The 450 kilo Chocolate Boat Regatta
A French chocolatier has raced his specially created chocolate armada to the bottom of the Odet river in an unusual regatta in Quimper, western France. Georges Larnicol, created seven perfectly operational boats out of chocolate and that included chocolate oars and sails for a race in which three of the boats sank According to Daily [...]
The Way it Was, the Way it Should Be
Mayor Michael Nutter of Philadelphia with a message about thug culture that could have been delivered appropriately in Marseille, Paris or London and ought to resonate widely in Europe today. UPDATE: The Disastrous Death of Common Sense – Charles Crawford a former British Ambassador in Sarajevo, Belgrade and Warsaw and now a private consultant and [...]
Euro, Dollar, Democracy — Down the Pan?
Worried about the euro? Well it might be as well to broaden your concerns. We ought, says Doug Casey, to be even more worried about the dollar and democracy itself . Douglas “Doug” Casey, a US TV radio and talk show personality and is a successful professional investor, author and publisher. He predicts that the modern [...]
Fire Storm Alarm: “French Banks are Solid”
In an invitation to the markets to panic, Bank of France governor Christian Noyer has insisted French banks are solid and there are no plans to recapitalise. This despite reports in French news media that have been strongly denied, about secret discussions for the nationalisation of major banking institutions when Greece defaults, as it has now [...]
Taming a Financial Mega-Monster
Taxpayers in the Western world remain perplexed and angry about an intractable economic crisis, its derivative Eurozone meltdown and the time it is taking to tame irresponsible bankers. This ProPublica piece published with permission and acknowledgement, gives some insight into how difficult that latter task is proving to be. IRS, U.S. Banks at Odds Over [...]
NATO rescues Euro in Libya
In Paris and London anyway its official, the NATO-led operation to oust Gaddafi’s regime succeeded and a new Libyan government is now in charge … Perhaps. The article below is republished with the permission of Xander Meyer its author and Rudo de Ruijter, who translated it from the original Dutch. Rudo de Ruijter is a [...]
One Thing Leads to Another
Known as the composer of the Nouvelle Vague, the amazingly prolific Georges Delerue poured out works for cinema, ballet, theatre, concerts, even commercials but (thankfully say some) eschewed the atonality of the time. Here Toronto writer Philippa Campsie of the Parisian Fields blog discovers François Truffaut’s favourite composer while listening to web radio. We both like [...]
OSS – Maquis “So the Memory Never Dies”
Some 67 years after the event a plaque commemorating the sabotage of a viaduct near Souillac in the Lot Department (46), by American commandos and the French Resistance, has been unveiled. . The pictures above tell some of the story. The sabotage prevented the Nazis from moving their armoured trains that were circulating and harassing [...]
Toulouse Going Really Local on Cash
With the global crisis worsening, money is tight everywhere but Toulouse, leading innovator in the field of ‘smart public spaces’, has, under the Union’s ‘Really Going Local’ initiative, found a way to tap some unused EU funds for the good of local ratepayers. Alexandre Marciel, Deputy Mayor of Toulouse, Frances’ 4th largest city (pop 366,000) [...]
Table Time – La Fête de la Gastronomie
You’ve enjoyed the Fête de Musique, now celebrated worldwide, so time to settle down to the Fête de la Gastronomie, celebrating the food and wine of France as it should be, at table with family and friends. La Fête de la Gastronomie is a new national event aimed to celebrate French cuisine. The festival follows [...]
Juif or Not Juif, That is The Question
That an Apple played a significant role in the Old Testament parable on temptation and downfall, cannot have escaped the attention of a Franco-British IT engineer from Marseille who has just experienced the IT equivalent of biblical misfortune. (Read more online French News here) Feel for Johann Levy, 35, an IT specialist proud of his [...]
Euroland – Eclipse of Reason and Democracy
The myths of monetary policy, the dangers of austerity, University of Rome professor Sergio Bruno warns Euroland brinkmanship is eclipsing reason and democracy. The road to Europe: the eclipse of reason and democracy by Sergio Bruno, 12 September 2011 Sergio Bruno is professor of public economics at the University of Rome, ‘La Sapienza’. He has [...]
Libya – Well Quelle (no) Surprise
Others have warned it was coming and today the leader of the National Transitional Council was on French radio pledging to build a moderate Islamic state in oil-rich Libya. His remarks were later transcribed and rebroadcast by VOA – the Voice of America : “In Libya, forces opposed to former leader Muammar Gaddafi, backed by NATO [...]
Blood All Over The Floor
There is blood, dull-red, life-draining blood all over the floor but this notwithstanding politicians are set to hit the printing presses – Weimar-style. Worth a read is this thought- provoking historical review of previous scapegoating in Europe when inflation driven monetary crises have struck the nation states. “To those who think inflation is not a [...]
Hand-Crafted Very Digi-Modern Post-its
At first glance they may look like massive trompe d’oueil artworks stretching up glass-fronted facades for dozens of floors on major skyscrapers in Paris business districts. (Read more online French News here) But look more closely. They are in fact handcrafted designs using thousands of multi-coloured Post-it stickers courtesy of the bosses of some of the [...]
Now a Monaco in the Mountains
Laàs, a village in the Béarn, hopes to become the Monaco of the Mountains — a haven of wealth and fortune on the ski slopes, in the Pyrenees-Atlantiques to be exact. (Read more online French News here) Over the summer Jacques Pedehontaà (53) Mayor of Laàs, presently home to just 120 souls, wrote to President Nicolas [...]
French Revenge – Melt the Miserable Man
You may think revenge is best served cold but in France these matters are resolved differently particularly when you have recourse to hot chocolate. For according to the My Little Paris blog, when a French woman finds her lovers have been behaving decidedly less amusingly than Molière’s Tartuffe, she now has a refreshing, heartwarming and [...]
Peenut Does a Depardieu
Peanut Theater presents Gerard Depardieu on an airplane H/T @Finn_Skovgaard As does Asterix Depardieu… Related articles Gerard Depardieu Mocks Airplane Pee Incident To Promote New Film (perezhilton.com) Gérard Depardieu has a wee joke at his own expense to promote Astérix (guardian.co.uk) Taking the…mickey (theage.com.au) Ryanair and actor Gérard Depardieu’s recent mess (thepressnet.com) Gerard Depardieu urinates [...]
Reprise of Lehman Brothers Ahead?
As Germany and France — the EU engine rooms – continue a desperate sweaty struggle to control the euro crisis, Josef Ackermann CEO of Deutsche Bank worries about another Lehman Brothers. (Read more online French News here) He suggested present market volatility was smelling remarkably like that which immediately preceded the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. Hardly [...]
After a Plough Farmers Go Speed-Dating
French farmers literally played the field at the country’s first agricultural speed-dating event in the cattle town of Laissac, in the Aveyron recently. (Read more online French News here) Laissac, which boasts it has the second best cattle market in France, was the setting for the country’s very first “agri-dating” event described by its originator — [...]
The Genius of the Opera-Ballet
One of France’s leading choreographers — Roland Petit a man immersed in life’s consuming dramas, has just died, leaving a remarkable legacy. Here, Philippa Campsie a Toronto writer, pays tribute to the man and his art: On July 10, 2011, the world of dance lost Roland Petit, a brilliant and original French choreographer. His best-known [...]
Tough Life at the Market Top
Major stockmarkets are in meltdown say the headlines and the anguish is captured on the hands on faces blog here: Meanwhile it seems, now not even breakfast can escape the worst trading moments: H/T Abstrusegoose blog Related articles Gold: Back to the Future? “Don’t Let Go of the Anger” – NYT
