07.11.2008
Cartoons from Courrier International!!
LES Cartoons de Courrier International sont vraiment supers... et du monde entier!!!
Quelques cartoons from these last days!! ;-)
Enjoy
| Au parc national des monts Rushmore, dans le Dakota du sud figurent les statues géantes de Washington, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt et Lincoln - bientôt un cinquième ? |
| http://cartoons.courrierinternational.com/dessins/galerie... |
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06.11.2008
Little story from the hiSTORY
4th of November
What a day?
I took my morning off in order to be able to go with my flatmate Emily to vote.
What a drama when she realised that a registration on the electoral list on Internet has not been taken in consideration. The result is that she CANNOT vote!!! A drama yes, I felt myself powerless to not be able to vote! So when you can but you cannot ;-) should be worst!
So, it was time for me to go to work… with the thought of being concentrate on my study for the arvo… and figuring out what I will do during the evening later one!
What a joke… I have DONE nothing that day at work... No way to concentrate.. the arvo flies but strangely it was a very long arvo!
6pm: Time to leave
Direction to the Democratic Leadership for the 21st century… Sounds good but really boring hein?! Yep, I know!
So yeah, went there…
Some pics…
After they turned down the TV volume to transform the place into a dance floor…
I needed fresh air, see the real New York , not the basement of a building!! So after a short stop in Time Square…
We were heading in the direction of Rockfeller Plaza on the 49th! While we saw huge screen everywhere, we suddenly heard the crowd… this massive noise from in front us!!! No way to miss anything. That’s the problem with American election, you can be 30min waiting the result of the next state…and then you go away a bit and you hear the crowd and realise Shiiit I missed the result ‘lively live’ one more time!
So yeah, after a quick run… short also… but intense. We saw the huge screen, looking for the figure, more than 270electors for Obama. Smile, laughs, happiness, joy around us! SO good! People were just relieved… and it keeps going up and up and up.
So, yeah as foreigners we agreed… NOW, we can rely on the ‘pronostics’! The gap was so important… that’s ok, it’s safe! It was hard to do though. Cheering because the channel announced a state for Obama… We look at each other, and wondering, but only 2% of the vote have been counted, how can they predict, how dare they say such things?
Anyway, it was really amazing and fortunately, Mc Cain spoke quite quickly coz we were all waiting for Obama speech! One more time quite powerfull… but please do not forget the person behind him who writes this speech. This little hand that you will never see!!!
This is the ice ring at Rockfeller Plaza… I discover it after the crowd left… They adeed States after States as soon as the colour were announced… ahahah American… they know how to do it well and in BIG! And on pics above you can see the 2 stripes – blue & Red- going up as soon as electors were announced!!!
Being me... writen, Barack Obama, the new President of the United States... but cannot really see on the pic, what a pity! ;-)
And the 5th Nov. morning… on my way to work , I just innocently wanted to buy the NY Times. But realised that it was SOLD out everywhere, I was finally not the only with this idea!!! ;-)
But finally, they printed a Late edition again… and got 3 (me & flatmates) on my way to go back home the 5th!!! ;-)
This was my ‘little story’ of the ‘BIG historical story’!!! TIME to CHANGE:
This country is proud again, and according to feedbacks from abroad… foreigners within a night change their perspective on the US! And same for me!!
This election is not only about the US, but also abt the colour of our skin.
Indeed, by being used to see Obama on TV, by seeing this black man inspiring people in the world and giving hope, and finally just by being him as the President of the US, people in the world –not only American- will just unconsciously &/or consciously change their opinion and change what they see when they look at a black men!
Racism is everywhere AND nowhere!
Between this election and the visit of Martin Luther King museum and house where he was born and grew up…. What historic moment!
Do we really realise how privileged we are to have our colour? How it is easy in the daily life?
And for these reasons, at equal place, I will value much more black people, seeing more strength and perseverance that make them where they are! Respect!
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24.10.2008
WE are DUMB or GREAT ?!?!
Ok, my title is not totally right as it is focused on Americans Youth...
AND I am NOT American!!!
But still nice article/debate...
;-)
A debattre!!!
From: American Enterprise Institute (AEI)
http://www.aei.org/events/eventID.1766,filter.all/summary.asp
The Millennials: The Dumbest Generation or the Next Great Generation?
Young Americans: Hope for the Future or Putting Us in Jeopardy?
WASHINGTON, SEPTEMBER 30, 2008--Should we be optimistic or pessimistic about where the millennial generation is taking America intellectually? Is the millennial generation cause for panic or a source of hope for the twenty-first century? Mark Bauerlein of Emory University and Neil Howe of LifeCourse Associates debated the strengths and weaknesses of this generation at an AEI event on Monday, September 29, 2008.
"In spite of enormous advantages the young have--opportunities to acquire knowledge and skills--when we look at actual measures of knowledge and skills, we actually see a decline of intellectual habits," said Bauerlein, author of The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future. While he conceded that there has been a positive increase in young people's political involvement and volunteer work, he said that the millennial generation is "too dynamic" to come to any conclusion about overall improvement in their social and political behavior. Bauerlein argued that in college, political participation is easy and even encouraged, but that after graduation these positive trends tend to decrease as finding time to pursue knowledge actively competes with hectic daily schedules.
Bauerlein then described how today's youth are not using conventional methods of learning--reading books, writing papers, conducting research--like previous generations did. "If we understand reading as a measure of intellectual curiosity . . . in 1982, the eighteen- to twenty-four-year-old age cohort was the most active reading group, and by 2002 it was the least active reading group except for [those] age seventy-five and older." While this study was unable to conclude that Americans are becoming less intelligent over time, Bauerlein used it to highlight the changes from previous generations.
Howe, coauthor of Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation, ardently disagreed. He said that while there has been "little, if any, improvement in traditional modes of communication—the writing and research and novel studying," this does not mean that there has been a regression of intellectualism as a whole, but rather a spur in new technology and shifts in communication.
Howe compared the winning National Spelling Bee words from a few decades ago to those of the past few years as an example of intellectual development. He said the winning words "Chihuahua" in 1967 and "croissant" in 1970 were at a lower level of difficulty than "autochthonous" and "appoggiatura," the winning words in 2004 and 2005, respectively, in an attempt to demonstrate that the millennial generation is verbally superior to past generations. "If you still think today's youth are dumb, be careful, because some day you may be a contestant on the TV show Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?"
In their rebuttals, each put stock in varying analyses and statistics. Howe discussed the dramatic increase in college attendance among young people, and Bauerlein wasted no time in pointing out the corresponding increase in remedial college programs--designed for students who could not succeed in college on their own without extra academic help. Regardless of whether or not the millennials are the dumbest or smartest eighteen- to twenty-five-year-olds this country has ever had Bauerlein and Howe agreed on one point: the importance of guiding young Americans toward even greater levels of intellectual achievement.
--MAUREEN WALDERS
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23.10.2008
Ils sont fou ces Americains, ils sont fou!!!
Ahhh ces Americains, on ne les changera jamais.... toujours les choses en grand!!!
I was studying at the UN.... and then... a boat on the HUdson River....
One part of the cloth of the both... Mc Cain, then the boat beared... other side was Obama!!!
btw, J-12 for the election!!!!
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