Archive for the 'politics' Category
Sunday, May 6th, 2007
Here’s a quote that aptly sums up the election campaign, mostly from an online standpoint. It probably reverberates enough to be applicable to most other election campaigns of recent years. From OuiNon.net (yes or no, clever…).
Que les organisations de militants arrêtent de pourrir les commentaires de blogs, forums, sondages et quotidiens en ligne ; qu’ils […]
Posted in general, France, politics | 6 Comments »
Thursday, May 3rd, 2007
The political excitement is mounting; for weeks now, the focus has been on the presidential race. A couple of Sundays ago, the first round saw a massive 84% turnout and the two main parties’ candidates came first and second. On the right, for the UMP, Nicolas Sarkozy. On the left, for the PS, Ségolène Royal. […]
Posted in general, France, politics | 6 Comments »
Monday, May 1st, 2006
Today is “International Workers Day” a.k.a. Labor day in the U.S., May Day in England, and here in France we celebrate the same thing, la fête du travail. Along with a number of pagan festivals which have always celebrated May, it’s specifically a commemoration of the Haymarket Riot of 1886 in Chicago, Ill. when the […]
Posted in general, France, politics | 11 Comments »
Saturday, March 11th, 2006
Employment law in France is, to an outside observer used to the Anglo-saxon system, all about employee rights. Trade Unions are strong and their socialist leanings mean that acquired employee rights cannot be taken lightly. The desire of the current right-wing government is to make employment law more flexible for employers, allowing them to have […]
Posted in general, France, politics | 12 Comments »
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2005
As most of you know, the French love to go on strike. Especially the public sector, with the lead generally being held by train workers. Yesterday, the SNCF (French national train company) were on strike, causing packed trains and leaving many people stranded waiting for a train to get home. Even with only 30% (highest […]
Posted in general, France, politics | Comments Off
Saturday, November 5th, 2005
Residential areas around France are burning. Cars are being torched. Local commerce is being reduced to broken glass, ash and smoke-damaged furniture and fittings. For the last couple of weeks, there have been a number of events around Paris which have caused widespread alarm.
The initial event which seems to have sparked off the violence is […]
Posted in general, France, politics | 7 Comments »
Tuesday, September 27th, 2005
In thirteen years from now, with a budget of at least US$108 billion, NASA plans to once again put a man on the moon. In fact not one, but four at a time. Perhaps even a woman this time . The major difference in the new moon launch plan - and something no doubt […]
Posted in general, tech, science, politics | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, September 14th, 2005
Sarah in Tampa, a blogger and sysadmin for a small business, probably knows enough about technology to live happily with her PC. When it came to getting some Madonna tunes she purchased from buy.com onto her iPod she was bitten by misguided DRM technology which is there ostensibly to prevent copyright violation. She had to […]
Posted in general, tech, blogs, politics | 8 Comments »