Nom de guerre

Un nom de guerre (war name) isan assumed name under which a person engages in combat or some other activity or enterprise.”

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IMG_0210Pétanque is basically a hand-to-hand combat where two factions (doublettes or triplettes) fight for supremacy.
It is indeed a mini-war and it would be fitting for all combatants to have some “noms de guerre” (war names).

If you watched Top Gun (who didn’t) you probably remember that all the fighter pilots had “call signs” (aka noms de guerre).
Tom Cruise was “Maverick”, Val Kilmer “Iceman” and Anthony Edwards “Goose

In the French Foreign Legion, new recruits can also pick a new name (no questions asked) to start a new life.

Why not apply this convention to pétanque? It would add spice and pizzazz to the game.

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Fillette

As far as I am concerned, it would be definitely more fun to report that La Bête Noire polished off La Fillette or that La Foudre shocked Le Facteur repeatedly.

A good nom de guerre can also add glamour and vitality to sometimes-bland characters.
You have to admit that “Le Facteur” (who always rings twice) sounds much more compelling that plain Jean-Michel and Le Canonnier more intimidating than Noel.

So put on your thinking cap and let me know what your fighting name is going to be.

So far, I have collected just a few names, but I urge everybody to come up with a new moniker ASAP to make games more entertaining.

Actual “noms de guerre”:

Efron Alain:               La Foudre or Le Bourreau
Efron Tamara:           Rasputina or Raketa
Gautier:                    Schubert
Marcovecchio:          Le Canonnier
Moran Brigitte:          Fillette
Moser Francois:        Le P’tit Suisse
Poulnot J-Michel:      Le Facteur
Wessel Henry:          La Bête Noire

Alain la Foudre or Le Bourreau

Compromise

“The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists.” Japanese proverb

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caneWe live in a very conflicted world. Disputes abound everywhere, and conflict resolutions are made more difficult by the childish intransigence of the parties involved.
Hardliners (although often a minority) are imposing unrealistic conditions on their opponents, and vow to fight to the death to get satisfaction.

But unless you are Genghis Khan (or maybe Donald Trump) nobody can have his cake and eat it too. Maybe temporarily… but it won’t last.

Compromise is an essential ingredient of diplomacy.

A compromise is a middle state between conflicting opinions or actions reached by mutual concession or modification.

Compromising by the way never meant capitulating.
Contrarily to what extremists are claiming, compromise is not a dirty word. It is a clean, grownup word.
Has anybody heard this word on the lips of a congressman lately?

A compromise is a sensible way to avoid prolonged, often-bloody conflicts.

Politicians need to be pragmatic, dealing with issues sensibly and realistically. Unfortunately, many so-called leaders are egged on by their most virulent followers and pressured to stick to ridiculous, antiquated dogmas.

What absolutely, completely perverts politics is money. A politician gets addicted to all the perks accorded to his office and will do almost anything to be reelected.
Where else could they get such a plum job?

To be honest and vote for the public good instead of following the party’s directives, politicians should serve a single term, two at most.
Knowing that it is their only shot at doing something meaningful, they might be tempted to make more enlightened decisions and (Heavens to Betsy) compromise with the opposition to break some logjams and achieve some results.

Lifelong politicians are the bane of politics.

Crop rotation might be the answer.
“Crop rotation is used to control pests and diseases that can become established in the soil (political system) over time.” 

 Short of using pesticides, this is what we need to (try to) clean politics.
Our president cannot be reelected a third time. Why shouldn’t political hacks be subjected to the same rule?

Dreaming never hurt anyone…

Alain

Yin Yang

YinyangI bear many similarities with my cat.
We both share the same agility of limbs and nimbleness of thought.

Just like my cat, my occasional idleness does not necessarily mean that that my mind is in neutral. It is often when I seem to be half-asleep that the greatest thoughts pop in my mind.

This morning I was thinking about a common French saying:

“Le Malheur des uns fait le Bonheur des autres.”
(One’s misfortune begets somebody else’s good fortune.)

When away from my computer by the way, I often use my iPhone to text myself a passing thought. When I entered this phrase (with a stylus) in my iPhone, the over-solicitous spell-checker app corrected me and entered the following gibberish instead:

“Le Mahler des ins fair Le bother des sutures.”

 Not exactly what I meant.
So, a word to the wise: don’t uncritically accept every correction suggested by the spelling app. If you neglect to pay attention, machines can easily lead you astray.

But let’s come back to our sheep.

For someone to win, somebody has to lose.

It is evident, everywhere you look.
If you want to pay less for gas, big oil companies, thousands of stockholders have to lose.
If you want to pay less at the grocery store, farmers have to lose.
If you need a kidney to live, somebody has to die.

“In Chinese philosophy, Yin and Yang describes how opposite or contrary forces are actually complementary.”

 When you seem to be losing ground, you might actually be gaining the upper hand.
The latest mindless carnage in Brussels will not strengthen the murderous cause of the terrorists but unite the civilized world against Muslims barbarians.

The word Yin roughly means “shady side” and Yang “sunny side”.
I believe that the Yang (the civilized world) will eventually obliterate the Yin (the cancerous tumor called ISIS).

But for many to live, many will have to die.

Alain