James Burke is a unique historian of science and progress and his series Connections remains one of the best series about scientific and technological change. Having discovered this series during the  early 1990s, I was amazed by Burke’s concluding remarks. Words that ring true today more than ever. “So, in the end, have we learned [...]

Here are ten destinations that fascinate me and are currently on my top-ten list. The Faroe Islands: remote and beautiful Nordic islands; Southern Greenland: I am fascinated by very northern settlements; Ushuaia: just because its there, it was also the name of a famous French travel show; Belfast, Northern Ireland: to learn more about how [...]

France’s electoral system may seem mysterious to most North Americans. It is however, in my view, one of the best in the world: you get to vote twice! Like many compatriots I get to make my first choice based on policies and personality, but I can also exercise that right as a protest vote before [...]

Please note this info is provided for educational purposes only. I am not responsible for what you do with it. Let’s suppose you live in San Diego, you have American Citizenship but you weren’t born in the United States? Maybe you were born in Tijuana when your parents were there shopping, or your mom happened [...]

France’s parliamentary election for expatriates causes a stir in Canada and the USA for different reasons. 2012 is an important year for political junkies: the United States will have a Presidential election as well as elections to the House of Representatives and part of the Senate. France will hold its presidential election in April with [...]

On April 3rd 2012, I met Justin Trudeau, MP for Papineau, in Ottawa. We talked about Canada, Education, France-Canada relations and of course his success in the ring! I am looking forward to supporting his candidacy for leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

In the American Republic, the ubiquitous phrase “American People” peppers every political discourse from Democrats or Republicans. In France, politicians sometimes refer to the “Français”, but more frequently refer to the Republic (La République). Abstraction has its reasons. It comes as no surprise that high school history and social sciences emphasise the republican nature of [...]

I built this montage in Photoshop on Monday, Feb 13th, 2012. I posted it to Facebook that evening and in less than 48 hours later is had been ‘liked’ by over 13000 people, shared 9600 times and gathered over 347 upvotes / 72 downvotes on reddit.com! A month later, the image has been ‘liked’ by [...]

My first encounter with the Internet happened twenty years ago when I connected with Canada’s first dial-up Internet Service Provider: Internex Online or io.org. Internex Online was affordable, community based and a definite break away from the Bulletin Board Systems so prevalent at the time. Before Internex, I used to frequent the Echo BBS run [...]

There wasn’t a month that went by when I was growing up during which there wasn’t a movie or documentary on television about World War II. This was back in the two channel universe, late seventies early eighties. There were many American movies, but a large number of French movies as well, even comedies based [...]