31 octobre 2009
6
31
/10
/octobre
/2009
00:01
Jack O'Lantern
is one of the most popular legends related to Hallowe'en :
it's an Irish tale...
Click on the lantern to discover the story
of 'Stingy Jack'... (1)
... and listen to the tale thanks to the video below :
(1) : Photo by Photograph by Toby Ord,
under CC BY-SA license
28 octobre 2009
3
28
/10
/octobre
/2009
21:46
"The Boat that Rocked"
got a most English title in France : "Good Morning England !"" 
... which became "Pirate Radio" in the U.S.A.
It tells the story of a fictitious pirate radio station : "Radio Rock", whose crew of disc jockeys broadcast rock and pop music to the United Kingdom, from a ship anchored in the North Sea. At that time -1966 in the film- the British government was trying to shut it down... but I won't spoil the film any further 
Published by M. Mirza
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dans
CinemA-RT
21 octobre 2009
3
21
/10
/octobre
/2009
12:00
Linus blows the class rep' election...
... by telling his schoolmates about the 'Great Pumpkin' during the speech, though he aimed at becoming the class representative (= "délégué" in France). Indeed, Linus is probably the most naive character in "The Peanuts" comic strips [by Charles Schulze].
How come Linus started talking about a pumpkin during the election campaign ?? Well... Linus is actually crazy about 'the Great Pumpkin' -which is a character that nobody sees in "The Peanuts"... However, Linus is strongly convinced 'the Great Pumpkin' is real... and continues to search for it !
If you wish to know who 'the Great Pumpkin' is,
<<< Click on the photo of this pumpkins field in 'High Moon Bay'
(California) Pumpkins are one of the symbols of Hallowe'en : I will tell you more about it... soon :o) ________________________________________________________
blow (V) = to spoil, to fail, to mess up with something
schoolmates = the pupils in your school
a pumpkin = a large round vegetable (yellow or orange inside)
which grows on the ground (look at the photo !)
"How come [that]... ?" = "Why... ?" "What are the reasons for... ?"
search for (V) = to look for, to seek (irregular V)
17 octobre 2009
6
17
/10
/octobre
/2009
21:41
... 1989 ?
A powerful earthquake -which lasted 15 seconds- shook San Francisco : the epicentre of the quake measured 6.9 on the Richter scale.Tremors from the quake were reported 400 miles away in Los Angeles and 200 miles away in Reno (Nevada). There were many killed and hundreds of injured. "Unbelievable damage to infrastructure" was reported, with collapsed bridges and freeways, fires, shattered buildings, gaping cracks in roads and land slides.
Fans about to see the baseball World Series match (Candlestick Park) were also caught up in the quake.
(1)
_____________________________
The California earthquake of April 18, 1906 is one of the most significant earthquakes of all time. At around 05 am, local time, a foreshock occurred was felt widely throughout the San Francisco Bay area. The great earthquake broke loose 20 to 25 seconds later, with an epicenter near San Francisco. Violent shocks punctuated the strong shaking which lasted some 45 to 60 seconds. The earthquake was felt from southern Oregon to south of Los Angeles and inland as far as central Nevada.
Damages and losses : Dead - More than 3,000 / Homeless - 225,000 / Buildings Destroyed - 28,000
(1) Map from the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) site
___________________________________________
Basically, how does it happen ?
... and yes : "earthquke" needs another "a" : it spells "e-a-r-t-h-q-u-
A-k-e ... but I cannot correct YouTube video titles :-(
Published by M. Mirza
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HISTORY - PAST & PRESENT
15 octobre 2009
4
15
/10
/octobre
/2009
22:26
Today you met your English assistant.
Have a look at the map :
do you remember where she comes from ?
Which state ? Which city ?
For Monday 19, you know you must draw her portrait. Re-read your notes and remember the information she told you about, in detail.
Published by M. Mirza
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dans
GEOGRAPHY
7 octobre 2009
3
07
/10
/octobre
/2009
07:32
This word is unusual :
every time you remove one of its letters,
it changes into another one...
... until you get a one-letter word -which still has a meaning !
.
Published by M. Mirza
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dans
LANGUAGEs
5 octobre 2009
1
05
/10
/octobre
/2009
16:57
Speech at T.E.D.'s
-Technology, Entertainment, Design (1)
The former vice-president of the U.S.A. (also film-'star' of "An inconvenient truth") suggests 15 possible ways of reducing climate change... now !
The man who called himself the "former future President of the United States" presents these plans with humour and humanity.
Not only does Al Gore's speech sound quite articulate and easy to catch, but you can also activate English subtitles to understand it even better.
[Nah... you are not going to put the French subtitles on, are you ?! Too easy : it would be no fun ! 
] ______________________________________________________________
(1) : TED <<< is a small nonprofit devoted to 'Ideas Worth Spreading', started out in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Along with the annual 'TED Conference' in California, and the 'TEDGlobal conference' in Oxford UK, it now includes the 'TEDTalks' video site, the 'Open Translation Program' & other related events.
Published by M. Mirza
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CLIMATE - the ENVIRONMENT
4 octobre 2009
7
04
/10
/octobre
/2009
18:00
Here is what you mustn't do in a cinema : watch Mr Bean,
he is forbidden to do various things.
He cannot drink nor eat...
... until he gets THE soda and THE pop-corn :o)
Published by M. Mirza
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dans
ADVERTISING
3 octobre 2009
6
03
/10
/octobre
/2009
10:47
A 2-minute version of the Google Earth Climate introductory tour
View the potential impacts of climate change on our planet Earth :
find out about possible solutions for adaptation and mitigation,
ahead of the UN's
climate conference
^ in Copenhag
en (COP15),
starting on December 7.
Published by M. Mirza
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dans
CLIMATE - the ENVIRONMENT
1 octobre 2009
4
01
/10
/octobre
/2009
23:42
Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan refuses possible failure...
... by world leaders to reach a global agreement on fighting climate change at UN talks in Copenhagen in December.
Last Thursday, Annan was at Descartes University in Paris to promote a song and video aimed at spreading awareness of the damage by global warming and encouraging world leaders to come to an agreement.
The song is an updated version of Midnight Oil's 1987 hit
"Beds are Burning".
It is called "Tck Tck Tck : Time for Climate Justice" and is designed as a countdown to the December talks.
You can download it for free
here
^ You can also sign, as you download : putting a "signature" with each download means signing a sort of "digital musical petition".
The organizers will count the number of downloads by country : they will use that to lobby governments to make big commitments at Copenhagen.
Published by M. Mirza
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A little bit of EVERYTHING
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