V

Hi everybody. Happy New Year!! I know what you think. You think, “If only I could have one or two more days off…” Fortunately we have a snow day today and what a better way to enjoy a snow day than by having a little challenge. The one who would be able to pronounce the following sentence in less than a minute would gain my eternal admiration.

“Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant and vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsaving the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition! The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me "V".”

Most of you would have recognized it, this quote come from the motion picture “V for Vendetta”. Here is the scene from the movie:

I watched this movie during the break and I have to admit that it is probably one of the best movies I have ever seen. I regret I waited so long before watching it.

After having been transported in fascist England for two hours, I wanted to know how such an incredible story had been invented and I did a couple researches. I discovered that the authors of the original comic books had taken their inspiration in historical events that happen in the 16^th century. The every first scene of the movie show a man carrying a lot of powder in what looks like an underground gallery (which in fact is underneath Parliament). Short after, he is arrested and hanged in a public place. This man’s name was Guy Fawkes. He belonged to a Catholic radical group and participated in the Gunpowder Plot. Fawkes wanted to blow up the House of Parliament and saw this act more as a symbol and a necessary action to end the discrimination against Catholics.

Also, the first sentence pronounced in the movie is a famous quote by Guy Fawkes: “Remember, remember the fifth of November,/The gunpowder treason and plot,/I see no reason/Why the gunpowder treason/Should ever be forgot.”

What really fascinated me in this movie is the new look it gives on the importance of an idea. Beginning with Guy Fawkes and in the rest of the movie, it is suggested that ideas can change the world and are immortal, that when a dramatic event happen, we remember the idea, not the man who made it live for a second. Take Harper’s Ferry for example, you remember the idea that motivated the slaves to rebel against whites, you remember that they wanted emancipation but you do not remember the men who risked their lives for that idea.

December 25th in the air

Once again, Christmas has been marked by a dramatic event with the terrorist attack in the Amsterdam-Detroit flight. In 2004, a Tsunami left Indonesian islands devastated with more than 200 000 victims. In 1999, France was blown up by a very strong storm causing the death of several hundreds of people.

I don’t know why but Christmas time is often marked by dramatic events.

The terrorist attack of this year occupies a particular place to me as it is something that could have been avoided if security rules have been applied correctly. I am not a specialist but I make a difference between natural events unpredictable for which the best we can do is being prepared and know how to behave to protect oneself.

The terrorist attack was a surprise to me when we know the efforts deployed by the airport security to manage the risk. Obviously it was not enough or there was a flaw in the system that terrorist had identified and used to execute their plan.

I cannot understand how this Nigerian man on a watch list has been able to take this flight to the United States and why the detectors have not been able to detect the explosives concealed under his under wears.

Does that mean that the stressful and long security controls we are submitted to are useless?

I talked about that with my mom who knows the detection technology to try to understand the situation and above all if the dramatic event that happen on the Delta flight 253 was just an isolated case or if there is really a risk.

I will not expose the theory of the explosive detection, but from what I understood, there are two technologies available that could screen passengers and detect explosives but there are debates about them related to privacy violation as they show details of the body.

Obviously, terrorists are well aware of that point and used it to develop their plan.

My mom travels a lot in Europe and I worry a lot about this event as I realize that flying conditions are not completely safe and I hope that decisions will be made soon to allow the use of the techniques able to protect us.

Apple

I was in Apple store during Christmas week, looking for a new charger (because my cat ate the wire of the other one) for my MacBook and thinking that I would never have enough money to buy an iPhone to my mum for her Christmas present, when my attention was caught by a child eating an apple right next to me. I started to think about this child eating an apple and the Apple logo. Is there link between both? What is the origin of the logo for Apple Inc? Why the apple has been so many times used as a symbol?

I did a couple researches about Apple loge story and its symbolism.

A lot has been said about the logo, its origin and symbolism.

Originally the logo was a hand drawn logo featuring Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree and it is said that the apple was referring to the discovery of the gravity. As the initial logo was too complicated, a colored bitten apple has almost immediately replaced it.

There are several other theories. The first one refers to Alan Touring, a famous mathematician known for his discoveries in artificial intelligence and father of computing technologies. To escape criminal prosecution and discrimination due to his homosexuality, he committed suicide by biting in an apple poisoned with cyanide. The rainbow would be a reference to the rainbow flag used by the Gay community in the United States. The other theories are much simpler, though a little bit extravagant, but more largely accepted.

The apple would refer either to the fact that Job and Wozniak (the creator of Apple) were eating a lot of apples, as they did not have a lot of money at the beginning. That would be one of the reasons why they named their first computer Macintosh, which is a variety of apples.

Some others say that the apple has been chosen because they were both fans of the Beatles whose label was Apple Corps…

The rainbow color symbolized the fact that Apple was the first to propose images in color while others were still monochrome.

With the new iMac, Apple decided to discontinue the rainbow sign to stop the speculations running about the topic.

The paradox of the story came up when Apple entered in the music market with the iPod and iTunes and was sued by Apple Corp (Beatles) for using Apple logo to promote iPod. The Beatles firm finally lose the court challenge and paid a big amount of money to Apple.

Should Turkey enter European Union?

The question to see Turkey integrate European Community has been subject to several discussions in Europe since 2002 and the negotiations that have started in Brussels this month to decide its adhesion have reactivated the divided opinions.

Today Ankara still does not meet all the requirements needed for the adhesion. The problem is not here. Since 2001 Ankara has started an intensive democratic program focused on Human Rights, the Kurd identity, Woman rights, Armenian genocide…

The problem is elsewhere. So far, countries joining European Union were from the core of the Europe. It is the first time European Union has to think about the risk and opportunity to have a border country from Middle East under muslin influence joining the community.

Turkey has a population of 70 million people, mainly muslin, having borders with Syria, Iraq and Iran.

Would that be a risk for Europe to be exposed to those countries? The opinion is divided on this point. Some people say that it would be an open door to Al-Qaeda to enter Europe more easily. Other people say that European Union can not succeed without a muslin ally.

How be partner with a country having trade with Iran and Iraq?

How be allied with a country condemned for Armenian genocide and which does not respect Human rights?

European people ask for a referendum to be able to express their own opinion.

As a French and European citizen, I feel concerned by the topic and follow the news regularly about the topic.

Time

It was very late or instead very early in the morning as it was 2 a.m. when my attention has been attracted by the tic-tac, tic-tac… of the big clock hang on the wall of the living room.

Suddenly I forgot the Social Study outline I was writing and started to think about the Time. The time we are running after, the sands of time, the absurdity of the time that regulates our life from the first time we have been conceived to the last second on Earth.

I think we could debate hours on this central topic. My questioning on Time is to know if Time really exists. We have found methods and instruments to measure it and evaluate the duration between two events, but as it can not be seen, I wonder if it is a reality or an illusion.

If it is something real, is it something fix and we are moving on it like moving on a road or is the time moving and we are fixed compared to the time. Philosophers and physicists have elaborated different theories like Kant or Einstein and equations have been formulated to try to have time under control. Time is an eternal topic that has been expressed in literature also.

I remember “L’Horloge” – "The Clock" from Charles Baudelaire, a poem I studied at the end of my ninth grade-year in France. To me this is a very realist (although quite depressing) poem where Baudelaire gives a divine power to the time and describe it as a threat. Here is the last stanza of the poem.

French Version I learned

Souviens-toi que le Temps est un joueur avide
Qui gagne sans tricher, à tout coup! c'est la loi.
Le jour décroît; la nuit augmente; souviens-toi!
Le gouffre a toujours soif; la clepsydre se vide.

English translation from Website

Remember, Time is a greedy player
Who wins without cheating, every round! It's the law.
The daylight wanes; the night deepens; remember!
The abyss thirsts always; the water-clock runs low.

Without answer to this metaphysic question, I think we can be quiet in life as everybody will experience the same end.

Café Philo

I think writing journal entries to share our ideas and opinions are a good way to talk and think about a more or less philosophical topic.

However, I think we could imagine another type of interaction where students and people interesting in sharing ideas could meet and talk about a topic proposed by a student.

In France, “cafés” are very famous. It is a place where people like to meet and talk around a coffee or a drink. Recently “Cyber-café” has emerged as networking places where people like to come and share their passion online.

“Café-Philo’’ appears some years ago. A guest like a teacher, or an author is sometimes invited to talk about a specific topic. My mom liked to go there when we were in France. I went to one of them before we left for the United States. The discussion was about the new challenges for the education in the XXI century. The speaker was very interesting and I was fascinated by his ability the express his ideas in a very compelling way and the discussion then was very animated and fruitful. I think café-philo are a very good way to both express your opinion on a specific topic and also hear opinions of other people, allowing you to open you mind and have a different view on a particular topic. I would like to organize that kind of conversation in Aurora, either in school as a part of a club or outside of school to allow more people to join the debate. I would like to have your opinion about this project and know if it would interest you to have that kind of place in Aurora. If you have any suggestion, please let me know either by posting a commentary on this blog or by telling me at school.

Weather forecast

We were standing in a line during our Christmas shopping waiting for our tour to pay and I was listening to a conversation from people standing behind us:

A said: “The weather is incredibly nice. It is surprising not to have snow yet”

B answered: “It is probably due to the climate change and greenhouse emission”

Any slight change in weather is more and more attributed to the global warming and greenhouse emission. It’s difficult not to refrain a connection between both. That is true, though I think some people are sometimes extremist in their conclusions.

Exceptional seasons have ever exist. If you talk with the older people, they will tell you some stories about warm winters or summers they have had during last century.

However, it is true that the modernization has dramatically accelerated and side effects appeared by end of last century with the emission of greenhouse gas responsible of the ozone layer depletion.

The United Nation Conference on Climate Change that will be held in Copenhagen from December 7^th to 18^th is one of the most important summit after Kyoto where countries will stop to talk but will have to commit to fight against global warning and to give their objectives in term of CO₂ and greenhouse emission reduction and plan to achieve it. More than 100 countries will participate, amongst them India, the fifth most polluted after Russia.

A key question debated will be the financial support to be given to the developing countries to reduce their emission as they do not accept to pay on their own for activities that essentially profit to developed countries.

So, saying that we can see that it is a complex topic that has political implications. However, to me, I think everybody is concerned and should do something as his own level. For example, reduce the car use as soon it is possible, buy local products that have not required long and high CO₂ emission shipment, reduce air conditioning use, save water…

Northern countries, like Denmark, or Finland are well advanced on global warming and know how to wrestle with it. We should look at what has been done there and draw some inspiration from their accomplishments.