Jew Or Not Jew?
Still available in the good ole USofA … Jessica Ravitz and Saskya Vandoorne report on a bizarre iPhone app for CNN:
“Jew or not Jew?”: That is just part of the question.
An iPhone app bearing this name has been yanked from Apple’s App Store in France amid threats of a lawsuit and demands for its removal.
The app, still available elsewhere, pulls together a database of thousands of famous Jews – including movie stars, musicians, Nobel Prize winners and more – and offers insights into their backgrounds. Jewish mother? Jewish father? A convert? For $1.99 in the United States, app owners can know.
In an iTunes store description, it says: “Hey, did you know that Bob Dylan is Jewish? Of course I did! But was Marilyn Monroe really Jewish? And what about Harrison Ford? How many times have we had this conversation without being able to know for sure? You can now find…
The First Science Fiction Film
Dreamy and surreal, it lives up to its name:
A Trip to the Moon (French: Le Voyage dans la lune) is a 1902 French black-and-white silent science fiction film. The film was written and directed by Georges Méliès, assisted by his brother Gaston. It is based loosely on two popular novels of the time: From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne and The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells.
It is the first science fiction film and uses innovative animation and special effects, including the well-known image of the spaceship landing in the moon’s eye.
French Media Ban The Mention Of Specific Social Networks On Air
In an attempt to reduce the amount of ‘free publicity’ given to social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, the French have banned any mention of specific sites in their TV and radio broadcasts. One of the reasons for this ban is to allow a fair platform for smaller networking companies in the future. BBC News reports:
French TV and radio presenters have been banned from mentioning social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter on air.
The country’s broadcasting watchdog has ruled that doing so would break guidelines on advertising.
Stations can still talk about services without naming them, it said.
The French government is seen by many internet watchers as overly keen to regulate in relation to new media and the web.
In a ruling, published online, the Conseil Superieur de l’Audiovisuel (CSA), said: “Referring viewers or listeners to the page of the social network without mentioning it has the character of information.
[Continues at…
Bombs Explode In IKEA Stores Across Europe
Photo: Sbotig (CC)
IKEA’s business has been booming. Although no one was significantly injured, this coordinated attack had alarm clocks exploding in three different European countries. Via Reuters:
French, Belgian and Dutch police have launched investigations after minor explosions struck IKEA [IKEA.UL] stores in each country late on Monday in what appears to have been a coordinated attack.
No one was seriously hurt in the blasts at the world’s biggest furniture retailer, although two workers in Belgium suffered minor injuries.
Rigged alarm clocks blew up in IKEA stores in Ghent in Belgium and Lille in France, and there was an explosion in a bin outside the IKEA store in Eindhoven in the Netherlands.
The alarm clocks were linked to small amounts of gunpowder, and prosecutors said they did not think that the bombers had intended to cause significant injury.
“Federal police with dogs did a sweep of other stores but there was nothing suspect that was…
French Press Publishes Dominique Strauss-Kahn Accuser’s Name & ‘Photos’
Vive la France! Wait, what? David Case writes on globalpost:
Here’s a story that illustrates the chasm between how France and America handle men, women and rape.
The French elite are outraged over what they see as American vulgarities surrounding the treatment of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former IMF chief and putative 2012 presidential frontrunner, accused of raping a 32-year-old Sofitel chambermaid in Manhattan last weekend.
Among the “barbaric” American practices under critique by Parisians: showing photos of the accused in handcuffs; marching him through a scrum of photographers on the way to court; and pillorying him tabloid style — the NY Post called him “a horny toad,” for example. As GlobalPost has reported, French law restricts some media coverage of alleged perpetrators prior to conviction, including publication of images showing the accused in handcuffs, to preserve the dignity of the innocent.
What?!? Men Really Can Make Their Penises Longer
Anyone who uses email is constantly bombarded with spam emails with subject lines like “Lengthen Your Man Snake,” which one assumes most recipients consider to be nonsense and quickly delete.
However, AFP via France24 reports that in fact penis lengthening actually is possible:
Some non-surgical methods for increasing the length of the male sex organ do in fact work, while others are likely to result only in soreness and disappointment, a review of medical literature has shown.
Surgical procedures, however, can be dangerous and have an “unacceptably high rate of complications,” according to the study, published this week in the Journal of the British Association of Urological Surgeons.
“An increasing number of patients seek urological advice for the so-called ’short penis’,” the researchers reported.
This is true despite the fact that “penile length is normal in most of these men, who tend to overestimate normal phallic dimension.”
A male member — measured on the dorsal, or upper,…
France’s Burqa Ban Takes Effect With Two Women Already Arrested
CNN reports:
Paris (CNN) – French police arrested two veiled women protesting the country’s law banning face-hiding Islamic burqas and niqabs Monday, just hours after the legislation took effect.
The arrests outside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris were not for wearing the prohibited garments…
French Doctors Announced Lung Cancer ‘Breakthrough’
This may be a breakthrough in the treatment of lung cancer, but it doesn’t mean you should pick up smoking just yet. BBC reports:
French doctors say they have made a significant breakthrough in the treatment of lung cancer.
A medical team at Bobigny hospital in Paris removed a patient’s cancerous growth, and then gave him an artificial airway, or bronchus.
The bronchus was made from reconstituted aorta, the body’s largest artery.
The pioneering treatment in October 2009 avoided the complete removal of the patient’s lung.
In the later stages of lung cancer, only a third of patients survive a year.
The Paris patient, 78, is said be fit and well, some 16 months after surgery.
[Continues at BBC]
Disneyland Paris Worker Attempts In-Park Suicide
UPI.com reports:
A worker at Disneyland Paris allegedly tried to kill himself by jumping off a bridge at the theme park, saying he blamed his manager for his actions.
The man, identified only as “C,” stood atop a 33-foot bridge along the route of the park’s scale railroad threatening to jump Thursday while concurrently demanding to see Disneyland’s management, Radio France Internationale reported Friday.
Le Parisien reported two members of the park’s management talked the man into coming down, which he did, witnesses said, with tears in his eyes and blaming his manager for his actions.
Disneyland management said the man was the representative of a small trade union and was working half time because of “problems encountered at work.”
Radio France Internationale reported three Disneyland Paris workers killed themselves last year.
French Man Claims Parkinson’s Pills Turned Him Into ‘Gay Sex Fiend’
Reports the AFP via Google News:
NANTES, France — A French father-of-two is to take GlaxoSmithKline to court on Tuesday, alleging the British firm’s drug to treat Parkinson’s disease turned him into a gay sex and gambling addict.
The 51-year-old’s lawyers say their client’s behaviour changed radically after he was first administered the drug in 2003 for the illness, which causes tremors, slows movement and disrupts speech.
Didier Jambart, a married father-of-two who says he has attempted suicide three times, claims he became addicted to Internet gambling, losing the family’s savings and stealing to feed his habit. He also became a compulsive gay sex addict and began exposing himself on the Internet and cross-dressing. His risky sexual encounters led to him being raped, his lawyers said.
The behaviour stopped when he stopped taking the drugs in 2005 but by then he had been demoted in his defence ministry job and was suffering from psychological…
French Town Overrun By 2012 Apocalypse Cult
Having produced the film 2012: Science or Superstition, I’m often asked where I plan to be on December 21, 2012, which as almost all disinformation readers surely know, marks the end of the current cycle of the Mayan Long Count Calendar. Truth be told I have no special plans, but perhaps Bugarach in southwest France is as good a choice as any, and it’s only a few minutes from Henry Lincoln and Rennes-le-Château, whom I’ve been wanting to visit ever since we released Exploring the Da Vinci Code: Henry Lincoln’s Guide to Rennes-le-Château. MyFoxNY/Newscore reports:
Armageddon-fearing pilgrims were flocking to a village deep in the southern French hills after a countdown was started to the end of the world, which stood Thursday at a mere 729 days to go.
Bugarach, population 189, in the Aude region, southwestern France. Photo: ArnoLagrange (CC)
Followers of the Mayan calendar believe the mountain in the Corbieres hills overlooking the…
How The 19th Century Imagined The 21st
Paleo-Future has posted a collection of seven lithographs depicting a 19th century vision of the present day; and yes, it involves flying cars:
This lithograph from 1882 depicts the fanciful world of 2000; flying buses, towering restaurants, and of course, 1880’s French attire. Albert Robida is less well-known than Jules Verne but contributed just as much to the collective imagination through his amazing illustrations.
If you speak French I recommend picking up the Robida book La vie électrique. For the record, I don’t speak French. Much like a child, I got it for the pictures.
(UPDATE: Some very good questions have been raised about the date of production for this lithograph. The year 1882 came from a Library of Congress source. La Vie Electrique (published 1892) contains structures that look similar to the Eiffel Tower but are in fact lighthouses. However, I am definitely open to the idea that “circa 1900″ would be a more appropriate label.)
[See the…
The World’s First BASE Jumper: Franz Reichelt’s 1912 Doomed Leap from the Eiffel Tower (Video)
I admire his desire to develop a parachute in the early days of aviation, unfortunately Mr. Reichelt may have turned out to be the world’s first-ever BASE jumper. As Wikipedia records:
Believing that the lack of a suitably high test platform was partially to blame for his failures, Reichelt repeatedly petitioned the Parisian Prefecture of Police for permission to conduct a test from the Eiffel Tower. He was finally granted permission in early 1912, but when he arrived at the tower on February 4th he made it clear that he intended to jump himself rather than conduct an experiment with dummies.
Despite attempts by his friends and spectators to dissuade him, he jumped from the first platform of the tower wearing his invention. The parachute failed to deploy and he crashed into the icy ground at the foot of the tower. The next day, newspapers were full of the story of the reckless inventor and his fatal jump — many included pictures of the fall taken by press photographers who had gathered to witness Reichelt’s experiment — and a film documenting the jump appeared in newsreels:
Eric Cantona Foments A New French Revolution
Eric Cantona first achieved fame playing soccer for Manchester United and France. He was an extremely talented striker, but perhaps is best known for his flying kung fu-style kick at a heckling fan. That’s all in the past though, and Cantona has a new career as a budding indie film star. Apparently he’s also quite conscious of the fact that there’s not much liberté, égalité or fraternité in France or the rest of the world these days, and he knows just how to bring about another revolution: everyone should go to their bank and withdraw all their cash. The system would crash and, voilà, la Révolution! Here he is in an October interview explaining how it works:
Baby Killed When Family Jumps Out Of Paris Window After ‘Seeing The Devil’
From mistaking a husband as the devil to jumping out of the second floor with a baby in their arms, everything about this story seems unbelievable. The Belfast Telegraph reports:
A baby died when a family of 12 leapt from their second floor balcony in Paris claiming they were fleeing the devil.
Eight more were injured, some seriously, in the tragedy when they jumped 20 ft into a car park in Paris suburb of La Verriere.
The baffling incident occurred when a wife woke to see her husband moving about naked in the room, police said.
She began screaming ‘it’s the devil! it’s the devil!’, and the man ran into the other room where 11 others adults and children were watching television. One woman grabbed a knife and stabbed the man before others pushed him out through the front door.
La Maupin: 17th Century’s France’s Cross-Dressing Duelist Opera Star
'Six Drawings Illustrating Theophile Gautier's Romance Mademoiselle de Maupin' (Aubrey Beardsley, 1898).
La Maupin once scandalized a ball by kissing another woman on the dance floor. She was challenged to a duel by three men, beat them all, and promptly returned to dancing. Jim Burrows is writing a novel about her, and has this account of her life:
La Maupin, 17th century French swordswoman, adventuress and opera star, was like something out of a novel by Dumas or Sabatini, except for two things.
First she was real, and second few authors would have attributed her exploits to a woman.
Theophile Gautier borrowed her name and a few of her characteristics for the heroine of his novel Mademoiselle De Maupin, but in many ways his character was only a pale imitation of the original. The real Maupin was a complex creature.
Well born and privileged, she knew how to use her influential friends and contacts to get what…
Images of 19th Century Paris’s Hell-Themed Café
Manning Krull at Cool Stuff in Paris has posted some rare pictures of a Hell-themed café that was founded in late 19th century Paris.
Little is known about the establishment, which appears to have operated into the mid-20th century. National Geographic has this to say:
“A hot spot called Hell’s Café lured 19th-century Parisians to the city’s Montmartre neighborhood—like the Marais—on the Right Bank of the Seine. With plaster lost souls writhing on its walls and a bug-eyed devil’s head for a front door, le Café de l’Enfer may have been one of the world’s first theme restaurants. According to one 1899 visitor, the café’s doorman—in a Satan suit—welcomed diners with the greeting, “Enter and be damned!” Hell’s waiters also dressed as devils. An order for three black coffees spiked with cognac was shrieked back to the kitchen as: “Three seething bumpers of molten sins, with a dash of brimstone intensifier!”
Next door was a less interesting…
France’s Naked City At War Over Public Sex
Sign on the beach at Cap d'Agde. Photo: Appraiser (CC)
So public nudity at the beach is OK for French traditionalists, but sex isn’t? John Lichfield reports for The Independent:
To make a French nudist blush might appear to be a mission impossible. Not at Cap d’Agde, on the Languedoc coast, home to “naked city”, Europe’s largest nudist holiday colony.
A long-simmering war between two tribes of the unclothed – “traditional” nudists and so-called “libertines” or exponents of free sex – exploded into a public protest at the town’s council meeting this week.
Old-fashioned naturists have been complaining for years that Cap d’Agde’s once-sedate nudist quarter has been disfigured by an influx of partner-swapping clubs and raunchy hotels. A flurry of arson attacks on sex clubs two years ago was blamed on low-level terrorism by nudist fundamentalists.
At this week’s Cap d’Agde council meeting, the protests took a more peaceful form. Old-fashioned nudists complained that…
France Bans Burqas
I suppose it’s somewhat comforting to know that the United States is not the only country with xenophobic pastors and politicians who want to burn Korans, or in the case of France, ban women from wearing burqas (those head-veils) in public — but it’s not exactly going to make life any easier for the French, who have already seen a threat to the Eiffel Tower as a result!
