GoBe2

Yuka Kinoshita is promoting GoBe2 on today's YouTube entry.
Below, the English version of the product, which apparently tracks calorie intake
from a body reading!? Tell me more!!

I Love Oranges

If preparing an orange - for example, to put in a salad - is a lot like peeling

a potato, eating an orange in public is another matter. Here are two variants,

both which keep one's hands clean.

 *   *   *

Powers

source: Le Monde, LES DÉCODEURS

author: Eléa Pommiers

translation: doxa-louise

WHAT ARE THE TRUE POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC,
WITH OR IN THE ABCENSE OF A GOVERNMENTAL MAJORITY?

Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen are debating their respective programs
in the hope of convincing the electorate. But is what they are putting forward
truly relevant to the post of President?

Can the President of the Republic truly do anything? The debates
of the presidential election, with candidates putting forward extremely
precise programs, sometimes give the impression that they can. Yet if winning
the election is a necessary stage for Emmanuel Macron or Marine Le Pen,
it is far from sufficient. The quasi-totality of the promised measures
put forth by the two candidates can only be attained if the winner of the May 7
election also obtains a majority in the National Assembly. To explain.

WHAT  THE CONSTITUTION SAYS

The text of the constitution is very clear on the allotment of powers. The
government ' determines and carries out the politics of the nation'; Parliament
votes laws and can overthrow the government. The President, for his part, is a
'referee'  who insures 'the normal functioning of public powers' and 'continuity
in the affairs of State', as well as a safeguard for 'national independence, maintaining
the integrity of territory and the respect of treaties'.

Thus, in terms of the constitution, the interior politics of the country are not in
the purview of the President of the Republic. His powers remain, in reality, within
bounds:

⦁ he safeguards the Constitution and thus is allowed to seize the Conseil
   constitutionnel if he feels that a law is in violation of its principles (but
   now parliamentarians can do this as well since 1974);

⦁ he names the Prime Minister as he sees fit;

⦁ he is Commander in Chief of the armies and the sole authority to launch a nuclear
   attack;

⦁ he can arrogate to himself extraordinary powers in a situation of 'serious and immediate'
   threat to institutions, the independence of the nation, the integrity of territory or
   the execution of international accords;

⦁ he is free to dissolve the National Assembly;

⦁ he can repeal a death sentence on his own right;

⦁ he negotiates and sign international accords;

⦁ he can order a referendum to pass a law by virtue of article 11 (on a limited
   number of subjects);

The President of the Republic also n0minates for certain 'civilian and military' positions
without power of delegation. Thus he alone will name prefects, Councilors of state,
Ambassadors, academic Rectors or again directors of central administrations; but
also various magistrates, professors of higher education, or officers of the Army,
 Navy  and Air Force. Emmanuel Macron an Marine Le Pen could become the sole
signatories of such decrees once elected.




DO PRESIDENTS FOLLOW THE LETTER OF THE TEXT?

In most cases, these procedures are diluted in practice. In the case where
he holds a favourable majority in the National Assembly, the President of the
Republic is freed from the letter of the constitution, and takes the liberty to
propose legislation. He thus spills over onto the role of government, and takes on
important powers, often decried as stronger than those of his counterparts.

Both candidates hope to find themselves in this situation, given that the quasi-totality
of their propositions come under prerogatives that are not those of the President. This
should not pose any major problems if the winner of the presidential is backed up by
a majority in the Assembly: he will have every latitude to apply his program.

However, in the contrary case, Emmanuel Macron or Marine Le Pen would find themselves
in a situation of cohabitation. This has happened three times since the beginnings of the V th
Republic (1986-1988, 1993-1995, 1997-2002). In all three cases, the President of the Republic
appointed a Prime Minister of the same political stripe as the majority in the Assembly,
even though there was no Constitutional necessity to doing so. Why? Because if the
Head of State names a Prime Minister not from the Parliamentary majority,  the Assembly
might well bring down the government.

Thus, while Jacques Chirac, a President from the political Right, held the Élysée between
1997 and 2002, it is the policies of the Socialist Party that were applied for five years by
the government of Lionel Jospin. In this configuration, the elected candidate of May 7
would be forced to follow the Constitution, and the implementation of his program would be
severely compromised.

CONCRETELY, WHAT COULD MACRON OR LE PEN HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH WITHOUT A MAJORITY?

Naming a cohabitation government wouldn't make thing much better. Pensions, Unemployment-
Insurance, Education, Taxation, Immigration and the conditions to nationality, Business Taxes,
Public Employment, Penal sanctions, Labor Law, National Defence... All these themes are of
legal domain and come under the power of Parliament, and of the government which issues from
it. Even Emmanuel Macron's notion of 'governing through decree' would not permit the
application of his program: only the government can publish decrees, and only with the
approval of Parliament. the only freedom of the President is to sign, or not, deciding on implementation. He can block legislation if he so desires.

There is an article of the Constitution that would allow the candidate elected on May 7 to act in
conformity with his beliefs, even in a case of cohabitation: article 11. It would permit the President
to apply his program with respect to reform of the Constitution or Foreign Policy.

REFORMING THE CONSTITUTION

The text allows for a procedure for reform (article 89) which involves a vote
in the Parliamentary Assemblies. But article 11 authorizes the Head of State to
pass laws through referendum, without going through Parliament. Using this to
reform the Constitution is possible, but never successfully used . Only General de Gaulle
used it in this spirit,  to then be criticized for 'distorting the text', and resigning after
a 'no' on his 1969 referendum.

Marine Le Pen could propose her Constitutional reforms through this route. Moreover,
since she intends to make referendums possible for all laws, she could use this to push through
certain mesures of her program. This has never been accomplished since the beginnings of the
V th Republic (other than on institutional reform). The situation would be all the more novel, and
the results uncertain, that the government of the day could be in opposition.

ON INTERNATIONAL PREROGATIVES

We are left with Foreign Policy, where the President could apply his policies in perfect
accord with the constitution. He names Ambassadors, negotiates treaties, and - thanks
to article 11 - can have these ratified without the approval of Parliament. Thus could
Emmanuel Macron enable his ideas on reforming the European Union. It is equally in
this manner that Marine Le Pen could achieve her primary objective: negotiate and see
ratified leaving the European Union.

But if the Parliamentary majority supporting a President will most likely endorse his reforms,
a plebiscite by referendum is less likely to be automatically approved. Governing by referendum
would present a major risk for a President of the Republic: being disavowed by the electorate
mid-mandate.

PhotoS

France has rules about election posters. In effect, those are
mandatory to represent the candidates, and their public meetings.
Each commune is requires, by law, to offer public spaces
so that these can be put up, in proximity to where people vote.

And then there was Photoshop. The official pictures for the two
candidates to the presidential run-off were just published. Le
Nouvl Obs asked for an assessment of the work of the two teams
by semiologists.

The two are strikingly similar (red, white and blue on the same poster
is a forbidden combination). The E. Macron poster is a prosopopoeia,
France is doing the speaking (like the cutlery in Alice in wonderland).
The M. Le Pen is a seductress version of the candidate, very different
from the woman of character she normally projects. Each seems to be
courting the supporters of the other.

The Milk Thing

                                             ...

source: The Globe and Mail, Feb 21, 2017.

Fly

One thing I appreciate about the Los Angeles Times: they
are so far from the Washington grapevine, everything ends up in
the newspaper.

...

The Talk

I have felt uneasy about the 'distressed' look in clothing,
with all those cuts and openings but never really said anything.
But then the climate is often warmer - often unexpectedly so - and
all those cuts do cool us down.

This latest thing though - distressed-looking  jeans with fake mud - has
no real excuse. Indeed, one can well ask if it is hateware: contempt
for manual work.

The talk of the town on the internet:

source: The Washington Post

Name Game

Got curious about Mrs Le Pen's name, Marine, which is most unusual.
In fact, it is not a proper first name at all, but something of a pet name, like
Pippa Middleton for Philippa Charlotte Middleton, sister to the Duchess
of Cambridge.

Here is the entry from the French Wikipedia:

Marion Anne Perrine Le Pen, dite Marine Le Pen (prononcé [ma.ʁin lə.pɛn]), née le 5 août 1968 à Neuilly-sur-Seine, est une femme politique française.

Her birthplace, Neuilly-sur-Seine, is the quite prosperous suburb of Paris that Nicholas Sarkosy
was mayor of, launching his career. Her current burg of choice, in Northern France, is one
where she keeps a vacation home.

And if one looks up Perrine - a diminutive of Pierre - as a literary reference, one finds a character from the novels of Hector Malot (1830 - 1907), a Republican from Northern France (Rouen) who
championed the condition of children.

                                                              *   *   *

On the issue of Russian influence on Western elections, a small moment of mirth from
Reuters France this morning: apparently, a Russian think Tank counseled support for the
more pro-Russian candidate in the American election, and later - when a Hillary Clinton victory
appeared imminent - advised switching to making the vote seem rigged, making Mrs
Clinton a weaker President. Victims of the polls, all! 😂

http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/presidentielle-2017/20170424.OBS8467/le-kremlin-va-t-il-laisser-perdre-le-pen-sans-intervenir-surement-pas.html

The Law

Libération published an interesting note today, about wanting
to intervene in the disinformation wars. French law is strict on
the publishing of poll results near the election. In effect, although polls
are ongoing, publication of poll results is illegal since Friday. But, as they
point out, this does not apply to the internet or foreign press. So Libé announced
the right to 'correct' out and out lies meant to destabilize the vote.

Found one: the Washington Post this morning asserts that Marine Le Pen
would loose to all her main rivals on the second round. Not what I've
been reading: she would loose to Macron and Fillon, but would win against
Mélenchon. And legal polls have also shown that her voters have the highest
rate on the 'absolutely intend to go out and vote' question.

Not that I am necessarily a Le Pen supporter, and the French in Montreal voted
yesterday, but she did come to Montreal to visit. And it was much appreciated by
all.

Voting

Voting in Montreal for the French Presidential; to go on till 8pm,
while voters in France vote all day Sunday. Very large turnout,
with 57 000 registered to vote!

source: cyberpresse

http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/201704/21/01-5090592-presidentielle-francaise-longue-attente-pour-voter-a-montreal.php

Week-End

Read about it in the French Press: Mar-a-Lago normally shuts down for the

year at this time, as too warm temperatures and possibly hurricanes loom.

The President also has a golf club in New Jersey which could serve as a

week-end retreat.

source: Nouvel Obs

The Truth

I made no secret of the fact that I considered Brexit,
to say it, I didn't consider Brexit at all. It seemed an evasive
move, and not the prettiest one.

To recap: The EU evolved afterWorld War 2, between equals.
It was partly in the interests of the nations concerned to form a larger
economic unit. But it was also a form of war regret, and meant to help
the nations concerned maintain peace with each other, and be less of
a case for the rest of the planet.

If one consults the documentation on its beginnings, one sees that France
pushed for an initial common agricultural policy because, at the
time, agriculture is what France had to offer. Over the years, Germany has
come to profit for the common currency given its industrial strength. And
finally, London has become the financial capital of the world, with all the
benefits that are entailed.

But, the EU is no longer between equals. It is for legal purposes, because no one
tried to define it otherwise, but dans les faits, the break-up of the Soviet Union
has led to the entrance of a number of fragile states, and unstable populations.
Long story short, the United States largely brought this on itself, they just had
to win. And now Britain found itself paying into Europe like a big brother,
which it didn't much appreciate.

What now; not really my call. Canada has just signed a deal with Europe on the
hand, and promised everlasting cooperation with Britain and the Anglosphere on
the other. But one cannot help but wish for a clean deal not the EU itself, but with
various factions within it, a little exercise which might bring to light a few helpful
truths.

Goryeo

Hotel in North Korea. From The Washington Post

                                                            *   *   *

The root word for Korea means 'elevated beauty'. It is a reference to a former kingdom.

Goryeo's capital, Kaesong, remains in North Korea, near the border with the South.

source: Wikipedia

Libé

Libération gives a somewhat different picture of North Korea
than does the Anglophone Press .Citing university analysts from South
Korea, they lean toward recognizing the present Korean leadership, and
accepting nuclear development; otherwise negotiations are impossible.

South Korea is presently in a pre-election phase.

The American ships should be reaching destination Saturday, as annual celebrations
begin in North Korea.

http://www.liberation.fr/planete/2017/04/12/kim-et-trump-les-deux-font-la-peur_1562358


                                                    *   *   *
15:40 Eastern North American Time, April 14, 2017.

BTW, the above image, from le Nouvel Obs, is only possible in Photoshop: a meld

between two different images, on the model of a gradient!!

Vincent Jauvert's brief piece informs us that the American armada has arrived in

range of Korea; the game of chicken is on. The author advances that NK's young

leader is convinced that he needs the nuclear option to insure the legitimacy of his

regime, and indeed to safeguard his country from the dangers of America. President

Trump, for his part, needs to see the light on the importance of diplomacy. Who will

have the upper hand. Réponse demain.

Indeed, tomorrow is coming fast as Seoul is 13 hours ahead of Montreal, thus currently

4 in the morning on the 15th.

                                                 *   *   *

Also wondering how to explain that 'mother of all bombs' does not translate to
'mère de toutes les bombes', but is a far nastier idiom!?

Different

Canadian papers talk about lower salaries for Bombardier executives, but Le Monde

has a different headline...

New Org

On reading about Syria, and trying to understand the apparent
fixity of the regime's position, I stumbled upon a small item
which opened a new parenthesis of understanding: Syria has applied for
observer status to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The SCO is a pan Asian organization, whose strong members are Russia and China.
Interestingly, and for historical and geopolitical reasons, they do not primarily define
themselves in military terms, but rather in cooperative ones. Nonetheless, they have agreed to:

"oppose intervention in other countries' internal affairs on the pretexts of 'humanitarianism' and 'protecting human rights;' and support the efforts of one another in safeguarding the five countries' national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and social stability."

One thus sees in this organization, a new political discourse.

http://everything.explained.today/Shanghai_Cooperation_Organisation/

https://www.revueconflits.com/organisation-de-cooperation-de-shanghai-construction-de-la-nouvelle-asie/

Erica

With all this bad weather, and given my still healing arm, I have
been playing a lot of on-line scrabble, with Just Words. I went through
a phase of trying to see how my 'opponent' - medium difficulty - strategized.
I'm currently winning most of the time, I think because I think ahead and
my opponent doesn't. Falls into the traps I lay by opening the board. (In fact,
it is to my advantage to open the board, because I am working for high point badges!!).

I often win not because I have accumulated more points to the end, but because
opponent gets stuck with high unused letter penalties at the end.

I often let my opponent begin, which is a double point freebie. Used to do this
only when I had a poor opening hand.

Opponent is actually generous in certain ways: will never place all the letters at
once, which is a huge advance. Will often forego placing an s on a high-pont word.
But is really ruthless about taking advantage of those triple-scores, or at least it
seems to me...

Because that is the weird thing; I am starting to feel I need to be more careful
and ethical in my relationship to opponent. Maybe the machine knows and is
contemptuous of my predatory behaviour, or the fact that I stay at medium
difficulty and don't go on to hard. (It is a less open game, with a lot of three-letter
words in all the spaces, so I don't expand my vocabulary by playing.)

I've been using a lot of my recently acquired terms and word blocs from chemistry
and biology: amine, oxy ...
...

                                                     *   *   *

Grey

Interesting article in the Figaro( the Right) this morning: 42% of voters
from those teaching at the post-secondasry level are undecided
about who to vote for in the upcoming presidential
election. 'Traditionally on the Left', they are divided
equally between three candidates. They had voted for F.Hollande
in the last election, but are now 'disappointed'. 72% also feel
that they have inadequae resources for their 'mission' ie jobs.

I am a bit surprised that they are all traditionally on the Left.
But thinking back, yes, universitites are liberal-leaning. Not
altogether surprising because the Left is more generous to them
as a group of workers, but certainly of note because it means
students will be taught from that point of view. Liberals are nurtured,
Conservatives resist.
                                          *   *   *
Other interesting piece: a report of an article from the Wall Street
Journal, that young american graduates are disappointed in their first jobs,
which require little of the skills that they acquired in school. From the point
of view of employers, the better schooled are appreciated for their resilience
and stick-to-itness. Wonder where that comes from...

                                          *   *   *
Yes, it is day 2 of grey and rainy. I might paddle out for meds later this morning.

Pickled

I had a sweet pickle with dinner; I chopped it and mixed it with a stump
of cucumber, lemon juice, mayo, salt and pepper. The main dish was a rice
casserole with tuna and vegetables. I was wondering how someone could not
like pickles; maybe they didn't understand that one only eats these in small quantities,
to add zing to a meal.

Then I remembered. I am actually old enough to have known a time when
salad vegetables were only available in the summer. In the winter, one had
carrots, potatoes and canned vegetables. And the odd pickle, like at Christmas when
they were served in a special marinades dish. I used to eat shepherd's pie with
ketchup and relish, and a glass of milk. That was it, in winter.

In summer, there was a bounty of fresh produce, from the farmers' market.
I ate salad twice a day at the cottage, with Spam sandwiches. Yes, spam, because
in the summer, where was one supposed to find meat. Maybe a fancy barbecued
chicken from the newly opening supermarket once in a while. Spam and mock
chicken sandwiches; ate a lot of those.

I'm not sure how things were further south. Maybe a McDonalds with a slice of
tomato on a patty was a big deal. It must have been. Food historians might one day
have some good things to say about old McDs. I was well advanced as a teenager
when the first  opened in the city where I lived. Never went because
it was an adult hang-out.

Ironic that they are surviving, these days,  on serving on all-day breakfast. Back in
the day, breakfast foods were always available, if somewhat frowned on. We were
city folk, not farm labourers to eat like that!?

Duckies

Nature knows no boundaries: when the US Weather Service

calls for floodwatch around Lake Champlain, those downriver

on the Richelieu River reach for their boots.

I'm outta lettuce, running low on brewable coffee and Tylenol, but

not budging till Saturday!!

*   *   *

On the upside, we are expecting gorgeous weather, in the twenties,

next week.

source: Wallpapers for Me

Sagitarius A*

Very excited today because of the work commencing on the observation of the

black hole deemed to inhabit the center of our galaxy. A group of radio telescopes from

various points on the planet will work in tandem -  forming a virtual telescope called the Event Horizon Telescope - between April 5 and 14.

Because it is a black hole, one is looking for its shadow - an ugly peanut -

which affects the activity outside the event horizon.

One side of the image would be brighter than the other because relativistic effects boost the apparent brightness of material moving toward us. (The Atlantic).

They will looking for activity at a wavelength of 1.3 millimeter.

source: Wikipedia

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/03/alma-black-hole-shadow/520608/

Gibraltar

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) defines an offshore financial centre as "a country or jurisdiction that provides financial services to nonresidents on a scale that is incommensurate
with the size and the financing of its domestic economy."^[

Long seen as providing tax havens for companies, off-shore jurisdictions are increasingly

studied as centers from which moneys gets invested in the Developing World.

source:Wikipedia

Colour Picker

Of course, Photoshop is the garden of many delights but for

day-to-day work, I much appreciate Microsoft Expression Design (Free).

Below, exploring the saturation tool: the opacity rating at 100% means an image

will completely cover the one underneath as one adds layers.

And one adds layers in the progression of[putting something together largely for

sanity reasons. One can change or delete  layers very easily, change their

order, whatever...

Below, both ellipses are at 70%. If I superimpose them, the common space is darker,

but as much as it would be if I had kept the original at 100%

                                     

Here, the same exercise over a blue rectangle. The original is less violet.

The effect can be that of a lighter shade of fuschia over white, but if I really mean
that lighter shade to begin with, I am better to get it from the colour board at 100%.

                                                               *   *   *

As for changing things around, it does require some work. Essentially, changing a bitmap
image to a vector one that allows paths to be drawn on it:

Using the pen tool to define the area to be affected:

Copying the new area:

Pasting it on top of the original:

For creating light effects on the dress - wait for it - a

lower opacity layer with the shade colour one wants!!