More fun stuff from wooster collective:

From slashdot:

“Google has begun to scan the streets of Paris as part of its Street View service, but the company may be hindered from publishing them unedited. The reason? French privacy laws. Google may be forced to blur faces or use low-resolution versions of the photographs. The Embassy of France in the U.S. has a page devoted to French privacy laws, that says the laws are needed to ‘avoid infringing the individual’s right to privacy and right to his or her picture (photograph or drawing), both of them rights of personality.”

From the guardian:

“Authorities in southern France fear a possible mosquito invasion in tourist resorts this summer and blame EU regulations which prevent them from using the most efficient insecticide.

For the first time since the early 1960s they cannot use temephos - a pesticide now banned by the European Union. Instead the EID says it is obliged to turn to a bacterium considered to be more environment-friendly, but which experts argue leaves little margin for error….”

Read more

From the guardian:

“Britain’s assault on French cookery has been stepped up by a Yorkshire bakery which has started exporting lorry-loads of baguettes across the Channel.
Fosters of Barnsley has used a legal loophole to beat local boulangers to a contract supplying the narrow loaves to the whole of the French railway system.

The order follows a double whammy for North of England butchers who stole Grand Prix d’Excellence awards earlier this year at Europe’s biggest black pudding contest in France. The Real Lancashire Pudding company went on to take two gold medals in the usually French and Belgian-dominated tasting organised by the Compagnons de la Gastronomie Porcine.

The baguette triumph, which has earned Fosters managing director, John Foster, the French media title of “most hated man in France”, is down to the firm’s expertise in making long-life loaves.
French local law forbids the use of fat which is key to the long-life process, Foster said yesterday, but competitors from elsewhere in the European Union can sidestep the ban, under European legislation. Building on the “rolling stock” order, the Barnsley bakery is now challenging the brioche market in France, using the same method.

“Their own bakers could give them a good product, but it didn’t fit the railway’s needs,” said Foster. “In Yorkshire we’ve a tradition of giving customers what they want. They asked for baguettes which don’t go stale and we said yes, we can do you them. We’re shipping the stuff out by the wagon-load.”

Foster said he had been surprised by the “cheek” of the mismatch between French and EU law but recognised a good sales opportunity.”

Isn’t this Hermès apple purse (and knife) adorable? Yes. It IS small and restricted in its use (ONE apple or keys or condoms or credit cards or change or an iPod Nano…some other stuff) but if it were bigger it wouldn’t be as CUTE.

Hermès

[via]

We went out to lunch the other day to an excellent brasserie in Autun (Burgundy), which I’ll try to write about some time later this week, hopefully. The restaurant was pretty packed and for some reason, “the suits” were sitting on one side of the restaurant, everyone else scrunched over on the other side. Anyway, my adorable and funny sweetie suddenly bursts out, “That lady is TOTALLY American!!” (talking about a woman just exiting the restroom across the restaurant)

Me: “Why? How do you know?”

Him: “Because she has a kleenex over the doorknob because she doesn’t want to touch it directly……you know, like you.”

Me: “That doesn’t mean she’s American. That means she’s psychotically germophobic …like me. Hey, don’t generalize. Wait! They always do tests on doorknobs and they find POO on them! You don’t want to touch that in a restaurant, do you, then eat dinner?”

Him: “Ok, yeah, but you even wrote about American Germophobia, remember? Anyway, it’s an American thing. You can’t convince me otherwise.”

Me: “Oh yeah. I did write about that. Nevermind that, though.”

Me: “Omg. I just heard them talking and yes, that lady IS American.”

Him: “SEEE!?”

From yahoo:

“The French government will “suspend” the use of new software for recording the personal habits and affiliations of its citizens in a police database, following an outcry by civil rights groups.

But Synergie-Officiers supported storage of information about the race and religion of suspects and victims. In France some violent crimes attract tougher sentences if motivated by racial or religious hatred, and the union warned that if campaign groups want such hate crimes pursued more vigorously, then police need a way to identify the relevant information about attackers and victims during investigations.”

Tags: france, big+brother, privacy+threatened, software, civil+liberties

Do you get this ad? It might have worked if they added a short tagline (though that would have been a bit tricky)… Here’s a hint: Manix (King Size) sells extra large condoms…

With all of the GMO (genetically modified organisms) laws being passed here and there and everywhere so the public never knows what they’re eating, gardening is becoming the new black. Why be left to wonder if you’re eating pesticides and other toxins when you can grow your own food. More and more people are turning to their own organic gardening so they know exactly what they are consuming. But what about city dwellers? Those fortunate enough to have a large basement are turning them into hydroponic artificially lit organic gardens. Apartment people have to turn to other methods. This is where resourcefulness and ingenuity come in.

French product designer, François Clerc, has come up with something so purely awesome: Graine de pot, a biodegradable, expandable garden pot that is great for urban gardening. How does it work? Plant your seeds, expand as necessary, watch your veggies, say tomatoes or courgettes or peppers, grow, enjoy them all summer and later in the fall throw all of it including the pot out into the compost. Hopefully, your city collects organic rubbish or you can just give it to a friend with a garden for compost.

Now if you can get your hands on non-GMO seeds, you’re in business - but that’s another matter.

[via]

There are three new public service announcement videos just released by the Ministry of Employment that are pretty creepy, albeit effective. They’re aiming to encourage people to take care of health problems like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and other repetitive strain injuries related to work before they become debilitating.

All three start with an agonizingly LONG and PAINFUL, moan. Then you see why. EW!

Here’s what the PSA’s say:

Au travail il y a des petites douleurs qui deviennent insupportables.
At work, there are little aches that become unbearable.

Troubles Musculo-squelettiques.
Muscular Skeletal Pain

Parlons en pour les faire reculer.
Let’s talk about it to make it better.

Watch the videos here

Jumping on the e-reading bandwagon like Kindle (except without a keyboard), Orange and partners Le Monde, Le Parisien, Les Echos, L’Equipe and Télérama are joining together to offer a wireless, touch screen mobile e-newspaper reader that resembles a flat, black Etch a Sketch (sans knobs). They are still testing the product.

The Read&Go has a storage capacity of 1 Gb – more than 200 newspapers – and also contains a e-library of thirty or so books (literature, comic strips, children’s and practical publications, etc.) provided by Feedbooks, Médiatoon (Dargaud, Dupuis, Lombard et Kana) and Mango editions.

I’m still waiting for an e-reader for my Nintendo DS. I’d use that!

More info here (pdf)

[via]

Tags: france, orange, e-reader, kindle, newspapers, wifi, touchscreen

From electronista:

“France-based Carrefour Group will launch a movie download service, the world’s second biggest retailer announced at the PEVE Digital Entertainment conference in Paris on Friday. The service will allow customers to buy movies or rent movies and rent TV programs. The Group already operates supermarkets, grocery stores and convenience stores that carry DVDs in Europe, and wants to expand its focus on entertainment, bringing it closer to customers.
Carrefour’s international non-food chief, Christophe Geoffroy, said the shopping experience would be simple and fast, with downloads taking about 3 minutes, suggesting a possible streaming experience. He went on to say video-on-demand market in Europe isn’t great, but is expected to grow. Some analysts predict Europe’s movie download market will be worth over about 690 Euros (over $1 billion) by 2011.

Carrefour isn’t the only or the first major retailer to seize the opportunity, as earlier this week, British retailer and grocer Tesco opened its own music and video site, with a larger focus on MP3 album and singles sales.

The group would continue to sell DVD videos at its current stores throughout France, Spain, Belgium and Italy, of which it has a 13.3% market share. Pricing for its downloads, nor a launch date, have yet been announced.”

Tags: france,, carrefour,, download+movies

Seen near Bordeaux, France

Tags: france, bordeaux, simply+market, strange+english, french, supermarkets

From macnn:

“Apple is in discussions with Orange about lowering the cost of the French iPhone, Les Echos reports. The newspaper cites an inside source, who claims that Apple is putting pressure on Orange to change to a subsidized pricing model, under which the public would have to pay less for the device. At present Orange is charging at least €399 ($635), making not only for an expensive product, but one of the most costly versions of the iPhone in Europe. Apple is said to be disappointed with sales of the iPhone in France, which recently crossed the 100,000 threshold, and in Europe in general. This is likely one of the reasons for price cuts elsewhere, which have seen the 8GB iPhone fall to £169 in the UK, and just €99 in Germany. Apple may also be hoping to clear out inventory in advance of a 3G iPhone release this summer. Orange is said to be willing to go along with Apple’s plan, but negotiating for a better revenue-sharing agreement in order to compensate for lower profits on each iPhone sold.”

Tags: france, apple, orange, iphone

Sadly, it happened. The last several years of SATC, CSI (aka in France Les Experts), and face it, all American shows - has shaken the reason out of Europeans. What am I talking about?

Take out coffee cups. You know, you see everyone with them. Everywhere. Those ridiculous disposable paper or worse, plastic cups with plastic lids. HATE those. Don’t we need to REDUCE our waste? Don’t we know that PLASTIC is evil and toxic? What is wrong with us? Are we stooooppid? Oui, je dirais.

We saw this poster on a cafe and felt sort of disgusted. I mean, these take away cups are for espresso so they are little disposable cups. Hello…maybe I shouldn’t be complaining since it’s not like a ventimongosize cup from Starbucks (which I HATE) but I can’t help it. An espresso in France, that’s like 3 TABLESPOONS of strong coffee right there in a teeny tiny cup with a handle through which you can’t even fit your fingers. It takes like 3.5 seconds to consume in a cafe. WHY do we need to have it to go?

This parking lot sign has two messages. In French, you simply pay for parking at the machine before getting into your car. The English version is different. It starts out nicely and politely with the “Could you…” No question mark at the end though, but anyway. THEN! Lucky Anglophones, it gets even better for you. You see, if you speak English, when you come back to the parking lot, you get to PICK a car. Don’t want to get into your own car? TAKE another.

On a lighter note, here’s today’s France photo. It’s a sculpture we saw at the entrance of a tunnel I think somewhere in the vicinity of Montpellier. It’s not particularly attractive but it does get your attention, if anything.

Last night a special report aired on television (on the show Envoyé Spécial on France 2) about the Olympic Torch in Paris, and showed how the whole spectacle unraveled. While everyone expected a certain amount of unrest from France (and got it), there was some disturbing behavior reported that sent shivers down my spine. It reminded me of something I saw years ago on TV about what could happen in the near future. But, in fact, seems to be happening now.

About 5 years ago, there was a very short-lived (1 season only) but brilliant TV show called, Firefly. It was a Sci-Fi Western set aboard a transport starship with a small crew that took on unquestionably criminal moonlighting jobs. The backdrop was a starry landscape of deep space roughly 500 years into the future and everyone spoke some sort of hybrid of Chinese and Redneck English. Obviously, the implication of the state of the universe 500 years from now was frightening. It shows that the political, geographical and philosophical meltdown over the years eventually embraces China as master. It means China ruled the world.

Back to the Olympic torch event in Paris. The report showed cameramen and journalists all crowded on a truck just in front of the Olympic torch runners - obviously to capture the “glorious” Olympic moment. The French crew notices that the Chinese journalists do not shoot any of the protesters all around the truck; they simply ignore them and tape the torch. The Chinese people evidently will never see any of the human rights activists.

The French and other countries’ journalists, obviously, wanted to capture everything. At that moment, the Chinese cameraman notices being taped by the French, then alerts the Chinese security team about it, saying, “There’s a dangerous cameraman onboard.” Apparently, the Chinese security ordered the French police to remove them without question. Seconds later, The French police arrive and apologetically remove the journalists, who did have the permission to be present. While removing them, the French police said something to the effect of, “we have to follow orders.”

Clearly, it is obvious who is in power here. How could the Chinese have authority outside of their country? It’s strange to see them have all that power in France. They also did appear to be calling the shots in San Francisco, as well. Did you notice? I guess that’s what happens, U.S., when you owe China that much money. The U.S. borrows $3 billion a DAY from Japan, China, the UK and oil exporting countries. Do things make a little more sense now? Is this a reflection of what is to come? The signs of the times, they’re scary.

Could this submissive behavior on the part of the French have something to do with their recent Nuclear Energy deal worth 8 BILLION EUROS ($11.86 billion) with China? Does it have anything to do with the fact that so many French companies have installed themselves in China? Does “Made in China” sound familiar?

An aside: I’ve recently noticed that everything made in China has started to look like “Made in PRC” (People’s Republic of China). You don’t fool me.

Links: Made in China , Olympic Torch

Tags: france, china, olympics, 2008, torch

We hit the road last Sunday from Burgundy en route to Carcassonne in the south of France. We took a little detour to check out the Le Viaduc de Millau / Millau Viaduct, which was open to the public in 2005. I thought I’d share some photos.

To cross the viaduct you must pay a toll, which is higher during the summer! The summer rate is: 7.40 euros ($11.62) - and the non-summer rate is 5.60 euros ($8.79).

The actual bridge crossing is supported by the cables attached to the top of each tower, which is why, I supposed, they call it a “Cable-Stayed Bridge.” Probably the most common view of the viaduct is from this viewpoint (above).

The bridge connects the autoroute from Paris to Beziers at the point where it is bisected by the Tarn River, which runs through a wide gorge between two plateaus.

The Millau Viaduct took 4 years to build. It stands 280 meters (919 ft) tall (which is higher than the Eiffel Tower and is considered the highest bridge in the world) - and is 2.5 kilometers long (1.55 miles). It cost €394 million ($619 million) to construct.

From woostercollective:

Artist: Duster

More adorable houses in France. This cute home reminds me of the elevated apartment we saw in Nevers.

This side faces the Isle River and has Perigueux’s famous cathedrale as a backdrop.

This side shows how to enter the house. I wonder where the ladder is.

Do most Americans even know who Tex Avery was? I’m not sure but the French sure know American cartoons and the people behind the cute characters from way back when. This year La Poste commemorates Tex Avery, a prolific American animator, cartoonist and director whose bold style broke away from the realism established by Walt Disney. Tex Avery would have been 100 years old today.

The French Post Office paid hommage to this great animator, and came up with the cutest postage stamps featuring Droopy, the mild mannered, monotone basset hound. Avery created Droopy in 1943 at MGM, which was originally called, “Dumb-Hounded.”

Everyone (I’ve asked) in France knows Droopy, and loves him. They’ll inevitably say, Droopy’s famous line in the most dreary, lifeless tone possible, “Vous savez quoi? Je suis heureux.” (You know what? I’m happy.)

Related: Stamps in France

From gizmodo:

“Ouch, that payback, it can be a bitch — Sony BMG, distributors of rootkit-installing CDs and litigious foe of P2P users worldwide, has just been busted in France for using pirated software on its servers. And it gets even worse: Windows admin tool developer PointDev says a Sony BMG was caught when an IT staffer actually called up for support and gave a pirated license number to the phone tech. That’s some pretty shady behavior for a company that’s rammed anti-piracy measures down its own customers’ throats — too bad it’s probably not going to feel the hit of the €300,000 ($475,000) lawsuit nearly as hard as the college students it routinely sues for $5,000.”

With his approval ratings plunging into seemingly negative numbers, Sarkozy has been under extreme mounting pressure and stress to improve his popularity as was witnessed earlier in his presidential career. He has shocked the world by taking France by the horns (feathers) with his immediate action against immigration. His stance on “work more, earn more” slapped lagging chomeurs and professional “RMIistes” out of their beds. His marriage to a supermodel taller than him caused a stir outside of France. Of course, inside the hexagon, the French did not bat an eye, and wouldn’t do so even if he married a hairless dwarf monkey.

Although no one faults him for his singularity and take-charge attitude, the people of France expected an overall improvement in the quality of French life from Monsieur le president. Instead they got skyrocketing inflation and endless reportages of his love life. The public knows that during the myriad of marriage footage in the media, he was covertly passing unsavory laws - and le peuple is not pleased.

But in an unprecedented move to come clean, Sarkozy has offered complete transparency and divulged his intentions in an impromptu press conference today. He has decided to be open and honest about his plans for the country and has taken a vow of truth to disclose all plans and events to the public as they happen. He also plans to admit his recent “misinformations.” (We call those “lies.”)

He then continued to inform the media and general public of his recent decisions and actions, which are as follows:

1. He admits to having married supermodel, Carla Bruni, because she is a perfect trophy wife. He felt that having a beautiful, tall younger woman as a wife would boost his ratings. He, in actuality, hates Carla with the passion - particularly because she looks better nude than he does, speaks better English than he does, and everyone would rather talk to her and not him at cocktail parties.

2. Since the launching of the euro in France in 2002, the price of food and goods have gone through the roof, so much so, that many people are running out of money. They’ve had to resort to spending their savings. When France’s currency was the franc, even poor people could afford basic needs and still were able to save a little in the bank. Sarkozy realizes this and confesses that he does not care about poor people, so originally he had no intentions of any kind to make changes - but since today, he’s decided to bend a little and although it may sound shocking, he has decided to bring back the Franc. “Forget euros,” he quipped, “that currency is for pauvre cons.”

3. Regarding the Olympics in Beijing this summer, Sarkozy has urged everyone to buy a Reporters without Borders t-shirt and wear them next week, April 7, when the Olympic torch passes through Paris. “You must change the t-shirts a little, however,” he said, “please tear off the sleeves so that we all look like Rambo. Don’t forget to wear a bandana around your head, too”

Poisson d’avril!! April Fools!

Related: France Demands Worldwide Royalties