Johann Sebastian Bach, the Master

Music has always been a very important subject in my life and although choice is of a virtual infinity, J S Bach is the source of the deepest music connection and feelings.

It amazes me that seven notes of music can create such diversity and allow for any musical talent to compose new tunes, new melodies, new themes, concertos, fugues, symphonies and rarely find a similitude between two compositions.

Seven notes with five variables and the mind of a composer can bring joy or tears, energy or meditation. Potentially twelve notes, with different intervals, scales, values and keys have been charming our ears for hundreds of years.

Early music had such a wide range of structures and of different modes. In our contemporary era, Schoenberg created the dodecaphony, a constant twelve note structure appropriate to the last evolution of classical music, avoiding the use of keys. Still only twelve notes…

The compositions as we hear daily and based on the known and defined keys, gave from the early Baroque composers a structure in which infinitely variable, yet recognizable sounds could be appreciated with the full range of feelings. From religious to secular, from formal to wild, orchestral to song, classical to jazz, we are still discovering daily new deviations as music continue to charm us with countless distinctions.

Of the tens of thousands of composers that have written music, J S Bach is the favorite to many people. Countless interpretations have been played, slower, faster, creating different tempo, rediscovering early versions, transposed for different instruments or using new electronic voices, these are rediscoveries of the same JS Bach compositions, breathing, animated and flowing to our senses the extraordinary beauty of the music of a higher power.

From Glenn Gould, Isaac Stern, Neville Marriner, Angela Hewitt, Vladimir Horowitz, Jean Louis Steuerman, Yehudi Menuhin to Jacques Loussier, Swingle Singers, Walter and Wendy Carlos and many, many, many more who expressed their personal understandings of JS Bach compositions, I believe he would enjoy them all, smiling at the suspicion of a secret code justifying his timeless, structured and spatial compositions.

I believe any beautiful creation can be mentally projected in a box, even butterflies, although I do not believe we can justify, rationalize and codify the immense beauty of the mind’s creation, as it is the product of the mystery of our universal power and collective intelligence that some of us were giving a better access in specific aspects, although with life counterpoints.

Peter Wollny, a music critic wrote: “The carefully worked-out counterpoint of a piece serves, according to Birnbaum (Johann Abraham Birnbaum, a contemporary of Bach, was a professor of rhetoric in Leipzig who wrote a famous apologia on J S Bach’s technique of composition), to correct the imperfections of nature; consequently the complexity of the elaborate intertwining presented in a work determines the measure of its beauty. This concept of musical perfection is probably best documented as far as Bach’s orchestral music is concerned in the concertos for several keyboard instruments. The unprecedented contrapuntal richness of these works is hardly comprehensible in all its dimensions, even after one has heard them frequently; however, the innumerable contrapuntal ramifications and details which constitute the individual movements, fuse into an overall impression which is definitely comprehensible – and this is exactly what shows Bach’s greatness, in that he does not build esoteric castles in the air, but creates expressive and committed master works.”

Johann Sebastian Bach is certainly at the helm of the specially talented human beings who gave us an enduring deep sense of beauty made of seven notes and variations.

Thank you master!

To all the Friends who signed up and read this Blog

I thank you for your signs of interests, it humbles me and it helps me to go back at it and in consequence I have a few posts I will publish soon.

I realize the Guest Book is a good idea; nevertheless, I cannot contact anyone. If you wish to leave a trace, please comment after a post, you opinion will be welcome.

Thank you again for your interests.

Be humans, not Sheep

The negative political statement phenomenon is one of the most destructive practice, as one can form an offensive, intentional and calculated argument before hearing someone else’s viewpoint. This is now a new branch of marketing as a science, making us eating, drinking, buying and accepting whatever one had planned for us to do.

Democracy is based on hearing everyone’s viewpoint to form consensuses to be represented, not political parties inducing people with marketing plots to make us think their way for ulterior motives.

We have now reach a such level of systematic reactive fights against the others, including against the Government, that it could ultimately be viewed by outside observers as criminal acts against the functioning of a Nation.

Among industrialized Countries, The USA is the last bastion of careless apathy for their own citizens, incapable of supporting the disfranchised, except anecdotally at Thanksgiving, as if poor people were eating once a year. It is as we have looked in our own mirror for so long that we forgot the World has drastically changed around us and our old arguments are now either funny or depressing stand-up comedy subjects around the World.

We, as a Nation, were not capable of rebuilding a City destroyed by a hurricane and we keep forgetting about it as if it did happen on another Planet. Yes, it is going to cost money to fix 40 years of social political standing still, and it is going to cost even more to fix all the thousands crumbling bridges and hundreds of dams ready to drawn villages and towns, collapsing sewage and water pipes all around the Nation, overloaded dated National electrical grid, outdated power plants and roads looking like minefields.

We disregarded maintaining and rebuilding the infrastructure of the Nation by fear of the money spending finger pointing game. We had one warning of a collapsing bridge not too long ago and we already forgot, distracted by the next offensive argument we bought for the sake of satisfying our emerging national anger fomented by our divisive political parties.

It is going to cost as water flows the river to eradicate the more than 20% of illiterate Americans, a statistic we have been maintaining for the past 30 years, and in good part responsible for the seven and half millions Citizens in jail, representing a shaming 25% of the entire World imprisoned population; although the USA only represent 4.6% of our planet inhabitants.

And it is going to cost so much to lower the count of the few Hundreds of Thousands of People dying each year of devastating and expanding illnesses from our greed of mass-producing dangerous food, drinks including processed water, confusing drugs helping and killing people at the same time, and allowing the air we breathe a few times a minute and everyday of our live to be corrosive.

What it is going to cost to finally take responsibility of the 66% of American people declared obese, making us ranked 42 of the world Countries on this subject? Have you seen the movie Wally? It was barely for kids, as we are getting closer to that world of Trash Mountains and obese boneless people.

We can go on this realistic statistical path for a while, showing how close we are to become the richest Third World Country. As if we, as a Nation, continue arguing instead of acting, we will soon loose any reason for national pride as we could end up being called something else.

Listen to your heart and re-develop your human senses, not political arguments, as they are made to lure you to fight against, whatever against they need for you to fight for their interests at a time. Be humans, not sheep. Freedom is not a one-block package we keep while being distracted day and night with TV, toys and games. It is a malleable form we have to accommodate for anyone around us and fight a peaceful and respectful fight to keep it alive and well, as freedom is a privilege we all have to share, not a right we wave out only when we feel threatened.

New Indy Car or the lack of direction

We hear spectators, armchair racers, team owners, drivers, mechanics, engineers, the press, and yes, let’s say anyone and everyone complaining about the look of the near vintage Indy car in use. The good news is IRL is - finally - going to change their spec car that has been running since 2003, although the bad news is that we will have to wait until 2012 before knowing if the series did found the magic formula to save the top category of Open Wheel racing in the US and in consequence, open wheel racing in this Country.

Amazing to remember that CART Indy car had 4 different engines, 5 chassis manufacturers, 16 teams and 34 drivers participating to the 1999 championship. Something was new every months and every years at that time. It was the best motor head soap opera in the US and threatening Formula 1 supremacy around the world.

The Dallara chassis still in use today was designed at a time oval track racing was an exclusivity in IRL, with 9 of the new emerging fast tracks of near 1 ½ mile long and 3 older super speedways, leaving space for only 4 higher downforce shorter tracks during the season.

Fast ovals, no street or road course track to compromise with and a head to head competition with another chassis builder, G-Force, led Dallara to design a very specialized chassis with a priority to be Indy 500 specific. Mind you, cars were designed as a three-year generation.

According to the rules, an IRL chassis had to be designed to potentially be used for “right and left turns” type tracks, which certainly was not a concern as it would have been easy to design new parts to create a clumsy but running car on any race track, as long as one could win the 500’s. Ultimate competitiveness on road course was not of any concern, not knowing when IRL would finally decide to expend into international type racing.

We know what happens. Road and Street Courses gradually took over half of the races and one chassis got name the only spec car of the series. The car that was designed to run at 230 mph and only leave a speed sensation to the spectators, was suddenly exposed to close scrutiny, awkwardly taking slow turns at 50 mph and showing its lack of stick in fast road course bends, creating a visual disaster in comparison with CART and Champ Cars electrifying cornering speeds and well proportioned shapes.

But let’s move forward leaving behind enough facts to write a thick book on what did happened, didn’t, and what we all have lost, including many jobs that no one seems to want talking about.

What is IRL thinking!

Here is a reminder of the attributes IRL has defined to select the new Indy car that will start competing in 2012:

Safe: The new chassis must adhere to the league's already high safety standards while exploring new technology to improve safety in all aspects of the car.

Raceable: The new chassis must continue to produce the exciting racing that has become signature of the IZOD IndyCar Series while not affecting other cars on track (i.e. less sensitive to the turbulence).

Cost-effective: The league continues to work to reduce the cost of participation for teams in the IZOD IndyCar Series, which remains an important priority in this economic climate. The new chassis must have a price point that adheres to that goal.

American-made: The new chassis must be built in the U.S., preferably at an Indiana-based facility.

Less mass/more efficient: A lighter chassis with less mass that produces the same aerodynamic effect in an efficient way.

Relevant technology: The league would like the new chassis to be relevant to the future of the consumer auto industry; innovative technology that is born on the racetrack and can translate to consumer cars.

Modern look: More space for sponsor logos, cars easily identifiable.

Green: The Indy Racing League prides itself on its role in the greening of racing and wants to maintain its position as a leader in environmentally-friendly initiatives with this chassis.

"Our chassis is the most complex challenge in world motorsports because of the variety of race courses where we compete," Barnhart said. "It must be designed to run at 235 mph at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and protect drivers and spectators in high-speed crashes. It must be able to run on superspeedways, speedways and short ovals as well as natural-terrain road courses and temporary circuits."

Barnhart said safety is the foremost requirement in design of the new chassis and the league has identified areas to improve through its own research and testing. A reduction of between 40 percent and 50 percent of the current chassis cost is sought - principally through the reduction in inventory necessary to transition between oval kits and road/street course kits (brakes, uprights, etc.).

Additionally, a lighter car reduces the power requirement and enhances fuel efficiency. For the fourth year in a row, the IZOD IndyCar Series will be the only motorsports property to utilize a renewable and environmentally friendly fuel (100 percent fuel-grade ethanol).

"Our drivers take the greatest risks in the world of sports driving IndyCars and it is paramount we have the best safety features designed into this next generation of cars," Barnhart said. "It is also important that we continue to develop more relevance between the new generation of IndyCars and the cars that world manufacturers will be producing in the future. Finally, we have stipulated that the new chassis must be made in the United States, preferably Indiana, to take advantage of more competitive pricing and the existing American supplier network for parts and protect our team from issues with currency fluctuations."

Not so fast!

This reads like a commercial with self-proclaimed product quality, isn’t it?

We have seen renderings, studio concepts, ideas beings put forward by race car manufacturers and even an offbeat advance concept, all of them radical in some aspects and respecting the confusing definition of the IRL recommendations. But let’s look at the guidelines again, point after point, to understand the meaning and its consequences on a designer’s mind.

Safe is in fact one of the two aspects of a race car design. How safe the cars need to be? According to its self proclaimed safety level, IRL mention to follow the high standard already defined by themselves, while “exploring new technologies to improve safety in all aspects of the car”, which support some contradictions in its terms and essentially leave to the car designers to define themselves safety, as it should be the function of the sanctioning body to fully define safety and the various tests necessary to measure and check the extend of the submissions. This should be true even if a back door should be open to allow for some suggestions.

Raceable is a side category of competitiveness, which is the second aspect of race car design. Again, IRL is padding themselves on their own back by writing “the chassis must continue to produce the exciting racing that has become signature of the IZOD IndyCar Series while not affecting other cars on track (i.e. less sensitive to the turbulence).”

This seems to be an advice to conceive a different car as the one “producing the exciting racing”, with better rear vortices definition to allow following cars to keep a better aerodynamic balance in quantity and distribution. It is in fact what sanctioning bodies have tried to achieve around the world and through various rules changes. It seems that IRL has not defined what it would take to achieve this important task and instead has handed the relay baton to designers.

Cost-effective was and still is an important factor now pushing IRL to react with various radical considerations. The omni-justifying economic downturn topic combined with a lack of appropriate ruling evolution is leading the IRL to look at drastic measures that might not solve the problems, as the problems themselves have not been defined in years past.

An American-made car is also part of the new cost-effective scheme.

A new theme is also added, contradicting their long time philosophy of heavier car of more material for more energy absorption is now becoming less mass/more efficient.

It is a logic but short thinking process to propose the cutting cost of cars and racing them without looking first at the commercial worth of the racing to be lifted to a value of return. Ultimately, it would not matter if cars and researches would be relatively expensive if exposures and commercial values were flourishing as it was 10 years ago. Now, looking at it from the other side of the lens, even if an Indy Car would cost the price of a Formula Ford, it would still become too expensive if no sponsor would show up to pay the bills.

Going back to drastic cost reduction, to what extends amortizing the installation of a complete race car manufacturing facility in Indiana and/or subleasing the services of existing facilities is going to reduce manufacturing prices in comparison with producing race cars in existing and already paid facilities and adding shipment cost, is debatable. I know, we talk about the rate of exchange between Europe and the US, as if it was a constant factor. In effect, a stabilized rate of exchange, which is about the case now, is normalizing costs with products becoming less expensive in Europe to end up loosing their advantage through exchange rate. In any case, the real final production cost would need to be justified before knowing a benefit has been made.

The lack of cost scrutiny might have been a bigger factor than some easier excuses. I believe a range of solutions covering the various aspects of cost would help more than reacting with drastic measures that, even to satisfy friends at local shops, might not control enough what became the black sheep of Open Wheel racing today.

High quality and rare materials in use to make Indy Cars are always going to be expensive and labor will remain a specialized more expensive labor to be paid. Research cost is not going away, if one wish for research to be part of this type of racing, past the pre-production study.

Nevertheless, if need be, a cost-plus system as practiced in the aerospace and defense industries would help control some of the expenditure problems, providing the cost part of the equation is well defined, as it is not always the case in defense programs.

An overreaction has never been the best solution to any problem and generally hides something, whether of past decisions, or lack of knowledge of the subject, or anything else one can imagine and suspect.

The relevant technology concern of innovation, born on the racetrack that can transfer to consumer cars, is an old dream of non-engineer mind, thinking that one can invent new features that would be effective on a race car and could be used in the automobile industry, all of that at the lowest cost racing can be.

I understand, it is a good idea but it shows so much the lack of technical and engineering mastery expressed by over-reacted and inexpert minds.

The technology, as expressed here is most of the time techniques, as well as the use of existing technologies and applied in different environments.

It is always possible that new thinking would lead car manufacturers to use these ideas in production. In this case, rules would have to open, allowing for the inventive mind to expend freer, which in return would increase cost. The Formula 1 teams were complaining about the cost of the KERS devise development, when they effectively spend 10 to 30 times more money than any top Indy Car teams.

What are we seeing so far?

All published projects have some caricatural looks reminiscent of Hot Wheels or Star War vehicles, while Formula 1 is following their rules and looking as advanced as it can be. Asking designers to define themselves a “modern look” is leading them to expend on style instead of fine tuning the consequences of well defined rules. A modern look could simply mean that a new car would have the look of having been designed in 2010 instead of in 2002. The Panoz DP01 Champ Car was a modern looking car when it was raced in 2007. Today, new collective ideas are in every designer’s minds and would create a de facto modern looking car without searching for some stylistic look, as these bright people are, in any case, not studio designers. It seems that every designer did fall into the search for a hypothetical look, maybe to satisfy some unclear emphasis on “modern look” and have a chance to be retained as a potential IRL chassis supplier.

Green is one of these terms eventually meaning nothing, or why not the consequence of mixing yellow and blue colors, or whatever we want to show as image in tune with consumption and renewable energy.

The danger of wanting to be so called green with no definition can reveal a lack of depth later. Using ethanol made of sugar cane is an apparent good thing, although when we count the energy consumption of production and transport by trucks, jumbo boats and trucks again, all burning vast quantity of oil, one can find that the green concept is rapidly fading. Worst is to be aware of the mega deforestation necessary to create farming land, itself burning vast quantity of oil and ultimately reducing the needed World conversion of CO2 by plants.

I know, paying attention to energy consumption is very important, although it has to be true savings. Mr. Rudolf Diesel had invented his engine in the late 1800’s and was looking at using available combustibles such as coal powder or various vegetable oils. His first engine was running on peanut oil. Today, we know that diesel engines can run on fast food recycled oil, raw rapeseed oil strait out of an extracting mill and who knows what researchers have found recently in converting algae and yard grass into carburant.

The development of hybrid cars and now heavy freight trucks could lead race car engine manufacturers to expend their researches into racing applications that would lead to more experiments and developments, and back to production after having been exposed to different and extreme conditions. And this might be where the transfer to production can happen; not in chassis and aerodynamic designs, as they are too specific and of a too drastically different environment than street cars.

If the series want to show "green" interests, it might be time to systematically recycle paper, cardboard boxes, bottles, cans and plastics of all kinds being thrown in trash containers, and sometime around them, during every race weekends and by the tons daily. Showing example to spectators and encouraging them to do the same would be "greener" than many other para-green ideas. 

All of that is really confusing!

Green? Yes but not just for the sake of carrying the name as a label with untrue gain.

It is odd that a very conservative series, or at least the thinking behind, having kept the same car for 9 years, increasing weight for safety reasons, is suddenly opening the door to outside thinking of safety and transferrable technologies when cost is the primary concern and leading to impose manufacturing to be 40 to 50% cheaper than the actual car cost. In a short sentence, more expenses yet far cheaper!

I would assume that IRL still intent for high quality carbon fiber, resin, curing processes, high strength steel, aluminum and advanced manufacturing techniques to be used, not wire welded mild steel tube chassis and suspension.

It seems as if the IRL technical leadership is lacking of defined intentions or expressed knowledge to lead manufacturers conceiving the new generation of Indy Car.

One more concern: a unique car manufacturer and one engine label will not renew the spectator’s interest as it was more than 10 years ago when constant changes and dramas of all kind were triggering people’s interests and siding for a chassis, an engine, a team, a driver and even a technical leader or any combinations of all the variables. Believing that a new car and new engine will change the face of this type of racing is showing a lack of connection with spectators and aficionados.

FIA and FOTA went both their way out to understand what spectators are expecting from the Formula 1 championship, and combined with their expertise and decisive directions, propose one exiting championship, towing behind full ranks of GP2, Formula 2, Renault World Series 3.5, Formula 3 and GP3 championships. Here, we just lost Atlantic and Indy Lights is dying with a car that has never been of great balance and interest, born of compromises and financial interests.

Europe got hit by the economic downturn more than the US, as they were already at a tougher position with eventually more pre-crisis unemployment than we ended up here post-implosion. Yet racing has continued evolving.

It would be insane for us to think adding a new Open Wheel racing series today, yet Europe had Formula 2 debuting last year with a full count of drivers and just got GP3 starting now and directly competing against the venerable and popular Formula 3. At the very first test of this new series, this past March 4th, thirty one, read again: 31 drivers were at work testing their new car.

Fourteen (14) drivers were testing at the first Indy Lights test a few days earlier, not all being confirmed to start the season. And the respected highly competitive Formula Atlantic series is gone, mismanaged and condemned by IRL as a non-viable stepping stone for young drivers. Afraid of any competition, IRL did destroy everything on their path, including themselves.

I hope someone is going to understand or accept the real reasons of the American Open Wheel racing’s demise, although, it is interesting to notice that Star Mazda is still going strong.

I think history has now enough depth to define the problems and allow pinpointing more precisely how they were generated.

The tough subject will be to find and put in place the right people to implement wise technical changes and regain what was the best Racing in USA.

New Indy Car Concept direction

It is interesting to follow the opinions of Indy Car fans through the various blogs, poles and forums. Recently, an overload of concerns has been expressed on the subject of the desirable look of the future race car, at the time the Indy Racing League is accepting project concepts from race car builders. Some lessons can certainly be taken from what we read and should be treated as an element of consideration among others for the IRL to make decisions.

On one hand, the Indy Car Honda concept car presented some time ago in 2009 shows some characters that mix traditional lines with futuristic appendixes. Nevertheless, let’s remember that this is a non-engineered styling studio elaboration with some unrealistic features. On the other hand, the race car manufacturers such as Dallara, Lola and Swift did introduce a few days ago some aggressive styles that, in some cases, could be impractical or costly. Most of the styles are reminiscent of ‘Hot Wheels” and ‘Star War” looks, which has not grasped major interests among the public. Of all the projects presented so far, the Delta Wing car mockup produced by the association of some Indy Car teams might be the most advanced and engineered concept vehicle to date, yet represent such a drastic change from a race car look and general architecture that it seems to be rejected by the public as a potential Indy Car replacement.

In any case, and without adding any oil to some of the already burning fires of controversy, I believe that the public taste should be an important element of the direction race car designers need to take. After all, FIA and FOTA did reached fans to understand them better and the public did like it. Nevertheless, we also have to remind fans that race cars are not conceived in design studios as a stylistic exercise. These vehicles are fully engineered with all forms and parts justified by defined functions based on the two main principles of performance and safety. The final “look” of a race car is the consequence of various integrated options that have virtually showed to offer beneficial outcomes.

It seems that the Delta Wing project is an expression of the needs for change, and not only in the car look and architecture, but in the managing of car and parts production and cost control, as well as the need for a new direction in more competitive racing, essentially meaning more potential for passing as well as diversification in winning teams and drivers.

I believe the answer to these needs is in a well conceived definition by the IRL of the direction to take, based on properly defined engineering concepts and understandings that will naturally define a style, not a style creating a vehicle with compromises to be engineered. In various instances, sanctioning bodies have lacked in engineering principle knowledge, dealing mainly with mechanical senses and reactionary fear imposing conservative rules.

Maybe the new Indy Car concept has to start by the capacity of the series to define the directions to take from which race car constructors would present projects. And as much as I understand the reasons of a one car manufacturer in managing production cost, I strongly believe that a variety of designs – two would be better than one – would help draw some interests back from spectators. This would be true as well with more than one engine manufacturer.

Ultimately, spectators are motivated by diversity, routing for a complex combination of drivers, teams, owners, car manufacturers, engines and even race engineers as performance contributors, as it has been the case by the past and still true in Formula 1 with designers. NASCAR did put forward drivers, car numbers, teams, car manufacturers and crew chiefs. Today, these cars seem to be looking the same with a spec-like chassis and almost identical shapes. One major element of the variable combinations got lost and so some fans did desert the tracks.

Who would run to an ice cream parlor if only 2 tastes and one cup size were available?

Still Crazy after all these (Racing) Years!

Difficult to fathom!

Forty height years of Motorsports. Although, I was already around Sports cars 9 years earlier, fascinated by their beauty… a dismantled engine under repair… an Italian fabricator forming a fender from a flat sheet of aluminum. I had my own mentor, patient with a kid. He was a French Basque and had been a master mechanic at the Bugatti factory. What a start in the racing world before knowing it!

I was 16 and the sparks in my eyes gave confidence to the chief mechanic, allowing me to port a Triumph TR2 cylinder head before a national rally. I was nicknamed “Alain-le-malin” (Alain-the-clever) as I was already searching to perfect anything I could have my hands on. I loved carburetors then… just like NASCAR even today!

Let’s see… Formula Junior 1000cc. Formula 1 without wing and skinny tires. Formula 3 1000cc, Triumph TR2, TR3, Abarth 600 Rally, Formula Vee, Formula Ford, Abarth 850 coupe, Alfa Romeo Giulia. Formula 2 with tubular chassis in 25cd4s and Formula 2 with aluminum tubs (drainage not included!). Lotus Elan GT. Porsche 904-6 Racing tested at 2:00 am in the streets of Brussels. Porsche 911 Carrera driven to Le Mans and back to Brussels after winning the GT category ahead of 14 similar cars including the factory... Did it a second time, although using an open trailer. Volvo 122, Porsche 914-6, Mini Cooper S with rubber or liquid suspension, Super Vee, Ford 2000, Formula 3 2000cc. Hill Climb Formula 3 chassis with Formula 2 engines. Group C. 5 times Le Mans with 2 category victories and more glories. A long list of Touring cars of all kinds and sizes including Front Wheel drives oversteering like an Escort Rally. Nissan GTP as project, team manager and race engineer. Restoration of vintage Shadow Can-Am and Formula 1. Years of CART Indy Cars, qualified 6 drivers at the 500’s and counting 2 fastest rookies of the year. Won a championship in the CART version of Indy Lights called “the real one”. Race engineer and aerodynamicist (chief, mind you!) in Formula 1, Ayrton Senna era. A few GT1 with unexpected results. IMSA WSC redesigned and championship winning and at Le Mans, qualified second a 12 year old Group C transformed in WSC at 1 tenth of the pole and on 4 laps only, as the same engine had to be used for the race. IRL with 1 win and other podiums on 7 races. Restoration of glorious vintage Sports cars. Designed and built a Sports 2000 with composite chassis. Champ Car with surprising results. Various Formula Atlantic with dominating results. Formula BMW. I know, I must forget a few…

While working in Open Wheel racing, people were talking about my experience in Sports car as an oddity. While working in Prototype, people were perceiving me as a hyper Formula car kind of guy. Lucien Bianchi and Vic Elford were my ultimate type of “pilots” capable of competing on top in F2, F1, Sports Prototype, World Rally and International Rally Raid, sometime during the same season. The real breed…No ballerina shoes here!

Mechanic, engine assembler from 2 to 8 cylinders (I miss the 12's). Fabricator, machinist, composite technician, shock engineer, track engineer, design engineer, research engineer and aerodynamicist (I did create new features including wings, still in use today, even in F1… or banned by the rules…). Team manager, project manager, chief engineer, general manager… Almost forgot: driver, technical auto journalist, reporter, PR, truck driver… Who knows what else!

I have been drinking and eating racing… and dust. Sliding on oil, gas, methanol. Drenched in brake-cleaner and boiling water. I have been surrounded by deafening noise. Stoically showered by rain, inadvertently baked by the sun and sizzled by overheated engines and brakes. I have worked 24-7 (don't think I'll do it again!). In freezing cold temperatures and burning 106 degree F. For great and fantastic team owners... dreadful ones as well and every kinds in between. Dealing with lack of money, lack of honesty, lack of understanding how it works. Learned a lot from everyone and still do today. Gained friends for life… many friends for life, thanks to all of them. I have made teams and drivers looking good, very good and better, always improving a car and human capacity.

I am searching for a job…… A place to expend on our human adventure and achieve the best possible results as I always do.

Beside engineering and designing aero, I am a brilliant team leader capable of creating, moving and transforming any program to reach the top, small or big, any championship, any Continent.

Tell a friend; You will be proud of me.                                                           

See you soon on a race track… Better be on my side!


PS: Thanks to all the Facebook Friends having read this post. I appreciate your time and interest. Leave me a comment or a message, I will treasure them all.

Lite for a Beer if you wish, not for Classical Music!

I get disturbed every time I read “Lite Classical Music”. I have never understood the association of classical music and a slang word for lowered alcohol content beer. “Lite” as “diet” soda beverage has an even worst identification, a beverage made with aspartame as sweetener with potential side effects, as this chemical product include methanol converting into formaldehyde under some conditions.

Is the “Lite Classical Music” a hazardous cocktail? An artificial sweetener? A hidden methanal concoction? A milder intoxicating brew? Or is it people trying to define some of the classical music in market term, “Lite” being the easiest to sell? I know, we discovered that cows were producing more milk when exposed to Mozart music, although, I believe Amadeus had no such intention when he was busy writing his composition. I sympathize with salespeople facing art for art; it is tough… the inspiration and creation for the sake of humanity; “what’s the point” they might say!

“Lite” or not, classical music represent far more than what our dismal education has or not portrayed. If we consider the Classical’s as Western music, we already miss the other sources such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and to some extend any formal folk music from around the world, being more of a traditional representation of a musical culture.

Periods such as Renaissance, Baroque, Classic, Romantic and Impressionist, to name a few, show very specific characters. The nation of origin among the Western Classicals represents distinctive signs of culture such as Russian composers being unique in comparison with Germans, Italians, French, Spanish, British, Polish… Western music is not limited to Europe as American and various South American composers embrace the same musical sources. I am fascinated by Takashi Yoshimatsu’s compositions as it blends Western and Japanese sounds, themes and orchestration. Classical music has no border as we say.

After all, Asians are avid adepts of Western classical music, expending from their ancient traditions and opening themselves to the world… I guess the opposite of what we tend to practice here… I have seen friends loosing their temper at the sounds of some classical music, asking me to stop “that”. I have seen people catching the temporary tempo of a symphony to find themselves looking wacky after the music abruptly slowed to an unrecognizable rhythm, followed by an acceleration of pace, again motivating our boeotians to get back on the beat and finding themselves once more in an embarrassing position. Some people mis-classify Jazz as "music for elevator" because it has no lyric! Not easy to understand the world and open to it when music only means Rock, whether classic, hart, punk, or Hip-Hop with its variations. Jazz being for old folks and Jazz-Fusion having been under popularized, Country is the genre one tend to love or hate with passion. Ultimately, music knowledge for the general American population ends up being songs of a form or another, no pure and simple music.

Classical music is also often presented as an invariable composition with no concept for interpretation, a sort of Cabernet without Millesime or Terroir… a dark red grape juice with alcohol… "Soothing" music, “Classical Thunder” and other typical commercial terms have no meaning as the music is an expression of artists, not a production aimed to move consumers in various defined forms of moods as a cheap therapy. Classical music is there to be appreciated outside oneself, allowing the music to reach instead of being controlled. It is a moment of contemplation during which one let the composers, interpreters and musicians communicating their combined feelings and allowing their emotions to blossom.

Light classical music would not make sense, as composers would not intentionally write a “less heavier” music for the sake of a lighter digestion or an easier understanding. “Lite” classical music is in reality an insult to the effort and involvement of composers, interpreters and musicians, as nothing “Lite” would have and would be satisfying them; classical music imply a total involvement with no restriction.

Personally, I like micro brew producing more intricate beer taste then “Lite”. Cheers to the Classical Music Lovers.

On Pigs and Caviar

Expressions are very interesting to hear… and hopefully to understand. French are saying: “ne donnez pas du caviar aux cochons” which integrally translate by “do not give caviar to pigs”, although the meaning of this phrase is worth more than a quick translation.

This expression define the swine as eating about anything one would give, including caviar, having no mind as being an animal and consequently no relation with the value of food or concern about taste. Hogs are sometime used to find the rare truffles in the forests as their olfactory senses are extremely developed and able to smell the uncommon fungus hidden a few inches underground. Although, they are to be very closely monitored as the pigs would eat the rare mushroom in one swoop with no second thought… in fact with no thought at all.

Giving caviar to a pig would be a waist as this animal would eat most anything with the same appetite. This observation have some parallel with people of little or misconstrued social behaviors and not connected with any tasting exercise, “grabbing” food and “gobbling” as it comes to them.

We see these people in grocery stores, going from a sampling stand to another, emotionless most of the time or rarely with a feint facial expression showing some forms of reaction to the basic recognition of sweet, sour, salt, bitter and hot spice. No appreciation for the offer or interest for the brand or recipe, only the most basic pig feeding behavior.

We also see them at parties, “locking on” some “grabs”, reaching the already opened mouth set to process the “whatever” that was captured. Chin up, they chomp the food while instantly returning to their conversation, although keeping an eye on the next feed arrival. Again, very little appreciation, if any, for the food or the taste.

A cheap dip would do well, as a rare caviar would leave them with question marks on why that thing is so expensive to end up tasting fishy and salty. Some “tasters” would know the monetary value as the point of interest but still without a sense for subtle and uncommon palate feelings.

Appreciating a taste takes more than the fraction of a second that commercials led the crowd to believe, as our taste buds on our tong, soft palate, esophagus and epiglottis are processing, from one area to another, each with a specialty, before sending a detailed report to our brain to appreciate the specific flavors. Taste change as we say and taking time to let the nuances being defined by our gustatory system is allowing us to expend to a wider range of appreciation.

The Slow Food movement was conceived to protect local business equilibrium and food quality. We should reflect on the concept of a Slow Tasting movement to restore our capacity to the myriad of savor experiences offered to us on this planet, as a human characteristic to distinguish ourselves from what pigs are and do so well, provide us most appreciated food.

What about concluding with a toast of each protagonists, caviar and pork, Beluga on one and Rillettes on the other, although should we start by eating piggy first? In any case, I’ll begin with a glass of Brut Champagne and decide after that!

Happy and blissful New Year to all.

Italian Pronunciations

More than one person asked me how to pronounce this or that in Italian. I do not speak this language but will find a way to answer, including for myself. I would start by shortening some of the rules that I have been reading, for the sake of simplifying life and to give a chance to remember. I think one of the main concern is to know what to do with the “C” and the “CC”. Looks like we can extend the rules to “G”.

“C”, “CC” and “G” are pronounced differently whether these consonants are before the first group of  “A”, “O”, “U”, “HE” and “HI” or the second group of “E” and “I”. OK, why not saying group one is everything, except "E" and "I" and obviously the second group is about "E" and "I".
“C” and “CC” are pronounced “K” before the first group and “CH” before the second group.
“G” is pronounced  as in “Good” for the first group and as in “General” in the second group.

I sincerely hope I am correct and if not, I will have to deal with the impulsive volatile reactions of my dear Italian friends. Love you guys… Guido, my friend Guido, where are you? Please help me… pleeeaaase!

Retro References

I am meeting a friend at a restaurant, half football field behind a McDonald. Interesting way to locate a place, as each McDonald became a landmark for direction and a football field for a distance.

I am not sure that people would necessarily recognize the size of a football field outside of a stadium, being sober, quiet and at street level. I even doubt that too many people would know the dimension it represents. I hear the field being the reference for a linear dimension and it seems logic that it relates to the length, which is 300 feet, although if we include the end zones, we increase the distance to 360 feet, but no one seems to know which number to consider. I would think it takes some imagination to project a distance into a football field, not knowing exactly which measure it is, although it gives a chance to make everyone right!

Same for a stone’s throw as it refer to someone throwing a stone, which at that point has to do with his or her momentary ability to throw as far away as possible… and measure the outcome. The first writing reference of this kind of distance was made in England at the end of the sixteenth century, with the same lack of defined dimension.

The amusing fact is that stone throwing became a sort of sport of tossing over water. Here, an exceptional distance was established and recorded by the venerable Guinness World Records to 250 feet and mind you, 51 skips. This represents about 83% of a football field without the end zones; not bad!

Tree, standout architectural component, picket fence of a certain color... all of that is now replaced by McDonald as the location marker. Another surprise is that we have now an “Economist’s Big Mac Index” calculating people’s purchasing power of …Big Mac as a reference point to compare Countries!?!

After this, I would be afraid to ask: What’s next?

Coffee Lingo

We went from something as simple as… a cup of coffee with no other distinction than being black or complemented with sugar, milk or half and half, to a new patchworked world of coffee for blooming connoisseur happy to pay three times the price for a little recognition for their new status. I personally have never liked the fast dripped beverage, making it weak, as the quality, or the lack of it, made it bitter and prone to create urinary urges, generally at the wrong time.

Fast processing made it that way with artificial drying and hasty roasting. I always believed that the cheap drip coffee had more caffeine effect than the European steamed coffee method. And now we read that the good ol’ cup-a- joe has between 115 and 175 milligrams of caffeine for a 7 oz cup, compare to 100 mg for an espresso serving. The brewed coffee, which can be French press made, contain between 80 and 135 mg for a similar cup.

We went from such a cheap hot drink to a mass marketing, labeling the steamed high pressure coffee as a sort of upper class beverage. Italians, and they are not alone, would never understand that good coffee would need to be served in such big cups and cost as much as we pay here. Better than that, they would have a fit, if they had to wait that long to get a cup being served as we do here so patiently… not! Coffee machines are ahead there of what we have here.

What we call barista here with one more class etiquette, is simply a professional bar employee in Italian, really meaning bartender serving any drinks including... coffee. Some of the espresso barmaids or barmen have been handing out more than a million of these small cups, or larger ones topped with frothed milk. Here, in a fast pace living, it seems that coffee drinking got people slowing down, small sips at a time… although still hurrying up for a hamburger and fries gulp fest. Nevertheless, the slow coffee pace didn’t alter the bad habit of using plastic or treated cardboard cups, as it seems that some consumers have the urge to carry that drink to sip while walking and driving, spilling out their way to the land of distracted and stained drivers. Half of the cups are being drank lukewarm if not cold. What a treat for three and half bucks!

Starbucks did an ever dominating job at marketing the reinvented American coffee, although their way and in the mix, decided to start a new lingo now followed religiously by millions of customer asking for a “tall” cup and to receive a short container. Strange world! The next size is a “Grande” meaning tall in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. Same name, different sizes! Now, the real tall cup is called “Venti”, meaning twenty in Italian, suggesting the 20 fl. oz. liquid content of the cup. Why not “Dodici” for the twelve oz. and “Sedici” for the sixteen oz.?

We are also using French to order a redefined brew. “Café au lait” is now a drip coffee with hot milk, a far cry from the steamed French roast coffee and milk consumed in France. This drink is also called “Misto” at Starbucks, meaning mixture in Italian or mixed in Portuguese. One would have to assume which misto it is. After all, I wish we would become even more international in our coffee denomination. It might help the population to learn words of emerging worlds. “Qahwa Haleeb” is an Arabic “café au lait” with the powder-like bean grind sticking at the bottom of the cup, if one is paying attention.

Back to known territory with the “cappuccino” served with more milk foam than a classic “caffe latte”, which simply mean coffee-milk or… “café au lait”. Confused yet? The ‘cappuccino” name came from the resemblance of the drink - mind you, served in a porcelain cup - with monks of the Friars Minor Capuchin order, characterized with the top of their head shaved, exposing their white skin in contrast with their plain brown tunic. ...Completely lost the meaning when served in a “to go” cup and covered with a plastic top!

Northern Italians order a “cappuccio”, integral translation of headgear, and end up receiving an “espresso”. A “macchiato” is an “espresso” with a dash of hot foamy milk and a “marocchino” is a small “cappuccino” with some cocoa powder. A “cappuccino d’orzo” is a coffee substitute made from barley. Probably what people were drinking during WW2.

A dash of French vanilla does not mean much as France do not produce the spice. Although, saying vanilla from Madagascar is a little better but should be called Madagascar-Bourbon as the popular name for the Planifolia variety growing in Madagascar, which was a French territory till 1958. This Country is the biggest producer of this tasty bean, although its origin is from Mexico where it was discovered by the Spanish and baptized “Vainilla” for little pod. The plant producing the beans is a variety of orchid, as what the vanilla history is not as… vanilla as some people would think, but in any case, certainly not French.

A smidge of nutmeg is also of interest as this nut can transport you to the “Lala” land, although it would require absorbing 5 or more teaspoons of this ground nut to have any psychedelic effect. The problem is that you might have the hangover of your life after dizziness, nausea and paranoia as a few of the side effects. A smidge is good!

When you dab the cocoa powder in your preferred personalized drink, remember that chocolate was discovered at the same time vanilla was by Hernan Cortez’s army in the 1520ies, as for the coffee, it was first used in Ethiopia during the ninth century. The name Mocha used to qualify a coffee quality is a sea port in Yemen, from which coffee was exported to Europe under the lead of Marco Polo. The history of the nutmeg consumption is even older and could have been an incense used by Roman priests and certainly as a spice during medieval times.

One suggestion, try some “chai” tea with espresso and you will have an even older beverage to talk about. Chai means tea in Hindi. Yet more ancient history there!  Bunn is not only the family name of the company's founder producing the famous coffee drip machines but is also the name of the coffee bean in Arabic and other Eastern African languages... I wish my name was Gold!

Nevertheless, beside history, fun facts and lingo, a new generation a coffee shop was born in the USA with a friendlier trend allowing anyone to enjoy coffee and life at one's pace. Some shops are better than others and personally, I would favor small businesses as they need all the support we can give. I have found my spot in Indianapolis: BJava, owned by one of the most knowledgeable and coffee passionate person I have met so far and BJ's coffee is one of the very best I have been drinking.

And maybe this is the sign of renewed passion with wonderful smell and taste over money making with no odor!

On French Words, Expressions and Behaviors

The English language gradually became a “de facto” “lingua franca”. From an early Anglo-Saxon dialect, it endured the infiltration of the Celts, followed by the Viking invasions, the Roman occupation and the Norman conquest, which led to an important influx of French words of about ten thousand. Ultimately the Latin influence that had started with the Romans deepened, weakening even more the little left of the ancient Germanic origin. Fifty five percent of the language is Latin based and probably close to forty percent is Norman-French origin.

No wander why today English speaking people are fascinated by French words and expressions covering a wide range of meanings, although occasionally adapting the definition and having to cope with unusual pronunciations.

Genre is a funny one where the “re” is more pronounced than the “gen” part of the world making it something like “genREH”. In French, the E after R at the end of a word is not pronounced, making it more a “genrh” where the R is blurred, a tapered speaking, a quiet purr, a sexy French purr, not a rogue throat clearing.

Another amusing French assumption-turning-to-joke; well, let me tell you, sometime irritating after having heard the same one the past… 27 years and still going strong. The interestingly famous French “HHAN, HHAN” with the second “hhan” even louder than the first, sort of a horselaugh, not to confound with the French Cancan, a cabaret dance during which the ladies kick up one leg at a time (I am glad for them!), showing off their undergarments to the pleasure of the tourists experiencing the Paris night life.

A French friend who has been living here for a few years, asked me about the infamous “hhan-hhan” that people have been serving him since he got here, saying that he had never heard any French doing so, except maybe for someone sick with a cold and using an handkerchief. Intrigued, I decided to search and find out what is the origin of such a legend. Knowing that some Americans still think of French wearing a beret and listening to Edith Piaf’s tunes, preferably with an accordion playing a sad song, although Edith died in 1963, it gave me the idea that the source of the hhan-hhan legend should be searched in the 50ies or 60ies.

And sure enough, I ended up remembering Maurice Chevalier playing in Gigi, an American 1958 musical film directed by Vincente Minnelli with good ol’ Maurice starring with Leslie Caron and hhan-hhan-ing as much as he could. “Hhan-hhan… my littell Gigi!” He played in so many movies from Innocents of Paris in 1929 to The Happy Road in 56 and up to Monkeys Go Home in 67.

Maurice was an eternal optimist and besides his idiosyncrasies, loved to say things such as: Old age is not so bad when you consider the alternative! Nevertheless, he left us with his theatrical, burlesque character and foibles that have impacted a few American generations to still portray French people as hhan-hhan-ing with a loud and enthusiastic voice. I think Maurice did more single hhan's, although he might have made some triple ones as well...

Looking at French expressions, experts have counted about 150 of them and among which the well known adieu, aide-de-camp, à la carte, and for the people watching the Japanese Iron Chef on TV: à la cuisine (but it is not necessary to throw a fit for such a simple command!), à propos, au jus (please, not “a jus” as read on some menus), au pair, bon appétit, café au lait (which is served mainly with steamed or pressed coffee, not dripped as we do here, although cheap but similar to what we call here “latte” that we pay with 3 or 4 single green notes, as if it was some rare exotic drink). 

Let’s continue our short list: chic, coup de grâce (pronounced “coo deh graaass”, not “coop deh graah”, as “graah” could mean fat), crème brulée, cuisine, déjà vu, du jour, encore, esprit de corps (nothing to do with corpse!), faux pas, fiancée, force majeure, haute couture, je ne sais quoi, maitre d’ hotel or maitre d’ as an abbreviation (the capital D is only adding an unnecessary snobbism... that you pay later on your bill), matinée (meaning morning, which makes me laugh every time I find out that the matinee's are scheduled early afternoon!), ménage a trois (I cannot pass this one as the expression was popularized in France after the 1962 movie Jules et Jim, Catherine being the third party of the ménage. The relations between the 3 main characters were more intense than what people might think à priori. Jeanne Moreau, one of my preferred actresses, was sublime in this complex role. She also played in one of my favorite and intriguing movie The Trial with Orson wells, Tony Perkins and Romy Schneider). 

Running down the alphabetic order: nouvelle cuisine, papier maché, petits fours (it took me years to understand that the “pettit_force” was in effect the “pehti foor”!!!), raison d’être, RSVP (which means Répondez, s'il vous plait or please answer), soirée, souvenir, touché and the very famous voilà, mainly used as et voilà (meaning "and here it is").

Obviously, the list is not complete and whatever makes the 150 or so counted names or expressions, are used more or less frequently. One term I have not head here, although mentioned as an existing French to English idiom, is nouveau riche and I wish to spend some time with it, as it should be of some interest for any amateur sociologist.

French did use this expression to define people who distant themselves from others by noticeably and loudly exposing material signs of possession as a mean of superiority to separate themselves from people of lesser materialistic ownership. No interest for the soul here! The nouveaux riches can be found in any American towns and cities, buying adult “toys” as they say and any necessary imposing paraphernalia, distinguishing people from people as portrayed by the dominant monkey awkwardly holding a stick as a sign of superiority.

Some of the nouveaux riches have to sell their possessions these days. The American economy… and the French expression did court them by surprise, now to be distinguished for their superficiality. A fatalistic expression might help them coping with the hard times they are experiencing: c’est la vie. And to finish with a kind thought: Bonne chance.  A bientôt.

Buying Tap Water at Vegetable Price

It seems that most grocery customers got convinced that the veggie spaying practice is a good think and in some respect, I believe it is, but for the grocery stores, not the customers.

I have heard and read that spraying water on veggies is keeping them fresh, as if one can freeze time, shower after shower, at the pace of twice a minute and every minutes of the store opening. In reality, vegetables (and fruits as well) are loosing their nutrients from the moment they are harvested and loose even more when washed.

OK, spraying is not washing, although, the quantity of water used in the frenzy process to keep them assumably fresh is certainly equal to a few thorough washings during the few days or weeks they are displayed with this watery sparkling outlook. A little spray every 30 seconds would equate to 1,440 times every day of a 12 hours “water boarding” exposure, or 2,880 times for a 24 hour schedule, equating to 10,080 times per week for 12 hours and 20,160 times for an around the clock opening. A veggie would rot on its roots if exposed to such torture while growing.

I had purchased organic lettuces from a local store, to find out that the pile of this produce was barely going down from one week to another. Three weeks later, the same pile, although smaller, was still for sale, forcefully sprayed with a storm sound warning and enough water to positively wet my sleeves while searching for the best available head, meaning the one that had the least spoiled leaves, which in any case, I intended to tear the bad ones off before shaking the lettuce to remove some of the accumulated water from the past… too many days of a forceful drowning process.

One day, I decided to weigh the plastic bag still containing some of the water I had used to wrap my wet piece of veggie. It weighed one tenth of an ounce and the removed lettuce was still very wet, even if I had frantically shaken the leafs at the store, creating a dangerous “slippery when wet” area around me. If one would take a lettuce from the top of the pile, bag it and collect most of the water in the plastic bag, I would not be surprised that it would weigh about a quarter of an ounce. At $2.45 a pound, the collected sprayed tap water would represent a value of 3.82 cents. At this cost, as water weighs 8.34 lbs per gallon, a regular small water bottle of 16.9 fl. oz would weighs 1.1 lb and would cost $1.35. Not bad for the business; not so good for the consumers.

A few years ago, I worked and lived in Great Britain. Each Saturday late afternoon, the grocery stores were putting their produces, in fact fruits and meat as well, on sales prices. The leftover end of the week had to go, to clean up the shelves and provide space for fresh veggies to start the new week. The shelves were on wheels and carried to a colder storage area during the night. No spray system was to be seen, although the produces were looking attractive enough. One could assume that they were sprayed once, early morning, before pushing the shelves back in place. No humongous stacks of veggies and fruits, although enough to satisfy customers. One could see employees busy re-stocking a few times a day. A good system for the customers and a definite positive concern from the businesses.

Still like sprayed veggies?

A Beautiful Story to Remember

A few years ago, I worked for a German person who told me a heart-warming real-life story, in fact his story. Let’s re-baptize our German friend Franz to make the story description easier.

Franz was used to take some vacation time in Spain and travel by car from his natal Bavaria. Each year, he was “trying” a new road through France to appreciate the different regions. He was not speaking French but always had found people to converse, with common words and hand signs for all the basic needs, as it is usually practiced in Europe. For that year, he decided to go through Auvergne, a beautiful region with breathtaking mountain ranges and volcanic peaks, giving views of a lunar looking landscape pitted with craters, rock outcroppings and rugged pine forests. History, as usual for any French area, is filled with details such as the origin of the region’s name derived from the Arverni, a Celtic population with its famous leader Vercingetorix.

It was not the easiest way to go to Spain as roads were narrow and twisty but the experience of travelling through was worth it for Franz. Nevertheless, he didn’t projected to find himself on the middle of a countryside with no hotel or restaurant to be found when he became tired and hungry. One more small medieval village to go through with little hope for hospitality, nevertheless, to his surprise, one modest house on the square had a couple of commercial umbrellas shading a handful of little terrace tables protected by a small brigade of old bistro looking-like chairs. This was the first sign of a hostelry Franz had seen for a while and decided that his choice was easy as he didn’t wanted risking to drive for an unknown time with a growling stomach and a tired body.

Franz parked the car like a horse at a saloon, walked to the terrace and felled on one of the chair, ready to use his hands to express his urgent need for food. An old lady came discreetly, looking at him with a smile. She recognized the German plate on the car and asked him with the most appropriate silent mime, what can I do for you? And as if language didn’t matter anymore, he answered with one hand: I am very hungry! Franz knew that small restaurants do not carry a meal choice and one better like what the local food look like and taste, although always fresh from the morning market.

And food was, on a plate accompanied with a glass of red wine and even the rest of the bottle standing on the middle of the table, as a witness of his feast. Reassured and satiated, Franz was leaning back as his hostess came, looking for the signs of satisfaction. He took the opportunity to ask her, this time with two hands, if she had an available bed, essentially meaning a room for him to rest. The answer was positive and he was following the old lady, walking behind at a slow pace, one small step at a time, as if he had aged 50 years in an instant.

Bath room on first floor was shown briefly before climbing the stairs in an even slower and painstaking pace. The bedroom was as if time had stopped ticking in the late 1800 with an impressive sculpted wooden framed bed with poles looking like the towers of a cathedral. Franz thought that if he could climb that bed, he was going to sleep well to way past sun dawn. A massive buffet was ornamented with an antic porcelain washbasin and a huge jug that could contain 2 gallons of water. That’s my antic shower thought Franz before thanking his hostess, closing the door, climbing the bed and almost instantly passing out in a deep sleep.

The sun was so bright, lighting up the room as if he was on the center of a ball stadium during a game. Franz almost felled off the bed having to stretch his legs to reach the floor. Time to get moving and after a quick splash of water on his face and torso, jumped in his clothe, collected his belongings and ran downstairs where the sweet old lady greeted him with a sincere smile. She had a coffee pot full and was ready to pour the hot beverage in a fine white porcelain cup, probably as old as the bedroom and who knows the entire house content.

Franz was directed to the terrace and got served a plate with two fresh croissants; a beautiful white and red shaker napkin was cheerfully waiting. The coffee was, for sure, what we call around the world a French roast, as French would call that simply…. coffee. The croissants were smelling fresh butter and were so flaky that Franz was juggling like a circus clown with the pieces falling off and the firm intention of not missing a single crumb. It was that good.

Time to leave. Franz was feeling some regrets as he felt comfortable in this retro home but his trip to Spain was calling him to burn more rubber before destination. He was showing his opened wallet to the lady as a sign of readiness to pay. Strangely, he felt that something was wrong at the view of the shocking expression of his hostess, as she got animated with her two arms, pushing the air in the direction of the money, as if the odor was affecting her breathing. « Non, non! » she kept saying; « c’est ma maison, je n’ai pas besoin de votre argent ! Vous êtes le bienvenu chez moi ! Vous aviez besoin de repos et nourriture pour continuer votre chemin ! » (No, no, this is my house, I don’t need your money! You are welcome in my home! You needed to rest and be fed before continuing your journey!).

Franz was shocked. Not only he understood more French than he even though he would but he also realized that this old lady had given him hospitality in her own home... not a business. He hardly believed that one person could be so kind to him, even after the long lasting memory of the last war, forty five years ago… His parent’s generation invading a Country with people like his hostess… It took him a few minutes to hide his tears and find his breathing pace back to thank her and hug her, asking for her address, as he wanted to remember her for the rest of his life.

Franz has sent letters and post cards to his preferred and dear old Lady and has never missed to tell the story as a reminder that kindness is the greatest quality of humankind.

Cheers to you my friends, as thanks-giving has one more meaning and at anytime of the year.

Moving

We have planned to move at the end of this month and the first question we get from most anyone is: to where? Interesting to hear people’s understanding of moving implying moving in, as moving out is automatically included.

In our case, we are just moving out, which intrigue our friends and family to the point of frightening some of them. I can concede that moving entails a destination, unless one would create a perpetual movement...

OK, no worries, we are going to be embracing the Gypsy life only for a while, until we have a clear understanding to where we want or need to be. Our friends the Roms have been on the road since the 11^th century; we will make it shorter, I promise!

I remember a trip through Spain in 1964. We were so tired that we parked the car along the road and slept for a short time during the early hours. A caravan of Gitanos went by, almost silent and respectful of our condition. The carriage was older than the first American’s wagons, with two enormous plain wood wheels of about 2 yards of diameters, covered with a rudimentary canvas to protect the travelers and an impressive hitching ox. No barking dogs! Once they were ahead of us, I felt in peace, as if we had connected our souls for a moment.

Today, I would opt for an old VW camper, preferably with a peace sticker at the back. I’ve never wore tie-dye shirts but I might try, just to complete my new image. 

On Health and Education

While politicians are debating whether or not and how the USA should follow the established and experienced lead of Industrialized Countries in covering all their Citizens with Health plans, we keep missing the enormity of the fact that we have, by far, the biggest Jailed population in the world.

It is certainly legitimate to look at how to care about the health of the Constitutional People when a system such as ours is now letting lobbying Corporates dictating laws in the background, as our reflection to the world is surely not on health as we bear the heaviest population in the World with 66% of declared obese and life expectancy ranking only 42 on our planet.

Bad food and bad nutritional habits leading to a sick and overweight population needing to be treated by the Health network including drug companies; it is as if people’s healthiness is an upsetting subject for the striving 17.5% of the US Gross Domestic Product dedicated to what we call ironically health industry, as it should be re-baptized sickness industry, although not as appealing, one might say!

Health is a priority, not only in healthcare coverage and management but also in food quality, as factory mass production processed food is predominant on our market, as well as the prevailing fast food industry, both dispensing the foundation of health problems, whether by lack of vigorous quality or potential for abuse through pressing marketing and behavioral manipulation.

Nevertheless, if health concern is of essence, the lack of Education is the source of the encompassing problem of our Society, as learning should connect to knowledge in healthy conducts and Societal behaviors, and its deficiencies are leading us back to the American jail population.

Near 7.5 millions Americans are imprisoned or nearly 2.5% of the US citizens. If this is not bad enough, our jailed residents represent about 25% of the World jailed population as we make only 4.6% of the Earth inhabitants.

After taking care of the people’s health, we certainly need to press on education, although it is important to understand that it represents a very long term investment in future generations to promote better integrated Americans with a wider knowledge of subjects such as world history, national and international ethics as well as languages.

This more opened and diversified knowledge should lead to a greater understanding of Self Discipline, Respect and Responsibility as individual and collective concept on all subjects and Freedom as a variably circumstantial idea.

Who are we stepping on this time?