You miss the point where after 5 minutes, you have to wait 5 minutes before calling again ... Here in Frnace, we always have a douchebag in the wagon I take to go home (~1h1/4) to speak loudly about his life non stop from the moment he come in until he go out (without stopping talking sh*t on his f*cking phone) ... I can't imagine something like that in a 6 or 7 hour flight, I think I could kill the guy :D .

We are far too much into the splotlight lately on /.

In fact, no. It's said that the power generated by this kilometer of solar panels is suffisant for the street lights of a city of 5000. And the cost per produced watt is x10 in comparison with a classic solar panel (source : french article).

Yup, we have the same in France too (at Carrefour and Auchan). It's called Scan'lib for Carrefour, and it's powered by Motorola. To those who are not familiar with the concept : you scan each of the goods you want to buy when you pick it, and at the end of your "store trip", go to a specific station in order to unload your "scanner" (it's more a small terminal than a simple scanner), to pay and have your ticket. But ! there is random controls by some security guards in order to confirm the correlation between the content of your cart and your ticket.

I've seen something more close to this concept : the 360 Scanner by Diebold (formerly Wincor) Nixdorf (information and pictures about it here : http://www.lsa-conso.fr/produi... [french]) : in order to avoid price tag swapping, the system check if the total volume and size of the stuff you're buying match the database records of it (of course, it scan the barcode by using the multiple scanners on the POS). This product has been built in order to satisfy the retailers who weren't wanting to RFID tag all their products (imagine that in a Carrefour, and the cost it implie) : to me, a bad solution to a false problem (there's some flaws : no weight control, mecanical problems, necessity to have an operator to check if the product are well separated when entering the scanner zone (in order to permit the identification of all goods), and other things I can't tell because of NDA ;)).

It's the fourth day the alternate traffic circulation rule is applied (and the first in Lyon [where the public tranportation company is on strike ...] and Villeurbanne). Since I've right now a nice view on La Defense from my desk, I can say that the fog is lighter than previous days, but still here.

I're red some wrong statments, and here's some clarifications :
- the monthly transportation fee is 73€ for everyone, with no travel limit adn all transportation medium in "Ile de France" (quite a large area, take a look in Google :))
- the bus network (RATP inside Paris, other companies, like Transdev, outside) is pretty dense : look on Google map on Paris, and zoom enough to see the little blue buses, you'll see :) There's actually 353 buses lines in Paris and the nearest suburbs.
- there's a metro each 2 or 3 minutes, if all works well (but because of the terrorist threat, every abandonned luggage tend to cause delays)
- the RER, who permit me to go to work (I live near Fontainebleau and work near La Defense, and out of the holyday season, I can't even imagine to go to work by car [count about 2-3 hours x2]), is ... let's say, almost reliable. At rush hour, we have 1 train every 15 minutes, and after that, one each 1/2 hour or each hour (depend of the station and the RER line).

Mmmm ... that's it, I think I haven't forgot anything ... all the other things is true (the smell, especiallly during summer, the crowd, the way the disease could be catch in the metro ...) ... Ah, one more thing : the chimney using is tolerated for supplementary heating or for your own pleasure (see https://www.service-public.fr/... [french page]), and the studies who says that this wood bunring polution represent 23% of the pollution are very controversed.

[sorry for the english spelling errors !] It's obviously an abusive interpretation of the french law, as the lawyer of this young idiot has said (french site here : http://www.nextinpact.com/news...). The exact charge against this guy is "apologie d’acte de terrorisme", or apology for terrorism. The "tribunal correctionnel" (the instance for this kind of charges) has been really overzealous, but since it's the first time this kind of case is judged (AFAIK), the judgment was supposed to be an example (to their mind anyway).

The fact is that in all french media, the IS is named Daesh (before reading this new, I wasn't aware of the meaning of the word).

Good question ! I'm network admin for 1 year and a half in a structure like your (about 30 ppl), plus ~300 persons in stores around ... the way to follow is to make understand ppl that you're not superman. I explain : it's stupid to make something in a hurry for someone, even if that someone says that's urgent (it's rarely as urgent as told, experience speak ^^). Do not learn to your users that you're the guy who do anything in no time with no questions ... Personaly, I prefer taking time to explain ppl how to do what they want me to do that doing it for them : it's better for all parts. I guess I'm lucky having a lot of ressourceful ppl (since I've replaced a guy who wasn't at work for 6 months) : in your case, after having given bad habits, it would be difficult to go back. Good luck in that :)

... in an episode of Ghost in the Shell : Stand Alone Complex. A guy fall in love with a low tech robot and make virus to destroy all the other robots of the same serie he own, to make his one unique ... but I can't imagine for now how to simulate the complex interactions who made two peoples loving each other (I mean another way that just sexual reciproque interest) ... perhaps the well named "ghost" by Masamune Shirow ... (sorry for my english pals, don't hesitate to correct my sentence, it help me to learn)