Relevant Simpsons episode: https://youtu.be/DX08tDXPnz0?feature=shared

I don’t know about the physics part, but the picture is taken from this video:

https://youtube.com/shorts/9IZ410VrikQ?feature=shared

I highly recommend this channel, they have a bunch of funny videos with animal facts.

I think I might be able to answer this one from my perspective. I was born in a Portuguese speaking country, so on paper my mother tongue should be Portuguese (which it sort of still is). But we moved when I was a kid and I lived in multiple countries, so I went to international schools for most of my life. English then became my mother tongue over time and it is dominant over Portuguese. I now work in an organisation where English is the main working language, but I live in France, so I acquired a third language, just not quite at native level. Here are some of the interesting things I’ve observed:

• I have slightly different “personalities” in different languages. This may be a reflection of exposure to different cultures and times of my life I learned these languages, but also very much a confidence thing. I am funnier and at ease making jokes in English than the other two languages.
• Some words I only learned in one language because of timing and circumstance. There are technical terms I know only in English because of my work. There are motorcycle parts I only know the name of in French because I bought my first bike here. I birdwatch, and for some birds’ names I default to English, while others I use their French name.
• Because of moving around I was exposed to a lot of different cultures, which is awesome, but that means I have cultural weak ties to my countries of origin (I’m also mixed race). If anything the one cultural constant in my life has been anglophone media (especially American) which had a mot of influence. I identify more with Anglo-Saxon culture but also feel vaguely European. I even sound generically American, which throws some people off when they learn I never lived in the US nor Canada.
• Knowing multiple languages fluently can obviously make it easier in some ways and make things more accessible. It also made me very adaptable. When I arrived in France I narely knew the language. Once I gained fluency, everything became much easier (well, as easy as this country can be).
• One disadvantage is that in some ways I am always the “other” (though not just because of language). Everywhere I go I feel like a foreigner, hence the username. I speak English to my kids, and that makes me stand out and people treat me as if I’m some sort of exotic being. It’s gotten better now they’re in a more international school.
• It’s harder to find people who “get it” because they lived through the same experiences.
• At work I sometimes have meetings with Portuguese speaking people but I’m uncomfortable speaking Portuguese in a work setting because I miss many of the terms. So I often default to English which confuses people because I’m from a lusophone country and I speak fluently.

There are some messier issues around identity that I won’t get into because those aren’t limited just to language, but the above are things that have stood out to me over the years.

!spoiler Ah? I didn’t catch that, I thought they divorced when the daughter was still alive given the parts about dating someone else? Where in the story did you catch that bit?

I think you explained it quite well. I just read the story and was a bit confused by the ending but this clarified it for me.

Major spoilers ahead! (struggling with the spoiler tag!)

!spoiler The story reads like she’s in the present and you assume her memories of her daughter are in the past. Then looking back at the language used, she’s describing memories of her daughter with language that indicates it’s in the future, not the past. So it stands to reason that the encounters with the heptapods are in the present and learning their language gives her the ability to ‘see’ the future I assume Gary is her daughter’s father. Just like she mentions of the readers of the Book of Ages, she won’t do anything to change the future even if she knows what’s coming, even if it means a future where her daughter dies young.

Ogtha

Except XX male syndrome is a thing, where externally individuals present male but have female karyotype. So are those people female despite having functional male genitalia? And that’s only one of a myriad of situations where an individual’s chromosomes don’t reflect what their phenotype is like nor their biological reproductive function. Chromosomes are NOT an infallible indicator of biological sex.

Also the text of the law says nothing about chromosomes. It indicates from conception the cells that produce the large gamete are considered female, and cells that produce the small gamete are considered male. No one is producing gametes at conception. It also completely disregards anyone who produces no gametes at all. At best this law has declared everyone to have no biological sex whatsoever.

Was your grandma allowed to vote, and how many times did she vote? I kid ;)

I don’t hate on the developers, I hate on the companies that so severely understaff and burn out their teams that no one is doing proper testing anymore.

General Pinochet’s rule in Chile is a good example:

In fact, when Milton Friedman—one of the principal architects of the so-called Chicago School of economics—traveled to Chile in 1975, it was still not clear whether Pinochet would fully embrace the Chicago School’s economic program. It was only after Friedman met personally with the dictator that Pinochet was persuaded to fight inflation with “shock treatment”—that is, steep budget cuts that would cause high unemployment but, Friedman promised, would also put the country on a more secure economic path.

Oh yeah for sure. I keep telling people the best part of being an adult is doing whatever the fuck you want as long as it’s not hurting anyone else. In a way I think part of what people miss about field trips is someone else organising these kinds of trips and “paying” for them. As an adult, you have to deal with all that yourself, on top of finding the time to do it.

If you work in the right job, ‘field trips’ can be a pretty common thing. Site auditors and inspectors, procurement officers, investigative journalists, surveyors, etc

If anyone is wondering I’m petty sure gasoline doesn’t foam like you see on the top if you look close enough. The colour is also clear or very slightly yellow (unless additives have been added), so the colour on these doesn’t look right. It’s more than likely a joke using beer.

With some luck French politicians will start behaving like in any democratic nation and build a coalition over a given coaltion contract rather than blaming each other on the TV

I feel we have a better chance of winning the euromillions than that happening

Yeah I understand what the poster is getting at, I just wish they’d use something other than a snake which is already a much maligned animal. Bedbugs on the other hand…

It’s only expensive if you care about prisoners’ human rights

You mean like… curtains?

Fair, but on the off chance it does help, you might as well take that precaution.

Hey man, you do what you have to do. Good luck either way!

I’m sorry, it mega sucks and unfortunately you can only pick from the other two remaining options. If you’re not part of the targeted minorities or vocally a part of the opposition, here are some tips on assimilation:

• Keep your head down and keep a low profile
• Stay out of any media attention at all costs
• Be VERY careful with who you trust - denunciations are a common tool used by fascist governments to find targets. Avoid pissing off anyone who could throw you to the wolves.
• Button up any communications that could ever be construed as a slight against the ruling party. That means getting off social media, browsing and communicating on the internet completely anonymously, stop using devices and software that can spy on you. Wipe anything that can be interpreted as criticism of the ruling party that can be connected to you.
• Keep any documents with proof of citizenship on you at all times
• Start sounding like you’ve always supported the party and their ideas, or that you’ve suddenly “seen the way” and agree with them now.
• This one is riskier in the long term as fascists eventually start eating one another, but if you can, try to get a low level position in the party. Something inconsequential like cleaning, paperwork, etc.

Essentially, start studying what other people did to survive under similarly oppressive regimes. The change won’t happen overnight, but if this is going the way I think it’s going, your access to options will become increasingly limited so do what you can now to get ready.

Alternatively, wait until it becomes clear that you’re a political target, travel somewhere where you can get refugee status and claim asylum once you’re there. You don’t want to leave this until it’s too late, and it’ll get increasingly harder to do, but there’s no way to tell yet what the trigger could be.