Just FYI, Thalidomide was banned in France, as the proceedings to get a drug approved here were very tough at the time, probably more than today. Part of the idea was to protect our pharma industry, but in this case it had a nice side-effect.
You're right: I'm french and France is, as the originator of the SI, fully metric. But scales on thermometers often show half degrees. Half degrees are not rare, either, on digital appliances like room temperature thermostats. And half a centigrade degree is pretty much a Farenheit degree... But I would not change to imperial for that : 0.5 degree is a good solution !
Tht's exactly what infuriates me in many, many recent decisions regarding "law" or rather "rules enforcement": Instead of searching the a**holes and get rid of them, rely on some mean that prevents them from acting, NO MATTER HOW MANY INNOCENT BYSTANDERS ARE HURT IN THE PROCESS. I would prefer seeing the dickhead asked to leave, even if the disturbance is greater. Because NEXT TIME, he simply will not be there, and some others will avoid calling so they are not asked to leave too. And I keep he right to choose, when my phone vibrates, wether I leave the room to answer or let the call go to my inbox.
Here (France) GSM jammers have been allowed in theaters, but it's not a simple jammer. It has to allow outgoing calls to 112 (european equivalent to 911) and incoming calls for selected individuals (doctors, emergency personnal) based on specific subscriber cards. It is absolutely forbidden to jam anywhere outside of the theater premises (read "Definitively NO overlap to neighboring sidewalks"). Despite these precise rules (or perhaps because of them), these jammers are AFAIK pretty rare. Perhaps most owners are afraid to get sued their pants off should something go really wrong ?
How often did Slashdotters rant about the **AA annoying their paying customers while the "Pirate" simply gets an unprotected copy of stuff ? Seems this looks similar: I am the paying customer ! Do whatever you like to deter shoplifters, but once I *Paid* for something, I expect to enjoy it without being bothered by the anti-theft measures. Some years ago, we had CDs sold in an almost unbreakable plastic shell with RF tags in it for anti-theft purposes. After having repeatedly damaged the CD case while strugglin' to open these shells, I began to systematically return the articles and demand it be changed for a new one. I sometimes had severe arguments with shopkeepers about this, but always had the last word. And after a while, that type of packaging disappeared...
The EU parliament dropped software patents, so for now it's officially a dead case. But I repeatedly hear intense lobbying goes on to re-open the debate. Probably not with the current chamber, as this would be considered an outrage. Now wait when the next MEPs are elected and I'm sure it will resurface...
As a foreigner, and over that french, I was reluctant to write about a strictly internal US subject, but here is just a small word : We (EU) would be no less than FORCED to TRY anything we could imagine to mitigate a civilian war in the US. The damage such a war would do worldwide is by far a sufficient reason to try to stop it, especially for so-called first world countries. How could we sit and look our civilisation go down the drain ? We would get a devastated north America (I don't think Canada would avoid being pulled in). That would surely bring no good for us : As much I don't like the current US policy, that's not something I hope to see !
I heard when all this started that CFC made its way to upper atmosphere in a matter of 2-3 decades. So if dropping CFC helps, it may only become visible in the next decade... But I can't help thinking you may be right here:-)
It's up to everyone of us. I try to do just that. I always wanted to take a vacation to visit the US, but I'm afraid I never will. For fear of being arrested, imprisonned, tortured, without an attorney and even without being told why, I prefer to stay here, or visit some other countries less hostile to foreigners. My data would probably not pose the faintest problem, but I refuse to take that risk: Errors can happen, so little the chance may be. I hope I'll manage to avoid any bussiness travel to te US.
In relation to what we could call "the Patriot(TM) climate", we have some people coming from London to our office sometimes. They used to come by plane : No more. For fear of bombs, but also of boring and long security checks, they now come via the Eurotunnel. So while some bussinesses benefit from all that climate, others will probably feel the damage.
Belgium, which I visited a number of times, at least the french speaking part, is that little "extra" to France which :
- Has the great luck to be independant from France, - So does not get stupid laws made in Paris, - Preserves a lot of interesting characteristics in various domains.
I always thought the "belgian jokes" we have around in France are born from jealousy...
Yes, that's somthing that became obvious to my parents during WWII. I often heard them praise the "great organization skills" of the Americans (read: US Army).
I've repeatidely read that marine freight consumes around 1/30th of the energy a truck uses for the same load/mileage carried. This figure was, on occasions, cited by the french transport ministry.
Not true. The Barroso commission was rejected by the parliament and had to have its composition (slightly) modified. Before that, the Santer commission was "fired" by same parliament. Strictly speaking, the parliament has no legal way to remove the commission, but it has been able to force its president to resign. Should he have refused, the parliament could have played down each and every proposal: Evidently an inacceptable stalemate. Not to say democratic powers are sufficient here, but some counter-powers do exist.
These people make me sick: They keep pushing law after law on member states, well aware that the citizen don't want them. It happened that finally countries where there once was a large majority in favor of the EU construction, (The Netherlands, France) rejected the proposed EU constitution. And now they do bussiness as usual. We have an election year in 2007 and if this kind of crap does not stop, I will seriously consider voting for some politician seeking to LEAVE THE E.U.no matter what his other proposals are. Enough is enough, our french politicians are not very democratic in my view, but these are even worse, and I no longer want to have them ruling my country.
AFAIK these regulation are by far less stringent than in Quebec. Lots of ads are partially or totally in English, with the law only requiring that a translation is added at the bottom (almost always in very fine print). Otherwise, official docs and contracts have to be in french or translated : Isn't this normal? After all this country does have an official language ! A few days ago, on a french radio station, a psychologist was explaining why your kind of feelings were frequent (of course, these exist the opposed way too). Among multiple origins were differences in the appreciation of what is public/private space/stuff in the two countries. The funny thing is, that psychologist was a US citizen...
Better take a look on what music and movies run here before stating this. Yes, there's a lot US stuff, but it's far, far from 99%. And I'm pretty sure the SACEM does pay foreign copyright owners.
Wait for the music industry for taxing your ears. Because after all, you can use them to listen to illegally copied music! That day I will charge for my brain cells used by advertisers without my express prior consent:-) Call me a commie if you want but my idea is "Intellectuel property is theft"
Slashdot Mirror
Just FYI, Thalidomide was banned in France, as the proceedings to get a drug approved here were very tough at the time, probably more than today. Part of the idea was to protect our pharma industry, but in this case it had a nice side-effect.
Surely they will hesitate to stop a simulation running since that long, even if àç_àçààààààà
Process 2544213588 (user God) successfully stopped
csh%
Any mans death diminishes me, Because I am involved in Mankinde.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee.
I didn't write it, but it reflects perfectly what news of people passing away inspire me
Excuse me, but you took a funny example : 12/12/2000 is the 12th of December in either system ;-)
You're right: I'm french and France is, as the originator of the SI, fully metric. But scales on thermometers often show half degrees. Half degrees are not rare, either, on digital appliances like room temperature thermostats. And half a centigrade degree is pretty much a Farenheit degree...
But I would not change to imperial for that : 0.5 degree is a good solution !
That's an idea I played with more than once... If we are in a perfect Matrix, how could we even find out when all we get are blue pills ;-)
Tht's exactly what infuriates me in many, many recent decisions regarding "law" or rather "rules enforcement": Instead of searching the a**holes and get rid of them, rely on some mean that prevents them from acting, NO MATTER HOW MANY INNOCENT BYSTANDERS ARE HURT IN THE PROCESS.
I would prefer seeing the dickhead asked to leave, even if the disturbance is greater. Because NEXT TIME, he simply will not be there, and some others will avoid calling so they are not asked to leave too. And I keep he right to choose, when my phone vibrates, wether I leave the room to answer or let the call go to my inbox.
Here (France) GSM jammers have been allowed in theaters, but it's not a simple jammer. It has to allow outgoing calls to 112 (european equivalent to 911) and incoming calls for selected individuals (doctors, emergency personnal) based on specific subscriber cards. It is absolutely forbidden to jam anywhere outside of the theater premises (read "Definitively NO overlap to neighboring sidewalks").
Despite these precise rules (or perhaps because of them), these jammers are AFAIK pretty rare. Perhaps most owners are afraid to get sued their pants off should something go really wrong ?
How often did Slashdotters rant about the **AA annoying their paying customers while the "Pirate" simply gets an unprotected copy of stuff ? Seems this looks similar: I am the paying customer ! Do whatever you like to deter shoplifters, but once I *Paid* for something, I expect to enjoy it without being bothered by the anti-theft measures.
Some years ago, we had CDs sold in an almost unbreakable plastic shell with RF tags in it for anti-theft purposes. After having repeatedly damaged the CD case while strugglin' to open these shells, I began to systematically return the articles and demand it be changed for a new one. I sometimes had severe arguments with shopkeepers about this, but always had the last word. And after a while, that type of packaging disappeared...
The EU parliament dropped software patents, so for now it's officially a dead case. But I repeatedly hear intense lobbying goes on to re-open the debate. Probably not with the current chamber, as this would be considered an outrage. Now wait when the next MEPs are elected and I'm sure it will resurface...
As a foreigner, and over that french, I was reluctant to write about a strictly internal US subject, but here is just a small word : We (EU) would be no less than FORCED to TRY anything we could imagine to mitigate a civilian war in the US. The damage such a war would do worldwide is by far a sufficient reason to try to stop it, especially for so-called first world countries. How could we sit and look our civilisation go down the drain ? We would get a devastated north America (I don't think Canada would avoid being pulled in). That would surely bring no good for us : As much I don't like the current US policy, that's not something I hope to see !
I heard when all this started that CFC made its way to upper atmosphere in a matter of 2-3 decades. So if dropping CFC helps, it may only become visible in the next decade... But I can't help thinking you may be right here :-)
It's up to everyone of us. I try to do just that. I always wanted to take a vacation to visit the US, but I'm afraid I never will. For fear of being arrested, imprisonned, tortured, without an attorney and even without being told why, I prefer to stay here, or visit some other countries less hostile to foreigners. My data would probably not pose the faintest problem, but I refuse to take that risk: Errors can happen, so little the chance may be. I hope I'll manage to avoid any bussiness travel to te US.
In relation to what we could call "the Patriot(TM) climate", we have some people coming from London to our office sometimes. They used to come by plane : No more. For fear of bombs, but also of boring and long security checks, they now come via the Eurotunnel. So while some bussinesses benefit from all that climate, others will probably feel the damage.
Belgium, which I visited a number of times, at least the french speaking part, is that little "extra" to France which :
- Has the great luck to be independant from France,
- So does not get stupid laws made in Paris,
- Preserves a lot of interesting characteristics in various domains.
I always thought the "belgian jokes" we have around in France are born from jealousy...
No, even simpler [i]frites[/i], at least in everyday's language.
Operate in my country ? play with my rules ...
The USA is real good at solving these problems.
Yes, that's somthing that became obvious to my parents during WWII. I often heard them praise the "great organization skills" of the Americans (read: US Army).
I've repeatidely read that marine freight consumes around 1/30th of the energy a truck uses for the same load/mileage carried. This figure was, on occasions, cited by the french transport ministry.
Not true. The Barroso commission was rejected by the parliament and had to have its composition (slightly) modified.
Before that, the Santer commission was "fired" by same parliament. Strictly speaking, the parliament has no legal way to remove the commission, but it has been able to force its president to resign. Should he have refused, the parliament could have played down each and every proposal: Evidently an inacceptable stalemate.
Not to say democratic powers are sufficient here, but some counter-powers do exist.
These people make me sick: They keep pushing law after law on member states, well aware that the citizen don't want them. It happened that finally countries where there once was a large majority in favor of the EU construction, (The Netherlands, France) rejected the proposed EU constitution. And now they do bussiness as usual. We have an election year in 2007 and if this kind of crap does not stop, I will seriously consider voting for some politician seeking to LEAVE THE E.U.no matter what his other proposals are.
Enough is enough, our french politicians are not very democratic in my view, but these are even worse, and I no longer want to have them ruling my country.
...and "Intellectual property is theft" :-D
Sorry, couldn't resist...
AFAIK these regulation are by far less stringent than in Quebec. Lots of ads are partially or totally in English, with the law only requiring that a translation is added at the bottom (almost always in very fine print). Otherwise, official docs and contracts have to be in french or translated : Isn't this normal? After all this country does have an official language !
A few days ago, on a french radio station, a psychologist was explaining why your kind of feelings were frequent (of course, these exist the opposed way too). Among multiple origins were differences in the appreciation of what is public/private space/stuff in the two countries. The funny thing is, that psychologist was a US citizen...
Better take a look on what music and movies run here before stating this. Yes, there's a lot US stuff, but it's far, far from 99%. And I'm pretty sure the SACEM does pay foreign copyright owners.
Has been completed : now sounds "Intellectual property is theft"
Phil
Wait for the music industry for taxing your ears. Because after all, you can use them to listen to illegally copied music! :-)
That day I will charge for my brain cells used by advertisers without my express prior consent
Call me a commie if you want but my idea is "Intellectuel property is theft"