I’ve always enjoyed this song, but never knew what the lyrics translated to.
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YouTube Video of Edith Piaf Singing “La Foule” with English Subtitles
|| 2/16/2010 || 2:57 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
Teki Latex dans un QR Code tee-shirt
|| 8/11/2009 || 12:06 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
Teki Latex in a QR Code Shirt
I came home very early Sunday morning from a long night out with friends and before I passed out I checked Facebook one last time. It’s a good thing I checked too. It just so happened that Parisian Rapper / Producer / Record Label Owner / DJ Teki Latex had just posted that he was doing a live DJ mix via webcam. I had recently signed up for a competing streaming video website and was curious about what were some of the pros & cons of the service he was using. So before nodding off, I decided to watch/listen to his mix. What I saw, however, was that he was wearing a t-shirt with a big QR Code on it. Over the last few years I’ve tried to document QR Codes that I randomly find, so I futilely tried to take a few screen grabs of the t-shirt, but was unable to get the full image that is needed to decode the message. It would have been the first time I’ve been able to decode a QR Code that was displayed over streaming video.
The next day I left a message on his Facebook page asking what it decoded to and he responded that it was “probably Grenoble.” I guess I’ll have to find a photo of him wearing the shirt again to find out for sure….
Below are a couple YouTube videos featuring Teki Latex:
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Map of the Languages of Europe
|| 2/21/2008 || 10:26 am || Comments Off on Map of the Languages of Europe || ||
Following up yesterday’s posting about languages, I am posting this map I found on Wikipedia that shows where different languages are spoken throughout Europe. I find this type of map quite interesting to view, yet I feel it lacks one important cartographic aspect: overlap. Basically, the simplified map above does not show where multiple languages are spoken, rather only where the dominant languages are. By not including this important aspect we are given a nicely colored map, yet in reality there is a lot more merging of colors because there are geographies that have multiple languages spoken.
It’s too bad I don’t know Hebrew because tonight’s exhibition will most likely include some Hebrew on maps of Israel.
#UPDATE – I have updated the map to the latest version on Wikipedia, which was made in February 25, 2009.
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Carte du Telegraphe Optique [dans l’hexagone]
|| 1/10/2008 || 10:21 pm || Comments Off on Carte du Telegraphe Optique [dans l’hexagone] || ||
Undated Map of Optical Telegraph Stations in France
Courtesy of Low-Tech Magazine via Ecole Centrale de Lyon
Centuries of slow long-distance communications came to an end with the arrival of the telegraph. Most history books start this chapter with the appearance of the electrical telegraph, midway the nineteenth century. However, they skip an important intermediate step. Fifty years earlier (in 1791) the Frenchman Claude Chappe developed the optical telegraph. Thanks to this technology, messages could be transferred very quickly over long distances, without the need for postmen, horses, wires or electricity.
The optical telegraph network consisted of a chain of towers, each placed 5 to 20 kilometres apart from each other. On each of these towers a wooden semaphore and two telescopes were mounted (the telescope was invented in 1600). The semaphore had two signalling arms which each could be placed in seven positions. The wooden post itself could also be turned in 4 positions, so that 196 different positions were possible. Every one of these arrangements corresponded with a code for a letter, a number, a word or (a part of) a sentence.
The other day I found this tremendously enlightening article about optical telegraphs on Low-Tech Magazine. Prior to reading this article I had no idea about this arcane method of communication. The authors supplied a map (above) to really drive home how extensive this system was.
Something that I think few people do when surfing through Wikipedia is to check the articles in other languages. It’s really easy to do and the results tend to be very useful. For words that have equivalent spellings, all one has to do is change the URL’s prefix (fr to en). For words that have different spellings (telegraph vs télégraph) you will have to correct this spelling in order for the entry to show up.
For example, the French entry on telegraphe yields quite a bit more information related to the use of semaphores (the object used to construct the optical telegraphic code) than the English entry on telegraphs.
Below is a carte of the semaphoric number system and an engraving of Mont St. Michel with a semaphore at the top. Both images obtained from the French wikipedia.
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French parodies in parallax
|| 11/29/2007 || 7:20 am || Comments Off on French parodies in parallax || ||
“Confessions Nocturnes” by Diam’s Feat Vitaa. |
“Mauvaise Foi Nocturne” by Fatal Bazooka feat Vitoo |
Over the summer I created my first YouTube mash-up “Scratch Slavery,” which allows you to create a beat track to congressional hearing about slavery being used in the construction the American embassy in Baghdad.
Today I am posting something a little different- French Youtube videos.
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the world is you, a fashion experiment
|| 10/4/2006 || 11:52 am || Comments Off on the world is you, a fashion experiment || ||
On Monday I purchased the printable T-shirt transfers from Staples, on Tuesday I went to American Apparel to buy two shirts, and today I made my first geospatial fashion design (above, using the graphics from “Ball of Destruction“). I ended up wearing it to ESL and got a lot of great feedback from random people :) If I am able to secure the wholesale prices from American Apparel I’d like to make an entire line of clothing. I’m still trying to parse out the interesting and unique ways I’d be able to design the clothing, but I think what I made is a positive start. Got a t-shirt idea? Leave me a comment!
UPDATE
This shirt somehow ended up being mentioned in the Washington Post article “Here Be Dragons” by David Montgomery.
Related Fashion Entries:
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America Supports You, “Freedom Walk”
|| 9/11/2005 || 7:17 pm || 1 Comment Rendered || ||
Today Angela & I took part in the America Supports You “Freedom Walk,” and I must say that we definitely celebrated our freedom….
read my account:
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