olivier in france

I LOVE IT!!

great Play! And BTW that stadiums seems to have an huge outfield... it looks like it's a clear and easy home run in about any MLB park...

If you do the same with the "real" name you get: UASA PARTTIAOT Act...

I thought it was the Using Silly Arguments to Persuade Americans that Terrorists Ruled in Irak and Other foreign Territories. Act

Of course !! Don't you know that the standart way to tackle an issue in France is to create a new tax?!! At least I live on the spanish border so i'm able to give money to a more tax responsible state for my oil and alcohol needs.

Orwellian... that's how i'll call France those days... Yesterday in the night news on the third (public) channel: First one story about some farmers dealing with a drought... it's august so well there's always a place somewhere in France where they have not seen rain for weeks at that time of the year... the orwellian part was the "the climate is changing we 're all doomed, change your way of life" comments with the story! Next was a presentation of the new ultra modern "we'll catch everybody" speed radars the police had just received. you can't drive 5 miles in France those days without seeing those "automatic cash machines for the state" . French drivers are driving their eyes fixed on their odometers or the side of the road looking for radars! In case you wonder why one of them just rolled on you the next time you cross a parisian street! Next was a story about how the french over consume salt in their food, with consequences on our health. the message "stop put salt in your food or you gonna die ... soon!!" it made me want to open a bag of chips and eating it while driving on the fast lane of the nearest highway!!

It has probably been shown a long time ago in the US but yesterday i saw the "30 for 30" ESPN documentary about Ricky Williams here Well i know we 're talking about a fish, one who failed 4 drug tests but i dare to say i have a great amount of respect for him. A lot of NFL players have done much worse stuff and never had to face the jokes, critics, insults that Williams had to. His "worst" crime was just probably to be different, to be the opposite of what an NFL player is supposed to be. I'm glad he's now almost a player like the others.

it depends of their church/community. there's a lot of different "grades" in the mennonites/amishes communities some have cars/phones living almost like everybody else, others don't even accept members with the wrong barb cut or shirt collar!

i've not been on TBD for about 4 months and the day after i come back i have to read those eternal bad jokes... great... is it too much to ask once in a while for a little respect for the french military guys currently fighting with US forces in Afghanistan? Is too much to ask for a little respect for the french special forces fighting the war vs terrorism with the US and their allies in Africa, the Middle East, Asia? Is too much to ask for a little respect for guys like my Grand Father who fought the war vs the Nazis in 1940 ? I don't know why he should not have that respect because he fought that war during a period when the allies were defeated... 55 years after those battles he still had tears and anger in his eyes when he was talking about them... There is no second class veterans. English vets who were at Dunkirk never hear those "dropped rifles jokes"...

The Contador attack in the mountain has been debated a lot by the media...some said it was a breach to the "etiquette" some said it was not. i do not know i did not see it live. I'm no big fan of Contador. And he did not do anything to look better during that Tour. A cold effective rider like Indurain or Armstrong . I prefer more "panache" the way Delgado, Lemond, Roche, Herrera, Mottet or Pantani did. More than the doping , it's the lack of such riders in today's cycling that has lowered my interest in the Tour those last years... Maybe Schleck will change that. He looks like an old fashion fun rider.

No they were around here in the pyrénées last week but during the week . i'd have go if it had been the week end.

first time i'm on TBD for months!! and it looks like you need my help guys! Cycling is like baseball or golf, an old sport with lot of traditions involved and non written rules everywhere. This is one of the reasons BTW why Lance armstrong has not be loved in the peloton from the beginning of his career. He was not coming from the classical cycling minor teams and schools but from the triathlon and was not aware of a lot of those unwritten rules. So he broke a few and made ennemies. those rules are part of the charm of this sport but i understand they are somtimes a little complicated and unlogical BTW there is no rule about the last stage of the Tour. And schleck for exemple could have attacked and tried to win the race gaining those 39 seconds but fact is it was impossible to do. let me explain you why: Tour winners or potential winners are all complete riders that can climb well and win time trials , they are thin little ball of muscles. But there is an other brand of riders in the tour: sprinters. Huge physical guys who are there to win the flat stages and the "green jacket", the "by points" competition. The last stage on the Champs Elysées in Paris is for those sprinters and their teams the most prestigious "flat stage" to win. And the setting is perfect for this. An huge flat and large road with no turns. It's like a giant inside cycling track. So it is almost impossible for a lone rider or a small pack to attack and to try to win alone or gaining time. If schleck had attacked, even with his whole team, the Contador team would have been helped by about 4 or 5 others teams , the ones with the best sprinters. And on the Champs Elysées such an attack has absolutly no chance. So each year it's the same thing. A huge sprint at the end or sometimes a lone rider able to gain a fistful of seconds during the last kilometer. Schleck did not attack because he had no chance not because of some unwritten rule.

only way to prove it is to let them play! something they beg the BCS to do!! for each Texas victory over TCU there is a Utah beating Bama or a Boisé beating Oregon or Oklahoma... BTW one of the best stories about the BCS mess i've readen: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news...o&type=lgns

i did not say i think it has happened , i just said it is told as "true" without the symbolism and images of a fable.

what are you talking about? this story is not told like a fable" it is told as a "true story" there is no metaphors or symbols... this is just a stupid story about a man who see himself as a justice maker while he's just dumber than an ass!

sorry to ruin your "great story" but if you take the credit card and phone of a mugger, they are probably the card and the phone of the guy he has just robbed before assaulting you... and at that point it's not a "great story" anymore it's just a sad story about the sad state of our societies

The irony being the BCS is gonna pay two non BCS teams to play for the "non bcs teams national championship", a game that should be a lot better than the actual BCS championship game!

very interesting... it's nice to see slowly the rehabilitation of "barbarian" non mediterranean european old cultures like this one or the Celts in the West. Makes me think about the "iceman" they found in an Alps glacier a few years ago. They were amazed about what he wore, different objects proving there was long distance trade in those early days of Europe.

i don't know exiled... what i know is that there is much more than one dimension on the political societal spectrum , people tends to see themselves somewhere on a left (equality) to right (freedom) line (where i'm quite on the left in the US, quite on the right in France) while there's in fact at least an other dimension to position yourself, what i'd call the tolerance to conformity line (and i'm all "tolerance" there) one line (or is it an other one?) that sometimes is seen as the individual to nation line ... and i can see a new political dimension becoming important something like a Man to Nature line on environmental issues (and i'm on the man side there)

what i like about this topic is how the classical camps (liberal vs conservatives) are completly changed... i see usual liberals agreeing with usual conservatives in both sides!!

a lot have said that those last 3 -4 years... not many did it! the game should be great anyway... the Boisé O is pretty good, and TCU has some good running and that crazy defense.

so it's official the US are a theocracy?!!!

if exporting pandas is the only plan the US administration has to balance the commercial trade with China...

that's right... i think they're still searching for opponents for the 2011 season, and they 'd travel to play ANYONE in the 6 BCS conferences. BTW weak schedule or not they've beaten the Pac 10 champ...

The Boise- TCU game 'll be a lot more interesting to watch than the "national championship game"! Is there anybody outside the state of Texas who actually think Texas has a chance ?!!