the nervous system.

Lovelace first met Charles Babbage in June 1833, through their mutual friend Mary Somerville.

 

In 1840, Babbage was invited to give a seminar at the University of Turin about his Analytical Engine. Luigi Menabrea, a young Italian engineer and the future Prime Minister of Italy, transcribed Babbage's lecture into French, and this transcript was subsequently published in the Bibliothèque universelle de Genève in October 1842. Babbage's friend Charles Wheatstone commissioned Ada Lovelace to translate Menabrea's paper into English. She then augmented the paper with notes, which were added to the translation.

 

More information: History

 

Ada Lovelace spent the better part of a year doing this, assisted with input from Babbage. These notes, which are more extensive than Menabrea's paper, were then published in the September 1843 edition of Taylor's Scientific Memoirs under the initialism AAL.

Ada Lovelace's notes were labelled alphabetically from A to G. In note G, she describes an algorithm for the Analytical Engine to compute Bernoulli numbers. It is considered to be the first published algorithm ever specifically tailored for implementation on a computer, and Ada Lovelace has often been cited as the first computer programmer for this reason. The engine was never completed so her program was never tested.

In 1953, more than a century after her death, Ada Lovelace's notes on Babbage's Analytical Engine were republished as an appendix to B.V. Bowden's Faster than Thought: A Symposium on Digital Computing Machines.  

The engine has now been recognised as an early model for a computer and her notes as a description of a computer and software.

Doron Swade, a specialist on history of computing known for his work on Babbage, analysed four claims about Lovelace during a lecture on Babbage's analytical engine:

-She was a mathematical genius.

-She made an influential contribution to the analytical engine.

-She was the first computer programmer.

-She was a prophet of the computer age.

More information: Gradiant

 

The Analytical Engine has no pretensions

whatever to originate anything.

It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform...

But it is likely to exert an indirect

and reciprocal influence on science itself.

Ada Lovelace

CONNOR MACLEOD & IMMA FOSTER, NO PLACE FOR THEM

Today, The Fosters and The Grandma have visited Connor MacLeod, an immortal Grandma's friend, and Imma Foster's new lover, who was born in the Scottish Highlands in the 16th century. 

Before meeting Connor, The Fosters have studied some English Grammar with the First Conditional.

More info: First Conditional

More info: Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab

Highlander is a 1986 British fantasy action-adventure film directed by Russell Mulcahy and based on a story by Gregory Widen. It stars Christopher Lambert, Roxanne Hart, Clancy Brown, and Sean Connery. 

The film chronicles the climax of an age-old war between immortal warriors, depicted through interwoven past and present-day storylines.

Connor MacLeod (Lambert) is born in the Scottish Highlands in the 16th century. After reviving from a fatal wound and being banished from his village, MacLeod is found by swordsman Ramírez (Connery), who explains they and others were born immortal, invincible unless beheaded.

Immortals wage a secret war, fighting each other until the last few remaining will meet at the Gathering to fight for the Prize. In 1985, the Gathering is finally happening in New York City and MacLeod must make sure the Prize is not won by his oldest enemy, the murderous Kurgan (Brown).

Highlander enjoyed little success on its initial theatrical release, grossing over $12 million worldwide against a production budget of $19 million, and received mixed reviews. Nevertheless, it became a cult film and inspired film sequels and television spin-offs. 

It is also known for songs recorded by the rock band Queen, with Princes of the Universe also used for the title sequence in the television series. The tagline, There can be only one, has carried on into pop culture.

More information: Connor MacLeod, From The Scottish Highlanders

Director Russell Mulcahy filmed Highlander using music video techniques including fast cutting and pacy music.

In preparation, actor Christopher Lambert spent months working four hours each morning with a dialect coach and four hours in the afternoons sword training with Bob Anderson, who had been a Darth Vader stunt double in the Star Wars franchise.

The scene where the MacLeod clan sets off to battle is supposed to take place in the village of Glenfinnan, on the shore of Loch Shiel in the Lochaber area, but was actually filmed at Eilean Donan Castle, which is in the same general area but is really on the shore of Loch Duich, a sea loch near Kyle of Lochalsh and the Isle of Skye.

The Highlander original orchestral score was composed by Michael Kamen. The British rock band Marillion turned down the chance to record the soundtrack because they were on a world tour, a missed opportunity which guitarist Steve Rothery later said he regretted. The band's Scottish lead singer, Fish, had also accepted a part in the film but pulled out because of the scheduling conflict.

David Bowie, Sting, and Duran Duran were considered to do the soundtrack for the film. The eventual soundtrack includes several songs by Queen, such as A Kind of Magic and Princes of the Universe (the latter also being used for the Highlander television series title sequence).

Brian May was inspired to write Who Wants to Live Forever after watching the love scenes between Connor and his wife Heather, and the song ultimately accompanied the film.

More information: In The End, There Can Be Only One

Christophe Guy Denis Lambert (born 29 March 1957), known professionally as Christopher Lambert, is a French-American actor, novelist, and producer.

Lambert was born March 29, 1957, in Great Neck, New York, the son of Yolande Agnès Henriette and Georges Lambert-Lamond, a French diplomat then at the United Nations. His father was a French Jew. Lambert was raised and educated in Geneva from infancy and moved to Paris in his teens.

He started his career playing supporting parts in several French films, and became internationally famous with the role of Tarzan in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes in 1984.

For his performance in the 1985 film Subway, Lambert received the César Award for Best Actor. His best-known role is Connor MacLeod in the 1986 cult adventure-fantasy film Highlander and the subsequent film franchise series of the same name.

Other films he is known for are I Love You (1986), The Sicilian (1987), Knight Moves (1992), Fortress (1992) and its sequel Fortress 2: Re-Entry (2000), Mortal Kombat (1995), Druids (2001), Absolon (2003), White Material (2009), Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011), Kickboxer: Retaliation (2018), and for producing N'oublie pas que tu vas mourir (1995), the French comedy film Neuf Mois (1994) and its English-language remake Nine Months (1995).

More information: Empire

There's no time for us
There's no place for us
What is this thing that builds our dreams, 

yet slips away from us
Who wants to live forever?

Queen

THE GRANGERS VISIT ATLANTIC CITY, ROLL OF THE DICE!

Today, The Grangers and The Grandma have travelled from New York to Atlantic City in New Jersey. Before this trip, they have studied the Future Simple, and Zero and First Conditional clauses. 

Finally, they have continuing reading Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost and they have predicted the future.

More info: Future Simple

More info: Zero Conditional & First Conditional

Download The Numbers

Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches.

In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497. It was incorporated on May 1, 1854, from portions of Egg Harbor Township and Galloway Township.

it is located on Absecon Island and borders Absecon, Brigantine, Pleasantville, Ventnor City, Egg Harbor Township, and the Atlantic Ocean.

Atlantic City inspired the U.S. version of the board game Monopoly, especially the street names.

Since 1921, Atlantic City has been the home of the Miss America pageant.

In 1976, New Jersey voters legalized casino gambling in Atlantic City, and the first casino opened in 1978.

For many years before the city was founded, the island site of the future settlement was the summer home of the Lenape. While the precise date of the first permanent occupation of what came to be Atlantic City has not been precisely determined, it is commonly thought that in 1783 Jeremiah Leeds first built and occupied an all year home on the island. However, it was not until 1850 that the idea arose to develop the location into a resort town and in early 1853 the name Atlantic City was adopted.

More information: Atlantic City

The history of gambling in Atlantic City traces back to prohibition and the 1920s, with racketeer Louis Kuehnle running an underground hotel and casino. Enoch "Nucky" Johnson followed and furthered Atlantic City's rise through the Roaring Twenties as a destination for drinking, gambling, and nightlife.

In 1974, New Jersey voters voted 60%-40% against legalizing casino gambling at four sites statewide, but two years later approved by 56%-44% a new referendum which legalized casinos, but restricted them to Atlantic City.

Resorts Atlantic City was the first casino to open, in May 1978, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring Governor of New Jersey Brendan Byrne.

Atlantic City is considered the Gambling Capital of the East Coast, and currently has nine large casinos.

In 2011, New Jersey's then 12 casinos employed approximately 33,000 employees, had 28.5 million visitors, made $3.3 billion in gaming revenue, and paid $278 million in taxes. They are regulated by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission and the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.

In the wake of the economic downturn following the Great Recession and the legalization of gambling in adjacent and nearby states (including Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania), four casino closures took place in 2014: the Atlantic Club on January 13; the Showboat on August 31; the Revel, which was Atlantic City's second-newest casino, on September 2; and Trump Plaza, which originally opened in 1984, and was the poorest performing casino in the city, on September 16.

Executives at Trump Entertainment Resorts, whose sole remaining property at the time was the Trump Taj Mahal, said in 2013 that they were considering the option of selling the Taj and winding down and exiting the gaming and hotel business. Trump Taj Mahal closed October 10, 2016, after failing to come to terms with union workers.

Caesars Entertainment executives have been reconsidering the future of their three remaining Atlantic City properties (Bally's, Caesars and Harrah's), in the wake of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by the company's casino operating unit in January 2015.

In 2020, Bally's Atlantic City was acquired by Bally's Corporation.

More information: Atlantic City Free Public Library

 Put your makeup on, fix your hair up pretty
And meet me tonight in Atlantic City.

Bruce Springsteen

JFK, LAGUARDIA & NEWARK LIBERTY, FLY TO NEW YORK

Today, The Grandma has received the wonderful visit of Claire Fontaine, who has flown from Montréal to New York City to spend some days with her. While The Grandma was waiting for Claire, she has been reading about New York airports.

Meanwhile, The Newtons have continued preparing their Cambridge Exam. They have studied the First Conditional.

More info: First Conditional

John F. Kennedy International Airport (IATA: JFK, ICAO: KJFK, FAA LID: JFK), colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK, is the main international airport serving New York City.

The airport is the busiest of the six airports in the New York airport system, the 13th-busiest airport in the United States, and the busiest international air passenger gateway into North America. More than ninety airlines operate from the airport, with nonstop or direct flights to destinations in all six inhabited continents.

JFK is located in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, 26 km southeast of Midtown Manhattan.

The airport features six passenger terminals and four runways.  

JFK is a hub for both American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, and it is the primary operating base for JetBlue. JFK was also formerly a hub for Pan Am, TWA, Eastern, National, Northwest, and Tower Air.

The facility opened in 1948 as New York International Airport and was commonly known as Idlewild Airport. Following U.S. President John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963, the airport was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport as a tribute to the 35th President.

John F. Kennedy International Airport was originally called Idlewild Airport (IATA: IDL, ICAO: KIDL, FAA LID: IDL) after the Idlewild Beach Golf Course that it displaced.

It was built to relieve LaGuardia Field, which had become overcrowded after its 1939 opening. 

In late 1941, mayor Fiorello La Guardia announced that the city had tentatively chosen a large area of marshland on Jamaica Bay, which included the Idlewild Golf Course as well as a summer hotel and a landing strip called the Jamaica Sea-Airport, for a new airfield. Title to the land was conveyed to the city at the end of December 1941. Construction began in 1943, though the airport's final layout was not yet decided upon.

More information: John F. Kennedy International Airport

LaGuardia Airport (IATA: LGA, ICAO: KLGA, FAA LID: LGA) is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City.

Covering 280 ha in its present form, the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.

The airport primarily accommodates airline service to domestic, and limited international, destinations.

As of 2019, it was the third-busiest airport in the New York metropolitan area behind John F. Kennedy and Newark airports, and the twenty-first busiest in the United States by passenger volume. 

While the airport is a hub for both American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, commercial service is strictly governed by unique regulations including a curfew, a slot system, and a perimeter rule prohibiting most nonstop flights to or from destinations greater than 2,400 km.

Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, LaGuardia was notable for having obsolete and dirty facilities, inefficient air operations, and poor customer service metrics. 

Responding to these criticisms, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) in 2015 announced a multibillion-dollar reconstruction of the airport's passenger infrastructure, which is expected to be complete by 2025.

Prior to human development, the coastlines of Bowery Bay and Flushing Bay converged at a natural point that comprised the eventual northern shoreline of Newtown, Queens.

By 1857 the area partially contained the estate of Benjamin Pike Jr., which was soon purchased and consolidated with other property by William Steinway.

In June 1886, Steinway opened a summer resort development known as Bowery Bay Beach on the peninsula. Originally featuring a bathing pavilion, beach, lawns, and boathouse, the resort was renamed North Beach and later expanded with the addition of Gala Amusement Park.

By the turn of the century, North Beach's German-influenced development drew comparisons to Brooklyn's Coney Island. Its fortunes would soon turn, however, as Prohibition in the United States and war-related anti-German sentiment presented significant challenges to the resort's profitability. These factors, combined with increased industrialization and pollution of the Queens waterfront, made the area untenable as a leisure destination, and it was abandoned at some point in the 1920s.

In April 1929, New York Air Terminals, Inc. announced plans to open a private seaplane base at North Beach later that summer. The 81 ha facility was christened on June 15 and initially featured 0.81 ha concrete plateau connected to the water by a 120 m amphibious aircraft ramp, with the former resort converted to a passenger terminal.

Opening-day festivities for the new airport were attended by a crowd of 5,000, and included Air Races with Curtiss Seagulls and Sikorsky flying boats, a dedication address by Borough President George U. Harvey, and the commencement of airline service to Albany and Atlantic City by Coastal Airways and Curtiss Flying Service.

One month later, service to Boston was launched using Savoia-Marchetti S.55 aircraft operated by Airvia.

More information: LaGuardia Airport

Newark Liberty International Airport (IATA: EWR, ICAO: KEWR, FAA LID: EWR), originally Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport straddling the boundary between the cities of Newark in Essex County and Elizabeth in Union County, New Jersey. 

It is jointly owned by the cities and leased to its operator, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The airport is located 4.8 km south of Downtown Newark and 14 km west-southwest of Manhattan in New York City. 

It is near the Newark Airport Interchange, the junction between Interstate 95 and Interstate 78 (both components of the New Jersey Turnpike), as well as U.S. Routes 1 and 9, which has junctions with U.S. Route 22, Route 81 and Route 21. 

 

AirTrain Newark connects the terminals with the Newark Liberty International Airport Station. The station is served by NJ Transit's Northeast Corridor Line and North Jersey Coast Line. Amtrak's Northeast Regional and Keystone Service trains also stop at the Newark Liberty International Airport station.

The City of Newark built the airport on 28 ha of marshland in 1928 and the Army Air Corps operated the facility during World War II. 

The airport was constructed adjacent to Port Newark. After the Port Authority took it over in 1948, an instrument runway, a terminal building, a control tower and an air cargo center were added. The airport's Building 51 from 1935 is a National Historic Landmark.

Newark is one of three major airports serving the New York metropolitan area; the others are John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, which are also operated by the Port Authority. The airport handles almost as many flights as JFK, despite being 40 percent of JFK's land size.

More information: Newark Liberty International Airport

 There are those airports which make you feel better,
and there are those airports that, when you go there,
your heart sinks: you can't wait to get out of there.
They both function as airports,
but it's the things that you can't measure
that make them different.

Norman Foster

'INDEPENDENCE DAY', THE BOSS & POWER STATION IN NYC

Today, The Grandma has visited Power Station in New York City, and she has remembered, on a day like today, the song Independence Day written and interpreted by Bruce Springsteen, who recorded it at Power Station, on April 24-25, 1980.

Happy 4th of July, Independence Day!

Meanwhile, The Newtons have continued preparing their Cambridge Exam. They have studied the First Conditional.

More info: First Conditional

Power Station at BerkleeNYC, formerly known as Avatar Studios (1996-2017) and Power Station, is a recording studio at 441 West 53rd Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood in Manhattan, New York City. 

The building contains 5 studio spaces: A, B, C, G, and E, as well as a black box theater. The building was originally a Consolidated Edison power plant.

In 1977, it was rebuilt as a recording studio by producer Tony Bongiovi and his partner Bob Walters.

The complex was renamed Avatar Studios, under the Avatar Entertainment Corporation, in May 1996. 

In 2017, the studios were renamed back to Power Station, by special arrangement with Berklee NYC. The studio reopened in 2020 after a full renovation, while maintaining the studio spaces.

In 1995, Sonalysts, which had begun as an underwater acoustics research company, licensed the Power Station's design and naming rights from Bongiovi and Walters. The company built a perfect replica of the original Studio A in Waterford, Connecticut, as a part of the new Power Station New England.

More information: Power Station, NYC

Independence Day is a song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen.

It was originally released on his fifth album, The River, in 1980. It was recorded at The Power Station in New York, on April 24-25, 1980.

In 2015, Springsteen stated that he regards Independence Day, Point Blank, Stolen Car and the title track as being the heart and soul of The River album.

Independence Day, along with the title track, Wreck on the Highway and Point Blank, is one of the verse-chorus songs on The River that was essentially a short story or character sketch. It is one of the darker hued songs on The River.

The lyrics are about a home that can no longer hold both father and son. The song is sung by the son to the father, opening with the line Papa go to bed now, it's getting late, reversing the usual command of a father to a son. The son recognizes that despite their similarities, the father and son would never agree but just continue to argue constantly, and so it was time for the son to leave home.

AllMusic critic William Ruhlmann said Independence Day is an unusually sad, beautiful and private song, with a slow piano and a languid saxophone solo, as well as delicate organ and acoustic guitar work. The song has been described as Springsteen's best recorded vocal, with an unerring sincerity which fuels the song.

Although released on The River in 1980, Independence Day was written in 1977 and was originally played in the Darkness on the Edge of Town tour.

Independence Day has been a reasonably popular concert song, with 199 performances through 2015. A concert version of Independence Day was released on the live album Live/1975-85.

Independence Day was released as the B-side on the single release of The River in several countries and as the B-side of Sherry Darling in others.

More information: Far Out

 So say goodbye, it's Independence Day
Papa, now I know the things you wanted that you could not say
But won't you just say goodbye? It's Independence Day
I swear I never meant to take those things away.

Bruce Springsteen

IF WE ALWAYS LIVE IN INVERNESS, WE WILL MEET NESSIE

Today, The Stones and The Grandma continue their English classes. They have reviewed some grammar rules and they have studied First Conditional structure and Too/Enough. They have been talking about interesting links to know more things and have enough information about Labour Insertion.

The Grandma bought some propierties in the United Kingdom and the family is working on them. They have been talking about their castle in Inverness, Scotland, and about how  many things they will do, if they live in it.

More information: First Conditional &  Too/ Enough

More information: Barcelona Activa

More information: Surfing the Labour Market

Inverness, from the Scottish Gaelic Inbhir Nis, meaning Mouth of the River Ness, is a cathedral city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands.

Historically it served as the county town of the county of Inverness-shire. Inverness lies near two important battle sites: the 11th-century battle of Blàr nam Fèinne against Norway which took place on the Aird, and the 18th century Battle of Culloden which took place on Culloden Moor.

It is the northernmost city in the United Kingdom and lies within the Great Glen (Gleann Mòr) at its northeastern extremity where the River Ness enters the Moray Firth. At the latest, a settlement was established by the 6th century with the first royal charter being granted by Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim (King David I) in the 12th century.

The Gaelic king Mac Bethad Mac Findláich (MacBeth) whose 11th-century killing of King Duncan was immortalised in Shakespeare's largely fictionalised play Macbeth, held a castle within the city where he ruled as Mormaer of Moray and Ross.

The population of Inverness grew from 40,969 in 2001 to 46,969 in 2012, according to World Population Review.

The Greater Inverness area, including Culloden and Westhill, had a population of 56,969 in 2012.

In 2018, it had a population of 69,696. Inverness is one of Europe's fastest growing cities, with a quarter of the Highland population living in or around it, and is ranked fifth out of 189 British cities for its quality of life, the highest of any Scottish city.

In the recent past, Inverness has experienced rapid economic growth: between 1998 and 2008, Inverness and the rest of the central Highlands showed the largest growth of average economic productivity per person in Scotland and the second greatest growth in the United Kingdom as a whole, with an increase of 86%. Inverness is twinned with one German city, Augsburg, and two French towns, La Baule and Saint-Valery-en-Caux.

Inverness was one of the chief strongholds of the Picts, and in AD 569 was visited by St Columba with the intention of converting the Pictish king Brude, who is supposed to have resided in the vitrified fort on Craig Phadrig, on the western edge of the city.

A 2.9 kg silver chain dating to 500–800 was found just to the south of Torvean in 1983. A church or a monk's cell is thought to have been established by early Celtic monks on St Michael's Mount, a mound close to the river, now the site of the Old High Church and graveyard.

More information: Visit Scotland I & II

Inverness Castle is said to have been built by Máel Coluim III (Malcolm III) of Scotland, after he had razed to the ground the castle in which Mac Bethad mac Findláich (Macbeth) had, according to much later tradition, murdered Máel Coluim's father Donnchad (Duncan I), and which stood on a hill around 1 km to the north-east.

The strategic location of Inverness has led to many conflicts in the area. Reputedly there was a battle in the early 11th century between King Malcolm and Thorfinn of Norway at Blar Nam Feinne, to the southwest of the city.

Inverness had four traditional fairs, including Legavrik or Leth-Gheamhradh, meaning midwinter, and Faoilleach. William the Lion (d. 1214) granted Inverness four charters, by one of which it was created a royal burgh. Of the Dominican friary founded by Alexander III in 1233, only one pillar and a worn knight's effigy survive in a secluded graveyard near the town centre.

Medieval Inverness suffered regular raids from the Western Isles, particularly by the MacDonald Lords of the Isles in the 15th century.

In 1187 one Domhnall Bán (Donald Ban) led islanders in a battle at Torvean against men from Inverness Castle led by the governor's son, Donnchadh Mac An Toisich (Duncan Mackintosh). Both leaders were killed in the battle, Donald Ban is said to have been buried in a large cairn near the river, close to where the silver chain was found.

Local tradition says that the citizens fought off the Clan Donald in 1340 at the Battle of Blairnacoi on Drumderfit Hill, north of Inverness across the Beauly Firth.

On his way to the Battle of Harlaw in 1411, Donald of Islay harried the city, and sixteen years later James I held a parliament in the castle to which the northern chieftains were summoned, of whom three were arrested for defying the king's command.

Clan Munro defeated Clan Mackintosh in 1454 at the Battle of Clachnaharry just west of the city. Clan Donald and their allies stormed the castle during the Raid on Ross in 1491.

In 1562, during the progress undertaken to suppress Huntly's insurrection, Mary, Queen of Scots, was denied admittance into Inverness Castle by the governor, who belonged to the earl's faction, and whom she afterwards caused to be hanged. The Clan Munro and Clan Fraser of Lovat took the castle for her. The house in which she lived meanwhile stood in Bridge Street until the 1970s, when it was demolished to make way for the second Bridge Street development.

Beyond the then northern limits of the town, Oliver Cromwell built a citadel capable of accommodating 1,000 men, but with the exception of a portion of the ramparts it was demolished at the Restoration. The only surviving modern remnant is a clock tower.

More information: BBC

Inverness played a role in the Jacobite rising of 1689. In early May, it was besieged by a contingent of Jacobites led by MacDonell of Keppoch. The town was actually rescued by Viscount Dundee, the overall Jacobite commander, when he arrived with the main Jacobite army, although he required Inverness to profess loyalty to King James VII.

In 1715 the Jacobites occupied the royal fortress as a barracks. In 1727 the government built the first Fort George here, but in 1746 it surrendered to the Jacobites and they blew it up. Culloden Moor lies nearby, and was the site of the Battle of Culloden in 1746, which ended the Jacobite rising of 1745–46.

On 7 September 1921, the first British Cabinet meeting to be held outside London took place in the Town House, when David Lloyd George, on holiday in Gairloch, called an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Ireland. The Inverness Formula composed at this meeting was the basis of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

Inverness and its immediate hinterland have a large number of originally Gaelic place names, as the area was solidly Gaelic-speaking until the late 19th century.

In the colonial period, a Gaelic speaking settlement named New Inverness was established in McIntosh County, Georgia, by settlers from in and around Inverness. The name was also given by expatriates to settlements in Quebec, Nova Scotia, Montana, Florida, Illinois, and California.

The name Inverness is also given to a feature on Miranda, a moon of the planet Uranus, as well as a 2637 m tall mountain in British Columbia, Canada.

Inverness is also known by its nicknames Inversnecky or The Sneck, with its inhabitants traditionally known as Clann Na Cloiche, Children of the Stone in Gaelic owing to the importance of the Clach Na Cudainn stone in the city's history.

More information: The Jones visit Loch Ness, We Shall Overcome!

The Loch Ness Monster is the world-famous creature

said to inhabit Loch Ness in northern Scotland.

The search for the monster has probably consumed

more money, time, and newspaper space

than attempts to prove the existence or otherwise of UFOs.

Peter D. Jeans

IF WE WORK HARD, WE WILL PASS ALL THE OBSTACLES

Sales

Today, The Watsons and The Grandma have continued studying their English for Sales course. They are working very hard and they must pass an exam of every subject they study.

Tomorrow, they have got one of these exams. For this reason, The Grandma has prepared a class with less theory and more practice activities to relax and be ready.

They have revised the First Conditional and have done some activities about Harry Potter and Fuerteventura Island, one of the eight islands of the Canary Islands.

The Grandma wants to talk about sales because it is the theme of The Watsons' exam tomorrow. She thinks that read a little about it is a good way to prepare this interesting exam. Good luck, Watsons! If you are not nervous, you will pass this exam without any problem.

More information: First Conditional I & II

Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale.

The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in response to an acquisition, appropriation, requisition, or a direct interaction with the buyer at the point of sale.

There is a passing of title property or ownership of the item, and the settlement of a price, in which agreement is reached on a price for which transfer of ownership of the item will occur.

The seller, not the purchaser, typically executes the sale and it may be completed prior to the obligation of payment. In the case of indirect interaction, a person who sells goods or service on behalf of the owner is known as a salesman or saleswoman or salesperson, but this often refers to someone selling goods in a store/shop, in which case other terms are also common, including salesclerk, shop assistant, and retail clerk.

In common law countries like ours, sales are governed generally by the common law and commercial codes. In the United States, the laws governing sales of goods are somewhat uniform to the extent that most jurisdictions have adopted Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code, albeit with some non-uniform variations.

Sales

A person or organization expressing an interest in acquiring the offered item of value is referred to as a potential buyer, prospective customer, or prospect.

Buying and selling are understood to be two sides of the same coin or transaction.

Both seller and buyer engage in a process of negotiation to consummate the exchange of values.

The exchange, or selling, process has implied rules and identifiable stages. It is implied that the selling process will proceed fairly and ethically so that the parties end up nearly equally rewarded. The stages of selling, and buying, involve getting acquainted, assessing each party's need for the other's item of value, and determining if the values to be exchanged are equivalent or nearly so, or, in buyer's terms, worth the price. Sometimes, sellers have to use their own experiences when selling products with appropriate discounts.

Although the skills required are different, from a management viewpoint, sales is a part of marketing. Sales often form a separate grouping in a corporate structure, employing separate specialist operatives known as salespersons, in singular salesperson. Selling is considered by many to be a sort of persuading art.

Contrary to popular belief, the methodological approach of selling refers to a systematic process of repetitive and measurable milestones, by which a salesman relates his or her offering of a product or service in return enabling the buyer to achieve their goal in an economic way.

According to a 2018 survey of salespeople, selling has become more difficult in recent years due to changes in technology and general access to prospects.

While the sales process refers to a systematic process of repetitive and measurable milestones, the definition of the selling is somewhat ambiguous due to the close nature of advertising, promotion, public relations, and direct marketing.

More information: Trilogy Funding

Selling is the profession-wide term, much like marketing defines a profession. Recently, attempts have been made to clearly understand who is in the sales profession, and who is not.

There are many articles looking at marketing, advertising, promotions, and even public relations as ways to create a unique transaction.

Many believe that the focus of selling is on the human agents involved in the exchange between buyer and seller. Effective selling also requires a systems approach, at minimum involving roles that sell, enable selling, and develop sales capabilities.

Selling also involves salespeople who possess a specific set of sales skills and the knowledge required to facilitate the exchange of value between buyers and sellers that is unique from marketing and advertising.

Marketing and sales differ greatly, but they generally have the same goal.

Selling is the final stage in marketing which puts the plan into effect. A marketing plan includes pricing, promotion, place, and product (the 4 P's).

Sales

A marketing department in an organization has the goals of increasing the desirability and value of the products and services to the customer and increasing the number and engagement of successful interactions between potential customers and the organization.

Achieving this goal may involve the sales team using promotional techniques such as advertising, sales promotion, publicity, and public relations, creating new sales channels, or creating new products. It can also include encouraging the potential customer to visit the organization's website, contact the organization for more information, or interact with the organization via social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs.

Social values play a major role in consumer decision processes. Marketing is the whole of the work on persuasion made for the whole of the target people. Sales is the process of persuasion and effort from one person to one person (B2C), or one person to a corporation (B2B), in order to make a living resource enter the company. This may occur in person, over the phone or digitally.

The field of sales process engineering views sales as the output of a larger system, not just as the output of one department. The larger system includes many functional areas within an organization. From this perspective, the labels sales and marketing cover several processes whose inputs and outputs supply one another. In this context, improving an output such as sales involves studying and improving the broader sales process, since the component functional areas interact and are interdependent.

More information: Lighter Capital

Many large corporations structure their marketing departments so they are integrated with all areas of the business. They create multiple teams with a singular focus, and the managers of these teams must coordinate efforts in order to drive profits and business success. For example, an inbound campaign seeks to drive more customers through the door, giving the sales department a better chance of selling their product to the consumer. A good marketing program would address any potential downsides as well.

The sales department would aim to improve the interaction between the customer and the sales channel or salesperson. As sales is the forefront of any organization, this would always need to take place before any other business process may begin.

Sales management involves breaking down the selling process and increasing the effectiveness of the discrete processes, as well as improving the interactions between processes. For example, in an outbound sales environment, the typical process includes outbound calling, the sales pitch, handling objections, opportunity identification, and the close. Each step of the process has sales-related issues, skills, and training needs, as well as marketing solutions to improve each discrete step.

One further common complication of marketing is the difficulty in measuring results for some marketing initiatives. Some marketing and advertising executives focus on creativity and innovation without concern for the top or bottom lines -a fundamental pitfall of marketing for marketing's sake.

Sales

Many companies find it challenging to get their marketing and sales teams to agree.

The two departments, although different in nature, handle very similar concepts and have to work together to achieve the business' goals. Building a good relationship between the two teams that encourages communication can be the key to success.

The idea that marketing can potentially eliminate the need for salespeople depends entirely on context. For example, this may be possible in some B2C situations; however, for many B2B transactions for example, those involving industrial organizations, this is mostly impossible.

Another dimension is the value of the goods being sold. Fast-moving consumer-goods (FMCG) require no salespeople at the point of sale to get them to jump off the supermarket shelf and into the customer's trolley. However, the purchase of large mining equipment worth millions of dollars will require a salesperson to manage the sales process -particularly in the face of competitors.
 

Small and medium businesses selling such large ticket items to a geographically-dispersed client base use manufacturers' representatives to provide this highly personal service while avoiding the large expense of a captive sales force.

Another area of discussion involves the need for alignment and integration of corporate sales and marketing functions. According to a report from the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council, only 40 percent of companies have formal programs, systems or processes in place to align and integrate the two critical functions.

Sales, Digital Marketing and Automated Marketing campaigns With the rise of the use of the internet today, sales functions of several enterprises are finding traditional methods of marketing quite old fashioned and less efficient. So the use of automated Marketing Applications is on the rise ranging from Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to Sales Force Management.

More information: Lucid Chart

I like to think of sales as the ability

to gracefully persuade, not manipulate,

a person or persons into a win-win situation.

Bo Bennett