31 décembre 2009
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Phillip Niemeyer is an art director at 'Double Triple' (an art & design studio). Three days ago, his "Picturing the Past 10 Years" was issued in the New York Times .
Click on the outlined name of the US daily (above -green) to discover a chart gathering major trends and events in the last decade : P. Niemeyer pictured them in icons and key words !
Which ones do you already know ?
Which ones have you heard of ?
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outline = (ici) encadrer
trend = tendency
one decade = 10 years
Published by M. Mirza
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HISTORY - PAST & PRESENT
27 décembre 2009
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19:25
Here is the American flag parody by ADbusters
you studied before Xmas holidays
You have already detailed the original U.S. flag & revised its different elements : you know what they stand for -well, at least, you ought to know this :-| You also know 2 different names given to the "American flag"... don't you ?
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(to) stand for = represent, symbolise
Published by M. Mirza
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Terminales... B1 - B2
26 décembre 2009
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22:25
Today is Boxing Day !
Boxing Day is a bank holiday and a public holiday in Australia, Canada, Germany, Ghana, Greenland, Hong Kong, Jamaica, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom and in some countries in the Commonwealth of Nations with a mainly Christian population. In South Africa, it is known as "the Day of Goodwill".
Click on the box to find out more about Boxing Day :
its origins, its past and present traditions... 
Boxing Day is not an official holiday in the United States and yet, it gets currently known among the Americans -especially those living near the Canada/U.S.A. border. When Boxing Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the following Monday is the public holiday.
24 décembre 2009
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20:09
... are
plainly explained in the video clip below.
The transcript will help you understand ;-)
plainly = clearly
22 décembre 2009
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21:07
Gingerbread recipes, gingerbread houses and men
are also part of the Xmas holiday traditions Some historians claim Gingerbread Houses date from the early 19th century : "Hansel and Gretel" -a fairy tale by the Grimm Brothers - showed such a house. But others suggest that the Grimms merely developed a pre-existent idea.. As for the White House, each year both members of its staff, and its Pastry Team contribute to maintain the holiday tradition : more than 150 pounds of gingerbread dough and 250 libers of white chocolate are used to build the White House Gingerbread House. You can watch how it is achieved in the video below :
Real carpenters, plumbers, or electricians help this project become a full success. This year, not only does the Gingerbread White House include a view of the State Dining Room and a marzipan vegetable garden... but it also shows the US President's family pet : the dog Bo :o)
________________________________________________________________ gingerbread = a type of cake, usually very dark brown and soft, which contains ginger / ginger (gingembre) | mere = simple pastry = sweet baked goods such as cakes, biscuits etc | dough = flour mixed with water, fat, sometimes yeast (levure), to be baked.
14 décembre 2009
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13:09
Copenhagen +7
'River Runs Red' 
"When Midnight Oil released this song (1990), the "world's largest-ever pollution incident, involving the supertanker Exxon Valdez <<< off Alaska's pristine coasts, had [just] sent shockwaves around the world [1989].
Midnight Oil's response, by playing a guerrilla gig on a flatbed truck outside Exxon's headquarters in New York, brought areas of the city to a standstill and was hailed by environmentalists trying to put as much pressure on big business as possible." (from >>> hBBC h2g2 -see "Blue Sky Mining"). The spine-chilling video mixes reports from the disaster with the band legendary gig.
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pristine = new or almost new, and in very good condition | a gig = (colloquial) rock concert, performance | a flatbed truck = camion à plateaux (ici, pour le concert) | (to) hail = acclaim, greet enthusiastically | spine-chilling = so frightening... that it makes your back (spine) shiver and chill (get cold)
Published by M. Mirza
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dans
English is MUSIC...
13 décembre 2009
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11:55
Here are a few links to help you explore the branding and [anti-]consumerism systems... enjoy your surfing :o)
The website of the Adbusters Media Foundation : ads and commercials that parody brand culture, and amagazine.
www.vam.ac.uk The Victoria & Albert Museum site : loads of resources worth visiting !
An informative site by the Institute of Packaging : all about the packaging industry, including education, design and technology.
www.hatads.org.uk/ The "website for the history of advertisign trust" : archives of the UK's advertising and marketing industries.
The official site of the Coca-Cola Company -contains information on the history of the brand.
The official site of Levi Strauss & Co., including the company history and information about the development of jeans.
Originally a support site for two activists sued for libel by McDonald's, the site has now become a focus for anti-consumerist criticism.
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loads of... = a great deal of..., lots of...
sued for libel = poursuivis pour diffamation
Published by M. Mirza
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dans
Terminales... B1 - B2
12 décembre 2009
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00:01
This pie-chart helps you visualize the US states population
Mikael Häggström (1) drew it according to the 2008 U.S. Census
(1) : He put the illustration in the Public Domain
Not only is it useful... but it also looks nice :o)
If you want to read the caption better, you can view a larger picture
>>> HERE
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census = an official count [here] to define the number of people living in a country
caption = a short piece of text under/ in an illustration (map, graph, etc), describing
or detailing it
Published by M. Mirza
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GEOGRAPHY
11 décembre 2009
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21:23
++ Terminales
You have just started analysing a peculiar US flag today... But what are the states corresponding to the 50 stars on the American flag ?
Click on the notes
and listen to Wakko's little song in "A cartoon to memorize the 50 states"... not that easy, heh ? However, you should recognize many of them ! Write down the ones you remember ; then, listen to the cartoon again until you manage to complete your list.
Click on the map flag : this alphabetical list will help you memorize them more easily.
A few mnemonic devices :
- no state begins with B, E, J, Q, S -nor with X/Y/Z !
- the letters C, M, N and W correspond to the longest states lists
- C and D include "double" states : North and South... but there is also West Virginia !
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mnemonic devices = procédés mnémotechniques
Published by M. Mirza
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dans
GEOGRAPHY
7 décembre 2009
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19:26
Published by M. Mirza
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CLIMATE - the ENVIRONMENT
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