Dutch in Motion

Strauss-Kahn will be heard tomorrow by French police in Lille

2012-02-21T12:21:00.000+01:00

Quoted by miscellaneous persons heard within the framework of a prostitution ring inquiry linked to the Carlton of Lille, Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be questioned tomorrow by the judges in charge of the case. The former IMF head has been held in custody at a police station in Lille since Tuesday, February 21^st, charged with living off “immoral earnings” and “misuse of corporate assets” in the Carlton’s affair.

Already in the headlines in May 2011, Mr Strauss-Kahn resigned as head of the International Monetary Fund after he was charged with the attempted rape of a hotel maid in New York but then the case was dropped.

The former director of the International Monetary Fund is said to have taken part in naughty escapades between Brussels, Washington and Paris financed by a third party. The stake of this inquiry - which will take place within the framework of a custody and could thus last more than 48 hours - is to know if DSK knew that the women he met were prostitutes, and only then, know who paid them and if DSK was notified about it.

French police have already placed two men under preliminary investigation on charges of organising a prostitution ring and misusing corporate funds to pay for sex.

By LLoba

Boston Dynamics – company that develops amazing robots

2012-02-20T18:44:00.000+01:00

Did you already see a robot that can move like a human being or animal? The engineering company Boston Dynamics from the USA is developing robots that look like those you can see in the movies.

Their dynamic robots are really extraordinary. They are trying to give them capabilities to go anywhere people or animals can go. And it really works. So what are their robots like?

For example BigDog is a robot that has four animal-like legs and can walk, run, climb and carry heavy loads. He’s not bigger then a large dog. That it really works proves the world record it set – it walked 12.8 miles without stopping or refueling.

Another robot called PETMAN looks like a human. It walks or crawls just like people do, it even does push-ups (see the video below)! It was designed for testing chemical protection clothing. Therefore it also simulates human physiology by controlling temperature, humidity and sweating.

Boston Dynamics has also developed a robot able to climb walls or anything else that is vertical. RiSE has six legs powered by electric motors and feet with micro-claws. It looks a little bit like a lizard.

The company has recently had success with the BigDog big brother – LS3 robot, also called AlphaDog. It was designed to carry heavy loads over rough terrain – to assist soldiers for example. U.S Marines are supposed to test these robots in real situations this year. What is amazing, LS3 doesn’t need a driver. It has computer vision and GPS, so it can simply follow a leader or travel to designated locations.

Most of these projects are funded by DARPA, an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new military technologies. It has already funded a number of projects with world impact, for example computer networking a few decades ago.

Watch the video of PETMAN walking, kneeling or doing push-ups:

Matt Groening, creator of “The Simpsons,” finally owns his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

2012-02-16T12:01:00.000+01:00

After 23 years on the air, the creator of “The Simpsons” has finally managed to have his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Matt Groening has inaugurated his plot of fame with – as predicted - several protagonists of the series.

Coinciding with the week when its landmark episode number 500 – “At long last leave” - has been broadcasted to the U.S. television, Groening has been rewarded for having created one of the most famous series of the history. Besides being surrounded by Homer and Bart Simpson, the creator of the yellow family also came with Hank Azaria, Yeardley Smith and Nancy Cartwright, actors who gave their voice to the characters in the American version of the series.

“I am especially thankful for Nancy Cartwright - woman who gave her voice to Bart - who faced the challenge of interpreting a ten-year-old problematic child in 1987," said Groening. "Here lies one of the secrets of the show: every time we have a problem or face silence, Bart Simpson's voice goes up saying: Cowabunga," said The New York Times.

Though this one is known to be the first Hollywood Walk of Fame’s star for Groening for having created The Simpsons, it is not the first one that the show is granted on the famous Walk of The Angels. The inhabitants of Springfield have already had their own star since 2005.

The mythical series’ premiere was broadcasted in The United States in December, 1989, though the famous yellow characters had already appeared on Tracey Ullman's Show in 1987.

By LLoba

The color of the Sun is actually white!

2012-02-15T17:15:00.001+01:00

If you were asked to draw a picture of the Sun, what colour would you use? Probably yellow, wouldn’t you? But the yellow star we see on the sky is actually white. How is that possible?

Our Sun is a star and the color of it comes from its temperature. The light consists of photons and these are emitted from the star into space with certain amount of energy. The colour of light then depends on what kinds of visible photons dominate. Cool stars (less then 3,500 Kelvin) are red, whereas hot stars (above 10,000 Kelvin) are blue. This means that in case of cool stars red photons are mostly emitted and similarly in case of hot stars blue photons.

Is our Sun cool or hot? It has approximately 6,000 Kelvin, so it is somewhere in the middle. This temperature causes that all color photons are emitted at the same time. All these colors mixed up give us white. Surprised? Don’t try to get white mixing all your tempera colors, this works only with light.

Then why we see the Sun yellow? It is the result of scattering the sun light by the Earth’s atmosphere. The sun light has to pass through our atmosphere and this is when shorter wavelength light is removed, notably violet and blue. This is how we get yellow color from white.

A cute "doodle" for Valentines' Day

2012-02-14T13:23:00.001+01:00

The most famous internet search engine celebrates Valentine's Day releasing a new animated 'doodle'. On this occasion, Google represents the day of love with a small animation showing the tenderest persons of the world: children. In this way Mountain View's company celebrates Valentine's Day with all the users.

Not only have the great ones been accommodated in Google's 'doodles'. Indeed, the writer Charles Dickens, the scientific Marie Curie and the singer Freddie Mercury have been honoured for their birthday, but Google also wants to represent the most significant days of the year. The summer arrival, the eclipse of Moon or like on the occasion of Valentine's Day. There are notable dates that Google wants to represent its own way on the page of its search engine.

This 14th of February, well-known as Valentine's Day, Google represents love with a short story showing children. The logo of the search engine leaves its original colours behind and incorporates the figure of a child with a display button in his hands. After a click on this cute button, begins a small story animated with two children who are playing skipping, along with the Cold Heart song performed by the singer Tony Bennett.

So if on this lovers’ day you need some sweetness and tenderness, go watch the new Google “doodle” animated cartoon.

By LLoba

The global navigation system Galileo should be operational in 2014

2012-02-10T17:44:00.000+01:00

Galileo is the name for the European global navigation system that is being developed by the European Union and the European Space Agency and should be under civilian control. It should be a new rival to other navigation systems currently in use (GPS, GLONASS, Compass, ...) that are owned by governments and eventually could be disabled during international conflicts.

Galileo will provide highly accurate navigation services of up to one-meter accuracy in real time and even under extreme conditions. In addition, its coverage will be extended to higher latitudes, which are not currently covered by the GPS. Galileo will be used mainly in the navigation of cars, trains or aircrafts.

The complex system should consist of 30 satellites placed at a height of 23 222 km above the Earth. The first two satellites were launched in 2005 and 2008 to test key technologies of the Galileo system. In October last year were released two operational satellites to verify the functionality of the concept and two others will join them later this year.

EU and ESA have demonstrated that their plans with Galileo are serious. They recently signed contracts for the supply of satellites and rockets, which should speed up the process. Thus, Galileo should be operational as early as 2014.

After Lisa Edelstein departure, it is the whole TV show that falls apart

2012-02-09T12:11:00.001+01:00

Since yesterday evening, the piece of news is official: it is the end for "Dr House". Gregory House can thus put his diagnostician’s gimmicks away and take a well-deserved retirement far from all these patients with enigmatic diseases. The season 8 of the TV show, currently broadcasted in the United States on channel FOX, will thus be the last one. Whether you like it or not!

According to the channel, it is the “House” producers who have decided to put an end to the medical drama, even if it was one of the most popular of American television. Thereby, after the broadcasting of the chapter 177, the most eccentric doctor of the history and his team of diagnosticians will leave the small screen.

"The decision to bring the TV show to a close – being today or another moment – is painful”, said the producers. Dr House, interpreted by the British actor Hugh Laurie, embodies a genius but misanthropic doctor, who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital with whom he often clashes because of his controversial hypothesis.

At its inception in 2004, the TV show had known poor audience ratings, but word of mouth had eventually made it a cult medical drama and one of the most valuable of the Fox. However, these last seasons, the manufacturing cost of the series produced by TV Universal, had noticeably increased, while audiences fell inexorably.

The end of the “House” drama could also mean the end of 52-year-old Hugh Laurie actor's career. The comedian had announced in the press last November that he would hang up gloves after Dr House's end, to dedicate himself to TV production.

"We have always imagined House as an enigmatic creature; he should never be the last one to leave the party. How much better to disappear before the music stops, while there is still some promise and mystique in the air," said David Shore and Katie Jacobs, Hugh Laurie fellow producers.

The American medical drama was Emmy-nominated for best drama four times but never won, although Laurie won two Golden Globes and two Screen Actors Guild awards for his part as Gregory House.

By LLoba

Kim Dotcom, founder of Megaupload, will remain locked up in prison

2012-02-03T13:40:00.000+01:00

The New Zealand High Court turned down Kim Dotcom’s appeal for bail while waiting for the examination of the extradition request of the

United States

The founder of the site Megaupload.com, Kim Dotcom was turned down its appeal to be released on bail while he was waiting for the examination of the extradition request filed by the United States.

The appeal was rejected because lawyers representing the American authorities asserted that a man - well-known for making false identity cards - had tried to contact Kim Schmitz in prison, according to the television TVNZ. Kim Schmitz denied knowing the man in question, specified Fairfax Media.

"If people had to approach me to propose such a favour, I would tell them to go to hell,” he declared." I absolutely do not intend to flee. "

The decision of the High Court of Auckland means that Kim Schmitz will stay in prison until at least February 22^nd, date to which the American appeal of extradition must be presented before the New Zealand Court.

Kim Schmitz, alias "Kim Dotcom", a 38-year-old German, was taken in for questioning on January 20^th in his luxurious property of Auckland, with three other people in charge of Megaupload.

Settled in Hong-Kong, the website Megaupload, which asserted gathering 50 million users every day and representing 4 % of Web, was closed on January 19^th by the American legal system, which accuses its founders of having caused a 500 million dollars damage to copyright holders.

By LLoba

The Pirate Bay: from .org to .se

2012-02-02T15:40:00.001+01:00

Convicted to prison terms from 4 to 10 months and with 5 million euros payment for damages at the end of 2010, the founders of the website The Pirate Bay - specialized in the hosting of links .torrent - had brought their case in the Swedish Supreme Court, but their appeal was turned down. The pronounced sentences were thus maintained, unless a new appeal was formulated with the European Court of justice.

And today, new proceedings have just been initiated by the Dutch Justice, blocking the access to the Pirate Bay on its territory.

The Court would indeed have considered that a considerable part of Fai XS4All and Ziggo would have been used by The Pirate Bay to share copyright protected contents. The problem does not come from the download of these files, which are not repressed in Holland, but from the availability of these files, forbidden by the current law. From now on, both operators have 10 days to block the accesses of the Pirate Bay to their users, at the risk of having to pay a penalty payment of 10,000€ per day.

Torrent downloaders are worried on this Thursday: The Pirate Bay indeed stopped answering the Internet users’ requests. Nevertheless, this time it is not about a “MegaUpload closing down”, as some were afraid of, but rather a precautionary measure, in order to limit the opportunities of seizure of the domain name.

Initially, The Pirate Bay had a .org domain name. But this extension is managed by the Public Interest Registry - a non-profit organization settled in the state of Virginia,

United States

- and thus likely to be subjected to a punch action led by the American justice.

The website is henceforth transposed on the Swedish national extension, via the thepiratebay.se address, which means that the approval of the local authorities is required for any seizure. The team seems thus really decided to maintain its activities. Therefore, we can put our mind at rest.

By LLoba.

Let’s celebrate the shortest month of the year!

2012-02-01T13:34:00.002+01:00

Today is the 1st of February, so let’s remind us all the celebrations of this month. Of course, some of these celebrations are more important in some countries than others.

The Black History Month is observed every February in the United States since 1926. Also known as the National African American History Month, this event is an annual celebration of achievements by black people and a time for recognizing the central role of African Americans in U.S. history. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month. Other countries around the world, such as Canada and the United Kingdom also devote a month to celebrating black history.

Chinese New Year is the most important festival in Chinese culture. It is celebrated on the new moon of the first month according to the lunar calendar, and is a time for family reunions and scrumptious feasts. In China, it is known as "Spring Festival” and marks the end of the winter season. Because the track of the new moon changes from year to year, Chinese New Year can begin anytime between late January and mid-February. This year 2012 is the Year of the Dragon.

The term "Mardi Gras" also known as the “Carnaval” is a celebration where all the fat people meet in the streets … just kidding! Actually, it refers to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany. Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday. In one of my country’s cities, the beautiful

Belgium

, the Mardi Gras festival is the most important day of the year and the summit of the Carnival of Binche. Around 1000 Gilles dance throughout the city distributing oranges and whistling traditional carnival songs. The Carnival of Binche became a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

Valentine's Day is a holiday observed on February 14 honouring one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine. But it has also become a traditionally day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering chocolates, or other kind of gifts. Some cynics denounced Valentine’s Day as a merely commercial day since most people fall for it and buy expensive presents to be suitable for the “tradition” but I think it is above all not to be given a roasting by your better half.

The “Chandeleur” or Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, which falls on February 2, celebrates an early episode in the life of Jesus. It commemorates the introduction of the child Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem and the purification of her mother, Saint Mary. Today, in France, Belgium and Switzerland, the Chandeleur is especially known as the day of the “crêpes” or pancakes. Crêpes are also said to remind, by their round and golden shape, the solar disk, evoking the return of the spring after the dark and cold winter. In the United States, the Chandeleur is known as the Groundhog Day. So, if like me, you are a pancakes’ lover, do not forget to buy some flour, eggs and milk and all the toppings you fall for tomorrow!

By LLoba

Apple: Some adjustments in the American multinational’s crew

2012-01-31T13:04:00.001+01:00

Apple, the most valuable American technology corporation has lately made some adjustments in its crew. John Browett, Dixons Retail’s CEO is going to quit and replace Ron Johnson at Apple’s as new retail chief. His main tasks will consist in maintaining and improving the retail’s strategy of Apple so that the company will globally keep growing.

Apple broke the news in its public relations’ page, declaring that "John Browett will join the company as senior vice-president of retail who will be under the direct control of the managing director of Apple, Tim Cook ".

The company informs that Browett comes from the technological European company Dixons Retail, where he had been a managing director for five years.

Apple said that "from the beginning of April, he will be responsible for the retail sales’ strategy of the multinational and the continuous growing of Apple's retail shops across the world.”

Before working for Dixons Retail, Browett was an executive in Tesco plc. Indeed, he was responsible for a series of workloads inside the company, including being Tesco.com's CEO, said Apple. He also worked as adviser for the Boston Consulting Group.

Speaking of his new employee, Tim Cook, the managing director of Apple, said the following statement:

"Our retail shops work with the Customer Service Department, and John meets his commitments as nobody before him", said Tim Cook. "We are lucky he has joined us and shared his astonishing expertise with our retailers.”

Browett graduated in natural sciences at the University of Cambridge and has an MBA from the Wharton Business School.

Browett is also known to be the president of the Council of Security of Pixmania SA, and he has also been the independent director of EasyJet since September 27, 2007. Likewise, he was the non executive director of Micro Focus International plc from July 1, 2005 to September 27, 2006.

By LLoba

New belt-tightening measures: Belgium is almost entirely paralyzed by a general strike

2012-01-30T13:10:00.001+01:00

It would be necessary to turn back the clock of almost 20 years to come across a strike of this scale in

Belgium

again, though it is anyway the first one that the new Belgian government has to handle. Indeed, this Monday, the country is partially paralyzed by a general strike decreed by labour unions to protest against the belt-tightening policies.

The last time a common front of three main labour unions of the kingdom took industrial action - as it is the case in the one organized today - goes back to 1993.

The Belgian railroad employees have already started the movement on Sunday evening. The rail traffic, including the one of the high-speed international trains Thalys and Eurostar which link Brussels to Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne and London, is at a standstill and is likely to be all day long.

No tram, bus or subway is running in Brussels and everywhere else in the country, the public transport is quite disrupted. Some flights have been cancelled at the Brussels’ airport and delays are registered but the traffic remains globally rather close to normal. However the Brussels South Charleroi airport is closed.

Even mailmen are on strike. The employees of the Port of Antwerp - one of the most important in Europe - decided to fold their arms and strikers have organized several blockings of roads and highways in the country as a sign of protest.

The Belgian unions denounce billion euros budgetary savings decided by the Elio Di Rupo’s socialist government, with a view to reduce the public deficit and to conform to the European objectives. A summit of the European leaders should begin in the afternoon in Brussels but the general strike is really making the organization of the latter difficult.

The Belgian authorities have even weighed the possibility that the chiefs of State and Government land in Beauvechain's military base - instead of in Zaventem – and fly by helicopter to the European Council’s headquarters in order to avoid any traffic blockade.

Nevertheless, it is unlikely that this option will be carried out for all the leaders because it would be impossible to receive 27 helicopters. Furthermore, I am sure some leaders could not make efforts to share a helicopter with one of their supposed-to-be peers.

By LLoba

A Hard Rock Cafe on the Grand Place for this summer

2012-01-27T12:50:00.001+01:00

BRUSSELS - The famous trademark from Florida, International Hard Rock will open a Hard Rock Cafe this summer on the Grand Place of Brussels, explains the company in a communiqué.

The Brussels Hard rock Cafe will be located in a restored building of the XVI century, at number 12 of the Grand Place. The definite date of the opening will depend on the progress of work.

With a surface area of more than 645,83 square yards distributed on several floors, the premises will notably contain a vast space of 150 seatings, a complex dedicated to concerts, a lounge bar and a by-products shop. An interactive tactile wall, called Rock Wall Solo, will enable the customers to scroll the collection of "Rock and roll" memories of the network and go on a virtual tour within 174 establishments of the company throughout the world. Moreover, memories of all kinds stemming from the collection will be exposed on the walls of the Brussels’ Hard Rock Cafe evoking the most famous world legends of the rock and contemporary artists.

International Hard Rock assures that it is above all people from Brussels who should be hired for the Hard Rock Cafe staff. Besides, a recruitment process should start for that purpose on February 4th of this year.

The T-shirts collectors of the group Hard rock Café will then soon be able to raise the colors of a new city: Brussels.

By LLoba

News for the misfortune that descended upon the Pukkelpop last summer

2012-01-26T14:14:00.000+01:00

Belgium

, the attorney general set up a new investigation into the Pukkelpop last year’s tragedy. Annemie Turtelboom, the Belgian attorney general let us know some news, reported in miscellaneous Belgian bulletins and newspapers.

In the last survey about last year’s tragedy at the Belgian festival, the investigating officers concluded that the Pukkelpop organizing committee was not to blame. But today, after one victim of the accident complained, the examining magistrate decided to reopen the case. Indeed, according to the standards and laws, an examining magistrate is compelled to reopen a case if someone from the civilian party remonstrates another time.

During the incredible and unpredictable storm that started at the beginning of the 1^st afternoon at the Pukkelpop festival 2011, numerous trees and tents were uprooted from the Kiewit’s fields. About 150 festival-goers were injured and five visitors were killed. The festival was then cancelled. As a result, many festival-goers were disappointed to have paid 145€ not to see anything and miss their favourite bands. Therefore, the Pukkelpop organizing committee gave the festival visitors food and drink tickets for the next three editions but 350 of them have pressed charges against the festival because they had not been reimbursed for the price of the ticket.

I hope that these daft behaviours from the 350 festival-goers won’t pester the festival organizing committee to the extent that it leads to the Pukkelpop’s closing down.

Which Spanish team will win its 87th game during clasicos tonight?

2012-01-25T13:13:00.001+01:00

This evening, the 5th Clasico of the season during the quarterfinal return of the Copa Del Rey will take place at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona. Winner of the first leg (1-2) at Santiago Bernabéu, FC Barcelona is in good position to qualify itself in front of its best enemy, Real Madrid. Will José Mourinho succeed in finding the blaugranas’ weaknesses?

On this Wednesday evening, Real Madrid or FC Barcelona could become the leader of the clasicos’ assessment through the history. With 86 victories for Real Madrid against 86 for Barcelona, this evening will definitely be the occasion to distinguish themselves.

The 218^th clasico of the history can indeed, in case of success of one of the teams, tip the balance of the victories in favour of Merengue or Blaugrana.

The history of this long rivalry had begun in 1902 with Barcelona beating then Real Madrid by 3-1 during the Copa de España..

Besides, another record could also be equalled or exceeded this evening. If Messi - the best football player of Barcelona’s team who has now checked the 13 goals registered in clasico - marked, he would join Caesar Rodriguez, former player of the Barça during the years 40-50 as better blaugrana striker during clasicos.

According to most of the journalists, FC Barcelona seems to be the favorite to qualify itself for the semi-finals of the Copa Del Rey given its favorable result of the first leg at Bernabeu (2-1), a score which forces Real Madrid to win the game at Camp-Nou on another score than 1-0.

By LLoba

Ijustmadelove.com, a daring but entertaining website

2012-01-24T18:11:00.001+01:00

Nowadays, we can locate anyone, anything and anyplace thanks to websites such as Google map and Google earth but also thanks to up-to-date mobile phones and GPS. Today, a website goes even further and enables you to see where every folk has just made love...

Who has just made love?!

Indeed, on the homepage of the much talked-about website Ijustmadelove.com, a world map informs you about every individual who has just made love. Thanks to markers, you can visualize the places where lovemakings took place. Every user informs by means of small icons the gender of the protagonists, the various positions they used, the place (bed, car, forest, boat, house), and if a condom was used. And in the right unrolled column of the website, users can comment their sexual relationship as "Amazing", "Thanks to you ", or simply as "good ". Maybe it will give you some ideas!

Naughty clap-trap

On Ijustmadelove.com, you can also discover the "statistics of love". Indeed, it is in the United States where cuddles are most frequent, generally we make love in a bed, and the forest comes in second place (!), then on a boat, in a car and finally everywhere in the house. You can also see by means of small pictograms the most used sexual positions, as well as statistics concerning the use of condoms depending on sexual orientation and country. The site even proposes an iPhone application!
Now I hope next time you’ll cuddle with your better half, you’ll bump up the crazy website’s lovecounter!

By LLoba

WW3 - Cyberwar: after SOPA in the U.S., ACTA plays up in Europe

2012-01-23T18:33:00.003+01:00

Last week, all the people across the world discussed the SOPA bill and its extremist measures on the network, but today we should be worried about the Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which will be discussed tomorrow at the European Parliament.

ACTA is an agreement that has been proposed in June 2008 in view to establishing international standards on intellectual property rights enforcement on the worldwide network. If the ACTA agreement passes, it will establish an international legal framework for every country who wants to join it, and will create a governing body outside international institutions such as the World Trade Organization, or the United Nations. Some European countries have proposed this agreement in response to the increase of counterfeited goods and piracy on copyrighted websites.

But like SOPA or PIPA, the Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement is mentioned by some as an evil agreement taking too drastic measures on online piracy. Moreover, ACTA is all the more controversial since it was negotiated in secret. Indeed, the latter has been adopted by non-elected industry lobbyists and has been negotiated out of any form of democratic scrutiny. They have actually passed a law behind our backs!

Like for SOPA, opponents have argued that the agreement will restrict fundamental human rights, including the freedom of expression and online privacy. Since the agreement has been drafted, an anthology of groups has been arguing for the destruction of the agreement invoking rights to online privacy but today ACTA does not cease to apply and is even more at the forefront of the Committee of Development of the European Parliament’s concerns.

Now, do not let the Government fool you and let’s react!

By LLoba

SOPA’s toxicity: 72 minutes’ silence for our dear file-sharing services companies

2012-01-20T18:08:00.001+01:00

Last year, on 26^th October, Chair representative Lamar Smith introduced the SOPA bill in the United States House Of Representatives. SOPA or Stop Online Piracy Act was brought up to fight online piracy, protect intellectual property of content creators and allow the U.S. Department of Justice as well as copyright owners – mostly media and entertainment companies - to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. The bill is backed by multinationals such as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), ABC, CBS and Viacom.

Today, SOPA hits the headlines. Indeed, the “suggested” law instantly received a cold reception and has led to uprisings on the network across the world. SOPA squarely strike at online freedom of speech! President Obama “will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression” and responded with a petition against the bill. Companies and organizations such as Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter and eBay also stand up against the deadly law by putting miscellaneous petitions online and drawing net surfers’ attention to SOPA by closing their websites 24 hours on January 18^th.

The cure to online piracy is worst than the disease, it will just make the bill’s supporters richer and more powerful! The Senate should only debate the Stop Online Piracy Act on January 24^th; however some measures have already been taken. Indeed, the bill’s supporters created an Internet blacklist and just during this week, various online downloading sites have been shut down and their founders arrested by the U.S. Government - Megaupload among others - leading to even more discontent and rage from the people.

Since the first days of the penny dreadful law, Anonymous, the worldwide known group of individuals overwhelmingly good at hacking, has been standing up against it. Supported by a massive part of the net surfers across the world, they lead protestations on the network against our capitalist society and these days against the spread of SOPA measures, using their leading-to-riot motto “We are legion, we do not forgive, we do not forget, expect us” and publishing videos on the video-sharing website Youtube, reminding net surfers that freedom of speech can’t be taken from us and calling for a massive movement of rebellion against the latest U.S. Government Act.

In response to this week’s federal raid on the file sharing service Megaupload, hackers with the online collective Anonymous have knocked out the U.S. Department of Justice, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), Warner Music Group, BMI, and Universal Music.

The World War Web has just begun… Expect Us.

By LLoba

Looking for a captivating and unusual job for this summer – Here is an idea

2012-01-17T18:28:00.000+01:00

You are in search of a job to earn some money this summer along with your love for trips and different cultures. Summer 2012 is made for you!

As you know, this summer from July 27 to 12 August 2012, the Olympic Games will take place in London, United Kingdom. And as you can guess, there is a lot to draw up before and during the sport event. So why won’t you take a chance on working for the famous 2012 OG? It is sure to be an amazing and thrilling experience as well as a brownie point on your curriculum.

You are interested? Then it’s worth trying to apply for a position you’d like and who knows, your expertise will maybe be appreciated by any manager of any organization. At the Olympic Games you can have a position as a host, cleaner, coordinator, project manager, supervisor and then some. So if you are a keen candidate, you’ll find the job that suits you. To do so, you can cast a glance at some useful websites such as cursusmundus.com or quite simply to the Olympic Games 2012 original website london2012.com. After you found the job of your dream, you can fill an application form and send your curriculum to the person in charge and then you’ll receive an answer within two weeks the most of the time.

If you are just looking for a great experience abroad and don’t try to earn money, there is also a volunteering program that is available on the same terms.

As a globetrotter, I can say I’m likely to apply to one of the Olympic Games job offers since it’s really a huge opportunity that does not arise every day.

Anita Roddick, the face of the Body Shop

2012-01-12T18:33:00.001+01:00

The Body Shop, a cosmetics company producing and retailing makeup and body products, with which miscellaneous women across the world fell in love, has been actually founded in order to put eco-friendly beauty products on the market.

The Body Shop is one of the first multinational company manufacturing eco-friendly makeup, body lotions, skin care lotions, hair care shampoos, fragrances, body butter, and even more items designed for the pleasure of your skin. It prohibits the use of ingredients tested on animals and encourages fair trade with countries of the Third World. The first Body Shop was opened in the UK in 1976 by Anita Roddick, a British businesswoman and environmental campaigner. Anita’s trademark experienced a rapid growth and reached more than 2,600 stores in 45 countries in 2010 with a billion dollars in retail sales. Indeed, today we can find Body Shop across the world from the U.S. to India via most of European countries. The trademark has become worldwide spread thanks to its affordable prices, its quality and its commitment to nature like its alliance with Greenpeace to save the whales.

But Anita Roddick was more than just a businesswoman. She was also a human activist and environmental campaigner. She was involved with Greenpeace and founded Children On The Edge, an association created to help disadvantaged children in Asia. Thanks to all she did to help the planet, she was appointed Dame Commander of The Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 and was said to be the “inspiration” to businesswomen.

To the world’s great regret, Dame Roddick passed away in 2007 after a brain haemorrhage, selling the Body Shop Company to the French multinational L’Oréal leading to some controversies because the latter is known for testing products on animals. Therefore, we hope L’Oréal will finally take the trademark as a model and will stop its dire and cruel practices on animals.

After the success of the animated movies Kung Fu Panda, the Panda story is broadcasted in a TV series

2012-01-11T17:39:00.002+01:00

After the success of both movies Kung Fu Panda and Kung Fu Panda 2: Pandamonium realized by the Dreamworks Animation Studio, the latter has decided to broadcast the TV series Kung Fu Panda: legends of awesomeness. The first movie that was adapted for the cinema in 2008 almost brought $632 million in for its broadcasting across the world since indeed, all the European and American children like the adventures of the Warlike Dragoon.

Let's remind us this story that we like so much! Po, a panda just a bit fat who lives in the Valley of the Peace and sells noodles with his father is a fan of Kung Fu and adores The Five Furious well-known as Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Viper, and Crane trained by the wise red panda, Master Shifu. And when the fate wants that Po finds the Five Furious in order to fulfil a former prophecy, it represents the opportunity that will make all his dreams come true.

Then from this moment, the movie carries on with the Kung Fu training that Po follows with Master Shifu, which is no easy task, until he could cope with Thai Lung, the leopard of the snow who terrifies the inhabitants of the Valley. With regard to the second movie, I won’t reveal the story because I am sure that you all have not seen the movie yet, but I can say that it is worth to see.

Today, the Kung Fu Panda series: legends of awesomeness broadcasted by the Dreamworks Animation Studio in November, 2011 in the original channel Nickelodeon with a total of 52 episodes is expected to come up to the movie lovers of the fat panda, seller of noodles, to keep going with original and entertaining scenes and not to be too repetitive since the unique plot is defending the Valley of the Peace from different villains. Anyhow, as far as I am concerned, I will soon start watching this cartoon series that really sounds hilarious!

Belgium, more than the “Plat pays”

2012-01-10T16:31:00.000+01:00

Belgium is one of those countries which are considered like sad and it is not really false… But, after reading this article, we will love this little country!
Yes, it is true, in Belgium, it rains 300 days on 365 and it is cold. Of course, all the Belgians eat French fries, drink beer and are reputed to be pleasant and warm. Moreover, the best Belgian dessert known all over the world is chocolate. But understanding Belgium is often difficult for foreigners.

Little summary: in Belgium, there are 2 parts, Wallonia and Flanders, and 3 official languages, French, Dutch and German. The country was without government during almost 2 years but, now, the problem is solved. The European seat is in Brussels, the capital, and Belgium is a monarchy.

Like Belgian personalities, there are Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, Jacques Brel, Johnny Hallyday, Amélie Nothomb, Ozark Henry, Hooverphonic, Eddy Merckx, Tintin, the Smurfs … And many others!

This country overflows with curiosity, wealth but it is often outshined by the 2 other big European countries just next door: France and Germany! However, tourism is important in the economic Belgian life.
The most visited cities in Belgium are Brussels, Bruges, Antwerp, Namur, Gand, Liege and Mons. Brussels is famous for its beautiful place, Manneken Pis and the Atonium.

Every year, Belgium accommodates more than 6.7 million of tourists, mainly Europeans (French German, Dutch and English). The accessibility, the density of public transport and the proximity of the tourist places make of Belgium a popular destination for the European holidaymakers. The majority of tourism industry is based at the coast or in the Ardennes but all the country is wonderful!

The national tourism tries to attract tourists in improving Belgium’s image in creating the “Brussels card” (it allows you to visit museums, to use the public transports, to have discounts in restaurants and bars …), in promoting greener cities and in advertising Belgian food and gastronomy.
If you are interested in visiting Belgium, I recommend you to watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rfWsAQkb_o&feature=player_embedded

By Lucie

Everybody is familiar to babysitting but what the hell is pet sitting about?

2012-01-10T13:38:00.000+01:00

Indeed, everybody knows babysitting but nowadays the new trend is pet sitting or dog sitting. This trend is spread especially in the United States and The United Kingdom where people are really attentive to their pets even if they like to travel a lot. Dog sitting is a good compromise to be able to travel and to cater for its pets in the same time.

We are not aware of that, but often when people go on a trip, they don’t know what to do with their pets and the cheaper way they find is to abandon their dog on lay-bys where they will finally end up dead in road accidents. And it’s really cold-blooded and sad to see such a scenario. If people can’t be sure to take care of pets they should not purchase it in the first place.

That’s what dog sitting is all about. Pet lovers always resort to dog sitters when they go on a trip. Instead of taking your dogs in a plane or in a car and putting them under stress, dog sitting will always be the best thing to do. Thus, it’s really profitable for the pets, their dog owners if they have a certain amount of feelings for their dog, but also for the dog sitter.

Indeed, a dog sitter can be really well-paid (sometimes even more than for babysitting) to take care of the puppies of some people. But it depends of the family on which you chance upon of course.

As far as I am concerned, when I lived in Seattle, I got a dog sitter job for two weeks. I knew the family where I would meet the dogs so it was safer than if I did not. I had to take a look at the two dogs twice a day, to feed them and to walk them a while in the garden saying them “go get the ball” and so on. Actually, the dogs just need the dog sitter to be present and to turn its attention to them not to feel abandoned or neglected. And it was just fun because I was paid $40 per day for playing with dogs.

So if you need some pocket money and you love pets, dog sitting will suit you!

Who is at the head of Hollywood?

2012-01-05T11:57:00.001+01:00

Everybody could wonder who controls the biggest and most powerful cinema corporation of the world, Hollywood. The answer is the “Big 6” or the “Majors.”

The history of the Hollywood movie industry has its roots in the beginning of the 20^th century. At the time, a massive wave of Jewish immigrants came to America, and 6 of them really became successful in the movie industry. They became the head of movie studios, well-known today as the Majors.

Nowadays, these Majors are better known as Warner Bros. Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Walt Disney Pictures, Columbia Pictures and Universal Pictures. Metro Goldwyn Mayer is no longer a major and Disney is an independent company since almost 30 years. These Majors control Hollywood, which is already in itself remarkable but moreover those one are owned by huge conglomerates such as Viacom or Sony, which make them billionaire companies. At the end of 2011, the Big 6 were the owners of almost 90% of the U.S. box office and they did not have a bad rank in Europe either. European cinema is not about to overtake the Hollywood Big 6 but for a dozen years or so, Bollywood is not far from catching up the American Majors regarding the amount of movie productions per year.

Now we can understand how American movie studios are able to release so many blockbusters with dramatic special effects since they have the dollars to do so.

Good recipe for 21st century film-makers and Majors: to update classics’ image

2012-01-04T12:34:00.000+01:00

What a good idea Walt Disney Pictures got!

Indeed, today’s trend for American film-makers and big companies is to re-release classic cartoons such as The Lion King, The Beauty and the Beast or The Little Mermaid and to adapt them in a trendy way. And what is today the easier way to attract cartoons’ lovers? 3D of course!

The 3D motion picture first started in the 50’s but the real fad only began in the 80’s with the release of the Star Wars saga. Then, for a long time, nobody heard about it. And today, since two years or so, miscellaneous movies are anew released in 3D.

That’s how Cartoon Majors such as Walt Disney or Pixar have capitalized on 3D to make money. The first Lion King released in 1994 had already generated great revenues since it was the highest-grossing movie of the year and now the re-release of 2011 is close to crossing $80 million so far. With regard to Pixar, the big company has broke the records with Up in 3D, which has reached $730 million until now.

However cynic people have already started to blow the whistle on these 3D re-released movies as opportunists. Indeed, the Majors’ revenues are tons of cash in comparison to their minimal investment for movies that everybody has already seen. But on the other hand, these re-released movies in 3D are a pleasant and trendy way to show classics cartoons to the new generation of children instead of trying to watch an old videotape aged of 17 years that crackles and for which you do not have videotape recorder anymore. Because you know, it was just a fad!

What can’t foreign languages allow us to do? Nothing!

2012-01-04T10:32:00.005+01:00

Foreign languages are very important in today’s world. It allows us to obtain more opportunities in social life as in the professional life. Indeed, we can’t live without knowing at least two foreign languages in the 21^st century. When you go to a job interview nowadays, not only they ask you if you speak English, but they also ask you about ALL the languages you speak!

What is wealthy about our world is that we can travel everywhere we want. Nowadays the only thing that prevents us from traveling is money; there are no issues of languages’ knowledge. We can travel from Europe to the United States in approximately 7 hours whereas the trip lasts almost one week by ship. When you travel, it is an asset to know the mother tongue of the country you are traveling to because in that way you can share your culture with the people living in the country where you are.

Given the constant movement of borders, people had to change their habits. Families with two (or more) cultures are not rare anymore. Indeed, thanks to the traveling fad, people meet more easily and get married with foreign people leading to melting-pot families.

These new households are filled with interesting cultures and form a blend of two languages, habits and history.

The most interesting advantage is the fact that these children learn miscellaneous languages at the same time, which will later help them in the job market because now it is important to speak several languages thanks to the opening of the borders, but also in their personal life because the modern world needs open-minded people.

Nowadays, even the families that are not resulting from a melting-pot can give their children this opportunity. Besides, schools teaching foreign languages can be found in every country, there are Spanish schools in many countries across the world to promote and to share the Spanish language and culture. As a result, the Spanish government created the Cervantes Institute 10 years ago. This institute teaches Spanish language and culture as well as Spanish-American. It also grants diplomas of Spanish as a foreign language. The most important thing is that these institutes are located across the world.

Then, what cannot we do with the languages? Well, nothing!

Festival lovers won’t be disappointed this summer

2012-01-03T13:00:00.001+01:00

Only a few days after the New Year’s elation, some of the biggest European festivals have already put online the name of the first bands that will be on stage this summer.

Indeed, we can now see which of our favorite band will perform a great show in festivals on the European soils this year.

In Belgium, the well-known and biggest festival is self-evidently Rock Werchter. It takes place every year in the village of Werchter not far from Brussels (30 km) and this year it will last from the 28^th of June to the 1^st of July. For the great delight of music lovers, we already know that this year, the Belgian music festival will welcome The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Justice, Florence and the Machine and Pearl Jam on their Main stage. As regards the other music festivals of the country, we already know that The Dour Festival will welcome The Flaming Lips and Ministry, but there is no bands’ name yet for “Les Ardentes”, “Les Francofolies” and The Pukkelpop. Despite the disaster that The Pukkelpop knew last year because of the stormy weather, as a Pukkelpop Festival lover, I can assure that people will still be there; even more inclined to live it up!

In France, The Main Square Festival, which is the Werchter equivalent, will welcome the same bands as Werchter at the same dates except for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and will be delighted to show the English band, Metronomy. With regard to The Eurockéennes, the biggest rock festival in France, there is no name yet, but the festival is likely to be sold out like every year.

As a music festival lover, I know you all are raring to see the name of your favorite band comes out on the line-up of these amazing music festivals, being in Belgium, France, Spain or England with the famous Glastonbury festival, but you have to resign yourself to your fate since most of the European festivals’ line-up will only be completed around May.

What are your European neighbors going to eat for Christmas?

2011-12-22T14:37:00.002+01:00

Santa Claus is coming to town in three days! What are you going to cook for your Christmas dinner? If you don't know yet, why don't you try something different this year? And what about a European Christmas dinner? Here are some ideas...

In France, the tradition is to gather in family and have a copious dinner. The dinner usually takes place on Christmas Eve and starts with some foie gras, smoked-salmon, oysters and ... snails! Yummy! Traditionally, the main course is a stuffed turkey with chestnuts. However, nowadays the traditional turkey has been replaced by all kinds of meat: capon, duck, roasted beef, goose... For desert, French people have a yule log called "bûche" in French. It is basically a cake with cream or ice-cream with the shape of a log and decorated with sugar mushrooms and figurines. After dinner, Christians go to church for the midnight mass and the day after children wake up and discover their presents under the Christmas tree. Et voilà...

German people have a very festive and greedy dinner called "Vollbauchabend" which means a dinner that you will end with a full belly. The traditional meat was pork but now a turkey or roasted goose are often served for dinner with fruits and spiced vegetables. For desert, they have a traditional cake: the Christstollen. It is a delicious cake filled with crystallized fruits, raisins, spices and rum. Its shape represents the Christ wrapped in his swaddling clothes.

If you are going to visit a Spanish friend in early December, he will probably welcome you with traditional biscuits as montecados, polvorones and roscos. On Christmas Eve, called Nochebuena, Spanish families gather and have a very festive dinner with roasted lamb, turkey, and seafood while drinking a good Cava, a sparkling wine from Catalonia. Most of Spanish people go to the midnight mass after dinner. A long time ago, the tradition was to give your neighbor a basket filled with regional products like almonds, chorizo, olive oil, dried fruits. A Spanish Christmas candy is the Turrón, which is a nougat candy, you can find it in every house after Christmas.

In Netherlands, Christmas traditions start in mid-November with Sinterklaas leaving Spain and sailing to the Dutch coasts. During his journey through the country he is followed by millions of children. In December 5th he gives children presents. The tradition is to bake Speculaas (cinnamon biscuits) and eat them until Christmas day. On Christmas, Dutch people have a dinner with turkey, goose or hare and another cold dinner before midnight when mermaids start singing around the boats in the canals.

In the United-Kingdom, families have dinner at midday on the 25th. They usually eat turkey, goose or roasted beef. Everyone has a cracker placed next to his plate. It is filled with a present, a joke and a paper hat. After the main course, British people eat mince pies (small pies with fruits inside) but the traditional cake is the Christmas Pudding. Its preparation is a ritual. It starts five weeks before Christmas during the "Stir Up Sunday" which is the traditional day for everyone to take a turn at stirring while making a wish. Time ago, a coin was added and represented wealth for the one who found it.

I hope this will give you some ideas to make a perfect Christmas dinner and enjoy it with friends and family. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.

Joyeux Noël, frohe Weihnachten, Feliz Navidad, vrolijk Kerstfeest, Merry Christmas...

By T.

2011 in photographs.

2011-12-20T14:48:00.001+01:00

As the end of the year is coming, it is time for us to remember what happened in 2011. Thanks to photographers around the world, major events of this year will remain unforgettable. This pictures amazed us, surprised us and shocked us. Let's have a look at the photographs that, for us, represent 2011.

This photo was taken in Miyako City, Japan after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit the country and engendered a tsunami which devastated eastern cities in March 11th. The disaster was then followed by a nuclear catastrophe as Fukushima nuclear power station had been destroyed by the tsunami.

Only 38 hours after its publication, this picture had 1,597,561 views and became the second most viewed picture on Flickr. It was published on the White House's official Flickr account after the announcement of Osama bin Laden's death in May 2nd. Obama and Clinton are in the Situation Room with their team.

As we said it on the last post, 2011 was a year of protests as proven by this photograph. We are given a view on Tahir Square, Cairo during an anti-government protest in February. Protesters massively took the streets calling for an end to Mubarak's dictatorship.

What amazed people on this picture is not only the first royal kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace but also the bridemaid's reaction. Grace van Cutsem, probably disturbed by the roar of the crowd, was covering her ears when the shot was taken. The photo of the little girl's face quickly became viral on the web.

Make love not war. That is probably the motto of this picture taken during riots in Vancouver when the Canucks lost a game against the Boston Bruins. What makes this picture special is the contrast between the couple in the middle, and the chaos taking place in the background. It actually turned out that the man was kissing his girlfriend after she had been knocked down by the crowd.

After the announcement of Steve Jobs's death in October 5th, people came to Apple Stores around the world to pay tribute to the mastermind of Apple laying flowers, pictures, letters or even iPods and computers.

This shocking picture of students getting pepper-sprayed was published on November 18th. They are students from the University of California, and they were peacefully seated to protest against tuition increases. This photo echoes to the shots taken during Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Portland, or Occupy Seattle and more, in which we can see protesters pepper-sprayed at point blank range by the police.

These photos are only a few among lots, but we think that they perfectly represent this year. You can see more pictures here.

By T.

TIME's Person of the Year 2011 is the Protester.

2011-12-15T14:03:00.000+01:00

This year, Time magazine has chosen the Protester as Person of the Year. And we cannot agree more! Who could have represented 2011 better than the Protester? Although the last decades were not particularly marked by protests, this year has seen people taking the streets again.

Everything started around one year ago in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia. Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old street vendor, was constantly hassled by the police. When he went to work this Friday morning a police officer confiscated his scales and slapped him. Mohamed then went to the provincial-capital building where he set fire to himself. This was the beginning of a wave of protests around the world. The Arab Spring in North-Africa and Middle East, Occupy Wall Street in the United-States, the Indignados in Spain, and lots of other movements in Greece, Russia, London, Mexico and more.

Lina Ben Mhenni aka Tunisian Girl.

Protests were also spread around the world through cyber-activism, especially in North-Africa were some bloggers became the face of the revolution such as Lina Ben Mhenni also known as Tunisian Girl or Mona Eltahawy, an Egyptian-American journalist arrested and assaulted by police officers in Cairo. In the US, Occupy Wall Street has been implemented by magazine editors and journalists.

Although people are protesting for the same goal which is changing political and economical order there is a huge difference between the conditions of protest in the U.S. and Europe and those in Africa and Middle East. While European and American protesters are most of the time pepper-sprayed, people from Middle East are beaten or even shot.

Choosing the Protester as Person of the Year was probably a way for Time magazine to pay tribute to those people who has influenced the course of the year.

More pictures of protesters around the world here.

By T.

Can I get a rosetta designed caffè latte, please?

2011-12-13T13:25:00.001+01:00

Food lovers always have great ideas to make their dishes look a bit more appetizing. Well, guess what? Coffee lovers too! There is a trend that is getting more and more important: it is the art of caffè latte. A type of art practiced all over the world by the greatest baristas.

For those of you who do not know it yet, in Italian a barista is someone behind the bar who serves coffee and drinks. It also refers to someone who has gained abilities in the presentation of coffee beverages (espresso, cappuccino, etc...) and especially in caffè latte art.

The art of caffè latte consists in creating designs on the top of hot beverages. Basically, there are two different methods. The first one is called free pour and refers to the manipulation of the flow of milk poured from a jug into the espresso, the difficulty is to perfectly steam the milk. The second method is the etching which consists in drawing designs with an implement.

Every year takes place the World Barista Championship during which baristas from all over the world are confronting each other. This year the competition took place in Bogota, Colombia, the land of coffee. Among the 56 baristas in the competition, Alejandro Mendez, from El Salvador, was the one who made the best caffè latte design.

If you are interested in the art of caffè latte you really should look for tutorial videos on the Internet and practice... a lot! Then, you will probably be able to participate in competitions in coffee shops or bars of your city.

Alejandro Mendez, the best barista of the world, has some good advice to give you:

You can find more pictures of designed caffè latte here.

By T.

Faster than a bike, cheaper than a personal car: Autolib'.

2011-12-07T13:34:00.002+01:00

Could this be the beginning of a new era in transportation? This week Paris officially launched Autolib', its new car-renting scheme based on the success of the urban bike-sharing system Vélib' which allows you to rent a bike for short trips around the city.

You can now easily rent one of the 250 all-electric small cars called Bluecar to visit Paris and its outskirts. These 4-seat cars are equipped with Lithium Metal Polymer batteries, a system elaborated by entrepreneur Vincent Bolloré who is expecting this program to help promoting his business. The Bluecar can reach a top speed of 130 km/h and can travel 250 km on a charge. Two things that surprised French people were the pedal layout which is the same as an automatic petrol car (something unusual in France) and the very quiet engine sometimes pointed as dangerous for the pedestrians.

For your first ride you will obviously need to subscribe which will take you around 15 minutes. The subscription has to be done online via a video screen at a parking station terminal with one of the 1200 multilingual ambassadors hired to answer customers' calls. A one-year subscription costs 144€ but weekly subscriptions are available for 15€ while a daily subscription is only 10€. Prices to which additional fees (around 4 or 5€) are charged for every half-hour.

Every car is also equipped with video screens for the GPS (in French and English), radio, and video calls with an ambassador who will help you whenever you call him. Also, do not try to go further than the Parisian outskirts as the GPS will quickly send a signal to the police.

Around 1200 parking stations are to be installed and 3000 cars are expected to be circulating by May 2012. However, it is likely to take several months for the program to work without any inconvenience. Indeed, some users already have had to deal with the terminals failures.

In this video, a reporter for French newspaper Lefigaro takes us for a ride in a Bluecar:

by T.

Catalan Christmas Traditions

2011-11-30T13:30:00.002+01:00

Now that the streets are illuminated, restaurants are decorated with tinsel and shops are playing Christmas music while people are buying gifts for friends and families, I thought it was time to pay a visit to a Christmas market. And as I am always interested in new cultural traditions I was glad to be able to visit a Christmas fair in Barcelona.

Passing the different stalls, my first impression was: “OK, this is totally different from the Christmas markets I know.” You just could find really small stalls with hundreds of little figures for mangers and other typical Catalan things.

The first figure which caught my attention was a figurine called “Caganer” and is depicted in the act of defecation. No, you didn’t misread! The funny thing about it is that you can find so many famous persons, like e.g. Barack Obama, Messi, Superman or Prince William. The exact origin of the Caganer is lost but according to tradition the Caganer’s pile of muck is believed to fertilise the ground for the next year and with it, it brings health of body and peace of mind. Usually it is placed in the crib to bring good luck and joy.

Another thing I could find in many stalls was mistletoes in every kind of decoration. Often it was in little jar with a reindeer or Santa Clause next to it, but you could also just buy some twigs. Just as in the United States you hang the mistletoe at the doorframe and sometimes it remains hanging there throughout the year until it is replaced by a new one. The mistletoe is meant to preserve the house from lighting or fire but it is also used for the “kissing tradition”. Every couple kissing under a mistletoe will have good luck and a long and happy life together.

And last but not least there was the “Tío de Nadal” (“Christmas log”) or also called “Caga tío” (“shitting log”) who made me conspicuous. It is a hollow log of about 30 centimetres length and recently got a two little stick legs and a broad smiling face and the other side is covered with a red blanket imitating the traditional Catalan hat “barretina”. The days before Christmas it is “fed” with sweets (candies, nuts and torrons) and depending on the family’s tradition on Christmas Day or on Epiphany they put him partly into the fireplace and order him to “shit”. To make him doing so, the children beat him with sticks while singing various songs of Tío de Nadal.

It is really worth visiting a Catalan Christmas fair to discover new and interesting traditions from all over the world. If you have the chance to be in another country during Christmas time you should go and find out more about other Christmas customs.

by Kathrin

Black Friday - Shopping Friday

2011-11-25T13:08:00.001+01:00

Hearing the news in the morning while getting ready for work, I heard them talking about a “Black Friday”, reading the newspaper’s headline I saw again the “Black Friday” Opening my Twitter account today, I saw “Black Friday” trending on the first position. Everyone was talking about the Black Friday and I haven’t had any idea what it was.

My first guess was related to a stock market crash, of which I haven’t heard yet and because of the colour “black” I thought of something negative. But the thing turned not the way I expected! Black Friday is simply the day after Thanksgiving and opens the Christmas shopping season, with retailers opening extremely early and offering promotional sales.

But I still was wondering why it is called “black” Friday? So I started to google and found more information: The day’s name has its origin in Philadelphia were it originally was used to describe the heavy pedestrian and vehicle traffic which occurred at the day after Thanksgiving and which left many black markings on the road surface. Another theory says that it comes from an old way of recording business accounts. As losses were recorded in red and profits in black, the “Black Friday” indicates the point at which retailers started to make profits to be “in the black” again.

Officially the “Black Friday” is no holiday in the United States, but still many employers give their employees the day off as part of Thanksgiving leave and so they increase the number of potential shoppers.

Year after year retailers open their shops earlier, giving the hordes of consumers extra time for spending their money for Christmas gifts. There are even people camping in front of the shops just to be the first ones who can enter the shops opening at midnight.

This year an estimated 152 million people are expected to shop over Black Friday weekend, which is 10% more than last year.

So all of you who are in the United States at the moment, have a great shopping weekend and take advantage of the numerous sales in the shops!

by Kathrin

Change of government in Spain – Can Rajoy turn around Spain?

2011-11-21T13:54:00.002+01:00

After the governments of the debt-ridden countries Ireland and Portugal fell, the socialists in Greece and Berlusconi’s conservatives in Italy have been swept from power. And yesterday also the Spanish government fell as a result of the debt crisis.

Mariano Rajoy’s People’s Party swept the ruling Socialists from power after eight years winning the biggest parliamentary majority in a Spanish election in almost 30 years, which is at the same time the worst result for the Socialists. While the PP has more than the half of all seats in Parliament and consequently a parliamentary majority which allows them to rule the country alone, Rubalcaba’s socialists just have 110 seats.

“There won’t be miracles. We haven’t promised any.”

This is a quotation of the conservative leader of the opposition and future head of government Mariano Rajoy. I’m sure he can’t do wonders, but that’s neither what he is supposed to do nor what the Spanish want. The only thing people want is a job and a life in dignity. It is easy to phrase these two desires, but it will be the most difficult task for the new government. Rajoy himself said that his aim is to overcome unemployment and the crisis. Things all countries in Europe want to overcome.

The high unemployment rate is the crucial point of Spain’s problems. Nearly 5 million people are without a job, which is about 21.5% of the total population. This rate includes a 45% rate of unemployment for young people. The situation is so bad that even people with university degree have big problems to find a job. In no other EU country the rate is that high as it is in Spain.

Now the question is: Is Rajoy really able to make a change and to lead the country out of the crisis? Even though his victory appears quite clear, I have to mention that the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) lost about 4.4 million votes in comparison to the last election in 2008 and that Rajoy’s PP just had 550.000 votes more than they had before.

Announcing the results yesterday, we could see many happy and flag-waving supporters dancing outside the party’s headquarter in Madrid. Time will tell, if Spain elected the right person to lead them into better lives with more jobs, less debts and greater economic growth. I hope they don’t crow too soon.

by Kathrin

Duitsland tegen Nederland – An explosive football rivalry

2011-11-15T13:29:00.002+01:00

Today one of the most interesting and exciting football matches takes place in Hamburg. Germany against the Netherlands. Number 3 of the FIFA World Rankings against number 2. Two teams hunting the world’s best team Spain. Two teams so close, but still very different.

The football rivalry between Germany and the Netherlands is one of the few longstanding but one of the best known football rivalries at a national level and already experienced a huge variety of scandals. Both teams belong to the strongest football nations worldwide and just differ from the World and European Championships they won. Although the match’s results between them are quite balanced (10 victories for the Netherlands, 13 for Germany and 14 draws), Germany already won each three World Championships and European Championships, while the Netherlands just won the European Championship once in 1988.

Football matches between those two rivals are always explosive and characterised by songs full of hate sung by fans of both sides, by rude fouls and by incidents like the famous and unpleasant spitting attack (Frank Rijkaard).

This time it will be different. After some extremely tough and bitter fights between the two teams, the rivalry has lost some of its edge in recent years, which in my opinion is a good thing. Germany and the Netherlands share a common goal: both want to push Spain from its throne. Germany failed in the European final 2008 and the Netherlands failed last year in the World Cup final-both against Spain.

Today I want to see everyone like this!

I really would like to see an exciting match without any incidents. We will see both teams willing to win, but we shouldn’t forget that it is only a friendly game and reveals nearly nothing about the teams’ current condition as there will be many substitutions. Wesley Sneijder said: “Germany is joining the European Championship with the feeling of winning the tournament. And so do we.” I hope they don’t fight against each other but against their common opponent Spain.

by Kathrin

Everyone wants to see da Vinci

2011-11-09T13:06:00.002+01:00

Today a new exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci’s best works opens at the National Gallery in London and it seems to beat the attendance records: The exhibition is completely sold out until mid-December! But for all of you who would like to see the beautiful paintings of one of the greatest geniuses ever, you still have the chance to visit the exhibition as it will be in London until February.

Leonardo da Vinci was not just an Italian Renaissance painter and sculptor. He also was an exceptionally talented architect, musician, scientist, inventor, botanist, writer, etc… Da Vinci was a really outstanding person as you can imagine seeing his versatility. It is said that it originates from his immense curiosity and innovative imagination. Although he had many talents, he is best known for the works “The Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper”. The latter one is still one of the most talked-about paintings and often the biggest talking point referring to conspiracy theories, because still many people fuel the flames speculating what and who exactly you can see on the painting and which meaning it has.

“Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan” is the most complete display of da Vinci’s rare surviving paintings ever. It was among other enabled by the Louvre in Paris, the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg and the Vatican Art Gallery in Rome who loaned works to London. The exhibition focuses on his early years as a court artist and features many drawings and nine paintings like the “Lady with an Ermine” and “Salvator Mundi” which is a just recently authenticated painting from the legendary artist.

The exceptional fact of this exhibition is that all of these painting are hanging together for the first time. It is the first of its kind anywhere in the world, especially because there has never been an exhibition just focussing on his aims and techniques as a painter.

On Tuesday members of the press were allowed to have the first look at the exhibition and it received a great deal of praise. In the course of this they described the exhibition as “unmissable”, “extraordinary” and “great master of the High Renaissance”. Besides the entrance ticket is dealt as the “hottest ticket in town”

I hope I could encourage you to go there, too. If I have the chance to be there, I would definitely go and visit the exhibition, because in my opinion this is real art. Nowadays it’s enough to spill some colour spots on the canvas and that’s it. Or what I recently heard: An artist just put four or five chairs in the middle of a room and called it “art”. If you really want to see something beautiful and rich in detail, visit “Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan”!

by Kathrin

Do a Barrel Roll and other Funny Google Gimmicks

2011-11-04T13:18:00.003+01:00

Yesterday you could see the phenomenon “do a barrel roll” trending on Twitter. Everyone was talking about it: celebrities, news organisations and all the other twitterers. If you haven’t tried it yet: Go to Google’s homepage and type in the words “do a barrel roll” (but then please come back. I have more interesting features for you!).

Wasn’t that great? The image in the browser executes a perfect loop and the user’s feedback was enthusiastic. Even if it just brought you joy for about 5 seconds, everyone liked it and it was being discussed for the whole day. Google’s intention for this feature was to entertain their users. And I think they achieved their goal! It surprised us and made us smile.

This isn’t the first time Google allowed its users to manipulate the layout of their result page with a special query. See what happens if you type in: “tilt”. This enables you to tilt the screen’s display. For another funny gimmick, which I really love to use, you have to google “google gravity”, then press “I’m Feeling Lucky” and see what happens. Play with it for while and then type in any search term. Do you like it? It could become my new preferred home page, although it is kind of confusing.

Apart from these gimmicks there are a many more funny websites related to the Google search engine. Now I will show you some of the best. To find them, you have to type the query and press the “I’m Feeling Lucky”- button.

“Google for Idiots” Have a look at the website and find a hint at the very bottom: “If you still have any questions, click here”. Read this!

“Goglogo” With this website you can create your own Google logo with your name.

“Tattoodle” There you can find the Google search engine in a completely new design (kind of Ed Hardy and very colourful), which also can be changed very easily.

“Twiloogle” I recommend this to all Twilight fans out there.

“Let me google that for you” This is one of my favourites. Just try it. I’m sure your friends will love it and you will rolling on the floor laughing!

“Google is your friend” This webpage is similar to the "lmgtfy" website above. It has a nice picture but I still prefer the other one.

And last but not least, a person who can’t be missing: Chuck Norris. Search for “google chuck norris” and don’t forget to press “I’m Feeling Lucky”!

Have fun!

by Kathrin

Kamehameha! The XVII. Salon Manga in Barcelona

2011-11-02T13:17:00.001+01:00

Yesterday the XVII. Salon Manga, one of the largest exhibitions dedicated to Japanese comics, ended. During these days you could see many people dressed up like the main characters of different manga comics.

It was a strange situation this Monday: People going to work, some wore suits and everyone was busy. But among these “normal” people you saw some teens dressed in colourful costumes. Some of them had really long blue or pink hair; they were made up and wore very eye-catching and hand-made costumes. I can’t imagine how long it took them to think about their costumes, to find the right cloth for it and then to sew or to let it sew. I’m sure it was hand-made, because I have never seen anything like this. It was very fascinating seeing these creative dresses.

The “Salón del Manga de Barcelona ” is a convention about manga, anime and the Japanese culture and is organised annually by Ficomic. There, you have the chance to get the latest news and innovations launched to the market. Apart from the usual stuff like video games, conferences and the latest manga and anime, you can also find many fun events: karaoke, cosplay, different bands playing music, but also Japanese language courses.

I like most seeing the “cosplay” which I already mentioned at the beginning. For those who don’t know it: It is a short cut for “costume play” and very popular in the Japanese, Chinese and Taiwanese culture. As I already said, it is very exciting to see the transformation from a normal girl or boy to a character which seems to come directly from one of those comics.

The success of the convention grows more and more and also this year’s convention was very successful. As more than 65,000 manga and animation enthusiasts met in La Farga de L’Hospitalet, next year they will change the place to a bigger one to have more space for more people and more activities: La Fira de Barcelona. It is one of the largest areas in Europe with a total exhibition floor space of 365,000m². In comparison: La Farga “only” had about 200,000m² exhibition floor space.

by Kathrin

La Castañada – Another way to celebrate Halloween

2011-10-28T13:18:00.002+02:00

When I walked through Barcelona these days, I could find many small stalls. While in summer most of them sold ice-cream and cold water, now they closed to give place to stalls selling food which is typical for autumn. Mostly you will find a woman sitting next to an open fire roasting chestnuts because of a tale which is known as “Maria - La castañera”. Here is a short summary of one version I found. Of course there are many different stories, but all of them are about a nice and quite old woman selling chestnuts.

“Maria was a woman who always sold chestnuts when it began to dawn in the evening, but one day she stumbled because of her long skirt and all of the chestnuts she collected fell on the floor. Unfortunately she couldn’t find any of them again and so she got very angry, but then the goblins of the forest came to assure their help. And in the evening they came with lots of chestnuts and everyone was happy.”

Another story why "La Castañada" Catalans celebrate this festival is that in the night before All Hallow’s Day the men rang the church bells to honor the dead. As it was a very long and hard work the men ate chestnuts because they are a great source of energy and helped them not to get cold. Often, family and friends came to support the men and so it ended in a big get-together.

For me it is the first time I heard of this special celebration of All Soul’s Eve, but it is a variation which I like very much. As Halloween has already invaded big parts of Europe, here in Catalonia they still stick to their tradition to celebrate "La Castañada".

"La Castañada" just like Halloween finds its roots in an old funeral rite to remember the dead and is celebrated after the family evening dinner on the 31^st of October. After dinner the family either goes and buys chestnuts at on of these stalls I told you about or they roast them at home. Usually the roasted chestnuts are accompanied by “panellets” which are small and very tasty (I know from experience) almond cakes or cookies often covered with pine nuts, by sweet potatoes called “boniatos”, by other sweet things like dried fruits and nuts and by a sweet white wine which is usually the muscatel.

As it is the first time that I have the chance to be here around this time of the year, I’m very curious how this celebration will be. But I’m sure it is going to be a new experience and a great night with many delicious things.

by Kathrin

Do they possibly rule the world?

2011-10-14T13:31:00.002+02:00

There is a group of the world´s most influential persons from the sectors of economy, politics, military, media and nobility. But why has almost nobody ever heard of them?

The Bilderberg group (named after Hotel De Bilderberg in Oosterbeek) meets once a year to discuss questions concerning the world economy and international relations. You can only participate with an invitation of the chairman and each conference is held in another town and another country. While doing this the public and the press are excluded. However they give the items on the agenda and a list of participants to press agencies afterwards but the points are too general to even guess what exactly they have been talking about.

The participants and every person that ever joined one of the conferences receive a summary of the discussion afterwards. Although it just shows the statements with the home country instead of the name of the person who said it. So you don’t know exactly who stated it. The most active and popular members of the Bilderberger are Giovanni Agnelli (Fiat), David Rockefeller and Henry Kissinger. But there are also a lot of participants from the UK, for example the royal family or Tony Blair. Besides we have to thank them for the founding of the EEC (European Economic Community) in 1957 and the introduction of the Euro because both things were discussed and caused on a conference of the Bilderberg Club.

Because of all these facts there are a lot of conspiracy theories about them. Last year, I read a book about one of those and my favorite quotation from it is: “Has Bill Clinton been elected in Germany?”. In my opinion it’s totally possible. If you look through the lists of participants from different years you could find a connection with some of our rulers, for example Bill Clinton. He was invited to the conference in 1991 which took place in Germany. Only one year later he ended up in the White House. In 1999 Romano Prodi participated in the meeting and became chief of the EU-commission in the same year. The German head of state, Angela Merkel, joined a conference 1 year before she became chancellor as well. Besides the author of the Book “The Bilderberg group" is speculating about the collaboration of this group concerning the following events:

· The murder of Alfred Herrhausen and Olof Palme.
· The oil crisis in 1973 that finally should support the American economy and currency.
· The German reunion that possibly was made up at the conference with Helmut Kohl 1988 (in Telfs-Buchen).
· And finally the Iraq War in 2003. The author describes that the aggression for Bin Laden was turned into aggression against Saddam Hussein who was uninvolved at that point.

These are all imaginable theories. And I can recommend this book by Daniel Estulin to all of you who like conspiracy theories as much as I do. But above all, it may be a reason to think about our world and its system. Maybe some of the readers will find answers to their questions about certain things. I started thinking about the elections in Germany on the basis of this book., because maybe in the end they don’t even make sense.

Existence of the Yeti finally proven?

2011-10-13T11:21:00.002+02:00

“A hairy humanlike animal reportedly inhabiting the snows of the high Himalaya Mountains.” (answers.com)

“An ape-like cryptid said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal, India and Tibet.” (wikipedia.org)

“(it).. is said to live in the frigid, Himalayan mountains, being approximately 7-10 feet tall…” (ourbigfoot.com/abominable_snowman.html)

These are some descriptions of the, what ever you call him, Yeti, the Abominable Snowman, the Great Bear or Raksha (which means demon in Sanskrit). What they all have in common is that this creature lives in the Himalayan region. But now we know that we were all wrong: Yetis are living in Siberia!

Well, what Russian scientist found is definitely dull: There is neither DNA evidence nor a convincing photographic they can show the public. They seriously base their claim on a single unclear footprint, a small selection of grey hair and on bent branches.

To be honest, I think it can only be a joke. It’s not the fact that they are searching for this mysterious creature. I’m sure there are many unsolved mysteries in the world, but in my opinion you can’t tell the world that it is proven that the Yeti exists with this little evidence they think they have found. At the moment they just have pieces of evidence in a cave which can come from any other animal living in this region, e.g. a wolf, bear or rabbit.

I found a quotation of Dmitry Islamov, Vice Governor of Kemerovo Region on Economics and Regional Development who said: “It doesn't matter that the Kuzbass might not have Yetis. The main thing is that when people come to the Shoria Mountains, they truly enjoy its unique nature.”

So, in my mind the only aim of this news is to attract more tourists to this region. As there are surely many fans of mysteries and the Yeti, they will come to visit this region to go themselves in search of evidences to proof that the Yeti really exists.

by Kathrin

Do books sell? Is it still profitable to write?

2011-09-07T12:49:00.003+02:00

It appears it is! Although, according to the Forbes, the book sale dropped by 23%, the best selling authors are still making millions of dollars. The first place on the Forbes’ list is occupied by James Patterson, an American author of thriller novels, with a record of 84 million dollars!

How is it happening that the writers are still doing well even though book reading is less and less popular? The Forbes explains: It’s thanks to the fast growing market of e-books, multimedia deals and franchises aiming at young adults.

What is really surprising to me is a low position of J.K. Rowling in the ranking. She used to be a leader in the young adult segment but now “Harry Potter” books are not selling as well as Stephanie Meyer’s vampire saga. What’s interesting is that “Twilight” was at one point accounted for more than 15 per cent of all books sold in the U.S.!

Here is a list of the world’s highest-paid authors according to "Forbes" (May 2010 through April 2011):

1. James Patterson - 84 mln dol.
2. Danielle Steel - 35 mln dol.
3. Stephen King - 28 mln dol.
4. Janet Evanovich - 22 mln dol.
5. Stephenie Meyer- 21 mln dol.
6. Rick Riordan - 21 mln dol.
7. Dean Koontz -19 mln dol.
8. John Grisham – 18 mln dol.
9. Jeff Kinney – 17 mln dol.
10. Nicholas Sparks – 16 mln dol.
11. Ken Follett – 14 mln dol.
12. Suzanne Collins – 10 mln dol.
13. JK Rowling – 5 mln dol.

Let's keep going!

2011-09-07T12:34:00.002+02:00

Dear readers,

The change is coming to this blog!
Since there's no one left to keep it in Dutch, for the time being, we will post the articles in English.
Hope you enjoy it!

Best,
DiM team

Eindelijk aandacht voor de Surinaamse talen

2011-06-20T11:01:00.000+02:00

In Suriname heerst er een grote verscheidenheid aan talen. Volgens taalkundige Hein Eersel is de taalsituatie in Suriname aan ordening toe. Tijdens een taalconferentie georganiseerd door de overheid zeiden sprekers dat de Surinaamse taaldiversiteit nu eindelijk de aandacht krijgt die het verdient.
Het land telt maar liefst zestien talen en dialecten moeten sturing kunnen geven aan het standaardiseren van de talen, want als eenmaal vaststaat hoe een taal gesproken en geschreven moet worden, kun je aan het behoud ervan werken. In Suriname is een groot deel van de talen, onder druk van het Nederlands, aan bescherming en behoud toe.
Meer dan ooit speelt de Nederlandse taal een doorslaggevende rol bij het maatschappelijk opklimmen, terwijl het Engels wordt gebruikt als taal van wetenschap en ontwikkeling. Dit alles zorgt ervoor dat het tijd wordt om in te grijpen.
Tijdens de taalconferentie kwamen taalspecialisten bijeen voor een specifieke brainstorm. De eerstvolgende stap is de invoering van een taalwet, die de basis zal leggen voor het taalbehoud.
Hieronder een voorbeeld van enkele Surinaamse talen:

Vertaalster de cel in vanwege vertaling controversieel boek

2011-06-16T11:30:00.001+02:00

De politie in het zuidwesten van Turkije heeft deze week de vertaalster Funda Uncu gearresteerd voor haar vertaling van het boek Snuff van Chuck Palaniuk.

De Turkse staat onderzoekt het boek, dat zich afspeelt in een magazijn waar men een pornofilm opneemt met 1 vrouw en 600 mannen. Het onderzoek is gebaseerd op ¨misbruik van seksuele instincten¨ en ¨ongehoorzaamheid aan de morele normen¨.

Uncu heeft uitgelegd dat de politie haar 6 uur lang heeft ondervraagd en haar op een ongepaste manier heeft behandeld. Zij vertelde hen dat ze slechts vertaler is en geen schrijfster, maar de politie bleef doorvragen hoe ze zich zo heeft kunnen verlagen. De vertaalster heeft, omdat ze behandeld werd als crimineel, haar teleurstelling geuit.

Frankrijk verbiedt gebruik van woorden Facebook en Twitter

2011-06-09T10:56:00.003+02:00

Terwijl het woordenboek van Oxford steeds wordt uitgebreid met woorden gerelateerd aan sociale media, zoals ´´Twittersphere´´ en ´´unfollow´´ (stoppen met iemands berichten te volgen op Twitter), beweegt Frankrijk zich in de tegenovergestelde richting. De Franse regering heeft het gebruik van de woorden ´´Facebook´´ en ´´Twitter´´ verboden op radio en televisie. Zij hebben dit verbod gebaseerd op een wet uit 1992 waarin staat dat elke keer wanneer een naam van een service genoemd wordt, dit geldt als publiciteit. Het Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel de Francia (CSA) zegt dat het verbod op deze woorden bedoeld is om te vermijden dat de bekende, grote sociale netwerken een voordeel hebben boven de kleinere netwerksites.

Critici van de nieuwe regelgeving stellen dat het verbod zal leiden tot publieke verwarring. ´´Klik op vind ik leuk op onze pagina in het sociale netwer´´ is niet zo duidelijk als ´´Klik op vind ik leuk op Facebook. De wetgeving zal ongetwijfeld invloed hebben voor bedrijven en organisaties en hun gebruik van sociale netwerksites om zich te promoten.

Lady Gaga gaat Amerikaans gebarentaal (ASL) leren

2011-06-07T13:45:00.001+02:00

Zangeres Lady Gaga heeft bekendgemaakt dat ze bereid is om de Amerikaanse versie van gebarentaal te leren, om te kunnen communiceren met dove fans. Ze kwam op het idee om lessen te gaan volgen na het zien van youtubeclips van dove fans die haar liedjes ¨zongen¨ door middel van tekens.

Wanneer ze eenmaal de gebarentaal onder de knie heeft, wil ze op deze videos reageren. Ze heeft ook plannen om te zingen door middel van gebaren tijdens optredens. Tijdens enkele al gehouden concerten beschikte Gaga over een gebarentolk die de woorden vertaalde voor dove fans, maar het is natuurlijk veel leuker en waardevoller wanneer mevrouw zélf de gebaren maakt!

Het clublied van FC Barcelona in het Catalaans en Spaans met een Nederlandse vertaling

2011-06-03T13:29:00.002+02:00

Clublied Barcelona, Catalaanse versie

Tot el camp, és un clam

som la gent blaugrana, Tant se val d'on venim

si del sud o del nord

ara estem d'acord, ara estem d'acord,

una bandera ens agermana.

Blaugrana al vent, un crit valent

tenim un nom, el sap tothom:

Barça , Barça, Baaarça.!

Jugadors, seguidors, tots units fem força.

Son molt anys plens d'afanys,

son molts gols que hem cridat

i s'ha demostrat, i s'ha demostrat,

que mai ningu no ens podrà torcer

Blau-grana al vent, un crit valent

tenim un nom, el sap tothom

Barça, Barça, Baaarça.

Clublied Barcelona, Spaanse versie

Todo el campo, es un clamor,

somos la gente azulgrana, no importa de donde vengamos,

si del sur o del norte,

eso si, estamos de acuerdo, estamos de acuerdo,

una bandera nos hermana.

Azulgrana al viento,

un grito valiente,

tenemos un nombre,

lo sabe todo el mundo:

Barça!, Barça !, Baaaarça !!!!

Jugadores, aficionados,

todos unidos hacemos fuerza,

son muchos años llenos de sacrificio,

son muchos los goles que hemos gritado,

y se ha demostrado, se ha demostrado,

que nunca nadie nos podrá doblegar.

Azulgrana al viento,

un grito valiente,

tenemos un nombre,

lo sabe todo el mundo:

Barça!, Barça!, Baaaarça!!!!

Vertaling Clublied Barcelona

Heel het veld davert

We zijn de blauwrode mensen, het maakt niet uit waar we heengaan,

Of het nou noord of zuid is,

Maar dit wel: we zijn het er mee eens, we zijn het er mee eens,

Een vlag verbroedert ons.

Blauwrood in de wind,

Een krachtige schreeuw,

De hele wereld weet het:

Barça!, Barça !, Baaaarça !!!!

Spelers, fans,
Samen bundelen we onze krachten
Vele jaren vol opoffering
En met vele doelpunten waar we om geschreeuwd hebben
en het is aangetoond, is aangetoond
dat niemand ons kan breken.

Blauwrood in de wind,

Een krachtige schreeuw,

De hele wereld weet het:

Barça!, Barça !, Baaaarça !!!!

Sociale ommekeer en solidariteit over culturele en taalkundige grenzen heen

2011-06-02T16:54:00.000+02:00

Na het bekijken van deze video over de Spaanse politie die de demonstranten op Plaza Cataluña neerslaat, kwam het ineens in me op dat de wereld wel erg veranderd is deze lente. De algemene omkeer die er ontstaan is door onder andere het gebruik van sociale media moedigt solidariteit aan vanuit een nieuw perspectief, doordat alle informatie tegenwoordig direct en in meerdere talen beschikbaar is: culturele en taalkundige grenzen vallen steeds meer weg.

De opstanden in Noord-Amerika en het Midden-Oosten begonnen na een demonstratie die gehouden werd in Tunis, op 18 december 2010. Het was een steunbetuiging aan Mohammed Bouazizi´s, die protesteerde tegen de corruptie en misbruik waaraan de politie zich schuldig maakt. Via sociale netwerksites werd de onvrede verspreid in Algerije, Jordanië, Egypte, Jemen en later over de hele wereld.

Nu zijn het de Spanjaarden die een verandering eisen. Tienduizenden mensen zijn de straat op gegaan in meer dan 60 steden als protest van de hoge werkeloosheid en de sombere economische situatie. Oud-minister Felipe González vergeleek de demonstraties in Spanje met die van de Arabische landen. Hij besprak de relevantie van deze manifestaties en het viel hem op dat terwijl de Arabische landen vechten voor stemrecht, er in Spanje weinig tot niets wordt gedaan met de stem van het volk.

Doordat de demonstraties worden gecoördineerd via sociale netwerken is het voor de gehele wereld toegankelijk en iedereen kan zijn ideeën, plannen, videos en foto´s verspreiden. Het ¨Platform voor de échte Democratie¨ heeft een Facebookpagina aangemaakt en vele mensen heeft dit al geïnspireerd. Een voorbeeld hiervan is de groep ¨Egypte steunt de Spaanse revolutie¨, geschreven in het Arabisch, Engels en Spaans en behalve deze zijn er meer voorbeelden van uitingen van solidariteit wereldwijd.

Het merendeel van de Britse universiteitsvakbonden steunen het Spaanse initiatief van de jongeren over hun verlangen en strijd naar een betere toekomst. Volgens hen betekent globalisering niet alleen de eenmaking van de wetgeving, maar ook wereldwijde democratie en vrijheid.

Daardoor worden mensen aangemoedigd om te tweeten, (#SpanishRevolution) omdat de jongeren vermoeden dat de internationale media het nieuws probeert te verdoezelen. Deze manier toont aan dat sociale netwerken onmisbaar zijn bij volksopstanden en een ongekende invloed hebben.

Engelse vrouwen van 35 jaar: ebookpiraten!

2011-05-30T13:30:00.000+02:00

Men zegt dat de vrouw de toekomst van de mens is, maar in ieder geval niet van de uitgeverswereld. Nouja, één zwaluw maakt nog geen zomer, hoewel vrouwen vaak de werkelijkheid boven fictie en reclame verkiezen.

In een online uitgevoerde enquête, gerealiseerd door Entertainment Media Research, een filiaal van de firma Wiggin Advocaten, toont dat acht op de tien vrouwen ouder dan 35 jaar ebooks illegaal download, terwijl slechts één op de twintig hetzelfde met muziek downloaden doet.

De studie geeft weer dat veel vrouwen digitaal lezen . Een kwart van de 1959 ondervraagde Britse consumenten geeft toe dat zij van plan zijn om verder te gaan met het illegaal downloaden van de boeken. De mogelijke schade zou volgens het onderzoek hierdoor nog groter kunnen worden.

De klap komt hard aan voor de bedrijfstak die al moeite heeft om het evenwicht te vinden in dit nieuwe formaat boeken, evenals het creëren van de juiste afzet.
En dit ondanks de woorden van Richard Mollet, directeur van de Britse Publishers Association: "De innovatie in de digitale markt en de kracht van de Britse uitgevers in de uiting van hun inspanningen is alleen mogelijk omdat de context van het auteursrecht, sterk en flexibel is en de creatieve industrie ondersteunt."

Vrouwen zijn piraten!

In de praktijk doet 29% van de eigenaren van een ebook reader, ongeacht geslacht of leeftijd mee aan het illegaal downloaden van ebooks. Dit cijfer ligt met 39% voor multimedia tablets nog een stuk hoger.

Voor Alexander Ross, werkzaam bij Wiggin en leider van het onderzoek, is piraterij bij vrouwen altijd zeldzaam geweest, maar met de komst van elektronische boeken en hun populariteit lijkt het gedrag radicaal te zijn veranderd.

"Het is onmogelijk om niet te concluderen dat de uitgeversbranche binnenkort een ernstig probleem zal krijgen, vergelijkbaar met die van de muziek- en filmindustrie."

Nederlands-Spaans liedje, Canción holandés-español

2011-05-27T12:24:00.000+02:00

Bekijk de clip en luister het liedje hier: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEz5AxLdskI

Mírate el clip y escucha la canción aqui: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEz5AxLdskI

Onder de zon en een hemelsblauwe hemel
Wachten straten op bewoners
Of voorbijgangers van ver
Ik spits mijn oren en probeer iets te doorgronden
Waarvan ik het bestaan vermoed
Maar niets echt zeker weet

Hoor je de stad?
Mijn hemelse verslaving
Voel je de adem?
Tussen de schemer en de avond
Verdwaal ik elke keer

En de stem van de zee
Neemt me mee naar huis
Ik ben geen Hemingway

Debajo de la luna y un chielo estrellado
Mujeres esperan sus hombres
O la gente que pasan
Tomandome mi mojito, imaginando
De donde vengo despues del viaje
Y que abrazo mi amada

Pruebas el mar?
Mi corazón escondido
Sientes el aire
Entre la madrugada y el sol
Siempre me pierdo

Y el sonido del mar 
Me devuelve a casa
No soy Hemingway

En de stem van de zee 
Neemt me mee naar huis
Ik ben geen Hemingway ...

Alia Sabirova redt haar cultuur door middel van muziek

2011-05-26T13:42:00.000+02:00

De Tartaren zijn een Turkse etnische groep. De meerderheid van hen, 5,5 miljoen mensen, woont in Rusland. De landen rondom, zoals Turkije, Oezbekistan, Kazachstan, Oekraïne, Tadzjikistan, Kirgizië, Turkmenistan en Azerbeidzjan hebben elk ongeveer 30.000 Tartaarse inwoners.

Het Tartaars wordt gesproken door meer dan 7 miljoen mensen in Rusland, Oekraïne, Centraal-Azië, Polen, China, Finland en Turkije. Tijdens het Sovjettijdperk verminderde het aantal Tartaarssprekenden sterk, maar tijdens een volkstelling in Rusland in 2002 verzekerde 94% van de Tartaren dat zij de taal spreken.

Deze week kwam ik een interessant artikel tegen over Alia Sabirova, een Tartaarse kunstenares met passie en toewijding voor de cultuur van Tatarstan. Zij stelt vast dat ondanks de invloed van Rusland, Azië en het Westen, de taal levendig blijft en het aantal sprekers toeneemt.

Zelfs in Suske en Wiske strips komen de Tartaren voor

Sabirova is een journaliste, blogger, kunstenares en cultureel activist. Samen met haar man, een grafisch ontwerper, is zij een van de belangrijkste figuren van de Yzebez. De Yzebez houdt zich bezig met de promotie van nieuwe vormen van de Tartaarse cultuur onder jongeren.

Hoewel Sabirova activiste is, kan ze worden omschreven als een realistisch ingesteld persoon. Ze zegt dat ze de cultuur en taal niet wil opleggen aan de jongeren, maar juist kansen wil bieden aan personen die zowel de Tartaarse cultuur als taal levendig, aantrekkelijk en modern willen houden.

"Het heeft geen zin om nu te spreken over de rechten van politieke onafhankelijkheid. Echter, we kunnen onze culturele onafhankelijkheid creëren, want de Tataarse cultuur is heel anders dan de Russische cultuur."

Sabirov en andere Yzebez-activisten willen de kracht van kunst, poëzie en muziek gebruiken om jongeren kennis te laten maken met hun natieve cultuur. De liedjes die Sabirov maakt, maken gebruik van de salsa en rumbaritmes met een Tartaarse liedtekst. Zij wint erg aan populariteit binnen de uitgaansscene, evenals Tartaarse rappers, waaronder Shakur Tupac. Dit geeft de vitaliteit van een oude taal weer.

Praten met dolfijnen?

2011-05-26T10:37:00.000+02:00

Sinds enkele jaren worden dolfijnen beschouwd als de meest intelligente dieren van onze planeet en binnenkort zal het mogelijk zijn om met dit fascinerende schepsel te praten, door middel van nieuwe software die vertalingen onder water realiseert.

Het project wordt CHAT genoemd, wat de Engelse afkorting is van Gehoor- en gezichtsvermogen van Walvisachtigen, en wordt uitgevoerd door Denise Herzing, oprichtster van het Wild Dolphin Project. Zij werkt samen met Thad Starner, een onderzoeker op het gebied van kunstmatige intelligentie aan het Technologisch Instituut van Georgia in de Amerikaanse staat Atlanta. De onderzoekers proberen de geluiden van dolfijnen met behulp van een geavanceerde computer te ontcijferen. Het uiteindelijke doel is volgens het tijdschrift New Scientist om de taal waarin wilde dolfijnen communiceren te reconstrueren zodat een goede communicatie tussen dolfijnexperts en dolfijnen ontstaat.

Vanaf de jaren zestig zijn onderzoekers er zich van bewust dat de mogelijkheid er is om te kunnen communiceren met dolfijnen en vele onderzoeken hebben hun taalvaardigheid weergegeven. Ze kunnen 100 menselijke woorden leren en begrijpen het verschil tussen twee soortgelijke opdrachten, zoals ¨breng de surfplank naar die persoon¨ of ¨Breng die persoon naar de surfplank¨.

Volgens Herzing waren we voorheen te zeer gericht op het creëren van een systeem zodat de dolfijnen ons zouden kunnen begrijpen. Hij zegt dat hoewel er wordt doorgegaan met het aanleren van woorden, de dolfijnen nog steeds niet dat systeem kunnen gebruiken om met ons te communiceren. Er is sprake van eenrichtingsverkeer. Om dit op te lossen hebben Herzing en zijn collega´s jarenlang verschillende systemen bedacht en uitgeprobeerd die het mogelijk maken te communiceren in twee richtingen. Sommige pogingen waren succesvol, maar waren alsnog niet duidelijk genoeg voor de dolfijnen.

Met de hulp van zijn leerlingen is Starner een apparaat aan het ontwikkelen dat twee hydrofoons en een pc ter grootte van een smartphone bevat, dat geluiden van dolfijnen kan detecteren. Het apparaat is zo klein dat een duiker het in een speciaal doosje vastgebonden aan zijn borst mee kan nemen. Het idee is dat wanneer de hydrofoon het geklets van dolfijnen oppikt, een deel van het duikersmasker oplicht. Om te kunnen reageren op de dolfijnen zal de duiker een Twiddler gebruiken, een combinatie van een toetsenboerd en een muis die onder water te gebruiken zijn.

Het is een enorme uitdaging om een technologie te creëren, zoals CHAT. Er zijn vele factoren die onderzoekers moeten overwegen bij de ontwikkeling van het systeem. Een daarvan is dat het menselijk oor niet alle frequenties kan horen die worden geproduceerd door dolfijnen. Bovendien wordt het lastig wanneer zij veel van toon veranderen gedurende een lange tijd. Een andere moeilijkheid is dat dolfijnen geluiden in verschillende richtingen kunnen projecteren zonder hun hoofd daarbij de draaien.

Ondanks alle obstakels hopen Starner en Herzing de taal van dolfijnen te ontcijferen. Het testen van het apparaat zal ongeveer in het midden van dit jaar beginnen. In de beginfase laten de onderzoekers de wilde dolfijnen acht dingen zien, bijvoorbeeld algen, om te kijken of de groep er een ¨woord¨ voor heeft. Als ze dat hebben, zal het team beginnen met de moeilijke taak om te proberen om de basis van hun taal te vertalen, om de ¨woorden¨ te associëren met gedragingen en objecten.

Maar zelfs als het team een perfect plan had ontwikkeld, was het slagen van het project alsnog onzeker. "Ik weet zelfs niet of dolfijnen wel woorden hebben", bekent Herzing in New Scientist magazine.

Een hip Neder-Spaans liedje met een weinig betekenisvolle tekst

2011-05-23T12:12:00.003+02:00

Hola supermercado ¿telebancos por aquí?
Let's get Spanish, get Spanish
Get Spanish on, get Spanish on them
Hola supermercado ¿telebancos por aquí?
Let's get Spanish, get Spanish
Get Spanish on, get Spanish on them

Prengpreng pelo no, prengpreng hola si,
Ola di, idi ye, het is stang ja twee
Ik ben stang man, t'is geen bingo
Ik krijg niks, ik zeg yo no tengo
Bitch nigga yo no quiero
Hangen met mensen skeero
Hier, neem een Spaanse troep,
Donde esta mi dinero, (donde esta mi dinero)
Buenas noches en tot ziens
Vet veel liefde nunca nooit vriends

Los gezelligitos, donde esta genietos?
oh, Costa del Sos
Los gezelligitos, donde esta genietos?
oh, Costa del Sos

Hola supermercado ¿telebancos por aquí?
Let's get Spanish, get Spanish
Get Spanish on, get Spanish on them
Hla supermercado ¿telebancos por aquí?
Let's get Spanish, get Spanish, Faber Gego
Get Spanish on, get Spanish on them

Claro que si, claro que no
Los jovenes, mas chulo del pueblo
Spaanse worst sowieso, voor die ho's chorrizo
Bocadillo con manchego, dat is Faber Gego
El ano del diablo, ano del diablo,
Dat is de Costa del Sol, dat is de Costa del Sol
El ano del diablo, dat is de Costa del Sol
Yo quiero esquiar, yo quiero vomitar, yo quiero comer ham
dus breng je coño, breng je coño

Los gezelligitos, donde esta genietos?
oh, Costa del Sos
Los gezelligitos, donde esta genietos?
oh, Costa del Sos

Hola supermercado ¿telebancos por aquí?
Let's get Spanish, get Spanish
Get Spanish on, get Spanish on them
Hola supermercado ¿telebancos por aquí?
Let's get Spanish, get Spanish,
Get Spanish on, get Spanish on them

Hola supermercado ¿telebancos por aquí?
Let's get Spanish, get Spanish
Get Spanish on, get Spanish on them
Hola supermercado ¿telebancos por aquí?
Let's get Spanish, get Spanish,
Get Spanish on, get Spanish on them

Bedrijven lopen inkomsten mis vanwege taalgrenzen

2011-05-19T13:59:00.000+02:00

Op woensdag 11 mei publiceerde de Europese Unie het resultaat van een enquete. Deze werd uitgevoerd door de Eurobarometer, de afdeling die de publieke opinie van de Europese Commissie onderzoekt. Ee werkten in totaal 13.500 personen aan het onderzoek mee, 500 personen binnen elk van de 27 lidstaden. Het onderzoek wees uit dat 90% van de internetgebruikers binnen de Europese Unie alleen websites in hun eigen taal bezoekt.

Volgens het onderzoek bekijkt slechts de helft van de internetgebruikers een site in een andere taal, maar geven wel toe dat dit slechts zelden voorkomt. Hetzelfde aantal mensen bekent dat zij nooit geld aan een product of dienst uitgeven wanneer deze niet in hun eigen taal is bekendgemaakt.

Toch zegt 44% van de gebruikers dat wanneer bepaalde sites beschikbaar zouden zijn in hun eigen taal, zij de site zeker zouden bezoeken.

Neelie Kroes, lid van de commissie Digitaal van de Europese Unie schreef dat, wanneer we een digitaal Europa willen, we ons ervan moeten verzekeren dat ieder willekeurig persoon de inhoud van iedere willekeurige website kan begrijpen. ¨We ontwikkelen nieuwe technologieën die de mensheid helpen om taalproblemen uit te weg te gaan¨.

De Europese Commissie besteedt op dit moment 67 miljoen euro in 30 verschillende projecten die de mogelijkheden bekijken die de techniek biedt om vertalingen van digitale teksten te verbeteren. Er is 2 miljoen euro gedoneerd voor de pagina iTranslate4, een relatief nieuwe site die automatische vertalingen aanbiedt van en naar vele Europese talen.

Zoals was te verwachten bevestigd de enquete dat Binnen Europa Engels de meest gebruikte taal is op het internet: bijna de helft (48%) van de personen die meewerkten aan het onderzoek zei dat zij ´af en toe´ een Engelse site raadplegen. Dit percentage verschilt erg per land. De lidstaten die historische banden met het de Engelse taal hebben, zoals Cyprus en Malta, of landen waar velen Engels studeren zoals Zweden en Griekenland, gaven toe dat zij een Engelse versie van een website voldoende vonden wanneer er geen versie in hun eigen moedertaal is. In Italie is het percentage met 45% minder dan het Europees gemiddelde en de onder de Letten ligt dit percentage met 35% nog lager.

Niet alleen ging het onderzoek over het lezen van websites, maar ook het gebruik van de online diensten. Slechts 18% van de internetters gaf aan ¨regelmatig tot zeer vaak¨ een product te kopen wanneer het geadverteerd wordt in een andere taal, terwijl 42% zei dit nooit te doen.

Het is duidelijk dat deze statistieken het verkooppotentieel beïnvloeden. Wanneer bedrijven hun verkoop willen maximaliseren is het belangrijk om hun producten en diensten goed vertaald in verschillende talen te adverteren of aan te bieden op de website. Vertaalbureaus zoals 1Global Translators kan hierbij helpen.

De Google vertaalmachine in ontwikkeling: binnenkort 2 nieuwe talen beschikbaar

2011-05-17T13:20:00.000+02:00

Google is bezig met de afwerking van de online vertaler in het Maya en Nahuatl, twee talen uit Noord-Amerika. Deze tool maakt het mogelijk om gratis vertalingen van deze talen naar iedere willekeurige taal te realiseren.

Miguel Angel Perez Alva, Marketingdirecteur van Google in Mexico, kondigde tijdens een een lezing die hij gaf aan de Universiteit van Anahuac Mayab aan dat het ontwikkelingsproject afgerond is. Het is nu alleen nog wachten op de goedkeuring door een academische instelling.

De Google-medewerker zei: "In Latijns-Amerika en met name Mexico is er veel groeipotentie, nog steeds heeft een hoog percentage van de bevolking geen toegang tot internet, maar de moderne communicatiemiddelen hebben het mogelijk gemaakt dat informatie voor iedereen meer toegankelijk is geworden. Mexico is een groeiende markt, met erg participatieve deelnemers, niet alleen om zoekopdrachten via internet te doen, maar ook om inhoud te creëren door middel van blogs en websites".

Met deze mogelijkheid kunnen ongeveer 1,5 miljoen mensen die deze talen spreken de applicatie gebruiken. In heel Latijns-Amerika, waaronder Mexico, Guatemala en Belize worden het Maya en het Nahuatl gesproken.

De Marketingdirecteur zegt: "Dit project doen we niet alleen om teksten te kunnen vertalen, maar ook om nieuwe deuren te openen: mensen die het Nahuatl of Maya spreken kunnen voortaan tijdens zoekopdrachten op internet hun oorspronkelijke taal invoeren, terwijl er tegelijkertijd de mogelijkheid is directe vertalingen tussen het Spaans (of ieder andere willekeurige taal) en het Nahuatl of Maya te maken."

Hopelijk wordt de Google Vertaalmachine snel uitgebreid met beide talen. Het zal iets majestueus en magisch hebben om twee oeroude talen rechtstreeks te kunnen vertalen. Voor de mensen in Latijns-Amerika zullen er vele nieuwe mogelijkheden zijn.

DOE ERVARING OP ALS VERTALER, TERWIJL JE TEGELIJKERTIJD BELANGRIJKE IDEEËN VERSPREIDT!

2011-05-16T13:22:00.000+02:00

TED - ideas worth spreading is een organisatie die conferenties organiseert met de meest innovatieve personen binnen haar sector, zodat ze hun werk en bevindingen kunnen presenteren en delen. De meeste presentaties zijn gearchiveerd op TED.com, waar u honderden nieuwe ideeën uit verschillende conferenties kunt vinden.

In mei 2009 lanceerde organisatie het project TED - Open Translations, om mogelijk te maken dat alle presentaties van de conferenties van TED vertaald kunnen en mogen worden naar elke willekeurige taal.

TED is een vrijwillige organisatie en betaalt daarom geen van haar partners, maar geeft hoge prioriteit aan het erkennen van het werk van elke vertaler en recensent. Elke vertaler en recensent heeft zijn eigen pagina op TED.com met een lijst van vertalingen die zij hebben gemaakt. Hun namen verschijnen ook op elke pagina van elke presentatie die zij hebben vertaald.

WIE KAN ER AAN MEEDOEN?

1) Het is niet nodig om een professionele vertaler te zijn, maar er wordt wel verwacht dat de deelnemer de taal onder de knie heeft en dezelfde toon, stijl en persoonlijkheid heeft van een natieve spreker.

2) De vertaling hoeft niet te worden ingediend binnen een bepaalde periode, maar het is belangrijk om bij deelname op zijn minst een volledige vertaling af te leveren.

3) Om een hoge kwaliteit te waarborgen, verzoekt TED om ervoor te zorgen dat al het werk wordt herzien. U kunt hiervoor samenwerken met een recensent die u zelf kent of iemand uit de TED-databank.

Voor meer informatie: http://www.ted.com/pages/view/id/293

PUBLICEER JE TEKST IN DE OFFICIËLE BLOG VAN 1GLOBAL!

Als je meedoet met het TED Project en je een vertaling op de pagina achterlaat, waarom schrijf je dan ook niet een kort artikel over je werkervaring? Wij plaatsen dat ter promotie vervolgens op de officiële blog van 1Global, http://www.1globaltranslators.com/blog

De relatie tussen muziek en taal

2011-05-16T11:03:00.000+02:00

Een van de eerste stappen naar een beter begrip van een taal is om te weten waar een woord eindigt en waar de volgende begint. Want er zijn mensen die een taal vloeiend spreken en in het algemeen geen pauzes maken tussen woorden, wat voor toehoorders moeilijkheden kan opleveren. Voor het beter begrijpen van de taal is het verstandig om je te richten op de medeklinkergeluiden en de statistische eigenschappen van de taal.

Enkele onderzoekers hebben ontdekt dat als je onzinwoorden als "gimysi" en "mimosi" uitvindt en ze constant achter elkaar uitspreekt, de luisteraars zich zullen realiseren waar de woorden eindigen, vanwege de fonetische eigenschappen van elk woord. Soms hadden luisteraars veel tijd nodig om te begrijpen waar de grenzen van elk woord lagen. Een team onder leiding van Daniel Schön vond zes woorden uit: "gimysi", "mimosi", "pogysi", "SMI", "sipygy" en "sysipi", en nam deze op. De vrijwilligers moesten luisteren naar de opname. Na het horen van de woorden gedurende zeven minuten kon er nog geen onderscheid gemaakt worden. Er waren meer dan 20 minuten nodig om te begrijpen waar een woord begint en eindigt.

Het team van Schön vermoedt dat het gemakkelijker zou zijn voor de luisteraars om te begrijpen waar elk woord eindigt als je de woorden op muziek zet. In een tweede experiment werden de woorden ondersteund met een muzikale noot op elke lettergreep. Dit experiment toonde aan dat, wanneer er achtergrondmuziek was, het veel gemakkelijker voor de luisteraars was om te begrijpen waar elk woord eindigt.
Maar in bestaande liedjes komen de lettergrepen niet altijd overeen met de noten. Soms krijgen verschillende lettergrepen dezelfde noten, en soms andersom. In een derde experiment maakte het team verschillende noten bij elke lettergreep. De luisteraars konden de woorden toen beter begrijpen dan dat ze dat konden tijdens het experiment zonder muziek.

Er zijn nog andere aanwijzingen dat de muziek is erg belangrijk voor het leren van andere talen. Dezelfde hersengebieden worden gebruikt bij het luisteren naar of het afspelen van muziek en bij het spreken of leren van een taal. Deze studie toont aan dat er mogelijk een fundamentele link tussen taal en muziek.

Dode talen, mythe of werkelijkheid?

2011-05-11T13:25:00.003+02:00

Veel taalkundigen voorspellen dat op z´n minst de helft van de 6.000 talen in de wereld in 2050 dood of in verval aan het raken zijn. De organisatie UNESCO verzekert dat in de huidige situatie meer dan eenderde van de talen op de wereld wordt bedreigd.

Michael Krauss, directeur van het Centrum voor Inheemse Talen van Alaska, is van mening dat bijna 90 procent van de talen stervend of uitgestorven zal zijn rond het jaar 2100. Volgens Krauss is tussen de 20 en de 40 procent van de talen al stervend en slechts 5 tot 10 procent is ¨veilig¨ vanwege het feit dat die talen een officiële status hebben. ¨Als je uitgaat van de meest positieve situatie,¨ zegt Krauss, ¨loopt het aantal dode of bijna dode talen uiteindelijk alsnog op tot circa 50 procent.

Er kan worden aangenomen dat de taalverschuiving van een ondergeschikte taal naar een meer wijdverspreide taal goed is, omdat het mensen in staat stelt om makkelijker te communiceren. Echter, de taalkundige verscheidenheid is even belangrijk als de biologische diversiteit. De UNESCO definieert de dood van een taal als een groot verlies voor het cultureel erfgoed.

Zoals Michael Krauss het figuurlijk uitdrukt, is een web van talen een "microkosmos van gespecialiseerde informatie. Elke taal heeft zijn eigen wereldbeeld. Een taal is niet zomaar een andere manier om dezelfde dingen te te zeggen of uit te drukken." Net zoals we afhankelijk zijn van de biologische complexiteit voor onze fysieke overleving, zijn we afhankelijk van de taalkundige complexiteit van onze culturele overleving. Als we een taal verliest, sterven legendes, gedichten, en de kennis die generaties lang is opgebouwd.

In 2008, toen Marie Smith Jones, de laatste native speaker van de taal Eyak uit Alaska, op 86-jarige leeftijd overleed, stierf met haar de Eyak-taal uit. Het verlies van een taal is zoals het verlies van een soort: logisch en voorspelbaar. Maar vandaag de dag wordt dit proces versnelt door de bevolkingsdichtheid en de uitbreiding van de industrie. De mondiale economie vereist kleine, niet-geïndustrialiseerde gemeenschappen om te kiezen tussen de eigen taal en eigen tradities of een deelname aan de moderne, geglobaliseerde wereld.

In Oost-Afrika moet men Swahili spreken om succesvol te zijn, terwijl men in Centraal-Europa daarvoor Russisch nodig heeft. De laatste tijd lijkt iedereen Engels te moeten spreken. Soms bestaan een gangbare taal en een lokale taal naast elkaar, maar steeds meer verdringen de gangbare talen de ondergeschikte talen, vanwege de jongeren die de vreemde talen hebben geaccepteerd als ´bruikbaarder´.

De UNESCO zegt ons dat overheidsingrijpen nodig is wanneer men zijn eigen taalkundige verscheidenheid wil bewaren. De mensen zouden trots moeten zijn op hun eigen taal, want dat zorgt ervoor dat de taal niet uitsterft.

De afgelopen vijf jaar zijn de regeringen van Mexico, Nieuw-Zeeland en de Verenigde Staten om de huidige trend te keren. Het fenomeen ´uitsterven van talen´ doet zich voor in alle regio´s en onder alle economische omstandigheden.

Zó krijg je kinderen aan het lezen!

2011-05-10T10:55:00.001+02:00

Het is bekend dat je voor een goede start van de dag een evenwichtig en sterk ontbijt moet nemen. Dit geldt met name voor kinderen, omdat zij de hele dag door behoefte hebben aan vitaminen en koolhydraten.
Voor de meeste kinderen zijn cornflakes een belangrijk onderdeel van het ontbijt.

In Engeland lezen veel kinderen elke ochtend de achterkant van hun favoriete cornflakesverpakking. Daarom hebben de Britse uitgever en de supermarktketen ASDA besloten om de werken van Roald Dahl te promoten door het publiceren van een uittreksel van zijn verhalen op de achterkant van de cornflakesverpakking.

Roald Dahl is een populaire auteur bij kinderen. Hij is het best bekend voor zijn kinderboeken als Charlie en de chocoladefabriek, Mathilda en de Gremlins. Zijn werk is toegankelijk en leuk, en wordt op grote schaal gebruikt en voorgelezen in kleuterklassen. Volgens zijn officiële website heeft de auteur ¨een passie voor het onderwijzen van kinderen en om lezers van ze te maken."

De korte teksten op de achterkant van de dozen tellen ongeveer 100 woorden en zij zullen de meest interessante delen van het boek bevatten waarmee de lezer direct in het verhaal zit. "Het goede van de cornflakesverpakking is dat deze in miljoenen huishoudens worden gebruikt, waar de kinderen buiten school om nooit literatuur lezen. Veel kinderen kunnen op deze manier voor het eerst kennis maken met de werken van Roald Dahl, door een blik op de verpakking te werpen tijdens het ontbijt.

De verhalen verschijnen op tientallen miljoenen verpakkingen in de komende weken met als doel kinderen aan te moedigen om te lezen.

Met dank aan Roald Dahl lezen veel kinderen nu tenminste eenmaal per dag en dan zelfs nog in de ochtend! Het project zou uit gebreid kunnen worden tot buiten het Britse grondgebied, zodat er wereldwijd meer kinderen gaan lezen.

Bevrijdingsdag – Feest en bezinning op één dag

2011-05-05T13:34:00.001+02:00

Na de dag met het serieuze moment om acht uur, is het vandaag tijd voor vrolijke dingen. Vannacht om twaalf uur is de bevrijdingsvlam ontstoken, vlakbij Hotel de Wereld in Wageningen. In dit beroemde hotel werden alweer 66 jaar geleden de papieren getekend die ervoor zorgden dat de Duitsers zich overgaven.

Het vrijheidsvuur brandt bovenop een metershoge zuil. Dit kunstwerk is wel omstreden vanwege zijn vorm. In 2004 was er veel protest tegen de plaatsing van dit werk naast Hotel de Wereld, en daarom heeft het een andere plaats gekregen.

Het grappige is dat overal ter wereld kunstwerken met dezelfde vorm, zoals bijvoorbeeld in Barcelona en Londen, dezelfde kritiek is te vinden.

Vanuit Wageningen vertrokken estafettelopers naar verschillende plaatsen in Nederland, zodat het bevrijdingsvuur wordt verspreid door het hele land.

Vanmiddag om 13 uur wordt door de premier het startsein voor verschillende bevrijdingsfestivals gegeven. Onder meer The Opposites, The Partysquad en Waylon treden daar op.

Ook zijn er discussies over vrijheid en aan dit thema gerelateerde onderwerpen, want behalve het hoge feestgehalte moet toch ook even worden stilgestaan bij ´vrijheid´. Deze discussies zijn niet saai, want het publiek wordt door middel van muziek, informatie, actie, debat en interactie betrokken bij wat vrijheid voor ons betekent. Zo is er in Zeeland een vrijheidsquiz met als naam Wat vindt Zeeland. Naar aanleiding van onderzoeksresultaten rondom vrijheid zijn wordt met behulp van filmpjes en stellingen onder leiding van een presentatrice ook het publiek gevraagd een mening te geven en een keuze te maken.

Op basis- en middelbare scholen is al stilgestaan bij bevrijdingsdag: Zo hebben alle kinderen van groep 7 in Nederland en de leerlingen uit groep 5 in Aruba, Curaçao en Sint Maarten het nationale aandenken gekregen: Stilstaan bij Vrijheid 2011. Dit is een leuke verrassingsdoos die vertelt over het belang van vrede, vrijheid en democratie, en over de tradities en achtergronden van herdenken en vieren op 4 en 5 mei.
Schrijver Jaques Vriens heeft een boek geschreven, speciaal voor het project Adopteer een Monument. Het verhaal heet ‘De Gesp’ met als hoofdpersoon de jonge Max die met behulp van zijn metaaldetector een geheimzinnig voorwerp uit de Tweede Wereldoorlog vindt. Samen met klasgenootje Noortje stapt hij de recente geschiedenis in. Samen komen ze steeds meer te weten over ‘De Gesp’, en het bijzondere verhaal van een Duitse soldaat.

Het is goed om op deze dag stil te staan bij de vrijheid waarin wij leven. In veel landen in het Midden-Oosten en bijvoorbeeld Venezuela en Zuid-Korea is de vrijheid van meningsuiting en zelfs vrijheid in het algemeen zeer beperkt of zelfs afwezig.

Doe mee met TED – ideeën die het waard zijn om openbaar gemaakt te worden

2011-05-05T10:40:00.001+02:00

De jaarlijkse TED-conferentie duurt vier dagen en vond dit jaar eind april plaats in het Arts Center Long Beach (Californië). Het evenement brengt interessante sprekers die presentaties geven over controversiële kwesties en innovaties, waar een divers publiek op afkomt. TED organisatoren kiezen hun publiek goed uit, want zonder een buitengewoon publiek kunnen zij onmogelijk goede sprekers aan trekken. "We betalen de sprekers niet – zij doen mee omwille van het publiek."
Sinds kort is het mogelijk om de meerderheid van de presentaties op youtube te zien. Deze filmpjes zijn al tientallen miljoenen keren bekeken.

TED is meer dan alleen een conferentie: Het bestaat uit TEDTalks, waar presentaties worden gegeven, TEDGlobal, een conferentie over de mondiale wereld in Edinburgh, TEDActive, een creativiteitscongres dat wordt gehouden in Palm Springs en tenslotte het TED Open Translation Project, die bij de laatste telling meer dan 17.000 vertalingen in meer dan 80 talen registreerde van de gehouden presentaties.

TED is een zeer interessant en educatief project. Klik hier om enkele van de presentaties te bekijken of hier om uw diensten als vertaler aan te bieden.

Dodenherdenking: traditie onder druk?

2011-05-04T13:54:00.000+02:00

Vanavond om precies 20.00 is het twee minuten stil. Alleen de kerkklokken en kuchende mensen hoor je dan. Zelfs de treinen rijden die 2 minuten niet. Het heeft wel wat: bijna iedereen is die twee minuten stil. Het werk wordt neergelegd, gesprekken gestaakt en even wordt er nagedacht over de mensen die gevallen zijn voor onze vrijheid.

Het mooie van dodenherdenking voor mij is dat ik me écht even Nederlander voel, trots op zijn land, wanneer de koningin aankomt, samen met Willem-Alexander en Máxima en er vervolgens het Wilhelmus wordt gespeeld.

Volgens Dirk Mulder van herinneringscentrum Kamp Westerbork wordt tijdens de Dodenherdenking weinig meer nagedacht over de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Volgens hem is dat een slechte ontwikkeling: "Ik vind dat de dodenherdenking verwatert. 4 Mei staat voor een extreme periode die we nergens anders in onze Nederlandse geschiedenis vinden. Die periode werkt tot op de dag van vandaag door. Dat heeft zoveel zeggingskracht dat je je daar op 4 mei op moet blijven richten".

Het Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei legt sinds enkele jaren de nadruk van de herdenking op Nederlandse slachtoffers van oorlogen en vredesmissies wereldwijd, niet alleen die van de oorlog van 1940-1945. Dit vanwege het feit dat de Tweede Wereldoorlog voor voor jongere generaties verder van hen afstaat, terwijl de vredesmissies in bijvoorbeeld Uruzgan herkenbaarder zijn.
De directeur van het comité, Nine Nooter, is het niet eens met de kritiek van Dirk Mulder. Natuurlijk was de Tweede Wereldoorlog erg ingrijpend, "maar neemt dat niet weg dat er sinds het einde van de Tweede Wereldoorlog er geen dag zonder oorlog is geweest en daarbij veel mensen zijn omgekomen. Er zijn dus enorm veel verschillende groepen slachtoffers", zegt Nooter. "Wat belangrijk is aan 4 mei, ongeacht welke achtergrond, is dat al die verschillende herinneringen op die dag bij elkaar komen."

Beide meningen zijn begrijpelijk, mensen die de Tweede Wereldoorlog bewust hebben meegemaakt, willen niet dat de jarenlange traditie wordt overschaduwd door andere oorlogen. Daarentegen, wanneer men de Dodenherdenkingstraditie wil bewaren, zal het toch toegankelijk gemaakt moeten worden voor alle generaties, want elk jaar blijven er minder mensen over die de Tweede Wereldoorlog hebben meegemaakt. Een algemene herdenking is dan een goede ontwikkeling. Door middel van documentaires op tv en informatiemateriaal voor scholen kan dan, indien gewenst, alsnog de nadruk worden gelegd op de Tweede Wereldoorlog.

Het is goed om te zien dat de Dam elk jaar weer helemaal is gevuld. Dit jaar zullen er scherpere veiligheidsmaatregelen worden genomen en dat is logisch, na de ´´damschreeuwer´´ van vorig jaar.

Hopelijk wordt Dodenherdenking 2011 een moment waarop we ons kunnen concentreren op de slachtoffers van oorlogen, van welke dan ook, zonder op te hoeven letten op mensen die kwaad in de zin hebben of onrust willen stoken.

Lichaamstaal als universele taal

2011-05-02T13:32:00.000+02:00

Al is het je misschien nooit opgevallen, mensen ¨scannen¨ ons en andersom scannen wij hen. We interpreteren de bewegingen van anderen op een onbewuste manier en normaal gesproken letten we niet op hen, zelfs niet wanneer ze met de armen gekruist over de borst staan. Het interessante is dat we deze houding op de een of andere toch ongemerkt registreren en we voelen ons op dat moment dan ongemakkelijk: Het directe onderbewustzijn legt een dergelijke actie uit als weerstand of wantrouwen.

Alles wat met jezelf te maken heeft, of het nu duidelijk zichtbaar is of niet, zegt iets tegen de mensen om je heen. Wat je doet met je gezicht, lichaam, stem en handen bepaalt de indruk die mensen van je krijgen.
Psycholoog Albert Mehrabian stelt dat mensen communiceren met drie verschillende acties:

1. De lichaamstaal (visueel) -55%

2. De toon van de stem (vocaal) -38%

3. De woorden die je gebruikt (verbaal) - 7%

Als je begrijpt hoe lichaamstaal werkt, kun je emoties, ongemak, spanning, onenigheid identificeren en afwijzing en achterdocht van anderen voelen. Ook kun je leren hoe je moet handelen om een betere indruk te geven en het anderen comfortabeler te maken.

Het is interessant om te denken dat, hoewel we verschillende talen spreken, we ons verstaanbaar kunnen maken met gebaren!