Burning bridges (Part one)

Many times during my life, I’ve burned bridges. On several occasions, it was unsuccessful, but quite a few times it ended up with a positive, if not an excellent outcome. 

For instance, I remember deciding to go to the Cluses boarding high-school, a very tough place, and that adventure worked out very well for me. Then going to work as an R&D technician at Odo, in the god-forsaken town of Morez, Jura, was marred by discouragement and subsequent failure. 

Same thing when I moved to Geneva to work as an airplane mechanic for TWA and couldn’t make it last. Then again, when I work for that land surveyor in Saint Gervais, near Mont Blanc, that venture didn’t long either, or when I worked at that small firm in Cluses, doing an odd, almost indescribable work that would have been seasonal in nature to dovetail with my ski instructor job but didn’t mobilize my personal passion.

I remember that when I foolishly hitchhiked through the Australian Nullarbor desert, that move miraculously worked out. Likewise, taking the plunge at Look both in Nevers and in America or later moving to Utah were successful “burn your boat” type decisions, albeit with their load of pain and challenge. 

The spirit of adventure has always inhabited my persona for good and for worst. I used to believe that “burning bridges” made a lot of things possible as the incentive to succeed was too strong to ignore and made it impossible to fail. Was it’s possible to say that when I engage in a very uncertain, succeed-or-die endeavor my brain would somehow make sure that I’d come through it with flying colors? 

The answer might be, yes—but only up to a point. This idea captures a real psychological phenomenon, yet it goes much further than the evidence supports. Tomorrow, we’ll try to understand why.

Dave Jacobs’ Spyder saga (Part Two)

At the beginning, Jacobs started designing race sweaters for his sons as he became convinced that the equipment available to young skiers was falling short — not fast enough, not protective enough, not built with real racers in mind. Rather than wait for the industry to catch up, he decided to build something better himself. 

He started small as a mail-order operation run out of his Boulder home, offering a race sweater designed with a competitor's eye for performance. It didn't stay small for long. The turning point came when Jacobs designed a pair of navy blue racing pants with yellow ribbed padding for protection. 

Fellow racers thought the pads looked like spider legs — and Jacobs, ever attuned to a good idea, ran with it. In 1978, he formally named the brand "Spyder," from the Ferrari Spyder, one of his favorite cars. What began as a homemade fix for junior racers grew into a global performance-apparel company. 

Jacobs pushed Spyder to focus relentlessly on aerodynamics and materials science, chasing the same margins that mattered to him as a racer — fractions of a second, degrees of warmth, ounces of weight. 

That focus paid off: Spyder went on to become an official apparel supplier to both the US and Canadian Ski Teams, outfitting athletes at the highest levels of the sport, including the Winter Olympics. 

Colleagues and competitors alike have long placed Jacobs among a small group of ski-industry pioneers who built their businesses the same way they raced — by identifying a problem on the hill and refusing to accept it. His path, from a kitchen-table mail-order business to Olympic podiums, became something of a legend within the ski community. 

Unfortunately after bouncing from private equity groups to incompetent investors, the brand is now defunct, and that’s really too bad. Jacobs is survived by his family, including the sons whose junior-racing days first inspired him to pick up a needle and thread. His broader legacy, though, extends to the countless skiers around the world who have raced — and stayed warmer, safer and faster — in gear built on the principles he first sketched out decades ago. 

David Jacobs was a true ski industry visionary who will be missed dearly. RIP. 

Dave Jacobs, 1933-2026 (Part one)

The former alpine racer and coach who built Spyder, one of skiing's top brands, died early this month. He was 92. Jacobs's life was centered on nearly every level of ski racing, from the start gate to the factory floor. He began as a competitor, by becoming in 1957 the first Canadian to win a national downhill championship, a breakthrough that established him as one of the country's top skiers of his era. 

Jacobs was born in Montreal, Canada, and began skiing at age 13. At 21, he won the Quebec Kandahar, and from 1957 through 1961 was a member of the Canadian National Ski Team. In 1957 he captured the title of Canadian Downhill Ski Champion, and was the top-ranked member of the Canadian FIS Team the following season. 

He later moved from racing into coaching, taking on the role of the Canadian National Ski Team's first full-time head coach from 1964 to 1966. In that position, Jacobs worked closely with a rising generation of Canadian athletes, applying the technical instincts he'd developed as a racer to help shape their training. In 1965, Jacobs was contacted by Bob Lange and asked if the Canadian team was prepared to test the boots. 

When they did, Dave Jacob said that "they were really bad boots," so he traveled to the factory in Dubuque (Iowa) and suggested a number of technical improvements to be made on the product. In June 1966, three pairs of re-designed boots incorporating the required changes were made available to the Canadian team when they trained at Mt. Hood; Gerry Rinaldi, Rod Hebron and Nancy Greene tried them on, went skiing, and they thought they were great. 

At Portillo, Jacobs repaired and rebuilt racers’ Lange boots then and there, and wrote copious reports home to the factory. As a result, the boot evolved, growing higher and stiffer. This is when the boot started to become popular with top racers. Nancy Greene started winning on the brand new World Cup circuit wearing Lange. That same year, Lange-Jacobs Inc was formed and in 1967 opened a small factory in St. Jerôme, near Montreal, to assemble the boots. 

This is where I became aware of him. After that company merged with Lange USA in 1969, David moved to Boulder, sat on the board of directors, and was the company's vice president from 1969-1972. During this time, he designed the first Lange competition ski boot, which became the hallmark of World Cup ski boots and predecessor to the Lange race boots used today. Jacobs's most lasting contribution, however, came after his coaching career ended. 

It's in 1978 that he started what would become a world-famous sportswear company right out of his Boulder kitchen. Stay with us for the rest of the story...

Trump and Infantino’s corruption

Setting aside national pride and bias (after all, I am a U.S. citizen), what can be said about the scandal Trump triggered by involving FIFA? While most Americans felt a sense of national pride and an instinct to defend "our team," the Trump-FIFA affair was fundamentally a matter of political interference in an international sports governing body, FIFA’s willingness to bypass its own rules, and the detrimental consequences for the fairness of the competition.

The central issue was not whether the red card issued to Balogun was harsh; it was simply the fact that a head of state took the liberty of successfully pressuring FIFA to overturn a sanction that, according to the regulations, was not subject to appeal. That is why global football authorities reacted so strongly. For those unaware of the facts or who do not recall them: Trump personally called FIFA President Gianni Infantino to ask him to review Folarin Balogun’s red card. 

He also acted hypocritically, ignoring the fact that Balogun’s case hinged precisely on citizenship by birthright—a practice Trump vehemently denounces. In response, FIFA rescinded the automatic one-match suspension by invoking Article 27—a rarely used clause allowing for the discretionary suspension of disciplinary measures. UEFA, Belgium, former FIFA officials, and numerous players and coaches were furious; they condemned the decision, describing it as "unprecedented," "incomprehensible," and a case of a "red line being crossed." 

Critics argue that this reversal undermined the tournament's integrity and set a dangerous precedent regarding political influence over officiating and disciplinary procedures; I fully share this view. The scandal is not about Balogun (the player), but about the future of sporting fairness. Smaller footballing nations (like Belgium) lack such leverage. 

Trump demonstrated consistently disastrous judgment by following his instincts: he cast the American team in a poor light and provoked such resentment that Belgium won out of sheer anger—even though the Americans were, on paper, highly competitive. 

His intervention highlighted a two-tier system: on one side, powerful nations capable of influencing outcomes, and on the other, the rest of the world forced to accept decisions they cannot challenge. This imbalance is precisely what global sports governance is meant to prevent; this is not a matter of ordinary football politics, but a crisis of governance and a case of blatant hypocrisy. 

Ill-gotten gains never prosper!

How fast are years aging us? (Part two)

Following our review of mortality risks and physical performance, we’ll turn today to organ function and biological markers. Recent research examining thousands of proteins, metabolites, and DNA markers has found that aging may proceed in "bursts" rather than at a perfectly steady rate. Some studies identified major biological transitions around: 

40–45 

60–65 

75–80 

The exact ages vary between studies, but the general finding is that biological systems often undergo periods of accelerated change rather than a smooth decline. Again, does aging double at 70? Not really, a more accurate description would be that the rate of decline for many bodily functions accelerates after 70, and often accelerates further after 80 and again after 90. If we tried to express this mathematically, there is no single multiplier. 

This table is a rough conceptual illustration. Different systems age at different rates: Then there a some people who seem to escape this which shows an enormous variability among older adults. At age 80, you can find people who, require daily assistance. hike mountains. ski regularly. travel internationally and learn new languages.
 

The difference is often explained by genetics (perhaps 20–30%), lifelong physical activity, smoking history, body composition, social engagement, cognitive stimulation, sleep quality and just plain luck! In fact, among healthy, active octogenarians, the trajectory often resembles that of people 10–15 years younger. 

In reality, aging is less like a car that accumulates one mile of wear per mile driven and more like a dam holding back water. For decades, tiny defects accumulate with little visible effect. Then, as reserves diminish, each additional defect has a larger impact. The body's resilience—its ability to recover from illness, injury, stress, or lack of sleep—declines. Many gerontologists consider loss of resilience to be one of the key indicators of advanced aging. 

That is why a 30-year-old may recover from a hard fall, flu, or sleepless night in days, whereas at 80 the same event can have consequences lasting weeks or months. So my friend's saying is not literally correct, but it captures a real phenomenon that after about age 70, and even more after 80, many aspects of aging become increasingly nonlinear because the body's reserves and repair capacity are shrinking. 

The body is not necessarily aging "twice as fast," but the effects of aging become progressively more visible and consequential.

How fast are years aging us? (Part one)

A friend of mine used to tell me: “When we get to be 70 our bodies age twice as fast as they used to…” I’ve always wondered if this French popular expression held a kernel of truth and if it was the case was the multiplier “two” correct at 70, but how much should it be upgraded at 75, 80, 85, 90 and further as we age. 

I wondered if there had been any studies made, what was objectively measured and what were the findings if any. After doing some research, I soon realized that my friend’s saying contained some figments of truth, but not in the literal sense that "the body suddenly ages twice as fast at 70." Researchers who study aging have found that aging is not linear. 

Many aspects of human physiology decline gradually for decades and then accelerate at certain milestones. However, the acceleration differs depending on what’s being measured. There are in fact at least four ways to measure aging: 

• Mortality risk (chance of dying within a given year) 
• Physical performance (strength, balance, walking speed, endurance) 
• Organ function (heart, lungs, kidneys, immune system, etc.) 
• Biological markers (DNA, proteins, inflammation, cellular changes) 

The above categories or aspects do not all age simultaneously. 

Starting with mortality risk, one of the most robust findings in demography is the Gompertz law, discovered in the 1820s. It shows that after adulthood, the risk of death increases approximately exponentially with age. A rough rule is that mortality risk doubles every 7–9 years after middle age. 

For example, if a healthy 60-year-old has a certain annual risk of death, at 68–69, that risk is about twice as high. At 76–78, it’s about four times as high, then at 84–87, it’s about eight times as high. This does not mean the body is aging twice as fast; it means the consequences of accumulated aging become increasingly apparent. 

In terms of physical capabilities, we see several bodily functions declining at an accelerated rate, starting with muscle mass and strength. After age 30, muscle mass declines slowly (about 3–8% per decade), but past age 60–70 the loss often accelerates significantly, with strength falling faster than muscle mass itself. 

This is why many people notice that, at 80, they may lose strength in a year that would have taken several years to lose at 50. Walking speed and balance both decline gradually until about 70, then the slope steepens after 75–80. These measures are among the best predictors of future health and longevity. 

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about how aging affects organ functions and other biological markers...

Getting rid of grudge (Part four)

My way to eradicating grudges began with chronologically walking my memory and making a list of the resentments I had towards specific people, grading them in intensity and stating the reasons. 

Symmetrically, I created a parallel list, including those I feel gratitude from, including mentors, friends, relatives, colleagues and even adversaries that planted in me the seed that made me who I am today. As you may already know, showing gratitude plays a major role when I meditate and having both lists helped me see that the gratitude list is longer and more consequential than the resentment list. 

The benefit of this entire exercise is that grudges often exist as a vague emotional cloud. Identifying them explicitly helps me turning them from something that unconsciously influences me into something I can see and examine consciously. There are however, two very different ways of establishing the list, either by creating a detailed inventory of offenses and repeatedly reliving them, not a helpful one, or treating it as an audit whose purpose is closure. Look at the example below.

The crucial questions are the last three listed. Instead of dwelling on, "How badly was I treated?", I gradually move toward "What exactly hurt me?", "What lesson did it teach me?", "What’s the reason for not forgiving now?". 

Many find that the actual offense is not the deepest wound, for example, a betrayal may conceal a need for recognition, A family conflict may hide a need for love. A professional slight may suggest wounded pride, A friendship rupture may hold back disappointment. Once the deeper wound is identified, the resentment often weakens considerably. 

At my age, there’s another dimension that’s worth noting. I discovered that some of the folks who hurt me were immature, as they acted out of fear, were carrying their own burdens, were badly sick or no longer alive. This doesn’t excuse their actions, but it often changes the emotional view. 

Many people my age also report an interesting shift; what once seemed like malice increasingly looks like human frailty and this can make forgiveness easier. When all entries are finished I suggest you try completing this sentence: "The event remains part of my history, but it no longer deserves space in my future." 

You don’t have to force yourself to feel forgiveness immediately, the objective is not to convince yourself that the hurt never mattered but it’s just to stop paying emotional interest on an old debt. In many ways, my approach resembles an end-of-life accounting process—not in a morbid sense, but in the sense of closing old books before moving on. 

Given my interest in meditation, gratitude, and continual self-improvement, the exercise becomes less a catalog of grievances and more a map of how life's difficulties helped shape the person I eventually became. 

In conclusion, holding onto resentment is like carrying a hot coal in the hand with the intention of throwing it at someone else, but meanwhile, our own hand is the one being burned. Just let go of all our grudges and good luck!

Getting rid of grudge (Part three)

Eradicating resentment and grudges from our lives, gives us greater peace of mind, less mental replaying of old events and just better relationships. All the resentment that we may harbor toward one person often spills into interactions with others. 

Releasing it makes us more open, patient, and generous. In addition, we become less vulnerable to having old wounds constantly reopened. Many people eventually quickly come to realize that those who harmed them were themselves driven by fear, ignorance, insecurity, or suffering. Understanding does not excuse behavior, but it can soften hatred. 

The stronger sense of freedom that comes with letting go, is perhaps the greatest benefit. Freedom is not simply being able to do what we want. It’s also being free from compulsions that enslave our inner life and resentment is precisely one of them. 

I’m not saying that there are situations where anger serves an important purpose. If someone is being abused, exploited, or mistreated, anger can signal that boundaries need to be established. Prematurely trying to "forgive and forget" can sometimes suppress legitimate needs for protection, accountability, or justice. I personally don’t believe that an immoral and outlaw person like Trump has to be forgiven before he pays for what he’s done. 

The healthiest sequence is often to recognize the injury, feel the emotions honestly and learn whatever lessons are necessary. What’s required is to establish appropriate boundaries, then release the resentment. This is where I find the process of forgiveness directly connected to my practice of meditation. I feel gratitude, appreciation for those who shaped my life. 

Then comes my desire to make the latter years of my life a kind of crescendo of personal growth, letting go of grudges align naturally with that effort. Many discover that gratitude and resentment compete for the same mental space. 

The more deeply one appreciates the gifts, lessons, and relationships that have formed one's life, the harder it becomes to remain preoccupied with old grievances. That does not mean becoming naïve or passive. It means choosing which experiences deserve continued residence in your mind. 

In the next blog I’ll propose a step by step process to prepare that change and give it a solid chance to succeed!

Getting rid of grudge (Part two)

Erasing resentment from our crowded minds generally works pretty well because several mechanisms seem to be involved. The first is that we finally stop fighting reality. Typically, a painful event occurred. It shouldn’t have, but it did. 

Our mind often spends years arguing with a fact that cannot be changed. Letting go means acknowledging reality without having to approve of it and this frees enormous mental energy. 

Next, it’s easy to see that as long as our emotional state depends on someone else's apology, punishment, or transformation, part of our well-being remains in their hands. By releasing resentment, we reclaim ownership of our inner life. 

That’s precisely when the message becomes: "What happened was wrong, but I refuse to let it poison my present." At this point, our stress physiology settles down as anger, and grievance activate threat-related systems in the body. The result of repeatedly replaying injuries can maintain elevated stress responses, muscle tension, vigilance, and emotional reactivity. 

When the grievance loses its emotional grip, the body often relaxes as well. At that moment, attention becomes available again. We all know that attention is a limited resource that will finally be able to return to us as extra energy. 

This additional source of energy can be redirected toward our relationships, creativity, helping others, learning, spiritual endeavors and just enjoying life. In essence, forgiveness is not giving something to the offender but it’s recovering something for us! 

Tomorrow we’ll see what kind of benefits will come to us…

Getting rid of grudge (Part one)

 

If there is an operation that costs next to nothing and can relieve us from a heavy and continuous burden, it has to be the simple fact of extinguishing grudge, bitterness, hostility, desire for revenge, rancor, enmity and ill-will, to name just a few. These emotions often function like a form of psychological debt. 

They require energy to maintain. The mind repeatedly revisits old injuries, reconstructs conversations, imagines alternative outcomes, or rehearses punishments for those who have wronged us. Even when we are not consciously thinking about the offense, part of our emotional system often remains mobilized around it. 

Of course, I’m not suggesting excusing wrongdoing, forgetting what happened, reconciling with an unsafe person, or abandoning justice. It is primarily an internal act: refusing to continue carrying the emotional burden. Resentment feels heavy to us because when we’re hurt, our minds often conclude: 

"This should not have happened." 

"Someone owes me." 

"Things would be better if they suffered as I suffered." 

"I cannot be at peace until this is corrected." 

And it’s precisely these thoughts that can keep us psychologically attached to the injury and our attention to the past, the event may be over, but your emotional system continues to invest resources in it. When we can’t remove ourselves from these experiences, it always requires more time, maturity and a more intense understanding before we discover that the person we’re punishing most effectively is just ourselves. 

Next time, we’ll attempt to understand how this mental liberation actually operates, so please stay with me!

Pierrot Vernay, 1947-2026

Pierrot passed away on June 23 at age 78. We grew up together as we went to the same grade school, but I didn’t know much about him. I for sure never played with him. His parents were Julien and Olga and he was the elder of three kids in our village baker’s household. 

I’m not writing this because we literally grew up at the same time, but because our childhood happened in two very different silos. He didn’t seem to be a great student and one day his parents must have told him “You’ll be a baker like your Dad, and one day you’ll take over the family business…” without asking what he liked and what he wanted to be. Either fireman, carpenter, airplane pilot or dentist. 

Nope, I can comfortably assume that the question was never asked and he was given no other option. True, none of my parents either asked me that question. What would have Pierrot done if he had the option to pursue his true aspirations? No one will know, but still, he was put to hard work at 14, he spent his life making bread, baking it and feeding us and the growing number of visiting tourists. 

Over the years, I’ve seen him many times waiting on customers behind his counter when his wife Henriette or his mum weren’t available. For lack of a good reason we had not interaction other than “Hello, thank you, goodbye”. 

At retirement, he was totally exhausted, he closed down his bakery and continued living in the same building and complemented his retirement and savings by selling firewood he had prepared for our visitors. 

Did he die happy, fulfilled and having accomplished everything he ever dreamed of? I don’t know and will never have the answer to that question. Adieu, Pierrot!

Let’s take a break!

Sometimes, I fell like literally “running out of gas” and I wonder what are the virtues and the benefits of just "taking a break" from the daily routine? 

Taking a break might end the cycle of chronic stress, reset our brain's processing power, and prevents psychological burnout. It could also shifts our nervous system out of a constant "fight-or-flight" state and place it into a restorative phase. It’s pretty obvious that constant attention drains our working memory. A brief freeze in our routine should recharges our ability to concentrate more deeply. 

Scientists say that stepping away activates the brain's "default mode network." This is the subconscious state where our mind connects unrelated ideas and solves complex problems, like sleep does to a certain degree. It’s also easy to understand that relentless daily choices degrade the quality of our judgment. Pausing also preserves our willpower, mental stamina as well as enhances our sinking memory (we could all use some of this, these days!). 

Some also claim that our brain requires downtime to process, categorize, and store new information learned during our busy routine, and this sounds perfectly logical. Since we all love talking about our hormones, stepping away is also supposed to drop stress hormones like cortisol. This directly can reduce physical tension, lower blood pressure, and boost our immune functions. I’ve also read that taking a big break can rebuild our emotional resilience by reducing both irritability and anxiety. 

With this we get more emotional space to respond to challenges rather than just react. Wow! Not only this, but it should improve our sleep quality as it detaches us from daily stressors and quiets our our mind from racing at night, leading to deeper sleep cycles. I like it! Pausing the noise of a routine is also said to allow us to check in with our deep feelings, goals, and physical health needs. 

Finally, if our timetable won’t let us take a huge, big break, there’s always the “micro-breaks” that can work small miracles in our physical environment. For instance, just move to a different room or step outside. I’m not saying light up a Marlboro! 

A visual shift signals to our brain that work has paused. Let’s make sure to leave our phone in another room so we don’t have the temptation to scroll, which, as we all know, depletes us totally of mental energy. Non-cognitive tasks like spending 10 minutes doing something that requires zero deep thought, like stretching, walking, or staring out a window. 

I kind of like these micro-breaks and short of taking that week long retreat I know I’ll never get to, I’ll begin there by incorporating them in my daily routine! 

Sharpening our scissors!

To segue in the cutting department, I’ve been wanting for a very long time to learn how to sharpen the disabled scissors that have become useless all over my house. 

This past weekend, I finally broke the spell of inaction, rolled up my sleeves, looked for ideas, found out what was needed, did the job, tested it and I now enjoy a stable of rejuvenated scissors that are hungry to sink their blades into all kinds of materials. 

There are quick and simple ways to sharpen dull household scissors using household items like using a knife sharpening rod, a thin grit file, diamond or stone files. Sure, for a lasting, professional edge, the best is to sometimes (not always) disassemble the scissors and use a sharpening stone or dedicated file to gently hone the beveled edges. A quicker way to restore scissors often begins by cleaning them. 

Wipe down their blades with rubbing alcohol to remove the sticky residue that settles around them. Then, find the bevel and identify its angle or slope, on the outside of each blade. 

Sharpen by placing the blade flat against the knife sharpening rod, a thin grit file or a sharpening stone, making sure the tool is angled to match the bevel. Use a consistent motion to stroke the blade across the stone from base to tip (away from the edge) repeated times. 

Deburr by feeling the back of the blade for a slight "burr", using a thin file, close and open the scissors a few times, or scrape a fine file or ceramic rod gently to remove any remaining burr. 

Better yet, watch the video to open your eyes to that deceptively simple repair. That’s it, you will have discovered that you won’t have to buy new scissors again! 

Gérard Brémond, 1937-2026

Born in the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt on 22 September 1937,Brémond met the 1960 Olympic champion Jean Vuarnet † in the early60s and with him developed the Avoriaz ski resort near Montriond, my home town.

This new ski spot wasn’t easy to conceive and develop given its extremely rugged setting and terrain. In fact, Avoriaz came to be asa perfect confluence that happened from a resort concept without automobiles, just like Zermatt (Vuarnet’s idea) and the integration of the architecture that would seamlessly hug the cliffs and the natural surroundings (Bremond’s vision). 

He didn't follow the easy path of developing resorts along the line of  Les Arcs, La Plagne, Flaine or Le Corbier that were totally unimaginative and, let’s admit it, woefully cheap looking and ugly. 

Instead, Brémond seeked a creative architectural team headed by Jacques Labro, Jean-Jacques Orzoni, and Jean-Marc Roques that made the site unique in its field, and probably ended up costing much more than planned, given its complexity when it opened up in 1967. 

Eventually, it evolved into simpler, easier to build buildings as it expanded. In 1973, Brémond introduced the "Pierre & Vacances" vacation lodging concept that went on to achieve remarkable success, barely slowed by the 2020 COVID pandemic. 

Although I never had any personal contact with Gérard Brémond, his pivotal role in the creation of Avoriaz had a positive influence on my young years and played a significant role in launching my professional career. He also leaves behind a legacy of construction projects that innovated the leisure and tourism industry, while remaining closely integrated with their natural surroundings.

A tough, white beard (Part two)

 

Beyond natural wear, several hidden factors cause blades to give out too soon. Leaving your razor in a damp shower causes microscopic rust (oxidation) that eats away at the blade's edge before you use it again. 

In addition a little patience helps: Shaving dry or without adequately softening the hair creates intense physical resistance, which causes the ultra-thin steel to bend and chip rather than slice cleanly. If, like I do, you live in an area with hard water, mineral deposits can leave microscopic debris on the blade's edge, increasing friction and dulling its power. 

Then it’s crucial to rinse out hair, shaving cream, and dead skin cells after each pass, as these corrosive elements get trapped against the metal, accelerating breakdown. Good intentions often lead us pressing the shaver down too hard on the skin and force the blade's sharp edge to violently scrape the skin rather than glide across the surface, which causes the edge to micro-chip. Finally, I’ve found this advice on Reddit helpful and I might try to follow it. 

Clearly, water is the enemy. Finicky people will use a hairdryer on high for 10-15 seconds to evaporate micro-drops from the blade. Some men dip their razor head in a small container of Athena Club rubbing alcohol or mineral oil between shaves to prevent moisture corrosion. Plenty of water will soften your hair following a shower. A high-quality pre-shave oil will reduce hair stiffness, giving the blade an easier job. I am using shaving cream, but how it interacts with the blade depends heavily on its ingredients and how it’s rinsed. 

Blades can easily get clogged with heavy oils, silicones, and thick emollients that form a stubborn film that’s difficult to rinse off. Some aerosol gels and creams also contain propellants or high alcohol content that will accelerate the degradation of the blade. Too thick a lather can trap water against the cutting edge even after a quick rinse, leading to microscopic rust, so it's always a good idea to rinse the razor frequently under hot, running water during your shave to liquefy and dislodge soap residue. 

Don’t forget the backside and direct the water stream there as well to push out trapped cream and hair. Finally don’t just wipe the blade edge with a towel or finger to remove cream, as this can bend and dull the microscopic edge, instead dunk the blade head in rubbing alcohol after your final rinse to completely dissolve remaining soap films and displace water. 

If you apply all these tips, you’re a Saint, and have just wasted twice as much of your precious time shaving instead of doing fun things!

A tough, white beard! (Part One)

Because my beard is white, I decided that it was a wonderful excuse for shaving as often, and since I’ve adopted this (dubious) habit I’ve observed that I’ve gone through more blades. 

After investigating the situation, I’ve learned that white beard hair goes through razor blades faster due to its lack of melanin (pigment), which makes the individual strands structurally more wiry, brittle, and significantly tougher to cut without chipping the blade. 

The main reasons for this accelerated dulling include: 

Micro-Chipping: Scientific studies show that human beard hair can be nearly as strong as copper wire of the same thickness. Because white hair is brittle, it acts against the microscopic edge of a razor like a hard fiber, causing tiny micro-fractures and chips rather than smoothly slicing through. 

Longer Growth Time: Waiting longer to shave means cutting significantly longer and denser hairs. When a beard grows out for several days, it requires multiple passes, causing friction and quickly wearing down the blade's delicate edge. 

Corrosion Over Time: If you aren't shaving often, your razor might be sitting out in the humid bathroom environment for extended periods. Even "stainless" steel is highly vulnerable to microscopic rust and corrosion when left wet between shaves, which accounts for up to a third of blade dulling 

This said, premature dulling isn't always a sign of a cheap or defective blade; it largely comes down to environmental damage, friction, and your prep routine. Tomorrow we’ll try to explore what happens in that area...

Automotive treasure in the sun

 

One of my neighbors could be called an eccentric. That might start with his pair of St. Bernard dogs that are quite a sight when he walks them and they love to get close to us, get petted while drooling all over our legs and chests. 

In addition to these animals however, the man has quite a collection of sports cars that he loves to literally pile up inside the three garages that his house include elaborate car stackers. 

As we walked by the other morning by his house on the golf course, four of his cars were on display in front of his house, like we see laundry hung in front of Mediterranean houses. 

I snapped a picture and then asked AI to identify the vehicles and give me an estimate of their worth. I check with two (2) AI sources and I retained the most conservative estimates: 

1. The Silver Convertible (Far Left, Driveway) is a Ferrari 360 Spider, produced from 2001 to 2005 carrying an estimated market value from $80,000 to $130,000, even north of $150,000 if it’s a factory 6-speed gated manual version. 

2. The Vintage Red Targa (Middle Left, Driveway) is another Ferrari Dino 246 GTS, made from 1972 to 1974, worth between $350,000 to $550,000, the absolute crown jewel of that collection. 

3. The Metallic Silver Convertible (Right, Driveway) is also a Ferrari 458 Spider made between 2012 and 2015 that’s worth from $220,000 to $280,000. Some low-mileage, pristine examples can push up toward over $350,000. 

4. The Dark Blue Metallic Convertible (Foreground, Street) is obviously a Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet (997.1 or 997.2 Generation) made between 2008 and 2012, worth from $85,000 to $140,000. 

The total estimated value of that display collection amounts roughly from $735,000 to over $1,100,000, depending entirely on the respective mileage and whether the manual-transmission premiums apply to the 360 and the 991. 

This still pales in comparison to the house that would easily fetch around $4 million! From what I know, that now divorced septuagenarian who owns all that stuff used to be a divorce lawyer in Hollywood, so that might give those considering divorcing an inkling as to where a large portion of the couple’s wealth is going to vaporize...

Creativity, time and money…

It’s astonishing how far creativity alone can take us! The right idea doesn’t just make a difference — it changes the entire equation. Like a veggie garden, an idea thrives when it has time, the right environment, and a bit of tender care. Under those conditions, money becomes the least important ingredient. 

Creativity designs the path, time matures it, and money simply tags along if needed. Hard to argue against that. True, creativity is the ultimate force multiplier. When it’s present, time becomes an ally, and money becomes optional rather than essential. Ideas grow the way living things grow — not by force, but by conditions. 

Good ideas are cheap. Good environments are priceless. In fact creativity is not just the spark, it’s the architecture. It’s true that most people think creativity is the “aha moment”, but the real magic is that creativity designs the path so that time and money don’t have to work as hard. 

We all have different levels of creativity, and natural talent for that resource can vary widely, but anyone can be creative and find ideas in just avoiding waste, bypassing obstacles, re-framing most daily problems and turning constraints into advantages. It’s not just the seed — it’s the blueprint. As for time, it’s not a passive entity, it’s a real ingredient. 

Do like I do, treat time like soil, and that’s exactly right. Time reveals to us what’s essential, it filters out the noise, matures most ideas, eventually exposes shortcuts that weren’t visible at the start. If money can accelerate, time does transform. Money is the least creative resource and this is the part that people rarely want to admit. It only solves problems by adding, while creativity solves problems by subtracting. 

 If money buys hard work and effort, creativity buys elegance and it always wins in the long run. When I add “well intended”, I mean that intent is the hidden nutrient that’s also the quiet heart of the idea. In fact, intent keeps the idea aligned, prevents ego from hijacking the process and ensures that the result feels meaningful, not mechanical. 

A creative idea without good intent is just a weed. With good intent, it turns into a garden!

Jacques Martin, 1944-2026

Jacques Martin passed away on June 15 at age 81. He was one of three partners in Sidas, a company founded in 1975 by three French ski instructors, including him, Loïc David and Gaby Pellicot and based near Grenoble, France. 

 David, the company’s visionary, got the idea from seeing a human footprint on some Hawaiian beach and thought that similarly looking molded insoles would make ski boots far more comfortable. Lacking specialized tools, he famously molded his very first prototype inside a kitchen oven dish. 

This initial ingenuity grew into SIDAS, and the subsequent launch of their Conformable brand, which became synonymous with custom footbeds. It later expanded into the medical fields as well as into sport-shoes. 

In 2003 as the founders retired, the company was sold to a new management group that is still running it to this date. Before that transfer, Jacques Martin was the administrative and financial guy, while Loïc David was the front marketing man and Gaby Pellicot handled the technical and production side of the enterprise. 

When I was distributing Koflach in the US in the mid 90s, I seriously considered becoming the distributor for Sidas in America, and was in close contact with Jacques and Loïc for a while, but in the end, I decided against it as I determined that the business potential was too limited for the work involved.

Getting to know meditation (Part Four)

Even though the downsides of meditation are few and far between (I haven’t experienced any) much, they remain a possibility. Rather paradoxically, meditation can sometimes initially increase anxiety. When people stop distracting themselves, they may become more aware of fears, worries and unresolved emotions and while it’s temporary for some, it can be distressing for others. 

Meditation can also uncover grief, trauma, shame and unresolved conflicts, something that’s not necessarily harmful, but that can be overwhelming without proper support. 

Beginners sometimes believe they are meditating when they are actually worrying, replaying arguments or obsessing over problems and this can reinforce distress rather than reduce it as they would hope. 

A small minority also experience feeling detached from themselves, disconnected from reality with a sense that the world is unreal ; these effects are usually temporary but could be frightening to some. Practitioners could also become less engaged with family, work and relationships as meditation is taken as an excuse for disengagement. 

There’s also the case of practitioners avoiding difficult conversations, therapy, emotional work and using "acceptance" as an excuse to ignore problems. More concerning is excessive self-focus as some individuals become overly preoccupied with their thoughts, emotions and their inner states. Instead of increasing freedom, practice can become self-absorption. 

Ironically, meditation is found to sometimes increase self-criticism if expectations are unrealistic. Interestingly, long-term practitioners often describe a different outcome as meditation does not necessarily make their life easier but enhances their experiences. That increased visibility can feel pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant depending on what is being observed. 

I must admit that I’ve never felt any of these negative effects. I must be just a very lucky guy!

Getting to know meditation (Part Three)

Under its most various forms and iterations, meditation isn't a black and white practice, nor does it have clear benefits and drawbacks. As we’ve seen, "Meditation" encompasses hundreds of practices—from focused-attention techniques and mindfulness to mantra repetition, Zen, loving-kindness, transcendental meditation, and intensive retreat practices. Their effects overlap, but they are not identical. 

A useful way to think about meditation is that it is a mental training method that can produce benefits, neutral effects, or occasionally adverse effects depending on the individual, the technique, the intensity, and the context. 

The strongest evidence of well-documented benefits comes from mindfulness-based interventions and related practices that have been studied in clinical settings. Most consistently, practitioners report feeling less overwhelmed, recovering more quickly from stressful events, less emotional reactivity and greater ability to pause before responding. 

Then, there’s improved attention and concentration as well as better emotional regulation as experienced practitioners often develop greater awareness of emotions before those emotions become overwhelming. Specifically, less impulsive anger and rumination, greater emotional stability and increased tolerance of difficult feelings. 

Anxiety symptoms also are reduced, even though meditation is not a cure for anxiety disorders, but many studies show meaningful reductions in generalized anxiety, worry and stress-related symptoms. In a related category, one of the strongest clinical applications of meditation is preventing relapse in recurrent depression in which practitioners often become better at recognizing negative thought loops before becoming trapped in them. In terms of health benefits, while meditation generally does not eliminate pain, it often changes pain perception, suffering associated with pain and lessens emotional reaction to chronic pain. 

There are also modest improvements in blood pressure, cardiovascular risk factors and stress-related physiological responses. Finally, many experience shorter time to fall asleep, less pre-sleep rumination and improved overall sleep quality. Surveys have shown that effects vary considerably between individuals. Many report noticing habits sooner, recognizing recurring emotional patterns and understanding personal motivations more clearly. There’s also increased compassion and empathy, greater patience and improved interpersonal relationships.

Tomorrow, we’ll check the downsides...

Getting to know meditation (Part Two)

Meditation isn’t easily defined. To begin with, there are hundreds of techniques, but most practitioners fall into a few categories. On top stands mindfulness meditation (currently the fastest-growing), followed by mantra meditation (better known as Transcendental Meditation), Zen meditation, Vipassanā (insight) meditation, loving-kindness (Metta) meditation, yoga-based meditation and Christian contemplative prayer (see chart).

At what age do people begin? This varies by culture. In traditional cultures with strong Buddhist or Hindu traditions, many children are introduced before the age of 10, with formal training beginning in adolescence. In modern Western countries, people begin much later, between an individual’s 20s to 50s, which is the most common starting period. 

Often entering the practice is triggered by stress, illness, burnout, or a life transition. In the US, meditation users are disproportionately middle-aged adults. You can wonder if meditation usually become a lifetime practice and the answer is yes, at least traditionally. In Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist, and contemplative Christian traditions, meditation is generally viewed as a lifelong discipline, similar to physical exercise or prayer. 

However, modern secular meditation is different as many practitioners meditate for stress reduction and many quite once the immediate problem improves while others yet cycle in and out of practice. Research on meditation apps consistently finds that long-term adherence is difficult. There’s no single global figure, but dropout rates are high. Depending on the program, short mindfulness courses often lose from 20 to 50% of their participants before completion.

Meditation apps frequently lose the majority of users within a few months and only a minority maintain a daily practice for years. In the US, one large study showed that about 79% of people who had ever meditated had also practiced within the previous year, suggesting many continue at least intermittently, so meditation is not usually abandoned completely, but consistent daily practice is much rarer than occasional one.

In the next blog, we’ll explores the most well-know and also potential drawbacks of the practice...

Getting to know meditation (Part One)

For almost six and a half years I’ve been meditating without missing one single day. I had begun in 1969, dropping off and restarting for short periods every now and then. With that in mind, don’t jump to the conclusion that meditation is addictive, because it’s generally not considered pathological, though some people become attached to the pleasant mental states it can produce. 

It’s simply hard to stick to it for a wide variety of reasons. Yes, there are hundreds of millions of people who meditate worldwide and the practice is gaining rapidly more followers, especially in the mindfulness category. Unlike myself, most people can’t maintain a strict daily practice for long periods of time as dropout rates are substantial, especially during the first few months after they get started. 

Meditating begins anywhere from childhood (in traditional cultures) to middle age (in secular settings like our Western world). Reliable country-by-country statistics exist only for some nations; the highest participation appears in countries where meditation is integrated into religious and cultural life (see table). 

The biggest uncertainty lies in Asia, where meditation is often embedded within religious life and may not be measured separately from prayer, temple attendance, yoga, or other spiritual practices. For countries such as India, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, China, and Japan, the cultural importance of meditation is clear, but rigorous nationally representative prevalence figures are surprisingly scarce. 

One interesting conclusion from the available data is that modern secular countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States now report meditation participation rates comparable to—or sometimes higher than—those measured in many traditionally Buddhist countries, depending on how "meditation" is defined, which is a dimension we’ll explore in the next blog.

Barbecue spring cleaning

A few days ago, I received a postcard from Bar-B-Clean, a local franchise inviting me to have someone come to my house to clean our patio barbecue, so I wouldn’t have to get my hands dirty. I did it myself last year and must admit that it’s not one of my favorite chores!

In addition to that, Americans love to have someone to inspect, repair if necessary and lube their bicycles before riding season or “detail” their car right at their home, so why not their sacrosanct summer grill? I checked the prices and for an average size barbecue like ours, it would cost us from $250 to $350. 

What might influence an exact final quote include the size of the device. For instance a larger or built-in grills might exceed $800. If something additional might be required, just plan on a base rate of $125 per hour and parts. 

The company utilizes deep steam cleaning and degreasing so the inside of the grill is free of residue and completely clean to the touch. 

With about $25 in supplies, my wife and I (almost) did as good a job in less than 2 hours that afternoon. 

Our grill doesn’t quite look brand new, but still is very clean and saved ourselves a pretty $275!

Park City’s last patch of snow

Same thing every year. June 16 holds a special significance to me. On that day in 1985 as I was house-hunting and had rented a large camcorder to shoot a movie of the house we bought in Park City, for my wife to see and hopefully, get her stamp of approval. 

There was a bull-eye window in the house, and through it, I accidentally captured Jupiter Peak with a tiny snow patch left just below the summit, just like you can see on the picture below! 

What’s amazing is that this winter was our worst snow year ever, and yet after an excellent 1984-1985 snow season, we have as much snow left this year not to mention even more around the main bowl and Portuguese Gap, thanks to some cool weather in April, May and June. 

Amazing isn’t it?

 

Disappointing skier visits!

At long last, I just heard about Utah’s skier visit numbers for the 2025-2026 winter season. At just 4.8 million (an amount rounded up it seems, to suggest a bit less in reality) this represents a drop of 26.2 % for our 15 ski resorts compared to the previous season, a significant decline, even more than Colorado’s down by 24%. 

It was also a large drop-off from the record-setting 7.1 million visits recorded when Utah received a record-high snowfall during the 2022-2023 season. A Ski Utah spokesperson said that “...The big takeaway from this year is that it really is just an anomaly, and the ski industry here in Utah is really at the mercy of Mother Nature.” 

I wish I could agree that it’s just an “anomaly” when in fact, I believe, it’s more the beginning of a trend, showing that global warming is here to stay, should be taken much more seriously and won’t go away any time soon. 

Historically, Utah experienced its lowest snow-pack on record, which reflects the amount of water in new snowfall, but many resorts also struggled to maintain operations because of record-warm temperatures throughout most of the winter. Long, warm periods between storms and warmer precipitation that produced more rain in higher-elevation areas than is the case typically, while also making it difficult for them to produce artificial snow. 

What this dismal season tells me is something about politics. Short-sighted politicians are woefully unable to address long-term needs, like global warming and have no problem sacrificing long-term solutions for short-term gains. Not only in the US where Trump and his republican allies are turning their back to the environment, but also in Europe where the sacrifices required from a sound climate protection strategy seem unaffordable in their short-term lens.

Finding good information today (Part Five)

We all want to “develop a sound opinion” and today we’ll talk about a framework that will move us out of tribal narratives. We’ll start with the problem, not the positions by asking: 

• “What is the underlying issue?” 
• “What are the incentives of the actors involved?” 
• “What constraints shape their behavior?” 

We then identify the trade-offs, not the “right answer” Every real issue has costs, benefits, winners and losers. So, sound opinions come from mapping trade-offs, not picking sides. Nothing, for the most part, is ever black and white, plus constant mistakes are the background and fabric of our lives. 

Then we’re ready to separate the facts from the interpretations, as facts are verifiable, interpretations are narratives and predictions just guesses, while most media love to blend all three. In the end, let’s remember that we’re not looking for “news”, we’re looking for meaning, and meaning doesn’t come from volume. 

Instead it comes from context, synthesis, reflection, conversation and frameworks. If this discussion subject interests us, it also shows that we’ve already had the instinct for this, and what we need to build and be comfortable with, is a structure that protects our attention and channels our curiosity. 

The resources are overwhelming, so pick a selection you feel comfortable handling and stick to it. Good luck!

Finding good information today (Part Four)

In this section, we’ll see how to keep a critical view. If we want a method for keeping a critical view (without becoming cynical), we should say that critical thinking isn’t skepticism but a form of structured curiosity. 

Here’s a simple method we can apply to any issue; let’s call it the “The 5-Question Filter”. When we encounter a piece of news, let’s ask ourselves 

• “Is this important or just urgent?” 
• “Is this new information or recycled garbage?” 
• “What long-term trend does this connect to?” 
• “What would change in my life if I ignored this?” 
• “What is the strongest argument against the position presented?” 

If a story fails questions 1–3, we can safely let it go and ignore it. Then, use the “two sources, two perspectives” rule, for any issue we want to understand: We begin by reading one mainstream source, then we read one outsider or contrarian source. 

We read one left-leaning analysis, followed by one right-leaning analysis. We don’t do it to “balance” but to triangulate. Finally, we learn the “slow opinion” principle in which when an issue is emotionally charged we wait 48 hours before forming an opinion, as most early takes are either wrong, incomplete, or manipulated. 

If that sounds like luxury, it is as I don’t have quite that time at my disposal! In the next blog we’ll discover a method for forming sound opinions, so we’re not done yet.

Finding good information today (Part Three)

It’s pretty clear that faced with the information mess that is besieging us, we must build a personal information architecture, so instead of asking “What’s the right media?”, we should ask “What information do I need to live well, think clearly, and act meaningfully?” 

Based on that premise, we could structure our inputs around these questions. It begins with three tiers of information working as an effective filter: 

Tier 1 — Structural information (high value, low noise) These are long-term forces that actually shape our world. They are demographics, economics, technology, climate, geopolitics and institutions. Good sources for these, I am told, are The Economist (weekly magazine), the Financial Times (weekend edition), Foreign Affairs (magazine, 6 issues a year), MIT Technology Review (bi-monthly magazine) and long-form podcasts (Ezra Klein, Sean Carroll, Conversations with Tyler). Currently, I don’t subscribe and never read any of these, except the Economist on occasions. I will have to seriously look into these. 

Tier 2 — Curated analysis (medium value, medium noise) These are designed to help us interpret events without drowning in them: They are newsletters by domain experts, Substack writers we trust (online publishing platform that allows writers, podcasters, and video creators to publish content directly to their audiences via email newsletters and a dedicated website). There are think-tank explainers (Brookings, RAND, CSIS) that should be just skimmed. 

Tier 3 — Daily news (low value, high noise) This is what I use and according to the experts where the rabbit holes live. Again a “rabbit hole” is a situation where a seemingly simple inquiry leads to a complex, time-consuming chain of related discoveries, making it difficult to stop exploring or return to your original task. A list of these daily news sites are AP News, Reuters, the BBC and NPR Morning Briefing. 

These are factual, low-drama, low-spin and AP News as well as NPR are part of my daily news diet and are likely to remain that way. In the next blog, we’ll try to focus on keeping a direct and simple critical view...

Finding good information today (Part Two)

Yesterday, we wondered about finding a structured, practical way to gather good information, not necessarily a list of “better media outlets,” but a system that helps us stay informed without drowning. The fact is that today, as we seek good information, there are three forces are working against us: 

• A. The firehose problem By far, the worst of all problems, too much information, too intensively. News is no longer a daily digest; it’s a 24/7 stream optimized for engagement, not to make us think or provide us with insight as it creates constant novelty, shallow context, emotional overload and the illusion that everything is urgent. As a result, our brain is doing triage all day without having the time necessary to digest the information it encounters. 
• B. The fragmentation problem Every issue is broken into micro‑controversies, each with its own rabbit hole. This is a perfect recipe for ending up with more information, more data scattered all over, less meaning, more uncertainty and far less confidence. 
• C. The actionability gap By “actionable”, I mean providing the necessary information, tools, or grounds to produce an immediate, practical outcome. 

With this in mind, it’s also true that most news is not actionable, nor is it relevant to our life and totally disconnected to long-term trends, resulting as we finish reading that nothing has really changed. 

To address these points, we’ll explore in our next blog how we can develop a much better way to develop a mode of gathering information that is useful to us. So please, stay tuned!

Finding good information today (Part One)

I find it increasingly difficult to find good enough information that makes me think and help me develop a sound opinion about daily issues, whether they be political or societal. There is so much going on everywhere that the sorting of what’s important, useful and better yet actionable becomes increasingly difficult to wrestle with. 

All this is what pushes me to wonder if there’s a better way to get to the essentials without having the impression of having wasted my time by getting led to rabbit holes that deepen my uncertainties without improving my understanding? I’m asking where’s the right media, where do I find it and how do I keep a critical view? 

I feel that I’m describing something many of us feel right now: the sense that information is abundant but understanding is scarce. Not because we lack curiosity or intelligence, but because the modern information environment is engineered to fragment attention, amplify noise, and reward emotional reaction over reflective judgment. 

Before we go deeper into our search for solutions, here’s just a concise takeaway: Some ways we can regain clarity is by narrowing our inputs or sources of information, structuring how you consume the news, and adopting a deliberate method for forming opinions that resists the pull of the daily news cycle. This is what we’ll start exploring in our next blog.

The importance of good parenting (Part Two)

In the previous post, I made it pretty clear that the people best equipped to raise children are the ones directly responsible for them — whether they are parents, single caregivers, foster families, or, when life demands it, grandparents. 

This responsibility cannot be outsourced to schools, nor delegated to the screens of tablets and smartphones. Raising a child is not only a privilege; it is a duty. And with that duty comes accountability. Too often, when a young person causes harm, the entire weight of the consequence falls on the child alone, as if they were raised in a vacuum. 

But children act within the framework adults create for them. Until legal majority, the parent and child form a single moral and educational unit: the parent shapes, the child acts, and both share responsibility for the outcome. 

This means that when a minor causes damage, the consequences — whether financial reparation, community service, or other sanctions — should be borne jointly. Not because parents are to blame for every misstep, but because shared consequences reinforce shared responsibility. 

They encourage parents to stay engaged and teach children that their actions affect more than just themselves. It also acts as a dissuasive factor that discourages the abdication of parental authority. Of course, real life is more complex than any principle on paper. Many parents struggle with overwhelming circumstances. But acknowledging complexity does not erase responsibility; it simply means society must support parents so they can fulfill it. 

Without a renewed culture of parental engagement, there is little reason to expect meaningful improvement. Accountability begins at home — and so does hope.

The importance of good parenting (Part One)

Recent, grave incidents in France, and indeed across the world, show a troubling disengagement of parents from their most critical role: raising children. This responsibility cannot be outsourced to schools, nor delegated to the screens of tablets and smartphones. 

Parents must recognize that they are not only legally liable for their children’s actions until adulthood, but also morally responsible for shaping their values, resilience, and empathy. Institutions — schools, churches, synagogues, mosques — may support, but they cannot replace the parental role.

What children need most is presence: attentive, consistent, and engaged parents who choose to listen rather than scroll, who model responsibility rather than distraction. Parenting is hard work, but it is also the most irreplaceable investment in the future. 

Liability is only the surface; the deeper truth is that parents hold the privilege of shaping lives in ways no other institution can, and if they relinquish that job no one else will, and it’s disheartening to me when I see that too few voices in politics and in social circles even think that way! 

Modern life is very demanding when both parents have to work in order to afford the lifestyle they want, but somehow there has to be enough room left to pay more attention to the young lives that only have their family to count on in order to follow by example and to gain priceless insights they’ll carry with them all their life. 

It’s certainly not worth leaving that job to the screens of tablets and smartphones, when adults prefer to splurge on senseless social media and TV programs. Next time, we’ll see how a well organized and sound society should deal with that concerning reality.

Experience vs. Openness (Part two)

Today, we’ll sketch a simple framework — almost like a checklist — so we can see how to decide when to trust experience versus when to challenge it. This, of course, will be affected by our personal threshold of risk. Still, it’s a quick 3‑step flow that we can run through in real time. 

Step 1 — Asks: “Is this familiar?” If the situation resembles something we’ve faced before, the experience is a strong and reliable guide. If, on the contrary, it feels new or unprecedented, we should take a good pause before applying old solutions. 

Step 2 — Ask: “Does my past fit the present?” Check whether the context has changed (technology, people, culture, timing). If it’s not the case and the environment is different, experience may bias us toward outdated answers. 

Step 3 — Ask: “What’s the cost of being wrong?” If the stakes are low, experiment that option, try something new and see where it leads us. If the stakes are high, we still need to lean more on proven experience — but still invite fresh input. 

This exercise should show us that on balance, if experience is the guardrails we need, it does keep us safe, efficient and resilient. On the other hand, openness means a growth opportunity to keep us adaptive, curious and innovative. 

The not-so-obvious conclusion (or the “art” in this exercise) is knowing when to let one lead and the other support. We could think of it like walking with two tools: experience as our compass and openness as our map. The compass keeps you oriented, but the map shows new terrain.