What if Paris Ran the World?

[AZCat]

I was just reading about tool use in France. Those cheese-eating surrender monkeys apparently can use helical metal spikes to remove these cork plugs in glass bottles. I happen to know the Germans use tools; they can even make nice cars if you're not careful.

On the other hand, Parisians seem to like drinking funny beverages. That Chirac fella has been seen swilling wine like a wimpy Old-European sot. (he likes rolling it in his mouth with his finger-like tongue.)

So that got me thinking...What would technology developed by Paris look like?

Hmmmm?

AZCat

[KT2000]

1. Thought you meant Paris Hilton - yuk!

[AZCat]

3. Oooh, that's a good one.

I rather wish I'd thought of that. :-(

[Blue-Jay]

2. It would look like night-vision nasty porno.

[AZCat]

4. You want porno, go hit GD

This is about drinking - the porn belongs in GD (apparently).

[Robeson]

5. Well, we would have good wine, good food, good....

...architecture, pretty women, and sane leadership. Sounds pretty good to me. Can you make it happen?

[AZCat]

6. Sheesh - the world is more likely to be run by Parrots first...

That seems to be one of the things that the French figured out - like a lot of post-colonial powers - running things sucks. It's much better to focus on the good things in life.

[tjwmason]

24. Yeah. but look at the driving

We'd all be dead within the week, the Parisians drive like complete nutters.

[autorank]

7. It may not work as well as others, but it would look beautiful.

Speaking of French valor, keep in mind, we would have LOST the Battle of Yorktown without Compte De Grassi and French fleet whipping the British Navy's ass (the one time in history). And how about the 1.3 million French soldiers who died in WWI (thankfully our losses were lower -- 50K in that one).

I think if the world looked better (have you ever seen Paris?)

The bullship we have to put up with would be a lot easier to take.

Oops, that's a Vegas hotel, but you get my drift.

[AZCat]

9. Oh I agree

I was just trying to get the post to conform properly to "copy-cat procedure".

I've read that the French basically gave an entire generation's worth of young men to WWI, and this was a major factor in their response to the Germans in WWII - they didn't have enough bodies to do much fighting. We complain about having to save their asses, but the European and Asian countries are the ones that did the real sacrificing (not to demean any particular nations sacrifice, but the numbers are shocking).

[autorank]

10. Good point. 20 million Russians. Holy cow!

What's the "copy-cat procedure?"

[AZCat]

11. Oh there isn't any formal one

I just like to try to make my OP as close to the OP of the copycatted thread as I can, while retaining the switch in subjects. It makes it more fun than just swapping thread subject lines.

Yeah - 20 million Russians is hard to wrap your mind around.

[autorank]

14. Thanks for th einfo. I think the threads are pretty funny when

they scroll down the "Latest" column. Re the Ruskies, they used to say "The Russians have a very black and white view of the world." No shit! Of course, they don't give much time to this stunning fact in our glorius public schools. Just imagine how terrified the Germans were when the Russians hit their soil. Talk about "pay back time." Ugly world at times.

[stackhouse]

8. ??

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce::bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Blue-Jay]

13. Excessive "bouncies" makes dial-uppers and Baby Jeebus cry.

In other words, add something or don't.

[AZCat]

16. As a 56Ker...

I'm gonna add a "hell-ya!"

[Kire]

21. I have cable, and it still fucks with my browser.

[AZCat]

23. Hopefully that's the last we'll see...

of spammed smiley icons for a while. Poster seemed to get the point (although it took a bit of harshness to get through).

[DS1]

26. he's from minnesota

which to me, explains it all

[DS1]

25. dialup isn't the problem, it's your slow computer

once you've downloaded one bouncy, you've downloaded them all.

[WCGreen]

12. The thing that I find perplexing

is that the French have had such a long history of dealing with colonies and Islamic nationalism disguised as fundamentalism and nobody in the US government or the media shows any indication that the Franco cautious approach to terror is well founded....

And they were only being cautious, not obsructionists....

forget about the Revolutionary War, look at the post WWII period to really get a grasp of what France was going through...

Also, they have a large and vocal Muslim population that no one ever considered when they expressed caution, caution.

No one remembers the bombing and kidnapping that plagued Europe in the from the late 50's through the mid 80's.....

Oh well, what do we expect from a crowd that is pushing intelligent design as a viable theory to explain the way things are....

[AZCat]

15. I remember

When all this started (early 90's, not 2001) I pointed out to my friends that it would behoove us to get together with the Europeans. The groups they have dealt with are numerous and varied - they have had to develop a number of different tools for handling them. The Red Brigade in Spain, the Bader-Meinhoff Gang in Germany, the Basques in Spain, the Muslim groups in French-controlled Algeria - these are just a few of the groups that were active in the period you reference (50's through 80's).

I don't know if Bill ever sat down and bent the ear of the European anti-terrorist wonks, but Dubya doesn't strike me as the sort to ask.

[WCGreen]

17. And we forget that the Europeans have had to deal

with Muslim nationalism and expansionism for centuries.....

Oh well, those who refuse to learn from the past are doomed to repeat all the bad that happen and struggle to find the good.....

[AZCat]

18. Yep - all the way back to the ninth century IIRC

Wasn't the big Muslim expansion into Spain in the ninth century? I wager that was the beginning of a long and costly lesson in inter-cultural relations for the Europeans.

And yes - I think we will be repeating this over again as long as Dubya and his cronies remain in power. The rhetoric over Iran scares me. I am afraid that those idiots have learned nothing from either our invasion (and subsequent occupation) of Iraq or Afghanistan.

[WCGreen]

19. Whuch is why they are idiots.....

Remember Turkey as well.......

The Ottomans and the Crusades,,, Bug time European Issues that still resinate to this day......

[AZCat]

20. Yep - and Kosovar Skopje (spelling?)

It's the "Field of Ravens" or whatever the translation is - the place in Kosovo where the Turks battled the Serbs in 15something... The Serbs lost (and were ruled by the Turks for a while), but the area became a landmark and was part of the 1996/97 Serbia/Kosovo struggle. The Serbs didn't want to give up ownership of the area to the Kosovars, although that wasn't the only issue.

[Fleshdancer]

22. that's hot.

hee hee! just kiddin'