Tag Archives: french

Two huge icebergs let loose off Antarctica’s coast

Mammoth iceberg could alter ocean circulation AFP . SYDNEY – An iceberg about the size of Luxembourg that struck a glacier off Antarctica and dislodged another massive block of ice could lower the levels of oxygen in the world's oceans, Australian and French scientists said Friday. The two icebergs are now drifting together about 62 to 93 miles (100 to 150 kilometers) off Antarctica following the collision on Feb. 12 or 13, said Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist Neal Young. “It gave it a pretty big nudge,” Young said of the 60-mile (97-kilometer) -long iceberg that collided with the giant floating Mertz Glacier and shaved off a new iceberg. “They are now floating right next to each other.” The new iceberg is 48 miles (78 kilometers) long and about 24 miles (39 kilometers) wide and holds roughly the equivalent of a fifth of the world's annual total water usage, Young told The Associated Press. Experts are concerned about the effect of the massive displacement of ice on the ice-free water next to the glacier, which is important for ocean currents. This area of water had been kept clear because of the glacier, said Steve Rintoul, a leading climate expert. With part of the glacier gone, the area could fill with sea ice, which would disrupt the ability for the dense and cold water to sink. This sinking water is what spills into ocean basins and feeds the global ocean currents with oxygen, Rintoul explained. As there are only a few areas in the world where this occurs, a slowing of the process would mean less oxygen supplied into the deep currents that feed the oceans. “There may be regions of the world's oceans that lose oxygen, and then of course most of the life there will die,” said Mario Hoppema, chemical oceanographer at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany. added by: JanforGore

Bun B Talks Pimp C Tribute With Jay-Z

He also gives it up for French Montana: ‘If you know French Montana, that means you been somewhere.’ By Shaheem Reid Bun B Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images NEW YORK — Bun B gives all the credit to Jay-Z for their onstage tribute to Pimp C earlier this week in Houston. During a stop of the Blueprint 3 Tour in H-Town, Bun joined Jigga for “Big Pimpin’,” and the two let the crowd recite the late Pimp C’s rhymes. “It was Jay’s tribute,” said Bun, who was in NYC on Wednesday night filming the video for French Montana’s “Bad Habits.” “I don’t want anybody to get it twisted. Jay-Z was a very good friend of mine and Pimp C. He makes sure every time he comes to Houston, it’s a big thing, and we can really give it up to Pimp. He doesn’t want to do it for himself, and it’s not about giving me shine. At the end of the day, we have to make sure in Houston, when that song is performed, at the end of the day, Pimp C gets the biggest moment. The biggest moment was when everybody in the audience and ourselves had to give it up to the Pimp.” Bun sees the close kinship he shared with Pimp in French Montana and incarcerated MC Max B . “French knows everybody,” Bun said about why he wanted to work with one of the newest signees to Akon’s Konvict Music. “If you know French Montana, that means you been somewhere. French is everywhere. All the big parties, all the cities, Super Bowl, All-Star Weekend. Whenever somebody got the fly release party or some celebrity debutante has the big birthday party, French is in the building. I respected that about him. I met him in Miami, I was like, ‘I like your grind. You getting out here. You not just representing for yourself, but for your man Max B. as well.’ For me, to see somebody hold their man down while they’re locked up, to me, that’s special. I guess I’m a little bit biased.” French’s video is for a track from his mixtape Mac Wit Da Cheese II. Montana’s debut LP is slated to be called Excuse My French. Meanwhile, Bun has gone back in the lab to work on his next LP, Trill O.G. “Unfortunately, we’re going to end our relationship with Asylum,” Bun explained of his Rap-A-Lot distribution deal. Bun does credit executives at Asylum, such as Joie Manda and Todd Moscowitz, for “success in later years.” “The Warner Bros. building is changing a little bit, but we have some good friends at Fontana Music as well as Universal,” he said. “It’s looking like we may do that. While J. Prince and the big people are taking care of the paperwork, making sure the money is right. It’s giving me a chance to go in, fine-tune the music and work with people I thought I wouldn’t be able to work with on this album. Now I have the opportunity to go back in. I told [J.] that wherever he wanna go, I’m riding with him.” Related Artists Bun B Jay-Z Pimp C

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Bun B Talks Pimp C Tribute With Jay-Z

Were The Vancouver Olympics Cursed? [Olympic Mysteries]

Some might say so! With malfunctions both technical and human, with real sadnesses and imagined ones, these winter games have been fraught with hiccups and hold-ups. So do we leave them with a grim feeling? Though today’s not the last day of the Olympics, that’s tomorrow Sunday, there is a sense of finality in the air, mostly because the ladies twirled to the podium last night for Ice Maneuvering and that’s the most important medal ever competed for in any of the Olympics. So taking a look back, were these strange, dark games afflicted in some way? A little bit. Of course there was the obvious pall cast over the festivities with the death in luge , a tragic and frustrating story about track builders flying too close to the sun or something. And it happened a day before everything really even got kicked off, so even the usually joyous (if ridiculous) opening ceremonies had a long shadow cast over them. And speaking of those! There was that whole yikesy technical malfunction during the ceremonies that left Wayne Gretzky’s date standing there like a jackass, holding her flaming phallus like a chump. If part of your grand mechanized Olympic Cauldron breaks down at the bigtime opening ceremonies, well, that’s not a good sign. We also had Lindsey Vonn’s ski crash during the Giant Slalom that led to her teammate Julia Mancuso, the gold medal defender from Torino, winding up in eighth place. One skier’s crash ruins the chances for her teammate? Only in these hexed Olympics. The Dutch felt the sting as an absent-minded coach steered his star speed skater, bellicose handsome guy Sven Kramer, down the wrong lane , costing him a gold medal and a world record. There was the weather, a nasty soup of rain and foggy snow and bad winds, delaying events and causing various mishaps. Just yesterday a host of favorites in the Nordic Combined totally whiffed it because of a perilous tailwind at the ski jump. The expressions on their faces kind of said it all: What the hell is going on? Plus we had other dangerous conditions, with a women’s downhill fraught with crashes and a sliding track that, even after being altered in reaction to the young luger’s death, caused a nasty pair of bobsled accidents in the women’s two-man earlier this week. People got sent home for doing stupid shit , the condoms ran out early, an American woman was denied a spot on the figure skating podium for the first time since Peggy Fleming. Russia had their own streak-breaking failure in ice dancing. And on their hallowed home ice, Canadian hockey was beaten by a rowdy and jingo-fanatic US. And then there was Joannie Rochette , the French-Canadian figure skater whose mother died suddenly, mere days before her competition. Rochette bundled it all up and tied it down and grabbed a bronze medal despite her grief, doing her small part to try and break the spell, to cast the curse out. Yes there’s been obvious calamity at these games, they haven’t gone smoothly. But I suppose — in some corny, misty-eyed way — that these struggles and mishaps are really what the Olympics are all about. It’s not a curse, it’s just the affliction of living. Dealing with the imperfect, rising to frustrating challenges and sometimes failing, sliding away into the unknown. It’s the entirety of human drama writ small and Canadian. For all of the McNuggetsy corporate shilling and cynical NBC coverage and silly puritanism , the Olympics are still, at their metal core, something good and stirring. They are their own small proof of humanity, of how we tumble and succeed and regret. As I’m sure any Olympian can tell you, we all have off years. And Vancouver’s year was certainly not the finest in winter games history. But they happened, and people flew. People did things, wonderful and scary and dangerous things, in the name of silly sport. As it does every two years, the world tilted its head and watched, as if to say “Ah yes, there we are.” There we all are, navigating this frozen and rocky world. Falling all over ourselves, testing and straining these miracle bodies, always thrilled to pick ourselves up and race on into the white.

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Were The Vancouver Olympics Cursed? [Olympic Mysteries]

Smoking Head

According to this French anti-smoking ad, smoking cigarettes is the equivalent of giving BJs to tobacco industry execs. [ Ed Note : That, or those nice men in the suits keep lighters in their front pockets for any freakishly short smokers they happen to run into.] View

Brad Pitt Takes Zahara and Shiloh Shopping

Forget the Eiffel Tower. Zahara and Shiloh know that when you’re in Paris, you gotta hit up the fancy French boutiques. OK, maybe that’s a stretch considering…

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Brad Pitt Takes Zahara and Shiloh Shopping

Justin Bieber Fans Cause Police To Shut Down Paris In-Store Appearance

‘Paris is crazy!’ Canadian pop star tweets after meet-and-greet. By Jocelyn Vena Fans in Paris gather to meet Justin Bieber Photo: Francois G. Durand/ WireImage Justin Bieber is apparently huge in France. The 15-year-old pop star on Monday (February 22) that his in-store appearance in Paris that afternoon was cut short after a large crowd of fans swarmed his meet-and-greet. The police were forced to shut down the event at the Citadium store after a large number of fans showed up to meet the singer. “Paris is crazy!” Bieber wrote following the experience. “Had some interviews this morning with mags and radio. Got to practice my French a little. But then the in-store … There were thousands of kids at the in-store and the police were not expecting it. They reorganized the crowd and we got it going, but after a little while the police stopped it and came in and said it was over and I had to leave.” Bieber apologized to the fans he missed. “Sorry to any of the kids I didn’t get to meet. I love all of you for your support. To start my trip in Paris like this already, the love and the energy is amazing. Thank you so much.” This isn’t the first time Bieber fans have caused pandemonium . Last November, an appearance he was scheduled to make at Roosevelt Field Mall in Long Island, New York, was canceled after fans started a stampede. According to reports at the time, someone in the mall falsely screamed that Bieber was inside their store and kids rushed toward his mistaken location. One young girl was reportedly hospitalized and several fights allegedly occurred. Related Artists Justin Bieber

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Justin Bieber Fans Cause Police To Shut Down Paris In-Store Appearance

Avatar Cat

When they avatarize a turtle, we'll know they've avatarized the entire Internet. View

Illustrators Pinups Part 2

It's not just French illustrators who are masters of the form. Here's an international selection that includes talented artists from around the world. The Best Links: French Illustrators Pin-Ups View

A Tale of Two Babies by Sarah Palin.

(Keep checking back throughout the day for updates.) “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…” For Sarah Palin back in March of 2008, this was especially true. She was right in the middle of trying to convince the people of Alaska that, despite all appearances, she was indeed pregnant with her fifth child, after surprising even her own staff with the news on March 6th. (Though at first she did not seem to put a lot of effort into convincing people as you can see from this photograph taken on March 29th, at the Spouses’ Luncheon. This is a scant twenty short days prior to Trig’s “birth.” You will notice that she’s wearing what appears to be a raincoat inside of her own house. And there’s nothing under those hands but a black scarf.) Obviously as she got closer to her due date she would have to put a little more effort into the deception. Perhaps a little padding would help. There, that’s much better. (The above picture was taken at the end of the legislative session in Juneau, on April 13, five days before Sarah supposedly gave birth, and only fifteen days after the picture from the Spouses’ Luncheon was taken.) The next twist in our storyline was Sarah’s trip to give a speech at the Republican Governor’s conference in Texas on April 18th. What really happened there? No one knows. But what is known for certain is that Sarah left the conference abruptly in the early afternoon of April 17th and came back to Alaska, a ten plus hour trip involving two four hour flights and a layover in Seattle. (Not only did this decision seem abrupt, but even Sarah’s security staff was not contacted and did not know she was arriving to have a baby until after the birth.)What is also known for certain is that no one has ever come forward to say that they noticed anything special or different about the Gov during this trip. In fact, she was seen reading a book in the lounge during the layover in Seattle. Whatever the truth, by noon on April 18th the Governor’s office had announced that at approximately 6:30 that morning Sarah Palin had given birth to a son. So now Sarah did not have to wear that cumbersome belly anymore and she could enjoy the warmth of spring in her shorts and sweatshirt. See how much more comfortable Governor Palin looks only a few days after she had that baby? And look at that beautiful baby boy! Let’s see if we can’t get a a better quality picture of that precious child shall we? (Below is a screenshot from, Palin best friend, Kristan Cole’s website which shows photos that Cole posted of a baby shower she hosted for Sarah Palin on a weekend in May, either the 3rd or 4th, I believe. A photo, not included here, but obviously from the same day was later provided to OK Magazine of Sarah and her newborn.) And here is the OK magazine shot, and its doppelganger from the baby shower. Now from that same baby shower we have this much more detailed picture of the child known as Trig Palin. (Please note that I have chosen not to show the face or release the name of the young girl holding “Trig” as she was a minor when these photos were taken.) He IS just adorable isn’t he? But wait a minute. Is there something a bit odd about this picture? Take a close look at this baby’s ear. Do you see that? Perhaps a closer view might help. According to one of the physicians I talked to that is a malformation of the helix. In this case, it’s noticeable and distinctive. And, although not as clear, in another picture taken at the same event, this time of the baby’s left ear, a similar malformation is possibly visible. Ear defects are often “bilateral” which means on both sides. Isn’t that odd? I don’t remember the Trig Palin who was photographed so many times on the campaign trail having that particular malformation. Oh that is because he didn’t. In fact it appears that Trig Palin has two absolutely perfect little ears. As you can plainly see in this photo of his left ear. Yet as you can see in this side by side comparison, it is crystal clear that the ear on the infant Trig does NOT match the ear on the older Trig. I showed the baby shower picture to a number of medical professionals, including an Ear, Nose, and Throat Specialist, a physician, an audiologist who specializes in children’s hearing issues, and a pediatrician (None of them knew they were looking at a picture of Sarah Palin’s child). Each agreed the ear is visibly malformed. I asked them if this defect could “heal” or disappear on its own. “Of course not”, they each replied. I then showed them pictures of Trig Palin’s ear from the campaign. Again, none knew they were looking at a photograph of Sarah Palin’s son. I asked all if it could possibly be the same child, four to five months later. The answer: “No.” Furthermore I learned that to correct conditions like this surgery is required, and that these surgeries are never performed before the age of four. And even if someone could have been located to perform plastic surgery on a child so young, the result would not be the “perfection” that Trig’s ear shows. Some scarring would still be visible. We have countless high-definition photos of Trig Palin’s head. Nothing of the sort can be seen in any of them. “So in other words” I asked. “You are saying that the child in the baby shower pictures must still have that same ear malformation today?’ Each of them answered in the affirmative. In fact here is a direct quote from one medical professional: “There is an approximately zero percent probability that these two sets of ears belong to the same infant.” So what does all of this mean? If that baby’s ear could not have healed on its own, then how can the Trig we see today have two perfectly formed ears? The answer is simple and shocking. Sarah presented an entirely different child to the world as Trig Palin on August 30, 2008. Just a fluke, you say? A trick of the camera? A shadow? Well, there’s more. She did not just do it once. Look again at this picture of Mercede holding this mystery baby in Sarah Palin’s kitchen, taken on a different day with a different camera. Look closely at that ear. Do you see it? It was there all along. This picture was taken the week right after Sarah “gave birth”. Here is another one. This time of Levi holding the child identified as the Governor’s son. (Seen for the first time on the Tyra Banks Show) (For those who wanted confirmation of the day these pictures of Levi and Mercede, with “ruffled ear” baby were taken I just learned that it was on May 3rd, Levi’s birthday. You can see his cake in the background in the picture above.) Do you see the ear? Again, although it’s not as clear, the ear of the baby in these photos has the same “ragged” pitted appearance. And you can see it in every shot taken that day. As most of you know I have been absolutely convinced that Sarah Palin did NOT give birth to a baby on April 18th, 2008. But what has come as a huge surprise was that on two separate occasions, she presented a newborn baby to two separate groups of people as Trig Palin her newborn son with Down syndrome. (She did it once in her own kitchen while presenting him to the Johnston family, and again at a baby shower given in her honor.) As you can plainly see THIS baby has a distinctive malformation of his ear. However the baby that was introduced to the nation only four months later does NOT have any malformation of his ear whatsoever. In fact, though today’s Trig has many of the characteristics of a Down syndrome child, he also possesses two perfectly shaped ears. As Andrea Friedman pointed out so eloquently: “My mother did not carry me around under her arm like a loaf of French bread the way former Governor Palin carries her son Trig around looking for sympathy and votes”.” Perhaps with this new evidence we can understand, now more than ever, why Sarah treats this child like a prop. Because that is EXACTLY what he is. It is well past time that the “lame stream media”, to use Sarah’s very own phraseology, start to ask the really hard questions about Sarah Palin’s pregnancy. When the questions first arose the Alaska media failed to do so. When they resurfaced five months later the McCain campaign failed to do so. And in all of this time since the world discovered Sarah Palin the national media has also failed to do so. It was left up to a rag tag group of bloggers to stay with the story until some real evidence could be produced. Well we have done our part, will the rest of the media do theirs? There are still so many questions left to answer. Who is the baby’s real mother? Who helped Sarah pull off this deception? Who else in her family knew about this? Exactly why did she feel the need to lie about her pregnancy? I am still conducting interviews and digging for those answers, but it would be ever so helpful if reporters with expense accounts and the support a national publication or television network would lend a hand. (By the way I encourage EVERYBODY to download pictures off of this post, and take screenshots of the blog. There is a very good chance that this will cause a tsunami of anger directed at me and the Immoral Minority. I have already saved it as a pdf file and I have many friends who have done the same. But just to be triple sure it would be nice to know the content is safe on friendly computer hard drives all across the world.) Update: Speaking of a “rag tag group of bloggers” my friend Bree Palin is on the case as well. Update 2: Palin’s Q & A joins the party ! Update 3: I notice that some people are getting fixated on the young woman whose face I blacked out. That young lady has NOTHING to do with the baby. She was just a girl who happened to be at the shower. It is also not one of the Palin girls. I would not have felt the need to protect their identity since they are already well known. Update 4: It looks like Todd did indeed quit the Iron Dog at Puntilla Lake . Hmm I wonder if he received a frantic phone call? (By the way thanks for the link Anonymous.) (The Fairbanks Miner has more .) Update 5: The Alaska Report asks the obvious question . Update 6: Let me clear up another misconception, this time about the photo on OK magazine. I did not say that it and the photo next to it were identical. I actually referred to it as a “doppelganger”, in other words, a “look-a-like”. If it had been the same picture I would have said “Look the same picture shows up in OK magazine.” However what is clear is that those two pictures were taken the same day, with the same camera, of the same baby, and only moments apart. The important point is to prove that Sarah herself had identified that baby as Trig Palin to a national audience. She was not just trying to fool a few friends and potential family members, she lied to the whole world. Update: Oh wow! I think I inspired a Facebook group . Cool!

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A Tale of Two Babies by Sarah Palin.

Happy Birthday, Ashley Greene!

What a difference a year makes. On February 21, 2009, we did not wish Ashley Greene a happy birthday. In fact, we had not even written a single article about the actress at that point. But now we’re excited send best wishes to the Twilight Saga star on her 22nd birthday and we encourage readers to do the same. Over the last few months, Greene has exploded onto the celebrity gossip scene, mostly due to her role as Alice Cullen in Twilight and New Moon ; but a series of naked photos didn’t hurt her fame, either. She may be fully clothed in the montage below, but these pictures are still worth a look or two dozen… Two other stars also celebrate birthdays today: Corbin Blue is 20, and Jennifer Love Hewitt is 30. We’ve posted a few images of these celebs below. Don’t forget to include them in your birthday wishes…

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Happy Birthday, Ashley Greene!