Day 210:Newspaper

I bought the Canard Enchainé today. It's a weekly satirical French paper  which sheds light on some of the things governments and businesses try to hide.  It also has 2 aspects which are increasingly unique.  It does not accept any form of advertising and it's website (which is relatively new) just allows you to subscribe to the paper version.  The rustle of the paper does bring me back to a nostalgic better time. The level of debate and discourse was of a much higher quality when they were filtered through written article.  Now thanks to social media, twitter and instagram debate seems to be reduced to hashtags and insults.  The lack of filter and the anonymity available on the internet means that people (and politicians) use provocative  and violent language in an effort to stand out.  In view of the torrent of digital content (99.9% of which is rubbish) available for consumption it becomes impossible for thoughtful argument to break through.  I'm not sure what the solution is, we can only hope that the generations that have grown up with digital tools will be better equipped to use them intelligently. 

Day 209: Crazy

Dinner Menu:

• Gnocchi à la crème et aux chanterelles à pieds jaunes
• Salade verte
• Yaourt de brebis et banane
• Carré de chocolat noir 92%

I was listening to BBC4 (the news radio channel) this morning while carrying out my morning routine and there was a Brazilian businessman talking about Bolsonaro's election.  The man actually sounded quite reasonable he was explaining that he felt Brazil needed a new economic policy (more liberal of course) and that the PT was discredited because of its corruption.  Although I was not entirely in agreement with his positions, I could understand his point and was articulate.  But then the journalist asked him about Bolsonaro's anti-democratic and socially regressive positions and his answer was that "he didn't believe Bolsonaro would go through with those policies".  This reminds me of what happened with Trump, many Republicans voted for him saying they thought he would be good for business and wouldn't do any of the crazy stuff.  How is that a healthy democracy?  Voting for a politician thinking that he will not carry out what he said he would do is nuts.  I think politicians should be expected to spell out the top 10 priorities of their programme in simple words and then a requirement before voting would be that you explicitly agree to the priorities of the candidate you are voting for.  No more "I didn't realise that's what he/she was going to do"!   

Day 208: Restaurant

Today was a fasting day.

Fianna and I were just the two of us most of this week as the boys were are their Dad's house.  As we were sitting down to our home cooked meal Fianna pointed out that we rarely go to restaurants since I have come back from London.  It's true that I find restaurants often disappointing especially as far as value for me is concerned.  I feel that a restaurant has to be exceptional to be worth the effort.  It is never as comfortable as eating at home, usually lengthy and often not as healthy. I think the restaurant business has not yet taken on board the sharing economy.  I'm thinking we could develop the AirCafé concept.  People would make a certain number of places available to "guests" at their dinner table on a certain date for a fee.  The cost of the meal would be low compared to a restaurant (mainly covering the ingredients of the meal) but enough to make it interesting for the host.  In addition to having a good meal the host and guests would have a lively discussion.  With the usual internet peer to peer feedback system you could rate hosts and guests. I don't think I would do this regularly but I would definitely be interested in testing it out occasionally as a guest or as a host.

Day 207: Winning

Dinner Menu:

• Spaghetti Bolognese
• Salade verte
• Yaourt de brebis avec banane et myrtilles

Yesterday Fianna and I went to the cinema on the Champs Elysée where we saw a nice French film Le Grand Bain.  The story is about a team of depressed unsuccessful middle aged men who find redemption through an unlikely team sport.  The film is interesting in its depiction of the different the men deal with their issues, but as it is based on a competition it made me think about winning.  The problem with winning is that it is always at someone else's expense.  One of the most important things I used to teach in my negotiating training course is that negotiation is not about winning it is about creating value. If we want to change the values of our society from adversarial to collaborative we need to rethink our approach to education.   I remember playing Monopoly as a child and feeling ambivalent about winning because I would feel bad for the ones who were losing (After a while I did work out that feeling sorry for the losers to the point of helping them out was actually not a good strategy).  Maybe we should change the rules so that winning at monopoly is when all the players have the property and house they want. 

Day 206: Free

Dinner Menu:

• Joues de lottes au curry et lait de coco
• Riz basmati
• Yaourt de brebis et banane

Today I read that Dunkirk which is a relatively large French city has implemented free public transport.   Its something I have always been in favour of despite the line of thought which says that giving things for free means they are abused.  Actually nothing is really free its just a choice of whether its paid for by individuals who are consuming or by society through taxation.  Public transport is a definite boon to society it favours economic activity while reducing pollution, so I believe that all public transport should be free in cities and between them.  That would mean the french railway could be free.  I'm sure that would massively reduce the number of cars on the road.  We could save a lot of money on the ticket selling and checking systems.  Taxes might increase but our transport budget would come down so it would come out to the same in the end.  Hospitals, the BBC and Water Companies are financed through tax and yet they manage to perform efficiently and effectively.

Day 205: Genes

Fasting day today.

In the nurture vs nature debate I have always been more on the nurture side, although recognising that nature has some part to play too in determining our personalities.   Today I read a book review (Blueprint by Robert Plomin)  in the Guardian which seems to indicate that personalities are to a large extent genetic.  What's interesting is that the book is based on a combination of advances in science and availability of data.  The complete human genome was mapped in 2004 since then DNA testing has become widely used both for medical and for social reasons.  This means that there is en increasing amount of data which can be analysed to identify correlations.  The main conclusion is that there are no intelligence or kindness genes but that there are polygenic personality traits which are explained by thousands of small differences in our DNA.  It is therefore possible to identify that certain combinations can account for a propensity to obesity, depression, intelligence or anxiety.  The reassuring aspect is that the identified combinations are so complex that it is not possible (at this time) to artificially create those combinations, so not creation of "perfect"babies.  However it is possible to imagine that as we collect ever more DNA samples and apply ever more data processing power we will be in a position to predict what are a person's genetic personality propensities. thankfully a propensity is not set in stone and nurture can possible enhance or dampen a natural disposition.  On a more personal note I wonder if was genetically programmed to fall in love with an American-Jew who emigrated from Moldova and then spent 20 years in France ?

Day 204: Past

Dinner Menu:

• Salade de tomate et mozzarella buffala

This evening Fianna took me to the bar of the Lutetia as a surprise. This old parisian hotel has recently been completely renovated, but more importantly it's the place where Fianna and I had our "first date" to use American terminology.  The new bar is spacious and has a modern trendy feel to it.  The service is impeccable and we had a pleasant experience.  However, you can't compete with a memory.  Aside from the fact that we were in the process of falling in love which is a special time, I remember the old bar as being small, warm and cozy, feutré as we say in French.  The learning point from this experience is that we should never try to re-create the past.  Our memories should stay firmly in our minds to either fade or embellish over time.  Our time is so short we should create new memories rather than relive old ones.

Day 203: Ethics

I read an article today about the future ethics of self-driving cars.  MIT has been running a survey to try to find out what people think a machine should do when it is confronted with 2 impossible choices.  The Moral Machine survey gives you  a number of choices where a car has to decide between killing passengers or pedestrians for example.  Over 2,5 Million people from 130 countries have taken the test. Aside from some classic findings (crash into old people rather than children, chose the group with the least number of people, save women over men) its interesting that people will favour certain social categories over others or law abiding people over rebels.  Although the test (and findings) is interesting I don't think this is the right way to solve the problem of self-driving cars.  If the car has to make a choice between 2 bad outcomes rather than trying to find a "right" decision let fate decide: the car will randomly choose a course of action.  Sometimes even our machines need to accept their limits.

Day 202: Divorce

Dinner Menu:

• Risotto aux légumes
• Salade verte
• Yaourt de brebis et banane

Samantha (my ex-wife) is staying with us for a couple of nights, as she is visiting Paris.  People are often surprised that I have a perfectly friendly relationship with my ex.  I find that strange as my parents, one my uncles, my sister and some of my cousins are divorced and still manage to have perfectly good relationships with their previous partners. It seems to me that relationships can only improve after a divorce.  What is hard is living with someone! Living apart should be quite easy for two people who are no longer in love.  Aha, I hear the objection, what if one of the two remains "in love" or (more likely) is still infatuated ? The result should be the same if you love someone and they don't love you back you should still have overall good feelings towards them (since you love them?).  And if you don't love each other there is no tension and therefore things should be easy.  And yet so often love seems to turn to hate or intense dislike rather than friendliness.  It's as if you were a communist one day and then became a fascist ?  Shouldn't that evolution be more gradual?

Day 201: Youth

Today was a fasting day.

As the American mid-term elections get increasingly closer I have been reading about the chances of a democratic win which would be a blow to the forces of evil currently residing in the white house.  In parallel there was a massive demonstration against Brexit in London this weekend.  The interesting thing is that the reversal of Brexit and or Trump both rely on the same thing: mobilisation of the youth vote!  In the US and in the UK turnout among the over 50 is 10 to 20 points higher than that of the under 30s.  If young people voted in the same proportion as older ones neither Brexit nor Trump would have happened.  Why is there such a disparity in political engagement between the old and the young.  If anything you would expect the opposite.  The old should be blasé and disillusioned  while the young have a lot more at stake as they live with the consequences for longer.  We need to find a way to get young people to participate in the future of our societies.  As Xmas is coming up I will do a survey of the younger generation in the family to get some answers.

Day 200: "Concours"

Dinner Menu:

• Carré de porc aux prunes au Romertopf
• Salade verte

I went to the cinema tonight to see Première Année.  It's French film about the 1st year of medical school.  A lot of the French higher education system is based on Concours which are competitive exams.  These exams produce rankings of the students and you need to achieve a certain rank to pass, irrespective of your actual grades.  This is supposed to result in a meritocratic system where everyone is equal and getting into a specific elite school or profession is based solely on ability. I'm not sure that transforming education into a competition is a productive outcome.  Recently Singapore (which was always ranked close to the top of PISA) has decided to cut down on the exams and tests that children have to take in schools.  They want children to learn for themselves and for life rather then for exams.  Seems pretty sensible to me!

Day 199: Pride

Dinner Menu:

• Fish pie
• Tarte aux pommes
• Tarte aux prunes
• Chablis

Since I talked about sloth yesterday I thought I could add another mortal sin to my daily blog.  The seven sins are: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy and Pride.  Of these I believe pride is both the most difficult to avoid and the most damaging. I feel that social media  has unleashed a deluge of "sinful" pride on the world.  People are "proud" to exhibit themselves to the world.  It seems that everything we (or our children, husbands, wives, friends, pets, etc) do needs to be shared with the wider world in order to validate our existence.  I wonder why so many of us humans are obsessed with fame.  In today's world nothing is as valued as being recognised.  Whether its the number of friends you have on facebook, contacts on linked in, readers of your blog or minutes on tv success is defined in terms of number of people who know you.   I find it strange that any one would actually want to be famous.  Isn't it obvious that only insecure people need external validation?  Why would you want to be known for being insecure?   

Day 198: Lazy

This may (or not) come as a surprise but I've always considered myself lazy... or at least not as hard working as I should be.   In my defense I think laziness can be the source of innovation and efficiency.  So my laziness has always spurred me on to finding shortcuts and simpler ways of doing things.   Its because I'm lazy that I spend a lot of time finding shortcuts and new ways of doings things for my work on my computer.  Although I admire hard work and I realise it is both necessary and rewarding I think we should also celebrate laziness.  If we had laziness classes in school it would allow those who are not suited to hard work to excel somewhere else.  I think it would be great if certain kids could come home and proudly announce they got a 20/20 in being lazy! 

Day 197: Grudge

Today was a fasting day.

My life at work  has improved since : 1) I sold a big project 2) an extra layer (person) was introduced between my and the CEO. Although I am still confronted with many frustrations at least I have much less contact with my toxic CEO.  In spite of her many failings I don't bear her any ill will.  As long as I don't have anything to do with her and ideally if she could be CEO of a different company then I would be fine.  In life there few more pointless and counterproductive feelings than resentment.  It comes back to the great definition of stupidity by Carlo Cipolla in his book The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity.  According to Cipolla the definition of stupidity is a person who produces losses  to others while gaining nothing or even losing him or herself. That's exactly what bearing a grudge entails.  Revenge does not create any value.  Someone else's misfortune does not bring you benefits.  If you feel slighted or annoyed by someone move on (unless its your wife in which case you have to sort it out before going to bed).  Life is too short to hold on to negative emotions. 

Day 196: Pollution

My (new) morning bike ride makes me realise how bad the pollution is Paris.  Even though I ride along the Seine on a dedicated bike path, at a time where you would expect little traffic I can still breathe and smell the fumes coming from the cars in the adjoining lanes.   There are so many alternative to petrol powered cars nowadays that it should be possible to start the banning process sooner than 2025.  Maybe we could start by banning all diesel and petrol engines from the first 8 arrondissement and then expand outwards ?  62% of households in Paris do not have a car.  Why does our quality of life come second to that of the 38% who are stuck in the previous century. 

Day 195: 2017

Dinner Menu:

• Gratin de ravioles aux courgettes
• Salade verte
• Fromages
• Carré de chocolat noir 92%

In 2017 I didn't:

• Take a five minute cold shower every morning
• Fast 2 days a week
• Write a blog every night
• Do 2x2 mins of plank every morning
• Wake up at 6 am every weekday
• Do 50 mins of cycling before breakfast on weekdays

Now I understand why people always think of the past with nostalgia.  I wonder if when I stop all these constraints I will look back to 2018 and marvel at how I was so motivated back then?

Day 194 : Sleep

Today was a fasting day.

As I mentioned yesterday I have decided to get up at 6AM during the week in order to have time to do a bike ride before starting my day.  I usually got to sleep around 11PM so I felt 7 hours was a good amount of sleep to aim for (half as long as a Lion but twice as long as an Elephant).  However, I did not take into account the sleeping patterns of my "co-sleeper".  Fianna's approach to sleep is "never enough", which means, my options are to have a grumpy wife or to give up my morning routine.  Another option would be to sleep in my office during the week, but I don't think this would improve her mood.   I wonder if sleeping in the same bed is the best solution for healthy marriages.  After all so many things can be different :

• Snoring
• Moving around
• Talking
• Hogging the duvet
• Going to sleep at different times
• Waking up at different times
• Wanting the window open or closed
• Different body temperatures
• Wanting the blinds open or close

Why do we expect our life partners to have exactly the same sleeping requirements as we do?  

I think it's time technology arrived in our bedrooms.  Once the couple is asleep the two halves of the bed could automatically separate and a sliding wall would split the room in two.  Then in the morning the wall would slide away again once both sleepers are awake. After all the best part of being in bed together is surely the part where we are both awake ?!

Day 193: Cycling

Dinner Menu:

• Canards sauvages fourrés au Kiwi cuit au Romertopf avec riz et carottes 
• Haricots verts à l'ail
• Yaourt de brebis avec framboises et myrtilles
• Carré de chocolat 92%

As you may be able to tell form the occasional menus I publish on my blog we like good food in the house.  The down side is that I'm not making as much progress as I would like on the weight loss side despite my 2 days of fasting every week.  I have decided to bow to external pressure and do some regular cardio exercise (I don't think my 4 mins of plank everyday was making a difference).   I really don't like running and despite global warming the sea has not yet reached Paris which rules out swimming so I am going to try cycling.  Today I brought up my old bicycle from the cellar, tightened it up and blew up the tires.  My objective is to get  up every (week) day at 6 AM to do 50 mins of cycling along the Seine.  I'm hoping that at that time there will be few cars in the streets and according to the City of Paris website most of my journey will be on dedicated bicycle paths.  I'll be ready when cars are finally banned from Paris!

Day 192: Sex

Don't get excited this is not about my sex life, I know for a fact that impressionable minds read my blog !  I was reading an article in the Guardian  today about Isabella Rossellini.  She has undertaken a project on the courting and mating habits of all sorts of animals (from snails, through hamsters to elephant seals) these are short films (3-5 mins) where she dresses up as these animals and "shows" how they mate.  It's called Green Porno and its extremely well done.  I highly recommend it.  One fascinating aspect is the extreme variety of reproductive systems that exist in nature. Heterosexual, female reproduction, parthenogenesis, hermaphrodite, sex change, cloning, 69 etc...When you see nature you realise that our sexual "transgressions" (LGBTQZ...) are quite tame in comparison.  So what's the fuss?

Day 191: Passport

My Dad was in Paris this week, he told me he was thinking of re-applying for his Belgian passport.  It seems I also have the right to a Belgian passport although last time I tried to get one I ran into a typical Kafkaesque bureaucratic nightmare.  Still I should look into it again.  First of all I don't believe in Passports (I've mentioned before that I don't see why I would need a piece of paper to exercise my natural freedom to move). Secondly I realise that in this world not having a passport would severely hamper my ability to function, so the next best thing would be to have multiple ones.  Finally I am losing out in the passport competition, my wife, my children, my step children, (even my ex-wife) all have at least 2 passports this is not acceptable.  I need to get a Belgian Passport, an American Passport and maybe look into a Macedonian passport (seems you can get one in 1 year).

Day 190: Xmas Travel

Dinner Menu:

• "Daddy's pasta dish"
• Salade verte
• Eau pétillante (maison)

It's that time of the year where we have to start planning for Xmas.  Probably the only time in the year my family (excluding my wife) manages to plan ahead for something.  This year Samantha has kindly agreed to host us again in and around her village in the south west of France.  In previous years this would have entailed an 8-9 hour drive from Paris costing around 150€.  Now thanks to Fianna's Electric car it will take half the time.  As the Electric car is not practical for long trips we will take a TGV to Bordeaux (2hrs) and rent a car (1h30mins).  True this will probably cost more but think of the environmental and economic benefits.  A train journey saves a lot on CO2 emissions plus I will need to keep myself busy with a book or a film both of which are non polluting economic activities.  Everybody wins!  

Day 189: Space

Today was a fasting day:

A few days ago I watched the first episode of a new series on netflix.  I'm not sure what it is about but it starts with a (failed) attempt to send a manned rocket to Mars.  It reminded me that the last time we sent a man to the moon was 46 years ago.  Looking back it seems crazy that the United States put so much money ($100 Billion) and effort into a what turned out to be a dead end.  There are now a number of projects which have as their goal to reach Mars.  I don't know how much is being spent on this new objective but it seems to me as pointless as the planet itself.  I was an avid science fiction reader in my youth so I can understand the dream of new worlds, but Mars has no capacity whatsoever to be "terra formed".  If we want to escape our planet rather than stop destroying it (never the best option) let's just have a few theoretical physicists think about light speed to planets far far away....  That should take a while and cost relatively little.

Day 188: Scooters

Dinner Menu

• Blanquette de Veau de Ratoune au girolles avec pommes de terres et carottes cuite au Romertopf
• Salade verte
• Fromages variés et baguette
• Eau pétillante (maison)

My Dad arrived in the late afternoon as he is staying the night.  One of the first things he asked was whether I used the Electric Kick Scooters (not Mopeds) which have appeared all over Paris.  Considering the tone of my blog which shows my enthusiasm for electric vehicles and the shared economy you can guess my response.  I was one of the first users when they started appearing in Paris in July.  Now there is three different companies providing them and they are all over the city.  The speed with which Parisians have taken to this new mode of transportation is quite amazing.  A combination of failure by the City government to ensure a smoothly running Velib bike sharing scheme and the exceptional weather we have been having in Paris means that the scooters are the ideal solution at the right time.  I hope the system will be encouraged and developed.  Any alternative to cars is great in my view.  I would like all petrol and diesel engines to be banned from Paris before I "retire".

Day 187: Violence

Today was a Fasting Day.

After yesterday's post on the long term trend towards Freedom I see that Brazil the fifth largest country in the world voted 46% for a an extreme right candidate who has repeatedly called for military rule and is consistently racist and misogynistic.  It reminded of a conversation I had with Sasha last time she was in Paris, where she was saying how she felt there was more freedom in South America than there is in Europe.  She was referring to the fact that there are a lot more rules and laws in Europe and that in general these are upheld rather then ignored.  I see her point, but sometimes the absence of clear accepted regulation can descend into extreme violence.  Although the response is ultimately wrong, I can understand why if you live in Brazil or the Philippines where violence, corruption and crime have reached unbearable levels, voting for "law and order" can probably feel like voting for freedom.  Its easy to condemn the Brazilian result from the comfort of a rich liberal society with historically low levels of crime. Over 60,000 people were murdered in Brazil last year and over 12,000 in the Philippines that compares to less than a 5,000 in Europe which has a population of 500M.  Freedom from violence must be seen as a fundamental right which cannot be ignored.  Whatever I may think of Duterte and Bolsonaro (and Trump to a lesser extent) I cannot ignore the fact that their electoral success is legitimate even if it is misguided. 

Day 186: Freedom

Dinner Menu:

• Araignée au chanterelles
• Polenta à la crème
• Salade verte
• Yaourt de brebis et fraises
• Verre de Ribera del Duero 2014

I have been following the American supreme court nomination and the election of a series of unpleasant nationalist governments in the US, Italy, Austria, Hungary and other countries around the world.  On the one hand it makes me despair for the world, but at the same time we need to put things in a historical context.  In most (if not all) of the world the level of freedom enjoyed by the general population and by minorities within countries is incomparable to what it was 100 years ago or even 50 years ago.  Lets just take a few examples from the 1960s:

• In the Soviet Union you could not leave the country
• Brazil and Argentina where under Military Rule
• Spain and Portugal had fascist regimes
• Discrimination and racism against blacks was still widespread in the US
• Abortion was illegal in most of the World
• Apartheid was still in full effect in South Africa
• Women in France did not have equal rights (only in 1965 were they allowed to have their own bank accounts)
• There were no Arab faces on French television, radio or in Government 
• Homosexuality was a crime in the UK
• In China the "Cultural Revolution" was in full swing

The list could go on and on. The world may be in a slight civil liberties trough but ultimately I trust that younger generations are increasingly liberal and tolerant.  The world will continue to move towards increased personal freedoms despite occasional hiccups.

Day 185: Romertopf

Dinner Menu:

• Joues de raies
• Endives à l'étouffé
• Yaourt de brebis et banane
• Eau pétillante (maison)

Today I went looking for a Romertopf in Paris.  I was going to the Cinema with Fianna at 7PM and I thought it would be nice to put something in the oven which would be ready at 9:30PM when we got out.  I remember using it quite a lot to cook first at my parents house and for a while in my twenties and thirties.  It was great because you could cook things for long time without them drying up or burning.  At some point it must have got broken or lost in one of my many moves and never replaced to the point where I completely forgot about it.  As I am the main cook in the family I am always looking for different dishes to prepare and was keen to find one.  After looking in quite a few shops in Paris including Galeries Lafayette I gave up and resorted to the solution that always works : Amazon (Certainly one of the best things about the internet).

I will receive my new Romertopf on Tuesday (I need to start planning my meal for that day).

Day 184: Marathon

Dinner Menu:

• Gnocchi aux pleurotes, crème et persil
• Salade verte
• Yaourt au brebis avec myrtilles
• Eau pétillante (maison)

I'm back and there are now less blog posts ahead of me than there are behind me.  That's actually reassuring for me.  I've always been more of a sprinter than a marathon runner.  Most of my career has been as a consultant which meant participating in short projects that were always on different subjects.  In addition I have changed jobs, countries, houses (and telephones) probably more than is reasonable.  I realise that this probably not my best character trait, focus and consistency are what get things done.   I wonder what the world will look like when the smartphone and internet generation is at its peak.  Whatever the potential benefits of instant information on our screens there is no doubting that they encourage a zapping mentality.  There is no effort required or long term benefit from reading snippets and switching between multiple contents.  

Day 183: Rest

Today was a fasting day.

Today is also my half way point: 182 blog posts behind me and 182 ahead! (Thankfully 2019 is not a leap year) 

So I'm allowing myself a rest.

Back tomorrow! 

Day 182: Mockery

Dinner Menu:

• Risotto aux pleurotes et asperges
• Salade verte
• Fromages
• Baguette au pavot

The Kavanaugh hearing in the United States are disgraceful. But the worst part isn't that a liar and potential rapist may be confirmed to the Supreme Court of what is supposed to be an exemplary democracy.  The worst part is the the US Supreme Court exits and nobody finds that strange.  How can a country be deemed truly democratic if some of the most important decisions involving society are are decided not by elected representatives but by 9 Judges who have an average age of 70. Some of the most important decisions in American society seem to be decided by the Judicial rather the Legislative branch of government.  Why is Abortion, Gun Control, Gay Marriage or Immigration decided in the courts rather than by Congress? Instead of wondering if Kavanaugh should be allowed on the court Americans should asking for its abolition as an anachronistic and anti-democratic institution.  Possibly the best outcome would be to let Kavanaugh sit on the court so that it becomes so blatantly biased that it loses all credibility and power.

Day 181: Cables

Dinner Menu:

• Pintade farcie aux pommes
• Pommes de terres et carottes au four
• Salade verte
• Fromages
• Baguette
• Mangue et yaourt
• Eau pétillante maison

I recently bought myself a new phone and sold my old one for practically the same price.  As I was getting together all the pieces of my old phone to put in its original box I realise I have an impressive amount of wires, chargers, cables, plugs etc which I have accumulated over the past 25 years.  I don't want to throw them away, but I would be happy to give them or sell them for a token amount if I knew where.  Actually I'm sure there must be lots of people with redundant or old cables they don't know what to do with.  What would be great would be a 24hour warehouse in central Paris where people could drop all their cables and buy or borrow used cables for a small amount.  I should check, but I wouldn't be surprised if I have over 50 old cables in the house.  A cable weighs on average 40g, if everyone in paris contributed one cable that would be 400tons of cable recycled! That's my next project after the student flat!

Day 180: Stuck

Today was a fasting day.

Sasha was on her way from Toulouse to Mexico today via London and New York (which is the shortest route) when she was confronted with the down side of ultra low cost flights.  As she was about to get on to the flight from London to New York there was an announcement to say that as the company had just gone bust all flight were cancelled.  The combination of capitalism and the internet allows us to find amazingly cheap deals on all sorts of goods and services but this can have negative aspects.  In my lifetime passenger numbers have gone from 100 Million to 4 Billion per year.  If (or when) the rest of the world flew as much as the US does today that would be 30 billion flights (that's a lot of CO2 released in the atmosphere).  As always with these kind of issues I find myself confronted with a limited number of realistic solutions:

1. Introduce regulation to make flights much more expensive which would limit the number of people who could fly on them.  (Not very democratic or fair to people with limited means)
2. Introduce worldwide rationing of airline tickets with a lottery system for allocating tickets.
3. Hope that technology will solve the pollution problem (clean planes, faster boats, tele-transportation).

I can't see other options.  But would happy to listen to outside the box thinking.

PS: The travel agency managed to get Sasha on a different plane which means she lost a few hours but will still make her destination with all required stops and at no extra cost!