French Law: Thou shall not fool people via photoshop... without giving them a heads up

Via Reddit:  Images digitally alerted to make models look thinner must carry a warning that they have been “touched up” under a French law aimed at tackling* anorexia that comes into force on Sunday.

Doctoring fashion photographs is a common practice but is seen as a public health issue in France, where about 600,000 people suffer from anorexia or other eating disorders, according to the health ministry.

Any publication of a digitally edited or airbrushed commercial image not clearly labelled as “photographie retouchée” (touched up photograph) can be punished with a fine of at least €37,500, or 30 per cent of the cost of creating the advertisement.

The authorities hope the new “Photoshop warning” will discourage unhealthy extreme thinness among people trying to emulate unrealistic body shapes that were faked with a computer programme.

Marisol Touraine, the former health minister who introduced the legislation, said it was intended “to avoid promoting inaccessible ideals of beauty and to prevent anorexia among young people.”

She added: “Exposing young people to normative and unrealistic body images leads to a feeling of self-depreciation and poor self-esteem that can have an impact on health-related behaviour.”

France also compels models to provide doctor’s notes certifying that they are not too skinny and their body mass index is healthy.

*Tackling is offensive language.. the right way to say convey that same idea, in a much less toxic masculine way would be to say 'French law is #TakingAKnee against anorexia.

Although, come to think of it. I find people starving themselves to death a kind and generous gesture towards mother earth don't you think? Anorexia is good for the planet ;)

Then there's the bit with (touched up photograph)... don't even get me started as to how problematic that language is.

"Burkini Sales Go Up 200 Percent Since French Ban"

"After over a dozen French towns have banned women from wearing ‘burkinis’ – a swimsuit for women that leaves just the face, hands and feet exposed – a demand for the product has risen 200 percent worldwide, BBC News reported."

Aheda Zanetti, who lives in Australia and owns the trademark on ‘burkini,’ says online sales skyrocketed.

“No man in this entire world can tell us what to wear or what not to wear,” she told BBC News.

On Aug. 12, the mayor of Cannes banned burkinis, calling them a “symbol of Islamic extremism,” following the July attack in Nice, for which ISIS claimed responsibility. Several other towns have since joined in on the ban, and any woman caught disobeying is charged a fine.

Photos emerged Tuesday showing several male police officers forcing one woman to remove her head covering on a beach in Nice.

I put the quotation in bold letters. I found it a little ironic. Just a tad.

"French media to stop publishing photos and names of terrorists"

The Guardian:   Several French news organisations have said they will no longer publish photographs of people responsible for terrorist killings, to avoid bestowing “posthumous glorification”.

Le Monde published an editorial after the latest attack, the murder of an elderly priest in a church near Rouen by two men claiming allegiance to Islamic State. Under the headline “Resisting the strategy of hate”, Le Monde argued on Wednesday that all elements of society had to be involved in the struggle against terrorism, and that media organisations had a special role to play.

“The sites and newspapers that produce this information cannot excuse themselves from self-examination on several fronts. Since Isis terrorism first appeared, Le Monde has changed its practices several times,” the newspaper said.

In the aftermath of the Nice attack, a psychoanalyst, Fethi Benslama, who teaches at Paris Diderot university, suggested on French radio: “Perhaps it is time that there was a pact in the media to no longer publish the names and pictures of the perpetrators of these acts, as it’s a really big boost to their efforts to make themselves world famous, even while their victims are anonymous and will remain anonymous.”

Benslama said this “glorification” encouraged others to carry out attacks, “to gain glory in the eyes of their commanders and their friends”. He added: “They leave their identity cards – they want to be identified very quickly.”

"'30 dead' after truck crashes into crowd at Bastille Day celebrations"

UPDATE: "The Nice prosecutor's office has been quoted by iTele TV channel as saying around 60 people have been killed."

Bastille Day revellers flee scene of truck attack in Nice https://t.co/m3L0ymQw60

— Lem (@Lemang01) July 14, 2016

"Paris is ‘too dirty’ for the Japanese"

"Japanese Tour Operators Clean Paris Streets This Weekend"

“They say they want to make the city cleaner for their own people, who have high standards, but in recent years Paris has actually become one of the cleanest cities in the world,” a Paris city hall spokesman said.

The council organized a massive cleanup operation 4 years ago and when members of the council claimed that Paris didn’t win the 2012 Olympics due to its dirty streets.  One of the former environment heads, Yves Contassot, said that Paris was “the dog poo capital of the world” by 2001.

The problem is that Paris is also considered one of the rudest capitals of the world for tourists.  Japanese tourists say that locals are rude and hostile. They even developed a term called “Paris Syndrome” since many of them suffer a psychiatric breakdown. Foreign visitors expect to find beautiful streets and romantic people, and they find a dirty city full of rude people. The Japanese embassy created a 24-hour hotline for those suffering from cultural shock.

"'Dentist of Horror' Jacobus van Nierop on trial in France"

BBC News:  Initially locals seemed delighted by the hard-working and smiley dentist, a larger-than-life character who witnesses said was rarely seen without his "big 4x4, a big dog and a big cigar".

But then the horror stories began. People said they had teeth ripped out for no reason - they were given heavy anaesthetic, then left with abscesses and infected gums.

Fillings were pulled out simply to be replaced by more expensive composite and some said their mouths bled for days.

The story of alleged victim Sylviane Boulesteix, 65, is typical of the allegations made against the dentist.

She visited him in March 2012 to have braces fitted. "He gave me seven or eight injections, and pulled out eight teeth in one go. I was gushing blood for three days," she told the AFP news agency.

Another alleged male victim, 80, told AFP that the dentist left "pieces of flesh hanging everywhere" after removing a tooth.

By early 2013 a group of Mr van Nierop's alleged victims had grown to 120 members and in June of that year he was arrested. But the dentist fled France before the start of his trial the following December.

He was eventually located in a small town in the Canadian province of New Brunswick and was arrested under an international warrant.

From the French: Radiation de pavillon

So I like to think I helped a man today better understand a pair of refurbished boats he is in the process of acquiring on behalf of his employer back in Europe. That man is a Frenchman, boat Capitan, who for the last ten years or so, has lived in the Dominican Republic, where he learned to speak Spanish more fluently. The Frenchman spoke little to no English.

Once the boats are finished, the Frenchman's employer is taking them to Morocco. The boats were originally from Panama. The job of refurbishing them has taken several years.

I spent the better part of the day going over the systems with the Frenchman and the electrical systems builder. I was not much help there, I must admit. It helped that the 70 year old Frenchman has spent most of life on fishing boats. So he was already well acquainted with what most of what the equipment does, except for some fancy electronics installed on one of the boats. We are going over those again on Monday.

The biggest glitch, however, was trying to explain to the boat builder what the Frenchman was talking about when he said he is going to need a "radiation de pavillon" (French).

The boat builder insisted that a certified "bill of sale" written on a form provided by the US coast guard was all he has given to new boat owners he has sold boats to for years.

The Frenchman insisted that Morocco would not register the boats without the "radiation de pavillion". After awhile, I kind of figured they weren't getting anywhere, so I told them I would look into where and how the Frenchman could obtain his precious "radiation de pavillon".

"Driver Shouting 'Allahu Akbar!' Runs Down 11 French Pedestrians"

NBC News: A driver screaming "Allahu Akbar!" (Arabic for "God is great") appeared to deliberately mow down about a dozen pedestrians in the French city of Dijon before being arrested on Sunday, officials said.

The driver, who was in his forties, hit groups of pedestrians in five parts of the eastern city before being arrested, a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior said on French television. Eleven people in all were injured, two of them seriously, officials said.

According to testimonies on the scene, the driver also invoked "the children of Palestine"' to explain his actions, the ministry's spokesman said.

"Decapitated Head Found Pinned To Gate in French "Terrorist Attack""

"Man decapitated as severed head is 'covered in Arabic writing' and hung on a fence next to Islamist flag at factory in France after terrorists storm building and set off 'gas bomb' explosions."

Shocking attack took place at the headquarters of American-owned Air Products close to Lyon in southern France.
Two men burst through the factory gates in a car, setting off small 'gas bombs' and injuring factory workers.
Murder victim's severed head was said to have been covered in Arabic writing and left hanging on a fence.
It is not yet clear whether the terrorists killed the man elsewhere and transported his body to the factory.
30-year-old man 'known to security services' was arrested at the scene, telling officers he was a member of ISIS.

News Radio report said the attacker was seen carrying an ISIS flag.

"French Army Deployed to Protect Catholic Churches From Islamist Attack"

"following reports of a terrorist cell preparing an ISIS-style attack on congregations."

The impetus for the change of policy has come just days after French police arrested would-be Jihadist murderer Sid Ahmed Ghlam. Ghlam, a 24-year-old Moroccan student studying in Paris, murdered a fitness instructor in a botched attempt to hijack her car for a terror attack, and then accidentally shot himself in the leg.

Calling an ambulance for aid, police found Ghlam’s cover story questionable and followed the trail of his blood back to his car, which contained fake police uniforms, body armour, and a number of firearms including AK-47 assault rifles. Searching his student flat, they discovered plans for a gang of Islamists to open fire on Church services in Paris. One of his accomplices, a 25-year-old woman, has been arrested so far.

"French replica of revolutionary frigate sets sail for Boston"

"When you put people side by side aboard a ship, they're puking together, they're cleaning the toilets together, they're really bonding," he said. "It makes for a very close and open relationship between people and it lasts forever."

With champagne, fireworks and a presidential blessing, a painstakingly built replica of the frigate once used to bring French troops and funds to American revolutionaries set sail Saturday for the U.S. East Coast.

With the celebratory sendoff, the 25 million euro ($27 million) Hermione began its voyage to retrace the 65-meter (213-foot) frigate's trans-Atlantic journey in 1780, when its namesake under the Marquis de Lafayette's command helped to lay the foundation of French-American relations.

Lafayette persuaded French King Louis XVI to provide military and financial support to George Washington's troops. Lafayette set sail on the frigate on March 21, 1780, from the southwestern port of Fouras, arrived 38 days later in Boston, and played an important role in the revolutionaries' ultimate defeat of Britain three years later in the Battle of Yorktown with the support of a French army and fleet.

"German Airbus A320 plane crashes in French Alps"

A passenger plane flying from Barcelona to Düsseldorf has crashed in a remote and mountainous area of southern France.

A distress call was made by the aircraft at 10.47am, while the plane was “in an abnormal situation”, the French transport ministry said. The crash happened shortly afterwards, it added.

The aircraft disappeared off the radar at around 11.20am, Le Figaro reported. The plane dropped from 11,500 metres to 2,100 metres (38,000ft to 7,000ft) in nine minutes between 10.31am and 10.40am, air radar services said.

The distress call to air traffic control in Marseilles was “mayday, mayday, mayday” and the pilot requested an emergency descent, meaning all airspace had to be cleared below the route of the aircraft.

A chance for CNN and Fox to have people talk and scribble large digital maps a la John Madden.

Quand vaches saints... ils marchent dans...

Autrans, France

"When the French clock off at 6pm, they really mean it"

"Just in case you weren't jealous enough of the French already, what with their effortless style, lovely accents and collective will to calorie control, they have now just made it illegal to work after 6pm."

Well, sort of. Après noticing that the ability of bosses to invade their employees' home lives via smartphone at any heure of the day or night was enabling real work hours to extend further and further beyond the 35-hour week the country famously introduced in 1999, workers' unions have been fighting back. Now employers' federations and unions have signed a new, legally binding labour agreement that will require staff to switch off their phones after 6pm.

Under the deal, which affects a million employees in the technology and consultancy sectors (including the French arms of Google, Facebook, Deloitte and PwC), employees will also have to resist the temptation to look at work-related material on their computers or smartphones – or any other kind of malevolent intrusion into the time they have been nationally mandated to spend on whatever the French call la dolce vita. And companies must ensure that their employees come under no pressure to do so. Thus the spirit of the law – and of France – as well as the letter shall be observed.

the guardian

A Pleasant Sallet: Celery Rémoulade

Celery Rémoulade, also known as céleri-rave rémoulade or celeriac salad, is a delicious and simple salad made from a julienne of celeriac. Celeriac, also (incorrectly) known as celery root, is a brownish, lumpy, tuberous-looking thing, about the size of a large turnip, that has ivory-colored flesh with a mild celery flavor that’s a bit like a cross between a potato and celery. Although called a root, it’s actually the hypocotyl storage organ of a variety of celery, Apium graveolens var. rapaceum; ordinary celery is Apium graveolens var. dulce.

It took me a while to locate celery in European culinary history, since it was barely eaten at all in much of Europe until the late 17th century, and it wasn’t called celery, but elioselinon (a transliteration of its Greek name), marsh parsley (it is in the same botanical family, Apiaceae, as parsley), and smallage, which seems to be the most common English name for celery before the word celery came along. Celery, by one or another of its names, appears in various European herbals and botanical books from the 16th century on. It doesn’t seem to have been very highly regarded by early writers, with various sources calling it bitter and strong in flavor.

From Botanologia, the English herbal
by William Salmon, 1710

William Salmon, one such early botanical writer, was a mysterious self-taught surgeon, astrologer and general dilettante who wrote and/or plagiarized a number of books in the 17th- and early 18th centuries. I own a 17th century copy of one of his books, entitled Polygraphice, which is nominally a manual of drawing, painting, and the visual arts, but which also explores such divers subjects as chiromancy, perfumery, cosmetics and transmuting mercury into purest gold. Salmon also published an extensive illustrated herbal in 1710 in which smallage is described. Interestingly, Salmon includes a recipe for preparing a celery root salad:

The Sallet of the Whited Stalks and Roots. They are cut or sliced and eaten with Salt, Vinegar and Oil, raw, they make a pleasant Sallet, are grateful to the Palate and Taste, strengthen the Stomach, and cause a good Appetite and Digestion.