Trump is out of the Paris accord and he is right

We keep on restricting countries to do what they want but we currently allow companies like Exxon, Apple and Starbucks to produce in several countries, increasing pollution and trash all over the planet. Just look around you in a city - which companies trash do you see the most of? At the end, these companies make more money for the famous 1% leaving their host countries a mess and/or with garbage everywhere.

Even Monsanto says no to pollution but destroys more nature that we can account for around the world. Stop the bullshit. Really.

 

Apple mines for rare materials and destroys the environment in every country they are related to. Besides enslaving Chinese workers for the sake of yearly Iphones. Exxon... Should I really spell it out for you? Honestly?

Profit is master and businesses do not care about the environment. Just like you. Yes. You like to think you are green and ecologically minded because you say "I am for the reduction of the green house effect". Good. Now show it. What about those little pads for your Nespresso machine? Terrible, terrible. Those cigarettes you smoke? Do you recycle the butts? Those clothes you buy at Primark - do you know how they´re made? And whose children made them? Those products from among other Mondelēz International with palm oil, did you know that the use of this oil is equal to taking down rain forest in order to plant more of these palms to create more palm oil? 

 

All the pollution comes from an excess of useless production, but are you ready to not buy a car every year? Or to not buy the newest year model of TV, smartphone, audio or video system? Do you really need so many clothes and shoes? Do you really need to buy prepared food with ingredients from the other side of the world (like the ones with palm oil)? Or to every day have fresh fruit coming from exotic places? Do you really want to not create tons of trash a year with the fast-food industry packaging (and boldly considering that you are in fact also eating trash)?

No worries. You are against Trump and his non-adherence to the Paris accord. Damn it feels good to be a good person.

You want to change the climate? Fine. Just start by taking measures yourself. Make less trash to destroy Earth yourself.

Why aren't the US policing North Korea as they should?

Really guys? Come on! Just bomb them and democratize them back to stone age.

You've been doing that from your white horse, freeing people from the oppression of so many tyrants! We'll skip the notorious genocides on the native Americans as you were the oppressors, it doesn't fit the theme of this article. Let's focus on this century: many wars previous to these happening the last 17 years were actually legitimate, as legitimate as killing other people can be, but still you were not always the bad guys (you still helped Europe to not speak Soviet Russian after WW II. And yes, Europe doesn't speak German because of the Red Army, not you guys - so get over it.

First came the 2001 and ongoing War on Terror in which you attacked Afghanistan for harbouring the leader of Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden from Saudi Arabia, to have sent citizens of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Lebanon to make the 9-11 attacks (despite all the controversy about this being a false flag or not).

As we all can see it was a victory, and the country is now liberated.

Same with Iraq in 2003-2011 were the Weapons of Mass Destructions are still being found, despite the comic demonstration of Colin Powell at the UN.

Iraq - or what's left of it - is now a full grown democracy for all to see.

Finally we get to the Libyan War of 2011. Let's get rid of another baddy that kills its own people and liberate one more country this century!

Now nobody talks about Libya: the country has descended into living just like in the middle age with all the little warlords controlling the leftovers of a destroyed country.

And finally Syria with another dictator that kills its own people. Mixed with Daesh, the Kurds, Turkish expansionism, hundred of thousands of migrants, thousands of terrorists and oil in the middle.

Don't get me wrong - these guys were bad guys but at least the Middle East was stable. Democracy is like maturity. You don't get it when you turn 18, it takes time to understand that issues are solved with words and consensus. Not an AK-47 or bombs. But I am diverging. Let's get back to North Korea.

Yeah! North Korea! Why don't you save them as those above mentioned countries? They have been under worse treatment since at least 1953!

Too afraid to get into a fight against an enemy that is not against the rope? Or just a lack of oil? You are right, too much trouble for just some civilians with no chance of profit.

Better to focus on Iran - they are next right? Or maybe you prefer Somalia and Lebanon to come first?

Macron, du pareil au même

France will be the loser of their next Presidential elections.

Again.

After choosing to not elect a candidate like in 2002, where a crook was elected instead of a fascist (Jacques Chirac was elected to avoid Jean Marie le Pen to become President), and in 2012 where an incompetent François Hollande was skyrocketed to power to punish Nicolas Sarkozy for his delusion of grandeur and self enrichment (one of his first actions as President was to double his salary as President), 2017 seems to be the year when the golden yuppie boy Macron will be elected President to avoid Marine le Pen.

Macron is just a rebranding of François Hollande policies that favours the Corporations turning France in a more US/UK corporatism where workers are just another disposable commodity to use for profit.

For the rest of his policies just check how the US/UK are acting France will be following by a mere meter - or should I say an inch? Sure, Macron wants to accept the refugees and migrants that both US  and the UK are not accepting - despite that these countries policitics are being the real cause of those migrations.

SSDD.

At least Chirac didn't follow the US/UK war for oil in Irak 2003 which lead to today´s Daesh and migrant crisis.

For 2022 I wonder if the French people will finally pick a better candidate after realizing that they were duped just like in 2012. Unfortunately it will probably only be Marine le Pen that will be able to say: I told you so!

No pain, no gain: How doctors see us

It has been a while since I last wrote for this blog. Far away from having nothing to say, so today I have something interesting to report!

Last week I was visiting a new doctor as my last visit to another one was not really what I had expected. Since two months I had waited for a "Termin" in order to discuss my health with a professional in the field. I wanted to double check with him some recurring back pains before taking on some more active sports. My point was to be able to know more about possible treatments and preventive activities and so on. It only took him a few seconds to say:

He: - Are you in pain now?

Me: - Not right now, but I want to receive some professional advice and preventive methods to avoid it in the future.

He: - Well, I am afraid I cannot do anything for you now since you do not have any pains.

The German system is actually effective IF you are in pain. Prevention is not something he apparently heard about. Quite unpleased with his answer I started to search for a new doctor and a second opinion. After another month of waiting, I ended up with the same result. It doesn't matter that I want to take care of myself and tackle the issue before it becomes a problem. I need to be in pain before they are able to help me. Once again I must be dependent of them to receive any help. Basically they act like drug dealers. Everything is allowed till you are hooked. Then you are at their mercy. I, you, us will pay anything to get rid of the pain.

Back in the time when Greece was one of the leaders of Europe doctors were only paid by healthy people. Being sick was enough for them to not pay them. I am sure the doctors would act differently if they could only afford their life style if we were all in good health. 

However, we live in a crazy world where doctors seem to make money if we are in pain and depending on their work and expensive non working medicines (Please check this book, interesting facts about pharma companies products). Medicine has gone a long way and can make miracles happen indeed. But first you need to be able to pay for it. And that's where they want us to be: in their hands with no where else to go. Only then we will be ready to pay them whatever they ask.

There and back again

Having drifted from one place to another for the last year, I start again in a new city surrounded by new people and opportunities. It feels a bit weird to be starting over again, though I can't afford to have regrets 20 years from now asking myself "What if I had chosen the other way?".

2013, let's begin on a good page!

Turning point

Life : at least a subject that everybody can talk about as a specialist. We all have our stories, good and bad, our memories, sad and laughable. We all even have life changing moments of real decisions impacting drastically the next course of events. No I am not talking about weddings or new jobs per se, I’m talking about those decisions that not yet have been taken, or, taken the opposite way or in another, which would lead to a very different outcome.

I can already hear the gamers of the world smiling, as this is one of the things really missing in the gaming world today, even if some games are gradually including this above mentioned decision making with more success (AKA Walking Dead), than others (Mass Effect 3). Depending on how seriously you look at life, I’m sure you can spot 4 or 5 turns of events in your life that changed everything and took you to a different route from the one you were walking at.

I rarely regret my past actions but sometimes I wonder what had become of myself if I had taken the blue pill. Then I smile and reassure myself of that I took the right decision - by not taking it. Similar changes may not have been options but more impositions, like a war for example. Most of the persons impacted by one were not eager to get into it. And you? How many of those moments did you have? How many times could you have been someone else? Are you still happy about where you are now? No?

Then it may be a good time to change that, don’t you think?

Guten Tag Deutschland

Unbelievable. After a week in Frankfurt I have the feeling of being in Europe again. Up 'til now, I've tricked myself into thinking that Erfurt was representing the whole of Germany. I couldn't be more wrong! Strange to me; people act nicely in Frankfurt, smile and make jokes all the time. If I don't count the WeihnachtsMarkt in Erfurt I've seen more smiles in a week in Frankfurt than during my 5 years in Erfurt.

Of course Frankfurt has its own issues and bad sides, as every places around the world, but you can feel welcome and fairly treated most of the time. I've been so wrong to believe that the bad vibes of a city would be a standard for all of this country. For that I'm sorry Germany, my bad. Now I believe I never lived in Germany before - I am rather discovering the real country.

Sitting in a typical Starbucks in the Frankfurt City Center I see most of the adults and young adults on their own but holding on to their smartphones. Only the elderly are actually enjoying a coffee and a talk. Couples, friends, no phone. A daughter and her mother talk and share laughs. I'm writing on a notepad. Damn I am old school. Or maybe just old. A lot of japanese fellows hang on to their technology, probably enjoying the free wifi. Some just write on their toys, other speak to it, hoping to sever the distance with their dear ones. The old Bayrish couple in front of me, that have been speaking for hours, left me with a smile and a warm goodbye. A young Ipad addict sits immediately in front of me with no word nor facial movement. The other seat was taken just a few seconds ago by a Japanese lad politely asking if the seat was free. Natürlich! At the entrance three young teenage girls gossip and laugh loud while sitting down. They talked for some time I remember. Normality.

Endlich in Deutschland.

Human Resources

The most interesting periods and places I've visited, lived in or worked at, are the ones where I got to know people - people that I care about. Sometimes too much, but never in vain. A son of two borders I am known as a foreigner on both sides. I rarely turned away from people coming into the world where I was living without giving a helping hand, for them to more easily be assimilated into their new surroundings. Better than most I know how one feels being the new guy, the outcast - the outsider. Because I also know that the common people, the so called "normal", can't understand what it means to start anew somewhere. Building a new life from scratch, sometimes because of fate, sometimes because of will. It is so easy to never leave the place where you are known and always lived. To stay between the walls of your own coziness, where everybody knows your name and home wherever you go, never alone, always safe. That's also why you can't understand what it means to leave it, even when you wished. Neither can you understand that getting an outsider in, is actually important for that person - outsider - that gave up the kind of safety net you live in. Opening up to newcomers can be an interesting way to discover a different world. No warranty of a good experience - but isn't life about it anyway? 

For many years I helped newcomers to simply adapt and become part of the pack. In every company I worked, I did my best to get the "newbies" to be one of the gang and create the bonds necessary for a strong feeling of belonging, to where they lived and worked. Most of the time I got simply forgotten after this first period but it felt good to be there for someone. Being a little push for someone's back is always rewarding, especially when you start to know who you can help. Because most of the selfish souls around will never give anything back. Not to me at least, and don't misunderstand me. I've seen so many people simply being helped themselves but never helping others, even when it was at their reach, not costing a thing.

When I landed in Toulouse, besides for my own personal Agenda, I came for work. Since then no word came from the company that hired me on how things were going. I travelled 2000 km to be there, alone and going through several misadventures of my own, and none of my new coworkers or employers gave a damn. Nor most of the people I had heard for years telling me how cool it would be to have me back there and to do things together once again.

The problem of having lived as an adventurer all your life is that when you stop, the people that never moved can't understand you nor really get off their own routine and just get you in as the newcomer you are. Humans are mostly not bonding anymore, they come and go without looking to meet new people. Going off the charts or out of the path is a mental state that I can't reach to. Doing the same thing over and over, year after year, meeting the same people and never occasionally talk to a random stranger just to see what comes out of it, inviting a colleague and see if we actually have some fun together, or helping someone in need near us, instead of wiring 5 fucking Euros for a poor African hungry boy that will never see the money nor the food we send. And I am the insane? Indeed. Living among people like that I must be. Probably I will never stop wandering this Earth, looking for other interesting humans. I've crossed many of them during my life, all with lessons to learn and to teach. None were bound to safety net of normality. All of them took a dive at some point. All of them reached out for something else than what they were meant to do or to be.

About life and boxing

Life is sometimes like boxing. You train harder and harder to be able to defeat your nemesis in your next big fight. You learn his moves, how he thinks, how he reacts - you become his shadow in order to finally get him down. Time passes and you get ready to rumble. The decided thoughts are now in a peaceful state, right before the announcement of the contestants. In the left corner you stand as a challenger. In the right corner is your nemesis - or should I call it objective as it sometimes happens to be? 

All what you prepared for months, sometimes for years, is right here within your grasp. You know how to defeat him and overcome him. Your heart starts to pound louder, covering the screams of the public. They want blood, and you are here to make him bleed. A perfect combination. The bell rings for the first round. Timidly sure about yourself, you advance forgetting for an instant all that you learned during all your training. Rapid successions of blows keep going and coming in all directions, still all fair, but they’re all an appetizer for the real exchange coming later. Another ring. First round is over. 

In your corner you feel you have a chance. He still believes you don't. A new ringing echoes in the arena. This time he comes for real, going hard on you. Your slight hesitation made you being cornered. Blows keep falling like a summer rain but you hold on tight. Then, you stop thinking. All that you learned comes naturally and the change of tide is arriving. The public cheers, both coaches lose their voices over orders that only your subconscious can hear. Damn bell. 

Out of confidence you sit down loudly, smiling. The testosterone pumps fast. You can't wait for more. The bell rings another time. This time you run into him. 

Block, block, counter, attack. Dance like a bee, sting like a wasp. You are taking the upper hand - all the way. He is dangerous but you know him better than he knows himself now. Spoiling the moment the bell brings you both the corner of reality you call life. 

The sound of the bell is now your wake up call, you jump ready to finish him once and for all. 

Block, block, counter, attack. All goes black. When you open your eyes, the brightness of the cellar lights almost blinds you. 

You hear the voices around you far away as when you wake up after a nap at the sea side… 

1

You realize that he knocked you out 

2

All was in vain, he got your upper hand. Or did he?

3

Your body is still not willing to obey, and your spirit is still shaken.

4

Shall you stand up and fight again?

5

...

The reshaping of our way to buy

I didn't really need anything at the moment but last Saturday I went on a little shopping spree in town. Besides the usual food supplies needed, I had a little wish list with some books and old CDs to look for. A couple of hundreds of Euros of goods that I buy when I want to give myself a treat, or, if I find it at a bargain price. That sounds like a bit of fun and a time consuming treasure hunt. But in our modern Era it is not.

I searched for elements in my wish list in the usual giant stores as Fnac and Virgin, deciding to cut the chase and just bring home some new book or something else. I searched for some non mainstream Tolkien books (not related to the Lord of the Rings books) but I could not find any of those. I even searched in the French book section as I naturally search for the original version every time I know the language. There were somewhat 30 copies of the Lord of the Rings. Nothing else.

Afterwards I decided to check the music section with a certain doubt, as Metal is usually not very well represented in those temples of uniformity. Barely just a couple of copies of the new CDs: Nothing to be found older than a couple of months.

That's what you get for being a lazy geek I thought. So I started to ran into every bookstore and music store in town. I am sure I didn't get them all but I am confident I got the big part of them under my scrutiny. And all for what? From the biggest to the tiniest, all offered me the same. Hundreds of copies of Twilight, dozens of Hunger Games books, thousands of pop CDs and other canned sound. The globalisation turned all the stores into identical ones. Call them what you want - you'll find in them the same products from the same time frame dicted by the Marketing sections.  Everybody sells the Intouchables DVD and surf on the trend of the month. More sports products for the Euro 2012 are to be seen everywhere too. Now, our world is so connected that we are all supposed to do, see, eat and think the same. The way we do shopping has changed too, even if most of the consumers refuse to see it. It is worthless to go shopping in a shop that sells the same as the other hundreds in town. Everybody sells the same. On a day like this, I saw that the stores sell their products at a higher price than they should, prices varied between 5 and 15 Euros from one store to another for the same product that everyone of them had. It's a question of being willing to go a little further.

In today's World buying online is the best approach. I get the best deals for all the products I desire. I don't need to pay 15 euros more to feed a company and pay an employee to be there for me when, most of the time, they don't really know what they are selling anyway. Is this good? On one hand yes, we can all get our products cheaper and delivered in two days - but at what cost? Job losses. Or transformation. If there is no stores, you will need more people to make the orders rolling. Stores need to adapt and become cultural areas where you can talk and from where one can order very specific products - not a place from where you can buy anything from someone who doesn't know a thing of what you are talking about. What I need are more places where I can have what I can't order with the help of internet access and a computer. Automatic labor is for machines. Actually if we turn that into reality most of the jobs will disappear. Most of the Help Desks can be automatic, most of the production lines too. We don't need the mauls of the 50' nor 120 sales men for each of them.

We don't even need the stores. We need time for us, and time to serve others, to give them a bit of what makes us unique. Art, builders of manufactured products, food or even services. Do we really need someone in a Gas station to fill up gas? Or so many people in a supermarket to pass the products over to us when we can just shop online and have them delivered a couple of hours later at our doors?

I don't even want to listen to the usual “we will lose human contact,  that's not good”. Well wake up, it's lost for a while. Most of the people barely say hello and goodbye to the ladies at the supermarket. We need to get rid of all of this time consuming useless tasks most of humanity call a job or, better said, a living. Most of us do not actually create anything. We pass by or resell. Blessed is the one that makes a living creating something or doing something useful. And no, I don't think that trying to sell me an iPhone is useful. I can do that all by myself online.

What if I am not sure? Well I'll ask another human being that won't make 0,23% of the sales plus bonus if I get a warranty on it. No thanks. Face it. You're useless at that position. DO something. Create, innovate. Leave the rest for the machines.