Alone you go faster, together we go further

Long time no see, dear few readers.

Life has been a downhill experience the last year and a half but a good one.

More like a full restart with a lot of of clarifying moments in order to clean up both my act and the people I hanged with and, by association, defined me.

Starting anew can be seen as a terrible thing or can be taken as a great opportunity for improvement, which I am aiming for. Having that say, and knowing how much I like to voice my peculiar way of thinking, now is a good moment to expand in two different ways:

1 - Focusing on other themes on this blog as how to, social curiosities, tips and tricks and even recipes. To be honest anything else that I have been writing so far. Not as a substitution but as an addition instead.

2 - Bringing more voices to this blog, and not necessarily ones that I agree with. One of most dangerous time in peace is when you only wish to listen to your own opinions expressed by others (looking at you Antifa, Fascists and religious groups) instead of reaching out to reach compromises.

I am looking forward to hear back from some of you (you know who you are) and publish something you wrote (except of course calls to arms, discrimination etc. the usual stuff).

See you soon!

Hard reset on Alban Elfed

Once Autumn arrives it is time to collect the year's final harvest and to get ready for the Winter.

The seed of what is to come is now waiting to show their full potential when the Spring Sun will show itself.

In the meantime we can seat down and relax looking at all our achievements and celebrate.

Not all years are equal and some bring more disruption and changes than expected. Looking back a great cycle start lead to a very different outcome to what was planned. Plans years in the making, hard fought challenges, sacrifices made, all ended with an hard reset at the most unexpected moment this time.

From the time of joy of the Summer Solstice to the Autumn Equinox all that was build crumbled and faded one after the other. Love, home, work, material things. Nothing is where everything was. Nowhere to be and everywhere to go. All new and only possibilities ahead are this year last harvest.

All bads come for good.

French banks suck. Big time.

France points the finger to countries like Hungary and Poland for defending their own political opinions about economic migrants on their on soil, claiming tthat these countries are not respecting the European ideal. At the same time using a EU bank account with the French Social Security is forbidden despite breaking several EU laws.

Being blackmailed to open a French bank account (to keep cash in France) I started an Odissey of unimaginable length, complexity and stressful non sense. Without a French bank account the Social Security cannot provide me the mandatory coverage.

First of all you cannot walk into a bank and ask for opening an account. No, no. You need to call a special number, explain what you want, and what you are going to do with this account. Then the bank will make you an appointment for a live interview. A week later at the best.

After calling a few banks and making appointments (as I was expecting challenges) I finally waited for my first meeting for a bank account at one typical commercial bank. Here, I ended up making an appointment in a city 40 km from where I live to get a special meeting only 1 week after my call. It made me feel confident about the upcoming result. What a fool I was!

At my surprise I had to explain - again - everything that I had talked about with the lady on the phone. After 15 minutes the bank officer excused himself, needing to go talking to his boss. Not a good sign. I know. And it wasn't. The bank didn't want to do business with me even when I was OK with doing their minimum obligations for a creation of an account (have money in it, and make transactions 4 times a month). So their minimum were not really what they had said it was. Pissed, I left, and went to visit 2 other banks that subsequently also declined my request because I was not going to have enough money coming in or be moved within.

Online banking is “booming” in France, which means they just discovered it, so I tried 4 different banks hoping for better luck.

The first couldn't accept my request because I didn't have a French cellphone number.

The second needed a cheque from my own other bank. In France, of course...

The third would accept a cheque from anybody else (yay!) but I had to present a utility bill. As I live in a shared appartment with all included, it became a no go.

The fourth required what the 3 last ones wanted, at the same time.

After giving up, I choose a bank that was the closest to my house and where the staff was actually nice. I signed up for an account here, although sad to have to pay a maintenance fee for the first time in 12 years (thank you  dear German DKB for not having ANY maintenance fees). After a week of apparent peace I tried to set up a payment to my German bank. What an idiot I was. Of course I couldn’t do that! No, because in France you need to ask for the permission to use your money the way you want. Ha!

What's next? Honestly: France, do stop claiming to be pro EU. You're not.

Global warming is our responsability, not politicians

It's so easy to put the responsibilities of global warming on politicians or countries, blaming them for the existing evident problems and at the same time we ourselves abstain from any type of error having to do with it. Honestly, after all... we ALL are social justice warriors.

Global warming has to do with pollution and, at its core, over consumption. Yes. You. Me. They. Ie all of us. Instead of buying new smartphones every year despite their explosive behaviour, new cars despite not needing a new vehicle for transportation (but rather getting it  to show off our social marketed status), the newest trendy device in audiovisual (HD, Full HD, 3D, LED, 4K, curved or whatever comes next), why not stopping production of unnecessary products for 2 years? Could you live with having only 1 of the following things new every 2 years?

Smartphone

Car

TV or anything audiovisual

Computer

Clothes...

Or anything really.

We. Do. Not. Need. New. Toys. Every. Year. 

Not all companies can afford to produce new shiny products yearly but certainly the top brands can. 

Imagine a world in which there is no need to dig for raw material, transport it to the factory, produce things out of it, transport the made things to new countries, store these in these different countries, sell them, perhaps recall them if needed every couple of month and so on...

That - i.e. we not indirectly asking the company giants to dig for raw materials - would certainly reduce the carbon impact on our planet. You think it will make the economy collapse? Well. Think it through twice. In the meantime while digging, part of the World is collapsing due to this excessive consumism. But as long as we (mostly in the West) can have our toys and claim we are the good guys, everything is fine, right? Think again. And next time you need something new, think thrice before going through with it...

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?