As a sidenote, there is this amazing abandoned railway station at the French-Spanish border, in the Pyrenean moutains. Built in 1928 in the middle of nowhere, it was the largest railway station in Europe at the time, with restaurants, shops, a luxury hotel… The railway linked France with Spain and it was an amazing engineering achievement due to the fact it crossed the mountains, but it was never profitable. It has been closed in 1970.

Here's a page with the whole story (in French) and an amazing picture gallery ("Galerie Photos" links) : http://www.forbidden-places.net/exploration-urbaine-gare-de-canfranc

(Oh, looks like it's now being rehabilitated as a casino and luxury hotel.)

The author's name is Jean-Pierre Petit and he's not a roboticist, he's primarily a specialist in magnetohydrodynamics, though he's also skilled in astrophysics and in topology (mathematics). He's the author of many science-oriented comics he makes available for free on the internet.

He is also known for taking very controversial positions, especially on UFOs and on 9/11. For this reason and for advancing many hypotheses without serious scientific backup, he is marginalized by the French scientific community.

Nevertheless, if not his scientific claims, at least his comics are very valuable. They make very complicated topics understandable by most people, especially topology and economy. The one on economy is a must-read for people who want an introduction to the subject.

They're all available for free, along with many translations, on http://www.savoir-sans-frontieres.com/

The whole thing started in Paris. The first time I saw one was on Place de la Bastille. I also remember a huge one painted in white in the Metro Line 1 subway tunnel.

See also : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invader_%28artist%29

When I made my engineering studies (in France), several clubs shared a room in the school. There was a fridge in that room that was regularly filled with drinks by volunteers who bought them using money from the clubs. There was a box in the fridge where you were supposed to put 50 cents everytime you took a can. Clubs made a (small) benefit from the sales. As far as I know, the system worked very well.

That was a double honor system : everybody trusted volunteers for keeping the fridge full and everybody trusted everybody for paying their drinks (and for not taking away the box full of coins). There was sometimes as much as 30 or 40 euros in there. A lot for students.

I must add that there was always at least one representant of the clubs in the room. But he/she was never watching the fridge, and even so, it would have been easy to steal a drink by pretending you were putting a coin in the box.

Same year, 1979, sign-off of 3rd French TV channel: http://www.ina.fr/archivespourtous/index.php?vue=notice&from=themes&cs_page=0&cs_order=0&code=C0524214926&num_notice=3&total_notices=7

Now, this one is amazingly poetic. 1975, 2nd French TV channel: http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/fermeture%2Bd%2527antenne/video/x26t4m_generique-fermeture-antenne-2-1975_creation

And this is the ORTF (old name of French public TV) sign-on from 1953: http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/ortf/video/xo1j0_ortf-1ere-chaine-generique_shortfilms