Au Cochonnet Marin

Wanted, dead or alive:  your email address.

Anytime that you are shopping on the internet (and who doesn’t), no matter where you end up, you will be asked (or begged) to provide an email address.

“To not have an email address is the digital equivalent of being homeless. Without it, you can’t shop online, bank online, or engage with social media.” ~ Dela Quist

And there no fate worse than being homeless. Today, if you don’t have an email address, you don’t exist… or you are a caveman not worth acknowledging.

Your email address is worth something and this is why everybody wants it. Personally, I think that anytime a company asks you for it, it should pay you a fee. Or even better, anytime a business uses your email address, it ought to share with you a small percentage of the transaction.
Remember, if your ship does not come in, swim out to meet it!

Today, you cannot even read a newspaper article anymore without showing “patte blanche” (providing your address.)
(The French idiom ‘montrer patte blanche’ translates word by word as ‘to show a white paw’. However, the meaning of the idiom is equivalent to the English ‘to show your credentials’.)

On top of the myriad of revenue-making ads peppering their page, newspapers want to squeeze a few more bucks out of you. Give me a break! It feels like having to pay for breathing some fresh air.

If you are not careful and listen to their siren song, very soon you will be flooded with a deluge of unwanted messages. Just like the ever-increasing number of ads popping up on your TV screen, or on your phone. And the few messages that are really important will be lost in a flood of unsolicited propositions.

Wanted, dead, or alive… this is the poster that now jumps to my mind when I am surfing the web.
You could, of course, create a bunch of new email addresses to deceive the enemy… but that would require some extra work and the advertising fat cats are counting on your indolence to avoid this.

Use your email address judiciously, otherwise, it will be added to millions of them sold and traded like captive animals. And nobody enjoys seeing caged animals.

“The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men.” ~Alice Walker

Alain

Getting to know anybody can take a long time. Some people have worked side by side for years and know very little about each other. To achieve a better understanding of an individual, you have to discuss a wide variety of subjects with him… and this takes time. This process is a little bit like sculpting a wooden figure. You start with a rough outline and you slowly chip away the concealing material to reveal the inner person.

I have always deplored the fact that when playing pétanque you don’t have that opportunity. A real fan of the game comes to the field to play, not to discuss his life philosophy or his political inclinations… and I understand that. But nothing prevents you from mixing competitiveness with friendliness… assuming that you can walk and chew gum at the same time…

No matter how long you have played with somebody, you often don’t know that person. You just know faces… and even this is a little improbable nowadays. Most of the time you are unaware of their occupation, if they are married, if they are politically progressive or conservative, if they are prudish or broad-minded, etc. In short, they are semi-strangers… and some people like it this way.

But I am a little different. It could be my love of photography that incites me to pay more attention to words and mannerisms. Getting to know a person is my guilty pleasure, my “péché mignon”.

I have to know more than a name before feeling comfortable with anybody. And that’s why I am partial to some social media. Facebook for instance has fans and detractors, but it is also a good way to discover like-minded people. They will agree or disagree with you on different subjects and after a while, you know who you are dealing with.

To feel content in life, you have to surround yourself with people sharing the same values, or at least the same sense of humor. Because (besides Covid-19) nothing is more contagious and generating good vibes than laughter and good humor. And with friends, no subject should be taboos. You should feel free to discuss anything and everything.

“Whenever a taboo is broken, something good happens, something vitalizing. Taboos after all are only hangovers, the product of diseased minds, you might say, of fearsome people who hadn’t the courage to live and who under the guise of morality and religion have imposed these things upon us.” ~ Henry Miller

Getting to know former strangers is often rewarding. Instead of dealing with an unknown figure, you might discover a kindred-spirit… and possibly a new BFF.

For 2021, my goal is getting to know many of you better, uncover your hidden qualities (and your dark secrets), and when the #@^*! pandemic is over, share a loaf of bread and a glass of wine with you.

TTFN (ta ta for now)

Alain

If you can’t say anything nice, say it in French.

Goodbye, 2020!
It is finally coming to an end… and not a minute too soon!
Like an obnoxious guest, we will be glad to see its back. It will be remembered though, but with outrage and sorrow.
On December 31st, we will all heave a big sigh of relief and look forward to a better future. Short of a nuclear conflict, nothing could possibly be worse than the waning year.

But with the departure of that terrible chapter, we will also hail (Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia) the grudging exit of a narcissistic buffoon. A man who pretended to run our country, but in truth a vulgar mercenary who tried to enrich himself (and his cronies) every step of the way.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out DT!

Now, the “warp speed” operation promised by the White House is not exactly zooming. It is at best crawling and many more people will die before a sizable number of Americans gets immunized. So, what is holding up the parade?

The military was supposed to conduct this operation, but as Georges Clemenceau once said: “War is too important to be left to the generals”
In my humble opinion, the job should have been given to Amazon Prime. These guys really mean business and deliver as promised.

In the meantime, we have got to be extremely cautious and take every precaution prescribed by the medical community. There is absolutely no excuse for anybody to ignore those mandates and party as if nothing happened. We are in a war, and in times of war, you have very few personal rights. Scofflaws and their ilk should be flown to China for political reeducation. These people will tell you in no uncertain terms what they think of your selfish personal rights.

In the meantime, we should trust Uncle Joe and Maid Kamala. This new David seems to have more common sense than yesterday’s Goliath. He seems to genuinely care for the common people and ought to be given a fair chance to succeed.

I understand that on December 31st at midnight the Times Square crystal ball will be dropped as usual but without its million revelers. I have no doubts that some people will try to gather and make merry, but almost everybody agrees that it would be a bad idea. This by the way never prevented anybody from doing this kind of bungee jumping anyway.

Goodbye 2020 and a happy New Year to everybody. It is the first page of a brand new blank book. Feel it up with joy, laughter, and happy memories. After that dreadful 2020, you deserve it.

Bonne Année a tous!

Alain