February 10, 2013 tournament

Yesterday, La Pétanque Marinière of Marin County hosted its first pétanque tournament of the season.
Despite sunny conditions, the attendance was rather small.
This might have been due to the fact that early that morning it was fairly cold. At 10:00 a.m. the thermometer showed 37 degrees Fahrenheit, a few degrees above freezing.
Later, conditions improved significantly and Sunday turned out to be a sunny and very pleasant day.

The club provided coffee and our local benefactor (Jean-Claude Bunand) provided croissants and “pains au chocolat”. Thank you Oh Bearded One!

David Riffo, sports director of La Pétanque Marinière, ran the tournament and was assisted by Christine Cragg our club president.

The format of the tournament was “triplettes a la mèlée”. Liking it or not, each competing team would stay with the same partners for the duration of the event.

David and Christine put together 8 triplette teams that were as follows:

  1. Jean-Claude Etallaz, Francois Moser, Helga Facchini
  2. Dan Feaster, Jurgen Weise, Eva Lofaro
  3. David Riffo, Christine Cragg, Mireille Di Maio
  4. Rene Di Maio, Henry Wessel, Genevieve Etallaz
  5. Jean-Claude Bunand, John Krauer, Nan Walker
  6. John Morris, Dan Velasco, Monique Bricca
  7. Antoine Lofaro, Joss Krauer, Calvert Barron
  8. Bleys Rose, Larry Cragg, Sabine Mattei

A total of four, 13 points games were scheduled, two before lunch and two after lunch.
2013 club membership cards were also handed out. If you didn’t get yours, be sure to ask Christine for it.

Due to a lingering case of Plantar Fasciitis, I regretfully opted out of this tournament and spent a few hours (sitting) photographing our athletes in action.
Be sure to look at them. You might see yourself like you never saw it before.

I was gratified to see new club members Henry Wessel, Calvert Barron and Dan Velasco participating in the tournament. Nothing like jumping in the water right away.

Yesterday was also Evelyne Marchand’s birthday. We were ready to party with her, but due to a severe case of the flu she elected to remain at home.
This didn’t stop us from gobbling up her birthday cake, gracefully provided again by Jean-Claude Bunand.
Happy birthday Evelyne!

Due to a calculating error made while determining the three winning teams (and caught after prizes had been handed out) it was decided to allocate prizes to four teams instead of three.
The team that was left out actually placed second. Its players were paid the percentage of money normally earmarked for the club.
They will also get waved registration fee at our next tournament.

Below are the corrected tournament results.    

1st Place:
Jean Claude Etallaz / Francois Moser / Helga Facchini  – $22.00 each

2nd Place:
Rene Di Maio / Henry Wessel / Genevieve Etallaz  – $6.00 each + waved entrance fee at our next tournament

3rd Place:
Antoine Lofaro / Joss Krauer / Calvert Barron – $17.00 each

4th Place:
John Morris / Dan Velasco / Monique Bricca – $11.00 each

Congratulations to all winners!

Many thanks to Christine Cragg for providing me with the final results, and to Larry Cragg who managed to take a picture of the 1st place team and the 4th place team.

Alain

PS:
To look at pictures of this tournament, turn on sound and click on “My photos” located on the left side of this page

 

Root canal

I don’t think that I could ever be a secret agent. I have the capabilities (brains and brawn) but I don’t endure pain very well.
If captured and tortured, I would spill the beans faster than you could say “no new taxes”.
I cannot help it, when it comes to physical discomfort I am a sissy!

A few days ago I had to go to the dentist for a toothache.
Bad news, he said after poking into my mouth. You have an infected tooth and you need a root canal.
Upon hearing this masochists no doubts would rejoice; not me. When I hear “root canal”, I get the impulse to run and hide. And I did.
I don’t like strangers to stick sharp or pointed objects in my mouth. It makes me nervous.

But my tooth imperatively demanded attention, and a few days later I reluctantly went back to my dentist to meekly submit to his whims.

You look a little nervous he said, would you like some Valium?
Gladly doctor, a joint might also be helpful.
I didn’t say the latter of course, but I meant it. To me, that would be the ideal time to take a few puffs of locoweed, don’t you think?

Anyway, my dentist and his accomplice (they called him “assistant”) strapped me to a chair and prepared me for surgery.

I told them that I didn’t care for pain, and to use as much anesthetic as the law allowed.
Don’t worry they said, you won’t feel a thing.
A few minutes later, my upper right jaw seemed to have dematerialized. I knew that it was still there, but it had become totally desensitized.

The torturer and his Marty Feldman-like assistant put a bib on me and gave me dark glasses to wear. I was ready for butchering.

After a few tense minutes I heard the sound of scrapping, filing, and the disturbing hissing of a high-speed drill. And it was coming out of my mouth!
Under induced euphoria, I grinned and bore. Actually I bore more than I grinned.
I tried to think happy thoughts. Besides Pasta alla Milanese, I couldn’t come up with anything.

While this was happening, I heard the assistant starting a casual conversation with the receptionist.
This I don’t like. When somebody is dealing with my body parts, I don’t want any distraction for the operating team. But with my mouth invaded by foreign parts and substances I couldn’t say anything.

After I while I caught a whiff of some acrid smoke.

OK, we are done for today, said the dentist.
Good!
But, I need to tell you that you have a cracked tooth. I cannot complete the entire procedure. We will probably have to pull out the damaged tooth.

Arrrghhh!!

Oh Mighty God of Dentistry, stop chasing the Wood Nymphs and pay attention to me! I need help!

Alain

 

 

Cyber mugging

A few years ago, people intent on separating you from your cash used rather crude methods.
They would stick a gun against your ribs and mutter something like “your money or your life”.
Not a very sophisticated method, and reeking of desperation.

Today, impervious to frontiers or weather conditions, cosmopolitan thieves operate from the comfort of their homes.
And home could be Houston, Kiev or Shanghai.
Crime, like commerce, has gone global.

Sitting in front of their computer, sipping coffee and munching on caviar-covered toasts, crooks leisurely drain your bank accounts. And they don’t have to hurry.

But if people rob you, it could be partially your fault.
Computers are now ubiquitous, but new users often lack the necessary sophistication to use them.
They are blissfully unaware of the dangers lurking in cyberspace and they are careless.

A computer, due to its extraordinary power, can be as dangerous as a loaded gun. And in many ways, it is a loaded weapon waiting to be fired.

Like a weapon, it should be handled carefully and kept out of the hands of babes. Let them get their own toys.
I am heartless I know, but feeling much safer than “laissez-faire” parents.

Your first defense against “cybermugging” is a good protection system.
Ideally speaking, barbed wires and landmines should surround your computer. And passwords and fingerprints should be required to enter your security zone.

You should absolutely use an anti-virus program (don’t let it expire) and employ a bunch of passwords to protect your goodies.
I said “passwords” because you should use more than one password to protect your belongings.

I know, it is a pain, but just like vaccines it is necessary.

When you think passwords, think Resistance. Little individual cells fighting the System.
Resistance is a large movement but to remain less vulnerable, it must be compartmented. The cells should be small and the members of any given cell should not know the identity of another cell.
Same with passwords.

If a crook gets hold of one of your password, it should not give him full access to all your accounts.
Your hard disk should be like a ship with good water compartments. If one gets flooded, the entire ship won’t necessarily be lost.

Passwords should be difficult to break. It should have at least 8 digits and have a combination of lower and uppercase characters, little used symbols and numerical characters.
It should never be your birthday or your grandchild’s name!

Computer thieves’ use sophisticated software programs to bust a weak password in a matter of seconds.
Once inside your machine they will behave badly, like teenagers whose parents are away. When you’ll regain control of your computer you will have to call an exterminator.

Keeping track of all the passwords can be difficult, but not impossible.

The easiest way is to use a Password Manager.
Something like LastPass or Dashlane.
These programs will encrypt and remember your passwords, and tell you if they are childishly weak or strong enough to withstand an attack.

One more time be watchful and don’t let anybody play with your computer.
Keep an eye on passwords and don’t hesitate to change any of them if you suspect any foul play.

Alain