if the academia thing doesn't work out, maybe I can get a job as a fact checker at National Geographic Kids

@lindsey Is this one of those things where because of the way orbits work Earth is sometimes closer to the sun than Venus?

@theincredibleholk I'm not an expert on these things but I think that if Earth ever got closer to the sun than Venus, it would not be very much fun at all

@lindsey I used to routinely be annoyed at the low standards for fact checking in children’s books!!

@regehr @lindsey this one drove me up the wall just this week!

@rainer @lindsey OMG imagine typing that

@regehr @rainer I'm still looking for a discussion of computer {science, engineering} in a kids' book that doesn't annoy me. Sylvia has a book with examples of what different kinds of engineers do, which is mostly fine, but there's a part that's like "mechanical engineers design self-driving cars!" and I'm like "...but...what about...the software???"

@lindsey @rainer https://www.amazon.com/Blockchain-Babies-University-Chris-Ferrie/dp/1492680788/

@regehr @rainer I said I'm looking for one that DOESN'T annoy me, John

@lindsey @regehr @rainer
https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/david-carey-jr/computer/9780721402864#GOR001170571

@peter_sewell_ @lindsey @rainer 1971??? but they only had like 300 transistors to explain

@lindsey @regehr @rainer What age? This is delightful: https://www.helloruby.com/

@ricci @regehr @rainer My daughter is five. I'll take a look!

@lindsey @regehr @rainer I think this is inherently difficult because of the level of abstraction. Can you imagine a kids' book about mathematicians? (The mechanical engineer description is annoying, I agree.)

@plragde @regehr @rainer Yeah, I agree it's incredibly difficult.

@plragde Maybe @lindsey can write a book like "Nasty, Brutish, and Short: adventures in philosophy with kids" by Scott Hershovitz?

@plragde @lindsey @regehr @rainer sorry to barge in here but i have this 100% real book which i, as an adult, find delightful. i think the target audience is probably more like 10 though, and includes timely topics in cs like mechanical turk.

@nsfmc @rainer @regehr @plragde I think I'd be into this too

@lindsey i picked up a used copy on amazon for ten bucks or so, i tried it out on my kid when she was around five too, but it didn't quite land, but now that she's 8 i think we could probably dive into it together productively.