The new Two-State solution

As Trump turns Old Gaza into a beach resort, generous as we know him to be, he’ll be eager welcome its 2 million inhabitants and let them settle in brand-new residences on the East Coast of Florida, just opposite to his Mar-a-Lago estate. 

That way, he could create New Gaza, a fully independent nation that would bring even more diversity to the Sunshine State, add to the excitement and create a compelling reason for the media to talk incessantly about its famous Mar-a-Lago neighbor.

Of course, eminent domain would trade, not confiscate, the roughly 141 square miles needed to fit the new settlement in, with an equal number of acres out of the 15 % of land owned by the State of Florida, so the current inhabitants of Gaza could return to brand new homes on a prized seaside location. 

An even more generous Trump could double the landmass to 300 square miles, but I might be getting ahead of myself… The people living in Palm Beach and those living nearby would then be relocated to nice, new residences in various areas of the State. 

Does this make sense to you ? It certainly does to me!

Trump challenged by arithmetic…

With his big mouth, Donald Trump has built an image of someone who knows what he’s talking about while in fact he knows absolutely nothing about Economics 101. 

Take his recent spat with Walmart. With arbitrary extra tariffs imposed on importers, the giant retailer will have to pay its suppliers more for the products it sells, so it likely will need to increase prices to maintain its profit margins and keep its stock value where it needs to be (something smart Trump would want to stay high). 

If one could assume that all industrial products will have to be built in America, it’s going to be harder to grow all the bananas and avocados we eat inside our country. 

I’m a convinced globalist and Trump’s idea of transferring all manufacturing in his country is a pipe dream, considering that our economy creates three-third of its GDP through consumption. 

I predict that his idea of tariffs will be the rope Trump and his sycophants are in the process of hanging themselves with, as he stubbornly hangs on to his “magic” economic concept of import duties. If you’re MAGA, give your fearless leader a calculator and tech him how to use it!

US and International skier-days…

For the ski season ending now, the United States have tallied around 61.5 million “skier-days”. It’s a bit better than last year (60.4) but not as good as our record-breaking 2022-2023 winter season when we hit 64.7 million. 

For those readers not too familiar, a "skier-day" refers to a day of skiing purchased at a ski area. It's a unit of measure used to track the number of skiers visiting a particular resort. For example, a season pass is often considered to be used an average of 20 skier-days. Another way to define it, is a count of how many skiers are using a ski area on a given day, for an entire ski season, essentially a unit of measurement for the number of skiers at a ski resort. 

Since we only have 2025 figures for the US, I drew this table comparing the skier-days at various world ski countries during the 2023-2024 ski season. As you can see on the table, that year, the US happens to be on top. It’s not infrequent that Austria, France and the US battle for that top spot. 

It must also be noted that if only 5% of skiers come to ski in the US from abroad, the picture is vastly different in Europe. France, that it’s 11% cheaper than Austria and 17% cheaper than Switzerland, accounts for 35% of foreign visitors. 

In Austria, an impressive 66% of ski resort guests are foreigners, of which Germans make up by far the largest group, followed by the Netherlands, the UK, and Czechia. Italy is close with 54% foreign skier visits, being particularly popular with Polish, Czech, American, British, and German tourists. 

Japan’s growing market from Australia and America is booming, while its domestic market is falling away. An aging demographic is not being replaced by younger generations in sufficient numbers. While foreign tourists are boosting the dwindling numbers of local skiers (around 50% these days), many Japanese resorts are reaching a point of fatigue with foreign skiers and boarders due to their disrespectful attitudes. 

As for Switzerland where a record 35% of the population skis, foreign visitors keep declining (they’re only 37% now) as a strong Swiss Franc has resulted in many leaving to ski and board in cheaper Alpine regions, like Austria, Italy, or France.

A pop song I can relate to…

Last night my wife and I heard “Susanna” on our sound system sung by the Italian Adriano Celentano. Even though we both know and love The Art Company’s version even better, we fully enjoyed the tune. "Suzanne" (titled as "Susanna" for the English version) was first released in Dutch in 1981, it became a major hit in the Netherlands and Belgium, standing out from typical Dutch-language pop at the time. 

It came from the Dutch band VOF de Kunst, also known as The Art Company, that released the English version in 1984. Creative, in its use of audience participation, it had a slightly rebellious, artsy edge, fitting the post-punk/new wave era while still accessible. The song reached number one on the Single Top 100 in the Netherlands, and did well everywhere else, but France. 

As for me, it’s a song totally emblematic of my never-ending struggle with women when I was coming of age even though it was released more than a decade later. It was also the result of great social observation! The constant clumsiness, awkwardness and counterproductive approach to seduction that was mine and that heralded my youth and often sow discouragement, despair and total misunderstanding of my botched social development as a young adult! 

I could expand further and bore you with familiar details, but if you’ve been young like me in the 60s and early 70s you can see where I’m coming from. So without going any deeper you can gauge the meaning that song still evokes in me…. 

When we need a boost of energy…

Do you also feel that sometimes, we lack the motivation, the interest of moving forward with a project and in spite of its importance, feel incapable of shaking ourselves up and doing what needs to be done? If this is the case, you’re not alone. In spite of my generally good intentions, I sometimes hit some low points and don’t remember how to get restarted or re-energized.

Sure, when it’s a short, temporary situation, I’ll get out of what I’m doing, walk out briskly of my office, into the kitchen, grab a glass of water and get on the outdoor deck to get my blood flowing again. 

However, for the major mental blockage I’m talking about, many “specialists” suggest more physical exercise, longer recreational breaks, better overall discipline or sometimes a special diet or even therapy. I don’t go that far and keep it simple. I look at the situation in the eye and ask myself: “What in the world is holding me up? Am I afraid of tackling that task or this endeavor?” 

That question is always the clincher as I allow myself absolutely no room for unspecified and unwarranted fear or apprehension. I cannot accept being intimidated by a trivial, non life-threatening obstacle, so I muster all of the energy needed to get going again and I roar back to my project. Simple and effective, at least for me!

How we plan trips...

 In our household, I always end up being the trip planner. We all have task that we like and that we end up doing not so badly. That skill, I learned as I traveled an awful lot during my professional life and that was mostly for business, but these days, these times are over as the only travel we do is mostly for fun. 

So here we are: Air fare, rental car, specific sights to see and lodging are so many pieces that need to neatly fit into the puzzle. This of course isn’t easy and the key question is “Where does one start?”

Luckily technology has changed everything and taken most of the drudgery out of trip planning. 

From AI to make sure we don’t miss any important thing to see, to Google to plan the driving, air resources to book the flight and online car rental, not to mention a plethora of travel videos to preview where we want to go and what we wish to see, we’re up against a plethora of tools and options, I would even dare say, far too many things to keep the process simple and easy. 

So wish me luck as I’m in the midst of planning a West Coast trip initiated by a simple visit to the French Consulate in San Francisco to re-issue our French Passports!

When Look quit ski racing…

Half a century ago, Look ski bindings had to make a hard decision in drastically cutting its expensive racing ski program that was the pride and joy of its owner, Mr. Jean Beyl. It’s true that the use by top skier of the Look products put it at the top of the world in terms of reputation and consumer awareness. 

In 1975, Look was already struggling with raising costs (it just built a beautiful and costly new factory) and Salomon was beginning its explosive and successful penetration worldwide with products perfectly targeted to skiers’ needs, cutting badly into Look’s market share and profitability. 

One of Beyl’s acquaintances suggested he hire Philippe Blime, a McKinsey’s consultant, to become his general manager and as expected when these type of folks look at a company's numbers, they suggest some large cuts. Look’s racing service stood up like a sore thumb with its one million dollar a year price tag and its indirect effect on sales. 

I suggested that we could shave a significant amount of its cost by reducing its inefficiencies in pooling our needs with say, a ski manufacturer, but the cost-cutting train had already left the station and my job was to fire all of our servicemen and notify the ski federations of our leaving their respective supplier pools, except in Italy where our distributor accepted to shoulder some of the financial burden. 

Still, the large cut didn’t stop the hemorrhaging of cash and just prolonged the company’s long financial agony, I was given the position of product manager, a new post created for the circumstance, and that was the end of my first job at the helm of Look ski racing service!