Au Cochonnet Marin

La Marseillaise:

“Tossed by the waves, but won’t sink!”

This is Paris’ motto and despite many bloody episodes, it has endured and will continue to endure.

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I was born in Paris in the very district where Friday’s horrific carnage took place.
I feel very deeply for my fellow countrymen and I share their sorrow, AND yes, their desire for retribution.

This barbarous deed demonstrates one more time the abominable inhumanity of the so-called Caliphate fanatics.
They are a cancerous tumor that metastasizes uncontrollably throughout the word and need to be removed once and for all from the surface of the earth.
Just like the Nazi scourge of yesteryear, this nefarious outfit needs to be eradicated and their leaders brought to justice.

Make no mistake! What happened in Paris last week could happen anywhere in the world, and if nothing is done, it certainly will.

A new coalition of all law-abiding nations should be put in place right away and hit these retrograde extremists with overwhelming force.
Western nations should invade Syria and cleanse this cesspool of barbarity before it gets worse.

All civilized nations (Russia -with a large Muslim population- included) have a stake in this enterprise and the United States should (even reluctantly) take the lead in this rightful crusade.

Europe should also close its borders. Open borders are a utopia that cannot be sustained. You still can have a European Union but you need to tightly control who gets in and who gets out.
All suspects and sympathizers should be detained. No more legal loopholes.

Extreme situations demand extreme measures and extreme measures (including a tight control of Muslim communities) should be imposed.

Friday the 13^th was a new September 11th and an ominous precursor of things to come.

To prevent this from happening again, strike back and strike hard!

Alain

“Unlimited choice is paralyzing. The Internet has made this form of paralysis due to option overload a standard feature of comfortable modern life.”
Susan Orlean

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You are thinking of getting a new mouthwash (too much alcohol in the old one), but what brand should you purchase?
You want the best available product of course, but again which one is the best?

Well, you were not born yesterday… You know the routine. You will query the Internet.
“Hello T.A. (trusted advisor), which is the best mouthwash on the market?”
And your computer will obligingly present you with at least 10 different brands that all claim to be the best.
How could that be?
In any contest, there can be only one winner. That’s what Pierre de Coubertin decreed a long time ago.

So, who decides which is the best product anyway? Some learned old man or some pimply kid masquerading as an expert?
Don’t laugh. Kids who just started to shave now run the world.
If you don’t believe me, go to a movie theater nearby and check out The Intern with Anne Hathaway and Robert de Niro.
The kids are running the show. It is frightening and sobering at the same time.
And who by the way is carrying the nuclear “football”? Another kid?
Jiminy Cricket! I don’t want to think about it…

I could of course ask Tamara (she knows), but overreliance on a single adviser (e.g. Grigori Rasputin) can be addictive, even dangerous.

So you will have to do your homework. Sift through all the claims and try to find an elusive consensus.
You will need a little patience and maybe a few cups of coffee (or a few shots of “White Lightning”) for sure.

In the old days though, it was much easier.

“Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.”

 So said Henry Ford (a noted SOB) who knew that too many choices could be paralyzing.
I agree. That’s why by the way I hate to see a restaurant menu with over 50 items.

As a child my family’s menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it.
Buddy Hackett

The good old days…

But don’t get me wrong. I want to have choices… but I want impartial experts (are there such animals?) to agree on what is what.

Is it asking too much?

Alain

Creative thinking inspires ideas. Ideas inspire change.
Barbara Januszkiewicz

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Hey Starbucks, you got it all wrong.
Don’t ever believe that people come to your establishments just for a lousy cup of coffee.
They come to escape work-induced stress (or home monotony) and to momentarily forget about their problems.
The cup of coffee is just an excuse.

Patrons certainly don’t come to you for an overpriced cup of java, stale pastries and unsmiling “baristas”.
People end up there because there have practically no other alternatives.

Starbucks snuffed out its threatening competition by first buying them out and then dumping them like a bag of dirty laundry.

What people really want (often without knowing it) is not a dull, charmless coffee shop but a French or Italian style café where you can leisurely watch the world go by while maybe munching on a French pastry.
A café should be a home away from home not a homeless shelter.

Howard Schultz supposedly got his business epiphany while travelling in Italy but what he brought back was just a weak ersatz of a European café.
He seems to be more interested in making money than pleasing its hapless customers.

I think that the time is ripe for somebody to start a competing business that would truly appeal to people instead on concentrating on making money.
I suggest that pleasing customers should be their primary goal and making money a derivative of that goal.

You need to keep in mind that Big is the enemy of Good. The larger the outfit, the likelier it is going to screw you.

Personally, I don’t give a flying fig about coffee, but I still want to have a friendly place where I can laze around while seeking inspiration for future stories.

Starbucks, don’t look back. Somebody might be gaining on you.

I fervently hope so.

Alain