Less appetite for the Winter Olympics? (Part One)

In recent years, Norway and Sweden, both historical powerhouses in winter sports that possess the needed expertise and infrastructure, have repeatedly withdrawn from bidding for the Winter Olympic Games. Their successive withdrawals (notably Stockholm for 2022 and 2026, and Oslo for 2022) are explained by a combination of political, financial, and cultural factors that reflect growing distrust of the modern Olympic Games’ economic model. 

First and foremost are the budgetary pressure and the taxpayer role, the most direct reason for the withdrawal of several bids, including those of Stockholm and Oslo (both for 2022). These Nordic countries have robust social systems and a strong tradition of prudent management of public funds. Citizens and politicians are very skeptical about promises of long-term economic benefits. They fear that the Games would only drain resources for a fleeting event.

There was also a widespread rejection of "White Elephants”, these specific facilities like bobsleigh and luge tracks that have no use after the Games and which maintenance would fall on taxpayers, especially in view of the Games historical cost overruns. Unlike countries like Austria or France, the Scandinavian countries have a strong culture of citizen consultation for major public projects like the Olympic Games, where bids are typically met with weak popular support, or even outright rejection in key referendums or polls. Residents do not see any direct benefits on their quality of life. 

There’s also a rejection of elitism in an egalitarian country like Norway. The opulence, lavish spending, and "elitist" nature of the IOC's (International Olympic Committee) demands are poorly received by a population that values ​​simplicity and equality. Furthermore the demands of the IOC have been criticized in Scandinavian countries as they’re perceived as excessive and sometimes disconnected from local realities, an arrogance that I have always deplored. 

This explains why these withdrawals of Scandinavian countries are not due to a lack of capacity to host the Games, but to a political and ethical choice. They simply refuse to spend billions of euros of public money on an event whose benefits they believe do not justify the cost, the environmental impact, and the demands of the IOC, which they consider too elitist. 

All this Scandinavian story to match a similar developing situation in France, where I recently learned that there was a lot of discontent broiling about the 2030 Winter Olympic Games planned for the entire French Alps. Tomorrow, I’ll try to explain what it’s all about.

What to do after complaining

Complaining is totally understandable and so human. We complain about the weather, pains of all kinds, traffic, cost of living and our politicians and the next obvious question would be, okay that’s fine but what can we do about it? Some areas can be more easily affected than others if we decide to do something against what bothers us, but in the vast majority of cases, efforts, even if they seem big to us, are in fact tiny in relation to what needs to be fixed. 

That’s precisely when we get discouraged and decide to give up and accept what ails us as some kind of divine fatality. That’s also when we need to change our paradigm and accept that there is no action that’s too small as long as we’re part of a system that is bent on changing things that are intolerable! To that end, 

I like to believe that just like the grains of sand that are thrown inside destructive cogwheels will eventually push the machine to slow. That is when we must be ready to build something better in its place. Complaining will spark awareness, resistance could slow or halt the damage, but renewal is what gives us hope. Every small act of kindness, every effort to connect, every attempt to improve our community goes toward building a better system. 

We may not change the world overnight, but we can change the tone of a conversation, the trust in a friendship, or the resilience of a family. These are victories too, and they ripple outward. So after complaining, let’s always remember to act. After resisting, let’s rebuild. 

And after breaking down what divides us, let’s strengthen what unites us. In this way, our voices become more than protest—they might become a song of renewal. With all this in mind, we should stop complaining about the things we’re unwilling to change.

Albert Camus and me…

If someone had asked me what Camus meant to me several years ago, I would have said that he was a famous French writer (1957 Nobel Prize of literature) who died in his Facel-Vega automobile in 1960. At the time, his publisher Michel Gallimard, was behind the wheel when the car hit a tree near Sens, France, following a tire blowout. 

At the time, I must have been more fascinated by Facel-Vega cars than Camus himself. Little did I know about his view on the meaning of life or lack thereof. Over the years I had read The Stranger and The Plague, but must have missed their meaning altogether. 

In fact, I’ve come to find Albert Camus' philosophy centered on the confrontation between the human need for meaning and a universe that is indifferent and doesn’t care about humanity, a concept he called "the Absurd". 

His central argument, was not that life was objectively meaningless, but that meaning was unattainable through traditional means like religion or absolute truth, something I agree with. Rejecting nihilism, Camus proposed instead that the only way to live authentically was to embrace and rebel against the Absurd. 

That concept isn’t something I share as I understand the irrational clash between our rational minds seeking order and a chaotic, indifferent world that I have little choice but accept as a given environment I must live within. 

Where I’d agree with Camus is by choosing to live intensely, in embracing the fullness of human experience on Earth, as this life is all I have despite the vagaries of life. I also agree with the need to liberate myself from the need for external validation or predefined purpose, something I continuously keep fighting for. 

I guess that just as Sisyphus, eternally pushing a big rock up a hill, I find ways to create my own happiness, because I’ve come to accepts my fate, owning my reality and making this struggle very much bearable. I consider myself extremely lucky to have been born, much better of as a human than any animal, I accept life’s absurdity and I even find ways to enjoy it.

Snowblowers and broken pins

It happens to me all the time. The snow around the house is too heavy or too thick to clear by hand with my shovel and I need the snow blower. 

As I run it against the edges of the driveway, I try to be “cute” and eventually get too close to the edges where I’ve placed some rocks, the machine’s auger seemed to feel them and get into them as if attracted by their shape and BAM! I hit one of them and broke the auger’s safety pin. 

It’s another cold morning and everything is snowy everywhere. I get down into my shop and find another replacement bolt and nut, and when I return to the blower, once again, I realize that the replacement pins bought through Amazon seem just a tiny tad too short to engage into the bolt. 

I struggle for an hour trying to tighten the whole assembly up to no avail, yet they worked last winter, the couple of times, even when I broke them then, but now I don’t understand. Evelyne, witnessing the commotion, does her best in trying to help me, but the two parts still won’t engage. So, that’s when I need to get creative. 

First, I decide to flat-file the face of the bolt A coming against the auger C, so I reduce the conical entry. I try it on the machine, the screw D that seem to stick 1 mm out of the auger still wont take, so I return to my workshop and file-flat the best I can the interior facing B of the bolt. 

When I return, I’ve removed enough steel that it finally begins grabbing into the bolt and I now can tighten the whole thing. Now, I just need to find longer bolts!

Struggling with soap dispensers

Do you have a soap dispenser built into, or next to your kitchen sink ? We do, and in fact the first one we had was 12 years ago when we built the house we’re now living in. I doubt the plumber even tested the device after it was installed, but what’s certain is that it never worked! In addition, after many fruitless attempts I never was able to make it function, so was the device dysfunctional, was I doing something wrong or just plain stupid? 

Well, soap dispensers are one of those deceptively simple devices that can be maddeningly tricky. If it hadn’t worked for so long, chances were it was either a design flaw, a clogged mechanism, or a small installation issue rather than anything I was doing wrong. 

There are in fact many possibilities for this. First the soap can thicken or dry out inside the straw/tube, blocking suction. 

Also, if the pump isn’t sealed tightly to the bottle or tube, it won’t draw liquid. Many systems like mine were attached to the bottle and if it wasn’t seated properly under the sink, the pump couldn’t reach it. 

Pump dispensers designs also vary and are notorious for failing after a short time. Some brands simply don’t hold up. Finally there’s the nature of the soap that can gum up the pump. Dish soap or thinner liquid soap works better. 

Recently, I finally decided to address the problem with more determination than ever. I first flush the tube after removing the pump and rinsing it with hot water until clear. Of course, I checked the straw and made sure the straw was fully seated and not cracked or too short. Then I refilled the bottle with water, primed the pump more than 30 or 40 times and nothing came out of the spigot. Crazy, isn’t it? 

So, after doing all this I’ve finally decided to replace the built-in dispenser with a new pump kit that will directly feed inside a detergent bottle located under the sink, on its floor and will make sure to switch to a thinner dish soap or dilute it some (about 30%) to make sure it flows better.

I’ll let you know how this goes!

Return on snow

The Park City resort opened up on December 5, but I didn’t make the time to get on my skis until late afternoon, yesterday, on Sunday after watching too much Alpine world cup skiing on TV. 

I was excited and ready to go! Thank god there was no big crowds on the “ribbon of death”, that narrow and dangerous strip of man-made snow that went from the top of the Payday chairlift, made my two runs on the beginning of my 73rd season on snow and when I was done, I went home. 

Everything worked perfectly well, I still remembered the drill, felt good about myself and was already imagining all the fun I was to have this coming winter!

Time for a new faucet! (Part Two)

After living around one dozen years in our most recent home, we needed to replace a kitchen faucet with a new one, and if possible more stylish. 

I picked one up at the store, paid just under $200 for it and asked my plumber to come and install him. 

He said he’d come within two week, but after the third one I called him and he said he’d do it for $300. 

To keep everyone honest, and knowing full well that plumbing isn’t exactly a charitable endeavor I checked around to see what I should expect to pay for the whole job (parts and labor) and came up with around $800 in the low range and most likely for $1,000 or even more depending on model complexity, ease of access and various other considerations. 

So, I didn’t feel so bad about forking $300 for having a competent plumber do it well in less than one hour. I spent less than $500 and considered myself fortunate. 

As I wrote yesterday, it pays to be a busy plumber in America!