France related post
HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY PARIS!!!
French president Nicholas Sarkozy delivered a profound judgement on Microsoft yesterday, declaring that the company personifies the values of France and Europe. While such a declaration would quicken the heart of US artists and filmmakers, it might not be the sort of endorsement that a nakedly capitalist, (sometimes) bleeding …
As a French you most probably do not know, I would agree too (I am not sure he would distinguish a keyboard from a mouse, nor the Internet from a DRM), but I am too busy vomitting right now...
Remember one minister of his claiming her computer was safe from malware thanks to OpenOffice's firewall?
Well, I'm French, and I sadly couldn't agree more. But there is one good thing to be said about our president: he embodies every single thing that is wrong with "the French", so he's a pretty easy target. Oh well, I suppose the DCRI is already on my case, so I'll just pack up my things and move to Dunedin, I guess.
..."Non, je ne regrette rien" could well be the M$/Ballmer theme tune given their attitude to the multitude of legal assaults on their monopolistic practices.
As for Sarko, to (mis-)paraphrase Dubya: The French have no word for "putain de merde"
p.s. Surely it can be only a matter of time now before Napoleon the Turd honours the gurus of their own home-grown OS, Mandriva! </sarcasm>
It is hard to define short, but for some trivia..
Napoleon's height was 5 ft 2 French inches according to Antommarchi at Napoleon's autopsy
Whats a French Inch?
Well its 1.066 * 1inch so he was 5 ft 6in in imperial measurement, close to Sarkozy's height
Napoleon also achieved quite a bit, Sarkozy, well we will see.
"....meaning he can hang out with Paul McCartney and assorted British MPs."
No he can't. They're the real deal, Bill's only a KBE. Colonials and other shifty foreign types only get honorary titles.
He still gets to look down his nose[1] at Sarko though, as I don't think *he's* got one.
[1] But then, so do most people unless they are sitting down or standing in a hole.
KBE is a higher "rank" than MBE (Knight vs Member), Gates cannot call himself "Sir" because he is American and Americans are not allowed titles (everyone is equal or whatever) so while Gates cannot be called Sir William Gates he can be called William Gates KBE which is a higher rank than Sir Paul McCartney MBE, albeit honorary.
Not that anyone's going to offer me any such. Which is nice. Saves having to make tripe-y acceptance speeches. On the downside, I won't get to decline with a big fat NON. Oh well. Can't have everything.
Can't help but wonder, though. Why now? Did Sarko just sign a hundred years contract locking them into ooxml at inflated prices or something?
So, Microsoft are a bunch of arrogant, smelly, queue-jumping, onion-selling, hooped-jumper-and-beret-wearing, bicycle-riding, wine-swilling, shoulder-hunching sex maniacs?
Based on that I'm upgrading to Windows 7!!
Mine's the one with Clarkson's Guide To Provence in the pocket....
Some British historian quoted an Italian jingle on the Legion d'Honneur, written about the time the order was started. As I recall, the translation ran
In olden days they balanced losses
By hanging thieves upon the crosses,
But our humaner age believes
In hanging crosses on the thieves.
And I don't really care that they honored Jerry Lewis. I just resent the fact that they did at about the time that the culture minister, Jack Lang, convened a conference to discuss just how awful American culture was.
While I tend to like a lot of things about the French people, especially French girls who if you soak them in soapy water long enough often clean up very nicely, their government unfortunately leaves a lot to be desired.
This is just another example of that.
Big disgusting loud and obnoxious fat man who is disliked by just about everyone in the world other than the people he pays to like him is now synonymous with the country of France.
Yes, now when you think of Steve Ballmer and his buffoonery and his duplicitous and Machiavellian way of doing business you can associate that with the so called "Values of France".
What an embarrassment!
But we shouldn't blame the French people just because the politicians who run their government are a bunch of schmoozing boot licking fools.
Nicholas Sarkozy has lost faith in France and Europe then.
On the other hand at a "cat's christening" you have to say something, in this case Microsoft and France, of course. So why not simply add an Equals sign in between and be done with it.
Perhaps the think tank from Microsoft took part in the great adventure of words.
Microsoft has been infiltrating European Governments, successfully, for years.
Seriously: what else?
I was born and raised in Hungary so naturally I was hoping Sarko turns out good at the end but I have to admit Sarko is now literally destroying France...
...so that's a payback for Trianon, smelly Frogs. :P
FAIL because it's an epic one.