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Arnaud

a blog about English and art (atm)

STICKY POST

Welcome !

This is a sticky entry which content is likely to change often perhaps till I get satisfied of it. However, I want to keep it up to date so that you'll probably never read a definitive composition.

update 15.12.07: some of you find my blog using search keywords like : "bisous + pronunciation" or "j'espère te revoir bientôt + pronunciation", I just want to say it's really lovely :smile:

update 02.06.08: Do not post off-topic answers because it may be annoying for others not to find reactions to the main topic. This post is the right place for a general feedback about my blog. Thank you if you plan to say what you think of it !

Read more...

Vocabulary for adults only (2nd part)

After having written that entry, I thought women should not be privileged. So here's a version for men from the same dictionary1:

minette, abricot, baba, bénitier, berlingot, berlingue, boîte à ouvrage, boîte aux lettres, boutique, centre, chagatte, chat, chatte, choune, con, conasse, cramouille, craquette, fente, figue, foufoune, frifri, greffière, gripette, lac, laitue, mille-feuille, minet, moniche, motte, moule, panier, pâquerette, teuche, turlu.

Unfortunately, less signifiers2 than there are for the other one...

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1: ISBN 2-7441-4907-1
2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signifier

Amazon to the rescue

I'm feeling down, depressed. I can't find any music which makes me feel better and I don't want to speak with friends neither. What is the ultimate solution ?

Ordering on amazon !

I've just ordered these three items:

Francis Pisani and Dominique Piotet: Comment le web change le monde : L'alchimie des multitudes (ISBN-13: 978-2744062612)

Anne Truitt Zelenka and Judi Sohn: Connect!: A Guide to a New Way of Working from GigaOM's Web Worker Daily (ISBN-13: 978-0470223987)

G. W. S. Friedrichsen and Robert W. Burchfield: Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (ISBN-13: 978-0198611127)

Mmmmmmm, I feel gooood, now :D

:-)

A Rock-Electro band from France

Madame Olga1, I like their music much ! You can get it from jamendo2, here I want to share two songs:

Les boulots à la con

Lolita

No embedded player, sorry :smile: If you have any proposal for Ogg3 vorbis format, just tell me.


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1: http://www.madameolga.com
2: http://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/madameolga
3: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogg

Back from Switzerland

As you might already know, I'm back from Switzerland since nearly a week ( the journey was from Thursday to Sunday ).

A Swiss friend of mine has taken many photos as I'm not really fond of that activity. However, here's one of mine from the Rosengarten (the Garden of Roses) in Bern. It's me who has badly cropped it xD



edit: Oops, now I'm not sure if it's a picture of mine. I have a little doubt :s

Little shell tips

Below are some bash tips without any explanation, just read the reference1 for further information.

(for mpc users but one can customize bash completion for other uses)

$ mpc help | awk '$0 !~ /Displays status/ && $0 !~ /Usage/ && $0 !~ /mpc version/ && $0 !~ /For more/  {print $2}' > mpc.words 
$ complete -W "$(cat mpc.words)" mpc
$ mpc [TAB]
add          crossfade    enable       ls           next         play         random       save         shuffle      toggle       
clear        del          listall      lsplaylists  outputs      playlist     repeat       search       stats        update       
crop         disable      load         move         pause        prev         rm           seek         stop         volume       


Many people know C-r for a incremental backwards-search through history. There are other keys combinations like M-p which allows a non-incremental search for a string.
M-p, type a string then press Return and it will fill with a match.

$ cat > hostfile
google.fr
opera.com   
jamendo.com
$ export HOSTFILE=hostfile
$ @ [TAB]
@localhost  @localhost.localdomain  @google.fr  @jamendo.com @opera.com
$ complete -W "$(cat $HOSTFILE)" ping
$ ping [TAB]
google.fr    jamendo.com  opera.com    



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1: $ man bash

MyOpera friendship

xxx is your friend


After "Add to friends", what could be the next step in the relationship with a regular reader who often drops a pleasant comment or shout ?

Any idea ?

Getting back into reserving some of my spare time to go game

I miss go ! By now, I want to spend time again with:

- learning joseki(s)1
- reading go proverbs2
- solving tsumego(s)3
- playing pro games
- being at a go club
- keeping informed of go news
- ...

In one word, I want to dedicate again some of my free time to the go culture and techniques. Of course, I will share that hobby through my blog too :smile:

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1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseki
2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_proverb
3: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsumego

How I breed cockroaches in my bedroom

Since one year, I have found a new hobby I enjoy much: breeding cockroaches !
I make efforts to keep them in my bedroom so when I receive people, they don't get disturbed.
They feel comfortable since they have made a first fecal local point under my bed where I leave some old newspapers (they like paper) and a second, less noticeable, between my wardrobe and the wall.
I'm used to eat in my bed especially when it's peanuts or bread with still some flour on it : they love that !
I pay much attention to their well-being keeping my curtains closed for instance as they prefer when the room is dark.
Sometimes, I deem necessary to let them go to my bathroom so they can socialize with the neighbourhood (they travel fast through the tubes).
They are pretty numerous since two or three months and I admit it starts being really hard not to squash some :-/
Sadly, it happens sometimes and it makes me feel guilty. When it occurs, what do I do ? Throwing them to the toilets, you say ? You're crazy ... I want to preserve the eggs which are resistant enough for not getting broken in such dramatic accidents so I put them in my rubbish bag. Then, I (im)patiently wait till the babies have hatched out :-)

If you want to become a cockroaches lover like me, I can offer you few, give you some tips about how to have well-educated cockroaches and in good health :-)

Chinghiz Aitmatov has passed away

Chinghiz Aitmatov1 was a writer who composed works in both Russian and Kyrgyz. He also had a political career.
I haven't read anything of him but on a bookmark I have, there's a beautiful quote from one of his writings or speechs I don't know exactly:
Du öffnest die Bücher und sie öffnen dich.


:-)

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1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinghiz_Aitmatov
July 2008
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