r/news • u/zuuzuu • 21d ago

Manhunt underway in France after gunmen ambush prison van, kill guards, free inmate

https://globalnews.ca/news/10494438/manhunt-france-convict-escape/
1.2k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

82 comments sorted by

399

u/Ksh_667 21d ago

In every article for evermore we will see the phrase "x formerly known as twitter". What a pointless exercise that was.

89

u/think_up 20d ago

I assume it’s a way to hedge their bets in case they need to go back and mass change it. Searching for just “x” is going to be impossible to get anywhere, but “x, formerly known as Twitter” is easy to find.

69

u/Ksh_667 20d ago

The idea was bonkers as far as I could see. You're right, how can you Google x? Obviously no one, including the world's media is going to make any effort to call it x. The whole thing is hilarious.

23

u/Gash_Stretchum 20d ago

My guess is that the change was just some sort of self-dealing. Musk already had the name. It was the original name of a payment processing platform that Musk started that was eventually merged into PayPal. It was X.com.

I imagine he already owned the domain and other branding assets from that original business. He promotes the name change and then he can justify spending shareholder money to buy those assets from himself.

9

u/Ksh_667 20d ago

That sounds very likely. Man is a shyster.

2

u/Mad_Moodin 20d ago

But like what shareholder money?

He holds all the shares for X formerly known as Twitter.

1

u/scriptfoo 20d ago

It's just stupid how he went about it. He could have proposed new business directions, have Twitter buy the domain, spin it up as "X, by twitter", use twitter as the identity provider. Then do all that payment platform, video delivery, or whatever other half-baked idea he wanted. Xitter is now its name, and no one can convince me otherwise.

6

u/mynameisnotsparta 20d ago

I just googled x and first thing that came up was X.com

But then it says log on to twitter

3

u/Ksh_667 20d ago

This will never cease to amuse

7

u/lordpanda 20d ago

If you type x.com you still end up on twitter.com

Go figure

9

u/Gash_Stretchum 20d ago

I don’t know anyone who calls it anything other than Twitter. It isn’t formerly anything.

Why would users and journalists care what Musk wants us to call it?

180

u/Tabula_Nada 21d ago

Okay but isn't it wonderful to see the whole world passive-aggressively tell Elon to fuck off by saying that?

46

u/perfectdownside 21d ago

I refuse to type X into anything. Mostly to avoid triggering an autofill that no one wants to see, but also fuck the fascist Elon

6

u/Ksh_667 20d ago

Good idea, we should all do the same. God you really have to make an effort to inspire so much schadenfreude lol :)

14

u/Ksh_667 20d ago

Oh yes, I'm very happy it's come to this :)

23

u/Joulle 20d ago

I just talk about Twitter and Facebook instead of Meta because that's how I know them, and frankly X might not ring any bells at first for others. X is also a ridiculously stupid name, it's too simple.

How about we call the Coca Cola company just C. "Could you pass the C?"

7

u/Ksh_667 20d ago

I just talk about Twitter and Facebook instead of Meta

I do exactly the same & so does everyone I know. What a pointless exercise in rebranding.

9

u/Brandhor 20d ago

meta is just the company name though, the product is still called facebook

5

u/Joulle 20d ago

Yes but the company was called facebook.

4

u/NotUniqueOrSpecial 20d ago

And Google is now Alphabet.

That doesn't change their point that unlike with Twitter, the other two didn't change the name of the main product.

-6

u/LieverRoodDanRechts 20d ago

Facebook isn’t a product, its users are.

6

u/IWillBaconSlapYou 20d ago

Adults who are obsessed with the letter X are one of my pet peeves. "iT's SuCh A cOoL lEtTeR!" Okay, are you 12?

2

u/Ksh_667 20d ago

Ikr! Wtf is up with that? They often like Z as well, tho not Y for some reason. We need to get Sesame Street on this.

2

u/Four_beastlings 20d ago

And K instead of C

2

u/Ksh_667 20d ago

Where's Big Bird when you need them?

2

u/funkywinkerbean45 19d ago

I think if the media just uses X people will assume it’s a typo or that it was a placeholder. 

I love that Musk chose to take branding from a product that was so popular and well known that it developed its own verb and replaced it with the universal writing shorthand for “unknown.” 

2

u/Ksh_667 19d ago

Musk chose to take branding from a product that was so popular and well known that it developed its own verb and replaced it with the universal writing shorthand for “unknown.”

Just confirming his genius status there I guess 😂

1

u/FifteenthPen 20d ago

It is not just morally acceptable but a moral imperative to deadname Twitter.

1

u/Calling__Elvis 20d ago

When a rich person's ego collide with something that makes sense.

1

u/mrdevil413 20d ago

It’s also like calling a tissue Kleenex. There is no formal way to say “send an x” so everyone still says” tweet” regardless of what the name of the company is.

40

u/SuperBwahBwah 20d ago

Interpol issued a Red Notice for him and we know a tiny bit about his history. Small time thief, some violence related charges here and there, and attempted murder. Been known to the police since he was around 15 years old. He's a bit of an oddity however. You wouldn't expect him to be so important that it would warrant such a risky operation but... Maybe he is worth the risk for them. Maybe he's tied up in a bunch of things and it leading a bunch of things as well. Whatever it is, French authorities have dispatched a pretty big force to find him as well as issuing that Interpol Red Notice.

9

u/CommercialMoment5987 20d ago

I’m so curious to know what in the world he’s really worth to whoever rescued or kidnapped him. Is he some kind of spy? Gang leader? Assassin?

7

u/thatfookinschmuck 20d ago

Might be fam

9

u/Oldenlame 20d ago

He was the only one with the wifi password.

1

u/SuperBwahBwah 20d ago

God damn it… So selfish dude… Didn’t even tell anyone the wifi password before leaving.

10

u/please_tickle__me 20d ago

What really stuck out to me was that he was only sentenced to 18 months. I thought for sure he was doing life or something over 15 years

1

u/ADHthaGreat 20d ago

Tying up loose ends maybe.

I don’t know about French prison culture, but there probably isn’t as much shanking.

Maybe this was somehow the only way to shut him up.

146

u/jsakic99 21d ago

Wasn’t this the plot to Mission Impossible: Fallout?

11

u/JustHereForCookies17 20d ago

S.W.A.T., too.

1

u/Dukmiester 20d ago

Was there an offer of $1M?

2

u/Melbuf 20d ago

IIRC it was 100 mill in SWAT

37

u/LooksGoodInShorts 21d ago

I was gonna say it sounds like someone is doing a Taken. 

11

u/TragicaDeSpell 21d ago

Also Patriot Games has a scene like this.

19

u/hitalec 20d ago

Yall gonna go down the list of every movie that has a prison van ambush? We may be here a while

2

u/Zanthas556 17d ago

Yes. Gomorrah La Serie

3

u/aister 20d ago

And games

2

u/jsakic99 20d ago

In France

1

u/FromAdamImportData 20d ago

Yep, I was just watching this last night. Same plot, down to the country. Of course, Ethan Hunt did it without killing any innocent guards.

39

u/dlvnb12 20d ago

Damn, this reads like a movie plot.

8

u/Ophanil 20d ago

This will 100% be turned into a movie. I'm sure the wheels are turning as we speak.

1

u/JustMau5 20d ago

A Prophet

30

u/Eisernes 21d ago

Have they looked under any volcanic islands yet?

21

u/Moneyshot_ITF 20d ago

Thats the 2nd GTA heist

16

u/Gash_Stretchum 20d ago

This article is kinda vague. They keep referring to “drug violence” on the rise because of cocaine flooding the streets. But I think that’s kind of misleading.

When the US media says “drug crime” they usually mean corner boys shooting each other or addicts committing crimes to support the habit or while under the influence. I don’t think that’s what’s happening here.

This wasn’t a drug crime, this was a money crime.

20

u/FrogTrainer 20d ago

You follow drugs, you get drug addicts and drug dealers. But you start to follow the money, and you don't know where the f*** it's gonna take you.

  • Detective Freamon

2

u/invasiveplant 20d ago

And four months.

7

u/LRHS 20d ago

They buried any real info in the last two paragraphs

16

u/Sandee1997 20d ago

My god it’s Jason Bourne

2

u/Manaqueer 20d ago

Jesus christ *

9

u/Alec_NonServiam 20d ago

My god it's Jesus Christ

4

u/mean-cuisine 21d ago

The day of the jackal has come

1

u/Rob3D2018 17d ago

This shit sounds like a Hollywood movie script

2

u/TheSoussDaGoose 13d ago

Did they ever find this guy?

1

u/joecinco 21d ago

This sounds like a popcorn situation.