)
E-Blogs is closing! Thank you for everything
After only 11 months, we leave the European blogosphere. We will stop translating on December 31. Before leaving, for dessert, here is our "best of" 2010, posts that made the deepest impression on us. Witnesses of what remains for us a beautiful adventure, the joy of shared discoveries of one ...After only 11 months, we leave the European blogosphere. We will stop translating on December 31. Before leaving, for dessert, here is our “best of” 2010, posts that made the deepest impression on us. Witnesses of what remains for us a beautiful adventure, the joy of shared discoveries of one country to another and the pride of having made this unique project.Thank you for all the exchanges and all the moments of life together
From left to right: Claire Ulrich, Laurent Delpit, Cathy Nivez, Karolin Mulhaupt, Louis Baudry, Frédéric Dauphin
Why did we create E-Blogs?
The starting point of E-Blogs: showing the “best” of the European blogosphere. Selecting quality posts in 5 countries and in 5 languages: Italian, German, Spanish, English, French, translating them into these same 5 languages. The idea was to offer a new and everyday perspective of the Europeans. A Courrier International of blogs, a review or rather a “view” of European blogs. E-Blogs was not a site about Europe – in the sense of the institutions themselves -, but on Europeans. Their rants, their dreams, their desires. We were rewarded by what we found. Thank you to the bloggers who participated in this great adventure …
THE BEST OF 2010: post published on October 28th
Does the massive popularity of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook threaten the existence of blogs, which have become too ‘traditional’? A resounding non, answers Frédéric Cavazza. He is both an Internet consultant and an inveterate blogger; here he explains both how and why the blogosphere is evolving. Blogs are not dead! Does that come as any real surprise?
In recent times, all I hear about is Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. These social platforms obviously have many users, I do, however, get the impression that they are largely over-represented with regards to other social media and blogs in particular. With this article, I would also like to shed some light on two topics:
1. The blogosphere is not running out of steam, but is in the midst of a transformation;
2. Blogs are the raw material of conversations which nourish other social media and notably those that favour quick conversations or chats (Twitter and Facebook).
To illustrate my argument, I will take some examples from several recent large studies.
The blogosphere is not running out of steam, but in the midst of a transformation
The company eMarketer got the ball rolling last month with a report on blog usage in the USA: Blogging is alive and well, says report. Not only is the number of blog readers increasing, but, additionally, the number of bloggers is too: read more…
THE BEST OF 2010: post published on November 19th
If this young English woman has taken up the cause of the homeless, it is because she was homeless herself. Kicked out of various houses, our British blogger, the Homeless Girl, lived in hotels and slept on the street and has now found a home. However, she keeps writing on a subject that is still taboo today. She refuses to be considered as a spokesperson. She’s just a voice. Here’s a poignant story she’s sharing with E-Blogs.
Photo by Adrian Miles | Flickr, CC license
I’m going to assume that most of the people who read this blog already have a heart for the homeless plight and the suffering of others and if not hopefully after reading a few posts you will.
But the truth is a lot of people don’t think like you and this weekend whilst I was in London this was shown to me.
I was getting of the train at Moorgate tube station and saw a man leaning against the wall and he was crying.
I walked past him with a companion and I knew that if I were to walk past and ignore him I would be a hypocrite.
So I turned back and asked him if he was okay and he said no. He was begging and tired of being told to piss off and treated like scum. I could smell the alcohol on his breath. read more…
THE BEST OF 2010: post published on November 3rd
In exercising their duties, police officers in the field are faced with all sorts of situations, from the most tragic to the most burlesque. It is the lives of these “basic” cops that Bénédicte Desforges, police lieutenant, famous French blogger and talented writer, tells us about. With her Chroniques de la police ordinaire (Chronicles of the ordinary police), all slices of life sometimes funny, often moving but always authentic, she offers an uncompromising immersion into the reality of our urban world…
Photo: Rama, Wikimedia Commons
We were checking cars along an avenue broad enough for us to make two or three cars park without obstructing traffic. Each of us was taking care of their own car and driver, it was quite a routinely task being performed in an almost mechanical way. Driver’s license, car registration, insurance certificate, when everything was in order, the audit was fast. Sometimes a little reminder to fasten seat belts, and of course some tickets when necessary.
So I was checking the papers of a motorist when my attention focused on my colleague who was checking the car he had stopped a few meters ahead of me. He was surprisingly still, arms hanging down in front of the window. Not moving at all as if he was petrified, not speaking either, and looking completely dazed. read more…
THE BEST OF 2010: post published on November 16th:
A psychology professor at the University of California created a serious online test to assess the ability to recognize a real or fake smile. Is it possible? It certainly is, because the movements and facial muscle contractions are unconsciously guided by different parts of the brain that are activated when telling a lie or the truth. Give it a try!
Anyone who watches Dr. House knows how the famous doctor is skilled at interpreting body language and understanding when someone is lying. Something that works in his favor and which gives him great enjoyment.
But would you be able to tell when a person is lying?
Now you can test your skills with “Spot the Fake Smile“, an experiment that allows you to identify real and fake smiles.
It was designed by Paul Ekman, a psychology professor at the University of California, who spent a good portion of his career studying facial expressions.
I was able to guess 18 out of the 20 smiles correctly! A useful skill to have if I were a poker player! :-)
I erased the answers so you can try too. read more…
THE BEST OF 2010: post published on September 26th:
The United-Kingdom population represents 12% of the European population but only 1,8% of the European Commission’s staff is British. Why so? Because they speak just one language: theirs. To be European today means speaking a second language. That is what our British blogger Anna Raccoon reminds us. Become infatuated with E-Blogs, Anna wrote this non-sponsored piece on her blog for the International Day of Multilingual Blogging. This new initiative was powered by the European Commission to promote languages across Europe. A rendez-vous E-Blogs couldn’t miss, thanks to one of Britain’s greatest bloggers, Anna Raton-laveur!
Towards the end of Queen Victoria’s reign, the British Empire extended to one-fifth of the earth’s surface and almost a quarter of the world’s population at least theoretically owed allegiance to our Monarch and the ‘Mother country’.
The civil service that administered this vast dominion spoke English –those who held aspiration to be employed in an official capacity clamoured to learn English. By the time most of us were born, the world map was still largely coloured red, and we grew up with an acceptance that other people would make the effort to learn our language. Speaking a foreign language was associated with the deference due to a dominating power –not an attitude that the British adopt easily.
The Internet has exchanged information on a scale hitherto unimaginable; however, if you look around the blogs, particularly the political blogs, you will see many learned and articulate articles on Australian politics, and a welter of comment on American politics –drawn from articles and information printed in English. read more…
THE BEST OF 2010: post published on October 13rd
Do you know why all computer keyboards begin “qwerty” (or “azerty” in France)? It all began with the first typewriters in 1869. The letters used the least (Q, W, Z) were positioned alongside the more frequently used (A,E) to avoid secretaries typing too fast and blocking the metal legs where the characters were found. Since then we have kept the same keyboards. In the “Curiosities” section we show you a gallery of historical keyboards, treasures found on Flickr by Alvy, Spanish blogger from Microsiervos, Top 10 Wikio blog in the Technology section.
Some interesting photos of keyboards that I found while exploring Flickr in search of appropriate images on the topic:
This is a linotype* keyboard which is how books were originally made with the keys in the ETAOIN SHRLDU configuration which corresponds to the frequency of the letters in English from top to bottom: E is the most common letter, then T, then A, etc. read more…
 "Les mots ont un sens")
 "Riccardo Tronci")
 "British E-Blogger"){kind=logo}
 "Louis Naugès")
 "Londonist")
 "Emily O.")
 "Le coucou de Claviers")
 "Kooptech")
 "Urbanophil")
 "RGAlmazán")
 "Fabio Chiusi, Il Nichilista (The Nihilist)")
 "Dick Puddlecote")
 "Microsiervos"){kind=logo}
 "El supositorio")
 "El Filóloco - The Philonuts")
E-Blogs Germany
E-Blogs Spain