À go, on pond des textes

Salut à tous!

J'aimerais simplement apporter votre attention sur un site encore nouveau, dont le concept est très ingénieux.

Il s'agit, en fait, d'écrire des textes. Dans toutes les formes, peu importe le sujet. Et les visiteurs y donnent une cote. L'accumulation de cotes permet de grimper dans le classement, et dans des guerres (avec thèmes spécifiques). Et éventuellement, gagner des prix en argent ou autre. J'aime!

Or donc dans ce contexte, voici mon premier texte. Il se veut surtout une esquisse, histoire d'essayer ce système pour la première fois. Je vous encourage donc, bien sûr, à voter :)

Je vous encourage aussi à essayer d'en pondre vous-mêmes! On pourrait être surpris des choses qu'on pourrait y trouver...

Ciao ciao!

The fastest Vista laptop is...

...a Mac?

If I already wished to get one of those powerful MacBook Pros (along with, of course, rock-hard OS X), now there's not even the slightest reason not to.

Well, except maybe the money. But I'll end up getting one, to be sure.

Jammin' a Paris subway

A music band named Naturally 7, found themselves jammin' A Capella in a Paris subway.

Listen here.

I can only say this: They are awesome.

Wait a second, Dumbledore is what?!

Okay, not that I have the least bit of my person against the sort; I even have a few friends of mine.

But J. K. Rowling, famous author of the internationally (and personally) beloved Harry Potter book series, has come up with a slap in the face in her most recent interview.

Dumbledore is... gay?

Wow. I almost think myself dumb for not thinking of it before, but then again nobody really did, right? Still, I think it is fitting with the character, when I think about it. But really, I've just had a new perspective of things here.

Now imagine the worldwide reaction. :-)

The beautifully controversial world of guns

Has it ever occured to you how values differ between gun wielders and un-gunned people?

The first of both would see the above advertisement as completely natural as they would any Kellog's or Wal-Mart ad. The latter would rather view this opinion as obviously right as the fact that they are alive.

What makes people of the the same continent, or even country, have so different values on such a sensible matter? Is it education? Growth environment? Is it just something some people are born with?

I have no answers; only a damn good question.

Planète TVA, prise 2

On le savait déjà tous, tel que le démontrait le maigre exemple de mon dernier post, mais c'est maintenant officiel: Quebecor s'échange du matériel entre ses instances.

Ouais, c'est bien beau tout ça, mais dans les faits, ça change quoi? Hmm... tout à fait pas grand chose. Et c'est la beauté de toute cette histoire.

Planète TVA et le "vrai monde" des stars

Ben voilà, Quebecor l'a encore fait.

Soyons clair, je n'ai absolument rien contre Lucian Bute; excellent boxeur québécois d'origine roumaine, en pleine montée dans les rangs mondiaux de boxe depuis quelques années déjà, et sur le point de tenter de détrôner le champion du monde en titre des super moyens, ce vendredi.

Mais voilà, on s'en fout de tout ça. Pas grave, l'éventuel titre de champion du monde. Bah, à moins que ça ne soit pour écrire les termes "champion du monde" et Occupation Double" dans le même article, bien sûr.

Même pas besoin de lire l'article de fond en comble ou même de chercher la moindre trace de subtilité dans le texte, c'est net, frette, sec; Lucian Bute est un bon québécois. La preuve? Il adore le mode de vie québécois (lire: Montréal), sa sécurité, ses restaurants, les bonnes habitudes de conduite (!) des automobilistes (à go, on se flatte dans le dos... ah, et on en profite pour mentionner que monsieur conduit une Acura), le tout versus la méchante Roumanie, mais pas trop méchante quand même.

Si on va plus loin, on peut devenir un vrai fan de Bute en un clin d'oeil! On apprend le total de sa facture de téléphone (et le nombre d'interurbains qu'il fait, au passage) et de son loyer (et presque son adresse détaillée). Ah, et pourquoi pas ses heures de sortie, la nationalité de ses amis et l'heure à laquelle il se couche? Je m'attendais à retrouver le nombre de litres pissées par jour et sa succursale Zellers préférée; à mon grand dam, ils se sont arrêtés avant.

Mais attention mesdames zé messieurs, la conclusion, le punchline: «Dans mes loisirs, j'écoute souvent la télévision en français. Je suis un adepte de l'émission Occupation double.»

BANG! Et voilà, la plug est faite.

L'article se retrouve sur Canoë, mais ogininalement publié dans le Journal de Montréal. Le tout pour mentionner une émission TVAzienne. J'aimerais ben ne pas avoir à sortir le mot magique, mais *cough*convergence*cough* est le seul qui me vient à l'esprit.

Désolé Pat Lagacé, je t'aime ben gros pis t'as souvent des maudits bons papiers, mais... si tu n'as pas vu de convergence (NB: Il travaillait pour le Journal et Canoë avant), tu étais soit aveugle... ou alors très, très chanceux. Je te laisse le bénéfice du doute.

Pérou 2007: Photos publiées!

Salut à tous!

Ça fait déjà plus de 2 mois que je suis revenu du Pérou... et je viens tout juste, enfin, de finir de classer et corriger mes photos! Hier je me suis donc appliqué à faire mes sélections; les voici donc pour le plaisir de vos yeux!

Chronologie de 50+2 (pour un survol rapide du voyage):

Top 250 (Incluant les premières 50):

Je vais probablement en rajouter quelques-unes dans mon profil Facebook, pour la forme.

Amusez-vous bien!

Radiohead - In Rainbows price tag: However much you wish to pay

Wow. I can't congratulate enough music bands who make that sort of constructive thinking.

Instead of the awful lot of artists and record companies whom we can't seem to hear the end of their complaints, at least SOME artists are willing to live in the 21st century and find ways to get the benefit of it.

Radiohead, a very respectable and respected English music band (from which I happen to like many of the songs), have decided to make their last album, In Rainbows, available for download at any price we are willing to pay at all. Fans can pre-order now (I did!), and before october 10th, they will receive instructions for download.

Also, they do give the option to pay for what seems to be an awesomely beautiful disc box package, including CD, vynil and artwork for just 40£, shipping included. A very honest deal for any real fan, in my opinion.

I really hope more and more music bands go along the same lines as Radiohead just did; I believe it'll just increase the fans and music lovers' respect for the whole industry.

So go ahead, pre-order and enjoy your soon-to-be new Radiohead album! (I can't wait :D)

Brainwave voting?

Tired of endless political campaigns? The long, big talks, the attacks and blows candidates deliver at each other, the surface-ish debates, the marketing, the brainwashing... In short, the whole image competition that drives deep thinking and real issues down the farthest layer in the ground?

Wouldn't it be nice to just say "Hey, THAT's how I want my country to be, now please make it so" in a matter of seconds, and then be done with it? Yeah ok, I may be dreaming a bit to colorfully here...

Still, we may not be that far from such kind of possibility. Actually, a study, conducted by David Amodio (psychologist from New York University), demonstrated that brains of people with a "progressive" tendency show themselves to be more flexible in their thinking, whereas self-pretended "conservatives" are more prone to react quickly, spending a bit less time on thought.

While this conclusion is a wee bit simplistic, some critics have developped the matter more thoroughfully, comparing other studies with Amodio's and, amongst other things, linking Liberals' thinking with neurotics, and Conservatives' with antisocials. Wheew. Aren't we getting a bit worked up here?

In response to the many critics that reacted upon his study, Amodio has provided answers of his own to many of the interrogations that he were faced with. In short, he explains that his study has been quite "misconstrued and sensationalized in the media, as well as among science bloggers", so that people may believe that their conclusion is as simple and direct as "liberals are this and conservatives are that". In fact, they merely reported a correlation, but never did they pretend to interpret its implications or denied that there most certainly are third factors to political views. In other word, don't give this study more credit and importance than it dares give itself.

I'm quite reassured by those answers, because that would actually have been my point. Great, this study contributes in understanding the many inner workings of political views, but in no fashion can it be complete, and neither can a brain scan, restricted to the studied subject, replace actual decision-making by voters.

Hell, I claim myself more "progressive", yet I did vote for the Conservative Party in the last Canadian Federal elections. My point being, oftentimes our voting decisions may go somewhat against our inner beliefs, but for the sake of what position the country or state is currently in; what needs to be done, etc.

In conclusion, we're far from replacing good ol' voting. But still, we may be one step closer to comprehending the many differences among people's political views and beliefs. Good thing, isn't it?

(Images are from Cyberpresse and The Neurocritic blogger)