Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Vive la France

Today being Bastille Day offers an opportunity to showcase our newest resource, Global Road Warrior.
Global Road Warrior is a massive database of constantly updated proprietary editorial and graphics for 175 countries of the world. It provides deep content coverage in major topic areas of society and culture, travel, communications, business, trade, marketing, and security. Currently, the database has7,000,000+ words of editorial, 1,750+ country maps and 12,000+ photographs This product and others create a product line that distinguishes World Trade Press in the field of electronic data publication.

It's easy to use. The opening page offers three options for searches. The screen is open and easy to navigate. I looked for a specific country (France) and a specific topic in the country (Bastille Day). Two articles were displayed. I selected the government one because of this paragraph:
Fete de la Federation, 14 July (1790); note - although often incorrectly referred to as Bastille Day, the celebration actually commemorates the holiday held on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille (on 14 July 1789) and the establishment of a constitutional monarchy; other names for the holiday are Fete Nationale (National Holiday) and quatorze juillet (14th of July)

Play inside Global Road Warrior, see what interesting tidbits you can find. I'd love to hear about your experience within our newest resource.

-kls

Bastille Day

Today is Bastille Day, the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille prison in Paris. This was one of the key early events of the French Revolution. Today, France is a republic similar to the United States. However, the economic crisis heralds great changes for the French. There is particular concern in France, as well as other European states, regarding the survival of the famous welfare system. Known for its low retirement age, modest work weeks, and generous vacation times, the French system is in danger due to budget shortfalls.

A story regarding this matter is part of a recent NPR series on the European Union and its member states.

-JWF