Monthly Archives: March 2007

Popular Mechanics has an article and this 6 min video from their test flight on the brand new double-decker Airbus A380. This includes footage of takeoff, interviews with the pilot and test engineer, a rundown on the bar, the two … Continue reading →

Reporters Without Borders has written an open letter to all French presidential candidates. The organisation asks them to give concrete undertakings to provide press freedom in France with better protection, if elected. From the letter: “Press freedom should not just … Continue reading →

Doctors in a Marseille hospital have created a cocoon, which mimics a mother’s womb. It allows newborn and premature babies to move in the same way as in the womb, allowing them to breath and sleep more easily, avoid bone … Continue reading →

In the Guardian: Mr Bean offers an exclusive insight into eating and drinking on the wrong side of the Channel. Rowan Atkinson, aka Mr Bean, reveals that he’s probably the only French food expert that’ll tell you straight that there’s … Continue reading →

Lots of stories this weekend about French people making the headlines: Bayrou Speaks Centrist François Bayrou has emerged as if from nowhere to become a real contender in the French presidential elections, upending the classic right-left battle between frontrunners Nicolas … Continue reading →

The Eurostar is the train that links Paris to London via the English Channel tunnel. Their advertising is clever and original. This photo is used to promote their special Paris-London spring offer. If the picture doesn’t mean anything to you, … Continue reading →

Coming to you from Holland: Radio Oh-La-La Radio Oh-La-La features French-language music from the 50s, 60s and 70s, with a few excursions into chanson and pop music. You can enjoy music from artists such as Serge Gainsbourg, France Gall, Jacques … Continue reading →

Today’s New York Times provides the world traveler a list of must-see destinations. The list features one of France’s least known rural areas: Le Perche, in Lower Normandy. “It has glorious manoirs and chateaus and is famous for its Percheron, … Continue reading →

A week ago, a French government-sponsored campaign started giving publicity to a special hotline (3919) which victims can call for help or advice. A team of twelve social workers and psychologists provides assistance and feedback in French, English, Arabic and … Continue reading →

No comparison. Left: a Europeana scan, right: a Google scan. The French keep trying to be better than the Americans: First, they launched Geoportail as an alternative for Google Earth. Then they tried to join forces with Germany to create … Continue reading →

Hélène Segara (February 26, 1971) rose to fame after landing the role of Esmeralda in the hit musical “Notre-Dame De Paris” in 1999. She has gone on to become one of the most popular female singers on the Francophone music … Continue reading →

[youtube]76k7R1sJn1c[/youtube] The guys at AMDS Films have great fun mashing up films, commercials, clips and music. The results are often flabbergasting. At the recent Blog Festival in the French town of Romans they won the Grand Prix in the video-blog … Continue reading →

Today, France became the first country to open its official archives on unidentified flying objects. The archives contain 400 files, about one fourth of the approximately 1,600 UFO sightings reported in France since the 1950s. The files comprise principally witness … Continue reading →

Fixed cigarette prices in France: big tobacco swears by it. Cigarettes in France are about the most expensive in the world – and the most profitable for the tobacco industry. That may change if the European Union executive gets its … Continue reading →

A Chinese man spent a record 23,000 euros (30,700 dollars) on wine and spirits at the duty free store at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport this week, according to the airports authority. In case you’re wondering how he managed to … Continue reading →