Silly/Odd News Stories from around the World

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Narona

I didn't know, as i said in my first post on this page today, I was not sure, thanks

Anyway, here in France, you can attend famous universities and national schools even if you are poor, is it the same in the USA?

What I meant, mostly, was that, in france, if you have good grades and if you feel like wanting to attend National Schools, you can. The national prepatory classes are free of charges. All you need is very good grades and to success during the national exams. Then, the nation schools are also free of charges.

If you are not as good, you can still find good schools and very good universities.

And if you are not good at all, there are still some possibilities for you.

depends on how good you are. the really really good ones will get a scholarship to place like yale or harvard. but the rest will have to settle its sites lower.

one of the fundamental difference is that there is more people then schools and funding. The best schools gets more applicants then it has room for so it will put out some sort of selection program. The bigger the pool of applicants the stricter the selection criteria. On funding private schools receives no public funding except maybe tax free bonds. They get most of thier money by donations and careful management of it is investment.

public university get some funding for the state but it stills relies substiantially on donations by the wealthy and former students.

i am guessing but the french universities are completely funded the public with some small portion by donations.

[Seifall]

Originally Posted by Narona

EDIT: Anh says that my reply is irrevelant, sorry, I let it since it can inform some people on our system though XD

We have a quotas system. Not for the universities but for the National Schools .......Our National schools are still among the best in the world, ENS, Polytechnique, Centrale, Mines Paris etc etc.

I talked about the affirmative action, I should have explain myself better. But Anh Minh explained it exactly as I thought it, thanks.

If you're not good enough in your studies to attend preparatory classes, then you can attend the universities after high school (some universities are very good and famous, like La Sorbonne or ASSAS for instance) ; or even some other schools.

My friend which is korean is in Assas and regrets chosing this one other the Sorbonne. The system of making a note(which can pass from 5/20 to 15/20 due to some correctors ),professors who are reading their books letters by letters in course, really ,she didn't expect that...
This shocked me but whatever,she is not going to stay there anyway...

Define individualism in this case, please.

For me it's just the contrary of the association of people who just want to have everything for free in France, the university,the healthcare's insurance, the RMI for the ones who don't have a job , I do not know anymore about your RSA...
All those things became established in your mentality as not a possibility but as an obligation. And that's the problem here.
I am for a free heathcare's insurance , free school, helping the others in the need. This is all good and this is a good vision of what should be the solidarity inside one country , however your country has this but does not, didn't exploit it correctly which leaded to the situation you are in now.
You don't have this individualism that will lead you to what is known as the american dream in the US. And that's where on the other hand, paradoxically when you begin to compare your country with the US system, you learn about how big you can be among others.

I know that, but it doesn't change the fact that to earn money, you have to work hard. For example, I am against the 35 hours per week. Same as him. And I am not the only one.

I think many are against it, but will not work more nonetheless. Why ? Because they will not be paid more. Why working 40 Hours for 1500 Euros when you got to work 35 Hours for the same amount ? That is a crazy thing to do !
The " Work more to gain more " is a rabble rousing and I'm sure you know it too.

?___? I don't understand why you say that to me.

I am a bit lazy, I talked about my gender I didn't quote your " I'm sorry" when you misunderstood .

I don't really blame him, some people insult him a lot. He replied to a "Touche moi pas (LOL ce français pourri), tu me salis". Yeah, he should not have replied like that, but it doesn't excuse those people who think they can obtain something by insulting our president.

A president just should keep his cool, for whatever the reasons it can be, he can't permit himself to backfire on someone like that and in public too. The man was also an old man so again one more reason to stay calm or even take it in a funny way for everyone else to see clearly who was wrong .
Thats is not a thing to do, he is like you said your president, he is not like any French citizen, so he should behave as such. It just showed how much he can't control himself from my point of view.
But nevermind, I think I really derailed the train of the discussion , it doesn't even look like a Silly/Odd New stories from around the world thread .
I shall give it a rest, since I do not want people to be blind because of me Thanks I had a good time

[Narona]

Originally Posted by Seifall

I talked about the affirmative action, I should have explain myself better. But Anh Minh explained it exactly as I thought it, thanks.

My friend which is korean is in Assas and regrets chosing this one other the Sorbonne. The system of making a note(which can pass from 5/20 to 15/20 due to some correctors ),professors who are reading their books letters by letters in course, really ,she didn't expect that...
This shocked me but whatever,she is not going to stay there anyway...

ASSAS is not perfect but still a very good university, mostly famous because of the law course of studies. And what you point doesn't happen all the time.

I don't know what to say, I trust your friend, but as she says it, it was as if that university was crap, while it's not the case.

All in all, you can't (edit, I forgot the "not", sorry) take "one example" to prove that a university is bad.

Anyway, about the exams and "compétition" in France, as I said, don't forget the preparatory classes, the national schools, and the business/economy schools (which are not free of charges, they are a special case).

For me it's just the contrary of the association of people who just want to have everything for free in France, the university,the healthcare's insurance, the RMI for the ones who don't have a job , I do not know anymore about your RSA...
All those things became established in your mentality as not a possibility but as an obligation. And that's the problem here.
I am for a free heathcare's insurance , free school, helping the others in the need. This is all good and this is a good vision of what should be the solidarity inside one country , however your country has this but does not, didn't exploit it correctly which leaded to the situation you are in now.
You don't have this individualism that will lead you to what is known as the american dream in the US. And that's where on the other hand, paradoxically when you begin to compare your country with the US system, you learn about how big you can be among others.

I don't see your point, sorry. That system that we uses worked till now. It began to have some problems because of very bad governments, and so we started to have a lot of loss, but the system was good and would have continued to work if some governments whould have not done some big mistakes.

About the individualism, I disagree. We produce a lot of people who are "capable". We can see it in the french companies. The ones i quoted for example, and in the fact that a lot of foreign companies come in france to recruit a lot of people from our Elite schools. We can see it in other areas too (people from our health schools as pointed it out ealier) etc.

The only problem I see, and I admit it, is that not a lot of people who are not "white" become famous politicians. I admit it, there is obviously racism about that. But in all the other areas, it's not the case, I think. I know someone who did a National School, he is not "white" and never had any problem and succeed.

About the american system, I am sorry to say that but I still prefer our system. And when it comes to show some limits. The USA are in the game too. We saw it a lot lately.

I think many are against it, but will not work more nonetheless. Why ? Because they will not be paid more. Why working 40 Hours for 1500 Euros when you got to work 35 Hours for the same amount ? That is a crazy thing to do !
The " Work more to gain more " is a rabble rousing and I'm sure you know it too.

The problem is that we were working at 39 hours, and the past government told to the people that they could work 35 hours and still have the same pay, which proved that it doesn't work and is not good for the economy.

The problem is that now they don't want to do a step backward. Me I would have no problem because I care for my country. And this is not crazy and I hope the 35 hours will die, soon.

A president just should keep his cool, for whatever the reasons it can be, he can't permit himself to backfire on someone like that and in public too. The man was also an old man so again one more reason to stay calm or even take it in a funny way for everyone else to see clearly who was wrong .
Thats is not a thing to do, he is like you said your president, he is not like any French citizen, so he should behave as such. It just showed how much he can't control himself from my point of view.
But nevermind, I think I really derailed the train of the discussion , it doesn't even look like a Silly/Odd New stories from around the world thread .
I shall give it a rest, since I do not want people to be blind because of me Thanks I had a good time

About what he should have done, that's true, he should have kept his cool. But as many french pointed it out, it doesn't mean that we can excuse those "people" who are just trying to create problems.

1- That person knew that the president was here and stayed in the way on purpose.

2- As I said, you don't talk like that to a president, whatever you are, old man or not.

If you think that all the french only blamed sarkozy, you're wrong. A lot of us also blamed that other man who showed a very bad image of the french people.

[Mystique]

Think you guys can take that to PM/profile board (or at least continue in the News Thread)
Not feeling any funnies in here lately
*makes an attempt to place thread back on track*
Daily Mail Train station affair

Commuting in London will never be the same again

Reactions of the public
The making of the event

[ZephyrLeanne]

Originally Posted by Mystique

Think you guys can take that to PM/profile board (or at least continue in the News Thread)
Not feeling any funnies in here lately
*makes an attempt to place thread back on track*
Daily Mail Train station affair

Commuting in London will never be the same again

Reactions of the public
The making of the event

Well, it's better than Japan. You get caught by police for randomly dancing Hare Hare Yukai in Akiba.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by Mystique

Think you guys can take that to PM/profile board (or at least continue in the News Thread)
Not feeling any funnies in here lately

Rescued a silly news story that had been lost and buried in the serious news thread.

Hoarder dies after getting lost inside rubbish

Broughton, Britain (Jan 9): An eccentric loner in Britain hoarded so much rubbish he had to burrow through it to get around his home — then got lost in the maze of tunnels on Friday (Jan 9) and died of thirst.

Human mole Gordon Stewart, 74, had filled his rooms up to the ceiling with 10 years' worth of garbage and clutter, making it impossible to walk around. The compulsive hoarder is believed to have become disoriented inside the walls of rotting rubbish and unable to find a way out — he is likely to have collapsed from dehydration.

Neighbours raised the alarm after failing to see him leave his house in Broughton, Bucks, for several days.

When the police arrived, the stench from the garbage was so foul they brought in a diving team equipped with breathing apparatus. It is believed they crawled around the tunnel network until they uncovered Mr Stewart’s body.

- FOXNEWS.COM

*Credit to Pendevous for citing the story.

[Vexx]

You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. ... your lamp is growing dim.

[ZephyrLeanne]

'Toilet poems' to save paper

TOKYO - POETRY in the loo can cut down on paper use too, says a Japanese group campaigning to save toilet paper as part of the country's battle against global warming.
Simply pasting a 'toilet poem' at the eye level of a person seated in the cubicle can help cut toilet paper use by up to 20 per cent, a study by the research centre Japan Toilet Labo showed.

'That paper will meet you only for a moment,' reads one poem.

'Fold the paper over and over and over again,' says another. Or just: 'Love the toilet.' Now the group is looking to have its posters displayed in 1,000 public toilets.

'We asked ourselves what we could do for the environment in the toilet?' said Ryusuke Nagahara of the Japan Toilet Labo. 'The answer is to save toilet paper and save water.'

Toilet paper use in Japan has been increasing in recent years, according to an industry body, possibly because of a rise in the number of public toilets, where people tend to use more paper.

'It's because it's free,' said an official at the Kikaisuki Washi Rengokai. 'At home, people are more inclined to scrimp.' -- REUTERS

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Mystique

Think you guys can take that to PM/profile board (or at least continue in the News Thread)
Not feeling any funnies in here lately
*makes an attempt to place thread back on track*
Daily Mail Train station affair

Commuting in London will never be the same again
...
Reactions of the public
The making of the event

That... was totally f*cking brilliant

[Mystique]

Originally Posted by ShimatheKat

Well, it's better than Japan. You get caught by police for randomly dancing Hare Hare Yukai in Akiba.

Naturally it was planned and approved before they did it. If you look at the 'making of the event' you can see the behind the scenes stuff from auditions to performance. To overtake one of London's biggest train stations without a terror alert has to have some red tape pulled first. xD
The public had no freaking clue though, even if it is for an ad, it's still lovely to spread smiles and unite people all ages, races and faiths, esp with the UK being hit as hard as is it with the recession.
It's definitely a moment i would have loved to have been part of.

Originally Posted by Vexx

That... was totally f*cking brilliant

Glad you enjoyed

[Shadow Kira01]

Originally Posted by ShimatheKat

'Toilet poems' to save paper

I think that's a bad idea, even for preventing global warming. On the contrary, it is also not good to waste toilet paper.

[ZephyrLeanne]

Originally Posted by Shadow Minato

I think that's a bad idea, even for preventing global warming. On the contrary, it is also not good to waste toilet paper.

That's why I filed it under Silly/Odd News Stories.

[Claies]

Originally Posted by Vexx

That... was totally f*cking brilliant

http://www.youtube.com/user/improveverywhere?blend=1

Of particular interest: Frozen Grand Central (the original - the Paris one was an imitation), and Look Up More.

[Zu Ra]

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.

Rumors of penis theft began circulating last week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo's sprawling capital of some 8 million inhabitants. They quickly dominated radio call-in shows, with listeners advised to beware of fellow passengers in communal taxis wearing gold rings.Purported victims, 14 of whom were also detained by police, claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in what some residents said was an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure.

"You just have to be accused of that, and people come after you. We've had a number of attempted lynchings. ... You see them covered in marks after being beaten," Kinshasa's police chief, Jean-Dieudonne Oleko, told Reuters on Tuesday. Police arrested the accused sorcerers and their victims in an effort to avoid the sort of bloodshed seen in Ghana a decade ago, when 12 suspected penis snatchers were beaten to death by angry mobs. The 27 men have since been released.

"I'm tempted to say it's one huge joke," Oleko said.

"But when you try to tell the victims that their penises are still there, they tell you that it's become tiny or that they've become impotent. To that I tell them, 'How do you know if you haven't gone home and tried it'," he said.Some Kinshasa residents accuse a separatist sect from nearby Bas-Congo province of being behind the witchcraft in revenge for a recent government crackdown on its members.

"It's real. Just yesterday here, there was a man who was a victim. We saw. What was left was tiny," said 29-year-old Alain Kalala, who sells phone credits near a Kinshasa police station.

Source : Reuters

[klowny]

They aren't getting my Thingy

that's the most ridiculous story I've heard this week

[Zu Ra]

Note to Self : never ever venture into Congo : O

[Anh_Minh]

Afraid of having your penis stolen, or of being beaten to death for stealing other people's?

[Clarste]

Iirc, there's actually a psychosomatic phenomenon where they actually do become impotent or even have some degeneration occur because of their beliefs.

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Afraid of having your penis stolen, or of being beaten to death for stealing other people's?

to me, the fact than the Congo/ex-Zaire is so often in civil war would be enough reason for avoid this country.

[Mystique]

This gave me a good chuckle for a full 5 mins. This guy had to be smoking something to be this dumb xD

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