[QUOTE=dcheuk;513815]...and everyone starred at me like they're in misbelief.[/QUOTE]

Sigh...

Those who don't understand history are doomed to repeat it.

Heuristics, anyone?

[QUOTE=chalsall;513809]Without meaning to come across as flippant, "off-site backups" only deals with bits, not atoms...[/QUOTE]Off-site backups do exist in meat-space but not as often as perhaps they should.

Quite a few paintings are now known only through copies. Many more text documents have off-site backups, the Magna Carta being a particularly well known example. In that case the backups were made in the 13th century.

Notre Dame de Paris was also the acoustic space for a brilliant Cavaillé-Coll organ.

Sad news.

Anyway nobody care to report about the 875 other French churches that took fire last year...

That is how the news world acts :sad:

[QUOTE=ET_;513830]Anyway nobody care to report about the 875 other French churches that took fire last year...

That is how the news world acts :sad:[/QUOTE]The MSN only care about things that are unusual, weird or different.

Nobody cared to report on the [url=https://www.who.int/gho/road_safety/mortality/en/]1.25mil people that were killed on the road in 2013[/url] either. Or the countess millions that died of heart attacks. But these events are normal so therefore not interesting to the MSN.

We should be more worried about the things that aren't in the news. All those unreported normal events that have a much higher chance of directly affecting us.

Reports are surfacing that the organ may have been saved! :smile:

[QUOTE=retina;513831]The MSN only care about things that are unusual, weird or different.

Nobody cared to report on the [url=https://www.who.int/gho/road_safety/mortality/en/]1.25mil people that were killed on the road in 2013[/url] either. Or the countess millions that died of heart attacks. But these events are normal so therefore not interesting to the MSN.

We should be more worried about the things that aren't in the news. All those unreported normal events that have a much higher chance of directly affecting us.[/QUOTE]
Just goes to show -- there's a difference between [i]important[/i] and [i]newsworthy[/i]. Indeed, "normal" occurrences have [i]never[/i] been considered newsworthy.

The fire at Notre Dame occurred during renovations. I'm guessing this is not a coincidence. Accidental structural fires during renovations happen all the time, but are not generally newsworthy. If the structure is historic, famous, a tourist attraction etc., of course, it will automatically be newsworthy.

I don't know what they were doing that might have started the fire, but obvious possibilities include excess heat or sparks caused by sawing or drilling, or an overheated piece of equipment left where it could cause something to ignite. Perhaps an electrical fault. When the roof timbers got going, it was off to the races...

Once they are sure the site is safe enough to enter, the investigation will begin.

On the happier side, large entreprise ( Total, LVMH, L'oreal,Arnault) promised to donate around 600M €. to help the reconstruction. Also, no heavy casualities on site.

I don't know who started the Notre Dame fire, but I have a hunch ...

And now there is one more homeless in Paris.

[QUOTE=chalsall;513279]
What is a definition of heaven? Where the Germans are the engineers, the English are the police, and the French are the cooks.

What is a definition of hell? Where the French are the engineers, the Germans are the police, and the English are the cooks....[/QUOTE]
Or where the Germans are police by day and cooks in the evening, and the English are in charge of the beer.

German written sign for the Alps: Picking the flowers is forbidden.
English written sign for the Alps: Do not pick the flowers.
French, or possibly Italian or Spanish: Those who love the Alps will leave the flowers intact.