LeoDV's New Writeups

November 4, 2006 (person)

2006-11-04T19:58:52Z

Walking out of my house today to pick up my drycleaning I realized that I could've easily passed for a Russian hitman. Here's a handy guide on how you too (yes, you!) can become a hitman for the Russian mob:

Dress all in black. Not gothy black, classy black. Black (Italian) suit and a black turtleneck sweater. As I said, it was laundry day. I don't premeditate clothing.
Wear dark sunglasses and dark leather gloves. Again, I have a perfectly valid excuse. It was one of those days when it's bright and sunny, but bitingly cold at the same time. I love that kind of weather, but it sometimes makes for weird sartorial pairings. Dark suit, dark sunglasses, dark gloves? Yep, that's the hitman look all right. Where does the Russian part come in, you ask? Stay tuned.

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Educational funding is bullshit (person)

2006-03-14T10:35:35Z

This we agree on: educational funding really is bullshit.

I should know, I come from a country where the public education system is the number one employer and which spends more on education as a part of GDP than most other countries — and consistently ranks in the bottom quarter of OECD and EU-wide maths and reading tests.

French educational policies date back from the Cold War-era and, since they were thought up by the left, they are worthless and hit the poor and the disadvantaged worst.

Take the carte scolaire, or school map, an invention by which kids are assigned to a public school according to where their parents live, thus ensuring that if you're growing up in a bad neighborhood you have as few chances as possible of getting a good education, and if your parents are rich and…

petit four (idea)

2005-08-15T19:08:09Z

Petit four, literally "small oven," is the technical term for those tiny little nothings that you find peppered on trays at cocktail parties and on the coffee table at fancy dinners. They exist either as mini-pastries, mini-pizzas, or independent contraptions made out of paste, fruits, meat, foie gras: the capacity for chefs and caterers to invent new and different kinds of petits fours is limitless. They serve as appetizers or even a full meal, depending on circumstance. Most of them are quite mundane. A few of them are veritable bombs, small and concealed under the unconspicuous aspect of food, ready to explode with delicious flavor as soon as you pop them in your mouth.

A little history

I'm sure you're wondering why appetizers would be called little ovens. And if not, you should. People who use expressions without knowing what they mean are annoying. Anyway, let's flash back to the 18th century, the 1790s to be exact. While…

Prefect Log: 33 A.D. (idea)

2005-08-11T15:38:37Z

From: Poncius Pilatus <poncius.pilatus@army.mil>
To: Publius Sulpicius Quirinius <quirinius@senate.gov>
Subject: Yearly Report on Judea

Poncius Pilatus, Procurator of Judea, to the Senator Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, Imperial Legate of Syria, greetings! You'll find as attached files the report you asked on the taxes this year, as well as profiles on the important people in the area, including one on each member of the entire Herod dynasty. The facts in those profiles are of public notoriety; here are a few more confidential commentaries for your eyes only.

The great Herod died, as you know, some thirty years ago, leaving to the Jews who hated him monuments which are worthy of both Rome and their King Solomon. He was an ambitious man, so he served us. He was frowned upon by the priests, who have a lot of influence on the populace of Jerusalem. He had a lot of wives, and a lot of kids.

On…

May 23, 2005 (person)

2005-05-23T11:34:57Z

I thought this should be noded.

I am looking at a photocopy of the top of the front cover of the Algerian daily newspaper "El Moudjahid" (The Fighter), which concerns Pope John Paul II. The blurb titled Condoléances (condolence) reads as follows (translated by yours truly):

The authorities, elected officials and populations of the Commune of Oued-Korelch (West of Algiers) are very touched by the death of Pope John Paul II and present their saddened condolences to the wife and children of John Paul II.

No comment.

Dream Log: May 23, 2005 (person)

2005-05-23T10:47:37Z

In my dreams at least, I'm a good storyteller. It's not just that weird acid-like mixing of concepts and memories that happens in dreams, it's also that I come up with really good plots, with twists and real-sounding characters and everything.

The plot in this one revolved around me waking up in my old family home in Burgundy. Okay so far. Except that in fact my family's home has really become the home of a weird cult. And by weird cult, I mean: remember that Waco deal? Yeah. Furthermore, after a brief investigation it appears that the time is some eight years from now and that I've forgotten everything that's happened since, well, yesterday night. Talk about a hangover.

Everyone is dressed in sky blue cotton clothes with the cult's logo embroidered over the left breast. Most of the cult's populace seems to be made up of small children aged anywhere from 4 up to 13. Mostly girls, whose uniforms are disturbingly revealing. The kids seem to form a

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