Où en suis-je?
... en plein dans le boulot!
Je me console en écoutant
... que je recommande à tous ceux qui bossent en ce moment.
Au passage: G.J. m'a recommandé de ne pas perdre... "l'étincelle".
Et une pensée pour les anciens Etincelants, une!
Tayeau tayeau! (ça s'écrit comme ça?)
th
John strikes back
Comme vous pouvez le constater by yourself, John est arrivé à Providence et pour le moment est même dans notre salon.
John est chercheur en philosophie du droit; il effectue comme moi un séjour en tant que "Visiting Researcher" à Brown.
C'est rigolo d'avoir quelqu'un de Bruxelles ici: c'est comme si tout à coup au milieu de la rue, vous voyez apparaître un chevalier du Moyen Age, tout en armure et marchant à grand renfort de "clong clong clong"...
(c'est bien sûr une métaphore, John ne portant jamais autre chose que ses shorts en ces temps agréables).
On travaille à Providence... J'écris un article, Dirk en profite pour travailler en rythme.
Mais on compte faire quelques petits voyages après cela: au programme, New York, Boston et quelques trips en voiture. On vous tiens au courant!
th
On s'en fout, on n'y va pas...
schallt der französische Schlager von Benabar durch die Wohnung:
Ist doch egal, wir geh'n nicht hin: Wir brauchen uns nur unter der Decke verstecken und eine Pizza bestellen, du, der Fernseher und ich.In der Tat, das Wetter lädt dazu ein. Indian summer im Sommer, mit Temperaturen um die 15 Grad. Unsere geplanten Touren entlang der Küste, zu Buchten und Stränden, sind da erst einmal auf Eis gelegt. Bleibt nur der Fernseher unter der Bettdecke? Na ja, das Thema bedarf näherer Erörterung.
Als echte Neu-Neuengländer sind wir natürlich im Besitz eines Fernsehers. Ein prächtiges Exemplar, Marke Zenith, Kunsteiche-Finish, Baujahr 1980 (?), wahrscheinlich sogar in Farbe. Warum wahrscheinlich? Nun, es flimmert kein Film, kein Werbeclip, kein Fox news in der Röhre. Wir haben nämlich keine Kabelverbindung!
Stattdessen sind wir neuerdings treue Abonnenten der
New York Times, ein Umstand, der uns wöchentlich einen kniehohen Stapel Zeitungspapier beschert. Allein die Sonntagsausgabe hat gute 200 Seiten, was die beiden Wochenendmagazine noch nicht einschließt. ("Il faut urgemment que je lise l'édition de samedi. Demain est dimanche, et tu sais ce que ca veut dire...!")
Damit ist unser Kunstholz-Fernseher also zum bloßen Designobjekt degradiert (oder aber, je nach Perspektive, zum Kultobjekt avanciert). Der französische Schlager freilich bedarf einer Modifikation für Leseratten.
On s'en fout, on n'y va pas. On a qu'à se cacher sous le draps. Trois journaux et deux pizzas: Quel été, qu'est-ce qu'il fait froid!
(chanson fournie par Radioblog.com)
US News Report #2: A Scholar is alive, actually, and hungry for debate
Hegemony and Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance, published by Noah Chomsky in 2003, has topped the Amazon.com sales charts since the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has recommended it "
rather than watching Superman", when speaking at the UN General Assembly session.
Un livre de Noah Chomsky s'offre une seconde jeunesse grâce à Hugo Chavez (Le Monde, sept. 22)
Mr Chavez also regretted bitterly... not to have met the scolar before he passed away!
Easy, guys,
A Scholar is alive, actually, and hungry for debate (New York Times, sept. 22)!
US News Report #1: A Diplomatic Dance
If you want to have an 'alternative' look on the American foreign policy, just read this:
"Dance of Diplomacy Provides Grist for the Gossip Mill", New York Times, Wedn. Sept.13.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's relationship with Peter MacKay, the single foreign minister of Canada, has generated more gossip in the news media than her other rumored matches...By the way, did you know that there were also 'rumored matches' between Condy and Massimo d'Alema (the Italian foreign minister)... and between Condy and Jack Straw ?!
Pour les amis qui apprennent l'anglais, petit exercice de vocabulaire:
*
a gossip = un ragot
*
to provide grist for the ... mill = qqchose comme ajouter de l'eau au moulin (de...)
Courtesy and fantasy
Some of you have noticed that our blog has not been updated since... let's say a while.
Sorry about this, guys, now we are settled we'll try to update more often!
Today, when crossing the street, I was thinking about some of the classical rules of courtesy here, and also about how to manage with them when you are not always aware of them - and not that good in automatically-English-answering!
1. Courtesy: How to manage with the other drivers when driving in America
Easy: slowly. After a very usefull "observation round", we can conclude that the Americans don't practice the right priority. So, basically, when you arrive at the crossroads:
a. all the cars stop;
b. everyone looks into the other driver's eyes;
c. this step is more subjective, it's all about the way you look at the others (Dirk says). Following this empiric sense of priority you are supposed to understand who should be first to drive through the crossroads... And it works!
The American drivers are also very civilised and polite with the pedestrians: they automatically let you go first.
However, according to one of my American classmates, people don't drive like this in all the States... So be carefull if you leave New England!
2. Courtesy? How to manage when people ask you something you don't understand and that you have absolutely no idea about what they want
It happens often when you check out in the supermarkets and big shops. I was quite perplexed by all the questions the cashiers can ask you when you are just supposed to smile and pay at the end (by the way: why do I always meet the cashiers with the worse accents?) . After some "pardon?" or similarly-related faces, you finally understand that they always ask you the same kind of stuff: do you have a (name of the shop)-card? If you say no, they ask you whether you want to get one. At Ikea, they also ask you your zip code. So, basically, you can simply proceed like this:
a. if you have a card to get discounts, voutchers, etc., give it automatically when arriving to the check out;
b. if you don't... just get one before arriving with all your stuff at the check out, it's really worth; c. if they still ask you something un-understandable... well, invente your own courtesy rules and just mutter something sounding like a "yeah". Don't forget to smile!
d. if there is some surprise from the counterpart... well, maybe you should think about the previous "pardon?". Don't forget to smile!
3. Fantasy! Let's rock!
The freedom of speech is coupled to the freedom of expressing yourself and your multiple yourselves. Never forget it: if sometime, somewhere, you feel like your attitude was not the most appropriate one in a specific situation... well, just do like if you've always known it and that you're simply an original old-continental fellow here! You'll do better next time.
Although... don't forget to apologize if something has really been done wrong.
And don't forget to smile!
Thérèse, with a picture from Fernando Costa ("Sans titre", panneaux routiers sur tôle)
Comme vous pouvez le constater by yourself, John est arrivé à Providence et pour le moment est même dans notre salon.
schallt der französische Schlager von Benabar durch die Wohnung: Ist doch egal, wir geh'n nicht hin: Wir brauchen uns nur unter der Decke verstecken und eine Pizza bestellen, du, der Fernseher und ich.
Some of you have noticed that our blog has not been updated since... let's say a while.