Au Cochonnet Marin

“Stories constitute the single most powerful weapon in a leader’s arsenal.” –Dr. Howard Gardner, professor Harvard University

All leaders are storytellers. They have to tell good stories to convince incredulous neighbors to give them money and support them. Their appeal stems from the shrewdness of their speakers and their power of persuasion.

To be successful, a leader needs a good vehicle and a weak scapegoat. Scapegoats are more important than battle horses. A leader has to emphasize that what is happening to you is not your fault. Somebody else is responsible for your misery and these people need to be punished, banned or even killed. A good scapegoat is a dead scapegoat!

Christianism had a good run. After been persecuted for years, the church leaders managed to deflect popular vindictiveness towards the Jews. Then, like octopuses, they grabbed entire countries and kept them in their tight grip for a long time.
They had good stories about a mysterious figure called God and two retirement places called Hell and Paradise. It was very popular. Many people bought it.

Monarchs also did well with the “divine right” fairy tale. “It asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving the right to rule directly from the will of God.”
I am your King because it is the will of God. You have to blindly obey me and pay taxes to subsidize my castles building hobby and entertain my mistresses. God said so!

Then communism… Everything you have belongs to everybody. We are all equals, but some of us are more equal than you. Comrades Lenin and Stalin said so. And it is unhealthy to contradict a great leader or his followers.

Antisemitism… Jews are responsible for all the calamities happening to good people. They are greedy and will take everything that you possess… including your AK-47. They are responsible for climate change and they are also conspiring with aliens for the invasion of earth and the enslavement of earthlings. You have been warned!

Islam… The tales of a Thousand and One Nights… women are inferior and need to be kept barefoot and pregnant. Don’t let them drive!  Do not trust anybody except your religious leaders. And some of them do not preach the true religion. Any deviationist, especially any Jew, deserves to be killed. God permits and condones it.

A dash of truth is the perfect seasoning for all these beautiful stories and make them palatable. There were some good Christians, some decent monarchs, some honest communists, some moderate (?) anti-Semites and some nonradical Muslims, but take every story with one… no, five… no, a thousand grains of salt.

“We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter.”  Denis Diderot

 Alain

I spent a good portion of my life surrounded by dictionaries, encyclopedias, and technical manuals… and I still have a few, gathering dust on my library shelves.

Been naturally curious, each time I wanted to learn about something, I would pick a thick book and leaf through it looking for the information. It was a laborious process, leaving me often unsatisfied and hungering for more.

And one miraculous day, the skies opened, and the INTERNET (surrounded by trumpet- playing angels) appeared in a blaze of glory. For us, computer nerds, it was like the Second Coming.
It felt like opening the Pandora Box and feasting on forbidden fruits. We could look at everything without incurring anger, sarcasm, or mockery.

Today, miracle of miracles, you can find information about practically everything on earth. The Internet loosened the grip of the clerics on our daily lives and set us free.
Nothing is taboo or too sacred to question anymore. Ask and you shall receive!

Let’s say that you buy a new appliance or any gadget that you have to assemble before using it. Especially when the product comes from the Far East, the owner manual can be minuscule and difficult to comprehend.

You then turn to YouTube looking for better instructions, and 9 times out of 10 you will find various versions of what you are looking for. You can also download the manual and look at it more comfortably on a large computer screen.

When I say that you can find anything that you are looking for, I really mean it. I was somewhat taken aback at one point when I came across young women discussing and demonstrating various sexual practices. I am not prude, but I was surprised.

If you are curious about masturbation or oral sex, these young women will describe in great details the best way to go about it. Don’t laugh, it is never too late to learn how to do things correctly.

There was a time when you could only get an education through colleges and universities. Not anymore. Now, thanks to the Internet, I believe that you could bypass colleges and become an expert on practically any subject on your own.

Now I wonder… Is the Internet competing with the Almighty? It has more ads, but many people find it far more responsive than God. I believe that considering his age the Old Man has to take more naps than anybody else.
And the Internet never sleeps…

By the way, “You wanna be worshipped? Go to India and moo.”

 Alain

We are only in mid-September, but marauding winds have already struck our field, bringing down hundreds of drowsy leaves.
With 7 large healthy trees (planted years ago by the likes of Louis Toulon and Charles Davantes) we arguably have one the nicest field in the Bay Area. But like a prized heirloom, it requires a lot of care, especially before a tournament.

Starting in September, it seems to be futile to scrub the playing areas when you know that the next gale will bring all the previous efforts to naught.
Why should we attempt to remove the leaves anyway? A bare field looks cold and shivering while a blanketed area looks cozy and appealing…
If some people can play in driving rain, I don’t see why we could not play on a golden blanket.

Because there is magic in a carpet of autumn leaves. It redecorates the courts in many unexpected ways, and it looks like it would almost be sacrilegious to tamper with nature’s work.

“If only humans could die like the autumn leaves, with a splash of beauty and the promise of another season”. ― Shana Chartier

Like a child, I revel in strolling in dead leaves. I like the rustling and the faint scent emanating from the ground. And walking with a pet or a loved one makes it even better.

Fall officially starts on September 23, 2019, but Mother Nature does not care about men-made rules. It does as it pleases…
Fall is also chestnuts time. I still remember the delicious scent of the roasted chestnuts sold in the streets of Paris. They were wrapped in old newspapers cones and never tasted so good…

In my book, any food consumed outdoors tastes twice as good as anything eaten inside. That’s why hospital patients should be taken outside to eat their drab servings. They would get well twice as fast and cut their hospitalization expenses in half.

If somebody would be enterprising enough to roast “châtaignes» on the field, he/she mightget enough traction to get elected to any public office.
Wouldn’t it be fun to have a “châtaignes” hootnanny?

In the meantime, I am dying to know of what really happened in Portland?
How many people showed up? How many stayed in spite of the rain?
How did our people fare? How do you deal with a floating cochonnet?

Being an active participant to this event was good, but what was glaringly missing was a dedicated reporter/photographer. I wonder who could have done the job?

Alain