DE270 Viva La France, The Great Things You Did Not Know About France!

Today’s show will take a leaning to the French people and their culture.

First off, I want to thank all my fans from France. I was checking out my dHarmic Evolution Podcast download stats, and right behind America, France is the country with the 2nd highest download stats. So thank you to all you French fans of the podcast!

Weird enough though, I don’t think I’ve hosted any French guests on the show before. Having hosted artists from over 35 different countries, I am still looking to host a French artist. So if you’re listening to the show and know a French singer/songwriter, author, speaker, or thought leader, kindly recommend them to me and I’d love to have them on the show. They can reach me at [email protected]

With the quarantine going on, I’ve been spending a lot of my extra time running, praying, and reading books.
Running is really helping me keep fit since there aren’t any yoga studios open just yet.

I’ve also discovered and learned so much info in front of the recent Tech books I’ve been reading.

I’m a new student of Cryptocurrency and the book “Crypto Facts” alongside George Gilder’s “Life After Google” are some of the masterpieces that I’ve been reading to help increase my knowledge of this new space.

Thank you, France!

Having dedicated the show to my French fans, I figured I’d entertain all of you with some top, interesting facts about the French and their culture, most of which just might blow your mind!

But before that, I wanna share an off the book fact that I recently learned from a World War 2 documentary I was watching.
Did you know that the Germans, when attacking France, were pumped up on Methylphenidate to keep them up and running for 3 straight days? A task the French thought it would take the Germans at least 2 weeks to accomplish, the Germans were able to break through into Paris in just 3 days!

With that said, here are some of the top facts about the French and their culture that I bet you didn’t know.

• France is sometimes known as The Hexagon due to the fact that it has six sides

• When all of French’s possessions worldwide are taken into account. France occupies 12 time zones. The most of any country.

• Paris was a roman city originally. It was known as Lutetia

• In addition to being the most studied language in the world after English. Alongside, Italian and Spanish, French is one of the most romantic languages. The duo has origins in Latin.

• The French army was the first to use camouflage as a war tactic in world war 1

• Over one-half of the traffic roundabouts worldwide is located in France.

• In the Second World War, when Hitler visited the Eiffel Tower, the French cut all of the lift cables. This forced him to climb the stairs if he wanted to enjoy the view from the top.

• King Louis the 19th had the shortest reign in history: 20 minutes. His father had abdicated the throne, and Louis followed him in abdicating in favor of his nephew.

• France made history in 2016 by banning supermarkets from throwing out unsold food items. These stores are now required to donate food to charities and food banks.

• During the Second World War, the Mosque of Paris protected French Jews from the Nazis by supplying them with Muslim Identification cards.

• The famous Lascaux Caves in France have rock paintings in them dating back over 17,000 years.

• The Louvre Museum in Paris is consistently the most visited museum in the world. Over 9 million visitors go through their doors annually.

• By the 1660s France already had a form of public transportation. It consisted of horse-drawn wagons that followed a set schedule along specific routes.

• For 214 years it was illegal in Paris for women to wear pants. This ended in 2012.

• The highest mountain in France is Mont Blanc. At 15,780 feet, Mont Blanc is a part of the French Alps.

• Despite France’s reputation as a culinary mecca, French males have the lowest percentage of obesity in Europe.

• In order to be a taxi driver in Paris, you would have to pay almost 200,000 Euros to get your license.

• France is divided into 13 Regions, which are divided into 101 Departments. There are also 5 ROMs or overseas regions which are part of France. In December 2015, the regions were reorganized to the 13 current regions, down from the previous number of 22.

• The oldest person in the world was (according to the Guinness Book of World Records), a French woman who lived to be 122 years and 164 days old.

• No country has won more Nobel Prizes for Literature than France.

• The French rail system, at 29,000 km, is second only to Germany’s in length.

• The actual name France came from a Germanic tribe. They used the word “frank”, which meant “free” in their native tongue.

•Champagne comes exclusively from the Champagne region of France. If it doesn’t come from there, it is simply referred to as a sparkling wine.

Timestamps

(3:58) Reading my way through the quarantine
(10:11) Honoring my French fans
(15:07) German soldiers - The original Meth users
(16:20) About the French culture from my trip
(18:36) Interesting facts about France and the French
(32:57) Listen to “Tango On”

Selected Links and Mentions

• Life After Google: The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy
• Cryptofacts Vol 1
• Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
• 111Interesting facts about France
• Hitler, Meth, and the War: Sleepless on the Western Front

As always, thanks a lot for being a part of the dHarmic evolution podcast, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and connect with us on social media.

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