:’(

As a scientist (at the moment not US based): yes, people will leave the US. Some of my contacts have been considering relocating since the election results were out.

Being a scientist means being connected to a broad network of international institutions and colleagues, it’s possibly one of the fields in which relocation is easiest. This is such a shortsighted measure! Save some cash now, tank research for the generation to come…

Reality is a lie! And 2020 is basically the future, Bug Calendar is lying to us!

I often start feeling so limited in my own world views and experiences! I had wanted to learn German for a while, after after years of learning it I can barely read young adult novels… Not to speak about Russian, where I got barely passed the alphabet…

I feel more keenly aware of this nowadays because I moved to a less internationally minded city, and it feels like the culture wall around me is a bit steeper than it used to be.

Outside of fantasy, actually very far from it: « Consider the lobster » is a collection of essays on mundane stuff, highlighting the weirdness of everyday (or not really everyday) life, such as fairs and cruises and porn.

I loved it, it’s very reflexive - that some people find hard to read, others relaxing. If you think it might be your style, it’s absolutely worth a read !

Another far fetched change I would like to see in our society: shorter work days. I don’t think there is any real reason why we settled on 8h work days, and with the growth of productivity I see no reason why we should stay there. A shorter work day (at same pay) would allow the worker to have more time to enjoy life - and the family they chose to create.

He is learning to speak, and the latest discovery is letting me know the process of bunping into stuff (a second ago, in front of me, usually without hurting himself). He comes to me, tells me “boom” pointing at where he fell, then “aua” with the saddest face, pointing at what he supposedly hurt. Sometimes it’s even the correct spot! He often then patiently waits for a kiss on it.

My kid started hating waking up from his daily nap. I still don’t understand why or how, but at least half of the times, he wakes up so mad! And there seems to be nothing to do. At times he gets more mad if you try to comfort him. Sometimes taking in a soothing voice helps, but not always. Often giving him his pajama pants helps -and that’s the only time in the day he requires them. I don’t know if it counts as tantrum, but i can’t classify it as anything else… we usually wait it out, can take up to 20 minutes of screeching.

1.5 years old he is understanding the concept of hot, so he is learning to blow on warm food, let me know if it’s too hot and communicate this: a hand over the head is the signal for “hot”. It gets used when he passes near the oven, when I am cooking and when we serve food.

At 1.5y, diversion has started to loose its power when having to stop playing or having to leave toys. Luckily I found out that “saying goodbye” is extremely effective. It gives the kid an understanding of what is happening (we are leaving) and a moment to process the loss. So now every time we go home from the playground we say goodbye, even if there are no other people around.

I don’t think that would be a problem related to not write chronologically. Think of a reader reading about Ireland nowadays. How much do you need to know about why Irish people do not like English people in order to understand and enjoy the story? I don’t think much other at all. If you really want, you can easily insert a brief line about the background and have later in a gull story about the background itself.

“Latest hack you figured out”

As a new parent, there have been countless little hacks shared with me that really helped my life. The first one: “sometimes babies just need to cry it out” (within reason). Helped me drop the parent guilt of hearing your baby cry and not being able to fix it right away.

Latest one: if you are excited, they will likely be as well. (Experiences of potty training)

Writing style.

I am down for any book, as long as the author can play with the language. It can be long winded as Wallace, or poignant like Vonnegut, or poetic and soft like Haruf, or dry and almost scientific like Asimov, or logic bending like Pratchett, but all these authors can use language like an instrument. This property doesn’t make a book easy to read, but makes it most definitely worth my while.

It is! I also find unsettling how human-like the cast looks, both with the eye and the position of the elbows…

Thanks… well, if there is no indoctrination people might even develop different opinions! /s

Is that a hyperbole or is this factually correct? :(

Lol! My mum still asks both me and my husband (“techy” jobs according to her) to solve all her problems with computers/printers/ the internet at large/ any app that doesn’t work… the list is endless. I take it as a statement of how proud she is of me that she would still ask us first, even if we haven’t succeeded in fixing a single issue since the time the problem was an old cartridge in the printer some 5-6 years ago.

I think the Tiffany Aching quadrilogy is also great, a bit apart in the discoworld, sweeter and less irreverent.

I walked into a random bookstore and got advised to read “Rossignol” by Audrey Pleynet. As far as I know it has only been published in French, but I hope this is going to change.

It’s a short read, but absolutely amazing. A woman is on the run, and mixes memories of her past in a futuristic space station to flashes of her escape. Only slowly do all the pieces fall together, creating a tale with many emotions, strange characters and glimpses of a lively mixed station where all are welcome, but where tensions between groups are rising.

I loved it for the deep characterization of the main character, while all others are just fast drafts. I loved it for the sci-fi and the politics and the action.

I started it yesterday and already finished it.

Me too! I haven’t read the second one because I don’t want to invest too much in a series that doesn’t go anywhere (yet?). But as soon as number 3 comes out, I’ll read all of them.