jaunthie | Happy Bastille Day!

I don't know if "happy" is the right term for commemorating the storming of the Bastille, but a shout-out to our French friends nonetheless on 14 julliet. I'm glad to see that the recent debate about la Marseillaise has been largely resolved in "don't touch it, we don't care if it's violent, it's ours":

Ne pas toucher aux paroles de la Marseillaise, icône du patrimoine français et mondial, mais la faire connaître et aimer: telle a été la demande de la plupart des participants à un colloque sur l'hymne national, mardi matin à l'Assemblée nationale. Seules quelques voix éparses ont déploré la violence de vers qui parlent d'un "sang impur", d'un "bras vengeur", d'"ennemis expirants".

You can read the rest of the article in Le Monde ici. If you'd like to read a translation of the article, you can use the Babelfish translation service by copying the URL of the article and pasting it into the "Translate this page" section. Like all automated translation serverices, the translation isn't very precise and is occasionally downright amusing, but you'll get the basic meaning.