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Lana V Lynx
Bio
Avid reader and occasional writer of satire and short fiction. For my own sanity and security, I write under a pen name. My books: Moscow Calling - 2017 and President & Psychiatrist
Stories (250/0)
Modern Senseless Wars
I was born and raised in a beautiful mountainous country of Kyrgyzstan, one of the fifteen former Soviet Union republics in Central Asia. I came of age in a bipolar world of the 1980s, with the USA and USSR leading the world on what the governments of both countries claimed was the path to happiness but with different ideologies and political-economic systems. It was a fierce battle between the capitalism and authoritarian socialism, and in 1979 Afghanistan became the battle ground where the systems finally faced off in a real hot combat for 10 years.
By Lana V Lynx2 years ago in Humans
Moonlighting in Academia
Let me tell you the quirkiest story about an “entrepreneurial” academic who managed to get himself hired into two tenure-track positions at the same time, at two different higher education institutions. The schools were only about one-hour drive from each other. So, our scholar found a house in the middle and commuted to both!
By Lana V Lynx2 years ago in Education
Ugly Blinis
I was making the blinis (Russian version of crepes) the other day and remembered how my great aunt used to make them. Baba Lyuba, as we called her lovingly, was my maternal mother's older sister and they lived across the road from each other in our "ancestrial village" in the north of Kyrgyzstan. They were "Irish twins," only 18 months apart, and when I became aware of myself, baba Lyuba was already a "pensioner." Women retired at 55 at that time in the Soviet Union, and my grandma, who was born in 1924, retired at 50 as a mother of 5 children (mother-heroines they were called). So, for as long as I remember myself, they both were retired, and just living their lives off the land and their small pensions (social security payments). Simple, heavenly life.
By Lana V Lynx2 years ago in Feast
Elevator Encounter
It’s day 439 of World War III that started on February 24, 2022 with Russia invading Ukraine. The entire world is burning since November 2022, after the exhausted and desperate Putin’s army launched a missile aimed at Lviv, miscalculated, and overshot it into Poland. NATO countries immediately activated Article 5 for joint defense and sent a missile directly into the Kremlin. It was an imploding bomb, taking everything with it underground in a clean sweep. After the dust settled, the entire Kremlin was gone as if someone carefully cut out a cancerous mole off the face of Moscow. Even though Putin had not stayed in the Kremlin since the beginning of the war and the hit was largely symbolic, triggered Russia went all in and launched a tactical nuclear bomb into the formerly British and currently Canadian Arctic. NATO retaliated by sending a similar bomb into Siberian taiga. All hell broke loose. Russia twisted the arms of the other BRICS countries, and Brazil, India, China, and South Africa reluctantly got involved by either kicking out or directly attacking NATO bases located in their jurisdiction or proximity. India’s Modi sent his troops into Kashmir, setting off a war with Pakistan. China invaded Taiwan, killing off most population as dissidents and resettling the island with mainland Chinese.
By Lana V Lynx2 years ago in Fiction
Twitter Takeover
I have already mentioned that I teach Ethics of Communication (see my previous essay on the Oscar Slap here). Last week, just as we were wrapping up the semester by discussing Ethics of Communication Technology, life brought me another gift of an urgent topic for the debate: Should Elon Musk be allowed to buy Twitter? The topic was deliberately formulated in the passive voice because I wanted the students to consider who or what agency has the authority to facilitate or prevent the deal from happening.
By Lana V Lynx2 years ago in 01
"Fake It Till You Make It"
"Inventing Anna" on Netflix (see my detailed review here), all the documentaries and movies on "Theranos" on various platforms (see a guide here) and now "WeCrashed" on Apple TV. What do they all have in common? - They are about people with breathtaking chutzpah.
By Lana V Lynx2 years ago in Geeks
- Top Story - March 2022
Oscars 2022 Slap LegacyTop Story - March 2022
I teach undergraduate Ethics of Communication and graduate Crisis Communication courses and never experience shortage of real-life cases to discuss with my students on any ethics topic we cover in class. This week, as we started to discuss ethics of mass communication and ethical crisis media strategies, life brought me a special "gift": Will Smith slapping Chris Rock during the 94th Academy Awards ceremony.
By Lana V Lynx2 years ago in Geeks
Missing The School Bus
“Mom, mom, mom! Wake up!” Alyssa heard her little daughter’s rushed voice through the sweet sleep of early morning hours. Not sure if it's a dream or reality, Alyssa did not respond. Then came a gentle push on her shoulder, followed by a harder one, "Mom, wake up, pleeeease!"
By Lana V Lynx2 years ago in Humans
Murderville Review
A combination of an absurdly good murder story, comedy and improvisation? Yes, please! I absolutely loved the new series on Netflix with Will Arnett as a senior homicide detective named Terry Seattle who is supposed to solve a murder in every episode with a new partner, a celebrity playing him- or herself. While the show actors have a blueprint for the story, character parameters, and pre-written lines, the celebrities have absolutely no idea of what is about to happen. As true partners to the detective, they interrogate and observe three murder suspects. The episode always starts out with some sort of a test for a new trainee in the form of questions, where Terry and his new partner are supposed to bond. Then they go and investigate the murder. At the end of the episode, they are supposed to solve the case by naming the murderer, usually in a game-show revealing and suspenseful manner, and explain how they arrived at that conclusion. Then Chief Rhonda Jenkins-Seattle (who is also Detective Seattle's estranged wife) comes out and tells whether the celebrity guessed right or wrong, also in a comically suspenseful way with close-ups and dramatic pauses, and explains how the murder was really committed. Throughout the show, the detective and celebrity are fed certain clues that just like in a good murder mystery are supposed to lead the detectives to the right conclusion.
By Lana V Lynx2 years ago in Criminal