Day 302: Flashball

Calories Today: 599

I am not a fan of the French Yellow Jacket movement which seems to have no clear goals and includes a wide variety of demonstrators with was shocked by the differing agendas some of which are quite unpleasant.  However I am increasingly shocked by the state's response.  It's bad enough that we have riot police with body armour, special vehicles, water canons and truncheons, there has also been widespread use of Flash-Balls and other "non lethal" projectile weapons.  The Flash-balls which can main or severely injure people have been use close to 10,000 time since the start of the Gilets Jaune movement.  Although these weapons shouldn't kill you they can easily maim  people.  I find it unacceptable and completely counterproductive that the police are allowed to use weapons against their own citizens. As I mentioned a few days ago concerning Venezuela if the state has to resort to violence against its own citizens it loses its legitimacy. I accept that in our society as it is organised at present we need to have "security" forces to contain occasional extremes of anger in demonstrations but I dispute the fact that is necessary to arm these forces.  My future programme of government will include the disarmament of all police forces in the country.

Day 301: Lost

Calories Today: 592

So Donald Trump lost the shutdown.  Its looking good for my bet, even if 2 years is a very long time in politics.  If you are an idiot you will make idiotic, self harming decisions and after a while people will notice.  I believe that Trump can only go downhill he is incapable of managing to rise up from defeat.  Still its a shame that people think in terms of winning or losing.  The shutdown is a loss for everyone and I was disappointed to hear journalists, on one of the liberal podcasts I listen to in the morning, talking about not letting the other side win.  I'm not saying that the Democrats were wrong in their tactics and the way they held out, I just think we should be clear that it was about standing up for certain issues rather then just winning against Trump.  One of the most important things to remember about negotiations is that is should never be about winning.  You negotiate to get a deal which should bring benefits to both parties.  Ego only gets in the way as it has nothing to do with the issues you may be negotiating.      

Day 300: Pressure

As my wife and a lot of her friends have teenage children some of which are getting close to university I am privy to the anxieties of upper middle class parents in this situation.  These parents are closely in their children's schooling and university applications.  Its all about tutors, special courses, summer camps, networking, early applications, tactical choices and the "pressure" of attending school AND applying to universities.  As I look at all this from the outside I can't help feeling that the more parents help (meddle with) their children's post school education, the more they get stressed  themselves which is then communicated to the children. We have children who have had every advantage (material comfort, international holidays, exposure to culture, access to books and even interesting conversations at the dinner table) and yet their parents are worried about them not getting into "good" universities.  At some point helping your children becomes counter productive, but I admit its not easy to know when that point is!

Day 299: Films

Calorie count for the day: 582

On Saturday we went to the cinema with Theo and Eliot to see Green Book.  The film is about a Black Piano virtuoso who hires an Italian-American bouncer as a chauffeur for a tour of the Southern States in 1962.  It a nicely done film mainly about the relationship between the two men but of course with segregation omnipresent in the background.  During the film the two men interact with a wide variety of racists and it made me wonder what do these people think when they go to the cinema?  The film and TV industry is full of liberals (in the American sense of the word).  I would argue that a huge preponderance of films espouse a liberal and generous point of view.  I don't think I have ever seen a film where hateful values triumph.  So if everyone is seeing films where bullying, oppression and exploitation are deemed  to be "bad" why is this not percolating faster throughout society ?  Are there movie goers who identify with the slave owner or the fascist cop ? I find that hard to believe.

Day 298: DVD

Today I spent some time cleaning up our cellar.  Aside from the 27 different bags and suitcases we have accumulated, I also found 70 DVD of films I accumulated before the age of Netflix and Streaming.  As I no longer have a DVD player I have decided to copy the Films to my computer and then give the DVDs to people who might still use them. 

Here is a  numbered list of the first batch of DVDs which are available.  Send me a comment or e-mail with your postal address if you would like to receive any of them:

1	Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
2	Cube
3	Carnage
4	One Day
5	The Holiday
6	Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain
7	The Artist
8	Catch .44
9	The good, the bad and the ugly
10	My name is nobody
11	For a fistful of dollars
12	Le Mépris
13	L'incompris
14	The Magnificent 7
15	Love is a many splendored thing
16	Missouri Breaks
17	La vie en rose
18	The Dubliners
19	The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
20	Le déclin de l'empire américain
21	St Jacques ... La Mecque
22	Intolerable cruelty
23	Red Dust
24	Maria full of grace
25	Private Benjamin
26	Meet the Parents
27	Spy Game
28	Three Kings
29	Ronin
30	The Birds

Day 297 : Lie Detectors

I read an article in The Economist today about the possibility of increasing the use of lie detectors when interviewing criminals or possible criminals.  It seems that they are getting better, although they are still far from foolproof.  Rather than using them in the justice system I thought it would be interesting to use them in politics.  Whenever a politician would be on screen in a debate or a speech a little needle could appear on the TV and indicate whether the statements being made were truthful or untruthful.  Of course the main problem with that is that it doesn't protect us from stupidity.  I'm sure Donald Trump doesn't hesitate to lie when he has to, but his real strength is that he believes his own lies and therefore can project what seems (to some people) to be honest conviction. 

Day 296 : Numbers

I mentioned a few months ago that I sold a big project (which probably saved my job at the time). At the time the client asked how much time I would personally spend on it, and I responded whatever was needed.  As it happens I have spent quite a bit of time on it and especially building an excel model, which is something I really enjoy.  There are two things that I believe I'm particularly good at in my work:

• Identifying and communicating an issue and a solution (Negotiating)
• Simplifying and identifying trends in numbers (Modelling)

The balance of my career has been more on the first one which means that I miss the numbers side.  There is something inherently satisfying in making large amounts of numbers get organised and tell a story.  When I see my colleagues or clients struggling with unwieldy, complicated and untidy spreadsheets I feel like just telling them to let me do it properly for them.  I wonder if I could have a second career in numbers ? After all in the old days there were "public letter writers" so I could set myself up as a "public excel modeller".

Day 295: Army

In Venezuela Juan Guaidó the head of the Parliament has self declared himself to be the new President in opposition to Nicolas Maduro who is ruining the country and dragging it towards a dictatorship. Most commentators agree that the deciding factor will be the reaction of the Army.  My feeling is that if the deciding factor is the Army then the government is already demonstrating its illegitimacy.  I don't really understand why or how "the Army" can be seen as a deciding factor.  Why would soldiers obey their officers when they are being asked to turn on their own people.  The last War that involved Venezuela and an external threat was in 1908.  There are 22 countries in the world that do not have an army, most of them are quite small and are often island States.  However in the 22 there is also Costa Rica and Panama which are not islands and which have populations of 4-5 Million people.  I wonder at what population level does a country need an Army ? (none in my opinion) What if France gave up its Army (it's not as if we were so successful in wars anyway)?  We would save €33 Billion and probably would end up safer than before.  Especially if we used the 33 billion to give free education to 1,000,000 foreigners every year, so that they can go home and become advocates for a military free society.

Day 294: Library

I mentioned in an earlier post that Louis is staying with us right now as he looks for a job in Paris.  At first he was working from my home office (not even using the standing position!) but then last week he decided that it would be more conducive to go out of the house, so he has been going to work in the Kandinsky Library which is in the Pompidou Centre.   He reports that it's a great work environment with relatively good internet and a studious atmosphere.  It made me think about the Library concept and how it could be adapted and expanded for the digital age.  An increasing number of jobs are done from an office with a computer so why doesn't the state develop the library concept has a free work space for start-ups and independents?  After all one of the roles of the state is to provide (or organise) appropriate infrastructure for people to live and work (transport, roads, electricity, water, rubbish,  airports, ports, etc).  In this millenium you could argue that an office with good internet access is as fundamental to operating transport was in the previous millenium.  There are lots of buildings that could be fully or partially transformed into Millennial Libraries:

1. Churches
2. Museums
3. Public buildings (administrative)
4. Monuments
5. Station

In addition to helping people develop their activity it would significantly contribute to social cohesion and networking.

Day 293 : Snow

It snowed today in Paris.  Nice thick snow although it only lasted for the day.   When I was young it used to snow for most of the winter, now everybody is surprised and excited when it snows for a day.  The relative rarity of snowfalls in Paris also means that we are not as prepared as we use to be.  I had to go to Boulogne (in the close suburbs) to see a client this morning and I would normally use an electric scooter (the motorcycle kind or as a fall back the kick scooter kind). However all the scooters were switched off due to "weather conditions".  It really annoys me when people make safety decisions for me why can they just give an extra warning when you take the scooter and let you make your own decision.  I find micro-management highly annoying and intrusive whether it be by companies, by the state, by my employer or at home.  On the plus side it gave me an excuse one of the new electric cars (the Citroen Ion)  that are replacing the now defunct autolib and I really enjoyed the service.  The cars are much nicer than the old ones and its the same system as the scooters: You find a car, click on your app and off you go and then you can park it anywhere when you arrive.

I don't understand why anybody chooses to won a car anymore in big cities.

Day 292: Drones

Calorie intake: 501

When I read the news (Guardian, Le Monde, FT and LinkedIn) I often spend time on the technology related articles.  I have noticed that a lot of "column inches" (or maybe we should say pixels now) are given over to autonomous cars, trucks and ships.  So far the technology promises a lot but is still some way form actually delivering.  Artificial Intelligence is still not capable of making relatively simple decisions related to unforeseen events on the road.  What I don't understand is why we don't first develop remote controlled vehicles rather than autonomous ones.  If we take the road haulage industry for example.  If a trucking company developed a remote controlled truck, it could significantly reduce its costs by operating its trucks 24 hrs a day instead of 12 at most.  The drivers would just drive the truck in a relay taking 8 hour shifts.  They could be in a more comfortable "video game" type environment and would sleep at home every night rather than being out on the road alone.  You could imagine the same thing for buses, taxis, ships, trains and even planes.  Instead of using our remote control capability to make War Drones why don't we use it to make life easier for all of us?

Day 291: Amazon

Recently Amazon has made the news because its owner is divorcing from his wife of 25 years.  This is not what I am going to write about! I started buying on Amazon in 2003 (mainly books) and at first it increased slowly, however since 2011 I have gone from 11 orders per annum to 105 in 2018 (and that doesn't include the Prime Now service which I have used for food shopping since 2016) (See graph below).  I realise that I am probably an above average user of the service, but if my trend is replicated with most consumers Amazon has the potential to become an all providing behemoth.  Its as if we all lived in a huge 24hr shopping mall.  I'm sure it is already possible to live 100% in the amazon world. You can already buy:  Food, Drinks, Clothes, Household goods, Electronics, Books, Music, Films, Motorcycles, and practically any object you can imagine.  The only things missing (for the moment) are Homes, Cars and Travel.  I'm not sure whether this is good or bad ... but I'm glad I bought a few shares in the company!

 

Day 290: Conditions

The United Kingdom is in an inextricable mess over Brexit with no perspective of finding a solution.  One of the most incomprehensible things for me is the total capacity of any of the key players to actually negotiate.  Mrs May got herself in this position because she set out a series of red lines (things that were non negotiable) before going into the negotiation with the EU.  In a similar manner  Mr Corbyn is now refusing to negotiate with Mrs May unless she first rules out a no deal Brexit under any circumstances.  One of the most basic rules of negotiation is that the more issues you include the best chance you have of actually concluding a deal.  The way a negotiation works best is when you have a lot of different things on the table and you can then "lose" on some issues and "win" on others to get to a deal where everyone is a winner.  The less elements you have, the harder it becomes to do trade offs.  Contrary to what some people may think, putting conditions before a negotiations does not strengthen your hand, quite the opposite as has been demonstrated by the British Government over the last 2 years.   

Day 289: Bed

Diner Menu:

• Carré de porc au four
• Pommes de terre et champignons poellés
• Salade verte

Fianna is coming home tomorrow after spending the week in Mumbay.  One of the best things about coming home after a trip is to get back to your bed.  And this is particularly true of our bed:

• The mattress is the exact right balance between hard and soft.
• We have a queen size bed which I find to be the perfect compromise between the King which is too wide and the double which a bit too tight to be comfortable in the night
• Our bed has two drawers on either side built into the bed (it should be a standard feature on all beds)
• It is slightly higher than a standard bed which makes it more to sit on or get up from
• Finally it faces west which, according to this blog, is very good for ensuring the balance of your shakras.

In conclusion I can safely opine that having perfect bed is one of the 7 things that make for a tolerable life.  (Expect to find out the 6 others in future posts).

Day 288: Digital

I read an interesting article in the FT today about how to break your phone addicition.  One interesting suggestion is to replace social media interaction with physical letters.  I can see his point that receiving a physical letter is a completely different feeling to receiving a "like", a text or even an e-mail.  An actual letter in the post carries a lot more weight and importance.  It would be interesting to devise an experiment an experiment comparing reactions to exactly the same letter but one sent by e-mail while the other one would be sent by post.  I guess there is something more real about a a physical letter.  An e-mail will always be at risk of being drowned out by the next one which will probably arrive a few minutes later.  A letter will take it time, sitting on your desk for a while until you have decided what you response might be.  I was wondering if I should add this to my resolutions but then realized that I don't think I have the postal address of many of the people I might have considered putting on my physical correspondence list.

Day 287: Delusion

For a long time I have prided myself on being at the forefront of technology.  I seem to have the latest version of most technological items and I have a pretty high level skills in using my phone or computer  (especially for my age).  I realize now that I have been deluding myself.  I chose to define technology as the things that I was good at (android, excel, powerpoint etc) but in reality there are whole areas in which I am as clueless as a 90 year old on an Iphone X.  I don't really understand social media in particular instagram, twitter and snapchat.  I can't operate "video games" (I don't think they are even called that anymore) and I don't do streaming on youtube or its competitors.  If further proof is needed this blog demonstrates how stuck I am in the technology of the 90s. I have to accept that in fact as I get older there are new things that I will just not put in the effort to learn.  It doesn't matter how much we try we are all doomed to obsolescence at some point.  Counter intuitively, accepting it probably helps to delay it. 

Day 286 : Ridiculous

This evening the Brexit deal negotiated by Mrs May has been defeated by 432 vs 202.  This whole process is making a mockery of referendums and of British democracy.  After a disastrous referendum (which should never have taken place on such Manichean terms) the British Government proceeded to negotiate an agreement with the EU for the next 2 years. Through a mixture of bad negotiation, stubbornness and not listening to Parliament the Prime Minister has just wasted everybody's time.  If anybody needed a demonstration of the pointlessness of government this is a prime example.  Britain has spent the last 2 years navel gazing at the expense of all other Government business and yet the country has continued to function (more or less).  How many times do professional politicians need to let down their country before we move to citizens assemblies?

Day 285 : Mishka

Calories today: 506

As some of you may know I cohabit with a neurotic cat called Mishka. He is a sweet cat but psychologically deranged which means he sometimes bites, often poops next to rather than in his litter and occasionally miaows rather annoyingly.  As you can see he isn't in my good books.  Today I finally managed to wear down Theo, quite easily, and Eliot, surprisingly, to agree to finding him a better home (anywhere other than mine!).  I thought that was the hard part but in fact it's more complicated.  However much Mishka can grate on me, he has been with us practically since he was born and therefore he is part of the family.  Of course you expect younger members of the family to go off at some point to study at university and build their own lives but that is a bit more complicated for a cat.   I cannot imagine handing him over to an animal shelter or other similar institution.  The only way Mishka could leave is if we found him an "upgraded" family where he would have more (or as much) love as with us (or certainly with Eliot) and a better environment (such as access to outdoors).
So the search is on...

Day 284: Velib'

Diner Menu:

• Roti de veau en cocotte
• Riz Basmatti
• Yaourt de brebis et banane plantain

Louis recently received his Velib card and I mentioned to him how I had given up on the service since they changed the operator.  It has been a perfect storm of incompetence, technological evolution and luck.  When the Mairie de Paris decided to change operator they didn't measure the difficulty of the transition and for nearly a year the system didn't work properly.  As it happens, at the same time, the electric scooter companies arrived in Paris flooding the city with their easy and fast alternatives.  Even though the Velib system now seems to work properly I believe they will probably never fully recover from their fall from grace.  I for one (who was an early adopter of Velib') will probably not be going back.  It seems strange to have to take and return your bike at specific station.  I wonder if the Velib' will be like the Minitel a great French invention and precursor which in the end  was killed by the internet.

Day 283 : Siesta

Diner Menu:

• Joues de raies au curry et nouilles de riz
• Yaourt de brebis et myrtilles

I had a siesta this afternoon something I rarely do but which I feel is underrated in Northern Countries.  I remember when I worked at CRU in London one of my Directors who was in his early 60s would always have an early afternoon nap in his chair after lunch.  We were in an open plan office but he would just go to sleep for 20 to 30 mins  while activity carried on all around him.  I'm sure a systematic 45 min nap (actually an hour would allow you to go through a full sleep cycle) in the afternoon would do wonders for my health and productivity.   Just to be clear I'm not adding this to my list of resolutions, just considering it as an occasional activity.

Day 282 : Income

Over the last 10 years since the financial crisis western societies have been lamenting growing inequalities and populists of the right or left have been surfing this wave of discontent.  I have for a long time thought that we should put into place a universal income which would be paid to all legal residents over 18 irrespective of their income or situation.  If this income were set at 500€ per month per person for example that would cost 307 Billion €, which is 12% of the current French GDP of 2,500 Billion €.  Since most people agree that the level of taxation in France is already quite high they might ask how will we finance this ? 

We need to find 310 Billion (let's round it up).  If everybody is guaranteed a minimum income of 500€ per month irrespective of any other income they may have I believe we could remove other items of expenditure:

• Unemployment spending becomes redundant: 95 Billion € in savings
• Family policies are no longer needed: 50 Billion €
• Housing subsidies become irrelevant: 50 Billion €
• Spending on professional training could be divided by 2 : 15 Billion €

That brings us to 210 Billion € which means we have to find another 100 billion €. The total amount spent on retirement is 300 billion €.  Since the over 65s would be receiving 500 € per month extra you could restructure pension amounts to take that into account which would save another 78 Billion €.

The final cost would be 22 Billion € which I believe we could probably save from the health, prison and education budgets as people would be happier and healthier.

Now that we have agreed that this would cost nothing I would like to point out the real benefits of this reform:

1. Unemployment does not exist anymore. Since you receive universal income irrespective of your status you do not need to declare yourself "unemployed". I believe this is an important psychological benefit.
2. There are no more threshold effects were people don't want to work on small jobs or part time as they may lose existing benefits and end up worse off.
3. The "stigma" of being dependent on the state is removed since everybody receives it from the richest to the poorest with no exceptions.
4. People would be more willing to take career breaks and pursue their own projects is they felt that was a permanent (even if basic) safety net in case of failure. 
5. Finally this major simplification of our redistribution system would probably generate significant savings in our state administration.

When I stand for President this will be the first point on my programme.

Day 281 : Competition

As I have mentioned before since August last year Paris has been invaded by shared electric Scooters.  At first it was Lime and Bird (both American companies) then Bolt and Wind appeared in October and now there are two more: Voi and Tier.  On top of all that I have been looking at job ads on LinkedIn and I saw that Jump (which is part of Uber) and Dott (which is Dutch) are both looking for General Managers to start their own scooter operations in Paris which would bring the total to 8. What I don't understand is that all these companies are offering exactly the same service, through very similar apps and charging exactly the same price (1€ + 15c/min).  I though the whole point of free markets and capitalism was to let competition ensure that prices are kept at a minimum.  IF everybody is charging the same its not really working as it should.  In addition you would expect no more than 2-3 companies to share the market as a key point of these types of companies is to benefit from being everywhere.  I don't want to have to look up 8 different apps on my phone to find the nearest scooter. I don't understand why someone doesn't just halve their price to eliminate some of the competition. If I was GM of Jump or Dott I would recommend an aggressive pricing policy and a significant volume discount.  Watch this space!

Day 280 : GDP

509 Calories Today

The world GDP per capita is 17,000$.  That goes from 700$ in Burundi to 140,000$ in Lichtenstein.  This means than anybody who earns more than 15,000€ per year should consider themselves lucky as they are in the upper half of the divide.  However, we see (Yellow Jacket for example) many cases  of people being in the richer half of the divide and yet complaining that they don't have enough.  15,000€ is quite comfortable for an Indian in Calcutta but is a pauper's wage for a French person in Rouen.  Most of the world's population is much richer (materially) then has ever been the case in the past. People on minimum wage in France usually have:

• a car, 
• a mobile phone
• a flat screen colour TV
• a washing machine
• running water
• access to practically free healthcare
• 5-6 weeks holiday,  

None of these things would have been remotely accessible or even imaginable to 90%  of the population 100 years ago. The salary of a basic employee in 1919 was probably the equivalent to 200€ a month in today's value for a 12 hour day with no holiday (and they probably considered themselves lucky to have a job).  So where does it stop?  At what point does humanity consider that is has enough?  When the ressources run out ?

Day 279 : Parenting

Diner Menu:

• Couscous aux merguez
• Yaourt de brebis et banane plantain
• Carré de chocolat noir 85%

As the parent of 2 children I have learned (the hard way) that parenting is much more of an art then an exact science.  However, I think there are some simple rules which make things easier both for the parent and for the child.  One rule that I have tried my best to live up to (probably with some lapses, I should check with Sasha and Louis) is:  Mean what you say and do what you say. What do I mean by that ?  I'm sure we have all come across parents who have difficulty in getting their message across to their children.  Go to bed, Clean up your room, Stop playing with that ball,  Do your homework etc...

At some point in the process a parent will often have to spell out the consequences of being ignored (no pocket money, no screen time, no telephone for a week, no going to a friend's house, etc...).  So once you have made the consequence clear you need to follow through : Do what you say!  I am always amazed at how many times I hear parents telling their children something and then not following through.  How is a child supposed to know when his or her parents mean something if there consequences are haphazard and completely random?  The necessary corollary to this is : Mean what you say!  If when you say something you will actually carry out then you must be sure that what you say is realistic and proportionate.  Never threaten things that your child knows will not happen (We'll go to grandma's house without you, you'll never have friend's over again, the cleaning lady will not clean you room anymore, etc).   

Every time you threaten something you lose a little bit of your authority, and every time you threaten something and don't follow through you lose even more.

Day 278 : Variety

515 Calories today

Today for dinner Fianna made her usual Monday evening dish: Tomato & Mozzarella with Olive Oil, Grilled Salmon and Rice. Everybody except me (as I am limited to 500 cal) enjoyed the meal despite the fact that is the same every week.  I suggested that I should stop trying to do all sorts of different meals on my cooking days, but this did not go down well.  So why do we like variety and consistency at the same time?  I have a friend who practically always wears exactly the same clothes: light blue jeans, white polo neck shirt and blue jacket.  I'm quite envious at how easy it must be for him to shop for clothes and get dressed in the morning.  I wish I could do the same but despite wearing often similar clothes there is always a point where I switch to my pink shirt, my lighter jeans or my red cardigan.  I guess we seek variety in our clothing to stand out or be different but in fact the only people whose style I remember are those who are always the same.

Day 277 : Epiphany

Diner Menu:

• Epaule d'agneau au four
• Haricots tarbais
• Riz basmati
• Galette des rois 

Today was the Epiphany (or three king's day for my American readers).  In France this is celebrated with a Galette de Rois which is a pastry pie stuffed with frangipane (almond paste).  Inside the pie there is a little object called a fève. The one who get the plastic object in his share is crowned king or queen for the day.  I remember enjoying the whole experience as a child (especially bossing people around if I got the fève).  Nowadays of course commercial imperatives mean that they sell galette des rois practically during the whole month of January. I understand that its a nice dessert and why shouldn't we have as many of these as we feel like ? But sometimes its nice that something is special and unique.  I don't think I would have had the same anticipation and fun if I'd had galette des rois on 10 different days in january when I was a child. So I'm happy to have Galette de rois on January 6th, Easter eggs on Easter Sunday, Turkey on Thanksgiving and Latkes at Hanukkah.

Day 276 : 4D

Diner Menu:

• Coquelet aux groseilles
• Pommes de terres et carottes au four
• Salade laitue, concombre et tomate
• Fromages
• Yaourt de brebis et pomme émincée

This afternoon Fianna and Eliot went to see Aquaman in 4DX.  Needless to say I did not go.  My understanding is that 4DX is a technique which in addition to 3D adds physical effects to the experience (the chair moves, there is wind, splashes of water etc...).  As Louis points out it's more akin to a roller coaster than to a film experience.  Except that 4DX (like 3D) is sold as a movie which in my view is false advertising.  I have not gone to a 4DX film but I have been to 3D movies and they have usually had disappointingly thin plots. 3D movies tend to focus on the technical effects rather than the story.  The best films are the one which appeal to your emotions and/or your intellect which is never done through special effects.  My ten favourite films (in random order):

• Casablanca
• Who's afraid of Virginia Wolf
• Pulp Fiction
• 12 angry Men
• Once upon a time in the west
• Fargo
• L'homme de rio
• Lost in translation
• Vertigo
• A bout de souffle

Bonus: La dolce vita

Not one special effect in any of them.

Day 275 : Skating

Calories Today : 495

Today Fianna organised a family outing to the Grand Palais where they have installed the largest indoor ephemeral ice skating rink in the world.  The venue was certainly stunning especially as they also had a great sound and light show from time to time.  But I do find these kind of activities strange.  Lots of people jostling each other and going round and round on an ice rink with limited space to actually enjoy the ice.  Ideally you should go skating on the dutch canals or the lakes and rivers around Moscow.  I understand not everyone can do that but I feel that if you can't do the real thing it's better to no do it at all.  If you can't go and see animals in the wild don't go to the zoo thinking that it is an acceptable proxy.  Zoos are prisons full of innocent inmates, they should be closed on humanitarian grounds.

Day 274 : Domesco

Dinner Menu (Thanks Louis):

• Wok de nouilles, poulet et carottes satay
• Salade verte et mini tomates
• Bleuet de Montréal

In my youth when I was still living at home my Dad invented a family game called Domesco which basically gave points to all sort of domestic chores.  Whenever anyone would do a domestic task they would get the points and at the end of a month the one with the most points won a cash prize.  In the end the main winners were me (because I'm competitive) and my mum because she got to do a lot less housework.  I'm thinking of updating this concept to the smartphone age.  Everybody in the family would download a smartphone activity tracking app and at the end of the month we would see who spend time on their smartphone.  The winner would be the one who spent the least time on his or her screen.  

PS: Maybe I should develop my dad's Domesco game into an app...

Day 273 : Bet

Fianna and I went out to dinner with some friends this evening.  One of them was American and happened to be a Trump/Sanders supporter (yes interesting combination).  Anyway, during our conversation we talked about what might happen in 2020.  Many people including on the left feel that Trump could well win again, but I don't agree.  As Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time".  Despite all evidence, I believe that enough people will rely on the facts and their senses rather than their beliefs and resoundingly send Trump packing when the time comes.   In order to back up my views I have agreed to a bet on the outcome of the 2020 election. The stake of the bet is honour rather than cash.  It made me realise that betting is actually a way of acknowledging defeat of rational argument.  Since I haven't convinced you with my argument I will propose a bet to try to scare you in agreeing with me.  Whoever loses the bet has to wear a hat and shirt given by the winner for a week.  I hope my counterparty is oblivious to ridicule!   

Day 272 : Resolutions

The new year is supposed to be the time of resolutions but I made so many resolutions during 2018 that I'm thinking its better to make them when you are ready rather than at an artificial date.  I have decided to do a Dry January (alcohol free) but that hardly counts as a resolution since its an easy one to keep.  I'm  not going to make any other commitments today but as part of my "Top 5" series here is my Top 5 New Year's resolutions I wish I had made (and kept) :

1. Go to a country I have never been to before
2. Read all the unread books in my library
3. Participate in an endurance race
4. Buy no item of clothing the whole year
5. Surprise my wife with flowers at least once a month

If any of you uses one of these and keeps it you will get 10 bonus points per resolution made and held! (Resolutions have to be posted as a comment before 7th January).