This blog has been "off" for a long time and i decided to reopen it. I'm not sure yet what content i'll bring in, but i'll probably keep commenting some politics and technology topics since i'm interested in both. Hopefully, i'll also be able to post something about diving, including photos, but i don't have the photos at hand for the moment. Stay tuned! ...and be patient (in case i don't visit here in a while)

One of my hobbies is "reading", and one of my favorite genres of books is "fantasy". Thanks to friends of mine who recommended a few good fantasy stories, I discovered the series of books "The black company" (by Glen Cook), which is a little gem. Let me introduce the story to you so that you too, might feel inspired to read it!

 

 

As I have now finished the 6th book of this series, don't hesitate to ask for more info . I can also recommend you the following links, though some of them might contain "spoilers":

http://www.editions-l-atalante.com/pages/auteurs/dentelle/cook.htm (French)

My blog is on vacation for some time.

Bye bye civilization! Hello tourism and relaxation!

I sometimes think about every little thing that could help having a longer and healthier life. So why not keep a record of all these little things that help?

 

 

 

 

An accurate explanation of Pentecost can be seen there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentecost ...however, I will (attempt to) summarize it in order to introduce more quickly the point of this article.

 

 

In the catholic tradition, after the death of Jesus Christ and his resurrection, he announced to his apostles that the Holy Spirit would come and visit them and remind them of the past teachings of Jesus, and that afterwards, they would spread the wisdom and convert new people to Christianity. This holiday of religious origin is an official holiday in many countries, including France.

 

...or so it used to be...

 

 

In 1956, the French government created a tax aimed at financing a "national funds of solidarity" whose purpose was to provide a minimum guaranteed income to people over 65 years old. This tax was paid every year by car owners proportionally to the power of the engine, and these tax-payers/car-owners received a car sticker to stick on the windshield in order to prove the payment of this tax. Since 1973, this tax was paid directly to the government instead of national funds of solidarity, and later, in 1984 directly to the provinces administrations. This tax was much criticized for being a financial burden for people, and not financing anymore what it had been created for (the minimum income for the elderly). This tax has been cancelled in 2001.

 

 

During summer 2003, as one probable outcome of global warming (among thousands of others), the temperature in France reached more than 35°C in 2/3 of France, and more than 40°C in 15% of metropolitan French cities. From a statistic point of view, an excess of 15000 deaths has been noticed for the first half of August 2003. This led to a saturation of the capacity of hosting of morgues. While the government was ready since July 2003 to manage the consequences of high temperatures in terms of forest fires, they realized the human catastrophy only after being alarmed by overloaded "emergency" departments of hospitals. Jacques Chirac, president of the French Republic, denied responsibility of the government and highlights the lack of solidarity between citizens, and the degradation of social relations especially towards the elderly.

 

Despite the disagreement shared by all political parties and by 80% of the population, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Prime Minister, had a law voted in 2004 declaring the Monday of Pentecost (holiday in France) as a "worked holiday of solidarity". This nonsense term means that both companies and workers will continue their activity but give away all the value of it to the government for funding assistance for the elderly in France. So the companies will pay an additional 0.3% of tax on benefits while employees will have to work for free on that holiday. Provided "sector agreement" or "company agreements" are found, this day of solidarity can be performed on another day, or can even be spreaded (some companies have transformed it into an equally meaningless 1 minute and 52 seconds of additional work per day).

 

This additional day of work is supposed to bring an additional 2 billion euro per year to the government for helping the elderly population but... only 25% of this money will actually be used for them (a bigger share will be used for disabled people). Also, this additional day of work has drawbacks considering that the tourism linked to that holiday (because of a 3-days weekend) will go down, thus generating less revenue for the French economy. More solidarity might result in less solidarity as grandchildren cannot benefit from the 3-days weekend of their parents to visit the grandparents. The potential additional income of the solidarity day is compensated by reduction of the credits given to the social security. The special funds for the elderly thus becomes a replacement funds, instead of being an additional funds.

 

I love France. But the 2nd mandate of Jacques Chirac from 2002 until 2007 has been a vast joke (for more jokes of that government, you can look for information on "increase of working life duration from 40 to 42 years", "decentralization of School funding", "reform of the social security", "the positive role of colonization", the "first job contract" and "new job contract", the "DADVSI" transcription of the European Union Copyright Directive, the propaganda around the "treaty creating a constitution for Europe", the "Perben 2" law...). So if you are not French and want a good laugh with original jokes, just find information on that government. It really is worth the time.

This one is a joke. A kind of cute but dirty one, though.

 

This is the story of 2 friends, a bear and a rabbit. They are having a walk in the mountain when suddenly the bear says:

"I need to go to the toilets. I'll go behind this tree".

"so do I" answers the rabbit. "I'll go with you"

After a short while, the rabbit says : "done! ready to go?"

The bear a little surprised asks "hey! you did not clean your butt. You don't mind having some shit in your hair?"

"no..." replies the rabbit

So the bear catches the rabbit and uses him to clean his butt...

Almost everyone nowadays knows about Skype, the famous VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone which allows you to make calls through the internet but also from the internet to real phones and from real phones to the internet. This software is probably the famous as being one of the 1st actors on the market. However, as could be observed many times with the monopoly of Microsoft over some sectors of software, the leaders don't play the game by the rules when they are in a dominant position. For example, VoIP has standards, which Skype does not respect. And Skype does not open the specifications of his protocol which would allow other web-phones to inter-operate.

This is quite comparable with a telecom operator who would not let you call the phones that use another operator. By doing so, they escape the competition by abusing their dominant position.

 

Ekiga (http://www.ekiga.org/) proposes equivalent services (VoIP phone & video-conference) but in a fashion respectful of international standards (SIP and H323) in order to be compatible with other web-based phone softwares. For example, using Ekiga, you can call your friends who are using a different software such as Wengo, Windows Messenger, SwissVoice, CISCO, NetMeeting, SJPhone, Eyebeam, X-lite...

 

The current version (version 2.00) proposes the following features:

 - audio & video

 - call transfer

 - call suspension

 - DTMF

 - Instant messenger

 - simultaneous use of several accounts

 - possibility to use an outhbound proxy or a gateway

 - voice mail notification

 

At this stage of the project it doesn't support yet Microsoft Windows (but is compatible with Linux Red Hat). It will hopefully soon do. While it has been the effort of mainly one developper so far, let's hope that this release 2.00 will convince many contributors to get involved in this Free Software project.

A debate is going on at the present time in France... in fact, more than 1 debate but I'm not going to discuss now the new contract with 2 years of trial period for people under 26 years old. I will discuss the adaptation of laws concerning copyright.

 

Before going into the debate itself, I should mention an important detail of French law which is called "exception for private copy". If an artistic creation has been "revealed" to a "user", an exception to the rights of the author grants the user the right to keep a copy of the creation for his own use as well as the use in the limited scope of free, private diffusions within his/her family. In other words, if you had seen a movie on TV (or theater...) or heard a song on the radio (or why not on TV), you were allowed to have a copy of that creation, like (for example) a video or audio tape of that.

 

Nowadays, what the French government is trying to push, is a law that will legalize DRM preventing or limiting people to make copies. Yet it claims that the private copy will still be valid. It would become illegal to break the protection even in the scope of the private copy. Even in the scope of interoperability... because some people can't afford to pay 800 euro to have Microsoft Windows so they would like to watch DVDs under Linux and DRMs can't be implemented on Free Software. Also, as of today in France, if you buy a song online using Itunes (service managed by Apple), you can play your song on an Ipod (product of Apple) but certainly not on a Sony MP3 player. So if you change your MP3 player you would be forced to buy once more the song on the web services of Sony. To my opinion, this is a racket requested by editors and performed by the government.

 

So when the new/future law has been proposed to French senators, they amended the 1st article by authorizing the download of artistic creations in the scope of the private copy. It was unexpected from French minister of Culture who probably expected his law to be voted without problems in the absence of 90% of senators (session held at night after 10:00 PM, between 22 and 23 December 2005, just 1 day before Xmas Eve). So the government has put in place a propaganda website presenting the advantages of his law for defending -officially- the interests of the authors, regardless of the fact that editors take at least 75% of the income. Regardless also about the rights of consumers and common sense. This website (http://www.lestelechargements.com) is also using a "moderation" which is more like censorship since you can see that there is no comment in reaction of stupid comments from singers who still compare an illegal download of a song with the robbery of jeans in a clothes shop. However, on the few questions sent to the visitors, 99% of the comments are strongly opposed to the project of law, explaining how this project will kill both the private copy and Free Software.

 

France is a democracy. One of the most shining ones. Or it used to be... For me, it is more like a banana republic than a real democracy. Money leads the way. Lobbies get their point enforced by the government and we can even wonder if there is no under-table money involved. Private companies are even invited inside the senate to present the advantages of their online services to the senators right before voting the laws.

If you have never heard about "butterfly effect" before, here is roughly what is the principle: the flap of a butterfly' wings in Tokyo can produce an earthquake in Los Angeles.

 

Sounds crazy, doesn't it? It does sound crazy to most people as they think that this flap alone will generate the earthquake. I also admit that it would be absurd when considering the ratio of energies involved in both events. But the theory behind the butterfly effect is actually a little deeper, yet simple. The earthquake is the result of many previous "events" which can be considered as causes (we could mention ocean currents, temperature, weight of the local buildings, geology...). These causes have causes of their own. ...which also have causes. From a top-down vision, we can come back to tiny causes such as the flap of our Japanese butterfly's wings.

 

From a bottom-up point of view, we can consider the world as a scientific experiment. In this experiment, changing the initial state by a very small amount will most probably bring minor changes to the results in the short term, significant changes in the long term, and major changes in the very long term.

 

Practically, how can it change our lives? To be honnest, I'm not sure (except if you are a scientist working on long term evolution of models like in climatology, ecology, etc.). I guess giving a smile, offering priority to pedestrians when you are in your car, or helping someone (instead of just following an emotionless life) is something small, like the flap of a butterfliy's wings. But it can have a spreading effect (a contaminating effect, if we compare with deseases) that can make other people smile, drive in a more responsible way, or having a more helpful attitude. When you do it, it seems to be useless and have no further effect. But in the long term, you can be sure it will have an effect on a larger scale.

 

It also works with European, American, Thai, and African butterflies ;)

On a blog that I visit regularly, a subject emerged, which I find interesting. In France, should we (or not) reopen the "closed houses" (brothels) or in other words, should we make prostitution legal again?

 

I think so, but I will explain you why.

 

In France, and in some other European countries, prostitution exists. In Paris, there are even some famous boulevards or places which are famous for this. While you can find some prostitutes who are working on their own, it's believed that most of them are working for a "mac" (this is the name given to the guys who regularly beat them and take a big share of the money).

 

Some journalists and police investigations tend to show that many ladies from Eastern Europe countries are promised a job as a waitress in a western capital so that they can make a living and have enough money to send back to their families, possibly to their parents and to their child if any. But the story turns wrong when they are sent on their trip to a bright future. The ladies are beaten and raped until they will submit to the authority of their abductors. They are then "sold" to some mac in a western capital and once in a while, they get sold to a new "owner" in another capital because it's risky for the macs to let the girls get used to some place. If the girls don't bring enough money, they will be beaten. But how can they go to complain at the police? how can they escape? They are generally threatened about their family which is still living in their country of origin. And the police seems to be quite powerless against what happens.

 

In Belgium and Netherlands, I have already passed by some "red light district". This seems a lot more safe and healthy than what happens in France and I guess it is linked to some official recognition or even legality of this work. Why could legalization be so much better? (the idea of getting rid of prostitution completely is not realistic)

1 - First thing is that these ladies already pay tax, even in France. In a legal scope, they could not dread to be put in jail for a job on which they pay tax. They could also pay social security, take vacation, a professional insurance in case of accident...

2 - Crime would also probably go down in this type of activity. It can be expected that some racket would be tried by former macs but a legal scope of work would make the ladies able to go to the police (which they can not do at the present time).

3 - This activity can bring some comfort to some disabled people, single people, etc. It is actually possible in Netherlands for disabled people to get some refund of these services as it is recognized that it has some positive effect on their psychology. It might not change a lot the statistics of psycological depression but why not do what is helpful?

 

And you? what do you think about it? Should it be re-legalized? Should it be forbidden and should the police put the girls in jail? or should they fight against the macs? But then what happens to the families of the girls, who are in a different country?

This must be the most discussed topic of the moment. From all parts I see violence, intolerance, etc. And I understand the reactions from all parts ...and I have my opinion, which is more on the side of "Freedom of speech for the press". However, I don't want to claim it. I want to explain it. If you (the reader) are a faithful follower of any religion, you might still stick to the defense of islam as being a victim of an offense by the Jylland Posten newspaper. But at least, this article might give you more elements to understand the position of the people with whom you disagree.

 

From articles I have read in the press (but I could not read the original version since I don't speak Danish) I have understood the following about the original article published in the Jylland Posten: that article was about freedom of speech (FOS) in the press. The debate about FOS was not initiated after the publishing of the drawings, but well inside the controversial article. The point of it was to state/highlight/demonstrate that even though FOS is granted in the law (with some limits such as insult, racism, discrimination, slander...), the facts prove otherwise when dealing with islam ...which is not the case when dealing in a similar way with religions that have a longer history inside our laic democratic countries.

 

How could that be true? Is this islamophobia?... I don't think it is islamophobia and I think it is true that muslim people or communities react in a way which is quite different from laic, atheist, christian or buddhist. Even though muslims have been present in French society for a long time (I think most of them arrived after World War 2 in order to participate to the effort of reconstruction), the practice of this religion was much more private than it is today. The immigrant muslims (most of whom came from Marocco and Algeria) must also have felt shy, as they were settling in a foreign place, and not always having a good command of the local language. This shyness must have also been encouraged by racism (resulting from xenophobia, even though the 2 concepts should be dirrentiated) they could see in the reaction of French people not accustomed to a darker color of skin. And so years passed... Over the years, the racism in France diminished and most teenagers of today recognise that being French is not a matter of skin. Over the years came also the 2nd and 3rd generations "migrants". These are not migrants themselves but children and grandchildren of migrants. They are French of nationality but still hold a strong feeling of belonging to the country their families came from. As it is a requirement of muslim men to marry muslim women, islam in France is still highly correlated with foreign origins, making it hard to understand the roots of the phenomena.

 

It is also important to remind that the history of France (and probably a few other European countries) has been marked by a long domination of Catholic power over the country. This power could apply through taxes (clerics were entitled to an amazing 10% of the agricultural production of each farmer) but also through the enforcement of religious laws (so-called "heretics" were burned alive during the inquisition) as well as a control of society (through confession which could be used by the Church to know who was doing what, where and when). The reforms performed simultaneously with the French revolution have later led to the law of 1905 separating the political power from the religious power. While a majority of French people were still catholic, representatives of the Church such as priests, bishops, etc. were unwelcome as state officials and the government would not assume any more funding of religions. No sponsorship of religious activities nor funding of worship places. This was a major and difficult reform to perform but was endorsed as mandatory to get away from the influence of Rome (and royalist claims that would be anti-republican and supportive of Rome) and to ensure a respect of the right of anyone to practice the religion of his/her choice, and not only catholicism. As a result of this separation, the notion of "sacred" disappeared from public life and became a strictly private matter. People were free to practice a different religion and to recognize as sacred (or not) only what they wanted. In other words, any "sacred" aspect of catholicism could not be imposed to muslims, buddhists, taoists, atheists, shinto or others.

 

Now what about the caricatures and FOS? FOS for press is the right to publish about any subject in any possible form, as long as it does break laws as mentioned above. So strictly according to the law, publishing caricatures like these of Muhamad the prophet is allowed ...which makes it legal even though inappropriate and harmful for the feeling of muslims. Why inappropriate and why harmful for muslims? First about harming the feeling of muslims, there are a few reasons. One reason, however small of importance is that the representation of Muhamad is forbidden to them. While this is not forbidden to non-muslims, I understand they must feel uneasy that someone else can take the liberty to make a drawing of their prophet. Another reason is about the sacred aspect of this character and the (whatever good or bad) humor played on him. For understanding this point, we must remember that "sacred" is not part of public life in France and that journalists have avoided or taken extra-care to deal with muslim/foreign-origined people in the past years because of the apprehension to be labelled "racist" or in other words, to remain "politically correct". But politically correct might conflict with FOS as some revelations are, by essence, politically incorrect (for example: the "false voters" of Paris which were in fact treacherous votes used by some political party in order to cheat during elections).

 

Now about the "inappropriate" aspect of the caricatures... Paradoxically from my point of view, even though it was smart from the author of the original article to create a violent reaction from a group by predicting that this group would react violently, I think caricatures should be used to illustrate some news with humor and not to provoke sadness and anger with an out-of-the-news display of humour (no matter how good or bad). In other words, I think some caricatures of Muhamad (or any other well-known symbol of whichever religion) can be used in France and similarly laic countries, as long as it is an illustration of the news. Making the news by discussing deeper matters would be better done through articles or interviews.

 

I could not finish this article without talking about what happened throughout the world as a reaction to the publishing of the caricatures. Some protests in Beyruth ended up in the burning of the Danish embassy. More than public buildings for foreign people, embassies are considered as part of the foreign countries. In this matter, what happened could have been endorsed by Denmark as an attack against its country. What is more, even though news on TV and in the newspaper might not reflect the reality, I have seen so many people from islamic countries burning Danish flags but... did they think that the drawings are the facts of a newspaper (later copied by other newspapers) and are not endorsed by the Danish government? Did they also think that in some of their countries, it is not allowed to practice other religions than islam? did they also think that the law in our countries is not the same as the law from their countries? Some christian district was also victim of some violence and it is hard to determine if it was a revenge motivated by the anger resulting from the controversial drawings or if the drawings were just an excuse for some anti-catholic delinquants. Last but not least, the strong reaction from so many governments of the Middle-East does not sound "normal". It sounds more like a manoeuver to claim a compensation and to reinforce their presence on the international mediatic scene therefore performing some sort of a communication campaign on their model of society. This also diverts the international attention from topics such as the Iranian claims to civilian nuclear operations (belived to cover some military nuclear program).

 

If you have some opinion as well and if you are willing to share it in a constructive way, your comments, reactions, and questions are gladly welcome.

Last week-end, I went ice-skating with a few friends. Needing a pair of skates, I decided to buy a pair of them, as I intend to go ice-skating a few times. While I am not yet sure if it will be worth financially-speaking (I paid 80 euros, the price of renting must be around 3 euros, 2nd hand price should be around 40 euro, so I would need to use them 13 times), I am quite confident that it was a good choice regarding the fact that the rented skates are often not-so-comfortable or even painful.

The model I purchased is the M10 from the brand CCM. It is a recreational model, so... not exactly for hard-core hockey players. They still have some good characteristics on the ice, like a good maneuverability, acceleration, good sustain of the feet, and warmth

 

If you are also interested by the brand, you can go to this website: http://en.ccmsports.com

...and the model M10 is presented there : http://en.ccmsports.com/catalog/view_prod.php?p=2802&cat1=6

Very incidentally, I came across a quite interesting website today. This website is "The Official Ninja Webpage". Except for the sites/blogs for which I provide links permanently, I have to confess that it is really one of the best sites I have visited in months or years.

 

If you're not in a good mood (optional) and if you have the sense of humor, the Official Ninja Webpage is for you. This is definitely not the most accurate resource of information on the subject of ninjas, but this is likely to be the most entertaining.

 

Have fun! A lot of fun!

 

That's the good thing to do these days: wishing a happy new year. So I wish you all a happy new year 2006 and send my best wishes of personal achievements, fun,  professional satisfaction, and the most important: health!

 

My personal biggest wish for 2006 is to be helpful to other people. My 2nd biggest wish is to have some vacation far in a country that I haven't visited yet. What about you? What are you wishing for?

Do you like adventure video games? Have you ever played "Crimson Room" before? In this game, you woke up in a small room and had to find objects to help you getting away from the room.

 

The "White Chamber" is the same type. It might be a little more difficult but it is quite enjoyable. You will find both games and a few others here:

 

Have fun! :)

I remember enjoying a few verses or short poems from poet John KEATS when reading "Hyperion" (from Dan SIMMONS).

 

His vocabulary is complex (for non-English-born people like me) but precise and it takes a little time getting used to the structures but in his poems, you can see the shadows of the trees running through uncut grass when night takes over from the day.

 

For your pleasure, I offer you this poem of him: "To Homer"

 

Standing aloof in giant ignorance,
Of thee I hear and of the Cyclades,
As one who sits ashore and longs perchance
To visit dolphin-coral in deep seas.
So thou wast blind! -but then the veil was rent;
For Jove uncurtained Heaven to let thee live,
And Neptune made for thee a spumy tent,
And Pan made sing for thee his forest-hive;
Aye, on the shores of darkness there is light,
And precipices show untrodden green;
There is a budding morrow in midnight;
There is a triple sight in blindness keen;
Such seeing hadst thou, as it once befell
To Dian, Queen of Earth, and Heaven, and Hell.

In France, we have this habit or tradition called gallantry ("galanterie" in French) which consists in making everything easier for women, especially if done by a man. For example, holding the door and letting women go in/out first, give the menu and serve women first in restaurants, etc.

 

I am not gallant... not because I am an asshole, but because I consider women as the equal of men. I think gallantry has been inherited from a past (strongly influenced by religion - catholic in my case) in which the woman had a role of servant/inferior compared to the man who was considered the "chief of the family" (translated from French). From my observation, many ladies nowadays in France still consider gallantry as very important, while they claim equality between men and women. But isn't gallantry a very obvious discrimination between genders? To me, equality between men and women does not go only through giving advantages to the women. It also goes through the giving up of (the few) advantages that women had so far.

 

For those who, by now, think I am a selfish asshole, I specify that my refusal of gallantry does not prevent me from helping family, friends (no matter if they are men or women) or my girlfriend when they need help. It also does not prevent me from having a special care for some people who really need easier conditions: pregnant women, old people, handicaped people...

 

This being said, my main point will be about men. I have heard a song recently, which is so much like my own (disappointed) vision of men: men are so much aggressive/dangerous/overconfident when driving cars! Men are so much violent to women (6 months ago, a study revealed that 20% of women are victims of violence from their husband in Belgium). Men are so lazy! (have you ever noticed during your studies how many guys bring their dirty clothes to their mother and how many girls take care of this by themselves?) Men want to feel so much superior to their wife/girlfriend; this is highlighted by a majority of men who admit that they would feel shame if their wife gained a higher salary or that after after having a baby, they wouldn't accept to be the one who stops working for taking care of the baby and the house. Men are so basic; in France, a man speaks 2000 words per day in average, while a woman speaks 7000 words in average. This does not help having philosophic/ethic thinking.

 

So here is a translation of the song I mentionned. The original song, in French, is entitled "Miss Maggie" and has been written by the French musician/singer Renaud:

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe you've heard of them already! The flexible screens are still in the labs but as soon as they will come out, they will change the world!

Some of you will still be wondering what I am talking about. In that case, you can check  

 - http://insight.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/emergingtech/0,39020439,39209218,00.htm (in English, but outdated and with no pictures)

We have already heard critics about some countries re-writing their history in their very own way. China with the Cultural Revolution, negating the 30 or 40 million deaths or the events of Tien-An-Men in 1989, which the Chinese government barely declares as a police operation. Japan with its school books, negating the tortures, rapes, the 200000 (two hundred thousands!!) "comfort women" who were actually sex slaves for its army. Today is the time for France to transform its history into a better one. Because, you know... it does not sound nice to say that colonization caused slavery, torture, murders...

On 23rd February 2005, a law was voted in France, which stated (regarding colonization) that "the school programs express a particular recognition to the positive aspect of the French presence overseas, especially in North Africa".

Why is this bad? Not because colonization was negative (this point is actually up to everyone to decide for themselves). This is bad because through this law, the government imposes propaganda although history is a science. It does not judge if the events were good or bad. History just states the facts. A consequence of that, is the questionning of freedom of thinking. How can you be free to decide your opinions if at school you have always been taught that colonization was positive? Finally, what is wrong with this law is the impact on the citizens of these overseas areas. Should people from Algeria be thankful to France for its military occupation?

This is actually an issue on the international diplomacy scene as France and Algeria are/were supposed to sign a "treaty of friendship" by the end of 2005. I fully agree with the declaration of Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika: "This article represents a mental blindness which confines to negationism and revisionism".