Heathrow chaos

BA Heathrow chaos affects 70,000

Tens of thousands of air passengers have been stranded at Heathrow after British Airways cancelled all flights until Friday evening. The move was prompted by an unofficial strike by ground staff in support of sacked catering workers. More than 100 flights were grounded on Thursday leaving 15,000 passengers stranded - 1,000 of whom spent the night sleeping in the airport.

Union leaders said they were hopeful fresh talks may be held on Friday. Mick Temple, managing director at Heathrow, said there would be "significant disruption today and probably for several days to come" for BA passengers, as the airline faces cancelling a total of 550 flights up until 2000 BST on Friday.

But the Transport and General Workers' Union said they were optimistic talks could take place on Friday afternoon with conciliation service Acas, and progress could signal the end of industrial action. Earlier talks held on Thursday aimed at reinstating 600 sacked staff from the caterers that serve BA flights, Gate Gourmet, collapsed.

Nearly 100 BA aircraft and 1,000 pilots and cabin crew are in the wrong places around the world, BA said.
Qantas, Sri Lankan, Finnair, GB and British Mediterranean, also serviced by BA ground staff, have also been affected by the strike which is taking place during the peak holiday season.
So far, three Qantas London-bound flights from Australia are known to have been diverted to Frankfurt. BA said compensation claims will be considered on a case by case basis and all 70,000 passengers caught up in the chaos can rebook or have their flight costs refunded.

Staff at Heathrow - regarded as the world's busiest international airport - are trying to book travellers on flights with other airlines, while other services including Eurostar have reported a surge in business. Meanwhile passengers due to travel on Friday are being urged not to turn up at the airport, but to contact the airline or their travel agent for more information.

BA, which is set to lose £10m for every day that the dispute continues, said about 4,000 passengers were put up at hotels across London and the South East on Thursday night.
Another 1,000 spent the night in Terminals 1 and 4, some staying in a huge marquee, and were provided with sleep rolls, blankets and food. Those stranded were tired and frustrated on Friday morning, with many complaining of poor communication by airport staff.

SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/

Lost & Heroes [New Seasons]

HEROES [Season 2]

Tim Kring, creator of NBC’s hit series Heroes, told SCI FI Wire that the upcoming second season will constitute a new volume in the multi-volume series, with new characters and an entirely new storyline. “If you remember, the opening of the pilot pronounced the episode as the beginning of Volume One,” Kring said in an interview. “Volume One comes to a conclusion at the end of episode 23, and Volume Two starts with the opening of season two. And Volume Two is a different story.”

Kring added: “We could have new people and new storylines and new ideas and new threats and new bad guys and new heroes. So I would prepare the audience for that idea, that it’s not just a continuing serialized storyline about only these people. It’s a little more the 24 model than the Lost model.”

The first season of Heroes is exploring what happens when a disparate group of ordinary people discover they have extraordinary abilities and attempt to save New York from disaster.“Heroes needs to evolve, and if we are positing an idea that this is happening all over the world to many, many people, then we get to see some of those people and see how their story fits in.”

Kring also confirmed that some of the current heroes just might not survive this season, but added: “Many of your favorites will live to fight again.”

LOST [Season 4]

The third season's conclusion is set on December 23, 2004. The crash survivors made contact with what they think is a freighter off the coast of the island. Meanwhile, the war between the Others and the survivors came to its climax which saw several of the Others killed.

Not much is known about season four and most of what is known was revealed at San Diego's Comic-Con International 2007.It has been hinted that there is no boat coming to the island; however, whoever is coming to the island is "a lot worse" than the Others.

What happened between Ben and the real Henry Gale and how Ben was caught in Rousseau's trap on the survivors' fifty-eighth day will be explained. The four-toed statue will be addressed. Whether or not Kate is pregnant with a baby from Sawyer will be revealed in the first four episodes. What happened in the Hatch during its implosion will be explored. The fate of Sun and her unborn child will be made clear.

What happened to Dr. Marvin Candle's arm will be addressed. How Libby wound up in the mental institution will be shown. What happened to Ben's childhood friend Annie will be revealed. More will be seen of the authoritative Other Jacob.

Episodes will continue to feature flashbacks, in addition to flashforwards, which have revealed that Jack and Kate escape the island; however, a depressed Jack believes it to be a mistake. Not all the survivors make it off the island.

This season is apparently scarier and more violent than previous seasons. There will be more deaths, some of which take place in flashforwards. Time travel and other supernatural elements will be a part of the season, and decoy endings have been shot.

Lrg pizza xtra chz plz

Now you can text message for your pizza at Papa John's!!

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Michelle Kratschmer's family was craving the usual — a large pepperoni pizza and a small pie with black olives and cheese — but how she entered the phone order was entirely new. She ordered dinner by sending a text message to her local Papa John's restaurant. A half-hour later, the pizzas were delivered to her home.
"I got exactly what I ordered, so that was a good thing," Kratschmer said. "You send it off and you're not sure if they've gotten it on that end, because you don't talk to them."

Louisville-based Papa John's International Inc. this week rolled out its text message ordering option at its 2,700 U.S. restaurants. It's a progression from the pizza maker's online ordering, which began in 2001 and now accounts for nearly 20 percent of its U.S. sales.

Domino's Pizza Inc. has taken it another step, recently starting a system that lets customers place orders from Web-enabled mobile devices. The new ordering system, launched about 2 1/2 months ago, is now available at about 3,000 Domino's locations and will spread to all of the chain's approximately 5,100 U.S. restaurants next year, said Rob Weisberg, a marketing vice president for the company.

Nigel Travis, Papa John's president and chief executive officer said:
"Our vision is that you can order a Papa John's pizza anytime of day or night — wherever you are."

First, Papa John's customers register online to create accounts. They can save up to four favorite orders, along with a delivery address and payment preference. Customers can punch in "FAV1," "FAV2," "FAV3," or "FAV4," to text message orders. Papa John's sends a reply with the order, and the customer can confirm or change it.

At the stores, the transition is seamless since text orders pop up the same as online orders. The text-messaging option is another example of Papa John's looking for innovations to offset an advertising budget that's smaller than rivals' Pizza Hut and Domino's.

Pizza Hut had an 18 percent share of the $28.5 billion U.S. pizza market last year, while Domino's had 11 percent and Papa John's had 6.9 percent. Like online customers, people ordering with Papa John's via texting are asked if they want to get regular messages touting coupons or other special offers, and the company expects a big number to do so. Still, Ensign promises that Papa John's will be "very careful and not deluge our customers with promotional messages."

By BRUCE SCHREINER, Associated Press Writer Thu Nov 15, 5:57 AM ET.
From Yahoo! News.

Sources of English Vocabulary

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Source: Visual English Blog

Frenchman learning English

Got it?!

As any English student knows one of the most frustrating things to learn are all the various uses of "GET". Get is used as a verb by itself with various meanings.
One of the most difficult areas of usage is how "get" combines with prepositions for form phrasal verbs.
Add to these problems the variations in colloquial usage and you have got ;-) a recipe for confusion!
Below is a list of the principal usage. Hopefully you will get it (i.e. understand the proper usage)

>> GET "alone"

Meaning and Examples

To receive >> I got a book for my birthday.

To earn >> I get $7 an hour.

To bring or fetch >> Can you get that book for me?

To understand >> Do you get the lesson?

To be affected by, or catch >> He got a cold last week.

To catch or take >> I got the 4.55 train to New York.

To communicate with >> If he isn't home, try to to get him on his cell phone.

To have a strong effect on >> That film really got me.

To capture or seize >> The police got him at the station.


GET used in a phrasal verb
These are only the main meanings (not all)

Phrasal Verb, Meaning and Example

To get away = To escape >> The thief got away from the police.

To get back = To recover >> I got my books back from Tom.

To get by = To survive financially >> Sally gets by on just $1,000 a month.

To get in = To enter a car, train etc. >> Come on, get in! Let's go.

To get into = To be accepted >> He got into the university he wanted.

To get off = To exit from a train, bus etc. >> Jerry got off at 52nd Street.

To get on with = To have a good relationship with >> I really get on well with Janet.

To get out = To leave >> I got out of class at 3.30.

To get over = To recover from an illness >> He got over his operation very quickly.
To get through = To succeed in an examination or test >> That was a difficult test to get through, wasn't it?

To get up = To get out of bed >> I get up at 7 every morning.



Get "Colloquial" usage

Verb, Meaning and Example

Gotta = To have to (US) >> I gotta go, it's late.

Have got to = To have to (US) >> I've got to hurry up!

To get down to business = To begin working >> Tom arrived at 12 and immediately got down to business.

To get together = To meet >> Let's get together this weekend.



SOURCE: About.com: English as a Second Language.