You're confused: I'm not a Kanak.

However I did have a couple of Caldoche classmates back in highschool. The one time we talked about New Caledonia, I was struck by how much of their point of view on the situation there was cookie cutter colonist stand point: before the European arrived, the locals didn't make anything of the land, making it a terra nulla as it were but now the 'lazy locals wanted to steal them back after the Caldoches had done all the hard work. At the time, I just couldn't believe how much of a caricature they seemed.

The first referendum results were about 56% pro-remain, the second 53%. So, although it could turn out the same, held under normal circumstances, the third one was going to be close. Keeping in mind what I said about the Caldoches overall attitude, of course they jumped at the chance to get rid of their problem, and Macron was all too eager to support them.

Indeed : it was getting closer, but there was some likelyhood of a pro-remain victory.

Except that it would had been entirely within the scope of the Noumea Accord, and fully legitimate (not just legal, as things stand now).

He was precise.

Not precise enough: the phrasing suggested complete disenfranchisement when it mostly pertained to the referendum only.

in case of a proper pro-remain victory" That's what happened. One side foolishly not voting doesn't make the other side's victory improper.

When a government is warned well in advance that circumstances necessitate a minor change and ignores it, they create a crisis situation. Democracy isn't the enforced rule of the many (1/2 +1), it's a system where most everyone agrees to respect the decisions taken and consent to it, even if they don't agree with them. New Caledonia is a former (?) colony, which gives special privileges to the natives when it pertains to whether or not they get independence: delaying by few a months a referendum because circumstances and their traditions prevented them from participating was in no way a problem - especially if it meant making a possible pro-remain victory fully legitimate. But of course, Macron only listened to the Caldoches who saw an opportunity to insure a victory against independence when they felt it was otherwise too close for comfort.

Caldoche isn't intrinsically an ethnicity but a historical origin : that of the colonists. And yes, being one or supporting Macron reduces credibility because of the vested interests.

As for the hate of democracy, that has been amply demonstrated ever since 2017 : use of force against demonstrators on a level never seen before in a so-called democratic country, use of the 49.3 clause to pass major laws with no parliament votes on an unprecedented scale (the only time something similar happened was back in 1980's with the Rocard government which was a precursor to Macron's). And let's not forget the flaunting of Parliament 's rules, be they customary or actually written, so as to stop a law from being voted upon by the MPs.

So yes, I stand by what I wrote: these people hate democracy (which isn't voting every four or five years for a president and letting him do as he pleases until the next elections).

To finish, I used the words 'hypocrytes' and 'morons' to describe hypothetical people who would have opposed changing the date of the third referendum in order to avoid the crisis that is taking place right now. Do you feel you'd have been in either category?

I avoided getting into too many details to avoid making too long a post, but since you've wrote about the franchise, let's be precise: the limits on voting rights oare only valid for the referendum and some local elections. For anything else, standard national rules apply.

we wish it could have been solved to everyone's satisfaction

So you're either a Caldoche (descendants of the colonists, for those who don't know) or a supporter of Macron. That does limit your credibility.

Considering the circumstances back in 2021, only morons or hypocrites could have protested changing the initially planned date for the referendum. As for the aftermath, anybody with a lick of sense would have known that even in case of a proper pro-remain victory, further négociations on how to move on would have been needed, never mind what really happened.

It would be much more accurate to call it Far-Center. It might be counter-intuitive, but it does describe something very specific : a government made up of so-called technocrats who hate nothing more than democracy (i.e. debate, consultation, compromise and so on are anathema).

Of course these self-described geniuses are the very reason for the riots in New Caledonia. When back in 2021 they were asked to postpone by a few months the third (and last) referendum about independence because of COVID, they refused, leading to no more than around 43% turn-out ( the second referendum had over 80%). And now, rather than negotiating the way forward with those who want independence (around 50% of the locals, Natives and later arrivals) they buldoze this law through (with the help of the Far Right MPs).

260000 miles in what looks to be around 1,5 years ?!

With no off day during that time, that's around 500 miles a day! How is that even possible without exploding (you, not the car)?

Cancer.

A couple of years back, I talked with my dentist about these stem cells based treatments aimed at regrowing teeth or part of them. The problem isn't growing them but stopping the the process: so far it always devolves into cancer.

Well, assuming the story is true, it may be the reason why we've heard nothing about this decades after is that our science and technology are just not up to snuff here and none of those who had access could figure out anything useful (except for velcro :p)

Realisticaly, what exactly could an isolated native tribe in the middle of the Amazon forest do to figure out / replicate a modern fighter jet that happened to crash nearby ?

Panspermia doesn't preclude local development. It just insures life is spread everywhere local conditions allow it.

Probability told us it was likely, but since this essentially confirms panspermia, it means there's life everywhere in the universe.

I imagine you're American, and as such not really familiar with CMU construction. There's a reason it'so widespread: it's both cheap and fast (and the resulting wall is ready for the next phase of construction with the steel reinforcement in place).

You don't get an improvement with every tech gadget that comes up. There's a reason why we've been hearing about 3d printing buildings for more than 15 years and nothing has ever come out of it.

Using premade concrete blocks, I've seen a team of 2-4 masons raising the same kind of building in about 2-3 weeks (with about the same amount of work left, e.g. 95%).

Don't fool yourself, these "concrete 3d printers" bring no improvement to construction. They're just expensive toys funded by idiots who have no grasp on what it really takes to build a completed house.

And that's surprising because... ?

I mean, somebody has to lose out, so either people who work for a living (i.e. 99+% of the population), or the others.

I know which choice I'd rather be made (though I'm not holding my breath).

Actually, there's another solution: link wages to inflation (the former go up along the latter) and let the trend die out slowly over the course of the next 5-10 years. That way, you don't need to engineer a recession. The only ones that'll get hurt will be the investor class, for the workers (that's most people), it'll be painless.