Advancing through aging and accidents

On Friday, I stepped into my skis again, following a long hiatus since the accident that left me badly battered on December 18. 

My upper body still hurts, especially when I get off the bed in the morning and when I rotate laterally, but during the day hours and especially when I’m standing, I don’t feel a thing anymore. Returning to the slopes, created a fear of seeing my advancing age and another ski accident take another bit out of my ski proficiency. 

It also amplified the awareness of the remnant of my injury, particularly when I had to put on and take off my horribly stiff ski boots, carry my skis on my shoulder and do awkward movements that we end up doing when we ski, but nothing too bad or alarming happened.

I skied my usual ski slopes and found that their conditions had not improved a bit over my eleven days absence, I should say they had worsened some more and the December afternoon shade didn’t help either nor did the deteriorating conditions of my “rock ski”. 

That said, I made it safely back home and am now ready for much. I just need to remember “quality over quantity...”

Tesla and Citroën 2cv…

The Citroën 2cv, was the first car I ever owned. I still have fond memories about that automobile and not just about it’s funky look and usability, but also about the way it had to be driven. 

Its curb weight was around 1,100 lbs (500 kg) and its 425 cc twin-flat engine developed an anemic 18 horsepower, so one had to be driving it with a strong sense of momentum and a keen awareness of ups and downs. My Tesla in contrast weighs 4,555 lbs (2 000 kg), but just like me 2cv tells me how much I suck on the battery when I climb a hill, or how much it recharges on the way down.

With both cars, I’ve paid strong attention to the ups and downs of roadways and how to save as much energy as possible regardless of where it comes from, sun or fossil fuels. I don’t speed for the sake of speeding, only to enter a freeway, pass a slow car, a wobbling double-tandem truck or a slow Porsche stuck in the fast lane, but by and large, I don’t drive faster with that car, in fact, quite the opposite. 

This said, both cars were innovative in their time: The Citroën 2CV, introduced in the 1940s, was remarkable for its simplicity, practical utility and affordability. Tesla, on the other hand, has been a paragon of innovation in electric vehicle technology for its electric power-trains, advanced software, and features like Autopilot. 

Culturally, the Citroën 2CV is an iconic symbol of French automotive history, while Tesla became a trailblazer in the modern electric vehicle movement. From a design standpoint, the 2CV had a unique, unconventional appearance and quirky features, while Teslas have been known for their sleek and minimalist designs. 

This said, these comparisons are somewhat abstract, as the two cars belong to different automotive eras and serve different purposes, but at least you can now understand while I like to bring them together.

Electric driving (continued...)

For years, I’ve heard many times that a Tesla is a “computer on wheels” due to the significant amount of computing power and advanced technology integrated into its design. The sophisticated onboard computer system controls many aspects of the vehicle, like navigation, autopilot features, energy management, and more. 

If we stay on the subject of navigation and “range anxiety”, which happened to yesterday’s themes, each time a destination is picked on the GPS, it tells with great accuracy – I’ve found – how much energy will be left in the battery at destination (see illustration).

That’s a big deal, because if one has to travel another 100 miles, a 14% reserve may look skimpy and unreliable, yet, as I have experienced it, if the amount of reserve goes down, a warning flashes on the screen, admonishing the driver to stay below a certain speed. 

Likewise, when that margin is low, I stick to the speed limit instead of setting my cruise control slightly above it as I normally do. So, when I reach my destination I not only equal, but do better than the forecast reserve. This alone does much more in reassuring me about driving an electric car than any other consideration. 

Tomorrow we’ll compared driving a Tesla and a Citroën 2cv…

Electric driving

Our recent trip to southern Utah confirmed that driving long-distance with an electric car isn’t as difficult or bad as we might have feared. It’s true that in the second year we’ve owned such a vehicle it’s only the only such trip we’ve taken, and the less one does something different, the less they’ll learn about it and get familiarized and tranquilized with the process. 

It’s also true that winter isn’t the best season to hit the road with an EV. It’s cold and the battery doesn’t keep the charge as well, and the snow tires are way more stickier on the road than regular, summer tires, not to mention the need to heat the cabin and add two adult passengers and going from a very low altitude, up to 7,000 feet! 

We stayed 5 days at our desert destination and recharged the car with the 110 V outlet in the garage, a forever lasting process but that gave us enough “juice” to roam around town and go visit nearby Zion National Park.

On the freeway, there are enough Tesla superchargers to take the worry out of the driving and the car computer is always there to tell the driver to stop at such and such charger location to recharge the battery, so it’s fair to say that the process is truly worry-free and works perfectly well. 

The short time taken to recharge is masked by all elements of a normal “pit stop”: toilets, cup of coffee or snack and a brisk wall to get blood circulating again. In fact, all the apprehension is woefully unwarranted and a product of our brains that don’t want to change, but I’ll add an even more reassuring element in tomorrow’s blog!

Is skiing quality going downhill?

For years, skiing quality was excellent in what is today Park City Mountain. Ski visitations were well within the size and the infrastructure available on the mountain, parking was easy, and we never suffered from lines at the lifts and congestion on the slopes. 

Then following Vail Resorts’ acquisition of the resort, the upheaval caused by Covid and the sudden realization that the place was so easy to get to as Epic passholders began to sample the cornucopia of resorts available to them, everything began to unravel and go downhill.

Parking became impossible, then skiers had to start paying for it, popular runs got too crowded and danger began lurking from all angles, uphill, right, left and even downhill. We do realize that life is an evolving adventure with one inescapable rule: adapt or perish. 

For my part, I have decided to embrace skiing’s downhill path and do my very best to adapt…

A providential break?

After my fall and slide out of control just over a week ago, I haven’t been back on my skis yet. Instead, today, I’m still in southern Utah, right in the middle of the desert, nursing an upper body that can’t seem to keep up with my vivacious limbs. 

This is the first time in many years that I haven’t experienced a white Christmas in the mountains, but it couldn’t be more propitious as I needed the break to rest, plus heal my body, and keep it away from any temptation to go skiing before all is back in shape.

So, it’s been a blessing in disguise, in spite of the fact that my recovery is limping a bit and taking more time than I had thought it would. Did I mention the fact that skiing sucks at the moment? This said, I remain stoic as well as patient and remain confident that someday, when the time is right, I’ll be back on the skis, so nothing is irremediably lost!

Merry Christmas, really?

Merry and Christmas are two words joined at the hip and can’t sound well if they’re separated. Yet, with what’s going on in today’s world, it’s hard to say “Merry Christmas” with keeping a straight face and believing that we mean what we say.

The world, in fact, is a state of chaos and disarray with wars raging in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine and people being torn apart because of demented heads of state. We, the rest of the world, seem to be - for the most part, at least - reasonably well-behaved while a handful of crazies are advancing insane agendas that wreak havoc on the planet. 

So how can the world population tolerate that when a majority of nations are part of the so-called democratic community? We may have lost the sense of outrage or revolt and are now ready to accept the unacceptable for the sake of our own comfort and tranquility. 

Unless we get more interested about what goes on with Beyoncé and Taylor Swift. Sounds pretty pathetic to me! So in spite of our own numbness and lack of resolve, I wish all of my reaéders a Merry Christmas, at least within the confines of their homes, family and friends. 

We’ll have to forget the suffering of the rest of the world, because we seem and we are in fact, incapable of doing better than that!

Multitasking

There is this expression: “Walking and chewing gum at the same time” that becomes the cliché about multi-tasking. 

So the other day, as my wife and I were skipping around the deer pellets that our wild friends had been spreading all along the pedestrian trail we take during our daily walks, this was for us a good opportunity to say “ambling and dropping pellets at the same time”. But was this activity really falling under the multitasking umbrella? 

Well, on the one hand, dropping pellets is a reflexive action for deer, similar to how humans blink or breathe. It's automatically controlled by their nervous system, which works unconsciously and independent of the animal’s voluntary actions. 

I would also add that ambling, is a consciously controlled movement. The deer seems to be actively making decisions about where to go and how to move its body, which would indicate that the deer isn’t multitasking because the two actions are controlled by different systems. 

On the other hand, even though dropping pellets is involuntary, it still requires some coordination with the deer's movement. The muscles involved in digestion and elimination need to work together to expel the pellets smoothly, without interfering with the deer's walking. 

Additionally, the pellet dropping can be influenced by the deer's environment and behavior. For example, a deer might be more likely to drop pellets while walking if it feels threatened or stressed. 

In that sense, we could argue that the deer is multitasking to some extent, because it's able to perform two actions simultaneously that are both relevant to its survival. Ultimately, this whole discussion is a matter of perspective and how we define the term "multitasking”. 

Merry Christmas!

Macron’s communication skills

On December 20, Emmanuel Macron, France’s president said: “I’m a great admirer of Gérard Depardieu; he’s an immense actor … a genius of his art. He has made France known across the whole world. And, I say this as president and as a citizen, he makes France proud.” 

This pronouncement was made while the Fremch actor Gérard Depardieu is under formal investigation for rape and is facing fresh scrutiny over sexist comments. Feminists and politicians on the left have condemned Macron’s lavish praise of the actor as sending some massive support to the man being investigated for rape.

Macron had also said when asked by the France 5 broadcaster about the possibility of stripping Depardieu of a state award after a documentary showed footage of sexist and inappropriate behavior by the star: “You will never see me participate in a manhunt … hate that type of thing,” 

Well, that Depardieu is the greatest French actor is subject to discussion, at least in my opinion, and while I agree that the presumption of innocence is a key element with anyone indicted of a crime, so is the presumption of damage made to the victims. Once more, Macron stuck his foot in his mouth and showed that he was a terrible communicator and that expressing himself was his Achilles heel. 

Just like saying that Hitler was a damned good painter as he invaded Poland. Before his mandate is over, Macron should invest some quality time in taking a good communication course. If not, hire and listen to an real advisor that tells him how to express his ideas to his constituents.

Bye quantity, hello quality!

I have always been competitive and many years into my retirement, I still am, trying to break records, outdo myself and others of course. Now, I am beginning to measure that folly. In other words, what can I do to make the switch from a "quantity lifestyle" to a "quality" one? 

This has been typical of my ski life of course, but certainly applies to countless other areas. I certainly realize that transitioning from a "quantity lifestyle" to a "quality lifestyle" involves a shift in focus from external measures, such as records and comparisons with others, into something that is more emotional instead of just adrenaline-driven. 

It should be more about internal fulfillment and a deeper appreciation for the experiences and the relationships that populate my life. In many ways, I’m coming to this because of my skiing addiction and my desire to now switch from “quantity” into “quality” for that particular hobby of mine. Yet, nothing prevents me from extending that switch to all areas of my life, excluding of course – just kidding – my personal income!

To achieve that big goal, I may have to redefine my values by reflecting on what truly matters to me. Then I need to reset some important goals so they bring me personal satisfaction and fulfillment and are more focused on personal growth, relationships, and experiences. 

Sure, I’ll continue to pursue activities and hobbies that bring you joy, fulfillment and that align with my values. When success happens, I’ll celebrate my small victories and positive moments and will avoid harsh self-criticism. If given an opportunity, I’ll consider doing things well beyond external recognition, such as personal growth, contentment, and well-being. 

While I’ll keep in mind that shifting from quantity to quality is a gradual process, I will work towards my objectives, but never at the expense of my overall well-being and happiness. I guess I now have a serious New Year resolution right there!

Benchmarking?

As most of us know, benchmarking is that process of comparing one’s own performance against that of others, typically those who are considered to be the best in their field. This is not something we do too much in America, because we are so much individualistic, and by doing so, we sometimes love to reinvent the wheel. 

This said, as a Nation, we’re much worse, because we believe in “American Exceptionalism” among other nonsense, which means we’ve always been, we are and will always be the very BEST of all nations. We simply don’t even try to look at them! Yet, by ignoring the practice of benchmarking we’re shooting ourselves in the foot. 

As a country, we’re missing to measure our own products, services, and processes against the rest of the world, and by doing so, we miss a lot of good opportunities as we’ve got a tough time identifying best practices that could be adopted to improve our country’s performance. Sure, we aren’t too shabby, but we sure could do better, to at least maintain our level, as we are in decline in many domains.

Consider for instance the metric system, some European children education methods, cost-effective public health care systems, all that way to our very own Constitution! Benchmarking could be used to improve any aspect of our country, from administrative efficiency, to voting system and to citizens’ satisfaction. It would also help us identify new opportunities and help us stay well ahead of our competition that is the whole wide world. 

Instead, we have the largest defense budget in the world that is probably not the most cost-efficient, nor the most nimble and effective (look at Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan). Adopting benchmarking would mean so much to us, like improving our performance and help us identify areas where we can do better like controlling greenhouse emissions and developing sustainable new energy sources. 

It would also reduce costs, by adopting cost-saving best practices on things like materials, labor, and energy. It would also make for a more improved citizenry’s satisfaction by improving the value and the quality of our lives, which could lead to a happier country. So, what are we waiting for?

Falling from… above!

Almost one year ago I was pledging to be less competitive and instead, focus on the quality and technical finesse of my personal skiing, but somewhere, somehow, I forgot that pledge and ended up breaking up three personal records this past season. This was of course until this past Monday, when the victim from bad personal judgment and error – no third party fault at all! 

For the occasion, I had taken my pair of Head Monsters that don’t ski particularly well and on which I slid the binding to far forward, making the ski over-steering beyond reason There where huge moguls on the top steep section and on the third turn my shovel dove into the rotten powder snow causing me to fall downhill and begin a slide on the very steep slope.

                                               Last year's picture 

I was lucky enough not to kill myself or become paralyzed or even worst. I fell head first, was wearing a slick down parka that gave me a boost on the 40 degree plus slope and I couldn’t turn my skis around to arrest my slide. As I picked up speed, seconds felt like minutes. I’ll pass on the details to what happened next, no one needs to know! 

I felt totally beat-up, but with the adrenaline flooding my body, it was hard to establish what was wrong with my body, so still stirred up and warm, I rode the McConkey lift a second time to exorcise the shock, as I always do in similar circumstances. I worked my way down to the parking lot, happy to get there, but suffering the martyr in taking out my stiff boots. 

Then I went to the ski patrol station, talked to a patrolman out of personal reassurance, from my butt down, all was fine, just my upper body was badly bruised and I couldn’t feel anything broken, so I drove home to tell my wife what had happened to me and swearing to me that this season, I would finally switch my focus from Quantity to Quality skiing! Jan 9, 2023

What’s wrong with electric cars?

There is not a week that goes by without my receiving a message informing me how nefarious electrical cars can be on people, the environment and on life in general. Sometimes, some people who send me these messages even know that I own an electric vehicle (EV), but they probably communicate these first-world concerns because they care so intensely about me. 

So what do I do? I make sure to respond to them. Generally by saying that EV aren’t for everyone and certainly not for folks who are afraid of, or simply don’t understand yet, progress and modernity. I continue by saying that I bought the car to curb my greenhouse emissions (what a concept!) and am ready in making that effort to accept the tiny sacrifice of the few drawbacks linked to EV that millions have already learned to live with (range anxiety and the like). 

I also tell them that in order to reduce its carbon footprint developed nations will have to make many more sacrifices (Right? Why not begin with that one?). But I will never forget to say that, overall, like millions of other EV owners, I’m totally enchanted with my car. 

I always conclude by saying that these anti-EV reports are concocted and spread by fossil-fuel interests in an effort to spook credulous people, and stress one should always look for the source of what they want to send their friends, before hitting the “SEND” button...

Balancing joy of skiing with horror of Ukraine and Gaza

I love to ski and while I enjoy my favorite sport, I can always be critical of a host of things that I don’t like, such as this season’s lack of snow, the lack of early preparation by the resort and the very limited terrain opened. 

Yet, at the same time, I remind myself that my first-world concerns are nothing in comparison with what goes on today in places like Ukraine and Gaza, and I found the whole premise quite challenging mentally, as it involves navigating between personal enjoyment and planetary concerns. 

I certainly try to recognize that it's okay to experience joy while being empathetic towards global issues and that practicing my favorite sport doesn't diminish my concerns for world events and my awareness of international issues. Obviously, the next question that comes to mind is “What can I do?” 

Beside supporting organizations working towards peace and humanitarian aid, I must also make pleas directed towards my political leaders of all stripes. Knowing this, we can help to affect the situation ever so slightly and alleviate a bit our feelings of helplessness. 

While staying informed is essential, excessive exposure to distressing news can be destructive and we ought to set boundaries on our media consumption to prevent it from totally depressing us. Likewise, we should try to seek the company of people who share similar concerns and values. 

We should also seek quality and objective information to better understand the reasons behind these bloody conflicts, so we’re ready to discuss them with others who understand and appreciate the need for balance and reason. 

Finally, this is our opportunity to take time each day to reflect and appreciate the positive aspects of our lives, including the activities that bring us joy. 

If you happen to have more good ideas on the subject, please, share them!

When we ski poorly…

Don’t you love it, when we feel that we ski so well, that every turn links to the next seamlessly, that each obstacle, each change of terrain gets integrated into the whole and that the end result was just as effortless a rendition as much as it had looked so very good to the few who happened to watched us? Well, this is what I’d call skiing divinely, but that’s not always the case. 

Last Friday when I skied Ninety-Nine-90, under my favorite chairlift in Park City, I had to muster and deliver all the ski technique I had ever learned over 71 winter seasons, and each of 10 laps I took on the 1,536 foot vertical, non-stop run, came at much expense to me in terms of attention and fatigue. 

I certainly didn’t feel that I skied well at all that day, not to mention great, by any stretch of exaggeration! At the end I truly felt beat-up and filled with doubt. Doubt about my current fitness, my older status in life and my ability to carry on as a good skier. Then, my observations came to my defense. 

That part of the mountain had just opened up the day before on old unpacked snow dating back to October and November, that had not been compacted at all, that broke down for no reason, that resisted cutting and sliding at each and every turn. It also invited aggressive shovels to dig in and catch skis before one could realize there was a problem. 

I finally had an excuse, my reputation and my self-confidence had been saved or at the very least excused for yet another day!

Lasting on skis…

Skiing has always had multiple appeals to me that have changed over the years. I began with jumping followed by a hockey turn 69 years ago, then a downhill course through the trees ending on a meadow. It then continued with learning to ski better as I worked as a liftie. 

When I could ski parallel, I trained in slalom on a slope behind my parent’s house where the course was set with twigs and I climbed back up by side-stepping. I eventually became a ski instructor to transmit my knowledge to small kids, then ranked beginners and eventually all kinds of skiers. 

I went through some long periods when I was almost totally depraved from skiing and as soon as I returned to the mountains, I caught up with that lost time with a vengeance. 

During all these years - until very recently in fact - I kept on learning and improving myself. For the last 2 or 3 years, I might have plateaued and now the next, inevitable stage, will see my audacity, speed, balance and skills go down, but when?

This early season, as I’m almost over 75 years old, that upcoming change has not quite manifested itself forcefully enough to make me pay attention to it...

Americans, social safety net and taxes

With our current budget deficit approaching $34 trillion, In 2022, both Social Security and Medicare represented over 45% of the total federal budget, and that percentage is likely to keep growing as more people will become eligible for these programs. 

Yet, at the same time, an April poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that Americans are clearly against negative changes to Social Security and Medicare, like cuts to benefits or raising the programs’ eligibility age. Here are the numbers: 

79% of Americans are opposed to reducing the benefits people receive from Social Security. The same is true about raising Social Security’s eligibility age from 67 to 70, with 75% of Americans opposed to it. As far as Medicare goes, 67% are opposed to increasing premiums and regarding raising Medicare’s eligibility age from 65 to 67, 70% of Americans were against it. 

This means that the only way to satisfy these expectations is to raise taxes. Not easy either as taxes have been regularly demonized in American culture, mostly by the political right, so the resulting quandary would suggest that a true miracle coming from God is needed. 

So, expect that in the bitter end it will require (as always) a God-awful crisis to get our incompetent Congress to finally do what’s needed!

Are we really taming inflation ?

Last Tuesday, we got the new measure of inflation in the US for November 2023. I wasn’t impressed by the progress, especially after gasoline dropped so spectacularly this past month. 

So the question is when is our economy finally able to reach the 2% inflation goal set by the Federal Reserve? By the same token, when are interest rates going to unwind from their current 5.4% level down to something more consumer-friendly that also doesn’t cost the nation $800 billion to annually finance its debt? 

Perhaps have we reached the level of diminishing returns? I personally think it’ll be tough to return to that magic 2% of less. For one thing, with the war in Ukraine and Gaza, global energy markets will continue to be disrupted and their prices will remain volatile. 

While some supply chain bottlenecks have eased, geopolitical tensions, like ongoing lock downs and real estate crisis in China could create new disruptions, potentially pushing up prices of goods and services as well as trade wars or protectionist measures that could further disrupt global trade and push inflation up. In the US, our strong labor market, with low unemployment and rising wages, will also keep that upward pressure. 

On the other hand, optimists think inflation will continue its gradual decline towards the 2% target as they hope for continued economic growth and a slow down of geopolitical disruptions, a rosy view I’m not convinced of. Instead, I believe that inflation will remain stubbornly above the target due to the universe of messes of all kind we have to wade through. 

I have not even included into that scenario the increasing costs of all kinds of catastrophe brought in by climate change, but again I am a skier, not an economist!

The age of maintenance and improvements

Sometimes, I ask myself what’s going to be my next venture. Do I want to go for some feat or a total reinvention? Sure, I haven’t said “regardless of my age” to preface that question, but this might differently color any answer to that question. In fact, beyond forays in new domains, what’s often left as advanced age materializes is just time for personal maintenance and slight improvements. 

Let’s start with maintaining what we’ve got as much as we can control it. Research tells us that keeping a healthy lifestyle and engaging in activities that stimulate the mind and body may help live longer and healthier lives, better maintain independence and function in daily activities and ultimately, lead to a higher quality of life. Then there’s the improvement part of the answer. 

Regardless of our actual age, engaging in learning, creative pursuits, and self-improvement will give us a sense of purpose and accomplishment, especially if it aligns with interests and passions. 

At the same time, it will connect us with other like-minded individuals, fostering meaningful social connections. Sure, not everything in our lives will remain nice and rosy, as age-related physical decline can make it harder to engage in certain activities and may require some drastic adjustments. 

I should also mention cognitive changes that may affect learning, memory, and problem-solving, as well as mental health issues or isolation that could impact our ability to engage in certain activities. Finally, for many, there are financial constraints and limited access to resources like transportation or specialized care, that might stand as obstacles to personal maintenance and improvement efforts. 

So while any mental picture we hold for our older future can be subject to significant change, we still should plan as if everything will be fine and cross the bridge of unpleasant things when we get to it. At least, that’s the way I envision it...

The age of maintenance and improvements

Sometimes, I ask myself what’s going to be my next venture. Do I want to go for some feat or a total reinvention? Sure, I haven’t said “regardless of my age” to preface that question, but this might differently color any answer to that question. In fact, beyond forays in new domains, what’s often left as advanced age materializes is just time for personal maintenance and slight improvements. 

Let’s start with maintaining what we’ve got as much as we can control it. Research tells us that keeping a healthy lifestyle and engaging in activities that stimulate the mind and body may help live longer and healthier lives, better maintain independence and function in daily activities and ultimately, lead to a higher quality of life. 

Then there’s the improvement part of the answer. Regardless of our actual age, engaging in learning, creative pursuits, and self-improvement will give us a sense of purpose and accomplishment, especially if it aligns with interests and passions. At the same time, it will connect us with other like-minded individuals, fostering meaningful social connections. 

Sure, not everything in our lives will remain nice and rosy, as age-related physical decline can make it harder to engage in certain activities and may require some drastic adjustments. I should also mention cognitive changes that may affect learning, memory, and problem-solving, as well as mental health issues or isolation that could impact our ability to engage in certain activities. 

Finally, for many, there are financial constraints and limited access to resources like transportation or specialized care, that might stand as obstacles to personal maintenance and improvement efforts. 

So while any mental picture we hold for our older future can be subject to significant change, we still should plan as if everything will be fine and cross the bridge of unpleasant things when we get to it. 

At least, that’s the way I envision it...

Fifty years ago, sacked in Val d’Isère

The year 1973 was bad enough for me and two of my friends when we were fired from the Avoriaz ski school, but it went even worse for six top promising French ski racers that were fired on December 9 by the leaders of the national ski team, including Jean Vuarnet (my home town hero), Maurice Martel, Georges Joubert (the renowned ski guru), Roger Chastagnol and Pierre Mazeaud.

Unlike the three of us that would be renstated at our ski school on December 16, the Lafforgue sisters, Augert, Russel, Duvillard et Rossat-Mignod were all banished forever from the French team at great cost to their country’s ski community. 

Their firing left a scar that might never have been healed, considering that together, these athletes packed 2 world championships titles, 49 World Cup victories and 9 small globes!

Faith and feelings

I never had any religious faith coming naturally to me, even though I was raised religiously in a Catholic family. I heard that faith was a grace, but never could understand its working principle, or at least, none of it ever made sense to me, so today, I can see I’m a spiritual person, but certainly not a religious one. 

I came to the conclusion that faith wasn’t just a feeling like happiness or anger, but a totally different animal – pardon the pun – that might could be trained. The definition of faith is a belief in something beyond the tangible, often a higher power, religious doctrine, or set of values. It can come from proof, simple trust, personal experience, or a combination of these.

This obviously gets complicated when faith is about something deeply irrational, like a religion for instance, and in barring a miracle seldom happens, unless it is the result of relentless repetition, like brainwashing. That technique is used with small children in religious education to plant the seeds and eventually anchor their faith for the long haul. 

On the contrary, feelings are made of various states of emotion, like joy, sadness, anger, or fear. All feelings are subjective and influenced by various factors, including personal experiences, physical state, and external events. They will fluctuate frequently and are likely to be fleeting. While faith and feelings are different, they may interact in complex ways and influence each other. 

For instance, believing in something positive can lead to feelings of hope and joy. Likewise, feelings can influence faith as strong emotions, like love may inspire and strengthen faith. Conversely, feelings can contradict faith as some might feel doubt or despair, even though they have strong beliefs in God. 

In many ways, faith acts like expectation and let’s remember the equation: Happiness is Reality minus Expectation… or Faith!

New ski season, Day 3

It’s hard to find any snow season good enough after the epic one we had last year, my very best in the 39 years I’ve lived in Park City, so on Wednesday it was just Day 3 for me.

I still feel that I ski well and don’t see much a difference in my skiing with April 1974 when I as a 25 years old, I concluded my ski instructing career. This season is showing a rocky start with mercurial weather and scarily high temperatures that are insufficient for making all the snow needed nowadays to last into spring. 

This is a bad omen and a preview of our ski future if we consider the chart below, attributed to Exxon and was created in the early 1980s, possibly 1981. It was presented to Exxon's management in 1982. Exxon’s in-house scientists, who were some of the first to accurately predict the warming effect of greenhouse gases. 

The chart shows that Exxon was aware of the risks of climate change decades ago, but the company continued to invest in fossil fuels and lobby against climate action. 

The chart was first revealed to the public in 2015, when it was published in the InsideClimate News investigation "Exxon: The Road Not Taken." 

The investigation found that Exxon had known about the risks of climate change since the 1970s, but had publicly denied the science and funded climate denial groups. 

This chart that temperature are well on their way to increase exponentially, first shortening ski seasons as we know them and sooner thereafter relegating to the history of winter sports...

 

Presidential primaries, from bad to worst

Even though we didn’t want to waste our precious time watching that fourth debate among the four remaining Republican White House hopefuls (still without Trump), we did it on Wednesday night, mostly for entertainment value and it was clownish, so we didn’t regret our time.

While Christie seemed to be the only adult in the room, Ramswamy was simply grotesque, behaving like a wild monkey, attacking Haley and DeSantis and showing that he needed some urgent medical assistance to address his mental health. 

DeSantis was spiraling down in mediocrity while Haley wasn’t as responsive as she should have been, her too, showing a low point after her relatively steady climb. 

When attacked by Ramswamy, she should have addressed the moderator and asked her “Get that imbecile out of the debate now, or I’m leaving it” and she should have walked away, but that was my recommendation not her frozen response. 

All this means is that barring a fortuitous death of Trump or one of his upcoming fast-tracked judgments and imprisonment, the orange monster will be the GOP nominee.

The best way to start a new day?

Today, as I was savoring the last sip of my first coffee, I asked myself: “What’s the best way to look at, start, and embrace a new day?” The reason for that rather mundane question is that as time goes by, there will be less brand new mornings in my life, so it is essential for me to make the very best out of each one of them. 

Granted, each of my days always begin with time for meditation preceded by a moment of gratefulness for what I have and how I feel. This places me in the proper mood to envision what follows, but often, before I realize it, my mind gets hijacked with unforeseen episodes, urgencies and news that take my eyes off what should be my main focus for that day. 

I already try to do my best in that domain, but as always there’s room for improvement. Here are some of the areas I plan to work on. The two most obvious questions I should ask myself is “What do I intend to achieve and what kind of mindset do I want to keep throughout the day?”

I should also make sure that my mental environment is a positive one, whether it’s made of happy things, uplifting music, funny jokes, appreciating the views from my window, a range of positive tones has to be set and kept all day long. The next idea, simple, but not that easy to accomplish is to break tasks into manageable steps, by parceling them down so each portion is more digestible, less overwhelming and more achievable. 

Each day is also a chance to discover and grow, by keeping a learning mindset at all times. I do that one well, but still have much room for improvement, by embracing challenges as opportunities for growth and viewing each experience, good or bad, as another chance to add to my knowledge and experience. 

Finally, I must never forget to make time to connect with people who count for me, loved ones, extended family and friends, in creating positive connections that can keep me in an excellent mood. 

If you have suggestion of you own that you find most effective, don’t be shy, share them by posting a comment!

Ski like a Zombie?

Yesterday, as we strolled through the Park City cemetery, we noticed that a small ski jump had been built, similar to the ones kids typically create. 

But obviously, this is our municipal cemetery, not a typical kid’s playground and I thought that with winters as long as we have them in Park City it gets boring quickly for the most active occupants of our official resting place. 

I was of course thinking of the many ski zombies that populate the place, and that given the opportunity, still love to slide and get some air, a welcome break and breath of fresh air from a long day inside a dark and damp grave. 

I haven't seen them using that jump during the day, because it’s in full view of car traffic and pedestrians, and if I were a skinny and rather stiff zombie.

Instead, I'd get out at night so no one is there to judge my rather awkward and stilted form, as well as my tentative style on a pair of skis, not to mention my ragged ski clothes, if I were not yet a full-dried skeleton that would of course dispense me to wear any! 

Have fun zombies, jump high, there’s enough space to make a nice hokey stop and be careful not to break anything!

The Beaver Creek ski world cup fiasco

Something is awry with the international ski federation (FIS). Its top management brings ski racers, their coaches, officials, tech support and press people across an ocean and half a continent, spend valuable time and money preparing venues with the help of volunteers and huge logistic expenditures, then weather doesn’t allow for the races to be run on the planned days, and all goes to waste. 

I was also almost going to forget mentioning this huge carbon footprint for naught! I know, there are the sacrosanct TV rights contracts, the money they bring and then racers have to be in Val d’Isère next, but there should be a better way to run an international competition calendar! To start with, events should be clustered per continent.

Only one trip to North America or Asia within one season, the rest should stay in the Alps perhaps with the caveat that Scandinavia should be treated as another region. Then if the “white circus” finds itself in such a remote area, delay the events till it’s possible to run them and to hell with the TV constraints or make them adaptable! 

After all skiing requires just the right weather conditions and is so dependent on Mother Nature compared to other sports! Also, have less events, lighten the calendar load big time so athletes can recharge their batteries a bit. In this age of AI and computer aided scheduling that shouldn’t be rocket science to bring ski racing back into an area of good old common sense!

Israel, the occupier

Let’s talk first about what an occupier is, and what can it and cannot do. Let’s also re-frame the question as to whether Israel is acting as an occupier in Palestine? Because it’s Israel, no one dares to take a position at the risk of being labeled “antisemitic”. 

This makes any answer awkward and ambiguous, so let’s try to untangle what could be a just response to that question. As most educated folks know, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict goes back to the late 19th century. In 1948, Israel after installing itself in the middle of the Palestinian territory declared its independence, and the following year, quite predictably, the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 broke out. 

As a consequence of the war, Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, territories that had previously been under the control of Jordan and Egypt. Following that conflict and as a military OCCUPANT, Israel never fully withdrew from these territories, and has continued to exercise control over them to varying degrees. 

The Palestinian Authority, which was established in the 1990s, has some limited self-governing powers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but Israel still maintains ultimate control over security, borders, and other key aspects of Palestinian life. So it’s fair to say that under that post-war regime the Palestinians aren’t free and are under Israeli control. 

Now, if we look how this status plays under international law treaties and conventions, we can see that the Fourth Geneva Convention, which applies to occupied territories, states that an occupying power must "take all measures in its power to restore and maintain, insofar as possible, the normal conditions of life of the civilian population." However, the convention also states that an occupying power is not required to grant self-government to the occupied population. 

This said, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that Israel's settlements in the occupied territories are illegal under international law. However, Israel has refused to comply with the ICJ's ruling, so Israel is making a mockery of International Law. Then we can still discuss if Israel is an occupier in Palestine. The Palestinians will argue that Israel is an illegally occupying power and that it has caused the displacement of millions of Palestinians, the destruction of Palestinian homes and infrastructure, and the denial of basic Palestinian rights. 

On the flip side, Israel claims that it’s not an occupying power, but rather a sovereign power that has the right to control the territories captured in 1967 and that its presence in Palestine is justified for its own security, and that the Palestinians have repeatedly rejected offers of a two-state solution, which makes sense since the Israel initial settlement prior to statehood was never agreed upon by the Palestinians. 

Further with a shrinking Palestinian area and its scattered nature, a two-state solution is no longer possible unless (and this is far from certain) we would return to pre-1967 boundaries. Still, and quite hypocritically, Israel is satisfied with a status quo that will enable it to gradually push the non Israeli disenfranchised population population out in an inexorable process of territorial infringement, lack of freedom, lethal violence and trickling down genocide.

Numbers amidst the middle east crisis

Since 1947 there were between 700,000 to 900,000 Palestinians expelled out of their homeland, including Nakba during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War mentioned in a previous blog. 

Since then, the expulsions have continued through ongoing military conflicts, land confiscations, and Jewish settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories. According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), there are currently over 5.7 million Palestine refugees, most of whom reside in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. 

These figures tabulate those displaced out of the region, and not individuals internally displaced within the Palestinian territories. It’s also useful to keep in mind the following numbers to get a better perspective on the overall situation.

The Palestinian population is crammed on a smaller area that is 28% of Israel’s, with colonies continuously encroaching on the West Bank. The Israeli GDP per capita is 15 times that of the Palestinians and equal to those of Belgium, Canada and Germany. Which makes me cringe when I think that US taxpayers have to give $3 billion yearly to a wealthy country that massacres the population of Gaza? 

This said, having such a massively poor population (similar to Bolivia or Egypt) parked and segregated racially in ghettos in the midst of its territory, is a recipe for social disaster and can only foster envy, anger, and humiliation that exploded on October 7. 

The economic gap, the imprisonment of the population and constant tensions are the ferment that long ago created Hamas and Hezbollah. It is also by now obvious that the Netanyahu government is hell-bent on starving the Palestinians, letting many die and eventually getting rid of them all. 

A glaring example can be found in the Israeli kibbutz hiring and bringing over Thais workers for $1,500 a month when there’s huge unemployment in Palestine. Looks to me like another mass genocide in progress!

Were the Palestinians ever asked about Israel’s creation?

Any discussion about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be preceded by this simple question of whether or not Palestinians were consulted on the creation of a Jewish state. This gives a seminal understanding of why we’re there today. 

As the Zionist movement emerged at the end of 19th century, advocating for the foundation of a Jewish state in Palestine, the movement's founder, Theodor Herzl, argued that Jews needed a state of their own to escape persecution and discrimination. 

When in 1917, the British government came up with the Balfour Declaration that said it favorably viewed the establishment of a home for the Jewish folks in Palestine, it did not care to mention the Palestinians, the majority population in Palestine at the time. 

Excuse me, but from just a simple, polite standpoint trampling just like this into someone else’s property, in the early 20th century is a bit much if not a blatant violation of human rights! In 1947 the UN Partition Plan for Palestine (with strong input from the US, England and France) adopted the partition of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. 

Obviously, the 1.9 million Palestinians living on the territory didn’t get to vote or voice their opinion and 440,000 of them were kicked out from their land to make room for the incoming Jewish population. For the reasons stated above, the plan was rejected by the Arab states, and the following year, 1948 Arab-Israeli war began. 

The outcome of that conflict gave the bad neighbor Israel control of even more territory than it first got under the UN Partition Plan, including the Negev desert, parts of the Galilee, and the area around Jerusalem. Egypt retained control of the Gaza Strip, and Jordan retained control of the West Bank.

I’m no fan of the Arabs, but the poor were horribly mistreated! The worst though, was that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were chased from their homes and still are refugees today.. This event, known as the Nakba, or "catastrophe," in Arabic, had a profound impact on the Palestinian people and ignited, rightfully so, the current crisis that has lasted ever since.

The fox in the chicken coop

To me, there is no bigger paradox, if not caricature, as Dubai hosting the COP 28 as it displayed its wealth amassed by extracting fossil fuels and screwing up the planet. 

According to the United Nation Climate Change, the COP28 in Dubai, scheduled from November 30 through December 12, 2023, is a decisive moment to act on climate commitments and prevent the worst impacts of climate change. 

The United Arab Emirate has the presidency for that meeting, with Dr Sultan Al Jaber as this year's president, and as the world recently discovered, a local top oil executive. 

Who is kidding who and why in the world was the UAE given that platform to tell the world its own “clean” story? Perhaps because this Persian Gulf state is ramping up its oil capacity like never before and needs to “green-wash” its dirty business.

At the moment it is setting up its infrastructure in building artificial islands, dredging sand and hauling in rock, to keep pumping crude oil from some of the largest petroleum reserves on Earth. Its ambition is to provide the world with oil for as long as there might be demand. 

Let’s be realistic and open eyed: Should the fox be officiating a meeting meant to protect the chickens?