05 - I guess everyone has noticed that Irak is no more a descent tv news topic. None seems to care lately about what's happening over there although the real concern is starting right now !
The simple question is : How long will it take to general elections that will give majority and government to the chihite party meaning ...who knows what.
In the meantime Iran is still keeping it's low profile figure, knowing perfectly what will get out of the present situation. It's no longer time to raise new questions, process is on its way.It's just a question of time and we'll see what kind of a democracy was brought there.

No holidays for me this year : better try to save money the most I can in case present situation would get worse. Life sucks !

12-13 Le Mans 24 Hours : A very long night spent to follow or should I say try to follow the mythic race. On french television not more than 3 hours and one extra on Eurosport France !
No need to bother french telespectators with a race knowed worldwide and broadcasted live on Japanese or American TV without any cut - except advertising of course. I found my salvation scanning all the tv channels available on the satellite and xas lucky enough to be able to watch Eurosport Germany that granted us with 7-8 hours mainly during the first part of the race. Would you think it'll be better with radioi ? You're wrong ! The only radio available on internet is speaking english ! So you get it right I had to watch german tv and listen to english radio in order to keep in touch with what was happening on the track.

03 - For those being a bit thick and oblivious of general history, the 60th anniversary of 'le débarquement' meaning D-Day is coming very soon. I must say that I'm getting quite mad about it being repeated day after day how much it has been important and bla bla bla ... For sure every one knows that, at least my generation and former ones too. Younger ones may need some refreshement considering how badly history is thought nowadays at school.
After some security hesitations, GWB is far too happy to come in Normandy and to recall how much old Europe is owing the US. I just hope that he wont take advantage of these celebrations to trace any hasardous parallel between 1944 Europe and todays iraki situation. ..... but HE did !

22 - Saturday morning, every one's ready to see Troy in Paris. For sure I knew the scenario or at least I thought, the movie keeping some interpretation of its own of what the story is supposed to be when relying on greek mythologiy. I had some doubts at the beginning but soon action is taking the lead and nearly three hours pass by without notice. As mentionned before it's no true version of Homere's Iliad chants but it's faithfull to the main idea but any divine references -!-. Are greek Gods so alien or confusing for the Us audience or simply to far away from their commun knowledge ? Whatever, no need to argue too long about this and just let carried away with the pictures ... specially with Brad Pitt and Eric Bana ( yum ).

To be faithfull to what is considered as the truth I will recall some facts:

Achilles : Died a couple of days after Hector, its ashes being melted with Patrocle's and buried in the shrine built on the shore close to Troy... of course didn't take part to the fall of the besieged city.
Patrocle : Never been Achilles' cousin but it's beloved companion. Clear enough !
Ménélas : He did had a duel with Paris but came back alive to Sparta with Helene.
Ajax : One of the most valliant greek warriors. He saw the fall of Troy. Hector had a duel with him but never killed him.

Hector : Most valliant trojen army chief. His duel against Ajax was turning badly when dark - sent by Ares - came and saved him. He did killed Patrocle when the later was wearing Achilles' weapons. His wife Andromaque being brought captive by Agamemnon, his son Astianax being killed to avoid any later vengeance.
Paris : Except from being the reason for the dispute between Greeks and Trojens, his role during the siege is reather insignificant but in two occasions: his duel against Menelas and Achilles death.
Cassandra : Hector's sister. Apollo granted her with the gift of prophecy. But for some obscure reason she was doomed and sentenced to never being listened to, although her prophecies turned out to be always true.
The Iliad

17 - Everythings is getting better and better in the kingdom and around the world : bombs in Turquey, more bombs in Irak, Sharon's army keeping on its destruction routine here and there, french gouvernment organizing major social back steps, alarming lack of interest at every stage towards the european elections to come, oil price at its highest and still no alternative to the use and abuse of such a marvelous and precious liquid, etc ....
To end with a positive note: some picture of my garden where spring has brought colors and smells all over the place and a big thank you to everyone for the 'Happy birthday' wishes.

05 - Just a few words about that gay mariage thing. Argument is raging in the US and just starting right here in France, shady republic pround of it's values and centenial inheritage: Land of the Human Rights bla bla bla ...and I'm not very positive of what will be said in the forthcoming months.
Fact is : all countries that have passed a law on this subject in the past years and sometimes permetting adoption are monarchies ... parlementary one for sure but monarchies : Netherland, Sweden, Norway, Belgium and Spain very soon.

01 - That's it: European Union, our collective house, counts now 25 countries. For those having some trouble with the ten new entrants, here is some help :

For more
details

Flags
of the
World

European
Union

 Cyprus / Nicosia

29-30 - A bunch of right extremists, eager for mediatic fame, smears with paints jewish graves in Alsace ( France ) and the great mediatic concert join in some sort of a new national anthem: Rascism won't prevail. Deep inside of my mind something click but nothing clear yet. I listen to all that noise nine o'clock news after nine o'clock news : jewish representatives, republic minister etc ... and I still have the funny fealing that they are all far the real truth. What a success for those who did this outrage and for those who may feel idle during the week-end they perfectly know what to do and what to write.
Sunday: my internal batch has finished it's work and it all become clear to me. I watch the news on TV to know if someone ever had made the same link but nothing ... or may be they chose not to mention it ?
April 29 : death of Adolf H ...
In the meantime, obviously sexually refrained soldiers made photos of their repulsive games perpetuated on iraki prisonners, worse they show them around...and they did reach the media. History has definitely a croocked sense of humor. 

23 25 - A long week-end spent in Le Mans with Jean to see the cars getting ready for the 24 Hours race mid-June. Lots of colours, cars, pilots and above all hot and sunny weather !
I had some chance to chat with my favorites teams: Intersport Racing, Taurus and RML and of course took loads of photos. Global atmosphere was very casual and once you didn't interfear with mecanic's piece of work you could get into the boxes without any problem, how different with what is on in the F1 world.
Last GP in St Marino as usual : boring and red ... only the circuit is changing !

18 - A new black beast has shown what it can do for the second leg of the FIA GT championship in Valancia - very soon in LMES and ALMS - and it's an hungry one ! Such a shame that decoration didn't rely totally on the traditionnal color scheme of Lamborghini : black and gold.

12 - A short break to recover from these days of confusion: each country has its own special features !!

4-5-6 - Which day was it exactly ... I know that some of you folks are expecting any reaction of mine about Irak, then here I am. This is it, chiits are giving a helpy hand to sunis in generating more and more chaos through urban guerilla. Far away from there in Washington - Texas in fact - no real response and a dangerous fealing of uncertainty is floating in the air. the only sure line being: souverainty process will be operated as scheduled - i.e. June the 30th. But who is listening ? And who will be present to sign as representant of the people of Irak which ethnics and confessional componants are rallying step by step under the same banner, under the same moto: US go home. Violence deepens every day, casualties are rising dramaticaly, fractions are operating disconnected from the other where and no leader but radical cleric emerges. Is it the first step to "Libanisation of Irak" ? Frankly I'm getting very worried for moderate clerics like Ali Sistani. And what about if Kurds were ready to secure their interests adding more confusion to the situation ...
When will the americans will ever get into their mind that deep jungle or open desert makes no difference: no army, specially far from its amunition routes and bases, have a chance to win a war againts a whole country ready to fight.

04 - Fourth GP of the season and nothing new under the sun : Red, red and red again !

02 - Despite what seemed obvious, yesterday news about a diesel engine for the next 24H is no April fool !

01 - Seen on the freshly published list of Entries for the next 24H of Le Mans : a Lola-Caterpillar Diesel ...

28 - French Regional Election round #2: Wam Bam second service ! No french government had never had such a no-vote against him for decades. Let's recall that these elections are of no major importance and not supposed to set which party will be in charge for the years to come, but considering recent changes on this matter, french electors have stated a point which could be summed up this way :"Stop reforming institutions and social policy without taking care of we, the people". When listening what's going on in the upper spheres today in Paris it seems that the message haven't been heard properly and we might shift very soon from distrust to anger ... Honnestly I wouldn't be part of the actual majority and a member of any election commity for the next one to come in June, european ones, becouse it's gonna be a slaughter, which they would deserve. Never say to the people that they don't understand.

27 - Sweet revange for french rugby team againt England ... We do like these big boys.

21 - Busy motor racing week-end : Sebring 12 Hours and F1 Malaysian Grand Prix
It's been a desapointing results of my favorites cars in the 12 hours of Sebring, ALMS championship first race of the season. Amongst the 10 cars on the starting grid only 4 reached the checkered flag and some were merely wounded. Favorite #37- when #6th - blew its engine within the last hour, #15 - when 5th - lost transmission half an hour before ... etc .... Best result is for #16, the Dyson car, placed 6th after numerous stops due to recurent fire. I guess from its first stop during the third hour, odds were very low for this car but "Never say Never" it made it !
Next race is first leg of the EUropean championship ELMS in Monza on may the 10th, but in the meantime we'll have a chance to see everyone for the preliminary session at Le Mans end of April.
For once, we were granted an almost full broadcast on satellite MotorsTV, much better for fans then the usual one hour summary on Eurosport. We had 10 hours out of the original 12, the 2 hours beak corresponding to prime-time ! And there is more to come, it is announced that both ALMS and LMES races will be on the air this year. I just wish it'll be the same for the main event : the 24 Hours of Le Mans, at least the 6 first hours: the most interesting part of the race ...

.

What to say about the Malaisian Grand Prix except it's the good old song played once more : Raikkonen blew another engine and Williams and Renault are having some trouble to follow the pace behind the red cars !

21 - French regional elections round #1: a big slap in the face addressed to our dear government which - for sure - will adjust its policy accordingly ... Least to say when listening to our first minister's immediate reaction. Round #2 is schedule next week-end.

11 - No comment ...

07 - That's it once again : red, red and red "uber alles" for the Australian F1 Grand Prix, quite boring race indeed ... 3 stops, why not 4 or 5 ! Runs within pit stops are getting shorter than adds

05 - HI EVERYONE, I'M BACK ! My recurent connection troubles seems to be over for good this time, so good to be back on the net ...

Everything you've always wanted to know about your home flag : Flags of the World

SORRY SORRY SORRY again for not responding for ages but due to heavy connecting problems. At last I've been listened to and with a serious check failures have been found. I hope the fixing will last more than a day now !!!
A special thought to Ian & Paul, Steeve, Joe & Tony, Robert, Wilfred, Maurie, Liam ....

24 - Formula 1 Season is back: Next Grand Prix is to take place in Melbourne Australia - Ah Australia ... - Just let's hope that season to come will be more exciting and less teadious than last one, that means in my own language no title for Schumacher and Ferrari ! For my part Sebring 12 Hours on March the 13th are much more expected ...

20 - Internet connecting problems are not getting better. Now it's been full days that I can't get acces and when I do it's always for a very short time. After numerous phone calls to my present provider without any improvement I've decided to swap to Free. Time will tell if it's for good or not.

20 - First meeting with my lawyer at the courthouse concerning my plea following the way my former office got rid of me January last year. Things looks quite in good way. Next meeting will take place July the 20th for final decision if no aggreement is found in the meantime.

17 - Is it some kind of a new fashion ?

15 - Back to 1999 Le Mans 24 Hours :
Mercedes Airlines ... ... BALARF !

( this section will be translated very soon )
14 -Triste Saint-Valentin : La nouvelle est tombée, brutale et même cruelle : Barbie et Ken se séparent. Après pas moins de 43 années de fiancailles on ne peut pas dire que ce soit une décision précipitée. Il n'empèche pour certains le choc est rude, même si attendu, c'est pourquoi Mattel a cru devoir mettre du beaume sur les coeurs endoloris par cette nouvelle en assurant qu'ils resteront "bon amis". A d'autres ! On sait que l'amitié est au couple ce qu'est le hamburger à la gastronomie. Il faut reconnaître que d'aucuns se demandent encore comment ce 'mariage' aurait bien pu être consommé vu l'appareillage plus que sommaire de nos deux tourtereaux.
La cause de cette rupture est d'une affligeante banalité: "la séparation est sans aucun doute due à la réticence de Ken à s'engager ( se marier )" Il faut la comprendre la Barbie après 43 ans elle s'est lassée. Dieu sait qu'elle a tout fait pour séduire ce balourd de Ken. Pour lui elle s'est faite mannequin, infirmière, chanteuse de Rock, James bond girl, vahiné, Juliette Wonder woman... Elle s'est mise au ski, au surf, au parachutisme, au cheval, à la moto et même à la cuisine. On ne compte plus ses tenues de marié dans tous les styles et pour toutes les latitudes: Elle a tout essayé, rien n'y fit. Ken restant désespérément bloqué sur sa voiture et nombreux accessoires toujours armé d'un sourire à tirer les coups, le regard fixé au loin comme si Elle était transparente ... au point de se poser de sérieuses questions quant à son 'orientation sexuelle' . A moins qu'il ait finalement réalisé qu'il n'était qu'un accessoire de plus dans la panoplie Barbi-ienne. A moins qu'elle ne le laisse tomber pour un plus jeune, un plus beau, un plus branché du genre surfeur australien ... à moins qu'elle ne soit lesbienne. Alors, à l'approche de la soixantaine, Barbie a rompu les fiancailles: un an çà va, 43 ans bonjour les dégâts !
Du coup la firme Mattel annonce la sortie de la Cali Girl - fille illégitime de Barbie ? - et peut-être un nouveau prétendant pour la sénior dynamique. Quant à Ken, toujours indécis et benêt, ce ne sera plus qu'un simple ami. A son âge il ne peut plus trop réver, il a laissé passer sa chance, tant pis pour lui !

13 - Do we have to rebuilt the ancient Tuileries Palace ?
This question, odd to some, first stated end of year 2002 is crowling its way gently amongst the high spheres.. Burned down in 1870 amongst a couple of major buildings symbols of former political regimes, the Palace wasn't lucky enough to be restaured.
Years later, in 1882, the republican government passed a law at Parlement stating that the remains of the Palace will be put to groung level before rebuilding it the way it was or in a more basic version. For sure the former part of the law was accomplished leaving the latter to anyone who would remember what's the real 'deal' was made of. A simple look to the photos taken after the disaster makes clear that destorying what remained was a true architectural crime. But what could be expected from a regime that have no intention to respect a word given to the country representatives. So did the Palace disapeared from parisian's eyes for ever and fell into oblivion, the same way other countries have obliterated complete chapters of their own history.The crime was fully completed when, a couple of years later in 1887, the same regime put to auction the entire collection of the Crown Jewels, one of the finest ever brought together ( one day I'll write about this abomination )
Very few was saved from the eager of the flames, indoors decorations, paintings and numerous pieces of furniture were definitly lost but was it a reason to brush aside a building that was one of the main places of our history ? Since the fist time I saw the pictures in 1985 I feel resentement and pray that one day the Tuileries Palace will be rebuilt the way eminent architects have planned it centuries ago.
http://napoleontrois.free.fr/tuileries.htm

28 - First Entry list published for Sebring 12 Hours next month. With 18 sportscars, it seems to be an open race now that official Audis are no longer racing and 10 out of these 18 are Lolas .... hummm !

23 - 'Spirit' NASA martian robot is not responding: some sort of a fashion after Biggles II. We are said it's a computer / programming problem, let's hope Microsoft isn't providing either of these devices. Anyway first pictures sent are showing a hostile and rocky environment where red dust is covering everything the way it does in some remote australian desert : a geologist's dream come true. Let's hope that the second robot will operate without any gremlin. In the meantime the european satellite cruising hundred of miles up around Mars has proudly announced that water is definitly present on the planet.
http://www.futura-sciences.com/sinformer/o/mars.php
http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/home/

21 - A special thought to Louis ...

14 - "Go for the Moon"
Boy Bush is launching his New Deal : some sort of look-somewhere-else-and-leave-us deal where individuals are out of the process and mainly dedicated to NASA, Boeing, Mc Donnel ... And by the way why not using the opportunity to plant bigger ears to spy what's going on Earth !

04 - Guess what ? It's Tony Blair's turn to have his turkey bite in Bagdad...but too late they ran out of any. Besides death and desolation is strinking nearly everyday and Sadam capture is not helping the situation. Nothing is keeping 'resistants' to act boldly: noone will then accused then to support ancient rulers or act under their orders. Better not wandering wearing some military suit on in Irak in the forthcoming months.

01 - First day of the year and it's snowing