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France bans citizen journalists from reporting violence
From (of all places) Macworld:
“The French Constitutional Council has approved a law that criminalizes the filming or broadcasting of acts of violence by people other than professional journalists. The law could lead to the imprisonment of eyewitnesses who film acts of police violence, or operators of Web sites publishing the images, one French civil liberties group warned on Tuesday…”
They say that there are more than 200 million guns (give or take a few million) in the U.S. That is scary while being ridiculous all at the same time, and I think that is a seriously understated number, so the actual number is even more ridiculous. I mean, if they REALLY wanted to get an accurate count of exactly how many guns there were, they’d have to raid every house simultaneously and consider the other (uncounted) millions of guns obtained by illegal means. That would be a lot, I’m afraid.
Anyway. We were startled upon seeing this sign at a valet parking area – and…have we been away from the U.S. too long (4+ years) or is this NOT mildly alarming?
We saw this on a menu at a popular American coffee shop (chain) just outside of L.A. The special is two burgers with a salad – as if having a salad will appease and detract from the fact that you’re eating TWO burgers. Are 2 better than 1? If you really, really like burgers, I suppose yes, plurality would rule.
To be perfectly honest (and I hate to admit it), I could eat 2 burgers, now that my stomach has been all stretched grossly out of proportion in these last couple of weeks in the U.S. (I know. I did this to myself. But the portions here don’t help when coupled with my European habits of finishing my plate at meals.)
I shouldn’t eat two burgers. NO ONE should eat two burgers in one meal. I mean, gah! That is piggish. That would be overeating, which is so easy to do here in the U.S.
No, two is not better than one.
We were surprised to hear on the morning news that the U.S. has extended daylight savings and will change their clocks three weeks early this year (March 11), then change them again back an hour, one week later than usual in the Fall. This isn’t such a bad idea especially because it should help save some energy. It’s also great for people who work all day because during this time, they’ll be able catch some rays after work, when previously hadn’t been able to get any natural sunlight during the day. All in all, it seems to be a good thing.
Of course, the TV news couldn’t just leave it at that. Have we lived in France too long and are simply not used to the DRAMA they have to always inject here in the U.S.? My sweetie remarked, “Look, now they’re saying that the hospitals and airports are going to wreak serious havoc because of the changing of daylight savings time. Computers older than 2 years aren’t going to be able to cope with the madness, etc., etc., etc. What are we going to do! Oh no! It’s like everything is going to explode or something. It is so unnecessarily alarmist. Could they just have left that part out? Everything is going to be just fine.”
I mean, really, really back in America.
Cold Pizza for breakfast!
Yes. The best. This one was a tomato basil and cheese pizza, but practically any cold pizza leftover will do.
This is usually a curiosity (or gross out) for my French friends and family. Why? I dunno!
Since I’m in the U.S. at the moment, I dug into my photo archives to find this sweet, hand-painted sign I saw in Collonges la Rouge.
[Disclosure: This is a sponsored post.]
Every now and again, I receive email from people asking me to suggest moving / removal companies to France or from France, and unfortunately, I haven’t been able to offer much help previously. That has changed recently after being contacted by Schumacher Cargo.
If you’re looking for a company to help you ship your belongings to or from France (from practically any destination in the world), you might want to consider using Schumacher Cargo. They’ve been in business for 30 years, have a long list of client testimonials and have a multitude of options to fit your specific needs. You can get a free quote on their website, too.
They’re a one-stop moving company so-to-speak, meaning: they do everything from moving household goods and furniture, to moving cars and container cargo by your choice of sea or air. You can have your goods go door-to-door, airport-to-airport or port-to-port, or any combination therein. Flexibility seems to be a standard service.
Lastly, it looks as if you don’t need to worry too much about where your cargo is at a given moment in time, because you can track it every step of the way via their online tracking service.
Important Information you might want to know from their site:
“Schumacher Cargo Logistics utilizes insured, secured and bonded facilities. We provide warehousing, packing, crating, trucking and loading services out of our own warehouses here in the USA. * Los Angeles * Houston * Chicago * Miami * New York. We also own and operate our own companies in the UK, The Netherlands, Denmark & Norway, all other worldwide destinations are covered by our affiliated organization member companies.”
For more information:
Schumacher Cargo
Website: Moving Service to France
Email: Contact Schumacher Cargo
[Photo courtesy of Chris Schauflinger]
On my last trip to the U.S. roughly four months ago, I brought my mum perfume along with several samples I received from a perfume store in France. She is a perfume addict, and later said she really liked the sample of Christian Dior’s “Poison.” So, before coming to the U.S. for this trip, we decided to get my mum her perfume-of-the-moment. I bought a bottle of Poison for 65 euros. (approximately $86) I do remember thinking at the time of purchase, “Wow. That seems expensive,” but thought it was certainly more costly in the U.S. being a luxury imported item.
So, yesterday we were wandering around 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica and saw the French perfume store (a chain), Sephora, and decided to compare prices.
Here’s what we discovered: The very same bottle of perfume was being sold for $62. Add an 8% state tax (or something along those lines), the total here in California (possibly cheaper in other states) for that very same bottle was, in fact, $67. A difference of $19.
Kooky! In France you end up paying $19 more than if you buy the same thing in the California. I believe that many other products made in France that are exported to the U.S. are also cheaper to buy in the U.S. as well. (with a few exceptions probably)
It made me play with the idea for next time to consider buying French perfume in California for my mother – as a souvenir from France. But. That is ridiculous.
Perhaps due to the recent clamping down and enforcing of the “no smoking” initiative in France, French people might commiserate with relate to this so-called “smoking area” in California. It nearly startled me (a veritable double-take moment) because, well, this is California and I was shocked to see any smoking area whatsoever. Of course it IS outside. This rare phenomenon is located on the Santa Monica Pier, which is solidly perched over the Pacific Ocean en plein air with a spectacular view (on a clear day) of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. When we saw this ALLOWED SMOKING AREA yesterday we laughed out loud. Don’t believe me? Look closely at the rectangle board on the ground. Click on the photo to enlarge it and you’ll see that the rectangle IS the smoking section.
C’mon. This is fun. Someone at Santa Monica City Hall has a wicked sense of humor. We like that person.
Can you just imagine a group of say, 50 French tourists piled on top of each other on this little rectangle, the smoking area? The jetlagged, nicotine-deprived Français can barely get out their more-precious-than-gold clopes: their Gitanes, Gauloises and Marlboros. Then, those that can’t fit on the tiny rectangle – crowd around, pushing and shoving whilst anxiously and desperately waiting their turn to step onto the smoking zone? It resembles an uncontrollable, unruly mob scene. People witnessing the commotion from afar contemplate calling the cops. They hear French. “Oh no! A French Riot!” There’s probably a LOT of French kvetching, screaming and accusations going on too. Chaos ensues. Now THAT photo would be priceless.
