On January 26, a plane is going to fly over the city of Sydney, Australia, and take pictures of the land… and the people waving.

I don’t know why exactly but I find the idea very exciting. Perhaps it’s because I’m trying to convince my dear Aussie friend Jackie to drive down to Sydney from her beautiful island north of the city, find a clear spot and wave a flag (or something big) for me.

Via Éric.

Darren from Vancouver is preparing a talk for a conference and he wants to hear from bloggers about their motivations. Help him out by taking his short survey: Why Do You Blog?

Le bonheur, c’est quand il ne se passe rien, quand rien ne me distrait de la pure sensation d’être, mais pour éprouver ce bonheur il faut le risquer, le perdre constamment en voulant en faire quelque chose, en cédant à cet autre désir d’être non seulement en vie mais de vouloir multiplier la vie, l’accroître en se rapprochant de quelqu’un d’autre qui nous semble en être la source ou en essayant de faire à notre tour toutes sortes de choses (un livre, une bombe, une maison) susceptibles de la faire disparaître en voulant la comprendre ou l’intensifier.

Yvon Rivard, Le siècle de Jeanne, dont je viens de terminer la lecture. Dense mais/et superbe.

That address on the bottom of this column? That is the pathetic, confused death knell of the once-proud newspaper industry, and I want nothing to do with it. Sending an e-mail to that address is about as useful as sending your study group report about Iraq to the president.

Where does this end? Does Philip Roth have to put his e-mail at the end of his book? Does Tom Hanks have to hold up a sign with his e-mail at the end of his movie? Should your hotel housekeeper leave her e-mail on your sheets? Are you starting to see how creepy this is?

I get that you have opinions you want to share. That’s great. You’re the Person of the Year. I just don’t have any interest in them. First of all, I did a tiny bit of research for my column, so I’m already familiar with your brilliant argument. Second, I’ve already written my column, so I can’t even steal your ideas and get paid for them.

Huge portions of my e-mails come from people who haven’t even read my article. They’re just assuming, based on a headline or an excerpt on a blog, that I’m unpatriotic or irreligious or lecherous. Sure, they happen to be right, but it would have been nice if they had clicked on my column and moved me up on that “most-read articles” list.

Ha ha! Nice rant! I wonder how many journalists amongst those who get an amazing amount of annoying mail, fantasize about writing a piece like this?

Found via Josée Blanchette.

Il arrive à tout le monde, moi la première, de faire des fautes quand on écrit trop vite ou qu’on oublie de se relire. Mais cette semaine, dans des courriels que j’ai reçus de même que sur des blogues, je suis tombée à plusieurs reprises sur une erreur qui m’a fait sursauter. J’ai donc pensé publier ce petit billet d’intérêt public, en cette grande saison de microbes et virus.

Faites attention de ne pas écrire que vous êtes septique, quand ce que vous voulez vraiment dire c’est que vous êtes sceptique. Les gens autour de vous pourraient mal réagir.

J’espère que je n’ai pas fait de faute en écrivant ce billet, sinon je sens que je vais en entendre parler…

Qu’est-ce que cette page sur le blogue de Karl veut dire? C’est une épitaphe? Est-ce le temps de préparer une soirée hommage?

It has become a very common cinematic device, especially for horror movies. You want to scare viewers? Play an eerie, tinkery tune, like the ones you hear coming out of a mobile in a baby’s crib. Or get a child to do an a cappela version of a nursery rhyme: “itsy bitsy spider…” Spooky as hell, right?

I wonder though: is there something fundamentally creepy in these children tunes, or has Hollywood created that fear and trained us to get spooked when we hear them?

Maybe it’s just that young children are scary and we all know it, deep inside. ;-)

Les filles: Le plus mignon des blogueurs québécois ne pourra malheureusement pas venir aux rencontres Yulblog (du moins pas avant 3 ans…).

A.d.o.r.a.b.l.e. et intéressant en plus. Un beau petit geek en devenir.

J’ai vu le film The Painted Veil, que j’ai beaucoup apprécié. (Je veux maintenant une ombrelle et un voyage en Chine.)

Une phrase m’a trotté dans la tête pendant toute la durée de la projection, comme une évidence qui venait juste de me sauter aux yeux:

“Le couple est le plus grand des accommodements raisonnables.”

… to keep my blog bilingual:

People who are fully bilingual and speak both languages every day for most of their lives can delay the onset of dementia by up to four years compared with those who only know one language, Canadian scientists said on Friday.
Researchers said the extra effort involved in using more than one language appeared to boost blood supply to the brain and ensure nerve connections remained healthy — two factors thought to help fight off dementia.
The Alzheimer Society of Canada described the report as exciting and said it confirmed recent studies that showed that keeping the brain active was a good way to delay the impact of dementia.

From Scientific American, found via Metroblogging Montreal.