Clubbing [en]

Out dancing last night to celebrate my brother’s birthday, I tried to mentally enter the lives of these people who would spend all their week-end evenings dancing away to deafening music, consuming alcohol and possibly more evil substances.

Do you really get a chance to know people and meet future friends in such places? Can you get more there on a human level than fast sex and body rubbing?

Sure, we need face-to-face and physical contact with other human beings.
But admitting you get that in other areas of your life, does an evening out clubbing have more “value” than an evening online – especially if you are not very keen on the kind of encounters the night-club has to offer?

First Snow [en]

This morning Lausanne was covered by a thin white blanket of snow. It is the first snow of the season here, and it is very late.
I woke up just in time to take some pictures before everything started melting away.

Light in the Kitchen [en]

Thanks Dad, I finally have light in my kitchen again!

I also did a lot of frantic shopping and organizing for my flat. I’m tired of camping.

I now have a real “living-room” and a few loose ends are being tied up.

It was about time!

Life in a Call Centre [en]

From what I know, life in the Call Centre at Orange isn’t as bad as this. And I hope it never does become comparable.

Thanks to FishSauce for the link.

Orateur [en]

Il y a des gens qui ont le don de vous endormir lorsqu’ils présentent un exposé. Souvent, on verra qu’ils commettent une erreur capitale, qui entraîne toutes les autres: ils essaient de “dire” un texte écrit.

Par là  même, ils s’interdisent tout dialogue avec leur auditoire. Ils ne nous parlent pas, ils ne font que déclamer. Ne dit-on pas parfois: “Il s’écoute parler!”

Si l’on a la moindre idée du fonctionnement de la langue orale, on comprendra aisément que cette approche rende l’exposé, si intéressant soit-il, totalement indigeste. Lire à  haute voix est un exercice très difficile. Parler à  des gens l’est bien moins – nous le faisons sans cesse…

Pre-India Photos [en]

It’s a start: I’ve dug up some old pictures (pre-India stuff).

Virus Kak [en]

Pete vient de me faire remarquer que j’ai été infectée par le virus kak.
Si vous utilisez Outlook Express 5.0 pour Windows et que je vous ai envoyé de l’email après le 2 novembre, il vaut la peine de faire un contrôle anti-virus et d’installer le patch fourni par Microsoft.

Le virus se propage en se mettant à  la place de la signature sur les emails sortants. Il fera faire un “shutdown” à  Windows le premier de chaque mois après 16 heures.

Vérification rapide: si le répertoire – C:, en principe – dans lequel se trouve autoexec.bat contient un fichier nommé ae.kak, vous êtes infecté. Ne pas effacer ce fichier, c’est la copie saine de votre autoexec.bat!

Désolée pour l’inconvénient!

Kak Virus [en]

I have just noticed (thanks, Pete!) that I have been infected with the kak virus.

If you are using Outlook Express 5.0 for Windows and I have sent you email after November 2nd, you might want to run a check and install the patch provided by Microsoft.

The virus spreads by putting itself in place of the signature on the emails you send out, and will shut down Windows on the first of each month after 4 p.m.

Quick check: if the directory – usually C: – which contains your autoexec.bat has a file named ae.kak in it, you’re infected. Don’t delete that file, it is the healthy backup of your autoexec.bat!

Really sorry for the trouble.