1 Year

Happy Birthday to princess Charlotte, who appears lovely and sweet natured
on her 1 year  photos.

Perso, I am something of a traditionalist for children's clothing, but I have seen
comments ( BuzzFeed) to the effect that the Royal children are dressed in an
incomprehensible, era-inappropriate way. Must they look like the 1940s, it is asked!?

Never one to refuse an invitation to shop, here is a little jacket from La Redoute
that looks pretty smashing.

P_Incorrect

Found a fun thing for the dieting woman: a figure simulator at various weights.

This is probably the wrong thing to do, but I love it. Because on the up side,

watching one's weight puts us in a family with really nice people.

Which is also why I enjoy reality shows on the weight-conscious. People who feed

their brains can write their own scripts!!

http://modelmydiet.com/

How_it _is, Apple

Glycan

If in the English-speaking world, one still uses the term carbohydrates,
this is not the case in French, where one uses the term glucides to replace
hydrates de carbone. This is because of recent advances in biochemistry,
in particular the study of glycans. Sugars are less interesting in
and of themselves, but rather in their conjugates with proteins and fats - known as
glycans - and giving rise to glycobiology.

Glycans are the object of many viruses, and are involved in the recognition of
sugar bound proteins by the immune system,  at the root of auto-immune illnesses.
They are also involved in the propagation of cancers.

Fear

Happy!

Went to a student haunt with Lyse (downtown Montreal) and had a bowl of Ramen. Which I managed to eat with chopsticks; trick is, the spoon in the left hand is an intermediate stop between the bowl and self. All the lifting happens with the chopsticks!!

Ramen are wheat-based noodles - a Northern food - as opposed to rice noodles found in pho.

Left greasy-faced and happy.

TTIP_ CETA

President Obama is in Europe to defend a free-trade treaty between the US and the European Community; he is heading to Hanover, Germany, next. Canada already has an agreement which is very similar. The two need to be voted into law by European nations. There are still some sticking points.

As explained in Le Monde, the concerned sectors are the following:

Cette harmonisation réglementaire concerne pour l'instant neuf secteurs: l'automobile, la pharmacie, la chimie, les cosmétiques, l'ingéniérie, les pesticides, le textile, les appareils médicaux, les technologies de l'information et de la communication. Les services financiers en sont exclus pour l'instant et les services culturels n'en feront définitivement pas partie.

Opponents in North America decry it is an assault on buy local policies that may well cost jobs. Europeans are wary of American regulatory norms - or rather, the lack of them - on the quality of products, environmental protection, product testing (cosmetics)  and so forth.

The creation of this large trading zone is seen as necessary to protect developed economies in an increasingly competitive world economy, but it remains a road fraught with difficulties. Opponents are demonstrating in Hanover today.