candidate for the right. None the less 45% of the french electorate voted in his favor. 15% abstained from voting. Election celebrations for the right take place at Place de la Concorde and celebrations for the left take place at La Bastille. However as the left lost Bastille was the sight of protest. The French are used to protests so bars stayed open until the riot cops started gassing the streets. As the gas started filling the streets resturants and bars closed their door with patrons inside to wait for the air to clear. This ment for some friends of mine staying at the bar until 2am. "Les flics" were dressed in full body armor which reminded me of mid-evil armor just made of more modern materials instead of metal. The most impressive thing to me was the way that the Police stood in their lines while the protesters hung out in the streets and the observers ate and drank in the bars all waiting for the bricks and bottles to be thrown and the gas canisters to be opened. They ended up having to wait at least three hours for the action. Enought time for two or three beers I guess. Decent business for the bars.
9.5.07
Reaction to the election.
Sunday was round 2 of the French elections. Up until that point the most common opinions that I had heard were, "I'm afraid of Sarkozy winning" and "Anyone but Sarkozy." I had heard only a couple of people say that they were actually going to support Sarko. Sarko being the 
candidate for the right. None the less 45% of the french electorate voted in his favor. 15% abstained from voting. Election celebrations for the right take place at Place de la Concorde and celebrations for the left take place at La Bastille. However as the left lost Bastille was the sight of protest. The French are used to protests so bars stayed open until the riot cops started gassing the streets. As the gas started filling the streets resturants and bars closed their door with patrons inside to wait for the air to clear. This ment for some friends of mine staying at the bar until 2am. "Les flics" were dressed in full body armor which reminded me of mid-evil armor just made of more modern materials instead of metal. The most impressive thing to me was the way that the Police stood in their lines while the protesters hung out in the streets and the observers ate and drank in the bars all waiting for the bricks and bottles to be thrown and the gas canisters to be opened. They ended up having to wait at least three hours for the action. Enought time for two or three beers I guess. Decent business for the bars.
candidate for the right. None the less 45% of the french electorate voted in his favor. 15% abstained from voting. Election celebrations for the right take place at Place de la Concorde and celebrations for the left take place at La Bastille. However as the left lost Bastille was the sight of protest. The French are used to protests so bars stayed open until the riot cops started gassing the streets. As the gas started filling the streets resturants and bars closed their door with patrons inside to wait for the air to clear. This ment for some friends of mine staying at the bar until 2am. "Les flics" were dressed in full body armor which reminded me of mid-evil armor just made of more modern materials instead of metal. The most impressive thing to me was the way that the Police stood in their lines while the protesters hung out in the streets and the observers ate and drank in the bars all waiting for the bricks and bottles to be thrown and the gas canisters to be opened. They ended up having to wait at least three hours for the action. Enought time for two or three beers I guess. Decent business for the bars.
30.4.07
Why doesn't the US have fast trains?
This past weekend I went to visit a friend who is an Au Père in Germany. To get there I had to take a combination of trains which took about 8 hours going (that included an hour and a half of layovers) and 9 hours coming back (due to a delay). According to google maps the same trip by car should have taken just under 8 hours. While on this trip I rode a high speed train in Germany which toped 100 mph and a high speed train in France which reached about 150 mph. On the return trip my second of three trains was delayed causing me to miss the third. This didn’t really matter though as I simply caught the next one which left 20 minutes after I got in.
In the US I have ridden the train multiple times from Elkhart, IN to Martinsburg, WV which ends up being often a 14+ hour ride without a train change. The distances however are about the same as those of my trip this past weekend.
About a month ago the French broke the speed record on standard train rails with a very High Speed Train. This train will start carrying passengers at speeds up to 350 mph by the end of the summer.
The Eurostar carries passengers from the heart of Paris to the heart of London in 3 and a half hours. As you don’t have to show up early for security one could leave ones house in Paris and four hours later be at a friends house in London 4 hours later.
In the US I have ridden the train multiple times from Elkhart, IN to Martinsburg, WV which ends up being often a 14+ hour ride without a train change. The distances however are about the same as those of my trip this past weekend.
About a month ago the French broke the speed record on standard train rails with a very High Speed Train. This train will start carrying passengers at speeds up to 350 mph by the end of the summer.
The Eurostar carries passengers from the heart of Paris to the heart of London in 3 and a half hours. As you don’t have to show up early for security one could leave ones house in Paris and four hours later be at a friends house in London 4 hours later.
24.4.07
Re-teaching
At work on Mondays and Tuesdays I oversee 18 workers, three at a time, as they use the internet. I've been supervising this since mid October. The evidence of the workers' mental illnesses is most evident during this time. The workers have differing levels of ability when it comes to computers. Some have access to computers at home and there is clear evidence. Others however are sitting down in front a computer for the first time.
I have shown them, many of them on multiple occasions, how to use google for searches. One of the difficult parts of this is when having shown a worker eight or nine times how to make use of a search I find that they search, look at the search results page and then proceed to search for something else without having actually looked at a web-page. It seems as though some of them will never understand how to actually get information out of a search without help. Another difficult part is that for some of them after two or three weeks of no computer use they have to relearn how to do things they previously could do.
I should make it clear that there are also others who after months away from a computer can sit down and type up the weekly menu for the cafeteria. Some of the workers are more "lightly" handicapped than other. I doubt that I would necessarily notice that some of the "lightly" handicapped were even handicapped if I didn't know otherwise.
When you interact with people that do not suffer from degenerating illnesses you assume that they will develop abilities. However in my work I have had to get used to the fact that some of the workers' abilities don't develop and in a few cases their abilities are very slowly diminishing.
I have shown them, many of them on multiple occasions, how to use google for searches. One of the difficult parts of this is when having shown a worker eight or nine times how to make use of a search I find that they search, look at the search results page and then proceed to search for something else without having actually looked at a web-page. It seems as though some of them will never understand how to actually get information out of a search without help. Another difficult part is that for some of them after two or three weeks of no computer use they have to relearn how to do things they previously could do.
I should make it clear that there are also others who after months away from a computer can sit down and type up the weekly menu for the cafeteria. Some of the workers are more "lightly" handicapped than other. I doubt that I would necessarily notice that some of the "lightly" handicapped were even handicapped if I didn't know otherwise.
When you interact with people that do not suffer from degenerating illnesses you assume that they will develop abilities. However in my work I have had to get used to the fact that some of the workers' abilities don't develop and in a few cases their abilities are very slowly diminishing.
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