Painful situation for high-priced TV sets

If you believe what you see, a fellow seems to have wandered into a shop at St Austell in southern England and accidentally destroyed several high-priced TV sets. It’s highly likely, though, that he was simply a professional actor who got paid for a smart publicity stunt. Click here to see this funny show.

An alert too many

On Tuesday evening, the excellent investigation show run by Elise Lucet wanted to illustrate the problems they had encountered in trying desperately to contact the French minister of Defence, Jean-Yves Le Drian, So, they screened a fake alert message, of the kind sent out by police when a child has been kidnapped.

There was just one big problem. At that same instant, a baby had in fact been kidnapped, and the police sent out an authentic alert message. But that was neither here nor there. The confusion simply added to the atmosphere of an excellent show, whose highlight was a no-holds-barred debate between the brilliant journalist and Christian Estrosi, mayor of Nice. The right-wing politician, with financial egg on his face, was being blasted for the costly deal he had struck up with a private firm in order to obtain for Nice a luxurious sporting stadium… which appears to be half-empty most of the time. As for the baby kidnapped in Grenoble by her father, she was soon found, unharmed. So, all's well that ends well.

 

Funnily enough, the people being blamed are not those who were responsible for the fake alert, but rather the police who created the authentic message. They were silly enough to write that the alleged kidnapper was a man "of the black race". It's high time those nitwits learned that there's only one human race on the planet Earth, Homo sapiens. And its possible colors are, not only black and white, but all those of the human rainbow.

Tired of the fog? Try the frogs!

Since the UK’s Brexit referendum, no holds are barred. Paris started a campaign on Monday, run by the Defacto company, in an attempt to woo business and talents from London.

French ecology star fails in the primary

The French press views the defeat of Cécile Duflot as a big surprise.

The contenders Yannick Jadot and Michèle Rivasi emerged victorious from the primary.

Waiting for the murderer to show up

Two journalists, Jean-Michel Laurence and Béatrice Fontenau, have published a book about a French criminal affair that remains unsolved, at least in theory : the Dupont de Ligonnès mystery.

Beneath the rear porch of a nondescript house in Nantes, in April 2011, police found the remains of an adult female and four young individuals.

 DNA tests revealed that the bodies were those of Agnès Dupont de Ligonnès and her four offspring: three sons and a daughter.

As for the father, Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès, no trace of him has been found since 15 April 2011, when he was seen leaving a low-cost hotel in Roquebrune-sur-Argens, carrying a bag on his back that might have contained a weapon. The police are looking out for him constantly.

Copies of my Jewish novel arrive on my doorstep

My decision to use the typescript of my Jewish novel for a self-publishing experiment was intended above all as an experiment, enabling me to understand the revolutionary Ingram-Spark system. My All the Earth is Mine script was totally familiar, because I had been playing around for years with this imaginary political-fiction tale, and the only graphical stuff in the future book would be a simple diagram of Israel. So, this test enabled me to build up confidence in myself before tackling the far more complicated challenges of my two genealogy books: A Little Bit of Irish and They Sought the Last of Lands. Funnily enough, I believe today that this crazy novel—inspired by my lengthy fascination for the Hebrew religion and language, not to mention my love of the modern land of Israel—was in fact a more profound writing endeavor than my two family-history studies. Meanwhile, bringing out this novel was a memorable initiation process for Gamone Press.

Donald Trunk strikes again

I don't know whether to call it groping or just plain snatching.

Picture says more than words

This website—Why Doctor?—deserves a prize for its choice of a good picture to illustrate their news article on an epidemic that has just hit France. The picture hints at the nature of the epidemic.

Tour de France 2017

Whatever happened to Brittany ? Northern France ? Grenoble ?
On the other hand, it's nice to see the Tour starting in Germany.
As for aircraft, they deserve to be given a jersey with a number.

Click map to enlarge it a little

Death is said to be just around the corner

I'll put the older fellow first.

And ask you to guess what they have in common.

Leonard Cohen, 82, is a famous Canadian singer.

Clive James, 77, is a well-known Australian writer. 

And what do they have in common ?

Well, they both see themselves permanently on the verge of death.

And they seem to take pleasure in describing this situation

and telling us complacently about all its subtleties.

I'm a little fed up with their imminent departures,

which end up boring me....

even more than Dylan's Nobel Prize.
But don't misunderstand me. I truly hope they both stay with us
until the proverbial cows come home.

Australian obliged to consult a psychologist

There are some strange brains Down Under. The Australian tennisman Nick Kyrgios, 21, has been suspended from competitions in principle until 15 January 2017 because of his unsportsmanlike behavior. If he wishes to return to the courts before then, Kyrgios is obliged to consult a psychologist. It’s a tough mission for a professional person. I’m talking, of course, of the psychologist. He or she had better be careful. If Kyrgios didn’t like what he heard, the psychologist might receive a direct smash.

Washington Post announces start of Mosul assault

Un article dans le Washington Post, aux alentours de 00.30 [heure de Paris], annonce que l’attaque contre Mossoul vient d’être lancée par les forces d’Iraq. Le journal français Le Monde confirme vers 1 h 20 : Le premier ministre irakien, Haïdar Al-Abadi, a annoncé le début de l’offensive dans la nuit de dimanche à lundi.

An article in the Washington Post, half an hour ago, announced that Iraqi forces were beginning their assault on Mosul.

Latest Brice de Nice is out

 

Is the title pronounced like the English words "ice" and "nice" ?

Or rather like the final syllable of "police" ?

Well, both pronunciations are possible and acceptable.

The correct pronunciation depends entirely on one thing only :

How you prefer to pronounce his name?

Peter Sagan world road champion

The Slovakian cyclist Peter Sagan, world road champion last year, has just defended his title in Qatar, beating Britain’s Mark Cavendish and Belgium’s Tom Boonen. Click here to see the finish. In France, we all love this fellow, both for his friendly personality and for his bike stunts… not to mention his great cycling achievements.

English female Mozart

Alma Deutscher, 11, has composed an opera, Cinderella, which will be presented at Vienna on 29 December. Here’s an early chamber version of the first act.

French balcony-builder will have some explaining to do

Last night at 11 o’clock, in the centre of the city of Angers, a third-floor balcony suddenly tore itself free and slid towards the ground, killing four students who had been calmly standing on it, celebrating the recent renting of the flat by friends. On its way down, the balcony tore away two lower balconies. The mayor announced that an inquiry will be held with the aim of detecting construction flaws. Click here for a video.

Our brains believe whatever they see

I imagine an experiment in which viewers are presented with a pair of twins, both of whom have an unidentified substance in their mouth. Viewers are told that one of the twins has a chunk of chewing gum, whereas the other has been tricked into chewing a poisonous substance that will inevitably end up killing her. Viewers are asked to study carefully the two chewing twins, for exactly a minute, and try to determine which one is soon to be poisoned.

The experiment works better if viewers are encouraged to use the major half of their brain : either the left hemisphere, or the right hemisphere. If viewers happen to be puzzled by this advice, they can be told that their brains will solve that problem automatically.

Obama informed on artificial intelligence

A French journalist at Libération was surprised by the fact that Barack Obama is sufficiently aware of artificial intelligence to be able to talk about this subject in an expert context, here.

                [Christopher Anderson/Magnum Photos]

Would French politicians be capable of behaving in the same way? The answer, I fear, is negative. I’ve always had the impression that many people in France feel they know what the expression “intelligence artificielle” signifies, more-or-less, but in fact their knowledge is quite superficial... mainly because they've never bothered to examine this subject. In totally different domains, the same kind of imaginary awareness exists in France for subjects such as the historicity of Jesus and the bible, and the principles of Darwinian evolution. People like to think they're cultivated in such fields, but they know next to nothing... even though they talk as if they did. That's France!

Salamanders smarter than God

I disagree with Sam Harris when he says that he finds it interesting that

people of faith only tend to pray for
conditions that are self-limiting.

Personally, I don't find that information in the least bit "interesting".

Sexually speaking, Australia is an advanced nation

Our ambassador in France is Stephen Brady. You see him in the following snapshot (baldish) alongside his friend Peter Stephens (drinking milk).

Click here to read an article from The Sydney Morning Herald about a minor diplomatic incident that took place in Paris on 25 April 2015 (Anzac Day).