It's relative soberness. I went to the stage of "I think I'm being tipsy" to the "I swear I'm sober" one.

Geez, I meant "Modems killed minitels". Way to get too drunk.

Am from Normandy too and would have modded you up if I didn't contribute to the topic myself. P'tet ben que les fermiers y zen avaient ren a fout des minitels.

I was born in Western France and I remember that Minitels started to die when modems became more common in France. Many people bought modems to have access to fax functions, as buying a fax machine was damn expensive at that time. In France, modems usually came bundled with minitel emulators, inciting buyers to not buy extra monthly cost for minitel rent to France Telecom. I remember making my scholarship applications for university on the Minitel for a couple of years until they had a decent Internet website. Everybody gave up on the Minitel already but terminals were still available around campuses just for this purpose. Then they saw less and less students queuing for the few number of terminals and flocking to the computer room, at a time where personal Internet access was not common yet. Web browser usability beats minitels phone-like menus a hundred folds. They then discarded the minitels. RIP minitel, you were part of my life and I will never forget you.

OK, I've sobered up. Just for information, I was born in the 80's in France and am now a researcher computer science researcher at the other end of the world, in Japan. Minitel is what drove me into computer science as I would dream of any career that would let me touch a keyboard at that tine. ind you, secretaries were still using typewriters in France at that time. 3515 ULLA was the equivalent of adultfriendfinder at that time and had paper ads all over countryside roads, usually on electrical installations such as transformers. Minitel might not have been the best of models, but it was in line with the current French policy at that time, which tried to be independent of USA at any cost. We had even our own Micro-computer models made by Thompon (a.k.a Technicolor). Even if unpractical overall, Minitel prepared the French population for the use of the Internet afterwards, making France one of the most active population on the Internet afterwards. So, R.I.P Minitel, we value what you brought to our nation. You will always have a place in our hearts.

Nooooooooooo! What will happen of 3515 ULLA? Disclaimer: I'm drunk.

I would pay to hear Stephen Hawking speaking with a Morgan Freeman voice though...

From: http://techland.time.com/2012/04/04/a-little-girl-finds-her-voice-thanks-to-threatened-new-ipad-app/#ixzz1xfwxflS6 Maya smiles and gives me a big hug as soon as I sit on the couch, or as big a hug as a tiny three-year-old girl can manage. Her mother, Dana Nieder, laughs and explains that because Maya has difficulty speaking, she often has to express herself in other ways. She is as smart and curious as any other girl her age; the problem is that the muscles that control her speech are weak and disorganized, making saying a single word incredibly difficult. Doctors have run multiple tests but all they can determine is that it is probably a genetic condition.

FTFA: While she already has the app on her iPad, she worries about the fact that Speak for Yourself can’t send out updates and that new iOS updates from Apple could interfere with how the app functions. It's not about wiping the app, it's about updates.

Well no papers in this one yet... That said, it's all the same with PeerJ

Replied to the parent already but apparently, it's because of bicycle theft. My brand new bicycle was stolen a while ago. The worst is that it was parked in parking area of my apartment. Seriously, just reporting the theft case took me an afternoon as they wanted me to get precise times on the last time I saw it and wanted to confirm this info with my wife. At least I was lucky, because they kept a kid all afternoon after he reported a lost sock on the street. Too much spare time...

I do live in Osaka but I spend a lot of time cycling at night. Apparently, there was a surge in bicycle theft recently so they tend to check every young people (not only foreigners) riding a bike at night. Since it's dark, they're usually surprised to see that I'm a foreigner and ask the ARC to check for visa too. Since I changed addresses and visa status quite a lot during these 5 years and that these amendments are handwritten, they usually call the Police Post to check I'm legit. I guess the cops in my area have just too much time to spare :)

They should have seen this coming. How come the H1-Bv6 is not ready yet?

As a foreigner in Japan, law forces me to carry my "Alien Registration Card" at all time. Policemen stop foreigners here once or twice a month to check for visa overstay. I also carry my French ID, in case of an earthquake or nuclear meltdown so I can get assistance from the Embassy. Most of the time I use my Japanese Driver's License though, as this carries less sensitive information. This is the de facto standard ID here to buy booze or cigarets as Japanese do not have ID cards and insurance cards do not have pictures. This plus my IC work card that I use to buy food at the University restaurant :)