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Man Physically Assaulted At McDonald's For Wearing Digital Eye Glasses
RockoW writes "Steve Mann, a long-time researcher of computer vision systems, (i.e. Augmented reality, Digital Eyeglass) had an incident at a McDonald's in Paris, France. He was assaulted by three men during his visit to get food with his family. They had a problem with his digital eye glasses and tried to take them off his head. 'The eyeglass is permanently attached and does not come off my skull without special tools.' The men also tore up Mann's documentation and a letter from his doctor explaining the device's use. Fortunately, the rough treatment of the device caused it to keep recent images in its memory, instead of quickly overwriting them, so Dr. Mann has pictures of the men who assaulted him."
but just doesn't understand why they won't leave him alone
Subject says it all
the story sounds possibly untrue and slanderous, and the only source that everyone is retweeting is the same one linked here, from a blog on blogspot that has only one post which was recently created.
Sometimes after seeing all the new stuff and experiences you want something familar and comfortable and McDonalds fits that role.
They also are clean, have good bathrooms (exception for the McDonalds in Reims) and are open long hours. They also offer wifi and have seats. And the Partially Gelatinated, Non- Dairy, Gum-Based Beverages can taste rather good on a hot day.
And Facebook refuses to link to the article (or at least Facebook France).
It's important to clarify (as I had to RTFA to realise this), that he claims he was assaulted by 3 employees of McDonalds
This wasn't a random assault by other customers at some shady McDonalds at 3AM, nor was it an assault by a typical skinhead -- from the photos the alleged perpetrators were McDonalds Management.
He's not the first person to claim McDonalds staff in France assault their customers.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
... and kudos for this guy trying to push technology (use) forward.
But bolting the thing to your head?? Seriously?? WTF?
That "recent images" in its memory explanation is bullshit. Just think about the logic in it. If it was built to record, why would it have storage for a few seconds but nothing longer? And why would it have code added to sense that it is broken and stop recording? Most likely the device stored everything just like a video camera. The men were bothered because they rightly thought that he was recording the place. Not that that is reason for anyone to get assaulted though.
As Paris has a mixture of many races, it is advisable for all to know the racial background of the attackers, so that, future visitors to Paris would be well advised to avoid any contact with people of that race.
Man travels to France. Chooses to eat at McDonald's. Seriously. Then COMPLAINS he gets beaten up!
Yeah, to hell with these so called "handicapped" people and their supposed "prostetics". Kick 'em in the nuts I say!
Two quotes:
"... in order to give our children the opportunity to learn true Parisian French..."
"...my wife and children and I went to McDonalds..."
he had it coming :/
"Upon ordering, McDonaldâ(TM)s employees at 140, Avenue Champs Elysees, Paris accosted Mann and tried to tear the glasses out of his head"
It does not sound like a random attack but employee action. Which brings me to think there was a prior history we were not told, for example he telling them it is a camera, them asking him to remove it, and not believing him when he refuses to switch it off or remove it. It does not excuse employee behavior if they assaulted him really, or manhandled him, but OTOH he cannot film random passerby or customer in a premise at will. And I am willing to bet that it was the bone the employee had. OTOH it could be simply dumb people doing dumb things, but I am always very very warry when somebody tell employee attacked them without reason. Random thug attack without reason. Employee not so much. (again i am not saying those reason were not valid, but that we hear only one side here).
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
This story is borderline plausible.
I can believe that some Parisians would vigorously defend against photos being take of the interior design/menu.
I can also believe that someone would wear augmented reality glasses. Furthermore, I can understand that (a) McDonalds employee(s) would automatically react strongly to the camera and try to remove them from someone's head.
However, what I don't understand is why the subject of the story just didn't leave McDonalds. Honestly, you're in a city full of excellent, and sometimes inexpensive, cuisine.
Why even go to McDonalds in the first place and why not leave when there's an altercation? Is the 20€ of McDs food worth the hassle?
Definetly not! Perp 1 might be an arab, but 2 and 3 are not. Beside your assumption on skin is wrong, because while north african arabs are dark skinned, middle eastern ( Palastenian, lebanese and Syrian ) arabs vary from dark skin to extreemly white skin. You'd be surprised by some of my blue eyed blonde hair arab friends!
What the hell. Anyone one would travel the world, choose to give their children an opportunity to learn Parisian french and would then choose to go to a Mc Donalds, in Paris, in France, the home of gastromomy deserves to get smacked upside the head. geez.
carry fake notes should not be assasulted. At most they should be asked to leave the premises or detained while police are called if a crime is suspected.
Don't get confused, I am not being racist
Yes you are.
they are not foreigners as they are all born in France. The European low class immigrants are on the second or third generation already.
This is how it starts. The first blows in the war between Augmented Humans and the Naturals.
Keep humanity free from machines!
Be pure, be vigilant, behave!
TFA says its uses a laser and lets the eye function as both a camera and a display. I want to know more.
I love when all the reality nazis come out of the woodwork to tell everyone how they've decided that an incident they weren't present to observe, don't 'have all the details to, and thougth about just for a few seconds, CANNOT POSSIBLY BE REAL.
Reminds me of when people angrily proclaim real photos are photoshopped because OMG PIXELATION, DUH.
He tried to order a Quarter Pounder with cheese and refused to call it a Royale with cheese.
Clearly it was his own fault...
Why is facebook blocking this link for being spammy? Seems really weird seeing all the other junk that is postable there.
Arabs or blacks? They are always them in Paris in this kind of incident.
Don't get confused, I am not being racist, and I don't mean all the arabs or blacks do these things, what I mean is that the 95% of people who do that in Paris (in Paris, I don't mean other cities or countries, which I don't know), are arabs or blacks.
When I was there I saw lots and lots of incidents like that.
They are almost certainly Muslims, and naturally assume that the guy with glasses is from the security services and interested in their terrorist plots. Hopefully the real security services are monitoring them undetected.
So, it seems that not only does McDonalds in Paris have some strange issues with cameras, but judging from these comments, a surprising number of French people are racist.
This is an experimental device designed by and available to a single MIT researcher. The purported opinion of one medical professional carries little weight - assuming this opinion is even relevant, for it could have simply been "this device may help him see some stuff slightly better". Hell, I have RSI and an assistance monkey would help me carry stuff around, but I don't expect establishments around the world to admit an assistance monkey just because I can afford one.
In particular, the device has the ability to take pictures in a way which may be contrary to French law, something the OP took delight in (accidentally?) admitting on his web page.
However, what I don't understand is why the subject of the story just didn't leave McDonalds. Honestly, you're in a city full of excellent, and sometimes inexpensive, cuisine. Why even go to McDonalds in the first place
Well from the summary:
He was assaulted by three men during his visit to get food with his family.
Maybe his kids saw it and they wanted American food and it was too late and he was too tired to resist them? Just because someone has different food tastes than you doesn't make their story implausible. "So I was stopping at a Swedish place to get some lutefisk ..." who fucking cares where it was or what he was eating? Also, sometimes chain restaurants are much better in foreign countries. Try the Pizza Hut on Grand Cayman sometime, they are crazy amazing (I think because the food has to all be grown locally).
and why not leave when there's an altercation? Is the 20€ of McDs food worth the hassle?
I know, it's weird, it's almost like he thought he had a right to be there or something. Crazy fucking Canadians and their "rights."
"Hey dad how come you gave those men money and then they showed some muscle so we left without eating? Now I'm hungry and you kinda look like a pussy."
The conclusion from the reddit thread on this incident was that the attackers were McDonalds employees, and were reacting against community oposition to a McDonalds in that location. Apparently there are issues with local people using cameras to collect evidence and the McDonalds have a hair trigger response to that activity.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Undoubtedly brilliant but damn what a weirdo !! The whole tone of the blog is just weird ...
The strangest thing out of the whole story (to me at least) was that he is married and has kids !!!
You know how the call a beating in French?
A royal with cheese...
I am not French, but I have lived there for 2 years. And if you lived there you would know what I mean.
For example, I have lived in London for 1 year, and there the problem are not arabs or blacks, the violent and problematic people are skinheads and chavs. Just to prove you that I am not racist. But there in America you think that saying that is racist, but it is not, as it is nothing related to the color of the sking but the culture I guess.
they just don't prosecute thieves in France. No mention of police being called, arriving, having leads, how do they do things in the land of baguettes and bad attitudes?
I have read somewhere that McDonald's is NOT a corporate entity. It is instead a trade mark and business model that can be licensed by anybody willing to become local McDonald's. If so, it's futile to look for McDonald's representative a.s.o. - they have no relation with this specific McDonald's except collecting the license fees. The local police is the only place to ask for help.
He is the guy who INVENTED wearable computing and all the technology behind Project Glass.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Not wanting to admit you is a bit different from assaulting you (assuming the story is true).
Hey AC ... you need to know what battle is worth fighting and this isn't one of them. Asserting your right to dine somewhere, when you have pretty damn unique glasses that look like a camera to most people (especially McDonalds employeed, which aren't so tech savvy) is "losing the forest for the trees."
I also have a very hard time believing that Pizza Hut on Grand Cayman is better than a real Pizzeria using the same locally grown stuff, but whatever makes you justify the fast-food experience is OK with me (not really)
So, it seems that not only does McDonalds in Paris have some strange issues with cameras, but judging from these comments, a surprising number of French people are racist.
Surprising?
One episode of the British comedy drama series "The Inbetweeners" involves French visitors as part of a school exchange programme. The protagonist's guest is mainly moody and silent, but at one point, he says, out of the blue, "ah do not like Arabs". It's funny because many British people have had exactly that experience with French school exchanges.
If you're talking about Mohammed Merah, you dumb fuck, he was 'was shot in the head by a police sniper' (Wikipedia link). The RAID (equivalent of SWAT) assaulted him and neutralized him. How is that for 'dare not touch' ?
While it is true that there are suburban areas in France where cops cannot do much, because they are outnumbered (and outgunned !) by the residents -- but like every major city in the world, tell me it's different in New York or Miami -- the french police never, ever let a killer on the loose, especially when he kills kids.
Wow. Useful information. I was quite curious as to what the motivation might have been behind the behavior and I was less concerned about "who" or what "types" of who did the assault and property damage.
And now I see what was behind it. These guys were ALL seemingly of middle-eastern origins but that's NOT the issue. I think the more important issue was that they were defending something. I find it quite likely that these men had some stake in the success of their business and felt they were defending it in some way. Ethnicity or origins are not quite relevant to the story unless you are interested in painting a picture suggesting that "X people are violent" which is true... X people are violent... hell *I* am violent... or I have been until I learned to chill a bit more. The issue is what motivates violence.
And the motivation becomes more clear. They saw this guy as an assault on their unofficial camera ban and wanted the camera removed. Let's not go into the stpudity of trying to conceal truth as revealed by photons bouncing off of objects.
My vision is augmented.
If someone physically is present in Paris and still goes to McDonalds to get his meal, then he deservers to be assaulted :)
So he provided this information, sat down, and then, out of the blue:
Subsequently another person within McDonalds physically assaulted me,
This report sounds like bad fiction from someone with a gigantic ego and an armchair law degree:
Is McDonald's France trolling /.?
.... a McDonalds employee, and he asked about my eyeglass (digital computer vision system, i.e. EyeTap). ..... I had brought with me the letter from my doctor regarding my computer vision eyeglass, ... I showed this doctor's letter and the documentation to the purported McDonalds employee ....After reviewing the documentation, the purported McDonalds employee accepted me (and my family) as a customer, and left us to place our order. In what follows, I will refer to this person as "Possible Witness 1". "
Seriously I can't believe the number of AC commenters saying the most ridiculous statements on here.
If you took a minute to RTFA you would see he was stopped by employees early on, but they accepted the documentation he had:
"while we were standing in line at McDonalds, I was stopped by
I will say his writing sucks. It's written more like a police report than the blog that it is. He should really rewrite it.
And he should just show pictures of their faces, how are we suppose to identify them without faces?
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
This is an experimental device designed by and available to a single MIT researcher. The purported opinion of one medical professional carries little weight - assuming this opinion is even relevant, for it could have simply been "this device may help him see some stuff slightly better". Hell, I have RSI and an assistance monkey would help me carry stuff around, but I don't expect establishments around the world to admit an assistance monkey just because I can afford one.
In particular, the device has the ability to take pictures in a way which may be contrary to French law, something the OP took delight in (accidentally?) admitting on his web page.
What? You could have your own personal monkey butler? And you don't already have one?
The hell is wrong with you?
Admit nothing. Deny Everything. Make Counter-accusations.
"losing the forest for the trees."
What the hell are you talking about?
Asserting your right to dine somewhere, when you have pretty damn unique glasses that look like a camera to most people
Yeah? 'Pretty damn unique glasses' is a valid reason to discriminate at a public restaurant? Tell me, where did McDonald's post the nonuniqueness requirement for glasses on that building's entrance?
You know he develops this stuff for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, do you hate it when those people in wheelchairs get all high and mighty and demand that dining establishments install ramps?
I don't understand how your response reveals anything new.
1) A guy asks you about something;
2) You explain it;
3) The guy seems satisfied and goes away;
4) ???
5) You are beaten up.
In millions of transactions every day, 1 to 3 happen without 5 then occurring. This is because there is no 4. There seems to be no 4 here either, even though 4 is crucial to determining culpability.
Putting my law-student hat on, and assuming (generously) that everything he has written is true to the best of his knowledge, I conjecture the guy knows that there is something in 4. But he doesn't want to explain it because he knows it's going to act against him. He is clearly not stupid and is also quite observant, yet he has omitted a crucial time in his "report".
Actually, it's not legal to videotape/shoot photos inside of a McDonalds and the employees overreacted to this ... that's my point ... and you missed it ... completely.
Funny that you seem to think of Miami as a major city, but that is not the only part of your statement I disagree with. It is NOT normal in major cities in the developed world to have areas where the police doesn't dare to go. If this happens in peace time, it is a serious breakdown in society. The fact that you seem to have come to think of it as normal is very troubling indeed.
If it is true that Arabs or blacks are responsible for most of the violence in Paris (I do not know if it is true) than it is a fact. If it is a fact, it is not a racism to mention it.
Racist would hate all Arabs or black.
Racist would never approve his child marrying an Arab or black.
But free man can talk about facts without being racist.
Personally, I like Arabs and their culture and as far as I know, they have nothing to do with the incident.
What kind of bullshit moderation is this? +1 Informative? And it's not just this comment. Throughout the comments on this story, I see ignorance, racism, and bullshit not only posted but modded up.
I guess I'll be meta-moderating more often.
So, it seems that not only does McDonalds in Paris have some strange issues with cameras, but judging from these comments, a surprising number of French people are racist.
Burkha ban. Look it up.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Ok.
In this list of US urban areas, Miami comes as 4th. Not major enough ?
Please read again my statement. Where did I say it was normal ? I just wanted to express my opinion to the OP that it was not a France-related problem, but was, alas !, a global problem, not uncommon.
The fact that you seem to make bold claims without taking care to read the others' posts is troubling too.
And remember, one thing about the French is that they eat an awful lot of French food.. all the time.
Never email donotemail@WeAreSpammers.com
There is definitely a huge race problem in France, largely perpetuated by the minorities themselves, but this was McDonalds employees assaulting him. They should all do jail time and McDonalds should be forced to pay him a large settlement.
In principle, the French speak with people they don't know on the street because the French are a moderately sociable people. Anglophones are actually pathologically anti-social.
There is however an Arabic street culture that goes way beyond simply being sociable and quickly become harassment, usually harassment of women. France has this problem worse than most European countries because they took Arabic immigrants in large groups and confined them in ghettos.
You'll witness a tiny amount of harassment in Turkey or maybe Greece, namely the cabs obnoxiously honk at you, scary but no big deal. In Morocco, I've been followed for hours by a scary guy asking to be our guid.
In France, these Arab guys mostly just harass women on the street. You'll never even notice them if you're male and don't leave a bar with a woman. I've occasionally witnessed French Arabs trying to pick fights with non-Arab men, but overall they're probably less violent that Brits or Americans from Boston. Bostonians and Brits are by far the most violent men I've seen anyplace.
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
The correct way to phrase a racist statement like this is as follows.
"I am not a racist, but..."
Please read again my statement. Where did I say it was normal ? I just wanted to express my opinion to the OP that it was not a France-related problem, but was, alas !, a global problem, not uncommon.
A global problem if you wish to compare your capital with the likes of Bogota, Lagos or Port-au-prince, perhaps, but do you think this could happen in Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Belgium or the UK to name some countries in the same region? Think about.
Behold! Chrisq feels the need to tell everyone just how much of a racist fuck he is. You are the problem, not the Muslims.
Behold dave420 feels the need to show everyone what an idiot he is. I have not mentioned race at all. You don't even know what race I am. White Muslims are Just as Capable and likely to be terrorists as brown ones, and there are plenty of brown victims, the peaceful Coptic Christians for example
As far as I can tell, I think they thought he would film them doing crooked things, like spit in the food, or sell fried chicken heads, or whatever. So they went braindead apeshit.
Of course this is funny, since nobody suspected them to do anything bad in the first place, but NOW they will be under *very* close scrutiny. And considering their behavior, they probably have some very dirty little secret. Otherwise they wouldn't have acted that insane.
This will become funny. And they will definitely lose their jobs.
Absolutely! All restaurants are private premises, and the owners/operators *always* reserve the right to ask *any* customer to leave for a variety of reasons. Nobody has a *right* to be served in any restaurant, likely anywhere in the world I'd say.
Probably, it would be enough if the employees felt that he was causing a disturbance to the other customers, or was about to do so.
Have you ever been to France? They basically confined their Arabic minorities in ghettos for a generation, which prevented those minorities from acquiring French culture and turned their native north african street-harasment-of-women culture into something really nasty. It's still less nasty than Boston or England's bar fight culture, but it's still nasty.
I know about 10 people non-French who say they became racist by living in France. I've repeatedly explained that it really isn't race, but that does nothing once you've lived with rampant street harassment for six months.
In fact, the French themselves largely understand this isn't a racial issue, but an accident of history. That's why they pass laws like banning headscarfs in schools to try to force the immigrants they kept apart for a generation to integrate now.
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
This "It might be fake" is a derail people. Just mod it down.
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
The purported opinion of one medical professional carries little weight - assuming this opinion is even relevant
His word carries more weight then yours does fuckface.
Hell, I have RSI and an assistance monkey would help me
Got carpal tunnel syndrome from jacking off too much? How the monkey going to help? Yank your banana for you?
So you use a British Comedy to illustrate the fact that French are racists?
You may not be racist, but you are stupid for sure.
Write boring code, not shiny code!
Mr. Hilter: "I am not a racialist but, und this is a big 'but'..."
Burkha ban. Look it up.
Burkha ban is a proof that the banners are racists? Since when?
Write boring code, not shiny code!
The dark side of Europe's suburbs.
In under one minute of Google search. Please.
a little offtopic, but think about it.. you are wearing google glasses, but you don't have my permission to publish my image to the net. now what?
Here's another link, with a picture of the perps. The comments suggest "The French hate paparazzi" as well. http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/16/augmented-reality-explorer-steve-mann-assaulted-at-parisian-mcdonalds/
Whoa, whoa, wait, it's become a crime to look like a dork and is grounds to be beat up at leisure by anyone who wants to? So all the schoolyard bullies we met during our time were right?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Is this the same Steve Mann who has an implanted camera filming you non-stop but gets really upset if you take even a single picture of him?
So you use a British Comedy to illustrate the fact that French are racists?
You may not be racist, but you are stupid for sure.
No, (s)he pointed out that many people had the same experience as portrayed in the comedy.
Pay attention, Bond!
Note to ACs: I won't mod you up, even if you are being funny or insightful. So take a chance! It's not real life!
The fact that he blanked out their faces shows photography is a different matter legally than in the U.S. Hard to believe they are allowed to rip something off your head or even out of your hands though.
Would this be true in Greensboro, North Carolina? No idea what the French law is, but "anywhere in the world" includes lots of places.
They basically confined their Arabic minorities in ghettos for a generation
As always, it's a heck of a lot more complex than that. No, we haven't confined our Arabic immigrants in ghettos. Yes, there are ghettos. No, they weren't designed to be ghettos. No, newly arrived immigrants DON'T want to live anywhere else than in those ghettos.
I can too make uninformed and misleading catchy sentences. Look: Meanwhile, while we accept those immigrants in our land, they lapidate and kill christians all over northern Africa.
See? Sounds good, is punchy, makes an impression, and is utterly stupid. Just like your statements.
Write boring code, not shiny code!
" I was less concerned about "who" or what "types" of who did the assault and property damage."
But now you know that also in France the minimum wage jobs like McDonalds employees are usually minorities.
Yes, race is irrelevant here. These were McDonalds employees trying to protect their McDonalds from journalists. They should be put in prison, their McDonalds should be closed, and McDonalds should pay the guy a lot of money.
It's true the Arabic neighborhoods are considered the most dangerous in Paris, but they aren't nearly as dangerous as an American or British city though.
France has a reputation for "turning foreigners racist" because many North African / Arabic French harass women on the street rather nastily.
This is really really obnoxious if you're either female or go out with women, but I've never seen a fight or stabbing in France. I feel more safe in a French ghetto than outside a bar in England or Boston.
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
He's not. Unfortunately he describes the sad reality: The majority of crimes in France are from immigrants or descendants of immigrants, most of times Africa and North-Africa.
http://www.avisderecherches.interieur.gouv.fr/personnes1.asp?T=R
About 70% of prisoners in France are Muslim.
http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2008/04/29/en-france-les-detenus-musulmans-sont-surrepresentes-selon-le-washington-post_1039616_3224.html
Of course, at the same time, the majority of people form this area are perfectly honest and decent people, and they are the first victims of these, in their reputation.
As far as I can tell, I think they thought he would film them doing crooked things, like spit in the food, or sell fried chicken heads, or whatever. So they went braindead apeshit.
Of course this is funny, since nobody suspected them to do anything bad in the first place, but NOW they will be under *very* close scrutiny. And considering their behavior, they probably have some very dirty little secret. Otherwise they wouldn't have acted that insane.
I think they can say goodbye to their jobs, and probably a couple of friends too.
From their website:
"Nous avons été informés, ce jour, d’une réclamation concernant un consommateur canadien qui déclare avoir été l’objet d’une altercation avec des personnels McDonald’s dans un de nos restaurants parisiens, le soir du 1er juillet.
Comme toute réclamation de consommateurs, celle-ci fait l’objet d’une enquête interne approfondie pour faire toute la lumière sur les faits. Bien sûr, si les faits tendaient à impliquer un ou plusieurs membres du personnel de l’établissement, nous prendrons les mesures adaptées.
Pour l’heure, nous en appelons à la patience afin de permettre la collecte d’informations sur un événement qui se serait produit il y a plus de deux semaines."
Short English version: We've heard of a complaint. We're investigating. Give us time.
http://www.mcdonalds.fr/
I can see where this guy went wrong.
He clearly tried co-operate, was reasonable and maintained his composure.
All he needed to do was raise his voice and stand up for himself and they would have immediately surrendered.
Unfortunately, the answer is yes.
This sig under construction. Please check back later.
That's pretty much what I wonder here, too. I'd be delighted to hear the other side of the story.
Don't get me wrong, I have been following Steve Mann for a while and we dream the same dream (with the main difference that he can actually pull it off while I lack the money and time), but somehow this story doesn't add up. People are irrational, yes, and they are often lunatics, yes, but we're not talking random hooligans here who could at worst face an assault charge (which the average hooligan responds to with "pick a number and get in line"), we're talking about employees at the restaurant he's been to which would most certainly lead to instant firing if there was exactly zero reason for their behavior. On top of assault charges which would nearly as certainly lead to them being pretty much unemployable in a similar environment.
What was Step 4?
I somehow think that there is some parts missing in this story, and I'd love to hear a statement from McD what's their side.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Assault is never good, but I can imagine the reaction, it will become a bigger problem, as people wearing 'camera's like and recording is an invasion of privacy.
No, (s)he pointed out that many people had the same experience as portrayed in the comedy.
Pay attention, Bond!
So the comedy was an illustration or not? You say I got it wrong, but the bottom line is that you agree with me...
I never said he used the Comedy to deduce of imply anything, just as an illustration.
Write boring code, not shiny code!
That area in Munich is only unsafe if you're afraid of Turks, it's not the kind of anarchy you describe. Are you claiming that these are areas where in your words "cops cannot do much, because they are outnumbered (and outgunned !) by the residents" ?
His word carries more weight then yours does fuckface.
"then" mine does? OK, buddy.
Back in the real world, French law in Paris carries more weight than some letter which the holder claims to have been written by a foreign doctor.
Got carpal tunnel syndrome from jacking off too much? How the monkey going to help? Yank your banana for you?
I didn't say I have carpal tunnel syndrome. Read more carefully next time.
Thank goodness people like you (and the "victim") aren't involved in administering justice. Fortunately, thinking you're smart doesn't get you any points with a judge anywhere.
It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from here.
Wait and see they'll be endless screeds and hate speech about 'people using those damn things everywhere'. They'll be new laws preventing people from wearing them while driving. People getting banned from restaurants and movie theaters and endless endless articles about how Mother Government must crush them all under her boot heel forever.
These guys were ALL seemingly of middle-eastern origins but that's NOT the issue.
If they were Arabs, the most likely origin is Morocco, Tunisia and specially Algeria. These countries are in the Middle East just as much as France is.
Otherwise you're right, that's REALLY NOT the issue.
For the record, 'French' is not a race...
If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits
Take a look at the perpetrator #1. He is not some run of the mill McD dude, he is Gustavo Fring! No wonder our nerd glasses dude got little bit roughed there.
And how is this different from America?
France is AWESOME. Unless you have to deal with the French.
If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits
I tried to post a link to the article on Facebook, but it refused, claiming it had been flagged as abusive, Wtf!
They also used to be banned in Turkey. I guess that makes them racist too.
Funny that you seem to think of Miami as a major city, but that is not the only part of your statement I disagree with. It is NOT normal in major cities in the developed world to have areas where the police doesn't dare to go. If this happens in peace time, it is a serious breakdown in society. The fact that you seem to have come to think of it as normal is very troubling indeed.
When people say "the cops won't go to that part of town" what they actually mean to say is "The cops won't go there alone or in small groups", not that they're afraid to go at all. And it's nothing unusual at all, every major city has areas where you will never find a cop working solo, and most of them have areas where you won't find a cop outside his car without at least a dozen other officers as backup. Even smaller cities have "bad" neighborhoods where the police know better than to wander around without backup. The fact that you seem to think otherwise simply illustrates how blind some people are to the realities of life.
Where did I say that he deserved to be assaulted? I questioned his decision making process, which is my prerogative as the person involved in the incident presented only one side/story/perspective to the public.
Have you ever considered brushing up on your reading comprehension skillset?
Since he got assault, he needed pepper (spray) as well.
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
All the comments seem to be focusing on whether this is even real. Am I the only one that expected this? When I read the first slashdot article talking about google glasses, that was my reaction. How could I circumvent all these wienies with cameras on their heads?! I see these types of troubles increasing as more people take these things out in public. I swear to never interact with anyone wearing those. If I have customers that walk into my store wearing those, they will be asked to leave immediately or the police will be called!
" They basically confined their Arabic minorities in ghettos for a generation, which prevented those minorities from acquiring French culture"
Bull shit.
They confine THEMSELVES! It is exactly the same here in Germany. The Muslim popular stays in their own areas. They choose not to integrate. The parents forbid their children from pursuing relations with non Muslims.
You cannot blame the local population when immigrants refuse to integrate. We all know how understand Americans are about this sort of thing. They love it when Mexicans speak spanish to them. They would never say something like, "learn English you Mexican".
Skorpio: "Homer, which country do you hate more: France or Italy?"
Homer: "France."
Skorpio: "Heh. No one ever says Italy."
In France private security have basically no rights to arrest someone as long as they're not doing something like assaulting someone (and in those cases they have the same rights and in fact obligation as all the citizens to intervene, and I say obligation because it's "Non assistance à personne en danger" not helping someone who's in danger and you can be condemned for it by law.). The only right they have is to call the police.
No matter what you may believe about our country there is NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that justifies an act of violence here just because someone happened to illegally take pictures somewhere and the culprit of the assault will face bigger charges than someone who illegally took pictures if you sue.
Private security guards in French malls or supermarkets don't even have the right to search your bags if they suspect an act of thievery. They can only try to stall you and ask the police to come and search the bags for them.
The truth is, most people employed in the private security sector are uneducated immigrants, or first generation born in France who are ignorant of French law and really quick to lose their temper. In the south of France it's not a stretch to say that 70% of the guards are black people, 20% north african and 10% actually French both in blood and culture. In the case of that McDonald in Paris they were pretty obviously North African, even the fucking manager is a North African called Khader.
In the article, he posts images from what seems to be very far back in his narrative of events. He shows the 'Possible Witnesses' as he described them well before his assault. If his visual system only stored images after or as it was damaged, I could accept images of the attackers themselves.
This whole story seems to be missing something.
man who was satisfied and went away was not one of the perpetrators
i spent five minutes thinking and all i got was this crappy sig
It wasn't so much that they were confined physically, as confined financially. To live in a good part of Paris you need at least a college or university education. Even then, you wouldn't be able to afford to buy an apartment, as everyone rents. The Arabic minorities didn't even get a college education, so that keeps them off the private property market. The only solution was to build apartment block housing in the suburbs of Paris. The other half of the problem is that you need contacts to get a good job. That's the second block. Some go to college and find they can't get an apprenticeship afterwards.
They're touchy about that.
At a minimum, McDonald's has the right to withdraw the franchise license to a franchisee that damages the value of the franchise. Force them to exercise it. If you are outraged by this story, write (in paper mail) to McDonald's world headquarters, explaining that you will cease to dine at a McDonald's in any country because you now fear for the safety of yourself and your children, and you will not return until they investigate this story thoroughly, and take steps to ensure that legitimate customers are not assaulted by restaurant staff anywhere in the world. Don't write to customer support or PR, that's likely to get read by peons and get summarily ignored. Ditto for your local franchisee, who has about as much influence on McD's global operations as cockroaches do to your house. Try writing the top management directly, or the board of directors.
Ok, how about this one :
World's five most dangerous cities. In the top five, four are, in your words, 'the likes of Bogota', which I understand would be from emerging countries, and, guess what ? New Orleans. Are the USA an emerging country ?
Look everyone! It's another Slashfuck who screams 'racism' at the drop of a hat! How amusing!
Fuck you in the ass you fucking fuck. You are the problem.
It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from here.
Only if you've augmented your vision
Well, obviously there's no law forcing them into ghettos - even France couldn't get away with quite such a blatent violation of US law. I have an odd feeling there are other, less codified ways in which they're excluded - probably home owners in white communities refusing to sell to Arabs, agents dissuading them from considering those houses and redirecting them to ones in the ghetto, that sort of thing.
the writing style sniffs like Mr. Mann is a little futher along the autistic spectrum than a lot on /. The whole thing about showing McD's employees the letter is just wierd. McD's employees can't really care ... about *anything*.
There are a bunch of this story that don't make sense, but the main one is that if he was accosted, he'd go to the police, if not the management at McD's. Not a blog.
So I'm left with the thought that he's spinning what he created years ago in light of what google is coming out with - google who's getting the press google - as an attempt to set out what he's created well before google.
"In France, I would expect Algerians and Moroccans before I'd guess skinheads."
Evidence please, references? or just a racist rant?
(e.g. crime statistics for France for assault. Do French statistics include haircut type?)
Have you been to the Basque regioin of Spain? Or the artist's district in East Berlin, before "The Wall" came down? Even in London, take a walk through Elephant & Castle after dark.
That's exactly it. You questioned his decision making process, not the decision making process of the thugs who assaulted him.
Up or down, though, is a different matter. Because as far as I'm aware the French who don't baiser are either underage or incapable. The first sentence might be seen as insightful, but the second is a gross libel on most French people over 90.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
assaulted by 3 employees of McDonalds
This story would be definitely more interesting if the man assaulted 3 McDonald's employees with his Digital Eye Glasses.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
1) He thinks that "a letter from my doctor" is some sort of do-anything-you-want card in private establishments across the world.
no he doesn't. where does he say that anywhere.
i would hope a letter from my doctor might help some crazed nutjob understand he is being completely irrational and does not need to assualt me just because i've decided to do something meaningful with my life and actually pursue the betterment of man........you know the note explaining what i'm wearing might actually come in handy.
. Hey, look, I have a letter here which looks like it's signed by a doctor, I can come into your establishment wearing whatever I want!
note or no note i wouldn't kick you out for wearing what you want. i'd likely kick you out for being a dick though.
2) He thinks that the correct thing to do when you are "assaulted" is to write a report for the Internet and to supply random pictures, calling lots of people "perpetrators";
no he thinks the correct thing to do is contact the relevant authorities (police and the store) which is exactly what he did.
3) He says that these "perpetrators" caused the pictures because his system automatically takes pictures when it is knocked to the floor. Unless you're a lawyer, buddy, don't try to lawyer an argument;
rationally explaining a situation in full != lawyering an argument.
4) He claims that he "contacted the embassy, consulate, police, etc. without much luck". In what way did he lack "luck"?
umm, in that they were of absolutely no assistance. it's kinda self explanatory. i would think you simply didn't understand the meaning of the phrase 'not having any luck' if it weren't for your next sentence.
I've got several family members living in France and they've never suffered from lack of "luck" when reporting a physical assault.
lucky them
Maybe he doesn't know how to speak French and refused to accept a translator or find his own. Maybe he presented this weird page instead of stating that he had been attacked, answering the inevitable questions concerning what happened, and leaving the law to do its work.
Maybe neither of these things are the case. in fact there's absolutely zero evidence that either of these things happened (in fact based on everything he's written in that blog-post i would doubt he cannot speak french, let alone refuse a translator)
i spent five minutes thinking and all i got was this crappy sig
You know, if you want to go to Paris and eat at McDonalds, you can do that in Paris, Texas: http://www.yellowpages.com/paris-tx/mip/mcdonalds-942303. Supposedly, you won't get assaulted by the local employees there. There was a movie (Snatch?) that succintly summed it up: Never go to Europe. :)
Absolutely! All restaurants are private premises, and the owners/operators *always* reserve the right to ask *any* customer to leave for a variety of reasons. Nobody has a *right* to be served in any restaurant, likely anywhere in the world I'd say.
Probably, it would be enough if the employees felt that he was causing a disturbance to the other customers, or was about to do so.
Yup, but even if you are on private property they have to ask you politely to leave first. They are not allowed to lay a finger on you unless you refuse to do so or ignore them. Even then they are only allowed to use reasonable force to remove you from the premises, and that does not involve trying to take your property from you, especially if it happens to be attached to your head.
I dont read
what a shame
... I guess he didn't see it coming ...
4a) Underling from 1-3 (mis?)reports to branch manager.
4b) Branch manager goes paranoid apeshit, calls security goons.
4c) That trio decides to check things out, confronts the "troublemaker" and instead of simply telling him to vacate the premises and calling the cops if he refuses, they decide to get into a shouting match.
Not necessarily.
Racism is unjustified prejudice.
If, for instance, every known case of rape had been attributed to small white guys, assuming when you hear of a rape that it would've been done by a small white guy is just recognizing a very obvious pattern.
I've got no idea if the 95% is true or not, I'm guessing not though, in which case it would be a racist comment.
If it's factual though, it's not.
Why would you question his decision making process? He's with his kids. His kids are hungry. They want food ASAP or they won't stop nagging. The staff initially seemed to accept the letter. You must be thick to think there's something wrong with his decision making progress. Get kids and get a clue, then return to the discussion.
Clever signature text goes here.
Is his right eye damaged somehow? If not, then how is the doctor's note supposed to explain his use of the device?
..... I do not need to be tracked by any person with digital eye glasses.
How do I know what they record and what they do with it..... I say digital head mount glasses should be banned in general since it is an intrusion on privacy for all those who walk on the street!
I say... all people that wear Google glasses or any other like device should be sentenced to death for ignorance and being an idiot!
work together? Maybe when the machine men win the war and take over Earth, that might happen... =)
Why do people say "minorities" instead of "non-white" or "darker-skinned people"? In some areas, these people are not "minorities" and yet are still referred to as such.
I wish people would get over politics and political correctness to get to the real meaning. How many times will "mentally retarded" be redefined before people give up with the name changing? How many name changes for "negro" will we have to suffer before people just let the thing being labeled define itself? (What I mean about mentally retarded is that we don't "say that" now... it's special, challenged and even gifted. Their classes were "special education" and "life skills" and all that. And about negro? "Nigger" is more of a reflection on the lack of education of the user than the people labelled. But "colored people"? As in NAACP? Or the original negro as in UNCF (United Negro College Fund)? And "African-American"? Wholly crap! They aren't African! They are just American because they were born here *and* usually not %100 black!)
Sorry... I just don't think it's enough to say "why can't we all just get along?"
No, you are blaming the victim. All the victim did was to visit the place, show the note from his doctor, and order food when they seemed to accept it. When the thugs came to assault him he once again showed his doctor's note, and then they proceeded to viciously attack him.
Clever signature text goes here.
No, (s)he pointed out that many people had the same experience as portrayed in the comedy.
So the comedy was an illustration or not? You say I got it wrong, but the bottom line is that you agree with me...
I never said he used the Comedy to deduce of imply anything, just as an illustration.
Err, yes, you got it wrong, IMO. I think that the reference to the comedy was not stupid. I don't think you can deduce from what I say whether I agree with you or not on the bigger issue, but you were wrong to say slim is "stupid" for making the post.
Note to ACs: I won't mod you up, even if you are being funny or insightful. So take a chance! It's not real life!
The underlying question is why, for the love of all that is good in this world, would you eat at a McDonald's in France?
Returned Peace Corps IT Volunteer
Once, just once in my life, I ended up in a McDonalds in Frankfurt after my companion had rejected every possible variety of German, Turkish and Greek restaurant and cafe. It was, quite simply, a "starve in the gutter before I do that again" episode. I fail to understand how an educated man, a professor no less, could conceivably end up in an American fast food joint in a city where sticking a pin in the map will possibly still give you too many choices. It's like visiting Niagara Falls and spending the entire time watching the toilet flush.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
"Hi, I'm a dude wearing several thousand dollars' worth of electronics on my body, see, everyone, see?"
I don't know the circumstances of this assault, but I know that in the last several weeks I've heard about several construction sites broken into and robbed of as little as a couple hundred dollars' worth of copper. This morning was $20,000 in damage to the site, for $2000 in copper (new light rail construction vandalized).
Personally, I think it would be very...trusting... to advertise to the public at-large that you have valuable electronics in your pockets. Particularly if you are distracted looking at online porn while you're standing there.
-Styopa
It was his own mistake to take the Vision Enhancement as his first augmentation. Should have chosen Microfibral Muscle or at least Speed Enhancement first.
It was racist even to bring race up.
Here's a person who, upon hearing about a crime, thought "Oh, I know, I'd better post about what race they're likely to be."
How is it illegal? WTF?
If you've spent some time in a Maghreb country like Morocco, you'll have noticed that most North African Arabs are just as light skinned as Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians. Not to confuse them with the Berbers, who are more diverse (from very dark up to blonde with blue/green eyes).
cpghost at Cordula's Web.
No he used British people's response to a situation to illustrate that they perceive many French people are willing to admit openly to disliking arabs. How you expressed your nonsense point is even more dissapointing; but I suppose congratulations are in order, there's a dilbert about you
i would hope a letter from my doctor might help some crazed nutjob understand
I expect that the last thing a crazed nutjob would do is read a doctor's letter.
Of course, anyone who judges some witness as a "crazed nutjob" after only reading one side of a story is, sadly, a long way from sane.
note or no note i wouldn't kick you out for wearing what you want.
Spoken like someone who's never run a business. If I walked into a shop covered in inflammatory, threatening messages and carrying an unidentified device, you'd have two choices - chuck me out, or watch all your other customers leave.
rationally explaining a situation in full != lawyering an argument.
You may think it's so easy to deny personal responsibility, but a judge won't.
"It is not my fault that the camera I built, owned and carried into the establishment was taking photographs in the way I'd designed."
Yes. Yes, it is. You can't set up a device to break the law somehow (the clasical example is the booby trap) and then claim that it's not your fault because someone else triggered it. Arguably, because it was already recording images, it was already breaking the law. That it's just a "buffer" may or may not be relevant.
umm, in that they were of absolutely no assistance. it's kinda self explanatory. i would think you simply didn't understand the meaning of the phrase 'not having any luck' if it weren't for your next sentence.
Paris isn't some 3rd world backwater. You won't be ignored by everyone if you report that you've been physically assaulted. Perhaps he is annoyed that a squad of policemen didn't immediately turn up at the McDonalds to investigate the high-priority crime of having your glasses knocked off and some paper torn up, but that's another matter. He is either making shit up or grossly misrepresenting the facts.
It's probably so he can make it though security checks.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
I should have made that distinction, thank you!
2. Leave your Mom's basement and venture out into the world and interact with actual human beings. I'm sure writing a letter would make all the difference. *rollseyes*
He wanted "augmented reality", he got "augmented reality".
A closed mouth gathers no foot.
It was probably a follower of he Religion of Peace who didn't want his slaves...I mean wives...being photographed.
Why don't you start a restaurant and put a sign outside it saying "No dogs, no blacks, no irish" and see how that's received.
Thanks a lot for clarifying my point. It's much clearer as you stated it (no sarcasm).
Dude, we're nowhere near nanomods yet. He should've gone with CASIE or perhaps a skullgun. If he could kil just by thought, it would be beter.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
Just as Jesus said "you will always have the poor with you" so we will always have the French. Judging by the photos on the victim's web site, the suspected perps look like they could be undercover govt thugs in role as mcd employees. It's hard to imagine low-level mcd employees becoming violent over perceived video recording. And those men don't look like they are merely mcd employees. In the same way as govt thugs in Washington DC or New York City will assault you for video recording public scenes (with a "who do you think you are" attitude), perhaps this is an example of French govt thugs doing the same thing.
A) If you are in public, he doesn't need your permission.
B) He was not publishing images to the net.
C) Now what? Move along, nothing to see here.
While I can't say it's wrong to try to show someone assaulting you a letter from your doctor, it's a desperate move that may be the only choice available, but which you should expect probably won't work. Writing about it as if he expected it to work and that this criminal is especially bad for refusing to read it shows a lack of common sense. And a lack of common sense is likely to increase your chances of getting assaulted in the first place, if only because you don't avoid bad neighborhoods or take other common precautions.
I've actually started checking "African-American" on all surveys now, even though I'm "white," because we all came from Africa - everybody in the human race. So, technically, I'm an African-American, too. They never specify how far you're supposed to go back when they ask that question.
For the same reason you'd eat at a McDonald's elsewhere: You hate decent food.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
Okay the Digital Eye part is kind of creepy, but he should not have been assaulted just because of it. But come to think of it, if he was using it to scan under women's clothes, or look weird at other people, I might say he does deserve a beating even though he may be physically impaired. Thanks for the post!
http://www.mitprof.com
Don't get confused, I am not being racist
I do not think that word means what you think it means.
They basically confined their Arabic minorities in ghettos for a generation, which prevented those minorities from acquiring French culture and turned their native north african street-harasment-of-women culture into something really nasty.
Sorry but I don't believe that explanation. In many places of Portugal, including the capital, we also have many different types of emigrants, mainly from the African colonies (Christians), but also a lot of Gypsies and Muslims. And guess what, most of them, except for the Gypsies, live right in the center of the city.
Nobody is putting anyone away from society, at the most, the Gypsies keep away by themselves, although the government tried to pass laws to make their children go to school with the rest of the kids, but well... they don't want to. They also don't want to get a job because "it's against to their culture to receive orders" (No, I didn't say it, it was the head of the Gipsy Gulture Defense Association, that said it in a TV interview to try and justify the high unemployment rate and criminality related to them.
The Muslims, although a more recent arrival, keep themselves away from the rest of society as well and follow their own laws... at least when it comes to the way they threat their woman and daughter.
The only nice ones are the Chinese, they may not integrate much as well, but they follow the laws, their kids go to our public school with ours, and they are hard working.
If he caves in to a nagging kid, that only reinforces the habit. That alone is a serious issue. I have two children you imbecile (5 and 2) and they've never eaten at McDonalds and I'd be quite surprised if they didn't travel MORE than the children in the original post (at least 6 weeks per year).
No. The underlying question is why, for the love of all that is good in this world, would you eat at McDonald's?
In what way isn't 'French' a race?
I'm not condoning physical violence, but I think wearable recording devices _should_ be resisted by the general public. I would have sided with the victim except for the fact that he has presented these (crystal clear) images that he saved onto the device. His defense is that the device is for improved vision, yet improved vision does not require images to be retained. Retaining images is the part I am against. Of course, with a wearable device like that nobody can tell whether you're "saving for later" or not, so an outright ban isn't out of the question.
It is true that most of the prisons in Europe have a considerable non-European population (in fact here over half the prison population is foreign or of second generation foreign descent). A lot of it being made up out of (former) citizens of African or Middle-Eastern countries. Saying that will get you called a racist but it's simply a fact. The real question is what you do with that information. So yes it does mean that if a crime is committed that has a jail sentence attached to it is statistically far more likely that it's a person that came from one of those particular geographical areas. But you can draw this conclusion out further: they don't adapt well to local customs and do commit criminal activity, the police force is racist, etc. But this is getting rather off-topic I think. And it's a pointless argument anyway
It's simply a fact that many shop keepers and restaurant employees in France aren't very nice people. I stopped visiting France not cause it's not a nice country, and most people are friendly indeed. It's just that all the people who should be happy to get tourists in their business treat them like they're a disease. Going to Germany or the UK is far more pleasant in that aspect.
And McDonalds should very much apologise for this and repair the damage done to the device and in my opinion they should also refund part of the trip cause I doubt they had a pleasant stay afterwards.
The reason blacks in the United States and scholars of race are particular about naming is because historical usage is often inaccurate and/or racist.
Negro is a mistaken identification of race, and scientists are in general agreement that race has no biological basis.
In the contemporary context, "black" is perfectly acceptable as is "African-American", though "black" has problems with precision and specificity as does "African-American". For example, many "black" people are actually less black in their skin-tone than some non-blacks (including some whites). African-American confuses nationality and obscures color in order to be historically accurate and, for better or worse, is the term generally accepted by educated and cultured people in the United States.
The real issue is that racism is often not even conscious. People don't even recognize how they have been subtly trained by media and culture to hold a racist bias.
What I find curious is how you mush together a discussion of how to refer to mentally impaired people and people of black African ancestry. Why these two? Why not Jews and blacks, or Indians and blacks? What are your unconscious presumptions about these populations that makes you link them together when thinking about how to name them?
blog
In what way isn't 'French' a race?
In the sense that two French people can have different races.
No, we don't all come from Africa. I find it rather sad that so many people believe this myth.
In June of 2012, my wife, children, and I traveled to Paris, France, for our summer vacation, in order to give our children the opportunity to learn true Parisian French (we have them enrolled in French immersion at school).
I'm so sure the glasses were the only reason the altercation started. I'm sure it has nothing to do with being a snobby douchebag who thinks he's better than everyone else. If you don't believe me, he signed the post as "Dr. Steve Mann, PhD (MIT '97), PEng (Ontario)" Anyway, reading his account of it makes me want to hit him due to his unbearable writing style and attitude and I'm not even staring into his robo-glasses, getting photos randomly taken of me.
By the way, it was later found that the "two Ranch Wraps, one burger, and one mango McFlurry" were more detrimental to his health than the assault. Someone with such AMAZING education and intelligence should know better than to eat at McDonalds. I'm just a lowely little IT Manager and I haven't eaten there in about 8 years.
Subsequently another person within McDonalds physically assaulted me, while I was in McDonand's, eating my McDonand's Ranch Wrap that I had just purchased at this McDonald's
I think he and/or his roboglasses just failed a Turing test lol.
Hate to admit it, but when I used to live in Germany it was the same thing. The Turks there were the worst. The Germans were great. But the Turkish immigrants they had brought in were the most violent bunch of chip-on-their-shoulders pricks you would ever meet. I know it's not politically-correct to admit it, but Arab immigrants really are a problem in Europe (particularly since they haven't assimilated into the native culture like they have in the U.S.).
The things is, it was indeed a historical issue : those gettho as you call them were not really arab gettho. They were place (mostly bar buildings) with very low rent (HLM=habitation à loyer modéré=Housing with limited rent). Those became inhabited with a high proportion of north african and central african people, but there is a lot (and initally a majority) of non-african people in them. But due to the fact that most immigrant at least initally had low pay job, there was a concentration which happened. So it was NOT that arabic minority were confined intentionally, it just happened that they went to the lowest rent. Heck, my mother told me when those HLM were started , she went in with my father, arab was a minorities. When they moved onn 20 years later Arabic/central african were the majority in the particular building. But then again which gettho is initially intended ? probably not many.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
Is there a special name for a Parisian red neck? The behavior fits. In other words "If you don't understand it, kill it.
Because "French" is a nationality. The French people are a mix of races. The original Gallic peoples, some Romans, some Normans, some Germanic mix, and more recently, many people of Arabic or North African nomad descent.
Saying that "French" is a race is like saying "Canadian" or "American" is a race.
Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
Be pure, be vigilant, behave!
Actually, if the naturals want to win, shouldn't they misbehaving... a lot.. and winning by force of numbers
What kind of bullshit moderation is this? +1 Informative?
Generally I'm a pretty liberal guy. But go to Europe sometime. The first time you encounter Arab immigrants you'll get some insight into what the OP meant. I was in Germany, and the Turks there made the pricks on Jersey Shore look like a bunch of polite, level-headed pacifists.
How the monkey going to help? Yank your banana for you?
Obviously, it spanks itself.
In what way isn't 'French' a race?
Most ways. In what way ís 'French' a race?
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
or maybe they are hiding some bombs in the back to blow it up for some virgins latre and didnt want to be outed yet. MAYBE it is an issue.....
Does anyone else find it a bit too convenient that the camera the guy is wearing only kept the images of all perps (even the attempt to hide the name tag), witnesses, etc., exclusively "as a result of Perpetrator 1's actions"? I call BS.
The events he describes took place over at least 5 minutes and all the images were stored only because when "the computer is damaged, e.g. by falling and hitting the ground (or by a physical assault), buffered pictures for processing remain in its memory"? Complete and utter bullshit.
I bet there is more story than what he is willing to say (e.g. there was probably at least a warning and a request to leave the premises before he was attacked).
Their commercials are funnier too.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Are you implying that some of us are descended from some other species of Homo Sapiens (if that's not an oxymoron) that didn't evolve in Africa?
No. Well...maybe. Actually, yes. It really just depends.
nuke the bastard frogs and the legitimate ones too nuke the dirty frogs and the clean ones too
The heading says it all.
Whilst I don't doubt for a moment that Parisian fast food operatives can be rude and physically pushy, it does appear from TFA that he had communication issues and a tendency to be rather arrogant (the whole article starts with "DON'T YOU KNOW WHO I AM? I'M AN ACKNOWLEDGED GENIUS!" and works its way from there).
McDonalds in France (and in the UK and many other countries) do not allow still cameras, video cameras or other recording equipment to be operated inside their restaurants without explicit permission from the managers.
This is clearly labelled on all the doors as you go in, not just in words, but a picture of a camera crossed out.
If you don't agree, go elsewhere, problem avoided.
What seems to have happened is that an attention-seeking American ignored these notices. He was then asked to put away the recording equipment, and he didn't comply. At that point he was probably asked to leave, but from TFA I'm not convinced he knew enough French to realise what was being asked of him. A scuffle then broke out.
It's important to note that on private premises, the staff can ask you to leave for any reason (it's their shop, not yours) and if you refuse, they can legally use reasonable force. Same anywhere in Europe. In larger cities where they have lots of troublemakers they will even employ professional bouncers (doormen, security guards) to enforce this, but anyone acting with the owner's consent can chuck you out, physically if need be. My first wife was even directly instructed by the police to physically manhandle unruly customers out of her amusement arcade rather than calling 999 (911/112), which seeing as she was a 6'2" amazonian and her customers were weedy videogaming teenagers was rather one-sided, and probably not the Xena experience they had fantasised about. Point is, shop staff can ask you to leave, they don't have to give you a reason, and if you don't comply, they can physically chuck you out perfectly legally.
Now there's clearly a question about whether the amount of force used was reasonable, but that question only arose because he ignored or refused to comply with what is a very, very reasonable request: People in restaurants generally don't want to be filmed. If he's too ignorant or arrogant to deal with that, then scuffles such as the one he described are entirely predictable.
As if to reinforce people's view of him as arrogant and out-of-touch, he appears to have looked up American contact information on WHOIS rather than using the phone number on a French-language website; seemingly he thinking a bunch of IT infrastructure engineers 8,000 miles away are going to be able to do anything about bouncers in a fast food restaurant in a foreign country.
In short, the moral of the tale is: If you're in a foreign country and you're pissing people off, consider the possibility that the foreign country has different social norms than what you're used to, and adapt appropriately. If you're not prepared to accept that, rip up your passport and stay at home.
I mean, heck, I'm not a fan of Catholicism, but I'm not rude or arrogant enough to expect to be able to visit French cathedrals wearing beach shorts without getting an old lady jabbing a sharp, painful and accusing finger into my hide, and even if I did, I'd take it as an indication that *I* was the one doing something wrong.
People are trying to relax and eat, put your recording equipment away dude!
(And I don't for a moment buy the argument that the digital glasses aren't recording equipment. Exhibit A, the still photos on the chap's web page.)
The bloke was being a dick.
Andrew Oakley - www.aoakley.com
... to eliminate all inferior beings who need prosthetic devices. Next up, an assault on those who use crutches. We'll clean up that genome, yet. And as for those foreign-born cripples ...
What is this, high school?
Here is the contact info from the McDonald's website for the French office. Perhaps they should hear about the bad press they are receiving from this incident.
McDonald's France S.A.
1 Rue Gustave Eiffel
78045 Guayancourt Cedex
France
Phone* : 33-130-48-6000
Fax* : 33-130-48-6300
* U.S. customers, dial 011 + before an international number, except in Canada, dial 1 + number.
I think there is something missing in this story. Personally, if I was wearing something that does not offend the people and I was asked by some McDonalds employee (not using any adjectives here :) ) to explain what I am wearing - I would just leave the place immediately. There are so many restaurants in Paris (!!!). Side note: going to McDonalds in Paris is very American ;)
Unless the question was out of curiosity - otherwise it is not your business. If an employee is asking this question - he/she does not respect me as your customer. And I am not eating at the place where I am not shown at least minimum level of respect. Period.
No he isn't. You're just a typical overly sensitive liberal fucking idiot.
I guess he's a nazi next, right?
I agree with the other person who replied to you: it must be highly variable. I speak passable French and Parisians have always been jerks to me. On the other hand people elsewhere in France are normal. If anyone else out there has had the same experience with Paris we have and needs a rec for a place where people are friendly, I vote for Turkey. Kindest. People. On. Earth.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
I was wondering the same thing. We're given the impression that this all happened in silence, which it obviously didn't. Presumably the employees said something. Presumably this was in French. No idea how fluent the blogger was in French, whether the letter was written in English or French, and whether the McDonalds Employees spoke English.
My speculation is that the employee was sent by the manager who felt that this unusual behaviour was a bit weird.. Was asked to ask about the headgear. He asked. Reported back. The manager wasn't satisfied, and felt he needed backup, and decided to confront the odd person.
Here we have the mysterious step 4.
The reason blacks in the United States and scholars of race are particular about naming is because historical usage is often inaccurate and/or racist.
Negro is a mistaken identification of race, and scientists are in general agreement that race has no biological basis.
In the contemporary context, "black" is perfectly acceptable as is "African-American", though "black" has problems with precision and specificity as does "African-American". For example, many "black" people are actually less black in their skin-tone than some non-blacks (including some whites). African-American confuses nationality and obscures color in order to be historically accurate and, for better or worse, is the term generally accepted by educated and cultured people in the United States.
The real issue is that racism is often not even conscious. People don't even recognize how they have been subtly trained by media and culture to hold a racist bias.
What I find curious is how you mush together a discussion of how to refer to mentally impaired people and people of black African ancestry. Why these two? Why not Jews and blacks, or Indians and blacks? What are your unconscious presumptions about these populations that makes you link them together when thinking about how to name them?
Or, at least in the case of those living inside the United States, we could just say Americans? We can hardly "move beyond race" when large numbers of people are insisting on constantly labeling people in such a way, can we? Not saying whether you're in that camp or not, just pointing out the existence of that camp.
As to why not Jews and blacks, have Jewish people gone through the PC-Rename machine in the same way? The Indian comparison might be more valid, but I'm not sure if their "rename" to Native American was entirely for PC reasons. One could quite legitimately argue "They aren't Indians so we really ought to call them something else, no?"
I was raised on the command line, bitch
"Nemo me impune lacesset"
Why do people say "minorities" instead of "non-white" or "darker-skinned people"? In some areas, these people are not "minorities" and yet are still referred to as such.
In Europe, I believe there are no cities in which whites represent less than half of the population. The area with the largest proportion of non-whites in the UK is the London borough of Tower Hamlets which is ~56% white. Obviously if you draw small enough boundaries you can isolate areas with strong non-white majorities, but I don't see how that's helpful.
In the US, it's different. Atlanta, GA, for example, is 61% "Black or African American". It would be technically wrong to describe a black person living in Atlanta as a minority. But then I'm not sure anyone does - do they?
The term "minority" is useful, because being in the minority puts you in a position of weakness.
That branch is well know for peddling. Their employees make next to nothing and so like to augment their income... ...just like in casino's and certain street corners photography is not welcome.
>So, there you are in a new country with a different culture
Are you talking about the American tourist with the science-project band-aid spectacles who can only afford to eat in fast food restaurants whilst visiting the greatest gastronomic city on Earth, or the third-generation Parisian restaurant owner with the native passport?
Knowing what the cost of living in Paris is, versus the squalid living conditions of many minor American academics and generally hilarious wages in the USA (from which you then have to subtract heath insurance and vacation days... LOL), I know which one I'd be looking down on. It's half a million Euros minimum just to start a McDonalds franchise in one location in Europe; in Paris, a shedload more. That chap with the tie in the photos, he's probably the franchise owner, he's probably a millionaire.
Andrew Oakley - www.aoakley.com
I don't understand why he didn't take this to the police.
It was assault on him, he has pictures, witnesses. Looks bad on France when tourist are getting attack.
But I don't know, I'm not stupid enough to go to France.
Unless of course, the people that attacked him were cops, and they just react like American cops when being filmed.
Be seeing you...
had an incident at a McDonald's in Paris, France.
He was assaulted by three men during his visit to get food with his family.
Huge hole in the story.
You can't get food in McDonald's :)
That's an interesting statistic. You know that France has a higher suicide rate than all of those place, with the possible exception of Somalia, which we can make up things about because we lack the data for either one of those stats there:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate
... scientists are in general agreement that race has no biological basis.
Poppycock!
If race isn't a biological manifestation, then what could it possibly be? Environmental? Chance? Of course there's a genetic difference between various groups of people who share certain distinctive features (e.g. skin colour, nose shapes, eye shapes, lactose intolerance). That doesn't mean that any of the groups are any better than another, that particular individuals always conform to their parent's genotype, or that these genes don't get endlessly mixed and remixed as time goes on.
It seems to me that "race" is just the informal word* we use to talk about these different groups. It's certainly a concept that has started a lot of wars throughout history, and perhaps for that reason it's becoming increasingly politically incorrect to use. But the word does mean something, and that meaning is inextricably entwined with biology.
------
* Perhaps we use "race" for human beings because we would be offended if we used the same term that we use for other animals: breed. But that would definitely be politically incorrect!
No. Well...maybe. Actually, yes. It really just depends.
I think the scientific consensus is that all women have DNA passed down from a Mitochondrial Eve who lived in Africa.
Of course he is.
He saw an article about a crime in Paris. Of all the things he could have posted in response, the first thing that came to his head was "hey, nobody's speculated about the criminal's race yet! I'd better post with my guess."
That is the action of a racist.
Something is not right with this story. It's a simple matter to reach the customer service department at McDonalds as well as other departments like public relations and more. It simply does not pass the sniff test.
Either the story isn't right or he isn't. Either way there's much more to this than we're being made privy to.
"Fortunately, the rough treatment of the device caused it to keep recent images in its memory, instead of quickly overwriting them, so Dr. Mann has pictures of the men who assaulted him"
You Naturals are an abomination against progress, fit only for extinction.
May the war be soon, that your worthless kind may be quickly wiped from the face of the Earth.
Right, the race is called "Tour de France" or some such silly thing. It is a contest for professional bicycle riders; mostly hoped up on whatever doping substance isn't currently caught by testing.
Sorry to say, but having visited France on numerous occasions and having many friends from France, I'd have to say that if you go to France looking like you did in your photo's in the OP, then you are asking for trouble.
The underlying question is why, for the love of all that is good in this world, would you eat at a McDonald's in France?
Unlike elsewhere, you know that a Big Mac won't contain snail, horse, or frog.~
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Maybe he's Mormon and believes we're all descended from Adam and Eve, who lived in Jackson County Missouri
I have proposed, on many occasions, a new framework for identifying people by physical attributes, while remaining utterly politically correct. Here it is, for your enjoyment:
"All people are people. Therefore, all people shall be referred to by their name, or as 'person'."
"Who put these reports on my desk?"
"A person."
And nobody was ever offended.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Well, obviously there's no law forcing them into ghettos - even France couldn't get away with quite such a blatent violation of US law.
Are you implying that France has any obligation in regards to US law? I genuinely don't understand your point.
I have an odd feeling there are other, less codified ways in which they're excluded - probably home owners in white communities refusing to sell to Arabs, agents dissuading them from considering those houses and redirecting them to ones in the ghetto, that sort of thing.
We've been meddling with the Arabic world for far longer than the US, and their feeling about France is at best ambiguous. We've fucked with Algeria pretty badly actually. We've tried to make amends by opening our country wide to a huge flow of immigrants and we've been giving them a lot of incentive to come abroad, financial and with a lot of "rights" that if they're not written are at least well understood. We've also made a lot of promises about the integration of immigrants.
As a result, they come abroad full of expectations, which aren't met in real life. This creates a problem in and of itself. First off, they (a majority of them at least) come with the false expectation that they won't have to work their butt off to have a nice way of living. In return we offer them the RMI (Minimum revenue of integration). So yes, they don't have to work to earn a basic income, but no, this basic income is not enough to afford a nice way of living. And of course, the rest of the French population doesn't feel it's right to offer these people free healthcare, free transportation, an income for basically no return from their part. Not mentioning that they can make anyone from their family come abroad for free healthcare. Of course it's not legal but it's a well known fact. As a result, they are de facto excluded from other communities where people work their butt off to make a living. You can imagine the result after 30+ years of such policy.
This has nothing to do with their race or religion. The fact that most of these immigrants are in fact arabs doesn't help either to make a nice image for them.
All in all, it's a complex problem, and there is no simple solution. But the people that are excluded by the means you describe are excluded by their way of clothing and their way of speaking French in other words by their manners and education, not by the color of their skin or their accent. Not mentioning they are nowhere near rich enough to buy a house because earning money while doing nothing doesn't motivate them to actually try to work.
Write boring code, not shiny code!
Oh right, those same French ghettos where there was recently a spate of rioting and setting cars on fire on the sides of the street for months on end? Sounds lovely. You only feel safer in a French ghetto than you do in Boston because of your own psychological biases, not because of the facts.
You are right in everything. And the thing about England/Boston, that's because anglosaxons are crazy too, and when they drink they go nuts.
The underlying question is why, for the love of all that is good in this world, would you eat at a McDonald's in France?
There are a number of reasons, but the most likely one in this case is his kids wanted to eat at McDonalds. The parents then decided fine, it's a known food item that the spawn like and we can treat them.
Get nearly everyone to wear them and connect them live to the net. Then when anyone does anything "wrong", it will be captured by everyone around them and immediately routed to the authorities.
There are pictures in the original article to back his story.
http://eyetap.blogspot.com/2012/07/physical-assault-by-mcdonalds-for.html
The absence of any response from McDonalds should be another indicator of the truth of his claims.
If you really think that Ronald McDonald is the poster boy for McDonalds corporate behavior, watch McLibel: http://www.spannerfilms.net/films/mclibel
Sure, you could instead have essentially an uncooked McDonalds beefburger with a raw egg on. Much yummier!
McDonald's actually changes their menu based on the local cuisine. I had a huge craving for a McMuffin while in Italy and they didn't have any. In fact their breakfast menu consisted of coffee, croissants and some strange items like fried olives and pickles.
Think globally but act within local variable scope.
Rot in Hell, racist. Go post anon about muzzies coming again, we miss that. Or post it non-anon like you did once.
a-hole.
Chrisq's alt must have had mod points again.
Much of Europe went ballistic over Google's Street View. They are suing Google over privacy invasion and made a big thing of it the press. Perhaps any strange camera devices triggers angers people now.
Two words:
Happy Meals.
Disclaimer: I am German. ...) in the 90s, society at large ignored it and now we have to figure out a way to deal with them.
1. Turks != Arabs.
2. The Turkish street thugs mostly aren't 1st or even 2nd generation immigrants, but 3rd generation kiddlets.
3. Why? Imo they created their own subculture with some seriously fucked up "ideals" (combine Turkish machismo with gangsta
Or just stay out of Europe. In case you've not seen the news lately, the EU is turning into a pretty violent place with citizens attacking police & vice versa.
Funny how the last McDonalds story led to many posts about "dumb Americans" and "typical American behavior". But when the Europeans act stupid suddenly there is silence.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
If you want to evict a customer, you say "sir, we will not serve you. Now leave."
You do not assault him.
Yeah... read some hostel reviews in just the shady parts of Paris (not the ghettos) and you'll see stories of muggings, pick-pocketing and stalking. I also took a hike to Sacré-Cur and felt unsafe passing through a very well maintained park where a bunch of black people were doing drugs in the middle of the day; I do have a natural tendency to distrust black people though due to being from Oregon where black people basically don't exist. I also saw a guy a vandalize a car using an ice-pick just a few blocks from my hotel in a good part of town. I managed to have both of these experiences while being there for just four days.
Think globally but act within local variable scope.
Nerd persecution must end!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry but I don't believe that explanation. In many places of Portugal, including the capital, we also have many different types of emigrants, mainly from the African colonies (Christians), but also a lot of Gypsies and Muslims. And guess what, most of them, except for the Gypsies, live right in the center of the city.
(Aside: I know English is probably not your first language -- an emigrant is someone leaving; an immigrant is someone who's come in. One country's immigrant is someone else's emigrant)
Paris is not Portugal. From what I understand, in Paris due to their planning decisions, the centre is full of expensive property that only rich residents and high-end businesses can afford. Those homes and businesses need low-paying labour though -- cooks, cleaners, security guards etc. -- and those people have to live somewhere. So there is a ring of deprived areas a certain distance from the centre. They become ghettos because the only people prepared to live there are the ones who can't afford to live anywhere else, within reach of jobs.
Other cities avoid this by planning affordable housing.
I'm guessing you're not from the U.S. (or France, apparently), but people are pretty ruthless here if you're "different." Homosexuals are regularly committing suicide for being tormented. We also have 4chan.
My mother works at a nursing home where some of the "adult" staff make fun of and harass the mentally challenge volunteers. My mother tells them to basically fuck off and grow up, and they just laugh at her because they think it's funny.
I'm not sure why we're so insecure. We pretty much do whatever the fuck we want.
Sooo FaceBook is censoring the original link... Wonder if they are in bed with McDonalds? Good thing articles like this are shareable. thanks SlashDot...
SlashDot your next article should be on why is FB censoring this story....Just Sayin...
The underlying question is why, for the love of all that is good in this world, would you eat at a McDonald's in France?
Because you're getting tired of Quarter Pounders With Cheese and you wanted to experience the Royale With Cheese that Jules and Vincent were talking about?
Demanding constant attention will only lead to attention.
Actually, I wanted to see for myself, so I just tried to call the number listed on the U.S. website:
1-800-244-6227
Try it. It's exactly as he described. Loud and garbled.
I suspect this fellow is telling the truth about everything. It takes little imagination to picture a couple of low-level management idiots in some franchise acting like bullies.
The fact that the victim is a bit nerdy looking, as somebody else complained, is no bloody excuse whatsofuckingever.
Well, it's a population of people with a distinct geographic ancestry (France), ethnicity (French culture and language) and social status (French nationals presumably have citizenship, right?). I think that's "most ways" already covered - now, why do you think they should be disqualified? I'm not trying to be snarky - it's just that your answer hasn't clarified anything and I really would like to understand what you mean.
This is how it starts. The first blows in the war between Augmented Humans and the Naturals
Puny human, BWAHAHAHAHA! You will be assimilated. You will not resist, you will beg to become a cyborg like us. Just wait until you need a pacemaker or a cochlear implant or an artificial hip or other body part.
Free Martian Whores!
Doesn't Steve Mann record audio too? The way his page explains it, it feels like strange mute men assaulted him and tried to forcibly remove his glasses. Surely those men weren't mute. They must have said something. Of course, they were speaking French, but Mann's daughter understands French. It would be nice to get her point of view, so we could get a better grasp on what happened. There's something missing here. It's like a silent movie.
What the fuck is wrong with all of you people? Both those shocked that he went to McDonald and those who attempt to justify this sound really out of touch and weird!
Yes, maybe his kids wanted McDonald's. Lots of kids love the taste. I did, my siblings did, many of my friends did...
Or maybe they were so hungry they did not want to wait 45 minutes for their food in a real restaurant, so they opted for FAST food.
Or maybe they were tired of having been eating so much French food and wanted something North American that day.
Or perhaps they wanted to see if it tasted different in Europe (take it from I, who has eaten at McDonald's around the world, the food does vary from country to country!)
But you know what? WHO FUCKING CARES? Why is that even important to anyone?
And what the fuck is that about "His kids had seen the McDonald and it was too late, he couldn't resist them...". WHAT??? He can't, I don't know, just be a nice father and sometimes eat where the kids want to make them happy? My father took me to McDonald's a few times, even on holiday, not because he was too tired to say no but simply because it made him happy to make me happy. Sorry if your parents didn't do that for you, but can you please stop making it sound like it's not normal?
Most of all: why the fuck should we care why he ate there? It's just a stupid meal, maybe you people don't go on vacation but generally when you do, you don't have to eat only at restaurants where they serve local specialties and charge you $100. There's no rule or commandment from god or whatever!
You guys sound like him eating at McDonald's is key evidence of some secret conspiracy theory. Hey maybe we should check where Oswald ate before he shot Kennedy, it might give us all the answers we've been looking for this whole time!
Seriously guys, I'm actually wondering if for your own good I should make a few phone calls and have the nearest mental hospital send the men in white to pick you up and give you the pills you seem to need...
Having to justify the choice of eating at McDonald's because it's suspicious... My fucking god what have we come to??
'The eyeglass is permanently attached and does not come off my skull without special tools.'
What the... I mean how does that work? Has it been implanted into his skull bone? I hope he isn't a Borg drone.
I completely agree with you.
In fact I think McDonald's should even go further and kick out people in electric wheelchairs, because they look like cars and cars aren't allowed inside McDonald's.
And ban assistance dogs (like some blind people have), because they look like real dogs and real dogs are not allowed.
I second that.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." Feynman
Not poppycock, but a matter of semantics.
The point that people who say this are making is that "black people" aren't particularly similar to each other genetically, or in terms of any other biological characteristic except skin colour. Same with white people or brown people.
Having said that, I'm not opposed to using skin colour to differentiate people. It would be pretty stupid, if I want to point out the only white guy in a group of black guys, to try to avoid referencing skin colour (nobody is going to say "the tall guy on the left with the red shirt" when "the white guy" will suffice). But don't pretend that skin colour makes you more of a "race" or "breed" than hair colour, height, etc.
It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail. - Abraham Maslow
I didn't ask for this!
Violently assaulting someone is the French equivalent of the waiter coming over and asking 'is everything alright with your meal?'. It very slightly more irritating too.
Another one. I have not mentioned race at all. You don't even know what race I am. White Muslims are Just as Capable and likely to be terrorists as brown ones, and there are plenty of brown victims, the peaceful Coptic Christians for example
I don't know the laws in France, but I doubt that a Canadian citizen is subject to them, if not in France.
He should unmask the people on his blog who he's labeled Perpetrators 1-3. Why would you give them the courtesy of anonymity?
Also, seeing as McDonalds originated in the US, I'd be filing any complaints with corporate HQ in Oak Brook, IL. I'm pretty sure corporate HQ can exert pressure on affiliates/franchisees outside the US.
For the same reason you'd eat at a McDonald's elsewhere: You hate decent food.
I love decent food, however, I eat at McDonalds occasionally because decent food costs money and I'm broke.
And here comes another ignoramus who thinks they know everything about private businesses.
In France, you can't kick out people for just any reason, there's indeed something in the law about "refus de servir" (refusal to serve) and that thing says that refus de servir is illegal except under a few specific conditions. If your private business is open to the public (i.e. "anyone can walk in and do business UNTIL we say "no") then your private business is a public place and has to obey a few laws (this is the case of stores and most restaurants). One of these laws states that you can not discriminately refuse service to anyone. You need a pretty good reason to kick somebody out (e.g. they assaulted somebody or are causing some serious trouble...).
Second, even if you sort at the door who gets in and who doesn't (like night clubs do for example), you can't refuse service based on things like race, sex, religion and disability (unless this disability makes the service you provide dangerous, for example think of roller-coasters and pregnant women).
So here are the facts of this case:
1) McDonald is considered a public place, therefore they need a REALLY good reason to kick him out.
2) He did not provide such a reason to McDonald's.
3) On top of that, he was kicked out because of a disability he has, which makes the whole thing worse. And before you try to be a smart ass and say he was kicked out because of his medical device and not his disability per se, let me tell you that in France the law does not get into that subtlety.
Oh and any French business owner is supposed to know all of that, so the McDonald where this happened has no excuse.
I use three prosthetics - a prosthetic arm, another arm, and my left leg. I'm very discreet and I always wear long-sleeved clothing and pants to fit in. If anyone ever says a word about my prosthetics, I'll fucking sue. They are part of me, they are my body. If a police officer wants to search one of my limbs, you can arrest me and get a strip search warrant (or whatever it is) because I won't let my body be disrespected by ignorant people with authority. I have good lawyers who have fought for me over this issue before, and they will continue fighting if someone violates those rights.
It's just human decency. There's a point where prosthetics should be considered part of a person's body, period. I'm not sure if the subject of this article is at this point, but I know I am at this point, and let me tell you, there are some fears deep inside of me. Seeing these news stories make me feel like I will someday be pulled out of my car and have my arms pulled off. Or someday be in a Mac'Do and get pushed down by a power-hungry burger flipper, resulting in a broken hip. If something like this happened, I will have 100% wasted 7 years of my life and nearly $600,000 worth of surgeries. My life could be destroyed by anyone who uses physical force against me, and yet if I hit someone, I could be charged with assault with a deadly weapon or attempted murder because of the artificial nature of my fists.
Trust me folks, there are many issues that need to be sorted out with regards to the way handicapped people are integrated into society. (By the way, I only use handicapped or disabled on legal paperwork, otherwise I prefer physically challenged.)
Personally, I like Arabs and their culture and as far as I know
Do you know about the beheadings? Poisoning the water of schools who teach girls? Female circumcision? Suicide bombing? Executing rape victims for being adulterers?
Actually, it's not legal to videotape/shoot photos inside of a McDonalds and the employees overreacted to this ... that's my point ... and you missed it ... completely.
I don't know about the law in France, but in the United States it is perfectly legal to photograph in any public place. That said, most citizens and law enforcement are ignorant of this fact, and people are routinely hassled for photography. Sometimes their photos are forcibly erased (which actually _is_ against the law). Places might have a "no photography" policy, and if they tell you to leave and you don't, then you are trespassing, but that is usually their only remedy under the law.
Besides, under normal circumstances this device does not save any information, and is not "videotaping" or "shooting photos". It's a bit like assaulting someone at a concert for wearing a hearing aid.
Nursing home orderlys are barely above mentally challenged themselves. It is a shit job that nobody wants.
For real bullying (bullying doesn't cover it) look at what the high functioning 'mentally challenged' do to the low functioning. An associate that used to be a psych nurse referred to them as the 'mongoloid mafia'. Rape is routine on these wards.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
The french haven't kept the islamic invaders apart. The immigrants wanted to live separately, and have been allowed to by the french govt. Many now see that as a mistake, but others continue to shut their eyes.
The problem is that "race" was typically associated with skin color, and even now that idea tends to persist.
If we really must categorize people based on their genetic origins, let's use haplogroups or something.
Check out my world simulator thingy.
And I take it these men had their wangers out too, right?
Otherwise your analogy is incorrect.
The major admixture to the French ethnicity is actually way older the Gallic element (a civilization that came from the Alps), although everyone seems to forget it for the reason that Gauls were our first ancestors recorded by writings.
It is my understanding that most French people are nothing like the stereotype, they are decent hard working people.
Parisians on the other hand, are the stereotype. Festering assholes!
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Though Calais and the surrounding areas are bad if you have an English accent. For fairly decent reasons, really.
******I'd like to explain what this is. It's an event named after a mountain in Greece that nobody is allowed to mention unless they are a ******* sponsor, on pain of a fine up to £20 000. It is happening in a city which, apparently, you are not supposed to mention in your advertising. And one of its principal sponsors is McDonalds.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
He might scare somebody who feeling they were defending themselves pull out their gun and shoot themselves a borg.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
The first battle between augmented and not?
Bzzzzt! Sorry, thanks for playing.
The first battle between an augmented human and not was when someone picked up a branch to augment the human's clownish teeth and nails. I believe 2001 has one artist's conceptualization.
Kzinti: What are those flat teeth for?
Human: Chewing bugs and nuts and leaves.
Kzinti: What are those claws for? If you can call them that.
Human: They are scoops for digging up bugs to eat.
Kzinti: You suck!
Human: Feeling jumpy, froggy? Jump. We are good at augmentation.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
This depends again on how you define the borders of the region. The proper city of Atlanta is a very small area, and it is predominantly black, although there are a lot of whites moving back. If you meet someone on a plane who doesnt feel like diving into the local specifics of their address, they may tell you that they are from Atlanta, when they are from a part of the 14 ( I think?) counties that make up the metro-Atlanta area. There was significant white flight to these counties in teh 70s and 80s, at the same time that the city was growing very rapidly ... or I should say the metro area , as the city was shrinking in population. Until very recently the city was nearly dormant at night, as the people who worked there drove and hour or two back home every evening. This is now changing back to being a living city.
The majority black citizenry of the city has allowed the expected control of local politics, and the response from all the white flighters has been to attempt to avoid allowing state funds into the city as much as possible. The isolated area of majority population still suffers from the same minority status issues this way, so my point on defining the borders of the city still stands.
Tourists are endured as a disease because they behave as such. Especially Americans (Chinese may prove annoying because of the size of their groups). I'm getting tired of seeing my land invaded six months a year by individuals always expecting you to speak THEIR language (which I do for most of the nations visiting us, although speaking the visitor's language is not an honour given lightly), taking photo shots as if you're a zoo animal and not carrying the least for anything except seeing their cravings for clichés fulfilled.
Is Adam Jensen
See out of Africa model.
I sometimes wonder how the politically correct would think of Elon Musk as African-American. Technically in terms of birth place in the same sense that you have Chinese-Americans and Mexican-Americans and other such nonsense, he really is African-American, just not so much in terms of skin color. In his case he was even born in Africa and a citizen of an African nation before becoming a naturalized American citizen.
Skin color is just that, the amount of Melanin that is within the skin cells of the person being described and perhaps some other elements to their skin as well. While there are some other genetic traits that can be described jointly with the skin color, it is pretty shallow and doesn't really matter.
Besides, there has been so much inter-breeding between peoples of the Earth that I dare anybody to say they are 100% of any ethnicity or 0% of some other ethnicity. If they think so, they have likely been lied to by their parents or simply are clueless about their ancestry. More likely simply clueless I might add. Heck, there are still descendents of the Neanderthals running around (likely whose genes have spread throughout the entire human gene pool), and that is a readily identified different species, much less a "race". Yeah, cue the jokes if you will, but it is true none the less.
Because you can?
No one cares what your captcha was
Houston TX, USA
Well, obviously there's no law forcing them into ghettos - even France couldn't get away with quite such a blatent violation of US law.
Are you implying that France has any obligation in regards to US law? I genuinely don't understand your point.
Isn't France one of the American states?
'
'
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It is a joke, get over it.
The fact only has relevance in a racist context, specifically one where people are judged according to their racial group rather than on individual merit.
Support NRA, America's oldest civil rights group.
There are active campaigns in the form of TV commercials here in the US that place an emphasis on these two.
No one cares what your captcha was
Houston TX, USA
I dont think you have been in many major cities. I know for sure there are areas in LA, NY, detroit, toledo, chicago, San Francisco that police are very wary about going.
Good-bye
This is really really obnoxious if you're either female or go out with women
Isn't that an awful lot of us? I know it gives me a reason to skip going there. Even the lowest of dregs here wouldn't be so rude... someone would beat them down for it.
"when the Europeans act stupid suddenly there is silence"
They were not Europeans; they were French. Even worse they were from Paris!
1. You are being racist. Saying you aren't doesn't change facts.
2. If you had looked at the story, you'd see photographically that all the involved people were white. Not only that, but they were well dressed.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
Refusing service because of a MEDICAL device, would be grounds for a serious ADA lawsuit in the U.S.
Good-bye
Do we agree that black people are black for genetic reasons and that there are other immediately obvious physical manifestations that usually follows with African ancestry that are also completely genetic? Your answer must be yes, and then there is no way that you can say that race has no biological basis. At most you can perhaps say something like that biologists wouldn't divide the human species into distinct races if we viewed humans as we would any other species, yet even if that were true (which I doubt), then that's suddenly a completely uninteresting point about biologist's definition of a word rather than saying something interesting about the real world. How does your world view mesh with the fact that if doctors didn't take their patient's race into account, we'd have more deaths as human bodies of different races do not react the same way to drugs? Trying to say that there simply are no races is a transparent reaction to racism and it's going to be as effective as curing yourself of ebola by pretending that there is no such disease - both are harmful because going that way makes you unable to deal with or even talk about what's actually true about the real world.
As for you accusing the OP about being racist because he's annoyed at the constant renaming of African-Americans and also persons with special needs, not cool. Blacks are discriminated against which shows a perception of lower status and retards have the same issue but obviously for different reasons - this leads to continuous renaming of both groups as the previous name attains a negative connotation which is what the OP was annoyed by. What you are doing with your accusations of racism is to attempt to bar the OP from talking about reality, which is exactly what the whole deal with "there is no race" is also about. In this case he wasn't saying anything bad about a race yet your finely calibrated sensibilities were never the less able to divine racist intent where a normal person would see none, you even went to the length of saying that if the OP did not actually posses racist intent, never the less he must be racist subconsciously. By that standard there is no person on earth who is not racist.
Well, obviously there's no law forcing them into ghettos - even France couldn't get away with quite such a blatent violation of US law.
Damn right! Those frogs better not violate US law! It's not like they're a sovereign nation with it's own constitution, government and legal system. USA! USA! USA! Oh wait...
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
Seriously.
But don't pretend that skin colour makes you more of a "race" or "breed" than hair colour, height, etc.
No one is. People differentiate races based on hair colour and height all the time. I'm not sure what your point is.
Don't get confused, I am not being racist
Yes you are.
No, he's not. Just because someone points out that there is a marked correlation between racial background and cultural background and a similar correlation between cultural background and preferred problem "solving" methods doesn't mean that that person is a racist. He's just pointing out facts of life.
Perhaps one day people will stop to go to Mac Donald or any industrial food organisation,
not only you eat shitty food but get processed too.
It will never happen to you in a turkish kebab, a local coucous, or just a regular french bistrot.
Local food to local people.
I've never stayed in a shady hostel in Paris. I've stayed with friends in the shady-but-not-bad neighborhoods, like the 11th.
Afaik, American cities usually have murder rates around or over 20 per 100,0000, but Paris has only 2-2.5 per 100,000 overall and around 5 in the bad St Denis neighborhood.
Yes, you should avoid the neighborhood with double the murder rate of the rest of the city anywhere, but it's probably no worse than the neighborhood where you go clubbing in your home town, assuming you're American.
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
Well it makes them authoritarians at the very least...
So, it seems that not only does McDonalds in Paris have some strange issues with cameras, but judging from these comments, a surprising number of French people are racist.
Burkha ban. Look it up.
Actually, you're not allowed to wear a burqa there *irrespective* of your race, not only if you're an Arab. There's nothing racist about the ban.
Ezekiel 23:20
[1] "Man Physically Assaulted At McDonald's For Wearing Digital Eye Glasses"
[2] "Mann Physically Assaulted At McDonald's For Wearing Digital Eye Glasses"
Their they're doing there hair.
Is that what they are telling you over there? Smart.
At least Austria's so peaceful it's outright boring...
These were McDonalds employees trying to protect their McDonalds from journalists. They should be put in prison, their McDonalds should be closed, and McDonalds should pay the guy a lot of money.
There is a sign on the door stating no filming of cameras allows within, both in language and images. This genius decided he was above company policy and caused the whole over handed incident. He should be sued into oblivion by the company and McDonalds for commercial esponinage charges, and locked away for life. At least that's your logical conclusion. Moron.
While I respect Steve's research, there are a number of things about this alleged "assault" that don't seem right.
1) First off, it's debatable whether someone trying to snatch your glasses is really a physical attack. Attempted theft sure, but they weren't trying to physically injure him or knock his teeth out. Crying wolf, exaggerating, and misconstruing attempted petty theft as physical assault are not good ways to promote your cause. When the headline reads something like "Researcher physically assaulted at McDonald's" what comes to mind for most people is him being punched in the face, or knocked down and kicked etc... When you then read the article and find that the only "physical assault" was just someone trying to take his glasses off without permission - it's pretty clear where the sensationalism lies.
2) I'd like to hear the story from the other side. I don't doubt Steve's sincerity, but I do doubt his objectivity. He has a known public history of deliberately provoking this kind of confrontation. I find it highly unlikely that anyone - especially a restaurant employee - would just walk over and grab his glasses without first at least asking him to remove them. This gap in the narrative is ruining my suspension of disbelief.
3) Who makes wearable computers that are not easily removable?!? The moniker "wearable" implies the devices can be easily "unworn". The guy is a brilliant engineer - making this sort of system modular and removable would be trivial. If his system is not easily removable, it's not because of any technical barrier, it's because he *deliberately chose* to make it so. The problem is, there's no real reason to have such a device permanently attached unless you are trying to make a political statement. By permanently attaching recording devices to your body, you are deliberately provoking conflict in areas of society where such recording is disallowed. I've read a lot of Steve's writing on "Sousveillance", and it's quite clear that he *is* deliberately trying to make a political statement and provoke a wider conversation on privacy issues, human rights etc... While I agree with a lot of his positions on the matter (everyone should be allowed to record all aspects of their personal experiences, and pervasive recording equipment should be equally available and accessible to individuals as well as groups), I just can't sympathize with someone who intentionally and deliberately puts himself into conflict with "the powers that be" and then complains about the results publicly.
4) I don't buy the story of the images being accidentally captured because of the jolt to the system when the restaurant employee tried to remove it. Sure - if the system was constantly buffering as it was running and was hit so hard it shutdown - then I might believe the "these are just images I luckily managed to retrieve from the buffer" story. But the shoe doesn't fit. The system was clearly running fine *after* whatever impact it took - many of the images he displays on his blog correspond to the parts of the narrative *after* the alleged blow - so the images he displays would not have been in the buffer when that occurred. If the system only stores images transiently during normal operation, why were images retained after the system obviously regained full functionality?
We should all reserve judgement until we can hear the other side of the story - innocent until proven guilty applies to everyone. I addition, Steve needs to:
The underlying question is why, for the love of all that is good in this world, would you eat at a McDonald's in France?
Perhaps he wanted to get a decent amount of a familiar food for a reasonable price.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
African-American ... is the term generally accepted by educated and cultured people in the United States.
Don't equate PC mainstream media with "educated" or "cultured". I'd say maybe 5% of the people in the US use the term "African-American". "African-American" is the term used by those that like to think they are better than the culture. This does not make them cultured.
Saying that "French" is a race is like saying "Canadian" or "American" is a race.
Or "African-American".
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
Honestly if I saw this person come into my establishment, Id tell him to leave too. If he's being obstinate "Oh I cant take off my recording equipment" Id try to take it off, or force him to leave. Or put a bag over his ugly face.
If he sues Id side with McDonalds. They did nothing wrong.
Do you have any evidence that people who shave their heads commit more crime than anyone else?
If you're going to make bigoted, prejudices statements, at least back it up with statistics.
Nobody's choice of where they eat a meal ever has to be justified to you or anyone else. Any attempt to claim otherwise is a lie. You know that, and are making a fuss about the fact that he had the nerve to eat at a McDonald's because you think it gives you an excuse to pretend that Mann somehow deserved to be assaulted. Don't embarrass yourself further by pretending your behavior has any other motivation behind it.
...that not everyone appreciates and embraces human technological advancement the same way.
I took my family to France this year also and won't return soon. Beautiful country but 'rude' doesn't begin to describe the people. I am not basing my experience on an isolated incident, they are pricks, proven fact.
the EU is turning into a pretty violent place
no it isn't. Keep in mind the 99% of places in the EU (literally) where there is no increase in violence don't make for a good news story.
My eyes ARE my recording equipment you insensitive clod!
Ah yes, the problem with that being that I speak fluent French and didn't even have a camera with me. So what were you saying?
I've encountered the same behaviour in every single French city I've been to.
So you believe the doctor is lying about his opinion?
Note that the device is bolted to his skull. I do hope you don't plan to bolt a monkey to your skull. (Perhaps you should get DirecTV?)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley
Summary:
The uncanny valley is a hypothesis in the field of robotics[1] and 3D computer animation,[2][3] which holds that when human replicas look and act almost, but not perfectly, like actual human beings, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers. The "valley" refers to the dip in a graph of the comfort level of humans as a function of a robot's human likeness.
Your comment: "Negro is a mistaken identification of race, and scientists are in general agreement that race has no biological basis."
Is absolutely false. Scientists ARE IN AGREEMENT that race has biological bases. There's even classification in Bioinformatics and when doing genetic analysis, markers, traits... So please, stop your PC bullshit.
Have you ever wondered about the fate of our species?
We exist in a time unlike any other; a time where man can go beyond the tyranny of flesh and embrace a new tomorrow.
We share the belief of a manifest destiny for our species, a future where human instrumentality evolves into a form beyond our crude flesh and blood.
The next evolution is near, A coming together of man and machine. A synthesis greater than the birth of the human organism.
This is the Singularity. The God in the Machine.
Many cultures predict an end to humanity in the near future, a final Armageddon that will end the world; but we disargee.
We know the future of man.
Join us. Understand the path that unfolds before our species.
Grow beyond the bounds of flesh and blood.
Embrace the Singularity!
TL;DR: Mod parent down.
Since the GP was obviously joking, and you are... not obviously joking, I'm going to guess it's you ("Zaphod The 42nd") who are the asshole here. You might want to think a lot more closely about what you post online in the future. I wouldn't even bother replying to such obvious idiocy if it hadn't been modded up.
P.S. <joke-with-a-care-of-truth>If my parents had tried to take me to McDonalds as any time I was over the age of 6 and knew what food should actually taste like, I'd have assaulted them myself!</joke-with-a-cor-of-truth> Seriously, it's not exactly child abuse or anything, but it certainly isn't behavior I would encourage in any parent... especially if the kids' taste *was* already picky to the point of insisting on junk food.
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
Neither is "black" or "white." They are ethnicity. French can be considered an ethnicity.
I was reacting to the "disease" qualification of tourists, not to your own story (for which I don't care). As for the shopkeepers and restaurants employees, every French knows that in Paris those are particular cunts. Can't say the same for the rest of the country. On another unrelated matter : it's easy saying "McDonald's shit, why the hell not some real food ?!", but the truth is unless you get a table in some very expensive place, most of what you find in bitros around Paris is utter crap by now ; frozen food cooked by the microwave and sold for the cost of a kidney. It's a city that made a specialty of scamming the tourists (even nationals) and mistreating its patrimony at the same time. The same go for all major French cities, at a lower scale.
I would have to agree that a great part of the problem is that new immigrants anywhere prefer to live with earlier immigrants of their own culture even if conditions are horrible in that location. It just compounds the issue that things are usually harder for immigrants anyways, as they are unfamiliar with the systems already in place in the country they have moved to. But humans prefer the familiar rather than the strange, and just make things harder for themselves in this case.
Care to explain??
Take off every 'sig' !!
If anyone ever says a word about my prosthetics, I'll fucking sue.
Your prosthetics have clearly made you into a whiny bitch who believes that someone else "saying a word" entitles you to something. Now sue me.
They are part of me, they are my body.
You're entitled to feel that way.
If a police officer wants to search one of my limbs, you can arrest me and get a strip search warrant
That isn't necessary in every country in the world, but please do carry on thinking all Americans deserve special treatment - the rest of the world is used to it.
I won't let my body be disrespected by ignorant people with authority.
What is ignorant about wanting to search your prosthetic limbs? Are they specially designed to make them incapable of storing things, unlike any other prosthetic limb?
I have good lawyers who have fought for me over this issue before
I'm sure France will do its utmost to listen to the opinion of your local lawyers.
there are some fears deep inside of me.
OK, now we get to the problem: your fear. You hear one side of an unsubstantiated story and it makes you scared. That is sad.
My life could be destroyed by anyone who uses physical force against me
Welcome to being human.
there are many issues that need to be sorted out with regards to the way handicapped people are integrated into society.
Yes. Unfortunately, there is a vocal minority of loudmouthed handicapped people like you who make the rest look bad, and this makes things worse for all handicapped people.
Lutefisk is Norwegian, you RACIST
Take off every 'sig' !!
Is that like how in America, for a long time black people weren't allowed to marry white people, and it wasn't considered racist since it applied to both races equally?
Eat a Big Mac.
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
I'd like to bring this little nugget to all of those commenters who seem to imply "well it says no camreas its his own fault.
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/132918-the-laser-powered-bionic-eye-that-gives-576-pixel-grayscale-vision-to-the-blind
What about a sign make assault acceptable? Perhaps if the persons in question didn't want to be seen my someone else, they should return to their caves. This behavior is indicative of people who only deserve to live in a cave, and do not have a place in modern society.
PS : I guess blind people in France will have to remain blind if they don't want to run the risk of being beaten to death.
For those who might not understand why this is funny here is a link the OP forgot to include explaining CASIE.
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
Well it's perfectly relevant and not racist.
Once you know that 75% of violent criminals are immigrants from a specific region, you can just kick them all out and live safely in a civil society again.
Oh you don't like what I'm saying? Then go back to your country and you won't have to hear it!
Just shy of 900 responses as of this writing and you think that's "silence"?
What I take away from this is that discrimination against cyborgs is a problem in the world. Accordingly, I will refrain from getting any cybernetic replacements until such point that a full-body prosthetic (a la Ghost in the Shell) is available. Because bullies may beat up a wimpy-looking researcher with fancy glasses, but they'll think twice before messing with Batou.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." Feynman
They also used to be banned in Turkey. I guess that makes them racist too.
Do you really need to have someone point out there is a forest in front of you when all you can see are trees?
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Well... It almost is...
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
Actually, you're not allowed to wear a burqa there *irrespective* of your race, not only if you're an Arab. There's nothing racist about the ban.
Really? Does your brain really work that way such that you can't see the utter hypocrisy in what you just wrote? Here's a clue for you - if they banned wearing a crucfix, that wouldn't be bigoted either since everyone, not just catholics, would not be allowed to wear a crucifix. Or how about the yarmulke? Banning that wouldn't be racist either since it would apply to everyone, not just jews.
Still don't get it? Then the only reasonable conclusion is that you are a bigot.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Isn't Greylisting a lot more like port-knocking than NAT?
Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
He probably tried to order a quarter pounder with cheese instead of a royal with cheese.
s/Arab/middle eastern/
"Islam" is not a race.
It is a Middle Eastern superstitious ideology.
Ideology /= race.
Stop confusing superstition with biology.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Really? Does your brain really work that way such that you can't see the utter hypocrisy in what you just wrote?
What hypocrisy? Since when is claiming that (a burqa-wearing ban blind to race isn't racism) is hypocrisy, and not a simple statement of a fact?
Here's a clue for you - if they banned wearing a crucfix, that wouldn't be bigoted either since everyone, not just catholics, would not be allowed to wear a crucifix
So true, and the burqa ban isn't bigoted for the same reason, since I'm not allowed to wear it as well. FYI, the crucifix as a religious symbol is banned in the same context that burqa is banned in, namely in public schools ("Loi encadrant, en application du principe de laïcité, le port de signes ou de tenues manifestant une appartenance religieuse dans les écoles, collèges et lycées publics.")
Burqa is additionally banned in public by a *different* law ("Loi interdisant la dissimulation du visage dans l'espace public") as an illegal form of covering your face, which can be used to, e.g., commit crimes while hiding your identity. Allowed forms of covering your face include, e.g., motorbike helmets, which have a distinct technical purpose. Both allowed and illegal face coverings include multiple kinds of items.
Ezekiel 23:20
Is fashion the only thing the French are willing to fight for?
scientists are in general agreement that race has no biological basis.
Not so. Sociological concept of race actually correlates pretty well with certain genetic markers - in other words, there are some which cluster in ways that directly correlate to traits that we commonly identify as "white" and "black" and whatever. Those traits are not necessarily related in any meaningful way - it's just a random aggregation - but you can certainly tell one's race from his genetic markup with high confidence.
I'm not a racist, but I might bring up facts and stats that showcase various racial biases that exist in different fields in real life. If you choose to consider them racist, it makes you racist, not me. Racism is discriminating on the basis of race, not discriminating on the basis of other traits that sometimes happen to correlate with race.
Anything that would catch cops in the act of hassling people are outlawed in the present People's Republic of Amerika...
If it's not solving your problem, you're not using enough.
(I kid!)
Don't get confused, I am not being racist
Yes you are.
Technically, just talking about races is not racist. Prejudice + power = racism.
Just because the U.S. is a republic does not mean it is not a democracy. Democracy/republic are not mutually exclusive.
Ooh pedant for the fail. Substitute bigot for racist and go drink your milkshake.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
So true, and the burqa ban isn't bigoted for the same reason, since I'm not allowed to wear it as well ... Burqa is additionally banned in public by a *different* law.
Lol, did that red herring taste good? "same reason " != "different law." And, as far as I can tell, the law against religious parphenalia was invalided in the 90s becuse of selective enforcement which let the crucifixes pass.
Burqa is additionally banned in public by a *different* law ("Loi interdisant la dissimulation du visage dans l'espace public") as an illegal form of covering your face, which can be used to, e.g., commit crimes while hiding your identity.
Yes, because there has been such a crime-wave of burkha wearing bandits, it was absolutely necessary to get this law passed right quick.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Sounds a big bit more dangerous American city I live in.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
They are sniffing your COOKIES and MORE!!!! DO NOT click that link!
Talk about a subject change!
I find the term "African American" extremely stupid and even offensive, because the same people using the term would not give me the same courtesy and call me "European American" (which would be equally stupid, BUT AT LEAST IT IS EQUAL).
It is 2012. Why is it we still have to invent all these stupid labels? People's ancestry and skin colors have a HUGE variety and it will continue to get more muddled and confused. Case in point- President Obama is neither "black" nor "African American". He is just an American. Isn't that enough? What if a 10th generation "white" South African becomes an American citizen? Is he "African American"? What if a "black" Haitian becomes an American citizen? Is he "African American"? Ignoring ancestry, then at what point in the skin tonal scale does someone magically become "African American"?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousveillance
Personally I utterly avoid expats from my own country. If they pine for home so much then they can go back there. Problem solved.
You've obviously never been to Paris if you think there are any French people (forgive the oxymoron) there.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
What do they call them in Europe? Because they're certainly not african-AMERICAN.
Get over yourself, please. Let's see how free and open you are with your body parts when a beat cop decides you might have hidden something in your rectum.
I've lived in Paris. I've also commuted there on a weekly basis. Over two years, total. I'd say he's not far off the truth.
This may or may not tally with the week you spent there on a GCSE student exchange last year. Perhaps if you'd stuck out the whole fortnight instead of crying to go home to mummy you'd have got a less touristic view.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Or just stay out of Europe. In case you've not seen the news lately, the EU is turning into a pretty violent place with citizens attacking police & vice versa.
Well that's more like "citizens make use of their democratic right for public assemblies and manifestations to express their discontent about the current political situation and the governments stomp these rights with their feet and unleash the dogs^H^H^H^Hpolice". Stupid European citizens, think that they have any rights in this oligarchy. Or like one PP party member of the Spanish parliament said it so nicely when the president announced the latest budget cuts targeted at those who are already poor: "que se jodan!"
Is his right eye damaged somehow?
His eye is okay. But he's a researcher in device which can be also used to help people with reduced vision.
He's also "eating his own dog food" and actually uses the device he develops.
If not, then how is the doctor's note supposed to explain his use of the device?
The device is surgically fixed to his skull. He can't remove it or shut it down "easily". The only way to remove the device would be using proper tools to carefully unscrew it from its skull-grafted mount points.
He has probably a doctor's note explaining that the mount points are indeed grafted onto his skull, and that the device is securely fixed to them and there's no easy way to remove it.
Also keep in mind that:
- this device is supposed to be used as a viewing aid for people with viewing disabilities. the target audience for this device is people who can't do without it, and it thus makes sense that the device is bolted in place instead of wearable. it's akin to a body prosthetic. it can be removed or put back, but it's not designed to do that on a whim.
- he's been researching such kind of augmentation FOR MORE THAN THE LAST 30 YEARS. He's been spending more than half of his life with this kind of devices. At that point of time, it kind of makes sense that he has mount point surgically grafted onto his skull: you pretty much now he's not suddenly stopping to wear such kind of stuff any time soon.
Also by having it grafted on him, that helps him being able to constantly field test his reasearch project in real world situation. He'll have them constantly on, and he's also testing the permanent mounts that the potential patient will be using one day.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
The underlying question is why, for the love of all that is good in this world, would you eat at a McDonald's in France?
Maybe he wanted to sample a Royale with Cheese?
Even if it was contrary to French law, which I strongly doubt, that doesn't justify them taking the law into their own hands.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
during my PhD in Cambridge, UK, I hang out with people from all over the world, it is a very cosmopolitan city at the graduate level. it's the undergraduates that are mostly british.
the italians in the lab were in their own little table during lunchtime. I joined them once to be friendly and occasionally I would slip an english word by accident - I just wasn't used to speaking italian anymore. they complained I was repudiating the italian culture.
filming in a private place, without permission. If I'm in a restaurant and some guy's taking pictures of me and my family then I'd ask him to stop. For all anyone knows the guy could be a paedophile getting his rocks off. It's illegal in most private establishments to take photos of the patrons - it's also considered very very rude at the least. The guy comes across as an arrogant American - the guys were right to bash him, hell even I would have joined in - he shows a complete lack of respect for everyone else in the restaurant.
Well I live in one of the safest cities in the US so I really don't have safety problems where I live but the murder rate in my favorite bar hopping city (Portland, OR) is 4 per 100,000. I've spent more time there than in Paris yet have seen no crimes in Portland which makes me think that murder doesn't necessarily correlate with crimes against tourists or near areas of interest for tourists.
Despite my experiences in Paris I would still tend to agree with you that it's a very safe place to live/visit as long as you know which areas to avoid.
Think globally but act within local variable scope.
Be pure, be vigilant, behave!
Actually, if the naturals want to win, shouldn't they misbehaving... a lot.. and winning by force of numbers
The only thing the French are good at hosting, is an invasion.
The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
For real? They call a big mac a mother fucking Royale with cheese?
I know those guys! They forcibly remove the gold teeth from my neighbours mouth last week. A week before that they were removing a hip joint using pocket knife just around the corner. They glances are making me nervous as I walk by. They could find out about my penis enhancement any time.
Because it's cheap. If you want to eat meat in Paris, everything (and I'm including kebabs) is more expensive. So that's why I had to get my calories there. Paris is an unbeleivably expensive place.
>>>OTOH he cannot film random passerby or customer in a premise at will.
French law is not US law, but US law has a premise that may apply in France...mainly due to enforceability...
It's called a "reasonable expectation of privacy."
You have none in public.
So unfair generalizations about Americans are wrong but unfair generalizations about Europeans are ok? Yeah, there are some messed up people in Paris, so they represent all Europeans?
He probably had one, but was tired of cleaning up after it.
He didn't ask for this...
Steve Mann is sowing confusion by writing the way he is.
1) He went to McDonalds
2) He was accosted as he walked in and told he wasn't allowed to take photos inside the restaurant (Why? Who knows)
3) He produced a letter from his doctor. I can't imagine what this says, because his video glasses aren't medically necessary, they're just cool
4) The employee backed down and let him in
5) Word got around about this crazy guy with the video glasses
6) Some McDonalds rentagoons (and a guy in a shirt and tie, who may be management?) came over and hassled him again
7) (Reading between the lines) Steve Mann acted like a dick
8) One of the rentagoons tried to grab his glasses and pull them off. Because they're homespun and probably pretty fragile, he broke them
9) The goons tossed him out (I presume for the offence of "taking photographs")
That is what happened. If he had been wielding a camcorder it would have been much the same experience.
Arabs are extremely racist against Blacks. Far FAR More so these days than your typical "bubba" from the southern US.
Collectively we humans are a primitive bunch. We can't even handle differences in skin color without inspiring murder and war.
Imagine increasing numbers of privileged people with the resources for self-augmentation actually wandering around with pieces of metal and electronics permanently protruding from their faces (especially hardware that gets in the way of eye contact). I could see a bit of a problem with societal acceptance, especially if there's no way to know if they are recording your interactions with them.
Until such self-augmentation becomes invisible in casual encounters I'd say it's a really bad idea to make them permanent.
Considering all the campaigning the guy has done about privacy rights, it's totally bizarre that he's recording 24/7, even when he goes to private businesses with a reasonable expectation that you wouldn't be recording. Then when somebody attacks him for it, he mails their photographs and id cards to all the national embassies he can, and posts face-redacted photographs to the internet.
I guess when the shoe's on the other foot, he's actually opposed to privacy rights.
Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
Ignoring ancestry, then at what point in the skin tonal scale does someone magically become "African American"?
You've never heard of the 'paper bag test', have you? (A black coworker told me about it. Get off my ass mods.)
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
Most of those US murders are drug related. One gang moving in on the territory of another or some such nonsense. Remove those numbers from the equation, and the results are staggeringly better. The odds of a tourist catching a bullet, while not non-zero, are much lower than your statistics indicate.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
I've encountered the same behaviour in every single French city I've been to.
That doesn't necessarily mean the problem is them...
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
No wonder your birth rate is so low; you people are dickless. You deserve the rape of your women by the mongrel hordes you invited in because you are too fucking lazy and arrogant to actually work.
The glasses are bolted to his skull. Mann cannot remove them. Technically, a prosthetic leg isn't 'medically necessary' either, it's just that a lot of amputees find them more functional (and dignified) than scooting around on the floor.
Do you know what it's called if you grab a guy who is acting like a dick? Assault!
As for taking photographs, what is the threshold there? Is it OK to assault a man using a JORDY
How about those few people using an implant into their visual cortex and a head mounted camera? Shall they be blinded again?
He's in Paris (a city full of great restaurants) and he decides to eat (and feed his kids at) a McDonald's. I guess he needs an IQ booster.
The underlying question is why, for the love of all that is good in this world, would you eat at a McDonald's in France?
To have real FRENCH fries of course.
What about the Tour de France?
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Also, it is against the law in any civilized society to discriminate against a disabled person and their companion animal (such as demanding they leave because of the companion animal).
I would totally rock a monkey given the opportunity. Just image the looks on kids faces as your monkey opened doors for you.. too awesome.
French people are people that have a French passport. So citizenship and ethnicity, yes, but ancestry or culture, no. There is the distinction of "culturally French", meaning needing little time to adjust to French society, for instance coming from the former colonies or the French-speaking part of Belgium.
[QUOTE]USAGE In recent years, the associations of race with the ideologies and theories that grew out of the work of 19th-century anthropologists and physiologists has led to the use of the word race itself becoming problematic. Although still used in general contexts (: race relations,: racial equality), it is now often replaced by other words that are less emotionally charged, such as people(s) or community.[QUOTE]
And as to quote the Argentinian wife of the Dutch Royal heir: "There is no such thing as a Dutch/French/Argentinian identity."
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
That is at least what I teach my daughter. So should others. This incident just proves that McDonalds is also an establishment that is so poor it can not afford to hire people with brains.
The one time I tried MacDonalds on Champs Elysees I was sick for two days. Employees probably figured he had augmented taste buds as well, and saved him from a fate worse than death.
Mann claims that the device stores images in a ring buffer. Unless the device stops working, they'll get overwritten.
Ok, the device got damaged, so he can show some interesting last pictures. It seems to be a reasonable large buffer, with pictures showing the cashier and the incident (even the guy flipping his name tag).
I wonder if there are good algorithms to process several minutes of visual recording in real-time in order to enhance the user's current vision? Like identifying/tracking persons or SLAM?
or have kids
Then do explain to me why I never run into problems like that anywhere else?
Try reading my comment next time rather than assuming the first random comment that pops into your mind is apropos (hint: I chose my words quite carefully).
Perhaps the food served in McDonalds US, France, Canada is different to that in New Zealand. Here it's pretty damned nice. The people who rag on McDonalds here are generally hipsters who don't like anything "mainstream", or vegans.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
Lebanese also speak french and come to France...
120 characters ought to be enough for anyone
Language will never really cease to change. Specifically, pejoration -- the process of words like "retarded" changing meaning from something descriptive to something like name-calling -- will go on as the original, descriptive meaning has certain social connotations. Once you get rid of the social connotations, the semantic shift will happen at a slower pace.
For mental deficiency, I don't see that happening any time soon, unless we manage to make it that a curable disease. For ephemeral things like color of skin, I can see it happening. I'm sure there are a few examples of physical characteristics that once lead to pejoration but are now more neutral. Illnesses that were once incurable but not anymore are a likely candidate. "Gay" is a nice example, being originally descriptive, then pejorative and now back to descriptive (averaging wildly across different language communities).
You have that wrong. A racist is anyone who states or in any way implies that all races are not identical. The truth value of any statements made by the supposed racist have nothing to do with it. See the endless flame war on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_intelligence for more information.
Racism has a very low burden of proof because essentially everyone is guilty, it is also a very serious crime. That makes it a convenient tool to attack people with even when race has nothing to do with the situation.
This story is about thugs who work for McDonalds assulting customers. Race really isn't involved anywhere.
In Germany it's fairly obvious that the economists are right: McD's and BK's business concepts revolve not around being cheap or good but around being ubiquitous. Subway, kebab shops and Chinese takeaway shops (to name common options in Germany) are all usually better and the latter two are also cheaper. But wherever you are there's always a McD or a BK nearby.
And so you pay five bucks for a not very Big Mac that's virtually taste-free even with salt and pepper, some mediocre fries and a coke while the same money could've bought you a tastier doner kebab where the salad component alone packs more nutrients than the entire McD offering. Plus the same coke. Of course it depends on whether you like cacik.
A German public-service TV station recently did a little report where they had test persons exclusively eat at one certain kind of restaurant for... a month, I think. The guy who went to the burger chain ended up paying the most and being the least enthusiastic about his next meal while the guy who went to eat Chinese every day paid comparatively little and was much less apprehensive.
This matches up with my experience: My workplace lies next to a small mall that has most of the above options plus two bakeries. Generally speaking the Chinese is cheap and okay, the doner stall is slightly more expensive and good, the bakeries are again slightly more expensive but are great if you don't mind a cold dinner and the BK is utterly bland and almost twice as expensive as the Chinese. It also has the distinction of keeping you sated for the shortest amount of time.
No matter what the ads say, the big burger chains don't even try to compete on quality or price. At least not anywhere I've ever been.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
To take the rest of the fun out of the post, JMenderley's password is knight_killer, read Gunther's email to him. (Just happened to be replaying Deus Ex and recognized the skullgun line. Funny how you can walk right up to the guy's desk and use his computer while he's sitting there and he doesn't give a damn what classified secrets you're browsing, but touch a book in his office and he goes off on you about minding your clearance).
Yes, he should never of been accosted. That's just ridiculous. However, he's a PITA as well. No where does it say that this is a necessary prosthetic. Just because he has a doctors note saying what it is, doesn't say that the doctor's note justified it as required. All we have here is a guy who researches augmented reality and wants to tote around his experimental toy. The assumption that he has some inane right to bring his gadgets wherever he pleases is nonsense. The fact that he built it in such a way that it can't be removed is also nonsense. He presumes that everyone will just accept it and must accept it. Well perhaps he has made a new discovery. His next version should be removable. Also, he might also want to consider being more respectful of others who might no want to be "augmented" without their consent.
Cheers.
there you go. maybe he shouldn't eat at mcdonald's.
Well, tour de France is a race and it has France in it. So if all of tour de France is a race and France is in tour de France: France MUST be a race!
This is a complete sham in my opinion - I live in Toronto. I go to University at his adress here in Toronto, 330 Dundas is property of The Art Gallery of Ontario. I Found that intriguing. Maybe I know him i do school there. The Row of houses are all commercial and his stated address in particular from the webarticle is a boarded up unused building! I'm looking at it right now, Hahaha. These feels like a scam or a oney grab to me. I've seen these before - another one while I was looking for my apartment to rent, they had this awesome web advertisment, beautiful imagery, but they in response to me, they wrote that they trust me and they will let me look around my self if I first leave my Full name Adress, Social Insurance Number banking information anything and everything about my identity and A key deposit of $250 to their paypal account... When google maps brought up the place there it was a vacant parking lot and a elementary school. No beautiful 2 story house. Now the technology aspect is cool. The dude might even exist! This web article is designed and tailored to allow voluntary donation. Does it sound like a Canadian to you to Sue over a few hundred dollars of damage? No - He would have apologized to his attackers and forgave them.
I also feel that the pictures seem very posed. So that is what I make of it. Just incase any one is picking up correspondence to donate money or anything.
Or just stay out of Europe. In case you've not seen the news lately, the EU is turning into a pretty violent place with citizens attacking police & vice versa.
No kidding.. I'd say that the EU is self-destructing.. from the inside..
Well, yeah, saying some *group* is "all like" something-or-other is pretty much the definition of "bigoted". Most especially a group people are born into rather than self-selecting; at least MENSA people mostly *are* smart.
What kind of wimp must he have been to get mugged by French Hoodlums?
seriously??? your condemning this man because he wants to see? bunch of inbred arrogant morons. you all are.
Hey it is the "permanently attached and does not come off my skull..." part that I would be worried about.
let them at it, after that the teeps just have to clean up and take over, sounds like a plan
Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?
Your post is rated "Funny", but I fear that it has te ring of truth to it. Maybe a lot more than you realize
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
I suspect this has more to do with the French apporoach to privacy than anything else...so not in compliance with EU privacy directives...I feel sorry for the researcher but know your potentially hostile environments...France, Italy, and Poland for certain.
...and have no truck with the alien too!
-- Cisk for the Cisk God
This is a message directed to Steven Mann:
In the article u asked: "I don't have the resources to take on a branch of a large multi-national corporation operating in a distant country, but I could use some help and advice as to how to resolve this matter, how to ensure it doesn't happen again to me or anyone else wearing Eye Glass"
You need to sue McDonalds if you want to ensure the safety of future consumers. It is your responsibility to contact a lawyer who is willing to make them pay financially for this act of prejudice. No change will occur unless you do something to make them notice. McDonalds will only notice if a significant amount of profit is taken from them.
Even if you do not wish to be personally compensated for this public assult, you still need to find a lawyer who is willing to take money from McDonalds in order to have them notice. If you dont do this, nothing will happen and prejudicial treatment and possibly assult will occur to others less strong then you.
Please step up and make a difference. Contact a lawyer. It is not bad or evil thing to make them pay for this. This behaviour needs to change and McDonalds has no business defending such behaviour at any of their establishments.
A policy that requires no cameras in an establishment cannot be enforced due to the previlence of cell phones. I do not think they have a requirement that no cell phones are allowed to be used within McDonalds... how could they? The demographic is too large. Simply because you stood out as "different" they treated you differently then the thousands of others who take photos with cell phones and are not so obvious. They should have called the police to remove you from the estabilishment since they had already taken your money as a customer while the camera was in full site and the employees were already aware of its usage. To take ur money and then refuse to provide you with the opportunity to eat the food is not fullfilling the contract you estabilished when u gave them the money and they provided the food.
Well Im not a lawyer, but I think this is something for which they are totally liable. They damaged your equipment so it will be apparent that physical force was used. You have their pictures and location so the parties involved can be held accountable. They destroyed personal property including a note from a doctor.
I believe u have a case and if so it should be easy to find a lawyer to assist you in holding McDonalds financially responsible for damages. Please do the right thing here and contact a lawyer about suing McDonalds in general and this establishment and the employees who assulted you.
I cannot believe the number of people who are choosing not to hold the restaraunt liable for this. The way he was treated was wrong and the way they handled it was wrong. The establishment took his money in a contract of sale. They could have refused him service since they already had knowledge of the device and its purpose. Instead they took his money and subsequently treated him as if he was not a welcome customer. It doesnt matter whether one guy said it was ok to be a customer and later some other employees decided it was not ok. They should have called the police instead of taking physical action on an established customer after the contract of sale was completed. They should be held fully accountable and forced to answer for this rediculous rule about cameras and how they enforce it. From the tone of most replies here, I tend to think this article is being replied to by McDonalds staff.
Mr Mann should sue mcdonalds. Even if Mr Mann only wants to be rembused for physical damages I should hope that some lawyer will put a significant financial dent in this establishment and mcdonalds corporate. Even if he doesnt do this for himself, he should do this for others after him. This is a stupid policy and even stupider enforcement. McDonalds will only recognize this when it costs them money. Please sue this establishment, those employees and mcdonalds. It is the right thing to do.
"African American" is PC, but is offensive to many (of us) blacks. Please do not use that term any more.
Pray for Mojo
It's just like the grandfather who got face-slammed to the concrete floor at WalMart last Christmas -- stay out of these kind of filthy hell-holes and you've nothing to worry about. I wouldn't go into a McDonalds if I was starving to death.
Or just stay out of Europe. In case you've not seen the news lately, the EU is turning into a pretty violent place with citizens attacking police & vice versa.
I heard the US is full of mad people with big guns who keep going to McDonald's and make the larger carnagge ever.
There, are we done with stupid stereotypes? Or should we Europeans continue counter-attacking with the stupid lost American tourist?
Only on slashdot - stupid and desperately misinformed stereotypes modded 5 insightful.
Yes. Yes, it is. You can't set up a device to break the law somehow (the clasical example is the booby trap) and then claim that it's not your fault because someone else triggered it. Arguably, because it was already recording images, it was already breaking the law. That it's just a "buffer" may or may not be relevant.
You are not allowed to bring dogs into some public (and private) facilities. But if you are visually impaired, there's a exception for you.
Anyway, your interpretation for "recording" can be challenged. What's a recording? If instead of storing the temporary images, they were kept in RAM, that's recording too? If so, these new laser prostectics will render the users locked in home!
Lisias@Earth.SolarSystem.OrionArm.MilkyWay.Local.Virgo.Universe.org
Culture indeed, us Northern European/White folk are more reserved and tend to err on the side of being non confrontational and/or apologising when things weren't even their fault (especially us english). Arabs and Africans tend to be direct and to the point, which isn't to say they're Aggressive, quite frankly I prefer it, the western Passive-Aggressive society in which I've been raised is in my opinion illogical (captain).
So yeah, when a bunch of Arabs start yelling at you and you're used to the White approach of the manager having a word with you off to the side you're going to get a culture shock.
If you don't risk failure you don't risk success.
Aside from a proclivity to fart in my direction, what is so disgusting about French men?
They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
Or just stay out of Europe. In case you've not seen the news lately, the EU is turning into a pretty violent place with citizens attacking police & vice versa.
Funny how the last McDonalds story led to many posts about "dumb Americans" and "typical American behavior". But when the Europeans act stupid suddenly there is silence.
Or stay out of France... Bunch of racists and rudest "customer service" in the world.
Statistically most Americans do come across as "dumb" or "ignorant" to other countries. For whatever reason most Americans seem to be very uneducated about the rest of the world. I am not saying Americans are less intelligent, just uneducated about other countries compared to European's, Canadian's, etc. Plus being the only country in the world still clinging to an antiquated Standard Measurement system doesn't help, lol.
Are you implying that France has any obligation in regards to US law? I genuinely don't understand your point.
Sorry, EU law. Not sure why I wrote US (though I think the US does have laws against that too). Technically I think it might be something that the European Court of Human Rights would deal with rather than the EU itself, but signing up for that is a mandatory part of EU membership.
Typo. I actually meant to write EU there. The EU's human rights framework is actually stricter on human rights in some ways than the US constitution, and anti-discrimination law is one of them. (They're not nearly as rigid about free speech as the US' First Amendment is though.)
cloaking would have been a good choice too
the singularity is upon us!!
If everybody who read this went to http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/contact_us/social_responsibility.html, clicked the Question button and filled in a statement suggesting McDonald's investigate and address the issue, as I did yesterday, you can bet your sweet bippy they'd act and act fast!
He's a self-important idiot. And even if his claims are true, he was attacked for walking into a bathroom with a headful of CAMERAS -- cameras he couldn't remove!
Social etiquette tip for would-be Borgs: remove your laser guided head mounted surveillance equipment when walking into a urinal.
DUH
Northernspy
But when the Europeans act stupid suddenly there is silence.
Maybe because none of us really refer to ourselves being European. In this case we simply state that they were stupid French people instead.
Or just stay out of Europe. In case you've not seen the news lately, the EU is turning into a pretty violent place with citizens attacking police & vice versa.
Funny how the last McDonalds story led to many posts about "dumb Americans" and "typical American behavior". But when the Europeans act stupid suddenly there is silence.
Your comment is negated by a little incident in a cinema, (American + gun = dead people) we might not agree with everything over here but we do not shot people when we disagree width them.
Or just stay out of Europe. In case you've not seen the news lately, the EU is turning into a pretty violent place with citizens attacking police & vice versa.
Funny how the last McDonalds story led to many posts about "dumb Americans" and "typical American behavior". But when the Europeans act stupid suddenly there is silence.
Have you watched the domestic news lately? Ok, now imagine all of that magnified by a 25% unemployment rate.... Then consider the fact that, for the most part, European police haven't been militarized wholesale like depts. in the US have been. Finally, is it really a good thing that Americans are too busy watching football and/or stuffing their faces to get off the couch. If they do get off the couch to vote, many of them vote against their self-interest (about half). Anyway, do we really need to bring up the whole Europe sux/US rawks stuff every time there a completely obscure and random story like this? Also, it could just be me but, I haven't seen/heard of any cool tech projects funded by the govt. in a while, oop, unless you can strap said cool project to some sort of weapons system... but anyway... Try adding to the convo. next time instead of pointing and saying "naaaah-ner nanner Nah-ner! Eur-ope suh-x."
you gotta let the insults slide. If every dumbass stereotype on Slashdot gets you upset, you'll either have to stop reading, or be upset all the time.
Awl be back B-|
Yes, because the locals would be known, so they hire traveling Canadians to spy on their behalf.
Learn to love Alaska
2012-07-17
2012-07-29
You must be some sort of slashdot archaeologist.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
The official definition in the US is you are what you claim to be. Given 5th generation white South Africans may identify as European, I'd say that there's no issue in the Politically Correct world (a world created by the non-PC people to make fun of those who told them they can't call blacks niggers anymore).
Learn to love Alaska
Nah, just a full time worker with 2 children. I get around to Slashdot on the weekends, often reading last weeks stories for the first time on a Saturday or Sunday, or the one following.
Learn to love Alaska
Well, in America, it's the cops doing the beating in a case like this, and it would be perfectly legal. Oh, wait, in some states they've passed some laws about that, but they seem to be working around them.
Anyway, look at things from the outside. There's a guy with a camera stuck to his head. Do you really want him to record you while eating, while going to the bathroom?
Aren't Americans supposed to be big on the privacy issue?
Anyway, from what I saw, there were only a few well chosen pictures, no sequence or anything. If he has any REAL proof, he'll call the police and make a complaint, even if it's just a formal one. If not, then McDonalds could sue him.