Au Cochonnet Marin

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. Thomas A. Edison

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The most satisfying thing about hosting a blog is that you feel free to verbalize whatever pops in your mind… After all, it is my party and I’ll cry if I want to…

So what I want to say today without fear of being censured is that I chose Susan Wyatt as the Most Improved Player of the season.

Despite an obvious handicap, this gallant lady persevered and has become an excellent pointer. A few months ago her boules came awkwardly off the mark. But today I noticed that most her shots are landing within 12 inches of the cochonnet.
A vast improvement upon last year.

“Sport is not about being better than someone else; it’s about being better than you were the day before.”

 And Susan is definitely better and can dare to play with the Big Boys.

Regardless of whom you play with, you should always recognize and applaud a good player. And I applaud Susan for playing well. It is the sporting thing to do.

Wyatt, as she likes to be called, was initially very shy and reserved. But buoyed by success she has finally come out of her shell and seems to be  much more assured and confident than last year.

Three cheers for Wyatt! She may look like a lamb but she has the heart of a lion.

Alain

Some people bring joy wherever they go, while some people bring joy whenever they go. Mark Twain

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Would you share a drink with a prickly individual? I guess not. I for one would not!

Some people seem to forget that pétanque is above of all a “social” game. You come to the field first to meet friends, exchange pleasantries, and ultimately to play pétanque. Not the other way around.

 Some delusional “pisse-froids” (sourpuss) seem to think that winning at all costs is the main object of the game. They could not be more wrong!

Pétanque was created a long time ago, by a bunch of friends who sought some entertainment. The game they invented was just an excuse to meet on the village square and talk about “la pluie et le beau temps” (shoot the breeze). It was above all a social gathering and a game would never end without drinks and plenty of “galéjade”.

This pastime appears to have picked up steam in America, but some people don’t seem to understand the spirit of the game. Winning is not the main object. Letting some steam off is. You don’t come to the field to prove anything. You come to forget life’s pressure and relax among like-minded spirits.

Winning is satisfying but it is just an incidental part of the game. What really matters is having fun and you cannot have fun with touchy, confrontational adversaries

On the field you should be civil, friendly and generous. Nobody is interested at all in playing with crotchety individuals. Don’t forget that pétanque ties often extend beyond the playing field. Close bonds born on the field often lead to durable friendships and invitations to private parties.

Fame and Reputation are two swift birds, but Reputation (bad) flies much farther and lives much longer than Fame.

So keep in mind that if you acquire a ”mauvaise réputation” the playing field could turn into a minefield. If you don’t step gingerly, shrapnel will eventually hit you in the derrière.

Alain

 

Users who want critical bug fixes and new features without actually upgrading their software also want magic flying candy-dropping ponies. Chromatic

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Do you remember the 1967 Mike Nichols movie called the Graduate? In this popular flick a young man who just finished college is wondering what to do next. What path should he follow to become successful?

He goes to a party and is buttonholed by an older gentleman who tells Him:

Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Plastics.

Well, if I had to advise a young person today, I would suggest “coding” instead of plastics.
Coding is a special language instructing a computer to execute specific tasks through a set of symbolic commands. Today, just about any technology requires coding.

Coders are in big demand and young people versed in this discipline won’t have any problem finding a very lucrative job.

And think of all the fun the kids could have. They could hijack your creepy neighbors’ car, they could open all the garage doors in the neighborhood, they could also hack into the Wi-Fi of all your neighbors, and terrorized them as well.

And then there is the exploit cottage industry.

“In computing, an exploit is a piece of software, a chunk of data, or a sequence of commands that takes advantage of a bug or vulnerability in order to cause unintended or unanticipated behavior to occur.”

 Failing to regularly update software programs (among other things) leaves you particularly vulnerable to Ransomware attacks such as WannaCry that affected 250,000 computers in 150 countries in 48 hours.

Large companies (such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook) are willing to pay “bug bounties” (up to $1,000,000 I read) to any coder who can uncover a perilous exploit (a flaw) that makes the program vulnerable to hackers.
Nothing to sneeze at!

So forget plastics and Rock bands, and steer your whippersnappers toward the new Eldorado called coding.

Alain

“A great lathe operator commands several times the wage of an average lathe operator, but a great writer of software code is worth 10,000 times the price of an average software writer.” Bill Gates