general

36 15 mylife

Netflix instant watching… not working from Europe

4 years ago

by samuel in English, general

netflix_logo_236×95.gif For my European readers, netflix is a DVD renting service in US. It’s one of the most popular in US and allow you to rent DVD from internet and you receive the movies directly in your mailbox. When you are done with the movie, you just have to send it back using the mail.

Netflix has a really cool feature since few months: “Instant Watching”

As I’m in france, I wanted to try it… but guess what… it’s not working:

Our systems indicate that the computer you are using is not located within the 50 United States or District of Columbia. The instant watching feature is available only on computers in those locations.

too bad…

http://www.netflix.com

Double Espresso at 5 euros in frankfurt airport…

4 years ago

by samuel in English, general

I was flying from SFO to CDG on Friday. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t have a direct fly, and I had to stop at Frankfurt for 2 hours. As I was especially tired (because of a Stu— child in the plane), I decided to buy an espresso. I found a coffee place and bought my first double espresso for 1,90 euros. This price is not cheap (it’s 1,70$ at starbucks in US), but it’s ‘ok’.

I went at the gate to wait for my plane… I had 2 more hours to wait… After 1 hour I decided to buy a second one. There was a segafredo coffee, and I asked for a ‘double espresso’. The vendor asked me to confirm my order… I was surprised and ask him why he did that… he replied to me that it was 5 euros for the double espresso…

Why am I posting about that? I really think it’s unacceptable to sell a double espresso in paper cup for that price… if it has been at a great coffee place, why not… but in an airport and served in a paper cup… it’s ‘foutage de gueule’ like we say in french

My conclusion… think twice before to go to segafredo next time…

Some interesting links about espresso:

In europe for 3 weeks…

4 years ago

by samuel in English, general

I arrived in France yesterday, and I will stay in Europe until July 22. I will spend my first week in Auvergne… that means no internet, no computer… offline for a week.
From 6 to 12 of july , I will be visiting hungary… and last week I will be in France.

I’m late with everything… I need to reply to my personal emails… Sorry to all the persons I said I will reply and I didn’t… I will do soon…

Link of the day…. human after all :)

4 years ago

by samuel in English, Francais, general, general

Sorry it’s in french… but it’s very fun

http://desourcesure.com/politiqueaffaires/2007/06/g8_sarkozy_carrement_a_louest.php

Work in US… some news about H1B visas

4 years ago

by samuel in English, general

The San Francisco Chronicle published several articles on the ‘US Immigration’ and the current H1B visa issue. Here are some interesting quotes from the article:

They say the basic annual quota for H-1B visas — now 65,000 — is too low. The Senate bill would increase that base to 115,000 visas per year with the potential to go to 180,000, subject to various caveats.

Next one is not really a surprise:

Meanwhile, Indian workers, who account for 4 out of 10 H-1B visa holders

Indian government is also doing ‘outsourcing’

Even the Indian government calls the H-1B visas the outsourcing visa

Some Numbers:
Top 5 National Origins
India: 49%
China: 9.1%
Canada: 3.6%
Korea: 3.3%
Philippines: 2.8%

Top 5 Occupations
Computer-related: 45.3%
Higher education: 11.2%
Architecture, engineering, surveying: 11.1%
Administrative specializations: 9.5%
Medicine and health: 6.2%

Good new for the software engineers:
Employers see razor-thin unemployment rates: (Unemployment rates from Bureau of Labor Statistics for April 2007)
Computer and mathematical occupations: 1.4%

Some mode readings about the subject: