In what seems like a decision designed for late-night comics, the judge held that article 215 of France’s civil code, which holds that couples must have a “shared communal life,” also includes sexual relations.
The woman filed for divorce two years ago and blamed her husband’s lack of sex as the reason for it. The man responded that “health problems” and “tiredness” prevented him for being more active in bed.
The €10,000 serves as damages awarded to the woman for the lack of sex during their 21 years of marriage.
“By getting married, couples agree to sharing their life and this clearly implies they will have sex with each other,” the judge wrote.
For the third time in a couple of weeks, surfers on the beaches of La Jolla, California reported seeing the dorsal fin of a great white shark.
This time, though, there is a picture of the shark. Gary Elliot took the picture, but did not see the dorsal fin until he took his pictures home and uploaded them.
What’s most amazing about the image, though, is the number of surfers located around the shark. Take a look at this larger view.
None of them reported seeing the animal. The lifeguards in the area claim the image shows a surfer getting ready to ride a wave. They say the beaches will not close unless there is an attack.
A lot of people would claim this superlative without a legitimate claim on it, but I think I have one. This experience occurred to me earlier this summer as I was taking a group of 10 young students to Italy for a five-week cultural exchange with the Experiment in International Living.
I’ve spent a lot of time during the last month thinking about whether this travel nightmare actually happened. It almost seems funny in hindsight, but it wasn’t while everything was happening. My story comes in two parts.
So, this was not supposed to be a complicated trip. On 11:40 a.m. on June 27, I was scheduled to meet my 10 students and we were supposed to grab a 5 p.m. international flight that would get us into Paris. From there, we would hop on a short flight to our final destination, Rome.
Now, we were not the only group scheduled to leave that day. Actually, there were about 30-35 other groups from the Experiment also flying to Europe (and all through Paris). Each of those groups had around 10 kids in them, meaning around 300 kids (and their parents) would be arriving at Terminal 1 of JFK Airport in New York to meet their group leaders that same morning.
All of the groups were spread out through four different Air France flights that would fly to Paris. From there, we would make various connections that would take us to our final destinations. As it happened, myself and one other Italian group leader would meet our groups first. Some of our kids were arriving in New York the night before, so we headed down to airport hotel to meet them beforehand.
Then, the first bit of bad news. I got a call from someone in the Experiment, advising me that our flight the following day (along with two other Air France flights involving Experiment groups) had been cancelled. The Experiment staff member asked one of us to go to the airport early the next morning to see what the deal was. I volunteered.
Around 1 a.m. that night, we got word that one of the students from another group had flown into New York and planned to spend the night in the airport. This was a huge no-no and so we had to wait until he arrived at the airport hotel, which was around 3 a.m.
So, the next morning I headed over to the airport around 8 a.m. to see if I could find out any new information. Keep in mind that each of these cancelled flights held between 400-500 people (I’m not sure exactly), so that is a lot of people to reschedule. Well, Air France didn’t open their check-in gates until 1 p.m. (even with this going on). So, I trolled the abandoned airport for information and finally found an Air France person who collected my information and said she would look into the situation.
My kids start arriving and I try to answer their questions as best as possible. I had a whole list of introductory activities, but quickly found myself thrown off course. The other leader still hadn’t arrived so I began collecting his students. The other groups were scheduled to meet after we were but parents with students began to arrive.
The parents were understandably frustrated, angry and curious about what the situation was. I had to answer their questions as best as possible, while not ignoring my group and trying to put pressure on Air France for answers. Then, the situation got even worse. The other leaders had left Vermont, where we had orientation, for the airport that morning but had been stuck in horrible traffic and were going to be late for their meeting times. They wound up being around an hour late because of the traffic. So, if you can imagine this, I was juggling my group and at least 100 other students (and parents) who were waiting to meet with their leaders.
Eventually, the others arrived and we learned that we would not be getting out that day. So, Air France organized buses, guaranteed us boarding passes for the following day, and marched us off to the Brooklyn Marriott. That place is gorgeous and was quite pleasant, but not at all close to JFK Airport. They also had not anticipated the wave of us coming in, so randomly started assigning rooms. They gave every student their own room, but we had to condense them so that every group would have enough rooms.
The following day we woke up and got ready to head back to the airport. Remember, there were at least 1000 people looking to get rescheduled flights. Air France sent two buses. We waited patiently in front of the line that was forming, but a small group of French people insisted on trying to butt in front of us for the bus. After a pretty serious argument, we got them off the bus but all of the luggage didn’t fit. Rather than separate kids from their bags, we placed a couple on the bus with us and headed off to the airport.
So, we get back to the airport and our “guaranteed” tickets did not actually exist. You have to imagine what the kids are going through at this point. Sure, we don’t tell them everything but they’re smart and realize another complication has arisen. I have to say that they were real troopers during the whole process.
I feel like this clip sums up the whole thing.
So, Air France had basically guaranteed spots to everyone who was not going to Italy. Now, there are four groups of us, and about 40 kids total. All the kids have to travel with a group leader. Now, unfortunately open spots on planes don’t break down evenly. What ended up happening was that the four groups headed over on three separate flights. Groups were split up. It was a big mess. I blame Air France.
First, one of the other leaders, Emily was told that she would be traveling over with 7 students from another leader’s group. None of her own kids. There was no time to argue, and despite our protests, she was sent through security right away. Then, out of nowhere, and about 1 hour before the flight took off, my group got sent through security. Or, I should say, nine of ten of my kids went with me through security. It was actually quite tight. We got boarding passes and got stuck behind a long line at dropping off the bags (that’s important for later).
Finally, someone from the airline escorted us through security. Air France had given us food vouchers to use (the kids hadn’t had lunch by this point, around 5). Each was worth $7, but the airline would not honor them unless you spent more than that (even though we insisted we didn’t need any change). This made everything even more complicated and annoying.
I arrive at the gate with my group (minus one), meet up with Emily and learn that some more kids are being sent through security. We end up with a group of about 20 kids that we’re responsible for. We have to assemble a list of names (and try to remember faces) to give to the Experiment. Here’s our final breakdown:
9 kids from my group.
5 kids from Emily’s group.
7 kids from Group X.
1 kid from Group Y.
We finally board the plane and I turn my attention to the next situation. I’ve been told that I can take the kids out into Paris because we have around a 12 hour layover! Yes, that’s correct. Emily and the other half of our new super-group would be leaving in a couple of hours for Italy on an earlier flight.
Thankfully, the Experiment was able to cobble together a quick tour for us of Paris. We did a lot of cool things (especially since I had never been there). We took the group to a bakery, then went to the Louvre, did Notre Dame and stopped for lunch in the Latin Quarter. The group fell asleep at the tables, they were so tired. We made a quick trip to the Eiffel Tower, before heading back to the airport. Kyle and Jay offered their analysis of the situation from there:
Look, I made it (semi-photo bombed):
So we headed back to the airport. Surprisingly enough, we didn’t have to pick up our bags after the first flight (and actually had boarding passes in hand) so we were set. I saw the horrendous security line (learning that some of the Spain groups had connecting flights cancelled) and got us through as quickly as possible.
We were now flying Alitalia and would be the last group to land in Italy. As we boarded the plane, heartbreak. The boarding passes were not valid, I was told. Five minutes of wrangling later, the situation was resolved. Apparently, Air France had not told Alitalia about the changes in boarding passes. They got it all sorted out and we finally boarded our plane to Italy.
The trip wouldn’t be done without some final hiccup. We landed around midnight and waited to collect the bags. Everyone grabbed their bags except for me and one student. So we had to file a claim report at midnight in Italian (made sure I remembered everything). The student got his bag dropped off at the hotel the following day.
I saw mine two weeks later. This is why you should always bring a spare changes of clothes in your carry-on bag. Something apparently went wrong in New York. I guess my bag never made it on the plane. Unfortunately, I can guess how this occurred. When the line was so long, one of the people the Experiment hired to get everyone checked-in and boarded offered to see my bag through security. I suspect she didn’t see it all the way through and it never made it on the plane. So, Alitalia took over for the bag and had to get it to Rome. This happened, but only four days later. It arrived the day we left Rome.
So, Alitalia had to move it up the country to Treviso (right outside of Venice), where our homestay was. This took hours of argument on the phone (all in Italian by the way) and waiting. Lots of waiting. When I had finally given up hope (and bought a new wardrobe), I got a call one morning saying my bag was in Venice. They asked if I wanted a courier to bring my bag. I told them, no, I would come get it myself. When I found the bag, it was in a huge room completely packed with lost baggage.
If you can believe it, this actually seems like the easier end of the trip. Part 2 will discuss our nightmare getting home. Never fly Air France. Ever.
If you made it to the end, congratulations. This is the longest blog post I will ever write. Check out this amazing picture from Italy.
In case you haven’t heard, Groupon is planning for a massive IPO sometime soon. The company hopes to raise from $1 billion from the deal (though they only mention $750 million in their filing). That’s a massive amount of money.
There’s reason for optimism from the Groupon camp. They have posted unbelievable growth in sales (from $30.47 million in 2009 to $713.4 million in 2010 to $644.7 million in the first quarter of this year) and have reliably been called the “Fastest Growing Company in History.” They sold 28.1 million Groupons in the first quarter of this year. They have 83.1 million subscribers in March 2011 up from 152,203 in June 2009.
All good things. But there are major reasons for concern as well.
1) The company could be insolvent: Now, CEO Andrew Mason (see below) says we shouldn’t worry about this, but I don’t buy it. Groupon has generated new subscribers and grown so rapidly by spending massive amounts of money on advertising and sales. This means they have never been profitable. In fact, the company owes merchants $392 million versus $225 million cash in the bank. Overall, they owe $681 million in current liabilities but have just $376 million in assets. Think of it like this: Groupon makes money the moment they sell you a Groupon and they don’t have to pay the merchant their share for 60 days. This means the company continues to generate money (and lots of it). Eventually, though, they’ll have to pay up. Which brings us to the second point…
2) People could be getting sick of daily deals: Now, I’m reluctant to read too much into this, though many people are not. Traffic for both Groupon and their main rival, Living Social, was down substantially in July, 8.9 and 28 percent respectively. Now, I happen to agree with Matt Pace of Compete:
The most likely factor is seasonality, as summer vacations disrupt normal routines. This says a lot about summer web surfing behavior, something that marketers may want to explore a bit more closely.
Pace does also point to potential deal fatigue among customers as another factor for the drop in traffic. This should be much more troubling for Groupon. With more than 500 daily deal sites, customers and merchants may simply be bogged down by offers and deals. Both Facebook and Yelp essentially eliminated daily deals offers after brief experiments.
In the short term, daily deal fatigue may be helpful for Groupon by eliminating competitors. Most of the 500 competitors will fold and drop out of the race, leaving Living Social and Groupon as the marketplace leader. However, should the economy continue to limp along or customers become tired of daily deals, Groupon’s sales may drop. Keep in mind how much they owe merchants. If sales drop, the company could be in real trouble. Some potential investors have already realized this…private trading of shares in the company are down 20 percent.
3) Andrew Mason: The CEO of the company should be a major reason for concern. Mason is weird and bizarre. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but he comes across as immature in running his business. That’s not good for something that could be worth $20 billion. Take a look at some of the videos he posted on YouTube. First, there’s the ten-minute yoga video in his underwear…
Then, there’s this review of a recent Desperate Housewives episode…
Or this video advertising a monkey renting business….
The list goes on… to more professional matters. First, Mason insisted The Wall Street Journal use a goofy picture for his headcut portrait in the newspaper. Then, he mockingly stared down a reporter who was asking him questions about a potential Google merger. Multiple times, rather than responding.
He has also said pretty bizarre things about his ever-expanding company. During an interview with Time, he said:
To me, as somebody who likes to come up with ideas, [Groupon is] kind of stupid. Like, I’ve had way better ideas, way cooler ideas.
I think when people call us the fastest growing company ever, I think of us as like the N-Sync of websites, like we have had good tunes, but we’re not The Beatles. It’s not like we’re the best thing ever.
Yeah, really bizarre comments. Most troubling, though, is an internal memo he sent out last week in response to press criticism. It was “leaked.” The document is extremely snarky and seems almost paranoid.
“If there’s a silver lining, it’s that we’re almost on the other side, and the negativity leaves us well-positioned to exceed expectations with an IPO baby that, having seen the ultrasound, I can promise you is not one of those uglies.”
Read the whole thing here. Particularly troubling for many people is the fact that company handed out $810 million of the $946 million it raised in a funding round last year as bonuses to early employees and investors. Just $136 million was actually used to support the company.
Seems questionable. Could the world’s “Fastest Growing Company” be headed for an epic implosion? Only time will tell, but I’m holding onto my money. Certainly as long as Mason’s running this ship.
As my previous post mentioned, Vermont breweries were hit hard during the flooding in the aftermath of Irene. Here’s an update from some of the most affected breweries.
1. Long Trail Brewing: Initial photos from Long Trail looked pretty dire. This was a photo posted to their Facebook page shortly after the flooding.
Though the flood waters surrounded the brewery, apparently very little water actually got inside to the equipment. Employees returned to work and began cleaning up the site the next day. This is the view two days after the first picture was taken.
The brewery’s Facebook page described the parking lot as a “sight for sore eyes” but employees worked to clean it up and visitor center opened to the public on Tuesday. Another bit of good news: the deck, which is quite close to the water, remained intact and secured to the rest of the complex.
Even more impressive: the brewery held an open breakfast for members of the community on August 31 and has been helping with relief efforts to the stranded communities of Stockbridge and Rochester. Job well done, Long Trail. You guys are truly amazing.
The company also posted videos of their equipment hard at work on Facebook. The brewery is back open for business!
2. The Alchemist Pub & Brewery: On Sunday evening, August 28, a devastating “once in a generation flood” swept through Waterbury, VT and “ruined” The Alchemist Pub. The pub announced the tragic news on Twitter:
As more information has become available, the situation has not improved for the pub. In an update published to the pub’s site, the extent of the devastation is apparent.
At one point in the middle of the night, pretty much half the town was under around 10′ of raging, muddy water, with the river officially cresting at 20′. Not only was the basement completely full, but the dining room and kitchen were also about hip deep.
Even worse, more than 100 homes in the Waterbury area have been partially or completely devastated. Here’s one view of the damage to the building itself.
One bit of good news from this. The Alchemist’s cannery will open as planned on Friday, September 2. Please support them if you’re able.
When I was a student at Middlebury, I completed the Vermont Brewery Passport. Though everyone at all of the breweries was kind and enthusiastic, the people at the Alchemist were truly remarkable. Unbelievably kind, welcoming and warm. Plus, they made delicious, delicious beer. I want nothing more than to see them get back on their feet. This is the type of local business we should all want to support.
Thankfully, that seems to be exactly what they’re doing. They plan to rebuild and come back stronger. Can’t wait.
3. Flat Street Brew Pub: Sadly, this Brattleboro establishment seems to have been devastated in the flooding. According to a message on their Facebook page, “the damage is devastating. We are not sure after today’s damage assessment, when we might be able to reopen.”
According to an article in the Brattleboro Reformer, “water smashed furniture to pieces and deposited slimy mud on the floor.” That same article quoted a manager saying he was concerned about the pub’s ability to reopen.
Truly heartbreaking to hear. I wish them all the best and hope they’re able to get back on their feet.
Not Intent on Arriving 