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Postings from February 2004
This message does not deal with Perl or programming, so
it may appear to some readers as off-topic. Yet, others
readers will surely be interested.
Except for the planned release of the next version of
Parrot, is there any special event or celebration on
29th February in your countries?
In France, we have the slowest publication I know of:
la Bougie du Sapeur.
This newspaper is published every 29th February.
Last time, in the issue published (during the dreaded Y2K),
they warned us that we would see an even slower
publication in 2004,
the Sunday supplement of la Bougie du Sapeur.
If the newsstand in your neighborhood has foreign
press, if you understand French and if you are lucky,
maybe you can find it... (I have no relation with the
writers, nor the publisher, I will not receive anything
for this message)
Even more off-topic: why this title?
"bougie" = "candle", it refers to the tradition in
France and other countries: decorating a birthday
cake with a candle or as many candles as the age of
the recipient.
"sapeur" = "combat engineer" or "sapper", soldiers
who lay and defuse landmines, who blow bridges and
lay ribbon bridges or Baley bridges, etc.
Implied in the title is the name of the most famous
French sapeur: Sapeur Camembert. He is the hero of
a graphic novel published in the early XX century.
According to the beginning of the novel, Camembert is
born on 29th February 1844.
Note: the author of this novel was Georges Colomb,
who had adopted "Christophe" as a pen-name
(a pun-name, perhaps?).
Some links
(in English)
http://officetourisme.lure.free.fr/versionuk/luronsceluk.htm#GeorgesColomb
http://officetourisme.lure.free.fr/versionuk/Camemberuk.htm
(in French)
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/29_f%E9vrier
Jean Forget
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