“la parole exportée”

photo credit: Keith Bacongco

I was reading this very interesting article on Google’s new Translation Center, when my eye was drawn to the last comment:

Machine translation is still far from being perfect, and regular translators are very expensive. In a flat world this service should cost next to nothing.

I’m always amazed to see how people will easily discount other professions, simply because they stand in the way of money. As if translators were making indecent heaps of it, anyway.

I have a much simpler answer to their problem. In the flat world of wishful thinking, I’d like money to grow on trees. Alternatively, medicine should be a free service, er… no, better still, nobody would need medication or surgery, bread should appear in bread baskets and nobody would have to buy it, neither would we have to pay for water, electricity, and cars would run on air, instead of insanely expensive fuel.

Let me be extra-adventurous, I’m dreaming of a really flat world, that would be rid of psychopaths, dictators and idiots. It doesn’t cost anything to ask, anyway.

The Tour de France will zoom past this roundabout later this afternoon, on its way to the Champs-Elysées. I went there to take pictures of the surroundings and the signs this morning. Some people were already in place, some having a late breakfast in an empty car park close by, a few cars were parked by the roadside. Nothing exciting.

The last day is not exciting, unless you are on the Champs-Elysées. In the countryside close to Paris, the peloton huddle together, as they always do on that day. What you see is a sea of bikes, a tiny yellow spot in the middle, if you’re lucky. They play safe, saving the hard work for the very last mile, on the Champs-Elysées. And this year, they are already announcing the winner’s name on the radio, as if it were a fact. Of course, they quickly add a caveat, just in case.

This particular spot is a favorite for Sunday cyclists, some of whom cycle all the way from Paris (about 15-20 kms). I was lucky with this guy. A touch of humor.

This is the slogan selected by a French furniture store to adorn the T-shirts worn by their store sales staff this Summer.