Au Cochonnet Marin

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

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We 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

I 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

 

If a man says to you, “I am going to die”, you reasonably assume that this person is afflicted with an incurable disease and that he will pass away in a relatively short time.

If my wife says that, it does not mean that she is going to die in a very near future. It means that eventually, in 20 or 30 years, she might depart for another world.
The same goes for “I am going for a walk” or “I am leaving”…

Those statements never imply immediate action. They simply mean that, in due course (an hour, a day, a year…) she will (maybe) translate her statement into action.

A similar little ballet takes place when she goes to work.
She first solemnly announces that she is leaving. I acknowledge, wait and listen.
First take: the front door slams indicating that she is outside the house. A few minutes later she reenters.
Second take: after fussing with something in the kitchen, she will leave again but reenter soon after.
Third take: “All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.”
The door slams again… Is it…? Yes, it’s a wrap! Fade… glorious music…

My wife is obviously very fond of Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. For her (and for many women I suspect), time is a very pliable, elastic commodity.

Relativity challenges your basic intuitions that you’ve built up from everyday experience. It says your experience of time is not what you think it is, that time is malleable. Your experience of space is not what you think it is; it can stretch and shrink. Brian Greene

Fine and dandy, but unfortunately I am not a theoretical physicist and I feel ill at ease with this notion. As a matter of fact, I find it a little disconcerting, even exasperating.

Relativity is not my bag. To me, time is time. You can be early, on time, or late but this is it. Time is definitely NOT elastic.

It is a well-known fact that he who waits too long can become paralyzed by hesitation. Hello Hamlet!
That’s why that once I have said goodbye, I immediately put in motion what I have said.
To me, my door is my Rubicon; once crossed there is no turning back.
Au diable la relativité!

A parting thought about relativity:

“How long a minute is, depends on which side of the bathroom door you’re on.”
Zall’s Second Law

Alain