Well....SHI...P !

This Christmas, I shipped gifts (pastries, mostly) from a French pastry company (Pierre Hermé) to eight French friends and one Italian friend.  The Italian one was extremely expensive; I didn't notice at the time, and when I did, it was too late to cancel. (I have a hunch it had something to do with crossing the border; if I ship something to Canada, the price goes way up, too.)   The French ones cost about 32 Euros each.  I was tickled by the idea -- look how cosmopolitan I am, with all these French friends  -- and didn't do the math.  One shipment was about $35.  Eight shipments was....hum.

So I thought well, hell, I like to bake, home made is best (maybe....), why not bake stuff and mail it? Cut the shipment costs way down.  So I spent a little time looking at the Fed Ex, UPS, and USPS sites.

As a general statement, it appears that the minimum cost to ship a one pound box to France is about $6.00.... but thats just a guess.  The Post Office makes it hard to ask the question; their web site talks a lot about rules, guidelines, standards, and so forth; very little about what will one pound from here to there, cheapest rate, cost me?  The Fed Ex and UPS guys are clearer.... and cost about $40 a box.

Maybe next year I will just send a card...

EOY Comment

To all those who read this site, even if just occasionally:

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!  

May you have the happiest of all possible New Years, tomorrow and forever. 

Patè à Choux

Piping

Having a piping bag blow off its coupler, thus spreading under-pressure dough everywhere, is dramatic but not actually as much fun as one might expect.

Fud

One of the delights of having your child home for Christmas break is finding that our kitchen, and the foods we cook for dinner, are no match for the array of foods available at the college cafeteria. It's not reallly a fair fight -- her school has been recognized as having superior meals for the students - but, still, the comparison gripes me, a bit.

In keeping with the season, though, I restrain myself from pointing out that in six months, she will probably be living on her own, and able to cook whatever she wants.  Assuming she has the time.  Or eat out whenever she wants.  Assuming she has the money.

Ho, Ho, Ho !

Reaction - ary

I don't usually read the Physics website, because most of physics is beyond me, but this article was intriguing, and not just because I thought it was intuitively obvious.

Liberals' attitudes toward Muslims and immigrants became more like those of conservatives following the July 7, 2005 bombings in London, new research shows. Data from two nationally representative surveys of British citizens revealed that feelings of national loyalty increased and endorsement of equality decreased among political liberals following the terrorist attack.

 

Yup.  I believe that.

Liberals' attitudes toward Muslims and immigrants became more like those of conservatives following the July 7, 2005 bombings in London, new research shows. Data from two nationally representative surveys of British citizens revealed that feelings of national loyalty increased and endorsement of equality decreased among political liberals following the terrorist attack.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-12-terrorism-liberals.html#jCp

Liberals' attitudes toward Muslims and immigrants became more like those of conservatives following the July 7, 2005 bombings in London, new research shows. Data from two nationally representative surveys of British citizens revealed that feelings of national loyalty increased and endorsement of equality decreased among political liberals following the terrorist attack.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-12-terrorism-liberals.html#jCp

Differences

A man was arrested about five miles from here for supporting ISIS.  He commented about how easy it was to buy weapons in Pennsylvania.

The far right sees his arrest as reason to buy more weapons.

I see it as a reason to restrict weapons sales.



We will never agree, will we?

Supporting

I was told by a friend, about two weeks ago,  that she had discovered she had genital herpes.  I had assumed that this was the result of having sex, but apparently no, you can actually get it by the luck of the draw.  Which makes me want to requisition a case of those blue poly gloves that lab techs use. Or maybe just a full-body environment suit.

Anyway, she told me today of an irritating event that had occurred on a date, relative to her condition. During the conversation,  I discovered something.  I really don't know how to say I'm sorry that you were on a date with a guy which went south because he was poking around in your stuff when he shouldn't have,  found out that you have herpes, and he freaked out. Sometimes, words fail me. I want to be supportive, but I don't know how, in this case,  without sounding - I don't know, creepy.

So I just said the core message -- that I was sorry that this had happened to her.  Because I am.  But I wish that I could have done more.  She's a good person, and she deserved better.

Écoles

I guess I do have a thing about France.  I just did a search on Google Images for Écoles Primaire Municipales, and was charmed by the pictures of all the little French kids.  I know, pictures of little kids are almost always charming, but these seemed somehow special.  Go figure.

Get the chopper!

Observation: the words "crystalized ginger" and "finely chopped" should not appear near each other in a recipe. That way lies madness. And gunked-up knives, choppers, and food processors.

French Milk

Reading French Milk, a graphic novel by a woman detailing a month that she spent in Paris.  The title comes from her fondness for the French milk, which always tastes fresher to her.  A lot of the book is about her visits to museums, particularly graphic arts museums, but much is we found this cute little store that sold all these great pens, and we found this place that is stocked to the ceiling with all of this kitchen stuff, we bought an oyster-opener,  and we walked through the gardens, they were really nice even though it was freezing out.  And I think Why is it that when I go to Paris, I never find these cute little stores?  Part of it is because I'm not a shopping fiend, but still.... I once told a French friend that I never even saw a boulangerie in Paris, and he was amazed. Are you sure that you were in Paris? he asked.  Sometimes, I wonder.....

Watch Out!

They want you to grow up!

BM

This is an example of why I really don't get people's fascination with Bill Murray.  Nice vest, though.

Responses

How does one determine what's a decent response when someone thinks that their situation (their class, their gender, their country) is in dire straits, and begs/insists on/demands resolution/recompense, and you think that the situation is unfortunate, but not more? 

The response will be moderated by multiple factors - am I of that class, that gender, that country- and more, but it should start with compassion, a sense of fairness.  Probably won't, though. We can't relate. My stubbed toe is more important to me than your country's famine.  We exhaust the pool of compassion pretty quickly.

Language

I think that my capacity to learn languages -- to improve my ability to understand spoken French, to speak, let alone understand, Italian -- and to use them is dropping.  I am not sure why, but it's a depressing thought.

It's just harder than it was, five years ago.  Words don't stick.  (Okay, some: I'll probably always remember C'est quoi, cette merde? But most, not).  Its not as much fun to learn new phrases.  Even the one that a correspondant told me the other day, saying I knew you would like this  -- which was, I think, Je te renverrai l'ascenseur, which means literally I'll send the elevator back for you, and effectively I'll pay you back for this appreciated action  -- doesn't quite stick.  I like the idea, but the actual phrase, I'm not sure I will remember in one month, two months.  Let alone be able to work into a conversation.

I hope I'm not getting stupider.

Endings

Ah, Discord's Apple.  You were going so well, right up to the last few pages.  Great plot.  Intriguing characters. Inventive devices. Hey, when I finish this one, I should find more by this author.

And then, right at the end,  something amazing happened.  That plot that you spent the last hundred pages on, the one that kept me turning the pages?  Gone. Those characters?  Mostly gone.  Their world? Vanished.  Something magical happened.

I know it's tough to be an author, but has the concept of a satisfying conclusion evaded you?

Latest

After the San Bernadino shooting, when the people who did it were revealed to have stocks of guns, pipe bombs, and remote control bombs, for the first time I thought What kind of people just happen to have heavy weaponry, terrorist-type, available?  Maybe people like Trump are right.  Maybe we should round these people up and deport them. 

I don't want to believe that.  But I don't want to die, either.  

See Plus?

I got this from a French conversation partner who is working on his accreditation in the C++ language.  His question:  what's wrong with this?


#include

int voyelle (char *ChLue, char *Voyelle, int *nbV);
int voyelle (char *ChLue, char *Voyelle, int *nbV)
    {
        int i=0;
        printf("%s",Voyelle);
        while(ChLue[i]!='\0')
        {
            i++;
        }
        return i;


    }
int main(void)
    {
    char ChLue[256],Voyelle[6]="AEIOUY";
    int nbV=0,nbcaractere=0;
    printf("saisir une chaine de caractere");
    scanf("%255s",ChLue);
    //printf("%s",Voyelle);
    nbcaractere=voyelle (ChLue,Voyelle,&nbV);
    printf("%d\n",nbcaractere);
    return 0;
    }




Ummm......