Blanc

Emmanuel Macron was undoubtedly congratulated by our Prime
Minister for his solid victory in the French Presidential election.
I can only add my own good feeling about a handsome young
President - from Sciences Po, a school I attended - with a fashionable
spouse.

Yet there were interesting aspects to the results. The polls were
predicting a 60 % take for Macron, and he scored 66%. Were they
off again (as they were on the Trump win the US)? Arguably not.
In effect, there were a record number of so-called 'white' votes
where electors returned a blanc envelope, as well as a number
of nulls (for Miskey Mouse, whatever...). Plus an increase in the
number of abstentions.

Prior to the election, many Mélenchon supporters
argued for le blanc, as away of marking opposition to Macron's election.
This strategy was followed by many, and the 10 % overrun on blancs
and nulls does seem to be coming from ridings that were for Mélenchon
in the first round of voting. .9 x .66 = .594 so Macron did hold to his 60%
predicted support.

This is guerilla voting. The whole idea of a second round is to force a clear
winner, with candidates forming alliances and adjusting their positions to
a useful choice. The level of support for the winner is the number eventually
deemed significant, because President and legislators in Parliament - elected 5
weeks later - will form the governing group. So goes the Vth Republic.

Mélenchon (France Insoumise) is the one candidate open to moving on to a
VIth Republic. He is of that Left which courts some of the same nationalist electors
as Marine Le Pen, although he picks up recent conservative immigrants as well. He
wants to nationalize the banks. Surely someone to watch as the Legislative elections
loom.

P. Ricoeur

'The work is in three parts, clearly delimited by theme and method. The
first, given over to memory and mnemonic phenomena, is under the guidance of
phenomenology in the Husserlian meaning of the term. The second, dedicated to
history, falls under the epistemology of historical sciences. The third, whose high point
is a meditation on forgetting, finds place in a hermeneutics of the historical condition
we humans fall under. But these three parts do not make for three books. Although
the three masts carry intertwined wings still distinct, they belong to the same
vessel, and are destined to a same and unique journey. A common problem traverses
the phenomenology of memory, the epistemology of history, the hermeneutics of the
historical condition: that of apprehending the past. I am disturbed by
the troubling spectacle given by too much memory here, too much forgetting
elsewhere, not to mention the influence of commemorations and abusive uses
of memory - and forgetting. The search for a policy of adequate memory
remains in this respect one of my explicit civic goals.' Paul Ricoeur

translation: doxa-louise

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Ricoeur found Protestant theology interesting. Having been
schooled in both Catholic and Protestant institutions, I can add
a very practical account of how adequate memory plays out in both
cultures. If Catholics are prone to take on the guilt of their ancestors
and excuse their acts as too zealous faith, Protestants take a quite
different tack. Yes, your ancestors did such and so, but the moral failing
at issue would be your not acknowledging it, or choosing to remain
ignorant that this really happened. In the first, complicity is guilty;
in the second, ignorance is.

Design

I am beginning to think that Brexit - and now the possibility of Frexit
with Marine Le Pen - may have more to do with EU design features than
with electoral discontent. Below, the electoral maps for the European
Parliament for both England and France. Each country is free to elect
its representatives as it sees fit, but both England and France have created
regions thar are not those of elections to the home Parliament. And
they consult the constitutents that have elected them. In effect, the
country has two governments!!

Odder still, European Parlimentarians belong to European Parties and
working coallitions, including a eurosceptic one. National representatives
all attend European Commission gatherings as true overseers - or not at all,
as Britain, currently - but European Parlimentarians are allowed all manner of
'seditious' positions on Europe. An inevitable stage, in a process of unification,
many might think. In effect, perhaps a deadly design virus to the institution itself.

There does seem to be a working logic to threatening withdrawl in a debate within
the EU, but surely this can never be binding one.

https://www.europarltv.europa.eu/programme/others/how-it-works-the-european-parliament

GDebate

The final 2:30 hour debate of the French Presidential election
is over. Over.

Bivalves

map source: MSN

So here we are, 300 million years ago; southern Quebec, France and England near
neighbors.

Been reading about Gault (150 million years ago) clay deposits, which often contain
bivalves. Over the years, I have actually seen two (smallish) bivalve imprints in rock,
one in the Baie des Chaleurs in Gaspésie, one on the banks of the Richelieu river...

Wishes

We have a lovely picture of Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, for her second
birthday. But, poor child is wearing blue. Srsly. Models and show business stars
wear the colours of their eyes and hair in their clothing; it's part of branding.
Found a La Redoute dress which accents her natural colouring. With stitch work.

Happy Birthday, Your Royal Highness.

TimH Opening

Tim Horton's is opening a first outlet in Glasgow, UK and possibly later
trying for the London market. Fot those who may not appreciate
why Tim's is popular in Canada, do try to remember we have a climate of
extremes: impossibly cold in Winter, wet as anything in Spring anf Fall, scorching
in Summer. Tim's is always open (24 hours,on Christmas Day...), comfortable
and clean. In the night, it is where shift workers from hospitals and the like
can escape.

What's great about Tim's: coffee is at perfect warmth, actually good
black if your pants tug, fresh (no pot sits for more than 1/2 hour), cheap
(you can always afford a Tim, and it's okay to just drink coffee), the calorie
count on the donuts won't challenge your math skills (hello, 50 calorie Timbits).
As for the fresh food aspect, I, as a retirement shopper don't really dine there
but working men and women both do, which is in it's favour. And they occasionally
will put out something festive like a Nutella donut at Easter. So, me on a healthy
diet might 'just try one' just because. There are rarely any children, but the occasional
Saturday parent will take someone an teach'em the ropes on baked goodies.

Here in Canada, it is drive-through, take-out and eat-in. No pretty girl goes
through without  an acknowledgement, but an outside worker will be asked
how things are going, by the dediciated regulars. Their staff is as varied as their
customers.

So break a leg, Tim's. Bonne Chance!

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/apr/29/grounds-for-appeal-is-there-room-for-tim-hortons-on-uk-high-streets

                                                             *   *   *

We're going to Tim's!

source: Der Spiegel

Alright, I'm not funny. But apparently, Kim Jong Un's father didn't let himself
be photographed, and KJU is donning a historical haircut and doing the work.