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Jazz. Jacques Coursil sur le «sentier des larmes»

B. B. — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:48:21 +0000

La Géorgie était leur «terre enchantée». D’août à décembre 1838, les Indiens Cherokees furent contraints à l’exode vers l’Oklaoma, à l’ouest du Mississippi. Cent cinquante-trois jours sur la route pour effectuer, par la voie nord, les 1 500 kilomètres qui les séparaient de ces territoires qu’on leur avait «réservés». Ils partirent 15 949 mais 4 000 d’entre eux ne terminèrent jamais ce qu’ils nommèrent, «le Sentier des larmes» (The Trail of Tears)…

Lisez cet article dans Liberation.fr

French philosopher says feminism under threat from ‘good motherhood’

P. H. — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:00:32 +0000

To many, they are the wonder women of Europe: the Gallic mothers who juggle work and babies with an effortless cool and help keep France a beacon of fertility on an ever-greying continent. But, according to one leading feminist, the French model of motherhood is facing an unprecedented threat from a “dangerous” new brand of thought which seeks to keep women at home and make them the slaves of their children…

Read this on the Guardian.

Gallic: French or typically French:

juggle work and babies: succeed in arranging their lives so that they can work and look after their babies at the same time. (Like a juggler in a circus who throws several objects up into the air, and then catches them again and again and again.)

beacon of fertility on an ever-greying continent: France is a place were women are fertile and have (many) children. This is like a light or fire of hope in a continent (Europe) where there are fewer and fewer children and more and more old people (with grey hair).

Biography celebrates Surrealists’ enigmatic muse

P. H. — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:45:13 +0000

She was the quiet woman of Surrealist Paris and an enigmatic muse that inspired some of the greatest art of the 1930s and 40s. But Nusch Éluard, a beautiful model who sat for Picasso and posed for Man Ray, has been largely overlooked by history since her death in 1946…

Read this on the Guardian.

An enigmatic muse: A mysterious person who gives an artist ideas and helps them to write, paint or make music.

largely overlooked by history: She is mostly forgotten. Not much attention is shown to her and her role in history.

Sarkozy’s party faces Socialist drubbing

P. H. — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:55:26 +0000

“There’s a big problem in France,” grumbled President Nicolas Sarkozy on a visit to eastern France this week. “The mixing up of issues all the time.” The French leader was referring to this Sunday’s regional election, the first of two rounds of voting. The ballot is meant to be about regional issues such as local transport provision and economic initiatives. But with unemployment now soaring above 10% and the president’s popularity ratings sinking to just 36%, voters are bound to use this opportunity to punish the central government…

Read this on the BBC

faces socialist drubbing: is going to be seriously defeated by the Socialist Party.

with unemployment now soaring: with unemployment now at a very high level

«Reviens Dolto, pour éduquer Sarko !»

B. B. — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:18:36 +0000

Au choix : collier en tétines, hochets aux oreilles, couche sur la tête, blouse rose bonbon ou encore une poupée perchée sur un manche à balai avec cette pancarte: «les bébés ne sont pas des s ardines». Puéricultrices, auxiliaires de puériculture ou éducatrices de jeunes enfants, elles (et les quelques «ils») étaient entre 4.000 et 10.000 ce matin dans les rues de Paris, répondant à l’appel à la grève lancé par le collectif «pas de bébés à la consigne».

lire cet article sur www.liberation.fr

Dans Les méandres de nos cellules

B. B. — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:35:57 +0000

Une sculpture de 3,5 mètres de haut, faite de 75.000 petits câbles plastiques, a reçu l’un des premiers prix du concours international des meilleurs images de sciences organisé depuis sept ans par la Fondation national américaine des sciences (NSF) et par la revue Science (International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge).

Lisez cet article dans Science et vie

Always lost? It may be in your genes

P. H. — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:02:34 +0000

When it comes to navigation skills, some of us are homing pigeons. Others are mice in a maze.

The sharp navigators are those who can figure out which way they need to go in an unfamiliar setting to get to their destination. No GPS needed to find their way around town. No always stopping for directions. Some folks, meanwhile, are hopelessly disoriented — the type that gets lost in a paper bag.

A new study suggests that skillful navigation just may be in your genes…

Read this on The Body Odd.

figure out: to understand something or find the solution to a problem after thinking a lot

Toujours accros aux flingues

B. B. — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:54:42 +0000

En dépit de ses promesses de campagne, Barack Obama reste très discret sur la question des armes à feu. Plusieurs Etats en ont d’ailleurs profité pour se doter de lois plus permissives…

Lisez cet article sur www.Courrier international

Fax – the technology that refuses to die

P. H. — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:43:03 +0000

Why bother with fax machines when almost everything put on paper has been produced in digital format? Ever tried to phone a company and dialled the fax number by mistake, receiving an ear-splitting screech as a result? It’s an easy slip-up to make, because phone and fax numbers are usually printed next to each other in the most prominent position on corporate stationary, business cards, adverts and websites. But what’s the fax number doing in such a prominent position?

Read this on the BBC.

France declares storms ‘national disaster’

P. H. — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:23:50 +0000

France has declared a national disaster after violent storms battered parts of the country leaving death and destruction in their wake. Prime Minister Francois Fillon said the move would release funds to help communities rebuild. At least 50 people have been killed in the storms that have swept parts of Spain, Portugal and France…

Read this on the BBC.