Don’t miss today’s special one-day shopping event, Friday, November 30th.* Go to the Apple Online Store for a special one-day-only holiday shopping event. You’ll find lots of iPod, iPhone, and Mac gift ideas.

Go Shopping

*Shopping event is available only at the Apple Online Store on Friday, November 30, 2007, from 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. GMT and at Apple Retail Stores. Check your local Apple Retail Store for special hours. Sale prices are available while supplies last.

This year’s Christmas stamps and cards are not as cute as last year’s (here too) but there are some other fun items just released from the post office in France. Adorable holiday-themed stationery, playing cards, snow globes, stickers and figurines are being sold online at La Poste, as well as some cartoon-network-esque T-shirts. For every order at La Poste, one euro will be donated to UNICEF.

Lastly, a reminder that French Santa writes back to kids and adults (how nice of him) who send him a letter or email by December 18. Email him from here and check out the other goodies for kids there too.

La e-boutique du Père Noël

From Reuters:

“The French government is selling a 13th-century prison in Avignon to be turned into a luxury hotel as part of an effort to bring fresh cash into state coffers.

The 7,000-sq-metre (75,350-sq-ft) prison in the southern French city is advertised for sale on the condition that all or part of it be turned into a four-star hotel.

Bidders have until January 23 to make an offer for the stone building, which served as a prison until 2003, Le Figaro newspaper said.

The daily said that in the next two years, nine other prisons could be sold, generating millions of euros for the Justice Ministry’s budget.

The government hopes property sales will add 800 million euros (576.8 million pounds) to the budget this year.

“We will raise nearly 800 million euros this year, whereas our original aim was 500 million euros,” said Public Accounts Minister Eric Woerth in Thursday’s La Tribune newspaper.

The government has already raised 142 million euros by selling the building that used to house the Ministry of Cooperation, Woerth said.

It has also sold a conference centre which used to house Nazi headquarters in occupied Paris during World War Two.

France has faced criticism from its European Union partners for slipping in its commitment to balance its budget.

Question have been raised over whether President Nicolas Sarkozy will be able to push through reforms without extra money to help smooth the way.”

Sometimes it’s just cool to be different. In this case, French sculptor Etienne Meneau has designed a wine decanter that eerily mimicks blood-filled veins (or stick figures!) when filled with a fruity Merlot or cranberry juice, for that matter. Both Decanter N°2 and N°4 (with more veins) are made of borosilicate glass, which is better known as Pyrex.

They’re limited editions, priced at €2000 each.

Get one now

[via apartment therapy]

From AFP:

“The Apple iPhone handset, incorporating mobile phone, multimedia access and music functions, was to go on sale in France with a promotional blitz late on Wednesday, following European launches in Britain and Germany.

Apple hopes that global sales from the initial launch in the United States in June to the end of next year will total 10 million units.

Orange, the mobile phone and Internet arm of France Telecom has obtained exclusive rights to sell the so-called “smartphone” in France. It said on Wednesday that the headline launch price would be 749 euros (1,112 dollars)* when the device first goes on sale late on Wednesday through 12 outlets before a full launch on Thursday.

Orange says that more than 50,000 people in France have already placed orders for the iPhone, which comes with a base cost of 649 euros plus a charge of 100 euros for access to other mobile phone networks.

Existing customers of Orange who do not want wider access will be able to buy the device for 549 euros ($815), or for 399 euros ($592) with a user subscription through Orange.

However, the phone is already on sale at lower prices via several French Internet sites despite the threat of legal action by Orange.

The iPhone was first launched in the United States on June 29, with three-month sales running at 1.4 million units.”

*NOTE: The original article in AFP states that 749 euros equals 505 dollars, but the real conversion is $1,112.

Quand l’Amerique tousse, c’est le monde entier qui s’enrhume means, “When America coughs, the whole world gets sick,” which perfectly describes the message in the French-produced documentary, “Etats-Unis : La Richesse à Crédit / The U.S.: Borrowed Wealth.”

So while euro-earning people can rejoice about shopping in the U.S., the floundering dollar and its historically low exchange rate power, should be making all of us very queasy.

This 56-minute documentary talks about the United States’ colossal economic downward spiral, which has been compared to a slow reacting atomic bomb. From Seattle to New York, filmmaker Laure Delesalle questions American experts, economists and U.S. citizens about their future and beyond.

The entire documentary is available to view online: Etats-Unis : La Richesse à Crédi (Click on the green arrow to view.)

From the Guardian:

“It is one of Paris’s most celebrated monuments, a neoclassical masterpiece that has cast its shadow across the city for more than two centuries.
But it is unlikely that the Panthéon, or any other building in France’s capital, will have played host to a more bizarre sequence of events than those revealed in a court last week.Four members of an underground “cultural guerrilla” movement known as the Untergunther, whose purpose is to restore France’s cultural heritage, were cleared on Friday of breaking into the 18th-century monument in a plot worthy of Dan Brown or Umberto Eco.

For a year from September 2005, under the nose of the Panthéon’s unsuspecting security officials, a group of intrepid “illegal restorers” set up a secret workshop and lounge in a cavity under the building’s famous dome. Under the supervision of group member Jean-Baptiste Viot, a professional clockmaker, they pieced apart and repaired the antique clock that had been left to rust in the building since the 1960s. Only when their clandestine revamp of the elaborate timepiece had been completed did they reveal themselves.

“When we had finished the repairs, we had a big debate on whether we should…”

Read the full article

From Bornrich:

On November 27 , the ‘Futuro’, a white plastic house resembling a flying saucer, will be auctioned in Paris, at Christie’s. It was created by a Finnish architect Matti Suuronen in 1968, and features oval-shaped windows and a walkway up to the front, resembling that of an aircraft. The Futuro house identifies with space-architecture, summing up the characteristic themes of the Utopian structure, which consists of mobility, increased leisure time and new materials. It stands out as the dwelling house of future as it’s been planned as a modular housing unit, light enough to be moved by helicopter, and cheap enough to be mass produced. It was exhibited in London in 1968 and recently displayed at the Luxembourg Museum of Modern Art. Christie’s expects approximately $222,200-$296,200 for the Futuro unit.

Fun game. You’ll be prompted to find and click on countries, world capitals, cities, famous landmarks – and it’ll tell you how far you were from the actual place. I think my good friend’s 3 year old is better at this game than I am. Oops. Well. I know where France is! And L.A. Sort of.

Play Now

Related: More games:

Cities Game
How Well Do You Know the World Map?
Ouverture Facile
Jeu chiant
L’expresso empoisonné
Run n Roll
Recyle
The Museum
Parallel Parking Game
Ladybugs
Boulangerie the Game
Solitaire

Every year about this time Pierre Hermé comes out with his very own limited edition designer Bûche de Noël, the infamous, notorious, luscious yuletide pièce de résistance Christmas log cake. Last year he’d teamed up with Swarovski and created a to-die for creamy white log with a crystal star as the finishing touch. They made only 180 cakes each costing 78 euros.

This year, he’s come up with something completely different: a Christmas log made with lady fingers with roasted almonds and marscapone topped with shavings of black truffles from the Périgord. OK. That could be interesting. Anyway, it goes for 245 euros /$361 (serves 8).

Order one?

Paris-based developers (2or3things) has just launched a new service (in beta version) called Bloggino. It’s basically the equivalent of the American Tumblr, where you can “microblog” and publish your text, video, and photos via your mobile phone or by chat services like Yahoo, Jabber, ICQ, MSN, GTalk, etc.

Bloggino

This clip was left out of the original movie (Sicko) because it was said to be unbelievable and people wouldn’t believe it because it was too good to be true.

Watch the clip

Related: The Cost of Re-attaching 2 Fingertips in France, Sicko, Health Care Alternatives, A Good Reason to Travel to France

From FT:

Internet users in France who download music and films without paying for them could find their web access shut down by a government body, under a ground-breaking industry agreement backed by President Nicolas Sarkozy.

he plan, which Mr Sarkozy is to endorse in a speech on Friday, will put France at the forefront of the battle against internet piracy with a three-strikes-and-you-are-out policy against repeat offenders.

The proposed enforcement body would use information collected by internet service providers on their high volume users to detect illegal file-sharing. Persistent offenders would be cautioned but could see their internet accounts suspended or terminated if they ignored as few as two warnings.

The proposals have been drawn up by an independent review headed by Denis Olivennes, the chairman of Fnac, a French entertainment retailer.

The music and film industries, internet service providers and the government are all likely to sign up to the plan.

In exchange for the clampdown on illegal downloading, the music industry has agreed to…

Read the full article

Happy Thanksgiving! Remember to wear loose clothes.

From MacNN:

Unofficial reports have indicated what French iPhone customers can expect from the wireless plans that Orange will be offering in conjunction with the impending release. MacGeneration (1 | 2) that the data will be virtually unlimited – for services such as visual voicemail, emails and internet – but Orange says that it reserves the right to limit the data plan to 500MB per month. The company supposedly has upwards of 20,000 handsets available for the launch, which it will have the most stock through its stores on the Champs d’Elysées, in Lyon Cordeliers, and the Marseille Orange Center, with the number of handsets being between 500 and 1000 per shop, while the vast majority of its other stores having between four and 30. Pricing for plans will range between 50 and 120 Euros.

Orange will be reportedly allowing users to unlock their iPhone within the first six months of the contract for 100 Euros, with free unlocking thereafter. The carrier is working hard at optimizing its products and services for the upcoming launch, with the web portal having undergone some maintenance to comply with the iPhone. While Orange’s video service and Unik plans are not yet available for the device, the company should be refining them shortly after launch. reports (

The AppleCare for the iPhone will not be available right away, and any warranty replacements will be handled through Apple, rather than Orange. The Bluetooth headset, dual dock, AC adapter, and the iPhone stereo headset will be available…

Read the full article

From the Associated Press:

Some 10,000 people, mainly tobacco sellers, marched through Paris on Wednesday to protest a smoking ban in French cafes as of Jan. 1.

The demonstrators want a modification to the decree banning their Gitanes, Gauloises and other brands of tobacco in all cafes, restaurants and nightclubs at the start of 2008 so that smoking rooms with ventilation can be set up in the establishments.

Some 10,000 protesters wearing Day-Glo vests marched from the Montparnasse train station to the National Assembly, the lower chamber of parliament, to press lawmakers into…

Read the full article

Although the authorities in France aren’t fans of fakes, there’s a fine line between the real deal and the contrefaçons, the fakes. Take these, for example. They are so cute, Louis Vuitton may not want to admit they look like theirs…

I’m not into LV but I am into kawaii. Btw, I’ve heard our French friends say “kawaii!” adopting the adorable word for “cute” in Japanese.

I kind of like those shoes. But French authorities don’t!

Un faux pas qui vous coûtera cher. En France la loi prévoit jusqu’a 300,000 euros d’amende et 3 ans d’emprisonnement. La contrefaçon est un vrai fléau.

Translation: Stepping out of line will cost you a lot. In France by law, you risk paying up to 300,000 euros ($438,780) and 3 years in prison. Counterfeiting is a real plague.

Coming to France and need to know the best places to party? Here’s a website to find the perfect place for you no matter which part of France you are in. Cafesfrance.com

From The Telegraph

In a bustling brasserie near the Gare de l’Est, Serge Bonnaud, a train driver for 27 years, peered over a double espresso. “Many rail workers are only on strike because they have received threatening telephone calls,” he said.

“They are scared for themselves and for their families. Some have been assaulted by their colleagues when they have tried to go to work.”

Mr Bonnaud, 47, who drives Trains à Grand Vitesse (TGVs), is not on strike and believes none of his fellow cheminots employed by the state-owned French railway SNCF, should be on strike either.

“We have to negotiate because we have to modernise,” said the father of four from the suburbs of Paris. “We should not bring misery to people trying to get around.”

This weekend, there are signs are that his moderate views are shared by a growing number of France’s 170,000 railworkers, who are striking to try to block reforms to their pension privileges.

The proportion of strikers is down from more than 60 per cent a few days ago to 32 per cent. One union, the CFDT, has recommended calling off the action and many more employees are expected to return to work tomorrow. Train drivers earn…

Read the full article

From IHT:

Every souvenir shop in Paris sells miniature Eiffel Towers, but one lucky bidder will soon be able to buy a piece of the real thing.

A section of the winding iron staircase that Gustave Eiffel climbed to inaugurate the monument in 1889 will be sold at the Hotel Drouot auction house on Monday.

In 1983, the 1,911-step staircase was removed to make room for new elevators and was cut into 24 pieces that were auctioned off to museums and collectors around the world.

The 4.5-meter (14.7-foot) piece for sale once helped…

Read the article

UPDATE: It was sold for $219,600, which was five times the original asking price.

Read about it

After we left Montélimar, I snapped some quick photos while we drove by this humungous nuclear power station. There were people windsurfing just in front of them on the Rhône River, which the most polluted river in France (I’ll leave that subject for a later post…). These are only two of the four 4 cooling towers that have been in operation for nearly 20 years.

The power station generates 4% to 5% of the total electric energy production in France, 40% of which is the annual usage by the Rhone-Alps area (Lyon is the largest city in this area).

Contrary to politicians’ popular rhetoric, nuclear power is NOT a clean energy alternative. For the following reasons: 1) Nuclear power plants produce radioactive waste (liquid or solid), which is difficult to dispose of (where does it go?) This waste will be toxic for thousands of years and where to dispose of it has become a prodigious technical problem as well as a political problem. The technology of safely storing it is unproved and still under development; 2) Radioactive leaks (into the air) – leading to radiation poisoning and increased risk of cancer. These types of leaks allow radioactive gases to get into the atmosphere, which if breathed, could cause cancer and other grave ailments. Chernobyl allowed radioactive material to contaminate a considerable area, which is still unusable today; 3) Heat emissions (water) – Reactors release warm water into the local rivers and lakes. The warmer temperatures mean certain organisms, that would not normally thrive there, will grow and reproduce, then kill off some of the previous indigenous marine wildlife.

Related Links:

The Fate of France
Has France Become the Toxic Waste Dumping Ground for Europe
Tour de France Today in the Dreaded Le Creusot
Radioactive French Champagne?The Largest Wind Farm in France
Links on a Sick Day
58 of these in france

From The Sun: WELCOME to the world’s most exclusive hotel – a one-room designer PREFAB boasting a spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower.

Guests at the Hotel Everland – plonked on the roof of a Paris building – get a king-size bed and mini-bar.

They are only allowed to stay one night and the room costs £313 (442 Euros or $648). But at least breakfast is delivered to the door – and stealing the towels is ENCOURAGED.

The Swiss-built prefab is actually an art installation – with guests as part of the exhibit.

Its designers insisted…

Read the whole article

Note: You can book your rooms until December, 2008! The Hotel Everland is sitting atop of the Palais de Tokyo, Paris right now. Reserve your room here.