Lutetia

User Unkown

I am getting a lot of "returned mail: User Unknown." emails. Usually from bigCo's like Aol. It seems that someone is using my domain name to send spam. The (returned mail) is usually sent to RandomName@tripledub.com

Is there anything I can do about this? or do I have to grin and bear it. I would hate to see my domain blacklisted in such a way.

Sumo Diplomacy

Schroeder and Chirac's "sumo diplomacy" is the headline of this short and slightly odd piece about the fondness that the two leaders have for the Japanese sport.

Given that they are throwing their weight around at the European constitution blah blah, do you think that perhaps the term might stick?

Tie the not

Members of several Breton cultural groups demonstrating for solidarity with four people suspected of being members of a Real IRA support group. These four people were arrested in Normandy after the discovery of an arms cache. They were freed four days later. One wonders if the demonstrators know the difference between the Real IRA and the Provisional IRA.

A number of Breton seperatists are being held by the French government without trial.

I'm angry

The floor below my shower just caved in. My neighbour wants to kill me.

Drinking ban lifted in Mass

Oh to buy booze in Massachusetts on a Sunday.

The right to smoke

The tobacconists (or buralistes) of France are demonstrating againts yet another cigarette tax hike in January. The last one was in October.
Many tobacco shops, particularly those near borders, have seen their business plummet since the last hike. The government has offered them aid but the recepients feel this is not enough. Hence the carrots; a symbol, in France, of an insufficient bribe.

Turbo Tractor

Fixed speed cameras were recently introduced all over France. Being machines, of course, they are always right.

So when Henri Gauthier received a speeding ticket in the mail he was a little suprised. His tractor, apparently, had been caught doing 120km/h (70 mph) in a 110 km/h zone. That and the "crime" is supposed to have taken place on a motorway in the Paris suburbs.

Pay the fine, said the Gendarmes, and then you can contest it. Not bloody likely, said the farmers wife. They have asked for a photograph, which I would have thought would come automatically with a speed camera. This has yet to be produced.

It is strictly forbidden for tractors to drive on motorways. This supposedly has something to do with the fact that such vehicles are not capable of attaining the speed limit.

"Je sais qu'il est turbo," said Mr Gauthier, "mais pas à ce point là."

Top Cop

Elaine Sciolino of the NYT has an interesting piece on French Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy. He was on the programme "100 minutes pour convaincre" (I'll let you work out what it means in English) on thursday night. There he debated with both Jean Marie Le Pen and Tariq Ramadan, a hip mullah. Sarkozy is the only "establishment" politician who is willing to go head to head with Le Pen. While in the same party as Chirac, the two are old enemies.

Jefferson's Paris

In an attempt to underline Franco-American friendship (which, as you may have noticed, could do with a little underlining these days) Bertrand Delanoë, the mayor of Paris, announced that the city is to erect a statue of the famed francophile, Thomas Jefferson. He made the announcement during a visit by Anthony Williams, the mayor of Washington D.C.

Jefferson, who lived on my street considered France "the natural ally" of the United States.

"My wish is that this installation be a symbol of the strength of friendship between the American and French peoples, that it rises above politics," Delanoë announced. He then recognised that there is "much mis-understanding at the moment" between the two countries.

The original piece is here

No Comment

A circus has set up camp next to the Drancy memorial.

The Massoud killers

Nicholas Sarkozy today announced that someone in liaison with the Masssoud murderers has been arrested.

Some of you may remember that the booby trapped camera, the one that killed Massoud, was found to have been stolen from a camera crew in Grenoble, at the foot of the French alps.

My Grandmother was in the French resistance (which so many people, these days, like to pretend didn't exist.) She claims, quite plausibly, that the murder of the head of the Northern League was the trigger for that day. They saw the news, they booked the tickets.

Quoi?

For some reason, the French government has felt the need to announce that Jacques Chirac wears no hearing aid.

RIP

Does The US Government layout this kind of ceremony for its dead in Iraq, or does it just try to brush them under the carpet?

Graffiti watch

Salute CONrad

Conrad Black resigns as chief exec over dodgy payments he received. He remains as chairman. Will the papers' leaders continue to describe as anti-Semitic everyone who disagrees with it.

"Idiotarian" n. 1. Word used by Rednecks to sound intelligent, often in describing someone who once went abroad.

Bloody Mary

Just days before the Queen Mary II, the largest passenger boat ever built, rolls of the docks in St Nazaire she has already earned herself a bad name.

An estimate of between 12 and 16 people fell to their deaths saturday when the gangplank collapsed. She was in a dry dock. Why the number varies, I do not know. It was enough, however, for both the President and the PM to pay a visit of condoleonce.

Unlucky Strike

Like just about everywhere, cigarette prices (or rather taxes) in France have been going up, up and away.

Last month, the government (for reasons of poverty more than anything else) put the prices up again. They also promised to put them up again in January. Two hikes in four months.

Enough, said the tobacconists , or buralistes, we're going on strike. And strike they did. The price rise made me think that I should perhaps stop. Never said that before. Nope. 'Course not.

Then came the strike. It was only a one days strike but, not being the carton buying type (I'm in denial), I naturally ran out at midday. The idea of searching around Provence was too much. I stopped on the spot.

The strike stopped and I didn't strike up. Why let something rule your life (and your wallet) like that?

The Buralistes, however, are still at it. You have to feel sorry for the guys. Tobacco distribution is completely controlled by the state (though the manufacture of domestic brands was privatised by Jospin's Socialist government.) It works a bit like Alcohol in some US states; the buralistes sell the cigarettes (no reduction for cartons, no generic brands) and get a fee (usually several months later) from the state. Given that they do not have to put money up front for their goods, they tend to have a lot in store (and more brands than the UK has dead cows.)

This gave rise (just after the last price hike) to a bunch of heists in the Département (county) of Dordogne. The thieves had broken holes in their storage rooms. National TV reported it and pointed out that any given tobacconists probably has (at ~ €5 per pack) some € 30,000 worth of packs at any given time. That, pointed out the helpful TV anchor, and it's much easier than robbing a bank.

"Why didn't I think of that?" I exclaimed, almost out loud from the depths of my potato stained couch. I often have fantasies about being a crim. Like everyone else, however (except crims) I am too bourgeois (city dwelling being the correct translation) to actually be one.

Others didn't quite have the same reaction as I. There is now an epidemic of roberies. Deliveries of cigarettes are now done with armoured trucks. The buralistes, meanwhile, have been picketing supply depots and borders (over which people hop to get cheaper fags) and even, today, had a summit with the Prime minister. He promised them that there would be no price rise for the next four years. Not enough, said the buralistes, who suddenly have spokesmen and the like. The anti smoking lobby accused them of neo-poujadisme, referring to the small shopkeeper tax revolt of the 50's.

The saga continues.

There's a good bloggie

Oliver Willis has got to have one of the best blogs around. While he may be something of an ideological soccer player (As in "It's the politics that count, not the ideas") He does make his points (with which I mostly agree) with wit.
It is unfortunate that America has become so partisan that it seems very difficult to have any ideas of one's own. I remember being so suprised as a kid that so many congressional votes didn't go along party lines. How different it was from Britain, where I lived at the times, where everything was (and is) decided by the party whip.
It's the opposite here in France, where there is a plethora of ideas; almost none of which are acted upon.

This entry is hilarious

Final Cut Blues

It seems that my last two weeks has been spent dealing with computer problems, wondering why on earth one shells out for such things.
First it was Radio Userland, which died (never to recover) simply because I moved it from one directory to another, and then it was Final Cut Pro (which costs real money, though not compared to AVID etc.)

Couldn't get the the fucka to work when I returned from Provence. Spent days trashing preferences, typing in incomprehensible (and scary) Unix commands, swapping firewire cables (boy have there been some scare stories about fried firewire ports) doing surface scans of hard drives....nothing, whatever happened, the video chopped like a cheap kung fu movie.

But now I know. I know that my faith in Apple should never have faltered. I know that I have sinned. The problem lay in the camera. Its firewire port had not exactly fried, rather it had merely simmered. It was made by the same people who made a certain Windows Laptop I made the mistake of buying a few years ago. That one lasted just one year. It was made by the same people who made a certain Network audio player which worked with no operating system other than the short lived Windows 98 (ME, 2000, fuggetabahtit.) In short it is a Sony camera. I am getting sick and tired of the half built products. If only I could get over that Playstation addiction.

Loving MT

Why is Movable type (on a remote server) so much faster than Userland on my mac.

Something of the Night

Tom Watson, ostensibly with a little help from the swots in the Labour party, has a very interesting rundown on Michael Howard's less than stellar past.

An eye for an eye makes everybody blind

Saw Gandhi in my hungover state this afternoon. Haven't seen it since it came out. I was a child at the time and the whole Hindu Muslim thing went right over my head.

Having seen it again, I modestly submit that it is one of the great films.

Shot by a Hindu Nationalist, eh? Plus ça change...

Lunettes noires pour nuit blanches

Went nightclubbing for the first time in a long time last night. Accordingly have just woken up. Am now going out to seek Perigord food, for which I suddenly have an insatiable craving.

I like this Manual Type business. I thought I'd never be able to install it. Within half an hour of going live I got tech support from Phillip(who, once I get it together, is going top of my blogroll) and Mike Krus of the fabulous "News Is Free" online News Agregator.

Wilkomenn, Bienvenue, Welcome

To my blog 3.0. I have yet to move my archives over from my previous blog, as my Radio blog seems to be irreperably bugged. Ironically, Userland sent me a "reminder" that my license for Radio will expire in 30 days. Oh dear.

I will admit to a tinge of chagrin over my departure. Userland's (two, I believe) employees have been very helpful in responding to problems on the forum. The problem is (and this could not be a problem in any NORMAL program) is that my made the horific mistake of moving my local copy of Userland from one local directory to another. It has not worked properly since. One thing I will miss is the Salon community. The Concept of the Radio Community Server is just that; it creates a community. Oh well, que seras seras.

UPDATE:
Actually, you can see my archives on Radio, by looking at this directory