In order to reduce (I’m not even thinking of getting rid of it altogether) our carbon footprint, we should turn our automobile fleet into electric vehicles (EV), but even though we now see more EVs on our roads, this too seems like an impossible task.
Consider this, based on the latest available data, there are over 280 million cars, SUVs, and light trucks on our US roads. This number includes all types of vehicles, including both personal and commercial vehicles. In contrast to that huge number there might be 3 million EVs on the road, so just 1%.
This said, on average, the US sells around 17-18 million new cars, SUVs, and light trucks annually, of which almost 1 million were EVs in 2022.
While it’s likely that this number will keep on growing, it will be limited by automakers to get access to batteries, bring prices down, improve the driving range of these EVs and erase years of negative propaganda by Big Oil.
This leaves me with a rather pessimistic outlook. Even if all sales were EVs tomorrow, it would take between 30 and 40 years to get internal combustion engines off our American roads!
It’s not uncommon that political debates are as messy as the sausage making process, but the second primary debate what so bad, that instead of being a chance for lifting up one or two candidates, its tone, it’s atmosphere of disarray, its absence of moderation and total chaos. brought the whole group down and by so doing, elevated an absent Trump even more.
We are no fans of the Republican candidates that were on display, except that Christie and Haley were the “least worst”. All wouldn’t answer questions and deflected them to make statements to their advantage or vilify Biden. Of course, no one has dare mentioning Trump’s criminal indictments.
After just one hour of that insane circus, we turned down the TV.
Recently, our media hasn’t been shy to publish the peak rates of day lift tickets at US. ski areas for the 2023-24 ski season. Am proud to say that our two local ski resorts are sitting at the top of that crazy hit parade? No, I think it’s just insane. Just three years ago we were shocked to hear news of resorts breaking through the $200 threshold and today we’re just one dollar shy of $300!
$299: Park City, UT, Vail, Beaver Creek, CO
$289: Deer Valley, UT
$279: Palisades Tahoe, CA, Steamboat, Breckenridge, CO
$269: Northstar, CA, Keystone, CO
$259: Heavenly, Mammoth Mountain, CA, Copper Mountain, CO
$255: Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, WY
$249: Big Sky Resort, MT
$244: Snowmass, Aspen, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk, CO
$229: Powder Mountain, UT
$225: Mt. Bachelor, OR, Telluride, CO
$220: Winter Park, CO
$219: Stowe Mountain Resort, VT
Actually, that number was already reached when Arizona Snowbowl charged $300 for a lift ticket last season during its peak pricing. As three Vail Resorts owned like Park City, Vail, and Beaver Creek will sell lift tickets at a peak price for $299 (282€) this season it compares with $239 (225€) last season.
“Epic” lines at the bottom of Vail’s “Back Bowls”…
You figure it out, that’s a 25% increase and a nice way of keeping inflation under control! This of course is an effective tactic to push skiers into purchasing an Epic season pass for only $909 (855€) that can be paid off in just three ski days!
When I compare this with Avoriaz, my French ski Alma Mater, the adult season pass is $671 (632€) with the day ticket still a bargain at $57 (54€) or $53 (50€) online. Over 75 skiers fare much better too, their season pass is only $81 (76€) and a day pass only cost them $21 (20€). I should have retired there!
If Putin is to be kept accountable for the huge damage he has inflicted to Ukraine since the beginning of his unjustified war of aggression, he is already behind almost $110 billion in damage to the country infrastructure according to a study from Kyiv School of Economics and 3.5 million people homeless according to the Ukraine’s defense ministry.
The worst though, is the loss of human lives, that according to a recent Zelensky’s interview by the CBS news network for its 60 minutes magazine, amounts to 500,000 including civilians and soldiers on both sides.
This might be overstated but it’s not too far from a Reuters article from April 12, in which the news organization claims that as many as 354,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or injured in the Ukraine war at that point in time.
What that massacre tells me is that priority number one is to remove Putin, unless the world can stand to increase and perhaps double that number or even more, should he decide to nuke humanity into oblivion.
There's John Lyly’s quote that “All is fair in love and war”, but the fairest thing to do NOW is to neutralize Putin before he lives to his nefarious potential. Humanity has no excuse for not acting.
A few days ago I received a postcard with a beautiful sunset picture taken from the Park Meadows Country Club, a plush and very expensive golf club, here in Park City.
I only have reproduced what was written on that card with my comments. It seemed to have been written by Josh, a 40 something man, and was signed by him and Ann, his mother-in-law. The latter, now in her 80s, has been a very successful real estate agent with an even brighter self-idea of herself.
She’s now taking her son-in-law under her wing, bringing him up to speed in his new profession and eventually passing her book of business on to him. I don’t pretend to know everything about marketing, but I believe that her clients (existing and potential ones) don’t care about where the two had dinner and even less where they’ve spent their “fantastic” big vacation.
Well, this type of comments coming from a real estate agent, getting fat on huge commission, reinforces the reader's resentment as it shows to what extent the client is the one feeding this person's luxurious lifestyle.
Instead, it would have been smarter to weave into the text a good introduction for the young man and the assurance that he will benefit from all the professional guidance and experience his mother-in-law will pass on to him.
There are things that are very important in, and for my life, that dominate my “to-do list” and still feel sometimes close to impossible, not just to complete, but to initiate, generating a “freeze” close to aversion, so why is this? We all have likes and dislikes and we generally tend to gravitate towards the kind of activity that pleases us most, often regardless of the amount of work, or the extent of the difficulty it represents, but when we dislike doing something, we just do nothing about it.
True, the complexity of a given task can be a huge “turn-off”. According to researchers, however, the biggest challenge to moving forward on anything is the transition to working on it. Again, it almost always represents a shift from doing something easy and comfortable like sending simple messages, picking and choosing tasks randomly off a to-do list, getting distracted by a new task that comes out of the blue, or wasting time on non-essential tasks that we want out of the way.
This, instead of doing something uncomfortable or sometimes repulsive, like starting a discussion, beginning a proposal, or initiating something from scratch. This transition is precisely the moment when we should all keep in mind what I call the “salami technique” in which we break the overwhelming job into smaller, more manageable pieces; right, one manageable “slice” at a time!
This often is the seed that can help us initiate the process, build momentum and gain confidence as our project begins taking shape. Another way to break that formidable resistance is to focus on what will be gained when the action is completed and how it will bring the kind of peace of mind we all strive for. This, at least, is the way I look at that challenge.
Well, I should say “will look at it”, from now on...
We have lived in Park City since 1985, so this was our 38th summer and probably the very best. Not too hot, and most importantly with enough rain showers to keep everything green all the time, afford us a terrific veggie garden and let us enjoy the outdoors without any discomfort.
We also were incredibly lucky that there were no forest fires that were close to us or that any significant amount of smoke ever drifted over our skies.
Still, we hope that all the upcoming summer will be under that ideal formula, but we’re not kidding ourselves, the planet is warming up and with no sign of political will to begin doing something about it, the age of hell on earth is sneaking up on us.
As the leaves are already turning over our ridge-lines (the reds are those the mountain maples leaves, and the bright yellow aspen leaves will follow in one week or so), we can only hope that our winter will be, once more, snow covered and fun!
It’s sometimes hard to accept the changes imposed on us by time. If it’s true on the Pyramids, it’s even more appreciable on humans.
Back in 2010, I was at just 62, confidently standing on a ladder, and a few days ago, I was replaced by Pablo, who’s about 50 at the most and seems at ease around 23 feet (7 meters) above ground.
Sure, the spot is definitely higher up and the ladder to get there, significantly taller, heavier and much more unwieldy, but this is one more inescapable sign of time that creeps on us and on me in particular.
It’s also not easy to handle a very large ladder without letting it wobble once it’s erected for an occasional user like me, plus my muscular strength isn’t quite what it used to be.
Getting up there is less of a problem as I don’t have much fear of heights, except that my wife has it for me and this is something I have no alternative, but take it into account.
So from now on, high air exposure is going to be Pablo’s job, not mine!
We went through the full episode of the mini-series and for the most part, liked it thoroughly. It depicted a twin brother of sorts for Donald Trump, albeit a much better salesman, that makes Bernard Tapie a significantly greater demagogue than his (taller) American counterpart, perhaps just because of his upbringing.
True, unlike Trump, Tapie seemed to have known (to a limited extent) that it was easier to catch flies with honey than with vinegar!
What’s remarkable for both was their ability to create huge numbers of hard-core supporters that love the way the two characters were flaunting civility, social rules, basic morality and contempt for the rule of law, and where the shining examples of what they could freely think and hopefully accomplish the day these people would gain access to power.
Both gave these folks proxies for what they were covertly coveting… Watching these episodes comforted my initial reaction when in 2015, I discovered the Trump modus operandi and exclaimed “This is the American version of Tapie!”
That said, and out of the seven episodes, I liked the first two a lot and the very last one (episode seven) the best when Tapie encounters the prosecutor that will eventually send him to jail. That recreation is priceless and is an allegory of God’s final judgment!
So my final take is simple, watch these series, it’s good entertainment and yet another primer in bullying techniques, social abuse and steps to authoritarianism!
Someone has since told me the other side of that story, so let’s call it the insider’s version, and it makes a lot of sense. In fact, contacts between the owners of Look and the Rossignol CEO have been ongoing for a fairly long time.
Mr. Boix-Vives came to Nevers in 1981 and put 100 million Francs ($16 million) on the table. At the time, Madame Beyl had other plans. The previous managing director, Philippe Blime, had just
left and Roland Cattin, the Beyl’s son-in-law in Mrs Beyl’s view was the one that would take over, keep Look alive and, hopefully, turn things around.
Mr Beyl reluctantly acquiesced in spite of the lifesaver sent their way by Rossignol. Then, the situation turned from bad to worst in 1982. The Beyls sensed that a storm was brewing but didn’t want to give up control. What followed was an attempt at some kind of joint venture with the owners of Nordica that led to a letter of intent in the first quarter of 1983, for them to infuse some cash into the company’s, with a July 19, 1983 deadline.
Look’s bank, BNP, was fully aware of this agreement but refused to provide the funds needed on July 10 for 4 million Francs ($650,000). Under pressure, the Beyls came up with the amount from their personal treasury, hoping Nordica would stick to its commitment. This was not meant to be as on July 19, Nordica walked from its offer. At that point the company was toast.
Roland Cattin jumped in an airplane and went to seek a meeting with Tapie who was vacationing in Tahiti and gave him the keys to the company. On July 23, the Tapie entourage showed up in Nevers, went to the commercial court and demanded that Look be placed into receivership, which was granted even though the company was under the equivalent of Chapter 11 reorganization.
As I'm watching "Class Act" on Netflix, I'm suddenly back with Look bindings and its demise in the hands of the megalomaniac Bernard Tapie.
Back in 1983, when Look was in big trouble with an $8 million loss for sales of $20 million and a debt of $27 million, mostly held by the French bank BNP, Roland Cattin, the Beyl’s son in law was sent to Tahiti in July 1983 to meet with Bernard Tapie in order, one might think, “to save the day” or see if some miracle was possible in the hands of the French Jesus-Christ of business.
Talk about going to the Devil in hope to secure one’s entry into Heaven! The point of that piece is not how bad Tapie was, we know it already, but why did Jean and Huguette Beyl not look for a solution closer to their industry and without the peril that Tapie represented to any troubled enterprise?
In particular, why didn’t they turn to Rossignol’s Laurent Boix-Vives who knew them well and was one company that offered $15 million in 1987, just before it would be gobbled up from Tapie by Blum the owner of Ebel watches for $40 million! Rossignol would have provided the Beyls would have provided the Beyls with an honorable exit, unlike the hellish transition Tapie had in store for them.
If not Rossignol, then the Beyls should have turned to Alois Rohrmoser (Atomic) or Joseph Fischer (Fischer/Kästle) and probably many more potential candidates. Who got the idea to travel to the opposite side of the globe to go and beg Tapie? Roland Cattin? Madame Beyl? Her husband?
Didn’t they knew the man was a predator? Shouldn’t they have looked at Tapie’s current collection of acquisitions, made a few phone calls to see how these acquisitions unfolded in reality, and do some kind of due-diligence?
This was until now totally mystifying to me, but I was about to find the answer to my question… (To be continued)
On Sunday morning while we were having breakfast my wife suddenly saw an animal crossing the meadow behind our little fence.
It was the size of a dog, but didn’t look like one. I saw it too but didn’t have my lenses on and could not exactly make out what it was. Then the animal jumped a 4 foot fence like a cat – not a dog - would have and then I spotted the stubby tail that could only belong to a bobcat.
The reddish critter then fled and disappear. The bobcat is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through Mexico.
Its length (including the tail) is up to 125 cm (50 in). It is an adaptable predator that prefers rabbits and hares, but also hunts insects, chickens, geese and other birds, small rodents, and deer.
Like most cats, the bobcat is territorial and largely solitary.
Our first sighting of what really looked like a bobcat (lynx rufus) not what’s commonly called a lynx (lynx canadensis)!
My son and his wife used to have cats. Three of them over the years if my memory serves me well. Just like me, they’re cat people, but when Uli, their last one died they didn’t have to get a replacement pet.
Max came along, as a free agent cat, coming and leaving at will and patronizing a bunch of homes in their Salt Lake City suburban town.
Max is a big, fat, super-friendly tabby cat that isn’t attached to any household in particular and knows how to sell himself in order to receive all the attention and services he needs, ranging from petting, a spot to sleep, to food and when the weather is really bad, temporary shelter.
He is what I would call a time-share cat and this formula seems to serve him well, including of course all the folks that welcome him while he’s available.
If you are a regular reader of this blog you will have seen that I’ve never been a fan of Bernard Tapie, the French company raider and one the most iconic and controversial French public figures, but totally unknown in America.
Throughout the seven episodes of a new Netflix series that we began watching this week, we’ve seen the comedian Laurent Lafitte step into the shoes of Tapie, showing us his meteoric rise.
Just like I have written so many times, cut in the same cloth as our own Donald Trump.
When we’re done watching it, we’ll let you know how close it is to reality. and fall. After seeing just a few episodes, the recreation looks like the real thing and provides a faithful description of “Creepy Bernard”, as I like to call him.
Our Congress is not that smart. Proof of that is that on two occasions, its membership failed to convict Trump when he was impeached during his presidential term. This would have taken good old “Natural Intelligence” to do so.
So, on Wednesday, during a closed door session it heard from high-tech luminaries like Musk, Zuckerberg. Pichai along with other stakeholders our Senators were briefed on Artificial Intelligence that we now call AI with great reverence.
I only wished that before that Forum, someone made sure that each Senator had enough natural intelligence to hear about AI. I know that only 60 out of 100 senators attended, and I hope the one that showed up had enough intelligence of their own, but I wouldn’t be so sure.
The missing 40 probably thought that AI was “Alternative Ideology”. The attending lawmakers were seeking ways to mitigate dangers of the emerging technology, which has boomed in investment and consumer popularity since the release of Bing and ChatGPT AI tools.
Musk called for a regulator to ensure the safe use of AI, and said “It's important for us to have a referee," adding that a regulator would "ensure that companies take actions that are safe and in the interest of the general public."
I hope there will be more forums like that one to address the AI threat before our Senators succumb to old age’s ailments...
Last Tuesday, my Epic season ski passes from Vail Resorts (VR) came due. I had already paid $49 to reserve my pass in May, but $860 balance had to be paid.
That’s right my pass was paid a good two months before I could begin using it on November 17 under the condition of course, that there would be some snow, natural or man-made to slide in. Like me, some 2.5 million pass holders made their big payment too.
If we assume that between its various pass offerings, the average cost is around $600 a piece, that would mean that, this early in the season, regardless of whether there will be snow or none of it, VR will pocket around $1.5 billion dollars. This is about half of what their total revenue should be for 2023-24.
This shows the fabulous cash-flow the Colorado based company is extracting from the 37 mountain resorts it operate and how it is sitting on almost $1 billion in cash as of April 30, 2023, even though it represented a 35 decline from the year prior.
Astounding figures for an industry in the brink of collapse as global warming accelerates!
No one wants Trump nor Biden as president in 2024.
The first is too evil, the second way too old. Yet, if push comes to shove, I still believe Biden will reluctantly be reelected.
This is, unlike a third party candidate, as rumor has it, could possibly but unlikely get the job. On that point, while that option sounds terrible, it will likely be initiated by members of the Republican Party who might cut into Trump’s electorate more so than Biden’s.
At any rate, I hate Joe Biden for not relinquishing a second term and passing the torch to a young, energetic and healthy candidate.
His ego is worth much more to him than his capacity to serve the Nation and that’s a real shame. Dianne Feinstein, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi and before them, Supreme Court’s judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg are playing the “I’m irreplaceable” game.
This is horrible and this is hurting the Nation when it needs capable, young men and women like never before.
“Freezing” has been the expression used to describe what happened to the 81 years old Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in an interaction with reporters in Covington, Kentucky, last week.
It’s not that the politician was left inside a walk-in refrigerator, but that he looked paralyzed for more than 30 seconds after he was asked whether he would run for re-election. This shows once more that we have too many old politicians in this country.
Since these imbeciles don’t show any desire to let go, let me propose a few tools that should prevent this from happening. All are very affordable and can be found in any store near the centers of political power.
Antifreeze: You don’t need that anymore if you have an electric car, but a small cup early in the morning instead of espresso might prevent embarrassing “freezing” like what happened to McConnell.
WD-40: The spray can has been used for years to unlock, or unfreeze reluctant rusty bolts that were stuck in old mechanical devices.
This would just speed up the recovery process and let the politician keep on fund-raising without missing a beat. A simpler and much better alternative should have young leaders instead. If you have additional suggestions, please share them on this blog.
Any time I read or watch something about aging, I’m told that laughter is a pillar to growing old in joy and a fabulous antidote to our daily serving of bad news from all over the world. It’s also a marvelous stress-reliever and a potent mood-lifter.
I love to laugh and whenever possible I bring more of it into my life and that of the folks I love. This is why I stay on the lookout for funny material including videos, cartoons, or jokes that make me laugh and that I’ll share with my hundreds of friends and contacts that are just a click away, and that can use a good laugh too...
While I’ve been out of Facebook and Instagram for a long time, I make a conscious decision to prioritize humor whenever I can. Sure, we all have different tastes in humor, so I try to keep that in mind before I hit the send button.
Likewise, laughter is a natural and healthy response to humor, so I’m never afraid to let it out. That said, I know that I still could do better in the laughing department and that’s why, like a gold prospector, I always look for laughing opportunities.
When possible, I plan activities that are fun and lighthearted, I learn to spot what makes me laugh, whether it’s watching stand-up comedies or fun movies, I always prioritize my own sense of humor.
Finally, I never hold back my laughs I’m still a little boy at heart and laughing is a natural and healthy way to embrace life, so I’m never afraid to let it out!
Last week, a French friend of mine from Vail, Colorado has been contacted by the new French distributor that is now trying to market an exoskeleton contraption called Ski~Mojo in America, and asked me for my opinion on the product.
Since I had come across a few exoskeleton devices that have come and gone, I didn’t have much to say, except do some research about it. Ski~Mojo is an exoskeleton meant to make skiing less tiring and help with sore or painful legs, contributing (allegedly) to more time spent on the slope with less fatigue. The principle behind Ski~Mojo is based on a powerful adjustable spring supporting one third of the body's weight, a claim that is to my knowledge not really substantiated.
According to that assertion, the Ski~Mojo is said to increase skiing pleasure. This of course is the opinion of those who are promoting the device. It was developed by Owen Eastwood, a British engineer who began skiing at age 55 but found that his legs were not up to the task.
The solution, in development for 11 years and launched in 2007 consisted of a strap around the skier’s butt, connected to spring-loaded arms running down to the knee, which in turn were linked by composite rods to the back of the boots. Loaded by the weight of the body, the springs are holding the skier in a knees-bent position, and after bending down, the skier springs back to an upright position, with less effort and far faster than usual, ready for the next turn.
The marketers claim that the powerful adjustable spring supports one third of the skier's weight. By compressing the springs during the flexion phase, it restores energy and increases muscle power during extension. They also claim that the suspension effect of the springs reduces shock and pressure on the knees by 40%. It’s also said to relieve hips and back.
Their sales pitch goes by saying that bending the knees requires an imperceptible additional expenditure of energy (probably due to gravity). This additional work of the hamstrings, estimated at 10%, combined with a contraction of the quadriceps reduced by 30%, protects the cruciate ligaments, delays and limits the production of lactic acid (this is what the company, not a qualified orthopedic doctor says).
Same story about reducing the risks of accidents linked to fatigue as well as aches. The contraption can be set up as one dresses up in a couple of minutes and is sleek enough to be worn under the ski pants, unless the skier prefers to flaunt the device. The Ski~Mojo promoters claim that, on average, four out of five people who try the device adopt it.
Obviously the exoskeleton device is aimed at ski pros as well as recreational users who want to ski longer, with less strain, also skiers with weak knees or quadriceps and of course, elderly people like me, looking to limit falls (???) and fatigue. In France, there are supposedly thousand of users, including many instructors and other professionals.
Units yearly sales are in the three thousand range through 320 European retailers, with a total 20,000 users. The company is currently looking into expending in America and I’d love to try it, to verify if it delivers as much as the promotion suggests. Their target price is just below $1,000 but it might be available for rent, for those like me that are reasonably skeptical, especially in view of all the company’s unsubstantiated claims and figures.
I’ll let you know when and if I can rent a Ski~Mojo to ski with!
A few nights ago we had the pleasure to have, let’s call him Art, for dinner. He was part of a tour going through the various national parks that are located all around Park City, and was making a stop with his fellow travelers in our town.
Art lives in New Jersey, we had met on a vacation tour to Japan in 2018 and had stayed in touch with him since that time. Art is 82 but quite energetic and remains an avid globe-trotter.
He had just returned from a tour in Iceland, and before he had time to unpack, he was solicited by his tour-operator to do one more tour starting and finishing in Denver and going through a bunch of National Parks including Arches, Tetons, Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore to list a few.
At first, he wasn’t interested as he had used up his vacation budget for 2023, but as he was told that this particular tour would be taken out of the company’s calendar in 2024, he felt the urge to do it, no matter what.
Since he had no more cash on hand there was a problem and in what could be seen as a desperate move to some, he decided to tap into the money he had set aside for his funeral to finance the trip!
Something I can only see as creative, action-oriented and life-loving. For all of us, staying on the sidelines, an example to follow!
Last snow season in Utah broke all records, exceeded all expectations and made the predictions from the government agency and the Farmer’s almanac look totally incompetent. So, as we embark into a winter 2023-24 strongly influenced by El Niño, what should we believe?
One thing seems clear, after three years of moderate La Niña winters, El Niño is poised to return in full force, having major implications for the North American ski season. Let’s look at what El Niño is, how it works, and the impact it will have on snowfall this season.
As of August, El Niño conditions have shown a probability greater than 95 percent of lasting through the winter. But what exactly is El Niño? The phenomenon leads to shifts in the global atmospheric flow, subsequently impacting weather and climatic trends all around the planet. In the US, the most notable effect is on the mid-latitude jet stream.
This means that ski destinations in the southern Rockies (like New Mexico, Arizona, southern Colorado, and Utah) and the Southeast (like North Carolina) may witness above-average snowfall, courtesy of this southern storm path. California resorts will likely also enjoy enhanced precipitation.
Central Rockies including central Utah (south of us in Park City) and parts of Colorado, might not be as profoundly affected, given their position. Conversely, ski locations in the northern Rockies and the Pacific Northwest might see less snowfall due to the jet stream’s modified route.
This said, and while I might feel good about the probability of plenty of snow at home, I’ll still set my expectations very low, plan to use my rock skis a lot and hope for a good surprise!
We often hear songs without listening closely to their lyrics, as if they were some kind of mental “chewing-gum” to us, and this state of ignorance can last for a long time, if not forever.
Yet, sometimes, some kind of trigger happens that finally makes us pay attention. Recently, I watched “George Fest: A Night to Celebrate the Music of George Harrison”, which was filmed on September 28th, 2014 at the The Fonda Theater in Los Angeles.
Among Harrison’s songs covered by a large number of modern artists was “I Me Mine” which was released in the 1970 “Let It Be” album and whose lyrics I never really paid any attention to. This time they hit me as they should have a long time ago.
The song is about humanity’s selfishness, the world's biggest problem. The needs of the ego and perhaps a reflection of George's frustration with people around him being so self-centered. He was also well aware of the universal meaning in the words in his song, especially given his fondness for Buddhism.
It could also be that when that song was written the times were changing, turning hippy love to more greed and materialism ushering in the “me decade” of the 70s.
Finally there could be the breaking up of the Beatles. There was tiredness among the four who were looking forward to doing their own things; hence that fitting, if not depressing ending song about selfishness and how it amasses material things yet destroys spiritual values…
When I was a kid, berry harvesting was part of my way of life, in particular the month of September. In the Alpine pastures where I grew up it was mostly wild blueberries and raspberries.
Not so in Park City where the high-desert climate is far too dry for large crops of berries to materialize. I’ve spotted some raspberries at the top of the Tombstone chairlift at Canyons, and have seen quite a bit of wild gooseberries here and there, at around 8,000 to 9,000 feet high.
More recently I had discovered a bush of Alpine currant near my front door that tasted delicious, but the other day we spotted much more near the neighborhood fire station and three days ago my wife and I returned to pick some up.
Well, it took us a lot of time to fill up a small container since the orange colored fruits are between 3 and 4mm in diameter. Still, we brought them at home and since we didn’t have enough for my wife to bake a pie with them, we simply ate them with Greek yogurt.
It was okay but not as delectable as I had imagined!
“Sarko” as some call it in France, is not someone I like. In fact the more I see or hear him, the less I can stand it.
Yet, I’m a right leaning Frenchman when I make the effort to revisit my first nationality, but I believe the man is a buffoon, a hypocrite who still hasn’t digested to be kicked out from power by a guy as stupid as Hollande.
Just to make some noise so he can be heard by the world, the little man who is currently peddling his new book, calls for negotiations with Russia and to take into consideration the possibility of territorial concessions to end the war.
In an interview with Le Figaro Magazine, Sarkozy admitted that the war was “a failure and a mistake by Putin”, yet warned of a “frozen conflict” with Russia. In his view, the only solution is to hold referendums on territorial concessions in areas occupied by the occupiers. “We need Russia, and Russia needs us,” said Sarko, the very man who created chaos in Libya and was a traitor to Chirac...
He proposed holding internationally supervised referendums in eastern Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula. Sarkozy even went as far as to say that the recovery of Crimea by the Ukrainians is an “illusion”. The politician also criticizes declarations by European leaders that they’ll support Ukraine til the end of the war.
Just to place things into perspective, imagine Sarko in Zelenskyy’s shoes, with Russia invading France. Would he be willing to let go of the Alps, the Riviera and Corsica, just to appease Putin? Give me break!
To speak like this, Sarko - like many other celebrities supporting Putin, I’m convinced – must have received some form of consideration. Follow the money as people say…
Since he’s been running for president and got the job thanks in part to Putin, Trump has successfully demonstrated his bullying and nefarious techniques to whoever was interested in studying them.
Besides applying Roy Cohn (his family’s attorney) doctrine that when someone hits you, you respond in kind but twice as hard. Trump was also under the spell of Norman Vincent Peale’s positive thinking theory which he equated to deadly stubbornness.
Yet, Trump should be most remembered for accusing others of his own faults or worst intentions as a way to immunize himself for his own wrongdoing.
People like him that accuse others of their own faults are often referred to as blamers or scapegoaters.
They tend to blame others for their own guilt and shortcomings, often in a way to avoid taking responsibility for their actions. This kind of tactic is also known as deflection. The act of blaming another person for your own mistakes or shortcomings rather than accepting the blame or criticism yourself .
Try it, it works wonders! NO, I was just kidding, don’t lower yourselves to doing that...
From what I’ve heard, climate change hasn’t been good to humanity this summer.
That set of bad surprises seem to have extended to the participants of the national “Burning Man” festival, west of us in a desert spot, not far from Reno, Nevada, where thousands of attendees remained stranded this past weekend, flooding from storms swept through the Nevada desert (the usual number of attendees is in the 75,000).
The event that began in 1986 has seen precipitations before; rain was reported on August 30, 1997, on August 25, 2014 and on September 1, 2017, so the festivities aren’t as always dry and dusty as some might think.
At this event, festival organizers have been asking participants to remain calm and turn a challenge into something to measure up against. Buses have also been organized to take attendees to Reno from the nearby small town of Gerlach, some five miles from the site.
Let’s hope things dry up a bit so the huge effigy can burn to the satisfaction of the mud-clad participants!
I’m not a fan of firearms and I wonder how people who own, run and work at their factories feel about their production and the pain and suffering it inflicts upon other human beings.
While there are many brands of handguns, Glocks are the most popular worldwide, with over 20 million made so far. In the US Glock maintains a 65% market share, with more than 1 million Glocks sold each year.
The product is a polymer-framed, short recoil-operated, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced in Austria, but the one sold so successfully in the US are manufactured by the Glock Inc. subsidiary located in Smyrna, Georgia.
Adopted by national armed forces, security agencies, and police forces, Glocks are also popular among civilians for recreational and competition shooting, home- and self-defense, both in concealed or open carry, and obviously for criminals and ill-meaning folks and counts among a choice brand in killing 30,000 plus thousand American each year.
Glock pistols have been used with nefarious success in multiple mass shootings. Experts on gun control, mass shootings, and defense training have cited factors such as reliability, ease of use, and commonness for their deadly effectiveness.
Now, with so much blood on their muzzles, I wonder how the Glock’s managers, shareholders, users and factory workers feel about that lethal instrument? I let you wonder too...
For my wife and I, yesterday was a big day as it was our 48th wedding anniversary! As we are inching closer to the big “50” celebration in two years from now, God willing, of course, we look at the road we’ve traveled over the years.
It began with our immigration to the US in 1977, less than two years after we tied the knot, the hardship for my spouse of having to learn English, adapt to a totally different culture and put up with my frequent professional travels.
These circumstances didn’t make things easy and comfortable for her, from the get go. Not only have we stayed married so far (which is not necessarily a given), but we were also very lucky to raise two wonderful kids that have brought us so much pride and satisfaction. From that viewpoint alone, the earlier sacrifices were well worth it.
For the most part, we’ve also stayed very healthy, remained active and enjoyed a wonderful quality of life. We also spend a lot of time together and do so many things we like in each other’s company.
We can only hope that our health will continue to be good to help us seize the bull (the bison in that case) by the horns, enabling us to enjoy our retirement years and in 24 months, breeze through our Golden Anniversary and beyond!
Until the Sochi Olympics, Jean-Claude Killy used to be my hero, and it’s with some kind of stupefaction that I realized he just turned 80 a pair of days ago.
That’s a big number most of the members of my generation, that will be lucky to reach it, may experience soon enough.
I’m sorry that Killy has turned pro-Putin over the last decade, this is sad, but it’s not uncommon for a hero to turn into a villain or sees his judgment go astray.
Just an unfortunate devolution; anyway, happy birthday, Jean-Claude!
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