Snow performance under sun and shade

For decades, I’ve been wondering how we can explain that, when alpine skiing in Utah during spring season, on days that are relatively warm (close to 50 F), the snow exposed to the sun becomes incredibly slow, but as soon as we traverses a shaded area, the acceleration is not just noticeable, it's impressive. This in comparison to similar dates and conditions in the Alps? 

As I just ran again into these conditions, I deepened my search and found a few more things. Do you really want to know what these are? Just read on… Sun angle and intensity seems to be the main reason. In central Rocky Mountain ski resorts like here, in Park City, Utah, the higher altitude and dryer air, compared to the Alps this means that the sun's rays are more intense, especially in the spring when the sun angle is higher. Latitude (lower in the Rockies 40 vs 46 degrees North in the Alps) also exacerbates that effect. 

There’s also less atmospheric filtering, as the drier Utah air allows more direct sunlight to reach the snow surface. In the Alps, there's often more humidity and cloud cover, which filters a great deal of the sun's energy. Utah's spring days often see large temperature swings. The sun heats the snow surface quickly, causing it to become wet and slushy. At night, or in shaded areas, the temperature drops, and the wet snow refreezes. 

This creates a very "sticky" snow surface in the sun. Snow moisture content, as I have claimed in the past, is very low in Utah. A drier snow-pack, while fantastic in the winter, means that when spring melt occurs, the snow suddenly turns very wet, heavy and sticky. That’s drastically different in the Alps, where the snow higher moisture keeps gliding okay and more consistently during spring time. Utah snow, when it melts, tends to hold onto water more than the wetter Alpine snow. 

This wetness creates a suction effect, slowing skis down considerably and creating that huge difference with skiing in the Alps. Apparently, a strong sun can also create a "sun crust" on the snow surface, which can be very slow when it's soft and sticky, but I’m not quite convinced. What I should do is wax for these warm and wet conditions, but that’s a whole different subject! 

One thing for certain is that “corn snow” in the central Rockies is never very good and doesn’t compare well with its Alpine equivalent! Then of course, there are the real conditions we all experience, like when skiing shaded areas where the snow remains colder and drier, or refrozen, retaining its faster glide. The slope orientation also plays a critical role in timing the process and that’s when savvy skiers know how to “follow the sun” during spring skiing. In summary, an intense sun on dry air, and rapid melt-freeze cycles in Colorado or Utah spring create unique snow conditions that can slow things to a crawl under sunny areas and dramatically faster in shaded sections. The Alps, with their higher moisture content and less intense sun, tend to have a more consistent snow behavior, even in the spring. 

As you can read, nothing new under an intense sun!

The extortionist

The definition of an extortionist is someone who practices extortion—the act of using violence, threats, intimidation, or pressure from one's authority to force someone to hand over money (or something else of value) or do something they don't want to do. The word extortioner means the same exact thing. 

Organized crime groups frequently employ extortion to control territories, businesses, or industries, and to extract money or other valuables from individuals or businesses. 

This can take the form of protection rackets, blackmail, and threats of violence or harm. It’s not uncommon for such organized crime groups to demand "protection" payments from businesses, extort individuals for money or property, or threaten to harm someone if they don't comply with demands. More specifically, the Mafia commonly uses extortion as a normal way of conducting its business. 

Now, let’s take a look at Trump’s style of doing business. Is he an outstanding businessman or just a “transactional” guy? Neither one to me, especially after menacing and cutting arms and intelligence support for a while to Ukraine or after launching his “Tariff Walz” with China, Canada, Mexico and Europe, not to mention the over-hanging “Primary” threat to congress people who don’t toe his line, he is the perfect extortionist I was describing previously.

Why does he take this path? Because it’s not necessary to have a valid or even a legal reason to ask someone to do as they’re told and there is no need to convince. It’s easy, fast and it works all the time! 

I guess his father’s and his own deep and varied experiences with the infamous New York City’s Mafia families are the reason for his defaulting to that mode of operation...

Do we have three lives?

We recently saw the recent biopic ” Joan Baez, I am a noise”, a very good documentary about the life and torments of the famous singer in which she’s heard introducing the concept of three distinct lives: Public, private and secret. 

This concept, often attributed to Gabriel García Márquez, was new to me as I knew about the two first lives, but thought that the “secrets” could fit in our private realm, when after thinking it over, it makes perfectly sense to be given a compartment of its own. This compelling idea reflects the complexities of our human existence. While it might not be a scientifically established fact, it can resonate with many people's experiences. 

Our public life is the image we show to the world. It's in fact how we interact with colleagues, acquaintances, and the broader community. It incorporates our professional activities, our social interactions, and the image we project, the whole being often shaped by social expectations and our desire to maintain a certain reputation. 

Our private life is the one shared with our loved ones, our family and to a certain extent, some of our friends. It’s the place where we’re seen as more authentic and vulnerable, and where we’ve got the opportunity to share our true thoughts and feelings. It’s in fact a reflection of our intimate relationships, personal values, and home life. 

As to our secret life, it is kept hidden from others, and sometimes even from ourselves. It’s a mixed bag of our deepest desires, fears, fantasies, and hidden aspects of our personality. It may involve thoughts, behaviors, or experiences that we might feel ashamed of or that we believe would be judged by others. This resonates with the different "masks" we can wear in different social situations to fit in or to protect ourselves.

We’re all complex and multifaceted, with different sides to our personalities, and we may not always express them all openly. In addition, a “secret life” gives us a sense of privacy and boundaries. We have a right to keep certain aspects of our lives, like certain thoughts, feelings, and fantasies that are a significant part of who we truly are, and can be kept private if we so desire. 

Sure, the boundaries between our "lives" are not always clear-cut. They can shift and change depending on the context and our relationships. Likewise, accepting all aspects of ourselves, including our "secret" selves, is essential for self-acceptance and personal growth as long as our “secret life” doesn’t involve harmful behavior. 

Without making a trite play on words, I certainly can “live” with my three lives to make enough room for the different aspects of my identity and figure out how we navigate our complicated social world!

Gallup’s happiness ranking (Part 2)

The study measured the following of seven categories: 

• GDP per capita is in terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) adjusted to constant 2021 international dollars, taken from the World Development Indicators (WDI) by the World Bank 
• The time series for healthy life expectancy at birth are constructed based among others, on data from the World Health Organization (WHO) 
• Social support is the national average of the responses to the Gallup World Poll (GWP) question “If you were in trouble, do you have relatives or friends you can count on to help you whenever you need them, or not?” 
• Freedom to make life choices is the national average of responses to the GWP question “Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your freedom to choose what you do with your life?” 
• Generosity is the residual from regressing the national average of GWP responses to the donation question “Have you donated money to a charity in the past month?” on log GDP per capita. 
• Perceptions of corruption is the average of answers to two GWP questions: “Is corruption widespread throughout the government or not?” and “Is corruption widespread within businesses or not?” Where data for government corruption are missing, the perception of business corruption is used as the overall corruption-perception measure. 
• Dystopia is kind of confusing as it stands for a hypothetical country, so named because it has values equal to the world’s lowest national averages for 2022–2024 for each of the six key variables

Following most northern Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, what’s amazing is that the United States only ranked 24th, just after the UK, and this before the chaotic new Trump regime! 

France got a dismal 33rd spot, just before Singapore, while Spain and Italy got respectively 38th and 40th. Japan was just 55th. Russia is only 66th, Greece 81st, most African countries are at the end of the ranking that has Afghanistan dead last. 

 

You now have enough information to select your next country of residence, if you’re up for it!

Gallup’s happiness ranking...

The recent Gallup poll ranking world countries by their happiness level, reminded me about the Happiness Equation that goes as follows: “Happiness = Reality minus Expectations.” This would mean that the top ranking, or happiest nations on earth either manage their expectations very well or get much more than they expect out of their day-to-day lives. 

At any rate, the 2024 World Happiness Report, a partnership among Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the World Happiness Report's Editorial Board, has become a key resource for seeing how happiness in policy making are doing in the various world countries and how our politicians are true to what they represent. 

The report assesses the current state of happiness around the world and explores how happiness can vary on a global and national scale. The 2025 edition focuses on the effect that caring and sharing have on people's happiness, much more than the trite equation I was mentioning earlier, as caring and sharing are too often forgotten values in the crazy world we live in. 

Tomorrow, we ‘ll try to analyze the results, so for now, just be aware that Finland was #1 and Afghanistan, dead last.

Don’t miss “The taste of things!”

During her recent visit in Park City, our daughter suggested we watched “The Taste of Things” (La Passion de Dodin Bouffant, in French), based on the 1924 eponymous novel by Swiss author Marcel Rouff, a historical romantic drama movie written and directed by Trần Anh Hùng starring Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel. 

The story set in 1889, depicts a romance between a cook and the gourmet who employs her. The film premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, and was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in its main competition section, where Tran Anh Hung won the Best Director award. 

I loved the movie because of its cinematography, its composition and its positive tone, a wonderful break from the nefarious political chaos we’re currently served by Trump and his sycophants. If you haven’t seen this jewel of a film yet, stream it, rent it, but at any rate watch it now! 

Managing anger…

If current politics make you angry, you’re probably paying attention and please be reassured, you’re not alone. I, too, feel exactly the same. This said, how can we best manage that kind of anger and don’t let it poison our lives? Obviously, this kind of anger is a common and valid reaction, especially when we feel passionately about the issues at hand.

A proper way to manage anger, is to channel it into something constructive rather than letting it consume us. To begin, let’s take a moment to identify what’s triggering it. In the political realm, is it a particular policy, a leader's actions, the state of discourse or how it lines up with our values? If we can pinpoint the root cause of that anger that will go a long way in helping us focus our energy. 

Since I’m a fighter, I’m motivated to channel my frustration into action. I develop a creative, concise but impact-full message and use it to write or voice my position to my political representatives. More importantly, I ask my friends to do the same. When I do, I make sure to communicate assertively and respectfully rather than aggressively (my instinctual response). 

Since over-consuming political news will make my anger worse, I set limits for how much time I spend reading or watching political news. By all means, what’s critical is to learn how to identify all new sources that get to me! When I happen to share my thoughts with like-minded individuals or even those holding differing views, I try to aim for understanding rather than confronting. 

Constructive conversations and especially asking pointed questions can be enlightening, is what works best and is less emotionally draining. Finally, I focus on what I can control. Because so much is out of our hands, I concentrate on the areas where I can make a difference, whether it’s in my community or in my personal life.