Alex

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they/he, il. Wikipedian and book reader, mostly. Localization and sociology enthusiast.

Schuss

Read Schuss by E.J. Noyes

Stacey Evans wants only one thing: to be the best alpine ski racer she can be. Everything else—like her sweet and ultra-supportive best friend, and hot-but-vapid girlfriend—is just a bonus. Fresh from a medal at her first Olympics, Stacey knows she can only get better and is firmly focused on the future, and totally not thinking about how she’s kind of a little in love with that sweet, ultra-supportive best friend…

Gemma Archer has had a crush on Stacey from the moment she first saw her, but being her best friend is so amazing that she’s almost managed to push that crush aside. Almost. But even if Gemma finds the courage to tell Stacey how she really feels, there’s a mountain of obstacles to overcome—like the fact that Gemma’s stepmom is Stacey’s coach (awkward) and Gemma will be going away to college in a few months. And most importantly…what if admitting how she feels ruins the best friendship she’s ever had?

I will have forgotten this book in 3 days but had a great time reading it. I do hope the author got paid by atomic. If not, maybe the sponsoring shtick could have been anonymized a bit, because that was A LOT. Also, I don’t think the story would have needed any major changes with…

Fascism: the decay of capitalism

Watched

Quelques notes personnelles, en français, sur cette vidéo en anglais. En bref : Le fascisme s’installe en temps d’instabilité économique et politique, et a une esthétique codée qui facilite le recrutement. Le fascisme est causé par le capitalisme (qui crée les crises) et mène à la guerre, qui équilibre les ressources et permet d’avoir un…

Le soi-disant fossé des genres aux échecs

Read What gender gap in chess? by Wei Ji Ma

If you want to compare chess achievements between men and women, writes Professor Wei Ji Ma of NYU, given their vastly unequal numbers, it is a very bad idea to focus on the top male and female players. If you do you will need to account for the participation gap using an analysis similar to the one he presents. Prof. Ma supplies the tools needed to refute the theory of female inferiority.

(Cet article est un résumé personnel en français, avec parti pris, de l’article cité.) Les articles sur le fossé des genres aux échecs sont absurdes par principe, parce qu’ils partent du principe qu’il y a un fossé des genres en termes de niveau. Pour comparer un groupe sous-représenté et un groupe majoritaire, il ne faudrait…