Brains or Guts?

I don’t know about you, but when it comes to my thoughts, feelings and emotions, it seems I get these most from listening to my belly that I feel, is more nervously connected to my body and give more clues, than from my brain which feels more like a cold, factual computer. Am I wrong to think that way? I’m not minimizing the role of the brain in any way, but I feel that the rest of my body often provide strong signals about my life as I live it. 

We talk a lot about our “gut feelings” and that’s true. Our digestive system, is often referred to as our "second brain," and has been shown to influence our emotions. For example, stress can lead to digestive issues, and certain foods can affect our mood. 

Sure, the brain ultimately processes and interprets these signals, but we feel these elements deep into our bodies. When it comes to emotional response, the brain's limbic system, including the amygdala and the hippocampus, is said to play a key role in processing out emotions, both consciously and unconsciously. 

Science also tells us that our prefrontal cortex, located in the front of the brain, is responsible for higher-order cognitive functions like planning, decision-making, and self-control. It’s from there that we sort out our emotions and formulate our choices. 

This said, I still believe that the rest of my body can provide valuable cues about my emotional state and the brains are ultimately letting me know in their own way the interpretation of those feelings. To me, they’re better messengers than what happens between my own two ears. 

What about yourself?

Negotiating furniture prices

Twelve years ago, we purchased two recliner chairs for our living rooms. We’ve used them well, so well in fact, that I should say they’re now well past their prime, so early this week we went to our local furniture store to see what was new. 

Like everyone, we saw some pieces that drew our attention and other things we didn’t care much for, but universally, I should say that we were a bit taken aback by the prices that seemed to have shot up much more than the 37% consumer prices during that same period, something more like a 50 to 100 percent increase! So what were we to do?

The new seats, made in Sweden, looked sleek, felt great and were more convenient than the current ones so we felt that we needed them. What we didn’t like was the price the merchant gave us and in spite of my insistent request, wouldn’t budge on it. So I went online and began looking, and after two days of search and negotiations, was able to find a much more attractive purchase price, first from a Denver store at 22 percent less, then from a California dealer at 32 percent less, both delivered in Park City! 

Not thinking we could do much better we went ahead and bought the two chairs. Almost immediately, I asked myself, could I have done even better? That’s when I reviewed the moves I might have overlooked in my search. I thought I did a thorough work, like comparing prices for that model and that type of chair, I checked online retailers, local stores, and even discount outlets. I also had a pretty good understanding of the market, sales, and promotions. 

Then, I learned that, as always, timing is everything, as on end-of-month or quarter sales, retailers often offer discounts to meet sales targets. This applies to Holidays too like our upcoming Labor Day (September 2). Floor models can also be good values, but in our cases, needing one pair of chairs negated that possibility. 

Negotiating skills always come in handy; after asking me how much I had paid, the Denver retailer congratulated me for my excellent negotiation and by doing so validated my transaction. I realized I had not left much money on the table and was rather proud of my new acquisition!

Trump’s insane techniques

Recently Trump has been the round of all talking shows willing to give him an audience. One of them was with Dr. Phil, American television personality and author, best known for hosting that talk show “Dr. Phil”. 

He holds a doctorate in clinical psychology and was launch on the Oprah Winfrey Show. in the late 1990s. Oprah Winfrey then helped McGraw launch his own program, Dr. Phil, in September 2002. The show is formatted as an advice, not a really serious TV show. 

Yesterday, Trump made what I think are crazy statements on that show, like maintaining that the 2020 election was rigged, that he’d like Jesus to come down and count the votes, and that they were 38 millions ballots sent out in California when there are barely 25 million folks eligible to vote. 

Watch for yourself... 

Surrogate summer skiing?

So far, this summer, I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time observing what was going on at the Portillo ski resort, in Chile, and thanks to some well-placed webcams, I was able to witness a good ski season unfolding before my eyes, without big crowds (only the single hotel guests seem to be hitting the slopes) and what appeared to be an excellent coverage. 

I captured the video three days ago. More stunning though for the keen eye, was my ability to watch Portillo’s famous slingshot lifts, known as “Va-et-vient” (French for ‘come and go’) built by Poma for Roca Jack, Condor, Las Vizcachas and El Cara Cara runs. These runs are steep avalanche chutes, forbidding the use of lift towers. 

These unique lifts are made of pulleys anchored to the mountain above which pull five skiers at a time up the 27 degrees Roca Jack slope, over 968 vertical feet. If you watch the attached video on a large screen (20” or more), you’ll spot a black dot going uphill where indicated and that’s that lift that reaches just 165 feet below the start of the 1966 World Championships Downhill. 

You can access the Portillo webcams here and if you’re interested in joining me next summer to ski Portillo (for real), should conditions allow it, let me know. For the moment, get your eyes wide open and get your fill of skiing and winter fun!

Starting our 40th year in Park City

Yesterday marked 39 years since our family got to Park City in the late summer of 1985 and we’re now beginning our fourth decade in that town. In retrospect, this was a wonderful move, but also a very gutsy one in the sense that we left a good job and a wonderful house on the East Coast for an unknown future in the west.

While our daughter was too young to appreciated it, both my wife and 6 years old son hated the treeless, desert-like place and it would require at least a year from them to adjust. Today, both love Utah as much as I do. This milestone illustrates also the power of dreams or the end result of the attainment of goals. 

One of mine was precisely to “own a contemporary home in the best part of the Rockies”. I think I nailed it!

Watch Trump in action!

On August 23, Trump was speaking at his first rally in the Phoenix suburbs of Arizona, since the Democratic convention. This gave him a chance to adjust his message now that Harris is the official nominee.

We decided to watch it, to see how the 78 years old Trump was doing now that Biden had been maliciously changed for Harris. He spent a lot of time leaning into his new moniker for Harris, Comrade Kamala, while also, as always, mispronouncing her first name. 

But Trump did start his remarks by making overtures to independent voters and disaffected Democrats, claiming they're joining his cause like wildfire. To back up that claim, Trump brought out Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who, just hours before this rally, announced in Phoenix he was suspending his campaign and endorsing Trump. 

Well, to make a long story short, Trump sounds still the same and remains as bad as ever and rambles on the same negative and dystopian subjects. I realize that you can’t teach old dog new tricks, but I still can’t understand why millions of Americans seem idiotic enough to buy into his worn-out message. 

You can watch the entire video here is you have nothing better to do.

Are mega-resorts starting to unwind?

To everyone’s surprise, a few days ago, POWDR, a smaller but significant North American ski conglomerate, owner of 10 resorts announced it was selling two of them (Killington and Pico, both in Vermont) to a group of local investors.

The company isn’t going to stop there though, as it also plans to put several of its other ski resorts, like Eldora, Colorado, Mt. Bachelor, Oregon, and SilverStar, British Columbia for sale. 

It also claims that it will remain dedicated to its other resorts that include Boreal and Soda Springs in California, Copper Mountain in Colorado as well as Gorgoza, Woodward and Snowbird in Utah and its two National Park concessions contracts. 

Does this signal that POWDR is suddenly concerned about climate change and a limited, if not struggling growth in its ski business? It will be interesting how fast and how eager Alterra and Vail Resorts are “biting” at the buying opportunity offered by the Park City based company...

My take on the Democrat Convention

I watched most of the convention and the excellent speeches by the Obamas and Oprah Winfrey, including of course, Kamala Harris’ closing address. I liked the whole four-night program and believe that Harris is well on her way to beat Trump. 

Why? Because the regain of enthusiasm for her can be directly traced to her younger age and the energy and enthusiasm that come with it. Biden and Trump are old, defensive, grumpy and negative. They cannot longer lead, they’re on the road to extinction. 

I know what I’m talking about, I’m 76. Be just caretakers? Perhaps, but they won’t be able to respond well to crises or unforeseen events. At their age, they were as flexible as a glass plate and can no longer adapt to a changing world. 

With Biden gone, Trump is the “almost 80 guy” and is stuck in place unable to change his tune. Same thing with Kennedy 70, who is shutting down is campaign and was made totally obsolete by Kamala. 

He only made sense when he still was the only younger alternative facing Biden and Trump and could be seen by some as a slightly better alternative to them, now, that he has become “canceled” by Harris, his voters will turn to her, certainly not go to Mr. Negative, aka Donald Trump.

Covid, anyone?

When I thought I was almost over my Covid infection, the pesky virus still had a surprise for me. 

Early morning, on August 16, 12 days after I tested positive and I thought I was out of it, I woke up with a violent pain in the left side of my chest. I rose, got the morning coffee going and the pain transferred to the upper part of my left arm, still acute, but it completely disappeared half an hour later. 

The next morning, the same situation recurred mostly in the form of left shoulder pain, and also the following morning. I messaged my doctor to request a Monday appointment. Earlier that day of August 19, I woke up just after midnight with another acute shoulder pain, I considered driving to the Hospital’s ER but didn’t want to scare off my wife. 

Instead, I waited till the afternoon appointment at my doctor’s office where I was given an EKG and sent right away to the Park City Hospital’s ER. There, after another EKG, after I was drown blood, they found troponin in my blood. This is a protein found in the cells of the heart muscle. 

Normally, troponin levels in blood are so low that only the most sensitive types of tests can measure them. But when the heart muscle is damaged, troponin leaks into one’s bloodstream, rising its level in the blood. 

This was a marker for a heart attack, but after 24 hours of extra tests, heart echography and a comprehensive stress test, it was determined that my high troponin level wasn’t related to a heart attack; but was acute inflammation caused by my severe case of Covid. 

I had learned a new word and was shortly discharged with a clean bill of health. My Covid attack would have lasted more than two weeks and I don’t wish that kind of complication on anyone!

Pierrot Meugnier, 1946-2024

I met Pierrot the first season I taught skiing in Avoriaz, that was over 54 years ago. I remember that he was different, fun and had a fabulous sense of humor. I liked him a lot and he left cascading rays of sunshine in his wake. 

He was one of a kind. More than 2 years ago, I learned that Pierre was paralyzed from the waist down, the result from a cancerous vertebrae. He remembered me because I had then taken his defense when he was bullied by a ski instructor from Morzine. 

I began calling Pierrot regularly, and was always impressed by his positive attitude, his ever fun spirit, and his steely determination to progressively regain his mobility until his cancer would unfortunately return and get the best of him. I’m sad to see him go and will miss him a lot! 

My heartfelt condolences to his entire family.

8-21 Cyber-eternity?

I’m not very active on social networks anymore, but I still maintain a presence on LinkedIn, a business and employment social media platform that works through websites and mobile apps. It was launched in 2003, and since 2016, it’s become part of Microsoft. 

I was active when I still thought I could work as a paid consultant around 2010 or sometime like that, but I’ve since decided it was a pipe dream. So, a few days ago, I undertook to take a look at that site and realized I then had 467 “followers” that I had picked up over the years.

I then proceeded to go through all of them and to my surprise, I almost remembered them all! What stopped me though were the many people that died since they began “following” me. Probably a bad – I should say lethal - idea on their part! I found 14 of them out of this world and at a click of my mouse I rocketed them into eternity. 

That made me think, why in the world did the family, heirs or other relative associated with these “disappeared” never bothered to take them out of this social media site? Something to keep in mind before we pass away and leave some precise instructions to our next of kin. 

I’m sure these same dead people are still haunting Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (now X) and to me, this probably is probably the best way to access eternal life...

A never-ending debate, Beatles vs. Rolling Stones

I’ve always been a loyal and devoted fan of the Beatles, and as a result have seen, heard and read a lot of stuff about that particular band. Currently, I’m half-way reading “All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words (2024)”, a compendium of intimate interviews with Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, their families, friends and business associates that were conducted by Beatles intimate Peter Brown and author Steven Gaines in 1980-1981 during the preparation of their international bestseller, The Love You Make. 

Only a small portion of the contents of these transcribed interviews have ever been revealed. The interviews are unique and candid. The information, stories, and experiences, and the authority of the people who relate to them, have value to fans like me. Now, this forces me to compare Beatles and Rolling Stones, these two rock and roll giants, While both bands achieved immense success, their paths were significantly different in terms of achievements and longevity. 

The Beatles were renowned for their exceptional songwriting, innovative musical experimentation, and strong interpersonal bonds. Their early years were marked by a cohesive camaraderie that fueled their creative output. Their ability to evolve their sound consistently from early rock 'n' roll to psychedelic experimentation and beyond was unparalleled. 

However, internal tensions began to surface as the band matured. Artistic differences, coupled with the pressures of fame, greed and the rest ultimately led to their breakup. While they managed to produce groundbreaking music during this period, the cracks in their relationship were evident. On the other hand, the Rolling Stones were built on a foundation of raw energy and iconoclast spirit. 

The Mick Jagger and Keith Richards duo provided a constant creative force that kept the band together through decades of change. Their ability to maintain a consistent, blues-based sound while incorporating contemporary influences contributed to their longevity. 

Sure, one can say that while the Stones' core duo survived as best it could, the band experienced significant changes in musicians over the years. This perhaps affected their overall chemistry and musical direction negatively at times. Additionally, their constant bad boys image, while commercially successful, may have limited their reach compared to that of the Beatles. 

In retrospect, the Beatles' early cohesiveness and adventurous spirit propelled them to unprecedented heights, but ultimately, their internal tensions led to their early demise. The Rolling Stones, with their more stable core and unwavering commitment to a blues-based sound, achieved remarkable longevity but perhaps sacrificed some of the musical experimentation that characterized the Beatles' career.

The end of real estate profiteering?

This past weekend, big changes have been ushered in the way we buy real estate in the US. We won’t see the results right away, though. It will be very subtle and progressive. Until then, real-estate agents typically made their money through commissions tied to real estate’s sale price. 

For example, the agent who listed and sold a house and the agent who guided the buyer through the purchasing process would split a 6% commission equally. For a $1 million house that was $60,000. You didn’t need to be overly smart or educated to make these piles of money, thanks to the long proven principle of monopoly. Right, an awful lot of money for little or no work! 

Now, buyers who didn’t have to pay a commission to the agent who helped them purchase the house, may have to sign a contract so the agent gets paid for the service instead of getting their share from the buyer. They may not and deal directly with the selling agent instead. In theory, the changes are expected to make the process of buying and selling a home less expensive and allegedly more transparent. In my opinion, it will take some time for the market to find its footing.

Consider this, there’s a gross oversupply of real estate agents, with in my opinion 10% of them doing 90% of the business. This means most of them starve, while a tiny sliver prospers. What is likely to happen? Commission will significantly drop in percentage. 

Then, from percentage it may go to fees simply because if a million dollars home is $60,000 in commission today, a $10 million one is $600,000. Something is obviously wrong with that picture and will have to give in a big way. 

It may take a few years for the market to sort itself out, plus integrate and digest a flurry of new marketing / pricing ideas and innovations, along the lines of Airbnb or Uber, but the process will never be the same again and, hopefully, the consumer (sellers and buyers) will prevail, pocketing a healthy difference!

My presidential election forecast

Every now and then, many of my European friends ask me if I believe that Trump will be beaten by Harris at the upcoming November election. I generally outline my response along these lines: 

Women account for more than 51% of the overall population in the US, but they’re registered to vote at higher rates than men. In recent years, the number of women registered to vote in the US has typically been around 7.5 to 10 million more than the number of men registered to vote. 

These women hoped that Hillary would get the presidency in 2016, but thanks to Facebook, Vladimir Putin and Julian Assange, this didn’t happen. In the meantime, the US Supreme Court killed Roe vs. Wade. That has created a widespread anger among women who’ll jump at the opportunity of electing Harris. 

Also, during the 2018, 2020 and 2022 elections, polls proved to be overestimated in favor of Republicans, but they eventually proved to be off the mark. Expect the same trend this year as many GOP women won’t vote like their husbands. 

In addition, Trump is beginning to lose his mind. He can’t stay on message and desperately needs to attack his opponent by insulting her and lying every step of the way like a 4 year old. At close to eighty, he’s has begun his decline and worst yet, he hasn’t understood that one catches more flies with honey than with vinegar. 

His erratic behavior is going to amplify as the election nears and, as a result, it will alienate many of his non-hard core supporters (moderate Republicans and Independents) who will decide not to bother going to vote and negatively affect down-ballot Republicans. 

Unless the Harris-Walz duo makes some huge mistakes along the way, expect a landslide in their favor. This year’s Presidential election will end up being for, and all about, the American Women.

The art of being a hypocrite

The other night, I was watching “America at the Crossroads” on PBS News. Judy Woodruff, a former anchor on that channel, was interviewing Jamie Dimon, arguably one of the most powerful bankers in the world and CEO of JPMorgan Chase since 2006. 

I don’t like Chase, having been a good client for decades with that institution and, for no good reasons, refused to keep my safe deposit box there. I subsequently changed banks for the better. Mr. Dimon was asked questions about the US economy and its political climate by Woodruff and he made all the hypocritical answers I was expecting from him. 

His pedigree is impressive though. He was on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York during the late 2010s, and since has been a board member of the Business Roundtable, the Bank Policy Institute, and Harvard Business School. Dimon was also included in Time magazine's 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2011 lists of the world's 100 most influential people. 

As of February 2024, Forbes estimated his net worth at over $2 billion and last year he earned $36 million. That’s right $3 million a month, almost a hundredfold his bank tellers’ salary that range from $33,910 to $41,018. This said, Dimon was the first to acknowledge during the interview that he was concerned about the societal inequalities in America (a reassuring thought!) 

During the interview, he lists a lot of things the US government should do to address this deepening inequality, barely mentioning the need to tax a tad more fellows in his socioeconomic category, mentioning the Buffett Rule that would require millionaires and billionaires to pay the same tax rate as middle-class families and working people. 

That rule, inspired by the billionaire Warren Buffett, was proposed by Obama in 2011 and would have applied a minimum tax rate of 30 percent on individuals making more than one million dollars a year, only directly affecting 0.3 percent of taxpayers. 

Besides that, Dimon said that Democrats should stop demonizing Trump who had “some good ideas” while it was president, disregarding the man’s criminal record and his devastating influence on American society. In conclusion, a Teflon interview with a smooth Teflon guy who doesn’t want to upset his livelihood and really doesn’t seem to care about who is behind our Country’s rudder...

Trump’s quest for credibility...

This past Monday night, Donald Trump and Elon Musk had a long rant which I didn’t follow in its entirety as the event was plagued with technical problems. Trump, currently aimless and in desperate search for visibility had recently said he has ‘no choice’ but to back EVs after Musk endorsement, inferring that even though he didn’t like the idea, it was the polite way to say thank you. 

I must add that if Musk has some intellectual intelligence, Trump has almost none, as you’ll discover later on, and both sorely lack any emotional intelligence. Since most of the discussion wasn’t really newsworthy, I’d like to focus this piece on the Climate Crisis, an element amply covered at that event by Trump and Musk, the latter sinking to Donald’s low intellectual level and both agreeing that the world has plenty of time to move away from fossil fuels, if at all. 

Many times called a “hoax” by Trump, climate change was a new topic of discussion for the aging candidate who said it was “disgrace” that Joe Biden’s administration did not open up a vast Arctic wilderness in Alaska to oil drilling, claimed without basis that farmers are having to give up their cattle because of climate regulations and that a far greater threat is posed by the prospect of nuclear war. 

Among other stupidities, both made rambling assertions about climate change, including that there was no urgent need to cut carbon emissions, during an event that “dove down into new levels of stupidity”, according to Bill McKibben, a veteran climate activist and co-founder of 350.org. McKibben wrote it was “the dumbest climate conversation of all time”. “You sort of can’t get away from it at this moment,” Trump said of fossil fuels. “I think we have, you know, perhaps hundreds of years left. Nobody really knows.” 

The former US president added that rising sea levels, caused by melting glaciers, would have the benefit of creating “more oceanfront property”. Despite this Trump’s claims of new beaches (?) sea levels are rising faster along the US coastline than the global average, with up to 1ft of sea level rise expected in the next 30 years – an increase that equals the total rise seen over the past century, US government scientists have found. Trump’s reality goes totally against that fact as there will be far less “oceanfront” property as the realtor-turned-president thinks. 

Trump even tried to be subtle by adding: “The one thing that I don’t understand is that people talk about global warming or they talk about climate change, but they never talk about nuclear warming”. This comment made me roll my eyes and concluded that both need a long, well deserved vacation or an indefinite retreat from this word. Another total waste of time for the 193,000 folks including myself who followed these ramblings!

My take on Kamala Harris

Ever since she ran for the 2020 Presidential Primaries, I never was a fan of Harris. She was one of the first competing candidates to drop out of the race. This said, nothing that she did or didn’t during her vice-presidency caught my attention positively or negatively. 

As I was rooting for Biden to get out of the 2024 presidential race, I would have like to see governors like Newsom or Whitmer take the lead, but that wasn’t to be. Biden picked her and almost made her his de facto replacement. The way this was accepted by the entire party that instantly joined ranks behind her in a surprising show of unity was quite heartwarming and satisfied me fully. 

I told myself that she’d be much better than Biden and of course vastly superior to Trump, and that just like Volodymyr Zelenskyy did for Ukraine she had the full potential to rise to the occasion. She’ll appeal to the 51% of the electorate that are the American women that were cheated of the 2016 election of Hillary Clinton by the combined deadly cocktail of the Supreme Court decision on abortion, Facebook, Vladimir Putin and Julian Assange. 

If she limits her mistakes and keeps on running a good campaign, she should not only crush Trump at the September 10 debate, but eventually win the White House.

The paramount importance of where we live…

Many folks are of the opinion that what we do – our vocation – is by far, the most important choice before us as we begin our active lives. Sure, but next and almost equal to it, I would say that picking a place to live that works for us is another critical choice that we end up making over a lifetime. I would tend to say that it supersedes the choice of a partner or a mate! 

But if we return to the idea of this ideal place to live, I’d like to stress how much it can contribute to one’s happiness. I don’t know if it’s because I grew up in a gem of a place called Les Lindarets, in the French Alps, that I developed a strong taste for unique or niche places, but it must have had a strong influence in planting that seed in me, just like a nest must mean to a bird. 

Because I grew up under their monumental shadows, mountains would always be part of me, just like the seaside to so many others. Throughout my tumultuous life, my needs and wants were probably a bit complicated and hard to satisfy, yet in the end, I did the very best I could when it came to a job that didn’t feel like one, as it had little or no drudgery in it, and with the place I’ve been living in for almost four decades.

Total perfection is never fully attainable, so one has to leave or move a tiny bit of space for some healthy and convenient compromises! Most importantly, when I begin to analyze in retrospective the nature of my residence, I settled into a place that had great air quality (except when the West is burning), a perfect climate, that offered a perfect playground with a myriad of things I could do if I wanted to, but as time goes on, I seem to need less and less of these, no noise and much calm around me. 

My place also offers easy access to healthcare, shopping and world transportation even though I find myself with a diminishing appetite for going out of my pristine bubble!

Trump's press Confererence

 

As a study in human behavior, Trump is always interesting to watch. Thursday, August 8, was one to remember as he took the stand in a news conference at Mara Lago. 

Always a creative liar, a rambling Donald Trump repeated numerous falsehoods as he lashed out against Kamala Harris, his opponent in the presidential race. He didn’t have to do that. If he had been the good salesman a politician should be he could have said that the Harris-Walz ticket was an improvement over the Biden one, but was still way lower in quality than his own. 

He could have also added that the entire GOP side of Congress was getting his full support, and that luminaries like Elon Musk were thinking that he was indispensable to the health of the US economy. He didn’t have to shoot himself in the foot in that manner. Had he simply said that, he wouldn’t have had to insult his opponents, because by doing so, he insulted the intelligence of those who could still lend him an interested ear. 

He simply behaved – once again like a 10 years old or a dystopian version of Pinocchio. His profound nature is just mean, period. This speaks volume about the man’s intelligence.

Dosed but gratifying Olympic views!

We didn’t watch much of the Paris Olympics. It was for us a short daily dose except for a few days when we couldn’t watch TV, but never more than 45 minutes on average (Correction: we watched most of the France-Spain soccer men finals). 

Besides that soccer game and gymnastics, we explored other venues, like mountain biking, cross canoe, BMX, break dancing and climbing among others.

Overall, we thought Paris did an excellent job at showcasing France’s capital city and were quite proud of it. A perfect experience!

The role of an effective political campaign manager

As Kamala Harris is now launched into her quest for the White House, excellent and effective advice becomes essential. Over the years, the effectiveness of presidential campaign managers can be traced through the outcome, the strategies used, and the adaptability of a campaign as it evolves. I was curious to see if I could get some historical data on the subject, and here’s what I found. 

• The one topping the list seems to have been David Plouffe, famous for managing Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. He used data-driven strategies and grassroots organizing, leading to a historic victory. His focus on digital outreach and social media was particularly innovative for the time. 
• The second one would be James Carville who managed Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential run, with his trademark slogan "It's the economy, stupid." 
• The third, on the Republican side, is Karl Rove aka "The Architect," instrumental in George W. Bush's 2000 and 2004 campaigns. He was good at building a coalition of voters and, for that time, used advanced data analysis to target specific demographics. 

These campaign managers stood out for the strategic insights they used, the ability to harness new technologies and methodologies, and understanding voter psychology. Interestingly, Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign is bringing on a new team of senior advisers, including the (same) above David Plouffe.

This follows weeks of speculation and hard work to inject a fresh set of eyes into the campaign left over by Joe Biden after he dropped last month. Plouffe is the most high-profile addition in a slate of new operatives announced by the Harris campaign a few days ago as senior advisers, including policy adviser Brian Nelson, message guru Stephanie Cutter, organizing strategist Mitch Stewart and pollster Terrance Woodbury. 

Harris can use all of the highly capable help she can muster in order to win!

The Olympics’ ode to youth

Watching the Olympics has brought me closer to my youth as each passing year has slowly, but surely pulled me apart from that wonderful era. 

I’ve watched Paris Games for no more than one hour everyday and perhaps missed a couple when I was too sick to watch, but for the most part the Paris Olympics were a celebration of youthful vitality, that redefined beauty standards by challenging traditional norms with athletes from various backgrounds and ethnicities that have showcased their unique looks. 

That youthful exuberance is both uplifting and contagious. 

The passion, determination, and fearless spirit of these participants are inspiring, demonstrating that beauty is not just about physical appearance but also about inner strength and confidence. 

Of course, there’s always the beauty of a healthy and fit body that an old guy like me envies more than ever. The athletes' dedication to physical training is evident, and their sculpted physiques are the result of ingrained discipline and hard work. 

Finally, I enjoyed the athletes' smiles, laughter, and genuine enjoyment of their sport radiating into a sense of youthful vitality. Enough to make me forget, while I’m watching, that my age is not an administrative error!

A visit to “Pain Country”

In our northern hemisphere, August is the preferred time to go on a vacation. Some of us travel to the National Parks, go visit family on either coasts, some make that long-time planned trip to Paris. As for me, I got a ticket to Covid Country, a place I had never been before. 

Actually, it’s my daughter who indirectly got me the ticket after she came to visit us last month. She got it first upon her arrival, passed it to her Mom, and about 10 days later, as I was gloating, I was a real macho, strong and impervious to that type of problem, that it sneaked into my body. 

Since my two ladies had a rather mild case of it, I first thought it would like a walk in the park, but soon, it became much nastier than what either of them had experienced. All my chest was pretty much paralyzed, my airways filled up with mucus and other indescribable stuff, but worst of all, I had such a terrible sore throat that I could no longer speak. 

On top of that, I suffered sleepless nights and no energy whatsoever. I was in dire straits. What I can say now, is that experiencing pain, discomfort, and suffering has profoundly impacted me, the healthy guy I thought I was. 

The first thing on the list is the huge amount of daily activity I normally perform and even without doing it, I’m more tired and exhausted; go figure! My nights are bad, I don’t want to eat anything. Of course, I’m a bit depressed and much more irritable as my life is no longer fun. I also find it hard to concentrate and do easy things, which frustrates the hell out for me. 

Finally, I’m feeling helpless, out of control and I don’t like it a bit. Over the years, I’ve trained myself to be grateful for being healthy, while I was ignoring how bad it is to be at the other end of that enviable position. When I think about it, though, I realize it was “pretend” or “window dressing”. 

Even though we often pretend it is, it’s impossible to feel the pain others endure. This time, and as soon as I get better, feeling grateful won’t just a nice feeling to have, it will be much more heartfelt!

Teaching old dogs new tricks?

For years, I have hesitated to invest myself into learning Spanish, a very useful skill where we live, as all manual workers are Latinx these days and for the most part have difficulties communicating in English. 

Part of my delay in starting that learning process was laziness, but also a fear that over 70 years of age it would be much harder. This said, I took the plunge on July 3, and since then I haven’t missed a day. The learning tool I’m using is so good that it more than makes up for what could be some decreased cognitive ability or fading memory. 

 In fact, I’ve never been so motivated to learn something new. I’m eagerly looking forward to my daily, hour long lesson and wouldn’t miss it for anything in the world. My goal is to have amassed enough rudiments of the language by the beginning of October. 

It’s amazing how technology and advanced methods can do in order to lessen the consequences of the aging process.

Why should Trump wash his mouth with soap…

In English speaking countries, washing out one’s mouth with soap is a time-tested physical punishment that consists of wedging a bar soap into a person's mouth so that, Donald Trump, in that instance, will bite it, taste it and ingest it in a one-of-a-kind effort to change his communication style. 

It would be a symbolic "cleansing" following each one of his infractions and as well as a deterrent, due to the foul aftertaste. When corporal punishment was still permissible, it was commonly used as a means to enforce child discipline at home or at school, and was more frequently employed by mothers than fathers. Since it leaves a disgusting and lasting taste in one’s mouth, this punishment still has advocates today. 

This form of punishment was especially common in the United States and United Kingdom from the late 19th century until the mid-20th century. It was often used as a response to profanity, lying, biting, tobacco use, or verbal disrespect. It diminished considerably in recent years, in favor of discipline methods sometimes even more violent or humiliating. 

For sure, a quality politician is first and foremost an excellent sales person, a skill that Trump sorely lacks.

In the unlikely event that Harris and Trump ever debate, she should offer that soapy therapy to the aging candidate, not to mention the unique picture of the ex-president foaming at the mouth, by making certain an 18 wheeler following the campaign and loaded with bars of soap, keeps up with the impressive volume of foul names, lies, and other expletives uttered by the old man.

Good job, Republican Jerome Powell!

For a very long time, yet without much evidence, I have been suspecting that Jerome Powell, Chair of the Federal Reserve, was playing politics by waiting to lower interest rates when inflation was on its way down, especially considering that 1) He’s of Republican persuasion and 2) We’re on the eve of a Presidential election that the Republicans don’t want to lose. 

As our country could now be tilting into a full-blown recession, my suspicions were confirmed as Powell is now under fire as critics accuse him of playing politics with the economy by maintaining high interest rates despite clear signs, for a long time now, that inflation is waning. 

Economists, Democratic members of congress and various watchdog groups are clearly suggesting that the Fed’s lack of action may be more about influencing the 2024 presidential election than doing what’s good for the US economy.

Back on November 2, 2017, knowing that it’s not good to have a fox in the chicken coop, then President Donald Trump, replaced the Democrat Janet Yellen with the Republican Jerome Powell, to run the Fed. 

Not nearly as smart and wanting to be seen as a “good guy”, Biden announced on November 22. 2021, his intent to nominate Jerome Powell for a second term as Chair of the Federal Reserve. Now, you can understand why Powell has applied his “too little, too late” policy to help as much as he could his fellow Republicans make Biden look bad and lay the blame on him for a lousy economy. 

I only hope that, if elected, Kamala will tell Jeremy to go away and enjoy his retirement benefits!

My advice to Kamala Harris

Recently, Donald Trump (DT) began attacking Kamala Harris (KH), the new presumptive Democratic nominee, by using words like “dumb as a rock”, “bum”, “laughing stock” or “phony” among other expletives, and that left me wondering as to what the best response would be to these demeaning qualifiers.

Initially, I was of the opinion that the best answer to these gratuitous insults should be reciprocated in kind, but after thinking about it, there’s a better way to address Trump’s foul mouth and this is how it could unfold, should Trump ever muster the courage to debate with Harris as it has been abundantly talked about. 

KH: There's something that has always mystified me, Donald, do you want to know what it is? 

DT: Go ahead ka-mah-la, fire up! 

KH: Your Mom, I heard, was a very classy lady. I’m sure she told you that, in order to really succeed in life you ought to be polite at all times and she set a wonderful example for you. Why is it then that you feel compelled to use derogatory language when you talk about your political opponents? 

DT: What are you talking about ka-mah-la? 

KH: Well, when you have these rallies with thousands of people attending, you constantly say “Crooked Biden” or “Kamala Harris is dumb as a rock”, “a bum” or even a “phony”. We Democrats refrain from using this kind of language that we feel belongs to the gutter. Is you memory going so bad that you’ve forgotten your Mom’s admonitions about using decent and respectful language? I’d like to know? 

DT: When leftists like you are going to take the country over and disenfranchise hard-working Americans, you leave me with no other choice! 

KH: Have you ever considered that you might have a vocabulary deficit? You still could get tutored for that, it’s not complicated and pretty affordable for a billionaire like you! 

DT: You see how nasty you’re getting ka-mah-la! KH: Well I shouldn’t be given all that free advice to an opponent, but you’ve done so much damage to your image by using disrespectful language that you’d need at least another full electoral campaign to get a smidgen closer to me… 

DT: This reek of communist propaganda, ka-mah-la! You should be called out for election interference! 

KH: Let’s continue debating the real issues, Donald, but before we change subject, I’m sure your Mom also told you that you’d catch more flies with honey than with vinegar!

Scorpion Trump and the voting Frog

Today’s blog is about that famous Russian tale, called “The Scorpion and the Frog”. It’s in fact an animal fable that teaches us how very vicious people can’t resist hurting others even when it is not even in their own interests. This fable sometimes attributed to Aesop, seems to have emerged in Russia in the early 20th century. I have allowed myself to recast it into America’s modern ages. Here it is, I hope you enjoy it!

Scorpion Trump wanted to cross the large Democracy River but since he couldn’t swim, he asked a Democrat frog to carry him across. The Dem frog responded “Do you know who you’re talking too? I may not look smart, but I’m poles apart from your deplorable supporters!” 

A MAGA-Republican frog swimming down river, was asked the same question by Scorpion Trump, but it declined, saying, “I’m taking my kids to their swimming lesson, and I’m already running late. But if you have no ride when I return, I’ll be honored to help you…” 

A few moments pass, and an Independent frog shows up ready to cross the river. Also asked to give Scorpion Trump a ride, it hesitated initially, afraid that the scorpion might sting it smack in the middle of the waterway, but the scorpion promises not to, pointing out that he will cancel Obamacare, cut taxes and get the country out of Ukraine if the unconvinced frog gives him a ride and that it would drown if it killed the frog in the middle of the river anyway. 

The Independent frog, always “on the fence” considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport Scorpion Trump across the body of water. Midway across the river, Trump gets the urge to sting the frog, dooming them both. 

In an ultimate breath the dying frog asks Trump: “Why did you sting, asshole, despite knowing the consequence?, to which Scorpion Trump replies: "I am sorry, but I couldn't resist the urge. It's in my nature!”

Why don’t we all boycott X (Twitter)

I used to admire Elon Musk, I even bought the car he makes, but in July 2023, after he bought Twitter and overtly became pro-Trump, I canceled my “X” account. I naively thought that Musk’s weirdness would generate a huge exodus towards other platforms, but it never happened, and to this day, I wonder why there hasn’t been a boycott of X. 

In fact, there might be reasons for it despite concerns about Elon Musk's behavior and decisions. First, there’s the matter of user habits, as the effort required to switch platforms or completely disengage from one like X can deter people from boycotting. 

Then, there’s the platform’s critical mass that becomes more valuable as more people use it. X/Twitter as a private company claims to have “200 to 250 million” daily active users across the world. . No similar site comes even close. 

Many users feel that they must stay on Twitter to keep in touch with friends, follow news, or engage with communities, making it harder to leave. Another point is where to go if one leaves? While there are alternative platforms, not all users find them appealing or effective for their needs. 

I must also recognize that people aren’t all like me, and have varying opinions on Musk's behavior and decisions. Some may feel that their individual actions, such as boycotting, won’t have much impact on the company or its leadership, leading them to stick to the platform. 

As importantly, social media is a source of entertainment and engagement and it’s not because some may disagree with certain behaviors that they’ll drop the platform. Unless there is a well orchestrated boycott led by influential personalities, after Musk pushes things one bridge too far, X or Twitter will continue its merry way. 

Too bad for me, but sometimes that’s what happens when one’s opinion isn’t part of the majority! Nov 10 2011

Smoking is unhealthy and I know it!

Today’s air quality index (AQI) in Park City is around 90 and according to specialists it’s the equivalent of smoking 2 cigarette for the day. 

There are currently close to 80 fires in our surrounding western states and our surrounding air has been smoky for over a week. So if you figure it out, I have smoked the entire virtual pack! We shouldn’t exercise outdoors, but we do it anyway, so starting tomorrow, we’ll try to wear a mask. 

Will it filter micro-particles? Don’t bet on it, but I’m pretty sure that we’ll feel healthier. In the meantime, Congress is considering renaming the Rocky Mountains to the Smoky Gauloises Range!

 

A pivotal job interview

Some pun is intended there, as a huge part of Look’s success and reputation has resided for a long time with its ski binding “pivot” turntable design. 

This said, some 50 years ago, I just made the long journey from Montriond, my home village, to Nevers, a boring town smack in the center of France, driving over 5 hours for a job interview that would turn my life around. The position was something I badly needed, the pay was good, almost $10,000 a year, big money for France back in 1974, so I took the job as it was offered to me! 

In hindsight though, I now realize that I should have done more due diligence and, at the very least, drove an extra 7 hours to Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, in order to meet René Plancherel, my predecessor in the job to get a first-hand account of what the job entailed, what was really going on with Look, why he had left the job and what was lurking for me around the corner. 

In those days, ski binding manufacturers like Look and Salomon were fierce competitors and had Swiss racing directors (Lausanne’s Jean-Lou Sarbach worked for Salomon), which facilitated payments made to French or Italian racers on Swiss bank accounts.

Had such a meeting been possible and the late Plancherel willing to talk, I would have learned a hell of a lot, even though I’m pretty sure I’d have taken the job anyway. Something to remember in case of reincarnation!