THE ORIGINS of SAGGY "DROOPY" PANTS...

... You know, the pants some boys wear these days, below the waist, or far below...
Their origin:
The style is believed to have started in prisons, where inmates are issued ill-fitting jumpsuits but no belts to prevent hangings and beatings. The look was popularized in gangster rap videos.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/22/ap/strange/main4034947.shtml

The Milgram experiment

This psychological experiment was conducted between 1961 and 1963 by 28-year-old Stanley Milgram, then a recent graduate with a Ph.D. in social psychology from Harvard's department of social relations.
It was conducted on Yale's campus. Learn more about it and discuss it in the comments.

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/milgram%2B/
video/x1f85l_presentation-de-lexperience-milgram_events

Boston Legal

Boston legal is a series broadcast in the U.S. Thanks to onegoodmove for the link.
http://www.boston-legal.org/
Here is an extract against the war in iraq. Aren't Americans incredible!

Here is about the series' main actor, James Spader, who won the Emmy award for best lead actor in 2007 for his role as the lead character in the show.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Spader

Amazing instrument

http://reactable.iua.upf.edu/

LOANS...

And here's a 16th century song about paper money...

  Rags make paper
 Paper makes money
 Money makes banks
 Banks make loans
 Loans make beggars
 Beggars make rags!

http://jack.rusher.com/BookPathology.html

A nugget from one of my favourite site

You know, on the left column, my favourite sites... 

Among them, there is Wordsmith.org by Anu Garg

another word lover, another logophile ;-)

Anu, if you subscribe to his newsletter or visit his website,

gives you a new word each day with its definition, its origins and a quote or two containing that word.

But there's a bonus, the "cerise sur le gâteau", it's a quote, a random quote. 

Well, not so random.. Anu must be a wise man for the quotes he chooses are always full of wisdom.

I thought i'd send you today's "cherry quote". Translated into English by a famous Frenchman:

Having been unable to strengthen justice, 

we have justified strength.

Blaise Pascal. Mathematician and philosopher. 1623-1662

Peter Watkins

Here is Peter Watkins' website:
http://www.mnsi.net/~pwatkins/
in which you must particularly read this:
http://www.mnsi.net/~pwatkins/part2_home.htm

Here is Peter Watkins' filmography:
The Forgotten Faces (1960),

Culloden (UK, 1964),

The War Game (UK, 1965).

Punishment Park (USA, 1970)

Edvard munch (Norway, 1973)

- The Journey (a global peace film, 1983-86)

The Freethinker (Sweden, 1992-94)

La Commune (France, 1999) -
Listen towards the end of this first extract about the difference between communication and "mass communication"... Indeed, "Mass communication" is NOT communication.

TOEIC

TEST OF ENGLISH FOR INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION

http://www.fr.toeic.eu/
http://www.fr.toeic.eu/?gclid=CNCmw6af5JICFR8-ZwodAFNrcw
http://www.u-picardie.fr/CRL/toeic.htm

Quand passer le TOEIC à Reims:
https://www.fr.etseurope.org/store/advanced_search_result.php?os
Csid=6b205cdb6ac444108ea009d97630d99d&step=2&appointments_id=&test_types_id=
TOEICListeninga&test_city_id=
REIMS&dfrom=03%2F04%2F2008&dto=03%2F10%2F2008

Philippe Starck

His English is terrible but i'm sure you'll understand everything he says!
And enjoy his site: http://www.philippe-starck.com/

Quite a speech!

18 minutes with an agile mind

If you want to learn how to play chess...

you could visit those French sites.
http://normandlamoureux.com/echecs/

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/lepetitjoueur/

GAME THEORY

http://scienceblogs.com/goodmath/2008/03/introducting_game_theory.php

Cranes can collapse...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/20/national/main3955196.shtml

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/25/national/main3966907.shtml

NEIL DE GRASSE TYSON : "ARE WE ALONE?"

History of the "Baccalauréat"

The "Bac' is 200 years old!

http://www.france24.com/fr/20080317-vie-mouvementee-baccalaureat-200-ans-aujourdhui-1

A forgotten word in the first sentence of the article.

Everything you've ever wanted to know about...

SPACESUITS !

A GREAT VIDEO WITH SUBTITLES.
http://www.nasa.gov/mov/196845main_069_Spacesuits.mov

Wow! Placebo story

View Dan Ariely: Predictably Irrational on FORA.tv


View Dan Ariely: Predictably Irrational on FORA.tv

Your new English teacher ;-)

Everyday English... for sure!

It's a shame! This video contains too many spelling mistakes... like it should have been "incompetence" and not incompitance...




and to make it complete, a funny Dutch TV commercial for an English language institute...

WOW! A DREAM HOUSE !

24h: A Swedish architect agency designed this marvel in Dragspelhuset, Lake Övre Gla, Sweden

A dream come true! ...I want one just like that...And it is retractable!


Extract from its description: :
During the summer the building can change its form or, like a butterfly, unfold its wings for extra shelter during rainy days.
The addition is for a house from the year 1800, located on the banks of Ovre Gla Lake in the Swiss nature reserve of Glaskogen.
Regulations limited the amount of construction that could be done on the exterior of the building and proscribed a 4.5 meter green space around the stream that encloses the area. 24H came up with a telescoping cabin, adding to the usable surface and arching out over the stream. This accentuates the organic shapes of the design, which emulates the rustic surroundings.

Isn't the inside as fantastic as the outside?


See much more of it here:
http://www.dragspelhuset.com/
and here:
http://arkinetia.com/Articulos/Art350.aspx