Category: Culture

Everything cultural that interests me: music, reading, science, arts in general, news, photography…

Hello From Kolkata [en]

[fr] En Inde. Des trucs (très) en vrac. Un podcast en français dans les liens.

I’m in India. For a month.

I did it again: didn’t blog immediately about something I wanted to blog about (the rather frightful things I learned about the anti-GMO movement, if you want to know) because of the havoc it wreaked on my facebook wall when I started sharing what I was reading. And as I didn’t blog about that, I didn’t blog about the next thing. And the next.

Steph and Coco

And before I know it I’m leaving for India in two weeks, have students to teach and blogs to grade, and don’t know where to start to write a new blog post.

The weather in Kolkata is OK. The trip to come was exhausting: 20 hours for the flights, add on a bit before and after. I didn’t sleep on the Paris-Mumbai leg because it was “too early”, and spent my four hours of layover in Mumbai domestic airport in a right zombie state. Needless to say there is nowhere there to lie down or curl up, aside from the floor. I particularly appreciated having to go to the domestic airport for my Mumbai-Kolkata flight only to be ferried back to the international airport while boarding, because “Jet Airways flights all leave from the international airport”. But I laughed.

It was a pleasant trip overall. Nearly no queue at immigration. Pleasant interactions with people. And oh my, has Mumbai airport come a long way since my first arrival here over 16 years ago. It was… organized. I followed the signs, followed instructions, just went along with the flow. I’ve grown up too, I guess.

I slept over 12 hours last night. I can’t remember when I did that last. I walked less than 500 steps today, bed to couch and back. I’ve (re)connected with the family pets: Coco the African Grey Parrot, (ex-)Maus the chihuahua-papillon-jack-russel-staffie mix (I can never remember his new Indian name), and the remaining cat, which I’ve decided to call “Minette”, who “gave birth” to two empty amniotic sacs yesterday and is frantically meowing all over the place. Looking for non-existent kittens, or missing her brother, who escaped about a week ago? Hopefully she will calm down soon.

Maus and Minette

I plan to play about with Periscope while I’m here. Everyday life in India seems like a great opportunity to try out live interactive video. Do follow me if you don’t want to miss the fun.

Oh, and don’t panic about the whole “meat causes cancer” thing.

Some random things, listened to recently, and brought to the surface by conversations:

  • Making Sex Offenders Pay — And Pay And Pay And Pay (Freakonomics Radio)
  • Saïd, 10 ans après (Sur Les Docks) — an ex-con, 10 years after, and how hard reinsertion is, when you’re faced with the choice between sleeping outside, unable to get a job, and committing another offense so that you can go back to prison; extremely moving story
  • You Eat What You Are, Part I and Part II (Freakonomics Radio again)
  • When The Boats Arrive (Planet Money) — what happens to the economy when immigrants arrive? it grows, simply;  migrant workers need jobs, of course, but they also very quickly start spending, growing the economy and creating the need for more jobs; the number of available jobs at a given place is not a rigid fixed number

Yep, random, I warned you.

I can now do the Rubik’s cube and have installed Catan on my iDevices, if ever you want to play.

I’ve activated iCloud Photo Library even though I use Lightroom for my “serious” photos. Like the author of the article I just linked to, my iPhone almost never is connected to my Mac anymore. And the photos I need to illustrate blog posts are often photos I’ve just taken with my phone. I end up uploading them to Flickr through the app.

It seems the “photos ecosystem” is slowly getting there, but not quite yet. I’ve just spent a while hunting through my post archives, and I can’t believe I never wrote anything about using Google auto-backup for my photos. At some point I decided to go “all in”, subscribed to 1TB of Google storage, and uploaded my 10+ years of photos there. I loved how it intelligently organized my photos. Well, you know, all the stuff that Google Photos does.

Why am I using the past tense? Because of this: seems automatic upload of a whole bunch of RAW formats has quietly stopped. This is bad. Basically, this paid service is not doing what I chose it for anymore. I hope against reason this will be fixed, but I’m afraid I might be disappointed.

One thing I was not wild about with Google Photos was the inability to spot and process duplicates. And duplication of photos when sharing.

Flickr now has automatic upload and organising. Do I want to try that? Although I dump a lot of stuff in Flickr, I’ve been slack about processing and uploading photos lately. I’m hesitant. Do I want to drown my current albums and photostream in everything I snap? Almost tempted.

I think that’s enough random for now. It’s 10.30 pm and I’m starving, off to the kitchen.

Podcasts I’m Listening To [en]

[fr] Les podcasts que j'écoute...

The list of podcasts I listen to has grown a lot during these last months. So much that I have trouble keeping up. Here they are, if you want to get infected too:

  • Mystery Show: solving mysteries, seriously. Like, detective stories without a crime.
  • On the Media: a meta-show about the media.
  • Savage Lovecast: your favorite gay sex-advice columnist
  • Freakonomics Radio: what can we learn about the world through data?
  • Invisibilia: about the hidden forces that shape our lives
  • Serial: true crime, eagerly awaiting season 2
  • Death, Sex & Money: the stuff we don’t normally talk about. Talked about here.
  • Planet Money: they manage to make money stuff understandable and interesting to me (quite a feat).
  • Love + Radio: love. Stories.
  • Radiolab: sciency, geeky, my first podcast love. About all sorts of interesting stuff, from big ideas like death and time to small things like buttons.
  • Reply All: a show about the internet and its hidden corners
  • Startup: raw behind the scenes stories of starting a business.
  • 99% Invisible: design. But you didn’t know design included all this stuff.
  • This American Life: stories. Real stories. Each week, a theme, and stories around it.
  • The Moth: live storytelling, on stage, of true stories. Be ready to laugh and cry, and be taken on the rollercoaster of emotions that is the human life.
  • Snap Judgment: more storytelling, slightly different atmosphere. It took me a few episodes to click, and now I love it.
  • Limetown: like a TV series. But audio, and in a podcast. Fiction.
  • TED Radio Hour: TED talks, radio-ified.
  • Note to Self: the human side of technology. How it’s changing our lives. How we can live with it without it completely taking over our lives.
  • Sur les Docks [fr]: newly discovered, because I’ve been looking for high-quality francophone podcasts. Takes you places.

Some others, that I have in my list but am not listening to (yet?):

Good luck… devil grin

Du judo à la vie [fr]

[en] Understanding how 20 years on the judo mats wondering how I can make somebody want to put their foot here instead of there, and why I I put my foot there instead of here, might have something to do with my interest in UX, and more importantly, the subtext of a lot of my professional activities: always asking why somebody would do what we expect or want them to do (e.g. sign up for a blogger outreach activity), making sure they have a real interest in doing so, and also, putting myself in the shoes of users or readers.

Je suis en train de reprendre l’entrainement après de longs mois d’interruption pour cause de divers bobos. C’est marrant, car durant mon “arrêt” je n’ai pas eu le sentiment que le judo m’avait manqué des masses, mais en reprenant, qu’est-ce que j’ai eu du plaisir à pratiquer à nouveau!

Et peut-être grâce à ces mois de recul ou de distanciation, j’ai mis le doigt sur un lien judo-vie qui m’avait complètement échappé jusqu’ici. Parce qu’il y a toujours cette réflexion, au fond: mis à part me “défouler” et me faire transpirer, qu’est-ce que j’apprends ou intègre sur les tapis que je mets ensuite en pratique à l’extérieur du dojo?

Portes ouvertes au Reighikan Dojo

On entraînait des entrées. Le timing. Etre réceptif à l’autre. Et là, d’un coup, j’ai fait un lien tellement évident que je ne comprends pas pourquoi je ne l’ai jamais vu avant. Enfin si, je comprends pourquoi. Mais ça fait plaisir de mettre le doigt dessus.

Dans mon activité professionnelle, une compétence que j’exerce beaucoup c’est de me mettre à la place de l’autre. On aurait tendance à appeler ça de l’empathie, mais c’est un peu différent. C’est plus: pourquoi l’autre ferait-il ce qu’on attend de lui? Quelle est sa motivation? Vu les circonstances, comment va-t-il agir? J’ai aussi un intérêt marqué pour l’UX (l’expérience utilisateur), sans en être une spécialiste.

Mais quand je travaille avec des clients pour réfléchir à comment ils pourraient utiliser les médias sociaux, avec qui ils cherchent à entrer en relation, je ne perds jamais cette question de vue: qu’est-ce que notre “setup” va encourager l’autre à faire? Que pouvons-nous changer pour l’inviter à agir autrement?

C’est du judo.

Quand on fait du judo, on passe notre temps à essayer de faire en sorte que l’autre avance le pied ici, recule le pied là, se place ainsi ou au contraire comme ça, nous donne un bras plutôt que l’autre, afin de pouvoir entrer les techniques qui nous réussissent le mieux. On n’a cesse de “tendre des pièges”, en quelque sorte, pour contrôler sans en avoir l’air le comportement de l’autre. Je n’aime pas les mots que je viens d’utiliser, je précise, parce que si on sort ça du contexte du judo, ça a des relents de sinistre manipulation.

Mais ça va plus loin: si mon partenaire/adversaire “sent” que je veux lui faire avancer le pied, il ne le fera pas. Je dois être subtile. Inviter plutôt que contraindre. En fait, créer une situation telle qu’il ait envie d’avancer le pied.

Dans le contexte du combat, on fait tout ça pour pouvoir faire tomber l’autre, “gagner”. Dans la vie et dans mon travail, je ne vois pas les choses comme ça. Il s’agit plutôt d’être sensible à leurs intérêts. Il y a un jeu d’équilibrisme, là. Pourquoi est-ce que quelqu’un s’abonnerait à ma newsletter? Quel intérêt aurait-il à participer à ce que je mets en place? Pourquoi aurait-il envie de s’inscrire?

Ces questions me paraissent triviales, elles me viennent naturellement. Mais j’ai réalisé que ce n’était pas le cas pour tout le monde. Et là, réalisant que ça fait 20 ans que j’applique ça sur les tapis, je me dis que ce n’est peut-être pas pour rien.

J’ai fait un deuxième constat hier soir. C’était le premier, en fait. C’est le corollaire de ce que je viens d’expliquer.

Quand on apprend le judo, et qu’on pratique contre plus “fort” que soi, on tombe. On tombe beaucoup. Au début on ne comprend pas ce qui nous arrive. On ne voit rien. Puis, avec le temps, on commence à se voir tomber. On ne peut pas plus éviter la chute, mais au moins on sait sur quelle technique on est tombé. Puis on prend conscience de “l’erreur” qu’on a faite qui a permis l’entrée de l’autre, sans pour autant pouvoir l’éviter. Mais bon sang, pourquoi j’ai avancé encore ce fichu pied?

On passe beaucoup de temps à analyser ses actions, à se demander pourquoi on a fait ceci plutôt que cela. Ce qui nous a incité à le faire. En somme, on applique à nous-mêmes ce que je décris plus haut.

Dans ma vie professionnelle, je crois que c’est la même compétence que celle qui me permet de donner du feedback “éclairé” sur les services que j’utilise. Je sais à la fois m’observer “agir naturellement” et analyser pourquoi je le fais. Hier ou avant-hier, je testais un nouveau service développé par une connaissance. A un moment donné, je me suis retrouvée gênée par le comportement de l’application. J’ai eu un sentiment interne de rejet, et je me suis demandé pourquoi. Et j’ai trouvé: un pop-up qui ne disparaissait pas comme “je m’y attendais”, et qui de plus recouvrait l’endroit où je désirais ensuite cliquer. Je ne rentre pas plus dans les détails, mais c’est le même état d’esprit que “m’enfin, pourquoi j’ai avancé le pied?” C’est aussi le même état d’esprit que l’analyse de texte, que j’ai aussi énormément pratiquée durant mes études (au point que je dis aux gens que j’ai le module “analyse de texte” activé en permanence): pourquoi ce texte suscite-t-il en moi telle émotion, telle réaction? Comment cela s’explique-t-il au niveau mécanique, narration, linguistique?

Je pense que nos compétences sont un mélange de prédisposition (inné) et de répétition (acquis). J’ai déjà fait souvent des liens entre mes études (histoire et sciences des religions, philo, français) et mes compétences professionnelles, mais je ne l’avais jusqu’ici pas vraiment fait pour le judo. Mais c’est clair qu’il doit y en avoir. On ne passe pas 20 ans sur des tatamis, plusieurs heures par semaine, sans que ça contribue à nous faire qui nous sommes.

Quintus a eu beaucoup de chance [fr]

[en] Quintus is a very lucky cat indeed. He used up one of his nine lives the night before last. He almost certainly chocked on a piece of kibble. Luckily I was there. In panic, because I thought he was dying in front of my eyes, I stuck my fingers down his throat repeatedly (met kibble, got bitten, didn't solve the problem). At one point I thought he was dead, lying unresponsive on his side, blue tongue hanging out of his open mouth, not breathing but heart beating under my bloody fingers. That must have been when I shook him upside down in despair, what was there to lose? To cut a long story short, when I got the emergency vet on the phone, he was breathing, not well, but breathing, and he slowly resurfaced. I found a piece of kibble on the carpet the next day. No certainty, but it might be the culprit. I spent the rest of my night at the ER for my bite, which thankfully is not too serious.

Quintus a failli mourir durant la nuit de mercredi à jeudi. Je vous rassure tout de suite, il est en pleine forme maintenant.

Smilimg Quintus

2h du matin, je me couche tard (pas bien je sais) et pendant que je me prépare à aller au lit, Quintus, qui vient de rentrer, mange ses croquettes.

Je le vois débouler dans la chambre pour se cacher sous le lit, ce qu’il ne fait qu’en cas d’orage ou d’aspirateur. Il n’y a ni l’un ni l’autre. J’aperçois un filet de bave au passage, je plonge pour extirper le chat de sa cachette, il a la bouche ouverte et la langue dehors.

Ni une ni deux, je plonge mes doigts au fond de sa gorge, me disant qu’il doit y avoir quelque chose de coincé. Je rencontre des croquettes. Il m’échappe, toujours bouche ouverte, langue dehors, ne tousse pas et ne respire pas.

Mes souvenirs sont mélangés, parce que je suis sous le choc. Mais je sais que je l’ai attrapé plusieurs fois pour aller grailler au fond de sa gorge. Je sais que je me suis fait mordre. Je sais qu’il a sauté brutalement sur le lit pour y faire un bond, paniqué. Je sais qu’entre deux tentatives de l’attraper, j’ai réussi à enfiler un pantalon et un t-shirt, à prendre mon téléphone, à chercher le numéro du vétérinaire d’urgence. Je sais que je n’arrivais pas à trouver ce putain de numéro parce que mon doigt pissait tellement le sang que l’écran du téléphone ne répondait plus. Je sais que j’ai cru que Quintus était en train de mourir. Non, non, non, pas ça, pas ce soir, non. Je sais que j’ai réussi à essuyer assez de sang pour appeler le vétérinaire. Je sais qu’au retour de la salle de bain où j’étais allée essuyer le sang, je l’ai vu étendu sur le flanc, inerte, bouche ouverte, langue bleue, regarde vide, et j’ai pensé qu’il était mort. Je sais que j’ai mis la main sur sa poitrine et senti son coeur battre. Je sais que je l’ai saisi par le milieu (était-ce à ce moment? avant? je ne sais plus) et secoué la tête en bas, de désespoir, le tout pour le tout, je pensais que c’était fichu. Je sais qu’il était couvert de sang, mon sang, partout. Je sais que quand j’ai enfin eu l’assistante vétérinaire de garde au téléphone, Quintus était couché devant moi, inerte, mais respirant très vite et très superficiellement.

C’était mon cabinet qui était de garde. Ils connaissent Quintus, bien sûr. L’assistante m’a posé une série de questions sur l’état de Quintus, y répondre m’a calmée, je n’étais plus toute seule face à mon chat en train de mourir. Elle a appelé le vétérinaire, m’a rappelé droit derrière, Quintus respirait toujours, il a même levé la tête. Elle est restée en ligne avec moi pendant qu’il semblait respirer de mieux en mieux et reprendre ses esprits. Elle m’a rassurée que je pouvais le laisser une fois qu’il semblait reprendre pied pour aller soigner ma morsure.

Je n’osais pas y croire.

J’ai passé le reste de la nuit aux urgences du CHUV. Une morsure de chat, ça peut vite devenir mauvais, je le sais, et je sais qu’il ne faut pas attendre. J’ai pris mon mal en patience. Les morsures sont superficielles, heureusement. A mon retour, à six heures du matin, Quintus dormait paisiblement dans son panier, et il a ronronné quand je l’ai pris dans mes bras — comme d’habitude.

J’ai eu tellement peur. Je suis encore sous le choc, je crois. Tout l’épisode a un goût de mauvais rêve, le même goût que le cauchemar de la nuit dernière dans lequel un proche mourait. (N’allons pas chercher très loin…) J’ai cru qu’après Bagha, j’allais encore une fois devoir assister, impuissante, à la mort de mon chat. J’ai vraiment pensé qu’il était mort. Et je lui ai probablement sauvé la vie.

Après avoir passé mille et mille fois la scène dans ma tête, au point que je ne sais plus maintenant où sont les “vrais” souvenirs et où j’ai bouché les trous, je pense que la croquette est probablement sortie quand je l’ai secoué. Sa langue était vraiment bleue, ça j’en suis sûre. J’ai retrouvé en nettoyant une croquette sur le tapis, là où elle aurait pu tomber quand je l’ai mis la tête en bas. Certes, il y a souvent des croquettes qui trainent chez moi, mais la femme de ménage était passée la veille et je n’ai pas souvenir d’avoir lancé des croquettes dans le coin mercredi. Donc… probablement la croquette coupable.

On a quand même fait un petit saut chez le vétérinaire l’après-midi suivant, surtout pour me rassurer. Son examen confirme l’hypothèse de la croquette (on écarte définitivement l’épilepsie et les histoires cardiaques) et il m’a confirmé que c’était extrêmement rare, un chat qui fait une “fausse route” comme ça avec une croquette. J’essaie de me rassurer que ça n’a aucune raison d’arriver à nouveau, mais je ne peux pas m’empêcher de garder un oeil sur Quintus quand il mange. Je frémis de penser à ce qui aurait pu arriver si je n’avais pas été là…

Swiss Monsoon: Ashley Madison Leaks, Minimum Wage, And Healthcare [en]

[fr] Les fuites de comptes Ashley Madison et pourquoi je ne participe pas aux réjouissances concernant la mise à nu des infidèles. Mes petites théories perso sur le salaire minimum (fausse bonne idée) et le système de santé suisse (bon équilibre des pouvoirs).

After a tropical summer, the monsoon. It’s pouring all its worth outside. No, it’s not very pretty.

Swiss Monsoon

Ashley Madison leaks. Another opportunity to drag “nobodies” into the spotlight and shame them. Oh, the horror of the affair! I don’t have proper stats handy, but cheating is something roughly half of people do at some point, if my memory serves me right. If it’s not more. It’s a small crime. Yes, it’s ugly, it’s a betrayal, a breach of trust, and can even endanger your partner if you’re having unprotected sex. Lying is ugly (don’t I know it). But in the grand scheme of things, it’s a commonplace transgression. That usually has a story. Anyway, my purpose is not to discuss adultery in length or excuse it (go read Dan Savage again), but to invite those who may be perched there to descend from their moral high horses.

Does being on the Ashley Madison leaks list mean you should be outed to all those who know you as a cheater, maybe ruin your marriage beyond repair, and even damage your career? (And just sayin’ — not all those with Ashley Madison accounts are cheating scumbags.)

So, I will not gloat about these possibly lying and cheating people who are now outed to the world. Not because I think they have done no wrong, but because I do not think that the public square should be the one to judge their crimes. (Read my patchwork post from the chalet for some background.)

And then there is this:

Josh Duggar? I will allow myself some schadenfreude, given the guy has made a career shaming others for their sexual orientations, preferences, or even gender. He’s not a nobody. He’s a celebrity with a big PR machine. Different can of fish.

I didn’t just want to talk about Ashley Madison — I actually took notes of the various things I would blog about in my “next post, this week, oh next week, ouch another week has gone by”.

There’s a very interesting Planet Money episode on the birth of the minimum wage. It’s funny that for the US it is so obvious that there must be a minimum wage. Yeah, guys — it didn’t always exist. Here in Switzerland, there is no minimum wage. On the one hand I think it’s important to ensure people are paid fairly. But on the other hand it seems to me that setting a minimum wage makes us run two systemic dangers:

  1. The first is “tampering with the system” of offer and demand. This is not a very palatable point of view, and it’s certainly shaped by the fact Switzerland has a very low employment rate. I like to believe that if something is really underpaid, people will not take the job. But I know this is wishful thinking, to some extent. When you are desperate, you will even take a bad deal. But does artificially raising the bar for the price of labour solve the underlying issue, which might simply be that there is just not enough work for everybody anymore, which may call for much more radical solutions than a minimum wage?
  2. The second, way less far-fetched, is priming. When there is a minimum wage, this in a way sends a signal that if you’re paying that amount, you’re “OK”. What are you complaining about, you’re getting the minimum wage! I worry that if we do set a minimum wage, salaries which used to be just above might end up being “attracted” to that theoretical minimum. If everybody is paying minimum wage, you don’t have much choice but minimum wage. With no “reference point”, employers will probably be more free to compete to attract employees by varying how much they pay. I realise this is coming back to my first argument, and assuming a system in which there is “enough work”, so I’m not sure how things hold up when employees are competing for just any kind of employment.

Does anybody know of research around these questions? I’d definitely be interested in reading more on the topic.

This slightly “political” topic brings me to one of my little theories about the world. It has to do with healthcare. Healthcare has always been of a particular interest to me, probably because I use medical services quite a bit, and maybe also because I had heart surgery when I was a little girl and quite liked my hospital experience then.

I have people close to me in various countries, not the least my grandparents in the UK, and close friends in the US (and we hear enough horror stories about US healthcare, don’t we). I’ve lived in India (OK, extremes). I am in love with the Swiss healthcare system. And I have my little theory about why it is so good.

First, here’s how it works:

  • basic insurance (which actually covers a lot, determined by law) is compulsory; if you’re really too broke to pay for it (300-400 CHF/month roughly) your town will normally pitch in
  • when you go to the doctor, you pay the bill directly, then send it to your insurance which reimburses 90% of it; every year, you pay the first 300-2000CHF of your bills before getting reimbursed (you choose the “franchise” and your monthly insurance bill is reduced if you take a higher one)
  • for fancy stuff like alternate healthcare, private rooms in private clinics, etc, there are optional “complementary insurances”; they can refuse to take you on, but once you’re on, you’re on

So, it’s quite expensive, but the quality of care is really good. The reason I think it works well is that there is a balance between those parties who have a vested interest in costs being high (doctors etc.) and those who have a vested interest in keeping it low (insurance companies).

This means:

  • nobody can get dropped by their insurance because they get sick, or some “preexisting condition” BS
  • your insurance is not tied to your employer
  • “everybody” has insurance (quotes, because it’s probably not the case for a tiny marginalised fraction of the population)
  • you are free to see the doctor your want
  • no huge waiting lists for specialists, or hospitals, or doctors, or whatever
  • no quotas (your “GP” has more than 8 minutes to see you, and will just charge more if you end up needing a 45 minute consultation)
  • you get the bills, so you have an awareness how much your healthcare is costing
  • the quality of healthcare is high pretty much everywhere.

It’s not perfect. Ask Swiss people, they will complain about the healthcare system all day if you let them.

For me, the US is an example of a system where the people who have a vested interest in raising the costs have too much power. That’s how you end up with ghastly expensive bills for things like a drip, and insurances which have no incentive to defend your interests, as they can seemingly easily get rid of you if you become too expensive.

We see this in two areas here in Switzerland:

  • dental care
  • pet insurances.

Dental care insurances are not compulsory and not regulated. We are used to paying our dentists out-of-pocket. Having anybody in this country look at your teeth costs an arm and a leg, and insurances are commonly perceived as “not interesting” to have. Easier to drive to France (that’s what I do).

As for pets, we have seen insurances show up these last years. I got one for Tounsi as he was young enough, and it did serve me well as I ended up with thousands of francs of vet bills a couple of summers back. But the insurance has a clause for “chronic conditions” where they only pay for care during the three first months, and then they don’t cover it anymore. Sounds a lot like something one might find in human insurances on the other side of the pond?

As for the UK, it suffers from the opposite problem. As everything is state-run, and paid for by taxes, the parties looking to minimise the cost of healthcare end up having too much power. You end up with ridiculous quotas, sub-standard care, huge waiting lists. Sure, it costs less, but the quality of healthcare takes a dive.

What do you think of my “perfection in the balance of power” theory? Specially interested in your views if you’re an expat and have first-hand experience of different healthcare systems.

Back On The Heat Wave [en]

[fr] L'oeil qui voyait trouble? Pas un coup de soleil, mais un mini corps étranger métallique. Oui, ouille. J'en ai monstre marre de voir flou de mon oeil dominant, juste là.

It was much cooler up in the mountains. Here I am in Lausanne, with another heat wave hitting us. Or the same. I don’t know anymore, this summer has been endless days in survivor mode trying to keep my flat cool. The largest part of my flat faces southwest. As soon as it gets warmer outside than inside, I close everything. I close the blinds so the sun doesn’t heat my rooms through the windows. And late in the evening, when the temperature has dropped a few degrees, and the outside air is finally cooler than inside, I open everything wide.

heat wave 2015

No ceiling fans or AC here. Swiss buildings are designed to keep the cold out.

Remember the fuzzy vision I told you about a few days ago? Wednesday morning I headed over to Lausanne’s eye hospital. I spent most of the morning there. The fun bit is that I got to see two young doctors doing their internship. They were very friendly and relaxed, went through all the preliminary questions, examined my eye, tinkered with the devices in the room (they usually saw patients in another room, they explained, and weren’t familiar with this one), and then went to present my case to the doctor supervising them, who then saw me to close the case.

Turns out it wasn’t too much sun. Oh no. It was a speck of metal dust stuck in my eye, right in the middle. Tiny, a fifth of a millimetre or something. My first reaction was “OMG metal in my eye”, followed straight behind by “OMGOMG you’re going to have to remove it!” The doctor reassured me that this was something they did many times a day and was no big deal.

A few drops of anaesthetic in my eye, some deep breaths (well, I tried, at least) and clenched hands on the handles in front of me, staring straight ahead with my other eye, straight ahead, very important not to move, straight ahead… and that was it. He scraped out the nasty little thing from my eye. Oh, and a tiny layer of my cornea, too, he explained. (Luckily I’ve had enough feline eye adventures with Sir Quintus that this didn’t alarm me. But still.)

So, now I’m left with gooey antibiotic drops (we don’t want an infection there) and still-blurry vision. It’s really making reading (on-screen or off-screen) difficult and frustrating. The blurry eye is my dominant eye, otherwise it wouldn’t be so bad. It still hurts a bit at night, but hopefully the pain should go away in a few short days. I don’t know about the timeline for the blurry vision, and it’s starting to distress me. The nurse on the hotline suggested I give it the week-end and come around on Monday if it was still bad. At this stage what’s going through my mind is “I hope I get all my vision back at some point” and “I hope it doesn’t take too long, because it’s starting to impact my ability to work”.

Fuzzy Vision [en]

[fr] Encore du vrac!

Watch, if you haven’t watched it yet, the video on managing unconscious bias at Facebook.

And, just because I thought of it right now this second, this documentary on Yusuf Islam, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens. He tells a very moving story of his religious journey, from the early days when he was “a pop star” to now. (Remember the “Salman Rushdie incident“? Not surprisingly, it’s not what you thought it was, just like the story of the lady suing McDonald’s for spilling hot coffee on her lap is not what you thought.)

“Note to Self” was formerly called “New Tech City“, and it’s a podcast on the human side of the digital world. Exactly what has been of interest to me these last fifteen years. I recently liked this episode about reading. There are two different types of reading skills we need to develop in today’s world:

  • slow reading: the type we learned at school and practiced before the internet. Reading a novel. Reading complex, complicated stuff we need to digest.
  • skim & skip reading: the type we do online, always interrupted, always jumping off to something new, going through large quantities of information quickly.

Both need training. But our brain adapts to the second type so well… we need to remember to practice the first type. It will come back. I still read books (Kindle…) and I’m going to make sure I set aside some regular phoneless reading time in future.

Hiking yesterday, I realised that there really is a technique to walking on a mountain trail. Specially going downhill. I don’t know how I learned this, if somebody taught me or if I figured it out alone. Shift weight gently, don’t just dump all your weight on the next foot as soon as it hits the ground. Do it in a way that you can backtrack if you start slipping. Remember your knees (and ankles) are there to absorb shock (too many concussions have taught me to be sensitive to this). So bend your knees. Don’t plonk your foot down with a locked knee.

Vue depuis le Chamossaire

And when it’s too steep, or there is a really big step to go down, and your back leg is not willing (or strong enough) to let you down gently? Squat first on both legs. Then take a step down from that squatting position. Easy!

Fuzzy eye? Articles need titles, don’t they. I seem to have managed to sunburn one of my eyes two days ago, and my vision out of it is still fuzzy. Probably nothing serious, but as it’s about an eye, I’ll do what my vet says and not mess around. Doctor today or tomorrow.

A Patchwork Post From The Chalet [en]

[fr] Plein de choses en vrac. Y'a des liens qui mènent vers des trucs en français.

I keep falling into this trap. I don’t blog about something because there is something else, more important, that I should blog about before and haven’t got around to writing.

In this case, it’s the fact that just over a week ago, I finally got to see Joan Baez live on stage. I’ve been listening to her since I was seven or so. I know most of her songs. I’ve always listened to her. And a few years ago I decided that I should really go and see her live soon, because, you know, she’s not getting any younger, and at some point people who spend their lives touring and singing on stage might decide that they want to stay at home and paint instead.

Joan Baez at Paléo

And she was coming to Paléo, in Nyon, just next door. I think I cried during the whole show — not from sadness, just from too much emotion. I was glad to be there that evening, because it was the evening to witness, with Patti Smith and Robert Plant, too. Isn’t it strange how somebody can be such an important part of your life (the soundtrack of many of my years, like Chris de Burgh) — and yet they have no idea you exist?

If you’ve never listened to Joan Baez, just dive into YouTube.

During the drive to the chalet a story came up on the podcast I was listening to which is exactly about that. The Living Room, a story from the podcast Love + Radio, which I’m going to add to my listening list as soon as I have a good enough data connection.

I finished reading “So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed” by Jon Ronson, after devouring “The Psychopath Test” these last weeks. It’s a great book. Anybody spending time online should read it. It’s important. With great power comes great responsibility, but we the people on Twitter and Facebook are not aware of the power we wield. The power to destroy lives. To get the gist of it, use 17 minutes of your life to watch Jon’s TED Talk.

My reading of this book coincides with the unleashing of online fury over the killing of Cecil the Lion. It has disturbed me deeply. I feel an urge to dig through my archives and see what my reactions to Jonah Lehrer and Justine Sacco were, because I remember the stories. I’m worried of what I may find. I will be watching myself closely in future.

I also find myself shy in speaking up against those piling on against Cecil’s killer. Oh, he has done wrong. And I have no love for hunters, and no love for hunters of big cats. But what is missing here is proportionality. And I am scared that by speaking up I will find myself faced with a wall of “you’re either with us or against us”, ie, if you don’t join the mob then you’re defending the killing of lions. Just the way last year I was accused of “encouraging pedophiles” and whatnot because I was opposed to a stupid piece of “anti-pedophile” legislation. To some extent, I feel like I have let myself be silenced. Parallels to be drawn with the harassment episode I went through earlier this year (more on that, someday, probably).

This interview of Jon Ronson for On The Media also gives a very good summary of his book.

(My only gripe with Jon Ronson and his book is that a blog is not a post, dammit!)

Two local newspaper articles made me react today on Facebook (they’re in French). One about “the ideal age to conceive” for women, and one about a carer who got bitten by a Komodo dragon at the Lausanne Vivarium.

The first made me jump up because alongside statistics saying “if you want three kids you should get to work at this age” we find things like “you still have a 40% chance of conceiving at 40” and “don’t worry, it’s still quite possible to have children after 37”. Well, at 40 your chances of success through IVF are more around 10-15% — I’m curious where that “40%” comes from, and what it’s supposed to mean. Certainly not “4 attempts to conceive out of 10 succeed” but more “4 women out of 10 who are ‘trying’ (define that) succeed”. Another topic that’s keeping me from blogging about other stuff, because I have so much more to write about not having children. Well, you’ll get it in tidbits, it seems.

As for the second, well, I was expecting a “scare” piece. “Look, the dangerous animal.” Or “look, another negative story for the Vivarium” (which was running out of funding a couple of years ago). To my surprise the article was really good (edit: wow! they seem to have changed the title!), with the carer explaining how she was actually responsible for how the animal had reacted, and that showed how affectionate she was towards it despite the bite. I realised that reading the title had prepared me for “bad journalism”. But going back to it, the title was quite neutral: “Vivarium carer bitten by komodo dragon”. And so I wonder: how could the title have been better? Tricky.

Up in the mountains, in my chalet with almost no data connection, it’s easy to slow down and “do nothing”. A couple of weeks ago I decided I was going to consciously try and do less things in parallel, both on a micro and a macro level. Monotask more, multitask less. Try and keep my number of “open projects” under control. My podcast-hopping brought me to the “Bored and Brilliant Boot Camp” episode the other day. It really drove home the fact that my brain needs downtime. Bored time. And probably a holiday (I haven’t had a “real holiday” (= with no work to do) in much too long, and I’m starting to feel it. How did that happen? I thought I was over that.) So now, I’m paying more attention to where my phone is, and trying to keep it more in my bag and less in my hand, more in the other room and less just next to me.

That’s it for today, folks. My plan is to write again tomorrow. Or the day after. Let’s see if it materialises.

A Post About Many Things [en]

[fr] Des choses en vrac!

It happened again. As time goes by and things to say pile up, the pile weighs heavy on my fingers and blog posts don’t get written. Been there, done that, will happen again.

First, a heartfelt thanks to all the people who reacted to my post about being single and childless, here and on facebook. Rest assured that I actually rather like the life I have — it’s full of good things. But it’s very different from the one I imagined. I will write more on this, but exactly when and what I am not sure yet. Also, one can grieve not being a mother but not want to adopt or be a single parent. There is a whole spectrum of “child desire”, and it’s not at all as clear-cut as “no way” and “I’ll do anything”. Check out “50 Ways to Not Be a Mother“.

Most of my working hours are devoted to running Open Ears and a series of digital literacy workshops at Sonova. I’m still way behind on my accounting.

Tounsi (and his pal Quintus) went to see an animal behaviour specialist, because I was starting to get really fed up cleaning after Tounsi’s almost daily spraying in the flat (thankfully his pee doesn’t smell too strongly and I’m good at spotting and cleaning). I plan to write a detailed article on the experience in French, but it was fascinating and I regret not going earlier. As of now, spraying is pretty much under control, and I’m in the process of finally chucking and replacing two pieces of furniture which are soiled beyond salvation.

What I learned:

  • outdoor cats can also need stimulation (play, hunting…)
  • even a 20-second “play session” where the cat lifts his head to watch a paper ball but doesn’t chase it can make a difference, if this kind of thing is repeated throughout the day.
  • making cats “work” for their food can be taken much further than feeding balls or mazes: change where the food is all the time (I wouldn’t have dared do that, didn’t know if it was a good idea or not, but it is); hide kibble under upturned yoghurt cups; throw pieces of kibble one by one for the cat to run after (another thing to do “all the time”); use an empty egg-box to make kibble harder to get to; etc. etc.
  • clicker training for things like touching a reluctant cat: my baby steps were way too big and my sessions way too long
  • Feliway spray is way more efficient than the diffusor (at least to stop spraying)
  • cleaning with water (or water and neutral soap) is really not enough, there are products to spray on soiled areas which break down urine molecules (even if you can’t smell anything, the cat can)
  • spraying can simply be a “vicious circle” — it seems to be the case with Tounsi: he sprays in the flat because it’s a habit, and because there are “marking sign-posts” (ie, smell) everywhere

While we’re on the topic of cats, I’m playing cat-rescuer and looking for homes for Capsule and Mystik (together, used to living indoors but that could change) and Erika (has been living outdoors for 5 years but super friendly).

I don’t think I mentioned StartUp podcast or Gimlet Media here yet. Anyway: want great podcasts? Listen to Startup, Reply All, and Mystery Show. And in addition to Invisibilia and those I mention in that article, grab Planet Money (I swear, they make it interesting even for me!), Snap Judgement (great storytelling), and This American Life.

Reading? Spin, Axis, and Vortex, by Robert Charles Wilson.

Something I need to remember to tell people about blogging: write down stuff that’s in your head. It works way better than doing research to write on something you think might be interesting for people.

Procrastinating and generally disorganised, as I am? Two recent articles by James Clear that I like: one on “temptation bundling” to help yourself do stuff while keeping in mind future rewards (delayed gratification, anybody?) and the other on a super simple productivity “method”. I read about it this morning and am going to try it.

Related, but not by Clear: How to Get Yourself to Do Things. Read it, but here’s the takeaway: when you procrastinate, the guilt builds up and you feel worse and worse. But as soon as you start doing it gets better. And so the worst you’ll ever feel about not doing something is just before you start. Understanding this is helping me loads.

Enough for today. More soon, or less soon.

Thanks to Marie-Aude who gave me a nudge to get back to this blog. I’d been in the “omg should write an article” state for weeks, and her little contribution the other day certainly played a role in me putting “write CTTS article” in my list of 6 things for the day. Merci 🙂

Huit lectures pour comprendre les réseaux sociaux, cuvée 2014 [fr]

[en] Reading recommendations for those who want to understand social media, and social networks, and this online stuff in general.

Pour Grégoire et les autres qui l’ont demandé, voici mes recommandations de lecture 2014 pour “comprendre les réseaux sociaux”. Cette sélection reflète bien entendu mon angle d’approche pour ce qui touche à internet, un sujet qui me fascine depuis 98-99: je ne viens pas du marketing, ni de la comm’, mais du cluetrain. Ce qui m’intéresse ce sont les communautés, les gens, la façon dont la publication personnelle a bouleversé la communication de masse. La sélection est aussi principalement anglophone, parce que, il n’y a pas de miracle, si on veut creuser un peu, il faut passer par l’anglais.

  1. The Cluetrain Manifesto
    Incontournable, épuisé en français (et mal traduit si je me souviens bien), le Cluetrain a plus de 10 ans mais il n’a pas pris une ride quand il s’agit de comprendre les enjeux profonds du monde connecté.
  2. Organizations Don’t Tweet, People Do: A Manager’s Guide to the Social Web
    Euan est un ami qui a le cluetrain dans le sang. Son livre le distille au fil de petits chapitres digestes mais profonds, fort bienvenus à l’ère de Twitter et des statuts Facebook.
  3. Everything is Miscellaneous
    David Weinberger, co-auteur du Cluetrain Manifesto, explique comment s’organisent tous ces « objets numériques », dans un ordre qui va parfois à l’encontre de notre conception de ce qu’est l’organisation. Un ouvrage important pour comprendre les caractéristiques physiques du monde numérique.
    Lecture complémentaire, sur les bénéfices inattendus du désordre, omniprésent en ligne: A Perfect Mess.
  4. Naked Conversations
    Un livre qui commence à dater un peu mais qui reste néanmoins une splendide collection d’exemples d’utilisation des blogs (et des conversations en ligne) par des entreprises/organisation. Inspiration, exemples concrets, modèles à suivre (ou pas).
  5. It’s Complicated
    J’attendais depuis des années que danah écrive ce livre. A l’époque où je donnais beaucoup de conférences “prévention internet” en milieu scolaire, j’avais apprécié de trouver dans son travail des confirmations un peu plus académiques de mes intuitions. Ce livre est incontournable pour quiconque veut réellement comprendre les enjeux de l’adolescence connectée, au-delà de la paranoïa que nous servent les médias et organisations bien-pensantes genre “sauvez les enfants”.
    Lectures complémentaires sur le thème “ados et internet”: The Culture of Fear, pour une perspective sur comment en faisant peur aux gens, on les rends plus dociles citoyens et consommateurs; Generation Me, une analyse sociologique des générations 70-80-90; Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out, le point sur la recherche “ados et internet” il y a quelques années et EU Kids Online, groupe de recherche européen équivalent.
  6. L’intimité au travail: la vie privée et les communications personnelles dans l’entreprise
    Avec les nouvelles technologies de la communication, les sacro-saintes frontières entre “privé” et “professionnel” s’effritent. Eclairage ethnologique très éclairant. Spoiler: non, ce n’est pas la fin du monde.
  7. Le peuple des connecteurs: Ils ne votent pas, ils n’étudient pas, ils ne travaillent pas… mais ils changent le monde
    Comprendre les réseaux sociaux en ligne, c’est comprendre les réseaux tout court, et la complexité. Tour d’horizon en français avec Thierry Crouzet, auteur expert de rien.
  8. Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations
    On ne peut pas comprendre les réseaux sociaux sans regarder de près la façon dont la technologie a bouleversé l’auto-organisation et le passage à l’action collectif.
    Lectures complémentaires pour mieux comprendre les humains dans les réseaux: Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, qui met le doigt sur les réactions humaines illogiques mais très prévisibles qui nous rendent vulnérables à la manipulation; Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, ouvrage précieux pour qui doit gérer des communautés ou obtenir des résultats; The Paradox of Choice: Why Less Is More, indispensable dans ce monde numérique où pléthore de choix n’est que le début du problème, et enfin Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, pour comprendre de quoi est faite la motivation, et que le bâton et la carotte ne sont pas des stratégies gagnantes.

Il y a plein d’autres livres qui sont sûrement très bien, mais ceux-ci ont été testés et approuvés et je les recommande comme valeurs sûres!

Bonne lecture 🙂