mikewilliams64
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Commented on Five reasons to envy the French
A well-timed post as I moved to France today, down into the rolling hills of le Gers. On a related note, I would like to tell Google "no you are not smart ignoring my Google account settings, browser language settings...
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bellinghman commented on
Five reasons to envy the French
We did Toronto to Vancouver last year. An expensive 4 nights on a train, but a trip we won't forget. I imagine it's a bit like what it must have been like taking a transatlantic voyage - you really get to know the other people you travel with. (Though the fact that two fellow travellers in our coach happened not only to come from the same English city as I spent many years in, but actually from the same street as I used to live on - well, it was no surprise to us that we then bumped into them...
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scentofviolets commented on
Five reasons to envy the French
@219: @scentofviolets - Forgive me, please forgive me... '...after her husband died for "health reasons".' Reminds me of a conversation in the restaurant at the end of the universe. Unless Charlie can get a story idea out of it. Well, that was the official line at family gatherings :-) What actually happened was he smoked and drank and ate himself to death. German immigrant who crossed the waters in '37 I believe and fond of his cigars, schnapps, schnitzel, etc. with that classic turnip-shaped body. As a mostly vegetarian who runs six miles a pop, doesn't smoke and rarely drinks,...
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davharris commented on
Five reasons to envy the French
"I don't think anyone had anything Made In the USSR back in the days. " I'm sure that's nearly true, but not 100%. My grandfather was the proud owner of not one but two Moskvitch cars in the mid 1970s. (I think in the end he cannibalised one for spares, maybe that's why he bought two...)...
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bellinghman commented on
Five reasons to envy the French
Quoting VIA Rail as one of the good things of Canada, now it is from somebody who hasn't been anywhere else. I'm sorry. As someone who has covered the majority of the Shinkansen lines, and a few of the LGV routes, I have to restate that Via Train #1 is pretty damned stunning. The other VIA trains, sure, I wouldn't want to rely on those. But none of us mentioned those, we only mentioned The Canadian....
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Charlie Stross commented on
Five reasons to envy the French
Forbes' target market is American bazillionaires. Of course they'd grade France as a crap place to live! Many of the benefits are best framed in terms of a relatively low Gini coefficient, and for folks at the extreme end of the income distribution curve, that's highly unattractive. For the rest of us? Things are Different. On internet censorship; read up on ACTA or the UK's Digital Economy Act, or the Australian net censorship. For race/nationalism, I see nothing particularly worse than the toxic immigration debate in the USA....
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