Naughty knitwork:
Marianne Batlle creates penis puppets with personality.
Some are friendly, others are aggressive. Some are simple, others are decorated with jewelry or boas. Each of her knitted phalluses have their own name: C’est Go Laine (pronounce: Ségolène), Sexours, Bora Bora, Réchauffe-toi, La chèvre de Monsieur, Pépé rêve, Fuego, How to marry a millionaire, etc. [...]

The French gendarme doesn't like Microsoft:
The French gendarme (paramilitary police force) is becoming one of the biggest administrations in the world to break with Microsoft products.
Starting this year, the gendarmerie's 70,000 desktops will change over from Microsoft's Windows XP operating system to Linux. Last year, Microsoft's Internet Explorer was ditched in favour of the Mozilla [...]

Alain Guilhot is the man who lightens up the world.
Light designer Alain Guilhot has become one of the major actors in the world of light. With his teams he has created over 200 prestigious light works across the world: Lyon, Cannes, Paris, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Bahrain, Madrid, etc. He has now published a book, [...]

Desperate images by Edvard Munch
It's not easy to be French these days.
French morale hits a new low (Telegraph)
New research sows that French moral is at its lowest ebb in two decades – minus 34 points since research began in 1987. French people's belief that their living standards will improve has declined steadily since President [...]

View Larger Map
Although it appears to be one of the scariest sports in the modern world, land sailing (or land yachting) has apparently caught on in a big way on this beach in Malo Les Bains, near Dunkirk, France.
The premise is essentially the same as water sailing – except there are wheels, speeds of up [...]

Remember the Ryanair ad, featuring a photo of Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni?
Well, the (near-) couple have lodged a formal demand for damages. Sarkozy is the more modest of the two: he wants just one euro, because "it's for the principle, not the money". Bruni is more demanding, and thinks she should be awarded [...]

Students at French primary schools avoid using restrooms because of their poor sanitary conditions, a government-sponsored study said, prompting a parents' group to call for action.
During the 2005-06 school year, "nearly half of students said they had stomach aches because they were not able to go to the toilet," according to the report.
Odor, at 73 [...]

Click image for large view.
Well made French ad for Stihl chainsaws and brush cutters. The English caption "To arms" is probably a reference to the phrase "Aux armes" in the French national hymn, La Marseillaise.
Via Ads of the World

Nicole Kidman & Cate Blanchett in Sydney.
Today’s Bouguereau rip-off comes from FreakingNews. This photoshopped version (view full size) is based on William Bouguereau’s original 1884 work Les Deux Baigneuses (The Two Bathers, see original). It was the winning entry in the “Australia Day” contest, celebrating the anniversary of the establishment of the first British colony [...]

Will the real Jerome Kerviel please stand up?
He may have been an innocuous trader who never sought the limelight, but within a few days [tag]Jerome Kerviel[/tag] has become a mega-star on the internet.
He has already a dozen (false) profiles on Facebook, his name scores half a million search results on Google, he is on Wikipedia [...]

A must-see: 360 degree panoramic view of the [tag]Airbus A380[/tag] cockpit.
As one commenter on Reddit said: it would be interesting to see how how Steve jobs, with his fear of buttons, would design that cockpit.

View panorama

Favorite take-away cars: Smart Fortwo, Renault Twingo, Peugeot 306
In France, 390 cars are stolen each day.
The most popular victims of theft are the Smart Fortwo, Renault Twingo and Peugeot 306. Unlike in many other countries, it's not the sophisticated 4×4s that are taken away, but small city cars, which are usually not parked in [...]

Low-cost carrier Ryanair may will face legal action from the Elysée after this ad appeared in Le Parisien today. In a balloon, Carla Bruni thinks: "With Ryanair, my entire family can come to my wedding". The company advertises 100,000 tickets at the price of just airport taxes and charges.
It's uncertain whether a complaint can [...]

I don't think this type of advertisement would be allowed in our times.
Docteur Clade G. "Le Buste" sells his Mexican vegetable extract "guaranteed without hormones", which "transforms your breasts within 3 to 4 weeks".
View original | Via Eureka Bis

The Airbus A380 superjumbo is an amazing kit, built from components originating from four European countries (France, Spain, Germany, Britain), and assembled in Toulouse, France. And it flies!