by Minter Dial | Jul 26, 2007 | Sports
As the unraveling of the so-to-speak “cleansing” pre-race contract accelerates in this year’s Tour de France, you get the growing sense that the Tour de France is a sham, loaded with cotton-mouthed officials. I pity the poor souls who are actually...
by Minter Dial | Jul 24, 2007 | Podcast
Having always enjoyed learning languages, I revel in the difference between one language and another. Amongst my musings, I conjure up reasons to explain a language’s structure or vocabulary. Herewith are some of my favorite, if frivolous, observations about a...
by Minter Dial | Jul 19, 2007 | Sports
As we ramp up for the Rugby World Cup 2007, my first observation is that, perhaps because France will basically be on break for the months of July and August, there does not seem to be much warm up ‘buzz’ here. Cafe banter — French equivalent of...
by Minter Dial | Jul 16, 2007 | Branding, Politics
We are in the midst of a number of important changeovers in governments around the world. My home country, France, has not only changed government, but seems to be giving France a JFK-esque-1st-100-days-run-for-your-money changeover. Sarkozy is giving true meaning to...
by Minter Dial | Jul 15, 2007 | Politics
I have noticed that overoptimism will often be criticized for idealism, while realism can be taken for negativism or even pessimism. This leaves a very narrow spectrum of allowable optimism in the Western culture. Certainly, pessimism is given a stiff shoulder. What...