In
Le Monde that day we find out everything we know about lemmings is wrong. See
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3244,36-340992,0.html - «
Le suicide des lemmings, une fable sans le moindre fondement » - if your French is up to it. Short
version? They really don't commit mass suicide. Darn. And it was a useful myth.
And Fitzpatrick tells us
Le Figaro has a piece on which countries are the worst - which to avoid if you
want to avert the chance of an awful, violent end. Russia is number one, the United States number fifteen.
And
Le Figaro also tells us that "love" can help you kick the smoking habit, and botching the affair - when
love goes wrong - can make you smoke more. Yeah, yeah. The site (
http://www.lefigaro.fr/) is well-designed, even if the paper is a bit to the right of the political spectrum. I find myself reading the car
reviews, looking at odd little machines that will never be marketed in America. Oh well.
What Fitzpatrick doesn't mention is this in
Le Figaro - «
Harry Potter... le compte à rebours est
lancé J-25. C'est dans la nuit du 2 au 3 décembre que sortira dans les librairies françaises "l'Ordre du Phénix", cinquième
volume de la saga Harry Potter. Enquête sur un phénomène de société auprès des premiers concernés : les jeunes lecteurs.
» The URL is
http://www.lefigaro.fr/magazine/20031107.MAG0039.html - and in short,
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix hits the bookstores in France in
early December. In French, not English. It has folks worried. An interesting article.
___________
Also from France, AFP (l'Agence France-Presse) reports that now in addition to Mecca Cola you can stock
up on Salam Cola. I don't think the executives at Coca Cola in Atlanta are terribly worried.
French Muslims get new cola for Ramadan
PARIS, Oct 27 (AFP) - A new cola drink was launched Monday in France - but much of the target market will not be able to drink it during
the daytime for the next month.
The drink, named Salam Cola after the Arabic word for peace,
was put on the market in time for the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, during which observant Muslims do not eat, drink or smoke
during the day.
It is produced in bottles in the north of France and in cans in
the Netherlands and has been on sale in Belgium for the last six weeks.
"We are already falling behind demand," said Rabah Kechich,
production manager. About 230,000 bottles and half a million cans had already been put on the market, he said.
The new drink "is part of the emergence of new alternative products
with an ethnic character which encourage useful and committed consumption", the manufacturers said in a statement.
It will face competition from another Islamic fizzy drink -
Mecca Cola - which has been sold in France since the end of last year.
Responses from my friends on seeing this?
Phillip (in the deep south, in Georgia) -
"Holy Ghost Cola will be next."
Rick (in the deep south, in Georgia) "Or
maybe I can open that 'Yom Kippur Fast Food Cafe' that I've always dreamed of! Since I'm not that anxious to spend too
much time and effort on cooking, I would open it just that one day each year. Think of it! All those observant
folks taking the day off from work? Where do you think they're gonna go for
lunch, eh?
Martin (the Wall Street attorney) "Of course it
would have to be a Chinese restaurant."
Rick - "Okay, not being Jewish, I didn't realize
the importance of that! Chinese it is! (Just as long it closes by sundown so's I can be home in time for dinner, I won't
care.)"
Martin - "You won't get much business closing at
sun down. That's when the fasting ends and the feasting begins. Sounds like your business plan needs some tweaking."
Rick - "Okay, Martin, you see the glass as half
empty (we won't get much business), while I see it as half full (we won't have to work very hard). I reckon we have
a complementing attitude thing going on here, so maybe we should open this business together! Hey, what the heck, it's only
for one day a year! (But I call dibbsies on the day shift!)"
And I am not at all sure how we got there from here.
