fireweed @ fireweed @lemmy.world

Posts

5

Comments

413

Joined

2 yr. ago

Yeah Lemmy's definitely got a few kinks still to work out (but at least it's no longer the bug-riddled mess it was last summer)

Also, TIL about the Soviet Concorde!

Well damn, the image url seems to have overwritten the hyperlink. I've added the link to the body text. Thanks for the heads up!

Vogue tells a different history of the trench coat, claiming its origins are actually raincoats for active well-to-do British gentlemen:

https://www.vogue.fr/fashion/article/vogue-encyclopaedia-the-history-of-the-trench-coat

And here I thought we were thanking the Alabama Supreme Court for preventing the atrocity of thousands more babies cruelly subjected to living in Alabama.

inb4 the munchies hit

This is in Missouri, for anyone wondering.

Oh honey, what dark corners of the Internet have you gotten mired in?

Good article; this news has been making the rounds for quite some time, but this article actually goes into more thorough detail re: what various effects we might see worldwide.

Stevia, either as an ingredient (stevia-sweetened drinks) or a mix-in (dried powder or tincture dropper, eg to add to tea or coffee)

USA, I also tip 10% on takeout. I guess it's my way of helping the employees have a shot at a livable wage. I used to have a job in the industry myself, and internalized the "pay it forward" culture.

I wake up at 3am to 4am daily as a neighbor makes noise walking their dog. This cannot be helped.

I'm stuck on this comment. Why can it not be helped? This is not acceptable behavior on your neighbor's part. Sleep is a critical factor in every human's physical and mental well-being, which is why policies like noise ordinances exist. You do not mention what your living circumstances are, however if there are other neighbors nearby (especially if this is an apartment/condo situation) they are presumably being woken up too. You also don't mention how you're being woken up; are the dogs barking or loudly running around? I don't see why you should need to accommodate your neighbor's inability to follow very standard social contracts regarding nighttime quiet hours. Unless you are in some kind of highly unusual living situation where it's completely within your neighbor's right to be an early-morning nuisance, you should be addressing the illness not the symptom, especially if there are other people being affected too.

Are you exaggerating when you say a few months? Because based on my personal experience as a native English speaker who's spent a combined ~14 years to study two languages (only one of which even stuck), I cannot imagine becoming more than "hooray I can occasionally pick out a word or two when watching the news!"-level of proficient in a new language after a few months, even with intense study.

Berkey. It's not plastic free, but I don't think a system exists that is. If I'm wrong, I'd love to know.

Don't get me wrong, I still struggle with reading it quickly and fluently compared to hiragana (although that's often because the words are clunky af loanwords), but I'd still much rather it exist than not. かれはぼうなすをもらったらおうすとらりあに行くつもり is a bugger to read without katakana.

I leaned Japanese in a mixed-nationality school where I was one of the only English-native students. I did not envy their struggles with katakana, as I'm sure the Chinese-native students did not envy my struggles with kanji! (Meanwhile everyone else just struggled lol.)

As a Japanese learner, katakana is a godsend. It's like reading a scientific paper in English and having all the Latin in italics, as an indicator that "don't worry this is a foreign word, you're not an idiot for not recognizing it." Especially because most katakana words are derived from English (or words you'd recognize as an English speaker) so it's just a matter of saying it over and over until the pieces click into place. Example: オーストラリア = Oosutoraria = Oh-s-t-rah-ree-uh = Australia.

Also outside of picture books for young children, Japanese doesn't use spaces and has way fewer sounds than most languages which results in a LOT of homonyms and similar words that all blends together (see other comment YouTube link). So having three writing systems in one really helps convey meaning and makes reading much faster.

Where did you get that idea? The Soviet Union didn't even lose one dozen-million in all of WWII. Ya know, the war famously won with "British intelligence, American steel, and Russian blood." The Ukraine war has been devastating, but it's nowhere near the scope of the largest war of the twentieth century.

Edit: to be crystal clear because for some reason my fact-based post (see: Wikipedia's WWII fatality records) is getting down voted, Russia bad, slava Ukraini.

I would try Bon Ami first. Less toxic (don't need to wear gloves or worry so much about inhalation) and less abrasive (I'm assuming the plant trays are plastic). But I'm not sure if either would work great on lime buildup; maybe after some vinegar application to soften things up first?

I’ve been told that if you can get a transfer there you need to understand that you’ll only ever hang out with other westerners because the culture is impenetrable.

I've lived in Japan and that's completely untrue. Sure lots of westerners have this experience, but it's usually for one of three reasons:

1. Language barrier: if you don't speak Japanese, obviously you're not going to fully integrate. However English is a required subject in schools, and while many Japanese are hesitant to speak it (mostly out of embarrassment over mistakes) there are plenty who are eager to utilize what they've learned. And this doesn't even include Japanese who've lived abroad and are properly fluent and comfortable in the language (there aren't many, but they certainly exist). Learning even a little Japanese and appearing to make an effort will also open a lot of doors.
2. Self-segregation: It's easy to fall into this one, especially because of point 1. But if you make an effort to make friends with people who are Japanese, they'll introduce you to their friend group. This works best if your co-workers are mixed westerners and English-speaking Japanese, but with some searching you should be able to find mixed socialization opportunities outside of work too. Plus there are non-Western communities in Japan too: folks from other Asian or Latin American countries who also feel like outsiders. Of the foreigner friends I had in Japan, almost none were American (and almost none were native English speakers, although they were all fluent or close to it). Taking Japanese language classes is a great way to meet these folks, but each school is going to be very different in their demographic populations so be choosey and avoid any that seem too homogenous (eg all Chinese students).
3. Expectations: Japanese social culture is very different. It's easy to make acquaintances and hard to make friends. And yes, even if you speak Japanese fluently as a foreigner you will find it more difficult to make friends with the average Japanese person. However you have two strengths you need to utilize: curiosity and otherness. As long as you appear approachable, strangers will sporadically come up to you and talk with you out of curiosity. Sometimes the socialization ends there, and that's fine. But look for the outsiders: Japanese people who don't feel like they fit into Japanese society. I found that there were a good number of English-speaking Japanese who wanted to be my friend because they struggled to make friends with other Japanese. Some of them were socially awkward or autistic, some had lived abroad, and some seemed totally normal. The good news is you probably have a lot in common, even if it's superficial like enjoying the same Western culture (TV shows, etc; think reverse-weeabo), but it's enough for the foundation of a friendship. However you'll need to accept that you're now a member of a misfits social group, because you're yourself a stranger in a strange land!

So in conclusion, it's very easy to fall into the only-socializing-with-Westerners trap, but it's certainly not inevitable. It takes conscious effort to avoid, but is completely feasible, especially for someone who has interest in Japan/Japanese culture/Japanese language.

Sorry, I used your comment as a springboard for my own tangentially-related rant on why this guy seems to be in denial. I agree with both of your statements.