laurieg

28 ms·

271.
by laurieg 6y ago
It is definitely possible to learn a language as an adult. The main barriers adults face are a lack of time to practice, a lack of motivation and already being fluent in a language to "run away" into. Learning a language is tough,
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by laurieg 6y ago
If both parties agree then divorce is very simple. However, if one party refuses things can be drawn out for years (an old boss of mine came into the office literally singing and dancing after the divorce was finalised). Bare in mind that J
273.
by laurieg 6y ago
This reminds me of the Roamer Robot [1] which was in my primary school in 1995. http://www.valiant-technology.com/uk/pages/roamer_home.php
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by laurieg 6y ago
As other commenters have pointed out, the kids (and adults) in this picture may simply not have the technical skills to even get started. As a child, I went to the library, got a book on programming and was dying to learn how to do it but d
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by laurieg 6y ago
"No lockdown" is misleading. The government asked people to stay at home and the vast majority of people did. Many non-essential businesses closed. I walked through the usually bustling downtown area of my city on a Friday nigh
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by laurieg 6y ago
When I was in college I more or less tried a different note-taking system every semester. I tried just writing things down free-form, making flashcards while I was in the lecture, drawing mind maps, drawing one continuous mind map that woul
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by laurieg 6y ago
Occasionally I work as a speaking examiner, assessing people's foreign language level. The test is rigorous and well designed. Few minutes of questions are designed to be so easy any can answer them. "How do you spell your name?
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by laurieg 6y ago
I've been teaching classes online since March. Honestly, even at the best of times it feels like teaching a brick wall. One of the universities has a rule that everyone must have their cameras on at all times, so you end up teaching c
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by laurieg 6y ago
Unfortunately, where I live bicycles keeping to the side of the lane is required by law. Even in situations where this isn't required, drivers can easily become aggressive towards slower vehicles such as bicycles. Bicycles often fall t
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by laurieg 6y ago
Perhaps one of the biggest barriers to fast moving SV style startups would be how difficult firing is in Japan. You need around 18 months to fire an ineffective employee. (And in contested cases I've heard of an employee who stayed on
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by laurieg 6y ago
Japanese sidewalls are rather paradoxical: where rules and order are so valued, pedestrians are in chaos. People walk 4 abreast, walk in bicycle lanes, randomly change direction without looking etc. Escalators are even stranger. There are s
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by laurieg 6y ago
They are tactile paving for blind and partially sighted people. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactile_paving
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by laurieg 6y ago
Japanese has lots of these. One of the most confusing is "consent", which means "electrical socket".
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by laurieg 6y ago
Midnight used to be the middle of the night, hence the name. Now it's when you think "Oh, I'll just check twitter one more time" Try telling a modern person you go to bed at 8 and wake up 4. They'll look at you li
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by laurieg 6y ago
Sometimes comments like "Oh I'm procrastinating by reading this article while at work (at my successful software engineering job)" seem a little insensitive. It's like telling a blind man "Yeah, I close my eyes too
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by laurieg 6y ago
An interesting side effect of Japanese stroke order (at least with Japanese characters) is that character recognition for dictionary apps etc is based around stroke order. If you mess up the stroke order badly enough then it won't reco
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by laurieg 6y ago
I like the tool, especially the integrations with repl. Administrative paperwork quickly becomes a massive problem for teachers and any tool that cuts down on that workload is a God-send. I have used google classroom for courses before and
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by laurieg 6y ago
I started vocal lessons 9 months ago to improve my singing. I'm no expert but I'll share a little advice. Try out a handful of teachers and choose someone who matches your goals and levels. Try to practice little and often. Don&#x
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Japan mountain retreat anointed as new smart city(asia.nikkei.com)
1 points by laurieg 6y ago|0 comments
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by laurieg 6y ago
Moderating a medium to large sub is a thankless task. I moderated a sub with 100,000 subscribers for a couple of years. Most of the work was removing obviously bad content. There was a user who would make a new account every few weeks, pos
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by laurieg 6y ago
The very first car in _that video_ fails to stop. You don't know how many times they recorded the intro. I'm not trying to imply Tom Scott is being dishonest. We just don't know from the video.
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by laurieg 6y ago
Most drivers are taught to assess the junction before they arrive and decide if they need to come to a stop or not. The thought process in the heads of drivers approaching the junction is "I have good visibility in both directions and
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by laurieg 6y ago
In reality, it doesn't always work quite like this. Japan has a system of assigning a percentage of blame to both parties in a traffic accident. "He was 80% to blame for not yielding, you were 20% to blame for being too far out
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by laurieg 6y ago
I'm curious as to why you chose The Archers to learn English. For those who don't know, The Archers is a long running radio soap opera in a rural setting and featuring lots of aspects of rural life.
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by laurieg 6y ago
My favourite spelling mistake is from the Nottingham County Gaol and is all the worse for being set in stone: https://i.imgur.com/h6XiZE3.jpg Take a close look at the word "gaol". Originally, the stone mason spel
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by laurieg 6y ago
I'm glad that the article acknowledges procrastination as an emotional issue, not an organisational one. Reading Getting Things Done or using a new Todo list app does not do anything for procrastination. The slight bump is just down
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by laurieg 6y ago
It's difficult for me to give a true assessment of what remote work would be like in normal times. Since I live alone and social events are cancelled I feel like I'm craving social contact and definitely missing that aspect of wo
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by laurieg 7y ago
Good memory on that old comment! Mine looked like this: https://imgur.com/LDkdx1k Perhaps it wasn't the original release. Perhaps it was a regional difference. I agree, I don't think the case was intentionally m
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by laurieg 7y ago
Hearing about Myst and CD-ROMs reminds me of my trouble with the sequel, Riven: Riven came on multiple CDs. When you moved from area to area you had to swap the discs in your PC. I got part way through the game and it said "Please in
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Covid-19 Sounds: Upload sounds of coughs and breathing to help detect Covid-19(covid-19-sounds.org)
2 points by laurieg 7y ago|0 comments

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