Archive for Martinique
congrats, Dr. Robert!
Posted in Books, Kids, Statistics, University life with tags Department of Internal Medicine, Elsevier, first publication, Fort-de-France, internal medecine, Martinique, Martinique University Hospital, medical thesis, myopathy, publication, residency, Semin Arthritis Rheum, Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism on December 25, 2025 by xi'an
reductio ad absurdum
Posted in Books, Travel with tags Antarctica, anti-communism, baby Trump, Donald Trump, elasticity, Falun Gong, Guadeloupe, guano, Guyane, hotel, La Réunion, Martinique, Saint Pierre et Miquelon, tariffs, The Epoch Times, trade deficits, Trump administration on April 19, 2025 by xi'an
While the decision to impose massive tariffs to handle trade deficits is either idiotic (as not addressing the reasons for said deficit) or Trump’s customary approach to negocoations, the figure of the increase is even absurder, as it it is exactly (some evaluation of) the country-specific trade deficit by the value of its exports to the US. Bon sang, mais c’est bien sûr!!! As put by Paul Krugman, “there’s so much wrong with this approach that it’s hard to know where to star.” Divided by two to add nonsense to the absurdity. And the White House Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai posted a math formula a wee bit too late after the reasoning had been spotted. Where elasticity conveniently cancels with “passthrough” (a concept I had never met before)!
Another degree of non-sense is reached when considering the tariffs differ between territories of the same country, like these Australian territories near Antarctica where no people live (unless they export penguin guano?!). In the case of France, oversea departments get differential treatments. For instance, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyane and French Polynesia face only a 10% rise, while La Réunion get a 37% additional tariff(for exporting vanilla?!) and Saint Pierre and Miquelon, east of Newfoundland are imposed with a 50% new tariff! Since all these territories are part of France, separating their imports and exports from the mainland is making no sense whatsoever.
UTMB 2024
Posted in Mountains, pictures, Running, Travel with tags Chamonix, Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, Courmayer, French Alps, Italian Alps, Martinique, Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, Swiss Alps, ultratrail, Ultratrail du Mont Blanc, UTMB on September 1, 2024 by xi'an
a journal of the conquest, war, [not exactly] famine, and death year
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Running, Travel with tags APD, Ben Aaronnovitch, book review, books, COVID-19, Daniel Defoe, film review, Fort-de-France, Grand Guignol, Jack the Ripper, Japanese literature, Journal of the Plague Year, London, Martinique, multiverse, Rivers of London, Russian invasion, serial killer, teen culture, time travel, Ukraine, Wisconsin, Yusuke Kishi on December 11, 2023 by xi'an
Read [in French] Lesson of the Evil (悪の教典) by Yusuke Kishi, caught by the book strip including a France Inter praise…! The book and the subsequent manga and film appear to be very popular but it failed to impress me. The trope of the assassin professor happens to be a fairly easy scenarist concept. This may be partly due to a very laborious translation into French, but the dialogues are not very credible, it is difficult to engage and develop empathy for the teenage victims (and even less for the assassin), especially after the nth murder. Hasumi’s impunity throughout his career assassin is completely unrealistic, his inner dialogue ridiculous, and the final evening of the story drawn out beyond boredom in every way. Also read the novella Winter’s Gifts by Ben Aaronovitch, an attempt at transplanting the spirit of Rivers of London to Lakes of Wisconsin. While the central character of Kimberley Reynolds is a success, with depth and wits, the story itself does not click, from the grandguignolesque monsters to the red herrings and the unconvincing resolution of the greatest menace by Kimberley. When an ice tornado strolls through your town, you don’t continue attending your pub or visiting the local library…
Cooked a lot of stir-fries both away and at home, returning to Fall veggies like cabbages and gourds, along local mushrooms. (Except in Martinique where we took advantage of ignames (yam), christophines (chayote), cooking bananas, gombos, sweet potatoes, dachines (taro), veggie chilis, and other local vegetables).
Watched Bodies, a British science-fiction series involving four detectives at different eras from 1890 till 2053 around the same incomprehensible murder, with a nice cast of diverse characters (and enjoyable London accents), but unable to stand time travel paradoxes till the very end. And obvious budget limitations that make past and future scenes somewhat limited. But, again, the actors are fantastic.
nous, laminaire
Posted in Books, Kids, Mountains, pictures, Travel with tags Aimé Césaire, Antilles, colonialism, Fondation Clément, French colonial empire, French literature, Habitation Clément, Laminaria, mangroves, Martinique, mornes, picture exhibit, poem, rum, sea weed on December 1, 2023 by xi'an
A chance occurrence of a superb exhibit during our trip to Martinique last month,
namely a photograph exhibit at the Foundation Clément (funded by the Clément rum factory!) around some poems of Aimé Césaire, the most famous Martinique writer from his book Moi, laminaire, which I had not seen before, but found fabulous, by the intricate and unusual constructions around rare words, while (re)creating a landscape of sorts,
including the laminaria, a brown seaweed growing to large lengths, appearing in the last line of the final poem in this post (if not the book),
which made the selected photographs from three artists highly pertinent, with three highly different artists, Juliette Agnel, Nicolas Derné, Xuebing Du, whose Martinique nature landscape renderings suited very well Césaire’s universe,
with the additional perk of a two-hour presentation by the exhibit commissioner, Colette Césaire, a charismatic speaker and (not so incidentally) the grand-daughter of the national poet (and influential politician).
